Page 36 of Fallen from the Stars

She narrowed her eyes as though she could somehow glare at Kane.

But youaredistracting,she sent through the link,and I can’t hear myself think when you blabber on and on.

She slowly lowered her hand and curled her fingers around the pistol’s grip. Without taking her eyes off the bird, she tugged the weapon free.

“What are you doing, Theo?”

What’s it look like? Hunting.

Raising the pistol, she gripped it with both hands — just like they’d taught in basic training — and aimed at the bird. Seemingly oblivious, the creature pecked at the ground, hopped forward to gulp down some water, and backed away to drop its beak to the dirt again.

Did you learn to cook at some point after we crashed here? You don’t even know—”

Shh!

Though the neural link went silent, she swore shefeltKane grumbling.

Gently, she used her thumb to turn down the power setting on the pistol. Sighting the bird down the barrel, she took in a deep breath, steadied her arms, and pulled the trigger as soon as she exhaled. The bird released a short, startled squawk as a cloud of yellow feathers burst into the air and rained to the ground around it.

Theo leapt to her feet. “I got it!”

“Great. Looks like there are enough feathers left for arts and crafts afterwards.”

“Quit being a downer.” Theo refused to let Kane sour her success. She holstered the pistol and strode to the carcass. Countless feathers littered the ground, bright against the green grass, gray stones, and brown mud. “Check it out! I’m surviving!”

“As I wastryingto say before, you don’t even know if it’s safe to eat.”

Theo’s brows furrowed. “It’s a bird, Kane.”

“It is an alien organism, Theo, regardless of how familiar it may appear.”

“Well, it’s worth it to have something to eat besides fish. And this time,Iam the one providing dinner.” Lips pursed to one side, she crouched beside the bird and studied its body. “So…you wouldn’t happen to have any instructions on prepping and cooking a bird, would you?”

“Let me check.”

Theo tapped her fingers against her knee and waited. “Kaaaaane.”

He remained silent.

“Kane!” she said out loud and through the neural link.

“Sorry, I forgot I’m not connected to the IDC network anymore. No decent recipes on file, unless you’re in the mood for engine grease to garnish your supper. I suppose cooking wasn’t deemed necessary for your rank and position.”

“Man, they screwed us in the survival department. Cheap asses.” She sighed. “Well, all Vasil does is cut heads off the fish, skin them, and jam them onto sticks. Can’t be that hard, right?”

“I want you to know that in my imagination, I am staring at you incredulously right now.”

“Oh, ye of little faith.”

“I have plenty of faith that this is going to be entertaining — at least for me.”

Theo rolled her eyes. Reaching out, she grabbed the bird and pulled it closer. Though the body was slight in weight, its limpness was unsettling. She drew her knife. “Well, here it goes.”

Within seconds of cutting off the head — the thin neck had proven disproportionately tough — Theo had spun back to the stream, retching as she scrubbed blood from her hands.

“Oh that was—” she turned her head and gagged “—so gross!” Pressing the back of a hand to her mouth, she somehow held down the contents of her stomach as it heaved again.

“I think I’m going to maintain all this footage,” Kane said with a snicker.“Complete records are important in these survival situations, you know?”

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