Page 40 of Seven Oars
“Great.” Alyesha threw a loaded glance in Rosamma’s direction.“I knew this deal with your brother was too cheap to be true.”
It was all Rosamma could do not to burst into tears. She wasn’t having a very good day.
Once in the Cargo Hold, the women pushed everything into a corner to be organized later.
“We have water. That’s the important part.” Gro handed out sealed pouches with flexible straws, which everyone sucked on greedily.“It won’t last as long as the food, so we’ll need to figure out a filtration system.”
Gro had naturally taken charge, her survival skills honed by the hard life she’d lived.
Rosamma, of course, was the second least adjusted after Daphne, with zero ideas about what to do next. Or what to do, period.Her audience with the Striker, followed by the supply gathering, had exhausted her.
She sank to the floor as the tingling of low energy and her other aches and pains caught up with her.
Sassa looked around beseechingly, her face strained and pale.“We aren’t going to stay here forever, are we? We’ll escape soon, right?”
“Well, we’re kind of stuck here now. We need to eat while we figure out what to do,” Gro replied, sidestepping the question.
The women exchanged glances. It was dawning on everyone that help was not, in fact, on the way.
“What are they going to do to us?” Sassa asked them.
“I wouldn’t speculate about that,” Gro advised.“Think about today.”
“They’re all men. Do you think they’ll force us to… you know?”
“I don’t know, Sassa,” Gro admitted.“The defenders thought we were weird cosmic worms. Let’s hope these ones will think so too and leave us alone.”
“How much food do we have?” Eze asked, steering the conversation toward more practical matters.
It was difficult to estimate by eyeballing the pile, but its size was reassuring.Their little cruiser had been well-stocked for a group twice the size of what it was now.
“I’m surprised the pirates didn’t take all our food for themselves,” Eze remarked.
“That’s good,” Fawn said.“That means they care to let us live.”
“Who, the pirates?” Gro laughed.“Nah. They just don’t like the refried bean mash.”
“The Rix don’t eat plant food, if I remember correctly,” Rosamma mumbled.
“Excellent,” Anske brightened up, snatching up a pack of crackers.“I’m not sharing a crumb with them. Or with him.”
They all turned to look at Phex, lying still along the opposite wall.
The face Rosamma had found so arresting was a study in bumps, lumps, and discoloration, but eyes were open to the extent his swollen tissues allowed.
Rosamma sat up.“We’ll find something he can digest. Rix don’t eat much at all.”
There were grumbles, and even Gro looked undecided.
The women still saw Phex as the alien who had pushed them around. They had reason to mistrust him, but the situation had changed.
“He’s one of us now,” Rosamma said firmly and moved to sit next to him.
“That’s because she’s an alien herself,” someone whispered.
“Weird woman…”
Rosamma tuned them out. Nothing new here.
