"Oh, well, don't let us stop you!" Marl said. "Why don't you just hop aboard a passing meteor shower and go out and save the poop-uus and the whole fraggin' universe while you're at it! They're bound to make you the princess of the poopuus in gratitude, and we can all be your grateful subjects, too."
"Stop that, you mean boy!" Sesseli said, stalking up to him with her hands on her hips and her small chin angled belligerently upward. "Khorii was just saying what happened. She wasn't bragging, like some people would."
"Get your petite feet out of my personal space, pet, or I'll take you by the tail and throw you into the great beyond," Marl snarled, indicating the star-spangled black bits that showed between Kezdet, Maganos, and the other moon outside the docking bay.
"What do you think, Elviiz?" Hap asked. "I think in Marl's case, his tongue is a birth defect. Maybe we should perform a procedure on him to correct it." Elviiz didn't reply, but glanced at Khorii instead, his face flushed with embarrassment.
Marl's eyes narrowed, and he pointed a slightly shaking warning finger at Hap, "I'm ready for you, smart-ass. And if that monster comes near me, I'll-"
"Yes, tell us, just what will you do, Marl?" Asha, who had been leaning against her shuttle with her arms folded, asked. "Bleed a lot and hope Khorii can understand your screams well enough to help you with another of her remedies that you're so scornful of? I seem to remember being near her was the main reason behind your noble sacrifice of joining forces with us outcasts."
Khorii sighed, and said, finally, reasonably, "Marl, you do not have to be afraid. We Linyaari are peaceful people, and I will not let Hap hurt you. Elviiz is deeply ashamed he broke your arm and will not do it again. But you must not hurt Khiindi or Sesseli or anyone else either, or you will have to be isolated. I think that under the circumstances, that would be rather frightening for you."
"Frightening? Do I look like a sissy?"
Sesseli glanced at Hap, who stared back at Marl. They both shrugged and nodded.
"Hey, I don't need this-!"
"That is enough," Jaya said. "This is my ship now-at least until the Krishna-Murti Company decides to reclaim it-if-if ever anything goes back to normal. And if Khorii thinks her skills can help some other people who are smart enough to let her, / say it's just about criminal to keep orbiting and wasting fuel and wondering if we'll die before we go dry. I think we should go and see if we can save them."
"That would be breaking the rules, sunshine," Marl said.
"Since when have you ever had a problem with that, Marl?" Asha asked. "If you do, however, I'll be happy to let you keep orbiting in the Nakomas. Personally, I think Jaya has a point. Khorii, what do you say?"
Relief blew across Khorii like a cool breeze. "I hate being idle when there is so much to be done."
Khiindi hopped onto her shoulders and twined himself around her neck, careful to keep his tail tucked. He stared intently at Marl Fidd, who-fortunately-was not looking at him, and tried willing the bully to accept Captain Bates's offer of the perpetually orbiting shuttle. Then the rest of them could head spaceward, finding Aari and Acorna once more after many exciting but not very dangerous adventures, which would somehow, never mind the details, result in glory and adulation for himself.
"Good," Asha said. "Shall we tell Phador we're leaving, then? With any luck he'll forbid it, which will make the trip worthwhile even if we don't manage to save another single soul."
Spying on people was rude, of course. Liriili would have said it was inexcusable; but then Khorii did not want to think of Liriili for a role model, as she was the least empathetic and flexible Linyaari ever born, at least according to Aunt Maati. Besides, this was an emergency situation and, except for Elviiz, Khorii was about to embark on an illegal trip to a strange world with people she did not know very well.
She had found out a little about each of them by then. Hap, for instance, cared about animals, knew how to do many things usually done only by adults, and talked a lot. He could tell you all sorts of things in the same way Elviiz could. But did he talk about the things that were actually important to him? For instance, he seldom mentioned Shoshisha, but the way he had looked at her back on Maga-nos said that she was probably on his mind a lot. Khorii hoped she was mistaken. Shoshisha she knew well enough to know that she was a very selfish and somewhat hysterical person. Khorii was very thankful that Shoshisha was not on the Mana.
Captain Bates was a teacher, and obviously a sympathetic one, since she was here. She meant well, and truly had the base's best interests at heart. But on the other hand, she had brought Marl Fidd with her for some reason that Khorii could not fathom. And Marl was angry, selfish, violent, and a bully. Oh, and also besotted with Shoshisha, and very messy.
Jaya had spent just enough time on the Mana to learn to operate the loaders, but though she'd managed to load the cargo back on the trip to Maganos she couldn't really fly the cargo ship without help. She missed her parents terribly and had continued visiting their bodies until decomposition took the comfort out of that.
Sesseli was small, friendly, and loved animals. And also stood up to bullies, even at risk to herself.
Which left Marl Fidd, whom Khorii tried to avoid as much as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was to see what was on his mind.
All in all, it wasn't much to go on.
She tried listening in to the thoughts of everyone in general, but they were so confused that she sometimes seemed to hear more inner conversations than there were people on the ship. No, if she was going to learn anything useful, she would have to do it while talking to each person.
Or, in Hap's case, listening to him talk to her. Since he was the first person she met and full of information, she decided to try him first. Finding him turned out to be difficult, however.
Captain Bates sat at the console with Sesseli on her lap. A kitten was curled up in a small furry ball on Sesseli's lap. "This is the radar screen," Captain Bates was explaining. "And do you remember what this is? We talked about it in class."
"Navigational computer?" the little girl said, pointing to one of the screens.
"That's right," Captain Bates said. "You'll be flying this ship in no time."
She was thinking, / need to get these kids ready to be on their own. With things the way they are, any or all of us could die at any time, and whoever is left needs to be able to fly this beast. How could Phador be so pigheaded? I thought he really cared. And Khorii backed off as she got a picture of the captain and Phador Al y Cassidro, locked in a sweaty embrace that she recognized from books and vids aboard the Condor as mating, human-style.
So that's really why she wasn't worried about him doing anything, she thought. "Captain, do you know where Hap is?" she asked quickly.
"I'm not sure. He's been hanging out in the engine room quite a bit lately, so I decided to hold an impromptu lecture down there. He was explaining to us a little while ago about how the drive on this particular model of ship works, but then Marl came in and made a remark that upset Jaya. Before I could stop them, he and Hap got into it, and Jaya ran out of the room. Hap followed her. I'm not sure where Marl went, but I'm keeping Sesseli and the cats with me."
Sesseli was smiling as she put a small hand on each control in turn, but her large blue eyes were very serious. Her fine curly blond hair was tied into two pigtails with bright-colored ornamental cords with little gold bells on them. Khorii recognized them as being two of the bracelets Jaya liked to wear in thick bunches on each wrist.
Sesseli's thoughts were transparent at that moment. Just like with Mama, she was thinking. But Mama didn't know how to drive a spaceship, I don't think. The little girl's recollections of her mother were blurred around the face, but seemed to be starting to resemble Captain Bates.