Common. She’d had many of these meals usually out on assignment, or waiting for insertion, but occasionally in the heat of ops they’d get them delivered to the comm center too. Not fancy, but it kept you going.
She glanced at Dev, who was busy consuming everything in her box with a studious seriousness that almost made Jess laugh. They had both fallen silent, but she was surprised to realize it was a comfortable silence, requiring no chatter between them.
She liked that. Jess herself wasn’t much of a talker, and it seemed her new pilot wasn’t either which seemed to her to be another good sign. In the dim outside solar powered light that lit the platform, Dev was cast in low color shadows, her pale hair contrasting with the darkness of her suit and she appeared relaxed, looking around as she chewed with a contented expression.
Jess went back to her own meal trying to ignore the once again throbbing ache in her back, trying to remember just how much of the painkiller she had left in her quarters. Maybe she could take some and just sack out….
The touch on her arm nearly made her jump out of her skin. “Urf!”
“Wow. Sorry about that.” Dev withdrew her hand. “I didn’t mean to alarm you, I just wanted to ask you a question.”
Jess turned the seaweed roll around in her fingers for a moment, then she glanced sideways at Dev. “Go ahead and ask.” She said. “But be careful about grabbing me. Sometimes I don’t think first and I could hit you without meaning to.”
“Okay.” Dev was studying her with a serious expression. “Is there something disturbing you?”
Jess was caught by utter surprise at the question. “Me?”
Dev looked around the small platform, then back at her. “Yes.”
‘Why?” Jess heard a sharp note enter her voice, not entirely intended.
Undisturbed, Dev merely looked at her. “Since this morning, after the attack it seemed to be you were.” She said. “I didn’t mean to offend you by asking.”
Jess studied those open and guileless eyes, hearing the polite concern in Dev’s voice and not detecting any hidden meaning behind the words. “I’m not offended.” She said, gruffly. “I said you could ask me things, didn’t I?”
‘Yes.” Dev smiled. “You did.”
There was an odd sense of conflict in her. Jess found herself teetering between brushing Dev off, and confiding in her and she wasn’t entirely sure why. It was a strange feeling, new and confusing.
“I hope it wasn’t something I did that disturbed you.” Dev spoke up again, a faint hesitance in her voice.
All at once, Jess decided. “Nah.” She shook her head. “You’ve only done good stuff, Dev. I slammed my back against a door handle this morning right where I got hurt the last time and it’s bothering me, that’s all.”
Dev looked relieved, and yet, still concerned. “I’m sorry you got hurt. Are you going to med?”
“No.” Jess shook her head. “It’s not that bad. Just annoying and med tends to make big deals out of nothing.”
The bio alt nodded. “I never liked going either. “ She confided. “You never knew what they’d do to you and then..” She paused. “Well, you never wanted them to think you were really hurt or really sick.”
Jess looked at her, head tilted slightly in question.
Dev glanced aside. “Not much use for damaged products.”
Jess blinked. “What?”
Dev looked embarrassed. “We’re not actually people. Not legally.” She clarified. “So if you were really damaged they’d just scratch you and start over.” She glanced up at Jess, who was sitting there, roll forgotten in her hand, her jaw a little dropped. “So that’s why we like to find a place to do good work.” She concluded softly. “Kind of makes it safer.”
Jess reached out and put her hand on Dev’s shoulder. “You’re as much a person here as I am.” She said. “So don’t worry about them trying to scratch you as long as I’m around.”
It was hard to say, really, which one of them was more surprised to hear her say that. Certainly Jess herself was a little amazed and more than a touch confused as to where it had come from. She barely knew Dev, really.
And yet, it was true. Whether it was that she felt sorry for the kid, or that she felt responsible for her wasn’t really important.
“Thank you.” Dev said, after a moment. “So that’s why I asked if you were upset, and I was hoping it wasn’t at me.” She gravely studied Jess’s face. “And I’m very sorry you don’t feel well. I hope it gets better soon.”
Jess relaxed. She lowered her hand to her knee and settled slowly back against the wall, not bothering to hide a grimace now. “I’m sure it will be.” She sighed. “Never get stabbed in the back, Dev. It takes forever to heal and hurts like hell.”
Dev watched the sharp profile across from her, wondering if it was a trick of the half light or if Jess really looked for a moment as sad as those words sounded. Then her companion shifted a little and the impression was gone.
“Okay.” Dev went back to scavenging her box. “I’ll try to remember that.” She added. “It’s too bad you don’t have null grav here. That’s where I went when I hurt my leg in training. It made it feel better.”
Jess thought about that. “Well.” She finished her roll and dug out the sweet cake. “No, we don’t have null gravity here, but you know, water’s almost as good.”
Dev immediately looked interested. “Like the shower?”
“No.” Jess shook her head. “The gym pool maybe. It’s going to be too rough to go surf the caverns tonight.” She glanced up , to where clouds were now skudding over them, and the corresponding wind was picking up. “Want to join me later?”
“In the pool?” Dev asked.
Jess nodded. “I forgot the pool’s pretty good for therapy. Gets the G’s off you.”
“Yes, absolutely.” Dev’s eyes brightened. “Maybe you can show me how to swim. I didn’t have a lot of success with that.” She finished her tube of water and folded everything up, putting it back into the container neatly.
“What the hell made you just jump in?” Jess asked.
“I just wanted to feel what it was like.” Her companion said. “I never had any programming at all about that so I thought the fastest way for me to learn about it was to just do it.” She added. “It’s like that sometimes for us. You find a hole, and you want to fill it in.”
Jess considered that. “Interesting philosophy.” She admitted.
Dev smiled. She set the package down and got up, walking over to the edge of the platform and putting her hands on the railing.
The wind was coming up, and it was a little exciting to her to be facing into it, feeling the pressure of it against her skin as it blew her hair back and made her blink.
It felt a little wild and unpredictable. Dev decided she really liked that, as she watched the ruffled white capped darkness of the sea below them, lit by the lower outside lights of the citadel. She could hear the thunder of the surf below, and after a second, as though in counterpoint, thunder from above in the thick layer of clouds over head.
“Don’t get any ideas.” Jess placed her hands on the steel rail next to Dev’s. “Jumping in that would be a fast lesson but very very short.”
Dev chuckled a little. “We’re curious, but not generally self destructive.” She commented. “I know the difference.” She studied the view, and exhaled. “This is so amazing though. It’s like looking out at the stars in the crèche but better. So unlimited.”
Jess leaned on the rail and pondered that, watching Dev out of the corner of her eye as the spray dusted her skin. “Unlimited?”
Dev nodded, pointing out at the horizon. “It goes on a long way but you can tell that. The stars – you can’t really tell how far back they go so this gives you a better look at something big.” She clarified. “It seems more real.”