Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (35 page)

"Taste
it! It's good."

It
was sort of cute, the way she was pushing pie at them literally, so she took a
fork from a wicker basket of them and dug in. It was a little too sweet for her
taste, but not bad really. The pie crust was too dense and not half as delicate
as she could have made it. Alphonse tried it too, taking several bites.

"Very
nice!" He said it like he was complimenting her cooking skills. Which,
after a fashion he was.

Tiera
beamed anyway. Everyone wanted to know they did good work and she was picky
about pie, meaning the girl was probably good at making it. She'd be willing to
finish it after all.

"Yes.
We brought several tons of rocks and sand with us for it, so that we could pull
our own weight. That plus..." She didn't want to bring up the topic, but
Wistra snickered a bit and leaned in.

"You
mean, what happens to the waste? We use another one of these and turn it into
sand, then use that for the mass."

Tiera
stuck out her tongue.

"No,
you
don't
. This one won't make sand. I... actually have that device
though. With me. It can make a lot more than that too. We should get that out
later, and show it off. In a few days though. That... Well it makes sense,
especially if it's already the rumor. Good to know I'm not the only one to
think of that. I feel better."

The
tiny girl looked at her, as if she might just be being made fun of. Tiera let
her think that though, for a bit. It didn't matter and she'd learn better.

After
that, plan or not, she went to her room, grabbed a piece of Focus Stone tile
from her things and closed her eyes for a while. It was late when she opened
them again, but the stone glowed a cheery red color on one half. The other was
blue.

The
idea was pretty simple, when you activated either side, the coating of virtual
particles would either move very fast, or slow down to near stopping. Only on
the top, and it wasn't a huge thing, but she set it on the deck before trying
it, using a bit of intent on first the hot side, then the cold. It was so
obvious that it worked that she didn't really need to do more. She did anyway,
taking it with her to the dining room.

There
she dropped it into a Guide glass filled with water from the machine and
mentally reached in and triggered it to cold. The whole thing froze in place instantly.
Alphonse and Karina were there and noticed it, so they came over to look.

The
Prince used a huge hand to point at it. "Neat. I'm not certain why we need
rapid freezing, but it's certainly cold. I can feel it from here. It's like
it's reaching out for us."

She
thought about that.

"More
like it's drinking the real heat in the room and from us. A slight redesign of
the heat banks here and all of it can be gotten rid of this way. Not that this
is how I'd do it. This is just to see what would happen. It can get hot
too." With a though she turned the other side on, which did nothing, for
about ten seconds, then the whole thing exploded all over them. It was loud and
made her jump a bit. Then the room started to heat up, fast. It caused all
their shields to kick on.

"Oops.
Sorry." They weren't wet, thanks to the shields being so good and the fact
that the main body of the frozen water had flown into the ceiling with great
speed, then crashed into a lot of tiny bits that had fallen all around them.

She
focused for a moment and turned the thing off.

Then
acting as if it were all totally normal, she looked around and shrugged.

"So,
dinner?"

No
one laughed at her though. One of the crewmen got a broom to start sweeping the
mess up, but that was her job, having made it, so she grabbed the thing with a
tense grin and got to work. It didn't take that long, since the floor was
smooth and free of nooks or crannies for things to catch in. The man even had a
small pan for picking up the bits of ice. The glass was fine, since it was made
of shield material, like almost everything around them, but she set it with the
others that were dirty, on a tray over to the side. The bits of ice and water
went into the hopper at the back of the food unit, which got the man that had provided
the cleaning gear to frown.

"Can
we do that? I thought the machine only used rock." The black haired man
didn't seem upset, just a bit like he didn't want to harm the device too much
and get in trouble. That, or run out of food.

She
handed the broom back, extending it straight up and down, with one hand, so it
wouldn't look to threatening.

"Oh,
sure. It will take almost anything. Water, old food scraps from things people
didn't eat, all that. Technically it could work off of air, but that isn't very
efficient." It would take hours to get a single sandwich after all.

The
man took the broom and then the dustpan and walked away. He was in his
twenties, and Austran, but only had a blue stripe on his cuff. That was
middling low in position, she thought. He came back however and kept chatting
with them.

"Well,
I'm supposed to have this watch, helping any of you guests that need it to get
something to eat. Any requests?"

Alphonse
had one, which got the man to look at him like he was being difficult on
purpose. It was a bit funny, since the man also seemed fairly relaxed about
serving the Noram Prince. That likely meant he didn't get that part. Still, a
giant, which was impressive compared to his own six feet, Tiera thought. The
man crossed his arms and made a face.

"Cream
chicken with rosemary potato mash and a white wine? How about a redi-burger and
fries? I can actually do that one."

Tiera
cleared the man out of the way a bit aggressively, taking him gently by the
shoulder, and pulling him to the side, then got a fine looking Guide plate from
the stack and set the meal up.

The
technician looked at it, sitting there on the dish, and shook his head.

"I
can't do that one, sorry." It was cute, and Karina chuckled then moved in
for her own plate, doing the work herself.

She
came out with a wonderful looking display that seemed to be fish with a light
lemon sauce from the scent of it. It was at least as pretty as what Tiera had
gotten Alphonse, so she smirked a little, as if it was the same as cooking or
something.

Tiera
shrugged and held her plate out to the man.

"That
redi-burger? Is that an Austran thing? The food there is horrible, but it's
always good to try new things." She wasn't wrong. The anemic looking thing
was on a bun, after a fashion, but it seem wilted and like it wanted to die.
The meat inside, if it was that at all, was actually a brownish gray color. The
fries looked slightly cold and wrinkled too.

There
was a lot of red sauce on the plate though, which was there to cover the rest
of the food, she didn't doubt.

Set
up for the meal they moved to the closest table and started eating. Her meal
wasn't good, but it was edible, after a fashion. The meat tasted like nuts, a
bit. If she imagined that really hard. The potatoes were there too, and so
bland that only the vast amount of salt on the outside saved them. She didn't
complain. It wasn't the only poor meal she was ever going to eat after all.

Tiera
watched the crew come in for their meals. Their technician, who hadn't given a
name, didn't help anyone not in brown at all, and most of those did the work
themselves anyway. On average people didn't get great food. It looked sloppy
and a bit haphazard. When Maris came in, along with Sheri, about twenty minutes
later, she waved them over.

"Maris!
Sheri!" A heavy handed and probably mean idea occurred to her, but the
food wasn't great so far, so why not? The worst they could be told was no.
"After you eat, would you help..." She had to pause and look at the
man, who winked at her, as if they were friends already. She could have felt
put out, but he had made her supper, so she decided to let that go.

"Tech
Second, Weaver."

"Right,
help Weaver here set up meals for everyone? That way you can practice for your
new restaurant." Or, Maris could, but both girls nodded as if it were
simply a thing.

The
Tech Second looked ready to revolt at having his job stolen, until he saw the creations
that were on the lady's plates. Then, still seeming a bit put out, he stepped
back and looked away. Tiera wasn't certain, but she thought he might have been
mumbling about Redi-burgers.

They
all sat for a while and watched things change subtly, over the next few hours.
There wasn't a lot to do, so Tiera finally got up and requested cleaning
supplies. People still spilled things and left crumbs after all, so the tables
had to be kept clean. They could be traded out, but that just meant dumping
stuff on the floor, and while that could be changed too, turning the whole ship
off seemed like a poor plan.

So
it was, that after a few hours the Captain came in himself, to find Tiera and
Karina going from table to table, cleaning, and the all black woman and her
sandy haired companion manning the food unit and Alphonse sweeping the floor,
from one side to the other. Tech Second Weaver had gone off shift and was
replaced with a commoner woman from Noram that was about his age, but so meek
and quiet that they hadn't even gotten her name, unless that was
actually
"eep, sir."

The
man stood in the door of the space, watching for a bit, then moved in with a
smile.

"Tiera,
isn't it? I wasn't aware that you planned on working the cruise."

She
didn't know how to salute or anything, so tried to stand straight, since that
was a thing too, she thought. All the military types did that.

"Yes,
sir. We'll set up something like this for all the dining rooms, if you wish?
Everyone was told to come ready to work. Can we get you something to eat? Maris
is very good and can probably come up with anything you want."

"Oh?
Wonderful, I haven't had a good steak in ages."

That
got Maris to question him closely for a bit, and provide a nice venison steak,
instead of beef, with a rice pilaf on the side, along with a small green salad
with a light dressing.

The
man sat at the closest table to the machine, then started to eat. It was a bit
hesitant, but after a bit he grew more interested in the meal. He had some
papers, and made notes about something while he ate, not able to let go of work
even for those few moments. That was probably why he had the job.

When
he finished he set his own dishes on the table with their amulets, so they
could be turned off.

"Very
good, thank you, Maris was it?" He looked at the woman closely and seemed
to finally get that she was actually very attractive. It was hard to see,
unless you looked close. Then he rounded on Tiera, who was, she realized, was
probably a family member of his. That meant it was fair game, him asking her to
do things, even if she
hadn't
come ready to work. "Would you set
that up? Try to teach our people how to make their own. The better the food
quality, the happier everyone will be. We could also use an off loading crew,
if you have extra people with spare time? It isn't fun work, but we have a
string of craft coming in with colony supplies. That's why we have extra time
in orbit. Extra hands can't hurt."

She
nodded, since that would probably go over better with the fighters than wiping
tables would.

Then
the man left, without saying much else at all. He looked at her for a long
time, from the door, but walked away after that.

It
took a long time to find everyone, but once she got with Kolb it was easy enough.
He'd already arranged her family into a messenger service, which made some
sense really, and sent Tenet around to collect people for a work detail. Then
they all met up in the hangar next to the one they came off in. There were six
of them, she learned from one of the techs that was walking around quickly,
looking harried. She was an Austran woman too, but didn't seem to want to have
to put up with a bunch of rowdy kids.

"In
here then. If the Captain ordered it. Let's go." She sounded almost
miserable and her stringy hair and slightly wrinkled face didn't seem like
anything near a smile landed there hardly at all. Tiera thought she understood
it, having had deep grief herself once, and touched her mind, just to see.

She
recoiled in horror.

Tiera
had, on more than one occasion been about to kill herself, or at least let
herself die, in her grief over losing her friend. She'd thought that was the
bottom of what a human could withstand, and not just die. This woman in front
of her was in so much pain that Tiera walked over to her and gave her a hug. It
was vastly out of place, but the woman simply held her back for a bit.

"Don't
worry, we'll work. We might do it
wrong
, but we'll do what we're
told."

There
were ten of them in the room with her, including several fighters, a very calm
woman who was clearly from the meditation section, and Sam Builder. For over an
hour, they ran, moving crates, boxes and sacks. They all had to be accounted
for too, so the sad woman stood with her papers and special Austran pen that
didn't need an inkwell and wrote, as people called things off to her.