Just Another Mission (February 2019, Round 1, Day 2)
“I don’t know how I’m going to make it all the way until Friday.”
“The same way you always do.”
Gad-lea glared at her friend. “I’ve never had this much to worry about, Luc-mir.”
“Not having faced this before doesn’t mean you won’t be able to manage it this time”
Gad-lea slapped the table and began pacing the hallway.
“Look,” Luc-mir continued, raising her voice to be heard over the heavy foot falls, “you’re going to do whatever you NEED to do because that’s just who you are. Why else do you think they assigned you?”
That stopped Gad-lea’s pacing and Luc-mir, her back still to her friend, smiled. After several long moments, Luc-mir turned and asked “you didn’t parse that out on your own?”
“Shit.”
“And she’s back.” Luc-mir was rewarded with her friend’s loud harumph. “It’s good, Gad-lea. YOU’RE good, and Friday will be here soon enough. Can we please eat now?”
The two of them ate together most evenings, though usually dinner was a casual affair thrown together in the moments before meal time. The elaborate meal Gad-lea had made to distract herself was laying untouched on the table. Luc-mir masked another smile with a yawn as Gad-lea jumped and started fussing over the food.
:”The real question,” Luc-mir teased after they’d made a dent in the meal, “is what you think you’re going to find.”
Gad-lea swallowed carefully and put down her fork. “I have a strong guess.”
“Really?” Luc-mir leaned foward in her chair and grabbed another hunk of bread. “Spill it.”
In a voice so small Luc-mir struggled to hear the words, Gad-lea said, “I think they’re all dead.”
Luc-mir froze, her hand still extended over the table. “Why?”
“Why do I think that?”
“No. Why are they dead?”
“I’m not-”
“Gad-lea, don’t dance around it. Humility doesn’t become you. Why are they dead?”
“I’m still working that part out.”
Luc-mir unfroze and started absently nibbling on the bread she’d grabbed. It wasn’t like Gad-lea to not know the answers right away. Instead on lingering over that oddity, Luc-mir asked “why would Aerex send you if not to mount a rescue?”
“I can think of two reasons.”
When Gad-lea went back to eating instead of answering, Luc-mir pressed on. “Care to share those reasons out loud?”
“Sorry.” Gad-lea poured more wine for the two of them. “Reason number one – Aerex doesn’t know they’re dead.”
Luc-mir chewed on this thought as well as the bread. Aerex seemed to know everything about everyone on this planet and was certainly representing itself as if it had that same level of knowledge about their neighbors. She waved her hand for Gad-lea to continue.
“Watch it – I don’t want crumbs in my wine.” After brushing some crumbs off the table, Gad-lea continued. “Reason number two – Aerex isn’t planning on me making it back.”
“Ha!’ Luc-mir’s bark of laughter echoed in the room. “You are – you’ve always been – the golden girl at Aerex. Where’d you come up with such a pessimistic idea?”