Atana by Starla Night

Author:Starla Night [Night, Starla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wendy Lynn Clark Publishing

Sixteen

Atana

“What do you think?” Sewar asks, like I’m going to be proud he dragged his men off the…let’s see. Half this crew should be resting this shift. The others are on inventory and the Humana dorms. With the envoy due, we really can’t spare this…this…whatever this is.

Because I definitely didn’t order anyone to work on ancient reprocessing units. They’ve both seen better days, but the industrious crew is grinding off centuries of grime as if all our lives depend on it.

I don’t remember reading that this ginormous orbital mover, which has enough nutrient cubes stored to feed a small planet for half a century, is in danger of running out and we need to reprocess more, but like so many things, I’m ready to learn the truth. “Exactly what is this?”

“It’s for Lia.” Sewar sets his feet and oversees the project as if that explains everything.

I refuse to be the last to know something about her again this shift. “Tell me how you got here.”

“Well, we found this old extruder a couple of shifts ago, back before you made clear your feelings on you being her Grundi, and—”

“I don’t have any feelings for her. What feelings are you talking about?”

“Uh-huh,” he says, clearly not listening, “and it looks to be programmed with some sort of Humana structures. Historic ones, anyway. Lia can maybe use it to build herself something to improve her habitat, something we Arrisans wouldn’t know. And then this, here, is a Humana-compatible food reprocessor.”

He hooks his thumbs in his bandoliers, chest puffed in an engineer’s pride for having used ingenuity to solve a complex problem.

“Humana-capable because it’s a science officer model, which means it has the ability to use their rare minerals. We just gotta get some in. Anyway, we’re almost done with ’em, wanted to let you know for when she wakes up.”

“You did all that in the last shift?” I ask.

“I been thinking about it off and on. Came up with the idea a gora ago and kind of lost track. Then the guys asked if there was anything they could do after her attack, so…” He shrugs. “Maybe it’ll help the next time she’s gotta feed an army.”

Wait a click. “Feed an army?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s what she used to do on Humana. ‘Dinner parties,’ you see, is basically high-volume logistics for mobile infantry. It’s why she watches us cook the puff-nutes. She’s taking notes for mobilizing the next sortie.”

I have apparently missed quite a bit on my nightly walks, and Trisula and Wakiza never bothered to tell me. I’ve had shifts and shifts to learn about Lia’s past. Maybe they assumed I already knew everything, and yet I know nothing. Literally nothing.

You never thought to ask.

Well, that’s not good.

I clap his shoulder. “Sewar, you’re a problem-solver of the highest caliber. Bring it in when you’re done and get some rest, man. You’ve earned it.”

He stands a little taller. “You think she’ll like it?”

“She’s going to love it and cry tears of happiness and feed a thousand armies.

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