Lyin' Guys by J.S. Morin

Author:J.S. Morin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643551265
Publisher: Magical Scrivener Press

Brad had given up and decided to go back to the Radio City and just watch holovids until his eyes fell out. Unfortunately, the sheer size of the Nazareth robbed his decision of immediacy. A spur-of-the-moment solution to boredom turned into a half-hour chore of infantry maneuvering.

His time out in the open and in plain sight made him a slow-moving target.

“Um, Brad?” The voice with his name rang like Christmas bells.

Stopping instantly, he sought the source.

One of May’s flatpics had sprung to life. Betty and Kristi approached, clad in matching school uniforms, as was Joan, the one who’d called out to him.

Brad raised a hand in a casual wave. “Hi.” He didn’t trust himself with more words than that until he took a mental inventory.

May had never introduced them.

They’d sat through the Bible class together.

He shouldn’t know about the million extracurriculars they shared with May.

They all carried partially eaten ice cream cones from one of the little shops around the ship. Commenting that he’d happily just hang out with them as they ate seemed like a poor opening line.

“That’s me,” he added as they drew close. His chest tightened with the sudden impression of an antelope as a pack of lionesses closed in.

“Can we talk?” Joan asked.

“It’s about May,” Betty added.

Brad put up his hands and retreated a step. “I don’t know what May told you…”

“That’s the problem,” Kristi said with a huff. “She won’t tell us.”

“We’re worried about her,” Joan continued, forcing Brad to keep snapping his head to follow the conversation as it jumped from girl to girl as they surrounded him in a rough semi-circle and backed him against the corridor wall.

It wasn’t even one of the corridors with a row of escape pods or a loose air vent.

“Maybe she just wants some time alone?” Brad ventured with a shrug.

“May’s not like that,” Joan stated firmly, arms crossed. “We’ve all been through something horrible, but she’s closing up instead of dealing with it.”

“We all saw the counselor,” Betty mentioned.

Kristi nodded. “But she won’t.”

“I’m sure she’ll be OK,” Brad reassured them. “Everyone deals with shit their own way.” He was past caring about their word cops.

Joan raised a finger. “That, too. She told off Betty using language I won’t repeat.”

“She did?” Brad asked, unable to hide the hints of a grin.

“It’s not funny,” Joan scolded. “But you were the last one to see her before the pirate attack. So, like, what happened to her? Did she see someone get shot, or… or hurt somehow?”

Brad suppressed his eye-roll. He’d heard the rumors too. Some of the shit the plouph had done to passengers wasn’t fit for polite discussion. But listening to May’s friends was like a skip on one of Dad’s vinyl records. Their brains just hopped over to the next groove when they couldn’t process.

Here’s where it got tricky. He didn’t know how much or how little May had either told someone or let slip.

“Look. I’m no expert. I’ve seen some shit, so it doesn’t bother me as much.

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