The Ninth: Invasion by Benjamin Schramm

Author:Benjamin Schramm
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

It took some effort, but Brent managed to explain the mess to Hiroko without embarrassing Cassandra further. The captain mentioned when the last jump would take place and left in a hurry. He was civil, but it was apparent he didn’t like Mrs. Lucchesi. Although, she was too busy verbally sparring with Cain to notice. The children roped Brent and Cassandra into playing with them. He was surprised how well she got along with Miyako. In fact, she seemed almost carefree around the children. He wondered if it had something to do with raising baby animals. Cassandra caught him staring and started to blush. Hiroyuki stopped playing with the others and walked up to her.

“Why does your face do that?” he asked innocently.

“Don’t be stupid,” Miyako stuck her tongue out at Hiroyuki. “It means she’s in love.”

“Yuck. That’s girl stuff.”

“It is indeed,” Penny said warmly, “and one day you’ll start to like girls. When that happens all that yucky girl stuff will suddenly be very important to you.”

“No way! I’ll never like them!” Hiroyuki stuck his tongue out at his sister.

Penny giggled when all the boys stuck out their tongues at the girls.

“I’m going to be brave like him!” Hiroyuki stood proudly next to Brent. “I’m never going to like girls.”

“Should I tell him?” Penny asked Brent with a smile.

“Tell me what?” the boy asked.

“That if you want to be like me, you’ll have to work really hard,” Brent said, kneeling down to Hiroyuki’s level.

“I’m not scared of that.”

“That’s good,” Cassandra said, her blush slightly fading. “And when you get really brave, you’ll protect everyone, won’t you?”

“Everyone? Even my sister?”

“Especially your sister,” she said with a smile.

“Do I really have to?” Hiroyuki asked Brent, trying to get out of it.

“I’m afraid so,” he said with a chuckle. “Brave people protect everyone. Even if they are yucky girls.”

“Now you go off and play with the others.” Penny gestured to the other children. “I need to talk to Brent.”

The three watched as the children started running around in a game that made sense only to them.

“What’s wrong?” Cassandra asked.

“I hate to break you guys up, but it’s time for lunch. Don’t want to miss the last meal before we get to Eos.”

“Wouldn’t that be a shame?” Cassandra asked, groaning. “My stomach is already longing for some D rations.”

Penny chuckled as the three headed off to the mess room. As they left the cargo bay, the citizens were busy packing up their belongings. The rest of the troopers were already eating by the time they arrived. Most of the seats were taken, with only a few scattered vacancies around the cramped tables.

“Thanks for waiting,” Penny said, sarcastically.

“What took you guys so long?” Doug asked.

“Had to break up daycare.”

“I thought that was all a joke about them being Cassandra’s kids.” Hiroko shot a glance at Cassandra.

“It was, it was,” Kindra said reassuringly.

“So Cain, what’s Eos like?” Erin asked.

“Big, well developed . . . big.” Cain took a drink out of his glass.

“What an amazing description,” Angela said with a snicker.

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