Third Colony (Galena Chronicles Book 2) by Samuel Best

Author:Samuel Best [Best, Samuel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: Sky City
Published: 2022-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

MERRITT

Merritt clicked on the electric lamp near the long work table inside his home. Chill night air poured in through the open door as Kellan stood in the entryway, admiring the inside of the corrugated metal dome. He walked over to the long table, his eyes sweeping over several of Merritt’s unfinished repair projects.

Uda appeared in the doorway, but didn’t enter the home.

Her eyes flicked to Kellan with more than a glint of distrust before finding Merritt’s. “I’ll say good night. Toma will be wondering where I am.”

Merritt nodded.

Kellan turned to her with a wide grin. “Good night, Uda, and thank you.”

She nodded quickly and walked away. Kellan sighed pleasantly and turned his attention back to the work table.

“I’m to understand Toma is her child?”

“That’s right,” Merritt replied as he crouched next to a small, dented electric heater. He plugged it in to a dirty power strip and the lamp next to his work table dimmed considerably. “One of a handful of children born since the crash.” He pulled out a metal bowl filled with dark brown stew from a low cabinet and placed it atop the stove. “Food will be ready soon.”

Kellan looked at the stove, an amused smile tugging at his lips. “It already smells great.” He touched the corner of one of Henry Tolbard’s paper maps, pulling it closer to him. “Tell me about your son’s field trip.”

Merritt stirred the stew absentmindedly while he looked into the shadows at the back of his home, thinking back to what Uda told him less than an hour ago.

Careful.

Behind him, Kellan chuckled. “Did you think I was going to drop shock troops into the colony and round up the farmers?”

Using a spoon crafted from Halcyon scrap metal, Merritt scooped stew into a white bowl carved from the fallen trunk of a Galena tree. Kellan took a long moment to admire both when they were placed in front of him on the table. Merritt filled a bowl for himself and pulled over a tall stool to sit on.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he finally answered, blowing on the hot stew. “I still don’t.”

Kellan took a careful sip off his spoon and tested the flavor. “It’s good, but salt would make it excellent.”

“Haven’t found any of that yet.”

“I brought some. Are we allowed to talk business, just the two of us? Is there some kind of council?”

“No one person makes a major decision,” said Merritt, “but we can still talk.”

Kellan stirred his stew. “Let’s bull through the technical stuff first then, shall we? Anyone in the colony who worked on board the Halcyon has no responsibility to any Earth government. Their contracts were with the employers who placed them on the starliner. Scientists like Dr. James and any surviving military personnel signed two year contracts, which they will have fulfilled four times over by now. I expect some of these folks will be wanting a ride home.”

“Some, yes,” Merritt said between bites.

Kellan set down his bowl of stew. “And those who

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.