Nightfall
Chapter 8

I awoke to soft shaking; Andromeda was shaking me awake. I stared at her blearily not quite sure where I was or who she was for a minute before it all came back in a rush, and I immediately made to stand. I faltered and got knotted within the blanket lying over me, falling over the side of the bunk bed.

Thunk!

“Oww,” I muttered as I untangled myself from the blanket and stood.

Andromeda was chuckling. “You are very entertaining., Mathew Crowly.”

I snorted. “T-thanks I-I think.” I didn’t ask how she knew my name. She did have my triphone still.

Moving to fold the blanket, Andromeda stopped me. “We need to get to the satellite and you still need to eat breakfast. The servants will do the blanket in a few.”

She led me out of the med bay and further down the hall where the said hall was partitioned in two. We turned right and kept going for a few minutes. The thrum of loud noise could be heard echoing through the hall. We went through a crystal tunnel that was human-made and came to a huge cavern, where a mess hall was situated.

As I came closer to where they served the food, I could spot cereal and milk. It was unlike any cereal I had ever seen. First, it was green. It was shaped like a piece of lint with the same consistency. Second, it smelled like dirty socks. I scrunched my nose at the food.

Andromeda served me and herself, grabbing what looked like a loaf of black bread that oozed yellow honey. I turned to her as she bit into it.

She offered a piece. “It’s good.”

Taking the piece I popped it into my mouth and bit down. The stale taste of wheat mixed with the sweet taste of honey. I grabbed a loaf and went on. They had red juice that wasn’t strawberry or punch. It was from a red plant that looked like a pea plant. The peas were used in juice or so Andromeda told me. It tasted like cranberry juice, so I had nothing to complain about. I’d had worse. Far worse.

Andromeda led me to a bench full of people. With them were my crew being the picky eaters that they were. Bart would eat anything. Lana didn’t have to eat if she didn’t want to, and Jude was choking on the bread and making a face. As I neared, I watched as the usual banter between them died and they faced me with various faces. What was this about? What did Jude do now?

As always Jude was the first to attack. He pushed aside his tray, his eyes gleaming eerily. “If it isn’t the man of the hour?”

Lana sighed and scrunched her eyes in confusion. “Who, Jude? Matt? He isn’t the man of the hour yet.”

“He hasn’t fixed the telescope,” muttered Bart gazing intently at me. I fidgeted with the zipper of my pants suit. I wasn’t used to the attention.

“S-sat-satellite,” I muttered bringing my tray to the table but standing around awkwardly. It was Andromeda’s dry cough that startled me enough to sit down and eat the rest of my breakfast. I poured the yellow milk on my green flakes and brought them to my face. Pinching my nose, I swallowed a spoonful. It was surprisingly sweet with the milk and didn’t taste as it smelled thankfully.

“Yes, Sam I am! I can eat Green eggs and ham,” muttered Jude staring at what looked like green eggs. I had skipped those not wanting to try my luck so soon and Andromeda steered me clear of them. Honestly, I didn’t want to eat anything that came out looking like that from a chicken. If it came from a chicken at all.

“Where d-did t-those c-come from?” I found myself asking.

Andromeda grinned. “Not from a chicken,” she said and Jude paled.

“Then from what?” he asked poking them.

“Stop playing with your food!” Lana growled and Bart scoffed.

“Why is everyone glancing at Jude’s eggs like they’re a biohazard?” asked Bart taking in the way the people would glance up from their convos to glance at Jude.

“Last person who tried those ended up incubated with an intestinal fungus,” said Andromeda shrugging.

Jude paled significantly looking more like the undead with each second. He put his rice napkin down on the eggs and turned them away. “No Sam I am I will not eat green eggs with ham…no sir. Where do they come from?”

“The queen Sakura of the symbiote’s nest. It’s the only type of eggs there are,” she said scooping them up and eating them. “They’re a delicacy. I couldn’t let you eat the last of the batch.”

She smiled and got up tray in hand.

Lana laughed. “She pwned you!”

“R-rather s-skillfully,” I added smiling.

Jude grunted and folded his arms. “Like you weren’t freaked out by what she said.”

Bart snorted but nodded. He had been and everyone around had acted sketchy too. Was it not a complete myth then?

I ate the last of my flakes and was pulled to the side by Andromeda “Come on we are late!” she said and we hurried out of the mess hall. We left through another man-made tunnel. It took us all the way to the red-carpeted hallway where we veered left and continued down the hall. Finally, the metal door reading 8294 D stood in front of us. Andromeda opened it and I went inside to fix the HANSEL satellite.

I ducked under the door and came to the Satellite inspecting it. It would use up the last of my connectors and repair liquid. I got to work crossing wires and eliminating knots in the cables. I used brand new cable to start rewiring from the beginning. It would take some work but if I lay the foundations this day then the rest should be a snap.

I wouldn’t need even a week at this rate to fix the satellite. The problem with the wiring wasn’t as bad as it looked. I took apart and redid the main frame of the satellite. It still needed work though. All in all the job was proving to be easy. I was waiting for the proverbial bottom to fall out from under me.

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