It was an awful thing to say, especially to someone who had leaped into danger to rescue me, and I didn’t know why I felt the need to tell him. I convinced myself that DJ deserved the truth and that he had a right to know where he stood, but I think it was just easier to push him away than to admit that there was a small part of me that was maybe glad I’d woken up in space. That, dying aside, meeting DJ was probably the most alive I’d felt in a long time.
I expected DJ to hate me. I expected him to call me selfish, to storm off, to even take a swing at me, despite his claim that he was a pacifist. I wouldn’t have blamed him. It would have hurt, but he would’ve been justified. What he did was so much worse, though. He nodded slowly, looked at me, smiled, and said, “It’s cool; I get it.”
“DJ, I—”
“Just so you know, I don’t regret saving you, and I’d do it again.” DJ left to finish searching the ship, and it was a long time before I followed.
FOUR
I WAS THINKING THAT DJ and I had made a mistake preventing Qriosity from exploding, and then we found the galley. I loved it so much that I considered dragging in a mattress from the crew quarters and sleeping there. There were two massive ovens, an induction stovetop, and wide, expansive counters where I could spread out while I baked and never worry about not having enough space. And it was outfitted with every piece of equipment I could possibly need, including some whose function was a mystery but that I desperately wanted to play with.
On the other side of a half wall was a dining area that was dominated by an oval table surrounded by six chairs. Unlike in other rooms, the scruffy, ramshackle quality of the mismatched chairs and the table’s chipped paint gave the galley a warm, homey, comfortable vibe. Whoever had crewed Qriosity before us had congregated here. I could practically smell the meals that had been cooked and hear the laughter that had soaked into the walls.
For a moment, I nearly forgot that I was stranded on a ship far from home. But only for a moment.
Jenny found me and DJ in the galley not long after we’d arrived, and we decided it was as good a place as any to sit down and share what we’d discovered.
“There’s a recreation room with couches and some type of game system called Mind’s Eye,” Jenny was saying. I was only partly listening because I was busy watching DJ tear the wrapper off a meal replacement bar he’d found.
“You’re not going to eat that, are you?” I asked, interrupting Jenny.
DJ froze like he’d been caught with his hand in a stranger’s pocket. He tilted the bar he was holding so that I could see the word “Nutreesh” written on the metallic wrapper in an eager serif font. The bar itself looked like a hamster turd. “Yes?”
“You have no idea what it’s made from,” I said.
DJ sniffed it and shrugged. “Put some in you.”
“I’d rather put cyanide in me.” I watched DJ bite off the end, and figured it was a good sign when he didn’t immediately drop dead.
“Well?” Jenny asked. “Is it any good? I’m hungry.”
“Depends.” DJ finished chewing, swallowed, and chased it with a gulp of water. “Have you ever eaten paper?”
“No,” Jenny said.
“Want to?” DJ held up a second bar and waved it in the air.
“Hell no,” I said at the same time as Jenny said, “Why not?”
The horror I felt must have been plain on my face as DJ slid the Nutreesh bar across to Jenny because he said, “What? We’ve got to eat something, and this is technically food.”
“I don’t want to eat food that looks like it might have once been roaches.”
Jenny, who’d barely gotten the wrapper off before taking her first bite, licked the crumbs from her lips. “Definitely not roaches.”
I suppressed a shudder. “I seriously don’t want to know how you know that.”
“It’s got a nutty flavor,” she said, ignoring me. “With a hint of ginger.” Jenny touched the tip of her tongue to the uneaten portion of the bar. “Cinnamon, too. And something else I can’t quite place.”
“Roaches,” I said again. “Either way, I’m not eating it.”
DJ finished his Nutreesh and folded the crinkly wrapper into a tight square before slipping it into his pocket. “You might have to.”
“I’ll barbecue and eat one of you before I eat whatever that crap is.” I had been trying to avoid thinking about how long we were going to be stuck on Qriosity. While it might have been possible there was someone hiding on the ship who could help us, there was as much chance of that as there was of Nutreesh not being roaches.
“You should eat me first,” Jenny said with her mouth full. “DJ looks like he’d be tough, and you barely have any meat on you at all.”
“If you’re volunteering—”
DJ looked horrified. “Maybe we could talk about something other than who we’re gonna eat first.”
“I was joking.” I threw a mournful glance at the galley. “None of the equipment works anyway. Apparently, it’s all non-essential.”
“Anyone want to talk about why we’re here?” Jenny asked. “Who kidnapped us? What do they want with us?” She shoved the last bite of Nutreesh into her mouth. “I bet we’ve been kidnapped by aliens to be part of their intergalactic zoo.”
“It’s not aliens,” I said.
“It might be,” Jenny said. “They might want to study us or cut us open and see what our insides look like.”
I threw up my hands. “Why does it always have to be extermination or gruesome experiments when it comes to aliens? Why can’t the aliens ever want to hang out and smoke a bowl?”
DJ said, “I’m with Noa,” and offered me a supportive smile. “Besides, why would aliens abduct us and give us a ship?”
Jenny twisted her hair around her finger. “Maybe the aliens saw that Earth was going to be hit by an asteroid capable of obliterating humanity, so they kidnapped us to give us a chance to find a habitable planet to settle on where we could repopulate the species.”
“No offense, Jenny,” I said, “but I’m not having babies with you.”
“I wasn’t offering.” Jenny motioned at DJ. “But the flirty eyes DJ’s been giving you since I got out of the toilet tells me he might be willing to give it a shot.”
DJ’s face was strawberry red to the tips of his ears, and he kept stumbling over his words, trying to get them out. “Could we please stop talking about anyone getting anyone else pregnant?”
“We’re talking about saving the human race,” Jenny said. “And your babies would be so pretty.”
“They really would be, as long as they don’t get my ears.” I shrugged at DJ. “I’m willing to give it a go if you are. You know, for humanity or whatever.”
I kept my face straight for as long as I could before I lost it laughing, and Jenny joined in, making a noise that sounded like what I imagined a baby elephant being tickled might make. DJ was the only one not laughing, and I wouldn’t have believed it was possible for anyone’s face to get that red if I hadn’t seen it myself. He looked like he was going to have a stroke.