Encounters

Chapter Six

"I'm okay lass. Stop fretting!" Mike exclaimed as Cassandra took hold of his arm to help him over the threshold. "You're treating me like I'm made of glass!"

Cassandra ignored this and watched intently as he sat in his favourite armchair.

"Do you want some tea? Coffee? Are you hungry? Want a sandwich? Or I have a steak pie in the oven?"

"Cass!" Mike held up his hands in surrender, laughing. "I'm fine! Really. If I want a sandwich, I know where the kitchen is. Although a cuppa sounds great, if you're having one." Cassandra went to make them both tea, glad that Mike was home and seemed to be fine. She couldn't quite believe that he was really okay hence her careful treatment of him, but over the next few weeks, she began to hope that everything really would be fine and that he was back to stay. Mike was his old self, laughing, cracking jokes and annoying her to death by playing his awful old country music at top volume then shouting over it to make himself heard. Cassandra hugged him often and although he gruffly told her to stop her nonsense, he seemed pleased at the extra attention. She hadn't heard from Amitiel since he'd left her at the hospital, and she felt bad about not having had a chance to say thank you. She decided to go aboard the ship that night for a chat, and to thank him properly. She was a little surprised to realise she had missed him.

Later, when Mike had gone off to his poker game ("be careful!" she had told him and he'd shaken his head at her and ruffled her hair), Cassandra asked to be taken on board. She ended up in a sparse room and after getting her bearings, went off down the corridor that led to the common room.

The room was fairly empty, but Maia was there, clicking away on one of the consoles dotted around. Cassandra walked over, her soft shoes making no sound but Maia still turned before she got there.

"Hello Cassandra."

"Hey Maia, how are you?"

"I am well. I have not seen you in a while."

"No, my Dad was sick." Cassandra pulled a chair over next to her.

"Yes, I had heard. Is all well now?"

Cassandra frowned at her. "Didn't Amitiel tell you?"

Maia didn't meet her gaze, instead turning back to her console. "Tell me what?" she asked, unconvincingly.

"Maia..."

She heaved a sigh, clicked a few buttons and shut the console down. "Shall we go for a coffee?"

They were settled on a squashy couch with mugs of coffee and Cassandra was starting to panic slightly.

"Maia, what is it? Last time I spoke to Ami, he told me he's afraid, I haven't seen him for weeks, I haven't seen him today despite asking Carina to let him know I was on board and now you... You're not being straight with me."

Maia put her mug down on the low table and turned to face Cassandra, her beautiful eyes unreadable. "Amitiel got into terrible trouble for helping your father" she said, bluntly. "The Commitee did not think it was right for one of our kind to help a human who is not a contactee."

Cassandra covered her mouth with both hands. "What did you do to him?" she asked fearfully.

Maia seemed surprised at her tone. "He was told he must work on the ship for two weeks as punishment."

Cassandra let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. "Oh... I was expecting much worse. I thought he was in prison, or beaten, or..."

"Cassandra!" Maia was offended. "We do not punish each other like that! You should know that."