Beyond the End of the World, Lokians 1

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

The mess hall was extraordinarily busy, but spotting Humans was always an easy task. O'Hara waved when he and Swain made eye contact. The big man ran off to get something to eat before joining his mates.

"What's the word, Cap? I hear we're traveling for like seven days or somethin'," Martinez asked between bites.

"Yeah," O'Hara sighed. "There's no way to travel through the center of the galaxy, so the chief navigator, At-Emon, arranged a series of jumps to Sahagun."

"Shit's wild," Fitzpatrick said.

"Now, I was, um, wondering how everyone's holding up," O'Hara went on.

"Best as we can, Captain," Swain said.

"Yeah, you know, we been talkin' among ourselves and what not, ya' heard? We figure you been bottlin' up," Martinez added.

In an exasperated tone, the captain admitted he didn't want to even think about what happened back on Marduk. "I mean, we've never been to war. I'm just not sure how to deal with all of this and everything."

Swain put his bear-like hand on the captain's shoulder; a symbol of solidarity. "You know, no one blames you, right? We're your crew, and we always give everything we have because you do the same."

"Thanks. I just wish I had a better grasp on this situation. I'm supposed to make sure everyone's okay, you know?" he complained.

"Sir, if I may," Nandesrikahl chimed in. O'Hara nodded. "We need to focus on the upcoming task. There's a very real chance that Sahagun will have a Lokian presence."

"Yeah," he sighed, shoveling some purple jelly down his gullet. Looking at their expressions of acceptance, he returned a sad smile. "What the Hell are we eating, anyway?"

"Fuck if I know, but that shit taste goood," Martinez grinned.

They all enjoyed a brief laugh. "Okay, so, what've you guys been up to? Learn anything," O'Hara pried.

Swain beamed with pride, saying, "Well, Sir, I have personally worked side-by-side with our alien friends. We're trying to make new ammunition. See, we were working with an Element-115 alloy, I can't call it what they do, so we call it Swainium," he said.

They all laughed again. "Swainium, huh?" Fitzpatrick interrupted.

"How's it working out," Zakowski asked.

"Haven't made much progress, I'm afraid; still need to test the bullets, but it's all very interesting. I'll keep you posted."

"Man, why ain't you tell me?" Marty joked. "Lemme' give you a hand with that. I wanna' blow some shit up."

"What about you," O'Hara asked Nandesrikahl.

"I spent some time pouring over historical and cultural data. Our friends are not so different from us, to say the least. O' course, some big changes occurred once their planet was destroyed. They had to give up their arts; music, dancing, all the things we take for granted," he breathed. "I must say, this Lokian threat is far wider than we had assumed. Certainly, they spell doom, but even the survivors are relegated to a mere fraction of their former grace...our Thewlian friends are vastly dissimilar, far more than, say, Human colonists compared with home worlders."

Home worlders was a term reserved for Humans born and raised on Earth. The few times O'Hara had met them they were somehow different in the way they comported themselves. That made him think about the Thewls, and how different their lives on their home world must have been. A familiar face approached the table, breaking his concentration.