Cole flipped them off, turned, and followed Telok across the bridge, keeping his middle finger prominently displayed the entire time.
Callie and the others laughed. They ate, chatted, and worked as the sun crept higher, and Callie couldn’t help but reflect on her time here in Kaldarak.
The last few months had been…odd. Not bad, but odd. Since Ahmya had moved out of her den to share a place with Rekosh, and Ivy had been busy as a new mother, it felt like their little tribe had fractured.
She knew that wasn’t the case. They all remained close, and saw each other all the time, but things had changed. Their small, tight-knit community was slowly integrating into the larger community of Kaldarak. They were making friends with the thornskulls, finding their places amongst them. That was a good thing.
Except…Callie didn’t feel like she was finding her place. In some ways, she was more lost than ever. She’d spent most of her life working hard in school to earn her degrees, preparing to build a career. She’d joined the Homeworld Initiative to put her knowledge to use.
Callie had been recruited to be part of a team of scientists tasked with terraforming Xolea and ensuring the prosperity of the colony. She would’ve been working to ensure the safety and security of their food and water supply, while also analyzing native vegetation and chemical compounds.
But all the equipment she would’ve used was lost with theSomnium’scargo hold. Maybe it was somewhere on this planet, crashed and forgotten for decades. Maybe it was still floating somewhere in the vast expanses of space. Hell, there was even a slim chance that it had reached its intended destination—minus a few compartments full of would-be colonists.
She and her friends knew only that the ship had been hit by something, and that their section had broken off and fallen here. And if Ketahn hadn’t found it and accidentally awokenIvy… Well, Callie and the other survivors would’ve died when the wreckage inevitably lost power in a couple years.
And we never would’ve known.
They’d been put into stasis, expecting to awaken on Xolea. But they would’ve simply slept for eternity.
She was grateful to be alive, and she always would be, despite the hardships they’d endured and those that would undoubtedly come. Yet she found herself staring at a new problem, one that felt insurmountable.
Where did she fit in this new world? What was expected of her here?
The vrix knew what foods were safe to eat, and with a few exceptions, most of those foods were safe for human consumption. The water was safe to drink, the air safe to breathe. And one of the few pieces of technology they’d salvaged from the wreckage was a portable device that could scan food, analyze its components, and determine whether it was dangerous. It did Callie’s job for her—a job that wasn’t even necessary most of the time.
“Callie, you okay?” Diego asked.
She turned her head toward him. Diego and Will were looking at her with concern in their expressions. It was only then that she realized that she’d been sitting there, staring off into the jungle, with a finished basket sitting on her lap.
When had she completed it? How long had she been spacing out?
“Yeah,” she said, offering them a smile. “I’m good. Just a lot on my mind lately, I guess.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“Nah, it’s nothing. I’m fine. Really. But thanks, doc.”
Will frowned. “Well, if you ever do need to talk, we’re here.”
“All of us,” Lacey added.
Callie’s eyes stung with the threat of tears. She let out a laugh as she wiped moisture from her eyes. “Damnit, stop. All this love is gonna make me cry.”
“Don’t you dare! I have no intention of crying, but if you do, I’ll be bawling like a baby.”
Diego chuckled. “Just make sure you keep hydrated.”
“You would say that,” Callie said with a smirk. She stacked the finished basket with the others that were piling up. “I’m actually gonna take a break. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“We’ll be here.” Will gestured to the pile of fronds. “Still got lots of work to do.”
Callie pushed herself to her feet. “Make sure to finish the baskets before I get back then.”
Lacey smacked Callie’s calf with a leaf. “Trying to get out of work.”
“Damn right!”
Callie made her escape as her friends laughed behind her. Her bare feet padded across the warm platform as she made her way to the stairway that led up to the second level.
