Desur, Jossulum, and Teshor were all as unconcerned as Amina and trying out the tea Hisha had fixed.
Myrum wasn’t as relaxed as her, but he wasn’t as worried as the staff. It was no surprise he didn’t drink any of the tea. Eventhough they all knew it wasn’t drugged, he probably wouldn’t feel safe consuming anything until he was off the outpost.
“This is really good,” Desur said to Hisha, holding up the Ossiso-style mug in the air. “Can I get the recipe?”
“It’s too sweet for me,” Jossulum said, then added quickly. “Still good though.”
“Who cares about the tea!” Helmen yelled, making the Ossisos in the kitchen flinch.
“Helmen!” Teshor barked. “Enough.”
They rarely interrupted Helmen when she was like this—they all knew it was better for her to work out her frustrations—but Teshor wasn’t willing to let her terrorize the Ossisos.
Helmen focused on Teshor. “What did you say to me?”
Teshor didn’t move from her relaxed pose. “It’s one thing to yell at us; we know you don’t mean it. It’s another thing for them.” Teshor nodded her head at the Ossisos. They’d gathered in a tighter group and were holding each other. Gis had stepped in front, as if putting himself between Helmen and them.
Amina backed up Teshor. “You’re scaring those guys, and I think they’ve been tormented enough. They don’t know that you’d never hurt them.”
Helmen opened her mouth, closed it, then blew out a long breath. She faced the frightened staff. “I was scared for Amina, and I’m taking it out on all of you. This is unacceptable. I’m sorry.”
Amina wasn’t sure what was funnier, Desur’s mock gasp of surprise or the way the Ossisos acted like Helmen was doing something impossible. It was clear they weren’t used to an authority figure apologizing.
Gis looked over his shoulder, as if conferring, then faced Helmen. “We, uh, don’t mind. It’s fine.”
“No it’s not,” she said. “But I’ll make it up to all of you. We need to talk about what we’ll do.”
“We?” Gis said.
Helmen pointed her fingers to indicate everyone. “Lorse and his guards are dead. I’m sure someone will find some way to blame all of you for it.”
“They won’t know for another fifty cycles,” Nashie said. “That’s when the official resupply and staff switch happens.”
“Can any of your shuttles make it to a station?” Jossulum asked.
The Ossisos all looked at each other. Again, it was Gis who spoke for them.
“Even if we could make it to Tik, we face the same issue,” Gis said. “We’ll all be hunted down and executed under dark.”
“What doesunder darkmean?” Desur asked.
Restic spoke, her voice dull and resigned. “It means that they’ll take us out of Ossiso space, starve us to death, and leave our bodies on a lifeless planet. Our souls will be trapped, forever lost in the multiverse.”
“I’d rather die here,” Jul whispered.
“Not happening,” Helmen declared, then pointed at the large table. “Grab some tea and sit down. We’ve got a lot to figure out, and I can’t do it if you’re hiding over there.”
None of the Ossisos brought tea or took their eyes off Helmen as they all crowded the far side of the table from her. In an attempt to make herself less threatening, she pulled a chair away from the table and slumped down in it. Stretching her legs out, she crossed her ankles and crossed her arms over her chest.
She looked at Amina and gave her a little nod. Right, it was her turn to talk to the nervous Ossisos.
Amina swept her eyes over the group. “First question: do you guys have any idea where we can take you that’ll be safe?”
They all looked at each other then back at her. Their expressions clearly said no.
“The only place we could go would be where the fighting is,” Gis explained.
“That won’t work,” Jossulum said, then cast his eyes over the group. “Unless that’s what you want.”
