“You think so?”
“Definitely. I bet your yoga and meditation classes will help people with their nerves. Oh, speaking of needing help… I was talking to D’Merx from the Requisitions Office. You know who I’m talking about? He comes to your yoga class pretty regularly,” I ask. She nods, quickly cutting her eyes to the side where I see D’Merx standing and talking with a few other Cerasteans. She knew exactly where he was already, confirming my suspicions about a possible attraction. “Well, he’s going to be heading to the front line –”
“Oh no,” Natasha gasps, looking worriedly over at D’Merx again.
“Yeah, it sucks. The Requisitions Office is going to be short-staffed while he’s gone. He’s looking to train someone to do the job while he’s away. I bet you would be good at it. It’s just advanced shopping! Have you picked a job yet on the ship?”
“I haven’t. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, you know?”
“I haven’t been able to settle on anything myself. So, after breakfast tomorrow, do you want to meet me at the Requisitions Office? We can check out what the job entails and see if it might be something you’d like. What do you think?”
“It wouldn’t hurt to check it out, right?” Natasha says, chewing on her lip.
“Totally. I’ll meet you there at nine, okay?” As Natasha agrees to meet me, I notice my other roommate Yasmin mingling in the crowd gathered around Rosie and L’Corte. “Hey, I’m going to check on Yasmin. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes, I feel a lot better.”
I step up next to Yasmin and bump her with my shoulder.
“Hey,” I say when she looks over at me. “You okay?”
Yasmin shrugs, meeting my eyes with a troubled, brown-eyed gaze. Although Yasmin has been my roommate for a couple of weeks now, I don’t think I know her very well yet. She is slowly starting to open up. In her late thirties, Yasmin is one of the older volunteers on the ship. I suspect she doesn’t feel like she has much in common with the rest of us. Being one of the few humans in a spaceship full of aliens is enough in common to bridge any differences, in my opinion.
“Do you have some questions for Rosie?” I ask.
“Not really. I just want to hear what questions the others have. Do you truly think we are safe here on the ship?”
“The Cerasteans will do whatever it takes to keep us safe. I’m not going anywhere. I feel like I owe it to them to stay. What about you?”
“Yeah, I feel the same way. They fixed my fertility problems when I joined the program. It would feel disloyal to repay that gift by bailing now. You know what I mean?”
“That’s why I’m going to stay and help. With a lot of the crew heading out, they’re going to need our help keeping everything running.”
“Oh? You wanna go full Rosie the Riveter?” Yasmin asks with a grin.
“Yes! That’s it exactly!” I giggle.
“Alright, I’m in. Let me know how I can help,” Yasmin says.
“I’ll see if L’Corte can get us a list of departments where they might need our help,” I propose. “I’m going to check on the other bride volunteers. I’ll see you later tonight back at the dorm. Let me know what Rosie and L’Corte have to say, okay?”
I spend the next hour weaving through the lingering crowd. There are currently a little over one hundred bride volunteers on the ship. When I arrived three months ago, there were only the initial thirty. Now that I think about it, I realize I might be the only original volunteer left who isn’t mated. The lone holdout. I smirk to myself. My mom always did say I was too stubborn for my own good.
About half of the volunteers are mated to a Cerastean, and the other half are still single. I stop by here and there to check in with some of my friends. I attempt to reassure their worries and concerns, making sure to mention how I’m staying on the ship and that the Cerasteans will need extra help.
I glance over and see only a few women are still lingering around L’Corte and Rosie, so I stride over to them to see how things are going.
“Hey,” I say, stepping up next to L’Corte. “I feel like they’re taking it better than expected. From the conversations I just had, I would guess around maybe fifteen percent of the unmated women will be leaving.”
“Really? I’m a little surprised. In some ways, it’s not in their best interest to stay,” L’Corte says with confusion wrinkling his scaled brow. “I’m pleased, though. Knowing these women will stay and be here to support us. It’s… I can’t begin to express what it means to my people.”
“I have an idea,” I say, switching the subject because his intense stare is leaving me a little unsettled. When he raises an amused eyebrow, I continue, “I talked to a bunch of the bride volunteers, and quite a few of them are willing to help fill jobs that will be vacant while the soldiers are gone. If you get me a list of departments that are going to be understaffed, I can see if we can get positions filled.”
“Won’t you be too busy planning the Presenting Ceremony?”
“I can multitask,” I retort.
“I don’t know if you should involve yourself in job placement on the ship. It would probably be better suited to someone with more experience,” L’Corte has the nerve to say.
