She Bleeds for Us: The Galactic Consortium 3

Chapter 67

"Is it dangerous?" Mom asked.

Jake wondered briefly if his mom was a little bit racist. Not like a full blown bigot, but...

"Abioya will be there right?" She went on. "He knows the area, right?"

"Yes, Abioya will be there. He's assured me it's perfectly safe."

Mom sighed and her body relaxed.

And there is was. She wasn't racist, she just...had a limited perspective. He'd been no better his first time in Africa and thought nothing of it. Americans tend to see all of Africa through the lens of US news, which mostly showed wars and poverty. They never showed the nice hotels where tourists stayed, the large markets where locals got along, places where there was little crime or problems.

And now that Jake had learned better, it grated on his nerves.

They were on bottom deck of the Bamako station, looking down on Africa. The station had set mom's nerves on end, a combination of culture shock and years of living in a small town in Wyoming. They were surrounded by dark skinned people, people dressed strangely and speaking strange languages. That the majority of those strange languages were either speaking Consortium or French was meaningless to mom, who only spoke English.

"It's so big. I never realised it was so big..."

Jake saw his sister making her way through the crowd with their little brother in tow. They each carried a tray filled with food.

Cynthia had already made it very clear how she felt about mom's many "concerns" about this trip to Africa. "You aren't a bigot mom. None of us our saying that. But there's still a lot unacknowledged biases that you just have addressed."

It had been a shade too close to outright calling mom a racist and the two had had a long argument on the way here.

Jake was, maybe a bit more hopeful. Every one of mom's concerns was followed by mentioning Abioya. If Abioya approved of the hotel, the places on their itinerary, then it must be okay. Abioya was "one of the good ones."

"That implies you think that most of them are not good," Cynthia had shot back and that fight had been longer than the first.

Jake just hoped they could get through a family vacation without constant fighting. He hoped that by the end of the two weeks, Mom would have met enough real Africans to realize that while Abioya was definitely "one of the good ones" the majority of people on this continent were more like Abioya than the stereotypes that you saw on American TV.

The food Cynthia and Mike had found was a typical Consortium fast food, a bean and meat dish wrapped in a flat bread that could almost pass for a burrito except the spices were different. It soothed mom's nerves a bit, she had rejected most of the food stands, asking for something "more normal." Jake had given Cynthia a pleading look and Cynthia had not risen to the bait, instead leading Mike off in search of something "more normal."

They found a table on the edge of the court, overlooking the continent.

"So big and so green," mom said. "I always thought Africa was a desert, but look at all that green."

"The central strip, the Sahara, to the north, is a desert," Jake explained before Cynthia could say something. "But the central and southern part of the continent is green."

"Can I help you?" Mom said.

Jake was momentarily confused by this response, but as he looked back he saw that she wasn't talking to him. And when he saw who she was talking about, it all went away. "Gabby!" He swept the boy up into a hug, lifting him up and squeezing until the boy started squirming.

"Hey, put me down, nearly broke my ribs," Gabby groused.

Knowing it was only a joke, Jake ignored the complaint. "Ahh, so what? Consortium fix that right up. Besides you're the toughest little kid I've ever met."

"That's probably true," Gabby agreed as Jake sat him down.

Uncle Issa, in a T shirt and jeans, was next, introducing himself to mom. Aunt Marie and Gabby's cousin Favour were wearing Consortium kurtinis. They joined them at the table and began speaking.

Gabby had said that his aunt Maria didn't "like him much" but she seemed to treat Gabby well enough. Åse's belief was that Aunt Maria simply didn't want to share because she was worried about her own daughter, and now that the family lived on the station where food and resources were abundant, she was better. Jake hoped so, he still felt protective over Gabby.

"Taluk's? When there's a kati kati place right over there?" Uncle Issa said, looking at their trays.

Jake feared mom would say the wrong thing and then her and Cynthia would have a big fight in front of Gabby's family. But all she said was "what's that?"

"Just the best barbecued chicken you've ever had." He went over and soon returned with several trays for himself and family.

Mom tried a small piece when he offered and said it was "pretty good" but a "bit spicy for my taste."

"So how do you like living on the station?" Jake asked as Gabby ate his plate of chicken. Gabby and family had moved up here a couple of weeks ago, shortly after the revolution in Freetown.

"It's not bad," Gabby said. "Lots of interesting places to see. Good food. Miss grandma though."

"She gets up here whenever she can," Uncle Issa said. "And promises she'll join us when things settle down back home."

"Are they going to make her president?" Jake joked.

"She don't want nothing to do with that," Uncle Issa said. "But she'd win in a landslide if she ran. As it is every politician that wants to win needs her endorsement. She's constantly busy."

"Maybe if she's got so many people to boss around, she'll not boss me so much," gabby opined. "But I do miss it, a bit."

The entire table laughed at that.

Before they had finished eating, Chitra arrived from Shin and Åse arrived from Europe. It was a bit awkward, kissing his girlfriend with his mom and sister watching. But it felt right too. His relationship with Åse was still new, but serious in a way that other relationships hadn't been. Neither of them were ready for marriage or a family, but they had both voiced that they wanted that, eventually. After...

They had all spent several days worrying about the investigation into their smuggling operation and their mutiny. But the news was having a heyday with the young relief workers that "sparked a revolution" and eventually the discipline officer had decided not to press any charges against any of them. "It wouldn't look to punish the heroes," the quartermaster said.

Åse was leaving the administration anyway, for school. She wanted to study healing, but it was a long course and she had much to learn first. Jake wanted to keep driving, for now. Later, maybe he would apply for hazardous condition training. Eventually terraforming crew sounded interesting.

The sun had set as they ate. As their meal wrapped up, Abioya messaged that he was ready and waiting for them down below.

"Where is your hotel?" Uncle Issa.

Jake told him.

"Abioya says it's a very safe area," Mom added needlessly.

Jake shared a look with Cynthia and shook his head.