Among Stars

Cafeteria

Mizuni grabbed a plate from the buffet inside the ship's cafeteria and filled it with delicious looking food. She grabbed a glass of something blue, swirly, and smelling sweet. Smiling, she walked towards the tables until she saw a few of her colleagues sitting around one. Mizuni walked there and nodded at them.

"Hi people," she said as she sat down. "Dr. Fesh, Dr. Jamet," she said and nodded toward the people around the table. "Abebe, Stein, we met today already," she said.

The four of them nodded toward Mizuni and smiled. The one addressed as "Dr. Fesh" looked at Mizuni, scrunched his nose at her and grinned.

"How can you eat that horrible stuff, Valera?" He said and feigned disgust very theatrically. He was a lean and tall man, with an almost electric blue skin. He had no hair at all, and his bright white eyes made him look like he was constantly staring at your soul. But he had a warm smile on his lips and looked friendly.

Mizuni stuck her tongue out at him and just grinned. Fesh shook his head and laughed. "How did it go with Mr. Stick-in-my-arse?" he asked.

Mizuni blinked twice and then laughed. "Oh, you mean Lu?" she said. "You forget, Pete, he's not like that with me," Mizuni said and smiled. "After my..." she said and let the sentence hang in the air for a few seconds. "After I had a falling out with Wngai'th he's been like a father to me. More than he ever was," she added.

All of them looked at Mizuni and nodded silently, with sad smiles on their faces. Most of them remembered Mizuni's fight with her adoptive father a few years back. Mizuni had loved him very much, and the fight had broken her for months.

"Sorry, Valera," Fesh said sheepishly. "I did forget. It's difficult to picture that man as anything other than a stern military general, the way he walks and talks," Fesh said and smiled. "He once gave me a five-minute yelling-at for 'loitering around', when I was simply looking at slowly appearing data."

Mizuni laughed and nodded at him. "Well, you're not wrong there, Pete," she said. "He does have an air like that around him, and I can totally see him giving you an earful for that," she giggled. "He totally fakes it, though. That's his 'leader role', as he puts it. He firmly believes that's how you lead with efficiency."

"It does work though," said the one addressed as Dr. Jamet. She was a very short woman with an orange tint in her curly hair. She had round glasses and her dark blue eyes were constantly watching everyone and everything around her. The others nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it does," Stein said. "Have you seen how efficiently he runs this ship? It most definitely works," he added.

Abebe nodded. "Yeah, can't fault the man for that," she said. "Seems like our young leader here is in a special spot and managed to melt his dark, icy heart," she said and laughed warmly.

Mizuni blushed and shook her head. "Abebe, I'm not a leader. We're all equal here," she said.

Jamet shook her head. "Nah, Mizuni. None of us would be here without you, and you'd still be here without any of us," she said. "Take the credit, Valera. You've earned every bit of it."

Mizuni blushed even more and dropped her gaze down and suddenly found her plate super interesting, not wanting to lift her gaze up. "Thank you, but... this feels wrong. This is a group effort. I mean... but... still... Thank you," she said quietly.

Abebe nodded. "Susie's telling the truth, though," she said. "Without your dedication to the sub-space bubble phenomena and your unwavering and exceptional work with the very heart of this ship, the... the... The Coil Engine, what did you call it?" she added.

Mizuni opened her mouth, but Stein was faster and through stifled laugh, he said, "Donut Drive," and cackled. Jamet snorted, and Fesh had problems ingesting his drink. He coughed a couple of time. "Don't laugh," Stein said, still laughing. "That's what she calls it, right Val?" he asked.

Mizuni suppressed a laugh, and grinning widely, she said, "Have to admit that, I do." She smiled widely at them. "Thank you all. You're making me look like my hair is the least red part of me, but thanks. And I do call it that. It's easier to say that 'Propulsion through the bending of sub-space by altering of energy fields.'"

"Ptbssaef," Fesh said.

"Bless you," said Stein.

Fesh laughed. "No, I mean that's what it should be called, then. P-T-B-S-S-A-E-F," he said. "Propulsion Through the Bending of Sub-Space by Altering of Energy Fields," he said and stressed the first letter of every word.

"I'll take Donut Drive any day," Abebe said flatly.

"You can drive, and I'll take the donuts," Jamet said, equally expressionless.

Mizuni giggled, then laughed aloud. "Nobody would believe we're a bunch of renowned scientist, seeing us here cackling like school children," she said and grinned.

"That's what scientists do," Stein said, mimicking the flat expression of the two ladies.

Fesh grinned. "You have a point there, Heinrich," he said and nodded. "You've been spending too much time with scientists if the line between us and elementary school children starts to get blurry," he said, smiling.

Abebe nodded. "Grain of truth there, in the joke, Stein," she said. "We wouldn't be here if we didn't have the same burning desire to learn as children do. It's that quality that drives us forward," she said, slightly more seriously, but still smiling.

Mizuni, having eaten all of her food, got up and nodded at Abebe. "You speak accurate words, Abebe," she said. "But I swear if when I come back someone brings me an apple, I'm gonna make them sit and watch energy field changes for a month with T'hea-ik," she said and laughed.

Everyone burst into laughter. They waved at Mizuni, as she walked away. The rest of them stayed back, and Mizuni made her way towards the elevator and her own quarters.