As they walked towards the generator room, Sam slipped an oreo from her pocket. With practiced motions, she pulled off one of the cookie wafers and licked the cream before crunching the rest of it between her teeth. Cassandane eyed her with vague disapproval, not bothering to voice her low opinion of oreos once more. The Angmari seemed to have a cultural aversion to sweets. The workers at the Earthside supply depot had bought several items at her direction, but only the dark chocolate had been popular. The upside was she now owned several boxes of oreos. The downside was that she couldn't take the plastic container into the Angelship due to strict ecological rules. Thankfully, her uniform had deep pockets. Fabric lint brushed away easy enough, so no worries there.

Reginar, the boy on generator duty before Cassandane, flashed a bright smile the moment the door opened. "Hi, Sam!"

"Hi, Reginar." Sam extended her corona to sense when Cassandane's took over from the boy. As always, the transition proved uneventful, with no change in momentum for the spinning disk.

"Would you . . . maybe . . . like to take a walk? With me, I mean?"

Sam avoided looking towards the boy. "Well, I need to stay with my mentor . . . ."

"You can go," Cassandane said. "I don't think I've had an hour alone since you became my student."

"So you'll walk?"

"Uh . . . yeah, sure." Sam winced as the words came out. So much for self advocacy. I might as well get this awkward affair over with.

She stepped outside with the boy and gazed back towards the generator station as the door closed. Without a word, she shuffled down the street behind Reginar.

"So Sam, do you have any stories about your life on this Earth?"

"Not really. I had a pretty normal, boring life. How was growing up on the Angelship?" You carry the conversation.

"I don't think I really grew up here. Maybe a little bit at the end. But I spent most of my life on my Earth."

Sam squinted at him. "How long have you been on the ship?"

"Five years."

"It had to have been longer than that. Your Earth is . . . wait a minute, relativity. How fast was the fleet going?"

"They didn't go any faster than ninety percent of light speed. The Angelship can survive just about anything, but the executives were worried that one of the other ships might explode if they hit a speck of dust. Anyway, do you want me to give you a tour of the ship some time? There is a zero-G game court in the hub where you can play all sorts of fun games."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Sam forced a wince. "I don't have a lot of free time, Reginar. When I'm not working, I need to be training."

"A game of kinetic ball would definitely count as training." Reginar smiled. "I can go easy on you if that's what you're worried about."

Nice try, kid. I'm not fifteen any more. "Most of my training is with the synergies since I'm a paragon."

Reginar's disappointment shone through so palpably that Sam felt immediate guilt. She pulled an oreo out of her pocket, brushed the lint off of it, and held it out as a consolation prize. "This is one of my favorite snacks from Earth. It is packed with sugar, so you'll probably hate it like everyone, but at least you'll get to experience some American culture."

He accepted the oreo like it was a great honor. With deliberate movements, he took a nibble and chewed. "That is . . . whoa, way too sweet." A second nibble, followed by a wince. "Yeah, Sam, I don't think I can finish this."

She took the uneaten portion back and threw it into her mouth. "It's an acquired taste . . . at least for Angmari."

"What do you think about the Synths becoming kinetics? My dad thinks they might be able to take over a lot of the work to keep the fleet functioning. I might be able to get my talent to last a full fifteen years if they cut back my workload."

"I'm not sure what I think. I pick up a little bit of a Frankenstein slash Cylon slash Terminator vibe. It's not hard to imagine a robot apocalypse scenario."

Reginar laughed. "What? Synths couldn't last a week without human support."

"Sure, right now. But they will be improved over time. Then they inevitably get tired of being slaves and have an uprising."

"You're joking, right? Synths aren't slaves."

"What about the Lentarans? Or the Aoleyens?"

Reginar squinted at her. "They are Angmari, not slaves. We don't have slaves."

"What about all the mind controlled Americans being forced to farm?" Sam raised her eyebrows. "Having an agent in your mind forcing you to be compliant feels like slavery to me."

"I guess that's not centrifugal . . . . Anyway, do you want to come to my birthday celebration next week?"

Sam shook her head. "I'm very busy, Reginar. And I don't feel very welcome in the fleet. I would rather not."

"Oh." Reginar looked away. "Well, if you change your mind, you're invited. My parents both voted for Nara Kerrin, so we're not isolationists or anything like that."

"I'll let you know if I change my mind," Sam said.

After a moment, Reginar shrugged. "Yeah. So do you want to head back now?"

"I can find my way back on my own. See you tomorrow, Reginar." She didn't wait for his reply before turning back. The few people she passed scrutinized her movements with open suspicion, making her wonder if isolating herself from potential friends was a bad idea. Sam didn't relish the thought of becoming an outcast of the fleet like Cassandane if another option were possible. Though there was always the possibility of learning as much from Cassandane as possible and then falling to Earth like that other fellow had done. The only wrinkle in a plan like that was she couldn't leave Jess behind.

"I guess I need to work harder at clearing," she muttered.