effort as possible. Terry took special pride in his ability to pick out the most vulnerable person
in any group. As the situation unfolded, they took a moment to watch the fruit of their labors.
By this time Jacinda was wiping her face furiously, trying to stop the tears. Seeing her
distress, the boys began to laugh even harder.
By this time, the altercation has attracted the attention of a small group of children. The
growing crowd seemed to feed Terry’s satisfaction at her humiliation. Suddenly the hurt that
Jacinda felt turned into anger. She had had enough of this abuse. She reached into a pouch
fastened to her belt and felt around for something to throw at the boys. Her hand settled on a
small can of fizzup.
The can looked small, but actually contained about a liter of sweet, fizzy soda. When it
was poured out of the can it was supposed to change into its liquid form, but Jacinda did not plan
on pouring it out. With a furious flick of the wrist, she shook up the can and pointed it at the
group of boys. They had only a moment to look surprised before Jacinda pressed the release on
the can and all of the soda spewed out on the boys, covering them with sticky, sweet smelling
liquid.
All of the other children gathered around the disturbance began laughing, pointing at
Terry and the three others. Jacinda flashed a satisfied smile at the boys. “Oops, how dreadfully
clumsy of me.”
Terry nearly choked with rage. This was not supposed to be how it worked. The girl was
supposed to run away in tears, not douse them with fizzup. Two of the Gustav brothers, Link
and Junior, were not so much mad as shocked. Their younger brother, Merrell, on the other
hand, was neither shocked nor angry. In fact, he found it rather funny. The idea of this slim girl
shaming her tormentors with a can of fizzup made him laugh out loud. Merrell immediately
liked her. Seeing that the others did not seem to find it funny, he swallowed his grin, stifling
another laugh. Link and Junior turned on Merrell, giving him a double look of annoyance.
Finally recovering from the surprise, Terry glared at Jacinda, rage twisting his mouth.
“You’ll regret that. I’ll have the captain put you in the brig until you learn how to treat
your betters.” Terry spun on his heals and strode down the hallway away from the laughing
children. Link and Junior looked at each other and then hurried after Terry. Merrell looked
confused for a moment. With an embarrassed shrug to Jacinda, he turned and followed his
brothers.
With the retreat of the bullies, several children in the crowd began to clap and cheer.
Soon the whole group joined in the applause. One girl clapped Jacinda on the shoulder.
“Good show. Terry and his goons go to the same PrimeSchool as I do, and nobody ever
stands up to them. By the way, I’m Maddie.” The girl offered her hand to Jacinda. “What is your
name, or do you want to be called ‘Rags’,” she asked with a smile.
“Jacinda, my name is Jacinda,” she replied, unsure what to say next. Normally she did
not lose her temper like that. But this time it seemed to have worked out well for her.
Maddie clapped Jacinda on the shoulder again “Well, I had better get my luggage to my
room. Maybe we will see each other tomorrow at the briefing. Bye.”
Jacinda waved goodbye and turned to go back to her room. She picked up her threadbare
luggage on her way to her compartment. She knew she needed to hurry. She had a reception to
attend as part of her trip. All of the children from important families had been invited to the
reception. She had been included because her trip had been sponsored by the Blake Foundation.
She just hoped that Terry had not been invited as well.
Chapter 3
Plates and glasses clinked as the ship’s staff completed the preparations for the reception.
Devon had invited Flim to come, just so he knew he would have someone to talk to. Most of the
other children were intimidated by Devon or by his family’s wealth actually. Even the families
of the wealthy children who were scheduled to attend the reception did not have as much money
as Blake Industries. In fact, Devon’s family probably had more money than everyone else on
board, combined.
Devon dug in his pocket for the plasfilm sheet containing the guest list. One name had
been highlighted,
Jacinda Vasquez
. According to the e-message Devon had received, Jacinda
was very bright, but very poor. His parents’ foundation had paid for her passage on this trip. If
she did well, there were plans to help her parents pay for tuition at a top off-world school, but her
parents did not know that yet.
Devon pressed the girl’s name on the plasfilm sheet and a beam of soft light projected an
image of her face above the sheet. Devon studied it for a moment. She was actually quite cute,
he thought. The thing that impressed him the most, however, was the determined look in her
eyes. She had the look of someone who you could always count on.
“Hi, Devon,” a high voice, seemingly coming from nowhere, startled him out of his
thoughts.
Devon immediately recognized the voice. It belonged to Flim, the alien boy he met the
previous day. He scanned the area, trying to discover where his new friend might be hiding.
About to give up in frustration, Devon noticed something strange about one of the tablecloths
nearby. As a waiter passed by, it did not ripple like the others. Squinting, Devon looked closer.
Suddenly the part of the tablecloth hanging down began to ripple. He looked closer and started
to make out the outline of a small person. The effect was totally disrupted as Flim could not hold
his giggles in any longer. As he broke out into a fit of loud laughter, Flim became visible
kneeling next to the table.
“Ha, ha,” he laughed, “I had you going.” Flim held his sides, trying to hold in the
laughter.
“How on Earth did you do that,” Devon asked, totally shocked.
“I told you that sneaking was my specialty,” Flim answered. “Everyone from y’Lang can
do it. It has something to do with us having two suns, but I’m not really sure how it works.”
“That was amazing,” Devon still seemed in shock, “that is one of the coolest things I
have ever seen.”
Flim looked embarrassed, “it’s really nothing. I have to really concentrate to make it
work.”
“Still, that was amazing,” Devon responded. “I’m sure we can find a way to put it to
good use this trip.”
Both boys laughed with more than a little mischievousness.
The room began to fill up with children, most looking bored and snobby. Devon cringed.
He knew this kind of crowd. He often had to endure events like this reception. His parents
considered it part of his family duty to represent them as an educated young gentleman. Devon
gave a silent moment of thanks that he had Flim here to break up the monotony.
He pulled the plasfilm sheet out of his pocket again to check the picture and then search
the crowd. He did not see Jacinda yet, but she still had nearly a quarter hour before the reception
officially started. As he peered at the image he was disturbed by Flim poking him in the ribs.
Devon looked up to see that a surprised looking girl was watching him from the doorway. He
immediately recognized Jacinda from her holo. He approached her, putting the plasfilm back in
his pocket.
“Ms. Vasquez,” he greeted her, his hand extended. She took it meekly and shook it.
“That was me in the holo, wasn’t it,” She asked.
“Yes,” Devon stuttered, “I’m supposed to welcome you to the reception. My parents...I
mean, the Blake Foundation sent me to make sure you had everything you needed and to make
you feel at home.”
Jacinda chuckled. “It may be impossible to make me feel at home, unless you book me a
smaller room. My cabin is as large as the apartment my family shares back home.”
Jacinda’s friendly manner helped put Devon at ease, “Well, I’ll see what I can do. Until
then just enjoy our hospitality. I understand this is your first trip away from home.”
“Yes it is,” she agreed, “and it is terribly exciting. I can’t imagine how it would feel to be
able to travel like this all the time.”
It was Devon’s turn to chuckle, “believe me, it gets boring. All these ships start to seem
the same after a couple of trips.” Devon’s thought was interrupted by another poke in the ribs
from Flim. The alien boy was smirking at Devon when he turned toward him.
Flim hopped forward and extended his hand toward Jacinda, “Flimitpoytrotilmas Sa’Atar,
at your service….Flim for short.” Jacinda grabbed a hold of Flim’s hand with gusto.
“Wow, a real y’Langian. I’ve never met an alien before, but I’ve read all about them.”
Flim exchanged glances with Devon as Jacinda continued to shake his hand. “Can you really
blend in with your surroundings? I read about your chromatophores. How does it feel to change
color? Does it hurt? How quiet can you do it?”
Jacinda would have continued but Devon rescued Flim with a flourish. “Excuse me, miss,
but I’m sure that Flim will be happy to tell you all about it, but we need to find our seats now.
Dinner is about to begin.” Jacinda blushed when she realized how silly the boys must think she
was. Her chagrin quickly faded at the boys’ ready smiles. She did not feel that they were making
fun of her; they just found her enthusiasm cute.
Devon led his two new friends to an elegantly set table. Each place setting was set with
the ship’s finest china. The ethereal face of a beautiful woman surrounded with a flowing
pattern of Celtic knotwork adorned each plate. She represented the namesake of the ship, a
beautiful Celtic queen of ancient England.
Devon remembered the manners that had been hammered into him at boarding school
and pulled out the chair for Jacinda. She blushed at the unexpected courtesy, but took the seat.
Flim flopped into the chair next to Jacinda and began fiddling with the silverware. As soon as
Devon seated himself several adults joined them at the table. Devon rolled his eyes at their
eagerness. He had seen it before. As the richest person onboard, there were always people
nearby trying and be his friend, but he did not need that kind of friend. Despite their attempts to
make small talk, Devon pointedly ignored them. Instead, he turned his attention to Flim and
Jacinda.
“So, are you two looking forward to the drop to Forrestal as much as I am?” Flim and
Jacinda nodded.
“I read that there are rumors of strange creatures there,” Jacinda said.
“They wouldn’t send us if they thought that there was some boogieman down there,”
Flim answered.
“I heard that too,” Devon added, “but I don’t believe it. They check out these places
before they let these expeditions go down to the surface.”
Jacinda’s face lit up, “just imagine discovering a new creature, especially a smart one.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a nasty laugh. Jacinda immediately recognized the
laugh. It belonged to Terry.
“So, rags, I see you made some friends. I guess a freak and a thief were the best you
could do.” This comment caused Flim and Devon to turn toward Terry giving him angry looks.
“I’m no thief,” Flim shot back. Terry looked confused for a moment and then frowned.
“I called you a freak, he is the thief,” Terry said, pointing at Devon.
Devon was taken aback, “What do you mean a thief? I’m not a thief.” He stared at Terry
in confusion.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Blake. Everybody knows about
your family,” Terry sneered as he berated Devon. “Just stay out of my way, thief!”
Terry turned and stalked away from the table. He was filled with anger. That had not
gone as he had planned. He could not believe that the little ragamuffin had made friends with
Devon Bake of all people. He silently vowed to get even with Devon for what the Blakes had
done to his family.
Devon, Jacinda and Flim stared at each other in confusion. Jacinda broke the silence,
“that boy has issues.”
The rest of the reception went very well. Several tasty dishes were served, each made
with ingredients from Forrestal, the planet they were due to land on in a few days. Devon
especially liked the chilled Taga fruit. According to the waiter it could only be prepared safely
by chilling it. If it was not chilled to the right temperature it could make you very sick. The best
dish, however, was the last. As dessert was about to be served, the lights dimmed. The gathered