Jago: The Millennium Galaxy Race

aid something wrong. I just didn want her to feel guilty. I lay there, motionless, not wanting to make a sound during the awkward silence, but after a moment she got up and made her way toward the exit.

”Well, Im going to the kitchen to make dinner. Tonights my night. ” She sounded chipper, and I relaxed a little more. Maybe Id said something right. She started down the ladder then stopped and smiled at me. ”See you there. ”

I smiled back. That was the first time in a long time I felt so great. I didn want her to feel guilty about me. I mean, I was still alive. If anything I owed her my life. I replayed the moment we met in my mind, remembering every detail that I could recall.

She had made me feel as though everything would be okay, as though she had the power, somehow, to make it that way. Just like her avoiding me seemed to make everything worse.

I stayed in the sky deck until summoned for dinner and made it to the kitchen in record time, even from the back of the ship. Since I was early, I sat to watch her finish cooking in the kitchen. So far, Cashels and even Tammys cooking was surprisingly good. I didn need to use a taste nullifier for their meals, so I was interested to see how Akikos would taste.

It smelled great, but when she placed the dishes on the table my heart sank. I entered a state of déjà vu, and my stomach twisted in terror as I re-lived the horrors in my mind and tongue. Placed before me were dishes that looked almost exactly like Reis.

Okay, don panic. DONT PANIC.

I tried to calm myself by digging my nails into my sweating palms and decided to wait for Cashel and Tammy to give me a clue, just to be sure. But to my surprise, both Cashel and Tammy arrived casually at the dinner table. I waited for Tammy to slip some nullifiers from her wrist, but she never did and Cashel didn ask. Instead they piled food on their plates while conversing about which route the ship should take through the next star system.

I probably looked stupid being the first to sit at the table and the last to eat, so I decided to put a few pieces on my plate and just eat as much as I could.

I picked nervously at the food until choosing one that looked the least intimidating. As I lifted it to my mouth, I swallowed hard then forced myself to open my mouth and take a small bite.

My jaw dropped.

How was it possible for this to taste so good when eating something that looked exactly the same traumatized me? I couldn believe how good it was. I couldn stop myself from shoveling it in my mouth as fast as I could. The more I stuffed in, the better it tasted, and for the first night since I arrived, the dinner table was completely silent as everyone continuously had their mouths full.

It was such a popular dinner that we battled to see who got the last of it. Rei and Akiko won most of those battles, but Tammy snuck out pieces when they weren looking. It was funny to watch, and everyone laughed together in the end.

I had no idea why Akikos food looked identical to Reis but tasted so much better, but for now I didn care. For the first time, I felt like part of the crew.