The Ruins of Alpha Centauri (The Tes Simms Anthology, Book 2)

The Outsiders

Having no way to tell what time it is, when I get out of bed, totally awake, I just assume it's morning. Holly is still fast asleep, with Aurora tucked gently underneath one of her arms.

When she made up the excuse that Aurora was my comfort animal, she must've been projecting. Not that I blame her. Whatever helps her sleep at night. Literally.

I sit out in the living room for maybe ten to fifteen minutes before I decide I might as well make breakfast. It's the least I can do to return the favor. Since we had bacon and eggs yesterday, or as close as we can get to that, I decide crêpes are the way to go. Normally, the longest part of the process is mixing the ingredients, but it actually takes me longer to find them, seeing as half of what I would normally use is replaced with whatever future food substitute people made up. Still, they turn out alright, if not a little discolored.

The smell must've woken Holly, because she appears in the doorway with messy hair, Aurora close behind.

"Those pancakes?" She asks.

I shake my hand, implying more or less.

"Well, that's awesome. Thanks for making it."

She grabs a couple of utensils and sits down at her plate, taking a good long look at the crêpe. "Although, now that I'm up close, it looks a little blue."

I shake a box of imitation milk.

"My God, imitation milk? What have the liberals done to this country?"

I laugh.

"I wonder what's on our agenda for today. Sola didn't really say anything, but I imagine they want to have us go out scavenging with them again."

Kind of want to explore, I write. If we're gonna be stuck here for a bit, I at least want to make it enjoyable.

"For sure. We can't even try out any of the fancy tech. What a disappointing future to go to."

Aurora sniffs the air.

"That's not your fault though, girlie. You didn't know what you were doing."

Hopefully.

I would have preferred to stay back where we were, even if it was three years in the future. At least then we didn't have to worry about the ghosts.

What even happened to the ghosts? Did they all disintegrate like the captain did when that sphere got bumped?

A knock on the door interrupts our quaint little breakfast. Holly stands up to answer it before I even set my fork down.

"Good to see you too again," I hear Sola's voice say. "I wasn't sure if you'd be awake yet. Then again, it's not super early."

"Yeah, no worries. Come on in, Tes made pancakes."

I write crêpes in big letters on the page of the notebook.

"Isn't crêpe just French for pancake?" Holly asks.

I make a smooshing motion with my hands, trying to visually represent the difference between the two.

"Well, I don't know what pancakes or crêpes are," Sola says, grabbing themselves a plate. "Or French, for that matter. I assume that used to be a language."

"And a people. That's where Tes' parents are from."

"That's cool, I guess. Mine were born on Alpha Centauri."

"I got that California blood in me for a few generations."

"Still very weird that you are from the United States. That country had some serious... issues."