Clone Earth: MELVIN

Chapter Nineteen: ARI

"They found me?" As she was filled with feeling of luck, possible explanations danced through her head. She wasn't a lost cause because someone had actually come to find her. They must have been searching nearby for her and then at that moment found her! Perhaps Uncle Clint didn't trust the Midway security and had attempted for follow her path. When he never caught up he would have definitely started searching around for her.

Or perhaps she hadn't been thrown off course as far as she had thought. Maybe she had been thrown closer to the Midway and a passing shuttle caught sight of her and radioed for a rescue. It just took them a while to get there because they needed to assess the situation. They couldn't contact her because all of her radios were fried and ...

Even as each exciting thought passed through her mind, a small glint of doubt grew inside her. There was another chance no one had been looking for her. Though it was clear, someone had found her.

She tripped over wires and boards, as she scrambled back into the pilots seat. Now on her tip toes she strained her eyes to see outside the small viewing window, with the hope of catching a glimpse of the second ship.

Her shuttle shuttered again, knocking her off balance. Palms pressed into the flight controls she braced her face from receiving another injury.

"What do I need?" She scrambled through the dark tripping over another pile of disarrayed parts she collected her personal and shoved it into her previous bag of meager belongings. Fitting snuggly into the far corner of the flight deck she tucked her duffel tight into her chest, she tried to make herself as small as possible.

Really, there was no other place to hide.

The shuttle shuttered again, this time a loud manual cranking followed until the door to the outer haul was pulled way. The pressure from the new vessel pushed cool inviting oxygen into the room, causing a whoosh to vibrate across the clutter.

Ari peeked up from her place to see a small stream of light pour in through the hall opening.

"It is interesting. Never seen one so small." Came the voice, it was mellow and calm, definitely belonging to a man. Ari could see one shadow growing across the floor as he walked into her temporary living compartment. "Not much to it back here. I told you it would be a waist of time."

"Surely not," The second voice was higher, though a bit raspy. Much like when Headmistress Hobsen had a cold. "We agreed there might be something worth salvaging. Life support parts are worth plenty at Melvin's Salvage Yard."

"Obviously it still works," The third voice came louder. It was lower and much closer. The shadow on the floor began to shrink. "Try the navigation as well. If that's still operational we might be able to make this ridiculous trip worth something. Unlike the last one."

"The last one was not my fault!" The higher pitched voice snapped, "You really have to let that go."

"We waisted five days and we were almost caught by the FEDs!" Barked Voice Three.

"Well boo-hoo on you. At least we tried something. If it was up to you we'd never make any trading connection and then die of starvation." Said the high pitch one.

"Enough!" The first voice snapped, and as he said it Ari caught a glance of its owner.

The man stepped into the room. He was her height which was average for males. At first glance his clothes looked like rags that had been patched together. There colors faded and mostly brown. Several strips of fabric were draped over his neck while the coat beneath hung down passed his knees. When he walked his feet shuffled more than lifting to take a step. Ari assumed his black combat boots were more than one size too big for him.

With the light shinning behind him she couldn't get a clear view of his face but his silhouette did paint an interesting picture. It suggested he needed a hair cut and his face was framed by two very prominent his ears. They were flat like the dishes she had been forced to wash on Meckam. Plus, they were larger than any ears Ari had ever seen; in fact, Ari suspected if he caught the right wind the man might succeed in flying without mechanical assistance.

Ari's shivering subsided as she realized no one with ears that big could be terrifying.

"So what do we do?" The first voice asked the others as he pushed through hanging cords, "From the looks of it, the place has already been gutted."

"Obviously not an expert since they left the life support on." Snarled the highest voice. Ari lifted her head higher. She could tell the second voice was in the room, but she was also certain only one person had entered.

Squinting her eyes, she strained against the light.

"Are you sure it's working?" Asked the lower voice. "Look at that navigation console. It has been destroyed. Clearly by someone who didn't know what they were doing."

The same one figure ducked down below the flight panel and started moving wires.

"Stop messing with that, we need to dig into the engine and see if any of those parts were left alone," The lower voice ordered. It was muffled in the same way. Ari's throat tightened as she questioned what she was hearing.

"Let me check this first, if the panel is still in good shape I might be able to disconnect the whole board." Replied the first voice.

"And do what with it? No one is going to want to purchase this piece of junk. Who sent us these coordinates? I told you we shouldn't have trusted them." The highest voice argued.

Ari ducked her head lower to get a better view under the flight panel. To her dismay all she saw was one man digging, moving and shifting through the wires that she had previously pulled from ship. The ones she'd tried desperately to tie back into the autopilot, and the ones she'd practically thrown across the room because they were not cooperating.

Suddenly the man slammed his fists into the floor. "I said stop and go check the engine!" Growled the Lowest voice.

"Leave him alone, if anything he should go straight for what supplies were left." Barked the higher voice. "Since you'd rather die of starvation than meet at a trading post we might as well find whatever free food we can."

"Could you both shut up for a second?" The first voice begged.

What she was hearing? What she was seeing? Everything that was happening hit a nerve in Ari's brain causing everything to go fuzzy. Why did all the voices seem to be in the same room and yet she could only see one person.

"What's going on here?" Ari asked aloud.

Suddenly the cords stopped moving. The man with the big ears froze for a moment before he slowly turned in her direction. A light finally bounced off of a reflective surface, illuminating a large portion of the mans face. Different from his voice, his features were soft. He had small wrinkles in the corners of his eyes, though the more prominent wrinkles were the ones across his brow. His wide eyes were thick and brown. The whites of which were barely visible making the iris's look larger than most humans. His ears were as large as she'd initially thought, and running from one ear to the other across his chin and beneath his mouth was a 'bout of trimmed stubble consisting of three different shades of brown.

His shocked expression cued Ari to the fact she had spoken out loud. Her heart pounded rapidly in her ears. She looked around for a place to run but there was no where to escape to ... or was there?