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Chapter 3

Chapter Three

March 12th 2157

            Jacob entered the dinning area of the station, and could tell that he was the last person to arrive.  He hesitated for a few moments as he watched the buzz of activity around the table.  Finding the courage to meet the crew of this station, he pushed himself forward.

            All talking ceased as he entered the area and Jacob suddenly felt his face flush.  He still had forward momentum; otherwise he probably would have stopped in his tracks.  He suddenly felt as if he were a strange insect under a magnifying glass.  Everyone seemed to be logging every detail about him.

            Mathews three other men and the woman were sitting at the table.  No one said a word; the only sound being made came from a man who was working at the kitchen station finishing the preparations on the food.

            He floated up to the table and grabbed the seat at the end of one of the long sides.  Pulling himself to the seat he grabbed the elastic restraint and attached it to his suit.  The elastic would stretch and allow him to sit on the seat with a pour representation of simulated gravity.

            Looking up Jacob noticed that everyone was still looking at him.  He suddenly felt as if he was expected to say something.  But it was the tall crew member that spoke first, “Welcome, I’m Jafta.”  He reached his hand out for Jacob to shake.

            Jacob stammered, “J-Jafta, n-nice to meet you.”  He grasped Jafta’s hand which dwarfed his own.  He realized a little too late that he was staring at Jafta’s hand and hadn’t let go.

            “Yes, I’m Jafta, what is your name?”

            Jacob dropped Jafta’s large hand and looked back up at his face. 
“Um, I’m Jacob, uh Jake.”

            Jafta energetically continued, “Well, Jake, I’m the communications and life support officer for this station.  I apologize before hand for the metallic taste of the water.  I have been working on that for several days and can’t seem to figure it out.  You wouldn’t happen to know much about bimolecular engineering would you?”

            “Uh, no.”  Jacob said, he was doing everything he could to keep up with the fast speech.  “I- geology…  I studied geology.”

            “Oh, well.  And this is the rest of the crew.”  Jafta said and his hand gestured toward everyone else at the table.

            “I’m Sam,” said the young man that had been playing the simulation earlier.  He seemed happy, and perhaps it was because Jake was close to him in age.  “I’m a collector.”  Once he stopped speaking he looked directly at the woman, who only returned a scowl.

            It was a man at the far end of the table who softly spoke next, “I am Salim.”  The man was probably in his seventies and had a full head of silver hair.  He also happened to be in excellent physical condition.  “I drill core samples for you to analyze.  I also tag asteroids for the collectors to pick up.”  Salim glanced toward the woman.

            “It’s your turn,” Sam laughed.  He was clearly enjoying the moment.

            The woman stared daggers at Sam, then rolled her eyes and turned toward Jacob.  She smiled and Jacob was stunned to find a genuine smile on her face.  The smile was slight and had none of the anger that was directed toward Sam Just a moment before.  Once again Jacob noticed the green eyes.