In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 8: Building Trust

Tyrone was lying on one of the two couches in the starship's living room, watching a family sitcom Allison had never heard of. Allison joined Joseph on the other. Tyrone, who'd begun to sit up to make room, leaned back again with a shrug and paused the screen.

"Haven't you finished that yet?" The big pilot gestured to the beer bottle in her hand. Joseph had left his in the kitchen sink, where Tyrone's had been already.

"Nope." She laughed as she swirled it around a bit to check how much was left. "I'm less than half finished."

"Well, it's best to go cautiously when you're introducing yourself to alcohol. Did you answer all her questions?" He turned his eyes to Joseph as he asked.

"I don't think she's completely convinced yet, but we made progress."

"Good enough for now, I suppose. I'll start the episode over, I'm only a couple minutes in anyway and it's the one we haven't seen yet. Unless you want to start at the beginning, since I presume Allison's never seen any of it?"He gave her an inquiring look.

"I haven't," she confirmed. "How far back is the beginning?"

"Most of two seasons; probably around forty episodes."

"Well, don't go all the way back now then. You'll never get to the new one tonight if you do. I'll just have to follow along."

"Alright." Tyrone nodded compliantly and reset the video. "The episodes are fairly self-contained anyway. If you like this one, we can start at the beginning afterward."

That turned out to be an accurate prediction of their evening. Allison sipped on her beer and laughed at the slightly corny jokes of the show, which portrayed a family of six living on a heavily-settled Tetonite planet. After three hour-long episodes, Tyrone surrendered control of the screen and announced he was going to bed.

Joseph checked the time as his partner left. "Well, Tyrone was up hours before me so I'm not that tired yet, and we don't have a very pressing timetable for tomorrow. I'd be up for watching a few more if you like."

"Sure," Allison agreed, setting her finally-emptied beer bottle on a table. "It's nice to be able to relax a little. I always felt too stressed for that in Nevarris, even when I wasn't working. Maybe if I watch enough episodes I can learn some of their tricks. I'd love for all my problems to be totally resolved within a few days."

Joseph laughed. "So would I. Unfortunately we don't live such privileged lives. Those are reserved for fictional characters."

After another episode they fell to talking, mostly of unimportant things. Allison told him a little about her family, and he told her stories from when he and Tyrone were growing up. They were the kind of details one would usually talk about with new friends, and those were conversations Allison hadn't had for a while.

"It's nice to be able to talk about stuff like home an family again." She was sitting cross-legged on the couch so she could face Joseph. "Nobody at Terrence's club was very interested in those things at first, and by the time they were I was far less willing to share them."

"That surprises me a little. Usually someone like Terrence would try to get as many personal details as possible."

"He did, but more about my past than my family. He started asking more about them once I was in Nevarris. I didn't answer them for the most part. I wasn't willing to admit to what he was, but I also didn't want him anywhere near my sisters."

"You already seem more comfortable around us than you were there."

"I am." She smiled and leaned back on the arm of the couch. "I'm expecting to sleep way more soundly tonight than I have since I left home."