Camp IX | ✓

24

     The ship gave a jolt. I momentarily lost my balance and flung a hand out to steady myself. Unfortunately the closet thing that I grabbed was Griffin's knee where he had it propped up while he lay on the bed.

     He stopped talking and looked at my hand then at me and then back to his hand. With the ship no longer making any sudden moments to knock me off my feet, I removed my hand. Sure I was turning pink, I shuffled my feet and tried to look anywhere but Griffin.

     He cleared his throat, "If I'm not mistaken, that was the ship taking off. I've got some things to do. If you'll excuse me."

     Swiftly he stood and made for the door but before he left, he turned.

     "Don't do anything...um...troublesome or wander off. Just stay in here, ok?"

     Then he was gone.

     I spun, letting my eyes wander over everything.

   What a lovely room, I'm sick of it, I thought. Time to explore.

     I crossed to the door where Griffin had left seconds before and poked my head out. The corridor was quite except for the faint echos of laugher and footsteps on metal floors. I'd seen Griffin go left so I went right, letting my feet carry me.

     I drifted, wandering aimlessly yet with a goal in mind. I was going to find out where Blaze was. It was a relatively small ship I reasoned, he couldn't be that far. In any case, finding someone on this ship would be easier than finding someone on the ship we'd just left.

     I paused to listen when I heard a sound. Sure enough they were footsteps. Not wanting to be caught wandering and risk being sent back to the sleeping quarters, I slipped past a small door and into an even smaller room. 

     The darkness, no longer kept at bay by the faint lights outside, pressed on me from all sides. Ignoring it for the time being, I pressed my ear to the door hoping to hear the sound of fading footsteps. I heard them coming closer down the hall and without pausing, walked right by the door.

     Look at me, I thought and a small smile slipped across my lips, sneaking around an alien spaceship. If my Milo could see me now. 

     The smile faltered as I remembered Milo and my parents back on Earth. I was sure by know they had noticed Blaze and I were missing. Were they searching for us or were they assuming the worst? I blinked and a tear rolled down my cheek. No matter what Griffin said, what anyone said, that they weren't my real parents, they sure felt like my real parents and I would do anything to see them again. And the first step in that plan would be playing along with the Andromedics...for now.

     I slid down to sit on the floor so my back was against the door and I faced the darkness. Again I could hear footsteps outside of the door but like the first ones, they didn't stop. As seconds dragged on and there were no more sounds from the hall, I stood up ready to continue my exploration. However, as I reached out to steady myself because of a headrush my hand brushed something cold.

      There was a brief flicker and several weak lights sprang to life. Just as I'd assumed the room was small, not even ten feet wide and very shallow. The ceiling was quite low as well. If the size itself didn't remind me of a storage cupboard, the boxes stacked in it did. Unlike Earth, these boxes weren't made of flimsy cardboard. They were made of a light silver metal, and sealed seamlessly. They had red lettering stamped across the sides marking them as engine parts, spare wires, miscellaneous, and the like. I almost laughed. I'd stumbled into the ships storage.

     Several of the boxes were open, like they'd recently been rummaged through. Near my foot lay one such box. Unable to contain my curiosity, I bent and pulled it into the light. Inside lay a collection of what seemed to be knives. I reached in and carefully began removing them. Out came every kind of knife imaginable. Kitchen knives, throwing knives, hunting knives, big ones, small ones but they were all made of the same material. They all glowed a dull, dark gray in the overhead lights and felt icy cold to the touch.