10
Quinn, Battleship Karter, Canteen
“What the f**k are you doing here, Hunter?” Karter said as he approached.
We were in the canteen the floor below the command deck at a table in the back corner. The room had been filled fifteen minutes earlier with those who had finished a shift and with those eating in preparation for one. S-Gen machines lined one wall, windows lined another. Looking out, the universe was as black as I felt. Stars and galaxies spread from one side to the other, reminding me that my mate was out there on one of those bright white specs. Light years away.
The clatter of dishes and silverware were Commander Karter’s backdrop. I breathed in the tangled scent of hundreds of meals, not my mate’s scent. She wasn’t on the battleship. I knew it, not only because I’d watched
