Chapter Two
Cloudy walked into her parents’ home, carrying pastry and a salad from the nearby greengrocer.
“Hey, I’m here.”
Her mother, father, and brother came out, paused and then grinned. “Cloudy! What did you bring?”
“Salad and some pastry. Are you still getting used to the face?”
Her mother smiled. “I keep expecting it to fade.”
“Not the way I did it. This is genetic alteration. If I ever have kids, they will look like this.”
Her father smiled. “It’s a very good version of deep-sea Vecchin. Do you get comments on it?”
“Nope. So where do you want me to put the stuff?”
Her brother came in with a grin and set the food on the table. They were grilling meat and tubers in an effort to feel like home. She enjoyed a nice grill as much as the next person.
They did the prep, and her family let her handle the grill. When everyone was eating, they discussed their week. When the conversation got to her, Cloudy smiled. “I met the guardians. They came by the stall after they had some kind of mission over open ocean.”
Her family stared. Sunny asked, “What were they like?”
“Tired, grimy, curious, hungry. One was particularly nosey.”
Sunny groaned. “You did the brain thing.”
She smirked. “I did the brain thing. He jerked back like I hit him with cold water.”
Her father smiled. “Are you sure that was wise?”
“Wise or not, he was being nosey.”
Her mother sighed. “How are you and Emgoth getting along?”
“Pretty good. He’s accepted the partnership and really likes taking the time off. We have enough to start a new stall in a better area, but we sort of like the docks. The folks there like us.”
Her brother said, “And you and him aren’t...”
“Ew. No. He has kids older than me. His wife is amazing. Don’t be gross. He taught me how to cook local stuff, and I made the sauces that keep our loyal clients coming back every single day.”
Her father smiled. “You also are the face of the stall.”
“That is true. Everyone was so excited when I got the pigment change. They don’t even know about the gills.”
Her mother’s fork clattered. “Gills? I didn’t know you went for gills.”
“Mom, I work fifteen feet from the ocean, which is about two hundred feet deep. If I fall in, I am not getting out fast.”
They looked concerned. Her mother said, “Is it safe?”
“Now? Yes. Well, I think it is. I haven’t done more than a lab test of the gills.”
Her father. “Who did you use?”
“Nikcaro Adaptations.”
“Oh, he’s good.”
“Yup. His sister-in-law works at the docks, and she got me in before the eighteen-month waiting list. It’s increased my income dramatically.”
Her brother asked, “Why?”
“Because I am no longer different, exceptional, or remarkable. I am only worth the kindness in my voice, the efficiency of my hands, and the reliability of the food at the stall. I am relatively invisible.” She grinned. “Which, as you all know, is how I like it.”
Conversation wound down to Sunny’s scheduled interviews the following month. He had finished his education and was ready to step out into the world on his own.
When the family meal was done, Cloudy got up, hugged everyone, and headed back to her apartment.
Being independent was her goal. She had spent the time after the world ended stretching a handful of food to feed twelve people, and she had been good at it.
No one knew where she had kept her supplies, and she liked it that way.
She added more meat when they needed more meat and more vegetables when they needed more.
Flat cakes made of oats were common, and keeping the grains and dried meat cool and dry was her goal.
She had been successful. Anytime someone tried to follow her to the supplies, she didn’t cook for two days.
It had gotten the point across. Even her family didn’t get fed, and that drove the severity home.
She had a plan, and no one was allowed to cross her.
Her family was used to her intensity and just waited for her to resume food preparation.
She walked the twenty minutes and up the two sets of stairs.
Cloudy didn’t have her family over. They would be appalled at the sheer amount of exercise equipment she had.
Since she had been renovated and made over, she had a lot more energy, and she needed to burn it off in a controlled way.
There was nothing to be disturbed over; she was just strong enough to use the ice shaver now, but she couldn’t tell Emgoth. This was her thing.
Cloudy smiled, changed, and started working out. She had an hour of workout to get in before she could sleep. Her body needed it now.
She started lifting twice her body weight and tried to remember what it felt like when she was delicate as a bird and twice as weak. It was the hardest part of her new life. She had never been great at pretending to be something else.
Before dawn the next day, she took public transport to the dock and walked to open the stall. Mornings were double protein for the workers, with gallons of kio that had to get brewing.
She opened the stall, checked the power and grill fuel. She had learned from Emgoth that you always changed it in the morning. You could check it the night before—and they did—but if there was a leak, you wanted to be able to take action, not come into a charred mess in the morning.
She hummed and got the kio heater going; the cups and containers had gone through the recycler the night before. Everything was sterilized and ready to go.
The grill warmed, and when the distant doors opened and people headed toward her, she started the high-protein breakfasts and got the akko ready.
That was a hit any time of day. Calling it coleslaw would have been easy but confusing.
The akko went into the shredder and into the small fridge in sealed batches.
By the time the first customers were there, she was ready to start the breakfast sandwiches.
Emgoth should have been there, but she kept going, thankful the scan pad took care of the payments.
She laughed with her regulars and asked them to bear with her as Emgoth wasn’t in yet. They kept the crowd calm while she took five orders, prepared five orders, and repeated. Everybody got two buns with egg, meat, more meat, and a side of akko. Most also asked for kio.
The morning ticked by, and when the rush was over, she cleaned up, fed the few stragglers who were usually management, and then she called Emgoth’s wife.
“Ariget, have you heard from Emgoth? Is he running late?”
There was a pause. “Cloudy? He’s in hospital. He was attacked yesterday. I thought they would have talked to you.”
“Where is he?” She paused. “Wait. Who would have talked to me?”
“The peacekeepers. They said they were going to interview you to see if you knew who could have attacked him?”
“I haven’t seen them. I know it is crass, but can you contact his niece or nephew? I want to keep going.”
“He would like that. I will call them. If I can’t get in contact with them, do you have anyone you can call?”
She bit her lip. “I do, but it will freak out the locals.”
Ariget chuckled. “Do what you can. We are all at the hospital, so keep going, and if you need supplies, send me a list; I will get it to you.”
More folks were coming up. “Okay. I will try and find someone to help. Tell Emgoth that I hope he feels better. He’s been missed.”
She hung up, processed ten orders, and called her brother. “Sunny, what are you doing today?”
“Nothing. I don’t have my interviews until next week.”
“Um, I wouldn’t normally ask this, but can you come and help at the dock? My partner got mugged or something. I need to keep us going.”
He sounded excited. “Sure. How do I get there?”
“Take the Narthu line to the port. If you tell the driver you are going to help Cloudy, he will make sure you get off at the right stop. We are on Dock Zeb.”
“This is cool. I have always wondered. Do you want me on grill or front of house?” He was moving, and exterior sounds were already happening.
“There isn’t much of a house, but we will see what you are comfortable with.” She chuckled. “Free food all day.”
“Don’t sell me on it. I am already on the transport.”
She smiled and got busy doing prep and cleaning.
She took care of a few customers, and they went to sit at the tables.
The regulars stacked their recyclables every time.
When she didn’t see anything coming, she went back into the stall and ran the boxes through the recycler, which was basically a laser re-surfacer.
The boxes were cleaned, sterilized under UV, and set to one side.
She cleared the grill when breakfast was over and moved the packs of meat and the buckets of vegetables to the front of the refrigerator.
No waiting or looking. The sauce was standing next to the grill, and she got ready for the rush.
She turned and saw Sunny walking down the dock toward her. He had never been to the stall, and hearing about her grill-based adventures was something that they kept between them.
She opened the door and smiled. “Come aboard.”
He grinned and looked around. The stall had the charm of seven hundred square feet of a trailer. “Where do you want me?”
“Step one, wash your hands. Step two, never touch your face. If you need to use the restroom for anything, call out to me, go, and be back in under five minutes. At the six-minute mark, I come and get you. There are twenty minutes to the lunch rush, and it is a helluva rush.”
“What do you do for greeting and taking orders? That might be more my speed.”
“Right.” She showed him how to use the terminal and showed him the button for extra akko. “I have already tossed it in the sauce, so a single serving is one tongful, and the extra akko is two.”
He nodded at her demonstration. “So always ask if they want the akko?”
“Yes. It gives them the idea that they have food options. Well, more than two meats with stir-fry. It is very basic and very hot and filling.” She showed him that every order showed up in front of the grill and disappeared as it was filled.