The Space Spoon novel Chapter 25

Yellow arrows appeared on the walls as the meeting ended. Each one had a crewman's name on it. E00 showed them all to their quarters. Only Tejeda and Shayla remained seated at the table.

“You aren’t going to tell me what that was about, are you?” she said, her arms still crossed over her chest as she leaned back.

“I promise I will think about thinking about it.” Tejeda gave an all-knowing smirk.

Shayla didn’t seem to appreciate his joke. “Why can’t you trust anyone? Why can’t you trust me?”

"Oh, my dear Shayla, the answer is simple: you are composed of atoms, and I don't trust atoms since they make up everything."

"I never get a straight answer from you. I am not sure why I bother asking you a question," she whispered, shaking her head.

His smile widened. “I am glad you reached that conclusion. Now, I have some things I have to talk about with you. Firstly, this ship can’t be named SCF1 anymore. That name doesn’t cut it for us. I have already applied for a new official name, and the approval should be ready by the time of our departure.” Tejeda opened his arms in the air as if he were an announcer on a stage. “E00, do you want to make the honors?”

A matte wall tile turned glossy, and a screen flickered open. Large purple letters glittered on it, all capitalized. THE SPACE SPOON.

“Everything is about Carmen, right?” Shayla shrugged. “I know that much by now.”

She got up from her chair. As she passed by Tejeda, he wondered if there would ever be another moment like that one on the dance floor in the dome on Uthion.

As soon as he realized it might never happen again, time seemed to stop. Then everything not anchored down drifted into the air ever so slowly and gracefully without a foreseeable destination.

With nothing to hang on to, Shayla let out a quick, high-pitched "Ah!" as her feet rose above the floor. A secure fastening attached the table to the decking. Tejeda grabbed the edge of the table with one hand while seizing Shayla's wrist with the other. He gently pulled her toward him.

"Please accept my sincerest apology!" They both heard E00's voice from across the room. "I am reading a file about anti-gravity and have somehow lost control of the artificial gravity controls. Don't be concerned! I will get back to you as soon as possible. They just do not want to descend."

“I won’t pretend I understand that,” Tejeda shouted, even if he smiled. “Give us a heads up before restoring gravity.”

The artificial gravity drew them back to the floor before he finished his statement. Shayla was on top of Tejeda, who had fallen flat on his back. Their gazes locked, and he didn't squander the opportunity. After brushing a strand of her black hair aside, he grabbed her face to bring her closer.

Tejeda wasn’t impressed by E00’s reasons. “Can you choose not to hear people’s thoughts?”

“Yes, I can, if they don’t scream it right under the surface.”

"Good," the Nubilae nodded. "From this day on, you are prohibited from reading my thoughts. If you do that, our partnership ends. Effective immediately. Do you understand?"

“Yes,” E00 responded without further ado.

“Oh, and one last thing.” Tejeda relaxed against the backrest. “Can you erase memories or block them?”

“I can block them to some degree. I can’t explain it exactly. It is like shielding something to make it inaccessible. But this is quite risky since I can’t promise other things won’t get inside the do-not-disturb bubble.”

"Perfect!" Tejeda cut off further explanations. "I want you to block Cato's memory of whatever Nubilae knowledge she possesses. All she needs to know is that I am one and that she believes in me."