Chapter Seven

The ship’s bell chimed six times with a metallic “BONG.” All of the students waited at the entrance to the forward mess. During the coming meal, Deke Jacobs would finalize the planet-side partner assignments. Anyone who cared to check already knew their assignment, but a few held their breath, enjoying the anticipation of a surprise. As the ship’s bell finished chiming the doors slid open. They were all greeted with the smell of grilling meat. The mess hall had been transformed into a wilderness fort. The ceiling panels had been programmed to look like a cloudy night sky. The staff was dressed as mountain men or Native Americans from Earth. What looked like a side of beef was roasting on a spit in the middle of the hall. Fiddle and fife music accompanied the sounds of the excited children. Deke stood in front of the fire, greeting everyone. He was dressed in buckskins and looked every inch the frontiersman.

“This is awesome,” Flim shouted as they entered. Devon and Jacinda hurried to keep up with him. The staff was handing out large, wooden platters to all of the children. Everyone began piling food onto their plates. Hunks of meat were sliced right off the roasting beef and served to everyone who wanted some. Corn muffins, smoked turkey, roasted potatoes, and other delectables accompanied the beef. In addition various pies and pastries were provided for dessert and apple cider to wash it down.

The three friends found an empty table that looked like rough hewn wood and sat down to enjoy their meal.

“Wow, these people sure go all out,” Jacinda said.

“This is definitely one of the best cruises I have been on,” Devon commented.

“Good food,” Flim mumbled emphatically around bites of food.

“Can I join you?” asked a voice from behind them. They turned as one to see who belonged to the voice. Jacinda nearly choked when she realized who it was. Merrell Gustav stood there, looking at the three sheepishly.

Flim was the first to recover his composure. “Sure, I’m sure that Jacinda won’t mind. You two need to get to know each other better anyway.”

Merrell set down his plate and cup and sat down in an empty chair.

“Yes, now that we are partners.” Merrell looked straight at Jacinda. H blushed and then continued. “I hope it was okay that I signed us up as partners.”

“You did that?” Jacinda asked in surprise. “Why?”

“Well, I felt really bad about how we…I mean, how I acted. It was so mean.” Merrell nervously played with his food. “I wanted to make it up to you. I figured that if we were partners, I could keep anyone else from bothering you.”

Jacinda was flabbergasted, “I did not…but you…won’t you?” She could not get out a whole sentence because of her surprise. The boys sat there, watching her, especially Merrell. He looked as if his mortal fate depended on what she was going to say. She stopped trying to speak and took a moment to compose herself.

“Thank you, Merrell. It would be really cool to be your partner,” she finally answered. “It was very sweet to do this for me. Maybe I was wrong about you.”

“You weren’t wrong, at least not then.” Merrell sighed with regret. “Terry and my brothers always give people a hard time. But, something about you made me think about what I was doing. You are one of the first people that every stood up to us.” He looked up into Jacinda’s eyes, smiling when their eyes met. “It made Terry and the others plain mad, but it just showed me how ridiculous we were acting.”

Jacinda reached out, putting her hand on top of Merrell’s. ”It’s okay, you are sure making up for it now.” She paused for a moment, searching the room to see if she could see Terry. “Won’t your brothers be angry about this?”

“So what? They’ll get over it.”

Flim laughed. “I have seven brothers and eight sisters and none of them would ever forgive me for doing something like that.” Flim stood up and gave Merrell a mock salute. “I salute you.” Everyone at the table laughed at the exaggerated gesture.

Devon picked up his mug, lifting it toward his friends. “To a great expedition.” Jacinda, Flim, and even Merrell joined in the impromptu toast.

“And to lots of fun and mischief,” Flim added. This made everyone laugh again.

Their revelry was disturbed by the loud call of a horn. Everyone in the mess hall turned toward the sound.

Deke Jacobs stood in the doorway, holding a stubby bugle.

“That’s good people. That is exactly what you should do if you hear the bugle. Stop, look, and listen. Now that I have your attention, I’d like to make some announcements. First, we are on schedule to arrive in orbit above Forrestal at 0300 hours, the day after tomorrow. That is 3 am for all you planet huggers. We will be boarding the drop ship tomorrow night so that we can drop into the atmosphere as soon as we arrive. That gives you all day tomorrow to get any foolishness out of your system. As of 2100 hours tomorrow night, it is all serious business.”

A few murmurs of complaint ran through the crowd of children. Boarding the drop ship tomorrow night meant that they would have to sleep there until they departed.

“Second,” Deke’s loud voice cut the complaints short, “I know none of us is looking forward to sleeping on the drop ship, but that is probably the toughest thing you will have to endure on this trip, so I don’t want to hear any gripes.”

“Third,” he continued, “I was happy to see that almost everyone found a partner and made my job easier. Unfortunately, we had one member of our expedition drop out at the last minute, so we have an uneven number of explorers this trip. That means that one of you gets to be my partner.”

The murmurs began again, wondering who ended up having to partner with Deke. Deke silenced everyone with a whistle. .

“Congratulations, Mr. Jameson, you are my partner this trip down.”

On the opposite side of the mess hall Terry leapt to his feet, “I’m not your partner! I already have a partner!” He scanned the crowd, looking for someone. “There he is.” Terry pointed at Merrell.

Deke smiled widely. “I’m afraid you are incorrect. Mr. Gustav signed up to be Ms. Vasquez’s partner.”

Terry sputtered in surprise. “That’s impossible.” He turned toward Merrell. “Tell him, you idiot, it was a mistake.”

Merrell blushed as he suddenly became the center of attention.

“Sorry, Terry. I just figured that you would partner up with Link or Junior. I did sign up with Jacinda.”

“You are an idiot. Why would you sign up with Rags?”

“Stop calling her that,” Merrell barked at Terry with surprising anger.

“Whatever, just set it right.” Terry stared daggers at Merrell.

Deke stepped forward, interrupting Merrell before he could respond.

“I’m afraid the assignments are final, Mr. Jameson. You are my partner and that is the way it is going to stay.” Deke turned away from Terry, stopping any further argument.

“Enjoy tomorrow, people, but take the time to review the expedition rules in your datapads. I don’t want to have to remind anyone about how to behave once we are in the bush.” Just as he did in their previous meeting, Deke motioned for the crowd of children to part and left the room.

The children all watched the door for a moment, making sure that he was not coming back. Once it was certain he had left for good the room broke out into a party. Children ran everywhere, celebrating their last bit of freedom before they set out for their great adventure on Forrestal. The only one who did not seem to be celebrating was Terry Jameson. He sat near the edge of the mess hall, arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

After a few minutes, the room settled down. Small groups of children gathered together excitedly discussing tomorrow evening’s drop onto Forrestal. Terry watched Devon and his friends from his solitary perch in the corner. He stared at them in anger, as if trying to burn them with nothing more than his gaze. After almost an hour of being ignored, he shook his head in frustration and stalked out of the room. Nobody paid any attention as he left.