Chapter 5: Damon's Table

Two nights later, Damon invited her to dinner in the ship's formal dining room.

It was the only room on the Meridian Star that still looked the way it had before the Rise.

The tablecloths were white, the candles were real, and a chandelier hung over a table set for nine.

Damon sat at the head, in a clean shirt.

On his right sat Celia, pale and quiet.

On his left, a chair had been pulled out for Veda.

Six of his security officers filled the rest of the seats, and not one of them looked at her.

"Sit," Damon said. "Please. You've earned a hot meal."

Veda stayed standing.

"Tobias is alone upstairs."

"He's asleep. Celia checked on him an hour ago."

Celia nodded, and did not meet her eyes.

Veda sat.

A big woman in a stained apron came through the kitchen door with a tray.

She set a bowl of stew in front of Veda with a bang.

"Eat that," the woman said. "It's got real carrots in it, and I had to fight a man for them."

She had grey hair under a red bandana, and hands the size of dinner plates.

"This is Lois Schumacher," Damon said, smiling. "She runs the galley. We'd all be eating crackers without her."

"You'd be eating crackers anyway," Lois said. "I'm just the one who makes them taste like something."

She winked at Veda and went back to the kitchen.

Veda picked up her spoon.

The stew was good.

It was the first food that had tasted like anything since the water came, and she hated that, too.

Damon waited until she had finished half the bowl.

"I'll be direct," he said. "That was an impressive performance in the pharmacy."

"It wasn't a performance."

"No." He studied her. "I don't think it was. That's why I want to offer you a job."

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