Evan Evaide was nervous about talking to this many people at once. But Anyantha was sitting there close by smiling and trying to tell him he would be fine. Commander Ardiniero gave him the nod to go ahead and give his report.
“So I have some good news, some bad news and some very bad news and some worse news, which would you like first.”
No seemed to find it humorous so Evan continued.
“Okay I’ll start with the good news. We do not have to worry about dieing of dehydration or lack of hygiene because we still have plenty of water. Water rations can stay as they are. We are fine on that front. Now for the rest. Bad news, the social bar was pretty much destroyed and all of its supplies are gone. Still not sure why the horde thought that was important. Now as to which is the very bad news and the worse news that is a matter of opinion I guess. You know how everyone got a gun. Well the guns you were just using are all the guns we have left. The horde hit the armory after they were handed out. They destroyed the rest of the guns. If we are boarded again we will not have enough guns and ammunition to hold them off. And the worse news I guess is our food. Most of our food was destroyed. They took out almost all of the nutrient pack and capsule stores. They even blew up the desert closet so it’s just a big pile of carbonized sugar. We do have plenty of synthetic meat left but it is the least nutritionally vital of all the food that survived.”
Janessa looked at her data pad and saw that Evan had missed something. She spoke up, “what about the vegetables? It looks like we still have plenty of fresh vegetables in storage.”
“The horde damaged the refrigerator,” said Evan, “It is going to start to go bad long before we have a chance to eat it all. I guess we still have some canned stuff but not enough to last us the trip there to the horde planet and then back to Earth.”
Zai, last of the Raath entered the common hall. Everyone just stared at him.
“I have come to apologize,” said Zai, “I am greatly responsible for all of this. Due to my arrogance people have died and you will suffer. However I may have a solution to one of your problems. If you will follow me.”
Zai left the common hall. Janessa decided to be the first to get up and see what Zai wanted to show them. A lot of other people followed. Zai led them to one of the ships lower decks. He took them to what everyone had always thought was just a wall. Zai typed into his arm device and it turned out the wall was actually a very big door. What everyone saw on the other side was beyond anything they could have expected.
“That looks like a jungle,” said Junitha, “there is a jungle inside this spaceship. Holy shit is that a waterfall.”
“Welcome to Botanics,” said Zai, “this is where all of the ship’s air comes from. There are a variety of fruits and vegetable that can be harvested from here. Mr. Evaide will have to take inventory of them so they can be properly rationed.”
“Is that a cow?” asked Janessa.
“Yes,” said Zai, “I also keep livestock down here. They are able to feed off the environment.”
“Why would you need cows?” said Evan.
“My diet requires meat,” said Zai, “I prefer to slaughter and prepare my own meals. I also like to eat a number of vegetables. However most fruits never did sit well with my people’s digestive system.”
“Are you familiar with the term ‘too much information’ Zai?” asked Junitha.
“I am but I never understood the phrase,” said Zai, “the more information you have the better prepared you are.”
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