Clone Earth : MELVIN
the SCAVENGER(1)

Ari’s eyes flicked in the direction of the light. Down that connector shaft was a working ship. She swallowed hard, looked back at the stunned man, and instantly knew she needed his help.

“Run, you imbecile!” the low voice bellowed to himself. Ari realized he was going to make a run for his own ship and if he made it there, he may leave without her.

Ari scrambled to her feet. A cramp in her thigh attempted to hold her back but she had been starring death in the face for days. She would not miss this chance.

The scavenger pushed the pilots chair into a spin as he bolted for the bright shaft. Luckily she knew where the obstacles were placed on the floor. He tripped and stumbled through every single piece of debris giving Ari the chance to pull ahead. She reached the tunnel of light and positioned herself between him and the door. With her arms spread out she planted her feet and glared.

As if afraid of touching her, the man stumbled backwards, to a safe distance. His eyes searched everywhere in desperation for a way around her splayed arms. But there was only one way in and that was through her.

“Please don’t go.” Ari begged. Her voice urgent, coming out with a slight squeak that felt foreign. “I’m sorry. I …” She cleared her throat. As she did so the man shuffled on his feet, changing his posture several times. Hunched over he spent most of the time avoiding Ari’s face.

“I have one can of food left which I was hiding from myself. You are welcome to it. You can take anything on this ship, but don’t leave me. Please.”

His body rose to her height, his eyes hardened as they made contact with her for the first time. When he spoke, the voice that came from his moving lips did not match the man before her.

It was the high and raspy voice that spoke, “We could sell her.”

Ari’s eyes widened and mouth became dry. She hadn’t thought about that being a possibility.

His shoulders slowly relaxed and his eyes softened, “Not people.” This time he used a gentle, almost kind tone. It was the first voice she’d heard. “Besides she looks scared.”

“I am.” She confirmed. “No one will buy me anyway. I’ve been told I’m not worth much.” It had been a common theme among the space station. “But I can help you. I’m good labor. I can help you replace what’s still working on the ship. I’m sure I didn’t destroy everything.”

He changed again. Ari’s jaw tightened as she waited. His body hunched over. His expression hardened and those brown eyes shifted away from her face. That’s when the lowest voice came from his lips.

“She admits she’s trouble. Leave her to die.”

The man’s shoulders relaxed again, “I can’t leave her to die.”

“We will,” Said the lowest voice. “Or else she will get us killed. No good will come of her.”

His body became tall and rigid and the high voice returned. “You say that about everyone. But I agree it’s best not to trouble ourselves. We should kill her here and avoid any repercussions.”

Kill? Ari pulled her arms into her chest preparing for a fight. Think Ari, Think! She shook her head trying to push past what didn’t make sense, such as three voice coming from one man, and focused on what was important. Her stomach rumbled and she licked her dry lips. Food, Water, a working ship.

“Please,” She begged again. “I am only 15 years old. I can’t survive here. You can take me with you. I won’t get in your way. Drop me at the nearest midway, moon, or any place with people, but you can’t leave me here.”

“We can’t stop where there are people.” the high voice insisted.

“She is too much trouble. If we stop where there are people we will get caught.” Agreed the lowest voice his body position changing with each voice.

“This isn’t a discussion,” barked high voice, “She dies now.”

Ari stumbled back as the man advanced. So far two voices weren’t listening to her, but there was a third in there. She needed to get that one to talk to her!

Without so much as a glance behind her, Ari turned on her heels and sprinted onto his ship. She could feel him stretch for her, almost an arms reach behind her until she jumped over the threshold. She dove in the direction of what she hoped was the flight deck and rolled.

Lucky! She sprinted the remained steps down the hall and into the flight deck. Slamming her hand over the door command the door slid closed tight behind her. Vision blurred she pressed the red button and heard the pressure lock activate in time for the man to run into the door.

The sheet of metal vibrated as he pounded against it, but the doors to the control rooms were generally reinforced to protect pilots from terrorists. Knowing this gave Ari a chance to choke down some ventilated oxygen in deep wheezy gasps.

“OPEN THE DOOR LITTLE GIRL!” The high raspy voice ordered losing it’s original candor.

“Promise me you’ll take me with you!” Ari shouted back, “Or… Or I’ll fly this away right now.”

“You can’t pull away from the ship without undocking!” Continued the high voice. “That will rip this entire ship apart killing you just as fast as it will kill us.”

“It doesn’t matter to me. You’re going to leave me here anyway.” Tears fell freely from Ari’s eyes as she spoke. Her body trembling at her own honesty, “I’ll die if I stay.”

“That’s why we’re going to kill you instead. Think of it as an act of mercy.”

“I don’t want to die at all! Do you get that? Just like you don’t want to either.” Ari forcefully pushed the tears from her face and clutched her duffel to her chest. If this didn’t work -

Ari shook the thought from her mind. She couldn’t think like that. She couldn’t let it get that bad instead Ari tried to imagine what Trevon would do. By this time he would have stepped in. His body language calm and unthreatening. Somehow he would always make her opponents feel like the decision to stop was their own. By first changing the tone of the conversation,

“I’m sorry,” She blurted the pounding stopped, “I’m sorry for startling you. I was just excited to finally meet someone else.”

Silence.

Ari rubbed her eyebrows and scratched her hair, Trevon’s voice came to mind and his constant advice, ‘be kind even if they don’t deserve it’.

“My name is Ari. What’s your name?”

She could hear some muttering on the side of the door. Arguing, perhaps. Ari pressed her ear up to the metal. She couldn’t understand the words but all three voices were arguing with each other. They argued long enough she began to wonder who would win. Kill, leave to die or the last one.

“Farris,” came the calm voice. “My name is Farris.”