Thunder rumbled and I glared at the night sky before yanking the hood up. I was wearing what a skinny black trench coat that I buttoned up as the first drops of rain started to fall. I shouldered my way through the crowd as I wondered with no real destination in mind. I stopped to look at the crowds of people as they moved on, each lost in their own little worlds. I chuckled without any kind of humor. I guess a couple things haven't changed no matter century. Though the crowds and lights were so much larger even at night. I had ditched the little girl Vega after we had bribed the dock administrator. I was expecting to see some short, greasy balding asshat but instead we met a tall balding rail thin guy. Who started leering like some creepy perv when Vega and I walked into his office. Vega ignored the leers to argue about the pay. She argued well, but in the end, we paid up what he demanded. I didn't understand it first, but Vega explained to me that we weren't paying rent or anything like that, we were paying to avoid having the ship impounded or torn apart by the police.

"But we haven't done anything." I had said, protesting the blatantly illegal acts that they could do. Vega had shrugged. "So? He knows the right people in the police unions and the guilds. We don't pay up we suffer. Just how it is." We when we got back to the ship in the afternoon I grabbed my jacket and walked off to…some place. I don't know. It's been hours since I left and….oh my god. Where the hell am I? I stopped so suddenly a man ran into my back and cursed at me and I glared at him until he wisely backed down and muttered an apology. Retracing my steps doesn't really work when you have no idea where you've been walking for a few hours. Goddamn it. As if right on que, it started to rain. Hard. I could scream right now. I really could. I pulled my jacket tighter and moved forward. Okay. Okay. I can figure this out. I got lost in old LA all the damn time and still found my way home. Just because it's five hundred years later doesn't mean that I can't do it now. I noticed a computer monitor sticking out of a wall. Jackpot! Had to be some sort of phone booth thing. Okay. Okay. I walked up to it and hit a button. It took a second but it came online with an annoyingly perky voice announcing that it is ready to help. I put in an id card thing that Vega had given to me before I had left the ship. "Connect to Tori Vega." I said. The screen blinked out and then came back with a picture of Vega. "Is this the person you wish to connect? Victoria Vega, captain of the Nostromo?"

"Yes."

The screen turned into a picture of some flag and a minute later Vega's face popped up on the screen. "Tori Vega speaking."

"Vega. It's me."

Vega blinked and then gave an angry smile. (Don't ask me how she did it.) "Wondered when you were gonna call! Shouldn't have let you go without a comm. You're calling from a booth near Small-Laos. I'll get you a taxi. You'll be home soon!" She said and I nodded. "Thanks." I said quietly. Home. Home was a large house in Beverly Hills. Home was where Beck and I watched horror movies together, making fun of the dumb blond that would get herself killed. Home was where we planned on becoming famous in Hollywood. His acting, my writing and directing maybe even singing. Home. Home disappeared in some great earthquake five hundred years ago. I didn't have a home. Not anymore. About twenty minutes later a red taxi pulled up in front of me and the driver rolled down the window and said, "Jade West?" I nodded and got in the taxi. The driver took off as soon as I had shut the door, nearly slamming me into the seat. "Goddamn, in a rush much?" I snapped. "Sorry, you're my last fare for the night and I want to go home."

Well I couldn't fault him for that so I up and watched the countless blazing lights of this new LA blur by. You know what hasn't changed in centuries? The freaking traffic. Doesn't matter that most of it was literally in the damn sky, what was on the ground was still enough to get stuck to a damn standstill. Even in the middle of the damn night! I commented on this and the driver laughed. "Not from around here huh? This isn't bad at all. You should see it during the day. Even the sky lanes have to slow down!" I shuddered. It took about a half an hour for us to reach the port and then almost another twenty minutes to actually reach Nostromo. At the bottom of the ramp stood a slightly impatiently worried Vega tapping her foot. I got out of the car while Vega paid the driver. When he took off Vega turned to glare at me. I stepped back feeling a little defensive for some reason. "Seriously Jade? Yea shit sucks for you but you can't just take off like that! I was looking for you for hours!" Her voice started to raise in volume and I stepped back again when her hand shot out and stopped right in front of me. "The hell do you want?" I demanded. "My credit chit. Guess I should be lucky you know how to pick my pocket and work a comm-booth." I huffed and handed her the chit and she grabbed it and walked past me. "Your bunk is ready, it's right across from my room. We bought you a burner phone. Best we could do right now. I'm going to bed. Good night Jade." She stormed off and I stared at her rapidIly retreating back. I glanced at the phone and sighed. This is a burner phone? Looked like the latest whatever number iphone. A smart phone is a burner phone? The hell. I scoffed and pocketed the damn thing and made my way to my room.

I climbed down the ladder and ditched my boots and collapsed on the bed. How the hell did this happen? Five hundred years in a cyropod thing? I can't believe that this happened. It's like a shitty story. Ugh. I rolled over and curled up, trying not to cry. Tears started to leak through my closed eyes. "Dad. Beck." I couldn't hold back any more and broke down sobbing. It was all fucking bullshit! How this happen?! Why? I curled up as small as I could make myself and cried until I fell asleep. It wasn't a restful sleep either because I was plagued by nightmares. Nightmares of the earthquake of being trapped in that damn canister of Beck and Dad blaming for living while they died. It was that last one that got to me. I woke up dry heaving and covered in sweat. I sobbed and rolled over but couldn't go back to sleep. I growled pathetically and tossed the blankets off and got out of bed. I walked into the little corner that made up the bathroom and stood there like an idiot for a minute before I figured out the lever to get the shower head to pop out of the wall. I hit the button a bit underneath the shower head and then screeched as a jet of ice cold water hit me right in the face and chest. Teeth chattering, I hit and twisted the nob until the water became blistering hot. Much better. Seriously though, five hundred years later and they couldn't make showers easier to use? I stayed in the shower for some time, maybe hoping that the water would wash away the nightmares. It didn't of course, but I like to think that it helped. Maybe a little bit. Reluctantly I shut off the water and grabbed the towel and sat on the edge of the bed. I sniffled and then rubbed my eyes. Come on, when has crying like a little bitch helped anyone? I'm here and stuck in the twenty-sixth century and might as well make the most of it. I rubbed my eyes again and got dressed.

It was kind of cool that you got into the rooms with a ladder and a solid metal door to bar the way. Wish I had that at my dad's house. Definitely would have kept that peeping little shit out. I climbed out of my room and made my way to the galley to get breakfast. The galley wasn't as well stocked as I thought it would be. Guess Vega wasn't lying about being broke. Looking through everything, I had to guess that they had maybe a few days' worth of food. There wasn't even a real variety, just a few things. "Yea we don't have much food." A voice said behind me. My feet left the ground and I stifled a shriek as I spun around to glare at the redhead. Said redhead at least had the decency to look scared. The little twit. "Didn't you sell my damn cryopod thing?" I growled, still a little angry at her sneaking up on me. She rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet for a few seconds before she answered. "We did, and got a few sovereigns for it from the museum. But then all of it went to bribes. So, we're left with nothing. Again!" How anyone could sound so cheerful about being broke is beyond me. I was starting to think that this girl had more than a couple screws loose. "Oh, I know we could always borrow some money from someone I don't think engine grease is supposed to take this long to cook." She said staring over my shoulder. I blinked and stared at her. Engine grease? Cooking? She definitely had some loose screws in that pretty red head of hers. "Okay kiddo, why don't you show me what you're talking about." I said gently. "Kay Kay!" She said loudly. She grabbed my hand and yanked me deeper into the ship until we reached the engine. She babbled away about the engine for several minutes and I got maybe one word in ten as she poked around the damn thing. All of a sudden she slammed to stop and glared at me. "Who are you calling kiddo?! Neither of us are in our twenties!" You know what they spend a lot of time teaching in theatre? Improvisation. So when random shit like this happens, you can at least attempt to roll with it. "You're right, neither of us are in our twenties." Redhead nodded with a victorious look on her face. "You're what? Nineteen? I am about five hundred seventy. So, to me, you're a kid. Kiddo."

Redhead's face went from victoriously smug to annoyed in a heartbeat. "You spent like all of that time in cyrostasis! It doesn't count!" "

"Says who?"

"Says me!" She said with an air of finality.

I tapped my finger against my chin for a few seconds while I pretended to think. "Nope. Still counts. I'm older then you by a wide margin. You're a kid. Kid." Redhead puffed out her cheeks and sucked in some air as she prepared to launch a counter argument. "I see you met Cat." A voice said to the right of me. I looked over from the wall I was leaning against and spotted Vega. Vega smiled at the both of us and I gave her a level stare in return. Vega's smile did disappear when she focused on me but I didn't care. "Cat?" I asked. She nodded. "Our genius engineer. Though she is a bit of a warp-mouth."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" An offended shout nearly deafened me. Vega blinked and said "It means….who wants breakfast?" Cat perked up and skipped out of the engine room and I slowly followed. "She's…different." I allowed. Vega nodded. "Don't let her mind fool ya though. Best damn engineer out there. Pretty sure she's wasted here."

"Why do you say that?"

"Not much for an engineer to do on a ship that's permanently grounded. Port Authority has us locked. Every time we pay them off, they raise the price."

Vega explained a bit more about how they lack the money to bribe the right people to do anything about it. A shitty situation for them. They bribe the dock authority who is supposed to get Port Authority to back off. Instead, the Dock Authority is bribed and then promptly demands more money and leaves them locked. To go over his head requires more money than they could possibly get and keep themselves alive.

Breakfast was a simple affair, only changed when the kid with dreads came in and started flirting with me. I shut him down almost immediately and neither Cat or Vega let him forget it. It was around ten forty-five when Vega announced that I needed to learn about the Nostromo. She had hardly stopped talking when Cat grabbed both Andre's and I hands and yanking us out of our chairs.

Cat babbled away about the ship while Andre tried to get her attention. "CAT! I live here! I've known you since high school!" Cat did slam to a stop, stare at Andre and smile and then take off again dragging us both. Okay so normally I would have torn this girl a new one because she was touching me and dragging me around but I was just too overwhelmed by everything.

I'll try to explain. The ship Nostromo is an Anteiku class cargo ship. Built like a jet, it's famous for being durable and having all kinds of places you can hide things, so it was favored amongst smugglers. A dated model that was still popular because it was fast, easy to repair and expertly designed for holding cargo. Its main weakness was its lack of armor and number of weapons. The ship could punch pretty damn hard, but it couldn't take as many hits, relying almost entirely on its speed to avoid danger. After the forced tour of the ship, the hyperactive ball of energy took off to do…something. I didn't catch her last words as they came out in a rush. Something about fuel and fire. I guess I should be concerned about those words together in a sentence, but hey it should be quick if the ship explodes.

"Well that was Cat. How are you?" Andre asked. "I'm fine." I answered. Andre snorted. "Sure you are. I mean, everyone gets stuck in some cryo thingy for five hundred plus years and are totally okay with it. It's a normal thing. Happens all the time."

"Okay okay." I grumbled. He seemed nice enough. I sighed. "I'm not okay. My family is dead. Beck is dead. Dad's dead. The few people I talked to are dead. Everything I know is now outdated and wrong and this just fucking sucks."

Andre nodded as we kept walking towards the bridge. "I'll say. I met this cute girl, tried to help her out and she hits me in the head with a wrench!"

"Don't walk up to me like that." What? I'm not apologizing. Andre rolled his eyes. "I can't even imagine what you're going through right now, but you have a home here with us. Well…as long as we can keep her."

"Broke, right?"

"No nothing is broken, we just don't have any money."

I rolled my eyes. "What happens when you run out of money?"

"Well Tori owns the ship so we don't have to worry about any company taking her away. We do have to worry about the Dock ass hat demanding another bribe and the paying the fee to LAX and kicking us out. We're so poor we can't leave or do anything really. Man, if we really don't pay the right people, they might get some of the police to impound Nostromo and then we'll be on the streets." Andre shuddered at the thought.

"Vega still mad at me?" I asked as an idea or several of them started to form.

Andre blinked at the change of subject but he answered "Yea, just a bit."

"Then she'll have to get over it." I turned and walked off the bridge. "I have an idea."

"What's your idea?" Andre asked. I ignored him as I started hunting across the ship for Vega.

"Jade? What's your idea?"

"Jade?"

"Damn it Jade what's your idea?!"

Hello there.

I'm back. Been a long goddamn time hasn't it? Went through a rough patch. Gave up writing. Gave up on a lot of things. Doing a little better now. Enough to start writing again.

Hope you all enjoyed.

-C.H.