To her horror, Catalina's stomach growled just then. She vaguely hoped that it wouldn't be noticed, or that the nearly universal signal of hunger would be mistaken for something else in this particular universe.
Forly chuckled and Mourly smiled. "I expect you missed lunch with all the excitement. Come, I'll fix you something to eat."
"Thank you."
Catalina followed Suzee's mother into the kitchen, and reflected that yes, she hadn't eaten since breakfast on the Christa. The realization nearly made her gasp aloud. Had it really been that morning that she'd been on the ship, with her friends (yes, they were all her friends), Ms. Davenport, and the Commander? (And still been in contact with Suzee?) But yes, the Christa had gone out of control around 9:00 that morning, just when they were due to begin classes, and between the desire to explore the sister ship and the events that followed, Catalina hadn't eaten since.
"Will I-will I be able to eat what you eat?" she asked, glancing around the room, with all of the strange gadgets. It did have a large, circular table with five chairs seated around it, and various bottles and tubes on top.
"Oh yes, our ordinary meals can safely be consumed by humanoids in your universe," Forly reassured her. Catalina must have looked confused, because he added, "We checked in the Hall of Inderdimensional Visitors, just in case you were ever able to visit. Some select foods for our feast days are too spicy for all consumption except Mercurians, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
They'd been preparing? Just in case? The thought filled Catalina with happiness. They wanted her her, really wanted her.
They didn't see her as an intruder who was the reason that, at least for now, they no longer had a daughter.
The food took longer to prepare than the few seconds of waiting for the appropriate meal tune to arrive on the Christa, but due to the technology (and Mourly's experience feeding five), it wasn't very much longer.
Catalina took a tentative bite of the sandwich, and her eyes lit up in pleasure. The Starcademy meals had been fine, with stations separated by planet so that no one accidentally poisoned themselves. School food wasn't as good as home cooking, and certainly nowhere near her aunt's, but it was a small price to pay for the chance to attend such a prestigious school.
Compared to the food on the Christa, though, it was outright delicious.
Not that either compared to this sandwich, and it took Catalina all of her self control to take regular sized bites-especially since, in addition to having an audience, she knew her stomach would rebel later if she didn't take it slowly. All the same, she ate every crumb, and then the savory soup that Mourly placed before her.
There was even dessert-something that looked like an Earth brownie.
After lunch, Catalina felt both tired and wired. Not unusual, considering the morning she'd had. Normally, she and Suzee might go to the Engine Room, or play a game with one of the crew. But there was no Engine Room here, and she needed something to occupy her mind.
"You could work on Suzee's DOG," Mourly offered. "It's been acting up, and needs rewiring. She was going to work on it this afternoon, only..."
Catalina stared at the woman blankly. "Her dog has wires?"
The two adults chuckled. "Digital Ordered Generator," Forly explained.
"Although it does rather look like the Earth creature, if you squint," Mourly added. "That's what Suzee always said."
"Sure. I'll take a look," Catalina agreed.
Ten minutes later, she was knee deep in a mass of wires. Focusing with all her might, she tried to send a message to Suzee.
"I'm safe. I'm at your home. I'm rewiring your dog."
Catalina sent this to Suzee at least five times, and by the last time, she thought she might have heard an amused laugh from her dimension.
She could hope, anyway.
Suzee's sisters were studying at the Science Hall that afternoon. Suzee had spent most of her time there before their switch, giving her plenty of opportunity to chat with Catalina in relative privacy, while having access to all sorts of information and technology most houses (hers included) still couldn't afford. The Science Hall was located in their home country, but the technology it housed required an atmosphere that made it all but impossible for non-natives to breathe.
"I guess I won't be able to go there," Catalina noted, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice.
Here she was, on her best friend's planet, and a silly thing like the need for oxygen was going to prevent her from experiencing it fully.
"What makes you say that?" Forly asked, perplexed.
Catalina pointed to a space just below her shoulders, where gills would be.
"I don't have gills," she explained. "I wouldn't be able to breathe."
Both of the adults beamed. "That's no problem! We'll just purchase ones for you to use." Mourly put an arm around Catalina's shoulders. "They're very easy to manage."
"Even a Skyriverian could manage!" Forly chuckled. "Suzee's told you about them?"
"A little." Catalina tried to remember what Suzee had said, without the benefit of her friend being there. "They keep trying to settle on your planet without the permission of the government?"
"That's right. A very invasive people." Forly sighed. "Fifty years ago, our government wasn't as concerned, but we nearly lost all of our technology because of their computer virus. They set the androids to try and destroy us," Forly explained. "Yensidians are a peaceful people, but we have our limits."
Catalina nodded emphatically. "I don't blame you, especially after that."
Suddenly, there was a loud noise, followed by a door opening and two chattering girls.
Catalina stood rather awkwardly as they took turns hugging their parents. The taller girl was clearly the older one. Her brown hair was at least two inches below her shoulders, and contained all of Suzee's colors, plus bright green.
The shorter girl had hair the same length as Catalina's, with only pink and blue mixed in with dark red.
They glanced at Catalina with interest before looking from their mother to their father.
"Mom, who's she?" the older one-Catalina now remembered her name was Carmee-spoke up.
"Girls, this is Catalina, Suzee's friend," Mourly told them. "She and Suzee had to switch places, and Catalina will be staying here for the time being. Catalina, this is Mizee, and this is Carmee."
They studied Catalina for a moment, rather like she might if they had suddenly ended up in her dimension without warning. Catalina was able to do the same without seeming like she was staring. Both resembled Suzee, at least to an extent. The same brown hair with separated color sections, the same blue eyes-although Mizee's were a shade lighter. Come to think of it, Suzee's parents also had blue eyes.
With an appraising glance at Catalina, Mizee stepped forward, smiling, then extended a hand, and Catalina smiled easily when she shook it. The older girl, Carmee, did the same, but gave Catalina a hard look. Catalina had to force herself to keep smiling as she took the older girl's hand. It sure didn't help that Carmee had at least three inches on Catalina in the height department.
Carmee felt her face warm when she let go. What did Carmee have against her?
It's then that she wished she'd asked Suzee more about her family. But thinking about how her best friend still had parents hurt too much when she was eight, and as the years passed, Suzee became a combination of a friend and teacher to Catalina. The good kind, which Ms. Davenport never was. Commander Goddard wasn't much better at school, but he improved after they got on the ship. Of course, he had to relegate the classroom stuff to Ms. Davenport...
When they ate dinner-which is far tastier than anything Catalina had since leaving Titan-the sisters spoke about their day at the Science Hall. A lot of what they say makes almost no sense to Catalina, so she just listened and enjoyed the food. Dessert even followed, something that resembled an Earth dish called ice cream. Possibly the best thing she's ever tried in her life.
I'll probably gain fifty pounds if I continue to eat like this, she thought.
But she knew that wasn't entirely true. Saturnians might not have the same metabolism as Uranusians, but the only time she'd seen anyone who looked overweight was when they were about to give birth.
Still, stuffing herself at every meal probably wouldn't be the best idea.
After the dishes get cleared away and cleaned by the sink's automation system, then put away by another automated system, the five of them headed into the family room to watch TV.
"Let's see if there's another new episode of Truth or Doom!" Mizee suggested.
Carmee opened her mouth, then closed it.
Catalina knew all about this show. It had been Suzee's favorite. A contestant would be asked a series of questions, and if they answered them all honestly, they would win an incredible prize. A contestant could risk lying, but then they would have to fight a monster. No one actually died, but if the monster managed to hold you down for five seconds, you lost. If you could make it a minute, you still won the prize.
"Sit with me, Catalina!" Mizee offered, grinning at her.
"Okay. Where do you usually sit?" she asked.
It was the same room she had spoken with Mourly and Forly earlier, but in addition to the sofa and chairs, there was a round piece of furniture that resembled what sometimes appeared in the lounge. Rounded, with a circular center (perhaps to hold drinks or snacks?), with edges high enough to support your back while sitting down. It was both functional and looked very comfortable, and like everything else in this house, very colorful.
Not that Catalina could talk, with her rainbow hair. Or Titan's colorful clothes. Still, the furniture tended to range towards solids, without the aspiration to make the room into a rainbow.
"Right here!" she laughed, then plopped down onto the circular arrangement. "We all do!"
Well, it was certainly large enough to fit everyone-and then some. Catalina sat next to Mizee, and Mourly took a space on the other side of her. Carmee sat between Mourly and Forly, but not before giving Catalina another glance.
Thoughts of Radu came to her. The Andromedan had only had Rosie for a friend for the beginning of their journey home. Harlan had been outright hostile, Bova disinterested and a pessimist by nature, and as for her? Well, yes, she'd kept from being rude to his face (except when he called Suzee imaginary), but she had told jokes about Andromedans behind his back.
It must have been awfully lonely for him.
Did Carmee know that Catalina wasn't always a nice person?
She sank into the cushions, trying to focus on the show, and not on the fact that she might be living indefinitely with someone who hated her.
The show was very entertaining, and Catalina could see why Suzee liked it. There was one contestant per episode, and each episode was an hour long-less, if you took advertisements into account. But even those were fascinating, because they were for things or TV shows Catalina had very little knowledge of. The technology on Yensid was highly automated, far more so than anything on the Sol System, or even on the Christa. But if you had enough money, you could buy items to do almost anything by itself. A part of Catalina wondered how Suzee was managing in what must feel like a backwards world, but she tried to turn this off and enjoy the show.
However Suzee was faring, she knew that Catalina could do nothing to help. And she would want Catalina to be happy in her new world, in her home.
The contestant was a man from the "A" generation, called Aldra, and he was there to earn prizes for his daughter's wedding. Yensidians didn't have dowries or anything like that, but parents still helped out with most of the wedding expenses and setting up the household.
He was also from one of the poorer countries, although he worked as a professor at one of their universities, so he was not poor.
"I hope he can manage to tell the truth," Mourly murmured, upon hearing this.
"If he's allowed to," Carmee noted.
"What do you mean?" Catalina wondered.
"They can ask whatever they want, even if it's against professional ethics. You're not forced to answer or leave, but you still can't lie," Forly explained. "That's how they trick some players into fighting the mutant monster."
That felt unfair, but if everyone was forewarned, they could prepare themselves.
The show ended on a positive note, with Aldra winning most of the prizes, and having defeated the mutant monster.
Hardly able to keep her eyes open, Catalina was more than willing to go to bed when Mourly suggested it.
She just hoped Suzee's sisters wouldn't mind her as a roommate.
Author's note:
Suzee referred to Catalina rewiring her dog when she told the Commander about the jammed connection due to the planet's atmosphere. I don't think it was a joke. I decided to interpret it as acronym that would have been too complicated to explain. As far as how Suzee knew? In the context of my fic, Catalina doesn't speak to Suzee's parents until she loses contact with Suzee. So, I am going to say that there's very, very sporadic communication between them while they are on the planet Kareesh 9, at least in the beginning. How else would Suzee know what Cat is up to after they crash landed?