Imposition Read Free Page A

to have the machine produce for him, tipping it away down a vacuum port.
    "I went to all that effort, and you let it get cold."
    Therse said nothing. He glanced across at the comms unit in the nearby wall the man had used to contact him and wondered if there was a way to disable it, but in all honesty if he did that he'd have to disable every point on the ship. He rinsed the cup out and replaced it under the machine's nozzle, selecting a new black coffee. A stream of hot brown liquid dispensed into it, filling the air with that invigorating scent.
    "You get your miles in?"
    Therse shot Genham a glare. He'd seated himself with one foot up on the table and was rocking back in his chair like a mischievous child, signature grin plastered over his face.
    Therse turned back to his coffee, picking the mug up and inhaling the aromas. He took a sip. If you squinted, it almost tasted good.
    He pulled out a seat opposite Genham and sat down, placing his coffee on the table a safe distance from Genham's foot.
    Genham leaned forward, scrutinizing his expression in mock concern. “Are you still sulking?"
    Therse took another emphatic sip of his bad coffee as Genham took a bite of something. He supposed he should eat too, though it seemed like far too much effort when everything tasted of nothing. He glanced at Genham, eyes going wide and jaw dropping as he realized what it was exactly that the other man was eating. Juice was running down his chin from the bite he'd left in it.
    The tomato was more red and sweet-looking than anything Therse had ever seen in his life.
    "Where the hell did you get that?” he asked in astonishment, fixated on the soft, bright fruit.
    "Oh, you're talking to me now?” Genham showed him the contents of his other hand. Another tomato. He tossed it to Therse, who caught it as if it had been a tiny red baby. He smudged a thumb over it, feeling the soft skin ripple. It was perfectly ripe.
    He looked over at Genham, almost expecting this to be some trick. The man was sucking on his fingers. Therse was salivating like a hungry dog. “How does it taste?"
    The blond-haired man just smiled back at him. A rare, genuine smile. Therse parted his lips and bit into the tomato, his mouth flooding with flavor. It was incredible. He smiled despite himself, the irritation of earlier suddenly forgiven. “That'sh good,” he said through a mouthful, pushing the rest of it inside and filling his cheeks. “Are zhere mo?"
    "There's a biohab,” Genham told him.
    Therse's jaw stopped working, and he just stared, unable to comment with a face-full of juicy tomato. He chewed the rest quickly with reluctance and swallowed, wiping his chin off on the back of his hand then sucking on it. “Where? How did you find it?"
    "When the ship gave us a tour of the facilities it forgot to mention three entire floors,” Genham replied, stretching his arms up above his head.
    "Why would it leave something like that out? We've been living on crap from the vendors for weeks. And I can't even remember the last time I saw a tomato.” He looked down at his fingers, where some of the juice still remained. “What's the hab like?"
    Genham shrugged. “Like any other really. All hydroponics and plants and stuff. Big enough to supply this ship's oxygen and then some though, I reckon."
    "Hmm,” Therse said, scratching his chin. “These seven weeks might not be so bad after all."
    "What's that supposed to mean?"
    "Means you've been irritating the shit out of me, is what it means."
    Genham snorted and folded his arms across his broad chest. “Like I said, doing the shuttle awake was your choice, not mine."
    "Yeah, I didn't think it would be just us. I didn't think I would have to suffer seven weeks of nothing but air-foils and craft engineering and you ,” Therse complained. “I thought there would at least be some other normal personnel around as well."
    "I like how you're insinuating that you'd be one of them."
    A glare. Therse looked him over.