The Solar Wind Read Free Page B

afford this. Ava felt exhausted by the time she reached the store. This is weird she thought, she didn’t usually become so tired from walking. Must be the long journey she thought. Food and plant life, especially produce, were precious commodities on any space station. The outermost level of any station was dedicated to sustaining oxygen gardens, agriculture, and also farming of edible food. No one looked up as Ava passed through the crowded avenues and arrived at a small store. Ava never expected friendliness from anyone, it just didn’t happen. Making ends meet was hard and everyone had their own agenda, mainly survival, therefore people tended to keep to themselves.
    Ava walked through the entryway into the small store. Everything appeared to be arranged in a neat, orderly fashion on the shelves an d in the refrigerated units. She scanned the shelves for the basic staples and was astonished by the prices. English and French were the primary languages used on Orionis. Ava only knew a few words in French. She could not identify many of the items on the shelves because of the plain packaging and language barrier. On Earth most food products could be identified just by looking at the package, it didn’t matter what language was used. Without pictures or illustrations, Ava had to spend more time standing there, figuring out what things were.  Being in a store when you are hungry is not good for your budget, it’s even worse when you are starving. She remembered from the online map that there were a few more stores further down the avenue. She left the store without buying anything. A few minutes later Ava stood outside of the second store. She hoped for the best and walked in. These prices were even more expensive than the first place and most everything was labeled in French. She couldn’t believe it. Much to Ava’s relief the third store, “Foust”, had slightly lower prices than the first store, but not by much. Ava knew it would be a few weeks until her first payday so she could only afford only a few of the basics. No produce this week. Looks like it will be rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a while. Anything to fill an empty stomach. It won’t be so bad once I get paid, Av a kept thinking. By the time she returned home with her few precious food items, she could barely keep her eyes open. After a quick rinse in the shower and eating a small bowl of rice she set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. and went to bed.
    Ava followed the directions from the online map to the ITO Orientation office on Level 3. As she walked she observed her surroundings. The passages and avenues appeared clean, sleek and simple. The streets consisted of a pattern of white and silver tiles. The offices and shops that lined the corridors demonstrated their uniqueness in their store front designs and colors of their lighted signs. The light gray industrial ceiling did nothing for the imagination. Orionis certainly did not have a reputation for excitement, nor was it a vacation destination. However, dull as it may have seemed, Ava appreciated the cleaner air and peaceful environment. She never enjoyed living underground on Earth. The entrance to the ITO office seemed impressive compared to the other offices around.
      Ava sat next to Helena at orientation. “Good morning how was your first night? Did you like your roommate?”
    “I hardly even saw her. Her name is Samantha. She works nights, and I work days. I think that we will only be seeing each other in passing. She seemed O.K. I think she’s around twenty-one.”
    “Did you like your apartment?”
    “It’s so small, but I’m happy that I have my own bedroom. I can lock it when I leave so at least I don’t have to worry about anything getting ripped off.”
    “Do you think that your roommate would do that?”
    “Who knows? You can’t really trust anyone here until you get to know them. The residents on Level 6 seem a bit desperate. I went shopping for food yesterday and I could