Chapter 7.
Ambia stood at the window, watching and listening to the three men just beyond the glass. From time to time Evander made comments. But she really wasn’t paying much attention to him. She was absorbed in the interplay between the two men on the other side of the glass.
She had a basic understanding of what was referred to by the Brighid crew as “time dilation,” but this was the first time she had actually seen an example of the phenomenon.
Evander had explained that when the two men lived together on their planet (‘Earth,’ they called it), they were approximately the same age. It amazed her to see that in the space of just a few Brighid days, the man called Broc had aged almost an entire lifetime, compared to Amon, who looked to be in his early 20’s.
She also marvelled at the fact that though Amon was a much younger man, his insight and perception were equal to, if not superior to a man with much more life experience. She was beginning to see why Evander had taken such an interest in him.
Just moments after Evander entered the room to join the two men, Ambia’s shoulder mic beeped. She tapped it once.
“Ambia here.”
“Orion sector monitoring. We just received another signal from the ‘Earth’ planet and have dispatched a shuttle to pick up another individual, per standing instructions from Section Head Evander. His com link has been disabled, so we can’t contact him directly. Our last communication showed him with you. Do you have contact with him?”
“Yes. He’s in ORIENTATION right now and left specific instructions that he not be disturbed.” Ambia saw that the three men were still deep in conversation.
“Understood. The shuttle should arrive within the hour. As soon as possible, please inform the Section Head.”
“Will do. Ambia out.”
She was unsure of what to do next. Evander had told her not to disturb him, but she was sure that this event needed to be passed to him as soon as possible. She tapped her shoulder mic twice.
“Message center. For Section Head Evander: Sir, I just received an urgent message from sector monitoring and have gone to the shuttle bay to await an arrival from Earth. I’ll report back upon its arrival. Ambia out.”
Glancing once more into the window, she turned and walked briskly down the hall to the lifts.