Explaining

“So how long were you intending to ‘keep’ this girl?” Faye demanded, standing over Jet. It had been a full day since Spike had left and there was still no sign of him, though Jet had a pretty good idea of where he was.

“Jessica? Well that’s up to her.” Jet wasn’t paying much attention to the show he was watching, but he also hadn’t been paying much attention to Faye either, until just now. “Anyway, it’s not like I’d just abandon her in Tokyo.”

“Jet!” Faye cried exasperatedly, “you said so yourself, she’s a human being not some stray, she’ll be able to take care of herself.”

“Faye she’s from fifty-nine years ago. You can’t just dump someone from 2012 in present day Tokyo and leave them there.”

“Why not, that’s practically what happened to me.” Faye crossed her arms and started to walk away.

“Yeah and look how you turned out.” Jet muttered but Faye was already across the room and didn’t hear. “My ship Faye, and my rules,” he said louder, “when we leave she can choose whether she stays or not.”

“Hey Jet?” he looked up, Jessica was peering around the door, hair still wet from the shower.

“Yeah?”

“Uh, where’s the kitchen?”

“Here, I’ll show you.”

Jet studied her surreptitiously as they walked down the hallway. Her clothes, though they seemed strange to him, suited her perfectly. She was wearing the shirt Ed had discovered and a pair of the most interesting pants. They were extra long, covered with pockets, and had an extra triangle of faded black denim sewn in at the bottom, making them bell out.

“My sister made them.” She was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Jet stopped, looked around, and realized they were at the kitchen door. He went in, Jessica following.

“So, why are we in the kitchen?”

“I thought I’d cook for a while.” Jet looked at her, surprised. “Well since I’m staying I might as well earn my keep, right?” Jessica looked at him, hand on her hip. “Did you honestly think I was going to sit around and do nothing?” she laughed, “I’d go nuts! Besides I’m not a bad cook.” Jessica looked around the kitchen; it wasn’t much, a few gas elements, no oven, a wok, and some utensils and knives. Plenty of counter space though. Jet watched her, still surprised, then something she had said clicked with his earlier discussion with Faye. She had said she was staying.

“You heard, didn’t you?”

“It was hard not to, Faye’s pretty loud.” Jessica’s voice echoed slightly, she was rummaging around in a cupboard where she found: more pans. “When are we leaving?”

“When Spike gets back.” Whenever that is, Jet thought.

As if she were reading his thoughts Jessica laughed, “Yeah, whenever that is.” She was silent for a moment. “Where are we headed?”

“Nowhere definite yet, probably Mars; there’s always a few bounties there.”

There was a loud clang, a thump followed by a muffled curse, and then Jessica appeared, clutching her head. “Mars?”

“Oh yeah, I guess that never came up huh?” Jet paused, wondering how to summarize everything. “Well, uh, y’see Earth became too crowded after a while and people went and colonize some of the other planets, and we’re able to get to these colonies using gates, uh hyperspace gates,” Jet added quickly, seeing her confusion. “Well, there was an accident with one of the gates that blew up a piece of the Moon, it destroyed a lot of Earth’s surface and wiped out most of Earth’s population. So now humans mostly live in certain areas on Earth, and on colonies.” Jet looked at her carefully; she was white and swaying, in shock, again. “I think you’d better sit down.” He stopped her when she opened her mouth to protest. “You can start tomorrow. Right now you need to let your headache go away.” He gestured to her head. Jessica grimaced, nodded, and slowly walked out.

“Shit,” Jet muttered to himself, what else was he going to have to explain?