<div align="center"><strong>-=the stowaway – asleep – the Gamble’s engine room=-</strong></div><br/>Lulled by the noise and heat and motion of the ship’s flight, she tunneled under her thin, nearly threadbare blanket. Cozy and safe, she sighed, enjoying the images in her mind. Nothing about the doors and hatches opening or closing worried her. They were natural sounds as far as she recalled. Bootsteps landing on the metal plates were music – so accustomed to the noise, she relaxed, her first time being so completely asleep and vulnerable in months.<br/><br/>The words were just another noise at first, punctuated by a kick to the side of her cot. Blinking awake, she held very still, terrified at the thought of being caught, listening. As the man nearby spoke with authority and irritation, she had to assume she’d not been discovered and that he was addressing someone entirely different. Reluctant to give herself away in case the kick had been aimed at a random inanimate object, she remained frozen in position.<br/><br/><strong>“Bu lang bu you… I’m going to go check on the rest of the crew. When I get back you’d better be up and at least look like you’ve been working, Dohn luh mah?”<br/></strong><br/>With another kick to her hiding place, the girl nodded under the blanket, hoping that if her movement were noticed, her audience would assume the capitulation of the person they expected. ‘Anwar’ was it? Had she heard that name before? Listening to the bootsteps clomp away, she heard the hatch close and finally peeked out from under her blanket. Searching the room for evidence of anyone else present, she breathed deeply, wondering how the hell long she’d been asleep. They were in space flight from the turning of the engines, already sweeping the black for speed.<br/><br/>Now what? She was stuck aboard until they lit on Bernadette? Fine… more food and comfort for her.<br/>