The morning after

Amidst the hubbub of the canteen, Seymour shovelled the last forkful of eggs benedict into his mouth and settled back into his wheelchair with a deeply contented sigh
The food this morning had been spectacular, and after yesterday’s little bit of unpleasantness, he was pleased to see that the crew were, for the most part, all looking much more relaxed and were happily devouring the sumptuous breakfast that Bedge, their simulant domestic, had prepared with the fresh supplies that Mr FeBuggure had appropriated from the STCP
Of all the crew, only Ms Jones was notable by her absence, but to Seymour’s mind, this could only be a good thing since she would no doubt spoil the general bonhomie with her miserable cynicism, and rile Mr Chrysler, who was sat together with his estranged wife, trying to persuade Max to eat his breakfast instead of play with it
“Want some more?” a voice growled
Seymour turned to smile up at Bedge who was clad in an almost-too-small-for-him pink apron with the words "glamorous gourmet" emblazoned on it; he couldn’t remember the last time there had been enough food for a second helping, and so decided that it would be rude not to accept
“Oh, most certainly” he beamed “And drizzle me a little of the truffle oil over the eggs this time – it’ll set them off perfectly”
“Yes, master” Bedge snarled and trudged away to prepare a second helping, leaving Seymour to gaze around the room with a beatific smile on his face
“Aw come on” he overheard a somewhat harassed Katrina saying to Max “You liked scrambled eggs before ...didn’t you?”
“They’ll be getting cold” Jay tried “You should eat up soon mate – They’re much nicer when they’re warm!”
“No” Max screwed his little nose up and stuck out his tongue, reminding Seymour of the struggles he used to have to get his own daughter, Alota, to eat anything near what could generously be called a decent, balanced diet, and realised with a start how much he missed her
Maybe, he mused, he should have a word with Ms Jones and ask if the time drive she had used during their escape from the STCP could be utilised to help locate his daughter – He had noticed she had pocketed it before Chrysler had... well, not to put too fine a point on it, tried to kill her...
With such a marvellous device, he reflected, all his problems could easily be remedied - a quick jump to rescue Alota and then another back to assume his rightful position as the chief executive of the JMC, and then maybe another few just to collect enough information about the futures markets to secure him financially for the rest of his luxuriously comfortable life
Maybe he could buy Australia with the proceeds? - He had always fancied a bit of beach property...

His thoughts were interrupted by Mr Chrysler turning to stare straight at him, his dark eyes narrowing as his mouth curled with distaste, making Seymour wonder for a moment what on earth he had done wrong, before he belatedly realised that the rest of the room had gone quiet and it wasn't he whom Jay was staring at
Twisting to look back over his shoulder, Seymour's heart sank when he saw that Ms Jones had entered the room and was silently helping herself to some breakfast from the buffet bar Bedge had set up against the wall
"Smeg" Alex sighed nearby
Seymour was inclined to agree
Everyone watched in silence as she finished spooning fruit into a bowl and turned to walk tiredly across the room towards a vacant table, Seymour noting the livid bruises and scratches around her neck, which she had done nothing to conceal and even seemed to have gone so far as trying to enhance them by tying her hair back and wearing a scoop neck top
All things considered, she looked terrible
Jay stood suddenly, his chair scraping away from his table as Cass sat down at hers, and for a moment, the only sounds in the room were those of Jay’s footsteps as he walked across the room towards her, and the occasional rattle and chink of her spoon in her bowl as she ate her breakfast
“I’m surprised you’ve got the nerve to show your face around here” Jay said as he came to a halt by her table
Cass didn’t even acknowledge him, concentrating instead on taking another mouthful of fruit, her eyes remaining resolutely fixed on the table in front of her
“I want you off this ship” Jay continued coldly “Right now”
“Oh, you do, do you?” her eyes suddenly flashed angrily up to meet his “And what happens if I refuse? Are you going to try and kill me again?”
“It’s not up for debate” Jay snapped “I’m putting you on a Blue Midget, forcibly if necessary, and making sure you’re as far away from me and my family as possible”
“Oh, it’s all about you, is it?” Cass sneered, throwing her spoon down into the bowl in disgust “Did you bother canvassing anyone else’s opinion about this, or are you still pretending you’re captain of this rust bucket and that you, for some reason, know best?”
"You’re too dangerous to be allowed to remain on board" Jay said bluntly
“I thought so” she laughed bitterly “Just so long as you’re happy, smeg everyone else!”
"I'm not discussing this any further" Jay stepped towards her “You’re coming with me, right now!”
“Do not even think about touching me” Cass hissed “Or this ship will be your smegging tomb”
“Hey! Hey!” Alex shouted, suddenly pushing himself to his feet "Calm the smeg down, the both of you! It's too early in the day for this kinda shit!"
"Like hell it is!" Jay snapped "I want her off this ship right now!"
"Jay, Cass is right" Alex retorted sharply "You've not mentioned a word of this to any of the rest of us, so I've got to ask: What gives you the right to decide who gets to stay aboard and who doesn't?"
"Don't you understand!?" Jay snapped incredulously "This is a clone of Brittany!"
He pointed at Cass, who had her eyes closed and was holding onto either side of the little table she was sat at
"This is an exact duplicate of the single most dangerous individual to have ever existed, and the one person directly responsible for planning and orchestrating the murder of more than half of the Dwarf's crew during the Hymenoptera attack! – She cannot remain aboard!"
“I have a name!” Cass snarled
"Need I remind any of you of the number of friends we lost that day?" Jay continued, his eyes searching the faces of the assembled crew "I lost my sister, my wife and unborn child..."
Cass interrupted him by hammering her fist down on the table in front of her
“Me, me, smegging me!” she shouted "We all lost friends, but for you it's personal because you were meant to be in charge at the time and your bleeding heart can't let you live with the consequences of command!"
"You little bitch" Jay snarled, curling his hands into fists
"Shut up" Cass snapped, suddenly standing to unflinchingly meet his gaze "Did you ever stop to consider that the deaths that day were a blessing?"
"What were five or six hundred JMC employees compared to the millions the Hymenoptera would have killed had Space Corp been allowed continue their lacklustre defence of humanity?" she continued angrily "Without our dead friends and colleagues, there would have been no ground-swell of support for bringing the fight home to the Hymenoptera, nor an early end to their continued expansion into human space!"
“Do you not see?” Cass asked as if she were explaining the blindingly obvious to a particularly stupid child "The rest of Space Corp lacked the balls to do what you did in your fit of suicidal grief; they couldn't predict or stop the Hymenoptera attacks, but you: You did what none of the others would dare to do, and not only took the fight to them, but ended the Hymenoptera threat!"
“We all lost friends and loved ones in that attack. All of us” she inclined her head to give him a supercilious glare “Maybe if you weren’t such a self-centred, selfish prick, you’d see that our sacrifices were for the greater good - Perhaps Brittany orchestrated that attack knowing your likely reaction and so altered the course of history, saving billions upon billions of human lives?”
“I...” Jay shook his head, feeling stunned and wondering, not for the first time, if he really should go and have a word with Phi
So, how dare you have the temerity to censure me” Cass hissed “when you’re too smegging stupid to see past your own conceited, self-serving wants; all this whining about spending six hundred years trying to find a way to change time and save your wife and son’s life – They’re saved! Brittany did that for you! Had you succeeded in doing things your way, you’d have killed billions!”
“So you just go ahead and convince everyone here how vile a person I am! Have your pathetic little popularity contest and throw me off this ship” Cass sneered “Because from here you seem worse by far!”
Turning, she strode from the room
You could have heard a pin drop as she left

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