The trio entered the house. Both Savanna and Chase had never seen anything like this in their lives and by the look on their faces, they were astonished. The giant gave them a hand up on to the chairs that sat at the table.
"Would you guys like a cup of basil root tea?" the giant offered. He put as much compassion in his voice as he could muster. He wanted this young girl to feel comfortable with him, if she had done so much for his young friend, she was the type of person that he would love to hang out with. She reminded him of beings on his home planet, she was the closest thing, personality wise, that he had met to a giant in a long time. The giant was home sick and lonely; he needed new friends.
Savanna did not respond she just looked at Chase. She was extremely unsure of the situation, she felt that the giant was a good guy, but the things that she knew about him told her head that her gut was wrong. She had seen many times where circumstances changed good people into monsters. These were the worst type because you could never trust your instincts with them; your bad feelings would come way too late.
"I would love one. Thank you." Chase ignored Savanna. He was not trying to do it to be rude but he knew there was nothing he could say to convince her that this was a good idea. Until she heard the stories that this giant had to tell; she would never be able to understand the benefits of this alliance. He glanced at Savanna out the corner of his eye trying to hide the fact he was attempting to study her thoughts. He could not imagine what was going through her head at the time, but he did sympathize with her situation. He had no idea what he would do if the situations were reversed, he felt as though she was acting better than he would be.
"How about you, Savanna?" The giant looked at Savanna with his big brown eyes. He was trying to convince her that he was a good guy but it did not seem to be working. He could tell by her face that she had seen the terror that Zorbex had put on to this earth first hand.
"Well I could use something warm to drink. What is Basil root?" Savanna tried to force a smile. She was a portrait of uneasiness.
"Basil root is a calming tea. On my home planet, it was known as the tea of friendship. It is said that when a group of people drink it together and tell stories of their past, they all can see it through the eyes of the story teller. It is kind of like a truth serum in a way. It has no permanent affects and you can choose not to follow the lead, it is not forced. You have a choice when you drink it whether you live the story or just observe. It is remarkable, I absolutely love it. Although it has been quite a while since I have had a chance to drink it. I believe the last time was when I met Chase." The giant smiled whole heartedly at the boy.
"It is not going to make me hazy or anything is it?" Savanna was now concerned. She grew up on different teas; she knew that some teas could have intense effects on the mind. She was in bad enough of a situation that this was like the cherry to top it off. She puddled through different scenarios in her head. She hoped that her destiny would guide her through. Chad had spoke about karma a lot and this was a time where Savanna needed karma.
"No, not by any means. As soon as the tea is diluted the affects will no longer be present. It takes about ten to fifteen minutes after you drink it for it to neutralize in your stomach. If you start to feel like you cannot handle it, you can drink a cold glass of water, it neutralizes the affect almost instantly. I will pour you a glass of water also."
Savanna nodded her head in agreement. She studied Chase to help give her confidence in her decision. He just smiled. She still trusted him and her gut was screaming that she was being very over bearing but her mind; it was looking at the situation with a grain of salt. She had been set up one too many times to allow it to happen again.
The giant entered the kitchen and poured water into a large cylindrical steel shaft. He pushed two buttons on the front of it. There was a swooping sound and then a bell chimed. The giant went to the cupboard and pulled out an orange and yellow box. Savanna could not read the language that was on the box. She recognized some of the symbols from those that adorned the Riptoids that currently occupied the earth. She did not know what they meant but she assumed that it was their language.
The giant took some black powder out of the box and placed it in three cups. He poured the hot liquid out of the cylinder and pushed the top of each cup. There was a quiet swirling sound. Evan grabbed a tray and put the cups on it. He placed them on the center of the table and put a cup in front of Savanna and Chase. The liquid in the cup was still swirling when Savanna looked into it.
"This may be too bitter for you. Here is some honey if you like." Evan handed her a small jug with golden liquid in it. "I have never tasted anything like this. It is so sweet."
Savanna took a sip of the tea without adding any honey to it. "Wow. This is pretty good, a little bitter, but something I could enjoy drinking." Savanna looked at the giant.
Evan set down a cold glass of water, the side of the glass was creating condensation from the temperature differences. Savanna looked at the glass and watched one of the droplets roll down and hit the puddle that was forming on the table. It went in slow motion, she could feel her imagination opening up from the tea that she was drinking. She imagined that the puddle was a lake and droplets turned to waterfalls in front of her eyes. Her day dream was interrupted by the giant taking his seat across from her.
"Now to tell my story," Evan began.
He started with the day that his dad received word that he won the assignment for the prison ship. He told them how his dad sat him down and told him that they would be travelling in the ship for five to ten years, that once their tour was over they would be set for life. His dad had told him that after the tour Evan could go to any school he wanted and become anything that he liked. Evan had asked his father about his friends and his school lessons. His father told him that he could keep in touch by using the PHIS, passive holograph imaging system, and his mother would teach him his lessons. Evan told the pair about how sad he was and how much he tried to convince his father that it wasn't a good idea to go. He tried to convince his dad that he could stay with his grandparents. His father told him that it would be too long to be away, that his grandparents were getting old. He was worried that they may die before he would return. He finally put his foot down and told Evan that there would be no more protests.
"We had been on the ship for about six months and I was getting extremely bored and falling further into a depression. The conversations that I was having with my friends back on Gnarvinx were only making things worse. They kept telling me of things that were going on and new people that they would met. It got to the point where I would not call them and I did not answer any of the messages that they left. I spent hours in my quarters by myself reading different books and researching different topics.
I started learning about how the ship worked and would investigate my findings. I finally got to the brig, the place where our prisoner was kept. From what I had read on the laws of prison ships, he was considered to be extremely dangerous if he was on the ship all by himself. I read about a way to communicate with people in the brig and decided to try it. I was interested in what made this man so dangerous.
I started to talk to Zorbex and he told me that he had been wrongfully accused. The story he told me made total sense. At the time I did not realize that he was not telling the truth because there had been a news story on at home before we left about a man that was sentenced to life on a prison ship and it turned out that he was set up. I had no clue at the time that Zorbex had heard this story before he was sentenced.
He convinced me to take over the ship so that we could return home. That he could prove his innocence if he could just get the evidence from his house, he had hid it in the wall and the police did not allow him to retrieve it. I had a dire need to return home I was lonely and I was depressed, I was also only a teenager and was ready to believe anything that may get me home. I waited for my dad to go into transition and released Zorbex. We went to the main driving room and I watched as he started to push buttons. From what I had read, it was obvious that he was not turning the ship around; he was reprogramming the Riptoids to work against my father. I ran to wake my father.
It was too late though, word traveled fast through the trolls that we were no longer in control of the ship. The trolls turned against us rather quickly. My father went to the emergency over ride but it was too late. The only access that his father had was to shut the ship down. It gives the pilot fifteen light years to land the ship and that is it. My father said it was a better risk to crash the ship then allow him to use it to attack a planet.
After the shutdown was activated my father took me and my mom to the crystallic convertor staging pod. He told me that if something were to happen to him that I was to remove it. I was to take the crystal out and get rid of both pieces as soon as possible.
When we crashed both my parents survived. We swam ashore and hid in a cave. We were there for about three months listening to the Riptoids come ashore and creating carnage all over the place. Eventually Zorbex found us."