Learning to Dance

Cazadora and trying to make themselves as invisible as
possible. Their camouflaged ensign uniforms weren’t
exactly the right colour to blend in with this planet. The
Lieutenant-Commander, as far as they could tell, wasn’t
having much luck getting a diplomatic answer out of the
Graali people, and Taz was getting restless. They knew Up
was in the government complex – they’d tracked his signal
from the Arrow – and who knew what they were doing to
him while she sat idly by, waiting for a stupid order to come
through. Her fingers itched on her zapper.
“Take it easy, Taz,” said Pedro, and she glared at him. He
settled himself deeper into the bush, keeping half an eye on
a large yellow insect pollinating the bloom nearest him.
“Up’s a tough son of a bitch. He can take care of himself.”
“Shut up about Up,” she said, gripping her zapper still
tighter.
“He saved your life, didn’t he?” Pedro continued. “Back
when you were a kid, I mean. Before you came to the
Academy. Before he brought you there.”
“Sí,” Taz said quietly. “I owe him everything.”
“My family was killed by the robots, too,” said Pedro
blithely. “In our first year. I left for the Academy, and three
weeks later, bam! My entire village was gone.”
Taz looked at Pedro, really looked at him, for the first
time in years. How could she have gone to school with him,
been bullied by him, chased him into a dumpster, served on
the same starship as him and never known that they shared
this key common background?
“They say there isn’t much of Mexico left now,” she said
softly, and forced the image of her mama, lifeless and
staring, from her mind.
Pedro looked at her sadly. “I'm sorry that I was so cruel
to you then, Taz. I know it’s no excuse, but I hope you can
understand how difficult that time was for me.”