2 Sliding Hands

It was located at the central point of the ship and almost all the corridors converged in that direction, making it the easiest place for all crew members to reach.

The B-12 hatch was at the end of the corridor that Layton had cleaned that morning, while the B-13 was on the diametrically opposite side.

With no other entrances apart from those two, he soon found himself surrounded by dozens of men and women, who walked in his own direction for the same reason, arranging themselves in an orderly row that respected the order of arrival, knowing that the doors would only open if they presented their identification tags one at a time.

*TIC*

*TIC*

One by one, the crew members entered the lunchroom after resting their paper on the sensor, which made the door open, which a few seconds later quickly closed, preventing some smartass from entering without being recognized.

When it was his turn, Layton pulled his nameplate from his pocket as usual and lifted it toward the illuminated light blue sensor, similar to all the other sensors of the ship.

*TIC*

Without pronouncing his name aloud, Voyager's artificial intelligence opened the hatch and he was able to enter the room, where the entire crew, which numbered about 250 units, was assembled, including soldiers, janitors, engineers, cooks, doctors, mechanics and scientists of all kinds.

As usual, being a rather lonely type, Layton waited for most people to approach the machinery that distributed the food and then approached it, not wanting to converse with any of them.

When most people sat at the tables, talking about this and that and eating their meal, Layton approached one of the three large machines from which he could order the desired food.

Being an old-fashioned and unhygienic method, it was forbidden to serve food in direct contact with the people and the cooks worked in an isolated area far from the lunchroom, then loading the dishes ordered by the crew members over conveyor belts, which served them directly to the customer.

Layton touched the screen of the machine that looked like a large TV and it lit up showing the usual screen, which allowed him to choose from three main categories:

- Meals

- Drinks

- Desserts and snacks

Without thinking twice and with his stomach grumbling about hunger for half an hour, he clicked on 'meals', opening another drop-down menu that showed a slew of savory dishes, each of which matched a dollar price.

With his low pay and sending some of the money to his parents, Layton knew that his choice had to always fall on the same dishes, two in particular: legume soup and chicken with potatoes.

"Umpff... I can't eat this shit anymore, but if I don't want to faint from exhaustion, I must do it again, even today. Bollocks!" he thought, snorting and clicking on 'legume soup'.

*Legume soup selected, please, approach the ID tag for payment*

He obeyed the ubiquitous AI and approached the card to the payment sensor, which in less than a second, took 6 USD from his account.

After a brief hissing-like noise due to the conveyor belts beginning to flow, a small metal drawer under the screen opened and a plastic box containing the ordered meal, still hot and steaming, came out.

Layton grabbed it and turned to the tables, looking for a table to eat alone and hear his beloved music in peace, as usual.

After careful research, as most of the crew used to sit always in the same places, he spotted the last table at the bottom of the room and sat there, resting the box and opening it.

The smell of legumes was released into the air, but having eaten that dish for more than 100 days since it left Earth, the urge to eat it was almost zero.

He pulled out the glass of water wedged next to the plate, remembering that fortunately, at least the water was free in the lunchroom and he took a sip, looking around and studying the behaviors of the people in the room.

He noticed that, every day, although in that place the entrance was granted to all workers of each rank, the tables were still divided according to on people's work: the engineers sat next to other engineers, doctors with doctors, soldiers with other soldiers and so on.

"In theory, there are other 180 days to go... HWSS Behemoth is still a long way off… it's out there somewhere, in some orbit of a hospitable planet. Half a year onboard has already passed and all I've gotten is this fucking pain in my back!" Layton thought, grabbing a spoon and starting to sip soup.

When the hot morsel crossed his throat and cheered the feeling of hunger in his stomach, he grabbed his earbuds and stuck them in his ears.

Then he took the mp3 player and began to scroll through the various playlists, identifying the one created on Earth with his mother, who, like him, loved Rock music.

"Fine, come on. Let's listen to it again" he thought, selecting the first song from the playlist.

Listening to good music and sipping that soup, he avoided looking up at people, isolating himself in his world, which he believed was the only way to resist getting to the 365th day without going crazy.

Just then, his gaze fell towards the edge of the table, on which a lunchbox similar to his own was rested, containing exactly his own soup.

Female hands grabbed its tips and opened it, preparing to eat its contents.

Knowing that the rest of the tables were busy and full of people, Layton continued to eat in silence, annoyed not being able to sit alone as usual, but as he looked down, one of those two female hands crept under his gaze, sliding on the surface of the table and gesticulating toward him, greeting him.

Astonished by that unusual behavior, not being used to familiarizing himself with anyone and having zero friends on the Voyager, Layton looked up, sure it was a joke or a tacky bet.

Long red hair slipped on one of those hands and when the young janitor's eyes crossed with those of the girl in front of him, he remained with his mouth open for a few seconds, enchanted by her beauty.