literature

Jake The Borrower Ch1

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Space is No Place for a Human


Their waiting had paid off. The kitchen, which had been full of activity for the past hour was beginning to empty as the chefs cleaned the utensils until they sparkled. This many cooks meant something, the larger kitchen was only used if an event was being hosted, but there were no guests in the house and all the prepared food was being stored in the large freezer. Most of the food looked like desserts. Small pastries artfully decorated with flowers over colored marzipan that indicated cake flavor and type of filling, individual fruit tarts made of a rainbow of jams, fudge made on top of flaky cookies and cut into squares, . They worked like a well oiled machine, as if everything down to locking up had been timed.

The thing about pastries was if any were flawed, they were thrown away, even if they would taste just as amazing. What a waste, and letting such fine creations go to waste would be a crime!

Jake and Nog weren’t going to stand for it. 

Once the lights had been turned off and the final chef had left, they emerged from their vantage point, the loose ceiling tile above the rack of pans drying next to the sink. Jake went first, throwing the hook and fiber line ahead of them. Nog was always impressed by Jakes throwing ability, for one so skinny he had precision aim and good distance on every throw. the hook snagged around the sink faucet and the pair held onto each other as they swung across. Looking down they saw the sink was still full of water, the flat surface reflected the moonlight coming in from the window. If they weren’t so set on getting sweets, they might have been tempted to go swimming.

But they were after sweets and nothing was going to stop them. The trashed pastries were not by the sink, the decorating counter was in the corner of the room left of the sink. When they reached the edge of the counter Jake hooked his line on the edge and let the rope fly free, down until it reached the floor a meter below.

“Come on Jake, I know you could throw it across!” urged Nog. He was always trying to think of the fastest way to do things without considering the safer way.

“There’s nothing for the pin to grab onto!” Jake pointed out for the hundredth time, already climbing down the rope. He beckoned his shorter friend to hurry up and follow. reluctantly Nog scaled the rope. At the bottom he skillfully flicked it loose and caught it before it could hit the ground.

The decorating counter was made of wood, unlike the sink, so climbing up was made easier. Both Nog and Jake took out swatches covered in small but sharp hooks and strapped them to their feet.  Each held two larger hooks in their hands and began to climb.

“Climb faster!” Jake whispered up at Nog.

“I’m climbing as fast as I can Jake!”

“then get longer legs!” Jake retorted, taping his hook against one of Nog’s calves.

Nog knew Jake was just teasing him. Even for a human he was short, and though he was stronger than Jake, limb length was definitely the better asset when it came to borrowing. Maybe he would take an extra large piece of piece of cake and not share it with his friend as payback for the remark.

Finally they made it to the top and collapsed.

“Remind me why we do this again?” weezed Nog.

“Because Bajoran cooks are best their are,” supplied Jake, staring up at the ceiling, the tile pattern swimming a bit in his vision. It was better than looking around. The cluttered kitchen items, especially the pots and the doors to the freezer and refrigerator, reflected light weirdly and it sometimes seemed as if there were still people about. Bajorans who could capture them and hurt them.

“Don’t let your dad hear you say that! he might kick you out!”

“Then I would just move in with you!” said Jake, sitting up. “Come on, we’re losing time!”

“you mean the entire rest of the night?” asked Nog.

“I mean until our fathers find us gone when we should be doing something useful, I still want to go to the roof!”

“You spend too much time on the roof! you’re going to go moon crazy!” said Nog.

“That’s not even a thing,” said Jake, arriving at the other side of the counter a good time before Nog.

Normally taking food from the waste was never something either of them would consider. It was unhygienic and degrading. However, for some reason the decorating counter had it’s own waste receptacle for discarded work, and the trash was never cleaned out until morning. As if the cooks didn’t want to take out their garbage or it wasn’t in their job description. Whatever the reason, Jake and Nog didn’t care. It meant they had access to fresh pastries when they were made. It was a small bag that hung from the side of the counter so the chef could just scrap the ruined food into it.

“Time to go fishing!” Jake announced, already tying the rope around him.

“Can’t I go this time?” asked Nog.

“Only you are strong enough to pull someone back up!” Jake reminded him.

“I still don’t believe that!” said Nog. He’d seen jake lift things that were certainly larger than himself. But Nog was stronger than his friend and took pride in that, so he took the rope and lowered Jake down.

Jake landed on the top, which was sealed to keep out pests and wrenched it open. A burst of sugary air hit him, almost enough to give him a rush without eating any sugar. He hopped down, landing with a splat in a tart. Jake reached down and tasted the filling. Hasperat. Dad’s favorite; he couldn’t not take some, making sure to get some crust in addition to the gooey jam.

“YOU’D BETTER GET SOMETHING CHOCOLATE!” called Nog. Jake searched and in no time found one of those fudge bars. His arms were too full to keep gathering so he yanked on the fiber and Nog pulled him up. They placed the loot onto pieces of plastic and tied them up to make little bags of pastry that wouldn’t ruin their fabric borrowing sacks.

“Send me back down! i still need to get some of that cake stuff we saw them making!”

“We’re going to need to borrow more plastic wrap soon,” said Nog as he tied off the last sack before he helped Jake back to the cake.

Running with their haul the two humans left the kitchen as fast as possible, making sure that they left no trace of their presence. Back in the ceiling, Nog fetched their lamp so they could examine their goods.

“Aw yes!” said Nog as he breathed in the scent of chocolate.

“This will taste better on the roof!”

Jake snatched the piece of fudge from Nog’s hands and ran, taking the light source with him. Right into his father. the lantern light shined off the square goggles and framed the powerful, bearded brown chin in the otherwise dark caverns.

“What do he have here,” the deep voice asked The man removed his goggles to look right into his son’s eyes, seeing excitement and a bit of guilt. “A kitchen expedition? I don’t recall needing anything borrowed from the big kitchen, Jake.”

“Look dad! We got tarts!” Jake searched his bag for the hasperat and handed it to his father.

“So I see!” his father smiled, white teeth almost as bright as the lamp, “what’s the occasion?” he examined the pastry before putting it in one of his numerous pockets.

“I don’t know, but there were a lot of chefs today!” Jake informed him as Nog ran up behind him.

“I’ll ask around then, we have to be prepared if the Estate is going to be full of Bajorans.”

The Estate was usually pretty empty save for the Governor, her wife, and her sister, and borrowing was easy. Living as easy, since so many rooms were locked up they could come and go as they pleased. But every month or so guests would come over, sometimes just a few, sometimes big parties were held and those locked rooms were opened up. They had to know which rooms and when so they could clear out in time.

“By the amount of dessert I saw, it can’t be a small party,” said Nog.

“Thanks Nog,” said Ben, “Oh and Jake, Dr Bashir requested some pain killers, the proper kind, do you think you could get some, I’m going to be busy tonight investigating this event.”

“Sure thing dad,” said Jake, as his father handed him some sterile gloves and an extra sheet of plastic wrap for the medicine. Looks like they were making a detour before the roof.

Medicine was kept in a variety of places in the Estate, but painkillers were in the Governor’s Medicine Cabinet.  

Jake and Nog went as far as they could in the ceiling but eventually had to use the wallspace. Handholds made from anything from staples to thumb tacks to jewlery helped them as they traveled down to the floor of the Master Bathroom.

It was late enough that the Governor and her wife were sleeping in the next room, but Jake and Nog carefully crossed the floor, not making a sound until they were below the bathroom sink, the basin of which loomed over them.

“I’ve got this one!” said Nog, and before Jake could say anything, Nog had hurled up his hook. Or rather, Jake’s hook. Jake hadn’t even noticed Nog had stolen it right off him. The Ferengis family was certainly light fingered folk.

“Dad asked me to do this,” said Jake.

“Like he’d going to know which of us actually did the job,” Nog was already climbing up.

“I’ll keep watch then,” conceded Jake.

Fetching medicine was actually easy, as long as you were sure no one was going to walk into the room. It was always better to have a lookout on this kind of job. Nog reached the mirror and examined his reflection, turning on a small hand light. His dirty red hair was getting a bit long but it just added style, and his round face was starting to gain some edge, he hoped.

“looking good,” he remarked, smiling at himself. then he pressed the small symbol in teh lower corner of the mirror and it slid open with with a  SWISH. He used the hand light to locate the correct bottle of pills and unscrewed the top. With the sterile gloves on, which he also pinched from Jake, he grabbed a pill.

Jake looked up when he heard Nog triumphantly fall to the ground, controlling his descent with one hand on the rope, the other holding the pill that was as big around as his face. Jake wrapped it up, but it was too big to fit in either of their bags.

It was actually quicker to the roof from their current position than from the kitchen, so they were able to make good time. The ventilation system that lead to the roof was separate from the big kitchen’s ventilation. It was a bit dusty but with bandanas over their mouths it was tolerable and soon they were on the roof, looking out over The Estate, a city glimmered off in the distance.

Nog was done waiting, he took out the chocolate and started to eat, noisily. Jake found a piece of cake and ate it slowly, leaning back so he stared up at the stars.

Being the size of a rodent, the world always felt so big and scary, especially living in a house with giants, everything reminded Jake of how small he was. But looking up at the sky reminded Jake this was only one small world in an enormous galaxy. It didn’t make him feel any smaller, no, it was comforting to know that everything was small compared to the universe.

“Are you thinking about space travel again?” Nog asked, just as a warp trail blazed across the sky from a departing ship. Warp trails, unlike shooting stars, started off with bursts and disappeared into a point, plus the light was different, more like luminescent glitter than a streak of fire.

“When am I not?” replied Jake. “it’s so unfair that Bajorans can explore space and we can’t! Think about all they get to see and discover, all the fantastic adventures they go on. I could do that, and write about all I see.”

“Space is no place for a human, Jake.” said Nog, mimicking Jake’s father’s stern tone.

“You just wait! I’ll get there someday,” sighed Jake.

They both sat up as something flew across their vision. Fearing it was a bird they started to gather their things but then it landed.

A tall dark-skinned, dark-haired woman was unstrapping herself from a glider of metal and wood. From the back of the glider she removed a large bag and walked over to Jake and Nog, who were smiling.  

“Sorry if I scared you! I spotted your light and had to land, I’ve got some mail for your fathers,” said the woman kindly.

“We weren’t scared,” insisted Nog, “we were going to come greet you.”

“That’s right!” Jake said to support his friend.

“Alright then and what are my two fine young men doing out here tonight?”

“Just looking at the stars Mrs Yates,” said Jake.

“Then don’t let me intrude, I’ll be on my way, got a lot mail to deliver!” she said.

“Wait, Mrs Yates, do you think you could get this medicine to Dr Bashir? I’m sure he’d appreciate getting it sooner than I could walk it over to him!”

“I’d be my pleasure Jake,” she said, accepting the pill and putting it in the mailbag.

She hooked herself back into the glider and kicked the small engine which thrust her into the air before turning off a second later as she spread the wings out to the full span. Silently and gracefully she flew down to the garden, towards Dr Bashir’s tree.

“If she wasn’t married to your dad she would so be mine!” said Nog.

“Oh Nog no! Why do you say things like that!” Jake had set up Kasidy Yates, the local mailwoman, with his father a few years back after his mother had died. Her job meant she wasn’t around much, but when she was she always had stories to tell. “And she isn’t anyones! She’s more free than any of us.”

“Whatever do you hear that?”

Jake did hear it. It was the sound of automobiles coming up the drive. People were arriving. but why now? it was very late at night and not the time to host an event. They ran across the roof and slid down to the gutter to get a better look.

A big fancy car had pulled up and people were getting out. But they weren’t Bajoran. The front door opened and illuminated the three grey figures of Cardassians. Their reptilian facial and neck features visible even from high up. A man and two women, no and a girl. They were dressed in very nice clothes and their driver was removing a fancy suitcase from the trunk of the car. It was handed off to the girl. The Governor and her wife ran out to greet their alien visitors, tails swishing nervously, they obviously had not expected company tonight. Jake and Nog couldn’t hear what they were saying but they sounded scared.

“Jake you need to see this,” Nog elbowed him.

“I am seeing this!” he said, but Nog had out his spyglass, he saw something Jake couldn’t.

“That girl! Look at the girl,” Nog instructed as he gave the spyglass to his friend.

Jake looked through the instrument and down at the girl. Now he could see it, she had a tail, a naked, scaly tail. Cardassians did not have tails. Bajorans did. the more he looked, the more off she seemed. She had large ears, instead of flat circular drums, wide light brown eyes, and her muzzle wasn’t nearly as pronounced as the two Cardassians next to her.

The Governor’s wife lead the girl inside and the Governor stayed outside, talking to the two remaining Cardassians. Eventually they left, but the girl did not come with them.

“Who could she be?” asked Nog.

Jake still saw the face of the girl in his mind’s eye “I have no idea.”

[Star Trek DS9 Borrower AU inspired by the amazing onetobeamup] This story is safe! 

Don't know star trek ds9? Well let me give you a rundown of the setting! Basially, earth doesn't exist. Humans are small creatures that live on Bajor in the homes of the Bajorans. The Bajorans were under a 100 year occupation by the Cardassians and are recovering from that. The Humans felt the effects of the occupation as well, it made borrowing harder when the Bajorans started keeping track of every grain of sugar they owned. 
The Bajorans looks something like 
This
Cardassians like This
(slight warnings in the second link for alien anatomy)

Don't know how many chapters this is going to be or how frequently I'll be writing it. but it's fun to write! 

Please leave comments here or reblog and add comments in the tags on 
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RockenRiolu's avatar
Holy cow! I can't wait for the next chapter. :D