Her Celestial Farm on the Scrapyard Planet (by Kay Lucas) novel Chapter 490

Chapter 490 Crabs, Food

Elizabeth bounded up the hatchway steps two at a time.

“Ella, we’re eating well tonight! We’ve caught over three thousand crabs!”

Melton was quick to clear up any confusion. “Crackshell Crabs, specifically.”

Ella’s eyes went wide as dinner plates.

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“Crackshell Crabs? Oh, those are a real treasure! Tender meat, but they’re an absolute nightmare to catch…” She looked Elizabeth up and down. “Boss, you’re not hurt, are you?”

“Not even a scratch.” Elizabeth waved her off. “I’m perfectly fine. Oh, and the group behind me is the farm’s newest hires. They’ll be working with us from now on. Make sure there’s plenty of food at lunch.”

Ella called back an easy acknowledgment and disappeared into the kitchen to get to work.

Clara stood at the base of the spaceship and tipped her head back, drinking in the sight of it.

It wasn’t enormous, but it was new and immaculately clean.

Warm amber light spilled from the open hatch, and with it came the most wonderful smell.

She hadn’t eaten a proper meal in three days.

The liquid supplements had been sweet at first, but after so many doses, it left a strange, chalky bitterness coating her tongue.

What drifted from the spaceship was something else entirely. The bright, earthy sweetness of fresh produce. The quiet fullness of cooked rice. The deep, rolling warmth of a hot broth.

Hunger struck her all at once.

It was fierce and bone-deep.

Beside her, Olivia swallowed hard.

“That smells incredible…”

Felix didn’t say a word, but his stomach made a low, rumbling protest on his behalf.

Rocket’s throat moved in a slow, restrained swallow.

Sharpie’s face stayed as unreadable as carved stone, but his footsteps picked up just a fraction of a beat.

Tyson appeared in the hatchway and waved them all forward.

“Come on up, stop standing around. Ella and the others cook fast. It won’t be long.”

Clara pressed one hand against the hull and climbed up, step by careful step.

Her legs were still trembling, and the wound still burned, but she made it.

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Chapter 490 Crabs, Fond

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She stood in the hatchway and peered inside.

The space wasn’t large, but it was spotless and warm.

A few tables had been pushed together, already set with plates and utensils.

The kitchen sat at the far end, where Ella’s round, bustling silhouette moved through the steam, the spatula ringing against the cast iron in bright, clattering waves.

Elizabeth had already settled at the table, a cup of water in her hand, deep in quiet conversation with Desmond.

Desmond listened, gave a single nod, and slipped back out.

Melton sat at another table nearby, tapping something into his holopad.

The rest of the crew was crouched in the corner, methodically wiping down their rifles.

It was all so easy, so settled, so peacefully ordinary.

Clara stood in the doorway and took it all in, and for a moment, the world felt strangely soft around the edges.

“Come sit.” Tyson pulled a chair out for her. “That wound of yours still needs to be looked at. Once we’re done eating, let the medic take a proper look.”

Clara sat down and looked at him.

“Tyson…” She hesitated a little. “Has everything been okay with you?”

Tyson looked at her and smiled.

“Does it look like I haven’t been?”

Clara studied him for a long, honest moment.

He was thinner than she remembered, noticeably so, but there was a brightness to him that hadn’t been there before.

The old weariness was gone from his eyes, and so was the constant, coiled tension. What lived there now was ease. Light.

“No,” she said. “It doesn’t.”

Tyson settled into the seat across from her.

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“Clara, I know what you’re thinking. You think I’m just saying something nice to make you feel better.” He glanced out the window, where sunlight was filtering down through the canopy and scattering in lazy, dappled patterns across the ground. “But I’m telling you, that place is different.

“There’s no backstabbing or playing people against each other. Everyone just puts their whole heart into their own work. You don’t have to watch your back, and you don’t have to scheme against anyone. It feels real. It feels safe.”

Clara listened without a word, and her eyes were full of something luminous and aching.

She’d never known that feeling, not once.

In Black Panther Squad, every single day had been a careful, exhausting vigil.

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Chapter 490 Crabs, Fond

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Watch for missions that could go sideways. Watch for teammates who’d crumble at the worst moment. Watch for the knife you never saw coming until it was already in your back.

She’d always assumed that was just the mercenary life. It had never once occurred to her that a place like the one Tyson was describing could actually exist.

Olivia, sitting close by, wore the exact same expression, equal parts longing and barely-restrained desperation, like she might sprint to that farm if given half a reason.

“Tyson, so what brought you all out here?” she asked.

He tilted his head in Elizabeth’s direction.

“The boss wanted to start a ranch. Raise her own meat, eggs, and dairy instead of buying them from outside. So we came out here to see if we could find any animals worth domesticating and bringing back.”

The group stared at him with their mouths hanging open.

Olivia blinked slowly for a few full seconds before her voice found its way back. “You caught all those Crackshell Crabs to bring home and breed?”

Elizabeth drifted over just in time to catch the question. She nodded with a bright, easy smile. “Exactly. Bring them back, let them breed, and we’ll have more crab than we know what to do with forever.”

Felix couldn’t help himself. “But those things don’t just hit hard. They wreck everything they touch. What if they tear the whole farm apart?”

Elizabeth waved a breezy, unconcerned hand. “Please. If any of them so much as think about damaging my farm, I’ll snap every last one of their claws off and see how much wrecking they manage after that.”

Felix opened his mouth, fully prepared to explain that snapping a Crackshell Crab’s claws was not exactly a casual undertaking, but then he looked at Elizabeth’s face. That mild, utterly unbothered expression.

He thought about the Crackshell Crabs lining themselves up in a tidy, obedient queue and marching into the chute. He thought about Elizabeth patting the biggest shell in the bunch and telling them not to push.

He closed his mouth. This woman could probably actually do it.

Tyson took a sip of water and turned to look at Clara and the others.

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“What about you guys? What brought you to this island?” He glanced back out at the dense jungle sprawling beyond the window. “There’s plenty of natural resources here, sure, but it’s not like this place is sitting on any rare mineral deposits.”

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