Chapter 4

“I was going to wait until I had brought the rest of my gear up and got myself squared away, but I don’t want to wait to give you your present.”

“Whaaa.” She looked at him, mouth agape, giving him a bit of a feral vibe as he looked at the long row of teeth lining her muzzle. “You really did get me somesing?” She stood up, clasped her hands behind her back and rocked on her feet, tilting her head to one side.

“Ta-da.” Jack held up a data chip case and Kazlaena studied the cover for barely a second, before plunging headlong into another of her cheery hugs.

Her head bumped the case hard, and she stepped back, looking at the floor with one eye closed as she held a hand to the painful spot. “Ow.”

“Oops, sorry Kaz.” He grimaced as he thought of the pain she must be feeling.

“Sat was me.” She looked up at him “Sorry.” He handed her the case.

“The complete second chapter of Sun Rider.”

“Ow did you find sis, Jack?”

“I got lucky one day in an entertainment emporium on Artema and bingo, sere it was.” He imitated her accent a little.

“Sa early seasons are so ‘ard to find. Sere’s like eighty episodes to volume two. Each episode is like fifty minutes long. Sis is...” Her voice went a little deep and somewhat wheezy “ ... Awesome”

“Keep you going for quite some time then, ya?”

“Oooh yes.” She clutched the case to her head and hopped from foot to foot a few times.

“Ok then, we should get going.” He spoke. “Drop your gift off while I change into something proper and store my smelly void suit in a chem bin, then we’ll head up level to eat.”

“Ok, um, “She looked around his room, primarily at the crude drawings and frowned. “Some of sese drawings...” She gave him a bit of a confused look. “ ... I don’t understand ‘ow come sey ... um...”

“Heh, forget about it Kaz. Different races, different humors.”

“Ok, but um, sa drawings, sey really weird.”

“Yeah,” Jack fought back laughter at her innocent tone. “Out of context, they really are...”

Kazlaena hopped the steps three at a time and waited on the first landing for Jack to catch up.

“Not sure where you get that energy level from there lil sprocfluff.” He joked.

“Sa energy just is sere.” She stuck her tongue out and headed up the second flight of stairs, catching her toe on the third step with a bit of a stumble “eeek.”

“Hey, you ok?”

“Yes,” She stood at the second landing, waiting for him to catch up. “A little too excited. We’re ‘aving Urkute dogs and sa fried potato slices for dinner tonight.”

“Still your favorite meal?”

“Yes,” she nodded quickly. “Along wis sa sicken nuggets. We gonna be early, only gonna be sef Norres sere I sink.”

“You gonna eat all the dogs before anyone else gets a chance?”

“Try to.” She giggled and took off, leaving him to try to catch up.

“Hey, wait up.” Jack grinned as he heard her go through the stairwell door. “Don’t eat all the urkidogs.”

He assumed she had rushed off to the galley when he proceeded through the door himself, but she was waiting on the other side, hidden from view.

“Scaredya,” She said as she jumped at him, making him flinch slightly, before jumping back with a disappointed look on her face “Aw.”

“Kinda,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m kinda hard to scare though.”

“You are.” She concurred and ran around behind him, pushing on his lower back to encourage him to move faster.

They passed the first door on their right labeled Fitness Room and could hear some music emanating from a hidden source. Jack thought to stop to see who occupied it and dwelt on that only briefly. Hard, fast music with aggressive lyrics, that had to be Proculus Scaro, Lucinia’s brother and the First Officer of the vessel.

‘Eh, maybe visit him later.’ Jack thought, then continued to the first door on their left, labelled Galley.

Beyond the galley on the left was a large rec room with a pool table, dedicated poker table, VR projector with headsets and a large screen, table tennis, dart board and beverage bar. Next was a small library and past that was a media/games room for a quieter setting than the rec room was prone to have. Beyond that was a private comms room with several booths to allow private conversation with distant family or other sources via superlum communication. On the right side, after the fitness room sat the aquatics room, a good-sized room with heated tubs and sauna booths. Past the aquatic room there was a hygiene center with a barber, sun tanning beds and stalls with tools to handle the comforts of the different races on board. Next was a lounge for alcoholic beverages and other, more alien drinks. This was followed by the large medical center he had visited earlier. Behind them was the topmost entrance to the aft cargo hold while the more commonly used prow cargo hold upper entrance sat some 250 feet down the hall. An emergency station and lifeboat berth sat at each end of the hall, as they did on each consecutive deck.

Kazlaena pulled Jack through the open doors and into the pleasing smell of the galley. To the right were placed several wooden tables with foam padded steel stools. The kind that was comfortable for about the time it takes to down a meal and not much longer. There were enough tables to seat the entire crew, though an occasion like that was held sparingly. Beyond the tables, at the back of the galley, were several appliances on a steel counter that offered a variety of beverages including coffee, tea, and carbonated drinks. There were also cooled dispensers for the mental boosting drinks the Lexocanus favored, and the high protein drinks the ex-military crew consumed.

Jack followed Kazlaena to the left of the galley where a rack of plastic trays sat, taking one as she offered it.

“So ‘ungry.” Kazlaena set her tray on the counter that ran the length of the serving station before them.

“Who is there?” Jack heard the melodic accent of the voice from the preparation area and saw a bronze skinned woman in cooking attire emerge. “Jack?”

“Hey Miss Norres.” Jack reached over the counter and shook her hand.

“Please, Jack, call me Delilah. No need to be so formal.” She said with a warm smile.

“Ok, how bout Deli?”

“Cause I work in the galley, huh?” She smirked.

“Deli-catessen?”

“Old coffee for you,” She pointed at him with a smile, and he laughed.

“Aw...”

“At least your humor came back with you.” She reached back into the prep area and brought forth a plastic plate with a half dozen cooked Urkute sausages. “Everything went ok?”

“It did, to the best it could,” Jack nodded. “Everything go good here?”

“Was a little less comedic,” Delilah said. “But there was nothing of any note. Nothing you probably haven’t heard already, at least.”

“Only that Kaz here was causing all kinds of trouble.” Jack saw Kazlaena’s jaw drop as she looked at him with a mix of shock and humor.

“Someones gotta pick up your slack.” Delilah said.

“I do not do all sat,” Kazlaena gave Jack a scolding look. “I didn’t cause any trouble.”