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runsfromsilenceTitle (chapter): Runs from Silence (03)
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Jess starts to make a little headway in communication, but still no-one knows who their stowaway is.
But only Jess would think ordering takeout was the appropriate response for their mysterious alien visitor not looking hungry.
-----------
Jess must have finally drifted off at some point in the night, because his alarm rolled around far too early – a hard, insistent buzz that felt like it echoed right up from between his ears. He groaned wordlessly and slapped for the clock with a sleep-dead arm, missing it completely on the first two tries and clipping the heel of his hand on the corner of a cabinet on the third.
“Owww, mercy.” He cursed feebly into his pillow.
At this point, he’d have normally made an effort to try and nudge his way back into that comfortable bubble of sleep, but his alarm had jangled him abruptly out of a bad dream and actually he was quite glad it had woken him. Having spent the night being chased around the ship’s endless corridors, through a forest of heavy curtains and cargo, by a barely-glimpsed white monster with big jaws and bigger teeth, it left him feeling exhausted, and he hadn’t even gone anywhere!
Jess gave a grunt and let himself flop back into the pillows, arm dangling off the side of his mattress.
Then his gaze came to focus on a mound of blanket, and he remembered his … unwanted? … guest.
Small wonder he’d had weird dreams.
At least she hadn’t got peckish in the night and decided to nibble on him.
He dragged his heavy limbs up off the mattress, edged cautiously past her, and slipped away down the corridor for a shower.
The hot water simultaneously woke him up and reminded him how tired he still was. The previous night’s little adventure probably couldn’t have happened at a worse time; after a heavy day’s work and a heavy evening’s celebration, he’d already been tired when he’d heard the mysterious call for help. He hadn’t expected to then have to run for his life, or help out with emergency medical treatment, or social care and housing…
Adrenaline only gets you so far before you have to crash, evidently.
He turned his face up into the steaming water. “D’you think the captain will let me stay in bed today?” he asked the empty room. “…no, I didn’t think so either.” He blew out an exaggerated sigh.
At least today’s duties weren’t exactly the heaviest; cross referencing cargo manifests, checking everything was stowed securely, and ensuring everything due to be delivered on their next stop was accessible.
Mara could see him flagging, and kicked him out early, sending him back to his cabin with the vague threat of finding some way for him to make up the hours later. He didn’t need to be told twice.
The animal’s bowl of food was still untouched, when he returned to his room. Part of him was unsurprised; probably wasn’t exactly the best choice of rations, for something that was presumably a predator, and given a choice? He wouldn’t have gone for emergency pudding, either. But he wasn’t sure what else they could have given her, with those sore teeth and unknown appetite.
He wasn’t completely sure if the animal had even moved from her tightly-curled heap. He leaned a little closer, to inspect her, remaining at a cautious arm’s length just in case he had to make an untidy scramble for safety.
The circle of carpet was covered in little smudges of purple, so she must have moved about a little, at least. The raw skin over her nose looked a little less sore and swollen. Reassuringly, she looked a fraction more relaxed, too; her winglets weren’t quite so strained out in an attempt to cover her face, her eyes were softly closed, and her chest moved with a subtle, repetitive up-down motion. She was asleep, he figured – not still lost in that horrible shocked atony, staring at the walls.
He sat back onto his mattress and watched her for a little while, trying not to be overtly resentful of the fact that she was getting the rest that he deserved.
Jess stared at his door curtain until well into what should have been his rest period. He couldn’t quite pin down exactly what it was about her that was keeping him awake. She’d not made any signs of being threatening, and he couldn’t say he even felt remotely scared of her, in spite of her size and teeth. There was just this unavoidable sense of creeping unease that left him fretting over imagined dangers instead of sleeping.
On the third night, Jess gave up even trying to sleep in the same room.
He dragged his blanket down the corridor behind him and flopped out on the couch in the corner of the galley, instead.
It wasn’t the first time he’d slept on it, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. It was… comfortable enough? Just about long enough to stretch out on, and squashy enough that it wouldn’t give him a crick in the neck. Difference being, the last time he’d chosen to sleep on it. Hadn’t been… evicted from his own quarters by a guest he hadn’t even meant to invite aboard.
And he still spent an unreasonable amount of time staring at a wall.
Jess jammed a cushion down over his face and groaned. “This is ridiculous.”
Life aboard an interstellar vessel was governed by artificial cycles of ‘day’ and ‘night’, which rarely tied up with the days and nights of whichever planet they’d just departed. It required a person to quickly get used to a variety of new patterns of waking, and Teeja always seemed to do better at it than Jess. Her working period was only just now coming to an end.
Trailing her usual personal cloud of engine-smells, the ship’s engineer spotted him as soon as she entered and the lights came back up to normal. “Ey, Jessie. How’s your pet?”
“Oh shut up.” Jess folded his arms around the pillow, glaring at the far wall. “Nobody asked for your opinion.”
The vulline snrk-ed and went directly to the big sink. Her hands were even darker than normal with a liberal coating of engine grease. “How about a cup of keem; you going to say ‘no’ to that as well?” She popped the top off a tube of green industrial cleanser and squirted an unnecessarily large quantity into her palm.
Jess watched her lather it into her thin fur. “Only if it doesn’t taste of soap.”
“Ach. Some people are just never grateful.”
“Huh.” Jess curled up a little better on the couch.
He actually managed to drift into a doze, lulled away by the gently soporific sounds of Teeja’s ablutions and the white noise of running water. Perhaps that was all he needed – something new and safe for his brain to focus-
“Here.”
-on.
Ugh.
He unpeeled a heavy eyelid and found his friend had set two fat little cups down on the low table in front. The sweet-spicy scent of the hot drink would usually have succeeded in getting him awake, but right now his limbs felt too heavy to move. Typical that he’d spent all the last two ‘nights’ trying to get to sleep, and now his body had dozed off – but only his body, leaving his mind flailing in the void, unable to decide what it wanted to do. He glared at the cup as though it were personally responsible.
“I passed Vieno in the corridor, a wee while ago.” Teeja sat down at the table and hooked her toes up on the couch. She’d already peeled off the top half of her boiler suit and tied the arms around her waist – in spite of her best efforts to slick it down, tufts of fur stuck up at irregular angles. “He was going to check on your pet, so I hope you haven’t left anything incriminating out on display in your cabin.”
“She’s not my pet-” Jess plopped the cushion down over his face and wrapped both arms across it, only partly muffling his groan. “Go on, say it. I know you’re desperate to. ‘I told you so’.”
“Well, I did.” Teeja wrapped her cup with both hands. “But you never listen anyway, so I don’t know why I bother.”
“You bother because you love to rub it in when I inevitably screw up.” Jess leaned out and snagged his cup. “It’d be nice if you were a bit more supportive every now and again, not constantly on the lookout for a told you so.”
Teeja remained silent for a few seconds, studying the surface of her drink. “All right. Fair point.” She slid her gaze sidelong. “Sorry.”
Jess grunted into his cup. “Thanks for this.”
The pair sat quietly, for a minute or two.
“So, uh.” Teeja cleared her throat with a little cough. “How is it-… uh. I mean. How is she… doing?”
Jess sat and thought about it for far too long. “Honestly, I don’t know.” He shot his friend a tense look, and admitted, quietly; “She’s creeping me out.”
Teeja’s eyes narrowed, ever so subtly. “…howso?”
“I don’t know. I just… there’s something about her that just doesn’t feel right. It’s like she’s not really alive, maybe. Like some giant taxidermied critter, or cuddly toy or something.” He stared down into his drink, watching steam curl up from the hot liquid. “I’m not sure she’s even moved since she came aboard.”
Teeja rolled her cup between her palms, uneasily. “…do we need to find an empty crate, just in case?”
“What? You mean, like… you think she’s waiting for me to drop my guard?” Jess shook his head. “Nah. I mean, I think there might be something wrong with her. You know; up here?” He tapped a finger against his brow. “Vieno said she’s scared of something, right? And she’s like… catatonic, pretty much. Staring at the wall. I mean, skeida.” He pinched his nose. “What scared a giant hungry monster so bad that she’s just laying there, staring at the walls and trying to pretend we don’t exist.”
The words hung unspoken between them.
And you invited her aboard. What if it’s chasing us as well now?
Teeja cleared her throat. “Guess I better hurry up and get that translation loop fixed up, then. So you can actually ask her what’s going on. You figured out what to call her yet?”
Jess shook his head. “Until you get the loop working, I can’t exactly ask her what her name is, and I don’t know if she can even speak like we do anyway. I was thinking something descriptive, for now. Freckle, or Speckle, or something.”
Teeja lifted a cautionary finger. “Just don’t call her ‘Spot’. At least, not when she can understand you.”
Jess curled his lip and made a dismissive noise.
“If it works, you can ask her if she did ask you to break her out.”
“Ugh, Teej.” It was mostly his desire to actually get to drink his keem that restrained Jess from throwing the cup at her. “Haven’t we gone over this enough times already? I thought she was a person!”
Another awkward silence.
“I thought she was a person,” Jess repeated, quiet but more decisive. “I know you think I’d just had too much to drink, but I heard her shout out. She sounded scared. She needed help. I didn’t know what to do, I just… wanted to get her out.”
“You do realise,” Teeja said, carefully, “that people … don’t normally put other people… in livestock crates.”
Jess spread his hands, elaborately. “Maybe we shoulda told them that, huh.”
“Gavos. You’ve got me into some trouble in the past, Jess, but I think this might be the one that wins the prize.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, counting quietly to five. “We figure out how to talk to her, figure out where she’s from, then send her back there.” She slapped a palm onto his shoulder and used it to lever herself upright. “Right?”
“I guess.” Jess watched the vulline leave, and rearranged his arms around his pillow a little better. It was probably for the best.
If only he could shake off that nagging tickle of concern in the back of his brain – the one he couldn’t even really pin down the origin of. He wanted to at least try and get to the bottom of it before abandoning her to whatever unpleasant fate the universe had in store for her.
He jammed the cushion back over his face, and cursed into it.
* * * *
The galley was occupied again when Jess finally stirred, stiff and already grumpy, the following morning. Pip was quietly bustling about, making her breakfast, and upon noticing him moving, she wiggled her long fingers and clicked her beak hello! but otherwise left him in peace.
Jess watched her go, debating whether he could try and get her to play along if he feigned sickness.
The usual subtle throb of the engines had fallen silent, so he figured they’d probably docked sometime while he was asleep. He never usually slept through that – must have been tireder than he thought.
As if to confirm the hypothesis, in the opposite corner of the kitchen, their somewhat-frazzled umskel’i pilot was cooking up something mildly sedating and dark green, which smelt delicious but would probably give him a heart attack if Jess had tried to drink it. It must have been a difficult landing – Jess didn’t often pay a lot of attention to the specifics of their route, but if memory served, the planet was in the early stages of its yearly meteor bombardment. That meant they’d have to get back out soon or they’d be stuck here for the whole month. Which meant a particularly long, hectic, heavy couple of days spent unloading.
Pretending to be ill was looking more and more appealing.
The pilot glanced in his direction, but quietly slipped away to their cabin without offering a greeting.
After snagging a pre-packaged breakfast pastry out of a storage bin, Jess headed slowly back to his cabin, dragging his blanket. Merely the idea of a whole day of hard work made him exhausted. Had he even slept? He’d spent his dreams being chased around the ship again – and not by the white monster, this time, but an armed gang of lab techs, wanting their creature back.
Speaking of whom…
Dumping his blanket in a heap just inside his cabin door, Jess leaned back against the wall, watching the animal sleep. If the lingering smell of antiseptic was anything to go by, Vieno had cleaned and re-dressed her sore feet when he’d checked on her. The bandages stood out an unrealistically pristine white against her bruised skin, and made the shaggy rug look even more filthy than normal. The loaned blanket had mostly slid to the floor by her hindquarters.
She’d definitely shifted position, now laying with her neck straighter and her head not jammed defensively up against the wall. Rather than use them to try to hide her face, her tiny wings lay folded loosely against her spine. Her breathing had grown subtly deeper. She actually looked vaguely relaxed?
And – amazingly – a couple of obvious mouthfuls had gone from the bowl of pudding. Jess hoped it meant she recognised it as good for her, even if it wasn’t the most appetising – an over-sweet, weird-smelling, slightly-granular porridge… Huh. No wonder she hadn’t eaten much. He resolved to find her something better to eat when she woke again. Perhaps he could order something for delivery during his midday break-
“Jess…!” Mara’s voice echoed up from somewhere distant. “Do I have to come drag you off the damn couch again…?!”
“On my way-!” Jess tore open his pastry and consumed the entire thing in three perfunctory bites, stuffed his feet into his armoured overshoes, and sprinted away to work.
* * * *
Jess usually enjoyed being in port. Once the work was done, he could always find new and unusual ways to waste his hard-earned wages, new and unusual foods to try, new and unusual ways to be late back to the ship and get Mara’s hackles up.
Today he just wanted to get on with work, hoping it’d be a way to keep his mind clear and avoid the new responsibility looming over his every thought. Even Mara commented on it – rudely, of course, suggesting that if picking up alien passengers was a way to focus his mind, maybe they should do it more often.
For once, he didn’t have the energy to snipe back, and let his cousin win.
It had grown too dark to go exploring, by the time Jess was done with work for the day, and he felt too tired to want to hit the city clubs. At least it was quiet, around the ship. Well, comparatively. The harbour never really stopped, but the bright lights and warning bells had for now dwindled into the distance.
And thank goodness he didn’t have to suffer any pre-packaged galley supplies for supper, either, because that would have been the very last straw. Clutching his paper bag of spiced pastries, he directed a tiny prayer of appreciation to whichever local deity had persuaded the harbour authorities to let food delivery drivers on site.
Now if only something would come to him about what to do with his guest.
He couldn’t avoid her forever. And when time finally came for a crew rotation, his replacement probably want her in their cabin, either.
If memory served, there was a decent Coracina outpost in their next port of call. Perhaps he could go with her to make a police report, then leave her safe in the hands of the authorities?
Yeah, good idea, Jess. Because she’ll be able to talk to THEM, when all you’ve ever managed is a little sign language. When she’ll even look at you.
Jess blew a sigh through pursed lips, and tilted his face up into the breeze, watching as small dirty meteorites stitched brilliant threads into the sky. The cool air felt nice against his dirty, frazzled skin.
Hopefully the pilot was feeling a little less fraught by the time they were due off the berth – Teeja was decent enough at flying the ship but this would be a tricky departure, and he didn’t really want to find out if their guest got airsick.
His belly growled, impatiently. The paper bag containing his food had definitely cooled. It wouldn’t be worth eating if he didn’t get a move on soon.
Swallowing a sigh, he wiped his face, and retreated back to the warmth of the ship’s interior. He sat and ate on his own in the galley, in a brooding silence. The idea of spending another uncomfortable night on the galley couch really didn’t appeal, especially not already aching from a day’s hard work. His nice mattress and heap of pillows was calling out to him.
His resolve rather wavered when he got back to his cabin. Jess lingered uncomfortably in the habitation corridor, for a while, pacing up and down on the wrong side of the curtain.
He almost felt like he’d been unintentionally evicted from his own room. And who knew how long it was going to take for her to feel well enough to want to move out.
He was just gonna have to deal with it like a big grown-up spur and sleep in his own bunk. Right?
Right.
Jess squared his shoulders, brushed the curtain back and the lights automatically came back up to half strength.
Thin rinds of blue showing from beneath her eyelids proved the animal – no, Speckle, Jess corrected himself – was awake and aware of him. She didn’t move otherwise. Didn’t really even look at him.
“Uh. Hi, I guess,” he greeted, quietly, carefully navigating his way to his bunk. “Sorry we still haven’t figured out the whole… communication thing, yet. But we’re getting there, all right?”
He could feel her attention on him as he climbed into his bunk, and hoped it wasn’t because she was getting peckish after those few mouthfuls of emergency pudding. He didn’t relish the idea of waking up to find he only had half his toes left.
He carefully worked his feet as tight into his blankets as he could, just in case.
* * * *
When the alarm buzzed Jess out of slumber, his guest was already awake, albeit facing away from him. Speckle was half-sitting, propped on her elbows, head raised, worrying at the bandages on her left forelimb. It looked almost like she was trying to undo the tape holding it together, delicately, without letting her teeth completely shred it.
Unpicking it at one end.
Like a person might.
Jess watched, silently, a sensation of uncomfortable cold creeping up the back of his neck.
Finally succeeding in unsticking the short length of adhesive tape, Speckle gingerly shook her big paw free of the bandages, letting them pool on the rug, and examined her wrist. The flesh was no longer quite as swollen, and the oozing had stopped, but the skin looked tight and dry and uncomfortable.
She turned her attention to the paw, and the large, plum-colour pads on the underside. Jess still wasn’t entirely sure if it was their natural colour, or just some serious bruising. She briefly tried to flex the trembling digits, but they looked stiff, as well, and after a soft hiss and a grimace she gave up. Jess decided it was probably bruise.
Instead, she closed her eyes and hesitantly licked the pawpad – then screwed up her face and shuddered at the residual taste of antiseptic ointment.
At least some meanings were universal.
Undeterred, she gingerly worked her way over the big paw and then around her wrist, cautiously at first but with increasing confidence, licking the sore flesh with a very long grey tongue. It did seem to have some kind of soothing benefit, because a little of the tension had bled away from her shoulders by the time she was done.
Jess waited for her to turn her attention to the other leg, but instead she turned her paw back so the palm faced her, and began once again to carefully stretch her toes.
Jess watched quietly as she worked, flexing each big digit in turn, apparently trying to curve them as though trying to grasp something. The big pads mostly got in the way, though, and the ineffectual little thumb – barely more than a dew-claw, really – wiggled uselessly in spite of her efforts to bring it across her thick palm.
Jess lifted his own hand and mimicked her movements; touched the pad of his thumb to the tip of each finger in turn. His mouth felt weirdly dry. Almost everything she’d done so far fairly screamed intelligent being at him.
Teeth subtly bared in annoyance, Speckle exhaled deeply in a sigh and let her paw drop back to the rug. Her winglets sagged just a little.
At least her toes weren’t trembling quite so hard as they had been.
A flash of unexpected embarrassment spread up the back of Jess’s neck and made his ears feel very hot.
Give her a bit of privacy, spur, he scolded, sinking back into his pillows. She doesn’t want you sat there watching her.
Except he couldn’t quite pin down why he felt so self-conscious. It wasn’t like she knew he was watching, and it wasn’t like she was a pretty fessine he’d caught getting out of the shower, so to speak-
The alarm buzzed again. Jess swallowed a sigh.
Gonna have to just bite the bullet now, Jessie.
Trying to avoid startling her too much, Jess rustled around in his bedding and muttered an incoherent little curse at the alarm, trying hard to make it look as though he’d only just awoken. Elaborating a yawn, he sat and swung his feet over the edge of the mattress.
Speckle had already tensed – he could see it in her shoulders, the way her toes had tightened and pulled big creases into the rug.
“Hey,” he greeted, quietly.
Speckle jumped a little, and for several heartbeats she froze. Then warily looked around, and actually met his gaze for a second or two.
She had keen, intelligent blue eyes, and for an instant, it felt like she was looking right into the core of him.
Then she looked away again, resuming her quiet study of his rug.
Well, it was a start, perhaps.
“So, um. You’re feeling better? That, that’s… that’s good.”
She offered a soft little cough, then made a strange wheezing noise that sounded like she was maybe trying to speak? Or vomit; Jess wasn’t completely certain. Well, perhaps it was a good sign.
“Um. So, um. I was thinking.” He rocked forwards onto his feet. “I’ve got another busy day and you don’t wanna be stuck in here forever, so um, maybe I should give you a little tour? There’s not a lot to see, but at least you’ll know where you are, right?” He held the curtain back out of the way and gestured his free hand at the corridor. “And where the bathroom is.”
Speckle actually stared sort-of at him for a very long time, trying to intuit meaning from his actions.
Jess was on the cusp of giving up when eventually she shifted and made an effort at standing. He wasn’t sure if she understood him or just assumed she was being evicted, but at least she was moving and responding to him.
Everything took a very long time. Since crashing in here, she’d barely moved, Jess realised; she was probably stiff.
Skeida; stiff? It probably felt like she’d been glued to the floor.
First she uncurled a little, straightening her back and trying to get her paws underneath her. Her front legs seemed to work better than her hind ones; for several seconds she just sat, as though her back half had stopped working altogether.
She finally made it to her feet, stiffly, and attempted to stretch, arching her back a little and grimacing. Her shaky limbs looked like they were mounted on ratchets, moving in little jerks until she’d got them successfully straightened out.
“Better?” Jess felt his ears get hot again, and this time he did feel embarrassed. “I-… okay, I kinda don’t really know why I’m talking to you because you clearly don’t understand me, but why stop now, huh?”
She stood still for a second or two, giving her sore paws time to adjust, still tilting them over and favouring the outer edges, then hobbled unsteadily to the door, mostly on three legs only, and peeked out into the corridor.
It reminded him how big she was, actually. She was somewhat gangly, like him, and sleeping curled up in a heap on his floor had belied the length of her legs. Her withers weren’t much lower than his shoulders, and her eyeline was actually a fraction higher than his – Jess would have to look up to make eye contact.
He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, assuming her species understood smiles and he wasn’t actually telegraphing that he was intending to try and eat her or something, and stepped out into the corridor. “Right, great! So follow me.”
Jess led her very slowly around the short habitation circuit, demonstrating door controls, light switches, computer terminals, letting her linger in doorways and familiarise herself with where everything was. Bathroom; galley; the small obs lounge tinged amber by the new sunrise. The compact infirmary that rarely got used, since Vieno kept most of his medical supplies in the bathroom. Crew cabins with their heavy curtains. The short flight of a half-dozen steps up to the bridge. She definitely looked like she was taking it all in and understanding it-
“What are you doing, Jess?”
Mara’s voice automatically made the hair on the back of Jess’s long neck stand to attention. “Just… showing her around?” He turned carefully on the spot to face his cousin.
She stood in the middle of the corridor behind him, already dressed in luminous yellow workwear, arms folded. “Well, do you think you could do that later? Right now it’d be nice if you did the job we actually paid you for.”
“Uhm, sure. I just wanted to make sure she could find the bathroom?”
It wasn’t a great lie and Mara didn’t look convinced. “You can deal with your pet on your own time. The stevedores will be here soon and you haven’t even showered from yesterday.”
“Uhhh- right…”
“Just get on with it, Jevics.”
As always, Mara’s hostile glare heated the deck beneath his toes and encouraged him to hop-skip until he was out of sight.
Speckle followed him back to his cabin, confused. She settled on his rug, and Jess couldn’t help feeling that she looked just a little disappointed about being back in here.
“Sorry. I guess that’s us done for now, huh. All right, lemme see.” After a little rummaging, Jess found an old tablet under the detritus covering his desk, with just enough charge to still turn on. He hastily plugged it in. Conveniently, the cord stretched just as far as her rug. “I guess even if you can’t read the writing, the pictures will still work, right?”
Speckle examined it warily, but seemed familiar with the technology at least. She settled back down onto her elbows and used a big toe to start leafing through the icons.
Jess clipped the curtain back out of the way, hoping she’d understand it meant she was welcome to come and go as she liked, and made a hasty gallop down to the hold before Mara could get her claws into his eartips.
* * * *
When early afternoon rolled around, the crew were pleasantly surprised to find they’d actually managed to finish lashing down the last of the cargo well ahead of schedule.
Jess bounced up to the bridge to find the pilot. Making the lost time up, like a hero.
Unexpectedly, they weren’t even in uniform, let alone not wearing their control harness – just sitting at the rear [plotting] table, poring over charts and weather readouts.
“Thought we were leaving soon?” Jess leaned over the pilot’s shoulder. “Cargo’s all stowed.”
The umskel’i offered a little headshake, leaning subtly away from the laima’s touch. “Forecast isn’t good,” they apologised, abstractly, leafing through the waymarkers on their screen. “We’re probably not going to be able to leave until evening at the earliest.”
Jess felt his buoyant mood deflate, just a touch. “Oh. Well, that’s annoying. Captain said we could try and make the delay up here.”
The pilot smiled in a slightly anxious, subtly chastising way. “Perhaps you might try and get back to the ship on time, next time.”
“Ugh, fine. Yes. Whatever. I think it’s only Pip that hasn’t got onto me about that, now.” Jess put his hands up. “I’m sorry, all right? I won’t do it next time.”
The pilot mmh-ed. “Well, take this as permission to go amuse yourself while the weather’s nice. Don’t go too far though. We might still get a window.”
Well, Jess figured an unexpected bit of shore leave to relax was almost as good as making up the time he’d lost them. “Sounds good. Thanks.” He slapped them on the shoulder. “Guess I’ll go down the shops and get something to eat while we wait. Want anything?”
The pilot’s smile became a little more genuine. “No thank you.”
When Jess peeked into his cabin, Speckle was still using the tablet. Precisely what she’d found that was occupying her attention, he wasn’t sure, but she lay in a relaxed curl with the small computer propped against one big forepaw, and had her gaze fixed on the screen.
“Uh, hey?”
Speckle looked up from the tablet and cocked her head. She actually made direct eye contact and held it, this time. That… could be a good sign? Right?
He gestured down the corridor, pointing a finger. “I’m going to grab Pip and we’re gonna head down the old town to get something to eat. Going to come with?”
She stared long and hard at him, in that way Jess was coming to realise meant she was trying to figure out what he was talking about, and watched him swoosh an arm at the corridor, before finally getting up – a little more easily, this time – to join him in his cabin doorway. She made another of those questioning little coughs.
Jess pointed into his mouth and made playful yum yum noises and rubbed his belly; she cocked her head and narrowed her eyes in a squint that none-too-subtly telegraphed what the fuck are you doing and Jess felt his ears get hot. “Uh. Right. Follow me.”
Pip was never going to say no to food, and was halfway across her cabin to join him before he’d even finished his sentence; the little cephalopoid had a metabolism faster even than most of her own species, and he figured she probably easily ate half her body weight in snacks most days. He couldn’t actually figure out what it all went on, seeing as she did the bulk of her lifting by telekinesis.
When they got to the main loading ramp, it was to find Mara standing at the foot of it, signing off the final few manifests, back in civilian clothes except for the filthy luminous yellow steel-capped overshoes sheathing her big toes. The last of the tractors idled on the tarmac.
She watched the threesome make their careful way down the ramp, avoiding any of the pinch points. “Walking your pet?” She squiggled a signature, pressed her thumbprint against the security bioreader, and handed the docket back to the berth supervisor, all without actually looking away from her cousin.
Jess held his hand up and mimed a nagging mouth with his fingers. “Just going to get something to eat while it’s sunny.”
“Well please don’t go too far. I don’t want you having to find a hole in the fence again.”
“No mother.” Jess navigated a wide berth around her.
“I mean it! We skated paying extra berthing fees last time because Teeja has connections. Meteors don’t let you off on a fine; we miss our window and we’ll be stuck here a month. Do you know the sort of fees we’d be hit with if-”
“Look, Pilot kicked us out, all right?” Jess put both hands up in defeat. “We’re only going to the park to find a snack. I promise, we’ll be back in plenty of time. I’ll even buy you a bun or something.”
Mara sighed as loudly as she could. “If you’re not here when the call goes up we can leave, I am not waiting! You can pay your own taxi to catch up with us!” she snapped at his departing back.
They joined the little queue of off-duty dockworkers straggling out through the main gates. The security guard gave Speckle a funny look, but didn’t say anything and after a cursory glance at the other two’s IDs, waved the trio out under the barrier.
Spaceport and seaport were cheek by jowl in this little industrial city. It had all grown up around the harbour and wasn’t strictly designed with tourists in mind, with its acres of warehouses and container fields. Old refineries and disused power stations lurked just along the coast. The only sliver of beach was an impractically-long hike up the coast, and definitely not worth it for the sake of an afternoon that could get brought to an abrupt end at any moment. Everywhere else was at best rocky; at worst, unassailable concrete seawall.
Jess knew where the locals went to enjoy themselves, though. There was a nice public park not too far away, behind a short precinct of grocery shops. The trio made a hasty hop-skip to the far side of a crossroads in a break in traffic.
Speckle hesitated on the far side of the junction, and looked down the side street towards the parade of masts bobbing gently just beyond the harbour wall. She licked her nose, absently.
“Yeah, I smell it, too,” Jess said, following her gaze. “I was just gonna visit the shops by the park but I guess we could do with a treat.”
Leaving Pip to find a place to spread their blanket, Jess headed off towards the waterfront, followed by a wary Speckle. He followed his nose around the corner and found the source of the enticing smells; a small blue van parked on the harbourside. An open serving hatch that ran almost full-length along its flank formed both rain shelter and sunroof for its customers.
The queue made him hesitate – long after the lunchtime rush, it still stretched away from the till at one end, at least a dozen patrons long – but the ondrai proprietors looked like they were doing a pretty brisk trade. He probably wouldn’t be waiting all that long.
Jess joined the end of the line and peered at the chalked menu over the shoulder of a short, fractious male zaar who was struggling to keep his two adventurous children from straying too far along the quay. Speckle hung back a few uneasy paces, on the concrete hardstanding.
Jess gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, before squeezing his comm and waiting for Pip to answer. “Clade of Moon-over-mountain have their van here, so, uh. What do you want?” He read them off the chalked menu, counting them off on his fingers. “They’ve got fried seaveg, pickled seafood, flatbreads, salt meat and grains, some kinda sweet kebab-”
“You know what I like,” Pip reminded. “You might want to try and find something Speckle will fancy, though. She’s not eaten in days.”
“Right, right. Um… Any ideas?”
“Not that spicy grain bowl. She’ll be running for the head for the next two days. Lumi can probably give you some tips.”
The ‘Lumi’ in question was the silvery female ondraii, skilfully juggling taking in orders and slicing flatbread fillings without taking her fingertips off.
“Jess,” she greeted, her big ears swivelling attentively forwards. “It’s been a while. Good to see you.”
“Hey, Lumi. Thanks. Shame it’s our last visit before the meteors hit. We woulda been here earlier, but uh.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I kinda made us late. Mara’s sharpening her claws for if I do it again.”
A smile ghosted over the ondraii’s long face, in a vague, mysterious way that reminded Jess of Vieno. “Well we mustn’t have that. Good thing I have a couple of her favourites left, no?” She dropped a glossy brown cake covered in white seeds into a bag without even asking Jess if he wanted it. “Your friend looks like she’s had a rough time of it,” she added, nodding towards the parking area.
Jess glanced back over his shoulder. Speckle had sagged back to a seated position, close to a pile of crustacean traps almost as tall as she was, holding her right paw up from the ground again. Her neck sloped as though her head was just that little bit too heavy to hold up.
“Yeah.” He blew out a long sigh. “She joined us back on [planet]. Well, stowed away, really. Vieno gave his blessing for her to stick around for now. We’re not sure what’s happened. I want to be able to help her, but we haven’t even figured out how to talk to her, yet.”
Lumi stared at Speckle for a second or two longer, her large ears swivelling, before speaking again. “She’s anxious about being out in the open, but seems to trust you, so you must have done something right, so far,” she reassured. “She’s hungry – but she’s confused, too. This… seems… new?” Her eyes tightened, in a puzzled frown. “Hmm. I’m not sure what that means.”
Jess glanced back and watched Speckle while Lumi put his order together. “Me either.”
He came away from the van with far more food than he’d intended buying, loaded precariously on a cardboard tray; as well as the sweet bun he’d threatened Mara with, he had two portions of fried greens; a thick, salty, greasily delicious flatbread; a filled and folded pastry wrap; a whole jar of the pickled crustaceans he knew Pip liked; and a spiced meat kebab, hoping that at least one would suit Speckle’s appetite.
The big creature did at least look interested, for a change, head raised, but still following him quietly on plodding feet like a docile pet.
They retired to the small park where they’d left Pip. The duSkai was sprawled out on the springy lawn, right in the middle of the blanket, sunning herself. She didn’t often get the chance to, but this early-summer sunshine was just gentle enough not to fry her delicate white skin.
“Hey Pipster,” Jess greeted. “Wanna shift your backside and help me put this lot down? I seem to have been ambushed into buying six days’ worth of food.”
Pip opened one eye, grunted her annoyance, and rolled sideways off the blanket instead. “I get one opportunity to sunbathe and you make me move. Spoilsport.” She took the tray anyway, using her telekinesis to balance it lazily in midair while the spur lowered himself to the ground and got comfortable.
“Spoilsport, huh.” Jess examined the tub of pickled crustaceans. “Guess you won’t be wanting these, then.”
“Ah! Oh, smashing. Yes please!” She accepted the pot from him and popped the lid off, clicking her beak appreciatively. The little curl of reactive cells on her brow – the only patch on her whole body capable of the colour-change her species was famed for – had immediately blushed an appreciative yellow-orange. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. My treat.” Jess patted the ground, indicating that Speckle should also sit.
Speckle hesitated on the pavement, shifting awkwardly from one forepaw to the other. She inspected the flat mounds of tiny, round-leaved plants for a few seconds, before finally stepping hesitantly onto the lawn and lowering herself to a sitting position, awkwardly, as though trying hard not to crush them.
Jess hoped some food might stop her looking quite so tense and uncomfortable. “What do you like the look of?” He waved his hands over the small selection, palms up, hoping she’d figure out his meaning.
Speckle stared first at him, then the food, before lowering her head to sniff carefully at each item. Eventually she decided on the wrap, carefully gripping the paper sheath in her lips and sliding it towards herself. She gave Jess another very long intense stare, waiting for his response, or perhaps a ‘no’.
“Good choice. Enjoy!” Jess picked up the kebab and turned his attention to the food, keeping watch from his peripheral vision, hoping to keep from embarrassing her by staring directly at her.
For several seconds, Speckle just sat and looked at the wrapping, before clumsily picking it up between her forepaws and trying to catch the edge of the paper in her lips. The tight twists at the end were a little beyond her, though – she couldn’t quite manoeuvre the wrap well enough to unkink the wrapping. She managed to tear off a couple of small shreds of waxed paper, before sighing her annoyance at it.
Jess figured that he probably could have made just a tiny bit more effort to help. “Uh, here. Let me?”
He took the parcel from her, and carefully reorganised the wrapping around the bread, such that it gave her something to hold at one end, but wouldn’t otherwise all fall apart between her paws. He then set it back between her forepaws, upright this time.
Speckle gave him a subtly reproachful look – perhaps for not doing that for her in the first place, although he couldn’t quite tell if she was just frustrated that she couldn’t do it herself, as well – but bent her head to eat.
After a perfunctory nibble, she apparently found it to her taste, wolfing it down in a couple of perfunctory bites. In very short order, she finished off the wrap, the flatbread, a portion of crispy greens, and finally half of Jess’s own kebab when he pushed it her way.
Jess figured it made sense? Not to put too fine a point on it, she was a big creature, with a big mouth, who had several days of eating to catch up on. A couple of bites of pudding probably hadn’t even lined her stomach.
He couldn’t help grinning, though. As positive responses went, that had been a bigger one than he’d expected! “Better than what we have in stores, right?”
Pip clicked her beak. “You do know she doesn’t understand you?”
Jess gave her a look. “You’d rather I treated her like an animal?”
“Well, no. But you don’t have to talk to communicate with someone. And I’m not talking telepathy.”
“Ah, I know.” Jess lounged back on the blanket. “I guess at least if I talk to her like this, she knows I know she’s a person. I think.”
Filling her belly had evidently done their guest a lot of good. Instead of sitting with all four feet tucked into the smallest area she could manage, Speckle had gradually spread out over the lawn while she’d eaten, like a slowly-melting statue, all the way down to her chest, and now lay loosely propped up on her elbows. The tension in her shoulders had drained away, too. Her little winglets were no longer furled tightly against her spine, revealing a sliver of the underside – an unexpectedly bright orange for a creature whose designers seemed to have been sticking to a fairly pastel palette.
…She actually seemed halfway relaxed. She turned slightly to present a little more of her pale flank to the sun, and closed her eyes. The long, shaky sigh was definitely one of pleasure.
Warm sun, comfortable surroundings, and a fully belly. No wonder she felt better.
Impulsively, Jess stretched out a comforting hand and stroked her neck.
She froze.
“Sorry! Sorry.” Jess snatched his hand back, cursing inwardly. Well done Jess, good work ruining all the progress you’d made so far. “Ah, paksha. Sorry.” He sat on his hands, frustratedly.
After several more heartbeats, she finally glanced back at him, and coughed faintly; Jess wasn’t sure if it meant you’re forgiven or don’t ever do that again. He offered a watery smile and tried to look contrite, hoping she’d understand.
The sun was low on the horizon, and their little puddle of sunshine had turned into a chilly pool of shadow when they finally elected to head home. Towering floodlights already lit the harbour – but not yet strongly enough to drown out the fine streamers of silver threading between the clouds. Small surprise Mara hadn’t yelled at them to come back yet. They could yet be stuck here a while.
Their freighter stood quiet and dark on her berth. The main cargo doors had closed, leaving only the narrow crew gangway still extended; Pip had gone ahead and opened up, and now waited at the top for them.
Speckle had slowed down considerably, hobbling on three legs. She made her way slowly up the gangway, walking gingerly – it was steep and she was slow, but at least she no longer had to worry about getting a toe caught in the hinges on the heavy duty cargo ramp.
Jess bit his lip, and stood in the doorway to wait while she caught up.
Mara was conspicuously absent, and Jess figured she’d actually probably for once in her life gone to take a nap. Typical. The one time he could have gloated about getting back on time as promised, too. He stretched an arm around behind her curtain, trying not to trigger the lights, and put the bun on her desk instead.
Speckle had passed him and reached his cabin doorway, and nosed her way behind the curtain even as Jess reached out to hold it back for her. She lowered herself shakily to her rug and turned both forepaws so the sore pads faced upwards. She examined them minutely for several seconds – studying the thick grey-brown layer of road grime and grease from the dockside – before apparently deciding fuck it, they were sore enough that she didn’t care. She lowered her head to lick them.
Jess hastily fetched her a bowl of warm water and a towel, instead.
Speckle hesitantly dabbled the toes of her right foot in the water before deciding that it wasn’t too intolerable, and after a few moments the left foot joined it. Dirt bloomed away into the water.
Jess left her to it, for a while, reading the instructions on the tube of antiseptic he’d grabbed, then plopped down in front of her, cross-legged. “Let’s get these feet cleaned up, huh?” He reached for one big paw then checked himself and glanced up at her.
She gave him a long, wary look in return, then coughed, quietly, and lifted one paw from the water for him. Her gaze drifted away to the side.
Jess tried for a reassuring smile, and began – hesitantly, gently – to work the dirt from between her toes. Her foot was tense; he could feel tendons like bowstrings beneath her skin.
He squelched his own unease and pretended he couldn’t see the clenched jaw and mouthful of big teeth hovering very close to his neck; tried hard to ignore the crawling discomfort working up through his hair at the feel of her skin. “There we go. Not looking so bad, after all.” Satisfied he’d got as much dirt off as he could, he hastily wrapped the paw in the towel and reached for the antiseptic.
He felt rather than heard her sigh, and immediately had to swallow a sigh of his own. She just seemed so… tired, and sad, and confused. And he had absolutely no idea how to help her. Just… knew he needed to.
“Hey… Hey?”
He smiled, and held her towel-wrapped paw sandwiched between both hands. She took a second or two to look at him, but managed to hold his gaze.
“It’ll be all right. I promise. We’ll figure this out.” He squeezed her toes, gently. “Whatever trouble you’re in, we’ll work out how to fix it.”
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Jess starts to make a little headway in communication, but still no-one knows who their stowaway is.
But only Jess would think ordering takeout was the appropriate response for their mysterious alien visitor not looking hungry.
-----------
Jess must have finally drifted off at some point in the night, because his alarm rolled around far too early – a hard, insistent buzz that felt like it echoed right up from between his ears. He groaned wordlessly and slapped for the clock with a sleep-dead arm, missing it completely on the first two tries and clipping the heel of his hand on the corner of a cabinet on the third.
“Owww, mercy.” He cursed feebly into his pillow.
At this point, he’d have normally made an effort to try and nudge his way back into that comfortable bubble of sleep, but his alarm had jangled him abruptly out of a bad dream and actually he was quite glad it had woken him. Having spent the night being chased around the ship’s endless corridors, through a forest of heavy curtains and cargo, by a barely-glimpsed white monster with big jaws and bigger teeth, it left him feeling exhausted, and he hadn’t even gone anywhere!
Jess gave a grunt and let himself flop back into the pillows, arm dangling off the side of his mattress.
Then his gaze came to focus on a mound of blanket, and he remembered his … unwanted? … guest.
Small wonder he’d had weird dreams.
At least she hadn’t got peckish in the night and decided to nibble on him.
He dragged his heavy limbs up off the mattress, edged cautiously past her, and slipped away down the corridor for a shower.
The hot water simultaneously woke him up and reminded him how tired he still was. The previous night’s little adventure probably couldn’t have happened at a worse time; after a heavy day’s work and a heavy evening’s celebration, he’d already been tired when he’d heard the mysterious call for help. He hadn’t expected to then have to run for his life, or help out with emergency medical treatment, or social care and housing…
Adrenaline only gets you so far before you have to crash, evidently.
He turned his face up into the steaming water. “D’you think the captain will let me stay in bed today?” he asked the empty room. “…no, I didn’t think so either.” He blew out an exaggerated sigh.
At least today’s duties weren’t exactly the heaviest; cross referencing cargo manifests, checking everything was stowed securely, and ensuring everything due to be delivered on their next stop was accessible.
Mara could see him flagging, and kicked him out early, sending him back to his cabin with the vague threat of finding some way for him to make up the hours later. He didn’t need to be told twice.
The animal’s bowl of food was still untouched, when he returned to his room. Part of him was unsurprised; probably wasn’t exactly the best choice of rations, for something that was presumably a predator, and given a choice? He wouldn’t have gone for emergency pudding, either. But he wasn’t sure what else they could have given her, with those sore teeth and unknown appetite.
He wasn’t completely sure if the animal had even moved from her tightly-curled heap. He leaned a little closer, to inspect her, remaining at a cautious arm’s length just in case he had to make an untidy scramble for safety.
The circle of carpet was covered in little smudges of purple, so she must have moved about a little, at least. The raw skin over her nose looked a little less sore and swollen. Reassuringly, she looked a fraction more relaxed, too; her winglets weren’t quite so strained out in an attempt to cover her face, her eyes were softly closed, and her chest moved with a subtle, repetitive up-down motion. She was asleep, he figured – not still lost in that horrible shocked atony, staring at the walls.
He sat back onto his mattress and watched her for a little while, trying not to be overtly resentful of the fact that she was getting the rest that he deserved.
Jess stared at his door curtain until well into what should have been his rest period. He couldn’t quite pin down exactly what it was about her that was keeping him awake. She’d not made any signs of being threatening, and he couldn’t say he even felt remotely scared of her, in spite of her size and teeth. There was just this unavoidable sense of creeping unease that left him fretting over imagined dangers instead of sleeping.
On the third night, Jess gave up even trying to sleep in the same room.
He dragged his blanket down the corridor behind him and flopped out on the couch in the corner of the galley, instead.
It wasn’t the first time he’d slept on it, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. It was… comfortable enough? Just about long enough to stretch out on, and squashy enough that it wouldn’t give him a crick in the neck. Difference being, the last time he’d chosen to sleep on it. Hadn’t been… evicted from his own quarters by a guest he hadn’t even meant to invite aboard.
And he still spent an unreasonable amount of time staring at a wall.
Jess jammed a cushion down over his face and groaned. “This is ridiculous.”
Life aboard an interstellar vessel was governed by artificial cycles of ‘day’ and ‘night’, which rarely tied up with the days and nights of whichever planet they’d just departed. It required a person to quickly get used to a variety of new patterns of waking, and Teeja always seemed to do better at it than Jess. Her working period was only just now coming to an end.
Trailing her usual personal cloud of engine-smells, the ship’s engineer spotted him as soon as she entered and the lights came back up to normal. “Ey, Jessie. How’s your pet?”
“Oh shut up.” Jess folded his arms around the pillow, glaring at the far wall. “Nobody asked for your opinion.”
The vulline snrk-ed and went directly to the big sink. Her hands were even darker than normal with a liberal coating of engine grease. “How about a cup of keem; you going to say ‘no’ to that as well?” She popped the top off a tube of green industrial cleanser and squirted an unnecessarily large quantity into her palm.
Jess watched her lather it into her thin fur. “Only if it doesn’t taste of soap.”
“Ach. Some people are just never grateful.”
“Huh.” Jess curled up a little better on the couch.
He actually managed to drift into a doze, lulled away by the gently soporific sounds of Teeja’s ablutions and the white noise of running water. Perhaps that was all he needed – something new and safe for his brain to focus-
“Here.”
-on.
Ugh.
He unpeeled a heavy eyelid and found his friend had set two fat little cups down on the low table in front. The sweet-spicy scent of the hot drink would usually have succeeded in getting him awake, but right now his limbs felt too heavy to move. Typical that he’d spent all the last two ‘nights’ trying to get to sleep, and now his body had dozed off – but only his body, leaving his mind flailing in the void, unable to decide what it wanted to do. He glared at the cup as though it were personally responsible.
“I passed Vieno in the corridor, a wee while ago.” Teeja sat down at the table and hooked her toes up on the couch. She’d already peeled off the top half of her boiler suit and tied the arms around her waist – in spite of her best efforts to slick it down, tufts of fur stuck up at irregular angles. “He was going to check on your pet, so I hope you haven’t left anything incriminating out on display in your cabin.”
“She’s not my pet-” Jess plopped the cushion down over his face and wrapped both arms across it, only partly muffling his groan. “Go on, say it. I know you’re desperate to. ‘I told you so’.”
“Well, I did.” Teeja wrapped her cup with both hands. “But you never listen anyway, so I don’t know why I bother.”
“You bother because you love to rub it in when I inevitably screw up.” Jess leaned out and snagged his cup. “It’d be nice if you were a bit more supportive every now and again, not constantly on the lookout for a told you so.”
Teeja remained silent for a few seconds, studying the surface of her drink. “All right. Fair point.” She slid her gaze sidelong. “Sorry.”
Jess grunted into his cup. “Thanks for this.”
The pair sat quietly, for a minute or two.
“So, uh.” Teeja cleared her throat with a little cough. “How is it-… uh. I mean. How is she… doing?”
Jess sat and thought about it for far too long. “Honestly, I don’t know.” He shot his friend a tense look, and admitted, quietly; “She’s creeping me out.”
Teeja’s eyes narrowed, ever so subtly. “…howso?”
“I don’t know. I just… there’s something about her that just doesn’t feel right. It’s like she’s not really alive, maybe. Like some giant taxidermied critter, or cuddly toy or something.” He stared down into his drink, watching steam curl up from the hot liquid. “I’m not sure she’s even moved since she came aboard.”
Teeja rolled her cup between her palms, uneasily. “…do we need to find an empty crate, just in case?”
“What? You mean, like… you think she’s waiting for me to drop my guard?” Jess shook his head. “Nah. I mean, I think there might be something wrong with her. You know; up here?” He tapped a finger against his brow. “Vieno said she’s scared of something, right? And she’s like… catatonic, pretty much. Staring at the wall. I mean, skeida.” He pinched his nose. “What scared a giant hungry monster so bad that she’s just laying there, staring at the walls and trying to pretend we don’t exist.”
The words hung unspoken between them.
And you invited her aboard. What if it’s chasing us as well now?
Teeja cleared her throat. “Guess I better hurry up and get that translation loop fixed up, then. So you can actually ask her what’s going on. You figured out what to call her yet?”
Jess shook his head. “Until you get the loop working, I can’t exactly ask her what her name is, and I don’t know if she can even speak like we do anyway. I was thinking something descriptive, for now. Freckle, or Speckle, or something.”
Teeja lifted a cautionary finger. “Just don’t call her ‘Spot’. At least, not when she can understand you.”
Jess curled his lip and made a dismissive noise.
“If it works, you can ask her if she did ask you to break her out.”
“Ugh, Teej.” It was mostly his desire to actually get to drink his keem that restrained Jess from throwing the cup at her. “Haven’t we gone over this enough times already? I thought she was a person!”
Another awkward silence.
“I thought she was a person,” Jess repeated, quiet but more decisive. “I know you think I’d just had too much to drink, but I heard her shout out. She sounded scared. She needed help. I didn’t know what to do, I just… wanted to get her out.”
“You do realise,” Teeja said, carefully, “that people … don’t normally put other people… in livestock crates.”
Jess spread his hands, elaborately. “Maybe we shoulda told them that, huh.”
“Gavos. You’ve got me into some trouble in the past, Jess, but I think this might be the one that wins the prize.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, counting quietly to five. “We figure out how to talk to her, figure out where she’s from, then send her back there.” She slapped a palm onto his shoulder and used it to lever herself upright. “Right?”
“I guess.” Jess watched the vulline leave, and rearranged his arms around his pillow a little better. It was probably for the best.
If only he could shake off that nagging tickle of concern in the back of his brain – the one he couldn’t even really pin down the origin of. He wanted to at least try and get to the bottom of it before abandoning her to whatever unpleasant fate the universe had in store for her.
He jammed the cushion back over his face, and cursed into it.
The galley was occupied again when Jess finally stirred, stiff and already grumpy, the following morning. Pip was quietly bustling about, making her breakfast, and upon noticing him moving, she wiggled her long fingers and clicked her beak hello! but otherwise left him in peace.
Jess watched her go, debating whether he could try and get her to play along if he feigned sickness.
The usual subtle throb of the engines had fallen silent, so he figured they’d probably docked sometime while he was asleep. He never usually slept through that – must have been tireder than he thought.
As if to confirm the hypothesis, in the opposite corner of the kitchen, their somewhat-frazzled umskel’i pilot was cooking up something mildly sedating and dark green, which smelt delicious but would probably give him a heart attack if Jess had tried to drink it. It must have been a difficult landing – Jess didn’t often pay a lot of attention to the specifics of their route, but if memory served, the planet was in the early stages of its yearly meteor bombardment. That meant they’d have to get back out soon or they’d be stuck here for the whole month. Which meant a particularly long, hectic, heavy couple of days spent unloading.
Pretending to be ill was looking more and more appealing.
The pilot glanced in his direction, but quietly slipped away to their cabin without offering a greeting.
After snagging a pre-packaged breakfast pastry out of a storage bin, Jess headed slowly back to his cabin, dragging his blanket. Merely the idea of a whole day of hard work made him exhausted. Had he even slept? He’d spent his dreams being chased around the ship again – and not by the white monster, this time, but an armed gang of lab techs, wanting their creature back.
Speaking of whom…
Dumping his blanket in a heap just inside his cabin door, Jess leaned back against the wall, watching the animal sleep. If the lingering smell of antiseptic was anything to go by, Vieno had cleaned and re-dressed her sore feet when he’d checked on her. The bandages stood out an unrealistically pristine white against her bruised skin, and made the shaggy rug look even more filthy than normal. The loaned blanket had mostly slid to the floor by her hindquarters.
She’d definitely shifted position, now laying with her neck straighter and her head not jammed defensively up against the wall. Rather than use them to try to hide her face, her tiny wings lay folded loosely against her spine. Her breathing had grown subtly deeper. She actually looked vaguely relaxed?
And – amazingly – a couple of obvious mouthfuls had gone from the bowl of pudding. Jess hoped it meant she recognised it as good for her, even if it wasn’t the most appetising – an over-sweet, weird-smelling, slightly-granular porridge… Huh. No wonder she hadn’t eaten much. He resolved to find her something better to eat when she woke again. Perhaps he could order something for delivery during his midday break-
“Jess…!” Mara’s voice echoed up from somewhere distant. “Do I have to come drag you off the damn couch again…?!”
“On my way-!” Jess tore open his pastry and consumed the entire thing in three perfunctory bites, stuffed his feet into his armoured overshoes, and sprinted away to work.
Jess usually enjoyed being in port. Once the work was done, he could always find new and unusual ways to waste his hard-earned wages, new and unusual foods to try, new and unusual ways to be late back to the ship and get Mara’s hackles up.
Today he just wanted to get on with work, hoping it’d be a way to keep his mind clear and avoid the new responsibility looming over his every thought. Even Mara commented on it – rudely, of course, suggesting that if picking up alien passengers was a way to focus his mind, maybe they should do it more often.
For once, he didn’t have the energy to snipe back, and let his cousin win.
It had grown too dark to go exploring, by the time Jess was done with work for the day, and he felt too tired to want to hit the city clubs. At least it was quiet, around the ship. Well, comparatively. The harbour never really stopped, but the bright lights and warning bells had for now dwindled into the distance.
And thank goodness he didn’t have to suffer any pre-packaged galley supplies for supper, either, because that would have been the very last straw. Clutching his paper bag of spiced pastries, he directed a tiny prayer of appreciation to whichever local deity had persuaded the harbour authorities to let food delivery drivers on site.
Now if only something would come to him about what to do with his guest.
He couldn’t avoid her forever. And when time finally came for a crew rotation, his replacement probably want her in their cabin, either.
If memory served, there was a decent Coracina outpost in their next port of call. Perhaps he could go with her to make a police report, then leave her safe in the hands of the authorities?
Yeah, good idea, Jess. Because she’ll be able to talk to THEM, when all you’ve ever managed is a little sign language. When she’ll even look at you.
Jess blew a sigh through pursed lips, and tilted his face up into the breeze, watching as small dirty meteorites stitched brilliant threads into the sky. The cool air felt nice against his dirty, frazzled skin.
Hopefully the pilot was feeling a little less fraught by the time they were due off the berth – Teeja was decent enough at flying the ship but this would be a tricky departure, and he didn’t really want to find out if their guest got airsick.
His belly growled, impatiently. The paper bag containing his food had definitely cooled. It wouldn’t be worth eating if he didn’t get a move on soon.
Swallowing a sigh, he wiped his face, and retreated back to the warmth of the ship’s interior. He sat and ate on his own in the galley, in a brooding silence. The idea of spending another uncomfortable night on the galley couch really didn’t appeal, especially not already aching from a day’s hard work. His nice mattress and heap of pillows was calling out to him.
His resolve rather wavered when he got back to his cabin. Jess lingered uncomfortably in the habitation corridor, for a while, pacing up and down on the wrong side of the curtain.
He almost felt like he’d been unintentionally evicted from his own room. And who knew how long it was going to take for her to feel well enough to want to move out.
He was just gonna have to deal with it like a big grown-up spur and sleep in his own bunk. Right?
Right.
Jess squared his shoulders, brushed the curtain back and the lights automatically came back up to half strength.
Thin rinds of blue showing from beneath her eyelids proved the animal – no, Speckle, Jess corrected himself – was awake and aware of him. She didn’t move otherwise. Didn’t really even look at him.
“Uh. Hi, I guess,” he greeted, quietly, carefully navigating his way to his bunk. “Sorry we still haven’t figured out the whole… communication thing, yet. But we’re getting there, all right?”
He could feel her attention on him as he climbed into his bunk, and hoped it wasn’t because she was getting peckish after those few mouthfuls of emergency pudding. He didn’t relish the idea of waking up to find he only had half his toes left.
He carefully worked his feet as tight into his blankets as he could, just in case.
When the alarm buzzed Jess out of slumber, his guest was already awake, albeit facing away from him. Speckle was half-sitting, propped on her elbows, head raised, worrying at the bandages on her left forelimb. It looked almost like she was trying to undo the tape holding it together, delicately, without letting her teeth completely shred it.
Unpicking it at one end.
Like a person might.
Jess watched, silently, a sensation of uncomfortable cold creeping up the back of his neck.
Finally succeeding in unsticking the short length of adhesive tape, Speckle gingerly shook her big paw free of the bandages, letting them pool on the rug, and examined her wrist. The flesh was no longer quite as swollen, and the oozing had stopped, but the skin looked tight and dry and uncomfortable.
She turned her attention to the paw, and the large, plum-colour pads on the underside. Jess still wasn’t entirely sure if it was their natural colour, or just some serious bruising. She briefly tried to flex the trembling digits, but they looked stiff, as well, and after a soft hiss and a grimace she gave up. Jess decided it was probably bruise.
Instead, she closed her eyes and hesitantly licked the pawpad – then screwed up her face and shuddered at the residual taste of antiseptic ointment.
At least some meanings were universal.
Undeterred, she gingerly worked her way over the big paw and then around her wrist, cautiously at first but with increasing confidence, licking the sore flesh with a very long grey tongue. It did seem to have some kind of soothing benefit, because a little of the tension had bled away from her shoulders by the time she was done.
Jess waited for her to turn her attention to the other leg, but instead she turned her paw back so the palm faced her, and began once again to carefully stretch her toes.
Jess watched quietly as she worked, flexing each big digit in turn, apparently trying to curve them as though trying to grasp something. The big pads mostly got in the way, though, and the ineffectual little thumb – barely more than a dew-claw, really – wiggled uselessly in spite of her efforts to bring it across her thick palm.
Jess lifted his own hand and mimicked her movements; touched the pad of his thumb to the tip of each finger in turn. His mouth felt weirdly dry. Almost everything she’d done so far fairly screamed intelligent being at him.
Teeth subtly bared in annoyance, Speckle exhaled deeply in a sigh and let her paw drop back to the rug. Her winglets sagged just a little.
At least her toes weren’t trembling quite so hard as they had been.
A flash of unexpected embarrassment spread up the back of Jess’s neck and made his ears feel very hot.
Give her a bit of privacy, spur, he scolded, sinking back into his pillows. She doesn’t want you sat there watching her.
Except he couldn’t quite pin down why he felt so self-conscious. It wasn’t like she knew he was watching, and it wasn’t like she was a pretty fessine he’d caught getting out of the shower, so to speak-
The alarm buzzed again. Jess swallowed a sigh.
Gonna have to just bite the bullet now, Jessie.
Trying to avoid startling her too much, Jess rustled around in his bedding and muttered an incoherent little curse at the alarm, trying hard to make it look as though he’d only just awoken. Elaborating a yawn, he sat and swung his feet over the edge of the mattress.
Speckle had already tensed – he could see it in her shoulders, the way her toes had tightened and pulled big creases into the rug.
“Hey,” he greeted, quietly.
Speckle jumped a little, and for several heartbeats she froze. Then warily looked around, and actually met his gaze for a second or two.
She had keen, intelligent blue eyes, and for an instant, it felt like she was looking right into the core of him.
Then she looked away again, resuming her quiet study of his rug.
Well, it was a start, perhaps.
“So, um. You’re feeling better? That, that’s… that’s good.”
She offered a soft little cough, then made a strange wheezing noise that sounded like she was maybe trying to speak? Or vomit; Jess wasn’t completely certain. Well, perhaps it was a good sign.
“Um. So, um. I was thinking.” He rocked forwards onto his feet. “I’ve got another busy day and you don’t wanna be stuck in here forever, so um, maybe I should give you a little tour? There’s not a lot to see, but at least you’ll know where you are, right?” He held the curtain back out of the way and gestured his free hand at the corridor. “And where the bathroom is.”
Speckle actually stared sort-of at him for a very long time, trying to intuit meaning from his actions.
Jess was on the cusp of giving up when eventually she shifted and made an effort at standing. He wasn’t sure if she understood him or just assumed she was being evicted, but at least she was moving and responding to him.
Everything took a very long time. Since crashing in here, she’d barely moved, Jess realised; she was probably stiff.
Skeida; stiff? It probably felt like she’d been glued to the floor.
First she uncurled a little, straightening her back and trying to get her paws underneath her. Her front legs seemed to work better than her hind ones; for several seconds she just sat, as though her back half had stopped working altogether.
She finally made it to her feet, stiffly, and attempted to stretch, arching her back a little and grimacing. Her shaky limbs looked like they were mounted on ratchets, moving in little jerks until she’d got them successfully straightened out.
“Better?” Jess felt his ears get hot again, and this time he did feel embarrassed. “I-… okay, I kinda don’t really know why I’m talking to you because you clearly don’t understand me, but why stop now, huh?”
She stood still for a second or two, giving her sore paws time to adjust, still tilting them over and favouring the outer edges, then hobbled unsteadily to the door, mostly on three legs only, and peeked out into the corridor.
It reminded him how big she was, actually. She was somewhat gangly, like him, and sleeping curled up in a heap on his floor had belied the length of her legs. Her withers weren’t much lower than his shoulders, and her eyeline was actually a fraction higher than his – Jess would have to look up to make eye contact.
He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, assuming her species understood smiles and he wasn’t actually telegraphing that he was intending to try and eat her or something, and stepped out into the corridor. “Right, great! So follow me.”
Jess led her very slowly around the short habitation circuit, demonstrating door controls, light switches, computer terminals, letting her linger in doorways and familiarise herself with where everything was. Bathroom; galley; the small obs lounge tinged amber by the new sunrise. The compact infirmary that rarely got used, since Vieno kept most of his medical supplies in the bathroom. Crew cabins with their heavy curtains. The short flight of a half-dozen steps up to the bridge. She definitely looked like she was taking it all in and understanding it-
“What are you doing, Jess?”
Mara’s voice automatically made the hair on the back of Jess’s long neck stand to attention. “Just… showing her around?” He turned carefully on the spot to face his cousin.
She stood in the middle of the corridor behind him, already dressed in luminous yellow workwear, arms folded. “Well, do you think you could do that later? Right now it’d be nice if you did the job we actually paid you for.”
“Uhm, sure. I just wanted to make sure she could find the bathroom?”
It wasn’t a great lie and Mara didn’t look convinced. “You can deal with your pet on your own time. The stevedores will be here soon and you haven’t even showered from yesterday.”
“Uhhh- right…”
“Just get on with it, Jevics.”
As always, Mara’s hostile glare heated the deck beneath his toes and encouraged him to hop-skip until he was out of sight.
Speckle followed him back to his cabin, confused. She settled on his rug, and Jess couldn’t help feeling that she looked just a little disappointed about being back in here.
“Sorry. I guess that’s us done for now, huh. All right, lemme see.” After a little rummaging, Jess found an old tablet under the detritus covering his desk, with just enough charge to still turn on. He hastily plugged it in. Conveniently, the cord stretched just as far as her rug. “I guess even if you can’t read the writing, the pictures will still work, right?”
Speckle examined it warily, but seemed familiar with the technology at least. She settled back down onto her elbows and used a big toe to start leafing through the icons.
Jess clipped the curtain back out of the way, hoping she’d understand it meant she was welcome to come and go as she liked, and made a hasty gallop down to the hold before Mara could get her claws into his eartips.
When early afternoon rolled around, the crew were pleasantly surprised to find they’d actually managed to finish lashing down the last of the cargo well ahead of schedule.
Jess bounced up to the bridge to find the pilot. Making the lost time up, like a hero.
Unexpectedly, they weren’t even in uniform, let alone not wearing their control harness – just sitting at the rear [plotting] table, poring over charts and weather readouts.
“Thought we were leaving soon?” Jess leaned over the pilot’s shoulder. “Cargo’s all stowed.”
The umskel’i offered a little headshake, leaning subtly away from the laima’s touch. “Forecast isn’t good,” they apologised, abstractly, leafing through the waymarkers on their screen. “We’re probably not going to be able to leave until evening at the earliest.”
Jess felt his buoyant mood deflate, just a touch. “Oh. Well, that’s annoying. Captain said we could try and make the delay up here.”
The pilot smiled in a slightly anxious, subtly chastising way. “Perhaps you might try and get back to the ship on time, next time.”
“Ugh, fine. Yes. Whatever. I think it’s only Pip that hasn’t got onto me about that, now.” Jess put his hands up. “I’m sorry, all right? I won’t do it next time.”
The pilot mmh-ed. “Well, take this as permission to go amuse yourself while the weather’s nice. Don’t go too far though. We might still get a window.”
Well, Jess figured an unexpected bit of shore leave to relax was almost as good as making up the time he’d lost them. “Sounds good. Thanks.” He slapped them on the shoulder. “Guess I’ll go down the shops and get something to eat while we wait. Want anything?”
The pilot’s smile became a little more genuine. “No thank you.”
When Jess peeked into his cabin, Speckle was still using the tablet. Precisely what she’d found that was occupying her attention, he wasn’t sure, but she lay in a relaxed curl with the small computer propped against one big forepaw, and had her gaze fixed on the screen.
“Uh, hey?”
Speckle looked up from the tablet and cocked her head. She actually made direct eye contact and held it, this time. That… could be a good sign? Right?
He gestured down the corridor, pointing a finger. “I’m going to grab Pip and we’re gonna head down the old town to get something to eat. Going to come with?”
She stared long and hard at him, in that way Jess was coming to realise meant she was trying to figure out what he was talking about, and watched him swoosh an arm at the corridor, before finally getting up – a little more easily, this time – to join him in his cabin doorway. She made another of those questioning little coughs.
Jess pointed into his mouth and made playful yum yum noises and rubbed his belly; she cocked her head and narrowed her eyes in a squint that none-too-subtly telegraphed what the fuck are you doing and Jess felt his ears get hot. “Uh. Right. Follow me.”
Pip was never going to say no to food, and was halfway across her cabin to join him before he’d even finished his sentence; the little cephalopoid had a metabolism faster even than most of her own species, and he figured she probably easily ate half her body weight in snacks most days. He couldn’t actually figure out what it all went on, seeing as she did the bulk of her lifting by telekinesis.
When they got to the main loading ramp, it was to find Mara standing at the foot of it, signing off the final few manifests, back in civilian clothes except for the filthy luminous yellow steel-capped overshoes sheathing her big toes. The last of the tractors idled on the tarmac.
She watched the threesome make their careful way down the ramp, avoiding any of the pinch points. “Walking your pet?” She squiggled a signature, pressed her thumbprint against the security bioreader, and handed the docket back to the berth supervisor, all without actually looking away from her cousin.
Jess held his hand up and mimed a nagging mouth with his fingers. “Just going to get something to eat while it’s sunny.”
“Well please don’t go too far. I don’t want you having to find a hole in the fence again.”
“No mother.” Jess navigated a wide berth around her.
“I mean it! We skated paying extra berthing fees last time because Teeja has connections. Meteors don’t let you off on a fine; we miss our window and we’ll be stuck here a month. Do you know the sort of fees we’d be hit with if-”
“Look, Pilot kicked us out, all right?” Jess put both hands up in defeat. “We’re only going to the park to find a snack. I promise, we’ll be back in plenty of time. I’ll even buy you a bun or something.”
Mara sighed as loudly as she could. “If you’re not here when the call goes up we can leave, I am not waiting! You can pay your own taxi to catch up with us!” she snapped at his departing back.
They joined the little queue of off-duty dockworkers straggling out through the main gates. The security guard gave Speckle a funny look, but didn’t say anything and after a cursory glance at the other two’s IDs, waved the trio out under the barrier.
Spaceport and seaport were cheek by jowl in this little industrial city. It had all grown up around the harbour and wasn’t strictly designed with tourists in mind, with its acres of warehouses and container fields. Old refineries and disused power stations lurked just along the coast. The only sliver of beach was an impractically-long hike up the coast, and definitely not worth it for the sake of an afternoon that could get brought to an abrupt end at any moment. Everywhere else was at best rocky; at worst, unassailable concrete seawall.
Jess knew where the locals went to enjoy themselves, though. There was a nice public park not too far away, behind a short precinct of grocery shops. The trio made a hasty hop-skip to the far side of a crossroads in a break in traffic.
Speckle hesitated on the far side of the junction, and looked down the side street towards the parade of masts bobbing gently just beyond the harbour wall. She licked her nose, absently.
“Yeah, I smell it, too,” Jess said, following her gaze. “I was just gonna visit the shops by the park but I guess we could do with a treat.”
Leaving Pip to find a place to spread their blanket, Jess headed off towards the waterfront, followed by a wary Speckle. He followed his nose around the corner and found the source of the enticing smells; a small blue van parked on the harbourside. An open serving hatch that ran almost full-length along its flank formed both rain shelter and sunroof for its customers.
The queue made him hesitate – long after the lunchtime rush, it still stretched away from the till at one end, at least a dozen patrons long – but the ondrai proprietors looked like they were doing a pretty brisk trade. He probably wouldn’t be waiting all that long.
Jess joined the end of the line and peered at the chalked menu over the shoulder of a short, fractious male zaar who was struggling to keep his two adventurous children from straying too far along the quay. Speckle hung back a few uneasy paces, on the concrete hardstanding.
Jess gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, before squeezing his comm and waiting for Pip to answer. “Clade of Moon-over-mountain have their van here, so, uh. What do you want?” He read them off the chalked menu, counting them off on his fingers. “They’ve got fried seaveg, pickled seafood, flatbreads, salt meat and grains, some kinda sweet kebab-”
“You know what I like,” Pip reminded. “You might want to try and find something Speckle will fancy, though. She’s not eaten in days.”
“Right, right. Um… Any ideas?”
“Not that spicy grain bowl. She’ll be running for the head for the next two days. Lumi can probably give you some tips.”
The ‘Lumi’ in question was the silvery female ondraii, skilfully juggling taking in orders and slicing flatbread fillings without taking her fingertips off.
“Jess,” she greeted, her big ears swivelling attentively forwards. “It’s been a while. Good to see you.”
“Hey, Lumi. Thanks. Shame it’s our last visit before the meteors hit. We woulda been here earlier, but uh.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I kinda made us late. Mara’s sharpening her claws for if I do it again.”
A smile ghosted over the ondraii’s long face, in a vague, mysterious way that reminded Jess of Vieno. “Well we mustn’t have that. Good thing I have a couple of her favourites left, no?” She dropped a glossy brown cake covered in white seeds into a bag without even asking Jess if he wanted it. “Your friend looks like she’s had a rough time of it,” she added, nodding towards the parking area.
Jess glanced back over his shoulder. Speckle had sagged back to a seated position, close to a pile of crustacean traps almost as tall as she was, holding her right paw up from the ground again. Her neck sloped as though her head was just that little bit too heavy to hold up.
“Yeah.” He blew out a long sigh. “She joined us back on [planet]. Well, stowed away, really. Vieno gave his blessing for her to stick around for now. We’re not sure what’s happened. I want to be able to help her, but we haven’t even figured out how to talk to her, yet.”
Lumi stared at Speckle for a second or two longer, her large ears swivelling, before speaking again. “She’s anxious about being out in the open, but seems to trust you, so you must have done something right, so far,” she reassured. “She’s hungry – but she’s confused, too. This… seems… new?” Her eyes tightened, in a puzzled frown. “Hmm. I’m not sure what that means.”
Jess glanced back and watched Speckle while Lumi put his order together. “Me either.”
He came away from the van with far more food than he’d intended buying, loaded precariously on a cardboard tray; as well as the sweet bun he’d threatened Mara with, he had two portions of fried greens; a thick, salty, greasily delicious flatbread; a filled and folded pastry wrap; a whole jar of the pickled crustaceans he knew Pip liked; and a spiced meat kebab, hoping that at least one would suit Speckle’s appetite.
The big creature did at least look interested, for a change, head raised, but still following him quietly on plodding feet like a docile pet.
They retired to the small park where they’d left Pip. The duSkai was sprawled out on the springy lawn, right in the middle of the blanket, sunning herself. She didn’t often get the chance to, but this early-summer sunshine was just gentle enough not to fry her delicate white skin.
“Hey Pipster,” Jess greeted. “Wanna shift your backside and help me put this lot down? I seem to have been ambushed into buying six days’ worth of food.”
Pip opened one eye, grunted her annoyance, and rolled sideways off the blanket instead. “I get one opportunity to sunbathe and you make me move. Spoilsport.” She took the tray anyway, using her telekinesis to balance it lazily in midair while the spur lowered himself to the ground and got comfortable.
“Spoilsport, huh.” Jess examined the tub of pickled crustaceans. “Guess you won’t be wanting these, then.”
“Ah! Oh, smashing. Yes please!” She accepted the pot from him and popped the lid off, clicking her beak appreciatively. The little curl of reactive cells on her brow – the only patch on her whole body capable of the colour-change her species was famed for – had immediately blushed an appreciative yellow-orange. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. My treat.” Jess patted the ground, indicating that Speckle should also sit.
Speckle hesitated on the pavement, shifting awkwardly from one forepaw to the other. She inspected the flat mounds of tiny, round-leaved plants for a few seconds, before finally stepping hesitantly onto the lawn and lowering herself to a sitting position, awkwardly, as though trying hard not to crush them.
Jess hoped some food might stop her looking quite so tense and uncomfortable. “What do you like the look of?” He waved his hands over the small selection, palms up, hoping she’d figure out his meaning.
Speckle stared first at him, then the food, before lowering her head to sniff carefully at each item. Eventually she decided on the wrap, carefully gripping the paper sheath in her lips and sliding it towards herself. She gave Jess another very long intense stare, waiting for his response, or perhaps a ‘no’.
“Good choice. Enjoy!” Jess picked up the kebab and turned his attention to the food, keeping watch from his peripheral vision, hoping to keep from embarrassing her by staring directly at her.
For several seconds, Speckle just sat and looked at the wrapping, before clumsily picking it up between her forepaws and trying to catch the edge of the paper in her lips. The tight twists at the end were a little beyond her, though – she couldn’t quite manoeuvre the wrap well enough to unkink the wrapping. She managed to tear off a couple of small shreds of waxed paper, before sighing her annoyance at it.
Jess figured that he probably could have made just a tiny bit more effort to help. “Uh, here. Let me?”
He took the parcel from her, and carefully reorganised the wrapping around the bread, such that it gave her something to hold at one end, but wouldn’t otherwise all fall apart between her paws. He then set it back between her forepaws, upright this time.
Speckle gave him a subtly reproachful look – perhaps for not doing that for her in the first place, although he couldn’t quite tell if she was just frustrated that she couldn’t do it herself, as well – but bent her head to eat.
After a perfunctory nibble, she apparently found it to her taste, wolfing it down in a couple of perfunctory bites. In very short order, she finished off the wrap, the flatbread, a portion of crispy greens, and finally half of Jess’s own kebab when he pushed it her way.
Jess figured it made sense? Not to put too fine a point on it, she was a big creature, with a big mouth, who had several days of eating to catch up on. A couple of bites of pudding probably hadn’t even lined her stomach.
He couldn’t help grinning, though. As positive responses went, that had been a bigger one than he’d expected! “Better than what we have in stores, right?”
Pip clicked her beak. “You do know she doesn’t understand you?”
Jess gave her a look. “You’d rather I treated her like an animal?”
“Well, no. But you don’t have to talk to communicate with someone. And I’m not talking telepathy.”
“Ah, I know.” Jess lounged back on the blanket. “I guess at least if I talk to her like this, she knows I know she’s a person. I think.”
Filling her belly had evidently done their guest a lot of good. Instead of sitting with all four feet tucked into the smallest area she could manage, Speckle had gradually spread out over the lawn while she’d eaten, like a slowly-melting statue, all the way down to her chest, and now lay loosely propped up on her elbows. The tension in her shoulders had drained away, too. Her little winglets were no longer furled tightly against her spine, revealing a sliver of the underside – an unexpectedly bright orange for a creature whose designers seemed to have been sticking to a fairly pastel palette.
…She actually seemed halfway relaxed. She turned slightly to present a little more of her pale flank to the sun, and closed her eyes. The long, shaky sigh was definitely one of pleasure.
Warm sun, comfortable surroundings, and a fully belly. No wonder she felt better.
Impulsively, Jess stretched out a comforting hand and stroked her neck.
She froze.
“Sorry! Sorry.” Jess snatched his hand back, cursing inwardly. Well done Jess, good work ruining all the progress you’d made so far. “Ah, paksha. Sorry.” He sat on his hands, frustratedly.
After several more heartbeats, she finally glanced back at him, and coughed faintly; Jess wasn’t sure if it meant you’re forgiven or don’t ever do that again. He offered a watery smile and tried to look contrite, hoping she’d understand.
The sun was low on the horizon, and their little puddle of sunshine had turned into a chilly pool of shadow when they finally elected to head home. Towering floodlights already lit the harbour – but not yet strongly enough to drown out the fine streamers of silver threading between the clouds. Small surprise Mara hadn’t yelled at them to come back yet. They could yet be stuck here a while.
Their freighter stood quiet and dark on her berth. The main cargo doors had closed, leaving only the narrow crew gangway still extended; Pip had gone ahead and opened up, and now waited at the top for them.
Speckle had slowed down considerably, hobbling on three legs. She made her way slowly up the gangway, walking gingerly – it was steep and she was slow, but at least she no longer had to worry about getting a toe caught in the hinges on the heavy duty cargo ramp.
Jess bit his lip, and stood in the doorway to wait while she caught up.
Mara was conspicuously absent, and Jess figured she’d actually probably for once in her life gone to take a nap. Typical. The one time he could have gloated about getting back on time as promised, too. He stretched an arm around behind her curtain, trying not to trigger the lights, and put the bun on her desk instead.
Speckle had passed him and reached his cabin doorway, and nosed her way behind the curtain even as Jess reached out to hold it back for her. She lowered herself shakily to her rug and turned both forepaws so the sore pads faced upwards. She examined them minutely for several seconds – studying the thick grey-brown layer of road grime and grease from the dockside – before apparently deciding fuck it, they were sore enough that she didn’t care. She lowered her head to lick them.
Jess hastily fetched her a bowl of warm water and a towel, instead.
Speckle hesitantly dabbled the toes of her right foot in the water before deciding that it wasn’t too intolerable, and after a few moments the left foot joined it. Dirt bloomed away into the water.
Jess left her to it, for a while, reading the instructions on the tube of antiseptic he’d grabbed, then plopped down in front of her, cross-legged. “Let’s get these feet cleaned up, huh?” He reached for one big paw then checked himself and glanced up at her.
She gave him a long, wary look in return, then coughed, quietly, and lifted one paw from the water for him. Her gaze drifted away to the side.
Jess tried for a reassuring smile, and began – hesitantly, gently – to work the dirt from between her toes. Her foot was tense; he could feel tendons like bowstrings beneath her skin.
He squelched his own unease and pretended he couldn’t see the clenched jaw and mouthful of big teeth hovering very close to his neck; tried hard to ignore the crawling discomfort working up through his hair at the feel of her skin. “There we go. Not looking so bad, after all.” Satisfied he’d got as much dirt off as he could, he hastily wrapped the paw in the towel and reached for the antiseptic.
He felt rather than heard her sigh, and immediately had to swallow a sigh of his own. She just seemed so… tired, and sad, and confused. And he had absolutely no idea how to help her. Just… knew he needed to.
“Hey… Hey?”
He smiled, and held her towel-wrapped paw sandwiched between both hands. She took a second or two to look at him, but managed to hold his gaze.
“It’ll be all right. I promise. We’ll figure this out.” He squeezed her toes, gently. “Whatever trouble you’re in, we’ll work out how to fix it.”
