Page 67 of Pets in Space 10

It was her first shore leave as an official employee of the CLC Lines and Dahlia Vale wore her Nebula Zephyr tee shirt with pride.

Most people probably couldn’t wait to leave all signs of their job behind when going to the surface of a new planet, but she was still ecstatic over the fact she had a job and got to go from star system to star system and tended to get carried away with her support for the ship.

Her co-workers teased her about it on the shuttle, but once they reached the busy spaceport everyone scattered to pursue their own interests.

Dahlia didn’t mind as she was quite used to being on her own.

She managed to see the museum she’d researched before leaving the ship and spent a long time over all the art exhibits, marveling at what different styles of painting various societies in the Sectors considered pleasing to the eye.

By the time she was done she was on fire to paint.

After checking her handheld to be sure there was time, she headed for the central marketplace.

The expanse of shops and vendor stalls was dizzying but eventually she figured out where art supplies might be found and directed her steps accordingly.

After a satisfying session bargaining with a dealer, she had a bag full of brushes and paints and several small, blank canvases.

The planned layover on this planet was long so Dahlia had time to spare.

She bought an iced fruit concoction and wandered the aisles while nursing her drink.

She wasn’t looking for anything special but the novelty of having enough credits in her account to buy basically anything within reason was heady.

The shops on the ship were expensive, catering to the high-level passengers, although there was an employee store for certain things and many of the items a crew member might want were supplied by the ship’s AI, with the cost debited from their salary.

Cages full of brightly colored birds caught her eye and she paused, composing a painting in her head, although she wouldn’t show the birds in captivity.

A forest scene came to mind and she strolled into the shaded area to see the birds more closely.

Holograms were nice but real life was better.

She’d made the circuit of the cages when she came to one in a back corner which appeared empty but a flash of bright turquoise blue caught her eye and she leaned closer.

With a gasp she saw the occupant of the enclosure as it stuck its pink nose out of the dirty straw to peer at her with iridescent eyes.

Making a mewling sound the creature dug its way out of the bedding and came toward her, blinking its eyes and moving on tiny, clawed feet.

She could only gawk at a childhood fantasy brought to life on this alien planet.

This was a pandjinn, or bringer of luck, right down to the opalescent eyes and the bright blue scales.

How could such a thing be here, of all places?

Her parents had always told her they were a myth, like unicorns, a fairy tale for children.

Examining it more closely as the animal stared at her she had to admit there were differences.

No wings for one thing and it probably didn’t spit fire either.

“You don’t want that one, lady, nothing but trouble. Gonna eat it for Sunday dinner, cooked up in the pot all nice,” said a sibilant voice in her ear.

Dahlia jumped a foot and turned, hand over her heart to find the proprietor of the stall standing right next to her. “How can you eat something so pretty?” she asked indignantly.

“Bring me nothing but bad luck since the day I traded a down on his luck spacer too many credits for it. My store burnt to the ground and now all I have is this street stall, my kid broke his arm and my wife is leaving me for a man she just met.” The stall keeper spat.

Checking the cage, Dahlia found the small animal on its hind legs, clutching the bars with one tiny claw. “What is it exactly? Where’s it from?”

The man shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Big galaxy, coulda been anywhere. Never saw the spacer before, won’t see him again I’m sure. He passed his bad luck off to me and ran. I shoulda been suspicious at the low price.”

“Do you have the certificate of passage? I live on a big cruise liner so I’d have to have the paperwork.” She could barely take her eyes off the animal, blinking at her adorably.

Unaccountably, the vendor didn’t rush to take advantage of her obvious interest. “I can’t sell it to you and pass on the bad luck again. Better I eat it and swallow the luck. It’ll all be okay then. I’ve been to the fortune teller and she promised me.”

The idea of this person eating the poor little pandjinn was abhorrent and made Dahlia all the more determined to rescue the animal.

The Nebula Zephyr was pet friendly as long as there were certificates and crew members were allowed to have pets.

“How much do you want? I’ll need a bag of the kibble you’ve been feeding it and a small cage too.

” She got out her handheld to debit her account because she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

The man hesitated.

“Surely selling it to an offworlder like me will take care of your bad luck too, won’t it?” she asked, making her voice cajoling. “A big sale to turn things around for you today.”

Ten minutes later she was the proud owner of an almost-pandjinn, a cage, kibble, and several other accessories, including dubious certificates, which at least carried the official Sectors stamp.

Her first paycheck credits were completely diminished now but as she left the stall with her new purchase, Dahlia wasn’t sorry.

Several ladies rushed past her, exclaiming over the birds and she paused to watch them haggle with the shopkeeper over a flock of the flashy creatures for a handfasting ceremony.

His luck did change, so there. She pivoted on her heel and headed toward the spaceport, satisfied with her day of shore leave.

“Silly of him to think you were the cause of his problems,” she cooed at the pandjinn, which locked its forepaws on the thin bars of the cage as Dahlia walked and stared at the scenes around them.

“I guess I was your good luck today, little friend.”

She had no trouble getting her new pet on the shuttle or the ship itself and spent a few minutes getting the animal settled in a corner of her quarters.

Each crew member had their own cabin on the massive ship and while Dahlia had heard others complain about the small space, to her it was a luxury.

All hers, with its own refresher/bathroom and even a kitchenette.

In her entire life up to this point she’d never had a private place of her own, having shared tight quarters with her sisters and other family members.

The pandjinn seemed happy enough in its new home and made a tiny purring sound as it created a bed for itself in one corner of the cage.

Dahlia was hoping she could give it free rein to wander the cabin but not on the first night.

They had to get used to each other and she needed to know more about it.

She asked Maeve, the ship’s AI to research the creature, and help her figure out what it ought to be eating.

After taking a holo of herself with the new pet, who still needed a name, but she was mulling the right one, Dahlia sent it off to her family.

Interstellar mail was another perk of working on such a high tech, luxurious ship and she tried to communicate with them as often as she could.

Her relatives didn’t reply too often, which she understood, given their circumstances.

There was a ping on the ship’s com and when Dahlia checked, it was her boss, Mrs. DeLance. In a total panic, she answered, already babbling apologies. “I’m so sorry I’m late for check in — I thought I was off tonight. I can be there in five minutes, please don’t fire me-”

Her supervisor held up one well-manicured hand to stop the flow. “Relax, you are off tonight, but I need to ask a favor. There’ll be extra credits if you agree and doubletime on top.”

Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, Dahlia squared her shoulders.

Whatever Mrs. DeLance needed, she would do.

Being a floater on the Nebula Zephyr meant handling a variety of tasks, from supervising robo cleaners and doing the detail work herself to sorting inventory in the dining rooms to helping out in the ship’s daycare.

She’d enjoyed the latter assignment the most so far.

Her secret dream was to one day become a permanent employee working in one of the big retail shops on Level A, where the richest passengers shopped.

There was one store in particular selling the most gorgeous dresses she’d ever seen and her artistic muse was stirred by the fabric and the colors and even the scent of the exclusive perfume sold only in the Twilka Zabour boutique.

“A regular employee at the casino called out sick today and you’re the only one on the floater roster with any kind of experience as a waitress,” Mrs. DeLance said. “It’s a rare skill these days.”

Dahlia blinked. Sure, she’d worked at a dive bar and diner close to the spaceport for a few months, but it was hard for her to see how that job could bear much resemblance to anything required on this ship.

There were human servers at the top end restaurants on Level A, of course, but their training was extensive and the staff was so knowledgeable about which fork or spoon was for what, about the ingredients in the dishes and other topics she literally had no concept of. “They serve food at the casino?”