Page 72 of Pets in Space 10

As he left the room, he said, When the game is done and you’re off duty, come see me in my office before you sign out.

All right, I will. She sounded puzzled.

Hell, he was puzzled himself but he didn’t want the night to end without talking to her again, face to face.

Running his hand over his chin, Mike lectured himself as he walked and exchanged greetings with the people he passed.

She’s an employee, she’s a lot younger than you are, she’s not your type in the least… what the seven hells were you thinking?

He wanted to be sure she was okay after her strange night working at his casino, that was all.

Wasn’t it?

***

Dahlia was pleased the second game ended fairly quickly. Sutton was the winner and one of the women angrily cleared out her space and left in a huff. From the chatter, Dahlia gathered the player had made an error in her strategy.

As soon as the break was declared, two casino employees walked in with a small, well cushioned chair, which they proceeded to set where Dahlia was stationed.

One of the men picked up her battered old chair and carried it away with a sniff.

Mardri brought her a sealed bottle of water and a packet of cookies.

It was pleasant to chat with the waitress for a minute or two and when it was time to sit down again Dahlia was grateful for the new chair and the snack.

The third game lasted a more normal length of time.

Sutton didn’t win but did well enough not to be in any danger of elimination.

Dahlia could tell he wasn’t pleased about the turn of events but although he cast a few scowls in her direction, he didn’t say anything to her.

This whole lady luck scenario he’d created in his mind revolving around her was ridiculous.

She got that gamblers were superstitious and his win at roulette had been high drama and against all odds, but to honestly think she could influence his luck merely by blowing on his dice was pretty farfetched.

She fingered the scale Petal had given her and smiled, realizing she had her own superstitions.

The difference was she only hoped for simple things, like a good job, lodging, and food, all of which she had.

The night wore on and the crowd in the room got smaller and smaller as players were eliminated and departed, taking their coteries with them.

Finally the last round commenced between Sutton and another man.

Both had been drinking heavily. Dahlia had a sore throat and a headache from the feelgood smoke in the room — the ship had powerful air filters, but the occupants had indulged heavily all night.

Sutton showed her the dice, waiting for her to puff her breath at them, which she did but for some reason this time she also touched them. He narrowed his eyes and directed his attention to the table. “I’m betting it all on this hand.”

A tremor of fright rippled through her at his rash move. She had no idea if he had the right cards to be able to win right now or not. Without thinking about it she pulled the scale from her pocket and held it tight. Lords of Space let him win and let this strange night be over.

The opposing player studied Sutton’s face. His was expressionless although Dahlia noticed a telltale muscle twitch in his jawline. He gestured expansively. “By all means, let’s finish this. Take your roll.”

Sutton let the dice drop from his fingers onto the table, where they bounced and came up in a configuration Dahlia didn’t think she’d ever seen before.

Even the dealer had a shocked expression on his face but he laid out the new cards for Sutton as dictated by the dice, drawing from the different decks the dice ruled over.

Five supernovas.

The room erupted in shouts. People were hugging and hand slapping and Dahlia slumped in her chair.

Even she knew the odds against drawing five supernova cards were astronomical.

Sutton had won. The opposing player glanced at her as he shook Sutton’s hand and left the room after downing a stiff drink in one long swallow.

The bouncers gathered up the massive pile of chips but Sutton grabbed a crimson one and flipped it to the dealer.

“You did a good job tonight, man. Kept us all honest.”

The dealer acknowledged the compliment and the tip and left the table, heading for the door to the employee room.

Sutton fished a purple chip out as the bouncer collected the last few strays and handed it to Dahlia with an unsteady bow. “Lady Luck, glad I met you. If I wasn’t leaving the ship tomorrow you and I would do this again. Next time I sail on the Zephyr, I’ll look for you.”

No, I’m never doing this again, she thought with mild panic. Once was enough. Her migraine was pounding, brought on by the stress she was sure. She slid the purple chip into her pocket with the scale from Petal and stepped aside. “Thank you,” she murmured.”Congratulations.”

Sutton wrapped his arms around two of the women who’d been hanging on him all night when he wasn’t actively playing. “Let’s go celebrate in my suite,” he said, drawing vigorous approval from both.

The trio walked away with the rest of Sutton’s entourage following behind.

The empty room made Dahlia nervous so she walked out into the large gaming hall and regretted her high heels yet again.

She wondered if she got called in for another night at the casino if Maeve could make her shorter ones.

The casino was pretty full even at this hour and she hastened to cross the wide expanse and reach the employee area behind closed doors.

The last thing she wanted right now was to be asked to do anything for a guest. She would, of course, because customer service was the job, but her whole body ached.

Safely behind the door marked employees only, Dahlia headed for the dressing room before she remembered Mr. Remington had wanted to see her at the end of the shift.

She asked a passing waiter where his office was and found her way through the maze of corridors with a little difficulty.

She was always amazed how large the Nebula Zephyr actually was and how much of the ship was only accessible to crew members.

She’d heard rumors the ship’s AI had the ability to add on or reconfigure the ship’s structures, which sounded farfetched to Dahlia.

Taking a deep breath and reminding herself she hadn’t done anything wrong, she knocked on the casino manager’s door. Maybe he wasn’t even in. Maybe he’d gone home for the night already too.

Now her luck was out because the door opened and she walked into the spacious office, trying not to gawk at the luxurious details. Mr. Remington was seated at a large, gleaming desk, his handheld and two terminals close by. “Ah, Miss Vale, your night’s finally done I gather.”

“You said you wanted to see me before I clocked out,” she said, trying to inject positive energy into her tone. She was so tired.

“Have a seat — I’m sure those shoes are giving you problems by now.” He waved to one of the well cushioned chairs in front of the desk and she gratefully accepted the offer.

“Mr. Sutton won,” she said. “He pulled five supernovas and it was game over.”

“Someone had to win.” Remington shrugged. “The house gets its cut from every player no matter who has the highest cards. Still, his final supernova five card flush was exceptional. If Yancey wasn’t one of my best dealers, I might have suspicions there was sleight of hand going on.”

“I watched every hand, sir, and it was all above board,” she said, not wanting the dealer to catch any criticism.

“As far as you could tell.” Remington chuckled and she enjoyed the sound. He was even more handsome when he smiled. “Forgive me, but I question whether your experience at gaming is extensive enough to detect a skillful cheat.”

“Probably not,” she admitted, wishing she dared to sink into the cushions and relax. Instead she kept her spine straight. This was an exit interview, or so she supposed, and she wanted a good reference.

“I assure you events like tonight’s aren’t the usual work experience for our casino employees,” Remington said with a frown. “How did the night seem to you?”

“Long,” she said before she could stop herself.

She had to curb her tendency to blurti out answers.

That was how she’d gotten into the situation in the first place.

“I don’t think I was even a real person to Mr. Sutton.

” Dahlia tried to put her impression into better perspective.

“Are you familiar with the Old Terra superstition about holding a lucky rabbit’s foot? ”

His grin told her of course he was and she blushed. Yeah, a man who ran a huge casino had probably heard every superstition in the galaxy.

“It was like I was a thing to him, a prop for the night, not me, not Dahlia.” She came to an awkward stop. “And I was terrified he’d lose and blame me. I didn’t deserve the credit for his luck or any blowback if he lost.”

“No, you didn’t. I had the bouncers in the room on special alert to whisk you out of there if Mr. Sutton became negative.”

His calm statement warmed her heart. She’d been comforted by Mardri’s visits to the room before her new acquaintance went off shift but knowing the manager himself had been looking out for her was a huge relief.

And flattering. He had a large staff of employees working at any given time and she was only a floater, who might not ever be reassigned to duty at the Casino. “Thank you.”

“Something to consider also — he might not have been as bought into this lucky charm business as he appeared,” the manager said.

“Gamblers, especially his type, hunger for any psychological edge over others in the game. He may have been hoping your presence would unsettle the competitors. From the way Ms. Chatduquer exited in round two, which no one would have foreseen, if that was Sutton’s agenda, he succeeded. ”

Dahlia pondered the idea. It hadn’t occurred to her drunk, high Mr. Sutton might have been playing games within games all night.

“I’ve already left good feedback for you with Mrs. DeLance,” Remington said. “Excellent customer service skills. We rarely have to call upon the floater pool, but you’ll be high on our list if we do.”

“Thank you, sir.” She tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

“You’re not used to our late hours,” he said with sympathy. “Go on, go change and clock out. I hope you have tomorrow off.”

She rose from the chair, reluctant to have this moment with him end, but realistically, she was exhausted and no matter how attractive she found the man, he was way out of her league.

They could chat for the rest of the night and nothing would come of it.

High level executives don’t date floaters.

“Good night then. It was interesting to work here — the people are so nice and the casino is gorgeous.”

Dahlia walked toward the door and Remington was already involved in studying a report on one of his terminals. She put her hand in her pocket and stopped. “Oh, I forgot.” Pivoting, she returned to the desk and dropped the purple chip on the desk. “Mr. Sutton gave me this.”

Remington caught the chip and stared at it before raising his eyes to hers. “And why are you giving it to me?”

“You said I wasn’t entitled to individual tips.” She was confused. “So it should go into the general pot, right?”

“As a floater serving hors d’oeuvres, no, you weren’t entitled to tips by the terms of our employee agreement, but the minute you became a participant in the briquilliat room, you changed categories.

” He spun the chip, making it twirl over the surface of his desk.

“Do you know how much this purple is worth?”

She shrugged. “No, sir. I didn’t have time to study the information before reporting to work. It was all so last-minute.”

“Ten thousand credits,” he said. “Sutton should have given you a handful but he’s a cheap bastard. He only gave the dealer a red, or five thousand credits.” Snatching the chip from its meanderings as the rotation wore down, he offered it to her. “It’s all yours, you earned it.”

Dahlia was stunned, stuck on the idea of ten thousand credits in her name.

She could send a huge portion of the windfall to her family and save a little for emergencies.

The amount would give her breathing space on her tight budget.

The ship took care of employees in most regards — lodging, food, uniforms, medical care — but you never knew when something might come up outside the parameters of employment.

Or her contract could end without her being picked up for permanent placement. There weren’t any guarantees.

“What — what do I do to cash it in?” she asked.

“Take it to the cashiers.”

Now she was terrified to walk out the office door with the huge amount of credits, more than she’d contemplated ever amassing in her life, in her hand in the form of one easily lost or stolen purple chip.

“Can you do it for me? Put the credit in my employee account, I mean?” Dahlia was well aware how to transfer funds from her account to her family because she’d been doing it ever since arriving on the ship.

Remington didn’t blink at her request for the favor. He pocketed the chip with a smile. “Consider it done. No problem.”

“Thank you.” She had no doubt the amount would be in her account by the time she got to her cabin. He might not handle the task himself but he’d make sure it was done. “I’ll get going now then. Have a good night.”

Tired as she was and despite her aching feet, Dahlia had to suppress the urge to skip on her way to the employee dressing room. What an evening this had turned out to be!

When she got to her cabin, Petal was at the edge of the cage, waiting for her.

It was a nice change to come home to a companion, even an alien pet, and she opened the container to give the creature a cuddle.

Sitting on the tiny couch in her quarters, she stroked the pretty fur which covered most of Petal wherever there weren’t scales and told her pet about the evening.

“You certainly brought me luck,” she said.

“Ten thousand credits is an impossible number for me to accumulate, especially in one night, basically doing nothing but sitting and being bored.”

Petal chittered as if in agreement and Dahlia scratched her chin.

“I wonder if they’ll have me work up there again.

I certainly don’t expect the same kind of luck on each shift, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Mr. Remington again.

” Was she blushing? Maybe. The man was impossibly debonair and sexy in his suit and Dahlia was sure he was all muscle underneath the fancy clothes.

“I’ll never find out,” she said to Petal as she placed the pet in her new home and took a minute to refill the kibble bowl and the water. “But a girl can dream, right?”