Page 73 of Pets in Space 10

Afew days passed and then an entire week and Dahlia received nothing but the usual assignments as a floater, doing tasks like supervising cleaning robos and restocking shelves in the kitchen and even a stint in the employee store, although Maeve ran the operation flawlessly, leaving Dahlia little to do.

Her favorite assignment of the bunch was working in the ship’s daycare.

During her shift, the teachers took the children to the beach deck for the afternoon and Dahlia enjoyed the chaos of small children at the beach.

She had four younger siblings so she was experienced at watching kids and keeping them entertained and safe.

The lead teacher said she’d ask for Dahlia the next time the facility needed help.

Walking to her cabin, she sighed. It was the same everywhere she was assigned.

She’d been raised to be detail oriented and responsible and she took satisfaction in being a good employee, but she was no closer to her goal of working in the Level A retail shops.

Mrs. DeLance promised her if anything came up, Dahlia would have first pick, but not over the more senior floaters.

Those crew members had much more time in and were known to the retail managers and often asked for by name.

She’d checked her credits balance and the ten thousand credits were there, along with her share of the communal tip pot, overtime pay, regular pay and a small bonus “from the Casino Manager”.

A tidy sum for a night’s work and she wasted no time in transferring a big chunk to her parents, which was satisfying.

It was her day off again and as the ship was in orbit around their next destination, Dahlia decided to go ashore and do more shopping and exploring.

She took her seat on the shuttle and immersed herself in doing research on her handheld to see what the city close to the spaceport offered in terms of amenities she might enjoy in the time she had available.

Dahlia had no intention of missing the shuttle to the Nebula Zephyr in the early evening.

“Is this seat taken?” someone asked in a deep voice which was oddly familiar.

She glanced up to answer the question and froze, words unspoken on her lips. Mike Remington stood there, smiling at her. “Mr. Remington, what a surprise. Let me move my stuff because no, the seat is available. I spread out my things when I sat here.”

He waited for her to move her backpack to the deck at her feet and slid into the seat. “Please, call me Mike. We’re not in the casino now. What takes you planetside? Sightseeing?”

“I didn’t have the chance to travel when I was young and so now I try to take full advantage of the opportunities when I can. I have to do a little shopping, too.”

“Looking for anything in particular or souvenirs or?” he asked. “I’m pretty familiar with this world, maybe I can help if there’s a specific item.”

“Pet stores,” she said in a rush, feeling foolish. In the back of her mind she was chiding herself for wasting this golden opportunity to talk to the man she’d been fantasizing about by boring him.

He raised one eyebrow. “Pet stores? I’m afraid I can’t help there.”

“It’s okay, there was good information in the ship’s database. I got a pet on impulse on our last stop and Maeve and I have been trying to figure out what Petal could be. I didn’t know it, but Maeve has a huge database accumulated on rare alien species.”

“Did she say why? Is it a hobby of hers?” He seemed amused.

“I guess she’s been trying to find out what Midorri is,” Dahlia said, referring to the mysterious Ship’s pet who usually roamed in the company of the Ship’s cat.

“No luck so far. She hasn’t found my pet either.

Here, let me show you.” She pulled up a small holo from her handheld.

Petal twirled slowly in the space between them.

“She’s sweet but lately her scales have been turning a different color and I’m afraid I’m not giving her what she needs to eat.

Maeve did suggest a special pet food enzyme supplement, which I’m searching for today. ”

“Quite appealing,” was his verdict of the holo.

“The man who had her was going to eat her,” Dahlia said with a shudder. “She resembles a fairy tale creature from my childhood so I stepped in. But I want to take good care of her.”

“You have a kind heart.”

Fearing she was probably boring this sophisticated man to death, she tried to shift the focus of the conversation to him. “What about you? What takes you to the surface today?”

“I have a meeting,” he said.

“Related to the big tournament the casino is going to host?” Dahlia was puzzled. “And it couldn’t be done remotely or via holo?”

“Some meetings need to be done in person,” he replied with a frown. “Especially in my business.”

”Why are you here on the shuttle?” she asked. “Is the captain using his?”

Remington laughed. “I’m not one of his officers.

I don’t have the privilege of requesting his private shuttle.

The only time you’d ever see me acting like a ship’s officer would be if there was an emergency.

I can captain the hell out of a lifeboat.

I’ve had all the training, believe me. The CLC Line doesn’t kid around when it comes to safety. ”

“Even we floaters had to take a six-hour class,” Dahlia said. “I have a General Quarters station assigned to me, too.”

“Hopefully, neither of us ever has to use our training,” he said with a grin.

They chatted for the rest of the short flight to the planet, mostly Dahlia asking questions about the upcoming tournament the ship would be hosting in an attempt to deflect anything he might ask about her.

She wasn’t ashamed of her background — there was nothing wrong with having been raised in a refugee camp and having had a hardscrabble life, always trying to better one’s condition.

But she felt shy with Mr. Remington — Mike — and didn’t want to get too personal.

Or give him any reason to put her on the not to be assigned list. The casino might not be the exact Level A experience she was dreaming of, but it was much better than cleaning.

At the spaceport he parted from her, stating he had a CLC groundcar reserved.

He offered to drop her off at her first destination but from the way his demeanor changed the minute they got to the planet Dahlia inferred he wasn’t happy about the meeting he was facing.

The best thing for her to do was thank him and go on her own way to the public transport she’d planned on using.

“Maybe we’ll be on the same shuttle going back to the ship,” Mike said as he turned to leave her. With a nod he was gone, merging into the crowds.

Dahlia sighed and looked for the exit to the transportation area.

Having his company had been an unexpected treat and she was sorry for the end of the interlude.

Mike Remington left her breathless and wistful and wanting, and she hoped she’d managed to disguise all of her emotions from him.

He must have women hitting on him all the time.

Resolutely she dug out her list of possible sources for the food she needed to get Petal and locked away all thoughts of the devastating casino manager.

***

Some meetings are best done in person. Isn’t that the truth? Especially ones with the Amarotu Combine.

Mike had already input his destination in the borrowed CLC groundcar’s AI and the vehicle was smoothly navigating the roadways of the planet so he leaned back in the seat and tried to focus.

It was made more difficult by mental pictures of the girl he’d sat next to on the shuttle.

Dahlia had a sweet manner and a caring heart, as her quest to obtain the right food for her pet clearly demonstrated.

He wished the shuttle flight had been longer.

She’d gotten him talking about the damn tournament, which wasn’t hard as it was top of his mind, and he’d never gotten around to learning more about her.

He knew from her personnel file she was on the Nebula Zephyr as a floater in a special class of employees, funded primarily by a grant from the Benfield Displaced Persons Relief Fund, as part of their efforts to help people escape life in the refugee camps.

Dahlia’s file had been thin, no details, and he wondered if she had a family still in the camp, if she had made friends on the ship, what she did in her off hours.

Yeah, he had it bad and the fact she was cute in an unsophisticated way, unlike the women who flocked to his casino and tried casting lures to him, none of which appealed to him, was hard to resist. Now Dahlia was definitely tempting.

But if he wanted to pursue anything further with her, he’d have to move carefully.

Crew members were allowed to date but he was management, if not in the line of command.

The last thing he wanted was for her to feel pressured to go out with him based on her job prospects.

Mike shook his head. All of this was not the way to prepare himself for a meeting with a high-level Combine boss.

He took the rest of the drive to review the points he needed to make and what concessions if any he could allow the mob.

He was here with the full knowledge and consent of his boss in the CLC Line Casino operation, with a brief notice to Captain Fleming since the casino was on his ship.

The Combine would no doubt press for more than he cared to give.

The upcoming tournament was a Sectors-wide phenomenon and of great interest to many people.

Mike had to ensure there was no breath of scandal or unsavoriness to any of it.

Which was hard when the bottom line was sentients gambling with a huge amount of credits at stake.

The meet had been scheduled at a high-end restaurant, which he assumed was owned by the mob or at the very least ‘protected’ by them. He let the groundcar park itself, got out, and walked to the entrance with confidence. Two goons waited.