She rubs her hands together. “Excellent. I love spicy. Bring it on.”
“They’re also vegetarian,” I assure her.
With a happy sigh, she leans to my side, resting her head on my shoulder, and I take the opportunity to be super schmoopy and lovingly feed her one of my precious dumplings.
“Mmmm! This is amazing. Reminds me of some of my favorite dim sum back on Earth.”
“I’m glad you like them. When we see my parents next, I’ll be sure to have my dad bring us more.”
Well, I already begged him to double my order this time. But again, no one needs to know that.
“You’re the best,” Gemma coos at me, then kisses the tip of my nose.
“We have to up our romance game,” Sasha tells Kheph. “They’re leaving us in the dust with their antics.”
Kheph’s pink tentacles flail around him. “I’m the most romantic Dravethian in the universe!” He points a challenging finger at us. “I won’t let you beat us.”
“I didn’t know it was a competition,” Gemma whispers to me.
“I think it’s a man thing,” I whisper back. “You know how they can be.”
“Lovable but foolish?”
“Yep.”
As we eat, we all discuss our schedule.
“In two more days, we’ll be meeting with folks at a new shelter on BlueHaven IV. They’re interested in helping care for and eventually rehome rescues we pick up from the closest space station in this quadrant.” Felix beams with pleasure. “I have a good feeling about them based on our initial video conversation.”
His animal rescue operation is already in full swing. He and his sister are clearly overachieving go-getters. I’m not surprised that Najar and I fell for them.
Kheph bounces in his seat. “I’m already making plans for next Christmas! I’ve discovered an ice planet where the locals celebrate festive winter holidays all year round. A few of their traditions are not all that dissimilar to human ones, and they make a lot of interesting dishes and beverages tied to the holidays. Won’t that be fun for us to check out?”
“All we need to do is get our three humans some appropriate clothing for the climate,” I say, already imagining cute and fuzzy coat and mitten options for Gemma.
Maybe a nice matching scarf and hat too. I still have the beautiful scarf she crocheted for me and plan to make full use of it.
A series of three chimes ring out and then the ship’s computerized voice comes over the comm system.Distress signal detected along current route. Do you wish to intercept?
“Yes, computer. Send a notification that we are on our way,” Kheph replies.
Affirmative, the computer says and then the system cuts off.
My friend jumps to his feet, all bright-eyed and eager. “Let’s get ready, everyone. We’ve got folks to save!”
In a very short span of time, the Sleigh Belle rescue team has already started making a name for ourselves. It’s keeping us plenty busy and increasing our space credits, courtesy of the Alliance, exponentially.
Gemma shoves another dumpling in her mouth, in no hurry to follow our friends.
I chuckle.
“No point in rushing. That signal is hours away. We won’t be reaching them in the next few minutes.”
“So true. Our friends do tend to be overly excitable.”
Gemma grins. “We’re so much more mature and sensible, aren’t we?”
“Yes, and now we get all the dumplings. Mwahahaha.” I pop one in my mouth and savor the taste.
