“What? Are you two dating?” I practically screech.
“No!” Khur and Shemo both respond before Furga can open her mouth.
She looks positively gleeful.
“I think Khur considers me like his sister. I was just teasing.”
“You know you don’t need an invite,” Khur gruffly says to Furga, “sometimes I wish youwouldn’tcome to dinner.”
“You liar. You love having me there. Who else would distract Urzu from talking about that promotion?” She starts working on packaging Shemo’s order up, this time in a much smaller parachute that fills to the size of a child's balloon and floats as if filled with helium. It looks absolutely delightful and I can't wait for my credits to come in just so I can buy a little balloon just like it. Who cares what is in it?
She hands the floating package to Shemo with a smile. “Isn't Destiny great? I've decided she's my new best friend. After Urzu of course.”
"Yes, she's great.” He grits out and I have to feel a bit satisfied if also very confused.
This dude does not like me and I have no clue why. I feel compelled to rectify that, to say something nice or offer help in some way, and I have to remind myself I can’t please everyone.
Instead I turn to Khur and ask, "what time is dinner?”
"19th hour. You remember how to get there, right? Oh and Urzu also wanted me to extend the invitation to your father."
He says it so formally and politely I know it's not a dig, but I still freeze up a bit.
“I'll see what I can do. He wasn't feeling good this morning."
“The elevators check for any illnesses or injuries anytime you get on.”
Hm. I didn't know that interesting tidbit. It's not entirely true though.
"Physical illnesses and injuries.”
All three of them nod at that, understanding blooming on Khur’s face. The vulnerability of what I just revealed makes my flight instinct kick in. Having nowhere to go but the spooky shelves behind me I turn to Furga quickly.
“Will you show me how to put Khur's order in and find everything?"
With a knowing look, Furga says goodbye to Shemo and gestures me closer. I huddle close, paying very close attention to Furga’s instructions even as my body is buzzing with awareness. I can feel Khur’s eyes on me like lasers.
“This is our data pad. There's rarely a need for the big screens, unless we need something off station. Nothing is programmed for Human yet, but I have it on order. It should be done by tomorrow.”
"English. I need Human English. We have a lot of languages."
“Oh, bleeding mountain, let me make sure I got the right one."
She fiddles and swipes on the screen a few times before pulling up an order form.
“This one? I can't read it."
On the screen it says Human-Albanian among a bunch of squiggles I'm assuming is the Dhugaren written language.
“Nope. Wanna pull the list up and I'll find English?"
A few swipes later and I'm scrolling through a drop down menu of languages in an alphabet I am familiar with. It's surreal how similar it is to be filling a form out on my tablet back on Earth. I take my time, reading each language just because I can and it feels good to soak the familiarity of the letters in. I forgot how much I loved reading. Anything to take me away from my boring life back then. Well now I can’t remember the last time I was bored, but I can admit I would still like a good book to sink into. I imagine things like books are a long way down the road, if they're forecasting shoe arrival in a month. Sighing, I finally click on Human-American English and hand the tablet back to Furga.
Bright side. Bright side. Always look on the bright side,I chant to myself. Shoes will come, and books too, eventually. And in the meantime I'm on a space station hanging with aliens and getting kind of invited to dinner by a surprisingly hot yeti. This is the best I've been since I left earth. Hell, since long before that.
With a renewed smile, I turn to Furga. “Why don't you show me the layout of the catacombs back there?"
She shudders, giving me a weird look. "Do all humans have such a dark sense of humor?”
