“Fancy,” Amina mumbled behind him. Myrum acted like he hadn’t heard her. Thankfully her quiet comment didn’t make it to Nirot’s round ears.
“We have accommodations for you and your staff,” Nirot continued. “Although we had to abide by the law and force you to dock here, I assure you the inspection will be quick and painless. You’ll be able to leave here this time next cycle.”
Nirot motioned to one of the Ossisos with him, a female judging by the color of her eyes. She bowed then rushed on board with only an information square in her hand.
“Great,” Teshor grumbled. “We could’ve been resting and relaxing instead of working our fur off.”
“Hey, at least we know the ship is in perfect condition,” Desur whispered. “Well, except for that one workstation in command.”
“Don’t worry about your luggage,” Nirot said, pointing to the bags they’d all set on the floor next to them. Amina had warned him that sometimes they didn’t let a crew off a ship right away, so he shouldn’t bother keeping hold of his bag. “They’ll be taken to your suite for you.”
“That’s gracious of you,” Myrum said. He almost grabbed Ruby’s cage full of bugs but didn’t. He didn’t want to accidentally offend anyone.
“If you will follow me, I’ll take you to your suite,” Nirot said before giving a last little bow and turning to walk away. The two remaining Ossisos waited for them to pass then fell in step behind them.
Myrum didn’t like it. From the scowl on Amina’s face, he knew she didn’t like it either. They walked out of the docks and into the main station in silence. Not because the corridor was too busy and loud to be heard, but because it was eerily quiet.
Tik was shockingly uninhabited.
They passed vacant shop after vacant shop while walking through the merchant area. There was one place open, and it looked like all it carried was general supply items. So far he hadn’t seen a single restaurant or tavern. This was going to make it hard to treat the crew to a nice meal.
“Why is this place so empty?” Desur asked.
“We’ve only been operational for a short time,” one of the staff walking behind them snapped. His tone was sharp, as if Desur’s question was inappropriate.
“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Desur said, shrinking back to walk closer to him and Amina.
“Desur had a reasonable question,” Myrum said, wanting to make Desur feel better. “There was no need to be short with him.”
His comment caused an unexpected reaction from Nirot who was still walking in front of them. He came to an abrupt halt, strode around them, and grabbed the Ossiso who’d spoken to Desur by the arm.
“I’m terribly sorry if Assistant Gis was rude to your staff,” Nirot said, giving Gis a little shake. Even though Gis was the same size as Nirot, the Ossiso acted as if he had no strength and let Nirot move him around. “I promise Gis will be appropriately reprimanded.”
Reprimanded? Myrum looked at Amina and then Helmen. They both looked as confused as he felt by the attitude change.
“Uh, I’m sure he’ll be nicer to my friends now,” he said. “That’s good enough.”
“Ah, I see. You wish to train him yourself. That’s an excellent idea. I’ll assign him to you for the duration of your stay,” Nirot said, shoving Gis to the floor. Gis landed hard on his knees but didn’t cry out or try to get up.
“Uh,” Myrum didn’t know how to respond, but a look down at Amina had him accepting. Although even if Gis had snapped at Desur, he didn’t deserve to be treated like this. “Yes, thank you.”
Nirot looked pleased. “Gis will see to all your needs. If he upsets any of your servants, please tell me. Planetary Expansionist Lorse said he wanted to make a gift of labor to you,but we are so short staffed I was reluctant to commit. It seems that the multiverse has spoken, and Gis is yours.”
Myrum really didn’t like the sound of that but kept quiet. He could feel Amina’s tension, and if he dared look behind him at the Ugarians, he was sure they’d all be scowling.
“Give me a moment, then he is yours,” Nirot said, grabbing Gis by his mane and dragging him away. Gis was barely able to get to his feet and stumbled to the spot not far away. If he’d been any slower he probably would’ve lost some fur.
“They think you’re in charge,” Amina whispered as Nirot spoke to Gis. “I guess they like Talins better than Ugarians or a human.”
The entire situation made Myrum feel uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know they’d be so rude.”
“That makes sense,” Teshor said in a hushed tone. “They have diplomatic relations with Myrum’s empire, right? We’re strangers here, but Myrum represents an important civilization. But who is this Lorse person?”
“I don’t have many clear memories from my time with the Ossisos,” Myrum said. “I believe it was his group that found and retrieved me when I was stuck in an escape tube. I’m not sure why he’s so eager to see me again.”
The Ugarians made sounds of understanding, while Amina winced because she knew the full story.
“Should I talk to them about treating all of you as equals?” Myrum asked.
