“Let’s go there!” Teshor said.
Gis looked surprised. “Uh, you don’t want to see your rooms first?”
Amina shook her head. “We want to play!” She looked over at Helmen. “It isn’t Oristia, but it’s better than old reconsitutor packs. Come on, Helmen. We all need a break.”
Myrum decided now was the time to speak up. “I’d like to buy the crew a nice meal on the pleasure ship.”
Everyone cheered, and Amina wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a quick clutch before drawing back. He didn’t even have a chance to embrace her back.
“This is the best assignment ever!” Amina said.
He had to agree.
Chapter 12
Amina
They all followed Gis through the eerily empty station and finally onto the pleasure ship. Amina wasn’t into gambling, but places like this carried all kinds of fun, hard-to-find items. After a fresh, tasty meal, she was looking forward to doing a little shopping. Among other things, she hoped they had a tailor machine that could make a sweater for Ruby.
The more Amina thought about it, the more she wanted the lizard to have an entire wardrobe!
“I’ve never been on a ship like this,” Myrum murmured as they went from dull gray uninhabited corridors to bright colors and the sound of talking and enjoyment.
“You’ll have a great time,” she promised. “There’s so much to do.”
Desur was reading something on his information square while he walked. “They’re showing my favorite Taltoran drama. Does anyone want to go with me?” He looked up at Teshor. “I knowyou aren’t interested. All you care about is playing domie. Try not to lose all your money this time.”
Teshor let out a little grumble. “I don’t usually lose.”
Amina bit her lip. Teshor was only a mediocre domie player. If she was lucky, she came out even. The problem was, she got a little obsessed. There’d been a few times Helmen was forced to order her away from the domie table.
“Food first,” Helmen declared and grabbed Teshor by the back of the jacket before she could disappear.
Teshor made a grumbling sound as everyone else chatted about what they wanted to eat or if they wanted to go with Desur to the Taltoran drama.
Gis led them to the restaurant. Like many style-nine ships, there was only one restaurant, but it had an extensive menu.
There were several tables full of Ossisos who all stared at their group as they sat near the far end of the room. When Gis tried to move to stand against the wall, Desur grabbed a chair that was more of an elaborate stool and pointed to it.
“Sit here,” he demanded, making his voice loud so everyone else in the room could hear.
“Subtle,” Amina whispered with a chuckle.
As ordered, Gis sat. Desur made a satisfied sound and took the chair next to him. Desur might have a soft heart, but he also had a strong sense of justice, which was why he worked on Steady instead of one of their other ships. He was going to spend the meal asking questions until he was satisfied Gis was safe and happy to be on Tik.
Amina took a seat on Desur’s other side, and Myrum was quick to sit next to her. Everyone else took their seats and started scrolling through the menu displayed across the table's surface.
Worried Myrum didn’t have much exposure to different types of food, she leaned close and pointed to his menu. “You should order from this section.”
“I don’t recognize most of this,” he admitted. “Is there anything like what we’ve been eating on Steady? Especially what you fed me the morning I was tied to the bed.”
Remembering how intimate it’d been to feed him made her skin hot. “Um, yeah, they have a version of that. It’ll probably taste even better because it’ll be fresh.”
He turned his face to hers. “Doubtful.”
Flustered, she cleared her throat and tapped on the display to order several dishes. “Um, I’ll get a selection that we can share.”
“Order as much as you want,” he said, then looked up and addressed the table. “I want everyone to eat and drink everything they desire.”
