Page 29 of Hunter’s Harvest

I did not know a hunter named Jask’l, but we continued to the overseer’s office anyway.

Jask’l was much too young to be an overseer, but he didn’t look surprised to see me at all. In fact, he already knew my name.

“Var’n, I was expecting you. I am Jask’l.” His eyes landed on my hands. “Congratulations on the mating.”

I grunted, unsure what to say.

“Nellie, I’m sorry to hear about the trade shipment. But I’m sure you and Meghan will work out something.” He turned back to me. “They tell me you saved your shuttle’s power source.”

I blinked. “Affirmative.”

“What else have you recovered?

I told him everything we’d saved from the wreck that was my shuttle.

“That’s great. I’ll get started on making you a new shuttle right away. You are lucky, hunter. New power sources were the only thing we could not reproduce.”

“So it is true about the other mothership and the mining detachment.”

Jask’l’s face told me all I needed to know. “Unfortunately, it is. I ran the repair bay on that mothership. I was there when it got infected by the scourge. Barely made it out alive. I still feel more comfortable in the repair bay than in this office.”

That explained why he looked so young.

“Did your overseer not make it out?”

“He did. Ror’k retired.”

I frowned at the unfamiliar word.

Jask’l guffawed. “You should see your face. It is a human concept. It means to stop working permanently and live off the savings they’ve accrued over the years. He has no savings, but he has worked hard enough, and we all support him. He is the first overseer to retire. But he is happy now. He is hunting again, and mated too.”

“If he is hunting again, isn’t he still working?” Nellie asked.

The translator on my harness got to work, and Jask’l sent me an amused look.

“Hunting is fun. But only if we have all of our equipment. Your shuttle will take some time to rebuild. You should stay for our Halloween Harvest Haunt.”

I still did not know what this holiday was and how it related to false fish humans, but I kept that to myself. Maybe Nellie could explain it again, and this time I’d actually understand her words.

“But your translator is easily fixed. Head over to the infirmary to get your chip updated.”

And just like that, we were dismissed.

“What is ha-low-ween and why is the harvest haunted?” I asked as we made our way over to the infirmary. “And why are you a fish female?”

Nellie giggled in my arms. “I guess it’s kind of confusing from the outside, isn’t it? Especially if you only understood a few words. Let’s try again. Halloween’s something we do every year in the fall. It came from a whole bunch of old traditions, but now it’s just a night where people dress up in costumes and pretend to be something they’re not. Before the bugs came, kids used to go around the neighborhood knocking on people’s doors, yelling ‘Trick or Treat,’ and people would give them candy. But here in New Franklin, they combined it with their harvest festival since it’s all around the same time, so now it’s just one big party. Everyone dresses up and has a good time.”

“Humans are always dressed up.”

“This is different. We dress up in costumes. It’s make-believe.”

“I still do not understand that word.”

“It’s imaginary. We pretend for fun.”

Not wanting to admit that I still didn’t get it, I asked about the strange orange fruits outside instead.

“What about the big orange fruits with the faces?