Page 17 of Craving Stardust

We were equally doomed if I remained here. Her words about what her people would do to me echoed within my mind. I suspected I didn’t have much time before they arrived, determined to capture or kill me.

If only I could have a lifetime with Iris.

After we’d eaten all the soft, sweet mounds of dough, Iris left for a brief time, stating she would purchase a few things and that she had to put a note on her bookstore door telling everyone she was closed for the foreseeable future, that she’d reopen as soon as she could.

I didn’t like that she had to do this. She’d said she’d only recently started her business. How could she find success if she wasn’t there to accept customers? But I was greedy enough to want her with me for as long as I remained.

I worried while she was gone, sitting by the front window, staring through the glass. But she returned without incident, stating no one had mentioned the crash in town. As far as she knew, no one was seeking me.

That told me I had some time, though I doubted I had much.

We consumed sardwitches that were slices of another form of dough cut into squares with strips of meat and something called sheez in the middle. I adored them, especially the one with moos-turd. And sheez was amazing. I hoped I could take some with me when I left.

I hated that I’d have to leave, but what choice did I have.

“What is sheez made of?” I asked to distract myself. If I kept thinking about saying goodbye, my sadness would drown me.

“Cow’s milk.” She explained what a cow was, though I couldn’t picture it in my mind. A black and white beast? I couldn’t fathom such a thing. She frowned. “As for making cheese from the milk, they do something to it. Curdle it, I think. Or add cultures. Let it sit around for a while. Maybe.” Her face cleared. “For a woman who loves books, you’d think I’d know how cheese was made, right? But I don’t.” She lifted her phone and tapped on it, staring at the screen. I’d already discovered it was much like my com. “I wasn’t too far off. They do curdle it—on purpose, using an enzyme called rennet. Then it’s separated from the whey, pressed, salted. A bunch of other things. Some cheeses are aged more than others. The bottom line is we buy it in packages and enjoy it.”

“I love sheez even if it comes from odd creatures.”

“So do I, Lordek. So do I.” She took the dishes to the sink and rinsed them, placing them in the washer of dishes, a device I wanted to watch the next time she engaged it. It had no viewing screen, but surely, I could open it during its cycle and see how it was done.

““What would you like to do next?” she asked, turning to lean against the counter. “Although, you should probably rest.”

I wanted to remain awake, to spend every fraction of time with her. “We drank liquid to keep us awake. Why would I choose to lie down and rest?”

“You have a valid point. Caffeine does make it hard to sleep.”

I wasn’t sure her caf-eene was doing anything about my sleep-wake cycle, but I’d trust her in this. “I need to go to my ship, but I’ll wait for my leg to heal another solar cycle or two before venturing there.”

“We could play some games if you’d like.”

“Yes, games.” Anything to spend more time with her.

She helped me into another part of her house with a large, long squishy chair we both fit on. I could even rest my leg on the surface.

After removing a game from a cupboard, we spread it out on the table in front of us. So odd to play with something called drice and strips of very thin material she called moony.

“We pay for everything with our coms,” I said, lifting my wrist.

“We use plastic cards here most of the time, although, we can also use our phones to pay.” She held it up again. “I’m finding more similarities between us all the time. Many people still use cash.” She held it up—paypeer, she’d called the fabric. It felt the same as the material humans used to construct their books. Ours were made of a different substance, though I supposed it might be similar.

Katie, her fluffy black beast crept over to me and sniffed my hand.

“Katie’s my best friend. She lived with my grandmother who died, and now she’s agreed to live with me.” Iris’s eyes sparkled. “She’s sweet once you get to know her.”

“You said she’s a crat.”

“Cat.”

“Which is independent, unlike a droog.”

“Dog.”

“Ah, yes. Cat. Dog. Humans have many kinds of pets.

“Do you have pets where you come from?”

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