Page 20 of Sunastara & the Venusian
“Mr. Karlovich feels that Kravax presents an untapped resource. Namely, a species that is”—Chan paused again, seeming to gird his loins to quote—“‘very good with money.’”
Freddie laughed out loud at this, followed by Elanie. And then we all erupted into hysterics. Even Chan.
“That’s one way to put it,” Freddie said with a little giggle that was too delightful to even talk about.
Rax shook his head. “This is absurd.”
“I agree that it’s not ideal,” Chan said. “But the Kravaxians have been training with LunaCorp execs for the last six months. They have evidently earned a holiday with us. We are to show them a”—he drew air quotes—“‘good time.’”
We all groaned while Rax and Morgath spat a litany of Aquilinian expletives that would have turned their sweet mother’s hair gray. But it didn’t matter. We all knew there was no way out of this one.
LunaCorp owned theIgnisar, along with most of the ships and asteroids streaking through the KU, as well as several moons, including the one orbiting New Earth. When LunaCorp snapped its fingers, you jumped. But the last time corporate had instructed us to show our special guests—some sportsball team from New Earth they’d been trying to recruit to Mars—a “good time,” the hooligans stole an oorthorse from the Cosmic Spectacle stables and hid it in their pods. Where what it didn’t ruin with its copious shitting, it ate. And then shat that out too.
Sometimes working for one of the colossal conglomerates that ran almost everything in the KU felt a lot like being squished under an enormous boot heel. One that was commonly covered in shit.
Apparently recalling those same events, Chan said, “It won’t be like last time. For starters, we’ve tripled the security mechs around the Cosmic Spectacle. Second, I’ve read all the reports on the Kravaxians, and I will make them available to Freddie directly after this meeting.” He turned to Freddie. “If you aren’t convinced of their civility after reading the reports, we won’t allow them on board.”
Freddie’s brows floated up. “But…” he started, as if waiting for the inevitable shoe to drop.
Chan sighed. “But we have beenstronglyencouraged to take them.”
With a resigned press of his lips, Freddie said, “Of course.”
“How many are there?” I asked, wondering what sort of strings I’d need to pull to meet the Kravaxians’ unique hospitality needs. Trying to secure, house, and milk a kurot alone would be next to impossible. Kurots were a bit like New Earth cows but bigger and meaner, and Kravaxians bathed only in their fresh milk. Or so I’d heard.
“Four,” Chan answered. “Two men, two women.”
Giving his head a shake, Rax grumbled, “Four fucking Kravaxians.”
Elanie sighed. “There goes the neighborhood.”
After Rax gave Morgath a meaningful look, the twins stood from the table. “We’ll need time,” Rax said. “To work out the security logistics of protecting our guests from the FFKs.”
“FFKs?” Tig asked, leaning back in her chair to stare up at the twins.
“Four Fucking Kravaxians,” Morgath snarled.
Freddie hid his laughter behind a cough.
“Of course.” Chan blew out a breath, probably relieved that the meeting might end without a staff resignation—or a need to put in a work order to fix the big table. “Whatever you need, it’s yours.”
After Rax and Morgath stalked from the room, Freddie asked, “There’s no chance this is all some hysterical initiation prank you’re pulling on me, is there?”
With a deep, troubled frown, Chan said, “I’m afraid not.”
“Hell of a first few weeks,”Freddie mused.
We walked side by side down the staff quarters hallway again, like we did at the end of every day now. He always kept his hands in his pockets, his eyes facing forward, his body language friendly and professional. But each night, we moved a bit closer, drawn to each other like we had magnets in our pockets. “At this rate,” he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we wake up tomorrow to find the ship overrun by fungus rats.”
“Don’t tempt fate.” I shuddered. “That almost happened once.”
“No.” He gasped. “Really?”
I nodded, wishing he’d take his hands out of his pockets just once so my knuckles might accidentally brush against his. “They’d snuck into a guest’s bags after they’d visited Gorbulon-7 and had gotten lost in the mold swamps. Must’ve picked up some rats along the way. It was horrific.”
“I can only imagine.” When we reached his pod, he turned to face me. “Most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen—and that was only a baby fungus rat in a cage at theFoulest Creatures in the KUexhibit on Venus. The teeth, the growths.” He grimaced. “Thesmell.”
I laughed, and he asked, “Do you know what they call a group of rats?”
