Chapter 111: First Meeting as Friends
After giving the Nightmares their rules for going outside, we all boarded the X94. I did a quick head count and realized that I had 20 Nightmares, including Night. I wasn’t sure where the X94 got 21, but maybe there was something wrong with its internal sensors.
"Hello, Mei Xing," came the robotic voice that I had now dubbed Sha Shou 2.0 in my head. "Are you ready to depart for Space Station P3891 of the Etune Galaxy?"
"I am," I confirmed and buckled myself into the captain’s seat. It was my understanding that it would not be that long of a flight, just a matter of minutes, but once again, Jun Li was too big to be able to dock at the space station.
I was beginning to believe that he enjoyed that fact more than he let on. But I was happy to be in the X94.
"There is an incoming call for you from Midnight. Would you like me to answer it?" asked Sha Shou 2.0.
"Please," I said. The fact that I was hoping for some type of reaction to my outfit before I got to the space station had nothing to do with me answering the call.
"You look—" he said as soon as the link connected.
"You are really not helping," I grumbled under my breath. "Is it not appropriate to wear? Should I have changed into something else?" I pressed, talking maybe a bit faster than I should be. "I’ve never been to a space station before."
"Never been to a space station?" asked Midnight, no longer paying attention to my outfit but rather to me instead. "How is that possible?"
"Long story short is that I was abducted from my planet and held captive for a few years," I said with a shrug. I wasn’t going to hide my backstory; there was no point. But I didn’t need to go into details either.
Midnight searched my eyes for a minute before nodding his head. "Your choice of clothes is just fine for a space station. I have just never seen anything like it."
I smiled at his reassurance. "All good. Now, what are you calling about?" It seemed like it was becoming a habit to remind the wolfman of the reason why he was calling me.
"I got four out of eight of the runners," he started, and I could see his first officer pacing in the background.
"That’s because I have gotten zero of my compensation," I shrugged with a smile. "Isn’t that why we are meeting on the space station?"
"Fine," huffed Midnight, "But do you know how hard those things are to carry?"
"Do you know how hard those things are to kill?" I countered, not at all concerned about his complaints.
"Touche," he grumbled. "Fine, but then you owe me a drink," he negotiated, his canine teeth poking through his muzzle in a grin.
"Ha!" I said, barking out a laugh. "In your dreams. You give me my money and a drink, and then you will get your giant snakes."
"Only if you tell me what the Moon Goddess a snake is," he shot back as Sha Shou 2.0 let me know that we were approaching hanger bay 89T.
"Will do. What hanger bay are you going to?" I asked, not too sure how everything went. I had definitely not watched enough Sci-Fi to know or even take a guess at how things worked on a space station.
"I’ll meet you at 89T. Don’t go anywhere until I get there. In fact, don’t leave your ship. You are so small you’ll be taken away before you manage to take a single step out of the hanger bay," growled Midnight. I couldn’t hold back my grin.
"Oh, Sweetheart," I purred. "I can promise you that even if they took me, they would be returning me in a matter of minutes. I don’t play nice with others."
Midnight only snorted before shutting off the comms. I shook my head and stood up, turning my attention back to my passengers. Night climbed back up to his preferred place on my shoulder and faced his family.
"You guys run and hide. Eat what you can, and then sneak back before anyone notices you," I said, repeating the rules a second time to make sure that the Nightmares understood what was going on. This time, Night started to chirp as soon as I was finished talking. I saw all 19 of the little cuties nodding up and down with his chirps, and I assumed that he was translating what I was saying.
Once they stopped nodding and turned to look at me, I opened the hatch door and let them scurry out. It might be bright as day in the hanger bay, but those Nightmares were practically invisible as they raced across the floor and up into the walls and ceilings.
Should I have been concerned about what they would be getting into? Probably. But I really didn’t care. If you were on their menu, well, it sucked to be you, now, didn’t it?
I looked at Night, who still sat on my shoulder. "You’re not going off with everyone?" I asked as I gently pet his head. He shook his head no and then scurried over to my other shoulder, where he was able to hide better under my shoulder.
"Suit yourself. But I have no idea what to feed you, so you might go hungry until the next time we can get to a planet or space station. Is that okay?" I felt a bit guilty over the fact that Night wanted to stay with me, but at the same time, I was more than a little happy.
"Didn’t I tell you to wait in your ship until I could come and get you?" demanded Midnight as he strolled across the hanger bay, his long legs eating up the distance between us. "You really don’t listen well, do you?"
"I listen about as well as all the females of my species," I replied with a smirk. I was about to jump down from the rear hatch when he rushed forward to catch me.
"You—"
