“They do. They have everything.”
I take a sip of my drink, and it makes my nose tickle. Not alcoholic, just very bubbly.
“How did you wind up out here?” Sirin asks.
“Oh…” I laugh and look down at my drink, shaking my head because… most people would just assume Phantom brought me over.
“So, my mom was abducted by aliens while she was pregnant with me.” I wince and remember why I don’t love telling this story. “They werenotnice aliens, and she’s never really gone into the specifics except to say that my dad—mystepdad saved her from them.”
“I’m glad.”
I nod, “Me too.”
“They fell in love, she went to Lacousa with him, and I was born there.”
My mother still sings the praises of the obstetrics ward on her new home planet.
“AfterI was born, the three of us went back to Earth for a little while—dad is able to blend in with humans pretty easily. My mom really wanted me to know where I came from, buteventually we moved back to Lacousa, which is where I met Kita. She was moving here because her uncle ran the station, and I came along with her because, well… I didn’t have anything else that sounded like a better option. And here we are.”
“Do you like it on the station?” One of his tentacles wraps around my hand, suckers kissing my wrist. “I know planet-born… individuals tend to find them a little confining.”
“It’s not always my favorite place to be. It was a novelty at first, and for a little while, I couldn’t get a job because I didn’t have enough arms, or my skin wasn’t thick enough to deal with specific tooling… And then I did find a job and it was just ajob, you know?” He might not, so I keep going. “And then I met another human who worked at Phantom’s.”
“And here we are,” he says softly, repeating my earlier words.
“What about you? How did you wind up here?” I take another drink and wiggle my nose again.
“Sometimes, it feels like I didn’t really have a choice.”
I don’t like that.
One of his tentacles brushes across my lips. “Don’t frown. I’m not upset that this is where life has led me. It means that you are sitting here. And if I were asked to do it all over again, but knew any other choice I made would risk this moment… I wouldn’t change a thing.”
I flinch as the waiter comes back, setting food down in front of us. She says something I don’t understand before walking away from my cheeseburger and Sirin’s ogani puffs.
“Those are Kita’s favorite.” Which is the only reason I know what they are.
He smiles and picks one up. “I know. I have a system command set up to let three of us know the moment these clear customs and where they are headed.”
“That’s how she always knows where to get them?”
He nods. “It’s the only favor she’s ever asked of me, and I completely understand.”
I take a bite of my cheeseburger, and it’s perfect. There’s nothing in that bite that makes me want to peel off the bun and pick it apart.
Two more bites and, “This might be the best cheeseburger I’ve ever had.”
“They are very good at what they do.”
He eats his puffs, the sharp outer shell crunching when he bites down, and as I swipe a fry through something that looks like special sauce, I know exactly why this is the place he comes to on the rare occasion he ventures out. I’d be willing to bet they’re always perfect.
The way someone moans a few tables over… “Is everything they make exactly what the customer wants at the time?”
“The chef has some telepathic abilities… he knows what you want, and he knows exactly how to make it… so, it feels perfect, even if it isn’t.”
“I’m surprised they don’t have a line out the door and halfway around the level.”
He tips his head to the side. “If they wanted it, they would.”
