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Hell, I was sure a lot better off not knowing aliens were real and abductions actually took place.
Now I was here, I was just going to have to put up with it.
By now, as Maisie had promised, the crew focused their attention away from me and on their bowls of stew…
All except one.
He was by far the largest and needed a whole table to himself. He had small piggy eyes and a flat snout with two large nostrils carved into it. In fact, there was a whole lot about him that was piglike. One long ear folded forward, the other bore notches in it and a pair of gold rings. The stew ran over his flat nose, down his chin, and splattered across his uniform. He didn’t appear to care. After all, the uniform was already doused with meals of yesterday.
“Maisie?” I said. “Who’s that? And why is he staring at me?”
“That’s Horn Tusk,” she said. “It’s best not to make eye contact with him. He can be a little… grouchy.”
One of the other diners leaned his elbow on Horn Tusk’s table as he enjoyed a conversation with his friend. Horn Tusk froze with a spoon to his lips and glared at the elbow. When the unfortunate crewmember didn’t notice he was encroaching on Horn Tusk’s space, Horn Tusk seized the elbow in his hoof and gently twisted. A cold hard snap and the diner fell to the floor, screaming in pain.
Horn Tusk calmly resumed eating.
Yowza.
Once Horn Tusk was done, he carried his tray over to the kitchen and dumped the contents in the sink. He affixed a smile to his face. Just the sight of it turned my stomach.
“Maisie, Maisie, Maisie,” he said. “Just what do you put in your food that makes it taste so good?”
Maisie grinned and slapped his arm good-naturedly.
“If I ever get my own ship, I’m taking you with me,” Horn Tusk said.
Maisie chuckled. If it were me, I’d be shaking with sheer terror, but she appeared to be used to his gruff nature.
Horn Tusk approached the stew pot and sniffed the remains with his wet snorting nose. “This is for the captain?”
“It always is,” Maisie said. “And you’ve had enough. We don’t have enough ingredients for everybody to have a second bowl.”
“Yeah,” Rattigan said. “And if Horn Tusk gets a second bowl, I want one too!”
Rattigan looked remarkably like a rat with his pinched features, quivering nose, and long tail.
As Maisie turned to Rattigan, I kept my peripheries focused firmly on Horn Tusk. He checked over his shoulders and pulled one of those black poisonous creatures from an inside pocket. He dropped it in the stew pot.
“Off with you, now!” Maisie said, shepherding the lumbering hulk out of her kitchen. “You might be an agent of war, but not in my kitchen!”
Horn Tusk raised his hooves in surrender. “My bad.”
“You ladle what remains of the stew in a bowl for the captain,” Maisie said.
I did as she asked, and was surprised when the black creature Horn Tusk dropped inside appeared not to be there. I knew it could adapt to its surroundings, but this was ridiculous. Maybe it’d fallen out?
I waited as Maisie added some bread on a small dish. She raised her elbows to take the tray.
I pulled it back. “I’ll take it.”
“All right,” Maisie said. “When you get back, I could use a spare pair of hands.”
I hustled out of the canteen. The crew’s eyes followed me as I went. All eyes on me… except for Horn Tusk’s. His were firmly on the bowl of stew.
I moved down the hallways, passing a pair of crew members headed for the canteen. They turned to watch me leave. I felt like a piece of meat in this place. Given the choice between no men taking any notice of me, and suddenly being the center of attention of all these aliens, I preferred to remain anonymous.
I swore I would never complain about my hot friends getting all the attention ever again. It was more trouble than it was worth.
