“I’m Koko,” she said.

  “Hi.”

  “Do you eat here often?”

  “No. My student cafeteria privileges just ended.”

  “What did you study?”

  “Xenozoology.” All my life I had been fascinated by living things and studying xenozoology was my passion. I earned my degree remotely from York University on Earth, a planet rich in life, but I had never been away from my home planet, Bedford, a cold, lifeless hunk of rock orbiting a brown dwarf.

  “Never heard of a Xeno.” I wasn’t sure if she was serious at first, but if not, she gave no indication.

  “Oh, it just means zoology, but of alien animals. Anything not originally from Earth.”

  “You got an alien zoo here?

  “No, no zoo at all. No animals. No aliens. The closest thing we have to animals here are the products of a vat-grown meat factory and a variety of cyber-pets.

  “Explains why you’re eating at a GSE.”

  “Yep. The only thing to do now is to somehow get off this planet if ever I wanted to live out my dreams.”

  “No plans?”

  “Find some sort of job. I’ve applied off planet in my field, but no one’s willing to pay to transport a mediocre remote student with no practical experience. I wasn’t able to save much money for relocation while I was studying. Maybe I could’ve lived off the dole for four years and pocketed more of my educational stipend, but then I probably would’ve been too miserable to pass my classes.”

  “Why’d you come here if there’re no animals?”

  “I’m from here.”

  “People are actually from this rock?”

  “The first miners arrived twenty-five years ago. I’m twenty-two, so basically part of the first generation to be from here. I think I was one of the first ten births.”

  “Parents still here?”

  “Yes, but they’re not alive. They both died.”

  “Tunnel collapse?”

  “No, they were robot techs. They never actually had to go into the mines.”

  “Sounds safe.”

  “It was until a Model 827Q4 mining robot went berserk. They were in the middle of being smelted when the robot was finally shut down.” We sat in silence for a while. I pushed my puddles of mush around.

  “Not a friendly place, is this?” Koko said more as a statement than a question.

  “No one’s really ever bothered me.”

  “Until now?”

  “What?”

  “Me. Bothering you.”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that.” Silence hung in the air a few moments, before I said, “I mean, customarily, the correct seat to take if you see someone in here alone, would be four tables away near the entrance, not directly across from me.” I paused for a moment. “I guess you’re right. This isn’t a friendly place. You told me your name was Koko. I’m Jayden.” I extended my hand and she shook it. My hand was larger from wrist to fingertip, but the firmness of her grip made my hand feel like it was made of sponge.

  “Why you got that bag with you?” she asked.

  “It’s government housing for me tonight. I couldn’t afford my apartment anymore without my student stipend. This is everything I own.” I wanted to shift the conversation away from my own problems. “What about you? Are you a recent arrival? Which settlement do you work in?”

  “Very recent. Just a few weeks, but I’m not staying. Was on a ship that barely managed to limp here. Almost died in the void. Bad damage. Ship’s a total loss. Only five survivors.”

  “What happened?”

  “Space dragon.”

  “I’ve studied them. Usually, they just keep to themselves.”

  “Not when you hunt them.”

  “You were on a dragoning ship?”

  “First gunner. Another dragoning ship’s scheduled to dock here tomorrow: the Shallow Water. Hear it lost one of its interceptors. Going to see if they’ll take me on as crew. Wagering they will.”

  I took a spoonful of my brownish stuff from the tray. That taste was unmistakable. Very bad. You could live on it, but the government didn’t want to encourage anyone to remain long on public welfare programs.

  Koko pointed to my meal. She hadn’t touched hers. “You have the same slop I have,” she said.

  I looked at her meal and my own: same liter of water, small cup of brownish meat-inspired substance, larger bowl of greenish mush speckled with yellow that suggested coming from some form of vegetable or more likely algae, and a mildly sweet fiber bar. They seemed identical.

  “Mine does look quite similar,” I said. “They’re supposed to be individually tailored for optimal nutrition.”

  “Balls! It’s just all the same. I’m seventy-five kilograms. You’re a string bean. No way our meals should be the same.”

  “Maybe there’s a vitamin spray or something that makes them different.”

  “Do you really want to eat this?”

  “No. I only ever eat here out of necessity.”

  “Let me take you out to dinner. Never had any intention of eating this gruel. Just saw a beautiful young woman sitting alone and thought I’d try my luck.”

  “I’d love to accept, but I have to tell you that I don’t have any proclivities for women at the moment.”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “None?” Koko seemed disappointed.

  “Sorry.”

  “What about at a later moment?”

  “I wouldn’t bank on it.”

  “Come with me anyway. First actual conversation I’ve had on this planet. Let’s get some real food.”

  “Anything real here is very expensive.”

  “I’m a dragoner. Got more money than I can spend. Managed to bring in most of the dragon oil on that damaged ship and only had to split the profits five ways. Don’t even have to contribute to repairing the ship. It’s being sold for scrap.”

  “Okay. I’ll accept. If you want, I can take you to a place where you might meet someone for a more intimate time.”

  “Maybe after dinner.” She took her tray and mine to the disposal, dumping the nearly untouched contents. “Come. Put your bags in my suite while we eat.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Sure. Best place on Bedford even if that still makes it one of the worst places in the galaxy.”

  “As long as it’s not Bedford’s Best Vegetarian Restaurant. I get the impression they have bad service.”

  “No chance I’d go there.”

  We left the eatery and Koko guided me to her suite, where I deposited my bag. The bed was the size of my apartment. Although I was a local, I never had enough money to eat in any good restaurants, so we consulted reviews and ultimately settled on a place called Melville’s, which imports real farmed fish from the ocean world of Poseiden. Carp was the only real fish on the menu today and it was the best thing I’d ever eaten. Afterwards, I took Koko to a club named Beer and Skittles where she enjoyed herself thoroughly. At midnight she gave me access to her room and said I could go sleep there and shouldn’t wait up for her.

  I awoke to the sound of movements in the room.

  “You snore loud for a light sleeper,” Koko said.

  “I snore?”

  “Like an assembly horn. Still was trying to be quiet. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “No problem. I feel like I slept enough. What time is it?”

  “Ten. Signed up with the Shallow Water this morning. They got room for a greenhand if you want.”

  “A greenhand?”

  “No experience. Mostly next to useless, but maybe you can learn something.”

  “It sounds dangerous.”

  “Not very.”

  “Didn’t most of your crew die?”

  “Only twenty-five.”

  “I’ll pass.”

  “Get you off this rock. See some animals. Dragons and other space beasts.”

  “And kill them?”

  “If they got oil.”

  “No, thanks. I’m sure there will be another off-world opportunity.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Koko packed quickly. She didn’t have much and everything she had she packed into a life pod resting on an antigrav pad in the corner.

  “Interesting luggage,” I said. She looked like she didn’t understand what I was talking about. “The life pod.”

  “Take it on every trip. Mystic once told me I’d die in space. Not if I got this.”

  “Wise precaution.” She finished packing and started pushing her pod towards the doors to the suite. I gathered up my bag that didn’t even have wheels.

  “Don’t know I’ll be back on Bedford, but good knowing you,” she said as we came to the lobby of the hotel.

  “I’ll walk with you to the spaceport,” I said.

  “Sure,” Koko said. I had decided to just visit the port every day until I found a position off world aside from the one on Mocha. It was the path of least resistance. Just do my time in government quarters and I’d follow my dreams at the first opportunity.

  When we came to the hiring hall, there were angry voices coming from the Outer Bedford Mining Corp booth.

  “You being evicted. Leave goblin scum.” Three orcs stood at the booth, laser side weapons drawn.

  “I broke no laws,” the goblin protested.

  “Come with us. We have questions. Find what break.”

  The goblin let out a hissing growl and the orcs pointed their weapons at his head. He wisely acquiesced and they all left the hall.

  “I’m going to my ship. You could be off this planet in an hour if you come.”

  “I prefer to study dragons, not kill them.”

  “Good luck trying to study a living one. They’ll die anyway and might be years before another ship agrees to take you.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Decide soon. Gig leaves for the Shallow Water in twenty minutes.” She stepped forward and wrapped her strong arms around in a goodbye hug. I tensed up leaving my arms at my sides. That’s not something we did on Bedford. It did give me a warm feeling.

  When she released me, she saw the expression on my face. “Not a hugger?”

  “Not really our custom here. I don’t even remember if my parents hugged me. It’s okay though. I didn’t mind.”

  She smiled at me, “Bye, Jayden,” the was gone. I turned around to face the nearly empty hall. There was no sign of the goblin or the orcs, but the restaurant girl was still there.

  “What was going on with the other recruiter?” She lowered her screen.

  “Typical goblin-orc bullshit. It’ll be just me in here again. I don’t talk to that guy much, but it’s nice not being totally alone in here. I think he just comes here every month to provoke them. Personally, I prefer goblins to orcs.”

  “Every month?”

  “Yep. No human is going to take that job, certainly no orc, and who else is there? Even I won’t take it and I’m part elf and have a crappy job!”

  “I wondered if it was just aesthetics.”

  “Elves do not approve of half breeds. If I can ever afford aesthetics, it will be to look more human.”

  “When was the last time there was a booth in here besides yours and the miner’s?”

  “Other than that goblin? No one else has been hiring in the five months I’ve been here. Ships hardly come to Bedford and even then, how many need crew?”

  “I saw all kinds of videos of people finding exciting opportunities at ports.”

  “Other ports. No one comes to ours looking for a job except you. I think my boss at the restaurant forgot he asked me to do this, but I’m still getting the extra pay when I sit at the booth, so I’m not telling him. Maybe he saw the videos you did.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I closed my eyes and considered my options. By the time I opened them, the girl had already raised her screen again and was watching something. I hurried the way Koko had headed and caught up with her lingering near the airlock to Shallow Water’s gig.

  “Koko!”

  “Jayden.”

  “Is it too late to reconsider your offer?”

  “Ready to kill some dragons?”

  “Do I have to do the actual killing?”

  “Wouldn’t trust greenhand with that anyway. Too much money at stake. Let’s go.”

  She opened the airlock and pushed her life pod of belongings inside. I followed.

  “You were just waiting here for me? You knew I’d come after you?” I asked her.

  “Don’t think you’re stupid. No other way off this planet anytime soon.”

  “Yes, you told me and I think you’re right.”

  “Not forcing you to come.”

  “I don’t want to stay here. Thanks for waiting.”

  After the air lock closed, the door on the other side opened and then the outer door of the gig folded into the spacecraft. We entered the small ship’s airlock, and the door closed behind us. Once closed, the door from the ship’s interior opened inwards, revealing a tall male elf, taller than me, in an all-white flight suit. I had never seen an elf in real life before and I tried not to stare at the pointy ears. They stuck up way more than the girl at the restaurant hiring booth.

  “Gunner first class, Koko Voko, requesting permission to come aboard.” Koko said upon entering the gig ahead of me.

  “Permission granted. We’re all looking forward to seeing what you can do.” Koko pushed her pod into the gig. I wish she had prepped me more. I just imitated what she did.

  “Greenhand, Jayden Herman, requesting permission to come aboard,” I said.

  Somehow he raised his eyebrows even higher. “If Voko hadn’t asked to give you a spot, you’d be left on this rock. Mind yourself or we’ll drop you on some outer rim agrarian world.”

  “I understand.” He glared at me and I weakly added, “Sir.”

  “There are no sirs or ma’ams on this ship, but you should address the officers by their titles, and we’ll address you as Greenie, until you prove you’re something more.” Koko hadn’t used a title, but I held my peace. “I’m Chief Mate Barnard Starr.”

  “I’ll remember, Chief Mate.”

  “Better, Greenie, and you can drop the ‘mate’ part. You’ll meet Captain Baha, Second Mate Tubbs, and Third Mate Flax later up on the ship.”

  “Yes, Chief.”

  “Permission to come aboard granted. Stow your gear and go find a seat. We’re about to take off.”

  I dropped my bags in the sticky storage near Koko’s pod, where restraining goo engulfed them. I hadn’t really paid attention to where Koko went after the crew storage area. There was a door leading to the right, but when I approached it did not open.

  “Where do you think you are going, Greenie?”

  “I don’t know, Chief. I thought I was supposed to go through this door.”

  “I could let you in there, but that goes to the cargo area, which isn’t heated.” I was wearing thick polyester pants and long-sleeved shirt with a light brown jacket. It was perfect for the mildly cool constant temperature maintained everywhere in Bedford, but not anything approaching the negative two hundred degrees on the surface of the planet. “Also, it’s called a hatch. There are no doors on a spaceship.”

  “Noted, Chief. Where should I go?”

  He gestured with an upwards movement of his head, and I noticed some steep stairs leading to the level above.

  “Upstairs to the next floor, Chief?”

  “Yes. Up the ladder to the next deck, Greenie.”

  “Thank you, Chief Mate.” I noted those terms too and climbed up without saying anything more.