shelter.
The door to the shelter slammed shut as did her open mouth.
Well, it seemed as if this was going to be...different from how she’d imagined.
Slipping her datapad into one of her pockets, she walked over to the machines.
They all looked like robots that had gone out of service and now their parts were being used without them being active anymore.
One looked like a polisher, but she had no idea what she was up against yet.
She’d start simple.
Luckily there was a container with water and a piece of material she could use as a wiping cloth.
Lifting the two, she headed over to the ship she was told to clean. With the door already open, she stepped inside, her nose scrunching up at the state of the interior.
There was food and debris everywhere, over the seats, the floor...there was even food on the roof of the vessel. Not to mention the thick layer of dirt that coated everything.
What the hell had they been doing in this vehicle?
With a slight groan, she surveyed the work and decided to begin at the back of the small shuttle, working her way forward.
As she began gathering trash and placing it in a container she’d found within the trash itself, her datapad pinged.
Frowning slightly, she slipped the device from her pocket and the screen lit up to her touch.
It was a message from Kyro.
She’d never clicked on anything so fast in her life.
“What are you doing?”
Evren cringed.
It felt almost as if he could see her. So much so that she actually looked out of the windows of the shuttle.
There was no one out there except for the pig-man resting within the rickety shelter.
“I’m working.”
“On what?” His reply came immediately and Evren put down the bag of trash so she could send her answer faster.
“I got a job.”
She could almost feel him narrowing his eyes at her. “Why?”
“I need the credits. Long story.”
“If you need credits...I have many to spare.”
He was being so nice, but she couldn’t do that.
She wasn’t even sure she was going to go to the Intergalactic Hub. She just needed the credits just in case. She couldn’t have someone else fund a “just-in-case” mission. Plus, being out and doing something was good. It kept her busy. Even if it was cleaning dirty vehicles.
“No. No, I couldn’t take your credits. This is about me being sad and miserable and I think I need to do this on my own. That way I won’t feel guilty for taking so much from you. You’ve already given me much more than you realize.”
She watched the message send and bit her bottom lip. She hadn’t intended to go into so much detail. She’d said a little too much and she wondered what his response would be.
After a few moments, his reply came.
“I can help with your sadness.”
“How?” She was already smiling. She didn’t even know why.
“Jokes.”
That one word had her huffing out a laugh through her nose.
Jokes huh.
Her smile grew.
Her datapad pinged before she could return it to her pocket and she read the message that came up.
“A bowl of moofla...that’s food if you don’t know. Moofla is food. Solid food that you must chew.”
Before she could ask if that was his joke, another message came in.
“A bowl of moofla walks into a drink establishment. It proceeds to order some drinks. The drinks administrator looks at it and says, ‘Apologies, we don’t serve food here.’”
Evren’s brows wrinkled even as her cheeks rose, the laugh coming from her lips unexpectedly. Kyro’s jokes were so corny; she had to laugh even if she tried not to.
“Your jokes suck,” she sent back to him.
“Made you laugh.”
Now how was he so sure?
Once more, she glanced out of the shuttle and then mentally slapped herself. Of course, he wasn’t out there. He didn’t even know where she was.
“How are you so sure?”
There was a pause before his message came in. “I just know.”
Grinning, Evren rolled her eyes.
“I’ve got one for you.” She sent the message and paused to think for a bit. “What do you call a fake noodle?”
She waited for his reply.
It came soon afterward. “What?”
“An im-pasta.”
She burst out laughing at her own joke, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she looked out of the shuttle. He probably didn’t know what pasta or noodles were, but her joke was hilarious. Hands down.
Her laugh must have been loud because the pig-man turned his head in her direction, his nose pulling up in a snort.
Stifling her laughter, she glanced at her datapad as it