pinged again.
“Your jokes suck too.”
That almost made her double over and she had to cover her mouth to keep her laughter in.
Better she get off the datapad before she got fired when she hadn’t even started working yet. She hadn’t come out today to set the record for the shortest bout of employment.
Sending a message that she wouldn’t be able to reply but that he could send her messages whenever he wanted, Evren set off to work.
18
All day, Kyro sent her the lamest jokes he could find. At least, that’s what she assumed. His sense of humor was just as corny as hers was. Not only did his constant messages make her day go faster but it almost felt as if he’d spent the entire day with her there, as if she was in his presence.
Neither of them mentioned what happened the night before and she was thankful he didn’t bring it up.
He also didn’t mention why he’d left before she’d woken up in the morning. She figured he’d had business to attend to.
After, all he was a soldier, a rebel...he had his own life.
The security system had been easy to arm, recognizing her biosignature and securing the place once she had exited the apartment. She assumed that was one of the reasons why he’d left so suddenly. He hadn’t needed to explain the system to her. It worked on its own.
Glancing at her datapad, Evren stretched her arms above her head and surveyed her handiwork.
An unexpected smile softened her features.
She felt filthy, in need of a long, warm bath but it felt good to have gotten her hands dirty.
As she hopped out of the shuttle, pig-man was just outside to greet her, and with greet she meant with a jerk of his head and a grunt.
He looked over the shuttle, his tiny eyes widening a little. She took that to mean he was surprised.
“Didn’t expect you to get it so...” He trailed off, snorting as he did.
“Clean?”
His tiny black eyes surveyed her. “Clean.” He snorted, flipping his datapad from his pocket and typing in some information. “Here’s your credits.” With another snort, he looked in her direction as if waiting for something.
“Where?” Evren’s gaze fell to his hands. Except for the datapad, he was holding nothing.
“Your datapad...” He snorted, his small eyes regarding her as if she was just a tad slow.
“Oh... Oh! You need the pad to”—she flipped out her pad, stretching it toward him as her voice faded—"transfer the credits.”
He touched his pad to hers without looking at the devices.
A small ping sounded and he slipped his pad into a seam in his pants where it disappeared.
“Same time tomorrow,” he grunted, snorting as he walked off.
Staring at his back as he headed toward the shelter, Evren’s eyes finally fell to the datapad.
Four hundred and twenty credits had been transferred to her account.
A surprising sense of accomplishment filled her and she grinned. She’d just earned her first paycheck on a new world, a new life, a new everything. The unanticipated pleasure of this one action shook her to her core.
All of a sudden, it felt as if she could do this.
She could live again.
Just as she’d carved a life for herself on Earth, she could do so here. It wasn’t impossible. Her life wasn’t over. If anything, these four hundred and twenty credits, earned through her own sweat and labor, meant her life was only just beginning a new chapter.
As she turned around to leave, her eyes caught something atop one of the shuttles nearby.
It was that same animal she’d seen when she’d been walking to the market that first time. The skunkat.
At least, she thought it was the same animal. Possibly, there was more than one of them at the base.
It was just staring in her direction, staring at her, its fluffy tail swinging slowly behind it.
For a second, she forgot everything around her and where she was.
The animal’s eyes...
Even from where she stood, the deep silver of the animal’s eyes seemed to penetrate her.
There was something strange about it—the type of strangeness that almost made her skin prickle but piqued her interest instead.
She wasn’t sure if she should be scared of it or not; yet she found herself taking a few steps closer.
The animal’s bushy tail paused as it noticed her movement and it changed position to stand on its four legs, still watching her. For a second, she thought it was going to bolt but, instead, its triangular ears perked and it tilted its head