[Kitty]

  She watched as Pup frantically worked the new covering pulled from a wall space.

  ‘Why does Pup bother with such pointless things. That seems like such a hassle.’

  She had been annoyed at first when Pup seemed to be able to do whatever Moose had wanted her to do at the talking lights. She still didn’t know what that had all been about. Pup’s conversation with the lights had made no sense. Even if she knew most of the words that were spoken, it was almost like they were speaking in a way to deliberately confuse her.

  As she watched Pup grow more and more fidgety and seem less and less sure, she had changed her mind. She might not know what Moose had wanted, but it was clear that whatever it was wasn’t easy.

  ‘Probably why Moose wanted more creatures in the first place.’

  It made sense why she hadn’t been able to understand Pup’s purpose at first. Clearly, talking to the lights was difficult. Having Pup do it made perfect sense for the lazy Moose and talking wasn’t something that was easy to see. She should have known something was strange when Moose didn’t even bother to speak to change the battle between the light and darkness. He almost never forced things like that, much preferring to use his mind and cunning.

  This was put on full display when Pup started to make things clean. Moose had just ignored her for a bit and all of a sudden Pup was doing a great many things. All the orders had come from her. Moose only told her to follow Pup and make sure she knew where everything was. He had otherwise treated Pup as if she wasn’t there.

  She had taken far too long to realize that.

  Taken too long to realize that, if anything, the training had been for her. She needed to learn how to treat the new creatures. She needed to learn how to see their purpose or get them to function. All of her annoyance at Moose coddling Pup had been her inability to see a greater plan. She had been so focused on the small things Pup had that she did not, that she had failed to see the reason Pup was there to begin with.

  Moose would not have had to order her around had she tried to learn from the start.

  That understanding brought her even more annoyance. Annoyance at who, she didn’t know. At herself maybe, for being annoyed by her own shortsightedness? Whoever she was annoyed with, it was clear that Pup hadn’t changed things, she had with her pettiness.

  ‘Maybe I am more irritated because things can still affect me. I’m not moose enough yet.’

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  Watching the new creatures come closer, pause, then continue towards them, she decided that learning should be the first thing she did.

  ‘Best to be quiet and out of the way. Then I can watch and learn.’

  “Um, Hello?”

  “I am Security Officer Krikra. I assume you are the voice on the radio?”

  That resolve was quickly tested as the new creature spoke about things she couldn’t follow. What was the point in watching to learn if she couldn’t even follow the words that were being said? A clearly more active approach was needed.

  ‘Unlike Moose, they can speak the small words. I just need them to make sense.’

  As she moved up behind Pup and prepared to find out why they didn’t make sense, the new creature looked up at her.

  Then it fell over and stopped moving.

  ‘Why are all the small creatures so strange?’

  The other small creature standing farther back came forward and started poking at the creature that had fallen.

  ‘It must be fragile to need help after a small fall like that.’

  She looked at Pup, who seemed to be at a loss as to what she should do. Shivering, likely from the coolness of this area despite the covering, and looking at the two creatures before them, Pup didn’t look very useful right then.

  “Um, is she ok?”

  Pup finally did something. Though how useful it was she didn’t know. If she had to go all the way back to fetch Moose because these creatures got hurt trying to do whatever strange things they did, she really would be annoyed and would have good reason this time. When she focused back on what was happening before her, it did seem like the other small creature wasn’t useless though.

  “Here are the sample vials. Take a sample from one of the surviving crew, at least one from a water source, a fabric sample from each active crew bunk and a few air samples from around the ship. Bring them back to the docking collar. We will return to collect them after we get the captain to a medical wing.”

  “Um, and we can go to the station after that?”

  “Yes, the station won’t let you dock until we transmit the ok, but you can start the administrative work while we do the analysis.”

  “Uh, ok. Thank you.”

  ‘Are we a ship? Why are we going to a dock? We should have plenty of water for Moose to use without going on land.’

  As always, the words were understandable but made no sense to her.

  She followed Pup around as she used whatever it was that was given to her. She watched very closely when Pup entered the lair, making sure that nothing weird was being done. The creatures could play whatever they wanted, but they weren’t allowed to mess with Moose’s things. She wouldn’t lose the lair because the creatures were doing weird things for themselves.

  Not a thing that Pup did in her journey made sense, but water seemed to be involved so maybe the creatures were trying to copy Moose’s magic.

  She followed Pup as she placed the strange box near a wall and returned back to Moose.

  “Kitty. Please say we are ready and can go.”

  Taken aback, she gave Pup several looks.

  ‘Pup has never tried to give me an order before. Does a moose take orders?’

  It took a bit to think it through, but she concluded that a moose would do whatever was lazier. She wasn’t sure what the lazier option here was, but not doing it seemed to be going nowhere, so she turned to Moose. As he seemed to be watching the two of them, she didn’t even need to waste magic to get his attention.

  “Pup, ready. Say go.”

  He rumbled a bit and turned back to the lights.

  ‘How does he always know how to do the least amount of anything?’

  She had so much to learn before she could really call herself a moose.

  ‘Maybe that’s why he always uses his mind. So much training to do.’