Chapter 10

At dinner, Antaska felt an undeniable curiosity to learn whether Eegor was paying any attention to her. She still couldn’t believe that such a superbly shining star of a male could really be attracted to her. Antaska looked his way and was shocked. He was looking directly at her with the same intense stare as on the previous day.

Tilde, sitting next to him, was also looking at her through narrowed, hostile eyes. Relieved, thrilled, and ashamed all at the same time, Antaska looked away quickly. She looked down at her plate and began to eat her food in slow motion.

Breaking through the usual silence at meals, M. Hoyvil spoke to her out loud.

“You look very tired,” he said. “It’s been a long day. I’m glad you were able to go with me to my classes, but maybe you should get some more rest after dinner.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Antaska agreed.

After that, she was silent, and M. Hoyvil didn’t speak to her again. Antaska knew he was talking telepathically to his friends. He ate his meal while speaking both mentally and with finger waves.

Again, Antaska heard words, but she stayed firmly in denial.

I’m just tired, that’s all, she told herself. I’m human. I can’t be telepathic.

“She’s tired…game rooms…space viewing lounges,” were some of the words Antaska told herself she wasn’t hearing.

In fact, Antaska really was tired. She was hungry, but she couldn’t remember having ever been this tired. The lunch she ate earlier, and now this dinner, was more food than any of her previous meals on the space ship. Because of her strenuous workout, the scanner that measured the exact amounts of food and nutrients her body needed had determined that she needed more.

Dinner was an even bigger meal than lunch to provide the extra protein and carbohydrates her body would use during sleep to rebuild new, bigger muscles. Antaska ate the large meal ravenously and drank up all her beverages, including an additional drink tube containing a light, bubbly red liquid that tasted like raspberries. She began to feel in a much better mood—still sleepy but very calm and relaxed.

When Antaska’s mood improved, her curiosity about Eegor returned. Again, she felt the irresistible urge to find out if he was still looking at her. But she didn’t want Tilde to see her looking. Clandestinely, Antaska turned her head only partly toward the group of largest aliens among whom Eegor and Tilde sat. Then, without turning farther, she shifted her irises to the side, which allowed her to see Eegor without turning to face him.

In her side vision, it looked like both Eegor and Tilde hadn’t moved since Antaska last looked at them. Both were still staring at her—Eegor with an intensity that could possibly be interpreted as lust, and Tilde with undisguised contempt.

Antaska was struck by sudden dizziness, either from her convoluted eye movement or perhaps from the sight of Eegor and Tilde. She straightened her face and her eyes back in front of her, but she couldn’t resist one final look when she finished eating. This time, she was not really surprised to see both of them looking, as if frozen in that position.

A sneaking but unwanted suspicion entered her mind that Eegor’s behavior, in particular, might not be normal. Antaska had never seen this type of behavior from any of the Earth human males or females in space school.

On the other hand, Antaska told herself, slipping back easily into infatuation, I’ve seen all those stories in videos about love at first sight. Maybe being struck by that is the reason why he can’t stop staring at me.

“Are you ready to leave?” asked M. Hoyvil, interrupting the train of her thoughts.

Potat sat staring at the door, waiting for the two humanoids to return. The door rose up just when she expected it to.

“It’s about time!” she said telepathically.

Do they even hear me? she wondered.

Maybe they did. They both looked down at her. The little cat glared back up at them.

“Do you know how boring it is to be stuck inside here all day, everyday?” she asked them mentally.

“Have you been bored?” M. Hoyvil asked her. “Maybe you can go out with me somewhere tonight.”

“It’s about time,” said Potat.

M. Hoyvil walked across the room and sat down on one end of the couch. Antaska followed him and climbed her stairs to sit on the other end. Potat tried a high jump to get up on the couch. This time, she didn’t make it to the top in one jump, but she dug in her claws and climbed up the top foot or so.

Potat sat next to M. Hoyvil in her alert listening position. She rotated her small face back and forth from him to Antaska as they spoke to each other.

M. Hoyvil started the conversation.

“After dinner, I sometimes go out to the game room or to one of the space-viewing lounges that are around the outer rim of the ship. I’d like to take you tonight, but I can see that you need to rest. I think it would be best if I go by myself tonight. I can take you tomorrow night or when you’re feeling more energetic and used to the daily routine.”

Potat could hear the relief in Antaska’s voice when she answered him.

“Yes, I’d like to go with you tomorrow night, but I’m looking forward to going to sleep now.”

It’s time to make my intentions clear, Potat decided.

She climbed all the way up M. Hoyvil’s side and sat down on his shoulder. He didn’t seem to notice her tiny claws digging in on the climb or now digging into the material covering his shoulder.

But Antaska noticed and said, “Get down from there. It’s time to go to sleep.”

M. Hoyvil chuckled out loud, surprising Potat. She dug her claws in deeper.

“I’m staying up here,” she said telepathically.

“I think she wants to go with me, and that’s fine,” M. Hoyvil said out loud.

He turned his giant head sideways and looked at Potat—his face bigger than her entire body.

“The astronomy teacher said you can’t go to her class, but I don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to take you to the social venues. I’m not leaving right this second. I have to get ready first. Can you meet me back here in about thirty minutes?” he asked.

Potat jumped down from his shoulder to the couch and began washing herself, starting by licking a paw and rubbing it on her face.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Antaska looked back and forth between the two of them with doubt in her voice and on her face.

“She’ll be fine with me. The ship is perfectly safe, and I’ll watch her at all times,” M. Hoyvil assured her.

Antaska still looked concerned, but Potat could tell she was too tired to put up much of an argument.

“You stay out of trouble!” Antaska warned Potat.

The little cat ignored her and lifted a leg up straight and high to clean between widely spread toes.

“Goodnight then,” said Antaska to both of them.

She turned to walk into her room.

“Goodnight. Sleep well, and don’t worry about her,” M. Hoyvil said.

Potat didn’t say anything. She was too busy getting ready to go out.