Author's note: This story is a stand-alone continuation of "The cat from another world".
I was moving through the lower decks of the cruiser, carrying a backpack full of supplies. I didn't normally volunteer to be a fetch-and-carry, but I owed Lila a favor. At least that's how I saw it. When I came back from my last mission, she had expertly stitched me up without even once asking me how I had gotten what were clearly claw marks from where a giant cat had been tearing at my clothes.
She had asked for lots of food and drink, to be stored in her quarters where she said she'd be cooped up for a while. I didn't know a lot about vulami feeding habits -- of the three types of non-humans living onboard, they were the ones I knew the least about. I figured I'd play it safe and just get lots of Mellion, since it was basically just water with sugar and vitamins added -- typical of the thing we'd put in rations. I also brought lots of standard marine rations; square cakes packed with fat and protein, wrapped in sealed packages so it would last for months. Not very tasty, but worked a treat when hiking out in the wild, so I figured they'd work for whatever Lila was doing as well.
I knocked on her door. She had her own private quarters -- not like us grunts who shared, four to a room. Not sure whether it was her status as a medic or vulami female, but I envied her all the same. After waiting for a few seconds, the doors slid open and I stepped inside, taking off the backpack and putting it on the floor.
"There you go, Doc. Mellon, lots of it, and two kinds of dried rations. Wasn't sure what you liked, so..."
"It will do, thank you." her voice answered from inside the room.
It didn't seem very big, but still bigger than any quarters I was used to. Nice bed, a work station, small kitchenette area... Separate bathroom, too; we didn't get those. The place was dimly lit, as I knew the vulami liked it. Again it occurred to me that I didn't really know much about them. I thought I should make a bit of an effort to change that.
"Can I get you anything else, Doc?" I asked, going further in.
"No..." she replied, stepping out to meet me. "Unless you were able to find some Phanaluiquine tablets?"
"Sorry. I tried one more time at the med bay like you said, but they told me that last solar flare a week ago burned through the transport's electronics. They're still searching for the ship, but so far, no new supplies."
"I... I see."
She seemed dejected. Apparently, those pills were important to her.
Lila was quite small, even for a vulami. They were usually about 5 feet tall, but she was not much taller than 4. She was also pretty lean. I stood there and studied her a bit. Three fingers on each hand, this I knew. Long and slender fingers, like a bird's claws, one of them opposable like our human thumbs. Her feet had two long toes with some kind of skin in between. She had clearly been filing her nails down -- she was still holding the file in her hand and all of her nails were a lot shorter than I remembered them.
Otherwise the vulami looked quite like us: humanoid, with small, flat noses, a mouth with wide teeth and two big eyes giving them excellent binocular vision. I'd heard that a vulami due to join us as a sniper next month had apparently broken every record in the books at the academy. They had skin that seemed similar to ours except for a distinctly light-blue tint. They didn't have any hair on their heads, though. Instead they had what looked like reptile scales, but weren't. Maybe that was something I could learn more about.
"So, I was wondering..."
"You... need to leave now." she interrupted me, rubbing the sides of her head as if trying to stop a headache.
"Okay... I'll just... are you all right, Doc?"
"Just... leave..."
"Gotcha."
As I was turning to leave, I remembered I really needed to pee, and the bathroom was right there next to the door. It was a bit of a walk down the corridor, so I jumped in.
"I just need to hit the head real quick, hope you don't mind..."
"Ah! Don't..." she started to say and then I didn't hear the rest since the sound of the toilet drowned out anything from the outside. I didn't spend long, though, she clearly wanted me out of there.
"All done, Doc. I'll be out of your..." I stepped back out from the bathroom and was about to leave when I noticed that she was sitting on the bed, breathing frantically. Getting a bit worried for her, I walked over to her bedside. "Hey... Seriously, are you all right?"
"Mákú...! Go... out... hurry!" she said between clenched teeth.
I was conflicted. If she was in trouble, I felt more like helping her out than leaving, returning the favor she'd done for me. Also, it was pretty basic training to call for a medic if a shipmate was in pain like she seemed to be. Then again ... she
was
a medic, so...
"You sure you don't need help, Doc? You're sweatin' like a..."
"Too late... too late... mákú... go... go... away..."
"O...kay..." I eventually said and started to move away from the bed.
Then I realized her hand was on my collar. Holding me back. I pulled away and she lost the grip. She was staring at me, her eyes actually changing to a different color as I was looking. It was unsettling. Then she lay back on the bed, still breathing heavily. She closed here eyes and mumbled something in her native language.
"Massss... issasss... ethhesss..."
I heard a click from the door and began to think that maybe it really was time for me to leave, as she had told me to. I quickly went to the door and pushed the opener. Nothing happened. I pushed it again. Still nothing.
"Central, open quarters C74."
"Error, cannot comply. Emergency seal engaged."
"What do you mean, error?"
"Emergency seal engaged."
Computers. Stupid fucking things.
