Lusac was out of the cafeteria in another instant, speed walking through the corridors and down the ladders to Systems Control, the section which housed the engine and many other key systems to keep the Argo running. A typical day meant crawling through the fsylan tubes, making small repairs for hours on end. The Kremel were too large to fit, and the Nemarians frog-legs weren't conducive to necessary crawling. That left Humans to accomplish any work required in the shafts.
Systems Control was the busiest section of the ship most days, over a fourth of the crew worked out of the large bay to keep things in tip-top shape. Today seemed especially chaotic as Lus entered the space.
Dre-Shawiv, the Nemarian in charge of the entire section, was standing at the center of the room, the red glow of the engines faintly illuminating his head fins. It might have been majestic to see the Systems Chief in such a position with such striking lighting if he hadn't been screaming at the crew while wildly waving his fists.
At least the yelling made for such a spectacle, no one noticed that Lusac was in fact late to shift start, but only by three minutes which was much better than his usual ten. He was quietly making his way to the corner where the holotablet with his assignments waited when a heavy green hand appeared on his shoulder.
"Lusac, I believe we've discussed your tardiness on more than one occasion as of late. Care to give me an excuse today?"
Lus stared up at Yrqw's firmly set jaw and smiled.
"I don't know if we can count today as tardy, can we? I was much earlier than normal."
"Late is late," the Kremel said, his lips darting into a frown.
"Come on, Yrqw. You can't expect me to change overnight. I did better today. That's the important thing." Lusac continued to smile, begging the Watcher for mercy this one time.
Yrqw exhaled heavily. "Fine. But I expect you to be on time tomorrow."
"Yes, sir." Lus saluted the Kremel, hoping a little extra honor would tone down the veteran's edge.
"Well, no point in delaying more. There's lots to do today, especially with Becky off," Yrqw said, reaching for the tablet on the wall.
"Not so fast," Dre-Shawiv said as he grabbed Yrqw's arm. Lus hadn't even realized that his rant had ended, much less that he'd approached the pair. "Something else has come up that takes top priority over maintenance." The Nemarian turned his beady, black eyes to Lus. "It seems on our last resupply we picked up a stowaway. Some vermin are making a mess inside the fsylan network. Consider yourself the exterminator for the day."
"What kind of vermin?" Lus questioned. He wasn't particularly in the mood to face down a colony of rats or sablis. Between the teeth and claws on either species, he knew he'd come out significantly worse for wear.
"The kind that makes a mess," Dre nearly shouted. "A pack with traps is waiting near the tube entrance. I trust you to handle this today, Loser."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll get it taken care of," Lus muttered as he turned away. Today was going to suck, no doubt about that.
"The last incident was reported somewhere near Beta Bay," Dre said before walking away.
The entrance to the fsylan tube was an oblong circle close to the engine access. True to Dre's word, a small pack waited nearby with a variety of traps that he only half knew how to use. Luckily all he really needed to do was figure out what was causing the problem, and then Yrqw could advise him on which extermination method to use.
On the wall was the equipment locker where he retrieved his mobile comm unit that hooked to his ear, a headlamp, and a few tools that might come in handy while trekking through the tubes.
He then scanned his thumbprint, and the door rolled away, revealing a dark hole full of hot, dry air.
"Here we go," Lus murmured as he grabbed the sack in one hand and crawled inside.
Alunitanium walls surrounded him, with only the yellow cone of light from his head to guide him as he squirmed in among the oppressive metal. A few lights blinked as he made his way through the tube, marking access panels of key circuitry. Fsylan tubes were always hot, but being this close to the engine was comparable to the inside of an oven. Still he slithered onwards to the nearest junction as he attempted to plan a way to protect himself from the biting of rats or slashing of sablis.
Beta Bay was the next closest section to Systems Control, so at least it wasn't too long of a crawl, but still Lus had no idea what he was supposed to do when he got there. Assume that the rodents would show themselves to the large being invading their space? It was a stupid assignment, but he dealt with it anyway. If he spent the next ten hours crawling around in these tubes, so be it, but he wasn't going to go back to Dre or Yrqw whining about not finding anything.
It was only a few minutes before Lus stopped for a breath, craning his neck as best he could to see if there was any noticeable damage nearby that could tip him off as to the whereabouts of their pest problem. Instead, he found one large yellow eye staring at him from just around the corner of the next junction. His heart started to race. That was no mere sablis or even rat. It was way too large for either.
Gulping heavily, Lus forced his way forward, hoping that a strong swing of the pack of traps would be enough to stun the creature, whatever it was. Time seemed to stand still as he crawled towards the eye, waiting for the alien beast to spring into an attack. Yet it only watched him with that unblinking yellow eye.
Upon arriving at the corner, Lusac discovered what seemed to be a black cat, except in cyclops form where its single eye stood at the center of its forehead. He tentatively reached a hand out, and the cat-thing eagerly brushed against it, starting up some kind of a purr.
"You aren't so bad, are you?" Lus smiled. Sweat started to drip into his eyes. "Ugh. Let's get out of here, shall we? Obviously someone lost track of their pet. Dre will be relieved to hear that it wasn't anything worse."
He glanced around and discovered a door only a few yards down the tube. As he slid towards it, the cat followed behind him, offering up a strange, pitchy sound that wasn't any kind of meow Lus had heard before.
Lusac inhaled the fresh air heavily as he pulled himself from the tube. After dropping the sack, he turned to see the cat had followed him. It was way too friendly to be a wild creature, but he didn't know of anyone who kept a pet like this around. Perhaps it had gotten lost last time they resupplied.
Still, he reached his hand to his ear and pressed the button that connected him back to System Control.
"Yrqw, come in. I found the 'vermin,'" he said.
"What was it this time?" The Kremel answered in his rumbly tone.
"A cat. At least, sort of a cat. It seems someone lost their pet. Can you do a general announcement to see who owns it?"
"Sure thing.Find some way to keep it contained while I figure that all out. I'll contact you when I know something. Yrqw out."
The cat made its pitchy meow, recalling Lusac's attention. As he bent down to continue petting it, he discovered that it had two tails in place of the usual one.
"You're an interesting fella, aren't you?" he said. The cat continued to purr as it rubbed his legs, dusting them in hair.
"Alright, alright. That's enough. Why don't we find a place to keep you safe like Yrqw suggested." He looked around the large bay, but nothing easily acceptable for his purposes. Instead he began digging through the pack. "Nothing here either."
Letting the bag fall from his hands, he started towards some of the shelves nearby, and the cat moved to follow. Lus was so busy scanning for some kind of carrier, he didn't notice when his new friend darted in front of his legs and ended up kicking it.
The cat went down with a strangled sound.
"You're fine. That will teach you to run in front of someone while they're walking," he said.
His search for a box was interrupted, however, when he realized the cat was no longer a cat, but rather a two foot cyclops monster with four legs and two beefy arms. He also realized that it had a row of sharp teeth gunning straight for his leg, and he had no way to stop it.