“Hey, I think I found her,” Jesse says, pointing to the distance.

You follow his finger to a stall in the distance. You see what looks to be like a ton of vegetables piled in all kinds of different baskets. The stall is manned by a gooey Lunfilios that seems to be auctioning off the different baskets. Near the back of the small gathering is a large body that you can only assume belongs to Hatta. Jesse begins to walk closer and you follow. You hear the gathering's noise as you approach.

“Sixteen credits!” A Messian cries out from the front.

“Eighteen credits!” An Illith matches.

“Five hundred thirty two credits!”

The crowd becomes silent and some even turn around to find the owner of the gargly voice that called out the ridiculous number. Hatta seems to stand tall as if to say “Yeah, what of it?” Her greenish-brown skin shines and almost makes you want to puke. You keep yourself together.

“We've got five hundred and thirty two credits going once...twice...sold to the Psarcian in the back!” The Lunfilios calls out, a slimy appendage wrapping itself around the large basket on display with all kinds of foods; apples, oranges, even some kinds of vegetables you don't recognize. Some are bright and orange and shaped like little bells while others are more dull greens and reds and not bigger than the size of a baseball.

The crowd separates, letting Hatta step up to claim her goods, but you can hear the murmurs from the crowd.

“Who has that kind of money to spend on something like this?”

“Doesn't she know the rest of us have to eat too? This is the fourth time today she's outbid me!”

Hatta accepts the basket and hands over a small chip to the Lunfilios who seems to regard her well. When she begins walking back it's Jesse who steps forward. “Well, well. If it isn't Miss Hatta Divine, it's been a while,” he says with a smirk.

When she sees him her giant lips seem to perk right up as if someone pulling her strings were just hit with a double caffeine rush. “Mistah Jesse Anderson! It is delightful to hear that you're still a-breathin'!” She walks your way, her entire body shifting towards you with the large basket in tow.

“It is a delight to see you as well. I hope we're not bothering?”

“Oh, no not at all! I was just gathering some food is all!” She says, coming closer and then stopping just before you. You notice an odd smell, something like a decaying corpse mixed with rotten food. You pray it's coming from the basket.

“Big purchase?” Jesse asks.

“Oh, you know, gotta get as much in before the world ends and all that jazz.”

“World ends?” You ask.

Hatta turns to face you fully and blinks both of her eyes after another, “Oh my mistah Jesse. I didn't know you were a-settlin' type of man!”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Jesse shakes his head, “You always seem to not think I'm a settling for anyone anytime I see you.”

“Sorry hun, force of habit. I want to see you move on from dear ol-”

Jesse clears his throat. “Anyway, we're here because I need to speak with you about a job. You interested?”

You don't like how he acted, but it is his right to privacy.

“Well, it'd depend. I just wen' up and quit from the service tanks down there in the lab just a little while ago.”

“Quit? What happened, Hatta?”

She sets down the basket beside her and rests her arm by her side, breathing heavily. “Be a darlin' and help carry that for dear ol' Hatta, won'tcha now? I need to find a place to sit down,” she begins to wheeze as she hobbles just passed you.

Jesse sighs quietly and bends down to pick up the basket. Looking at it now, it's much larger than you originally saw. It looked so normal against Hatta's body because she's so...big boned. Jesse needs to grip the handle with both of his hands to keep it upright. You find a bench off in the distance just past the square and nod your head towards it, “How about there?”

“Perfect,” Jesse struggles.

“I quit when the boss started being a conq,” Hatta continues.

You look to Jesse almost instinctively, and he says, “Jerk.” You assume he's toned down the inflection in the word.

“He was screamin' all loud like something about termination and fire. I didn't know half of what he was so mad about so I quit.”

“Let me ask, Hatta. Were you on one of your breaks when your boss found you?”

She makes it to the bench and sits down, making a sound not unlike a balloon letting all of its air escape. “Yessir, I was. I was on my sixth one of my day and was plannin' on goin' onto my last later on.”

Jesse chuckles as he knows what's going on. You do too, she didn't quit, at least, that wasn't the reason why she isn't working anymore. She was fired. You're almost amazed that she managed to actually keep a job with that kind of schedule.

“Well, Hatta. This job won't require you to be at your job. It's a human update.”

“Ah I think I see now! You're talkin' about mistah lowbrow here,” she says, pointing a globbed hand in your direction.

“Correct. I've been told I'm out of date by quite a few years and would love to be brought up to standard,” You say, letting the lowbrow comment pass.

“Well, why didn't ya say so sooner? I can be of help, but you'll need to promise me something, mistah Jesse Anderson.”

“Something tells me I'm not going to like this,” he says.

She beckons him to come closer, a curved smile forms on her wrinkled face. Jesse sulks his shoulders and goes in close, bending right beside her. She leans forward and begins whispering in his ear. It is too quiet for you to hear, but it kills you not knowing what it is.

You are quite the nosy person...but someone else would have the same curiosity, right? You're not alone in this...right?

“O-Okay.” Jesse says, standing back up.

“Excellent. Now, help Miss Hatta up, I need a good drink before we begin our work.

“You're going to update me drunk?” is the first thing that screams at the apex of your mind, but then you remember that Psarcians need to keep a healthy supply of water in their pouches across their body to live, and that she obviously meant about refilling those...right? There is no Psarcian equivalent for alcohol...right? She wouldn't consume alcohol before operating on you...right?!