Reyna wasn’t superstitious, but when she had to pass under a ladder for the third time that day, she started to worry. The ladders had as much right as she did to be where they were; It turned out that the mechanics on Ophelia did not do the best job of fixing the ship after they were hit by the asteroid so the engines nearly blew up during the pirate chase. The ship was now undergoing further repairs, this time with Federation mechanics.
She tried to shake off the feeling. After all, she had all the free time to do whatever she wanted, and right now, she wanted to play with Lara. The cat had taken up to ship life fairly well. Never ventured farther than her room, kept quiet, and even behaved for the twins who would have long photoshoots with the cat and share the pictures with their friends. Reyna was still mad about the arrangement she had with Chris and Kyle, but she knew it had to be done. Otherwise, they would drop hints to Commander Poach, who would investigate Reyna’s room, find Lara, and leave her on the next planet they landed on. It wouldn’t matter if it was hospitable for Terran life.
She opened the door to her room and quickly closed it behind her. She got into a habit of doing so after Lara started to stay with her in fear of an officer seeing the cat. Putting down the cat-edible food she stole from the canteen, Reyna started calling for her.
“Lara,” she whispered. “Where are you?”
The cat didn’t show up. She would’ve definitely smelled the food that Reyna had brought in if she didn’t hear her whispering, so she got concerned. Did the twins steal her? No. She shook her head and pushed that thought aside. Shut up Reyna, you’re always jumping to conclusions!
Getting on her hands and knees, she started to crawl around the room. She first looked under her bed, but it was too dark. Using the flashlight function on the UTE didn’t help much. There was a lot of junk underneath. She recognized the ticket stubs from the Humans vs. Clouds graviball tournament that she thought she had lost. She grabbed those and made a mental note to put them in her scrapbook later. Looking farther towards the foot, Reyna saw more garbage. A broken watch, an empty tin of tuna, some electronics parts. But no cat.
Reyna continued around the room. Everywhere she looked she found more junk. She made a mental note to herself to clean it. There wasn’t any time today, of course. She had a lot of free time with the ship docked, and she had to waste all of it. Finding Lara was taking away too much time already, and she was nowhere to be found.
Reyna sighed. She wasn’t too worried. Cats will be cats, after all. The search will have to continue later. The day awaited her! She grabbed the bag of food from her desk and walked to her dresser. Opening it, she came face to face with a pair of yellow eyes. The owner of the eyes popped out of the dresser, startling Reyna. She quickly stood up. The figure, which she could now see was a black cat, ran across the room and onto the desk. It didn’t close its eyes as it pierced holes into her own. It took a second for Reyna to realize that it was Lara.
“Oh you!” She said, “You’re so dirty, what happened?” She went to pick her up but remembered that dirty cats were dirty. Lara lied down, her head resting on her front paws. Her fur was covered in what Reyna could only guess was some kind of grease and soot. Had she gone somewhere she wasn’t supposed to?
“You’re gonna be a bitch to get cleaned up,” Reyna patted Lara’s head, then immediately regretted it. She opened the dresser with her other hand and grabbed a towel to wipe with. Taking her cat to the bathroom or cleaning her up in the supply closet brings a big risk of getting caught. Instead, Reyna decided to grab some supplies and clean her in her room.
Exiting her room, she came to another set of ladders. She sighed. All of these ladders. I hope all the bad luck from the ladders cancel out. She then remembered Lara’s new color. Ugh, did she count as a black cat? She’s not normally black, she was just dirty. Just my luck today.
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Thankfully, there weren’t any more ladders on the way to the supplies closet. Reyna entered the room and was overwhelmed by what she saw. To her left were so many cleaning solutions, all with different niche uses. The row of blue bottles on the floor were for metals, the green ones on the shelf above were food-safe, and right next to them were labelled “engine room only”. There were apparently at least 21 different kinds of sponges, according to the labels on the drawers to her right. Towels of various colors and sizes were neatly stacked on top of the drawer.
She couldn’t decide. There was just so much to look at. What if I used the wrong one? What if the one labelled “felt” reacted badly with Lara’s fur? Or it permanently gives her a perm? Such a decision could have lasting impacts. Eventually, she closed her eyes and grabbed a bottle and a towel at random. As she turned around, she felt a bump and heard a shatter. She opened her eyes to another staring back at her. After staring at it for a second she realized that it was her own reflection. She had bumped into a mirror and knocked it off the wall, shattering it.
She sighed. “Fuck me.” She scrounged around for a broom and dustpan and found it behind the shelf holding the cleaning solutions. Taking care not to step on the glass, Reyna leaned over, grabbed the tools, and started to sweep up the shards. Hopefully the maintenance crew didn’t need the mirror, or care about it. Reyna did not want to get a talking to from Commander Poach. She grabbed a tub to put the supplies in and left the room.
She had a long time to think as she left the closet, especially since she decided to take a detour past the infirmary. All of these superstitions happening to her was suspicious, even if she didn’t believe they were real. Reyna, you don’t believe in the supernatural. All of this doesn’t mean anything. Maybe I should do something that’s good luck? Should I knock on wood? Is there wood on the ship? Technically Lara was a black cat, but does that count? It shouldn’t, she’s not usually black. Am I going to start believing in supernatural stuff now?
Reyna nearly walked into the wall as she went past the canteen, which gave her an idea. She beelined for the nearest table, taking the table salt. That action spurred those at the table to protest and yell at her. She ignored them, opening the cap of the shaker and flinging it over her shoulder. Pleased with herself, she started to walk away, ignoring the loud shouting behind her. They were saying something about his eyes? In any case, she was sure the bad luck wouldn't continue after that.
Walking back to her room, Reyna could see that Lara made a mess of it. Black footprints carpeted the floor, and her sheets weren’t their usual shade of muddy green. The cat was sitting on the dresser, licking her paw.
“Nooo, that’s not good for you!” Reyna dropped the cleaning supplies and went to pick Lara up, forgetting about her dirty fur. At least this time, she could clean herself up. She placed the cat into the tub and grabbed her water bottle, pouring its contents into the tub. Lara did not complain. What a strange cat you are, she thought to herself.
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The cat was finally clean. It took about an hour, but Reyna was able to get all of the grease and dirt off Lara. Despite the initial calmness, the feline would hinder the cleaning process by running out of the tub or splashing Reyna’s clothes. It also took 20 minutes to find more water after the tub flipped over. But finally, she was now curled up in the closet, in a box on a pile of blankets that was her sleeping space. Reyna herself was in her bed, still dirty and tired from the cleaning. All of the supplies were still strewn about the room. She resolved to clean up after she took a nap.
Lying down on her bed, she had some time to think. You know, today wasn't so bad. All of these superstitious things happening didn't mean anything. I was right to dismiss all of that. At the very least, throwing salt helped a lot!
Before she could fall asleep, the door opened with a slam. She jumped, fully alert. Lara ran across the room to hide under the covers. Reyna looked towards the door. Jake was standing there, his arms grabbing each side of the doorframe. His hair was disheveled and his clothes even more so. He was burning holes in the back of Reyna’s skull.
“What the fuck Jake?” She asked. Lara was hissing at him underneath the sheets.
He took some time to catch his breath before he spoke.
“I might’ve gotten into a relationship with Crazy Kelly.”