Buster set a warm plate with two well-seasoned mushroom burgers in front of her. He had even grilled the buns, the toasted bread crunching as she grabbed it and dug in. It was fantastic. He had been marinating the mushroom caps in something sweet and savory and every bite filled her mouth with flavorful broth. Even if she hadn't been starving, this was much better than anything she had eaten at a bar back home.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that, what a nightmare. I showed up on Redtree in my 40s with a criminal underworld refugee and a bunch of seed money and we could barely get this place going." the panda said sympathetically, otherwise content to let her eat without interruption.
He didn't have to wait long. The big lizard chomped through both of them in a few big eager bites, too hungry to care about looking ridiculous. When the panda poured her a glass of electrolyte water she greedily gulped it down. He patiently poured her another after she finished.
"Holy shit, those were the best burgers I've ever had. Thank you so much, I feel alive again." she said with a small sad laugh.
"I get that. I'm pretty grumpy if I do too much work before eating breakfast, even back in my 20s I'd probably go feral after a few days without food." he said with great sympathy.
"I was able to get water from the trees so it wasn't as bad as it could have been." She took an offered paper towel and wiped the grease off of her snout.
"That's right, you're into botany. Isn't it awesome when something you learned ages ago saves your life like that? I never get sick of it." he said, seeing more and more of himself in the young woman as he got to know her.
She looked up at him, recognizing the recognition in turn. "So do you think you can help me? I can't promise you anything in return, but you said you like to help and you've already helped me so much. If I could just get in touch with Alia and let her know what happened, so she doesn't worry..." she trailed off.
Buster nodded eagerly. "Oh, of course! When Petro wakes up, he has a whole box of black market mod chips for communicators. He can get yours compatible without getting out of bed. Really, it's fun for him. It's not a problem at all."
"Who's Petro?" she asked.
Buster spoke with great fondness. "Oh, he's my best friend. He owns this place. I work for him. He's a human, he's really neat. I had no idea he was this underworld hacker figure when I met him, I just thought he was a fun guy to talk to. We went on a bunch of adventures before ending up here. It's been a lot, but it's never boring!"
Kayla nodded. Just being able to talk to Alia would fix a lot, but it wasn't the only problem facing her.
"That sounds perfect! I don't have anywhere to go, is there somewhere around here I could hang out? I can go back to my chimney if I need to." she said with a lilt that suggested it was the last thing she wanted to do.
"Of course I'm not going to send you back out there. Let me take you to the basement. I have some spare rooms there, and you're welcome to one. The only one that's claimed is Alex's room, I haven't seen them in a few weeks but I'm not clearing their stuff out unless I have a reason to." the panda offered.
Kayla was suspicious. As helpful as Buster had been, all she could picture in her head was a prison cell in his basement. "You know, I saw a lot of people living on the street. I'm surprised more aren't here."
The panda shrugged. "You'd be surprised, a lot of people get mad at me for even offering them help. Others won't trust me or think it's a scam. And there are plenty that want to stay here but I have to drive off because they make too much trouble for me or the customers. Big Zig is a city built around smuggling, not a lot of people are looking to stick around here; usually once people have a helping hand they're out of here in no time."
She remembered the fearful and aggressive responses she had received from other unhoused vagrants the few times she had tried to approach. "That makes sense. Go ahead, show me then."
Buster guided her through a door in the back of the kitchen leading to the building's rear exterior. The cleared ground continued out behind the buildings before being swallowed up by vast tree trunks and impenetrable canopy above. There was a recessed ramp leading back down towards and building's foundation, the big bear not having to stoop down as he led the way and unlocked the door.
Stolen novel; please report.
"There's a spare key in your room, you'll be able to come and go as you please. I just have to lock it because people keep trying to steal stuff from the bar." he explained.
He took the key he had just used off of the ring and reached up, offering it to her.
Kayla took it tucked it into her purse. "That's very cool of you. Really need to emphasize that I spent all my money on that flight so I'm not going to be able to pay you anything for this."
"Oh, of course. Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to be an indentured servant or anything. I've been working hard to keep people from building a work camp here, the last thing I'd want to do is turn my home into one." the panda assured her as he walked through the doorway into the basement and she followed a few steps behind.
She had been hoping for something a little more exciting. Just as above sure was a bar, so was below certainly a basement. The flat rectangular concrete foundation was covered in foam pads. Workbenches and shelves and drawers lined two walls while doors covered the opposing side. There was a slightly sweet smell in the air from the buckets of mash fermenting behind the door on the short wall, the steady dripping of an electric still punctuating each passing moment. One of the workbenches was covered in small electronic components and fine-tipped screwdrivers; she couldn't tell if he was putting something together or taking it apart but it looked complicated either way. The other workbench was bare but had splotches of the same fibrous material as the Zed Steadman sign stuck onto its surface.
"Why is this place called Zed Steadman if that's not the name of the owner?" Kayla asked.
Buster's smile got a little sadder. "Zed Steadman was where me and Petro met. It was this wonderful experiment by the humans to give a better quality of life to their recovering and disabled. It's why I'm still here today. They were willing to help me when nobody else would, but before I even showed up the people in charge were starting the steps to dismantle it. After six wonderful months living there, everyone scattered to the winds and Petro took me with him when he went off on his own. Once we were able to get our own place years later, I figured why not carry on the name since nobody else is using it. It means a lot to me."
Kayla didn't say anything. After a moment without a response, Buster walked over to a door with a large "1" stenciled on it and gave it a tap. "Here, how about room number one? Number 2 is Alex's, so even if someone else shows up you'll have a barrier room between you." he offered, opening the door.
It was a small room: a cot, a sink, a minifridge, a corner desk, a shelf by the door with a bar for hanging clothes underneath. Its previous residents had left small touches and decorations as they came and went: A small poster of a pop singer from decades ago with visible creases from being folded up, a plastic rolling tray depicting a mermaid with huge cans smoking a giant blunt, a model of a spaceship hanging from the ceiling that appeared to be made entirely from slivers of beer cans.
"You're right next door to the bathroom," he patted the door to the left of hers, helpfully stenciled with a pictogram of a toilet, "If it's occupied you can pee in your sink, just run the water for a bit afterwards so the drain doesn't get all stinky."
Kayla laughed unexpectedly, the first sincere belly laugh she had had since stepping off the spaceship onto Redtree. "Thanks, panda. I needed that." she said with sincere gratitude.
He seemed to almost glow from the thanks. "Glad to. Now, I'm going to have to head up to help Bramble start their shift in a bit and also run some errands so you just make yourself comfortable. Your room is yours for as long as you're here, but you do need to know that I have cameras in the main basement area because of all the equipment here. Anything that happens outside of your room or the bathroom is being recorded. I trust you, but I deal with a lot of people who are struggling; I know from experience that sometimes when you're struggling you need someone watching over your shoulder to keep you from falling back into bad habits."
"Thanks for telling me. I'm not happy with that, but it beats sleeping on the street so I'll take it!" she nodded affirmatively.
"Cool beans. If you need help, everyone who works here knows the score. You're not going to get yelled at if you grab some food from the kitchen or ask the bartender for directions without buying anything. If anyone here gives you shit, just tell them you're one of Buster's Buddies." he instructed, already walking to the exit.
That last line hung in the air as he left and she found herself alone with time to gather her thoughts. After she locked her new door behind her and slipped out of her poncho and climbed into bed, she found herself feeling uneasy as she tried to appraise her new ally.
The panda was friendly, and he definitely had a kind of weird charisma to him. But the fact that he spoke in paragraphs meant that he just kind of steamrolled her when he talked. Only now in the silence of his absence was she able to pick together the fragments that she hadn't had an opportunity to press him on: the oblique references to interfering with local land developments, the cutesy nickname for some kind of protected inner circle, the strong personal investment in community and collective strength.
It was all starting to sound a bit fascist.