[snip]

D’Nesh had spend most of the day checking every nook and corner of the Merrimack.She then made her way to the bar ‘’Look Joe..look what I found ‘’ she was holding........ a cat .

Joe was under the bar searching for some bitters. When he heard D’Nesh he started to rise quickly but only wound up bumping his head when he did. ” Arrrgh! Curses and just universal poxes of all sorts and manner on that thing!” Joe came up rubbing the back of his head and congratulating himself at his very limited cursing. He looked in the direction of D’Nesh’s voice and he jumped as his flew open. ” What?” he asked in a dumb sounding voice. ” What in the name of that witch Cassiopia is that wretched thing doing here?”

The Orion young woman could count how many times he had hit his head ‘’ I heard a meowwww and found this ..can we cook it?’’ she asked in a child like manner.

Ginger tried to scratch and bite the poor little greenie.

She was not about to let it go ,a few scratches here and there were noting to D’Nesh.

Joe started at the cat for a moment considering. ” No not enough meat. Cats are built for speed. Wouldn’t be worth the time involved to turn them into a decent bit of food. That and they are cursed little creatures. They cavort with spirits, they’re unwashed and carry diseases. Best thing you can do for any poor creature who is reincarnated as a cat is to put them into an empty torpedo tube and send them flying off into the void.”

Now with widened eyes the Orion exclaimed ‘’Oh they are ‘’ she looked suspiciously at the creature ‘’Okay I’ll do that ‘’ and turned around to leave, hoping she’ll find a crew member to get rid of it.

Ginger hissed at Joe. Just wait until Cara and M’Mera get back, he thought.

Joe hissed back at the cat and then as D’Nesh turned to leave Joe shook his head and cursed. ” Now at this point in my life women start actually listening to me? I don’t know quite what to do actually. ” No D’nesh stop. One simply can’t go about throwing creatures out of torpedo tubes unfortunately. Those things are frowned upon. If you must, then take the furry , fuzzy demon to your quarters. They do make a comforting sound that can make people feel good . You might enjoy it’s company. Just keep it out of the bar and away from my.. ” Joe frowned as he had begun to say something about Cross but wasn’t sure exactly what to call her. ” Just keep the cat away from Dr. Cross and her quarters. For cats are known to take a babies breath away you know. ” After this bit of ancient folk logic Joe waved his hand at D’nesh and said simply,” Go take it. Find a n old container of some dort for they don’t care where they live as long as it’s somewhere odd.”

At this, Ginger dug his claws as deep into D’Nesh’s flesh as he could. She might be thinking that she was the cat’s pyjamas, but no little green, pet-eating, gremlin was going to stick Ginger in a container somewhere odd, or fire him from a torpedo tube either! At the very same time he vocalised a blood-curdling, screaming yowl that could be heard all around the deck, if not the entire ship!

• Ginger