“Have you brought it?”

Triah nodded her head.

“Is it secure?”

She nodded again, already tired of the questions. She was the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, of course it was secure. She saw her client open their mouth again, but the dangerous look in her eyes gave them pause, and instead of asking another stupid question, they wisely just said, “You may leave.”

She bowed one last time to her client, then turned and left through the open doors leading out of their office. There was no need to make sure she was paid, everyone knew what happened to those who stiffed her of her money. As the doors closed behind her, she double tapped the right side of her shaved smooth head and a holographic image of a checklist popped up in front of her right eye, With a few more well-placed taps on the side of her head, she checked off an item, then saw the notification in the upper right corner. With another tap, she saw that while she was wasting time in that pointless meeting, a new client had sent her the details of their request. Looking at it, she sighed, then tapped her head some more to accept the offer, then close the screen. Another request to break someone out of prison. Too easy. Sometimes she wished for a challenge, but that day had yet to come.

Pressing a small, glowing blue button on her chest, a forcefield shimmered into place around the delicate skin on her shoulder and bare head. She crouched down slightly, gearing up to hurtle through the floors above her and out into space towards her next destination, but a pleading voice caused her to pause.

“Hey, could you go outside first? It looks like you were going to break through all those floors by jumping up, which is super cool and dramatic, but I have to clean the mess up.”

She straightened up and looked around her, but did not see anything. This is strange, she thought. Shaking her head, she returned to her original position and prepared to jump again.

“Hey, that’s mean. I get that I’m short, but in my defense you have to be at least 7 feet tall, right?” She looked again, but still didn’t see anybody. “Are you kidding me? You’re kidding me, right? Look down, I’m right here.” Glancing downwards, she focused on a very funny creature. It looked like a human on the upper half, with the face of a young child and short hair sticking in all directions, but instead of legs, it had gray, soft-looking tentacles of all sizes flowing around it. It also had cat ears sticking out the top of its head through it’s messy hair.

Triah turned off her forcefield and asked, “What...what are you?”

It sighed. “I guess most people ask that question. I should just write it down so they can read it instead of making me explain it every time.” Seeing Triah look even more confused than before, it sighed again. “I’m a lab experiment. The people who created me were attempting to grow their own child, but a jealous assistant messed with the DNA on purpose, so that’s why I have a very mismatched body. My dear old parents were going to kill me, then the assistant, and start all over, but I made a break for it and ran away with the assistant. Sadly, they died, and now I’m stuck working as a janitor here.”

This made Triah blink in surprise. “Really?”

“No. I was born without legs, but instead of the body mechs getting me the regular deal, they gave me these tentacles because some weirdo ordered them but couldn’t pay up, so they decided to get rid of them for a discount. Also, they grow with me, so there isn’t the difficulty of getting new legs every time I hit a growth spurt.”

Triah wasn’t quite sure what to believe, but as she listened, her eyes drifted to the cat ears, wondering what the explanation was for them if the kid wasn’t lying this time around. They noticed her look and smirked.

“The cat ears are just decoration, I like them so I wear them.” At that they took off the headband to show that the ears were not growing out of their head, but their bangs sprung into their eyes, making them curse and put the headband back on. “Also, they make it easier to see. Can’t exactly afford regular haircuts on a janitor’s salary.”

“Ah.” Triah was even more confused than three minutes ago, despite the extensive explanations. Suddenly, she had to know more about this interesting person.

“What’s your name?” They took a moment to respond, looking surprised at the question, then tilted their head upwards to look Triah in the eyes, and replied with a smile, “Bob.”

“Bob.” She sounded out the name. “Bob.” It was a very strange name. “Bob.”

“Yes?”

“Shush, your name is very unique and I want to get the pronunciation right. Bob.”

Bob slapped their face with a hand, and keeping their hand there, responded in a muffled voice. “You’re saying it perfectly, why are you still repeating my name?”

Triah tilted her head, not quite sure herself. “Maybe I just like the sound of it?”

At that, Bob’s face flushed slightly, but waved away any embarrassment with a small hand. “Well, you can keep saying it I guess, but not when I’m around.”

“Why? Oh, I forgot to tell you, I want to take you with me. You are very amusing, and I have been looking for entertainment.”

At hearing this, Bob’s face went entirely blank. They narrowed their eyes and asked in a low whisper, “How rich are you?”

“Very, very rich,” She replied with a knowing smile.

“And where would I be living?”

“With me. Since I’ll be traveling with you, I’ll buy a starcraft so you can live comfortably.”

Bob still looked uncomfortable, so Triah crouched down, placed a gentle hand on their shoulder, and said, “Feel free to ask me as many questions as you like. Even though I would be very disappointed if you choose to not travel with me, I do not kidnap people. Unless I am paid.”

Bob nodded their head. “You know what? I think I’ll ask the rest of my questions on the starcraft.”

At this, Triah smiled so wide Bob was sure her head was going to split in two. However, it was still a sweet smile that made them blush the tiniest bit.

She stood up from her crouched position, and keeping her hand on Bob’s shoulder, led the two of them towards the nearest exit.

As they walked, Bob turned their head upwards and asked, “Oh yeah, what’s your name?”

She smiled. “It’s Triah.”

“What a pretty name” Triah blinked in surprise. “Thank you. No one’s ever told me that.”

“Well, now someone has.” Bob’s blush deepened a bit, and their tentacles moved faster as they sped up out of embarrassment. As they exited the building, Triah suddenly stopped walking, then turned towards Bob. “Don’t you need to inform your boss that you’re leaving? Get your last paycheck and settle loose ends?”

Bob’s blush immediately disappeared, to be replaced with a grin. “I don’t think they paid me enough for it to be worth my while. C’mon, let’s go get that starcraft.”

Chuckling, Triah resumed walking beside her new companion, sure that taking them along would be the best decision she ever made.