Surprise

Katrina Swete
Her quarters
I don't believe in knowing the time
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While the rest of the important crew were busy preparing for the mission
against the GELFs, Katrina was unconcernedly unaware of the whole operation.
She was busy, about to fall asleep.
A noise disturbed Katrina from her state of motionlessness. She shrugged it
off and began the descent towards sleep again.
She heard the noise again. This time, she opened her eyes and sat up.
"Lights!" she called. She was momentarily blinded, but regained her vision
quickly.
That noise, it was a familiar one, but one that shouldn't be heard aboard a
mining ship.
Katrina stood, listening for the sound again. It came again, and Katrina got
down on all fours, listening. It was to her right. She crawled towards it.
It sounded once more. Yes! She knew where it was coming from! There was a
grill leading into the air-ducts.
Katrina pulled on the grill, but it was fastened tight. She ran back over to
her bed and grabbed a screwdriver from the small set of tools she kept on a
self-installed self she had made specifically for tools. She went back to the
grill and began unscrewing the screws.
Several mimutes later, Katrina yanked the grill off and peered inside the
darkness.
A small white and black head peeked out at her and meowed.
Katrina was taken back. A cat? On Blue Dwarf? Pets were strictly forbidden.
The thing meowed again and poked it's head out. Katrina grabbed it and gently
pulled it out. "Hey," she cooed. It was covered in dust and soot and all the
other smeg that could be found in the ducts. She rubbed it, the gunk coming
off on her hands and clothes.
It's only a kitten, she realized.
The kitten squirmed and lept out of her arms. It jumped on a chair and unto
the table where it began nibbling at the left-overs from her fish dinner
earlier.
"So, that's why it was there," she said aloud. "It wanted my fish."
As the kitten ate, Katrina went into her locker and pulled out some
non-perishable milk. She poured the milk into one of the empty sections in
the tray and sat down, watching the small white and black kitten eat and
drink.
As the hungry kitten finished its meal, it came over and sat down in front of
her. She giggled and leant over to pet it. It playfully batted at her
necklace.
"What am I gonna do with you?" she asked the kitten. "I can't keep you, it'd
be my head. And I can't turn you in, they'd kill you, which isn't right."
The kitten yawned and hopped off the table. It wandered around a bit, then
jumped onto Katrina's bed. It curled up to fall asleep.
"Oh," Katrina moaned. "All right. You can stay the night, but when I wake up
tomorrow, you better be gone."