"Kloval is very expensive," Ges-E said. "Only the very rich can afford to eat kloval on a regular basis."

     "Well, I'm going to go get a look at this kloval stuff," Skip said. "Excuse me."

     Really, what he wanted to do was get away from his new friends so he could talk to Claudia in relative privacy.

     "What do you think?" he asked her. "I mean, how much kloval ​can I buy? Where are we with those phony creds?"

     "Be careful," Claudia responded. "Don't bring any undue attention to yourself."

​     "Yeah, but that kloval's good."

     Skip went to where the bowls of kloval were located.

     He filled his tray.

     "And what did I just say about staying low?" Claudia asked.

​     Skip felt every "eye" in the cafeteria focus on him. I put parenthesis around the word "eye" because not all the species in that cafeteria saw with physical eyes.

     "You may want to put a few of those back," Claudia said.

     "Now what have I done?"

     "A bowl of kloval costs a week's salary for most of those sitting in this room. I doubt they've ever seen anyone fill a tray with kloval before."

     "You're saying..."

​     "You're making a spectacle out of yourself after I just got through telling you not to."

​     "Okay. Okay." Four security bots now hovered all around him. 

     Skip flashed a wide, shit eating grin.

     "Now what am I thinking?" he said. "I can't afford all of this. No one can. I'd better put a few of these back before I get arrested or something."

     "Quality save," Claudia said.

     "By the way," Skip said. "Where's the just plain old water around here?"

CONTINUE