Muses, Mishaps, and Murder!

Chapter 31 Company Store

Muse Silver-Green

Everything came into focus.

Paisley and I were awake. This party could hold the fate of everyone we ever loved or will love. If Mason didn't discover Deb's identity, then our planet of ten million would be destroyed. We might be small, but our culture is distinct. Would anyone care about archives and our fifty kinds of tomato soup? I worried about my family and the galaxy Deb-Dagger left behind.

Charlotte shaped herself to resemble a trailer house.

Mason and Holbrook walked back home, and they collected wild mint and chives growing in the public park.

"I was shocked that Rob said he'd show up to the Potluck, but it's free food, and I might have lied that Zander planned to ask me out. Lying makes me feel gross."

Holbrook spelled messages in Mason's hands.

Gloria flew over the fence and landed on the street.

"I thought you were being watched by Commander Nickel." Holbrook patted her friend's wing.

"She says the overt threat to me is over. Deb-Dagger informed me by video phone that I'm harmless, and she forgives me." Gloria stretched, and the bones in her wings made a popping sound.

"I'm surprised your communication is back up," Holbrook said. "We meant to tell you about the party, but people you hate are going to be there."

"I've got a friendship date with the prop master. He needs me to introduce him to girls."

"Oh, sounds cute," Holbrook said.

"I think I understand why it's best for me to stay away, but I hope you're both safe." Gloria flew away.

Holbrook entered a trailer-type home.

"My great room took up most of the new layout, but the bedrooms are adorable." Charlotte appeared to be a comfortable two-bedroom home on the inside. Her kitchenette was near the doorway, and she formed her old seats into couches and chairs.

"Hope you are hungry. Mason and I plan to cook for the party," Holbrook said to Charlotte.

"Yay! I'm so sick of 3D printed food and ration bars. I'm not paying twenty credits for three pounds of onions." Charlotte said.

"We are making cabbage and noodles for the potluck tonight," Holbrook said. "And I added 700 more credits a month for your food budget in exchange for rent."

"Yum, but I refuse to be ripped off. The food comes from Rob's local farms and factories. He won't allow competition. I'll create an indoor garden," Charlotte said.

Mason and Holbrook entered the company store and walked around. Prices were higher than the week before, fifty credits for a five-pound bag of flour and sixty for a single apple.

Musty aromas lifted into their lungs.

Pink cabbages and dented snack cakes were the only reasonably priced items.

Holbrook added three cabbages into her cart.

Men screamed at each other over the last ten boxes of snack cakes.

Holbrook and Mason avoided the men and walked to the back of the store. They passed racks of wool dresses and suits, plus a cart of romance novels.

In the back, 3D food printing machines glowed, each with a sign with varying prices for mushy soups and pudding that the machine formed from self-replicating mold and minimal electricity.

Their heavy sacks of groceries cost two months' worth of their generous salaries.

An hour later, Holbrook and Mason entered Charlotte and began to prepare large bowls of spiced onion dip.

Agents dressed in casual clothes entered.

Rob Salamander slammed his fist on Charlotte's door. His knocks became a furious rhythm.

"Hey, don't knock so hard," Charlotte said.

He grunted and kicked her front door. "Let me in."

Holbrook glanced through the peephole and allowed him inside. "Oh, hi."

"You can't live inside a ship. This is my land. My mother bought it from the old king." He tossed a bag of chips and a small wheel of cheese on the table. Rob Salamander would've been a handsome man if not for his cold eyes. As if he was a Scrooge, too far gone for any spirits to save. He was a husk of a muscular man who didn't see the chains he had formed in life. I'm not offended by riches. I'm wealthy, and Mason and Holbrook are well-to-do.