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She started lifting twice her body weight and tried to remember what it felt like when she was delicate as a bird and twice as weak. It was the hardest part of her new life. She had never been great at pretending to be something else.
Before dawn the next day, she took public transport to the dock and walked to open the stall. Mornings were double protein for the workers, with gallons of kio that had to get brewing.
She opened the stall, checked the power and grill fuel. She had learned from Emgoth that you always changed it in the morning. You could check it the night before—and they did—but if there was a leak, you wanted to be able to take action, not come into a charred mess in the morning.
She hummed and got the kio heater going; the cups and containers had gone through the recycler the night before. Everything was sterilized and ready to go.
The grill warmed, and when the distant doors opened and people headed toward her, she started the high-protein breakfasts and got the akko ready. That was a hit any time of day. Calling it coleslaw would have been easy but confusing. The akko went into the shredder and into the small fridge in sealed batches. By the time the first customers were there, she was ready to start the breakfast sandwiches.
Emgoth should have been there, but she kept going, thankful the scan pad took care of the payments.
She laughed with her regulars and asked them to bear with her as Emgoth wasn’t in yet. They kept the crowd calm while she took five orders, prepared five orders, and repeated. Everybody got two buns with egg, meat, more meat, and a side of akko. Most also asked for kio.
The morning ticked by, and when the rush was over, she cleaned up, fed the few stragglers who were usually management, and then she called Emgoth’s wife.
“Ariget, have you heard from Emgoth? Is he running late?”
There was a pause. “Cloudy? He’s in hospital. He was attacked yesterday. I thought they would have talked to you.”
“Where is he?” She paused. “Wait. Who would have talked to me?”
“The peacekeepers. They said they were going to interview you to see if you knew who could have attacked him?”
“I haven’t seen them. I know it is crass, but can you contact his niece or nephew? I want to keep going.”
“He would like that. I will call them. If I can’t get in contact with them, do you have anyone you can call?”
She bit her lip. “I do, but it will freak out the locals.”
Ariget chuckled. “Do what you can. We are all at the hospital, so keep going, and if you need supplies, send me a list; I will get it to you.”
More folks were coming up. “Okay. I will try and find someone to help. Tell Emgoth that I hope he feels better. He’s been missed.”
She hung up, processed ten orders, and called her brother. “Sunny, what are you doing today?”
“Nothing. I don’t have my interviews until next week.”
“Um, I wouldn’t normally ask this, but can you come and help at the dock? My partner got mugged or something. I need to keep us going.”
He sounded excited. “Sure. How do I get there?”
“Take the Narthu line to the port. If you tell the driver you are going to help Cloudy, he will make sure you get off at the right stop. We are on Dock Zeb.”
“This is cool. I have always wondered. Do you want me on grill or front of house?” He was moving, and exterior sounds were already happening.
“There isn’t much of a house, but we will see what you are comfortable with.” She chuckled. “Free food all day.”
“Don’t sell me on it. I am already on the transport.”
She smiled and got busy doing prep and cleaning. She took care of a few customers, and they went to sit at the tables. The regulars stacked their recyclables every time. When she didn’t see anything coming, she went back into the stall and ran the boxes through the recycler, which was basically a laser re-surfacer. The boxes were cleaned, sterilized under UV, and set to one side. She cleared the grill when breakfast was over and moved the packs of meat and the buckets of vegetables to the front of the refrigerator. No waiting or looking. The sauce was standing next to the grill, and she got ready for the rush.
She turned and saw Sunny walking down the dock toward her. He had never been to the stall, and hearing about her grill-based adventures was something that they kept between them.
She opened the door and smiled. “Come aboard.”
He grinned and looked around. The stall had the charm of seven hundred square feet of a trailer. “Where do you want me?”
“Step one, wash your hands. Step two, never touch your face. If you need to use the restroom for anything, call out to me, go, and be back in under five minutes. At the six-minute mark, I come and get you. There are twenty minutes to the lunch rush, and it is a helluva rush.”
