Jim awoke with a start. He had been having a rather disturbing dream about him being hunted down by a bunch of ctarl-ctarls. The Ctarl-Ctarl in the lead looked uncannyily like Paige, and she led the pack of Ctarl-Ctarl as they chased Jim through a thick forest. Jim had entered a clearing in the forest, when he was jumped from behind by a Ctarl-Ctarl that had red-orange hair and....Jim couldn't remember what had happened next, though he knew what must've happened; he was eaten. Dreams like that had been plauging Jim ever since he came onboard this ship. In those dreams...he was prey and was being chased by various predators (mostly Ctarl-Ctarls). He knew that he was safe as long as he was with Aisha. Aisha would protect him from becoming Ctarl-Ctarl chow...even though she was a Ctarl-Ctarl.
Jim had gone to sleep on Aisha's massive belly, which wasn't so massive anymore. He tried to get back to sleep, but he just couldn't do it. That dream had made him uneasy. He sat up from his belly bed and looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was midnight. Jim's stomach growled, and he realized that he was a little peckish. He could go down to the cafeteria and get himself something to eat...most of the crew would be asleep. Jim jumped off of the bed and onto the floor. Aisha stirred, but didn't wake up.
Jim opened the door to Aisha's office and headed towards the cafeteria. He was still wearing his leather collar, which identified him as Aisha's slave...if he didn't wear the collar, he would end up in a belly. Jim made his way down to the cafeteria...but before he entered the cafeteria, he was looking behind himself to make sure nobody was following him. That was when he walked into a soft furry wall. He yelped and looked straight ahead to see a red-head Ctarl-Ctarl looking down at him. Jim had ran into the Ctarl-Ctarl's belly, which looked to have at least one Terran in it. The belly was bigger than Jim was.
"Oops...sorry" said Jim.
"What's the commanders slave doing up so late?" asked the Ctarl-Ctarl. "lights out was at 11:00. Is slave-boy trying to escape?"
"N-n-no of course not" stammered Jim. "I came down here to get something to eat"
"t's alright" said the Ctarl-Ctarl. "I won't eat ya. I'm full anyway. My name is Trisha and you must be Jim"
Jim nodded.
"Well, Jim" said Trisha. "Paige was right about you; you ARE cute. You just might last two more weeks"
Jim knew that slaves of a Ctarl-Ctarl didn't last long.
"So...what do Terrans eat?" asked Trisha.
"Mostly everything" said Jim.
"Same here" laughed Trisha. "Paige told me a lot about you. You actually know how to repair stuff better than Paige herself...I thought Terran children weren't that smart"
"I'm not a kid" snapped Jim, louder than he intended.
"You look like a kid" said Trisha. "and you look delicious...but I won't eat you"
"Why are you up?" asked Jim. "getting yourself a midnight snack?"
"Yep" said Trisha.
"Well, this is turning out to be my lucky day" said a female voice behind Trisha. Trisha turned around to see Molly Silverpaw standing there. "Not only do I spot a tasty Terran, but a Ctarl-Ctarl that's breaking the curfew"
"You can't eat me" said Jim. "I'm the commander's slave"
"Molly belongs to a rich family" said Trisha. "she can do whatever she wants and not get into trouble"
"That's right" said Molly. "so, Trisha...you go back to bed and let me eat this yummy Terran and I might not report you to our lovely commander"
"I don't think so" said Trisha.