Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci

so that the bracelet did not touch me.
    “No,” I said. “That’s not how I work. I’ll take the leather one.”
    Els’s eyes hardened for a moment then softened again. She pulled off the leather cuff and handed it over to me.
    I had a new piece of information now, too. This girl was tricky. She did not really want the lotion. We had been near each other for long enough for me to smell the soft scents that Els wore. She had luxury items already. She wanted something more.
    I looked at the cuff and put it on my wrist. It was real leather. Worn and soft. Not fake. It was valuable as well.
    Standing with Els made me miss Bitty. It was this longing that made me say yes to getting the lotion even though Els didn’t need it.
    “All right,” I said. “I’ll do you the favor.”
    “Goody,” Els said. And then squeezed my arm the way my sister Bitty used to do when we were excited about something.
    “But it might take a little while,” I said. “It might be faster to get when you go to Bessen.”
    “Oh, that’s not sorted out yet,” Els said. “I need the lotion now.”
    “I’ll need a bit of time,” I said trying to calculate what favors and items I needed to do this in as few trades as possible.
    “You could join us tonight,” Els said. “Or I could join you.”
    I shook my head no, and she shrugged and turned and ran off to join the boys. I watched her. The way her black hair bounced as she ran. The way her curves filled out her clothes. The way she was so easy with herself despite being stranded on a space station. In all my time here, I had never been that at ease.
    But I had the upper hand now in knowing that Els wanted something from me.
    When Els rejoined the other Humans, they all looked up at me. I knew they were sizing me up. I tried to look unaffected by the attention. But it was the boy with the dark hair that caught my eye and made me catch my breath. He was looking back at me just as intensely—as though he already knew me—but neither of us smiled.

 
    14
    The station had moods, and the next day I could tell by the way people hurried by with heads down and whispered conspiratorial conversations that something big was going on. There was a shift in the normal hum of the day. I closed the metal curtain of my bin and tried to ignore the excitement. But I could feel from the way everyone in the underguts buzzed that whatever it was it was unusual. It probably meant some big cargo or some illegal entertainment that was being run in the secret game hall. Or maybe it was some kind of new drug that would sweep through the station and make a few undergut dwellers temporarily rich. Or perhaps it was some information about the Imperium and their new movements and conquests.
    I placed the things that I could not trade in a day into a secure box I had hidden in my bin and then went to the area where we in the underguts dined.
    Sometimes Heckleck would join me at mealtime, but mostly he preferred to eat in private. The way he ate disturbed most species. I didn’t mind his company because I had become used to it.
    When I first arrived in the underguts, I was never asked to join the other aliens at mealtime. It bothered me at first to eat alone. I had been so used to the constant company of my family and the other colonists, but now it suited me just fine. I sat alone, eating meals while absorbing everything anyone said in the underguts. I had become an expert on the subtle body language of the different species. I could tell immediately when someone could be taken advantage of.
    Keeping my distance was the way I’d survived. Now that so many aliens owed me favors, if I sat with one it might mislead the others into thinking that I had favorites. That would be a disadvantage to me, and I liked to minimize the odds against me in a deal.
    It was an unspoken agreement with all the gutter dwellers to keep that table for me, so as always there was an empty table in the corner. Unless Heckleck joined me, I would