Chapter 8: Miss Piggy

-- January - Week 4 --

Lee sat up, alert to the banging outside her door.

‘What the hell?’ She had only been asleep for about four hours. After rolling off the bottom bunk, she struggled back into her jumpsuit. She headed to the door to find out what was happening in the hallway.

As she pulled the door back, a pink blur shot past her. It then proceeded to wiggle under the bottom bunk squealing the whole time.

Lee looked out to see Dave’s lanky form sprawled on the hall floor. He had a distinct smear of pig shit down the sleeve of his right arm and across his chest.

Dave Rose was about a year older than Lee’s twenty-six years and several centimetres taller. He had short sandy-blonde hair, a fair complexion with a pleasant face and cute grey eyes.

Lee found him good company. While she wouldn’t have chewed her arm off if she found herself in bed with him, he didn’t stir her blood the way the Lieutenant did.

Lee leaned against the door frame and then looked back to see a little pink snout poking out from under her bed. She smiled at Dave, “Hi Dave, are you having some problems?”

Dave rolled around into a sitting position. He inspected his chest and right arm with a look of disgust on his face. “God damned, friggin’ pig, she’s a bloody escape artist. And she shat all over me!” he said in exasperation.

Lee couldn’t help laughing. She wandered back into her room and got an apple out of the fruit dish she kept for her piggy. Sitting down cross-legged on the floor, she took a bit out of the apple. She then held the rest of it in front of where she had last seen the snout.

“Come on my little pretty, come to Auntie Lee,” she coaxed as she slowly moved the apple away. The rest of the little body followed the twitching snout. A few moments later, she had the piglet happily sitting in her lap, crunching on the apple as she stroked it.

Dave looked at her in absolute disbelief. “How the bloody hell did you do that? I have been chasing the little bitch all over the animal enclosure for the last hour,” he moaned.

Lee smiled at him and scratched the piglet under the chin, “What my little shadow? You’re a good girl, aren’t you sweetie?” The piglet having finished her half of the apple snuggled down into Lee’s lap to have her belly and ears scratched.

Dave looked at the bowl of fruit and then at the piglet. “How long has this been going on?” he asked.

“What?” Lee said, trying to project her innocence.

“You and the friggin’ pig being, ‘best buddies’?” he asked with quotations.

“Oh, weeks,” Lee replied airily. “She likes to come in here with me when I come off shift. Normally she comes back in the evenings to visit again after you guys are finished. She tends to wait for me to come back from dinner and then joins me until I go back on shift.”

She flicked her eyes at Dave to watch his reaction. “I told Kyle about the piglet last week. He reprogrammed my door to open to her squeal, so she could let herself in and out if it’s not locked.”

“Bloody hell!” he exploded. Dave looked at Lee and the pig and then grinned. He got up and went back into the animal area. A couple of minutes later he was back with a large square box stuffed with straw. “Here, give me a hand.”

He then proceeded to unhook the top bunk that Lee didn’t use. “I’ll put this in storage,” he said as he moved it out into the hall. He then came back and helped Lee lift her bed, so it sat in the slotted wall rack at about 80cm above the floor.

“Is that too high for you to get into and out of?” he asked.

“No, that’s fine,” it wasn’t quite as high as her desk, but she didn’t see the height as a problem.

Dave slid the box of straw under her raised bed. He disappeared to get a water dispenser, a food dispenser and a large covered plastic tray filled with absorbent crystals, which he put at the other end. He then presented her with a slotted scoop and a roll of plastic bags.

“Congratulations, you are the first official owner of a pet pig on the starship, Fortune. She is only a miniature pig, so she will only grow to about 45cm high. She shouldn’t have any trouble getting into her bed. Have you ever owned a dog?” he asked.

“Yes,” she nodded her head, looking at her little pig now happily snuggled up in her new bed as if it had always been there.

“Excellent. Treat her like a dog. If she can get in out of your room and into the cargo hold, I suggest you get her into the habit of doing her business in the compost bin area. Less mess for you to clean-up in here. Pigs like to defecate in the same spot.”

“I’ve seen them trained to come, beg, sit and even rollover. They even like to play tag and tug-a-war. She has the intelligence of a two to a three-year-old child, and you must be firm and consistent with your training.”

“Don’t forget to walk her at least once a day. Give her have a bath at least once or twice a week to keep the smells down, plus pigs do like being clean,” he grinned at her very pleased with himself.

“Shit! What the hell is the rest of the crew going to say?” Lee asked him anxiously.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just let them know you are helping me out with a problem child,” he laughed.

Lee looked at him, aghast. “Oh, great! Most of them think I’m strange now. They are going to be really impressed to find I prefer the company of a pig to humans.”

Dave laughed again. “Actually, I think you’re onto something. I enjoy their company too. Don’t forget, pigs are very smart and loyal. She is all yours,” he patted her on the back, and he left whistling a happy tune.

Lee looked down at her piglet. It rolled over onto its back with its legs in the air just like a puppy. “Shit!” she said again. She went back to her door, closed and locked it. Lee stripped back off and climbed into her repositioned bed to get some more shut eye.

Lee woke several hours later, startled by the snuffling and scratching at her door. She slipped off the bed naked. She moved behind the door and opened it to let her piglet out.

She normally latched the door when she was in the room. The piglet happily wandered down to the animal enclosure to do her business. Shaking her head, Lee headed to the shower.

‘I’ve got to get a dressing gown if I’m going to have to open the door all the time,’ she thought. Robby, Dave and their assistants walked past her door at all hours of the day or night.

In the shower, while washing her hair, she felt something brush against her leg. She looked down through a half-open eye to see her piglet happily sitting under the spray with her.

Lee sighed at her shower-pal. She rinsed out her hair and then proceeded to shampoo her piglet much to its delight. Miss Piggy loved an all-over scratching. Lee got herself and the pig dry. She added having to get extra towels to her shopping list, as she didn’t use the warm air dryer often except for her hair.

When she left her room, she left the door unlatched since it should only open to her or the piglet’s voices. She did make sure that the bulkhead door closed behind her and headed up for an early dinner.

She was still somewhat shocked that she had let the pig move in.

The dining room was large and could seat sixty people with comfort.

The whole crew could be seated with some of the tables removed. It also had a dozen alcove type seats to allow for a small amount of privacy for those who wished it. The alcoves also acted as buffers between the hallways and the eating area.

The area had been painted white on the top half with light blue panelling below. Mottled blue tiles were on the floor with black grout. The tables were made of white plastic and chrome legs, and so were the sturdy, foldout chairs.

The wall that was viewable from most seats had six huge flat screens that had been designed to look like windows. They constantly played scenes of places on Earth as seen from many of its top restaurants.

Someone had even put posters on several of the walls of famous places back on Earth. The scenes were designed to make the room look more open and friendly.

Lee collected her dinner from the self-serve buffet and went and sat down to eat her roast chicken and baked vegetables with gravy; she was hungry. She glanced up after the first forkful to see Debora and Kyle head her way with their dinners.