Mary officially-unofficially dubbed them Quan before Mark could rally the troops and cement the furry little aliens’ designation as Tribbles. True, the pair was looking to polish off everything (and anything) with sugar in it, but they were hardly breeding like Tribbles… As far as anyone could tell.

Ever since the two apparent pets had been rescued from the drifting spacecraft, they’d been slowly working their way into everyday life. In less than a week, the sight of the two furballs barreling down the corridor in the midst of playing tag with the kids wasn’t cause for alarm. The Navy might want them under lock and key, but until a cruiser actually made it out to the Far Side of Nowhere, the station wasn’t about to play along.

Karin’s oldest son had taken to teaching them to mimic some of the classic science fiction shows and Mounds was absorbing them with startling speed. Thankfully Almond Joy was less enthralled, the smaller grey Quan seemed more interested in mimicking the random kitchen gadgets than people.

A blender noise from her feet alerted Mary that someone was in need of a snack. She paused in her cooking to toss the Quan a bite of the protein slab. It might have been the station’s answer to Spam, but Almond Joy seemed to love it. There was a oddly contented mimic of the air recycler’s purr as the strange little fuzzball retreated to her lair under the computer desk.