2
"So, now that that's dealt with, Josh concluded, "As a physician and a member of staff on this station, I am obliged to ask you a question, and I hope you can give me an answer, because this is puzzling me quite a bit. How does a human-being end up on this station, piloting a space cruiser, millennia after they allegedly went extinct when their solar system, and thus their home planet Earth, light-years from here, was destroyed by a roaming black hole?"
"So, it was a black hole..." I leaned back, thinking back about that cursed day when everything
went wrong and awkward. In my relative time, only four years ago.

"No one noticed anything about the impending doom. I was on my way to my work on what was just a regular day of the week. No reports on the news, nothing. On Earth, the Sun rose in the East, which happened to be the direction I drove in to get to where I worked. Roughly halfway through my commute, there was something strange. The Sun appeared as if it got stretched, or warped. Seconds later, all hell broke loose. I remember a feeling as if I was floating, but rapidly accelerating. I must've crashed into something, because I have no recollection what so ever about what happened. When I came to, I was somewhere strange, in some kind of...hospital?. I vaguely recall seeing strange creatures standing over me. That is
all I can remember."
"Give me a moment to look up some information", Josh hummed, browsing through a few digital encyclopedias. "Well, I could render you a few fancy animations about what transpired, but I am not too sure if you'd like to see that, so I'll just tell you. Apparently, what happened was a case of terrible bad luck. Odds of one in... a trillion? Millions of Earth's years before it got destroyed, two galaxies were on a collision course. In most cases, the super-massive black holes that form the hub of those galaxies end up orbiting each other, before merging after a spectacular dance, if I may call it like that. But this was different. The less massive black hole got a enormous gravitational kick from the more massive one, and was flung outwards at an unimaginary speed. Once it was clear of either of the galaxies, it literally went dark. One can not see a black hole. One can only observe the accretion disk of matter it is going to swallow. When it's in empty space, there is no matter for it to eat, so it's as good as invisible. All that time it moved through inter-galactic space, only lighting up when matter close enough to end up within its gravitational well got devoured. Eventually, it entered your galaxy, probably attracted by the super-massive black hole which resides in its center. Your solar system happened to be on its path. Now normally, with a body with this kind of mass, Earth
would have seen signs of it approaching years in advance. But this black hole was moving so fast, that there simply weren't visible signs from systems close enough for observation. And by the time the orbits of the planets of your solar system got influenced, it already was upon you. It collided with Earth head-on."

"I've read and learned about black holes. Once you're too close to one, you're done for. Why and how I survived is a complete mystery to me."
"There are many things we still do not understand about black holes, Matthew. What lies beyond the event horizon is still a mystery to us as well. I do have a theory about you and how
you ended up here and now though. In some way, You did not fall in, but got caught in an orbit around the black hole while your planet fell through the event horizon, probably still in your vehicle with a bubble of atmosphere, unharmed. Far enough from the center not to be pulled in, but close enough to experience extreme time dilation because of the immense warping of space-time. You probably only were there for perhaps an hour of your relative time? But millennia must have passed outside of the black hole's cusp. That still leaves the mystery of how you got rescued though. Those creatures you spoke of, do you know their name?"
"No, I don't. They nursed me back to health over the course of a few weeks. But I never really spoke with, or clearly saw any of them. And as sudden and mysteriously as I got there, I was
gone, and on some space station."
"Arcturians...", Josh interrupted while rubbing his chin, "To my knowledge, They are the only creatures advanced enough to pull something like that off. Tell me something, Matthew. Don't we look sort-of familliar to you?"
"Yes. Lions, tigers, wolves. All were predators on Earth. Kujo told me your ancestors came from there and evolved."
Josh smiled. "Well, not entirely. You see, we did not evolve. We were engineered. By Arcturians. But our origins lie on Earth. Do you remember a story in your folklore, often told by
one of your religions? An arc of Noah?"
"A male and female of every known species of the planet was taken to save the Earth's population of an impending flood. It was something like that."
"Well, it wasn't really an arc as such. It were Arcturians. They were studying Earth and wanted some erm... material to work with, for an experiment, if you may. Predators. Humanity back hen had little understanding of any higher form of technology, and did it off as an act of a higher being. Arcturians were millions of years ahead of humanity. They were able of things like warping space-time and creating worm-holes before the first humans roamed the Earth. Everyone you see on Aragon, me, Kujo, Maverick, Peter, we are a result of that experiment. We've been space travelers and colonisers for millenia basically, ever since we, as an anthropomorphic species, came to be. Our ancestors were programmed with knowledge by those Arcturians. So, you mysteriously ended up on that space station. What was it like?"

"The station I woke up on was a kind of haven for outcasts, orbiting a gas-giant. I was amazed to see the huge amount of different and exotic creatures on there. Back on Earth, we simply had no knowledge of the existence of other civilizations in the Cosmos. And suddenly I was amongst
thousands of different creatures from all corners of space. When I realized that everything and everyone I ever had, knew and loved was crushed to infinity and had been gone for millennia, I emotionally collapsed and was admitted to a mental hospital. Those Arctirians probably kept me in some kind of light hybernate state to prevent me from realizing that earlier, as it might've badly effected my recovery." 
I leaned back in the chair.
"Quite often, I still feel totally lost. No home to go back to, no one left of my kind", I sighed.
A few moments of silence followed.
"Well, I'm off my shift now, Josh said. "I would like to learn more about how you got here, Matthew. Mind chatting some more over a few drinks? I am sure Kujo is dieing to meet his
friends again."
"I uh. I guess so."
"Sure thing!", Kujo enthusiastically exclaimed.
"The rec-area is located a few hundred levels up. We'll take the express elevator", Josh said while taking his white lab-coat off.

Swiftly, the elevator carried us up.
After only a minute or so, it gently slowed down to a stop. The doors slided open to a cacophony of chatter, laughter, and exotic music.
The landing area for the elevator opened up to a hallway with hundreds of anthropomorphic creatures walking around, making their way to various bars and shops. 
Bears, tigers, lions, wolves. But also gorillas, chimpanzees, cheetahs and hyenas formed a diverse anthropomorphic mix of former Earth's predatory family.
I stood there in the elevator's opening, mesmerized.
"Hey Matt, what're you waiting for!", Kujo exclaimed.
Josh and Kujo each grabbed one of my hands, and pulled me along to an atmospheric, dimly lit bar with huge windows, providing a gorgeous view of the Cosmos.
"And there they are!", someone loudly exclaimed. Cheering thundered through the bar. What must have been fourty to sixty anthros stood up and gathered around Kujo and me.
Overwhelmed, I put a few steps back.
Because Kujo was the only one of their kind with who I had lived with for an extended period of time, I didn't really know how go about saying hi and introduce myself. The hugging,
nuzzling, but also licking and mouthing that happened was very recognisable, predators back on Earth behaved similar when greeting their pack-mates. 
But the thought of being slobbered and mouthed by dozens of anthropomorphic predators with muzzles full of sharp fangs made me rather wary about participating.
Josh, aware of my doubts, grabbed my hand and took me to a table at the far right corner of the establishment. "Let's give Kujo some time to say hi, shall we? I'll get us a drink," he said with a friendly wink.
As casual as I could, I stood next to a spotted hyena who sat at the table and was sipping on a pint of dark ale.

"Good err... Day? Or eh, whatever you say here? I am Matthew", I stumbled while hesitatingly extending my right hand.
"Why, you must be Lucas' pilot, right? The returner of our lost property! Hard to miss!", the hyena smiled. 
"I am Jason. We spoke over the radio." He rose out of his chair, grabbed my extended hand, pulled me close, and gave me a few wet, beery licks over my face. Rather flabbergasted, I dropped backwards into a seat.
Josh returned from the bar with two pints of ale. "Wow, Jason. Take it a bit easy with Matthew. He's not really used to how we socialize here."
"Oh, uh, he extended his arm. I thought he wanted a hug", Jason embarrassedly said.
"Eh... So that is normal here then?", I asked while I wiped my face off.
"Pretty much, yeah, Josh answered. "I am sure you've seen it back on Earth?"
"Yes. I've seen it. Just did not realize it would um... Well, nevermind. I'm the alien here, so I guess I'm the odd one out just shaking hands as a way to introduce myself", I said, while looking at Jason.
The hyena sipped some more beer and cackled. "Come here", he said, wrapping his furry arms around me again. "Thanks to you, Kujo is back. That deserves a hug or two, right?", he whispered in my ear as he reached out to get me my beer. While sending a big gulp of the bitter-sweet liquid down my throat, I tried to ease down in the hyena's firm hug. "I am glad I
did, Jason. You should have seen him after hearing your voice over the radio". Jason rubbed his cheek against mine. "If you two don't mind, I need to go hug that tiger as well. Be right
back!"
Headshaking, I sat back down after letting Jason through. Josh chuckled, "You know, better prepare yourself for a lot more of that. The gang is very close and affectionate. They regard
each other as family. And you've just returned their lost friend they thought was dead."

Eventually, things calmed down a bit and Jason returned to the table accompanied by Kujo, Peter and Maverick, the two ebony wolves.
Kujo sat down next to me and cuddled me close.
"Better get Matthew another beer, Mav", Peter smirked. "I don't think Kujo will allow him to get up any time soon!"
"I'll get you all a round", Maverick said and walked towards to bar.
Peter stared at Kujo and me for a while. "You two look very cute."
Josh grabbed one of the ebony wolf's arms, pulled him onto his lap and grinned, "Who's cute now, wolfy?". Peter lapped at Josh's muzzle, who happily accepted the wolf's affection.
Maverick returned with a serving plate full of ales. "Ah, I see you've all made yourselves comfortable."
"I've saved a spot for you, mister Hangar Officer wolf", Jason smiled.
"So, Matthew?", Maverick asked after he sat down next to the hyena, "Did you enjoy being collected by Doc?"
I spat out a mouthful of beer and got into a coughing fit, up to great amusement of the others.
"He just loved it, Mav", Kujo teased. "It took Doc only a few minutes."
"Oh, you can leave that up to mister silky paws here", Jason grinned.
"Yeah, I've never loved my physicals more since he got assigned as this section's physician", Peter said.
"I am required to monitor your reproductive abilities and health, boys", Josh chuckled, "Though Aragon is a big station, it still is a confined space. Any disease would rapidly spread
and become epidemic, specially with you guys all fiddling around with each other. It's my solemn duty to keep an eye on things."
"Not just an eye", Peter wittingly added.
"Oh shush, you", the lion grinned.
"Eh, so I gather that reproduction is regulated?" I asked.
"Correct", Josh answered. "Population control is also very important. As is the health of the population. That's why a monthly check-up is mandatory for everyone who lives on the station, and of course, like in your case, everyone who is a guest."
"Oh, uh... So that wasn't just to allow me on board then?"
"Nope!", Kujo answered, "Doctor Josh now has the noble duty of making you squirt your load for him at least once per month, for as long as you're here. And not to forget poke around in
your tailhole looking for treasure."
"A similar routine exists for female inhabitants of the station", Josh continued. "Their heat cycles are monitored, and mating during heat is forbidden between a couple of the same species, unless a permit is granted. It might seem harsh, but like I said before, we live in a confined environment with limited resources. We need to keep things in check."
"That must be rather frustrating then. Having lust while being in heat without getting any satisfaction?", I wondered.
"Well, the chances of two different species having offspring is nil. Females who are in heat here seek out a mate of a different species, or someone of their own gender they like to be with. It's very normal here for males and females to have intercourse with members of the same sex, regardless of species. And because everyone's checked up so often, it's not risky."

I slowly looked around the table.
"Eh, yes, we have", Maverick who read my mind answered after a few seconds.
"Speaking of fiddling...", Jason said while eyeing Kujo.
Maverick chuckled and poked the hyena's belly. "Bad mannered yena. Tiger here only got back a few hours ago. And now you're already trying to get him back in your den. That wouldn't be very fair on Matthew. They've shared his space ship together for all these months. I mean, I am sure that they... You know."
"Heh. No, we didn't", Kujo quickly answered.
I stared down my half-empty glass of beer.
"So you both went without for all that time?", Peter asked.
"We were in a survival situation most of the time, Peter", Kujo said.

"That takes me to what you were telling earlier in my office, Matthew", Josh said, while slowly rocking the ebony wolf back and forth on his lap.
"You ended up on that rogue space station. You must've been there for a good while. Kujo didn't leave Aragon earlier then five months ago."
I took another gulp of beer and cleared my throat.
"After I settled on that station, X-2034 its official name was, I landed myself a job to make a bit of money to be able to live, which wasn't easy. The population mostly consisted of outcasts, living in gangs and cliques. I got beaten up, or robbed more times than I want to remember. Belonging to none of the gangs, I had to be alert all the time. After one of the station's years, I had more than enough. I negotiated a spot on an interstellar transporter destined for a system lightyears away. After the first few months on board as a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, I enlisted for the ship's military. After basic training, my first assignment was on-board law enforcement, but I started studying to become a pilot with the tactical defense force. I passed all the required tests with flying colours. Something I'd never even dared to dream of back on Earth. Flying advanced machines there was only for the lucky few. I'll never forget the feeling I had when I blasted out of the launch corridor on my first flight as a fully qualified space fighter-pilot. How I would've loved it if it was possible for me to show that to my friends."

I paused for a few seconds to take another sip of beer.
"Over the course of two years, I flew countless missions. Mostly routine sorties to monitor and guard the ship's periiferals, but also missions of a more exploratory nature to asteroids or dwarf-planets for assessing the presence of resources an expedition could harvest. I got promoted to squad commander, and lead a few successful missions to fence off pirates. My accomplishments got me noticed by high command, and that is when things started to go wrong. Most of my team consisted of egocentric pricks, who would not think twice about screwing you over to gain rank, or get on a higher ranking officer's good side. Being the only human, I was the oddball there, the perfect target. At first, pulling rank whenever a subordinate went out of line was enough. But things got organized, a plot formed, and false accusations followed. I got stripped of rank, and was suspended from flight operations until further notice. But it did not end there. My account got hacked. The captain received a message from me, threatening to kill him together with all high ranking officers if my status would not be restored immediately. Serving with the ships' military force, I knew very well what
the consequences were. I would not even be given a worthy execution. I'd simply be thrown into the garbage disposer, and expelled into space while still alive. During court-martial, I
pleaded not guilty, but no one of the crew stood up for me, of course. So there I was, sat in a cell, falsely accused, convicted, and awaiting my execution. I tried to find some consolidation in that once out in space, I'd probably be dead in seconds."

"Wow Matt", Josh stumbled, softly nuzzling through Peters' black headfur. "Having your own crew-mates betray you like that. That must be the worst thing imaginable",
Maverick growled. "Crew here is like my family. I'd be truly gutted if something like that would ever happen to me."
"Oh, things were totally different there, Maverick. It was just vile. All I felt was defeat."
"But you didn't end up tossed into space, I assume?", Jason asked.
"No. During the night prior to my execution, the feeding hatch of my cell door opened, and something was thrown inside. A sharp, pungent smell filled my cell, and everything went black. Next thing I remember, I was on a bunk in what looked like the insides of a spaceship. A few boxes secured at the other end of the compartment contained my belongings, and a sealed envelope on top of a tablet. The letter inside only had a few short sentences; "Not everyone believes that scum", and "This is Lucas. Treat her well. She'll take take good care of you. You have been erased from our archives. Farewell". The tablet contained all the legal ownership documents signed with my digital signature, schematics of all the systems and engines, manuals, procedures, and fifty-thousand credits. Up on the flight-deck, the ship's navigation computer was programmed with a course which would intercept X-2034's orbit years later. Whoever got me out of that cell and orchestrated my escape must have been a high ranking officer. Only one of them could've had access to private databases and things like digital signatures. Being given back my life, and realizing not everyone believed that nasty conspiracy, made the pill a bit less bitter to swallow."

The bar had gotten more quiet. Besides us, only a handful of others were left. One of them had made her way to the table and was listening with interest.
"Oh hey Matt, here's Jess, my mate", Jason smiled.
"Jess and Jase", I grinned to the female spotted hyena, relieved that I got a break from telling what was one of the the most difficult parts of my story.
Jess cackled, and sat down at my right. "Hey Kujo, do you mind sharing your cuddle buddy?"
"Hah, Jess! Not at all", the tiger smiled. 
The female spotted hyena licked my cheeks. "I hope you feel welcome here. I overheard most of your story. It's both amazing and dreadful. But I think it has a happy end!"
"I'll get us all a last round of beer, so Matt can finish the story, and we can go get some sleep. It's getting late, boys", Jason yawned.
"How long after you got your ship before you met Kujo, Matthew?", Peter asked.

"A few weeks. It took me a while to get the maneuvering and handling of something the size of Lucas under control, because I was used to the instant response of an agile fighter. This was a bit more substantial and required some practise. Not to mention the ship's systems that I had to familiarize myself with. Lucas' on-board database contains a detailed, vectorized map of the Galaxy cluster we're in. I had to choose a new place to go to, within a reasonable distance. Of course going back to X-2034 was absolutely out of the question. Eventually, my eye fell on the Leo system, two light-years from my position. I took my time to study everything Lucas'
database contained of it. Leo has planets with old, stable civilizations capable of interstellar space travel. The time it would take to get there exceeded the amount of time the supplies on board could last, so I had to plan a few stops along the way. It was in the beginning of the first stage, four weeks later, when I received a distress call. It was badly garbled and broken, impossible for me to make anything out of. But because it was transmitted as an emergency message, the header contained coordinates from its origin as well as the vector and speed that whatever broadcasted it was doing. After programming the coordinates into the computer, I relayed the message, asking if there were any vessels in closer proximity than me, but no one answered. It would take me eight days to get there, so I gathered this would probably only be one for the logs. The bright side was that according to inter-stellar law, if there are no survivors, useful
materials and wreckage are free for the taking for whoever arrives first. However, there was absolutely -nothing- there. Knowing the odds were small, I put Lucas on the same course as
the origin of the message, but with greater speed to see if that would get me across any remains or debris. Scanners picked up a cluster of small objects a few hours ahead of me.
Despite my suspicion of a possible glitch, I approached it. Beyond any doubt, it were the left-overs of a carrier of some kind. A fly-by at a slow enough relative speed with the lights on revealed a beaten up and scorched cylindrical escape-pod, floating amidst other badly twisted parts of hull. It was roughly a meter in diameter, and two and a half meters long. I salvaged and maneuvered it into Lucas' cargo-bay. A partially blackened, but still visible yellow triangle with "RESCUE" pointed to a twisted lever. The mechanism still worked, a hatch popped open, and well..." I looked at Kujo.

The tiger sighed. "I was so incredibly lucky. I mean, what are the odds in deep space? According to Matt, my pod did not send out any beacon or signal. He had to go by the distress
signal the carrier transmitted before it exploded. My pod could've been anywhere after the time it took Matt to get there. The explosion could've pushed it off into a totally different direction. I guess the explosion damaged the pod too much for the beacon to work. It could've been my coffin."
"Good that you did not do your ships scan off as a glitch, Matt", Maverick said.

"I almost did... I almost did. At first I could not believe my eyes when I saw Kujo. Here was a tiger, so far away from Earth, in both time and distance. When I got over my initial disbelief, I managed to drag him out of the pod, and onto a bunk. He was unconscious, but not injured. A few hours later he woke up. A good meal brought him back to his senses, and after he told me what happened, I concluded that bringing him back to Aragon was the only right thing for me to do."

I emptied my glass.
"You were out on a supply mission to one of the outer stations, Kujo", Jason said. "What happened?"
"The cargo bay exploded without any warning. No fire alarm. No sudden increase of pressure, nothing. The force of the blast practically broke the hull in two. I am glad that this class of ship has the escape pods right under the flight-deck. If it had been the older class with the pods behind the deck, I would not have had enough time. The computer now instantly dropped me into the capsule, locked, and launched."
The group was silent.
"You're both the luckiest individuals I've ever met", Josh stumbled.
Maverick also drank the last of his beer. "Well guys and gals, me and Peter are back at hangar duty tomorrow. So time for us to head to our den. Thanks for telling your story, guys.
Quite the adventure!"
"I'm afraid your den has been rented out, Kujo. I really hope you do not feel too bad about it. All your belongings are safely in storage though", Josh said. "When Command notified me of your return, there was too little time for me to file a request with Facilities to arrange another den."
"Oh, I more or less expected that, Josh. I mean, you guys thought I was dead. Thanks for keeping my things safe though. I'm very grateful for that. Though for now, where can we
sleep?"
"Jess and me are off duty tomorrow. There's enough room in our den if you two would like to spend the night? We can have a lay-in tomorrow", Jason offered.
"Um well, I can sleep in Lucas", I mumbled, "All my stuff's in there."
Maverick quickly glanced over his wrist-terminal. "Bay twenty is on lock-down, Matthew. Unless there's an emergency, no one will be allowed in there without my, or another HO's permission. I'll escort you there so you can get what you need from your ship, but you can not spend the night there."
After saying good night, Josh and Peter went on their way. Kujo, the hyenas, Maverick and me went back down to the hangar-bay to go fetch what we needed for the night.
I made a quick visual inspection round around Lucas. It wasn't that often that I could look at her exterior without the restrictions of an EVA suit. Rather surprised, I stumbled over a black and yellow ribbon with a sign saying "Entry forbidden", in front of the ladder to the rear hatch.
"Your ship is not part of the federation, Matthew. It's a non-federal, foreign ship. The conventions as they exist between us and our allies do not apply there. So asides of Kujo, who
you've granted asylum when you took him on board, setting foot on your ship is forbidden for everyone on this station without your permission."
I stared at Maverick for a few seconds, making the wolf chuckle.
"Do you guys want an official ceremony and a written permit or something?",
"Oh, at least! Tell me, What kind of wicked rituals are you going to put us through?", Jess smirked with a wink.
With a headshake and a chuckle, I loosened the ribbon and climbed up the ladder. On top I opened the hatch, turned around, raised my right arm up and solemnly spoke, "I, as captain of space-cruiser Lucas, welcomes everyone to the last remaining, very remote enclave of Planet Earth. I wish you a pleasant, all be it short, stay."
Everyone came on board and had a look around. Jason sprawled on one of the bunks, "Quite cozy in here. And comfortable!"
"It's my, Uh... OUR home, Jason", I said while nodding to Kujo.
I opened the door to the ship's bathroom and grabbed a bag with some toiletries, a few pieces of clothing, and towels.
Kujo was scouring around to grab his belongings, but stalled, facing the steps leading up to the flight-deck.
"You ok, tiger?", Jess asked.
"It's just realizing that I am back home now...", he fell silent for a few moments. "What are you going to do now, Matthew? I mean, you brought me home safe and sound. You've no reason to stay here for longer than it takes you to get Lucas refueled and re-supplied."
I clenched my jaw, trying to swallow the lump in my throat that suddenly appeared.
Maverick, who saw the expression on my face, quickly stepped in. "Guys, Shall we wrap things up here? It's late."
Jess, Jason and Kujo already were walking back to the elevators. I closed the rear hatch, climbed down and took a last glimpse to check if everything was secure. The black wolf
grabbed my shoulder. 
"What Kujo meant to say is that he does not want you to leave."
"I've tried making a new start twice now and failed both times. Maybe it's best for me to roam."
"Hey. What you experienced on that freighter was devastating and will -not- happen here. I know this only is your first night, but please take into consideration that this might be a
welcoming home for you. After what you have done, applying for citizenship will not be a problem, I can guarantee you."
I idly stared at the underside of Lucas' fuselarge. "Well, the Leo system's years away. After having had good company for all these months, a life of solitude will be tough on me, for sure."
Maverick hugged me. "Please sleep on it, OK?"

A fast, three minute elevator ride took us from the hangar-bay all the way up to the station's central hub. We wished Maverick good night, and stepped in a transport-cab which brought us to Aragon's rotating ring.
"It feels so good to be back here", the tiger said, stretching his muscles.
"This looks so much like Earth", I stumbled.
Aragon was in night-mode. The upper half of the ring was dimly lit in a soft, dark blue haze.
With a bit of effort, I could make out a surface consisting of rolling hills, groups of trees, and grassy fields.
Two minutes later, we ended up in front of a large mound.
"The entrance is around the back", Jason gestured.
The hyena entered a code on a terminal and the door unlocked.
"Welcome in our den", Jesse smiled. "Now, if you guys don't mind, we've all had a big day. Let's get settled for the night."
The den was quite spacious. It consisted of two levels. The main living room was on the entrance level, bedrooms and bathroom were one level down.
"You and Kujo will have the guest bedroom. Feel free to put the beds together if you feel like having a cuddle tonight", Jess said with a wink before she went back upstairs.
"Do you need to take a bath or shower?" I asked. 
The tiger shook his head. "No, Matt. I'm drained. I just want to sleep."
"Alright then. Be right back."
After an invigorating shower, I was rubbing myself dry when I heard the door open.
"Oh, I see you've helped yourself", I heard Jess say behind me. Startled, I turned around.
"Well, you didn't lock the door, so I thought you would not mind if I'd get in to grab some stuff before turning in."
She noticed my stare and started to laugh. "Why the stare, Matt? Not what you expected to see on a girl?"
"Uh... Well, I knew that about spotted hyenas... but just, uh."
"You do look quite interesting too yourself. Nothing but bald skin with a few patches of fur ", she cackled.
"Alrighty. I will leave you at peace. Sweet dreams!"