A No Man's Sky Christmas Carol
Knock knock knock
Scroogek winced as he heard yet another knock at his door. "Who is it?", he called out. A garbled electronic voice responded from the other side of the door.
Grumbling, Scroogek pushed back from his desk and groaned as his aching joints cracked, before he waddled across the room to his office door.
Opening the door, he stepped backwards and looked up to see two tall Korvax entities looming over him. Upon seeing their plain unadorned metallic shells and scenting old unchanged oil, Scroogek clacked his beak in displeasure. They appeared to be poorly maintained and therefore too poor to do business with him.
"What do you want?", he growled. The blue-shelled entity responded with a staticky electronic voice, "Apologies for our intrusion sir. My name is Acer and this is my colleague Dell. We represent the Caring Collective Charity."
"You better not be here to ask for money!", interrupted Scroogek.
Dell stepped forward with clasped hands. "Please hear us out Mr Scroogek. We only seek a small donation to help underprivileged young entities that dwell in the collective. With a thousand units we can build a new shell giving them a chance to experience an individual existence in their own body..."
Scroogek had stopped paying attention, turning around to re-enter his office and slamming the door behind him.
"What odorous beings!", he muttered to himself. He pulled out a small pheromone bottle from his pocket. Bringing it to his nose, he unstoppered the lid and took a deep whiff. Closing his eyes he rode a wave of blissful relaxation, leaning against his door.
A moment later the door to his secretary's office opened and Cratchit entered with a yawn.
Guiltily, Scroogek quickly stoppered his pheromone bottle and put it in his pocket.
"Good evening Merchant Scroogek", said Cratchit with a tired smile on his beak.
"Yes, yes, good evening to you as well Cratchit. Did you finish those ledgers I asked of you?".
"All done sir."
"Very good. Well I suppose you can call it a day. How about you head home to your family and I'll see you back here tomorrow morning."
Scroogek returned to his desk and busied himself by checking his datapad. Cratchit cleared his throat and Scroogek looked up with a confused look.
"Is there a problem Cratchit? You normally rush home as soon as I allow it."
"Ah sir, well there was something else", said Cratchit as he twisted his claws together.
"Spit it out Cratchit. You know how I detest wasting time. Time is money after all!" grumped Scroogek.
"It's Christmas tomorrow sir!"
"So?"
"Well it's a bit of a holiday, and I was hoping to take the day off and spend time with my family."
"Bah! Christmas! A profitless tradition for those who observe it. Expensive sentimentality. A waste of time and money I say!"
Looking up, Scroogek observed that Cratchit was looking down. Relenting he continued is a softer tone.
"Though I suppose you have been working hard, and for the sake of morale I'll allow you the day off."
"Thank you, thank you sir! This is very good news. I was planning to take my family for a day trip to the surface. It can get awfully stuffy in this space station!"
"Yes, yes Cratchit, I'm sure it will be wonderful. Begone now, I have business to attend to."
"Yes sir, before I go, I was wondering if you would like to join us for Christmas dinner tomorrow? You've never met my youngest Gekling, Tiny Tim."
"Thank you for the offer, but you know I can't stand all this Christmas business. I'll be more than happy on my own." Getting up Scroogek ushered Cratchit to the door. "Please go now, enjoy your festivities."
Waving him out, Scroogek locked the door and let out a long sigh.
"Christmas!", he scoffed.
Returning to his desk, Scroogek fingered the pheromone bottle in his pocket, before taking it out for another deep whiff.
With a satisfied clack of his beak, Scroogek found himself relaxing with his thoughts drifting back to younger days enjoying the pheromones wafting from the spawning pools of Guzlan IV...
Drifting off to sleep in his chair Scroogek napped until woken by a chill. Blinking his eyes, Scroogek noted that the lights had dimmed for the sleep cycle. Squinting he noticed a blue glow coming from beneath the door in Cratchit's office.
"He left his blasted datapad on" muttered Scroogek as he got up to investigate.
Entering the room he gasped in shock. The pheromone bottle that was still in his hand slipped and shattered on the pure ferrite flooring. Standing before him was a ghost. A Gek he recognized immediately as his long-dead business partner. Marley.
