BLUE HORIZON

by Ted R. Blasingame

with

Eileen Blasingame

and

Steve Carter

Copyright

©1996-2009 Ted R. Blasingame

Revised Edition ©2023

All rights reserved.

20230901

Written with the assistance of

Eileen Blasingame and Steve Carter

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

Cover art © by Angie McClelland.

Used by permission.

Internal cover artworks © by Elizabeth Jackson.

Used by permission.

Published through Lulu Press

http://www.lulu.com

Visit the Author's website

http://trblasingame.com

Dedication

This book – and the series – is dedicated to all of my Readers over the years. I have appreciated the kind remarks and reviews on this body of work and many of the friendships I have made along the way. These stories were written primarily for myself, but I'm glad to have had you along for the ride.

Blue Horizon

Life should be mundane shipping freight across the galaxy, but that doesn't always seem to be the case for the captain and crew of the Blue Horizon.

DRUG RUNNING

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

Happy Anniversary. According to my calendar, it has been six PA-Standard years to the day since my business partner and I began this endeavor. My crew and I have had many ups and downs over the years, with slow days and times of adventure, joy and heartache, and although there are things I sometimes wish I could do over to change the outcome, time moves on and we are the result of our experiences.

We’ve been shorthanded lately. I lost Tomi, my long-time medical officer two PA-Standard months ago when she decided to settle down to have a litter of kits, and then more recently lost Jiro, my best friend and navigator copilot during a fatal pirate raid on my vessel two weeks ago.

All members of my crew must be able to navigate and fly the Blue Horizon, but no one is as skilled as Jiro Brannon was. I miss the friendship and counsel of my greatest friend terribly and his loss is still painful.

Other crew members have been filling in on the bridge as necessary, but I took on a new mate today following a supply delivery to New Gate on Kantus. My new navigator is one of the most athletic-looking guys I have ever met and I would be hard pressed to guess his speed in a full-out run.

Renny Thornton responded to my local advertisement for a navigator the same day it hit the markets of New Gate, and brought with him some impressive credentials. As my ship was being stocked with cargo for delivery for our next customer, I talked with him at Sheward’s Rest, a local café I like here. He has a gentle personality, but it is easy to see the power of his coiled muscles at his disposal should the need for aggression arise. I was quite taken with his photographic memory of star charts and fluctuating territorial boundaries that I decided I need look no further to fill the vacancy, so I have contracted him to my crew. He has gone back into New Gate to retrieve his belongings before our departure time.

True to my first officer’s skill as liaison to our customer, Taro has managed to secure a full cargo of pharmaceuticals for delivery to the capitol city of Alucara on Alexandrius for Ryu Industries. However, if I know my supply officer correctly, Samantha has likely started fixing the books already to retain a morsel of our cargo for later trade. I don’t condone the under-table dealings she is known to our crew for, especially knowing her family background, but she always seems to work magic when we need something that cannot be obtained through regular channels. I do reprimand her on the rare occasions she is caught, but tend to ignore her activities for the most part. It gives me a greater peace of mind if I don’t know all her plans.

Like Jiro, Sam has been with me from the beginning, although she had to leave us for a while following her first year as a charter member of the crew under the nom de plume of Samuela Chase. The details of that situation and departure will remain unwritten in this log with consideration to her family ties, but I am thankful that she was later able to return to us, although eventually under her real surname. Despite some of her questionable activities, she’s been a great asset to my business, as well as one of my closest friends.

Durant is happy now that he has cargo in the hold to put in order and catalog for the flight. His attentiveness to numbers and detail often puts the loadmaster at odds with Samantha’s meddling, but the two always seem to find ways to deal with it. Durant is a likable fellow when he is not bored or messed with.

Sparky has not yet returned from leave. She’s typically the last to get back and she rarely seems to be around for mandatory cargo detail. Her usual excuses center on her need to replenish the food stores, but the dishes she concocts for our varied tastes have often diffused anyone’s objections to her absence while we are moving cargo.

Patch is complaining again about the condition of the parts in the engine room. Samantha has already supplied him with the best items she can get her hands on, so he should be happy, but nothing ever pleases that guy, I suppose. Except for complaining. I think he actually enjoys it. She even bought him a new box of fine cigars imported from Earth to help ease his mood, but sometimes even that does not placate him.

On the other hand, Pockets is thrilled with a new set of energy transducers that has found its way into our engine room. I have yet to see a purchase receipt cross my desk, so I suspect the little filch got them from the manufacturer’s warehouse last night; I would bet that Samantha had a hand in that deal. He is currently down somewhere in the bowels of the engine, happily installing them with his moody brother. I have never seen siblings so consistently opposite in personality as the Porter brothers.

There has been no word on the whereabouts of the Savannah Hunter, my longstanding business rival. Armando Jensen seems to have been keeping low these days since I blew the whistle on a potentially dangerous transaction with the black market of Nalirra he had in progress. It had the potential to eliminate clearances for all commercial transports through the area; that is a major route and more cargo carriers besides us use that way to move their goods. Armando and I have never had much love for one another, but I am sure this has done wonders for his opinion of me. I don’t think he knows it was me, but with his resources, I cannot be too sure.

After we have delivered our pharmaceuticals to Alexandrius, we will be swinging over to Earth to have the Blue Horizon fitted up with a stronger defense system. Pirates are getting to be more of a concern these days. Even Armando’s Sakura-class freighter has had to outrun raiders. For the sake of his business and crew, it was a good thing he had the engines of the Savannah Hunter upgraded last year.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Although he might bear a name derived from human kind, Merlin bore only a scant resemblance to that race. When he stood upright, it was on bipedal legs with plantigrade feet. He had two arms ending in hand-like paws with short fingers and opposable thumbs, and he possessed sapient intelligence, but beyond this design, Merlin’s engineered race was primarily lupine in origin. The wolf’s fur was predominantly gray with a subtle blend of brown and black, but his muzzle, throat, belly and the underside of his arms were white. His bushy gray tail ended in a white tip and his eyes were framed by a mask of gray with a nebulous band of white between them.

He was three hundred years removed from genetic manipulations by Terran scientists, when humankind from Earth first spread out among the stars and needed hardy settlers to tame the habitable planets they discovered. The DNA of the first to become Furs was tweaked to give humans a number of attributes originally associated with native Terran animals as a step-up enhancement to make them hardier when settling the new and alien landscapes of other habitable worlds. They succeeded for the most part, but some of the distant colonies failed and others were forgotten until later generations rediscovered their altered brothers and sisters.

At this day and age, however, there seemed to be few adventures for the varied and united populations to experience beyond the mundane, especially since many of the colonies had adopted familiar cultures, traditions and architectures of what they had known on Mother Earth. Despite that each had progressed on their own paths since leaving the home planet, there were still so many similarities across the united worlds that things remained familiar from place to place, even if local customs varied. Merlin Sinclair, however, had long since discovered that while life on board an interstellar freighter shipping freight across the galaxy should be mundane, it was rarely so.

The wolf capped his pen and set his journal on the office desk in front of him. Its cover was made of dyed Terran cowhide and was worn from excessive handling. Keeping a journal of his travels was a common tradition long held by ships’ captains of all the worlds he had ever visited, whether they commanded ships that sailed the seas or the void between the stars, but instead of recording everything onto a personal slateboard tablet, he preferred using pen and ink on a physical book. He was proud to uphold the custom, whether or not he ever planned to show his entries to anyone. He had long intended to transcribe them into electron form for safer keeping, but despite the free time he usually had during the voyages between worlds, he had never taken the time to do it. For the time being, Merlin continued to put ink to paper just as it had been done in the days of the earliest explorers.

He set the journal aside and readjusted his tail through the slotted opening in the back of his chair. He was dressed in a pale blue shirt with short sleeves and a pair of dark gray trousers with a single gold stripe down the outside seams of the legs. All the fabric was lightweight and breathable, serving to be more decorative than functional over his natural fur. He often preferred to go barefoot, but while on board a ship out in space where the environment always seemed cold no matter the heating system, he donned black jackboots designed to fit his feet. The boots were currently on the floor beneath his desk so he could curl his toes in a soft floor rug. Beside him on the tiny desktop of his quarters was his one true vice: a steaming cup of coffee. He picked it up just as his first officer walked in through the open door of the office he called his den.

“Yes?” he asked; there was a distinctive thrum within the timbre of his voice. He lapped up a bit of his coffee and fixed his golden eyes on the red fox’s slateboard.

Taro Nichols absently smoothed down the wrinkles of her lavender blouse before she glanced through the information on the device in her hands. After a brief moment, she looked down at the seated wolf. “Durant says our cargo is secure and the bay doors are sealed,” she said in smooth tones. “Samantha has replenished our air supply and the ship will be pressurized for the voyage as soon as everyone is on board and all systems are ready.”

Merlin nodded and took another lap from his cup. “What else?”

“Pockets said the new transducers are online and have tested out satisfactorily. However, Patch doesn’t trust them; he said he would keep an eye on them during takeoff. He mumbled something about the part not matching up right during installation and having to modify it.”

She looked back to her notes again and then glanced quickly into the corridor behind her. “I probably should have mentioned this first, but there’s a cheetah at the main hatch asking to see you,” she added when she looked back at him. “You know I don’t like to let strangers on board as we’re preparing to leave, but he claims he’s a new employee.”

“Renny Thornton,” Merlin said as he set his cup down so he could slide into his boots. “I hired him this afternoon to fill Jiro’s vacancy.” He stood up, snared a blue and white naval captain’s hat from a wall peg, and placed it on his head between his ears. It was a human-made item that he fancied, being captain of his own ship.

“But, Jiro...” Taro caught herself before saying more.

“I know, Taro, I know, it feels too soon since we lost Jiro and some of us are still grieving. He was my best friend, but I need a good navigator. I can’t just wait until we reach Alexandrius in three weeks to fill the position.” Merlin gently put an arm up across her shoulders and then led her out of the room. “Mr. Thornton has the qualifications for the job and he’s also a nice guy.” He smiled and added, “Would you show him to his cabin to stow his belongings? He can settle in after we’ve taken off.”

“Sure, Captain. Where should I quarter him?”

“Put him in Jiro’s room.”

Taro stopped and swallowed as she looked down at her sandaled feet. She flicked a piece of imaginary dust from her tan pants and then glanced up again. She resumed walking and held the slateboard to her chest. “Okay, I’ll bring him up.”

“Are you okay with this?” Merlin asked.

Taro gave him a weak smile and nodded her head. “I still have a hard time believing Jiro’s gone, that’s all. I’ll be all right.”

The wolf nodded and gave her a gentle hug. “How soon can we be off?” he asked.

Taro looked quickly at her slateboard before answering to give herself a brief moment to recompose her emotions. “I can file a departure window with Port Control as soon as Sparky returns.”

The lupine captain looked thoughtful and adjusted his hat as he moved toward the control room. “Assemble everyone in the galley when she gets back. I want to introduce everyone to our new navigator before we leave.”

“Aye, sir.”

Merlin stopped at a blue door painted with the image of a vintage golden ship’s wheel and watched the vixen walk away. Jiro had been liked by the crew, even the eternally grumpy Patch, but Taro had taken his death the hardest. It was no secret that the two of them had been lovers, but the captain always made it a practice not to pay attention if crewmembers wanted to get together as long as it did not interfere with ship’s operations. No one had seen Jiro die, but Taro had been the first to find him just before the pirate raiders had been driven from the ship.

Merlin shook his head sadly and turned away. They all had to let Jiro go, and that included himself. He had known Jiro the longest, and the two of them had started the business together. It was hard to believe he was gone and there were moments when he would turn to say something to his friend, only to remember he would never be there again.

He walked onto the bridge control center and switched on the lights of the small semicircular room. Three stations lined the forward curved wall: navigation, communications and engineering. Each bore a set of instrument panels that arced in a generous semicircle around a plush swivel seat. Another station resided in the center of the room for the pilot, located directly behind the com terminal. The captain did not necessarily have his own seat, except that Merlin was the primary pilot. Whoever flew the ship at the time occupied that spot.

Three large window panels covered the curved forward wall and all had near-invisible circuitry built within to bring up video displays whenever needed. The back wall of the small bridge contained stations for environmental control, the library computer and the sensors, and the remaining walls were lined with more instrumentation. The entrance to the bridge was at the starboard aft corner of the room, and the door to a Head was in the port-side aft corner. During a routine flight, there were rarely more than three people on the bridge and never less than one at all times.

Merlin stepped over to the center seat and leaned over the panel without sitting down. He keyed in a few commands and the left viewing screen came to life to show the interior of the cargo hold. He smiled when he saw Durant scribbling information onto a slateboard with a claw tip as he stood beside a tethered pallet of plastic crates. If all went well, this shipment should finance much-needed upgrades to some of the systems on aboard.

***

Taro led a lean cheetah dressed in black slacks and a tan shirt with a large duffel over one shoulder through the narrow passageways of the ship. She paused near a door that bore a plate with her name inscribed onto it, but went on to the next. Her companion glanced at the name on the door they stopped at and asked, “Jiro Brannon?”

Taro thumbed a wall pad to open the door and turned on the light for him. “He was... a friend,” she said with a sigh. “I will have a new name plate made up for you; this is your room now, Mr. Thornton. Jiro is no longer with us.”

“Please call me Renny,” he requested. “I respond to it more readily.” He smiled and tilted his head slightly to the side. The cabin was tiny, consisting of nothing more than room for a bed in front of a built-in bookcase, a desk and chair, closet and a personal lavatory with the trough of an all-species squat toilet.

The fox returned his smile with an effort and shook the cobwebs from her thoughts with a twitch of an ear. She gave him a second, more detailed look and decided that he was fairly handsome. “I’m Taro Nichols,” she said. “Everyone pretty much goes on a first name basis here, so you can call me Taro.” She led him into the room past a pair of potted trees with wide leaves, and her earlier show of melancholy was gone when she added, “Except for Leo Durant. Never, ever call him by his first name. To him, you address him as Durant.”

“I’ll remember that. Was he the raccoon with the cigar?” Renny asked as he ran a hand through the fur on top of his head.

Taro chuckled. “No, that was Patch. He’s grumpy all of the time, but you will get used to him. Durant is a grizzly bear, our loadmaster and ship’s accountant.”

Renny set his duffel on the bed and leaned against the small desk beside it. “May I ask you something about the captain?”

“What is it?” the fox answered suspiciously.

“When I met with him this afternoon, he seemed like an easy guy to talk to, but that was during a job interview. What’s he like to work for?”

Taro gave him a smile, feeling more at ease. “You have nothing to worry about, Renny. Merlin is one of the most easygoing bosses you will ever meet. He’s pretty informal about ship’s operations, but this is a business so the end result of every delivery is making a profit. When he has to make an important decision, he will make it. He has an open-door policy and you can discuss anything with him, but his word is final. He is our boss and he expects his commands to be obeyed, so don’t ever challenge his authority; he considers himself to be the alpha wolf of his mismatched little pack.” She turned toward the door and stepped out into the hall. “He spent five years under the discipline of the Dennier military, but wants his own ship to be as comfortable and informal as it can be and still function.”

The ship’s intercom chirped and Taro walked a few steps down the corridor to a panel set into the wall. She tapped a pad and said, “This is Taro.”

“Taro?” said a small, squeaky voice. “Samantha said you wanted to talk to me.”

The fox looked over at the cheetah as he stopped next to her. “I just needed to know when you returned,” she answered into the panel. “Merlin’s calling a meeting of all personnel in the galley before we launch.”

“When?”

“Now that you are back, as soon as everyone can assemble.”

“Can you spare fifteen minutes for me to put away the food stores I brought back with me?” the voice asked.

“Okay. It’ll take that long for everyone to assemble anyway.” Taro clicked the same pad again to break the connection and then tapped another one next to it for ship-wide broadcast. “Attention, all hands,” she announced. “Gather for a crew meeting in the galley in twenty minutes. Find a stopping point in whatever you’re doing. Merlin wants to see us all together before we launch.”

The fox shut off the system and then turned to her companion. “You can settle into your quarters later, Renny. The boss wants to show you off to everyone.”

***

Merlin looked up from a box of books at the announcement and frowned. He had not expected Sparky to return so quickly and had started to unpack an armload of new mystery novels. The long distances between the various star systems in the Planetary Alignment often provided for boring periods that he frequently spent immersed in stories of suspense. He had picked up several new books in a series by his favorite author in New Gate just after his meeting with Renny. Like his journal, he preferred the physical feel of a printed book over the more common electron books he could have loaded onto his slateboard.

He set the books he held back into the box and turned toward the closet. He wriggled out of his blue shirt and tossed it into a recessed wall hamper. From the closet, he withdrew a beige pullover sweater and shrugged into it. Its loose-weave fabric fit loosely as he liked it, and he straightened the kinks out of the sleeves. He smoothed down the fur on his head and then plucked his captain’s hat from a wall peg as he scooped up a slateboard before heading out to the galley.

***

Renny felt a lump in his throat as he watched the various crewmembers gathering into the small galley. It was the only place large enough to assemble all eight of the ship’s personnel where seats were provided. The recreation deck was of ample size, but it would take too much time to clean up the long unused area just for a meeting. The hold was currently loaded with cargo and the bridge was hardly large enough to accommodate everyone. A long countertop spread across the majority of one side of the room with the kitchen behind it.

On the wall opposite the door to the room was a clear window that faced aft of the ship. The current view overlooked the dockyard of a huge warehouse and beyond to the edge of the New Gate community. The glass polarization was presently shut down to allow the noon sun to pleasantly warm the room and provide light for several pots of ivy hanging from the ceiling. The wall opposite the kitchen displayed a large painted mural that depicted the Blue Horizon in flight against the backdrop of an indeterminate blue and green planet. A signature in the bottom right corner identified the artist as Jiro Brannon.

The cheetah sat to the left of Merlin at the end of the room’s single long table. Taro sat on the captain’s right, chatting idly with a female Border collie he had not yet met. Across the table from him was a short female lynx. She wore an apron with the cartoon face of a smiling kitty saying “Yum”. He deduced this was the one who had spoken to Taro over the intercom concerning the food supplies. She slowly enjoyed a cup of tea that smelled strongly of mint and studied him with interested green eyes.

Seated next to the lynx had to be the one Taro called Durant. The grizzled bear was larger and taller than anyone else on board and was talking pleasantly to a diminutive raccoon seated next to him. The coon’s old coveralls had pockets sewn onto practically all available spaces on the front and sides, and it appeared there was something in each of them.

Everyone looked up when another raccoon entered the room and plunked himself down at the last empty seat beside the collie. He chewed on an unlit cigar and looked rather inconvenienced to be there. He wiped his hands on his patched and greasy coveralls and then nodded to the wolf. All eyes went to Merlin when he cleared his throat and then unconsciously adjusted his hat.

“Okay, crew, you know we’ve been short-handed for a while, so I want to introduce you all to our new navigator and copilot,” he said. “This is Renny Thornton.”

Renny smiled nervously and gave a nod of his head. “Hello,” he said.

Merlin looked at the newcomer and put a hand on his own chest. “Just to make it official, I’ll start the introductions with myself. I am Merlin Sinclair, the owner and captain of the Blue Horizon. This vixen next to me is Taro Nichols. She is my second-in-command, communications officer, and our liaison between customers. Next to her is Samantha Holden, our supply officer and computer whiz.” Sam smiled widely and waved her fingers at the cheetah. “If there’s anything you need, she can get it for you.”

The lynx reached across the table and touched Renny lightly on the arm. “Whether it is legal or not...” she chuckled.

“Hush!” Merlin scolded. “Renny, meet Ivy Sparks.”

“Sparky,” corrected the lynx.

“She’s our Environmental specialist and ship’s chef. If she has the ingredients, she can prepare practically any dish for you.”

“Practically?” Sparky looked up at the captain with twitching whiskers.

Taro laughed and said, “Well, there was that fire you caused last year trying to fix that wonder meal you’d kept bragging to everyone you could make!” Chuckles echoed around the room and Sparky shrugged her shoulders.

“Okay, practically any dish...” Sparky conceded with a smile.

Merlin gestured to the raccoon seated next to Samantha. “The guy with the cigar is Jasper Porter. He’s our chief engineer and mechanic, and as you can tell from the repairs to the work clothes no one can convince him to throw away, we call him Patch.” Chuckles started up again and the raccoon merely snorted with a nod toward the cheetah. At first glance, Patch looked put out, but Renny noticed the hint of a smile behind the cigar.

“Across the table from Patch is his brother, Jerad Porter,” Merlin said next.

“I’m Pockets!” the raccoon exclaimed cheerily in a distinct country accent. This started another round of chuckles, which included the coon’s own giggles.

“He thinks he’s a mechanical wizard and is rather enthusiastic about life in general,” Merlin added with a grin. “Then we have our imposing loadmaster and business accountant, Durant.”

“Imposing?” Durant repeated in a gentle voice. “C’mon, boss, I’m not even as grumpy as Patch.” The raccoon looked sideways at the bear, but otherwise did not comment.

Merlin grinned and said, “Stand up, Durant.”

The grizzly got to his feet and Renny noted that the bear’s small ears were shy just a few centimeters from brushing the ceiling. Sparky touched the cheetah’s arm again and pointed to Durant with her other hand. “Now that’s imposing to short critters like me and Pockets!” she laughed in a small, squeaky voice.

“Patch, too,” Pockets added.

Durant sat down and patted the lynx on the head with a grin. She leaned against the cuddly bear and purred loudly for him.

Merlin glanced at the display on his slateboard and then back to his new navigator. “That’s everyone, Renny. No one around here is given to big speeches, but if there’s anything you want to say to this mob, go right ahead.”

The cheetah smiled back at the group and then told them, “I’m pleased to be here, I’m glad to have the job, and hope I can fit in.” He looked embarrassed at the attention, but added, “I tend to get along with people well and don’t mind helping out if you need me for something.”

Taro reached around Merlin and took Renny’s hand. She glanced at him coyly and twitched an ear. “I have something you can help me out with, kitty...” she said softly.

Samantha whacked her on the shoulder. “Taro! Give the guy a chance to get used to us first!” Laughter spread around the room again and Merlin knew the meeting was over. He reached out and pulled the fox’s hand away from the cheetah.

“Sorry, you two, but Renny’s about to be initiated into his position,” he said with a canine grin.

“Initiated?” the cheetah asked as his tail twitched in trepidation. He swallowed when sudden visions of running through a line of the crewmembers armed with wooden paddles jumped into his head.

The wolf stood up and replied, “I’m the primary pilot for the Blue Horizon and usually handle our launches when we leave port, but I’m going to give that job to you today. I know from your résumé that you have experience piloting an Okami-class cargo carrier.”

“That’s right,” Renny replied, “and it’s one of the reasons why I applied for this job. I flew the SS Argentina for the Leaway Moving Company of Tanthe for a little over a year.”

“When did you work for them?” Durant asked.

“Six years ago. It was my first real job after flight school.”

Patch removed the cigar from his teeth and said in the same country accent of his brother, “If the ship you flew then was new, you were flying the same model as the Blue Horizon. It should still be familiar to you, even after five and a half years.”

“Actually, it was older than this one. The Argentina was one of the first Okami ships off the assembly line,” Renny replied.

“That old, eh?” Patch mused. “There have been a number of design changes since the original Okami vessels. The most significant difference being the ship’s bridge.”

“That’s right,” the cheetah remarked. “Energy-based shielding was weaker then, so the bridge was located in the middle of the ship, with the crew cabins surrounding it, and then the cargo bay wrapped around those. This kept the living crew shielded from most of the harmful stellar radiations. There were no windows at all; everything was operated internally by sensors and external cameras.”

Patch nodded. “I’m surprised a twenty-year old A-model was still flying. The Blue Horizon is a G-model.”

“Well,” Renny said with a nod, “once we set her old bones down on a landing pad, there were times when we wondered if Tina would be able to take off again. I think they scrapped her when another pilot made a hard landing not long after I left the company.”

Merlin put a hand on the cheetah’s shoulder and said, “I’ll go over ship’s operations with you before we actually take off.” He looked at Taro and added, “See if you can arrange to move launch our window with the Kantus Port Authority to fourteen hundred. That will give us two hours to get the ship prepped to start our next delivery run and so Renny can refamiliarize himself with the controls.”

“Where does this shipment go?” Renny asked.

“To Alexandrius,” Samantha answered, “My home world.”

“We’re carrying pharmaceuticals for delivery to Alucara, the capitol city,” Durant added.

“For my competitor, I might add,” Samantha said with a casual wave of her hand.

“Competitor?” the cheetah asked.

The canine gave him a smile. “I own the controlling interest in Holden Pharmaceuticals,” she answered. Renny was about to ask her why someone with money enough for that was working on a freighter, but decided he would save the question for a time when he knew her a little better.

“Have you ever been to Alexandrius?” Durant asked.

“No,” Renny admitted, “but I memorize the usual routes on the star charts, counting for stellar shift and planetary orbits.”

“Memorize?” Pockets asked.

Renny smiled and Merlin replied, “Our new navigator has an eidetic memory. He remembers everything he reads and stays current with updates.”

“Wow...” Pockets drawled.

Merlin waved his arms at his crew and said, “Okay, shoo, all of you! We have to get ready. The flight to Alexandrius will take three weeks and you’ll have plenty of time to visit with Renny after we’re underway.”

The crew began to disperse, but before anyone made it out the door, Sparky announced, “I’ll have supper ready around seventeen hundred.”

Pockets made his way toward her and asked, “Are you making anything special tonight or are you taking requests?”

Sparky smiled at him and tickled his ear with a finger. “I have a couple of dishes in mind, but I haven’t settled on anything specific just yet,” she answered. “Once we’ve had our new navigator around a few days, then I’ll whip up something special for him. What’s your request?”

The raccoon grinned widely and wrung his tiny hands together. “Baked Jinkles?” he asked hopefully.

The lynx laughed and nodded her head. “Again? I should have known. Okay, you got it. Jinkles it is.”

“Jinkles?” Renny asked, “Isn’t that a Ganisan breakfast food?”

“Not if they’re seasoned and baked,” the chef replied.

“You’re the greatest, Sparky!” Pockets scampered out of the galley and headed to his workstation in the engine room with his brother.

The lynx glanced up at Merlin and handed him two strips of flimsy yellow plastic. “Here are the invoices on the groceries, Captain,” she said. “The grocer’s transfer system was faulty so he printed them out instead of transmitting them to my slateboard. I forgot to give them to Durant.”

“I’ll take care of them,” the wolf replied.

Sparky glanced over at the cheetah as Merlin began an explanation of personnel duties and studied his lean form and great height. He was every bit as tall as Taro, who towered over everyone else but Durant. Renny noticed her gaze and smiled down at her. Merlin paused in his instructions and curiously watched the two felines. Sparky crooked a finger at the cheetah and Renny leaned over to place an ear near her mouth.

Sparky whispered something to him and then licked his cheek very gently. With a giggle, she turned and headed into her kitchen, and it was then he saw a small red bow tied to the lynx’s stubby tail. Renny straightened up and turned to the wolf. “Are all the females on this crew usually this friendly to newcomers?” he asked.

“Not usually,” Merlin said dryly as he turned to lead them away. “I think you’re a hit. Now, let’s get up to the bridge where there aren’t any distractions, and we’ll go over the pre-flight checklist.”

***

Half a block away from the docked Blue Horizon, a jaguar with midnight black fur sat in a booth at a crowded outdoor café on the edge of the spaceport. He wore the brown armband of a courier and his golden eyes fixed upon the saucer-shaped cargo carrier. A diminutive lemur sat across from him, waiting expectantly for instructions from his companion. The jaguar shifted his gaze back to the red eyes of his informer and nodded. He dug a few credits from a shirt pocket and laid them on the table. The lemur scooped up the gold coins and then disappeared though the crowd.

The feline twitched his whiskers and picked up his lunch check. He glanced back at the Blue Horizon once more before he stood up and then walked casually to the cashier.

***

“Port Control has cleared us for launch, Captain,” Taro announced.

“Okay, Renny. She’s all yours,” Merlin said to the cheetah over his shoulder. He sat at the navigator’s station while the other was in the pilot’s center seat.

Renny’s pulse quickened as he energized the engines of the fully laden cargo carrier. He was in the spotlight of attention of the bridge crew and knew everyone else on board was conscious of his actions. He was in control of the second-most critical phase of flying any ship, taking off; the first was landing. He had no doubt he could fly this vessel; he had flown one before, but he also prided himself on his ability to fly just about any make and model ship in the Planetary Alignment due to standardized systems. What made him nervous was the knowledge of being scrutinized as the newest member of an established crew.

The cheetah emptied his mind of such thoughts and immersed himself in his job. The Blue Horizon had been cleared for launch. He checked his readouts and smiled to himself. Energy buildup was at one hundred percent and all thrusters fired equally. A green light glowed brightly and the cheetah moved his hands smoothly over the controls. He held a pair of inverted, L-shaped guidance shifts firmly and then depressed a thumb switch on the right-hand grip.

The Blue Horizon rose quickly from the landing platform and left New Gate far behind in a matter of seconds. Merlin was impressed. The inertia compensators worked so well and the launch had been so smooth, that had he not seen the city shrink from view in the vidscreens or saw the readouts of his instruments, the wolf would not have known they had even left the dock pad.

He glanced over at the com station and winked at Taro. She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up sign. The red fox put a hand to the earpiece of her headset and spoke softly into the microphone. It was a query from an incoming pleasure cruiser that passed a kilometer to their starboard. She turned to the cheetah, who looked at her wonderingly.

“Turn on our running lights, Renny,” she advised.

“Oops,” he muttered. He tapped a pad near the guidance shifts.

“Not too bad for your first time out with the Blue Horizon,” Merlin said. “We’ll be coming up fast on the Kantus moon. Five hundred kilometers past that worthless hunk of rock, engage the LightDrive engines and push them up to half speed. Maintain that until we’re out of the star system, and once we’re up to full cruising speed, cut power to the engines. Spatial inertia will do the rest.”

“How long will that take?” the cheetah asked.

“Roughly six hours from our present position out to free interstellar space. Can you handle that?”

Renny smiled. “Not a problem,” he replied. “There was a time when it took months to reach that distance.”

Taro touched a pad on the engineering console next to her and then spoke into her headset mike on ship-wide broadcast. “The ship’s artificial gravity has automatically enabled and is reading normal. Once we are beyond planetary traffic, the LightDrive engines will be engaged for cruising speed, but inertia dampers are active and mobility is now safe. You may now shed your harnesses and move about.”

Merlin unbuckled his restraints and stood up. He leaned against the edge of his panel and crossed his arms. “Good job, Renny,” he said approvingly. “That was a smooth launch.”

The intercom chirped. The wolf reached for the panel behind him and clicked the open circuit. “Merlin, here,” he said.

“Captain,” Patch’s drawl sounded from the overhead speaker, “Reporting in, the new energy transducers fluctuated a bit during launch, but they’re well within limits. I suspect they’re from an Okami H-model.”

“Where did Pockets get a brand-new transducer?” the wolf asked.

“I asked him the same thing, but all he does is smile and shrug.”

“Typically suspicious. Okay, Patch, keep an eye on the readings and let me know if anything gets out of tolerance.”

“Aye, Captain.”

He closed the connection and turned to the fox. “Keep watch up here for me, Taro,” he said. “I’m heading down to have a little chat with Pockets.”

***

Renny yawned widely and arched his back in the seat, swishing his tail through the slotted opening. Five hours at the controls of the ship with no excitement would have been boring had it not been for Taro’s company. He had learned a great deal about her background and found her phenomenal strength fascinating. Taro was from Hestra, a rather large rocky planet with a high gravity and a predominantly mountainous terrain. In system normal gravity, she surpassed most species in strength and agility, including their larger crewmate Durant.

They shared an interest in athletic activities and the cheetah looked forward to spending some off-duty time with her. He checked his instruments and yawned again. Taro had left to get them something to drink and he was presently alone on the bridge. Until the engines could be shut off, however, someone had to monitor the controls.

Renny studied the panel before him and saw a touch pad he had missed earlier. He smiled and tapped it slightly. The cabin lights dimmed as he adjusted the control further so that most of the illumination of the room now came primarily from the instrument panels. All three window panels were clear at the moment and the darkened bridge made the starlight beyond seem brilliant. He preferred it that way. Now if he only had some music to play.

The door to the bridge slid aside and Taro walked in with two drink cylinders and a large bag of pretzels. She handed a soda to the cheetah and returned to her seat. “Nice lighting,” she commented with a smile. “Are you trying to set a mood?”

Renny looked up suddenly at her and felt his face flush beneath his fur. “Not at all,” he managed to reply. “I just like looking at the stars from a darkened room when on the bridge.”

“Ah... Anything happen while I was gone?”

“No, all’s quiet.” The words were barely out of his mouth when the com panel beeped. Taro picked up her headset and tapped a pad.

“This is the SS Blue Horizon,” she stated. “What can we do for you?” She listened a moment and then nodded to herself. “Please hold while I get the captain.” Taro sighed as she tapped another control and then waited for Merlin to respond.

The panel chirped and Taro opened the connection. “This is Merlin.”

“Captain, we have a communications link from the SPF. They want to talk to you.”

“SPF? Okay, I’ll take it here in my den.”

The fox made the necessary routing adjustments on her panel and then turned back to the cheetah.

“What does the Spatial Police Force want with the captain?” Renny asked.

“I’m not sure,” Taro replied, “but I would guess it probably has something to do with Samantha.”

“Why? Does she have a record of getting into trouble with the police?”

Taro smiled and shook her head. “Sam has connections on all worlds of the Planetary Alignment to get the supplies we need. It’s not widely known, but sometimes she’ll go through underground routes to obtain hard-to-get items.” The vixen sipped her drink and added, “She’s never actually gotten caught, but that doesn’t mean she won’t at some time.”

“Does that have anything to do with her ties to Holden Pharmaceuticals?”

Taro chuckled. “No, that’s legit, I assure you.” She stood up and moved to stand beside him at the controls. “Holden is the largest pharmaceutical company in the PA and Samantha has enough money to buy a fleet of ships like this one.”

“Then why…?”

“She inherited the business and other family assets when her folks died years ago, but she does not really enjoy life in an administrative office. She tried the management scene for a while and jumped at the chance to get out of that environment, though she still connects in for required shareholder meetings and handles some business decisions remotely.” Taro leaned closer to him and traced a finger through his head fur, giving him a shiver. “She and Merlin have been close friends for nearly fifteen years, and she enjoys traveling with him. That’s why she’s here.”

“Does that mean that she and he…”

“Uh huh…” Taro whispered as she moved an arm across his shoulders. “Relationships are inevitable on long voyages like the ones we’re always on.”

Renny looked up into her eyes and swallowed quietly. Sparky had said something similar to him in the galley before they had taken off.

***

“I’m Merlin Sinclair, captain of the Blue Horizon. What can I do for you, officer?”

A high-pitched male voice answered from the wolf’s com terminal. The Blue Horizon was not equipped with video communication so the conversation was audio-only.

“Captain Sinclair,” the voice replied, “I’m SPF Sergeant Randal Stokes. I am conducting an investigation of a theft at your last port of call at New Gate on Kantus.”

“How can we help you?”

“Three energy transducers for an Okami-class cargo carrier were taken from the Eaglebright Electronics warehouse last night.”

The wolf frowned and shook his head. The conversation had with Pockets and Samantha just after launch had confirmed his suspicions that their newly acquired transducers were lifted from the manufacturer. He had not expected the SPF to zero in on them quite so quickly, however.

“Are we supposed to have them, Sergeant?” Merlin asked in a neutral voice. “I have a shipment consisting solely of pharmaceuticals to deliver. We’re scheduled to deliver no equipment parts on this load and my ship is in good working order.”

“True, but uh, you do have an Okami vessel,” the officer replied hesitantly.

“What model do the missing transducers go to?” the wolf asked.

“Uh, my reports say they were for an H-model ship.”

“Sir, if you check our records, you will note that the Blue Horizon is a G-model. We would not be able to use them,” Merlin explained, hoping the sergeant was not aware of technical specifications on a cargo ship. “As far as I know, the components are not backward compatible.”

“Ah, I don’t know about such things, Captain,” the officer admitted. “I don’t think they are... However –”

Merlin sensed the other’s growing confusion, so he pushed his tactics a bit. “How many Okami vessels were docked around New Gate?”

“Uhm, thirty-four. They’re fairly common ships.”

“How many of those are H-models?

“Uhm, I’m not sure.”

“And how many have you contacted, including me?”

“Hmm? Just seven so far.”

“You may wish to narrow your search to the ships that are capable of using them.”

“Yes, you may be right.”

“Then I wish you good luck investigating the others, Sergeant. Good day.”

“Uh, okay. Thanks. Bye.”

Merlin closed the connection and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. Pockets was clearly guilty in this matter, but the wolf had resorted to misdirection in order to keep him on his crew. He respected the SPF, but this was hardly the first time he had to cover for his delinquent engineer for one reason or another.

Each of the fifteen worlds of the Planetary Alignment had their own police organizations, but outside of their local jurisdictions, the Spatial Police Force had the authority to take care of any matter called upon in the space between systems. The SPF headquarters resided on the tiny, otherwise lifeless planet of Joplin in the astrometrical center of the combined worlds of the Planetary Alignment. Its sun dim and dying, the planet was virtually an airless rock of undesired minerals, but it was considered neutral territory by the individual world governments that funded it with a joint account.

The wolf turned back to the purchase orders that Durant had supplied to his slateboard for their cargo. Alexandrius was the richest of the PA worlds and it was a good thing whenever they received orders for delivery there. The businesses there often paid generously and their hospitality was famous. Merlin had a standing policy to allow all crewmembers three days of leave during every planetfall between deliveries and he had never heard a complaint for the rule whenever on Alexandrius.

The wolf heard a muffled boom and felt the floor vibrate with it. He looked up in alarm, wondering if they had collided with a small meteoroid, when a tone sounded from his desk panel. Almost at the same time, his intercom chirped. He touched the control and said, “Merlin, here. What is it?”

“Captain!” said Taro’s excited voice. “The fire alarms have gone off in the galley again!”

“On my way!” He grabbed his nautical hat, bounded out the door, and sprinted down the curving passageway to the back of the ship where the galley resided. When he arrived, Sparky was out in the smoke-filled hallway with Samantha. The lynx was coughing violently and pointing to the galley doorway.

“Pockets is in there,” Samantha told the wolf. “He’s trying to fight the fire!”

“Get Sparky to Sickbay!” Merlin commanded.

“Aye!”

He pulled his hat down over his muzzle and stepped into the galley. Through the smoke, he saw the diminutive raccoon standing on top of the table with an extinguisher that was just giving out on him. Everything behind the counter was ablaze and the flames were growing out toward the oxygen coming from the hallway. The wolf grabbed Pockets by the collar, yanked him off the table, and bolted out the door. He dropped the mechanic to the deck and palmed the control to shut the door. Pockets yelped when he hit the floor and rolled to his feet. Several tools fell out of his pockets with dull thuds. The captain opened a panel beside the door and manually pressed a large red button set into the recess until it clicked. When he heard a hissing behind the doorway, Merlin turned to face the raccoon.

“Are you all right?” he asked through watery eyes.

Pockets coughed a couple of times and then nodded. “I don’t think I did much good in there,” he said in a raspy voice.

“Perhaps not, but it was a good effort.” Merlin rubbed his burning eyes and gasped, “What did she burn in there, a crate of onions?”

“I dunno. I didn’t get a chance to talk to her before I pushed her out into the hall and grabbed an extinguisher.” Both turned at the sound of running feet.

“What happened?” Durant asked as he stopped beside them.

“Guess...” Pockets quipped as he retrieved his fallen tools.

“One of her experimental dishes?”

“Probably,” Merlin answered. “Pockets tried to be the hero and put out a bonfire with a water pistol. I snatched him out before he hurt himself.”

“Huh?” Durant looked puzzled. Pockets frowned and snorted.

Merlin chuckled at the raccoon’s expression. “The extinguisher he was using was not big enough for the size of fire,” he explained. “After I dragged him out, I sealed the room and vented the air into space.” As if to punctuate his words, the panel beside the door beeped. He pushed a white button beneath the red one and then closed the panel. Every room module on the Blue Horizon was equipped with such a system for fire emergencies that grew out of hand. The rule was to fight the fire as possible, but if that was not enough, get everyone out of the compartment and then activate it.

Merlin walked to a nearby intercom terminal and called the bridge. “Taro, here,” she answered.

“Go to the engineering station and take a reading on the galley,” he replied.

There were a few seconds of silence before she reported, “Air pressure is at absolute vacuum, but is now rising. Temperature is twenty-two degrees and also rising. You should be able to go back in there in about a minute.”

“Thank you.” The wolf clicked off the connection and turned to Pockets. “Go check on Sparky in the Infirmary,” he said. “Have Samantha look you over, too.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Merlin turned to Durant at a follow-up beep from the wall panel and sighed. “All right, let’s go inside and have a look.”

***

Pockets shuffled around the curved corridor toward the forward end of the ship. Sickbay was near the bridge, next to Renny’s cabin. He moved in through the open door and found Samantha giving the frazzled lynx a dose of pure oxygen. Sparky gripped the conical oxy-mask tightly and gulped air with her ears flat against her head.

“Easy now,” the Border collie told her.

The feline took a few more deep inhalations and then lay back onto the medical gurney. She coughed a couple more times and looked over at Pockets.

“What happened?” the raccoon asked.

Sparky smiled feebly and said in a raspy voice. “Fynian Wonder Meal.”

“Ah, so that was it,” Pockets replied.

“Why?” Sam asked.

“I wanted to surprise Renny with it.”

“I think you surprised everyone else,” Taro said dryly. Everyone turned to look at the red fox that had just stepped inside the door. “When are you going to learn that you cannot make that dish on board a starship? We were just talking about that prior disaster, remember?”

“It worked while I was on leave,” Sparky said.

“Did the compartmental settings of the Blue Horizon in flight match that of your test kitchen on the planet?”

“Uhm, I don’t know...”

“I thought you were our Environmental Specialist,” the fox taunted. “Our pressurized mix of air is not probably the best setting for a dish that requires open flames.”

The lynx covered her eyes with her hands and sighed. “It had not occurred to me.”

“Sparky,” Taro said softly. “You’ve caught the galley on fire twice now trying to make this thing. Before you do it again, I would suggest extra research for spatial environments.”

“Agreed,” the feline answered.

“Now, are you all right?”

Samantha answered for her. “She took in a lot of smoke and she has a sprained ankle from when Pockets yanked her out of the room and banged her leg on the table.”

“Oops,” the raccoon said lowly. “Sorry, Sparky.”

The lynx motioned for him to come to her as she sat up. She tugged on his arm to pull him close and then licked him gently on the cheek. “Thank you, Pockets. You came to my rescue,” she said with a smile. “I might not have survived at all if you hadn’t grabbed me when you did. A minor ankle bang is acceptable.”

***

Merlin wiped a sooty hand across his forehead and frowned through the lingering haze at the bear. “She really did a number on the kitchen this time, my friend,” he said. “I’m afraid I can’t just ignore it like I did before. Our insurance will take care of most of it, but the rest will have to come out of her pay.”

“I’ll get Patch up here to help me assess the damage and give you a credit figure,” Durant replied gloomily.

“Yeah, well, wait until after we’ve salvaged what food we can,” Merlin said. “We may have to return to Kantus or divert to another port to resupply if too much is lost.”

“We’ll get right on it.”

The grizzly bear left to get the engineer and Merlin looked at the ruined kitchen. Whatever she had done, Sparky had managed to spread the fire across every countertop and piece of equipment in the place. The flames had been extinguished just as they got to the cooler units, but he was uncertain if they still functioned. The temperature gauges on the door panels had melted in the high heat. He did not want to open the units until they had alternate coolers in place to put the food into or he would have already looked into them. As the smoke haze was slowly drawn out of the shipboard air, he noticed the damage to the mural on the galley wall with a frown. Something in the spray from the chemical extinguisher the raccoon had used dissolved most of the paint Jiro had used to create the picture six years earlier. He groaned and shook his head; the cougar had spent three weeks on the mural during the maiden flight for their first customer.

Merlin walked around the table to the blistered countertop. He skirted around its side and stepped into the kitchen. Sparky and Pockets had used four extinguishers on the fire; the empty canisters littered the floor along with an assortment of pots, pans and cooking utensils. The walls were charred blackest near the massive stove and the oven was a total loss, as if something had exploded from within. Despite the earlier decompression and the ventilating fans, a small curl of smoke issued from behind the stove. Merlin leaned over and peered down at a blackened loaf of bread that had resumed smoldering. He found a damp towel in the sink and draped it over the loaf. The wolf straightened up and sighed audibly.

“What a mess,” Patch mumbled as he stepped gingerly into the room.

Samantha peeked in behind him and saw the ruined mural. “Ah, no,” she whined.

Patch looked over at the wall that had escaped his notice and shook his head. He pulled his eyes away from it and moved to the kitchen.

“Where is Durant?” Merlin asked.

The raccoon knelt down to pick up a broken spice bottle and replied, “He went down to his office to get his slateboard for the damage assessment forms and pricing guide.”

“Is Sparky okay?”

Samantha frowned at the damage and replied, “She has smoke inhalation, a sprained ankle and singed fur in places – mostly on her hands. She’s been treated and Taro thinks she will be okay with some rest. She’s with her now in Sparky’s quarters.”

Merlin walked back to the long table and motioned the collie to follow him. “Wait here for Durant,” he said to Patch. “Sam and I are going to get the recreational cooler units from the upper deck. Don’t open the refrigerators until we get back with them.”

“Right.”

Samantha followed the wolf around the corridor to the lift. When Merlin stopped in front of the bright blue door, he thumbed a button set into the wall at waist level. The panel slid aside and the pair moved inside. He tapped a pad labeled “3” and the lift door closed. The cubicle hummed lowly as it moved upward.

When the door opened again seconds later, they stepped out onto the ship’s recreational deck. There were video panels along one wall, a pool table in the middle of the room, with card tables and library tables to the side. A large curved window faced ship’s forward that was equipped with the same near-invisible circuitry as the bridge panels that allowed it to double as a vidscreen for movies or other recorded programs. There was an instrument terminal below it to monitor, though not control, every major system of the ship. The color of blue dominated the floor and ceiling, and the walls were light brown. There were comfortable chairs and couches dispersed at random around the large room, with a tiny kitchenette occupying a back corner.

The recreation deck was a nice spot to get away from regular ship’s operations, but the room rarely saw much use these days. Everyone seemed to prefer either the galley or their individual cabins for their off-duty activities. In recent months, it had become a catch-all storeroom and things were lying about randomly. Several storage lockers occupied the aft wall for extra equipment such as weights, exercise mats and the articles for fencing. Jiro had been Merlin’s only fencing partner on board so the items had not been touched since his death.

The captain tapped on the lights, but only four of the eight glow panels functioned. He moved toward the kitchenette, but before he could grab one of the small refrigerating cooler units, Samantha touched him on the shoulder.

“Merlin?” she asked, “May I talk to you a minute?”

The wolf looked over at her. “Make it quick, Sam. This may be all that saves our food supply.”

The collie nodded. “Let me pay for Sparky’s damages,” she said.

Merlin twitched an ear. “I appreciate your offer,” he said, “and no doubt she would, too, but she’s done this before. If she does not have to pay for her share of the damage herself, then she may be likely to do it again.”

“Please, Merlin?” she asked. “Sparky has been saving up for something special, but this will wipe out a good portion of her savings and you know I have plenty to spare.”

Merlin sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. “If you want to help her out, why not help her with her savings instead? Let her pay for her mistake first, and then offer your generosity to her financial goal afterward. It will amount to the same thing, but she will have learned her lesson.”

Samantha nodded. “Okay, I suppose that will work.”

“Good,” the wolf said. “Now, let’s get these down to the galley.”

***

The hours in the control room had seemed longer than the actual time Renny had spent in the center seat. Most of the ships he had served on had automated systems to take over the mundane routine flight after manned launches and landings; many felt there was no real need for a continued presence on the bridge once the main engines were shut down and the ship traveled on its sustained inertial velocity.

However, the cheetah’s new boss did not feel as if that were enough. Taro had explained to him that Captain Sinclair felt the necessity to have someone on the bridge at all times, in the event an unexpected emergency cropped up. Automation worked well enough, so long as a stray asteroid or another ship did not suddenly appear in their flight path, but distress calls required mandatory investigation and the captain did not wish to miss any business-related communication that might come through. It was rare that crises happened, but Merlin did not want to take that chance, and therefore required that all members of his crew take a watch on the bridge on a rotating basis.

As the new guy on board, Renny had been assigned the first watch, though because of the launch from Kantus and the explosion in the galley he had remained beyond the usual shift.

Merlin had relieved him on the bridge moments earlier and had told him to get some rest. Afterward, he was to help Pockets and Samantha clean up the long-unused recreation deck. With the damage to the galley not repairable with what they had on board, they would have to use the small kitchenette in the Rec Room for their meals.

Renny yawned widely as he approached the cabin that had been assigned to him and opened the door. He had not had time since coming on board to do more than stow his duffel inside the room, but the indirect lighting was already on. He leaned in past a potted tree and looked inside cautiously. Taro sat on the soft, pliable flooring in front of an open closet door, a plastic box beside her. The red fox looked up at him with moist orange eyes, but she gave him a smile.

“Hi,” he said to her.

Taro wiped her eyes with the back of a hand and replied, “Hello.”

Renny squatted down beside her. “May I ask what you are doing in my cabin?” he inquired.

The vixen gestured toward the container in front of her. “No one’s been in here to box up Jiro’s personal effects since he died,” she explained. “I thought I should take care of it so you could set up the room how you wanted it now that it was yours.” She held up a small ceramic figurine of a non-sapient cougar and shrugged her shoulders. “I thought I would be finished before you got off your shift, but the memories slowed me down.”

Renny frowned and scratched one of his small ears. “Were the two of you close?” he asked quietly. Taro did not respond, but the look on her face was answer enough. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he replied softly.

“Me, too,” she whispered. She cleared her throat and put the figurine inside the box.

Renny fidgeted for a moment and then stood up. “I’m going to lie down for a while and get some rest,” he said, “but you are welcome to continue what you’re doing if you are quiet.”

Taro looked up at him and managed a small smile. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m almost finished anyway.”

The navigator nodded and walked to the bed. His duffel had been untouched and he moved it to the floor at the foot of his bunk. He quietly stripped the top blanket from the bed and set it aside. He sat down on the sheet-covered mattress and removed his boots and shirt. A moment later, he fluffed his pillow and then stretched out on the bed, his face to the wall.

Taro looked up from her box and glanced over at the cheetah. She let her mind wander a bit as she let her eyes stare unfocused at the spots in the fur on his back, until she realized her gaze had drifted toward the dark tip of his long, slender tail.

She smiled at a fond memory and turned back to her task. She quickly pulled the last of the small items from the bottom of the closet and sealed them up in the box. She would keep them in her room until the next time their next voyage took them to Mainor, where she would then have them forwarded to Jiro’s family.

When she got to her feet, she glanced toward the bed and saw the cheetah watching her silently with large yellow eyes. He had turned over quietly and faced her. She gave him a genuine smile to let him know that she was okay and he smiled back at her.

Taro set her box on the desktop near the bed and then knelt in front of the navigator. She leaned forward and licked him on the tip of his nose, an action that took him by surprise.

“I’ve only known you a few hours,” she said, “but I am already fond of you.”

“Oh?” he asked as he raised his head to look at her evenly. “Why is that?”

“I learned a lot about you just visiting those few hours on the bridge,” she replied. “That, and your understanding about me and Jiro.”

Renny frowned. “I know what it is like to lose someone close,” he said. “Although in my case it was a younger sister named Sophie.”

The red vixen nodded, but continued to smile. “I think I will always miss Jiro, but I need to build some new memories now,” she said. “Want to help me?”

Renny sat up and patted the mattress beside him. “That sounds like a worthwhile endeavor.”

Taro gave him a smile, but narrowed her eyes as she got up and occupied the spot beside him. Without another word, she passed her hand over his chest, slowly running her fingers through his yellow and black fur. Renny wrapped an arm around her and then pulled her close.

***

The bridge was quiet as the Blue Horizon flew through space at her normal cruising speed. The LightDrive engines had been disengaged an hour earlier. The captain often spent many quiet hours alone on the bridge, usually with his nose buried in a novel or going over manifests, invoices or purchase orders on his slateboard. He was currently poring through the financial data Durant had sent to him earlier and was frowning at the damage figures to the galley.

The stove and oven were not repairable and many of Sparky’s smaller appliances had been destroyed. Most of the spices and special seasonings she had acquired throughout the Planetary Alignment were gone and so were most of her dry goods. Fortunately, the large refrigeration coolers still functioned normally, even if the gauges and indicators on the outside of the unit were damaged by the intense heat of the fire. They would still have plenty of food to last them the three weeks to Alexandrius, but it would be somewhat bland without the lynx’s spices and other fine additions. The snack stores in the Rec Room lockers would help supplement their meals and the kitchenette there would have to substitute the galley for food preparation.

The wolf glanced at the bottom line of Durant’s figures and felt a cold chill. Repair and replacement of equipment and foodstuffs to get the galley back up to operation was going to cost no less than ©56,000. Fifty-six thousand credits was nearly the full payment they would get for the delivery of their current cargo to Alexandrius! Durant had already contacted their insurance agent on Dennier, who had informed him that an assessor would meet them in Alucara to inspect the damage. Rough figures showed that the Interstellar Insurance Agency would cover eighty percent of the costs in this case, which would mean Sparky’s bill would come to ©11,200.

When Merlin showed Sparky the damage figures, she had nearly fainted over the amount, but she agreed that it was her fault and that she should pay for it. She promised not to attempt the Fynian Wonder Meal on board again, nor any other dish that required arbor whisk juice as an ingredient. The high temperature needed to cook with it did not react well with the shipboard atmosphere mixture. Sparky had ©15,000 saved back into her account so she would at least be able to cover her portion of the damages, but that left her with only ©3,800. As a consolation, Merlin authorized her to go on a full shopping run to restock the galley once the repairs were completed. In her favor, several of the ruined appliances had been in need of updating anyway, but it was still an unbudgeted expense.

The wolf set the slateboard aside and stretched. He got up and walked around the bridge examining readouts, and when he was satisfied that everything was running normally, he picked up a book he had brought back with him and opened it to his bookmark.

He usually read mysteries, but this time he had purchased a space-adventure story written on Earth over one hundred thirty years before that world had spread out into the galaxy. He enjoyed the archaic technology in the fictional story and was ready to continue reading. Before he had made it through a single paragraph, however, the com panel beeped with an incoming call.

He set his book aside and moved to Taro’s terminal. He put her headset across his ears and said, “This is the SS Blue Horizon. What can we do for you?”

“Captain Sinclair? Is this Merlin?” said an accented voice from the headset speakers.

“Aye, this is Captain Sinclair.”

“Merlin! It’s me, Arktanis!”

“Tanis!” the wolf exclaimed. “Where in creation are you, old boy?”

“I’m in Corral City on Alexandrius. I just found out ya were heading to Alucara and wanted to know if I could meet with ya there.”

Merlin grinned ear to ear and said, “Of course you can! We will be at the Ryu Industries’ dockyard at the Chaparral Metro Spaceport on the sixth, barring any delays. What brings you to Alexandrius? The last we’d heard you were still playing soldier on Nalirra.”

“Ah, that’s what I wanted to meet with ya about, Captain,” the voice replied. “My service time has ended and I have a request to make of ya.”

***

It had taken close to four hours, but Renny, Pockets and Samantha had cleaned the Rec Room and it finally looked cozy. The cheetah did not understand why the crew had not used it for so long, but he did not ask. Since he was now on the payroll and the Blue Horizon was to be his home, the navigator felt he would get a lot of use of the place even if no one else did. He had always been physical by nature and he was pleased with the amount of exercise equipment available to him.

Pockets had his nose buried in an open instrument panel beneath the large vidscreen. He had said something about it having broken down some months earlier, but as the room was seldom used, neither he nor Patch had bothered to fix it until now. Samantha had been most adamant about repairs to that particular unit. She had explained to Renny that she was fond of old movies and the large screen was better suited for watching the shows than the small one in her cabin.

Renny walked across the room toward the Border collie and sat down on a barstool by the kitchenette. She had just finished moving the last of their food items from the wrecked galley and was overlooking her handiwork. She set a wipe cloth on the counter and glanced over at the cheetah after brushing stray dust from her black and white fur.

“My first day on board has been rather eventful,” Renny told her with a grin. “Is it always like this?”

Samantha shook her head with a smile. “Not really,” she replied. “Usually the voyage from one planet to another is real quiet. If you have any hobbies, you will have plenty of time to work on them. If you don’t have any hobbies, now would be a good time to pick up something.”

Renny crossed his legs and sat perched on top of the stool with his hands on his ankles. His tail swished lazily as it hung toward the floor. “It looks like I’ll be spending a lot of time in this room,” he said.

“You like old movies?” Samantha asked.

“For the exercise,” the cheetah answered. He looked around the room and shrugged. “How can the captain afford to pay a crew to sit around all the time?” he asked after a moment. “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to have him just pay local people at the ports you dock into to unload the cargo for him? It seems like he’d have a perpetually bored crew.”

Sam nodded and leaned forward on the counter, her elbows supporting her weight. “Granted we don’t really have enough duties to keep us occupied constantly during a lengthy voyage, but we have other skills as well,” she said. “I keep the ship and crew supplied with needed items and I maintain the hardware and software of the computer system. Durant keeps the books in line and makes sure the cargo is secure throughout the trip. Taro is always in contact with businesses all over the Planetary Alignment, lining up new jobs for us in advance.” She gestured toward the raccoon across the room.

“Pockets and his brother Patch keep the ship running and take care of all the mechanical and electronic problems that pop up. Sparky keeps us all fed, but she also monitors the systems to keep our onboard environment balanced and breathable. You are the navigator and keep us on course to each of our jobs, and we all play cargo mover when we land. That is, everyone but Sparky; she usually finds a way out of helping us.” She looked at him and shrugged her shoulders. “If you think about it, you are probably the one on board with the fewest duties.”

“You think I’m not important to the crew?” Renny asked with a frown.

Samantha laughed. “Quite the contrary, kitty. You probably have one of the most important roles among us, making sure we get from one place to the next without flying off blindly into the void of space.”

“Kitty, eh?” the feline said with a lopsided grin. “I’ve been on board less than twenty-four hours and already you’re calling me names.”

The Border collie snickered. “Yeah, I have nicknames for everyone, and so long as you are going to be one of us, you may as well get used to it.”

“Yeah,” Renny said with a far-away gaze. “Several on board have already tried to make me feel right at home.”

Samantha gave him a mischievous smile. “That would have to be Taro and Sparky, I’d wager.”

Renny blinked and looked at her as if she had been a mind reader, but then shook his head with a smile. “Half-right,” he admitted.

“Taro?”

“Yup.”

Samantha nodded. “Don’t get complacent,” she told him. “Sparky will be next.”

Renny leaned forward. “When’s your turn, beautiful?”

Sam’s eyes went wide and she laughed. “Keep dreaming, kitten,” she said. “I don’t get intimate as quickly as those two do.”

“Oh, sorry,” Renny said, his head down in embarrassment.

Samantha reached down and cupped his chin to pull it up. “Don’t be,” she said. “I’m flattered you think me attractive, but at the moment there’s only one person on board who gets my full affections.”

“Captain Sinclair. Yeah, I am aware.”

“I will assume Taro told you that,” she said dryly.

“Right again,” he said.

“She talks too much sometimes,” Samantha stated with narrowed eyes, “though she makes a good friend once you get to know her.”

“What about Sparky?”

“Everybody loves Sparky. She’s a wonderful person all around.”

Renny recalled the group meeting the day before and remembered something that had been on his mind. “May I ask you a personal question?”

“That depends on how personal it is, but go ahead and ask.”

“Taro told me about your father’s business, and that despite your position in such a prestigious company, you would rather fly around the PA in a freighter with your friend, Captain Sinclair.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you get paid working for the Blue Horizon, too?” He looked up at her hesitantly, feeling very nosey into her affairs.

Samantha chuckled. “Yes, I do, but only on Merlin’s insistence,” she answered. “Because of Holden Pharmaceuticals, I don’t need his money, but he refuses to let me work without pay. So, I take everything he pays me and put it in a private slush fund for the crew… all without his knowledge, of course.” She leaned close and put a finger to her lips. “Don’t breathe a word of this to him,” she whispered. “I use the money from time to time to help out members of the crew when they get into binds and I find out about them.”

“Why wouldn’t the captain like it?” Renny asked.

“He’s very conscious of my money, even though we’ve known one another half our lives, and he feels awkward when I use my credits to do something for his business.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Oh, and Renny,” she added, “You don’t have to keep calling him Captain Sinclair. You are permitted to call him Merlin.”

“Yeah, that’s what Taro told me. It just seems a little strange to be on a first-name basis with the boss. It’s never been allowed anywhere else I’ve worked.”

“Let there be light!”

Renny and Samantha looked up at Pockets’ exclamation and saw the large vidscreen come to life in the middle of an Interstellar News Network broadcast.

“Nice, crisp picture!” the raccoon said jubilantly.

“Yeah, Pockets, but there’s no sound,” Samantha replied.

The short mechanic reached into one of his voluminous pockets and pulled out a slender remote. He thumbed the button and suddenly the room was bombarded with multi-dimensional surround sound… at a deafening volume. Pockets had to scramble to reduce the sound and then looked back at his crewmates with an embarrassed grin.

“Heh…” he said, “it hasn’t been on in months.” Pockets took a quick look around the room and then smiled at his companions. “The recreation deck is almost ready for business,” he said. “Looks like all that’s left is to clean the floors and make sure all the circuits function on the vidscreen.”

“I’ll get the vacuum,” Renny volunteered.

***

Renny finished cleaning the pliable material of the Rec Room flooring and smiled when Pockets walked over to him. “I’ve not seen this deck look so good in a long time,” the raccoon said cheerily. “We haven’t really used it in a while, but with all the lights working and everything straightened up, we just might start recreating in here again.”

The cheetah looked around him as he stowed the floor cleaner in a storage locker. “The Argentina did not have a third deck for recreation. I like this.”

“Renny, look at this,” Samantha said. He and Pockets walked to the forward window and saw what Sam had indicated. The Blue Horizon was coming up near an area of space filled with gaseous hazes of blues and greens. Their current course would take them just beyond the edge of it on their right.

“Where are we?” Renny asked.

“It’s the Van Conner Nebula,” Pockets replied. “There are large traces of chorterium gas in there that diffuses sensors, but it’s otherwise harmless.” There was a flicker of light near the bottom of the screen, but its origin was out of sight.

Whoom!

The ship rocked to one side and the resounding boom reverberated through the deck plates. “What was that?” Renny exclaimed as he scrambled to stay on his feet.

“Did someone let Sparky into the kitchen again?” the raccoon quipped.

Samantha hit him hard on the shoulder. “Pockets! That wasn’t nice.”

“Sorry…” The raccoon rubbed his shoulder where she had whacked him. “That was an explosion,” he said. “All too familiar, if I guess right.”

“He’s back,” Samantha replied, tightlipped. “It has to be Sagan.”

“I’m going to the bridge,” Renny said as he bolted for the lift. Samantha grabbed Pockets’ arm before he could follow and glanced out into the nebula.

The Border collie sat down in a seat in front of the panel and began tapping out commands on the Rec Room terminal. “I’ve got to be quick!”

The raccoon ran to the fencing closet and pulled out one of Merlin’s rapiers. “I don’t really know how to use this,” he said with a frown, “but I won’t be unarmed this time!”

“Pockets,” Samantha warned, “Jiro didn’t know how to use one very well either.”

“I know, but one of them nearly broke my neck because I didn’t have anything to defend myself. Never again!”

“All hands, we’ve got an emergency!” Durant announced over the ship-wide intercom. “It’s the Basilisk!”

***

Whoom!

Renny stumbled through the bridge door and rolled onto the deck as the ship reeled beneath him, giving the inertial compensators a job to do. The grizzly bear’s bulk tightly filled the pilot seat as he tried to maneuver the Blue Horizon away from the attacking vessel.

“Are they pirates, Mr. Durant?” Renny asked as he moved to the bear’s side.

“It’s the same ship that attacked us two weeks ago.”

“I don’t see it.”

Durant pointed to the lower right of the right-hand window panel. “Look there. It’s black.” Renny saw a wedge-shaped shadow emerging from the nebula. The vessel was painted flat black and had no active running lights, which made it difficult to see against the darkness of space.

“That’s the Basilisk?” he asked. “The pirates who killed your friend?”

“That’s them,” Durant growled. “I would recognize the silhouette of a Manta-class ship anywhere! We weren’t able to outrun them before and they got over half our electronics cargo before they pulled out.” He frowned as another ribbon of brilliant energy passed just beyond the Blue Horizon’s nose. “I don’t know how we’ll be able to get away this time, either.”

“Go into the nebula,” the cheetah suggested.

“What? Our sensors won’t work in there.”

Renny watched the marauding ship draw closer. “Neither will theirs — use the chorterium against them!” he repeated. “Fly into the nebula at full speed!”

“Now, wait—”

“Do as he says,” said a new voice.

The bear did not bother to look back at Merlin, but kept his hands tight on the guidance shifts. “Boss, I don’t think that’s a good—”

“Durant,” Merlin said quickly, “give Renny the controls.”

The bear turned to look at his captain beside the center seat with a deep frown. “Aye, boss,” he said as he vacated the station. Renny jumped into the wide seat and strapped himself in. His hands flew over the controls as he prepared to gun the engines with full emergency power.

“Bridge!” Samantha’s voice exclaimed over the intercom. “I’m transmitting a signal to the Basilisk. Wait ten seconds and then make a run for it! Mark.”

Merlin stabbed a control stud on the console in front of his navigator and broadcast to the whole ship, “Everybody buckle in, now!”

The cheetah nervously watched the timer on his station panel. When the eternally long ten seconds had passed, they saw the other vessel slip sideways and fire a shot wildly off their starboard.

“Now, Renny!” Merlin commanded.

The cheetah released the pent-up power and the Blue Horizon jumped into the nebula. He fired the forward thrusters to drop their speed to a near stop a short distance inside and then reoriented the ship’s direction with sudden, opposite prods of the guidance shifts. Once done, he reengaged full thrust and then asked breathlessly, “Are they following?”

Durant shook his head with a frown and wiped his sweaty palms on his green shirt. “We have no sensors, Renny, as I told you. We won’t know until we’ve cleared the nebula.”

A white-hot finger of silent fire arced just meters in front of the forward windows and lit up the bridge. Renny prodded the controls to quickly change direction and avoid the incoming fire once again, but the inertia compensators were on a low setting for normal cruising, so anything not tied down bounced around with the sudden jolt. Merlin and Durant scrambled into seats and buckled their harnesses after tripping over one another.

Twice again, Renny randomly changed direction of their axis in evasive action, trying to make the ship a difficult target to hit. Then he straightened her out to fly lengthwise along the nebula’s middle, blue and green gases slipping quickly across the Horizon’s spatial shields. There were no more hits from the attackers and no word from them either. They emerged at full throttle into clear space moments later and Renny maintained that speed to put distance between them and the pirates.

“The sensors are back online,” Durant reported as he scanned from the engineering station. “No one is following.”

Merlin released the breath he had held and nodded to the cheetah. “Good work, Renny. Maintain present speed for another ten minutes. If we still have no pursuers, readjust our course to resume our original heading and then drop back to inertia cruising.” The door opened behind them and Samantha stepped in, looking shaken but rather pleased with herself.

“What did you broadcast to the Basilisk?” Merlin asked her.

The black and white collie laughed and leaned against the back of Renny’s seat. “I gave them a computer virus,” she explained. “I got the idea from a movie. If it worked as well as written, their mainframe should have dumped all navigational charts, records and the central regulation program into oblivion.”

Renny looked at her with a frown. “All ships have backups for that,” he said.

“Yes, but it will take them hours to reinstall them. My virus also reset their sensor calibrations to random values.”

“You had time to write a program for all that?” Durant asked.

Samantha’s expression darkened. “I wrote it after Sagan’s last visit, a present just for him. I had to research the type of operating system his model of ship uses and then it took me a week and a half of coding to get it right in a virtual sandbox.”

“I don’t imagine he’s too happy with us right now,” the bear said with a grin.

The feline navigator looked at Sam with a smile and then to Merlin. “I’m impressed!” he said.

“So am I,” Durant added. “That was some good maneuvering back there, albeit rather shaky. Where’d you learn to do that?”

Renny shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing but instinct. I was just trying to save our tails.”

“Captain?” the voice of Patch issued from the intercom.

The wolf touched the control and answered, “Merlin here. We lost them.”

“That’s good to know,” the raccoon said, “but I have some bad news for Durant, if you know where he’s at.”

The bear moved to the com station and added his own voice to the conversation. “I’m here, Patch. What happened?”

“Several of the cargo pallets broke loose during all those jerks and jolts you all took the ship through back there. There are several crates of drugs scattered all over the floor down here and some of it looks pretty well ruined.”

Durant groaned with a helpless glance at the captain. “I’ll be right down,” he said to the engineer.

Merlin took back the conversation as the loadmaster left the bridge. “Patch, how are the engines down there after that mess?”

“The engines? They’re fine, Captain. Those low-level flares the raiders fired at us didn’t damage any of the ship’s systems, but I would recommend some hull bonding on the blast sites once we’ve landed in Alucara.”

“Why would Sagan use low-level weapons on us?

“If he already knew we were carrying drugs, he may not have wanted the cargo damaged while trying to take us. I heard Durant tell Pockets that some of what we’re carrying is rather pricey.”

“That’s a good point,” Merlin admitted. “That’s probably one more thing that saved us, other than Sam’s swift thinking with the computer and Renny’s quick flying reflexes.”

“Anything you need me to do?” Patch asked.

“Nothing unless there’s any internal damage you think needs looking into.”

“I think we’ll be okay. All my instruments are reading normal. I’m going back to my music.”

“Okay, Patch.”

As soon as the intercom connection was closed, Renny looked at Samantha and asked, “Who is Sagan?”

Sam moved forward and sat down at the engineer’s station. “He’s the jaguar who runs that ship we just escaped from. He is rather notorious and not a nice guy. It has been said that he has no honor and would inflict torture on his loved ones to get whatever he wanted. He’s psychotic and there’s quite a reward for his head in a basket – preferably severed.”

“No one knows where he comes from,” Merlin added. “All that is known is that his name is Sagan, his ship is called the Basilisk and his entire crew consists of jaguars like himself. He showed up three years ago and started raiding ships of all kinds, including one SPF cruiser. At first, they never hurt anyone, but then he and his crew became sadistic and started killing someone with each attack. He’s even been known to take on other pirates.”

Renny used maneuvering thrusters to slow their speed back down to inertia cruising and then shut off the engines. “Nice guy,” he remarked. “Is Sagan his first name or last?”

“No one knows,” Samantha answered, “but this is the second time he’s attacked us.”

Merlin scowled. “The guy you replaced on our crew was one of his victims. I keep wishing it had been me who Sagan had gone after with a sword, rather than Jiro.”

“You have a death wish?” Renny asked with a raised eyebrow.

The wolf shook his head. “No. I was teaching the fencing arts to Jiro, but he was still just a student. I might have beaten Sagan or at the least, driven him away before anyone was killed.”

“Merlin holds a fencing title on Dennier,” Samantha added proudly.

“That was years ago,” the captain replied.

“Maybe, Grand Champion, but you still like to practice regularly,” the collie retorted with a smile.

The room fell quiet as the cheetah locked the controls down so he could turn in his seat. No one said anything else for a few moments until Renny looked up at the wolf. “Captain?” he asked. “I’ve always had an interest in swords, but have never learned to use one. Would you be willing to teach me?”

Merlin looked at him, his face unreadable. His tail twitched back and forth as he mulled over the request, and then he gave the cheetah a nod. “Now that the Rec Room is operational again, you can join me there every day for an hour at oh-nine hundred hours.”

Renny smiled and nodded. “I’ll be there, sir.”

Merlin snorted and shook his head. “You can call me captain, boss or Merlin, like anyone else does,” he said with a laugh, “but please don’t call me sir. I’m not in the military anymore. “

“Right-o, Cap’n.”

The intercom beeped and the wolf opened the connection. “Merlin, here.”

“You’d better get down here, boss,” Durant said. “You are not gonna like this.”

“What happened?”

“The drug containers that Patch found broken loose contained Amohalkonicin. It is a chemical element that has to be in a total vacuum environment when it is mixed with other pharmaceutical ingredients. It’s rendered inert when exposed to oxygen in its base form. All but one container of it has been exposed to our shipboard air.”

Merlin groaned and closed his eyes. “Give me a credit amount. How much are we going to lose on the delivery because of this?”

“Boss, Amohalkonicin was the most expensive drug in the whole lot.”

“Give me the amount, Durant.”

“Seven damaged containers at ©3,500 per container comes to... uhm... 24,500 credits.”

Merlin swallowed hard. “Is that before or after insurance figures?”

“Before.” Durant hesitated and then added, “Each of the Amohalkonicin containers have a small red tag attached to them displaying a U-shaped arrow, but I am not familiar with the reference symbol.”

“Okay, I’ll be right down,” he said. “I’ll have to ask about it when I get in contact with Interstellar Insurance.” He closed the connection and then rubbed his eyes slowly. He looked at Samantha and asked, “Who’s next on the roster for bridge watch? Durant still had another hour to go for his shift, but I need him to help me with this fiasco.”

The collie punched up the roster on the computer terminal and replied, “Pockets.”

Merlin looked at Renny and asked, “Would you be willing to cover for the next hour until Pockets comes on duty?”

“Sure thing, Captain.”

Samantha waved her fingers at the wolf and added, “Go on, Merlin. I’ll maintain scanning for any pursuit by the Basilisk and keep Renny company for a while.”

“Thanks, you two,” the captain said as he left the bridge, wondering what else could go wrong on this voyage, but not daring Fate to ask aloud.

***

It had been two days since the encounter with the Basilisk and Renny was still restless over the incident. The cheetah had never experienced anything like a pirate attack before and got nervous every time he thought about it. His life had not actually been uneventful since he had left the Thornton homestead on the Kantus savannah as a youngster, but he had never had his life on the line before. He had not expected that working on a mere freighter. Okami-class ships were probably the most common cargo vessels throughout the Planetary Alignment and were considered little more than ordinary space trucks. An “ordinary” ship should not have excitement, he had always thought, but Renny had learned from the others that while life on the Blue Horizon was usually slow-paced and mundane, there were moments when the ship seemed to attract peculiar times.

He was about to shut out the light of his room and try to get some sleep when he heard a faint tapping on the door. With an exhausted sigh, he touched the lock release on his room remote and then said, “Come in.”

The panel slid to the side and the ship’s cook stood there with a soft smile. She was dressed in a lightweight white sarong with small purple flowers and tiny green vines, and her feet were bare. She stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

“Hello,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Hi, Sparky,” Renny replied as he stood up and motioned toward the desk chair. “Please have a seat,” he said. The tawny lynx sat down and looked up at him quietly. Her face fur was lopsided where it had been singed in the galley fire, but she had fluffed it in her grooming to fill out the imbalance.

“Uh, what can I do for you?” he asked and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Sparky shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head to the side. “I’ve not had much time to visit with you since you came on board,” she said. “I thought I would see if you were open to some company.”

Renny gave her a smile and nodded. “I like company,” he replied. “I get too fidgety if I have long periods of time with nothing to do or no one to talk to.”

“I brought along some entertainment, if you don’t mind,” Sparky said to him.

Renny was puzzled, for he had not seen the lynx bring anything into the room with her, but gave her a nod. “Sure,” he said.

With slow, graceful movement, Sparky stood up and began to unwrap the sarong. Renny swallowed as she gave him a seductive glance and then dropped the chiffon garment to the floor.

***

“So, how have you been doing?” Merlin asked his new navigator across the kitchenette countertop. Most of the crew had gathered for dinner and conversation. The only one not present was Samantha, who was currently on bridge watch.

Renny took a quick look around at the other faces gathered around the food and lapped up some of his windroot soda, a Kantan soft drink he favored. “Well,” he answered, “everyone’s been nice to the fresh blood among them.” He smiled as he felt Taro’s hand thread around his waist. “Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to sit and visit with everyone at least once.” He glanced at Taro and Sparky and added, “Some more than others.”

Pockets chuckled and poked him in the ribs. Renny jumped with wide eyes and his knees hit the bottom of the counter. “Don’t do that!” the cheetah snapped defensively. The mechanic laughed aloud and looked up at his captain.

“We’ve found out all kinds of things about him,” the raccoon said with a grin.

Renny grinned lopsidedly and hopped off his bar stool. “Yeah, I’m ticklish!” he said as he backed away a pace. “Don’t get any more ideas.”

“He also has a preference for wide open spaces,” Patch said around his unlit cigar. “He doesn’t like the cramped access tunnels through the ship’s double hull.”

“Yes, I’m also a little claustrophobic,” Renny admitted. “I think that’s why Patch conjured up the need for my help yesterday tracking down an errant cable signal among the liquid gel radiation shielding packs between the double hulls.”

Patch did not smile very often, as he seemed to prefer maintaining a grumpy exterior, but he granted the cheetah a thin smirk, which only implicated him to the navigator’s accusation.

Merlin chuckled and gestured to those gathered around. “One thing you should have known first off was not to reveal any weaknesses to this bunch that they might exploit.”

“Who, us?” Sparky asked innocently. “We’d never do anything like that!”

Renny looked down at her and smirked. “Uh huh… Don’t get too comfortable around me,” he said to all of them. “I can play that game, too.”

Merlin thumped him on the back gently. “I think you’ll fit in just fine.”

***

The intercom chirped in Merlin’s room. He cracked open a bleary eyeball and glanced over at the digital display on his desk. It was oh-two-thirty in the morning ship-time. He fumbled for his terminal remote and found it just as the signal chirped at him again. He thumbed the intercom reply button and asked in an annoyed voice, “What is it?

“Sorry to wake you, Captain,” Patch’s voice said, “but you wanted to know when we entered the Centaurus star system.”

“How long until we approach Alexandrius?”

“There are no other planets in their orbits on this side of the Centaurus sun, so we can maintain our inertial speed a while longer without having to brake yet.”

“Patch...” Merlin groaned.

“Oh-eight hundred hours, approximately.”

“I’ll be there to take over pilot operations at oh-seven hundred. Full bridge crew is to be there no later than seven-thirty for approach operations.”

“Understood, Captain.”

“Thank you. Good night.” Before Patch had a chance to add anything else, the wolf switched off the intercom, rolled back over, and buried his face in his pillow. The wolf had been having trouble sleeping lately and he had just managed to drift off when Patch’s message had come through. He tried to go back to sleep, but Merlin found his thoughts swirling again. He tried to will himself back to sleep, but after twenty minutes, he sat up with a grumble under his breath and fluffed his pillow against the wall to lean upon. He switched on the small glow panel on the wall above his bed and wondered if he should get one of his novels to read. He quickly dismissed that idea. He had too much going on in his head.

Following the recent incident with Sagan, all had grown quiet and routine. Everyone seemed to find common interests in one way or another with their new navigator, though it was interesting to see the odd relationship develop between Renny and Samantha. While Taro and Sparky seemed to have intimate designs upon him, Samantha’s standing was different. It had started out as a surprise to the cheetah, but he quickly fell into the game of vocal bantering with her. They traded good-natured insults, calling one another names, and while it sometimes seemed as if they were serious, it was all a harmless game.

The past three weeks had been relatively uneventful, but the wolf had a feeling that was about to change. First, they had to make their delivery in Alucara and he was not looking forward to the meeting with Ryu Industries’ agent about the loss of the Amohalkonicin, an expensive base chemical used in tissue regeneration meds. Even though the fault lay in the pirate attack, the Blue Horizon was liable for securing the cargo pallets. The loss was his and Merlin was not sure that Ryu would use their services again following this accident. That was too bad, since he had made a number of deliveries for them over the years. Next, he would have to meet someone named Duncan from Interstellar Insurance to discuss the fire damage and then arrange a local shipyard crew for the repairs. The only bright spot to his day would be a reunion with an old friend; he looked forward to seeing him again.

There was a knock on the door and Merlin frowned. “Come on in,” he called out. “I’m already awake.”

The panel slid aside and Sparky stood framed in the doorway in a light blue sarong with a tray of food. Her fur had grown out nicely where it had been burned and she was well groomed. She smiled at him and stepped inside. The lynx touched the pad to close the door before turning back toward the bed and then moved to the captain’s side to place the tray across his lap.

“What’s this?” Merlin asked with a friendly smile, his nose quivering at the aromas that accompanied her. The tray held all his favorite breakfast foods and a nice, steaming cup of coffee. What he didn’t need was a stimulant, but he picked up the cup and lapped from it first, savoring the flavor and the bouquet.

Sparky twitched her whiskers and shrugged her shoulders. “Today’s going to be a full day for you, so I thought I would help you get a good start.”

“At three in the morning?” He picked up a slice of toast with an egg fried into the middle of it.

She laughed. “You can never get to sleep the night before a landing, Captain. Everyone on board knows that.”

Merlin mocked a deep frown and whined, “I’ve become predictable...” Both chuckled and Sparky sat on the edge of his bed. She watched him eat, and after a few moments, the wolf arched an eyebrow at her. “Was there something you needed to discuss?”

“Not really,” she admitted, “but I wondered if you wouldn’t mind some snuggle time when you are finished eating.”

“Feeling lonely?” Merlin asked softly.

Sparky nodded her head. “Yeah, I feel like I could use a friend. Nothing intimate, just snuggling. I need some arms around me.”

Merlin set his cup down and lightly brushed the fur of her left cheek. “You’re always welcome in my room, kitten,” he said with a compassionate smile, “but after ranting at you about the fire, I would assume you’d want someone else.”

Sparky closed her eyes at his touch and then looked back at him. “Well, it was my fault the ship’s galley was all but destroyed,” she replied as he resumed eating. “I’m supposed to pay for it, even if it wipes out most of my savings. Besides, you have always been good to me, Merlin. I could not hope for a better employer, especially one who calls me a friend without it affecting his judgment when I make mistakes.”

“This is not the first time someone’s had to pull your fur from a fire, you know.”

Sparky looked embarrassed. “True, but that first time wasn’t my fault.”

Merlin finished the last of his toast, eggs and beefsteak and then picked up his beloved coffee cup again. He set the tray on the lamp table next to the bed and looked up at the lynx. “As your employer, I have to keep you in line,” he said, “but as your friend, you are welcome in my arms whenever you need them.”

“What about the others? Do they come to you for hugs, too?”

Merlin gave her a lopsided smile. “Not many,” he replied.

“I know Samantha does,” Sparky mused. “What about Taro? She’s had her own share of trouble.”

Merlin took another lap of his coffee and then set the cup aside. He lifted the covers for her and then answered as she gathered her sarong around her to crawl in beside him. “In all the years we’ve known one another, Taro and I have never slept together, Sparky. She flirts enough with me, but I think she’s afraid of compromising the friendship we have since I’m her boss.”

“Renny’s been sharing a lot of time with her since he came on board,” Sparky commented as she snuggled up against him. “He has with me, too.”

“See?” the wolf said unsurprised at her confession. “Everyone seems to be happy.”

“Almost everyone, Merlin.”

The wolf looked down at the feline. “Something the matter?”

She was hesitant to answer, but swallowed and rubbed her head up beneath his chin. “I have plenty of company here, but I miss Roland. He and I have exchanged a lot of messages lately.”

“Well, it has been nearly two years since he last hired on with us as temporary help. Do you know where he is? Perhaps he can meet us at one of our delivery points and travel with us again.”

Sparky looked up at him with a smile. “I was hoping you’d let him join us again.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Merlin asked. “He’s a good worker, always pulls his own weight when he’s with us, and he gets on well with everyone. I like him.”

“He is on Dennier,” the lynx replied. “He’s working for a starship drydock in Lupopolis assembling the prototype of a Prime-class transport vessel in a partnership with someone on Earth.”

Merlin pulled a slateboard from underneath the meal tray on the nightstand and called up the delivery roster. “After we leave Alexandrius, we’re heading to Earth for system upgrades. More downtime... Once that’s done, we have to fly empty to Quet, where we’re to pick up a delivery of processed micranite to take to Dennier.” He set the slateboard aside and did some mental calculations. “We’ll next be on Dennier in about three months.”

“Three months...” Sparky repeated as she thought about it. “That should be just about right,” she said.

“Right for what?”

The lynx looked up at him and then smiled mischievously. “That’s a secret,” she laughed. “Thank you, Merlin. You’re the best!”

“Only when it comes to taking care of my friends,” he said as he switched off the light.

She wrapped her arms around his middle with a light purring and they both slid down to a reclining position. The wolf held her close and then shut his eyes.

***

The world of Alexandrius loomed blue and bright in the forward windows, both of its small moons full on opposite sides of the world, all on a backdrop of glittering stars. Clouds swirled like ribbons across its surface and the planet’s oceans glittered even from the distance of spatial orbit.

Merlin sat in the pilot seat, Taro was stationed at the com terminal and Renny occupied navigation. Though not required for the landing procedures, Samantha was in the engineering station seat to see her homeworld as they came upon it under powered flight. Their destination was the capitol city of Alexandrius and it was located on a high plateau near the center of the planet’s largest continent, which was visible through the ship’s main windows. Five mountain ranges radiated out away from the central plateau as if they were great spokes of a continent-sized wheel drawing the eye directly to the city at its hub even from orbit.

“Adjusting ship’s time to Alucara standard clocks,” Taro announced over the intercom. “Local time is fourteen thirty-seven.” It was standard procedure to set themselves to the clocks of whatever world and zone they were about to spend much time in. Because of the repair work, their stay would be longer on this landing. What the vessel’s clocks were set to would remain as standard ship’s time until their next planetfall. The ship’s systems would reflect the change instantaneously with her reset.

The red fox received a signal in her headset and nodded to herself at the information scrolling across her station screen. “This is the Blue Horizon,” she stated into her microphone, “Planetary Alignment registry number PA1261. We are coming in on standard approach vector for landing at the Chaparral Metro Spaceport in Alucara.” She listened a second and then answered, “Ryu Industries.” She received the transmitted coordinates on her screen and as she listened, her fingers glided across her panel to transfer the data to Renny’s terminal. The cheetah set about programming the information into the main computer as Taro finalized their approach from the Alexandrius Defense Authority.

“ADA has given us authorization for landing, Captain,” she said over her shoulder.

“Good,” the wolf replied. “Renny?”

“Transferring navigational trajectory to your panel now.”

“All hands, all hands,” Taro announced on ship-wide speakers, “landing sequence has begun. Strap yourselves in.”

Merlin moved the guidance shifts forward and the ship nosed down toward the blue world. Renny flicked a switch at his station and the forward windows took on an orange hue as the heat shields activated. There was a resistance to the controls for several long moments as the atmosphere thickened with their descent, and then the windows cleared. Renny’s eyes grew wide when he noticed a bank of immense cloud formations directly in front of them.

“What kind of clouds are those?” he asked.

“Cumulonimbus clouds,” Samantha responded. “You’ve never seen thunderheads before?”

“We never had anything like cumolo… uh, thunder-headers in the region where I grew up,” he replied. “Our weather was fairly calm with just an occasional rain.”

Merlin adjusted the inverted L-shaped shifts, skirted around the mountainous clouds, and through the valleys between them. “The air turbulence will get worse when we pass through them,” he said. “We’ll probably get stroked by lightning a few times, too.”

“Lightning!” Renny felt the hair on the back of his neck rising, though not from static electricity.

“We’ll be okay,” Taro reassured him. “Our heat shields will dissipate them before they hit anything vital.”

“That’s good to know,” the navigator replied unconvincingly.

“Here we go!” Merlin exclaimed with a grin. Although dangerous, this was his favorite type of flying. Interstellar speeds were vastly greater, but nothing was quite like zooming through an atmosphere. The Blue Horizon entered a dark cloud and the windows went black.

“Give me infrared on the video panels,” Merlin ordered casually as he dimmed the cabin lights. Taro complied without answering and then looked over at Renny as the greenish screens showed the boiling clouds, rain and hail chunks swirling before them. The cheetah’s claws dug into the armrests of his seat and his ears were laid flat against his head. A small bolt of electrical energy snaked out above them, but the ship’s speed quickly left it far behind.

Merlin checked his readouts, adjusted his course through the thunderheads and then dropped their velocity. A heartbeat later, the Blue Horizon emerged beneath the clouds into a hard rainstorm. More lightning reached up from the distant ground and touched the cloud beside them with a boom that shook the vessel. They were heading westward in the opposite direction of the mass of clouds, so within moments they were out into full sunlight over the central plateau.

The video panel flashed blinding green a moment before Taro switched off the infrared signal and replaced it with polarization. Renny let out the breath he had held and looked back at the smiling wolf.

“What a rush!” Merlin said excitedly.

“If you say so...” Renny mumbled. He turned to the fox to ask a question, but saw her speaking lowly into her headset microphone. He moved his attention instead to the windows and looked toward the ground. They were still a long way up, but he could see farmlands below them and a vast lake to the south.

“Look there, Renny,” Samantha said. The cheetah followed her gaze to the distance and saw a large city right at the horizon.

“Is that Alucara?” he asked.

“That’s it,” she replied, “the capitol city.”

As the wolf dropped the ship’s altitude further, he also decreased its speed so as not to create sonic boom to frighten the non-sapient farm animals below. The city grew larger in the windows and Renny was somewhat disappointed that it resembled most other large cities, even if the central core of skyscrapers seemed impossibly tall.

Taro half turned toward Merlin. “I’ve made contact with a representative from Ryu Industries. His name is Ashton Vandercliff,” she said. “He’ll meet us at landing pad 39A.” The vixen did not look happy as she added, “He said he got your report on the loss of the Amohalkonicin and says he has some new information that he needs to discuss with you as soon as we’ve landed.”

“Lovely,” Merlin replied with a sour expression. He dropped their altitude to four hundred meters as they passed over the city and slowed to within flight speed limits.

“There’s the spaceport,” Taro said.

Samantha released her harness and stood up for a better view of the city, her tail wagging happily behind her. Everything sparkled from the recent rain.

“Sam,” Merlin said, “Start equalizing our internal air pressure with that of the city and then begin atmosphere transfer.”

“Aye, Captain,” she answered as she resumed her seat. “Commencing with smog-transfer.” Renny wrinkled his nose at her words, really hoping the outside air would first pass through filters. She saw his expression and winked at him with a smile.

Taro engaged a few controls and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “Artificial gravity has now been disabled. In another ten minutes, we will be on the ground with full engine shutdown. All personnel report to Durant in fifteen minutes for cargo moving detail. That includes you, Sparky.”

Renny studied the vixen in wonder. In private, she was playful, mischievous and even silly, but in dealing with the ship’s operations, she was very businesslike and took her role as second-in-command seriously. He wondered how much of her lighter side anyone else got to see. He felt the ship slow even more and glanced out the windows. They were moving beneath the spaceport traffic and on approach to a wide, three-story red building. In large white letters written in Universal Standard across the top of the structure were the words, Ryu Industries - Alexandrius Division. The Blue Horizon stopped forward movement above a concrete landing pad and began dropping slowly.

Merlin lowered the caterpillar landing gear and set his ship gently onto the pad with the slightest of bumps. He then began shutting down systems on his panel and Renny did likewise. Within moments, only the necessary systems on board were still operational.

The wolf got out of his harness and stretched as he stood up. “Taro,” he said, “I have a rather busy day ahead of me, meeting with everyone from Mr. Vandercliff to Duncan from Interstellar Insurance. I will not be around for cargo detail, so Durant will need to make sure everyone receives their pay voucher before they all scatter across the city.”

“What is our downtime?” Samantha asked. “The usual three days until our next customer?”

Merlin shook his head. “No, I’ve arranged for a repair team to rebuild our galley, which must be done before we lift off again. Depending upon how quickly Duncan makes his assessment, we’ll probably have nearly two weeks before we can leave.”

“I’ll make sure everyone’s taken care of,” Taro said as she and Renny headed for the door.

“Merlin,” Sam said after they had gone, “I can get you a good deal on the repair work if you have it done in Belleville. That isn’t far from here.”

“Your family’s home town?” the wolf asked. “Okay, make the arrangements and get back to me after Mr. Duncan has finished with us. Once we have completed our business in Alucara, I can transfer the ship there. Have everyone take a DC with them so I can let them know where to meet when we’re ready to depart.”

“You can depend on me,” the collie said. She gave him a quick lick on the cheek and then headed off the bridge. Merlin needed to gather a few other items before he went down to meet with Vandercliff, so he shut down the bridge lights and headed for his den.

***

When Taro and Renny stepped off the lift in the cargo hold, they knew something was up. The pair could not see to the open bay door, but they could hear a commotion from that direction. They skirted past pallets and crates around the perimeter of the vast room, and eventually found a small crowd gathered at the cargo ramp. Visible amidst all the bodies of the crew personnel were a pair of sails resembling large tan ears. Taro saw them and squealed in delight, startling her companion. She rushed forward and pushed her way through the others.

“Tanis!” she exclaimed gleefully. She wrapped her arms tight around a short fennec fox and licked his cheeks enthusiastically. When she lifted him up off the ground, Renny saw the newcomer for the first time.

Tanis was short, but his large ears were spread out above him. His fur was light tan with a fluff of white at his throat. He was dressed in loose black trousers and a blue short-sleeve shirt. The one thing that most caught the cheetah’s attention was the fennec’s glassy black eyes. It was hard for him to distinguish the pupils from their irises, and the eyeballs themselves seemed reflective.

He did not know who this Tanis was, but Renny suddenly did not like him. Taro was just a little too familiar with this male and no one else seemed to care. Renny let out a sharp whistle and all the talking ceased. He put on a friendly smile and asked, “Would someone please introduce me to this guy everyone else seems to know?”

Taro laughed and set her friend down. “This is Arktanis TeVann,” she explained.

“Call me Tanis, mate,” the newcomer said with a strong accent in his voice and an extended hand.

The cheetah took his hand and nodded. “Renny Thornton,” he replied.

Sparky moved to the desert fox’s other side and added, “He used to work with us on the Blue Horizon a few years back, but the Nalirra military drafted him away from us.”

Tanis put his arms around Taro and Sparky and hugged both close to him. “My service time has expired and I’m a free spirit again.”

“So,” Pockets asked, “how long are you gonna be around, Tanis? It’s good to see you again.”

“How long? For as long as ya’ll have me,” the fennec answered with a smile. “Merlin’s hired me back on.”

“It’s true,” Durant spoke up. “The boss had me reactivate Tanis’ old account a couple of days ago.”

“Hired you to do what?” Renny asked suspiciously.

“Medic and pilot,” Tanis replied, “along with the usual cargo moving.”

“Speaking of which,” Patch said as he lit up a cigar, something he never did in the oxygen-rich atmosphere during a flight, “Someone from Ryu Industries just arrived. We’d better start moving the merchandise.”

“Good idea,” Durant said.

“Did our pay get transferred to our accounts?” Pockets asked. “I’ll need fresh credits for the parts to a project.”

Durant nodded as he pulled on a pair of work gloves. “Funds were moved into your accounts last night. Just don’t forget to take your credicards.”

“The captain said he wants everyone take a DataCom with them,” Samantha said as she arrived. “That way he can let you know how long we’ll be down this time.”

“Ya’ll be down longer than the standard three days?” Tanis asked.

“Yeah,” Sparky answered. “I blew up the galley on our way here, and we’ve had to use the kitchenette in the Rec Room ever since. Merlin has to get it rebuilt before we take off again.”

“Ya did not try to make that wonder meal, did ya?” Tanis asked with a look of surprise.

“Guilty,” the lynx admitted. “I’ve been forbidden to ever make it again anywhere near the ship.”

“Where is Merlin?” Patch asked as he unlocked an anti-grav pallet mover from a storage locker.

“He has to meet with Mr. Vandercliff and Mr. Duncan. He will not be able to help us with cargo duty this time,” Samantha answered.

“Did someone just mention my name?” The group turned to see a thin black human in a gray business suit smiling at them.

“Are you Duncan?” Pockets asked.

“I am Ashton Vandercliff, representing Ryu Industries. Is Mr. Sinclair present?”

“Right here,” the wolf said from the interior of the hold. He stepped out into the sunlight and everyone saw that he had changed into a business suit, but without a tie. He set a briefcase on the ground next to him as he extended a hand to the human. “I’ve been up in my den preparing everything for our meeting.” They shook hands and gave each other a professional smile.

Tanis grinned and gave a wave to the captain, but knew with Merlin that business always came first. The wolf acknowledged him with a nod and then gave the human his full attention. “If you’ll show me to your office, Mr. Vandercliff, we’ll take care of business while my crew unloads your cargo,” Merlin said.

“Of course, this way.”

As the pair moved away toward the building, Tanis picked up his duffel and set it aside out of the way. He rubbed his hands together and said, “Since I’m a member of this crew again, I suppose I have to work now, don’t I?”

Renny slapped the short guy on the back and handed him a pair of work gloves. “That’s right,” he said with cautious smile. “You can help me. Let’s get started.”

UNEXPECTED PARTNERS

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

All repairs to the galley have been completed and the Blue Horizon is whole once again. Thanks to special favors called in by Samantha to friends in Belleville who were only too glad to grant some discounts, the repair bill only amounted to ©27,500, much to the relief of Durant and myself. Sparky and Samantha have spent the last two days shopping for utensils, pots, pans and small appliances we will need, in addition to replacement groceries for the pantry. Everything in the galley is new and state-of-the-art. The only things that were not replaceable were all the special spices and seasonings Sparky had collected from the various PA worlds, though in time that stock will build up again. The two of them purchased nearly all of one store’s stock of what they did have on hand, however, so I’m confident none of our meals will turn out bland in the end.

I’d also contracted to have a new automated fire suppression system installed into the galley while the compartment was undergoing repairs and the spent hand extinguishers have been recharged as well. Sparky promises to be more careful from now on, but one can never be sure. This is something that should have been in place during the ship’s original construction.

Concerning the loss of the Amohalkonicin, Ryu Industries surprised us. It seems the damaged drug shipment was already oxygen-contaminated and was being recalled from Kantus, indicated by small red tags attached to the containers. We were given a small penalty for not having the pallets properly secured, and Durant volunteered to pay the tiny amount since it was his duty as loadmaster to check over the tie-downs. I have been assured that we will be contracted for further business with Ryu Industries, so it is a relief to know we did not lose a loyal client.

While the Blue Horizon was in the repair garage, I bought new linens for all the cabins and a few additional items for the Rec Room. I don’t handle long periods of leave very well, so after a few days of local sight-seeing, I returned to the ship and spent my time casually making some little improvements on my own and doing a few small repairs that neither Patch nor Pockets had ever gotten around to fixing. The Atmosphere Filtering System was in need of a big cleansing that took me two days to take care of. There was a lot of loose fur clogging up multiple redundant filters and some of it was partially disintegrated from various contaminants in the air over time. I will have to speak with Patch to make sure the filters are checked more frequently.

We are still eight hours away from launch, but everyone has already returned from their respective trips during our extended leave. Other than for the repair downtime, I think everyone needed the time away to just get out to do things.

It is great having Tanis back with us, but I think we may have some trouble brewing. During the voyage from Kantus, Renny and Taro spent a good deal of their off-duty time together. I know that Taro has no plans to settle down with any one guy, but I think Renny got a little too used to having her exclusive company. An onlooker would not think that Tanis has been gone for two years with the way he and Taro have resumed their own loose relationship. I can sometimes see jealousy in Renny’s eyes when all three of them are in the same room together, but he hides it well. I only hope it does not affect his performance at work; should that happen, it will be time for personnel counseling.

On the other hand, Tanis does not seem to mind when Taro is with Renny. He knew her well enough in the past to remember she does not hold favorites. Taro enjoys male companionship and play, though she’s picky about who she gives her affections to, and I doubt she will ever get very serious with anyone.

Pockets came back to the ship with several crates of miscellaneous parts and electronics that he purchased at a local auction. He loves to tinker with gadgets during his spare time on long voyages and always seems to have some bit of junk occupying a locker in the hold. He said he had a special project in mind that will benefit the Blue Horizon. Sometimes I am dubious of what he may create, but he is skilled and has rarely made anything that has caused us grief.

Patch returned this afternoon, smiling happily. I don’t believe I have ever seen him in such a mood in the six years I have known him, but I will not be nosy. He has not volunteered any information on what his vacation entailed, but I suspect he found pleasant distraction in a feminine form if the faint floral scent that surrounds him is any indication.

Durant seems refreshed and, if I may venture to think it, he somehow looks... younger. He has not had much of a vacation in years, despite my frequent recommendation for one. He is easy to get along with and does enjoy his off-duty time, but when at work on the company books, he can be distracted by little else. This extended downtime seems to have done him some good.

Samantha spent most of her off time with Sparky and dragged the poor lynx all over Belleville and Alucara to show her the sights and do lots of shopping. When Sam had a tub marked for data crystals delivered to the ship this afternoon, her explanation was simply “Old movies.” It looks like the Rec Room video panel will get some use on this trip. Her love of old movies over more recent ones is well known among our crew.

We don’t have any cargo for this next voyage, and I even offered to extend everyone’s leave further since we will have more downtime soon. The Blue Horizon’s defenses have been in need of upgrading for a while and the trip to Earth for that purpose has been on the roster for nearly a year. Perhaps the weapons will allow us more protection against raiders until I can upgrade the engines to H-model power class.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

“Merlin?” Samantha asked as she stepped off the lift into the Rec Room. Renny and the captain were fencing over the exercise mats at the aft end of the deck, and with the collie’s distraction, the cheetah jumped in with his attack and scored a hit on the red heart painted over the chest of Merlin’s fencing uniform. The wolf looked down at the blunt point of his opponent’s sword and frowned.

“What was it you were telling me about keeping your attention on the fight?” Renny said with a grin as he removed his face screen.

“Touché,” Merlin replied as he removed his own shield. He nodded and then looked over at Sam.

“Sorry I ruined your concentration, Captain,” Samantha said.

“Not at all,” Merlin replied. “You just proved a point I had been trying to get across to our navigator. It just happened to be his point that got across to my anatomy.” He glanced down at the slateboard she held and asked, “So what is it you needed?”

She wet her lips and then began. “The Anason Defense Corporation of San Francisco has refused sale of some of the systems you wanted for the Blue Horizon.”

“Refused?” Merlin asked, puzzled. “Since when do they turn down customers for the sale of their arms?”

Samantha shook her head. “They have not refused to sell us everything you wanted, Captain,” she replied, “Only certain items. We’re fine and welcome to the updated sensors, shields, Geo21 terminals and Binfurr hand weapons, but we are not allowed to purchase the pulse cannons or shock thread emitters.”

“Why not?” Renny asked. “They sell them all the time to those who can afford it.”

Samantha walked to a nearby lounge chair and sat down. “Their license forbids sale of them to certain non-military craft. Apparently, those who set the rules on defense mechanisms apparently don’t think a mere freighter needs combat capabilities.”

“I disagree,” Merlin said in annoyance. “With our recent brushes with Sagan, I fully intend to fortify the Blue Horizon, even if I have to go through unofficial channels.” The wolf looked straight at Samantha and pressed his lips together tightly. When the canine did not respond, he glanced over at Renny and handed him his rapier. “We’ll have to cut our session short today,” he said. “Would you put this away for me? I need to take care of this.”

“No problem, boss,” the cheetah replied. “I’ll make sure it is cleaned and stored properly.”

“Thank you.”

Samantha stood up and followed the captain to the lift. She glanced back at the feline pilot and gave him a worried look before she disappeared from sight.

Renny frowned and looked down at the two swords he held. “I don’t know if this is a good thing,” he muttered to himself.

***

“Merlin,” Samantha said as she settled down in a chair in the captain’s den. “I know what you are thinking.”

“Do you?” the wolf replied. “Yes, I suppose you do.” Merlin fell silent a moment as he gathered his thoughts. The collie sat patiently awaiting his words, quietly wondering how this was going to go. “Sam,” the captain started, “I know you have a lot of… connections. You’ve managed to acquire things at times when there never seemed a clear way to obtain them.”

“Captain... I –”

“No, I don’t want to know who or where they are,” he added before she could say more. He smiled and waved a hand into the air. “I’m probably better off not knowing your resources. However, I need to ask this. Can you get the weapon systems I want for the Blue Horizon?”

Samantha twitched her whiskers and then answered, “Possibly. I cannot guarantee how soon I can get it or how much it will –”

“Cost is no object,” Merlin interrupted. Then he smiled. “Well, cost is a concern, but this is an investment to insure the Blue Horizon against falling prey to Sagan or any other raiders out there. I hate to keep bringing this up, but Jiro might still be with us if we’d had adequate protection to keep Sagan from getting on board in the first place.”

“I’ll see what I can do, Captain.”

The wolf nodded. “I would appreciate anything you could turn up for me.” He glanced over at a chronometer. “Who’s on the bridge right now?”

“Tanis took the watch about an hour ago.”

“Okay, I’m going to shower and then settle in with a book.”

***

Pockets smiled and set his soldering iron on a safety rack. He put the remaining band of solder into a container and placed it in a drawer of his workbench. He picked up a voltage meter, placed its leads onto the terminals he had just soldered into place, and then took a reading. The raccoon nodded to himself and put the meter away.

“Truly a stroke of genius,” he murmured to himself. He moved a forefinger to a solitary button recessed into the surface of the saucer-shaped project on his bench and was rewarded with a soft internal hum from the unit. He picked up a molded cover, attached it over the opening of the device, and it snapped easily into place. He turned the disk right side up gently and gave it a loving pat. The saucer was ten inches across with a ring of sensors embedded around the outer circumference of its prismatic blue surface. A domed lens mounted offset on the upper curved surface gleamed with a faint green glow. Three sensor antennae below the eye extended out toward each side resembling a set of whiskers.

Pockets then turned toward the computer terminal on his desk and typed in an encrypted command. The screen that appeared prompted him to enter three separate sets of identity codes and passwords. When he was into the system, he loaded a data crystal into the terminal’s reader and then accessed a program. He waited a few seconds for it to load and then smiled when the desired screen appeared. His fingers tapped across the keypad and the saucer levitated up off the workbench and hovered in place.

The raccoon grinned and gave the saucer a hard shove. It slid over the side of the bench, but maintained its altitude as it floated toward the far wall of the room. It stopped just inches from the wall and simply hovered in place. Pockets entered a few new commands and the device began floating about the room, its sensors calibrating and registering everything, its single eye missing nothing. Heeding its commands, the unit altered its altitude to float under the bed, over the bookcase and all around the room. Pockets studied the readouts on his monitor and nodded to himself in satisfaction.

The saucer returned to the workbench and hovered beside the monitor, its single eye studying the raccoon. Pockets smiled at it and then initiated instructions to tie it into the Blue Horizon’s central computer system. As soon as he finished the last keystroke, the raccoon looked up at the unit and said, “Hello, Moss.”

“Meow!” the unit replied back enthusiastically.

***

Sparky hummed softly to herself as she chopped up several Tanthean vegetables into a steaming pot on the galley’s new massive stove. She loved cooking and enjoyed all the preparations. She wore her smiling kitty apron over a loose red tank top and beige shorts. As she merrily worked away, her feline instincts snapped into play. There was movement at the edge of her vision and she looked over at it quickly. She froze as she watched a blue saucer with whiskers float into the room and then maneuver toward her kitchen. Only her eyes moved as she followed its progress.

The disc paused to study her with its single green eye and then continued on to monitor the contents of the stove. It moved around the room, pausing briefly at every readout and indicator on the equipment and then quietly floated back toward the door. Only when it had gone did Sparky twitch her whiskers. She did not know what the strange visitor was, but she had never seen it before and was not sure she liked it poking into her galley.

She moved to the intercom panel and called up to the bridge. “This is Tanis,” the fennec fox’s accented voice replied a moment later.

“Tanis,” Sparky said in a rush, “do we have a tiny flying saucer on board?”

There was a moment of silence before he answered. “A tiny flying saucer? I don’t think we have any in our stores. Do ya need one?”

“No, silly,” the lynx replied, shaking her head. “I just had one visit my galley. I’ve never seen it before now.”

“What was it doing?”

“It was just looking around, mostly at the equipment gauges. It’s blue, about the size of one of my pie pans, has a single green eye lens and... whiskers.”

“Whiskers? O-kay... I’ll buzz the Captain and see if he knows anything about it.”

“Thank you, Luv.”

***

“...that’s what she said, Captain.”

“Okay, Tanis, I’ll look into it. Let me know if anyone else reports sighting the thing.”

“Aye.”

Merlin looked wistfully at the novel he had to abandon and then stood up to retrieve his hat from a peg on the wall. There was a knock on the door and he tapped it open. Samantha rushed in and then stared back out into the corridor.

“Yes, Sam, what is it?”

“You are not going to believe this, but... I just saw a little one-eyed flying saucer… and it meowed at me!”

“Meowed?”

“Like a cat, the non-sapient kind. You don’t seem surprised.”

Merlin twitched an ear. “Sparky just had a similar visitation in the galley.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know, but we need to find out.” The intercom beeped again and the wolf clicked the circuit open. “This is Merlin.”

“Captain,” Renny’s voice said, “I have a small floating disc trapped in my quarters. It opened my door on its own and started snooping around.”

“Is it blue with whiskers?”

“Uh, yeah, with one green eye. How did you know?”

“Others have reported sightings of this UFO,” the captain answered. “I’ll be right there. Keep it locked up if you can. It might be a surveillance camera someone planted on board.”

“Captain! I shut my door to keep it inside, but the door just reopened on its own!”

“Grab it if you can! I’m on my way!” Merlin and Samantha hurried out of the room and ran around the curved corridor toward the cheetah’s cabin. The noise of high-speed whirring raced toward them, and both had to flatten against the walls when the saucer flew between them with a frantic, “Meowwww!” Renny shot past them almost as quickly, stooped so low that he was practically down on all fours, and the swift cheetah gained on the disc.

Merlin looked at Sam and motioned to the opposite direction the others had gone. “This way! They’ll be rounding the corridor toward us again. We’ll cut off that thing’s escape!” They took off running and almost knocked over Taro, who had just come out of her quarters to find out the cause of the commotion. They bypassed her without a word and soon heard the chase approaching them again. Merlin whipped off his flight jacket and handed one end to the collie when they stopped. They spread it across the passageway just as the flying saucer came into view. Merlin jumped to the left as the disc tried to dodge around him and snared the thing in his coat, a pocket nearly taking off some of Samantha’s fingers in the process.

“Gotcha!” he exclaimed. He fell to floor with his arms tightly wrapped around his captive. Renny zoomed around the corner and almost did not stop in time to keep from running over his captain. He stepped on the captain’s hat, which had flipped off in the commotion, and nearly slipped to the floor.

“Meooowwwrrr!” The bundle emitted an angry squawk, and then Merlin and the thing in the coat floated knee-high off the floor. It started to move down the hallway toward the approaching Taro, but Samantha grabbed the wolf’s tail with her good hand and held on.

“Whoa! You’re not going anywhere!” she said with a grimace.

“What’s going on?” Taro asked.

“Mewr, meow-meowwwwww!”

“Moss! Stop! Quiet down!”

Everyone turned to look at the raccoon that had just joined them.

“Pockets, is this thing yours?” Merlin asked as the device lowered him to the floor and settled onto its lower surface.

“Yes, it’s my newest contribution to the ship,” the short mechanic replied with a wide grin. Merlin released the disc and watched it float over to the raccoon. “Captain, I present the MO.S.S. unit, or just Moss, to keep it simple.”

“Meow!” the thing chirped at the introduction.

“Moss?” Merlin bent over and picked up his scrunched hat. He frowned at the crease in the brim and held it in his hands as he looked back at the raccoon. Samantha rubbed her aching fingers and snorted at the short procyonid.

“Moss is a Mobile Sentry System,” Pockets explained, losing some of his smile beneath their gazes. “Its sole purpose is to roam the ship randomly, its sensors tuned to search for any abnormalities beyond programmed parameters, or for individuals who do not match a crew profile. I have it tied into the Geo21 computer to the sensors and security systems.”

“Why?”

Pockets stuck his hands in two of his many namesakes and replied, “Patch and I have our time full keeping the Blue Horizon functioning and we don’t always have the luxury to go around checking everything to see if anything else is about to go bad. Moss will quietly float about the ship, monitoring systems on all three levels and alert us to any potential problems before they happen.”

“Does it speak?” Taro asked as the saucer floated up to inspect her orange-colored eyes.

“Not really,” Pockets said with a smile. “It communicates directly to the Geo21 computer and can display its messages on any terminal monitor.”

“Then why the meow?” Samantha wanted to know.

“It’s just a personal touch since it looks a little feline, primarily to give it the illusion of individual personal expression. I thought it was better than beeps and whistles.”

Renny gestured toward the hovering unit and asked, “Can it think? Artificial intelligence?”

“No, no more than the Geo21 system can. AIs tend to develop annoying neuroses, so I’ve kept this simple. The outward expression is only a small running program to react in basic form to its surroundings. If, for example, it discovered a power relay overheating and saw you coming down the corridor, it might fly up to you and meow frantically. You may not know what it is trying to tell you, but you’ll know something is up enough to check the nearest monitor where it can give you data and video reference.”

Merlin nodded his head in thought. “How much will it interfere with our daily lives?”

“Not at all,” Pockets answered. “Merely leave it alone to go about its guard duty and you’ll soon get used to it floating about in the background, just like any other system on board.”

“I don’t want it spying on me in my quarters,” Renny stated. “What goes on in there is my business, not for the whole crew to witness over its camera.”

Taro cuddled up to his side and ran a finger across his chest. “You mean you don’t want everyone else to see our adventures together?” She laughed at the expression that appeared on his face.

“Something like that,” he muttered under his breath, but loud enough for all to hear.

Pockets grinned and looked up at the tall cheetah. “Moss is tied into the computer’s security system and can operate any door or panel to gain access to do its sentry duty. However, all you have to do is engage the manual lock on any door you want to remain shut and it will keep Moss out just as well as anyone, except in the case of a real emergency.”

“Oh, okay then.”

Samantha put a hand on the raccoon’s shoulder and gestured toward the saucer. “Earlier you said that it was also designed to search for individuals who do not match a crew profile. What did you mean by that?”

“Intruders. Stowaways. His brother…” he replied with a look at the captain.

Merlin’s ears went flat against his head at the reference to his younger sibling. Lucas Sinclair was not the type of guy anyone would want to claim as a relative. He was usually unkempt, broke and out to see what con job he could pull on someone. He was a real dud in most people’s opinions and he had been known to stow away on the Blue Horizon for free passage to another port to escape some trouble he had gotten into.

Their elder sister Shannon had raised them both after their parents had perished in a violent tornadic storm that hit their hometown, but the youngest had always been a troublemaker and an embarrassment to the family. It was unknown just how he managed to find them for another ride amongst the thousands of ships and billions of lives spread across several planetary systems, but he seemed to have a knack for stalking them. It was too bad he had never joined the Spatial Police Force; they could have used someone with that kind of talent.

“Okay, you’ve sold me on that,” the wolf said. “What about its power consumption?”

“It’s very efficient, Captain. Its power usage is very low, owing to new Tanthean technology, and it will return to engineering to recharge as necessary.” It was clear Pockets was proud of his invention. “If you sat on top of it, I’m sure it could lift you and haul you down the corridor if needed.”

“It has already tried that,” Merlin said with a smirk. “All right, Pockets, we’ll give Moss a tryout. Just try to respect everyone else’s privacy with it.”

“Not a problem, Captain.”

“Can it operate in a vacuum?” Renny asked. “At times with our engines standing down, we could have it inspect the external systems, too.”

“Hmm...” the raccoon mused as he scratched absently at his left ear. “I hadn’t designed it for that, but I can look into it,” he replied.

“Be sure to send a message about it to everyone’s terminals, Pockets,” Merlin said. “I don’t want more flying saucer reports coming in to me every ten minutes.”

“Aye, Captain.”

***

Merlin tossed his warped hat onto its peg with a frown. He had owned it for years, but now it would have to be replaced. He settled back onto his bed with his book and had just opened it to his bookmark when there was a knock on the door. The demands of being a captain...

“Come on in,” he said with a sigh.

Samantha opened the panel and peeked in at him. “Captain, may we talk to you?”

“We?”

“Durant and I.”

“Come on in,” he repeated.

The grizzly bear followed the supply officer into Merlin’s quarters. He looked puzzled as he leaned up against the bookcase. “I don’t know what this is about either, boss.”

Samantha took the chair at the desk and turned it to face them as she sat down. “I wanted you both in on this conversation since the ship’s finances are involved here.”

Merlin looked at her with interest. “You have information about the armaments I wanted for the Horizon?” he asked. Durant twitched an ear as he crossed his arms. As the ship’s accountant, Merlin had told him about his earlier conversation with the Border collie in the event she was successful and funds were needed to make the purchase.

“I’ve been in contact with Victor Faltane,” Samantha said, confirming their thoughts. He’s a human on Earth with more... uh, resources… than I have to get unorthodox materials.”

“And?” Merlin prompted her to continue when she hesitated.

“He says he’s found an arms dealer with the items you requested,” she replied. “However, the channels are not quite… official… and therefore a little pricey.”

“Forget the shady details of your contacts, Sam,” Durant said softly. “What is it going to cost us?”

Samantha fidgeted and looked over at the wolf. “Considering what we’re after, he can get them at a good price.”

“The price, Sam,” Merlin said suspiciously.

“Purchased and installed, the pulse cannons will be ©8,000 each, and the shock thread emitters are ©4,250 each. You wanted four of each, I believe, to cover all points of a horizontal compass. That would make it a grand total of ©49,000.”

Durant gasped and Merlin made choking noises. The wolf put a hand to his chest and felt his rapid heartbeat. “Couldn’t you get us a better deal than that?” he asked hoarsely.

“I’m sorry, Captain,” Samantha replied. “I checked with three others and this is the best deal. If we had been able to go through the Anason Defense Corporation, we could have gotten the entire package installed for ©26,000. My other contacts had prices ranging from ©55,000 to nearly ©90,000.”

Merlin looked over at Durant and repeated with a gulp, “Forty-nine thousand credits...”

“We have the funds in the company account,” the bear said slowly, “but it will severely hamper basic operating expenses and shorten our profit margin substantially, especially after restocking the pantries and repairs made to the galley.”

“I’ve been promising Patch that we’d upgrade the engines soon, but after this, that will have to wait,” Merlin replied. “After the new installations are completed, we’re due to head out to Quet to make a pickup, but on our way there, we’ll be flying empty – which pays nothing. Taro was unable to secure us a delivery of anything going that way since nobody wants to go to that dump.”

He looked over to Samantha for a long moment before he finally let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, put in the order and coordinate the payments through Durant.”

The collie nodded. “I’ll have Faltane arrange to have them shipped from Brandt. If he orders them now, they should arrive around the time ADC has finished installing the other systems.”

“Brandt!” Merlin exclaimed. “You didn’t tell me they were coming from Brandt!”

“You told me you weren’t interested who my contacts went through,” Samantha reminded him with a frown and hands on her hips. “I don’t have contacts there, but Faltane does.”

Merlin was shaken, but he finally nodded for her to carry on. Durant departed behind her without a word, leaving the wolf to his thoughts. Brandt had once been a thriving commercial world, but it had fallen to corruption and economic ruin following the depletion of their primary resource, and it was now home to black market and underworld transactions. There were honest businesses operating out of Brandt, through there did not seem to be many when seen from the outside. Even the SPF had been decommissioned as having any kind of jurisdiction near that world, so the residents could be tough to deal with. Personally, Merlin had never been to Brandt and had never really had a desire to visit the place, but if he could get what he wanted from there, he supposed that it would not hurt to receive something manufactured on Brandt.

The wolf suddenly smiled at the irony of it. He would be getting armaments from a place that frequently supplied raiders, for use against raiders. Suddenly he felt justified for getting them from Brandt. The systems might be rather expensive, but if they would be used to save the Blue Horizon from attack, it would be credits well spent. At least he would not have to go there personally to get what he needed.

Merlin sat back on his bed and picked up his novel, now in a more relaxed mood.

***

Taro smiled and half-closed her eyes as the evening sea winds blew through her fur. She was walking along a secluded beach, her toes firmly dug into the powdery white sand as the surf washed upon them. Her only garment was a beige ribbon tied in a bow at the tip of her tail and a wide-brimmed straw hat with cutouts for her ears. There was no one else around and all was peaceful.

Due to the seemingly endless repairs the Blue Horizon was forced to undergo lately, the crew had gotten several extended vacations. They had been on Earth for two weeks and the vixen’s roaming had brought her to this small island in the Gulf of Mexico. She had spent the first few days of her leave in the company of Renny and Tanis, but their constant friendly rivalry for her affections had irritated her after a while.

Tanis only teased the cheetah to get a rise out of him, but Renny sometimes took his feelings toward the red fox a little too seriously, despite that he had known her for only a month. She had ditched the males in the streets of New Orleans and escaped on a chartered boat to this place. She had flirted with the Cajun boat pilot on the trip out, but he had been interested only in her money.

The vixen moved up the beach toward her blanket and sat down on the multicolored fabric beside her ice chest. She noted immediately that the DC flashed an amber diode, indicating someone had tried to contact her unit. The DataComs carried by the other crewmembers were keyed to one another, so she sighed and picked up the device, strongly hoping it was not Renny or Tanis again. She loved them both dearly, but there were times she wanted to be away from them.

Fortunately for her, the call had come from her captain. She activated the unit and then tapped the diode. The device would send a callback tracer to whoever had last tried to contact her. “This is Taro,” she sing-songed into the tiny microphone.

“Taro,” Merlin’s voice came back a moment later, “I hope I’m not disturbing you, but I want to give you an update on the ship.”

“Go ahead, Captain,” she said in a lazy voice. She pulled the straw hat off her head with her free hand and placed it on the blanket beside her. With the sun setting, she no longer needed it.

“I just got word from the Anason Defense Corporation that the installation of our updated sensors, shields and new Geo21 terminals has been completed. The inspector’s examination is tomorrow morning and then the work here is done. I received the new hand weapons from Binfurr Arms and have already secured them.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’ve spent the past week with a friend of mine in Oklahoma City. He’s going to fly me back to San Francisco in his private flitter.”

“Any word on the special items Samantha ordered for you?”

There was a moment of hesitation before the captain answered, “I will not go into details over the DC, but her contact gave me directions on where to transport the ship for the further upgrades. He expects the shipment to arrive by tomorrow afternoon, so if the inspection at Anason goes as scheduled in the morning, the Blue Horizon will be delivered to the installation site in time for them to get started. He estimates another four days thereafter for everything to be completed for my thumb print.”

“Has he manipulated the price?” Taro asked suspiciously.

“Actually, no.”

“Surprising. Where is the installation site?”

“It is in Tucson. By the way, Taro, where are you? Renny was afraid you’d been abducted.”

The fox smiled. “I’m resting in the sand on a secluded beach,” she replied. “Tell him he can stop worrying about me. I’m okay and am enjoying the warm sun on my fur.”

“That’s kind of vague, Taro.”

“That’s the idea, Merlin.”

“Ah, I get the picture,” the wolf said with a laugh. “I won’t bother you again until it’s time to gather back at the ship.”

“Thank you, Captain. I appreciate it.”

The fox clicked off the communication device and set it aside. The sun was sinking near the horizon and she wanted to watch it in peaceful solitude.

***

Sparky and Durant stopped to rest on one of the park benches located along the boardwalk. Several other sightseeing visitors stared at them as they walked by. Although Furs had originated there three centuries earlier, it was obvious some of the humans on Earth were still not used to seeing many sapient animals on their world, especially someone like Durant in a national park where native grizzly bears were a protected species.

Durant smiled and nodded courteously to the family and then looked down at the Yellowstone pamphlets he had picked up at a booth near the ancient Old Faithful Inn. “I’m surprised to see this many people in the park at this time of year,” he said with fogged breath, looking around him. Snow was everywhere but the cleared boardwalks and around the hot spring geysers. Those who were visiting the park were bundled up heavily, although this particular season the winter had been rather mild. Durant wore only a pair of loose trousers and a lightweight green shirt, plus a light tan bomber jacket with Blue Horizon crew patches on the shoulder and chest. He did not seem all that affected by the cold, except he had to fight off drowsy feelings since they had arrived there two days ago.

Sparky, however, was shivering in the cold and constantly stayed close to her rather large, cuddly companion. Her teeth chattered as she tried to speak. “D-D-D-Durant... c-can we g-go?” she asked pitifully. “I-I-I’m not well s-suited for this weather w-w-without my winter fur.”

Durant looked down at his diminutive companion and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, Sparky,” he said. “I’d forgotten that it is early winter here.”

“How c-can you f-f-forget with s-snow all around us?”

“I’m sorry,” Durant said again.

“L-let’s go, please?”

“Okay, back to the Inn we go.”

“N-not just to the Inn,” Sparky chattered as they stood up and made their way back up the boardwalk. “L-let’s go s-somewhere further south, w-w-where it is w-w-warmer!”

The bear picked her up and held the lynx close in his arms for warmth. “How about Florida? It’s closer to the equator.”

“T-t-that s-s-sounds wonderf-f-ful...”

***

“J'sper Porter?” A short, redheaded man with bowed legs stepped around the counter to look at the cigar-smoking raccoon before him. He was only a foot taller than the Fur, which only enhanced his own shortness, and he was dressed entirely in denim. His arms were thick and he did not seem to have much of a neck, but his green eyes were piercing and missed nothing around him. “I'm Reese Onion and I’ve been expecting ye,” he said with a smile that caused the scar under his left eye to disappear within the wrinkles of his face.

Patch nodded and smiled around his cigar. “Do you have it?”

“Aye, that I do, and tis a thing of beauty, if I do say so myself.”

“Good, then let’s have a look.”

The human wrung his hands together and motioned toward the back room. “This way, Mr. Porter,” he said. “I do think ye’ll be pleased with it. They’re not easy to get nowadays and it takes a fine professional to operate one.”

Patch flicked the ashes off his cigar into an old ashtray on the counter. “Indeed?” he said, narrowing his eyes at the challenge. “I’ve not handled one before, but with my skills, it shouldn’t take long to get the feel of it.”

“Good, good,” the shopkeeper said as he led his customer to a long, blanket-covered table. “Those who own one o’ these usually has few friends for a while, but when you’ve gotten the hang o’ it, they’ll take a keen int’rest in ye, for sure.”

Patch did not wait for the man to draw back the blanket and did the honors himself. He held his breath at the sight of the object and lightly ran his hand over its fine construction. “I came prepared to talk you down in price, Mr. Onion,” he said, “but the quality of what I see here makes me believe it is worth every credit of what you’ve quoted me.”

The little man raised his eyebrows at that revelation. “In that case, my little friend, you can have it minus fifty credits. I know a good customer when I sees one!”

Patch smiled at the human in full realization that the item had likely been overpriced by just that amount anyway, but he handed him his credicard, a small device no larger than a pack of chewing gum. “I’ll be sure to pay you another visit next time I’m on Earth,” he said. He looked back at his new acquisition and was pleased with the purchase.

***

Arktanis looked up at the Blue Horizon as they stepped into a San Francisco aircraft repair hangar and pointed to the vessel with his left hand. “That’s my ship, Jennifer,” he said. A human female of seventeen summers stood beside him and absently petted the top of the fennec’s head. Her long sandy-blonde hair was near in color to the fox’s fur and fluttered gently in the Pacific Ocean breeze. She looked down at him with large blue eyes.

“Would you take me on board?” she asked. “I’ve never been on a real UFO.”

Tanis smiled as she knelt down to look him in the eye. He pointed to the name printed on the door of the vessel with a smirk. “Ya can't call it an Unidentified Flying Object if it's already been identified," he teased.

“A flying saucer, then. How about a quick tour?” she asked. “Just for a few minutes?”

"I can take ya in to look around, but they’re still working on it. We cannot get in anyone’s way and should not stay very long.”

"Please?"

“Okay. Follow me.” He started toward the ramp into the cargo bay and the girl followed him with a satisfied smile. She had met the dark-eyed fennec fox at a local park where he was doing magic tricks for a handful of children. She had been fascinated by it all, not because of the sleight of hand performance, but due to his very nature. Earth was the homeworld to roughly half of the humans in the Planetary Alignment – the other half grew up on Kantus, one of Earth’s first interstellar colonies to relieve the burden of overpopulation after the discovery of Faster Than Light travel – and although they were an official part of that league of worlds, the anthropomorphs — or Furs as the humans called them — were primarily visitors to their original birthplace.

It was ironic that the Furs had been created so that humanity could move out into the stars, but yet humans stubbornly remained on Earth, letting those Furs populate the other worlds they had discovered. Even after three hundred years, there were not many Furs living on Earth outside of embassies, most others were just visitors for business or trade, so the locals tended to take notice whenever any were around.

Jennifer’s interest in Tanis was fueled by a long desire to see more than just her own world. Her family had money enough that she had already done a lot of traveling all over the globe, but they were uncomfortable with things out of the ordinary so they would never allow her to leave her homeworld to travel among the stars.

She looked up into the cavernous holding area that was currently devoid of cargo. A few workers were boxing up tools and sweeping debris from the floor as they passed. Tanis waved to one of them and led his personal tourist toward one of the main lifts.

“We won’t linger down here in the cargo and engine areas,” he told her as the red door of the elevator closed behind them. “I’ll take ya up to the residential quarters and show ya the bridge, too.”

“Cool,” she said. It only took a moment to get to the second level and then he led her into a gently curving corridor. He pointed out the different cabins they passed as she translated and read aloud the nameplates written in Standard. “You have a room for pants pockets?” she asked.

“No, silly,” he answered with a grin. “Our mechanic is nicknamed Pockets. He’s a raccoon.”

“Durant?”

“Grizzly bear. Our accountant.”

“You have a grizzly? Cool! What about Sparky?”

“A lynx. This next room is her galley.”

“This is the galley?” Jennifer repeated doubtfully. “It looks more like a cafeteria. It looks brand-new, too.”

“A galley is a ship’s version of a cafeteria and we’ve just had it rebuilt after a fire. This is where we eat and the kitchen back there is where Sparky prepares our meals.” The mural of the Blue Horizon in flight that Jiro had painted years ago was gone now, replaced with a blank wall of pale blue paint over the repaired fire damage. Tanis pulled her out of the room and continued around the corridor. He took off his flight jacket and carried it in his arms.

“Who is Patch?” she asked as she took up reading the nameplates again.

“A raccoon. He’s -”

“Another raccoon?” Jennifer asked.

“Yeah, he’s our chief engineer. He is Pockets’ twin brother.”

“Hey, this door doesn’t have a name plate. Who has this room?”

“No one. It is a spare for guests who stay with us during a flight, although that doesn’t happen often,” Tanis replied. He opened the door and switched on the light. “It’s got the same floor plan as the other cabins, so once ya’ve seen this one, ya’ve seen the others, only without personal effects.”

Jennifer walked in and plopped down on the bed. “Hmm,” she hummed, “it’s rather comfy in here.”

Tanis smiled and twitched his ears. “It has to be. The voyages between worlds take weeks and sometimes months to travel and everyone needs their own private space. It helps to have a comfortable room if ya have to spend long periods of time in it.”

“It takes weeks and sometimes months?” she repeated. “Why so long?”

“Interstellar distances are quite vast,” Tanis explained. “In the early days of space travel, it took years for the fastest unmanned probes to reach other worlds just within the same solar system, and at those speeds, it would take decades to travel to another star. Our LightDrive engines are exponentially faster, but it still takes a lot of time to get from one place to another. It would be nice if we had instantaneous travel, but that kind of technology just doesn’t exist.”

The girl nodded as if she understood, but then smiled thoughtfully to herself as she looked around the room. She stood up and looked to the corridor. “Shall we continue?”

As they walked, she saw that the next cabin was labeled with the name of her companion. “What kind of animal are you?” she asked, giving him a closer examination. His tan fur was silky in texture and the fluff of white at the base of his throat stuck out of his shirt like a bunched-up scarf. She ran her fingers through the soft fur behind one of his large ears and he smiled up at her.

“A fennec fox,” he replied, "like your little desert foxes here. My homeworld is Nalirra, in the Roppa star system.”

Jennifer appeared confused. “Why do you wear clothing if you're covered in fur?” she asked boldly. “I wouldn’t think with a natural coat of fur that you’d have a need for clothing to protect you.”

Tanis grinned widely at her question. “It’s yer fault, actually.”

“Mine?”

“I meant yer planet,” he replied. Taking on the tone of an instructor, he explained. “Although the creation of Furs started on Earth, the other colony worlds have been operating apart for so long that it’s sometimes difficult to remember where they began, especially since some of them were abandoned or forgotten for decades. After Earth found us again and the Planetary Alignment was formed, the youth of our various planets adopted the wearing of clothing either as a fad or rebellion against their elders, as most youth do. The trend never really died, however, and as they grew into the adults of our societies, they continued the practice. If ya travel outside yer own solar system, ya will still see many of the elders wearing only their fur, but for the most part, a lot of us who travel off world wear clothing like you do.”

Jennifer wrinkled up her nose. “Isn’t it hot, wearing clothes over fur?”

“Not with our fabrics. They look similar to yers, but they are much lighter and cooler. Besides, we also wear them loose and they are made to breathe. They’re for show, mostly, without having any real practical use, although the extra layers are great when shipboard heaters don’t always work well enough out in the absolute cold of space.”

“Wow... We were the cause of that?” she asked.

Tanis laughed and leaned against the wall. “Pretty much,” he said. “Not that it is a bad thing, mind ya. The clothes give us the chance to be different within our own species, or similar to others. Take a look at my flight jacket.” He held it up for her to see. It was a light brown all-weather fabric with the ship’s emblem patch on the left breast and right shoulder. “All our crew members have these. As I’ve told ya, we’re a mixture of species: bear, canine, cheetah, red fox, fennec fox, lynx, raccoon and wolf, but with our similar jackets, we can be similar together.”

“How come your things look like ours?” the girl asked.

“What do ya mean?”

“Everything I see looks like it could have all been made here on Earth; nothing looks… alien.”

Tanis laughed. “Do yer schools still teach history?”

“Yes, of course. It’s required.”

“Do they teach about the Great Abandonment?”

“I’ve never heard of anything called that,” Jennifer replied, shaking her head.

Tanis frowned, but then said, “No, I don’t suppose that’s what they would call it on Earth. Out among the rest of the Planetary Alignment, that’s what we call the time when Earth created us Furs to colonize other worlds for them, but then a ‘pure human’ movement swept through nearly every nation. They all decided we should have never been created and were banned from the Earth. They abandoned all of their colonies and cut ties with them all simply because there were Furs on them. They even dismissed Kantus, even though there was already a great human population building up there.”

“That’s terrible!” Jennifer gasped. “I think I missed that in history class.”

Tanis nodded. “About a hundred years later, opinions had changed on Earth and a new movement began to contact the abandoned colonies and welcome them back. By this time, however, the surviving colonies had flourished and expanded on their own, having created their own cultures and governments. However, since they had all had beginnings on Earth, many of them were based upon the knowledge and memories they had taken with them.

“It’s been three hundred years since the first Furs were created, and two hundred since Earth and most of the Fur Worlds reunited to form the Planetary Alignment. Each colony world now has its own civilizations, but remember that they were all originally designed after the cultures they remembered from Earth. If things look similar to ya, it’s because of that. Not all countries on all the worlds are identical to what ya have here. They are just as varied as humanity itself, but there will always be an overall similarity.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Jennifer responded quietly. “Some of this sounds familiar, so I suppose I did hear some of it in school.” She looked up at him with a smile and shrugged her slender shoulders. “I had probably cut classes on the days they covered that.”

“Ya naughty girl,” he teased with a smile. “It’s something ya should probably read up on. Although the Planetary Alignment exists now to keep us all as friends, there were some of the worlds that even now still haven’t joined up, harboring resentment over being abandoned for so long. Earth lost track of some colonies altogether when records were destroyed by the early pure-human movement; maybe they will be rediscovered someday.”

Jennifer was quiet for a long moment as she digested what she had just been told, but then she shook herself and resumed the ship’s tour when she spotted the next sign.

“Right, so who has the next cabin to yours? This person, Taro?”

“She’s a fox,” he answered.

“What species is she?”

Tanis looked at her strangely. “A fox, I said.”

“Oh, sorry,” Jennifer laughed. “On my world, we call anyone who is good looking a fox.”

Tanis was not sure he understood the reference, but he smiled anyway. “I suppose she fits both explanations, then. She’s quite lovely.” His eyes took on a far-away look as he added the last. The human girl laughed and peered at him slyly.

“You have something going with her, don’t you?” she said in a conspiratorial whisper.

“None of yer business, girl,” Tanis whispered back with a wink.

“Can we go to the bridge now?” Jennifer asked. “I’m getting bored reading names in a hallway.”

“This way, then,” Tanis agreed. “A cheetah’s cabin is next to hers and then Sickbay,” he added as they quickly passed the doors. “Here we are,” he said at last when they came to a blue door. It had upon it a large symbol of an old seafaring steering wheel painted in gold.

The door slid aside before the fennec fox could activate the opening control. A gray wolf in a captain’s hat looked up at them from the slateboard in his hands and tilted his head slightly to the side.

“Hello,” he said. “Friend of yours, Tanis, or a client?”

“Friend.” Tanis looked at the girl with a smile and then back to the wolf. “Jennifer Sanderson, this is our fearless leader, Captain Merlin Sinclair.”

Merlin gave her a nod and said, “Welcome aboard, Jennifer.”

“Thanks, Captain. This is a nice ship you’ve got,” she replied.

“You fixed your hat?” Tanis asked, looking at the smooth brim. There was no sign of the crease.

“No, it’s a new one. Please excuse me,” Merlin said as he stepped past them, “but we’ll be moving the ship shortly for further upgrades.” He turned and looked back at them as they stepped through the door. “Tanis, while you’re on the bridge, would you call up everyone on the DCs to tell them that Renny, Patch and I will be moving the Blue Horizon to Tucson. I’ll contact everyone in about four days from with the rendezvous address after the modifications have been completed.”

“Sure, boss. Ya need any other help moving the ship?”

“Not really,” the wolf said. “We’re only flying a relative short distance, but if you want to come along, you are welcome to do so.”

“What time are ya leaving?”

“In about thirty minutes.” Merlin nodded toward the girl and said, “Have your look around, but I’m afraid your tour will have to be cut short. We’ll be sealing the airlocks and pressurizing the ship in fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Jennifer replied. She tugged the fennec fox’s arm to lead him onto the bridge and the door shut behind them. “Are you leaving with them?” she asked.

Tanis let his left ear droop as he shrugged his shoulders. “I should,” he said. “I’m running low on funds for transportation between here and Tucson, so I’ll just go along with them now and hang around that place until the ship is ready.”

Jennifer put her hand on top of his head and ran her fingers through the silky fur between his ears. “In that case, I think I should head home now,” she said. “You still have to call the others and there’s not much time left.”

“I’m sorry, Jennifer,” Tanis said. “I like ya a lot, but I’m afraid we have to part company now. I’ll see ya to the hatch, and then —”

“No,” the girl said shaking her head of long, blonde hair, “I remember the way we came in. You go ahead and call your crew.” She leaned over, kissed him quickly on the cheek, and then headed back out into the corridor. “It was nice meeting you, Arktanis TeVann!” she called as she disappeared. “Thanks for the tour and the history lesson!”

Tanis put his hands on his hips and frowned. “That was awfully abrupt,” he muttered to himself. He moved to the communications terminal and set to his task.

***

Merlin shaded his eyes and squinted as he searched the cloudless desert sky over Tucson for the transport that was to deliver the armaments he had been unable to obtain through normal channels. The Blue Horizon rested in the sun on the landing pad behind him, and the workers of Lowery’s Starship Garage were already preparing the vessel for moving into the old hangar. Patch was inside the ship securing all final systems, though they had landed close to an hour ago. Renny and Tanis had already taken off to see the town.

A short human stood next to him, studying the display of a handheld slateboard that he shielded from the sun with his own shadow. Victor Faltane appeared to be in his late twenties, a man with pale blue eyes, the hint of a new beard, and blond hair that hung just past his shoulders. He was dressed in blue denim jeans, white high-top sneakers, and a white open collar shirt with long sleeves that were rolled up to his elbows. The innocence of his boyish face belied the experiences he had gone through in his career and was often an asset when the authorities came snooping around. Although he had his fingers in numerous pies around the Planetary Alignment, his business of acquisitions was legal. Like Samantha Holden, however, he had special contacts to obtain those hard-to-get items when he needed them. He studied the readout on his display and looked over at the wolf.

“They’ve just received clearance to drop from orbit, Captain Sinclair,” he said. “They should be here in about ten minutes.”

“What is the name of the vessel my shipment is coming in on?” Merlin casually asked as he reluctantly removed his gaze from the sky.

“As with you, dear Captain, I don’t usually reveal the names of those I work with,” the young man replied with a smile. “Everyone seems to prefer it that way.”

“I asked only out of curiosity, but what is to keep me from simply reading the name off the side of the ship when it arrives?” Merlin asked dryly.

Faltane raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Nothing. Point taken.” He looked back down at his slateboard and answered, “It’s a Sakura-class freighter called the Savannah Hunter.”

“The Savannah Hunter,” Merlin repeated with sudden annoyance. “Armando Jensen...”

Faltane smiled and nodded again. “Oh, you know him?”

“Only too well,” Merlin growled; he laid his ears back and his tail swished back and forth in agitation.

“Careful, Sinclair,” the man said as he casually pointed a finger at him, “my clients and contacts are of all types and species. Not everyone is exactly on the up-and-up, including yourself, or you would not be dealing with me on this particular delivery.”

“True,” the wolf admitted, “but Armando and I have a long history, little of which is good.”

Faltane lowered his display unit and turned to face his customer fully. “You have about seven minutes before the Savannah Hunter arrives. Do you want to cancel your order?” He was serious and the piercing look in his eyes made Merlin uncomfortable. “There will be a service charge for the delivery, of course, but if you don’t want the merchandise, I should have no trouble reselling these particular items.”

Merlin hesitated only a moment, but shook his head. “No, Mr. Faltane, I’ll keep my end of the bargain. I don’t have to like who you chose to deliver the goods, but at least I will get what I want.”

“A wise decision, I assure you,” the boyish human replied. “Now, if you are in the market for a little business of your own, I would like to hire your services once your upgrades have been completed.”

Merlin looked at him with renewed, but suspicious, interest. “What kind of services?”

“Cargo delivery, of course. It is nothing out of the ordinary of your usual business. Just a simple delivery at your standard price. Everything’s perfectly legal and on the up-and-up.”

The wolf nodded to him. “Okay, Mr. Faltane, I am interested. After spending the credits for these modifications and those I had done in San Francisco, I could use the extra income.”

“I’m glad you feel that way.”

“What is the cargo?” Merlin asked, noticing a reflection of sunlight glinting off an approaching aircraft in the distance.

“Heavy equipment and supplies for an industrial complex,” Faltane replied, studying incoming data on his reader. “However, I don’t think your ship is large enough to carry everything.”

“Can you hire a second ship for the other part of the load?”

“That’s what I had in mind, Captain. Here comes the other ship, now.” Both looked up at the high-pitched whine of atmospheric engines and the frown returned to Merlin’s face. The delta-shaped bulk of the Savannah Hunter grew in size over the next few minutes as it approached the facility’s location. When at last it had arrived, it hovered over a nearby landing pad with flashing green lights around its perimeter.

The vessel was slightly larger than the Blue Horizon but a different design altogether. Its sloping, dark green sides were vaned and antennae sprouted out toward practically every point of a three-dimensional compass. Tractor driven landing gear extended as it neared the pavement and a hot wind blew away from the site. Merlin shielded his eyes from blown dust and fell into a coughing fit.

Patch ran over to them as the whine of the newly arrived ship powered down. “Captain, what’s he doing here?” the raccoon said with a scowl.

“Just doing business, Patch. Just like us,” Merlin replied as he tried to clear the grimace from his own face. Armando Jensen, the owner and captain of the Savannah Hunter, was the chief competitor to the Blue Horizon’s business. He was shrewd, cunning, and not above dishonesty to acquire his contracts. He was also the son of a rich corporate executive on Mainor, although he had not been in good standing with his Papa for years. The conflicts between Mainor and Dennier over mineral rights to the asteroid belt between the two worlds had ended eight years earlier, but threads of animosity for each other still existed. That alone gave Merlin uneasy feelings about Armando besides any crooked business practices the other might have instigated.

Patch snorted and looked up at his captain. “If you don’t mind, I’m heading into town to find a tobacco shop for more cigars,” he said.

Faltane glanced at the raccoon. “The Tobacco Leaf is in the strip mall near the intersection of Main and West Alameda,” he said. “Tell the owner, Mr. Dupre, that I recommended the place to you and he should give you a fair discount.”

“The Tobacco Leaf. Mr. Dupre. Main and West Alameda. Thanks, Mr. Faltane, I’ll look him up,” Patch said as he jotted the information down on a small notepad from a pocket. He looked back to Merlin, who only nodded that it was okay for him to leave. The wolf’s attention was on the green freighter. Patch snorted again and then wandered off in search of transportation.

The main hatch of the Savannah Hunter split apart and a rotund panda emerged and headed directly toward them, his face grim.

“Mister Faltane?” the Ursidae male asked when he stopped before them.

“That’s me,” the man replied.

“I am JW Chon, first mate of the Savannah Hunter. Please call your local ambulance. Two of our crew got into a brawl just before landing and one of them was seriously injured. She’s in critical condition and needs more medical attention than we can give her on board.”

“Oh, brother...” Faltane replied and rolled his eyes. Merlin’s face was unreadable at the news, but the panda paid him no attention.

“The captain is interrogating the other one right now and will be out as soon as he’s finished with her.” Chon shook his head and growled. “I knew those two would get into it over that guy...”

“I’ll get on the com right away.” Faltane turned and ran to the hangar office, and the panda trotted back toward his own ship, leaving Merlin standing alone in silence. He watched the panda until he disappeared into the green vessel and then turned back toward his own.

The Blue Horizon resembled a giant blue flying saucer. The cargo area was two stories high with the rec deck making up a third level. There were no external appendages, not even a few spindly antennae; the systems were all internally housed and more efficient. In his opinion, Merlin believed the Okami class of freighter was the best design available. Many space captains argued that an aerodynamic design was not needed to fly through the stars, but Sinclair was well aware that the atmospheric flight necessary to get to his customers down on the various planets required sleek surfaces for airflow. Its two-tone blue paint job pleased the wolf, though it could use touch-ups here and there, but there would be time for that later. They had had too much downtime lately and he was itching to get back to business with paying customers.

He mulled over in his mind about what he had just heard and wondered if a similar result would come of Renny’s jealousy of Tanis and Taro. Although he had known him only a short while, the cheetah did not seem the type to resort to violence, but one could never know when everyone is cooped up in a ship for weeks and even months at a time. He felt fortunate that his crew tended to get along well. With Armando’s personality, he could not visualize the same camaraderie on the Savannah Hunter.

“Sinclair!” a deep voice boomed behind him. “Chon told me that was your moth-eaten excuse for a ship we landed next to!” Merlin turned around and saw a large maned lion approaching from his competitor’s ship. The individual wore only a vest across his broad, golden shoulders and an ornamental belt around his waist. He carried a slateboard in his left hand, though his other one opened and closed in agitation. His yellow eyes were narrowed in suspicion when he stopped next to the wolf and glared down at him.

“Hello, Armando,” Merlin said with a forced smile. “I hear you have crew troubles.”

“That’s none of your business!”

Merlin tilted his head to the side slightly as he looked up at the towering figure. “True,” he said. “However, I believe you do have business with me.”

“You?” the lion growled. “Why are you here?” He looked up as Faltane returned from the warehouse.

“An ambulance is on the way,” the human said. “The hospital is fairly close, so they should be here shortly.” They could already hear a wailing siren in the distance. Armando returned his attention to the gray wolf.

“Well?”

“Your cargo is for him,” Faltane replied.

“Him!” the lion bellowed. “Had I known that, I would have never taken the job!”

“Calm down,” Faltane said with a quiet, but menacing voice. It was apparent this angelic-appearing man was used to dealing with hotheads. “You needed the money and I had a paying contract for you.”

Armando’s lips pressed together tightly as he nodded. “Yeah, I need the money,” he admitted. “I would not be in so much debt if someone had not tipped off the SPF of a deal I had with the hyenas!” He glared again at Merlin, but directed his words at the human. “You said you had another job for me after this one?”

“That’s right,” Faltane answered as he looked off in the direction of the approaching ambulance. “I need both of your ships to deliver a large shipment of industrial equipment to Langlop’s Outpost, an island community on Brandt.”

“Brandt!” Merlin exclaimed. “I’m not going to Brandt!”

Armando grinned widely and slapped the wolf on the back, almost knocking him over. “What’s the matter, puppy? Too many bad guys there for you? That’s the planet I just came from and we didn’t have a lick of trouble.”

Merlin scowled and looked up at the lion. “Brandt is the source of most of my problems,” he growled. “I don’t intend to fly straight toward Sagan’s home base.”

“I went out of my way to help you,” Faltane said calmly. “There are no other interstellar freighters currently available in our solar system. If you will not help me with my shipment, you will not get your shipment.”

Armando crossed his massive arms and merely smiled down at his competitor. He enjoyed watching the wolf get flustered.

“I’m paying for that!” Merlin exclaimed.

“I have not yet received payment,” the human reminded him. He gestured toward the Blue Horizon with a hand and added, “I’m your only source for these armaments, Sinclair. The price I offered them to you closely matches your standard base price for a full delivery to another star system. In the account books, it would have been near an even trade between us, with you making an extra thousand credits on the side.”

The ambulance arrived and the Mainoran lion left them to deal with it, but Faltane continued. “Like your friend, Mr. Jensen, I know you need the money,” he said. “You flew empty from Alexandrius to Earth, and I am also aware that you will have to fly empty between Earth and your next job. That’s a hundred thousand credits you will be out by leaving here without accepting my business, not to mention whatever it will cost you to try to get the armaments elsewhere.”

The wolf’s ears drooped and he swallowed. Everything Faltane said was true. Samantha may benefit from dealing under the table from time to time, but Merlin made a silent vow to never deal with this man again after this. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Like my friend, it looks like I have no choice in the matter. I need the money and the armaments.”

Faltane smiled and nodded as if the outcome had been assured all along. “I will have my team unload the Savannah Hunter and get your new toys installed right away. You may need them, flying in to Brandt.”

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

By Steve Carter

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

Brandt. The Blue Horizon is on its way to the one place within the Planetary Alignment I have never had a desire to visit. We are fully armed and everything’s functional, but everyone is uneasy about this assignment. Our hold contains nothing more dramatic than industrial machinery used to construct low-cost housing, but because of the amount of cargo that needs delivery, my ship was only large enough to contain two-thirds of the equipment.

In addition to ourselves, Faltane hired the Savannah Hunter to deliver the remaining one-third of the shipment to Langlop’s Outpost. Armando is currently flying a quarter of a light-year ahead of us, but we have them continually monitored. Due to a violent argument amongst his crew, he had to leave his navigator behind in a Tucson hospital with her stomach muscles stitched back together. Jensen is flying true to course, so I can only assume he either has another navigator on board or his route to Brandt is so well-traveled that he has it programmed into his nav computer.

The profit of a thousand credits we made from the “trade” that Faltane arranged with us did not come to very much. Split nine ways, everyone on board had an extra one hundred credits added to their accounts, with the remaining hundred credits going toward the company funds. Whee, what a deal that was...

As for Brandt, what can be said about a place that used to be a thriving center of commerce and culture, but has fallen to the level of sheltering pirates and cutthroats by the hundreds? When Brandt’s main cash crop of the highly conductive Siilv metal dried up five years ago, the entire planet fell into chaos and ruin as what remained of civilization beat a hasty retreat to greener worlds. Brandt is now ruled by the knife and gun; a place of thieves, parasites, prostitutes and who knows what kinds of diseases. It is strange that the Intergalactic Aid foundation chose to put a base of operations on this mangy planet, especially as the SPF no longer has any jurisdiction within the Faya Star System.

Carrying two-thousand tons of industrial and construction equipment aboard this ship, we are to help Intergalactic Aid in its attempts to rebuild this planet in the name of “universal peace and brotherly love.” It seems an unusual pursuit for the likes of Victor Faltane, but after our meeting on Earth, I find that I am not interested in what motivates such a man. Who knows; maybe he has a good heart beneath that throbbing capitalist veneer, but I tend to doubt it.

Due to the tense situation as we grow closer to Brandt, I am having all shifts on the bridge posted with two individuals at all times instead of the usual one. I have staggered them so no one gets burned out too quickly and I have included myself in the detail.

This alone would give us enough to worry about on a trip like this, but Pockets’ new little device, Moss, turned up a stowaway four hours after we shifted up the LightDrive engines. A stowaway. Tanis swears he knew nothing of Jennifer Sanderson’s continued presence on the ship, but it appears she has been with us since that day in San Francisco I prepared the ship for delivery to Tucson. She has been living in the vacant cabin next to Tanis, stealing food from the galley. Sparky said she had noticed that some of the food supplies had been into, but with a crew of nine, most of whom at one time or another hit the pantry for snacks, she had not thought it out of the ordinary. This is one thing that Moss was created for, so we locked her into her cabin and had it sweep the ship for bugs and bombs. Pockets may be goofy and carefree most of the time, but he does sometimes have a practical head on his shoulders.

Due to the hostile nature of our destination, I contacted the SPF with hesitation about the girl and discovered that her folks had reported her as missing a week earlier. A cruiser arranged to rendezvous with us in flight and picked her up as we neared the dwarf planet Pluto on our way out of the solar system. She was a nice kid, but I don’t favor stowaways. She never apologized for hiding out on my ship, but the call I got from her family a few days later was full of thanks for returning their errant child.

Fortunately for us, Officer Hendricks never once questioned us about our current delivery or destination. I have only dealt with her a few times in the past and that Siamese cat has always had a suspicious nature. She seemed distracted by her new partner, a young and energetic coyote, so perhaps that worked to our advantage. This assignment has made me more than a little nervous when dealing with the Spatial Police Force and a nosy cat would not have been a good thing at this point, even if our cargo is legal, or so Faltane claims.

So far, the flight has been smooth. The delay due to the rendezvous took us extra time to get back up to interstellar inertia speeds, but Patch pushed our velocity up a little to make up for it. We are still a week and a half away from Brandt and there has been no sign of Sagan. If we are fortunate, perhaps he is in another star system lying in wait for some other unlucky victim, or dying in pool of blood somewhere from an attack gone wrong. We could only be so lucky. With the new armaments, I believe I am ready for any encounter we may have with him, but I am not hoping to put it to the test. It's best if we simply don't ever encounter him again.

As we draw nearer to Brandt, there is the strong possibility that other raiders may think of us as an easy target. Either that or we will be thought of as just another brigand, seeing how no other vessel on the up and up would willingly fly into a nest of them. I am not looking for trouble. I only want to deliver my cargo and get my tail out of there as quickly as possible. Faltane seemed to think we would be unmolested flying into Langlop’s Outpost, but cautioned us to be careful on the way out.

Armando has taken the loose partnership rather well, and that in itself worries me. Either he has something up his proverbial sleeve, or he is taking it with grace merely because he needs the credits as much as I do. He and I have had a few chats along the way, mostly to needle one another, but at least we’re talking. He has an easy temper and has seen his own share of bar fights, including a few brawls with some of my crew. Ever since our initial contact back on Mainor a few years ago, it is no secret that neither of us can stand the other, even if we do communicate from time to time.

The Blue Horizon will still have to fly empty out to Quet, but it’s within the same star system and I have my weapon systems in trade for the jaunt to Brandt. The sooner we can be on our way to pick up that load of processed micranite for delivery to Dennier, the easier I will breathe.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Durant’s brow furrowed as he pored over the numbers in the ledger of the ship’s books. He could not put his finger on where a specific discrepancy originated, but he was beginning to suspect it was Samantha’s doing. He had caught her before, fixing the numbers to retain a portion of their cargo for themselves for later selling or use, but their present manifest should not have anything in it of interest to her. He abandoned the computer terminal and pulled out a pad of paper and an old calculator. He was far better at finding financial tampering with a pencil than with the computer and set about to begin his search.

Before he could start scrawling, however, an awful alien sound wrenched at his ears. He jumped up from his desk in alarm, almost hitting his head on the low ceiling. He listened intently, his small ears twisting, but the sound was not repeated. The grizzly bear knew he could not have imagined something like that, so he moved quickly to a wall locker and took out one of the new Binfurr rifles they had just acquired. He made sure the clip was full with stun loads since he had no desire to pierce the ship’s hulls, and then opened the door from his office to move out into the hold.

The huge chamber was filled to capacity with tethered massive components of industrial machinery, but a meter-wide pathway had been left around the outer perimeter of the hold. Durant looked each way in the dimmed lighting, unsure of which way to go. He suspected some alien life form had stowed away in the machinery from Earth and was now on the prowl. The bear feared little, but was cautious with the unknown. He took no chances unless necessary. He stood as quiet as the void outside the ship and did nothing but listen.

Then it started again, from his left – first as a low moan and then building in strength and pitch. The sound grated against his ears as it strengthened in volume. Durant’s heart began to quicken. It sounded as if someone was stepping on a small wounded animal with cleated boots and trying to mash it into the flooring.

“Sparky!” he gasped to himself. He moved as quickly as his muscled bulk would allow along the perimeter of the hold, fearful something had gotten his small friend. Each step took him closer to the wailing and his eyes furrowed in anger. He set his teeth together as he neared the doorway to the Engine Room and rounded the machinery with his rifle up and ready.

What he saw surprised and repulsed him. It was not Sparky who was being attacked, but the diminutive raccoon, Patch. A dark and bloated, many-legged creature was trying to shove an appendage down the engineer’s throat. What he heard was the thing’s ear-wrenching moan as the raccoon tried to squeeze it under an arm, his cheeks puffed out fighting for a breath. Durant lifted his rifle and fired a shot across the top of the creature’s abdomen. The darkness of the chamber made it hard to see, and the projectile missed completely to bury itself in a wooden bookcase in the small office cubicle beyond.

The wailing ended when the alien released the raccoon, but Patch was far from grateful. He looked up angrily at the bear and shouted, “What the blazes are you shooting at me for?” He set the creature on the floor where it made a wheezing sound, but surprisingly it made no attempt to jump back onto its victim or run away. Patch rushed over to Durant and snatched the rifle out of the bear’s grasp, nearly taking off one of the ursine’s fingers in the process. He backed away snarling, hunched over with the gun as if he dared the loadmaster to advance any further toward him.

Durant was clearly confused. “Patch!” he explained, “I heard that thing attacking you!” He looked at the creature that had grown still. “I thought you were dying!”

Patch straightened up and traded the snarl for a look of bewilderment. “What thing are you talking about, Durant?” he asked gruffly. “I was playing music.”

The bear pointed toward the thing on the floor. “That was no music I heard!” he replied, “It sounded more like you were being squashed!”

Patch’s scowl returned and he walked over to the bear. He shoved the rifle hard back into Durant’s hands and then stomped back to the item in question. When he picked it up, the thing let out another wheezing groan, its abdomen looking deflated. “This is called a bagpipe, Durant,” the raccoon explained with a sigh. “I just picked it up on Earth, but this is the first time I’ve had since our launch to try it out.” He huffed at the new dent in his bookcase from the fired round and then glared back at the bear. “I haven’t learned how to play it yet and I was about to try,” he exclaimed in a voice nearing a shout, “but I’ll be dipped if I’m going to let you shoot at my instruments when I bring them out!”

Durant put the safety back on the rifle and shook his head. “I’ve heard you play your other instruments, Patch. You’re good, but I have serious doubts that music will ever come out of that thing!”

The raccoon merely glowered at him without another word, so the bear left the engineer to his dark thoughts. Durant had thoughts of his own. If Patch was going to continue to torture him with the bagpipe, he would have to retire to his own quarters to get any work done. His fears were confirmed as he reached his desk moments later when that awful noise began again to set his teeth on edge. The bear groaned and gathered up his work.

***

A sizzling neon sign read “Langlop’s Outpost” above a rusty gray door in front of a sickly green office with pale-yellow lights. Inside, a tired and bored canine shuffled paper in the semblance of activity, but the liquid ovals of her eyes suggested that she had not been truly alive for some time. She seemed unaware of the movement outside of her office and continually checked the clock on a water-stained wall. Blistered and peeling wallpaper covered the inside, as well as the drooping pages of a two-year-old paper calendar that had never been changed.

Durant cursed to himself as he watched an awkward, aging lift shakily move forward, stabbing the wooden beams of the final equipment pallet again with its metal tongs. The tall, thick mountain lion in the cab did not know a lever from a hole in the ground, he thought to himself. However, now that the cargo was unloaded from the Horizon, it was no longer the bear’s responsibility. Still, Durant hated shabby work on principle.

Nearby, Merlin stood with the bay master. The gray wolf wore a long, black trench coat that made him look taller and more threatening than he was. It was only pulled out when he wanted to say, “Skip the conversation. We don’t want to be here.”

The bay master, however, was a sloppy fat dog with greasy overalls whose jowls wobbled when he spoke. The canine addressed Captain Sinclair with an air of annoyance, as though the wolf’s business was an intrusion on his desire to punch out early. It was plain, Durant thought, that he was related to someone in power at this port, because no reasonable manager would act like that to an important customer and keep his job for very long. The bear only hoped that Armando had gotten similar treatment with his part of the shipment.

“Hey!” Samantha called, snapping his attention back to the gaping maw of the ship. “Can you give me a hand up here?”

The bear moved up the ramp quickly, eager to get away from the ineptitude that had thronged around him in the form of the cargo receiving crew. Samantha wrestled with a clasp on the edge of the ramp without luck. When the towering bear arrived, a simple slap of a hinge connected the metallic circuit and closed the clasp tight. She thanked him, her breath billowing white in the chill of the cargo bay air.

“Have they never heard of heat in here?” she snarled.

“I asked,” Durant replied. “Apparently, they’re waiting for a release form pending their critical need for heat in the loading and unloading section of this outpost, and the release forms are on backorder. They do everything on paper here, no slateboards at all.”

She stuck out the tip of her tongue, “Cute. I want something to drink.”

“Looking to drown a few sorrows?”

“Looking to get away from all this mess and unwind.”

“Negative on that, Sam,” their captain rolled, approaching the pair. “We’re not going to be here that long, and there’s to be no leaving the ship’s general vicinity. I don’t want to be here any longer than absolutely necessary.”

Durant blinked. “No shore leave, boss?”

The wolf clamped a hand softly on the bear’s shoulder, “Not this time around, I’m afraid. You know where we are and why I don’t want to take chances. We should not be here for any longer than it takes to unload the cargo and get clearance to launch.”

Samantha sighed heavily. She hated the thought of remaining on a ship she had already been penned up in for weeks. However, her wants did not outweigh the captain’s directives.

“I know,” Merlin said with a grimace. “But I promise that we’ll be taking some extra time off on Dennier once we’ve made our stop on Quet.”

“But that’s another month away,” the Border collie whined.

“Quet is only a day away from here,” Merlin reminded her.

“I meant Dennier,” the Border collie said with a sigh. “Who in their right mind would want to go to Quet for shore leave?”

“That matches my sentiments for Brandt as well,” the wolf muttered.

wrench-CRASH!

The three turned as one toward the sound as another weathered pallet was skewered, gears ground and caterpillar wheels spun in a fog of screaming metal. Curses and accusations followed, worker voices raised in anger and outrage.

The captain smiled hard and indicated the panel inside the now-empty hold. Samantha returned the thin grin and slapped the face of buttons, bringing the ramp up and sealing off the trio from viewing the incompetence below.

***

“Are you seeing this?”

“I am not seeing this.”

Sparky whirled a kitchen knife with an aplomb that would have done a surgeon proud. Her slateboard was propped up atop her prep area, playing out the gentle music and purring voice on a local station she had turned on just for white noise. To her left, trying to read his own tablet for the news connection to the Interstellar News Network, Arktanis was trying not to pay attention.

“I can’t believe this,” she added, peeling another vegetable. “How can they be doing this kind of thing on a world that’s trying to get back on its feet again?”

“I am not seeing this,” he repeated.

Sparky crossed the room and took Tanis by the chin, directing his gaze to slateboard she shoved into view in front of his own. Across the small screen streaked the faces of weeping, starving children, insects swirling around their furry heads as a voiceover spoke of the miseries of the dying babies in nearby countries. Then it showed opulent palaces and obese individuals in too-small suits and glittering finery. A plaintive female voice poured through the speakers like honey:

“While kits and cubs are starving at our back doors, hungrily looking to another day of wondering if survival—if a morsel of food—will greet them the next day, the wealthy and powerful turn their backs in silent disgust. Those who have been blessed with good fortune look away from those whose labor has gone unrewarded. With the rising costs of medical care, we cannot afford not to act to save the innocent—to save the poor and the needy…”

He nudged her tablet aside and returned to his slateboard. “I don’t like to get politically involved in the welfare of other worlds, Sparky. Didn’t ya ever watch that show Stellar Journey? They fell into that trap time and again!”

“Well, we don’t have to get involved, Tanis. We can just help them out a little.”

“I don’t want to go down that road, Sparky.”

“You are going to allow those poor, helpless children to starve when we have so much?” she purred.

Tanis looked up from the screen. “If ya want to help out our using your own savings, I’ll not talk ya out of it, but ya know ya’ll have to go through the politicians first, and they’ll make sure they get their cut of anything ya donate.”

***

Patch rolled out from under a translucent pane of crystal, stabbed fingers into a beat-up toolbox, withdrew a weathered chrome instrument, and rolled back the way he had come. Beside him under the pane, his brother roared a Ganisan aria to which the cranky Patch grimaced. The genial brother’s voice filled the engineering section, ringing off the liquid crystal tubes and filling the entire area with music. Somewhere outside, a gang of feral dogs would have howled in auditory distress.

“Hah!” Pockets suddenly chirped, slamming a panel shut. The raccoon looked at his brother under the pane and pushed himself bodily out from beneath it, sailing across the floor to a manual red button on the far side of the room. Pockets slapped it and bounded up from the floor to look at a flashing display of red numerals.

“Fixed it in three hours, thirty-seven minutes!” he called out.

Patch drew himself out from under the pane, wiping transparent grease from his fingers and snarled under his breath.

“I take it you were successful?” rolled a third voice from above. The brothers looked back to the open doorway to see their lean cheetah grinning at them. Renny had stretched himself into a black workout suit and apparently just left the mini-gym on the recreational room on the third deck. A light dusting of perspiration rested across his nose and the powerful lines of his body pulsed with newly-spent energy.

“We got the LC pipes cleaned out in record time and the jets are in the clear!” Pockets chirped, and then sniffed the air around him. “We need showers!”

Renny gestured for them to follow and the trio was soon ambling toward the lift, talking and jesting with Pockets about plans for a few hours of shore leave.

But halfway around the perimeter of the hold, the trio met up with Samantha.

“You guys heading—whoa! To the showers, I hope! You all smell like you’ve been rolling around in something nasty just outside the ship.”

“Showers coming up,” Pockets replied as his brother growled incoherently. “Then later we’re heading out onto the town to see what we can get into in our off time.”

“Sorry guys,” she corrected, “but nobody’s leaving the port area. Captain’s orders.”

“Orders?” the cheetah moaned. “Why not? I was told that shore leave after a system-to-system journey is standard ship policy.”

Sam canted her head slightly, “The cancellation happens sometimes, Renny. This is a hostile place with which nobody has any legal agreements. We’re not sure what kinds of trouble you could get into here and the local magistrates are only interested in squeezing all the credits they can out of any trouble they can find. Captain says we stay put. The cargo’s been off-loaded and he wants out of here as quickly as possible, but getting local flight authorization is taking time. Personally, I am going to crash out for a couple of hours. Only the bad guys know when we’ll be able to sleep again, you know.”

The three grimaced unhappily, Patch snarled another of his creative curses as Samantha pinched her nose and strolled past the small gathering of pungent males.

***

Twenty minutes later, Pockets stepped out of his shower, dried and groomed his fur, and then wriggled into a fresh set of clothes. The crew was sleeping except for Durant and Sparky sitting lookout on the bridge, and they had two hours to go before they needed to be up and getting ready to disembark. The acquisition of the newer model transducers had aided the ship’s capabilities, but he and Patch had discovered that maintenance of the new equipment required different tools than what they had on hand. Without the proper implements, the transducers could break down and they would end up hard-pressed to fix them. The captain’s motto of “If you must kill time, work it to death,” certainly applied here.

What the heck, it couldn’t hurt anything to sneak a look for such tools, could it?

The raccoon pulled open a drawer, withdrew a tattered paperback book, and flipped a few pages to find the one he had dog-eared a few hours before landing on Brandt. He found his location on a simple map in the book and mentally plotted a route to the place he wanted to go.

Pockets slipped quickly through the ship and across the deserted cargo bay, then moved through the shadows to the airlock. Using a small tool he retrieved from a pocket, he quickly disengaged a sensor that would light up an alert on the Bridge when the airlock was opened. That completed, he slipped outside, took in a breath and looked out over the vista of the forbidden city. The place smelled of cheap liquor and even cheaper companionship. He placed the copy of Good Places on Bad Worlds back into one of his cavernous pockets and started down the pavement.

The lights of the city, mostly reds and violets, glittered above his head as pools of spent rain still glinted underfoot – a raunchy street gleaming with sweat. The cool night was staved off in the heat of the city’s activity. Wreathed in smoke as he walked along the ruined pavement, his stride caught the industrial pulse as the raccoon moved toward a single outpost. The night seemed to speak with the voice of a thousand mournful saxophones. He thrust his hands into his pockets and started down the street to the Wildwood Bar & Grill.

***

A light drizzle fell upon the dark city of Langlop’s Outpost and the raccoon was getting drenched as he shuffled down the street. According to the book in his hands, the bar should be in this vicinity, but nothing looked even remotely like the map he studied for the fifteenth time. He had not seen any street signs on the last six intersections he had crossed, and what lamps lined the avenue were getting fewer in between. The buildings he stood beside were old and weather-beaten. He had read somewhere that the summers in this particular region were cool, windy and plentiful of rain, and the structures reflected the hostile environment.

Pockets frowned at the obviously obsolete book one more time and tossed it in a pile of rubbish near an over-filled trashcan by the closest building. He walked on into the night another half block and contemplated just going back to the Horizon. He took a glance behind him and realized that he had lost his bearings. Had he traveled in a straight line from the ship he might have made it back okay, but he had zigzagged through the streets looking for that particular place and now he was quite lost.

He exhaled rather loudly and stopped in the middle of the wet street. He had seen no one for the past hour and traffic had been nonexistent. He turned around slowly, looking for anything to give him a clue on his whereabouts, but everything looked the same to him. He did not even find a com booth anywhere. Normally on shore leave, each of the crew took along a handheld DataCom for emergencies, but since he had slipped off-ship against orders, he had not bothered taking one of the DCs.

He blinked against the rain and focused down an alley. He thought he saw a dim light behind a dumpster, so he moved in that direction. Moments later, he stood before the cracked and barely operating neon sign of The Overnighter, a small restaurant bar and inn tucked in between two larger structures. A sign on the door invited him in out of the night and the raccoon stepped inside. Had the engineer not thrown away his guide, he would have noticed that there were generally three classes of bars on this world. The first was host to wealthy businessmen and visiting aristocrats. The second was for college students and professionals. The third was for alcoholics, lowlifes and tramps.

The Overnighter would rate as a class-four establishment.

The air was smoky from various pipes and cigars and the vapors of other vices. Pockets did not waste time trying to see who was in the dimly lighted room and went straight to the counter. A walrus with half a tusk walked over to him, but did not speak. Pockets fished a few credits from his coat, ordered something off the drink slate, and took a seat on a stool as he waited.

An old wire jukebox in the corner next to a staircase quietly played what passed for music across the Planetary Alignment three decades earlier, and as the raccoon’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noted only four or five others in the place. A mangy cat stood up from a stool near the stairs and Pockets saw that it was beside a com unit. As soon as the feline was away from the booth, he moved to it and solemnly fed it a few coins. He tapped in the number of the city’s transfer station and then the ID code for the Horizon. He frowned as he anticipated Merlin’s response to his predicament and watched as the com unit’s dim green lights scrolled by, trying not to notice the emaciated middle-age prostitute that ambled up to him with a face that would have been enticing twenty years earlier. He winced, then turned his head and tried to disguise the fact that he had to cover his nose.

It was Taro who answered the communication. “This is the SS Blue Horizon. What can we do for you?”

“Taro?” Pockets said with a breath of relief, “I’m in a fix and need—”

“Pockets? Is that you? Where are you? You’re supposed to be preparing the engine room with your brother. We’re lifting off in an hour!”

“I know, Taro,” he replied, “but we’ve been cooped up in the Horizon for weeks! I needed to get out for some fresh air and food.”

“You call this air fresh?”

“Well, it does smell strange,” he admitted.

“You said you were in a fix,” Taro said dryly. “That can mean too many things on Brandt. What’s your problem, other than the pay docking you are going to get for going against the captain’s orders?”

“I’m lost. I can’t find my way back to the ship.”

“Is that all? Just use the locator on your DC.”

“I didn’t bring one.”

A long pause. “That’s… downright stupid, Pockets. Do you have any idea where you are?” she asked. “I’m calling up the latest city map on the monitor.”

“There aren’t any road signs around here,” the raccoon answered, “but I found a restaurant and inn called The Overnighter.”

“Get a room there for the night, Porter,” Merlin’s voice rumbled suddenly into his ear from the com unit.

“Uh, captain...”

“You’re in enough trouble as it is for doing this, Porter, but you are lucky you were not attacked, beaten, robbed and left for dead during your night sojourn. I don’t want you stumbling around in the dark trying to find your way back.”

“Aye, captain,” Pockets said in a low voice.

“We’ll now have to delay our launch and reschedule with the port authority. We will lift off promptly in the morning as soon as you’re back here,” Merlin said in a dry tone. “We’ll discuss your actions after we’re on our way to Quet.”

“Aye, sir. I’ll get back there first thing in the morning.”

“Good night, Pockets.” The connection broke abruptly and the raccoon could already feel the sting as he hung up the transceiver quietly.

He moved back across the room to the counter and requested a menu. The walrus looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “Menu? The restaurant’s next door and is closed for the night. In here, we sell drinks. If you want a menu, I suggest you head over to Greaseburg down the street.”

From across the room, the walrus’ outburst caught the eye of a figure in a darkened corner. A brawny cougar noted with interest that the new face was in the last place he should have been. The cougar recognized the competent way the stranger sat upright on the barstool and that his hands were scuffed from work. He caught a glimpse of the raccoon’s bright, sharp eyes and realized that sincere intelligence burned behind them. This was no mongrel toiler from a nearby factory.

“Well, do you know where I can get a place for the night, rather cheap?” Pockets asked the barkeep.

The walrus shrugged and hooked a thumb at a dark staircase in a recessed corner with one hand and plopped down a numbered key with the other. Pockets flipped the bartender a coin without a word, snatched up the key and disappeared up the creaking stairs, forgetting his untouched drink. A moment after he had passed, the cougar approached the bar, paid his tab, then followed.

***

Pockets unlocked the rusty brass doorknob and stepped into a room so small he would have to step outside to change his mind. A single bunk sat in the middle of the room, no larger than a loveseat, and a small refrigerator stood idly beside it. This was a place where transients only stayed for a few hours and it was reflected in the price of the room. The raccoon moved to the bed and crawled across it to open the fridge. Inside was a complimentary bottle of water and relatively clean cup, but the unit had not been on low enough to keep the beverage cold. Pockets pursed his lips, took out the two items, and set the bottle on top of the fridge. He stepped back outside, the memory of an ice machine near the head of the staircase still fresh. As he left the room with his cup, he noticed a powerful cougar standing in the hallway. The cougar shrugged and looked down another direction apparently waiting for somebody. Pockets nodded politely and his action was mimicked by the cougar. This done, he turned the other direction.

As he disappeared around the corner to find the ice, the cougar moved to the raccoon’s door and removed a tiny vial from a pocket. He carefully opened the top and then dripped a spot of pale green fluid onto the doorknob to Pockets’ room. The liquid spilled down the front and blended with the green tarnish across the face of the brass knob. Then just as silently, the cougar disappeared back the way he came.

Pockets returned to his room with a cup of ice, the last few cubes in the bin. He gripped the knob, turned it and pushed open the door to his room. As he passed the threshold, he felt a hot tingling in his fingers. He peered down at the palm of his hand and was rewarded with flashing spots before his eyes. This was the last thing he saw before he dropped the cup of ice and the world went black as the floor rushed up to strike him in the face.

***

The raccoon tried to remain still, delirium overcoming him with every twitch of muscle. His head throbbed and his stomach felt ready to heave if he moved an inch. He lay prone on a pile of velvet and satin cushions in a dimly lit room. A number of rough hands had deposited him there some time ago, but no faces had been visible in the bewildering haze fogging his mind.

He had given up demanding an explanation when his slurred words elicited no response from the hands that had carried him and dropped him where he now lay. With what coherence he could muster, he observed himself in a bedchamber with a small, empty table beside him, wood-paneled walls and a huge bed adorned with silk sheets in its center. Apparently, this was an opulent bedchamber of some wealthy person, but he could not understand why he had been brought here. The drugged feeling washed over him again and he felt himself relaxing whether he wanted to or not. His eyes fluttered shut.

***

An unknown time later, Pockets felt another presence nearby, as well as the closeness of an object to his face. He opened his eyes wide to find a tiny hand waving in front of him. The hand snatched back and he saw a hazy form with large ears draw away from him. It turned quickly and pattered off, followed by the resolute clap of wood as a door closed behind the retreating form. Pockets looked around again and this time saw a glistening chalice and a common cup now sat on the table alongside a small vial of amber liquid.

They’re going to drug me again, he thought, and resolved to deny them that pleasure. He needed to get to a toilet and did not care if it was here and now, but the raccoon found that he could not relax enough in his current state of terror.

***

Merlin Sinclair stepped over a slumped body at the door of the Overnighter. The barkeep, now an intense human with a deformed nose, had no information to offer. All he knew was that someone had checked into one of the rooms the night before and was probably still there for all he knew. However, a check of the rented room had revealed nothing but a water bottle sitting idly on top of a refrigeration unit and a few small puddles of water on the floor near an upended cup.

“Any ideas?” he queried the hatchet-faced human standing at the bar.

“Dunno,” the man snorted. “Some feller spent the night thar, I suppose. Paid up front and then took off wi’out tellin’ anyone.”

“Great,” the captain growled.

“So, what do we do now?” Taro asked, fingering the rifle beneath her long black trench coat.

A small voice chirped from a corner, “Lookin’ for your frien’?”

Merlin paid the words no mind—probably another money-hungry tale-spinner like the one they had run into several months ago on their last visit to Kantus. He started toward the door.

“Oh, sorry to trouble you,” the little voice called to his back. “Poor ‘coon boy in the green coveralls prolly won’t live to see the next nightfall, if’n he’s still breathin’.”

Merlin stopped and did an immediate about-face to see the small squirrel standing before him, an all-too-sure-of-himself grin across his face. “What do you know?”

“I know everythin’. Saw it all, m’self.”

“Where is he now?”

“Ahh no,” the snide little voice barked, “not that easy. Five hundred or I don’ say ‘nother word.”

Apparently, the bartender noted, this little snit was new to the information-for-hire game. He returned to cleaning stained mugs with a greasy rag, not wanting to watch the display unfold before him.

“I don’t bargain, and that’s entirely too much to demand for blackmail info,” Sinclair growled.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” the squirrel replied lightly. “Hope he wasn’t anybody ‘portant.”

Sinclair opened his mouth to argue, but Taro turned to the bartender. “Do you rent these rooms by the hour?”

“Sure do,” was the response.

She flipped him a coin. “What’s it look like?”

He turned the shiny piece over in his fingertips, bit into it. “About two hours, why?”

“We’ll take a room,” she replied, then whirled the butt of her weapon against the squirrel’s nape, sending him to the floor in a heap.

***

The squirrel, which the bartender had called Kharlie, awoke to find himself strapped uncomfortably into a wooden chair, facing a bedraggled fennec fox similarly bound. The female who had knocked him unconscious stood by the door with a drawn weapon. Movement behind the other chair caught Kharlie’s attention as a growling, cursing raccoon withdrew an odd device from an exotic case.

The other’s eyes fell on the thing and suddenly went wide. “No! You can’t! Those can’t be legal!”

“Why should I care?” rolled the voice of Merlin from behind the bound Kharlie. “Both of you claim to know where my crewmate is. This is his brother, who obviously has a vested interest in getting him back. Besides, who cares about what’s legal on this backwoods mud hole?”

The stranger struggled in his seat, limbs pumping helplessly against the ropes as the raccoon calmly and methodically unwrapped a quiver of exotic-shaped pipes attached to a decorative bag. There was an arcane symbol embroidered into the fabric, and the grisly tail of another animal decorated one of the pipes.

A petite, worried lynx stood in a corner with fear in her eyes. “Sir, we shouldn’t do this. It’s not right.”

The captain shrugged. “No matter. This is his vendetta,” he indicated the raccoon, who lit up a cigar, “so who am I to interfere?”

Kharlie stared at the proceedings in alarm, and then in terror as the cigar-puffing raccoon selected a pipe different from all the others, slammed a hand against the other victim’s head to tilt it back.

The fennec fox rasped, “NO! PLEASE IN THE NAME OF—!” The raccoon jammed a pipe between his victim’s teeth.

What happened next was hard to tell. The desert fox squirmed helplessly against the ropes, convulsing as though in the throes of death. He clawed at the arms of his chair, desperate to escape the torture device as the raccoon forced it deeper and the victim’s breath came in short gasps.

But the sound—the horrible screaming of that device filled the room, echoing off the walls like an inescapable nightmare. It was like nothing Kharlie had ever heard before, and to witness such monstrous torment inflicted upon another like him chilled his blood.

“Know what that is?” Taro growled. “That’s a Tanthean Persuader. It is delivering a finely powdered acid to the insides of his lungs that will eat away at the air sacs little by little for the rest of his life—however long that is. I understand it’s quite painful.”

The victim howled, the insidious machine howling with him, the sounds coming from it varied in pitch as the raccoon pressed different areas of the torture-pipe.

“He could be breathing his own blood before long,” Taro continued, moving over to stroke fingers through Kharlie’s head fur. “It should take him about—oh—ten or fifteen hours to die. Have you ever tried to breathe, knowing that with every draw of air you are forcing particles deeper into your tissues, burning you from the inside out?”

The squirrel shrank, “Okay, look! I’ll tell you! Just PLEASE don’t put that on me!”

“Yeah…” she continued. “You know you can try not to breathe, but your reflexes will make you, no matter what. That’s the beautiful part about the survival instinct: it will not let you die even when you want to.”

“I saw him!” Kharlie begged. “He was taken by a cougar named Robbins! He’s a pirate!”

That last word sent a ripple of apprehension throughout the room. For a moment, Tanis forgot to scream and Patch forgot to act. Quickly regaining themselves, Patch pulled the tube from his victim’s mouth, allowing a rope of drool to follow it for dramatic effect. Tanis’ head slumped against his breast and he mumbled, crying for mercy in hoarse, raspy wheezes. “I wanna put it in him anyway,” Patch muttered, approaching the next victim.

“Better talk fast.” Taro snarled, trying to hide her shock at the mention of pirates.

“He took your mate to a shuttle so he could take him up to their ship!” the squirrel cried. “It’s hovering in space under a cloaking system, but you can find it if you look for a class G spatial distortion!” Patch loomed over him, a crazed expression in his eyes. Kharlie strained against his bonds. “PLEASE NO!!”

“This ship, what’s its name?”

“The Lady of Dreams!”

Merlin gave his companions a nod.

“Well,” said a refreshed Tanis, sitting upright and loosening his own ropes, “I’m glad that’s over.” He wiped his mouth, stood up, turned to the captive and made a short theatric bow.

Patch grinned around his pungent cigar and blew a ring of smoke across the squirrel’s forehead. He then wiped the drool from the mouthpiece of his bagpipes with a handkerchief before turning to pack them away.

Taro playfully mussed the fur between Kharlie’s ears. “Don’t worry,” the fox said, “the bartender should be up here in a bit to let you go. Thanks for your time!” She flipped him a coin identical to the one she had paid for the room with. It landed in a fold of his shirt and he stared down at it mutely.

When he looked up, a priceless look crossed Kharlie’s face as the Blue Horizon crew members promptly departed.

***

The door across the room slid open again and Pockets steeled himself. In the fuzziness of his vision, a tall, slender form filled the space he could see. It was sleek by design, totally black. Then it stretched an arm to the table and dripped some amber fluid into the chalice. The form knelt down beside him and placed the lip of the chalice at his mouth.

“Drink this,” purred a soft, female voice.

Pockets turned his head meekly, straining to clear his vision to get a good look at his tormentor.

“No,” the voice scolded, tugging his head back to face the chalice. “This is the antidote to the sedative. You’ll be able to move again.”

Pockets struggled to resist, but slender fingers opened his mouth and deposited a portion of the bitter, warm liquid on his tongue.

“Listen to me,” said the voice, “if I was going to try to hurt you, I could do it right now and you’d be powerless to stop me. If we wait for your system to process the sedative naturally it will take days. I need you fully coherent right now and this will get you that way. Swallow.” She pressed his mouth closed and pinched his nose.

Defeated, Pockets did as commanded, swallowing the foul-tasting tonic before he might vomit on it. The form stood up again and swirled, pulling off its black covering and leaving a crimson framework in its place. Within seconds, his eyes began to clear, and a warm sensation filled his body before a cold chill rippled through as he recognized the person before him.

A slender vixen, likely two meters tall, knelt on the cushions. She was the most beautiful vulpine he had ever laid eyes on, but the arc-and-skull-shaped tattoo on the inside of her right ear identified her as Natasha Khasho, arguably the most notorious pirate on this side of the galaxy.

“Do you like what you see?” she asked, releasing the ruffled blouse from about her full bosom. She reached behind her back and loosened the constricting leather bodice and allowed herself free; sensual globes trembled beneath the white cotton blouse. She smiled; his gasp told her all she needed to know.

She took the empty cup from the table with one hand and unzipped his coveralls with the other, all the way down to his crotch. Pockets’ jaw dropped as she rolled him bodily over onto one side, sliding the cup beneath his middle. Then the raccoon found he could let go of the burning ache in his belly.

As a steady stream exited his body, he felt the warmth brought on by the amber liquid drain away from his head down, almost as though he were a water tank being emptied. When the last remnants of fluid finally passed, she took the cup away, capped it, and set it to the side.

“Now that that’s out of your system, we can get down to business.” She closed his garments and sat him up on the cushions so he could look around the room to fully appreciate his surroundings.

The place was spotless. Striking art adorned the paneled walls and a bookshelf filled with leather volumes stood prominently in the middle of one wall. Something in his mind told him that these objects were too similar, too fashioned to a particular theme to be looted wares of piracy and treachery.

Scrolls of blueprints lay on a planning table, and the diminutive engineer’s critical eye could see enough of one to notice its exotic physical design of a structural truss. A row of figures and chemical symbols rested at the bottom of the chart, a formula for creating the necessary metal alloy. Then a key turned in his memory: a feat of metallurgy had been expropriated from a Terran several years ago, but there had been some problem re-creating the smelting process because the man had left a key formula out of his journals. What Pockets had heard of that metal could have made the truss work. If it was…

“I see you are a technically-oriented man,” the fox purred, drawing his attention back. Pockets turned to see Natasha slipping off her blouse.

He nodded silently, finding his tongue unwilling to obey just yet.

“My name is Natasha. Others have called me the Pirate Queen. I need an engineer for my crew.” She licked her lips. “Let’s see if I can convince you to join me.” In a single, swift movement, the fox parted her trousers and whisked them away, pulling a pair of incongruently feminine undergarments off by quick-release fasteners in the process. Her luxurious fur now totally bare, she pressed her lips to his in a deep, passionate kiss. Her tongue, it seemed, was willing and ready to obey.

Pockets gasped despite himself, but then wondered—as her fingers demonstrated competence in another form of plunder—why she would try to seduce him into joining instead of just kidnapping him and forcing his labor.

Natasha was about to begin her form of initiating the raccoon into her crew, but a knock sounded on the large wooden door. The red fox frowned at the interruption and said in an annoyed voice, “What is it?”

“It’s Robbins,” a voice called through the panel. “Tim was caught filching from Jacob’s cabin.”

Natasha rolled her eyes and then looked over at Pockets. “Excuse me, sweetheart. Duty calls.” The fox zipped up Pockets’ clothing and got up from her knees. She pulled on a short scarlet robe, retrieved her undergarments and put them back on under it. “Don’t think you aren’t interesting,” she said, “but I’ve found that this sort of thing has to be dealt with immediately. Don’t worry; we’ll get back to business shortly.”

Pockets’ eyes lighted at the thought of filling out all the applications.

“Okay, Mr. Robbins, bring him in,” she said.

The door opened and a muscular cougar moved into the heavily wood-paneled room, with his hand gripping the collar of a young mouse of about nine or ten. The First Mate shut the door behind him and released the short boy. A brief moment of recognition followed as Pockets realized the immense cougar was the same behemoth he had seen in the hotel hallway.

Natasha crossed her arms and looked down at the cabin boy. “Okay, Tim, what did Jacob have in his room that you felt you had to take?”

The young mouse glanced over at the raccoon sitting motionless among the floor pillows and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Just some magazines, ma’am.”

Natasha hid her smile by rubbing her face in apparent thought. “What kind of magazines, boy? We have a large library of reading material on board for you to choose from.” She already knew the type of literature Jacobs preferred, but wanted the mouse to admit it to her himself.

Tim studied an ornate floor rug at his feet and mumbled something.

“What was that?” the captain asked.

“Female Critters of the Galaxy, Exposed.”

“Tim… you are not old enough, even on my ship, for the privilege of reading that material.”

“I know, ma’am…” the mouse said, “but…”

“No buts, boy. That makes two rules of The Lady of Dreams you have broken today. You know I don’t tolerate this under my command.” She looked down over at the raccoon and gave him a subtle wink before addressing her First Mate. “Mr. Robbins, prepare Tim for discipline.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The cougar knelt down next to the boy, and placed a hand on his shoulder with a gentleness that belied his imposing brawn. “You know the routine. Off with your shirt and sandals.”

Tim did not bother to hide his nervousness as he slowly complied. Pockets swallowed hard as he listened and watched. He could feel the paralysis drug quickly wearing off and he was able to bend his knees a bit under one of the massive pillows. He did not know what kind of discipline he was about to witness, but if became too severe he intended to do whatever he could, if anything, to protect the boy. Like most in the Planetary Alignment, he had heard rumors of the horrors of pirate practices. Just how severe would they punish the cabin boy for such a small theft was left up to the raccoon’s active imagination.

When the mouse stood before them in his cutoff denim shorts, Robbins easily hefted the youth and carried him to the captain’s bed. The cougar retrieved several short lengths of silk cloth from a lamp stand. Tim crawled to the center of the bed and automatically lay out spread-eagle on his back. The First Mate dutifully tied the lad’s tail to his left leg, with wrists and ankles to the bed posts.

Natasha smiled down at the raccoon that watched the proceedings silently and knelt beside him to whisper in his ear. “As part of my crew, you will learn that each member of the Lady of Dreams is very loyal to me, even after receiving punishment for their misbehavior. Watch and remember.”

The shapely fox stood up and approached the bed, lazily swishing her tail. She sat on the mattress next to the mouse and grinned at the youngster. “You may leave now, Mr. Robbins,” she said without looking up. The cougar left without a word and Natasha held up a hand and said softly, “Fingers?”

“I’m sorry…” the mouse squeaked.

Captain Natasha extended a finger toward the mouse’s side and lightly wrote her name with it into the boy’s gray flesh. Tim tried to pull away from her finger, but the ties kept him from moving very far. He held his breath as her ticklish touch continued to lightly caress his ribs, but his eyes were tightly closed. She wriggled a fingertip in his navel and the mouse snickered. She moved her hands back and forth across his ribs on both sides as he giggled and writhed upon the bed, but without any way to stop what she was doing. His eyes were starting to tear up as the sensations continued to build up within him, but just as he was about to cry out, Natasha stopped and allowed him a few heartbeats to catch his breath.

She looked back to the raccoon and laughed when she noticed his eyes straining to peer up over the edge of the bed to watch things from the level of the floor. She hated to lose the small amount of momentum she had started on Tim, but decided to take care of two tasks at once. She moved to Pockets and lifted him off the floor like a limp rag doll. He was smart enough to pretend the paralysis still had a hold on him as she placed him in a cushioned, high-backed chair near the bed. Satisfied he was situated, she moved back to Tim’s side.

Natasha smiled warmly and moved to sit between the youth’s legs. Pockets was suddenly appalled at what he thought this vixen was about to do to a minor. She surprised him, however, by doing something other than what he had expected. She sat between the bound ankles and lightly danced her fingers across the smooth expanse of his belly. Tim squealed and tried to wriggle away, but again the ties kept him in place. Pockets squirmed slightly in his seat, remembering the skill of her fingers on his own body. As Natasha continued to tease the little mouse, she reached down with her right hand and drummed her fingertips across the underside of his left knee, then reached over and lightly kneaded the top of the right. The boy squeaked again and lost his composure, finally laughing and giggling aloud.

This went on for two full minutes until Natasha gave up the subtle tactics for a more aggressive move. She leaned back and grabbed the top of Tim’s left foot. She tickled his toes vigorously and the boy shrieked and bucked wildly against the silk. As she continued, Pockets saw the pure delight in the vixen’s face as she administered her own particular form of discipline to the boy, and marveled at this lady pirate. He found that the paralysis had completely worn off his body, but he sat where he was, transfixed by the proceedings before him. With the ship docked planetside and practically the entire crew out in the city, he knew he should try to escape, but he felt drawn to watch just a little bit more.

Natasha switched to the squealing boy’s other foot without the benefit of a breather this time and tickled up and down the pink sole. After several seconds, the squirming youth could only guffaw silently. She looked up at Tim’s face and saw tears streaming from the clenched eyelids, so she stopped and moved up to his side. “Are you hurt, boy?” she asked gently. Tim could not speak from the chuckles still escaping his lungs, but shook his head as he gasped. “I — I’m ok-kay,” he said with a relieved giggle.

Natasha grinned widely and then grabbed his ribs with a new flourish of tickling. Tim shrieked and Pockets was hard pressed not to cover his ears from the shrill pitch and volume. If there were more than the one or two crewmembers he had seen earlier still on board, they were respectful not to investigate the noises from their captain’s cabin. Still, he sat transfixed.

The vixen varied her attack points and began energetically tickling the boy all over his upper body. Tim alternately bubbled and howled as her fingertips played well-known spots like a finely tuned instrument, and Natasha laughed as well from her enjoyment. It occurred to Pockets that she must be an exception to the norm as pirates go. She was teasing - not torturing - the boy. Her tempting tactics for employing him into her crew, and her favorite form of disciplinary action, painted a different picture than what the raccoon was used to believing.

Captain Natasha finally stopped her whirling fingers and asked in a heavy breath, “Now, is there any place I’ve missed?”

Tim weakly shook his head in the negative, but a new voice spoke up.

“I’ve heard that mouse ears are very ticklish,” Pockets said, drawing a long feather out of a nearby vase and passing it to the fox. “Tickle his ears. Maybe his nose, too.”

Both Tim and Natasha looked over at the raccoon in surprise to see Pockets standing at the foot of the bed. The fox grinned widely and accepted the plume, “Why, thank you, good sir. I was not aware of that.”

Tim screwed up his face in horror, eyeing the feather with particular dread. “Not a feather! Don’t! Please, no! I won’t look at Jacob’s magazines ever again!”

Natasha laughed at him. “I think I know better than that, boy. Let’s make sure you don’t,” she said as she clamped a hand around the youth’s chin to hold his head still.

***

”My business is none of your business, Jensen, so you are just going to have to live with it!” Merlin snarled, jamming a finger down onto his console to silence Armando’s complaints. He looked forward to his tense crew. “Distance and time?”

“We’ll be there in a few more minutes, Captain,” Samantha reported. “We’ve got a tenuous lock on the spatial disturbance. That might be our cloaked cruiser.”

“Outstanding. Make sure our new weapons are charged and ready. I’ll try to resolve this without a conflict, but let’s be ready anyhow.”

“Aye, sir,” she replied as he sulked back into his chair. Pockets, why did you have to run off like that? she wondered.

***

Pockets sat back on the silk sheets as a newly freed Tim gathered up his tunic and sandals, a blush still on his cheeks. Natasha swatted the boy lightly on the rear and sent him out of the room. Robbins stood out in the hall and greeted Tim with a grin and a congratulatory scrabble of the boy’s short head fur. Natasha turned back to the raccoon to see an expression she could not quite read.

“You disapprove of my techniques?” she queried, rising to her full, impressive height now that the drug had worn off her prisoner.

“I’m surprised by them, but I don’t think disapprove is the proper word,” he responded.

She looked down at him with the sober composure of a business report. “I don’t like to hurt people unless absolutely necessary. Tim was abandoned by alcoholic parents two years ago and I took him in on the condition that he earns his keep, and so far, he’s done that. He is a good kid but he sometimes goes astray and I have found that little trick to be just enough of an ordeal to get my point across. It also teaches him a valuable lesson in that he can keep going at something unpleasant long after he thinks he cannot. That works because it doesn’t leave marks. I do not want to have to deal with any charges of abusing minors if some dogmatic outer-rim sheriff finally has some luck.”

“And?” the raccoon said with a smile.

“And…” she returned the feather to its vase with a grin, “it’s cute to make him squirm. Reminds me of what I used to do to my little brother.”

“So, this is how you handle your crew? You’re not quite the vicious pirate that local legend has made you out to be.”

“I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to create the illusion that we’re vicious and more degenerate than we really are. It keeps troublemakers off our backs and gives us a reason to turn down people who are just looking for a reputation. We never attack military vessels or private cargo ships unless we are provoked into it. The Lady of Dreams only sacks tax ships—extorted alms from the needy to the greedy, and we leave their crews as alive as possible. This is not the information that gets passed to the media, though. According to several worlds we rape and plunder at random, killing innocents and preventing needed aid to worlds on the edge of starvation.”

“But isn’t that what happens when you take out a tax relief ship?”

“Not at all. One of the things few know about Intergalactic Aid is that most of the stuff gets seized at the border by the warlords currently draining victim worlds’ economies to pay for their palaces and private armies. In turn, the IA wails about how territories are still starving at the expense of selfish enterprises not giving enough of what they’ve earned to help those in need. This is a form of emotional blackmail that compels the people of ability to submit to further taxation. The IA makes money via kickbacks from the warlords for keeping this vicious cycle going and the problems never end.” Natasha sat down on the silk sheets beside the raccoon, who was now scrubbing his chin in thought.

“What do you do with the money?” he prodded.

“We keep a lot of it and channel some of it back through black market conduits. It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to the extorted, but until they’re willing to oust the corrupt governments themselves, anything we do will prolong the misery and never help.”

“Aren’t your actions, or more accurately your inactions, just another form of evil?”

“Evil?” she replied in a cold purr. “What do you know of evil? Evil is forcing anyone to act in the operation of his own destruction. When we take on a ship, we match them gun for gun: my crew against theirs. They have just as much opportunity to destroy us as we do them. But what they do planetside is a different matter. The IA uses compulsory charity: it works through government action to disarm its victims. If people don’t pay the appropriate level of tax extortion, the government goes in quietly and seizes their belongings at the point of a gun. But they’d rather not do that if they can help it, because that costs them so much more time and money to provide the right media spins. So instead, they use media pressure to get people to surrender more and more every year, destroying things incrementally.”

“A man with a briefcase can steal more money than anyone with a gun,” the raccoon mused. “Hasn’t anyone ever exposed this?”

“How could they? The IA, through various stooges, controls the widespread media and anyone caught speaking out is locked up in prison for disturbing the peace.”

Pockets blinked. “Natasha, Pirate Queen, doing what is right.”

She chuckled, “When right is outlawed, don’t expect those who know right to obey the law. But then, all that is just a microcosm. The problems are much more widespread than that.”

“Hmm,” Pockets replied. “All right, I’m interested in learning more about you.”

“Good. First, however,” she immediately crossed the silk sheets and pressed her lips to his neck, “you have to offer me a tribute of fire and… whatever liquid you see fit.”

“Is this your normal initiation?” he asked, backing up on the sheets.

“Well, yes,” she nibbled at his chin.

He pushed her gently away. “Look, if you are giving me the option of joining you or not, there’s something you have to understand. I can’t willingly join your crew because I’m bound to the Blue Horizon for another couple of years. I’m sure you can appreciate my loyalty to contract.”

She pulled back, disappointed but interested. “The Blue Horizon, eh?” she repeated with a lopsided smile. “That’s the freighter that embarrassed Sagan.”

“Embarrassed?” the raccoon asked with curiosity.

“The Basilisk has been the butt of jokes on Brandt about Sagan’s inability to take down a common Okami-class freighter,” the vixen replied. “He’s pretty steamed about it.”

Pockets shook his head and muttered, “Serves him right. He murdered one of us!”

She leaned forward slightly and added, “I’ve heard it said he keeps stroking the scar on his cheek he got from his last sword fight with your captain.”

“Nice. That aside,” the raccoon continued, “I can recommend some people in nearby systems who’re free agents. They could help you out.”

She withdrew completely, sitting on the bed sheets without a hint of chagrin. “I need an engineer and a gunner.”

“Well, over on Earth there’s an engineer named Jean Orfèvre who can make or fix anything you can think of. If he doesn’t work out, try Mol Mok. He’s a lemur on Quet and I believe he’s not doing anything in particular. Knowing him, I think he would jump at the chance to work for you.”

“And weapons?”

“He’ll probably be difficult to find, but I think a Kastani named Jape Devon—”

“No.”

The raccoon looked at her with surprise. “No?”

“I’m not going to deal with a psycho.”

Pockets paused for a moment, reading the sincere disgust in her face. “Devon is rough and he is a killer, but he is also a genius and I don’t think he’s psychotic. I’ve worked with him before. He fought in five wars that I know of, and knows battle tactics like the inside of his mouth. He can formulate every form of combustion, chemical and physical, and works very fast in a combat situation. He’s also the best marksman I’ve ever met.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard. I’ve heard he leaves people to die in terrible pain after botching kill shots.”

“Exaggeration. Devon believes in the one-bullet principle. If he can’t kill his prey in a single shot, which is very rare, he gives them the option of being left alive or put down. He even took one victim to a hospital by request,” he countered.

“And I’m supposed to take that in lieu of countless reports otherwise?”

“What I’ve seen here does not match what I’ve heard of you either. Natasha, Toe Tickler doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it?”

The fox canted her head and twitched an ear. “Touché,” she said. “So, you really think he’s the right one for the job?”

“As I said, if you can find him.”

“And what,” she added finally, “do you want in exchange for your help?”

Pockets thought for a moment, knowing well that this vixen would not let him go without some form of payment. There was too much justice in her manner of thinking. His eyes moved over to the planning table, and he began to speak.

That moment, an alarm sounded in the hall and the Pirate Queen started. A voice poured through an unseen speaker: “Captain, we need you at Control, pronto!”

“Come on,” she said as she grabbed her long trench coat and tore out of the room.

***

“Status!” she cried as red lights flashed and warning klaxons sounded. Pockets followed the tall vixen to the bridge of the Lady of Dreams to find it a singular technological wonder. Sleek panels along the walls housed instrumentation that he and his engineer brother would have sold one another to have.

“Visual array is coming up, Captain,” Robbins reported as she took the command seat in the middle of the battle bridge. Unused to the new technology, Pockets gasped as a spherical holographic image floated in space before the bridge crew. This was not like the vidscreens of the Horizon, but a fully rendered three-dimensional representation of space around them.

“Pirate vessel!” rumbled a voice over the communications units. “Surrender immediately and prepare to be boarded.”

“That thing? They have got to be kidding,” Robbins growled as a pair of joysticks flipped up from his panel and green crosshairs appeared over the face of a blue flying saucer outside.

“No, wait!” Pockets cried, leaping forward to the vixen. “That’s my ship and they’re just coming for me, I’m sure of it!”

Natasha tapped a pad on an arm console and gestured an invitation to her former captive.

“Captain Sinclair?” Pockets called out.

“Pockets?” It was Samantha’s voice.

“I’m okay!” he replied.

Merlin Sinclair’s voice crackled across the invisible waves, “Porter, if they’ve harmed you in any way, I’m going to tear them in half.”

“No sir! I’m perfectly fine. We just had a…” he looked to the cougar, still tense at the controls, “just a little misunderstanding, that’s all.”

“Captain of the ship,” Merlin rolled.

“This is the captain,” Natasha responded.

“Release my engineer at this moment, unharmed. Do not make us engage you!”

Natasha almost laughed aloud. “Only one person has ever beaten me in battle and it wasn’t you, and it sure wasn’t in a common freighter with tricked out armaments.” She turned to an equine figure sitting at another set of controls. “Jazz, de-cloak.”

A hum followed by a tiny crackling noise, and Pockets saw a shape materialize in the exact center of the holographic sphere.

***

The bridge crew of the Blue Horizon gasped as one when the vidscreen suddenly filled with a long, wedge-shaped ship that was many times their size. The terrible silhouette stirred an ancient memory, but none could precisely place it. Renny Thornton’s screen lit up with a flashing green message: Hammerdine class-G Dreadnought. Then, painted across the forward decks, like a child’s toy in a handful of deadly weapons, a bright yellow smiley-face beamed back at them.

Merlin swallowed hard and suddenly regretted his harshness.

“Blue Horizon,” Natasha’s voice said over the com channel, “this is the Lady of Dreams. I have no interest in conflict with you. As you can see, we are more than a match for your weapons systems. However, I do wish to return your crewmate to you. Please see that your emergency conduit is available in five minutes. Captain Natasha, out.”

Natasha. An eerie silence filled the bridge of the Blue Horizon. Even though they had prepared for this confrontation, hearing that dread name sent a chill through most of the crew. Renny spun his chair around to face his leader, waiting for instruction. Beside the wolf, Durant stood with a Binfurr weapon in hand and a stony expression. Merlin grimaced and whirled out of his command chair toward the emergency conduit as a small, gray shuttle dropped gracefully from the belly of the Lady of Dreams.

***

The Blue Horizon sat quietly in space, Taro and Renny handling the controls at the bridge. In the captain’s den, Pockets was receiving the eleventh degree from Merlin and his own twin brother.

“That’s a big ship,” Renny commented as the Lady of Dreams slowly rotated in space, adjusting its course and preparing for a journey to Earth. “Any idea what she’s got under the hood?”

Taro sighed in appreciation and nodded. “Particle Vault; anti-matter engines. According to rumor, Natasha is actually a venture capitalist under a bunch of false names and that she is holding out a lot of new technology until things improve throughout the PA. She does not want anyone else benefiting on her brain.”

“So, she needed an engineer and Pockets referred her to some people he knew,” the cheetah sighed. “I wonder if he got anything in return.”

In the next moment, a crackling blue energy surge ringed the Lady of Dreams from stem to stern, swallowing it whole and leaving only an unbroken vista of stars.

***

In the wolf’s den, the snarling and shouting had stopped. Humbled, with ears back and tail lowered, Pockets plugged a data crystal into the captain’s terminal. Displayed were technical plans that could upgrade the engines to Vault capacity. However, the key instructions were in a scrambled hieroglyphic and it would take another visit with the Pirate Queen to release the cryptography. If his advice panned out, she had promised, the Blue Horizon had just made a very important ally.

***

In the center command seat, Natasha passed her eyes over a floating console’s scrolling numbers. The readout of the Vault Drive displayed its performance statistics, and she found that the efficiency of the new technology was on the rise. The vault itself had lasted only a microsecond in real time and the Lady of Dreams had entered just outside the orbit of Luna in the Sol system on approach to the blue planet. Incremental upgrades to all ship systems were proving one of the best ideas she had ever had, and her top-notch technical team made her proud.

“Captain,” a voice lilted from her right, “we’re coming up on Earth.”

“Thank you, Mr. Frost.”

Natasha moved the console from her way and pulled up the spherical monitor in the center of the bridge. Ringed with white streaks, the surface of the world before them was one of the most appealing in the Planetary Alignment. It was not a shimmering pearl like Argeia or a brooding brown mudball like Quet, but aesthetically it appealed to her.

“Ahead one quarter,” she instructed, “Jazz?”

The slender white filly tapped keys before her and the ship’s cloaking system engaged, causing the hulking juggernaut to flame in space and then disappear with only a waving distortion in its place. The tall fox stood from her command chair and started toward the hall, absently adding, “Get my shuttle ready.”

A stout bobcat at one console noted a small distortion in the starfield before him, but was distracted when the captain arose. He did not want to bother his captain with trivial details.

Robbins followed her down the hall, “You know, there’s no real reason to trust Porter’s advice. He could have been telling you all that just to get out of here.”

“Noted,” she added, “but at this point I’m not interested in taking chances on missing out on good people. You ought to have seen the look in his eyes when he saw the schematics for the new truss; positively glued to them.”

“That was what I thought when I first saw him, yes. But really, Earth? That’s the lion’s mouth for us right now. This is dangerous, and the rest of the crew can see that. Why can’t you?”

“I’m aware of the danger,” she snapped back, “and that’s the reason why I’m going.”

He crossed his arms over his massive breast. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said with a scowl of disapproval, both as her bodyguard and friend.

“But I do,” she countered. “You and Tim will be coming with me, so dress nicely.”

“Tim? What if there’s trouble?”

“He’s a deterrent. I’ll pass him off as my adopted nephew or something.”

“Good thinking,” he added. “Nobody will believe that the Infamous Pirate Queen has a soft spot for kids.”

“Oh, please,” she chuckled. “The little snot almost made away with my bracelet and was hard to capture when I realized it. Someone that slippery belongs in my crew.”

A hatch opened with a hiss, and Natasha walked in just in time to receive a heavy cuff to the face. The blow spun her, slamming her against the wall before she knew what happened. As she slumped to the floor, Robbins looked past her to see a lean, black form of a jaguar in the lift. At its feet, the boy mouse lay savagely beaten and unconscious with a ribbon of blood running out of his nose and onto the gray metal floor. Even in the low light, the hulking sable cat’s eyes flashed a dangerous green.

“You!” Robbins growled quietly, menacing. Sagan launched out of the lift, fangs and claws bared for the cougar’s throat.

VEXED OF KIN

By Steve Carter

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon has made it safely away from Brandt after collecting our errant engineer from of all people, Captain Natasha Khasho, who is more infamously known as the Pirate Queen. The only thing that saved Pockets from a well-deserved horsewhipping was that he brought back with him the schematics to an advanced technology heretofore unseen in anything but fantasy journals. The key elements of Particle Vault Drive technology given him in code cannot be deciphered until the pirate queen proves that some advice Pockets gave to her is proven worthwhile. I don’t know how long that will take, but two other members of the crew saw the Vault in action when Natasha’s ship, Lady of Dreams, departed from our vidscreens. As far as the rest of the universe is concerned, Vault engines are just a hypothesis right now. Basically, instead of traveling across expanses of space with traditional drives or through a spatial warp, Vaulting allows her ship to momentarily slip out of the time/space continuum and move outside conventional dimensions. Basically, they sit still in a place where time does not work (therefore they don’t age and don’t have to occupy a few trillion years’ worth of their time waiting) while the universe rotates around to meet them.

To put this in perspective as Pockets has described it to me, imagine how much effort it would take to draw a straight line across a piece of paper. Now imagine how much it would take to hold a pen still while that paper is whisked out from under it at about 100 kilometers per hour. Her ship still uses conventional LightDrive engines while in normal space, but this is how she travels to travel vast distances across the galaxy. In addition, Pockets tells some interesting stories about the things he saw while on her ship, including further technological systems that he could barely describe.

Unfortunately, as Patch has reminded us, even if we had the unlocking code on Natasha’s encryption, our G-model Blue Horizon may not be large enough to contain the prototype of such a system without a major structural modification. Trading this technology to the right people would reap us untold treasures, but also untold headaches as politicos would no doubt accuse us of terrestrial subversion and attribute the information to whatever major corporation they happened to have in their pockets that week. Should we ever upgrade to another ship that can support it, I may authorize its inclusion for emergency usage, but for now it will be our secret and kept as an ace up our sleeve for now.

Now that our business for Faltane is finished, we are currently on course to Quet to pick up a load of processed micranite used in LightDrive shielding for delivery to Dennier. Quet’s reputation precedes it as one of the least desirable places in the Planetary Alignment. It is more of a wasteland than a thieves’ den, so it is only slightly higher on my list than Brandt. For the most part, all we have to worry about on Quet is getting dirty, not getting killed. Since both Brandt and Quet are within the Faya Star System, our travel time will not be the usual weeks, but merely a standard shipboard day. The orbits of both worlds are currently at their furthest from one another and there’s a massive asteroid belt between them to negotiate or we’d arrive in only a few hours.

So far there’ve been no concerns other than Sparky reporting another larger-than-usual gap in her snacks. My first thought was of another stowaway like that girl from Earth, but we’ve had no visitors on board this time.

I would imagine this has more to do with the higher tempo we’ve been operating at through this section of space. I have maintained the two-on staffing around the clock until we get out of this system and there is bound to be a little more munching and book reading in the dead hours.

The new crew compliment is shaping up well. Renny is filling in where Jiro left off without either slacking at his job or trying to overcompensate for the sake of proving himself just as good. Renny is just being himself and the crew has taken to him for his own virtue. Still, occasionally Jiro’s absence can be felt, but I’m happy to be surrounded by the people that I am now and thank God for small favors. Having Tanis back with us also gives us a trained medic in times of emergency with Tomi’s absence.

Since the jaunt from Brandt to Quet is within the same star system, we will not be making an overlong stopover at the Dump, as Quet is sometimes called due to a past environmental disaster. I’ll allow everyone four hours of free time after we’ve landed before picking up the micranite containers for delivery to Dennier, but I doubt there will be enough food or entertainment to keep everyone busy for even that duration of our stop.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

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A light flickered and an antenna fired off a signal to a tiny microprocessor, causing the small disk to rotate slightly on its cushion of air. A change in atmospheric pressure registered on the other side of a smooth panel and its auditoria picked up a slow, regular pulse of sound. It checked its records, searching for signatures. It ran in a microsecond a profile on each of its records, and found this one untitled and listed only under “related.”

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***

Back in his cabin, Pockets’ eyes were alerted to a flashing green light. He sauntered lazily over to tap a series of switches on a console and patch his way into Moss’ video capture. What he saw did not impress him at all: the smooth, gray surface of a piece of paneling.

“What is it, Moss?” he asked into the microphone.

“Meow!” was the plaintive reply, and then across the speakers issued a synthesized copy of the odd sound it had acquired. It was a soft, repeating noise like…

Pockets’ eyes went wide and he tapped a switch on the wall, “Captain?”

Another voice answered. “The captain is on a sleep period right now, Pockets. What’s the word?”

“Taro! Moss has found something on board behind a panel in cargo, and it sounds like it’s alive.”

“How so?”

The raccoon tapped a few switches and relayed the sound onto the bridge. It reverberated on the bridge com system; the red fox recognized it and checked her crew roster, but in the last thirty minutes, all members had been accounted for and no one was supposed to be in the cargo hold — not even Durant. There was no reason for the sound of breathing down there, especially behind a wall panel.

***

Durant hovered over Pockets, the butt of a Binfurr rifle at his shoulder as the raccoon released the metal clips to access the panel before them. The section fell off and the bear moved the muzzle of his weapon to the edge, easing it away from the wall. Behind the pair, Renny stood with another rifle as Taro observed.

The next moment, Pockets backpedaled away from the panel, gasping for breath as a foul scent wafted out to greet him. Durant’s eyes stung with it as well, his nostrils flared and an awful taste was suddenly on his tongue. In the dark recess slumbered a lone, gray form apparently oblivious of the noise around him. It was surrounded by half-eaten sandwiches, candy wrappers and an old dented canteen. The pair looked at one another, wondering if it was dead.

“What is that?” Renny asked, covering his nose to fight off the odor.

Durant poked at the form with the muzzle; it stirred, snorted and then went back to sleep. The bear looked back at Taro, not knowing what to do. The fox, however, moved her crewmate aside and stepped in to take charge.

“WAKE UP!” she screamed, punching the curled-up body. The intruder jolted into consciousness and smacked his head against the top of the inner panel.

“Huh? What?” he whined, annoyed with the interruption.

“Lucas,” she sighed. “How offensive to see you here.”

Durant’s countenance dropped and Pockets rolled his eyes. Renny looked around to his friends’ faces and caught the look of familiarity. Taro seized a limb and dragged a smelly wolf out of the panel and into the light of the cargo bay. He winced, caught off guard by the brightness. The cheetah let out a feline hiss as a swarm of white specks running over the crumpled form suddenly retreated to the shadows within the intruder’s soiled clothing.

“I was trying to get some sleep,” the wolf complained.

“Clearly,” Taro indicated his hiding spot “and stealing from us as well, it would seem.”

“Hey, I’m just hitching a ride. Can’t a guy get a break now and again?”

“Sure,” Durant snarled, “what would you like broken?”

Lucas blithely ignored the bear and rose to his feet, the white specks scurrying around beneath the trench coat he wore to find more shadows.

There was a family resemblance to their captain, though the fur patterns of his facial mask had hints of auburn highlights. He was thinner, more wiry, and he did not look as if he had had a good grooming in weeks, which could have easily been the case.

“So, where’s my cabin this time?”

***

Merlin Sinclair cocked an eyebrow at an incessant chirping, though his eyes remained closed; he sat still for a long moment, then switched on his cabin com and rubbed his face with his hands. “This better be someone incredibly beautiful or I’m disconnecting you.”

“You’re in luck,” an amused voice responded, “I’m gorgeous!”

“Not enough.” Merlin dropped the call as promised. Almost immediately, the chirping recommenced. Heaving a heavy sigh, he tapped the pad.

“What is it, Renny?”

“Sorry to bother you, but it appears we have another stowaway on board.”

Suddenly the wolf was fully awake, sitting up on his bunk. “From Brandt? Have you found this person?”

“Yes,” came the calm reply, “but Taro doesn’t think our guest is going to be much of a threat.”

“Does this person have a name?”

“Lucas Sinclair.”

A long moment passed as the name hovered in space between his ears and his mind. It was familiar, but somehow—like forcing a feral cat into a bath—it just did not want to go in. Finally, the realization that his often-lost brother was now aboard the Blue Horizon reluctantly found a resting spot in his brain and sat there like the memory of a botched enema.

“Lucas?” he rolled, running a hand down his face, hoping it was a bad dream.

“Lucas,” Renny replied. “Want to handle it?”

“No,” Merlin growled, dually upset at this turn of events and the fact that it disturbed his well-earned slumber. “Throw him somewhere for the time being and I’ll take care of it later.”

***

Renny tapped off the switch with a wounded smile, looked with pleading eyes to Taro. The fox grumbled to herself, staring daggers at the indifferent freeloader as he crossed his arms and waited for her to make a decision about him. “Durant?”

Durant’s eyes filled with dismay, but he accepted her orders. “I’d like you to take our leech and have him disinfected. Get with Tanis and see if he’s carrying any kind of infectious diseases or…” she indicated a new flock of moving bodies as he moved an arm, “any harmful parasites. And please, before this smell gets into the ventilation system and spreads to other parts of the ship.”

“I have some clothes he could wear, if you want to…” Renny trailed off, indicating Lucas’ shoddy garments.

“Aye,” the bear replied, passing his weapon to Renny. The others filed out and the bear half dragged his captive out into the open area of the empty cargo hold. He popped opened a nearby panel, withdrawing a length of hose. “You’ll want to strip down now,” he advised. Lucas, however, just shrugged and looked at the deck. Oh God, Durant thought. Am I going to have to undress him, too?

***

“Captain!” sing-songed a voice.

The wolf stirred slightly in his bunk, looking up to a silhouette standing in his door. He looked around at the clock. It was close enough. Merlin dragged himself out of bed and rubbed life into his cheeks. “What’s up, Renny?”

“Lucas…” —the name hung, it seemed for days, in the air — “…has been cleaned up and is somewhat groomed. Sam did the best she could, but I think miracles are beyond her capacity. Tanis had to inoculate him for about six different things and for the last half hour I’ve had the hold open to the vacuum of space, trying to flush the smell out of the cargo bay. Door’s now closed and repressurizing.”

Merlin’s countenance did not change. “So, he’s at least presentable?”

“Somewhat,” Renny found it odd that his captain was not shocked at Lucas’ condition.

“Okay, I’ll be right out to see what can be done about him.”

***

Lucas Sinclair stared idly off into space, clad in a clean black shirt, brown trousers and stocking feet. No shoes were available in his size and his own ankle-boots were still in the process of decontamination. He scratched his skin in places, the flea dip solution still an irritant.

“So,” Merlin growled, “what’s it looking like so far?”

Durant handed his captain a slateboard detailing the cost of cleaning up his errant brother. Combined with the food loss they could already calculate, the disinfecting, de-infestation of the cargo bay, re-sanitizing of the medical and mid-level lavatory, inoculations, and Renny’s clothes (marked as FREE, but Merlin did not feel that was apropos), the bill had already come to over two hundred credits. Merlin handed it back.

“Well, Lucas,” he began.

His brother paid no attention and cleaned his fingernails, flicking the gunk onto the deck.

“Lucas?” Merlin snapped fingers in his brother’s face.

“What?” the younger brother replied, irked at his brother’s impatience.

“What are you doing on my ship?”

He shrugged, “Nothin’ but doin’ my thing as always, why?”

“You are trespassing.”

“So? You don’t own space.”

“I own this ship.”

“I didn’t ask you for a ride on your precious ship, okay?”

“But you are here anyway.”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“That’s up for debate. What were you doing on Brandt?”

“Why do you care?”

“Humor me.”

“I was taking some time off,” the younger Sinclair grumbled, irritated with the questions.

“Time off from what? Were you gambling?”

“A little.”

“How much.”

“Some.”

“Did you lose?”

“A little.”

“How much?”

“Why do you care?”

“You are being evasive.”

Lucas threw up his hands. “Look, obviously you miss the point. What do you care?”

The elder wolf steadied himself and sighed. These arguments never went anywhere. “Never mind,” Merlin replied, “but as long as you are here, you’ll work for your keep.”

“Okay,” came the response, absently, with no real interest.

“All right, maybe I should be more specific: you are going to work for your keep – for a change.”

“I gotcha, no worries.” Lucas looked away, slouched posture saying more than words could. Merlin grumbled to himself, staving off the urge to tell him then just stay out of the way. Such an edict would be taken as a blank check to do nothing but eat and loaf. Lucas, unfortunately, knew semantics well enough to find cracks and escape hatches, and also knew how to play dumb when it suited his goals.

“Durant?”

The bear cocked an eyebrow as if to say I’ve done my share of the dirty duty already. “Boss.”

Merlin caught the motion, and stopped himself. “Is—uh—is the cargo bay cleaned out?”

“Aye.”

“Good,” he turned slowly, searching the faces for one that did not return a similar glare. “Sparky, I believe…”

He could feel, rather than see, the hairs stand up on her neck. Merlin sighed to himself and gestured for Lucas to follow him. The younger sibling stood, jammed hands into the pockets, and slouched his way down the hall.

When the lupine siblings were out of earshot, Renny inquired, “So what’s the story with him?”

A collective groan followed, and Taro responded. “Lucas is Merlin’s little brother. They say there’s one like him in every family. Shiftless and lazy, been in prison and is usually up to his eyeballs in debt when he’s roaming around.”

“Ah,” the cheetah sighed. “My third cousin.”

“Unfortunately, we’re kind of stuck with him for the time being.”

***

Lucas Sinclair slouched, as was his habit, leaning against a long bar and dipping his fingers into a sauced bowl of grilled meatballs. His tenure as ship’s lackey had survived twenty-four hours and he now made himself available to the cute young lynx, frying up something on the large, metal grill.

“So,” he said, swiping another treat, “how long have you been a cook?”

She glanced up and replied, “Most of my life. Learned it from my mother on Fyn.”

“Yeah, I’ve been in a lot of restaurants. Nice places.”

“That’s nice.” She returned to her work.

“Probably no place you’ve been.”

“I’ve not visited many places on Dennier.”

“Just as well. They wouldn’t have let you in.” He swiped another meatball.

Sparky turned slightly, “Um… excuse me?”

“Well,” he munched, opening his hands apologetically, “I guess you could, maybe, as a sweeper-upper or something. My grandparents are pretty wealthy and the places they go to are swanky.”

“Ah,” she rolled.

“I mean, it’s like nothing you should be ashamed of. Lots of people are poor.”

“What makes you think I’m poor…?” she bristled.

“Because you’re from Fyn.”

Durant entered the cooking area, feeling a palpable wall of contempt emanating from Sparky as she jammed utensils around her area. His eyes naturally went to the unkempt wolf sitting at the small bar beside her, munching cooked meatballs. The bear ambled up beside him, and addressed the lynx.

“Things going well, Sparky?”

She grumbled a reply, trying to be polite in her black mood.

Durant got the signal and turned to Lucas, clapping a hand on his back. “Say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody put away prairie oysters that way before. How many is that?”

The wolf smiled appreciably, squeezing another so that the juices spilled over his fingers, and tossing it into his mouth. “About twelve.”

Durant’s grin widened at Sparky looked quizzically back at him. “Wow… twelve. Not many carnivores have that kind of tolerance for Terran testicles these days, even grilled.”

Lucas’ eyes bulged as the meat surged back up from his throat, filling his mouth with the bile of regurgitation. His head turned slowly to face Durant’s bright grin.

“Hah! You ought to see the way they cut ‘em off. They sever the whole genital section right after mating to keep the juices fresh.” The bear clapped him on the back again, forcing Lucas to instinctively swallow, and then lurch out of the chair to find a place to vomit.

A long moment passed after he had gone. Then, Sparky seized a spoon and waggled it at the bear. “That,” she said with a wicked smile, “was nice.”

Durant only grinned in reply.

***

Merlin entered the bridge, looking down at the ledger on his slateboard that bore figures of his brother’s expenses so far. The entries were short and to the point; nobody really wanted to go into detail, just drop the subject and go on. The compartmental lights were dim and Renny stood with Taro over Patch, lying on his back under a console. Merlin circled around the pilot chair and sat down, placed the slateboard on the armrest and then looked up.

Before his face a small, handmade plush wolf dangled from the ceiling on a cord noose around its neck. Swatches of fabric dressed it similarly to Lucas.

Merlin looked around the bridge; no one faced him. The wolf tugged the toy down from its spot and tucked it into a pocket of his flight jacket. “Renny… what’s the flight report?”

“We seem to be losing power in the primary core. We’re down to about seventy-four percent of onboard power. We’re still on inertial speeds, so we’re still on schedule.”

“Cause of the power loss?”

The horizontal raccoon barked a stream of curses and proclamations, and banged something under the panel.

“Patch is checking our instrumentation,” Taro reported. “Maybe it’s at this level. We’re looking here while Pockets checks out the systems.”

Merlin tapped a control. “Pockets, are you there?”

“I’m there.”

“Found anything?”

“I canna tap the ‘lithium crystals cap’n! I doont ‘ave tha pauer!”

“I understand. Now, realistically?”

“We’re looking at about a quarter power loss here, sir. It looks to be a problem with relay connections to the liquid crystal core.”

“I thought you guys fixed that on Brandt.”

“We did, but there’s something missing now. Apparently, a couple of the silver-plated relays have been… liberated.”

The captain shifted his position and the small, plush wolf fell out of his pocket and onto the floor. All eyes on the bridge looked at it for only a moment, and then the other three went back to their duties. Merlin sighed heavily, snatched up the toy and stormed off the bridge.

***

“So…” Lucas needled, “you want a taste of the good stuff?” He rubbed his groin suggestively.

The Border collie finally surrendered to a constant stream of lewd insinuations. Incensed, she tossed a tiny package at him.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“That’s for you. A year’s supply of condoms.”

The wolf took it and fumbled it open to find it empty. He looked at her quizzically, “I don’t get it.”

“That,” she rumbled, “is apparent.”

A hatch opened behind Lucas and a brawny hand stretched out, snatched him by the collar, and dragged him back out the door as he yelped in surprise.

***

A few minutes later, Durant deposited Lucas in front of his brother, dropping him to the engineering deck from slightly higher than was really necessary.

“Empty your pockets.” Merlin ordered his brother.

“Sure,” he complied, turning the white stockings inside out. “You wanna frisk me too?”

“Pockets tells me that there are a couple of silver relays missing from the liquid crystal array. Needless to say, your name is at the top of the list of potential perps.”

Lucas stared back blankly as if nothing had been said. Merlin lunged forward, grabbing his brother by the lapels of his shirt and worrying the younger Sinclair like a bone. “Listen to me you little snit! If you’ve stolen from me on my own ship, I’m going to drag your butt back to Brandt and put you in prison myself!”

Lucas looked down at the trembling fists around his shirt, “Hey, aren’t there some maritime laws against assaulting passengers?”

“You’re not a passenger. You’re a stowaway.”

“Just answer the question,” said the low rumble of Durant’s voice.

“No,” Lucas shrugged.

“You did not take them?” the bear asked.

“No.”

“Are you lying?”

“No,” he replied, without taking offense or changing inflection.

“Boss?”

Merlin slowly, stiffly released his brother. Lucas straightened out his shirt and turned to go. However, another clamp of a huge hand wrapped around his shoulder as the bear pulled him back.

“Oh no,” Durant added. “I don’t believe. Boss, with your permission?”

Merlin could not read the look in his crewmate’s eyes, but nodded anyhow. Lucas found himself tossed over one shoulder and carted down the hall.

***

About ten minutes had gone by when the howling stopped. Tanis sauntered out of the back room of Sickbay, pulled off a pair of stained rubber gloves and tossed them into the incinerator.

“Well, he’s telling the truth. They’re nowhere on or in him.”

Merlin scrubbed his chin with one finger. “Well then, where did they go?”

Tanis leaned against a wall as Durant emerged, a small smile of guilty satisfaction across his lips. “You know,” the bear said, “Lucas is a little stronger than I thought he’d be.”

“He almost threw ya once,” the fennec fox added.

Lucas emerged from the clinic, buttoning his trousers and walking with a peculiar limp. “I hope you’re happy!” he snarled at his brother.

“Well, ya were cracking a wide smile from where I was looking,” Tanis beamed. The younger wolf gathered something resembling his dignity and shuffled out the door.

A panel chirped on another wall. The elder Sinclair crossed the room and tapped a button. “Merlin, here.”

“Captain, I’m going to have to cut the power generators,” said Pockets’ voice. “We’ve got a real leakage problem here and if we leave them on it’s going to get out of control.”

Merlin ground his teeth, but surrendered to his engineer’s experience. “Will it affect our speed to Quet?”

“No, we’re simply gliding along at interstellar speeds on inertia as usual, but we won’t have thrusters to change course if anything drifts in front of us.”

“All right, see what it is going to take to get us back up to full power, but keep the gravity plates operational.”

“Roger that. I’ll keep you posted as things develop.”

The captain turned back to see Durant standing with crossed arms. “‘It never rains, but it pours,’ I believe someone once said.”

Pockets’ voice came over the ship-wide intercom. “All hands, we’re shutting down primary power temporarily to make repairs, effective immediately. All nonessential systems will be unavailable.”

Almost at once, the continual thrum of the generators under the deck fell quiet and the room lights dropped to near twilight conditions.

***

The great thing about traveling on inertia in space was that without atmosphere or wind resistance, they could sail perpetually on the energy they had gathered during their initial engine-powered flight. The not-so-great thing about it was if they encountered obstacles, turning away from them would be a major chore, but at least the shielding field was still in operation, repelling micrometeoroids from piercing the hull. If they ran into hostiles… well, Merlin did not even want to think about it. They were still too close to Brandt for comfort.

The captain sat in the pilot’s chair, his chin rested on one hand as he stared out into the black void with a terminally bored expression. Not all systems controlled from the bridge were inoperative, but anything deemed essential still had emergency battery power.

To the starboard, Taro stretched her legs out across a console and busied herself with a paperback copy of How to Control Your Anger in the low light. She had been using that book a lot in the last forty-eight hours. Renny sat at another station, his feet up on a darkened panel and arms across his chest.

The last thing Merlin Sinclair wanted was a proximity alert to go off on his console, indicating the presence of a rapidly approaching ship.

“What is that?” Merlin said, sitting upright.

Taro turned casually to the green blip on her screen, then scrambled and dropped her book as her fingers whirled across the keyboard. “I don’t know, Captain. Apparently, there aren’t supposed to be any other ships in the general area. They are matching our inertial speed.”

“Go to alert,” the captain barked, focusing on the blip and ordering Renny to bring weapons to bear. If they could not power up and outrun the threat, their new weapons were about to get broken in.

Instantly alert, Renny brought the new systems online with one hand while he found a silhouette and charged the computer to identify it. “Weapons hot!”

“Give me a channel,” the captain said, grinding his teeth in anticipation. A soft whir followed as Taro opened the com port. “Approaching vessel, identify yourself.” Merlin tried to sound as stern as possible to put up a good front.

A voice came back, “Oh, hi-lo there!”

Taro looked at Merlin. Merlin looked at Taro. It sounded like a cartoon.

“Oh, don’t worry about us! We’re just on patrol out here and lookin’ for… say, why’re you guys running dark?” the voice asked.

“We…” Merlin began, “uh, just some routine maintenance,” he said, not really wanting to admit their engines were out of commission to a potential enemy.

“Oh, yeah? Can’t that be fixed with a few rolls of splice tape?” the voice yukked, and was joined by several similar voices yukking along with it.

“Ah, no,” the captain allowed himself a curious sneer. This sounded too odd to be much of a danger. “We need silver-plated relays in order to fix things.”

“Oh, we’ve got some of those,” from behind the faceless voice came a sound like many small bells clanging.

Taro looked back at her captain with a distinct what-is-that? expression.

Merlin shrugged, a pained look on his face. “Well, if you’d be kind enough to sell us a couple, we would make it worth your while.”

“Sure!” the ditzy voice replied. “Just sit still and we’ll be right dere.”

***

Several of the crew had joined the captain in welcoming their benefactors. Lucas sat in his cabin, nursing a very tender back end. Merlin had at least put on his presentable jacket when the visitors entered his ship via a tunnel extended from airlock to airlock. They turned out to be a gaggle of Dalmatians, dressed oddly in bright yellow slickers and red plastic hats that read EMERGENCY across the front in Terran English. But the oddest thing was that all eight of them moved as a single pack of bodies tightly pressed together. Only when the pack had entered the ship did a single Dalmatian press his way forward and introduce himself as Chief Roy of the Firedog Rescue ship, Up Ducky.

“I see,” Merlin said with a hesitation at the name of their vessel, “please, step inside and make yourself at home.”

The pack moved as a single body, a cacophony of madly bobbing heads with wide-open eyes taking in every detail of the ship. Merlin’s smile faltered as he looked to Renny for support. The cheetah, however, could only stare in silence.

“Well!” said chief Roy, “This here’s Chief Bill, Chief Rupert, Chief Bonzo, Chief Bob, Chief Bubba and Chief Billy Ray, ‘n that’s our firedog, Joey.”

“How,” Taro asked with a raised eyebrow, “can one firedog work for seven chiefs?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Roy said with a bright grin, “he doesn’t do what we say anyhow.”

“Then why do you keep him?”

“Well, what good’s bein’ a chief if ya ain’t got nobody to be chief of?” There followed a gaggle of nodding heads with tongues flapping between grinning lips.

“So, whut’s yer problem?” another, Chief Bob, asked.

Pockets stepped forward, “Well, we’re missing a pair of grade-three…”

“Stop!” another Dalmatian, Chief Rupert, cried. He stepped out of the pack and knelt down before the raccoon, arranged the fingers of his left hand in an odd fashion across Pockets’ forehead. He held the other hand in the air and declared, “I shalleth mind-toucheth with yor engineer and learneth the problem and how thus we mightst fixeth it!”

Pockets looked to his captain with trepidation. The other seven Dalmatians began to whistle eerie tunes, wriggling their fingers in the semblance of performing a séance.

Suddenly the Dalmatian stood, snapping his fingers. “They need the entire left block of their engine replaced!”

Instantly there was a maddening gang of howls, shouts of delight and laughter. Before anyone could speak again, the throng of Dalmatians disappeared down the hall in a storm of pattering feet, flapping tongues and yukking.

***

“No!” Merlin pleaded to the row of feet sticking out from service panels into the liquid crystal core, “we really don’t need half our engine taken out and fixed! We only need two silver-plated relays for the power generator!”

“Wrench,” a hand darted out, and another hand darted out with a wrench to fill it.

Firedog Joey stood to the side, suavely chatting up Sparky in hopes of getting lucky.

Pockets tugged up a panel and looked down on a shiny yellow slicker, “You guys need any help under there?”

“Ratchet,” another hand appeared in Pockets’ face, and a ratchet flipped up from an unseen location between the translucent panels to land in it.

Merlin sighed, “Look, I really appreciate the effort, okay? But can you please just…”

“Salami on rye with mayo,” another hand darted out, on the far right. Incredibly, the hand on the far left produced exactly what was requested, and it was passed down from one to the other until it arrived and was taken under the engine.

Pockets and Patch looked at one another, stunned.

“How can we get them out of there?” Renny queried.

Samantha, who had been standing by watching, knelt down near a pair of wiggling Dalmatian toes, “Maybe we can tickle them out?” She grinned and touched a foot pad.

BANG! Crash!! WHONG KRUNG!!

Suddenly all seven bodies slid out from under the engines, scowled at her and said in unison: “Don’t do that!” Then they disappeared back the way they came.

Samantha stood, turned, and quietly left the engine room.

“Duck!” another voice. No hands moved. A moment later, all seven Dalmatians slid out, stood, and looked at one another. Chief Roy spoke, “Oh-kayeeee… who forgot the duck tape?”

Heads spun, eyes falling one on another until they came to rest on Billy Ray. Billy Ray searched nebulous pockets that rivaled Pockets’ own with various expressions of worry and concern, then his face lighted and he snatched something from his deepest pocket.

A small animatronic mallard, held by the throat, carried a roll of silver tape between its webbed feet. Chief Bubba snatched a length of it and disappeared back under the engines with the other five. The duck looked at Merlin with pleading eyes.

“Heeelp meeeee!” The duck was suddenly stuffed back into the pocket as its tiny electronic hoarse voice cried, “Caaall the poliiiiice!!” and Billy Ray returned to beneath the engines.

Merlin, Pockets and Patch looked at one another, wondering if they had actually just seen that. “You know,” Pockets said to a pair of feet, “there really isn’t that much to do down there. We were…”

The body in question suddenly appeared from under the engines with a massive coil of fiber optic wire and diodes. The others withdrew with tubes, conduits, and other engine parts. The throng closed once again and began to yammer almost incoherently, comparing notes and parts.

Patch’s eyes had shrunken to small dots watching the intruders mess with his engines. He turned to his captain and waved his arms wildly. “Do something!”

Merlin lost his temper. “All right, I’m through taking this garbage from you!” he shouted at the firedogs. “Put everything back the way you found it or I’m jetting the lot of you out into space in two seconds!”

The firedogs looked back quizzically, then returned to their yammering, this time withdrawing homemade tools and tinkering with parts, before sliding back under the engines.

Merlin ground his teeth and Patch stormed out of the engine room muttering things in several languages that made his brother’s eyes grow wide.

***

“Hee-owgibbanogh!” roared a voice as the pack of Dalmatians slid as one out from the service conduit. Chief Roy crossed the small space between himself and Merlin and shoved a pair of translucent tubes in the captain’s face. “Hey! Didja know that the only thing you’re missing is a pair of silver relays in the power generator?”

Patch fought the urge to deck him – fast, hard and continuously.

“Uh, yes…” Merlin replied.

“Well, that’s easy to replace! Why dincha tell us in the first place!”

Merlin prepared a nasty response, but the Dalmatian was suddenly back under the array of engine tubes, humming to himself as tools whirred and a small shower of sparks followed. Patch gripped a nearby countertop with weak knees and wide eyes. Replacing a few relays did not require anything that would cause sparks!

The next moment, the ship’s lighting came up full and the familiar thrum of power generation resumed within the deck plates.

Chief Roy emerged more slowly, with an air of contentment. “There ya go! Should be smooth sailin’ from here on out!”

Not convinced, Patch dove beneath the engines to inspect the work. When he arose from under the complex machinery several long moments later, his face wore a look of sincere astonishment.

“Well?” Merlin asked.

“Not a bad job,” the raccoon replied. “For all the noise they were making, I feared the worst. I’m not seeing anything out of order.”

The captain appraised the Firedogs with a crooked smile. They had made a horrible mess, but fixed the problem. He did not know what to say.

“Hey,” said a new voice, “What’s going on here?”

The wolf looked back as his errant brother sauntered lazily into the engine area. Strange, Merlin thought, that Lucas would voluntarily enter a place where work was being done. However, the elder wolf—optimistically—chose to think this new event a possible interest in the gung-ho newcomers. An idea appeared and pushed itself forward in his mind with an alarming urgency. He turned back to the chief before him.

“Say… could you guys use an extra helper?” Hands began to shove Lucas forward for the Firedogs’ interest. Other members of the Blue Horizon were anxious to get rid of the troublesome wolf. “He could be a Firedog Lucas to go along with your Firedog Joey,” Merlin suggested hopefully.

Chief Roy approached Lucas with a grin, and then frowned. He furrowed his brow and began to sniff Lucas up and down. Then the others swarmed around him and did the same. The younger wolf felt unusually conspicuous and cast worried eyes at his brother—who looked away at Patch and Pockets as the raccoons checked their instrumentation.

The Dalmatians pulled back as one, and then retreated into a huddle. Their voices blended in a cacophony of disorderly noises, snorts, and jumbled statements.

“Captain,” Pockets called. Merlin crossed the room to the terminal where the mechanic worked a terminal console.

“What’s up, Pockets?”

“The generator is fixed, but not only that, it’s running differently than before.”

“Differently?” Merlin’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“It looks as if they rerouted the flow of crystal energy through the engine core so that it comes through purer and in less time. They disabled one of the safety redundancies, but,” he indicated a juncture, “made it superfluous anyway by moving this up here.”

“So, we’re running better?” the wolf asked with something resembling admiration.

“Cleaner, safer and probably faster once the engines are reengaged.”

“Hike!” cried the huddle of Dalmatians. Merlin crossed the room again as the pack of them stood before him.

“We can’t take him,” Chief Roy stated.

“Why’s that?” Durant asked, disappointed.

Chief Rupert grimaced, “Because, even we know a lost cause when we see one.”

The last sentence hung in the air as the throng of Dalmatians flocked together again, then stormed out of the engine room and across the cargo bay in a storm of pattering feet and flapping tongues. The crew followed the pack as it made a beeline to the connecting tunnel to the Up Ducky, and then the lot of them was through the airlock, detaching from the ship, and on their way, all in less than a minute. In shock, Merlin stood just outside the engine room in the cargo bay surrounded by his crew members.

“Did all that really just happen?” Pockets asked, scratching his head.

“I’m not sure,” replied his brother, “but after this mess, I’m giving all the systems a thorough inspection.”

“They didn’t even charge us anything,” Pockets observed. The captain sighed and shrugged.

***

Six hours had passed since the Firedog visitation and everyone’s nerves were on edge from the continual presence of younger brother Lucas. He had single-handedly managed to insult, confound, frustrate, and infuriate everyone on board without really trying and no one wanted to have anything to do with him. The captain had difficulty trying to keep everyone, himself included, from shoving the ragged wolf out into space.

“I’ve had it with Lucas,” Samantha grumbled to Merlin as she snuggled up close to him while they relaxed against several pillows on his bunk. “He’s been watching my movies on the recreation deck and never puts anything away,” she said. “He leaves food everywhere he happens to be and there’s trash on every deck. I’ve even had to put password lockouts on every terminal on the ship but the bridge to keep him from messing with our systems.”

Merlin slipped his arm around her bare shoulders and absently wove his fingers through her fur. “Seven more hours,” he assured her, “then we’ll be rid of him.”

“That’s an eternity!”

“He’s lucky no one’s tried to slit his throat in his sleep,” Merlin snorted lightly.

“Don’t think it hasn’t crossed several minds, but no one can get past the smell to get near enough to do something so pleasant. I don’t think he’s showered since his flea dip when we first found him. Why do you claim him as family?” she asked.

“I don’t. It’s just an unfortunate act of fate that he was born into my family,” the captain murmured. “He was the only survivor of the three born in his litter. He’s always been a smelly fleabag, even as a young pup before our folks died. Neither Mom nor Pop could do anything with him, no matter how many beatings he got.”

“Your dad beat Lucas?” She drew back in shock, unaware of this aspect of her lover’s family.

“No, that was me. He challenged me for dominance often enough, but I trounced him every time. It never seemed to do any good, though. He kept coming back for more, but he never tried the same tactic twice. He spent most of his youth trying to find his way around things—mostly work—so that he didn’t have to really earn them. If he could not get something he wanted in a legitimate way, he’d find some way to weasel it out of someone else or sabotage it so that nobody would want it. That was probably the main thing that I learned to hate about him; he always wanted things to come to him unearned.”

“How did you put up with him growing up?” Samantha asked. “I’m surprised he’s still alive.”

Merlin sighed. “Don’t underestimate him, Sam. Despite his scrawny build and the constant smell, he’s intelligent and cunning. He only appears to be completely lazy. He could have finished school at the top of his class, but then one day he simply stopped trying, no matter how much our parents encouraged him. Even after we lost Mom and Pop, my sister Shannon also tried to encourage him to do better, but it was all wasted breath. At the end of one school year, he was caught hacking into the school computer systems and changing all of his grades when he could have easily earned them on his own. The worst part is that he’s never used those abilities for a successful career.”

“You’re kidding!” Samantha exclaimed. “There’s intelligence underneath that mangy exterior?”

“No joke,” the captain admitted. “He only uses that mind of his for his own gains, whatever they may be. Usually, I’ve no problem with someone doing that, but he doesn’t care if he breaks the law or hurts others in doing so – and it’s that last one that really gets to me. I can only wonder if his showing up on board was by plan or if he just happened to be in Langlop’s Outpost at the same time we were.”

“Whatever it is he’s up to now,” Sam replied, “it’s costing us more and more having him as a passenger. I heard Durant telling Sparky about the totals he’s been tallying on Lucas. We’d make a fortune if we had a paying passenger spending those kinds of numbers.”

Merlin looked over at her with a look of amusement. “Over the years,” he muttered, “I’ve sometimes considered taking on passengers to add a little extra income to the business.”

Samantha shook her head. “That might be more problematic than you think,” she remarked. “Dealing with customers once every few weeks between flights is bad enough. Just imagine someone worse than Lucas locked in here with us for a month at a time.”

“Okay, that just raised my hackles,” the wolf said rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

“Let that be a lesson to you.”

The couple fell silent as they relaxed in the dimmed light of the cabin. After a long while, Merlin grunted. “Can you set a marker on Lucas’ credit account? If or when he ever deposits anything into it, the total of his expenses should be automatically diverted to the Blue Horizon account, up to the amount he owes us.”

Samantha turned her head toward him. “I can do that,” she admitted. “What amount should I key in for the marker to divert?”

“Get with Durant and have him work up a forecast on what my brother should owe us by the time we get to Quet, based on what he’s charged up so far. One way or another, we will be reimbursed for the inconvenience of his presence.”

Sam was about to reply, but she heard a soft whirring noise in the darkness. “Merlin,” she whispered into his ear, “I heard something over by the bathroom, and I think I see something.” The captain looked in the direction she mentioned and saw a faint green glow hovering in the air.

The wolf moved an arm quietly to the table beside the bed and thumbed the light switch to a higher setting. Framed in the doorway to the head, up near the ceiling, was Moss, floating silently. Its single eye was focused on them, but it made no movement other than the gentle bobbing on the air currents of the room.

Merlin sighed. “It’s only Moss,” he said. “I don’t remember it coming into the room with us, though.”

“No offense to Pockets,” Samantha said, “but that thing unnerves me.”

Merlin smiled and switched the light off completely. “Moss!” he called out.

“Meow!” it answered. It lowered in altitude as it approached the bed, as they could tell by the pale green light of its sensor lens. It stopped a meter from the bed, awaiting further commands or conversation.

“Leave this room and continue on your rounds,” the captain ordered.

“Meooow, meow!” The small saucer rotated on its axis and floated away from them. A moment later, the door swooshed open and the security unit departed lazily. The door closed and the room was covered in a blanket of darkness once again.

“Good riddance,” Samantha said. “I don’t like it watching me.”

“Pockets told me he didn’t program it to record anything but anomalies dealing with the ship.”

“I still don’t like it.”

Merlin laughed and slipped a playful hand around her waist and lightly tickled her ribs. “You mean you don’t like voyeurs watching us?”

She slapped him lightly and nipped at his snout. “What goes on in here is our business only!”

***

The planet Quet sat like a lifeless gray pearl in space. Even on the sunlit side of the small, moonless world, the terrain stretched on like a featureless blank. Pollution-saturated clouds swirled across its surface and even the world’s tide-less, brown oceans reflected little light of the sun from the distance of spatial orbit. Nicknamed The Dump, Quet was the poorest of the Alignment worlds. Decades ago, an environmental disaster destroyed most life on the planet and left the atmosphere mildly toxic, though breathable. Quet’s only current asset to the Alignment was its abundant source of micranite that was used in the containment shielding in LightDrive engines – the Blue Horizon’s cargo pickup for the next delivery to Dennier.

As the freighter made its orbital approach now on powered flight, Merlin sat in the pilot seat. Taro was stationed at the com terminal and Renny was seated at navigation. No one else desired to see Quet as the ship came in from space, so it was just the three of them on the bridge.

“Adjusting ship’s time to Quetian clocks in the Plains Time Zone,” Taro announced over the intercom. “Local time is oh-nine-twenty-one.” It was standard procedure to set themselves to whatever world and time zone they were about to spend several days on. Whatever planetary time zone the vessel’s clocks were set to would remain as standard ship’s time until their next planetfall. The ship’s systems reflected the change instantaneously with her reset immediately following the announcement. This was, however, only a formality as the ship and crew would not be taking their standard leave here. A hostile climate combined with a dead-poor mining community did not make for much need.

The fox received a signal in her headset and nodded to herself at the information scrolling across her station screen. “This is the SS Blue Horizon,” she stated into her microphone, “Planetary Alignment registry number PA1621. We have inserted into optimum orbit, coming in on standard approach vector for landing in the mining vicinity of Lormun.” She listened a second and then answered, “Micranite pickup for the Alvex Corporation with a four-hour layover preceding rapid turnaround departure. Request landing coordinates and launch window authorization.”

She received the transmitted coordinates on her screen a moment later and as she listened, her fingers glided across her panel to transfer the data to Renny’s terminal. The cheetah set about programming the navigational computer as Taro finalized their approach from the Quetian Air Authority.

“QAA has given us the okay for landing, Captain,” she said over her shoulder.

“Aye,” the wolf replied. “Renny?”

“Transferring navigational trajectory to your panel now,” the cheetah answered.

“All hands, all hands,” Taro announced on ship-wide speakers, “landing sequence has begun. Strap yourselves in.”

Merlin moved the inverted, L-shaped guidance shifts forward and the ship nosed down toward the grim world. Renny flicked a switch at his station and the forward windows took on an orange hue as the heat shields activated. There was only a slight resistance to the controls as the atmosphere thickened with their descent. The blue saucer-shaped freighter sliced through the thick brown clouds with little turbulence and before Merlin could call for infrared on the video panels, they were below the thin layer and heading downward toward a low range of weathered mountains.

Merlin checked his readouts and adjusted his course across the small continent and dropped their speed.

Taro half turned toward Merlin. “I’ve made contact with a representative from Lormun,” she said. “Someone named Braith will meet us at landing pad three.” Merlin grunted his acknowledgement and dropped their altitude to five hundred meters as they passed over the village and slowed to standard flight speed limits.

“There’s the spaceport,” Taro said with a grimace. The port consisted of a single nondescript building surrounded by five round landing areas, all empty of craft. She moved to the engineering station and flipped a switch to start equalizing the ship’s internal air pressure with that of the city, though without actually using the external atmosphere. In most cases, standard procedure would call for replenishment of the ship’s air reserves with whatever planet they delivered to, but on visits to Quet this was a process avoided. Fortunately for them all, the air they had replenished on Brandt was of better quality.

Taro engaged a switch and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “Artificial gravity will be disabled in fifteen seconds. In another five minutes we’ll be on the ground with full engine shutdown. All personnel report to the hold in ten minutes for cargo detail. That includes you, Lucas.”

Renny felt the ship slow even more and glanced out the windows. They were barely over treetop level and on approach to a small concrete building. On a large sign that was nearly unreadable due to the pollution that clung to it were the rather bland descriptive words: Landing Pad, Lormun. The Blue Horizon stopped forward movement above a circle in the dirt ringed with stones and began dropping slowly.

Merlin lowered the landing gear and set his ship gently onto the ground with the slightest of bumps. He immediately began shutting down systems on his panel and Renny did likewise. Within moments, only the necessary systems on board were still operational.

The wolf got out of his harness and stretched as he stood up. “Taro,” he said, “after Durant has signed with the local office for our cargo pickup, have him ready to give me assistance with Lucas.”

“Aye, sir.”

Renny cracked the knuckles of his hands and grinned with his teeth. “May I help?”

Merlin looked over at him with a frown. “I need you on cargo detail to load up. Durant and I can handle him.”

***

Lucas Sinclair released the Moss unit he had deactivated a moment earlier and took the few items he had hidden inside its shell, shoving them into the pockets of his coat. He should be able to pawn them off for food or other services at such time as he might need them. He only found one of the silver relays inside Moss, but did not have time to look for the other one that had apparently jostled loose somewhere. Someone would come looking for him shortly, so Lucas left the room without a backward glance, not even watching the mobile security sensor unit float off to resume its routine sweep of the ship.

He took the lift down to the cargo area and saw that the loading had started without him. If they were going to make him work with them, he had no intention of doing much. He had taken no more than two steps out of the lift when Durant’s massive paw closed around the back of the wolf’s neck.

“Come with me,” the bear growled at the younger Sinclair. Lucas could do little but walk where Durant aimed him and within a moment, he was flanked by his brother. The trio moved to the open bay door, and when they got to the ramp, Durant put a huge foot on the wolf’s butt and then launched Lucas out of the ship. This was followed by a pause from the other crew members, who gave a congratulatory round of applause. Lucas landed in the dirt and rolled twice, but he got up without knocking off the dust and continued walking in the direction he had been thrust. He did not bother to look back, as he was used to the treatment.

A LITTLE LIBERATION

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

This will be a short entry. The Blue Horizon is on Quet, otherwise known as the Dump, to pick up a shipment of processed micranite for delivery to the shipyards on Dennier, my homeworld. We have flown empty from Brandt to the mining town of Lormun, a lackluster place that is barely on the maps of even this world. Payment for our services was transferred to the company account without a hitch and I have already had Durant distribute the crew’s pay to their accounts. The hold is filled to near full capacity with the micranite crated in large octagonal boxes, each three meters across. For containers this size, our hold is quite large, so that’s a lot of micranite.

Standard procedure after a space flight is three days of leave, but no one is really anxious to spend time on Quet so I told everyone to be back in twenty-four hours.

My brother Lucas stowed away on our ship while on Brandt, making himself a nuisance to everyone on board during his stay with us, but he was summarily expelled from my vessel as soon as we’d landed and the cargo bay door was open to receive our cargo. Despite his slothfulness, my younger brother has always been able to take care of himself in one way or another, so I have no qualms whatsoever about leaving him in this desolate place. A mining town is a working town and they don’t tolerate loafers, so perhaps someone will actually put him to use — providing he wants to eat, that is.

Unfortunately, Lormun is so small and probably does not offer a lot of distractions for tourists, so it has been difficult getting the crew to leave the ship while we’re here. There’s a threat of slavery here, as it common on Quet in the mining towns and we’re not too savvy on local laws, so very little contact is probably best. My own plans are to go out to see if there’s a worthwhile restaurant in the area just for a change of menu, and then come back to take a personal inspection of the external hull of the ship while we’re down inside an atmosphere, such as that is.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Renny looked down the main street of the mining community leading away from the landing pads and had the strangest sensation that they were in a replica of a pioneering town from a Terran western movie. The ramshackle buildings were made of old wood that the warm atmosphere had dried out and cracked. The street was dirt and the warped boardwalks in front of the buildings were not an improvement. The local trees were not much more than sticks with tiny leaves, proving that the wooden building materials had probably been imported from some far away region or were so old as to have been there since before the planet-wide environmental disaster.

The sky was dark even though it was nearing the middle of the day and torches randomly lined the roadway. They saw only a few people out and about. Most of the population was at work in the mines this time of day. Beside him, Taro made a “tsk” sound and she turned to face the small group with a frown. Against their better judgment, they had left the safety of the ship in search of a change of food and scenery.

“Not much to choose from, is there?” Durant asked from behind them.

“I’ve never liked this landfill of a planet,” Pockets said in a quiet voice, as if he might call something upon them from the dark clouds overhead if he spoke any louder. His eyes rolled upward in a nervous fashion that he had not even felt while walking the streets of Langlop’s Outpost on Brandt. The air was breathable, but only just so; inhaling required a slight effort and the overall odor was unidentifiable.

Tanis and Samantha stepped out from a pair of swinging doors of the nearest building, an archaic print shop for the town’s small printed newspaper. “The clerk said there are a few places to eat on the other end of town,” the fennec fox said as they stopped beside their shipmates.

“According to locals who have to live here,” Sam added as she pointed toward the east end of town, “the place with the best food is called The Wild Star. Supposedly it’s the local entertainment spot as well.”

“Good, let’s go find it,” Renny said. “I’m starving.”

“Renny, you’re always starving,” Samantha said with a smirk.

“I’m starving, too,” Pockets said. “My belly’s growling! The sooner we eat and get out of here, the better.” Everyone seemed to be in agreement, so the small group began walking in the direction the Border collie had indicated.

“Do you think it’s gonna rain on us?” Pockets asked, still eyeing the dark clouds overhead.

“I doubt it,” Durant replied. “I think those are clouds of pollution, not of rain.”

Samantha screwed up her nose and glanced upward. “Sludge from the sky, yech!”

They walked on in silence until they saw a sputtering neon sign in the window of an establishment set apart from the rest of the buildings. Rather than the common dried-out wood construction, it was made of corrugated metal that had rusted through the white paint in the climate. A large downward pointing red arrow was painted in the middle of double doors that were smeared with dark gray micranite dust from miners’ hands. A small sign to the side of the doors bore the legend:

The Wild Star

A Dining and Entertainment Establishment.

Food, Liquor, Nightly Live Acts,

Vid Rooms & Pleasure Rooms.

Weller Tagon, proprietor.

Renny pushed through the doors first. A wide room of dark paneling filled with wooden tables and chairs greeted them. A liquor bar lined the mirrored right-hand wall and a small curtained stage occupied the opposite end of the entrance; a hallway to either side of the stage led off behind beaded curtains. The only soul in the place was the bartender, a six-foot tall white rabbit in a red apron. He looked up at them from his chore of cleaning mugs and glasses.

“What can I do for you folks?” the bartender asked. “I take it you are from that freighter that landed a bit ago.”

Renny stepped up to the bar and ran his tongue across his lips. “That’s right. Is the restaurant open for business, uh, mister—?”

“The name’s Harvey Robeson, folks, and yes the restaurant is open.” The rabbit smiled and set down a large mug he had been drying with a towel. “The miners and slaves will be swarming in for lunch in about a half hour, so you came at a good time.”

“Wonderful!” Renny exclaimed. “I’m famished.”

Durant offered to the rabbit, “Just keep your arms and legs away from his maw.”

“Just take a seat,” Harvey said with a laugh. “Jess will be out in a moment with your menus.” As the group moved to a nearby table, the bartender added, “One of your crew came in a little while ago and rented one of the pleasure rooms, if you’re looking for him.”

“One of our crew?” Taro asked suspiciously.

“A wolf in a long, tattered trench coat.”

“Not one of ours,” Durant remarked dryly. “He was a one-way passenger who needs a job with your community.”

“Ah, he’s in luck. There are plenty of jobs in the mines. Here comes my daughter now.” A white doe in her twenties dressed in a low-cut beige blouse and a short red skirt came into the room from a side entrance with a handful of menus. Renny had to force himself not to stare at the young woman’s ample assets, even when she smiled at him for noticing his gaze, and then realized that she was giving him the elevator-eyes as well. The cheetah had a notion that she probably assisted with the establishment’s pleasure rooms.

***

A half hour later, Samantha and Pockets stepped out through the doors of the Wild Star. Despite the dreary environment of the planet, the food in the now-busy restaurant had been decent, although a bit on the expensive side. Since the local miners were not known for their wealth, she had a feeling the prices had been elevated just for the visitors. The others were still inside chatting away on various topics. Pockets rubbed his stomach with a smile and let out a low belch.

Samantha looked at him sideways with a smirk, but otherwise did not comment as she stepped out into the street. Pockets followed, but after a few steps he gave his fingers a sharp snap. Sam knew the signal and looked back at him. The raccoon pointed only with his gaze down an alley between the buildings to their left and Samantha’s eyes located the outbuilding he had noticed. Without a word between them, the duo casually walked into the alley.

On occasion, the raccoon and collie operated together to appropriate items they might need later on, and a locked shed just might provide opportunity. Despite the warmth of the weather, Sam put her hands in the pockets of her flight jacket as they neared a small metal shed, her tail wagging slightly. Her raccoon partner smiled when he saw the standard padlock through the hasp on the door. From one of his many namesake pockets, he fished out a rolled-up pouch of silver instruments. He opened it partially and selected a small tool designed for such an occasion.

Before he had a chance to start his work, however, he looked up at Samantha with a worried expression. “Sam,” he whispered. “I think there’s someone inside.”

The Border collie leaned close to the door with a frown. “I hear whimpering,” she whispered back. “A youngster, perhaps.”

“What do we do?” the raccoon engineer asked. “It might be a slave from the mines. You know that’s legal here.”

Sam looked at him silently for a moment. “We can’t just walk away, Pockets,” she whispered. “Maybe someone’s just hurt and trapped inside.”

“If she’s trapped, it was not by accident,” he said, lifting the padlock slightly to make his point.

The collie looked down at her friend and gave him a pair of sad brown eyes. Pockets swallowed and then shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll check it out,” he said at last. The tool went into the key slot and the padlock popped open within a heartbeat.

***

Durant set his glass on the table and glanced idly across the miners and slaves that filled the room. Most had given the Horizon crew curious glances when they had come in for their midday meal, but otherwise had ignored them. For the past twenty minutes, he had been glancing over at a female bear that had come in with a young cub in tow. They sat in a booth next to the bar, oblivious to the tall ursine’s attention.

Renny and Taro were engaged in an animated conversation on sports activities of the various worlds of the Alignment and Durant had grown tired of listening to them. He picked up his glass and walked toward the booth where the mother bear sat with her cub. When he stopped next to the table, the woman looked up at him, but immediately turned her attention back to spoon-feeding her cub a mushy paste-like substance from a jar.

“Pardon me, ma’am,” Durant said pleasantly, “but I think I might know you, although I’m not quite sure from where or when.”

She stopped, as though his voice had frozen her in that moment. Her hand trembled as she drew the spoon away from the child. “Please go away,” she said, a nervous terror on the edge of her voice.

Durant was surprised by her demeanor, but held up a hand. “I don’t want to bother you…”

“Then go away,” the woman said again, gathering up her belongings with shaky hands. This time, the youngster looked up from its feeding to stare at him. Durant’s eyes narrowed—there was something uniquely familiar about the child’s eyes. He was sure he had seen this pair somewhere before.

Durant thought he would try once more, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I just want to know…”

“Leave me alone!” she snapped, her voice quavering. She snatched up the now-distressed cub and hustled out of the restaurant, leaving Durant standing alone with his mouth open.

***

Samantha took the first step and pulled open the old door of the rusty shed. As dark as it was in the alley, it only took a moment for her canine eyes to adjust to the blackness inside the small, two-meter square building. The diffused noonday sunlight pushed through the darkness, but illuminated only the rusted, gray, mildewed innards of a storage shed. The scent of urine and feces permeated the small area, with a tang of sweat and vomit mixed in for an awful stench.

They heard a soft whine and Sam focused her eyes onto the spot the sound had emanated from. The collie covered her nose as she moved toward the source of the pitiful sound. Pockets stepped in hesitantly behind her, poised and ready for anyone who might try to attack them from within the shed.

The Border collie swallowed at what she saw. A canine youth, possibly in his mid-teens, sat cross-legged on the floor, his back toward them. A pair of ice-blue eyes peered at them over his left shoulder and Sam could see him shaking. He looked like he might be a German shepherd with a mix of Siberian husky.

Fighting the urge to retch, she knelt to place a hand on a trembling shoulder. The skinny frame melted away from her touch, a cry of fright rasping from his throat as he squirmed around to face his attacker. The little thing backed up into a sloppy corner, landing in a wet pile she did not care to identify. In the sliver of light, pale eyes burned with fear and unendurable sadness. The naked youth’s matted fur, torn and sporting bald areas from some unknown affliction, was a patchwork of stains and wounds. His torso was feebly thin, and another whimper issued from his throat as the corrugated breast rose and fell with each breath. A fear scent permeated the other odors within the small shed.

“Calmly, little one,” she said to him in a soft voice, “we’re here to help.” The youth did not reply, but only stared at her. Samantha glanced back at Pockets before trying again.

“Can you tell us your name?”

The light blue eyes studied her. Then, after a moment more of silence, he said in a weak, raspy voice, “Max… Maximillian, ma’am.”

Sam reached out and softly touched his cheek to bring him to face her. He did not resist this time and dropped his head submissively, his ears drooping. “Maximillian?” the collie repeated. “That’s a nice name.”

“M’master gave it to me,” the boy said. “Most everyone else… calls me Max.” He looked up into her eyes but did not smile.

“How old are you, Max?”

“Fifteen, I think.”

Sam knelt next to him, mindful to keep out of the mess on the floor. “Did your master lock you in here?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“How long have you been in here?”

The boy closed his eyes a moment and then answered, “I dunno. Five days, maybe.”

“Five days! What did you do for that kind of punishment?”

Max lowered his head. “I disobeyed him.”

“No one deserves this!” Pockets exclaimed in a whisper of his own as he moved in to stand next to his shipmate.

The youth looked at the raccoon with his head still down. “Mr. Tagon is my master,” he said. “He says I deserve punishment.”

“Mr. Tagon is wrong,” Sam replied.

“Do you have anything to eat?” Max asked in a pleading voice, “and water?”

“Samantha…” Pockets breathed. “This Tagon is starving the kid!”

It was then that Sam noticed that the boy’s left hand was missing its middle finger. The gnarled stub had become infected and swollen, the wound recent. Desperate with hunger, she surmised he had probably chewed it off himself. She turned to her shipmate with moist eyes. “We have to get him to the Horizon, Pockets!”

“Sam,” the raccoon replied, “he’s a slave. We can’t just take him without permission.”

The collie looked at him evenly and said in a toneless voice, “Why not? We were going to see if there was anything of value in here we could liberate anyway.”

“But this is different, Sam. He’s alive.”

“He won’t be for long if this Tagon creep keeps him in here,” Samantha argued. “Five days… It looks like he’s forgotten Max altogether.” The boy listened to the exchange quietly in submission. He had gotten his ears boxed on more than one occasion for speaking up for himself, but he was so hungry.

“I don’t eat much,” said the small, plaintive voice. Pockets heard something in the voice, a twinge of hope and a grim morsel of desperation. For a moment, he remembered the small mouse he had seen on the Lady of Dreams and the explanation the tall fox had given him. He had looked on her with admiration then, to rescue a child in need, and suddenly felt a pang of guilt at his own reluctance to have that courage.

Samantha stood up from her crouch and held her hands out to Maximillian. “Pockets,” she said in a firm voice, “I cannot stand by and let him be treated this way. I’m taking him to the ship, at least to get him some food and medical attention. We’ll bring him back afterward, if we can.”

“Really?” Pockets muttered, disbelieving her intentions. “You will take him away and then bring him back to this?”

“I… I will take responsibility when the captain finds out.”

Max stared at her hands in fear. If he were caught outside of the shed with them, Mr. Tagon would probably beat him to near death. He looked down at his numb left hand and wondered if death might actually be a better choice. Here, in the dark, was a spark of decency against a starless night, but it was enough light for him to follow.

Samantha was still glaring at her crewmate when she felt the two rough hands slide into her own. She stood up fully and the boy tried to follow, but nearly collapsed in her arms from weakness. Despite the filth and stench of the youth, Pockets jumped in and helped support the boy’s weight as they walked him outside. As an afterthought, Pockets left Max with Sam a moment to close and lock the shed door. If the outbuilding continued to appear unchanged, the boy’s absence might not be noticed for a while longer.

***

Merlin and Arktanis walked back to the ship following a quick meal at a seedy little place called Seiko’s Tavern. The desert fox had gone in to The Wild Star with the others, but had to go back to the ship for his credicard. He and the captain decided to try another place they found on their walk-through town. The food had been edible, but there was little flavor to it. The pair were discussing the place’s merits, or lack thereof, when the wolf saw someone near the hatch of the Blue Horizon. The shadows near the vessel were dark and the figures moved quickly into the interior of the main hatch. He put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, but they were already out of sight.

“C’mon, Tanis,” he said.

“Think it might be Lucas again?” the fennec fox asked as they broke into a run.

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Merlin admitted. “I’d sooner sell him into slavery here than put up with him on another voyage.”

The pair approached the hatch and Tanis keyed in the passcode on a small pad near the main hatch. The door slid aside and their noses were instantly assaulted by a foul stench. “Gads!” exclaimed the fennec, backing up against a wall. “What died in there?”

“Remember how Lucas smelled when we found him on board? That’s got to be him!” Merlin croaked.

“Even Lucas couldn’t get that kind of stench on him in the short time we’ve been here, could he?”

“Maybe he got into a fight and someone tossed him into something foul.”

They moved through the open airlock door inside and stepped into the hold. Merlin heard the faint hiss of the lift doors ahead of them and he motioned Tanis to follow him around the perimeter of their loaded cargo. The indicator near the lift showed the elevator stopped on the second level, so the captain thumbed the pad to bring it back down.

A couple of moments later, Merlin and Tanis stood in the curved corridor of the crew deck, sniffing the air. The stench led to the right. “Smells like he went in to either Pockets or Sam’s cabin,” Tanis said.

Merlin tapped his claws on Pockets’ door, but there was no reply and the panel was locked. He went to Sam’s door and repeated the action. The Border collie opened the door and faced them dressed in a robe. The running water of her shower could be heard inside.

“Hi, Captain,” she said with a smile. “Hello, Tanis.”

“What on Quet did you fall into?” Merlin asked as he pinched his nose. “Smells like a sewer.”

“Yeah, mate, it’s stinking up the ship!” The fennec fox added with a wrinkled snout.

“Good guess,” the collie said a little nervously. “If you’ll excuse me, I want to wash the smell off of me as much as you do.”

Merlin snorted and shook his head. “Spray some perfume out here and in the hold, too, or Patch and Pockets will have your hide if they have to smell this all the way to Dennier.”

“Aye, Captain,” Sam said with a crooked smile. She shut the door, leaving her shipmates staring at the panel.

“Gah,” Tanis gagged. “I’d go outside for some fresh air if Quet had any!”

Inside her cabin, Samantha moved back to the bathroom, where the engineer was showing their pungent guest how to work the shower. “Pockets, that was Merlin. Go get yourself washed. I’ll take care of getting Max cleaned up.”

“Okay,” said the raccoon. “I might have an oversized shirt and some shorts he could wear, too.”

***

“Samantha, are you nuts?” Sparky exclaimed. The lynx sat down at the galley table, put her elbows on the hard surface, and rubbed her temples with her fingers. “That’s kidnapping!”

The collie put a finger to her lips. “Shhh… Keep your voice down,” she said. “And it’s not kidnapping if he goes willingly.”

Sparky frowned deeply at her friend. “Just how many kidnappers were able to grab their victims by coaxing them so they thought they were going along willingly?” The canine only stared at her. “Samantha, he’s a slave and this is a theft of private property, not to mention against the laws of Quet in aiding a slave to escape.”

Max stood just behind the Border collie, quiet in submission as he had been taught long ago, wishing strongly that someone would feed him; the aroma of food from the kitchen was making him salivate. Samantha reached around her and took his left arm gently. “Look at this, Sparky,” she said as she indicated the missing digit from the boy’s hand. The stub was medicated and bandaged from Tanis’ Infirmary, but the absent finger was hard to miss. Sam raised the blue shirt the boy wore to expose Max’s skinny frame. “Look at his ribs, Sparky. I couldn’t just leave him there like this.”

The lynx remembered the videos from Brandt, showing children in wretched conditions, and how her heart had gone out to them. There were pangs of pity tugging at her heart, but she shook her head with sad eyes. “You are going to land us all in a nasty jail here on the Dump if you’re not extremely careful. But…” she sighed lightly, “I can’t sit by and do nothing, Sam.” She leaned forward and took the boy’s bandaged hand. “Will you let us help you, son?”

Max nodded, but kept his head down with his ears and tail lowered. If these people wanted to be his new masters, it looked like they would treat him better, at the least.

“Now,” Sparky said with new life, “how about some hot food to fill out those skinny bones of yours?”

For the first time since Pockets had picked the lock of the shed, the boy smiled. It was not a big smile, but there was enough there for the adults to know the prospect of food was his fondest wish.

***

Merlin sat in the pilot seat of the Blue Horizon, going over the preflight checklist on his slateboard. They would be launching in just over an hour and he wanted to make sure everything was ready before leaving Quet. Taro sat at the engineering station, running through her own preparations and they spoke in monosyllables to one another while they went through every sequence.

The intercom beeped and the vixen thumbed the switch on her console. “This is Taro.”

“Hi Taro, is the captain up there?” Samantha’s voice asked.

“I’m here, Sam,” Merlin said without looking up from his instruments. “What’s on your mind?”

“If you have a minute, I have something urgent I need to discuss with you, in private.” Merlin and Taro exchanged glances at the word private, and both had the identical thought wondering what she had gotten into this time.

“We’re preparing to launch, Sam. Can it wait until we’re under way?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, meet me in my den,” the captain replied. “We’ll have to make this quick.” He set the slateboard gently on the instrument console and walked out the door to the next room over. The panel had barely shut behind him when it opened again. Samantha walked in, but she was not alone. Accompanying her was a teenage canine in cutoff shorts and what looked to be one of Pockets’ old work shirts. The door shut behind them, but before anything was said, he saw a familiar look in Samantha’s eyes and felt a sudden dread. He steeled himself for what was obviously a calculated appeal to his emotions.

“No, Sam,” Merlin said as he leaned back against his desk. “Absolutely not.”

“But you haven’t even heard me out,” the collie replied.

“I know you, Sam, and I know me. Let’s not even start.”

Maximillian stepped away from his benefactor’s side and looked up at Merlin, who was a good ten inches taller. “Please listen?” he entreated.

Merlin glanced back over to the Border collie and sighed. “Start talking.”

Samantha explained how she and Pockets had found the boy, though wisely omitted the fact they had gone to the shed to pilfer. After bringing Max to the ship, she had cleaned him up and coaxed Tanis into attending to the youth’s wounded finger stub, and then taken him to Sparky for food. Afterward, she, Sparky, Pockets and Tanis had gathered together with him in the galley and slowly coaxed the boy’s story from him.

Maximillian’s mother had been a pleasure girl at a distant spaceport on the other side of Quet and his father had been a space-jockey only there for a few hours. The Siberian husky pilot never knew he had fathered offspring with the German shepherd female of his pleasure. Max had been born with three sisters in his litter, but they had been retained by their mother for upbringing in her profession. After he had been weaned, the male pup was sold to a creditor, something not uncommon on Quet, and then he changed hands again. The boy’s owner, an obese rat named Weller Tagon, had named him Maximillian and had been fairly rough in raising him.

“When Pockets and I found him,” Samantha said in conclusion, “Max had been locked away in that filthy shack for five days without food or water for disobedience, and no one’s even checked on him in that amount of time. Who knows how long he would have been there if we had not come along?”

“Locked… in a shed?” he asked slowly. Samantha averted her eyes and the captain correctly surmised how the boy had escaped his confinement.

“We could hear him whimpering from outside!”

Merlin scratched the fur on top of his head beneath the captain’s hat and then crossed his arms. “Samantha…” he began. He stopped to collect his thoughts and emotions. “I agree that his upbringing has been deplorable, and I would have never condoned a punishment so severe, but…”

“But?” Sam repeated in a weak voice.

“But no matter what we think about it, ownership of others is legal here on Quet… while theft and kidnapping are not.” Merlin shook his head slowly. “If we had a way we could do this legally, I might not deny this request.”

“His owner was going to kill him.”

“That’s not our business. On this world, people have the right to dispose of their property as they see fit. Besides the legalities, what use to us is a slave?”

“I can take care of him. I can pay his way,” Sam said.

“Pay his way? When we’re out in the middle of space, what good is money and influence if there are no dry-docks or supply stations on the way? You know our supplies are limited and sometimes emergencies do come up.”

“I can work!” the youth interjected. “I can clean anything! And – and I will not take up much space. I can sleep in the refuse bin and I’ll get off at the first stop. You’ll never have to see me again.”

Merlin sought words to respond, but the helpless, pitiable tones of the youngster’s voice robbed him of his voice.

“I don’t eat much,” he continued. “You could feed me only every other day.”

“Which is probably more than he was getting here,” Sam punctuated as she wrapped an arm around the gangly boy’s shoulders, “He’s eager to help us.” Max gave the captain a wide, toothy smile, as if to show his sincerity. Merlin sighed and rubbed his temples.

“What if we offered to buy him from Mr. Tagon?” the collie asked.

The wolf wrinkled his nose. “What are you going to tell him, Sam? That you found the boy by picking the man’s lock? Samantha, he’ll likely throw you and Pockets in that shed with the boy with the blessing of the local authorities.” Merlin walked around the desk and sat in his chair. “What’s distressing is that you are guilty of all three crimes and I wouldn’t be able to do a thing for you. I doubt even your lawyer Jackson Wyatt could do much!”

The captain turned his attention to the boy. “I’m sorry, son,” he said honestly. “I have to adhere to the laws of your world. By taking you with us, we would be breaking those laws. Do you understand?”

The small canine’s countenance fell to a dejected heap and he clung to Samantha’s arm with his maimed hand. In a small voice, he replied, “I understand.” Then his voice dropped perceptibly, “Can you just kill me instead?”

Sinclair winced at the words, delivered in a wooden sincerity not to be found in depression or sarcasm – this youngster was serious.

“I can’t do that,” he replied.

Samantha stared back at her captain with a blank expression, but it was clear that she had foisted a choice on him: quick and easy or slow and painful, the result would be the same. Starvation, disease or self-cannibalism, he was doomed if he went back. She felt a momentary twinge of guilt for placing both friend and victim in this position.

“We’re the only ship here and we will be leaving shortly,” the captain answered. “When your master can’t find you anyplace, he might think you are on my ship and I cannot afford any delays or extra financial burdens at this point.”

Max deflated, settling onto the floor in front of the desk, out of Merlin’s sight. “Don’t make me go back, sir. I’ll die if I do.”

“Merlin,” Samantha pleaded, “don’t…”

The wolf looked at the digital clock on his desk. “Sam, if you can find a way to talk Mr. Tagon out of our young friend in half an hour, we can take him with us to our next port – provided you aren’t hauled off to jail or made into a slave yourself for your crimes. Wouldn’t the board of directors of your father’s company really enjoy that kind of publicity? Your life with us is tenuous as it is! Take him back where he belongs and be back on board in time for launch. We’re leaving promptly at fifteen hundred hours.” He stood up and walked around the desk. “I’m sorry, Max,” he added, “I wish I could help.”

The youth sat where he was, trembling as he stared at the floor.

With the conversation over, Merlin rose stiffly and left the room, back to the bridge. Inside the captain’s den, Max looked up at the collie with heavy, doleful eyes. “I’m going to die,” he stated, coolly and without emotion.

***

“Take-off in three minutes,” Taro announced to Renny and Merlin. “All hands are aboard and Durant confirms that the outer hatches have been sealed.”

“All hands?” Merlin asked. “Including Samantha?”

Taro looked at him strangely. “Of course, she’s on board, Captain. Why wouldn’t she be?”

“Get her on the intercom.”

“Aye, sir.” She punched up the connection to the Border collie’s quarters. “Sam, are you there?”

“I’m here, Taro. What’s up?”

“Merlin wants to speak to you.”

There was a noticeable hesitation before she answered in a cold monotone voice. “What does he want?” she asked brazenly. Taro’s eyes widened at such blatant insubordination.

“Sam,” Merlin said as he studied the power build-up gauges, “where is Max?”

“Who, the kid you want to die in filth and disease? He’s where he belongs, just as you ordered.”

The wolf felt the bitterness in her voice as a physical blow and decided not to pursue the subject further. It was time to launch and he needed his attention on the task at hand. Without answering, he motioned to Taro to sever the connection and return to business.

“Who’s Max?” Renny wanted to know.

“Not now,” Merlin said. “Full power to the launch thrusters, please.”

“You’ve got it.”

The blue saucer-shaped freighter lifted off the landing pad and roared straight up just shy of two kilometers before the nose angled up to slice forward through the dark afternoon clouds. Merlin Sinclair was glad to be away from that wretched place, and as soon as they were well out of orbit and on the navigational trajectory that Renny had computed, he told Taro to get Pockets on the line.

“Pockets, here, Captain.”

“Release Moss on its sensor sweep of the ship,” the wolf told him. “I don’t want to find Lucas on board again.”

“I set Moss on its rounds before we took off, Captain,” Pockets replied. “I had it check for your brother, but it looks like that loser’s still on Quet.”

“Thank you, Pockets.”

After she closed the connection, Taro touched a pad on the engineering console next to her and then spoke into her headset mike on ship-wide broadcast. “Ship’s artificial gravity is enabled and reading normal. Once we are beyond planetary traffic, the LightDrive engines will be engaged for cruising speed, but mobility is now safe. You may now shed your harnesses and move about.”

“Who’s on first watch?” Merlin asked the red fox.

“I am,” Taro replied with a smile. “What’s on second, and I already have my book to read.” She brandished a thick, lusty romance whose cover sported a bosomy feline heroine in lace clutching the neck of a robust, muscular male, their longhair coats of fur mingling amidst a fiery backdrop. Several pages were dog-eared; probably the juicy parts.

The wolf secured the controls and then unbuckled his seat harness. “You know the drill. Cut engines when we’ve reached interstellar cruising speed.”

“Drill noted.”

“It’s all yours, then.”

Renny looked over at the fox and gave her a wink. “I’ll be by later to check you out… uh, check in on you.”

Taro flashed him a wide grin, passed her eyes over the stud on the novel’s cover, then back to Renny in appraisal. “Uh huh…” she said with a chuckle. Merlin rolled his eyes at the exchange and left the bridge with the cheetah at his side.

***

A week had passed since leaving Quet behind and in all that time, Samantha had not spoken to her captain. In the first forty-eight hours, neither Pockets nor Tanis seemed to look upon him very kindly either, and Merlin felt he could not blame them. All had been in favor of taking the boy with them and none were happy with their captain’s executive decision. As far as they were concerned, Merlin had given the innocent Maximillian a death sentence. The only one who had been in contact with Max who did not seem to treat him any differently was Sparky. She appeared to understand his judgment, even if she had been willing to feed the boy from her limited stores. However, as the days passed the ominous hostility of the crew dissipated. Even though Merlin appreciated that, he felt odd, as though their collective distaste for his decision had lifted too early. He began to suspect that something was up, but staved the feeling off as an emotional hangover after all the events of late.

***

Merlin put his novel aside and closed his eyes. He could not concentrate on the story during his free time right now but was not drowsy enough to sleep. He glanced over at his clock. 1600 hours. Sparky was usually in the galley working on someone’s meal at that time, so he thought he would stroll down the corridor and see what she had cooking. He stood up and pulled on a loose sweater, and then snared his captain’s hat from its wall hook before leaving the room.

As he neared the galley door, he could hear restrained laughter coming from inside. He smiled when he heard Durant’s deep laugh and wondered what the joke was about. He opened the panel and stepped inside with a large grin.

The laughter stopped immediately and Merlin’s smile evaporated completely. Sitting at the long table with Durant, Sparky and Samantha was the young canine, Maximillian.

“You…” he rasped, more to the room than to the youth before him.

Merlin’s first feeling was that of shock, and a cold wave swept his body like an ice storm. Then he felt his blood boil and the room grew incredibly hot. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as his eyebrows drew tightly together and his tail went up asserting his authority. Max could smell the captain’s dark anger and he dropped quickly behind the table out of sight.

The captain bared his teeth with a low growl as his eyes lit upon Samantha. Her expression was defiant at first, but it swiftly melted into a frightened frown. She had known this moment would come sooner or later and thought she would be prepared for it, but under the wolf’s penetrating stare, her will faltered. The indulgent boss tolerated the eccentricities of his crew more than most would, but it had been a long time since he had last experienced outright disobedience to a command. The feeling that now surged through his veins, pulsing in his temples, filled him with a violent fury, raising his hackles beneath the sweater.

Merlin brought both of his fists hard down on the table; the dinner plates upon it jumped, as did everyone else in the room. “HOLDEN!” he shouted, “IN MY DEN, NOW!”

The Border collie swallowed and stood up quietly to leave, but just as she took a step, Max scrambled to his feet and moved toward the wolf.

“Captain,” he said quickly, “it’s not…” The words froze in his throat when the commander’s icy gaze sharply shifted to him. Samantha stepped past him, followed Merlin out into the corridor, and shut the door in the youth’s face.

Durant let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding and Sparky looked as if she was going to be sick. Maximillian glanced fearfully at them and felt like crying.

“Is he gonna kill her?” he asked with moist eyes.

The loadmaster gave the lad a weak smile and said, “Don’t worry, boy. Samantha’s talked her way out of trouble before.”

“She didn’t have any luck with him that day we left Quet,” Max pointed out. “I’ve seen that look on my master’s face before tearing into someone who’d crossed him. Most have learned not to do that again.”

Sparky composed herself and sighed. “We are glad you’re with us, Max,” she said, “but Sam disobeyed a direct order, so now she has to face the captain. She knew it was inevitable.”

Max shook his head. “It’s not fair!” he exclaimed and balled his fists. “She helped me!”

“We know, lad,” Durant said gently. “Merlin will see that once he calms down.”

The youth blinked rapidly a few times and then bolted out the door. Sparky put her arms around herself and looked over to her friend. “I’m shaking all over!” she said quietly. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that look on Merlin’s face.”

The grizzly bear got up and moved to her side to put his arms around her. “I know,” he said. “Me, too.”

***

Maximillian walked slowly around the corridor, trying to fight back the tears. For the past week, he had been staying in the vacant cabin that Lucas had recently occupied and most of the crew had chipped in to help take care of the boy’s needs. Everyone had done their best to keep news of the boy’s presence from Taro and the captain, though it was a general consensus that Samantha eventually would have to take full credit for her insubordination. Among the crew, everyone seemed to like the kid, even the perpetually grumpy Patch, and the feelings were mutual. Max had never met a greater group of folks in his short life and he wanted to do anything and everything for them.

In a few moments, he found himself circling around and nearing the captain’s den. He could hear the heated voices of the angry captain and the supply officer, though he could not understand the muffled words out in the corridor. He sat down on the floor across the hall from the door and put his head down on his knees, curling his tail around his rear.

Merlin’s voice quieted down after a bit and then Max could hear nothing else from the room for a long time. When the door finally opened nearly a full hour later, he swallowed hard, fearing the worst. Merlin took a step out into the corridor, but stopped when he saw the youth; the captain’s expression was unreadable.

Samantha stepped around the wolf and saw Max looking up at them. She held out a hand to him and said, “Max, the captain has a plan that might help us all get what we want.”

Merlin squatted beside him and put a hand on the youth’s shoulder. “Please forgive me,” he said with a concerned expression. “I have to contact your master, but if we play this right, you might just get your freedom.”

New hope appeared in the teen’s eyes. “Just tell me what I need to do,” Max said.

***

“The connection has been made, Captain,” Taro reported. Max stood beside Samantha just behind the center seat of the bridge.

“Weller Tagon,” a raspy voice said from the com speakers.

“Mr. Tagon,” Merlin said in an authoritative voice, for once thankful their communication system was audio-only. “This is Captain Sinclair of the Blue Horizon, a freighter that recently picked up a shipment of micranite from your mining town.”

“It’s three o’clock in the morning, so make it quick.” Tagon said grumpily.

“I’m calling to inform you that we’ve captured a stowaway on board our ship, a boy of about fifteen named Maximillian.”

“So that’s where he went,” the voice of Tagon grunted.

“Sir,” Merlin continued, “he has informed us that he is your property.”

“That’s right, I’ve had him all of his miserable little life. He’ll get a hardy strapping when you bring him back to me.”

“Mr. Tagon,” the wolf said, “I’m on a tight schedule to Dennier and beyond with my deliveries. I’m afraid I will not be able to bring him back personally, but if you’ll arrange to pay for a return transport for him with the Dennieran authorities, I’m sure you can have him back in about a month’s time.”

“A month?”

“We’re still two weeks away from Dennier, sir. It will take another three weeks from there for him to get back to you.”

A grumble came across the speakers before the reply. “What’s a trip like that gonna cost me?”

Merlin smiled. “I took the liberty of checking for you and the only ship from Dennier that will be heading out your way is a private charter called the Erasmus. Its destination is to Brandt, but its captain says that she can swing by Quet to drop the boy off to you. The owner of the craft said she’d do it for ©900.”

“Nine hundred credits!”

“Yes sir.”

“The boy’s not even worth that much!”

Merlin turned toward Max and gave him a wink. “We also need to discuss payment for the boy’s passage and trespass on board my own vessel.”

“Payment?”

“That’s right. He managed to stow away on board and has been pilfering from our limited food and air supplies for the past week. We don’t normally transport passengers, Mr. Tagon, so our stores were not prepared to take this kind of hit. We’ll now have to ration our food for the next two weeks.”

“Uh, Captain…”

“I’ve had my accountant figure up the boy’s expenses thus far, and prorated for the rest of the voyage. Since Mr. Maximillian is your property and responsibility, your bill will come to ©1,200.”

The raspy voice choked. “Twelve hundred credits! Captain, the other ship wasn’t even that expensive!”

“True,” Merlin replied, “but a vessel expecting a passenger will have prepared for him. If you will have the payment credited to our account on Dennier, I’ll release the boy to the authorities to have him returned to you on the Erasmus as soon as possible. If you’re ready, I can give you our ship’s registry for the payment transfer.”

Tagon’s voice took on a sneer. “I refuse to pay! Max is not worth all that.”

“Then, sir, you will have to talk to our collection agency,” the wolf said in a menacing tone. “A business such as ours has to frequently deal with such threats of nonpayment, so we will not hesitate to employ our lawyer if you refuse, Mr. Tagon.”

“Uhm… how about a deal, Captain? What if I just give the boy to you as payment?”

“You said he wasn’t worth 900 credits.”

“I, uh, I spoke rashly, Captain. He’s actually quite handy to have around. He can clean and cook, and is a quick learner.”

“Perhaps,” Merlin said dryly, “but I don’t have the air, food or space for another body on my ship. Once we get to Dennier, I will have him put on the private transport and sent back to you. Payment of his expenses to Blue Horizon Freight Transfer will be expected within thirty days or my agency will have collectors contacting you, Mr. Tagon. Jackson Wyatt & Associates will be anxious to deal with you.”

“Captain!” the rat squeaked, “I don’t have that kind of extra money available for your expenses or even that of the other vessel. Lormun is a small mining town and we don’t get that much business! If you won’t take him for yourself, perhaps you can sell him once you’re on Dennier to get your payment.”

There was a momentary pause. “I suppose I could do that, Mr. Tagon,” Merlin said with his eyes closed. He lowered his voice, as if afraid someone might overhear his next words. “Slaves are not usually tolerated on Dennier, but I understand there’s a black market for such things just about everywhere. Throw in two hundred credits to offset a minimum amount of food for him and we’ll have a deal.”

“Two hundred credits? Okay… I can do that.”

“Upload the credits and the boy’s contract to me and we’ll end this conversation. Our registry code is PA1261.”

Samantha had to clamp a hand over Maximillian’s mouth to keep him from cheering.

“You are too kind, Captain. I am uploading it as we speak. Let me also extend a special bonus to you. The next time you are in my neck of the woods, I’ll grant your entire crew to free meals for a day and a night, plus the use of my best pleasure rooms.”

Merlin wrinkled his nose at the thought of returning to Quet. “That would be nice, Mr. Tagon.”

Taro pointed to the console in front of her and made the universal “okay” sign to indicate the signed contract had been received and confirmation of the credits transferred. The captain made a motion with his fingers and the vixen began making the legal entries to the electronic document.

“We have everything now, so we’ll not bother you further tonight,” Merlin said.

“Thank you, Captain.”

Taro severed the connection and Merlin turned toward her. “Finished?” he asked her.

The red fox tapped a button and a file was immediately transferred to his slateboard. Merlin applied his thumbprint signature in a box at the bottom of the document upon his screen.

“Maximillian,” he said as he turned toward Samantha and the boy.

“Sir?” the young canine asked in a quiet voice. “I know you don’t have much food and air for me, but I’ll try not to use up –”

“Max,” Samantha said into his ear, “that was only a ruse for Mr. Tagon’s benefit. We routinely over-stock our supplies in case of emergency situations. Even our air is recycled and reused after it’s gone through a scrubbing process. We have plenty to share with you.”

Max looked up and searched her eyes for any sign of deceit, but he found none there. Finally, he turned back to Merlin and grinned widely. “I won’t let you down, sir,” he said with sudden enthusiasm. “I’ll be the best slave you’ve ever had!”

Merlin chuckled and gave Samantha a wink. “Can you read Standard?” he asked the boy.

“Angelina taught me!”

The captain handed the slateboard to Max and told him to read the final entry in the last paragraph. Maximillian’s eyes grew wide and he looked up to the wolf in disbelief.

“This says… this says that I’m no longer a slave,” he said quietly.

“That’s correct. By my authority as the new owner of your contract,” Merlin replied, “I’ve set you free. However, since you are still under age according to the laws of Dennier, of which I am a citizen, I will be your legal guardian until you are old enough to leave on your own.”

“Until… until I’m old enough?” Max repeated. “Does this mean you aren’t going to kick me out once we reach Dennier?”

“No, Max,” Samantha whispered into his ear. “You’ll be staying with us.”

Moisture welled up in the youth’s eyes. The fifteen-year-old fought back the tears because he did not want to seem weak, but there was too much relief and joy. He turned and jumped into Samantha’s arms, grinning widely. The collie held him tightly, tears of her own glistening in her cheek fur.

“Captain,” Taro said quietly, “to finalize the document when you register it on Dennier, he’ll have to have a complete name.”

“Max?” Samantha said into the boy’s ear. “What surname would you like to have?”

The youth looked up at her first, and then turned to face the captain. “My sir-name?” he asked.

Merlin nodded to him. “You’ll need a family name to be legal with the Dennieran registration. As a freed slave with no family of your own, it’s your choice to use whatever name you want.”

Maximillian wiped his eyes and thought for a moment. He looked at Sam, and then at Taro, before he finally faced the wolf once again. “May… may I use the name of my guardian?” he asked tentatively. “I would like your name, sir, if that’s allowed.”

Merlin gave him a genuine smile. “Maximillian Sinclair has a nice sound to it,” he replied. “Okay, Taro, enter that name onto the document.”

“Thank you, master,” the youth said with a grin.

“You need not call me master,” Merlin shook a finger at him. “You are no longer a slave.”

“But,” Max replied, “Samantha told me that all those I respect – people of great honor – should be called master.”

Samantha shrugged, “I told him about Master Tristan.”

The older wolf thought for a moment, scratched his chin. “I can live with that, but captain will do.” The captain held out his hand, but instead of the expected handshake, Max gave his savior a fierce hug. After a moment, Merlin held him out at arm’s length and said, “Since you will be sharing my family name, you may call me your uncle Merlin, if you like.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Okay now, if you’ll go with Samantha, she’ll get you set up in our vacant cabin,” Taro said with a smile. “You won’t have to live under her bed anymore.”

Max snickered and admitted, “That’s where I’ve been staying all this time.”

“Sneaky,” Taro said with a chuckle.

“I will have Durant set up an account for you, starting with Mr. Tagon’s two hundred credit donation.”

“Wow!”

Sam stood up and motioned for the door. “You will need an education too. I’ll get you lined up for some tutoring, as well. There’s a lot about the Planetary Alignment I’m sure you don’t know.”

“What is a planner-terry line mint?” Max asked.

***

Durant stood beneath a hot shower, allowing the water to soak him to the skin below his thick fur. The memories of meandering around the filthy small town needed washing away. Still, his mind kept drifting back to the female bear he had met in the restaurant. Unfortunately, her brusque manner had left him feeling both apprehensive and uneasy, so he had dropped the subject. Perhaps, he thought, she simply had a familiar face, which would explain his interest. Maybe even as well, she might be trying to get away from a boyfriend or husband who had been cruel to her, and his massive, imposing form had been intimidating. Or maybe she was just shy. Who knew?

Durant scrubbed his fingers through the fur on his face, remembering her face as the cold rain spilled over him. Steam rose above his neckline and he brushed the drops out of his eyes.

Cold rain?

The bear pulled his hands away from his face, staring at the palms to reassure himself that he was in a hot shower. The metal walls that surrounded him asserted that he was, but he wondered why he thought of cold rain right at that moment.

Something about the water coursing over him – that face… something about rain… Then it hit him, little by little filtering into his mind as it had been a mercifully forgotten memory.

Three years ago, he had been on Earth traveling to see a friend when his air car had broken down on the side of the road just outside of a small rural town in the Midwest. One of the gravity repulsors had broken and nobody was going to aid a large grizzly bear in the middle of nowhere, especially in the dark and buffeted by a rainstorm. He had started walking up the road with what little credits he had on him, hoping to find an all-night travel stop to get some help. About ten minutes into his walk, a set of headlights sailed up to him and stopped. He found himself staring into the face of an attractive young female bear, herself a visitor to the planet.

She invited him into her car and offered to take him to a com. They had chatted about this and that, and he had the distinct impression that she had been examining his character, his intelligence, his perceptivity in the process, almost as if he were being interviewed. Not wanting to be rude, he answered her conversation as cheerfully as he could manage.

Their trip took them to a hotel, and she recommended that after the long day of travel, they simply get a room for the night and deal with his broken vehicle in the morning. Too tired after a day of travel and too enchanted by her appearance, Durant had agreed. That night had been magic. Their bodies explored one another, passionate, fleeting and anonymous – neither even knew the other’s name.

The next morning, he woke to find his lover gone and a note on the pillow beside him.

“Life’s greatest treasures are its little ones, and you have given me the greatest gift anyone could ever want. Please, never try to find me. I will always love you, and the part of yourself you’ve given me.”

In a shower stall of the Blue Horizon, Durant slumped to his knees and wept into his hands. A hot anguish flashed through his frame as he realized why she had seemed familiar – and the reflection of his face in a shallow pool of water told him why he had recognized the child’s eyes.

LOST, DISTANT WORLD

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

Most of my crew has assembled at my sister Shannon’s home in the seaside capitol city of Grandstorm during our stay on Dennier. Liftoff is in forty-eight hours. Our normal down time between flight deliveries is three days, but I wanted a full week this time to give Max and myself the opportunity to get together with my family. Unfortunately, Shannon’s husband, Bill has been away to Kantus on business for the financial management company he owns, so we have not been able to see him during this visit. It was his financial advice a number of years ago that helped me make a few wise investments that have paid off well. It is the sole reason I was able to purchase the Blue Horizon in the first place. While my sister has a nice home, it is not large enough to put up my whole crew, so most of us are back on board the Blue Horizon, even if we are stationary on Bill’s private landing pad.

Max, Samantha and I just got back from a camping trip to spend a couple days without distraction to get to know one another. Originally, I had intended the trip just for Max and myself, but after my angry outburst when I first discovered that he was on board against my orders, he was hesitant to go on the trip without Samantha along. Sam was not too keen on camping out, but came along for Max’s benefit. We had a few bumps on the outing, but things smoothed out and we eventually had a good time. I think that Sam and I may have finally convinced the boy that my fits of anger like that only come out when my orders have been blatantly disobeyed. As a former slave, he is fully aware of the repercussions of disobedience, but unlike his former Master, I have never struck anyone in my anger. I may abuse the furniture, yell loudly or dock someone’s pay, but I have never resorted to the kind of violence he is apparently used to. Fortunately for us all, outright disobedience of my orders is rare, so it may be a long time before he ever sees me react like that again.

In the short time that I have known Max, I have discovered that despite his upbringing, this fifteen-year-old is quite intelligent, even if lacking in actual knowledge. Shannon offered to foster him into their home and get him into school, but he feels so indebted to me and Samantha that he refuses to be left behind. I know that Shannon’s husband, Bill would have loved to meet Max. He and Shannon have wanted cubs of their own, but destiny has not blessed them with any. Both are good with kids and they would have loved Max as if he were their own.

Since the youth will be staying with us on the Horizon, Samantha has volunteered to tutor the boy and has purchased a large amount of slateboard files for the task. She has made Max promise to work with her on his schooling and they have already begun. The kid is sharp and has already shown a hunger for knowledge that most children his age would rather avoid.

For the sake of keeping everything legal, I contacted the local authorities our first day here and explained (omitting certain details) how I came to be in possession of the canine youngster. When they confirmed my report with Mr. Tagon on Quet with copies of the boy’s legal contract, they agreed to appoint me as Max’s legal guardian and had the process completed within two days. Max was beaming at the judge as she made us a virtual family and he was so pleased to take on the name of Sinclair. Since I am not mated, I am not taking his place as a step-parent, but rather I will act more like an uncle to the lad. Like my sister, I have always gotten along well with children, even though I’ve never had any of my own; I’ve never had a nephew either.

Another event in our favor came from Taro when she informed me that she had already secured our next customer. Even while off duty, Taro is good at her job. A wealthy playboy on Mainor is throwing a wild party next month for some kind of tricentennial anniversary and needs a full shipment of entertainment goods from Flint City, Dennier. He has agreed to add a thirty percent bonus if we can get everything to him in three days. It’s just an hour’s atmospheric flight across Dennier to Flint and then the journey to Mainor is only a mere twenty hours. We are lucky the two planets are presently at their closest orbits in this solar system.

I got a collect call from Renny yesterday telling me that he was on Mainor. He had taken a quick flight there with a gal he had met in a pub, but she had partners who were waiting for him that night. As they were walking back to his inn from a restaurant, a pair of hyenas beat him senseless and robbed him of every credit he had had on him, though not without a fight. He requested an advance on his pay so he could charter a ship back to us on Dennier, but since we are heading that way soon, I wired him enough funds to stay there until we can pick him up personally. It was cheaper that way.

The only one of my crew besides Renny who is still absent is Sparky, and if she keeps up her tradition, she will probably show up mere minutes before we seal the hatch and take off.

Personally, I am ready to get going again. Our customer, none other than the playboy snow leopard himself, Harrison Merrick, is well known for his extravagance and generosity. My memory is a little hazy, but it seems we once attended a beach party of his on Crescentis a number of years ago and he’d spared no expense to make sure everyone had a good time.

If we make this delivery on schedule, we stand to fatten up the profit margin for our business considerably. After all the expenditures we have incurred in recent months, it is about time we started showing a profit.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

“…and stocks for Delondin Enterprises on Earth continue to climb to unprecedented levels. This is News Around the Alignment with Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. We’ll take a quick break for a word from our sponsors, and then we’ll be back to more news.”

“Anything interesting on vid?” Samantha asked as she walked into the Recreation room. Merlin and Tanis sat on a sofa and Max lay sprawled out on the floor at their feet, his eyes half closed from boredom with the broadcast.

“Just the interstellar news, Sam,” Merlin told her as she sat between him and the fennec fox. She held a huge bowl of popcorn and set it in her lap for her companions to share. Merlin put his arm over the back of the couch behind her.

Patch wandered over to them from the deck’s kitchenette, a hot cup of coffee in his hands, and Shannon followed him in with a tray of other drinks. The elder female wolf with tan fur handed cups of coffee to the adults and a soda to the canine youth on the floor. Patch took a seat on another couch and Shannon sat quietly beside him and with her own cup.

An attractive human woman looked out at them from the vidscreen, her long black hair spilling over her shoulders in a charming fashion and her outfit was royal blue with accents of gold across the shoulders. She held a stack of printed papers in her hands, but it was clear they were only a prop, for she never once looked at them in giving her report. She was well known across the Planetary Alignment and even had her own fan club. She was the most popular news anchor to hit the vidscreens in a long time.

“Hello, once again, this is News Around the Alignment and I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. Our top story at this time is the supernova of a star just a day ago in the general direction of the Mytha Star System that has taken Alignment astronomers by surprise. With the density of the stars in that sector of the galaxy and the disruption of communication, it’s not yet certain which of the suns has exploded. With the speed of light and the distances involved between star systems, it can be anywhere between one to six years before the explosion of the supernova is actually visible from any of the other worlds of the Alignment without high magnification. It is only because of the disruption of tachyon communications from the distant planets beyond that a supernova was even suspected.” Holly shook her head of hair with a ‘tsk’ sound and added, “There had been no prior suspicion on unstable stars in that area, so scientists are baffled as to the exact solar body that has exploded. Only long-range telescopes have been able to detect anything of the phenomenon. I’ll be sure to bring you more information on this event as it comes to us.”

“Holly,” Samantha said to the screen with a bored yawn. “I’m not interested in the stars…”

“And speaking of stars,” the news anchor continued, “the newest release from fusion music band Dragon, Wolf & Tiger continues to rake in overwhelming sales throughout the Planetary Alignment. Stephanie Dell, spokesperson for DWT, said the group never anticipated such a well-received…”

The newscaster was interrupted by a brown furry hand from off-camera that handed her another sheet. After a quick scan of its contents, the expression on the human’s face became grave as she gave her report. “I’ve just received word from the leading authority in the investigation of yesterday’s supernova that says while the findings are still inconclusive, all indicators point to a Type 2 supernova of red giant star BAE-6410 located only one point five parsecs from the solar primary of the Mytha Star System.”

Samantha dropped her bowl of popcorn, scattering white kernels all over the floor and startling the young canine Max.

“Planet Sillon, a member of the Planetary Alignment and a popular vacation spot,” Holly continued, “is currently silent, as well as two other non-Alignment populated worlds of the same star system. Even if Sillon’s parent star was not the one to explode, the devastation of the nearby red giant with eight times its mass could still have catastrophic effects on all life in the Mytha system.

“INN is setting up a communication center on Joplin in conjunction with the Spatial Police Force to field calls of concern for anyone who might have had friends or relatives in the Mytha system. We will display the frequency at the bottom of your screen throughout the rest of this newscast. Nothing more is known at this time, but stay tuned to INN for the latest developments.”

Samantha stared at the vidscreen silently, her hands curled into balls beneath her chin and moisture welling up in her eyes. She swallowed hard and then cried out in a wordless shriek that set the others’ teeth on edge. Merlin reached for her, but she threw off his hand and bolted from the couch and out the door. Tanis jumped up to follow, but Patch stopped him with a touch.

“What was that about?” the fennec asked.

“Sam’s adopted family was on Sillon,” the raccoon answered.

“You mean Master Tristan that she’s always talking about?”

“That’s right. He and his family are Silloni.”

Tanis balled up his fists and started to go after Samantha. Merlin stood up and put a hand on the fennec fox’s shoulder. “I’ll look in on her, Tanis,” he said. “She and I have known one another longer than anyone else on our crew.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t care,” Tanis retorted with a frown.

The wolf turned and stared into his medic’s glassy black eyes with a dark look of his own, his tail animated behind him. “That’s not what I meant, Tanis,” he said after a quick sigh, “but I’ve met Master Tristan and know what he means to her.”

“True,” Arktanis replied, “but she’s not the only one who’s just lost someone they knew on Sillon. I had a former military buddy who had his own tourist flight business there.”

Merlin sighed again and nodded with a frown. “Please,” he said, “just listen for any more news while I see to her.” Arktanis nodded and returned to his seat with a private grumble as Merlin left the Rec Room.

***

In her own cabin, Samantha cried into the pillow on her bed and Merlin sat beside her with a hand resting lightly on her heaving back. Merlin’s sister sat in the plain chair next to the room’s personal com terminal, her hands helplessly in her lap.

“They aren’t sure it was Sillon,” Shannon tried to say reassuringly. “At those astronomical distances, it may not be close enough to harm it.”

“No,” Merlin replied. “It’s only speculation at this point, but the scientists who issued the report said it showed every indication of being BAE-6410, the red giant closest to Sillon’s star that exploded.”

“Which Holly said was one and a half parsecs away from Sillon. That’s nearly five light years, so even that would take years for the effects to reach them. Even if the explosion spread out at the speed of light, what are the chances of someone surviving on the planet if it hit?”

Merlin looked over at his sister and shook his head with a frown. He did not want to discuss the supernova effects of a star on nearby worlds in front of Samantha. Shannon had never been away from Dennier, but she was well educated and understood stellar mechanics, but she fell quiet. Both wolves looked up at a sound at the door. It was Maximillian.

The boy moved in quietly and then knelt beside the bed next to Samantha, opposite of Merlin. Without a word, he leaned over her and draped an arm across her back with his head up against her own. Sam raised her head slightly at his scent and looked over at him, the fur under her eyes matted with her tears.

“I’m here for you, Sam,” the youth whispered to her, “just like you were there for me.”

Samantha touched foreheads with him and a hint of a smile. “Thank you, Max,” she said as she leaned into him. “You’re a good kid.”

Merlin reached over and brushed his fingers lightly across the top of her head, unable to think of anything comforting to say. Samantha grew as quiet as the rest of the room and she finally relaxed a little. Her mind was racing and after several long minutes, she lifted her head and looked at her captain and longtime friend.

“Our next assignment is a short trip, isn’t it?” she asked him.

Merlin nodded. “It will only take a day to make the pickup and delivery to Mainor.”

“And after that?” she asked.

“Nothing yet, but Taro’s still working to secure another customer for us from Mainor.”

She reached out and put a hand on his leg closest to her. “Merlin…” she said slowly, “Can we go to Sillon?” The wolf’s eyes widened, but she continued quickly, “We have to find out if Sillon is still there, Merlin! Master Tristan… Guinevere…”

The captain frowned and shook his head. “Sam,” he said, “you know what a trip to Sillon is like. From our current position, it would take three months just to get there at top speed – that’s a round trip of half a standard year.”

“I know, but…”

“You know that for every voyage we make between distant worlds, we have to stock up supplies each time to last us the journey. We don’t make trips to Sillon very often because of the expense, and if…” Merlin hesitated, “if Sillon is not there when we arrive, Sam, we will not be able to restock for the return flight.”

“But, Merlin,” Sam pleaded as she sat up on the bed beside him, “If Sillon is still there, they may be in need of help!”

“Which is a job for an operation much bigger and better equipped than we are, with hundreds of relief ships and thousands of medical and rescue professionals.”

She was silent for a long moment. The wolf closed his eyes and bowed his head for a moment. After a small sigh, he said to her, “Sam, if you and Taro can secure a customer from either Dennier or Mainor to fully stock us for a round-trip flight to and from Sillon, we’ll make the trip. However, we just can’t afford to fly out there for a reconnaissance mission. I wouldn’t be surprised if the SPF has a ship on its way out there right now for that very purpose.”

The Border collie looked at him with an expression the captain could not read. Samantha wiped her eyes and stood up. She held out a hand to Max and said, “Come on, kid. We have work to do.” The youth took her hand and followed her out of the room. He glanced back to Merlin with a sad look and then disappeared out the door with her.

Shannon cleared her throat and her younger brother looked up at her. “She’s determined to check on her master,” she said to him. “You’ve known Samantha half of your life, Merlin, and you know what she’s like. Whether or not you want to, I think you will be making that trip to Sillon.”

Sinclair pressed his forehead into his hands, ran his fingers through his fur in an expression of surrender. “With things the way they are right now, the only chance we’d have of supplying ourselves to that section of space is by taking illicit cargo. That’s not even an option.”

His sister sat quietly, her eyes a gentle expression of empathy. “Do you know anyone currently who could get word faster? Perhaps a friend nearer to the system who could check it out?”

Merlin’s brow wrinkled at the thought. Armando would ignore him simply out of spite. It was possible that Faltane might be able to assist, but the shrewd capitalist did not seem like one to go on a mercy mission if it did not involve some gain for himself. Besides, Earth was farther away across the Planetary Alignment. Captain Natasha? With her rumored Particle Vault engines, he knew she could get to Sillon in practically no time at all. The thought occurred to him earlier, but he knew very little about the way she operated and was still not sure he could trust her.

“I’m afraid not,” he admitted at last. “Dennier is the closest planet in the PA to the Mytha system and no one would be out that direction unless already on their way to or from Sillon. There are several stars between here and there, but none of them developed planets of their own, so there’s really nothing out there.”

***

Samantha had parked herself in front of Shannon’s home communication center while Merlin, Durant, Tanis and Patch made preparations to fly across Dennier to Flint City to load up the cargo for their delivery to Mainor.

The Border collie was near to exhaustion from her diligent search for a backer of a voyage to Sillon. She had been at the console throughout the night, working with Taro’s contacts on the various worlds of the Planetary Alignment. She massaged her brow with her eyes closed when Taro walked into the room with an old slateboard tucked beneath an arm. “How goes the search?” the vixen asked her.

Samantha looked up and shook her head. “Everyone takes the news supposition as fact, and no one believes that life on Sillon exists anymore,” she said wearily. “No one will invest in a trip to a dead world.”

Taro sat next to the desk in a plush antique chair and put the slateboard in her lap with her hands clasped together. “I know,” she said with a sigh. “INN has just reported that the Supernova Crisis Center on Joplin has been doing nothing more than collecting names of those last reported to be visiting Sillon. The SPF has declined to send any rescue ships out to the Mytha system, deeming it unnecessary.”

“Unnecessary!” Sam replied loudly.

Taro shook her head in her own amazement. “As you said, it looks like Sillon has been written off by the rest of the Planetary Alignment, since that planet was primarily a vacation spot and otherwise contributed little to the rest of the worlds.”

Samantha bristled and looked over at the fox angrily. “Sillon is a totally self-sufficient world,” she replied stiffly. “They joined the Alignment over eighty years ago out of friendliness, and while they don’t export much of their resources, they have never refused anything to anyone when asked!”

Taro held up a hand in defense. “Whoa, hold on, Sam! I didn’t say I agreed with the INN report; I was only telling you what Holly said.”

Samantha snorted and took a deep breath. “Holly is full of hooey!”

The pair fell silent, the conversation suddenly at a standstill. After a few quiet moments, Sam’s expression softened as she looked over at her friend. Taro examined her slateboard as if it was actually interesting, but Sam could see she was lost in thought.

Sam looked away for a moment and gazed out the large curtained windows of the room. It faced the south toward a white sandy beach next to the Arvallian Sea and she could see Pockets and Max down near the water, scooping out sand from a hole they had made. She didn’t know what it might be they were digging for, but it appeared they were enjoying themselves out in the afternoon sun.

Taro broke the silence with a question. “Why don’t you contact the Supernova Center on Joplin?” she suggested. “I’m sure they can put you in touch with others who had friends or relatives on Sillon.”

“Why?”

Taro gave her friend a look of wonder. “I’m surprised you didn’t think of it yourself,” she said. “I would imagine you could find others among them willing to chip in to a central account to fund a flight out to Sillon to learn the news.”

Samantha blinked twice before it dawned on her what her friend had just said. “It’s strange that you would mention that. I had just been considering using my own funds to finance the trip, but your way makes better sense.” She thought a moment more and then said, “Maybe I can get the Supernova Center to set up a hotline so people could contact me to offer donations.” She smiled for the first time in several days. “Thanks, Taro. You’ve just given me some hope!” she added as she turned toward the communication desk once again.

“I hope there’s enough time for donations to come in,” Samantha whispered to herself as she started to key in the com-frequency of Joplin. “We’re leaving for Flint tomorrow and then we’ll be on our way to Mainor.”

***

“After we make Mr. Merrick’s delivery to Rison on Mainor,” the Border collie said to Taro and Pockets while they walked toward the ship, “we have a short hop across the province to Peacher, where stock supplies for the flight to Sillon are being gathered for us.” She tapped the screen of her slateboard with a claw tip as they neared the ship’s main hatch and added, “Everything’s already paid for by the Supernova Rescue Fund, plus our standard delivery fee to Sillon.”

Taro gave the supply officer a warm smile. “That’s great! I’m surprised you didn’t have any volunteers to go along.”

Samantha grimaced. “Actually, I’ve turned down twenty-seven volunteer offers in the past two hours, including Holly Harken, herself.”

Pockets spit out the gum he was chewing and looked up at her in alarm. “You turned down Holly Harken? Why’d you go and do that for?”

“I know you’re a member of her fan club, Pockets, but it would take her three weeks to get here from Earth,” Sam replied. “We’re leaving in an hour and a ship with her on it would never be able to rendezvous with us.”

Their conversation ended as the main airlock opened with Merlin and Durant just inside.

“Ready to go?” the captain asked.

Durant took a bite out of a carob candy bar and added with a mouthful, “Everybody’s here but Sparky.”

“She’s always the last one to show up,” the Border collie reminded them.

Merlin shook his head. “An hour before liftoff and she’s not here.” Durant and Taro moved off into the ship, their attention shifting to the coming launch. Left alone, the wolf took Samantha’s slateboard and flipped through the screens as they crossed the hold. “I trust you and Holly will be in constant contact as we head out to Sillon?”

Samantha nodded. “As much as the distance will allow in communications, but Pockets told me that he’s just added some tachyon boosters to the com system that were donated that might help. Max and I went shopping this morning and bought a number of things to help the crew pass the time during the long journey.”

“Oh? What did you get?”

“I got a ton of games, movies of different kinds to match each individual’s taste, some schooling materiel for Max, music and books for Patch, mystery novels for you and… you get the picture. Hopefully we won’t have any fights on board from boredom like the last time we headed out to Sillon.”

The captain smiled. “Yeah, but we don’t have any obnoxious passengers going along for ride like we did then, either.”

“True.”

“Captain! Captain Sinclair!”

Merlin and Samantha turned as one and both broke into grins as they recognized the tawny yellow fur of a male bobcat as he peeked in through the hatch opening.

“Roland!” Samantha called back.

Merlin left the collie at the lift door and trotted back across the empty hold toward the newcomer. He stepped outside and greeted Roland, Sparky and his sister, Shannon.

“Well, this is a surprise!” he said as he clasped hands with the short, but stout bobcat. “What in the cosmos are you doing on Dennier?”

Sparky put her hands on her hips and mocked an expression of anger. “I told you he was going to be here months ago, Captain,” she said with the hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. “You agreed to take him on whatever delivery we had next from Dennier.”

Merlin winked at her and grinned at the bobcat. “I remember now,” he replied. “You’re welcome to accompany us, of course, but you may not want to go along on this particular journey.”

Roland canted his head to the side and stared at him with intense green eyes. “Why not?” he asked. “Too dangerous?”

The wolf snorted and shook his head. “No, possibly too boring. You’ve heard about the supernova out toward Sillon, I assume?” Both felines nodded. “Sam is heading up an expedition funded entirely by donations from around the Planetary Alignment. We’re going to fly fully loaded with extra supplies out to Sillon, if for no other reason as to find out if the planet’s populations still exist. We’ve upgraded the radiation gel-pack shielding against any lingering effects of the supernova to its stellar neighborhood, so we should be safe in the area at the least. I tried to talk her out of it, but… you know how stubborn she can be.”

“This could be a long, long trip out to nowhere and wind up having to make a turnaround and fly right back here,” Roland commented. “That would be six months of wasted time.”

“Whether or not we find a planet or any survivors,” Merlin said as he led the group inside the ship, “most of the cargo we’re taking consists of food for ourselves to supply us for the trip there and back. It’s fully paid for, so wasted time or not, it will be standard profit.”

“Always thinking of the business, eh, Captain?” Sparky said with a wink.

“Always.” The wolf glanced back at Roland. “You’re welcome to go with us at standard pay, but what of your employment here on Dennier? Weren’t you working for Okami Corp?”

“That’s right, I was,” Roland answered. “Our contract with the starship construction company ran out this month and I’ve been looking for a job for the past two weeks. Boring or not, I’d appreciate the opportunity to go along on the journey to Sillon.”

“Even if only to spend time with his honey, right?” Shannon spoke up from the rear of the small group. Sparky snickered and Roland looked embarrassed.

“Something like that,” he murmured.

Merlin led them toward the lift and said, “Okay, Roland, consider yourself hired. I’ll redraft your old contract for a signature later. I suppose it’s a good thing you and Sparky are so close, since you’ll have to share her quarters. We’re totally booked.”

“You have a full crew?” the bobcat asked.

“I told you about our cabin boy, Maximillian, remember?” Sparky told him. “He’s using what was our only empty compartment.”

“Yeah, I remember now. There have been a few changes in your crew since I last hired on with you,” Roland said. “I’ll miss verbally sparing with Tomi, as well as playing cards with Jiro; he was a shrewd gambler.”

“Speaking of gamblers, Arktanis is back with us. You should remember him,” Merlin said. “He filled Tomi’s position for medical.”

“The loser with the huge ears?” Roland said with a smirk. “I’ll have to see how many credits I can liberate from him. If I remember right, Patch is a card player as well. The three of us will have to get together later for a game.”

Merlin grinned. “Renny Thornton is the cheetah who filled Jiro’s position, and Max is a canine kid I’ve just adopted as a nephew.”

Sparky looked over at him with a strange smile. “You adopted Max?” she asked. She looked back at Shannon. “I thought you and Bill were going to foster him.”

The tan she-wolf shrugged her shoulders. “Max wouldn’t leave his liberators from slavery, so he’s staying on the Blue Horizon with my brother.”

“Did the authorities give you any trouble on adopting him without having a mate?” Roland asked.

“Not after they found out that Max was a slave that was given to me as payment after a delivery to Quet,” the captain answered. “While that’s legal on Quet, the Dennieran authorities don’t think so highly of it. Legally, I could have kept Max as a slave, but the officials were impressed enough that I had freed him of the contract that they didn’t hesitate when I requested guardianship.”

“He’s quite an intelligent kid, too,” Sparky said. “Before he came to us, he had already learned a lot of skills that have since become handy on board the ship. He even has an aptitude toward cooking.”

Roland looked over at her. “I assume you’re adding to his culinary skills?”

“Yes, he’s already learning my techniques and recipes.”

“That’s convenient,” the bobcat whispered into her ear. She smirked at him, but said nothing more as they neared the door to the engine room.

***

“Okay, Max, hold still,” Tanis told the boy as he placed a mean-looking device up to his right shoulder. The lights in Sickbay were bright and everything was sterile and polished in the room. Max sat on a short roller-stool, his shirt off from the physical the fennec fox had just given him, and his eyes showed a bit of fear. Roland stood to the side of the room, watching quietly. Tanis stopped what he was doing and smiled down at the canine.

“Don’t worry, Max,” he said in a soothing voice. “Everyone has to have inoculations.”

“Why? What’s a ‘noculation?”

“The Blue Horizon makes deliveries to a number of different worlds in the Planetary Alignment and each planet has its own kind of viruses and diseases. This one shot will protect ya from the worst and the most common of them from each of the places we’ll visit.”

“Oh.”

Roland stepped over to them and put a hand on the fox’s shoulder. “I’ve had it before, Max, but as it’s been a long time since I’ve been off-world, I have to have a booster for it myself. Don’t worry, boy. It stings for less than a second.”

Maximillian looked back at Tanis. “Give it to him first?”

The medic looked at the bobcat and smiled. “Okay, Roland, ya heard the boy. Roll up yer sleeve.”

Roland winked at Max and did as complied. Tanis lifted the ugly, gun-like device up to the bared arm and placed its nozzle through the rough fur to rest directly on the skin beneath. There was a very slight snik and Roland’s eyes went wide, trying to pop out of his head.

The bobcat screamed and clutched his shoulder as if it were on fire. He sank hard to his knees and began writhing on the ground in apparent agony. Max watched in horror at the spectacle, but Tanis started laughing.

Max looked up at the medic in shock. “That’s m-mean! He’s hurting and y-you’re laughing?”

Tanis chuckled, but Roland sat up on the floor and pointed to the youth with a mischievous grin. “You should have seen your face!” the bobcat said, all pretense of agony gone.

Maximillian realized he was the butt of a joke, and scrunched his face up in a scowl. “That wasn’t funny!”

Snik

“Yes, it was,” Tanis replied with a smile as he pulled the device away from Max’s skinny arm.

“Hey, what did you just do?” Max asked with wide eyes.

“Inoculated ya while ya were distracted,” the medic said as he put the device away. “See, yer not in any pangs of agony, are ya?”

Max ran a finger over the injection site, but he could not even tell where it had gone in. There had been no stinging prick or any other indication of what had been done, but he was still miffed at being made fun of.

“That wasn’t nice,” he grumbled.

Roland got up on his knees and looked at the youth with a calm expression. “I hate to tell you this, Max, but you need to lighten up. You’re now part of a crew that has to get along together to survive the long distances of space between deliveries, and sometimes that means joking around together. Don’t get upset at us for pulling this little stunt on you. Just learn to laugh about it and live with the camaraderie it will help you to form with others.”

“Back on Quet, people played mean pranks on me all the time,” Max replied somberly. “They always did it to get me upset.”

Tanis put a hand on the canine’s shoulder. “Not here, Max. We can’t afford to do things like that on a ship where ya can’t get away from an enemy. Roland and I have been friendly rivals for years, but we don’t hate one another.”

“That’s right,” the bobcat added. “We rib one another constantly, but it is all in good-natured fun. It keeps us from getting too serious.”

“Like Patch?”

Tanis and Roland exchanged amused glances. The medic laughed and nodded, “Yeah, that crusty raccoon is just a little too serious, but he’s one I wouldn’t play pranks on.”

“Why not?” Max asked.

“Ya can get along with him just fine without resorting to that. His temper has a short fuse and he doesn’t deal well with pranks where he’s the target of the joke.”

“I’m confused,” Maximillian said. “Didn’t you just tell me that everyone needs to lighten up in order to get along?”

“I said that you need to lighten up,” Roland answered. “If you don’t, you will eventually turn out to be like Patch, continually grumpy and keeping to yourself all the time.”

“But Pockets is his brother, and he’s nothing like him.” Max observed.

“True enough, but Pockets chooses to laugh and joke around instead of being serious all the time.”

“Do ya want to be like Pockets or be like Patch?” Tanis asked.

Max looked up with a grin, understanding in his eyes. “I’d rather be like Pockets.”

***

“Hello, once again, this is News Around the Alignment and I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. Recapping our running story on the supernova out by the Mytha primary, there has been a tremendous response of families, friends and even business corporations to an open call put out by Samantha Holden of Holden Pharmaceuticals, asking for donations to finance the loading of a private vessel with extra supplies for the three-month journey to the Mytha Star System. Sillon and her sister worlds have been unanimously declared lost by the PA Legislature, but there are those who cling to the belief that there are somehow survivors left to be rescued.

“Authorities at the Supernova Center on Joplin doubt that a single cargo vessel could provide much, if any, relief to a world near a star that has exploded, but probably the greatest single benefit of this journey would be to bring back confirmation to the thousands who have lost someone on Sillon, of whether those who were there still live or not. The Blue Horizon, a freighter under the command of Captain Merlin Sinclair, is already on its long journey toward the lost, distant world of Sillon, having left Mainor earlier this month. Ms. Holden is aboard the relief vessel and has asked me to convey her thanks to all who have donated generously to the flight in such an extremely short period of time. The journey and supplies have been paid for by many grateful donations and she promises to send back regular reports exclusive to me along the way so we may keep all informed of the situation.

“On a related note, this station learned only an hour ago that popular fusion rock band, DWT, otherwise known as Dragon, Wolf & Tiger, had only just arrived on Sillon for an extended working vacation following last year’s exhaustive PA Worlds Tour. Stephanie Dell, spokesperson for DWT has fronted a large donation toward the Blue Horizon’s voyage to learn the fate of the band.

“Many authorities have expressed public disapproval of the voyage, deeming it unnecessary and wasteful of the donations that were sent in to send the ship full of extra supplies to a planet that no longer exists. On the opposing side, of course, are the thousands who eagerly await the Horizon’s findings, though the vessel will not reach her destination for another two and half months. Stellar scientists are especially interested in what the Blue Horizon will find in the vicinity of a newly exploded star, and have sent along special instrumentation to record the phenomenon.

“And now to our top story at this time. The Spatial Police Force has issued an all-points bulletin for the capture of a vessel known as the Basilisk. The captain of the ship is said to be a cunning jaguar known only as Sagan, who has a bloodthirsty history. The kidnapping of several prominent genetic engineers from around the Planetary Alignment six months ago has been positively linked to Sagan through an unnamed informer to the SPF, who has been given high tech protection until the arrest of the pirate can be initiated. More details on Sagan will be broadcast as soon as our research has proceeded further. Stay tuned…”

***

“Hah!” Renny said gleefully as he thrust in with his sword toward Merlin’s unprotected heart. The wolf’s lips were pressed tightly in a grin as he parried the thrust in a lightning-fast move that made Renny doubt his eyes. He managed to hold onto the rapier from his captain’s blow, though he almost lost it in the process. He darted back and had to counter a drive toward his own chest with a fierce motion.

“You’ve learned quickly,” Merlin spoke between short bursts of breath, “but you’re still a rookie!”

The cheetah coiled his leg muscles as he parried and then bounded over his captain’s head in a somersault that almost brushed the ceiling. He landed softly and whirled around to block another blow toward his abdomen.

“Okay, that was impressive!” Merlin said with a grin.

“The energetic music Moss is playing helps the mood,” Renny smirked as he held up a hand to signal for a rest. Merlin nodded and stepped back away from his navigator to raise his sword to his nose in salute. As if on cue, Moss lowered the volume of the music it played, but continued hovering in the middle of the room, idly watching the combatants.

“Thanks to Samantha,” the wolf said as he moved to a nearby chair, “we have plenty of music of all moods for this voyage.”

The door opened suddenly and Sparky exited the lift with Roland at her side. Both were dressed in Terran Asian clothing – she in a full silk kimono and the bobcat in a shorter hapi coat, both in bare feet. Renny waved silently as the couple moved across the large room toward them.

“Hi, Renny,” Roland said. “Hello, Captain. Do you have a minute?”

Merlin nodded as he lapped from a cup of cool water. “What’s on your minds?” he asked and set the cup on the table beside him. Moss’ programming recognized conversational tones and silenced its music appropriately.

Renny waved a hand across the device’s sensor field and said, “You can go now, Moss. Thanks for your help.”

“Meow!” With a low hum, the flying saucer moved toward the lift to begin a sensor sweep of the lower decks. Roland watched it go and then turned his attention back to the wolf. Renny walked over and sat in a plush chair near the captain.

Sparky smiled at Merlin and said, “We just wanted to look over the Rec Room to see how we were going to decorate it.”

The captain tilted his head to the left a bit as he pondered the feline chef. “Decorations for what?” he asked with suspicion.

Sparky giggled and turned to put her arms around the bobcat. Roland quirked up his lips as he realized she had just assigned him the task.

“Merlin,” he said hesitantly, “Ivy and I would like you to exercise your authority as the ship’s captain to unite us in marriage.”

Renny’s jaw dropped open, but Merlin seemed unsurprised when he stood up to face them. “I wondered when you two would make that decision,” he said with a smile. “I rather expected it two years ago.”

“Each of us had to build up a better income first,” Sparky admitted. “I’ve been saving up for this for a while and nearly lost it all when I caught the galley on fire. We intend to start a family right away.”

The captain gave the lynx a warm hug and then shook Roland’s hand. “I would be honored to exercise my authority,” he said. “Feel free to decorate as you wish and let me know when you want the ceremony.”

Renny got past his astonishment enough to stand up and grasp hands with the shorter Roland. “I admit that I’m flabbergasted,” he said with a lopsided smile, “but congratulations to you both.”

“Thanks, Renny,” Sparky replied and briefly licked his cheek. “That means a lot to me.” She turned back to Merlin and said, “We’d like to have it in a few days at some time when we can put the ship’s sensors on full automatic. Samantha and Taro have volunteered to help me get things ready, though we want to keep things simple. We’ve already talked to Tanis about the required physicals.”

“Where is Tanis right now?” Merlin asked after taking another lap of water.

“On bridge duty,” Roland answered with a smirk. “I was just up there giving him grief.”

Merlin shook his head. Tanis and Roland had been friendly rivals for years and every time they got together, neither could resist the impulse to needle the other at any opportunity. Their verbal banter was more intense than the rivalry that had recently developed between Renny and Samantha.

“Make whatever arrangements you want and then let me know what you come up with.”

“Thanks, Captain,” Roland replied sincerely. He turned to Renny and slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Sorry to take away your occasional partner, mate,” he said boldly, “but she’s mine now.”

Renny grinned. “That’s okay. I still have Taro as a playmate.”

“Funny,” the bobcat said. “That’s just what Tanis said.”

***

“And this is the gravity stabilizer,” Durant said as he tapped the bridge console beside a series of buttons. “That system is what allows us to walk around the ship without floating off the deck plates while we’re out in space.”

“What about shields?” the canine teen asked. “Don’t ships have shields to help against attack?”

The grizzly smiled. “Yes, we have shields, but they operate at all times when we’re in space, not just if someone comes after us.”

“Why all the time?”

Durant rested a hand on the back of his chair and rubbed his chin with the other. “The void of space is actually far from empty, Max. There are all kinds of stuff floating about, some as small as grains of sand. The shield generator covers the exterior of the ship with an energy field that deflects all that debris around us. Even a tiny rock could puncture a hole clean through the Horizon at light speeds without some kind of shield to protect us. In the event we’re fired upon by another ship, the defense systems automatically strengthen the shield signal to counter it.”

“Oh,” Max said with pursed lips. “What’s this do?” he asked, pointing to a control set off to the side.

“That deploys solar sails in the event we lose power and need to use the energy from a nearby star to generate power to keep us alive.”

“I’ve heard of those! I’ve also heard spacers visiting The Wild Star say those were obsolete.”

Durant nodded and smiled. “Aye, they are, but you can never have too many redundant backups, even if it is old technology. It was one of Samantha’s acquisitions back on Dennier.”

Max looked at him strangely. “Acquisition? Why did you say it like that?” he asked.

The bear chose his words carefully before he answered. “Sammy will sometimes filch hard-to-get things for the ship. That’s what she and Pockets were doing when they found you.”

“Isn’t she rich?” the youth asked. “Why does she need to steal when she can just buy what you need?”

“I’ve never figured that out, myself,” Durant said with a sigh. “I guess some things you can’t get even if you have the money for it.”

Max looked up at him looking thoughtful. “I guess I was the hard-to-get thing she and Pockets took that time, huh?”

Durant stared back at him with a dour expression, unsure how to respond to that.

Maximillian looked over the console at the environmental station of the small bridge and changed the subject. “Will I get to fly the Blue Horizon someday?” he asked as he looked up at the bear towering above him.

The grizzly motioned his companion toward the center seat of the bridge. He was pleased to see the former slave coming out of his shell. “If you stay with us for long, I’m sure you will. It’s Merlin’s requirement that all members of his crew be able to fly the Horizon in the event of an emergency, and that includes everything from taking off and landing. Once you learn the system, you’ll have to spend your own shift up here along with the rest of us. We have about six months before we get back to the Planetary Alignment, so this voyage would be a good time to teach you some of the systems along the way.”

“Really?”

“Some of it, sure. Sit down here and I’ll start you out with the basics.”

***

The recreation deck was festooned with hand-made flowers and garland that the women had fashioned from miscellaneous color papers and wires from Pockets’ stash of spare parts and oddments. Placement of the decorations was tastefully done without being overbearing and the simplicity of it all was appealing. Samantha had found a few electric candles from the Blue Horizon’s emergency supplies and had them arranged sparsely around the room. All of the lights were turned off, save for the soft ambience of faux candlelight.

Merlin had done a little research on wedding ceremonies typical on Fyn and the regions that Roland and Sparky were from and took notes on their simple traditions. As Tanis had told his friend on Earth, full body clothing was a human creation and a practice that had slowly spread out to the other worlds it dealt with. Previous to that time, the only garments worn by anthro races were worn either for simple modesty or to be merely ornamental.

It was not until the Earth reestablished ties with its long-lost colonies and formed the Planetary Alignment with them that clothing worn for individual expression really came into the picture. The felines of Fyn had not relied upon garments of cloth, but had been satisfied with their own fur covering. Even though many on Fyn had joined in the Terran practice of wearing clothing, most of their older traditions and ceremonies were still performed without them.

As there were no humans currently on board the Blue Horizon, all members of the crew would observe the Fynian tradition in their natural furs, with thin strips of cloth in strategic places for modesty. Samantha had fashioned sashes for everyone to cover over their genitals, though the bride and groom would wear nothing at all. The males would wear sashes of amber to match Roland’s eyes and the females would wear green for Sparky’s eye color.

As requested, everyone was present and the ship’s sensors had been placed on full automatic, something that was rarely done. Should an emergency arise, the computer terminal on the third deck could alert them with an audible signal.

Arranged in a semi-circle at the aft end of the room, the Blue Horizon crew waited quietly. Samantha stood at one end with Taro next to her, then Renny, Tanis, Durant, Max and Pockets, with Patch at the other end. Merlin stood in front of the group facing them and waited for the arrival of the bride and groom. Moss floated behind the entire group and played soft music that Sparky had chosen from its tiny speakers.

At a specific point in the music, the lift doors opened and Roland walked out into the room. The panel closed behind him and then he walked slowly around the entire perimeter of the room until he had rounded the group and stopped in front of the wolf.

A moment later, the lift opened again and Sparky walked in holding a small bouquet of flowers gathered from her cabin decor. She followed Roland’s previous path around the room and then stopped beside him in front of Merlin. The couple grinned at one another quickly and then turned their attention to the officiator of their union.

Merlin stood before them, his hands clasped together behind his back with a single object rolled up in one of them. He gave the couple a genuine smile and nodded quietly to each.

“There are many duties a starship captain must perform,” he began, “but there are none as pleasant as uniting two people together in marriage under this authority. To be noted in the ship’s log on this date, Roland Daniel Carlton and Ivy Elaine Sparks have come before me to be wed together as lifemates.”

He looked around at each of those gathered around and then shifted his gaze back to the couple before him. “Fynian wedding traditions of the Kirin Prefecture are among the simplest of ceremonies, but the effects are of a lasting bond of those united. Roland… Ivy… please face one another and cross your right wrists together.”

Roland turned toward his bride and raised his right wrist. Sparky raised her own wrist to match his and they crossed them together gently. Merlin stepped up to them and raised a wide length of red silk. Without a word or announcement, the wolf softly wound the material around their crossed wrists. When he ran out of silk, he put his arms around the shoulders of them both and rested his forehead briefly on top of their bound hands. Then he straightened up and took a step back.

Roland looked into his bride’s moist eyes and then said to her, “I will love you forever and always.”

Sparky smiled and answered, “I will love you always and forever.”

They leaned together, nuzzled briefly over the top of their wrists, and then licked one another’s muzzles. When they moved back into place, Merlin said to them, “Raise your hands.” The couple lifted their bound wrists and then the captain said, “The red cloth represents the blood united between you in union, binding the two of you together for life. It is now my great privilege to introduce you as Roland and Ivy Carlton. May the stars forever light your united path.”

Cheers and applause erupted from the Blue Horizon crew.

***

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

We are five weeks into our flight toward Sillon. The voyage to a supposedly dead world has proceeded without incident. The engines are purring like a kitten and my engineers are pleased with the power output. Durant has checked and rechecked the inventory of our cargo several times out of boredom, but I suspect he will not find any discrepancies this time. This cargo provides our own food and supplies for the long voyage out and back, so there’s no reason for Samantha to filch anything from it.

Tanis and Roland have taken up wrestling on the rec deck whenever Renny and I are not using it for fencing practice, and I would say the two have become closer friends. Samantha and Taro have been taking turns at the communication terminal trying to raise Sillon, albeit without success. Sam has also held frequent conversations with Holly Harken in an exchange of information. The human has been broadcasting weekly reports on our progress, and with a lack of exciting news, has played up to romance angle of Roland and Sparky’s shipboard marriage.

In the two weeks since the wedding, the rest of the crew seems to have accepted Roland into the family, whereas he had always just been a friend when he hired on with us for short trips in the past. Perhaps it is out of necessity that Roland and Tanis are getting along, since Sparky informed me earlier today that she is going to have kittens. As the pregnancy for felines is only a few weeks, it is likely the kits will be born before we have reached our destination. To be expected, it is just about all the females on my crew talk about now. In addition to that, we have all been wondering what to call the new mother-to-be. We have always called her “Sparky” as a derivative of her family name, but now that she is no longer Ivy Sparks, do we call her by her first name, or do we continue to address her by the nickname. I shall have to ask her preference sometime soon.

I have yet to sit down with the newlywed couple to discuss their future on the Blue Horizon. I was pleased to exercise my authority and marry these two together, but a cargo ship with limited room is not the ideal place to raise a family. I would hate to lose Sparky; she has been a member of my crew since I first put the ship in business, but she has concerns that are more important now. I am thankful that Max is on board. Raised primarily as a kitchen slave, the boy has been helping Sparky these past few weeks in the galley. If Roland and Sparky decide to settle down somewhere after we get back, we may have to depend on Max for some simple meals.

Taro has been monitoring the scanning systems for the area of space in front of us. As we close the distance, the supernova should become visible to us soon, but the instrumentation sent along with us has been scanning in the gamma and x-ray spectrums, as well as all radio and tachyon frequencies. The sooner we can find out what we are heading toward, the more prepared we can be upon approaching the system. A supernova is not something a ship actually wants to get too close to.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

“Captain,” Taro said to the wolf as she walked into his den. She wore a pair of loose cutoff shorts and a halter-top that displayed a generous amount of cleavage. Although he had seen more of her during the bare-fur wedding ceremony and reception, the slim bit of clothing only served to enhance her feminine form. Merlin had to force his eyes to the slateboard tablet she held out to him.

“I need you to take a look at this,” she said in amusement when she saw where his eyes had briefly focused.

He gladly took the slateboard and then studied the display. He bit his bottom lip after a moment, and then slowly shook his head. “Have you told Sam?”

“Not yet,” the vixen answered. “I thought you might want that job.”

The wolf looked up into her gaze and nodded. “It should do a lot to improve her mood.” He glanced at the report once more and then asked, “Are you sure this is correct? I don’t want to give her any hope, only to have the truth jump out and bite her in the tail.”

Taro leaned over the desk, purposely acting oblivious to his trouble with concentration, but he managed to hold his eyes even with her own. “Since when do I leave something like this up to conjecture?” she asked with a smile. “I’ve triple-checked the readouts and the result is the same.”

The captain pretended to study the tablet in his hands before he handed it back to her without letting his eyes stray again. With a mischievous smile, Taro stood up and moved back toward the door.

“Transfer the data to my slateboard and I’ll let her know right away,” he told his second-in-command. He finally looked up at her before she disappeared and added, “Thanks, Taro. I’m sure she’ll be pleased with your research.”

The red fox merely smiled, winked at him, and then headed back to the bridge. Merlin swallowed and shook his head with a grin. It had been a long time since Taro had flirted with him like that. She normally kept her relationship with him purely professional, but lately there were times she seemed just a little more playful. He attributed it to the wedding ceremony and the impending birth of kittens. Taro might be a no-nonsense fox when it came to her job, but she had shown herself to be quite feminine and susceptible to the joys of helping prepare for a wedding. She could be quite the romantic in such matters.

Merlin leaned over his terminal and was about to call Samantha, but changed his mind. Something like this should be delivered in person. He stood up, snagged his hat from a wall peg and put it on his head between his ears on his way out into the corridor. He went to her cabin, but received no response when he knocked and called to her. It was possible she was sleeping, but his sensitive ears heard nothing through the door panel. He next checked the galley, but it was empty as well. Sparky and Max had the place shining spotless, but no one was inside.

He moved to the lift and took it up to the rec deck. He could hear ominous music just before the door slid aside and he then walked into the darkened room. As he suspected, Samantha was sitting on the floor amidst a pile of fluffy pillows, watching an old movie. Max was nearby, his eyes riveted to the room’s large screen, tail wagging at the events on display. Roland and Pockets were in matching lounge chairs, quietly munching popcorn, and Tanis was draped across a couch.

“Samantha?” Merlin said over the sound and music coming from the room’s speakers. The Border collie glanced over at him when he knelt down beside her, but she returned her attention to the film.

“Shh!” Tanis and Roland shushed him in unison.

“Sam,” Merlin tried again in a whisper. “I have some important news for you.”

She looked back over at him with a frown. “What is it?” she whispered back.

He put his nose right up into her closest ear. “Come with me.”

She gestured toward the screen, but he took her by the hand and gently pulled her up. There was irritation at having her show interrupted, but she followed him toward the kitchenette at the aft end of the circular room. Now with a little distance away from others, Merlin leaned in close.

“Taro has detected the supernova on the long-range sensors.”

She looked at him. “And?”

Merlin put a hand on her arm. “It’s light years closer than it should be.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, Samantha, that the supernova cannot be the one out close by Sillon’s sun. It’s got to be another star.”

The sudden realization of what the wolf was telling her sunk in beyond the scenes of the movie still playing across the room. She grabbed his arm and looked deeply into his eyes. “Can you contact Sillon?”

“No, not yet,” the wolf replied in a low voice as so not to disrupt the others watching their film. “The supernova has disrupted all frequencies for light years radiating out in every direction. I suspect Sillon is okay, but this supernova is blocking all communication with them.”

Samantha jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. “Merlin, that’s the best news I’ve had in a long time!” She surprised him by licking his muzzle and then she pulled back a bit to look at him again. “I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I won’t be satisfied until we can actually talk to someone on Sillon.”

“Taro says that Renny is already calculating a change of course to skirt around the supernova, but that change won’t go into effect for another week at the most and it will lengthen our journey,” Merlin replied. “We’re still a long way off from the supernova itself.”

“That’s okay,” Samantha said with a weary smile. “Now that there is a greater chance that Master Tristan is unharmed, I can relax a bit.”

***

“Hello, once again, this is News Around the Alignment and I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. Recapping our running story on the Mytha disaster, I have just received word in a weakening transmission from the Blue Horizon that their onboard long-range sensors have detected first traces of the supernova itself. While the ship is continually speeding toward the phenomenon, the crew has been taking readings and double-checking their sensors.

“I am pleased to inform my listeners that it appears that the star which has exploded was not… I repeat, not… the red giant near the Mytha Primary. Space navigational charts recalculated with new data have now identified the former star as SDC-971, a closer red giant luminary without any known planets.”

Holly ran the fingers of her left hand unconsciously through her dark hair and smiled at the viewers. “This is good news to all, but Ms. Holden wants me to stress that there has been no communication with Sillon as yet. The supernova distortion has disrupted all communication with the Mytha star system and nothing more may be known until the Blue Horizon herself has gone around SDC-971. Unfortunately, because of the increasing distance between the vessel and the rest of the Planetary Alignment worlds, the limited equipment on board the Horizon will no longer be able to breach the spatial interference to provide us with the regular status reports we’ve had since the ship launched out into deep space two months ago. When Captain Sinclair’s ship has finally skirted SDC-971, it is likely we will have no more information on the flight until their return journey two months hence.”

“The closer location of the type-2p supernova has set the scientific communities on the PA worlds into immediate action, and although interstellar distances will keep the effects of the blast from reaching most of the Planetary Alignment for years, there could be very real results felt upon the worlds closest to it, primarily Dennier, Mainor, Brandt and Quet at first, and then later Kantus, Tanthe, Joplin, Crescentis, Ganis and Pomen. What those results will be has yet to be determined, but the combined brain trusts across the PA will be working diligently to develop what measures can be implemented before that time arrives.”

Holly sat up straighter with a serious expression as she gazed out toward her viewers. “INN will broadcast -any- information we receive on the flight of the Blue Horizon whenever we get it. For the sake of me and my station, I would ask that you do not call in to request updates on the flight. When we have something to report, I will make sure it is broadcast promptly and exclusively by this station. You can depend on Holly.

“In related news, we have received word that another freighter has launched out toward the Mytha Star System, hoping to help any survivors of the catastrophe. We have only had limited contact with the Savannah Hunter as it heads out in the Blue Horizon’s wake, although it is currently unknown who has supplied and financed Captain Jensen’s flight to the lost, distant world.”

***

“Captain?”

Merlin looked up from the budget reports on his slateboard and faced the intercom speaker on his personal terminal. “Yes, Patch, what is it?”

“Sensors are showing that we’ve finally cleared SDC-971, with it and its distortions now sliding behind us.”

“I’m impressed; taking a wider trajectory than usual only delayed us by a week,” Merlin remarked. “Start scanning for the Mytha Star System and see if you can get a fix on the Silloni beacon.”

“Aye, right away.”

Merlin set his slateboard aside. He thumbed a pad on his desk terminal. “Taro?”

“Yes, Captain?” The fox’s voice sounded drowsy.

“Sorry to wake you, but I need you on the bridge at the com station.”

“What’s up?” Her voice sounded instantly awake.

“Patch says we’re now past the supernova’s disruptive influence. I need you to see if you can raise Sillon’s communication net.”

“Has Patch verified that Sillon is really there?”

“I have him checking on that now. If you are able to raise anyone, I’m sure Samantha will want you to contact Master Tristan.”

“On my way to the bridge.”

Merlin flipped off the intercom, but it chirped again almost immediately. “Yes, Patch?”

“Mytha Primary has been confirmed, Captain. It’s right where it’s supposed to be and signal traffic appears normal.”

***

There were times when Samantha fervently wished the Blue Horizon had been equipped with a visual communications unit, and this was such a time. When the voice of her mentor sounded across the speakers of the bridge, she nearly burst into tears. Merlin, Patch and Taro sat in various other seats around the small compartment as the Border collie occupied the com station.

“Blue Horizon, this is Tristan of the Dragon Loft. What may I do for you?” the thickly accented voice asked across the tachyon signal.

“Master Tristan,” Samantha said with a lump in her throat, “this is Samantha.”

“Samantha? This is quite the pleasant surprise! It has been nearly five years since I have seen my adopted daughter. How are you, pup?”

Samantha glanced over at Merlin and grinned widely. “I am fine, Master,” she said. “The Blue Horizon has made this journey on behalf of the Planetary Alignment to check in on the well-being of Sillon.”

“Indeed? Because of our lack of communication, no doubt,” Tristan’s voice replied, “although I would not have thought it important enough to the Alignment to send a vessel on such a distant journey merely to check up on us. The Regent has already ordered a relay satellite constructed to place some distance from the supernova to route all communications around the disturbance to the Alignment. It should be ready to launch in a couple of weeks.”

“Master Tristan,” Samantha said quietly, “from all indication in the perspective of the Planetary Alignment, it looked as if it was the red giant BAE-6410 near you that had exploded. I am sorry to say that there were only a few who actually believed that Sillon still existed.”

“No, we are quite fine here. It is a star labeled SDC-971 that went supernova.”

“Yes, we know that now,” Sam replied. “But no one in the Planetary Alignment knew this until the Blue Horizon actually neared that location. There are many people concerned that their friends or loved ones perished on Sillon.”

There was a quiet moment before the accented voice spoke again. “I would likely wager that my little Border collie is largely responsible for this voyage.”

“Yes, Master,” Samantha meekly admitted, “I had to know if you and the family were all right. The necessary operating supplies for the trip were donated and paid for by volunteers throughout the other Alignment worlds.”

“Hmm… There is no emergency, but for the sake of those who believed we were still alive, I am sure our government will be pleased to know we’re well thought of. May I speak with your captain?”

Merlin moved to Samantha’s side and leaned over the console. “Sir, this is Merlin Sinclair.”

“Captain Sinclair,” Tristan said, “it is good to know the life of my little collie is still in your capable hand paws.”

“Yes, sir, I have done everything I can over the years to keep her safe.”

“For that you have my continued thanks. What is your present distance from Sillon?”

“We still have approximately three weeks before our estimated time of arrival, sir.”

“If you do not still have the information, Samantha will know the coordinates of the Dragon Loft. I will arrange permission with the Regent and the Air Authority to allow you to land on Sillon near my resort when you arrive.”

“Thank you, sir. After three months of stellar travel, we’ll be most gracious to see the green skies and blue hills of Sillon.”

“How many are presently in your crew, Captain?”

“There are currently eleven on board, but we are likely to have several more by the time we arrive. One of my crew will be delivering kittens soon.”

Tristan’s voice sounded pleased when he replied. “Kittens? Who is their mother, your wonderful chef, Miss Ivy? I remember trying to steal her away from you on your last visit.”

“Yes, sir, that’s her. She is the proud mother-to-be. Ivy Sparks was united to her longtime sweetheart, Roland Carlton, early on in our flight.”

“Please give her and her mate my congratulations, Captain, and please accept my hospitality to have your crew lodge at my resort during your stay on Sillon.”

“Yes, sir,” Merlin said at last. “I will convey your message and graciously accept your invitation.”

When the connection was broken, Patch broke out into a rare grin. “Now that’s a charitable fellow,” the raccoon said. “I’ve heard that the Dragon Loft is the finest resort on the face of Sillon, and we’ve been invited to stay for free!”

***

The Blue Horizon was three days away from Sillon when Sparky went into labor. An onlooker would have thought the ship was under high alert by the way everyone was reacting. Durant was on the bridge watch when Tanis made the call, which he then broadcast to the rest of the ship.

Sparky was denned in a darkened corner of the quarters she shared with Roland with Taro and Samantha assisting their medic. Tanis had to shoo all others away from the small cabin to give the mother privacy.

With nothing else to do, Merlin went to the Recreation Room so he could wait for the news. Patch, Pockets and Renny were already on the third deck ahead of him. The vidscreen was currently off, allowing a view of the stars forward of the ship.

Patch clenched a cigar between his teeth as he paced quietly near the forward screen, strongly wishing he could light it up. If it were not for the oxygen-rich shipboard atmosphere, he would have been puffing on the cigar nervously. He and Sparky may not have been close friends, but they had always gotten along well and he genuinely liked her.

Pockets ran to Merlin when he came through the door, but the wolf only shook his head gently. There was nothing to report. Renny had done his own share of pacing, but he had abandoned that to unfold the exercise mat. He dropped to the floor and began rigorous push-ups to work out his anxiety.

Merlin moved to one of the lounge chairs and dropped in it with an audible exhale of air as Pockets ambled over to the kitchenette to fix himself a snack. It could be a long wait.

***

Durant lay on his bunk and quietly stared at the ceiling. Most everyone on board had nothing to do except wait for news of the birth and time seemed to slow unmercifully. It had been four hours since Sparky had gone into labor and nothing could distract them as they waited. The large cinnamon grizzly heaved a sigh and put his hands back behind his head. The lights in his room were dimmed by half and soft music played from a small unit on a nearby shelf.

His thoughts drifted around Sparky and the true friend she had been to him over the years, possibly his best friend of all. They had often spent quiet times discussing private matters, and each had understood one another’s hopes and fears.

They had often taken their downtime vacations together and shared many interests, and while they had never been lovers, Durant knew that he could depend on her for anything. Now that she was married and was having a litter of kits, he felt strangely lost and alone.

His introspective thoughts were interrupted with a chirp and an excited voice from the intercom.

“Durant!”

The bear sat up and reached over to his personal terminal. “Yes, Taro, what is it?”

“Two kittens! One male and one female!”

***

Sparky could not have looked happier. The birthing had gone well and she had two darling kittens to show off to her mate. Roland beamed with an inner light and no one bothered to mention that his chest was puffed out more in his pride. Names had already been chosen and Taro had noted the official recording of the date, time and given names on her slateboard.

The male kitten had the coloring of his mother, though his fur was still wet and matted to his tiny body. They gave to him the name of Roland’s grandfather, Joey. The female kit was tawny yellow with a white under belly, and they called her Kayla after Sparky’s sister. Neither infant’s eyes were open, and they mewed softly for mother’s milk. Sparky gave them what they needed and felt Roland’s arms upon her shoulders. She looked up into his amber eyes and saw the love and warmth she had always known in him.

Her anxious shipmates would have to wait a while to see her kittens, but Tanis made sure she and her family had their privacy to rest and spend a little more time together.

***

Sillon was a world with many natural lakes, but without liquid oceans, and it had the most varied, beautiful landscapes and creatures in all the known systems. The lush planet loomed in front of the forward windows of the Blue Horizon as Merlin brought her into a standard orbital approach. While they had been in contact with the planet’s communication net for the past three weeks, Samantha had not dared hope for too much until she finally saw the place. Taro was on a communication link with the air traffic controllers as Renny awaited landing coordinates to calculate their navigation down to the surface.

Samantha stood next to the wolf with a hand on his shoulder, her gaze on the world below them. “This has been a long trip, Merlin,” she said to him, noting not just the extreme distance, but also the duration of time on their nerves. There had been several squabbles along the way, but fortunately none had escalated to outright fighting. The captain nodded silently as Taro began reading off coordinates to the cheetah.

“Take your seat, Samantha,” Merlin said without looking up.

“The Palace of the Mists has given us the okay for landing, Captain,” Taro reported.

“Good,” the wolf replied. “Renny?”

“Have just calculated navigational trajectory,” the cheetah answered in monotone. “Transferring to your panel now.”

Taro glanced at a monitor. “All hands, all hands,” she announced on ship-wide speakers, “Dropping from orbit, landing sequence beginning in three minutes. Strap yourselves in.”

At the three-minute mark, Merlin noted a green light on his board and moved the guidance shifts forward; the ship nosed down toward the world they had long journeyed. Renny flicked a switch at his station and the forward windows took on an orange hue as the heat shields activated. There was a resistance to the controls as the atmosphere quickly thickened with their descent, and the blue saucer-shaped freighter dropped moments later through a thin wisp of clouds that evaporated with its passing.

“Resetting ship’s clocks to Silloni Rollocan Time Zone,” Taro announced over the intercom. “Local time is ten-thirteen.”

Renny turned to the fox to ask a question, but saw she was again speaking lowly into her headset. He moved his attention instead to one vidscreen showing the landscape below. They were still a long way up, but he could see cultivated azure fields beneath them and an impossibly-high mountain range to the south.

“Look there,” Samantha said. The cheetah followed her gaze to the distance and saw a large city ahead. “That’s Wathradrim,” she explained. “Master Tristan’s lodge is about a hundred sixty kilometers south.”

“Are we going there or to Tristan’s place?” Renny asked.

“Tristan said a Silloni government official would meet us at his lodge,” Taro replied without looking up from her terminal.

“What is your master’s family name?”

Sam looked over at him with a smile. “You’ve never met any of the Silloni before, have you?” Renny shook his head. “The Silloni do not use surnames,” she answered.

“Oh.”

“There are two primary species which make up the Silloni population,” Taro added. “I think you’ll be surprised.”

“What are they?” the cheetah asked with interest.

“I’m not telling. You’ll see for yourself.”

As the metropolitan city of Wathradrim passed quickly beneath them, Renny stared down in wonder at the architecture. The structures appeared to be made of fluid metal that had been molded into place rather than constructed. He did not get a detailed look since the Blue Horizon sped up to get out of the way of a huge transport that bore down on them. The teardrop shaped silver ship never contacted them, but continued on its flight path as if the blue saucer had not been there.

When the city was far behind them, Merlin dropped the freighter to standard aircraft cruising altitude and stepped up their speed ever so slightly. He flew directly above a highway that stretched on toward the mountains they approached, ground vehicles moving over gently rolling blue hills, slow in relation to the flying saucer.

“Sam,” Merlin said, “begin equalizing our internal air pressure with that of the outside and then start the transfer of atmosphere.”

“Aye, sir.” Without looking down at the station, the collie’s fingers found the proper controls out of habit and activated them. “There it is!” She said gleefully as her eyes lit up. A small community built around the base of a massive overhanging rock cliff came into view as the Blue Horizon arced around the huge mountain. A large shimmering lake completely circular in shape, created long ago by an ancient meteorite was nestled up against the cliff. Sitting on the edge of the lake was a large, extravagant-looking structure built in soft curves and iridescent colors. The architecture was different from that of the city, though clearly of the same technology. The blue saucer slowed as it drew closer to the mountain.

“That’s the Dragon Loft!” Samantha said excitedly as she pointed. Merlin grinned at her enthusiasm as he brought the cargo ship about and headed for a solitary landing pad located out in a lush open field a half mile from the lodge.

Taro engaged a few switches and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “Artificial gravity will be disabled in fifteen seconds. In another five minutes we’ll be on the ground with full engine shutdown. At long last, welcome to Sillon, ladies and gents.”

A moment later, the Blue Horizon stopped forward movement above a stone landing pad ringed with flashing lights and began dropping slowly. Merlin lowered the caterpillar landing gear and set his ship gently onto the pad with the slightest of bumps. He and Renny immediately began shutting down systems at their stations. Within moments, only the necessary systems on board were still operational.

When the wolf got out of his harness and stood up, Samantha jumped into his arms and licked his cheek with enthusiasm. “We made it, Merlin,” she said with an infectious smile, her wagging tail creating a breeze. “We made it!” Before anyone else had a chance to react, Sam ran out the door into the corridor beyond.

“I’m not sure, but I think she just might be happy to be here,” Renny said with a laugh.

***

Cooped up inside a starship for three months, there was no one who wanted to stay aboard the Blue Horizon after she had landed. Even Sparky and Roland were outside the main hatch with their kittens in a basket. A transport was currently en route toward them. Renny stretched his arms and legs and had to suppress the urge to get out onto the blue grassy field around them and just flat out run. While the adults stayed on the landing pad, Maximillian showed no such restraint and was out wandering around barefoot in the manicured grass, sniffing constantly at the fresh scents that met his nose and gazing up into the clear sky. Having grown up on Quet, the young canine was not used to clean air and a green sky. No one was without a grin or smile; even Patch looked happy. The Blue Horizon had made the long journey without trouble and since some of them had not really expected to find a world to land upon when they reached this area of space, everyone was pleased as they could to be on this beautiful planet.

Renny nudged Samantha, who shifted anxiously from foot to foot and asked her, “Is Mister Tristan a collie like you?” Practically everyone turned to stare at the cheetah with amused expressions. “What?” he asked suspiciously at their gazes.

Samantha chuckled and shook her head. “No,” she replied, “he’s Silloni.”

“Is that the Sillon version of the canine species?” he asked innocently.

“You don’t even know what the Silloni are?” Pockets asked with a laugh that was shared by the others.

“Never seen one, I suppose,” Renny answered, feeling very much the butt of an extended joke.

Samantha leaned on his shoulder and stared into his large eyes. “Then,” she said mischievously, “you shall wait until you meet Master Tristan and see for yourself what he is.”

“That’s what Taro told me on the bridge,” the cheetah replied lowly. “I don’t think I like that sound of this.”

A fat silver tube that was tapered to soft points on both ends approached the landing pad, moving silently a meter above the surface of the grass. It seemed to be molded as a solid structure without seams and, as far as Renny could tell, it had neither doors nor windows to see out of, nor did it make a sound. The tube slowed and stopped beside the group, their reflections staring back at them from its mirrored surface. Then suddenly, an opening appeared in the side closest to them. Renny had blinked and the aperture was just there; he saw nothing actually open.

Before anyone could move toward it, a male Border collie stepped out into the morning sunlight. He was dressed in casual attire, though he held his posture as if he were in a business meeting. He smiled at the gathering and took a step toward them.

“Alex!” Samantha said excitedly. She moved through the small crowd and jumped into the newcomer’s arms. She licked him quickly on the cheek and then turned him back toward her shipmates, their arms around one another’s waists. “Everybody, this is Alex Rogers, a very dear friend of mine.”

Alex tilted his head in a short bow and said, “Welcome to the Dragon Loft.” He glanced again at his clingy companion and grinned widely. “It is good to see you again, Samantha.”

Maximillian rejoined his friends on the landing pad and looked at the newcomer who was so obviously friendly to Samantha. He did not say anything, but frowned at the person as if he did not trust him. Sam introduced everyone to the male collie one at a time, and at the end, Merlin stepped forward to clasp hands with him.

“It’s good to see you again, Alex,” the wolf said with a smile. “It has been a long trip.”

“Well, you can relax now,” Alex replied. “Master Tristan has given me instructions to set you up in the best suites of the Dragon Loft we have available. You are free to stay as long as you desire, courtesy of Master Tristan and the Silloni government.”

“I like this kind of hospitality,” Durant said from the back of the group as the male collie ushered everyone into the transport.

“Right now, Master Tristan would like to meet with you,” Alex said. “You may return to your ship later to retrieve anything you may want to have with you in the lodge.”

The inside of the craft was plush in colors of dark burgundy with gray highlights, and despite the apparent solidness of the transport’s metal sides, they could see through the top half of them to the outside. Transparent metal had long been a dream of the Planetary Alignment, and it seemed as if Sillon had finally tackled the final obstacles of the process to include the material inside.

Alex played the panel at the forward end of the craft as if it was a musical instrument. There was only the faintest hum as the door resealed and they slipped quietly away from their freighter. Renny sat in a seat nearest where the door had been and reached out hesitantly to touch the wall. It felt warm, but completely solid, and he studied it critically until he heard someone gasp.

The cheetah looked forward and felt his eyes widen. The design of the lodge was like nothing else he had ever seen in his limited tour around the Planetary Alignment; he was in quiet, respectful awe. The transport stopped near an outcropping of the structure that looked to serve as a covered walkway and once again, the door of the craft just appeared. Alex led everyone out quietly and the group was met by a handful of porters made up of various familiar species.

The male collie hooked arms with Samantha and said to the others, “If you will follow me, Master Tristan will meet with you in the library.”

Max moved quickly to Samantha’s other side and walked along beside her as the small crowd followed Alex’s lead. They passed in through the front doors of the lodge, which were already open and the metallic technology gave away to a different interior world of rich wood, ornate floor rugs and immensely high ceilings. They passed the registration desk and everywhere they looked the place was made of the finest timber polished to shine. They saw crystalline chandeliers hanging from high rafters and soft music could be heard from somewhere down a long hallway.

The Blue Horizon crew approached a set of large double doors looked to be made of rare Hestran virrin wood. Alex opened them easily and led everyone inside a large, high-ceiling room filled with antiquated tomes in print from all over the Planetary Alignment and beyond. The collie shut the doors behind the entourage and then moved to a desk in one corner.

“Master,” he said after tapping a pad inset into the surface of the desk, “your honored guests are here.”

A familiar accented voice replied, “I will be right there, Alex.”

Only a few heartbeats had passed before a side door to the library opened up and an impressive figure stepped through. Renny had never seen a Silloni before and the moment that Master Tristan walked through the door would forever be imprinted upon his memory. To the cheetah, it was as if he watched the entrance of a mythological being in extreme slow motion.

First through the door was a huge black hoof. The bipedal, digitigrade leg it was attached to was thickly muscular, though hidden beneath a pair of widely-bloused dress slacks tailored for the physique. Renny felt his eyes slowly move ever upward to the thick chest and wide shoulders covered by a slate-gray tunic with a Mandarin collar, and then into a dark equine face. The cheetah’s gaze lingered a moment on the deep brown eyes, but then continued on upward to stare with an open mouth at the bone-colored, foot-long spiraled horn that jutted up from the dark forehead.

“Welcome to the Dragon Loft,” the black unicorn said with a smile.

DRAGON, WOLF & TIGER

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

After three long months, the Blue Horizon has finally made it to the faraway world of Sillon. Along the way, we discovered that the supernova detected by the Planetary Alignment was not a star near our distant sister world, but of one in between. Thankfully, the doomed red giant star designated only as SDC-971 on the charts had no orbiting planets of its own, but the effects of the explosion were strong enough to disrupt all communication between Sillon and all other Alignment worlds.

We have been allowed to land at a country lodge known as the Dragon Loft, which is owned by Samantha’s mentor and adopted father, Tristan. A few of my crew have never been to Sillon before and Renny was surprised to discover the species type of the Silloni, having never seen one before. Master Tristan is a magnificent fellow who has always commanded respect everywhere he has been. In his younger days, Tristan was a Silloni Regent, but in his retirement, he is the owner of an extravagant vacationing lodge.

Along for the ride on this voyage was Roland Carlton, a longtime friend of Sparky’s and an occasional hand I’d hired onto my crew in the past. They have always been close, and I was approached early in the flight to perform the traditional duty of a Captain and officiate their wedding. The ceremony was simple, but everyone had a good time. Then, as the pregnancy of the feline race is only a few weeks, Sparky gave birth to twin kittens just prior to our arrival on Sillon.

The birth of the kits, and the relief that the Mytha star system and her three inhabited worlds within its Goldilocks Zone still existed, has created a lighthearted mood among my crew. Samantha has been eagerly awaiting the chance to get back together with Master Tristan, and even meeting her childhood friend Alex Rogers was good for her. All seems well, and a week’s stay at the Dragon Loft before returning home will do wonders for us after the long voyage.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

“Welcome to the Dragon Loft,” the black unicorn said with a smile.

The large male before them stood over two meters tall from hoof to head and his gleaming white, spiraled horn protruded another foot higher. This would explain the high ceilings of the place. Although his digitigrade feet ended in large hooves, each of his great hands possessed four fingers and a thumb and they were all spread out in welcome.

Samantha’s face barely contained her wide grin as she rushed forward and practically threw herself into Tristan’s arms. The grown woman was as a child in those massive arms, and when she looked up at him, her blue eyes were brimming with happy tears. “I am so happy to see you, Master!” she said in a choked voice.

The Silloni looked down at her and gave her a warm smile. “I am glad to be seen by you, my little collie.” He gave her a tight hug for a moment and then released her to turn toward the others. “Captain Sinclair,” he said to the wolf in his thick accent, “your journey has been a long one, and from what I understand, an uncertain one. You know now that Sillon has been in no danger of catastrophe and you can do much for us by telling the rest of the Planetary Alignment of our continued existence.”

Merlin took a step toward him and gave him a short bow of courtesy. “Yes, sir, that is our intent. We appreciate your offer to stay at the Dragon Loft to rest up before our return journey. However, before we leave, we will need to record a small news conference with someone in authority to take back to broadcast to the rest of the Planetary Alignment.”

“Ah yes, the masses must always know the news,” Tristan replied. He looked over to Alex and said, “Please have Sir Hirotaka join us, please.”

“Yes, sir,” the male collie answered.

“Alex has set aside our best suites for your stay,” Tristan said to his guests after Alex had left the library. “This is a slow season and presently there are not many patrons here, so all of the benefits of our resort are at your service without many others to bother you.”

Samantha beamed at him and then she drew the crowd away to the registration desk so they could get their room assignments. Only Renny stayed by the wolf’s side, mesmerized by the huge mythological being dominating the room.

Tristan nodded to Merlin. “It is good to see you again, Captain Sinclair,” he said. “You have always taken care of my Samantha, even before she coaxed us both let her travel the stars at your side.”

Merlin smiled at the unicorn. He had always liked Tristan. For someone who had once been Sillon’s Regent, Tristan was easy to talk to, despite his natural regal bearing. “I enjoy having her along,” the wolf replied in a quiet voice so it wouldn’t carry, “but even after six years, I still think as the major shareholder of Holden Pharmaceutical, she should be in a plush office somewhere, helping to guide the direction of her father’s company.”

“When Derek Holden died and left Samantha in my care as her legal guardian, I swore I would let her live the life she wanted within her means,” Tristan replied with a smile and a wink toward the Border collie. “That she chose to spend her time traveling with you, rather than warming an office seat, was her own choice… A choice I would not allow even my own daughter.”

“This is my first time at the Dragon Loft,” Merlin said with an appreciative eye toward the volumes of printed books in the room. “You’ve done well in your retirement.”

“Thank you, Captain. I do rather enjoy it here.”

Samantha and some of the others wandered back over to them, all chattering away at one another. After months of uncertainty cooped up in a flying saucer, they were all excited.

“Mr. Tristan, sir,” Renny asked quietly. “May I ask you a question?”

“Certainly.”

“Samantha told me her hometown was on Alexandrius,” the cheetah said with a tentative look toward the collie. “How did someone from a faraway world like Sillon become her legal guardian?” Samantha’s smile never wavered and she nodded her permission for the unicorn to answer.

“There really is no mystery about it, my friend,” Tristan replied. “Our families have been close since before she was born. Samantha’s grandsire used to bring his family to Sillon every few years for vacations when her father Derek was a lad, and also later when he had grown into his own. The friendship of our families grew each time we were together, but there was a time when my infant daughter, Laura had become deathly ill. There was no cure on Sillon for what she had, but Derek Holden, a chemist and pharmaceutical doctor at the time, recognized the symptoms for what the Planetary Alignment knew as Altac Syndrome. Always prepared, even on vacation, he carried a vast array of medicines with him. He did not know if the medication for Altac Syndrome would work on my species, but at my behest, Laura was given the treatment. Fortunately for us all, her illness decreased and was eventually eradicated from her body. It was at this time that I swore to him that my appreciation knew no bounds, and that I was forever in his debt.”

Tristan saw the sad look that crossed Samantha’s features and he knew what thoughts she must have been having. “Four years later, Derek and Amy Holden died in an accident here on Sillon that left their only child parentless. I had to fight the Alexandrian authorities to get custody of her, but I was Regent at the time and eventually won guardianship over her when they realized I could provide a better life for her than anyone else on Alexandrius. From then until the time she became an adult, I raised her as my own daughter.”

Renny looked over to Samantha and exchanged friendly glances. “Wow…” was all he could say as the rest of the group remained quiet.

The door to the room opened and Alex walked in with a second impressive individual. Renny felt his jaw dropping again and Merlin reached over to push it shut for him. Trailing the collie was someone every bit as tall as Tristan, though much broader in the shoulders. His garments fit him snugly as if he were about to burst the seams and he held himself with an important air. Renny had never seen any of the Ryuji before and memories of the mythical dragon species from children’s storybooks came unbidden.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Alex announced, “this is Sir Hirotaka Ahra, our Regent’s official representative. Sir Hirotaka, may I introduce to you Merlin Sinclair, captain of the cargo vessel, Blue Horizon.”

Sir Hirotaka strode forward and extended a large blue-gray hand toward the standing wolf, “Thank you for coming, Captain,” the dragon said in a voice so deep as to almost rumble. His leathery eyelids crinkled in amusement as he glanced over the faces of the others when Merlin’s smaller hand disappeared into his own.

“We are honored to meet you, Sir Ahra,” the wolf said with a slight bow.

“Please,” the blue dragon said, “you may call me Hirotaka.”

“Yes, sir,” Merlin acknowledged. He then turned and introduced each of his crew to both Tristan and the official.

Hirotaka dipped his horned head toward Sparky and Roland and studied their infants with a smile. “It is always nice to see children, however small,” he said. “My congratulations to you both.”

“Thank you, sir,” Roland replied with a gulp.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Hirotaka turned to face the cheetah who looked at him curiously. “Yes, Mr. Thornton?”

“Please forgive me for staring, but I’ve never seen anyone of your race before,” Renny said. “Would you mind if I asked a personal question?”

“Renny, don’t!” Taro whispered.

The dragon stood up fully and crossed his arms in a guarded stance. “A personal question, is it? Ask your question and I will decide how personal it will be to me,” he said with the neutral expression of a politician.

“Well, sir, I was wondering… do you have wings?”

Hirotaka tilted his head to the left and smiled widely, showing a full set of long, razor-sharp teeth. “There is nothing personal about your question, Mr. Thornton,” he replied, relaxing in posture. “Without any knowledge of my race, I see no reason why you would know anything about us.” He uncrossed his arms and let them rest at his sides. “In answer to your curiosity, I do not have wings. I am the male of my species. Only female Ryuji have wings.”

The dragon shook his head and glanced back toward Tristan. “I have heard tales brought back from your part of the galaxy where species such as ours were in your ancient legends. We have no way of knowing if the humans designed us to fit this whimsy, but we do have genetic ties to the Earth just as there are with your own worlds. All we know for certain is that we are us.”

Renny smiled and nodded his head. “For satisfying my curiosity, thank you, sir.”

“May I ask a question of my own?” Merlin said to him. “This one is not as personal.”

The dragon tilted his head again and just waved a hand in acceptance.

“Thank you,” Merlin said. “You are from the nearby planet Ryu, but yet you are the official representative of the Silloni government. How is this possible?”

The dragon looked pleased at the political question. “I am Ryuji by species, but my great-parents were immigrants to Sillon. I am second generation Sillon-born Ryuji, and a native of this world.”

“Where is planet Ryu?” Renny asked. “I’ve never heard of it.”

It was Samantha who answered. “Ryu is one of three planets in the habitable zone of this star system, Renny, though Sillon is the only one actually a part of the Planetary Alignment. As with all of Terra’s former colonies, the other two worlds were seeded by Earth’s furmen explorers, but resentment at being abandoned for so long prevents them from joining the PA.”

“Oh.”

Sir Hirotaka clasped his hands behind him. “Now that the introductions have been fulfilled,” he said, “it is time we got down to business.” He motioned toward Tristan and continued, “No doubt my associate here has told you that for the past two months we have been constructing a large relay satellite to be launched and deployed at a determined location just outside the perimeter of the SDC-971 supernova. This will enable Sillon to resume communication with the rest of the Planetary Alignment, as it was before the star discourteously disrupted all avenues of transmission in that area.”

“Yes, sir,” Merlin replied. “We are aware of this.”

“What you are probably not aware of is that while the satellite has been completed, we will have no launch vessel ready to deploy it for another two months. All of the vessels that could handle such an operation are involved in a separate matter of state and cannot be spared.”

“I see,” the wolf said with an idea of where the conversation was heading.

“I have been authorized to hire you and your vessel, Captain, to take on our satellite as your cargo, and to deploy it at specific coordinates on your return trip to the Planetary Alignment.”

Merlin nodded in understanding; his guess had been correct. “Is the deployment something that can be done by my crew, or will it require specialists to fly with us?”

“The canine youth with you could launch it by himself, if necessary,” the dragon answered. “Once the satellite is in position, all you need do is initiate the onboard system and its programming will take care of the rest, including automatic alignment with the PA communication net and a test signal in both directions.”

“Then I am sure,” Merlin told him, “that we can arrange a fair deal. My ship is at your service.”

“The Silloni government will be most grateful of your efforts, Captain.”

***

Silent and unseen, a large cloaked vessel quietly orbited the green world of Sillon. On the bridge of the Hammerdine-class starship, Captain Natasha Khasho stood in front of the holographic representation of the planet, her arms crossed and her expression compassionate.

“Well, Jazz,” she said to her communications officer, “there it is — your homeworld.”

A white Silloni filly got up from her station and approached the display. Her eyes were bright, but her expression was neutral. “Thank you, Captain,” she said softly. “I know our long-range sensors had detected it was not BAE-6410 that went supernova that the news reports theorized, but I had to see that Sillon was unharmed with my own eyes.”

Natasha walked over to her and put a hand on the unicorn’s shoulder. “You’ve never told me why you left Sillon, you know,” she said quietly, “but that’s your story to tell to those you wish. You have served me well and I didn’t mind the Vault out here. The crew could use a little R&R and your world is a nice place to give it to them.”

“You know the Blue Horizon is down there,” Jazz reminded her. “Certain members of our crew are known to them.”

“And what of it?” the tall vixen replied. “I don’t intend to contact them while we’re here and we have an entire world in which to play.”

“Let’s land on the far side of the planet, as far away from them as we can just to be on the safe side.”

Natasha listened to the tone of her officer’s voice and tilted her head a little. “What is it you fear from the Blue Horizon?” she asked bluntly. “If you think there’s a danger, I want to know why.”

Jazz looked up into the vixen’s eyes and stated, “There is no danger to the Lady of Dreams, Captain. I only wish to avoid a chance meeting.” She lowered her eyes and her voice and added, “It has to do with my past… and the reason why I left home. That freighter’s current location is near my family, and it is them I wish to avoid, not the Blue Horizon.”

Captain Natasha nodded and decided to drop the matter. “Very well, then. Recommend a good place for R&R on your world and we’ll go with your suggestion to steer clear of the Blue Horizon and the family members you wish to avoid.”

Jazz tapped in a set of coordinates into her terminal and the holographic display zeroed in on a location near the equator of the planet. The computer interfaced with the Silloni information net and began to display relative data and images of the region. Natasha nodded in satisfaction and gave the Silloni a smile.

“Looks like a perfect area to relax,” she said.

“I would recommend this island” Jazz suggested, pointing to a small land mass near the center of a large helix-shaped, freshwater lake. “The weather there is tropical and there are wide sandy beaches, not to mention a local town with a shopping district to meet all interests.”

“Sounds idyllic.”

Behind them, a door hissed open and the sound of soft steps filled the bridge. It was common to hear that, but the Silloni girl turned anyway to greet it.

A little gray mouse boy entered the bridge with coils of cable running down his limbs through bands of metal above his major joints. His left eye was covered by a dark red glass that kept out bright light that might further harm his damaged retina. The endosuit around him had been a wonder of Natasha’s engineering department, allowing young Tim to walk again after a vicious attack by Sagan upon their own ship had crippled him and nearly taken his life. Control and strength in his arms and legs had been weakened with the sharp blow to the head the jaguar had given him, and without the help of the endosuit, he could not produce enough energy to move at more than a caterpillar’s pace. The sensitive pads lining the insides of the metal bands responded to flexed muscles and moved him how he needed to move. He was growing stronger in physical therapy, but would still need several more years to recover even the meek strength of what he had had even at the age of ten.

Sagan’s unexpected appearance resulted in near-fatal injuries on three of Natasha’s crew, but none had hit home more than that of the young mouse. Despite their best efforts to thwart him, Sagan had escaped with some of her technology still in development, and for all his crimes upon her people, the vixen had vowed to skin him alive if she ever caught him. The medical team on the Lady of Dreams was able to save Tim’s life, but some of his motor functions would likely need help for the rest of his life.

“I’m ready, ma’am,” Tim said. Natasha started toward him, but Jazz caught her arm.

“I’ll do it this time, ma’am,” she volunteered with a smile. Tim’s face lit up at the thought, and in a single, smooth movement, the Silloni girl swooped him up into her arms to take him down to the clinic for his physical therapy.

***

The Blue Horizon gently set down on the metallic landing pad of the Wathradrim warehouse and before the engines were fully powered down, a Silloni team was already on the move toward the freighter to load its specialized cargo.

The Palace of Mists had presented an official recorded speech by Sillon’s current Regent for Captain Sinclair to return for them. The remaining supplies stored in the hold had to be split up and moved to the sides so they could load up the large relay satellite that the Blue Horizon had just been hired to deploy for them on their return flight. However, Merlin’s crew had been granted a week’s vacation at the Dragon Loft, so once the satellite was secure on board, they would be returning to Tristan’s lodge.

Durant took charge as the satellite was weighed, loaded and then lifted from the deck of the hold with the overhead crane for suspended storage. As there was nothing else for the rest of the crew to do at this time, they all busied themselves until they could return to the lodge. Tanis hid away in Sickbay, sterilizing all his equipment. Patch ambled off to the engine room, though his brother remained to exchange jokes with Samantha. Taro and Merlin talked quietly between themselves near the cargo bay door and Renny had wandered a small distance away from the ship to chat idly with a few of the Silloni workers who had brought in their cargo. Sparky and Roland had remained behind at the lodge to care for their infants.

Although Maximillian had been with the Blue Horizon crew for nearly four months, he was still a bit shy around newcomers and stayed in the shadows away from the Silloni. He had spent a lot of his free time on board hovering around Samantha or Merlin, and found good friends in them both. Because of his time on Quet, he had experience in a kitchen environment and so he had also become a regular sight in the galley as he watched and helped Sparky prepare meals for the crew. He was still fairly much owned labor in his thoughts, even if he had been given his freedom, but it was a lifelong mindset he found hard to set aside.

Samantha found him sitting with crossed legs behind a box and tapped him on the top of his head. The canine youth looked up at her and smiled warmly. “Merlin says we should be finished here in about twenty minutes. Want to go with me to find some snacks?”

“Yeah!” Max replied with interest. He jumped to his feet and followed her out of the cargo bay.

***

Three days later, Renny walked into the plush dining room of the lodge, wondering what new dish he would be prompted to try now. In the time since they had been there, he had sampled various meals that he had never tried before. The two main chefs of the place had encountered him on the veranda the first day and stopped to have him settle an argument on a particular dish each had concocted on his own. While his taste-test had pleased the poodle Francois, it had only angered the Manx cat named Pierre. Shortly thereafter, Pierre found him and presented him with a different dish to try, which the cheetah had found delicious.

Haughtily pleased, the Manx had left him to gloat to his colleague of his triumph. Two hours later, Francois cornered Renny again with another new dish to try. If it were not for the cheetah’s metabolism, he might have gained weight over the next few days, but it seemed as if the two chefs were determined to out-do one another, with Renny’s taste buds as the judge.

Normally, such attention would have been bothersome to him, but with Renny’s appetite, he had begun to look forward to his encounters with the gourmet pair. He had told Sparky of the situation and she had laughed. Pierre and Francois had been chefs together at the Dragon Loft for nearly a decade and they had gotten more competitive as time went on. She had once engaged in a cooking contest with them on a past visit, and had surprisingly won the judges’ preference. Tristan had tried to hire her on the spot, but while deeply flattered, she declined in order to remain with the Blue Horizon.

***

“Don’t wave your ladle at me, you saucy-mouthed wiper of other peoples’ bottoms!” Francois snapped, hands on hips as he leaned forward to face the Manx cat before him.

“As if you had one whit of intelligence or culinary ability to tell a ladle from a spoon!” Pierre snarled back, tossing the metal utensil at the poodle. “Your spices are too weak and your sweeteners too strong, fluffy boy!”

The poodle drew back, his face a mask of shock and offense, “How dare you address me like zat, waving and flapping your arms around like a freakish slinger of grease burgers! I was the chef of diplomats and presidents when you were wiping your nose on tablecloths!”

“That’s right, and when your dentures fall out into the soup tonight, how will you cover that?”

“You think yourself a chef! You are a common cook! En Garde!”

Suddenly the Manx found himself being chased by a livid poodle with a rolling pin. He backed instinctively, reaching for a weapon. His fingers found purchase on a stem protruding from a thick, hefty local vegetable and he brought it to bear as a club.

The poodle slashed out with the wooden weapon, and his adversary parried with the flat of the hantsu root, spinning him off balance and sending the canine careening into a cupboard. The poodle snarled, taking a handful of spice and throwing it with a flash into Pierre’s face. The Manx howled in shock and a fluster of cinnamon in his face before launching himself onto the poodle. The two chefs slammed to the kitchen floor, struggling on the black and white tiles.

Pierre found the upper hand quickly, and reached for a tray of condiments. With a master’s touch, he garnished Francois’ nose and lips with honey mustard; Francois hated honey mustard.

And so it went. Flashes of metal utensils and hurled vegetables created a domestic combat zone.

***

Renny moved through the dining room and noticed that other patrons were animated with an excited buzz of conversation. He could not make out exactly what was being said and it was not his normal practice to eavesdrop, but he was suddenly curious as to what was going on. He found what had become his usual table near the kitchen and sat down in his chair to see what would happen next.

Ten minutes passed before he began to wonder if he were going to be waited on. No one had brought him a menu, a drink or even tableware. He folded his hands together on top of the table and continued to wait.

Another ten minutes. Still no waiter. The cheetah was getting impatient, so he got up and moved toward the closest table with customers. He approached one of the dragon-men from Ryu who was seated with a brawny tiger and a slender wolf.

“Excuse me,” he said as he stopped beside the table. “Have you seen any of the wait staff recently?”

The wolf looked up at him with an amused expression. “I don’t think you’ll get served any time soon,” he said. “The chefs had a fight back in the kitchen a bit ago and the waiters went to break it up.”

“And everyone’s still back there watching the argument?”

“No,” the dragon said in a deep voice, “the fight was physical and one of them got hurt.” He smiled a toothy grin and shook his head. “The Master of this place was called in and all the employees were marched out for interrogation. From the look on the Silloni’s face, I’d say someone’s head is gonna roll.”

Renny looked at him and sighed. “Who served your meals if all the employees were taken away?”

“Some little lynx who was nursing her kittens got up to help,” the tiger replied. “Master Tristan asked her to watch things while he took care of his people. The woman’s mate took the kits away when she headed for the kitchen, but she’s not been out recently.”

“That would be my friend, Sparky,” Renny replied. “Thanks, guys. I’ll go see if she needs some help.” As the cheetah walked away, he had the vague impression that he knew those three from somewhere, but all thoughts on the trio vanished when Sparky emerged from the kitchen wearing her old familiar smiling kitty apron.

Her eyes lit up when she saw him. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said. “Would you find Merlin and tell him that I need to talk to him?”

“Sure, Sparky,” Renny replied. “Anything specific I should tell him?” The lynx hesitated as if she were going to say something, but then just shook her head.

“Okay, I’ll see if I can find him,” Renny said.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Before I go,” the cheetah added, “can I put in an order? I’ve not yet had breakfast.”

***

“Patch, there’s nothing wrong with the engines,” Pockets told his brother’s feet, which were protruding from an open access panel. “Merlin said we were going to be here for a couple weeks of vacation instead of just one, so why don’t you just relax?”

“Pockets…” said a muffled voice from the panel, “There is a twitch in our LightDrive accelerator unit that I want to take care of while we’re in down-time. I haven’t got time for a vacation.”

“You can’t do that without me, and I don’t wanna be stuck inside the engine when I have a whole world to play in!”

“Then program Moss to watch the indicators for me and then git…”

“Moss can’t tell you what the numbers are.”

“Can it let me know when they get to a certain range through my slateboard?”

“Uhm, yeah, it can.”

“Well then…?”

Pockets frowned and stuck his hands inside one of his many shirt pockets. He pulled out a small remote and tapped a tracer code onto its small panel. It would call the mobile sentry sensor to his location. “Okay, I’ll program the dang thing for you.”

“Good. Now, crawl into the other access tunnel tell me what the reading is on the RB gauge while we’re waiting for your pie plate to arrive.”

***

Merlin and Renny entered the dining room that was now clear of patrons. It had taken the cheetah a little while to locate the captain and he quietly hoped Sparky might have a warm meal for him. The pair went straight for the kitchen and was surprised to find Sparky and Max working together on a rather involved recipe.

“One quarter cup of ground hantsu root?” the young canine queried.

“Aye, it’s that big meaty-looking vegetable over there, the purple one.”

“It looks damaged.”

“It’ll do, Max. Just cut off the bruised end and grind off what you need from the middle.”

“Sparky?” the captain asked curiously.

The lynx looked up and smiled at her friend. She had a spot of flour on her nose, which she tried to wipe away with a paw, but she only managed to smear the powder into her fur. “Hi, Merlin,” she said, snaring a countertop rag and to wipe her hands on.

She looked over at Max and said in a quiet voice, “Dear, forget the hantsu root for now and get Renny’s breakfast for him out of the number three oven, please. I need a moment alone with the captain.”

“Okay,” the canine youth answered. He headed to one of the kitchen’s massive ovens and pulled out a tray of warm food with insulated mitts. He and the cheetah left the room and then Sparky turned toward the wolf.

“What can I do for the mommy?” Merlin asked with a smile.

Sparky led him to a couple of counter stools and they sat down on them. “Merlin, I…” She hesitated and then began again. “Merlin, I don’t know how to tell you this other than outright, but Tristan has offered me a job here at the Dragon Loft as his chief chef.”

“I’m not surprised he’s trying that again,” the captain replied with a nod. “He tried to lure you away from me on our last visit here. You are a great chef, Sparky.”

“Thanks,” she said, but her smile appeared to the wolf as a bit sad. “The situation is different this time, Captain. Tristan has just fired Pierre and Francois and he needs a chef to attend the needs of his patrons.”

“And you want the job?” Merlin asked with a neutral expression.

“Now that Roland and I have the kittens to rear, it might be a good idea.”

“A starship cabin is not really an ideal place to raise children,” the captain agreed.

“Tristan has offered me a good salary, a place to live, and even has a job for Roland.”

“What of the Blue Horizon?” Merlin asked. “I won’t be able to hire anyone to take your place until we get back to the other Planetary Alignment worlds, and three months is a long time to go without a cook.”

“I understand there are two chefs in the area looking for a job,” the lynx replied with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. When Merlin did not return her smile, she shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve spent recent months teaching Max a lot of my recipes and have given him notes on everyone’s tastes and preferences. He’s already had a lot of kitchen experience on Quet.” She looked away and added, “I had him prepare a good amount of everyone’s meals on our long voyage out here to Sillon, just in case something like this came up due to our kits.”

“He’s a bit young for that kind of responsibility,” Merlin countered, “but I suppose he can fill in until I can hire someone else.”

Sparky grinned and shook her head. “In the three months it’ll take you to get back to the PA, I doubt you’ll want to hire anyone else. Max has the aptitude to be a good cook. Besides, he will be sixteen next month. He’s still young, but old enough for responsibility.”

“Sixteen?” Merlin repeated with wide eyes. He smiled and crossed his arms. “I keep forgetting he’s short for his age. I often think of him as a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old…”

The lynx leaned forward and put a hand on his arm. “You need to treat him his age, Merlin. He deserves the chance.”

“Yes, you’re right,” he replied. Merlin fell silent for a few moments and then looked at her warmly. “I had a gut feeling I might lose you soon when you asked me to perform your wedding. You’ve been with us since the beginning; the ship will be empty without you.”

Sparky moved over to him, wrapped her arms around his middle and laid her head on his chest. “You’ve always been good to me, Merlin. I’ll miss you, too.”

The captain held her a moment and then gently pushed her away so he could look into her face. “I’ll have Durant draw up a nice severance pay for you, and although Tristan has already expressed his desire to hire you, I’ll work up a nice reference letter, too.”

“Thank you, Merlin,” she said warmly. “You’re the best.”

***

Samantha sat with her legs crossed on the floor at the feet of her Master, her heart at peace and her mind feeling years younger. She and Tristan had been catching up on events of the past few years and had reached a lull in the conversation. They were in his private study with the windows open to a cool breeze and the evening light of the sun peeking around the edge of the mountain cliff.

“In all your travels around the worlds,” Tristan spoke in his accented, deep voice, “have you seen my Laura?”

“Laura?” the collie asked in surprise, referring to the unicorn’s eldest daughter. “I would not have looked for her to be anywhere but on Sillon.”

Tristan’s expression became sad. “She and her mother had a disagreement two years ago concerning her career future. The evening ended with my daughter in open rebellion and she slipped away in the night. We have not seen her since. Guinevere and I have been worried that she has done something rash.”

Samantha swallowed. She and Laura had been raised together as sisters. “Oh, no… What disagreement could be so bad to prompt her to leave?”

Tristan hesitated a moment before answering. “She wanted to serve on a starship… just as you have done. She had been canvassing various freighters and military vessels that came to Sillon in hopes of finding an appropriate one to dedicate herself to, but could find no luck. She had all but resigned herself to the idea that she would never find one she liked. Then, suddenly, she wanted to leave. She would not tell us where, why or how, just that she had to go soon. It was odd and unlike her to do anything impetuous, but she insisted on leaving within two days. Guinevere wanted her here on Sillon to start her own family, not out in the galaxy where pirates or the void of space might endanger her.”

“Surely you have resources to search for her,” Samantha said quietly.

“That I have,” her master replied, “but my influence is not what it used to be and does not go beyond Sillon herself. I even had Hirotaka do a search for her on Ryu, but there has been no sign of her there either. I suspect she’s out in the Planetary Alignment somewhere, likely traveling under a pseudonym.”

The canine shook her head slowly. “No, Master, I’m sorry,” she replied in a quiet voice. “I haven’t seen her in my travels, but now that I know she’s out there, I will use my own contacts to see if I can locate her; there can’t be many white unicorn fillies out in the public eye, but there are thousands of ships among all the worlds of the Planetary Alignment where she can hide.“

“Thank you, my little collie. I know you will find her for us.”

***

Taro felt a gentle rocking of her shoulder and she came awake immediately. She had been resting in a hammock on the veranda of the lodge and had dozed off with the warm sunlight on her fur. She opened her orange eyes and looked up into the face of a tiger dressed in denim khakis and desert hiking boots.

“Yes?” Taro responded curiously.

“Are you the captain of that freighter?” the feline asked her, a muscular arm raised with a finger pointing out across the manicured field to the landing pad.

“No, but I am her first officer.”

The tiger knelt down beside the hammock and introduced himself. “My name is Carsen Vetter and I play bass in—”

“Dragon, Wolf & Tiger,” Taro answered for him. “I saw you in the pool a couple of days ago. One of my crewmates has most of your music.”

Vetter smiled and nodded. “We’re here on an extended working vacation, but it’s time to head back to Kantus to start recording a new album of songs we’ve written while here.”

“So, what can I do for you?” Taro asked with an interested smile, wondering if it would be appropriate to ask the tiger to sit with her.

“Word has gotten out that the Planetary Alignment doesn’t think Sillon survived a supernova,” the tiger replied. “Because of this, we believe our return transport was never sent to retrieve us. We have very unforgiving deadlines and need a ride home.”

Taro nodded in understanding and replied, “As you have noticed, the Blue Horizon is a freighter. We don’t normally take on passengers, but perhaps we can work out something with the captain.”

“I would appreciate it if you would introduce me to your captain.”

“Certainly.”

***

Ivy “Sparky” Carlton was all smiles. The crew of the Blue Horizon was gathered in a sectioned off area of the dining room for a private party. Merlin had not yet revealed her decision to stay on Sillon to anyone else. She would make the announcement herself, but only after making a certain long-promised presentation to her shipmates. She stood at the head of the table, wearing her familiar smiling kitty apron. Maximillian stood beside her, wearing a new white apron of his own adorned with a drooling cartoon canine holding a knife and fork. He seemed just as pleased as she was about their presentation.

“My friends,” the lynx said to those seated before her, “I have a special treat for you tonight. You’ve heard me talk about my favorite meal many times, though I’ve never been able to prepare it for you due to conditions required for its making.”

“Uh, oh…” Pockets said with a grin. “I know what this is…”

Sparky laughed. “Yes, I suppose you all do.” She turned to Max and nodded to him. “Go ahead and bring it out.”

“At once!” the youth said with a large smile. He turned and disappeared through the door into the kitchen.

“Is this that explosive recipe of yours?” Renny asked with a smirk.

Sparky nodded as Max came back into the room pushing a cart with a large covered dish on it. “My friends” she said, “we give to you… the Fynian Wonder Meal!”

She took the top off the dish and immediately the air was filled with such an aroma that it set saliva glands to working. Inside the dish was a type of casserole that was the stuff of legends.

Samantha tilted her head up to sniff the air and then gaze into the dish. She wondered how this meal would appeal to the carnivorous and vegetarian appetites alike, but she had to admit it smelled wonderful.

“Max and I have spent the afternoon working on this,” the feline cook said as she dipped a large ladle into the mix. “Tristan’s chefs had all the right ingredients, though I doubt either of them has ever made this!”

“You’ve been promising this thing for so long,” Patch said with an amused grumble, “it better be good.”

Sparky caught the smiling glint in his eyes and put her hands on her hips. “If this isn’t to your liking, Patch, I’ll gift you a box of the finest cigars on Sillon.”

“Deal!” Chuckles moved through the crowd as Max began to deliver filled plates to each one present. Of those seated around the table, only Durant had actually eaten the Fynian Wonder Meal before. Merlin glanced over at him and saw the look of anticipation in the bear’s eyes. He grinned at the sight, knowing it must be good for his loadmaster to look thus.

He picked up a large spoon beside his plate and then picked up a small portion of the food. Tentatively, he put the spoon in his mouth and then closed his eyes. At once, several complimenting flavors tickled his taste buds and he opened his eyes wide. It was unlike anything else he had ever eaten before, but he found the sudden urge to eat more. This was good!

A half hour later, there were looks of contentment on every face in the room. Not even Patch could find fault in the meal, knowing he would not get those cigars, but he was now serenely well-fed.

Sparky leaned toward the wolf beside her and gave him a proud smile. “Now, do you agree that this was the best meal you’ve ever had?”

The captain grinned at her and nodded. “Sparky, you have outdone yourself,” he said. “Tristan’s getting a grand chef in you.”

Taro looked up from her quiet conversation with Tanis and said, “What was that?” Merlin looked surprised at his slip and he glanced over at the lynx with a facial apology. She shook her head that it was okay and looked at the fox.

“I was just about to make an announcement and hoped a good meal would temper your reactions,” she said quietly. “I’m staying on Sillon as Master Tristan’s chief chef.”

“Aw, no!” Pockets whined. “This is a joke, right?”

Roland had been sitting quietly at his mate’s right, but he spoke up and answered the question for her. “No,” he said in his raspy voice, “this is no joke. We have kittens to raise now and this is an ideal place for it.”

“You couldn’t have picked a better place,” Samantha said with a smile, though her eyes were quickly growing moist at the thought of losing her friend’s presence.

“Tristan canned his two combative chefs,” Roland added, “and then offered her the position of chief chef, with a job for myself as well.”

Durant set his drink glass down a little too hard, but made no effort to apologize. He had expected something like this ever since the wedding, but it was still a shock to him to be losing the one he had considered his best friend.

Sparky shook her head sadly at the faces staring back at her. “Merlin and I have already discussed this,” she said, “and he’s given us his blessing. I have a family now that needs a stable environment to grow in.”

“We… I’ll… miss you, Sparky,” Pocket said in a quiet voice barely above a whisper.

“I’ll miss you, too, Pockets,” she replied. “I’ll miss all of you. I’ve had seven good years on board the Blue Horizon and I have lots of wonderful memories, but now my place is here… with my family.”

Tanis cleared his throat and then stood up. He effected a fancy bow in her direction and said, “It is been a pleasure knowing ya, ma’am. May all yer dreams and wishes come true for ya and Roland.”

“Thank you, Tanis,” Sparky replied. “That means a lot to us.”

***

Brand Arkram was huge. A mass of thick muscle and coiled energy that seemed to move like a luxury liner as the red dragon sat behind an extensive set of electronic drums splayed out in a semicircle before him. A graveyard of broken drumsticks sprawled helter-skelter about him on the floor. To his immediate left, a slender gray wolf dressed wholly in black tapped at white keys, his ears buried beneath a pair of thick gray headphones. Music thundered through the studio like a tempest, splashing against the walls and shaking the whole room with its might. A nearby device spooled out an aggressive bass line that each of the musicians played in time to. No specific notes or design; just a jam session to vent energy.

This was Adam Singlebet’s private sanctuary on Sillon, where the keyboardist kept a small studio for sketching. The trio had retired to the planet on a vacation following their longest tour yet. Singlebet and Arkram had brought their wives with them, but the women had decided to stay on when the boys departed on their own to Kantus for their recording sessions. Vetter, the unmarried member of the trio, had been lecturing on art and musical theory at the local college a hundred sixty kilometers north.

The studio door opened a crack and Vetter entered. The two other performers slowly wound down their playing and Brand shut off the bass with a precisely hurled drumstick.

“Good news, compadres. We have a ride home,” the tiger chirped.

“And there was much rejoicing,” Adam replied.

“Yay,” Brand replied, dully and without enthusiasm.

“So, what did we get?” Adam asked with interest.

“The Blue Horizon, a common freighter that’s bound right where we want to go,” Vetter replied.

“Blue Horizon?” Brand added, cocking an eyebrow. “Sounds generic enough.”

“Any port in a storm,” Vetter added. “I was kind of surprised that they weren’t booked already, considering the lack of transport on or off this world.”

“I hope they’ve got a good cargo capacity,” Adam replied, indicating the studio and all its equipment. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to carry.”

“Well, it is a cargo ship,” the tiger responded, “but the first officer Nichols told me they’ve been hired to deploy a relay satellite for Sillon out near the supernova that caused all the trouble. The thing is already loaded and hanging over the rest of the cargo bay from a crane.”

“Are we going to have to sleep in the hold beneath it?” Brand asked dryly. “It might get hard to breathe without air in the hold when they launch that thing.”

“Nichols told me they would probably quarter us on their recreational deck since they don’t have any available passenger cabins, but she suggested we should pack our things for storage in the hold in vacuum-rated containers.”

***

Merlin looked out across the crowd at the faces of those gathered in the dining area of the Dragon Loft and lapped up some of his drink from a wide-mouth mug. Tristan had arranged a quiet farewell party for the Blue Horizon’s crew and anyone remotely acquainted with them was there. Although the band had not been hired to play during the gathering, Adam Singlebet sat in a corner of the room, playing softly on a small personal keyboard he carried with him everywhere, even though the rest of his equipment was already loaded into the ship’s hold. Being a musician himself, Patch sat nearby watching the master work wonders on a travel-size instrument.

As to be expected, Samantha hovered near Tristan and his wife, Guinevere, a white mare dressed in a gold dress and a matching ribbon laced around her spiraling horn. Alex Rogers stood with them, taking an active part in their conversation. The Border collie had known Samantha since their childhood days on Alexandrius and had long held a crush on her. Unfortunately for him, she had always treated him more like a brother than a close friend, which was a private source of frustration to him. Nonetheless, he enjoyed visiting with her and had spent as much time with her as she would allow during their stay. The Silloni couple’s three younger children were at the punch bowl with Maximillian, watching Tanis perform a few simple magic tricks with various pieces of fruit from the table.

Taro and Pockets were having an animated conversation with Roland about his new duties as head groundskeeper for the lodge, and Durant was nearby with Sparky, seated at a table and talking in quiet voices. The bear was really going to miss his best friend and the two of them reminisced over shared memories. The kittens were in the care of the lodge daycare center, so the feline parents would have time to say their farewells without distraction.

Renny and Carsen Vetter discussed females over their drinks and Brand sat to the side with Sir Hirotaka, conversing quietly in the language of their species.

The lupine captain finished his drink and then walked to those gathered around Tristan. He had spent time with Sparky and Roland and they had said their good-byes, and had then watched each member of his crew visit with them one by one during the party. He noted the lulls in the conversations and figured it was time to wind everything down.

“Master Tristan,” he said with a slight bow of respect, “thank you for your hospitality during our stay. We’ve enjoyed our vacation here, but it’s time we prepared for our journey to Kantus.”

“Captain Sinclair,” the large black unicorn replied, “you have honored our world with your voyage of service, but most of all, you allowed us the opportunity to see our Samantha again.”

Merlin smiled. “As you know, Samantha was the reason we came, but now we have to be on our way to complete our task. We have your satellite to deploy and once it is in place, I would imagine that Sam will be in constant contact with the Interstellar News Network with a full report on our journey.”

Guinevere stepped forward and clasped hands with the wolf. “Merlin,” she said in a soft voice, “take care of yourselves and come back to see us any time you have the opportunity.”

“We will,” the captain said with a smile toward Samantha, “you can be assured we will.”

“Then fare you well,” the mare said with a nod of her head, “and have a safe journey.”

***

Merlin glanced over his pre-flight checklist and mused about their voyage. He was ready to get back into space and into the old habits of a voyage. Granted, things were unlikely to be more exciting than the excursions he had experienced on Sillon. An archaeological jaunt days earlier had taken him to a valley of wind-carved rocks that were shaped like some titanic ribcage, though he actually liked routine and he enjoyed time on his vessel. After launch, their first priority would be the one-month journey to specific coordinates to set up the Silloni relay satellite a good distance from the supernova. They had been paid generously for the service and Merlin had given bonuses to his returning crew from the bounty.

Their supplies were fully stocked for the long return voyage and they were less than a half-hour away from launch. Patch was making last-minute adjustments to the LC engines and Pockets was currently on the bridge to monitor the changes on panel readings.

Due to their limited bed space, Samantha had quartered their passengers on the recreation deck as Taro had suggested. There was only a small lavatory on that level that the three of them would have to share, but a band accustomed to being on tour would be used to that. Unfortunately, Brand would find it a snug fit for his large frame.

Sam appropriated some temporary beds and bedding from the lodge for the group to use on the three-and-a-half-month voyage to Kantus and everyone had been informed that the rec deck was to be off-limits to all Horizon personnel unless permission was granted by the band. Merlin had never been confined to a ship with a musical band and wondered just how much sleep he was going to get over the next few months.

Due to this rec deck restriction, Patch and Pockets had upgraded the com systems in each of the regular cabins to allow for StellarNet video feeds for entertainment, something most of them felt had been a long time coming anyway.

It occurred to the wolf that it had been over three months since the Planetary Alignment had last heard from them, and the final transmission Taro had broadcast was news of the wide route the Blue Horizon was to take around SDC-971 to skirt the expanding effects of the supernova. They had been unable to send any other transmissions to INN thereafter and he was sure some of the investors of this voyage were anxious to get word on Sillon’s continued existence. Sam already had plans to make use of the time required to get to the satellite launch coordinates to prepare a speech concerning the Blue Horizon, Sillon and the supernova for broadcasting.

The liftoff from Sillon would be routine, so all non-required personnel were waiting in the launch seats that folded out of the walls in the comfort of their cabins.

***

Taro had barely given the announcement that movement around the ship after the launch was safe when Maximillian had bounded out of his quarters and headed to the galley. He was excited, although nervous, that he was now completely responsible for feeding the crew of the Blue Horizon from now on. No longer would he be a cabin boy helping out the cook in her kitchen. The kitchen was now his for the next three months, a small fact that thrilled the former slave. It did not occur to him that he would be replacing Sparky, only that he now had a real job and real responsibility as a member of this crew.

He wanted to make a good impression on the captain and his fellow crewmates, so Max immediately started reading through the notes Sparky had left him on his slateboard concerning everyone’s tastes with recommended daily menus. Everyone had eaten at the Dragon Loft before gathering on board and sealing the hatch, so that would give him some time to prepare for his debut as master of his own kitchen.

***

Merlin, Tanis, Durant, Taro and Adam Singlebet sat around the galley’s long table and awaited the meal that Max had prepared for them. The other members of the passengers and crew were either on bridge duty, involved in personal projects or asleep according to their own schedules, and would be served later.

No one had any idea what the youth had prepared, but the small group tried hard to mask apprehensive feelings from their faces as Max brought out a large covered dish and set it on the table among their plates. It was plain to see that the young canine was happy to be serving them and Merlin resolved to appreciate the effort no matter what wound up on his plate, even if it were something like the Pinecone Scruff Beans that Sparky had tried to feed them when supplies had once gotten low.

Beforehand, Taro had informed Adam of the situation with the changing of the ship’s cooks in hopes the musician would not embarrass the boy if anything went wrong. The vixen admitted to him that she was concerned that their evening meal might result in simple sandwiches and sodas if Max’s efforts were unsuccessful.

Before the dish was uncovered, however, a nice aroma filled the room. Whatever it was smelled good, at least. Max lifted the cover to reveal a browned casserole and he set it aside. He produced a ladle timidly and handed it to the captain.

“If you will do the honors, sir,” he said.

Merlin grinned lopsidedly and waved the ladle at him. “I will, if you promise not to call me Sir.”

“Yes, sir... er… yes, uncle.” Max grinned and took a step back from the table with a short bow to let the meal begin. All eyes were on the dish when the wolf began to dip out the casserole. One by one, the others handed their plates to the captain and he doled out a portion to each. Now that the main dish was being served, Max trod back into the kitchen to bring out the side dishes he had prepared.

Taro was the first to try a mouthful of the casserole, and after tasting it, she smiled and winked at the youth. “Max,” she said, “this is Sparky’s Tatertot Casserole, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” the young canine admitted. “She suggested that’s what I start out with. It was fairly simple to make and has proven in the past to be liked by the crew.”

“Sounds like it was good advice,” Adam added after sampling the food. “You did a fine job, boy. My compliments.”

***

Renny yawned and stretched in the bridge pilot seat. He had neglected to bring anything to do or read with him for his watch in the command center and he regretted it. He was bored and wished someone would come to visit him. All the lights on the bridge were turned off so the only illumination in the room came from the instrument panels and the stars beyond the forward windows.

The cheetah got up, moved to the engineering station, and leaned toward the glass. He studied the stars and recognized patterns he had memorized months ago from the star charts of this region. He had to do some mental calculating to account for their position change this far away from the rest of the Planetary Alignment, but he suspected he was fairly accurate in guessing their current location. The Blue Horizon had only departed Sillon a week ago and already he thought he could see a bright, fuzzy spot where SDC-971 used to be, though they were still a fortnight away from it at LightDrive speeds.

The com panel chirped and Renny started in spite of himself. He had not expected any communication traffic this far out. He moved to the controls, picked up the headset and held it up to one fuzzy ear as he tapped the response button.

“This is the SS Blue Horizon,” he stated. “What can we do for you?” He listened a moment and then grimaced. “Please hold while I get the captain.” The cheetah sighed as he tapped another control. The panel chirped and Renny opened the connection.

“This is Merlin.”

“Captain, we just got hailed by the Savannah Hunter,” he said distastefully. “Armando wants to speak with you.”

“Armando! How in blazes did you get a signal from Armando Jensen way out here?”

“I didn’t ask. Want me to pipe him down there?”

“No, not here. I don’t want his voice to ruin everyone’s meal. I’ll be on the bridge in a moment.”

“Aye,” Renny acknowledged. He reconnected to the previous signal and then spoke into the microphone, “Captain Sinclair will be on the bridge in a moment.”

Merlin came in through the door fully five minutes later, obviously having taken his time. “It’s at times like this when I’m glad we don’t have visual communication,” he muttered to the cheetah, a deep frown on his face. Renny returned to the pilot seat as the captain put the signal on the bridge speakers.

“Armando,” he said tonelessly. “What can I do to you?”

“Sinclair, ol’ pal,” the lion’s gruff voice sounded from the speakers, “I’m actually pleased to hear your voice!”

“Indeed?” Merlin replied with a fixed stare out into space.

“How was your visit to Sillon? Our instruments show it’s still there, despite the disaster everyone else believes took it out.”

“Armando,” Merlin said with an internal sigh, “we broadcasted a message to INN just before we reached SDC-971 two months ago. The Planetary Alignment already knows that BAE-6410 was not the red giant star that exploded, but that we were continuing on just to make sure.”

“Humph, then you mean my own mission of mercy wasn’t needed?” the lion sounded perturbed. “I never heard the news. Are you sure INN received your message?”

Without answering, Merlin tapped out commands on the main computer console and recalled the last broadcast transmission they received from Holly.

“Hello, once again, this is News Around the Alignment and I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. Recapping our running story on the Mytha disaster, I have just received word in a weakening transmission from the Blue Horizon that their onboard long-range sensors have detected first traces of the supernova itself. While the ship is continually speeding toward the phenomenon, the crew has been taking readings and double-checking their sensors.

“I am pleased to inform my listeners that it appears that the star which has exploded was not… I repeat, not… the red giant near the Mytha Primary. Space navigational charts recalculated with new data have now identified the former star as SDC-971, a closer red giant luminary without any known planets.”

“This is good news to all, but Ms. Holden wants me to stress that there has been no communication with Sillon as yet. The supernova distortion has disrupted all communication with the Mytha star system and nothing more may be known until the Blue Horizon herself has gone around SDC-971. Unfortunately, because of the increasing distance between the vessel and the rest of the Planetary Alignment worlds, the limited equipment on board the Horizon will no longer be able to breach the spatial interference to provide us with the regular status reports we’ve had since the ship launched out into deep space two months ago. When Captain Sinclair’s ship has finally skirted SDC-971, it is likely we will have no more information on the flight until their return journey two months hence.”

“The closer location of the type-2p supernova has set the scientific communities on the PA worlds into immediate action, and although interstellar distances will keep the effects of the blast from reaching most of the Planetary Alignment for years, there could be very real results felt upon the worlds closest to it, primarily Dennier, Mainor, Brandt and Quet at first, and then later Kantus, Tanthe, Joplin, Crescentis, Ganis and Pomen. What those results will be has yet to be determined, but the combined brain trusts across the PA will be working diligently to develop what measures can be implemented before that time arrives.”

“INN will broadcast -any- information we receive on the flight of the Blue Horizon whenever we get it. For the sake of me and my station, I would ask that you do not call in to request updates on the flight. When we have something to report, I will make sure it is broadcast promptly and exclusively by this station. You can depend on Holly.

“In related news, we have received word that another freighter has launched out toward the Mytha Star System, hoping to help any survivors of the catastrophe. We have only had limited contact with the Savannah Hunter as it heads out in the Blue Horizon’s wake, although it is currently unknown who has supplied and financed Captain Jensen’s flight to the lost, distant world.”

“I had actually forgotten that you were on your way out here,” Merlin said dryly. “Now that you know Sillon’s still there, you can probably get in a good vacation before you turn around and head back.”

“So, what am I supposed to do with all my relief supplies?” Armando asked in an indignant voice. “What did you do with all of yours?”

Merlin kept his eyes focused on the stars outside the forward windows. “Relief supplies? Our cargo was donated to supply my ship on the trip out and back. We’ll have used it all up by the time we get back to our next port. Fortunately, it wasn’t a wasted trip. The Silloni government has hired us to do a job for them on the way back.”

“What job is that?” the lion asked suspiciously.

“That’s our business,” Sinclair replied, “and is not your concern.” Before his competitor could respond, the wolf recalled the last statement in Holly’s broadcast. “We had the backing of over a thousand donations to pay for our trip. Who’s footing the bill for your voyage?”

“Uh, that’s not your concern, either,” Armando answered in a subdued voice.

“Probably pilfered from the stores of the Intergalactic Aid Foundation that were meant for Brandt,” Renny said to his captain, not really caring if the microphone picked up his comment.

“Well, Armando,” Merlin said with a smirk toward his navigator, “since you were doing a noble thing, I will not inquire further into your business with Sillon. Enjoy your vacation.”

“Now, listen, Sinclair. You and I have been competitors, but we were both making a historic voyage to help out a sister planet all thought was lost. There’s no need for sarcastic…”

“A historic voyage?” Merlin cut in. “So that’s your plan, to grab some of the glory of an honorable mission to a planet in need. Armando, Sillon was never in any danger, so once we transmit our report that everything is where it should be, this whole thing will be filed as a footnote on another routine mission and everyone will forget about the Blue Horizon and the Savannah Hunter’s voyages. We’re not heroes, pal. Just freightliners.”

“Probably right,” Armando said in his earlier subdued tone. “Now I gotta figure out what to do with these supplies. We’ve had our own, but we’re getting low. I suppose we could do what you did and use what we need from them.”

“As you said,” Merlin concluded with a smile, “that’s not our concern. Sillon really is a nice place to visit, so enjoy some down time.” With the flourish, the wolf punched the pad to disconnect the communication.”

“So, what do we do now?” Renny asked.

Merlin headed for the door. “Back to what we were doing before he called.”

“Could you have Max bring something for me to eat?” Renny asked as he realized he was going back to boredom. “I’m hungry.”

“I’ll give him your request.”

***

Two days later, Maximillian sat on the bunk in his room, his knees drawn up under his chin and his arms wrapped around his legs as he listened to a recording of DWT’s music. He had spent some of his free time with Carsen Vetter, who had taken it upon himself to teach the youth a little about music. Having never married, Vetter made it his business to help any young person he could find. However, Merlin had forbidden him that morning to visit the rec deck where the band stayed until after the satellite had been deployed sometime the next day. The captain had not given him a reason and Max was a little dismayed over the issue.

Preparing food for the entire crew several times a shipboard day had turned out to be a larger job than he had anticipated and he had spent more time in the kitchen than he liked. He did not have much free time anymore and he wanted to spend it with the famous band. Samantha had also postponed his tutoring until after the satellite’s deployment, so what little free time he did have was now spent bored in his room. He could put on a video from several he had brought from Sillon, but did not feel like watching anything alone.

He glanced over at his desk and noted the time. He would have to head back to the kitchen soon to prepare more food and he discovered that he was not overly enthused about it. He stood up next to the bed and reached for the apron that lay across the computer chair. He smiled faintly as he glanced at the cartoon figure of a canine holding a fork and a knife in its paws with its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth. Sparky had paid to have it made for him on Dennier and had gifted it to him when he had begun helping her in the kitchen. He missed the lynx already and wished she were here to cheer him up as she had done on numerous occasions.

Maximillian had spent most of his life as a slave, but the crew of the Blue Horizon had been courteous enough never to mention his past unless he did so first. In fact, it almost seemed they had forgotten it and treated him like another longtime crewmember. However, he still had strong memories of the way Weller Tagon had treated him and while he looked fine on the outside, he still had a difficult time adjusting to life as a free spirit.

The youth heaved a sigh and donned the apron. While he was still tying the back strings, someone knocked on his cabin door.

“C’mon in,” he said in a slightly raised voice.

The door slid aside and he glanced up into the green eyes of Carsen Vetter. “Hey, kiddo,” the tiger said with a smile, “why haven’t you come to visit with me today?”

The lighthearted expression that had spread across the youth’s face when the musician appeared evaporated instantly. “Uncle Merlin told me not to bother you anymore,” Max replied in a quiet voice. “He didn’t say why.”

Carsen stepped into the room and put a hand on the canine’s shoulder. “Well, it isn’t a bother if you join me at my own request, is it?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“In that case, Max, will you join me on the Recreational Deck?”

The young cook looked up at the tiger and cracked a grin. “Yes, I would like that.”

“Do one favor for me?”

“Sure, anything.”

“Ditch the apron. You won’t need it for a while.”

“But, it’s almost time for me –”

“Lose the apron, bud.”

Maximillian hesitated only a moment before he pulled the apron up over his head and tossed it on the bed without bothering to untie the strings.

“That’s better,” the tiger replied. “Now come with me, I have something special I want to show you.”

Max followed the musician from his room and skirted around the curved corridor to the lift. “What is it you want to show me?” he asked his friend.

The tiger looked over at him as they entered the lift. He tapped the pad for the third deck and said, “You’ll know what it is as soon as we get there.”

Max looked at him with a smirk. “You are being awfully—” he struggled to find the right word, “—vague.”

“That’s the point.”

In a rare moment of uncharacteristic boldness, Maximillian twitched his tail and looked the tiger directly in the eyes. He raised a pointed finger and opened his mouth to speak. “Don’t even—” He never got to finish his statement, because when the lift door slid aside, he was assaulted with a barrage of sound and bright lights.

“SURPRISE!” shouted a gathered crowd.

Max froze where he stood, his mouth open, his eyes wide and finger still pointing. Carsen grinned widely and pushed the youth out of the lift and into the room before the doors closed again.

The room was decorated with streamers and balloons that Samantha had picked up on Sillon, recorded music was playing in the background and a table to the side held several brightly wrapped packages and a traditional cake with candles.

Taro handed her drink to Renny and rushed forward to wrap her arms around the canine. “Happy birthday, Max,” she said merrily. She gave him a quick lick on the cheek and then stepped back. Max stared at the crew and passengers of the Blue Horizon as he felt the blood rush to his face. Everyone was there except for Patch, who was probably on bridge duty.

“Birth… birthday?” he asked with emotion.

“That’s right,” Samantha said with her own wide grin. “We’re celebrating your sixteenth birthday!”

“He’s practically an adult!” Pockets said as he moved forward and grabbed the young canine’s hand to pump it in a tight handshake.

Merlin crossed his arms and said with a chuckle, “Not quite legal, but he’s getting there.”

“Isn’t seventeen the legal age on Dennier?” Renny asked.

“Yeah, but he’s not there yet.”

“Congratulations, Max!” Durant said, handing him a glass of punch.

There were several more expressions from others to mark the occasion, but through it all, Maximillian stayed strangely quiet. Tanis noticed this and drew the youth further into the room gently by the arm.

“Come on in, Max,” he said. “Ya have some packages to open to commemorate yer big day!”

Everyone became quiet as Max reached out for a package, but then drew his hand back. He looked around him at the faces of his friends and said, “I… I don’t know what to say. I’ve never had a birthday party before.”

“Never?” Durant asked.

“No… no one cares about a slave’s birthday,” Max said quietly.

Adam leaned on the boy’s shoulder with his elbow and lightly butted his head up against Max’s temple. “Ah, but you’re not a slave anymore, free-Max,” the keyboardist said. “You have plenty of folks who care a great deal about you, so lighten up and enjoy it. This celebration is for you!”

The young cook looked up at him with the hint of a smile as he realized the meaning of Adam’s words. Tanis gently poked him in the ribs and said, “Yer one of us, Max-o, and everyone’s attention is on ya today, so enjoy yerself.”

Max looked around the gathered crowd and smiled with moist, pale blue eyes. “Thank you,” he said with genuine emotion.

Samantha stood next to the table of goodies and lit a metal match. “Come over here, Max. We have a tradition for you to perform.” Curious, the young canine walked to the table as she lit several candles embedded into the top of a carob cake. Written across the brown cake in blue icing were the words, Happy Birthday Max.

Briefly, he wondered how Sam had made a cake without him knowing about it, as he had been in the kitchen so much since leaving Sillon, but he dismissed the thought as he began to realize just how much his life had changed since the Blue Horizon had landed on Quet. His throat tightened up when the rest of the crowd gathered in around him.

“Okay, Max,” Sam told him as she stepped back, “lean forward and blow out the candles.”

“But you just lit them.”

The Border collie smiled. “Yes, but when you blow them out, make a silent wish, and if you get them all blown out with one breath, word has it your wish will come true.”

“Okay,” Max said, his tail wagging behind him, “I wish for…”

“No!” Taro interrupted, “You’re not supposed to tell anyone what you wish for or it won’t come true.”

Max grinned. “Okay, then… stand back.” His ears flattened against his head as he took a long intake of breath.

“You only have to blow out the candles, kid,” Brand remarked with a deep chuckle, “not blow the cake off the table!”

Max lost his breath laughing, and everyone else laughed with him. He grinned at the drummer and started to take in another breath, but lost it once more in laughter when the dragon winked at him.

It took him several tries just to take in a lungful of air, but when the canine was finally ready, he was successful in blowing out all sixteen candles in one try. His gathered friends applauded heartily.

Merlin moved to the boy’s side as Samantha began cutting the cake into pieces. “Max,” he said, “congratulations and happy birthday. As everyone else on my crew knows, you get an extra hundred credits added to your account on your birthday.”

“Wow, thanks Uncle Merlin!”

Tanis picked up a package from the table and handed it to the birthday boy. “These gifts are all for ya,” he said. “Go ahead and open ‘em up.”

***

“Music is a form of expression,” Brand Arkram said later to the small crowd once the party had finally wound down, “and in order for it to be effective, you need have something to express. Going into a job like this to make money or gain fame is fakery and the audiences will sense it immediately. If you are going to do something, you have to do it for the love of whatever it is because your happiness is your life’s goal. Others’ approval will not add one micron to your time or joy if you are doing something you don’t like.”

Carsen nodded. “Adam and Brand did not get married for social obligation or because they wanted sex. They got married because the women had qualities that would enrich their lives, enhance their pleasure. Our friendship is based on the same principle, that we increase each other’s happiness. I’m not married because I haven’t found that woman yet.”

Adam snickered. “They haven’t made women like what he wants in anything but marble.”

The tiger blithely ignored the keyboardist and waved dismissively, “I got tired of watching music vids where aging rock stars retold how they blew all their cash on women and drugs and booze, and I decided that was not going to be me. Keeping ourselves grounded has been a very big part of how this group works together and keeps on working together. The entertainment industry is not as big as all the hype makes it out to be, really. It’s only a couple of thousand people specifically working on this stuff and others occasionally come in to help out. For instance, read the labels on all the music indexes you have and see how many recurring names appear. Producers, songwriters, session musicians… the pool gets smaller the more titles you read. This is a business and we treat it as such.”

Carsen stretched and yawned with an impressive show of teeth, but continued his thoughts. “The biggest problem is not the competition, it’s the media. Critics are ninety-five percent failed artists. There are two things they are going to say about you and you had better be ready for them. They are going to say you are on drugs and that you’re in financial dire straits. See it coming and have a rejoinder for it in advance. You don’t have to prove anything to them because their opinion means nothing. Opinions are like armpits; everybody has them and they all usually stink.”

Samantha grinned and asked, “Did you get into the business merely for the business of it?”

Carsen shook his head. “There are different reasons to go into the biz, but music incorporates aspects of so many things necessary in life: mathematics, science, art and physical discipline... the benefits of studying and learning music far outweigh anything else you could teach a child.” He glanced down at Maximillian, who was seated at the collie’s feet and added, “Max started out with a deficit and must now run to catch up with his contemporaries. Compacting several things into a single course of study will give him a foot up he’ll need if he’s going to survive.”

“What about touring?” Renny asked, changing the direction of the conversation. “Anything memorable?”

The tiger snickered and replied, “Barcelona, on Earth.” As one, Brand and Adam groaned. Carsen shrugged and plodded on. “Our tour manager had set up a pyrotechnics spectacle for the big finish of the show. At each side of the stage, they had set up these cannons…”

“Real cannons,” Adam added.

“Yeah, real cannons,” Carson continued, “but they didn’t have cannonball in them, of course, just the charge. During rehearsals, the roadies set them off and blam! They went off all right, so Adam and I were supposed to set these off one right after the other at the end; beautiful show, right?”

“Later on in the show, however…” Brand growled.

The tiger smiled. “I finished up with the last bit of the finale and touched mine off. Suddenly there was this tremendous whoom! and this cannon, I swear to you, left the ground and sailed six meters up into the air. Sent light fixtures and guitars flying everywhere!”

Adam leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “What the guys had done, by mistake,” he said, “was that they had doubled the amount of charge in the cannons. So, when these things took off, they went off like Terran Roman candles.”

“Luckily, the audience still thought it was part of the show,” Brand said with a deep chuckle.

Adam smiled. “Of course, I saw all this happen to Carsen and I gritted my teeth...” Taro looked sideways at the tiger, who started giggling. “…because I still had mine to go!” The wolf laughed and sat back in his chair. “So, I thought, bear and grin it, and I set this thing off and whoom! Up this thing goes in fire and brimstone. Utter mess of things!”

“And that was only the first night,” Brand said.

“Oh yeah . . .” Carsen added.

The drummer took his turn at the story and said, “The next night we told Marconi, ‘No cannons!’ He said okay, but having a flair for the dramatic, he talked us into a fireworks show instead. We said okay to that. At the end of the show, the next night… out of nowhere sails this rocket, whoosh! between Carsen’s legs! Scared him half to death and singed his tail, and then another thing comes screaming out from behind the gong, grazes the eighteen-inch, bounces off and goes spiraling into the audience.”

Adam shook his head. “It seems that what Marconi had done was to erect a vertical display with all these fireworks side-by-side on it and the thing fell over from the vibration of Brand’s thundering drums just as we were finishing. It sent all the fireworks sailing through the stage and into the audience. It was a miracle that nobody was hurt!”

“We changed tour managers after that,” Adam and Carsen said in unison.

“Setting the stage and the players on fire,” Brand replied, “is not the best way to promote yourself.”

“Although it is fun at parties,” Carsen finished with a mischievous grin.

***

Ten-year-old Taro Nichols stretched beneath a palm in the warm afternoon, her best friend Tasha by her side. The two girls lay bare in their fur in the warmth of the Hestran sun, their languid bodies drying from a taxing swim in the local lake. This was their secret place, where they could lose what few social inhibitions they had and not worry about prying eyes. On an island ringed by sharp rocks that only the best swimmers dared navigate, it was a hideout where the girls could escape for a while. The long summer day had been fulfilling; catching bugs, torturing their little brothers, and beating the snot out of a local ball team before taking a swim in the lake where kids always furry-dipped against their parents’ warnings. She looked at her friend as the other combed fingers through her scalp hair.

“You know,” Taro sing-songed, “when I grow up, I’m going to have a house and lots of kids and a big, strong guy with lots of money.” Her friend smiled gently, her vulpine eyes taking in the sparkling water that stretched out before them. “What will you do?” Taro asked.

Her friend stopped, considered it for a moment, and replied matter-of-factly, “I’m going to rule the world.”

Taro was taken aback, and smirked. “Yeah, right!” Her friend returned her amity with a small smile of her own.

It was on that day that each had made a solemn vow that no matter what, she would do all she could to make the other’s dream come true. Taro thought it was a safe bet. For her, the world was one long, glorious summer afternoon with no cares and no responsibilities. Hers was a world that could be taken for granted.

Thirty-eight-year-old Taro Nichols opened her eyes. Her room was dark and the body next to her was warm. She rolled over on her side, curled up next to Renny, and listened to his soft snoring. She mused briefly on her dream and wondered why such thoughts of the past came unbidden after so many years. Taro’s youthful aspirations for the future had changed over time. She was no longer concerned with raising a family, choosing instead to live as she wanted out among the stars, but there were times she did miss a real home life. She considered her childhood friend and wondered where her life was currently headed.

***

“Keep the thrusters at station-keeping,” said Merlin’s voice from the bridge speakers. There was a metallic resonance behind the signal that gave the scene an eerie feel. “Despite what Sir Hirotaka told us about the ease of deploying his satellite, this thing has a lot of mass behind it and I don’t want even the slightest jolt to fling it out of our reach.”

“Aye, Captain,” Taro replied as she kept her eyes on the readouts. Max had his face pressed up close to the port side window, trying to see any movement below.

Down in the hold, Durant and Patch watched the proceedings from the airtight booth of the loadmaster’s office. The bay door was open completely, the gravity deck plates in the hold turned off, and four suited figures hovered near the huge bulk of the spherical relay satellite as they slowly guided it out toward free space.

The thrusters of Merlin and Renny’s pressure suits puffed in tiny jets as they maneuvered the leading edge of their cargo toward the opening. Trailing the satellite were Samantha and Tanis, as they made sure the upper and lower curves of the large orb were clear as it neared the bay door opening. It was quite a chore to keep it moving straight and also to keep delicate pressure suits away from the edges of the transceiver sensors.

“Okay, we’re clear on the topside,” Samantha reported as the upper curve of the satellite passed out into space.

“Same thing down under,” Tanis added. “Yer free to move it out into position.”

“Aye,” Merlin replied. He gave a silent wave to Renny, who acknowledged with a wave of his own, and both upped the thrust on their suits, their tail pouches trailing behind them like banners. There was a moment’s hesitation as the mass of the sphere gathered momentum, and then it sped away from the stationary Blue Horizon. Three hundred meters from the ship, Merlin and Renny circumnavigated the orb and reversed their thruster direction to begin slowing the satellite.

“You are in position now, Captain,” Taro reported. “Let me know when you are both clear and I’ll activate the satellite’s automatic maneuvering system.”

“I’m free and clear now,” Renny said.

“So am I,” Merlin replied. “Go ahead and activate it, Taro.”

“Aye, sir.”

The huge satellite drifted another twenty meters further before Merlin and Renny saw a series of green fire jetting from positioning thrusters all around its curved surface. The large orb braked to a halt and then a myriad of spiny antennae telescoped out from hidden openings. The satellite then began turning slowly as it searched for the invisible communication net of the Planetary Alignment.

“Signal from Sillon has been locked in,” Taro reported a moment later.

“Okay, we’re coming back in,” Merlin told her. As he and Renny fired their thrusters to return to their vessel, the lupine captain turned his head inside his helmet and looked toward a fiery nebula of red, white, yellow and orange in the distance – the remains of SDC-971, the reason for their long journey to and from Sillon. He frowned and sighed, glad to have the satellite taking up its position. It would allow the distant world to resume communication with the Planetary Alignment it belonged to, and life could then return to normal. Merlin would be glad to be on their way. By the time the Blue Horizon made it back to Kantus, over half a standard year would have passed since they left Dennier on the investigative mission.

“Signal from the Planetary Alignment StellarNet has been located and is locking in,” Taro said with a cheery voice. “ComNet has just locked in as well. The relay satellite is stationary in its position and working according to design. The prerecorded Silloni government message is streaming now.”

“Good,” Merlin replied. “Renny and I are nearing the cargo bay now and I see that Tanis and Sam are already inside. Once Durant has the doors closed and sealed, resume our course to Kantus at standard cruising speed. Renny has already entered the adjusted coordinates into the navigational computer.”

“Aye, sir. Preparing to get under way.”

***

The intercom always seemed to chirp at inconvenient times, Merlin had always thought to himself. The lupine captain had his feet tucked underneath his bunk to steady himself as he went through a daily set of exercises. With the rec deck occupied by their passengers, he had had to relegate his routine to his quarters.

With a snort at being interrupted, Merlin crawled upon his knees and tapped the response pad on his cabin terminal. “Yes, what is it?”

“Sorry to bother ya, Captain,” the voice of Tanis voice erupted from the speaker, “but ya wanted to know when we could pick up INN’s news broadcast.”

“Ah, okay,” the wolf replied. “Since we’ve been without news for four months, put the broadcast on ship-wide speakers.”

“Aye, Cap’n.”

“Hello, listeners, this is News Around the Alignment and I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. First today is an update of the unrest on Nalirra since the ruling government split into two feuding factions over military exercises. General Duular of Kardon announced today that he would not support Sed Amittias’ new law on lowering the draft age in order to increase military strength for a new conflict with sister world Oe’Tanata, and has promised to pull his own troops out of the imperial army unless the new law is rescinded. The dictator Amittias has not responded to Duular’s public announcement and tension is growing among the civilian population.

“And on the heavy-gravity planet of Hestra, the previously unknown affliction that hit a community in the Taq Mountains of the Arellanes Prefecture two days ago is spreading. Medical officials in Taquit, a small remote town with a population of just under three thousand, have reported that at least eighteen people have fallen victim to something that has turned into a horrible nightmare. The cause of these sicknesses has not yet been discovered, but a high-level virus is suspect. The effects have been quite ghastly. The reports show that symptoms begin similar to a common flu, with fever, chills, sore throat and coughing. From there, however, the changes begin. The afflicted have complained that the nerve endings of the skin become super-sensitive, where the gentlest touch is extremely painful.”

Holly’s voice paused for a moment and her hard swallow could actually be heard over the broadcast. “As the condition advances, the patient’s eyes have turned crimson, a sign of internal bleeding that quickly advances to other orifices, such as the eyes, nose, ears, mouth and… others. Most of the patients have reached this stage as the area doctors race to contain this outbreak.”

In the galley, Durant jumped at the sound of breaking dishes in the kitchen. He put down the chopsticks he was using and looked over his shoulder at the vixen, who wore an expression of horror. She gripped the kitchen counter so hard that it was leaving creases in the metal and she looked as if she might be near fainting.

“What is it, Taro?” he asked as he pushed his chair back away from the table. “Do you know someone in that place?”

The fox moved her mouth two or three times before she could speak and finally raised both hands to her face. “That’s my — my hometown, Durant,” she said in a shaky voice. She looked as if she was near fainting. “My family lives there.”

VIXEN’S NIGHTMARE

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon and my crew are on our way home, back toward the rest of the Planetary Alignment following a long voyage to Sillon. Despite our initial fears of the demise of the planet, Sillon was right where it was supposed to be, quite unharmed; the supernova that threatened it was in a different star system altogether and far enough away that it did not pose a threat.

Despite the relative good health and order of the place, it brought about changes to my crew with the loss of Ivy Sparks. Her marriage to Roland on the outbound flight resulted in kittens, and with a generous job offer from Master Tristan of the Dragon Loft, she and her husband elected to stay on Sillon to raise their kits there. I hated to lose her after serving together for seven years, but I agreed that an interstellar freighter was no place to raise a family with infants.

On the voyage outbound to the distant world, Sparky took Maximillian under her tutelage and taught him how to prepare meals and run a kitchen. The boy had prior experience in kitchens on Quet, but he never had to run the show on his own before. He’s done well to prepare meals for everyone, but while he has never complained, he looks a bit stressed to me under his new responsibilities.

Along for the ride back to the Planetary Alignment as a paying customer to our next destination of Kantus is the popular fusion rock band, Dragon, Wolf & Tiger, otherwise known as DWT, whose own transport never arrived to take them home. The guitarist of the group, a tiger named Carsen Vetter has a practice of tutoring youngsters in music, has taken it upon himself to befriend Max. Between cooking duties, tutoring with Sam, and music lessons, my adopted nephew seems to have little time to himself. I’ve been meaning to take him aside and ask him about it, but have yet to find a good time to do so.

To help pay for our voyage back, the Silloni Regent hired us to haul a newly built relay satellite out to preset coordinates and deploy it for them. The satellite’s main function is to route communications between Sillon and the rest of the Planetary Alignment around the supernova disturbance of SDC-971. The deployment went smoothly and for the first time in nearly five months, signals resumed between that planet and the rest of the PA worlds.

In a transmission we received of an INN broadcast several hours after leaving the satellite in place, we soon found out about a deadly virus raging in a small remote city on planet Hestra. Not only is Hestra the homeworld of my first officer, the town where the nasty virulent disease is spreading is where she grew up and her family still lives. The report gave her such a shock that she collapsed moments after hearing the news and is currently resting in her quarters under Renny’s watchful care.

Patch and Pockets are currently making repairs to the kitchen countertop she ripped from its wall mounts as she fell. Being from a heavy-gravity planet such as Hestra, Taro does well to keep control over her strength, but such was her shock that she also left finger grooves in the twisted metal of the counter. I suggested putting her under sedation, but she wouldn’t have it. Taro promised to behave and has apologized for the damage in the galley, but she requested we let her monitor the INN broadcasts on her personal com terminal.

Patch complained about the stress I put on our old, tired engines after I’d ordered Tanis to up our speed to maximum so we could get back to the PA as soon as possible. Patch reminded me, however, that despite our top speed, we’re still nearly two months away from the nearest PA outpost and jeopardizing our Liquid Crystal core over such a long period of time was not in our best interests. I gave in to his experience and had Tanis drop our speed back down, but not by much… just enough to take the strain off the engines and make our chief engineer a little less unhappy.

I have an uneasy feeling that the situation on Hestra will get worse before it gets any better, and that Taro is in for a long ride. Currently, Hestra is on the opposite side of the Planetary Alignment from where we’ll be coming in from, and we’ll still have to drop off our passengers on Kantus before we can go on to Hestra for her.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Samantha walked slowly along the curved corridor of the crew deck, hands clasped behind her back and her gaze on the floor at her bare feet. She wore nothing more than a pair of denim cutoffs and an oversized cotton tee-shirt, and her fur was in disarray. She had tried sleeping, but the thoughts running through her mind would not let her rest so she had resorted to pacing the corridor quietly. Moss had scanned her a few of times on its rounds, but she had tried to ignore it, even if it did seem the small flying saucer buzzed by her faster than usual.

Their voyage through the cosmos seemed to go on and on forever and everyone was on edge. On the flight out to Sillon, Sam’s nerves had been frazzled from the uncertainty of the fate of her family. Now, on the voyage back to the Planetary Alignment, it was not her family that was in everyone’s mind, but Taro’s. The Border collie felt responsible for the Blue Horizon’s position, so far out into space that they could not make an emergency flight to Hestra, and she felt she had failed as Taro’s friend.

What could she do? There must be something she could do, even way out here. Samantha plodded along quietly on her fourth lap around the corridor, chewing her bottom lip in worry. Pockets stepped out of his cabin and Sam bumped into him without seeming to see him.

“Hey, there, Sammy,” he said in a soft voice, “you okay?”

Samantha glanced up at his words and it was then the raccoon saw the moisture in her eyes. “No, Pockets,” she said to her friend, “I don’t think I am.”

“What is it?” he asked as he led her back into his room. Just as the door closed, Moss whizzed by at a higher rate of speed. Pockets cleared a pathway through bits of junk lying on the floor to the bed and the two of them sat down together.

“I can’t stop thinking about Taro’s family,” Samantha said after a moment of silence. “Her situation is similar to what I faced on our way to Sillon. I was worried about my adopted family and whether or not they were safe. I worried about it constantly and you know how distant I got from everyone. Taro’s going to go through the same thing, Pockets. We’re still two months away from Hestra, but the difference between our two situations is that I didn’t know what was ahead. With the INN reports, Taro will be hearing about what is going on as the news is released, but still not be able to get there any faster.”

“She’s glued to INN now,” Pockets agreed. “She hasn’t slept much the past couple of days since Holly’s report and…”

“Holly!” Samantha exclaimed. “That’s it!”

“What is?”

The canine smiled and licked Pockets on the cheek. “Thanks, Jerad,” she said. Before the raccoon could respond, she was out the door and headed around the corridor.

Pockets touched the spot where she had licked him and grinned foolishly. Whenever she called him by his real name, she was extremely happy, and the lick was a bonus. The mechanic sighed and fell back on his pillow. Samantha had never had a romantic interest in her partner in crime, but that did not mean he did not have feelings for her. He knew that she occasionally slept with Tanis, and everyone knew that she had warmed the captain’s bed at times, but for Pockets she was just a dream. They spent many hours together off-duty, but the conversations never pointed toward themselves. He had often wondered what she might be like, but a larger canine like Sammy rarely ever found romance in a short ‘coon like himself.

***

“Samantha! It is been ages since we last heard from you!”

“Hello, Holly,” the collie said into the headset microphone of the bridge com station. Patch sat in the center seat of the bridge on his watch shift, idly reading one of the captain’s mystery novels he had found on the floor. He tried to give the appearance of being immersed in the story, but his ears were straining to hear Sam’s half of the conversation.

“We received word that communications had resumed with Sillon a couple days ago, but no one knew if your ship was responsible.”

Samantha wished she could see the human’s face. She could practically hear the grinning over the headset and found herself smiling in response. “The Silloni government hired us to place a relay satellite on our way home, at coordinates where the signals could be routed around the SDC-971 interference. We did that two days ago, but were so shocked by your reports about Hestra that we forgot to check in with you. I even have some prepared statements to transmit to you concerning our journey.”

“The situation on Hestra is getting worse, Sam. Much worse,” the news anchor told her in a quiet whisper over the connection. “The spread of the disease is more terrible than what I’ve made it out to be in my reports. The Hestran government wants us to soften our reports in order to prevent panic and a rush on the town by friends and relatives outside the area.”

“I was afraid of that,” Samantha said after a hard swallow.

“There have already been over eight hundred cases of the sickness officially reported to the authorities.”

“Eight hundred! Holly, your newscasts only said less than twenty cases have been reported!”

“Now you understand why Hestran officials want to keep panic to a minimum. My producers are upset and want to broadcast the truth, but in this situation, I think Hestra’s request should be honored.”

“Holly,” Samantha said after a hard swallow, “a relative of a family in Taquit is on board the Blue Horizon. Her family’s name is Nichols.”

“Looking now at my database… Yes, there are a couple of patients of the disease with that surname on a list an undercover correspondent transmitted to me. This is Taro’s family?”

“Oh, no…” Samantha breathed. “Yes, that’s her. What are the two names you have?”

“Let me see here… Reika Nichols…”

“That’s Taro’s mom!”

“…and Kamui Nichols.”

“That’s one of her brothers,” the Border collie said with a sickening feeling in her stomach. “Holly, I need you to do something very important for me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t get them out of Taquit for you,” Holly replied somberly. “The place has been quarantined and is locked up tighter than a…”

“No, that’s not what I had in mind,” Samantha said quickly. “The Blue Horizon is still too far from the Planetary Alignment to get a good transmission to Alexandrius and I need you to relay a message to the corporate headquarters of Holden Pharmaceutical, my father’s company.”

“Okay, I can do that much. What is it you want me to tell them?”

“From the quarantine and the news reports we’ve heard since we were able to connect back into StellarNet, this sounds like a high bio-level virus,” Samantha told her. “I need you to get in touch with Dr. Ron Williams at the Alexandrius Center of Disease Control in Alucara. He’s an otter with a large amount of experience in these matters. Have him take Dr. Tina Sperry and Dr. Alexis Hamby to help him lead a team into the area. They are the finest medical biologists in the Planetary Alignment. Tell them to get to Hestra, now!!”

“The local military has already called in Lt. Alan McCarthy and Lt. Leann Silverberg. They’re medical disease specialists with the Hestran CDC. They’re rated for Bio-level 3, I believe.”

“Dr. Williams’ team is rated for Bio-level 4 and above. Better be sure to remind him that Hestra is a heavy-gravity planet, and they’ll need to take endosuits with them just so they can stand up to work in that environment.”

“Okay, I’ll get on it right away.”

“Thank you, Holly. I knew I could depend on you.”

“Anything else I can help you with?”

“Taro would welcome whatever information on the Hestran situation you can provide for us, even if it is only on your news broadcast.”

“Okay, you’ve got special consideration, my friends, and I’ll make sure I get whatever information I can to you.” There was a pause and then Holly spoke again with a lighter tone. “I want to thank you, Sam, for staying in touch with me on your way out to Sillon. I won the Masanori Award for the coverage while you were away.”

“You’re welcome and congratulations, Holly, but you knew that Sillon was okay even as our last transmissions faded out when we neared SDC-971.”

“There were many thousands of people waiting each day to hear whatever morsel of information about Sillon you could transmit to us. If you had not made the trip, we might still not know that it was not the star near Sillon’s system that went supernova. We’re thankful that Sillon is okay, but we’re more thankful for you for giving us the confirmation we needed when our hopes were dim.”

Samantha did not know what to say. She did not feel like a hero, especially when their sheer distance kept them away from getting quickly to Hestra. “Thanks, Holly,” she said. “Now it is we who will be dependent on your broadcasts. We’re still a long way from the Planetary Alignment traffic to do anything ourselves, so your news is all we will have for a while.”

“I understand. Please tell Ms. Nichols that I will make sure to put out whatever news is available into my broadcasts, but as you’ve just found out, some of that information is being limited by the Hestran government, so I’ll be relying on personal contacts as well. General Koontz is in charge of the operations at Taquit and he hasn’t been too friendly with the media.”

“Thank you, Holly. This means a lot to us.”

“Okay, I’m signing off now to get in touch with your friends at the ACDC in Alucara.”

Samantha said a few more words of good-bye and then removed the headset from her ears. Patch did not attempt to hide his curiosity and looked at her directly.

“From what I could hear of your conversation,” he said in his country accent, “it seems to me that situation in Taro’s hometown is worse than the news seems to let on, am I right?”

Samantha nodded and frowned deeply. “You’re right, Patch,” she replied. “I’ll fill you in on the rest of the details later, but I have to go visit Taro right now.”

The raccoon grunted when she darted out of the room. “I’m always the last to know anything,” he grumbled to himself and reopened the novel.

Sam had to stop short when she moved out into the corridor. Moss flew by rapidly and she wondered what the hurry was. She dismissed it when she neared Taro’s cabin. She tapped on the vixen’s door, but she got no answer. She knocked a little harder and called out for her.

“Taro,” she said, “it’s Sam. I really need to talk to you right now. It’s about your family on Hestra.”

The door opened and she saw the sleepy faces of Taro and Renny. Both were in shorts and tee-shirts that looked as if they had been slept in for a month. “What is it, Sam?” the red fox asked blearily.

“We need to sit down,” Samantha replied. The cheetah led them into the room, and just as the door closed, Moss whizzed by again with a high-pitched “Meow!” Renny and Taro sat on the rumpled bed and pulled a blanket into their laps while the collie took the desk chair.

“I’ve just spoken with Holly Harken about the situation on Hestra,” Sam began, “and your family is involved.” She then told them everything the INN newscaster had told her and then tried to field their questions afterward. The stress of the past couple of days showed in Taro’s eyes, and at the end of the conversation, she finally did something she that had not yet allowed herself to do. She cried.

***

Merlin came awake instantly at the fire alarm. The first thought that occurred to him as he jumped out of bed and threw on a pair of pants and a shirt was that Sparky had once again set the kitchen on fire. He was already out the door and racing down the hallway toward the galley before he remembered that the lynx was no longer on board. He slowed to a trot and shook his head with a frown. He had not bothered to call the bridge for the location of the fire, but he had already arrived at the galley door. He thumbed the control to open the panel and then peered inside.

Behind the kitchen counter, Max was poring over notes on his slateboard to prepare the next crew meals and looked up in concern at the sounding alarm. The kitchen stove used induction heating, so there were no open flames here. Merlin nodded his head in greeting and went straight to the com terminal set into the wall near the counter. He tapped the call pad and waited impatiently.

“This is Samantha,” the voice replied.

“Where’s the fire?” Merlin asked.

“Engineering!”

Merlin did not wait to reply and bounded back out into the corridor. He found the lift open and jumped inside. A moment later, he ran out into the hold that was empty save for a few pallets of band equipment cabled to the middle of the deck beneath plasteel webbing; the rest of the donated ship’s supplies had been moved into storage bins along the perimeter bulkheads. He could see red and orange flickering from inside the entrance to the engine room and rushed to investigate.

When he stepped through the door, he was met by searing heat and smoke. The automatic fire suppressant system was spraying white foamy powder over everything, but this particular fire did not seem to be responding to it. He pulled his shirt up over his nose and raised his other arm to ward off the heat from his eyes. He saw Patch lying on the floor of the large room beside a scorched control panel near the flames. A small shadow emerged rapidly from the smoke and the wolf was forced to duck as Moss zoomed out of the room and into the hold.

Durant arrived in the doorway just behind him and gasped. He and the captain ran to the downed raccoon and quickly dragged him by the arms out into the cargo bay. Merlin moved to the wall and shut the engine room door as Pockets emerged from the lift. Moss veered into the empty elevator and the doors closed behind it, but the mechanic could hear a series of hard thumping from inside as the compartment rose to the upper levels. He grimaced, knowing from the sounds that he would probably have to effect repairs in there as soon as the current crisis was over.

Relieved that the second raccoon was not in the engine room, Merlin activated the emergency ventilation and purged the atmosphere of the flaming compartment out into space after the pressure door sealed shut. He dusted a combination of soot and powder from his face fur and thumbed the connection to the bridge.

“Patch is down,” he said, coughing. “Get Tanis down here with an oxy tank.”

“Right away!” A moment later, Samantha’s voice came back. “He’s on his way. How bad is Patch?”

“Dunno yet. Stay tuned.” The wolf clicked off the intercom and moved to his crewmates. Patch moaned and coughed a little, but was still out of it. His brother wore a worried expression as he absently pet the chief engineer’s singed fur.

The intercom chirped and Merlin went back to the panel. “Yes?”

“Air pressure in the engine room is in the negative numbers, Merlin, but now rising on the way back to ship normal. Temperature is twenty-two degrees and also rising.”

“Thank you, Sam,” the wolf replied. “Keep an eye on the systems and let me know if you see anything out of sync.”

“Aye.”

***

Brand Arkram stepped in through the door to the galley, dressed in a pair of swim trunks and a tank-top shirt with the masked face of a cartoon wrestling super-hero on the front. His muscular, leathery skin glistened with perspiration in the room lights.

Max looked up at him from his duties with a smile. “Can I help you with something, sir?” the young canine asked.

Brand shifted his gaze around the kitchen equipment and then shook his head. “No,” the large dragon replied in a deep voice. “I thought I heard a fire alarm and came down to investigate.”

Max bit his bottom lip and put down the cleaver he held in his hand. “I heard it, too,” he answered, wiping his hands on his apron. “Uncle Merlin came in here a bit ago and talked to Sam on the intercom. She said there was a fire in engineering.”

“We’re moving through space on inertia,” the dragon murmured, “but if they need to fire up the engines to change or correct our course and the system’s damaged, we might be stranded out here or flying off to who-knows-where.”

Max’s eyes widened at the thought that had not occurred to him before. “I hope not!” he said.

Brand shook his head. “Me neither, but they’ve probably got things under control. Sorry to bother you, kid,” the drummer said, turning back to the door. “See you later.”

“See you,” the canine answered with uncertainty.

***

Patch coughed, sputtered and managed to swear a blue streak in between as he pushed away the oxy-cup that Tanis had over his snout. He leaned over on his side and coughed a little more before he looked up into the eyes of his brother.

“Jerad, I swear I’m going to incinerate that wretched flobot of yours!” he growled.

“Patch, what happened?” Merlin asked as Tanis began wrapping the engineer’s burned hands.

The singed raccoon looked up at the captain and answered, “After my shift on the bridge, I came down here to take care of a couple things on my checklist. I was refilling the heat transfer unit with trilinax when Moss came into the engine room at high speed. Trilinax is slightly volatile in the brief duration flowing from container to the transfer unit — Moss whizzed too close to a bulkhead, and I’m guessing it sparked when it bounced off the beam.” He held up his bandaged hands and lightly fingered the singed fur around his nose. The raccoon mask around his eyes was strangely absent of singe.

“The trilinax blew up in my face,” he growled. “Thankfully, there was only a small amount left in the container. I’m lucky I still have my fingers.”

Tanis made a cursory look into the engineer’s eyes. “How’s yer vision?” he asked.

“My eyes are okay, I guess,” Patch answered. “I had on a pair of safety goggles, but I think they got blown off my face.”

“Moss has been zooming around the corridors all day,” Durant supplied.

“It almost took my head off a few moments ago,” Merlin added. He looked over at Tanis and said, “Take Patch up to Sickbay to check him out properly. Pockets, as soon as the engine room’s atmosphere is back up to tolerable, I want you inside checking the systems. Once you find out what was damaged, inform Sam so she can note it in the shift log. Start repairs and cleanup on whatever needs it in there. If the engine itself is out of commission, I need to know ASAP.”

“I’ll get on it right away,” the raccoon said.

Merlin looked over to Durant. “Get the word out that if anyone finds Moss, they are to deactivate it by any means necessary. Until we find out what is causing its erratic behavior, I want it out of commission!”

“Aye, boss.”

***

“I regret to inform you that Reika Nichols died this morning from the virus,” Holly’s voice reported somberly from the headset that Samantha wore; the canine felt her throat tighten up. “This thing is pretty nasty, Sam.”

“What about Taro’s little brother, Kamui?” she asked quietly.

“Sam, there’s no way to say this gently, but it is likely he’ll be dead before the day is over.”

“Oh, no…”

“Interstellar travel takes time, but Dr. Williams and his team arrived on Hestra yesterday and have been up to their noses into the situation. General Koontz wasn’t even going to let them into the quarantined area until Lt. Silverberg insisted he needed their help. Despite everyone’s efforts, they have not been able to contain it. This thing has spread throughout Taquit and they have not even discovered how it’s being transmitted.” Holly paused and coughed. “The people are starting to panic and Koontz is threatening a media blackout on top of that.”

“How are you finding out about all this?”

“INN sent a field correspondent to Hestra with the first news of the sickness, as a personal-interest story. Yariko Mansfield is putting her nose into everything to get as much information as possible before the General locks it all down. I’ve been holding back some of it during the newscasts on orders from my boss, but I’ve been giving you all the details.”

“Holly,” Sam said hesitantly, not sure she wanted to know what she was about to ask. “Tell me what you can about the virus.”

“How much detail do you really want?”

“All that you can tell me.”

“Of the eight hundred seventy-four confirmed cases of infection, the earliest twenty-three have died from this sickness. More are reporting in to the tent city that has sprung up to hold all the sick and dying. All the hospitals are overrun with newly infected, with more cases being reported daily. Once the virus is contracted, death comes in about six days’ time, so that means unless they can find something quick, they’re about to have nearly nine hundred bodies on their hands. Your doctors are working around the clock to combat this thing, especially since they discovered what it is.”

“What is it?” Samantha asked with renewed hope. “Where did it come from?”

“They don’t know how it got started or where it is from, but they’re certain it’s a bio-safety Level Five virus. They’re calling it Taquit Fever. This thing is hot in the blood and it basically liquefies the internal organs. The body loses blood through the tiniest cut or scratch, even through violent coughing. I’ve been told that the victim maintains a high fever the last couple of days.”

“It is this liquefying that kills them?”

“Not entirely. The final moment comes when the body convulses so that the back, gluteal and leg muscles wrench backward, breaking the spine.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Samantha said weakly with a hand up to her throat.

“You asked for details.”

“Has there been any progress toward a cure?”

“Sam,” Holly reminded her, “your team has only been in there a day. All they’ve really been able to do is identify that this thing is very bad and certain death to anyone who contracts it.”

The door to the bridge opened then and Taro walked in with tear streaks in the fur of her cheeks. “Let me talk to her,” she said in a cracking voice.

“Holly, Taro is here and wants to speak with you.” Sam nodded to herself in response to something the newscaster said and then handed the headset to her crewmate.

The fox sized the fit of the headset over her large ears and then spoke into the microphone. “Holly,” she said quietly, “tell me about my mother. I was listening in from the com terminal in my quarters.”

There was a pause and then the human’s voice returned. “Ms. Nichols, I’m sorry you heard our conversation or I would have been more compassionate.” The vixen grunted noncommittally and her silence prompted Holly to continue. “I don’t really have much on your mother, I’m afraid. All I know is that she was in a coma throughout the night and then… passed away this morning.”

“What about Kamui?”

“He… he went into a coma earlier today.”

“I see…” Taro closed her eyes and bowed her head for a moment. When she opened her eyes again and started out into space through the forward windows, fresh tears spilled into her cheek fur. “What about the rest of my family?” she asked.

“Their names are not on the sick list, so I assume they’re all right. I can have Yariko try to get a message to them if you want.”

“Yes, I would like that. My father’s name is Cusco Nichols and he lives in the Norrah section of Taquit. Listen closely, and give my father this message exactly word for word: Oretik herdantes harah ne shräelon trinrojur.”

“I’ve recorded this so I can play it back for him in your voice. What does this mean?”

“Pa will know what it means.”

“Okay, I’ll see if I can get it in to your family.”

“Thank you, Holly. For everything.” Taro disconnected the circuit and removed the headset from her ears. She turned to look at Samantha, who pretended to be interested in an instrument panel. “Samantha,” she began, but when the Border collie looked over at her, the vixen’s throat tightened up.

Instead of words, she moved quickly to her friend and grabbed her in a fierce hug, though mindful not to crush her with Hestran strength. Samantha returned the embrace and they both cried.

“Taro,” the collie said after a while, “I’m so sorry for dragging us all the way to Sillon. It’s all my fault that we couldn’t get back quick enough for your Mom... If we weren’t so far away…”

“Stop,” the fox said softly as she rubbed her eyes red. “You don’t have to apologize or feel like it’s your fault.” She wondered just how long her friend had been beating herself up for their present location. “How could you have known about this, Sam? How could anyone have known? Even if we’d gotten here in time, we’d have been quarantined with the rest of the city and probably facing the virus ourselves.”

She sat down in a console chair and put her head down in her hands, rubbing at fresh tears. “What could any of us have done but to say good-bye?”

***

Pockets studied the series of dents in the metal walls of the lift compartment, running his fingers along the grooves. If Moss was flying out of control in the confined space to make such damage, he would be surprised if the unit was still functioning for much longer.

He departed the lift near his quarters, a dirty rag in one hand as he tried to rub powdery soot from his fur and coveralls. He had managed to replace the damaged heat transfer unit in the engine room with a spare on hand with only a minimum of difficulty, though he did lose a spot of fur from his right elbow trying to get to a solitary fastener in an out-of-reach area. What took the longest was the cleanup of the fire soot and the gray-white fire suppressant powder that was all over the room and in the equipment. He suspected he would be finding the stuff inside tool chests, engineering manuals and his clothing for weeks to come. Had it not been for Renny’s volunteer help, he might still be there cleaning.

Merlin had ordered Patch to stay out of engineering for several days to let his burns heal. Tanis had treated him well, but now it would take time before the raccoon would be ready to work again. The captain had expected Patch to complain about being taken off-duty, but surprisingly, the engineer only nodded his head and said something about catching up on some reading. In the meantime, his brother would watch over the engines and make sure everything was set to go.

Pockets took a moment to call up the bridge and tell Merlin the ship was good to stay on its course and speed; there was no reason to waste resources to slow their inertia. When he stepped out of the lift, he thought he had heard a high-pitched whine, but it was gone by the time the panel closed behind him. When he neared his cabin door, he turned his head in time to see Moss coming around the curve of the corridor. It was traveling much faster than he had really designed the flobot to go, and its single eye lens flashed in alternating colors. It made a soft mewling noise in distress as it zoomed by him and disappeared once again out of sight.

Pockets acted quickly. He moved into his cabin, grabbed a pair of insulated gloves off his personal work table and donned them in a hurry. He stepped back out into the hallway just as the tiny flying saucer rounded the circular corridor again.

“Come to papa,” Pockets said quietly, raising his gloved hands to snatch it out of the air. Moss’ avoidance system tried to maneuver it up and away from him, but the raccoon grabbed the battered leading edge of the unit and yanked down as hard as he could. However, the diminutive mechanic was neither strong enough nor heavy enough to counter the anti-gravity system he had designed and he was swept off his feet. The action surprised him and he cried out when it carried him along around the corridor.

“EEEEYYYYEEEEE!” he yelled out.

Brand Arkram stepped out into the hallway from the galley where he and his band had been eating their supper and watched the masked critter desperately clinging to the flying disc.

“eeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee..........”

Carsen looked out at the noise from behind his drummer and began laughing. When Moss came around in its next orbit a moment later, they saw a forced, ‘I can handle it’ grin on Pockets’ face. Moss flew close to the ceiling and the dangling raccoon almost lost his grip. He swallowed hard, trying to think of a better way to stop his wild ride as his feet ran along the wall when he got too close.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked from inside the galley.

“Nothing to worry about,” Brand said with a widespread grin. Carsen glanced up and had an involuntary shudder go through him. When a Ryuji dragon smiled widely, it was a disconcerting sight.

Brand stood up straight and the horns on his head bumped the ceiling panel. He rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, raised a fist near his head and waited. It was only seconds before the raccoon-laden saucer rounded the corridor. Moss registered the danger in the huge, looming figure and immediately dropped its altitude. Pockets’ knees bounced off the floor twice before it began to drag him along with it. He knew he should just let go, but now he found it difficult to release his death grip. By the time Moss reached the drummer, the friction on Pockets’ knees had started to wear through the fabric of his coveralls with heat.

The flying menagerie zipped sideways to pass the dragon and Brand drove his fist down with surprising speed upon the top of the mobile sentry system, just missing the raccoon. Pockets landed hard on the floor and bounced to a stop against the wall. Moss tumbled to his side, its top smashed in and antenna-whiskers bent. The unit issued a weak mew and then its eye lens went dark. A small access panel split open and several small parts littered the floor. Pockets opened his whirling eyes and glanced over at the crumpled heap. There was a scorched silver relay lying on the floor beside it.

“So that’s where he hid it...” the raccoon muttered in a daze.

Carsen knelt down next to the mechanic and took his arms gently. “C’mon, Mr. Pockets,” he said with an amused smile as he pulled him up to his feet, “the ride is over.”

Pockets looked up at Brand and weakly gave him a thumbs-up sign. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely.

“Sorry about the damage,” the dragon replied, “but it looked like you needed help.”

“That’s okay... I can build another if I can’t repair this one.” He leaned over and picked up the silver relay that had fallen out and hefted it in his small hand. “For now, I need to run diagnostics to find out why it started going nuts, and I think I have a clue right here.”

***

“The trees and mountains are not as tall as they are on other worlds,” Taro said quietly to her friend. “The heavy gravity of Hestra never let them grow very high, though the forest wood is dense, but surprisingly lightweight.”

Tanis nodded his head absently and gently stroked the fur between the vixen’s eyes. They were fully clothed, but relaxed on the bed in her cabin with the lights turned down low. He sat with his back to the head wall and she lay on her back between his legs, her head resting in his lap and her eyes closed.

“Of course,” the red fox continued to talk of her home, “as a child, I never knew our world was heavy-gravity. To me it was normal, having grown up there. I laughed and played, jumped into puddles and climbed trees just like any other kid,” she said. “It wasn’t until I got to go off-world that I found out that most inhabited planets had a lower gravity that ours. I was the first of my family to see another world in person.”

“Ya know, in all the years we’ve known one another,” Tanis said in a soft voice, “I don’t think ya have ever told me about yer home.”

“I’ve always been private about home,” Taro replied. “Taquit is a small town and we didn’t have a lot of the niceties of a metropolitan city. The Nichols family was poor and Pa barely made enough money in the quarry to support the lot of us. That’s why I left,” she said. “My best friend Tasha’s family had the opportunity to move to Brandt while it was still a nice place to live, long before the Siilv deposits dried up. I talked them into letting me go along, lying that my family had given permission. Naturally, when we got to Brandt, my family found out I was with them and threw a fit. After weeks of silence, Pa finally contacted me and made me promise I would do something with my life.”

The vixen opened her orange eyes and looked up at her friend. “Customer Liaison on a freighter is not necessarily what he had in mind, but the pay is more than he ever made and he says he’s proud of me. I’ve only been back home three times since then... the last was five years ago when my youngest brother Kamui was born.” Her eyes turned sad. “He’s known about his big sister, but has never really met me.”

“Try not to think about him right now,” Tanis whispered as he resumed stroking her brow softly. “Tell me more about yer world.”

Taro closed her eyes again. “Taquit is snuggled up in the curve of the Taq mountain range in the Arellanes prefecture,” she continued. “We lived in the stunted shadow of Mt. Hayao. Framing the other side of Taquit is the Sachnesan Sea, a freshwater inland sea twelve hundred kilometers across that fed the river that flowed through the middle of town. My siblings and I played in the water most of my life and spent many days and nights on the white sand beaches. As a youngster, I didn’t know that a mining town was poor and I didn’t really care until I got older.”

The vixen chuckled to herself. “I’m talking about home again.” She cleared her throat and rubbed her cheek on Tanis’ leg. “Two years before I left Taquit with my friend, I got to leave town with a group of friends and do some traveling around Hestra. Although low-level, most of the planet is mountainous, y’know,” she said. “We only have one real saltwater ocean, but it’s more of a gigantic river thirty-two hundred kilometers across that meanders around near the equator, dividing the planet into two large continents. There are other Fur species on Hestra, though foxes are the most prevalent.” She looked up at Tanis with a smile. “You would fit in nicely there... providing you could stand up under your own weight.”

Tanis chuckled, but otherwise said nothing. Taro fell quiet for a few moments and her eyes began to moisten when her thoughts returned to her home. “Even though I left my family behind, I still love them.” She turned and rose up so she could lay her nose against her friend’s chest. Tanis held her close and her tears trickled through his fur.

“I miss my momma,” she said barely above a whisper.

“I understand,” he comforted, his voice a low purr as he began to gently rock back and forth. “Yer friend… are ya two still talking?”

Taro allowed a small smile to flit across her lips, “Not really. She started a company of her own a few years ago and last I heard was doing very well.”

“On Brandt? Wow, she must be an incredible businesswoman.”

“You have no idea,” Taro replied.

***

“Oretille herdantes Taro ne shräelon nissei,” Holly repeated for the second time. She wanted to make sure she got the foreign words correct. “This was the only response your father gave when I relayed your message to him via our field correspondent in Taquit, but the connection was so bad I was unable to get a recording of his voice speaking. Do you know what it means?”

The tears flowed freely into the vixen’s cheek fur and she had to swallow hard before she could respond. She was getting so tired of crying lately and she had a feeling that this voyage would see more of her tears before it was over. She was used to being the strong one, not the tenderhearted image she had presented lately. She wiped the moisture from her face and finally answered the newscaster.

“Yes,” she replied, “I know what it means.”

“Please, Taro,” Holly said softly, “Please tell me what your exchange means.”

The vixen shook her head and was about to tell the human to mind her own business, but decided to give only the simplest of answers. “We were saying goodbye, Holly. In a very personal way.”

“Goodbye... Then you don’t think a cure can be...”

“No, Holly, we don’t,” Taro said a little roughly. “Listen to me, please. I know you could probably use this as a personal interest story on your broadcast, but as a friend, please... just let us have our peace.” The tears started flowing again. “My papa and I have said our goodbyes to one another. There is no more than that.”

***

Two days later, a resonant beat pulsed from the Rec area, punctuated by a syncopated keyboard phrase. Below the odd mixture thumped a low growl of bass. Vetter was playing in the upper register to accompaniment from Brand while the keyboard system sang a programmed track. The two were merely sketching, taking the music in no specific direction. Brand played alongside the sharp bass-line simply for his own pleasure.

Taro watched the proceedings from a lounge chair at the starboard wall of the room, having been invited along by the tiger. The vixen needed to get away from her quarters, her job… she just needed her mind on something else right now. Surprisingly, the band had not played very often during the course of the journey. Mostly they had spent time pursuing their separate interests. Adam had explained that even though the trio was the best of friends, they got enough of music—and each other—while in the studio and on tour. She had witnessed a verbal scuffle between the keyboard player and the bassist more than once, and began to understand where that statement had come from. Between Vetter and Singlebet, a healthy dose of compromise was always involved in the direction that the music went. Arkram, to his credit, either stayed out of their way or crushed their egos when necessary. He was both benevolent dictator and referee when necessary.

Ever since I drew my first breath – I had no one to call my own

It’s been a life of isolation, spending all of my time alone

I said I’d never feel again – I said I’d never cry

I said I’d never let nobody see all the emptiness inside

But I don’t know if it’s forever - And I don’t know if it’s tonight

But in the dark you’re shining like a star and I can follow that much light

Now the lonely road is not so long when you walk it with a friend

Now all because of you I’ve found – the strength to love again…

Taro tried to focus on the lyrics, tried to imagine the woman Vetter was singing to. She kept thinking about Hestra and it would not go away. Her brother Kamui had died the day before and her older sister was now sick with the virus. She was all cried out. She had not heard anything from Holly since then. Either the newscaster had no more information, or she was giving the vixen time to grieve.

***

“Hello, listeners, this is News Around the Alignment, and I’m Holly Harken of the Interstellar News Network. In a joyous sendoff from world officials, Earth has just launched its newest exploration vessel to probe the unknown reaches of space beyond the Planetary Alignment. The Zephyr left this morning on its maiden voyage out toward the Railon Star Cluster. I will give you more details of this historic flight later on in the newscast, but now I have late-breaking news from the Taquit Fever epidemic on Hestra.

“Dr. Ron Williams, working in conjunction with the Hestran Center of Disease Control, announced only minutes ago that the bio-safety Level Five virus which has already killed nearly a third of the Taquit population is,” she paused, reading over it again, “an engineered disease... Yes, folks, that’s right. The deadly Taquit Fever virus was created in a laboratory and deliberately set loose in a small mountain town. Hestran officials are now calling this a terrorist attack.

“In light of this new discovery, the government has also issued a statement that the numbers released to the media thus far have been guarded closely to prevent panic, but they are no longer able to maintain secrecy of this magnitude from the public. INN has received an official statement from Hestra that the death toll in Taquit now numbers... one thousand, seven hundred twenty-one individuals of a community of roughly three thousand.”

Holly stared at the pages for a long moment before continuing.

“Colonel Jack Card and the 429th Battalion were called in two days ago to keep anyone from entering or leaving the infected hot zone. There have already been several people shot while trying to escape the quarantine area and the bodies of all the dead have been burned to keep the disease from spreading further.

“This is catastrophic, folks, of the like this reporter has not seen in a long, long time. It is apparent that someone engineered this deadly virus and purposefully infected this town. Taquit is a poor mining town with no wealth of riches or information to ransom. Industry is sparse here, so officials are baffled as to the reason this mountain population was sentenced to death.”

***

The operation was called “Global Compassion.” Two Hestran pilots sat in a briefing room as a four-tier general, five senators and a host of other officers and lettered Furs explained the situation. Much information and elucidation, many catch phrases and aggrandizing clichés were pronounced, but in the end, the briefing came down to a simple order.

The pilots filed out of the briefing room and rode to the hangar, where a fueled aircraft sat waiting to taxi out to the runway.

***

Taro Nichols fainted. She did not shriek or scream and yell or fly into a rage. She merely fainted. The shock was simply too much and she had to be carried from the recreation deck where the band had invited the whole crew up to watch the news.

It was later decided that her fainting had come at a good time, for just a few moments later Holly returned to the broadcast following a station break to reveal another late-breaking major announcement that had just been issued from the Hestran government.

The Taquit Fever virus was airborne, the worst possible method of spreading a high-level lethal virus and seasonal winds were expected within days. By the time INN had received the announcement and broadcast the news, the deed had already been accomplished. A Triterion V thermobaric fuel-air bomb—the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the Hestran arsenal—was airdropped over the town. In less than three seconds, a fireball thirty kilometers in diameter engulfed Taquit. All the available oxygen in the immediate vicinity was ignited to the ferocity of a blowtorch and nothing, not even an underground shelter, survived the explosion.

Three thousand lives evaporated in an instant, including those who had miraculously not yet contracted the disease, along with the military personnel stationed to keep the area quarantined and the medical staff sent in to help them. The aerosol virus was almost certainly gone - along with everything and everyone.

***

Two hours had passed since INN’s fateful broadcast. Coverage on the situation continued, but there was nothing new to hear. Everything was repeated and analyzed over and over until Merlin finally shut off the vidscreen. The crew of the Blue Horizon was stunned and the vessel was almost a ghost-ship of quiet in the hours that followed. Eventually, the scattered crew slowly gathered on the rec deck at the band’s invitation and the silence was broken only when Taro returned and reactivated the vidscreen without a word.

“Hello, listeners, this is News Around the Alignment, and I’m Holly Harken of the Interstellar News Network. It is unlikely that any world of the Planetary Alignment has yet to hear the terrible news of the finality of the Taquit Fever virus on Hestra. INN’s field correspondent, Yariko Mansfield is on Hestra, reporting live from the Arellanes prefecture. She is in a small town forty-eight kilometers to the south of where Taquit used to exist. She and her team have taken video images that we will broadcast unedited for you. Please be warned that the scenes may be too graphic for some viewers, so discretion is…”

In a lower corner of the screen, the INN field reporter broke in and broadcast an interruption. “This is Yariko Mansfield for INN. We have an emergency!”

Holly’s face contorted into annoyance for being interrupted and turned to look angrily at her own off-screen monitor. “Yariko, please wait until...”

“Open news channel 135.79, now!” Yariko demanded with eyes wide in fright. Viewers could see Holly’s own expression as she complied with the channel change. The view altered, and in place of the INN reporters, the feral green eyes of a grinning black jaguar filled the screen. Merlin jumped to his feet, his hackles raised.

“For those who do not yet know me,” the jaguar said in a smooth, but deeply accented voice, “I am Sagan. How do you like my handiwork?” Video imagery from Hestra appeared suddenly in a window that covered the top left quarter of the screen. Sagan shifted to one side to allow viewers to see both him and the images simultaneously. The area that had existed between the curve of the Taq Mountains and the Sachnesan Sea was as black as the feline’s slick fur. The view zoomed in to show close-up shots of the buildings, the machinery, and... what was left of thousands of charred bodies.

“What you have affectionately called Taquit Fever was a virus of my design. I am certain that others may claim credit for my works, so I’m transferring information about the genetic markers in the virus along with this broadcast.”

“IT... WAS... SAGAN?” Taro yelled at the screen.

“My virus has no cure. No antidote. Nothing, aside of firebombing — as you have discovered — can stop it once it has begun.” The jaguar leaned closer to the camera. “Some have wondered why it was Taquit. To what purpose was this horror unleashed here? Taquit was chosen only at random… merely as a test-bed. In my opinion, the only one that matters, this test was a success.”

Sagan pulled back away from the camera and stood up straight with his arms crossed. “I am not making any demands... yet. This is my weapon. I can... and I will... use it again, at a time and place of my choosing. When the time comes that I do have demands... you will listen to me... because you will know I that I will not hesitate to use my new weapon on an important target any less than I would of one like this that has no real value.”

Sagan laughed just once into the camera, but he said nothing more and crossed his arms, his eyes flashing dangerously and the lights from whatever studio he broadcasted from making the almost-imperceptible pattern spot shimmer. Scenes of destruction continued to play out in the video window open beside his image. INN regained control of the signal and the image of Sagan shrunk to a quarter of the screen and locked in frozen silence as the sobering pictures of Taquit were brought forward.

Taro stood up slowly, her fists shaking at her sides and a look of pure rage on her face. She stared at the grinning face of the black jaguar and screamed at the vidscreen, “Sagan’s taken everything from me! He murdered… Jiro! He’s murdered… my family! Destroyed… my home!” The vixen shook her right fist at the screen and vowed in a hissing voice, “Sagan... you are dead! If I ever get my hands on you, I will rip your head from your shoulders!”

In a fit of rage, she tried to charge the screen, but she stumbled over Max and fell face-first onto the floor. Had she not tripped over the youth who had been on the floor at her feet, she would have smashed her fists through the vidscreen at the image displayed there. Instead, she curled up in a ball on the floor where she had fallen, screaming her rage and anguish vehemently into the deck.

Max backed away from her as quickly as he could, his eyes wide in fear. He was a first-hand witness to rage and knew his health could be in danger were he to remain close to such strong emotions, but surprisingly the vixen did not slash out at anything. He looked up at the vidscreen at the jaguar’s face that just would not go away and swallowed.

How could anyone be so cruel?

***

In another part of space, Lennier Robbins watched as a myriad of expressions crossed his captain’s face. Natasha Khasho’s eyes fixed on the image of the ebony jaguar and she scowled as she listened to the report delivered in such smug malice and watched the scenes of destruction. Normally her entire bridge staff attended these meetings, but the boy Tim was still recovering from his daily physical therapy with Jazz.

She tapped off the vidscreen and looked up at the ceiling. The cougar sat silently with her, the thrum of the liquid crystal engines far away from wherever she was. Suddenly she snapped her eyes to look at Jape Devon across the table. “Talk.”

The lightly colored felinoid looked up from a small screen, shaking his head. “The signal is genuine – he delivered the virus,” Devon said. “Comparing the medical reports from Hestra to his transmission, the genetic marker is there, though difficult to find if you don’t know what you are looking for. Without the key, the marker would not show up on any genetic scans at all, so the odds are that he’s telling the truth.”

“What is it?” she growled, more statement than question.

“It is a complex chain of amino acids that are harmless until they come into contact with blood iron life forms. That’s… pretty advanced.” Devon pursed his lips. Natasha’s eyes sat like cold pearls beneath heavy brows. Sagan’s face sat on the shimmering vidscreen, that cold grin still on his face.

Jape Devon had another thought, one that he did not voice. There is no way that any normal Fur, human or even a computer could have done the necessary calculations for something like that. The Kastan knew it was unlikely that any but his own species was capable of actually executing the complexities of this virus, and he did not want to be suspect.

“He’s stolen our prototype Vault transport,” she snarled, “and maimed our cabin boy.” A number of low, hateful growls ringed the table. Tim was favored by the crew, and his near-death had left them all simmering for revenge. “And now he’s killing my homeland. Taquit was no random selection. He struck there because of me!”

“Now it’s personal,” Robbins added, his voice casual in the oppressive gloom of the staff meeting.

***

A day had passed and there had been no further news, and no more calls from Holly. With the recent events, it was likely the news correspondent had her hands full, but there was really no further reason to hear from her. Taro’s family and hometown were gone. Nothing else could be done about it.

Merlin had searched all over the ship for his first officer and no one had seen her. She had not been in her quarters, on the bridge, on the rec deck, nor anyone else’s cabin. When the lupine captain finally found her, she was inside a storage locker in the cargo hold, huddled between shock cushions meant for unstable packages. They might have found her sooner if Moss was still functioning, but as such the captain had searched for her himself. She whimpered when Merlin’s hand lamp shined in her eyes and he could see her matted face fur. He moved the light to the side and knelt down beside her.

“Taro,” Merlin said quietly, “I know we consider ourselves civilized, but the ancestors of both our species have a tradition that I think would be appropriate.” The vixen looked up at him through her tears and shook her head that she did not understand. Merlin reached out, took her hands in his own, and spoke one word. Taro nodded, put her arms around him, and pulled him into a heartfelt embrace.

“Yes,” she said finally into his ear. “That’s what I want to do...”

***

The recreation deck was illuminated only by ten candles that had been taken from the ship’s stores. The musical band had cleaned up the room earlier for the occasion and it was ready for the observance. Only six individuals occupied the rec deck. Merlin, Samantha, Maximillian, Taro, Arktanis and Adam were the only participants of this particular ceremony. The non-canid types had gone to the lower decks to give them privacy.

The six sat on the floor in a loose circle with their eyes closed. No one said a word, as everyone got quiet and situated, and after a moment or two of silence, Merlin began.

He raised his nose to the air and began to sing in a low, throaty howl of his ancestors. There were no words to this song; it was only a voice to the stars to mourn the loss of loved ones. Within a moment, Samantha added her higher voice to the song, and it wavered a little as the emotion of what they were doing came out from her. Maximillian, though a stranger to the custom, understood the song and joined in a quieter voice. Adam was next, lending his tenor howl to the song, and Arktanis followed him in high, but smooth notes. Each participant continued to sing their song, and finally, with tears falling freely from her closed eyes, Taro lifted her head and although her species was slightly removed from the others, she howled her own song of farewell to her family, friends and home.

***

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

For the past five hours, INN has been scrolling a list of names of the three thousand forty-two known to have died in Taquit. I can only assume that the Spatial Police Force is in turmoil as they try to figure out what to do about Sagan’s crime. I have taken Taro off the duty-roster for now to let her grieve and she has taken the opportunity to spend more time with our passengers. Brand Arkram has agreed to help her work out her frustrations on the exercise mats on the recreation deck. He is possibly the only one on board who can withstand Taro’s Hestran-born strength and seems to enjoy the sessions with her.

We should be arriving in Kantus in another week, and we are glad to be back within the boundaries of the Planetary Alignment proper. It is unlikely we will be making another trip to Sillon anytime soon, but for the sake of all of us, I sincerely hope the next one will be less eventful.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

In his private chamber, Sagan watched as a shimmering projection displayed on a small tabletop before him.

“I’m not impressed,” the sparkling visage purred. It was a man’s body and he could see the face easily. Sagan was the only one that he would speak to directly, unabashed to reveal his identity. “Taquit was not just a test site and you gave away entirely too much information about the virus.”

“What can they do?” Sagan growled, teeth glistening in a wide grin. “We are now the greatest threat to the Alignment and the so-called Pirate Queen has provided us with the means to travel from place to place as soon as we get her technology unscrambled.”

“Yes,” the mechanical voice intoned, “and you will deliver that technology to me. Now.”

The jaguar sat back in his seat. “Yes, but I have something else to take care of first.”

“You are taking an awful risk, Sagan,” the voice commanded.

“I doubt that it will be ten minutes’ work to destroy the Blue Horizon,” he chuckled.

“I was not talking about the Horizon,” came the cold reply, “I was talking about me.” Joining the projected image was a second figure, swathed in a long, white robe that concealed its face. “You remember Conn, do you not?”

Sagan blanched, gripping the armrest of his seat and averting his eyes. He felt his heart race, faster and harder, beating in his breast like a drum. Oh yes, he remembered Conn. The exotic alien had prosecuted the grueling torture the jaguar had undergone, tearing his mind apart in hellish conditioning program that had made him helplessly submissive, impotent to act against his master. He had watched as Conn had mangled his sister, burned his mother alive and emasculated his father. The master had sat beside him, comforting him while the viciousness played out before young Sagan’s eyes. All of his master’s trusted servants underwent the interminable anguish, the psychological rape that bound them to his service.

“Your initiation was hell,” the master snarled. “But that is a hell you will pray for if you defy me. Let them go about their business and deliver the compartmentalized Vault transport to me. Now.”

His mouth dry, his limbs weak, Sagan clenched his eyes shut. It was probably true, but the jaguar ground his teeth, allowing the burning ball of acid in his belly to become anger. His humiliation turned to hatred against the most convenient adversary, and in a dark, twisted part of his mind, Sagan found a target for all of his fear and outrage.

THE BLOOD OF ARIS

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

There is nothing like a disaster to take away the fun of a potentially flawless trip. We left Kantus a week ago with a full hold of general supplies for the Consolidated Fishing Colonies of Crescentis, but now that has all become irretrievable space debris. While doing a routine maintenance scan of the hold, Moss ran a diagnostic on the cargo deck’s control system - which opened the bay door. The rapid decompression ripped everything from the deck through the old cargo webbing and scattered it across known space. Fortunately, no one was in the hold at the time or we might have lost them too. Not for the first time, Durant has threatened to jettison Moss and Pockets and let them both join our lost cargo among the stars.

Durant has given me a copy of the manifest, the amount of the lost supplies and equipment, not to mention the loss of our payment (and future business) when we arrive at Crescentis without the colonies’ goods. Renny has altered our course and our heading is now back to the Anya star system we’d just left behind. Tanthe is the closest industrialized world where we might replace the supplies and try to save face with the Crescentis fleet. I can’t say I know much about the world as I have only been there once before to a rural community, so I have to do a bit of research on the library computer.

Pockets has given me his troubleshooting report on Moss, but the results were inconclusive. Despite that he’d had to reconstruct the unit following its encounter with Brand Arkram on the way back from Sillon, he found no cause for this incident. Pockets’ final opinion is that the fault lay in the control system of the hold. He is down there now running his own diagnostic on the system program, safely secure in loadmaster’s pressurized office should the doors open again.

Durant has also worked through our finances and has delegated a substantial portion to cover replacement of the supplies. It looks like we will merely break even this time around, without a profit to show for our voyage. I have promised Pockets to dock his pay the full amount the next time something costly occurs directly caused by the flobot.

The cargo webbing typically secures our freight to rings in the hold floor to prevent anything from shifting during flight, and it should have held everything in place even in the event of sudden compartmental decompression, but we’ve used them for years and the material was evidently fatigued. Naturally, they were on my list of things to replace at our next port of call, but they failed before we could do so.

The last couple of weeks have been rough for Taro. Results of the Taquit Fever epidemic on her homeworld have put her on edge. She is alternately depressed, furious, and heartbroken at the events taken place as a result of that devil, Sagan. I have never seen her this agitated and am wondering how she will react if we run into more trouble before she comes to terms with all that has happened.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

“Are we within range yet?” Merlin asked as he shrugged into his flight jacket.

“We should be in communication with Tanthe in two minutes, Captain.” Taro replied woodenly from her console.

Renny adjusted a flight control and then turned to the wolf. “What did you say this monarch’s name was again?” he asked

Merlin frowned and answered, “King Adion Aris. According to the Planetary Alignment database, his family line has been the primary seat of authority for Tanthe since the planet converted to single government world under coyote rule over two hundred years ago.”

Taro spied a flashing sensor light. “We’re within range now, Captain,” she said. “I’ve hailed their communication net and am waiting for a reply from the proper authority.”

Merlin merely nodded and straightened the hat between his ears. Even though their com was not equipped with a video signal, he simply felt his voice would sound respectable if he looked respectable.

The vixen put a hand to her headset and nodded to herself as she listened. She seemed mildly surprised and then responded by naming off the species of everyone in the crew. “Wolf, cheetah, bear, two foxes, two raccoons and two canines.” Merlin watched her with an odd expression as she continued listening to her headset. “The wolf is male, our captain. Of the canines, one is female and the other is a young male.” Another pause. “Sixteen.”

Taro glanced over at Merlin and simply shook her head. She acknowledged something said to her and then turned back to the command seat with a surprised expression. “Uh… Captain, His Majesty the King is online to speak with you.”

“The king?” Samantha repeated from the engineering console. “I think you mean the Prime Minister, who speaks on the king’s behalf.”

Taro shook her head, looked at the captain and held out her headset to him. “No, I’ve just been told that the King would like to speak with you.”

“That’s very odd.” Merlin waved a dismissal to the headset. “Okay, overhead com, please.” Taro tapped a control and nodded. “This is Captain Merlin Sinclair of the Blue Horizon,” he said over the channel.

“I am King Adion Aris,” said a rich baritone voice to the immediate attention of everyone on the bridge.

“Your Majesty,” Merlin acknowledged slowly.

“What is it we may do for you, Captain Sinclair?” The coyote asked. “We have checked your Planetary Alignment registry, Blue Horizon. You are listed as a commercial cargo hauler, but we find no record of any flight plans filed by your ship to our world.”

“We were on our way from Kantus to a fishing colony on Crescentis,” Merlin replied as smoothly as he could. “We suffered a mishap three days ago that resulted in the total loss of our cargo and we would like to negotiate with you to re-supply our shipment of general supplies.”

“What type of mishap?”

Merlin frowned slightly. “A faulty computer diagnostic initiated an errant code on the bay doors and jettisoned everything from the hold. Fortunately, none of my crew was in the area at the time.” He did not bother to add that the cargo webbing failed, or that the computer malfunction was likely caused by their mobile security system, Moss.

“I see,” the monarch replied. “Very well then, Captain. I will arrange to provide you with coordinates on where you should land. Upon arrival, I would like to meet with you personally, and I am quite sure we can reach an agreement on the supplies if we have what you need. I would also count it a personal favor if you would dine with me this evening.”

“Dinner, sire?” Merlin gulped. He was not sure if he was up to dining with the ruler of an entire world. He was not even sure why someone as elevated as the king was even talking with him. Surely, he did not meet with every visitor to his world, including freighters.

“That’s right, Captain, as my guest. You may also bring up to four others with you.”

The wolf sighed inwardly and replied, “Aye, King Aris. We accept your gracious invitation.”

“Good, good,” the coyote said merrily. “I look forward to meeting you. Now, I must see to the preparations for your arrival. Your communications officer should now be in contact with Sky Patrol for landing instructions. Good day, Captain Sinclair of the Blue Horizon.”

The connection broke off before Merlin could say anything more. The king’s words were confirmed as Taro’s hands moved across her controls to transfer landing coordinates to their navigator. The wolf looked to Samantha and frowned.

“How about it?” he asked, looking at the three on the bridge with him. “Any of you want to join me to dine with a king?”

“I think I’ll pass,” Renny muttered.

Samantha glanced at him with a smirk. “You? Passing up a free royal feed, kit-cat?”

Renny twitched an ear and shrugged. “Free food or not, those affairs are a little too stuffy for me,” he replied without rising to the bait to banter.

“I’d rather not be there myself,” Merlin added with a heavy sigh. “I had originally intended to send Taro and Samantha in to make the negotiations for the supplies, but as you heard, my presence has been desired by the King, himself.”

“Count me in,” the Border collie said. “How should we dress for this?”

“Knowing the Horizon’s a freighter, we won’t be expected to have full dress outfits available to us for dining with dignitaries. Dress as nicely as you can, but I wouldn’t bother with extravagance.” He looked back at the others and sighed. “Ask around and see if we can get more volunteers,” he said.

***

The transport arrived ten minutes after the Blue Horizon landed. Tanis opened the primary airlock and stepped out into the springtime air of this area of Tanthe. The smell was clean despite their proximity to the city visible in the near distance, but that was likely due to recent rain. They had been directed to land on a pad in an open field just west of Aris Grand.

The captain wore a light blue open collar shirt with bloused long sleeves under a dark blue vest. His loose, black trousers were tucked into knee-high boots. As usual, his captain’s hat was perched atop his head between his ears. Beside him, Taro stepped out into the sun and pondered the sight of the heavy forest nearby. She had been brooding over her hometown catastrophe on Hestra and Merlin had prompted her to join them for a change of scenery. She had first declined, but gave in when it looked as if Merlin would give her a direct order. If she was going to go, she wanted it to be her own decision. She looked stunning in a pair of tan pants and a loose white blouse. She took a step further and looked behind her. Samantha stretched her arms with a smile, inhaling inhaled deeply. She was attired in a beige jumper adorned with golden leaves drawn from shoulder to waist diagonally.

Hanging back in the shadows was Tanis, who wore light brown pants and a black short sleeve shirt with an open collar where the fluff of fur at his neck spilled out as if it were a scarf. The fennec fox scanned the far horizon suspiciously, wondering why this world’s king wanted so much to meet them. He pointed toward a growing speck flying out toward them.

“There’s our ride,” he said. Approaching them was a transport that looked as if it were nothing more than a flat platform with guard rails to keep passengers from falling overboard. At the front was a tiny control panel where the pilot stood in an outfit not unlike Merlin’s, though a black cape lined with blue satin flowed briskly in the wind behind him.

The coyote landed the flying platform ten meters from the bulk of the Blue Horizon. Merlin led his small group across a rich grass pathway. When they approached the platform, the pilot bowed slightly and said, “I am Kal Navar. It is my honor to take you to the city of Aris Grand, Captain Sinclair, and to meet with his majesty, King Aris.”

Not knowing exactly what was expected, Merlin executed a small bow as well. “Thank you, Mr. Navar.”

“Kal will do, if you please.” The tawny coyote smiled and opened a section of the railing to let them board the platform. “You need not bow to me, Captain,” he added with a small chuckle. “I’m just the hired help, not the royalty.”

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance, anyway, Kal,” Samantha said as she stepped up beside him. “We’re not royalty, either.”

Navar watched as each of the party boarded his craft and shut the gate behind Tanis, the last to step inside the railing. Before he returned to his instrument panel, he replied, “You may not be royalty, but be prepared to be treated as such. King Aris does not invite many off-world visitors to his table, so you are likely to have everyone’s special attention.”

“Why us?” Taro asked. “The Blue Horizon is only a common freighter.”

“I’m sorry, but the King did not disclose his intentions to me.”

“That’s okay, Kal. We’re just curious.”

“Please hold on. The deck beneath your feet will be stable, but you never know when a sudden gust of wind might blow through.”

When he visually confirmed that everyone had at least one hand on the railing, he tapped the panel before him. The platform lifted fifty meters off the ground with a soft hum and nosed back the way it had come, picking up speed as it moved.

Merlin made his way to the pilot’s side, mindful to keep an eye on the coyote’s cape fluttering wildly in the wind. “Can you tell us how we’re expected to act for your king, Kal?”

The coyote did not take his eyes from their destination, but answered with barely a shrug of his slender shoulders. “Just be yourselves would be the best advice I could give. Despite what is common among politicians and bureaucrats, Aris does not like deceit and he respects honesty. He already knows you may not be aware of royal protocol, so is prepared to make allowances for your ways for the occasion.”

Tanis moved to Samantha’s side as they floated over a tall grove of trees and their destination came clearer into view. The castle palace was as majestic as any they might see in a Terran storybook. The towers and parapets were all there, as well as a drawbridge and the classic moat. These were all for show, Navar explained, for although the exterior looked ancient, it was less than two hundred years old, and the interior of the place was high-tech and well-defended.

“How many dignitaries will we be dining with?” the wolf asked. “No offense, but I don’t feel comfortable about being in a room full of people in a social class I don’t belong in.”

Navar smiled. “Don’t fear for that, friend. As I hear it, only the King and his family will be present. You will see neither the Chancellor nor Prime Minister during your visit; both were hospitalized from a transport accident a few days ago. The dinner is to be informal.”

“Probably best,” Tanis said dryly.

As the platform rose above the weather-worn walls of the castle, the visiting party saw the gleaming marble fineness of the palace nestled in the center of the vast enclosure. A moderate city surrounded the palace and its colorful gardens, and they were surprised to realize that the castle walls encompassed the entirety of the metropolis as if danger was expected without. They also saw large arrays of pulse cannons snuggled in the parapets and towers, some of which eerily followed the progress of their platform.

Navar took them directly to the palace and set them down on a landing pad in front of the capitol building’s entrance near a primary city avenue. The marbled walls of the structure towered ten stories, and cut into the grayish white stone were images of what the party took to be past rulers of Tanthe. The top of the building was gently curved in a dome that also displayed carved images. Outside the large wooden double doors were crouched sculptures of wild coyotes, obviously harking back to their wilder ancestors.

Navar shut down the power on the transport and led his charges up the steps to the palace doors. From behind the sculptures came two uniformed guards who looked mean enough to slay the visitors with merely a glance. Throughout the Planetary Alignment, coyotes were not known to be an especially aggressive race, but these two defied that description. Scars were prominent across their bodies and one guard’s left eye was permanently closed.

“Who be these?” the one-eyed sentinel asked in a raspy voice.

“Palace Secretary, Kal Navar, delivering honored guests to his majesty, King Aris upon his command.”

The second guard consulted a common slateboard tablet and nodded. “Kal Navar is scheduled to deliver up to five guests to the library upon arrival,” he announced formally. “You may proceed.” He nodded to the other guard and they opened the doors in crisp unison. The small procession moved quietly in through the entrance, and when the panels shut tightly behind them, Navar chuckled lightly.

Samantha smiled at him. “Why do you laugh?”

“That wasn’t necessary,” their guide explained. “They already knew I was bringing you into the palace. They’re trying to show off for the guests.”

“Well, I thought their presentation was nice,” Samantha replied. “Their attempt to look and act official was appreciated.”

“I would let them know you said so,” Kal said with another chuckle, “but I’m afraid their heads would swell up and burst!”

Merlin looked around the foyer they had entered. The floor was carpeted in deep brown and the walls were beige accented with golden trim in intricate designs. The low ceiling gave the room a cozy atmosphere and lighting was provided by glowing panels. A few portraits adorned the walls and potted trees were in each corner but one. A solitary desk occupied that space, though it was vacant at the moment.

“This is my normal post,” Navar said as he moved into the large cushioned chair behind it. He tapped a few keys on a terminal inlaid into the tabletop and then waited for a readout. “Just checking in with Security,” he explained. A virtual x-ray image of the room appeared on his monitor and he nodded to himself when no weapons were detected on any of the guests.

He stood up a moment later and walked to a solid wall. When he came within a meter of it, two panels slid aside to reveal a long, wide hallway. He stepped through and motioned to the guests. “This way, please.”

Merlin moved forward with Samantha and Taro at his heels. Arktanis hung back a moment before following. “Marvelous!” he whispered to himself as the wall closed behind him.

The painted ceiling in this hall was high and expensive chandeliers provided bright illumination for their walk. It appeared their destination was at the far end of the palace. Every twenty meters was an ornate door, some labeled with the names of the rooms beyond, and twice they crossed a junction with another large hallway. Randomly placed potted trees and shrubs gave off fresh aromas that were pleasing to their noses.

As the group made their way and listened to Kal Navar recite a little of the history of the kingdom, they passed servants and others with business inside the palace offices. At one of the main crossroads, Merlin noticed an elegant young female in a fetching outfit watching them with obvious interest as they passed. She might have been seventeen or eighteen and undisciplined, the wolf thought to himself, for the servant’s duties were apparently forgotten.

He nearly bumped into Samantha when the group stopped in front of him. He shook himself from his musings when Navar opened the panel and led them inside a chamber of polished wood. It was a fully-stocked library with wood shelving, lush carpet, and leather bindings of books new and old. Large oil paintings resided on easels in the corners and depicted the King’s Heroes from nearly three centuries of the Tanthean history since the original colonization.

Once the door was shut behind them, Merlin immediately noted from the intense silence of the library that it had been soundproofed against outside noise. Several large chairs and lounges were situated in random places for the readers’ comfort. At the moment, Navar and his charges were the only occupants of the tome-filled chamber.

The coyote motioned them toward the seats. “King Aris will take his audience with you in here, but it may be a few minutes. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable.” With that, Navar gave them a short bow and left the room.

Merlin took a seat next to Samantha on a lounge and smiled. Taro strolled over to one of the huge paintings and idly studied a coyote identified as Prince Tanager who was adorned in fancy garments of a past age. Tanis walked to a window and gazed out onto a neatly arranged central courtyard where gardeners tended the lush plant life of a hedge maze.

Only a few moments passed before the door opened again. King Adion Aris walked in with a wide smile. Every article of the slender coyote’s clothing was the same shade of burgundy, including the large jeweled ring on his finger. He wore no traditional crown, but rather a circular amulet with the family crest on a golden chain resting upon his chest denoted his sovereign leadership. He looked to be in his late fifties and his gaze was clear and penetrating. Everyone stood up and faced the monarch as two guards in uniforms of dark green moved in behind the king and stationed themselves on each side of the door.

Merlin removed his hat and gave the monarch a slight bow.

Aris offered his hand to the wolf. “My dear Captain, welcome to Tanthe and the capitol city of Aris Grand.”

“Thank you, your Highness,” Merlin said with a slight nod before taking the coyote’s proffered hand. He turned toward his small party and introduced each of them to the king as they gathered around him. “This is Samantha Holden, Taro Nichols and Arktanis TeVann.” The king shook hands with each of them; he seemed to enjoy the physical contact. When he looked at Tanis, he twitched his whiskers.

“TeVann?” he asked.

“Yes, Sire,” the tan fox replied with a slight bow. The king nodded as if remembering something, but then stepped back to face Merlin.

“I know it was a great loss to lose your cargo, Captain, but for me I am pleased to have your company.” King Aris sat in one of the plush chairs and everyone but the personal guards followed his example by taking their own seats.

“Thank you for receiving us so warmly,” Merlin replied, “but I do not understand why such a high-level personage such as yourself would want to meet common freighters.”

Aris continued smiled. “Please indulge me, sir.”

“Aye, your Majesty. As you wish.”

The monarch nodded. “Do you have a manifest of the goods you need?” he asked. Merlin reached into an inner pocket of his jacket and removed several sheets of printed paper folded together. Added to the bottom of the last page was an order for new cargo nets to replace those that had failed. He handed these to the monarch.

As the coyote browsed the list, a servant entered the room with a rolling cart containing glasses and a chilled wine bottle. The coyote servant poured drinks for all. Merlin tried to refuse, for he did not drink liquor, but a glass was placed in his hand anyway. He did not want to cause a stir, so he merely held the glass without sampling the amber liquid.

The king looked up from the papers and said, “I can provide you with everything you have listed, Captain Sinclair, though it may take a day or two to gather some of the supplies from the different provinces on my world.”

“Thank you, your Highness. I’m sure the price of your goods will be fair.”

The monarch folded the pages and snapped his fingers. One of the guards behind him bowed. “Take this to Kal Navar and have him initiate the acquisitions.”

“Yes, Sire.” The guard took the list and promptly left the room.

The king looked back at his guests. “Navar will take care of this for you, Captain. If you will honor me with your company for three days here in my palace, I will consider a substantial discount on the shipment.”

Merlin swallowed and tried to make his smile appear genuine. Three days would put them further behind schedule, but the Moss accident had already done that on its own. He also did not really want to stay longer than necessary in the presence of one who governed an entire world. The Blue Horizon had visited nice places before, but they had never had this kind of reception. It made him uneasy, but his business seemed to depend upon the situation this time.

“We will have to make arrangements with our other customers waiting in turn due to the delay in our schedule.”

“I am sure you can make it happen, but feel free to utilize my influence. Kal Navar can help you in this matter.”

“In this, we would be honored to accept your gracious invitation, your Majesty,” Merlin answered diplomatically to the king’s delight. Samantha leaned over and whispered into his ear. “May I request approval for shore leave for the rest of my crew, your Highness? If we’re to spend several days here, they would appreciate the opportunity to tour your grand city.”

King Aris nodded, pleased with the request. “Of course, dear Captain. It is good for the local economy when guests spend time with us.”

“Thank you, Sire.”

***

After Aris had dismissed them, Merlin contacted Durant to inform him of the king’s permission to allow shore leave to the rest of the crew and that transportation to and from the ship would be provided. Taro and Samantha followed a servant to their assigned quarters and Tanis arranged to be taken back to the ship to get a few items.

Merlin was interested in the architecture of the palace and wandered randomly down the corridors. He did not notice the figure quietly shadowing him everywhere he went, but after a short time he had the feeling of being watched. Not surprising, he thought, since everyone probably knows everyone else by sight, and although wolves were a close enough species to coyotes, his dark coloring made him stand out among those who went to and fro throughout the palace.

He soon felt the need for relief and was distressed at the thought since he did not know the method or customs used here. He decided quickly that it would be best to swallow his pride, show his ignorance and just ask someone.

He looked around and gulped when he realized there were only four people in sight and all were female. He swallowed hesitantly but had to ask someone. Only one of the women was actually looking his way, a young servant girl trying to hide from him in a recessed doorway. Ah, he thought, my shadow. He walked toward her and, knowing she had been seen, she stepped out into the corridor looking embarrassed at being discovered. Merlin recognized her as the curious girl who had watched his party when they had first arrived, though she was now clothed in a peach blouse that she filled nicely and tan riding breeches with black, knee-high boots.

Oh well... he thought, might as well ask her...

“Pardon me,” he said, “but I am a stranger to this place and I would appreciate it if you would direct me to... uh...” His words lumped into his throat. How does one ask such a thing?

The girl tilted her head to the side curiously, awaiting him to finish. She was amused by his apparent distress, but did not know its cause. If she could read the wolf correctly, he looked self-conscious.

Merlin gulped and leaned forward to whisper his need to her. No sense in letting everyone around them know. “I... uh... need...” The girl turned her ear toward him. Merlin swallowed again and finally whispered, “Pardon me for being blunt, miss, but I need a place to... uh... relieve myself.”

The girl laughed in amusement, but politely hid her face behind her hands. Merlin frowned and wondered if he could crawl off into a hole somewhere. Perhaps he could hold on long enough to make his way back to the ship.

The girl wiped her eyes and said, “I can show you the way, mister wolf. Follow me.” She laughed again and took a swift pace back the way he had come from. Merlin smiled nervously and trotted after her. Fortunately, it was not far. She led him through an ornate door into a sleeping chamber, past a frilly bed piled high and surrounded by fluffy pillows. A male servant eyed the wolf suspiciously as he followed the girl through the room, but she continued on as if not seeing him.

She stopped before another ornate door and opened it for him. “In here,” she said.

“Thank you so much, miss,” Merlin gasped. He went in and shut the door behind him. Thankfully, the facilities were similar to what he was used to so he would not have to take precious time to figure them out. Good. Not a moment too soon.

He emerged a few moments later, clean, refreshed and ready to resume his tour of the palace. His savior sat on the edge of the bed and the other servant was now absent. The room seemed mighty fancy for servant’s personal chamber, but then again, everything in this place looked fancy to him. Merlin felt humbled when he approached her, quietly noting an aromatic perfume in the air.

“My apologies and my thanks, miss,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know what I would have done without your help.”

The young girl smiled merrily and her eyes twinkled. “No doubt you would have embarrassed yourself in a different way, dear wolf.” She chuckled again.

“No doubt...” he replied with a frown. He leaned forward and gave her a quick lick on the cheek in traditional thanks. She drew back in surprise and touched the spot he had licked her. Her lips parted and Merlin silently noted how pretty she was.

“I am Captain Merlin Sinclair,” he said, standing up straight with his right hand on his chest. “If my lovely benefactor will tell me her name, I will let your master know you were a great service to me.”

“My master?” The girl choked back a laugh. Her eyes widened and she dropped her hand from her cheek to her lap.

“Or whomever you report to,” the wolf added.

She motioned toward a plush chair beside the bed. “I think you’d better sit down, mister wolf.”

Merlin shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I think I should leave before I get you into trouble.”

She laughed again in a manner that seemed more befitting her age than her previous words had. “Please sit. I like your company.”

Merlin hesitated a moment and finally took the seat. “Well, maybe a few minutes will be okay.” He looked rather stiff sitting there and the girl laughed again.

“You could start off by giving me your name,” the wolf prompted, wondering what joke she was pulling on him.

She stood up and extended a hand toward him. He took it gently and looked up at her with a look of puzzlement. She smiled and said, “I am Tinara Shei Aris, second daughter of Adion Aris, monarch of this world.”

Merlin suddenly felt light-headed. He had licked the cheek of the King’s daughter! If he had ever felt like fainting before, it was now - but he was afraid he would wake up with his head on a chopping block if he did. He swallowed multiple times but could not bring down the dreadful lump in his throat.

The wolf wiped his hat from his head and bowed toward her in fearful shock. “I...I...I... I’m sorry, milady. I...I...I... was uh... uhm... Please forgive me, I’m terribly sorry for... uh... for...”

The princess put her free hand on his head and ran her fingers through the fur between his ears. “Relax, captain wolf,” she said. “I’m not going to hurt you… or report you to my master.” She chuckled and sat down on the bed facing him. She gently touched the spot on her cheek where he had licked her and said almost shyly, “I like you.”

He managed to meet her eyes and said, “I, uh, I don’t think I’ve ever humiliated myself quite like this before, Princess. Please forgive me.”

She laughed, something she had done a lot of at his expense, and shook her head. “Listen to me, Captain. I forgive you. It’s okay. I’m not mad, nor insulted. Now, please, relax.”

Merlin finally smiled. “When I noticed you following me, I thought you were a curious servant wanting a glimpse at the visitors.”

“No,” she replied, “just a curious princess wanting a glimpse at the visitors.”

“We would have met during tonight’s dinner, wouldn’t we?”

“Yes,” she answered, “but I was impatient.”

Merlin started to relax a little under her easy manner, but he was still flushed. He was light-headed and blinked rapidly several few times.

“Is something wrong?” the princess asked.

“It’s rather warm in here, your Highness,” he answered with a hard swallow. Panting, he began to fan himself with his hat. “Would you allow me to leave your presence to get some fresh outside air?”

“No,” she countered. “Now that I have you, I don’t want to let you go. However, I would appreciate your escort outside in the courtyard air.”

Merlin smiled and nodded. “I accept.”

Both stood up and Merlin discovered his legs still worked despite his fright a moment ago. He followed the princess from the room, slipping his hat back on, and walked beside her down the corridor, ignoring the curious glances by the real servants.

They passed through a glass door that slid aside at their approach and the fresh aromas of the courtyard flowers were welcome to the wolf’s senses. He blinked at the bright sunlight and smiled, taking in a deep breath. Much better. The princess put her arm in through one of his and led him along a cobbled walkway. Merlin was very aware of the surprised looks from the gardeners at seeing the daughter of their king on the arm of a stranger. Tinara smiled openly and nodded as they passed.

“I don’t know if this is such a good idea, Princess,” Merlin said, indicating their arms.

“Why? I like it.”

“Because word of it might get back to the King and I do not want to jeopardize my ship’s trade with him. We are still in negotiation for your goods.”

Tinara laughed. “You are safe with me, dear wolf. My father has been looking for a mate for me and it is not uncommon for me to be seen in the company of males. He has no sons and my elder sister and her husband have produced only more daughters for the royal lineage.”

“And his Highness wants a male heir?” the wolf replied nervously.

“Uh huh... Unfortunately, there’s been no one for me on all of Tanthe, despite many suitors.” She looked up at him and smiled. “I think father would be pleased with you.”

Merlin stopped and stared down at her. “Me?” he said hoarsely. “Is that why he insisted on meeting us personally? He did inquire about the canine-types in my crew before we were allowed to land.”

“I do not know what my father’s motives are,” she answered with a smile, “but I would not put it past him.”

Merlin swallowed and looked at her. “How can you be sure I’d be an acceptable mate when you don’t even know me?” he asked.

Tinara laughed again and hugged his arm tightly. “Silly wolf, I did not say I had chosen you as my mate. I was only explaining why my father would not mind me walking arm in arm with a male.”

“Oh...” Merlin replied, aware he had just made a fool of himself in front of her – again. The princess chuckled and beckoned him on. They walked along the winding path through immaculately sculpted bushes and trees. The temperature was comfortable and only a slight breeze wafted by pleasantly.

“Tell me about your life as a merchant trader,” Tinara said.

Merlin shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Well, Princess, there’s not really much to tell. I’m the captain and primary pilot for our ship during the main watch, and...”

“The captain... and pilot?” she interrupted, wide eyed.

“Yes, I’m the captain,” he answered. “As for being the pilot, my entire crew rotates at the controls, so none of us get too tired on the long journeys between systems. But for emergencies, I usually take the center seat, myself.”

She leaned into him as they walked and the wolf was momentarily distracted by her perfume in the midst of the garden scents. “What kind of emergencies, Captain Sinclair?”

“In case one of us is injured when we go into battle, then —”

“Battle?”

Merlin frowned. “Against pirate raiders, Princess. They like to prey on merchant ships like ours. Because of this, we have just upgraded the engines on my ship, the Blue Horizon,” he said, “but every time I’m ready to make much-needed repairs to other, older systems, we take another financial hit like our loss of cargo this time.”

“Oh...” They walked on a few moments more and then she looked up at him. “Would you honor a request for me?” she asked in a soft voice.

“I will try, Princess. What is your request?”

“That you would call me by name, and not by title,” she replied.

“Aris?”

“No, silly wolf. Tinara.”

Merlin smiled and replied as he ducked under the low-hanging limbs of a willowy tree, “I didn’t know it was allowed to be so direct with royalty, Princess... Tinara.”

She gave a big smile. “It is allowed if the royalty desires it, Mr. Sinclair.”

The wolf was feeling more comfortable with the young coyote and returned her smile openly. “Would it be out of place for me to ask you to return the favor?”

“You mean call you by your first name?” She seemed delighted.

“Yes, please.” They entered an area of the courtyard garden with high hedges. She led him into a growing maze and held onto his arm as if he might run away were she to release him. As they wound through the organic labyrinth, they passed stone benches, marble sculptures or flower pots at every third turn of the path. They came upon several branches in the walkway, but the princess led them on through the warren with the knowledge of their destination.

“You’re nice, Merlin.” She giggled as she said his name. “I’ve never really known a wolf personally before. I know our original species were usually enemies, but I can’t find anything about you that I do not like.” They resumed walking and rounded a corner. The princess stopped suddenly when they came upon a couple on one of the many stone benches. It was Kal Navar and Taro, and they were oblivious to the intruders to their privacy. The coyote’s hand was inside Taro’s jumper as they alternately kissed and licked one another’s muzzles.

Merlin was caught by surprise and somewhat embarrassed for his friend, but smiled at the obvious pleasure the vixen was having. After her recent grief, it was good to see her with a smile again. He looked over at Tinara and saw the dark scowl in her eyes. She purposely scuffed her feet and the reaction was immediate. Navar looked up in shock at the royal princess and the coyote jerked his hand from Taro’s blouse with enough force that they all heard the fabric rip. The fox grabbed the torn section of her clothing with both hands and looked up with wide orange eyes.

“You ... your Highness!” Navar exclaimed, jumping to his feet to execute a quick bow.

“Kal Navar,” Tinara acknowledged in a voice dripping coldly. The look in Navar’s eyes told Sinclair she was someone whose respect was highly valued by the servant, and he had likely just lost any favor he might have had with her. Taro merely looked embarrassed at being caught. Merlin winked at her with a small smile that went unnoticed by the coyotes.

After glaring at Navar for a silent moment more, the princess slid her hand into the wolf’s and said, “Come along, Merlin.”

The princess led him away through the maze in silence, at a pace quicker than what they had previously moved. At length she slowed and stared down at her feet. They came upon another of the stone benches and she motioned for them to sit down. She turned and stared at the wolf steadily, and then an unexpected smile crept across her lips, erasing the momentary fury. She looked back the way they had come and then back directly into his amber eyes.

“Merlin...” she said in a lilting voice. “What they were doing back there...”

“I’m sorry, your Highness,” the wolf said hesitantly. “I don’t think Taro meant any disrespect to your court.”

The princess put a finger to his lips. “I’m not concerned with her personally,” she said, “but about what they were doing together.”

“Yes?”

She leaned closer to the wolf so that their noses were only an inch apart. “Do that with me.”

Merlin blinked twice and swallowed. “Do that with you?”

“You like me, don’t you?”

“Yes, Princess, but—”

“Tinara, remember?”

Merlin closed his eyes just a moment and then looked around them. They were alone, and although there were windows from the surrounding buildings visible, he could see no one through their mirrored surfaces. He looked back at the princess and tried to think of a way to gently turn her down.

“Please?” she asked in a whisper. Her eyes had a soft expression and she looked as if there was an inner glow of anticipation within her.

Merlin nodded silently, resolving to limit his touches only to her lips. He could not bring himself to be as intimate as Navar had been with Taro. He moved closer and gently licked the side of her muzzle. She leaned into him pleasantly and coaxed him to kiss her directly on the lips. Although he complied, she was pretty and he had to concentrate to keep himself from giving in totally to her charms.

***

Adion Aris now wore all green. He looked out from the third-floor window of his office chambers into the courtyard and idly let his gaze wander through the pathways at the gardeners and guests to his palace. After a moment he recognized Kal Navar leading a vulpine visitor through the maze by the hand; they seemed in a great hurry. The king smiled to himself. Navar was a good coyote, but he usually kept to himself. It was good to see him with a female, even if only a visitor.

He looked around and then saw his youngest daughter. She was with the visiting wolf on a park bench near one end of the maze. He had intended to introduce them during the evening meal as part of his strategy, but it appears they had already found one another. He smiled at the scene, but then he saw what they were doing. He reached into a drawer of a small credenza beside the window and drew out a small spotting scope. He put it up to his eye and focused the lens upon his daughter.

“Well, well...” he said to himself. The wolf’s hands were around Tinara’s slender waist and hers were around the back of his neck as they enjoyed a kiss. The king watched a moment more and put the eyeglass away. He walked to his desk and sat in the chair before a small monitor. He touched a control and a face appeared on the screen.

“Yes, your Highness?” the female on the monitor answered.

“Shenna, has my visitors’ manifest request been initiated?”

“Yes, Sire. Kal Navar put it in an hour ago with Supply. It will take three days to gather the goods here to the capitol.”

“Three days...” the king muttered. He thought a moment and then said, “When Navar gets back to his desk, tell him to slow the process. A day or two would be sufficient.”

“Slow it, your Majesty?”

“Shall I arrange to have your ears examined, Shenna?” he asked tonelessly.

“No, Sire. I’ll see to it Navar understands as soon as he arrives.”

“Good.” He touched the control again and the screen went dark. He rubbed his hands together and stood up. He walked to the door and left his office after a quick glance back toward the window.

***

As they walked through the long corridors once again, Tinara was lighthearted, happy and had her arm wound through Merlin’s as her tail wagged behind her. She had introduced him to a number of the staff, all the while clinging to him with smiles and giggles, but they were now in a different part of the palace and he did not think he would have been able to find the way back if she decided to leave him. They had come in from the maze on the opposite end of the courtyard than they had entered. This way was less traveled, it appeared.

“Tell me, Merlin,” the princess said. “Why you didn’t touch me the same way Kal did to that friend of yours?”

The wolf tilted his head as he looked at her. “One step at a time, sweet Tinara. I don’t get intimate as quickly as Taro does, especially right after a first meeting, or in public where someone might be watching from a window.”

“But you do like me?”

Merlin laughed. “You’re a bit young for me, but yes, I do like you.”

“A bit young?” she repeated with an arched eyebrow. “I’ll have you know I am a legal adult!”

“That was never in question, but you are still the king’s daughter.”

Tinara pulled him to the side of the hallway to a simple door. She opened it, switched on the light and then they went inside. She shut the door behind them and locked it with a manual key.

Merlin surveyed the guest room suspiciously. They were in a small bed chamber that was apparently unused and of simple design. The bed was a four-poster with a sheer canopy curtain that was drawn aside and a pair of high-backed chairs flanked it on either side.

“Why are we behind a locked door, Tinara?”

“Just providing us with some privacy.”

The wolf was worried now. He had picked up her scent earlier and realized she would be in heat very soon. He would have to handle this diplomatically, since he was not about to put his neck on a chopping block for a bit of physical pleasure with the daughter of a planet’s ruler.

The princess looked at him slyly and swished her tail. “Whatever you do while you are here,” she said in a quiet voice, “just remember you are not to tickle me.”

The wolf looked at her strangely. What an odd thing to say, he thought to himself.

When he did not respond, she sighed and said, “Did you hear me? I said, ‘don’t tickle me’...”

Merlin raised his eyebrows leaning in closer to her, his nose almost touching her own so that he held her undivided attention on his amber eyes. “You mean, don’t do this?”

He boldly grabbed her sides and she shrieked. Undaunted, he playfully danced his fingers about her ribs as she screamed out in laughter. He hoped she had chosen this particular room in the palace for its seclusion. It would not be good if someone recognized the princess’ voice screaming from behind a locked door.

Tinara jumped away from his fingers and fell on her back upon the bed through the sheer curtain. The wolf did not give her time to regroup. He threw caution to the wind, leapt up, straddled her legs and pinned them to the mattress. He faced away from her and began slowly removing her long boots.

“Oh, no you don’t!” she exclaimed. “Not the feet! Not the feet!”

Merlin mimicked an evil cackle as he managed to work one boot halfway off her foot. “Too late, Princess. You asked for it and now you’re going to get it!” Her boot hit the floor and he managed to get the other one off without much more trouble. She wriggled her feet frantically, but he held them fast while he removed the dainty socks she wore beneath the boots.

Tinara sat up and grabbed at the wolf’s ribs, but he only shook his head with a smile. “No good, your Highness. I’m not ticklish.” He pulled a finger along the sole of her right foot and she inhaled sharply. “Sensitive, is it?” he asked. He thumped the tip of his tail against the side of her head and she tried to grab it with a snicker.

Sinclair tickled both feet with his fingers and she shrieked behind him. She wrapped her arms around his sides and tried to reach his hands to stop him, but her arms were not long enough. Merlin only doubled his efforts and she lay back on the bed screaming with her hands pressed up to her eyes. She laughed uncontrollably and bucked when he moved his fingers to her toes.

Giggling hysterically, she squirmed to get free but she was too weak from laughing to do much. Merlin focused his attention on the underside of her toes, where she seemed to be the most ticklish. Then, after a couple of minutes of the torture, he slowed and then stopped. Tinara continued laughing for a minute more and then finally wiped the tears from her eyes to look up at him. He stared at her over his shoulder and his mischievous expression put her into another fit of giggles.

Merlin got up off her legs and sat on the bed next to her. She panted and little chuckles would hit her from time to time. He lightly grabbed her right knee and she shrieked again without thinking. She snared his hands and held them as she sat up beside him.

“Merlin… Sinclair,” she said between heavy panting breaths, “I am… so hot...”

He laughed and asked, “Want me to turn on the ceiling fan?”

Tinara half closed her eyes and shook her head. “That is not what I meant, my wolf...” Merlin became suddenly aware of the strong scent in the air, and his sensitive hearing picked up her rapid heartbeat in the quiet of the room. She leaned closer to him and her eyes narrowed further.

“Tickling my toes is my big turn-on,” she panted softly. “Now you must continue what you have started...”

Merlin’s senses were swimming from the scent that permeated the room and he shook his head several times to clear his thoughts. It took a great effort, but he managed to put his arms around her in a soft embrace, instead of what he wanted to do. The embrace she returned was stronger, clutching, and her hands started to explore.

His nose was near her left ear and he nuzzled it gently. “Tinara… I can’t do this.”

The princess did not seem to hear him at first, but then she slowly calmed when he stopped moving. She said nothing for several long moments. He could feel the tension dissipate and then she pulled away from him to look into his eyes with a halfhearted smile.

She swallowed, sighed and then said, “I know, I know — daughter of the king...” She licked the side of his muzzle and then kissed him long and hard with her arms tight around the back of his neck to keep him in place. Merlin gasped for air when she finally pulled away.

“Thank you,” she said after a quiet moment. “No one’s ever discovered my turn-on toes before.”

The wolf smiled his mischief again. “Well, you did prompt me to tickle you,” he reminded. “You can’t deny that!”

She chuckled. “I confess that I enjoy being tickled, but I didn’t think you’d remove my boots!” The two of them laughed and the princess finally put her arms around him softly, snuggling up to his chest. “I don’t want you to leave, Merlin Sinclair,” she said quietly.

“According to your father’s predictions, it will be a few days before our cargo is assembled,” Merlin replied. “I’ll be here that long, anyway.”

Tinara closed her eyes and said in a voice too quiet for even the wolf’s sensitive hearing, “Perhaps longer...”

At that moment, Merlin’s stomach grumbled lowly. He laughed and said, “Sorry, it’s been a while since breakfast.” The princess sat up and looked over at an ornate clock across the room. She bit her bottom lip as she noted the time.

“If we hurry back to our rooms, I think we can be ready in time to dine with my father and your friends.”

“How much time do we have?” Merlin asked.

“Just under an hour.”

“Then we’d better hurry!” Merlin handed her a boot and picked up the other one, forgetting the socks. He could not resist, though, and gave her bare toes a quick tickle. She squawked and slapped his hand away playfully.

“Stop that, or we’ll never make it on time!” she scolded half-heartedly.

Merlin grinned and shook his head. “Deadlines...”

***

King Aris was pleased with the spread of food set out on the long table. There was more than enough to satisfy them all. Merlin, Samantha and Taro stood beside him as he made introductions.

“I present to you my family,” the king said. Three female coyotes faced them all dressed in fine gowns. One of them was near in age to the king, one in her thirties and the youngest of eighteen. “This is my wife and queen, Sechsi, my eldest daughter, Carina, and my youngest, Tinara.” The three guests bowed toward them.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Merlin said politely.

“And I yours,” Sechsi replied in a soft voice.

Aris turned to Carina and asked, “Where is Dolan? I requested your husband’s presence, as well.”

Carina motioned to the air with a hand and answered, “He left this morning with our three girls for the Misty Amusement Park in Tamaranth. They were on their way before our guests ever arrived.”

“I see.” The king indicated for them to take their seats. Servants moved in quickly to tend the chairs for the ladies and Aris gave his wife and daughters a pleasant smile. Taro looked up at the broad-shouldered coyote that held her chair for her and gave him a warm smile. Samantha was seated beside her with Merlin next to the Border collie.

“Will the fennec who joined us this afternoon dine with us tonight, Captain?” Aris asked as the servants moved around the room to attend the family and guests.

“My apologies, your Majesty,” Merlin replied. “He accepted the offer to see your city and has not returned as yet.”

“A pity,” Sechsi said as the servants moved in to fill their glasses and bring in laden plates. “He will miss an excellent meal.”

“Indeed,” Samantha agreed. “It looks absolutely wonderful!”

“So, Captain Sinclair,” the king said with a friendly smile, “What did you think of our city?”

Merlin glanced quickly to Tinara and then back to the king. “I spent most of the day touring your palace and the courtyard, Sire. I never made it out into the city itself.”

“Did you see anything you liked?”

Merlin’s eyes darted once again to the younger princess and the cleavage her gown revealed before he returned his gaze to Aris — a subtle action that did not go unnoticed by the monarch. “Yes, your Highness,” he replied. “You have a lot of beauty and beautiful things in this place.”

The king looked over at Merlin’s interest and asked, “Are you all right, Tinara? You are usually quite the chatterbox at the table.”

She looked up shyly as a servant filled her glass. “I’m fine, father. I just have some things on my mind.” Under the table, she had slipped off one of her elegant shoes and had begun to rub her toes gently against the wolf’s ankle.

“Indeed? Anything you’d like to discuss?”

“No, not really.”

“All right, then.” Aris returned his attention back to the captain as Sechsi asked Taro about the Tanthean dress she wore. It was a local design and the vixen explained she had accidentally torn her own garments while in the garden courtyard; one of the servants had provided it for her.

As the talk went on and they began their meal, Merlin and Tinara exchanged another long glance and smiled at one another. The king watched them covertly as thoughts swirled through his brain. He kept his expression neutral, but continued to watch them.

***

Merlin shut the door to the guest room he had been given and switched on the light. The bed was a large four-poster with a sheer fabric curtain around it underneath a matching canopy, very similar to the one in the chamber Tinara had taken him to earlier. A small stand was next to the bed and a massive mirror in an ornate frame hung on the wall. There was a plush velvet chair in two of the corners, a live potted fern in another and expensive tapestries on the walls.

He walked to the closet and found an assortment of garments inside he noted were all in his sizes despite that he had not given anyone his measurements. He peeked into the bathroom and was delighted to see a sunken marbled bathing area with the top edge at floor level. It had been a long time since he had had the luxury of an immersion bath. There were only shower cubicles in the small cabins on the Blue Horizon.

The meal with the monarch’s family had not been as stuffy as he had feared. Although he did not get to visit much with Tinara, her presence had been nice, especially in that stunning gown she had worn. The king and queen had both been interested in talking with him, more so it seemed, than with his companions. It was likely due to his position of authority. Aris had seen especially interested in the genetics of his family history.

Merlin had wanted to speak with Tinara when the meal was over, but Aris had requested her presence in private. Instead, he and his shipmates had wandered back out into the garden for a bit. Although he had tried to hide it in the king’s presence, Merlin was irritated because he had been told that due to some of the specific items on the manifest, their cargo could take a day or two longer to assemble as originally thought. He was afraid the delay might cost him his next delivery, as they were already behind schedule. Cursing Moss’ existence beneath his breath, he and Samantha headed back to their assigned rooms while Taro sought out Kal Navar.

Merlin thought again about the bath and smiled. He began to unfasten the clasps on his shirt, but stopped when he glanced at the mirror. The whole business of being the king’s guest made him cautious, so he turned out the light and moved into the bathroom. He covered the mirror there with a huge towel and then started to fill the bath with hot water. He found a large candle and matches lying on the counter, so he lit it for ambiance and shut off the overhead light. He also discovered a bottle of bath soap, and when he opened the glass container, his nose was met with floral scent. He smiled, tapped a miniscule amount into the churning water, and was rewarded with frothing bubbles.

The wolf got out of his clothing and then stepped into the hot bath with a hiss. Very warm, but nice, he thought as he slowly sat down. He shut off the tap and suddenly became very still. He thought he had heard someone in the outer room. He strained his ears for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders when he did not hear anything else. He slid down into the water until it was over his shoulders with bubbles around his head. Merlin closed his eyes with a contented smile and relaxed.

His thoughts meandered to the afternoon and he remembered how compelling the princess had been. He had enjoyed her company. If she had not been royalty, he might have actually given in to her charms. He almost had, anyway. As he soaked, he pictured her in his mind and could almost hear her speak his name.

“Merlin?”

The wolf’s eyes snapped open. He had heard his name. His gaze darted to the doorway and a figure moved into the candlelight.

“Tinara?” he asked quietly.

“No, but I’ll leave if you were expecting her,” the Border collie said dryly.

“Samantha? No, I wasn’t expecting anyone, but she was in my thoughts,” he admitted.

She knelt next to the floor-level bath and scooped up some bubbles. “That looks inviting,” she said. “Is there room for one more?”

Merlin smiled amongst the bubbles. “There’s room enough for a whole cozy of us in here. C’mon in.”

“A whole cozy, eh?” she chuckled as she dropped her dress to the floor. “An interesting thought — want to cozy up together when we get out?”

Merlin looked at her suspiciously. “How many in our cozy?”

The collie slid into the hot water slowly to get used to the temperature and then made her way to his lap. “Just you and me, Merlin.”

He put his arms around her. “I thought you were going to grab Pockets and head out on the town. “

“I couldn’t find him and I didn’t feel like being alone.”

“So, you crept into my room instead?”

Samantha slid a hand through his chest fur and nuzzled his ear. Using his terminology, she whispered, “Well, you’ve always shown me a good cozy whenever we’ve gotten together.” She licked his ear playfully. Merlin closed his eyes and enjoyed her ministrations with a smile. He had needed a distraction from thoughts of Tinara and in walked Samantha. Good timing.

Samantha turned in his lap so that she faced him. After she got situated, she asked, “What is this about you and the princess I see?”

“Is our attraction that obvious?”

“It is to someone who’s known you for years,” she answered. “Taro noticed too. Did you and the princess…?”

The wolf shook his head. “No, not with the king’s daughter,” he assured her. “Not that I hadn’t thought about it, though.”

“I thought so,” the collie said slyly. Merlin smiled as she squirmed a bit in his lap and added, “Time to think of me now.”

***

Merlin yawned lazily as he opened his eyes and saw Samantha dressing. “Good morning, Merlin,” she said. “Sleep well?”

“Mmm hmm,” he murmured. He stretched and smiled up at her. “Where are you off to so early?”

“To see if I can find Taro’s friend, Kal,” she answered with a smile. “He mentioned a clothing shop in the city I want to check out, and I also want to see if I can find more distractions for the Rec Room. After our journey out to Sillon and back, everybody’s sick of what we have now.”

Merlin slid from the bed, looked through the bed covers scattered around the room, searching for his trousers. “Kal’s probably working, Samantha. Check his desk at the palace entrance.”

“I remember.” She moved over to him and nuzzled him lightly. “Thanks for last night.”

He licked his lips and smiled. “Anytime,” he replied.

It took the wolf half an hour to straighten up the room from the mess they had made of it and was relieved that nothing was broken. He had a towel wrapped around his waist as he stood looking into the wardrobe. He would wear something today from the assortment provided for him. There was a knock at the door. Thinking it might be the princess, he rushed to answer it. He opened the door and peered into the faces of Renny and Tanis.

“Hi, guys!” Merlin said with a grin. “Come on in while I get dressed.”

“Hello, boss,” Renny said. He walked in with a smile and boldly snatched Merlin’s towel away from him.

“Hey!” the wolf exclaimed. “At least close the door first.” He covered himself with his tail before someone else out there got a free show.

Merlin studied the closet again and selected a few items after Tanis closed the door behind him. He took the garments into the bathroom to change into and called out to them. “Everything okay?”

“Just fine,” Tanis replied.

“How did rubbing shoulders with the royalty go?” Renny asked. He put a hand on a bedpost and leaned against it, his eyes roving over the décor of the room.

“The king’s family is a nice bunch, not stuffy at all,” Merlin answered, “and the food was excellent. It’s too bad you two didn’t come with us.”

“The way I heard it, I’m surprised ya even tasted the food,” Tanis said with a chuckle.

“Huh?” Merlin walked out of the bathroom with black boots in hand. He wore a loose pair of tan trousers and a white, open-neck shirt with bloused long sleeves. Around his middle was a gold sash tied loosely on the right.

“Taro said you spent most of the meal making eyes with the young princess,” Renny replied.

The wolf sat in a chair to slip on his boots. “Well, I did spend the afternoon with her.”

Tanis sniffed the air and added, “Last night, too, from the smell of it.”

Renny sniffed and laughed. “You fast-moving wolf, you.”

“No, that was Samantha,” Merlin replied nonchalantly as he stood up; it was no secret to his crew that the two of them occasionally hooked up. “So, guys, what are your plans today?”

A light knock on the door stopped any reply to the question. Merlin walked past his friends and opened the door. This time it was Tinara.

“Good morning, your Highness,” the wolf said with a bow. “Please come in.”

“Your Highness?” she repeated. “What happened to calling me by name, silly wolf?” She stepped inside and slid her arms up over his shoulders. She was about to lick his muzzle when she saw his companions. “Oh, I didn’t know you had company,” she said in surprise. She drew back away from him a step and dropped her hands to her sides.

“These are my shipmates, Princess,” Merlin explained. “Princess Tinara, meet Arktanis and Renny.” The pair bowed slightly and Tanis even gave a small wave of his hand.

“Hello,” she said. “I’m sorry to disturb you and your friends, Merlin, but the king and queen would like to meet with you in the throne chamber.”

“Taking him home to meet the folks?” the cheetah quipped.

Tinara turned to him and smiled openly. “Something like that, Mister Renny.”

“Do I look presentable enough for the throne room?” Sinclair asked, spreading his arms wide. “I found these in the wardrobe.” The princess looked at him with a critical eye and then moved to the cabinet. She pulled out a vest of gold fabric and held it out to him. He put it on and faced the mirror.

“All ya need is a turban,” Tanis said, “and a gold-trimmed cape.”

“And a camel,” Renny finished with a laugh.

Merlin glared at them until Tinara threaded an arm through his and said, “I think he looks like a prince.” With that, she gave them a wink and then gently licked the wolf on the cheek.

Arktanis coughed into his fist and said, “How do I look, yer Highness?”

She studied the short tan fox and then her eyes lit up. “You look like Rastus, our court jester,” she remarked.

Merlin and Renny chuckled, but Tanis looked excited. “Rastus is here?”

“You know him?” Tinara asked.

“Is he a fennec fox, like me?”

“Yes,” she answered with a smile. “He’s a little shorter, but his ears are longer. His family name is TeVann.”

Tanis smiled widely. “That’s him. He’s my cousin.”

Renny pointed to Tanis and looked to Merlin. “How about that – there’s another one of him in the galaxy!”

“Would you like to meet him?” Tinara asked as she moved back to Merlin’s side. “He’ll be waiting in the wings of the throne room.”

“Yes, I would. It’s been about ten years since we last saw one another,” Tanis said excitedly.

“I don’t know what they want,” Merlin said, “but I don’t wish to keep the king and queen waiting.”

“Probably not a good idea,” Renny replied. With that, Tinara led them out the door with the others trailing along.

“I wonder how Rastus wound up on Tanthe.” Tanis wondered aloud. “The last I’d heard, he left Nalirra when he was rejected by our military due to bad eyesight.”

Tinara nodded as they walked. “Kal Navar told me that he found Rastus lost and alone at the edge of town a few years ago. It seems the transport your cousin was on made a landing on Tanthe and he wandered away before they took off again, stranding him here without his luggage and only a few credits on him. Kal hired him for the palace when he discovered his sense of humor.”

“Sounds like the Rastus I knew, alright,” Tanis replied with a grin at Renny.

Their conversation dissipated when they arrived at massive wooden doors that led into the throne room. Tinara stopped and turned to the wolf. “Go on in, Merlin. They are waiting for you,” she said. She gave him another quick lick on the cheek and added, “I’m going to take your friend to meet his cousin.”

“Wait!” Merlin exclaimed, suddenly nervous. “Can you give me a clue on why your parents have summoned me?”

The princess smiled merrily and shook her head. “Don’t be worried, my wolf,” she said. “My father likes you. Just be yourself when talking with them, like you did last night.” She took Tanis by the elbow and led him away to a side corridor.

Merlin looked to his remaining companion and frowned. “I don’t know if I’m ready for a full-court conversation with the King and Queen — especially since Tinara is being purposely vague about why they want to see me.”

Renny put a hand on his shoulder. “Want me to come in there with you, in case you need a distraction for a hasty retreat?”

“Why would I need a retreat?” Merlin asked, feeling his dread deepen.

Renny winked at him. “Well,” the cheetah answered, “you have been pretty chummy with their daughter. The royal rulers may take exception to that. I think the story usually goes that only other royalty may court a princess.”

Merlin twitched his tail nervously. “But I wasn’t actually courting her,” the wolf complained. “She just wanted...”

“I’ll be right behind you,” the cheetah promised.

Merlin nodded and turned to the doors. “Maybe they just want to inform me that our replacement cargo is ready,” he added with a frown.

“After only two days? That’s wishful thinking.”

He pushed the doors open with surprising ease despite their size and entered. Renny moved in behind him silently. The throne room was not a huge chamber, perhaps the size of small auditorium. There were several rows of seats near a raised dais, upon which were two ornate marble thrones with delicate inlaid designs reminiscent of scrimshaw. King Aris sat on the left and Queen Sechsi on his right. Exquisite purple draperies hung on the walls and a handful of people stood near the front. A uniformed guard beside the door walked over to Merlin and spoke to him quietly.

The male coyote turned and headed up the carpeted center of the room to the King and announced the wolf.

“Merlin Sinclair of the Blue Horizon, your Highness.”

The king motioned to the wolf to approach the thrones. As Merlin walked forward, his shipmate fell into step behind him. The pair halted before the dais and bowed in unison.

“Welcome, welcome,” the monarch said. His quiet voice carried well in the acoustics of the room. His expression seemed to be pleased and the wolf was eased somewhat.

“Welcome, Captain. Who accompanies you today?”

Merlin turned slightly to his companion. “Renny Thornton, your Majesty. Navigator of the Blue Horizon.”

“Welcome, Mr. Thornton.”

Renny remained silent, but gave the monarch another formal bow.

Straight to business, Aris turned and looked at the wolf. “You come highly recommended by my daughter, Mr. Sinclair.”

“Sire? Recommended for what?”

The king turned and looked at Sechsi with a smile. She returned it and he resumed his gaze to the curious wolf. “To marry her and keep the royal bloodline going, son.”

Merlin’s jaw dropped and Renny did a double-take toward him. Aris continued as if he had not noticed the wolf’s stunned countenance.

“I spoke with her at length last night after dining,” he said. “She convinced me that you should be the one to take up my offer of her hand in marriage.”

“She was most adamant in having you as her mate, dear Merlin,” the queen added with a gentle smile, using his personal name.

The captain’s face was of pure shock. “Me, your Highness?” he responded hoarsely. “I was only being friendly. I wasn’t seeking her hand, and I’m not… uhm, I’m no descendant of royal blood that I could marry a princess anyway!”

The king laughed aloud. “You do not have to have royal blood to marry a princess of Tanthe, son,” he explained. “Once you marry my daughter, you take on my family name and any children you produce through her will have my blood to become rightful heirs.”

“I’m not even a coyote!”

The monarch shook his head, amused by Sinclair’s anxieties, but he was used to getting what he wanted. “We are close enough in species for you to produce pups with the Aris blood.”

Merlin coughed. “Is this the reason why you wanted to meet with me?” he asked hoarsely. “The reason why you queried my First Officer on the species of my crew?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Your Highness, I like Princess Tinara very much, but I’m just a captain of a cargo ship and I’m only here to replace my lost cargo!”

Aris held up a hand to silence him. “Merlin,” he said jovially, “you will be a prince here, with millions under your command and wanting for nothing.”

The wolf nodded. “I suppose that would be preferable to my lifestyle, Sire, but I understand royalty are not truly as free to do what they want as common folk.”

The king’s smile faded for a moment and he glanced back at his queen, who sat silently observing him. “True, very true,” the coyote replied. “I am ruler of an entire planet, but yet I often have to follow more rules than my subjects.” He wearily looked back at the small group assembled before him.

“However, that’s a small price to pay for having all the needs and wants of my family provided for with just a spoken word, my dear wolf.”

The queen extended a hand toward Sinclair. “Will you please consider joining my family?” she asked in a personal tone. “You are the first suitor she’s actually considered, and her standards are high. That young girl’s heart is taken with you.”

“But we’ve only known one another little more than a day,” Merlin countered with a frown. “She is not familiar with my habits and she’s not seen me when I’m angry or unreasonable. How can you base a lifelong marriage on a brief acquaintance?”

“Such things are possible,” Aris remarked with a smile at his queen. “Sechsi and I were engaged within hours of our first meeting.”

Merlin closed his eyes and bowed his head a moment in disbelief. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over into the large yellow eyes of his feline companion.

“May I speak with him a moment, your Majesties?” Renny asked with a slight bow of his own.

“Of course,” King Aris replied.

Renny drew the perplexed wolf off to the side and spoke to him in a voice barely above a whisper. “Merlin, think about this,” he said. “You’ll have a better life than flitting around the Planetary Alignment hauling cargo for other people and dodging pirates. You can stay here to help rule a planet and make puppies until you’re all worn out. You could put Taro or Durant in charge of the Blue Horizon and buy a whole fleet of freighters if you wanted to keep the business.”

Merlin deepened his frown. “You’re not helping my situation, Renny. I’m trying to talk his Highness out of this.”

Renny gave him a sincere look and said, “The princess really likes you, Merlin, and she is a beauty.”

“I’m not even the one she really wants,” he blurted in a raised voice of exasperation, his words unintentionally carrying in the acoustics of the throne room.

“What was that?” the king called out. “Who is it she desires? She’s spoken of no one else, only you.”

Merlin and Renny slowly turned and faced the monarch. The wolf approached the throne, leaving his companion where he stood.

“Your Highness, I’ve only known Princess Tinara for two days, but there is someone here in your own palace who has already caught your daughter’s eye, and from what I’ve seen, his desires for her are just as real.”

Aris raised his eyebrows. “Here, among my own?”

He did not like to meddle in the relationships of others, but in a matter of self-preservation he was now committed to revealing what he really only suspected. “Yes, Sire.”

“That cannot be,” the king replied. “I put out an open invitation for suitors for Tinara months ago and she has rejected all who responded. If she desired someone, why did she not choose him?”

Merlin clasped his hands behind him. “Because he never came forward, your Majesty. He was probably afraid you would reject him, even if she did not. Besides, I imagine he feared she would discard him as with the others, for he does not seem to know that she desires him in return.”

“How do you know the desire is there?”

Merlin smiled a little. “I’ve seen it in their eyes when they have looked at one another.”

“Who is this one you speak of?” Queen Sechsi asked. “Identify him.”

The wolf spoke the name. The reaction was one of surprise and disbelief. The king and queen bent their heads together and began conversing in quiet whispers. Merlin was not sure if he had done the right thing by voicing his suspicions. As far as everyone in the throne room was concerned, Sinclair had told what he knew, but in reality, it was only a guess based upon a single observation and numerous mentions of the person’s name in their conversations.

It was a gamble to counter the attention away from him on the subject of marriage to Tinara, and he hoped he was not mistaken. The king motioned to a servant and then whispered a command to the maiden. She turned and left the chamber at a fast walk.

“Captain Sinclair,” King Aris said in a neutral tone, “if you are correct and my daughter will have him, I will reward you for the trouble we have caused you and send you on your way.” The wolf bowed.

“However, if you are mistaken,” the monarch continued with a darker expression, “I will expect you to take Tinara’s hand in marriage and become an adopted son into my household. The future of the Aris family line is at stake here, and I will not take a negative answer.”

Merlin sighed and hoped again that he had been right in his suspicion. Without making any further replies, he simply bowed. Renny nudged him and motioned to the side of the throne room. Princess Tinara had just come through a side door and moved toward him with a smile. Renny stepped back a pace to give her room. She stopped on Merlin’s right and threaded an arm through his.

The wolf gave her a smile, but she noted the expression was weak. “What is the matter?” she whispered. “Has something happened?”

Merlin swallowed and frowned, but before he had a chance to answer, the guard stopped beside them and announced to the king, “Kal Navar, your Highness.”

All heads turned to the back of the room. Merlin and Tinara turned to look and saw the Palace Secretary approaching them, his ears drooping as he looked at her.

“Kal,” Tinara whispered quietly as he stopped beside her, “Why are you here?”

“The King sent for me, your Highness,” Navar answered. “I do not know why.”

Aris looked down at the small group. “Tinara, I need confirmation on something that was just brought to my attention.”

“And what is that, father?” she replied.

“In past months, you have refused every suitor who answered my open invitation for your hand in marriage,” he said. “Word has spread of your inaccessibility so that it has gotten to the point where no one has approached me in weeks for fear of your rejection. I had begun to give up hope of having more children born into our bloodline through you, until last night when you revealed your desire to have Merlin Sinclair as your mate. From the conversations your mother and I have had with him, neither of us have any reservations in your choice and we agreed he would be a welcome addition to the royal family.”

The princess heard a sharp intake of breath from Kal beside her. This was news to him about the wolf. Tinara swallowed but kept her attention on her father.

“Just a few moments ago,” King Aris continued, “I received word that there is one right here in the palace who is interested in you – someone who, I am told, you also have an attraction for.”

“Who gave you such information?” Tinara asked as she drew up closer to Merlin. “I have my Intended right here. Who are you talking about?”

“Kal Navar, present yourself.” The king extended a hand toward the coyote before him.

The palace secretary moved a step forward and bowed slightly. “Your Highness?” he appeared bewildered. “I did not circulate any such information.”

The king sighed audibly. “You misunderstand; since this all so vague, I will be blunt. Do you desire my daughter’s hand in marriage, Kal Navar?”

Tinara looked sharply at Kal, taken completely by surprise at her father’s question. Navar perked up his ears and straightened his shoulders. He did not direct his answer to the king, but turned and faced Tinara instead.

“Truthfully, your Highness,” he replied. “I do, very much.”

The expression in Tinara’s eyes softened from shock to admiration. “Why did you never come forward, Kal?” she asked, a wag stirring her tail.

Navar looked to the king, who merely encouraged him with a nod. The coyote looked embarrassed, but now that his feelings were made known, he turned back to the princess and boldly took her by the hand. “Because I was never sure how you felt about me and you have rejected many,” he replied. “Also... I am only the Palace Secretary, no one of much influence or heritage.”

Tinara put her free hand up to his cheek and sighed. “Silly coyote,” she said, “I’ve dreamed about you for some time. My feelings for someone are not dictated by royal title or position.”

Navar took a breath and said, “Then, you would consider my bid to your father for your hand in marriage?”

Tinara slowly turned to face Sinclair, who had remained silent throughout the exchange. “Merlin?”

Sinclair smiled and nodded toward her. “Your Highness, I have grown quite fond of you,” he said, “but we have only known each other two days. You and Kal already have history and I believe you are meant to be together – I was merely the catalyst to make it happen, I suppose.”

“The catalyst?” Navar repeated.

“Yes, it was I who told the King about you,” Merlin said with a smile to the monarch. “I noticed the glances you two exchanged in the garden yesterday. There was more in them than mere humiliation at being caught in the act of something embarrassing. I saw the feelings. I saw your eyes.”

“But…”

“The princess also couldn’t stop talking about Kal while she was showing me the palace and introducing me to your staff.”

“Then...?” Tinara looked up at him hopefully.

The wolf smiled openly and gestured toward Navar. “If you will have him as your mate, Princess, I give you my personal blessing, for what that may be worth.”

Tinara threw her arms around Merlin and embraced him tightly. “That means the world to me, my wolf.” She pulled away after a moment more and then turned to Navar.

She took his hands into her own and said, “I accept you, Kal, as my husband and a Prince of Aris.”

Navar smiled widely, and keeping a hold on Tinara’s hands, turned to face the king and queen. He bowed toward them and said, “May I present myself to you, your Majesties?”

The King and Queen both stood up and moved to the edge of the dais. The monarch took his wife’s hand and smiled at those assembled below. Servants on the periphery of the throne room looked to them with rapt attention.

“The King and Queen of the house of Aris, rulers of Tanthe,” the king said in a commanding voice, “hereby accept Kal Navar as a future member of the Royal family. Upon his union to Princess Tinara Shei Aris, Navar will be adopted into the family as Kal Navar Aris and become a Prince of this house. It is so declared!”

Applause from those gathered in the small throne room echoed around them. Tinara and Kal bowed in unison to the king and queen and then embraced each other tightly.

“Before the wedding can be arranged,” King Aris said to the young couple, “you will need to find and train a replacement for your job as Palace Secretary, son. Someone will be needed to help organize the ceremony.”

Kal turned to Merlin and extended a hand toward him. “Would you be interested in remaining with us?” the coyote asked. “I have it on good authority there’s a job opening for you.”

The wolf laughed and shook his head. “Thank you, but no. I have a crew of my own to rule. I wish I could stay for the wedding, but I’m sure it will take weeks to organize and the Blue Horizon has a shipping schedule to get back on track. We are already behind due to our original mishap and I fear we may have lost a customer with the delay.”

Navar looked to the king, who nodded to him. The future prince turned back to Merlin and said, “Your cargo has already been assembled and can be loaded onto your ship this afternoon.”

“Today?” Merlin repeated in open surprise. “I thought it would be several more days, and we still have not yet negotiated a price for the goods. We’ll need to discuss payment before you deliver…”

Tinara held up a hand and turned to the king. “May I offer this cargo to them as a gift to Merlin, father?”

The king nodded. “If you wish, then it is done.”

“I do so wish.” She turned back to the shocked pair and then gave Merlin another warm embrace. “Thank you, dear wolf, for your gift to me.”

Merlin felt a sudden panic, thinking she publicly referred to their tickling session the day before, but she moved back to Navar and put her head on his shoulder; he understood.

“I hope the two of you are very happy together, and that you are successful in producing a male heir to the house of Aris.”

Kal laughed and said, “Thank you, Captain.”

“Merlin,” the wolf corrected. “I don’t know when we may be back this way, but I hope you will not forget me.”

“Not likely,” the princess whispered, with a barely noticeable wink. “If I have any say in the matter, we’ll name our first son after you.”

***

Merlin sat at the helm of the Blue Horizon as it left the orbit of Tanthe. A fresh photograph of Princess Tinara was taped to the console and he smiled as Renny gave him a course correction. He had come close to having a life of ease for the rest of that life, but he knew he belonged here with his friends, who were about as close to family to him.

“Now that we’ve left Tanthe,” Renny said, “I can give you this. A courier delivered it at the last moment before we sealed the ship, but I didn’t have time to give it to you before now.”

The wolf glanced up at him as the cheetah held up a fat envelope secured the with an Aris wax seal. He set it on the pilot control console in front of Merlin. “I wonder what it is,” the captain said, looking down at the packet. “I left a short message for Kal before we left, but I don’t think he’s had time to read it and respond with something like this.” Renny merely gave him a shrug and waited curiously.

Merlin could only wonder what it was. “Take the controls, Renny, as I see what this is.” The cheetah nodded and took the captain’s place in the pilot seat. Merlin picked up the envelope and moved to the engineering station. He leaned up against the console and then broke the seal. With hesitation, pulled a set of parchment documents from the envelope and studied them in silence.

“Well?” Renny said impatiently. “You know the old human saying about curiosity and the cat -- I’m dying to know what it is!”

Merlin sat down in the engineer’s seat and fanned himself with the documents in his hand. His eyes were wide and he swallowed hard. He took a couple of deep breaths and then looked over at the cheetah.

“These are official documents that grant us purchase of a new starship freighter,” he said quietly, “paid in full, courtesy of the Aris Monarchy. All I have to do is sign one form and submit it back to the palace when I’m ready… It’s hand-signed by the Princess and countersigned by the King.”

Renny was stunned. “Uh... Wow…!”

Merlin finally smiled and nodded. “The Blue Horizon still has life left in her,” he said, rubbing the console beside him with his fingers, “so I think I’ll just store these documents away for safe-keeping for such time as we might need them.” He motioned toward the controls. “Stay where you are. I’m going to make a thank-you call.”

***

Kal Navar walked alone back to his desk, his feet barely touching the floor. He had dreamed of Princes Tinara since she had come of age and now he would be married to her. It had been a most pleasant, if not highly unexpected, chain of events with the arrival of the Blue Horizon.

He paused when he reached his desk and found a sealed envelope waiting for him. He opened it and found a simple message without a signature. He smiled to himself and tucked it deep into an inner shirt pocket.

The note had read, “Tickle her toes, she will reward you greatly.”

BLUE HORIZON DOWN

By Steve Carter

SS Blue Horizon PA1261

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon has shed its interstellar inertia and is presently within orbiting range of Crescentis; our journey from Tanthe thankfully uneventful. I’m just about to head up to the bridge to take my usual place in the center seat to bring us in, and my crew is ready to rest planetside on the beaches of the island world.

Sparky’s absence can still be felt here, even though Max has done an admirable job of filling in where she left off. The boy has proven a handy relief pitcher not only in the galley, but in general upkeep of the ship. He’s almost always cleaning something or tidying up here and there, no matter how many times we’ve all assured him that it’s not necessary. He really wants to prove himself, though. This morning I gave him an old pair of ensign insignia from my earlier years in the Dennieran military. They mean nothing on this ship, but the chrome reflects nicely and his posture has improved now that he can make them flash when he walks right.

I’m pleased to report that —

Whoom!

Merlin’s quarters suddenly lurched to the side with a jolt hard enough to launch him out of his desk chair, his journal hitting the deck beside him. The wolf tumbled to the deck in a heap, sliding across the floor to slam into the side of his bunk. His lupine senses alerted, firing off in a state of near-panic as he fought to regain his footing and equilibrium. The room shuddered with a low growl as another heavy blow rocked the ship.

Above his head, a speaker came on, “Captain! We need you on the bridge right now!”

Sinclair struggled to his feet as another titanic jolt rippled through the ship, sending him careening against a wall as he launched himself out of the door and down the hallway.

The ship became an inferno of red lights and sirens as she took another hit.

***

On the bridge, Taro’s fingers gripped into the arms of her seat at the com station as she barked orders behind her at the pilot seat.

“Where’s it coming from?”

A bath of red light filled the bridge as a warning klaxon blared. Renny snapped his head up to report above the din of chaotic explosions around the ship. “It’s coming from the starboard! Whatever it is, it’s got a kick!”

“Evasive!” Taro shouted, and the ship banked to port while pushing up speed to aid in escape. All three vidscreens filled with a shower of green energy spraying around them, narrowly avoiding the sleek blue saucer as Renny swung it around at deep angles. This near to the atmosphere of Crescentis, they were effectively boxed in by the layer of charged troposphere that shielded the world from its star.

The upper atmosphere of Crescentis reacted to the laser fire from the battle with flashes of ionic energy, weaving a deadly spider’s web of death just below them. The ship banked sharply as wicked fingers of energy slashed out at the pinned-in freighter, only to sail right back into the barrage of green energy. It was like trying to escape from an electrified maze.

***

Behind the Blue Horizon, a black, wraithlike object moved swiftly, silently through space. Its shape was that of a long, flat curve—a manta ray floating ghostlike in the blackness. Moving noiselessly through the vista of stars, the ship had come up on the Horizon totally unnoticed, but when its cannons spoke, searing blasts of white-green energy cut into the unsuspecting freighter before the automatic defense systems kicked in and the shields strengthened.

At the controls of the ship, a massive form manipulated a pair of red controls with the aplomb of a master fencer. The thick black hands flamed with an eerie blue sheen in the low light of the bridge, and dark green eyes glowed with a deranged luminescence from deep-set pits under the gunner’s brow.

Behind the gunner, a broad, dark shape moved forward to place a heavy hand on a shoulder. “Don’t lose them,” its voice rumbled.

The gunner nodded, bringing the red crosshairs back up to bear on his now-agile target. The design shone across his face like a brand, painting half his own face in its crimson glow. “We have them right where we want them,” he replied.

“Take as long as you like,” his leader rumbled.

***

Sinclair charged up onto the bridge, closely followed by Samantha, who went immediately to the com console.

“Captain!” Taro exclaimed from the engineering station. “We’re being attacked from the starboard by an unknown aggressor. Ship scanner has only picked up a trace of class G spatial distortion and—”

“Class G?” Merlin’s jaw dropped. The idea was terrifying.

“Yes sir,” she said, “It’s got to be Natasha.”

He looked out into the vidscreen, holding firm onto the back of the pilot seat. The idea seized around his mind like a fist, but… no. “It isn’t Natasha,” he replied. “It’s got to be someone else. She could have already destroyed—”

Another titanic blast rocked the ship, spinning it off its axis so hard that it began to tumble end over end through the black of space, out of control.

“Engine room to bridge!” came a plaintive voice. “We’re losing control of the ship back here! One more direct hit could button us up!”

“We can’t maneuver this close to the atmosphere!” Renny yipped, terror beginning to creep into his voice.

The cheetah quickly vacated the center seat and Merlin swiftly took his place. The wolf tapped keys on the armrest pads, checking to see if the cargo hold was occupied.

“Pockets! You and Patch get into the engineering compartment! Seal the hatch!” Merlin ordered.

“Already sealed in!”

“Durant?”

“Went to the upper decks an hour ago.”

With all hands accounted for, he flicked a switch and then seized the guidance shifts. “This is the captain,” he said over the ship-wide intercom, “Hold on to something, now!”

***

“See how easily the white meat slices,” a dark, rumbling voice purled around the gunner’s ears. “You, who have caused me so much dishonor… who almost cost me my life. You will pay…”

“Sir,” the gunner said, “we can destroy them now.”

“No,” came the reply. “Don’t destroy them yet. I want them to burn… let them cook and burn in the atmosphere.”

The gunner grinned, his sharp, white teeth glinting in the sunrise just appearing over the horizon of the planet below.

A moment later, the dark commander’s screen lit with the Blue Horizon’s engines flaring in a peculiar arc. The blue saucer dipped quickly, crazily as its cargo bay door opened with a blast of freezing air, catching a buffet of troposphere from the planet below. Catching the wave, the ship whipped down on its Y-axis at an impossibly sharp angle. The bank caused the ship to catch some of its own exhaust trail in the wake, but the Blue Horizon went straight down, whirled beneath its attacker, and rose straight back up again like a slingshot to face it from behind.

“What the…?” the black feline captain growled.

***

With the enemy now against the glow of Crescentis instead of the black of space, the bridge crew of the Blue Horizon saw it clearly in the corona of light splitting over the curve of the planet. It was long and thin; the smooth wedge shape of a manta ray flamed against the white star’s light as the cloaking device reflected the glorious dawn like a prism. The Basilisk.

“Kill it.” Merlin rumbled, drawing the cargo bay doors shut with the flick of another switch.

***

The Basilisk’s screen shifted to the rear sensors as a hail of ordnance erupted from the Blue Horizon’s military-grade pulse cannons, filling the Basilisk’s screen with a blue inferno. The shimmering shape moved evasively, but not fast enough to avoid the hail of wicked blue flame. The pirate ship quivered under the brunt of the blast and Sagan was catapulted off his feet with the roar of concussion slamming against his bridge. A ripple of energy splintered across the hull of the Basilisk and the broad screen before the gunner exploded, sending white-hot fingers of electricity riddling through his body as he screamed.

Sagan bared his teeth at the turn of events and lurched up from the bridge floor. He was not used to a mere freighter fighting back with such ferocity. The jaguar slammed his fist down on his control panel, bringing the shields up to bear as he pitched forward and shoved his gunner out of the station cockpit.

“Aft weapons, return fire!”

From the rear or the Basilisk, a barrage of the white-green energy loosed, strafing the blue saucer across its bow. Below, the charged atmosphere flared with the exchange of fire.

***

As the freighter rocked around her, Samantha’s fingers passed over the console before her, tapping out digits as she worriedly prepared a distress signal. A series of red numbers appeared on the console before her and Renny caught a glance of the series.

…subspace channel 13/666…

…under attack at Crescentis…

… request immediate assistance…

What channel was that? the cheetah wondered.

“Firing,” Merlin growled.

Another blast of energy filled the screen before him, but his ship only lurched slightly now that the shields were engaged. The flat-black manta ray sailed up from the atmosphere to hide in the darkness of space, momentarily occluding the star and casting its shadow over the Horizon. Renny took his chance and hurled another salvo of pulsar fire at the ship, rocking it laterally before it flew out of the corona of light.

***

Sagan hammered controls on his console, finding that the ship systems did not respond to his commands. The jaguar snarled at the impotence of his anger, pounding the face of switches and buttons. He tore from the bridge, leaving his second with instructions to pound them until they stood still as a corpse.

***

“This is going to be bad,” Merlin grumbled as a trail of flame and smoke marked the location of the Basilisk as it turned in space to face them. Renny wasted no time and opened fire on the enemy vessel, blue flashes of energy reflecting ineffectively off the powerful shields like water on a balloon. Merlin swerved the ship at a steep angle, maxing out the maneuvering thrusters for the embankments, and just avoided the hail of wicked green that slashed through space at his own ship. Although equipped with a bit of military weaponry, the freighter did not have the maneuverability of their assailant. Shields were down to twenty percent after the initial attack and he could not afford a hit anywhere.

But he got one.

A blast sent a ripple of electricity through the rear thruster and straight into the secondary energizer of the liquid crystal engines. Across the chamber Pockets and Patch, working feverishly to restore power to the shields, stopped in stunned terror at the ball of fire that lit the engine room. The array exploded in a boiling wall of flame before a shower of white coolant sprayed it down, extinguishing the explosion. Each of the singed raccoons whipped a breathing apparatus from the wall and strapped it on. A viscous cloud of black smoke filled the chamber as the blast’s spent energy found another way to impede their work.

***

In a specially-designed chamber, the pirate Sagan locked down a synthplast cover over himself as another of his crew tapped a series of keys on the outer face of the stolen capsule. Natasha Kasho’s trademark arc-and-skull symbol still stood out on the clear cover, even though all of the other features and cables had been replaced with power conduits from the Basilisk. The cryptic instructions of stolen technology had not been precisely deciphered, but they had made best assumptions with what they could not understand.

In another moment, Natasha’s micro-Vault prototype transporter was ready.

“Wosret to Briggs,” the crewmate said into a com. “The captain is ready to transport.”

“We’ll keep it steady for you,” Sagan’s second assured him.

Nakhti Wosret steadily tapped keys, keeping his mind on his job as the ship jolted again. They had tested this prototype transporter out on inanimate objects and the captain’s pet, and everything had come out perfectly fine. This would be the first real test of the matter transporter. Sagan turned to face him as the Vault tube hummed to life.

***

The Horizon whipped around in a sharp arc, deftly avoiding its oncoming adversary, and planted a precise ripple of energy across the damaged aft section of the Basilisk with its shock-thread emitters. Even with its shields at maximum capacity, the black vessel rocked sharply with the new assault.

Wosret lost his balance and lurched toward a forward panel, instinctively breaking his fall with an out-thrust hand. His palm landed across a face of touch pads, lighting them all with the pressure and altering the computations for the Vault. His face betrayed a look of panic as his mind froze—what calculations to correct the error? Sagan’s eyes went wide when he saw his crewmate’s countenance.

Too late, the micro-Vault phased up and engulfed the pirate in a glittering field of blue-white energy. His scream was cut off in the sizzling light, but his last thought was his wish to slaughter the captain of the Blue Horizon.

***

On the other side of the Planetary Alignment, a screen lit. A pair of massive hands tapped keys and read an encrypted tachyon message. The thick, muscular form tore from his seat to find his commander.

***

Above Crescentis, the Basilisk had acquired the upper hand.

“Target their weapons arrays, disarm them,” Sagan’s second commanded. The ship whipped up around to face the Horizon full-on, and a series of pinpoint blasts lit up the blue vessel’s weapons, shattering them in a tight pulse of energy. Sensors and critical circuits for guidance destroyed in collateral, the Blue Horizon dipped forward, tilting its face toward the planet.

***

Durant stumbled out of the lift into a wave of heated air and surveyed the damage to the cargo bay to find it almost a complete loss. Merlin’s use of the bay doors as a catapult had saved the ship, but also cost them their cargo — again. What remained of it was a blackened mountain of containers still strapped to the floor rings, most if not all of them brittle and split open. The inner walls of the hold itself were scorched black and still superheated with the residual energy of the piloting trick, and a haze of smoke still emerged from the nearby engine room.

In the middle of the chamber near the damaged containers, a white sphere of ball lightning formed and splintered outward, catching the bear’s attention. He peered at it, wondering if it was some unforeseen effect of the bay damage—charged particles or something reacting to the chemical or metallic properties of the ruined cargo—before the ship suddenly lurched forward.

A dark shape appeared in the center of the electrical blast and quickly plummeted from its discharge, the force of gravity and skewed inertia – straight toward him.

***

“Weapons are out!” Renny shouted. “Guidance is out!”

“Captain, the engines have sustained too much damage!” came a voice over the com port. “We have to shut down or we’re dead no matter what they do!”

Merlin grimaced tightly. This was not the way he wanted to go out.

“Shut ‘em down,” he growled. “Samantha… signal our surrender.”

“Sir?” she bit back her words, rage and humiliation flaring through her blood like acid.

“Now!” he barked. “While we still can.”

A tremor passed through the bridge, and after a moment’s hesitation, the canine tightly relayed the message to the dark, slender ship before them. In the next moment, her communication panel sparked, and a ripple of red fire snaked across its face.

***

“They want to surrender, sir.”

Var Briggs scrubbed his chin with a finger, pursing his lips in thought. “Keep all weapons locked on that target, but don’t do anything else.” He looked down at a simple amber light on his bridge panel and he nodded to himself. “The captain’s tracker shows he made it across all right and I don’t want to take any chances while he’s over there.”

“Aye, sir,” Gauss replied. “Are we accepting their surrender?”

Briggs paused a moment before replying, “Let them wonder.”

***

“What are they waiting for?” Renny asked aloud.

“They want to take us alive,” Taro spat.

“Surely, they realize we’ve lost our cargo? What else do they want?”

“Revenge,” Merlin growled, fingers gripping into the command chair arms like vises. “Open ship-wide message to the crew…”

“Intercom is down beyond mid-ship,” Samantha bit back, jamming fingers at her smoking panel.

“You and you,” he indicated Taro and Renny, too furious to repeat their names, “get to the rest of the crew and tell them to arm themselves. We’re about to have boarders.” Memories of the last time they had had boarders brought Jiro’s death vividly in front of the captain’s eyes.

***

Durant smashed a thick hand against the black-furred skull, sending Sagan hurling across the room to slam against a blistering wall. The floor was too hot to stand on, and even the air singed his fur. He could not fathom how the jaguar had gotten on board, but he had to keep this menace from getting into the main body of the ship.

Sagan was different now… larger, stronger and more aggressive than the bear remembered him. A thick rope of drool hung from the jaguar’s gaping jaws and he was hissing in some primal rage. The pirate launched off the wall to slam into Durant full-force, but the loadmaster maintained his stance and caught his enemy in a vicious bear-hug.

An unholy howl erupted from the jaguar as thick cords in the bear’s arms pulsed, an iron grip slowly constricting around him. Snap! A rib broke under the pressure, driving the feral jaguar insane with agony. His clawed hands slashed at the bear’s face, viciously bringing thick ribbons of blood surging from vessels below the skin, spouting from pulsing arteries as the bear kept his head down, protecting the thick cords in his neck.

But Sagan’s bare feet had claws as well, and when he began to shred the bear’s tunic, bright rivulets of crimson spilled down the front and began to sizzle on the floor below. Knowing he was about to be disemboweled, the bear tightened his grip and squeezed harder as blood surged up into his mouth.

Crunch! Snap! More ribs cracked under the pressure and Durant sank his muzzle into the jaguar’s shoulder, spilling eerie, dark blood on Sagan’s gray uniform.

“Kill him! Kill him!” the jaguar repeated. A heavy cuff landed on the tortured head and Durant suddenly lost his bearings. Loss of blood and the vicious attack relaxed his grip, and the jaguar slithered out of his grasp and onto the bay floor. With another heavy smash to the face, Sagan sent Durant to the floor in a heavy heap. The bear was conscious of the heat, searing into his body as he lay on the metal deck.

The deranged and injured Sagan tore across the bay toward the red lift door, upending an extinguisher and sending it across the room where the hose tore loose and the contents spouted out into the air. A splash of liquid nitrogen spilled across the superheated floor, rendering spidery cracks through the metal around the fallen bear.

***

Patch snarled behind the oxygen mask, pounding a panel with his fist. Pockets hosed down the liquid crystal engines with an extinguisher, trying to lower the temperature before the system parts fused.

“Boarders,” Pockets grumbled. “We have weapons down here, right?”

“The biggest one of all,” his brother rumbled. Patch reached above the main console and gripped a handle. With a rough jerk, he pulled down a cylindrical piston ringed with switches and green lights.

Pockets stopped and inhaled sharply, meeting his brother’s eyes with trepidation. If they got as far as the engine room, there was no stopping them. He dropped the extinguisher and stood beside his brother. He reached up above the console and drew out another thick cylinder on the other side.

“Have you ever seen a liquid crystal core go up?” Patch asked. His brother shook his head. “It’s a beautiful flower in the vacuum of space. I would rather go out that way than at the claws of pirates!”

He pressed a pattern in the switches, seventeen in order, and the lights changed from green to red. His brother tapped in another seventeen-unit code, and both cylinders illuminated in red.

Pockets stepped back from the console as the central panel flipped over, exposing a single, red trigger handle. His brother sat in the small, utilitarian chair before it, and waited.

Pockets, with nothing else to do, sat beside his brother. Each glanced occasionally at the door, waiting for the inevitable. With the blaze abated and the air clearing, Patch pulled off his mask. A self-destruct had never been included in the original LightDrive engines, as a common freighter had no secrets with which to keep from a potential enemy, but there were other ways to force a system overload and the Porter brothers had rigged it themselves after the death of Jiro years ago. They had never seen the need to use it until now, but it had long been available.

***

Taro rounded a corner at a dangerous pace, Renny close behind. “We’ve got to get down to the cargo bay!” she shouted. “See if Dur—” She never completed her words. The vixen suddenly hunched forward, howling in pain as her body mysteriously left the floor, raising a good ten inches into the air. Renny stopped short, shocked at the sight. Taro’s body wilted backward to reveal the huge, misshapen black form of Sagan. The jaguar’s claws were embedded in her abdomen and covered in blood.

“You…” Renny snarled. The glittering green eyes fell on him, and a blasphemous sound erupted from the form as he dropped the tall fox, charging at the cheetah at full speed.

Renny darted out of the way, sending the jaguar to the floor with a thud before he rocketed back up to face the new enemy. Renny sped past him, slashing at the pirate with extended claws and opening up blood vessels in his thighs. Sagan whipped his head around to follow the blinding yellow streak, but it ricocheted off the walls like a rubber ball faster than the hateful green eyes could follow.

A wail of agony sounded behind them; Taro stared down at her belly as she saw organs seeping out around the cruel gashes. It was enough distraction for Renny to lose his bearings. The monstrous Sagan caught the cheetah in his vise-like hands.

Taro pulled herself up and slapped a face of buttons; the internal com system still worked in the forward half of the ship.

***

Merlin heard the commotion: something was on board. When the strained tone of Taro’s voice wafted through the com link, he knew they were in trouble.

“Sagan,” the voice gasped. “Sagan is on board…”

Merlin stood, pointed at Samantha. “Take the con!” Without waiting for a response, the captain opened a panel in the bridge and drew out a heavy, dual-edged blade, then disappeared through the doorway.

Samantha, all alone on the bridge, ground her teeth. No weapons, no communications, no power to the engines. They were dead in space. What did taking the con mean in this instance?

She looked to the vidscreen at the hateful manta ray that held them at their mercy, and resolved that if she was going to die, she would take as many of them with her as possible.

Then her ears pricked up at a familiar sound. She turned her head to look back at the doorway. At the bottom of the jamb, a frightened Max wept openly, clutching at the door frame in terror. The metal on his ensign’s insignia caught a glint of red light and flashed back into her eyes. Her mouth dropped and she turned to look at her console—yes, that was still operative!

“Come over here,” she commanded the teen. Max, conditioned to obey orders instantly, rose from his spot and ambled forward.

***

Var Briggs peered at the bridge vidscreen as a pair of flat, web-like structures opened on either side of the Blue Horizon’s top. He rubbed his chin and tapped nails against the command seat’s armrest.

“Sir, are they deploying… solar sails?” one voice interjected in disbelief.

“If they think they can escape on this system’s solar wind, they must think we’re worse off than we really are.” He chuckled. “They’re not going anywhere.”

***

Merlin rounded a corner to the sound of struggle. There was Sagan, standing in the darkened hall with his navigator’s throat in his hands, holding the struggling cheetah half a meter above the deck. Renny’s claws were imbedded in the wiry thews of the jaguar’s forearms, streams of blackish blood spilling down his hands as he fought to shred the tendons crushing the life from him. In spite of this, the intruder was killing him slowly, deliberately.

Nearby, Taro lay in a fetal position, desperately sobbing and trying to keep herself together—trying to inch toward a door to find some safety. A pool of dark red surrounded her on the floor, streaks in the floor from where she had pulled herself so far.

“Demon!” Merlin shouted at the jaguar.

Sagan’s head snapped up to the new sound, his glass-green eyes flaming at the new contact. He dropped the cheetah to the floor in a heap and stood still, heaving, his eyes glowing in green fire. Merlin motioned with the blade for Renny to move aside. Instead, the cheetah tucked and rolled, then came up beside his captain, his body a massive coil of unspent energy. His breath came in ragged gasps, but he was not gone yet.

Just hang in there, Merlin thought, glancing over at Taro.

Sagan stood, unmoving, glaring at Merlin Sinclair. The wolf saw something in the jaguar’s face—this was not the same nemesis he had fought before. He was different somehow. Not the cold, calculating butcher he once was… He—this—was something wholly unnatural. A shudder passed through the captain as he fully realized that he was probably about to die.

Sagan saw it in his face and charged.

***

In the dark of the wounded bridge, Samantha tapped glowing finger pads, whispering to herself, “Stay calm… lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky … just keep calm… you can do it…”

“What are you doing?” Max asked, worried now that things had gotten so bad. He could feel tautness in her manner like an oppressive blanket.

She spoke, barely above a whisper with the adrenaline pumping through her system. “We hit them pretty bad last time, but they disabled our weapons system. I’m hoping that they dropped their shields to conserve power now that they think we can’t harm them.”

“What good will the solar sails do?” the boy whimpered.

She turned to him. “Max, I need you to man that station right over there, okay?”

“Okay,” he nodded, crossed the room and waited for further instructions.

“When I say so, I need you to press the solar sail’s collector panel density up to two hundred percent, okay? It is that brown slide-control.”

The boy nodded, but wondered why she was pursuing this course of action. Durant had given him some tutorial about the solar sails, but from what little he understood about them, performing this action would not propel them with any speed at all. It would just make the sails really shiny. Had Samantha gone crazy?

“Don’t look at me. Don’t look at me. Don’t looky, looky, looky, looky…” she continued to chant, manipulating the angle, adjusting the sails’ energy receptor level to zero percent.

***

“Well, you have to give them credit for their tenacity,” Briggs said to no one in particular. He tapped a control on the command chair and opened a com frequency: “Blue Horizon. You are outnumbered and outgunned, but we’ll take you alive; there’s no sense in trying to escape.”

***

A spray of white-hot electricity filled the hall as a conduit within a wall panel ruptured, showering the combatants in a maelstrom of light. Renny Thornton flew through the air, slamming against a far wall as Merlin moved in for another shot. The wolf sliced the blade down in the cramped quarters, and a deft move from his target spared the jaguar a disemboweling stroke. The blade clanged to the floor and Sagan slammed a foot into Merlin’s face, sending the wolf sprawling across the hall to crash into another wall. The weapon fell to the floor and the dark intruder kicked it hard enough to send it spinning to the side near the dying fox.

Merlin rolled up back onto his feet, only to be met with the charging jaguar’s body slamming into him like a hurled boulder. The wolf grunted as the back of his head cracked against the wall, and Sagan withdrew just enough to pull back for another blow. His thick, muscular fist was slick with a mixture of crimson and black blood. Part in panic and part in fatigue, Merlin dropped to his knees; the vicious blow missed him and landed upon the metal wall, denting the gray surface with the crunch of torn cartilage and bones. As the captain rolled out of the way, the massive jaguar moved serpentine to follow him, the pain he must be having slowing him not at all. His thick tail slashed at the air like a pendulum above a helpless victim. He crouched slightly, legs quivering with energy—with the lust of pouncing a trapped kill.

A recovered Renny shot from a low point into the jaguar’s legs and sent him down in a flurry of limbs scrabbling for purchase. The cheetah no longer moved like quicksilver, and one desperate movement found his ankle snared in a black fist. That fist clenched instantly, shattering the fragile bones of the navigator’s foot and bringing a sharp, painful scream from him as a splinter pierced through the skin. Sagan worried the wounded ankle, wrenching as much agony out of his victim as possible. Renny clawed at the floor, unable to pull himself free of the monstrous grip. Sagan gripped tighter, enjoying the helpless cries of his prey.

Then it was the jaguar that screamed, releasing the limb as he felt Merlin Sinclair’s lupine teeth tear at his throat. The wolf came close—oh so close—to ripping the major artery, but missed it by only a fraction of an inch. Sagan’s powerful arms gripped the captain around his breast and pulled him in, pinning his arms to his sides and crushing the breath from him in a powerful bear-hug.

Caught off guard, Merlin gasped, trying desperately to seize a moment’s breath, but to no avail. His throat burned for oxygen and he felt his ribs compressing, compacting, and ready to break. His nails sought purchase in the jaguar’s flanks, but the pressure of the unnatural grip sapped strength from him.

The world began to contract, the red lights grew dim, and Merlin saw only a haze of orange moving awkwardly, slowly in the mist before him. He could feel the hot breath on his face as Sagan’s grin grew wider and the jaguar licked blood from his lips in anticipation. Merlin felt his body spasm, convulsing in a last, desperate attempt to free itself and find precious air to stay alive.

Sagan lay on his back on the dark hallway floor, the limp body of the gray wolf sprawled across his breast as the dark jaguar squeezed life out of him. And there, not too far away, was the tall fox, still clutching at her belly, moving toward the discarded blade.

From the side, the tawny body of Renny Thornton approached with a long, gray cord in his hand. The cord flamed with sparks, and the cheetah fell to his knees in pain and exhaustion, jamming the sparking end of the energetic cord into the jaguar’s face.

A shower of blue-white sparks erupted and Sagan released the gray wolf’s body with a roar. A new pain ripped through Merlin as the cold floor came up to smash him in the face, and his numb body somehow staggered with life. He hurt all over, he was shaking, and his vision was clouded, but he knew he was alive. Sagan squirmed, screaming in pitches of agony as the electric shock burned his face and set numbed nerve endings to firing in all the damaged areas of his body. He scuttled out of the way, lurching his way to his feet and planting a heavy fist hard against the wounded cheetah’s sternum. The acrid smell of burned flesh and fur filled the corridor.

Sagan stood again, his two adversaries on the floor before him and the dying fox behind. “Now,” the jaguar rumbled through his own intense pain and agony, his voice like a skin stretched over broken glass, “you will all die.”

Merlin ground his teeth, nostrils flaring. He had not yet recovered and Renny writhed in too much pain to fight on. They were all going to perish here and now, and he could do nothing about it.

Then a grunt followed, and the sound of metal on metal as the silvery blade of the sword flashed. The blade-tip clinked against the floor as Taro used it as a crutch to vault up from her position on the hallway floor. It was enough to get her vertical, and, releasing her gushing abdomen, the fox fell forward, seizing the mad jaguar around his skull. Sagan spat viciously, taken off guard as she wrapped a muscular hand beneath his chin and cupped the other around the crown of his head.

With a single, Herculean effort, the Hestran fox wrenched Sagan’s head, cracking his jawbone so hard it unhinged and sagged, swinging free of his face. Merlin’s face dropped at the sight as a steady stream of her blood—and other somethings he tried not too hard to think about—trickled onto the floor between them. With the other hand, Taro pushed his head forward and again wrenched the jaw, splintering his vertebrae in a sickening crunch. In the next instant, Sagan’s head faced backward, looking into her eyes in disbelief.

Taro released him and slumped to the hallway floor again, regathering herself in the fetal pose as tears spilled out of her eyes.

Sagan remained standing as his head slowly and gradually spiraled back around to normal. The glass-green eyes still flared, but with a flat, lifeless expression. He wobbled on uneasy legs for a moment, his face falling to meet Merlin’s as he extended one arm, pointing with one finger in a final accusation. Then he fell to his knees, wobbled again, and slammed to the floor. A splatter of the eerie, black blood spilled out of his body in a sickening gurgle as he ultimately expired.

For a long moment, no one moved in the hallway. Then Taro groaned in agony, raking her nails against the curved wall. Renny hobbled up onto his knees and seized the sword. With it, he helped himself stand, gingerly avoiding his crushed foot, and gently seized around her shoulders. She had passed out from the effort.

He tried to lift the mortally wounded fox into his free arm to take her to Sickbay, but the slick floor, his injured foot and overall weariness was too much for him. He slumped beside her and looked hopefully to his captain.

Merlin gathered his feet from beneath him, shook out his head, and shuffled over to help them both to the Sickbay before he could check in on the bridge.

***

Samantha finished her calculations and gave a nod to Max, growling quietly, “Ever fry ants with a magnifying glass, Max?”

The youth pushed the sail density to two hundred percent as she whipped a control, angling the sails to face the nearby star. The dense sheen of material flamed in space, catching the light of stellar energy. The flash filled both solar sails like super xenon lamps, blinding the crew of the Basilisk for a crucial moment as Samantha moved a control, flexing the sails to a convex, half-egg shape. The reflection on the sails shrank and merged into a single beam one centimeter in diameter at five-trillion candlepower. The beam sliced through the unprotected Basilisk like a hot needle through butter before the solar sails disintegrated beneath the strain of reflecting so much energy.

***

A ribbon of superheated slag spiraled out of the Basilisk as its fore and aft hulls began to buckle in the vacuum of space. It was a neat hole from stem to stern on the black vessel, at a slightly rising angle. It would have done a surgeon proud.

Briggs found his ship suddenly collapsing around him, but managed to seal off the bulkheads at the four major sections of the ship before losing everything. The stab at the controls had been blind, with rows of dancing green and yellow flashes filling his eyes while his mind registered what had happened. He vehemently cursed the Blue Horizon.

“Sir?” came a voice below him. He rubbed his eyes, vision returning but with a huge yellow flash still remaining on his retinas. He managed to focus on the captain’s life signal tracker on his bridge panel. It was dark. He snarled and wiped at his eyes again.

“Finish them, now!”

“What of the captain?”

Briggs turned his icy eyes on him and snarled. “That was an order!”

The gunner swallowed and nodded without another argument.

***

Samantha’s stomach fell as she realized the enemy ship was still capable of destroying them. It would have been better, she knew, to fall to Crescentis and burn up in the resulting crash than to fall to Sagan’s murderous crew. Max crossed the bridge, panting in heaves into her arms for safety as the Basilisk approached. The canine pulled the young male close, cradling him in a sheltering embrace.

Their eyes met, and the youth gulped hard, closed his eyes and then kissed her directly on the lips. She pulled back in surprise to see his face, full of fear and sadness. She gasped, wondering how long he had wanted to do that.

Merlin stormed onto the bridge, eyes full of confusion at the change of events. On the vidscreen before them, the hated ship moved forward, bearing down on them as a hail of blue-white electricity filled the black of space. In another moment, the corona of the nearby star was extinguished, eclipsed from their view.

Merlin’s jaw fell and his eyes flew wide. Samantha raised herself and turned to peer over the console in awe; Max followed her gaze in confusion. A huge structure suddenly filled space directly behind the Basilisk.

***

“Sir?” a crewmate yelped.

Briggs waved him off, “Not now, Sennedjem!”

“Sir!” came the insistent voice. Briggs suddenly noticed that members of his crew were panicking.

Then he saw it.

“Shields!”

***

“Mr. Robbins,” hummed a throaty voice.

“Aye, captain!” he replied, a pair of blue joysticks flipping up into his thick hands.

Captain Natasha stood up from the command seat of the Lady of Dreams and pointed to the flat-black manta ray in a forward section of the spherical hologram before her. “If you please, sir.”

***

The Basilisk rocked in space, beaten by a barrage of white-green bolts of energy from all twenty of the dreadnought’s forward batteries. The blasts cudgeled the black ship, smashing it back and forth like a ball tossed between hands as the shields sputtered, flaming and flickering in tortured protest.

Then a thick, terrific blast pierced through the shield and glanced off the ship, blistering the hull and raking a starboard section open. Thin fingers of crimson and orange splintered across the naked orifice in the ship as a shower of sparks followed. The shields failed and the Basilisk’s remaining engine cells kicked in for escape, trailing a thick tail of smoke as it departed for deeper space as fast as it could manage.

The Blue Horizon, released from the fray, began a slow spiral to Crescentis below.

***

“Catch them!” Natasha boomed. Robbins activated an attractor beam and locked on to the faltering Blue Horizon. The azure saucer continued to descend toward the planet surface.

“Can’t maintain a good lock on them, Captain!” the cougar protested. “The atmosphere has absorbed too much energy from the battle and is charged with too much static. The best we can do is slow them.”

“Then set them down as easy as you can and prepare a landing party with medical and mechanical crews,” she growled, tapping another switch on her console. “Mr. Devon, Mr. Blackthorne, deploy to pursue the Basilisk and destroy it.”

Moments later, a pair of forward-swept-wing fighters dropped gracefully from the middle of the Lady of Dreams and shot off in pursuit. In the next moment, a trio of smooth gray triangles dropped from the bay.

***

Patch held on desperately to the harness of his chair as the ship around them shook and shuddered. Then both brothers startled as the engine room hatchway grated open, the metal protesting as it had to be forced. Pockets fidgeted in his chair, and Patch wrapped fingers around the crimson trigger, ready to ignite the engines right after he saw the look on…

Durant, haggard and covered in red blood and black ooze, leaned weakly into the engine room. “Get to the upper decks – right now!”

Patch released the trigger as he and his brother bounded out of their harnesses.

***

The ship toppled roughly, sending Max tumbling across the bridge to slide into a wall as the inside heat increased. The inertial dampers and the gravity deck plates had stopped functioning, releasing the contents of the freighter to gravity and momentum’s whim. Bright fingers of cracked glass snaked across the vidscreen as the Horizon plummeted toward the surface of the planet.

“We have no control!” Sam shouted above the screaming metal around them. A deafening roar surrounded them, growing higher in pitch as the careening ship gathered speed.

Merlin swore beneath his breath and hurled himself across the bridge to seize Max by one scrawny ankle and pull the youth to him. He bundled the ensign into his lap and threw himself under a console, hoping it would provide at least some protection from whatever came next.

***

Durant and the brothers made a steady path toward the bridge, stopping to catch their bearings as the ship pitched wildly. What was happening? They were about to press further when a long, dark river of blood seeped around the curved hallway in the flashing red lights. The three stood stock-still, eyes wide at the sight.

As the ship pitched upward, something massive slid down in the slick pool of blood and gathered together in a pile against a wall. Durant moved back in shock, looking down at the crumpled heap that was Sagan’s body. The eyes still burned iridescent green in the lifeless face, but the features were deformed, ripped apart with the bottom jaw at an impossible angle. Oily black liquid seeped from the body, mixing with the dark crimson in a scene out of Hell’s blackest pit.

Patch took the initiative and stepped around the corner, as far away from the mound of broken flesh as he could manage. The raccoon had never been superstitious like his sibling, but he had no wish to challenge fate with this one. His brother followed absently, the grizzly bear close behind. They left it alone.

Then the ship banked sharply, spinning on its axis like the saucer it resembled, sending the three of them slamming against the dented and scarred walls. Pockets fell too close to a still-sparking cable and yelped in shock. Durant slipped in the slick pools on the floor and crashed down almost on top of Patch.

***

“Just hold on,” Renny said, unaware of his voice. He wept openly, speaking in the high-pitched wail of a kitten. Taro lay strapped to a sickbed, drenched in blood. Tanis had applied three compresses to her abdomen before the bleeding had stemmed, but she remained unconscious. Acutely aware of the pain in his own foot and over the medic’s protests, the cheetah had not sat down, but remained clutching the bed at her side as the ship spun on its way to oblivion.

He wanted her to open her eyes, to say something, to squeeze his fingers if she could. Nothing came. The rhythmic heartbeat on the monitor sparked in green, unwilling to give up just yet. Her breathing came in long wheezes, occasionally choked with a rivulet of blood that would spill out of her mouth.

“Just hold on,” he repeated.

***

Suddenly the ship stopped rocking and steadied out. For a long moment, Merlin did not know what to do or think, but he forced himself to sit up. Gentle white light was pouring in through the transparent vidscreen windows, but the high-pitched howl of rushing air was still there. He pried the petrified Max from his chest and looked over the console.

They had passed through the atmosphere. They were still alive, having never engaged the heat shields. This was not possible.

A Crescentan shoreline was approaching with terrifying speed. They were headed right for the coast, where a land mass met the famed Forvea Trench, a shelf of land that dropped straight down for uncharted kilometers just two hundred meters away from an isthmus between two of the largest islands.

If we go into the Trench, we’ll all drown. If we hit the island, we’ll splatter and be destroyed. Either way, we’ll probably die with the force of impact.

“Sam!” Merlin barked.

Her face appeared from behind her hiding place.

“Deploy the solar sails – use them as a parachute! They can slow us. We can try to glide down,” he ordered.

She began to move, but then stopped. She opened her mouth to speak, but turned to the pilot’s control panel instead. The solar sails were gone, but there was no time to explain. She manipulated controls, and reopened the cargo bay door just a crack. Then her feet left the floor as the ship began to careen slowly end over end as it plummeted toward the ocean below.

Merlin shot her a look of surprise, and perhaps even betrayal. The Border collie gripped the console and caught its underside with her knees. She realized that if her gamble did not work, the captain would fire her for insubordination if the crash did not kill them all.

What was there to lose?

***

The Horizon’s descent altered with the trajectory change. The massive blue ship slammed into the ocean flat on its back instead of on edge. Inertia pulled it forward still, despite the seething, sloshing water’s protest. The bodies on board were thrown helter-skelter around the compartments as the ship was completely enveloped in the icy water of the Forvea Trench.

The blistered wounds on the ship’s underside allowed the surging ocean inside, and in an instant the superheated liquid crystal engines were engulfed in a fist of freezing water.

***

On the shore, a small human boy had been fishing with his grandfather when the streak of blue fire slammed into the water. A ripple of wave boiled up from the impact and heat and surged toward them, almost toppling the fishing dock on which the two stood.

After that, the ship whirled in the water once before going under, leaving a steaming hole in the ocean where it used to be. In only seconds, the water was filling the hole again.

A thump, deep and ominous, emanated from under the water. Then the boy’s jaw dropped and the old man gripped his shoulder as a bright yellow ring appeared around the hole in the ocean, and a fragment of the ship blew out of the hole with a sound they had never heard before. With a force unimaginable, the ship sailed out of the ocean, rumbling over the fishers’ heads. Its smooth belly skipped it gently along unseen air currents until it plowed into the land below, sliding across the soil and throwing up clouds of dirt and rock. The ship continued on, driven by inertia and the loose earth beneath it, until it had crossed the length of the isthmus and slowed to a halt on the beach on the opposite side.

The front of the inverted ship sat in a meter of water before its weight collapsed the sand beneath, and its nose began to sink. Down, down… the ship settled three meters into the water and stopped. In its wake, a swatch of torn-up land stretched for over three kilometers with dirt and dust obscuring part of the sky.

The boy looked at his grandfather and the old man looked at the boy. Neither could think of anything to say. Then the two were cognizant of another sound: a whirring drone came up from behind them. They turned together to see a squadron of tri-wing ships gliding down from the clouds toward them.

Having nothing else to do, the fishermen merely pointed to where the ship had landed.

***

Merlin Sinclair sat, shivering, covered in a blanket and recovering his wits. Nearby, Samantha answered questions in a choked voice as the tension released itself and she let her emotions loose. The captain surveyed the scene around him.

Five sleek, triangular shuttles encircled the smoldering hulk of the Blue Horizon. Natasha’s rescue ships had arrived just in time. A small throng of locals had gathered around, including what appeared to be local officials. However, a ring of rough-looking uniformed guards had surrounded the crash site almost immediately, and a broad-shouldered cougar was deflecting anyone who looked official.

Renny lay stretched out on a hovering gurney as someone looked at his crushed foot. The cheetah yelped in a high chirp now and again when the otter probed a sensitive spot, but he kept asking about Taro. She was nowhere to be seen within his field of vision.

Pockets sat over to the side out of danger, nursing a head bruise with a cold pack pressed against his temple while Patch cradled a splinted, broken arm. Durant sat wheezing on the soft grass, refusing medical attention until the others were taken care of. The first removed from the wreckage, the grizzly had been sedated via stunner when he had tried to rush back into the ship and find those who had not yet come out.

Tanis and Max, largely unhurt, were helping the rescue crew.

“Sinclair,” came a raspy, masculine voice. The wolf turned to see Natasha strolling up to him. Although unsteadily, he stood, still dwarfed by the tall fox, to answer her arrival. “Looks like you took one incredible beating up there. Most people I know would have lost it.”

Sinclair did not recognize it as a compliment. He blinked twice, trying to find a response. “I… I don’t know why we’re all alive.”

“You’re welcome,” she responded. Not sarcasm, but genuine concern. “When the Horizon went down, I had Robbins follow you with an attractor beam. We couldn’t get a good lock through the charged atmosphere but instead deployed three shuttles and they made it in time to shield you and lock onto the main body of your ship before the LC core went up. Propelled by the explosion, they were able to get the bulk of the ship out of the water, though I imagine the landing was quite a bumpy ride for you.”

Merlin was stunned. “You?”

She nodded.

“How did you even know…?”

Natasha ran a hand through her head fur, looking around at the other crewmembers, “Somebody on board your ship is apparently learned enough to know a secret subspace channel used exclusively by privateers, but that we’d be the only ones with the com equipment powerful enough to pick it up. Whoever sent us that message saved you.”

“Thank you for your help. I’m indebted to you, Captain,” Merlin murmured with his ears and tail down in submission.

“Not at all,” Natasha responded with a shake of her head. She lifted his chin with a finger to look him in the eye. “I don’t require compensation, but if there ever comes a time when I could use your services, I’m sure we can come to some kind of agreement.”

Stunned that a pirate would pass up the opportunity to indenture others to her cause, Merlin nodded gratefully.

A protest, a primal grunt erupted from behind them.

“No!” Natasha growled as Durant charged the wreckage again, lumbering off balance and drunkenly toward the blistering, crackling metal. Still blinded by rage, grief, pain and the sedative, the bear stampeded toward the dying ship in an effort to save—something.

“I don’t think so!” came another voice. A huge body stepped in front of the bear, taking him down in a football tackle. Inertia pushed them both over and Mr. Robbins held onto Durant with iron thews. Worn, injured and drugged as he was, the bear was no match for the massive cougar, but he continued to struggle.

“Ma’am?” another voice asked. Natasha turned to the figure of Tim as the boy hefted a two-ton chunk of the debris above his head. Inside a cybernetic exosuit, the mouse stood a good two meters tall and had the strength of fifty men. With the ease of tossing a small stick, the lad hurled the weight away from the ship into a gathering pile of rubble.

“What is it, Tim?” she asked.

“I think you should see this,” he said, backing away from the newly-opened hatch. Natasha frowned, gathering herself and moving forward. Merlin, suddenly seized with a new feeling of dread, followed on unsteady legs.

Tim backed up slightly to allow her a vantage point of the inside of the ship’s hallway where the structure of the external hull had been ripped apart in the landing. There, out of the lip of metal, a flow of thick, oily material seeped out onto the sand, and in the half-light that still remained inside the ship, was Sagan’s corpse.

Merlin and Natasha stood for a long moment, saying nothing.

A blaze lit behind them, illuminating the body in a halo of blue light. Merlin startled and turned, only to see a blowtorch had extended from the boy’s top-right armature. But what concerned him more was the blank look on the young mouse’s face. With one eye behind a red monocle hardwired into the suit, the boy betrayed no horror, no remorse as he beheld the grisly, broken cadaver. Tim looked on the face of twisted, mutilated death with a calm dissociation that chilled the wolf. Merlin had no way of knowing that Sagan had been the cause of the boy’s crippling injuries.

“Let me finish the job,” the mouse said tonelessly.

“No,” she snapped, as a mother berating a rude child. “They’ll need this when the formal inquest happens. Speaking of which…” she checked a techwatch, “we need to get out of here before the SPF arrives.”

“Leave?” Merlin asked, wide-eyed with an almost supernatural fear at the thought.

She sighed, “Yes, I’m afraid so. We can’t be here when they arrive, even though we’d like to help you out as much as we can. We’ve taken statements from everybody so that the SPF can be out of your fur ASAP. Our guy is an ex-cop, so he knows what info to get. We’ve provided general first aid to everybody who needs it, but for the more extensive jobs, you are on your own.”

“Taro…” he rasped. “I know you have technology that nobody else does. C-can you help her? I don’t want to lose her…”

“Taro Nichols will accompany me to Pomen for medical treatment,” she informed him flatly, as though stating a fact not open to discussion. “And it’s not a favor to you, either.”

“Wha—?”

“Let’s just say that it’s a personal matter between two Hestrans. Let it go.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sinclair did not know what else to say to all her generosity. He wanted to kiss her, but the tall vixen strode off without so much as a handshake and called the rest of her crew to follow.

Renny was set on a regular cotton gurney with a sterile bandage around his foot, and the others were allowed to keep their generic medical bandages and salves. However, all traces of Natasha’s advanced technology were quickly, methodically removed before her party boarded their shuttles and gracefully pulled away from the scene.

When the locally-assigned SPF forces arrived a half hour later, the local magistrates had taken control of the situation and the fate of the hulk of the Blue Horizon had been placed in the paws of the diplomats. Merlin, frustrated at the thought of the matter being tied up for months or years in the interstellar court system, found himself at a loss. His one consolation was that the SPF Rangers recognized the body of the pirate Sagan and immediately informed SPF Headquarters on Joplin. Merlin was informed that he and the crew would be awarded his bounty, placed in escrow until their arrival on a planet that could handle the transfer. This tightened the noose even further, as the Crescentis fishing fleet made a play for partial credit for the villain’s death.

However, news of the Blue Horizon traveled fast, and representatives from the Crescentan embassies from Sillon and Tanthe stepped in. The matter was finalized within a week, the insurance with the fishing fleet for the lost cargo was resolved, and the crew of the Blue Horizon was transported off Crescentis in stylish Tanthean Corvettes.

***

The Lady of Dreams sat in cloaked orbit around the planet Pomen, having delivered their precious cargo to someone at a planetside location that Natasha had not cared to name.

Jape Devon stepped out of his warbird as the rasping engines shut down. The alien seemed visibly distressed as he removed a black flying helmet.

“Mr. Devon, what news?”

Devon replied. “Blackthorne is dead.”

Natasha’s face drew into a tight grimace as she clenched a fist.

“Following the crippled Basilisk,” he continued, “we were set upon by another ship of similar make. We beat a quick retreat but Blackthorne got sloppy and tried to take them on. After… that happened, the new contact turned back to aid the Basilisk. I didn’t stick around for anything else.”

Natasha ground her teeth, rubbing a finger against her chin. There was another player in town.

LIFE’S A BEACH

By Ted R. Blasingame

When Samantha awoke that morning, she felt fairly chipper for the first time since the crash of the Blue Horizon six weeks earlier. A lot of her mood had to do with the sunlight streaming in through the cracks of the curtains of her room that fell across her bed and warmed her fur. The weather of the past week had been foggy with misting rain and generally gloomy. The spirits of the crew had been understandably low, despite the therapy they had all undergone. Most of them had sustained injuries in the crash on Crescentis, and with the loss of their ship and their livelihood, everyone had been perpetually bored, edgy and dejected.

Samantha was one of the lucky ones of the crew. Strapped to the pilot seat on the bridge during the crash, she had received little more than bumps and bruises garnered from loose debris that had pelted her. Likewise, Pockets, Max and Tanis had come through the event with minimal injuries, but everyone else had been hospitalized for a while.

The Border collie stretched her arms and allowed herself to smile at the sunlight. She had dreamt of flowered fields, snowcapped mountains and a sunny beach during the night, and seeing the morning sunbeams in a clear blue-green sky warmed her soul as much as the air.

She slipped out of the bed and put on a pair of denim shorts and a long white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, instead of the colorful and lightweight body-covering robes that were the common dress in this part of the world.

She grabbed a grooming brush from the nightstand and began to run it gently over her fur as she moved to the window. With one hand, she pushed the curtains aside and bathed the entire room in bright sunlight.

Her room was on the seventh floor of the building the Tanthean government had allowed them to stay in during their recuperation on Pomen, and her room window faced the nearby Karin Sea. Samantha tilted her head to the right at a sudden thought. She glanced at the nightstand clock and nodded silently to herself.

***

Merlin listened to Samantha’s suggestions and lapped his coffee with a frown. He sat upright in his bed against the headboard, a breakfast tray across his lap and a pot of fresh coffee on the nightstand beside him. The Border collie had come to his room in brighter spirits than he had seen of his crew during the past few weeks, and she had gone straight to his curtains to pull them aside. The wolf had been awake, but had not yet crawled out of bed. His ribs were still tender despite weeks of healing, which made him reluctant to get out and do anything. He thought Sam’s idea was a good one, but doubted anyone else would agree.

“We’ve been doing nothing more than moping around since the crash,” the Border collie said. “Everyone’s depressed and nobody even talks to anyone else anymore. We need to get away from our rooms for a day.”

“It’s not likely our doctors will allow an excursion, Sam,” the lupine captain replied. “My ribs are still sore, and Renny and Patch are still wearing casts.”

“Merlin,” the supply officer said, “I’ve already talked to our doctors this morning and they have all agreed that a day outside will help us all, providing we don’t overdo it.”

The wolf grunted and looked at her over the edge of his coffee cup, his expression unconvinced.

“Listen, Merlin,” Samantha continued, “there is a sandy beach only three kilometers from here. The Karin Sea is a body of fresh water, so we won’t have to worry about saltwater bothering us. We need to get out of these rooms,” she repeated, “even if for a day! For those who want to wear them, I’ve already found a nearby shop with swimwear for different species at discount prices that I’m willing to cover out of my own pocket.”

The captain sighed and then allowed her to see a look of resignation. “Okay, Sam, you win,” he said. “Go tell the others what you have planned for them, but I have a feeling you’ll get nothing but opposition.”

***

An hour later, Samantha stood before Merlin, her expression downcast and angry. “Max, Tanis and Pockets are the only ones who agreed going to the beach was a good idea,” she said to him. The lupine captain was dressed solely in a pair of blue shorts and he had been trying to exercise on the floor of his room, as much as his sore ribs would allow. He looked up at her and tilted his head.

“Sam,” he said quietly, “you four are the only ones who were not badly injured in the crash. If you want to go, you’re all free to spend the day at the beach together.”

The supply officer shook her head. “That defeats the purpose of the outing, Captain,” she said. “Everybody in our crew has been depressed and sullen. Everybody, especially the injured, needs to get outdoors for some fresh air and a change of scenery. Amy agrees we need psychological healing, as well as physical.”

“Yes, our counselor would say that,” Merlin replied. He bit his bottom lip in acquiescence and then sighed. “All right, Sam. I don’t even want to go, but tell everyone that it is an order from the captain that we will all spend today at the beach as part of our psychological therapy. It doesn’t matter to me if they want to just sit under an umbrella and sulk all day, but everyone is going. I’m appointing you coordinator on this, Sam,” he said. “Arrange for transportation, food, drinks, beach towels and swimwear for those who want to wear them. If anyone gives you guff over it, send them to me.”

Samantha grinned and gave him a crisp military salute. “Yes, sir!”

***

As expected, Merlin was besieged with complaints from his crew, but the wolf had since talked with their counselor Dr. Howard, who reaffirmed his recommendation for the outing. The captain stuck to his command and in the end, everyone found themselves at the Reynard Beach on the sandy shore of the Kirin Sea.

Samantha was pleased, despite the grumbling. She set out blankets on the powdery white sand and put up a few large umbrellas while Max and Tanis hauled coolers of food and drink from their rented vehicle. Patch had complained the loudest when told Merlin had ordered everyone to the beach, but he was the first one to settle in a lounge chair beneath an umbrella once they were set up. He chose a chair with arms so he could rest his left arm cast on it. He brought with him a slateboard containing engineering trade magazines with the intent to read about emerging new technologies thoroughly while there. He also brought along a shirt pocket full of his favorite cigars, which he began to smoke in open spite of the others’ protests.

Almost immediately, Pockets headed for the water and began swimming to exercise tired muscles. Despite his short arms, the raccoon was able to swim well. Tanis joined him a few moments later and soon the two were splashing one another in fun.

Renny spread out on another blanket with his leg cast extended in front of him. He wore a pair of black shorts and a pair of dark sunglasses strapped around his head as he lay back in the warm sun. Of all the crew members of the late Blue Horizon, the cheetah was probably the most depressed. He brooded about everything he could think of. Being the athletic-type, Renny was confounded by the crushed foot that had to be rebuilt and his inability to get around very well with it bound up in a synplast cast up to his knee. The battle with Sagan had been traumatic, as he had never been involved in such a fight before, especially with an opponent who was so obviously deranged. He still had nightmarish dreams about the cold green eyes and the crazed look in them, and he had jumped out of a deep sleep on more than one occasion panting himself dry.

Probably the one thing that kept him down more than any other was the absence of Taro Nichols. She had been taken from the crash site by the Lady of Dreams, supposedly to private physicians here on Pomen, but there had been no word of any kind as to her fate. Was Taro alive, or had she perished from the evisceration she had received from Sagan? When the cheetah had first come on board the Blue Horizon as the new navigator, she was the first to welcome him warmly, and the two of them felt an immediate attraction. He had been inexperienced with women before Taro, but she had long since given him the experience and confidence he had needed.

It was well known that Taro never played favorites and that she had no intentions of getting involved in a serious commitment, but that was not so for Renny. He knew he was well and truly smitten with the vixen, and anytime she paired off together with Tanis, he felt jealous, even if he was fully aware that he had no exclusive rights to her.

He missed her terribly, and the worry of not knowing her fate gnawed at his mind constantly. No matter what anyone said or did for him, he sustained a glum demeanor. Dr. Howard was concerned for him. She knew that cheetahs often formed close bonds; it might take a while for Renny to get used to the idea that Taro might not return.

Maximillian was intrigued by the beach. The only other beach he had ever seen was on Dennier, next to his adopted Aunt Shannon’s house. He and Pockets had goofed off together there, but this time the young canine was more interested in the other beach-goers that he was watching with a silly grin.

Durant stepped up next to the youth and put his arm around Max’s shoulders. “What are you looking at so intently?” the bear asked with a knowing smile.

“The girls...” Max replied in a faraway tone.

Durant pulled a cold drink from the cooler at his feet and replied, “I thought you saw plenty of women at The Wild Star back on Quet.”

Max looked up at him with a frown. “Yeah, Master Tagon made more money from the pleasure rooms than he did from the restaurant, and I saw a lot of women there,” he said, “but I was younger and never saw them like this.” He grinned and nodded toward a nearby volleyball game where the contestants were mostly canine females. None were wearing the standard robes of the populace, but in the beach setting most wore only little more than skimpy shorts and a couple wore nothing but their own fur. It was quite a difference.

“They look a lot nicer to me now,” murmured the youth.

“Ever kiss a girl?” the grizzly asked as he settled into a beach chair that barely supported his bulk. He had not said it to tease the young canine, just merely curious.

The first thing that came to Max’s mind was the brief kiss he had given Samantha on the Blue Horizon as it was about to crash, but that was done in the face of terror and he did not think it really counted. He felt his skin flush beneath his face fur and had to force his tail to remain still, but he shook his head. “No,” he replied. “Not really.”

“Be patient, Max. It’ll happen.”

The sixteen year old canine nodded silently, but asked, “Do you think they would mind if I went over there and watched them play?”

Durant took a pull on the straw in his drink and then gestured toward the volleyball game with his soda. “If you don’t stare too hard at the ladies, it’ll probably be okay. If they see you gawking like you are now, they may take offense.”

“I’ll remember that.”

From his place on another nearby blanket, Merlin had listened to the exchange between Durant and Max, but as the teen wandered off toward the volleyball game, he allowed himself a smile as he considered what the youngster must be feeling. Samantha must have been thinking along similar lines, as she sat down next to him and said, “Our little Max is growing up, isn’t he?”

The wolf nodded. “Sooner than I expected. I keep thinking of him as a kid.”

“Well, you’re his uncle now,” Samantha replied with a smile. “You’re supposed to think of him that way, even if he’s almost an adult.”

“Oh, no! What happened?”

Merlin and Samantha looked up at the new voice and saw two female cats approach Renny. Like the volleyball players, they were dressed only in the barest of shorts and had plenty of lovely fur to expose, even while their chest fur provided plenty of coverage. One was a black cat with white on her arms, legs and belly. The other was a golden cougar and both were kneeling next to the Blue Horizon’s navigator.

Renny did not feel like entertaining guests, but he had never been one to be rude to anyone. He tried to act disinterested so they might go away, but soon found himself telling them of the fate of their ship instead.

“You mean,” said the mountain lioness, “it was the Sagan? The one who murdered all those poor foxes on Hestra?”

“Yeah,” Renny said with a scowl. “That’s the guy.”

The black and white cat moved closer and sat on the blanket beside the cheetah’s lounge chair. “That’s terrible,” she said. She put a hand on her bosom and introduced herself. “My name is Tina.”

“And I’m Marelle,” the cougar said, kneeling on the blanket at Renny’s other side. “Tell us more.”

The navigator looked from one to another and sighed inwardly. It did not look as if he was going to be left alone, but at least the scenery was nice. They were both near in age to himself. “My name is Renny,” he said. “Anyway, there we were, outgunned by a pirate ship that could out-maneuver us...”

***

“Hey, would ya look at that?” Tanis said as he swam up beside Pockets. He pointed briefly toward the beach and the raccoon followed his gaze. “Renny’s attracted beach kitties!”

Pockets snorted water from his nose and replied, “If that doesn’t cheer him up, then he actually died in the crash!”

Tanis looked over at the mechanic’s grin. “That would definitely cheer me up!” he said with his own smile.

“Me, too...” the raccoon agreed. “Now if we could just find a way to cheer up my brother. He’s such a hothead!”

Tanis looked over at his companion and snickered. “I doubt there’s anything we can do to cheer him up, but I know how to cool him down.”

***

For an afternoon where he had really done nothing at all, Max was having fun. He had spent time watching a volleyball game of bouncing girls until they left to have a cookout elsewhere on the beach. He had never learned to swim so he did not go into the water, though he did enjoy walking along the sand where the waves lapped up over his bare feet.

He watched others swim and frolic in the sea and children build castles in the sand. There were other games he witnessed that he could not make sense of, but the participants were obviously having fun. He felt alive and enjoyed the scents and sights he experienced. This was nothing like the beach he had visited on Dennier. There, the shore had little sand and an abundance of rocks and shells that hurt his feet. Here, the white sand was powdery soft, though hot in the sun, and he enjoyed digging his toes into the cool moisture beneath the heated surface.

Maximillian had been with the Blue Horizon eight months and he still found it hard to think of himself as a free spirit. Practically everyone on the ship had tried to make him feel like one of the crew, but there were times he still thought and acted like an owned possession. He knew it was no longer necessary, but fifteen years of slavery was a strong force of habit to break. Still, he enjoyed the knowledge that if he wanted to go walking along the beach on his own, he was free to do so without having to beg to do it.

The canine youth stopped and picked up a flat rock he found in the sand. He remembered something Pockets had shown him on Dennier and positioned the stone in his hand a certain way. He flung the rock toward the water with the intent to make it skip on the surface, but it only plunked into a wave. It would take more practice and he started looking around for more flat rocks.

In his search, Max no longer watched where he was going and wandered away from the water up the shore. He could hear more laughter nearby, but he did not bother to look up until he saw a large shadow bear down on him; he was suddenly bowled over when a striped body ran into him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” a deep voice rumbled in his ear. Max lifted his head up from the sand dune he had been mashed into and saw the large Bengal tiger who had knocked him over. The muscular male reached down and helped pull him to his feet by a strong grip on his arms. “Are you okay, son?” he asked.

Max brushed sand out of his face fur and sputtered the grit off his lips. “I think so,” he said with a gasp.

“My apologies,” the tiger said. “I was chasing my daughter’s beach ball and I’m afraid I didn’t see you in time.”

“Dad!” Max looked behind the tiger and saw a diminutive female running up to them. “Is he all right?”

The canine grinned at her and shook more sand out of his large ears. He remembered what Tanis had told him about taking things lightly and replied, “He tried to bury me, but I think I’ll live.”

Both tigers chuckled at his smile and the larger one put his arm around his shoulders. “This is my daughter, Wendy, and I’m Dr. Bengoro. Would you like a soda to rinse the grit out of your teeth, son?”

“Sure,” Max replied. “I’d like that.”

***

Patch felt drowsy and his eyelids were heavy. He had been reading engineering articles for a while and was engrossed in an article concerning one of Earth’s deep-space exploration vessels that had just returned from its maiden voyage. The article had interested him, but sitting still on the warm beach made him lethargic. He lost the will to fight it any longer and set his slateboard inside a pack beside him, intent on a nap.

Had he been more alert, Patch might have detected two figures sneaking up behind him. The chief engineer settled back into his chair and closed his eyes.

Pockets hung back as his companion tip-toed through the hot sand toward his brother. He had argued against the prank on his sibling, but the desert fox was determined to do it anyway. It might be the only chance he ever had at something like this.

Arktanis stopped just behind Patch and lifted a child’s plastic bucket up high, almost to the edge of the umbrella that shaded the raccoon. A solitary drop of water preceded the rest by a couple of seconds, and it was just enough to make Patch open his eyes. He caught a glimpse of Tanis just before his face was dowsed with large sploosh!

Patch coughed, sputtered and fell out of his chair as the desert fox took off across the sand, cackling mischievously. Pockets headed in the opposite direction as so not to be blamed by association. Patch wove a tapestry of obscenity that rivaled the fine arts of the Greco-Roman masters as he glared at the retreating backside of Tanis. His fur and clothes were soaked and the sand that had been tracked on his blanket now stuck to him. He waved a clenched fist at the fox and added more profanity in his direction, rotating his words through several languages.

***

Maximillian sat with his legs crossed on the blanket of Alan and Tess Bengoro, quietly lapping a peach-flavored soda. Wendy sat beside him and idly chatted about their present vacation. Her father was a surgeon, her mother a botanist and Reynard Beach was a favorite spot of theirs to vacation. They lived further south in a tropical zone, though there were not any beaches like this where they were from. Wendy was only a year younger than Max, but she had a good education and some of the things she talked about were over the canine’s head of knowledge.

Tess had asked him about himself, but Max was rather loathe to say anything about his youth on Quet, so he just told them his uncle Merlin owned a starship and they were couriers to the different worlds of the Planetary Alignment. He did not elaborate and they did not press him for more information.

Wendy seemed fascinated with his face. She had never seen a German shepherd with pale blue eyes before and could not seem to stop looking at him.

“Max,” Alan asked, “would you like to have a little fun?”

“Uh, sure...”

The male tiger moved away from the blanket a few paces and dropped to his knees. With only his hands and claws, he began to scoop up sand and pile it to the side of a depression he made. He was methodical about it and seemed to ignore his companions.

After a moment, Tess knelt beside him and helped him dig. Wendy looked over at Max and grinned. “Uh oh...” she said.

“What’s they doing?” Max asked her.

“Digging a hole.”

“What’s it for?” he asked.

“For you.”

“For me? Why?”

Alan winked at Wendy and kept digging. The hole was not deep, but was getting longer. “I’m going to bury you in it.”

Max tried to back up, but lost his footing and merely sat down quickly in the middle of a forgotten sand castle. “You’re not going to bury me while I’m still alive!” the canine exclaimed. “I’m not a bone!”

Alan laughed and looked up at his daughter. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I’m not going to bury your head, just most of your body.”

“What?” Max asked. “Why?”

“Just for fun,” he answered.

“How will that be fun?” Max asked.

“Come over here and lay down in the hole.”

Max was suddenly very uncertain about his new friends. He had heard stories of seemingly innocent people killing the unsuspecting and he swallowed a lump in his throat. He tried to hide his fear and shook his head, wondering if he should run.

“Uh, no thanks,” he said. “You can do it to Wendy instead.”

With a chuckle, Alan reached over to give Wendy a guiding hand and the girl took it without hesitation. She walked down inside the shallow oblong hole and then stretched out along its length in the cool sand as if she had done this many times. Alan helped to adjust where she lay and Max saw that that her head and feet stuck out on both ends.

“Tess, give me a hand with this,” the doctor said.

Alan scooped up the sand he had piled to the side and began filling in the hole around Wendy. Tess knelt on the opposite side of the hole and did the same. When Alan and Tess finished, there was a mound of sand on the beach with Wendy’s head sticking out of one end and her bare feet protruding from the other.

Max crawled over to her and asked, “Are… are you okay?”

“Of course,” she answered. “We’ve done this loads of times.” She wriggled her toes and Max found himself smiling. He looked over at the adults and shrugged his shoulders.

“Now what happens?” he asked.

The tigers looked at one another with a grin, but Wendy was the one who answered. “Now I just lay here for a while. The feel of the sand around me is nice,” she said with a look of amusement. “You should try it.”

“Hey, there, Max!”

The canine youth looked up at the familiar raccoon’s voice and he smiled. “Hi, Pockets!”

The mechanic stopped near the small group and asked, “What’s going on?”

Tess offered him a smile. “Your friend is trying to decide whether or not he wants to be buried in the sand like our daughter,” she said. Pockets glanced quickly to the male tiger, who wriggled his fingers in a specific way. The raccoon understood immediately and knelt in the sand beside his young friend.

“Why don’t you try it, Max,” Pockets said with a mischievous smile. “It should be all right.”

“Well,” the canine said with hesitation. “I suppose it’ll be okay so long as you’re here.” Max looked up at Alan and then introduced his friend to them. “This is Pockets. He’s from my uncle’s ship that I told you about.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Pockets,” the doctor said. “I’m Alan, this is my wife Tess and my daughter Wendy.”

“Hullo.”

“So, you want to try it, too?” Alan asked Max.

“Okay. Wendy looks safe enough.”

Alan and Tess began to quickly dig another furrow in the sand beside their daughter. When it was ready, they looked up at Max and nodded to him. He looked over at Pockets, who just grinned back at him. Without another word, the canine youth took his place in the depression as he had seen Wendy do earlier, and allowed the tigers to cover him over.

The sand was cool against the canine’s sun-warmed fur, and it actually felt good. After a few moments, he could feel the weight of the sand all around him and it seemed that Wendy’s folks were still piling on the sand.

“How does that feel?” Alan asked him.

Max screwed up his mouth and frowned. “I can’t move,” he said.

“Does it hurt?” Tess asked. “Are you uncomfortable?”

“No,” Max admitted after thinking it over. “It’s kinda nice, really.” He looked at his crewmate, but Pockets seemed amused, though he did look anxious as if expecting something.

The adult tigers sat down in the sand, each before a pair of teenage toes. Alan grinned and said, “Now, here’s where that fun begins!”

***

Patch stepped out of the small beach changing room and scowled once again out across the sand toward his crewmates. He had finally dried out his fur, and was thankful none of the desert fox’s water had gotten into his cast. Having already been unwrapped, his last remaining cigar had not survived and he was fairly upset about it. The raccoon grumbled to himself and decided to see if any of the boardwalk shops along the beach carried a decent blend of cigar. He never got to smoke while on board a ship due to the oxygen-rich atmosphere, but the opportunity to smoke while they were down on Pomen was too much for him to pass up.

He wandered along the boardwalk for a while and the rich flavor of cigar smoke suddenly touched his nostrils. He smiled and brightened up. He would know that particular aroma anywhere! He moved quickly into a small shop barely large enough for three customers at a time and went straight to the tiny counter. A meercat wearing a red ball cap turned backwards between his small ears peered down at him from the stool he was perched upon. He was smoking the cigar Patch had smelled from outside.

“What kin I getcha?” he asked.

“Brandtian cigars,” Patch stated with a nod to the meercat’s hand. “Katshoggi blend.”

The suricatta grinned at him around his smoke without removing it from his mouth and nodded. “Enticing, ain’t it? How many you want?”

“Five.”

The merchant reached behind the counter and then brought up five metal tubes. He set them on the counter and then totaled up the price. Patch blanched beneath his mask at the figure, but made no comment when he pulled out his credicard and handed it to the meercat. Things were more expensive around tourist areas, he remembered with a frown.

As he waited, Patch turned to look toward a strange noise behind him. It was a small human child about two years old in a lime green pajama costume resembling a popular children’s programming character. It had, as its single head ornament, a long, straight shaft sticking up out of the head. Combined with flat, broad earmuffs on the side that seemed out of place in this weather, the sight of this child’s head disturbed the engineer in ways he could not put his finger on.

The meercat handed his card back to him and Patch thanked him for the cigars. The raccoon left the small business with his purchase and rubbed his eyes, not from the cigar smoke, but rather from the hideous sight he had just seen.

***

Durant could feel the muscles in his arms complain as he forced himself to swim in powerful strokes. He had suffered a mild concussion and several low-degree burns and cuts across his abdomen in their ordeal, but he had recovered quickly. He had not been swimming in so long and the exercise would be good for him, especially after weeks of lethargy in a medical facility. He had been one of those who had complained about the excursion, but now that he was out here, he was enjoying himself.

He was a little farther out from the shore than he knew he should be so he turned back inland and began again. His eyes had been shut through most of his swimming but he suddenly collided with another body. He dipped under the waves momentarily as he momentarily lost his cadence, and when he emerged a heartbeat later, he looked up into the smiling black eyes of a polar bear.

“Pardon me, ma’am,” Durant said with a nervous smile. “I was focused too hard on my swim, I suppose.”

The white bear continued treading water beside him. “I wasn’t expecting anyone this far out,” she replied in a smooth voice, “but I’m happy to meet you. My name is Carmen.”

The grizzly bear nodded to her and said, “Glad to meet you, Carmen. I’m Durant.”

“Is that your personal name or your family name?” she asked as the two of them began swimming slowly toward the beach.

Durant had always hated his first name and never allowed anyone to call him by it, so he hesitated to give it to her. “Leonardo is my first name,” he replied at last. “Leo Durant.”

She had noticed his hesitation and quickly picked up on his distaste for his first name. She did not have a problem with this, so she gave him a warm smile. “Well, Mr. Durant, would you care to join me in a swim?” Carmen asked him, despite that they were already treading water side by side.

“I would love to,” he answered.

***

Twenty minutes later, the ursine couple emerged from the water and walked up the beach a short distance to Carmen’s blanket. It was only then that Durant noticed she was covered only by fur that seemed to repel water even though she had been in for some time. She had several extra-large towels and she handed one to her new friend.

“This ship you serve on,” she said casually, “the Blue Horizon? Is it a cruiser?”

“It is... er, was... an Okami freighter,” Durant answered as he admired her sleek fur. “Pirates shot us down over Crescentis last month as we were coming in to make a delivery. The ship did not survive, but the rest of us are still recovering.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the polar bear replied. “My ship’s an Okami freighter, too.”

Durant tilted his head sideways and smiled. “You’re joking, right?”

“No, really,” she said as she rubbed the towel across her shoulders. “I’m the ship’s doctor of the Hidalgo Sun. It’s an old D-model, but it still gets us around.”

“What are you doing here?”

“We’re on shore leave between jobs,” she answered with a smile as she dropped the towel and then slipped into a tan beach robe. “Captain Rezo always gives us a day or two of leave every time we make a delivery somewhere. We dropped off a shipment of building materials yesterday. We’ll be leaving late in the morning with housewares bound for Ganis.”

“Would you mind a bit of company on your last day here?” Durant asked her. “I’ve spent the last six weeks around stoic doctors and grumbling crewmates. I sure would enjoy a smiling face of a beautiful woman for a change, even if for a little bit.”

Carmen squinted and tilted her head as she tried to read his true intentions and decided he was being honest. “Are you sure you want to spend your time with another doctor?” she asked with a teasing smirk.

“If she smiles like you, I do,” the grizzly replied with a lopsided grin.

The polar bear laughed. “Okay, you can meet me at a little comfy restaurant at the corner of Reno and Anderson Road at seven o’clock tonight. It’s called The Venetian Rose.”

“Yes, I would like that,” Durant replied. “What about now? May I buy you lunch?”

The doctor gave him a little pout and answered, “I’m afraid I don’t have the time right now. I just came down to the beach for a last swim in the sea before starting my preparations for our next voyage. I have a number of official errands to take care of before supper tonight, which is the time I’ll be free.”

Durant nodded, remembering all the little extras he always did for the Blue Horizon just prior to each launch. “I understand,” he said with a genuine smile. “I’ll meet you promptly at seven o’clock at The Venetian Rose, a nice little place right up on the boardwalk, and will be most appreciative of your company.”

Carmen leaned forward, briefly touched noses with him, and then sat back on her knees. “I will look forward to it,” she said.

***

Patch returned to his party’s beach spot and noted with satisfaction that the sunshine had already dried off his chair. Merlin lay on his back in the sun on a nearby blanket, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the warmth. The engineer mused for a moment that it was odd to see his captain wearing only swim trunks; although covered in fur, the wolf always seemed to be clothed from head to toe. Renny was surrounded by five minimally-clad females of differing species on the far blanket, and they all seemed to be enthralled with the cheetah’s injury and his tales of experiences on the Blue Horizon.

Clad in a red bikini, Samantha was out away from them all, slowly going through martial arts routines she had learned years ago on Sillon. She went through the ritual practically every day, whether in her room or out in some open space. The exercise did her good and helped discipline her mind. It had actually been months since she had involved herself in the routine, but since their arrival on Pomen, she had resumed them.

Patch sat back down in his seat and rested his cast upon the chair’s arm. With his other hand, he pulled one of his new cigars from a shirt pocket and took it out of its metal tube with nimble fingers. He produced a lighter from a nearby tote bag and lit the cigar with a smile after biting off the tip. He puffed on it a few times and then nodded to himself at its flavor. Contented, he pulled his slateboard from his pack.

He tapped through the articles and had just found one of interest when a snow leopard in a pair of red shorts walked by. The feline stopped just a step past him and then turned toward him. She knelt down at the edge of his blanket and then gaped at him. Patch felt the intense stare and looked up with a frown.

“What?” he growled irritably, gripping the slateboard so hard it shook. No sooner had the word left his lips that the leopard broke out into a wide toothy grin.

“Jasper Porter!” she said in a rough voice. “I thought that was you.”

Patch nearly dropped his cigar. “Alice?” he asked. When she nodded, he finally smiled. “Alice Forrestal. If I wasn’t injured, I think I’d jump up and give you a hug!”

The leopard moved forward onto the blanket and licked him on the cheek. “It’s good to see you again, you ol’ bandit, but what happened to you? You lose a fight?”

The raccoon nodded and took another puff of his cigar. “Actually, yes. Pirates shot our ship out from under us over Crescentis last month and we had a rather acrobatic landing pattern.”

The snow leopard sat cross-legged in front of him and put her hands in her lap, her voluminous tail wrapped casually around her rear. “Well, as one old engineer to another,” she said, “give me the details.”

Patch was genuinely happy to see the older matriarchal feline. They had become friends serving as mechanics on board a military vessel years before he had ever heard of the Blue Horizon. Their battleship had been old and nearly falling apart, but somehow, they had kept Captain Wildman’s ship in operation, despite the demands the old fart had placed upon it. He had not thought of the leopard in years, but he was actually glad to see her again.

“It was the Basilisk,” he began, “Sagan’s ship.”

***

Only a small, distant rock, a full moon was just rising above the far horizon in the blue-green afternoon sky and lazy clouds floated overhead. Wendy and her new friend walked along the beach just at the water’s edge, heading toward a high cliff that marked the end of the sandy shore. She glanced over at the German shepherd with ice blue eyes and then quietly slipped her hand into his.

Max’s eyes widened and he looked down at their hands in surprise before looking up to meet her gaze. She gave him a smile and then shifted her attention back to their walk up the shore. Maximillian swallowed and grinned a little foolishly. This seemed to be a day of firsts for him. Like the delicious, sand-trapped foot tickling he had experienced earlier, holding hands in this manner with a girl was something new to him, and he found that he liked it very much.

As a slave at a pleasure house, he had been told he been neutered at a young age. He had a lot of head knowledge about the kind of things adult couples did when they were together, but he did not have those kinds of feelings toward Wendy. What he did feel toward her, however, was a fondness like none he had ever had for the adults he lived with, including Samantha. He did not really know what he was feeling, but he enjoyed being around her. They had spent most of the day together, whether it was that burial in the sand, playing volleyball with her family and some of his crewmates, eating lunch, or like now just walking quietly along the beach toward the cliff.

There were several large boulders littering the ground at the base of the cliff they had once belonged to. From the amount of tidal erosion, moss and bird lime on them, the boulders had apparently been there for some time. The young couple was not really thinking about where they were going as they wove around the small maze the boulders provided. When they rounded a particularly large one right near the cliff, Wendy and Max came to an abrupt halt.

Quite oblivious to their presence was a pair of coyotes cuddled close together on the sand next to the cliff. They were kissing and licking muzzles quite passionately and Max could feel his face flush beneath his fur. Wendy grinned widely and then looked at Max. She narrowed her eyes mischievously at him and then without a word, she leaned over and kissed him full on the lips.

It took Max by surprise, but he found his arms around her waist of their own accord as he gave in to her charms and leaned into her kiss. They pulled apart a moment later and Max could feel his head whirling. He was speechless, but not altogether numb. Somewhat shyly, he leaned forward and kissed her again.

Wendy pulled back after a moment and grinned widely into his wonderful ice blue eyes. She liked him a lot and was about to kiss him yet again, but they heard a sound and both turned back toward the other couple. The coyotes were starting to get more involved in their passionate activities, and the young couple saw the swim trunks start to come off.

Max grabbed Wendy’s hand quickly and led her back around the boulders and out toward the beach. Having grown up in a pleasure house, he knew what was about to take place. Neither said anything as they headed back down the shore toward their friends and family, but once they were sure they were out of earshot of the couple, they both giggled.

“Whoa...” Max said as he ran his fingers through the fur between his ears. “It’s a good thing we didn’t show up a few minutes later!”

Wendy laughed. “Heh... I think we would have seen more than kissing and licking!”

At the mention of kissing, Max cleared his throat rather awkwardly. They smiled at one another and resumed walking hand in hand. Neither said anything more for a long while, each of them dwelling on the lingering feelings of their own kisses.

“Max?” the young tigress asked after a while, “May I ask you a personal question?”

“Hmm?”

“What... uhm, what happened to your finger?”

Maximillian raised his left hand, stared briefly at the healed stump and frowned. He was embarrassed and hesitant to tell her he had chewed it off one day in hunger while locked away without food for a week in a filthy shed. He felt a lump in his throat and wondered how to respond. He would rather tell her about his experiences and responsibilities since becoming a member of the Blue Horizon crew. His mind raced for a way to answer her.

Wendy noticed his hesitation and frowned. “I’m sorry, Max. I know it’s not any of my business.”

The canine felt a sudden dread, as if withholding the story would make her stop holding his hand. He had been punished for lying so many times in his upbringing, but suddenly he did not care. He looked up over at her and grinned lopsidedly.

“It’s not that,” he replied, his mind racing. “It’s kinda gross and I don’t think you really want to hear about it.”

“Please?” the tigress asked in a quiet voice. “I’d really like to know.”

Max swallowed and shrugged his shoulders. “You know I told you that I provided meals for the Blue Horizon before we crashed?”

“Yes?”

“I… uh… accidentally cut off my finger… uh, helping to prepare a meal in our kitchen.” Max swallowed again, finding it hard to speak. Lying was harder than he thought and he found he did not like the experience. “Pockets rushed me to Sickbay,” he continued his lie, “and the cook I was helping finished making the meal while I was being looked after.” He looked up at her and laughed nervously, his tongue feeling unusually thick as he further exaggerated his tall tale. “No one knew that my finger had gotten mixed up in a guest’s dinner plate until too late, and the guy never even noticed the extra bit of meat in his meal until we found the bones cleaning up...”

Wendy stuck out her tongue and made a face. “How awful!”

Max chuckled and sighed to himself in relief that she bought his embellished tale. He held up his left hand again and showed her the stub up close. “I’ve been a whole lot more careful with the cleaver since then!” he said with a nervous laugh.

Wendy looked back up into his pale blue eyes and smiled. “I’m glad you have a sense of humor about it,” she said. “My father’s a surgeon and I’ve seen how depressed some of his patients get when they lose a limb. He’s been able to help several of them by reattaching a severed hand or tail, or... Max!” she snapped the fingers of her unoccupied hand and grinned largely. “Why don’t you talk to my father about your finger?”

“Why? What can he do? My finger’s long gone.”

“He can probably fit you for a prosthetic that you can use in its place.”

“What is a... pros... prosth… what you said?”

“An artificial finger that looks and operates like the one you lost. They can make them to match your skin and fur colors where they look natural.”

Max sighed and shook his head. “I appreciate the thought, but I once heard my uncle and our accountant discuss having something like that done for me.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“An operation like that is expensive and there aren’t enough funds in our account since the crash. We’re still seeing doctors now and uncle Merlin says he doesn’t even know if our insurance will cover it all.” Max’s ears drooped a bit and he looked down at the waves lapping at their toes. “We came to the beach today just to get outside in the fresh air to cheer up a little.”

“I’m sorry,” Wendy said in a somber tone.

Max looked over at her and then gave her a smile. “Meeting you today has been the best day I’ve had in a long time,” he said. “I’m glad I met you, Wendy. I really am!”

The Bengal tigress smiled at him and fell into his blue eyes again. She stopped and faced him, holding both of his hands in her own. “I’m glad, Maximillian Sinclair. I’m glad I met you, too.” She leaned forward, pressing her lips against his again and this time Max was not hesitant to return the motion. He had discovered that he liked kissing quite a bit.

***

As Samantha wound her way through the umbrellas, beach blankets and an assortment of children digging in the sand, she could hear the chatter as she neared her own site. She carried a couple of sodas and sandwiches she had picked up at a nearby boardwalk stand, their own picnic basket having been overturned earlier by a couple of rambunctious teens running along the beach. She smiled mischievously when she saw that Renny’s small crowd of female groupies had grown in number since she had left. Patch was nowhere in sight.

“Oh my,” she lilted as she drew nearer, “you have your own fan club!” She chuckled as she sat down near the cheetah and handed him a sandwich. “I thought you might be hungry.”

“Thanks, I’m famished!” Renny said before taking a bite. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and nodded off across the sand with a gleam in his eye. “Look, Sam... sheep! Don’t you have the urge to go herd them into a pen?”

The Border collie followed his gaze and then narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh, really?” she answered dryly. “I’m sorry about the sandwich, but I think I saw a gazelle up on the boardwalk. Don’t you cheetahs usually eat gazelle? Oh, wait...” she snickered, “I’m sorry. You can only catch the kids! But then again, you can’t even catch a cold right now, eh, gimpy?”

Renny’s jaw fell open, but he squinted in the sunlight at her, more than ready to verbally spar with her as was their custom. “Don’t you need to be on a leash, mutt?” he groused. “Better yet, you need a muzzle!”

“Says you, Tweety,” snapped the collie. “Chirp, chirp, chirp... Why don’t you learn to roar, sissy cat?”

“Go whiz on a tree, Fido – or better yet, an electric fence!”

A rabbit doe resting at the cheetah’s feet sat up indignantly with her hands on her hips and glared at Samantha. “You,” she huffed, “are rude! How dare you talk to poor Ren-Ren that way!”

“Yeah!” the rest of the navigator’s admirers chimed in together.

“Ren-Ren?” Samantha burst into laughter with wide eyes. “Ren-Ren!”

The cheetah felt like sinking into the sand as he realized she would probably remember the bunny’s little nickname and use it on him at some point in the future. Instead, he looked at his groupies and waved a casual hand at the collie. “Don’t mind her. Sammy’s a crewmate,” he told them, “and she’s always like this...”

Before he could continue with his jibes, the sun was eclipsed by a huge bull that stopped before his blanket. The large fellow with minimal shorts was adorned with a massive amount of gold chains around his neck, a golden ring in his nose and several more on his ears. The muscular fellow grinned at the females gathered on both sides of the cheetah and then flexed his muscles. Renny snorted loudly at the bull’s display, but the brush-off did not have its desired effect. The bull buried his toes in the sand and then kicked up a lob of it into the injured cheetah’s face.

“Hey!” Renny sputtered. The bull kicked more sand onto the navigator and then flexed his muscles again for the ladies.

“Hey, youse gals,” the bovine muscle head said in a thick voice. “Why don’t youse leave dat losah and come wit me? He’s not big enuff to satisfy all youse!”

There were collective groans from all the women at once. “Chuck Maps,” Tina muttered in disgust behind her hand to one of her companions.

Renny fumed in silence. Normally, he was an easygoing guy and never started a fight on his own, but he had never hesitated in the past to finish a brawl he got involved in. Unfortunately, with his healing leg in a cast there was little he could do against the bully.

Samantha stood up and walked toward the flexing bull with a slight spring in her step and a silly grin on her face. Huh? Renny watched in disbelief. It looked as if his crewmate was actually interested in the brawny idiot.

Chuck grinned and flashed a set of perfect teeth as she got up close to him. “Hiya, lil’ lady,” he said.

“Hhhhi,” breathed the collie to him. “I see you have a lot going for you, big guy,” she cooed.

“Yup, yup!” the bull agreed enthusiastically.

Sam stepped back from him and half turned away, giving him a seductive look. “You are quite a hunk, fella... one big hunk of crap.” Her last word casually spoken surprised him, as well as everyone else within earshot.

“Whuh?”

In a swift motion that would have done the cheetah proud, Samantha swung around and planted her foot in the middle of the bull’s stomach. Unprepared for the small collie’s attack, Chuck was unbalanced and fell backward, holding his middle.

“No one,” Sam told him between clenched teeth, “No one picks on my friend but me, you bozo!” She launched herself forward and drove both fists up under the bull’s jaw, making his head bounce backward.

Before he had a chance to recover and counter her assault, Samantha proceeded to trounce the bully with roundhouse kicks and pummels against the side of his thick head, though mindful to keep away from his sharp-looking horns. She did not give him a moment to regroup and retaliate, and every time he tried to raise up an arm in defense, she would grab it and twist it in a motion that almost made it crack even under her slight weight.

Chuck was flabbergasted at the attack. He was used to being on the giving end, but not only that, the collie was actually hurting him. There was one brief instant where she stumbled back after landing a solid kick to his left knee and he managed to scuttle away from her. He lost his footing in the soft sand and fell over into the umbrella which instantly closed around his head. His horns ripped through the weather-worn fabric as he struggled to free himself. Samantha took the initiative and proceeded to kick at the flailing legs protruding from the umbrella until the bull started to yell for her to stop.

Nearly out of breath from her actions, Sam stepped back toward her friend and then sat down on the blanket beside the cheetah’s little harem. She retrieved her canine-designed sunglasses from the top of their cooler. She pulled the strap around her head, smoothed her ruffled fur and then casually picked up her drink as if nothing had happened.

Renny leaned over toward her with a smirk and said, “Wow, Sammy! He’s looking like ground Chuck to me!” A couple of the girls giggled.

“Yup,” Samantha snickered. “He’s been tenderized.”

“He’s so stupid,” Tina said with a frown as the bull continued to try to escape the umbrella. His motions were much slower now, as the aches and pains were sinking in.

“He’s a real nimCOWpoop...” Renny added.

“Definitely a moo-ron!” Sam agreed.

“You know, he’s probably grillin’ in the umbrella frame on that hot sand,” the cheetah said with a laugh, “and I like my steak charbroiled!”

Samantha smiled and remembered a jingle she had heard on the radio while on Earth. “I like mine with let-tuce and to-ma-to...” she sang.

Tina glanced first at Chuck, who had finally escaped the umbrella and was crawling away in disgrace at having been beaten up by a smaller female, and then she looked over at the collie. “Boy, you sure had him fooled,” she said with admiration.

“Oh, it was easy,” Samantha said with a grin. “He was so gullibull...!”

***

Later that night, Samantha lay in her bed as she snuggled up to her body-length pillow, smiling contently to herself. The day had been a success. They all still had their aches, pains and injuries, they were still without a ship and the finances were dwindling, but at least for a day, they would all have had a chance to smile and forget their troubles.

UP FROM THE ASHES

By Ted R. Blasingame

Captain’s Journal

Where do I start? It has been three months since my last entry into this journal, and much has happened. First and most notable, the Blue Horizon herself is dead – a broken heap from a semi-controlled crash on Crescentis following a pirate attack by Sagan’s black ship, the Basilisk.

Sagan alone boarded my vessel in a manner that is still a mystery to us, and inflicted terrible damage to my ship and crew before he died at the end of a fierce onboard battle. Through the valiant efforts of my crew, and the intervention of an ally I will not name even in my journal, the Basilisk was driven away and the Blue Horizon managed to make it down to the planet’s surface.

We landed hard and the engine core had to be jettisoned in the midst of a meltdown. The Horizon will never fly again – there was too much structural damage from the orbital attack and also from an impact with a Crescentan island land mass. My lifeless ship currently resides with its keel broken in a junk heap several hours away from our present location here on Pomen, conveyed there by a massive salvage transport.

Pockets has visited the ship several times and he always comes back feeling depressed. The Horizon may have belonged to me, but he seems to have felt the loss more as if she had been a close friend. I guess that is what happens to engineers who are intimate with a vessel’s inner workings. I have submitted a fully-detailed report of the incident with the SPF that’s been filed on the Joplin central computer.

Interstellar Insurance is sending a claims adjuster here for final settlement of our case, and Mr. Andes is due to meet with me sometime today. During the four-week flight from Kantus, he has been in constant contact with me, the SPF and the Cinos Scrap Yard where the Horizon now rests. From the preliminary report I’ve seen, Interstellar looks to pay off in full at the closure of the case due to the nature of the attack.

The loss of my ship is hard to bear, but it’s insignificant when I think about my crew. Due to injuries incurred from his fight with Sagan, Renny had to have his entire right foot reconstructed with some of the bones regrown, and has spent weeks in physical therapy learning to walk on it again. He has progressed well, and if his flirting with the nurses is any indication, he has finally gotten through his acute depression.

Durant suffered a concussion and several low-degree burns and cuts across his abdomen, but seems to have recovered well. Pockets and his brother were both treated for smoke inhalation, and Patch had a broken left arm to deal with. Samantha, Maximillian and Arktanis all had an assortment of bumps and bruises, but were otherwise okay. I suffered a concussion and two broken ribs. All of us have been through post-traumatic stress counseling, and most of us have had recurring nightmares stemming from it all. Renny says he still sees Sagan’s wild eyes in his sleep. The pirate has haunted mine as well.

Of Taro, however, there has been no word in all the time we’ve been here. She suffered the worst of Sagan’s physical assault, and frankly, I don’t see how she could have survived the deep abdominal wounds. The last I saw of her, mere moments before our entry into the charged Crescentan atmosphere and the resulting crash landing, she was dying in the frantic arms of Renny. Tanis did all he could to stabilize her, but even he was unsure it would be enough. Our unnamed benefactor told me Taro would be taken to the advanced medical facilities on Pomen, and that is the last word I have had on my friend and second in command. I fear the worst.

The rest of my crew and I are still here on Pomen in the capitol city Adasa. We were brought here from Crescentis by Tanthean Corvettes courtesy of the Aris monarch, and most of us have already been released by the medical facilities. Only Renny continues with his therapy. Since Pomen was his homeworld, Durant headed straight for his brother’s home on the other side of the planet after he’d been certified well enough to leave the facility’s care. The rest of us are being housed within the Tanthean embassy until such time as we can leave. It helps to be friends with the royal family.

Before leaving Crescentis, the SPF allowed us to retrieve what personal possessions from the wreckage that were salvageable, in addition to the Horizon’s memory core. From my private safe I retrieved my journals as well as the documents gifted me by the House of Aris at our last visit to Tanthe. It makes me wonder if Aris was precognitive of our fight with Sagan when they had the papers drawn up for us. Upon our contact with the Tanthean embassy here on Pomen, I presented the documents to Ambassador Poledouris. He assured me the documents would be expedited to Aris Grand, but as yet I’ve heard nothing more in the three months we’ve been here.

As it stands, I am captain of no ship, with my business out of commission and my crew mostly incapacitated. Although Sagan was killed in the conflict, his ship and crew remain at large. Presently, our immediate future is uncertain and hangs upon the documents of Tanthe with the conclusion of the investigation by the Spatial Police Force.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain of the late SS Blue Horizon, Registry PA1261

***

The lupine captain put down his pen and closed his journal. It was the third one he had owned over the past six years and its stiff cover binding was worn from handling. The entry he had just written filled out the last available page in the book, so he decided to add the purchase of a new journal to his list of things to do this day. He already had plans to shop for a new captain’s hat. His old one had been lost in the crash of his ship and he missed wearing it, even if there was no ship to be the captain of.

Idly, he placed the journal inside a small attaché and then stood up from the desk. Autumn morning sunlight streamed in through the open windows of his seventh-floor room, though storm clouds were gathering on the horizon. A gentle cool breeze brushed the window’s blue and white curtains and he could smell moisture on the air.

Merlin moved to a closet and removed the robes he wore. He hung them on a hangar and selected a few garments for the day. The native Pomen robes were comfortable, but he preferred the style and material he was used to wearing.

He slipped into a pair of dark blue trousers, but the lightweight pants were new and the tail opening was tighter than he was comfortable with. He would have to get it altered among his things to do today. He chose a powder-blue short sleeved shirt that fit him loosely and then looked up at the time displayed through the panel of one wall. He was to meet his crewmates in the building’s first-floor restaurant for breakfast in ten minutes.

He picked up a handful of small items from his desk and dropped them into his pants pocket after he slipped into his old black boots. He headed for the door, pausing only to pluck his embassy-issued identification card that doubled as a room key from a small table, but halted when he stepped out into the corridor. Affixed to his door panel was a plain white envelope with his name neatly printed across the front in red ink.

The wolf glanced up and down the brightly lit hallway, but it was deserted save for himself. He plucked it from the door and locked the panel behind him. He waited until he was in the elevator with the doors closed before he tore the paper envelope open with a claw. Inside was a simple white sheet of paper with a single sentence printed across the middle. Merlin’s ears went flat against his head and he growled lowly at what he saw, feeling a cold wave come over him. He resisted the urge to crumple the missive angrily in his hand, but folded the page and placed it back inside the envelope instead.

The elevator doors opened a moment later and he stormed out of the lift, only to run into a pair of armed coyotes in embassy uniforms. They barred his way and studied the belligerent expression in his eyes suspiciously. A quick glance around showed Merlin that armed guards were stationed at nearly every doorway in the lobby. This was new.

“Identification,” the coyote on the right demanded.

Merlin handed over his ID without a word. The coyote scanned it with a hand reader and grunted lowly. “Okay, Mr. Sinclair, you may pass.”

“What’s up?” the wolf asked curiously. “Security hasn’t been this tight in all the time I’ve been here.”

“Sorry, sir, that’s not your concern,” the other coyote replied. “Move on.”

“Right.” Merlin continued on his way toward the restaurant and had to show his identification again to enter. Once inside, he moved to a large booth in the far-right corner of the room. His crewmates were spaced around the table and a canine waiter was already taking their orders on a slateboard. Samantha stood up and licked him on the cheek as he approached.

“Good morning, Merlin,” she said.

“Hello,” the wolf replied, first to her, and then with a nod to everyone else. He took a seat next to Maximillian who looked as if he wanted to go back to bed. The youth yawned widely and rubbed his eyes.

Renny was the last to place his order and the waiter then turned toward Sinclair. “For you, sir?”

Merlin nodded to the Irish setter without smiling and answered, “Just coffee and beefsteak, please. Medium-rare.”

“Yes, sir.” The waiter executed a short bow and then trotted off with their orders.

Patch lit one of his cigars to the irritation of his companions and puffed on it a moment while he peered across the table. “What’s the matter, Captain?” he asked. “You look shaken.”

Merlin frowned and tossed the envelope onto the table. “I found this on my door just now.”

Tanis snatched up the envelope and pulled out the letter. He looked up in surprise and then handed it over to the raccoon. Patch read it quietly and then passed it around. Renny placed it back on the table after they had all read it and then everyone looked at Merlin.

“Any idea who wrote it?” the cheetah asked.

“No,” Merlin admitted, “but I have my suspicions.” He picked up the letter and read it again as if he could not believe he had actually received such a thing.

‘Do not attempt to rebuild your business.’

“Who do you suspect?” Pockets inquired.

“Possibly a survivor of the Basilisk,” Merlin replied.

“Or it could have been Armando,” Pockets suggested.

“No, as much as he’d like to see us out of the competition, that’s not his style. What unnerves me is that with all the increased security around here,” the captain gestured toward the guards in the lobby, “how someone without proper authority got inside the embassy to affix it to my door.”

“Someone from Tanthe, then?” Renny asked.

“It’s possible,” Tanis replied, “but I thought ya were on the good side of the Royalty.”

“Any idea what all the hubbub is about, anyway?” Samantha asked. “I thought I was going to be frisked as soon as I came out of the elevator.”

“Nobody frisked me,” Renny said with a smile. “But then again, who wouldn’t want to frisk a woman?”

Samantha sneered at him, conscious that she was the only female left of the small crew. “I was not frisked, Ren-Ren,” she retorted, “but it looked like they wanted to.”

“My point exactly.”

Merlin put the letter back into the envelope and then folded it neatly. He placed it inside a pocket and then glanced back toward the guards. “From all the activity, I would guess they have a high-ranking official coming in. This is an embassy.”

The wolf turned to look Pockets straight in the eye and added, “I wouldn’t try to pick the locks on any more supply closets while we’re here, if I were you, Mr. Porter — especially with this kind of security.”

“Yeah,” Tanis chipped in. “We might be guests of the embassy right now, but ya could spend time in a nasty prison somewhere bleak for yer pilfering.”

“Hey!” Pockets sputtered in indignation, “I asked three times for more fur shampoo! No one would bother to get any for me, so I helped myself.”

“No more, Pockets,” Merlin replied as he waggled a finger at him. “If you have to, go down to the corner store to get your shampoo.”

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Tanis asked as a couple of waiters arrived with their orders. Maximillian perked up at the prospect of food.

Merlin picked up a coffee cup and shrugged his shoulders as if the question was trivial. “Renny’s going back to his therapist, and…”

“Awww, daddy, do I have to?” the cheetah whined.

Pockets snickered as Merlin finally smiled. “Yes, son, you do,” the wolf replied. “I have some shopping to do and I have to meet the adjuster from Interstellar Insurance. You all have another free day to do what you want.”

“This is all so boring,” Max grumbled as he started to eat his breakfast. “We’ve been here so long that we’ve done all the interesting things to do in this city.”

“At least on the long flights between worlds on the Horizon,” Pockets added, “we had personal interests and things to do. Here, we don’t even have much of our own stuff anymore.”

“Any word on a new ship, Captain?” Patch asked. “My talents will get rusty if I don’t have an engine to use them on.”

Merlin frowned and shook his head as he took a lap of his coffee. “No, I’m afraid not,” he answered. “If there weren’t any new ships in stock at the factory, they’d have to build one, and I believe that takes about four months at the very least.” He took another lap and sighed audibly. “The government of Tanthe has been very good to us since the crash, but who knows how long it will take to go through the bureaucracy to get us a ship. As far as I know, the paperwork may still be sitting on someone’s desk, awaiting yet another official to approve it.”

“But the documents were issued by the Princess,” Samantha said between bites of her meal. “You would think that would be approval enough to go through immediately.”

Merlin sat back in his chair and struggled with a thought as he stared into his cup. “I don’t know how long this is going to take,” he said after a long moment, “so I think you may wish to seek employment elsewhere.”

Everyone looked up at him suddenly, some with mouths open. Pockets had a mouthful of food and had a hard time swallowing it.

“Captain?” Patch asked through a cough of cigar smoke.

“Are you laying us off?” Renny asked.

Merlin looked up at them. “No, it’s just a suggestion,” he replied quickly, “but without a source of income, I won’t be able to pay you much longer before the finances are completely dried up. The salvage operation of the ship on Crescentis and its transportation here to Pomen wiped out most of the account. All our medical expenses are being put on a tab for me, but eventually I’ll have that bill to pay as well. The Tanthean government has graciously allowed us to stay here in their embassy as guests and provide us with meals free of charge, but we’ve been on Pomen three months and no one can tell me how much longer we’ll be here.”

“Captain,” Tanis said, “since our lodging and meals are paid for by our coyote friends, I don’t have much need for a salary. Just a small allowance for personal things would be okay with me, if ya want to cut my pay until we get another ship.”

“The same goes for me,” Renny replied. “With my physical therapy, they’re not going to let me go anywhere for a little while longer anyway.”

Samantha touched Merlin’s arm and said, “You can stop paying me altogether for now.”

Max looked up with a long face. “I’m staying with you, Uncle Merlin. No matter what happens. We’re family.”

Samantha nudged the canine youth with an elbow. “Until you are eighteen years of age, you have no choice but to stay with Merlin, even if the legal age on Dennier is seventeen.”

The conversation grew quiet and everyone looked back to their captain. Merlin swallowed and glanced around at his friends. “You all read that note,” he reminded them. “Someone out there still has a grudge against us. That means that even if we do get another ship, that doesn’t mean we’ll be safe.”

“Captain,” Patch said as he extinguished his cigar in a glass ashtray, “I would love to stay and engineer for you on a new ship, but I’m afraid I have debts of my own I’m obligated to pay. I need work and collectors have found me even here.”

Pockets turned and stared at his brother with wide eyes, but Merlin nodded understandingly. “That’s okay, Patch,” he said with a bit of a smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the handful of data crystals he had picked up earlier. Each was labeled with the name of a crew member. He spread them out onto the center of the table and then sat back in his chair. “You’ve all been a good employees, though some of you have tried giving me ulcers, but despite this, I’ve written up a nice reference for each of you for a job search if you choose to do so.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Patch replied. He reached forward and pushed the crystals around until he found the one that bore his name.

“Well, I’m staying with Captain Sinclair!” Pockets said in a huff toward his brother.

“That’s okay, Pockets,” Merlin said quickly. “It was my suggestion and I think Patch is wise to look elsewhere. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to pay you guys even at cut salaries, so personally I think you’re all making a mistake if you hang around. I do appreciate your loyalty and willingness to stay, but it’s not necessary.”

He turned to look at Samantha with a look of resignation. “I know you don’t actually need a salary from me, but this might be a good time for you to return to your father’s company.”

The Border collie gulped. “But—”

“Something’s going on outside in the lobby,” Tanis interrupted. Everyone’s eyes turned toward the glass walls of the restaurant and saw coyotes running here and there in excitement.

Two coyotes in crisp suits approached the guards at the restaurant doors and spoke quietly for a moment. One of the guards pointed though the door directly at the crew of the late Blue Horizon and the pair of suits immediately walked over to them.

“Captain Sinclair?” one of them asked.

The wolf stood up. “Yes, sir?”

“Please come with us. Your presence is required.”

“All of us?”

“Just you, sir.”

Merlin resisted the urge to ask them who wanted to see him, but he suspected they would only give him the run-around. He turned to his crewmates and shrugged. “Think about what I said. I’ll see you all later.”

“Good luck, sir,” Renny offered.

Merlin followed the coyotes across the busy lobby to the elevators. He was taken up to a small, but luxurious office on the top floor of the building, and once inside, one of his escorts told him to wait. He was left alone only a couple moments before the doors opened again.

Two guards filed in and gave him a suspicious look before stationing themselves on either side of the door. Prince Kal Navar Aris then strode in, his head held high, wearing garments perfectly tailored for him. He wore an amulet over his business suit that was similar, but smaller than the one King Adion Aris had worn and he sported several golden rings mounted with precious gems on his short fingers. As soon as his eyes lit upon the wolf, Kal’s expression lightened up with a broad smile.

“Merlin!” the coyote exclaimed and walked over to him. The wolf bowed toward the prince and then returned the smile.

“Prince Kal,” he said, “you’re looking well.”

The coyote clasped arms with him. “Considering all you’ve been through, you’re looking well, yourself. Princess Tinara made me promise to tell you that she sends her love.” Kal motioned toward the guards and the pair quickly departed, shutting the door behind them. The prince led Sinclair toward a pair of exquisite wing-back chairs beside a darkened fireplace and they sat down facing one another.

“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, sir,” Merlin said quietly, “especially not under these conditions.”

Kal nodded his head and rubbed a finger beneath his chin. “Nor did I,” he replied, “but I thought it would be fitting if it was I who presented you with your new ship. Tinara would have come too, but she’s expecting…”

“My new ship!”

“The documents you presented to Ambassador Poledouris upon your arrival here were checked for their authenticity before we were contacted about them. I got in touch with the shipyards on Dennier and found they had one Okami class freighter of the H-model design barely into construction. We had them make a few special modifications during the building of your new vessel. I volunteered to come in person to return the favor you granted to the royal family.”

Merlin bowed his head and clasped his hands together in his lap. Without looking up, he said, “Because of my personal self-sufficiency, it’s often difficult for me to accept expensive gifts from others.” He looked up into the coyote’s eyes. “But due to our current financial status, I’m afraid I was depending upon Aris to help me in this matter. I’m sorry.”

Kal tilted his head to the side and smiled. “Merlin,” he said gently, “if you had not revealed my feelings for Tinara to her family, I would still be the Royal Secretary, and it would be you who would be expected to produce an heir to the throne of Tanthe. I am deeply indebted to you, my friend, and this new ship does not completely erase that debt.”

“Prince Kal,” Merlin said slowly, “I am greatly appreciative of the new ship, but please don’t feel you have to do more for me.”

“More has already been done.”

“More?” the wolf asked meekly.

“You lost your cargo of supplies for the Crescentis fishing colonies and that brought you to Tanthe,” Kal replied. “We re-supplied your ship and again those supplies were lost, this time through no fault of your own. After our Corvettes took you away from the crash site, Tinara realized that the fishing colonies still had not received their supplies, so she took it upon herself to send another cargo vessel already on Tanthe to Crescentis. Oddly enough, I still had the supply list from your visit.”

Merlin stared at the coyote in wonder. So many tales of monarch families he had heard over the years had told of tyrants and self-absorbed kings. The Aris family matched none of those descriptions. He did not know what, if any, hand that King Adion had in all this, but even if not, the planet would be in good hands under the leadership of Kal and Tinara when the time came for them to rule.

Not knowing what else to say, Merlin made a small bow from his seat and said, “You and the Princess have been generous to me and my crew. You have our eternal thanks and friendship for your help in our hour of need.”

“You’re very welcome,” Kal replied with a smile. “Now, tell me about your crew. How do they fare?”

“They’re recovering,” Merlin said, “but there is another matter I need to discuss with you first.”

“Oh?”

The lupine captain pulled the folded white envelope from his pocket and passed it to the prince. Kal opened the letter and read the single sentence with a frown.

“This was on the door of my embassy suite this morning,” the captain explained.

The prince scowled and took on a dark expression that Merlin had not seen before on the cordial coyote. “I will have my people look into this immediately,” he said. He pulled a DataCom from an inner suit pocket and tapped in a passcode. He spoke rapidly for a few moments and then put the unit away.

As if the matter were completed, the prince looked over at the wolf with bright eyes. “Now, would you like to see your new ship?”

“Yes, sir, I would,” Merlin said with a smile.

“Do you want to invite your crew to join us?

Merlin thought for a moment and then shook his head as he glanced at the time displayed through the wall panel. “We had finished breakfast and they are likely scattered by now. Besides,” he added with a gleam in his eye, “I would like to inspect her myself in private without the bunch of them distracting me. They’ll have plenty of time to see her later.”

“Very well, then. Let’s go.”

***

“—and that’s what he said,” Samantha’s image reported from the com screen.

Durant shook his head sadly at the somber, but not altogether unexpected news. As the accountant for Blue Horizon Freight Transfer, the bear was well aware of Merlin’s financial plight. Still, it was hard to hear.

“We’ve all been together for almost seven years,” he said to the Border collie. “It’ll be hard breaking up.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“Not with the present situation as it is, I’m afraid.”

“What if I offer to buy Merlin another ship?” Samantha asked, her moist eyes glistening in the high-resolution monitor. “I have the money from my company holdings.”

Durant shook his head again. “You know him as well as the rest of us, Sam. How do you think he would react to that?”

The collie thought for a moment and then sighed. “He would be appreciative,” she replied, “but would not consider the ship his own. He’d consider me as the new owner of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer.”

“That’s right,” Durant replied. “In Merlin’s eyes, he would rather dissolve the business than do something like that. He’s been that way for as long as I’ve known him.”

“Me, too. Oh, Durant, how could this have happened? Everything was going so well.”

“Apparently Sagan knew more about our movements than we were aware of. If he knew we were going to be in the vicinity of Crescentis, then he must have been tailing us or monitoring our communications specifically.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“I know, Sam,” the bear said. “None of it makes any sense.”

“So, what are you going to do? Most of us are going to stick around as long as we can, but Patch is already out looking for another job. Good engineers are in high demand, so he shouldn’t have to look more than a few days.”

“What about his brother? They going together?”

“No, Pockets promises to stick with Merlin no matter what it comes down to, but Patch said he has too many debts and needs to be working. I never thought I would see that pair ever split up.”

Durant scratched his ear and looked around him. “I’m set up well enough here in my brother’s house, Sam, and we’ve always been close. I’ll probably just stay here until I hear of anything final from Merlin. If he decides to dissolve the business altogether, then I’ll look into another job. I’m debt-free at the moment, so I’m not in a hurry.”

“How’s your brother?”

“James? He has a girlfriend named Beverly who’s sweet and seems to be good for him. He still misses his wife and kids, but it’s been four years since the crash and everyone’s tried to get him to move on. It’s been nice visiting with him again and he’s assured me I can stay here as long as I need to. If the business dissolves, I might settle down here in a place of my own with an accounting firm, much as I did before I joined the crew.”

“Merlin’s trying to get me to return to the family business,” Samantha replied. “There’s a corporate branch here on Pomen, but I really don’t want to do that. With luck, we’ll get a new ship soon, but hopefully it won’t be too much longer.”

“Listen to Merlin, Sam,” Durant said somberly. “I know you prefer to run around with us, but going back to your father’s company is probably the best thing you could do right now.”

***

Prince Kal led Merlin away from the royal limousine toward a large hangar on a private airfield. Two guards wearing body armor trailed them by a few yards, but otherwise they were alone. Merlin glanced up at the cloudy sky and idly wondered when it was going to start raining. The clouds were dark and heavy, and the air was laden with moisture.

One of the guards moved in front of the prince as they approached the door and tapped in a security code on a pad next to the lock. There was a slight chirp and the panel split apart to reveal a cavernous dark arena. The guard turned on the lights and moved in first, surveying the area before he nodded back to Prince Kal. The coyote allowed Merlin to pass through the door ahead of him.

The lupine captain stopped after only a couple of steps inside. His breathing was shallow and his eyes tried to take in the sight all at once. The newest model of the Okami class freighter design was just shy of being twice the size of his old ship. He had seen the larger vessels before, but this ship was now his. Rather than the old fat flying-saucer shape, this one appeared to be oval lengthwise and much larger, although leaner. They had come into the hangar facing the ship’s port side. Right away, he could tell that the vessel had a larger engine pod. The color was battleship-gray, but he could have it repainted later.

Probably the oddest aspect of the new freighter that he saw during that first couple of moments was the absence of forward landing gear. The weight of the engine section in the back more than made up for the counterbalance needed to keep the ship upright, and he guessed that fact would hold true even when it was fully loaded with cargo. His expert eyes discerned aerodynamic panels for forward landing gear, however, and it made him feel unconsciously relieved to know they were there should they be needed. For now, they were simply tucked away.

Prince Kal looked over at the wolf and saw the captain’s eyes shining. “The data from your old computer core can be safely transferred to the new system,” he said. “It is equipped with a Geo-25 computer system by Vosnesenskii Information Systems.”

“It has a VIS computer system?” Merlin asked in awe as they resumed walking toward the ship.

“The latest.”

When they approached the main airlock hatch, Merlin saw the PA Registry number painted on the hull beside it.

“PA1138,” he read aloud.

“I took the liberty of having it registered for you,” Kal said.

“Does the ship have a name?”

The prince shook his head. “No, that is something I wanted leave up to her captain. Will you call her the Blue Horizon II?”

Merlin shrugged his shoulders. “Probably not. I dislike putting a number into a ship’s name, but I think I’ll talk it over with my crew before making that decision.”

“Where did the name Blue Horizon come from originally?”

Merlin smiled at him. “It’s from the lyrics of a song in an old movie I like,” he replied. “The first time I heard the lyrics, I thought to myself, ‘That sounds like a good name for a ship’. It was probably three years later when I bought my freighter and remembered the words.”

Kal removed an ivory envelope from an inner pocket and handed it to the wolf. “Here are the title papers granting ownership of your new ship, in addition to all the security codes currently encoded into the system. There is a data crystal in there where everything is duplicated. I would strongly suggest you change all the codes yourself once you have the system up and running to minimize security breaches.”

Merlin nodded as he took the envelope. In light of the letter he had gotten that morning, he thought that would be a good idea. He turned the envelope over and saw the Aris royal seal. He smiled up at the prince and broke the seal before him. Inside was a folded sheaf of papers accompanied by a thin data crystal.

He browsed quickly through the printed pages and located the list of codes. He found the one he wanted and then tapped the code into the security pad next to the main hatch. The doors split apart diagonally and a chamber light in the airlock came on.

Prince Kal put a hand on the wolf’s shoulder and smiled at him. “Since you stated the desire to see your new ship in private, I will leave you to explore her on your own. I will send my limousine and driver back here after it has taken me to the embassy, so you may return for your crew when you are ready.”

“Thank you, sir,” Merlin said with a bow and genuine appreciation.

“May I expect you and your crew to dine with me tonight?”

Merlin nodded with a wide smile. “Yes, sir. We would be honored.”

“Good,” the prince replied. “I’ll make the arrangements on my way back to the embassy. Enjoy your new ship, my friend.”

“Thank you, sir, I will.” With that, Prince Kal motioned toward his guards and the three of them retraced their steps back to the limousine.

Merlin Sinclair turned and looked up the side of the gray ship toward the bridge. “Well, girl,” he said in a soft whisper, “let’s get to know one another, shall we?”

***

“Your résumé looks satisfactory, Mr. Porter,” a young and smartly dressed otter said with an appreciative nod. A nameplate on the desk revealed his name to be Nolan Xavier. He looked at the raccoon’s data crystal on his desktop monitor and he nodded again. “Have you ever been on a Paladin-class passenger cruiser before?”

“Only as a customer about eight years ago,” Patch replied. The pair sat in a Spartan office in a small building near the principal spaceport in the city of Adasa. The headquarters of the Merriam Cruise Lines was on Ganis, but they had a district office set up in the capitol city of each world of the Planetary Alignment.

“We require ten engineers on each of our cruisers, Mr. Porter, and we’re lacking two positions on our newest ship, the SS Argonautia.” The otter slid a slateboard tablet toward Patch and indicated a red figure in a box on the screen by itself. “This would be your salary, to be paid to you at the completion of every voyage.”

Patch did his best to hide his surprise. Merlin had always been generous in the salaries he granted his employees, but it could not match that of a corporate budget. The contract bound him to ten voyages, wherever they might take him, and guaranteed his pay. The other benefits outlined in the document far surpassed anything he had ever made before, but the conditions also limited him in his job. Six-plus years on the Blue Horizon had granted him plenty of freedom to experiment and try out new things on the systems, but on the Argonautia, he would be just one of a team of ten that would be expected to follow the rules and stick to corporate specifications.

He thought about it another moment and then nodded to the otter. “I would be honored if chosen to serve on the Argonautia, Mr. Xavier.”

“Splendid,” the otter replied. “If you’ll sign on the line next to the bottom, we can get your contract finalized

“You mean I’m hired?”

“That’s correct, Mr. Porter, as of this moment.” The raccoon signed the document with a thumbprint and handed the slateboard back to the otter. “You should report to docking port forty-two no later than noon tomorrow and ask for a canine named Marcus Bem. He’s the chief engineer of the Argonautia and will be your immediate supervisor. You will go to him for all things, from specific tools to a toothbrush.” Xavier keyed in a code onto a small scanner and then slipped a plastic card into it. A moment later, he retrieved the card and handed it to Patch. “This is your identification and pay credicard. Show this to Bem and he’ll know you are now under contract.”

“Thank you, Mr. Xavier.”

The otter looked at him and cocked his head sideways. “We still need one more qualified engineer to make the crew complete. If you have any experienced associates looking for employment, please send them to me.”

“Yes, sir, I will.” Patch stood up, shook hands with the otter, and then left the office. He intended to go straight to his brother to tell him about his new job and the other opening that would be waiting for him.

***

Merlin stood in the center of the empty cargo hold, all the lights on and looking around him in awe. The area was double the capacity of the old ship’s hold, and had a higher ceiling that was equipped with two cargo lifting cranes. Freight tie-downs were recessed into the floor and spaced three meters apart in a grid pattern. Along the walls near the deck were insulated, airtight storage bins that were rigged to keep the contents within regulated temperatures as needed. Two of the bins contained anti-grav pallet carriers, chains, cables and straps. Another bin was full of plasteel webbing, and yet another harbored twenty pressure suits of various sizes and shapes. Higher on the wall above those bins were a series of racks where other large items could be stowed within adjustable, horizontal arms, adding more storage for cargo.

The loadmaster’s office was located between storage bins and was insulated and soundproofed with a pressure door. The office included a kitchenette at one end of the room, and a lavatory within a small compartment next door.

The captain continued his self-guided tour across the bay and into the engine room. According to the spec sheet from the packet Kal had given him, the Liquid Crystal LightDrive engines were larger than those of a G-model and the energy output had been doubled. There was plenty of room to work in and access panels were everywhere to give an engineer ample ways to get in to get to whatever problem might come up. Just about every type of tool needed to work on an LC engine was provided in a tool room of various instrument kits, and in the event someone did not have the knowledge to work on the engines, or power was out preventing anyone from accessing the computers, a full set of hardbound books of laminated pages lined a wall in the engine room office for reference. Like the loadmaster’s office, this compartment also had a small kitchenette. Whoever had redesigned the Okami class freighter had put a lot of good thought into the comfort of those who maintained one.

Satisfied with what he had seen, Merlin walked back across the bay and entered the main lift to take him up to the next level. When he stepped out onto the Crew deck, the light came on automatically, obviously programmed to conserve power when no one was in the circular corridor, but to activate instantly whenever someone was present. The flooring material was a mixture of blue and gray and the walls were a simple white.

He decided to take a walk around the corridor once before peeking into any of the cabins. Since the ship was larger and oval in shape rather than the old circle, there were more rooms available. In the old vessel, the inside wall of the Crew deck corridor wrapped around the upper level of the cargo hold, but that was not so in this one. The Crew deck sat on top of the two-story cargo bay. There were storage rooms and equipment chambers for the ship’s systems in the center of the vessel, where they had been moved from the lower deck of the old model. Much more efficient, he thought to himself.

He made a complete circuit around the passageway and found himself standing beside the main lift again. He had counted fifteen crew cabins, the bridge, Sickbay and the captain’s ready room, but had seen no sign of the galley. Between each cabin were more access panels for extra storage or equipment. His first impulse was to visit the bridge, but thought he would save that room until the very last. There was no reason to do so, but he fancied the mystique of waiting until the last moment to see his new ship’s command center.

As a rule, Merlin liked to have his personal cabin next to his office den, so he chose that particular cabin as a start. The door slid aside when he thumbed a square pad beside the panel, but the lights did not come on automatically as they had in the corridor. He reached inside and touched the switch, noting immediately that there were various lighting settings on the controls.

When the cabin was fully illuminated, he nearly gasped at the size of the room. The place was larger than his quarters on board the Blue Horizon, and instead of two rooms, there were three. The main room was furnished with a corner sectional couch, a central coffee table and two plain lamps mounted to small tables on opposite ends of the couch. A standard desk and terminal occupied a corner nearest the door. There were no decorations on the plain walls, save for a vidscreen mounted within the wall opposite the couch. This was no cabin; this was a stateroom.

Intrigued, Merlin walked through a door at the back of the room and saw a bed much larger than standard on freighters. Had he not known better, the lupine captain might have thought he had stumbled onto a cruise ship. Another terminal vidscreen was mounted within the wall across from the bed beside a set of storage bins recessed into the bulkhead. There were night stands on either side of the bed and plenty of storage room beneath.

Merlin smiled and stretched out on the bare mattress to get a feeling for it. It was a bit soft for his tastes, but he spied the comfort controls for it on the left night stand. He could adjust the firmness of the mattress later when he was settled in.

The wolf got up and moved to the walk-in closet. He peered inside and was pleased with the amount of space available. Another room connected through a door at the opposite end of the bedroom and he ventured inside to take a look at the lavatory. Everything was fairly much the same as it was on his old ship, but this one contained a combination shower and large step-in, immersion bathtub. The older G-model vessel had only a shower, and there had been so many times on long voyages that he had often wished for a tub to soak in. He decided the new ship design must have a fairly large water reservoir with good reclamation and recycling units.

When Merlin approached the door to leave the cabin, he saw a small covered panel near the door that he had not seen when he had gone inside.  He opened it cautiously and saw lifepod ejection controls with a printed set of instructions inside the panel door. In the event of a disaster, each of the fifteen cabins could be ejected from the ship as a self-contained lifepod. He assumed each was equipped with its own air supply, emergency rations and guidance system. The door was a standard internal panel, but outside the thick door frame was an airlock pane designed to slide across the opening and seal the compartment for ejection. Impressive, he thought to himself.  A good idea, but I hope we never have to use it.

He looked into two more nearby cabins before he was satisfied that all were identical in size and layout. The three-room Infirmary was well equipped, but currently devoid of supplies due to legal restrictions and the shelf-life of medications. He did not linger there, but moved to the lift and took it up to the next level.

As he had suspected, the recreation deck was larger than his last one and the full galley occupied the aft end of the room. The floor, walls and the ceiling were covered in soft burgundy with gray trim. The lighting was indirect and gave the room a cozy feeling. A huge vidscreen covered a good portion of the forward wall and he could see recessed sound pods placed all over the room. Four couches and four reclining chairs were arranged in a semi-circle facing the vidscreen, but they were not mounted to the floor as the crew quarter furniture was so they could be moved around for different events or hobbies.

Like the cargo hold, there were recessed storage bins in all the walls, though all were empty save for one that contained a large folded exercise mat. The galley was open to the rest of the deck, but the kitchen itself was contained within half walls and equipped with large appliances. As with Sickbay, it was empty of supplies. It was apparent everyone would have to help out in a hefty shopping spree before they could even think about taking off.

Merlin was pleased with his new ship. It seemed everything was a vast improvement over the old vessel and he felt more than fortunate that it had been simply given to him as a gift. With a contented countenance on his face, the wolf took the lift back down to the second level and headed for the bridge.

He stood in front of a blue door painted with the golden image of an old sailing ship’s wheel, the traditional adornment of the bridge door on all Okami freighters. He held his breath for a moment before activating the control to open it. When it slid aside for him, he stepped inside the darkened command center and turned the lights up full.

The semicircular room was adorned in shades of blue and gray, with four stations lined around the forward curved wall: navigation, communications, weapons, and engineering. Each with a set of instrument panels that arced in a generous semicircle around a plush swivel seat wide enough for even Durant’s large back end.

Another station in the middle of the room was located behind and between the communication and weapons stations. The pilot’s station was the center seat for flying, and controlling all take-off and landing maneuvers. It was in this seat where he would spend many flight hours, as well as whoever was on standard watch.

Three large window panels covered the curved forward wall and all had the near invisible circuitry built within to bring up video displays whenever needed. The back wall of the small bridge contained stations for environmental control, the library computer and the sensors. Instrumentation filled most of the walls, as well as up into the low ceiling. The entrance to the bridge was at the left corner of the back wall, and the door to the head was in the right corner. There was also another door in the left wall leading directly to the captain’s den next door.

He let his gaze move back to the weapons console as it dawned on him that a factory-made freighter had a weapons station! He walked over to it and took a look at the labels on the panel. His pulse quickened when he realized that this was not standard equipment, but military-class Tanthean armaments. The ship was armed to the teeth and could defend all points of a three-dimensional compass. So, this is what Prince Kal meant when he had a few special modifications made during the construction of the ship. The console also contained a secondary set of flight controls, should the pilot’s station ever be damaged.

Merlin moved back to the center seat and sat down slowly, as if savoring the feeling of being captain once again. He looked over the control console and noted with relief that everything looked to be in the same places as his old ship. He keyed in a few commands and the left viewing screen came to life showing the interior of the cargo hold. Another switch showed him the exterior of the ship, out into the otherwise empty hangar. He shut it off and stood up again, and walked to the environmental station at the back of the room. He switched on a few systems and using the new ship’s registry, keyed in a command to tie in with the planet’s weather satellite system. He focused in on the city and noted the strong thunderstorms currently raining down on the region just outside the hangar.

With the enjoyment of connecting into the systems on the ship, Merlin moved to the com station and dialed up the number of Samantha’s room at the embassy. She answered almost immediately and her face showed up clearly on the left vidscreen. This was another surprise to the captain: the old ship’s com system had been audio-only. He told her in quick sentences of the meeting between him and Prince Kal. She became excited at the news and he asked her to get in touch with the others and let them all know. He wanted to meet with them in the restaurant again and then he would arrange to take them out to see the new ship. He also told her of the prince’s invitation to them all for dinner that evening.

“I still have an hour before I’m to meet with the representative of Interstellar Insurance,” he finished up by telling her, “and I still have a lot I need to do here before I leave.”

Samantha’s face was beaming. “Yes, sir!” she said excitedly. “You’ve just made everybody’s day! I’ll let them know about it right now!”

Merlin closed the connection and then moved over to the engineer’s station. He pulled out the security codes from the envelope the prince had given it to him and began the sequence to change the factory-set codes to new codes he would create specifically for his business.

***

Once again, the crew of the late Blue Horizon was gathered together, but this time on the recreation deck of the new vessel. The large vidscreen displayed Durant’s smiling face as he joined in the meeting via satellite teleconferencing from his brother’s home on the other side of the planet. With the exception of Patch, everyone seemed in high spirits; the raccoon had not said a handful of words since his return to the embassy and upon hearing the news.

Merlin had given everyone but the absent Durant a tour of the ship and had pointed out all the new and wonderful features he had discovered thus far. On their way to the hangar, Samantha had convinced the driver of the limousine to stop at a local grocery market, where she and Max picked up a number of items for the crew to share in lunch when they got to the new vessel.

Merlin could not stop smiling while listening to everyone’s comments on what each had seen as everyone finished their meals. He currently sat in one of the recliners with a coffee cup in his hand and a new nautical hat atop his head. Pockets was seated beside him, rattling on and on in praise of the ship. He had noted Patch’s silence, but he felt too upbeat to give it much attention.

“The only downside I can see to the new ship,” Pockets said, “is the absence of Moss.”

“Moss was your invention, Pockets,” Renny said as he limped toward a couch. “Did you really think the new ship would come equipped with one?”

“Not really, but I do miss the little flying saucer.”

“So, build another one,” Samantha suggested.

“Please, God, no!” Durant’s voice emerged from the speaker system. “I think losing Moss in the crash was the only good thing that came from this whole mess!” Durant’s dislike of the mobile sentry system was well known among the crew.

Pockets sneered up at the bear’s on-screen face. “If Moss hadn’t jettisoned our first batch of cargo on the way to Crescentis,” the raccoon reminded everyone, “we wouldn’t have landed on Tanthe, where the captain captured the heart of the princess, and which resulted in the gift of this wonderful new ship. Sagan apparently knew we were on our way to Crescentis, so if Moss hadn’t dumped the cargo by mistake, we would have been attacked anyway – though without a new ship to get the business back up and running.”

Renny laughed and took a drink from his glass. “Pockets can justify anything, can’t he?”

“True,” Tanis replied with a big grin, “but we can’t always depend on the captain meeting women of influence if we get into more trouble.”

Merlin chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know, Durant,” he said with a smile. “I wasn’t all that fond of Moss either, but it did find two stowaways for us.”

“With the way your brother smelled,” Durant countered, “we would have found him on our own without Moss’ help.”

The captain chuckled. “I can’t argue with that.”

Everyone appeared to have finished eating, so Merlin spoke up in a louder voice. “Okay, there are a few things to go over, so I need your attention. I met with Mr. Andes just before I picked you up at the embassy and we went over everything together. After three long months, Interstellar Insurance has finalized our case with the Spatial Police Force.”

“It’s about time!” Pockets said.

“It was ultimately determined that we were not liable and that we had done everything we could to avoid the result of the incident. I had total coverage on the old ship and they have awarded us a hefty sum for the Blue Horizon as a total loss. Of course, now I get to contact Mr. Andes again before he leaves Pomen to get our new ship insured.”

“What about the reward for Sagan?” Renny asked. “Didn’t the SPF on Crescentis tell you that with the identification of his body that we would be granted the reward?”

Merlin nodded. “Yes, they did, and that money has been held in an account for us all this time, but it would not be actually awarded to us until the closure of the case. The case was closed as of this morning.” The captain looked up at the vidscreen and said, “Make a note of this, Durant,” he said. “From the insurance and reward monies that have been transferred to the account of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer, I am granting every member of this crew a deserving raise. I’ll get with you later for the specific amounts reflecting your positions.”

“Aye, Boss,” the bear acknowledged with a grin. “I’ve noted your statement in the account books so you won’t forget.”

“The payout has also resolved all our medical bills,” Merlin added. He then raised his coffee cup up in honor of his employees and said to their grinning faces, “Thanks for being such a good crew, my friends.” The others raised their glasses in unison and began chatting among themselves.

No one seemed notice that Patch maintained a solemn air despite the good news. Everyone was used to his perpetual sour or neutral facial expressions, but had they looked closer they might have seen that he appeared ill. He had not yet told anyone of his new employment, and everything he had seen during the tour of the new ship only made him stall a bit longer before bringing it up.

“I’ve already chosen my cabin,” Merlin announced. “It’s right next to the captain’s den as it was before. Before you leave today, you can pick out the quarters you want as your own. They’re all identical in size and layout, and we have more rooms available now than we do crew members.”

“They’re larger, too,” Tanis said. “Much larger.”

“I like the addition of a bathtub,” Durant said. “From your description, the tubs should be large enough to accommodate even me.”

A lull came over the group when Max asked, “What about Taro? Are we going to set up a room for her too?”

Everyone looked to Merlin, who shook his head slowly. “Captain Natasha told me she would transport Taro to Pomen ahead of the rest of us and would only tell me that she would be well cared for. Since then, I’ve heard nothing more than that.” He looked around the group with a frown. “Natasha has proven to be an ally, at least in this case, so I can only assume that Taro is still alive and in good hands. I have had no other word on her status.”

Samantha leaned forward, her arms resting upon her knees. “I’ve tried contacting the Lady of Dreams on the same emergency channel I sent out the distress signal that brought her to us,” she said, “but this time I’ve not received a reply, no doubt because we’re not in the midst of an emergency this time.”

“At the time Natasha took Taro with her,” Merlin added, “she said it was a personal matter between her and Taro, and that I was not to inquire further. I can only hope that she will eventually update us on our friend’s condition.” He looked up at the vidscreen again where the bear had been listening quietly. “Durant, I want to earmark some of our new funds for Taro. I have no idea whether her medical expenses will be billed to us or if Natasha plans to handle it herself, but I want to keep a reserve on hand for her just in case.”

“Aye, boss.”

Merlin drained his coffee cup and then changed the subject. He leaned forward and held his empty cup in both hands as his arms rested on his knees.

“My friends, Blue Horizon Freight Transfer is back in business. Earlier this morning, I recommended that you should seek employment elsewhere,” he said, letting a smile cross his features, “but I’m glad Prince Kal got to me before any of you had a chance to find anything.”

Patch cleared his throat and spoke in a meek voice that none of them had ever heard from him before, “Uh, Captain… that’s not entirely true.”

The wolf felt a sudden dread at those words. “Meaning?” he asked.

“Once you gave us letters of reference this morning, I went out immediately looking for work.” He looked down at his feet for a brief moment and then back up at the lupine captain. “After three months, I — I didn’t expect you would be getting a new ship today. Despite the crash and the SPF investigation, I’ve had creditors breathing down my neck for payment and I needed a new source of income to pay them.”

“Oh, Patch…” Samantha said in a quiet voice. “I would have given you a loan to keep you on your feet.”

“Thanks, Sam,” the raccoon said with sincerity, “but that would have been replacing one loan with another. Merlin’s funds were running out and I needed a steady source of income, so I went looking for a job this morning after our meeting as recommended. I also didn’t expect to find what I was looking for at the first place I applied, but it practically fell into my lap.”

Pockets looked at his brother in disbelief. “You don’t mean to say that you…”

“I was hired this morning by the Merriam Cruise Line as an engineer on a new cruise ship. I report tomorrow by noon.”

Merlin sat back in his seat, but Pockets stood up and looked down at his sibling. “After all the time you’ve spent with the Blue Horizon, you are leaving just - like - that?” he shouted.

“Pockets!” Merlin said sharply. “It’s okay. Patch didn’t know that Prince Kal had already arrived with a new ship. I didn’t know it either this morning, but it’s my fault.”

“But, now that he knows,” Renny said with a try to diffuse the situation, “all he has to do is tell MCL that he’s no longer available.”

Patch shook his head. “It’s not that simple, Renny. I signed a contract with them. I already have an account and identification as a member of the crew on the Argonautia. Besides…”

“Besides what?” Pockets grumbled.

“Being a large corporation,” Merlin said with a nod of understanding, “they pay more and have better benefits, right?”

“Yes, Captain,” Patch admitted. “That’s correct.”

Pockets groaned and dropped back down in his chair in a huff. His brother looked over at him and said in a quiet voice, “They have another engineer’s position open if you want it.”

Pockets jumped to his feet again in anger. “Are you stupid and an idiot?” he shouted. “Merlin just got a new ship and needs his crew — and that includes you and me! I’m not leaving, even for more money. You should stay, too!”

Patch stood up and faced his brother with his own air of anger. He was quickly getting tired of being treated like a traitor. “I told you that I’m already bound to a contract!” he shouted back in his sibling’s face. “There’s nothing more I can do about it, and neither can you!”

“But we have a contract with Merlin!”

“Which he dissolved this morning when he gave us permission to seek other jobs!” Patch grabbed his brother’s shirt with clenched fists and pulled him closer, nose to nose. “I’m not happy about this whole affair either, but don’t you dare tell me –”

Pockets shoved his brother hard, and the fabric of his own shirt ripped with Patch’s grip. Patch fell into his seat and Pockets backed away a step.

Patch stood up again to pummel his brother, but Samantha swiftly placed herself between the two raccoons. “Stop it!” she said angrily. “Just stop it, both of you!” She glared at Pockets until her friend finally backed down and returned to his seat. When she turned to look at Patch, he was huffing and glaring at his brother, but finally sat down.

Merlin cleared his throat and all eyes returned to him after a tense moment. “We’ll miss you, Patch,” he said gently. “It was my fault for not coming back to tell everyone about the new ship right away after I’d spoken with Prince Kal. Finding new jobs often takes a while and I didn’t really think any of you would have had the time to find another job in the two hours since I’d talked to you, so I took a personal tour of the ship before getting back to you. I was wrong to delay and I’m sorry.” He stood up and walked over to Patch. He extended a hand toward the raccoon and said, “Good luck on your new ship, Jasper. I hope you’ll keep in contact with us and let us know how you’re doing.”

Patch swallowed when he heard the captain call him by his first name, something he had not done in years. He clasped hands with the wolf and nodded solemnly. “Thank you, Merlin. I will.”

“Durant and I will arrange a nice severance pay for you this evening. That should help buffer your debts a little.”

“I appreciate that, Captain,” Patch said. He bit his lip for a moment and then added, “I assume you have more to discuss with the crew, so I’ll be on my way. I have a few personal items to pick up before reporting in tomorrow.” Without waiting for a response, Patch turned and walked toward the lift, purposely refraining from meeting anyone’s eyes.

“Goodbye, Patch,” Maximillian said in a sad voice as the raccoon reached the lift door. “I enjoyed your music.”

That was all it took for Patch. He hit the control pad inside the lift and the panel closed behind him before anyone saw the moisture in the usually unshakeable raccoon’s eyes.

After the lift door had closed, the room fell completely quiet as everyone immersed themselves within their own thoughts. Merlin walked to the galley to refill his cup. When he felt that the mood had been dark long enough, he returned to his seat and took a lap of coffee.

“Okay,” he said with a weak smile, “moving right along.”

Before he could say anything more, Pockets sat up straight in his chair and said, “Captain, despite the bombshell my brother just dropped on us, I just want you to know you can depend on me to keep your new ship running as smoothly as possible.”

“Thank you, Pockets,” the wolf said with a confident smile, “I know we’ll be in good hands with you as my chief engineer.”

“Unless he builds another Moss,” Durant added, diffusing the tension in the air with a chuckle. Everyone seemed to relax again as they all looked toward their captain.

“After months of inactivity,” Merlin said with bright eyes, “it’s time to get back to work. Pockets, I need you and Tanis to retrieve the old computer memory core from storage and slave it to the Geo-25. Then it will be Samantha’s job to transfer all our old records and data to the new system.” He pulled out a series of printed cards and passed them around the room. Here are the security codes for the new VIS on-board computer systems. Don’t lose them. You’ll need them to set up and access your personal folders, as well as to get on board the ship when it’s all locked up. New security measures will also require you to log in each time you take control of the bridge for your watches and log out when your shift is over. Durant, I’ll hang onto yours until you can get back here.”

“I’ll let my brother know I’m leaving and will try to be there sometime tomorrow,” the bear answered.

“No need to rush,” Merlin replied. “We still need to go shopping for new slateboard tablets, as well as basic supplies to restock the ship, and I need to put out a call for applicants for Taro’s job.”

The room fell silent again and the wolf sighed. “No need to be alarmed,” he said with a frown. “I merely need to hire someone as a temporary replacement. I still need someone to handle her duties.”

“I can take over Communications,” Samantha said. “No need to hire anyone else for that.”

“Okay, that duty is yours,” Merlin said. “However, I still need a Customer Liaison to handle the responsibilities of seeking out and securing delivery jobs for us and making all the contacts necessary to get that done. There’s a lot of work involved in that job.”

“I know,” Renny said. “Taro often told me about how she’d done this or took care of that. It’s a fairly involved process, using up a lot of communication cycles.”

“Until I get some kind of word on Taro’s condition, I can’t count on her coming back for a while, if at all. Whomever I hire will be in full knowledge that the job may only be temporary. If we can have Taro back in the position and she wants it, the job is guaranteed for her.”

“Hire another female,” Samantha said with a grin. “With Sparky and Taro gone, I don’t have anyone else to discuss girl stuff with.”

“Hire someone my age,” Maximillian added.

“He already did,” Tanis quipped. “His name is Pockets!”

“Hey!” the raccoon yelped, “I’m almost thirty-two!”

“Yeah, but ya act like a teenager!” Tanis retorted.

“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing,” Max said with a grin.

“There’s nothing wrong with acting like a teenager, if ya are a teenager!” the tan fox laughed.

“Don’t pick on me or I’ll tell my Momma…” Pockets said with a playful pout.

Merlin shook his head and said in a lighthearted tone, “I don’t care what age the applicants are, so long as they have experience and can do the job.”

“Do we need another engineer to help Pockets?” Renny asked.

Merlin looked over at the raccoon. “What do you say, Pockets?” he asked. “Do you want any help in the engine room?”

“No, sir,” Pockets said confidently. “This new baby is mine!”

“Okay, I’ll just put out a call for Customer Liaison,” Merlin said. He looked up at the vidscreen and added, “Durant, with Taro’s absence, I’m formally making you my second-in-command. You have more experience than anyone else and are the most qualified to make decisions and delegate work as needed.”

“Thank you, boss.”

“Tanis, I need you to make up a list of all the medical supplies and medications we’ll need to have on board. The ship is completely bare of such things, so we’ll have to start from scratch.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Is your medical license up to date? You’ll need it for some of the stuff.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Holden Pharmaceuticals has a division here,” Samantha said. “I can make arrangements for Tanis to get what he needs.”

“Good. Max, I need you to make up the most complete listing of groceries and ingredients that you can think of,” Merlin said. “Get with everyone and find out what kind of dishes they prefer and then study your cookbooks to see what ingredients you’ll need. We want to have plenty of food in the stores to last weeks at a time, and don’t want to starve when we’re between worlds and light years from the nearest restaurant. I’ll want to take a look at the list before you go shopping, just to make sure.”

“Uncle Merlin?” the young canine looked hesitant, and a little embarrassed.

“Yes?”

“As long as you are hiring new people… uh, can you hire a new cook, too?”

Merlin looked at him in silence for a moment and then nodded his head slightly. “I know you’ve needed some assistance in the galley, Max. I’m sorry I didn’t have someone helping you before.”

“Merlin, I don’t think he’s asking for help,” Samantha said quietly.

“I see,” the wolf replied when he saw the look of confirmation in the youth’s eyes. “Well, with our surplus, I suppose we can hire a new cook as well.”

Max swallowed and gave Merlin a grateful smile. “Thank you,” he said. “I… I wasn’t doing very well in the kitchen.”

The captain gave him a look of compassion and said, “You did a good job, Max, and I’m proud of you for it. Is there something else you would rather be doing?”

Maximillian glanced over at Pockets and shrugged his shoulders. “Can I work with him in the engine room?” he asked.

Merlin looked over at the raccoon. “What about it, Chief Engineer?” he asked. “Could you use a trainee mechanic? I would imagine you might need more than two hands at times.”

Pockets crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the youth as he pretended to really think it over hard. “Well… now that my brother is out of the way, I probably could use a minion to boss around.” The German shepherd grinned widely and put his hands on his knees as he leaned back in his chair.

“Okay, Max,” the captain said. “You do what Pockets tells you and I think you’ll learn a great deal.”

“Thanks, Uncle Merlin,” the canine said. Then he turned toward Pockets and added, “Thank you, too, Pockets.”

The raccoon winked at him and Tanis chuckled. “As long as jobs are shifting around,” he said with a smile, “can I be the new captain?”

Merlin bared his teeth at the tan fox. “Request denied,” he said with a fierce grin. Tanis made an exaggerated show of being frightened and everybody laughed.

“Okay, Renny,” Merlin continued, “you will need to continue your physical therapy even after we’re on our way, so I want you to get with your therapist and find out what equipment you’ll need for it. While you are checking on that, look into getting us some new exercise equipment as well. We lost our rapiers in the crash and I’d like to continue fencing practice during our voyages once you are up and able.”

“I’ll take care of it,” the cheetah said. “What about ordnance for our unconventional weaponry?

“That’s one thing this ship is supplied with. We’re fully loaded.”

“Is the combination of insurance and reward money going to be able to pay for all this?” Tanis asked. “Just getting the ship supplied with the basics is going to cost a small fortune!”

Durant let out a small whistle in surprise. They could hear Durant clicking away on the terminal during the conversation and he answered the question himself. “I’ve just now checked our account balance and we have over ©3,000,000 available to us!”

“Three million credits!” Tanis gasped in awe.

Merlin gave the vidscreen a lopsided smile. “Thanks, Durant! I hadn’t planned on giving them all the full amount so no one would over-spend on their shopping trips!”

“Oops…” muttered the grizzly.

Merlin shrugged and continued. “A number of the Planetary Alignment worlds had sizable sums set aside for the capture of Sagan. The SPF made sure all of those purses were awarded to us.” He spread his arms out in a stretch and added, “There was a larger reward on his head if brought in dead than if alive. Apparently, no one wanted to bother with putting him on trial where he might find some loophole and escape. The government of Hestra was especially pleased to hear of his demise.”

“Let’s just hope the knowledge of the Taquit Fever virus was lost with him,” Samantha said quietly.

“Agreed.” Renny added.

“Now that you know about our funds, I want to caution you. This money belongs to the business, so Durant is going to require you to turn in all your receipts when you make business-related purchases. When he gets here, he’ll configure your accounts with back pay for the past three months, and you can make any personal purchases out of that.”

“Can we use some of the money to buy a couple of power loaders?” Renny asked. “We’ve rented some here and there at the places we’ve landed, but it would be nicer if we had our own.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow and looked over at Pockets. “Do you think you could find us a couple of used models?” he asked. “We have money in the account, but I’d rather not use it all up right away.”

The raccoon nodded. “Let me know what kind of budget I’ll have and I’ll scout around the local rags to see what I can find.”

“Durant and I will discuss it and give you a figure.”

“Thanks, boss,” Renny said with a smile. “That will make things go a little smoother.”

“Has the new ship been registered with the Planetary Alignment?” Tanis asked.

“Yes, Prince Kal took care of that for us.” Merlin replied, “The registry is PA1138.”

“Did the prince register a name for the ship as well?” Durant asked.

The wolf shook his head. “No, he left that up to us.”

“So, what are you going to call it?” Samantha asked.

Merlin took a drink of coffee and drained his cup again. Max jumped up and ran to the galley to get him a refill, though keeping his ears tuned to the conversation.

“I thought I would let you all discuss it,” Merlin replied. “Suggestions?”

The group fell quiet as they began to think.

“We could call it Sagan’s Demise,” Renny said after a moment.

Tanis snorted. “That would be an open invitation to any pirate who might have been allied with him to come and get us.”

“How about the Rhinoceros?” Pockets suggested.

“That sounds like a name for a huge battleship,” Durant said.

“With the way this baby is armed, isn’t that appropriate?” Pockets asked.

“What about Zephyr?” Renny tried. “We can have one that sounds kinda exotic.”

“There’s already been a ship with that name.” Pockets replied, remembering an article in a trade magazine he had read during their convalescence.

“How about Free Enterprise?” Renny tried again. He got nothing but groans from everybody, so he sullenly crossed his arms and decided to keep his mouth shut.

“What if we call it the Gray Ghost,” Max said as he returned with the captain’s replenished coffee. “The Blue Horizon was painted blue,” he said. “This one is painted gray.”

Merlin shook his head as he took the cup. “The old ship was painted blue because of the name, not the other way around. I don’t like gray ships and I’m going to have this one repainted next week,” he said. “Gray reminds me too much of the military ships I served on.”

“I agree,” Tanis replied. “Battleship-gray paint is dull.”

“I have the perfect name for the new ship,” Durant said. Everyone looked up at the vidscreen in doubt. “Why not just call it the Blue Horizon II and go with that? After all, the business accounts are all under the name of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer.”

“Not a bad idea,” Pockets said, “if we drop the II from the name.”

“We wouldn’t have to get used to a new name,” Tanis agreed, “just a new registry number. It’s been done before with other ships.”

“I like that idea,” Samantha replied. “What do you think, Captain?”

Merlin nodded and lapped his coffee. “A new ship should have a new name, but I agree it would make things easier since the old vessel has been decommissioned.” He looked around. “Continuing to use Blue Horizon seems to be a popular idea. Any objections?” No one voiced a negative opinion, so Merlin nodded. “I’ll submit the necessary forms with the PA Registry tomorrow and make it official.”

He yawned and stretched again. “This has been a full day for me already,” he said, “and I could use a chance to recharge. I’m going back to the embassy to take an hour’s nap before I start in again on more I have to do. Remember that we’ve all been invited to dine with Prince Kal this evening at 1800 hours, but for now you’re free to do whatever you want the rest of the day. We’ll begin operations to prep our new Blue Horizon tomorrow morning, so I need everyone to report back here no later than 0900 to get started. That will give us all time to have a good breakfast before we begin. Lady and gents, we’re about to be back in business.”

***

When Patch got out of the taxi at the docking port the next morning, he was dressed in a pair of slacks, a nice shirt and jacket. It had been years since he had worn such clothing, but his old comfortable casual garments were in a small bag in his left hand. Since the crash of the Blue Horizon, he owned little else, for even the smallest of his musical instruments had not survived, most of which were likely at the bottom of the Forvea Trench of Crescentis. He paid the driver and the cab drove away, leaving him alone on the dock.

Despite the arguments of the previous day, the entire local crew of the Horizon had given him a farewell breakfast with well-wishes, handshakes and a few small gifts. Pockets was still displeased with his decision, but that did not stop him from giving his brother a fierce hug and shedding a few tears at their last good-bye, with promises from both to keep in contact. Although they had spent time apart before, the twin brothers had been together most of their lives more often than not. Although Samantha had never really been close friends with Patch over the years they had known one another, she had given him a quick lick on the cheek and warm hug in farewell.

Now standing in the shadow of his new vessel, Patch looked up at the massive cruise ship and sighed. It was the largest non-military craft he had ever seen, and even then, it dwarfed most battleships. It was sleek with rounded edges and painted white with red and gold trim.

Crowds of people gathered around the primary gangway amidst calls of farewell and tears of departure, but as a ship’s hand, he would enter a smaller gangplank to board the ship near the stern. He smiled a little at their enthusiasm, but Patch did not imagine that the cruises on the Argonautia would be anywhere close to pleasurable for him, other than burying himself in his work.

He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. It was time to find the chief engineer and report in.

***

“Okay,” Merlin said to Durant, “I have our prospects narrowed down to these two.” He keyed in a command and displayed the applications side by side on the center screen of the bridge. Durant looked up at the information and photographs and read quickly through what he saw. There had not been many applicants over the six days since Merlin had put out an ad for Customer Liaison in the major news media centers around the world. Unfortunately, there did not seem to be many individuals with the skills he required on Pomen. He had received one application all the way from Kantus, but the bulldog had been vehemently upset that Merlin would not hold off all other interviews for the four weeks it would take him to travel to Pomen. How he had found out about the interviews in another star system altogether was unknown.

“Cynthya Allport is a twenty-five-year-old brown mouse from Earth,” Merlin told the bear at his side, showing him her picture. “She was born to a communications developer who had immigrated to Earth and she was programming computers before she was riding a bike. She finished her degree in computer communications at the Lagerstrom University of Pomen, with a Minor in clinical psychology. If I hire her, Samantha would not have to take over Communications. At our meeting, she seemed to have an analytical mind and a genial personality.” He looked over at Durant and gave him a smile over narrowed eyes. “She was also rather flirtatious.”

“Trying to influence your decision?”

“No doubt.”

“What about the other one?”

“Antoinette Delondin is a twenty-seven-year-old human, also from Earth, but her family was military and like most, she’s lived just about everywhere. Due to this, she can speak a variety of foreign languages from multiple worlds. She’s had a lot of experience dealing with people, as she usually joined local social clubs and interacted with people wherever they went, and she has a business degree.” He showed Durant her photo. She was slender, dark-skinned, had large green eyes that were almost hidden by equally large glasses, and she wore her black hair short.

“What was your impression of her?” the bear asked him.

Merlin rested his elbows on the instrument panel and tapped the countertop with a nail. “She seems fairly competent. I get the impression that she would probably do okay, but like the mouse, she doesn’t have the exact experience we really need.”

He rested his chin on the counter and added, “I’m sure this will sound xenophobic, but every time I’ve ever dealt with a human, they always seem to have a phobia of some kind against Furs, probably since they’re the ones who created Furs in the first place to do their interstellar exploration for them; most of them still think of us as nothing more than talking animals. I’ve not found one yet who’s felt comfortable around me, other than a close friend of my father’s when I was a pup.”

“You’ve been wary around humans ever since Connie Davies.”

Merlin’s ears went flat against the side of his head; he gave the grizzly a quick scowl at memories of the Blue Horizon’s very first on-board nurse.

“Is that what you feel from Ms. Delondin?”

“I’m not sure, but then again, I’ve always had a hard time reading them. Human body language is different from Furs; they don’t have tails and their ears don’t even move.”

Durant shook his head. “These two are the best of the applicants?” he asked.

“Everyone else I’ve interviewed has even less experience and training,” the captain replied, “or was so repulsive in one way or another than I knew I didn’t want to be cooped up in a ship with for weeks at a time.”

Durant looked over the information and frowned deeply. “Can’t you just appoint Samantha to do the job?”

Merlin chuckled. “Funny you should mention that. I offered her the job, but she told me that she already had enough to do with maintaining the ship’s computers in hardware and software, as well as her duties as Supply Officer. She’s not as familiar with the newer Geo-25 system as she was the Geo-21, so she has a lot of research and testing to do with the new computer. As Renny pointed out, Customer Liaison is a full-time job, calling weeks and even months ahead to the various worlds to promote our company, arrange delivery and pickup, payment for our services. There’s a lot of PR work involved, as well as working with the various air controllers of the worlds we visit to legally enter their airspaces.” He shook his head. “Sorry, but I need to hire someone else for that job, unless you want it, yourself.”

Durant looked surprised but then he smiled. “No thanks, boss. I’m your loadmaster, the accountant for your business, and also your second in command. I don’t have the time or the desire to take on a fourth hat with Taro’s liaison duties too.”

“I didn’t think so,” Merlin said with a grin. He looked back up at the vidscreen and waved a hand towards it. “We have to have the position filled to secure us a customer just so we can leave Pomen, so that means it’s down to choosing one of these two. We don’t even have Taro’s old slateboard tablet with her list of clientele contacts this time,” he said, referring to an incident when he had first set up the business almost seven years earlier. “I’m afraid there just is no one fully qualified in this place and I’m not even sure about either of these. Neither have much experience in this line of work, nor do I really wish to give anyone on-the-job training on how to contact and secure customers.”

“May I make a suggestion?” Durant asked.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Pick whichever one you think might be better in the job,” the bear explained, “and tell her that if she can secure a paying customer from Pomen to anywhere else within three days, she can have the job. If, by the end of that time she hasn’t found a delivery for us, offer the same test to the other applicant.”

“And what if neither of them is successful?”

“You could always contact that guy on Kantus and tell him we’ll wait for his arrival.”

Merlin snorted. “After the tantrum he had over the com when I refused to hold up the interviews just for him, there’s no way he will ever work for me. He’s got an egotistical entitlement problem and he didn’t sound as if he would be good at following orders. Not a team player.”

He frowned and studied the applicants again. “Okay, Durant, I’ll follow your suggestion. The Horizon has been repainted, we’re finally stocked up on all our supplies, all licenses and legal fees have been paid, we’ve all checked out of the embassy and have been living on board the ship for the past two days. Now we just need somewhere to go.”

“Which one do we test first?”

“We’ll give Ms. Allport first crack at it.”

“Ah, so she did influence you!” Durant said with a laugh.

Merlin shook his head with a grin. “Possibly, but not in the way you’re thinking,” he said. “Just thinking that perhaps her degree in Psychology might help us out on the long voyages.”

“Then why don’t you just hire her outright and forget about the test and the rest?”

“I suppose I could,” Merlin admitted, “but now that I’ve thought about it some more, I like your idea. If she can arrange a delivery for us to make, then she’ll be hired anyway, whether I choose her right now or after the test.”

“Should I contact Ms. Delondin and the other applicants and simply thank them for their interest?”

“No, we’ll hold off on that until I actually hire anyone. We may have to fall back on one of them anyway if Allport doesn’t come through.”

“Okay, boss,” Durant said as he turned off the vidscreen. “I’ll just save the contract file until we know whose name to put on it.”

Merlin nodded. “I’m going to give Ms. Allport a call and give her the basic information she’ll need when contacting people for our business. As you suggested, she will have three days.”

“Okay, what about our new cook?”

“Only one applicant. Lorelei Easter, or Lori, as she likes to be called, is a twenty-six-year-old cottontail rabbit,” Merlin sat up and read from his slateboard. “She was born on Mainor, but like Ms. Delondin, her family was military and she grew up all over the place. She’s really friendly, claims she can get along with anyone, and also claims to be a good cook with lots of experience in herbivore and carnivore cuisines alike. Her references have verified her experience.”

“What was your personal impression of her?” the bear asked him.

Merlin pulled up a photo on the slateboard. Easter’s fur was snowy white and she wore only enough clothing for modesty, a tradition still in practice in places around the Planetary Alignment, and it was enough to show off her numerous curves. “She’s bubbly, extra on the bubbles; I have a hunch that she’s the type who likes collecting crystals, incense, love beads and messes around with things like auras and acupuncture. Easily distracted, too.”

“An airhead, eh?”

The wolf grinned. “Well, I wouldn’t go so far to hang any labels on her, but what’s important is that she enjoys cooking and has the necessary experience. I’ll contact her shortly and let her know she’s got the job.” Merlin glanced over his notes again and then added with the nod of his head, “All three applicants have flight experience, too.”

“That’s always a plus.” Durant looked at his slateboard and keyed in some numbers. “I’ll set up an account for our Easter bunny right away,” he said with a quick grin at his own joke. “I can get the rest of her financial data when she comes on board.”

***

Merlin met the cottontail rabbit at The Feathery, a sidewalk café close to the Tanthean embassy where he had been a frequent customer during their extended stay. Lorelei was waiting for him at a sidewalk table, her twin suitcases and a matching trunk all with sunflowers were on the ground beside her chair. She was dressed in a pair of powder blue shorts and a white silk blouse with most of the buttons open exposing her fur-covered cleavage. She wore a small, golden four-leaf clover good-luck charm on a thin chain around her neck and her eyes were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses strapped to her head. She was sipping at a glass of lemonade when the lupine captain walked up to the table.

“Hello, Miss Easter,” he said with an extended hand. “Good to see you agai—”

Before he had a chance to finish his greetings, the rabbit jumped up, kissed him quickly on the lips and then gave him a fierce hug with a lilted giggle, all while still holding onto her lemonade. “Thank you so much, sir,” she said merrily. “I am so happy to get the job! You have no idea how good it was to get your call earlier, and when I got it, I just danced around my room, and I...”

Merlin pulled himself out of her clinging embrace and pushed her back to arm’s length with a lopsided smile. “You don’t have to try to influence me,” he teased. “You’ve got the job already.”

“Oops,” she said with an embarrassed expression as she removed her sunglasses. “I didn’t mean it to look that way, sir.”

Merlin shook his head with a smile and then waggled a finger at her. “The Captain’s First Rule: don’t call me Sir, got it?”

“Yes, sir... uh, yes, I got it, Captain.”

“You can call me captain, boss or even just by my first name, which is Merlin,” the wolf explained as he led her back to the sidewalk table. “I served in the military as an officer and got awfully tired of everyone being called Sir, so I don’t allow anyone to call me that. I don’t mind when it is used as a form of respect, but don’t use it as a title, okay?”

“Uh huh,” the rabbit replied with a grin. “I understand. Likewise, please call me Lori instead of Lorelei. It’s what I go by mostly.”

“Fair enough. I take it you’re ready to go on board?”

“Yes, I am, Captain,” she said with a wave of her hand toward her suitcases. “I’ve always traveled light and everything I own are in these three and my purse.”

Merlin nodded and motioned at a waiter across the patio. “I know you’re probably ready to get to the ship, but I’m hungry and want to eat something before we leave.”

“Didn’t you tell me the Blue Horizon was fully stocked with food and kitchen equipment?” Lorelei asked him, her blue eyes sparkling. “I could prove my culinary skills by making you lunch on board the ship.”

Merlin chuckled and smiled at her. “Thank you, Lori, but I’m pretty fond of this little café and this may be the last time I get the chance to eat here before we take off. Besides I’m addicted to their coffee. You’ll have plenty of time to prove yourself to the crew once we get under way.”

“Okay,” the rabbit replied with the shrug of her shoulders.

“My standard practice is to gather everyone together in one place to introduce everyone to a new crew member,” the wolf said, “but I have everyone scattered right now doing last minute things for the ship before launch. You’ll probably meet a few of them informally when we get in, but we can get you settled in promptly after I’ve eaten.” The waiter arrived and took his order, and when he had gone back to the kitchen, Merlin continued. “We’ll be getting another new crew member sometime in the next few days,” he told the rabbit. “If we get a customer in that time, we’ll be leaving shortly thereafter.”

“Nice,” Lori replied with a smile. “I can’t wait to be on our way!” She looked around for a moment before returning her gaze to her new employer. “As a coffee drinker, what’s your favorite blend?” she asked.

Merlin grinned. “I like coffee in just about all its forms across the Planetary Alignment, but Kidwell is probably my favorite. Here’s a tip when you shop for ship’s groceries each time we land - always make sure we have plenty of coffee. We have a number of coffee drinkers on board, but I’m probably the one most addicted to the stuff.” He shook his head and added in a lighthearted tone, “Don’t ever let me run out of coffee… That’s your first warning.”

***

The lights came on in the vacant cabin of the freighter at the touch of a control. Into the room walked the shapely female rabbit with a big smile, followed by the ship’s chief engineer and the crew medic. The raccoon struggled with her two large suitcases and the desert fox wrestled with an even larger trunk behind him. The antigrav pallet they had used to bring up her luggage was too wide to fit through the cabin doorway, so for the final distance the heavy containers had to be hand carried.

The newest member of the crew followed them into the room and was amazed at the amount of space in her quarters. Most of her stellar travel in the past included tiny cabins on whatever transport her military family happened to be on, but this one was a stateroom when compared to them. She could hardly believe her luck, and while it was only a common freighter, Lori was pleased to have been hired onto its crew.

Tanis set her trunk near the couch and let out a small yip at the sudden sharp pain to his lower back. As a cargo-mover and a medic, he knew to bend his knees instead of his back when moving heavy objects, but he had stolen an appreciative glance at the way her powder blue shorts fit her curves, as well as the white silk blouse with most of the buttons open, and forgot himself for a moment.

Lori was instantly at his side. “What’s the matter?” she asked in a genuinely worried voice. Her large blue eyes were concerned and he tried to wave her off.

“Just stood up wrong,” he answered with a pained grin. Pockets snickered. He had seen Tanis’ lustful looks at the newcomer.

“Here, let me help,” the cute rabbit replied. Before the medic could say anything more, Lori moved behind him and began to massage the muscles of his lower back right above the base of his tail. He leaned against the trunk and closed his eyes with her ministrations, acutely focused upon her perfume instead of his pain.

Pockets blinked twice at the image they presented and wondered if he could fake an injury. He shook his head silently at the thought. It would be his luck that Tanis would be the one to treat him instead of the lovely bunny. He did not even know Lorelei yet and he already felt a little envious of the attention Tanis received from her.

After a few moments, Pockets tired of watching and headed for the doorway. The action was enough to get the rabbit’s attention and she stood up to back away from Tanis a step. “Thank you,” the desert fox said to her. “That feels much better.”

“You’re welcome,” she said sweetly. Lorelei moved toward the raccoon and reached out both hands toward him. Without thinking, he raised his hands up to meet hers and she held them gently.

“Thank you, Pockets,” she said. “You and Tanis are gentlemen for helping me with my belongings.” With that, she leaned over and kissed the engineer on the cheek. She smiled at his reaction and then moved back to the medic. She leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek too, but Tanis narrowed his eyes with a smile and tiptoed up slightly so that her kiss landed right on his lips instead.

Lori pulled back with a giggle. She pushed him away with a finger to the tip of his nose and then winked at Pockets. “If you two will excuse me now,” she said with a slight tilt of her head, “I need to unpack.”

“Of course,” Tanis replied. He nodded pleasantly and then moved toward the door. Pockets started to follow, but held back to ask a question.

“Lorelei?” he asked. “Have you ever made baked Jinkles?”

“My little brother’s crazy about them, especially sprinkled with Adarian cheese,” she said with a smile. “Of course I have.”

“I’ve never had them with cheese,” Pockets said in awe.

“Lightly toasted, the cheese adds good flavor. I’ll have to make them for you sometime.”

“You’ll have a friend for life if you do!” replied the engineer enthusiastically.

Lorelei’s eyes crinkled in amusement at this silly little raccoon as she opened a small suitcase. The container was upside down, so when the sides opened, the contents spilled out onto the floor at the engineer’s feet. Pockets knelt down with her to pick up the items and was puzzled at what he saw. There were beaded necklaces, incense sticks and a multitude of crystals in various shapes, all threaded through with silver or gold colored strings.

Lorelei picked up one particularly large spherical crystal and held it up so the cabin lights reflected off of its faceted sides. The rabbit’s eyes widened at the sparkles and Pockets got the distinct impression that she was awed by her own trinkets. She giggled and picked up another crystal, this one diamond-shaped.

The raccoon stood up slowly and put the things he had picked up onto her bed beside the suitcase. Lorelei no longer seemed to notice him as she stared transfixed at the crystals. Pockets frowned and left the room. Tanis leaned against the corridor wall with an amused expression on his face.

“Now, that was unexpected, wasn’t it?” he asked.

Pockets looked at him and shook his head. “You saw?”

“Yeah... mesmerized.”

The engineer stuck his hands into two of his many pockets and frowned. “She’s cute and friendly, but I’m beginning to wonder about her already.”

Tanis nodded his agreement. “It’s only a first impression,” he said in a whisper, “but I think she’s a ditz.”

Pockets looked over at him and twitched his whiskers. “It must be an act,” he replied. “She’s probably an egg-head.”

“So pretty…” Lorelei’s voice cooed from the open cabin door.

“Egg-head? How about a scrambled egg?” Tanis asked with a laugh.

Pockets leaned in close to one of the fox’s large ears. “I’ve never been around a rabbit before,” he confessed in a whisper. “Is what they say about them true?”

“You mean the rumors of an insatiable cross-species appetite?” Tanis asked with a smirk at his companion.

“Uh, yeah… that’s what I meant.”

The fox chuckled and merely grinned. “I’m guessing you’ll have to find that out on your own.”

“Tanisssss…” Pockets whined.

“Pocketsssssss…” Tanis mocked. “C’mon, let’s get the pallet back down to Durant.”

***

Samantha had just arrived at the hangar where the Blue Horizon resided. She had been out getting supplies for the new vessel and was about to recruit a few of the guys to help her unload them from a rented truck to take it all inside the ship. The cargo bay door was fully open and she saw Durant as he wandered the large space to inspect the contents of all the storage lockers.

“Hi, Sam,” the grizzly said to her as she neared him. “Have a good time shopping?”

“As always,” she replied cheerfully. “Is anyone else around? I need help unloading the last of the supplies I felt we needed.”

“Pockets is in his engine room drooling over the new tool kits,” Durant answered. “I think Renny and Tanis are upstairs somewhere. Max left with the captain a little bit ago.”

“Thanks, Durant.”

“Did you get the music I requested?”

Samantha smiled up at him. “I got everything you wanted except for the new album by The Jettisons,” she said. “That one hasn’t made it to Pomen yet.”

The bear shrugged his shoulders. “Oh well, maybe I can find it at our next destination. Thanks for getting the others for me.”

Sam put a hand on the loadmaster’s arm. “You’re welcome, Durant. I picked up more music and movies for the Rec room, linens, janitorial supplies, cargo tie-down supplies, computer software, spare parts for just about every system on board, stationary, books and magazines both electronic and in print, and a whole lot more.” She moved toward the lift as she continued to speak to him over her shoulder. “It’s been tough trying to think of everything we might need, starting off with an empty ship to supply. It’s just like when we first started the business.”

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“I’m sure we’ll think of more things after we get underway, but I believe I got most of it. Every time I think I’m done shopping, I remember more we need.”

Durant watched her walk away with a smile. Samantha had been instrumental at keeping up the spirits of the crew during their downtime, and while he might argue with her from time to time over the cargo manifests, he was glad to have her as a friend.

Samantha rode the lift up to the second level and stepped out into the corridor. She looked toward the left at a sound and saw a cabin doorway open just where the hallway curved around out of sight. She had not learned who had chosen which room yet, so was not sure who was inside. Soft music issued from the open door, so she moved toward it with a smile.

“Hello?” she said when she reached the room. She put her head inside and it took her a moment to comprehend what she saw. A black-light lamp was the sole source of illumination in the dark room, which gave all light-shaded objects an eerie phosphorescent glow. A slateboard on the desk issued the music that Sam recognized as Terran techno disco. Beads and crystals hung from the ceiling in a seemingly random pattern and there was the faint scent of jasmine incense burning somewhere. She glanced at the bookcase where several printed paperback volumes had not yet been stacked neatly and she felt her face flush beneath her fur when she read some of the risqué titles.

The Border collie tilted her head to the side when a humming came from the lavatory, and a moment later, a white rabbit came out into the room. She wore a pair of really short shorts that barely covered her behind beneath a fluffy tail, and a rainbow tie-dyed tank-top. Her white fur glowed dramatically in the black light. She saw Samantha and grinned widely.

“Hullo!” she said merrily.

“Uh, hi,” Sam replied hesitantly. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Lorelei, but you can call me Lori.” The rabbit stopped in front of the canine and leaned forward until her nose almost touched Sam’s. “I’m your new cook!”

The Border collie leaned backward a little to put some personal distance between them. “Hello, Lori,” she said hesitantly. “I’m Samantha.”

Lorelei grabbed the collie in a tight embrace and did a couple of little excited hops. “Hi, Samantha!” she said cheerily. “Captain Sinclair told me there was another female on board.” Sam pushed at her gently, not quite sure of how to take the newcomer.

“Uh, Lori, I need some room,” she said. “Personal space, please.”

The rabbit released her and stepped back with a finger under her chin. “Oh, I get it,” she said in a lilting tone with a grin. “Don’t be alarmed, sweetie. I just like to hug my friends. It makes us more like a family, which is what an interstellar crew is supposed to be like, right?”

Samantha managed a look of amusement. “Uh, supposedly,” she admitted. “Have you met any of the others?” she asked.

Lori sat down on her bed and drew her legs up beneath her. “Lessee,” she replied in a faraway tone, “Pockets and Tanis helped bring my things on board, and I also met a cute little doggy with light blue eyes. I think he said his name was Max, but he was kinda shy.” She looked up at Sam and asked, “Is he old enough to mate? He looks nice, but he seemed frightened when I flirted with him.”

Sam swallowed back her thoughts and answered tightly, “No, Lori, he’s not old enough. Better leave him alone... he’s the captain’s nephew and he’s also under age.”

Lorelei shrugged her shoulders. “Oh well, I understand there’s plenty of other males on this crew.” She narrowed her eyes mischievously at the collie and added, “The captain’s got a nice tail. I wonder how long it will take me to get together with him.”

Samantha sputtered and looked at the bold newcomer in disbelief, her tail standing up behind her. “Forget it! You don’t have a chance!” she said angrily.

Lorelei shrugged again. “S’okay,” she said with a smile. She did not seem to even register the collie’s tone of voice. “Want me to see if I can arrange for you to occupy his bed? I know a lot of tricks that would get even someone like you under the sheets with him.”

Samantha coughed into her fist and really, really tried to contain herself. “Someone like me? Listen, Lorelei... you are getting on my bad side and we’ve just met. You know nothing about this crew, so don’t come in here with ideas on what you think should or shouldn’t happen!”

Lori looked at her quizzically and held up her hands. “Okay, okay, Samantha,” she said. “I’m sorry I assumed too much. You and the captain have similar facial fur markings. Are you related?”

The collie could not believe her ears. “No,” she said through clenched teeth, “we are not related. It’s only coincidence that he has a similar facial pattern and I would never get into bed with a relative anyway...” She suddenly clamped her lips shut. She had said too much and knew it when she saw Lori’s expression of delight.

“Ahh... now I understand,” the rabbit said slyly. “Sammy’s already sleeping with the boss!” She put a finger to her lips and winked at the collie. “You can trust me to keep it a secret from the rest of the crew.”

Samantha sighed deeply and put both hands on her forehead. This simple little conversation was giving her a headache. This was not the way she normally greeted new crew members.

“Does your head hurt?” Lori asked in a worried tone. “I have an herbal tea that will take care of that, to ease the tension.”

The supply officer looked up at the newcomer and shook her head with a scowl. “Thanks, but we are stocked with meds in Sickbay. I’ll just...”

“Oh, no, that just won’t do,” Lori interrupted. “Manufactured drugs are unnatural, sit inert in your system, and that’s bad for you. What I have is healthier. I wouldn’t trust anything produced by those evil pharmaceutical companies.”

“Evil...?” Samantha felt her hackles beginning to rise.

“Yeah, companies like Holden Pharmaceuticals or Thayer Drugs are only out to hurt people for profit under the guise of being helpful,” the rabbit said as she rummaged through a box beside the bed. She stopped and then looked over at Samantha with an amused expression. “You said your last name was Holden, didn’t you? Same as that drug company... funny, huh?” She went back to searching through her box and did not see the look of fury on the collie’s face.

Samantha was about to inform the irritating rabbit that Holden Pharmaceuticals was her late father’s company, but a knock on the door behind her caught her off guard. Both females turned and saw a slender cheetah leaning against the doorway, one foot partially held up off the floor. He wore a pair of black jogging shorts and a purple tank-top.

“Sam?” Renny said with a glance at all the strange decorations in the cabin, “Durant said you needed help bringing supplies on board. Pockets and Tanis are already down there with the pallets. I was going to help, but the captain still won’t let me move heavy objects until my foot heals further.”

Samantha nodded to him, appreciative of the interruption. “Thanks, Renny,” she said. “I need to get down there.” She moved past the navigator toward the nearest lift without looking back at the rabbit.

Renny focused on the newcomer and smiled. “Hello,” he said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Lorelei grinned widely at the cheetah and was drawn to his large, golden eyes. She moved closer to stand nose to nose with him and leaned up against his chest with her hands clasped behind her back. “You can start by telling me your name, handsome. I’ve signed onto your crew and want to be seeing a lot more of you.”

“Renny Thornton,” he said, acutely aware of the primary points of contact between their bodies. “I’m the ship’s navigator.”

“Hi, navigator,” she said with a sly smile. “I’m Lorelei, or Lori, as my intimate friends call me. I would like you to call me Lori...”

Renny grinned and put his hands on her shoulders. He pushed her gently away from him and said in a quiet voice, “Perhaps another time, Lorelei... but I’m afraid I can’t right now.”

The rabbit could smell that he was interested, but something was holding him back. “What’s her name?” she asked in a more conversational tone.

Renny nodded with a smile. “Taro Nichols. She was badly hurt in the crash, but we haven’t heard anything about her condition in months.”

Lorelei stepped away and leaned back against the wall. She looked solemn and replied, “Captain Sinclair told me about the crash. I’m sorry for you all.” She allowed a smile to creep across her face again and added, “but if you feel lonely and need someone to snuggle with, please don’t hesitate to find me. I’m always willing to help out.”

The cheetah bit his bottom lip gently. He had no doubt that she would be willing, but he cared too deeply for Taro and until he found out anything about her, one way or another, he would not seek out anyone else.

“Welcome to the Blue Horizon,” he said to her. “I’m sure we’ll get more time to talk later, but I need to get back to the duties our captain has assigned to me.”

“Okay, Renny,” Lorelei said with a smile. “I’ll see you later.”

The cheetah withdrew from the room and headed for the bridge. Lorelei watched him go, admiring his tail and his shorts, and grinned to herself as she turned back to her unpacking. There were opportunities to be had here, she thought to herself. This new crew would be well worth investigating.

***

The Blue Horizon had a customer by the next morning. Ms. Allport had arranged a paying client delivering electrical and technical parts from the very city there were in, to the under-industrialized world of Fyn for a new communications center. Not only did the mouse win Merlin’s respect with her quick results, but her job as a member of his crew was assured when she also secured a delivery afterward from Fyn to the SPF headquarters on Joplin. That delivery consisted of nothing more exciting than linens and clothing, but it was for a paying customer nonetheless.

An hour after contacting Merlin with the information, she showed up at the Blue Horizon’s hangar with three suitcases and two trunks of luggage, and then the wolf let her pick one of the empty cabins. With everyone on board, he then called a meeting of the entire crew to the recreation deck.

***

Cynthya Allport felt a lump in her throat as she watched the various crew members gathering around the main table next to galley at the aft end of the rec deck. The brown mouse was dressed casually in one of the local Pomen robes of white and yellow with a blue belt sash, but after seeing the garments the crew was wearing, she intended to change into a style of clothing that more in keeping with what she saw among them.

She had a habit of brushing her short brown hair off the edges of her large ears with a finger, which did nothing more than draw attention to them. Her blue eyes had missed nothing when she had been given a quick tour of the ship, and she was secretly pleased with the selection of males on board the vessel.

She sat to the captain’s left at the end of the long table. A cheetah sat on Merlin’s right, chatting idly with a female Border collie. Across the table from him was a short raccoon who watched her with interested eyes. His clothing had pockets sewn onto practically all available spaces on the front and sides and there seemed to be something in each of them. Seated next to him was a large grizzled bear with cinnamon-colored fur. He was taller and larger than anyone else on board and was talking pleasantly to a young, blue-eyed canine seated beside him.

A fennec fox with large erect ears sat between the collie and a cottontail rabbit and he nodded to her pleasantly with eyes that were so dark as to be nearly black. Everyone’s attention went to Merlin as he cleared his throat and then adjusted his hat.

“Okay, crew, I want to introduce you all to our new Customer Liaison,” he said. “This is Cynthya Allport.”

The mouse smiled nervously and gave a nod of her head. “Hello,” she said. “Please just call me Cindy.”

“I’ll start the introductions with myself, as is customary,” the wolf said. “I’m Merlin Sinclair, the captain, owner and primary pilot of the Blue Horizon. This guy next to me is Renny Thornton. He’s our navigator and primary co-pilot. Next to him is Samantha Holden, our supply officer and computer tech.” Sam smiled and waved her fingers at the mouse. “If there’s anything you need, she’s the one to tell.”

Merlin gestured to the raccoon seated next to Samantha. “The guy with all the junk in his pockets next to you, Cindy, is Jerad Porter. He’s our chief engineer and mechanic, and as you can guess, we call him Pockets.”

“Hi, nice to meetcha!” the raccoon exclaimed cheerily in a distinct country accent.

“Across the table from Pockets is Arktanis TeVann,” Merlin said when the chuckles faded.

The tan fox nodded again and gave her a pleasant smile “Just call me Tanis, mate.”

“And next to him is our cook, Lori Easter, another newcomer to the crew who has only been with us since yesterday, herself. We introduced her to everyone in a meeting like this last night.”

“Hi, Cindy,” the rabbit said merrily.

“Seated beside Pockets is our loadmaster and business accountant, Durant, who is also my First Officer. Next to him is our young trainee mechanic, Max.”

“Hello,” the canine said with a friendly smile.

Merlin glanced at his slateboard and then back to his new employee. “That’s everyone, Cindy. No one around here expects to hear a speech, but if there’s anything you want to say to this group, go right ahead.”

The mouse smiled back at her new crewmates and said, “I’m pleased to be here with you all and hope I can fit in.” She looked embarrassed, but added, “Captain Sinclair told me about Taro and I’m sorry all that happened to her and the rest of you. I know I can’t replace her, but I hope you’ll give me chance to do the job you need me to do as long as I’m with you.”

“Have you ever done this before?” Renny asked.

“Cindy has already arranged two jobs for us,” Merlin answered quickly, in hopes they would not dig too far into her inexperience. “We’ll be loading up the ship this evening with cargo bound for Rrowrnon on Fyn,” he explained, “and from there we’ll be making a delivery to Joplin. As soon as we get underway, she’ll be working on contacts beyond the SPF headquarters.”

“Good show!” Tanis said with a smile. “I’m impressed already.”

Pockets stood up and then slapped the table with the palm of his hand. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, mimicking the loud voice of an event announcer, “with the quick work of our newest crew mate, the Blue Horizon is officially back in business!” The small group clapped and Cindy blushed at all the attention.

“Welcome aboard,” Renny said to her.

Merlin put a hand on the cheetah’s shoulder and said, “I’ll go over ship’s operations with her before we actually take off.” He looked at Samantha and added, “Arrange a launch window with the Port Authority for this evening. We’ll head across town to the Zeyhr Warehouse at seventeen hundred to load up the cargo and then we’ll be ready to launch toward Fyn at nineteen-thirty.”

“Do we have time to make a last-minute run into town?” Renny asked.

“The ship is ready to leave at any time,” the captain replied. “It’s now oh-nine-twenty. Everyone should be on board in time for preflight checks no later than sixteen hundred hours, so that gives you just under seven hours to do whatever you want. If you are not back by then, you’re going to be stuck on Pomen for quite a while longer.”

“Ugh,” Pockets said. “Pomen’s a nice world, but I’m sick and tired of this city. You’re not leaving me behind! I’ll be here hours before launch.”

“Okay,” Merlin said at last. “You can go now. Meeting is adjourned.”

***

SS Blue Horizon PA1138

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon is now on its way toward Fyn, following a stay of almost fifteen weeks on Pomen. We left Adasa four hours ago, and although this new vessel is larger and heavier, we had one of the smoothest launches I’ve ever experienced. My crew seems happy with the ship and it’s more than we could have ever hoped for. Despite our hardships, everything seems to have worked out well.

Although Lori and Cindy are new to this crew, they seem to have come in at a good time when everyone’s in lighthearted spirits. Cindy is inexperienced, I know, but I have a feeling she will learn quickly. She’s already had a good start. Time will tell how she will fit in with the others, but then again everyone goes through a transition time when they first come on board. Lori promises a big introductory meal for everyone later this evening and I’m sure that will do well to endear herself to the crew.

Samantha tried yet again to reach Captain Natasha to see if we could get word — any word — on the status of Taro Nichols, but as before, we’ve had no reply. Despite all the good that seems to have come out of this situation, not knowing our friend’s whereabouts or condition is the one raw nerve at the back of everyone’s mind. Even if she were in a coma and in poor shape, at least she’d be alive. We don’t even know if that’s the case.

I was sorry to lose Patch, but due to my own fault with timing he’s no longer a member of my crew. I wish him well and hope he can find satisfaction in the work he has on the Argonautia.

As for myself, I’m doing okay. I still have dreams and nightmares about the crash, most of which include the fight with Sagan. I don’t know what happened that caused his sudden insanity and pure hatred of me and my vessel, but the look in his eyes during our close combat still makes me shudder. When I think of this, I cannot help but wonder who left that letter on my door at the embassy last week. Was it from the Basilisk crew, an ally that Sagan had out there somewhere, or someone else as yet unknown to us?

Anyway, I’m glad this is all over. I have a new ship, a financial margin in the business accounts and a good crew. The Blue Horizon might have been knocked down, but through it all, we have finally risen from the ashes.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

ALL THE LUCK

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1138

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon is currently resting in the metropolitan city of Rrowrnon on Fyn, having delivered a shipment of electronic and technical parts for a new communications center that will help bring Fyn further into the net of the Planetary Alignment. Fyn is not primitive, but they are possibly the least technologically developed world of the PA, as well as the youngest member of the Alignment, having only joined up at Earth’s behest a mere twenty-five years ago as one of the lost colonies rediscovered.

Our flight from Pomen went smoothly, though I had Renny plot us a course outside of the normal trade routes due to rumors of a new series of pirate attacks in the area. I’ve had my fill of pirates and although my new ship is armed to the teeth, I have no desire to put it to the test.

Despite the newness of the vessel, my crew was rather quiet on this voyage. The absence of both Taro and Patch was strongly felt and everyone tends to avoid talking about either of them. I’m sure Cindy has felt the strain in taking over the position of a well-loved crew member, but she hasn’t complained — not to me, anyway. Possibly the one person on board who might identify with exactly what she’s going through might be Renny, as he joined our crew right after Jiro died — at the hand of the same pirate which nearly destroyed us this time, I should add. However, despite having an eye for the ladies, I’ve seen no indication that he’s made any advances toward our new crew members. Lori and Cindy can both be quite sensual and openly flirt with the males on board, but Renny and Taro were lovers. I don’t think the cheetah will give in to their charms until he’s at least heard something on her fate.

Tanis, on the other hand, seems to be interested in both of our new gals, as does Pockets. Tanis and Taro used to be a casual item in times past, but in the months prior to Sagan’s final attack, I noticed a marked change in my medic. He seemed to have distanced himself from Taro in a romantic sense to allow Renny to charm her unchallenged. I don’t know if that was the result of Taro’s feelings, Renny’s or Tanis. It could be any number of reasons. While I have no proof, I strongly suspect both of our new crew members have had private liaisons each with Tanis and Pockets. I have no problems with this, so long as it doesn’t affect their duties to the ship.

Max has made favorable progress in the engine room. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone so young enjoy his own duties quite as much as he does. He loves learning new things and it gives him a sense of purpose he didn’t seem to have in the galley. He won’t have expertise that Pockets does for years, but with his memory for procedure, I suspect Maximillian is going to be a great mechanic in time.

Durant has been quiet lately. He’s taken his role as first officer well enough, but he tends to spend most of his time alone down in his office on the cargo deck, even to the point of fixing his own meals in the kitchenette there. I worry about him. He’s been a good friend for a number of years and he and I used to visit often during off-duty hours before we lost the other ship. No doubt he’s still a little traumatized from the whole experience. Cindy has a degree in psychology, so I may have her approach him later.

Perhaps the one individual on board who seems the least affected by everything is Samantha. She’s kept a cool head on her shoulders and has been openly friendly to everyone, but I think I sense a little animosity between her and Lorelei. It’s nothing I can put my finger on, as I’ve not heard them get into any arguments, but just a gut feeling. If there’s anything I’ve noticed about Sam since the crash, she’s spent more time with me during off-duty hours. It could be concern about my well-being, but it’s not anything she’s talked about.

I’ve known her far longer than anyone else on my crew, and we’ve been occasional playmates, but she’s been more my best friend than a lover. There have been many times that I’ve thought about our relationship; I do love her, but I’ve not quite decided if I’m in love with her or just comfortable with her. However nebulous my feelings may be, I’m glad she’s here. She’s been my confidant on more than one occasion and while she doesn’t always have a solution to my troubling thoughts, it’s nice just to have someone to listen.

Renny is still limping on his injured foot, despite his ongoing physical therapy. He’s always been the athletic type and I’ve seen him spend a lot of time on the onboard exercise equipment. Sometimes I hear the thump, thump, thump of his feet as he uses the oval corridor of the crew deck to jog around. He doesn’t have the swiftness he had before and I know this really bothers him, but if he continues this, he’ll be back up to speed before too long.

Cindy has already been in contact with the SPF headquarters on Joplin, where we are scheduled to deliver a load of nothing more exciting than linens, clothing and recreational materials. Joplin is a tiny planet near the center of the combined worlds of the Planetary Alignment. Its sun is dim and dying and its sole planet is an airless rock of common and undesirable minerals. It’s considered neutral territory by the Alignment, which made it the perfect place for the Spatial Police Force headquarters.

Unfortunately for those who work in the pressurized domes of the SPF HQ, there’s not much to see and do there other than daily duties, so leave-time is frequently granted to the cops who have been there for months at a time. There are no actual exports from Joplin for us to make a delivery elsewhere, so we’ll be flying empty to Kantus, but Cindy has already lined up a job for us from there hauling miscellaneous starship parts to the Mars colony in the Sol system.

She had originally had us down to deliver a variety of export goods to Nalirra from Kantus, but I don’t particularly like going to Nalirra and the cargo would have been too small, so I stepped in and nixed that particular delivery. It’s probably the touchiest and paranoid of all the PA worlds besides mother Earth. They always seem to be feuding with other planets, though they haven’t started any actual wars in a long time. Although they are a part of the Planetary Alignment, including them wasn’t easy since they harbored a great amount of resentment toward Earth for the Great Abandonment. Prejudice against pure humans is still strong there.

It’s been years since we’ve been to Nalirra, and Tanis wasn’t thrilled to be going back there either. It’s his homeworld and he says he lives in fear of being drafted back into their military yet again if he’s even in the vicinity of the place. Nalirra is not a low-class, sleazy place like Brandt or Quet, but the distrust of other worlds is high there. People seem to be tightly wound and minor things tend to set them off. Visitors always have to be careful how they phrase their conversations while there. As with most places, there are nice areas to visit across the world of Nalirra, but the general attitude of the natives makes it hard to enjoy them. One sometimes wonders if the planet was an original dumping ground for Earth’s more violent colony volunteers, but I’ve never been able to find anything like that in the history texts.

We’ve stocked up with our standard operating supplies while here on Fyn to cover our needs to and from Joplin since we won’t be able to restock while there, and we are now only a few hours away from launch. One member of my crew still hasn’t come back from his shore leave, and I’m hoping Tanis makes it in time. The Blue Horizon is back in business, but since we were out of the game for three months, I don’t want to have any more delays than necessary in our schedule.

The last I heard, Tanis was visiting with an old buddy of his who lives up in the mountains out away from the metropolitan areas of Fyn. Maybe the fresh air will do him good, but I find I’m constantly watching the clock for his return. I’ve never had to leave anyone behind due to someone not getting back before launch, but there’s always a first time.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Thirty kilometers to the southwest of the Rrowrnon metropolis, Arktanis TeVann and Clarence Duffy were steadily walking through the dense foliage of an undeveloped forest. The desert fox’s loose-fitting dark green shirt was torn and smudged in places, as were his tan shorts. There were shallow cuts within the fur of his arms and legs and a nasty bruise was swelling on the left side of his forehead. His companion, a male husky with dark fur and dusty gray arms, legs and tail, was in similar shape. His bright red, flowered shirt was like a beacon in the dark green leaves and gray shadows of the forest. The overhead tree branches blocking a good portion of the afternoon sun were high enough off the ground that the underbrush of the forest floor was thick and difficult to travel through. The smell of rotting leaves, the aroma of a myriad flowers and the moist tang of humidity permeated the olfactory senses of the tired and weary pair.

“Ya drove that floating rustbucket ya call a levicar into a tree... in the middle of nowhere... as we cut across country... and my ship will be taking off soon, with or without me,” Tanis grumbled to himself. “We’ve been walking for over an hour and have barely made any headway through this mess. What lousy luck.”

He stumbled over a tree root but caught himself before he fell onto his face into a thorny briar and filled the air with expletives. As he reestablished his balance, his sleeve caught one of the tiny spikes and the material ripped as he pulled it away.

Duffy shook his head as his friend made his way around the prickly brush. “Despite your efforts to get us lost in all this,” he said in a deep voice, “there may be a main road not far from here; I thought I heard traffic.”

Tanis sighed in relief as they shuffled into a clearing of dry leaves and knee-high grasses. A spot of vibrant sunlight pierced the tiny field, which made them both squint in the sudden brightness.

“If we’re lucky,” Duffy continued, scanning the area with pale blue eyes, “another car will pass and give us a lift.” He smiled as a thought crossed his mind. “I know a place on the way where you might want to –”

Thunk! Splash!

Duffy’s head turned toward the sound, but he saw nothing – not even his friend. “Tanis?” he asked tentatively. “Where’d you go?”

“Down here, Duff…” The fennec’s words sounded far away.

The husky looked down toward the voice into the tall grass and then saw a dark hole in the ground he had missed seeing when the sunlight had momentarily blinded him. He crept closer and gazed down into the pit. It looked as if it was lined with bricks of clay and nearly three meters across. He could not see anything of Tanis in the shadows below but his large ears.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Tanis squinted up at the silhouette at the top of the well and said in a strained voice, “Gimme a moment to find out.”

His sight adjusted quickly to the darkness of the hole. He was sprawled ungracefully on the ground at the bottom of what might have been a water well at one time, but there was no structure above ground. He was about six meters below where Duffy knelt beside the opening. The walls were old and crumbly, and pieces of brick littered the bottom. Weeds and roots sprouted from the moss-covered walls here and there and he could see a few coins scattered about in the ankle-deep water he sat in. His pants were soaked and damp leaves clung to what was left of his shirt.

Tanis tried to stand up, but a sharp twang shot through his ankle. He inhaled sharply as he stumbled into a curved wall and took his weight off the foot.

“Can you climb out?” Duffy called down to him.

“No, I don’t think so,” the fox answered. “Nothing’s broken, but I’ve twisted my ankle and the walls don’t look like they could hold my weight anyhow.”

Duffy stood up and looked around the small clearing into the trees. “I’m going to look for a vine or something to pull you out.”

“Go ahead,” Tanis muttered. “I’m not going anywhere.” He squatted as best as he could on his good foot and arranged some of the broken bricks into a pile that was large enough to sit on so he would not have to rest in the water. He flipped his tail to the side as he sat down and then leaned back against the slimy wall.

As he waited for Duffy to return, Tanis swished his right hand idly in the water. He thought about picking up some of coins, but decided he was not going to be on Fyn long enough to spend them on anything — providing he got out of the hole and back to Rrowrnon in time to catch the Horizon before they left without him. He stirred up some of the sediments from the bottom and a gold gleam caught his eye. He reached into the water and then pulled out a fat golden disc about five centimeters in diameter, attached to a thin silver chain.

He turned it over in his hand and looked at the raised symbols and designs adorning both sides. He could not read the local language inscribed into its sides, so he decided it must be something someone lost while out roaming these woods. It looked like it might be a pocket watch, but he could find no cover to open on either face, so he surmised it was probably a pendant. He pulled up the edge of his tattered shirt and began to polish it with a smile. Whatever it was, he thought it might make a decent souvenir of his excursions on Fyn to take back with him.

Tanis raised the chain over his large ears and then pulled it down around his neck. The pendant rested against his chest and he fingered it absently as his mind moved onto other things. It took him a moment before he started to realize that the cool metal of the disc had grown warm and began to vibrate.

***

Duffy snorted to himself as he maneuvered an old wooden ladder through the underbrush. He had found an abandoned cabin not far in the direction they had originally been walking and discovered the long ladder leaning up against the dilapidated structure. Although the condition of the treated wood was questionable, he thought the ladder might be a meter too short to let Tanis climb all the way out of the pit, but figured if he could get the fox close enough to the top, he could lift him the rest of the way out.

He finally made it back to the clearing and as he neared the hole, he called down, “You’ll never guess what I just found!”

“Duffy!” shouted the voice of Tanis from the pit. The husky dropped the ladder expecting the worst, and fell to his knees. He peered over the lip of the well… and looked directly into the surprised eyes of his companion. With quiet astonishment, Duffy could feel his hackles rising as he witnessed the tan fox float magically out of the well. When Tanis was about knee-high above grass level, Duffy reached out, grabbed his friend and then pulled him over to solid ground.

Tanis’ eyes were wide with fright and he scrambled to pull the chain of the pendant over his head and off his still-buoyant body. He started to toss the golden object back into the well, but Duffy snatched it out of his hand by the chain before he had the chance.

“What happened?” the husky wanted to know. He looked at the pendant that had started to sink to the end of its chain, and then back to his friend who had also settled to the ground.

Tanis cleared his throat and smoothed down his fur. “I found this thing in the water down there,” he said shakily. “I thought I might keep it as a souvenir, but after I put it around my neck, I began to float up off the ground!”

Duffy held it up by the chain and inspected the inscriptions. “Is it magic?” Tanis asked him.

The husky looked at him, his pale blue eyes crinkled in amusement. “Magic?” he repeated. “No, it’s not magic, though it might have seemed so to some of the locals around here.”

“Then… what is it?”

“The inscription is written in Svelloc, a local language,” Duffy explained. “It says this is a levitation pendant, given by the gods in ages past.” As he spoke, he poked a claw into a seam into the mysterious design and gently pried the object apart into halves. Tanis looked close and suddenly felt foolish at what he saw inside.

“It’s a tiny anti-grav generator,” the husky said, “commonly used in luggage transports at space ports.”

“But… why put one inside a pendant and put that ridiculous inscription on it?”

Duffy shook his head. “I’ve heard stories that before Fyn became a part of the PA, a few scoundrels landed here and tried to pass themselves off as being magical to the low-tech locals. This was probably one of their little devices.”

“Hmph…” Tanis snorted. “I examined it closely while I was down in the well and never saw an on switch anywhere. What did I do to turn activate it?”

The husky looked at his friend and smiled. “I’ve played around with these things before. The generators are inert when kept cool, but are activated when a mild current is applied to warm it up. After lying in cool water for so long down in that well, your body heat probably activated it.”

“That makes sense.”

Tanis retrieved the pendant from his friend and looped the chain to his belt so it would dangle at his side without coming in contact with his warm body. As he finished, he happened to glance at his techwatch. “If we don’t get on our way,” he said as he started moving away from the pit, “I’m never going to make it back to the Horizon in time – not that I really have a chance getting there on foo—oof!” Tanis stumbled over something in the grass and fell face first once again. He grumbled a list of obscenities in several languages as he slowly pulled himself back up to his hands and knees. “What did I trip over this time?”

Duffy chuckled and pointed to a small sign at the fox’s feet that had been long covered over by weeds. “That was the Well of Luck you fell into, Tanis,” he told him. “A local wishing well.”

The tan fox stared wearily at the sign for a moment and then slowly stood up. He was not usually so clumsy, but after the car wreck, the dense foliage they had to hike through and a fall into a well, he was fairly exhausted. He turned without a word and limped out of the clearing in the direction they had originally been traveling.

Duffy started out after him and kept quiet until they passed the old cabin where he had found the ladder. The shadows did not seem as dark up ahead, but that did not seem to matter to the pair. The husky knew his friend was in a bad mood from all of this, so he tried to cheer him up.

“Falling into the Well of Luck should make you lucky,” he informed him, “or so the local legends say.”

Tanis turned and gifted him with a cold stare as they pressed on through the dense brush “Yer car broke down and we’ve had to walk kilometers to get this far,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I’ve fallen into a dank, damp well and I’m now limping on a sore ankle, lost in a forest without the benefit of a crutch. I’m wet, bruised, tired and very unhappy at the moment — and I’m probably not going to make it back to my ship in time to leave this wretched place.” He heaved an audible sigh and added, “I don’t feel very lucky!”

Duffy was about to say something else when the tan fox broke through the edge of the forest brush and tumbled down a small ridge. There was the sound of screeching tires and then startled voices. The husky’s face lit up in surprise to see that Tanis had fallen down an embankment onto a small paved road. From the scene before him, a convertible ground car full of females in summer outfits had stopped scant centimeters from running over his poor friend.

The women of varying species gathered around the dazed tan fox, helping him to his feet. They brushed the dirt and leaves from his tattered clothing, chattering excitedly to him and to each other. Several ran up to Duffy as he made his way down the hill.

Duffy introduced him and his friend, and after he explained what had happened to them, the women were sympathetic. A rather chesty squirrel who had been driving the large car smiled at the males and said, “I’m Tammy, and my friends and I are on our way to a glamour competition in Rrowrnon. You’re welcome to ride with us.”

Duffy gave her his best smile and nodded. “Thank you, Tammy. My rather beat-up companion is late getting back to his ship at the spaceport. Do you think you could take us there?”

“That’s down the street from where the competition is being held,” a nicely shaped collie told him. “We can take him right to the terminal.”

“That’s wonderful…” Tanis gasped as two of the ladies lifted his arms over their shoulders and helped him to the car. Everyone piled into the vehicle, putting Tanis in the front seat and Duffy in the back, each accompanied by lovely ladies. Tammy put the car into motion and accelerated to a fast rate. It did not take long before they passed over the top of the hill and saw a large city in the distance.

An Irish setter leaned up close to Duffy and gazed into his pale blue eyes. “What about you, handsome?” she asked in a sultry voice. “Where can we take you after we drop off your friend?”

Duffy felt someone behind him pick twigs from his fur and then start to groom his tail with a soft bristled brush. He smiled and replied, “I just need to find a place for the night before I try to make my way back home. I’m a local.”

“You’re in luck,” a small red fox told him with a flutter of long eyelashes. “We’re all staying in a suite of rooms at the Harvee Hotel. You can stay with us!”

He gave her a big grin. “That’s lucky, all right,” he said. He leaned forward so that he could whisper quietly to his friend. Tanis smiled contentedly as the collie beside him slowly stroked his large ears when he heard his friend ask, “What was that you said back there about luck?”

HIDALGO SUN

By Ted R. Blasingame

Captain’s Journal

We’ve been adrift in space for over a week, unable to propel ourselves by any means we’ve tried. We have plenty of power for all life support functions and there are no real dangers facing us, but we are stuck light-years between systems… too far from any stars for even solar sails to be of any use. We are moving toward our destination, though merely on a small amount of inertia left after our engines broke down following a brief stop at a lone asteroid.

My engineer has exhausted all alternatives for creating a power source to get our Liquid Crystal engines functional enough to get us to the nearest star system. The closest inhabited world is Mars, and while it is nothing more than an outpost for Earth, it is equipped with a repair depot that frequently works on Okami-class freighters. Although it’s the “closest” world, we aren’t even near the Oort Cloud surrounding that particular solar system, so without a source of propulsion, it would take decades to drift into the gravitational influence of Sol on our current inertia.

While I admit that I sometimes turn a deaf ear to my engineer on the problems of this old ship, I have to readily concede that I should have listened to experience this time. I was warned months ago about the condition of the Liquid Crystal power transfer unit, but our recent turn of bad luck with finances kept me from buying the parts to keep it running correctly. Because of this bad judgment, my ship is crippled and we have no way to repair the damage with anything we have on board.

I wouldn’t think that things could get much worse until my communications officer informed me that our attempt to boost the signal last month by channeling the com lines through the LC engines has resulted in burned-out helix circuitry in the system. Nerves are on edge and tempers have flared, including my own. This is no way to run a business, but I freely admit that the ship’s captain is fully to blame this time.

We have rigged a low-level distress signal to repeat once every quarter hour, but only a passing vessel near this shipping lane would ever pick it up. We have to hope that someone comes our way soon.

Rezo Kegawa, Captain

SS Hidalgo Sun, PA3347

***

Mark Littlefeather looked at his reflection in the mirror of his tiny cabin and frowned at his scruffy appearance. He had neglected himself over the past few days, as had most of the crew since they had become stranded between systems. He ran a hand through his short black hair; it felt oily and he was aware of his body odor. The permanently-tanned human sighed and realized he did not want to exist that way, even if they might never make it to another civilized world.

The ship’s loadmaster leaned forward to get a closer look at his reflected brown eyes. They were bloodshot and bags were starting to form beneath them. He set his angular jaw and nodded to his unshaven reflection. He pulled off his dirty tee shirt and denim jeans and then stepped into the shower. Perhaps after he had cleaned up, he would find Toni to see if she would have dinner with him. Antoinette was the only other human on board, and while she had never shown a romantic interest in him during the three months since she had joined the crew, she did appear to enjoy his presence whenever they talked.

She had dark skin and black hair like himself, but did not share his Amerindian heritage, though she seemed fascinated with his family traditions. Her large green eyes always seemed to sparkle behind the large lenses of her glasses whenever he spoke of his spiritual guide, or when she asked about the various items on display in his cabin. Those glasses were a source of curiosity to many, as modern medicines and outpatient procedures could cure most optometric issues. She had never explained why she wore the things, but she really did seem to need them to see clearly.

As Littlefeather showered, he wondered why someone with such an aptitude for numbers and information like Toni would want to sign up on an old D-model Okami freighter. He doubted it would have been anyone’s first choice for a job in accounting. It had been harder to find replacement parts for defective shipboard systems and business had not been that good lately. The chief engineer was good at her job, but there was just so much that Alice could do with what they had. This time the snow leopard had not been able to keep the power transfer unit running long enough to get them to Earth. Inertia would continue to move the ship in that general direction at partial light speed velocity, but the time involved would be prohibitive to their survival.

He only hoped that someone would fly close enough to pick up their weak distress signal or all their careers would soon come to a close. They had supplies on board to last them another month... two, if they rationed well.

***

Captain Rezo Kegawa ambled around the curved corridor of his small freighter, his hands behind his back and his eyes downcast toward the deck plates that were partially covered with a few mismatched throw rugs his crew had acquired over the years. Later models of the freighter used a pliable flooring material, but this one still had metal decks and the rugs were essential to traction, even for padded Fur feet. The end of one rug was floating off the floor a few centimeters over a gravity deck plate that need replacing, but instead of fixing it, everyone had gotten into the habit to just walk around it, including the captain.

The short red panda was agitated and pacing had always been his way of dealing with concern. He wore a loose set of black exercise shorts under an oversized beige robe that trailed behind him in the hallway, but his feet were bare on the cold flooring.

He was already late getting his cargo of Kantan lingerie to the distribution center of Misty’s Toybox on Earth and he would likely lose a good deal of the revenue on this trip due to their mechanical failures. Alice Forrestal could be miracle worker at times when it came to ship maintenance, but there were no miracles to be had this time around. The ship was old and dilapidated, and on a normal voyage Rezo usually made just enough on his business to pay his crew, with only a tiny profit going to himself. He had often considered finding another line of work, but he was addicted to space travel, even if it had to be done inside a rustbucket like the Hidalgo Sun.

The door up the corridor opened and a small, wiry lemur stepped out of the bridge. The red sleeveless shirt she wore matched her eyes, and her legs swished with bell-bottom black trousers. She peered at the slateboard tablet in her hands and she scowled at the device, her thin monochrome tail swishing in agitation. She hit the side of it twice before she sighed and looked up at her captain.

“Anything?” Rezo asked her.

“No, sir,” the communications officer answered with a frown. “We’re still broadcasting the distress signal, but with com out of commission with the engines, we’ll have no indication if anyone has heard it and may be trying to contact us.” The lemur sniffled from a sinus infection and shook her head. “Alice and Pax are trying to route a bypass on the system back to its original configuration, but they haven’t had any luck so far. Some of the original parts have been modified and are already in use elsewhere.”

“Where were they used?”

“In the Life Support system.”

“I see,” the captain replied. “Who’s on the bridge?”

“Jonesy.”

The red panda nodded and resumed his amble down the corridor. “Thank you, Riki,” he said. “Keep your digits crossed someone will pick up the signal.”

“All the time, sir.”

***

Leo Durant sat in his office as he quietly peered over the cargo manifest. The computer file matched what he accounted for in the hold, but it did not match his memory for data. The grizzly had read through the manifest before the ship launched from Kantus and he was sure there were now items that were missing, even if the data files did not reflect it. He growled lowly to himself and rested his chin in his left hand on the desk as he scrolled through the information. The Blue Horizon carried a load of starship parts bound for the Mars colony, and while their new vessel was in first-class condition, the loadmaster would not put it past Pockets to filch a few items from their cargo for spares and then have Samantha fix the books behind his back.

Durant would find the discrepancy, he was sure. He would have to itemize everything of the original manifest from memory and then compare it with what was currently on board to find the problem. This was nothing new, as both the Border collie and raccoon had gotten into his cargo before, and he knew many of their tricks.

Staring at the computer screen made the bear’s eyes ache and he sat back in his chair to rub them with the back of his hands. He yawned widely and then moved his neck back and forth with a crack. Durant was tired and he knew that he would never remember the original manifest with a foggy brain, so he resolved to take a break in his quarters for a short nap.

He stood up and moved away from the desk toward the door, but when he opened the panel, he heard a sound that filled him with dread.

“Meow.”

“No, no, no...” the bear muttered under his breath. A familiar shape hovered in the air just in front of him exactly at eye level. This time, two shimmering green lenses stared back at him, one positioned slightly above the other, and the metal whisker antennae below them twitched and repositioned themselves slightly as the new, metallic blue flying saucer scanned the accountant.

The bane of Durant’s existence was back, but the silent whirring of its internal mechanisms was quieter than the sounds of its predecessor. The bear groaned and fervently hoped that Pockets had programmed this version of the mobile sentry system to be less troublesome than the original. If not, he would jettison it personally, without preamble or confession to the deed. Durant moved out into the darkened cargo bay past the new unit and headed for the lift. He was in no mood to deal with Moss, especially in his present state of mind.

***

On the recreation deck, several members of the Blue Horizon crew watched a movie on the large vidscreen. Pockets sat on one end of a couch and Cindy stretched out along the rest with her head in his lap. On the other couch was Tanis and Lorelei, huddled together over a large bowl of popcorn. Maximillian was stretched out on the floor at their feet, and Samantha was draped over a recliner off to the side. Merlin stood at the coffee maker in the kitchen at the back of the room as the movie progressed behind him.

The intercom beeped on a console near the galley and Merlin moved to thumb the control. “This is the captain,” he said, leaning close to the condenser microphone. The action from the film rose in volume, so he had to strain to hear the voice from the tiny speaker.

“Merlin, this is Renny.”

“Yes?”

“Did you know there are one thousand, one hundred, thirty-eight spots on the ceiling in here?”

Merlin smiled and picked up the coffee pot. “Sorry, ol’ boy. You’re on bridge watch and can’t leave for another two hours.”

“I know, but I’m bored,” the cheetah groaned. “One of these days you need to have to have Pockets install a video feed up here so I can watch a movie or INN while I’m up here.”

“Maybe,” the wolf replied, “but on watch, you’re supposed to be monitoring the controls and readouts, not distracted watching a movie.”

“What’s the difference between watching a movie and reading a book like you do?”

“The difference is your focus, Renny. I’ve seen you watching a show and I know how absorbed you get when you’re trying to take it all in, to the exclusion of all else.”

“I just don’t want to miss any details,” complained the navigator.

“Sorry, but no video feeds other than com on the bridge.”

“You’re no fun. Everything’s automated on the bridge and the VIS computer will alert us to any noticeable changes in readings; Sam explained the Geo-25 system in detail to me, Captain.” Renny tried to sound really convincing, “There’s no real need to have the bridge manned around the clock anymore.”

Merlin shook his head with a smile at the navigator’s efforts and replied, “Automation is a good thing, but I still want a physical body on the bridge at all times in the event of an emergency or a client trying to contact us. I know you wanted to see this movie, Renny, but it was your turn for bridge duty. You can watch it later.”

“Gee, thanks, boss,” the cheetah said dryly. “I knew I could depend on your compassion.”

“You should know by now to take something with you to do while on bridge duty – a book, a tablet, your knitting, whatever your interest. It’s your own fault for going in there empty-handed, as you tend to do half the time you have the watch.”

“Great... if I don’t fall asleep before my watch ends, I’ll get to see the movie after everyone else knows the ending. It would be just like Lori to be a blabbermouth and tell me what happened before I get to see it.”

“True,” the captain admitted. “She does seem to be enjoying it, too. I don’t want to miss it either, so I’m going back to my chair now.”

“Oh, all right,” the cheetah replied in a dejected tone. “I’ll be sure to call you if anything ever livens up in here.”

***

Tanis picked up his empty soda cup in one hand and retrieved the popcorn bowl in the other. He followed Lorelei across the Rec Room to the galley and admired the little puffy cottontail protruding through the rear flap of her lounge pants. Everyone else had already left to do other things and Renny had arrived with full intent to watch the movie they had just finished.

The navigator had his arms loaded down with snacks of his own and smiled at them as he headed toward a recliner. Lorelei put her glass on the counter and took the bowl from Tanis. She looked at the orphan kernels left behind and wrinkled her nose.

“I wish all the kernels would pop,” she said with a frown.

Tanis chuckled. “Ya would think the evolution of popcorn would have advanced enough over the centuries that someone would have come up with a way to make all the kernels pop.”

“Yeah!” the white rabbit agreed.

“Nalirran scientists came close a few years back, but it had an unpleasant side effect and didn’t sell well.”

Lori emptied the remnants of the popcorn into a small container and then set the bowl in the galley sink. She wiped her hands on a towel and then set it aside.

She looked up at Tanis and smiled at him with large blue eyes. “Can you tell me about your homeworld?” she asked him in a lilting voice. “My family traveled a lot while my Papa was in the military, but we never made it to Nalirra. I always heard it really wasn’t a friendly place to visit.”

The desert fox shrugged his shoulders. “It still isn’t,” he admitted. “I grew up in probably the only stranger-friendly country on the planet, but even then, I have no desire to ever go back there.”

“Tell me about your hometown, please?” Lori asked.

“Sure.”

“How about telling her about it elsewhere?” Renny called from across the room. “I want to watch the movie, not listen to your hometown stories!”

The medic snorted, but smiled at Lorelei. “Yer cabin or mine?” he asked her with narrowed eyes.

The rabbit laughed and took him by the arm. “Yours,” she said. “I know you don’t care for all my crystals and incense. Besides, your mattress is more comfortable than mine.”

“All the cabins have the same beds, Lori.”

“Not true. Yours is more comfortable.”

Renny turned the volume of the movie’s opening fanfare up so high that they could not talk further, so they took the hint and headed for the lift. Only when the doors closed behind them did Renny lower it back down to an acceptable level.

Tanis and Lorelei stepped out of the lift onto the crew deck and headed for the medic’s quarters. They went inside and Lori went straight through the front room to the bedroom. She climbed up on the headboard end, pulled his pillow up into her lap, and then wrapped her arms around it. She smiled at him over the top of it and waited for him to get situated.

Tanis realized they were not going to play so he settled into his desk chair and propped his feet up on the bed after kicking off his soft-sided boots. “So, what would ya like to know about the trouble-makers of the Planetary Alignment?” he asked.

“I dunno,” Lorelei replied. “Just tell me anything about Nalirra. What’s the planet like?”

The desert fox scratched the bottom of his chin and looked upward in thought. “Hmmm, okay. Nalirra is divided up into four continents, with a single country dominating each one. About forty years ago, a young hyena named Sed Amittias initiated the conquest of the other countries. He was the ruler of the southern country Braf, and after the end of a brutal three-year war, Amittias took over the planet as its sole dictator. He was a cunning strategist. There have been periodic attempts by others to oust him, but he’s been quite safe in his citadel at Sardis.”

“Which country are you from?”

“Kardon,” he answered. “It’s the smallest of the four countries, but we’ve always had the best technologies - probably because we’ve had more freedom for research. The other three have tried to take them from us for ages, but we’ve also had a better military because of our sciences.”

He smiled at her and added, “Nalirra was colonized nearly three centuries ago, but the technology for space flight was lost within the first hundred years after Earth abandoned us. Kardon was the first country to go off-planet again a hundred and thirty years ago, but none of the other countries had a successful launch for another twenty years after that. By that time, we had already started to investigate the other planets in our system, but when Amittias took over, he shared our captured technology with the other countries.”

Lorelei stretched out on the bed and propped her chin up with the pillow. “If you had the better military, how did he take over?”

Tanis crossed his arms and frowned. “He infiltrated the ruling bodies with his own people, or those he could sway to his side,” he replied. “That’s the simplest way to put it. During the battles that took place away from the country capitols, Amittias’ operatives undermined the other rulers and eventually had them all assassinated in their sleep. Those who were left in charge were already on his payroll.”

“He doesn’t sound very nice.”

“No,” the medic agreed, “but that happened forty years ago. Despite his dictatorial rule he allowed that each country could retains their own customs and ways of doing things. The four areas may still bicker with one another, but there are actually some very nice areas on the planet like Alosia. That’s on the edge of the Alos desert, but it’s my hometown and there’s a lot to see and do around there. Not,” he added, “that I intend to recommend a visit to outsiders.”

“You don’t think I’d like it?” Lori asked.

“I think ya would,” Tanis answered, “but ya’d be harassed by the locals for no reason other than ya were not from there.”

Lorelei’s ears drooped a little. “If everyone there’s so rude, how did you turn out nice?” she asked.

Arktanis smiled and sat up. He leaned closer to the bed with his elbows on his knees and replied, “I left Nalirra and spent a good deal of time in other places. I seriously doubt ya would have liked me when I first jumped off-world. I was a different person then.”

“Well,” the rabbit said with a smile, “I like you now, Tanis. You’re nice and snuggly.”

The desert fox grinned widely and moved onto the bed to sit beside her. “I like ya, too,” he cooed into her ears.

***

“Yes, ma’am,” Cynthya Allport said into her headset microphone. “We should arrive at the Mars Colony in about eight days with an overnight layover, and then after a twenty-hour journey, we’ll be on Earth for three days to load up cargo bound for Argeia.” She paused to scribble some information on the screen of her slateboard with a claw tip and nodded to herself. “Uh huh. It will take us three weeks to reach Argeia, three days down and then three and half weeks of travel before we can get to you. That will be okay?” She smiled to herself. “Yes, ma’am. We’re always glad to do business with you, too. Yes, ma’am, I now have you on our flight itinerary. Yes, ma’am, that is still our standard delivery price. Okay, we will see you in a little over six weeks. Thank you... you, too.” The mouse switched off the connection and then quickly transferred her notes into the ship’s computer.

Cindy was three hours into her watch and had made good use of the time to further their business orders. She sat back in the com station chair and stretched. She stared out the forward windows into space for a moment and let herself relax.

After a few heartbeats, she got up and moved around the small bridge, glancing at each station’s readouts. She considered sitting down in the pilot seat, but changed her mind and slid back into the chair at the com station. As she did, she noticed a small flashing light that alternated between red and amber. She frowned and unconsciously brushed her hair up over her right ear with a finger. The mouse thumbed the intercom and waited.

“This is Merlin,” the wolf’s voice said a moment later.

“Captain, it’s Cindy. I have a red and orange flashing light on the com panel, but it’s not labeled. I don’t know what it means.”

“Uh oh — okay, I’ll be right there.”

“Uh oh? What do you mean by uh oh?” she asked, but Merlin had already dropped the connection. He had been in his den next door, so he arrived almost immediately. He wore a pair of blue trousers and a white tee shirt, in addition to his favorite captain’s hat. He went straight to her side and looked down at the panel.

“What did you mean by uh oh?” she asked him.

“We’re picking up a distress beacon.”

“Distress?” Cindy repeated. She frowned and watched as the wolf tapped out a command on the terminal keyboard; the circuitry within the right-hand forward window brought up a star chart of their current sector of space. A small green dot blinked to indicate the location of the Blue Horizon on the chart. Scattered blue and red dots in Doppler shift represented other ships tracked in pre-scheduled flight plans. The Blue Horizon was on a seldom-used shipping lane, its heading intersected by a small red dot a short distance in front of them. A readout of scanned information scrolled across the bottom of the screen and Merlin read it silently.

“The distress signal is weak,” he said at last. “It’s not likely we would have picked it up had we been on the usual route to Earth. It appears to be traveling only on slow inertia.”

“So, what do we do?” Cindy asked. She had never taken part in a rescue operation before.

“Try to hail them,” the captain replied. Cindy nodded, picked up the headset and placed it around her large ears with the boom microphone near her lips.

“This is the SS Blue Horizon,” she transmitted on the same frequency as the beacon. “Your signal has been received. Please respond.”

Cindy listened and fine-tuned the controls before her, but retained her frown. She repeated her message three times with a thirty second pause between each of them. “I’m not getting a response,” she told her captain. “I think it’s automated.”

Merlin moved to the navigational console and sat down. “Where’s Renny?” he asked over his shoulder.

“I think he’s still watching the movie on the rec deck,” the mouse replied.

Merlin frowned and shook his head. “Okay, I’ll take his place at navigation. Cindy, you take the pilot seat and adjust our course to the figures I give you when I get them calculated.”

“Okay,” she replied hesitantly. It had been a long time since she had actually piloted an Okami freighter manually, but the ability to fly one was a requirement for everyone on the crew – even the young Max had been required to learn to operate the ship’s central seat; he was not proficient yet, but was still learning. Cindy took her place at the pilot station and took hold of the guidance shifts as she watched Merlin’s fingers click across the navigational panel. He bit his lip in concentration and then tapped a green pad.

“The coordinates are on your screen now,” he said. “Release the autopilot and alter course.”

“Yes, sir.”

Merlin did not think twice about her ability to pilot the ship and turned his attention to a navigational scanner. The course change was simple and it only took them off their scheduled flight on a small tangent, so the process turned out to be fairly easy for the mouse. She adjusted three settings and moved the guidance shifts accordingly.

“We’re on the new heading, Captain,” she reported.

“Good.” The wolf keyed in a few more commands on the navigation console and then nodded silently to himself. “We’re on a heading straight for the signal. At our present speed we should arrive in about fifty minutes.” He stood up and walked back to the pilot seat to stand beside her. He pointed to a gauge on her panel and said, “When we’re five minutes away from the target, begin braking to decrease our speed to half sub-light, and then by another quarter two minutes past that. When we hit that five-minute mark, call me on the intercom. I’m going to be down in the cargo bay with Durant to get the emergency hatch tunnel ready to extend.”

“Okay, sir,” she said in a nervous voice.

Merlin looked up into her eyes and asked in a soft voice, “Want me to get someone else up here to handle this with you?”

She shook her head. She did not want him to think she could not do her job. “Uh, no. I can take care of it.”

“Okay,” he said with a smile. “Call me if anything changes, including your mind.”

She chuckled and relaxed a little. “Aye, sir, I will.”

Merlin turned and left the bridge without another word, leaving the mouse alone with her assignment.

***

Antoinette Delondin poured hot tea from a thermal container into her cup and then set it aside. The human female took a tentative sip of the drink and then nodded to her companion in satisfaction. “Just the way I like it, Mark,” she said with a smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Toni,” he replied. The other human crew member of the Hidalgo Sun took the thermal container and then poured a cup for himself. Toni had spent a lot of time on the bridge since the engines had gone offline. There were windows in all of the cabins, but they were tiny and the accountant loved the view of the stars from the large command center windows. Mark Littlefeather knew of her fondness for raspberry tea and hoped he could earn some points with her by taking some to her. She smiled at him warmly and held the cup in her hands, but then her gaze drifted back toward the windows.

Mark took a drink of the hot liquid and studied the slender woman. She was in her late twenties, had darkly tanned skin like himself, and short black hair that hovered over her collar without touching it. He loved her large green eyes and knew he could get lost in them if she would ever give him the chance to get closer. Today she wore black slacks and a green, short-sleeved blouse made of silk that matched her eyes and shimmered in the bridge lights. He wore a pair of denim jeans and a simple white tee shirt that was a size too small.

Toni took off her large-rimmed glasses and set them on the console beside her. She took another sip of her tea and then set it on the counter beside her lenses so she could rub her eyes gently. When she looked back over at her quiet companion, she put her glasses back on and picked up her cup.

“Do you ever get lonely, Mark?” she asked in a quiet voice. The loadmaster was caught off guard and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He cleared his throat and she put a hand up to her lips. “Oh, sorry,” she said quickly. “You’ve shown me your family pictures before and I wondered if you missed them.”

“Ah,” the large man replied with a nod. “Yes, I do miss them, but I try not to dwell on the memories too much. It’s been ten years since the crash.”

“Why did you never remarry?” she asked. Mark studied her expressions, but was unable to read her intentions.

“It’s the same story you’ll get from most people who’ve lost someone like that,” he said after a moment. “I didn’t want to get too attached to anyone else, only to lose them again; at least, that’s what I keep telling myself.”

“Is that why you’re serving on a ship crewed by...” she chose her next word carefully, “...Furs?”

Mark sat back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. “Partly,” he admitted. “I’ve been with the Hidalgo Sun long enough that I’ve grown really fond of some of them, but if you’re asking, no, I don’t sleep with any of them.” He smiled a bit and added, “Well, a couple of them have curled up with me in the bed, but only in sleep. My people have always held animals in high regard, whether they were sapient or not, but... not that.” Toni started to reply, but Mark added quickly, “What about you?”

“Do I sleep with any of them?” she asked. “No, I...”

“I meant, do you ever get lonely for your family?”

“Yeah,” she admitted, “a lot. My dad still serves in the military on Earth and both of my brothers are away on other planets learning what they can learn. Mother is mother... ever the faithful housewife to dad, and she’s still so much in love with him.”

“Have you ever had a family of your own?” Mark asked tentatively.

Toni did not hesitate, but she did shift her gaze back to the stars beyond the windows. “No,” she answered. “I never had the time.”

Mark pressed his luck a little further and asked, “Any potential prospects?”

“No,” she said again. She did not look at him, but continued. “I was always too skinny and I don’t have much of a chest, so no one ever showed much of an interest in me.” With her attention on the stars, she didn’t see her companion’s cheeks redden.

“What about now?” he asked as he tried to will his heart to slow down. “Do you ever get lonely for close, human company?”

“Mark! There’s something out there!” She stood up and leaned closer to the windows, their conversation instantly forgotten.

The moment lost, loadmaster sighed and stood up beside her. “What is it?”

“I think it’s another ship,” she said. “The color is dark, so it’s hard to see. I think it’s navy blue, but there are running lights.” She tapped the communications controls, but got no response. “Com is still out,” she moaned.

“I see it,” Mark said. “It’s another freighter and it’s slowing down to match our inertia. It must be one of the new ones. It’s larger than ours, nearly twice our size.” He glanced over at her with a smile. “They might be trying to line up their hatch with ours!”

They looked at one another briefly and both grinned widely. Rescued! Toni hugged him suddenly and then kissed him full on the lips. She lingered for a moment before she drew back and then looked up into his astonished eyes with a shy smile.

She blushed and then headed for the corridor. “I’ll go tell the captain,” she said. “You’d better get down to the main hatch.”

“Right!” he said. The human male licked his lips and then remembered to turn on the ship’s own external running lights before he left the bridge.

***

Mark Littlefeather bypassed the slow lift and opened the panel next to it for the emergency ladder. He grabbed the sides and descended two rungs at a time. He jumped out onto the floor from the last meter up and stumbled when he hit the ground. He almost fell into one of the octagonal plastic crates that held their cargo, but managed to right himself in time. He bounded around the outer aisle of the hold and approached the main airlock. He shielded his eyes from the cargo bay lights and peered out the small window of thick glass set into the hull beside the hatch.

The blue Okami freighter had matched his ship’s inertial speed and the two vessels were now no more than a few meters apart. Mark could not see its registered name because of a flexible tunnel that extended from the stranger’s main hatch. It was a standard ship-to-ship passageway that all starships were equipped with for just such situations. He could see a figure in a pressure suit just outside the appendage, guiding it along with maneuvering jets. He immediately noted the tail sleeve trailing the individual.

The human activated the controls to begin depressurization of the airlock and he looked over his shoulder in anticipation. He expected Captain Rezo to show up at any moment, but apparently no one else knew about the rescue ship since none of the others had yet appeared. It was a shame the malfunctioning com system included the intercom. A sound at the hatch brought his face back to the glass. He could not see the suited figure anymore, but he could hear the seal couplings connecting the end of the tunnel to the hull. A long moment later, several distinct metal-on-metal knocks on the airlock outer hatch sounded. He glanced at a gauge near the glass and was satisfied with the readout. He thumbed a large red button beneath the gauge and the outer door locks released with a hard clunk.

He moved over to a small window in the inside door and watched the newcomer enter the small compartment and give him a thumbs-up sign. Mark knew what to do and began the airlock pressurization. The process would take longer this time, since he would have to pressurize the flexible passageway between the two ships in addition to the airlock. He heard footsteps behind him and looked back to see Alice approach him with a yawn.

“What’s up, Littlefeather?” she asked him. “I heard banging.”

Mark grinned at the snow leopard and gestured toward the hatch. “We’ve got visitors!” he said.

The older female twitched her tail and whiskers and stuck her face up to the airlock window, fogging up the glass with her breath. “Who is it?” she asked.

“Not sure,” Mark replied as he checked the pressure gauge, “but it’s another freighter. Her registry number is PA1138, but I couldn’t see the ship’s name.”

“The com system is still down,” Alice commented as she brushed food crumbs from her lavender nightshirt. “How did you know they were coming?”

The human laughed and replied, “Toni looked out the window and just saw it. She’s gone to get the captain.” A small beep from the panel indicated full pressure in the airlock. Alice glanced out the side window and saw that the flexible tunnel sides were taut and looked like a solid wall of silvery metal now. Mark toggled a switch and the inside hatch locks released with another clunk. He stepped back when the thick door pulled inward several inches before it slid to the right on tracks.

The person inside reached up to release the seal ring on the neck of the pressure suit. With a sharp snick, the helmet came loose. Mark had expected a Fur, but he swallowed hard when he saw the lupine head uncovered. It was his spiritual guide!

Mark grinned widely and extended a hand toward the visitor. “Welcome to the Hidalgo Sun, stranger!” he said excitedly. The wolf hesitated briefly but then shook his hand in greeting. “We’re so very glad to see you! My name’s Mark and this is Alice.”

The individual inside the suit nodded quickly to each and then said in a low-throated voice, “I’m Merlin Sinclair, captain of the Blue Horizon. We picked up your distress signal.”

Taking the initiative, Alice said, “Our LightDrive engine is out of commission, Captain, and...” Approaching footsteps interrupted the beginning of her explanation. A short, very thin lemur ran up to them and stopped beside her. The diminutive critter stared up at the wolf with a big grin, her red eyes unblinking.

“Boy, are you a welcome sight!” she said excitedly. She sniffled and then blew her nose on a handkerchief she produced from a pocket.

Merlin smiled down at her and then shifted his attention up to more arrivals. Before anyone could say more, he lowered his chin onto a tiny lever within his pressure suit and spoke into the condenser microphone near his lips. “Cindy, give the all clear. Have Tanis, Renny and Samantha join me over here. The tunnel is pressurized, so they won’t need suits.”

“Aye, captain.”

Merlin looked over at an approaching group of individuals and noted how bedraggled most of them looked. He did not know how long they had been without engine power, but he correctly assumed it had been more than just a few days from the expressions on their faces.

A female black jaguar moved in close to him and he resisted the sudden urge to flee. The memories of Sagan were still fresh in his mind. Before he could react, however, she slipped forward and gave him a fierce hug. The action surprised him, but he decided to let it go. Apparently, they had given up hope of a rescue. The jaguar pulled back long enough to peer into his golden eyes and then gave his cheek an emotional lick. This elicited chuckles from the assembled group, but the shapely feline remained at his side with an arm threaded through one of his.

“Well, now,” a short red panda said in a squeaky voice with a wide smile as he stepped forward, “I see Tsarina has given you her standard greeting!” There was more laughter from the group. “I am Captain Rezo Kegawa of the Hidalgo Sun.”

Merlin managed to pull himself away from the jaguar and knelt down to face the panda eye to eye. Rezo was about the same height as Pockets, rather than his larger black and white cousins.

The wolf extended a hand in greeting. “I’m Captain Merlin Sinclair of the Blue Horizon,” he replied.

Rezo shook his hand willingly. The dark stripes in the fur beneath his eyes made them look slightly slanted and small, but the gratitude in them was genuine and warm. “Thank you for stopping to investigate, Captain,” he said. “We’ve been adrift for twelve days, our engines and communications inoperative.”

“Anyone injured?” Merlin asked. “We have a medic on board.”

A female polar bear moved forward one step and replied, “I’m Doctor Burgess, Captain,” she said, “but everyone’s in good health.” She looked around at her crewmates and added with a smile, “Unless you want to count Riki’s sinus infection and some mild cases of cabin fever from boredom.” There were a few chuckles.

There was a clunk at the far end of the walkway. Merlin turned to glance behind him and saw three members of his crew floating toward him in casual clothing. He wanted to get out of the suit as soon as possible. With the helmet off and the extra pressure in the suit gone inside the artificial gravity of this ship, the joints were creased and causing him discomfort.

The jaguar whistled when she saw Renny step from the gravity deck plates of the airlock and float toward them across the space between ships in the pressurized tunnel. “This is getting better and better,” she said with a grin.

Like his captain, Renny felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of the dark feline and he took a hesitant step backward after reaching gravity again. He bumped into the desert fox behind him. Tsarina noticed the expression on his face and was puzzled at his reaction. She left the wolf’s side and rejoined her own crew.

Merlin looked at the cheetah with a frown. “Help me out of this, please,” he said. Immediately, Renny and Tanis began to unbuckle the joint seals of his suit. As they worked, Merlin nodded toward the Border collie at his side. “This is Samantha, my computer tech,” he said, and then with a wooden smile gestured toward the cheetah. “This is our navigator, Renny, and the other guy is Tanis, our medic.”

“Hello,” Renny and Tanis said in unison.

“What happened?” Samantha asked. Merlin quickly repeated what he had been told as the suit came apart around him. He finally stepped out of the leggings and turned his attention back to Rezo.

“If you’d like,” he said, “you can join me in my den and we can discuss your situation in more detail. In the meantime, our two crews can mingle a bit.”

“That would be good,” the red panda replied, “but I’m afraid we don’t have much room for a large gathering.”

“That’s okay,” Samantha said. “Our ship has a spacious recreation deck perfect for mingling.”

Merlin nodded his approval. “The tunnel is secure between our two ships, so everyone can come and go as needed while we’re coupled together.” Tsarina snickered at his choice of words and Rezo rolled his eyes.

“Let me introduce my crew to you, Captain,” the red panda said. “You’ve already met my navigator, Tsarina Ahnya.” He gestured toward the snow leopard at his side. “This is my chief engineer, Alice Forrestal. Doctor Carmen Burgess, you just met. Next to her is Sean Jones.”

The orange tabby cat cleared his throat with a smile and said, “Everyone calls me Jonesy.”

“Next to him is Keri Petrie, my supply officer and our cook.” The small gray mouse smiled, though seemed lethargic. It had been a while since her last fix of caffeine.

“This big guy I think you’ve already met. Mark Littlefeather is our loadmaster.”

“Hello,” the human said.

“Next to him is Roger Paxton,” Rezo said, indicating a palomino horse. “He’s our mechanic.”

“Just call him Roj,” the lemur said with a smirk.

“Don’t start that again,” the equine mechanic snorted with a shake of his head. Like the rest of his species, his kind had been gene-spliced from Terran horses three hundred years earlier, and although he stood upright on hooves and digitigrade legs like the Silloni, his arms ended in human-like hands. He placed one of those hands upon his chest and splayed out long fingers. “If you don’t mind, just call me Pax.”

Rezo chuckled. “Riki Nori, my communications officer,” he said of the lemur. He turned and then gestured toward a human female in glasses who stood behind everyone else. “And this is Toni Delondin, my accountant.”

Merlin twitched his right ear when he saw her. “Antoinette Delondin?” he asked.

Toni stepped forward and smiled. “Hello, Captain,” she said. “Nice to see you again, especially now.”

Riki looked back and forth between the wolf and human. “You two know one another?” she asked with a sniffle.

Merlin looked embarrassed, but nodded. “She put in an application with my ship a few months ago when I needed a temporary replacement for one of my crew.”

“Was it on Pomen?” Jonesy asked.

“Aye, it was,” Merlin replied. “How did you know?”

“Captain Kegawa hired me about a week later,” Toni explained with a shrug.

Merlin stepped closer and held out a hand, palm upward. “Please forgive me for not selecting you,” he said.

She smiled at him and took his hand. “Forgiven,” she said. “My experience is more toward accounting, so my duties on the Hidalgo Sun are more appropriate than the position I applied for with your ship.”

“Ah,” the wolf said.

Tanis took the lull in the conversation as a sign and held up a hand for everyone to see. “The Blue Horizon is the latest model of Okami freighters,” he said, “and there’s plenty of room for everyone if ya want to come over and take a look around.”

Merlin and Samantha looked at one another. It looked like Tanis was going to play tour guide. “Captain?” he said to the red panda.

“Please, lead the way,” Rezo said.

***

When Durant walked onto the rec deck, the place was noisy with the buzz of animated conversations. The crews of both freighters were visiting and the grizzly bear could not remember the last time the third deck had been so lively. Pockets and Maximillian were involved in a discussion with a snow leopard and a palomino horse close to the lift and he heard them all speak in the techno-babble language that engineers and mechanics were known for. He could not tell which ship’s engines they discussed and he just nodded his head toward them with a smile as he walked past.

Cindy and another mouse relaxed on one of the couches laughing and talking in whispers together and a small lemur joined them with sodas. Durant looked around and saw Lori at the galley counter with a female black jaguar who looked rather forlorn. He hesitated a moment when he saw her and had to force Sagan’s face from his mind. Near the front video panel was Samantha. She had her arms crossed as she listened to an orange tabby’s account of their current troubles. Two humans, a man and a woman, stood behind the feline to inject their own comments into his tale when needed. Tanis and Renny were across the room engaged in a conversation with someone, but Durant could not tell who it was from his vantage point.

He turned his attention back to Samantha and approached her small group.

“Whoa,” the orange cat said as the grizzly bear stopped beside the Border collie. “You’re a big ‘un...”

The accountant looked down at him and gave him a smile. “Hello,” he said. “I’m Durant. Pardon me for interrupting.”

“Sure, jump on into the conversation,” Jonesy said with a grin.

Durant had not met any of the crew of the Hidalgo Sun until now and almost felt like a stranger on his own ship within the crowd. He looked over at Samantha and gestured casually out over the room.

“Where’s the boss?” he asked.

Samantha took a pull on her soda straw and shrugged her shoulders. “The captains have been in his den for over an hour,” she replied. “What’s up?”

The grizzly leaned close the collie to speak over the noise of the room, but when he did, he saw the person Tanis and Renny had been talking with. He immediately forgot what he was going to say and started to grin.

“Uh, never mind,” he said absently. “It wasn’t important.” Without waiting for a reply, he wandered off in the direction he had been staring.

“What was that all about?” Mark Littlefeather asked curiously.

Sam was puzzled. “I’m not sure,” she replied.

Durant stopped when he was directly behind Renny, leaned on the cheetah’s shoulders with an arm, and looked over at the female polar bear they were talking with. The navigator looked up at him with a grin. “Hi, Durant,” Renny said.

“Durant?” the polar bear repeated. She looked at him with her head tilted slightly to the left. “Leonardo Durant?”

Tanis immediately stepped backward a pace to put distance between him and the bears. He knew how much the loadmaster hated his first name and expected a forthcoming explosive response. He was surprised, however, when Durant merely grinned.

“Hello, Carmen,” he said.

“Carmen?” Renny looked back and forth between the bears and laughed. “Well, I’ll be... this is the Carmen you told us about?” he asked.

“Yes, it is.”

Carmen looked at him curiously. “What did you tell them about me?” she asked.

Durant shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I told them I met a wonderful woman on the beach on Pomen named Carmen, and that we shared a nice dinner and conversation.”

Tanis stepped back up to his original spot and added, “Spending time with ya that one day helped bring Durant up out of his depression, y’know.”

Carmen smiled at the desert fox and replied, “No, I didn’t know that.”

“We were all fairly down at the time,” Renny said. He looked over at the grizzly and sighed. “I think Durant and I were competing to see who was hardest to get along with.”

“How sad.” Carmen stepped forward and gave both of them a quick lick on the cheek. “As a doctor,” she said, “I have an interest in the mental well-being of my patients, as well as the physical. Even if you weren’t my specific patients, I still feel for your pains.”

Renny looked up at her as she stepped back. “We’re okay now,” he said, “but we went through some rough days.” He glanced over at the desert fox and made a motion with his head. Tanis nodded and looked up at the polar bear.

“It was nice meeting ya, Doctor Burgess,” he said, “but Renny and I are going to mingle with the other guests a bit and let ya and Durant catch up.”

Carmen smiled at the medic. “Thank you, Tanis. We’ll talk again later.” As the cheetah and fox walked away, she motioned toward a surprisingly empty couch and said to Durant, “Shall we sit down?”

Across the room, a lull had come into a conversation that had left Max floundering for understanding some time ago. The snow leopard named Alice was an older motherly type, but she had an extensive knowledge on the workings of an Okami freighter.

“So, Jerad,” she said to the Blue Horizon’s chief engineer, “where’s your brother? I keep expecting him to walk through the lift at any moment. I haven’t seen him since we ran into one another on Pomen.”

The raccoon frowned and stuck his hands in the pockets of his coveralls. “Jasper isn’t with us anymore,” he said sourly.

The leopard’s eyes went wide. “Oh no... How did it happen?” she asked.

Pockets suddenly realized how his comment must have sounded. “Oops,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that, Alice. He’s okay... he just doesn’t work here anymore.”

The other engineer let out a heavy sigh and then smiled crookedly with a hand up to her chest. “Don’t scare me like that,” she said with a strained laugh. “I like the old coon.”

“Hey!” Pockets said with mock indignation. “I’m the same age as he is, and he’s not that old!”

“Okay, so tell me, why did he leave?” Alice asked. “I never thought I’d see the day when the Porter brothers would ever be willingly separated.”

Pockets still felt sore toward his brother for leaving the way he did, but they had known Alice years earlier when they had all three served together on a Ganisan battleship. He quickly detailed the situation that led up to Patch’s departure. After he finished, Alice crossed her arms and gave him a perplexed look.

“So, he’s on board a cruise ship now, eh?” she said. “I’ll bet it irks him that he’s not the Chief Engineer anymore.”

Pockets shrugged. “Probably. He always did like being in charge of the engine room, but I haven’t heard anything from him since he set sail on the Argonautia. I’ve sent a few letters, but he hasn’t answered any of them.”

Paxton had been quiet throughout the recent turn of the conversation and suddenly put a hand on his stomach. It growled loudly. Max snickered and looked up at the horse with a grin.

“Want something to eat?” he asked. “Lori’s got a lot of stuff in the galley.”

The palomino looked embarrassed but nodded with a smile. “Lead the way, boy,” he said. “We’ve been rationing our food stores.”

Pockets watched Max and Pax head across the room and then turned back to the leopard. “He’s a good kid and is a fine student,” he said to her. “Max has a lot of potential in him.”

“Perhaps with the four of us working together, we can come up with a way to get the Hidalgo Sun operational again.”

Pockets glanced up at her and bit his bottom lip. “I know you’re probably sick of looking at the inside of your ship right now, but can I go over and take a look?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll take you over there, myself.”

When Max and Paxton arrived at the galley, the jaguar sitting there put her head on her arms on the counter; Lori had gone out into the crowd to mingle. “What’s the matter, Tsarina?” Paxton asked her. “You’re usually excited to meet new people.”

The ebony feline glanced up at him with doleful eyes and sighed. “Everyone acts like I’m some kind of pariah,” she groaned. “Every time some of the Horizon crew looks at me, I see fear in their eyes. I don’t understand it.”

Max sat down at the counter beside her and put a hand on her arm. “I know why,” he said timidly. “It’s not you they’re afraid of, but seeing you brings up some awful memories.” Tsarina looked at him silently, waiting for him to continue. Pax sat down on her other side and focused on the young canine. Max looked for the right words to say.

“Are you familiar with the name of Sagan?” he asked.

Tsarina shook her head that she did not, but Pax nodded. “What’s that pirate got to do with this?”

“Sagan was the one who unleashed that nasty virus on Hestra,” Max explained. “He has also attacked the Blue Horizon on more than one occasion. The last time we met up, he got on board somehow, hurt some of us and killed Taro, too. Well, we’re not really sure she’s dead, since we haven’t heard anything about her since the crash, but everyone thinks she died from her injuries; they were pretty bad.”

“That’s awful, but I still don’t understand what this has to do with me,” Tsarina said.

Pax leaned over to her and whispered into her ear, “Sagan was a black jaguar, dear.”

“Oh...” she muttered in a quiet breath. “They think because I’m a jaguar that I’m related to him?”

“No,” Max said quickly. “That’s not it at all. No one blames you for what happened to us, only Sagan and his crew.”

“But, because I’m of the same species...”

“...it brings up memories of the attack.” Pax finished.

“Uh huh,” the young canine replied. “It’s not your fault, but I think that’s probably what’s going through their minds.”

Tsarina looked at him, sure that she did not really feel any better by his explanation. “Were you there when it happened?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, “but I never saw Sagan, myself. They stopped him before he got to where I was on the bridge.”

“Is this why you aren’t afraid to talk to me?”

“I guess,” Max said with the shrug of his shoulders. “I think you’re pretty, too.”

Tsarina suddenly smiled in spite of herself. “Why, thank you, Max,” she said. She touched him gently on the back of his hand with a finger, making him wonder at its significance.

Max cleared his throat and said, “Uh, would you like me to introduce you to some of the others? There were only three on our crew who actually fought with him face to face. If you talk to the others, perhaps you can show them you’re not the same as Sagan.”

“I don’t know,” she said as she absently fingered the straps of her yellow overalls. “It might not make a difference.”

“Then again, it might,” Pax said. “Go ahead, Tsarina.”

Max looked up at her renewed interest as she glanced around the room. “Can you introduce me to the cheetah?” she asked. The other feline had piqued her interest ever since she first saw him.

“Uh... that might be difficult,” Max said with a lump in his throat. “Taro was his girlfriend, you know, the one we think died. He still misses her a lot.”

“Yeah, that figures… Okay then, how about the cute fox? Was he traumatized by this Sagan?”

“Nope, he’s good. Tanis is a neat guy. Let me go get him.”

***

“I dunno about this,” the voice of Pockets shouted from the opening of a small access panel. Alice knelt beside the passageway and peered inside at the raccoon. “The primary capacity lifter on the energy transfer unit is so shot I don’t think there’s a way to fix it, even if we could get it out onto the workbench in one piece.”

“That’s why I haven’t bothered to pull it out of there yet,” the leopard replied. “I crawled in there last week to remove it, but once I saw its condition, I didn’t see a need to go through the trouble. It would take half a day just to get it out of there and then the ship would be without any kind of power at all in the meantime.”

“You crawled in here?” Pockets asked in an amazed tone and looked out at her. “There’s barely enough room for me and you’re bigger than I am.”

Alice gave him a sultry look and said, “I’m very flexible.”

Pockets grinned back at her. “Yeah, that’s a neat trait you felines have. Okay, I’m coming back out. There’s nothing I can do in here.”

“Most ships carry spares of their important parts,” Alice said as the raccoon inched his way back out toward the engine room, “but we’ve used up most of ours over the past couple of years with no budget to keep any replacements in stock.”

“I can look in my stores to see if I have something that might work,” Pockets grunted as he neared the opening, “but our parts are for an H-model, not a D.”

“Think we can modify it to work?”

“Dunno, but we can try,” he said. “I’m pretty handy with gadgets.”

Alice gave him a hand and pulled him free of the tight passage opening. “Yes, I remember your gadgets,” she said with a grin. “I still use a couple you made for me way back when.”

Pockets glanced up at her. “Oh, really?” he replied with a smirk. “Okay, let’s get back over to the Horizon to see what we can alter.”

***

“I can’t tell you enough how glad I am to see you, Captain Sinclair.” Rezo took a lap of his coffee and savored the rich flavor. “The foremost reason, of course, is because my ship broke down, but I’ve also heard a lot of good things about you,” he added. “Of all people to come to my aid, I’m glad it was you.”

Merlin leaned back and propped his feet up on the desk of his den, his own cup of coffee in hand. “Oh? Who’s been talking about me?” he asked.

The red panda smiled at him. “Holly Harken, for one. Coverage of your voyage to Sillon was the main focus of her newscasts for months, and while your final battle with the Basilisk over Crescentis didn’t make all the headlines in the PA, there are those who took notice.”

Merlin looked at him and frowned. “Notice, yeah. I’ve been threatened against rebuilding my business. Not the kind of notice I really wanted. No one’s made a move against us as yet, but we have to be on the alert and keep an eye over our shoulders because of that threat.”

Rezo looked at him in surprise. “Threatened?” By whom?”

“I don’t know, but I have to assume it was someone associated with Sagan’s crew,” the wolf replied after taking another lap of his drink. “My only other enemy wouldn’t pull anything like that. It’s not his style.”

“You have another enemy?”

Merlin chuckled. “That’s too strong a word. Armando Jensen is more of a business rival that we’ve bumped into on numerous occasions. He flies a Sakura-class freighter called the Savannah Hunter and we always end up verbally sparring anytime we meet.”

“Sakura? Why would he want to fly one of those things for?” Rezo exclaimed. “Back when I was younger, I was the pilot for a Sakura freighter. The controls are unwieldy and it has too many blind spots, despite external cameras and sensors mounted all over its hull.”

“It can carry a larger payload than any Okami freighter,” Merlin replied. “His ship will hold more cargo that even mine and he thinks by having that capacity that he can get more customers.”

“Does he do well, business-wise?”

The wolf shook his head. “Not really. Armando likes to cut corners and even cheat to get his clients, but I’ve not really seen that it’s done him any good. Despite this, he’s still in business.”

Rezo leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk. “Sounds like you keep tabs on him,” he said.

Merlin shrugged. “It never hurts to monitor your competitor’s business,” he replied. He took another lap of his coffee and then put his feet on the floor. “What about you?” he asked. “How’s your business doing?”

Rezo sighed and sat back in his chair. “Not good,” the red panda answered. “I barely make a profit after paying my employees and maintaining my ship, and sometimes I have trouble doing even that.” He looked over at the wolf and shook his head. “The Hidalgo Sun is seventeen years old. Parts are getting harder to find for this model and when we can locate them, they are either expensive because of their rarity or we have to dig them out of a salvage yard. I can’t afford a newer ship because I can barely afford to even restock our supplies for each voyage.” He ran a hand over the red fur of his head and sighed again. “I hate to say this, but the Planetary Alignment needs a catastrophe somewhere so our business would pick up.”

Merlin looked over at him oddly. “A catastrophe?”

“Yeah... something where freighters such as ours would be in high demand to transport supplies, aid or people.” Rezo slid down in his seat a little and stared down at his feet. “If things don’t pick up soon, I’ll probably have to shut down my business and lay off my crew before long.”

“What’s your debt situation like?” the wolf asked him.

Without looking up, Rezo answered with a smile on his face. “Oddly enough, I’m in good shape. I paid off the loan on the Hidalgo Sun within three years of getting it and the rest of my credit history is good.”

“With a credit history like that, why not take out a loan to get a newer ship?” Merlin asked. “You wouldn’t have to get the newest H-model, but at least one that’s a little easier to maintain and get parts for.”

“I can’t afford the payments,” Rezo explained. “Until business picks up, it’s not likely I can afford another loan even if I do have a good credit history. I still have other bills to pay beyond that.” He looked over at the wolf with a deep frown. “If our combined mechanics can’t find a way to get my engines operational, I may have to abandon the ship altogether and beg you to let me buy passage for me my crew to ride with you to Mars. We might be able to find other jobs there.”

Merlin pursed his lips in thought for a moment and then said, “Hopefully, it won’t come to that.”

***

Durant stretched, yawned, and glanced across the room at the clock on his cabin terminal. It was still too early to crawl out of bed so he snuggled in closer to Carmen. She stirred a little in her sleep, but remained within her dreams.

The grizzly bear smiled to himself and felt grateful for the substandard parts of the Hidalgo Sun with only a hint of guilt. Carmen was a gentle and affectionate lover and it had been a while since Durant had spent time with someone like her. He glanced over at her face in the dim light of his cabin and saw her pleasant smile.

So lovely, he thought to himself. Had it not been for the breakdown of the Hidalgo Sun, he might not have ever seen her again after their brief meeting on Pomen. While he could not be sure of her own feelings, Durant resolved to stay in touch with her after this.

***

Antoinette floated gently across the tunnel that connected the two freighters. She enjoyed the sensation of weightlessness away from the artificial gravity deck-plates she had gotten used to on board the ships. She smiled to herself and halted her progress toward the Hidalgo Sun. Then with a tiny caress of the wall, she pushed away and twisted her body gently so that she executed a graceful pirouette. She turned slowly around and around, her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around herself.

Toni turned lazily in the air, her mind ignoring the constant thrumming of power from both freighters that vibrated across the tunnel walls. She heard one of the airlocks release and she looked across to see who had joined her. It was the Border collie from the other ship.

“Hello, Samantha,” she said with a smile.

Sam gave her a canine grin. “Hi. What’s going on?” she asked.

Toni shrugged and replied, “I like the weightlessness... I can dance in the air.” With her words, she turned in another pirouette, her arms outstretched in fluid movements. Had she been wearing veils, they would have trailed around her in delicate streams. “I can rarely find a place to do anything like this.”

Sam chuckled and tried her own take on what the woman had just done. She turned quietly in the air, and just for the fun of it, Samantha drew her legs up to her chest and turned end over end three times before righting herself. She looked at Toni with a smile and waved to her.

“Enjoy yourself,” she said with a chuckle. “I need to talk to our engineers.”

“Bye, Samantha,” Toni replied with another gentle twist. Before the Border collie had made it to the airlock at the other end of the tunnel, she could hear the human quietly humming to herself.

***

Moss hovered above Max’s ears as he, in turn, peered over Pockets’ shoulder. The raccoon browsed through the ship’s spare parts inventory list with a frown. Alice and Paxton watched from the sides, the equine mechanic nervously grooming his mane with a brush he carried with him everywhere. Pockets found the part he sought and a three-dimensional diagram popped up on the screen with its design specifications. Alice glanced over the images and frowned. Pockets heaved a sigh and sat back in his chair, almost bumping into Max.

“I don’t see a way the newer model design can be altered to work in the Sun’s engines,” the snow leopard muttered into his ear. “There are just too many differences.”

“It looks like they totally redesigned it from the ground up,” Pockets agreed.

“How much difference is there?” Paxton asked. In response, the raccoon ordered up the specifications in the computer’s memory of past Okami model designs. The D-model version of the part they needed looked nothing like the H-model part that was available on board the Horizon.

“The wiring, configuration and even just the way it works are all different,” Pockets said with a frown. “They’ve been improved over the years between each model.” To prove his point, he called up the data of the same part for each model of Okami freighter between the D and H series.

“See?” he asked as he pointed to each of the five units with a tiny claw. “The major design change came between the F and G models. Prior to that, the units were virtually identical.”

“Would the unit from an F-model work?” Max asked out of boredom.

Alice nodded her head. “It would probably be a good fit,” she said, “if only we had an F-model to cannibalize.”

“Do you think Durant would let us use one from our cargo?” the canine asked.

Pockets looked at the young mechanic in wonder. He had not even remembered that the Horizon carried a load of parts bound for the starship repair facility on Mars, a place that often serviced the commonplace Okami freighters.

“If Durant has the unit we need amongst our cargo,” the raccoon answered with a conspiratorial smile, “the Hidalgo Sun will have a new energy transfer unit very soon, permission or not.”

***

“Now, isn’t this better?” the jaguar purred. Tsarina sat straddled across Tanis’ upper legs and gently kneaded the desert fox’s shoulders. He lay face down on his bed, his tail draped across her lap. There was a contented smile across his lips as she worked the kinks out of his muscles.

“Mmm hmm...” he mumbled. Tanis had spent some time with Tsarina since Max had introduced them on the rec deck. Like Maximillian, Tanis had never actually encountered Sagan and he had been more receptive to the feline’s company than the others had. He found that she was quite sensual and she enjoyed flirting. He did not know how much time she would spend with him before moving off to someone else in his crew, but at the moment, he did not mind. Her ministrations kept him pleased and he resolved to enjoy it as much as he could.

***

“Come in.”

Merlin looked up from his desk as Durant, Samantha and Pockets filed into his den. Rezo glanced up at them curiously from his seat near the wall. Pockets and Samantha looked pleased. Durant did not.

“Yes?” the wolf asked.

Pockets spoke up first. “Captain,” he said, “none of our own spare parts will work with Captain Rezo’s engines. The differences between the models are too great. However...”

“However,” Sam repeated, “our present cargo includes parts that are compatible with his ship.”

Merlin did not say a word, but looked up at the grizzly bear. He already knew what Durant was going to say to Sam’s unspoken request.

“Boss,” the loadmaster said, “we don’t own the parts we’re carrying as cargo. We can’t use them for the Sun as if they were readily available stock.”

Rezo bit his bottom lip, but kept his mouth shut.

“I know Pockets occasionally filches from our cargo,” Durant continued, despite the hurt look the raccoon gave him, “so I had a perimeter alarm set up around the crates in the hold. He set it off.”

Merlin intentionally kept his face impassive and directed his focus on the engineer. The raccoon stuck his hands into the pockets of his coveralls and the sound of tools could be heard jingling against one another as he made room for his hands in there with them.

“There’s no other alternative, Captain,” Pockets finally replied. “Alice and I have determined there is no possible way to repair the Sun’s engines, and the spare parts for the Horizon will not work for them either. Parts from our cargo will work, but Durant won’t let me use them.”

Merlin glanced quickly at Rezo and then back to the bear. “What’s the cost on the parts they need?” he asked, knowing the bear would have already checked on the information.

“Twelve hundred thirty-seven credits,” Durant responded without hesitation. “It’s too much to just let slide, boss. It’s a theft that Mars would notice immediately.” He looked over at the red panda and shook his head. “Sorry, Captain.”

Rezo frowned deeply and looked over to the wolf. “It looks like there’s no alternative,” he replied with his head lowered. “If you would be kind enough to take me and my crew with you to Mars, I can pay you for our passage. Perhaps I can work out some kind of deal with the repair depot once there for parts.”

“What about your ship?” Samantha asked.

“We’ll have to abandon it until I can arrange a ride back here from Mars with the parts we need.”

Pockets put his hands on the desk. “Merlin, Paxton told me about Captain Rezo’s financial state.” He looked apologetic at the red panda, but continued, “I seriously doubt he has enough to pay for the parts and a transport back here to install them. They’ll probably just turn around and sell him the parts we already have on board!” He looked up at the grizzly in silent accusation.

Durant crossed his arms. “I’m not arguing with that, Pockets,” he said with a scowl, “but you just can’t take the parts you need from a customer’s inventory! We’ve been through this before.”

“Merlin,” Samantha said quickly, “what if we contacted the Mars colony director and explain the situation to him? If we offer to pay them for the parts we use, they shouldn’t complain.”

“Unless the parts were already earmarked to fix someone else’s ship,” Durant countered.

Samantha frowned at the bear as if to say ‘you are not helping at all.’

The lupine captain looked over at his red-furred counterpart. “If Mars gives the okay, would that be acceptable?” he asked.

Rezo did not look happy. “I... don’t have twelve hundred credits in my account,” he admitted in a quiet voice. “I think I can afford to pay you for our passage to Mars to cover food and air, at least. Once there, we’ll all look for new work. I can put the Sun up as a salvageable derelict for someone else to pick over.”

“That’s not right!” Sam exclaimed. She knelt down next to the red panda and looked into his eyes. “If Mars will sell us the parts, would you allow me to pay for them myself?” she asked in a sincere tone. “It will be a donation; no charge to you.”

Rezo felt his eyes grow moist and he nodded. “I don’t know why you would do that for me, but I don’t really have a choice, my dear,” he said. “I will accept your kind offer, but I promise you I will pay you back when we get back on our feet.”

The Border collie looked up at the loadmaster and accountant of the Blue Horizon. “Durant?” she asked.

The bear nodded quietly. “If Mars gives the okay for such a transaction, I don’t have a problem with it.”

Merlin looked over at Samantha and nodded too. “Get on the com at once to Mars. See what you can do.”

“Thank you, Merlin,” Sam replied with a smile. She looked back to Rezo. “We’ll get those parts for the Hidalgo Sun,” she promised, “and then you’ll have a working ship again.”

The small red panda smiled at her and then nodded gratefully to Pockets. “Thank you,” he said. “I do appreciate everything you are doing for me.”

***

“So, what’s it like working for Captain Sinclair?” Keri asked Cindy. The mice had returned to the recreation deck in the galley area. They had been talking for hours about anything that came to mind. Both rodential does loved to chat and they acted as if they were best friends catching up on old news, even though they had only just met.

Cindy leaned back against the wall from the table and put her arms behind her head. “He’s fairly easy going,” she said, “but you don’t want to get on his bad side. He’s quite a grump if you do something against his orders.”

Keri leaned forward on the table with a grin, her ears practically wiggling in anticipation. “So, what did you do?”

Cindy gave her a lopsided smile. “Everyone on the ship has to take a six-hour watch on the bridge so that it’s manned all the time,” she explained. “He told me one day a few weeks back that it was my turn for bridge watch. I was up here watching a movie at the time and had a half hour left before it was over.” She shrugged her shoulders and bit her bottom lip gently. “Nothing ever happens out here and the ship’s always on inertia while en route, so I didn’t go to the bridge until the movie was over. By the time I got to the bridge, Merlin was waiting for me and you could practically see the black cloud forming over his head. It seemed an important message from one of his business contacts came in during that half hour the bridge was unmanned and we lost a job because no one was there to receive it. The job went to a competitor.”

“Ooh, not a good thing,” Keri replied with a wince. “What did he do?”

“He docked half of my pay for that voyage, partly from the lost job and partly for disobeying an order.” Cindy sighed and put her hands in her lap. “I haven’t missed bridge duty since.”

“How does he act when you haven’t disobeyed him?”

Cindy smiled again. “He’s all serious if you’re talking to him about the business, but if you visit with him at any other time, he’s pretty casual. He doesn’t have too many rules for us, so it’s a relaxed atmosphere so long as you follow them.”

Keri took a long drink of her soda and then wiggled her nose at her new friend. “So, tell me...” she said in a low, conspiratorial tone, “What’s he like in bed?”

“Dunno,” Cindy replied with a mock frown. “Samantha’s in the way.”

“Oh? So, they’re exclusive to one another?”

Cindy shook her head. “No, not really exclusive from what I’ve heard, but it seems like she can sense when he’s in the mood, y’know, and has already made plans to be with him before I have a chance. It must be her canine senses.”

“You’re just not trying hard enough, girl,” Keri replied. “You’re going to get lonesome that way.”

It was Cindy’s turn to grin widely. “Not so,” she said. “You only asked about my captain. I have other willing guys whenever I need company.”

“Ah...”

“So, it’s your turn. What is it like to work for Captain Kegawa?”

“He’s moody,” Keri answered after taking another drink of her soda. She was addicted to caffeine and in the time the Hidalgo Sun had been adrift, she had already depleted the ship’s supply of coffee and soft drinks. The Blue Horizon was stocked with a large supply of caffeinated drinks and she was delighted to have so much to live on.

“When he doesn’t get his way, which seems to be most of the time, he rants endlessly and is quite a pain to be around,” she continued. “During the times when he’s not in a snit about something, he can actually be fun. He loves to joke around, almost to the point of playing pranks, but he doesn’t take pranks against himself very well.”

“Sounds wishy-washy,” Cindy replied.

“Of course, it would be nice to have a better salary, but the business is broke most of the time. The budget rarely has enough for replacement parts for the ship, which is why the Sun is currently out of commission.” Keri stuck out her tongue and made a face. “Our contracts will run out soon, so I’ve been thinking of looking for a new ship to hire onto if things don’t pick up soon. Do you think Captain Sinclair would like another hand?”

Cindy shook her head with a frown. “I doubt it. I’m only here as a temp, myself.” She took a few moments to tell the other mouse about Sagan’s attack on the ship and then added, “If Taro ever comes back, my job is history. That was a condition in my contract.”

“Yuck...”

“Yeah, but I agreed to it when I signed on. We haven’t really discussed it since then, but I’ve heard some of them talk about Taro as if they think she’s really dead. They’ve heard nothing about her since the crash and that’s been nearly six months ago. Nothing against a woman I don’t even know, but I can hope the captain will make me permanent if she doesn’t come back. I like it on board the Blue Horizon.”

“What will you do if this Taro does come back?”

“I’m not sure,” Cindy replied. “There are agencies on each world of the PA we work with to line up new jobs. I might try one of them if that time ever comes.”

Keri sat up slowly and leaned back in her seat. “If things don’t start to look up for us,” she said, “I might want to apply for a job with one of them, myself.”

***

Lorelei crawled out of her bed and padded softly toward the bathroom, nimbly stepping over the clothing that covered the floor of the cabin. When she started the water for the shower, there was a knock on her door. She quickly wrapped a small towel around her and went to the door in the front room. When she opened it, the orange tabby cat of the Hidalgo Sun smiled up at her.

“Hullo,” he said.

“G’morning, Jonesy,” Lori said with a grin. “You’re up early.”

The feline twitched his whiskers and licked his lips. “It may be morning on the Blue Horizon,” he replied, “but the Hidalgo Sun is still set on the Panos time zone on Mainor.” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “However, you mentioned you had a big breakfast planned for the crews of both our ships.”

“I’m sorry, but it’ll take me a while to prepare everything,” Lori replied.

“Want some help?” Jonesy asked. “I occasionally give Keri a hand when she has something like that planned.”

Lori grinned as she let him in and then turned to take a fresh towel from the closet. “Sure,” she replied with a sly smile. She slipped off the towel she had just been wearing and handed it to him. “I can always use an extra pair of hands.”

The orange tabby cat gave her a feral grin and shut the door behind him. He was not overly fond of water, but he could tolerate a shower – and sharing a shower with someone was even better.

***

Mark Littlefeather straightened his burgundy flight jacket and cleared his throat. He knocked on the door to Merlin’s den and waited for a response. A moment later, he heard a voice call out from behind the panel.

“Enter.”

The human male thumbed the door pad and the panel slid to the side. Merlin was at his desk poring over three slateboards displaying spreadsheets of data on the Blue Horizon accounts. He was dressed in black slacks and a loose beige sweater, but his boots were set aside so he could feel the soft floor rug beneath his toes.

“Hello, Captain,” Mark said quietly.

The wolf looked up and hesitated a moment before giving the human a reply. He had distrusted humans for years and had not been comfortable having two of them on his vessel. Having one in the close quarters of his den made him pause.

“Mr. Littlefeather,” he replied courteously after a couple of heartbeats. “What can I do for you?”

Mark smiled and nodded respectfully toward him. “I’ve wanted to speak with you ever since you came aboard our ship, sir,” he answered. “May I have a moment of your time?”

Merlin frowned and tapped out a command on each of the slateboards. The files saved on each and then a screensaver of small Dennieran crustaceans began dancing across the screens.

“Have a seat,” he said.

“Thank you, Captain.” Mark took one of the two seats on the opposite side of the desk that was covered in printed books, trinkets and several green plants.

“Okay,” Merlin said tonelessly, “what is it you need?” He leaned back in his seat with his hands resting across his stomach.

Mark had a difficult time reading the wolf’s expression, but he got the impression that Merlin was not pleased with the interruption. He swallowed and put his hands in his lap. He managed a bit of a smile and his dark brown eyes were slightly averted so not to appear confrontational to the wolf.

“Sir, it’s not really a matter of need,” he began. “I just... just wanted to talk. You’ve visited with my crewmates ever since our two ships came together but I’ve not had a chance to really meet with you myself.”

Merlin maintained his frown. He had purposely avoided the humans whenever he had the opportunity, but it looked as if he was cornered. He sighed and tried to relax a little. “Sorry about that,” he replied. He leaned toward the desk and picked up a small water pot. He gave a little of the liquid to an aromatic fern on the corner of his desk and said, “I suppose it’s your turn to visit with me.”

Littlefeather nodded with a smile. “Well, sir, I’m sure you know that there are many different beliefs among the people of Earth,” he said. “I was taught to respect the elements of nature and to live in harmony with the things and people around me.”

Merlin looked over at him. “You worship the elements?” he asked.

The human shook his head, “No, sir, I respect them.”

“That’s commendable.”

“Yes, sir. Anyway, it is traditional in my family to find a common bond with something in nature and to consider that person, animal or object as a lifetime friend to turn to in times of difficulty.”

The captain set the water pot aside and returned his attention to the man. “I don’t follow you,” he said.

Mark leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. “When I was younger, I went on what we call a dream quest in which to discover who or what my spiritual guide might be. In the course of my mental search, I discovered that my personal guide was the gray wolf.”

Merlin’s frown reappeared, but he remained silent to let the human continue. “There have been times in my life where I’ve faced significant crossroads, but didn’t know which way to turn.” Mark said, “Every time I’ve had an important decision to make, I have seen the image of a wolf in some way, almost as if this creature guided my judgment. At other times, the appearance of a wolf has heralded some kind of good change in my life.”

Merlin Sinclair resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “So, you think I’m your lucky wolf?” he asked.

Littlefeather swallowed and shook his head. “No, sir,” he replied, “but seeing you does encourage me. Captain, I don’t know what the future holds for me. I’m not clairvoyant and I don’t believe in magic, but what harm is there in recognizing signs that things may turn out for the better?”

Merlin was puzzled. This man was like no other human he had ever had any close dealings with before. Usually, he had to deal with the likes of Victor Faltane or Connie Davies, which always left a bad taste in his mouth from the encounter. Mark Littlefeather did not have that kind of air about him.

“Okay,” he said after a moment, “now that seeing me has given you hope, what now?”

Mark smiled. “I don’t require anything from you, Captain,” he answered. “I just wanted to let you know that I am glad to have met you and already feel my life enriched.”

“Even though I haven’t done anything for you personally?”

“Even though, sir.”

It was Merlin’s turn to lean on the desk with his elbows. His expression softened toward the man. “You amaze me, Mr. Littlefeather. I admit that I have never felt comfortable around humans,” he admitted. “You are the first I’ve talked to who did not want something from me, and my dealings with your people have usually gone badly.”

Mark nodded in understanding. “I’m not surprised,” he said. “Even though Earth engineered the Furs and later formed the Planetary Alignment with its lost colonies, there are still a lot of xenophobes around. In spite of the fact that Furs have now been around for three centuries and are genetically related, a lot of humans still don’t see Furs as being on the same sapient level as they are. In my family, however, we were raised to respect all people, no matter which race, species or planet they happen to be from originally. This is how I believe.”

Merlin nodded with a relaxed expression. “I can’t fault you for that. I admit that you puzzle me, but I am surprised that you actually seem to respect me.”

“Yes, sir, I do.”

The captain leaned back in his seat. “I would like you to do me a favor, Mr. Littlefeather.”

“Anything, sir.”

“Please stop calling me Sir,” the wolf replied. “It’s okay to use as a form of respect at an initial meeting, but not as a title, and not all of the time. I’d prefer if you would just call me Captain or even by my first name, Merlin.”

“On one condition,” the human answered, “that you would do the same and call me Mark instead of Mr. Littlefeather.”

“That’s a condition I think I can handle.”

“Thank you, s... uh, Merlin. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

“Okay, Mark, I will do that.” Merlin looked at the time displayed through the wall and sighed. “I’m afraid I need to get back to my budget now. I have something rather important I’m trying to work out with my accountant and I need to get back to it.”

“I appreciate your time, Captain.”

***

“This is the SS Blue Horizon,” Durant said into the headset microphone. “What can we do for you?”

“Blue Horizon, I’m Kent Terrace, central manager of the Okami Repair Facility of the Mars Colony.”

“Yes, Mr. Terrace, we’ve been expecting your call.” He turned and gave his companions in the room a thumbs-up sign and then put the call on the bridge speakers since the Mars facility did not seem to have video transmission.

“I need to speak with Captain Kegawa, please.”

“I’m here, Mr. Terrace,” the red panda said aloud, letting the bridge microphone transmit his reply.

“I’ve called to inform you that you are granted authority to use whatever parts among the Blue Horizon’s cargo as necessary to get the Hidalgo Sun operational in this emergency situation. Provide us with an itemized list of the parts you use so we can compare it to the manifest when our shipment arrives. Once we have a list of what you’ve used, we will reply back with an itemized pricing at wholesale costs. Payment will be required within thirty days of this transaction.”

Captain Rezo smiled at Jonesy and Antoinette, who stood beside him. “Thank you, sir,” he replied. “You’ve been most generous.”

“However, as a condition of this transaction,” Terrace continued, “you will bring your Okami freighter to our facility as soon as you are flight capable, where your vessel will undergo proper repairs to specifications to prevent a further occurrence of these issues. We are proud of our ships, Captain, even the older models.”

Rezo had not expected this. Samantha had agreed to pay for the parts they needed, but not to further repairs to his old ship. “Sir, we need our ship operational, but I am not sure that we can pay for further repairs at this time.”

“Nonsense. We have a number of affordable payment plans and I am sure our finance department can find one suitable to your budget.”

Rezo swallowed with difficulty, but he knew he had no choice in the matter. “Aye, sir,” he responded after a brief glance at Merlin. “Once we’re on our way, we will chart our heading directly to your facility.”

“Then I won’t take up anymore of your time, Captain, and let you start your repairs. We will see you soon.”

“Yes, sir, and thank you again, Mr. Terrace.”

Rezo looked at Toni with a frown once the connection closed. “Tis a mixed blessing,” he said. “We should now have the parts we need, but we’ll still have to scrounge the bottom of the barrel to pay for a depot visit.”

The human accountant looked at the slateboard she held in her hands and frowned. She adjusted the glasses on her small nose and cleared her throat. “Captain,” Toni said, “I don’t think we have enough in the coffers to even pay for more than a couple days at a hotel in the Mars dome for the whole crew. Besides this, we’re so overdue on delivering our cargo that we probably won’t even get paid for that job.”

Rezo patted her on the arm. “I know, Toni, I know,” he said. He looked at Jonesy and said, “Please assemble the Sun’s crew on the Horizon’s recreational deck. I want to inform everyone that once we get to Mars, I’ll clear what’s remaining of everybody’s contracts so you all can find other work.”

The orange cat heaved a sigh. “Yessir,” he muttered.

Merlin looked at Durant, who nodded silently in return. The wolf stepped forward and sat down in the command seat of the bridge. “Captain Kegawa,” he said, “Durant and I have been going through our budget and I’ve worked up a small loan for you out of our surplus, if you’ll accept it.”

“Captain, I can’t afford another loan,” Rezo reminded him. “I doubt we could find one we could work - not even one of Mr. Terrace’s.”

Durant handed his own slateboard to the red panda and let him see the readout. “We’ve worked out an interest-free, low-payment plan for you with that should not hurt your profits very much,” the grizzly said. “With your vital systems repaired, you can invest your cargo fees in your employees’ salaries and build up your profits again.”

“You won’t be able to update all the systems on the Hidalgo Sun, but the more urgent needs will be taken care of so those systems shouldn’t break down again.”

Rezo showed Durant’s slateboard to Jonesy and Toni.

“How can you do this?” Jonesy asked. “Why would you do this?”

Merlin gave the feline a genuine smile. “As I said, I have the surplus, and I’ve spent a great deal of time talking with your captain since our two crews came together,” he said. “I sincerely believe he’s the type I can trust to pay me back. It may take a while with a small payment plan like this, but I have confidence that Captain Kegawa will pay back every credit in time. This is not something I would do for just anyone.”

Rezo wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. “Thank you, Captain Sinclair,” he said in a quiet voice. “You’re right about me. You’ll get back every credit, one way or another.”

Antoinette moved to the wolf and kissed him gently on the side of his nose. He looked up at her in surprise. “That’s thanks for the whole crew, Captain. You don’t know just how much this means to us.”

***

Alice knelt on the metal floor of the Hidalgo Sun’s engine room and peered into a narrow access panel at ground level. Immediately in sight were the bare feet belonging to the canine youth, Maximillian. He had shed his sandals to get better traction crawling into the cramped space. The snow leopard had to resist the temptation to run a finger along the exposed soles, but Max and Pockets were hard at work removing the power transfer unit. The confines of the access tunnel were so cramped that the unit had to be disassembled a piece at a time, so the two smallest mechanics were crammed inside together. Miscellaneous parts they had kicked out were already scattered about the engine room floor.

“I have the Initiator ready to be taken offline,” Alice said to the feet. “All but the four of us have transferred to the Horizon and Pax is ready to shut down the system power.”

“Just a few more minutes before you do that,” came Pockets’ voice from deep within the access shaft. “We still have a couple items to break free, so don’t shut everything down just yet.”

“Roger,” Alice replied.

“Huh?” Paxton asked at the mention of his first name.

Alice twitched an ear. “Nothing, Pax. Just hold on for a moment before you shut down the power to the whole ship.”

“Will we lose life support?” Max asked. “Doesn’t it take power from the engines, too?”

Pockets grunted as he worked loose a tight part. “Normally we’d have to use the standby life support generator, but in this case, the Horizon will be providing life support for both ships while the main system is down over here.”

“Oh.”

Alice looked down at grease-stained, printed schematics laid out on the floor beside her to make sure they had done everything necessary. Once the power had been discharged from the unit, there would be no starting it back up until the part had been completely replaced.

“Yeowch!”

“What was that?” Paxton asked.

“I’m okay,” Pockets’ voice called out. Then, a moment later, “All right, shut ‘er down!”

Alice looked across the engine room at her partner and watched as Pax spread out his fingers and simultaneously pushed three red stiff buttons at the back of the console. There was a loud clunk and the ship grew instantly quiet. The familiar, continual vibration of the deck plates ceased immediately and an eerie silence fell upon engineering. The only light on board the vessel emanated from a single transparent flexible hose containing a glowing yellow gel that was threaded into the access way with the two small mechanics.

“Give me a reading,” Pockets called out.

“Zero,” Paxton replied after looking at a dial with a pocket flash.

“Zero,” Alice relayed in to the raccoon.

“Are you sure?” Pockets asked. “If there’s the tiniest bit of energy in this thing, I’ll be flash-roasted for your supper tonight as soon as I grab onto it.”

Alice smiled. If the raccoon could see her, she would have needled him with a tongue across her lips in mock anticipation of that meal.

Paxton double-checked the readouts. “Zero on the console. Not a quiver.”

“Absolute zero on the readings,” Alice relayed.

Inside the cramped access shaft, Max looked over at Pockets and swallowed hard. The raccoon saw his expression and smiled.

“Don’t worry, Max,” he said confidently. “Once we get this thing separated from the rest of the LC engine, the rest is easy.”

“I don’t want to be fried,” the canine youth said quietly. “Are you sure this is safe?”

Pockets nodded. “There’s no power channeling through it now. At this point, it’s only a hunk of inert metal.”

“Okay,” Max replied uncertainly. Pockets had warned him from getting up against that particular piece of equipment after they had removed its outer cover and had stressed the danger. Now he was being told to physically grab onto it and take out the mounting bolts on his side of the unit.

“All right,” Pockets called out. “We’re going to take it loose now.”

The raccoon handed Max a powered spanner mounted with the correct receptacle that matched the one he would use himself. The German shepherd took it and eased its business end up to the large insulated fasteners. He steeled himself against a jolt just as the socket touched the first bolt. When nothing happened, he released the breath he had held and gave his partner a nervous smile.

It took another ten minutes before the unit finally came free of its housing. The mechanics eased the heavy unit to the floor and Pockets lifted the end of the glowing hose to peer up inside the scorched part. He mumbled something to himself with a creased brow.

“Wow,” Max said as he peered into the unit.

“Well,” Alice asked impatiently, “what is it?”

“It is all burned and melted inside,” the canine answered. Pockets gave him a nod and pushed on the part. Max began to scoot backward and pulled on the unit at the same time. “We’re coming out now.”

***

Lorelei smiled at her companions. Keri and Jonesy were helping her prepare a celebratory dinner for the two crews and they were making good use of their time. The ships’ engineers were deeply involved in the repair work on the Hidalgo Sun and everyone else waited in different areas of the Blue Horizon. At interstellar speeds, the Mars Colony was only two days away from their present location, so the cottontail rabbit dug into her goods to make this meal a grand one. She had pulled up her special recipe file and had acquired the services of her two new friends to help out with the preparations.

Despite the impatience of the Sun’s crew to hear word of completion on the repairs, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. It was this atmosphere that Lorelei hoped to enhance with good food.

***

Twelve hours after they had begun repairs, Paxton reengaged the power system to the LC engines and the lights came up normally. “So far, so good,” the palomino said. He looked over at his coworkers and grinned at them. All four of them were tired and dirty from long hours of hard work. The new parts were in place and everything had been hooked back up with minimal issues.

After twenty minutes of system checks, Alice moved to the main engineering console and said, “Now for the first real test.” She thumbed the intercom and said into the small microphone set into the terminal, “Riki, are you there?”

“You’re coming in loud and clear, Alice,” the lemur’s voice said cheerfully. “We have internal coms again.”

“See if you can...”

“I know my job, engineer. hold on while I contact the Horizon.” Alice frowned at the others and waited. Nearly five minutes passed before Riki’s voice sounded again in the engine room. “The Blue Horizon comes in clear as a bell,” she said, “and I was able to contact the Mars Colony in a tachyon message test. As far as communications go, we’re operational again.”

“What about the main computer?”

“The boot sequence has finished and appears to be fully operational. There are no errors reporting.”

“Okay,” Alice said after checking another readout, “inform the Horizon to disengage and retract the access tunnel so we can try an engine test. Life Support systems over here are now operating normally and Mark has just secured the main hatch.”

“Aye, will do.”

Without waiting for further conversation, Alice pointed a finger at Paxton, who nodded and began calibrating systems for a cold restart. Pockets moved to another console of the room and went through another checklist. Max watched silently as the raccoon tapped touchpads and made adjustments to the controls. The ship might be old, but Pockets was familiar enough with it to know what he was doing.

Pockets looked up at Alice and smiled when the deck plates began vibrating quietly. There was power building up in the liquid crystal core just as it should, but they would still have to see if they could get any thrust from it.

“The access tunnel has been fully retracted,” Riki announced after several minutes. “Captain Rezo is here on the bridge at the controls and awaits your word for engine test.”

“Aye to that,” the snow leopard responded. A moment more and she looked up from a set of gauges that monitor power reserves. Paxton nodded to her and Pockets gave her a thumbs-up sign. “Okay, bridge. All systems are set and seem to be operational. At your discretion.”

“Aye.”

***

From the bridge of the Blue Horizon, Merlin and Renny watched the faded red hull of the Hidalgo Sun slowly pull away. Merlin nodded to the cheetah and said, “It looks like their maneuvering thrusters are good to go at least.”

The crimson freighter rotated briefly on its Y-axis and then hesitated only a moment before it suddenly shot away into the distance. Renny grinned. “Course laid in for the rendezvous coordinates.”

“Aye,” Merlin replied. The wolf engaged the engines and the Blue Horizon took off in pursuit of the other ship.

***

As Lorelei had hoped, her grand celebratory dinner had been a big success. The two ships were once again coupled together and both crews were gathered on the Horizon’s recreation deck, the meal finished. The long galley table was occupied and others were sitting on the couches and recliners out in the room. Conversations were in full force and general spirits were high.

Cuddled together on a couch, Durant and Carmen spent the last of their time making promises to stay in touch after their ships departed. Long distance romances seldom worked out, and they had both agreed they could not be exclusive, but they were determined to try to keep their relationship going as long as possible.

Tsarina and Tanis occupied the other couch. The desert fox lay with his head in the jaguar’s lap and Tsarina gently stroked his large ears as they talked. Across the room, Lori and Jonesy were quietly nuzzling their good-byes. The Hidalgo Sun would be leaving within an hour.

Others around the room also spent the last of their moments together with new friends and it looked as if the two crews had made good use of their time intermingled.

Captains Merlin and Rezo sat at the head of the galley table. The red panda listened intently as his lupine counterpart pitched a business idea to him. Renny sat near them, his tummy full and his eyes half closed as he listened in. Samantha relaxed beside him, her attention also on the captains’ conversation.

“We’ll follow you all the way in to Mars to make sure the replacement parts are working okay,” Merlin said. “After we’ve unloaded our cargo there, we’ll continue on to Earth to deliver your shipment for you to the distribution center of Misty’s Toybox in Paris. Cindy’s already made arrangements with Misty Paltier for the delivery.”

Rezo nodded quietly and took a lap of his drink. “As to be expected,” he said after a moment, “I had to waive my fee to her for our extended delay, so this is another setback for my business.”

Merlin nodded. “It couldn’t be avoided. However,” he added, “after your repairs are made and you’ve left Mars, I’ll do my best to send some business your way. Sometimes we have clients that need our transport services, but we can’t take them on due to other deliveries on our schedule. It’s those I’ll refer to you.”

“Thank you,” Rezo replied. He held up his drink and said, “I salute you, Captain Sinclair. You’re one heck of a guy and you’ve done so much for us already.” He swallowed his drink and leaned closer to his counterpart. “I like being your friend. I know you can’t cover for me beyond this, but it’s been great knowing you.”

Merlin looked at his techwatch and smiled. “We need to end our little party,” he said. “Both of us need to get back on a schedule and we both still have our pre-flight checklists to go over.”

“You’re right,” the red panda agreed. “It’s time to finalize our fare-wells and be on our way.”

Merlin held out his hand and Rezo took it gratefully. Their two crews had worked well together and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they would be seeing one another again.

RESPECT THE WIND

By Ted & Eileen Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1138

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon landed in Woodward a little over an hour ago at the Municipal Airport. This city doesn’t have a standard spaceport, as we’re the first starship to actually land here, but there was a large section of tarmac not in use where they directed us to set down. Compared to the other aircraft here, the Blue Horizon looks like a four-story building sitting out there. The closest actual city engineered to handle vessels like ours is the Burns Flat Spaceport, one hundred twenty kilometers to the south of Woodward.

We drew quite a crowd to the landing area from the human locals, and surprised a number of them when they discovered my entire crew was made up of aliens. Due to our shared past history, there are still a lot of xenophobes among the population of Earth, but so far, we haven’t had a problem with anyone here in this town. We get a lot of stares and some of the bolder children want to “pet” our fur, but mostly we’ve been left alone. Oddly enough, my usual sense of unease around humans has been quiet, perhaps due to my recent experience with Mark Littlefeather, as well as the fact that no one here has demanded anything of me… yet.

Misty Paltier, the Chief Executive Officer of Misty’s Toybox chain of interspecies intimate clothing stores, was understanding of the delay of her cargo on board the Hidalgo Sun, but promised future business to the Blue Horizon for getting her overdue merchandise to her distribution warehouse in place of the other ship. She promptly hired us to make a delivery for her from Paris, France to the other side of the planet to the Great Plains of the North American continent. Our large cargo hold was practically empty as we delivered a mere twenty-four boxes of women’s lingerie to one of her properties in Woodward, but she paid standard fare for site-to-site same-world delivery, so I’m not one to complain.

I don’t know what there is to do in a small city like Woodward, but the available high-speed mag-lev transports can take my crew wherever they wish from here during our typical three-day shore leave. As for myself, I’m planning to take in the fresh air, just relaxing at a local hotel and make extensive use of the swimming pool.

Oddly enough, I understand Tanis has a friend who’s currently practicing medicine here in Woodward; that fennec seems to know people everywhere we go. He said they served together during their residency on Nalirra, but whereas Tanis was drafted into his first term with the military a semester shy of getting his full degree, his friend had gone on to practice medicine for short periods of time on various worlds. His skills and experience in anthrobiology have come in handy on more than one occasion, but his current locale is this unlikely small plains town where he’s the only non-human in a population of fifteen thousand.

Despite the area’s moniker, the weather seems calm enough. It’s hot and there are thunderheads off in the distance toward the southwest, but there’s only a gentle breeze blowing and the sun is shining. I’ve seen my share of violent storms on Dennier near my hometown, but Renny’s not looking forward to being in a place with a nickname like “Tornado Alley”, mild weather or not. Regular thunderstorms don’t bother me – I really do love them – but I can’t forget the tornado outburst that nearly leveled Grandstorm when I was a cub. Those things scare me.

I got word from Rezo that the Hidalgo Sun is in the repair depot and will be grounded for a while. As he feared, the repairs the depot wants to make are extensive and the projected bill is going to be more than he can afford right now. However, Mars Colony has agreed to employ his entire crew for the duration in miscellaneous jobs to help defray the costs. Extra help on Mars is always coveted by the locals and bartering work for work is common.

After our stay in Woodward, we’re to fly almost thirteen hundred kilometers west to Flagstaff to pick up our next cargo and then we’ll be on our way to the world of Argeia. My crew seems excited at the prospect of visiting that world for our next delivery. Not much is known about the place other than what has been in a few travel vids that have circulated around the PA. Xenophobes almost to a fault, outsiders typically have not been welcome to the so-called white planet in the past, so this delivery could turn out a few surprises.

All of the current members of the PA were originally colonies of the Earth, but Argeia is a bona-fide alien world that developed completely on its own; its indigenous sapients belong to a felinoid race known as Kastans.

One of Taro’s old contacts was approached by the government of Argeia, which has only recently considered trade negotiations with the Planetary Alignment. Somebody recommended us, and the Kastans followed up to hire our services. We’ve already received payment converted to PA Credits for the upcoming voyage, and it is a generous amount, too – much more than is our standard price for delivery to a new location.

Before we start that voyage, however, it’s time to relax.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

The Barnyard was a rustic establishment on the edge of town. The old inn was made of brick and wood, a replica of the style common to the area two centuries earlier and typically popular with out-of-town guests. At the moment, however, only a family of three was booked in for a couple of days besides the crew of the Blue Horizon, but they had gone out for the day to see the local attractions, such as they are.

It would have been easier and less expensive had Merlin’s crew decided to use their own beds in the ship, but after weeks on board no one cared to see their rooms again for a while. A change of scenery was always nice, and while the canned, recycled air on the ship kept them alive, nothing could compare to the fresh air of a planet, no matter where it may be — with the possible exception of the mildly-toxic atmosphere of Quet, that is.

As soon as they had been released, Pockets, Lorelei and Durant had taken to walking toward the center of town at a leisurely pace. Tanis was anxious to see his colleague and Cindy had volunteered to go with him to the other end of town. They hired a bright yellow taxi and disappeared down the road in the warm summer sun of the late afternoon.

Inside the lobby of the antique-decorated inn, Renny stood before a wallboard of pamphlets showcasing local attractions while he chewed absently on a plastic straw he had gotten with his soda. He picked up a few with colorful pictures that looked interesting, especially one profiling a local commercial cavern tour. He carried those he had selected and ambled toward the back patio where Merlin, Samantha and Max were splashing around in an aquamarine pool. The cheetah was a decent swimmer when he had to be, but he disliked getting wet more than necessary and found a sun-warmed deck chair more to his liking. He settled down into it and began to relax, but he considered taking a run later; his foot seemed to be fully healed and he had not had any twinges in weeks.

Max, on the other hand, had never learned to swim. There was neither a reason nor a place on Quet for him to try it, so he stayed in the shallow end of the pool or crept along the sidelines with a tight grip on the outer rim. He had agreed to let Merlin and Samantha teach him how to swim, but he wanted to be acclimated to the water first. He remembered the beach on Pomen and let his mind drift to his walk along the sandy shore with the cute little tigress he had met there. He and Wendy continued to write to one another with promises to meet whenever possible, and he always looked forward to her letters – even if several of his crew mates teased him about having a girlfriend.

Samantha crawled up onto Merlin’s shoulders in the pool, laughing and giggling as the wolf stumbled on the sloped bottom and got a mouthful of chemically-enriched water. Merlin gasped and sputtered as he managed to lift her – and his nose – above the waterline. He grinned mischievously and pushed her backward. She landed with a splash that soaked a laughing Max, and just managed to miss the feline navigator with a wave that fell short of his chair. Renny jumped up with a yelp and moved his chair further back away from the edge of the pool while the others laughed.

“What’s the matter, Ren-Ren?” Sam asked in a lilting voice. “Afraid of getting your precious fur wet?”

“Jumping into a large puddle of water’s not my idea of relaxing,” Renny replied with a smirk. “I can keep myself clean without immersing myself.”

Max sniffed at his arms. “It doesn’t feel all that clean to me,” he said with a frown. “The water smells funny and leaves my fur sticky whenever I get out.”

“That’s the chlorine,” a new voice said. “It’s what keeps bacteria and other nasty things from growing in the water.” Everyone looked up at the thin, elderly innkeeper who had just come out onto the pool deck with a tray of liquid-filled glasses. He wore a straw hat with a wide brim to shield his balding head from the sun and was dressed in a white shirt and pair of tan shorts. His sandals clopped on the tile as he approached a small table beneath a wide umbrella and set his tray on it with a smile.

Mr. Harris had never been off of the Earth before – he had never even been more than a few hundred kilometers from his birthplace of Woodward, at that. He had seen pictures of Furs in magazines and vids, but until Merlin Sinclair’s ship had set down a few hours earlier, the only one he had ever seen in person was that vulpine doctor on the other side of town, and then only from a distance at local festivals. Some humans avoided Furs as being too different, but Mr. Harris was fascinated by them and tried to find any excuse to be nearby to his unique guests.

Likewise, Merlin had found Mr. Harris to be a nice fellow and did not mind his presence, feeling this elderly widower presented no threat. Renny barely paid the man any special attention. Nearly an equal number of Humans and Furs lived together in harmony on his homeworld, so being around them felt as natural to him here as it did on Kantus.

“I brought you some lemonade,” Mr. Harris said with a friendly smile. He took off his hat and mopped his forehead with a handkerchief. “I thought you might be thirsty out here in the sun.”

“Thank you, Mr. Harris,” Samantha replied with a smile of her own. She climbed up the pool ladder and reached for a towel. The human’s eyes grew wide and he turned his head quickly with a mumbled “You’re welcome.”

It took Sam a moment to realize that the man had not expected her to be swimming in the pool without a swimsuit. Her natural black and white fur hid her nether regions well enough, but the cold water had an effect on her wet chest that made it specifically noticeable to the human male. Samantha felt pity for the man and covered herself with a towel. She walked over to him and said in a quiet voice, “Please forgive me, Mr. Harris,” she said. “I forgot where I was.”

The man swallowed for a moment and then looked aside at her hesitantly. When he noticed she was covered, he sighed and gave her a smile. “I’m sure that’s natural where you come from, my dear,” he said, “but I’m just not used to seeing it.” He swallowed again and added in a quiet voice, “You’re welcome here at my place, but for the sake of my other guests, would you please wear something while you’re in the pool?”

Samantha nodded with a smile as she picked up a glass of lemonade. “I’ll get a bathing suit in town today. I promise we will follow your rules, Mr. Harris.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I think I’ll go back inside now before any more of you get out of the water, too.”

Renny looked up at the Border collie with a wide grin after the human had gone back inside. “You’re scaring the locals, Pooch,” he said. She made a face at him and then took a drink of her lemonade through a large straw. It was tart, but tasted good.

Merlin and Max walked up beside her. “What was he bothered about?” the wolf asked as he daubed the corner of a towel into his left ear.

Samantha looked down and grinned widely. “We’re embarrassing our host by not wearing anything in the pool.”

Merlin followed her gaze and then shrugged. “Ah, I forgot they don’t like that.” He looked over at Max, who was already wearing a pair of red swim trunks.

“We wore them at the beach on Pomen,” Max explained. “I thought I was supposed to wear them in the water here, too.”

Merlin nodded at the canine as he consciously covered his crotch with his bushy tail. “Looks like you were right, kiddo,” he said. “A lot of the worlds in the Planetary Alignment have picked up the habit of wearing swim clothing to cover their privates, though you’ll still find a lot of places where people don’t wear clothing at all, preferring their own fur for covering.”

“Well, I was going to drink my lemonade before I got back into the pool,” Samantha said, “but since I don’t have a swimsuit, I think I’ll just go up to my shower to wash out the chlorine. I’ll put on shorts and a tank top so I can sit out here in the sun and not embarrass Mr. Harris.” She looked over at the wolf and lightly grabbed the end of his tail with a smile. “You need to get some shorts on too, mister.”

***

“Arktanis TeVann!” a male red fox in a white smock exclaimed in amusement when Tanis stepped out of the taxi and paid the driver in local currency. “I never thought I’d see the day when you would show up at my clinic in this out-of-the-way place on Earth!”

Though greatly mismatched in height, Tanis grinned widely and pulled his friend into a brief embrace as Cindy slid out of the taxi beside them. “It’s good to see ya again!” the desert fennec said. He turned to the mouse and put an arm around her waist. “This is Cindy Allport, one of my crewmates,” he said to the other fox. Then he looked at his companion and said, “Cindy, this is my friend, Doctor Marvin Tronnor.”

“Honored to meet you, Ms. Allport,” the physician said. Cindy smiled at the doctor as he took her hand and licked it lightly across the knuckles.

“Oh, he’s a charmer,” she giggled with a grin at Tanis. “Nice to meet you, too, Dr. Tronnor.”

The red fox led his visitors into his clinic, a small white building with a flower garden in the front adorned with bird feeders and a bird bath. Inside was a cozy waiting room with soft chairs, couches and a vidscreen in one corner with the sound muted that showed a local weather reporter in front of a wind chart. They moved through the room into his private office in the back, which looked even cozier than the waiting room. A desk stood in a back, covered in papers and spreadsheets in front of a computer tablet that was currently off. The opposite corner of the room contained an L-shaped couch with plants hanging over it from the ceiling and a gentle warm breeze wafted through wispy white curtains framing an open window. Through another doorway was a soft four-poster bed, suggesting that he lived in the back room of his clinic. The three of them sat on the couch, a fox sitting on each side of the mouse.

“So how did you wind up on my doorstep?” the doctor asked. “I was surprised when I got your message stating that you would be here; here of all places!”

Tanis shrugged his shoulders. “We were hired to make a delivery for one of the stores here in town,” he said. “When I heard it was Woodward we were coming to, I remembered this was yer last known location.” He leaned back against the cushions and yawned in the warm room. “It was just luck that I was able to contact ya.”

“How’s your business here, Dr. Tronnor?” Cindy asked.

“You can call me Marvin – please,” the doctor said with a smile. Then he looked around the room and replied, “I originally set up my practice in this town because there aren’t any other Furs here. I’d attended a medical school in England to study human biology and they said I had learned well quickly. However,” he said with a sigh, “most folks in Woodward don’t think of me as a practicing physician, but more of a veterinarian. They think I’m here to be a doctor for their pets. I’ve tried to explain otherwise time and again, but it rarely sinks in.”

Cindy frowned, but Marvin continued with a smile. “I don’t mind, really. I’ve made good friends with some of the folk who’ve brought me their animals and some of them have even started letting me treat them as well.” He pointed to his medical degree and other certificates framed on the wall. “I am a licensed physician in human physiology. It’s taken a while, but a number of them are starting to warm up to having a fox as their family doctor.”

He grinned as he leaned forward and lowered his voice in a conspiratorial manner. “The kids love having a furry doctor and parents have told me that their children tend to behave better when they’re with me.” Cindy giggled, not from his words, but from the hand he had just placed on her knee.

Marvin looked at Tanis and fell back into regular conversational tones, but did not remove his hand. “Speaking of children, do you still perform magic tricks for kids?”

Tanis nodded. “Any time we’re near a park where children congregate, I always take a few tricks up my sleeves. It’s always fun to see their little smiles as I wow them with my brilliance.”

Marvin nodded and casually gestured toward the door with his free hand. “Crystal Park is just down the street a few blocks,” he said. “Lots of oak and willow trees shading the grounds and there’s usually quite a crowd of little ones scurrying all over the place at this time of day.”

Tanis noticed his friend’s hand on Cindy’s knee and took the suggested hint with a smile. Cindy looked at him innocently, but he could see the ‘get lost, I want to visit with your friend’ look in her eyes. He stood up casually and stretched.

“Well,” he said, “if ya don’t mind me abandoning ya for a while, I’m going to go see the kiddies.” He grinned and gave them both a knowing wink. “I’ll be back later, Dr. Marvin.”

***

Durant heard a gasp behind him and he twitched an ear in response, but otherwise kept his attention on his task. He flipped through publication titles in the boxes in front of him and browsed in search of something that would catch his interest.

The grizzly bear was currently inside a local comic shop and he received nothing but stares from the customers. Most of them were under the age of twenty and the clerk behind the counter was barely above that himself. Like most everyone else in town, they had heard about the flying saucer with an alien crew that had landed at the airport; some had even seen it fly over the town.

A comic shop was probably the last place any of them would have thought one of the aliens would visit, and it was odd to see a seven-foot-tall grizzly bear wearing clothes and browsing through graphic novels. A boy of fourteen with runaway dark hair stood in a corner of the room and pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up on his nose, staring in awe. Another boy with fiery red hair grabbed him by the arm and pulled him past the ursine customer, bolting out the front door.

Durant tried to appear oblivious to the reactions his presence caused, but the continued whispers and stares were beginning to irritate him. He picked up a handful of titles he had set aside and made his way to the checkout register. He set them on the counter and smiled at the clerk.

“I will take these, please,” he said casually.

The man behind the counter swallowed, but took the books with a forced smile. He hesitated when Durant handed him an interstellar credicard, but when he noticed the card was of a common type that would automatically make adjustments for local currency, he took it with a sigh of relief and rang up the sale.

A moment later, Durant left the building and wondered where he should go next. He knew it was not so much that he was a Fur that bothered people, but it was that and his sheer size. He had similar experiences in three stores already. He knew someone like him was uncommon in this place and did not fault them for their surprise, but he had grown weary of it already. It was for this that he never really enjoyed himself whenever they visited Earth. Humankind was responsible for creating furmankind three centuries earlier, but they all seemed typically biased against them.

With a sigh and a glance upward at a darkening sky, Durant headed back to the Blue Horizon. At least there he could find sanctuary.

***

Tanis kept an eye on the overhead clouds and tried not to frown when he heard the distant rumbling of thunder. Had it really been sunny just an hour or two ago? He currently sat on a park bench near a sandy area full of children. Most were gathered around him in open mouth awe as he juggled three apples that had fallen from a nearby tree. He had spent the past hour at the park, where young children had followed the furry man around and he had performed a few magic tricks for them. A few parents had rushed up in concern when they saw their youngsters near the alien, but after watching him suspiciously for a while most had relaxed and stood nearby as he entertained the kids.

Arktanis TeVann had always loved children. He knew that someday he would like to settle down somewhere with a nice vixen and have a few of his own, but until such a time ever presented itself, he was content to enjoy the offspring of others.

Earlier, as he had was about to show his interested fans a disappearing coin trick, a blond-headed boy of five had crawled up onto the bench beside him and began to pet the fur between the large ears on the top of his head. He turned and looked at the youngster with a smile, and with that a full score of children moved forward to run their little hands and fingers through the fur on his head, tail, arms and even one daring youngster had lifted his shirt to see if his back was covered in fur as well.

The tan desert fox became the favorite point of interest on the playground for the next hour. He showed them a few more tricks, had a little chase with some, and then told them a few stories his mum had taught him with he was just a kit himself.

A strong wind with moisture in the air had begun to pick up, so the parents and babysitters began to gather up their youngsters. A clean-cut man in his late twenties walked up to Tanis with a smile as he grasped hands with his six-year-old daughter.

“Thank you for entertaining our kids, mister,” the man told him. “I don’t know when Alicia’s had so much fun out here at the park. Here’s something for you.” He tried to hand Tanis a few dollars, but the fox shook his head with a grin.

“I appreciate the offer,” Tanis replied, “but hearing their laughter and seeing their smiles is payment enough.”

“Well, okay,” the man said with a knowing smile. “I can understand that.” He pocketed the currency and then reached out to the fox without hesitation to shake his hand. “Thanks again. The kids do like you.” He looked up at another roll of thunder and glanced to the dark clouds. “However, I think you’d better find shelter soon. The weather forecaster said we were in a severe thunderstorm watch right now and it’s going to start raining soon.”

“The inn where I’m staying is on the other side of town,” Tanis mused.

“There’s a shopping mall not far from here that you can shelter in,” the man said as he pointed along the street. “Go up three blocks to Baker Street, turn left and you’ll see the mall a half block in that direction.”

“Thank you,” the tan fox replied.

“You’re welcome.”

The breeze wafted Tanis’ large ears a bit as the man and his daughter walked up the street toward their house and he gave a little wave to the girl who looked back at him. He glanced up at the clouds and then moved out to find the mall.

***

Bricker’s Hardware was a small store, but Pockets felt he was in a mechanic’s heaven. The selection of hand tools was impressive, especially those in configurations he had never seen before or had not seen in years. He picked up one particularly nasty-looking weapon of a tool and immediately thought of a spot in between the Horizon’s double hulls where it should work better than anything he already possessed. He picked up four of them for good measure and dropped them into a wheeled shopping basket that was already so laden with tools that his small stature had a hard time maneuvering it down the narrow aisle.

Lorelei had no use for the kind of hand tools Pockets drooled over, but she was no less excited at the variety of cooking spices that Mr. Bricker had in his store. She already had a handful of incense sticks in her basket, in addition to several colorful Southwest-style blankets. She giggled delightfully at the aroma of a spice container she opened and knew she just had to have that one after taking a quick taste from the tip of a moistened finger.

Pockets and Lorelei approached the checkout counter at the same time a short while later and exchanged grins at one another’s shopping basket. The white rabbit looked up at the dark-haired man behind the counter and presented her credicard. He smiled pleasantly and took it as he began to ring up her selections. A small vidscreen was on the wall behind him and the local weather reporter was going on about the approaching storm.

“We need to hire a taxi to take all this stuff back to the ship,” Pockets told his companion.

“Yeah,” Lori replied, “then we can do more shopping!”

The man behind the counter smiled. “I can call one up for you,” he offered. “My brother drives one.”

Lori grinned widely. “That would be great! Thank you.”

***

Cindy closed her eyes as the wind blew along the side verandah of the clinic and felt little pricks of sand in the air. She and Dr. Marvin were resting lazily in a porch swing, their conversation having reached a lull. The air had grown oppressive with winds that could not seem to make up their minds to blow hard or not at all.

The mouse opened her eyes at the sound of voices and saw several people trotting down the street in apparent concern. She watched them until they rounded the corner and then looked over at her newfound friend.

“Wanna go back inside and snuggle some more?” she asked the red fox at her side with a wiggle of her small nose. When he looked back at her, however, he was not smiling.

“I think we’d better go in and look at the weather report,” he said seriously.

Cindy looked out across the yard at the dark clouds between the trees and frowned. “I’m not afraid of storms,” she said, “but you should see our ship’s navigator, Renny. He gets real –”

“You might be afraid of this one,” Marvin interrupted with a shake of his head. “We’ve been getting weather reports all day about the potential this one is building up to, and it could get ugly.” He stood and offered her a hand up. When she took it and stood at his side, he led her inside to the back room of the clinic. The gray mouse took a last glance outside before he shut the door and then picked up the vidscreen remote from the night stand.

***

Renny stood up from his deck chair and frowned at the approaching storm clouds that talked in continual rumbling. He could see lightning flashes within the towering clouds and the occasional ground-to-sky strike. The very air had taken on a greenish tinge and the horizon beneath it was getting harder to see in the darkness of the evening.

Samantha looked up at him with amusement. “What’s the matter, Ren-Ren? Are you afraid of a widdle storm?” She couldn’t resist the temptation to needle him about his fear of bad weather. The two of them had been trading good-natured insults all afternoon, but this time her feline companion was not smiling.

Renny turned and looked at her with wide eyes and the black stripes in his fur beneath them made the cheetah’s expression all the more forlorn. A crack of lightning sounded suddenly and Samantha could see Renny shake in resonance with its reverberating echoes. She knew it was time to cut the jokes. He was really nervous.

Merlin and Max paid no attention to the navigator. The gusting winds threatened to blow the pieces off of their game board, but neither felt like abandoning their close match just yet. Max had a good mind for games and was giving the captain a run for his effort.

Renny set his jaw firmly after a moment and sat back down. “I’ll be all right,” he said between clenched teeth. “I can do this.” He almost jumped out of his skin, however, when Merlin’s DataCom beeped.

The wolf picked up the DC unit from the table beside him and thumbed the Receive button without looking up from his game. Max had just taken two more of his pieces.

“This is Merlin,” he mumbled into the small device. He looked up at the sky as he listened to the call and then nodded in agreement. He suddenly realized the caller could not see his action and then answered, “That’s a good idea, Durant. Go ahead.” He clicked off the unit and set it down again to get back to his game.

“What was that about?” Samantha asked him.

The wolf answered without looking up. “Durant’s back at the ship. He wants to activate the Horizon’s spatial shields to protect the onboard systems from local lightning.” As if to punctuate his words, a tendril arc lit up the sky with a resounding Crack! Renny jumped out of his chair and ran inside the inn without another word.

***

“That cloud looks funny,” Lorelei said strangely.

Pockets looked up to where she pointed and frowned at a section of the thunderclouds that hung lower than the rest and almost appeared to be slowly turning in place. The whole sky was now overcast with heavy clouds and a part of it even looked a little green. Something in the wind did not feel right, but he did not know much about Terran weather patterns so he did not voice his concern. They had taken a taxi back to the ship to deposit their purchases, but were now crossing a large mall parking lot toward a collection of stores so they could be inside if it should start to rain.

Lorelei wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s getting chilly,” she said, “and my ears are popping.”

Pockets grinned suddenly and wrapped a small arm around her waist. “Here,” he said, “let me help you get warm.”

The rabbit giggled and put an arm around him as well, the weather momentarily forgotten. Seconds after they reached the glass doors of the mall and had gone inside, rain began to fall.

***

Dr. Marvin stood by the window and looked out into the rain. It had started lightly, but was now falling hard in big drops at an angle. Cindy stood next to him, the sounds of the vidscreen in the background. They had watched an earlier weather report warning of the approaching storm, but the physician beside her had grown distant and the look in his eyes worried her.

“What’s the matter?” Cindy asked him timidly. “These thunderstorms are common here, aren’t they?” She looked back out the window. “My family used to live on the West Coast for a while and I heard about them all the time,” she said, “but we didn’t live where we had this kind of weather.”

“Thunderstorms are common here, yes,” Marvin replied, “but this one’s giving me a bad sense. The radar images on the vidscreen are showing a bit of a rotation in the clouds — never a good sign in this part of the world. When the cool air from Canada flows down the Rockies and collides with the warm air coming up from the Gulf, it can make a deadly mix.” He glanced over at her after a moment with an upraised eyebrow. “You just said you’re from Earth?” he asked in curiosity. “Where did you live?”

Cindy grinned at him, thankful to have his attention again. “Santa Barbara, California,” she replied. “They don’t seem to mind Furs out there as much as other places. We lived up on the mesa. My father was on a—”

A crack of lightning and another new sound interrupted her words. Ice chunks the size of marbles began falling from the clouds and made a deafening din on the metal awning over the veranda outside. Cindy looked at the doctor with wide eyes, her heart creeping up into her throat.

***

Samantha shut the patio door behind her. She and Merlin made it inside just as the rain began; Max had gone inside earlier to check on Renny after he had beaten Merlin at their board game. Mr. Harris walked into the room a moment later and stopped beside the canine to look out the window.

“It’s going to be a gully-washer,” he mumbled as the wind tossed two of the deck chairs into the pool. He looked at the Border collie beside him and nodded “It’s a good thing the Harpers got back in time. They’ll be down for supper soon, if you and your friends would like to do the same.”

“We are getting hungry,” Sam admitted to the man. “I can’t wait to try your food.”

“Annabelle is one of the best cooks in town,” the elderly man said with a nod of his head. “I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in her supper, even if you are from outer space.” He gave her a smile to let her know he was merely teasing, and Samantha chuckled at his expression.

She leaned in closer and said in a conspiratorial manner, “I hope Annabelle has a lot of food back there. My cheetah friend has quite an appetite.”

There was a delighted glint in Mr. Harris’ eye when he replied. “I don’t think she has any antelope meat in her freezer, and there aren’t any in these parts for him to take down on the run.”

Samantha snickered. She liked this man immensely. “Well, he’ll have to suffice on —”

Crrrrrrrrr-ack! BOOM!

Lightning struck a communications pole in the field next to the inn and charred splinters swirled around in the strong wind before raining to the ground. More thunder sounded nearby in reply to the electrical tantrum, and it began to hail small chunks of ice. In the front room of the inn, Renny let out a cry and stood up rigid from the wicker seat he had been huddled in. There was another flash and he bounded up the stairs with wide eyes. The canine started after his friend.

“Max!” Merlin said sharply. The young mechanic stopped halfway up the staircase and looked back down at him. “I think he needs to be left alone,” the wolf told him.

Max looked as if he was going to protest, but after a furtive glance back upstairs when he heard the cheetah’s door slam, he slowly made his way back to the ground floor.

A brown-haired boy of five opened up a door at the top of the stairs and looked down at the canines with wide eyes. “Hey, Mom!” he said excitedly back inside the room, “There’s dog-people here! Can I go down and pet ‘em?”

“Tommy!” said a hushed voice, “That’s rude!” A woman peeked out the door and looked down the stairs with a frown. “You can go down there, but be nice.”

Merlin lowered his head, growling lowly to himself and Samantha just sighed. Distracted from his shipmate’s fears, Max laughed and grinned at the boy as he took the stairs two at a time.

“Hi!” little Tommy said to Maximillian. The German shepherd smiled and looked at him steadily with his ice-blue eyes.

“Hello,” Max replied. He sat down on one of the steps so that he looked eye-to-eye with Tommy and then tilted his head forward with a smile.

The boy recognized the gesture and reached forward to pet the top of Max’s head gently. He laughed to himself and patted his head again.

“Tommy!”

Max looked up at the boy’s parents coming down the staircase. He stood up and let them pass. The woman grabbed her boy and held him to her and the man stopped to look at Max.

“Please forgive him,” he said. “He doesn’t know –”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Max told him with a smile. “He’s done nothing wrong.”

“Thank you,” the woman said. “We don’t mean to be a bother.” Thunder boomed and rattled the windows as the rain and hail slowed and then stopped.

Mr. Harris walked over to them and shook the man’s hand. “Mr. Harper, you’ve just met Max Sinclair. The wolf over there is his uncle, Merlin Sinclair, and the lovely lass over by the patio window is Samantha Holden.” He turned to his other guests and said, “This is Jim and Mary Harper, and their son Tommy.”

Jim Harper walked over to Samantha. “Holden?” he asked with a quizzical expression. “Are you kin to the Holdens on Alexandrius, by chance? Holden Pharmaceutical?”

Sam smiled. “That’s right,” she said. “I —”

At that time, a plump red-headed woman in an apron came out of the kitchen and tapped on a glass with a spoon for attention. Everyone looked at her and she smiled. “Hello, folks,” she said. “I’m your hostess, Annabelle. If you will look over our menus and give me your dining preferences, I can get started on your suppers.”

***

“Look, there’s Tanis,” Pockets said to Lorelei. They were in the food court on the lower level of the city’s only large shopping mall, sitting in a booth with the remnants of their meals on plastic trays. Such malls had died out on Earth ages ago, but in recent years they had been making a comeback. Lorelei had finished off a nice salad, while Pockets had indulged himself in seafood. They waved at their friend, who saw them and moved toward their table.

“Fancy seeing you two here,” he said with a smile. Lorelei pulled her shopping bags out of a chair and the desert fox sat down with them.

“Looks like ya’ve been spending yer credits,” he said.

“You should have seen the haul we took back to the ship earlier!” Pockets remarked.

“The locals must love ya.”

“The locals think we’re strange,” Pockets said dryly, “but they don’t refuse our money.”

“Yeah, well, I had a wonderful afternoon in the park with –”

The lights in the mall flickered briefly and then went out. There were raised voices in alarm all over the complex and a few cries of fear. A few cigarette lighters flicked on here and there as people tried to see where they were.

“Hmm, well this is fun,” Tanis said above the din of voices from the crowd around them.

Someone bumped into Lorelei’s chair and stumbled into her lap with a grunt.

“Oh!” Lori exclaimed.

“Sorry, miss,” a young male voice replied as he pulled himself back up.

“That’s okay, I—” she started to say, but her voice cut off suddenly. They could hear someone shuffle away in the darkness and Pockets cleared his throat in concern.

“Are you okay?” the raccoon asked. It was often hard to stop Lorelei when she was talking, as she could sometimes be a chatterbox, so her sudden mid-sentence silence piqued his interest.

“Uhm, yeah,” she replied with a giggle.

“What just happened?”

“Ohhhh, nothing...” Lori answered with another giggle.

“So... what do we do now?” Tanis asked as a few candles in the food establishments began lighting up. The power was still out and the air was already beginning to get stuffy without the air circulation system running.

The roof of the mall was made of painted glass, and while the lightning flashes outside did little to penetrate the darkness within, they could hear the panes rattling with the rumble of deep thunder. Tanis looked up instinctively, even if he could not see much of anything.

“I was in an electronic shop earlier,” he said. “Weather reports on the local station were warning viewers about the potential danger of this storm. Something was said about a wall cloud and recommended taking shelter.”

“What’s a wall cloud?” Pockets mused.

Tanis shrugged in the dim light. “I dunno, but it sounded ominous.”

“Since we’re nice and dry,” Lorelei said, “I guess we have good shelter here.”

“If we were on the Horizon,” Pockets replied, “I’d head straight for the backup generator. I don’t know if this place even has one, and I wouldn’t even know where to look. I think it’s best if we just keep our seats. The local engineer should have power back up soon.” His companions could hear tools clunking together in the darkness, and suddenly their vision was momentarily blinded by the bright light of a small flashlight torch the raccoon had pulled out of his largest pocket.

He smiled at them in the beam and asked, “Don’t I just light up your life?”

***

Jim Harper looked up from the dining table to the windows. Even in the light of the candles that Annabelle had lit against the sudden power loss, he could see forceful winds making the window panes bulge inward. A pigeon had slammed into the patio door earlier, but the stunned bird had already been swept away by the wind. Renny sat opposite him at the table, his hand tight around his glass of water. His crewmates had coaxed him out of his room to eat, but the raging storm continued to unnerve him.

“Mr. Harris...” Jim said, “that can’t be a good sign.” The innkeeper followed the man’s gaze to the flexing window panes and he swallowed hard. The rain had begun again and was pelting the straining glass with large drops.

“Everyone,” Mr. Harris said in a loud voice, “this storm’s gotten serious – it looks like we may have a – “

The tiny speaker of a small radio came to life as Annabelle turned on a battery-operated unit. Everyone in the room became quiet as they listened to the excited voice emanating from the radio.

“–touched down just outside the city limits just moments ago, taking out a power station and a mobile home park! The debris cloud appears to be rope-like in appearance, but from my vantage point it appears to be growing even as I watch! I advise all citizens of Woodward to get to a shelter immediately. If you don’t have one, get to the lowest level of your house or building and move to the center part of the structure, like a closet or bathtub, and cover yourself up with blankets and pillows. Stay away from all windows, especially on the south and western sides of the house. If you are caught outside, get to a drainage ditch or other depression, but don’t attempt to get into a vehicle and outrun the tornado. Highway overpasses act as wind tunnels, making them too dangerous to use as shelter, and should be avoided at all costs. If you—”

The overburdened windows exploded inward, showering everyone with tiny square blocks of glass. Had the windows not been made of safety glass, everyone at the table might have been shredded. As it was, there were only superficial cuts all around, but furious winds were blowing more rain and debris inside through the empty window frame.

“I have a storm shelter out in the yard, just beyond the pool!” Mr. Harris shouted to be heard above the roar. Everyone scrambled for the doorway, but Merlin had to grab Renny’s collar to forcibly pull him up off the floor toward the raging storm outside; it required Samantha on his other side pulling on an arm to get the cheetah to his feet. Jim picked up his son and grabbed his wife’s hand.

As they darted outside into the torrential rain, Merlin’s eyes grew wide. He heard a sound that brought back terrible memories and he swallowed hard. A deep roar, like the moan of a bull-fiddle filled their ears. As they made their way across the wet tile by the pool, Mr. Harris chanced a look behind them. No one could hear him gasp, but Annabelle saw the expression on his face. She turned to see what he had seen and a cry escaped her lips.

A dark, swirling funnel of cloud and debris was bearing down on them, sucking away the very air around them into its swelling mass and blowing out the remnants of houses and other structures it had already devoured. The funnel had formed into a pronounced stove-pipe shape and had to be nearly a half-mile in width.

“Run!” Annabelle screamed, “Run!”

Jim Harper raced across the muddy grass yard to a faded blue dome jutting up out of the earth. He grasped the thick handle at ground-level set into its curved surface with his free hand and twisted it, and even above the tornado’s roar they could all hear the rusted metal screech in protest. He handed his son to his wife and grabbed the handle with both hands before it released and allowed him to swing the door aside. He pulled Mary and Tommy to him and then guided them down concrete steps into a musty dark opening.

Mr. Harris stumbled in the wind, but Merlin rushed forward to keep him upright. Annabelle ran on ahead to the shelter as the captain helped the elderly innkeeper onward.

Samantha slipped on slick grass in the yard behind them and fell face-first into mud. She rose up on trembling arms, and in a disgusted voice muttered to herself, “Someone always trips in the movies when running from danger. I can’t believe it was me!”

Renny had gained enough of a presence of mind as debris flew past them to give her a hand up. They had turned back toward the shelter when a sharp crack and a sudden cry of pain came from behind them. Samantha kept running, having not heard the voice, but Renny looked back and saw Max lying on the ground. The front of the youth’s shirt was torn across the chest and a large board flipped away from him in the wind.

Seeing the youth lying on his back amidst the slashing torrents of wind and rain, Renny felt a surge of emotion greater than his inherent fear of the storm. As Max fought to get up despite the stinging pain across his chest, their eyes made contact and the cheetah felt himself emboldened. Renny streaked back across the distance between them and dropped to his knees beside the youth in the muddy grass.

“R-Renny...” Max gasped.

“Let’s go!” the cheetah shouted, as much to himself as the youth before him, and helped him to his feet. Renny supported his weight and it was a struggle to continue standing against the wind. It was hard to keep his feet on the ground – he felt as if the wind were trying to pick him up – but he put his head down and they resumed their flight toward the shelter.

The navigator looked up to get his bearings and saw several more boards flying directly at them. With more instinct than conscious thought, Renny dropped backward, pulled Max to the ground and then rolled over on top of the boy just as three thick planks tumbled through the space they had just vacated. The motion had been quick, but Renny was sure he had seen large rusty nails protruding from the boards that could have done serious damage.

Once again, Renny got to his feet as Max clung to him with his eyes tightly closed. The cheetah made his way toward the shelter where Merlin stood outside by the door, yelling something at him to coax him onward. The pair started for a moment at a flash of white. The cheetah paused as he recognized a bird fluttering helplessly in the wind before them, and a moment later the bird exploded in a blast of feathers as a baseball smashed wildly through its body as though hurled by a champion pitcher. Nonplussed, Renny and Max got to the shelter and Merlin motioned them downward below ground. The captain followed them into the hole, pulled the heavy metal door behind him with a clang, and quickly shoved a thick bolt to lock the panel into place.

The wolf moved down into the cramped shelter where everyone huddled close together while the storm raged overhead. Renny panted for breath and leaned against the wall as Samantha took a look over Max. Even in the semi-darkness of the shelter, Samantha could see the whites of Merlin’s eyes as she tended to Max’s injury. Now that they were safely underground and out of immediate danger, her friend would start to remember – and remembering might prove to be just as disastrous.

***

The Blue Horizon rocked from side to side. That in itself would not cause the loadmaster concern during a normal voyage, for areas of turbulence in nebulae, stellar winds and the upper atmospheres of the planets were commonplace, but with the ship sitting inert on the ground Durant looked up in alarm. Even within the Horizon’s thick shell, he could hear things hitting the protective shield of energy surrounding the ship.

He set a comic book aside and jumped up from his bed. He trotted from the cabin to the bridge, and when he stopped beside the center seat, his eyes went wide with what he saw through the forward windows.

A tight column of swiftly-rotating cloud and debris nearly a kilometer in diameter churned through the middle of the darkened town. Despite the power loss of the main electrical plant, he could see power flashes sparking all across the city as the tornado hit other sources of energy and disposed of them. It would have been difficult to see the funnel cloud in the evening darkness were it not for the explosions ripping around the base of the thing.

The grizzly bear turned on the bridge systems and selected the infrared filter for the forward display. The tornado, the overhead storm clouds and the city beneath all stood out in eerie green detail. He swallowed at the sight of the path of devastation he could see and increased the magnification of his field of view. He sat down hard in the center seat. There was nothing he could do to prevent the continued destruction of Woodward – all he could do was watch in horror as the tornado pressed onward, propelled by its own tremendous force.

***

Cindy could hardly breathe beneath the pillows and blankets that she and Marvin had pulled into the small supply closet with them. It was the only room of relative safety in the clinic, located at the center of the structure. Sounds of breaking glass and splintering wood sounded loudly outside the buffeting door and there was no mistaking the feeling that the building was being ripped apart around them. The small closet swayed and packages of tongue depressors, bandages, pill bottles and other medical items showered them from the upper shelves.

The mouse and fox both cried out in surprise when a metal pole suddenly pierced the door panel and drove furiously into the wall at the back of the closet with a bang! Cindy’s eyes were wide and a shudder passed through her. The pole had penetrated the closet directly between her and Marvin, with only a couple of inches to spare between their cheekbones.

There was a teeth-grating sound of shearing metal as something gave away in the wind and Cindy screamed when the whole closet tilted crazily. Driven forcefully over onto its side, it was added to other debris in the rubble.

***

He could feel himself shaking and could do nothing to stop himself. The storm itself had not frightened Merlin like it had Renny, but the raging tornado that passed over them brought back the terror of a day years ago in his youth. He had not known the blinding fear was buried in his mind, but the memories came back too vividly amidst the roaring winds above their shelter.

Eight-year-old Merlin Sinclair was shoved into the deep indoor bathing pool of the family home with his younger brother Lucas, and pillows and blankets were piled in with them. The young wolf had never seen their father so scared and so determined in all his short life. There was no room for Christopher Sinclair to get into the pool alongside them, so he lay on top of his sons and held onto a small mattress with one hand and the faucet with his other as violent winds drove lethal debris through the shattered windows of the house.

The walls shook from the approaching tornado, one of several that hit Grandstorm that day, and things fell out of the bathroom cabinets in crashes that were barely heard over the din. The thick branch of a tree drove through the wall mere inches above the quivering mattress, its edges still sharp despite having just been thrust through several layers of stone, wood and plastic.

Lucas was crying, but there was nothing that could be done to quiet the five-year-old. Merlin was on the verge of tears himself, but drew comfort in the sturdy form of his father above him. The house creaked and groaned and the wind drove rain, mud and debris into the house through the hole in the wall that widened as material was constantly ripped away. A section of the roof separated from its joists and disappeared into the roiling, dark afternoon sky, and the mattress was suddenly torn from Christopher’s grasp.

Winds buffeted the black wolf and he snarled at the storm as he held onto the thick plumbing that was all that kept him from flying. He could feel some of the pillows sucked out from beneath him and Merlin’s arms grasped tightly to his legs. It was hard to breathe as the very air seemed to be swept away in the maelstrom. Something on the outside smashed into the side of the house and the wall caved in on top of the bathing room.

Less than two kilometers away, Diane Sinclair and her daughter Shannon had abandoned the family vehicle after it had flipped over into a drainage ditch. They ran for their lives as the debris from a housing area that had just been destroyed by the storm pelted them mercilessly. Diane had picked up Shannon from her tutor just before the tornado touched down in a park a block away and she had vainly tried to outrun the howling funnel cloud.

The mother and daughter ran to a highway overpass. Diane thought that the narrow spaces near the girder supports might shelter them from the wind and debris, and she saw that several others were already huddled up as close inside the structure as they could fit. She pulled her fifteen-year-old daughter up the embankment and pushed her up inside the girders as the tornado crossed the field directly toward them. The child wrapped all four limbs around and through the girders, clinging desperately to sanctuary.

Diane clung to the girders above her and tried to wedge herself in over the top of her daughter to give her protection. Debris pelted her and it felt as if hundreds of needles were piercing the skin beneath her fur. Her right leg had gone numb and she stole a glance into the wind that sandblasted her eyes with grit and noted with horror that a ten-inch shard of glass was embedded into her calf just below the knee. She knew better than to try to pull it out in such conditions and felt faint from the sight, so she closed her eyes tightly. The squall grew stronger and the small area beneath the overpass funneled the winds that strengthened already violent gusts. Diane suddenly knew they had all made a mistake trying to shelter in a place that would only make the winds worse.

Shannon screamed something into her ear, but she could not make out what it was above the roar of noise. She felt her grip weaken on the girders and she looked up into her frightened daughter’s eyes to realize that stronger forces were pulling herself away. Shannon cried out to her mother as she tried to reach out to grasp hands with her, but the suction was too great and Diane swiftly disappeared into the dark whirling mass of the debris cloud. It was only the child’s right leg jammed through an opening in the girder that prevented her from being pulled out with her mother.

Back at the Sinclair home, young Merlin and Lucas felt as they were being smothered beneath the weight of their father with the remnants of the bathing room wall as the howling winds continued to take the house apart around them. The children cried out in sustained panic and the lupine captain of an interstellar freighter howled his terror along with such memories.

Merlin did not feel Samantha’s arms around his waist, holding him tight in the cramped quarters. All he could see was the silent face of his father later placed upon a bloody hospital gurney after they had been dug out of the rubble by a police officer following the storm. They were reunited with their sister the next morning, but their mother remained missing for days afterward; she was later found buried beneath rubble two hundred meters from the overpass where Shannon and only one other had survived.

The tornado outbreak had leveled a majority of the city of Grandstorm on Dennier on that day. Afterward, young Shannon, Merlin and Lucas were sent to live with their mother’s parents on Alexandrius, and it was there Merlin later met Samantha Holden, a young Border collie who had been sent from Sillon to the university where he attended.

Samantha held her head against his and spoke quiet words into his ears, trying to ignore Tommy’s wailing behind her. Max clung to her leg with his eyes tightly closed, and Renny was balled up against the ground in a nearby corner in a fair catatonic state.

Then the sounds of the violence beyond the thick cellar door decreased almost suddenly; those huddled together breathed in relief that they had somehow made it through the worst of the storm that raged on away across town.

***

Pockets was clowning around with his flashlight when the wall on the opposite side of the food court suddenly collapsed inward from the weight of a mangled vehicle that had been forced through it. Dust, debris, water and glass exploded out over the consumers and a howling, gale-force wind began to blow everything around them furiously. Parts of the weakened ceiling fell into the mall. The winds grew stronger and more of the outside wall collapsed as the churning continued to grow. Chunks of concrete, steel, glass and bricks from the upper level of the mall hit the floor around them and everyone dove for whatever cover they could find.

The Blue Horizon crew members scrambled beneath their metal lunch table just as a large iron beam fell down over them. One edge crashed onto the floor near Pockets and pulverized the concrete, but the other caught the short wall of plants they were sitting next to and, although partially crushed, supported it enough to keep from killing them all. The tornado continued to churn through the middle of the mall and after what seemed an eternity, the whirling maelstrom moved on to devour the surrounding neighborhood, leaving the remnants of the shopping center in ruin.

Lorelei swallowed hard and coughed at the dust she inhaled. She tried to raise her head, but bumped it on something in the darkness. She could see nothing and felt something lying across her lap. She moved a hand over the soft lump and decided it was Pockets judging from the clink of tools in the pockets she felt. He was out cold. She could feel his breath on her hand but he did not seem to be laboring, so she left him alone.

“Tanis?” she asked timidly. She heard a groan and felt movement behind her.

“Tanis is dead,” the desert fox’s voice wavered as Lori repositioned herself over to him. Pockets’ head slipped off her lap and hit the floor with a thunk!

“Yip!” the raccoon squeaked as the jolt woke him. Lorelei reached out and pulled him back to her lap. She coughed several more times and heard other voices out in the darkness within the sound of rain. The wind still blew through the open mall, but had lessened in intensity.

“What happened?” Tanis asked as he tried to sit up. Like the rabbit, he bumped his head on something above them and grunted as he rubbed the back of his skull. There was a strange smell in the air and he coughed when it burned his lungs.

“Something hit the mall,” Lorelei replied. She tried to sort out the memories, but everything had happened so fast. She had never experienced anything like it before and did not know what else to say.

“Was it a bomb?” Pockets moaned. No sooner had the words left his mouth than an explosion ripped the air and pushed it violently above them. The ruins were lit from the fire of the blast from a ruptured gas line from one of the food court kitchens. Shrapnel and searing heat filled the air around them as the fireball expanded upward, but then retracted in the wind and rain. Fortunately for them, they were shielded by a mountain of debris and were relatively untouched by the explosion, but others had not been so lucky. Horrible shrieks of pain and screams of anguish filled the darkness, and there was more yelling as other survivors tried to put out the multiple fires before more were hurt.

As a result from the flames that had started at places around them, Lorelei could see out through the rubble across the destruction. Her head grew light when she realized that the end of the mall with the food court where they huddled was all that was left of the mile-long shopping center still standing. She could also see fragments of bloody bodies crushed beneath sections of the upper level that had collapsed a mere meter away.

“We have to get out of here,” Tanis said hoarsely, “away from the building before more of it collapses on top of us.” He pointed to the remains of the upper level above them and they could see pipes, wires and other things hanging from the unstable and crumbling precipice.

***

Durant looked down at the armrests of the Horizon’s center seat. He had gripped them so hard while helplessly watching the tornado rip through town that he had bent them down and inward. The impressions of his fingers were also mashed into the padding; it was almost as if Taro’s Hestran strength had been bestowed upon him. He released the armrests and rubbed the fingers of both hands absently as his attention went back to the vidscreens.

The right-hand screen was magnified and tracking on the tornado itself with sensors providing data on wind speed, direction, barometric pressure and a projected pathway. The other two screens were focused on different areas of the town. Normally, he would not be able to see parts of town for the buildings in the way, but the tornado had carved a swath right through the small city that left his vantage point open.

It took him a moment to realize that the tornado, while still growing in size and strength, was moving out away from the opposite edge of town and headed toward the northeast for open prairie. The ruins of Woodward were being left behind.

Durant felt only slightly more relieved until a thought occurred to him. He looked up at the image and data of the tornado and it showed no signs of dissipating. He moved to another station and tied in the ship’s computer with the local info net. He called up a satellite topography map of the area and overlaid the data from the tornado’s path across it. The grizzly frowned deeply. If the tornado kept its current trajectory, it would continue on through prairie occupied by the occasional farmhouse, but it was headed toward a popular recreational park of hot springs and a couple of small towns just beyond.

If he did not do something quick, Durant felt as if there would be more deaths from this monster before the destruction ended. With the power down throughout the city, it was likely that he had the only functional communication equipment available. As quickly as he could, he called up contact data from the info net and then moved to the com station to warn the authorities of those places in the tornado’s path. After that was taken care of, he would put out a call for help to surrounding cities to provide emergency assistance for Woodward, if they were not already on their way.

***

It took the combined efforts of Renny and Jim Harper to force the door to the storm cellar open. Shredded wood, bricks and tree limbs lay across the faded blue dome, but they were finally able to push the heavy metal panel aside after a lot of struggling.

Jim was the first one up the steps and out onto the soggy ground above, and the cheetah noted the man’s surprised expression as he looked around. Jim glanced back down at the expectant faces below and shook his head. “There’s nothing left,” he said, “but the twister’s gone.”

One by one, the survivors emerged from the dank shelter into an emptiness that was overwhelming. The wind still blew, but it was only a whisper of what it had been earlier. Lightning flashes continued to illuminated the darkened sky, but thankfully no more rain fell on their position.

Annabelle and Mr. Harris were the last to step outside. The two of them clung together and both wept openly when they turned toward the inn. The two-story building, well over one hundred fifty years old, had been swept away entirely; the foundation had been wiped clean of everything except a few twisted pipes that spewed water through crimps and splits.

Splinters of wood, glass, insulation and other debris littered the ground, but for all the destruction, the area was cleaner than what they would have expected. The tornado had moved directly over the building and had taken everything with it.

Merlin stood beside Samantha, now feeling calm but quite embarrassed over his behavior in the shelter. He was captain and should have remained strong in the midst of the storm, but his courage had failed him. Max was aching and rubbing his chest; he would be bruised, but he did not think anything had been broken. Fortunately for him, the board had hit him with the flat side and had only knocked him to the wet ground. He stood beside Renny, who seemed to have regained his composure as well. The storm still thundered and pounded around them, but the emergency of the situation had calmed him – it had given him a purpose. The cheetah was in complete awe at the sheer power of a storm and what it could do, but although he was okay now, it was unlikely he would ever be comfortable around such weather phenomenon.

There were sounds of voices crying out from all directions as people emerged from other shelters and searched for missing people or pets. Sirens wailed in the distance and it reminded Samantha of something. She walked to where Mr. Harris mourned the loss of their home and livelihood and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her with wet tears and he brushed them from his eyes angrily as if ashamed to carry on in such a manner. Samantha gave him a moment to compose himself, and when he finally looked as if he had steadied himself, she asked a question that was on her mind.

“Mr. Harris,” she began. She cocked her head to the side and listened to the emergency vehicles down the street. “Doesn’t Woodward have an early warning system for this kind of weather?” she asked. “I never heard anything sound off prior to the tornado.”

The elderly gentleman shook his head sadly and shrugged his shoulders. “We do have a warning siren,” he replied, “but I believe I’d heard the system broke down with last winter’s hard freeze. I don’t think the city had the extra funds in the budget to have it repaired, so I suppose nothing was ever done about it.”

Samantha looked angrily out across the demolished neighborhood around them. “I wonder how many lives might have been saved had they fixed it.”

Merlin saw something fluttering in the grass at his feet. It was just a bit of debris, but he stooped to pick it up anyway. It was a stiff piece of torn paper with a date and a few names scribbled on it. He turned it over and saw that it was part of a photograph of a human family of four. Two young boys with bright, mischievous eyes sat on the wooden steps of a garden deck between a lovely woman with wavy brown hair and her husband, a handsome man in glasses with graying hair and a mustache. He walked over to Annabelle and handed the photo to her.

She examined it, but shook her head. “I don’t know who they are,” she remarked. The wolf looked at the portrait again and noted how happy the family appeared. He wondered who they were, and whether or not his possession of the picture meant that someone in it was hurt.

***

Cindy felt someone pull at her eyelid and suddenly there was a piercing light. She raised a hand to shield her face and heard a sigh of relief.

“She’s coming around,” said a relieved voice.

“She doesn’t look hurt too bad, but I’m not familiar with mice anatomy,” said another. “Are you sure you are all right?”

Marvin’s voice answered, “I have bumps and bruises, but I’ll be okay. I will look her over to determine her health.”

“Okay, Dr. Tronnor, we’re going to keep looking for other survivors, then.”

“Thank you, Dale. I’ll see if I can salvage a few First Aid supplies and join you shortly.”

Cindy blinked her eyes a few times and tried to sit up as footsteps led away. Marvin’s hand supported her shoulder and helped her into a sitting position. He looked at her in concern and she immediately noticed small cuts on one side of his muzzle and an ear.

“How do you feel,” he asked her.

Cindy closed her eyes a moment and took stock of the aches and pains she felt. Fortunately, everything seemed to be minor. She looked back up into his green eyes and gave him a little nod.

“I’ve felt better,” she said, “but I don’t think there’s anything broken. I do have a headache the size of my ship...”

“Yeah, me too,” Marvin said with a smirk, “and I don’t even know how big your ship is.”

“It’s a considerable size.”

The gray mouse looked around in the flashlight glare. They were on a soggy blanket in what looked like a war zone. They were apparently in the front yard of the fox’s clinic, although the building lay mostly over on its side in a pile. The night sky was lit up in the distance by lightning, but the winds had died down and rain no longer fell. There was a faint odor of gas, but it was getting weaker, and she could hear sirens.

“How did we get out?” she asked her friend.

“My neighbor found us,” the doctor replied as he shined his flashlight over her cuts and bruises, feeling of her arms and legs to make sure there were no hidden injuries. “He’s one of the few that lets me treat him and his family. He and I usually take daily walks together every morning before I open up the clinic.”

The red fox stood up and offered Cindy a hand. “Let’s see if you can stand,” he said to the mouse. She nodded, took hold of his hand, and then got to her feet. She was a little shaky on her legs, but she remained standing.

“Now that you’re upright, how do you feel?” he asked her.

“I have a bit of a cramp in my left leg,” she replied as she massaged the sore spot.

“When they pulled the debris off of us,” Marvin said, “you were laying on top of that leg.”

“It doesn’t feel broken. I think I’m okay.” She moved closer and then embraced him for a moment; it was not for any sense of romanticism, but merely because she needed it.

“So long as you’re okay,” he said, pulling away to look into her eyes, “I’m afraid duty calls for the physician. I have another flashlight torch here – can you help me dig through the rubble for First Aid supplies?” He looked around at the devastated neighborhood with a frown. “There’s going to be a lot of hurt people and I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.”

***

“Here’s another one, Michael,” Pockets said glumly. He and a red-haired man in his thirties began picking up pieces of debris off of another body. When the man moved a chunk of wood and plaster, he choked and began to cry.

He looked up at Pockets in the dim light produced by an emergency electric lantern and wiped his eyes for the fortieth time since they had started working together. “This is the husband of the woman we found a few minutes ago,” he said. “His name was Sean Brennen. Our boys played ball together every summer.”

Pockets looked down at the deceased man and shook his head. The man’s throat had been crushed from fallen debris and his bright blue eyes were open in shock. He put a hand on Michael’s shoulder.

“If you want to take a break, I can look for others,” he said.

“No,” Michael said as he wiped his eyes again. “I’ll be okay. I want to lay him next to his wife and then I need to look for their son.”

Not far from where Pockets and Michael worked, Lorelei tended to a couple of teenage girls. One had her arm in a makeshift splint, tied up in a sling made from her blouse, and the other had a wrap around her forehead made from one leg of her pants. Both had bruises and scrapes on their faces and arms. Lorelei had located a bottled water dispenser that was somehow still upright and was giving drinks in crumpled paper cups to the survivors she found.

The first girl had maintained her composure despite her injuries, but her companion had wept almost continually since she had been uncovered in the debris. It was only now that she had stopped bawling. The appearance of the humanoid white rabbit had taken her attention and Lorelei had been sweet and compassionate toward her. The sniffling girl was petting the ultra-soft fur of Lori’s arm, and the action seemed to calm her.

However, Tanis found that being a Fur in an emergency situation on Earth was not necessarily a benefit. He was a medic and was helping out as much as he could, but there were some individuals so in shock that the sight of a short, bipedal furry creature with giant ears was just too frightening to allow him to help. He provided assistance where he could, but felt powerless when his help was refused, no matter his skill in medicine. Changing tactics, Tanis moved off into darker areas to help those who could not see him well in the stormy evening.

***

Morning arrived at last. All remnants of the storm clouds had vanished and a clear blue sky was calm. Birds were chirping and the temperature was pleasant.

Durant stood on top of the Blue Horizon, having climbed out through an emergency hatch in the ceiling of the recreation deck to see the city with his own eyes. From this vantage point, he could see the mile-wide damage path that cut diagonally across Woodward in a southwest-to-northeasterly direction. The area resembled a junkyard of downed poles, wires, bricks, splintered planks, twisted metal and glass. He had never been in a war zone before, but Durant had seen images of battle destruction on news programs; what he saw that morning resembled such photos.

Fires had broken out during the night and there were plumes of dark smoke still smoldering throughout the city. Hundreds of houses and businesses had been destroyed. Some that had been in the immediate pathway of the tornado somehow still stood, evidence of the unpredictable nature of the winds associated with a tornado, while others beside them had been reduced to complete rubble.

Various members of the crew had reported in through the night and everyone had been accounted for and still breathing. None of them had sustained serious injuries, but he was the only one who had not had an up close and personal experience with the storm.

***

The majority of them had stayed up through the night to help the injured and look for survivors, so most were now on board the ship in their cabins, exhausted and asleep. Earlier in the morning hours, Merlin had volunteered the Blue Horizon to transport the worst injuries to a hospital thirty kilometers south in Elk City, the closest large city, as the Woodward Hospital and Health Center was full and overcrowded.

With an exhausted and shaken crew, the Blue Horizon had made four round trips between the cities and Durant hoped they had been in time to save the lives of those they had transported. He had monitored the local broadcasts all morning and the death toll was still counting. The vid and radio warnings had done well to prepare the city for the potential of the approaching severe weather, but without a functional early warning system, the loss of life was higher than it should have been.

Although the town was still reeling from the previous night’s havoc, Samantha had already initiated a sizable, anonymous donation to the city of Woodward that was earmarked specifically for an advanced tornado warning siren system. While emergency and cleanup crews were continuing to comb the area for other survivors – and bodies – an order was already being processed for the equipment, delivery and installation of the warning system to be put in as soon as power was restored to the parts of the city still standing. Although tornadoes can form during any month of the year, the season of greatest potential still had several weeks left, so getting the warning system in place even before the town could begin rebuilding was a priority.

The other outlying places that had been in the path of the storm had been amply warned and the destruction had not been as great. The tornado had turned in a graceful arc toward the North after it left Woodward in its wake and it was tracked for another half hour before it finally lost its power, dissipating in the middle of empty ranch land. Reports had it pegged as an EF5 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, topping out with wind speeds in excess of four hundred thirty kilometers per hour.

Durant took a large breath of air and then turned back toward the hatch. Like everyone else, he needed rest. They would be departing Woodward later in the evening if they were no longer needed and would take the rest of their shore leave in Flagstaff before their next pickup for delivery.

As the accountant approached the emergency airlock to descend back into the ship, a white dove fluttered down and landed on the upraised hatch. Durant smiled as the bird cooed at him a moment before flying away again. The Terrans symbolized peace in the appearance of a white dove. Perhaps Woodward would find some of that peace in the aftermath of the storm.

THE MYSTERY OF WALKABOUT

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1138

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon is currently a week away Argeia, an old world containing the first truly alien race that humanity has encountered. The Furs inhabiting the planets in the PA were all products of Terran genetic engineering that were sent out as colonies of the Earth three centuries ago, but the Kastans of Argeia developed completely on their own. Having them agree to join the Planetary Alignment after getting through the difficulties of the language barriers had made it all a challenging endeavor, but the recent successes have many excited.

Our flight from Earth is going smoothly, and since this is a new route for us, we’re passing through a section of space not yet frequented by PA interstellar travel.

I cannot help but think about what we went through back on Earth while in Woodward, but it’s been two and a half weeks and I think everyone is sleeping comfortably again. I find it highly unlikely that Samantha will continue to tease Renny about his fear of storms in the future. We’ve all been through a lot, and although I feel ashamed for my own behavior during the storm, I feel awfully fortunate that none of us were seriously injured. I’m glad it’s over, but the citizens of Woodward have a long recovery ahead of them.

I received a call from Captain Kegawa a few days ago. His ship has been cleared for return to service, though it passed the safety inspection only barely. I don’t know what use I could actually have for an aging ship like the Hidalgo Sun, but Rezo has promised his help should we ever need it.

I don’t really have much to report at this time. Although we are in a new region of space, the flight itself is routine and has been thankfully quiet. Samantha’s pulled out a load of movies she picked up in Flagstaff and the majority of them have actually been quite good. There have been a few stinkers in the bunch, but sometimes it’s impossible to know ahead of time what a show is going to be like. Most were made on Earth and have an all-human cast, but there’s been a few Sam found that were probably made elsewhere that have a predominantly Fur cast of characters. They’re all in various degrees of quality, but we should have plenty of entertainment to last us a few voyages.

Lorelei has become hooked on an old interstellar televid show lately. No matter who’s watching a show or movie on the vidscreen, she has announced to everyone that she must watch The Golden Chef Challenge, which originates from Alexandrius. I’ve only watched it with her once, but from what I could tell, the main objective was a fancy cook-off between famous or prestigious chefs from all over the PA. Each show unveils a new specific ingredient from anywhere in the PA that the chefs must incorporate into their meals, and this can sometimes border on the ludicrous. I don’t know much more about the show that this, but Lori nearly started a fight with Samantha last week when the show came on while Sam was in the middle of a movie. Samantha finally let the rabbit have the vidscreen since Lori’s show was broadcast live and Sam’s was a file she could always come back to.

Max has proven himself a fast learner in the engine room. Pockets praises him often for his efforts, and has even begun teaching him technical electronics. Max hasn’t quite gotten the hang of that yet, but he seems interested in learning new things.

I finished off the final novel of a mystery series I love yesterday and have no others to start in on, so I think I’ll turn in for the night. I should have stocked up while back on Earth; I could use a good mystery right now.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

“Captain, please come to the bridge.”

“What is it, Sam?” the wolf asked wearily. He glanced at the digital clock on the far wall with groggy eyes. It was 03:45 hours.

“Twenty minutes ago the long-range proximity scanners picked up what appears to be a large body of refined metal. The scans suggested a large vessel.”

“Another Hidalgo Sun?”

“We aren’t detecting a distress beacon — or any other transmissions from it for that matter.”

“Okay,” he replied with a yawn. “Apply braking and alter course to intercept.”

“We are already braking toward the coordinates. We’ll arrive in about ten minutes.”

“I’ll be there after a visit to the head,” he muttered sleepily.

Several minutes later, Merlin strode onto the bridge rubbing his eyes with one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. He was dressed in an ornate Mandarin robe that Sparky had given him before they had departed Sillon, one that had survived the crash on Crescentis. There was a stylized dragon embroidered across the front, and it was a decidedly different look for him. The wolf yawned and wiped his eyes again. Samantha sat in the center seat, her hands on the guidance shifts as she fired maneuvering thrusters to bring the freighter softly to a stationary spot in space.

The center window had a clear view forward of the freighter, though nothing but stars could be seen. The left window’s circuitry currently displayed sensor readings, and on the right was a computer rendering of the huge vessel they approached. They could not see the ship in the darkness of space and had to rely solely on instrumentation.

The primary purpose of the long-range scans was for debris that might be in the flight path with the potential to pierce the protective shields around the ship without being able to deflect them; in this case, it appeared to be another vessel.

The most prominent feature of the ship they approached was the giant delta wing configuration of the living module. A grid of huge pipes and structural beams extended aft from the wing’s center nearly fifty meters and ended in a large pair of twin engine pods. The whole thing looked as if it were a stubby arrow piercing the void of space. There were no running lights or internal illumination, which made it difficult to see without the light of a nearby sun; dim and distant starlight was merely occluded instead of reflected. They approached the vessel from a higher vantage on the starboard and the sensors indicated that it was several times larger than the Blue Horizon.

“I’m getting weak power readings, but nothing else,” Sam told the wolf when he stopped at her side.

“Registry?” Merlin asked as he looked up at the screen.

“There’s no transmitting beacon encoded with the ship’s I.D. I’ve tried hailing the ship, flexing on all local frequencies, but there’s been no reply.”

“I don’t recognize the design,” Merlin said as he studied the huge arrow-shaped structure. He took a lap of his coffee and then set the cup on the station counter. “Any idea where it’s from?”

The Border collie shook her head and answered, “No, but I have the computer checking the configuration to see if the design itself is listed in a PA database.”

Merlin leaned on the back of her chair and rested his chin on the top of her head. “How far are we from it?” he asked in a mutter.

Sam checked her readings. “We’re holding at approximately two kilometers.”

“Bring us in closer,” Merlin said quietly. “About thirty meters… and drop us level with it.”

“That’s awfully close,” Sam replied with a frown.

Merlin looked at her sideways with a smile. “If we can find an accessible airlock for the tunnel,” he said, “we’ll need to get even closer.”

“Ahh,” the Border collie mumbled as she nudged the thrusters to move the ship gently forward.

Merlin looked up at the right screen when the computer chirped and displayed the results of its search. He twitched an ear while he digested the sparse information. “Goldenrod-class, a long-range explorer originating from Earth,” he said. Samantha was busy guiding the Horizon in closer and could not look over at the readout. She merely nodded to acknowledge hearing him.

“We still don’t have an I.D. on the ship,” he said, “but the library data states that it’s an early design that Earth was using when they developed the first versions of LightDrive technology.”

“Look at the aft pods,” Sam said after a quick glance toward the screen. “The output section definitely looks like it’s equipped with LightDrive engines.”

The Blue Horizon eased up closer to the darkened ship and the collision alarms bleated loudly. The captain quickly reached across Samantha’s console and silenced the annoying sound. “We’ve got to get in closer,” he muttered.

“At least we know the alarm works,” Sam said with a lopsided smile. She glanced up at the sensor screen and spied an airlock at the forward apex of the delta wing. She tapped a control and then touched the screen with a claw tip right over the other vessel’s hatch. Thin red crosshairs appeared over the spot she had touched and then she entered the distance into a keypad. She released the guidance shifts and they began to move almost imperceptibly on their own.

“We’re still seventy-five meters away. Auto alignment is now engaged to bring us in to fifteen meters on thrusters to match up our airlock with theirs.”

The wolf moved quietly to the engineering station on the forward wall to look out through the windows at the derelict. The intercom chirped and Merlin moved back to the com station.

“Bridge,” he said after tapping a touch pad.

“What’s going on up there?” Pockets’ excited voice came through the speaker. “I heard alarms!”

“The sensors picked up the mass of what looks to be a large derelict ship. I’m having Samantha move us in close so we can check it out. If there’s anyone on board, we’ll need to give them assistance. If not, we’ll claim salvage rights.”

“And did you bother to wake your engineer at this discovery? NoooOooo…”

Merlin smiled at Samantha. “Okay, engineer, get your britches on and meet me down by Durant’s office. We don’t know if there’s any air in that ship, so we’ll have to use the suits.”

“Aye, Captain. Who are you sending over?”

“Just you and me for now.”

“I’ll have our suits prepped as soon as I can get down there.”

“Thanks, Pockets.”

Freed from the controls while the computer handled the current maneuver, Samantha looked over at the captain. “Can’t we just send Moss over there to look around for us?” she asked.

Merlin shook his head. “That would be handy, but it wasn’t designed to work in a vacuum and it won’t operate outside the influence of the Horizon’s computer system anyway. Pockets has talked about insulating and sealing it up, while extending its range to fly outside the ship for things like this, but as far as I know, he hasn’t rigged those capabilities yet.”

***

By the time Merlin and Pockets were totally enclosed in their soft pressure suits, most of the crew was awake and watching with interest. Durant and Tanis were in the cargo bay with the pair, helping to make sure all connections and seals were secure. It was standard procedure to have someone double-check each suit before going out into a potentially harmful void or atmosphere, especially since these suits were not specifically tailored to the current Horizon crew. Pockets had found one fairly close to his size, but he complained that the tail pouch was not roomy enough for his plume.

Renny, Max and Cindy crowded onto the bridge to watch through the windows. Since the derelict ship was dark and hard to see against the backdrop of stars, Samantha turned on the outside flood lamps and had the bridge lights down to minimum. The right-hand screen showed a sensor view of the ship.

In the cargo bay, Durant opened the thick inner door of the airlock and Merlin moved past him and into the small chamber. Patch crammed himself in beside the captain, a roll of gray tape and a set of common tools hanging from a utility belt connected to his suit. Two suited bodies in pressurized suits in addition to the packs upon their backs barely fit in together. Once they were all in, Durant shut the door behind them and then began depressurization. Tanis stepped up to the tiny window in the hatch and peered inside as a loud hiss sounded from the mechanisms.

As it would take a moment for the airlock to reach zero pressure, the grizzly bear tapped a control screen with a claw tip and there was an immediate thunk somewhere between the double hulls of the ship.

“Zero pressure,” Durant reported when the panel beeped. “Extension tunnel released.”

“Aye to both,” Merlin’s voice replied over the intercom speaker. There was a metallic quality to his words, as if the modulation was slightly out of sequence. The outer airlock hatch split apart diagonally and the suited figures within floated out. Each grabbed hold onto the end of the flexible tunnel frame that surrounded them.

“We’re moving out,” the wolf reported. Small jets of vapor issued from the packs upon their backs, activated by tiny controls within their suited gloves.

“Hey, look!” Pockets’ voice commented gleefully, “I’m a floatin’ fool!”

“He got the fool part right,” Tanis said to Durant with a grin.

It took time to guide the extension from one ship to the other, but once they reached their objective, they placed the end frame against the hull of the derelict surrounding its hatch.

Merlin tapped a small panel. The first control lit up the tunnel from within, and from the vantage point of the bridge, the tunnel glowed eerily, even in the flood lamps. The second control he tapped adhered the frame instantly to the other ship around the outer perimeter of its hatch, while a thin rubberized tube beneath it filled quickly with gel.

“Seal is secure,” Merlin reported from inside the extension. “Okay, Durant, go ahead and pressurize the tunnel to ship-normal. If there’s a pressurized atmosphere within that ship, we don’t want to destroy its integrity getting in.”

“And if there’s no air inside the ship?” Durant asked.

“Then all we lose is the air inside the tunnel.”

“Aye, boss.”

Due to the volume inside the extension between the two vessels, it took several minutes to fill it to capacity. “Tunnel pressurized, boss,” Durant said into the terminal’s microphone moments later. The flexible sides of the tunnel looked like solid sheets of metal now that it had pressure.

“Captain?” Samantha said.

“Yes?”

“We can see a large open window port in the bridge area of that ship.”

“Open?” Merlin asked.

“That means I’m glad I’m in a pressure suit,” Pockets replied.

“Possibly blown out,” Samantha conjectured. “There’s no glass, metal or any kind of a shield over the opening. We missed seeing it before.”

“Maybe they hit a small meteoroid in flight,” Tanis remarked. “There’s no telling what the bridge looks like inside.”

“Possible. The external airlock controls on this end are inactive. Pockets is trying the manual release.” There was a quiet moment as everyone waited, and then Merlin spoke again. “There’s an identification label affixed to the hatch,” he reported, “but it’s not written in Standard.”

“Probably one of Earth’s local languages,” Pockets commented, “but it’s not English either; I don’t know any of their others.”

“Turn on your visor camera, Captain,” Cindy said into the microphone. “I might be able to read it.” The mouse shifted her attention to the left vidscreen, which had just come to life with an image from a tiny visor camera built into the top of the wolf’s helmet.

“Are you getting this?” Merlin’s metallic-sounding voice asked.

“Yes, Captain,” Cindy replied. “Give me a moment to study it.”

“The door seal just separated, but we haven’t lost any of our air,” Pockets announced. “That means at least the airlock itself is still pressurized.”

Samantha looked over at Cindy and saw the mouse nod her head. She mumbled something to herself, but the station microphone picked up her words. “It would be written in a stylized form of kanji…” she said.

“Can you read it?”

“Somewhat. It’s written in the language of the Japanese. The ship is either called the Walk Around, Back Walker, or the Back Hiker… or something like that. I’m a bit rusty reading these characters.”

“Isn’t that a Registry number?” Samantha asked, pointing to the identification label on the screen.

“Yes, I believe it is,” Cindy confirmed. “K… V… N… dash… 92… 012.”

“KVN-92012,” Samantha repeated. “That doesn’t sound like a standard Planetary Alignment registry number, but I’ll do a search on it anyway.”

“I’ve got the hatch opening up,” Pockets said triumphantly. A slow creak came across the speakers with his voice. “Could use some lubricant. I don’t think it is been used in quite a while.”

“Good job, Pockets,” Merlin said. “Okay, folks, we’re going in. Durant, unless there’s a reason to move the ship, leave the tunnel in place for now.”

“Aye, sir.”

Durant and Tanis moved into the bear’s office and the loadmaster keyed into his terminal. “Samantha,” he said into the intercom, “can you share the signal from the captain’s visor camera to my office?” The collie did not bother a verbal response, but Durant’s vidscreen came to life with the images of the other ship’s airlock.

***

Merlin floated into the small chamber and turned to face his engineer. Once they were both inside, it took both of them to pull the hatch shut. Pockets struggled with the manual latch, but managed to get it secured. Merlin tried the controls for the inside airlock hatch, but it was also non-functional. Once again they had to manipulate a manual release, but this time they did not have to struggle with it. The internal hatch swung out into a dark corridor, and as soon as Merlin stepped out in it, his foot became heavy and clumped to the deck.

“The gravity deck plates are still working,” the wolf reported as he moved out of the way for Pockets to step into the passageway, “though they don’t feel up to full strength.”

“This must be how it felt to Taro to walk around our ship,” Pockets said quietly of their absent Hestran friend.

“Captain,” Samantha’s voice sounded in their helmet speakers, “We have additional information on the registry of this ship.”

“Go ahead,” Merlin said as he shut and secured the hatch. He turned and aimed his suit’s forward lights toward the floor. A thin layer of ice crystals covered everything, likely due to moisture in the air. There was trash and other items scattered beneath their feet. Pockets knelt down to examine some of the papers, but they were written in the same characters that Cindy had translated from the hatch plate. Unable to read them, he let them fall from his gloved fingers.

They had entered the ship in a moderate sized chamber. One wall was lined with pressure suit lockers, but when Pockets looked inside, they were all empty. There were information screens on the opposite wall, but all were dark and frosted over.

“Cindy was close with her translation,” Samantha said. “The name of the ship is the SS Walkabout, Terran Registry KVN-92012, Goldenrod-class, long-range exploration vessel. Her captain’s name is listed as Shin Amamori. Her last filed flight plan was from Kitakyushu, Japan on Earth to Newport, Kantus, but it never arrived at its destination. Listed as missing.”

“When was that?”

“Nearly a year ago.”

“Do you have a crew or passenger listing?”

“Yes, sir. It lists the captain, fourteen human crew members and ten passengers of various furman races.”

“That’s twenty-five bodies we might find,” Merlin muttered with a deep frown. “Does it give a flight mission?

“It was a mission of ‘firsts’. The SS Walkabout is a replica of the SS Goldenrod, the first Terran ship equipped with an early type of LightDrive engine. They were retracing the route originally taken when Earth sent its first furman settlers to Kantus, itself the first habitable planet chosen to begin a new colony. Goldenrod was successful in its voyage, but the Walkabout never made it.”

Merlin checked the readings of a hand scanner strapped to his left arm and grunted. “We have a good atmospheric mix with acceptable pressure in here, but the temperature is down to minus twelve Celsius. It should be breathable, but very cold.”

He moved to Pockets and turned the shorter raccoon around so that he faced away from him. “Let’s get these maneuvering packs off,” he suggested, reaching for a set of snap clasps. “We won’t need them inside the ship.”

“I’m with you, Captain,” the engineer replied. “Inside the ship’s gravity, this thing is heavy!”

After they had helped one another shed their external packs and set them on the floor beside the hatch, the two of them walked the length of the dark room to a connecting hallway, though still protected by their sealed pressure suits. The raccoon shined his lamps up and down the corridor and then pointed in one direction after studying markings near the ceiling. “The bridge should be this way, one level up,” he said. “I believe we’re on the crew deck.”

“Want me to lead?” the wolf asked his superstitious friend.

Pockets shook his head inside his helmet and then realized Merlin could not see the action. “No,” he replied confidently. “I’ll be all right.” He ambled down the dark passageway in the light gravity, his bobbing light creating strange shadows off of equipment panels along the walls and overhead pipes.

“Whatever you do,” Renny’s voice sounded in their speakers, “don’t go wandering after the ship’s pet!”

Pockets stopped cold in his tracks and clenched his gloves into fists. “Okay, I was alright!” he exclaimed. “Don’t do that to me! I had nightmares for a week after watching that movie.”

Merlin snorted. “I should have Samantha’s tail shaved for bringing that one on board.”

“I warned you all that it was a scary movie,” Sam retorted. “I didn’t make any of you watch it.”

Merlin gave Pockets a small push and the raccoon resumed walking down the corridor. They passed several doors marked in the same written characters, but continued past them. There would be time for checking them out later. If they were fortunate, there might be a flight recorder on the bridge of this ship to tell them what happened. The passageway made an angled turn to the left.

The engineer stopped and examined long dark marks on the side of the corridor. “These are scorch marks on some of the walls,” Pockets said uneasily, brushing the fingertips of a glove across one. “I wonder if they had a mutiny.”

Merlin leaned close to a wall and held up a chemical scanner toward a brownish stain on the floor of pliable material. “Blood,” he said quietly. They continued along the corridor, finding more scorched evidence of blaster fire. Pockets stopped a moment later at a standard airtight door on his right. “This should go up to the bridge,” he announced. An old-style gauge in the door made the engineer frown. “Air pressure behind this door is considerably low,” he said. He tried the manual release, but it was stiff. “Pressure on our side is making this tough.”

Merlin lent his strength on the circular wheel and it began to turn slowly. The rubberized seal around the hatch began to hiss as air from the corridor was sucked inside. By the time they got the panel opened completely, the pressure had equalized. Merlin shined his lamps into the opening at a set of metal steps leading upward. He wrapped his gloved fingers around a rail mounted to the wall and took the stairs slowly. Pockets moved in behind him and closed the hatch.

At the top of the steps was another pressure hatch. This one had a thick glass window in a horizontal strip ten centimeters high that was almost the width of the door itself; Merlin leaned forward until the bubble of his helmet touched it gently. He peered into the next room, but he could not make out much in the darkness beyond.

“I don’t see any instrument lights through the window,” he said. “Not that I really expected any.”

“How does the pressure read?” Pockets asked.

“Zero. Is the hatch behind us secure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you at the bridge?” Durant’s voice asked.

“Just outside the airtight door,” Merlin replied. “We’re going in now.” He reached for the door wheel and hesitated. “I’m going to do this slowly and let the air in the stairwell escape gradually, so the hatch doesn’t explode outward.”

“Good idea.”

It took almost three minutes before Merlin could swing the door open onto the bridge. He and Pockets stepped quietly into the large room and the engineer gave a small whistle inside his helmet at what he saw.

“What is it?” Samantha asked. “We can see your head lamps moving around through the bridge windows.”

“Nearly everything in here is burnt,” Pockets answered. “It looks like they must have had a tremendous fire boil up through here.”

“Everything that wasn’t metal in the construction of the instrument panels is all melted, though not completely through,” Merlin added. “They either extinguished it themselves, or the broken window sucked all the oxygen from the air before it could spread to the rest of the ship.”

“The broken window, I would guess,” Pockets said. “The extinguishers are still in their mounts on the walls.”

“Any… bodies?” Tanis asked. “I can’t see any in yer video feed. It’s too dark to see anything clearly.”

“There’s nobody here,” the captain replied to the medic as he walked over to what was left of the captain’s chair. “Either everyone got out or anyone on the bridge was sucked out when the large window blew outward.”

“Captain,” Pockets said quietly, “I can’t tell where the fire originated.”

Merlin looked around, shining his lamps over the whole room. Everything was scorched and partially melted, but nothing looked as if it had actually exploded. Even the overhead pipes were intact.

“What about a flame thrower?” Renny ventured to ask. “They used flame throwers on the monster in Sam’s movie.”

“Renny, would you shut up already about the movie?” Pockets said irritably. “This place is giving me the willies without your witty remarks.”

“I was being serious.”

“Something like a flame thrower might explain what we’re seeing,” Merlin remarked.

“Yeah, but a container of thermite will do the same thing,” the engineer retorted, “though the damage would be considerably more extensive.”

“Who’d be carrying thermite?” Sam asked in a bored tone. “That’s not a common item in a starship’s supply cabinet. Then again, neither is a flame thrower.”

Merlin shook his head inside his helmet and sighed softly. “Anything volatile would leave behind signs of an explosion if ignited. There is none here.”

“Well, I seriously doubt there are any slime-headed monsters prowling this ship,” Pockets huffed.

“Are you surrrre of that?” Renny’s chipper voice asked.

“Captain,” the raccoon asked dryly, “do I have permission to jettison Renny when we get back to the Horizon?”

“Sorry, but I need him on my crew,” Merlin replied with an unseen smile.

“What about the movie? Can I jettison that?”

“Sure, if you can wrestle it away from Samantha.”

“That movie’s mine!” the collie’s voice exclaimed.

Pockets ultimately decided to ignore the rest of the conversation while his thoughts sorted out what he saw. He could not tell if the mess around them was entirely because of fire or some struggle. He walked across the bridge to a wall access panel and pulled gently on twin handles. It came loose fairly easily and he set the cover on the ground at his feet. “Captain,” he said, “the circuits in the wall don’t look too bad.”

Merlin walked up behind him and peered into the recess in his lights. “Do you think you can restore power?” he asked.

“I dunno. That depends on the condition of the LC engines,” the engineer replied. “If they’re still generating, I could probably rig up something, but the fingers of these gloves are too large for delicate wiring work.”

Merlin walked over to the forward port to examine the remaining bit of thick glass left in the window frame. “See if you can find a way to seal up this opening, Pockets,” he said. “If you can do that, we can pump up the air pressure and heating in here so you can work in your coveralls.”

“I can probably vacuweld a plate of sealed metal over the opening,” Pockets replied. “I have project scraps large enough.”

“Okay, go ahead and get to that. I’m going to make my way to the engine room and see if there’s any power down there.”

“Would you rather that I checked the engines?”

“No, your priority is to get this hole sealed up so we can work in here.”

“Aye, sir.”

The wolf turned and headed for the hatch. “Durant,” he said to the other ship, “get everyone suited up and get over here. I want to do a sweep of the place for the crew and passengers, and it will be faster with all of us.”

“Lovely…” Renny muttered.

“Ugh… Right away, Captain,” Durant replied.

“What about me?” Samantha asked.

“You’re still on bridge watch, Sam,” Merlin reminded her. “You stay put.”

“I didn’t want to look for bodies, anyway.”

“Just keep an eye on all the sensor readings. Let us know if there are changes in anything.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Cindy?” he asked.

“Still here, Captain.”

“I need you to work with Pockets. You can help him decipher labels on panels and diagrams.”

“I’ve never worn a pressure suit before,” the mouse replied. “Can I just wait until Pockets gets the ship pressurized again?”

“He’ll need to read labels to see which controls to use to get that process started,” Merlin answered with a frown. “Otherwise he might jettison one of the engine pods while I’m in it when he’s only just trying to turn on the heat. Durant will help you get suited up and instruct you on what to do.”

“Aye, sir,” Cindy said in a dejected voice.

“I’m going back to the Horizon for my vacuum-welding equipment,” Pockets announced. Merlin did not bother to answer and opened the hatch to the stairwell. The engineer followed him down to the main corridor and reversed their earlier processes with the airtight doors.

***

Merlin walked slowly through a maze of corridors, disoriented and unsure of the route to the long tunnel to the engine pods. He could not find any rhyme or reason to the layout of the vessel’s floor plan and felt sure he had gotten himself lost in this huge ship. He tried a few doors which usually led to crew cabins or storage closets. Everything was marked with that curious Japanese writing and none of it was familiar to him. Why does a member of the Planetary Alignment not label things on a starship in Standard, the accepted common language of the PA worlds? he thought to himself.

As his thoughts drifted back to his search, he came across a door equipped with an airlock. He nodded to himself, thinking he had found the way to the engine room, but it turned to a frown when he noticed the condition of the door. The control mechanism was scorched and the pressure wheel was bent, as if someone had tried to force their way through it. The panel was ajar slightly and Merlin cautiously eased it open. He shined his headlamps into the darkness and recognized the ship’s galley. Burned chairs and tables were overturned and there were more scorch marks across the floors and walls.

The wolf moved inside and worked his way through the room toward the kitchen. Only one chair was still standing upright at the kitchen counter. Food wrappers and other trash littered the floor. Dirty dishes filled the sink and out onto the adjacent counters. Curious, Merlin opened the door of an industrial refrigerator. A puff of cold vapor escaped out into the room and he peered inside. There did not seem to be much food inside, certainly not enough to sustain twenty-five individuals on the flight between Earth and Kantus. He closed the door with thoughts of wonder and he moved next to the dry-goods pantry. As with the refrigerator, there did not seem to be a great deal of food inside. Years of space flight experience told Merlin that the food stores he saw might sustain a single person for a week or two.

He shook his head and idly wondered at the competence of the ship’s supply officer. Realizing that he had spent too much time blindly wandering the corridors, the captain moved back out to the main hallway to look for the way to the engine room. With only his headlamps to provide illumination, it would be easy to miss clues to what happened.

***

Pockets stepped back away from the window and nodded to himself. He set his vacuum-welding equipment on the remains of a bridge chair and lowered his chin onto a tiny lever within his helmet to speak into a condenser microphone near his lips

“Sam?” the engineer asked. “Has there been any word from the captain about the engine room?”

“No, Pockets,” the Border collie replied. “I’ve been watching his progress from his visor cameras. He’s on com channel one, but he’s been quiet, looking around through various rooms he’s come across.”

“Where is he now?”

“I’m not sure, but it looks like he’s floating down a long, dark tunnel. He went through an airlock a few minutes ago.”

“Floating?” the raccoon mused. “He must be in the access corridor leading back to the engine pods. It does makes sense; I wouldn’t think they would bother with gravity deck plates along that route.”

“How’s the repair work coming?”

“I’ve just sealed up the window, Sam,” Pockets replied as he admired his handiwork. “If Cindy ever makes it up here to the bridge, she can help me identify the controls to bring up the air pressure – providing there’s power from the engines to work the controls.”

“Hold on, Pockets,” Samantha said suddenly. “Merlin’s on the line.”

There was a pause and a few static clicks in the engineer’s helmet speakers and then the captain’s voice came in clearly as Samantha patched in signals from the two channels together.

“I’ve reached the hatch to the engine room,” he said. “I can feel a low, pulsing vibration in the deck through my boots. Something’s still operating in there, so perhaps there’s hope for this crate.”

The raccoon nodded to himself at the news. “This is Pockets, Captain,” he said. “How’s the air back there?”

“There’s no ice crystals on anything, and my hand scanner shows… air pressure is ship-normal and the mixture seems to be good. Temperature is only thirty-eight, however. I’m halfway tempted to open my faceplate to test the freshness of the air, but I won’t be that careless just yet.”

“Not a good idea,” Sam’s voice said. “The air may not be that healthy once you get inside the engine room.”

“Agreed.”

“Rest your helmet up against the hatch and tell me what you hear,” Pockets suggested.

There was a soft clunk in the speakers and then the captain replied, “I hear a low hum, the same pulsing I feel in my feet — but there are other sounds I can’t quite make out.”

***

Maximillian Sinclair opened a cabin door and peered in with a lump in his throat. The German shepherd youth was inexperienced in exploration and the stories he had heard of derelict ships had him unnerved and afraid of what he might find. His pressure suit fit him okay, but the cold, oxygen-nitrogen mixture inside the helmet was irritating his sinuses and giving him a headache. He also felt a little claustrophobic inside the suit, but he was not about to let uncle Merlin know he could not handle it. The captain’s opinion meant a lot to him and he always felt ecstatic whenever the wolf praised him for something.

He moved inside the crew cabin and shined his light across the furniture, making sure not to miss the floor as Durant had shown him. If there was anyone still on board the dark vessel, that is where they would be. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the point of view, no one had yet to find any sign of the original crew or passengers. The Walkabout appeared to be deserted.

What happened to them? Max wondered silently. He picked up a framed photo of a human’s family or friends from a low table. Did they leave, or were they taken by someone… or something?

He walked through the room to check the lavatory and as he turned the corner, his tail pouch brushed against a lamp and knocked it off a bedside table. It crashed to the floor and Max jumped with a frightened yelp. When he turned to look at the cause of the noise, Renny’s voice crackled in his helmet speaker.

“Max!” the cheetah nearly shouted in the headset. “What happened?”

“I’m okay,” the canine youth replied. “I knocked over a lamp and it startled me.”

“Have you found… anything?” Lorelei asked.

“No bodies, if that’s what you mean,” Max answered.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

“There’s lotsa stuff all over the floors. Looks like there was a lot of fighting.”

“That’s the impression I’m getting, too,” Tanis added to the conversation.

“I’m not joking this time,” Renny said, “but it really does look like someone used a flame-thrower.”

“Isn’t that dangerous in an oxygen-rich atmosphere?” Cindy asked.

“Yes, it is,” Durant’s voice answered. “Pockets? Any luck restoring power?”

“Not to the controls I really need,” the engineer replied. “Cindy’s helped me find the right circuits, but we’re just not getting any power to them and some are fried beyond repair.”

“Got anything on the Horizon we could use?”

“Not for this crate. The technology is similar, but not interchangeable.”

“I’ve noticed a pattern to the burn marks,” Tanis reported.

“Pattern?” Durant asked.

“Yeah… control panels, access panels, instrument panels, transfer conduits…”

“I see what you mean,” Renny said.

“I don’t get it.” Lori said. “Is that important?”

“It means that whoever did the damage wasn’t shooting randomly,” the desert fox replied. “It’s as if they were trying to knock out all power routes.”

The com channel went quiet as everyone mulled over the implications, but after a moment Renny voiced a question.

“Do you think they were trying to cut off all power to the bridge?” he asked.

“Ohmigosh!” Max exclaimed in fright. “Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh!”

“What is it, Max?” Cindy asked. “Knock over something else?”

The canine youth tried to back out of the lavatory, but his feet would not move. “I… f-f-found someone…” he stammered.

“Alive?” Tanis asked excitedly.

“No…” Max’s voice sounded like he was going to be sick.

***

Merlin opened the door into engineering slowly. It swung out into the passageway and a dull orange light filtered out across him. He could instantly hear the power rumbling from the engines. The ship was stationary, but there was power aplenty inside.

He checked his scanner. “There’s a lot of interference in here for the scanner,” he mumbled. “The micranite shielding must be pretty thin.”

“Captain?” Pockets’ voice crackled in his helmet speakers interlaced with static.

“Yeah, Pockets? What do you have?”

“I found … flight recorder,” he replied. “The thing got … full blast of … scorched the inside of the bridge.”

“Do you think you can retrieve the data off of it?”

“It’s … mass of slag, Captain.”

Merlin was silent for a moment while he turned off his useless scanner and hung it from a loop strap on his utility belt. “Okay, Pockets. See what you can do with the other controls. I hope to see if I can route some power to you shortly.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Sam, have the others try to locate the captain’s quarters. There may be a written logbook somewhere. I’m not the only one to keep a journal. Ship’s captains have kept them for centuries.”

“Not all… written book like you do.”

“Just look for one.”

“Aye, will do.”

With no further discussion, Merlin moved into the orange light of the engine room. The walls were high and just about every surface was covered in gauges, dials, switches, buttons and other displays. There was barely enough room for him to move in the narrow corridor in the bulk of his pressure suit, but there was no gravity here as well, which made it simpler to find routes around the equipment.

He was no engineer, but he studied a few of the active gauges anyway without knowing how to decipher the Japanese characters. He picked up his scanner again, but it was useless in this environment. He could not even get a simple temperature reading.

The narrow walls ended as the captain moved out into a roomier interior of the compartment. Metal stair rungs mounted on the walls went in every direction, obviously to help free-floating personnel pull themselves around the room. Orange glow panels mounted within the walls provided the illumination he saw. He also saw bits of paper and food wrappings floating about in invisible rivers of air current.

Merlin pulled himself to the center of the room and looked around. He had already lost his bearings on which way was up in relation to the rest of the ship. The engine room was disorienting and he suddenly wished he had Pockets down here with him. He really had no idea where to begin looking to transfer the obviously available power to the bridge.

“Captain?” Samantha’s voice sounded with static in his speakers. “I have… reports.”

“Go ahead, Sam.”

“Max says he’s found … body, but he doesn’t know … to tell anyone where he is.”

“I can understand that,” the wolf replied, looking around the unfamiliar room. “Can Max identify a name tag or anything else on the body to show who it might –”

“Merlin,” Sam’s voice said softly, “the boy’s scared … his wits. I don’t think he’s … seen death like this before. I think it might … asking too much to have … search the body.”

The captain bit his bottom lip. He should not have had the young canine join the search party and it had never occurred to him. “Yes, of course. You’re right. Tell Max to wait outside in the corridor from whatever room he’s in. Have the others look for him so someone else can check out the body.”

“Okay, I’ll relay … messages.”

“What was your second report?” he asked. Samantha quickly filled him in on Tanis’ assessment of the pattern of fire he had discovered and the wolf’s frown grew.

“If all the power conduits and panels have been specifically targeted, there may not be a way to restore power to the rest of the ship without an extensive overhaul of the systems.”

“Captain, with … delivery schedule, we won’t have time … anything like that. We … not a rescue or salvage ship.”

“You’re right again,” Merlin said. “How much time can we spend to search through the rest of the ship? We’re going to have to file a report with the SPF on finding the Walkabout, and we’ll have to give them some information.”

“We can prob… spare another eight hours at … most. After that, we’ll have … haul tail to make up … difference in our flight schedule.”

“Eight hours? Okay, Sam. Patch me in to Pockets, please.”

“Aye, sir.”

As the wolf waited for the connection, Merlin thought he saw movement among the shadows across the room. He pushed away from the metal ladder he had clung to and crossed the room swiftly. Before he got to the other side, however, Pockets’ crackling connection filled his helmet.

“Captain,” the raccoon reported, “…’s nothing more I … do up here on the bridge without power.”

Merlin snared a support beam as he approached a bulkhead and then stopped his momentum with a clunk against the wall. “Has Samantha filled you in on Tanis’ theory?”

“Yeah, I was listening in … them when he told her about it. It doesn’t look … we’re going to get the systems … this crate working again.”

“I understand,” the wolf replied. “Listen, do you think you can rig up a makeshift guidance system back here in the engine room? We can’t rely on connections to anything you might install on the bridge.”

“No, I don’t have anything … that in my stores, I’m afraid. The spare system for … Horizon requires the VIS computer system we … on board. I seriously doubt … would be compatible with the Walkabout’s antique diagnostic computer … there.”

Merlin mulled this over as he glanced around the room. A moment later he said, “Each crew compartment of the new Horizon doubles as an escape pod in the event of an emergency. Doesn’t each one have their own guidance system?”

“Now that you mention it, yes. They’re small … self-contained, designed to get the pods away from … ship in a hurry, and possibly get … to some nearby planet to be picked up.”

“Take one from an unoccupied cabin and see if you can rig it up down here,” Merlin said. “We can replace it later.”

“May I ask … you’re planning?”

“I want to fire the engines to move the ship closer to regular PA traffic so the SPF can pick it up. All we need is for the engines to push it to coordinates Renny will calculate. We can also set up a beacon so it can be found again.”

“Hmm, I can probably rig … something like that.”

“How long do you think it will take? We only have eight hours before we have to get back on schedule toward Argeia.”

“Should not take … than three or four hours with Max’s help.”

“Okay, get on it right away.”

“Aye, Captain.”

The com channel went silent as Samantha switched the engineer back into the verbal traffic of the rest of the crew. Merlin looked around the room once more to reorient himself to his position. He pushed off from the wall into the direction of where he thought the main hatch out of the engine pods to be and noticed the orange light in the room suddenly grow brighter. He twisted his body to turn in the air and gasped at a large tongue of liquid fire stretching out toward him.

***

Max stood out in the corridor, across from the doorway into the room where he had found the body. He trembled and wished fervently someone else from the Horizon would show up soon. At first, the youth had been thrilled to be included in the search party. He had thought of the whole thing as an adventure until he came face to face with the reason for the search.

The boy closed his eyes, but the image inside the room would not go away. He heard a noise in the corridor and looked up to see one of the Blue Horizon pressure suits moving toward him from a junction in the passage. Max managed a smile at the face that peered at him from inside the helmet.

“Hi, Tanis,” he said with relief.

“I found Max,” the medic announced over the com channel. He looked concerned at the boy and asked, “Ya going to be okay?”

The canine youth nodded slightly. “I think so,” he said.

“Can you give us a clue where you are?” Durant’s voice replied.

“Look up on the wall near the ceiling,” Renny spoke up. “You will see a small set of three numbers separated by dashes every few meters. The lower the first number is, the closer you are to the nose of the ship. The second number indicates the deck. ”One” being the top level where the bridge is located. The last number starts with either a zero or a one. A number starting with a zero indicates you are on the port side of center and the following number shows you how many bulkheads you are away from the same center of the ship. Likewise, a number starting with a one shows you are on the starboard side.”

“How do you know that?” Cindy’s voice asked.

“I found a ship’s tech manual written in Standard,” the navigator answered. “It was burned pretty badly. I learned that much from a few pages still intact.”

“Are you reading from it now?” Lori asked.

“No, I left it in a room somewhere. There wasn’t enough of it to keep.”

“And you remember all that?” Cindy asked in wonder.

“I have an eidetic memory,” he reminded her. “I remember everything I read.”

“Oh, yeah…”

Tanis shined his lamp up toward the ceiling and spied a label with the numbers Renny mentioned. It was printed on a reflective background and the desert fox had to shift his position to read it. “I see it. We’re at 17-2-05,” he told them. “I’m going into Max’s room now.”

“You want to wait until one of us gets there to go in with you?” Durant asked.

“Not necessary,” the medic replied. “I’ve seen bodies enough on Nalirra, not to mention those in Woodward. All the rest of ya can go on looking for others while I take a look at this person. The captain still wants us to look for a logbook.”

“Keep us informed,” Samantha’s voice piped in.

“Aye, aye.”

Tanis put a hand on the canine’s shoulder. “Ya can wait out here if ya want,” he said softly, “or ya can go on to search other rooms.”

Max looked at him through his visor in the dark corridor and shook his head. “I don’t want to look for any more bodies, Tanis. I don’t.”

“I don’t blame ya, Max. Okay, ya stay out here while I check out yer friend in there.”

“Okay,” the youth replied. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Actually,” Samantha said into their helmet speakers, “Pockets needs your help, Max. The captain has a better assignment for you that doesn’t include the crew search.”

Tanis turned toward the room Max had previously entered, but he glanced back at the canine. “Ya want me to go with ya back to the main hatch?” he asked.

Max felt better at getting a new task and the relief showed in his eyes. “No, I think I can find my way back.”

“Okay. Just remember what Renny said about the bulkhead numbers,” the medic told him. “The main hatch should be at 0-2-0. It’s on this level, all the way forward.”

“Yeah, I remember. Thanks, Tanis.”

“Yer welcome,” the tan fox said. Max headed up the corridor and Tanis moved into the room. He glanced around the compartment but did not see the body, so he assumed it must be in the head. Max had neglected to mention where he had seen it. He stepped around the broken glass of the lamp the boy had knocked off the table and entered the other room. He had expected to find a charred corpse from the evidence throughout the Walkabout, but that was not the case here.

The body of a blonde human woman lay half out of an immersion bathtub, her naked flesh covered in ice crystals. Her face, a frozen mask of terror, lay on the floor next to a pedestal toilet, her head turned to the side and her gray eyes open and staring without life. Broken shower rings littered the floor from when she had fallen through the plastic curtain.

The medic knelt as much as his pressure suit would allow and took a closer look. He counted eight nasty-looking stab wounds across her back, shoulders and neck, and from the long-dried blood stain on the floor beneath her, he assumed there were more across her chest.

“That’s a bad way to die,” Samantha’s voice whispered in his ears. Tanis frowned and stood up.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize ya were tuned in to my visor camera.”

“I’ve been switching back and forth between everyone’s signals,” she replied. “Don’t worry,” she added, “I had already prepared myself to see bodies if any were found.”

“Well, this is only the first,” he said quietly as he moved back out into the main room. He wanted to see if he could find some identification for the woman. “There’s got to be another twenty-four of them somewhere on this ship. Has anyone else found anything?”

“Not yet. Durant and Lori are down on the third deck. Renny and Cindy are on the same level as you, and Pockets and Max are on their way back to the Horizon.”

Tanis picked up a few items from a dresser drawer and looked them over. “Sam,” the fox said in a stronger voice. “I’ve found the woman’s identification written in Standard. Her name was Mrs. Tracy King and she was a Historian from a place on Earth called Atlanta.” Tanis flipped through some papers and continued, “Her travel voucher says she was part of the team retracing the original historic flight of the SS Goldenrod, but had plans to meet up with her brother once the ship reached Kantus.”

“I see her name on the passenger list. Does it give the brother’s name?”

“Scott Barrister.”

“You said she was married. Was her mate on the flight?”

“I found a picture of her with a man on a sunset beach, but I don’t know if that was a husband or her brother,” he replied as he picked up the photo from the bed stand. “I don’t see anything listed about her traveling with anyone, and this is a single-occupant cabin.”

He fell silent while he looked around the room some more, but found nothing else of interest. “Have ya heard from the captain?” Tanis asked idly.

“At last report, he was heading out of the engine room. He gave Pockets an assignment and he was returning to the main area of the ship. I’m checking his camera now.”

***

Merlin twisted his body as quickly as his floating form could move, but the intense flames reached him before he could get out of the way. Searing heat licked at his back and the thrust of the flames pushed him across the room. The pressure suit was made of flame-resistant material, but the wolf knew it would only hold out under such intense liquid fire for so long. He outstretched his hands to cushion his blow against a support beam, but he caught it at an oblique angle that made him start to spin.

He glanced down at his waist, where the scanner was on fire. He batted at it frantically, but the device remained in flames. He snatched it from his utility belt and flung it away. It resembled a burning meteor as it bounced off a panel of gauges in a shower of sparks and then floated beyond view down another passage.

He had not seen where the flames had originated from, but he had no delusions about malfunctioning equipment or phantoms of the dead crew. Someone was alive and meant to kill him. Another jet of fire shot out across the large room toward him, but his accidental spin actually saved him from another roasting. Merlin wobbled into a bulkhead and a randomly outstretched hand snagged on an instrumental panel lever. He grabbed onto it and his helmet slammed hard into the corner of a work station. A crack spread across the visor and Merlin gasped with wide eyes. Fortunately for him, the engine room was pressurized with an atmosphere or the bubble might have exploded out into the room. The captain of the Blue Horizon pulled himself into a side alcove that looked to be a zero-gee break room and he reached down to turn off his oxygen flow. There was no need to waste his air now that he could not keep it in his suit.

He looked around in the ambient orange light to see if there might be anything he could use against his attacker and found only a butter knife, a large plastic serving platter and a mirror. He cursed himself silently for not arming himself before coming on board the derelict vessel. He had assumed it would be safe, and it had not occurred to him to bring along any of the Binfurr firearms from the Horizon. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a voice screaming out in rage — his assailant.

Merlin curled his fingers around the handle of the mirror and then edged it close to the boundary of his alcove. He wanted to use it to peer around the corner, but his helmet would not let him get close enough to it to see. He tried to disconnect and flip up his faceplate, but the crack had become jagged and would not allow the bubble to recess back into the helmet. With a silent sigh, he unfastened the helmet and removed it altogether. He could not use it in its present condition anyway and let it float in the air behind him. This done, he inched back to the corner with the mirror.

***

Durant was tired and bored. The search had been fruitless with the exception of the one body Max had discovered, and the ship was so antique that its rooms and signs written in an unreadable language were unexciting to him. He and Lorelei had looked through just about every door on the cargo level of the ship without finding even one of the Walkabout’s crew. He was beginning to assume that the others had been jettisoned out into space, but wondered why the one woman had been left behind.

The bear found a large crate in the hold to sit on and rested his bulk on top of it. He idly read the contents label written in Standard, as was his habit as the Blue Horizon’s loadmaster, but there was nothing interesting listed inside the container. All around him were boxes of items like decontamination units, cold weather clothing, tents, pressure suits and an inordinate amount of canned, artificial cheese food. Lori was across the dark room, looking through wall lockers. She had been quiet the past half hour – a blessing to Durant. She had chattered away almost non-stop since they had teamed up on this level, but the severity of the situation had finally subdued the white rabbit.

Durant looked up to see her walking toward him. “Anything?”

“No,” the cook replied as she settled on the box beside him. “Nothing but camping equipment crammed in the lockers. It doesn’t even look like they were stored in there very well, especially the tents.”

“Tents?” Durant repeated. He glanced down at the crate he sat on top of and reread the contents label. 14’x14’ tent, olive green. Military surplus. Seven (7) each. Box one (1) of twelve (12).

The loadmaster got to his feet slowly and motioned for Lori to get up. “What is it?” she asked.

Durant bent over and flipped up three clasps that held the top closed. The locks were not engaged. He quietly lifted up the lid and they both peered inside.

Lori could not help herself. She screamed.

***

Merlin’s lip curled up into a snarl when a jet of liquid flame blasted the mirror from his hand. His glove resisted destruction, but it became super-hot and the sheer force of the surge almost propelled him out into the engine room. His other hand held tight against a table leg that was mounted to the wall, and he pulled himself back into the alcove a heartbeat before a second stream of fire shot through the place he had just occupied.

He glanced quickly toward his blackened glove to make sure he still had his fingers, but the pain in them was enough to know they were still there. That burst had been too close. His assailant had apparently followed him across the room.

The flames had hit the mirror only a couple heartbeats after he had pushed the edge of it around the corner, but he had already caught sight of his would-be assassin. The man was a thin, bearded human with long black hair that floated wildly in the absence of gravity. He was dressed in a soiled white tee shirt and a pair of blue sweatpants. The short glimpse was enough, however. The look in the man’s eyes told him instantly there would be no reasoning with the guy.

The wolf was cornered in the alcove and his attacker was closing in on his position. He looked around again to see if there was anything he missed and his eyes singled out an item he had passed over earlier. He snared his floating helmet out of the air, put it back on despite the cracked bubble and then snapped the connections in place. He reached up to the wall and removed a fire extinguisher mounted over a built-in grill. He pulled the safety pin and then eased himself closer to the opening of the alcove.

Despite the dim lighting in the engine room, he detected a faint shadow on the far wall. It was too vague to give him any much more than an outline, but it told him what he needed to know. He raised the nozzle of the extinguisher before him and then locked a foot around the leg of a table. It was only a moment later when he saw a few random strands of long black hair drift into view.

Merlin counted to three and then squeezed the handle. A jet of white powder shot out from the nozzle and caught the man full in the face just as he peered around the corner. The human sputtered, shrieking foreign words as the force of the extinguisher pushed him out into the open, and he almost lost his grip on the device he had been using as a flame-thrower. Merlin recognized it instantly as a decontamination flame-gun to use on bacterial areas of a ship after setting down in an alien environment. It was not meant to be used at such a high level of expulsion, but he rightly assumed the tool had been modified.

The captain of the Blue Horizon did not waste any time. He unhooked his foot from the table and fired off the extinguisher toward the back of the alcove. He got plenty of thrust and the wolf shot out of the break-room toward the human who still shouted obscenities from the powder in his eyes.

The man could not see, but he heard the hollow whoosh of the extinguisher and knew instantly he was in trouble. He swung the flame-thrower up and fired off a searing blaze that missed the wolf by mere centimeters. He gripped the trigger tightly and began fanning the area around him with intense flames.

Merlin’s inertia brought him to less than a meter from the man, but the wild flailing of fire nearly hit him several times. He hurled his spent extinguisher at the man and it hit him hard on the right shoulder joint. The human let out a cry of pain and the flames died when his fingers reflexively lost their grip. Still blinded by the powder, he wiped frantically at his face.

Merlin tried to get in closer to grab the flame-thrower, but the human’s sight partially cleared just as his gloved hand closed around the barrel of the device. The man howled and squeezed the trigger again, nearly setting Merlin’s helmet ablaze. The flames licked greedily at the wolf’s helmet and a tiny tongue of fire penetrated the crack, singing the fur on his nose.

Merlin yelped in pain and quickly used his grip on the barrel as leverage to bring his legs around and kick the man in the knees. He had tried to get him in the gut, but the pressure suit limited such movement. However, it was enough to stop the blaze again. The captain wrenched the flame-thrower back and forth, but the human held on tightly.

For a moment, their grappling brought them up face to face, and for the first time the man saw the face inside the suit. His eyes widened tremendously and his mouth opened in a scream of mortal terror at the sight of the bared teeth of the lupine creature within. He began to thrash about violently and started to pound at the wolf’s chest as if Merlin were a wild beast bent on tearing out his throat.

The sudden frantic action confused Merlin, but he saw insanity in the man’s eyes. Without a second thought, the wolf hit him in the face with a gloved fist twice in rapid succession. The wild man’s head rocked back with the blows, but despite the pummeling, the man retained his grip on the flame-thrower; with desperate strength, he wrenched it free of Merlin’s hands. Thrown off balance, the wolf floated backward but tried hard to swim back toward him.

“Captain Amamori! Stop! We’re here to help!”

Merlin and the man both turned to look toward the new voice. The man ground his teeth together and shouted something in Japanese at the sight of three more suited figures floating toward them. He swung the nozzle of his flame-thrower toward the newcomers and the wolf lunged as well as he could toward him.

“Look out!” Merlin shouted. He could not tell which of his crewmates had joined them, though he had recognized the voice of his engineer. The trio scattered a second before the jet of flame passed through the area between them and the human screamed in frustrated rage.

Merlin was unable to swim in the air fast enough to get to the man. He had disconnected the maneuvering pack from his suit earlier and none of his crewmates were equipped with them either since they had crossed over using the extension tunnel. Being out in the open away from anything to push off from, the wolf could do little more than swim in place. Each time the man fired his flame-thrower, its counter-thrust pushed him further out of the lupine captain’s reach.

“Merlin, are you all right?” Renny called out from behind a bulkhead. The wolf briefly wondered why the cheetah’s voice did not sound in his helmet speakers, but he did not have time to think about it for long. The human fanned the air with flames and Merlin managed a tuck-and-roll that barely flipped him out of the way before taking the brunt of the attack across his back.

He opened his faceplate as far as it could go and shouted back, “I’m okay, but I could use some help!”

By luck, he managed to float close enough to an instrument panel to hide behind just as another blaze seared the controls. A warning klaxon sounded out and the engine room fire-suppressant system activated. Sticky white powder shot out of nozzles all over the room and it incensed the man further.

Captain Amamori? Merlin mused to himself. Pockets must have seen a photo of the man somewhere in the ship. He looked around him, searching for anything he could use as a weapon. Despite the powdery suppressant filling the air of the zero-gee room in a thickening fog, Amamori continued to shoot flames toward each of the intruders into his domain. It was unlikely anyone would be able to get near him until his fuel ran out, and there was no assurance that he did not have more stashed around the room in reserve.

The klaxons continued to sound and a large power unit mounted to a wall burst outward in a shower of sparks and debris. The fire had apparently gotten to something volatile before the suppressant was able to douse the flames. Amamori cried out as bits of metal and plastic shrapnel pelted him and he suddenly released the flame-thrower. The device drifted away from the man and he began jerking in spasms.

Merlin looked out through the white, hazy air and swallowed hard at what he saw. A long and thin piece of twisted metal was embedded in the middle of Amamori’s forehead. The human’s mouth opened and closed slowly like a fish out of water and his fingers clutched weakly at the air, but before the wolf could force himself to look away, Amamori stopped moving.

“Merlin!” Tanis called out above the alarms.

Captain Sinclair pushed off from the instrument panel toward his medic’s voice. A moment later two sets of hands grabbed hold of his suit. Before anyone could say another word, another equipment panel arced out in a blaze of energy making the klaxon change pitch and pattern.

“Uh, oh, that’s done it,” Pocket said. “We’ve got to get off this ship ASAP!”

“Do we have time to retrieve his body?” Merlin asked.

“No time!” the raccoon replied sternly. “That new alarm is the call for Abandon Ship. We’ll need every second to get back to the Horizon!”

“Right…” Merlin muttered wearily.

Renny moved up behind them and spoke into his headset. “Samantha!” he said in a rushed voice. “Recall everyone back to the Horizon right now and get the ship ready to blast away in a hurry!”

“What happened?” Durant’s voice sounded as the foursome made their way back toward the engine room hatch. “Did you find the captain?”

“We did. No time to explain why, but there’s an out-of-control fire in the Walkabout’s engine room, and it’s probably going to blow!”

“This is Samantha,” the Border collie’s voice announced immediately over everyone’s headset on all frequencies. “This is an emergency! Everyone get back to the Horizon pronto! The Walkabout is on fire and out of control! I repeat, get back to the Blue Horizon, right now!”

Merlin could hear Sam’s announcement from his crewmates’ helmets but not his own. “My headset must have been smashed when I hit my head,” he said dryly.

Pocket reached the engine room hatch and opened it as the others came up behind him.

“Yeah, we’ve been trying to reach ya,” Tanis said to the captain. “Lori and Durant found the rest of the bodies in the hold and Cindy found a photo of the captain in one of the cabins. His body was not among those in the crates.”

“What about the captain’s journal?” Merlin asked as they propelled themselves into the long tunnel that would take them to the main body of the ship.

“Haven’t found it,” the fox replied. “That wild man back there resembles Amamori in the photo Cindy found, so I would bet he had his journal with him in there.”

“Pockets, do you think there’s a way we can jettison the air from the engine room to smother the fire?” Merlin asked his engineer. “We still don’t know what happened here and that journal may be the only clue.”

Pockets turned to reply, but as he opened his mouth, they heard a deep, muffled boom and the whole ship shook around them.

“Whoa!” Max’s voice said in his helmet speakers.

“What happened?” Durant asked.

“I dunno, but the Walkabout shook and the tunnel between the ships buckled!”

“Is it still intact?”

“Yeah, but I hear hissing.”

“That’s an air leak, Max,” Pockets said with a frown. “Make sure your suit is secure, your helmet’s sealed and get back to the Horizon.”

“It is and I’m on my way,” the young canine answered.

“Durant?”

“I’m on the Horizon, Pockets.”

“You don’t have to pressurize it, but close the airlock after each person that comes back on board. If that tunnel collapses…”

“Understood. I’ll take care of it.”

Pockets looked at Merlin and said, “I know the journal’s important, but something big just blew up back there. I doubt we’d have time to vent the air back there and find it, even if we were still in there.”

The wolf nodded. “All right, it’ll have to remain a mystery. Let’s get out of here.” His breath was getting cold and it fogged the inside of his helmet.

“Captain,” Renny said as they continued to pull themselves along the long corridor. “If the tunnel is losing air, how are you going to get back to the ship? Your helmet is badly cracked. You also have a burn melt on the back of your right leg.”

“No wonder my leg is stinging,” Merlin muttered.

Pockets reached for his utility belt and unclipped a roll of the most universal repair material in the cosmos: duct tape. As a mechanic, Pockets had long believed that duct tape was Earth’s greatest contribution to the galaxy and he carried some with him everywhere he went.

Renny grinned at the raccoon’s resourcefulness and took the roll from him. As they neared the hatch to the main section of the ship, he began to tear off strips and apply it over the cracks in the captain’s helmet.

“It may not be completely space worthy,” he said, “but it should hold your air in long enough to get you back to the Horizon still breathing.”

Merlin nodded without saying a word and turned his oxygen flow back on. He felt worn out, but welcomed the familiar sense of gravity when they moved out of the tunnel into the Walkabout’s aft corridor. They may be weighed down by their pressure suits, but the wolf was fairly certain he could run in it faster than they could float in zero-gee.

“Wait and tape up my leg when we get up to the main hatch,” he told the cheetah. “I want to get away from here before the engine room goes completely and takes the rest of the ship with it.”

“Okay, let’s go!” Renny said. In single file, the foursome began trotting as fast as their suits would let them. The navigator had memorized the route and led them through the labyrinthian corridors quickly. Moments later, they arrived at the main hatch. Merlin was exhausted. Fighting in a suit in zero-gee had taken more out of him than he had thought, and he was wheezing from the fire suppressant that had gotten into his helmet. He leaned against the wall as Pockets operated the mechanism for the hatch and Renny knelt to bind up the melted spot in the captain’s suit.

“Samantha confirms that everyone else got off the ship,” Tanis said to Merlin. “We’re the only ones still here.”

“Good.”

Pockets looked down at Renny. “Is his suit secure?” he asked. “I’m about to open the hatch.”

“I’ve taped up all cracks and tears I can find,” he replied, “and his helmet is sealed.”

Merlin pointed toward the hatch. “Go.”

Pockets opened the door and immediately they saw a tear open up in the metallic fabric of the access tunnel. There was no time to reattach his maneuvering pack, so without preamble, he took Merlin’s arm and pulled him out away from the ship’s gravity. He and Renny pushed the wolf along before them and Tanis brought up the rear.

“Durant,” Pockets said into his headset, “Merlin’s suit is ripped and his helmet is cracked, but we’ve got him taped up. I don’t know how long the makeshift seal will last, so Tanis is taking him into the airlock first. Renny and I will wait our turn.”

“Aye to that.”

“Go ahead and release the tunnel from the other ship.” Durant did not reply, but they felt a thunk in the sides of the tunnel as the far end’s seal deactivated and the remaining air vented as shimmering crystals. Merlin moved into the airlock and Pockets shut the door behind him and Tanis.

“Okay, they’re inside,” Pockets announced. Although they could not hear anything in the vacuum, the remaining pair saw Tanis’ thumbs-up through the small view port to indicate pressurization.

There was a bright flash of light outside the tunnel. “Another explosion from the engine section!” Samantha exclaimed in their headsets. “Oh no! Guys, hang on tight to the tunnel! I’ve got to move the ship fast!”

Pockets and Renny barely had time to grab onto the slack sides of the tunnel before the Blue Horizon moved. Renny glanced behind and saw the bulk of the Walkabout suddenly lunge toward them, crumpling up the far end of the tunnel in the process. He gasped and drew himself up as close to the blue saucer as he could, but it looked like the explosion that propelled the derelict vessel forward was going to crush the two of them between the ships.

Suddenly the Blue Horizon angled upward and surged forward to slip over the top of the Walkabout. Pockets closed his eyes as he held on tight. The sudden motion pulled the flexible tunnel down across them and Renny managed a quick glimpse at the burning ship before the Horizon sped away.

“You still with us?” Samantha’s voice called out.

“Barely,” Pockets managed to reply against the sudden thrust of the ship. “But I don’t know how much longer we can hold on, Sam!”

“You’ve got to, boys,” Cindy said into the line. “We don’t want to get caught in the blast!”

No sooner had she spoken than the suited males saw a brilliant white flash, but because of their entanglement in the remnants of the tunnel they did not actually see the replica exploration ship tear itself apart in a magnificent fireball. The flames billowed out rapidly, but then abruptly dissipated in the vacuum as the shockwave expanded out away from it.

“Hold on just a little longer,” Merlin’s voice said. “We have to get far enough away from the blast before we can let you guys inside.”

“H-hurry,” Pockets pleaded. “The tunnel’s about to t-tear away from the ship with our m-mass weighing it back against your thrust!”

“Hold on,” Samantha echoed. “I’m going to slow the ship, but spin our axis so the bulk of the Horizon shields you from the shockwave.”

Pockets pulled himself up hand over hand toward the hatch and suddenly felt the saucer change direction as they had been warned. The raccoon felt sick to his stomach watching the stars fly by at an alarming rate during the quick spin, but smiled weakly when the hatch suddenly opened up. Renny grabbed the raccoon’s elbow and pulled him into the airlock with him, but did not relax until the outer hatch secured with a loud clunk.

“We’re in!” he announced.

The Blue Horizon rocked violently as the shockwave hit the ship. “Get us out of here, Sam!” they heard Merlin’s voice call across the com against the hiss of pressurizing air. They felt a surge of motion, and after a few long agonizing moments later, the ride smoothed out. Durant opened the inside hatch of the airlock and greeted them with a worried expression.

***

Merlin leaned back in his chair on the recreation deck where the crew had assembled for a special meal prepared by Lorelei. There was a feeling of quiet among them as they ate without real conversation. A day had passed since the destruction of the antique replica, and while the Blue Horizon had resumed its original heading, everyone’s thoughts were still back on the other vessel.

Merlin had spent time with each member of his crew after they had all rested, to compile as much information as possible before he filed his report with the Spatial Police Force. Samantha had recorded the video images transmitted from everyone’s suit helmet cameras and had saved them into a combined file to transmit along with Merlin’s report. Although she knew that an investigation would be mounted by the SPF into the matter, Sam did some research on her own and found a few bits of information from the London database on Earth.

The captain took a lap of his coffee as he looked around and noticed that everyone had pretty much finished their meals. It was a rare occasion that Merlin let the bridge go unsupervised and allowed the entire crew to gather together. Pockets had the auxiliary station on the rec deck programmed to duplicate any alert that might sound on the bridge, including incoming messages.

“Okay, Sam,” the wolf said across the room, “what do we have to send to the SPF?”

The Border collie looked at him strangely. She had already told him everything she knew in an earlier meeting with him, but then she realized her reply would not be for him, but for the others. Everyone looked at her expectantly.

“Well,” she began as she pushed back away from the galley table, “what I’ve been able to put together is still a puzzle without all the pieces. The SS Walkabout was a replica of the Goldenrod, the exploration ship that first went out to the stars to colonize Kantus. In honor of the tricentennial anniversary, this one left Earth eleven months ago to retrace the historic route of the original vessel to Kantus, but the Walkabout disappeared twenty-eight days into its journey. A search and rescue operation was mounted by the SPF, but the ship was never located in an area that is now seldom used for regular space traffic between the two worlds. The search was called off after a month.”

She took a lap of her drink and continued. “The commander of the ship was Captain Shin Amamori, a veteran astronaut of the Terran Space Agency’s Deep Space Exploration Division. Amamori had a crew of fourteen to staff the operation of the Walkabout and ten passengers of various races who had paid large sums of money to take part in the recreation of the original historic flight. Most of the passengers were historians or worked in fields related to what the flight meant. I dug up records and found psychological profiles on each of the crew and all the passengers. With current LightDrive technology, the typical mean travel time between Earth and Kantus is three standard weeks, varying only a few hours dependent upon their orbits around their respective stars. The rudimentary LightDrive-type engines that were used on the Goldenrod, and replicated again on the Walkabout, were not as efficient and the travel time between the worlds using them would be nearly eight weeks of near-constant thrust instead of inertial coasting.”

She looked around her and gave everyone a wry smile. “As we’re familiar with the effects of long voyages, we can all appreciate the need for a crew that can get along with one another being cooped up in a ship for weeks at a time.”

“I’ve had people tell me how amazed they are that my crew resembles a family more than co-workers,” Merlin said with a nod. “I’ve always used psychological profiles when evaluating someone for my crew. Nobody’s perfect, but if you don’t get along with one another, long journeys can be disastrous.”

“Yeah, look at Armando’s crew,” Renny said with a gesture of his hand. “I keep hearing how his people are always fighting amongst themselves.”

“Good example,” Merlin replied.

“Anyway,” Samantha continued, “there was only one person on board the Walkabout who had not had a recent psyche evaluation prior to that last voyage.”

“Captain Amamori?” Cindy guessed.

“That’s right. He’d been in the service of his company for many years and it later came out that he had greased the palm of the one in charge of getting those done.”

“Greased the palm?” Max asked with a funny look on his face.

“Bribery,” Tanis explained to him. “He paid off someone to keep the results of his evaluation off the records.”

“Oh.”

“Whatever happened on that ship will probably never be fully explained,” Samantha said. “We suspect Captain Amamori went off his rocker at some point and started killing everyone, but even that is uncertain. There’s also the possibility that he was the sole survivor of an attack or mutiny and the long months of being alone afterward unbalanced him.”

“No, I think he did it all right,” Pockets countered. “He tried to kill the four of us in the engine room and Merlin got a close look at the space madness in the man’s eyes.”

“The computer memory core was destroyed,” Sam said with a quiet shake of her head, “as well as practically every book or other documents on board. We can only guess that he didn’t want any record of his actions that might be out there. The captain’s logbook was never found, and now the rest of the evidence has been lost.”

“All we can do is turn over what we have to the SPF, including the audio and video feeds that Sam recorded from your suits,” Merlin stated. He took another drink of his coffee and frowned. “I’ve already talked to each of you about what you saw and did over there, but we can probably expect the SPF to want to discuss it with us further with questions of their own when they make their investigation.”

He looked around the room and then settled his gaze upon the Border collie. “I’m proud of you all, but I want to voice my personal satisfaction with Samantha’s performance getting the Horizon away from the Walkabout while keeping the rest of us safe in the process, especially with Pockets and Renny still clinging to the outside and vulnerable to the approaching shock wave. It was good thinking in a crisis that saved us all.”

Samantha looked embarrassed at the public praise and several voiced their own appreciation for her actions. Pockets leaned up against her and rested his head on her shoulder, his expression one of admiration.

“Thank you, Sammy,” he said quietly. She put her arms around him and gave him a warm hug. The conversation fell quiet while everyone mulled through their own thoughts.

A moment passed before Merlin cleared his throat and then looked at the raccoon. “Did the Horizon sustain any damage in the ordeal?” he asked his engineer.

“Other than the loss of three maneuvering packs for the suits and the ship-to-ship extension tunnel, no,” Pockets replied. “I’ve already put in the order for new packs and another tunnel assembly to be delivered in Grandstorm to your sister’s house on Dennier, which is where we’re headed after Argeia, right?”

“That’s right,” Cindy replied. “We have another shipment to pick up in a city on Dennier that isn’t near her place, but we’ll have about a week of downtime before we’ll leave with it.”

“Yeah, but I’m anxious to see what Argeia’s like,” Tanis said with a sudden grin. “If ya go by the vidscreens, that’ll be a right dandy place to visit.”

Conversations moved toward tales each of them had heard regarding the new alien world, but the captain’s thoughts were elsewhere as he lifted a hand to the singed spot on his nose. Tanis had cleaned up his wounds and the wolf was thankful for the pressure suit he had worn against Amamori’s onslaught, but he would have memories to keep of this adventure.

***

Merlin Sinclair sat in the center seat on the bridge trying to reread one of the novels on his slateboard. He had been on duty an hour but found it hard to focus. He marked his place, set the device aside and turned down the interior lights until the only illumination came from the instrument panels.

He stood up slowly and then moved to the forward windows. One star directly ahead was brighter than the rest, Dokke; their destination was in orbit around that sun. He leaned on the com station and let his mind drift. Almost immediately, he could see Captain Amamori’s brown eyes, wide in stark terror and mouth open in screams of mortal peril. What had the man gone through? Merlin asked himself. What drove him over the edge?

He could only hope the Spatial Police Force could find out something more in their investigation, but he doubted it. With the destruction of the Walkabout, only fragments remained and there was little left of anything physical to examine. All they really had available were the experiences of he and his crew.

Had Captain Amamori murdered his crew, as all of the evidence pointed toward, or was there another explanation? Merlin suspected he would never know. The mystery of the Walkabout would likely go unsolved.

THE ASSASSIN

By Steve Carter

The Heir Apparent, Part 1

Captain’s Journal

SS Blue Horizon, PA1138

This is our first journey to the white planet, Argeia. Home of the semi-feline race called the Kastani, Argeia is one of the wealthiest—but scarcely populated—and totally alien—worlds in the Alignment as a new member. From what I understand, it’s a very democratic trio of city-states that occupy one continent on the very large globe. The Kastani have until recently, been very averse to joining the Alignment, preferring to maintain their planetary sovereignty from a distance. The few Kastans who’ve ventured forth from their home world and learned our Standard language in recent years have been unusually quiet about the workings of their people, and have all been interesting characters in and of themselves. This leads most to believe that they’re a planet of oddballs, but I doubt that is truly the case.

At this time, the Kastani will not allow other races to live on their world. There are simple ambassadors from Earth, Sillon, and Hestra, but they are only allowed to go in certain areas of the capitol city-state, Donisia. The Kastani developed completely separate from the human and furman races that began on Earth, an original sapient species of their own. We will not be staying for very long, as visitations on Argeia are kept to a rigid schedule. They’ll allow us three days of recuperation time in the equivalent of their hotel and its many amenities, but we cannot leave and go out into the city itself. It seems disappointing that such would be the case, since their structures are vast and beautiful, and their flowing architecture is very appealing to the eye. However, considering that they’re just now opening up their borders, I’m prepared to accept a little bit of reluctance to throw the gates wide apart for what can often be a very hostile galaxy.

Our cargo is also unusual. We’re shipping six dozen blue diamonds from Earth, especially cut into prisms that would be practically useless for industry. However, their technology is like nothing we’ve ever experienced before. They are no more advanced than any other world, they just do things so, for lack of a better word, alien. That part of the cargo can be carried by two people in a box the size of a footlocker. In addition to this extremely rare shipment, the bulk of our transport is two metric tons of frozen strawberries; apparently a delicacy among the Kastans. I’ve heard stories about what the fruit does to them, which lends to the humorous idea that we’re now bootlegging.

Still, it will be interesting to see firsthand the landscapes that have until recently been available only on vidscreens, and to finally meet these strange aliens in their own habitat.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

It is very dark in space, a limitless, velvety void with simple pinholes of light, lifetimes away. In truth, space is a very bright place with incalculable flashes of brilliance filling trillions upon trillions of light years. But light diminishes as it gets further from its source, so the viewer sees only remnants of radiance billions of years old already, and only from the nearest sources. Few know where the light from distant stars goes.

There are dead stars, collapsed in on themselves and feeding like greedy insects upon the light of living stars. Their density is so powerful and their gravity so strong that even time slows down and collapses in their pull. It is whispered among many in short, punctuated sentences that there is a force behind these star-eating monstrosities. They devour everything in their paths and grow denser, more ravenous with every absorbed molecule. They are, by their nature, street cleaners of the universe. This is where the light goes.

Moving silently, relentlessly toward its cosmic nourishment, the dark stars spend millennia making their way through the universe, searching out and consuming everything in their paths. What science calls dark matter, religion calls evil.

***

Legislature Speaker Jo Chan sat at her desk, poring over a slateboard. The silver fox had been preoccupied with matters most dire in the ruling body of the Planetary Alignment. Elected chancellor of the loose union of representatives of the worlds, she played the role of benevolent manager in times of strife. Things had gotten bad over the last several weeks. The introduction of Argeia into the aligned body of worlds was rocky, and a criminal element had arisen in the Planetary Alignment since the destruction of the pirate Sagan. Pretenders to his notoriety had cropped up everywhere; new faces looking to succeed the master and get themselves a reputation. Most had been dealt with swiftly and effectively by the Spatial Police Force.

Beneath the chaos and confusion, however, looting and posturing was a greater puzzle. Running like a resonant rhythm over which all the other problems played was a string of crimes that had no specific pattern, but did have similar circumstances. Locations across the Alignment had been targeted for terrorist acts ranging from destroying old and uninhabited buildings to specific murders of high-profile celebrities and public servants. Added to that were the deaths of a handful of slaves on Quet, a military functional manager on Earth, and a recently abused child on Alexandrius. All had died quickly, with the same pattern of slashes across their bodies.

Accusations flew in all the usual directions. Dennier and Mainor blamed one another, Nalirra blamed everyone. A rat had arrived from Quet to demand an investigation into who was destroying his slave property and his cronies had made sure he got the chance to address the Legislature directly. The club owner had little of value, but many friends in the right places.

***

Lucas Sinclair roused, his head limp on a sore neck. How long had he been asleep? The young wolf looked around to find himself in strange surroundings. He remembered falling asleep in a brothel where he had used the credit chit he had liberated from an unsuspecting tourist, but this was not it.

There were lights here, painfully bright in his eyes, and the smell of antiseptic. His entire body ached, with the remnants of aches all over, twinges throughout his musculature here and there. It seemed a comfortable bed, but it was as though he had been sleeping on a table top. A long, clear tube flowed into his arm from a bottle of fluid overhead. He was in some sort of hospital setting.

Before him was a single figure. Swathed in a white cloak, an alien feline stood straight, peering directly at him with black, lifeless eyes. The gray creature was like no other he had ever seen, with the body of an Olympic athlete beneath the light wisp of cloth. Where the robe parted in front, he saw a dark gray uniform with silver lining, and a chrome utility belt with a variety of storage containers. On one side, he could see a short staff a meter in length. The canine sat forward to speak, and realized that he could not hear the stranger’s breath, nor perceive the rise and fall of its breast.

“You are awake,” came another voice.

Lucas turned to the new sound, a small slateboard tablet directly to his right. On its screen was a pale silhouette against a black backdrop. It was smooth and unmoving; the canine figured it was not a live picture. A small, red eye pointed at him, feeding his image to whoever was speaking to him.

“Where am I?” Lucas asked, wincing with an uncomfortable turn of his frame.

“You are in my care,” the image replied. “You have been here five days.”

Lucas blinked, moving his stiff body a bit more and noticing how dry his mouth was. “Whuh-what am I doing here?”

“I like your work, Sinclair,” the electronic voice rasped. “I want to employ you.”

Lucas chuckled, a contemptuous smile spreading across his face. “Sure, what you want?”

“I want a technical advisor and computer hacker. You come highly recommended.” At the edge of Lucas’ vision, the gray alien moved slightly, drawing a small device from beneath the white cloak, clicked a switch and activated it.

Lucas crossed his arms smugly, “Sure, I’ll need an advance of ten—”

“You will do it for room and board,” came the reply.

Lucas grinned in oily smugness, “No, I only work for money. Up front. In advance.”

“Actually,” rasped the slateboard, “I know what you do things for. No amount of money can persuade you. You are motivated by personal comfort, which I can provide to you in spades.”

Lucas considered this for a moment. Maybe he could milk this sucker for something nice, if not credits. What the heck? Who needs wealth when he has all the things he wants at the end of a string?

“I can get you women, if you want them,” the slateboard continued. “I can get you drugs, flashy cars, amenities of the most high. But no money.”

“My tastes run to the exotic,” Lucas said, testing for a reaction. “Certain things I only want to know about alone.”

“I can get you any compliment of beautiful boys you want,” the voice purred. “I have an associate who…”

“No!” Lucas choked, disgusted at the very idea. “That’s—that’s not what I meant at all…”

“I’ll expect you to be in your office tomorrow morning. You have the rest of today to get your things in order. Your personal dormitory has been laid out for you on the other side of the far wall. The dining facility is open all the time. I trust you will have no further questions.”

“Hey, I didn’t accept yet.”

The voice said nothing for a long moment. Then a small blip of sound came from the screen and Lucas pulled back. The gray feline at the foot of the bed snapped its fingers once, drawing his attention. Lucas watched as it pressed a switch on a device that it held. The device made a high-pitched squeal, and the wolf felt a sharp pain in the smallest toe of his left foot.

An instant later, the toe exploded with a sickening splatter, spraying blood, bone and cartilage over the sheets and the bed. Lucas screamed, pulling his wounded foot up to cradle it, to pinch off the bleeding and try to stop the pain. The gray creature handed him a swatch of gauze and a first aid kit before shutting down the hand-held device and returning it to its case on the chrome belt. Lucas wept openly; his cocky composure was shattered by the raw agony of his punishment.

“There are one hundred and nineteen more of those planted all over your body, Sinclair,” the voice from the slateboard said. “Do not try to remove them or scan for them, as they will all be set off one by one if you do. You will die slowly, terribly as your bones crack and your organs burst. If we detonate surface charges, such as what you just experienced, we can dismember you at every major joint. If we detonate inside you, we can cause ulcers, aneurysms, heart attacks… whatever we want. They are not terribly powerful, but the damage they cause can be very painful. Do you understand?”

Lucas, barely cognizant through the throbbing agony, nodded in the direction of the slateboard.

“Good. Work well and you will be rewarded with all you want. Work poorly…” The voice trailed off, allowing a pregnant silence to fill the room.

The gray creature stepped forward to take the slateboard, its body moving fluidly like a serpent across the room. It left the room to allow Lucas Sinclair to bind his wound and consider his future.

***

In a dark room, Var Briggs stood before a shimmering projected image in a corner of the bridge of the Basilisk. The former first officer could feel the air grow heavy as the projection came to life in front of him. Standing nearly two meters tall, it was an image of a pale robe with a cowl. An unseen face was cloaked behind the hood’s shadow, disguising not just its identity, but its race as well. Even without seeing the dread face, Briggs knew that its mood was sour.

“I thank you for responding so quickly, sir,” Briggs said, performing the best bow he could muster with broken ribs. He shivered, hands shaking in the glow of the projected light. He was not accustomed to addressing Sagan’s master.

“Where is his body?” the hazy figure replied in a cold, mechanized voice.

“Sagan went down with the Blue Horizon, sir,” Briggs added. “He…”

“His body, Briggs,” the voice snapped. “I want to know where his body is.”

“The Spatial Police Force retained him, sir,” Briggs stammered. “Maybe on Joplin. We don’t know where…”

“Sagan was destroyed.”

Briggs stopped, still quaking in the sight of the pale image.

“His body experienced a metabolic breakdown,” the image replied in its cold, mechanical purr. “Sagan has decomposed by now, his body is a stew of fetid, broken pieces that the authorities will never be able to learn anything from. It was my design. He was wise in not telling anyone else about it.”

Briggs held his breath, unsure if he had just made a mistake. He fidgeted for a moment, and then attempted a smile. “That’s very wise of you, sir…”

“Do you think you will be able to command the Basilisk when it is repaired?” the voice purred.

Briggs stood tall, set his jaw firmly, “Yes sir, I’ll take her and destroy the Blue—”

“You’ll do no such thing!” snarled the voice. “Sagan was a fool off on his own initiative when he took on the Blue Horizon. He endangered my ship and the rest of his crew when he did that. Ships and crews cost, and I have no onus on the elder Sinclair or his people. They have their problems to deal with at this point.”

“Y-yes sir,” Briggs said, nodding in agreement. “And what of Natasha?”

“Captain Natasha Khasho is also not a matter for your concern. You will receive new orders when the Basilisk is ready and you will act only on my command. See to your healing, Captain Briggs,” the voice trailed off as the image de-phased.

Briggs turned and ambled back to his lounge chair. He stared out the thick glass view port to the black cityscape outside. Captain Briggs… it sounded so alien.

***

In a vaulted hall, ringed upward with seats and lit with pure white lights, the congregation of delegates from all the inhabited worlds had gathered in the Planetary Alignment Legislature located on Alexandrius. Each of the populated worlds had sent five representatives, with ambassadors from non-surrounding planets representing the ecological and political needs of the worlds without sapient life. The hall buzzed with voices here and there as the new representative from the white planet Argeia took the podium.

It was an intimidating place to say the least. Situated at the bottom of the egg-shaped hall, delegates had to look up to all of the other members of the PAL. A short, stout Kastan named Bon Widi addressed the Legislature in accented Standard with an air of confidence as he accepted the charter that welcomed Argeia to the Alignment. The alien Kastans were a felinoid race of unknown origins and even more obscure culture, having no genetic ties to any of the original Terran colonies.

Widi was broader than most of them that had ventured out into the cosmos—considerably less well known than hired killer Jape Devon or the musical group Superconductor, whose one album had to be circulated on black markets because it never should have left the planet Argeia.

Senator Ferry, representative of Alexandrius, stroked his chin in thought as the strange alien addressed his colleagues. It was the same tired diatribe about bright futures and such, and it ran boring in his ears. But the canine was more concerned with the dark figure standing just to the Senator’s left. Senator Widi had not introduced his colleague, whose dark leather clothing stood out in stark contrast to the Senator’s billowing white robe. It was like a black knight protecting an overlarge magistrate, and the expression on its countenance told Ferry that its owner did not want to be here standing on ceremony.

Until six months ago, the Kastani of Argeia had been reluctant to join the Alignment. However, a trade negotiation and the opening of a faster route to worlds with ore and resource deposits had garnered the Kastani the favor of their new friends. But Ferry sensed something was wrong with the situation—something he just could not put his finger on.

Widi finished his presentation and was met with a standing ovation from the gathered Legislature. The dark figure bowed and whispered into his ear, then turned on its heel and left the Legislature Hall. It passed by Ferry as it left and the canine Senator got a glimpse of the tunic it wore beneath its black cape. It was a blanket of expressions; the tanned leather surface of the skins of stitched-together faces of fallen enemies, rumored to be sheared from their skulls at death. Ferry shrank from the grisly visage as it passed by, and the figure stopped to look at him. Beneath the cowl was an old, haggard face that had seen too many years and wars; the eyes burned dark green beneath gaunt brows. Ferry knew in an instant that the Kastan did not want to be here, watching his world’s sovereignty evaporate before his eyes. He turned and continued out the door as Bon Widi strode across the hall and took his seat.

***

“This is incredible,” Cindy mewed as the ship sailed under a massive, arching column. A shy glint of light blue shone on the horizon as the only indication that there was something beyond. All around, smooth white buildings seemed to fall with liquid ease into one another. The city was no mongrel conglomeration of edifices built independently of one another, but a single, flowing ocean of architecture that stretched on to the horizon. The bridge crew was focused upon the middle vidscreen as the city-state spread out before them, a gleaming white and silver ocean seemingly made of crystal and ice. In fact, the glittering structures were composed of a metal that could only be found in one other location, and that had dried up six years prior.

“An entire city made of Siilv,” Renny whistled, awestruck at the spiraling, organic buildings and crossways that hung in space.

Captain Sinclair, however, found himself having to pay more attention to the flying than he usually did. Something about the Siilv metal in this quantity was playing havoc with his instruments and he had to fly into the spaceport manually. Something about the way the buildings caught and scattered light made even that difficult, as angles changed and performed in ways he was not accustomed. He stayed in the open as much as possible, but often found himself compensating for the strange effects when he had to pass close to structures or under vaulting walkways.

“Samantha,” he said, diverting his attention when the chance came.

For a long moment, there was no reply, and then the canine responded in a whisper, “Yes?”

Merlin pulled his eyes away from the vidscreen long enough to see his crewmate staring at the city vista, clutching at her lapels. Tiny streaks of tears spilled down her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Snapped back, she caught herself. “Sorry… it’s just… so beautiful.”

“I know,” he replied. “Please get on the com and get some landing details?”

She turned with slightly more professional air than usual to her console and keyed in the information they had received from the shipper on Earth. The key-code would connect the ship with the spaceport where they would land, meet the customer, and deliver their goods.

Before she had a chance to hail anyone, a strangely-accented voice responded in Standard on the audio communicator, “Release your controls. We have you.”

The sticks suddenly became heavy in Merlin’s hands, and the wolf fought the urge to wrestle them back into his power. However, he released the controls and found them moving on their own.

“Excuse me,” he asked at the panel, “but what’s going on here?”

“We have you in our guidance beacon, “the exotic voice replied. “We will guide you to the Nikke dry-dock. Relax and enjoy the ride.”

Merlin’s heart suddenly leapt into his throat as the ship began to speed up. It glided through quickly-shrinking apertures in the structures before it and rounded corners that seemed to converge against the horizon in unhealthy ways.

After several seconds, he realized that even though the ship shot through the structures, slashing around the flowing, organic buildings at wild speed, that they were not touching any of them as they moved. After several seconds of heart-pounding fear, the vidscreen filled with an immense, eggshell-colored dome. This, he had seen in a manual, was the Nikke Intergalactic Dry-dock and Spaceport — or NIDAS as it was commonly called in Standard.

Merlin studied the screen before him and drew back. The structure below was seamless, a sheen of chromatic energy on its surface flamed like a bubble on a soapy counter. At the base of the dome, a few dozen bodies moved.

Then the ship got closer to the beige dome, and the other crew members began to turn his way. The Blue Horizon’s speed had not diminished, and they were fast flying toward the structure as it almost seemed to lurch out toward them.

“Captain?” Renny asked, a worried expression crossing his face.

“Uh—” Sinclair said into the receiver.

A black fissure appeared in the bubble—a vertical slot that stared back at them as if a feline eye. The ship turned onto its side with a lurch, shot through the opening, and into the bubble, continuing its rotation until it ultimately slowed to a stop inside the massive structure.

Inside the dome, a plethora of ships from all over the Planetary Alignment sat docked, as their cargoes were loaded and unloaded. The Blue Horizon moved toward an occupied stall before banking right and gliding into an empty spot on one of the three ringed levels within the dome.

“Thank you for flying Kastani Air,” Pockets chimed.

As the ship settled, Merlin checked his instruments to find that the engines had been shut down several minutes before, and that the landing gear had already been engaged.

“Who—?” he looked to Renny, but the cheetah shook his head in response.

“Full service, I suppose,” Merlin replied a little uneasily, knowing an outside power could govern his vessel so well without him ever authorizing or releasing control. “All right everyone, we’ve got cargo to unload. Snap to it.”

The bridge crew filed out of the bridge, through the corridor to the lift, down to the cargo hold to meet with the others. Settled into the NIDAS, the crew still felt apprehensive about their arrival. The beauty of the city below had been muted somewhat by the loss of control upon approach. When they reached the hold, Durant detached the braces with a hiss of escaping gas as a pneudraulic whir engaged and the bay door slowly yawned open.

Merlin stepped toward a single crate tethered near the cargo ramp and looked around the inside of the NIDAS port. Three stories of vehicles parked inside the behemoth structure, all along the curvature of the inner dome. Each compartment was sealed off from the next by a series of force fields that resonated in regular pulses of energy. The wolf looked to the outer wall to find a gleaming black machine attached to one wall. The spherical object had, as its one decoration, a blinking red eye and a hum as it made slight calculations.

“What is that?” Pockets asked, sidling up to the captain.

“Oh, they’re gravity regulators. We’ve seen something like them on Hestra. They adjust to conform to the specific needs of the ship crews that park here. See the force fields?”

He nodded.

“Those compartmentalize each of the sections, so that each crew that arrives can have enough time to acclimate to the heavier gravity on this planet. It’s not as bad as Hestra, so the GRs will slowly break us in so we can get used to it.”

“Beats having to wear an endosuit, I suppose.”

Near the black sphere, a door spiraled open and the bay filled with flashing yellow light. A tall, metallic figure emerged from behind the door and stepped forward. Durant and Pockets both turned to the sound of a warning klaxon and grinned. The white-gold figure strode quickly, despite its mass and apparent weight, toward the ship.

“Everybody step back, okay?” Durant said to the other crewmembers, walking deeper into the empty cargo bay toward the refrigerated storage lockers on the bulkhead wall. He tapped a control on one and twelve locker doors swung open in unison, chilled vapors dissipating rapidly in the warmer compartment.

The form stepped forward with heavy mechanical movements, and the captain saw that it was actually a Kastan in an augmented suit. The alien gave him a friendly smile, extended one of the thick, robotic arms and spun a large pincer. From a small portal on it, a slip of paper emerged from a slot.

Merlin took the paper, instantly noting the material was so thin and light as to be almost insubstantial. Printed across it in Standard was:

SS BLUE HORIZON, PA REGISTRY 1138.

SHIPMENT K-T421, BLUE DIAMONDS AND

FROZEN STRAWBERRIES. PLEASE STEP BACK.

He motioned to his crew, and the mechanical loader stepped up into the cargo area and strode into the hold to where Durant directed. The Kastani loader wrapped pincers around the nearest crate and pulled it with a frozen crackle up from the floor of the first locker. He then turned and loaded the crate onto a wide floating pallet that had sailed in after him.

Durant grinned out at Pockets, approving of the mechanized loader and making a note to check price and availability when he got the chance.

While the Kastan was loading up the pallet, Merlin and Renny carried the single box of diamonds down the ramp to the floor outside and set it on the ground.

Standing beside his captain, Renny looked off into the open central area of the NIDAS. A low hum of energy filled the place, sounds of machinery and the occasional shower of repair sparks echoed off the walls. But in the center of the place was a circular station with three Kastans moving to answer questions, distribute information, and help a few other aliens gathered around the circle. The station was in three concentric rings, the two inner rings stacked progressively higher.

“Looks like a help desk,” the captain interjected. “Why don’t you go down there and see what’s going on about accommodations?”

The cheetah looked around for a ladder or staircase, but his eyes lighted on a panel near the edge of the compartment. He approached it and found the words “For Assistance” printed in Standard above a green button. Smiling to himself, he pressed it and waited for a representative or elevator lift to come to his response.

Instead, the second ring of the circular desk rose—with no visible means—to the second level and hovered in midair. At his feet, a shaft of light sliced across empty space and ended at the edge of the help desk. When he did not move, the pretty alien behind the desk smiled and motioned him forward. Gulping his courage, Renny stepped forward onto the shaft of light and found it solid. Then, with a pleasant grin, he crossed the space between himself and her desk.

“Welcome to the NIDAS,” she purred in the exotic, throaty Kastani accent. “You had a question?”

“Yes, we’re the Blue Horizon, delivering blue diamonds and strawberries… we were wondering about accommodations, hotels and food places.”

The alien tapped a floating keyboard before her and a blue-green screen appeared before Renny, flashing a series of images, symbols, and snowy data too fast for his eyes to process. A moment of shock overcame him and he stepped back in reflex, but then the images disappeared and the pretty Kastan was handing him a gray sliver of metal. “This is the key to your suite.”

“But… what?”

“Thank you,” she said, and motioned for him to return to the ship. Renny turned reluctantly around, pocketed the key, and mumbled to himself about the inefficiency of the service as the ringed desk floated up to answer a question on the third level. He noticed also that as he walked, the light bridge disappeared the moment after his foot rose from it. Uneasy, he quickened his pace—only to find the bridge kept pace with him—until he reached the safety of the docking bay structure.

He approached the captain and extended the key. “Here we are… this is the key to our suite.”

The captain turned it over in his hands, “Only one?”

“One suite,” Renny replied, “but in ten different compartments with three baths and a common living area. We’ve got a decent view of the city from a large window and an allowed pair of five-star restaurants within walking distance of it. We all have one dinner for free at one of them during our stay, included as thanks for bringing the strawberries.”

“What about recreation?”

“There are hover, battleball and other zero-gee rec areas in walking distance, plus traditional tennis and volleyball courts and a pool as well. Actually we can leave now and get rested right away and the bay crew will take care of everything.”

Merlin had to do a double-take at that, “Oh… your assistant was that informative?”

“She hardly said—” Renny started, but caught himself. The cheetah suddenly realized the wealth of information he had just passed to his captain, having heard only a few words from the alien girl. “She barely said anything, actually. She just showed me this blitz of… images and… other things…”

“She flashed it directly into your brain,” said a new voice. “It’s more efficient than having to work a map or brochure, isn’t it?”

Merlin turned to see a small, thin Kastan approaching them. He was coal-gray, with slightly darker hair draping his shoulders. He wore a lighter gray uniform with highly polished jackboots.

“Hello, I’m Cibao. Welcome to Nikke. I would have been here sooner, but there was a holdup with welcoming one of our military commanders back from a long journey. Please accept my apologies, as we’ve been having some troubles with customs and miscreants in recent weeks. Perhaps you are aware of the goings-on in the Legislature?”

“We are, but don’t worry, we understand that there are many responsibilities all around,” Merlin extended his hand, but the diminutive Kastan did not take it.

“Please, come and rest yourselves,” he invited, oblivious to the gesture. Undaunted, Merlin motioned to his crew to follow, but Durant elected to stay back to close and lock the ship when the unloading was done.

After the others had filed out of the bay, the large grizzly bear stood out at the top of the ramp watching the single Kastan grabbing the last of the cargo. The alien handled the material with the competence of years of steady performance, seeming to dance in the heavy mechanical suit. Then his attention was drawn away by a shaft of white light that sliced into the dome, and a single ship entering the protected area inside. Durant could make out a faint trace of gray lines running to the ship’s hull and decided that those were the control emissions. But as the new ship moved toward its compartment, something strange happened.

The Kastan guided his loader and the full pallet out of the ship, but when he got down to the ground floor. He looked up abruptly as the sound of engines flared in the center space, and the clumsy black vessel began to shudder. The soft blue lights of the port suddenly went red, and an alarm sounded, piercing and shrill.

Durant heard a Kastani curse, delivered in the hissing language of that people as the black ship was hastily dropped into the nearest cubicle without the grace extended the Blue Horizon. Red lights ringed the cubicle as the force fields glowed orange and a voice from inside the ship began to scream, “For Shällachma!”

A moment later, a thunderous roar shook the NIDAS when the cube filled with flame and slashing shrapnel as the ship blew apart inside the containment field. A billowing, scorching cloud smashed against the energy field, boiling uselessly against the defensive wall until, its rage spent, it evaporated into a cloud of thick black smoke.

The clatter of running feet and raised voices, shouts and warnings filled the air as an emergency crew sped to handle the situation.

“What was that?” Durant inquired aloud.

“Terrorist,” came the eccentric Kastani accent. The loader driver continued, “From the planet Brandt, they continue to attack us supposedly in the name of one of their gods. They think us abominations so they hire other alien ships to do this.”

Durant ground his teeth in a snarl, watching as a stream of white liquid pumped into the damaged docking chamber.

***

Cindy snuggled into the comforter on her bed, luxuriating in the unbelievable softness of the fabric. More delicious than velvet and smoother than satin, the Kastani linens were already proving to be the best she had ever felt. Quartered with Samantha, both had to resist the urge to strip to their fur and enjoy the comforter when they had first touched it. It was almost erotic, and there was no doubt this was material that had provoked the creation of many cubs and kits in the past.

Samantha withdrew from the washroom shower in a bathrobe, still roughly toweling her fur dry, to see Cindy soaking up the luscious feel of the bed. She grinned at her friend and indicated that the shower was now free. Cindy moued softly, then went into the washroom to get rid of several days of accumulated yuck. When she had closed the door, Sam eyed the bed with particular delight, dropped her robe, and nestled into the comforter again.

She decided that she could learn to like it here. Then, as the comforter slithered across her thighs, she realized just how long it had been since she and Merlin had spent time together.

***

“Having fun?” Merlin inquired, also emerging from the shower as roommate Renny pummeled a wooden structure in their room. Standing two meters tall, the thick object could spin at its base, but occasionally locked into a spot to offer resistance as the cheetah launched fists, feet, elbows and knees at its many protruding arms.

“This is great!” he chirped, slamming against one appendage. It spun around and swung another arm at the back of his head, but the cheetah was too fast for it. “It’s like they made all these rooms specifically for us!”

Merlin grinned at his crewmate; it was true. Both of their full-sized beds were covered in the most wonderful bedding, and a sliding partition could be pulled out for privacy should one or the other decide to invite company for the night.

“Go,” Merlin waved a finger in the direction of the washroom, “get clean. You smell like old socks.”

Renny quit his pummeling and struck a martyred pose. “Aah! My feelings are cut to the quick!” Then, in a flurry of motion too fast for Merlin to see clearly, he finished off the practice dummy with an all-out assault that spun it to and fro several times before spinning it completely around. Then he went into the shower with a grin.

***

Renny and Merlin stood outside Cindy and Samantha’s room, and the door opened as the cheetah stepped up to inquire on them. Cindy appeared in front of him with a grin.

“We were just going to see if the two of you were hungry for dinner,” Renny said with a smile.

“I would be delighted,” Cindy said, offering a dainty hand for him. As he took it, the mouse looked past him to Merlin. “Captain, Miss Holden requires your presence.”

Merlin shrugged at the mouse’s formality, moved past the pair of them and into the room. Cindy stepped quickly through the door and closed it behind her.

“What was that about?” Renny asked, perplexed.

“I think,” she purred, “that they need some time alone. Now, how about that dinner?”

It took a moment to dawn on the cheetah, but then a face-splitting grin crossed his lips. He curled an arm around the mouse’s shoulders and led her away.

***

In the room, Merlin stood in shock as Samantha Holden stretched out on the bed before him, a rumpled bathrobe on the floor beside it. Something in the geometry of the room—or perhaps the color palette—seemed to accentuate every smooth curve and taut line of her body as it lay on the comforter. Her silken, quivering form melted into the fabric as if she were a drop of honey, and she ran her fingers through the luxurious stuff in a lover’s caress. She was the vision of a ripe, succulent peach in the eyes of a starving man.

The captain gasped despite himself. He had never seen her looking this gorgeous. His eyes found themselves riveted to hers as his ears alerted to the excited, almost laborious breathing, a throaty growl punctuated it. He saw a look on her face that communicated more than words, more than an abundance of words, ever could. That face was one without shame or fear or reservation. It brooked no questions and offered no apologies: it was the kind of face he would remember until his dying day, and her feminine scent spoke to him in volumes.

Merlin moved purposely toward her. She did not have to tell him what she wanted.

***

The Auryn building on the faraway world of Sillon was a broad, tall structure composed of glass and steel. Lit up with a thousand lights, it was one of the most glittering night spots in the Planetary Alignment, even if the distance to get there was initially daunting. Under a velvety blanket of stars, a gala event was taking place in the name of Intergalactic Aid, the charitable foundation responsible for brokering the newfound resurgence of industry on the planet Brandt. With the inauguration of the New Peoples’ Party, the economy was starting to pick up again.

In truth, Intergalactic Aid had armed a group of insurrectionists, and an ensuing bloodbath had been swept under the carpet by a willing and obedient media. Key figures from the IA had received positions in the new government, complete with large salaries and extremely loud titles.

A gray-cowled figure moved silently, gliding across the glistening floor like a shark. It passed through a throng of overly-dressed politicians, the kind who hugged your wife and kissed your children a little too long when a camera was not around. Here was a priestess of a High Order on Alexandrius in her decorous raiment, and there a famed philanthropist from Ganis in a pressed suit and rings that flashed too brightly in the harsh light. Over there was the businessman from Brandt, flanked by his obese human wife with cosmetics caked so thick that her face resembled a Kabuki mask. Voices passed in thick accents, dribbling through the room like globs of mayonnaise as the parties spoke of the bright future and their plans for helping business and industry grow now that Argeia had joined the Alignment. Strange it was that no Kastani had been invited to attend. A nearby band banged out a strained blend of several musical styles that merged in a stew of artistic incoherence.

The figure wove its way through the crowd almost unnoticed. It was too small and unobtrusive to be a threat, and the neutral gray clothing made it less than a wisp of smoke through the cigarette-choked room. It stopped in the dance hall and set a small, gray cylinder in a corner, then silently exited as quickly as it had come.

***

Morning broke on Argeia and found the Blue Horizon crew at breakfast.

“I can’t believe this,” Renny said as he tapped his ursine friend with the back of one hand. The cheetah sat up straighter in his chair as his lip curled in disgust. Even Max turned away from the game on his tablet to see what was the matter.

“Whuzzat?” Durant asked through a mouthful of vegetables. The cheetah turned up the vidscreen volume:

“This is Chung Wong reporting live from the Auryn building here on the distant world of Sillon. With the terrorist bombing of the Intergalactic Aid Foundation’s gala last night, several key leaders in the organization are now presumed dead. SPF and medical forces are still clearing out the rubble, but spirits remain low. In this, the most desperate act of terrorism in recent history, there is little hope.”

“Whoa…” Durant added as the woman on the screen moved under a line of security tape and across ruined landscape. Then he noticed that the short Asian woman wore a RESCUE jacket reserved for qualified personnel.

“Excuse me sir,” she jammed the end of a thin microphone into the equine face of a worried rescue engineer. “This is quite a lot of devastation. Do you think you can handle it?” The Silloni’s jaw dropped as he sought a response, and she pressed the mike further toward him.

Suddenly the screen snapped to the shocked and angered face of Holly Harken at the INN correspondence desk. The brunette snarled, “What is that stupid bit—”

“Holly,” a voice sharply called from off-camera, “you’re on…”

“Jon!” Holly faced the camera, “get her off that scene, NOW!”

Renny and Durant both winced from the screen. They had never seen this side of Holly Harken before.

“Someone better tell Sam,” Durant rumbled.

Without another word, Renny dismounted his chair and was out the door.

***

Samantha ambled to the door and parted it only a crack. She and Merlin had not emerged for dinner, or for breakfast the next morning. When Renny reported the news, her fur was rumpled and she had a hastily-tied bathrobe around her body. However, he had never seen her look more relaxed and glowing.

“The Auryn building is on another part of Sillon,” Samantha sighed, “but thanks for letting me know. There’s no reason for Master Tristan to be in that part of the world. He was not a member of the IA, so I’m pretty sure that he should be okay right now.”

“You sure?” Renny inquired.

“Yes,” she responded. “I got a call from Senator Ferry, an old family friend who keeps track of things like this for me.”

“Whoa… okay then,” Renny smirked in appreciation. He knew that Sam was connected to people in high places, but a PA Senator was outside his imagination until that point.

“Who’s there?” came another voice from behind her. Renny looked over her shoulder and saw his captain wrapped in the luxurious comforter, sipping from a steaming cup. He also noticed rumpled clothing lying helter-skelter on the floor.

“Just me,” Renny said. “A couple of us are going down to the rec area to see what all’s available. Either of you interested in coming?”

Merlin chuckled and took another lap from his cup. “Nope, no interest whatsoever,” Sam purred. “We’ll catch up later, okay?”

Renny shook his head and departed with a giant grin.

Samantha closed the door behind him and turned to sit at the table with Merlin. In truth, she had already spoken with Senator Ferry. He had also relayed the growing tensions in the Legislature about the recurring acts of terrorism and the unease some had about Argeia joining the PA.

“Has anybody checked the ship recently?” she asked.

***

Pockets gasped audibly as the flat gray portal to the docking bay spiraled open as a great iris. Beyond the faint glow of energy shielding the Blue Horizon, a small ship hung in space above the customer service desk. Resembling a slender wedge of black ice, the craft was gently moved to occupy the space on the other side of his ship. Along its outer edge gleamed a bas-relief carving of a chaotic slash mark, a symbol of the house to which the pilot belonged. The raccoon grinned despite himself, and suddenly realized the bear standing beside him had moved toward the ship.

The Blue Horizon sat where they had left it, still upright on its thick landing gear beneath the dense Liquid Crystal engine. The weight of the engine made the stowed forward gear unnecessary, but it remained an unusual sight.

“Cool!” Pockets called after his friend. The bear turned to face his friend, and then followed the raccoon’s gaze to the second bay where the black ship had landed.

“What is it?” the bear asked.

“That’s good news!” Pockets responded.

Durant eyed the scene as a sliver of the black ship slid back and a short, compact body emerged from it. There seemed nothing unusual about the pilot; merely another Kastan. It was the first time he had ever seen one pure white, but that hardly mattered to him. The lithe creature dismounted his sleek craft and gathered a pack out of an unseen pocket in the hatch he had just emerged from.

“Oh-dee-ay!” Pockets called. The Kastan started at the cry and turned to face them. His face lit with a small smile before Durant’s mouth fell open. This creature had the darkest, most soulless eyes he had ever seen. Unlike the other Kastani, whose eyes glittered with vibrant hues like normal, this one’s sockets were a deep, flat black that reflected no light. Durant could not exactly put his finger on why that bothered him, even though he had seen many other races throughout the Planetary Alignment.

“Oh-dee-oh!” the newcomer replied in the grating, hissing Kastani accent. He approached the energy wall and tapped a series of switches on a nearby conduit, causing a ripple to appear in the fabric of the wall. A blinking green light on Pockets’ side demanded a response, and the raccoon tapped a button near it. The ripple became a hole and the alien stepped through.

“Jape Devon,” Pockets said, softly so as not to be overheard by too many.

Durant found himself taking an involuntary step back at the sound of that name. Easily one of the most infamous of all creatures in the Planetary Alignment, the dark-eyed alien had a reputation as one of the most vicious killers in the PA — and yet his friend greeted him with jollity and affection.

“Just here for a few hours,” the Kastan rasped. “Want to get a female?”

“No, sorry,” Pockets replied. “I’m on the job. Here, may I introduce Durant?”

The bear was cognizant of a greeting, and extended his hand out of courtesy, but Devon did not take it. He merely waved and spoke in his own language: “prehtu nama.”

“Come around to our place, I’d like you to meet my new boss!” Pockets invited.

“Certainly,” came the response. As the two chatted, Durant turned to his ship to look it over for anything amiss.

***

Lucas Sinclair sat back in the comfortable executive chair before his computer terminal. It had taken him three weeks of constant work, thirteen hours a day and no proverbial weekends. Crosschecking, verifying and strengthening the code. This program, specifically ordered by his still-unseen employer, had to be the best that he had ever written.

His programming skills had come out naturally, fluidly as productivity had become his new goal in life. The young wolf stood and hobbled over to a second computer system, sliding a thin, black crystal into the reader. The system immediately scanned the crystal, a small green light indicating that it was in sync. Normally the light would go off, but this one stayed on.

The screen flashed once, filled with a nightmare of flashing lights and colors, then fell silent as a curl of smoke spilled out of the core drive. Lucas took the destroyed computer apart and withdrew the primary drive to find that it too, was suddenly a worthless piece of plastic and optic cables. He tugged the crystal out of the receptacle with a grimace. It was ready. His heartbeat thrummed in his ears, his face hot with blood. He stripped off his clothing.

He thumbed a keypad and waited. Two minutes passed before a featureless pale face appeared on his slateboard monitor. “Sir,” he stated, holding up the crystal, “it’s finished.”

“Excellent,” came the reply. “Put it on the counter and lie down.”

Lucas licked his lips in anticipation and obeyed, stretching out on a padded bunk nearby. A series of tones sounded in the empty room, and his body filled with unbelievable pleasure. The disrupters placed throughout his body could not only bring pain, but ecstasy as well. This one sent him into paroxysms of bliss; a one-way ticket to Nirvana as his heart raced, his brain activity spiked, and his entire body burned like a brand. The young wolf whimpered like a pup as the spasms wracked his form, howling with labored breath as all his pleasure centers threatened a surge coursing through his body. Over and over the undulating gratification continued, until it abruptly stopped and he was filled with a sudden cold emptiness. It was like slamming into a wall.

Lucas sat up immediately, gasping and choking at the sudden deprivation. “But I did it!” he cried to the room. “Please!”

“I believe you,” the voice rasped, and the image faded. “Deliver it to me.”

Lucas leapt up, struggled into his trousers, and hustled down the hall to pass the thin crystal on to one of the nameless other lackeys his employer kept as a transporter.

***

“Well, this is great,” Merlin growled. A screen flashed before his face, stating in Standard that all transports were quarantined for another day while the assassin’s vessel was investigated. While the lupine captain understood the need, he disliked the inconvenience. The Kastani had offered to contact the next shipper and inform them of the delay, but Sinclair declined. It would be better to make up the time in flight striking a higher cruising speed before they hit spatial inertia than call ahead and risk the possibility of losing a job on an unscheduled layover.

A bell chimed and Merlin approached the door. Finally out of the bathrobe, he was fully dressed and ready for almost anyone. However, on the other side of the door was an alien he had never seen before, with a bright and beaming Pockets standing beside it. “Yes?”

Pockets bowed slightly. “Captain Sinclair, I have someone you should meet. May we come in?” A strange look crossed the alien’s face as it regarded the captain. Devon pressed one palm over his breast in approximately the place his heart should have been and whispered something in his language.

“Sorry?” Merlin asked.

“Prehtu nama,” Devon responded. “Just noticing how close you’ve been to death.”

Merlin shrugged and led them to the table in the center of the room. Cindy had taken up with Renny and he had moved in with Samantha for reasons nobody bothered second guessing. “Who am I meeting today?” The wolf did not extend his hand this time, now aware of Kastani rituals.

The dark, lifeless eyes reflected none of the pure white light in the room as it spoke, “Jape Devon.” A look of astonishment and chilled fear crossed Sinclair’s face.

“It seems my reputation precedes me,” Devon said with a tight grimace.

“Oh no,” Pockets reassured him, “nothing to be worried about, Captain. Jape’s harmless when not on assignment.”

“I’m—a little shocked, actually. When I got into this business, I wanted to keep a low profile,” Sinclair said, warming to the idea that his life would never be what he predicted.

“I wish I could say that this visit is all social, but there’s business involved. My employer allowed me a bit of time off to visit family here on Argeia, but didn’t stay around to wait on me. She gave me a deadline to get to a rendezvous point and I’m a bit low on fuel. I’d like to contract your ship to transport my vessel and myself to Earth.”

“Can’t you just refuel here?” Merlin asked.

“Uhh…” the alien’s eyes narrowed to slit, unaware of how much he should tell the wolf. “My vessel uses a particular type of fuel not indigenous to this world.”

“Okay,” came the uneasy reply, “don’t all space traveling vehicles use liquid crystal engines? Or do you incorporate the blue diamonds?”

“Neither. Mine is… unique.”

“He works for Natasha; remember her?” Pockets interjected in a whisper. Devon started at the mention of that name, but Merlin only scrubbed his chin with a finger. Apparently, this was fairly common knowledge. He shot the raccoon a grim look that told him to mind his manners.

“We’d be traveling empty anyway. Can you pay a fair fee?”

Devon picked up the wolf’s slateboard from the table, scribbled a figure on its screen, and then passed it to Sinclair. The wolf regarded it with interest, and nodded.

“Well then, we’ll be leaving as soon as the NIDAS releases us. As you probably know, there is some investigation going on and—”

“I’ll take care of that. When would you like to leave?”

***

Master Tristan sipped his evening tea from an exquisite China cup. Clad in only his black velvet robe, the tall and elegant unicorn-like male decided that tonight would be a good night to turn in at a sane hour. Having dedicated a good portion of his staff and resources to assisting the wounded and dying at the Auryn building on the other side of the world for the past three days, exhaustion was starting to take its toll on him. Here in his virtual ivory tower on Sillon, Tristan could look out from any of eight tall, wide apertures on the entire spread of the resort. For some evening air, a short path led to an observation balcony extending like an outstretched palm from the bulb atop the thick tower. It was gravy, he knew, to have a sanctuary like this: pretentious and vain, but he had earned it. From this vantage point, the red-purple horizon stretched out as a ghostly ribbon in the failing light of dusk. None of the chamber lights burned now; he liked the dark of evening.

Tristan took the chance to look out from the nearest view-port. Below the tower was a celebration in full swing, with music, lights and fireworks. He sighed quietly, used to the distraction by now. An act of terrorism on one part of the planet did not halt the merriment in another. A good party, after all, did not stop for anything.

He felt—rather than heard—a soft footfall near the edge of his massive, open chamber.

“Peri?” It was common for the servant girl to deliver a luxurious back rub as he readied himself for bed. However, she did not emerge from the doorway. Tristan swept the vista with his eyes and saw nothing apart from the violet draperies blowing in the warm, gentle wind.

“Who’s there?” the dark Silloni called into the billowing draperies. Stepping out of the darkness like a jaguar, a small, compact shape entered the master’s private chamber. Swathed in an all-concealing gray robe, it could not have been more than a meter and a half tall. A hand peeked through the draping fabric, revealing a metal staff a good meter long. The staff glistened with slick, dark blood.

Tristan knitted his brow, dropping the fragile cup to the floor where it burst in a shower of fragments. He backed instinctively, the tang of danger suddenly hot on his tongue. The door was behind him, and no one could climb the sleek walls of the ivory tower. The intruder made no movement save a slight cant of its hooded head as Tristan drew a heavy metal blade from behind the headboard of his massive bed.

“Who are you?” he asked in a voice that surprised even him.

The stranger snapped its wrist once, spinning the small staff in a peculiar arc. One end of the short staff telescoped back as a double-curve of polished blade licked out in a hiss of pneumatic pressure, and the metal snapped open like a spider’s unfolding leg. The intruder moved it coolly in the half-light of evening, as if offering it for examination. It was a double sickle, its second curved blade bolted on a hinge at the tip of the first. The robe parted on the other side, and a mocking, gloved hand beckoned him forward.

Tristan swapped the sword from hand to hand, weighing his adversary unsurely. If it was astute enough to find its way unannounced into his private chamber, it was likely an adroit fighter as well. The gray form did not move, but merely waited for the Silloni to strike first. Tristan moved cautiously forward and the intruder let him. Nearer and nearer, he was allowed to draw before a slight flutter appeared in the gray hooded garment before him, like the arch of a coiled serpent about to strike. He was almost on top of it, and with his superior size and reach could easily smash it in two. This above all else warned him to be cautious of this adversary.

The sword flashed, slicing down on the gray form and striking the marble floor with a sharp kang as it missed its deftly moving target. Like an adder, the intruder lashed out with its hinged weapon, whistling through the air as it made a full revolution. The scorpion’s-tail weapon reached further than he had anticipated, and nicked the Silloni’s nose with its razor tip.

Tristan closed the distance between them and slashed out with the heavy blade, finding purchase and knocking his attacker back a good two meters through the air. Its body was solid, hard and dense, but he was certain that it should have been a killing blow; nothing could have survived that swipe without being cleft in half. Still the whirling gray dervish slid across the floor to a stop before curling back around itself.

It moved across the smooth, marble floor, close to the ground as the wicked, hinged blade whipped back and forth before it. The hood concealed its face, but beneath he could see the blackest of eyes set deeply beneath a heavy brow. It opened its mouth to snarl, revealing translucent fangs slick with blood.

“What are you?” the black Silloni rumbled in a cold, astonished tone.

It snaked across the floor toward him again, whirling low. Most enemies tried to launch themselves against his impressive height and were easy to deflect. However, this one stayed low, beneath his normal reach and keeping him off guard. The Silloni parried in a tempest of flashing steel, striking low and on either side of his adversary before bringing his weapon up to strike from above. The stranger raised its weapon high to deflect the blow, only to see the Silloni blanch and pull the blade back. Tristan rotated his hips and planted a heavy hoof in the stranger’s breast with all the strength of his massive thighs. The intruder shot across the floor in a straight horizontal line to smack against a pillar in a bone-crushing impact. Stunned, it nonetheless regained its footing and stepped back into the battle.

Metal crashed against metal in the close quarters, neither of the combatants gaining much ground. Tristan’s body and mind, forged like fine steel through countless decades of combats real and exercised, worked in harmonic concert. However, this foe was as well-trained in the arts as he, and in several that he was not. He found himself matched, despite his long years of many disciplines.

Tristan slashed down with his blade, cleaving a glancing blow on the whirl of gray fabric as the stranger spun to the left, legs flailing out to anchor its acrobatic leap. The Silloni compensated with a flick of his wrist, swinging the blade on its axis up to follow the movement. In a rush of adrenaline, he felt the blade find purchase in a whorl of cloth. He spun the sword, twisting it in the offending fabric—too fast, too easy.

A movement at the edge of his vision caught his attention, and he swung the cloth-wrapped blade out to meet it. The attacker, now devoid of his concealing cloak, glided to a stop on padded boots, sliding underneath the blade’s arc and smoothly under the Silloni’s hooves. Tristan leapt straight up, barely avoiding the wicked sickle’s serrated edge as it slashed toward his belly in a flash of polished steel. Too late, he could not recover the blade as the wrapped fabric snarled the edge of a bedpost. The Silloni released it as he struck the marble floor with a deep, resonant thud of his hooves.

He could see it now, fully in the evening light. It was a rough humanoid shape; an alien he had never laid eyes on before, in a soft gray tunic that made its movements difficult to track in any light. It was as though a collection of ashes had formed into a man’s body. Soft-soled boots made its steps soundless. A slash of dark blood mottled the front of the tunic, but Tristan could not tell if it was its own. Its arms were open, its empty hand spread wide to invite another round of combat. However, most horrible, the wicked, translucent teeth split the face in a hideous, taunting grin.

It charged him, now sure of success. However, the direct assault was met with a heavy fist from the Silloni, swiping across the killer’s face and sending him sprawling to the marble floor again. Tristan moved to crush it, stamping heavily on the stone as his foe tumbled end over end to evade him. The elder Silloni followed it around the floor, determined never to allow it to gain equilibrium enough to rise.

Then in a swift movement, one hoof slammed down on his attacker’s left wrist. Tristan pressed his weight on the captured limb, but the bones remained unbroken and unsplintered, the flesh untorn. A crack appeared in the marble as he ground down on it, but the wrist remained intact. The assassin planted both heels into his prey’s gut and Tristan stumbled backward.

The assassin moved again, a pirouette of deadly motion as its dark gray tunic fluttering with its impossible, gymnastic revolutions. It was dancing toward him, arrogantly sure of itself. With another volley of slashes, the killer pummeled his prey while Tristan deflected the blows with a heavy serving tray scooped up from a table. The steel sparked, flashing in the half-light like lightning bugs in a cacophony of musical pings! It was fast—almost too fast for the Silloni. The venerable warrior could feel his age creeping up on him in his ragged breath. This invader was a warrior in his prime, moving like quicksilver and driving him toward his own balcony.

Drapery billowed around the pair as Tristan was forced out onto the walkway overlooking his resort. The music and revelry below drowned out the vicious battle high above, and his own guards were heedless of his plight.

Tristan dropped to the floor, slashing a hoof under his opponent and whirling it in a practiced sweep, tangling the legs of his attacker. The cocky assassin was caught off guard and plummeted to the hard, smooth marble with a smack. Tristan recovered quickly and launched himself forward to tackle his foe.

In the split second between that moment and his striking the ground, the assassin was up on its feet again, flashing the curved double blade over his prey’s neck. Tristan felt a sudden, stabbing agony in the center of his forehead. Fingers of anguish slashed out above his eyes, clawing down the sides of his skull as another vicious slice of the blade crashed down a second time. The pain shot down his neck and into his shoulders, weakening the already stumbling Silloni with its sheer intensity.

In another moment, the pain slammed into his head and neck with a force unimaginable. The blade slashed down another time, hacking through the spiral bone in the center of Tristan’s forehead. The horn separated with a terrific, thick boom that sounded like a cannon in the master’s ears. He screamed despite himself as his drained muscle and sinew quivered in torment.

The pain reached down into his breast, tearing at his living heart as he collapsed to the cold marble. The master ground his teeth, overcome with a wave of nausea and hopelessness as the reality of what had just happened set in. A deep, eviscerating despair filled him like a vile acid. For a long moment he lay unmoving on the floor, eyes and teeth clenched as he awaited the inevitable blow.

The blow never came.

Tristan raised his face to see the assassin standing above him, unmoving even to draw a breath. The black, lifeless eyes reflected the glittering lights of the resort below, and a cold smile spread across its face as it regarded the spiral of bone lying in a pool of its own fragmented dust. With a smooth, effortless movement, the killer kicked the master’s horn over the edge of the balcony where it spun into the blackness below.

Pausing long enough to see the terrified look on Tristan’s face, it whirled again and disappeared over the edge of an aperture, seizing its discarded gray cloak from the heavy blade in a smooth movement of one arm.

Tristan reached up gingerly to inspect the thick nub of bone between his eyes, nerves flaming like sentinels when his fingers touched the exposed marrow. Far below, the celebration continued. A good party, after all, did not stop for anything.

***

A receiver flashed on the wall as the com-link bleeped, demanding Merlin Sinclair’s attention. Odd, he thought, that he would be getting any communications at this location. Nonetheless, he put down his bag and moved to the console embedded in the wall. The letters across the screen read HESTRA in Standard, and the wolf wondered who would be calling from there. He tapped keys.

“Yes?” the wolf asked.

“Captain Sinclair?” a husky, tired voice rumbled over the speaker as the vidscreen displayed a simple message: image not available.

“Yes,” Merlin replied. “How can I help you?”

“It’s Taro,” the voice rasped.

In two words, the sum of months of worry and wait slammed into Merlin like a physical blow. All of time and space stopped in that moment as his mind fought to grasp the image of Taro Nichols. She was there, wounded and bleeding from the belly in the dark corridor of the broken Blue Horizon, flashing red and yellow lights filling her face with an eerie glow as she ended the life of the dread pirate who had wanted to kill him. He felt the moment like a weight on his breast, forcing the air from his lungs. He blinked twice before remembering to breathe. “Taro?”

“Yes,” the voice replied. “I’m on Hestra with relatives. They’re taking care of me.”

“But…” he stumbled for words, “well, not to be rude but…”

“Why am I still alive?” he could hear a grim chuckle through the receiver. “I’ve been asking myself that for months now. Nobody’s explained anything to me and I have decided not to look a gift over too well. I don’t have long to talk so please tell everyone that I’m okay.”

“Sure,” he said, still bewildered.

“I’ll contact you later when I can. Thanks for everything.” Her last words bore the ring of a heart making a supreme effort to force air through lungs. As the line went blank, Merlin stood in stunned silence before falling to one knee on the floor, catching his face in his hands as the flush of relief filled him. His whole body shook as he accepted the knowledge and allowed his emotions to overcome him.

***

As the Blue Horizon lifted out of the Argeian atmosphere, Baath Cibao sat before a vidscreen watching the news. Holly Harken was reporting yet another act of terrorism in the Planetary Alignment. A block of apartments near the Legislature had been detonated an hour ago, but only a few casualties had been reported; a few building workers, some passers-by, and only one resident who had gone back for a report he had left there accidentally.

Harken sat grim-faced as a photo of Senator Byron Ferry of Alexandrius scrolled up the screen.

COLD FIRE

By Steve Carter

The Heir Apparent, Part 2

Captain’s Journal

SS Blue Horizon, PA1138

The Blue Horizon and crew are performing well, but the political situation across the PA has deteriorated.  On our way to Earth, we’ve received news that further acts of terrorism are being committed all over the Alignment.  In addition to that, the Legislature has also been grid-locked for weeks now as several planets fight each other over trading rights with Argeia.  Everybody wants a part of their rich deposits of Siilv metal, the most valuable resource in known space to humans and furs alike, in particular when used in energy production.  Having just left that world, we can understand why. It doesn’t exactly help that the Kastani are totally unselfconscious about their wealth.  They don’t flaunt it, per se, but they do have a sense of pride about it that would be considered arrogant or taboo elsewhere.  They’re wealthy, but they wear that as if they don’t care.

What concerns me is stories I’m getting from Devon about how some worlds want to destroy them rather than have the Kastani form alliances with their competitors.  Intergalactic capitalism just became more cutthroat than usual.  It’s all that Jo Chan can do to keep things orderly, and I fear that her popularity might be waning.  History teaches us that arguing and a certain amount of dispute are good because when they stop, the shooting starts.  My fear is that the way things are going, it might stop soon.

It’s been unusual traveling with our temporary passenger, Jape Devon.  I was not aware of many of Kastani practices, but the strange alien has made our lives interesting.  For one, I don’t think that he sleeps more than an hour a day at the most.  The rest of the time, he’s barely still.  His metabolism is so high that he’s constantly in motion and rarely ever sits down for anything. I’ve also never seen any creature that eats only once every other day, and dumps an entire salt shaker onto its food.

He’s been good for recreation and training with Renny, Durant and Samantha.  They’ve taken opposite shifts so that Devon can share some of his combat expertise in hand-to-hand with them.  Devon has also begun teaching Pockets his native language and our engineer is almost bludgeoning us with his new vocabulary.  Somehow, I don’t think he’s got it exactly right, though.

Weller Tagon is making noise in the Legislature about his losses in the recent rashes of violence, despite that he’s a small-time business operator in an insignificant town on the devastated world of Quet.  His broadcast two days ago sent Max into a catatonic relapse that I’ve never seen before.  Samantha found him curled up in a corner, eyes wide and shivering in panic.  It was a surprise, considering all that he’s lived through in the last year.  His former master’s voice alone provoked a spontaneous flashback to a life of abject terror, of living only from one moment to the next and not knowing when any unaccountable violence would be perpetrated against him.  It makes me sick to think that I dealt with that scum at all, but Max is okay now, following some time talking with Cindy and lots of TLC from those who care for him.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Legislature Speaker Jo Chan grimaced, her face a tight mask of anger and frustration; things were getting out of control too fast.  She had been shocked by the speed and voracity with which other worlds had fallen onto the newest member, demanding that they share their commercial wealth immediately like ravenous animals on a fallen prey. Brandt had appeared with a number of new trade tariffs which had somehow become retroactive to their loss of Siilv metal, based on a standard of “access equality” that had not been clearly defined.  Dennier and Mainor had each been attempting to woo the Kastani with a variety of bribes and veiled threats.

Other worlds which, in better times, would have conducted themselves were joining the pack mentality of entitlement. Even though it had entered the Alignment with a full disclosure agreement standard to inclusions, Argeia refused to disperse its mineral deposits to the rest of the planets in the demanded quantities. Entreaties and higher prices met with the same resounding rejections. Members of Intergalactic Aid demanded a boycott, and many of its members made speeches about “emergency powers” and “accommodating intervention,” using their recent loss on Sillon as an emotional cudgel.  Nobody wanted a fight.  Nobody wanted to back down.  Kastani ambassadors were recalled from several worlds.

At the back of her memory, she remembered something from the history of Earth.  Residents of one continent had gone exploring and found a whole new continent, and over the next hundred years had simply taken it over from its primitives by force and deception.  She saw the same thing happening with the Kastani, only it was arguably the primitives who were moving on the technological, moving to overwhelm them by sheer numbers as a mob descending on an Ivory Tower.

The Speaker sat back in her chair before the console in front of her.  An incoming message had informed her of another act of terrorism; a physical assault against Silloni magnate Tristan, which had left the former Regent crippled and hospitalized with a severed horn.  Silloni horns were not magical, as was the legend of the unicorns they resembled, but they did serve as housings for a thin, vital gland which provided a catalyzing enzyme for certain functions of spinal control.

The severed horn had been discovered in the early hours of the following morning and a transplant was being scheduled already.  Without his horn in good working condition, Tristan would have to spend the rest of his life connected to a support machine.  The humiliation was emasculating.

Silloni officials had, understandably, kept this event a secret to all but the highest offices.  Tristan’s description of his assailant matched closely with the generic look of the Kastani, and the fact that he had been unable to crush its arm with his massive hooves made obvious that it had the Kastani’s super-dense body.  The weapon it had used was consistent with the other violent attacks reported in recent weeks.

“So,” the silver fox whispered to herself, “it’s a Kastani terrorist.”  In a few hours, Argeia would move out of its sun’s unusual magnetic field and she would be able to contact either Senator Widi or Commodore Blanc, the dark warrior who had accompanied the Senator to the Legislature at Argeia’s induction.

***

On a dark outcropping of an unfinished metal structure on Dennier, a long sliver of black stretched out against the purple horizon.  Angry bands of red clouds stretched across the sky as the sun sank behind the mountains and dusk deepened into night.  The stealthy ship had arrived on the planet several hours before, undetected by the Planetary Defense Grid.  Swathed in a draping gray cloak, a single body manipulated a handheld communications port, signaling on a fluctuating-code frequency.  Buffets of wind fluttered through the fabric of its clothing as the silhouette stood against the sky, unheeding of danger.

In pain there must be gain.  The mantra, excerpted from an interpretation of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, was burned into Conn’s head at an early age at its master’s teaching.  There had always been pain, fear and anger.  Its Master had made certain that pain was a constant fixture in both their lives and the lives of those they employed.

But pain is a handle that fits many tools, and is multifaceted in its own right.  Pain can be physical or psychological, brief as an instant or lasting for generations.  It can be applied strategically for a single purpose or as a blanket over many purposes.  It can be real or imagined.

Of all these, this last was the most useful.  Imagined pain can be more useful than real, because its source can be anything you wish.  Hurt an individual and he will hate you for it.  Convince him that others have or will hurt him, and he is a slave bound to your service.  Convince a people that they have been hurt by another people or some unseen evil, and you have an army.  Convince all people that all others will cause them pain, and you have an empire.  There is a kernel of truth in that idea, and that truth makes it so easy to use the pressure any way you like.

“Tell me what you have learned,” the voice hissed through its mechanical resonator.

Standing reverently before the white-green projection, the gray-cloaked assassin nodded its head in deference.  Its black eyes reflected no light from the cool illumination of its communications port.  “Dennier and Mainor mean to move against Argeia and neither is aware of the other’s plan,” it replied with exotic accent.  “They don’t know of the Kastani defensive capabilities apart from the Planetary Defense Grid.”

“Take the Vault to the Mars Colony, Bova,” the projection instructed.  “It’s a nice, out-of-the-way locale without much traffic and will be difficult to trace.  Deliver the Cold Fire there and make sure that it gets a wide dissemination, especially to junior military members from as many fleets as possible.”

“It will be done, my master,” the dark-eyed assassin purred.

“You have served me admirably, Conn,” the mechanized voice rasped.  “And you will reap your rewards.”

Conn closed the com unit and turned it off, tucking the device into its chrome beltline alongside the sonic device it had used to punish Lucas Sinclair.  It looked down on the city below, toes of its soft white boots just over the edge of the precipice on the unfinished building, and checked a techwatch.  The Kastan warrior listened for the soft, rhythmic thumping of the rotor blades and was rewarded with a flood of white and blue lights rising up before it.  Local authorities — just what he had been waiting for.

“You there!” a voice boomed on a loudspeaker.  “You are in an unauthorized area!  Please remove your vehicle and come down to the surface!”

Conn stood, unmoving, as the helicraft turned to the side.  A uniformed coyote stood in an open bay door in it, flashing her badge with one hand on her pistol.  She winced at the sight of it and its dark, lifeless eyes.  The Kastan cocked its head to one side, looking at her curiously, and she jammed a finger at the ground, demanding again that it come down to the surface.  It cupped a hand to one long, tapered ear as if to say it could not hear her, and pulled a slender device from its case on the back of its neck.  With a flick of its wrist, a cascade of hot, green light flashed in its hand, and it hurled the flare at the helicopter.

Too late, she saw the weapons of the black ship arc toward them, trained on the green light.  Conn fell to one knee as blisters of rapid energy fire spat out of the guns on either side of the lone figure, slashing through the night air and slamming into the hulk of the helicraft.  Rocking off their axis, the rotor blades ground to a halt and splintered, gears screaming with effort.  The engines sputtered, fingers of electricity gripping around it as it plummeted down to smash in a boiling cloud of flame below.

Conn peered over the side of the ledge, watching the scene below.  Several seconds passed, and no survivors appeared.  It stood and boarded its ship, and the black wedge craft lifted into the sky.  Minutes later, Conn broke through the atmosphere and into the inky blue-black of space.

The dark-eyed warrior moved controls on the panel before it, igniting a particular cell that had been acquired from the devastated hulk of Sagan’s Basilisk.  Conn had found the compartmentalized Vault technology stolen from Natasha to be useful in its tasks.  It cut travel time from weeks to seconds, and its missions had the feel of randomness that it enjoyed.  To be everywhere at once was a killer’s dream.

With a bony hand, Conn moved the control.  Its cruiser was enveloped in a whorl of blue light, and then was gone.

***

Samantha stood with Max in one corner of the rec deck, watching the events taking place there.  In a cleared-out area, Jape Devon was fighting Renny and Durant for practice and exercise.  The crewmates had been training with him for some weeks now, the Kastan giving them free lessons in hand-to-hand combat to keep himself entertained.  He taught them to work together, to know one another’s movements and communicate with body language in prosecuting a melee against him.  This had resulted in a number of whacked fingers, tails and heads, but they improved.  They learned to use Renny’s reacquired speed and agility with Durant’s strength and constitution.  The two forged a silent bond that began to bleed into their working relationship; each almost seeming able to sense the other’s thoughts.

Now near the end of the trip from Argeia and entering the Sol system, this was the second time they had fought with real, bladed weapons.  The cheetah had armed himself with a pair of rapiers he had been learning to use, and the bear fought with a long, double-ended pike.  Devon had given them one instruction: kill me.  They were not holding back, either.  Working in concert with coordinated movements, the pair had kept their prey on guard for over twenty minutes.  Devon was training them not to fight, but to kill, and each of the crewmates still found himself matched by the assassin, even now.

Jape Devon whirled a traditional Kastani weapon they had never seen before.  He called it a Delta, explaining that the actual Kastani word would be impossible to pronounce. It began as a metal ring with three equally-spaced shafts extending slightly less than a meter out from the rim. With a flick of his wrist, each of the shafts had lashed out with a locking, dual-edged blade which extended the weapon another half-meter in all directions. This presented the unenviable fact of having two blades pointed at one’s opponent and one blade pointed at oneself.  Only a master dared approach such a weapon.  As Renny parried the slashing tri-blade with one of his rapiers, he understood the alien’s order to tie his tail to his leg.  The Kastan leapt and spun through the air like a ballet dancer, slashing with his weapon with a master’s ease and adroitly keeping his own appendages out of harm’s way.  It was incredible how fast the action played out before the two spectators.

Bombastic classical music played on the sound system behind the fierce fighting, a quick staccato of horns over an oppressive bass and augmented by long chants in some ancient language.  Max watched the action with a dazzled expression, boxing absently at the air in complete hero worship.  Samantha tried to control her breathing as she stood, waiting for her turn with the Kastan sensei.  Devon had, at some point, offered to teach each of them a fighting style, and had found an already competent opponent in the canine.

One of Renny’s sabers wrested free and whirled through the air, but he continued to press the Kastan with his other weapon.  Durant stayed arched up to attack from above, guarding his flanks with the lower end of the pike as Devon aimed a disemboweling stroke at him.  The three blades kept them both at bay no matter what they did.  The classical piece ended with a fierce roar and the three combatants immediately fell back, drawing away from one another and heaving with exertion.  The crewmen fell back onto a couch, each burying his face in a cup of nutrient-rich water.

There were no comments, no advice exchanged.  Renny and Durant would critique one another later; each already knew the mistakes he and the other had made in prosecuting this battle.  Devon merely drank from a small glass of a thick, orange liquid before stretching his arms out and drawing the Delta blades back into their switchblade scabbards with three resolute snak! sounds.  The killer set his weapon aside, selected another, then thought again and replaced in its case.

He stepped back out into the practice area, where Samantha stood waiting for him.  Devon scratched his chin a moment and motioned for Max to come over with her.  The teen did as commanded, sitting down directly in the center of the fighting area.  Devon placed the decanter of the odd orange fluid on his head, and instructed Max to hold it there and not move from his spot.  The two adults stood on either side of him, and each fastened a thong around a wrist, then to one another’s wrist, securing each combatant to the other.

Max suddenly began to feel extremely mortal.

***

A light flashed across the screen on the bridge of the Horizon.  It was an incoming communication from a scrambled source.  Cindy regarded it with interest—they were pretty far out for a message to arrive on a rotating-scramble code.  Coded signals got static and interference from stellar magnetic fields and other impediments, a rotational code would be unperceivable.

She tapped a key, “This is the Blue Horizon, go ahead.”

“My name is Robbins,” the voice replied.  “I’m trying to contact Jape Devon.  Is he available?”

That’s odd, she thought, Devon’s presence had been kept in absolute secrecy.  Nobody needed to know they were transporting a known assassin on board their ship.  “I’m sorry, but there’s no one by that name with us.”

“That’s fine,” the voice crackled, “I only wanted to ask him to contact his ship.  Robbins out.”

Cindy tapped her chin.  She pressed a lighted key on the panel before her.

“Yes?”  Merlin’s voice answered.

“I just got a message from someone named Robbins; he’s trying to contact our passenger.”

“Pass the message on to Devon.  He can find a means of contacting his friend if he needs to.”

***

Max sat frozen, even though the game had ended moments ago.  He shivered where he sat, the decanter of fluid still resting atop his head as the two winded combatants sat to the side, congratulating one another.

“Y’okay, kiddo?” Renny called from across the rec area.  The youth, still tense with fear for self’s own life, slowly turned his head to face the voice, and felt the tense muscles in his neck protest against it.

“Yep!” Max squeaked.

“He’ll be okay,” Devon chuckled, “just give him a moment to catch up with the fact that he’s still alive.”

“Mr. Devon,” came a voice over the intercom.  “We’ve had a message from someone called Robbins. He is asking that you contact your ship.”

Devon pursed his lips, turning to Samantha, “We can continue this later, if you want.”  Without waiting for a response, the Kastan turned and left the rec area.

***

“Talk to me,” Jape Devon cheerfully commanded the console before him.

“Devon,” came the raspy female voice of his captain, “Good show getting in with the Horizon people.  How goes it?”

“I don’t think they’re ready for what’s coming,” he replied.  “This is not a battle-hardened crew; this is a traumatized family unit.  They’re going to lose it if things go to hell.”

“You underestimate the civvies,” she said.  “Listen, I want you to meet me in orbit over Ganymede on the far side of Jupiter on your way back out from Earth.  Tell only who you must, and only at the last minute.  Earth is not a good place for me to be around right now.”

“Something up, miss boss-lady?”

“The political situation is getting worse by the hour.  As you are aware, the poorer worlds have been launching terrorist attacks against some of your institutions.  They’re frontal assaults and generally easy to spot, but what worries me is that intel says Dennier and Mainor are actually arming up to invade Argeia with Earth funding them.  Are your people equipped to handle an assault from multiple worlds?”

“If they try to invade, they’re all going to die,” he said absently, as though it was to be expected.

“You’ve made that clear before.  You also know that I’ve never bothered interfering with other worlds’ affairs, but this touches us deeper.  I trust your estimate, but it’s better to have too much defense than too little.  If inter-spatial commerce allows this sort of thuggery, it’ll threaten the already tenuous situation we’ve had up until now.  Allowing the abridgement of Kastani property rights will pave the way for other worlds to follow, and I want us to be there if things get ugly.”

“Gotcha.  We’re going to be stopping at the Mars Bova colony.  Anything you need?”

“You,” she said, “talking and breathing.  In the interim, continue to get the Horizon crew trained and I’ll meet you at Argeia.  Out here.”  The communicator clicked off.

***

Bova Colony, Mars.

It just looked awful.  Samantha stared out of the thick window at the ship as it sat on a landing platform.  Terraforming in the Gustav Crater around the Bova Station was still in progress, and the planet’s rusty red landscape made the blue paint scheme of the Horizon look like an ugly bruise.  She moved her glance over the collected faces.  This was not like most other spaceports.  Clutches of immigrants, women carrying wailing infants and day laborers clamored around the passenger terminal.  It was like a bus station in a seedy part of town.

Nevertheless, it was a paying job and she had to keep that in mind.  Durant was outside the ship under the protective dome, directing the loading crews with a breath mask across his muzzle as octagonal crates of Martian hematite went into the cargo bay.  The atmospheric condensers were not working to full capacity today and even within the dock areas of the station, precautions were still needed.   In the distance she could see plumes of crimson dust spewing up as heavy machinery tilled the iron-rich soil and made way for a new superstructure to add on to the spaceport.

Strange, she thought, that a world so close to one of the most industrialized planets in the PA would be so underdeveloped in this day and age.  Still, even on her own homeworld there were bad sections of town only a short walk away from good.

Nearby, a vidscreen displayed the breaking news story that intergalactic industrialist and philanthropist Victor Faltane had arrived on Argeia to help broker a resolution to the conflicts plaguing the planet.  His expertise in intercultural relations and trans-world trade would help ease tensions there, it was hoped.  The first candidate had ended in a stalemate, which was to say he had proven far too brash and disruptive for the job.

Samantha frowned upon hearing the man’s name. To the knowledge of those on board who had dealt with him, Victor Faltane was nothing more than a black marketer they had once bought arms from for the previous vessel to carry the Blue Horizon name, and who had then paid their services to deliver industrial equipment to Brandt afterward. That he had farther reaching intergalactic influence was quite a surprise.

A finger tapped her shoulder and she turned to see Renny extending to her a steaming cup.  She took it with a smile of thanks and turned back to the window.

“Pretty rough, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled, sampling the drink and suddenly wondering whether or not it would be polite to spit it out before her tongue shriveled.  He could see it on her face as she swallowed with an effort.

“Sorry about that,” he added.  “It’s the cleanest thing I could find at the café.”

“No problem,” she said, setting the cup down on the sill.  “It’s… probably an acquired taste.”

On the vidscreen above, newscaster Holly Harken added that outside the sovereign space of the planet, a group of transport vessels—and their escorts—were gathering for the eventual resolution.

***

“What the…” a grizzled tiger rumbled from his command seat.

Across the Alignment, the power generators of luxury cruise liner Argonautia slowed to a stop.  The liquid crystal thrusters, previously glowing with blue-white energy, fell dark. Lights on the bridge blinked out in sections, each panel of the vessel fell silent and dark.

“Sir,” one of the bridge crew cried, “ships’ systems are failing all over.  LightDrive engines are offline and going cold.”

“Get me engineering,” the tiger rumbled.

“Internal coms are down, sir,” another voice added.

“Get some runners and find out what’s going on,” he ordered, “and get some lights on in here!”

***

“Could you just stop breathing, please?” Devon growled.  A short, middle-aged human stared incredulously at him and mumbled something under her breath before huffing off toward another customer.  “Your heartbeat annoys me too!” he called after her.

“That could have been more tactful,” Pockets mused, thumbing through a box of customer service cards.

“I hate pushy salespeople,” Devon replied in a deadpan snarl.  “Middle-age clerks trying to foist on me things I’ve already told them I don’t want are particularly annoying.”

“You’ll never work for greeting cards if you keep that up, Jape.”

“I’d rather have a jalapeño enema.  Find what you’re looking for?”

Pockets drew a white card out of the box.  “Hah!  Exactly what I’m looking for, actually!”

Devon read the card over his friend’s shoulder.  “Illudium Q-36 Virtual Reality set?  Why that?”

“Recreation,” the raccoon replied.  “Maybe even help out with some repairs and upgrades when I get the software installed.”

“I thought you walked on steam already.”

“No, I make the steam that others walk on.  I walk on molecules,” he chirped, and approached the counter.  The man behind the counter disappeared behind a curtain.

“That’s a video game,” Devon said, noting the card.

“That’s a video game that Samantha can help me reverse-engineer into a diagnostic tool for the ship’s systems.  A regular diagnostic would cost three times as much and I’d have to purchase proprietary upgrades almost immediately because they let these things fester on the shelves till they’re borderline obsolete. I can manipulate this any way I like because it’s just the base model,” Pockets beamed.

“Oh,” Devon struck a martyred pose, “you mean you’re a thinking customer?”

The dealer returned with a plastic box stamped Fragile in several languages, and the purchase was quickly concluded.  The man slipped a second thin crystal in with the game.

“What is this?” Pockets asked.

“It’s freeware.  Some kind of promotional video or something.”

Pockets shrugged and the pair left the store.

***

“Captain,” a voice called.

The Argonautia’s commander, Gordon Ransdell, turned his flashlight to the voice coming from the hallway before him.  “What’s the story, Brisbane?” he asked.

“We’re at a loss, but the ship’s computer systems have all crashed.  There’s nothing but a buzz of low-level static filling all the systems and we can’t get into the terminals because they’ve all been locked out with some form of encryption we’ve never seen before.”

“Which means what?” the feline growled.

“Which means that, for all practical purposes, we’re dead in space.  Engineering, life-support, they’ve all failed on us.”

“How long to get things back?  We don’t need to be here out of power in a well-traveled travel artery.”

“We’re affecting that as we speak, sir.”

Suddenly the ship shuddered, a deep metal screech followed by an explosion that sounded like thunder on the bridge.  The crewmembers were thrown against chairs, consoles, the floor, and the walls.

Ransdell dragged himself to his feet despite the pitching ship, and looked out the viewport.  Below the front deck of the ship, he could see another dark shape jutting from the side of his vessel at an irregular angle.  It was long and slender, but otherwise he could not make it out.

Suddenly an explosion flamed in space, a ribbon of orange fire slashing out of the hull like a whip, lashing out into the blackness of space before abruptly dissipating in the vacuum.  Then he saw it: the outline of another vessel.  Dark and powerless, the other ship on inertia had slammed into the side of his ship.

***

The Horizon continued on its way after Mars.  Standard shore leave was exempted this time because nobody wanted to sightsee a colony that had not finished terraforming.  There were too many possibilities of accidents and breakdowns in the environmental systems, and their status as transients meant they were not covered by any insurance policies the terraforming companies had.

There was also the political situation, and it was accepted practice at times like these not to spend too much time on any given world.  The ship had been quarantined on Argeia, but following Devon’s negotiations, the crew was allowed to leave.

“How many people have you killed?” Max asked.

“A lot,” Devon replied, offhand and without much emphasis.

Cindy cast the Kastan a sidelong glance, wondering at his informality.  “Just a lot?  That’s all?”

“Well, I don’t remember every single name, though there are a few that do stand out above the others.  Why do you ask?”

“We’ve never had a professional murderer on board…”

“Not murderer,” Devon chided, “an assassin.  A murderer is a person who acts on impulse or passion.  A murderer is a person who takes an innocent life.”

“Isn’t that what you do?”

“Not in the least.  A single job of mine equates to roughly two hundred fifty thousand credits at least.  You don’t spend that kind of cash on an innocent person.  There has to be a very profound reason why you want someone dead.  Trust me, everyone that I’ve contracted upon deserved his destiny long before I got involved.”

“It just seems so… awful,” the mouse said, a little pout of disgust on her lips.

Devon turned his chin up, as though looking at the ceiling, “Let’s see… I’ve taken out two drug czars, an embezzler, a saboteur, three doctors…”

“Doctors?”

“Yes, but not the kind you’re thinking of.  These were professional torturers.  All the better ones are physicians and psychologists.”

“You don’t say,” she scowled.

Devon leaned forward, a small smile tugging at his lips, “I hate to burst your bubble, but these people exist and must be dealt with.  There are things out there in the stars that you don’t even want to know are being practiced.  They serve a purpose, diabolical as they might seem to the uninitiated eye.  Espionage, assassination, political torture… it’s all out there, and your governments use it as well as any other, despite whatever song and dance they give you about their morality.  You’d be surprised not just at how many know about these things, but how many know how to do them.”

“You paint a very grim picture, Mr. Devon.”

“Possibly.  You laud police and the military for keeping you free, for fighting the good fights all over space, don’t you?  They do a lot of dirty work in foreign places in hostile conditions and they get recognition for it.  They get shiny uniforms and put on parades.  There is honor in what they do, and they should rightly be honored for doing it.  However, they also have to follow certain procedures and protocols or the people they go after are considered ‘victims’ of their behavior, and are freed.  But what we do in my community goes largely unrecognized.  Ours is a shadowy peacekeeping profession, without all the brass and pomp.  Others serve the law, visibly, as the law is a visible thing.  Unfortunately, laws depend on language, which is a difficult thing to enforce from one culture to the next.  We are not outside of or above the law, we are facilitators of the principle behind the law when a violator is unattainable by conventional methods of enforcement.  Think of me as a kind of undercover policeman who is allowed to circumvent procedure for the principle goals the laws are meant to uphold, and you’ll be just fine.”

“So, it’s not what you do, it’s why?”

“No, no,” he purred, his voice dropping perceptibly, “it is very much what you do that makes all the difference.  On my world, there was once a guild called the Hunt, a secret society dedicated to a similar principle but whose motives I would not have agreed with.  They were the bodyguards of our Great Benefactor, Rhane Blanc.  They were clandestine and precise in such a manner that you might even consider them terrorists. Rhane kept them on a short leash until a time came when one of them, Bon Venger, betrayed and murdered him.  We’re not certain what happened after that, but Venger disappeared and the Hunt has not been seen since.  Only one of their members has been identified, and he is now Fleet Commodore.  He and Bon Venger were the only ones of the Hunt who was not…” Devon spoke a word in his native language, consisting of many consonants and hisses.

“What is that?” Cindy asked.

The Kastan pointed to his black, unreflective eyes, “One of us.  We are a separate breed from what you would consider ‘normal’ Kastani.  We share a genetic lineage, but with… other factors included.  The Hunt’s mission in life was to protect Rhane from the other Great Houses, the Nikata and the Sigue.  However, ten years ago a Nikata fell in love with a Blanc and they joined.  It was the first time the two Houses had done that, and a tenuous peace ensued.  That peace was augmented with the birth of their first child and two years later, Sigue House crumbled. That left only the Nikata and Blanc, and they had forged an alliance.  The Hunt was out of a job, so they turned their skills outward, hiring on as bodyguards and killers.  The most notorious of them was Conn Navarre.”

“Who was that?” Max asked.

“Conn Navarre was unique.  It was a unit, not a person.  Nobody knows its whereabouts, and —”

The lights in the cabin faded, flickered, and fell to black.

“Nice,” Devon quipped, “who knows any scary stories?”

***

“We have a problem,” Pockets drawled into the intercom from his terminal in engineering.

Merlin, suddenly surrounded by darkness, tapped his bridge com-unit.  “What’s up?”

“We’re losing power… I’m not sure why.”

“I’ve got static,” Renny said, his computer console flickering on and off haphazardly.  From the other side of the room, a slate of touch pads sparked, and a purl of smoke spilled from between two panels.

“What the—?” Lorelei pulled her fingers back from her console.  “What’s going on here?”

A panel of lights flickered and dimmed.  That was their guidance system.

***

“It seems awfully convenient that Mainor had initial access to the Siilv deposits even though we filed for them first!”

The Senator from Mainor stood, aghast and spitting her words.  “We filed documentation three days before the representatives from Dennier!  Those documents were lies when you wrote them!”

Moments later, the lupine Senators from Dennier and feline Senators of Mainor leapt from their places, streaking across the floor with faces twisted in hate.  The floor of the Legislature erupted in howls and catcalls, accusations laced with venom.  Chan motioned to Maku, a human sentry standing nearby. The man assumed a position beside her, but left his pistol sheathed as he glanced at three other security men.  The men stepped in to break up the cat and dog fight that included fangs, jaws and claws.

”This is getting us nowhere,” Jo Chan stated, berating Senators on both sides of the House.  “Argeia’s inclusion into the Alignment was contingent upon their sharing resources, yes, but that generosity is being abused already by…”

“Who’s paying you?” shouted one voice; the Senator from Dennier.

“No one is paying me,” she replied, “the rules of the Alignment Trade Council specifically state that no world will be forced to provide any resources to any other except as compensation for damages, following an investigation and due process.”

“There are those,” came a rich, textured voice, “who believe that in this time of interplanetary crisis, certain provisions must be made out of necessity to preserve interstellar commerce.  It’s been done before.”

Jo Chan turned to the representative from Crescentis.  “Only in times of war or extreme peacetime conflict.”

“I would like to avoid a peacetime conflict, Speaker Chan,” he rolled.  “Do recall that Senators Ferry and Chenna of Alexandrius have been recently gathered unto God, and that Intergalactic Aid has been targeted for terrorist acts.  It seems that since Argeia’s inclusion into the Alignment, things have gone from normal to bad, to worse.”

“Through no direct action of the Kastani,” she corrected.

“No?  Isn’t their refusal to provide their resources according to our needs provoking these events?  Senator Widi,” he indicated an empty seat, “has even departed our council for his homeworld after only a few weeks.”

“Senator Widi has other affairs, of which you are completely aware.”

“Aware, yes.  Some of us are very aware of what is going on here.”

A moment of pregnant silence filled the hall as eyes darted suspiciously around, then fixed on Jo Chan.  The Speaker began to feel very uncomfortable… knowing full well how rampant gossip could spread around the intellectually-incestuous Legislature.

“I think that I would like to look over the Legislature expense records, if you don’t mind,” he needled.

“Are you insinuating something?” she replied, formally and in a businesslike tone.

“Oh no… do any members of this noble body feel they have something to hide?”

***

“I think I know what it is,” Pockets rumbled, extricating himself from a mesh of optical wiring inside an exposed panel.  Around him stood Merlin, Cindy, and Durant.

“I’m all ears,” Merlin replied, drawing his jacket closer around himself.  The environmental systems had sputtered on and off, trying to come back on with the ship’s redundant safety features, but ship-wide, the mainframe had all but gone offline completely.

“It’s a virus,” the engineer reported, “but none like I’ve ever seen before.  I’m pretty sure it was off that freeware crystal that I tried out this afternoon.  The first thing it hit was our communications, then guidance & navigation, and then life support.  It doesn’t know what to do with the engine protocols because I’ve got the Vault information that we got from Natasha in there.  Even though we can’t use that technology for lack of decryption, it’s effectively put up a barrier that keeps the virus from fully crashing the ship’s system.”

“Thank goodness for dumb luck,” Durant growled.

“A computer virus?” Samantha asked.

“Yes, and it’s pretty bad.  It gave up trying to crack the engineering section, but from what I can tell it’s eluding detection by re-encrypting itself every fifty milliseconds.  Decoding it is like trying to dig a hole in sand, it keeps shifting.  Sneaky little bug.”

“What can we do to remedy this?” Merlin growled.

“Well,” the raccoon ground his teeth, his mind racing through the possibilities, “I suppose we could try interfacing with the system through the virtual reality equipment, since it’s not presently connected to any infected systems and I can firewall against the virus now that I have a partial idea of how it works, but it’ll take some time.”

“How much time?” the bear asked.

“That’s the tricky part.  I’d have to go through about three million lines of code before I could isolate the viral strain; I’d have to retain what I’d seen—make notes as I go—and I’m not sure that’s even possible with that much code to have to decipher.  But I’d say it’ll take us forty-eight hours at least.”

“How much life support do we have?” Merlin countered.

“About five hours,” the raccoon replied, deflated at the thought.

“And you don’t know if you can read the code well enough?”

“Reading the code is no problem, as it’s straight binary.  It’s retaining what I need to know and being able to reapply it where it needs be that’s the hard part.”

“It would take a miracle,” the captain rumbled with a sigh.

“Or,” Samantha added, “an eidetic memory.”

***

The Citadel building in the center of Donisia, the acknowledged capitol of Argeia, stood as a sparkling monolith among the Siilv structures.  The arrogant column of the white metal stood perpendicular to the ground, its architecture such that it magnified its surroundings instead of dwarfing them.  An arc of white light shone through the carefully planned refractors near its crest, making the Citadel look like an archer’s bow drawn to the sky.

It was fitting, Faltane thought, since the Kastani constantly strove to excellence in their own lives and culture.  The human philanthropist stood looking out of the large pane in his ambassadorial quarters, the last alien currently breathing Argeian air now that all the others had been banished to their homeworlds.  Victor Faltane had been a major player in brokering this peace, and now he waited on an audience with Senator Widi.

The double-doors to his chamber parted and the ambassador turned quickly.  But this time it was not Widi, but a smaller Kastan.  His face had the smoothness of a boy, but he was many times the man’s age already.  Jean Blanc, son of the late Rhane Blanc, entered the room with a confident air.  The diminutive Kastan wore the silver braid of the Blanc clan and a mesh of gilded mail over his left shoulder that signified his direct lineage from the Great Benefactor.  His ancestry allowed him a high position in the temple and a permanent chair in any ruling body he wished.

“I am told,” Jean purred in accented Standard, “that you wish another audience with Bon Widi?”

“I do, Your Grace” Faltane nodded his head slightly in respect.  “I believe that the others gathering above your sovereign space are not evil, but simply misguided.  I believe that with the proper encouragement, they can be made to disperse peacefully, but they will need a show of faith on our part.”

The smaller Kastan allowed a slight smile to warm his face.  “And what would you recommend?”

“A small envoy, Your Grace,” he continued.  “Yourself, the Magistrate, Senator Widi… a few others — and perhaps the Heir Apparent.”

“Kehaan?” Jean asked.  Such a request was a shock; nobody requested Kehaan, no matter the tenuous diplomatic situation.  The Heir Apparent was a mere boy, and an extremely valuable one as the first progeny of the two great Kastani Houses Blanc and Nikata.

“Yes, I believe that the presence of a youngster will prevent unnecessary fighting.  No one would attack an envoy knowing that a very young child was aboard without risking the wrath of the Legislature.”

Jean thought for a moment. “That would put him in danger.”

“What danger with your defenses in place?” Faltane countered.

Jean scratched a finger across his chin, still not convinced.  “I would have to speak to my brother on this matter first.”

“He would say no to anything.”

“But I must seek his counsel.”

“Do as you must,” Faltane purred. “The first son of Rhane Blanc must attain what permissions he is compelled to.”  Faltane’s face remained impassive, a show of goodwill and subservience, but a momentary flicker in his host’s eyes, a flaring of his nostrils, told the human that his jab had worked.

Jean nodded and turned, trying not to show his consternation at the barb.  Faltane turned back to the Citadel outside his window.  The time for diplomacy was coming to an end and, he thought, so would the civility if something was not done soon.

***

“You sure that you’re up for this?” Merlin asked.

Renny Thornton strapped the VR interface goggles to his forehead, “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best.”  The cheetah lay down on the medical examination table, a spider web of wires connected to the goggles and sensors registering his vital signs.  The surgical database was triple-shielded against power fluxes, and was the only remaining terminal in operation.  It was their one way in.

“Okay,” Pockets began, “you’ll be riding on a beam of electronic data, shot directly into your brain.  The way this VR works is that it stimulates pre-existing brain pathways so that what you are going to be experiencing is going to have a feeling of deja-vu.  Your mind will accustom itself to the digital information and show you the virtual world as an extension of your own memories.  You will not have to speak or move, but you will have to get used to navigating your way through using only your mind.”

“Gotcha,” Renny replied.

“I need you to look for the mainframe and sever it from all input/output channels.  If we can salvage that, we can wipe the rest of the ships’ systems and piece things back together from there with maintenance backups.  Since you are going in after a virus, it is probably going to manifest itself as some sort of massive, terrible natural disaster you’ve lived through… are you prepared for that?”

“Aah yes, it’s Barbara all over again,” the cheetah replied.

“Hurricane?” the raccoon asked.

“Last girlfriend.”

“Right…” Merlin added.  “When you’re ready for a breather, say ‘end of line’ and we’ll get you out of there.  Don’t be gone too long.”

Although Tanis had remained quiet through the instruction, he was focused intently upon the monitors for the cheetah’s vital functions. He looked up, gave Samantha a brief nod and then returned his attention to the scanners. The Border collie wished Renny luck and then plugged him in.

***

Normally structures in the Argeian capital of Donisia are white, silver or some similar shade.  But sitting unobtrusively within a ring of towers was a smooth, flat structure that seemed to be made of jade.  It had been erected over a thousand years earlier, but no aliens had been allowed to enter this small building.

The structure was merely the tip of an immense, underground complex, a bunker as well as meeting hall, blast-shielded so well that it could withstand any conceivable bombardment from the ground, the air or even space.  Within the conical egg of the inner meeting hall, a harsh, white light streamed down from above.  The heavy, gothic presence of Commodore Blanc filled the room like an oppressive blanket.  As he stood draped in a flat black cloak and his tunic of stitched faces, the old warrior’s voice echoed off the inner walls of the ancient oubliette.

“Above us, just out of our sovereign space are ships from several worlds.  Most of them are freighters, but some of them are fighters.  They claim that they are here to protect themselves from each other, but refuse to allow us access to their weapon systems for our review.  Our scanners have detected that some of the vessels are already loaded with cargo, but that cargo has been shielded from detection.  We gave them our hand in peace.  They have chosen to soil that hand by assaulting our citizens and attacking our spaceport,” he rumbled.  “We gave them our hand in fortune.  Now they hover above us, demanding as a right our resources of Siilv, which we would have provided them in a free exchange of goods.  They offer us the hand of brotherhood; they give us the fist of a master closed around a whip.  I was opposed to this from the very beginning.  We must end this, by any means necessary.”

At the end of a table, a Kastani woman older than the commodore stood in a draping white robe. At the center of her breast hung a heavy, silver stone on a silver chain. The down of her body was ash gray, and she kept her long, gray hair swept back over her ears. She spoke in a deep, rasping voice. “Commodore, you are the protector of our world, but I cannot authorize a first strike against the other worlds at this time. We have already expelled nearly all foreigners from our soil. The negotiation process must continue a while longer, but do call in the Last Line and get rid of that blockade.”

In the darkness surrounding the speaker, one figure sat in deep anxiety.  His great-uncle’s words filled him with dread, and his great-grandmother’s order chilled him even more.  No more than a boy, he could feel cold fingers crawling up his spine as he pondered the ramifications of what he was learning here.  There had been other conflicts in the past, lost in antiquity since his world had begun its era of seclusion.  This was not just a single event, he understood, but the beginning of a chain that would alter his life forever.

***

Renny could not close his eyes… he had no eyelids.  He had no body; he was only a disembodied consciousness.  Around him were sights, sounds, smells and sensations that he could not blot out.  It was not like all those vids he had seen where the virtual world was identical to the real world:  this was completely different—a disorienting bombardment of information.

Splayed out before him like a Terran Christmas tree, a myriad of colors and textures, shapes and ideas played out in seemingly chaotic patterns, melding into one another and breaking apart.  Sometimes the objects kept their original shapes, other times they morphed into composite objects or totally different concepts altogether.

What’s going on here? he wondered.  I was supposed to…  Renny cleared his thoughts and concentrated.  If this was his own mind, he should have control over it.    He ordered himself to focus on one thing, deciding that it should be: where do I find an answer?

Suddenly a door appeared before him, the peripheral stimulations dulled to a buzz of low-level static.  The door was familiar… dark blue with a metal sheen to it.  It was, he understood, the first door he had opened when he arrived on the Blue Horizon:  Merlin’s den.  This is the way in.  He pressed the door gently—not with his hand—and it slid to the side.  In the space beyond the door was a long hallway that sloped down to an abyss.

He did not want to look down into it, but he did anyway.  The abyss was bottomless, spiraling down to a pit that groaned and rumbled like a tempest.  It was not black or gray or some other color he knew… it was totally without recognizable form.  It was, he realized, what a blind person might perceive in the absence of sight.

He looked up at the jamb and saw the caduceus, the serpents curled around a sword, and realized this was the firewall between the medical computer and the rest of the ship’s systems. Renny felt a cold, mechanical chill fill him:  Do not pass through the door.  If the virus could do this to the ship, he did not dare venture what it could do to the electrical circuitry system of his mind.

The pit swirled down into oblivion, a thick, cloying miasma threatening to devour him if he drew too close to it.  He knew, without any clues he could pin down, that it saw him and wanted to consume him too.  Across the pit was the remainder of the hallway, leading off to a cycling sphere with a sixteen-digit string of binary code in gigantic numerals.  It was the mainframe, and between the very core of the onboard computer systems and him was the virus.  Tendrils of inky black stretched up toward the mainframe, like putrid veins returning to the heart.

Great, he mused.  My brain has a flair for the dramatic. Wish I could have a little help here; the Blue Horizon is counting on me.

In the instant Renny thought of his ship, a shining gray button appeared before him, with the word HELP spelled out in his native Kantan tongue across its face.  He pressed it, and a menu flashed up with only the word HELP as an option.  It struck him that his mind was interpreting his need for help by making him access his memories in a logical pattern.  He mentally shrugged, pressed the word HELP, and heard a faint voice say the word aloud.

Beyond the door and within the reach of the Cold Fire virus, a flash of energy appeared, stretching out into the rough shape of a body before solidifying into clarity.  Renny flinched at the sight of it… he knew that face.

You, he thought.  What are you doing here?

***

“Samantha?” Cindy mewled over the intercom.

The Border collie stiffened reflexively; she never liked that tone in her friend’s voice.  She turned to face the monitor.  “Yes?”

“There’s a text-only message I think you should take.”

Unsure, she pressed the glowing keypad just above her, “I’ll take it here.”

Samantha activated her communications port, and in less than sixty seconds the scrolling data, triple encrypted across the Privateers Channel 13/666, played out the news that Master Tristan had been attacked in his home, and that his attacker had severed the alicorn that he had spent his life growing.

Merlin glanced up from Renny’s side at her gasp, but she continued staring at the message, her face a blank mask of emotions he could not read.  Samantha sat motionless, consciously aware of a new emotion growing inside of her—one she had never experienced before.  She stood up and darted for the nearest lavatory, throwing her face over the sink and retching into it as her captain moved forward to her side.

***

In the endless expanse of cyberspace, the image of Lucas Sinclair rippled before Renny Thornton.

“Thank you for remembering me.  Although our last meeting ended badly, I need your help now. The virus you face was designed by me, though under the threat of agonizing pain and certain death. I don’t know if I’m going to live very long after I finish writing this virus program, but I want you all to know that I never meant any harm in our previous encounters.  I never knew how good I had life until my freedom was taken away from me in a way that no prison ever could.  If you are seeing this message, I’m probably dead already.

“There is a presence that I cannot describe to you because little information has been made available to me.  However, I have decoded some of the information and can tell you that this virus is the second step in a process that will cause many deaths.  The first step was the bio-virus released on Hestra.  I cannot say for sure if this is the ultimate end of the person doing this, but here is how you stop the computer virus.  I have placed in this sub-code all of the information necessary to inoculate controlling systems against the virus as well as predict a few things that this person has planned, but even then, I don’t know if I have the full picture.  This virus… this Cold Fire… is only one link in a very long chain.”

Renny contemplated this new information, unsure if he should trust Lucas Sinclair.  However, it seemed genuine, and a look back at the abyss helped prod him in the direction of faith.

“I’m really frightened.  I know you don’t owe me anything and I wouldn’t blame you for leaving me to die, but if there is a drop of pity in you, please help me.  And if you don’t help me, help the others who may suffer a similar fate to mine.”

Lucas’ still image faded, replaced by a string of code: sixteen numerals and symbols of the wolf’s native language.  Renny memorized the repeating formula and remembered, “End of line.”  It would take an effort to force his mouth to move, he knew, but instead he turned.

Renny Thornton moved toward the door that separated his consciousness from the virus.  As he drew nearer, another black tendril slithered forward from the pit to greet him.  There it hovered, a dark and foreboding presence, seeming to slather as this new thing to devour came closer.  The cheetah mentally inhaled, then leaned forward and kissed the tendril, reciting the formula at the speed of thought as he did so.

The effect was instantaneous.

***

In Sickbay, Renny’s body wracked with a sudden spasm, ripping off one of the sensors.  Durant and Tanis rushed to his side, the bear pinning him as the fox prepared a solution to steady him.  Pockets stood to the side, anxiously worrying his hands and unsure what was going on.

The cheetah’s eyes flew open and he ripped the web of wires from his body, squirming out of the bear’s grasp and bolting upright on the padded table.

“Easy!” Durant urged, placing a hand back on his shoulder to ease him back down.  But Renny brushed his friend off with a heavy breath, shaking his head and rubbing his hands to get feeling into his fingers.

“How long was I out?” he asked.

“About twenty minutes,” Pockets replied.  “What did you find?”

Suddenly the lights in sickbay fluttered back on, as did those in the hallway.  Computer systems booted back to life, running system diagnostics and recoveries.

“This is a good sign,” Durant commented.

“There’s,” Renny began, pausing to drain a glass of water Tanis offered him, “…there’s a solution to the virus, built in like a back door.”

“That’s a hacker’s trick,” Pockets added.

“Yes, and we need to get it out to the whole of the Planetary Alignment.”  The cheetah stood on wobbly legs, catching himself on the edge of the padded table as he moved toward the nearest console that had fully recovered.  There, he referenced the keyboard for Dennieran language symbols and typed in the 16-figure code to disarm the virus.  He then collapsed in mental exhaustion.

In an instant, Durant was at his side, carrying him back to the sick bed where Tanis reaffixed the sensors.  Pockets saved the code to a data crystal and dashed for the lavatory where Merlin was still attending to Samantha.

***

His long, black ship cruising silently through the blanket of stars, Conn peered at his vidscreen. For the last three weeks the drama had played out: ships losing power, systems crashing… the planet Kantus had been widely infected with the Cold Fire and was now in a state of total chaos. Only Quet and Fyn had been spared, and mostly because their worlds were low of technology. Conn had monitored the transmissions of fighting the virus, and they all ended with star vessels dying, whether resulting in explosions or the personnel within them expiring to asphyxiation or the absolute cold of space.

Then came a faint message from the Sol system. The word cure had been used, and a sixteen-figure solution. The Kastan boosted his reception, determining that the signal was still weak due to the source’s power systems not yet being fully online.

***

“We’ve found the path around it,” Jape Devon announced.

Outstanding,” Natasha replied over the scrambled channel.  “We’ll be right there to transport you via Vault to Argeia so we can stop this.  Things have really gone to hell and I don’t know how much longer we’re going to be able to avoid a fire fight.”

Merlin Sinclair, standing at Devon’s side, asked, “Can we afford to wait twenty-five hours for the Vault drives to recharge?”

A moment of nervous tension passed as Devon considered his next words, but Natasha’s voice interrupted instead, “Oh, we’re under that time limit now, don’t worry.”

“Shouldn’t we take this directly to the Legislature so they can get the word out?”

“It would be more advantageous to take it to Argeia.  Every computerized planet has their latest and greatest hardware at the embassies there and it’ll be easier to share it now that the Legislature is, for all practical purposes, disbanded.”

“That’s not good,” Merlin rumbled.

“Speaker Chan almost got killed trying to restore order,” she continued.  ”We need to get this done as soon as possible.  Give me your coordinates.”

***

Conn turned the black sliver of his ship around; he would have to abort this mission for the more pressing matter at hand.  There was no way from his current position that his own Vault had enough reserve power to leap to the Sol system, but he could easily make Argeia.

He encoded a message to his destination:  Meet me at the NIDAS.

The grim warrior activated the Vault system, and in a ring of blue-white flame his ship was gone into folded space.

***

In the velvety blackness of space, the planet Argeia glowed like a white pearl against the dark, undulating void.  High above, clutches of more than fifty ships from other worlds—grouped together by tenuous loyalties or to match weapon systems against one another—waited like vultures over a dying corpse.  Some small craft ran exercises, larger ones simply sat in space like predators waiting to fight one another for the spoils of the planet below.

Diplomacy in the Planetary Alignment Legislature had broken down completely, and nobody knew who was in charge now that the planets were not talking to one another anymore.  Vessels from Dennier and Mainor, particularly, hedged their dominance uneasily above the glittering white world.  Ship captains had been under pressure from their representatives to keep frosty—the situation might be resolved at any moment, or it might require “decisive action to protect our vital interests in the Alignment.”  Certain planets had even deployed battle cruisers to protect their transports under just the same assertion.

Ensign Jace McGregor operated the scanners of the Variant, a Dennieran transport ship sitting in high orbit, just out of Kastani sovereign space.  He was thinking of his wife and two cubs back on Dennier, and making plans to improve their lives once he was allowed his fair share of the Kastani Siilv.  The Variant was a transport vessel for sure, but the ensign on loan from the Dennieran Navy knew that they were also carrying explosive munitions for a reason he had identified to himself only as “just in case.”  It was an old description, but the Terrans had a name for this type of vessel: a Q-Ship.

They had been there for more than a week, keeping a sharp eye on the Kastani Planetary Defense Grid.  The PDG, an energy field that could withstand bombardments from space, would be activated if the government of their world intended to make any movements against the gathered armada, and by the time any ships could be launched from the surface, they would be ready to bat down any resistance.

A blip appeared on his screen, flashing rapidly.  Perplexed, he pressed a switch beneath the flickering light.  The ensign knitted his brow as he read the data scrolling across his screen:

CLASS G SPATIAL DISTORTION IN SECTOR TWO

CLASS G SPATIAL DISTORTION IN SECTOR THREE

CLASS G SPATIAL DISTORTION IN SECTOR FIVE

CLASS G SPATIAL DISTORTION IN SECTOR EIGHT

The first officer saw the spool of messages, and made her way over to peer at his screen.  “What is that?” she asked.

“I don’t know…” he mumbled.

“Some kind of malfunction?”

“Maybe.  I’ll run a diagnostic,” he said.  McGregor tapped switches and baseline codes ran through his console.  Everything checks out.  “Hmm… I don’t know what’s causing this.”

“Try it again,” the first officer began.

“Ma’am?” another voice called.  She turned her face to the voice, to find an expression of stark terror on her crewmate’s countenance.

“What is wrong?”

Mutely, he pointed at the vidscreen.

***

“Sir,” a Kastan in a smart, sharply-pressed uniform reported.

“Go,” Commodore Blanc replied, looking up briefly from the control console before him, his haggard features bathed in the red light of the command Center.

“The Last Line has arrived.”

“Give me an open communication line,” he ordered.

***

“My… God!” the first officer rasped.

Filling the vidscreen before them, four Hammerdine Dreadnoughts, painted flat black to match the inky darkness of space, emerged from fiery rings of blue-white energy into the space between Argeia and the assembled armada surrounding the planet.  Each of the ships dwarfed any other vessel in the invading armada, and with the subtle movements of yawning hatches, began to spill out tri-winged fighters like an angry swarm of insects.  Hundreds of small vessels began to converge on the conglomeration of alien ships.

“Get the crews to their ships!” the first officer cried.  Others on the bridge scurried, panicky and uncoordinated.  This was not supposed to happen.

***

“Destroy them all,” Commodore Blanc purred into his transmitter, the words relayed to all four of the Dreadnoughts in a moment.

THE DEATHS OF GODS

By Steve Carter

The Heir Apparent, Part 3

Captain’s Journal:

The Lady of Dreams, volume III, section VI:

Merlin Sinclair and his people have docked with my ship and we are currently recharging the Vault engines for another leap back to Argeia.  We have just received word that a massive firefight has begun there and from what we know of Kastani technology—especially their defense systems—we know that the envoys from other worlds are about to be wiped out completely.  They earned it, but I’d like to help avoid a wholesale slaughter if I can.

Four of the original ten Hammerdine Dreadnoughts are engaging the invading forces from other worlds.  I’m not terribly surprised that the Kastani own them, as they’re the only planet with the wealth to purchase and maintain them, especially with the efficiency and stealth they have.  They are, to the best of my knowledge: the Vindicator, the Starfist, the Prophetic, and the Triumphant.  The Lady of Dreams is, of course, a refit of the original Sylvan, which was decommissioned some years ago.  Of the five remaining ships, the Cibola was gutted and turned into a museum, the Colossus was destroyed in a failed attempt at hyper-drive, the Aristotle was self-destructed to keep it from falling into enemy hands, and the Olympic was apparently driven into a white dwarf by some idiot who wanted to effect time travel and didn’t know it was a binary system (too many Stellar Journey reruns, I’ll bet).  That leaves us with the thorny trivia question: what of the Super-dreadnought Atlas?

Where is that damned planet killer?

The Kastani will probably be jamming everything within the area, so we’re going to have to get Devon to contact one of the Hammerdines and get us a meeting with one of their officials.  I sincerely doubt they would be interested in intercepting any encoded files from us, even if it is the solution to the Cold Fire virus, which they managed to contain through their own technological measures.

Whatever happens, I know we’re going to pull through this.  I just hope we don’t touch off a universal Armageddon in the process.

***

i. fortuna plango vulnera

“Under the tongue root a battle most dread,

and another raging, behind, in the head.”

-Cad Goddeau

The tall vixen stood before the collected members of her crew and those of the Blue Horizon. “Okay,” she announced, “I want to make this perfectly clear.  We’re up against an enemy who can blast us to atoms in a microsecond, and intel says they’ll be engaging the aligned forces against them soon.  If we Vault into the firefight currently going on over Argeia, I want you to have expected anything.  I want contingency plans with redundancies for the redundancies.  I want all our weapons and power systems checked every ten minutes or as often as possible.  I want everyone accounted for at all times; we don’t know to what level they’ve developed their own Vault technology and I don’t particularly want to find out in any major hurry.”

She turned to her seconds. “Mr. Robbins and Mr. Sinclair, if Satan himself shows up—and knowing our luck he will—I want you to have seen it coming.”

Both males nodded.  “Ashe?” she asked.

“Weapons are ready for hand to hand if the situation gets to that point,” a lanky human, whose right hand had been replaced with a crude prosthetic one, replied.  He turned in the general direction of the Blue Horizon crew, waving with the artificial limb.

***

Natasha sat behind her ornate desk, Devon and Sinclair across from her.  The only object on her desk was an iron sculpture of the English letter E. She had once commented that no matter what happened, that particular paperweight would never be lost on anything she did; unfortunately, there were few who actually understood the reference.

“Okay, give me the bad news,” she said.

“We look like we’re in good shape,” Devon said, “but there are going to be some casualties on our side.  Do you want to know who they are?”

“No, I don’t want any prescience about that,” Natasha said.  “Are we going to win?”

“I can only feel life,” Devon added, “I cannot predict the future.”

“Uh—what?” Merlin asked, utterly confused.

Devon turned to face him.  “Do you remember when you and I first met?  I told you I was surprised about how close you’d been to death.”

Merlin nodded, recalling when he had absently dismissed that morning at the quarters on Argeia.

“A certain breed of my people, we” he spoke a word in his native language, “who have black eyes, can… I don’t know how you feel about metaphysics or religion or mysticism, but we can feel the presence of life and, sometimes, how close someone’s come to death.  We call it a lifeprint because no two are ever exactly alike.  Basically, Captain Natasha wants to know what I saw at the crew briefing today.”

A curiosity entered Merlin’s mind, but he did not voice it.  Devon read his expression and replied, “Good idea; never ask a question you don’t want an answer to.”

***

The Dennieran vessel Variant rocked in space, having been the first ship to fire against the Kastan fighters.  Ribbons of flame rose from structural splits in the hull, spreading out like cracking glass as the ship protested and succumbed.  The Variant was doomed before her captain even got to the helm, but instead of buckling and falling to her death in the thick shielding of the Planetary Defense Grid, its explosion lit space with a force five times what a freighter of her class would merit.  The entire cargo section blasted out in a shower of multicolored light as the combined-effects-munitions stored on the Q-ship ignited in a chain reaction.  Two Kastani fighters were slashed with shrapnel from the explosion, and the nearest Alliance vessels were physically displaced by the spatial shock wave.

On the planet surface below, Commodore Blanc observed the explosion and turned his head to face the Promagistrate.  No words were exchanged, only a hard stare from the commodore to his boss.  The venerable head of state gripped the heavy silver stone on her breast and nodded:  if this was an armed invasion, all bets were off.

The Commodore turned to the only officer in the command center clad in a light blue uniform. “Mainor, Dennier and Earth,” he rumbled.

The officer turned to face a terminal, inserting an identicard and entering a series of codes.  He relayed the message on a quad-scrambled channel, directed at one of the darkest and least-explored areas surrounding the Planetary Alignment.

***

Samantha sat on a recovery bunk in the Lady of Dreams’ medical treatment center, slumped over with hands clasped between her knees and her head hung low.  It was unimaginable, this thing that had happened to her master.

The door slid open and Cindy entered, sitting down beside her on the small bed.  The mouse said nothing, but allowed her friend to feel her company.  Samantha sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes and gulping down her anguish.

“It was such a shock,” she said.

“I know it was,” Cindy replied.

“They gave a description of the Kastan who did it.  Devon looked at it and said that he recognized it as one of those Hunt creatures that he told us about.  But he does not know why they would do something like this because it’s out of their nature to attack aliens.”

“How do you feel about it?”

“Feel?” Samantha looked up, fighting off her own emotions—trying to stay in control.  “I want revenge.”

Cindy blanched at the vehemence behind the words, but did not pull back.  “That’s a perfectly normal thing to feel right now.”

“But it’s wrong,” the collie replied.  “Revenge is not a worthy goal.  It does my master no honor to disobey his teachings, but I just—” she clutched her hands into fists, grinding her teeth.

“Feeling anger and wishing revenge is not the same as acting on them, nor is it dishonorable.  It’s a completely reasonable reaction to a totally unreasonable situation. You feel a lot of conflicting emotions right now?  Torn between what your gut tells you and what your discipline demands?”

“Yes,” Samantha snarled.

“You’re frustrated, and rightly so,” her counselor said. “You wish you’d been there when it happened because you’d have given your life to protect your master.”

Samantha’s face fell into her hands, and a flood of emotion overcame her.  Cindy wrapped a comforting arm around her friend, drawing her into an embrace.

“The best we can do for Master Tristan now is to be strong, and to be there if and when he needs us,” she soothed.

“Yes,” a third voice added.  “He needs our strength to recover on his own.”  The two women turned together to see Jazz, the Lady of Dreams’ Silloni communications officer, standing in the doorway.  Samantha connected her face to a distant memory in a heartbeat.

“Laura!” the collie gasped, her voice laden with disbelief.

“Yes,” the lithe Silloni replied, entering the room with a slight shudder of humility.

“Our Master tasked me to find you,” Samantha added.  Cindy could feel an emotion between the two women, but also a wall of formality she could tell both were struggling to maintain.  She could not decide if it was surprise, recognition or some unpleasant sentiment both were hiding.  But Samantha’s expression softened by degrees, so she allowed the scene to continue.

“Um…” Samantha turned slightly to face Cindy, “This is Laura, Tristan’s long-lost daughter.”

The Silloni girl shifted uncomfortably, momentarily breaking eye contact with the others. “Among my crew, I am known to them as Jazz,” she murmured.

“I see,” Cindy replied.  “And you two know one another?”

“We trained together as children,” Laura added.  “We were one another’s partner, actually.”

“Cindy,” Samantha added, “Laura and I were raised together as sisters.”

***

On the other side of the Alignment, a clutch of life pods floated listlessly in space, further and further away from the flaming hulk of two collided ships.  The Argonautia was destroyed, death was everywhere as dark pods drifted through frozen space, and Captain Ransdell’s face had fallen into a lifeless, ashen mask.  There were three others in the pod with him: a human woman from third class, a young feline girl in a party dress who had curled into a fetal ball and lay weeping on the floor, and a raccoon dressed in patched coveralls.  The raccoon had discovered a way to restore life support to their pod before the temperature dropped below freezing, but the coms were still out.

Captain Ransdell held a mirror, reflecting light toward the raccoon as he stared out the thick glass at the other pods floating aimlessly in space, their gray faces lit with orange in the blaze of the two lost ships.  Some had been affected by the shockwaves of other explosions, sending them hurling out into oblivion.  He began to feel an icy chill overcome him.

But one of the ship’s journeyman engineers, Jasper Porter, continued chewing the stub of an unlit cigar, crossing wires and manipulating circuitry to get the pod’s communications up and running.  There was no way he was going to die like this, not after all he had survived up to this point.

***

The Lady of Dreams appeared out of a slash of blue-white energy, out of range of the cloying ball of warring vessels surrounding the planet Argeia, the smooth gray wedge of starship moving toward the fray with incredible speed.  Two Hammerdine vessels appeared against the white pearl of the planet while the other pair was barely visible as gaps in the vista of stars beyond the battle.  The sheer size of the battleships ensured they could not be missed.  On the edges of the battlefield, damaged hulks of defeated ships listed slowly off to ignite in flashes of multicolored flame, or implode in showers of sparks.

Standing at the bridge of the ship, Natasha, Merlin and Jape Devon watched as the scene played out before them.

“You were expecting this?” Merlin asked.

“Yes,” she replied.  “Years ago, when I left Brandt—as a political exile—I came here on the advice of a friend.  The Kastani funded the refit of a decommissioned Hammerdine if I shared the nascent technology of Vault Drives with them.”

“You?”

“Us, really,” she turned to Devon.  “What’s it look like.”

“You don’t want to know,” the black-eyed alien replied, observing the battle with cold indifference.  “You have about thirty seconds.”

Communications officer Jazz punched in codes on the coms monitor before her, entering the coded message Jape Devon had given her before the ship entered Vault.  She repeated the message several times, not receiving any response.

Suddenly one of the black Hammerdine ships ceased fire against the blockade vehicles, slowly turning on its axis toward the Lady of Dreams.

“They know we’re here,” Natasha said, and the bridge lights went red.

“Incoming transmission,” Jazz commented.

“Receive,” Natasha barked.

The spherical holograph dropped its tactical display of the battle ahead of them and phased into the image of a grim figure.  Devon stepped forward and engaged the holograph in the eccentric, throaty Kastan language, speaking so rapidly that neither ship’s captain could keep up with what was being exchanged.  The dizzying, chattering noises wove a linguistic web that sounded more like code than speech.

“What’s he saying?” Merlin asked.

“I think he’s telling them that we have the Cold Fire virus solution, and that we’re here to help.  They know me and that I’ll do what I can to defuse the situation.  That we have one of their own on our side doesn’t hurt, either.”

In a sharp, crisp movement of his body, Devon ended the conversation with the figure, and the image faded before them.  He turned to his captain, “They will entertain a small envoy,” Devon replied, “but they’ll still hold off the blockade.”

Natasha turned to Merlin, “Take Devon and a couple of others and present them the solution.  We’ll watch things topside.”

Merlin nodded, leaving the bridge with a parting wave.  “Take care.”

***

“Okay, when we get down there it should just be a simple matter to find someone in charge.  If they know we’re coming, they’ll no doubt have someone waiting at NIDAS to greet us.  This shouldn’t take long,” Devon said as the crew filed onto the Blue Horizon.  “The fact that this is the ship that brought a few tons of strawberries doesn’t exactly hurt our chances, either.”

“Are they really that much of a delicacy?” Merlin asked as he, Devon and Renny rode the lift up to the flight deck.

“Quite. You made a lot of friends just by bringing them.”

“That’s strange, considering how abundant they are on Earth,” Renny commented.

“You didn’t eat any of them on the trip, I see,” Devon grinned at the navigator.

“No,” the captain added as the two hustled toward the bridge, “we never touch the cargo except to inspect it for damage.”

“You brought a special breed of them to us; super-potent and genetically engineered to our physiology.  The regular ones that grow wild on Earth are poisonous to us.”

“And those we brought?” Renny asked.

“Were they in any other environment, explosive.  That’s why you had to transport them frozen.”

Merlin stared incredulously at him, “No one told us that.”

“What client sent you?”

“Victor Faltane.  He was helping broker the treaty with Argeia and he can be a decent guy to deal with. He helped me out of a tight spot on Earth not long ago.”

Devon’s expression changed to disgust.  “I never cared for him, myself,” the Kastan growled, knitting his brow at the thought.  “Too much of a bleeding heart.”

“Well, we can worry about that later,” Merlin strapped himself in, as he and Renny readied his ship for departure. Devon left the launch to them and departed the bridge.

The others onboard were readying their weapons in the recreation area.  Ashe, from the Lady of Dreams, was polishing the barrel of a double-barrel shotgun.  Devon shot him a knowing glance, “You’re not going to need that.”

Ashe chuckled, “You use your weapons, pal. I’ll use mine.”

Devon shrugged and turned to Samantha and Jazz, sitting together, each with a steel katana across her lap.  “That’s not going to work,” he offered.  “If we’re going down armed, I’d recommend your bringing the Siilv katanas from my case.  You and Jazz know how to use them, right?” The Kastan crossed the room and withdrew a pair of katana blades, the blue-white glint of Siilv shimmering down their edges.  The two women reluctantly set aside their own weapons and took the two blades he had offered.

“We do,” Samantha said, “but wouldn’t it do much better to bring guns?”

“Not by any stretch of the imagination.  Trust me,” Devon advised, “the last thing you want to do is go up against a Kastan using anything other than Siilv.  The double-knitting of our physiology would bend your steel and repel your bullets.”

Ashe clacked his shotgun shut, pretending to aim at a target with a smug grin; it did not appear as if Devon’s warning meant anything to him. His shells were anything but normal munitions. They were fortified with steel-jacketed slugs propelled by high-powered explosives and he was prepared to see what they would do to that Kastani physiology.

***

“Commodore,” a raspy officer’s voice stated.

Tabia Blanc rose from his command seat and moved to one side of the room, noting the officer’s screen.  “What is that?”

“That would be the Lady of Dreams, Commodore.”

“Doing what?”

“They’re sending an envoy to the NIDAS to bring us information.  It’s a gesture of goodwill, an attempt to curb the hostilities.”

“And they’re bringing it to us?”  The commodore considered it for a moment, and turned toward the door.  “Continue the assault, but keep watch on that Hammerdine. None of the others pose a threat, but Captain Natasha does.  If she interferes, stop her.”

The Promagistrate stepped forward, placing a hand on Blanc’s shoulder, “The Heir Apparent should be moved from this place to the stronghold.”

Tabia surveyed the scene before him.  His Second could have things well in hand.  “I’ll take care of it personally,” he replied.

***

The Blue Horizon dropped out of the Lady of Dreams cargo hangar, the ship’s engines engaging seconds after the abrupt departure and the freighter descended to the flashing wall of crisscrossing energy.  The planetary defense grid was a shield of negatively charged ions so powerful that it played havoc with any missile guidance system that was not keyed in to its specific frequency.  Merlin punched in a coded signal he had received from Devon’s communiqué with the larger Kastan ship, and a cat’s eye aperture appeared in the shielding, just large enough for the ship to pass through.

Natasha looked across the field of stars at the eruptions of flame and energy from the ships around the planet.  The others were putting up a valiant fight, but four Dreadnoughts would soon make short work of them.  Nearly one-third of the allied vessels had been destroyed, including two of the largest cruisers.  True to the articles of war, the Kastani had not attacked the medical frigate, but several of the smaller fighters were beginning to take cover behind its bulk, sniping at the enemy fighter swarm from there.  That protection would not last long, she realized.

Then a particular vessel caught her eye.  It was a long, slender ship with a red Valkyrie on the side. It was the crest of the Hestran monarchy.  “What ship is that?” she asked.

Robbins tapped keys, “That’s the ArvaMonica, Ma’am.”

“Damn,” she growled, watching the nearest Hammerdine turn slowly toward the Hestran vessel.  “Move to intercede.”

The whole bridge fell silent, the crew turning as one to her.  Robbins spoke first, “Intercede?”

“Put us between the ArvaMonica and that Dreadnought,” she crossed the bridge to assume the center seat.  Robbins obeyed without question, but the others on the bridge sat in stunned silence.  The tall vixen looked around, “We’re just going to protect that ship, not engage anyone further.  The ArvaMonica is the flagship of the Hestran monarchy and they’re likely to have important technology that we dare not lose.”

The others began to work in earnest, some not entirely sure of this move.

“Take battle stations,” the captain said.  “Prepare to assume Combat Configuration.”

The bridge crew strapped themselves into their positions as the order was repeated throughout the ship.

***

The captain of the Vindicator, moving to intercept the Hestran flagship, noted a flashing light on her dash.  Something unexpected was happening, and she turned her view screen to face the new threat.

In the distance, the gray Hammerdine with the bright yellow smiley-face was moving to intercept them.  The captain scratched her chin, concerned at this new event.  The intel she had just received was that the new ship was not a combatant, and yet it was moving to intercede.  She barked an order at her security officer and the tawny Kastan relayed it to a flight of six fighters returning from their last engagement for further orders.

As the fighters moved into a defensive formation between the two massive warships, something totally unexpected happened.  The Lady of Dreams slowed to a crawl, and the fore section split apart down a seam in the middle that ended where the huge smiley-face began.  In the weightlessness of space, the huge sections moved faster than the Vindicator’s commander expected.  Likewise, the aft third of the ship dropped visibly, the trio of engines flickering out one by one as the rear of the ship clamped against the bottom.  The split fore sections folded open, momentum spinning the ship so that it pointed down toward the planet.  The engine turrets of the ship now resembled legs, and two sections on the sides of the ship began to move outward as the conical bridge moved up to sit squarely on what was becoming a humanoid configuration.  It was a feature unique to the Lady of Dreams – the Kastani had helped create that particular aspect at Natasha’s request.

“Open fire!” the Vindicator’s captain shouted.  “All weapons!”

***

It had always been easy before.

“Dammit!” Natasha snarled, her ship rocking with the force of impact as another Hammerdine fired on them.  “Return fire,” Natasha ordered, “evasive!”

The bridge buzzed with activity as the front of the Lady of Dreams illuminated in a wall of green light and flame, slashing from and at her superstructure.  “Continue with the transformation.”  Suddenly the ship groaned with a sound like grinding metal, sending a shudder through the bridge.

“Ma’am!” a voice called, “the conversion circuitry has been damaged at a critical juncture at one of the cycler units and we can’t complete until it is repaired.”

“What?”

“The other ship… they’re more powerful than we anticipated.  They’ve pierced our shielding.”

Natasha glared coldly at him.  She wanted all contingencies planned for.  “Fix it,” she growled.

“It is… external, ma’am,” the crewmate gulped.

“You mean,” she rumbled as another titanic blast rocked the transforming ship, “that one blow has disabled our transformation processes?”

The crewmate nodded.  Natasha turned back to the viewer, “Last time I try experimental technology in combat.  We lost some psychological advantage, but we can still fight.”

Robbins leapt up from his terminal, “I have an idea.”  The cougar darted out of the bridge area and down the hall.

Natasha turned back to the crewmate, who sat transfixed.  “Well, what are you waiting for? Get on with it!”

***

The cargo bay yawned open in the open port, lit with low lights that bathed the formerly bustling area in blue.  Gravity, they noticed, had not quite been adjusted to their physiology and their bodies were sluggish.  Even Jape Devon, normally a whirlwind of activity in the slack gravity of the starships, slowed now that he was back in his element.  The Kastan departed the freighter with Merlin, Samantha, Jazz, Renny and Durant in tow while the others stayed behind to guard and watch over the ship.  Devon, prepared for anything, had the ring of scabbards—his Delta—on hand.  The place was deserted, save for a small, sleek ship that shone like chrome in the half-light of the hangar, and the violet staff cruiser belonging to Victor Faltane.

“We need to go this way,” he indicated a staircase in the deserted hangar dry-dock and the party swirled down the spiral stairs to the floor of the dry-dock area.  Renny noted that the three-ringed help desk was still active, but that it was also decorated with hieroglyphics he had not noticed before.  Strange, he thought, that he could remember all of the details that had been implanted into his mind at this location, but not the existence of those symbols.  The center ring also hovered above them, descending rapidly.

“Through there,” Devon pointed the party to a large door on the other side, around the customer service desk.

The center ring descended, and two bodies swathed in long cloaks, one snowy white and one light gray to match their body fur, stared back at the party.  The hoods draped back, revealing the faces of two black-eyed Kastans.

Devon took a back step; Merlin saw in the expression on his face that these two were not escorts.

”Conn Navarre,” Devon breathed.  As if receiving their cue, the two creatures unhooked their cloaks and allowed them to drop.  The gray-toned one was clearly female, her bosom pinned flat with a wrap around her torso.  Both of the new arrivals blanched at Jape Devon; having not expected to see him here.

“You said Conn Navarre was something like a robot,” Merlin said dryly.

“No,” he replied, “it’s a two-person unit, Conn and Navarre.  Hunt always work in pairs.”

The two Kastans drew their weapons:  Conn a tri-bladed Delta and Navarre a wicked double-sickle, one blade hinged at the end of the other.  Samantha recognized the latter weapon as the one described by Tristan’s wife Guinevere, and the killer’s form was the collection of ashes thrown together in the body of a man.

A moment later, Merlin noted that a hand lay limp on the floor in a ribbon of black blood that spilled around the corner behind the bottom ring of the help desk.

Ashe looked across at the two black-eyed Kastans and their bladed weapons, and drew the shotgun from its sheath on his back.  He stepped forward with an arrogant swagger, weapon at the ready.  “See this?” the man beckoned the two figures, indicating his raised weapon.  “This is my Attitude Adjuster!”

The Kastans looked at one another skeptically, readying their metalloid weapons for an attack.

“Right,” Ashe said, and blasted at Conn, his weapon making a deafening boom.  The assassin swept out with one hand, clenching his fist a moment after the shot echoed through the hangar.  When he opened his hand, a clutch of smoking steel pellets fell to the floor, clinking uselessly against the metal and rolling away.

Ashe stepped back, whistling in astonishment.

“I’ll take care of these two,” Devon added, stepping forward with his Delta weapon at the ready.  He immediately found himself flanked by Jazz and Samantha, their Siilv weapons already drawn.

“Okay, I guess we’ll take care of them,” Devon corrected.

Renny and Durant stood forward with them, “We’re with you,” the bear said.

“No, you’re with me,” Merlin barked, leading the rest of the pack toward a nearby portal.  The two assassins leapt from the center ring onto the middle in the beginning of pursuit, but were met there by the three other combatants.

***

Tim hurled himself out of the portal, the grasping arms of his exosuit swinging him around to land heavily against the outer hull of the ship.  This would be dangerous, but it had to be done.  The young mouse immediately spied the damaged section of the ship and moved toward it with all the speed he could muster.  Space around him filled with flashing light from weapons, explosions, and crackles of energy rebounding against shielding.  Tim was glad for the electromagnets on the skin of his exosuit clinging to the surface of the Lady of Dreams as he knelt on the gray metal to make his repairs on the cycler unit.

The panel was already fragmented, so the boy pulled it completely off.  The cycler was damaged, but salvageable; he got to work.  Suddenly a blast rocked the plate he rested on as a fighter swooped by, slashing at him on the ship as he tried to work.  Tim blanched, shuddering in the shockwave of the discharge before returning to his work.  He read in the onboard sensors that the ship was swinging back around for another pass.  It was trying to kill him!  Another barrage of fire lit the space around him, scorching the metal plate again and threatening to ignite his exosuit as well.  The flashing cascade of fire passed again, but the ship swung around for another attack.

Tim began to feel an emotion grow inside his gut; he ground his teeth and looked back at the approaching fighter.  This, he realized, is what adults must feel when they say they’re pissed off.   The boy saw shrapnel fly loose from the scored area and realized that the ship was firing depleted uranium slugs—he mentally calculated the weapon system onboard.

The boy moved to his left, popping the latch on another panel while covering the cycler unit with his body.  He retracted the hand unit from his left arm and snaked out the hard, thick transfer cable, jamming it into an open power socket in the ship.  Tim turned, locking onto the ship’s skin with the magnets on his boots, and retracted the right-hand unit, replacing it with a cutting laser as the fighter swooped in close.  He ground his teeth, fully aware that he was going to die if this did not work.

Tim fired the slash of red laser in the approximate direction of the fighter, zeroing its tracer in on the forward turret.  Inside the barrel of the front-mounted repeater gun, the laser ignited the ammo cell, setting the shell off inside the barrel.  In a microsecond, the remaining rounds ignited and ruptured, and the fighter exploded in a blaze of yellow and green flame.

Tim sighed heavily, removed the transfer cable from the socket and returned to his work on the cycler unit.

***

Tabia Blanc departed the command center and stepped into a shaft of white light in the atrium outside.  A collection of officials stood by, including the human Faltane, who stood near a small, crème-colored youth.  The Commodore faced a lavender-clad female standing with her hands on the child’s shoulders.

“There has been a change of plans; a new threat is involved now.  We must take the Heir Apparent to safety,” he rumbled.

“What’s happened?” one voice asked.

“Captain Natasha has arrived onto the scene.  She possesses the firepower and military competence to pose a threat.  I doubt she will, but she is still an alien and thus unpredictable.”

“I’ll take him,” Faltane chimed in, offering a hand to the youth.  “The peace process is better served with someone other than the Kastani handling such an important task.”

“No, you will not,” Tabia snarled, not breaking his gaze from the caretaker.

“But I can help protect him,” Faltane urged.

“From what?” the grim warrior needled.

“From… whatever,” he added.  “Your defenses are strong, but there will always be the unexpected to deal with.  I’m well-known enough that any surprises might be short-circuited.”

“You exaggerate your importance and the possibility of the unexpected.”

“Did you expect the Lady of Dreams?”

Tabia considered it for a moment, and waved his hand.  “No, but there is no need for you to be involved with this matter beyond this point.  The Heir is entirely too important.  I’ll take him to the stronghold myself.”  The Commodore took his nephew by the hand and led him away, three other Kastan sentries accompanying them.

“I insist,” Faltane pressed.

The group of gathered bodies turned as one to face the human.  One just did not do that when Tabia Blanc had spoken, and the retreating backs paid him no heed.

Faltane ground his teeth, angry and frustrated at this turn of events.  He could not believe how quickly his plans were falling apart.  He started after the departing group, but hands restrained him as the commodore departed the scene with his entourage and the youngster toward the hangar where the military commander’s private shuttle resided.

***

ii. pictures at an exhibition

Outside the planetary orbit of the Mainor, space blistered open with rings of blue-white energy.  The planetary defense grid immediately flared into life, the system alarming the remaining ring of military vessels surrounding the globe as a long wedge of starship appeared against the blackness of space.  Spread out before the defense vessels was a ship thirty kilometers long - easily five times the size of a Hammerdine Dreadnought.

In the front of the vessel, the triangular wedges split apart to reveal a concave disc, thick cables stretching from the main batteries to each of twenty focus points around the disc. Without preamble, ribbons of dense energy flashed across the face of the disc, concentrating into a glowing ember in its middle before focusing into a single stream, blasting out of the front of the Super-dreadnought with tremendous force.

The beam smashed into the planet, buckling the surface of a continent and blasting through the defensive vessels, scattering them like gnats.  Atmosphere seethed out from the contact point, clearing away from the blistering surface as a pulse erupted from the supergun, slamming into Mainor like a fist.  Half the world’s ocean flash-boiled, leaving a scorched plain in its wake.  The beam punched through the planetary crust, penetrating the mantle and sending ribbons of heat and energy into the core.

The planet caved in around the impact point like a punctured ball, ribbons of magma spewing out of its hulk as a noxious cloud of poisonous steam began to spread out over the crushed surface.

The beam stopped, and the forward section of the Super-dreadnought slowly closed.  The Kastans practiced massive retaliation, and Mainor’s participation in the blockade and near-invasion of their world, according to their principles, signified an abdication of their right to live.  The planet would take weeks to cool and contract, disintegrating into a dead hulk of rock floating in space, and what population remained would almost surely die before help arrived.  With its Vault temporarily exhausted, the Super-dreadnought Atlas rotated on its axis toward Mainor’s sister planet and the next participant in the blockade, Dennier.

***

With Tim back inside and safe, the Lady of Dreams had completed its transformation.  High above the atmosphere, the massive mechanoid form moved quickly to intercept the other Dreadnought, propelled on the ship’s thrusters in its leg sections.  The Vindicator, having no such configuration, turned the whole of its batteries against the new threat.

The transformed mechanoid shuddered under the barrage of laser fire, beaten with the force of a tempest of flashing, surging energy as it pressed its advantage.  The huge mechanical hands slammed into the body of its opponent, rending metal and ripping the hull open down its lateral axis.  The ArvaMonica took the opportunity to turn in space, getting away as fast as it could from the battle raging before it.

The Lady of Dreams was suddenly blasted by a thick, green blast from the Triumphant, which had altered its battle stance to face them.  The dreadnought was taking damage from a nearby Mainoran battleship, and had turned its massive bulk into a planetary shield against the allies that now took advantage of the ship’s preoccupation with the giant mechanoid.

Natasha recovered from the shaking floor, raking her hand over a bleeding mouth.  “Oh no,” she growled. “They’re not taking us out that easily.”

Robbins, without command, moved from his engineering section to a gunner’s station.  “Preparing the Woofer, ma’am.”

“Draw back so we can get a clear shot,” she ordered.  The Lady of Dreams propelled itself back several hundred meters from the wounded Vindicator, which began to rotate up and away on its Y-axis from its opponent.  In its wake, a swarm of tiny fighters swooped forward, attacking the mechanoid with thousands of blasts of white-green laser fire.

“Mr. Robbins?” she stated.

Robbins was watching a red bar on his monitor slowly climb as a gentle hum filled the sparking, shuddering bridge.  “Almost there.”

“Almost isn’t good enough!” she called. The cougar’s right hand twitched over a wide, red pressure switch while the left clicked off toggle switches as the red bar rose.  Suddenly the bar turned white and he turned slightly in the seat.

“Grab something,” he ordered the bridge.

***

For a moment, there was no sound on the ship-wide communicators monitoring the battle. The eruptions, explosions, and screams of wrenching metal all around were hushed in an instant, leaving only multi-colored flares and trails of thick smoke against the white pearl of the planet below.  Even the lights of the bridge dimmed slightly as the ship strained under the weight of its weapon.

Then, as if in answer, space rippled around the Lady of Dreams, a wrinkle in the fabric of space spread out from the center of its mass, spreading out like a cone and shooing the mass of fighters away like a sweeping hand.  The Vindicator shuddered, its great body trembling with heavy, ultra-low frequency vibrations as whole sections broke off, splintering first in slivers and then in massive blocks of rending metal. The Woofer’s technology was able to transmit such vibrations through the vacuum of space itself and the Dreadnought cracked in the middle, each of two sections twisting off in opposite directions.

Communication channels were suddenly filled with distress calls, earsplitting alarms that drowned out even the returned-explosions of the battle surrounding them.  The Lady of Dreams had been propelled back several kilometers from the force of their super weapon, but it was slowly moving back into position to face the Triumphant.

***

Below, the Promagistrate watched the screens displaying the battle high above them.

“Report,” she ordered to no one in particular.

“The Lady of Dreams has developed a weapon for which is presenting an unexpected threat to our Dreadnoughts.”

“I understand,” she replied, moving to another panel.  The elegant leader inserted the heavy silver pendant into a slot and opened a console.  The keyboard moved away to reveal a wide, spiraled slot which spun open.  A heavy silver ball rose from the gap, displaying a projected image of Argeia above.  Movement in the command center halted as Promagistrate Bianca Nikata threw up red crosshairs and placed it squarely on the Lady of Dreams.

“Warn our ships that we’re opening a conduit,” she purred.

***

The pair moved like quicksilver, their bodies a blur in the flashing metal of their weapons and fluttering fabric of their tunics as Conn and Devon fought.  Back and forth, trading and deflecting blows with the precision of surgeons, trickles of black Kastan blood spattering their clothing from what winning thrusts each had made.  The males danced through the hangar area, bounding off walls and pillars in acrobatic movements that made the battle seem more a dance than a life-and-death confrontation, pirouettes of deadly grace as the pair moved serpentine around the deserted dry-dock.  Each of them fought to kill, each skilled in the combat arts of his people, each determined to outpace the other—neither gained or held the upper hand for long – they were too evenly matched.  No words had been exchanged; it was poor form to speak to someone you are trying to kill.  Taunts, accusations and other such things were for amateurs and those who had watched too many vids.

For a moment the two broke apart, circling one another as they allowed their weapons to catch and scatter the light of the hangar.  Each appraised his opponent’s aura, neither able to read correctly through the haze of physical exhaustion.  A moment later, their battle re-engaged, the blue-white metal of their weapons creating an odd concerto of musical chimes.

On the widest ring of the help desk, Navarre found herself matched by two adversaries.  They fought like the Silloni magnate she had dispatched, and she wondered if the canine had been a student of that one, since the Silloni girl certainly had.  Their Siilv katanas slashed through the air, and the Kastan killer had to counter attacks from both sides at once with her wicked sickles.

The Kastan moved toward the Silloni girl, engaging her more fiercely as the collie pulled back to catch a momentary breath.  The Silloni parried a flurry of blows before Navarre lashed out with a kick that sent her to the smooth surface of the ring.  She then moved back to whirl a glancing block up against the canine’s weapon.

Samantha brought down her blade with a fierce resolve, its razor point directly at the killer’s face as both combatants heaved in exertion.  A quick look backward confirmed that the Silloni was on her feet again, her weapon ready to come down if the Kastan dropped her guard.

Navarre lashed out at Jazz with the double-sickle while slamming a heel into Samantha’s gut and sending her to the floor.  The collie fell backward, dropping the katana from heavy hands as the Kastan turned to face the Silloni.  The pair whirled their weapons in a tempest of flashing metal as Navarre feinted several blows to the girl’s spiral horn, a calculated psychological attack on her fear.

***

The Triumphant had moved back, so had the Prophetic and the Starfist, leaving the planet protected only by its defense grid.  Captain Natasha felt a cold chill ripple up her spine as she watched them withdraw.

“Ma’am,” a young jaguar at a console said.  “There’s something coming from the surface of the planet.  It is very small, but it has a weird energy signature.”

“Show me,” she said, peering into the screen at a tiny white dot, sizzling up from the planet at them.  “Magnify,” Natasha ordered, and the image boosted up.

Slashing up from the planet’s surface, a tiny white ring—the size of a basketball—was hurtling toward their ship.  Against the white planet and its sizzling silver defense grid, it had been imperceptible.  “Let’s get the hell out of here…” she began.

Too late, the transformed Lady of Dreams began to move its massive bulk away from the minuscule object hurtling at it.  But the white ring never got close enough to hit before it flared, creating an infinitesimal black spot, invisible against the dark of space, in the center of its diameter.

The Lady of Dreams shuddered, wrenched with an attack rivaling the force of thousands of weapons.  The whole ship protested with an ear-splitting scream as the limbs lurched forward, stressed metal splintering off at its weakest junctures.  The tiny ring drew matter greedily toward its center, where smaller ships disappeared in a space the size of a pinprick.  The Dreadnought and several of the surrounding allied vessels were ripped apart in an instant, the legs and arms of Captain Natasha’s mechanoid disappeared into the tiny, black event horizon.  An instant later, the weapon imploded into a whorl of dust, taking whole starships and deformed, wrenched metal within its tiny wake before disappearing altogether.  What remained of the Lady of Dreams twisted haphazardly in space, spinning out of control without its propulsion systems, sucked away with the legs of the massive mechanoid form.

***

Merlin did not know quite what to think as he stood before the tall, slender figure of Bianca Nikata.  The Kastan Promagistrate was not beautiful per se, but her bearing and the quality of her presence radiated a magnificence he could not quite put his finger on.  She was flanked by two very tough-looking guards, one male and one female, and Victor Faltane stood behind her with an expressionless face.  The Blue Horizon’s captain could tell that this was an awkward scene for him.

“I understand that you have some information to give me?” she purred in unaccented Standard.  The Promagistrate did not bother looking at Renny or Durant as the two put up a front before her two bodyguards.  Merlin could feel the four warriors sizing each other up with a sensation like electric current.

“Yes,” Merlin replied, slightly comforted that there was no language barrier.  “We were able to decode the Cold Fire virus using a keycode provided to us by the one who wrote it.”

“Wrote it?” Faltane interjected.  “How do you know who wrote it?”

Merlin sighed heavily, unwilling to implicate his brother, despite their troubled relationship.  “The author of the virus is apparently being kept as a prisoner somewhere by the terrorist group behind all these attempts to disrupt the Kastan inclusion into the Planetary Alignment. He embedded the keycode antidote within the virus itself and we were able to extract it.”

“And this keycode,” Nikata added.  “You have it?”

Merlin produced a thin crystal from his jacket pocket.  Another Kastan appeared from behind the Promagistrate and snatched it from his hands, disappearing as quickly as she had come.

“I understand that you recently transported a shipment of strawberries?” Nikata added, in the tone of light conversation.

“Uh… yes,” Sinclair wondered about the battle raging in the sovereign space overhead, “Will there be a cease-fire on the events going on right now?”

“Of course, business still.  Yes, there will be a cease-fire,” she replied.  A moment of pregnant silence followed, broken by the reappearance of the Kastan who had taken Merlin’s crystal.  The lackey arrived more slowly, with an air of satisfaction.  There followed a short, sharp conversation in the Kastan language that Merlin could not follow, but it appeared that they were satisfied with what they had found.  However, he made out the words Dennier and Earth in the cacophony of clicks and hisses.

The lackey disappeared again, and Nikata smiled warmly.  “Under the circumstances, Argeia will be withdrawing from the Planetary Alignment.  We are grateful for your contribution to this matter, Captain Sinclair, but your presence here is no longer appropriate.”

Merlin sighed in relief — he hated tense situations and the loss of this new world would be a scar on the Alignment, but he was neither politician nor diplomat, and he was glad that the end was in sight.

However, from the corner of his eye he noticed Faltane flinch.  The look crossing the human’s face was hard to read, but Merlin got the distinct impression that he had somehow stolen the diplomat’s thunder.  He shot what he hoped was a conciliatory look in Faltane’s direction, which fell flat when the Promagistrate turned with a dismissive gesture in their direction and departed the scene.

Moments later, Merlin Sinclair and Victor Faltane stood alone in the atrium, the archers’ bow arc of light glancing off the citadel in a large window behind them.  Renny and Durant shrank back, unsure of what to do next.

“You’ve…” Faltane said slowly, “just saved an awful lot of people.”

“Yeah,” Merlin replied dryly.  “Sorry about that.”

“No fault, no penalty,” Faltane said.  “Sometimes diplomacy fails and action wins.”  The human smiled, clapping a hand on Merlin’s shoulder.  “I’m just glad that this is resolved.”

Despite the man’s amity, Merlin could feel a tension in the grip of the hand on his shoulder.  Things had clearly not gone the way Faltane had wanted them to.

“I need to get back to my crew,” Merlin added.  Faltane nodded.

***

Natasha ground her teeth as a plume of flame boiled up from the body of the Lady of Dreams.  That blow was fatal… her heart sank as the weight of that fact sunk in.  This ship, in which she had devoted the last decade of her life and most of her investment money, was everything she had lived for.  All the technology she had created and commissioned, all the advances she had made, all the memories that these walls held were going down.  It was a dream, and it was her dream that was dying before her eyes.  Ship systems were sparking, ribbons of electricity snaking across panel boards as her bridge crew fought to keep control of the faltering mech.

“Crew,” she announced, her voice choked, “abandon ship.  There’s nothing else we can do at this point — and I’m not going to let them take me.”

The others did not move—stunned to hear those words from their captain.

“Move it!” she shouted.  There followed a stampede of bodies, gathering what they could and darting down the hallway.  In a few seconds, only Robbins, the boy Tim, and the quartermaster Jacob remained.

“Why am I not surprised,” she rumbled.  “Jacob, take Tim to a life pod.”

“I’m not leaving,” Tim said, bluntly stating a fact not open to debate.

“Do as I say, boy,” she growled.  Jacob took the youth by one hand, but he pulled away, closing the space between himself and his captain with a determined grimace.

“I’m not leaving,” he begged, his voice on the edge of tears.  “I love you.”

A moment of tense silence filled the bridge, and the captain sighed.  She knelt down before him, taking the boy in a tenacious embrace.  “I love you too, kiddo.  But you have to go on without me,” she soothed.

“But I don’t want to!” he protested, emotion overcoming his voice as he clutched her closer.  The two stayed like that for several long seconds, each drawing strength from the others’ embrace as explosions continued to fill the doomed bridge.

“Tim,” she purred, “I need you to forgive me.”

Tim tensed, “For what?”

She drew him closer, hugging tightly—too tight.  Bewildered, the boy tried to push away before he realized she had opened the battery pack on the belt of his endosuit and cut the power to the relays.  In another instant, the boy sagged in her arms, the technological exoskeleton no longer giving him the power of movement.  She allowed him to fall away, and their eyes met.  The look on his face carried one word:  Why?

Natasha could not find a reply, but rather slid another object into the battery pack on the rear of his suit.  She lifted her face, “Jacob.”

The quartermaster stepped forward and hefted the boy into his arms, then turned down the hall.  Tim squirmed mightily with a will that could have moved a mountain, protesting in a sob-wracked howl.  Captain Natasha ground her teeth, fighting not to hear his frustrated screams echoing down the hall.

“Robbins,” she added.  He was at her side in an instant.  “Let me know when all the life pods are deployed.”

“Of course,” he replied, taking a position at a functioning console.  “Watch out for that smoke.”

“Thank you,” Natasha said, moving away from a trickle of fumes at her ankles, swallowing absently and rubbing the moisture from her eyes as the first flock of life pods launched from the body of the faltering hulk of the Lady of Dreams.

***

Jazz leapt up and across to the next inside ring, taking a moment to catch her breath before the killer followed her in a somersault meant more to confuse than impress.  Still, the Kastan backed away from her opponent, hands apart in a deliberate gesture of challenge.

Jazz did not take the bait, but stepped back toward the fallen collie nearby.

“Sam?” she shouted, never taking her eyes off the killer.

“I’ll… be right there!” the collie gasped, gathering herself together again.  Her katana had fallen over the side of the desk, and she fumbled for it.

In a lightning move, Navarre was across the circular desk and before her, lashing out with the pole arm.  The Silloni matched her, pressing forward.  The move surprised the Kastan, and she found her ankles tangled in the length of her own weapon.  Jazz thrust forward, her blade finding purchase in flesh as a ribbon of black liquid spat out of the contact point before Navarre tumbled off the perch and back onto the outer ring where Samantha had finally gathered herself.  As she fell, Navarre made a sound unlike anything they had ever heard before, the front of her tunic now mottled with her own oily blood.

The exclamation caused Devon and Conn to flinch, their own black eyes darting to the scene below for an instant.  Conn’s countenance fell for a fraction of an instant, but long enough for Devon to know that the scene below bothered him.

Devon moved forward, pressing his momentary advantage, drawing one of the three blades back into its scabbard to give himself more maneuverability with the weapon.  Conn followed suit in an instant, the two killers’ weapons flashing, whirling still as they moved serpentine across the polished floor of the open NIDAS hangar.  They were moving closer to a large, heavy gate sealed shut with an exotic whorl on symbols across its face and a bracer.

A moment later, the hangar filled with an audible rumble at their side.  Both the males started at the sound as the gate slowly rose, and Devon suddenly saw a noticeable black halo instantly flashing behind Conn.  He dropped, lashing a swirling leg out at Conn’s ankles, tripping the killer up in a tangle of limbs before dashing to the side to seek cover behind a pillar, his weapon retracting into a sharp snak! as he almost flew through the air.

And there, on the other side of the gate, was Commodore Blanc, the Heir Apparent, and the small entourage that followed them.  The Commodore’s eyes fell on the black-eyed Kastan lying winded on the floor before him, its tunic mottled with black blood, and his face turned up in a sneer.

Jape Devon had never seen another like himself panic.  Conn, the cold-blooded assassin who had seen and caused enough tragedy to steel himself against seemingly anything, began to wail and crawl backward in a desperate scramble to put distance between himself and the uniformed warrior before him.  He threw his hands up before his face to ward off any attack.  There was a terrifying hiss as Tabia Blanc drew from a pocket a small, sharp object that shimmered in the half light of the hangar.

“Seek,” the commodore commanded the tiny device, and it flashed out of his hand under its own power, leaving a blue-white trail in its wake.  In an instant, it bored through the assassin’s up-thrust arms with an impacting boom, burrowing into the viscera of his neck.  Conn struggled on the floor for an instant, his body wracked with spasms as the tiny object burrowed through his neck and into the skull, then erupted from the top of his head as thick black blood churned out in torrents to spill over the polished surface of the hangar floor.  The assassin’s body lay in a crumpled heap, spasming and twitching as the commodore approached it.

The entourage led the child to the silver ship as Tabia shielded the grisly scene with his cloak.  Jape Devon stood completely motionless behind the pillar, hardly daring to breathe as the group passed by him, moving toward the sleek silver vessel parked nearby.  There was a sizzling sound, as a laser cutting flesh, emanating from beneath the draping leather cloak as the party ushered the youngster into the vessel. Tabia whirled around to follow, pocketing the silver weapon as the assassin’s dying discharge slowly faded into the fabric of his black clothing.

Tabia stopped, looked around to see a Silloni female and some sort of canine near the help desk, resolved that they must be attached to that group of aliens bringing them the Cold Fire solution, and then turned to walk toward the ship.  Less than a minute later, the ship lifted on repulsors and slipped out of the NIDAS in a whisper of engines.

It took a moment for his heart to stop pounding, but Jape Devon slowly moved from around the pillar to note the neatly severed body of the assassin Conn lying in a pool of slippery, thick blood, the flesh of his face sheared neatly off and the underlying tissues spreading his face out in a rictus grin.  Devon’s eyes flitted to the other side of the hangar where Samantha lay prone, Jazz attending her as a gray shape moved from behind the help desk, stealthily stalking around to them.

He moved without thinking.  With a burst of energy from reserves he did not know possessed, Devon lashed out with his Delta, hurling the weapon at Navarre as the three blades slashed out of their scabbards.  The deadly projectile whirred across the hangar, slamming into the help desk between the assassin and her prey.  Jazz turned, fumbling with the katana as her muscles ached with exhaustion.

Navarre’s face jerked toward Devon, falling on the ruined body of her partner as it pulsed black blood onto the metal floor.

***

No going back now.

The Lady of Dreams buckled in the vacuum of space, its spine broken and the massive hulk slowly spiraling toward the planetary defense grid below, trailing thick columns of smoke and noxious fumes as the great ship expired.  Life support had sparked out a few seconds before and what air and temperature remained on the bridge was disappearing fast.  In the center of the massive area, Natasha sat on the broad center seat with the huge cougar who had been her second for years.  The two shared a bottle of the captain’s best brandy, holding hands as the fore section of the ship snapped, groaning under the weight of release as kilometers of metal twisted and screamed.

As the gleaming orb of Argeia’s white star appeared, splitting over the horizon like a crescent, the cities below glittered like jewels beneath the chromatic defense grid.  The two smiled, looking into each other’s eyes.  “We never had to take any of it seriously,” Natasha said, and pressed her mouth to his.  Robbins seized her in his arms and drew her close, dropping the bottle to the floor of the bridge as a maelstrom of electric sparks erupted around them.

The ruined hulk of the mighty ship descended further, its body convulsing as a living thing in the spasms of death, before striking the planetary defense grid of the planet below.  The Lady of Dreams glanced off the energy shield, igniting brighter than a solar flare, filling space like the flash of a star, and then sizzled out into a cloud of thick, gray smoke and debris.

***

Navarre pointed the double-sickle weapon at Devon as the black-eyed Kastan crossed the hangar for them.

“Oh no,” Jazz snarled, “you’re mine, bitch!”  She launched at the killer, the blue-white metal of her Siilv blade stabbing through the spaced between the extended blades of Devon’s Delta.  Navarre blanched and fell back, swooping under a blade and knocking the fatigued Silloni girl down.  Samantha was getting to her feet again, and the assassin’s lip curled.  There was no way she was going to be able to handle three foes at once, especially another Kastan.  Better to take care of these two and beat a hasty retreat.

The killer lunged to one side, caught herself as Jazz moved to compensate, and slashed her blade wide, aiming at Samantha’s middle.  The blades slashed through space, the end of the second blade finding purchase in Samantha’s body, sending her to the floor with a weak scream.  Navarre stopped, taking a moment to watch the prey fall, just as she had watched her master quiver in agony after his horn had been severed.

It was so easy to kill these off-worlders, she thought, that a sense of satisfaction was barely palpable.  Navarre turned to face Jazz, and found a heavy fist slamming into her gut.  Jazz had recovered quicker than she had thought, and the assassin found herself tumbling backward, her lurch interrupted by a searing pain stabbing in the back of her abdomen as her descent ground to an agonizing stop.  She glanced back to see that Samantha, her hands clutching at her middle as blood coursed over her fingers and onto the Japanese tunic beneath her jacket, held the grip of the katana that now stabbed forward out of her gut.  The wicked double-sickle clattered to the floor beside the assassin.

The moment stopped, as if suspended in space, the two women staring into one another’s faces.  Devon’s footfalls stopped as Navarre coughed up a burst of oily black blood and Jazz stepped forward with her katana upraised.

***

Promagistrate Nikata returned to the underground complex beneath the jade bunker.  The elegant Kastan found her staff assembled there, including Jean Blanc, Tabia’s brother.

“It has been brought to my attention that Commodore Blanc has slain a member of the original Hunt in the hangar,” she began.  A murmur of disbelief spread through the room, but quieted when she spoke again.  “He did not have time to search for its counterpart.  In addition, the solution to the rancid Cold Fire computer virus—which has caused the Alignment no end of death and tumult—has yielded more information than Captain Sinclair advised us of.  It contains a trace code back to Hunt equipment.  We now know that it was merely one link in a long chain designed to disrupt our world and usurp our power.  The acts of terrorism which we thought random were to purpose, and the slain Hunt was their architect from what information we now have.  This is the legacy of that cult, and all the more reason why they need to be stamped out.”

She turned to the boyish Jean, “We will not be re-establishing diplomatic or trade relations with the Planetary Alignment, but please extend our thanks to Jo Chan for all her efforts.”  Jean bowed graciously in acceptance.

“The Heir Apparent is to safety now,” she continued.  “We can only wonder what would have happened if the Hunt had gotten access to him.”

There followed a general noise of agreement from the collected voices.

***

Merlin entered the hangar of the NIDAS to a sight he knew he would dread.  At one end of the open area lay the twisted and broken corpse of one assassin.  No one else was visible.  The captain, Renny and Durant looked at one another, and then moved forward into the hangar.

“Samantha!” Merlin cried.

“Here!” came Jape Devon’s voice from the other side of the help desk.  The captain rounded the desk at top speed, skidding to a stop before a broken husk of a body.  The other assassin lay before him, her body slashed repeatedly and thoroughly expired.  Jazz had sustained a number of cuts and probably had a broken arm, and Devon was mottled with black bloodstains and cuts of his own.  But what held his gaze was the sight of Samantha lying in Jazz’s lap.  She was bleeding from the middle, and bore several other, smaller wounds.

Merlin fell to his knees before Samantha, drawing her into his lap with quivering arms, overcome with anguish.  He was awash in emotion and a pain he never knew he could feel.  It was as though the viscera of his breast were torn out, but much moreso than he had felt when he had thought Taro lost.  His mind wracked with all the things he should have said, all the things he should have done, but never took the time.  The wolf threw back his head in a howl of anguish, jostling her body in his pain and frustration.

Samantha groaned, one hand clenching involuntarily at her middle as her captain shifted her.  She was alive, but unconscious from fatigue and loss of blood.  He pressed a hand over her middle, feeling the lateral slash across her flesh.  It was not deep, and there were no exposed organs.

“My people can get her fixed up,” Devon offered. “She’ll live.”

“We have to get her to the Lady of Dreams!” Merlin barked.

“No…” Devon said quietly, “we can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” his voice trembled slightly, “there is no more Lady of Dreams to take her to.”

Stillness filled the hangar, oppressive and weighty at the words Devon spoke.  Renny, Durant and Ashe stood in silence as Devon strode over to the help desk and tapped keys on a glowing panel.  “They’ll be here shortly.  They’ll take care of her.”

But Merlin drew Samantha closer, placing his hand over her bloody middle and keeping the pressure on it.

***

iii. forces of nature

Samantha was taken to a medical facility in Donisia, the center of the capitol city and only a few kilometers from the NIDAS.  Physicians saved her life, but Samantha would have to undergo physical therapy and take it easy for a few months.

The white pearl of the planet Argeia slowly slipped out of sight as the Blue Horizon drew away.  What remained of the blockade of ships still sizzled and sparked as hulls collapsed and the occasional explosion lit the black of space around them.  Rescue ships had arrived and recovered most of the survivors, and more ships were arriving now to remove the blasted hulks of the destroyed vessels.  The Hestran flagship had gratefully collected all of the life pods from the Lady of Dreams, and Jazz—as their ranking officer—had taken the time to make sure they were all right.  Each of them would later be processed and sent back to their respective homeworlds, but she took custody of the emotionally devastated Tim herself, having special plans for his future. Merlin looked out the observation window, his emotions a maelstrom inside.

Samantha was doing better, but would need weeks of rest and during that time, they would have to—he stopped… who did he think he was kidding?  He wanted to hold her and stay by her side, but he needed to be strong now for the rest of the crew.  She was resting quietly, healing with all the support that Tanis could give her.  Merlin sighed, remembering how welcome Natasha had been when they had crashed after vanquishing Sagan.  But that chance was gone now.

When Merlin had returned to his ship, a news flag had been waiting.  The captain of the luxury cruise ship Argonautia had been rescued in deep space, following a collision with another ship, and his former chief engineer Patch had been aboard.  Patch had made it to a terminal and sent a message to his brother, and Pockets had asked that they meet him at a rendezvous point.

Victor Faltane strode up to stand beside Merlin before the observation window, the long drape of his traveling cloak trailing behind.  He found his presence comfortable, even though the human’s composure had been tense and guarded, like a thin sheet of muslin stretched tightly over broken glass.

“It’s a shame,” Faltane began.  “There were such great things that we could have been to each other, but greed had to get in the way and now they’re all but lost to us.”

“History,” Merlin began, hoping that some deep, cosmic comment would reveal itself to him, “is full of such events.”  The canine suddenly felt as though it was not much in the line of deepness, but then he realized that he was too tired to make any such statements.

“As it ever will be,” Faltane responded, unfazed by the comment, staring out the window as the last vestiges of the white orb passed out of sight.

“It’s a pity that we lost the Lady of Dreams, too,” Merlin mused.  “Vault technology would have been an incredible boon to us all.”

“Vault technology has more applications than most people think.  Natasha had an incredible idea, but limited herself to applications of travel across only distance.  Strange, considering that she was such an inventive venture capitalist.  It would be interesting to see what might have happened if other developers could have gotten access to that.”

Faltane turned to face Sinclair, extending a hand.  “Thank you for escorting me back to Earth.  My staff and I are quite grateful.”

Sinclair took the offered hand, “It’s the least we can do to help you.  Your assistance in brokering this, even the way it ended, will be something I at least will remember.  We’ve lost so much, from Senator Ferry and all those poor people who died in the terrorism, to Captain Natasha.  So many important and influential people… it’s like all the gods have been snuffed out.”

Faltane sighed with a shrug.  “True, and we will mourn for all of them now that this is over. On the other hand, I wouldn’t say it was a total loss.   We now have a fresh supply of Siilv back on the market.  You know, it’s like my father taught me, and what I’ve taught all my own staff members.”

“What is that?” Merlin asked.

“That in pain, there must be gain.”  The human smiled, drew the hood of his pale cloak over his head, and returned to his tiny ship in the Blue Horizon’s cargo hold.

EXPANDING HORIZONS

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Blue Horizon PA1138

Captain’s Journal

I need a vacation.

My crew and I are tired. We’re worn out from our adventures, and resulting from recent events of such enormous circumstance, our immediate future looks uncertain in the business of interstellar commerce. We escorted Victor Faltane and his aides to Earth six weeks ago, and without anything else on our delivery schedule following the delivery of Martian hematite for the Terraformation Corporation, I plotted a course for Dennier from there. My sister and brother-in-law have wanted us to stop in for an extended visit for some time and this looks like the perfect opportunity for it. Instead of occupying a rental pad at the spaceport, Bill has invited me to set the Blue Horizon in an empty field he owns adjacent to their home for the duration until business picks up again; this whole incident with Argeia has disrupted interstellar commerce across the Planetary Alignment and another forthcoming customer might be a while.

Our next pickup after Argeia was to be on Mainor, but for all practical purposes now, it doesn’t exist anymore; everything on the rest of our previous schedule has been withdrawn by worlds now distrustful of one another by this whole affair. Once on Dennier, I’ll grant indefinite leave to my crew, as we have no indication of when we’ll have another interstellar delivery. I have already instructed everyone to try to stay nearby in case one does come up, but they are otherwise free to do as they wish. At least this time, I have reserves in the company account in the event of extended down-time.

Jape Devon has departed us for a long-needed vacation of his own. An edict was issued from his government that the black-eyed members of his race like himself are now persona-non-grata, and for all practical purposes he can never go back home. There’s now considerable antipathy against Kastani in general and I’ve read reports of lynching in places. Rather a depressing end to have to come to after all he has done for the safety of the Planetary Alignment as a whole. Trusted by my crew, I offered him a place amongst us, but he declined, assuring me that we would be safer without him and that he could survive well enough on his own.

Samantha is recovering well. The Kastani’s quick medical action kept her from losing more blood and they did a good job on her. If her current healing is any indication, she will either have little or no scar left beneath her fur when she’s fully recovered.

She can sit up now without pain, but she still has to stay off her feet for a while. Pockets added anti-grav generators to the bottom of a small, backless seat cushioned with a large red pillow, and attached a small platform where she can rest her slateboard as needed so she can still access the ship’s computer. We’ve already gotten used to seeing her float around the ship on it, and she likes it so much that she told Pockets that she might continue to use it even after she’s back on her feet.

Diplomatic relations throughout the Planetary Alignment are currently under extraordinary stress. This has been a period of change like no other I have seen in a long while – so much has happened in such a short period of time. There is even talk of new aggression between Nalirra and a sister world that isn’t a member of the Planetary Alignment that has made Tanis nervous.

Due to the siege against Argeia – or the Siilv War, as it has since become known on the news vids – interplanetary commerce and trust have broken down almost completely throughout parts of the Planetary Alignment. The ruination of Mainor after the attack by the Kastani’s super-dreadnought has left it a darkened rock of death. What atmosphere remains of the fused planet consists of opaque, poisonous clouds, and released heat from its core is trapped beneath a virtual greenhouse that has efficiently killed all life on the once-populous world. Probes sent to the surface by SPF investigators last only a few minutes before breaking down in the heat and acidic atmospheric conditions. Natives of Mainor who were off-world for one reason or another now have no home to return to. It’s a stark reminder to the rest of the Planetary Alignment how close Dennier and Earth were to the same fate. For all appearances, Mainor now resembles Rombess, the small poisonous world closest in orbit around our sun; I’m told the environment is similar to what naturally exists on Venus in the Sol system.

Devon explained that at the heart of every dictatorship is the idea that there is no rule of law superior to the will of those who hold power or the ideology they are promoting. Such was the position of several of the worlds in the PA when we invited Argeia to join our ranks. Argeia has slammed its doors shut for obvious reasons, but there are now a few thousand tons of Siilv on the market again. It will be enough to keep Brandt going for ten more years if only they use it, especially now that Intergalactic Aid has been dissolved. I suspect they will probably hoard it to drive up prices, but in doing so, their economy could break down further. As if that was not bad enough, more of the unstable corollary element, ionic Siilv, has shown up as well. I.S. is so volatile that it vibrates slightly in your hand, sort of like putting your tongue on the ends of a small power-pack. ionic Siilv could possibly replace liquid crystal as a cell fuel, but there just isn’t enough of it outside of Argeia.

The Lady of Dreams was lost in the fighting. Despite her reputation as a pirate, Captain Natasha acted valiantly. A few of her surviving crew members have stated that it seemed the captain’s purpose in the whole affair was not to exploit the situation to her advantage, but it was her intention to act as a deterrent to those hostile to Argeia. Unfortunately, her intentions were misread by the Kastans, who attacked her Hammerdine with one of their own as she tried to protect an important Hestran vessel merely by its presence. The Kastans fired upon the Lady of Dreams without provocation, but Natasha refused to sit idle. Once her vessel was actively attacked, she returned aggressive fire in self-preservation. Unfortunately, the Lady of Dreams did not survive a final assault from an unknown weapon launched from the surface of the planet.

In the short time I’d known Captain Natasha, I had grown to respect her brilliant mind, and I believe I was beginning to understand her goals, if not her methods. Due to her gallant actions which resulted in her end, the Hestran monarch has cleared all past charges against her and has even given her the title of Hero. Given her personality, I don’t know what she would have thought of that, but I’m sure it makes the Hestran politicians feel better about themselves for surviving a place where they shouldn’t have been in the first place.

Laura Jazz — “Laura” to us, “Jazz” as she was known to the crew of the Lady of Dreams — has left for Sillon to rejoin her family, and she has taken young Tim Mo with her on the long voyage. She’d formed an attachment to Natasha’s cabin boy during his rehabilitation and will take him on as her personal ward. Certainly, her father would welcome them both.

Pockets had a chance to look over the boy’s endosuit construction and he was impressed. Endosuits are commonplace for visitors to heavy gravity planets like Hestra, but Natasha’s design is far more sophisticated than those currently on the market. Although she was the communications officer, Jazz was also one of her captain’s many engineers and enjoyed my chief’s enthusiasm for her captain’s technology.

During his examination, Pockets discovered a capsule filled with data crystals in the empty battery pack, so he removed them for further study. He restored Tim’s power supply, and Cindy worked with the boy to help get him past the emotional trauma. It was heart-wrenching work, given the hardship Tim has endured in his short life. I can only hope that on Sillon he can find something to fill the gap left in his soul.

Pockets has been reviewing the investigative reports concerning his brother’s ship. The cruise liner, Argonautia, was destroyed in a collision with another vessel due to a malfunction caused by the Cold Fire virus. From what I’ve heard, it had a crew of nine hundred with over fourteen hundred passengers on board at the time, but there were less than seven hundred survivors picked up in escape pods afterward.

Jasper Porter was one of those survivors found in a pod with the Argonautia’s captain and two others. All surviving crew members have been detained for questioning by the ship’s parent company as they investigate the situation on why a pleasure cruise ship was in a war zone. We have had no word when or if Patch will be assigned to another company ship, but Pockets is hoping we’ll get the chance to see him again before he’s shipped off elsewhere.

We’ve had no leads to Lucas’ whereabouts following the war. As much as I hate to admit it, things could have been a lot worse if my flea-bitten brother hadn’t encrypted the solution into the virus itself. There’s a very high probability that he’s dead, a casualty of the war, and all I can do is hope he lived long enough to know he helped stop that war; considering he lived the life of a drifter, we may never get any word on his fate.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Cindy tapped a pad and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “I’ve disabled the artificial gravity,” she announced. “Air Authority has cleared us to land outside the spaceport traffic and we’re now approaching the approved landing site at the Wallace residence. We’ll be on the ground in just a moment.”

Merlin checked his controls and gently lowered the freighter onto field adjacent to the house that belonged to his brother-in-law. Merlin and Renny went through their shutdown checklist as Cindy rushed through a side door of the bridge.

“Okay, we’re down,” the wolf said. “Cindy, please tell everyone…”

“She’s gone to the head,” Renny said.

Merlin looked back toward the door to the lavatory and shrugged. He stood up, moved to the com terminal and turned the intercom system back on.

“All hands, listen up,” he broadcast. “For now, you can bunk in your quarters on the ship or take advantage of my sister’s hospitality in their home. You’re free to go wherever you wish, but take a DataCom with you anytime you leave the vicinity. We don’t have any other jobs lined up at the moment and may be down for a while, but you never know when you might need to get in touch with me or one another, and you will also need it if there’s a job recall. Make the most of your downtime.” He shut off the intercom and then leaned against the console.

“I wonder if your sister knows a local gal I can snuggle up with,” Renny mused.

Merlin grinned at his feline friend. When he had first come on board as the Blue Horizon’s new navigator, Renny had not had much experience with women, but in the two years he had been there, the cheetah had grown more outgoing and flirtatious.

When Taro’s fate had been uncertain, Renny’s attitude had been dark and withdrawn, but after Merlin had received word that she was alive and recuperating on Hestra, the navigator’s outlook had improved greatly. Renny had accepted that the vixen may never return to life on a freighter following such a traumatic experience, but she was alive and that’s all that mattered.

“I thought you and Lori—”

“Not in a while,” the navigator replied with a shrug as he stood up and stretched his arms. “Our cute bunny has plenty of attention from the other guys. She and Pockets already have a date into town planned after we all get settled.”

“Well,” the captain replied, “I’m sure you can find someone quickly enough.”

Renny grinned at him as the pair headed off the bridge. “Are you and Max staying here with your sister?”

Merlin nodded and then they moved out toward the lift. “Of course, she wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. His face grew serious before he added, “I also need to tell her about Lucas.”

“Yeah, he surprised me, too.”

Cindy opened the door of the small toilet and peeked out onto the bridge. Seeing it was empty, she moved across the room to the communication terminal and keyed up a recent message. She stared at it for a moment with a frown and then quickly deleted the communiqué. This was not a day she wanted to face.

***

Durant was already at the controls of the Blue Horizon’s large bay door and had begun to raise it before anyone else had descended from the upper decks. They had no cargo to unload, but after all their time in space, the hold could use a good airing out. Even before the panel lifted above his knees, he could smell the fresh aroma of a recent spring rain, as well as the salty flavor of the nearby sea. The bay door faced the east and the morning sunlight began to stream into the hold. The bear whistled a nameless tune softly to himself as he waited for the door to finish rising. His first order of business would be to get a ride into town to find something sweet to eat.

He heard a quiet shuffle outside the door and looked down to see a pair of booted feet below the rising panel. He stared at the boots curiously, and as the door cleared his field of vision, his eyes went wide.

Standing before the loadmaster was a shapely female fox with fur of ginger, white and black. She was dressed in a pair of loose-fitting denim jeans and a powder blue sleeveless blouse with half the buttons open from the top. Clipped to the fur near her left ear and swaying in the breeze was a blue-tipped white feather hanging from a small ornate disk. She stood with her weight centered mainly over her left leg and a hand rested on her right hip. Beside her was a small red suitcase. The vixen wore a large grin above orange, slotted eyes.

He started to take a step forward, but suddenly became lightheaded and began to tilt. Taro Nichols rushed forward and took the heavy bear in her arms. Without dense Hestran musculature, she would not have been able to manage his bulk, but it seemed she was in good physical shape. She set him upright and smiled into his puzzled face.

“Hello, Durant,” she said happily.

Durant shook his head to clear the cobwebs and then returned her smile. “It sure is good to see you again, girl,” he said softly, his large brown eyes growing moist. He drew her into a warm embrace, but she had other plans. Taro rose up on the tips of her toes and gave him a lingering kiss on the lips; it was the first kiss she had ever given him in all the years they had known one another and it was warm and full of emotion. The accountant nearly melted beneath her before she finally drew back a step.

Durant looked down at her with a smile that would not leave his face. “How did you know we’d be here?” he asked as he reached toward the intercom control.

The vixen shushed him with a raised finger to her lips and looked past him into the cargo hold. “I’ll answer all questions later,” she replied. “Don’t broadcast my presence to anyone else yet. I want to greet everyone as they come out.”

Durant looked a little uncomfortable. “We’ve had a few changes in personnel since you’ve been gone,” he told her.

Taro looked at him with an understanding smile. “Well, I have been away a little over a year,” she said, “so I suppose I should have expected it.” She studied him a moment and asked, “Are you feeling okay, Durant?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

“You look tired, and even a little… grizzled.” She smiled a little when she said the last word.

Durant chuckled. “I’m getting old, girl,” he said to her. “This whole mess we just got out of does have me feeling tired, though. I need the downtime.” He reached up and stroked the soft feather near her ear with a smile. “This is a nice touch.”

“Thank you, it was a gift.” Taro gave him another hug before she stepped back. “Okay,” she said, “besides me, who else has gone?”

“When it looked like we would not have work for a long time, Patch left us for a job as an engineer on a cruise liner,” Durant answered. “Unfortunately, his ship was lost in a collision with another when that Cold Virus hit. I heard he made it out in an escape pod and is now awaiting assignment to another ship.”

“Wow, that’s tough.”

Durant shrugged. “Yeah. Anyway, we’ve acquired two more crew members, Cindy and Lorelei. You’ll meet them in a bit.”

The red fox nodded and then glanced back up at him. “And the others?”

“Still alive, kicking and causing a fuss,” he said with a chuckle. “They’ll all be glad to see you. How long is your visit?”

Taro looked at him for a long moment with an expression that almost looked as if his words stung. Finally, she settled on a humble expression and replied, “Durant, I’m not just here for a visit… If Merlin will have me back, I’d like to crew with the Blue Horizon again.”

The bear pulled her back into a soft hug and said, “You’ve been greatly missed, Taro. Because of this war mess, we don’t have any current contracts, but I’m sure Merlin will be glad to see you again.”

Taro looked up around her when she finally pulled away. “The new ship’s bigger,” she said. “I almost didn’t recognize her when you landed, but Merlin’s sister said this was the Blue Horizon.”

“Where is Shannon?” he asked, looking across the grassy field toward a large nearby house.

“She’s making sure the guest rooms are ready. You know her, Durant. It’s just she and Bill, but she’s still a homemaker.”

“Hey, Durant,” Pockets’ country accent called out from the interior of the cargo bay, “You wanna come with us? Max and I are—” The voice ended in a small squeak and then running footsteps came from the shadows. Taro turned with a smile as the short raccoon jumped up into her arms gleefully.

“Taro!” the engineer exclaimed cheerfully. “Goodness, but it’s great to see you!”

“Hello, Pockets,” she said. The red fox closed her eyes and held him warmly for a moment. As with Durant, she gave the raccoon an unexpected kiss, letting her lips linger before she finally set him on his feet. When she looked down at him, the diminutive engineer was rubbing tears from his eyes. Standing behind him was Maximillian, and it was her turn to stare in wonder.

The German shepherd youth with the light blue eyes was no longer a scrawny, former slave and cabin boy. He had to be seventeen years old by now, she thought. He had grown taller and a little muscular since she had last seen him, and he also looked as if he was more confident with himself. She was unaware that Samantha had been instructing him in the Silloni martial arts, and that he had been weight-training with Renny. He had matured a lot in recent times and was beginning to look like an adult.

“Do you remember me?” she asked him. He had been on board less than a year at the time of Sagan’s attack and she did not know how much he might recall of her.

“Aye, I do,” Maximillian replied, his hands in his pockets. “Are you feeling better?” he asked.

Taro walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Much better, thank you,” she said. She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips and then pulled back to wink at him. “You’re looking good, Max,” she said to him. “I’m glad to see you again. Have you become a gourmet cook by now?”

Pockets slapped the canine on the shoulder with a laugh, and then looked up at the vixen. “Actually, he’s becoming a capable mechanic now, Taro,” he explained. “Max is more comfortable with engine grease on him than cooking oil. Someone else feeds us these days. “

“Yeah,” Max finally spoke with a smile, the feeling of her kiss lingering on his lips, “I didn’t really have a knack for the kitchen.”

“Don’t let him kid you, Taro,” Durant said. “He did just fine keeping us fed, but he wanted the chance to learn how to maintain our ship instead.”

“Taro!” Tanis raced across the empty cargo bay, and grabbed her into a fierce hug with his eyes closed tightly against her chest. Taro lifted his chin to pull his pointed nose up from her cleavage, and when he opened his eyes, the desert fox’s eyes were moist. She kissed her former lover deeply.

“Whoa-ho,” a new voice said with a giggle. “Who’s Tanis so wrapped up in?”

Taro pulled away from the medic and looked up to see a smiling white rabbit standing beside them. Tanis turned to look and grinned at the ship’s cook.

“Taro,” he said, “this is Lorelei, the one who feeds the hungry masses these days.”

“Taro!” Lori said with a big grin and clapped her hands together. “I’ve heard so many good things about you.”

“Thank you, Lorelei,” the vixen replied pleasantly.

Samantha floated up to the group on her anti-grav cushion and said, “I wanna hug, too!”

Taro looked down at her friend, and her eyes went wide at the sight of the bandages wrapped around her middle. “Ohmigosh! What happened to you, Sam?” she exclaimed as she knelt down in front of the Border collie.

“I tried to follow in your footsteps,” Samantha answered with a grin. “I tangled with someone who wanted to gut me like a fish.”

Taro’s own eyes grew moist and she leaned forward to give the Border collie a warm hug. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine with some rest. My wounds weren’t nearly as bad as yours.”

“Thank goodness! You’ll have to tell me all about it later.”

“We’ve missed you so much,” Samantha said to her with emotion. “So very much!”

“I’ve missed you all, too,” Taro whispered in a choked voice.

“What’s going on?” another new voice asked merrily. “Looks like a reunion!”

“Cindy, this is Taro,” Lorelei said.

“Oh.”

Taro straightened up and gave the newcomer a friendly smile, but the mouse did not return the courtesy. The vixen started to open her mouth to say something to break the sudden awkward silence, but a body of golden yellow fur and black spots jumped in front of her.

Without a word at all, Renny wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, the excitement in his large eyes sparkling. When he put her back down, he leaned her backward and kissed her long and hard. It did not matter to him who was watching. He pulled away after a moment and allowed her to catch her breath as most of the others laughed aloud.

“Renny, dear,” Taro said to him in a soft voice, a finger tracing light patterns across the front of his shirt, “I’m glad to see you, too.” She let her eyes glide over his physique and then returned her gaze to his uncertain expression.

The cheetah looked deep into her eyes and swallowed. “The last time I saw you,” he said with difficulty, “you’d been sliced open by that demon and you were dying. I’ve had so many nightmares.”

Taro bit her bottom lip and gently took his face in her hands. “I’m alive and the demon is dead,” she said. “I’ve had a long road to recovery, but I’m back in shape and doing well.”

Renny finally smiled, and then his eyes fell upon the feather she wore. He was about to ask if it had any special meaning, but his thoughts were interrupted.

“Aren’t you eggs gone yet?” a voice said to the small crowd from inside the ship. “You have funds in your accounts and time on your hands to scatter. You are free to leave.”

Taro pulled away from the cheetah with a grin and jumped into the surprised arms of the Blue Horizon’s captain with an uncharacteristic squeal of delight.

“Oh my…” was all he managed to say before she greeted him with a warm kiss on the lips. It was the first time Taro had ever kissed the wolf with more than just a peck on the cheek. Merlin felt his head swim, from the kiss and the shock of actually seeing her in the fur. When she finally let him go, Taro grinned at him with crinkled eyes. The wolf gaped at her, his voice lost to him.

Taro laughed and then looked at the group around her, shrugging her shoulders sheepishly.

“I’m so glad to see all of you,” she said. “I sent Merlin a message saying I would meet you here, but I wanted to surprise the rest of you. Did I succeed?”

“You certainly did!” Pockets piped up.

Merlin looked puzzled, but finally found his voice. “Message?” he asked. “I haven’t heard from you since that brief communiqué months ago to let me know you were recuperating on Hestra.” He turned to look at Cindy, but she stared down at her own feet. He furrowed his brow and started to say something, but Taro put a hand on his arm.

“Shannon wanted me to tell you all to go on up to the house as soon as you arrived,” the vixen said. “She will start supper in earnest as soon as she gets the chance to see you all.”

“Where’s Bill?” Merlin asked.

“He had to run in to town to take care of a spot of business, but should be back within the hour. He was already gone by the time I arrived.”

Everyone began walking across the field toward the large house by the sea, but Taro turned to Merlin. “Captain?” she asked. “Durant said you don’t have any job contracts right now, but when you do, I’d like to help out if you think there might still be a place for me on your crew.” Everyone stopped to look back at them and a few quick glances went toward Cindy, but the wolf was oblivious to them. He smiled with a canine grin and gently put a hand on the fox’s shoulder.

“Durant’s had your account on standby all this time,” he said cheerfully. “I’m sure we can find a place for you.”

“Wonderful!” Taro replied delightedly. She turned and looked toward their former crewmates. “I’m so glad to be back! This is where I belong.” The faces that looked back at her contained mixed expressions and she was puzzled. Briefly, she wondered if they even wanted her back after such a long absence, but then Renny grinned at her and gave her a wink. Merlin motioned toward the house and the group took his hint to resume walking.

Taro strode forward to walk beside Samantha’s floating pillow. Renny assumed a position on her other side and he listened in quietly as the Border collie began to fill her in on all that happened in her time away.

Durant held to the back of the group, and a soft tug of Merlin’s sleeve made the wolf slow down. “Y’know, boss,” the bear said quietly to his captain, “now that Taro’s back, you might want to make her your first officer again.”

Merlin looked at him and replied in an equally quiet voice, “You don’t like the extra pay?”

Durant grinned. “The pay is good, but that comes with the duties of the job. I’m already pulling triple duty with my hands full of the business accounts and taking care of our various cargoes too. Honestly, as far as I’m concerned, she’s welcome to have that responsibility back. It would free me up to focus on the more important work I’m best at.”

The captain nodded. “I’ll consider it, Durant, but she’s also been gone for a year. Our crew, the ship and even some aspects of the business have changed during her absence. Until she gets reacquainted with everything, it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else to put her over them so soon.”

“So, what are you going to do with her?” the loadmaster asked. “We’ve kept her account open and you’ve made sure a balance was maintained in her absence, but what job are you going to pay her to do?”

Merlin glanced toward the vixen, who was showing off her Hestran fitness for Max by picking up Renny and Tanis in each of her arms. After a moment, his gaze shifted to Cindy. She looked uncharacteristically gloomy and it suddenly occurred to him what it was that bothered her. In his original interview with her on Pomen, Merlin had told the mouse that the position he was hiring for was temporary, dependent upon whenever Taro ever returned to the Blue Horizon. Now that the vixen had indeed come back to them, and he had just told Taro in front of everyone that she could have a job back on his ship, he was certain that Cindy felt her days of employment were over, even though she had been with them a little over a year.

The captain frowned and shook his head. “I spoke without thinking,” he told his ursine friend. “That’s not like me, but I was so excited to see Taro again that I just didn’t even think about Cindy.”

Durant glanced at the mouse and nodded slightly. She was walking with the others, but her movements were listless and her eyes downcast; even her tail was limp behind her. “When are you going to…?” he asked, letting his words trail off.

Merlin looked at him and shook his head again. “Taro will need to get reacquainted with the business, so there’s no need to rush into this since we’re on hiatus until work picks up again.” He bit his bottom lip and then added, “I’m not sure how this is going to work out, Durant, but eventually I will have to let Cindy go. At the moment, however, I still need her right where she is. We’ve got to line up some customers as quickly as we can.”

“May I make a suggestion?” the bear asked.

“Anytime.”

“What if you reinstated Taro as first officer, but kept Cindy as the Customer Liaison instead of giving that job to Taro? I know you are determined to keep your promise and bring Taro back into the crew, but…”

Merlin put a hand on the bear’s arm and they both stopped to talk as the others continued. “I know you’re just trying to help keep me from laying off Cindy, but if Taro’s only job was being first officer, she wouldn’t have much to do, and to a certain degree we can’t just give Cindy the axe after all the help she’s been as our collective therapist.”

“So,” Durant repeated, “what are you going to do?”

“I don’t think I can just drop Taro into her old position without some retraining,” Merlin said, thinking aloud, “so I might put the two of them working together whenever business picks up again. Later, if I see that Taro might be able to handle it by herself, then I might have to let Cindy go. I don’t have any other positions to fill.”

Durant made a tsk sound. “Do you really think Cindy’s going to be happy retraining her replacement?”

“Probably not,” the captain replied, “but what choice does she have as a temp employee? If she refuses, I don’t have another job for her and will have to let her go. That provisional consideration was in the contract she signed with a thumbprint.”

The two of them fell silent as they walked, but then Durant looked over at the wolf. “What about the home office?” he asked. “We’d discussed creating one at some point.”

Merlin looked up at him. “I’d forgotten about that, actually. With the decrease in interstellar commerce throughout the Planetary Alignment, I hadn’t seen a need to pursue the idea further.”

“Yes, but it has to pick up again,” the brown bear replied. “You have to plan on that.”

“Well, I did want to put the office here on Dennier.”

“Despite the war, the Kastani did pay us well for the strawberries, blue diamonds and our help, not to mention Devon’s addition and the fee as Mr. Faltane’s escort,” Durant reminded him. “Rezo paid off the loan on his decrepit ship last month, so that’s more in the coffers. You have the money to get a home office set up before business picks up again.”

“How about a PR campaign to promote the Blue Horizon’s business?” another voice suggested. Merlin and Durant looked over at Tanis, who had dropped back to talk to them.

“You heard what we were talking about?” Durant asked as the desert fox fell into step with them.

“With receivers like this,” Merlin smirked as he thumped one of the fennec fox’s subject ears, “are you kidding?”

Tanis grinned and playfully hid his face in the crook of an upraised arm. “Yah, I’m guilty of eavesdropping!” he whined.

“A public relations campaign, eh?” the captain repeated. “That might not be a bad idea.”

“Why wait for the business to pick up on its own?” Tanis asked. “Create some ads, use yer resources to yer advantage.”

“What resources?” Durant asked.

“Well…” Tanis rubbed his chin as they neared the Wallace home. “Whether or not ya planned it, the Blue Horizon is well known in the PA because of our trip to Sillon when that other star blew up, as well as our fight with Sagan at Crescentis after his atrocity on Hestra. Samantha is friends with Holly Harken of INN news, and Cindy used to work for an ad agency. That looks to me like…”

“When did Cindy work for an ad agency?” Merlin asked. “She didn’t list it on her résumé.”

“It didn’t have anything to do with the job she was interviewing with ya for, so she didn’t think it was necessary to mention it.”

Merlin frowned. “A résumé is supposed to encompass your experience, no matter where you’ve worked. How did you find out about it?”

Tanis smiled. “If ya spend a lot of time with her, she opens up nicely.”

“Like a flower,” Durant mused with a little smile.

Merlin stared at the pair a moment, wondering at the connotation behind their statements and then decided not to inquire further. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders and looked at his accountant. “I think his idea has merit.”

Durant nodded. “I agree. It’s worth looking into.”

“Okay,” Merlin said, “I’ll talk to Cindy and Taro about it later tonight.”

“Look at Cindy, boss,” the bear said. “You probably should talk to her sooner than that or she’s going to be depressed all day.”

Merlin nodded. “Good point. I’ll confer with her now before I talk to Taro.” The Blue Horizon’s crew had arrived at the front doorway to the Wallace’s house, and Shannon was greeting everyone with a hug and a reminder to remove their shoes before entering. The gray and brown female wolf was delighted to see everyone, her tail wagging happily behind her, and she did her best to make sure they all felt welcome in her home.

Merlin tapped Cindy on the shoulder, motioning her to follow him. “May I talk to you, please?” he asked quietly. She looked at him with doleful eyes and nodded, following him back away from the crowd.

Cindy made no sound as the two of them headed across the cropped green lawn toward a small gazebo nestled beneath a copse of danra trees behind the house. It was a perfect spot for a private conversation.

This is it, she thought. I’m getting the axe. The mouse followed her captain up into the structure meekly. Merlin sat down on the wooden bench seat and motioned for the mouse to do the same. Instead, Cindy merely stood in front of him, her eyes focused on her feet, and her hands clasped together.

“Cindy,” the wolf started in a gentle tone, “I have a proposition for you.”

The mouse looked down at him, “I remember,” she said. “I was only temp help until she returned.”

“True, that is written into your contract,” Merlin admitted, “but I’m not ready to release you just yet, if you don’t mind staying on with the company.”

Cindy looked at him, puzzled. This was not what she expected. “Oh… okay,” she said slowly.

Merlin gave her a bit of a smile hoping to ease her fears a bit, and then he began to detail the plan of setting up an advertising campaign to generate business for the ship. She was quiet and sat beside him during his explanations, but by the time he finished, she was relieved and not altogether displeased with the turn of events.

“Thank you, Captain,” she said meekly. “Since you told us about the message you got from Taro a few months ago, I knew she’d be back.” She looked away briefly and added, “I’ve been dreading this day ever since.”

Merlin put a hand gently on her shoulder. “Cindy,” he said, “you’ve been a valued member of my crew and have made some good friends. I still need you to help me out, if you’d like to stay.”

“Yes, sir, I would.”

“Before all this mess with Argeia blew up all over the Planetary Alignment, Durant and I were making plans to set up a home office for the business here on Dennier. Originally, the purpose for it was to take over the duties of Customer Liaison to find and secure deliveries for the Blue Horizon.”

“That means you were planning to abolish my position anyway,” Cindy said with a frown.

“Well, yes and no,” the wolf replied. “I had intended to replace the on-board position with a Business Coordinator. Instead of someone on the ship trying to seek out future deliveries and then coordinating all the specifics for pickup and delivery, the home office would focus primarily on promoting the business and getting the jobs. The Business Coordinator would then get back with the actual client contacts to work out the particulars for the pickup and deliveries: where, when, who to meet and such.”

Merlin leaned back against the railing behind him, putting his arms up across it in a relaxed manner. “It would have actually lightened your workload, but you’d have been working in conjunction with those in the home office.”

“I see now…” Cindy said with a hand beneath her chin, “Taro has come back, and since you’d promised to hold a position for her, you want her on board as Business Coordinator. And… since business is rather scarce at the moment, you plan to set up a home office here on Dennier to promote the Blue Horizon, and want me to do your advertising.”

“Something like that, yes.”

“It certainly does sound appealing.”

“Would you be interested in the job?” he asked. “It would still mean leaving the ship, but as the one running the home office, it’ll come with a nicer salary than what you’re getting now.” He gave her a figure and her eyes widened in appreciation.

“How can I pass up a deal like that?” she asked with a smile. “Yes, I would like that very much.”

“Thank you,” Merlin said with his own pleasant smile. “Durant and I will probably begin looking for a location to set up the home office in a few days. Once we’ve found a suitable place, we’ll need to stock it with furniture and supplies, and then set up interviews for the other positions.”

“Other positions?”

Merlin grinned. “I don’t expect you to do all the work by yourself. I’ll put you in charge of the office and hire two others to divide the rest of the work up between. As I understand it, advertising is a lot of work and you’ll need the help.”

“May I help you get things set up?” Cindy asked with a smile.

“I was hoping you would volunteer,” the wolf replied.

“Thank you, Captain.”

“The only real downside is that you will need to find a place to live here in Grandstorm, and that will be on your own credits.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t done before,” she replied with a shrug. “I’m sure I can find a decent apartment somewhere here in Grandstorm.”

He nodded and then studied her briefly, the look in his eyes growing dark for a moment. “Now… there is a matter I need to ask you,” he said in a tone she had heard from him before. Her shoulders drooped and she looked down at her feet. She did not have to be clairvoyant to know what he was about to say.

“Did you intercept a message from Taro saying that she would meet us here?”

Cindy hesitated, then nodded. Merlin sighed audibly. “Did you try to deliver it to me or anyone else?”

Cindy shook her head after another hesitation. “No, sir,” she murmured. “I… deleted it.”

“Any others?”

“No sir, just the one.”

He reached out with a finger and put it under her chin. He lifted her face until she met his amber eyes and she visibly flinched at his directness. “Don’t ever do that again,” he said in a stern tone. His voice was quiet, but there was no missing the command behind it. “If I find out you’ve withheld information from me again, there will be consequences. Do you understand me?”

Cindy nodded again, swallowing with difficulty. “I understand… sir. I’m sorry.”

The wolf held her gaze for a heartbeat more and then his expression softened. “Apology accepted,” he said in easier tone. He used the back of his finger to lightly caress the edge of one of her ears. A shiver went through her and she looked up in disbelief. He gave her a light smile and she found herself responding in kind.

“Listen, Cindy…” the captain said quietly. “Please don’t let this color your opinion of Taro. She helped me set up the business when I started and she’s been a good friend for years. The two of you will be directly working together as a team once everything’s up and running, and since she’s been out of practice for a while, she will need you to help get her back in.”

“Yes, sir,” the mouse said with a small smile, having recovered from her rebuke. “I’ll be her wingman,” she assured him, referencing a military term her veteran father had often used.

The wolf twitched his whiskers and then nodded toward her. “So, with that out in the open, do you still want to work for me?”

Cindy’ mouth quirked up into a smile. “Yes, sir, I do – that is if you still want me working for you.”

Merlin returned the smile, stood up and extended a hand toward her with his tail wagging gently behind him. “Durant will work up a new contract for you in a day or two to reflect your new position.”

The mouse took his hand, shook it with a relieved expression and said, “Thank you, captain.” When he released her hand, however, she slipped her arms around his neck and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

When the two of them returned to the house, the others noticed the relaxed smile on the mouse’s face as soon as they entered the main gathering room. Merlin gave his sister a warm hug and exchanged a few pleasantries with her before he moved to Taro and asked to speak with her alone.

Pockets elbowed Renny and gestured toward the mouse with the drink he held in a hand. “What’s up with her?” he asked in a whisper. “She looks too happy to have been let go.”

“Maybe he gave her a good separation bonus,” the cheetah replied.

“That can’t be it,” Pockets said. “She wouldn’t be over there grinning so much if she’d just gotten the axe, bonus or not.”

“I don’t know. Maybe the captain will explain shortly.”

***

Taro readily agreed to the idea and promised to get back into the swing of things as soon as she could. Merlin told her of his plans for the home office, and asked her to work out a partnership with the mouse. The two of them would be dealing with one another on a regular basis in the new business setup and it would be better for everyone involved if they cooperated right off.

While Merlin and Taro were discussing matters, Durant took it upon himself to inform the rest of the crew on what was going on. He had intended to wait and let the captain make the announcement, but Cindy had already started to talk about it, so he thought he should take the lead to make the official announcement. He detailed the new direction of the Blue Horizon business and fielded their questions. Since their interstellar delivery schedule had been disrupted, and there were no other jobs in their immediate future, everyone was in agreement that advertising was a good venture. Durant also made sure to let everyone know that promoting the business was Tanis’ idea. It would be a change in operations for the business and he wanted credit given where due.

Merlin knew that if he and Taro went back into the house together, the vixen would be set upon to tell her story before she could catch her breath, so in order to give her a little respite before dropping her into that situation, he offered to take her on a tour of the ship. The current Blue Horizon was now a little over a year old from the manufacturer, but it was new to her. Taro had never been on board an H-model Okami freighter before and was delighted with the tour. He let her pick out her cabin from those not occupied, and she was amazed at the amount of room now available to them.

Nearly an hour had passed when they returned to the house. The first one to greet them was Bill Wallace, a solid black wolf with piercing yellow eyes. He smiled when he saw Merlin and gathered him up in a warm embrace. The brothers-in-law had always been good friends, and each was glad to see one another.

“Brother Bill,” Merlin said with a smile, “it’s been a long time.”

“Yes, Merle, it has,” the black wolf replied. He slapped the captain on the back so hard the other nearly fell over, but Merlin still had him in an embrace and slapped Bill’s back equally as hard in return. Bill responded with another pounding, of which Merlin repeated. For a moment, they pounded one another with strained smiles until Taro forced them apart with a grin.

“Okay, boys,” she told them. “I’d rather get my hug now, instead of watching you two trying to burp the testosterone out of one another.”

Bill grinned and pulled her into his arms. “It’s good to see you again, Taro,” he told her. “Shannon said you’d arrived while I was in town.”

“I’m glad to be back, Bill. It’s good to see you again, too.”

Bill gestured toward the others gathered in the front room and said, “Come on in and make yourself comfortable. Shannon and I have something to tell you all.” Merlin looked at him, but Bill only gave him an innocent smile. The wolf and the vixen removed their shoes at the door and followed him inside.

Taro sat on the couch between Renny and Tanis, and Merlin stood next to Samantha and her floating pillow. Shannon went to stand beside her husband in front of a dormant fireplace and shared a quick smile with him.

“As most of you know,” Bill said, “Shannon and I have lived here in this place for nearly ten years. It’s a large house comparatively, but it looks like we’ll need to build on a few extra rooms. It was confirmed last week that Shannon is pregnant with pups… four, to be exact.”

“Wow!” Pockets said in surprise. “Four!”

“Four?” Merlin asked with a silly grin.

“Oh, come now! Four to six pups are not uncommon for wolves,” Shannon explained with a laugh.

“Way to go, Bill!” Renny said.

“Way to go, Shannon!” Lorelei countered.

“Have you picked out names yet?” Cindy asked.

“No, not yet.”

“When’s the due date?” Samantha asked.

“In about two and a half months.”

Taro grinned widely. She knew that Merlin’s elder sister had wanted pups for a long time. She got up and gave Shannon a warm hug. “I’m so happy for you,” she told her.

“Uncle Merlin’s going to be real uncle,” Max said with a grin.

Bill smirked at his brother-in-law, and pointed a finger at him. “This means you’d better come to visit more often so my children will grow up knowing their uncle,” he said.

Merlin moved forward and grasped hands with him. “I will try,” he promised. Then he moved to give his sister a hug. “Congratulations,” he told her. “I know you’ve really wanted this.”

Laudatory conversations went on for several minutes before the commotion quieted again. Bill got a couple of chairs from another room, and then he and Shannon sat down. Shannon looked to the red fox and smiled at her.

“Taro,” she said with a wave of her hand toward those in the crowded room, “this bunch won’t disperse until they’ve heard your story, so I guess it’s your turn to talk.”

The vixen got up from the couch and moved to stand beside a tall grandfather pendulum clock that was in need of rewinding. She could not figure out what to do with her hands, so she held them together and looked out across the faces that were watching her expectantly.

“After Sagan…” she started, “I passed out. I have no memory of the crash itself or much of what happened to me immediately afterward, but I later woke up from a coma on Hestra in the care of a medical facility. I was surrounded by strangers, doctors, nurses and specialists, and when I asked them why I was there, no one would give me a straight answer. My wounds were still not healed enough for me to begin physical therapy. Because I had spent so much time away from the heavier gravity of Hestra, my body had to re-acclimate first, so I continued to warm my bed for another two months, slowly regaining my strength.”

Taro put her hands behind her back and leaned against the wall as she continued. “At the start of physical therapy, I discovered my therapist was a relative of my father, who had not been in Taquit at the time of Sagan’s biological attack. I’d never actually known Leslie Rhinehart, but I’d heard my father talk of his favored cousin in the past. Although a distant relative, I took comfort knowing I was not the only survivor of our family following what happened in Taquit.”

Everyone in the room was focused on her words and she could see Renny swallow in anticipation for her to go on. She shrugged and continued. “Nearly four months after coming out of my coma, Dr. Rhinehart finally let me see the official report they had on me. I had been taken from the crash site to Pomen by someone they wouldn’t name, and a week later was transported to Hestra by the same person once I was stable enough to move.”

“That would be Captain Natasha,” Pockets interrupted.

“Natasha…” Taro repeated. She nodded her head and smiled to herself at an old memory, but then she shook herself from her thoughts and continued with her narrative.

“I was given emergency treatment to keep me alive, but due to my specific physiology, it was necessary to transfer me to a Hestran hospital. It was there I later came out of my coma, following numerous surgeries to repair the damage. I received three organ transplants and several blood transfusions before I was stabilized. In the end, I was eventually released, and it was then I discovered all my medical expenses had been paid. I didn’t know who had done it, but thinking on it now, it was probably Natasha.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle and shrugged. “I had no idea where to go after that. I had no immediate family and my hometown was gone, so Leslie rented out a room in her home to me, and let me stay with she and her husband. She later introduced me to several more of my surviving relatives.” A gentle breeze caressed the curtains of Shannon’s open windows, and the smell of the sea wafted through the room. Taro stared outside for a long moment, her thoughts going back in time.

“While living there, I got in touch with some of my old business contacts, and was able to track down the Blue Horizon’s delivery schedule; I followed your progress for a while, and wondered how all of you were doing. Several months after moving in with Leslie’s family, Adam Singlebet of Dragon, Wolf & Tiger, came to our town for a dual concert with singer, Dahlia Neko. They had to hold it in a low-gravity auditorium made for such events. I got word to him and managed to get backstage. Adam remembered me from when the Horizon brought him, Brand and Carsen back from Sillon. He invited me to a gathering after the concert, and it was then I discovered he and Dahlia were headed next to Dennier for a multi-city tour with a stop in Grandstorm. I sweet-talked Adam into letting me ride with them to Dennier. Once here in the capitol city, I only had to wait for your arrival.”

She smiled at her friends, but the sudden quiet of the room was disturbed by the sound of soft weeping. Tanis looked over at Lorelei and put a hand on the sobbing rabbit’s shoulder. “What’s the matter?” he asked her.

Lori looked up from her hands and stared at him through wet eyes. “I’m so… moved…” she gasped. “I’m so h-happy she’s back!” A few more sobs shuddered through her, and Tanis turned grinning at Taro with a shrug.

“Lori,” Pockets said to her with a smirk, “you don’t even know Taro. Why are you crying?”

The cook looked up again, and then she rushed across the room to give Taro a warm hug. “Her story tears at my heart…” she cried. Taro grinned in embarrassment and quietly stroked the fur on the back of the rabbit’s head. Lori looked up at her, and in a sorrowful expression, she said, “They’ve told me so much about you that I feel you’re my friend too!”

Taro chuckled and returned the hug. “Thank you, Lori. I’d like to be your friend, too.”

A chime sounded from another part of the house and Bill left the room. A moment later, he returned and motioned to Samantha. Sam activated the controls of her floating pillow and followed him out of the room.

With Taro’s story finished, the vixen was suddenly besieged with other questions and comments; she seemed happy to answer them all and fielded them one by one. Shannon walked over to her brother, who looked up at her expression with a puzzled face.

“Renny told me about Lucas,” she said quietly,

Merlin glanced down at his feet for a moment and then nodded when he looked back into her amber eyes. “He finally did some good,” he said in a muted voice. “Someone saw his potential and forced him to use his talent to create the computer virus that caused so much trouble, but on his own, he took a gamble and encrypted the antidote solution for it deep into its code. I doubt he knew for certain that anyone would examine the code so closely, but he took that chance. In the end, that’s what saved us – saved a lot of people.”

“Is he… still alive?”

Merlin sighed quietly. “I don’t know. Probably not.”

Shannon moved forward and pulled her remaining brother into an embrace, moisture glistening on the fur beneath her eyes. “Has he redeemed himself?” she asked him. Merlin recognized the tone of her voice, and knew it was not a rhetorical question. She wanted his honest, personal opinion.

“Yes,” he said in truth a moment later. “For all the headaches and heartaches he’s given us over the years, I would say Lucas has cleaned his slate. I just wish we could tell him.”

“Me, too.”

Samantha came back into the room a little while later, but it was difficult to read the mixed emotions on her face. Pockets went over to her and looked at her with worried eyes.

“What is it, Sammy?” he asked.

The Border collie looked around the room and noticed everyone’s attention had shifted over to her. She folded her hands together in her lap and Bill put his hands on her shoulders from behind.

“That was Master Tristan,” she said. “He says he’s recovering well, and that he’s happy his daughter was returned to him, but the reason for his call was about my father’s company, Holden Pharmaceutical.”

“What happened?” Tanis asked.

“As most of you know, even from the distance of Sillon, that Master Tristan has overseen the interests of the company as specified by my father’s will,” she explained. “Since he has not been able to attend board meetings and such in person, a trusted otter named Stelan Willamette was appointed to sit in for him in his absence.”

She looked up at Bill and patted one of his hands. “For some time now, Master Tristan has been grooming Alex Rogers to take his place in my father’s company. Alex is a lifelong friend and the Dragon Loft’s assistant executive. Most of you met him when we made the journey to Sillon. On a recent trip to the main offices on Alexandrius to check up on something for Master Tristan, Alex did a close examination of the company records and discovered that Willamette has been dipping into my personal trust fund that was set up when I was a pup. My lawyer was called in, and Jackson Wyatt confronted Willamette with irrefutable evidence and a roomful of investigators. He was given a choice. He could refund the trust fund with interest and resign quietly, or legal – and public - action would be taken with the hard evidence Alex had discovered. Willamette chose to resign.”

“That’s terrible!” Pockets exclaimed.

Samantha nodded. “Had he not been caught, I would have soon lost my fortune. However, that’s not the end of the story.”

“There’s more?” Durant asked.

“Now without a resident CEO for Holden Pharmaceutical, Master Tristan put in Alex Roger’s name before the board of directors. With Tristan’s strong endorsement of his capabilities, and a complete grilling by the directors, Alex was voted in and is now the CEO of my father’s company.” Samantha smiled a little and shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve known Alex longer than even Merlin, and I trust him fully with dad’s business. He’s now living on Alexandrius in the capitol city, where he can oversee the company in person at the corporate headquarters.”

“Wow,” Lorelei replied with a lopsided smile. “A bad situation turned out good, even if it is for a company that makes something as useless as drugs.” Sam shot a withering glance at the rabbit, but did not favor her with a response.

“Even that’s not all,” Bill said.

Sam turned and looked at him with a puzzled expression. “More?” she asked.

“Mr. Rogers is currently on his way here.”

“Huh?” Samantha said in surprise. “He’s coming here? Why?”

Bill smiled down at her and replied, “To see you, my dear. He heard you were injured by the same people who tried to kill Master Tristan and insisted on visiting you.”

“That’s a long way to go just to visit a sick friend,” Cindy observed.

Taro snickered and Renny looked at her sideways. “What’s with you?” he asked with a smile.

The vixen grinned at the Border collie across the room from her. “Samantha’s not just an old friend,” she said. “Alex has had a crush on Sammy for a long, long time!”

Sam’s eyes widened. “Uh…” she started to say, “Uh, no… he’s just a friend.”

“Sure he is,” Taro teased, “but I know personally he’d like to be more.”

“Personally?” Merlin asked.

It was Taro’s turn to shrug her shoulders. “I flirt with Alex every time I see him,” she explained with a twinkle in her eyes. “I’m not serious about it, but I do it merely because I know it embarrasses him. He’s always turned me down, and he once told me he was holding out on the hopes of one day getting together with Sammy.”

Everyone looked back to the canine with smiles. “It makes sense,” Tanis said. “They’re both Border collies.”

Samantha cleared her throat and said, “C’mon guys. Alex is only a longtime friend; a handsome friend, but only just a friend.” No one replied to her unconvincing comment, and they all just smiled back at her with knowing looks. Samantha growled lowly to herself and then moved her floating pillow to Merlin’s side. She put her arms around his waist and rested her cheek up against him to show everyone where her feelings lay.

***

Later that night, Taro and Renny were out on the sandy beach near the Arvallian Sea, a short distance from the Wallace home. Both small moons were full, and the couple had been chasing one another along the shore. At the moment, the two of them walked slowly through the knee-deep waves, since there was not much of a sandy beach beyond the water at that point.

“Taro,” the cheetah asked after a long silence, “how are you doing?”

The vixen looked at him sideways and replied, “I’ve already told you my story,” she said. “What else do you want to know?”

“I was really worried about you,” Renny said. “I’ve thought about you a lot during your absence.”

“That’s sweet. I’m glad I wasn’t forgotten.”

“Never!” Renny chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “May I ask you a personal question?”

Taro stopped and turned to look at him with a smile, her feather swaying in the breeze. “Sure.”

“What about us?” he asked quietly. “Will we pick up again?” His voice trailed off.

The red fox tilted her head to the side and took his hand as they resumed walking. “Possibly, but give me time,” she requested. “I’ve been away a long while and need to adjust to having a normal life again.” She looked at him with a smile and then added, “Besides, I hear you’ve become quite a flirt, yourself. I’ll bet you’ve been keeping the other ladies on board busy. You can’t have been too lonely.”

“I will neither confirm nor deny that supposition,” he replied with a snort, “but I’ve missed you specifically. For a long while I wasn’t interested in anyone else.”

“Well,” Taro said with a wink, “I shouldn’t think it will take me too long. I’ve already got my strength and agility back.”

“Think you’re strong enough to wrestle me?” Renny asked with a smirk. He had not received the reply he had hoped for, but he was willing to be patient longer. In its place, he felt playful having her back.

“Strong enough?” she repeated in surprise. “Have you forgotten where I’m from?”

“Not at all, foxy lady,” he answered, “though some people change over time.”

“So, you think you can stand against me, kit?”

“Let’s find out, if you think you are up to it.”

Taro grinned at the cheetah, suddenly curious when he took a stance he had never used before. This could be interesting… she thought. She took a step toward the navigator, but he waited for her to come to him. She obliged and reached up quickly to grasp his shoulders. However, he sidestepped briefly, took her extended arm, and whirled around to place himself immediately behind her. The move surprised her, but she countered his move with a sweep of a leg toward his.

Renny anticipated the tactic and walked up the leg she swung around, and then swiftly gathered himself around her middle, throwing her completely off guard. Then he slid a leg down the length of the one she used to support her weight, and curled his knee around hers to pull inward. While it was difficult to move the dense Hestran muscles of the vixen’s leg, he was successful in altering her balance; she fell backward onto the sand with a surprised look. This had all taken place within a few seconds.

“Wow,” she said with a grin. “You’ve never been able to do that to me before.” He only smiled back and waited for her to regain her feet. She stood up before him and he assumed a different stance, with his arms crooked and his hands rigid and upright. She decided a different strategy and moved in to slap his hands aside in rapid succession. In another unexpected shift, Renny was able to counter every move she made, and in a flash of movement, he had her in a headlock. She struggled to free herself from his arms and actually found it difficult from that angle.

Renny smiled down at her and winked. Taro grinned and said, “I do believe you’ve gotten stronger and quicker.”

“In many ways,” he purred. Then just as quickly before, he maneuvered himself around her and planted a kiss full on her lips.

Taro snickered, but gave in to the temptation and returned the kiss. What the heck, it had been a long time, and she found herself enjoying the banter and play.

***

Tanis looked through screens of the local news of Grandstorm on his slateboard while sitting in the dining room of the Meers Restaurant, a favored place in the middle of town they had been going to lately. Cindy sat across from him, finishing her lunch while the tan fox sorted through the classified ads.

“I’m not really seeing a lot of vacancies,” he muttered. “Most of the office spaces in the city just aren’t available.”

“We’ll have to keep looking,” the mouse said around the yellow vegetable she was eating with her hands. “The captain put me in control of finding a place for the home office, while he and Durant are giving interviews at Bill’s business, but I haven’t liked any of the places we have looked at. None of them were really suitable for our needs.”

“Is there anything I can get for you?” another voice asked. Tanis and Cindy looked up into the canine face of a golden retriever, the owner of the restaurant.

“No, ma’am,” Tanis said with a smile. “Lunch at yer place is always wonderful. Right now, I couldn’t eat another bite!”

“That means I’ve done my job right.” The large woman smiled and looked at the mouse. “What about you, honey?”

Cindy looked up at her and shook her head. “Not unless you can find us a vacancy in an empty office for our business.”

The woman chuckled and lifted the coffee pot she held in her hand. “Did you two try looking out the window?”

As one, Tanis and Cindy turned to look out the front glass of the rustic restaurant. Across the busy street was a sign in a window that read:

Office Space for Sale or Lease.

Ready for immediate occupancy.

13508 Timber Valley Road

The building was small but self-contained. It was built in a similar style as the Meers Restaurant itself, with a rustic external appearance, but they could easily see through the empty front glass that the interior seemed spacious.

“Wow…” Cindy said in pleasant surprise. “We walked right by it to come in here and never saw the sign.”

Tanis looked up at the retriever and gave her a grin. “That would be a wonderful location, providing the internal facilities are kept up,” he said. “We’ve already looked at five other offices, and none of them looked very desirable.”

The golden retriever pulled up a chair from an empty table and sat down with them. “It used to be a Savings and Loan office, but they relocated downtown. The place has been vacant for a year,” she told them. “I know the owner of the place, and if you’d like to see it, I can arrange an immediate showing.”

Cindy wiped her mouth with a napkin and slid her empty plate away from her. “As soon as we pay our check, we’d like to meet with the owner, please,” she said.

“I have a deal for you,” the woman said with a smile. “If you decide you want that place for your new office after you’ve looked it over, I’ll let you have this lunch for free.”

“Why?” Tanis asked suspiciously. “Is the owner of the office a good of a friend of yers?”

“You could say that,” she replied with a smirk. “The place is mine.”

Cindy grinned widely. “May we set up and appointment to look at it?”

“One moment.” The woman stood up and moved to a feline waitress behind the counter. She spoke a few words to her, set down her pot of coffee on a warmer and then took off her apron. Then she returned to them with a small gray rectangular object in hand. “If you’re ready now, we can go take a look at it.”

“Wonderful!” Tanis said.

The golden retriever smiled warmly at him and introduced herself. “I’m Mrs. Meers,” she said. “My husband passed away a couple of years ago. The office building was his, but those who took over the business moved to another location.”

The trio darted across traffic to the opposite curb, and the retriever unlocked the door with the tap of a magkey. Tanis noted the door was made of sturdy virrin wood and it opened quietly on its hinges. The lights of the main room came on immediately, its controls set to sense motion.

Cindy whistled, duly impressed with the dark woodwork of the built-in book cases, file counters and corner trim. The walls were a soft coffee color, the floor was polished wood, all the lighting was hidden and indirect, and a large fireplace was an added bonus for the seasonal winter days of the coastal city. The front room was spacious, and as they moved to the back rooms, Cindy and Tanis thought each of them had a charm all its own. Through a door in the rear, they found a set of steps that went down below the foundation of the building. They led down to a metal-reinforced, storm shelter that was easily accessible without having to go outside to reach.  In all, there were four rooms, a kitchenette, the storm cellar, a walk-in storage closet and a water closet.

After their tour, Cindy and Tanis looked at one another and smiled. Of all they had looked at, this seemed perfect and the location was in a prime part of the city. Only the price had yet to be discussed. They talked with the canine at length, and in the end, they agreed to lease it from her for a year. If the business had done well at the end of that time, Mrs. Meers would give their company the option to purchase the building from her.

Cindy had been granted the authority to sign any documentation for the lease, and within an hour, Mrs. Meers passed over several magkeys to the place and wished them well.

***

Merlin approved of the office and location after seeing it, and had gone out immediately with Cindy to pick out furnishings for the place. Two days later, the crew of the Blue Horizon gathered at the new home office to unload the furniture and supplies from a delivery truck they had rented.

A curvaceous mountain lion was painting the words, Blue Horizon Freight Transfer in an arc across the front window while Renny openly flirted with her. Taro grabbed the cheetah’s arm with a grin and pulled her friend toward the truck to help her unload a heavy wooden reception desk for the front room; this also allowed the painter the time and focus to do her job without his distraction.

In the back room of the office, Merlin introduced Cindy to her new co-workers.

“I believe you already know Keri Petrie,” Merlin said with a smile. Cindy remembered the caffeine-addicted woman and rushed forward to give the brown mouse a warm embrace.

“How did you wind up here?” Cindy asked her with a grin.

“Captain Kegawa canceled all our contracts and sold off the Hidalgo Sun for scrap to pay off his loan and give us all our back pay,” Keri replied with the shrug of her shoulders.

“He scrapped the ship?” Cindy asked with a hand up to her mouth.

“Yes, and I’ve been on Dennier the past month looking for work. When I saw the ad in the feeds advertising positions for your new headquarters, I had to try for it.” Merlin smiled when both mice looked his way. “It always helps when you know someone,” Keri added with a grin.

“Cindy,” Merlin said as he held out a hand to a petite ferret who stood meekly to the side, “this is Penny Pon. She’ll be your receptionist.”

“Hello,” Cindy said to her with a smile.

“Hellohowareyoudoing?” the ferret said in an excited rush.

“I’m quite fine,” the mouse replied with a laugh.

“You three can get to know one another later,” the lupine captain said. “Let’s get your office in order now, shall we?” He led them back toward the front room and glanced momentarily into another room where a team of technicians was installing industrial com equipment. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

***

SS Blue Horizon PA1138

Captain’s Journal

It’s been a month since the home office was opened for business. It took a couple of weeks before we began to see any results, but due to the slow rebuild of interstellar commerce, the only inquiries we’ve gotten have been for intra-world deliveries from one place to another here on Dennier. Still, it’s income for the business and we’ll take whatever we can get for now.

Samantha is walking around fine these days, though she got so used to her floating pillow and slateboard platform that she continues to use it to interface with the VIS computer on board the ship. She seems to be in better spirits and brightened up when Alex Rogers came to visit her. Most of us already knew him, and it was immediately apparent that quite a change has come over the male.  He’s no longer the resort lackey at The Dragon Loft. He is the CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies across the Planetary Alignment and even I have to admit he looks good in a business suit. He holds his shoulders straight and isn’t afraid to look anyone in the eyes.

From what I’ve heard in the time he’s been in charge of Holden Pharmaceutical, Alex has implemented some changes in the business structure that has already started to show improvement in their profits and customer base. It’s clear that Master Tristan recognized his potential. Renny conjectures it’s nothing more than a Border collie’s natural herding instinct, but that’s just Renny.

Alex and Samantha met a number of times during his visit, but every time he wanted to get together with her, she arranged for someone else to accompany them. I don’t think she distrusts him, but it’s more likely she’s hesitant to be alone with him now knowing the feelings he has for her. She likes him – likes him a lot – but she acts as if she doesn’t want to pursue anything further with him beyond their longtime friendship and their new business relationship. It’s also possible that the Board of Directors may be surreptitiously trying to use Alex to pull the heiress back into her father’s business, since they are both of the same breed and species.

The other members of the crew that she’s taken with her on their outings seem to feel they need to report to me everything that goes on between them. While Samantha and I have been casually intimate for years – a fact that has never been hidden from my crew – we’ve never been exclusive to one another. Does everyone think they have to protect my interests in Samantha? I know of a couple in my employment who thinks she should give Alex a chance and run the business with him as his mate instead of a business partner.

In the time between the small deliveries we’ve had, Renny and I have been teaching Max how to fly the Blue Horizon. Sure, he’s been trained on bridge duty during our routine flights between worlds, and he’s even managed to make some correct in-flight adjustments, but this is the first opportunity we’ve had to instruct him for launches and landings. We’ve had a few close calls, but I think he’s starting to get the hang of controlling something the size of a four-story building. His largest problem seems to be adjusting for planetary gravity and shifting air currents with the mass of such a heavy vessel.

Primarily, it’s usually Renny or I that handle the critical launches and landings, but I require everyone in my crew to have the ability to fly the ship if an emergency ever arose where the two of us were incapacitated or unavailable. Every so often, I have one of the others do a launch or landing just to keep them in practice. Max needs the same abilities as the others, so our current downtime has been the perfect time to teach him. I just feel sorry for the folk in the rural communities we’ve been practicing over.

We’ve also gotten word on Master Tristan. He’s doing much better since his alicorn was grafted back on and it’s had time to heal, though he’s now considering full retirement. After his life as a former Regent and successful businessman, he’s more than earned it.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Renny looked up at the darkening storm clouds overhead through a break in the vegetation and frowned as he, Taro and Tanis walked through a lush green park in the middle of Grandstorm dominated by trees with old gnarled trunks and branches and a thick canopy of leaves. They had just returned to Dennier following a couple of off-world deliveries that took them in turn to Alexandrius and Fyn, and were once again on their standard three-day shore leave before their next assignment. It had been three months since the home office had opened for business and things were picking up.

It was an odd thing to see advertisements on the INN broadcasts for Blue Horizon Freight Transfer as well as other StellarNet channels, but word had gotten out that the company was still in business after the messy events of the War. Cindy, Keri and Penny had their hands full and Taro enjoyed the familiar routine of coordinating efforts with their growing list of clients. It seemed unthinkable, but they had actually had to turn away some delivery jobs while other freight businesses were scrounging to find work at all.

“I have another idea for promoting the company,” Renny commented as they skirted around a park bench.

“Another one?” Tanis asked.  “Cindy didn’t think much of yer last idea.”

“Yeah, well even I admit that one was pretty lame,” the cheetah replied.

“Don’t ya think we’re getting enough exposure?”

Renny shrugged. “Too much work is better than not enough,” he answered.

“So, what’s your new idea?” Taro asked.

“Maybe you can sweet-talk your friends in DWT to do a commercial for us,” Renny said to the vixen.

“I don’t know about that,” Taro replied with a frown. “They wouldn’t be advertising something like a new car or soft drink.  As much as we like it, the Blue Horizon is just a cargo-carrier.”

“Well, they don’t have to sing a jingle or anything,” Renny said with a shrug. “Just a nice instrumental in the background might work.”

“It would be a lot cheaper just hiring local musicians for something like that.”

“Maybe, but having a name band would be a bigger draw.”

“Right. You can bring it up at the next budget meeting, love.”

“I’m hungry,” Tanis said. “Let’s get something to eat.”

“Yeah!” Renny agreed with a smile.

Taro welcomed the distraction and pointed ahead of them. “There’s a hotdog cart up the street. Will that hold you?” she asked.

“Yeah, it should, but with Renny’s appetite I want to get my order in first or there won’t be anything left in the cart!”

“Hey!” the cheetah whined. “I can’t help it if I have a high metabolism.”

“That’s exactly why I want to eat before ya do,” Tanis said with a smile. They neared the small wheeled cart and the desert fox stepped up first. He looked at the short red panda behind the cart and began to order, “Hi, I’ll have three Dennieran beef hotdogs with…”

“Rezo?” Renny asked suddenly. He leaned closer toward the cart, and stared at the vendor. “Rezo Kegawa?”

The red panda looked up at the cheetah, but did not look as if he recognized him. “I’m not wearing a name tag,” he replied suspiciously. “How’d you know my name?”

“Captain Rezo?” Tanis asked in surprise. “Well, I’ll be… Captain Rezo, it’s us, Renny, Taro and Tanis from the Blue Horizon.”

“Blue Horizon!” the short red panda repeated in sudden recognition. “Tanis and Renny? Yes, I think I remember you now.” He looked at Taro’s figure in appreciation, but shook his head. “I’m sorry, miss, but I don’t remember you.”

“I don’t believe we’ve met, actually,” the vixen said with a smile. “I’m Taro Nichols, Business Coordinator for the Blue Horizon.”

“Taro,” Renny said with a smile, “this is Captain Rezo Kegawa of the Hidalgo Sun. We helped repair his ship some months ago.”

Tanis realized that talk of the dilapidated freighter caused discomfort in the red panda. In his white uniform, greasy apron and paper hat, Rezo looked nothing like a freighter captain. Tanis leaned on the cart and asked in a gentler voice, “Why are ya selling hotdogs?”

Rezo looked at the three of them and swallowed hard. “Well, uh… it’s like this,” he said with a frown. “I had to sell my ship as scrap and release the contracts on my crew so I could pay them and pay off my loan. This is the only job I could find for myself afterward.” He wiped his hands on his apron with an embarrassed expression. “I even tried to get onto another freighter just as an extra hand, but times are hard for that line of work right now and no one’s hiring.”

“What happened to your ship?” Taro asked in a soft voice.

Rezo sighed heavily and shrugged his shoulders. “We’d picked up a shipment of canned goods on Mainor and had left orbit only moments before those Kastani destroyed it. We caught the edge of the shock wave and sustained heavy damage.” He smiled thinly and gestured to both Renny and Tanis. “You two know how old and bad the condition of the Hidalgo Sun was. We managed to limp through the asteroid belt toward Dennier and had a tough landing that damaged the keel. It was beyond repair, so I had no choice but to sell it to a scrap dealer and use the money to pay off what I owed. Since then, I’ve been working odd jobs just to eat and pay the rent where I’ve been staying.”

“Wow, that’s tough,” Renny replied. “Our business has picked up so much that we’d send some your way if you still had your ship.”

Rezo’s frown deepened as they told him about their expanding business. At length, he sat down on his small wooden stool and leaned on the cart. “You three look like you’re pretty hungry,” he said. “If I give you some free hotdogs, would you ask Captain Sinclair if he can find a place on his crew for me?” His voice quivered a little, and he practically pleaded with them. “I don’t care what position he can put me in, so long as I can work on his ship.”

Renny’s stomach growled loudly at the subject of food and he looked over at Taro. The vixen moved around the cart and knelt down to look at Rezo in the eye. “I promise we’ll bring it to Merlin’s attention as soon as we get back to the ship,” she said, “but you need the money and we’ll pay you for all the hotdogs we eat, including everything that Mr. Vacuum Lips, here, can consume.”

“Thank you, miss,” the red panda replied with moist eyes. “Please tell Captain Sinclair I would be eternally grateful for his help once more.” He grabbed a pen tucked over one round ear and scribbled his contact information onto a paper napkin for her. “If you can convince him that he needs another hand, this is where you can find me when I’m not out here in the park. My place… it isn’t much bigger than a walk-in closet, but it’s all I could afford.”

***

Later that afternoon, Merlin and Durant were sitting in the front room of the home office. Penny was out on a late lunch break and Cindy sat behind a desk in discussion with them. Durant was weary of the conversation, and it showed on his face.

“Cindy…” the grizzly said in a tired voice, “the three of you have to keep the receipts of company expenses so I can figure them in the books. I can’t keep everything on the level without them.”

“Even for things like paper cups and towels for the water closet?”

“Everything that you use company funds to pay for.”

“That’s such a bother,” she said. “Some places don’t even give receipts unless you ask for them.”

“Then ask for them! Do you want to pay for the stuff from your own salaries?”

“Not really.”

“Then you have to keep all the printed receipts and turn them in to me, even the electronic ones.”

“Well, I did save the invoice on the shirts,” she said as she rummaged through a shoebox on the desktop.

“Shirts?” Merlin asked. “What shirts?”

Cindy smiled as she located a yellow page of flimsy plastic. “Yeah, I had company shirts made up with our logo on them. It’s another source of advertising.”

Durant groaned and looked over at the wolf. Merlin frowned and leaned on the desk. “I didn’t authorize this,” he said.

“You said I could buy things for the office.” The mouse handed the invoice to Durant, and the bear’s eyes widened. Merlin really did not like that look on his accountant.

“For the office, yes,” the wolf replied. He took the page from Durant and looked it over.  “That’s an awful lot of shirts,” he said after a moment. “Quantity and sizes for everyone in the business?”

“Hold on,” Cindy said, “I’ll show you what they look like. They were delivered this morning.” She left the room momentarily, and Merlin leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. The mouse returned with a smile, holding a gray shirt large enough for even Durant to wear.  Across the left breast area was the name of the company in blue letters, written in the same stylized typeface as was on the front window. Below it was a logo that Jiro had designed ages ago, with the name of the ship and its registry number beneath it. Cindy turned it around and showed them the back. The same logo was larger, spread across the shoulders, with the advertising motto and address underneath.

“Interstellar Deliveries throughout the Planetary Alignment”

Competitive Shipping Rates — 9 Years in the Business

13508 Timber Valley Road, Grandstorm, Dennier

Merlin and Durant looked at one another, and finally the captain shrugged his shoulders.  “Okay,” he said with an audible sigh of resignation, “we now have company shirts for all personnel.”  He looked back up at Cindy and pointed a finger at her.  “But… from now on, clear this with me or Durant first before you do anything else like this.”

“Okay,” Cindy said with an embarrassed smile. She handed the large shirt to Durant. “I promise.”

There was a little jingle of bells as the front door to the office opened. The sky outside had grown dark and the overhead clouds were threatening rain. Renny was eager to get inside.

“Hi, guys,” Cindy said to them. “What’s up?”

Taro moved the wall near the dark fireplace as the two males took up positions around the desk. “We ran into an old friend,” Tanis said to Merlin. “Do ya remember Rezo Kegawa?”

“The captain of the Hidalgo Sun?” Durant asked.

“That’s him. We found him selling hotdogs out of a cart in West Park.”

“Keri did say that he had to sell his ship,” Cindy reminded them, “but she didn’t mention that he was still in the area.”

“He needs a job, Merlin,” Taro said. “Renny and Tanis told me about the time you helped him get his freighter running again, but this time there’s no ship to repair.”

“Yeah, I told him we could send some work his way, if he only had a ship,” Renny added. Merlin looked up at the cheetah at his words, and the navigator looked surprised. “What?” he asked.

“You just gave me an idea,” the captain said. “Do you think you can find him again?”

“He wanted me to give this to you,” Taro answered as she handed over a folded paper napkin. “Are you going to hire him?”

“I may actually have something for him, but not for the Blue Horizon.”

“Here at the office?” Cindy asked with a frown.

“Nope.” Merlin glanced at the napkin and then gave it to Tanis.  “Call Rezo and invite him over as soon as he can get away from his cart.”

“Aye, sir,” the desert fox replied. He turned, left the room and then Merlin began to outline his sudden idea to the others.

***

Lorelei sat with her legs crossed on the floor of her hotel room, her attention riveted to a vidscreen monitor on a small wooden stand. She was overjoyed to discover the place was equipped to receive the StellarNet signal, which showcased popular programs from the various worlds of the Planetary Alignment. Her favorite cooking show was among those she was able to pick up, and she watched with rapt attention.

She was so intent on the program that she did not hear the knock on her door. She wore a silly grin and sat only a meter away from the screen. The sound was turned up so she would not miss a word of what the chefs said as they prepared the meals in a cook-off challenge.

“Lori?” a voice called through the door. “Lori!  It’s me, Keri – open up!”

Lorelei’s eyes blinked momentarily as the voice filtered through to her mind. Fortunately for the mouse outside the door, the program broke for a break and Lorelei finally heard her. She set aside the salad bowl she held in her lap and wiped her hands absently on the multi-colored tee-shirt she wore over a pair of running shorts. She moved quickly to the door and opened it. Keri stood with her hands in her pockets and looked at the rabbit in concern, her nose wrinkled from the aroma of incense from the room.

“Hi, Keri, what’s up?”

“Lori, didn’t you hear me knocking?” the mouse asked as she stepped inside the room. “I’ve been out there nearly five minutes.”

Lorelei smiled at her and tilted her head. “Oh, sorry ‘bout that,” she said as she gestured toward the vidscreen. “I was watching my favorite show and had it turned up.”

“Yeah, I know,” Keri said with a shake of her head. “I could hear it out there, as clear as if I were in here with you.”

As if to punctuate her words, the music piped up from the small, overtaxed speaker and Lori’s eyes grew wide.  “It’s back on!” she said excitedly.

“Lori!” the mouse said in frustration.

“Huh?” Lorelei asked absently. Her eyes were already focused on the screen.

“Merlin’s calling a meeting in the office. You have to turn that off and come on.”  Lorelei did not seem to hear her, as she watched the challengers engaged in their culinary battle. Keri exhaled and shook her head again. She walked across the room and picked up the vid remote from the coffee table in front of the couch. She shut off the unit and waited for the expected outcry.

Lorelei’s eyes went wide and she began to tap frantically at the controls on the front of the set. Keri overrode her actions with the remote, and the doe began to whine in frustration at losing the signal.

“Oh no…” Lorelei whimpered.  “What’s happened to my show?  I’ve got to find out who the winner is!”

“Lori!” Keri said in a loud voice, “We have to go.  Now!”

The rabbit looked at her with wide eyes. “I can’t go anywhere… I have to get my program back!”

Keri reached out, grabbed Lori’s arm, and pulled her toward the door.  “You’ll have to catch a later show,” she said. “Merlin wants everyone at the office, now!”

“But… but….”

***

A ripple of lightning snaked across the sky, illuminating the pane of glass like a flashbulb. Seconds later, a malevolent growl of thunder rattled the windows in the hotel room over the Meers Restaurant where Renny was staying. An involuntary shudder coursed through the frightened cheetah as he drew himself into a tight ball. He was huddled on the floor in an empty corner beside the bed, his knees drawn up to his chest, and his face buried in his arms atop them. The navigator could face many things, but he had not grown up around thunderstorms and they continued to unnerve him any time he was close to one. The tornado they had survived on Earth had only served to fuel his fear of them.

There was a knock on the door, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, another peal of thunder sent his face into his arms again. The knock repeated, and when he did not answer, the door opened a bit. Max stuck his head inside and looked around the apparently vacant room.

“Renny?” he asked. “Are you in here?”

A close lightning strike made a deafening crack and the lights flickered. The young canine heard a muffled gasp from behind the bed and he eased into the room, biting his bottom lip. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the cheetah on the floor; he moved quickly to his friend’s side.

“Renny, are you okay?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

The navigator’s large yellow eyes peered up over his arms at the youth, and he swallowed with difficulty. “Don’t… like… storms,” he managed to say through clenched teeth.

“I remember,” Max said with compassion. He looked up when the wind outside rattled the windows and then looked back at the cheetah with a frown. “It’s okay, Renny,” he said in a soothing voice, very similar to the one the feline had used with him in the past, back when he was a former slave and was himself very timid.

“Mrs. Meers said the storm’s almost over and no tornadoes have been predicted,” he added. Indeed, the deep rumbles that continued to sound were farther away, though still too close for the cheetah’s tastes. It had never occurred to him there was a reason the area had been named “Grandstorm”.

Renny felt foolish cowering from a storm, especially in front of a young canine who did not seem to mind the thunder at all. He set his jaw tightly and forced himself to raise his head.

“What d-did you need?” he asked.

“Uncle Merlin’s calling everyone together for a meeting,” Max replied. “He sent me to get you.”

“Tell him… to start without me,” Renny said in a quiet voice. “I already know… what it’s about anyway.”

Max looked down at his hands a moment and then nodded to the cheetah. He knew what it was like to be frightened, and he was all too familiar with how storms affected the cheetah. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll tell him.”

“Thanks…” Renny said. Another round of thunder lightly shook the house and he quickly buried his head once more.

Max stood up quietly and left the room. He glanced back at the door when he closed it behind him, wishing there was something he could do for his friend; Renny had saved his life during the tornadic storm in Woodward and comforted him afterward. For the past few weeks, Renny, Durant and Samantha had been training him in the techniques they had learned from Jape Devon, and as a result, he felt a lot closer to them. Renny was a good friend and seeing him reduced to this was hard to watch.

The young German shepherd bounded down the wooden stairs and waved to Mrs. Meers as he retrieved his umbrella from a canister by the door. Then he darted outside and ran across the street in the pouring rain. When he opened the door to the home office and pulled his umbrella in behind him, he saw the front room was packed. With the exception of Renny, all of Merlin’s employees were there. The lupine captain sat behind the receptionist’s desk with Durant, Cindy and Taro sitting up close. Leaning against the fireplace was the red panda, Rezo Kegawa, still dressed in a greasy apron and paper hat.

Max put his umbrella away and stood beside Lorelei, who did not look as if she wanted to be there. Merlin looked at him expectantly. “Renny’s not feeling well,” he told the wolf. “He said he knew what the meeting was about already.”

Merlin nodded and then turned toward his people. “Due to the success of our home office, Blue Horizon Freight Transfer is back on track with a full schedule,” he told them. “We’ve reestablished contact with some of the old clients and have been bringing in new customers with our PR campaign. Interstellar commerce is still struggling to recover from the mistrust and other effects of the war, and many of our competitors still have not regained their feet, but we’ve had success with our advertising crusade. In fact — we’ve had such good luck that we’ve actually had to turn away the jobs that won’t wait for an empty slot in our schedule.”

Rezo crossed his arms and shook his head. “I’m happy for your growing business, Sinclair,” he said in a voice that suggested otherwise. “You’ve already told me you don’t need anyone else on your ship, so did you invite me here to gloat?”

Merlin acted as if he had not heard the red panda’s sarcasm, but looked directly at him and said, “The Blue Horizon has more work than we can handle, and I would like you to take up the surplus deliveries for us.”

“With what?” Rezo asked, waving his arms in the air. “I don’t have a ship or a crew.”

“Hypothetically, if you had a ship, would you help us out?”

“Okay, hypothetically speaking, yes. I’d jump on it in a second. But why—?”

“I intend to buy another freighter,” Merlin interrupted quickly, “to handle our surplus deliveries before our competitors can pick them up.” Eyebrows went up all over the room, and there were whispered comments throughout the group. “If you’re interested,” he added, “I would like you to hire a crew for it and serve as its captain.”

Rezo’s mouth opened and closed before he finally managed to nod. “Keep talking,” he said in near shock.

Merlin smiled. “Here’s the deal. The new freighter will be a sister ship to the Blue Horizon and will be managed by this home office in the same manner as current business,” he said to the red panda. “A portion of the profits your crew generates for the company will be earmarked as automatic payments on a loan for the new ship. At such time in the future when your loan is paid in full, you will have the option to stay with Blue Horizon Freight Transfer as a partner, retaining the benefits of the home office, or you can take the ship to go back into business for yourself.”

Rezo looked stunned. Durant handed him a slateboard tablet with a contract on its screen that had been put together earlier that evening; the panda looked it over silently. He noted a set salary for the captain, as well as specific per-voyage wages for the crew. The contract looked straightforward and he did not see anything out of place. He found it hard to swallow and he slid down the wall to sit beside the baseboard, the tablet resting on his knees.

He looked up at Merlin and simply asked, “Why?”

“I need another ship to pick up our excess,” the wolf told him again.

“But, why me? And why set it up so that a portion of the profits go toward a loan on the ship?” he asked. “You could easily keep the ship in your business and keep all the profits, with standard wages for the captain and crew.”

Merlin got up and moved toward the panda. He squatted down to look him in the eye and replied, “A little over a year ago, someone helped me when my business was down. This is my way of extending that favor. That’s something my parents instilled in me when I was a cub. If you think there’s something in the contract you want to change, you and I can discuss it privately in the back room.”

Merlin and Rezo stood up, and the panda moved to the desk. He glanced over the contract once more and then signed his name at the appropriate spot with a thumb print. He offered the slateboard to Merlin with both hands.

“I accept your terms as written, boss,” he said with a smile.

Merlin offered his hand and Rezo shook it gladly. “Welcome to Blue Horizon Freight Transfer, Captain Rezo.” A round of applause issued from the gathered crowd, and Pockets even let out a sharp whistle.

Merlin waved a hand over his head to get everyone’s attention. “I still have another matter of business to announce,” he said. All eyes were on him as he continued. “Per Durant’s request and my approval, I am reestablishing Taro as my first officer. Her leave-of-absence is over and Durant says he doesn’t want that job anymore.”

“Were we too hard on ya?” Tanis asked with waggling eyebrows.

“I have too much on my plate to spend time looking over my shoulders after yahoos like you!” Durant replied with a mock growl. The effect was ruined, however, with the mischievous glint in his eyes.

Merlin grinned at the bear and continued, “Nearly everyone here knows that Taro was capable as my first officer and she has a long history with the company. She has agreed to resume her prior duties, so you’d better be nice to her.”

***

SS Blue Horizon PA1138

Captain’s Journal

Yesterday morning, Rezo Kegawa and I took a shuttle to nearby Harmon to visit what was basically a “used starship lot” to find another Okami freighter – giving me flashbacks to my original purchase of the Blue Horizon all those years ago. We’d first tried the original manufacturer, but it would be three months before we could get a new one from Okami, so I decided to look for a pre-owned vessel. As to be expected, the hyena who ran the lot was as crooked as the branch of a shrub, and even though he had one on the lot that was in good shape (from what I could tell), he wanted considerably too much for it.

While checking in with Durant, he suggested we try the local financial companies to see if there were any repossessed ships to look through. Sure enough, the first place we checked had two repossessed Okami freighters, in addition to a Sakura, a Prairie Dog, and two Guarana-class ships. One Okami was nearly as decrepit as Rezo’s old ship, but the other was less than a year old and had been repossessed only a month ago. I had Pockets and Max fly out to meet us, and had them give the ship a thorough inspection while Rezo and I discussed matters with the financial rep.

When I inquired into why the ship had been repossessed, I got the reply I suspected. Someone had purchased the ship to expand their business just before the Siilv War broke out. With the economic crisis afterward, the poor coyote couldn’t afford to keep it, so she let the bank have it back. Pockets gave me a favorable report on the ship’s condition, so I trusted his judgment and bought the freighter outright from the surplus business funds.

After taking possession of the vessel, the four of us flew it back to Grandstorm to record the title transfer with the PA Registry. Since Rezo would be master of the new freighter, I gave him the liberty of naming the ship. He was rather timid when he asked if he could reuse the name Hidalgo Sun, since the old vessel was no longer in service. Seeing as how I had done the same with my own freighter, I approved his request. It didn’t hurt that the new ship was only a darker shade of scarlet than his previous vessel had been.

Captain Rezo was unable to rehire all of his old crew members for the new Hidalgo Sun. It’s been too long since he released them from their contracts that some of them have already found other jobs, so he’s currently taking interviews for the remaining positions.

This has been an interesting time. Almost nine years ago, I bought the first Blue Horizon and decided to go into business for myself. At that time, I couldn’t foresee having an expanding business like the one I’m now in charge of; interesting how things turn out.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Rezo looked up at his new boss, nervous to please the wolf. Merlin sat alone behind a desk in a back office, scowling at the report he held in his hands. Durant would again have to instruct the three working the home office on the proper procedures for requisitioning new supplies. HQ might coordinate and find jobs for the two ships, but Durant was still the Business Accountant for the company and everything had to go through him first before new purchases were made.

Merlin looked up and saw the red panda fidgeting before him. He had not noticed when Rezo had entered the room, but he set down his slateboard to give him his full attention. “What can I do for you, Captain?” he asked.

Rezo swallowed and answered, “You wanted to meet my new crew as soon as I had them all assembled. Everyone’s out in the reception room.”

“Did anyone from your old crew come back?”

“You already know about Keri,” the panda replied. “She prefers her job here in the office. Not that I really mind,” he said in a lowered voice. “I never thought she really enjoyed being out in space – and I don’t think she’s ever liked me anyway.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “Continue,” he said.

“Right. In the time since I released them from their contracts, only two have found permanent jobs they want to stay with. Do you remember Toni Delondin? She was hired by an accounting firm on Kantus. My chief engineer decided to retire and open up a coffee shop right here in Grandstorm.”

“Yeah?” Merlin asked with interest.

Rezo nodded. “Alice’s still in the process of getting it set up for business. It’s only about six blocks from here, too. She wants to feature exotic coffees from around the PA.”

Merlin smiled with an even bigger interest. The wolf was well-known for his love of coffee. “I’ll have to look up this new business of hers. Okay, who else?”

“The rest of my old crew were willing to leave their little jobs to come back to work for me… or rather, some weren’t interested until they found out they would actually be working for you instead.”

Merlin frowned at that last statement. “What about the vacancies?”

Rezo gave him a tired look. “Two hundred forty-seven people applied for three jobs,” he replied. “It took me a week to visit with everyone, and another two days to make my decisions. Durant gave me some good suggestions that helped me decide who to pick.”

“I’ve always relied on Durant’s counsel when hiring others. I don’t know what I would do without him,” Merlin remarked. “Okay, fill me in on those you picked.”

Rezo nodded in reply. “I’ve chosen Sheila Aval, a twenty-seven-year-old kangaroo as my supply officer and our cook. She’s worked at three supply-related businesses and comes highly recommended. She’s never been in space before, but is looking forward to it.”

“Wait,” Merlin said, “she’s never been in space before?”

“Not once, but she says she’s looking forward to it.”

“Captain,” Merlin replied slowly as a new realization came to him, “just how many of your old crew was able to pilot your ship?”

The odd question took Rezo by surprise, but he put a hand under his chin and glanced toward the ceiling as he searched his memory. “Let’s see, besides myself… Jonesy, Mark, Tsarina, Alice and Pax.”

“That’s less than half your crew.”

“Uh, yeah. Is that a problem?”

Merlin told him about his standard policy, that every crew member be able to fly the ship in the event of an emergency. Rezo swallowed as he listened. This was something that had never occurred to him on his own vessel. Finally, Merlin said, “After you and your crew have gotten familiar with the new Hidalgo Sun and are used to working on the schedules that HQ will set up for you, I want you to begin training all of your people to fly your ship. Even my seventeen-year-old mechanic is capable of flying the Blue Horizon passably. If you can get just one certified as a pilot each time you land, it shouldn’t take more than a few months to get your whole crew rated properly.”

“Uh, okay,” Rezo said with a frown.

“Who else?”

“Danaher Tillane is a thirty-six-year-old bobcat. He’ll be my onboard accountant, and he’s also an experienced computer hack. He’s pretty serious-minded and is very good juggling numbers,” Rezo said. “I’ve already introduced him to Durant since the two of them will be working together with the finances.” He leaned forward with a frown. “He’s from the backwoods of Fyn,” he whispered.

“Will that make a difference?”

Rezo shook his head. “Probably not, since he has a good head for numbers, but he has a funny way of speaking.”

“Okay, that makes two. Who else?”

“I hired the last guy just this morning… someone who already knows your crew.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” he asked. He privately hoped it was not someone from Armando’s ship.

“Jasper Porter.”

Merlin blinked several times in rapid succession. “Patch?”

“That’s him. He said he’d just been released from his former employer, a cruise line I believe. It seems he was a survivor of a ship that was a victim of that nasty computer virus. His company had too many displaced employees after that, and he was one of them.”

“Jasper’s twin brother serves on the Blue Horizon. I wonder why he didn’t let us know he was in the area.”

“I dunno,” the red panda replied. “He saw my advertisement for interviews, and applied for chief engineer. He said he wasn’t aware the application with my ship was for your company and he almost turned down the job when he found out.”

Merlin frowned. He thought he had parted ways with Jasper on decent terms, so did not understand the apparent animosity the raccoon had for him. He probably blames me for his situation, the wolf thought to himself. If he had let Patch know about the new ship only an hour earlier, it was unlikely he would have left the Blue Horizon to sign up with the Merriam Cruise Line in the first place. Patch was originally the chief engineer on Merlin’s ship, but went to a vessel as just one engineer of several on a team. Staying in contact with Pockets, Patch knew his brother was now the chief engineer on the Horizon, and probably knew if he came back, that Pockets would retain his position. On board the Hidalgo Sun, Patch would be chief engineer again.

Merlin was well aware of Jasper’s qualifications, so he nodded quietly. “Okay,” he said at last, “let’s go meet with your crew.”

***

Pockets was furious. He stood nose to nose with his twin brother and ground his teeth together. “You could have asked for your old job back!” he said angrily, his arms up in the air for emphasis. “I know more about the new ship than you do, but I would have handed you the chief spot if that’s what it took to get you to come back.”

“Jerad…” Patch growled in a voice that proved he had expected a reaction like this, “you and I both know that Captain Sinclair wouldn’t set me in a position above you on a ship I knew nothing about.” He stepped back from his sibling to give them room. “At least on the Hidalgo Sun, I’ll be in common company. No one on this crew has served on an H-model Okami freighter before.”

When Merlin and Rezo stepped into the front room and heard the argument, the wolf almost thought he was looking at mirror images. The brothers had always been near identical in appearance, but usually Pockets was a cheery soul and easy to identify by his manner and a ready smile. In his rage, Pockets now resembled Patch more than he had ever done so in Merlin’s memory. Rezo was about to break up the conflict, but Merlin put a hand on the red panda’s shoulder and put a finger to his lips to quiet him before he spoke.

“Do you remember the letters you sent me after you first got the new Horizon?” Patch asked his brother. “Remember your excitement discovering the upgrades and changes from the old G-model?” Pockets nodded quietly. “I want to make those discoveries for myself,” Patch said as he gestured to the rest of the Sun’s crew. “Most of us know what it’s like to serve on an old ship, and we’re all looking forward to finally having one that’s up-to-date.”

Pockets lowered his chin and nodded as Patch continued. “You finally have your own engine room, Jerad,” he said in a softer voice. “I want mine, too. The job on the Hidalgo Sun is a good opportunity. We’ll both still be working for the same company, just not on board the same ship.”

Patch held out a hand to his brother, sincerely hoping he would take it. Pockets moved forward and hesitated. He looked up into his sibling’s eyes, and then jumped forward to embrace him tightly.

“I’m sorry,” Pockets said in a choked voice. “We’ve been together most of our lives… Being apart from you has been harder than I thought.”

“I know,” Patch replied with a hard swallow. “I know.” They stood embraced for a moment, and then stepped back to give each other a smile.

“Now that that is settled,” Merlin said from across the room, “welcome back, Patch.”

Jasper Porter looked up and gave the wolf an uncharacteristic smile. He walked over to grasp hands with him. “Thank you, Captain,” he said. “Glad to work for the company again.” He looked over at the grinning red panda and shook his hand, too. “And thank you, Captain Kegawa, for hiring me.”

“You’re welcome, Patch,” Rezo replied. “You have a good reputation and I’ll be glad to have you in my crew.” Then he turned toward the others and gestured to the wolf beside him. “Sheila, Danaher,” he said to the kangaroo and bobcat at the front of the group, “this is our boss Merlin Sinclair – the owner of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer and captain of our sister ship, the Blue Horizon.”

The bobcat, Danaher, stared at Merlin with piercing eyes. “I happy to meet you,” he said in an accent the wolf could not identify. “We glad what you do for us.”

Merlin took the bobcat’s offered hand and shook it gently. Despite being of a smaller breed of feline, he was fully as large as most in the room. “I’m pleased to meet you as well, Mr. Danaher. Please tell me, where are you from?”

Danaher nodded and replied, “Yes, I from Gohl. Left six years ago.”

Merlin tilted his head to the left slightly. “Gohl? I’m not familiar with that place.”

Rezo looked up at him with a smile. “Gohl is a region of Fyn,” he reminded him.

“Ah, I see. Welcome to the team, Danaher.”

“Thanks you.”

“Hi, I’m Sheila Aval,” the kangaroo said with a big smile when Merlin turned to her.

“Hello, Sheila,” the wolf replied, “and where are you from?”

“Right here on Dennier, sir. I’m a home girl. I grew up down the shore in Anaran.”

Merlin chuckled and shook her hand. “Yes, I know the place. Welcome aboard.”

“Delighted to be here, sir!”

The wolf nodded to her and then moved out into the room. He looked down at two of the shorter members of the Hidalgo Sun, a female ringtail lemur and a male orange tabby cat. The feline smiled at him, giving an almost-imperceptible bow of his head. “Hello, Captain,” he said. “Remember me?”

Merlin nodded. “Sean…  Jones, if I recall correctly.”

“Yeah, that’s me. Everyone usually just calls me Jonesy. Captain Rezo made me his first officer again, as well as the ship’s Business Coordinator.”

“I believe your name is Rixy?” the captain asked of the lemur.

She smiled, but shook her head. “You’re close, Captain. It’s Riki - Riki Nori.”

Merlin returned the smile. “Ah, my apologies. You take care of communications, yes?”

“That’s right,” Riki replied. “I’m also a bit of an electronics technician.”

“She’s also our self-appointed morale officer,” Jonesy quipped.

Merlin nodded. “Nothing wrong with that,” he said. “Every ship needs one.”

“Anyway, thank you for the opportunity to work for you, Captain Sinclair,” Jonesy said. “These aren’t good times to be without a decent job.”

“True, too true,” Riki agreed.

“Welcome to the team,” Merlin told them.

He gave them a nod and then made his way to the back of the room, where he saw Durant seated in a visitor chair facing the Sun’s doctor, Carmen Burgess. The two ursine friends had their heads close together, speaking in whispers. Merlin remembered that the two of them had maintained a loose, long-distance relationship, so he backed away to let them visit. He could talk to the doctor at a later time.

He saw Max chatting with a large palomino horse, who was busily brushing his mane with a worn brush. Similar as a species to the Silloni, he had hoofed digitigrade feet but his arms ended in long-fingered hands.

“Max and Pax,” Merlin said with a smile. “How are you, Mr. Paxton?”

“Howdy, Captain,” the equine mechanic replied. “I’m doing right good today, ‘specially with my ol’ job back!  I missed workin’ on starship engines… I’ve been in an auto garage the past few weeks and those small toys are more difficult to maintain.”

“Well,” Merlin replied, “we can all hope your new vessel won’t actually need you to work on it for a while. If you and Patch keep it well maintained, it’ll be a good ship.”

“Yessir, Patch n’ I have already been talkin’ about that very thing.”

“Patch seems like he’s looking forward to working with Pax, Uncle Merlin,” Max said in a quiet voice. “I’ve told Pax about some of Patch’s habits, so he won’t be too surprised when the bagpipes come out.”

Merlin raised his eyebrows. “Patch lost his bagpipes in the crash,” he recalled.

“He bought some more,” Max explained.

“Oh, my…” Merlin whispered in mock horror.

A movement in the corner of his vision drew the wolf’s attention to an ebony figure dressed in a teal jumper standing behind the horse. It was the jaguar, Tsarina Ahnya. She had been talking with Tanis, and surprisingly, Renny and Taro. She stopped to look in his direction, but the wolf maintained his composure. The sight of a black jaguar still brought back memories of Sagan, but enough time had passed that he knew could handle himself better. Since she was now on his payroll, he knew he had to put such unease aside and go speak with her.

“Please excuse me, but welcome to our team,” he said to Paxton. The horse nodded courteously and Merlin moved off toward the small group.

Tsarina watched him with steady amber eyes at first, but averted them in submission when he stopped beside her. “H’lo, captain,” she said in a quiet voice without looking back up at him. Tanis regarded Merlin without a word, but the expression on his face spoke a clear message. Renny and Taro seemed to be at ease with her presence, and so should he.

Merlin bent down so that his head was lower than hers was and then turned his face so that he was looking up at her. “Hello, Tsarina,” he said with a smile, catching the hat that fell from his head. “Did you lose something?”

A smile crept across her lips and her eyes twinkled. “Only my dignity,” she answered. Merlin stood up and grinned at her.

“Well, if that’s all, I think you’ll be okay,” he said. “Are you ready to start navigating around the cosmos again?”

“Aye, Captain, I am,” she said. “When do we leave?”

“Don’t be in too big of a hurry!” Taro said with a laugh, “We still have to line up some jobs first, and your ship isn’t even stocked with general supplies yet.”

“Ah, okay,” the jaguar replied.

Merlin put a hand on Tsarina’s shoulder and said to her, “Welcome to the team.”

The jaguar grinned widely, sliding her shoulder under his arm so that she was up against him, and then put a hand on his chest. “Thank you, Merlin,” she said.  “How shall we seal our contract?”  She batted her eyes and he could feel her purring up against him.

He grinned foolishly and said, “You’ve already signed your name to the contract. You don’t need to do anything more for me.”

“I don’t need to,” she admitted, “but I could offer more…”

Merlin cleared his throat and Renny stepped in. “Here,” the cheetah said with a tongue across his lips, “I’ll take his place.”

Tsarina looked at him playfully and moved her arms from the wolf to the other feline. “Oh, really?” Renny took a backward glance at Taro, who only laughed at him.

“Don’t let Tsarina intimidate you, Captain,” another voice said.

Merlin looked up at the large human who had walked up beside him. The wolf smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgement. “She moves fast, doesn’t she, Mr. Littlefeather?” he asked.

“About as fast as your cheetah friend,” Mark said with a grin. “Hello, Captain.”

Merlin offered his hand to the man and shook it pleasantly.  “Hello, Mark, how have you been?”

Taro looked at the wolf strangely. Ever since the end of their very first voyage together, Merlin would have little to do with humans and would have never prompted a friendly handshake with one in the past. It seemed she had more catching up to do on what she had missed in the time she had been away.

***

Merlin Sinclair applied his thumbprint onto the appropriate spot of the contract before him and slid the slateboard across the table to the otter sitting opposite from him.  The business clerk looked over the electronic document and then nodded in satisfaction. He took another look at the financial transaction receipt that had paid for the vessel in full, and then smiled at the wolf.

“Thank you, Mr. Sinclair,” he said cheerily. “I will have the PA registration set up for you and then you’ll be ready to go.” Without waiting for a reply, the otter got up from his seat and left the small cubicle.

Merlin sighed and felt pleased.  With two freighters and a home office in full operation and repeated visits back to Dennier a decided part of the new business, he had felt a company ship for the boss was in order.  He knew there would be times he would need a vessel to make trips in that did not require the use of either freighter, so he had gone out on his own to shop for a viable ship. He usually put his profits solely back into the business, so he felt justified spending a bit on himself this once.

The one he had finally chosen was small enough that he could fly it between cities without needing a spaceport landing pad, but it also had long-range LightDrive capabilities should he need to go off-world in it. It could sleep up to three and required only a single operator to fly it. He had chosen the latest model 301 Starwolf, a sleek red and black sport design that was currently popular across the Planetary Alignment. It was small enough that when not in use, he could park it in a hangar on the back of Bill’s place — or even in the empty cargo bay of the Blue Horizon herself if the need ever arose to transport it somewhere not under its own power.

A few moments later, the otter returned to the cubicle with a thick packet of actual printed material in hand.  He set it on the table between them and pulled the contents out of the envelope.  He picked up a small, sealed container and handed it to the wolf.

“Here are the security codes for your onboard systems, Mr. Sinclair.  The Registry number is PA30578 and it is listed as the SS Christopher Watson – reflecting your father’s first and middle names, I believe you said. A copy of your title, registration and transaction is here, as well as all user manuals and service data crystals.”

He smiled at Merlin and held out his hand.  “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Sinclair.  It’s one of our finest ships and I’m sure you’ll be happy with it.  You’ll be able to pick it up tomorrow afternoon after we’ve installed the options you ordered and given it a courtesy wash.”

Merlin stood up and took the otter’s hand with a smile.  “Thank you, Mr. Tochigi. I appreciate all the help you’ve given me.”

***

Two freighters from Dennier were now on separate voyages coordinated through the new home office. En route to the world of Ganis, the Blue Horizon was hauling the entire stock of a new department store going up in Sogor. Their sister ship, Hidalgo Sun, was on its first flight as a member of Merlin’s team toward Fyn fully loaded with farming equipment and related supplies.

Just before they had left, however, the Spatial Police Force had sent two officers from the Grandstorm office to interview the Horizon’s crew in detail concerning their experiences on the derelict Walkabout. There had been no new developments in the investigation, but debris from the vessel’s destruction had been located in the vicinity they had reported and it was determined further interviews were necessary. This took only the bulk of one afternoon, so the Horizon was able to lift off on schedule and be on her way.

In the darkness of his room, Merlin sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes at the sound of an insistent chirp. The wolf felt for the intercom switch with his eyes still closed and tapped it lightly. “Yes, what is it?”

“Merlin? There’s an important call for you,” Samantha’s voice emanated from a speaker mounted in the ceiling.

“Who’s it from?” he asked groggily.

“Prime Minister Nishalt of Tanthe.”

Merlin opened his eyes blearily and swung his legs off the edge of the bed. “Stall him, Sam, so I can unruffle myself and get the sleep out of my eye-pits.”

“I told him you were sleeping. He wouldn’t be too surprised if you look ruffled.”

“Thanks too much…” he grumbled. He pulled on a blue muscle shirt and slipped his brown flight jacket over it. He smoothed down his pants and ran a brush through the fur on his head. It would not stay down, so he grabbed his hat from a wall peg and perched it between his ears as he headed out the door for the bridge.

He composed himself before opening the door, and then walked casually toward the center seat. Samantha remained seated at the com station and introduced him to the coyote on the center vidscreen. “Prime Minister Nishalt,” she said, “this is Captain Sinclair.”

“Good evening, Captain,” said the voice from the system speakers. The coyote was dressed in a black suit with red highlights and he held himself with regal bearing, even if he were not an actual member of the Aris bloodline.

Merlin gave him a short bow of courtesy and replied, “Good evening, Prime Minister. I did not have the opportunity to meet you during our last visit to your world.”

“Yes, I have heard much about your visit, Captain. I was incapacitated at the time. It is good to finally meet the King’s hero.”

“King’s hero?” Merlin repeated slowly.

“It was your discernment that resulted in an heir to the throne.”

“An heir…” Merlin looked perplexed.

“Captain,” Nishalt said, “I have been instructed to present to you an official announcement from King Adion Aris that his royal daughter, Tinara, has given birth to a healthy male pup.”

Samantha grinned widely and Merlin smiled back at her. “Please give the royal family my deepest congratulations, sir,” he said to the screen.

“I will, Captain. Thank you. However, Prince Kal also wanted me to relay to you some details surrounding the birth.”

“Yes?”

“There were three pups in the litter, but only the one male endured. One male and one female did not survive the birthing.”

“Oh no…” Samantha said with her hands to her mouth.

“Please give my…”

“The royal parents are doing fine,” the Prime Minister continued. “They are saddened by the loss that was not altogether unexpected, but are comforted with their remaining prince.”

“Excuse me, sir,” Samantha asked, “have they chosen a name for the pup?”

Nishalt smiled gently and nodded. “Prince Merlin Sel Aris.”

Merlin grinned widely. “I didn’t think she would actually do it,” he replied.

“What was that, sir?”

“Before we left Tanthe, Princess Tinara commented that should they have a son, the pup would be named after me. It surprises me that she actually did this.”

“May I inform the royal family of a visit, Captain?”

Merlin bowed again slightly. “I have a current schedule to maintain, Prime Minister, but I am sure I can find a visit to see my namesake in there somewhere.”

“I will inform Prince Kal that you will contact us as soon as you are able so we may make arrangements.”

“Thank you, sir. I would be most grateful.”

“Then, fare well, Captain.”

The connection ended and Sam looked up at him with a smirk. “You have a royal kid named after you,” she teased. “And just think, if you had given in to the Princess, the pup could have been yours!”

Merlin glanced away briefly with an expression of uncertainty, but then he looked back at her with a light smile. Had Samantha looked away at that instant she might not have seen the momentary change to his countenance.

“Who knows what might have happened?” he replied with a casual shrug.

OPERATION RAINBOW

By Ted R. Blasingame

Blue Horizon PA1138

First Officer’s Diary

There are times when being one in charge of an interstellar cargo carrier takes an unexpected turn. Life aboard a freighter is supposed to be quiet. This is the main reason why I sought work on such a vessel in the first place all those years go.

Some of our competitors describe our crew as a “family” that sits around, trades snack trays and gushy sentiments with one another for all occasions. Merlin doesn’t deny that he handpicked his crew of individuals to be of good character. When we’re locked into a tin can together for weeks at a time with no way out, what you don’t want are enemies on board. Nerves are strained enough as they are at times, even in this group, but for the most part everyone on the crew does get along with one another relatively well.

There are always exceptions to the rule. Samantha and Lorelei sometimes argue about pharmaceuticals, and Tanis and Renny have butted their heads together on more than one occasion lately. Those two have been friendly rivals since they first met, but some of us have had to break them up just short of a fistfight at least three times in a fortnight.

News of growing tensions between Tanis’ homeworld of Nalirra and a neighboring non-PA planet has put our medic on edge and his temper’s been touchy lately. Of course, Renny needles Tanis every chance he gets, which only causes more friction. I’ve counseled both of them separately, but it hasn’t seemed to have done much good, as the two of them continue to bicker over things that would normally be shrugged off. If this continues, I’m going to have to recommend the captain to penalize one or both of them with a financial docking; if counseling doesn’t work, hit them in the paycheck.

It doesn’t help matters that after our current delivery, we’ll be heading toward that very region. The Roppa system is a potential war-zone right now, and this makes us all uneasy despite that we’re being well-paid. Tanis has been in to see me a few times concerning the possibility of danger, and I think his nerves are getting worse. I’ve not seen him like this in a long time. He’s been one of the more stable guys I’ve known.

We are currently nearing Alexandrius with a load of imported lumber we picked up from a supplier on Ganis, and should be on the ground in a couple of hours. Hestran virrin is a type of wood in high demand on Alexandrius, so the value of our cargo is rather expensive. Samantha is looking forward to a short visit to her hometown while we’re here, and as a chance to get away for a couple days, I’m going with her. The rest of the crew can spend their standard shore leave as they wish.

And… speaking of things Hestran, our new sister ship, the Hidalgo Sun has just delivered a load of textiles for a clothing factory on Hestra, but they didn’t actually land on Hestra herself, but rather on the Vashon moon at Sharra Base. When Hestra joined the Planetary Alignment, Sharra Base was established on Vashon as a transfer station for ships, personnel and visitors not equipped to handle the heavier Hestran gravity. Made up of transparent, pressurized geodesic domes, Sharra has grown over the years to the size of a small city to support the personnel and all guests. Hestran Drop Jumpers will be used to ferry the goods down to the planet afterward, but Rezo’s crew won’t be involved in that operation. Any shore leave he grants them will be on Vashon, but at least Sharra has plenty of hotels and shops for them to visit.

Rezo seems pleased with his new ship and crew, and the reports that Durant gets from the home office on Dennier tell him the combined profits of both vessels in the company are already looking good. Pockets and Patch communicate on a regular basis, as the Sun’s crew is slowly getting used to the H-model freighter. Pockets and Max have already worked out the particulars of this ship enough that when something new comes up to repair or maintain on the Hidalgo, all Patch or Paxton have to do is contact us. Apparently, there’s a few bugs in the systems on that ship that we’ve not had to deal with on this one, but so far, they’ve been able to handle everything that has reared up.

Merlin has left me in charge of things while he takes a bit of personal leave. Bill and Shannon have been pestering him to get back to Dennier to see their new cubs, and the royal family of Tanthe has been awaiting a visit from him so he may meet the new prince who bears his name. He booked a public transport from Ganis to Dennier and should arrive there sometime tomorrow. After a short vacation with his sister’s family, Merlin is going to fly the smaller SS Cristopher Watson to a mountain fortress on Tanthe, where Prince Kal and Princess Tinara are currently staying with their infant son. Samantha wanted to go along, I’m sure, but I don’t think she mentioned anything to the captain about it. Personally, I would have liked to have gone myself, but this is Merlin’s time to spend with his extended families.

It’s been a long while since I was placed in complete command of the Blue Horizon. Merlin rarely takes time away from his ship, so my position as first officer doesn’t usually see much more authority than the times when he’s asleep or very busy and doesn’t want to be bothered. Aside from the little altercations between Tanis and Renny, things seem to be going smoothly.

–Taro Nichols

***

“In news from Earth, Tokyo Tower fell again today amidst the rampage of another giant monster. This fire-breathing turtle has risen from the sea and is on a march across the main island of Japan. Citizens are on the run, but aren’t worried, as this common occurrence takes place on a regular basis. New construction materials for Tokyo Tower are already being pulled from an awaiting warehouse and reconstruction workers are standing by to remove the debris before they can start the rebuild. We’ll let you know more as the information comes to us. In sports news from–”

Penny clicked off the remote to the waiting room vidscreen and cleared away the wrappers of her lunch. Cindy had gone out to eat with her architect boyfriend, and Keri was away running errands, so the lithe ferret had the place to herself. It had been a quiet day. There had only been one call from Ganis for someone needing several sets of large Taiko drums delivered from Earth for some kind of ancient ritual, but the delivery would not need to be made for several months.

There was a small jingle of bells; Penny looked up from the desk with a smile.

A short desert fox dressed in a dark green shirt and black shorts walked in with a small round watermelon wrapped up in a rope net dangling from one hand. He glanced around the office before moving to the receptionist’s desk.

“May I help you?” Penny asked him.

“Hallo,” the fennec said hesitantly, in a slightly accented voice. “I am looking for Arktanis TeVann. I was told he worked here.”

Penny nodded. “He does work for this company,” she told him, “but he’s currently serving on board the Blue Horizon and won’t be back on Dennier for some months.”

“Ah,” the tan fox replied, as he scratched one of his enormous ears. “I had hoped for the opportunity to see my friend. It’s a matter of urgency that I contact him.”

“May I know the nature of this emergency?” Penny asked. “If it’s sufficiently important, I can relay a message to his ship’s captain.”

The fennec smiled down at the ferret. “The message I have for him will affect his immediate future. I—”

“Are you his brother?” she asked him in an excited voice.

The fox shrugged. “In a manner of speaking, perhaps,” he replied, “as we are both from the same region of Nalirra. My name is Shoji Locke, and—”

“What’s the watermelon for?” Penny interrupted again.

The stranger sighed. He set the melon on the desk, and gave it a small push so that it rolled inside its net toward her. “As Arktanis is not here, you may share it with your office co-workers.”

“Oh, thank you!” Penny replied with a grin. “The girls are gonna love this.”

“Now, as I was—”

“You said you were from Nalirra,” the ferret interrupted yet again. “Are you here about the delivery?”

“No,” he said with a dark frown. Talking to this person was a chore. “I’m not here to make a delivery.”

“No, silly,” Penny replied, “we have an upcoming delivery to make to Nalirra— a full shipment of food, I believe. I thought maybe you were a representative. We have a second ship that’s been hired to deliver more of the same, so we—”

The fox looked at her quietly for a moment, chewing on his lower lip as she rattled on. He was on Dennier on official business for his government, but had taken time out from his busy schedule to visit the offices of Tanis’ employer. He had just about decided to turn and walk back out of the door when the desktop com unit emitted three quick chirps.

“You’re in luck, Mr. Locke,” Penny said cheerily. “That’s the Blue Horizon calling in now.” The fennec waited patiently while she made the connection and then informed a grizzly bear on the screen of the visitor’s request. “Tanis will be on the tachyon link in just a moment, sir,” she said to him.

***

Blue Horizon PA1138

First Officer’s Diary

The Blue Horizon is on its way to Nalirra to deliver emergency foods the Nalirrans are stockpiling in preparation of imminent war against their neighboring world, Oe’Tanata. The Hidalgo Sun is a day behind us, having been hired to deliver more of the same. Our delivery is a legitimate job for the company that was already on the schedule, but our voyage to this world has another purpose with more importance.

Nalirra is rumored to be building up their forces for a strike against Oe’Tanata. There have been recent aggressions between the two worlds over matters that INN or other news frequencies have been vague upon reporting. The tension is growing and Nalirra is recalling past military personnel who are still capable. Recalls have been going out to all the worlds of the Planetary Alignment as they try to relocate bodies to match their records.

One of Tanis’ trusted friends contacted him a couple weeks ago during a visit to the home office to let him know that his personnel file had been reclassified as a “rainbow document” – a collection of files made up of past military personnel currently off-world, but which have training the Nalirran military deems necessary for a first assault. Tanis’ medical background and piloting skills have put him on a list that can only mean he will likely be among the first recalled into service if war actually breaks out.

By Nalirran law, he’s legally bound to return to service if recalled, no matter where he may be or what he may be doing, but only twice in his lifetime. Tanis has already served this legal limit, but the current Leader has arbitrarily dismissed this regulation that others before him put into law. It is because of this illegal action that Locke put this plan into motion.

Concerned that Tanis will be drafted once again into the armed services in a time of war, we are going to use our current scheduled job to Nalirra as a front for an attempt to infiltrate the military personnel database. Locke has supplied coordinates on where to meet him, and will make arrangements to get Tanis inside. I don’t want to worry Merlin about this during his vacation, so I’ve not said anything about this in my daily reports. I’m not entirely sure he would approve of getting involved in a covert operation like this, so I’ll take full responsibility should something go wrong and let him have plausible deniability.

We have an extra bit of help in this, as well. Tanis’ friend, Clarence Duffy, took a quick flight from Fyn and met us just before we left Alexandrius. Duffy was informed by Locke that he was also on the rainbow listing and asked to be included since he has also served his two-time limit. The Siberian husky brought along several pilfered Nalirran desert uniforms that he thinks will fit some of us for this operation.

As if we didn’t have enough on our minds, Pockets and Duffy took an immediate disliking toward one another as soon as the husky came aboard. There haven’t been any arguments between them, but you can feel the tension in the air whenever the two of them are in the same room together. I’ve asked Pockets about it, but all he does is shrug me off, saying it’s nothing. I don’t like this, as Duffy seems on the up and up to me and Tanis seems to trust his friend.

As we approach the Roppa star system, Duffy has assembled a small team to infiltrate the compound consisting of Tanis, Samantha, himself and me. We’ve been going over the plan and studying maps of the building we will be getting into. Locke was quite thorough in the information he’s provided to us. Sam scanned the floor plan maps and is in the process of converting them to a 3D rendition for use with Pockets’ VR software in an effort to help us all learn the layout of the facility.

Renny wanted to join the team, but Tanis pointed out that there are no feline species in the Nalirran military and that he would give them away immediately. The Nalirran enemies, the Tanatans, are almost primarily big cats such as leopards, cougars, lions, jaguars – and cheetahs.

This is okay by me since Durant still needs a crew to make a showing of a freighter delivering its cargo, and the tension between Tanis and Renny would a distraction where the team will need to stay alert. Those remaining with the Blue Horizon will have their hands full unloading a cargo hold packed with food containers stacked nearly two stories high. It’s a good thing this model of the Blue Horizon is equipped with cargo moving cranes in the hold – something the old ship didn’t have. All in all, this could get tricky. I just hope all goes well.

Merlin reported in a bit ago just to let me know that following his family visit, Bill will accompany him to Tanthe in a private cruiser he’s purchased. His brother-in-law is taking the trip as convenient to resolve business issues for his company in another city on that world. Afterward, Bill will return to Dennier with Merlin’s cruiser, the SS Christopher Watson, and Merlin will later take a public transport from Tanthe to rendezvous with the Blue Horizon on the next leg of our schedule after Nalirra.

–Taro Nichols

***

Tanis tapped on the lights of Sickbay and plucked a lab coat from a wall hook near the door. He motioned a male Siberian husky into the room with a smile. “Welcome to mah la-bor-a-tory…” he said in the creepy accent of a popular horror film character from Earth.

“Cute,” the canine said with a lopsided smile. “What do you need me to do?”

“Take off yer shirt and sit up on this stool,” Tanis told him while removing medical instruments from their stays in a wall cabinet. The husky closed the door behind him and did as he was told, while the medic placed the tools of his trade on a plastic tray.

“Do you remember the Well of Luck?” Duffy asked as he absently ran his fingers through the dusty gray fur of his chest and scratched at an itch.

Tanis gave him a smirk. “How can I forget? I got the chance to examine it from the inside out.”

The husky chuckled as his friend took out a stethoscope, daubing the business end of it with a cleanser. “I just bought the land it’s on,” Duffy said. “I began clearing away the brush around it, and I’ve made a nice, wide pathway to the nearby road with steps along that hill you rolled down.”

Tanis put the stethoscope up to the canine’s chest. “Take a deep breath, Clarence. Then ya can tell me why ya wasted yer money on that worthless pit.”

“I’m going to open it as a tourist spot,” the husky said before taking a deep breath.

The door opened and Max walked in. “What going on?” he asked curiously.

“Just giving Duffy a routine physical,” Tanis said as he let the stethoscope drop to his chest. He entered a few figures on a slateboard and then looked over his other instruments. “He’s not been off Fyn for so long that I’m surprised he was even allowed on Alexandrius without updated inoculations.” He glanced up into his friend’s pale blue eyes and asked, “Just how long has it been since yer last physical?”

Duffy shrugged his shoulders as Tanis consulted a chart on the husky’s physiology. “I dunno,” he replied. “Ten years, maybe.”

“Why so long?” Max asked casually. He noticed a spot of grease on his denim shirt, and licked his finger to try to rub it out. He need not have bothered, as it only smeared and grew in size.

Duffy smiled at the youth. “After I got out my last term of the Nalirran service, I went hopping around the Planetary Alignment as a space jockey for an interstellar transport for people who needed to get from one planet to another cheap. I later got tired of being on the go all the time, so I found a nice and quiet place on Fyn to relax and live off some investment returns that were doing well.” He winced when Tanis shined a bright penlight into his left eye. “Until I got the call from Shoji, I haven’t been off world since.”

“Was there something you needed, Max?” Tanis asked absently as he prepared an instrument to take a tissue sample for routine DNA testing.

“Yeah,” Max suddenly remembered. “Pockets wanted to borrow some of your rubbing alcohol.”

The fennec did not look up as he calibrated the instrument in his hands. “Go ahead, but only one bottle this time,” he said. “I don’t know what he does with the stuff down in the engine room, but I need it up here where it belongs. I don’t want to run out again like our last voyage, when he used up all I had in my stores.”

“I’ll tell him,” Max said as he moved across the room to a supply closet.

“What’s the little squint using it for?” Duffy asked with a frown.

The canine youth grinned at him as he headed for the doorway with a bottle in his hand. “Fuel,” Max replied as he left the room.

Tanis glanced up at Duffy in surprise. “I’m not sure if I even want to know what it’s fuel for,” he muttered.

The husky maintained a neutral expression as Tanis pricked his skin with a tiny needle. Just before the youth disappeared from sight, Duffy had seen a second bottle tucked covertly under the boy’s arm, out of view from the desert fox. He allowed himself a canine grin when Tanis turned the other way with his sample.

***

Durant awoke with a start, realizing he had drifted off while reading printed periodicals he had picked up on Alexandrius. He had fallen asleep sitting up on the large bed in his quarters; all the cabin lights were still on. He had spent several hours at his desk downstairs poring over the accounts and felt he needed a break, so he had retired to his rooms with new magazines and a box of sweets.

There were nearly thirty of the publications scattered over the bed amidst the candy wrappers and he knew he must look like a slob. His eyes roved over the colorful cover of one publication and then gathered it together with the other magazines, stacking them neatly on a night stand. He tossed the empty wrappers into a waste bin beside the bed and brushed the crumbs from the Terran Southwest blanket that covered the mattress.

He quietly crossed the room to his closet, shedding his shirt and pants at the laundry basket. He needed a shower and quickly picked out clothing to put on afterward. As he peered into the closet, he heard a small double beep from the front room. He grinned from ear to ear and moved to the other room.

He sat down in the wide chair in front of his cabin computer terminal and smiled at a small animated figure of a dancing envelope prancing around the screen. He placed his finger on the monitor’s surface over the envelope, and immediately a message opened up for him.

Dear Leo,

The Hidalgo Sun is running smoothly today, a welcome change from yesterday’s excitement. Sheila’s a decent enough cook, but three people got sick from a casserole she’d made the day before; I had to pump one stomach and take care of the other two with medication and tender care. Littlefeather is still feeling the cramps from the pump and isn’t a very happy patient. I convinced the captain to let Mark rest up the few days before we get to Nalirra. He’ll need all his strength in time to unload our cargo. Patch and Riki are faring better. I dispensed medication that took cleansed out their sicknesses, but everyone else seems to be wary of our cook today.

I overheard Rezo talking to Jonesy about our current assignment, and he’s nervous about the trip into a risky area. His plans are to deliver our cargo and get out of there as quickly as possible. He’s denied us shore leave and Riki and Pax are rather upset about it. Both have been pacing the central corridor in agitation.

Tsarina wants me to ask you send her love to Renny. She was disappointed that she didn’t have time to get together with him when we were all on Dennier together, even though he acted like he was interested. Tsarina is a big tease with the guys, but I think she’s more than just a little taken with your navigator and can’t wait until she can get him alone.

Anyway, enough about the others. How are you doing? The last letter I got from you mentioned that you’ve been feeling tired all of the time, no matter what you eat or how much rest you get. As your friend, this has me mildly concerned. As a doctor, this has me worried. Something like that doesn’t happen without a cause. It could be something as trivial as a vitamin deficiency or as serious as a disease. Please, get Tanis to give you a physical soon, darling. Whatever it is, you should get it taken care of as soon as possible. It’s best to treat it now before anything gets out of hand.

As for me, I’m doing fine. Nothing really of interest to tell you, except perhaps to let you know my Pop has finally remarried. It’s been nearly twenty years since we lost Mum, and it’s good to know he’s found someone again. My brother and his wife attended the small ceremony they had, and they say he looks ten years younger with his new bride. I wish them both well.

I miss you, Leo, and wish we weren’t on separate ships. If Tanis ever decides to leave the Blue Horizon to finish up his medical degree, please let Captain Sinclair know that I would transfer to your ship in a heartbeat. It’s not bad here on the Hidalgo Sun, but I’d rather be with you. You’re warm and snuggly, and I miss your arms around me – and seeing your smile. I think I miss that most of all. I do wish Rezo would change his mind and let us stay a couple days after landing. From what I understand, we’ll be landing at the same warehouse where you’ll have unloaded your cargo. Hopefully, your ship will still be there by the time we arrive.

Well, my dear friend, I will close for now and send this on its way. I look forward to your letters and hope you do the same for mine.

With great love,

Carmen

Durant smiled at the message. “Yes, Carmen,” he said to the quiet room, “I do look forward to your letters very much.” He closed his eyes for a moment, leaning back in his seat. He had not told her about their secondary operation concerning the rainbow documents. He did not think anyone would be specifically monitoring his mail, but he did not want to take that chance with the ship so close to Nalirra. In a potential war-zone, security measures were going to be heightened and he did not want to chance giving away their mission with an intercepted message. He decided just to send her back a nice note to let her know how he had been doing since his last letter to her a week ago. He leaned forward to the terminal and began typing, his shower postponed.

***

Clarence Duffy walked quietly around the central corridor of the crew deck, his hands behind him and his thoughts on the upcoming mission. He was now dressed in the tan uniform of the Nalirran military, which consisted of nothing more than loose-fitting shorts adorned with pockets the Blue Horizon’s engineer would love, and a simple vest also with multiple pockets, that was adorned with no more than a spot for his rank insignia. Locke would provide those before they made planetfall. It had been over a decade since he had worn one of the uniforms and he had forgotten how stiff and stifling the material and had been over his fur. He had suggested each member of the team wear them for several days to get used to the feel before they got to their destination. They needed to appear as if they were military personnel who wore them every day of their lives. Samantha had tried several fabric softeners, but the fibrous material refused to feel soft. Everyone, including himself, grumbled about having to wear them, but it was a necessity that Shoji had stressed to them.

When he had first come on board the Blue Horizon, Duffy had immediately felt out of place in this tight group. Tanis was the only one on board he had known and he had been spending most of his spare time on board with him, usually reminiscing about old times. The spare moments were few, however, as he wanted to get the team prepared for their task ahead. He had also had trouble keeping his eyes off of the two females who were going with them; the garments really accented their assets nicely. Neither of them seemed to mind, however, especially the vixen. Still, he had to keep his mind on their task. He could not afford to be distracted once they were on Nalirra.

Basically, the details of the mission were simple. Shoji would meet them and take them into the records facility with falsified identification, and then they would be split up and assigned to separate document areas. As paper and crystal-recorded documents were not allowed off the grounds, they would have to destroy the hardcopy folders for Tanis and Duffy on location, a difficult task with the place fully staffed. Samantha’s expertise with computers would be needed to locate and delete the electronic backups.

Unfortunately for them, the locations they would have to infiltrate were at opposite ends of the building, with some on different floors. The paper copy of the document could be in any one of the Rainbow rooms. As a secondary course of action, if the document could not be eliminated, they were to alter the contents to show the person had perished somewhere. It had the potential of cutting off any military benefits they still enjoyed, but it would keep them from the war.

Security after hours was usually tight, even at a records facility, so the plan was to attempt the tasks during standard business hours. There were more people around, but he felt they would have better access to the material they needed and the bustle of activity would help camouflage their actions.

Tired of walking in circles around the corridor, Duffy decided to see who was on bridge watch. If he remembered the schedule he had seen posted on the ship’s network, it should be Samantha; he wanted to talk to her a little more about her programming background.

He heard a soft humming sound behind him and the husky turned to look. Moss floated toward him, its primary green eye fixed upon him. It rotated a couple of its metallic whiskers as if it were thinking about something.

“Hello, Moss,” Duffy said with a smile.

“Meow!” the little flying saucer responded brightly. “Meooowrrr…” Then, without studying him further, it floated down the corridor to the nearest lift and activated the doors with a signal to the system. Duffy idly watched it enter the lift and the panels close behind it.

He turned and headed toward the bridge.

***

“Taro, things like this are hard for me to say, but I wanted you to know that you’re the first woman who’s ever completely captured my heart… you’ve fulfilled all my fantasies, all my dreams – and you’re the only one I’ve ever felt this comfortable around. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had and are the most wonderful, beautiful creature I’ve ever known.”

The red fox looked up into his feline eyes, with moisture in her own. She gave him a tender smile, and gently brushed the fur on his left cheek. For most of her adult life, Taro had enjoyed pleasure where she found it, thinking nothing of a serious relationship, but this one had gotten deeply into her heart and she knew that she loved him. She opened her mouth to speak, but he put a finger to her lips with a quiet Shhhhhh.

“My head tells me to run the other direction,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper, “but my heart is the one ruling me tonight.” He moved his hand under her chin, and cupped it for a moment as he swallowed, never taking his eyes off her own. Finally, he steeled himself and said to her in a voice that was much more stable than he felt inside, “Marry me?”

Tears welled up in Taro’s eyes. Somehow, she had known what he was going to ask her that night. He had been extra affectionate for days and their lovemaking had been different, more tender. She had caught him looking at her more than usual, no matter what room or chamber of the ship they were in, and whenever he was near, he had made an effort to make sure he had touched her at least once, even if only with a fingertip or a brush of his arm. She had never known anyone who enjoyed tactile physical contact quite as much as he did.

Once again, she opened her mouth to speak, wondering to herself what reply would leave her lips. As a young girl, she had dreamed of getting married and settling down, but had later abandoned that fantasy when she could find no one with whom she would want to spend the rest of her life. Outside one another’s species, she would never be able to have any children with him, she knew, but she did not care. She loved him.

The Blue Horizon suddenly jolted beneath them and they tumbled out of the bed together amidst a tangle of pillows and blankets. He looked up in alarm at the sound of a second explosion that rocked the ship. The lights flickered and they could feel the sudden cessation of the constant vibration in the deck plates caused by the engines.

“What the–?”

“All hands! All hands!” Samantha’s voice sounded over the ship’s intercom speakers, “We’re under attack! Pirates!”

Taro looked up in sudden fear when her lover scrambled to his feet and jumped into his trousers. He looked back down at her with a worried look and then bent down to kiss her quickly. The ship jolted once more and without another word, he grabbed a sword from a wall board; then he was out the door heading toward the bridge, his shirt and boots left behind.

The vixen sat stunned for a moment longer. Had she been about to say what she thought she had been about to tell him? She climbed back up beside his bed, searching about the room for her scattered clothes. She felt as if she was moving in slow motion and time seemed to drag as she moved around his cabin. Pirates? she thought to herself. Now?

“The other ship just hard-docked with us!” Samantha’s voice exclaimed over the speakers. “We’re being boarded!”

Taro suddenly shook her head free of the whirling thoughts and dressed quickly. A moment later, she bolted out the door. Pockets was standing in the corridor looking frightened, wrapped solely in a towel and dripping wet from an interrupted shower.

“Lock yourself in your room!” she commanded, running for the lift. Taro waited impatiently for the panel to open, and then jumped inside when it did. As the elevator descended, she switched off the lights in the small chamber so she would not present herself as a target when she got out. When the doors parted, she peeked out into the dim cargo hold, hearing grunting voices and the sounds of a fierce struggle. There was a sudden yelp in a voice she knew well that cut off too abruptly, and the sounds of fighting abruptly ceased. Taro’s nerves felt as if they were suddenly on fire.

She eased herself out of the lift, skirting around the perimeter of the crates and containers of their cargo. She could still hear voices on the opposite side of the hold, but there did not seem to be any further fighting. The voices were hurried, but triumphant, and she recognized the sounds of plunder as the pirates began taking the contents of the Horizon’s cargo.

Taro slipped on something slick on the floor, and looked down at her feet. Her nose picked up the scent of blood even before she saw the growing puddle in the dim light of the hold. She put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from screaming when she saw the form from which the precious liquid freely flowed. The vixen sank to her knees, her throat constricting in horror as she stretched out a shaking hand. It was him, and the murderers had done the job with a slash across his throat. The feline’s unseeing eyes were rolled upward, focused toward infinity; blood spilled from his nose and mouth, as well as the wide opening in his neck.

Taro tried to close his wound with her hands even though she already knew he was dead, and for the first time in ages, she cried. The lift opened again behind her, and a moment later she heard the captain gasp when he found them. The wolf’s eyes blazed in fury as he gripped his broadsword, and then he ran out after the pirates that were raiding his ship. Durant arrived a moment later, similarly armed, and found the vixen sobbing over Jiro’s body.

Taro felt a start at his touch and opened her eyes. She blinked several times in disorientation, but then realized she was sitting up in bed, panting in heaves. Through the moisture in her eyes, she looked down at her hands in the dim light of the room, but saw no bloodstains there. She felt slightly sick to her stomach in the hot room. It had been a long time since she had dreamed of that day Jiro had died at the hands of pirates – the same pirates that had later almost killed her as well. Perhaps it was anxiety of the upcoming mission that affected her dreams.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall beside her bed for a moment, a hand to her breast, willing her heartbeat to slow. She got up after a bit and moved into the lavatory to wash her face in the sink. She dried her face fur with a soft pink towel, and then looked up at herself in the mirror for a moment, her nerves still raw. She cleared her throat, and felt the muscles still tight. Thirsty, she put a small paper cup under the faucet, but changed her mind. She wanted something stronger than water.

Taro rarely drank liquor, as it clouded her mind and she did not like to lose control of her thoughts – especially when she was in command of the ship – but she felt a tiny amount of Mainoran Klovosk wine would help calm her nerves and allow her to get back to sleep. She hung the towel neatly on a brass ring mounted to the wall, and then quietly moved through the rooms of her quarters to the corridor.

Moments later, she stepped out of the lift onto the recreation deck. All the lights were out except for the wall-sized vidscreen. Max danced in choreographed time with a pop music video, dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a white shirt with billowed, long sleeves. On the screen, a lop-eared bunny only slightly older than himself danced and gyrated around a brightly lit stage with a large team of other male and female dancers of mixed species. He had not heard the lift door open, and he spun around with a flourish perfectly choreographed with the actions on the screen.

Max let out a yelp of surprise when he saw Taro’s amused expression as she leaned casually against the galley counter. She was dressed in an oversized pink tee shirt that hung to her knees and her familiar silver ornamental disk with its blue-tipped white feather was clipped to the fur behind her left ear. He scrambled for the remote and muted the sound when she clapped for him.

“You’re a very good dancer, Max,” she said with a wide smile. “Are you planning to sign up for her entourage?”

Max coughed into his hand, and glanced up at the screen. “No,” he replied, embarrassed, “but I do like her music.”

Her quest for a drink forgotten, Taro laughed and looked back up at the video that continued to play out. “Max,” she said, “Pixly Dixly’s energetic, choreographed music videos can’t disguise the fact that she only has one hit with which she’s re-done, re-arranged, re-filmed and re-released a half dozen times to fans like you who don’t seem to notice.”

Max looked back up at the screen, the expression in his eyes clearly showing that she was correct. He had not noticed Pixly’s career pattern before. He frowned, feeling embarrassed, and turned back to look at the vixen. “I, uh, well….”

Taro smiled and walked over to him. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, Max. I didn’t mean to tarnish your perception of someone you like.” Both of them looked back up at the screen yet again. In silence, they watched the lop dance around. Finally, Max shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s okay,” he told her with a canine grin. “I still like the song.”

Taro shook her head and gave him a tsk, but she did it with a smile. “You’re allowed to like who you want, Max,” she said at last. “I’m heading back to bed now, kiddo. You can go back to your dancing.”

Max watched her until she disappeared into the lift before he took the mute off the sound system. He thumbed the control, reset the video to play again from the start, and grinned up at the screen.

***

Arktanis TeVann sat on a small swivel stool at a counter in Sickbay, quietly studying the results of Duffy’s physical. He stared at the computer terminal as it presented its data, and he chewed absently on a tongue depressor while he tapped in notes onto his slateboard. Everything seemed to be normal and Clarence Duffy appeared to be in good health. His cholesterol was lower than usual, but that was nothing that would hinder him in anything he did. There were no Fynian viruses or bacteria that the inoculations had not been able to take care of, and the medic did not see anything to concern him. Despite his high-profile living a decade earlier, the quiet life in the mountain air had apparently been good for Duffy.

The medical computer did find something of interest, however, and it had been flagged for his attention. Tanis was no expert with deoxyribonucleic acid, but a software routine had discovered mitochondria DNA markers in the pattern similar to another in the database. Tanis looked to see who it was - and raised his eyebrows when he read the name.

The desert fox put an elbow on the counter, resting his chin in his hand as his thoughts began to whirl. Was it possible? he thought to himself. He tapped out a few commands on the keypad with his free hand and then waited for the results. He got his answer only a moment later.

Tanis tossed his chewed tongue depressor into the refuse bin without looking. He licked his lips and then calmly rubbed his eyes. After a moment in thought, he saved the information into a protected file and then turned away from the terminal to begin pacing around the room.

He had mixed feelings over what he had found. Either it could be good news, or it could completely ruin someone’s day. He wrestled with his thoughts for a moment on what he should do, and then decided that something of this nature should be handled delicately by someone better suited.

His mind made up, Tanis turned back to the computer and opened up a new communication message. When he finished typing, he attached the file he had saved with all the information he had on Duffy’s DNA pattern and the data that had been brought to his attention, and then hit the Submit command to send it on its way.

***

The Blue Horizon was six hours away from Nalirra. Renny had all the lights on the bridge down to a minimum as he concentrated on keeping the ship steady. Another vessel was alongside, positioning itself to line up with the Horizon’s main hatch.

“XK101 extending its tunnel,” Durant’s calm voice said from the bridge speakers.

“Aye to that,” he responded.

The other ship was metallic green, its fuselage long and slender. There were three engine pods clustered together on the aft end and there were atmospheric wings folded back out of the way along its sides. The computer had acknowledged it as a Nalirran military transport identified only by its registration number. Renny had been uneasy when it had slipped in beside them with its lateral weaponry calmly trained upon the freighter.

Down on the cargo deck, Durant monitored the controls of the main airlock. Taro waited beside him for the tunnel to lock onto their ship and pressurize. Tanis, Duffy and Samantha stood behind them, small duffels at their feet. Samantha consulted a slateboard she had with her and then nodded to herself when she got the response she wanted.

A few moments later, Durant opened the internal airlock hatch. Standing just inside was a black Labrador in a Nalirran desert uniform that matched those the team was wearing. He wore an insignia that Durant did not recognize.

The senior officer on board, Taro stepped forward and offered a hand to the canine. The Labrador gave her a crisp salute before extending a massive hand to shake hers with a smile.

“Welcome,” she said to him. “I’m Taro Nichols, presently in command of the Blue Horizon.”

“Thank you, Captain” the dark canine replied in a voice so deep it almost rumbled. “I am Kor-Chief Allano.” He glanced at her uniform and then said, “The moon is exceptionally bright tonight.”

Taro nodded, recognizing the code phrase. “It is indeed, Kor-Chief,” she replied, “but the craters are dark.”

“Kerchief is his first name?” Samantha whispered to Tanis.

The medic replied in an equally quiet voice, enunciating the word, “Kor-Chief is his rank, Sam, not his name.”

“Oh.”

“Bar-Lieutenant Locke sent me to transport your team down to Mucot Airfield on Nalirra; he will rendezvous with you there,” Allano said to Taro. “Are you ready?” His large brown eyes glanced over at the others in uniform.

Taro turned to the grizzly at her side. “Durant,” she said, “you’re in command of the Horizon until I return. If Merlin calls and happens to ask about me, just tell him I’m indisposed.”

“Aye to that,” Durant said. “You all be very, very careful,” he said. “This whole thing makes me nervous.”

“We plan to, Durant,” the vixen said soberly. “Keep a candle lit for us.”

“I will.”

Taro turned toward Samantha, Tanis and Duffy. She nodded and everyone picked up their bags, moving as one toward the hatch.

“After you, Kor-Chief,” the vixen said.

Allano glanced up at the feathered ornament in Taro’s fur with a raised eyebrow. “You’ll need to leave that behind,” he said. “It’s not a part of regulation uniform.”

“Ah yes,” Taro said with a smile. She reached up with one hand, unclipped it from her fur, and handed it to Durant without another word.

Durant watched the team file through the airlock until Samantha, the last in line, stopped and tiptoed up to give him a hug.

“We’ll be back soon, Durant,” she promised him.

“Take extra care, Sam,” he replied. “I don’t want to have to give the boss any bad news.”

“Best wishes for us all,” she replied and then floated out after the others. Durant closed both the inner and outer hatches after he watched the team disappear into the other vessel. The extension tunnel was depressurized from the other end and then it detached from the Horizon’s hull.

Moments later, the XK101 moved away and then quickly sped off into the darkness. The Blue Horizon would take its time to speed back up to interstellar inertia.

***

Merlin laughed and grinned at the Border collie beside him. He was quite surprised to discover Alex Rogers in the mountain fortress when he had arrived. The new CEO for Holden Pharmaceutical was on Tanthe for a business conference concerning the company and while there, Alex had met Lady Ayana, representative for Royal Business Interests and cousin of Princess Tinara. There was an immediate attraction right off and they had spent a good deal of time together even after the conference had ended. Lady Ayana had invited Alex to accompany her to visit her aunt the Queen, and had been in the fortress at the time of Merlin’s arrival.

The lupine captain knew that Alex had maintained a lifelong attraction to Samantha, but it was nice to see the handsome collie with a lady of his own. Merlin had always gotten along well with Alex, but there had always been an underlying tension due to the feelings they both shared for Samantha. Merlin did not get that sensation from Alex this time, no doubt because the collie had someone new to occupy his attention.

They had enjoyed supper together, laughing and relating past adventures, but then he had left them together in the dining hall to retire for the evening.

When Merlin opened the door to the high-ceiling room he had been given, his attention was immediately drawn to a flashing red marker on the screen of his slateboard tablet. He closed the thick wooden-plank door, unconsciously bolting it behind him. The room was lit by a single torch in an iron holder mounted into the stone block wall, and the wolf’s amber eyes reflected the flames as he approached the heavy wooden table next to his bed.

The Aris mountain fortress was equipped with modern conveniences, but to maintain the castle’s rustic medieval appearance, power and data lines were discreetly hidden behind draperies and wall boards. His room was equipped with hidden indirect lighting, but since the archaic torch was already burning for him, he saw no need to change the illumination.

Merlin loosened the leather laces across the front of his tunic and pushed the billowing sleeves up his arms as he reached for the tablet. He sat in a cushioned oak chair and then tapped out his passcode. At once, the screen came to life with three messages that awaited his attention. The first was from Taro. It was her routine report on the running of his ship. As there was usually nothing of importance in the reports, he tended to save those for last each night. The second message was from his sister as a follow-up to his visit, and the third was from Tanis.

The wolf frowned when he saw “Eyes Only” written in as the subject of the last message. That was rarely a good sign. He glanced back toward the door to make sure he had locked it behind him and then keyed in their shared decryption code to unlock the message that Tanis had safeguarded. He had no reason to mistrust the Aris royalty – they had helped him on more than one occasion out of friendship – but he still valued security on matters concerning his ship.

When the message opened, the first thing he saw was Duffy’s medical report. Merlin knew that Clarence Duffy was a friend of Tanis’ who lived on Fyn. The message was brief, although it did not explain why Duffy was on board the Blue Horizon as a passenger, but Tanis had a theory that he wanted to bring to the captain’s attention.

Merlin read the message twice and then pored over the data. He was no medical expert, but he understood enough of what Tanis reported to know why it had been sent to him. There were no detailed descriptions or fanciful opinions in the message. Tanis had simply given him the results of what he had found.

He sat there for several long moments and mulled over what he had read. The odds of something like this ever coming to his attention were extremely slim, yet it had surfaced. Merlin shut down the message and then moved to the large bed that practically filled the room. He kicked off his soft-sided boots and then stretched out on his back. He stared into the flickering flames of the torch, letting his mind wander.

Now that he knew what he knew, there was a decision to make. What should he do about it?

***

Lorelei had her hands up on the glass of the forward windows of the bridge, her nose pressed up between them as she strained to see the landscape below them. She was standing between the Nav and Com stations, her fluffy tail practically in Renny’s face as he calculated minute changes in their trajectory toward the Juxenlow Airfield. Normally this might have been enjoyable for the cheetah, but it was distracting while he was working. When her poof bumped into him for the third time, he reached up, grabbed her cottontail and pulled her backward into the com chair beside him.

“Down!” he growled at the rabbit.

Lorelei looked over at him with a hurt expression. “What was that for?” she whined, rubbing the base of her tail. “I just wanted to see!”

Without looking up at her, Renny leveled a hand toward the engineering station across the room, farthest from him. “Then go stand over there, Lori,” he said. “You keep bumping into me here and I can’t concentrate. The airfield’s long-range homing beacon is out of commission, so we can’t rely on the computer to get us there.”

The white doe got up without a word, looking back at Durant. The grizzly occupied the center seat, guiding the Blue Horizon down toward a semi-barren desert littered with high rocky mesas standing guard over a wide, dry riverbed that meandered between them. Without taking his hands from the controls, the bear motioned with the nod of his head toward the other seat, but gave her a friendly smile to ease her injured pride.

Lorelei moved across the room and took her place at the forward window again so she could see. The sky was completely devoid of clouds, though she could see a dust storm off in the far distance. The mesas below were wind-carved into massive, towering columns. The ground beneath them was rocky and sandy, with only the occasional oasis interrupting the landscape. They were still too high up for her to distinguish settlements, but she could imagine seeing people scurrying amongst the rocks below.

Durant followed the coordinates that Renny fed to his terminal, adjusting their trajectory to a lower altitude. Lori felt her stomach lurch with the drop and grinned as if she enjoyed a roller coaster ride. The ground jumped up toward them at an alarming rate, but Durant was in full control of the guidance shifts. It had been a while since he had handled a landing, as Merlin usually took care of that, but Durant enjoyed himself, knowing that Pockets and Max had the control systems in optimum order.

The Blue Horizon dropped ever further and then leveled out over the dry riverbed. The mesas whisked by in a blur; Durant felt the smile on his face grow as he banked around one that came up in front of them.

Renny looked back at him with a grin. “You’re enjoying this just a little too much,” he said.

Durant responded only with a smile of his own, keeping his attention on the instruments. “Is the artificial gravity still on?” he asked casually.

Lorelei glanced down at the station beside her. “Yeah, want me to turn it off?” she asked.

“No, leave it on for the moment,” Durant said with a twinkle in his eye, “but I do want you to turn the inertial dampers up to Full, please.”

The rabbit did as requested and then looked over at him. “Why did you have me do that?”

Durant only smiled, and Renny suddenly knew. He had flown through thunderclouds with Merlin at the control too many times and recognized that particular look. “Lori,” the navigator said, “You’d better sit down and buckle yourself in.” Then he got on the intercom, and relayed the same suggestion to Max and Pockets in engineering.

“We’re already strapped in,” said Pockets’ voice from the bridge speaker.

Renny looked back at Durant and nodded. “Okay, big guy – have your fun!”

Without bothering to reply, Durant adjusted the guidance shifts, suddenly flipping the Blue Horizon up on its port side. The freighter zoomed in between two mesas that Renny quickly decided were too close together for his tastes. When they emerged on the other side, the ship spun around on its axis and then righted itself so that Durant could lower its altitude and increase their velocity. The ship was suddenly speeding toward a distant range of hills, barely high enough to miss the tops of the sporadic tropical trees below. A wave of sand billowed out behind them like the wake of a boat over water.

Suddenly there was a beeping from the com station Renny glanced over to look at it. “Ah, it’s about time,” he said. He unbuckled his harness and moved to the other panel. He picked up the com headset and adjusted it around his ears. “We’ve come into range of the secondary beacon. Better rein it in, Durant.”

The loadmaster nodded and altered course to gain altitude once more. When he was above the height of the oncoming hills, he lowered their speed and began watching for new local coordinates to come across his station monitor.

The Blue Horizon slowed over the low hills, but terrain still went by in a blur. Moments later, they left the hills behind and the topography below began to change. Green oases began to spring up in abundance and the horizon before them appeared lush.

Durant slowed the ship even more and finally Renny gave him a thumbs-up. “We just received permission from Juxenlow to approach and land at the airfield,” the cheetah reported. “Coordinates coming to you now.”

“Aye,” replied the grizzly. As he expected, Juxenlow was located near the lush area just ahead. Lorelei unbuckled her harness and moved back to the forward window. The Blue Horizon was low enough that the sparse vegetation below came and went at an incredible speed; the blur of the landscape began to change from mostly browns to a mixture with hues of green.

“There it is!” Lorelei said excitedly. She pointed to a small airfield at the edge of an area straddling the desert and forest. There were only a couple buildings with several miscellaneous craft parked around the largest structure; several of the smaller ships were dusty and looked as if they had not moved in months. The landing strip for winged aircraft did not even have a real control tower. It was a small glass booth set into a top corner of the warehouse closest to the runway. Despite the forest a short distance away, the place looked desolate.

As Durant slowed the ship and extended the landing gear, Renny nodded quietly to himself as he received instructions over the com headset. “Set us down on the west side of the warehouse,” he said over his shoulder, “between the red and white Okami and that light blue Prairie Dog freighter.”

The loadmaster proved a moment later that he was a capable pilot despite his earlier wild flying. He set the Blue Horizon on the landing pad between the two freighters with only the barest of bumps. He and Renny began shutting down the systems when the com system beeped. The navigator thumbed the control and said into the headset microphone, “This is the SS Blue Horizon.”

He listened for a moment and then said, “Just one.” He frowned suddenly and an angry expression crossed his features. “Now, wait just a—” Renny closed his mouth, and listened a moment more before finishing his conversation with “Aye, it’s understood.” He pulled the headset from his ears and tossed it irritably onto the console.

“What’s the matter?” Lorelei asked.

Renny snorted. “That was the control tower,” he explained with ears flattened against his head. “They wanted to know if we had any felines in our crew. I told them there was just one and they demanded that whoever it was to stay on board the ship!”

Durant looked at the navigator and shrugged his broad shoulders. “Do you blame them?” he asked. “The enemy they’re gearing up to fight is feline. That’s why you couldn’t join Duffy’s team, remember?”

“But, I’m not their enemy!” Renny said in a huff. “We’ve been cooped up in here for two weeks. I need fresh air!”

“Sorry, Renny,” Durant told him, “but you’ll have to stay on the ship. After the cargo has been unloaded, you can keep the bay doors open and set up a chair near the door if you want – but if you set foot onto Nalirran soil, you could be shot.”

The cheetah grumbled something beneath his breath and stormed off the bridge, leaving the others to complete the system shutdown. Durant shook his head and then touched the intercom control. “Pockets?” he asked.

“He’s already headed to the main hatch. You want me to call him back?”

“Not necessary. I just wanted to remind everyone not to mention Tanis and the others while we’re here.”

“Aye to that,” the youth replied. “Are the five of us going to unload this mountain of cargo, or are the Nalirrans going to do that for us?”

“I haven’t heard yet, but I’ll head out to check in with the warehouse office in a moment to find out,” Durant answered. “It wouldn’t hurt to have your work gloves ready.”

“Okay, we will.”

Moments later, Durant stepped out onto the dusty ground and walked toward the buildings. The office beside the warehouse was unimpressive. It was a small box of a building with a roof of red tiles that had faded in the desert sun. The structure was made of dried clay and wood, and the windows were simply openings in the walls without any type of glass. There were hinged shutters to fasten against the occasional dust storm and thin curtains moved in a slight breeze, but otherwise the place was open-air. There was a small sign written in Standard beside the open door that read, “Juxenlow Airfield”.

As Durant approached the single step up to the door, a large buffalo wearing what looked like a thin Roman-style robe suddenly filled up the opening. “Hello there,” he said in a gravelly voice.

Durant gave him a nod and replied, “Hello back.” The buffalo gave him a friendly nod and allowed Durant to step past him and his horns into the building. Once inside, the grizzly had to let his eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the interior.

“What is it now, Mr. Corwin?” a voice asked irritably.

Durant cleared his throat. A harried young hyena seated behind a desk piled with hardcopy papers and cardboard folders glanced up at him. A half-buried nameplate on the desk identified him as Sal-Sgt. Veers. “You’re not Corwin,” he said flatly. “What do you want?”

“I’m Durant with the Blue Horizon,” the grizzly replied. “We just landed.”

“Blue Horizon?” the hyena repeated as he rifled through the worn pages of a ledger. “Oh yes, right. There are two other ships to be unloaded ahead of yours. Tell your crew to stay put and we will get to you as soon as we can. If you have any felines on board, they are not allowed outside of your ship.”

Veers went back to his paperwork, ignoring Durant further, so the bear turned and went back outside. The buffalo was standing nearby, his thumbs hooked into the waistband of his robe, staring off across the tarmac.

“Little snot’s strung rather tight, wouldn’t you say?” the buffalo said with a smirk.

Durant nodded and managed a weak smile. “A bit, yes.”

The buffalo turned to him with an extended hand. “Name’s Abner Corwin,” he said. “I’m captain of the Sandburr over yonder.”

“I’m Durant, loadmaster of the Blue Horizon,” the grizzly returned, taking his proffered hand. He glanced over to the Sandburr with the notion that while the Prairie Dog-class of freighter had a lot of cargo space inside, its rectangular shape looked unwieldy for atmospheric flight.

“Where is your Cap’n, Mr. Durant? Still on his bridge?”

“Captain Sinclair is currently taking personal leave to visit family,” Durant replied. “I’m in command in his absence.”

The buffalo nodded. “Let’s hope you aren’t in any hurry,” Corwin said. “I’ve been here since yesterday and they still haven’t brought in anyone to unload my ship. They’re short-handed, y’know. I told him we usually unloaded our own ship, but Veers told me in no uncertain terms that it was not allowed here.”

“Are you next to be unloaded?” Durant asked.

“The Cherry Blossom is ahead of me, and then I’m next before you.” He rocked back and forth on his heels and added, “Captain Ros isn’t too happy right now. They won’t let anyone from her ship outside, and she’s been here longer than me and my bunch.”

“Why won’t they let them off the ship?”

“They’re all feline -- the whole lot of them is cats,” Corwin replied with the shake of his head. “The Nalirrans threatened to shoot anyone from that ship that sets foot on their dirt.”

“I have one on board they’ve forbidden to come outdoors,” Durant said. He shielded his eyes from the sunlight to watch movement inside the Horizon’s open bay. “If you’ve been here since yesterday, what is there to do while we’re waiting?”

Corwin looked at him and shrugged his shoulders. “There’s a café inside the warehouse where you can get coffee and a bite to eat, but otherwise there’s nothing here. The nearest civilization is fifteen kilometers to the east, but there’s no public transportation to get there. I haven’t even seen a military transport for the poor souls who work here. I don’t know what else to suggest, unless if some of your crew would like to get together with mine for cards or something.”

“We appreciate the offer, Captain Corwin,” Durant told him. “I’ll inform my crew.” He gave the buffalo a friendly nod and then walked back out to the Blue Horizon. With nothing to do off the ship, the rest of them were just about as limited as Renny.

***

The XK101 touched down on an isolated airstrip seemingly in the middle of the desert, five hundred kilometers to the west of Juxenlow at almost the same time the Blue Horizon landed. From all appearances, Mucot Airfield had not been in use for some time. There was a single shack next to the end of the runway so sandblasted by desert winds that holes had been worn into the corrugated metal sides. Its roof had also been peeled back partway to reveal the rafters beneath at some time in the past.

There was a tan truck parked next to the shack waiting for the winged transport. A single individual stepped out when the ship taxied up to it. A fennec fox in a Nalirran military uniform walked toward the main hatch. Moments later, the airlock opened and a mechanical set of steps unfolded to touch the dusty ground. Tanis was the first to emerge from the ship into the hot, arid air. He twitched his left ear and looked down at another desert fox waiting for them below.

He kept his face somber and effected a crisp salute when he stepped out onto the sand. The officer returned the salute and it was only then that Tanis grinned and extended a hand.

“Locke!” he said in a hushed voice. “I can’t say I’m glad to be here, but it’s good to see yer face again.”

Locke smiled and clasped hands with him. “Likewise,” he replied.

He glanced up toward the hatch when Taro stepped out into the sunlight. “Wow…” he said in open appreciation of the red fox’s curvaceous form. Taro grinned and made her way down the steps, followed by Duffy, Samantha and Kor-Chief Allano. The Labrador saluted Locke.

“Bar-Lieutenant,” he said.

Locke returned the salute, but gave the pilot a frown. “You’re a half-hour overdue from your reconnaissance, my friend,” he said. “You’d better get XK101 back to your base before they send someone else out looking for you.”

“On my way, sir,” Allano replied. He hopped back up the steps as Locke led the others toward the truck. The steps retracted, the hatch closed automatically and the engines began to spin up. Locke led the new arrivals out away from the ship, but he waited until it taxied back down the strip before he turned to the team he had gathered.

“I am Bar-Lieutenant Shoji Locke,” he said to the two newcomers. “I’ve been tasked with gathering information for our government on past military personnel in order to draft them back into service preceding an action upon our neighboring world, Oe’Tanata.” He nodded toward Tanis and Duffy. “I’ve known these two for ages and I’d rather not see them have to go into combat since both of them have already served twice in our military, Nalirra’s service term limit. Each of them already saved my life on separate occasions, so I’d like to return the favor.”

“Shoji,” Tanis said, “this is Taro Nichols and Samantha Holden. They’ll be helping us with Operation Rainbow. They have skills that will be an asset.”

“Hello,” Sam and Taro said in unison.

Locke nodded to the both of them with a cordial smile, “I recognize you both from your photos. Pleased to have you with us, ladies,” he said. “The facility where the documents are stored is staffed eighty percent by females, so you should fit right in. Your help is greatly appreciated.” He tilted his head and looked at Samantha once more. “How are you feeling?” he asked. “Are your injuries healed well enough for this?”

Sam rubbed her middle absently. “No worries. I can do this,” she said. Locke took her words at face value, giving her a nod.

He glanced over at Duffy. “How are you, Clarence?” he asked.

“I’m a little rusty,” Duffy replied as he scratched an ear, “but anxious to get my name out of the running for this senseless action that Sed Amittias is planning. Good to see you again, Shoji.”

Locke reached into the truck, retrieving a packet of material. He handed this to Tanis. “These are falsified IDs, rank insignia for your uniforms, and transfer papers authorizing your entrance to the Personnel Facility,” he explained in a louder voice as the XK101 took off toward the horizon. “With this sudden increase in workload, numerous others have been transferred to our facility on a daily basis to help out. No one’s going to bother asking why you’re there and they won’t even notice a few extra bodies and new faces.”

Tanis pulled out several smaller envelopes from the larger one and distributed them to the team. “Taro,” he said as he handed one to her, “is now Sal-Sgt. Genera Ralaney, transferred over from Balan Command. Sam, yer new identity is Sal-Sgt. Jeska Anteola. Ya have come in from the computer facility at Yashe-Nor. Duffy will be Bar-Lieutenant Ridel Roscom from Fengail Station, an ex-pilot who’s been grounded by an injury.” He glanced at his own envelope and said, “I am Den-Medic Lylas Kykendol, and I’ve been demoted from Kor-Chief at Sardis for insubordination with a high-ranking officer.”

“You were insubordinate?” Samantha remarked with a smirk. “Imagine that.”

“If everyone will climb into the back of the truck, we’ll be on our way,” said Locke. “We still have a two-hour drive to the facility and there’s another stop to make before we report in. I suggest all of you try to get familiar with your new identities.”

“How did you get away from your job to come get us?” Samantha asked.

Locke opened the door to the truck. “I had orders to transfer more personnel. That’s the other stop I have to make – to pick up my legit transfers.”

***

The truck had been rumbling along the dusty desert road for nearly an hour. Locke informed them it would be another half hour before they would pick up his other personnel. Taro rode up front with the short tan fox, casually chatting to while away the time; the others rode out the bumps in the canvas-covered back.

They had discussed their mission until they were all tired of the subject and had fallen silent during the hot and dusty ride. Tanis stared dully out the open back of the truck, letting his eyes unfocus with the retreating terrain. Duffy had his eyes closed and Samantha was toying with a palm-sized slateboard programmed with the latest versions of all the decryption software she had acquired over the years, in hopes that the Nalirran facility used something she could work with.

After a long while, Tanis rubbed his eyes and glanced back at the Siberian husky who seemed to be unaffected by the heat. He assumed the canine’s double coat of fur insulated him against the heat as well as cold temperatures. “Hey, Duff,” he said quietly.

The husky opened his ice blue eyes and looked over at him. “Yeah?” he replied.

“Have ya ever been to the pleasure houses on Quet?” Tanis asked casually.

Samantha looked up the medic, giving him an odd look for asking such a thing, but Duffy did not seem bothered by such a personal query. He answered the question without really seeming to think about it. “Yeah, but it was a long time ago,” he replied, “after I left Nalirra.” He stretched and arched his back. He glanced at his techwatch and saw there was still plenty of time to kill. He closed his eyes again and said, “I frequently transported miners to Quet and usually stopped in to play while there. Not much else to do on that rotted planet, but I was paid well to ferry workers in so they could dig for micranite.”

“When was that?” Tanis asked carefully. Samantha gave him another dirty look. Perhaps this was what old military buddies talked about, but it did not seem the kind of topic Tanis would normally bring up; he was usually vocal about avoiding pleasure houses and their inherent potential for plagues. He ignored Sam’s gazes, staring back out at the receding road behind them.

“I dunno…” Duffy replied lazily, “probably around eighteen years since I was there last. Why – you thinking of going and need a recommendation? The ones I went to probably aren’t there anymore.”

“I’m not making any plans,” Tanis answered, “but I’ve heard things about the spaceport there. Just wondered.”

“Forget it,” Duffy said after a moment. “Unless you’re just desperate for attention, I wouldn’t bother with Quet’s pleasure houses. The best ones are on Mainor.”

“Were on Mainor,” Tanis reminded him with a frown.

“Yeah… I suppose that moves Kantus up to the number one spot, then,” Duffy replied. “Not that there’s much chance of me ever getting back there again -- not for that reason, anyway.”

Tanis nodded and let the conversation die. Samantha watched Tanis closely and she could practically see the wheels turning something over in his mind. If she knew him as well as she thought she did, his question to Duffy had been anything but casual.

***

Durant was against the idea, but Renny’s insistence had finally won out. Since they were informed that it would be another full day before the Blue Horizon could be unloaded, the navigator had no intention of just sitting on his hands. He had struck up a friendship across the com with Captain Victoria Ros of the Cherry Blossom wanting to visit with her and the rest of her feline crew. With the Nalirran restrictions, however, he was forbidden to leave his ship even just to get over to the other freighter.

After making a suggestion to Ros, it was decided to couple the two ships together with their extension tunnel so they could move between the two freighters without violating the Nalirran edict. Durant had been opposed to it, not so much for the logistics of aligning the ship hatches, but for the fact that the extendable tunnel was designed for zero-gee use only. Its lower surface was not built to withstand weight in a planetary environment. When Pockets suggested that Renny could float across on Samantha’s anti-grav computer cushion, Durant finally relented.

The Blue Horizon had to lift off a few meters above the ground, and then rotate on its axis until its hatch lined up with the Cherry Blossom’s main airlock. The move caused quite a stir with Sal-Sgt. Veers, but by the time the hyena had managed to get someone to answer his rants over the com channel, the deed had been completed and the Horizon was resting on the ground once more.

Renny could hardly wait to visit with Captain Ros; he was on his way to find the floating pillow as soon as he had powered down the flight systems.

***

“Report in to your supervisors,” Locke told the new transfers after the truck had come to a halt outside the Personnel Facility. He pulled a notepad from his vest pocket and flipped it open. “Guidonay, report to Gun-Sergeant Wibberly on the third floor in section four. Masari, you and Jitloff report in to Raf-Captain Bokmun on the fourth floor in section three.”

“Yessir,” replied a young jackal who had been leering lustfully at Samantha for the past hour. The other two, a Cocker Spaniel and a golden retriever muttered their acknowledgement and trudged toward the building without looking back. It was clear neither were happy with this reassignment.

Locke moved closer to his team and lowered his voice after the others had gone. “Just a final word…” he said. “Using those two as an example, you can see that morale isn’t very high at this place, so when you meet someone in the halls, try not to look anyone directly in the eye. You might give yourself away if you appear too friendly or direct. Don’t seem too cowed if a superior officer confronts you, either. They don’t really expect much cooperation from the new personnel brought in, and they don’t really even care. The work is important to Nalirra, but I can tell you that nobody here gives a rip.”

The desert fox gestured toward a small metallic insect clinging beneath the lapel of his vest collar. “I’ll be monitoring Duffy’s miniature DataCom units if you get into any trouble. Try not to use them if you can keep from it. They have a short range that won’t extend far beyond the walls of this building, but I have no way of knowing if their signals can be intercepted here.” He looked at each one of them and then asked, “Any last questions before we go in?”

No one said anything. They had gone over their plans and rehearsed their parts so much in the last couple of weeks that they all knew what they were to do. Locke nodded, and then motioned for them to follow him to the main entrance to the place.

The Personnel Facility was a multi-level block building, the outside appearance nondescript against the surrounding scrub vegetation, tropical trees and sand dunes of the oasis. Samantha was beginning to wonder if all of Nalirra was this arid and dusty, despite that Tanis had assured her that only a small part of this continent on the planet was desert region. The claycrete blocks of the building’s exterior were weather worn and crumbling in places, and the solar panels atop the roof were in poor shape. There were other outbuildings surrounding the structure in the small post and all looked as if they were in serious need of repair. Locke opened the front door gently; the rusted metal handle was loose and the hinges protested against the grit between them.

The team moved inside. It took them a moment to let their eyes adjust to the dimness inside while people hustled up and down the hallways, most laden with stacks of paper-filled folders. Taro blinked several times and noted that the interior was not getting much brighter as her eyes adjusted. Half the bulbs in the light panels above were out, and those that were on illuminated the entrance hall only enough for them to see where they were going.

“No wonder morale’s down,” she whispered to Samantha. “I’d be depressed if I had to work in this lighting all the time, too.”

“We had a severe dust storm last week that sand-blasted the solar panels on the roof,” Locke explained. “Power is low and is limited only to important equipment. Of course, everyone feels there is a need to run their systems due to the increased workload, but things like coffee pots and water fountains aren’t currently allowed.”

Tanis moved up to Locke’s side to whisper something to him and Taro smiled to herself at the sight of the two fennec foxes walking side by side. Tanis was an inch shorter than Locke was, and his facial markings were a little different, but to someone who did not know Tanis as well as she and Samantha did, the two of them might have looked like siblings.

Locke led them across the small entrance hall to a cross corridor, and without a final word, Locke led Sam and Taro toward the right, while Tanis and Duffy turned to the left toward a nearby stairwell. Operation Rainbow had begun, and each of them would now have to rely upon their memorization of the building’s floor plan and their current identities.

At the stairwell, Tanis and Duffy separated. One file storeroom was on the first floor around the next corner, but a redundant file room was on the fourth floor at the opposite side of the building near the Infirmary. Duffy continued down the hallway. Tanis disappeared up the stairs.

Tanis fought the urge to take the steps two at a time, but someone was descending from the second floor with an armful of folders. An Irish setter glanced over at him above the top of her load, but she did not smile. She stumbled trying to find a step, almost falling headfirst, but Tanis stretched out an arm and caught her about the waist. Papers from the top three folders plunged off her stack and scattered below, but at least the young canine had not joined them.

“Th-thank you, sir,” she muttered to Tanis. “I might have…”

“Pick up yer papers,” the desert fox grumbled. He resisted the urge to give her hand, but he had to play his part, being inconsiderate to the lowly file clerk.

“Yessir,” she mumbled. Tanis left her to navigate the rest of the paper-strewn stairs with the armload of folders. When he reached the second-floor landing, he proceeded through a door into a busy office and skirted between the cubicles as if he was familiar with where he was going. No one looked up at him. None asked his business. They were used to seeing new faces on practically an hourly basis, so he was not even noticed.

He had to mount two more sets of stairs to get to the document center where he had been assigned to work, and from memory he placed the next stairwell at the other end of his current room. Uniformed canine personnel sat at their desks poring through documents, new and old. Only a select few actually had working computer terminals to research those off-world who had separated from Nalirran service. The overall disarray of the entire undertaking encouraged Tanis. Operation Rainbow could actually work out as planned.

***

Locke glanced over his shoulder past the women behind him, noting with relief that the long corridor they had just traversed was still empty but for the three of them. He led them around a corner into a darkened hallway toward a solitary red light at the opposite end. There was a closed door beneath the scarlet illumination and even in the dim light, they could see the panel was locked.

“I wasn’t able to get all of the security codes,” Locke admitted in a soft voice to Taro and Samantha. “I had hoped to figure out a way to get past this door into the computer room before you arrived, but I got sidetracked too often.”

Samantha nodded in understanding, reaching into a pocket to retrieve her small slateboard. She tapped in a few commands and then placed a sensor cap up to the electronic lock mechanism beside the door. Before the Blue Horizon had broken through into a time of prosperity, she and Pockets had often picked mechanical and electronic locks in order to filch material for the ship, so there were a number of tricks she could try. The Border collie worked with the lock for several moments before she bit her lip in frustration.

“The cipher code must be a locally-written program,” she whispered at last. “It doesn’t follow the patterns of what I’m experienced with. I’m not sure I can easily break it.”

“I can break it,” Taro said confidently. Samantha looked up at her in wonder. She had not been aware that her friend was experienced in cipher-lock decryption, but she moved out of the way to let the vixen have access to the control panel.

Instead of working with the terminal, however, Taro stepped up to the doorframe, centering her fingertips near the edge closest to the panel. She took a deep breath, let it out quietly, and then dug her fingers into the thin metal door facing.

Taro had such control over her Hestran-born muscles that it was often easy to forget the strength she possessed. Samantha watched in awe as the metal slowly buckled beneath the vixen’s fingertips. When Taro had a solid grip into the door, she braced herself and then began to exert herself along the door facing. The metal gave out a long, low groan, and then a pop as the locking mechanism separated from its housing inside the wall. The door slid sideways into the opposite wall with only a light touch. She turned and looked at a smiling Samantha - and a frowning Locke.

“What’s the matter?” she asked him.

“A broken door will be reported,” he replied disapprovingly, “especially one forced that now has the indentions of your fingers permanently embedded in it. We could have found another way in.”

“Oops…”

Locke looked back down the dim corridor with a sigh. “This room is seldom visited,” he said after a quiet moment, “so we’ll have to hope it won’t be discovered until after we’re gone.” He turned on a single desk lamp just inside the door and motioned for the others to follow him. Once they were inside, he slid the damaged panel back into place. He moved past his partners, leading them through a number of cubicles with darkened computer terminals, past a row of large memory servers to the only desk with a functioning screen.

“Why isn’t this place in use?” Taro asked. Without responding, Locke took a seat at the desk and tapped in a few commands. A security message appeared instantly. He input a string of symbols and was rewarded with a double beep.

“Okay, we’re in,” the desert fox said. He glanced up at Taro. “There are access terminals to the database from the other offices in this building, so there’s no need to do anything directly at the computer center except for maintenance.”

“Then why did we break in here?” Samantha asked. “Couldn’t you have just placed me at a vacant desk with a terminal to do my work? Seems like it would have been easier, especially since you went to the trouble of making it appear I was a transfer to this place.”

Locke nodded and twitched his whiskers. “That was my original plan,” he said, “but with our low energy supply right now, all the available terminals that we can spare power for are currently in use. It would be suspicious to take someone else from their overworked job to have you jump in for an hour’s work.” He gestured toward the computer before him and added, “This terminal is on at all times, so there won’t be any power consumption problems by having you access the database from here.”

“I see,” the collie replied.

“Okay,” Locke said as he stood up. “You know what to do from here. I’m going to take your friend to her assignment now, but I’ll be by later to check in on you.”

“Yes, sir,” Samantha replied, taking the seat in front of the computer.

“We’ll shut what is left of the door behind us, so that it should appear to be closed in the darkness of the hallway.”

Taro looked self-conscious, but said nothing. Samantha nodded to the fennec fox without another word and then turned to study the screen before her to determine which operating system it might be using. She nodded to herself and began typing in commands before Taro and Locke were back out into the red illumination of the corridor.

***

Clarence Duffy stiffly saluted the young officer behind a desk piled high with papers, folders and data crystals. “Bar-Lieutenant Ridel Roscom, reporting for duty, sir,” he said.

The jackal saluted indifferently and then held out his hand without even looking up from a large spreadsheet. Duffy handed him his forged orders and waited patiently. “Roscom…” the officer muttered as he glanced over the documents. “Ex-pilot… grounded from Fengail Station… injury… right.” He handed the paper back to the husky and then motioned toward the door without looking up. “Out in the hall, turn left, four doors down to Rainbow Room Three. Val-Corporal Szabo will tell you what you’re to do. Now get out of my sight.”

“Yessir,” Duffy replied with another salute. The jackal returned the motion lazily and picked up another spreadsheet.

The Siberian husky left the room and headed down the semi-crowded hall, amazed at the lack of interest on everyone’s part that he met along the way. The hallway was painted in various shades of tan and yellow, illuminated somewhat by a single dim light panel in the ceiling halfway down the corridor. Duffy almost missed the door marked, “Rainbow Room Three.” He growled lowly at a Private blocking the door with an armload of folders and then pushed his way past him into the room.

Duffy quietly closed the door behind him and frowned at what he saw. The room was small, containing wall-to-wall bookcases filled with a rainbow-assortment of folders. Two large desks occupied the sparse area in between, facing one another and piled high with folders that were red, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink or black. Each color appeared to be coded for a different purpose; most were bulging with thick sheaves of paper documents and photos.

He heard a shuffling behind one of the stacks of folders. He peered around to see a lanky young hyena with thick, round-rimmed glasses hunched over the contents of a folder. Duffy cleared his throat and the man jumped.

“Are you Val-Corporal Szabo?” he asked.

The startled hyena nodded and saluted him casually, not bothering to wait for the reply. “What can I do for you, Bar-Lieutenant?” he asked in a slow drawl, “I’m busy and behind in my work.”

“I’ve been assigned to help you,” Duffy replied. “My name’s Roscom.”

Szabo looked up at him with possibly the first hint of a smile that he had seen since entering the facility. “They sent a Bar-Lieutenant to help me? Well, sir, come right in and find a chair if you can. My name is Tage Szabo.”

Duffy shoved his orders into one of the pockets of his vest and then began to remove a tilting stack of folders from the only other chair in the room next to the second desk. There was no room on the desk for them, so he set them gingerly onto the floor, trying not to let the stack fall over.

“So, what’s the purpose in all this?” Duffy asked. “I’ve just been transferred here, something about helping out the Personnel Effort.”

Szabo smirked at him. “We have to scour through all these documents, looking for viable candidates of past service members to recall into action,” he replied. “The hardest part of all this is reading through everyone’s files to see what skills they had, and then track them down to see if they’re still alive to draft again.”

“What about those who’ve already served the two-term limit?”

“Doesn’t matter. They’re calling back everyone with skills they can get their claws into, even if they’re old and decrepit. The two-term limit was recently abolished by Sed Amittias, but I think General Duular tried to oppose him on it.”

Duffy picked up a blue folder from the top of the stack at his right elbow and opened it up before him. He felt a tingle travel up and down his spine when he recognized the name and photograph inside. “I knew this guy,” he said somberly.

Szabo stood up and peered over the folders to see which one the husky was looking into. “That’s Sean Rennin,” he said, “I did some research on him last week, but was unable to find his current whereabouts. I have that one set aside for another department to do deeper research.”

“Forget this one,” Duffy said as he handed the folder to his new partner. “He was a shyster lawyer with a wife and thirteen half-witted children. He was living on Mainor when the Kastani slammed it.”

“Is that right…?” Szabo mused as he flipped through the folder again. He reached into a box on the floor beside him and drew out an empty black folder. He transferred the contents of Rennin’s folder to it and then set it aside in a different stack. “That takes care of that one,” he muttered.

He pointed to the stack on Duffy’s left and said, “Those haven’t been researched yet, if you wanna start with them. If you find a viable candidate to bring back, transfer that person’s documents to a white folder and give it to me. Stephanie will come in periodically to take them to Processing, where they’ll use the information to send them a Draft Notice.” He explained the rest of the rainbow assortment of color-coding for several minutes. When he finished, he shrugged his shoulders and then returned to his own work.

Duffy glanced up at the folders surrounding him, feeling daunted by the task. Locke had said that there was only one copy of the original paper document that could be anywhere in this building, in addition to an electronic backup copy. Samantha should be able to find the backup by hacking into the computer system and doing an automated search, but how was he going to find his and Tanis’ documents in all this?

***

“Rainbow Room Two,” Locke said to Taro when they neared a wooden door with a frosted glass window with a crack across one corner. Taro peered around his shoulder when he opened the panel. It was a huge room filled with multicolored folders in bookcases and filing cabinets, and was staffed with twenty other individuals bustling back and forth through the narrow aisles between the desks and voices chatting in discussion.

Locke motioned her in and shut the door behind them. Few workers paid them any attention as they skirted around stacks of folders, data crystals and large metal-bound books.

“Hah – more fresh meat for the dungeon and she doesn’t even look very smart. Perfect for this place…” muttered a sarcastic voice from a cubicle they passed. Taro stopped and looked at the Pomeranian who had spoken.

“Careful,” Taro growled at her. “I bite.”

“Hah!” the woman said haughtily. “You’re just another decorative floozy who—urk!” Taro reached out quickly with one hand, snared the dog’s throat in a vise-like grip and locked eyes with her. The Pomeranian grabbed her wrist, but was unable to remove the hand from her neck. Locke watched in amusement, but made no move to stop anything.

The Pomeranian began to gasp for air, the pink areas of her face beginning to turn blue as she beat weakly against the fox’s hand. Before she had the chance to pass out, Taro released her and stood up to her full height. “You were saying?” she asked dryly.

The room was silent but for the raspy breathing of the Pomeranian who sat limply in her chair. Taro turned and surveyed the room; spectators immediately pretended to go back to their respective tasks. When she looked back down at her antagonist, the woman glared at her and gasped, “I have nothing more to say to you…”

“How wise of you,” Taro said with a tight-lipped smile. “Remember that and we should get along fine.” She looked at Locke and nodded as if to say, Lead on…

The desert fox continued down the aisle. Conversations started up behind them in earnest whispers and chuckles as they moved around a corner. “She deserved that,” he said quietly. “Flores has been here the longest and she detests everyone. If you were really assigned to this place, your little act back there would have given you a lot of allies in the workforce.”

“There are idiots everywhere,” Taro muttered.

A moment later, Locke stopped beside a cubicle at the back corner of the room that was full of green folders. “I’m going to start you off here,” he said, “and then I need to get back to my office. Any last questions?”

The vixen shook her head. They had already covered her task in detail. It was time to get to work and do what she was there to do. Locke nodded. “Good luck,” he said with a wink. “I don’t think the locals will give you too much trouble.”

***

Tanis walked into Sickbay and pursed his lips. The Personnel Facility was so overwrought with its current workload that papers, rainbow folders and more boxes of the same had been stacked in the medical room. A small space on the countertop contained bandages, antiseptics and a few bottles of aspirin – not much more than the contents of the generalized First Aid kit he carried in a vest pocket. The rest of the cabinets, chairs and even the emergency gurney were all filled with personnel documents.

Two medics, a red fox and a beagle sat on the floor, their backs up against plastic boxes and slateboards in their laps as they pored through file folders. He cleared his throat and one of them looked up at him.

“Yeah? What do you want?” the red fox asked in annoyance.

“I’m Den-Medic Kykendol,” Tanis replied irritably. “I’ve been assigned to help ya yahoos.”

“Pull up some floor and grab a box,” the beagle said as he looked up. “I’m Den-Medic Doral and this is Den-Medic Liam. We got here yesterday.”

Tanis sat down beside the more-talkative Doral. “Tell me what each folder color means what and I’ll get started.”

The beagle picked up a handful of them from the floor in front of him. “Red means that the person who left the military went out on bad terms, but have the most-needed skills for a conflict,” Doral explained. “The government will want to know what the circumstances were when they left.”

“Okay, got it.”

“The blue folders are similar. These people also have the skills greatly needed for a battle situation, only these left the service with high commendations. Yellow means they’re branded as cowards, but can still be usable. That probably means they’ll be among the first bodies sent to the front lines, y’know.”

“Ouch.”

“Green means they’re off-world, readily available, and are anxious to get back into the fight, but need transportation back to Nalirra. Orange means their whereabouts are currently unknown, but further investigation will be required to find them.”

“What about the purple one?”

“Undesirable. Do not recall under any circumstances.”

“Why?”

“Among other reasons, they’ll likely turn on their comrades at the first opportunity just because they’ve been given weapons and will have too much fun using them.”

“The black folder means they’re dead,” Liam muttered dryly. “I wish my C.O. were one of them for sending me to this pit.”

Tanis looked at the red fox and frowned. It only been a couple years since he had left the military himself, but he still remembered how miserable life in the Nalirran service could be. He sincerely hoped he and his teammates were successful in locating and purging his own rainbow folder. In the event it could not be destroyed, perhaps he could simply transfer the contents to a black folder to let the government think he had perished somewhere.

***

Samantha sat back in her chair and heaved a great sigh of relief. Hacking into the system computers had been nervous work. Locke had gotten her into the main interface, but it had been up to her to get past certain barriers in order to find the information they needed.

The electronic backup versions of Tanis and Duffy’s rainbow documents had been well protected behind security measures, but unlike the door’s lock encryption, the main operating system of the Nalirran personnel database was a familiar one from Alexandrius that she had experience getting around. Once she had managed to get past the barriers, it was a matter of hunting down the documents she sought.

She located Tanis’ backup document almost right away; it had not yet been accessed by any of the system terminals. However, she lacked sufficient access rights to delete the file. No matter what she tried, the document could not be purged from the database. The information itself could be edited, so instead of simply marking him as deceased, she rewrote her friend’s background to reflect a different individual in the altered document with no connection to Arktanis TeVann at all. With a satisfied smirk, she replaced the fennec fox’s photograph with “image not available,” reset the name to Armando Jensen with “last known location” marked as “interstellar freighter captain, Savannah Hunter, PA1012.”

She had more trouble locating Clarence Duffy’s electronic document. It had been accessed earlier that same day, but had not yet been flagged for processing. It had most likely been cross-referenced with someone else’s folder, so it would be tricky to alter it as she had with Tanis’ document. She had to trace where it had been accessed from and make alterations to that document as well. In all, it had taken her a little over two hours to make her edits and then back out of the system quietly as so not to leave traces of her own trespasses.

Samantha left the system terminal just as they had found it, retracing her steps back out into the dim corridor. She slid the door panel that Taro had damaged back into place, wiped it down to remove fingerprints with a handkerchief from a pocket, and then hummed quietly to herself as she made her way back to the main hall. When she got to the junction, she remembered that she should have contacted Locke about her success before leaving the computer room, but he had not yet checked back on her. From her memory of the VR practicing they had all done with the building’s floor plans, she thought she could make her way to Locke’s office.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” a voice called out. Samantha turned to see an angry hyena approaching her. His hunched shoulders were so broad that the two buttons on the front of his ill-fitting vest threatened to pop off at any moment. He stopped, stood nose to nose with her and stared at her with bloodshot eyes. “Well?” he growled.

“I, uh, was looking for the latrine, sir,” she said quickly.

“It’s back that way!” the man said in a gravelly voice, pointing up the hallway. “You should know that.”

“I, uh, was just transferred in this morning, sir,” she said with a gulp, trying not to flinch from his severe halitosis. “I didn’t know where…”

The hyena grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him as he stormed into the direction he had just come from. Samantha could do nothing more than go along with him, wondering if he knew he had caught an intruder. She knew her Silloni and Kastan fighting techniques could probably subdue this guy despite his size, but that would call down more attention than was safe at this point.

The man stopped in front of the women’s latrine and pushed her toward the door. “Get in there and do your business!” he commanded. “When you’re done, we’re marching straight to my office.”

“Sir?”

“Get in there!” he bellowed.

Samantha jumped through the doorway into the latrine, her nerves shaken. She looked around a dingy and dirty room that contained two stalls but no other door out. It did not look as if the place had been cleaned in a long time and one of the stalls was out of order. Paper towels, neglected combs, and other remnants of makeup kits littered the single counter and the floors. A single dim light illuminated the room. She did not know what the hyena was going to do to her in his office, but if she had to incapacitate him and escape, she prepared herself for that possibility. She took several deep breaths and discovered she did need the facilities after that encounter, but was reluctant to do so in that filthy place. However, the need was stronger than her pride. A moment later, she readied herself and stepped out into the corridor where the hyena waited for her.

“Done?” he growled.

“Done, sir,” she replied without looking him in the eye.

“Okay,” he said in a calmer voice. He led her up the hall, this time without touching her. “Like you, I’m new to this place and I’m having a little trouble with the terminal in my office,” he explained in an almost-civil tone. “I need you to transcribe some documents into the central computer for me.”

He stopped at the open door to a tiny office and pointed toward the only desk in the room. A barely readable nameplate next to the computer monitor identified him as Bar-Lieutenant Grun Tola. “Here’s my workstation,” he said. “Give me your name and I’ll make sure your supervisor is informed that I’ve borrowed you for another assignment.”

Samantha sat down in the desk chair under a single dim light and replied, “I’m Sal-Sgt. Anteola,” as she offered him her fabricated identification. He waved it away without giving it a glance.

“Who’s your supervisor?”

“Bar-Lieutenant Locke, sir.”

The hyena nodded and pointed to a stack of green folders on the left side of the desk. It was teetering, on the verge of falling over onto Samantha’s lap. “See if you can figure out how to get the information from those folders into the system.”

“Yessir,” Samantha replied.

The Bar-Lieutenant nodded and moved to stand behind her. He wanted to watch her work. She was relieved to know she had not been discovered, but with this guy hovering over her, she would have no opportunity to report in to Locke to let him know where she was and what she was doing.

“Sir,” she said hesitantly, “my supervisor?”

“I’ll call him when I’ve seen that you can be a help to me,” he growled in her ear.

“Yessir.” Samantha sighed inwardly and gave her attention to the screen. If she could perform this task quickly, perhaps she could be on her way.

***

Captain Victoria Ros handed a glass of beer to the cheetah before her, sinking down onto the velvet cushion beside him on the couch. Renny took the drink with a smile and sipped it. He tried hard not to grimace at the flavor of the cheap beer, but swallowed it quickly.

The black and white female cat leaned closer to him, resting her chin on his shoulder. “If you ever decide to leave the Blue Horizon, you’d be welcome on my crew,” she said with a purr. “My folks seem to like you well enough, and I think I’m starting to adore you, myself.”

Renny looked away from her green eyes and glanced around the recreation deck at her other crewmembers that were scattered about the room. The Cherry Blossom was the same model of Okami freighter as his own ship, though it had been decorated with a plusher design. Merlin had never been much of an interior decorator of his ships, but this vessel was pleasantly cozy. He glanced back down at his glass and considered the irony of serving him a cheap drink in the midst of extravagance.

He looked back at the captain and gave her a warm smile. “Your ship has a nice feel to it,” he admitted to her, “and everyone’s tried to make me feel quite at home – especially the ladies.”

Victoria laughed. “This is the first time I’ve had you to myself all day. I’m pleased you like it here.”

“Everyone seems friendly enough,” Renny remarked. “The guys want me to join them later in a chips game. I’m surprised none of them seem too bothered by the attention their ladies have given me.”

Victoria grinned and snickered. “Don’t be surprised,” she said in a sly voice. “I’m sure they welcome the distraction.”

Renny looked at her and suddenly felt a common bond with the other guys of her vessel. The women had hardly left him alone since he had boarded their ship. He could not remember a time when he had been in so much demand.

Victoria ran the fingers of one hand across the black fabric of Renny’s shirt and then toyed with the top button. “Care to see the inside of my cabin, dear?” she asked. “I have a special present I’d like to give you.” Renny swallowed as she gave his neck a gentle lick and felt the warmth of her body up against him.

***

Duffy heaved a sigh and sat back in his chair. He had been hunched over folders for hours and his lower back was aching. The light was not good in the room and he rubbed his tired eyes. He looked over at Szabo. The glazed look in his coworker’s eyes must have matched his own. It did not take much imagination to wonder why morale was so low in this place.

A young Irish setter named Stephanie had been by their office to collect completed white folders twice since he had been there; other than her, Duffy had seen no one else.

“When do we get to take a break?” he asked as he rubbed the soreness in his back.

Szabo snorted and looked up at him. “When you go home at 1900 hours,” he said.

“What about meals?”

“Nobody told you to bring your own?” Szabo asked him with the shake of his head. “You can eat at your desk while you work, but you have to bring your own food. The cafeteria was converted to more records space, so they don’t have the facilities to feed us. It’s also cheaper for them if they don’t have to supply meals.”

“Wonderful…” Duffy muttered. “I can’t wait to get out of here.”

“Keep dreaming, Roscom.” The lanky young hyena took off his thick, round-rimmed glasses and dropped them lightly on top of a folder. “Once you’ve been assigned here, you don’t go anywhere else. This is the armpit of the Nalirran Military... a dead end to your career.” Szabo stretched his arms and looked up at the only picture in the room that was tacked up on the backside of the door. It was a faded and torn poster, promoting the glories and benefits of life in military service. A male hyena, a female desert fox and a broad-shouldered male bulldog were snappily dressed in their uniforms, armed to the teeth and beating down silhouetted feline opponents. “I’d give anything to get out of this pit and join some real action,” Szabo said wistfully.

Duffy frowned. He had had his own share of fighting as a combat pilot, and while it was not as boring as work in a personnel facility, there was no real glamour in killing others. He was trained well enough that he would kill if he had to, but actively seeking to get into a fight was no longer a dream of his own.

“Have you ever killed anyone, Szabo?” he asked his coworker.

The younger man shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t make me a wimp,” he said defensively. “I want to fight for Nalirra!”

The Siberian husky shrugged his shoulders. “Well,” he said quietly, “maybe you’ll get your chance when this thing gets started.”

Szabo’s shoulders drooped. “No,” he said, “no chance for me.” He picked up his glasses and put them on. The thick lenses made his eyes look twice their normal size. “With eyes like mine, I’ll be stuck in this place pushing paper for the rest of my military career.”

When Duffy did not have a reply to his words, the young hyena shrugged his shoulders and looked back down at the folder he had been reading earlier. “Better get back to work,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” Duffy said slowly.

***

“Captain Ros?”

“Yes, Benson, what is it?” Victoria replied to the intercom channel in a dreamy voice. She lay next to Renny with her eyes half open, a silk sheet covering them both. The cheetah was sound asleep at her side, lying on his stomach, his face buried in a pink pillow.

“Juxenlow has just informed us that a team has arrived to unload our cargo,” said the voice from the small speaker set in the ceiling of the darkened room.

“That’s good news, Ben. Will they let us out of the ship to get some fresh air now?”

“We’re still forbidden to touch their soil, Captain. There’s a military guard standing by with orders to shoot any of us who disobey. Any fresh air will have to come to us through the open bay door.”

“I didn’t expect any different,” Victoria admitted. “Okay, I want you, Chang and Tremus down in the cargo bay to supervise the unloading. Don’t stray beyond the bay doors or I’ll have to inform your sweethearts on Fyn that you’ve been skinned and hung out to dry.”

“Aye, Cap’n,” her first officer replied. “Unloading should start right away.”

***

“Hey Roscom!” the bespectacled hyena said to Duffy with a mischievous grin. He held up a blue folder. “This guy looks like he could be your brother! Can you believe his luck – he’s going to be one of the first guys going to the action!” He held up a black and white photograph of a younger Siberian husky.

Duffy felt his hackles rise. “What’s the lucky fellow’s name?” he asked hoarsely.

Szabo glanced at the label on the folder. “Clarence Daniel Duffy,” he replied. “Clarence! His parents must have hated him to saddle him with a name like that! Sounds like a loser.”

Duffy felt the blood drain from his face. Szabo was not looking at him or he might have gotten suspicious, but instead he studied the document. “This guy’s living in the backwoods on Fyn, but he’s about to see some action in spatial combat,” the hyena said casually. “I envy him and his chance to kill Tanatans right off the cuff, but even after this war gets started, I’m going to be stuck right here, pushing more paper. Why can’t we have the electronic, paperless society that other worlds are using?”

Duffy felt as if the time had slowed to a crawl as he watched Szabo pick up a white folder, transfer the contents of his own personnel file into it, and set the empty blue folder aside. He watched mutely as the hyena picked up his pen and began to fill out the form to process the information as someone else to draft back into the military. After several long minutes, Szabo finished the form, dropped it into the folder, and then set the document file aside on top of the stack of others he had already worked on.

Duffy could now feel the blood pounding in his temples, his heartbeat racing as his coworker picked up another folder to look through. He knew he would have to wait a few more minutes before he could attempt to take his file from the top of the stack or Szabo might suspect something.

He swallowed quietly and looked down at the folder on the desk in front of him. The information he had been looking at qualified for its own white folder, so he decided to take a chance. He would fill out the form on this person and then put it on top of the stack as Szabo had done, but would try to slide his own folder out from under it covertly. To destroy it, he might have to claim a necessary trip to the bathroom and flush the contents before returning to continue his search for Tanis’ folder.

Duffy picked up his pen and grabbed a blank form. While he slowly filled out the information, the door to the room opened. Stephanie walked in and grabbed the stack of white folders from the edge of the desk. Duffy looked up in alarm, but had to bite his tongue to keep from barking at her to stop. The young Irish setter left with her armload without a word to either of them, and Duffy suddenly stood up to follow her.

“Where are you going?” Szabo asked as he looked up at him.

“Latrine,” Duffy answered with a forced grimace. “Be right back.”

“Right.”

The Siberian husky shut the door behind him and he glanced up the hallway toward the girl. He trotted after her and lunged forward when he got right behind her. He bumped the box out of her hands as if he had tripped, scattering white folders across the floor. The canine cried out in alarm, but he kept his eyes on the one that had been on top, knowing that he had to grab it at all costs.

“Sorry about that, Stef,” he said in an embarrassed voice.

“Thanks, really great,” the girl grumbled with a frown. She had already gotten into trouble three times that day, and she would probably get a lashing if her supervisor saw the mess at her feet. She knelt down to pick up her folders. Duffy bent down to help her. Other people moving through the hallway stepped around them without a second glance.

A door opened in the hallway nearby and a high-ranking jackal stepped out of a noisy office. He saw the scattered folders and the two individuals picking them up. The officer stormed over to them, placed his right boot on top of a folder and crossed his arms across his narrow chest.

“Stephanie! What’s going on here?” he asked in a huff.

“Oh, crap,” the girl said beneath her breath. “J-just a little accident, sir,’ she said in a louder voice. “We’ll have these picked up and on your desk promptly, sir.”

“Girl, you are not going home tonight!” the officer barked in a voice louder than necessary. “You’ve been in enough trouble today that you may not go home for a bloody week! I’m going to give you so much work to do that if you ever decide to cause me any more trouble, you’ll be cleaning the crapped-in toilets in this building with your own personal toothbrush!”

The jackal went on ranting at the shaking girl and Duffy felt guilty for getting her into trouble. She was nearly in tears as her superior officer detailed his views on her parentage and his opinion of her family genetics. Duffy looked for his folder, and saw that it was beneath the officer’s boot. He continued to pick up folders until the man suddenly stopped his tirade, looking at him coldly.

“Get back to your assignment, soldier…” the jackal said between clenched teeth.

“Yessir!” Duffy stood up, saluted with a jerk, and then retreated back down the hallway to the stuffy room where he had spent the last few hours. He stopped at the door and noted that the officer was verbally abusing the young Irish setter again while she scrambled to pick up the rest of the folders.

Finally, the man lifted his boot and let the girl have the last of the folders. She picked up the dusty folder and followed her supervisor into his office, her tail tucked firmly between her legs. The door slammed behind them and Duffy was left in a corridor that was suddenly as quiet as a tomb without the officer’s bellows, despite all the people moving by with their armloads.

He walked around several people toting boxes, moving to the door where his folder had disappeared. He opened it a crack and peered inside. He saw the officer sit down at a desk in a corner and watched Stephanie set the folders down in front of him. The jackal waved her away and picked up the first folder on top of the stack. Duffy noted with a sinking feeling that there was a distinct boot print across the white surface of the folder in the officer’s hand.

The Siberian husky closed the door and leaned against the doorframe with his eyes closed. There was nothing more he could do here. He had failed to keep his folder from going into processing. He knew with cold realization that he would be drafted back into the Nalirran military.

***

Lorelei stood outside the cargo bay, shielding her eyes against the sun as she searched the sky for a reddish-orange freighter. Ninety minutes earlier, the Hidalgo Sun had called in to say they had reached standard orbit over Nalirra and had received clearance to land as soon as they were in optimum position. They were now on their way down into the atmosphere and Lori was excited about seeing their sister ship again. Ever since Merlin bought the second Okami freighter and welcomed Rezo’s crew into the company, Lorelei had become close friends with several of them. She was especially fond of the first officer, Jonesy.

The white rabbit was dressed in a yellow halter top and a tan pair of extremely small shorts, distracting the workers unloading the Cherry Blossom with the way her fluffy tail spilled out over the top of her waistband. She let out a small cry of joy when she saw a sparkle of light approaching the airfield. She began hopping up and down, her cottontail bouncing with the action.

Inside the Blue Horizon, Durant was at the com station on the bridge with the headset across his ears as he spoke into the tiny condenser boom microphone. He rubbed his palms on the powder blue shirt he wore as he sat nervously awaiting the other vessel. He was just as excited for the opportunity to see Carmen again as Lorelei was of seeing Jonesy.

“Yes, that’s right,” he said. “They aren’t letting felines off the ships, so you’ll have to keep Tsarina and Jonesy on board while you’re here, Captain. We’ve had to confine Renny inside the ships, although there’s really not much to do outside anyway.”

He listened to the red panda’s reports a moment more and then explained how the Blue Horizon and the Cherry Blossom had been coupled together. They exchanged a few more words and then had to close the conversation so Rezo’s pilot could concentrate on landing procedures.

Durant sat back in his chair with a frown. He tapped out the calling code on the com terminal and then waited for a reply.

“This is the Cherry Blossom,” said a female voice over the speakers. “What can I do for you?”

“This is the Blue Horizon, Missy. I need to speak to Renny.”

“I think he and the captain are still—”

“Please,” he interrupted, “this is important.”

“Alright, but I don’t think he’ll be happy.” The circuit went quiet for a few moments and Durant fidgeted, wondering exactly what he was interrupting.

“Durant!”

“Renny, sorry to bother you, but…”

“That’s okay, I needed the break. Whatcha got?” The cheetah sounded as if he were in better spirits.

“I need you back over here pronto so we can uncouple the ships. The Hidalgo Sun will be landing shortly and I want to set up our two ships in the same way.”

“The Hidalgo Sun? Yeesh, I don’t think I could handle Tsarina right now…” the cheetah’s voice groaned quietly over the com speakers.

“Renny,” Durant said in an authoritative tone, “consider this an order.”

“Aye, captain, sir,” Renny said with a laugh. “I was not complaining – just let me say my good-byes and I’ll be floating over.”

“Thank you. Make it quick.”

“Right.”

Durant shook his head and then keyed in another call code.

“You’ve got the Sandburr, friend. What can we do for ya?”

”This is the Blue Horizon, sir. I need to speak to my two crewmen who are currently on board your ship.”

“Going to call them back to duty?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“Wonderful!” the other voice said. “I can’t prove it, but I think that raccoon of yours cheats at cards…He’s taken most of us for what little credits we had!”

Durant smiled. “Well, if you’ll just send them back to me, you can tell them we have company coming.”

“Okie dokie, Horizon. I’ll first have to find out which of our gals has the younger guy in her quarters, but I’ll get ‘em back to you pronto.”

“Thank you. I would appreciate it.” As Durant closed the connection, he took the headset off and laid it on the console with a twitch of an ear. Max with a woman? He thought he remembered something about the German shepherd having been neutered at a young age. Visions of Max spending time in a woman’s cabin did not seem right somehow, even if he had grown up working in a pleasure house.

***

Bar-Lieutenant Tola stood up. Samantha could hear his joints creak as he let out a large belch. She blinked rapidly from the resulting odor, trying to keep her mind on her task. Transcribing the information was menial work that did not require her level of expertise to do. It was likely this guy just wanted her to do the work for him.

“Keep working, Jeska,” he told her. “I’m going outside for a smoke.”

“Yessir,” she replied mechanically.

She slowly counted down a minute before she heaved a sigh of relief. She reached up behind her lapel, depressing a tiny button on the bug-like transceiver Duffy had designed.

“This is Locke,” a whispered voice sounded near her ear.

“Samantha reporting in, sir,” she said.

“Go ahead.”

“Mission accomplished with the electronic records for Tanis and Duffy,” she told him, “but an officer saw me in the hallway and commandeered me to do his computer work for him. I’ve been in here nearly two hours with him breathing over my shoulder, but this is the first chance I’ve had to contact you.”

“I understand. Which office are you in?”

“Bar-Lieutenant Grun Tola is the name on the desk-plate.”

“That figures. Okay, I’ll get you out of that lazy bum’s area. Just play it cool until he tells you that I’ve jumped down his throat for taking one of my employees. Did he say where he was going?”

“Outside for a smoke. He’s been gone about three minutes.”

“Understood.”

Samantha kept an ear out for footsteps. “Any luck on the others?”

“Partially. Your vixen friend found and destroyed Tanis’ physical document, but Duffy had the misfortune to see his own folder walked right into Processing. He was unable to retrieve it in time.”

“That’s bad news. Anything we can do about it?”

“I’m afraid not. We’ve all been waiting for word on your task, so now that you’ve reported in your success, I’ll need to recall the others and get the four of you out of here before you’re caught.”

“Yes sir,” Samantha said soberly. “This means that Duffy will be going to war.”

“Very likely. If Sed Amittias has his way, a first strike against the Tanatans will probably begin just as soon as we can recall all these people we’ve been researching here.”

“I hear Tola’s footsteps. Signing off.” Samantha clicked the tiny button and then looked up at the door just as it opened. The hyena smelled strongly of pungent cigar smoke, but seemed calmer.

“How’s it coming?” he asked.

“Only two boxes of folders to go,” Samantha replied.

“You can handle it, girl.”

There was a sudden buzzing from beneath the desk. The hyena reached down between Samantha’s legs, boldly brushing up against her crotch with a lustful grin as he retrieved the com receiver. Sam suppressed the urge to break off his fingers one at a time and force them down his throat. It was difficult to remember the role she had to play.

“This is Bar-Lieutenant Tola,” he said importantly. He listened for a moment with a frown. “Yeah, she’s here at my desk. Now, listen, I need her to—” He grumbled under his breath, and then nodded to the receiver. “Yessir, right away.”

Samantha scooted back away from the desk to allow him to hang up the com, mindful not to let him near enough to touch her as he did before. Tola made no effort for a repeat, however. He frowned and gestured with his thumb toward the door over his shoulder.

“That was Locke,” he said with a grumble. “He wants you back, so go on. I think I’ve watched you enough to figure out how to do the rest myself.”

It’s my chest you’ve been watching, not the computer… Sam thought to herself.

She quickly left the room after giving him a sharp salute, and as soon as she was out of earshot of his office, she activated the bug again. “I’m on my way to your office now,” she reported quietly.

“Meet us at the front entrance. I’m giving the recall now.”

“Yessir.”

Samantha sighed and rubbed her eyes before retracing her steps to the front of the building. It had been a long day. She would be glad to be back on board the Blue Horizon with plans to take hot immersion bath to soak her fur.

***

“Max, may I talk to you for a moment?” Durant asked the young mechanic as he and Pockets walked in through the open cargo bay doors.

“Sure,” the canine replied with a smile. Durant led him into his small office at the back of the hold and quietly closed the door behind them. The cool air of the office was refreshing after walking across the arid tarmac from the Sandburr.

“What’s up?” Max asked after taking a seat on a stool in the corner. He put his feet up on the stool’s rungs and crossed his arms behind his head. Half of the buttons on his shirt were unfastened and Durant frowned at them.

“I heard you’ve been spending time in a woman’s cabin on board the Sandburr,” he said in a fatherly tone. “Is this true?”

“Yeah, Jeanette has Pixly Dixly’s new video and I asked if I could see it,” Max explained with a shrug, “and then we were going through her scrapbook. Is there a problem?”

Durant suddenly felt foolish at suspecting the boy of having relations with a female. “No, no problem,” he said with a smile. “Merlin would have my hide if you got into trouble while he was away. I was just checking up on your activities.”

Max grinned and then narrowed his eyes. “Ah, I know what you were thinking,” he said in a sly voice. “Sorry to disappoint you!”

Durant chuckled. Max could see right through him. “Well, yeah,” he admitted, “You’re an adult now, and some ladies might –”

“Uncle Merlin’s already given me the sex talk, Durant,” Max said with a laugh. “I became legal when I turned seventeen, so he wanted to enlighten me on what goes on out in the universe.” He shrugged his shoulders again and tilted his head to the side. “Not,” he said, “that I could go very far with my altered equipment, I’m sure you know.”

“Yes, I know... but at the same time, there are plenty of other things that a young fellow can get himself involved in, and a number of problems that can arise from them. I suppose getting a girl in trouble isn’t in the cards, but she might get you in trouble if you aren’t too careful.”

“Well,” Max countered, looking completely unabashed, “you also have to remember where I grew up and what I’ve seen with my own eyes at The Wild Star, some out in the open, some from peeking through holes in the wall boards. I already knew most of Uncle Merlin told me, but he cautioned me also.”

Durant scratched his head, feeling embarrassed. “Okay, Max, I apologize for prying into your personal life.”

“Apology accepted,” the young canine said with a smile. “You probably still think of me as a scrawny little fifteen-year-old, fresh out of slavery, don’t you?”

“Sometimes, yes,” the grizzly admitted. “That was only two years ago, but I admit you’ve grown and matured a lot since then. We’re all proud of you, Max.”

“Thank you, Durant. That’s nice to hear. It took a long time for Sam and Pockets to break me of my old way of life and my old way of thinking.” The young mechanic walked over to the loadmaster and looked up at him. “I love this ship and I want to make my own place here among the crew.”

Durant smiled warmly and proffered a hand. “You have your place, Max. Never doubt yourself about that.”

***

Tanis poured some water onto a handkerchief and put it over his nose. The evening ride to Mucot Airfield in the back of Locke’s personnel transport was hot and dry, and a strong tail wind blew their own dust back into the canvas-topped truck, making eyes sting and breathing difficult. He and the others rode on top of sandbags that had been piled behind the cab, and most were leaking through rotting fabric, adding to the swirling dust.

Locke was alone in the cab behind the steering wheel, but he preferred the silence as he drove. Kor-Chief Allano was to meet them at the airfield to take them back to a rendezvous point with a small private craft that would later transfer them to the Blue Horizon. The others behind him were tired and weary of the day, and Duffy had sunken into despair at having failed to retrieve his own document.

Taro sat beside the Siberian husky and tried to cheer him up, but he was in no mood for the attention she gave him. Samantha rested with her head on a sandbag, using it as a gritty pillow as she fought off a growing headache. They all rode in silence for several kilometers as they passed a mixture of desert and forested areas. They were parallel to a concrete aqueduct slowly flowing with brown water and bordered with thick brush in places near the road.

Just a few kilometers from their destination, the truck lurched to a sudden stop and the four passengers looked up toward the cab. Through the back glass, they could see the look of surprise on Locke’s face. Before any of them could crawl out of the back of the truck to find out what the desert fox had seen, they heard a muffled boom followed by several more in rapid succession.

Tanis jumped out the back onto the sunbaked road, and then darted around the truck to look. Duffy, Taro and Samantha joined him, and the small group stared in open-mouth surprise at columns of gray-black smoke rising above a distant hill. They could barely make out several small dots buzzing around in the air near the plume.

“The airfield’s under attack!” Locke exclaimed as he stepped out of the truck cab.

“It’s the Tanatans!” Tanis growled. “It’s a first-strike!”

There were several more muffled explosions, and then a momentary pause before they saw a tremendous fireball rise above the hill.

“There goes our ride!” Duffy said in alarm.

Locke shielded his eyes, straining hard to look at the attacking dots. “Get away from the truck!” he said suddenly. “Now!”

Everybody scattered as several of the distant dots grew larger, moving on a direct course along the road. Tanis, Taro and Samantha dove into the aqueduct beneath the dirty water, while Locke and Duffy jumped into the bushes on the other side of the road.

The dots became boomerangs, small curve-winged craft bearing down upon the truck. There were no streaks of energy or bolts of lightning to indicate that weapons had been fired, but the very air seemed to ripple. Locke grabbed his head in pain with a sharp shriek, and then the truck jumped from the ground, erupting into a ball of flame with a deafening KA-BOOM! The flyers continued on without returning to inspect their handiwork – they were headed straight toward the facility the team had left behind an hour ago.

Debris from the truck and road rained down into the aqueduct and the bushes. Duffy tumbled down into a small washout gully formed by the occasional flash flood. He managed to avoid the pelting debris, but he came to an abrupt stop hard against a tropical tree. Samantha eased her nose above the surface of the canal water, but had to dive again to avoid the twisted remains of the truck’s steering column. Other pieces of the transport dropped over Taro and Tanis, but miraculously they were able to dodge them all beneath the water.

Samantha nosed up for air once more, but there were no more vehicle parts raining from the sky. She reached up to the concrete curb of the aqueduct and hauled herself up onto dry ground. Tanis and Taro were downstream, both gasping for air as they made their way out of the water. She glanced around the sky to make sure none of the Tanatan flyers were heading back toward them. When she ascertained they were safe for the moment, she looked back at the blackened, junk-strewn spot on the road where the truck originally sat. The tops of several trees had also been blown apart, with leaves and splintered bark scattered everywhere.

“Is everyone okay?” Taro asked as she pressed dirty water from her fur. She sat on the side of the canal with her legs dangling and dripping.

“Tanis!” Duffy’s voice called out weakly from the bushes on the opposite side of the road. “Get over here, quick!”

The medic stumbled over a scorched drive shaft from the truck toward his friend’s voice. Taro and Sam followed him. “Over here,” Duffy said when they dashed past him.

Tanis turned and saw the husky kneeling beside Shoji Locke. The other fennec’s eyes were open and fixed, but there was no life in them. His head was somewhat misshapen, and blood issued from his ears, nose, mouth and several splits around his skull.

“Ohmigosh!” Samantha clasped her hands to her mouth. She sank to her knees in the sand, swallowing hard.

“What happened to him?” Taro asked hoarsely.

“It was that Tanatan weapon,” Tanis said as he knelt next to his friend and closed the staring eyes. “It had to be.” Although he knew better, the medic felt for a pulse in Locke’s neck. There was none.

Duffy looked up at the sound of more explosions in the distance. Tanis looked at him and noted some blood in the husky’s fur. “Let me look at ya,” he said to him. Duffy nodded and closed his eyes as the tan fox examined him.

“Yer Well of Luck must’ve rubbed off on ya,” Tanis told him as he pulled out a slim First Aid kit from a vest pocket. He picked out an antiseptic and a ball of cotton. “All ya have is a small cut and a bruised lump on the noggin.”

“I rolled down an embankment and tackled a tree,” Duffy explained without opening his eyes.

“That’s probably what saved you,” Taro added. “It got you away from the effects of that weapon. Locke was not so fortunate.”

All four of them could not help but glance back at the one who had engineered Operation Rainbow. He died when he had been trying to get his friends out of going into a senseless war.

***

“Take off! Take off!” Renny shouted into the com microphone. Durant was in the center seat of the bridge as the Blue Horizon lifted ponderously from its place on the tarmac, while the cheetah tried to coax the other freighters into following them.

The Juxenlow warehouse and its office was ablaze in roiling black smoke and expanding fireballs while Tanatan fliers systematically destroyed the place. The Sandburr had taken an indirect hit, but the damage was too great for aerial flight. Captain Ros of the Cherry Blossom had held off her takeoff long enough for Corwin and his remaining crewmembers to scramble on board her ship, and then she was airborne as well.

In the cargo bay of the Horizon, Pockets slid across the tilted floor, his small hands flailing. He managed to grab the webbing over a pallet of goods secured to the floor and held on tight. The bay door was still open as the burning Juxenlow shrunk beneath them. Max was in Durant’s office, clinging to the desk as he punched the intercom button.

“Somebody turn on the inertial dampers and the gravity!” he exclaimed. “We can’t get to the cargo bay door controls to shut it until you do – and we can’t get back to engineering to do it from auxiliary either!”

“Aye to that!” Renny’s voice crackled from the small speaker set into the ceiling of the booth. “Both are active now, Max – we need that door closed before we reach orbit!”

Max did not wait to give him a response. It was already getting hard to breathe in the thinning high-altitude air as the Blue Horizon sped toward space. He ran around the perimeter of the hold toward the gaping emptiness beyond the bay door. The wind whipped at him furiously. It took all he had in order to pull himself along the wall safety railing toward the controls to close the cargo hold. He reached the primary airlock and then struggled the last half-meter to the main door control panel.

Just as the young canine stretched out toward the terminal, he chanced a glance outside that made his head swim from the shifting perspectives. The Blue Horizon was tilted and banking so that he had a clear view of the dizzying depths below. He could see the leading edge of the Hidalgo Sun as it raced up behind them, with the Horizon’s own flexible extension tunnel dangling beside it, having been ripped away during the sudden launch.

Max punched a sequence of buttons and the bay door began to close slowly. With that process executing, he left the terminal and shouted above the din of the rushing air. “Pockets!”

“I’m still here,” the chief engineer’s voice croaked from somewhere on the other side of the large room full of cargo that had not yet been unloaded at Juxenlow. “I’ve twisted my left ankle, Max. I’m going to need your help into engineering.”

***

“Blue Horizon — this is Rainbow Team. Are you there?” the fox said into her DC on an encrypted frequency. She sat in the shade next to the aqueduct, the others gathered nearby as they rested in the evening heat.

“Can’t talk right now, Taro,” Durant’s voice returned in a rush. “We had to make an emergency launch…”

“We’ve been attacked by the Tanatans, Durant,” Taro said quickly. “Our transport’s been destroyed and we’re on foot in the desert. We don’t have a way to rendezvous with you.”

There was a long pause before the grizzly replied. “Juxenlow’s been destroyed too,” he said in a voice that indicated he was trying to divide his attention between important tasks. “We’ve just attained orbit with the Hidalgo Sun and another freighter, but I think some of the small flyers that hit the airfield are in pursuit. I have your signal coordinates and —”

Taro heard Renny’s voice in the background say, “We’ve got a handful of flyers on our tail, Durant! They’re firing at—” and then the signal went quiet. Taro looked up into the eyes of her friends and swallowed hard.

***

The Hidalgo Sun had just left orbit to descend once again into the Nalirran atmosphere. Six of the Tanatan flyers followed the three freighters from Juxenlow, and they were firing upon them as they drew closer.  Fortunately for the larger ships, engines with more power kept them out of the range of the frightening ripple guns, but only just.

Renny knew the Blue Horizon was the only freighter present equipped with combat weaponry and he was aware the Tanatans would catch them quickly enough. It was time the Horizon took defensive action against their attackers.

At once, two of the flyers peeled off to follow the Hidalgo Sun, but Renny targeted them both individually before they were able to cause any damage to the other freighter. It was the first time the cheetah had used the shock thread emitters in a situation other than target practice, and discovered the system’s range was greater than those of the Tanatan weapons. Both enemy vessels shook themselves apart, the sudden decompression from failed air seals causing them to explode into pieces that would fall back into the atmosphere and burn up on reentry. He had not wanted to kill anyone, but for the moment, the Hidalgo Sun was safe.

“The Cherry Blossom, Durant!” Lorelei pointed out the front window.

“I see them!”

The Blue Horizon reversed course and bore down upon the Tanatan flyers. None of them knew if their standard defense screens would stand up to the ripple guns, so Renny prepared to act quickly. It was imperative he take them out before either Cherry Blossom or Blue Horizon could be hit. He fired at the two nearest to Captain Ros’ ship, destroying one of them.  High speed debris from the one slammed into the other, and both of the small crafts exploded near enough to the Blossom that he could see the shock wave hit the freighter’s interstellar shields, visibly shaking the vessel.

“Are you alright?” Lorelei asked over the com headset she wore.

“We’re shaken, but I think we’re all okay,” Victoria’s voice emanated from the speakers. “Thanks for the assist!”

The Blue Horizon rocked suddenly and the bridge lights flickered. “We’ve been hit!” Renny exclaimed. There was another violent jolt and the guidance shifts tried to jump out of Durant’s hands.

“Where’d they get us, Pockets?” the grizzly bear said into his microphone as he spun the ship on its axis to face the flyers. He accelerated with a sudden burst of speed that surprised the smaller craft; both of them veered off to avoid being smashed by the large blue flying saucer. Ramming them had not been Durant’s plan, but the move worked nonetheless. Renny targeted one as they passed, and in a heartbeat sent the vessel to join the others in oblivion.

“Pockets?” Durant asked. “Where—”

“Keep your shirt on,” the raccoon’s harried voice replied. “We’re busy!”

The bear’s eyebrows lowered in agitation. He bared his teeth as he whipped the ship around to remove the last of the Tanatan flyers from the area, praying that there were no more on their way.

The Blue Horizon bore down upon the final enemy vessel, their roles reversed.  The flyer was fleeing the larger vessel and it became apparent to Renny that its guns could not fire behind it. He locked the targeting scope onto the flyer and let Durant get closer.

“I’ll give you a countdown, Durant,” he said without taking his eyes from his readout monitor. “When I reach one, take us over the top of the flyer as steep to vertical as you can.”

“Got it.”

The Tanatan flyer zigzagged back and forth, but the targeting computer was already locked on and tracking. “Five…” Renny intoned, “Four… Three… Two… One!”

The cheetah pressed the firing button at the same time Durant pulled back hard on the guidance shifts. The small flyer shook itself apart violently, the Blue Horizon soaring overhead and away from the scattering debris.

Renny did a sensor sweep of the area, but there were no more flyers in pursuit. Durant changed course so he could draw up alongside the Cherry Blossom to match her speed and trajectory.

“Pockets?” Durant tried one more time into the microphone.

“One of the ripple gunshots hit our interstellar shields, Durant,” Max’s voice responded. “It almost punched a hole right through it, but we were able to increase the signal strength enough to deflect it. We’ve had a huge power drain and may need to replace a few of the shield transmitters, but otherwise Pockets thinks we’ll be okay.”

“Good work, you two,” Durant said with a sigh of relief. “There may be more, so do what you can to keep us safe.”

“Aye to that!”

***

“What do we do now?” Duffy asked.

Tanis heaved a big sigh and tossed a pebble into the running water below them. He stared after it, listening to the relative quiet that surrounded them to let it calm him. “Looks like we’re in for a long night,” he said after a moment. “The sun’s going down and we have no idea which direction to hike to find the next settlement.”

“I’m so tired and hungry,” Samantha said wearily, “that I don’t think I’d make it very far.”

A stomach growled loudly, but no one made claims to its hunger.

Duffy looked up into the deep red sky at a reflection high up in the clouds. “I just saw a ship,” he said quietly. “We need to get under better cover than this.”

Nodding agreement, Taro motioned with her hand toward a thicker cluster of tropical vegetation across the road, not far from where they had buried Locke using parts of the shattered truck as shovels. It would offer the best protection from sight should one of the flyers return to seek out survivors.

“Uh oh…” Samantha said in alarm. “They’ve found us anyway!”

Everyone dove under cover, looking out at a rapidly approaching set of landing lights from the west. Tanis growled lowly to himself, wishing he had brought a gun, even though he knew a sidearm would have made him suspicious in a personnel facility.

A hot wind blew sand in their faces as an oval-shaped craft grew larger and extended its landing gear.

“It’s the Hidalgo Sun!” Taro exclaimed in relief. She jumped up and ran toward the reddish-orange freighter.

“Taro, wait!” Tanis shouted, “It could be a trick!”

The main airlock of the ship opened barely a moment after the vessel touched down; a tanned human male stepped out and waved to them. It was Mark Littlefeather.

Taro rushed forward and leaped onto him at the last second. She hugged him warmly, giving him a big kiss on the lips before he had a chance to say anything.

Mark coughed and grinned. “Uh, hi, Taro,” he said in a startled voice. He turned and looked at the rest of her team approaching them. “We heard you needed a lift.”

“What about the Horizon?” Tanis asked. “They were under attack when we were last in contact.”

The human ushered them all toward the airlock. “They were fighting back when Cap’n Rezo ordered us down here to get you guys,” he said. “I had no idea your ship was equipped for combat!”

“It was a gift from the Tanthean house of Aris,” Samantha informed him.

“We’ve got to get out of here before the Tanatans or the Nalirran Aerial Forces detect your presence,” Duffy said, “if they haven’t already.”

Mark shut the airlock door behind them and then thumbed the intercom. “Okay, Captain – everyone’s on board.”

“Aye, Littlefeather,” Rezo’s voice called back. “Take them up to Carmen, please.”

“Aye, sir.”

The ship lurched and the Hidalgo Sun was airborne again. Mark motioned them to follow him toward the lift. “Dr. Burgess will look you over and then you can all rest in the common room.”

Samantha ran fingers through her dirty and matted fur. The water in the aqueduct had not been very sanitary. “Can we clean up first?” she asked.

“After the Doc has looked you over,” Mark replied, “you can use the showers in the spare cabins.” Duffy’s stomach growled and the human nodded. “I’ll have Sheila prepare something for you to eat, too.”

“Many appreciations,” the husky said with a thankful smile. “I haven’t eaten all day.”

***

Durant looked at the time and frowned. Blue Horizon, Hidalgo Sun and Cherry Blossom had all been clustered together on the surface of an asteroid large enough to provide some amount of gravity for six hours. As there were no other safe havens in the Roppa star system, it was the best they could do in a hurry. The Reytharsa Asteroid belt lay in an orbit on the outskirts of the system, the remnants of a planet that had exploded from within centuries earlier.

Full-scale war had erupted quickly between Nalirra and Oe’Tanata, and although the Tanatans had attacked first, Sed Amittias’ forces had already been on alert and launched a counterattack almost immediately. The Roppa system was not currently a safe place to be, even for civilian spacecraft.

Durant drummed his fingers on the console before him. A Nalirran transport was supposed to have rendezvoused with them two hours ago to take on the food supplies that the three freighters had been unable to unload at Juxenlow. As yet, there had been no contact from the other vessel. The minutes passed in quiet concern.

Corwin’s crew was getting along well enough with Captain Ros’ people, though the bovidae captain was distraught over the loss of three people and of his ship, the Sandburr. The male buffalo had retired a year earlier from a major freight line based on Pomen, but discovered he missed the business and invested his money to buy a Prairie Dog-class freighter for odd jobs to keep him busy. Unfortunately, he had never bothered to take out insurance on his vessel, so its destruction was a total loss. Three members of his crew had perished in the attack on Juxenlow, two of them sons of his sister. He did not know how he was going to break the news to her; life on a freighter was supposed to be mundane.

Renny stared out the front windows of the bridge toward the nearby hull of the Cherry Blossom. He knew Victoria and her crew well enough to know that Corwin and his people would be given proper care during their stay on board her ship.

“There’s an encrypted call coming in from Nalirra,” Lorelei reported at a chirp from the com station. Durant glanced over at the weapons console where Renny sat. He nodded to Lorelei. She promptly tapped in the decryption key, and then transferred the signal to the bridge speakers.

“This is Blue Horizon,” Durant said in a slightly raised voice, although the condenser microphone embedded into the pilot console would have picked up normal conversational tones.

“Blue Horizon,” said a shrill voice from the overhead speakers, “this is Nalirran Command. Transport vessel RK207 was to rendezvous with you, but was destroyed by our enemy en route to your location.”

“I was afraid of that,” the grizzly replied. “With such a long period of silence, we feared this might have happened.”

“Regrettably, we can spare no more ships right now. We can’t send anyone else out to get your cargo.”

“Is there a place we can take it for you?” Durant asked. “With the conflict in full-swing, I suspect you’re going to need the supplies even more now.”

“This is true, Horizon, but unfortunately there’s no neutral territory in Roppa at the moment. You could be attacked anywhere you tried to go, and we can’t spare any vessels even to protect your leaving our star system. We’ve not been able to locate the Tanatan carriers that brought the small fighters to our world, so you’ll need to watch your backs.”

“Since the combined cargoes of our three vessels were paid for in advance by your government, we need to know what to do with them,” Durant said with a deepening frown. “We have other destinations on our delivery schedule and won’t be able to wait for long.”

“One moment, please, Blue Horizon.”

“Standing by.”

Another voice piped up from the speakers. “I hope they don’t expect us to haul their food back to Alexandrius and put it into storage for later delivery,” Captain Ros said dryly. Apparently, Lorelei had keyed in the other freighter to receive the conversation as well.

“Most of it’s non-perishable,” Durant replied. “If we—”

“Blue Horizon, thank you for standing by,” the previous voice cut in. “Nalirran command authorizes you and the two other freighters with you to take what replenishment supplies you need from the cargo you are carrying and to jettison the rest. It’s recommended that you leave our star system as quickly as you can and make a break for battle-free space.”

Durant blinked several times. “Sir,” he said carefully, “I hope you realize your statement voids your contract. We won’t be able to issue reimbursement payment for the delivery we’ve attempted to make.”

“Fully understood, Horizon. You’ve fulfilled your part of the contract by making the delivery, but now I strongly advise you to leave as quickly as possible.”

“Aye, sir, we will depart at once. Thank you for your business, and may God smile upon your world,” Durant said at last, remembering a common Nalirran sign-off.

“Thank you, Blue Horizon,” the voice replied. “May God smile upon your vessels.”

***

“Hello, listeners, this is News Around the Alignment and I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. At the top of the news this hour, Planetary Alignment member Nalirra has been attacked by their neighboring, non-PA world, Oe’Tanata in a first strike that resulted in over eight thousand casualties. The sneak-attack by small, stealth Tanatan flyers were able to penetrate Nalirran space without prior detection and were able to cause devastation with never-before-seen weapons of destruction.

“Already under an alert for such an action by their neighbor, Nalirran General Duular of Kardon immediately launched a counterattack upon Oe’Tanata, using conventional fuel-air bombs they were able to get in over several major Tanatan cities. As INN has been unable to get anyone safely into Tanatan space, we have been unable to ascertain the death toll there.

“Fierce fighting has erupted upon the surface of both worlds and in the area of space in between. Nalirran officials have advised that all private and commercial spacecraft avoid the Roppa star system. Although well within their right to call upon other worlds of the Planetary Alignment to assist an ally in a time of war, Nalirra has not requested assistance, preferring instead to fight their own battle.

“Word has it that Nalirra had already been gearing up to draft thousands of off-world, ex-military personnel for such an effort, but during the first-strike by Oe’Tanata, several key records facilities were destroyed before many recalls could be sent out.

“Nalirran Spokesman Messala Golgoh has asked us to announce that anyone with Nalirran military experience still capable of fighting should return at once to defend their homeworld.

“Not much else is known at this point, but Nalirran Command has promised the Legislature to keep the council abreast of conflict events. We at INN will relay what news we can, as we get it. You can count on Holly to keep you informed.”

FAMILY TRADITION

By Ted R. Blasingame

SS Christopher Watson, PA30578

Personal Journal

Bill and I are nearing Tanthe and braking, where we should arrive in another couple of hours. This is the first opportunity I’ve taken since leaving Dennier to make an entry to my journal. My brother-in-law is currently resting after a four-hour shift at the controls, and now it’s my turn again to mind the store. We left Dennier three weeks ago and have occupied ourselves during the voyage with books, videos and catching up on one another’s adventures. Taro is currently in charge of the Blue Horizon while I’m taking personal leave, and from past experience I know that she’s a capable commander.

It was nice spending time on Dennier with Bill, Shannon and their four cubs. The children are already several months old, and as with all canine types, they’ve grown quickly. Jacob has solid black fur like his father’s, was the first-born of the litter, and he’s already asserted himself as alpha of the other children. He takes the lead in everything they do and often growls at the others if they don’t obey him well enough. Marissa looks just like her mother, down to her mask and the single brown spot on the back of her left ear. She’s a little cutie and it’s clear she does all she can to endear herself to everyone’s hearts. Jaran is a chubby little thing who sleeps a lot. His coloring resembles my own, but has tan mixed in with his fur like his mother’s. And then there’s Shane… he’s playful and into everything. He loves the attention and he’s already grown quite fond of me during my short visit. He loves to snuggle and was in my lap as much as he could get away with. Shane has turned out to be quite a charmer, and he already knows how to use his personal cuteness to get what he wants. He has a light tan fur with a cinnamon sprinkling, with the same pattern shape around his eyes that I have.

When it was time to depart, it was almost heart-breaking. All four of them howled in distress when they realized I was leaving, and then they wailed harder when they discovered their father was going with me and would be away from them nearly two months. I know Shannon doesn’t like the business trips that Bill sometimes has to make to other worlds, especially now that they have cubs, but fortunately he doesn’t have to make them very often.

I know it’s only coincidence, but Bill’s company is sending him to Tanthe to smooth out a few difficulties they’re having at their branch office in Spurlock, a tropical city on the other side of the planet from where I’ll be in Aris Grand.

After I disembark, Bill will take the Christopher Watson on to Spurlock, and then back to Dennier by himself when he’s finished his business. My plans are to visit with Kal, Tinara and their son for several days, and then I will take a public transport back to rendezvous with the Blue Horizon on Crescentis.

–Merlin Sinclair

***

“Christopher Watson, PA Registry 30578, you are on schedule and authorized to enter Tanthe airspace as prearranged. You will proceed at once to coordinates being transmitted to you now.”

The lupine captain looked away from the image of the lean coyote on the vidscreen and glanced toward the navigational terminal. “Pardon me,” he said with a frown, “but these are not the coordinates for Aris Grand.”

“Good evening, Captain Sinclair – it is nice to see you again,” replied a rich baritone voice.

Merlin looked up from the bridge controls toward the vidscreen mounted above the forward windows. Unable to leave the controls of the pilot seat, Merlin tried to make a short bow while sitting. The monarch on the screen smiled at his attempt and nodded his acceptance of the effort. “I am pleased to see you as well, Your Majesty,” the wolf replied. “Thank you.”

King Adion Aris nodded and leaned back in his plush leather chair. As was his personal habit, the monarch dressed all in matching solid colors; this time he was in rich purple. “When I heard you were returning to our world to visit my royal grandson,” he said, “I was delighted to know you would honor us with your presence once again. I thank you, Captain.”

Merlin glanced down and adjusted a control. “I was prepared to set down in Aris Grand, your Highness,” he said, “but the Air Authority has directed me to coordinates far to the south of your capitol city. Is this correct?”

“The coordinates are correct, Captain. You are to land at Tanager Castle, a fortress that has been the traditional birthplace of monarchs in my family for generations. As Prince Merlin will one day rule Tanthe, we felt it was appropriate that his birth should take place there. That is where your new heading will take you, Captain.”

“If I may ask, how is the young prince and his parents?” Merlin asked.

“They are all well. Thank you for asking. Kal and Tinara are thankful for their child. The loss of his siblings was regretful, but this young one is healthy and has already shown signs of strong character. Furnishings have been prepared for your arrival at Tanager and everyone will be most pleased to see you.” The king glanced down at something, and then looked back toward the camera. “You are not on board the Blue Horizon? Has something else happened to your vessel?”

Merlin shook his head with a smile. “I have taken personal leave away from the Horizon to make this trip, your Highness,” he said. “The Christopher Watson is a private cruiser to use for opportunities like this. My first officer is overseeing the operation of the business while I am away. I will be here six days before I will need to return.”

“Ah, I see. Well, Captain, I know you have a landing to coordinate, so I will leave you to it. My daughter and her husband will be looking forward to having you with them.”

“You won’t be there, sire?”

“No, Captain. As much as I would like to spend all of my time with my grandson, I still have a world to rule and duties to perform. They have attendants to see to their wants and wishes, though security there will be high to protect the new heir. I trust you should not have any trouble. The Christopher Watson has been given clearance to enter Tanager airspace to land on the premises. Prime Minister Nishalt will meet you upon your arrival. It is possible that I may be able to make a visit at some point during your visit, but I will make no guarantees.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I appreciate the trust and honor you give me. I am about to begin deorbit, so I must sign off for now.”

“Enjoy your stay, Captain. Aris Grand, out.”

Merlin switched off the vidscreen and was about to turn toward the navigational console when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “I knew you were chummy with Tanthean royalty, but I didn’t realize it would be the king to greet you!”

Merlin looked up at the black wolf beside him and smiled. “King Aris did the same thing the last time the Blue Horizon came to Tanthe, and that was before he even met us. It must be some sort of personal practice to greet everyone who comes to his world.”

“Tanthe does a lot of trading with the rest of the Planetary Alignment,” Bill commented. “You’d think the king would be too busy to greet every ship that came here.”

“I know. His motivations have puzzled me, too, but I will not pretend to know the mindset of such an individual. Better sit down and strap yourself in. I’m activating the heat shields and am ready to take us down.”

Bill moved to the other seat on the bridge and fastened the harness across his waist and chest. He picked up a pair of dark goggles from a storage bin and handed another pair to his brother-in-law. Merlin put the goggles on top of his head and then thumbed several controls on the panel before him. With a satisfied nod, he pushed the goggles down over his eyes and grasped the guidance shifts with both hands to begin their descent into the atmosphere. He angled the nose upward so that the stronger shields on the lower section of the craft would take the brunt of the heat buildup, and immediately the small ship began to buck beneath them.

The forward windows lit up in blinding shades of orange and white, and even through the dark lenses, Bill and Merlin squinted in the brilliance. Long moments later, the Christopher Watson passed through into the atmosphere. Merlin leveled out the sleek red and black Starwolf to a smooth ride on a pair of narrow wings that quickly slid out from the fuselage. The forward windows were dark, but the nighttime sky was clear of clouds. Infrared circuitry in the windows activated at the touch of a button; the ground far below them stood out in eerie green relief.

“I’ve got the landing beacon,” Bill said as he glanced at a flashing blue dot on the instrument panel before him.

“Nav is keyed in,” Merlin said. “We should touch down in about forty-five minutes.”

***

“How do I look?” Merlin asked Bill as the two of them headed toward the main hatch through the ship’s narrow corridor. Merlin was dressed in a stylish amber dress shirt, black slacks, and a pair of black boots; his beloved naval hat had been left back aboard the Blue Horizon. Bill wore a standard business suit of dark blue, which combined with his black fur, made him look rather ominous. Merlin did not mention this fact, however.

“You look gorgeous,” Bill teased. “You don’t have anything to be concerned about.”

“I hope you’re right.” Merlin stopped by the controls of the airlock and punched up the three-digit sequence to open it. There was a hiss of air, and then the hatch swung outward on pneudraulic arms. The cobblestone landing pad they had set down on was illuminated by a ring of archaic torches used merely for effect. The autumn night air was cool, but pleasant with the smell of piñon smoke in the air. The towering walls of the castle were faintly illuminated by other torches in place around the forested courtyard.

The castle was an anachronism: stone and mortared walls, softly fluttering banners, but no trace of vine weaving up its many faces, as though the castle breathed with a life of its own and repelled creeping decay. The wolves had seen ruins of ancient places and historical reconstructions, but this was a place untouched by the ages, kept up by dedicated servants who ensured that it remained just as it had been when it was young generations ago. The castle existed in both the modern and ancient worlds at once, and the pair could feel a tangible presence like an ancient god looking down on modern creatures invading its slumber.

Armed guards surrounded the Christopher Watson just out of the light, but Bill picked out the latrans with ease. The frown on Merlin’s features indicated that he had seen them too. Merlin picked up a small duffel, slinging the bag over his left shoulder. They moved down the small ramp to the ground and then waited for an escort.

A tall coyote dressed in a dark brown suit with a red silk tie stepped out from the shadows toward them as soon as they left the ramp. He held himself with a regal bearing, striding forth without hesitation. He gave a quick glance at Merlin’s garments and duffel bag before he smiled thinly and extended a hand.

“Captain Sinclair, it is so nice to meet you at last. I am Prime Minister Willingham Nishalt.”

“Thank you, sir.” Merlin replied and shook hands with the man. “This is my brother-in-law, Bill Wallace.”

Nishalt nodded toward the black wolf, but did not offer his hand. “Your flight plan to Spurlock is on file,” he said flatly. “We won’t keep you any longer. You may be on your way.”

Bill frowned at the tone of the coyote’s voice, but nodded. He turned to Merlin and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Take care and enjoy yourself, Merle.”

“Thank you,” Merlin replied. “Safe journey, Bill.” The black wolf turned without another look at the Prime Minister and walked up the ramp into the Christopher Watson. Nishalt gestured for the lupine captain to follow him away from the ship.

Prime Minister or not, Merlin stopped and turned toward the coyote with narrowed eyes once they reached the edge of the torchlight. “That was unnecessarily cold,” he said with a low growl in his voice. One of the nearby guards stepped forward with a hand on his weapon, but Nishalt waved him back.

“Your relative does not have business at Tanager Castle, Captain,” the official replied, unfazed. “With the young heir to the throne residing within these walls, we will take no uncertain risks where his safety is involved. You are the King’s hero and have been approved to visit the royal family, sir. That wolf who came with you has not.”

Nishalt resumed walking as the Christopher Watson’s engines started up, but Merlin stood his ground. “That’s no reason to be discourteous,” the lupine captain said over the rising din. “You could have allowed him a few moments of fresh air, at the least. We’ve been on a ship for the past three weeks. He would have left shortly anyway, without your snobbish attitude.”

The Prime Minister turned and looked back at him with an upraised eyebrow and a deepening frown. “You don’t hail from a culture of nobility, and thus have no real grasp of what it means to possess title. You don’t understand the need for protecting against degenerates and their demands for ransoms. I am certain that you believe your companion is of good character, but I would be remiss in my duties if I allowed a stranger to enter the sanctum sanctorum of our noble seat. For the sake of the royalty,” he said sternly, “this discussion is at an end. Your presence is awaited.”

The Christopher Watson cut in its thrusters and leapt toward the sky with a blast of air around the landing pad. Nishalt grabbed his tie to keep it from flogging him in the face, and looked thoroughly annoyed. Merlin hesitated a moment more, and then moved to the Prime Minister’s side. Together, they walked along a series of stepping stones through a manicured lawn toward the castle’s main entrance, a pair of huge wooden doors on balanced iron hinges.

A pair of guards opened the doors when the Prime Minister approached. Merlin noticed the suspicious stares as they passed inside to a dimly lit corridor. The wolf felt uneasy here, more than he had at the capitol city palace in Aris Grand. This was medieval, and it looked as if the coyotes had kept up that particular appearance purposely. One of the torches mounted above their heads made a loud sizzling pop, and Merlin started in spite of himself. The place was eerily quiet, their footsteps echoing in the long chamber.

“Is this whole place kept dark to intimidate visitors?” Merlin asked dryly. “I suppose I should expect to be quartered in the dungeon.”

“Much of Tanager Castle is dark,” the Prime Minister admitted, “but you will not have to reside in the lower levels, I assure you. You have not yet been demoted from King’s Hero to mere Prime Minister.”

Merlin glanced at him sharply and saw the wry smile on the coyote’s face. He sighed and nodded his acknowledgement of the Prime Minister’s little joke. He disliked Nishalt, but for the sake of the royalty, he would try to behave and keep further thoughts to himself.

They soon came to a branch in the corridor. Nishalt led him into the left-hand passage. Their footsteps quieted as they stepped upon exquisite green and gold floor rugs, and the lighting increased dramatically. Merlin could hear someone singing to the accompaniment of a harp from a large chamber up ahead.

He glanced over at Nishalt and saw the Prime Minister expressing a bit of a smile. They entered into a great hall lit by hundreds of white candles from eight chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceiling. Braziers of open flame lined the walls to provide a modicum of warmth, while lush draperies adorned the walls to keep it in. Bronze and iron statues of Tanthean heroes occupied each corner of the room. Clutches of robed figures moved in the shadows, conspicuously out of the open light. Behind the pair, an old man followed, swinging a censer in their wake. They walked down an aisle between rows of theatre seats, toward an upraised dais at the far end of the chamber where a pair of elegant thrones sat empty before velvet drapes of purple. Before the thrones at floor level were several ornate seats, where a small group lounged comfortably, listening to the harpist sing.

A Border collie turned and looked up at the approaching pair. He jumped up with a wide grin. “Merlin!” he cried in surprise.

The lupine captain smiled and walked over to the canine, who had turned to the harpist to apologize for his outburst. “Lady Ayana,” the collie said as the beautiful coyote lass set down her harp and stood up to meet the stranger, “this is Captain Merlin Sinclair, the king’s hero and also a good friend of mine. Merlin, this is Lady Ayana Kojote, cousin to Princess Tinara.”

Merlin bowed to the woman. “Your Grace,” he said, shifting his duffel bag off his shoulder to rest on the floor beside his feet, “I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“I have heard much about you,” Ayana said in a quiet voice with a pleasant smile. “Between stories from Tinara, Kal and Alex, I’ve come to believe you are quite the dashing hero.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow and looked over at Alex Rogers with a grin. “You’ve been telling tall tales again, my friend. Stretching the truth can get you into trouble.” He looked back at Ayana and gestured toward the collie. “Alex and I have known one another for many years, milady, but he does not know me as well as he thinks he does.”

“Oh, yes I do,” Alex countered with a grin.

“Truth or tall tale,” Ayana said with a giggle, “you are well thought of in this place.” Merlin glanced over at Nishalt at that comment, but said nothing more than “Thank you.”

“Please join us and relax,” Ayana offered. The other three women who reclined in the seats smiled up at the wolf with enticing eyes, but otherwise remained silent.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace,” Nishalt said, “but the Princess is awaiting the captain in the library. We must be on our way.”

“Of course, Prime Minister,” the coyote woman said with the shrug of her shoulders. “It was nice meeting you, Captain Sinclair. I’m sure we will have the opportunity to talk later.”

Merlin gave her another short bow and then looked over at Alex. “Yes, I’d like to visit with both of you again soon. I’m especially interested in finding out how Alex wound up here.”

Nishalt cleared his throat and Alex rolled his eyes. “We’ll talk later, Merlin.”

The wolf bowed toward each of the ladies, and then hefted the duffel strap back onto his shoulder. He quietly followed the Prime Minister across the chamber to another corridor. Ayana watched him go, and then turned her attention to a female Irish setter closest to her.

“I can see why the Princess is interested in him, Linn,” she said with a mischievous smile. “Do you think he’ll do it?”

Linn licked her lips, and then glanced over at Alex before she answered. “He’s a wolf. Of course he’ll do it, milady. I’ve heard stories about them.”

Alex looked at the women when the other two ladies joined in and giggled together. “Do what?” he asked. “What do you have planned for Merlin?”

Lady Ayana narrowed her eyes impishly and grinned. “There is a family tradition the Aris royalty practices,” she told him. “I suspect that Captain Sinclair will be introduced to it shortly.”

“What kind of tradition?” the Border collie asked. “He won’t be in any danger, will he?”

Linn laughed aloud, but clamped her hands over her mouth quickly with wide eyes. Lady Ayana chuckled and replied, “That depends on your definition of danger, I dare say, but I assure you that should Captain Sinclair take part in the tradition and succeed, he will enjoy many rewards from the House of Aris.”

Alex looked at each of the ladies in turn, but somehow did not feel assured. There was something about the expressions on their faces that bothered him.

***

Prime Minister Nishalt led the wolf up a flight of circular stone steps to the next level and then along another torch-lit corridor, where they passed armed sentries along the way. Merlin was certain they had crossed the length of the fortress itself, and wondered if they were headed for one of the high towers.

He did not have to wonder about it long. They entered through a pair of polished wooden doors into another large chamber, though nowhere near as massive as the throne room downstairs. This was well-lit and extravagantly furnished with chandeliers, sculptures, potted plants and ornate furniture that were all surrounded by floor-to-ceiling shelves of books – some of which looked to be centuries old. The overhead ceiling was painted in various shades of blues to represent the cloudless sky of a warm spring day, and the columns that held it up were covered in flowering climbing ivy.

Almost before Merlin could take in all the details of the room, a young female coyote in a light dress of powder green stood up from a high-backed chair with a large leather-bound volume in her hands. She turned to face them with a pleasant smile. Despite the lateness of the hour, the woman’s brown eyes were clear and alert. Nishalt did not have to give the wolf an introduction. The Prime Minister saw the simultaneous grins on the faces of both Merlin and the princess, and allowed himself to relax at last. Without another sound, Nishalt withdrew from the room to give them privacy.

“Merlin…” the coyote lass said with a twinkle in her eyes as she set the book on her chair, “I am ever so glad to see you again!”

The wolf stopped, set his duffel on the floor, and then bowed slightly toward her. He took her right hand and licked the back of it gently before he looked back up into her eyes. “It’s good to see you too, Princess,” he said in a smooth voice. “You are looking well.”

Princess Tinara stepped up to him and gently caressed the fur of his left cheek with a hand. “I have missed you, mister wolf,” she said in a quiet voice. She slid both of her arms up over his shoulders and drew his face down to hers. She boldly kissed him on the lips and lingered for a long moment before she released him.

Merlin slowly stood up straight, feeling very much at risk. He expected guards to come rushing in to save the princess from the big bad wolf, but no one else entered the library. He looked down at her in surprise, only to see her quietly chuckling. Before he could find his voice, Tinara took him by the hand, and led him toward an empty chair facing the one she had vacated. Merlin sat down, the princess picked up the book from her seat, and then she sat down with the tome in her lap. The book looked as if it might have been recently printed; Merlin could even smell the newness of the paper pulp.

“Princess…” he said cautiously, “that was a very dangerous thing to do. Prince Kal might have walked in and…”

“My husband is asleep, dear wolf,” she said in a quiet voice in keeping with standard library etiquette. “His day of business was long and full, and he won’t disturb our visit. The servants have also been instructed not to enter this chamber.”

“Are you happy with Prince Kal?” Merlin asked bluntly.

Tinara grinned at his boldness. “Yes, very much. I have never regretted marrying Kal Navar, but I will never forget the time you and I had together, Merlin.”

“That was a short visit, Princess, and we didn’t really do anything. Why would you treat me as if I were a childhood sweetheart?”

“Short as the visit may have been,” she said as she opened the large book to a place marked with a purple ribbon, “your presence those few days changed my life. Things would have been very different for me had your ship not lost its cargo. Merlin Sinclair and the Blue Horizon have been written into Aris history.”

She turned the book in her arms so that its open pages faced the lupine captain. He leaned forward to look at a painted portrait of himself that took up one third of the left-hand page beside paragraphs of text that were sprinkled with his name. The reproduction showed him in his brown flight jacket over a white shirt, blue trousers, black boots and his captain’s hat. He was standing in a spaceport with a book at his side in one hand, and the other upraised to shadow his eyes as he looked off toward the distance. Merlin raised his eyebrows and sighed as he sat back against the soft cushions of the chair, not believing what he had just seen.

He sat quietly for several moments, and then looked up at the coyote when she closed the book and set it on a short table beside her chair. “Princess…” he began. When she looked back at him, he dismissed what he was going to say and instead asked, “How is your son?”

“He is growing quickly, as all canid pups will do,” she replied. “He has an abundance of energy, loving to run everywhere he goes. Kal has already begun taking him to places around the kingdom, and we are teaching him of his heritage. Would you like to see him?” she asked.

Merlin nodded, thankful to have changed the subject away from himself. He disliked the attention he seemed to have garnered by the Aris family, but as they had been the ones to gift him with a ship so he could stay in business, he was grateful and tolerated their idiosyncrasies.

“Won’t he be asleep at this time of night?” he asked, glancing at a grandfather-style clock that stood nearby. Tinara stood up and offered him a hand. He took it courteously and got up from his chair. With a pleasant smile, she led him toward another door at the back of the room.

“Yes, he is a sound sleeper,” Tinara replied in a quiet voice. “It’s unlikely he will awaken if we look in on him.”

Merlin nodded silently and followed her out into the torch-lit corridor, their hands still clasped. It was only a short walk before they stopped before a green door. She put a finger to her lips and then quietly pushed the door open on well-oiled hinges.

Inside, the room was lit by a single candle that dimly illuminated a bed chamber. Merlin’s eyes adjusted quickly, as the corridor had not been much brighter, and he saw a pair of small fuzzy ears poking out of the sheets that covered a curled form. A plump latrans woman sat with an open book in a chair beside the bed and looked up quizzically at the princess. Tinara whispered something to her, and then the woman bowed and left the room quietly.

The wolf moved to the vacated chair and sat down in it. He reached over and gently pulled the lightweight sheet away from the small face, hardly daring to breathe.

Merlin Sinclair smiled pleasantly at the young coyote that bore his name. Although there was neither species nor blood relationship here, there was an uncanny resemblance between their faces. The young prince bore his parents’ tan fur coloring, but the shape of his cheeks and nose was oddly similar to Merlin’s lupine face. He was only a few months old, but the canine was equal in development to a human child four years old.

The pup breathed quietly, his mouth partially open in his slumber. His head rested partially on a curled arm and partially on his soft pillow, and his other hand lay open beneath his chin. Merlin swallowed quietly and reached out to brush down the soft cheek fur of the youngster’s face, wondering what it would have been like to be a father raising a son.

Tinara watched the expressions play across Merlin’s face, and recognized the family instincts surfacing in the wolf. She put a hand to her chin as she mulled over the thoughts in her head.

There was a small whimper, and the princess’ thoughts were brought back to the present. The youngster opened his eyes sleepily and looked up at Merlin’s silhouette in the dark room.

“Papa?” the boy murmured. His little nose was quivering, and his little sleep-fogged mine was seeming confused by the strange scent. Tinara was about to correct the mistaken identity and introduce the wolf to him, but Merlin leaned forward and whispered to the child.

“All is well, little one,” he said quietly. “Go back to your dreams.”

“Yes, papa.”

Merlin lightly licked the child on the forehead and the boy snuggled closer to his pillow, his eyes closed and a look of contentment on his face. Merlin watched the young coyote a moment more before he stood up and walked over to Tinara’s side. He touched her lightly on the arm and then both adults left the room.

The child’s caretaker reentered the chamber and quietly shut the door behind her following a quick bow to the princess. After the door had closed, Merlin looked over at Tinara, a soft expression on his face.

“He’s a nice-looking boy, Princess,” he said quietly. “If it is permitted, I would like to spend a little time with him while I am here.”

Tinara nodded and opened her mouth to reply, but she suddenly put a hand to her mouth to cover a yawn. “Please forgive me,” she apologized. “It is late and I’ve been awake since early morning.”

Merlin smiled and nodded as they neared the library door. He was still operating on Dennier-time and was far from sleepy, although seeing her yawn made him do the same. “I think we should call it a night and resume our visit in the morning, Princess.”

Tinara nodded her agreement, but a moment later she looked over at him with a frown. “Merlin…” she said slowly, “you have forgotten my request.”

“Request?”

“When you were here last, I asked you to call me by my first name at times when we’re alone. I dislike living under a lens all the time and it would please me to have a friend address me as one. You’ve done nothing but call me by my title since you arrived.”

“Ah yes, I remember,” the wolf replied with a smile, “but you were not married then, and were so infatuated with me that you hadn’t realized Kal’s interest in you.”

The princess stopped just inside the library door and turned to face him with a grin. “My request still stands, mister wolf,” she said. “If you and I are alone together, you are allowed my preference. Please address me by my name.”

“If that is your royal wish, I will abide by it.”

“It’s my royal wish that you ignore my royalty for now.” The princess winked at him and they moved back into the library. Merlin walked over to his abandoned duffel and hoisted its strap back up onto his shoulder.

“If you will call someone to take me to my room,” he said, “I will leave you to retire for the night. Unless, of course, I am to stay in the library.”

“Ask me nicely, using my name,” the princess said with a very quiet voice, “and you can stay in my bed tonight.”

Merlin blinked twice before he realized what she had just said. He looked at her incredulously and swallowed. “Won’t you be cold sleeping on the floor?” he asked cautiously.

Tinara giggled. “I’m only teasing, mister wolf,” she said in delight. “There is a room of privacy already prepared for you. It’s nice and cozy, and is not far from the suite where Kal and I are staying.” She chuckled at his unbelieving expression. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you there myself and leave you alone until tomorrow.”

The lupine captain nodded, but said nothing more. Tinara shrugged and walked across the library with him following closely behind. They moved out into the corridor where Nishalt had brought him in, and then turned down a side passage that he had not been in before. Within a moment, they stopped beside a heavy door of wooden planks and iron supports.

“This is your room,” the princess coyote said as she gripped the iron handle and pushed the door open for him. Merlin walked inside and gave the torch-lit room an appraising glance before turning back to his hostess.

“Very nice,” he said. “I think it will be just fi—”

While he was speaking, the princess shut the door behind them, and then threw herself into his arms. She kissed him deeply, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck to hold him close. Merlin resisted only briefly, but then dropped his duffel and returned the kiss. When they parted a moment later, Merlin put his hands on her shoulders and then looked down at her. He started to say something, but she tiptoed up and began licking the sides of his snout. Their bodies intertwined, the supple caress of her form driving him on, flaming through his veins like warm venom as he helplessly responded to his impulses. Her perfume was doing something to his will, but finally he realized what he was doing and pulled away.

“Tinara,” he said in a breathless, but stern voice, “you are desirable, but I won’t put my head on a chopping block for you. Please… return to your husband before this goes any further.”

“You misunderstand the importance of your head to me,” she purred back.

“This is not a trade,” he half-growled.

The princess looked up at him with admiration, her lips parted slightly and her eyes alive with an inner fire. She looked as if she was going to argue, but instead she nodded and stepped back away from him.

“Good night, mister wolf,” she said quietly but in no way upset. She turned, opened the door and then left without a backward glance. She pulled the door shut behind her, and the wolf was left in the silence of the room.

Merlin waited a few moments to allow her time to go, and to give him a moment to clear his head. He then moved quietly to the door. There was a simple heavy bolt lock and he slid it aside to secure the panel, not caring if she heard. He then picked up his duffel, taking it to a large fluffy bed that practically filled the room. Beside the bed was a polished wooden table adorned solely with a pitcher of iced water and an ornate metal stein. He filled the cup and then gulped it down, willing his heart to calm. He drank a second cupful, though more slowly as he tried to relax by thinking of other things.

He set the water and the mug aside, and then turned back to the bed. He opened his pack and took out a slateboard tablet that bore the logo of the Blue Horizon across its outer surface. On the small table beside the water jug, he set up the slateboard. There was a small beep as the unit activated from its small, but efficient power pack. The room was lit by a few small torches sitting in iron braziers mounted into the stone block wall, and the wolf’s amber eyes reflected the flames as he watched the commands scramble across the screen. A moment later, his messaging program interfaced with the castle communication system that had already been authorized to allow it.

He sat down in a heavy oak chair at the table and then tapped out his passcode. At once, the interface came to life. Two messages awaited his attention. The first was from Bill, letting him know he and the Christopher Watson had arrived safely in Spurlock. The second was from Taro. It was a routine report on the business under her command. It was all rather boringly uneventful and Merlin was satisfied that all was well during his absence.

Despite his earlier yawn, he was not sleepy. There was enough of a time difference for him that he would not be ready for bed for a few hours yet. His lupine heritage made him relatively nocturnal if he ever stayed anyplace long enough for it to come out, but since he spent the majority of his life on board a ship out in space, the instinct rarely manifested, much like a winter undercoat.

He glanced around his room at the purple and gold tapestries that covered the stone block walls, and his gaze fell upon a single large painting that hung on the wall above the bed. He had not really noticed it before, but now that it had his attention, he groaned audibly. It was the original oil painting of him that had been reproduced in the princess’ new history book.

Merlin stood up and walked around the bed to stand in front of the painting. He reached up, grasped the wooden frame, and lifted it off of its wall hook. He lowered it to the ground and then turned it so that the portrait faced the wall. He would put it back in its place before he left the fortress, but for now he did not want to have to look at it. From the pattern of portraits, statues and other displays throughout the castle, it was apparent the Tanthean coyotes were passionate about their hero worship, but there was no need for it to be on display in the room he occupied for his visit.

Suspicious by nature, Merlin walked to each of the tapestries and tapped on them. Behind one was a hidden closet of medieval-looking clothing that had been provided for him. Behind another tapestry was a door that he opened cautiously; it revealed an elegant washroom with an all-species squat toilet and it came complete with a large sunken bathtub big enough for two people, much like the one he had in his quarters during his first stay in Aris Grand.

The wolf smiled and nodded to himself. A lighter was on the counter beside a vial of bath oil engineered for use on fur, and there were many aromatic candles placed around the washroom. He lit them one by one, quietly humming to himself. He distrusted the large mirror facing the bath, and he found several soft towels in a cabinet to cover its surface.

Shortly thereafter, hot water filled the tub as Merlin eased himself down into frothing bubbles. The aromatic candles mixed with the water to weave an intoxicating miasma about the captain. As it would not be a good idea to roam the castle alone at night in his boredom, he would spend his waking time alone relaxing.

***

Merlin awoke the next morning to a beam of sunlight shining in his face. He had not noticed the skylight in the ceiling of his room the night before, but by the time he had finished his bath, he had been drowsy enough to go on to bed and gently drift into slumber. His sleep had been dreamless and restful, and as he stretched, he realized that he felt good. There was nothing like a relaxing immersion bath to soothe tired muscles and nerves. Unlike a lot of folks, Merlin never had difficulty sleeping in unfamiliar places.

He allowed himself to lay there in bed for another twenty minutes before he felt the call of nature. He decided to dress native today, so after relieving himself, the wolf moved to the closet to see if there was anything in his size. Not surprisingly, everything in the wardrobe was his size. The servants had done their research well, which made him wonder who on his crew had been contacted about his clothing.

He picked out a pair of dark brown breeches, a hunter-green vest over a white tunic with leather laces across the front and billowing sleeves. He doubted the soft-sided, leather foot coverings would be as comfortable as his boots, so he left them in the closet in favor of his own. Thusly dressed, he finally uncovered the bathroom mirror and studied his appearance. Just a brush through the fur on his head and across one cheek would make him presentable. He was pleasantly surprised by the fit of the pants. Even the tail flap was at the right height for his anatomy – something he almost always had to have altered to fit him properly every time he bought new clothes. As soon as he unlocked the bolt, a short plump coyote woman came over, bowed and then looked up at him with a warm smile.

“Good morning, milord. May I attend you?”

Merlin nodded and returned the smile. “Coffee and a light breakfast would be nice, if you please.”

“Yes, milord,” the woman replied. “If you will follow me, I will direct you to the dining hall downstairs.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” the wolf answered. The small woman turned after another bow and then he followed her through numerous spots of sunlight from overhead windows. The short journey took them past a large set of glass panes and Merlin stopped to look down upon the courtyard two stories below. The grass was lush green and rainbows of flowers were everywhere, even right up next to the ancient stone block walls. A few of the panes were partially open and Merlin could smell the freshly-watered plants on a small breeze. Gardeners were at work caring for the vegetation, and several people reclined on the lawn in the morning sun.

He could also smell the aroma of fresh coffee and he turned back to the woman who patiently waited for him. He gave her a smile and with a nod of her head, she led him to the circular stone steps he had ascended the night before. The woman had a little trouble negotiating the first step downward with one foot, and almost stumbled out into open air. Had Merlin not reached out to snare her arm, she might have been seriously hurt.

“Careful, now,” he said as he put her back on an even level.

“I’m sorry, milord,” she mumbled. “My ankles aren’t what they used to be.”

“That’s quite alright, ma’am,” the wolf replied. “If you will just give me directions, I think I can manage to get there without getting lost, so that you won’t have to bother with the steps.”

The coyote woman looked up at him with an expression of gratitude and nodded. “Thank you, milord. My ankles appreciate your kindness.” The directions she then gave him were fairly simple, and she bowed again when he thanked her and made his way down the steps.

Several moments later, Merlin found himself greeted by a well-dressed servant at the door to the dining hall. He was led to a long wooden table where two people occupied seats near one end.

Prince Kal Navar stood up with a smile as soon as the pair walked in. His companion got to his feet, putting his hands behind his back as the prince grasped hands with the wolf.

“Merlin Sinclair,” the prince said the name with enthusiasm. “It is nice to see you again!”

The lupine captain grinned openly. “Good to see you, too, sir,” he said. “At least this time I lost neither my cargo nor the ship itself.”

Kal chuckled and turned toward the other man. “Merlin, I would like to introduce you to—”

“Prime Minister Nishalt,” the wolf finished for him as he turned to face the other coyote.

“You two have met?” Kal asked.

“Last night,” Merlin answered. “He met me and my brother-in-law at the landing pad.”

“I trust you slept well, Captain Sinclair?” the Prime Minister asked politely.

“Very well, thank you.”

Kal motioned toward the seats at the table, and then said to Merlin as the three of them sat down, “If you will give Mr. Hivez your preference, he will have breakfast prepared for you.”

Merlin looked up from his seat and smiled at the servant who had shown him into the room. “Coffee, beefsteak and some fruit would be nice, thank you,” he told him. Hivez gave him a short bow and then moved off toward the kitchen.

“Where is your brother-in-law?” Prince Kal asked as Merlin turned back toward him.

The wolf looked quickly at the Prime Minister and then answered, “He had business in Spurlock that he needed to attend to.”

“Pity,” the coyote prince replied. “He would have been welcome to stay the night before pressing on to his destination. I imagine the both of you were tired of looking at the inside of your ship for the past weeks. I would have liked to have met him.”

Merlin saw the Prime Minister’s left eye twitch at those words, but he decided not to press matters. “Perhaps another time, sir,” he said with a shrug. “His company invests in Tanthean stocks and he makes periodic visits to Spurlock.”

“I see. So, tell me,” Kal said casually, “how have you been?”

***

With breakfast completed and the casual conversations over, Merlin and Prince Kal left the dining room to walk along the corridors alone in silence. The Prime Minister had remained with them throughout Merlin’s breakfast, and despite his earlier rudeness, the lupine captain had found him to be an interesting individual once he had loosened up a bit.

Merlin chuckled and Kal glanced over at him with a smile. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t have imagined the Prime Minister to have a sense of humor,” Merlin replied.

“Why is that?

Merlin told him about their meeting on the landing pad, and Kal listened with interest. “So that’s what those looks between you two were about,” the prince remarked. “I apologize for him, Merlin,” he said after a moment of thought. “He’s a good man, but he’s paranoid about anything happening to my son. Having strangers so close to the boy makes him nervous.”

Merlin nodded. “I thought as much, but as he is a Prime Minister, he could have handled it a little more… diplomatically.”

“I agree. I’ll have to talk to him.”

“Please don’t,” the wolf said. “Talking together with him this morning has loosened him up toward me, I think. I don’t want to put a strain back into our association.”

Kal grinned widely and put a hand on his shoulder. “You act more like a diplomat than he does,” he said.

Merlin shrugged his shoulders. “I have to be,” he said. “I have twenty-one people working for me now, each with different temperaments. I could also tell you frightening stories about customers I’ll never deal with again.” He looked toward the former Royal Secretary and noted that while he had become a part of the ruling monarch’s family, Kal was still easy to talk to. He liked the man. “When do I get to visit with your son?” he asked after a moment.

Kal smiled. “Right now, if you’d like. He’s outside in the sun right at this time, likely rolling around in the grass or chasing his nanny.”

Merlin returned the smile. “Lead the way.”

Moments later, they moved through a pair of wooden doors that opened out into the courtyard. Merlin immediately recognized the area as the one he had seen from above. As soon as Kal was noticed, a servant rushed over to greet him.

“Good morning, Your Royal Highness,” the elderly gentleman said with a pleasant smile and a regional accent so thick it was difficult for Merlin to make out his words. “Is there anything I can get for you, sir?”

“Nothing right now, Daron.” Kal replied. “The King’s Hero wishes to visit with my son.”

The old coyote squinted in the sunlight at Merlin and nodded his head. “Pardon me, sir, but I’ve not seen a wolf in ages and now you are the second one I’ve seen today.”

Merlin looked amused. “Second?” he asked.

Daron nodded and then looked back toward Kal. “A gray wolf made a delivery from Tanager Village this morning,” he replied.

“A relative of yours?” Kal asked.

Merlin raised both eyebrows and looked at the prince in amusement. “Do you think I’m related to every wolf in the Planetary Alignment?” he asked.

Kal shook his head with a grin. “No, of course not. Did this wolf have a name, Daron?”

“I heard Mrs. Nores call him Jorge, sir.”

“That’s not a name from my family tree,” Merlin remarked.

“Papa! Papa!”

Kal turned quickly and got down on his knees in the grass. Merlin saw the same small coyote he had seen the night before jump into his father’s arms.

“Hello, son,” Kal said. He wrapped his arms around the child and then picked him up.

“Gimmee a shoulder ride!” the boy said excitedly.

“Have you been a good boy?” Kal asked.

The child became suddenly interested in his fingernails and shrugged his shoulders. “Uh huh,” he muttered unconvincingly. He then noticed the wolf as if seeing him for the first time. “Who’s that?” he asked. Kal opened his mouth to answer, but the lupine captain smiled.

“My name is Merlin,” he replied.

“Hey, that’s my name!” the boy exclaimed as Kal set him on the ground.

“Of course it is,” the wolf said in a near-whisper as he knelt down beside him. “I’m you.”

“Me?” the boy asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, you. I’ve come back in time to see myself as a boy.” The wolf winked at Kal, who grinned back.

“You’re a woof!” young Merlin replied. “I’m not a woof! You can’t be me!”

“Oh, yes, I can,” the captain countered. “I can prove that you and I are the same person.”

“How?”

“Well…” Merlin Sinclair said slyly as he reached out a hand toward the boy, “I happen to know that you are ticklish…right here!” He leaned in with a finger and wriggled it against the young boy’s ribs. The small prince squealed in delight and tried to dance away from him, but Merlin snared him in his arms and pulled him close. The other servants who had been with the boy came running over in alarm. Kal put out an upraised hand to assure them the child was okay.

“I also know that your toes are very ticklish, too!” the adult said as he gathered the kid up in one arm. He flicked off the small sandals in one swift motion. He wriggled a finger beneath two of the boy’s toes and the young prince squealed out in laughter.

Despite the boy’s apparent enjoyment, the lupine captain realized the concern he had caused in the royal caretakers and stopped his gentle attack. The child looked up at him and wiped tears from his eyes with a wide smile and a fit of the giggles.

“Are… are you really me?” he asked at last, in awe.

The wolf set the boy on the grass beside him and shook his head. “No, I was just pretending,” he admitted, “but my name is Merlin. I am a friend of your family.”

It was probably the thing that happened next that endeared the child to him. Young prince Merlin stuck out his tiny hand and said, “Pleased to meetcha, Mister Merlin.”

***

Once again, Merlin Sinclair found himself in the fortress library late in the afternoon. His companion this time was Alex Rogers, the Border collie that had been Samantha’s childhood friend and was the current CEO of her father’s company. Alex studied the history book that the princess had opened the previous night. Merlin felt uncomfortable with the sly grin on the canine’s face as he perused the wolf’s portrait.

“Looks just like you,” Alex said finally. “Even down to the captain’s hat you usually wear. I almost didn’t recognize you last night without it.”

“Yeah, my crew has been kidding me for years about it being a permanent fixture on top of my head,” Merlin said with a smile. “Even Samantha claims that I can’t give an order unless I’m wearing it.”

Alex grinned. “No, all you need is just a healthy set of lungs to bellow out your commands.”

Merlin smirked at him. “I’m a space captain, not a sea captain, matey.” Alex laughed and closed the large book. It was heavy and he wanted it out of his lap, so he set it on the floor beside his chair. “So, what brings you to a secluded mountain fortress on Tanthe?” Merlin asked.

As with the wolf, Alex was dressed in local medieval fashion, and he unconsciously toyed with one of the lacings across the front of his scarlet tunic. “I came to Tanthe a week ago to attend a business conference for Holden Pharmaceutical,” he said. “At the gathering, I was introduced to the Representative for Royal Business Interests, a comely young woman named Lady Ayana Kojote. We had a lot of business to discuss beyond the conference, so I invited her to dinner.” Alex grinned at Merlin’s smile and continued. “It wasn’t until later that evening when I discovered that she was Princess Tinara’s cousin. I was introduced to Queen Sechsi at the estate where Ayana was staying during the conference.”

“How did you wind up in Tanager Castle?” Merlin asked.

“After the conference ended, Ayana and the queen intended to pay a visit to Princess Tinara and her son, and they invited me along,” Alex explained. “I was so taken with the Lady that I couldn’t refuse. She and I have spent most of our waking hours together since we got here.”

“You sly dog,” Merlin teased him. “Is the queen still here? I haven’t seen her.”

Alex shook his head. “No, she’s already returned to Aris Grand, but I understand that she and the King may be returning in a day or two.”

“Where’s your cruiser? I didn’t see it on the landing pad.”

Alex raised his eyebrows and looked embarrassed. “It’s back at the Avolane spaceport, where the conference was held. I’m here until Lady Ayana allows me to take a transport back to my ship.”

“Essentially, you are her prisoner in the castle,” Merlin laughed.

“You could put it that way,” the Border collie replied with a wide grin, “but I’m not complaining. I’ve really enjoyed the time with her. She has a lot of the same interests that I do. Did you know her name means eternal flower? She does remind me of a flower, and I’ve grown quite fond of her petals.”

Merlin leaned forward and studied the canine with interest. “If memory serves me correctly,” he said at last, “I have only heard you talk about one other woman like this before.”

“Uh…”

Merlin waved his hand through the air nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t mention your Lady to Samantha. She’ll find out soon enough.

“What… what do you mean?”

“Now that you’re courting royalty. It’ll probably be on INN before long.”

Alex looked alarmed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way,” he said. “Ohmigosh…”

“Let’s just hope the tabloids don’t pick up on it first.” Merlin looked up at the sound of footsteps and recognized Mr. Hivez. He gave the man a pleasant smile and a nod when he stopped beside the two friends.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “If you will follow me to the dining hall, your presence is awaited by the Royal Family.”

***

Merlin knew that Alex had maintained a lifelong crush on Samantha, but it was nice to see the handsome collie with a lady of his own. Merlin had gotten along well enough with Alex, but there had always been somewhat of an underlying tension due to the feelings both of them shared for Samantha. Merlin did not get that impression now from Alex. The Border collie had someone new to occupy his attention and Merlin was happy for him. The two of them had just left the dining hall and were heading for their own rooms, laughing and joking together.

They bid one another good night and then Merlin opened the door to the room he had been given. His attention was immediately drawn to a flashing dot on his slateboard terminal. He closed the heavy wooden-plank door, unconsciously bolting it behind him. The room was still lit by a single torch in an iron holder mounted into the stone block wall, though he could tell immediately that it had been replaced sometime during the day. The wolf’s amber eyes reflected the flames as he approached the heavy wooden table next to his bed.

The Aris mountain fortress was equipped with modern conveniences, but to maintain the castle’s rustic medieval appearance, power lines and data transmitters were discreetly concealed behind draperies and wall boards. His room was also equipped with hidden indirect lighting, but since the torch was already burning for him, he saw no need to change the illumination.

Merlin loosened the leather laces across the front of his tunic and pushed the billowing sleeves up his arms as he reached for the slateboard. He sat in the heavy oak chair and then tapped out his passcode. At once, the screen came to life with three messages that awaited his attention. The first was Taro’s routine progress report. As there was usually nothing of importance in the reports, he tended to save that one for last each night. The second message was from his sister as a follow-up to his visit, and the third one was from Tanis.

The wolf frowned when he saw “Eyes Only” labeled as the subject of the last message. That was rarely a good sign. He glanced back toward the door to make sure he had locked it behind him and then keyed in their shared decryption code to unlock the message that Tanis had safeguarded. It was not that he mistrusted the Aris royalty – they had helped him on more than one occasion out of friendship – but he still valued his privacy on matters concerning his ship.

When the message opened, the first thing he saw was a medical report for Clarence Duffy. Merlin remembered that this was a former military buddy of Tanis’ who lived on Fyn. The message was brief, although it did not explain why Duffy was on board the Blue Horizon, but Tanis had a notion that he wanted to bring to the captain’s attention.

Merlin read the message twice and then pored over the data. He was no medical expert, but he understood enough of what Tanis reported to know why it had been sent to him. There were no detailed descriptions or fanciful opinions in the message. Tanis had simply given him the results of what he had found.

He sat there for several long moments, mulling over what he had read. The odds of something like this ever coming to his attention were monumental, yet it had happened. Merlin closed down the slateboard and then moved to the large bed that practically filled the room. He kicked off his boots and then stretched out on his back. He stared into the flickering flames of the torch, letting his mind wander.

Now that he knew what he knew, there was a tough decision to make.

***

Merlin awoke with a start. A slender hand caressed the fur of his right cheek, and before he opened his eyes, he had recognized Tinara’s scent. He looked up into her brown eyes in the light of a small candle that had been placed on his night stand; his blood suddenly went cold. “Princess?” he asked hoarsely. “What—?”

Tinara placed a finger on his lips and leaned forward to lick his cheek. When she pulled back, Merlin realized that she wore a purple silk robe that barely covered her slender form. His eyes grew wider when she stood up and let it slide off her shoulders to land quietly at her feet. She watched his eyes rove quickly over her body, and she smiled at his look of surprise.

“Princess… no,” he said after swallowing deeply. She turned around to let him see her from all sides, that her fur had been well-groomed from head to toe, and then she moved back to his bedside, her tail wagging gently behind her. The wolf glanced quickly at the door to the room and noted that it was still bolted. How had she gotten in?

“Merlin… yes,” she responded as she sat down beside him. “I need you to tickle my toes tonight.” She pulled down the thin sheet that covered the wolf, and noted with pleasure that he had worn nothing to sleep in.

Merlin sat up, pulled the bed sheet back up over his waist, and then put a hand on her shoulder to keep her at arm’s length. “You are married, have a son and are the king’s daughter,” he said quickly. “I’m not going to do this!”

Tinara smiled, undaunted. “Dear wolf, let me tell you about an old Aris family tradition,” she said. She moved to the foot of the bed to allow him some relief, but did not bother to cover her graceful curves from view. “Every generation or so, it is traditional for female members of the royal family to take on an outside lover to infuse new blood into the bloodline after they’ve married and had their first child.”

Merlin furrowed his brow, but said nothing.

“There are no secrets to be hidden here. This is done with the full expectation and knowledge of the woman’s husband,” she continued, “as well as her immediate family.”

“Kal knows? An-and… the King?”

“Of course!”

“But—”

“You won’t lose your head over this,” she assured him. “As the King’s Hero, you will be honored ever more. Besides…” she said with a seductive glance, “I’ve fantasized about you ever since your last visit to Tanthe.”

Merlin let out an audible sigh and looked at her with uncertain eyes. “Princess…” he began.

“Tinara,” she corrected him.

“Tinara,” the wolf repeated, “not long ago, I might have been willing to take part in your family tradition. You are… very desirable. I’ve always been a willing partner to those I’ve shared myself with, but now…”

The coyote woman tilted her head. “But now?”

“I don’t know if you remember Samantha Holden. She was with me during our last visit.”

“Another Border collie like Alex Rogers, I believe,” Tinara replied with a nod. “What of her?”

“She and I have known one another most of our lives. We’ve always been close, but over the past year, we’ve been settling into an exclusive relationship. I don’t want to do anything to ruin what I have with her.”

“Will you marry her?” the princess asked bluntly.

“That’s not something we’ve discussed,” he replied after a moment’s hesitation, “but at this time, Princess, she’s the only one I wish to be with.”

Tinara crawled up across the bed and then pushed him back into a reclining position. She stretched out on top of him and his sheet, and then lifted her chin so that she was looking up at him, nose to nose. “Not to worry, dear wolf. You won’t lose your Samantha over this. I won’t require anything from you except one night as tradition allows. Afterwards, you may return to her without concern.”

“Without concern?” Merlin repeated with growing indignation. “You are coyote and do not know what it means to be wolf. Since our species are compatible, if I take part in your tradition, you will be expecting children to result from this bloodline infusion -- and then expect me to leave my child or children behind? Princess, should I ever sire a cub, I will be there as its father, to protect and to raise the child as my family. I can’t do this with the offer you present to me!”

“Merlin…”

The lupine captain put his hands on both her shoulders and lifted her up so that he could slide out from beneath her and the sheets. He stood up beside the bed in nothing but his fur and looked down at her disapprovingly.

“Princess,” he said quietly, “I like you very much. You are young and very beautiful, but I cannot be a part of this.”

“Merlin…” she repeated.

“No, Princess. I mean it.”

Tinara sat back on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest. As a princess, she had never been refused anything she had asked for in life, but twice this wolf had refused her. What had first been feelings of disappointment suddenly erupted into resentment and anger.

She was a princess!

Tinara slid off the bed and snatched up her robe crossly. She drew it around herself and gave the wolf a cold glare before she picked up her candle and stormed across the room. Merlin watched her slide behind one of the tapestries hanging on the wall, and then she was gone, leaving the room in sudden darkness.

Merlin could have sworn he had checked behind that tapestry and had found only a stone wall, so he fished a flashlight from his duffel and rushed over to pull it aside. There, as it had been during his initial inspection, was a stone block wall that felt just as solid as any other in the castle. He had heard tales of labyrinthine passages built into the walls of noble castles, and knew that the Princess must know a secret control to open his room into such a passage, yet he had heard nothing.

He searched for several minutes, pressing and pulling at the stones in all directions, but was unable to find a means to open it. The wolf turned around and leaned back against the tapestry, resting his weight on the wall behind it and thinking to himself in silence. He could still smell her ready scent in the air and had to rub his eyes to rid himself of the memory of her body up against his.

He turned off his flashlight and stood there in the darkness, but his mind could still see her standing before him. He shook his head in frustration and moved across the room back to the bed. When he crawled beneath the cool sheets, Merlin closed his eyes and let his mind wander back over her words. The offer had been tempting, but he was a wolf and responsibility to family was strong in him. So long as there were no offspring, Merlin was content to enjoy the females he had given attention to in the past, but should he ever father a child, he would willingly take his mate for life. It just was not in him to create a child and then leave, and that’s what they wanted.

***

Merlin took his breakfast alone in the library, instead of the dining hall. He was well aware that his morning absence would be duly noted, and his assessment was proven accurate when Prince Kal entered the book-filled room and walked directly to him with a frown.

“Good morning, Captain,” the coyote said to him in a controlled voice. “Mrs. Nores told me you had requested your breakfast in here. This is most irregular.”

Merlin nodded and took a lap from a coffee cup on a tray on a table next to his chair. “I needed time alone this morning.”

“Are you okay? How are you feeling?” Kal noticed that the wolf was dressed in his own clothing today, rather than the local garments that had been provided for him.

Merlin considered his words before answering. “How am I feeling?” he repeated. “I got very little sleep last night and am probably a little cranky this morning. I decided I wouldn’t be very good company over breakfast… especially if the Princess was there.”

Kal looked over at him in puzzlement. “She didn’t spend the night with you?” he asked.

Merlin set down the cup and looked up at the prince with narrowed eyes. “No, she did not,” he replied through tight lips. “You knew she was in my room last night.”

Kal shrugged his shoulders. “Of course I knew,” he answered nonchalantly. “It’s a family tradition.”

“So I’ve been told.”

Kal tilted his head and saw the wolf’s tail twitch in agitation. “Is there a problem?”

“I take it that you have not spoken with the Princess as yet.”

“I’ve not seen her since last night,” the coyote replied. “I slept in my son’s room, and we rarely share breakfast together anyway.”

Merlin speared a small chunk of beefsteak from his food tray with a tiny fork and dipped it in a bluish sauce. “I opted out of Princess Tinara’s offer to take part in your tradition,” he said after he had eaten the morsel. “She was not happy about it, but I sent her away.”

Kal stared at him in amazement. “You turned her down?” he asked. “Why? Didn’t she explain the reason and the need for the tradition?”

Merlin’s frown deepened. “First of all, I want you to know I find the whole situation highly uncomfortable.” Kal opened his mouth, but Merlin held up a hand and continued. “I’ve never gotten involved with a married woman before – even with one whose entire family knows and approves of such an action. It doesn’t matter whether or not she is of royal blood; I simply cannot father a child and then leave it behind.”

Kal’s breathing had gone shallow. “Even if that were not the case,” Merlin added to the coyote’s look of disbelief, “I am already in an exclusive relationship,” he explained.

“Samantha Holden?” the prince asked. When Merlin nodded, he smiled and said, “She doesn’t have to know, my friend. You could fulfill your duty here and…”

“No.”

“But, it doesn’t…”

“No.”

Kal was getting flustered. He had not been reared as royalty himself, but he had served them, raised with the Aris family’s interests firmly in mind, and the whole kingdom world had knowledge of the old tradition. Merlin’s refusal was not something he had been conditioned to expect.

“Merlin,” he tried again, “I implore you to reconsider our tradition. You are not a coyote, but we are close enough in species for a successful mating; your blood will help strengthen future generations of the royal family. This is not just an affair with a princess you will be having. This would benefit all of Tanthe. The King was in full agreement when your name was brought up to fulfill the tradition after our son was born.”

“Kal,” Merlin said, purposefully dropping the man’s title, “if I do what you want, it’s going to harm the friendship between me and the house of Aris.”

“No it won’t, my friend. This tradition has been acceptable on Tanthe for generations,” the prince tried to reassure him. “You don’t have to be concerned about me getting jealous of you for sleeping with Tinara. I’m okay with this and the child would be well cared for.”

“You are missing the point,” Merlin said with an exasperated shake of his head as he got to his feet. “I - will not - participate. The answer is No. You will have to find someone else to sleep with your princess.”

Prince Kal looked at the lupine captain for several long moments with his brow furrowed and his fists clenching. There was too much at stake for this kind of attitude, and he was sure this disturbance in their plans would not sit well with the monarch.

***

The lupine captain of the Blue Horizon looked up into the clear blue sky above the castle grounds. He allowed himself an audible sigh as he and his companion watched banners on parapets sway lazily in a light breeze. This visit had turned out to be more stress and less relaxation than he had anticipated, and he was anxious to be on his way. However, the main purpose of his visit was to see the young prince who bore his name, and he wanted to spend more time with him.

It had taken some coaxing for the boy’s caretaker to allow the wolf to take the young prince outside into the garden without her, but she had finally relented when he reminded her that he was the King’s Hero. At the moment, Merlin Sinclair and Merlin Aris were alone together as they moved among flowering shrubs and bushes along a stone walkway.

The young prince was not interested in the beauty of the garden. He stared up at the wolf as they walked, one hand holding onto the adult and the other with a finger lightly resting against his lower lip. When they came upon an ornate marble bench, they stopped to rest.

Merlin Sinclair smiled at the child. “Is there something you would like to do, your Highness?” he asked.

The boy’s face brightened. “Shoulder ride!” he said in excitement.

“You like sitting up high, do you?”

The prince nodded vigorously and Merlin chuckled. “Okay, one shoulder ride coming right up!” On cue, the young coyote turned around so that his back was to the wolf. Merlin picked him up beneath the arms and hefted him up over his head so he could straddle his neck with his little tail hanging down behind them. The prince put his hands underneath Merlin’s chin and held on as the adult stood up.

“Yaaaay!” the boy exclaimed. Merlin Sinclair began walking through the garden again, mindful not to take the boy under low tree branches. It felt nice to spend some time with a child. Merlin had always liked children; he had always thought he would have some of his own, but life as a freighter captain did not present the best of environments to raise them.

The garden pathway opened up into a maze-like arena with few overhead branches, so the wolf held onto the boy’s legs firmly and began to trot. The prince giggled with each bounce and seemed not a bit afraid. Merlin made a few wrong turns in the maze, but eventually the pair of them arrived at the opposite entrance. It was not as large a maze as he had seen in Aris Grand, so had been easy enough to wind through.

The wolf panted as he set the boy back onto the ground, and then lay on his back in the grass beside him. The air was thinner than he was used to at this mountain fortress, but he had not really noticed it until the physical activity. Young Merlin sat down next to him, and began pulling up grass a blade at a time with one hand while holding them in the other.

“What is it you are doing there?” the lupine captain looked over with a pleasant smile.

“Pickin’ grass,” the youngster replied, as if that explained his reasons perfectly. Merlin Sinclair smiled and watched the industrious look on the boy’s face as he seemed absorbed in his task. Finally content, the wolf laid his head back and stared up at the flags swaying in the breeze high above them.

Then he saw a small hand move into view above his face and open its fingers. Grass dropped lightly onto Merlin’s face. He brushed the blades from his nose and the youngster giggled at his expressions.

He rose up on one elbow and looked over at the boy. “Is that funny to you?” he said to him in a playful tone.

Young Merlin laughed again and nodded. “You’re funny!” he said with a grin.

“Want to see some magic?”

The boy’s eyes grew wide. “Yeah!”

Merlin fished around into his pocket and pulled out a Dennieran coin that he had forgotten to convert back into PA-standard credits. He held it up between two fingers so that the bronze-colored coin glinted in the sunlight. The prince watched with rapt attention as Merlin hoped he remembered how to do this particular trick. Tanis had spent hours trying to teach it to him on their last voyage and he had nearly always flubbed it.

The wolf moved the coin slowly back and forth, and watched the boy’s attention lock to it as if he were a mesmerized serpent. Merlin made up a couple of magic words and suddenly said, “alie samanra” to his hand. With the flick of his wrist, the coin disappeared.

The young prince opened his mouth in awe. “Where’d it go?” he asked. He grasped the wolf’s larger right hand and turned it over, but the coin was nowhere in sight.

“It’s up here,” Merlin said. He reached toward the boy’s head with his left hand, and then tickled the fur just inside the child’s ear, making it flick involuntarily. When the prince looked up at his hand, the bronze coin was once again glinting in the sunlight.

“Wow!” the boy exclaimed.

“I would have to say the same thing,” said a feminine voice. Both Merlins looked up into the smiling face of the Tanthean Queen. Sechsi was dressed in a casual gown of beige with gold-colored trim and her fur was groomed into a silky texture that shimmered in the sunlight.

Merlin Sinclair got up to his feet, brushed the remnants of the grass from his tunic, and then bowed to her. “Good afternoon, your Highness,” he said formally.

The elder female coyote put a hand on his head and then withdrew it. “Good afternoon to you too, Captain Sinclair.” When Merlin looked back up at her, she smiled warmly to him. “It is good to see you again.”

“Likewise,” the wolf replied. “You are looking well.”

“Thank you.”

“She is rather beautiful, isn’t she?” another voice asked in rich baritone words.

Merlin bowed again as King Adion Aris stepped up to his queen’s side. “Hello, your Highness,” he said.

The king, dressed all in dark greens, put his arm around the wolf’s shoulders and said, “Nice to see you again, Captain. I was hoping to find you before you left. I understand you are leaving earlier than originally planned.”

The wolf nodded uncomfortably. He did not want to have to explain that the royal family tradition was the reason for his early departure. Instead, he just said, “Yes sire, but I am glad you had time out from your busy schedule to visit.”

The queen took her grandson into her arms and quietly walked back toward the garden maze, leaving the two adult males alone on the lawn. Merlin watched them go, and then swallowed when he noticed the king’s intent stare.

“I would like to have a discussion with you,” the monarch said to him in a tone that Merlin could not quite decipher. He nodded quietly and then the king dropped his arm from the wolf’s shoulder. He began walking across the lawn with Merlin at his side.

“Now that you have taken part in our family tradition,” the king said in a quiet voice, “I would like to present you with a gift of our appreciation.”

“Sire,” Merlin said, “there’s been a—”

“I am prepared to back your company with enough financial assistance to—”

“Your Highness!”

Adion looked up sharply at the wolf’s raised tone, and immediately noted the wolf’s apparent distress. “Yes?” he asked in concern.

“I have not taken part in your family tradition,” Merlin said cautiously.

“What is that you said?” the king asked in puzzlement. “I was told you would be taking my daughter into the bedchamber last night. Has something happened to her?”

“Princess Tinara is fine, your Highness,” Merlin said quickly. “The problem is with myself. I–”

The king looked at him and nodded knowingly. “I see, young man,” he said in a lowered voice. “We were not aware of any medical—”

“The issue is neither medical nor physical, your Majesty,” Merlin said in a rush. “It was a conscious decision on my part. I declined.” The king stared at him a moment, unable to fathom what he had just heard. Before he could remark, however, Merlin began to relate the same reasons he had given Tinara and then to Kal.

From a window two stories above them, the princess in question watched her father and the wolf with a sly smile. Merlin Sinclair had refused her advances, and he had refused her husband’s council; he would not be able to refuse the monarch of an entire world.

Although she could not hear their words, she could see the wolf’s arms gesturing as he gave up his excuses to the king. Her father interjected his own comments here and there, but the lupine captain continued to resist. Tinara watched in interest as Merlin became less and less animated in his arguments. The king occasionally nodded in rapt attention. She saw her father put an arm across Merlin’s shoulders and wave wildly in the air with his other hand for several moments.

After what seemed an eternity to the princess, the wolf said a few things more to the monarch and then King Aris brightened, nodding his head. The two of them shook hands, and then the princess sighed and nodded to herself. She knew her father would get through to the wolf. This night would mark another entry into the Aris history books.

***

Early the next morning, Merlin met Alex Rogers on the castle landing pad beside a small, two-person fancraft that had been delivered for them. The sun had not yet crept over the distant mountains, and Merlin resisted a yawn as he stepped up into the aerial vehicle to put his duffel into a storage compartment.

“Good morning,” the Border collie said with a yawn of his own.

“G’morning,” Merlin responded. They crawled up into the narrow seats and he looked over at his companion. “I really appreciate you taking me to the Vilnia Spaceport. The Sagittarian Arrow leaves in three hours.”

“Sure thing. I trust you said your good-byes to everyone,” Alex said.

“In one way or another,” the wolf replied, securing his flight harness. “It was a long night.”

Alex nodded with a smile as he pushed his tail through the standard opening in the back of the pilot seat. He took a headset down from a clip above him and pulled the boom microphone around his chin to his lips.

“Sky Patrol,” he said into the communicator, “this is Tanager Transport Gee-Eee-Three-Nine. We are preparing for momentary liftoff from Tanager Castle, bound for Vilnia Spaceport. Authorization code Alpha-Omega-Zero-One.”

“Tanager Transport GE39, this is Sky Patrol. Royal authorization has been confirmed and your flight path has been registered. Launch when ready.”

“Acknowledged, Sky Patrol.”

Merlin allowed Alex to go through his pre-flight checklist quietly, and he let his gaze shift out the forward window toward the castle walls. His eyes roamed up to a lighted window and he could see a silhouette framed against thin curtains. It did not take much imagination to recognize the princess’ form as she watched him from above. He sighed in spite of himself.

I should have never come to Tanager Castle, he thought to himself. For the sake of everyone involved, it would have been better if I had stayed away.

A moment later, Alex increased power to the rotors and the fancraft left the ground. Merlin’s stomach gave a small lurch as they rapidly passed the princess’ window, and then they were away, heading rapidly toward the south.

They flew along in silence for several minutes before Alex cleared his throat. “Is everything alright?” he asked. “You seem… preoccupied.”

Merlin looked over at him, the Border collie’s patches of white fur bathed in luminescent green from the instrument panels in the pre-dawn darkness. “Just wondering if I made the right decision,” he said after another moment of silence. He closed his eyes and then leaned back in his seat.

“Lady Ayana told me about the Aris family tradition, but also told me you were hesitant,” Alex said uncomfortably. “It sounded like an odd custom to me, but their reasons seemed sound.” Merlin nodded absently and Alex chewed on his bottom lip at the silence. “You’ve been on good terms with the royal family for a couple years now,” he added. “It seems like you would have been the ideal choice for something like this.”

Merlin looked over at him again and appeared to be choosing his words before speaking. “Alex, he said, “I know you’ve loved Samantha for years, but—”

“But now I’m interested in Lady Ayana,” Alex finished for him. “I feel like I’ve let Sam down, Merlin, but I’ve never been able to talk her into settling down. She likes space-travel too much.” The wolf looked at his friend in amazement. This was not what he was going to tell him, but apparently the canine had these thoughts on his mind.

“I’ve always hoped that Sam and I would be married and have a litter of pups,” Alex continued, “but I’m afraid our time apart has weakened me. When I saw Lady Ayana… I fell in love again.” He did not see the look of amusement on the wolf’s face at his comment about marrying Samantha, which was probably for the best. They had a long ride ahead of them to the spaceport, so Merlin let him talk.

“You know that Sam and I grew up together,” Alex continued. “I’ve adored her since childhood — and even after the death of her parents, when she went to live with Master Tristan, I stayed in contact with her. When I came of age and could leave home, I moved to Sillon so I could be near her.”

“I thought you moved to Sillon for the prestigious education you got there,” Merlin replied.

Alex shook his head. “Not originally. Once there, I had to do something so that I could justify being near Samantha. I studied hard and then made myself useful to the Silloni Regent, who just happened to be her legal guardian.” He glanced over at the wolf and his eyes glinted in the instrument light. “My plan might have worked if Tristan had not sent her to a university on Alexandrius at her own request.”

“Which is where I met her…” Merlin said.

“I have a confession to make,” Alex said after a moment of quiet.

“Yes?”

“I resented you for a long time,” the Border collie admitted. “It took me a long while to realize that she wasn’t coming back to Sillon. When you bought your ship and she convinced you to let her join your crew, I thought it wouldn’t last, even for that one-year period you’d agreed to let her serve with you. She later returned to her company as planned, right back into the routines she’d had before she’d left, but then she went a little crazy and rejoined your crew the next time you landed on Alexandrius, causing a major uproar with the board members. Honestly, I didn’t think you two would still be jumping around the cosmos together nearly ten years later. I kept hoping she’d eventually want to settle down, so I bought a house near the Dragon Loft and furnished it with the things I knew she liked.”

Alex shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “She’s never seen the place, doesn’t even know it exists, and I’ve been living in it alone for the past five years.”

“I’m sorry about that, Alex,” Merlin said quietly.

The Border collie flashed him a lopsided smile. “Oh, don’t worry about it now. I stopped resenting you some time ago, for her sake. You’re her best friend and I’ve grown to like you, too. You’ve been good for her and I can honor that.”

“Thank you.”

Alex sighed and corrected their course a bit. “Despite my love for Samantha,” he said, “I’m afraid that her absence has made it easy for me to take an interest in Ayana. I don’t know where our relationship might take us, but as you mentioned earlier, I don’t want Samantha to find out about it from some tabloid paper on one of the PA worlds.”

He reached into a pocket in his flight jacket and pulled out a data crystal inside a protective metal container. “I need you to give this to her for me when you get back to the Blue Horizon.” He handed it to Merlin without taking his eyes off his instruments.

Merlin held it up to the green panel light and saw the label: To Samantha from Alex. “What is it?” he asked.

“A private message to explain things to her,” Alex replied. “I can trust you not to read it?”

“Of course. I’ll make sure she’s the only one who sees it.”

“Thank you, Merlin. I really appreciate it.”

The wolf pocketed the container and both of them fell into silence as the fancraft approached the edges of the spaceport traffic.

***

Merlin reached beneath him to adjust his tail with a frown. Amazingly, the accommodations on an interstellar commercial transport seemed to be more cramped than his freighter, and while the cost had been expensive, the stateroom he shared with an elderly human lecturer was tiny; it was also apparent the chair was not designed for someone with a tail.

He sat stiffly at the only desk in the small cabin, watching newscasts on a small vidscreen mounted to the top of a cabinet. His roommate, Professor Wombles was currently away having his morning meal, so Merlin had the place to himself.

He had left Tanthe a week ago on the Sagittarian Arrow, which was headed to all three worlds located within the Goldilocks Zone of the Lia-Noa star system, where he would depart at Crescentis to rendezvous with the Blue Horizon. He had misgivings about going to Crescentis again – the last time he and his crew had been there, they had been shot down by pirates. Had it not been for the timely arrival of the Lady of Dreams, none of them would have survived the crash.

However, their next job was there and he was ready to rejoin his crew, although it would take another two weeks for him to arrive. That was a long time to be cooped up in a small cabin with an old man who loved to talk constantly. The gentleman had really done nothing against him, but the ceaseless dialogs were almost enough to make Merlin want to start avoiding the human.

The lupine captain stared at the tiny vidscreen a moment more and finally shut it off. He stood up from the ill-fitting chair, moved back to his bunk and stretched out on one side.

He lay there for a long while, trying to let his mind relax, but his thoughts turned to the information that Tanis had sent to him. King Aris had granted use of his scientists to examine the genetic data report for him and their conclusion confirmed his medic’s hunch. There was no doubt about it now, but Merlin still was not sure about what he needed to do.

Since Taro had finally given in to her conscience and told him about Operation Rainbow, he was fairly certain that Duffy could be recalled to active duty on Nalirra if his folder information had been processed before the facility was destroyed. Would it be fair to keep the knowledge from him — knowing that he could die in the war — or would it further complicate matters?

Merlin sighed and rubbed his head in frustration. He did not even know the Siberian husky, but he felt some sort of responsibility with the information. However, that was not his major concern. Probably the biggest uncertainty on his mind was wondering how Max would react to the knowledge that Clarence Duffy was his biological father.

Thoughts of family shifted Merlin’s memories back to Tanthe. After what had happened at Tanager Castle, he wondered if he would ever be able to go back there. The whole situation had been a tangled web, but after everything that had occurred, Merlin knew that for the sake of family and for the sake of a child, he knew he would have to go back.

RISE OF THE BAMBOO WIND

By Ted R. Blasingame

In the darkness of space, the color of an interstellar vessel can be hard to determine, but in the case of the SS Savannah Hunter, it would not have mattered much if the wedge-shaped freighter had been in a spotlight. Its ridged hull was painted a shade of green so dark that it was almost black. Even the cabin portholes were polarized to let little, if any, light out into space. The exception to this was one tiny room on the starboard side beneath the bridge where the window polarization had not worked in months. The room was poorly insulated, often cold and served as the First Mate’s office.

As the Savannah Hunter approached the watery world of Crescentis, a passing orbital satellite detected the solitary light floating through space. The instrument’s purpose was to alert ground-based tracking systems of approaching ships that would be delivering much-needed cargo to the island colonies that supported the fishing fleets, but the collective budgets of the settlers were not endowed well enough to afford top-rated equipment. The vessel’s freighter profile should have triggered a notification at a tracking station on the nearby planet. Instead, it merely registered the dim light emitting from the solitary window as glowing space dust being drawn into the planet’s gravitational field and was quickly dismissed as anything of importance.

JW Chon sat in the small room that served as his First Mate’s office and the chair underneath him groaned beneath his weight. The classic monochrome panda pored over the account books and snorted to himself. Were it not for him, the captain’s business would have gone bankrupt long ago and they would likely have all been out on the streets of some forgotten town on a backwater world.

Captain Armando Jensen had no sense of business, and as far as Chon knew, the Mainoran lion had never personally taken care of the company that his father had given him years ago. This model of the Savannah Hunter was a Sakura-class freighter only five years old and already it was in poor shape due to the plethora of unsavory help that had worked its maintenance during that time. Although the ship was Armando’s, he was the captain in name only. Ever since he had hired Chon as his accountant and delegated his duties to him as his First Mate, business for the wedge-shaped freighter had steadily increased, in both quantity and quality. JW Chon had a good head on his shoulders that was keen with business savvy and numbers. He was also a natural leader.

It had been said by competitors who knew them that for the past three years, the real captain of the Savannah Hunter was JW Chon. Armando may own the vessel and the business, but he was merely a figurehead these days. He had given Chon full authority to run the ship for him so that he could spend his time and money on the things he wanted. Chon took his occasional orders with the proverbial grain of salt and then ran things his own way. The business was better for it.

Unfortunately, there was a high turnover in the crew of the Savannah Hunter. Those who signed contracts to hire onto the freighter often jumped ship at the next available port. Although without any real power on board his own ship, Armando was not an easy man to be around. He ranted often when he did not get his way and pounded on anyone who happened to be near him, whether or not they were responsible for his plight. The crew roster for the ship had been fluid, and signed contracts meant little to them since neither Jensen nor Chon ever bothered with legal action.

Besides the captain and his first mate, only one other crewmember had stayed on throughout all the changes. A small runt even for a ferret, Lon Hunkle had become Chon’s right-hand flunky. He was king of the brown-noses and was delighted to have earned the panda’s trust. He did not have a specified job on the ship other than to follow Chon’s orders, but he obeyed without question and Chon rewarded his loyalty.

For the past year, the crew of the Savannah Hunter had consisted entirely of individuals shanghaied by Chon and Hunkle. JW Chon was afraid of no one, including Armando, and was often forced to assert his authority with everyone brought on board the vessel. His soft appearance was deceptive. In his prior life, Chon had trained extensively in the martial arts of several worlds, and as yet he had not lost a fight even against aggressive predator types.

Most of the crew had rightfully developed a fear of Chon’s wrath, but the majority of them respected him even if they harbored hatred for kidnapping them for his crew. They worked hard when he gave them assignments, and while some escaped at their ports of call, most stayed on board the ship. Chon paid them well for their hard work, but while the lot of them did not want to be there in the first place, they waited patiently until the ship might return to their homeworld before jumping ship. It was a wise person who did not want to escape only to be stranded somewhere far from home.

The crew recognized Hunkle for the masked weasel he was and often plotted to do nasty things to the little snitch. The ferret kept Chon informed of everything going on aboard the ship, which had often been in time to foil a mutiny or other disruptive action. The panda was in the business for the money and did not intend to let disgruntled employees get in the way of ship operations. Lon Hunkle had been instrumental in keeping that order.

JW Chon snorted in impatience as he tallied up Armando’s personal expenses. The captain’s quarters were more luxuriously equipped than any other cabin on board, whether it was the expensive linens for his bed, various books, magazines and comics, the audio and video equipment, or case upon case of Adirondack’s Exotic Honey Mustard for the galley. Armando loved honey mustard with everything and demanded that the ship be well-stocked for every meal.

Unfortunately for the one who managed the business account, Armando rarely saved his receipts for the purchases he made on their planetary stops, so keeping the books in line was often frustrating for Chon. Fortunately for the rest of the crew, Armando did not venture out through the corridors of his own vessel very often. Instead, he usually locked himself up in his stateroom throughout most of the voyages, emerging only to eat his meals or to give his First Mate some new order that would likely be ignored.

When he did happen to roam the passages, Armando often saw faces among his crew that he did not recognize. When asked, the hapless individual would simply respond with something like, “Mr. Chon brought me on board.” Since Armando trusted his First Mate’s judgment implicitly, this was usually enough for the lion.

The panda stared incredulously at the one receipt in his hand that Armando had remembered to turn in to him. It was for a box of costumed superhero comics from their last stop on Pomen.

Chon heaved a sigh, set the receipt and his pen on the ledger before him, and then rubbed his eyes. Something had to be done or the Savannah Hunter would go bankrupt – not from a box of comics, but from everything else Armando acquired in impulse without reporting. He sat back in his chair and it gave another groan beneath his weight. He put a hand under his chin as his thoughts whirled over several ideas to bring in more money for the business. However, all of his thoughts kept returning to the same conclusion.

JW Chon began to smile. It was a smile of amusement at first, as if the thought was merely a fanciful dream, but then it transformed to a grin that spread across his whole countenance. If handled just right, the Savannah Hunter’s financial problems could very well improve. He allowed himself to laugh aloud, something he did not do often, and it felt good to do so.

He stood up from the chair, moved soundlessly out of his office and into the corridor. He had another job for the ferret.

***

Lon Hunkle’s tiny eyes shined in delight in the dim illumination of the corridor. The mask of brown fur around his eyes gave him a mischievous look that was enhanced by the tip of pink tongue sticking out between his lips.

The diminutive ferret carried a folder of printed papers in both hands, and he was careful not to let any of them drop to the floor. A jaguar dressed in a pair of denim shorts and dark green vest stepped out into the hallway. She scowled when she saw Chon’s little snitch.

“What are you up to now?” she growled unpleasantly.

Hunkle glanced up at her and shrugged his shoulders. “I gots requisitions for the captain to sign,” he replied.

“More acquisitions? Who is it this time? Another snooty cook like that poodle we picked up on Sillon last year?”

The ferret grinned, but shook his head vigorously. “No, F’hile, nothing like that,” he said. “Not another hand, just something for the ship.”

F’hile Mavron crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “C’mon, weasel, spill the beans. What’s going on? You don’t ever look this pleasant unless you’re doing someone dirty.”

Hunkle snorted. “You’re too suspicious,” he said to the mechanic. “Sometimes things are as simple as they look. Mr. Chon sent me to get the captain’s signature. Nothing more.”

“On paper?”

“On paper. You know the captain doesn’t trust slateboards.”

The feline glared at the smaller fur. “Watch your step, ferret. One of these days you’re going to be alone in a remote place on this ship without Chon’s protection.”

Despite his diminutive frame, Hunkle was unafraid. “Y’know, I would imagine that Mr. Chon might find interest in knowing where the spare silver relays that went missing from the engine stock room last month have turned up. Very interested indeed…”

F’hile looked uncomfortable. “How did you…?”

“Doesn’t matter,” the ferret said as he resumed walking down the corridor. “Mr. Chon doesn’t have to find out, but should anything happen to me, he has instructions and the passcode to access my personal diary. It’s quite possible he might see something in there, and no one else has the capability to alter or delete the file.”

F’hile watched him go silently, biting back a retort to the ferret’s subtle threat. With another growl beneath her breath, the mechanic turned and headed aft.

Hunkle chuckled to himself as he neared the captain’s quarters. He really hated that room, but he had a job to do. He reached up and tapped on the green painted panel just beneath the seal control. A moment later, an annoyed growl emanated through the door.

“What is it?”

“It’s Hunkle, sir,” the ferret answered. “I have papers for you to sign.”

The metal wheel in the center of the door turned and there was a tiny hiss as the door seal vented. The pungent aroma of incense filled the corridor as the door opened. The large, feline frame of Armando Jensen towered over the ferret and glared down at him. He wore a silk bathrobe of gold and black thread with stylized dragons battling across the surface of the material.

“Who sentchu?” the Mainoran lion growled at him.

“Mr. Chon, sir. I have papers for you to sign.”

“What’s it for?”

“Mr. Chon needs your approval to invest a bit of the ship’s funds in stock for Adirondack’s Exotic Honey Mustard. He has a contact to get them at a good price, and word has it the company’s worth is about to go up.”

Armando’s face lit up. “That Chon’s the best guy I ever hired to work for me. He knows how much I love that stuff seasoning my food!”

Hunkle held up the folder containing two sets of papers toward the lion and then produced a pen for him. “Just sign the flagged line at the bottom of page five of both sets and Mr. Chon will take care of the rest.”

Armando flipped directly to the last page of each document and then took the pen from the ferret. He signed each one against the door with a flourish, and then gave the pen and folder back to the ferret with a grin.

“Here ya go, Hunkie,” he said. “Tell Chon he’s earned his pay for the day.”

“Aye sir, I will.”

Armando nodded and then disappeared back inside his room. The door handle turned to reseal the panel, and then the ferret opened the folder to look at the documents the captain had just signed without reading.

”This is gonna be good,” he whispered to himself.

***

Several hours later, Lon Hunkle watched the landing of the Savannah Hunter from an observation cubicle beneath the floor of the cargo bay. He lay on his belly on worn cushions in the small enclosure, watching the evening clouds push past the wedge-shaped freighter on its way toward the watery surface of the planet. This was his favorite place to be during landing operations, as it gave him an unobstructed view of what lay below them. It was also the safest place for him, as it was an area not well-known to the rest of the transient crew. It took a crawl through a service tunnel between the double hulls of the ship, and most of the species on board would have a tough time negotiating the cramped passageway had they even known about it. The same could be said for the other service tunnels that ran throughout the ship, which the diminutive ferret used frequently to move about unobserved. Being a runt sometimes had its advantages.

The observation window on the bottom of the Sakura-class ship was made of Ganisan glassteel that could withstand temperatures far greater than most planetary reentries. Even through the brunt of the Savannah Hunter’s descent into the Crescentis atmosphere, Hunkle had never been uncomfortable while watching the colorful display through darkened goggles. That was behind them now, and the lithe ferret enjoyed the view as he munched on a sugary snack treat from Earth.

The destination of their cargo of standard colony supplies was currently near the solar terminator, which would mean the local time was dusk over the island. Red and orange clouds were now above the green ship as they neared a tiny landing strip that was set up to accommodate both spatial and aerial craft. Within moments, the ship would be safely on the ground and the crew would assemble to unload their payload.

A movement outside from the starboard signaled the ferret that Chon had initiated the landing sequence. A set of massive caterpillar tracks extended beneath the ship and the ground rapidly rushed up toward them. Hunkle took that as his cue, swallowed the last of his snack and then started back through the narrow tunnel to the nearest access panel.

By the time it took the ferret to reach his exit, the ship had landed and powered down. He opened the panel inside a modified storage locker and quietly closed it behind him; it would not do to have a disgruntled crewmember discover the entrance to his labyrinth. He opened the locker door behind a stack of cargo cushions, and then moved along the outer edge of the hold toward the cargo bay doors. He could already hear the huge seals release their locks and knew that Justin was anxious to get the work out of the way.

The loadmaster was probably the least resistant to work on the freighter he had been shanghaied on than any of the others on board. The malamute enjoyed hard work and preferred to unload their cargoes as manually as he could get away with. Hunkle knew that Justin longed for the day when the Savannah Hunter would return to the northern regions of Kantus so he could jump ship and rejoin his family, but Chon was no fool and had no intentions of making another delivery to that area just so he could keep him.

“Alright, you mugs,” a deep voice rumbled from the back of the hold. “Let’s get this stuff unloaded quickly. The locals will want to have their evening meals soon and will be annoyed that we’ve arrived so late in the day!”

The crew members that had gathered looked up at the large black and white panda that approached from the lift and their idle chatter died off immediately. Lon Hunkle picked up the slateboard that held the manifest from the workbench where Justin had set it down, and then took his place at the panda’s side on top of a cardboard box as work gloves and moving jacks were taken out of storage. The dock master had not yet arrived from the nearby warehouse, but Chon always liked to get things going before the officials arrived.

Chon gave his diminutive friend a nod and then cleared his throat again. “I know the past few weeks have been rough,” he announced to the working crew, “so I’ve arranged a little entertainment to boost your morale.” There were murmurs and grunts of disbelief, but several of them looked up in interest. “As soon as the captain gets here, I’ll show you what I mean.”

He looked back down as his sidekick handed him the manifest, and asked out of the side of his mouth, “Did you bring it?” Hunkle nodded vigorously and pulled a small camera from the pocket of his vest. “Keep it handy,” Chon added quietly.

“The Savannah Hunter sure has a hard-workin’ crew!” another voice bellowed out in satisfaction. “Barely on the ground and everyone’s already hard at work. That’s what I like to see!” Almost as one, everyone stopped what he or she was doing and looked up at the large Mainoran lion that had arrived on the scene. He wore a brightly flowered shirt and a pair of loose tan slacks. Everyone wondered what the panda had in mind, but now that their captain had shown up, they were soon to find out.

Chon walked over to the lion and gave him a salute; it was something the panda hated doing, but was required by the captain when his First Mate reported to him. “Everything is on schedule, sir,” he said formally. As expected, Armando was anxious to get off the ship, so he started toward the bay opening as the panda went over the manifest with him.

“Listen, Chon,” the lion said as he grimaced in anticipation, “I’ll let you handle this as you always do. There’s a nice lil’ club down on Argyll Street that has a lioness dancer to put all others to shame. By local time, she should be starting her show pretty soon and I don’t wanna miss it!”

“Captain,” Chon said in a slightly over-loud voice, “I’ll take good care of the ship. Here, you might need this tonight.” The panda pulled out a small envelope from a shirt pocket and handed it to the lion. Armando opened up the envelope in curiosity and pulled out a glossy strip of paper and a bronze coin. He looked at it closely in the fading sunlight and laughed out loud. He reached out, grasped his First Mate’s hand and shook it cheerfully. Hunkle quickly took a picture of the scene as Armando nodded his head.

“A coin and voucher for an extra hundred credits!” the lion said merrily. “Extra spending money for my good time tonight!”

“You accept the money?” Chon asked in clear voice.

F’hile Mavron narrowed her eyes as she watched the proceedings. Something smells rotten, the jaguar thought to herself.

Armando laughed. “Of course I accept it!” he replied. He shoved the voucher into his pocket and then slapped the panda’s shoulder

“You had better spend it wisely,” Chon said in a sudden change of voice. “It’s all the money you have left to you.”

Armando snickered and grinned at the panda. “Surrrrre, it is,” he chuckled. “Listen, Chon, I hate to break up our little jokey session, but I need to get to my show.”

“You’re free to go,” Chon said in a darker tone, “but don’t come back. You’re not welcome around here anymore.”

The only sound that could now be heard in the cargo bay was the crash of ocean surf not far from the landing pad. None of the crew dared to breathe and everyone seemed anxious to hear the next words from their leaders.

“What?” Armando asked half-heartedly. “What did you say to me?”

Hunkle hopped off his box and scrambled over to Chon’s side to hand two things to him. The panda held up a multi-page document so Armando could see it clearly. “Do you recognize this?” he asked.

The lion shrugged his shoulders and peered closer at it. “Not really,” he admitted. Chon flipped to the last page and held it up so that the handwritten signature of Armando Jensen was visible to the lion, as well as the nearby crew.

“This is a legal document that you signed last night, Jensen,” the panda explained. “For the price of one hundred credits, you have sold the ship, the company and all interests of the Savannah Hunter Freight Services to one Jiawen Chon of Brandt – that’s me, if you’re too thick to realize it.”

“You’re joking, right?” Armando asked with a swallow.

“I’m as serious as a heart attack.”

“I didn’t sell my ship to you!” Armando roared.

Undaunted, Chon held up the other object that Hunkle had given him. “Here is a photograph of you and I shaking hands on the deal, with you accepting a one hundred credit voucher.” The panda handed the document and photograph back to Hunkle, who quickly shoved them into a large envelope. He retreated several steps and looked back up at the lion with a satisfied smirk.

The lion looked dumbfounded as he glanced at the credit voucher’s notification line. It simply read, ‘Official Purchase of the Ship and Company’.

“You tricked me!” Armando shouted into the panda’s face, his fists clenched tightly. “That lying weasel told me that document was to buy stock in my favorite mustard!”

“You should always read what you sign,” Chon said evenly. He had been ready for Armando’s bluster and was more than prepared for what he knew would happen next. “You no longer have a ship, Jensen,” he said with a sneer. “You’ve been trying to bankrupt the business your daddy gave to you, while I’ve been trying to keep it above water. Now you’re stuck, without a ship, without a business… without any money but the one hundred credits in your pocket.”

“I trusted you, Chon!” Armando roared. “You BETRAYED me!” He jumped for the panda, but Chon had expected it. For all his bulk, Chon stepped aside quickly and Armando stumbled past him. Before the lion had a chance to regain his feet, Chon brought a muscled arm up to drive his fist into Armando’s chin in a powerful uppercut, and then smashed the back of his neck with the other.

The stunned Mainoran lion did not hear the cheers and jeers from his former crewmembers. He tumbled over the top of a cargo container and landed headfirst between two more boxes. Before he could get up, Chon grabbed Armando’s collar and hauled him back out into the open. The panda shoved another fist into his former captain’s middle; Armando doubled over with the forced loss of breath. The lion was normally a competent fighter, but he had been taken totally off-guard. He sank to his knees and fell over onto his side, his arms clutching his stomach, neck and shoulders hurting too.

Armando looked up at the panda towering over him and swallowed hard. “Chon…” he said in a strained voice. “Don’t do this to me… I’ve always been good to you… trusted you with my business…”

“Armando Jensen,” Chon said down at him, “you are a liability to the business. We can’t even keep a solid crew with the way you manhandle everyone. With you out of the formula, we can change the way we do business. This ship can recoup its losses and start taking in a real profit for a change. I’ve been running this ship for the past three years despite your ignorance, and now things are going to get better.”

Chon looked over at the sound of footsteps and nodded to Hunkle, who wrestled with the weight of the box he had been standing on earlier. He removed the lid to disclose that it was full of colorful publications, and then he dropped the box on the floor beside the lion before retreating behind Chon.

“What’s that?” Armando wheezed.

“All the comics you’re so fond of,” Hunkle replied with a cackle. “On top, there’s also a set of the bill of sale documents you signed with an original handwritten signature. Feel free to have a lawyer look it over for you for its legality!”

“Take your box and get off my ship, Jensen,” Chon said in a menacing tone. “The sale of the Savannah Hunter is legal and binding, and now it’s mine. If you make any attempts to retake the ship, I’ll have the SPF issue a watch for you as a pirate. Now… get out.”

Armando coughed into his hands and gathered himself together. As he stood up, the lion roared with the breath left in him and launched himself at Chon. He drove his head up into the panda’s chin and then punched him in the side as hard as he could, while holding onto him with his other arm. Chon had seen Armando tense his leg muscles and recognized the stance for attack, but the lion was quick. Despite the pain in his chin and his side, Chon swung a powerful arm and drove his fist into the lion’s left temple twice, very fast. Armando grunted and dropped amidst the sparks within his vision.

JW Chon rubbed his chin and then picked up the large lion in a fireman’s hold. He carried him to the edge of the bay door and then tossed Armando out into the dirt. A moment later, the feline’s box dropped onto the ground beside him. The crew erupted into cheers and applause.

Armando shook his head and hauled himself up onto his feet. The tendons in his neck were taut in pain and fury and he took a step back toward the ramp up into the ship. As one, the assembled crew lined up across the entrance to block his return. The lion had been completely unaware of their personal animosities toward him, but he suddenly realized they all sided with Chon. Every one of them looked as if they were eager for a fight, simply waiting for the excuse to jump him; he knew he could not take them all on at once.

Dazed, dejected and beaten, Armando picked up his box and slinked away into the darkening night.

***

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Journal

I have finally been reunited with my ship and crew. Since my voyage to Crescentis from Tanthe was a longer one than the route the Blue Horizon took from Nalirra, my people have been here awaiting my arrival for nearly a week. They’ve taken the time to enjoy the sun, sand and surf of Emmett Island.

While it’s true that Crescentis was not one of the original Terran colony planets, enough settlers from other PA worlds have populated fishing colonies on practically every major island on this planet. Thirty years ago, the fishing fleets organized and formed their own government and were later granted entry into the Legislature as another Planetary Alignment member. Emmett Island is one of the larger landmasses, though at only thirty-two kilometers wide and fifty-nine kilometers in length, and it has a population hovering around five hundred thousand.

There’s plenty to do here and my crew has enjoyed the downtime, but since I have been in space for the past three weeks, I gave everyone another two days of shore leave. I need the salty sea air in my lungs to flush out the scent of that old man I was cabined with for so long. I have no way of knowing what he thought of me, but although he was a nice enough gentleman, I honestly hope never to meet him again.

The island where the original Blue Horizon crashed is on the other side of the planet from us. Thankfully, we have no need to visit that vicinity. None of us has a desire to see it again.

I’ve been informed that Clarence Duffy caught a public transport back to Fyn a couple of days ago, so I’ve missed the opportunity to talk to him about Max. This is the kind of thing I would rather not discuss with him over a com channel, but I don’t know if we’ll be back on Fyn again before he’s recalled into active duty.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Samantha stretched and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She glanced over at the softly snoring form beside her and smiled. She blew lightly into Merlin’s left ear and watched it twitch, but the wolf continued to sleep. It had been a while since he had been as affectionate toward her as he had been since his return from Tanthe, but the time had been wonderful. She and Merlin had been casual lovers for years, but his attitude toward her in recent months had become more focused.

Neither of them had ever maintained an exclusive relationship with one another, but she found that she now enjoyed his full attention – especially since she was not really interested in anyone else on board. She and Tanis had not shared personal time in nearly a year and there had been no one else in her life. Lorelei had recently admitted that she had been unsuccessful in luring the captain to her own bed more than once, and that her feelings had been a little hurt. Fortunately for the rabbit, Lori had plenty of other willing partners on board the freighter to take her mind off of it. She had never brought it up again.

Samantha looked over at Merlin again. She touched noses with him softly and his breathing slowed for a moment before returning to its normal sleeping pattern. She smiled, brushed his cheek fur gently with a finger and then left him alone. Was the relationship she maintained with him now exclusive? It was not a thought she would mind if it were true, but she felt she really wanted to know. She did not want to assume anything, as Alex Rogers had done.

She had read Alex’s private letter with mild amusement. She had not been oblivious to Alex’s infatuation with her, but she had never felt a romantic attraction to him, despite their shared species and history; he was a close friend and nothing more. Apparently, Alex had long hoped that the two of them would be married and raise a family together, but Samantha was happy that he had found someone else to occupy his thoughts.

When she looked at Merlin again, his amber eyes were open, watching her. “G’morning,” he whispered.

“Good morning, love,” she replied. “How did you sleep?”

“Good and restful. You?”

“I slept well,” Samantha replied quietly, “but I dreamt…” She cut herself off and lightly bit her bottom lip.

“But you dreamed…” Merlin prompted.

“…that — that someone took you away from me.”

Merlin stared at her for a long moment, wondering if she were precognizant. “What happened in this dream?” he asked finally, prompting her again.

“I dreamed you got serious with someone and wanted to settle down with her,” the Border collie admitted in a small voice.

“I am serious about someone,” Merlin replied.

Samantha stiffened and wondered if she wanted to hear more. “I…uh…” was all she could say.

“The one I’m serious about is you, Sam,” Merlin confessed. Samantha searched his eyes for any sign of amusement, but his gaze was steady. He did not appear to be joking. “You’re the only one I want,” he said a moment later.

***

Renny picked up a figurine from the shelf before him and looked at it dubiously. He and Pockets were in a small beachside curio shop where they had been for the past half hour. The cheetah and raccoon did not normally pal around together on leave, but they had shared a cab from their hotel to the same area of town. Both had begun walking in the same direction, and both had stopped at the same café to eat. When they had finished their meals, Renny and Pockets continued their route about town together. The navigator had never really considered Pockets to be of much interest to him, but had never had anything against him either. Their browsing had taken them to the boardwalk near a sandy beach and the two of them had gotten along well.

As to be expected, Pockets tended to talk shop about the ship’s systems that he either maintained or repaired, and it had actually been interesting to the cheetah. Renny was an experienced pilot and often boasted that he could drive or fly anything created if given time to study the controls. He had studied engineering during flight school, but his passion had been in the area of the actual control of the systems, rather than their inner working mechanisms.

Nonetheless, he knew enough that Pockets’ rambling actually made sense to him. During their stroll along the boardwalk, the thought occurred to the cheetah that he should probably volunteer to help Pockets and Max in the engine room on occasion. It would not hurt to know more about the ship he flew and lived in.

The figurine Renny picked up was of a squat, fat pig sitting in a lotus position, both hands outstretched together as if holding something, with a thick tongue protruding from its lips. He assumed the ugly little thing was designed to hold a stick of incense in its hands, but was not quite sure. It might be something Lorelei would pick up, but he set it back onto its dusty shelf and looked toward the front counter where Pockets was bargaining for something he had found.

When he walked over to see what his crewmate was haggling over, he raised his eyebrows in curiosity. The item in question was a simple-looking wooden tube with a pattern of holes along its length; it tapered to one small end with an opening in it. Moments later, the shop owner nodded, resigned to the deal.

“Okay, you little thief,” the Irish setter said at last, “you can have it for thirteen credits – but I assure you it’s worth twice that price!”

“Thirteen credits,” the raccoon nodded in satisfaction. He looked up at Renny and winked at him as the canine took his money.

“What is that thing, Pockets?” the cheetah asked. “It doesn’t look like any kind of tool I’ve ever seen you use before.”

Pockets grinned up at him. “It’s not a tool, my friend. It’s a birthday present for Patch. It’s called a woder… it’s a music instrument from Ganis, similar to one he lost in the crash.”

“When’s his birthday?” Renny asked. “I know yours is coming up in a couple months.”

The raccoon stared at him in amusement. “Renny,” he said with a grin, “Patch is my litter mate.”

“Yeah, I know. What’s that got to do with it?”

“We have the same birthday, you nut.”

“Oops…” Renny said with a lopsided grin. “I forgot.”

Pockets laughed at him and then took the wrapped package the storeowner handed to him. “Nice doing business with you,” he told the man. The Irish setter nodded without another word and then the two Horizon crewmates left the shop together. The morning air was pleasant and lazy clouds floated high above the as they continued on their way.

***

“Does this outfit make me look fat?”

Taro Nichols looked up at the rabbit that examined herself in a triad of mirrors outside the dressing room. She shook her head. “No, Lori,” she replied, “but the tail flap is too low for you. If you wear it like that, you’ll be showing more than your cottontail when you lean over.”

Lorelei turned her hips toward the mirror and then bent over. “Whoops…” she said with a giggle. “I want to entice the guys, not give them a free show! The top straps are a little tight, too.” She began removing the pale pink overalls she had tried on.

“Better take it off inside the booth, Lori,” Taro said. A pair of teen felines had stopped to stare at Lorelei as she unfastened the straps to the garment. Lori looked up and saw the guys watching her with lecherous grins. She gave them a seductive wink, but withdrew into the dressing room cubicle before undressing further.

Taro looked back at the two males and furrowed her brow. “Scram!” she hissed. Both cats nearly tripped over one another in their haste to retreat. When the peeping toms had gone, Taro returned her attention to the garment she had considered buying, a medium green sleeveless blouse with a loose turtleneck. She walked to the mirrors that Lori had vacated and held the garment up beneath her chin. The shade of green accented her reddish-orange fur nicely, and she nodded to herself in satisfaction. The price was reasonable and it looked to be the right size. All she needed was to try it on, so she moved into the dressing cubicle adjacent to the one Lorelei had gone into.

“May I ask you something, Taro?” Lori asked through the door as the vixen removed her purple blouse.

“Sure, Lori, what is it?”

“Have you slept with all the guys on board the ship?”

Taro froze and grimaced. There were women in the other dressing room stalls and she did not normally discuss her bedding habits in public. “No,” she answered cautiously.

“Tanis and Renny?”

“Uh, yeah.” Taro set her blouse aside and then pulled on the new one. She did not understand why mirrors were not installed inside the dressing rooms, but she could tell just by looking down at herself that the fit was good. She opened the door to walk out and noticed a brown eyeball peering at her through the opening of another door. She ignored the eavesdropper and went out to look at herself in the mirrors. Lorelei stepped out beside her a moment later. She wore a red bikini that barely covered her furry assets.

“With the exception of Max,” the rabbit said casually, “I’ve had them all at least once.” She studied her appearance and nodded in satisfaction as Taro walked back into her dressing room without another word. “Of course,” Lori said in a slightly louder voice so her friend could hear her, “I’d give him a try too, but I’ve heard he’s been altered. It wouldn’t be the same.”

“Lori…” Taro said in a quiet voice that she hoped would carry only to the rabbit, “let’s not discuss this here.”

“Why not?” Lorelei responded as she returned to her own cubicle. “I don’t care if anyone knows that I like the guys.”

“That’s because you’re a trollop!” said a new voice from outside the stalls. Whoever the person was, they could hear her stomp away. Undaunted, Lorelei laughed aloud and changed back into her own clothes. She had picked out three outfits she wanted to buy and folded them neatly atop one another on the tiny bench inside the cubicle.

In the dressing room next to her, Taro sighed and shook her head in disbelief. She enjoyed the company of males herself, to be sure, but she had never been as free-spirited as the rabbit. In the months she had been back on board the Blue Horizon, Taro had tolerated Lorelei better than anyone else on the crew, but the more time she spent with the ship’s talented cook, the more she realized just how trying the girl could be.

***

“Wow, Tanis, look at the design of that house!” Max said as he pointed to a Terran Victorian-style home across the street from the shore boardwalk they strolled along. The canine youth stared up at the high roof and decorative mauve trim of the pale blue structure. A human couple relaxed on a porch swing on the veranda and Max thought the place looked peaceful. When he did not get a response from his companion, Max turned to look at him. Tanis had stopped and leaned against a wooden rail. He stared out to sea, a breeze cupping his large ears and the wide sleeves of his orange tropical shirt, but he did not look as if he actually saw the ocean or the fishing fleet off in the distance.

Max wiped sweaty palms on his Blue Horizon tee shirt and frowned. Tanis had been preoccupied a lot on their last day of leave, and Max wished he knew what was bothering him. Samantha had taught the German shepherd youth to be bolder when he wanted to know something, and Max nodded to himself. He still had difficulty mustering up the nerve to look for answers at times. His childhood of submissiveness was not always an easy rearing to get over.

“Penny for your thoughts,” he said to Tanis.

The fennec fox looked over at him with a crooked smile. “What does that mean?” he asked.

Max shrugged with a grin. “I was just wondering what you were thinking about,” he admitted. “I heard that phrase when we were on Earth, though I’m not sure what a penny is…”

Tanis sighed and nodded to his young friend. “I think it’s one of their local coins,” he said. He glanced back out toward the ocean again and then shook his head. “I was thinking about Nalirra,” he answered. “I have no desire to join a senseless war, but it was my home for the first half of my life.”

“Does your family still live there?”

“I’m not sure,” Tanis admitted. “I haven’t talked to any of them in a long time. I don’t even know if Pop is still alive. He and Mum were doing okay the last I heard, but he’s up in years. There’s been nothing in the news about whether or not any of the Tanatan attacks have hit their area, but there are no military bases in that region, either.” He fell silent again and Max saw the distant look return to his eyes.

Several quiet moments went by and then Max asked, “How long have you known Mr. Duffy?”

Tanis looked over at him. “Clarence? What made ya bring him up all of a sudden?”

Max shrugged and began walking. Tanis followed him and they stepped off the boardwalk onto the beach sand. “Thoughts just jump into my head sometimes,” the canine youth replied with a smile.

Tanis scratched his chin. “Well… I first met Duffy during our original draft into the Nalirran military service,” he said. “We were in boot camp together and were later assigned to the same squadron. I became a pilot and he was my mechanic. It wasn’t until after my first conscription ended that I went into the medical field. Clarence and I stayed in contact after we split up and have remained friends.”

“What’s conscription?”

“That’s when yer leader sends ya off to war, risking death, disease, famine, maiming and blinding whether ya believe in a cause or not. Most cultures did away with it a long time ago, but it’s tyranny’s first line of self-defense.”

“Oh… anyway, I didn’t get to spend much time around him on the flights he was with us,” Max mused as they walked up a sandy dune. “I was just wondering what he was like.”

“Duffy’s a good guy,” Tanis said. “He’s good with machines, and as a friend he’s fairly reliable. I wouldn’t trust him around yer girl, though.”

“My girl?” Max asked as they trudged down the other side of the dune. “Does he know Wendy?”

The desert fox laughed aloud. “No, Max, I meant in general. He loves the ladies and has been even known to play around with those who have steady boyfriends.”

“How do you know that?” Max asked carefully.

“I once caught him in bed with my cousin, and she was engaged to be married to someone else at the time.”

“Oh… What about money?” Max asked. “Does he have a decent income?”

Tanis stopped at the bottom of the next dune and looked at his companion with narrowed eyes. “Yer being awfully interested in his personal affairs, Max. What gives?”

Max stuck his hands in his pockets and looked off toward a red and white lighthouse farther up the shore. He did not answer for a moment and Tanis was about to repeat himself when the youth shook his head.

“Uncle Merlin told me something about him last night,” he explained.

“What was that?”

Max looked into his friend’s eyes and shrugged, something the youth tended to do a lot. “He said that Duffy was my father. I was just curious to know a little more about him.”

Tanis bit his bottom lip. “Do ya believe it?”

“Sure,” Max replied. “He told me how you discovered our similar DNA markers, and how King Aramis had it confirmed for him.”

“King Aris,” the fox corrected.

“Yeah, him.” Max started up the next sand dune and said, “It fits, y’know. I never really knew anything about my mother either, just that she was a pleasure girl somewhere else on Quet. I grew up around a lot of those girls at the Wild Star and often saw them turning tricks, so I know there was the occasional pregnancy. I have no doubt that’s how I was born.”

“And yer okay with this?”

Max smiled. “Why not?” he asked. “It’s no real shock to know my biological father was still out there somewhere. It was just a fluke that I actually met up with him, without either one of us knowing it at the time.”

“For a kid, yer acting rather mature about this whole thing,” Tanis said in amazement. “Okay, so ya have accepted that it’s probably true. How do ya feel about Duffy being yer pop?”

“I don’t know yet.” Max said. “I haven’t made up my mind on how I feel. Duffy’s a complete stranger to me, but I know he was your friend. That’s why I asked you about him.”

“Has anyone contacted Duffy about this?”

“No, uncle Merlin was going to do that for me, but I asked him not to tell him just yet,” Max replied as he reached the top of the dune. “I want to sort this out on my own a little more. I think that —”

Max stumbled and almost fell. Tanis could see the youth’s look of surprise, so he scrambled up the rest of the way to join him. As soon as he crested the dune, he saw a body lying at the bottom of the dune next to a cardboard box, partially covered with newspapers fluttering with the sea breeze.

The medic scrambled down toward the person and he knelt in the sand beside the large form. When he leaned over to take a look at the face, Tanis gasped in surprise.

“Armando!”

At the sound of his name, the Mainoran lion opened his eyes. He lifted a sandy paw to shield his eyes from the sun and squinted up at two silhouettes staring down at him. “Whut?” he asked groggily. “What do you want wit’ me?”

“Aren’t ya Armando Jensen?” Tanis asked.

The lion lifted his head and focused his eyes on the fox. He looked familiar, but he could not place him. “Who wants ta know?” he responded cautiously.

“What are ya doing out here on the beach? Is yer ship nearby?”

Armando shook his head. “Got no ship no more,” he answered remorsefully. “Chon stole it from me.” He looked over at the German shepherd boy with ice blue eyes and suddenly recognized the logo on his tee shirt.

“Blue Horizon!” he said in recognition. “You’re with the Blue Horizon?”

Max nodded. “Yeah,” he replied. “You’ve heard of us?”

Tanis laughed. “Of course he has, Max. Armando was an annoying competitor and quite the pain in the neck. It doesn’t look like we’ll have to worry about him anymore.”

“Listen,” Armando said as he crawled up onto his knees. Sand clung to his slept-in clothing, the party shirt and pants he had been in when he thought he was going to a dance club before he got booted off his ship. “I know me and Sinclair have had our differences, but can you ask him to take me to my dad on Mainor? My dad will pay him well.”

Tanis snickered. “Whoa, there, ya idjit,” he said. “There are two things wrong with yer request.”

“Whut?”

“First off, I don’t think Merlin would give ya the time of day. Ya have been a thorn in his side since you two first met and I think he’d be unsympathetic to yer plight. Yer also forgetting Mainor was blasted to a smoldering rock. If yer pop was there, he won’t be helping ya anymore.”

“Oh…” was all Armando could say. He did not look as if he really missed his old man, but it was easy to tell he realized his predicament had worsened.

Max frowned as he listened to the exchange. He remembered hearing Armando’s name on the ship, but as he did not know the guy, he did not understand why Tanis treated him so callously. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tanis motioned for him.

“C’mon, Max,” he said, “let’s leave this loser. We should get back to the ship.” The two Horizon members began walking away in the shifting sand, but the lion got to his feet and followed them, his box clutched in his arms.

“No, please!” Armando pleaded. “I got nowhere to go now. Take me with you!”

“Don’t follow us!” Tanis said over his shoulder to him. “Yer presence is not welcome!” When he saw that his words were being ignored, he started trotting away. Max had to do likewise to keep up with his shipmate. When he looked back, Armando was still shuffling along after them.

“Go away!” Tanis shouted.

“Ask Sinclair to hire me!” the lion shouted back. “I need a job!”

“Go away!” Tanis repeated. He motioned Max forward and the pair of them broke out into a run.

***

By the time Max and Tanis arrived at the warehouse on rented bicycles, the rest of the crew was already unloading cargo from four panel trucks and taking it in though the open bay doors of the Blue Horizon. Merlin crawled out of a truck and looked up at them as they arrived.

“You’re late,” he said with a frown.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Tanis said as he pulled off his sunglasses by its elastic strap. “We ran into an old buddy of yours and had a tough time ditching him.”

“Buddy?”

Max waved at Lorelei and then ran into the ship to grab his work gloves. Tanis helped his boss load a crate onto a flatbed cart.

“Yer pal, Armando Jensen,” Tanis replied with a smirk.

“Great,” Merlin grimaced as they set down the crate. “Is that idiot here, too?”

“Yeah, he’s stranded and wanted us to take him on as hired help.”

Merlin straightened up and looked at Tanis. “Stranded?” he asked. “Hired help? What happened to the Savannah Hunter?” Before Tanis could answer, Merlin held up a hand and shook his head. “No, I don’t even want to know. He probably got drunk at some bar and his crew accidentally left him behind,” he said as he crawled back up into the truck. “He can eat rocks for all I care.”

Tanis grinned and shook his head. “Yeah, I thought as much. Okay, I’ll tell ya about it later after we’ve launched,” he said. “Ya should get a snicker out of his predicament.”

“I doubt I’ll want to hear about it,” Merlin grumbled as Renny shoved another box toward him from inside the truck. “Get your work gloves and help Pockets over in truck three.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Almost as soon as Tanis walked away, Merlin had already forgotten about Armando. Whenever they were moving cargo, he always cleared his mind of distracting thoughts in order to get everything moved, weighed and placed to Durant’s direction inside the hold. Unfortunately for him, that particular distraction suddenly reared his head.

Armando nearly fell to his knees right beside Merlin’s flatbed dolly, panting for breath and holding his sides as he leaned against the cart. He dropped a box at his feet; comic books and a large envelope spilled out onto the concrete tarmac. He had been running, fearful that he would miss the Blue Horizon before take-off. The wolf turned at the sound and then flattened his ears in disbelief. A low growl filled his throat. “Get away from my ship!”

The Mainoran lion managed to straighten up and looked at Merlin in relief. “Sinclair,” he gasped. “Gimmee a job! I need your help!”

Merlin knew this particular irritant would not just get up and leave without a confrontation, so he motioned to Renny to take a break and then turned back toward Armando.

“I own two freighters that are doing well,” he said dryly. “Why would I give any of my customers to my chief competitor?”

“You don’t understand,” Armando said as he tried to catch his breath. “Chon stole my ship and business from me. I don’t own ‘em anymore and I’m stuck here. I need you to take me with you.”

“Wait a minute,” Merlin said with an upraised hand. “How did your first officer take your business away from you? That’s not just something you can shoplift from a coat pocket.”

Armando fidgeted and looked at the manila envelope on the ground his feet. “He tricked me into signing papers that said I sold everything to him,” he said humbly.

Merlin stared at him in amazement for a long minute as he worked out in his mind what the lion had just said. “Was… there a monetary transaction,” he asked slowly, “or did you just donate your livelihood at your signature?”

“No… he gave me a hundred credits.”

“One… hundred… credits…?”

A look of amusement crept across Merlin’s features, and Armando felt worse than ever when he saw a smile form. Merlin shook his head. “If you can be tricked into selling your ship and business for a mere ©100, you have no right being in charge of your own business, Armando, even if it was given to you by your daddy!”

The lion stuck his hands in his pockets. He was starting to get hot under the collar, but had enough sense to know that he could not afford to make the wolf upset at him. “C…can I buy passage on your ship to your next destination?” he asked meekly. “I don’t want to be stuck on Crescentis.”

“You want to buy passage on the Blue Horizon?” Merlin repeated with an upraised eyebrow. “Do you think you can afford it?”

“All I have left is eighty credits,” Armando admitted in a quiet whisper. “You can have it all.”

Merlin looked up at the large person before him without a trace of intimidation. “Eighty credits,” he repeated. “Get lost, Jensen. I have no reason to ever see your mug again.”

“Sinclair… please…” Armando said weakly. “I’ve heard you’ve helped other people before. Why won’t you help me?”

Merlin narrowed his eyes and looked at him darkly. “Because you’ve often tried to hurt my business and you can’t be trusted,” he said to him. “I don’t mind honest competition, that’s what makes the economy better, but I’ve tracked you at times and know about the dishonest means you’ve used to get and cheat your customers. Your first officer did me a favor, Armando. I should send him a gift in thanks.”

“But…”

“Get out of my sight, Jensen,” Merlin growled, “or I’ll have the Port Security escort you from the premises in manacles.”

Armando heaved a great sigh and looked around. The entire crew of the Blue Horizon had gathered around them and all were staring at him in either disgust or indifference. Several looked as if they were preparing to fight. Without another word, he knelt down, picked up the contents spilled from his box, and then tucked them all under an arm. He turned and then trudged away from the ship.

Merlin shook his head and then noticed his crew standing nearby. He did not feel like discussing the matter further, so he clapped his hands and said, “All right, the show’s over, people. We’ve got cargo to move!”

***

“Meow…”

Durant ignored the floating saucer that greeted him and entered the lift to head up to his quarters. The launch of the Blue Horizon had gone smoothly and the ship was now two hours into its journey to Kantus, loaded down with self-regulated, cold storage containers of fresh seafood from Crescentis. As Pockets was especially fond of seafood, the loadmaster knew he would have to set up a perimeter alarm around it to keep the raccoon out of their customer’s goods. First, he needed sleep. He felt tired and thought a short nap would help to perk him up.

Moss turned in mid-air on its axis and watched the grizzly bear go, studying him with its offset, shimmering green eyes and twitching its metal whisker antennae. When it had registered the closed lift doors, it turned and moved out into the hold on a routine security sweep, its quiet whirring of internal mechanisms the only sound in the dark chamber. For its first random check, Moss altered its course and shot straight up toward the cargo bay’s ceiling, two stories above. The small flying saucer stopped and then floated quietly beside the overhead cranes when it detected a stress fracture in one gear wheel. It logged the matter into a file that would flag the chief engineer the next time he signed into the engine room terminal. It continued on, its scanners penetrating the dark recesses until it was satisfied there was nothing out of the ordinary to report. Slowly, Moss spiraled back down toward the cargo pallets secured to the Horizon’s deck plates, where they barely took up half of the lower capacity of the hold.

The saucer moved quietly around the perimeter of the crates, reading individual systems maintaining each container’s interior temperature, and making note of those that showed any fluctuation in the normal settings monitored before launch. As it moved around almost lazily, the upper scanning eye changed from green to a red inner light. It stopped in its path and changed subroutines for a new set of scanning protocols that tied it in the with ship’s security files. There was a change in atmospheric pressure registered on the other side of a large box and its auditory sensors picked up a slow, regular pulse of sound. It checked its records, searching for signatures. It ran in a microsecond a profile on each of its records, but found no match.

Back in his cabin, Pockets looked up from his workbench and saw a flashing green dot on his cabin terminal. He reached up, tapped a series of pads on a console, and patched his way into Moss’ infrared video capture. He swore suddenly, pulled a small microphone from a receptacle on the terminal, and thumbed its pickup switch.

“Moss, security routine gamma-gamma,” he asked into the microphone. “Don’t let it out of your sensor range.”

Following its new command, Moss responded with a simple flashing light on the engineer’s console, instead of its normal “meow”.

Pockets keyed the intercom switch to the bridge, and the first officer’s voice came back to him immediately. “This is Taro,” she said.

“Moss just discovered an intruder in the cargo bay,” the raccoon said without preamble.

“Why does this always seem to happen on my watch?” the vixen asked. “Does Moss have an ID on the stowaway?”

“No, the signature doesn’t match that of anyone who’s ever been on our ship before, visitor or crew.” Pockets knelt down, pulled out a slim case from under his workbench, and opened its top. “I’ve got my Binfurr rifle and am heading down to the cargo bay to make sure whomever it is don’t move.”

“Okay, I’ll inform the captain. Be careful, Pockets, but hold back. Don’t shoot anyone until I can get Durant and Renny down there, too.”

“Thanks, Taro. All I’ve got are Mercy rounds, since I don’t want to punch any holes in our hull, but these will knock out someone even as big as Durant!” The raccoon closed the intercom and then checked to make sure the rifle had a full clip. He pulled a second clip out of the case, shoved it into one of his many coverall pockets, and then was out the door headed toward the lift. Renny burst from his nearby cabin dressed only in a pair of athletic shorts and joined the engineer as the lift doors opened.

The cheetah saw Pockets’ rifle and frowned. “I should have brought mine, too,” he mused as the doors closed and began its descent.

Pockets reached into a leg pocket a pulled out a slender, sheathed knife. He handed this to Renny with a smile. “Better to be prepared,” he said. Renny pulled the blade from its sheath and could tell it was razor sharp even without testing it. “It’s made of Damascus steel,” Pockets told him.

Renny put a finger to his lips as the lift stopped and the doors parted. They crept out into the dimly lit cargo bay and the cheetah immediately caught movement on the other side of the hold. Renny gave Merlin and Durant a silent wave. The grizzly returned the greeting with a nod and hefted his own rifle to the ready.

Pockets pulled out a miniature slateboard tablet from a belt pouch and consulted the readings displayed there. He gestured with it to the right and whispered, “Moss is stationary over there about twenty paces, at the edge of the crates.” Renny nodded and hefted his blade as they moved quietly in that direction.

Merlin and Durant reached the location first. Moss turned and scanned them briefly, but under the security protocol it now followed, the small hovering saucer made no sound in greeting. Merlin gripped an antique broadsword in one hand as he eased his nose up to look over the crates beneath the sentry unit. He turned back to Durant and nodded as Pockets and Renny arrived. He did not seem to be surprised at what he had seen on the other side.

“Get out here, Jensen!” Merlin said in a loud voice. Since they had all been stalking quietly in the dark hold, the wolf’s voice seemed louder than necessary; Pockets started in surprise. There was a shuffle behind the crates and then the head of the Mainoran lion appeared between two of them. Armando looked surprised that he had been discovered so quickly after the launch and briefly wondered if the Blue Horizon possessed internal biometric scanners. He saw the rifles and blades and meekly raised his hands above his head.

He saw Merlin’s scowl as he crawled out of his hiding place and then dropped to the ground in front of him. “Listen, Sinclair, I don’t mean any harm to your ship or crew,” he said quietly. The captain put the tip of his sword up against the lion’s breastbone.

“I’m not quite sure how you got on board my ship,” Merlin said with a growl, “but I know an easy way you can leave.”

Armando glanced quickly at the nearby airlock and swallowed hard. “Now… w-w-w-waitaminute!” he stammered quickly. “Don’t space me, please!”

“Why?” Pockets asked coldly. “You’re using up our oxygen.”

Armando lowered his hands and Merlin pressed the blade tip into the thin fabric of the lion’s party shirt. The point barely penetrated, but Armando got the message and nodded his head. He put one hand slowly into his pants pocket and then drew out several silver coins. He held them out to the wolf and said plaintively, “Eighty credits isn’t much, but this is all the money I have in the universe. Please take it.”

Without shifting his eye contact, Merlin scooped the coins from Armando’s hand and handed them over to Durant. “Now, you’re broke,” the wolf said as he lowered the sword to his side. “You have no money, no ship, no business and no life. What do you expect me to do about it?”

Armando swallowed and sat down on a nearby crate. He lowered his head and put his massive hands in his lap. “Gimmee a job,” he said humbly. “I’ll work for my passage.”

“What can you do to earn it?” Durant asked. “Are you a mechanic… a computer tech… a cook…?”

Armando looked up soberly. “I really don’t know much about any of that,” he admitted. “I’ve always hired other people to do those jobs for me. I used to work with a loadmaster before I got my ship, though.”

“That’s convenient,” Durant snorted, “since the cargo was weighed, placed and secured before we launched.”

“So…” Merlin asked dubiously, “what job on my ship are you applying for?”

Armando recognized the sound of resignation in the wolf’s voice and felt inspired. “I dunno… give me anything. I’ll clean your clothes, wash your dishes and help you move cargo…”

“We won’t be moving cargo until we land a month from now,” Durant replied.

Merlin sighed and then looked at his crewmates. They knew he would never jettison anyone short of an attacking pirate, but he did not like having to cater to his former competitor. “Alright,” he said at last, “you can stay until we get to Kantus, but you will have to earn your passage, Jensen.”

“Thank you, Sinclair.”

“You will address him as Captain,” Renny spoke up.

Armando nodded his acknowledgement and then slowly got to his feet. “Thank you, Captain,” he said.

Merlin gestured to the bear at his side. “This is Durant. He’ll be in charge of your work assignments, but you will follow the orders of anyone else on my crew if they have something for you to do.”

“Yessir.”

“I’ve got something he can do,” Pockets said. He thumbed the safety on his rifle and slung it over his shoulder.

“Good,” Merlin replied. “Armando, this is our chief engineer, Pockets. He’ll get you started.”

The raccoon smiled slyly at Renny and then headed off toward his engine room with the lion in tow.

As soon as they were out of sight around the perimeter of the cargo bay, Renny chuckled. “I hope that guy’s not too fastidious,” he said with a grin.

“Why’s that?” Merlin asked.

“Pockets thinks some beach sand might have blown into the landing gears while we were on Crescentis. He was intending to clean them out and re-grease them during the voyage. I think he’s going to make Armando get dirty and do it for him.”

Durant groaned and his companions looked up at him. “Sorry to burden you with him,” Merlin said, “but I thought you could probably handle his work assignments better than anyone else.”

“That’s not what has me concerned, boss,” the bear responded with a frown.

“What is it?”

“Armando only has one set of clothes with him,” he explained, “and I’m the only one on board who has anything big enough that he might be able to wear.”

“Oops…” Merlin said with raised eyebrows. “During our next landfall, we’ll buy you some replacement clothes from the ship’s funds.”

“Thanks, boss.”

“Keep his eighty credits as a start toward that.”

The grizzly jingled the coins in his hands and then pocketed them.

***

Tanis shook out the wet brush he had been using to comb the dirt out of Lorelei’s pelt and then dipped it back into the bath. “There’s sand all in yer fur,” he said to the rabbit sitting in the water in front of him. “I don’t have this much in my own fur, and I spent more time on the beach than ya did.”

The bunny smiled at him over her shoulder and snickered. “I don’t suppose that you’re a desert fox means your fur is better equipped to ward off sand than mine?” she asked as she tickled his toes beneath the water.

“Stop that!” Tanis commanded with a smirk. He dropped his brush and it made a splunk as it hit the water. He reached into the water to retrieve it and Lorelei suddenly giggled.

“Watch where you’re grabbing,” she teased.

“I can’t,” the fennec replied with a straight face. “The bath’s too murky with yer dirty water.” Lorelei giggled again and squirmed. She lay back against him and pinned his arm between them.

“Gotcha!” she said with a snicker.

Resigned to his fate, Tanis leaned back against the side of the bathtub, causing her to lean back further. She rested the back of her head on his chest and smiled up at him.

“So,” she said after a moment, “what did you and Max do today?”

“We mainly just talked as we wandered around the beach town,” the fox replied. “He asked me some questions about Duffy and I told him about Nalirra.”

The rabbit frowned. “That doesn’t sound so exciting,” she said. “How are you handling the whole war thing?”

“Okay, I suppose,” he replied. “It’s not easy seeing yer homeworld bombed apart by the very people yer government was going to bomb first. However, I cut ties with home years ago and I have to keep reminding myself that.”

“What about your friend, Duffy? Does he know he’s Max’s father?”

Tanis looked down at her in quiet shock. “How… did ya know about that?” he asked.

Lorelei grinned. “I saw your notes in Sickbay. You left your slateboard out on the counter with the screen on them.”

“I see… Have ya told anyone else about it?”

“Renny, Taro, Pockets, Samantha and Durant were all eating lunch when I mentioned it.”

“Lori… that means everyone on board knows about it now. For Max’s sake, we weren’t going to tell anyone else!”

The rabbit shrugged her shoulders. “Oops,” she said. “Too late now.”

“I just hope Max doesn’t think I betrayed his trust,” Tanis replied solemnly.

***

Armando Jensen grumbled and growled to himself as he left the engine room and headed for the nearest lift. He was tired, wanted to crawl into bed in the cabin that had been assigned to him, and sleep for the rest of the voyage. He had been on board the Blue Horizon for nearly eight days and he had hardly had any time to rest. It seemed that at least half the people on board the ship had gone out of their way to find degrading assignments for him to do. He had done everything from scrubbing toilets with a toothbrush to vacuuming floors and washing dishes. He had been made to crawl into a filthy maintenance tunnel between the double hulls of the ship that was not designed for someone of his bulk, to get to greasy gears that he later discovered were just inside a large access panel in the engine room. He had mashed his fingers reorganizing equipment cases for the loadmaster so they were arranged by size, and had gotten callouses on his knees picking fur out of the air reclamation unit filters. He had already lost track of the other little disgusting jobs that had been found for him, and he strongly suspected some of the things he had been assigned had never been done before by any of them.

He had taken to griping about everything in sight, even though he was constantly reminded just how fortunate he was to be a privileged passenger instead of free-floating in space. The only ones who had not treated him like dirt were the rabbit who cooked for them all, and that canine boy who seemed to look on him in pity. Armando did not mind pity from Max. At least he had not made him wash his socks as the cheetah had done.

He heard a sound ahead and looked up to see what it was. Durant was sitting on the cold flooring of the hold outside a locker full of cargo tie-downs, tarps and cables he had been looking through. Armando thought the bear looked winded, and despite the dirty assignments that had been given to him, the lion thought the loadmaster could use a hand.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You need some help up?”

Durant looked up at him and shook his head as he massaged his left arm. “Just feeling a little light-headed,” the bear replied in a raspy voice. “It’s nothing.”

“You need me to help you clean up this stuff?” Armando asked. “You don’t look too good.”

Durant waved a hand at him and swallowed. “No, just go on, please.”

Armando shrugged and shuffled off toward the lift, thankful he had not been berated or given something else to do. He was sincere when he offered his help to the bear, but was not bothered to have that help denied.

Durant watched the lion disappear into the lift and then turned over so that he was on his hands and knees. He closed his eyes to gather his bearings and then slowly stood up. He wavered a little, but remained on his feet. He glanced at the stuff he had pulled out of the locker and decided it could sit there a while longer. The grizzly bear made his way to his office at the back of the cargo bay and shut the door behind him.

***

Merlin kicked off his boots and sat down on his bunk with a sigh of relief. He had just turned over the bridge watch to Samantha and he was more than ready to relax a bit. Granted, that duty while the ship was on inertia was dull and boring, but despite the non-activity, it usually drained whoever released it to the next person.

The wolf was not sleepy, but he did not really feel like doing anything else at the moment. He looked over at the small table beside the bed and picked up a printed novel he had begun reading earlier. He thumbed it open to the page where his bookmark resided and made himself comfortable against his pillow. No sooner had he settled into the first paragraph, the intercom chirped at him.

The captain groaned and closed the book as he leaned over to tap the remote beside the lamp. “Yes?” he grumbled.

“Sorry to bother you, dear, but Cindy’s on the line for you,” Samantha’s voice said from the overhead speaker.

“Patch it through.”

“Aye.”

“Captain! Captain Sinclair!” another voice issued from the speaker.

“Hello, Cindy,” Merlin replied. “What is up?”

“Bad news, captain…” she answered. “Brandersen Electronics has just cancelled our contract!”

“Brandersen? Isn’t that who we’re supposed to pick up our next cargo from on Kantus? A breach of contract is serious, especially with the distances we have to travel.”

“Marcus Brandersen himself called to make the cancellation.”

“Brandersen has been a repeat customer for years,” Merlin growled. “Why would he pull out all of a sudden? His business hasn’t been doing that badly.”

“Captain…” Cindy seemed hesitant and paused before continuing. “Another freighter offered Brandersen a better price on the same delivery, so he went with them instead.”

“We had a contract that was agreed upon weeks ago,” the wolf said angrily. “We have to schedule our shipments in a series or we’ll lose money. Start searching for another customer from Kantus to Alexandrius in order to keep up the rest of our delivery schedule.”

“Already on it!” the mouse replied over the speaker.

Merlin hit the intercom button again.

“This is Samantha.”

“You hear all that, Sam?”

“Yes, I did. That jerk…”

“Contact Jackson Wyatt and see if there’s any action our lawyer can take against Brandersen for breaking contract.”

“That’ll be a pleasure.”

“First see if you can get Brandersen on the line for me and pipe it in here. I want to find out who stole our job from us.”

“Right away.”

“So much for taking it easy,” Merlin muttered beneath his breath.

A moment later, the intercom chirped and a deeply gruff voice spoke from the speaker. “This is Marcus Brandersen.”

“Mr. Brandersen,” the wolf said, “this is Captain Sinclair of the Blue Horizon. I’m calling about…”

“You want to know why I cancelled your services. Yes, I was expecting to hear from you.”

“Would you mind explaining why you dropped us while we’re currently on our way to you?” Merlin asked in a strong tone. “You’ve done business with us for a long time. Why would you bail out on us now?”

“Captain, you’ve always given me fair market prices for your deliveries to other worlds in the Planetary Alignment,” Brandersen replied. “As a businessman, I’m always on the lookout for more economical means of shipping my goods, since the cost for deliveries from one planet to another are phenomenal. Nevertheless, times change and other freighters sometimes offer better prices. That’s fair competition, Captain Sinclair.”

“I don’t have a problem with the concept of competition, Brandersen, but we had a contract! You’re bound to it until the deal has been completed. If you like this other freighter so much, you can wait until your next delivery to hire them!”

“Contracts mean nothing to me. The Savannah Hunter will be here a full two days before your arrival, Captain, and—”

“The Savannah Hunter!” Merlin croaked.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Brandersen replied. “That’s the name of the ship that belongs to a new freight business called Bamboo Cargo Services. I understand her captain is having the name of the ship changed soon, but that doesn’t concern me. I need my goods moved quickly and they offered the same delivery at a cost of ©40,000. That’s ten thousand credits cheaper than your usual price for deliveries between star systems.”

“Mr. Brandersen,” Merlin said through clenched teeth, “I agree that competition is good. If you had been approached with that price, I would have matched it to keep you as a customer. That’s still something we can negotiate if you’re interested.”

“Sorry about that, ol’ boy. At first, he offered to do it for ©45,000, but I told him it wasn’t enough of a discount to warrant my interest. That’s when he dropped it to forty thousand credits. I couldn’t turn down that price, then. That’s the way the business goes, Captain. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my dinner guests.”

“Mr. Brandersen, we had a legitimate contract signed weeks ago. Since you are unwilling to honor that agreement, you can expect to hear from my lawyer over this incident. Prepare to spend the money you think you just saved.” Merlin jammed his thumb down on the control pad and disconnected the conversation before the bulldog had a chance to say anything more.

The wolf nearly tripped over his boots as he stormed out of the bedroom into the front room of the cabin. Angrily, he kicked them up against a wall and then growled beneath his breath as he departed his quarters. The first person he saw in the corridor was Armando.

“Jensen!” he shouted. “Get over here!”

The weary lion sighed aloud, but ambled toward the captain with dark eyes. “What do you want?” he said with impatience. He desired nothing more than to clean up and go to bed, and he did not care if the captain of the ship wanted him to do something more or not.

“I just got word that the Savannah Hunter managed to take away our next delivery job,” Merlin growled.

“Did they, now?” Armando said with sudden pleasure. Despite his weariness, he drew himself up to his full height, towering over the wolf. “That serves you right, Sinclair. Right after the Siilv War, finding shipping jobs was difficult, and every time we turned around, some job we tried to get had already gone to one of your ships!”

“That’s fair competition!” Merlin replied darkly, unfazed by the lion’s size. “Your ship just took a job that was already contracted to us. I ought to jettison you right now!”

“That’s not my ship anymore, remember?” Armando sneered. “Chon’s your competitor now – not me, and believe me when I tell you that he’s a shrewd character. You’ll have to compete harder now that he has the business. He’ll do things that I wouldn’t have considered to get your customers.”

“That sounds unlikely,” Merlin said with narrow eyes. “I kept tabs on your activities and know about some of the things you tried.”

“Oh, you think so?” the lion snorted.

“Tell me, why did your deal with the black market on Nalirra fall through a couple years ago?”

“The SPF was tipped off to what we— hey! How did you know about that?”

“I told you I was aware of your activities,” Merlin answered. “If that deal had gone through, you might have ruined chances for any other honest freighting company from ever using that travel route again!”

Armando stared at Merlin for a long while and the corridor became eerily silent. He could hear whispers from inside a nearby door, likely some of the Horizon’s crew eavesdropping on the conversation that could hardly be called quiet.

“So, you’re the one who tipped off the SPF on me…” he stated dangerously. “That deal would have gotten me completely out of debt, Sinclair. Lucky for me, we got out of the area before the SPF discovered which ship was involved.” He moved toward the wolf and clenched both fists. “I should thank you properly for that,” he snarled.

“Take another step forward,” hissed a voice from behind him, “and no one will ever find your body.”

Armando moved only his eyes and looked at the muzzle of a weapon that had appeared at his temple. Without looking, he could sense the presence of someone else behind him, also likely armed. The lion chose to relax his hands and took a cautious step back to his former position. Renny kept his rifle aimed at Armando’s head, and Tanis moved forward to show the lion that his weapon was also ready to do business.

“Lock him in his cabin,” Merlin said without taking his eyes off the lion. “He’ll stay there until we can kick him out on Kantus.”

Armando looked back at Merlin and gave him a wry smile. “At this moment, I hate JW Chon for taking my ship and business as much as you hate me. However, I know him well enough to know that your easy days in this business are over. He’s going to make it tough on you even if he has to cut his prices to underscore every delivery you try to get – that is what he tried to talk me into doing, but I didn’t want to lose the money to gain the jobs. He’s more determined than I was.”

“Get out of my sight,” Merlin growled. “I don’t want to see your face again until we land.”

***

Max grinned as he floated near the ceiling of the cargo bay. In order to repair a faulty gear system, Pockets had prompted Durant to make sure everything was secured in the hold so he could turn off the gravity plates. He and the young mechanic were hovering around the cargo crane near the top of the two-story chamber, their tool belts floating lightly at their waists.

“Okay, lad,” the raccoon said, “I’ve got the pins loose. Ease the primary gear out toward you, but don’t let that cable near your ear wallop your head.”

Max gingerly grasped the piece of machinery and braced his feet on the supports on either side of it. With the pins free and the gravity off, the gear slid out of its housing with minimal effort, but it jerked momentarily as it came loose and sent the German shepherd youth floating away.

“Whoops!” Max said. He turned his body so that his feet were out in front of him and eased his toe to the upper support beams of the hold to stop himself. “This reminds me of when we were on the Walkabout,” he said with a laugh, “though without the pressure suit.”

Pockets nodded and his assistant came drifting back with the gear in hand. “Perhaps,” he said, “but without the carnage.”

Max came to rest lightly back where he had started and held out the gear. “Yikes,” he said with his ears back. “I had nightmares of that woman’s body for weeks!”

Pockets took the gear and hooked an elastic tether to it to keep it from floating out of reach. He turned to his other side, latched onto an identical cog from a packing crate, and then passed it back to the young mechanic. “I don’t doubt you did,” he said. “That wasn’t easy to go through.”

“I kept seeing her face,” Max mused quietly.

“Why don’t we talk about something else,” Pockets suggested, “while we get this replacement cog into place. It’s unlucky to talk about the violently dead.”

“Right,” Max agreed. He lined up the part into its new housing and had to hold onto the surrounding supports to work it back into place without pushing himself backward. “So, why do Uncle Merlin and Armando hate one another?” he asked.

“No one’s told you?” Max shook his head. “Well, those two have disliked one another since they first met.”

“What happened?”

“It was about five years ago,” Pockets explained as he lined up a series of pins to secure the cog. “The Blue Horizon had just received clearance to land at the Arnsberg Spaceport on Mainor and was on final approach when this green freighter shot past us. Arnsberg was a busy place and landing spots were at a premium, so the Savannah Hunter tried to jockey past us to get to the only remaining available pad first – despite that we were the ones given permission to land on it.”

Pockets motioned for Max to hand the floating cable to him so he could thread it through the gear pulleys. “Anyway, Merlin gunned the Horizon to take our promised spot. In the race to land, our two ships got too close and jostled against one another. Both ships and their cargoes sustained damage; Merlin managed to get the Horizon in first, but nearly crashed in the process. Armando’s ship wound up clipping the spaceport’s control tower and almost killed seven people. Luckily for him, no one died, but he got into hot water with the local police over it and his father had to pay for the damages. Armando claimed he had the right of way since his company was based on Mainor and should have been allowed to land first. His cargo delivery was late and a costly portion of Vaterfin Crystal was broken. He tried to sue us, but since the Blue Horizon had records of receiving official landing clearance, the case was thrown out.” Pockets shrugged his shoulders and added, “There’s been bad blood between those two ever since.”

“No wonder there’s more to this than just a competitive rivalry,” Max mused. “It’s too bad they can’t put that behind them.”

“Well,” Pockets drawled, “that was only the beginning. We’ve had run-ins and even a few brawls with Armando and his crew on several occasions. Believe me when I say that there are few of us older folks on this ship who have any kind of respect for Jensen. Now that the Savannah Hunter has a new master, things might improve.”

“Improve? From what I’ve been hearing, this Mr. Chon is meaner than Armando.”

Pockets smiled. “I wouldn’t say he was meaner,” he said. “Chon has a better head for business than Armando and will take more competitive steps to make his new company earns respect and a clientele that will stick with him. I’ve met him on a couple of occasions and he’s a smart cookie. He won’t make the same mistakes that Armando made.”

“I just hope he won’t do something harmful to our business,” Max replied. “Samantha said he’s already after our customers.”

“If it’s a legitimate competition, Merlin knows how to play that game,” Pockets said as he secured the cable tightly with a small spanner.

***

Merlin kicked off his boots and crawled onto his bunk. He reached over to the small bedside table and picked up the novel he had tried reading earlier. He thumbed it open to his bookmark and made himself comfortable against his pillow. No sooner had he settled in to the first paragraph, the intercom chirped at him.

The captain groaned, rolled his eyes, and then snapped the book shut. He leaned over and tapped the remote beside the lamp. “Yes?” he grumbled.

“Sorry to disturb you, boss,” Durant’s voice said, “but you have an emergency call from Mrs. Meers.”

“Mrs. Meers? Alright, pipe it in here.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Captain Sinclair?” Merlin recognized the voice of the golden retriever who ran the Meers restaurant on Dennier.

“Yes, Abigail, this is Merlin. What can I do for you?”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this,” her voice said from the overhead speaker, “but your office across the street has been broken into.”

“Broken into!” Merlin repeated in surprise.

“That’s right. I’ve already called Cindy, and she’s over there now with Penny, Keri and the police. When I came to my restaurant this morning to start preparing for the breakfast crowd, I noticed your front window was smashed in.”

“I… I see,” Merlin replied in a stunned voice. “What else can you tell me?”

“Keri was over here a little bit ago, all shook up. She told me that all the computer and communication equipment has been smashed and their paper records are scattered all over the place. Furniture has been overturned and light fixtures were torn off the walls. No one was hurt, since it was done during the night when everyone was away, but they’re all pretty scared.”

Merlin cleared his throat and ran a hand through the fur on his head. “Thank you for calling me,” he said after a moment. “You’ve been good to my girls ever since we set up shop. I appreciate your friendship. Will you give a message to Cindy for me when you get a chance?”

“Yes, I will.”

“After the police are done with them, tell them to take off a few days to gather their wits and then call me back when they’re ready. I will have Taro handle the business end of the company from here, so we’ll need the calls automatically routed to us. Daily backups of the office records are routinely uploaded to us. I’ll have Durant contact our insurance company on the damage to your building, and we’ll coordinate their investigation with the local police.”

“I understand and will make sure they get the message. Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Merlin replied. “When they’re ready to get back to work, have them get the office back into order and then look into a good security system for the place.”

“Okay, Captain. I’ll take care of it for you.”

“Thank you so much, Abigail. You’re a wonderful person!”

“You have good people working for you. I only wish I could do more for you. Well, good-bye, Merlin. I’ll relay your messages and then I need to get back to work.”

“Good-bye, Abigail. Thanks again.”

Merlin closed the connection and then sat back on his bed. It never rains… he thought to himself. He frowned at the book that was still in his hand. He tossed it back to its place on the bedside table and then reached for his boots. He had to work this out with Taro and Durant before they lost any more time.

***

Armando paced back and forth the length and width of the cabin that had been assigned to him. Despite that it covered three separate rooms, the accommodations were still smaller than what he was used to on the Savannah Hunter. It was true that he often locked himself up in his cabin during the voyages between planetary systems, but that was different from being confined to quarters. They had cut off his communication and video feeds to the terminals in the cabin, and he was locked out of the computer system as well. As it had been an unoccupied cabin, there were no real personal touches to the rooms. There were no pictures on the walls, curios in the cabinets or even books on the shelves. The lion was bored beyond boredom. Even his box of comics no longer interested him.

The cute bunny girl brought him meals twice each day-cycle, but she was always accompanied by another armed crewmember. At least he had been loaned some clothing that fit him somewhat. The loadmaster’s pants and shirts were still a little big for the Mainoran lion, but none of the others on board was near large enough for their clothes to get into. He currently wore a pair of cinnamon-colored breeches and a burgundy, short-sleeved shirt with an open collar. His own soft-sided boots were travel-worn, but more comfortable that anything else they had found for him.

Armando glanced at the door and snorted, wondering how hard it would be to force it open. There was no place he could go with the ship still out in deep space, but it would be better than being cooped up inside one cabin.

He walked to the door and examined it. A small access panel four inches across was in the wall near floor level on the right side. He picked up a butter knife from his meal tray and then stretched out on his stomach near the panel. He pried at the cover and managed to work it loose. A moment later, he had exposed four optic cables and a flexible pneumatic conduit.

Armando studied the configuration for a moment, as he tried to remember his basic flight system repair training. He was not sure what he was doing, but relied on instinct alone. He grabbed the pneumatic line and then gently twisted it back and forth where it connected to the thick doorframe just inside the airlock pane. He worked it for a few minutes and was about to give up when it came loose with a sharp pop! Armando smiled when the internal door shuddered for several seconds and then became still once again.

Tentatively, he got up on his knees and then leaned against the door with his hands. He pushed toward the right, and the door panels parted quietly. He picked up the butter knife, stuck it out of the door slightly, and then looked closely at the mirrored reflections on the silvery metal surface. There was no movement to the right. He turned the blade toward the other side and noted no movement to the left. Satisfied he would not be caught right away, Armando stepped out into the hallway and then closed the panels behind him. As he had been fed recently, no one would be checking in on him for a while.

He moved toward the left and passed several doors as he crept past each one. He stopped when he saw a blue door painted with the image of a golden sailing-ship’s wheel. He stepped toward the bridge entrance, but then hesitated and changed his mind. He continued around the curved corridor and quickly found the lift. He punched the call button and within a moment, the doors parted for him. The lion stepped inside and hit the button marked “Level 3”. The door shut and the lights dimmed momentarily. When the lights brightened up again, the lift doors parted.

Almost immediately, he could hear labored action music and the clash of metal upon metal. He eased his nose out of the lift and saw two figures dressed in some type of white outfit over their fur, practicing sword techniques with thin rapiers. He watched for several minutes until Renny lunged at the wolf, his blade tip missing his opponent only by Merlin’s sudden turn to the side. The captain followed through, whipped his blade up and sideways, effectively knocking the rapier from his navigator’s hand. It clattered to the deck and rolled across the floor until it came to rest against Armando’s boot.

Merlin and Renny saw the lion at the same time. Both stood extremely still when Armando bent down and picked up the cheetah’s sword. “You two are very good,” he said quietly.

He carried the blade toward the combatants and tested the air with a couple of quick swishes. “I’ve always thought these things were for sissies,” he added as Merlin raised his own weapon in the event a new match was about to begin. Armando smiled toward him, but tossed the rapier back toward Renny, hilt-first. The cheetah caught it easily and then looked toward his captain.

“Personally,” Armando continued, “they’re no match for a pistol.”

“As you aren’t equipped with a gun at this moment,” said another voice, “you’re at a disadvantage.”

Armando turned his head and found Pockets looking up at him. Moss floated quietly beside him, both its eye lenses fixed upon the lion. The raccoon held a rather large and heavy-looking wrench in his hands, a cross expression on his features. The tool was nearly half as tall as the engineer himself was, and was smeared with grease on one end. Armando smiled.

“I didn’t come up here to pick a fight,” he said casually, putting his hands into the pockets of his trousers. Merlin closed the distance between them and eased his rapier tip up to the lion’s broad nose.

“If I recall correctly,” the wolf said with a growl, “you were confined to quarters. What are you doing here?”

“I was bored,” he said with a shrug. Merlin lowered his blade with a frown. “You’ve had me locked up for days with nothing to do,” Armando added. “You’ve given me no books nor audio or video feeds to help pass the time.”

“You haven’t earned those rewards,” Renny said. “You stowed away on our ship, have breathed our air and eaten our food. You’ve done nothing to endear yourself to us.”

“I’ve done all the filthy little jobs you’ve found for me to do!” Armando said in his defense. “I’ve worked for my passage and I want to move around to see more than just the insides of one cabin!”

“Aboard the Savannah Hunter,” Merlin said, “did you expect the captain’s commands to be law?” He picked up a cloth from a nearby chair and began to wipe down his blade.

“Of course I did,” Armando replied. “If I caught anyone disobeying something I told ‘em to do, I would pound ‘em into the deck plates.”

“I am captain of the Blue Horizon,” Merlin said as he put his rapier into a felt-lined case. “While we were still on Crescentis, I told you that I didn’t want you on my ship, yet you stowed away and then expect to be left to your own wishes.” He stood up and faced Armando as Renny put away his own blade. “You disobeyed the Captain’s Law, Jensen. In your words, do you think I should ‘pound you into the deck plates’ now?”

Armando looked uneasy. “Listen, Captain,” he said quietly, “all I want is a break.”

“Arm or leg?” Pockets asked from the side. Armando shot the engineer a dark look; the constant jibes were beginning to get to him.

“Just cut me some slack, will you?” he asked Merlin. “I’ve had it rough lately.”

Moments earlier, Merlin had considered doing just that. He was tired of their feud and only wanted to be rid of this guy, but it seemed Armando was never apologetic for anything. He seemed too smug. He was not exactly sure what he was going to do with the lion, but before he had thought it out further, his mouth seemed to speak of its own accord.

“I really couldn’t care less about your situation,” he said coldly. “You’ll always be a loser.”

Armando Jensen had lost his ship, his business, his comfort and his pride in the space of a week. His stress level had been high for days and Merlin’s last comment set him off. Before anyone could think, Armando slugged the wolf without warning.

Merlin’s head rocked back from the force of the impact and an explosion ripped between his ears. He spun around, fell sideways over the back of a recliner, and his head bounced off the floor. His vision went black, and for a moment he forgot where he was.

He shook his head and immediately regretted it. His jaw hurt on the left side and he had to blink several times before he could get his bearings back. This only took a few seconds, but when he was fully cognizant again, he realized that Renny and Armando were slugging it out with one another. Both were fast, but neither managed to avoid the other’s punches. He saw another movement from the side and looked up in time to see Pockets swing his huge wrench at Armando’s left ankle. The Mainoran lion roared in pain and fell to the floor as the heavy, greasy wrench slipped out of the raccoon’s small hands.

Renny took this to his advantage and jumped on Armando’s chest to pummel his face with both fists. Merlin stood up shakily and moved toward the commotion. Any pity he might have felt toward his old competitor had vanished completely and he had no qualms about kicking the lion when he was down. He stumbled trying to walk and suddenly found himself sitting back on his tail on the floor, still unsteady by the unexpected blow to the head.

Amidst the cheetah’s pounding, Armando managed to grab one of Renny’s wrists and jerked sideways as hard as he could. The navigator gasped in pain and followed his wrist as Armando threw him off to the side. The lion rolled up onto his hands and knees, but a punch to his ribs made him collapse again. Forcing himself to move, Merlin knelt next to him and threw another punch to Armando’s jaw. From the other side, Renny kicked out from his prone position and caught Armando in the other side. The lion curled up to protect his middle and gasped for breath.  He gathered his strength and was about to get back up on his hands and knees when there was a thud at the back of his head.  He dropped to the deck and stopped moving.

Pockets moved to Merlin’s side and put away the tool he had popped against the back of the lion’s head.

“Are you okay?” he asked in concern.

The captain wiped away blood from a split lip after Pockets helped him up onto a chair. Merlin gingerly felt of his sore snout and took inventory of his limbs and digits. “I’ll live,” he reported after a moment. Renny rolled over so that he could sit up, but cradled his injured wrist.

“What about him?” the cheetah said between pants.

“He’s out cold,” Pockets replied. “I hit him with a number eight spanner.”

“Better get Tanis up here right away to make sure you didn’t crack his skull.”

“Why bother?” the raccoon groused. “I hope I did crack it.”

Merlin looked over at him wearily. “Just get Tanis,” he repeated.

“Right, boss.” The engineer walked in embellished slow motion across the room to the intercom control, an act that did not escape Merlin’s notice.

Renny gestured toward the unconscious form on the floor with a grimace. “Now what do we do with him?” he asked. “If he got out of his cabin once, he can do it again.”

Merlin rubbed his jaw again and found it hard to think. “Dunno,” he replied.

“Would it be too much to ask to just jettison him?”

“Yes,” Merlin replied with a smile that hurt for him to make. “I know it would make you happy, but we can’t do that.”

“Aww, gee, Dad…” Renny said in a childlike voice, “you’re no fun.”

“However,” the captain said in a lighter tone at an idea that came to him, “I think I know how to keep him out of our fur until we land.”

***

“Hold still,” Tanis admonished his captain. He daubed a foul, blue-soaked cotton swab on Merlin’s split lip and the wolf winched again. “It’s been a while since the last time ya got involved in a brawl, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Merlin replied through the stinging of the antiseptic. He sat on a small stool in Sickbay while his medic looked him over. “I suppose I had it coming to me, though,” he added.

“Why’s that?”

“I’ve done nothing but degrade Armando since we saw him on Crescentis.”

Tanis tapped him on the chest with a claw tip. “Aren’t yah supposed to be the good guy?”

“I suppose I could have been more lenient,” the wolf admitted, “but I have to admit I’ve enjoyed having the upper hand on him.”

Tanis tsked and took a look at the bruise under the fur on the left side of Merlin’s jaw. “I could debate ya on who had the upper hand in this bout,” he chuckled.

“I should have expected him to be in for a fight,” the wolf said, “but he took me by surprise. At least Renny got to hit him a few times. I was too dazed to get in any licks.” Tanis looked over his shoulder at the cheetah stretched out on a nearby gurney, snoring softly. There was a gel cast around his left wrist where the lion had broken it with a small fracture, and the painkillers had worked their magic on the exhausted navigator.

“Well, ya should be happy to know that Armando had more cuts and loads of bruises than either of ya,” the tan fox replied. “Lucky for him, Pockets didn’t break his neck with the wrench. I suppose Armando has a thicker skull than most.”

“I could have told you that without a medical examination,” Merlin said with a stinging smirk. “He’s never had a good head for his own business.”

The intercom chirped and Tanis moved to the small panel near the door. “This is Tanis,” he said into the tiny condenser microphone.

“Tanis?  Is the captain in there with you?” Samantha’s voice asked.

“I’m here, Sam,” the wolf replied.

“Cindy called just a few minutes ago,” she replied. “I knew you were still being attended to, so I went ahead and talked to her myself.”

“That’s fine. Tanis has seen to our injured egos. He says we’ll be back to our normal surly selves shortly.”

“Nice.”

“What did Cindy have to say?”

“While she and the others were cleaning up the mess at the home office, Keri found a sealed envelope addressed to you. Neither she nor Penny can recall seeing it the day before. They’re afraid to open it.”

“What did you tell them to do?”

“I said I’d ask you about it first, since it was addressed specifically to you.”

Tanis whispered something to the wolf and Merlin frowned. “Get Cindy back on the line and tell her to have it opened and analyzed only by the authorities, and not to open it herself.”

“Okay, I can do that.  Why?”

“Tanis said there’s a chance it might be booby-trapped somehow, either with a chemical agent or a spring-loaded explosive. Let the police handle this as another possible threat.”

“That’s a lovely thought. I’ll pass along your orders right away.”

“Thanks, Sam.”

Tanis closed the connection and looked back at his captain. “I don’t like the sound of all this,” he said quietly.

***

When Armando regained consciousness, he felt strange. He was sore and aching, but was unable to move his arms. His eyes were open, but he could see nothing but a fuzzy light somewhere in the distance. It took him a moment to remember the fight with Sinclair and the cheetah, but was unable to recall how it ended. He could feel a bandage wrapped around his head, however, as it was a little snug.

He strained his eyes at the light and it suddenly dawned on him what he was seeing. The dim illumination was coming from the door of Durant’s cargo bay office, two stories below him.  Armando’s eyes widened and he struggled against his bonds.

“Sinclair, you wretched cur!” he shouted out in fury. He began to swing back and forth from writhing about. “Get me down from here!” His voice echoed in the vast chamber but he received no reply.

Inside Durant’s office, the grizzly bear smiled and got up from the seat behind his desk. He walked out into the cargo bay and looked up in the direction of the shouting, but could not see Armando in the darkness, bound hand and foot and hanging from a harness clipped to the overhead crane hook. The Blue Horizon was due to land in a couple of days, and all Durant had to do to block out the lion’s shouts of indignation was close his pressure door.

“Sinclair!” Armando’s voice echoed, followed by a string of profanity in several languages.

Durant shut his door and put on some music to listen to while he worked on the accounts.

***

The Blue Horizon was a day away from Kantus and Taro had little luck trying to find another customer to replace Brandersen. She was tired, frustrated and was about to give up and tell Merlin they would have to fly empty to Alexandrius when the com panel chirped.

She tapped the control and spoke into her headset microphone, “This is the SS Blue Horizon. How may I help you?”

“Blue Horizon? Good – I’m glad I got through! We’ve had a winter blizzard hit the city and we’ve had trouble getting off-planet signals for several days.”

“How may I help you?” Taro repeated patiently.

“Yes, right. My name is Crispin McDowell and I manage the Kantus district office for Book Depot. We’ve had a massive order from Alexandrius for a great number of printed book titles and we need to get them delivered to Oshua as soon as possible. I heard your ship would be on Kantus soon and was looking for a contract. Are you interested?”

Taro smiled. “Yes sir, we would be happy to take your order. Our usual delivery price from one planetary system to another is ©50,000, but we’re willing to—”

“Listen, I know it’s standard procedure for most freighters to give your crew a few days of leave every time you land, but if you can make a quick turnaround and be on the way to Alexandrius with our cargo within a day of your arrival, I’ll pay you ©60,000 in advance.”

“This must be a fairly important set of books,” Taro said cheerily. “I’m sure Captain Sinclair will be only too happy to make an exception to our standard rule for your case.”

“Wonderful, Horizon. I have heard good things about your company. You will need to pick up our cargo at the Wiltz Warehouse in Oshua. Everything will be in cargo trucks that can be driven right up into your cargo bay and secured without having to unload them.”

“If you will send me your contact and financial information, I will get with Captain Sinclair to make the final arrangements.”

“Thank you, Horizon. I’m now sending information to you now via encoded carrier.”

“Data just received. I will contact you within the hour, Mr. McDowell, to finalize the contract and get the landing coordinates.”

“That will be fine. I look forward to doing business with you.”

“Blue Horizon, out.” Taro made a few notes into the computer log and then reset the com terminal for the intercom. A moment later, the panel chirped.

“Yes?” came Merlin’s weary voice.

“This is Taro, captain. I’ve just secured a contract to replace Brandersen.”

“Excellent!” the wolf replied in a sudden change of mood. Taro relayed the conversation she had had with McDowell to its ending. “That’s good news, Taro. Please finalize everything and put it through just as you described it. Then inform Durant to arrange receipt of the advance funds from Book Depot. Since our turnaround will be quick, tell Lori that she is excused from cargo duty. She will need to purchase our galley stock and have it delivered all within a few hours’ time before we transfer to Oshua for our pickup.”

“I’ll get on it right away.”

“One more thing,” Merlin added. “Even though McDowell has his inventory conveniently loaded into trucks, I want Pockets to have them scanned before we drive them up into the Horizon. This would be an equally convenient way to sneak a bomb on board the ship. After what happened at HQ, I want to be a little more cautious.”

“That’s a good idea. Okay, I’ll get the ball rolling.”

“I appreciate your good work, Taro. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Taro, out.”

***

“Mr. Sinclair,” a gray feline said from the main vidscreen of the Blue Horizon’s bridge. She was an officer of the local police force in Grandstorm, Dennier, dressed smartly in a dark green uniform with a gleaming silver-plated badge over her left shirt pocket.

“Yes?”

“I’m Officer Dana Deonta of the Grandstorm Eighth Precinct. I wanted to contact you about the suspicious package that was found in the midst of your office break-in.”

“Go ahead.”

“It was tested for biological threats and mechanical triggers, but it turned out the envelope itself was safe to open. Although we found nothing inside to cause a physical threat, the note that was inside was important enough to warrant our attention, and we wanted to let you know that we’ll be on the lookout for further trouble around your office.”

Merlin frowned. “What did the note say?”

The feline officer frowned and nodded. “The message reads…”

***

“We’re all here, Captain,” Rezo Kegawa’s voice emanated from the Rec Room’s vidscreen. The large vidscreen panel was in split screen with the entire crew of the Hidalgo Sun on one side and the three from the home office on the other. The crew of the Blue Horizon was gathered in front of the vidscreen and Merlin stood in front and off to the side so that everyone could see him. He wore his flight jacket and captain’s hat as a conscious visual to look like the commander of his group.

The wolf cleared his throat and nodded toward Rezo. “By now, everyone here knows about the company office break-in,” he said. “Nothing was actually taken in the incident, but office equipment was destroyed and everything was scattered throughout the rooms. In the midst of the mess, a sealed envelope was found addressed to me that had not been in the office the previous day. The local authorities took the envelope to their lab to test it for biological contamination, but found it safe to open. Inside, however, was a letter of consequence.”

The captain looked over the faces of his gathered crews from all three locations and then read from his slateboard. Everyone listened in rapt attention. He cleared his throat and read a transcript of the message.

“Merlin Sinclair of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer,

“A year ago, you were warned not to rebuild your business. Despite this, you have put two new ships into operation and have pulled in a nice profit for your expansion. This attack on your home office is the first result of your sin, but it won’t be the last. Make whatever preparations you think will protect you, but it won’t matter.”

Merlin looked up and added, “The note was unsigned.”

“That doesn’t sound good at all,” Rezo said. “When were you warned before?”

Merlin looked up at the red panda on the vidscreen. “Right after we lost our previous model Blue Horizon,” he answered, “we were staying at the Tanthean embassy on Pomen. While there, I found a note stuck to my apartment door that warned me not to attempt to rebuild my business. It was also unsigned, but at the time I strongly suspected it was someone from Sagan’s crew who planted it there.”

“You don’t sound like you think that’s who it is now,” Keri said from the home office.

Merlin shook his head. “No, in light of our recent loss of a customer due to the bold actions of another freighter, I’m starting to suspect the perpetrator is Jiawen Chon, current owner and captain of the Savannah Hunter.”

“Do you have proof that he’s the one?” Patch asked from the Hidalgo Sun.

“No, I don’t,” Merlin admitted. “I have no more proof than I did when I got the other note. It just seems to be too much of a coincidence to dismiss, however.”

“From what Armando’s been telling us,” Renny spoke up, “this Chon guy could very well be desperate enough to do something like this.”

“Yes, but did this Chon have any reason to threaten you while you were in downtime before?” Mark Littlefeather asked.

Merlin put the slateboard away inside his jacket. “I wouldn’t think so, and I’m not saying it is Chon behind the notes,” he said, “but it’s possible he was intending to take the Savannah Hunter away from Armando even back then and wanted to keep our possible competition out of the way for his plans.”

“So, what do we do now?” Rezo asked.

“As we have no proof on who is behind this,” Merlin replied, “we’re going to have to be on our guard. I want everyone to be extra-cautious around the people we come into contact with in our business. Don’t let anyone board the ships without a specific reason for them to be there. If you have a customs inspector, make sure that person is accompanied by a chaperon from the crew while they are aboard. Don’t bring any guests on board while you’re on shore leave, and don’t give out any tours. If anyone gives you a gift before takeoff, be sure to inspect it before it’s even brought on board.

“We’ve been threatened, attacked and threatened again, and now we have to be alert for more attempts to disrupt the company business. It may not only be office equipment or documents that are smashed next time. Until we know who is stalking us, I don’t want anyone I employ to get complacent, even when we’re out in space and weeks away from any planet.”

The captain looked at his chief engineer and said, “Pockets, I want you to share your mobile sentry system plans with the home office and the Hidalgo Sun. I want a Moss unit constructed and operational in all three places, and I want the security protocols in their programming strengthened so that all cargo and shipments are scanned for any kind of threat. You’ll have to get creative and try to think of anything that could be done and how to check for it.”

“Aye, captain,” the raccoon answered. Durant grimaced at the order, but understood Merlin’s reasons.

The wolf looked back up to Rezo. “I don’t know of anything else to do at this point, other than just stress that we have to be alert to further attacks that may take any form. I know that you will be making landfall on Quet soon. Be cautious, Captain. That would be a place ripe for something like this.”

“Understood.”

“Cindy, I want you to hire security guards for the home office. Be very picky about who you hire and make sure their references are checked thoroughly with the local police. Until this issue is resolved, I want someone in that office around the clock at all times.”

“We’ll take care of it right away.”

Merlin looked around at the twenty-one people in his employment and then sighed. “Life working for a cargo-moving company is supposed to be mundane and we shouldn’t even have to face this, but someone else has caused this situation. Be careful in everything you do from now on, and be alert. There’s nothing more I can say.”

***

Merlin and Renny began shutting down the ship’s flight systems as usual, but the thoughts running through the wolf’s mind were far from routine. They had just landed in the snowy city of Askran on Kantus and he knew that Durant would already be opening the bay doors of the hold to prepare their cargo for unloading. When he stood up from the center seat, Samantha looked over at him from the com console.

“Max said that Armando’s causing a fuss,” she reported with a frown, taking off her headset.  “No one can get near enough to him to let him off the sky-hook.”

“You’d think he would welcome the chance to get off our ship,” Renny commented dryly as he locked down the rest of his controls.

“Where does he get his energy?” Merlin wondered. “I thought he’d be weak from hunger for hanging up there for two days.”

“That’s what he’s complaining about,” Samantha replied. “He hasn’t been fed since we put him up there and he stinks from soiling himself. Now that he’s been lowered to ground level, he’s thrashing about to try to get his hands on anyone near enough.”

Merlin thought about this for a moment and then gave her a look of resignation. “Call the local authorities. Report him as a captured stowaway and tell them we need them to take him off our hands.  I won’t press any charges, but I want him off the premises as soon as possible. Tell them they might have to stun him.”

Samantha nodded.  “I’ll get right on it.”

Renny rubbed his gel cast in annoyance. His wrist was itching, but he could not get to it. “Durant will have to forget about getting his clothes back,” he muttered.

“We can’t have a standard shore leave this time,” Merlin reminded him, “so he’ll have to wait until our next port of call before he can replace them.”  He looked up at Samantha on the com talking to the local police, and then frowned when he looked back at Renny.  “I hate to do this to you, friend, but since your wrist won’t let you help us unload cargo, I’m giving you the chore of cleaning the cabin Armando occupied during his stay with us.”

“That’s right,” Renny grumbled. “Pick on the invalid.”

***

Due to their quick turnaround, the Blue Horizon departed within twenty hours of landing. Lorelei managed to get the galley restocked for their next voyage and the cargo had been thoroughly scanned and searched in Oshua before they let it on board the ship. They found nothing out of the ordinary and were able to make their launch window in time. Max was up and out of his cabin as soon as Durant had given the All Clear over ship-wide intercom. He headed toward the bridge, but as he reached the door, the blue panel slid aside. Merlin and Renny stepped out together.

“Durant’s on bridge duty,” the captain said. “Is there something we can do for you, Max?”

The young canine nodded. “Uncle Merlin, may I speak to you privately?”

“Go right ahead,” Renny said with a smile. “I’m heading toward the galley to find something to eat.”

“Thanks, Renny,” Max said. The cheetah sauntered off toward the lift, leaving the two of them alone.

“You want to talk in my den or my quarters?” Merlin asked him.

“Your quarters, if you don’t mind,” Max replied. The wolf nodded and led the way around the curved corridor to his cabin and then Max followed him inside. Merlin took a seat on one end of his front room couch. Max took the other.

“What’s on your mind?” the captain asked him.

“It’s about what you told me concerning Mr. Duffy,” Max answered, looking at the floor rug beneath his feet.

“I see, okay.”

Max fidgeted a moment, his hands clasped together between his knees. He wore a black tee shirt and tan carpenter pants that had a few tools inside the large leg pockets. He opened his mouth to speak, but a wrench settled in his pocket with a loud clink in the quiet cabin. Merlin smiled and said in a soft tone, “You’re picking up Pockets’ habits.”

Max grinned and nodded. “I don’t have quite as many tools in my pockets as what he carries on him at all times,” he said with a chuckle. Sensing the ice had been broken, he swallowed and said, “From what you and Tanis have told me about Mr. Duffy, I have to concede that he probably is my father.”

“It helps to have an open mind about it,” Merlin agreed.

Max swallowed again and then looked up into the wolf’s amber eyes. “What… what is this going to do to our relationship?” he asked.

Merlin leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs. “I don’t see how this should change anything between us, Max,” he replied. “Do you think it should?”

“Since you know he’s my real father, are you going to make me leave the Blue Horizon to go live with him?”

Merlin straightened up at that. “Make you leave?” he repeated in quiet surprise. “Listen, Max, even though I became your legal guardian and am your adopted kin, you are now an adult by Dennieran standards. That kind of decision is not up to me anymore – it’s yours to make. If you don’t want to leave the Horizon, you’re welcome to stay. I’ve had no plans to get rid of you.”

“Thank you.”

“So, how do you feel about Duffy?” Merlin asked

Max tilted his head slightly and shrugged. “Well, I can’t say that I hold anything against him for not marrying my mother,” he said. “I was really young when she sold me, so I don’t remember much about her anyway. Mr. Duffy seems okay, but I don’t really have an interest in going to live with him either.”

“Max, Duffy isn’t even aware he has a son. If you want to keep things as-is, I’m more than willing to keep you in my family.”

“Thanks, uncle Merlin. I would like to stay.”

The wolf smiled. “Great! I didn’t want to have to hire anyone else anyway.”

“May I ask you a big favor?”

“What do you want, a bigger allowance?” Merlin asked with a large smile. Max returned the grin.

“Please don’t tell Mr. Duffy what Tanis discovered,” the canine replied. “It would only complicate everybody’s lives and I believe I like things just the way they are. If I decide to tell him, I might want to do that myself.”

Merlin stood up and offered a hand to his nephew. “Sounds like a reasonable request,” he said as Max shook hands with him. “However,” he said, “you should go to each person on board and make the same request. Lori’s already blabbed it throughout the ship.”

“Yeah,” Max replied with a smirk, “I know.”

***

When Merlin and Max walked onto the rec deck a few moments later, the captain noted that nearly everyone was there, watching INN on the large vidscreen panel. Max moved off to the galley to get something to snack on and Merlin went to the nearest couch. He stood behind it with hands in his pockets as the dark-haired, human news anchor shuffled the pages before her and looked at the camera with a grave expression.

“Hello, listeners, this is News Around the Alignment and I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. The latest reports on the Roppa System War confirm that Nalirra has suffered tremendous losses to Oe’Tanatan attacks. The Nalirran fleet is down to one-half its original strength and its government has recalled its heavy cruisers from bombing their enemy planet just to maintain a line of defense. Casualties are heavy and Nalirran Personnel Forces are scrambling to draft as many off-world citizens as possible to keep up the front. The draft has been met with mixed results; in some cases, military SPs have had to be called in to forcefully take personnel back to Nalirra.”

Lorelei sat on the floor between Tanis’ legs and she could feel how tense his muscles were. She glanced up at him and saw his attention riveted to the images of defensive battles on the surface of his homeworld that played in the background behind Holly. His eyes were hard, and she could see his lips drawn taught as he fought to control his emotions. Her heart went out to him. She laid her head on his knees and gently wrapped her arms around his right leg.

“Casualties on the Tanatan world are still unknown. Attempts to get reporters into the area have met with disaster and even a few civilian deaths in that arena. Sed Amittias has issued no official statement as yet on the fighting, and still hasn’t requested assistance from other PA worlds, but associates to the dictator have anonymously reported that his mental condition is borderline unstable. While Amittias has not requested military assistance, the hospitals of Nalirra are in desperate need of medical supplies. Earth, Pomen and Alexandrius have already responded by sending relief supplies with heavily-armed escorts on their way into the war zone.”

Taro looked at the screen and a shiver ran through her. Her memory of Shoji Locke’s demise was still fresh in her mind. She did not think she would ever forget the sight of his split skull from the Tanatan ripple gun, especially knowing just how close she and her friends had come to the same fate. She started at the graphic sight of similar victims on the news report and Renny gasped for breath from her sudden constricting grip on his injured wrist.

“Sorry, luv…” she whispered, releasing her hold on him. Holly continued on for several minutes before the images behind her stopped. She brushed a hand through her volley of hair and then reshuffled her pages that served no purpose other than a prop.

Next to Tanis on the couch, Samantha leaned over to him. “What’s this all about?” she asked him quietly. “No one seems to know why your world is at war.”

Arktanis swallowed and looked around the room at his crewmates. “I’ve been away from home news for too long,” he said in a muted voice. “Nalirra and Oe’Tanata were colonized in the system around the same time, but developed apart from one another. They’ve always left one another alone, but from what Holly reported about Sed Amittias’ mental condition, it’s possible he tried to extend his dictatorship off-world.” He closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. He let out an audible sigh. “Ya’ll saw the images from the news report…” he said somberly. “I actually recognized a few faces of people I once knew, their heads busted open and their abdomens split apart from those terrible enemy weapons.”

The fennec fox looked up and behind him at Merlin, his expression forlorn. “When we went in to destroy mine and Duffy’s personnel files, this is what we wanted to avoid,” he said. “I’m not against fighting for my world when there’s a proper cause, but this war is pointless. Amittias is not even telling his people what they are fighting for, so there’s not even a patriotic reason to take part in it. I know this makes me look like a draft-dodger,” he said lowly. “Maybe I am, but…”

“No one thinks of you that way, Tanis,” Merlin said with a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “The heavens know how glad I was to leave my own military unit after the Dennier-Mainor conflicts. I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say that your career in the medical field is more important than fighting and killing for an unknown purpose.”

Tanis was thankful for his captain’s words, but he snorted in personal disgust. “No offense to ya, Merlin, but I’m not much of a physician on a space freighter. I never got to finish my medical degree to become a fully licensed doctor – I was short one semester of graduating when I was recalled into active duty four years ago. I suppose I should have gone back to the university when I finished up my service time, instead of coming back to work for ya again as a medic.”

“You still can, you know,” Pockets said in a quiet voice. “We’re glad to have you here, Tanis, but no one would fault you if you left us to further your career.”

Tanis looked up at the engineer gratefully. “I appreciate that, Pockets,” he said with genuine feeling, “but right now that’s not an option. No university in the PA would accept me when there’s an open call for citizens to return to Nalirra to fight. Perhaps later when this is all over, I might try to finish up my degree somewhere. I’ll probably have to repeat some courses since it’s been so long.”

Merlin gave a little squeeze to the desert fox’s shoulder and nodded. “Whenever the time comes for you to return to academia,” he said warmly, “you can count on us for personal references.”

“Thanks,” Tanis said, seeing the friendly faces around him. “That means a lot.”

“Hey, what’s this?” Durant asked suddenly. Everyone’s attention returned to the vidscreen to find video images of rioting outside a prominent building on Pomen. Holly had continued her broadcast during the Blue Horizon’s personal conversation.

“…just as devastating to other parts of the Planetary Alignment,” she said, “Interpost has just laid-off some three hundred fifty thousand employees and closed its doors, citing embezzlement and internal tampering by its committee members. In an age of routine spatial travel and advanced tachyon ansible communications technologies, there are times when physical packages must still be shipped between the worlds of the PA. Interpost was created thirty-five years ago to handle this interstellar postal traffic, and with its sudden collapse, the company has effectively stopped millions of small-scale shipments without a backup plan for billions of customers on seventeen worlds.

“The PA Legislature convened for an emergency meeting today to address the problem. An investigative team was selected to begin an immediate, full-scale investigation into the Interpost shutdown, and in a PA-wide broadcast transmitted roughly an hour ago, Senator Wrigley of Pomen addressed the Legislature to announce temporary measures.

“In a mandatory declaration, all interstellar freight and shipping companies are ordered to help out in this time of need.” Several of the gathered crew looked quickly at Merlin, but he only shrugged.  “Directives will be sent out en masse within the next few days to all known interstellar freighters, but INN has received an advance copy of the message that will soon be distributed all over the PA.

“Every vessel shipping goods from one world of the Planetary Alignment to another will be required by a new law to take on as many parcels as is possible upon each voyage to maintain a semblance of order for customers on all the affected planets. Each ship will be paid a flat fee of ©5,000 for each delivery of postal crates it makes along with its normal business. However, each vessel that lands and does not release a shipment of the mail will be fined ©5,000. All freighters currently en route between worlds are exempt from this fine until their next planetfall, but any ship that launches toward another PA-member world will be required to carry mail to its next destination.”

Holly nodded again off camera and then looked back with a smile. “We will take a short break for our generous sponsors. When we come back, I have some good news from the world of Tanthe.”

“Whoa…” Pockets said when he muted the broadcast audio. “That came out of nowhere.”

“Not really,” Durant said. Everyone turned to look at him. “Interpost has been going up on their shipping rates every year for the past five years, but their fleet of delivery ships is getting a bare minimum of maintenance just to keep them flying. They haven’t purchased any new ships in nearly eight years, despite their price increases.”

“Holly said there were allegations of embezzlement,” Samantha said. “That probably shows where all the monies have gone.  Looks like their bookkeepers couldn’t cover for them any longer and just shut down operations.”

“How badly is this going to affect us?” Taro asked.

Merlin spread his hands outward. “At first glance, I can’t see how it would hurt us at all,” he replied. “It’s rare we’re fully loaded to every cubic area of space in the hold, so taking on a few more crates each time isn’t going to affect our schedule or business, unless it’s to add another five thousand credits to the coffer each trip.”

“Since you put it that way,” Renny said, “I don’t see why the Legislature would need to fine anyone. I would think every freighter out there would be pleased to add a little extra to their incomes without doing anything else to really earn it – especially with the way the economy is right now.”

“Holly’s back on with the news,” Lorelei said.

“Welcome back to News Around the Alignment. I’m Holly Harken of the Interplanetary News Network. Many of my viewers will recall the excitement and celebrations on the world of Tanthe when Princess Tinara Shei Aris, the second daughter of King Adion Aris, gave birth to the new official blood heir to the throne, Prince Merlin Sel Aris. We have received word earlier in this broadcast that the Princess is pregnant yet again, the result of an ancient tradition enacted to infuse new blood into the family line using an unrelated lover. Details on the conception and the surrogate father have not been released, but the royal family is celebrating their good fortune with worldwide festivities. Stay tuned, folks. You can count on Holly to bring you the latest updates as soon as they are known.”

“What do you know about that?” Renny said. He looked over at the captain and flashed him a wide grin. “Your royal girlfriend found herself another male!”

“Yeah,” Taro added with a smirk. “I’m surprised she didn’t try to get Merlin for their traditional practice!”

Samantha looked up at the lupine captain, who stared at the screen with an unreadable look on his face. He did not respond to the jovial jabs at his love life, and the Border collie felt a sudden cold feeling along her spine.

***

Night and snow were falling over the suburb of Askran on Kantus. Armando Jensen sat on the floor in the middle of a studio apartment eating a meager supper. After spending a night in jail, he had quickly managed to find a job moving boxes at a local warehouse, and had been able to convince the foreman into an advance on his first paycheck so he could secure a place to live. Despite the lion’s shortcomings, he was a strong worker when prodded and warehouse work did not require too much thinking. He had done well enough his first few days that the foreman had agreed to keep him on.

He had only been in his tiny apartment for two days and the only furnishings he could afford were a lamp, a pillow, a space heater and an insulated sleeping bag. He had been eating off paper plates, drinking out of plastic cups and frequently ate out at convenience-food establishments as he had nothing yet to stock in the refrigerator. Other furniture would have to come later as his pay was issued, but for now his living was rather Spartan.

Armando had just finished eating his meal and immediately wished he had more of the same. He had found an inexpensive place that served honey mustard with their meals and he tended to frequent the establishment. He crumpled up the juvenile green and yellow paper wrappings and tossed them into a plastic sack. He did not have a communication set, so he could not watch the news or listen to music and there was little else to do. Still moping about the loss of his livelihood, the lion gloomily reached for his worn box of comics, the only personal possession left to him from his life on the Savannah Hunter.

Before he could get started, however, there was a loud knock on the apartment door. He grumbled something about marketers keeping late hours, got up off his sleeping bag and trudged to the door. He opened the panel and was about to mouth off his irritation when he noted that the pair of Rottweilers that stood at his front door were dressed in full-length, tan uniform coats; both carried a sidearm.

“Yeah?” he said as he picked up his coat off the floor near the front door and struggled into it. The air was crisp and flakes of snow blew in past his ears.

“Excuse me; is there a Mr. Jensen who lives here?”

“That’s me.”

“You’re Armando Jensen?”

“Yeah, that’s right. What do you want? I don’t want to buy anything.”

The two canines looked at one another briefly, and then one pulled out a slateboard from a briefcase he was carrying. He tapped open a file and then read from its screen. “Armando Jensen, age thirty-seven, the son of Arturo and Shawnetta Jensen?”

“Yeah, that’s me! Now, what d’ya want?”

In unison, both Rottweilers pulled guns from their holsters and let him see the business end of their barrels. “I’m afraid you’re under arrest, Mr. Jensen,” one of them growled. “We had a hard time tracking you down, but we have you now.”

“Arrest? What for?”

“We have a rainbow document that says you’re claiming to be a former army military technician in the Nalirran armed forces. As there are no felines allowed in the Nalirran forces, you must be a spy against our war with Oe’Tanata.”

“Now wait just a—” He swallowed his words when the other canine shoved his weapon up beneath his massive jaw.

“We can do this the easy way,” the Rottweiler growled, “or the hard way.” He cocked the hammer on the old-style revolver. Armando swallowed, but said nothing more.

The other guard opened a clip on the side of his belt and pulled out a set of thin manacles made of a metal alloy that was more than strong enough to resist the strength of the Mainoran lion. He commanded Armando put his hands behind him and then secured the bracelets around his thick wrists.

“Come with us,” the canine with the gun instructed. Armando followed him meekly, the other guard bringing up the rear.

“I didn’t do anything,” Armando said plaintively. “I don’t know anything about no rainbows or a war with tomatoes. I ain’t never even been to Nalirra!”

“Shut up,” the guard in back said with the nose of his weapon gouged up into the middle of the lion’s spine. “You can wail your excuses all you want in front of a Nalirran military court.”

Armando may not have possessed a very good mind for business, but he was no idiot either. He sized up the two guards and weighed his chances for getting away as they stepped down the icy stairs of his apartment complex to the darkened street below. His chances of escape died when they reached the ground level and he saw three more armed Nalirran canines near a personnel carrier full of other captives. He doubted he would be able to get far on the snow-covered ground before being shot.

He did not know that the guards had originally come to his address to draft him into military service, nor did he know anything about an altered document that had been administered with his name and family information before that facility had been attacked. Rather than Arktanis TeVann, whose information had originally been on the document, it was Armando’s data that had been processed.

The guards put him in the back of the transport with a crowd of bewildered canine draftees and then climbed into the cab of the vehicle themselves. Armando Jensen looked at the faces around him and heaved a big sigh. Could this get any worse? he thought to himself.

***

The Savannah Hunter had just cleared Kantus orbit and the bridge crew worked quickly to prepare its LightDrive engines to increase speed for their destination on Alexandrius.  JW Chon watched his people keenly from a station near the back of the bridge and nodded to himself in satisfaction. Ever since he had rid the ship of its former owner and captain, Chon had noted a marked improvement in the attitude and performance of those who staffed the dark green freighter. It was amazing that such a small thing could improve morale so much.

“We’re in the clear, sir,” a koala bear told him from the navigational station. “Ready to increase to cruising speed on your command.”

“Very good, Mr. Netter,” the giant panda said approvingly. “Increase speed incrementally until we reach interstellar inertia, Mr. Sitka.”

“Aye sir,” responded the mouse occupying the pilot’s seat. “Increasing now. We will attain optimum velocity in approximately four hours, sir.”

“Okay, listen up everyone. I want you to lock down all systems and put the ship on auto-pilot,” Chon said. “Everyone is to assemble in the Rec Hall in fifteen minutes for some important announcements I want to make and I want everyone in person.”

Without another word, the bridge crew did as they were told and set all their systems to automatic function. The captain knew that Hunkle would be informing the rest of the crew of the assembly, and by the time he stepped into the ship’s largest crew chamber, all hands would be present. Sure that his people would follow this command, Chon left the bridge and headed for his quarters to pick up a slateboard.

Twenty minutes later, Jiawen Chon walked into a room packed with his personnel. Lon Hunkle ran up to him and executed a sharp salute. “All personnel present, captain. No stragglers.”

Chon gave the ferret a nod of approval. He moved to the front of the room and stepped up onto a metal box that Hunkle had arranged for him to stand on. He put his hands behind his back and looked out over the faces of the seventeen individuals that made up his crew. He was dressed in a pair of tan pants and a red vest, and was comfortable in what he was about to announce.

“The first thing I want to tell you,” he said in a friendly tone that carried in the quiet air, “is that I am pleased with the performance of this crew in the wake of change.”  There were several whispers between people. It was probably the first time any of them had received a kind word from the panda since they had been shanghaied onto the crew.  “There are more changes to be made, but some of the decisions will be your own,” Chon continued.

“Now that Armando Jensen is no longer in the picture, I would like a stable and secure crew aboard this ship.”  He was amused by so many unblinking stares. None of them was aware of what he was going to say, including Hunkle.  “Now, I know that you were brought aboard the Savannah Hunter against your will, and I know that many of you have been looking for any excuse to jump ship and return to your homes. It happens all too often. As part of the changes around here, I have a proposal for all of you.  If you will willingly stay on board with me for just two more voyages, I will freely release you if you wish to go back to your homes.” There was a sudden, almost simultaneous intake of breath by many in the crew. Was he serious?  Could they go home? Lon Hunkle’s mouth dropped open wide. He could not believe what he was hearing.

“If I lose you all,” Chon said with a shrug of his shoulders, “so be it. However… if there are any among you who would wish to stay and work for me under a standard legal contract, I will grant to each person a competitive pay raise, as well as a full benefits package.”  More whispers filtered through the crowd.  “I have no doubts that many of you will choose to leave, and for the positions vacated, I plan to lawfully hire new workers to fill them. A lot of freighting companies went out of business after the Siilv War, so there should be plenty of former cargo-movers willing to sign a standard contract for a stable paycheck.”

He looked around, recognized looks from several he knew would be gone no matter what he offered them.  “If there are any who will agree to stay beyond two more voyages, you will be treated well and with respect, but under a contract I will expect nothing less than honest hard work and your loyalty.  This ship is in the business to make money, and it will take an effort on everyone’s part to keep the business running well – especially since single-ship cargo movers like this one are dropping out of operation at an alarming rate due to large-corporation freightliners like TranStar Shipping expanding their territories and making smaller hauling jobs harder to find.”

He pulled his slateboard from a pocket, tapped open a screen, and then held it up before him. “One last thing and then you will be free to go back to your duties,” he said. “I submitted registration to rename this vessel earlier today, and as soon as we make our next landing, I will be having the exterior hull repainted to a cool-blue shade of white, with green and gold trim to reflect the new incarnation of this business. It’s time to distance ourselves from Armando’s reputation and drop Savannah Hunter altogether, so we are now operating as the Bamboo Wind.”

OUT OF ORDER

By Ted R. Blasingame

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Journal

It’s been smooth sailing since we left Kantus, unless you can count a few of the crew having some kind of flu-like symptoms. Our cargo hold contains four large trucks loaded down with books from Book Depot to be delivered to Iverson, Alexandrius. I might have to consider hauling our cargo like this more often. It didn’t save us any time loading up the ship, since we had to scan and inspect the shipment for possible tampering from our unknown antagonist, but the subsequent time to reverse the process once we reach our destination will be greatly reduced.

This was a replacement customer for Brandersen Electronics, who cancelled our contract to give their business to the Savannah Hunter - which I have since learned has been renamed the Bamboo Wind by the ship’s new owner, Jiawen Chon. There’s been no further word on this guy’s operations, and in view of what happened at the home office, I am suspicious of him. Likewise, we’ve heard nothing more from Armando, so perhaps he’s out of our fur for good.

Cindy has hired two security guards for the home office, one for the evening shift and one for the early morning times. One is a wolf named Bob Robinson and the other is Stuart Sloan, a mastiff who prefers to go by nickname Stu. Both are ex-military and come with references that the SPF was good enough to check into for us. On board the Hidalgo Sun, Patch has already built a Moss unit based on Pockets’ designs. Cindy contracted out a local shop to build a Moss unit for the home office, but they’ve not yet received it. Although there are already such flobots standard on board exploration ships like those in the Firebird Fleet, I think Pockets is planning to apply for a patent for his Moss design and then submit the plans for the unit to the Okami Corporation in hopes they can become standard on all their ships.

Our lawyer’s already leaning hard on Brandersen for the breach in contract, and despite that Brandersen has been a repeat client over the years, I hope Mr. Wyatt burns the guy’s biscuits for his arrogance. Still, this whole mess has me rethinking the business a bit. Blue Horizon Freight Transfer has done well since we expanded our reach, but I realize that in such hard economic times our prices might be a little steep. I have instructed the home office that when dealing with a customer that is hesitant with our prices to offer a lower rate by ©2,000. If the customer is still hedging, she has my authorization to work with them another ©2,000 and down to a maximum discount of ©6,000 in an attempt to secure their business. Obviously, this policy is not to be promoted to the public, but is an internal matter. Hopefully she won’t have to drop our fee that far, but if that’s what it takes to keep our customers, it may have to be done.

There’s been no word from Clarence Duffy since he returned to his home on Fyn, and Tanis is concerned about his friend and the continuing Roppa War. The Oe’Tanata forces are still pounding Nalirra with unpredictable strike patterns, and it’s clear that Sed Amittias is in way too deep. Still, the dictator hasn’t called upon any of the other PA worlds for assistance other than medical aid. Unfortunately, it’s apparent that the Tanatans are far better equipped for this war despite their own losses. They have the upper hand in this conflict and haven’t backed down. Only time can tell how much longer Nalirra’s government can hold out.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

“WaChoo!”

Max looked up from the spanner he was calibrating with a small tool. “Bless you,” he said for the tenth time, using a courteous phrase he had heard while on Earth. Pockets blew his nose on a handkerchief he produced from his coveralls, and then rubbed his eyes with his other hand. He sniffled and then looked over at the trainee mechanic.

“D’ank you,” he said through a stuffy nose, which he again blew into his handkerchief. “Ugh.”

“You aren’t looking very well,” Max said to him. Pockets nodded in agreement, and then returned his attention to the monitor on his workbench. “Why don’t you go lie down for a while,” the youth suggested, “or go see Tanis?”

The raccoon shook his head with a sniffle. “Mahss reporded a probleb wit the ladding gear mechadism lass night,” he said with clogged sinuses. “Id looks serious, Magx.”

“What’s wrong?”

Pockets pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his nose again. “The speudraulig eggstender is leaging fluid from the bood gasgedt. If the gasgedt idsn’t reblaced before we get to Aleggsandrius, we bay not be able to eggstend the ladding gear.”

It took Max a moment to work out what Pockets had said, but he thought he understood. “We have to replace the boot gasket in the spadraulic extender in the landing gear before we get to Alexandrius?” he asked.

Pockets nodded and blew his nose again. “Id’s not an easy job,” he gasped. “Id’ll take bo’ of us worgin in crambed guarters to ged the ohd one out, and a harder timb puddin’ the dnew one bagk in.”

“Do you think Armando damaged it when you sent him in to grease the gears?”

“Poz’bly, bud I rally don’ thig he coud ged in ta where ids at. E’s too big.” WAchoo!

“Bless you. We still have a few days before we land,” Max said, worried for his friend. “You should have time for a few hours of rest, anyway.”

Pockets shook his head and just waved him off. “I’ll redst lader,” he said. Max frowned dubiously. The chief engineer was not breathing well and his eyelids were half closed as if the dim light in the room was painful to his eyes. Max went back to his calibration and just shook his head in concern.

***

Durant trudged out of his quarters in a bathrobe over his shorts and a tee shirt, feeling as if his head was going to fall off his shoulders to bounce along the corridor. He had been awake most of his regular sleeping period with a stuffy head, and the sinus drainage had given him a sore throat. He felt miserable, and while he usually resisted taking medication until absolutely necessary, he knew he might only find relief in Sickbay.

As luck would have it, Tanis was in the room studying a screen on notable medical universities. He looked up when Durant noisily blew his nose into a paper tissue. He frowned and shook his head at the sight of the loadmaster.

He tsked at the bear and motioned toward the single bed in the middle of the room. “Have a seat, m’friend,” he said. “I wondered how long it would be before ya shuffled into my sick bay.”

Durant glared at him through bloodshot eyes and just nodded in reply, his throat too sore to speak. Tanis opened a clear jar on a nearby counter and pulled out a simple wooden tongue depressor. He pulled a penlight from the pocket of his white smock and then held the flat stick up to Duran’s nose.

“Open wide,” he said. The bear did as he was told, but felt like he was going to gag when the medic pressed down on his tongue. Tanis peered into the grizzly’s throat with his light and frowned to himself. He released the bear and stepped back. “Ya have a lot of drainage,” he said. “How’s the head?”

Durant swallowed hard and then replied as gently as he could, “Stobbed ub. Feels lighg idz gonna ‘splode.”

Tanis nodded in reply and then disappeared into a back room. When he emerged a few moments later, he held two bottles out toward the accountant with one hand. The other hand was resting inside the pocket of his white lab coat. One of the bottles contained several large blue pills and the other held a vile-looking green liquid. Durant took them reluctantly.

“Swallow no more than a tablespoon of the syrup every four hours,” Tanis instructed. “That will help relieve the soreness caused by yer drainage. If ya take one of the pills every twelve hours with some food, that should help relieve the pressure in yer sinuses.” Durant nodded his head and immediately regretted the motion.

“Whut ‘ave I got?”

“Considering where ya picked it up, I would wager ya have the Waxflatter virus. It’s a native viral infection of the region of Kantus we just visited where it’s been recently rampant. It’s not too nasty, but bad enough to make most folk fairly miserable. It doesn’t take much exposure in cold weather to catch it.”

Durant looked at him through tired eyes. “I thod we were vaccinaded from all dose thigs for Kandus…”

“Well, I suppose that’s one that didn’t get into the normal inoculations,” Tanis admitted. “I may have to immunize most everyone on board for it. Would ya like some immediate relief?” Durant nodded again. Tanis waggled his eyebrows and then pulled his other hand from the pocket of his smock. It held a capped syringe. Durant instinctively backed away. Tanis smiled and pulled the cap from the thin needle. “Turn around and show me a full moon,” he ordered.

“Uh uh…” Durant gasped. “No needles, blease…”

“Listen, I know ya really don’t like needles, but if ya want to get better, yer going to have to listen to yer doctor and take yer medicine properly.”

The bear growled lowly, but knew the medic was right. He turned around, dropped his shorts to the floor, and pulled aside his robe. He leaned up against the bed, rolled his eyes to the ceiling, and waited for the expected sharp sting; it came a heartbeat later.

“Ow!” he gasped through a stuffy head. Tanis daubed the needle mark beneath the fur on the bear’s right buttock with a cotton-swab daubed in an amber liquid, and then ejected the syringe into a bin marked with a triple-bladed biohazard symbol.

“I hade thadt! I wish you still hab thadt bressure-hybo,” Durant gasped. “It didn’d hurd as mudch.”

“Sorry, but it doesn’t work right anymore,” Tanis replied. “Instead of a nice little snik, it now grabs the skin and won’t let go. With everything going on lately, I just haven’t gotten around to replacing it as yet.”

“Jusd by kine of luck…” the bear muttered.

“Now,” the desert fox commanded, “I would recommend getting something in yer stomach and then taking yer pills before going back to bed for rest.”

“Danis,” the bear said as he pulled his shorts back up to their proper place, “I gan’t go back to bed. I hab worg to do.”

“Not today, ya don’t,” Tanis said with authority. “To bed with ya. Rest and medicine is what is going to make ya better, not more work.”

Suddenly Durant felt extremely tired, and after a moment nodded his acceptance. “First food,” Tanis reminded him, “then to bed.”

“Right,” the bear replied. He gathered his robe around himself with what dignity he could muster and then left Sickbay.

Tanis frowned to himself. This would get around through the crew and probably distress everyone but the canine types, since Waxflatter did not have much effect on them as a species.

***

Lorelei stared mutely at the grizzly bear sitting at the galley table as he quietly lapped up the hot tomato soup she had made for him. The loadmaster looked absolutely miserable, but the Horizon’s cook was only little more animated than he was. Unlike Durant, she was breathing fine, but she ached all over and felt lethargic. She was not quite her normal bubbly self, but the grizzly had not even noticed when he had come in to ask her for something to eat so he could take his medicine.

Even in her current state, she still worried after her co-workers. She had offered to replace his blue pills with an herbal paste she kept in her quarters for sinus infections, but he waved her off, telling her that Tanis had already given him a shot. All he wanted was something to eat that would not aggravate his sore throat. Normally, she would have berated him for going to Tanis for drugs before coming to her first for a natural remedy, but at the moment, she did not feel like bothering with it. She had made his soup without argument and then quietly cleaned up her pan and utensils.

Lorelei checked with Durant to make sure he did not need anything else, and once she was satisfied that he would not require her any further, she made herself a cup of herbal tea in hopes that would help her perk up before retreating to the quiet of her cabin.

***

When Taro stepped off the lift onto the recreation deck in shorts and a halter top, she was pleased to find the room vacant, though Moss floated quietly over the galley stove monitoring its diminishing heat. She had not seen Durant shuffle off the lift several moments before she got into it herself, but thought it had an odd medicinal smell, like cough syrup.

She moved to the forward curved wall of the room and hummed quietly to herself as she tapped out a few commands on the computer terminal. The room was suddenly filled with active music and she began to sway her hips and tail to the steady beat. In perfect time with the music of a veteran star, Taro tapped out a few more commands and then glanced back at Moss. The small saucer-shaped unit suddenly sunk from sight and she could hear it bang against a countertop.

“Meoroow!” Moss squawked as it compensated for the sudden increase in gravity. It reappeared over the galley counter, reoriented itself, and then flew directly at her. The fox thought it was going to ram her, but it swerved around her and then stopped above the computer console, its whisker antennae rotating in agitation. “Meow. Me-meow…”

Taro suddenly felt lighter as the gravity plates in the room returned to ship-normal. She slapped a hand down on the counter and felt it give a little. “Moss!” she said in a voice raised above the din of the music, “I want the Rec Room’s gravity to match Hestra-normal!”

The small unit rotated on its axis until it stared at her with its two sensor lenses. “Meow?” The offset, upper lens changed from green to blue.

“Put it back where I had it! That’s an order!” Taro commanded. Without further hesitation, Moss raised the gravity of the rec deck to the level where the first officer had originally set it, and then made its own internal compensations. Then it moved away from her toward the back of the room.

Satisfied that she had her music and gravity where she wanted it, Taro swayed her hips back and forth while moving to the exercise equipment on one side of the room. She loaded up the barbells with a set of weights on both sides that would have normally bested Renny at ship-normal gravity. She then slid beneath the crossbar with her feet planted firmly on the floor. The Hestran fox lifted the barbell up off the rack with some effort, and then began to press the set in time with the music.

Ten minutes had passed when the lift door opened and Taro heard curses intermixed with her music. She set down a pair of dumbbells she had just started working out with and looked toward the door. Merlin was sprawled out on the floor, struggling in vain to stand up and gasping for breath. Taro ran to the computer terminal to reset the room’s gravity and shut off the music. She began to feel lighter when she rushed over to the captain.

She helped him roll over and sit up. He looked up at her with a puzzled expression, and then ran his fingers through the fur on top of his head, looking for his hat. Taro picked it up off the floor and handed it to him.

“What happened?” he asked her as he sat back against the lift doors.

“Sorry about that,” Taro replied. “I had the gravity set higher so I could get in some exercise.”

Merlin looked at her and shook his head. “You had it set for Hestra, didn’t you?” he muttered.

“That’s right,” she admitted. “I don’t get a good workout if it’s set to ship-normal. If I don’t exercise periodically, my muscles might start to atrophy again,” she explained as she helped him stand up. “It took me a while during my convalescence to get re-acclimated to Hestran gravity since it had been years since I’d last been there. I’ve tried to get in an exercise session like this at least once a week since I’ve been back, but I usually try to do it while everyone’s on a sleep period.”

Merlin felt a twinge in his left ankle when he stood up. He had crumpled on top of his foot as soon as he stepped out of the lower gravity of the lift. “Ouch,” he yipped. He massaged it and looked up at his first officer with a weary expression.

“I came up to get a late-night snack,” he said as he limped toward the galley. The vixen followed him to the table and he waved casually back toward the lift. “Do us all a favor, Taro… Next time you want to do something like this, hang a note inside the lift so the rest of us mere mortals will know we might break a leg if we step out into the room without an endosuit.”

Taro looked embarrassed. “Sorry about that, Merlin. I’ll make sure there’s a note next time.”

“Thanks,” the wolf replied wearily. “As penance for crippling me, you can make me something to eat.” Taro smiled and nodded. She moved into the kitchen and Merlin picked up a remote off the table. He aimed it at the dark vidscreen at the fore end of the room and switched it on. The channel was set on a cooking frequency, indicating that Lorelei had probably been the last one to use it. He tapped in the channel for INN and sat back to await his food.

Popular news anchor Holly Harken was on the screen, dressed totally in denim with her dark hair pulled back into a stylish ponytail. Apparently, it was a dress-down day at her studio. Merlin turned up the volume and listened to the human woman as she covered the maiden launch of the first of five new vessels whose mission would be to explore the areas of space beyond the perimeter of the Planetary Alignment worlds. He listened idly for several moments, but then perked up when someone off-camera handed her a sheet of paper.

“Pardon me for this interruption in our profile of the Firebird Fleet, but INN has just received information concerning the Roppa War between neighboring planets Nalirra and Oe’Tanata. Ever since this conflict started a month ago, it has been unclear to observers what started this bloody campaign. Earlier today, an anonymous source within the Sardis Citadel in the region of Braf has revealed that Sed Amittias initiated the kidnapping of the Tanatan Emperor’s youngest daughter, using hired feline pirates from Brandt. Our source tells us that Amittias intended to use the three-year-old child as leverage in his mounting campaign against the Tanatans, but the kidnapping was mishandled and the Nalirran dictator is now on the run while his world is suffering the massive retaliation by superior Tanatan forces.

“INN was able to get this information out of Nalirra only because our source reports that Sed Amittias has taken the child and has fled into an underground labyrinth somewhere beneath the desert region of Kardon, leaving the remaining government officials to deal with the Tanatan onslaught without him.”

***

The intercom chirped in the Blue Horizon’s Infirmary and Tanis chose not to look up from his work. He had just started cutting into the dried-out gel material of Renny’s cast and frowned at the interruption. The cheetah looked at him in concern, but Tanis shook his head very gently to let him know his arm was in no danger from a distraction. He increased the speed of the tiny circular blade that began to separate the cast material. Renny held his breath, but it was not an easy thing to do with running sinuses. The apprehension of the cutter digging into him outweighed the dripping from his nose, so he tried to quell the urge to wipe his nose with the handkerchief he held in his free hand.

A moment later, the door to Sickbay swished open and Merlin limped inside. “Tanis,” he said. “We just –”

“Don’t distract him…” Renny hissed at the captain. Merlin stopped just inside the door and saw what the medic was doing. The news could wait.

After several agonizing moments, Tanis shut off the cutter and then pried the cast away from Renny’s wrist. At once, the cheetah began scratching at the matted fur that had finally been exposed to fresh air. He chirruped unconsciously as he rolled his eyes in paroxysms of long denied relief.

“Careful!” Tanis scolded him, “or ya’ll scratch all the fur off yer arm!”

“Ah, but it feels so good…” Renny purred.

Tanis just smiled and gestured toward the sink beside the cheetah so he could properly wash his arm. Renny stuck his arm beneath a stream of cool water and started working a liquid soap into the fur to cleanse it.

The medic tossed the remnants of the cast into a waste receptacle to be incinerated later. He looked over at the wolf and immediately noted how the captain favored his ankle. “What happened to ya?” he asked.

Merlin lifted up his foot and grimaced. “Taro had the Rec Room gravity turned up so she could exercise,” he explained. “I collapsed as soon as I got off the lift.”

“Ouch,” Renny said in sympathy. “That happened to me last week.”

“I ordered her to put a note in the lift next time she does it,” Merlin said.

“That why yer here?” Tanis asked.

The wolf shook his head. “Not entirely. We just caught an INN report about Nalirra,” he said. Tanis and Renny listened in rapt attention as Merlin related the details of the news spot. When he finished, Tanis spat out a string of curses in his native language. The words were meaningless to Renny, but Merlin winced with understanding.

“I knew Amittias was ambitious,” the desert fox said at last, “but I didn’t think he was insane!”

“I don’t understand,” Renny said as he dried off his arm. “Why would anyone do something so crazy? Surely he would have scoped out the military strength of Oe’Tanata before doing something like this. He had to know the Tanatans would clean his clock. He and those poor Nalirrans aren’t holding up very well against them.”

Tanis let out a deep breath and then nodded. “Right,” he said in a clipped tone. He looked up at the cheetah and then gestured toward the arm that was now free of its cast. “Try not to task yer arm too much for the next week,” he said in a professional manner, “unless ya just like visiting my Infirmary.”

Renny rubbed his arm with the towel again unconsciously and then shook his head. “That’s incentive enough,” he said appreciatively. “Thanks.”

Without another word or a glance to the captain, Renny departed, taking the drying towel with him for the laundry. When he was gone, Merlin studied the fox. “How are you feeling about this situation?” he asked.

“Feelin’ what I can, and a few things I shouldn’t,” came the reply. “To be totally honest, with those critters fighting against my own people, it’s hard to talk with Renny sometimes.”

“Is it because he’s feline?”

“Yeah,” Tanis sighed. “I know it’s wrong and he’s not responsible for it, but…”

“You’re angry, frustrated and he shares enough qualities with the bad guys to make a convenient target.”

Tanis grumbled, “Yes.”

“Renny is your friend, Tanis.” Merlin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I appreciate and admire that you’re strong enough to put your professionalism before these issues.”

Tanis managed a wan smile. “Thanks, boss.”

“Now,” he said, “how about taking a gander at my ankle?”

***

Pockets aimed his flashlight torch down into the maintenance access tunnel and frowned. The light was mounted to an elastic strap fitted over his head and provided an illuminating brilliance from a tiny bulb powered by a sliver of ionic Siilv. Max wore an identical lamp and followed the raccoon into the small passageway. He was larger than the chief engineer and would have a harder time negotiating the tight quarters, but knew his help would be needed. Unlike Pockets, he did not wear coveralls every waking minute while on board, but while working on the ship like they were today, he had donned a pair of light blue coveralls he had picked up on their last stop, the garment containing equally as many pockets as the raccoon’s.

While seemingly ready to do his work, the engineer appeared lethargic and did not look at all well. Max had tried again to convince Pockets to take a bit of a rest before tackling a job of this magnitude, but the engineer was adamant about taking a physical look at the leakage in the landing gear extenders before doing anything else. Once done, then they could plot out their course of action to begin the repairs.

Max readjusted the rubber kneepads he wore and then followed Pockets on his hands and knees into the access tunnel. As they crawled, he idly thought back on the days he had read about when the first Furs could walk on all-fours just as easily as upright, but further genetic tinkering had made them strictly bipeds. Being a tool-using quadruped would have been handy moving through close quarters like this, but those days were gone for the Furs of the Planetary Alignment.

He could hear the raccoon gasping for breath and sniffling, but resolved not to say anything more. Pockets was starting to get cranky every time he brought up his health.

They crawled along for several minutes before they came to a cross-junction in the passage. Pockets consulted numbers stenciled onto the ceiling that denoted internal grid locations and grunted in satisfaction. He turned to the left and started down another tunnel. Two minutes later, Pockets stopped, his head hanging low between his arms.

“What do you see?” Max asked. He could not tell what the engineer examined.

“I’b seein’ spods in frond of my eyes,” Pockets replied weakly, “and I feel lige I’b gonna throw ub…”

Max looked alarmed. This was no place to be getting sick. “Let’s go back,” he suggested. To his surprise, he saw Pockets’ light bob up and down in agreement, and then the raccoon began to back up. Max had no choice but to return backwards along the crawlway. When they reached the junction in the passage, Max backed up further to allow Pockets to turn around so he could crawl out head first.

Pockets stopped at the junction to get his bearings and Max pointed in the correct direction. The raccoon looked up wearily at the canine and swallowed hard. “Mags,” he said, “I’b goin’ to see Tanis. See if you cand assess the dabage on your own and led be know whad you fide. Maybe by the time I’b get back, we can get started.”

Max had no delusions that Tanis would actually allow Pockets to go back to work, but he thought he had learned enough from the chief engineer to at least examine the landing gear on his own. He had studied the layout diagram along with Pockets and he knew what to look for.

“Go ahead, Pockets,” he said. “Go take care of yourself. I can look it over down here.”

Pockets nodded and felt another wave of nausea come over him. “Guud boy,” he muttered. He began trudging along the tunnel back to the engine room. Max watched him go for a moment to make sure his friend could indeed get back on his own, and then nodded to himself.

He pointed his lamp back up the direction they had been traveling and then started on his way.

***

Samantha rubbed her eyes and then shook her head to clear the cobwebs from her brain. It had been her turn for bridge watch and she had occupied her time by doing file maintenance on the ship’s computer system. Vosnesenskii Information System computers were generally considered to be among the most reliable throughout the Planetary Alignment and required little maintenance, but there were times when the computer tech in her just had to tweak the system here and there.

She had installed a provided firmware upgrade to the VIS Geo-25 system during their last voyage and everything seemed to be functioning more efficiently. What she did during this particular downtime consisted of nothing more than locating and backing up old personal files that she and other members of the crew no longer needed in certain places within the memory. She had just completed tagging over seven hundred individual files and the process for backup had been initiated. Now all she had to do was relax for a while.

The Border collie stood up from the terminal she had pored over and stretched in satisfaction. She leaned forward on the engineering station and peered out the windows at the stars. Just off-center was a yellow star of a brighter magnitude than the others around it were. That would be Centaurus, the primary sun of Alexandrius, Fyn and Hestra. Slightly to the left was a bluish-green smudge in space, the Van Conner Nebula, a constant source of irritation to freighters due to pirates. However, the Spatial Police Force had been patrolling the region on a regular basis for the past few months, and reports of trouble in that area had been greatly reduced and all but eliminated.

Samantha put her finger up to the forward glass and placed it over the top of Centaurus. She then traced out an imaginary design with other lights to form a star picture. From this position in space, it was not a real constellation she drew, but she was bored and had a good imagination.

There was a chirp from the console to her right, so the canine moved to the com terminal and tapped out several pads. “This is the SS Blue Horizon,” she broadcast. “What can we do for you?”

“Samantha?” asked a familiar voice.

The collie smiled. “Hello! Yes, Cindy, it’s me. How are things? We lose another customer?”

“No, Sam, nothing like that,” the mouse replied with a chuckle. “I don’t always call when there’s trouble… We have another job, but I wanted to ask Merlin about it before I make the assignment.”

“Is it a big delivery, or a problem with the customer?”

“The delivery is sizeable, but neither that nor the customer is the problem. There’s no actual problem with this one. I just wanted Merlin’s advice.”

“Okay, I’ll get him for you.” Samantha touched the intercom controls and waited for the response.

“This is the captain,” said the wolf’s voice a moment later.

“Cindy’s on the line, Merlin,” she told him. “She needs to pick your brain about a potential cargo.”

“Alright, Sam, pipe it in here.”

The Border collie rerouted the call, but decided to listen in to see what was on the mouse’s mind.

“Hi, Cindy, this is Merlin. What can I do for you?”

“Hello, Boss,” the mouse replied. “I received a delivery request from Aris Grand a little while ago. They need a shipment of expensive textiles delivered there from Alexandrius. I know both the Blue Horizon and the Hidalgo Sun will be on Alexandrius within a few days of one another, but Captain Kegawa will be there before you will. In fact, he should be landing in a few hours.”

“Okay, so what’s the dilemma?”

“Well, I know you’re pretty chummy with the royalty on Tanthe and thought you might like the Horizon to take the job rather than Hidalgo.”

“No,” Merlin said without hesitation. “If the remainder of his schedule can handle the job, have Rezo make the delivery.”

“There’s no problem moving his schedule around,” Cindy replied in a disappointed voice. “But your schedule’s also flexible right now.”

“No, give it to the Hidalgo Sun.”

“But I thought—?”

“Give it to the Hidalgo Sun.”

“I was sure you would want—”

“Cindy, do I have to repeat myself again?”

“Uhm, no sir. I’ll make the arrangements with Captain Kegawa.”

“Anything else?”

“No sir, that was all.”

“Good night, then. I’m going back to bed.”

“G’night, sir.”

When both sides closed their connections, Samantha reset the controls on the com terminal with a frown. She would have loved to visit Tanthe again, but did not understand Merlin’s adamant refusal to return to the capitol city. Merlin had been extremely quiet about his last visit to see the royal family and the longer he went without telling anyone about what happened there, the more concerned she grew. There were rumors among the crew that he had had relations with the Princess, but he would neither confirm nor deny the crew’s teasing about it. If asked about it directly, he would either change the subject or just act as if he had not even heard the question.

Samantha sat down in the center seat and rested her chin on the back of her right hand. It’s like he wants to avoid Tanthe, she thought to herself. There was something Merlin was not telling them, and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to know.

***

By the time Pockets had made his way back to the engine room, dropped his lamp and tool belt and shuffled to the elevator lift closest to him, he was so weak that he could barely stand up. He had thrown up once in the small lavatory in the engine room, although he knew without a doubt that there was more in him that could easily follow.

The chief engineer rode the lift up to the crew deck and trudged out into the corridor. He saw no one, but did not care. His quarters were nearby and the queasiness had increased. Rather than attempting to make it around the curve of the deck to Sickbay, he decided to make a quick dash to his cabin instead.

A moment later, Pockets was hanging over the toilet trough and throwing up hard. He labored for air and felt another surge well up inside him. He was overheated and panting did not seem to help; he yearned for a cool towel for his forehead. His middle knotted up and he felt his head spin as his stomach turned itself inside out yet again.

Ten minutes later, he lay on the lavatory tile and pressed his brow against its cool surface. He was weak, light-headed and wanted nothing more than to lie down and die. Yes, that sounded like an excellent idea – to be released from his misery. He opened his eyes and looked around slowly. There was a discarded towel lying on the floor nearby and he reached out to grab it. He used it to wipe the residue from his mouth and then set it aside.

Pockets crawled on his hands and knees. He passed the little workbench where he often spent his free time tinkering with some new tool or invention, but paid it no mind. He was in no frame of existence to play now.

When he reached the side of the bed, he managed to pull himself up and onto its soft mattress without bothering to get out of his tool-laden coveralls. He pulled back the covers and then allowed himself to plop facedown onto the cool sheets.

Now I can die, he thought to himself.

***

Max hauled himself out of the open access panel in the floor of the engine room and removed his headlamp and kneepads. He had just surveyed the damaged boot gasket that surrounded a section of the spadraulic extenders for the landing gear and it did not take a chief engineer to recognize a cracked rubber covering leaking fluid. He had checked all four of the extender arms and it was the only one leaking.

Pockets had said that changing out the rubber boot would be an involved endeavor, especially having to do it in flight with the massive landing gear folded up inside tight recesses in the belly of the ship. The job would have been easier with the Horizon on a landing pad where they could have the gear extended out away from the ship. The young canine did not believe that Pockets would be back anytime soon, so now he had to figure out what to do until the engineer did get back; it might be a number of hours, or even days, from the way the raccoon had looked.

Max decided to study the ship’s tech manuals on the landing gear. Perhaps by the time Pockets returned, the young mechanic would have a better understanding of the job they would have to do. He took his time and put away his gear, and a few moments later he was reading titles on the large, bound volumes of the Tech Manual library closet in Pockets’ office. All the information was in the ship’s computer already, but Max wanted to be able to put the manual out on the desk and read through it at his leisure. Max had always preferred reading from a printed page rather than from a screen.

The German shepherd smiled when he found the correct tome and pulled it off the shelf. The volume was heavy, thick with coated, stain-resistant paper, but he managed to get it over to the desk with a little effort. He looked up when he heard a humming noise and nodded to himself when a small flying saucer floated into the room.

“Meow!”

“Hello, Moss,” he said with a smile. The mobile sentry unit alternated different colors on its upper secondary sensor lens and then went about its business to monitor gauges and other settings throughout the engine room. Max watched it lazily for a moment and then returned his attention to the manual. Before long, memories of the things that Pockets had taught him about the ship came back to him as he studied the book.

The young canine sat back after a few minutes and smiled to himself. He felt he had learned more about the Blue Horizon in the past year under Pockets’ tutelage than he had learned about anything in all the previous years he had been alive. He hungered to learn new things and seemed to have a good retention for details. He shook his head in wonder and then returned once more to the large book.

***

“Tanis,” Merlin asked as he limped into Sickbay, “have you found out what’s going on with our crew?”

The desert fox set down the slateboard that he had been using to inventory the medications in the cabinet and looked over at the captain. Merlin sat on the closest stool he could find and began to massage his sore ankle.

“It’s not quite an epidemic, but there is something going around,” the medic answered. “It’s nothing really to worry about, in my opinion. It’s just the Waxflatter virus.”

“Waxflatter?”

“It’s not serious, but bad enough to make those who get it feel awful.” Tanis jumped up on a bed and put his hands in his lap. “We maintain a constant climate on board the Blue Horizon,” he explained. “When we landed on Kantus and had to inspect the cargo outside before loading it on the ship out in the middle of the winter, most of the crew was not insulated with much more than their own fur and regular clothing. The Waxflatter virus is airborne and thrives in those conditions, but it’s local to the region where we landed. More than likely, the virus is prolific but more benign in cold weather. The warmth of the Blue Horizon probably made it active, multiply rapidly and cause the illness. Of course, we have a recycled air supply on the ship, so I’m not surprised there are several on board who aren’t feeling well. I took a small blood sample from Durant to test for it and he came up positive.”

Merlin looked thoughtful. It had been a while since they had to move cargo in wintry conditions. Their deliveries always seemed to coincide with a region on each planet with decent weather, but this time they had had to operate in freezing temperatures. A few of the thinner-furred members like Renny had complained about it at the time. The wolf was probably better suited for the cold than most others on board, but even he did not have his winter undercoat.

“So, who’s healthy and who’s not?” he asked.

Tanis looked upward in thought and then scratched one of his huge, wing-like ears. “Renny and Durant have come to me for medicine,” he replied. “I tried to make them both go rest, but I think Durant’s back down in his office going over the books some more.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Merlin commented. “Who else?”

“Lori wasn’t acting like her usual bubbly self, so I’d bet she’s got it too. But, ya know her… she’d rather meditate, peer into a crystal, interpret tea leaves or toss bones to make herself feel better before she’d come to me for vile and evil drugs.” Merlin chuckled and nodded. Tanis thought some more and said, “Samantha told me earlier that she was feeling a little stuffy, but otherwise was okay. She took some sinus medicine and seems to be fine for now.” He looked at the wolf and added, “I’ve heard ya sniffling, too.”

“Just a little. What about the others?”

“Well, I talked with Taro a little while ago and so far, she’s been unaffected by this. I haven’t talked with Max or Pockets, so I can’t give ya a status on their health at the moment. I think they’re down in the bowels of the ship working on important repairs that need to be made before we land, but I didn’t feel like crawling through grid supports to stick a thermometer in their ears.”

“What about yourself?” Merlin asked. “After being in direct contact with sick folk, I don’t imagine you are immune.”

Tanis smiled. “Actually, I’m in good health,” he answered. “I’d already taken some preventive medicine prior to landing on Kantus, so I think I’ll make it through this okay.”

Merlin nodded and then reached for a tissue on the counter next to him. He blew his nose and then sniffed again. “What have you got to keep me on my feet too?” he asked with a smile. “It seems like most of my crew could be down during this flight, and I don’t want to be out of order, myself. What did you give Renny and Durant?”

“I gave a fairly mild antiviral and sinus decongestant to Renny, and an antihistamine and cough suppressant to Durant.”

“What do you think I need?” Merlin asked with another sniffle. “If I can beat this before it gets worse, I should be okay.”

“A simple antihistamine.”

“Okay, I’ll take it.”

Tanis grinned and hopped down off the bed. “Alright, that can be done. I’ll need ya to show me a full moon.” He walked to the back room to get his medicine and Merlin looked oddly in his direction.

“What was that?” he asked.

Tanis returned to the front room and uncapped the fresh needle atop his syringe. “Drop yer drawers,” he said with a smile. “I need a bare hip for this.”

“How about an arm?” the wolf suggested hopefully. “An arm would be really good.”

“If you want to get better, follow orders. Otherwise, the captain can suffer with his minions.”

Merlin swallowed. He was not afraid of needles, but he was not fond of them either, especially in the hip. Feeling hesitant, he turned around and unbuckled his trousers.

***

Durant blinked in rapid succession and then rubbed his eyes for the twentieth time. He was trying to locate a subtle discrepancy in the accounts that was nagging on him, but he found that concentrating on columns of numbers while his head was pounding was not making him very productive.

He picked up a handkerchief from the desk beside his ledger and blew his nose. He winced and closed his eyes. The pressure in his head had returned and his nose was raw from all the blowing. He set the handkerchief down and picked up his pencil to resume his work.

As he glanced down at the numerical columns, he had to blink several times to get the numbers to stay in focus. Durant coughed suddenly and felt his head balloon again.

“Forgedd dis,” he muttered to himself. “I’b goin’ bagg to bed…”

The grizzly closed his ledger and stood up, only to feel the room shift beneath his feet. He steadied himself against the wall and knew that if he was going to stay dizzy and eventually topple to the ground, it may as well be in his cabin and over his bed before he dropped.

Although unsteadily on his feet, Durant left his cargo deck office and headed for the lift.

***

Just missing Durant, Merlin took the lift down to the hold. The wolf stepped out near the engine room and wrinkled his nose at the familiar smell of grease and oil. He walked around to the door to the engineer’s office and poked his nose in through the opening.

“Hello?” he asked.

“I’m back here, Uncle Merlin,” said a voice from the rear cubicle. Merlin moved around the aisles in the compartment and then saw Max dressed in coveralls, sitting at the raccoon’s desk with several large volumes of engineering schematics and drawings spread out across the tabletop.

“Did you get assigned some homework?” Merlin asked with a chuckle.

Max looked up at him with a smirk. “No, I get plenty of that from Samantha,” he replied. He waved a hand over the open books and said, “I’m doing my own research on the problem with our landing gear. I think I might be able to repair it myself, but wanted to make sure before I got started on it.”

“By yourself?” the wolf asked as he rested on a corner of the desk. “Where’s Pockets? I would think he’d be right in the middle of it himself. That’s the kind of stuff he lives for.”

The German shepherd nodded. “He wanted to be in the thick of it,” he agreed, “but he hasn’t been feeling well and went to go see Tanis.”

“That’s odd,” Merlin said as he glanced up at several pin-up calendars from various worlds on the walls, displaying minimally-clad females of different species who were posing with oversized tools. “I just talked with Tanis and he hasn’t seen Pockets at all. He thought you two were buried under the deck plates somewhere.”

Max grinned again. “I’ve been under there three times today already,” he said, “but Pockets left me to research the problem. I’ve not heard from him since he left.”

The captain nodded. “I think I’ll go looking for our missing engineer,” he said with a frown. “If he didn’t make it to Sickbay, he’s probably in his quarters.” He looked over the drawing layouts and gestured to them. “Do you understand all that?” he asked. Merlin was no stranger to working on ship systems, but sometimes engineering schematics were a little foreign to his comprehension.

“I comprehend more than I expected I would,” Max admitted. “What I don’t understand, I’ve been cross-referencing with the other books we have here.”

“Wouldn’t it be faster using the computer? I think he has all that information already loaded into the VIS system.”

“He does, but I wanted to spread everything out where I can see it better and take notes.”

“Well, good luck, Max. I’d assign someone else to help you work on the problem, but it seems most everyone else is out sick; I’ve got to help Samantha prepare meals for everyone, or I would help you myself.”

The canine youth looked puzzled. “Everybody’s sick?” he asked. “Is that what Tanis calls an epi… epidermic… uh?”

“Epidemic,” Merlin corrected. “He doesn’t think so, but he’s giving everyone inoculations for it anyway. He’ll probably be down to give you a dose later.”

“Pills or needles?”

“Needle, I’m afraid,” Merlin replied as he rubbed his hip.

Max made a face. “I’d rather take a pill.”

“You and me both. How are you feeling?”

Max shrugged his shoulders. “I feel fine. I don’t have any of the stuff that Pockets had, that’s for sure. I’m getting hungry, though.”

“That’s a good sign,” Merlin replied as he slipped back off the desk corner. “Lori’s down with it, too, so Sam and I are making everyone’s meals today. You can join us in about an hour, if you can hold off that long.”

“I think I can make it,” Max said with a grin.

“Okay. I’m going to go look in on Pockets. Have fun with your project, but let me know if you get in too big of a bind and I’ll break away to assist.”

“Thanks, Uncle.”

***

When Merlin knocked on the engineer’s door for the third time, he frowned to himself. He tapped the touch pad beside the door and it slid aside quietly. He had been afraid it would have been locked, but as it was not Merlin stepped inside the darkened front room.

“Pockets?” he called out. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose; there was sickness in the air. He received no reply, so he tapped on the lights and then made his way across the magazine-strewn room. He frowned at the condition of the cabin. Pockets was an excellent mechanic and engineer, but he had poor housekeeping habits. Printed magazines, books and paper notepads were all over the floor in seemingly random piles, and there were papers and pens all over the computer desk. Even at a quick glance, Merlin could tell that most of the newer publications sported pictures of the Firebird Fleet on their covers. The raccoon was always mindful of new technologies and he had a keen interest in exploration. Merlin had no doubt that Pockets would feel right at home on one of the Firebirds.

He reached the door to the bedroom and called out again. “Pockets? Are you in there?”

“Somebody sho’od me,” a weak voice sounded from the darkness.

Merlin turned up the bedroom light just enough so he could see. He did not want to trip over the strewn clothing all over the floor, but did not want the lights bright enough to bother the raccoon. He approached the bed and found his engineer lying on his back, panting heavily with one arm resting across his eyes. He had not removed his coveralls and there was a foul wet stain across his chest.

The wolf sat down on the edge of the bed beside him and put a hand to Pockets’ forehead. “Good night!” he said with widened eyes. He reached toward the intercom button on the lamp stand beside the bed and Pockets lightly grabbed his arm.

“Thad you, Cap’n?”

“Yes, I’m here, Pockets,” Merlin replied. “Why didn’t you tell Tanis you were this sick? You have a fever!”

Pockets let go of his arm and swallowed before answering. “Tried to…” he said weakly. “Coude’t magg it that far… widout throwing ub…”

Merlin tapped the intercom pad to Sickbay and the medic’s voice piped in. “Infirmary.”

“Tanis, I need you in Pockets’ quarters ASAP. He feels like he has a fever, and it looks like he’s been throwing up.”

“On my way.”

Merlin switched off the intercom and then stood up. “Can you get up and out of your clothes?” he asked the raccoon. He grasped hands with Pockets and helped him sit up gently.

“Maybe,” the engineer muttered.

Merlin walked around the bed and went to the lavatory. He picked up a washcloth from the counter and ran cold water over it. He heard the clinking of tools and then a louder clunk. He wrung out the cloth and then moved back into the other room just as Pockets was sliding under a cool sheet. Merlin daubed the cloth around the sides of the raccoon’s mouth and then set it across his forehead.

“Captain?” a voice called from the front room.

“Back here, Tanis.”

The desert fox walked into the room and switched the lights up to full strength. Pockets groaned and draped his arm back over his eyes as the medic gingerly stepped over the discarded, tool-laden coveralls toward the bed. Tanis pulled the damp cloth up and felt of the engineer’s forehead. He frowned and then replaced the cloth.

“Why didn’t ya tell me ya were sick?” Tanis scolded as he dug into the medical bag he had brought in with him. Pockets only grunted at him. Tanis did not find what he wanted so he put a hand into the large pocket of the white smock he wore and then pulled out small plastic pouch labeled Refloxin. He handed this to Merlin and said, “Go mix this in a cup of cold water, then pour it down his throat.”

The wolf nodded and headed back to the lavatory. Tanis pulled out an electronic thermometer and placed the end of it inside Pockets’ ear. With his other hand, he lifted one of the raccoon’s hands and felt for the pulse. He watched the digital clock on the lamp stand and counted off the beats.

Merlin came back into the room with a white coffee cup adorned with a cartoon fish, stirring the contents with the handle end of a toothbrush. Tanis looked up at him and snickered.

“I couldn’t find a spoon,” the wolf explained at the medic’s amused look.

There was a small beep and Tanis brought the thermometer’s readout up close to view. “Mmhmm…” he hummed to himself. He stepped aside to let Merlin bring in the mixture and then started digging in his bag again.

The captain bent over the bed and said, “Drink this, Pockets.”

“Whut is it?”

“I don’t know,” Merlin admitted. “Tanis said for you to take it.”

“Then I don’ wannit,” Pockets grimaced. “He’s tryin’ to poison me for beatin’ him at cards.”

Tanis glanced over his shoulder and snorted. “For that I should let ya suffer,” he replied. “I still say ya were cheating.”

Merlin smiled and then held the cup up to the raccoon’s lips. “Drink it, Engineer. That’s an order.”

Pockets complied and swallowed the lemony liquid. To his surprise, it did not taste as nasty as he had expected. It took three swallows, but he finally emptied the cup.

“Good,” the wolf said. “What is that stuff for?”

“It’ll calm his stomach and help reduce his fever. Now he needs something a bit more unpleasant,” Tanis said as he produced a syringe. Merlin winced when he saw it and suddenly felt his own needle wound throb.

The medic lifted up the sheet and then jabbed the needle expertly into the raccoon’s bare hip. To his surprise, Pockets did not flinch or even grunt. Tanis daubed the spot beneath the fur using a cotton swab coated with an antiseptic and then replaced the sheet.

“That will get him headed back to himself,” Tanis told the captain. “Give him a couple hours for the mixture to work on his stomach and then have someone feed him something light. I’ll check back in on him periodically.”

“Thanks, Tanis,” Merlin said. “I need to get up to the galley to help Samantha with the meals now.” He left the medic with his patient and then departed the cabin.

Tanis sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at Pockets, who had an arm across his face again. “Take care of yerself, partner,” he said quietly. “We need ya up and about again.” When he did not get a response, he stood up and gathered together his things.

Pockets reached up and lightly grasped his wrist. “Thangs, doc,” he whispered.

Tanis frowned. “I’m not a doctor yet,” he mused aloud, “but I intend to be one day.”

***

Max frowned to himself. He had waited for the chief engineer’s return by doing research on the ship’s landing gear. Pockets was undoubtedly sick in bed, but the repairs would take time and needed to be done before they could land at the destination they were coasting toward. Max believed he could make the repairs by himself, but he did not know if Pockets would allow him to work on it alone. He wished he could take the schematics down into the crawlways with him to refer to while working. Unfortunately, the tomes were too large to lug around with him. He could not spend the time to crawl back and forth between the work area to the books and the canine was at a loss of what to do.

Max sat down at Pockets’ desk, resting his chin on his hands. Pockets had taught him enough that the young mechanic was restless to get started and anxious to prove he could do it. He sighed in frustration and then closed the largest volume with a whump. The resulting poof of air from the book’s closing caused a pamphlet-sized document to dislodge from a shelf above the desk and drop to the floor. Max picked it up to return it to its place, but then he saw what it was.

It was the homemade User Manual that Pockets had put together on the ship’s Mobile Sentry System. There were design changes and new drawings stuck inside that denoted the differences between the current Moss and the previous unit that had been destroyed in the crash. Out of boredom and curiosity, Max propped his feet up on the desk and began to study the information.

Several minutes into reading, Max’s eyes widened and smile crept across his lips. There was a reference to a function of the Moss unit he had not been previously aware. He read further with interest and then reached toward the computer terminal on the desktop. Referencing the pamphlet, Max accessed a software routine and then typed in several commands in a programmed sequence to recall Moss to the engine room.

***

“Durant?” Samantha stuck her head into the grizzly’s front room. She heard a mumbled response from the bedroom so she moved through the room and to the rear doorway. “Durant?” she called again.

“Blease go away,” said the accountant’s voice.

“I brought you something to eat,” the Border collie replied as she set a tray of food down on the table next to the bed. There was a huge lump under the covers, but no sign of a head. Despite this, weary words emanated from the light blanket.

“Don’ wan any…” Durant said.

“Durant, you have to keep your strength up,” Samantha said and crossed her arms.

“Don’ wan any…” the bear repeated. “Jus’ wanna be left alone.”

“Durant…”

“Jus’ leave it and go, blease…”

Samantha sighed with a nod. “Okay, Durant. I’ll check in on you again later, but if I see that you have not eaten the good food I’ve brought you, I’ll see that Tanis rigs up an IV to get the nutrients into you – and I know how much you like needles, my sick friend!”

There was movement under the covers and a cinnamon-colored snout protruded from under the blanket. “All right…” Durant said irritably, “I’ll eat it. But blease make everyone else leabe me alone, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” Samantha agreed. “Just get well, please.”

Durant slid a hand out of the blanket and his face emerged after it as he shakily picked up a small glass of juice with a straw from the tray. Samantha gave him a nod and then left the bear to his food.

***

Max grunted in satisfaction. It had taken him half an hour in multiple trips to get all the tools he thought he would need down in through the crawlway to the landing gear well, and another half hour to wrestle the replacement, three-meter-long boot gasket into the same area. The crawlway, already crowded with just him, was now absolutely cramped. However, the schematic of the place showed two lower deck plates that could be removed to give him more room to work on the spadraulic extender. There were three bright lamps giving the mechanic ample illumination and Max wondered briefly if this was what a cave might be like. The robust tunes of Pixly Dixly echoed through the lower cavities of the Blue Horizon and Max hummed along with it as he set to work to remove the access floor panels. Inane as she might be, at least she was consistent inasmuch as all her music sounded the same; Max could have white noise that was not too distracting.

“Meow?”

The canine looked up with a smile. “Just hold right there, Moss,” he said in a reassuring tone. The small flying saucer hovered to his left and twitched its antennae slightly as it emanated Max’s work music. Several moments later, the mechanic removed the deck plates and set them aside. He crawled down into the lower space and wriggled his toes inside his soft boots. They had started to cramp in the squatting position he had been in, but now that he had room to stretch out his legs a little, he got some relief.

He shined his headlamp around the area and recognized the layout from the schematics he had studied before. He had trouble remembering the sequence for draining the spadraulic fluids without causing a mess, so he pulled a small notebook from a pocket and consulted some figures.

He nodded to himself and looked back up at the mobile sentry. “Okay, Moss, I need to see the plans for sub-section 121-661.”

Moss turned on its axis and faced the nearest bulkhead. Its secondary lens became a projector as it displayed an image of the system plans the mechanic needed onto the wall. Max consulted the diagram and nodded once in appreciation for a good idea.

“That’s good, Moss,” he said. “Continue to hold that image until I need the next one.”

“Meow.”

Max began his work. He knew it would take a while to complete, and he was aware that he would not be able to stop work once he began the repair work, but he was confident he could manage it. His only regret was that he had neglected to grab something to eat first.

***

Merlin frowned at the rabbit. He had stopped to check in on her condition and had been trying to leave for twenty minutes. Lorelei was not as sick as some of the others on board were, but she did not seem to be handling being cooped up alone in her cabin very well. The fact that she had decorated her quarters in vibrant colors to fluoresce under black lights, with hanging crystals and magma lamps all around, it did not seem like an ideal setting for someone sick, the captain mused to himself. In addition, her sickly-sweet music with birds chirping, water babbling, and the rush of wheat fields in the wind seemed brain numbing to the wolf. No wonder she did not want to be by herself.

“Merrrrliiiiiin…” Lorelei whined as she clung to the captain’s arm. “Please don’ go!” (sniff) “I need combany… Id’s lonely here.”

Merlin sighed and pulled his arm free of her grasp. It was truly amazing how strong she was for one who was ill. The wolf’s stomach did a small flip when Lori wiped her streaming nose with the back of her hand and then wiped it on the front of her cotton night shirt. Ugh, he thought, noting the unused box of tissues on the bedside table. He grabbed the box and handed it to her.

“Lori,” he said as she took it with a shrug, “I have others to look in on before I relieve Taro on the bridge.”

“Nooo,” the rabbit whined again. “Don’t wanchu to go…”

“Sorry, girl, but I can’t stay,” Merlin replied as he took a step back out of her reach, lest she cling to him again. “Check StellarNet for the talk shows you like, or perhaps you can watch your favorite cooking show.” The bunny looked up at him and pouted. She attempted to give him her best pitiful look. When he did not seem moved by it, she nodded reluctantly and accepted the vidscreen remote he handed to her.

Before she could latch onto him or start whining again, Merlin gave her a nod and retreated quickly.

***

Max grunted and snorted as he tugged and pulled on the damaged boot gasket. As per the textbook, he had sliced the old gasket from top to bottom along its three-meter length, but despite this supposed freedom, the boot would not come off.

He was slippery from burgundy fluids that had been inside the landing gear extender and grimy from all the dusts and particles in the crawlway that adhered to him. He had drained the affected area before he had cut the gasket, but there had been a pocket of the spadraulic fluid trapped inside that had come flooding out after he had released it unknowingly.

He was more than a little annoyed at his condition, as well as the resistance of the gasket, but he was determined to triumph over the irritation. He slipped on the slick deck plates and fell once again. Moss let out a sympathetic mew at the canine’s plight, but Max interpreted it another way.

He glared up at the small flying saucer that watched him and growled beneath his breath. “I will personally dismantle you with a sledge hammer if you’ve recorded any of this to show anyone!” he snapped.

Moss twitched its antennae whiskers and let out a small mewip noise in alarm. Unknown to Max, the small unit quickly erased a record it had made of the mechanic’s progress and then deleted a redundant copy it had been storing in real-time on the ship’s VIS computer system.

Without another word, Max turned back to the boot gasket and tried again.

***

“Come on, darling, you have to eat something,” Taro said in a soothing voice. Renny looked up at her with puffy eyes and a forlorn expression. The cheetah was covered up in his bed by a dark green sheet. All other blankets had been pushed off onto the floor.

“Not hungry…” he replied. His companion knew he must be sick if he was not interested in food. Due his species’ metabolism, Renny had an infamous, ongoing appetite that could best anyone on board the ship.

Taro absently toyed with the feather clipped on the left side beside her ear. “What can I do for you?” she asked gently. “I’ll do anything you need or want me to do.”

Renny closed his eyes and swallowed before he looked back up at her. “I could use some cool water,” he said at last, “but not too much. My stomach is still tender.”

The vixen nodded and got up to get his water. Renny did not seem to feel as sick as he had been earlier, but he was still miserable.

***

When Tanis stepped into Lorelei’s cabin, he had to stop inside the door to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He activated the light switch; the only thing that came on was a black light that made posters of bright colors flare out at him, but did not do much to illuminate the room.

“Lori?” he called out.

“Bagg here,” the rabbit responded meekly from the bedroom.

Tanis stepped gingerly through the room and made his way to the door in the back. Had it not been that all the cabins on the Blue Horizon were identical in layout, he might have had more difficulty finding his way without bumping into things. He managed to reach the darkened doorway and stepped through.

“Lori, it’s me, Tanis. I got yer message that ya wanted to see me.”

“Thangs. You can turn on the light.”

The desert fox flipped on the overhead light and found Lorelei burrowed under a mountain of blankets. Only her ears and the pink tip of her nose were showing, as well as the edge of her right hip. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put a hand under her pillow to feel of her forehead. It was warm, but not as if she had a fever.

“What can I do for ya?” he asked quietly. A sparkling crystal on the floor at his feet caught his attention. He picked it up idly and looked back at the rabbit that now peeked out at him from under her pillow.

“I’b sick…” she replied in an embarrassed tone.

“Yes,” he agreed. She had been ill while on board from time to time in the past, but would never call on him as a medic due to her belief in using natural remedies to take care of herself.

“I don’d thigk I’b getting any better…” she admitted. “I… I need somb help…”

Tanis raised his eyebrows. “Are ya sure ya want my help?” he asked as he put a hand into the pocket of his white lab coat. “I’m the evil one, remember?.”

Lorelei glared at him, but then nodded. “I don’d agree wit’ your methods,” she said, “but nothig of mine is workig this time. I need some relief.”

Tanis held up the crystal he had picked up off the floor and let it spin a little on its gold colored string. “I’ve heard ya give names to yer crystals,” he said casually as he stood up and held it over her nose. “What’s this one called?”

The rabbit stared up at the faceted orb and concentrated. “I thig that one is – Oww!” She cried out when she felt a needle pierce her hip and she looked up at Tanis in alarm. He was not smiling, but he appeared satisfied that his method of distracting her enough to give her a shot had worked. He daubed a small cotton swab on the spot he had pierced and Lori whimpered.

In a voice loud despite her sinus congestion, she called him a few choice names in several languages. Tanis was shocked, as he had never heard the gentle bunny use profanity before, but it was apparent she was well-versed in her verbal selection. He let her continue her tirade as he capped his syringe and replaced it into his pocket. Finally, when it appeared she had exhausted her vocabulary, Lorelei started to cry.

She reached out, took his wrist, and then pulled him down to her so she could bawl onto his shoulder. The fennec rolled his eyes, but allowed himself to be wept upon. He deduced that she cried not because of the needle, but because she had made the difficult decision to accept pharmaceutical help. She probably feared it was something she would never live down, especially if Samantha found out about it.

“Lori, look at it this way: what I do is merely a refinement of holistic medicine. You believe in natural remedies, and all the ingredients that I use in my practice have to come from somewhere, right?”

From the dark look the rabbit gave Tanis, he knew his reasoning was not working with her.

***

When Tanis finally left Lorelei’s cabin, she had cried herself to sleep. The medic felt confident that now that she had received a dose of medication that would fight the viral infection within her body, she would start to feel better after some rest. Of all those on board that had become ill, she was perhaps the least sick of them all.

The worst one had to be Pockets, however. The desert fox moved around the perimeter of the crew deck until he came to the chief engineer’s quarters. He did not bother to knock and went right inside. As soon as the door panel had closed behind him, he could hear the raccoon retching in the back room. He moved quickly, but did not find Pockets in his bed. More retching came from the lavatory and Tanis shook his head. Apparently, the liquid he had had Merlin force him to drink earlier had not helped quiet Pockets’ stomach.

He stepped into the bathroom and found the short raccoon huddled over the toilet trough. He had a blue cotton robe haphazardly wrapped around him that had residue from his current activity across the front of it. Pockets looked over at the medic with half-lidded eyes and looked exhausted.

“Help…” he said weakly.

“I’m sorry, Pockets,” Tanis said as he grabbed a washcloth from the sink and then wet it down with cool water. “I’m surprised yer stomach is still this active after the Refloxin I gave ya earlier.” He knelt down next to the engineer and wiped his mouth with the cloth.

“Threw id ub right after you left…” Pockets replied.

“Ah, so it didn’t have a chance to work on ya,” Tanis said. “Merlin probably used lukewarm water from the tap, instead of cold water like I instructed him to use.” Pockets closed his eyes and panted without a word. “Are ya willing to try this again?” Tanis asked him. “I’ll stay with ya this time to make sure it stays down like it’s supposed to.”

The raccoon nodded and Tanis pulled another pouch of Refloxin out of his bag to fix another batch. “After I’m sure it stays down this time,” he added, “I’m going to get an IV of saline to set up beside yer bed; yer going to need to help battling the dehydration.”

***

A deafening roar filled the lower levels of the Blue Horizon. Max had dragged a suction hose down into the bowels of the landing gear crawlway and was earnestly cleaning up the fluids he had spilled earlier. Covered in the greasy fluid himself, he had stripped off the saturated coveralls after he had gone to get the hose and had taken a quick shower in the cargo deck restroom. He had donned another set of coveralls before resuming his job.

It had taken him nearly two frustrating hours to get the old gasket off the unit and out of the crawlway, but he had finally been successful in his task. Before he could begin the process of putting in the new gasket in the cramped quarters, he would have to clean up all the old fluids. Fortunately, the Blue Horizon was equipped with a high-powered vacuum system designed for such usage, although a pair of snug ear protectors was necessary to prevent deafness.

Once finished with the cleanup, he would have to inspect the landing gear extenders to make sure he had caused no damage getting the old gasket out before beginning to install the new one. Once the new boot was finally in place, he would have to refill the area with fresh spadraulic fluid, a task he was sure would be just as unappealing.

***

Tanis stepped off the lift onto the recreation deck and glanced over at the wall-sized vidscreen that was currently tuned to an all-music channel. He recognized the band members of The Jettisons playing their instruments in what appeared to be an isolated canyon in some remote area of Earth. He did not recognize the lyrics of the song, but he nodded in time with the music as he walked across the room to the galley.

“Hey, Tanis,” Samantha said when he sat down at the counter. She was cutting vegetables into a clear broth in a pan on the stove and she was wearing Max’s old apron; it had the cartoon figure of a canine on it, with its tongue sticking out the side of his mouth while holding a fork in one hand and a knife in the other.

“Hi, Luv,” Taro said when she came out of the walk-in freezer with several packages of previously prepared meat. “The meals won’t be ready for another hour yet.”

“Hello, ladies,” Tanis replied with a smile. “I am getting hungry, but I can wait. I’m more concerned about our ship full of patients. They’re the ones who need to eat.” He looked back at the vidscreen and asked, “Where’s Merlin?”

“Bridge duty,” Taro answered as she started to work on portioning out the frozen meat.

“Mind if I change over to the news?”

“Go ahead,” Samantha replied. Tanis got up and walked across the room toward a couch. He found the remote on the floor beside a recliner and then keyed in the frequency for the Interstellar News Network before he sat down.

“…an hour ago. The allies of Nalirra are stunned and the PA Legislature is now currently in a closed-door meeting over the matter.” Tanis stared at the screen in silence and both women in the galley looked up from their work. Holly looked off camera for a moment and then turned back to face the screen. “Excuse me, Viewers, but we’re receiving more information at this very moment. While the data is coming in and being analyzed, we will replay the Tanatan broadcast.”

The image of Holly Harken was replaced by a cheetah dressed in what appeared to be a tan robe adorned with small strips of colored fabric attached to a sash about his middle. The camera angle zoomed in shakily to frame just his face on the screen and his large, golden eyes were steady.

“This a message from Oe’Tanata High Council,” he said in a voice that had an underlying thrum to it. From the way he pronounced his words, it was evident that he had not been speaking Standard for long, but was using the basic language to broadcast his message to the Planetary Alignment.

“Zed Am’tias, the leader of N’lrra is captured and is executed. The Emperor’s kitten been restored to Mrr’Ranah Palace from N’lrra cavern. As of now, world N’lrra not-limits to your Planet-Lineup. Under Oe’Tanatan rule, N’lrra no more concern of your people. Our star system under Oe’Tanatan rule complete. Stay away, no come.”

Tanis opened his mouth, but no sound came out. This could not be! Taro and Samantha forgot about their food and both came further into the room to stand behind the medic on the couch.

“Our world honored by Planet-Lineup for its inaction. Even during our fight, no other world stick snouts in business. Very wise. Continue this and no more trouble for all. Any outsider come to our system be destroyed, so be honored and stay away.” The cheetah made a sign across his brow and then the screen went black.

“What about the citizens of Nalirra?” Tanis croaked. “What’s to be done with them?”

Holly’s face reappeared and her expression was grave. “From all accounts,” she said, “Nalirra has been completely taken over by Tanatan forces. Sed Amittias was captured in a desert cave earlier today and executed immediately by the forces that caught him. The Tanatan Emperor’s daughter has been returned home safely, but the fate of the whole world of Nalirra is currently unknown. The transmission contained a direct order for all outside the Roppa star system to stay away, though praised the Planetary Alignment for not taking part in Nalirra’s campaign against Oe’Tanata.”

“Holly,” Tanis growled, “we just heard him say all that. Tell us something else!”

As if the human news anchor had heard him, the dark-haired woman picked up a common slateboard that had been placed before her and glanced over its screen quickly before looking back at the camera. “Several Nalirran military cruisers on station within the Reytharsa Asteroid belt at the outskirts of the Roppa system have just been destroyed by Tanatan battleships. Among them were seven civilian cargo carriers and four personnel transports with Nalirran citizens trying to return to their homeworld, as well as incarcerated citizens of Nalirra being returned for active duty after having dodged their draft. There were no survivors.”

Holly looked a little shaken and added, “An INN field crew witnessed the massacre and made their report… only moments before… before being destroyed as well. The families of the INN crew aboard the SS Cartouche will be notified before the names are publicly released.

“SPF long-range sensors have detected a massive armada of warships patrolling throughout the Roppa star system boundaries, as a deterrent against further inbound vessels. All attempts to receive signals from Nalirra have been unsuccessful; it appears the com-Net has either been jammed or destroyed. There are currently no more INN news correspondents within the Roppa area, so it may be some time before more is known. Until further notice, PA Legislature Speaker Jo Chan has issued an order that forbids attempted contact with either Nalirra or Oe’Tanata due to the dangers involved in that star system.”

“What’s going on?”

Tanis spun around at Renny’s voice with clenched fists. The navigator was dressed in a blue and white cotton robe and had just stepped off the lift in search of something to eat. He was feeling better and ready to fill his belly. Tanis wore a scowl and pointed back at the vidscreen behind him just as the earlier video broadcast was repeated.

“My homeworld’s just fallen!” the medic snapped at him.

Renny glanced up at the vidscreen at the cheetah’s face that spoke to the unseen camera. He looked back at Tanis with the realization that the fox associated his species with the individual on the screen. He held up his hands toward him with his hands open. “Hold on there, Tanis!” he said quickly. “That’s not me up there!”

“Ya’ve not been very sympathetic to what’s been happening to Nalirra,” Tanis said darkly.

“That doesn’t mean my people are the ones who have been at war with your homeworld,” Renny replied in his defense. “I’ve not been too sympathetic because it was Nalirra that started the war.”

“Yer a cheetah, just like they are!” Tanis took a step forward and Taro readied herself to intervene if he looked like he was going to jump the navigator. Samantha wiped her hands on her apron, preparing to do the same.

“There aren’t any Tanatans in my bloodline!” Renny replied. “Get that out of your head right now!”

Tanis glared at him, clenching and unclenching his fists. Taro stepped around the couch quietly and then grabbed his wrist.

“Calm down, Tanis,” the vixen said to him. As soon as he felt her hand on his wrist, he jerked his arm to pull it away from her, but her grip was too strong and held him fast.

“Let go of me,” he growled at her.

Taro bent over, put her nose right into his closest ear and said in a cool tone, “I said ‘calm down’, Tanis. That was an order.”

The medic glowered at her for a moment and then glared back at Renny, but he relaxed his arm and finally looked away. Samantha grabbed the remote and muted the INN broadcast that had continued to recap the events. Taro released Tanis’ wrist, but he made no other moves toward the cheetah. He took the remote from Samantha and turned the sound back on as he plopped down on the couch, sinking his head into his hands. He said nothing more to any of them and did not look at Renny.

Taro sighed and looked apologetically at the feline. “He’s been under a lot of pressure lately,” she reminded him. “You would be too if your family and friends were knee-deep in war and you could do nothing about it.”

Renny shook his head and then moved to a nearby recliner. If he was going to be accused of conspiring with Tanis’ enemy, he wanted to know the situation. Samantha looked first at Renny and then at Tanis as they both kept their attention on Holly’s report. She shook her head sadly and then returned with Taro to the galley to continue with their meal preparations.

Even while Taro worked with the food, she kept an eye across the room toward Tanis, watchful that the medic did not make any threatening moves toward the cheetah.

***

“Moss, come up here and then please display schematic for sub-section 121-668,” Max called out. He was four meters above the floor, clinging tenaciously to a folded arm of the landing gear extender. He had finally managed to get the boot gasket in place, but he was having difficulty trying to figure out how it connected to the top portion of the extender.

“Meow, me-ow,” the small flying saucer acknowledged as it floated up to the mechanic and then located a flat surface to project the requested diagram. Its lens lit up as the image appeared on a bulkhead. Max studied it for a moment, and then his eyes lit up.

“Ah, so that’s it!”

***

It had been several hours since Taro and Samantha had gone around to all the members of the ship with trays of food, making sure everyone had been fed. While they were gone, Tanis had stayed on the recreation deck to watch INN for anything new that might come up, but Holly had been unable to do anything more than recap the whole conflict between the two worlds from its beginning until now.

There were reports of former Nalirran citizens and business associates with the planet that were outraged or fearful, but as to Nalirra herself, no more news had come out of the Roppa system on its population. Tanis could have easily watched the news from the screen in his quarters, but he had not moved from the couch since he had seen the initial report.

Arktanis knew he needed to get up and make the rounds to check in on those who were sick, so he finally forced himself to shut down the vidscreen and leave the rec deck. He had no intention of looking in on Renny, however. The navigator could nurse himself back to health, for all the medic cared. However, as he approached the lift, Tanis heaved a great sigh. He knew that Renny had nothing to do with the conflict on Nalirra any more than he did himself, but it was hard not to forget the Tanatan cheetah’s face on the vidscreen as the fate of his homeworld was sealed.

***

“Moss, disengage engineering routine Alpha-Nautilus-03,” Max said in satisfaction. “I’m finished with you.”

“Meow!” The mobile sentry system alternated colors across both its forward sensor lenses, reoriented three of its whiskers, and then moved away across the engine room to resume its original programming. Max watched it float away until it was out of sight and then began to haul his tools up out of the crawl space tunnel so he could clean them and put them away.

He stopped to yawn and then blinked several times. He was tired, but satisfied that he had completed his self-appointed task. By himself, the young mechanic had replaced a difficult part in cramped quarters, but he had managed it with only the help of Moss and the ship’s engineering schematics. Unfortunately, there would be no way to test to see if everything worked properly until they would be able to extend the landing gear. He sincerely hoped he had not missed something.

It would take him yet another hour to clean up the tools, but Pockets would hang him up by his tail if he did not put them away in spotless order. The chief engineer may have a messy personal cabin, but he kept the Blue Horizon’s engine room tidy and expected his trainee to do the same. Once the tools were accounted for and put away, Max intended to take a long nap before checking in on his boss. He hoped Pockets was okay.

***

Pockets opened his eyes with the need to visit the head. He threw back the covers and moved across the room to the lavatory. A few minutes later, he stared at himself in the bathroom mirror and stuck out his tongue at the reflection. He sniffed the air a couple times and then decided that the foul odor he could smell was the sickness and of himself. He glanced back at the mirror with a frown. “You,” he said to the other raccoon, “need a shower.”

His reflection wrinkled its nose in sync and then he paused as something occurred to him. He sniffed the air again and sorted through the other scents in the air: medicine, soup and the lingering smells of dust and grease from his abandoned coveralls somewhere in the other room. Then he smiled. His sinuses were clear. He could smell and distinguish between things again.

Tentatively, he raised his arms above his head, but they did not ache. He bent over to touch his toes, and to his delight found that he could. The raccoon spun around and punched the air with a fist.

“Yes!” he said jovially, “Jerad Porter is back among the living!”

An hour later, Pockets had showered, dried and brushed his fur to perfection. He chose a clean pair of shorts and a loose-fitting tee-shirt from his closet since all of his coveralls needed cleaning, and decided he would wash his laundry and bedding later. His sense of duty as the Blue Horizon’s Chief Engineer was strong and he remembered that the landing gear would need to be repaired before they could land on Alexandrius. He could not recall just how long he had been ill, but he felt it was time wasted.

It would take time and Max’s help to replace the damaged boot gasket on the landing gear extender. Normally, he would not have relished working on part of the ship in a hard-to-reach area of the ship where he would get filthy from the leaking fluids, but he was in such a good mood at feeling better that even that did not daunt him. The important thing would be to get it done while they still had time, even if he had to put on a set of dirty coveralls first.

The raccoon discovered he was famished and quickly decided he would be a better engineer with a full tummy and headed for the lift. At the door, he tapped the touch pad to take him to the recreation deck, but before the door closed fully, a voice called out.

“Hold it, please!”

Pockets jabbed the Stop pad and the doors reopened. Samantha stepped inside with a smile. “Thanks, Pockets,” she said.

“No problem,” the raccoon replied.

“You’re sure looking better,” Samantha told him as the doors closed and the lift began its upward climb.

“Thanks, I feel a lot better – starving, but I’m better.”

“You’re just in time then,” she said. “Everybody else should be up here for a staff meeting. I’ve just left the bridge on automatic with the auxiliary sensors routed to the rec deck.”

Pockets looked up at her as the lift came to a stop. “Why wasn’t I informed about the meeting? Merlin rarely has them.”

“Tanis suggested we let you rest,” the Border collie told him. “You were the sickest, but you look like you’re back to normal now.”

“I feel decent,” Pockets agreed with a smile. The doors opened and the two of them stepped out into the rec room. The large vidscreen circuitry was off and the panel was now nothing more than a forward window with the backdrop of stars in space. There was a bright star directly ahead. The raccoon could smell Crescentan fish cooking from the gallery and his mouth began to water. His stomach growled in response and Samantha laughed. Gathered around the long galley table was the rest of the Blue Horizon’s crew. Merlin grinned when he noticed the engineer’s normal demeanor.

“Glad to have you back with us!” he said over the conversations around the table. Everyone else looked up and Pockets felt welcome to be there. Lorelei waved at him from the kitchen, her eyes bright as she tended to several dishes in the midst of preparation. Samantha sat down next to Tanis and gave him an elbow in the ribs to make him scoot over some.

“What’s going on here?” Pockets asked the captain. “Are you giving out pink slips again?”

There was laughter all around, but something in the raccoon’s mind picked out that Renny and Tanis were at opposite lengths of the table from one another. The pair of them normally sat close together to taunt or tease one another in fun, but neither of them even looked the other’s way. Pockets took an empty seat between Samantha and Max.

“Well, at least you’re no longer the living dead,” Samantha added.

“Braaaains!” Pockets grunted, feigning a movement toward Renny before shaking his head and demonstrating that it was a lost cause.

Merlin stood up and all eyes went to him. “Now that the gang’s all here, I want to tell you all that I’m glad that everyone’s finally back on their feet. This Waxflatter sickness has finally been eradicated, thanks to our good doctor—”

“Medic,” the desert fox corrected.

“—thanks to our skilled medic,” Merlin said with the slight alteration. “Nobody’s getting canned,” he said with a smile at Pockets, “but now that you’re all better, I expect everyone to help get this ship cleaned up.”

“Pockets’ room needs priority disaster aid!” Samantha quipped. The raccoon looked embarrassed and grinned foolishly.

“We’ll be landing on Alexandrius in about ten hours,” the wolf continued, “and I want this ship in order before then. I will make an inspection of each compartment before I allow anyone out the hatch.” There were several groans around the table. “We’ll be down for eleven days on Alexandrius before our next job, and I don’t want to come back to a filthy ship after a journey where most everyone’s been ill.”

“Captain,” Pockets said meekly, “Max and I need to be excused from this cleanup detail.”

“Not a chance, Porter,” Merlin said with upraised eyebrows. “Your cabin is the worst of them all, and I’m not having someone else clean up after you, even if you have been sick!”

“If Max and I don’t get the landing gear extender boot gasket replaced before we get to Alexandrius, we won’t be able to land anywhere,” Pockets said sternly. “Ten hours doesn’t give us much time to…”

“Sorry, Pockets, but you can’t use that excuse,” Merlin said with a proud smile. “It’s already been taken care of.”

The raccoon looked puzzled. “Huh?” he asked. “Who?”

“Your trainee mechanic did the repairs while you were out of commission,” Taro said.

Pockets looked over at Max, who appeared to be sitting up straighter than he normally did. “Max fixed it?” he asked incredulously. “Just how long was I down?”

“You were out of it for two days,” Merlin answered, “and Max decided to do your job for you. The rest of us were either too sick or too busy taking care of the sick to give him any help, so he took care of it himself, by himself. After he reported the completed job to me, I crawled down in there to examine it myself. The repair work he did was a classic textbook case and he did an excellent job.”

Pockets sat there for a moment, and then he stood up and walked around the table to the young canine. He put his hands on the German shepherd’s shoulders and Max looked up at him quietly with pale blue eyes. “Max, I’m proud of you,” the engineer said. “If you managed a repair job like that one in conditions as bad as the one down there, you’ve got the potential to be a great mechanic!”

Renny laughed out and reached across the table to smack the table in front of the young canine. “Careful, Pockets,” he said merrily. “Max will be taking your job from you soon!”

“Yeah, he’ll be Chief Engineer before we know it!” Durant chuckled.

Pockets smiled at the others and then he looked toward the captain. “After such an accomplishment,” he said, “I don’t think we should consider Max a trainee anymore. If he’s done something like this, he’s proven himself a fully-fledged journeyman,” he looked down again at Max, “and a valued member of the crew.”

“Thanks, Pockets,” Max said with an embarrassed grin. He still was not used to being the center of attention of the whole crew. “I’ll try to live up to your expectations.”

“You still have experience to gain,” Merlin said with a smile, “but you’ve been a good student and Pockets is apparently a good teacher. You can learn a lot from him, even if he is a goober sometimes.”

“Hey!” the goober exclaimed.

***

“I can’t believe it!” Tanis said in excitement. “We never thought we’d hear back from ya again!”

“Well, I never got a recall, so I’m still here on Fyn, although I’m not in my mountain cabin anymore.”

“What made ya give that up?” the medic asked. “I thought ya loved that place.”

“Oh, I still own it; I’m just not currently living in it. Do you remember that ramshackle place near the Well of Luck?”

“Vaguely, Duffy. I was tired and hurting from our ordeal. I seem to remember one being there, but I never gave it much attention. My only thought at that time was to get back to town before the Blue Horizon left without me. What about it?”

“I think I told you that I bought the Well of Luck and was going to reopen it as a tourist attraction. The shack was included with the property and I just finished renovating the building. It took some doing – there was a lot of mildew and rotting wood in the walls that I had to replace, but you should see it now. I have a back room that I’m now living out of and the grounds are nicely mowed and clipped. There are walking trails all through the woods and there’s a small parking lot down by the main road where you tried to get yourself run over. I’m currently awaiting a shipment of curios and other souvenirs for the gift shop, and I’ll be stocking the snack counter just before it opens. The place will officially be in business next week for tourists, and just in time, too. This whole part of the countryside is used for outdoor recreation and I’m right off the main road. It should bring in a nice little income.”

Tanis made a face at the vidscreen where the Siberian husky was smiling back at him. “I can’t believe ya think ya can make money from that stinking place, Duffy,” he said in amusement, “but I wish ya luck — with the Well of Luck!”

“Thanks, Tanis, I appreciate that. You wouldn’t believe all the work I had to do inside the well itself, but I did find a few odds and ends down in there, including your little pendant. Want me to ship it to you?”

“No, thanks, ya can keep it as a bonus. So, what brings ya to give us a call?” Tanis asked.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard all about home,” Clarence replied. “After our last visit to Nalirra, I figured you might have wondered about me, so I thought I’d check in.”

“I’m assuming the attack by the Tanatans kept yer name from making it through all the channels to get you recalled into active duty.”

“Yeah, despite all the trouble we went through to get our names out of the system, the enemy did it for us. Stroke of luck, eh?”

“If ya say so,” Tanis said with a frown. He was quiet for a moment in thought and Duffy grew restless with his friend’s mood.

“There’s another reason why I called,” the husky said at last.

“Ya need a loan for yer trinket shop?” Tanis replied with the familiar friendly twinkle in his eyes.

“No, it’s nothing like that. I was just wondering how my son was doing.”

The medic looked up at the screen in surprise. Did he really know, or was he fishing for information? “Uh, what are you talking about, Duff?” he asked.

Clarence chuckled and waved a hand in the air. “You don’t have to feign ignorance, Tanis. Max sent a letter to my cabin address to tell me about it. It took a while to get rerouted to me and I just got it this morning.”

“And…?” Tanis prompted.

The husky grinned. “I thought it was a joke at first, but he also sent along copies of the DNA comparison you did and the report your captain got from his royal friends. That convinced me he was telling me the truth.”

“So… how do you feel about that?”

“Heh… Tanis, I hate to break this to you, but another puppy of mine discovered me a couple years back, the result of the seed-sowing I used to do those ages ago.”

“Ya were a veritable lawn sprinkler,” Tanis added with a smirk.

“Cute,” was the wry reply. ”Max has a half-brother – probably others I don’t know about. Unfortunately, when this other one tracked me down, all he wanted was to liberate me from my money. Legally, he couldn’t really do anything about it since his mum was a pleasure girl and that’s a risk in that line of work, but he gave it his best shot to intimidate me. That’s the real reason why I was living up in the mountains. It was to get away from that guy. When he first contacted me, I tried to befriend him, since I am his pop, but he didn’t care anything about that. All he wanted was money.”

“Ouch,” Tanis said. “Why did ya leave yer retreat to run yer little tourist trap if ya were trying to hide from him?”

Duffy grinned. “He tracked me down even there, but when he saw the condition of the place, he seemed quite put out that I wasn’t rolling in money. I invited him to stay and live with his pop, but from that moment on, he wanted nothing to do with me. I think it embarrassed him.”

“I wonder what he would think if he knew ya had a nice bank account from those investments ya made on Mainor.” Tanis laughed. “Just because someone has money doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to live in extravagance.”

“To be honest with you, Tanis, old boy, there’s not much left over from all that. It cost me quite a wad to make that trip to rendezvous with you and then the return trip home. Travel between the planets isn’t cheap, my friend, and Mainor’s not there to replenish the funds anymore.”

“Ask ya something?” Tanis requested.

“Sure, what do you want to know?”

“With such a bad experience with yer other offspring, ya don’t seem too bothered with Max contacting ya. Why?”

Duffy scratched an ear. “It was what he wrote in his letter, Tanis. He told me that you’d found out about us and looked into it, and how your captain broke the news to him. He said he felt he had the responsibility to let me know, but he also apologized that he wanted to stay with the Blue Horizon, rather than move to Fyn to live with me. He honestly didn’t want anything from me. He only felt I had the right to know I had a son in the event I wound up going to battle for Nalirra.” Duffy’s eyes grew moist and he stopped to wipe them, unashamed to do so in front of his long-time friend. “Max is a good soul, Tanis. I think he’s had some terrific folk to be around after leaving the Dump. He’s turned out alright.”

“We think he’s a good kid, too,” the desert fox replied. “He made a major repair on our ship a few days ago, all without the help of anyone else. If he hadn’t done that on his own initiative, we’d be scrambling at this very minute to try to get the repairs done in time for our landing. He’s a good learner and is doing well.”

“Thank you for telling me that, Tanis. He may be my son, but we have separate paths to take. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help raise him, especially now knowing the environment where he grew up, but I wasn’t very responsible for my actions in those days. I’m different now, but I’m glad he met your people. It’s the best thing that could have happened to him. Tell him that if he wishes to write to me, not as a relative, but as a friend, I’d be happy to hear from him.”

“I’ll make sure he knows, Duffy.”

“Looks like my time is up, so I’ll have to sign off here. Take care, Tanis!”

“Take care of yerself, Duffy. I’m glad yer doing alright.”

***

Alexandrius loomed blue and bright in the forward windows, both of its small moons full on opposite sides of the world with a backdrop of glittering stars. Clouds swirled like ribbons across its surface and the planet’s oceans glittered even from the distance of spatial orbit.

Merlin sat in the pilot seat, Taro was stationed at the com terminal and Renny was at navigation. As usual every time the Blue Horizon approached her homeworld, Samantha was on the bridge in the engineering seat to watch the planet come up to meet them.

“Resetting ship’s clocks to Iverson standard time,” Taro announced over the intercom. “Local time at landing coordinates is oh-eight thirty-seven.”

The red fox received a signal in her headset and nodded to herself at the information scrolling across her station screen. “This is the SS Blue Horizon, Planetary Alignment registry number PA1138. We’re coming in on standard approach vector for landing at the Aglet Spaceport in Iverson. We’re a freighter with a delivery.” She listened a second and then answered, “Book Depot.” She received the transmitted coordinates on her screen and as she listened, her fingers glided across her panel to transfer the data to Renny’s terminal. The cheetah set about programming the information into the main computer as Taro finalized their approach from the Alexandrius Defense Authority.

“ADA has given us the okay for deorbit, Captain,” she said over her shoulder.

“Good,” the wolf replied. “Renny?”

“Transferring navigational trajectory to your panel now,” the cheetah answered.

“All hands, all hands,” Taro announced on ship-wide speakers, “deorbit has begun. Strap yourselves in. We should be landing in approximately forty minutes.”

Merlin moved the guidance shifts forward and the ship nosed down toward the blue world. Renny flicked a switch at his station and the forward windows took on an orange hue as the heat shields activated. There was a resistance to the controls when the atmosphere thickened with their descent. The blue oval-shaped freighter dropped quickly toward the planet’s surface through a clear morning sky.

Thirty-five minutes later, members of the crew all over the ship swallowed in unknown unison. They all trusted Pockets’ assessment that the repair to the landing gear while in flight by their young mechanic appeared to have been done correctly, but there was still a little apprehension now that the time for landing had come.

Merlin checked his readouts, adjusted his course over the countryside and dropped their speed. A small city appeared on the distant horizon and they could see other ships coming and going over the metropolitan sky.

“Here we go,” Merlin said. The wolf dropped the ship’s altitude further, and then decreased its speed so as not to create a sonic boom to frighten to the non-sapient livestock below. The city approached quickly, and soon they were being escorted by a couple of smaller guidance craft that Taro chatted with over the com channel. He dropped their altitude to four hundred meters and slowed to within flight speed limits.

“There’s the spaceport,” Taro said.

Samantha had been quiet throughout most of their descent, and with their slowed speed she unbuckled her harness and stood up for a better view of the city, which seemed to glow in the morning light.

“Sam,” Merlin said, “start equalizing our internal air pressure with that of the outside and then begin atmosphere transfer.”

“Aye, Captain,” she answered, returning to her seat.

Taro engaged a few switches and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “Artificial gravity will be disabled in fifteen seconds. In another five minutes, we will be on the ground with full engine shutdown. All personnel report to the cargo bay in ten minutes for cargo detail.”

The ship slowed even more and Renny glanced out the windows. They were moving beneath the spaceport traffic and on approach toward a small beige building. In large green letters across the top of the structure were the words, Book Depot. The Blue Horizon stopped forward movement above a paved surface ringed with flashing lights and began dropping slowly.

Merlin hesitated only a moment before he flipped a toggle to lower the landing gear. Renny jumped at the slight click of the switch and then grinned foolishly.

“Landing gear has been extended and locked into place,” Pockets reported in from the engine room. There was an almost tangible relief in the air from that announcement and then Merlin set his ship gently onto the pad with the slightest of bumps. Max had done his job right.

LIGHT A CANDLE FOR ME

By Ted R. Blasingame

Renny looked at his techwatch as the last of the transports drove away. With their cargo preloaded into trucks, it had taken less than twenty minutes for Durant to do the necessary electronic documentation with the Book Depot representative and for their supplied drivers to move the vehicles out of the Blue Horizon’s hold. It was almost nine o’clock in the morning and Merlin had already told everyone that shore leave would last eleven days this time. All of the crew cabins had been inspected by the captain prior to landing and Merlin had given his okay that his ship had been cleaned well enough for them to go after their cargo had been unloaded. Even Pockets’ quarters had passed inspection.

Renny and Taro had not spent much time with one another during their past few shore leaves, but this time they had agreed to go together during the extended vacation. They had not made specific plans as yet; they wanted to wait until they knew more about the city in which they had landed. Of those on board the Horizon, only Samantha and Merlin had been in Iverson before, but Durant had made noises about spending several days away from the city on a fishing trip. It seemed he had already done some research and had some foreknowledge of the area, even if he had never actually been there.

Because of the trucks, there had not been much to do so far as unloading cargo went. The only thing they had really had to do was disconnect the stout chains and cables that had secured the trucks to the cargo bay floor during flight. On a normal job, it would take the Horizon crew an hour or more to unload standard octagonal shipping crates into loading trucks or a warehouse, and longer if their client happened to ship their goods in dissimilar wooden crates.

Despite the quickness and ease of this particular unloading, none of them could leave until Merlin gave the word that they could go, and most of the crew was milling around the hold awaiting that permission.

Renny glanced up at a sudden roar and watched a Seriola-class heavy freighter take off from a nearby launch pad. It was long, cylindrical, and easily five times the size of the Blue Horizon. The glare of its engine triad was brilliant even in the sunshine of the clear autumn morning and it created shadows as if it were a small sun. He squinted as it turned 180° degrees on its horizontal axis, and even at this distance, he could read the large lettering of the ship’s name: Amberjack. The cheetah’s mouth opened in awe at the sheer size of the thing. He remembered hearing about it on a news feed not too long ago. Its sole purpose was to transport settlers to new worlds that the Firebird Fleet might find habitable, in addition to their families, livestock and supplies enough to colonize new lands.

After the Amberjack finished its rotation, it angled up and began to rise ponderously, but its sluggishness was deceptive. Renny watched it until the ship reached an altitude above the spaceport traffic, and then it vanished in a sudden burst of speed. Wherever it was headed, the Amberjack was fast on its way.

Renny yawned and stretched, but something familiar suddenly caught his eye as he returned his attention to the spaceport. He had not noticed it before, but there was a Sakura-class freighter on the landing pad next to them. Its exterior colors of bluish-white with green and gold trim triggered a memory and he suddenly felt the fur along his tail begin to stand out. As he gazed at the wedge-shaped cargo carrier, he could see its main hatch open. A large male panda dressed in a red vest and black breeches stepped out into the morning air and began walking directly toward the open bay doors of the Blue Horizon. A thin gold chain around his neck sparkled in the sunlight.

“Uh oh…” he muttered to himself. He glanced over to where Merlin had been talking over the details of their delivery with Durant, and noticed that the wolf was already headed out to meet the approaching visitor. Other members of the crew started forward until Durant cleared his throat loudly and held up a hand for the others to stop. Renny watched suspiciously as Merlin and the panda stopped in front of one another.

Merlin looked up at the taller panda, knowing full well whom he faced. There were many things he wanted to say at that moment, but his sense of diplomacy won out. “What can I do for you?” he asked stiffly as he fiddled with the cuffs of his bomber jacket.

“Captain Sinclair?” the panda asked. Merlin nodded and then the visitor held out a hand in greeting. “My name is JW Chon,” he said with a slight bow. “I’m captain of the Bamboo Wind.”

Merlin took the offered hand hesitantly and squinted in the sunlight. “Hello, Mr. Chon,” he replied. “We’ve met before, though not formally.”

“Yes, that’s right,” the panda said with a nod. “I remember. It was on Earth, in Tucson.”

“Should I congratulate you on your promotion, Captain?” Merlin asked dryly. Chon recognized the tone in the wolf’s voice and nodded again.

“I suppose that depends upon your perspective,” he replied. He looked steadily at Merlin for a moment and then said, “The spaceport has a nice, but informal restaurant in the South terminal called Feather Wings. I would welcome the chance to talk with you a bit, and things are usually friendlier over a meal. It would be my treat, if you would join me.”

Merlin raised his eyebrows. “Uh, sure,” he said, taken off guard. “Do you mind if I bring someone with me? I promised her breakfast as soon as we’d landed.”

Chon smiled widely. “Of course, bring along your lady friend. I’ll pick up her check, too.”

Merlin nodded slowly. “Alright, I accept. I have a few more things to take care of before I can leave my ship. Shall we meet you there in half an hour?”

The panda pulled out an antique Terran timepiece from a vest pocket and then nodded. “That will be fine. I’ll see you there, Captain.” He gave Merlin another small bow and then began walking toward the main spaceport terminal building.

“What was that about?” Renny asked a moment later.

Merlin looked over at his navigator and then scratched the fur beneath his hat. “I’m not sure, Renny,” he replied. “I expected a fight, but instead I got an invitation to breakfast with him picking up the tab.”

Renny licked his lips. “Breakfast?” he asked. “Let me join you… you know, just to make sure he doesn’t jump you or something.”

Merlin turned and looked at him with a canine grin. “Sorry, Vacuum-Lips, but I’m taking Samantha with me.”

The cheetah’s whiskers drooped in disappointment. “Oh, I see how it is. I’m not good enough...” he whined.

“On the other hand, I suppose if Chon had to pay for your meal, his business would go broke and I’d be rid of another competitor.”

Renny put a hand to his chest with a grimace. “Oh, that hurt!”

***

When Merlin and Samantha entered the restaurant, they saw JW Chon immediately. He was across the room from the entrance, but his red vest stood out like a beacon against his monochromatic fur and he looked up at them with a smile when they approached.

“Please have a seat,” the panda said pleasantly. Samantha exchanged glances with Merlin before she slid into the booth.

“Thank you,” Merlin said after he had settled in next to her. “Captain Chon, this is Samantha.”

“Hello, Captain,” the Border collie said politely.

“Thank you for joining me,” the panda said with a nod of his head. Before he could say more, a waitress stepped up and set menus on the table between them.

“Welcome to Feather Wings,” the cougar said with a smile.

“You may order anything you like,” Chon told his companions. “This is my ticket.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Samantha replied. She looked over the menu and was tempted to order the most expensive thing on the menu just because he had taken a customer away from them — but at the last moment she decided that she was better than that and ordered something only slightly less expensive. She watched his eyes when she gave her order to the waitress, but the panda did not even flinch. He actually smiled, which made her more uncomfortable.

Merlin gave his order to the waitress and then waited while Chon did the same. After she had left their table, the wolf leaned forward and looked up at their host.

“So,” he said warily, “what did you wish to discuss with me?’

Chon nodded his head. “Straight to the point, I see – no small talk to lead into the conversation,” he said as he leaned back in the seat. “Alright, Captain, we can go there. From the tone of our chat out by your ship, I think I can assume you are aware of the prior history of my freighter.”

Merlin nodded. “Formerly known as the Savannah Hunter, formerly captained by Armando Jensen,” he admitted. “We ran into him on Crescentis and he latched onto us like a leech, begging for a job.”

“Ah, I’m sure he gave you all the gritty details of our business transaction?” Chon said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Samantha nodded. “He said you tricked him into signing away his ship and business,” she replied.

The waitress returned with their drinks and then departed again quietly. Chon took a sip of his diet soda and then leaned upon the table. “Jensen has not run his own business in several years, leaving all that to me,” he said, “but he continued to spend the company profits on things other than the company, often leaving little for needed maintenance on the ship or pay for the crew. For the sake of the company, I relieved him of the responsibility of overseeing the business. We’ve done much better for it since his departure.”

Merlin heard Samantha draw in a deep breath and could tell from the way her eyebrows drew together that she was about to give Chon her opinion of his business practices. “You’re doing well,” he said quickly before she could begin, “at our expense, I might add.”

Chon blinked twice and looked puzzled. “At your expense?” he repeated. “How? I’ve done nothing against you.”

“You stole one of our long-time clients!” Samantha spat.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Brandersen Electronics,” Merlin answered tonelessly. “He broke an established contract with us in flight to have his merchandise delivered by the Bamboo Wind instead.”

“Brandersen?” Chon repeated quietly. “Well, this is a surprise… You can’t blame me for this one. Marcus Brandersen contacted me to pick up his delivery for him. He said he’d seen one of our commercials on StellarNet and gave us a specific bid for our services. He said nothing of having a prior contract with you or anyone else.”

“You don’t know anything about it?” Samantha asked doubtfully.

Chon genuinely looked troubled. “I assure you this is the first I’ve heard of it,” he replied. “I was glad to get his call since I was trying to establish a new clientele base.” He looked at Merlin and raised an eyebrow. “If you and I had put in competing bids to Brandersen for his delivery, that would have been standard practice in the freighting business. As you are well aware, there are still parts of the Planetary Alignment still in chaos since the Siilv War. I am your competition, and I will promote my services as much as I can, but I wouldn’t coerce a potential customer into breaking a contract. That makes for a bad reputation, even in these hard times.”

“I see,” the wolf replied after a moment of thought. “Brandersen was free enough to give out your name as the one who had taken our business from us.”

“Is that so?” Chon asked with a furrowed brow. “I’ll have to return the favor.”

“Our lawyer has been in touch with him,” Samantha said quietly, “and Brandersen has been fined for breach of legal contract. Between his fine and legal fees, he has incurred some debts over this affair.”

“It’s a good thing he’s already paid me,” Chon said with an appreciative nod. The cougar returned with their meals and the trio fell silent as the woman set out their dishes and then once again left without a word.

“What about your crew?” Merlin asked after a moment. “I was aware that you often had to shanghai your employees, as the saying goes.”

Chon looked amused. “You were aware of that, eh?” he asked with a chuckle. “Jensen himself didn’t even know that, although it was a necessity with him as captain. The Savannah Hunter had such a lackluster reputation with Jensen in command that we never had any applicants for vacant positions. Things have changed dramatically since his departure.”

“You have a willing crew that is employed under contract?” Samantha asked between bites of her food.

“I do now,” the panda replied. “That was one of the changes I made to the business. I wanted to be distanced from the Savannah Hunter’s reputation in the cargo-moving community, which is one of the reasons I licensed the ship under a new name and registry. I gave leave of my crew for those who wished to return home, and initiated contracts for those hired to replace them. I still have a third of my old crew on board. Once they knew of Jensen’s removal and my intention to provide contracts with paid benefits for any who would stay, there were several who were glad to sign up to stay.”

Merlin nodded appreciatively as he took a lap of his coffee. If everything the panda had told them was true, his respect for this competitor rose significantly. Even if Chon had run a difficult ship under Armando’s captaincy, he seemed determined to make up for it with his people.

“Congratulations on your business,” he said at last. “Is this what you wished to discuss with me?”

“That’s a good part of it,” Chon replied. “I realize I didn’t have to give you any kind of explanation on what I do with my own business, but I knew there was a lot of bad blood between you and Jensen. When I saw your ship land next to mine, I wanted to make it clear to you that he was no longer in the picture, although I wasn’t aware you knew a good part of it already. I’m not asking you to become my partner or anything like that. We’re both in this business for the same reasons and competition is good for the economy. If we’re going to be rivals, at least we can do it professionally.”

Merlin glanced over at Samantha and she gave him a small nod. He wiped his fingers on his cloth napkin and extended a hand toward the panda with a smile. “Unlike your predecessor, you seem to have a good head on your shoulders, Captain Chon,” he said as they shook hands. “On behalf of the Blue Horizon, it will be good competing with you.”

***

Durant touched a screen on his slateboard and showed it to Lorelei. The white rabbit was dressed in a vibrantly-colored tie-dyed tee-shirt decorated with numerous necklaces of crystals and beads, sandals and a pair of cutoff jeans. “Your pay was deposited to your account last night,” he told her, “but try not to spend it all at once. We’ll be on leave here longer than usual this time.”

“Thankies, Durant,” the rabbit said to him with a big grin. “I already have big plans for my time off.” She waved a colorful pamphlet in his face and unfolded it with glee. “There’s a Mystical Hot Spring not too far from here that’s just oozing in therapeutic mud, and the air is soaking with natural incense.” The doe grinned widely at a particular photo on the reverse side of the pamphlet and added, “Ooh, I can’t wait for a full body massage by this buck – he’s gorgeous!”

Durant cleared his throat and pushed the pamphlet out of his face. “That’s nice, Lori. Enjoy yourself.”

“I will, hon. See ya!” The rabbit put on a pair of pink plastic sunglasses over her eyes with the elastic strap around her head, and then slung the strap of an orange bag over her shoulder. She began skipping out toward the terminal building, softly humming to herself.

Samantha stepped up to the grizzly, leaned back against his arm, and batted her eyelashes at him. “Ooh, I can’t wait for a full body massage, Durant!” she mimicked the rabbit’s voice in sing-song when the doe had gone. Durant laughed and tapped at her name on his slateboard.

“You do that very well, Samantha,” he chuckled as he showed the screen to her.

“Oh, please!” she said in mock indignation. “So, what are you going to do on your time off?”

“I’m going to rent a cabin in the woods in the Musty Mountains to the south of here,” he replied as he pulled up the last voucher for Tanis. “I want to spend some time alone, away from ships, away from cities, away from people—”

“Away from medical attention…” Tanis interjected with a frown.

Durant ignored him and continued. “I want to relax, do some fishing and roam around under the trees with my toes in the dirt.”

“Just don’t run around as a bare bear,” Samantha said with a chuckle. “Someone might mistake you for wildlife and make a rug out of you for their own cabin!”

Durant grinned at her. “I guess I can mark naturalism off my list, then,” he said with a wink.

Tanis crossed his arms and looked up at the grizzly. “Ya’ve been dodging my requests to give ya a physical for a long time, Durant,” he said. “At least let me check ya out before ya head off into the wilderness, just to be sure.”

The accountant shook his head. “There’s no need for that, Tanis,” he assured him. “All I need is rest and relaxation away from the stress of our business, letting let my mind wander and unwind. I’ll be okay. After that nasty virus, I need clean mountain air in my lungs.”

“I’m not convinced,” the desert fox replied.

“Well, I’m not taking you with me, if that’s what you’re wanting,” Durant said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“What I’m wanting,” Tanis said with a frown, “is just for ya to let me look ya over before ya leave. Nothing more. A few minutes are all I will need.”

Durant shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t have the time. I already have a cab on the way to take me to the levicar rental agency, and then I’ll be on my way after I pick up a few supplies. Don’t worry about me – I’ll be fine.”

Tanis’ frown deepened, if that were possible. “I need to convince Merlin that an annual physical for all crew members should be made mandatory, my friend.”

A horn honked outside the cargo bay’s main hatch and Durant waved toward the cabbie that pulled up. “Time to go,” he said with a smile. Samantha reached up to give him a warm hug and then looked up into his brown eyes.

“You take care of yourself, big guy,” she said, “and enjoy your rest.”

“I intend to,” the grizzly replied. He reached out toward Tanis, but the fox hesitated a moment before taking the offered hand.

“Be very careful,” the medic said. “Ya won’t be close to help if something happens to ya out there.”

“I will, Tanis,” Durant told him. The cab honked again and the bear moved toward the bay door. He picked up his duffel near the door and carried it to the cab. Tanis and Samantha watched him until the vehicle drove away, and then the Border collie turned toward her companion.

“Why are you so adamant about giving him a physical?” she asked.

“Because he’s hiding something from me,” Tanis replied with the shake of his head. “There’s something wrong with him, but I can’t pinpoint what it is without an examination.”

“He just got over that virus, Tanis. Didn’t you give him an examination then?”

“No,” Tanis answered as they started walking back toward the main lift. “He wouldn’t let me do more than take his temperature and a small blood sample, neither of which showed me anything more than the virus. I need different tests. I don’t have a suspicion of what is wrong with him – it’s only a gut feeling that something’s not right. I’ve had this feeling for months now, not just since the ship-wide sickness.”

Samantha glanced back toward the bay doors as they entered the lift and lightly chewed on her bottom lip. “I hope you’re wrong, Tanis,” she said with a worried voice.” I really hope you are wrong,”

***

The door to Renny’s quarters was open and Taro walked in through the opening with her slateboard in one hand. “Renny?” she ventured when she did not see him.

“I’m in the closet,” a muffled voice from the back room called out. The vixen made her way around the furniture to the back room and then poked her head inside the closet.

“What are you doing?” she asked with a chuckle when she saw only his feet and swishing tail sticking out from under hanging garments.

“I’m trying to find my duffel bag,” Renny’s voice replied. “It has all of my dress slacks in it. If you and I are going to be hitting the nightclubs and going to stage plays while we’re in Iverson, I want to look better than my usual trousers and a tank-top.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dressed up before,” Taro said with a vulpine grin. “This ought to be good.”

“Found ‘em!” Renny backed out of the closet and then stood up with a navy-blue duffel bag that was partially full. He took it to his bed and then dumped out several wadded garments. “I might need to iron them first,” he muttered when Taro picked up a pair of black slacks.

“Might?” she asked him with a tsk. “Honey, you aren’t going anywhere with me in these things unless they’ve been thoroughly cleaned and ironed.”

“That’s what I meant,” the cheetah replied with a smile. Taro gave him a dubious look and just shook her head. “I’m headed to the laundry room now,” Renny said. He picked up the garments and Taro followed him out of the cabin toward the appropriate room on the other side of the ship from his quarters.

“I heard Pockets and Max talking about getting air tickets to Algegrath,” Renny said as they walked. “What’s there?”

“That’s where the Hidalgo Sun is landing to pick up their mail and a shipment bound for Tanthe,” the vixen replied. “Patch and Pockets planned to have a little reunion while they’re there and Max just wanted to go along.”

“Where Pockets goes, Max will follow.” Renny remarked. “I just hope the little filch doesn’t teach Max how to pick locks, too.”

“Agreed. Now, let’s get your slacks in proper order,” Taro said when they reached the laundry room. She opened the door and suddenly threw up her hands. “Yech!” she exclaimed. A pungent odor escaped the small room and Renny’s eyes began to water.

“I wondered how Pockets was able to get his cabin cleaned so fast for Merlin’s inspection,” the cheetah gasped and backed away from the door. Inside were tubs of dirty clothing that could belong to no one but their chief engineer. Apparently, all the garments and bedding that had been soiled during his sickness were just dumped inside the laundry room.

“Merlin never inspected this room,” Taro growled, “or Pockets would have been denied shore leave for three voyages!” She put a hand over her nose and reached inside the door to lift up the cover to a protected switch. She punched two buttons in a series beneath it and a small pump began venting the room’s air through a duct leading out to the exterior of the ship.

“Come on,” Taro said with a frown. “We’ll just pack your slacks and take them with us. The hotel staff will get them cleaned and ironed for you.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Renny grumbled as he followed the vixen back to his cabin. They walked a few steps in silence and then Renny asked, “What’s everyone else got planned for our stay?”

“Durant’s gone up to the mountains to get away from it all,” Taro replied, “and Lori’s gone to some New Age nature resort to soak in a mud pit. Pockets and Max, you know about… Merlin wanted to go camping, but Samantha wouldn’t hear of it, so they’re going shopping instead.”

“Sounds like loads of fun,” Renny remarked dryly. “What about Tanis?”

“He said he didn’t have any plans, but was just going to wander around town and take it as it comes,” Taro replied. “Perhaps he’ll meet a nice young female to entertain.”

“Yeah,” Renny mused, “with all that’s happened with his homeworld, he needs something to keep his mind off of it. I’d invite him along with us, but he doesn’t want to have much to do with me lately.”

Taro turned to look at him. “You’d invite him along?” she repeated with a teasing grin. “I didn’t know you were into threesomes.”

Renny felt his skin flush beneath his fur. “I’m not!” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean that… I meant he could visit some of the sights with us!”

Taro laughed and winked at him. “Sure…. Okay, I’ll ask him if he wants to go along. If he does, great. If not, at least we offered.”

***

Merlin walked onto the bridge of the Blue Horizon and tapped on the light. Although they were now to be docked for over a week, he wanted to check things over a little before he would lock things down for the duration. Most of the crew had already gone by the time he and Samantha got back from their breakfast with Chon, though the last of them would be out soon.

He moved first to the engineering station to power down all but the security systems, and noticed a flashing red dot when he was near the com panel. He thumbed the pad beside the light and played back a stored message.

“Merlin! This is Riki – Captain Kegawa needs you to contact us as soon as you get this. We’ve had an explosion in the cargo bay! We’re at the spaceport in Algegrath on landing pad seventy-one.”

“That’s terrible!” said Renny. Merlin looked up at Taro and Renny standing in the doorway. He gave them a frown as he sat in the chair before the station and punched up the Hidalgo Sun’s calling code. It only took a moment for the signal to relay along the planet’s orbital communication satellites to the other side of the world.

“This is the Hidalgo Sun,” the lemur’s voice said from the com speakers. “I’m sorry, but you’ve caught us at a bad time…”

“Riki,” Merlin said quickly, “this is Sinclair.”

“Merlin! Thank goodness you called. It’s terrible – something blew up in the –”

“Get Rezo on the line, please.”

“Right away, sir!”

There was a pause and Merlin looked up at his first officer. “Do you think it’s another attack, or a system malfunction?” Taro asked him.

“I hope we’re about to find out,” the wolf replied.

“Boss!” Rezo’s voice rang out suddenly.

“What happened? Give me all the details.”

“About an hour ago, we were loading crates into the cargo bay when Littlefeather accidentally knocked one box into another with the forklift as he went up the ramp into the ship. The crate fell off the lift and something inside the container exploded.” They could hear the red panda swallow as he tried not to talk too quickly. “The explosion blew away half of the cargo bay door and damaged the main airlock. Mark was behind the glassteel windshield on the lift or he might have been killed. He and the forklift were blown halfway across the tarmac, and you know how heavy those things are. He has a broken arm and some burns to both legs, but it could have been a lot worse.”

“Anyone else hurt?”

“There are a few cuts, bumps and bruises from blown debris, but otherwise everybody else is fine, although shaken. Carmen and Tsarina went with Littlefeather in an ambulance to the local hospital about twenty minutes ago. Several fires inside the cargo bay ignited, but the fire suppressant system extinguished them before anything got out of control. The spaceport fire department is still examining everything to make sure nothing else is smoldering. I was talking with the police just now when you called and I really should get back down there.”

“Okay, put somebody else on the line so I can get more details.”

“Right… here’s Riki again.”

“I’m here, Merlin,” the lemur’s voice said.

“Riki, I want you to make sure everyone on your crew is issued a sidearm,” the lupine captain said gravely. “Since all you are supposed to be hauling this time is textiles, there shouldn’t be anything volatile within your cargo. This sounds like another attack on the company. There may be more forthcoming, so I want everyone to be on alert.”

“That scares me,” Riki replied. “There are some of us I’m sure have never used a gun before… I think those will probably be more of a danger carrying one than any other outside source.”

“Nevertheless, I want it done. If you don’t have any firearms, I’m authorizing you to purchase enough handguns for the crew — stunners at the least.”

“Yes sir, I’ll make sure the word gets around.”

Merlin looked over at Renny and knew the cheetah’s concerned expression mirrored his own. “What else can you tell me?” he asked.

“The police have already been looking through the debris and found what they believe is a timer from the bomb.”

“Wow, they work fast!” Renny replied.

“The bomb squad moved in quickly,” Riki agreed. “They were sifting through the debris within minutes of getting here. Apparently, this is commonplace in spaceports these days and they are stationed nearby. They are currently going through the remaining crates plus the mail containers to make sure there aren’t any others.”

“What condition is the ship in?” Taro asked.

“As Captain Kegawa mentioned, our main airlock and most of the cargo bay door is in ruin. The blast blew out the windows of nearby buildings, and started a number of fires both inside and outside of the ship. The overhead crane is a wreck and the door to elevator lift is out of operation, making it difficult to get to the upper levels. Patch says he and Paxton can do most of the repairs inside the ship themselves, but until the airlock and bay door is replaced, we won’t be launching anytime soon. Pax is currently examining the outside structure of the ship around the hold. The initial report he gave the captain a few minutes ago says that it appears to be intact. It could have been a lot worse if it had exploded after we’d taken off…”

“Mark’s carelessness might have actually spared the ship,” Taro remarked.

“What about the engines?” Renny asked.

“The blast never made it inside as far as the engine room,” Riki replied. “The window in the pressure door was blown out from the concussion, but the explosion didn’t make it further. Patch says the engines are okay.”

“Riki,” Merlin said after a moment of thought, “Pockets and Max are already en route to Algegrath. They were headed to your location to visit with Patch, but inform them that their shore leave has been cancelled. Their orders are to help Patch and Paxton make what repairs they can as quickly as possible. As for everyone else on the Hidalgo Sun who is able – their orders are to give the mechanics as much assistance as necessary. The rest of my crew has scattered on extended leave, so I can’t send anyone else but them.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Have Jonesy contact Interstellar Insurance to get the local adjuster over to take a look at things before the repairs start. This needs to be done pronto.”

“I’ll get your orders to the captain as soon as possible.”

“One more thing,” Merlin said. “I want you to hire local security guards to watch the ship around the clock until such time as the Hidalgo Sun can take off again. The business funds will pay their fees.”

“Right away.”

“I’m going to carry a DC with me while I’m away from the Horizon,” Merlin added as he took one of the digital communication units from a drawer under the com station. He examined its label and said, “I’ll be on frequency channel 707 and will await any report your people might have for me. I’ll stay out of your way, but if you need me to come out there, don’t hesitate to call.”

“Aye, sir,” the lemur replied.

“Stay on your toes,” Merlin said at last.

“Goodbye, sir,” Riki answered. The signal cut off and then the wolf looked back up at Taro and Renny.

“Is our leave canceled, too?” the navigator asked.

“No,” Merlin replied with the shake of his head. “There’s no need for that, but I would caution you to be careful while you’re out and about. If it’s a terrorist attack against us as I suspect, our unknown enemy may know more about our delivery schedule and be aware of the location of the Blue Horizon in addition to the Hidalgo Sun. It might be a good idea if I hire guards to watch the Horizon, too. The ship sitting here alone during an extended stay would be too easy to sabotage.”

“This is going to make for a nervous vacation,” Taro mused, “if I have to watch my back everywhere I go.”

“Well, you two will have to watch each other’s back,” Merlin replied with a wry smile, “as I doubt you’ll be inseparable.” He thought for a moment and then frowned again. “I would recommend the buddy-system for everyone so no one is caught alone anywhere, but unfortunately everyone else has already scattered to the four winds.”

“We’re going to ask Tanis if he wants to tag along with us,” Taro said, “so he won’t have to watch himself alone.”

“You’ve already missed him,” Merlin replied. “He left a half hour ago to find a travel agent to see what he could get into during his time off. He left me the address of the hotel where he’s going to be staying, however.”

“He should have gone with Lori,” Renny said. “He might have had to put up with her eccentricities, but at least he wouldn’t have been alone.”

The wolf snickered. “I don’t think he would have felt safe going to some of the places she intended to go,” he said with a grin. “Lori’s a great cook, but he knows that she’s into some things the rest of us find out of the normal.”

“What about you and Samantha?” Taro asked. “You two have anything special planned?”

“Oh, I thought I’d drag him to all the intimate apparel shops and see if I could find something kinky that would fit him,” Samantha said with a laugh from the doorway.

“Not on your life!” the wolf replied. He gave a lopsided smile to Renny and said, “She’s been threatening me with non-stop shopping since we landed.”

“I’d vote for camping, myself,” the cheetah replied.

“You would,” Samantha retorted, “although I’m sure you’d be just as happy playing with a ball of yarn.”

“At least that would be more entertaining than a rawhide chew toy,” Renny shot back with a grin. “Where’s your flea collar?”

“It’s packed away in the suitcase, cry-kitty.” Samantha whacked the navigator on the arm with a wink. “So, what’s everyone gathered in here for?” she asked. “Are you conspiring now that everyone else has gone?”

The levity in the room disappeared at once. “There’s been an attack on the Hidalgo Sun,” Taro said somberly.

“Huh?” asked the surprised Border collie. “What happened?”

Merlin, Taro and Renny took turns filling her in on the situation. After tense moments, she sat down in the center seat of the bridge, her eyes moist. “That’s just awful,” she said in a choked voice. “Merlin?”

The wolf shook his head slowly. “Rezo’s people will start making repairs as soon as they can, but I need to call the SPF about this and inform the home office before we take off.” He looked up at Taro and Renny and added, “There’s no reason for you to stick around if you want to leave.”

Taro reached into the com drawer and pulled out another of the DCs. “We’ll be on channel frequency 772 if anything more comes up.”

“Right.”

Taro exchanged glances with Samantha before she and Renny left the bridge. When Sam looked back at Merlin, he looked worried as he held up his DC. “I wish I’d had Durant take one of these with him up into the mountains,” he said quietly. “We don’t have any other way to inform him about the situation.”

“I know,” Samantha replied as she got up and moved to the wolf’s side. She brushed her fingers through his head fur and said, “Durant’s been looking his age lately. Maybe he’ll have the chance to actually relax up there in the woods if he doesn’t know about this.”

“Possibly,” Merlin remarked, “but you know we’ll catch fire from him for not trying to reach him when he finally finds out about it.”

***

“What’s that?” Renny asked an hour later. He and Taro had stopped in a small street-side curio shop to have a look around. The vixen had picked up a small figurine from a shelf and was examining a label affixed to its underside.

Taro smiled and held up the ceramic figure in the palm of one hand. It was a red fox much like herself, but of the non-sapient variety imported from Earth ages ago that was common on some of the Planetary Alignment worlds. It was about the size of her hand and was sitting on its haunches with its head tilted in curiosity.

“Heh… that’s cute,” Renny said with a smile of his own.

“You like it?” Taro asked.

“Actually, yes,” the cheetah replied genuinely. “Its facial markings are similar to yours.”

“That’s what drew me to it,” Taro said. “If I were a wild fox, this might be what I would have looked like.”

“You are a wild fox,” Renny quipped, tweaking the base of her tail. Taro grinned and snapped her jaws playfully at him. “Well, that settles it,” he said while withdrawing his credicard. “I shall have to have it.”

“Uh-uh,” Taro giggled as she clutched the figurine to her chest. “I’ll buy it for you as a gift.”

“A gift?”

“Yes, Renny, a gift. Something for you to remember me by if we ever get separated again. The purpose of a souvenir is to remember.”

“In that case,” the navigator replied, “I need to find one of a wild cheetah for you in return.”

Taro chuckled as her friend began looking through the various figurines on the shelf. After a moment, he picked up another fox and shook his head. “Now, this is odd…” he said quietly. He held it up near his face and examined it closely.

“What’s odd? Find another one that looks like me?”

“No…” Renny replied slowly. “It’s uncanny, but this one looks just like my best friend from flight school!”

“Your best friend was a fox?” Taro asked.

“Yeah. Jerry wasn’t Hestran, but he did look a bit like this little guy in the face.”

Taro took a close look at the figurine Renny held and then looked up at him with a wink. “If this guy reminded you of him, your friend Jerry must have been quite nice on the eyes.”

Renny chuckled. “Yeah, well, he was quite the ladies’ magnet. I used to call him the Foxenator just to get a rise out of him, but he was basically a good guy. He was studying to be a doctor, but wanted a pilot’s license too. He was more passionate about flying than anyone else in the school at the time and the women thought Jerry Somner becoming a doctor was the greatest thing since baked Jinkles.”

“What happened to him?”

“He went on to be a doctor like he wanted,” Renny replied as he set the figurine back on the shelf, “but wound up in a clinic in a backwater town on Pomen. The last time I heard from him, he was looking for an opportunity to leave the place. I don’t think a small-town office suited him very much. He likes flying too much to be stationary. As far as I know, he’s still there as a general practitioner.”

“Well, I’m going to take my counterpart to the register and have your gift wrapped,” Taro said as she began to walk back up the aisle.

“Wait!” Renny said in sudden panic. “I still have to find your cheetah!”

***

Tanis looked at his reflection in the mirror and sighed. He did not really feel like going out on the town, but he was reluctant to just stay in his hotel room and mope around. He knew he had not been very good company lately and knew he had to do something to break himself out of his depression, but it seemed like every time he turned around there was a news broadcast or newspaper article about what happened to Nalirra.

The Roppa War was over. Sed Amittias had been executed by the Tanatans and the Emperor’s daughter returned unharmed. Nalirra was then claimed by Oe’Tanata as occupied territory, and as the de facto government, withdrew its membership from the PA with a warning for all outsiders to stay away from the Roppa star system. Unauthorized vessels entering the system were destroyed without preamble and all other communications on or off the planet were jammed.

In order to keep the peace, the Planetary Alignment Legislature had voted to honor the demands of Oe’Tanata. Aid had been offered to Nalirra as a PA ally repeatedly before the downfall, but since Amittias had continued to refuse help, the Legislature was now in no frame to do anything more for the occupied planet. It had been summarily written off as foreign territory.

The desert fox often wondered why the fall of his homeworld upset him so much. He had been happy to leave his birthplace – and his estranged family - far behind and was always hesitant to go back if the planet ever came up on the Blue Horizon’s delivery schedule. He had held no interest in ever returning to Nalirra, but now that the option was no longer open to him, he felt a deep regret that had been eating away at him. As much as he had wanted to be away from Nalirra, he should try to put it out of his mind and feel relieved that he would never have to return… but it was so very hard.

Tanis sighed again to himself and felt his stomach growl. He had not eaten all day, and now that it was early in the evening, he was famished. He had originally considered just having something delivered to his room, but he was tired of looking at the televid and wanted to get out for some fresh air.

He nodded to himself and knew getting out was the right choice. He dressed in casual dark pants and boots, with a loose, white short-sleeved shirt that was open midway to his stomach to allow his white ruff free. He reached back to adjust the tail flap at the back of his pants and then picked up a thin tan jacket in case the evening air was cool.

Tanis left the hotel room quickly and then shared the elevator to the first floor with a pair of female canines who studied him coyly behind half-lidded eyes. The desert fox might have taken up to flirting with them had he been in a better mood, but he tried to ignore them now.

When he reached the street, he wondered which way to go to find a decent restaurant. He almost hailed a cab, but at the last moment, he decided he would be a little adventurous and see what he could find on his own. He turned right merely at random and began walking along the sidewalk, his jacket draped over one arm and his hands in his pockets. There were many lights along this particular avenue and he could hear live music up ahead.

When he had walked two blocks, he discovered the source of the music. A tree-filled town square was teaming with crowds in what looked to be a celebration of some kind. A local band played on a raised pedestal and people of all species were dancing together in time with the lively beat in a merry atmosphere. Food and drinks were being passed around freely and there was activity everywhere. Tanis smiled in spite of himself when he saw a balcony above lined with dancing females in various stages of undress; some were close to being unclad altogether, preferring to let the night air flow all through their fur.

The desert fox had seen his days of carousing in the past, but he had never experienced a gathering like this before. The people who danced together did not seem to have specific partners, but bumped and ground their hips, entwining their tails together with whoever was near them. He wondered what the celebration was for, but the beat of the music in his ears and the scents that reached his nose made his head swim. A banner loosely hanging from the side of a building displayed the words “Loth’lan Ree” in bold Standard red letters, but he had no idea what it meant.

He moved closer to the crowd to see if he might join in on the fun and suddenly found himself surrounded by six of the cutest young females he had seen in a long while. They were all of different species and they seemed to have zeroed in on the new male in their midst.

Suddenly eager to take part in this distraction, Tanis allowed himself to dance with them and felt a strong need to simply enjoy himself. Within moments, all previous thoughts of Nalirra were gone from his mind.

***

“The Robin’s Red Breast?” Taro said with a grin as she looked at her feline companion. “Is this a night club or a love hotel?” she asked.

Renny gave her a smirk. “The hotel directory just called it a local bar. It did not say anything about the entertainment.”

“Ah,” said the vixen. “Feeling like a last drink before we head back to the room?”

“Yeah,” Renny replied. “Just something light. I know you don’t normally indulge much in alcohol, but perhaps a little something to warm the blood?” He waggled his eyebrows and she laughed in spite of herself. They had spent the evening at a nice dinner and then had gone to a theater to see a local stage play. They had left the theatre and decided to walk around in the night air on their way back to their hotel. Taro and Renny had not had many opportunities to just get out and enjoy time together on the town and both of them had a good time that evening.

Renny pushed the door open and allowed his companion to enter first. As soon as the panels parted, they could hear live music and instantly saw a crowd of people out on the dance floor. It was moderately crowded and the air was smoky, but after a quick look around, the only seats available seemed to be up at the bar. Taro looked up at a male red fox that stood guard beside the doorway and gave him brief smile before she followed Renny across the room.

There was plenty of light to see by, but dark wood paneling on the walls and ceiling gave the room a shadowy feel. As they took two empty stools between a pair of dark-furred felines, Renny read the placard of the band and briefly snickered at the notion that none of the five musicians resembled the construction workers the name suggested.

Taro gave the bartender their drink order and then turned back to Renny. He had the fox figurine out on the bar and was stroking its back with a finger. “You really like that thing, don’t you?” she asked with a smile. “You were petting it all through dinner.”

“Yeah,” the cheetah replied. “It’s a new treasure.” Their drinks were brought to them and the couple fell silent for a few moments while they listened to the music and watched the dancing. Both of them felt tempted to join the crowd.

“Why not?” Taro said suddenly as if reading his mind. Renny grinned at her and held out his hand in invitation as he pocketed the ceramic fox.

A little later, they returned to their stools when the band announced they were taking a short break. When they reached the bar, Renny took the figurine out of his pocket and set it back on the counter next to his glass.

“Where are you going?” he asked when Taro stood up.

“I’m going to take a little jaunt to the powder room,” she replied with a wink. “I need to tinkle.”

“I’ll be right here with my girlfriend,” Renny said as he lovingly stroked the figurine. Taro laughed and then skirted around the edge of the dance floor toward the public water closet.

Renny sat on his bar stool for several moments in silence until the band got up to play again. Only two of the musicians had returned to jam in a duet of energetic chords, but couples all over the room jumped back out onto the dance floor as if the whole group were playing again.

For several moments, Renny watched the dancers and caught the eye of a sultry calico dancing erotically. She made some rather suggestive moves in his direction and Renny swallowed in spite of himself. Distracted, he did not notice a pair of felines who had been at the bar all evening get up from their stools and flank him.

In the midst of the loud music and dancing in the place, only the calico saw one of the jaguars suddenly put a fist into Renny’s stomach. The cheetah was taken completely off guard and the second jaguar brought a knee up into his face when he doubled over. Renny dropped without making a sound and the dark pair grabbed his limp arms. They dragged him to the side of the room past dancers who paid them no attention and then disappeared into a side hallway. The calico closed her eyes and continued dancing as if she had not seen a thing. The jaguars moved purposely to the back exit and pulled Renny out into a dingy alley behind the establishment.

They dropped him to the newspaper-strewn ground and then one of the assailants kicked the cheetah in the side with the toe of his boot just as he was regaining his breath. Renny chirruped in sudden pain and the other cat bent over to slam a fist into his temple.

Unable to do anything to defend himself, they began to beat and kick him vigorously; Renny had no strength in him to fight back and could do nothing more than lie there as he was beaten. He tried to protect his middle by curling up, but one of the attackers stomped on his ankle for his trouble. Renny yelped and tried to say something, but he was kicked again.

“All right, Zuberi, that’s enough,” one of the ebony cats said in a raspy voice. “Do it.”

The other jaguar reached into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out an old revolver. He aimed down at the cheetah and rapidly fired three shots into him.

Without a look back at their victim, the dark cats split up and took off in opposite directions along the alley. A moment later, they were gone and Renny’s body convulsed a few times between several garbage cans before growing still in the night air.

***

Taro stepped out of the ladies’ room and glanced across the nightclub through the smoky haze and the throng of bodies dancing to the music of the live band. Mountain Movers, Inc. was only a local group, but they were skilled players and the vixen felt they could have held their own professionally were they to try. As it was, she had enjoyed the music and had danced a little with Renny out on the floor earlier. The cheetah had little experience with dancing, but he had done well enough to elicit advances by other females in the place.

She swished her tail in time with the music as she made her way across the nightclub toward the bar where she and Renny had been nursing their drinks. When she got there, her partner’s barstool was unoccupied. Taro grinned to herself, sure the cheetah was out on the dance floor again, but when she turned to search the crowd for him, something at her feet caught her eye. She knelt down next to the stool next to her and picked up the ceramic fox figurine she had given him. Its tail was broken off, as well as the tip of the nose and one ear.

It was unlike Renny to knock something like that to the floor and leave it where it lay, especially after making such a fuss over how much he had liked it. The vixen suddenly became uneasy and began searching the crowd. When she could not locate him, she frowned and turned back toward the bar. She wondered if he had gone to the men’s room and decided to wait for him. She held the trinket tightly in one hand and continued to look for him. After several minutes, there was still no sign of the cheetah, so she turned back to the bar.

The barkeep, a thin opossum in a white apron lustfully gaped at a nearby pair of minimally-clad young females gyrating to the music against their boyfriends. Taro reached out and tugged gently on his sleeve. The man looked annoyed, but nodded to her.

“Need a refill?” he asked with a gesture toward the empty glass before her.

“Where’s my friend?” she asked him loudly. She practically had to shout to be heard over the music.

The opossum shrugged his shoulders and returned his attention to the dancers. Taro snorted and reached out again. She snared his apron and pulled him up against the counter. He looked up into her eyes wildly and struggled to get free.

“Lemmee go, fox!” he squealed as he tried to pry her fingers from his garment. Her grip remained solid and she pulled him up off the floor across the bar so that he was eye to eye with her.

“Where is my friend?” she asked again in a menacing tone.

“He – he left!” the marsupial said quickly with a hard swallow.

“Left?”

“Yeah… he went out the back with two black cats!” he squeaked as he gestured to the exit at one side of the room.

The vixen released the bartender and he fell back onto his tail behind the bar. Taro pushed her way through the edge of the crowd toward the back exit. She reached the door amidst unkind jeers at her for brashly shoving through them, and then she darted into a small darkened hallway that serviced an office, storage rooms and the back door.

The exit was partially ajar and she swung it open quickly. She found herself in a narrow, garbage-strewn alley that stunk badly. She looked both ways along its length, but saw no one in the darkness. A single, low-powered bulb illuminated a small area near the door that gently closed behind her and blocked out the inside noise of the establishment. Taro was undecided which direction to take, but then she heard a raspy sound to her right. She turned toward a loose pile of newspapers behind some trash cans and recognized an out-flung yellow arm with a familiar black spotted pattern amongst them.

“Renny!” She scattered the garbage cans and moved quickly to kneel down next to him. She brushed aside the papers that partially covered him and suddenly drew in a breath of shock at the amount of blood that covered him and the papers around him.

“Oh my God, NO!” she choked as she reached for the vein in his neck. There was a pulse, but it was weak and his breathing was labored. It was hard to tell exactly where or how he was hurt from the amount of blood that covered him, but she had to risk moving him. He was practically holding hands with Death.

Taro stumbled as she picked Renny up from the ground of the filthy alley, though not from his weight, but from the emotional turmoil inside. Although his feline body had always been limber, he was now completely limp in her arms. Her white blouse soaked up the blood flowing freely from the cheetah’s wounds when she held him close to her bosom.

“Renny!” she cried in a choked voice as she touched her nose to his. “Don’t you dare die on me!”

There was no response from the navigator other than labored breathing, and Taro swallowed the bile that rose up in her throat. She turned with him toward the back door of the nightclub. She pushed her burden through the door and then weaved her way through the narrow hallway filled with empty liquor boxes. The din of music became louder through the corridor and she moved through it into a hazy, smoke-filled room. Couples continued to dance in time with the music in the dim light until a petite Cocker Spaniel saw the bloody body in the vixen’s arms. She screamed and backed away into the crowd. Within a moment, the band stopped playing and others began talking amongst themselves in murmurs. Taro ignored them all and took Renny straight across the dance floor to the bar.

“Somebody call an ambulance!” she yelled above the crowd. Taro set her friend and lover on the floor beside the bar stools and then quickly whipped off her blouse. She tore it into sections, oblivious to the stares at her black lace bra, and tried to staunch his wounds with the fabric. No one in the gathered crowd did anything to help her, but merely gawked at the injured cheetah and the almost-topless vixen.

A pot-bellied pig in a white shirt and red suspenders came out of the back with the bartender and rushed up to her. He pulled a thick cigar from his lips and shouted, “Whattaya think yer doin’? Get ‘im out of ‘ere! E’s bleedin’ all over my place!”

“Can’t you see he’s dying?” Taro exclaimed. “We’ve got to help him!”

The manager snorted and gestured wildly with both hands. “We see fatal brawls alla time, lady,” he said hotly. “Get that corpse outside – you can wait for the amb’lance out dere!”

Taro was getting frantic. Renny was too badly hurt for her meager treatment to stop his bleeding, and she fought back the tears welling up in her eyes. “Give me some help, somebody!” she shouted. Then she glared at the manager and the bartender, too. “I don’t want to move him again until the ambulance arrives. We’re staying right here!”

The pig’s brow wrinkled and his eyes narrowed. He raised his left hand and made a motion to someone across the room. Four security guards emerged from the crowd and formed a semi-circle around Taro and Renny. Taro looked up as one of them stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. She was about to break the male fox’s wrist for his trouble, but felt his grip tighten with enough force that she could not move it easily. Not all foxes in the PA were from Hestra – in fact, they were a rarity since few Hestrans ever leave their homeworld. However, from the immobile grip upon her arm, Taro knew instantly that this fellow had the same dense musculature that she had.

“Let’s make it nice and easy to the front curb, missy,” the bouncer said in a low, but sympathetic voice. “The ambulance is already on its way.”

Knowing there would be no further argument, Taro gently gathered up Renny in her arms and followed the fox tod through the parting crowd. She looked down at the cheetah and could see the pale palms of his hands getting whiter from blood loss. Her heart sank with the realization that Renny would probably never make it and the tears came freely this time. If only they had known the sequence of events over the past three days, Merlin might not have landed in Iverson at all. First the Hidalgo Sun, and now Renny. How many more tears might have to be shed before they were able to leave Alexandrius?

***

Tanis snickered when the young Spaniel playfully nipped at one of his large ears. He looked up at her and pulled her down to the ground beside him. He smiled at her and then rolled her onto her back on the soft grass in the park so that she looked up at him. There were other couples lying in the grass all over the park and sounds of the celebration from the nearby crowd continued on.

“Ya still have not told me what this all festivity is about,” he told her with a quick lick aside her muzzle. “Whatever it is, I like it.”

The woman chuckled as she put her arms around his neck and shoulders. “It’s a celebration of Life, my nameless friend,” she replied with a smile. “Loth’lan Ree was the patron of The Kiss.”

“Well, now…” Tanis said in a quiet voice, “I’m game to take part in local tradition, but my hotel room is about a block away, if ya don’t mind.”

The Spaniel laughed. “Too shy to play in public?” she teased. “Okay, we can disappear to your room for a while. My friends won’t be looking for me anytime soon anyway.”

Tanis grinned at her lithe form as he helped her to her feet. She grasped his arm and pulled him along as she began running in the direction of the only hotels on the street. The desert fox laughed aloud at her anticipation and they ran up the street together.

Moments later, they were in the lift heading up to his room, but they had already started kissing and licking one another’s muzzles. The doors opened and a Chihuahua looked up at them in disgust. “Getta room!” he sneered at them.

“Good idea,” Tanis responded with a laugh. “This way,” he said as he pulled his new friend up the hallway. He opened the door with a magnetic key, but just as they entered the room, the comm handset on the desk began to buzz.

“Don’t answer it,” the Spaniel said as she traced a finger along her lips.

Tanis was tempted to ignore the phone, but he bit his bottom lip and replied, “Sorry, I have to. I’m a medic and always on call. It will only take a moment – stay hot, sweetie.”

“Ooh, are you going to play doctor with me?” she laughed coyly.

Tanis licked his lips and then picked up the handset.

***

Taro looked up at the sound of approaching feet and jumped up from the chair she had been warming when Merlin and Samantha stopped before her. Tanis got to his feet slowly, concern clearly in his eyes.

“How is he?” Samantha asked as her eyes went to the vixen’s blood-stained pants underneath a white medical smock she wore loosely around her shoulders.

Taro’s eyes were bloodshot from distress and she stumbled over her words as she sought how to reply. “He, uh… I mean… uhm…”

“He’s been severely beaten and has a concussion,” Tanis answered for her. “He has three broken ribs, a broken ankle and the ligaments have been torn in his left wrist. Luckily, the bullets didn’t hit anything vital, but he’s lost a lot of blood and the situation is critical.”

Merlin put an arm around Taro and she clung to him fiercely. “Is there anything you can do for him?” he asked the desert fox.

Tanis looked at the floor and shook his head. “I’m not local, and since I’m not a fully-licensed physician, they won’t allow me to help,” he said. Sam put a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her with a frown. “I know I’ve not been very friendly to Renny lately,” he said in a low voice, “but I would have never wished this on him. Despite our rivalry, he’s been a good friend, even if I’ve acted like a jerk.”

“He’s been, uhm, unconscious since I found him in the alley,” Taro said quietly. “Too much blood…”

“Are they giving him a transfusion?” Merlin asked. “Surely they—”

Tanis shook his head as he looked over at Taro. “There aren’t many feline donors with his blood type in the area,” he said. “That’s all they would tell us.”

Samantha moved to Taro. “C’mon, let’s go get you into some clean clothes,” she said gently.

“No…” Taro murmured. “I don’t want to leave.”

Samantha nodded. “Okay, I’ll go get something for you.” She looked up at Merlin and he nodded his approval. She leaned forward and touched her head against Taro’s. “I’ll be back shortly,” she said.

“Thanks, Sam.”

Merlin gestured to Tanis. “Would you accompany her?” he asked. “After what happened, I don’t think I want anyone going out by themselves.”

Tanis looked at Taro and hesitated, but then nodded. “Sure,” he said.

“Thank you.”

After he and the Border collie left, Merlin and Taro sat down in the waiting area. Doctors, nurses and orderlies moved back and forth through the room for one thing or another and a monotone voice over the intercom droned announcements for phone calls or emergencies throughout the hospital. Merlin listened gravely as Taro explained all she knew of the situation, which really was not much. She had already given a statement to the policeman who had been on duty in the emergency room and she was weary from worry.

There had been no more news concerning Renny, and when the medical staff was questioned, all they would say was to be patient. Taro finally stretched out on her side along a bench seat with her arms folded beneath her head, while Merlin took to pacing the floor.

The only description local police could get of the two men who had left with Renny was they were “black cats”. The marsupial bartender claimed ignorance to their exact species and there were no other witnesses who would come forth at the bar to give any leads. Merlin had known a number of black cats in his lifetime and the only one who had ever threatened him with harm was Sagan.

For a brief moment, the wolf’s hackles raised as his mind entertained the idea that Sagan had somehow returned from the grave and he glanced quickly at Taro. No, he reminded himself with a shake of his head. Sagan was quite thoroughly dead. If Taro ripping his head around backwards hadn’t killed him, the gelatinous goop his body had reduced itself to had finished him off. The SPF had never been able to give him an explanation for what foul thing had happened to the jaguar’s body, but he had suspected it had to do with whatever method the pirates had used to get him on board the freighter.

Merlin ran a hand over his face and paced some more. He felt helpless, uninformed and was frustrated by it all. Only Renny could give anyone a clue as to what had happened to him, and he was not able to divulge any information on the matter.

It seemed that all they could do now was to wait for the doctors to give them any morsel of information.

***

“Captain Sinclair?”

Merlin started awake and his chin slipped off the hand he had been resting on. He looked up wearily and recognized the red and gray uniform of an SPF officer who stood in front of him. He nodded and rubbed his eyes. It was early in the morning and there had been no new word on Renny’s condition. He had fallen asleep leaning on his hands on the arms of the chair, though his dreams had been troubled with images of Sagan.

“I’m Sinclair,” he muttered through his hands. “What can I do for you?”

“Sir, I’m with the Spatial Police Force,” the Siamese cat replied quietly when Merlin stood up before her. “I am Officer Sashay and this is my partner, Officer Wagner.” The silver fox beside her nodded silently as Merlin’s eyes moved between them. “We’ve just arrived from Algegrath, where we’ve been investigating the attack on your sister ship, the Hidalgo Sun.”

Merlin felt himself coming fully awake and he looked around for his companions. Tanis sat on one end of a nearby couch, his head drooped forward as he snored softly. Taro still lay stretched on her side, but with her head in the fennec’s lap. Her sides moved in the quiet rhythm of slumber and Samantha occupied another chair, also fast asleep. Merlin motioned for the officers to follow him down the hallway. When they had rounded a corner, he turned back to face them.

“It’s been a long night for them,” he explained quietly. “I’d like to let them rest.”

“We understand,” Sashay replied. The feline nodded to her partner and then said, “Captain, we have reason to believe the attack on your sister ship is tied in with the previous threats you’ve received, as well as the vandalism to your home office on Dennier.”

“I’ve felt that all along,” the wolf replied. “While there’s no proof, I also suspect the attack on my navigator last night is related.”

“That hasn’t been established as yet,” Wagner said in a gravelly voice. “According to the local authorities, your friends were in a part of Iverson tonight that is well known for its crime rate. This could be isolated from the other incidents.”

Merlin narrowed his eyes as the silver fox. “That doesn’t convince me, officer,” he said. “If the members of the crew of both my ships have been watched by these attackers, that bar would have only provided them with an ample opportunity because of the area’s crime rate. This wouldn’t be the first time that my ship has been stalked.”

Sashay tilted her head and twitched her whiskers. “Oh?”

“Pirates have plagued me for years, officer,” Merlin answered, “and one in particular monitored my movements enough that our final confrontation resulted in the destruction of my freighter.”

“Ah yes, the incident at Crescentis with Sagan,” Wagner said in remembrance. “That case file is well known to us.”

Merlin lowered his head, and his voice, when he asked in hesitation, “Sagan is dead, yes?”

Wagner nodded at the wolf’s apparent train of thought. “Yes, Captain, he’s irrevocably dead. What was left of his body was taken to the labs on Joplin for further study. The remains have been divided up well enough for research among the labs that you don’t have to be concerned with him coming back from the dead.”

Merlin blinked twice and then allowed himself a small smile for the officers. “Of course,” he said. “That was silly of me. I suppose the superstitions of my chief engineer got to me.”

Sashay gave him a little smirk. “Jerad Porter, right?” she asked. At Merlin’s surprised nod, she said, “I thought so. He asked us the same thing when we interviewed him.” The wolf chuckled in amusement, but it sounded odd in his ears due to the current situation. “Anyway,” the Siamese cat continued, “I know that your people here have already been questioned by the local authorities, but we would like to talk to them ourselves so we can keep the details straight from one person to another in this investigation.”

“They’ll still be groggy if you try to talk to them now,” Merlin told her. “I’m barely coherent, myself.”

“I’m awake enough to talk to them,” said another voice. Wagner started suddenly at the words and he spun around to face Taro. The vixen was grooming her fur with a soft brush, and although her eyes looked weary, she seemed alert.

“Officers,” Merlin said, “this is my first officer, Taro Nichols. She was out with my navigator at the time he was shot. Taro, these are SPF officers Sashay and Wagner.”

“What can I tell you?” the red fox asked. “I’m afraid I don’t know who did it to him.”

“We understand that,” Sashay said with a gentle smile. “We’d just like to find out what you do know, even if you think something is insignificant.”

“I will tell you whatever I can,” Taro replied.

***

Lorelei Easter hummed softly to herself as she walked through the busy spaceport terminal. She twirled a daisy-like flower between her fingers that she had purchased from a vendor in the previous concourse and then placed it in her fur just above her right ear. Although she had only been away from the Blue Horizon for a day, she had returned so she could retrieve some of her aromatic candles to burn in her room at the resort.

She neared the concourse terminal that led out toward the freighter landing pads and passed through the scanners without a problem. She smiled sweetly at the young feline who manned the station and then walked casually down the ramp to the outside, still humming to herself. The rabbit examined her painted claws as she walked across the tarmac, instinctively knowing which landing pad where her ship was currently docked.

“Stop right there, miss,” a sharp voice called out. Startled, Lorelei halted and looked up into the deep brown eyes of a golden retriever dressed in a security uniform. He blocked her path, holding a semi-automatic rifle with its muzzle pointed generally in her direction, without directly at her.

“Oh,” the rabbit said in surprise. She looked up at the ship they were guarding, thinking she had walked in the wrong direction, but she recognized the large oval shape of the Blue Horizon and its two-tone blue paint scheme. “Excuse me,” she said with a smile as she brushed her hands on her rainbow-dyed tank-top. “I didn’t mean to run into you.”

She started to step around the canine, but he moved quickly to block her way. “Stop!” he repeated.

Lori frowned and tried to push past this rude person, but this time he brought the muzzle of his weapon quickly around and jabbed it hard into her side. She stumbled and fell to her knees.

“I told you to Stop!” the retriever commanded with a growl. Lorelei looked up at him, holding her ribs with a hard swallow.

“What did you do that for?” she whined. “I’m just returning to my ship!”

“No one is allowed near this vessel,” the man told her as two more guards came to his aid, a black bear and a white tiger. All three pointed their weapons at the cottontail rabbit and Lorelei finally realized they were not joking.

“What’s the matter?” she asked with moisture rimming her large eyes. “What’s happened to my ship?”

“Where is your identification?” the tiger demanded, glancing briefly at her hands.

Lorelei stuck out her bottom lip and her eyebrows drew together in indignation at having her question ignored. She reached toward her back pocket and the tiger quickly brought his rifle to bear upon her forehead. She froze and then slowly moved to get her identicard. She removed it gradually from a pocket without taking her eyes off of the long barrel pointed between her eyes. She held the card up just as slowly. The tiger snatched it from her hand and looked it over carefully.

“This is not one of the special issues,” he growled at the retriever.

“Now listen,” Lorelei said as she pointed suddenly at the Horizon. “That’s my—”

The tiger growled at her sudden movement and roughly snared her arm to examine the bangles around her wrist. Not finding what he searched for, he shoved her down upon the tarmac and then placed a foot in the middle of her back. “You were warned three times and had ample opportunity to leave or show an ID wristband, so you are now under arrest for violation of a secure area,” he said angrily. “I would advise you to stop resisting and to shut your trap! You’ll have plenty of time to make your confession to a lawyer.”

“But—!”

“If you say one more word, miss, you’ll go unconscious on a stretcher!”

Lorelei looked at the boot near her face and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, as well as the cold barrel resting on her neck behind her left ear. She managed to nod her understanding and bit her bottom lip as she was pulled up to her feet. The tiger roughly drew her hands behind her and a sturdy zip strap was placed around her slender wrists. Without another word, the retriever escorted her back toward the terminal building while the other two guards returned to their station points in front of the Blue Horizon.

***

“Mr. Sinclair?”

Merlin looked up as an orderly approached him. Samantha and Tanis jumped to their feet and Taro stopped her pacing to run over to them. “You have news about our friend?” the vixen asked anxiously.

The beagle looked apologetic and shook his head. “No, I’m sorry I don’t, miss. I came to tell Mr. Sinclair there’s an outside call for him at the nurses’ station.”

Merlin nodded. “Thank you,” he said. He followed the young canine back up the corridor without a look back at his friends.

“I can’t stand this waiting and not knowing,” Taro said in frustration. She clenched and unclenched her fists and went back to her pacing. Tanis looked at Samantha and just shook his head.

“I’m going to see if I can find out something from the doctor,” he said. “Surely they can tell us something.”

The Border collie said nothing as Tanis walked away and kept her arms wrapped around herself. From what Taro had told them of Renny’s condition, she did not hold much hope for the cheetah, and she felt guilty for feeling that way. She watched Taro pace the floor and recognized the expression on the vixen’s face all too well. Renny had worn that look for months after the crash of the Horizon when they all awaited any morsel of information on Taro’s fate. The difference was that Renny had not been taken away and was here, now.

Merlin’s footsteps brought her attention back to the present. She could not read his expression, but he picked up his jacket and hat from a nearby chair. “What’s happened?” she asked. Taro appeared once more at his side.

“I have to catch a cab back to the spaceport,” he said with a look of longsuffering. “Lori was arrested trying to get past the guards I’d posted around the ship. They’re holding her in a security cell at the spaceport precinct and she’s loudly indignant.”

Samantha raised a hand to her mouth, but she was not quick enough to hide the smirk on her face. Merlin twitched an ear at her reaction and then just shook his head. Taro looked at the collie in disbelief and then walked away.

“Well, anyway… I’m going to go vouch for her release,” he said.

Samantha raised a hand in acknowledgement, but did not dare to say anything for fear she would start laughing. The lupine captain sighed and then left the waiting room.

***

Merlin paid the koala cabbie for his fare and then trotted up the steps of the spaceport security offices. It was a small, unimposing building made of corrugated metal sides and a flat roof, with a simple light pole on each side of the glass double-doors. When he entered into the main lobby, he saw nothing impressive about the place. It consisted of nothing more than a dozen closely-set desks strewn with data crystals, folders brimming with printed papers and photographs. All of the walls were decorated with bulletin boards full of photos and pin-laden maps.

A uniformed human looked up at him from the first desk he approached. “Yes?” the red-haired man asked.

Merlin removed his hat and held it in his hands. “I’m Merlin Sinclair, captain of the Blue Horizon,” he said. “I got a call—”

“Ah yes, you’re here to identify a rabbit who claims to be your employee,” the man said. “I’m the one who called you, Captain.”

“Thank you, officer.” Merlin replied. “I do have a cottontail named Lorelei Easter who works on my ship.”

“Alton!” the human called across the room. “Take this guy to cell one-eighty-six and see if he can identify the gal in there.” He looked back at Merlin and added, “If she’s really yours and you can vouch for her, have Alton bring her back up here and you can sign for her release.”

A broad-shouldered lion waved from across the room. “This way,” he beckoned to Merlin. The captain wove his way around the desks and then followed Alton through a doorway into an elevator. When the doors closed and the lion tapped in a series of numbers into a keypad, Merlin felt uneasy. While the guard looked nothing like his old competitor, he could not stop thinking about the fight he had with Armando. Jensen might not have possessed a good head for business, but he was strong and packed a powerful punch. He rubbed his jaw unconsciously in remembrance and Alton looked down at the shorter wolf suspiciously.

A moment later, the lift door slid aside and they emerged into a chamber cut out of the solid rock strata below the spaceport complex. The lights were dim and a row of sturdy cages lined an aisle behind a heavy glassteel panel. A bulldog with a thick neck looked up from a desk in front of the panel and narrowed his eyes at the wolf.

“What’d dis one do?” he growled.

“Nothing,” Alton replied with a lopsided grin. “He’s here to take a look at your Easter bunny in 186.” He handed his identicard to him.

The bulldog scanned the card with a desktop reader. He looked back at Merlin and shook his head. “I sure hope she yourn,” he said wearily. “She been a thorn in everybody side ever since she got here.” He tapped a complex code into a keypad and the glassteel panel slide aside.

Alton motioned for the wolf to follow him through the entrance, and once the pair of them had gone inside, the bulldog closed the panel behind them. Merlin swallowed unconsciously, but said nothing as the lion led him along the row. Most of the cells were empty, save for one or two individuals that Merlin thought looked to be no more harmful than vagrants. When they reached the farthest cell in the room, Alton gestured toward the bars.

“You know her?” he asked.

A white cottontail rabbit sat on a worn mat on the floor of the cell with her back to the door. Her head rested on crossed arms on top of her knees. Merlin sighed. He recognized the colorful tie-dyed tank-top she wore. “Lori,” he said gently.

The rabbit’s head snapped up and she whirled around in surprise. “Merlin!” she gasped. She crawled to the door and then looked up at him. “Please get me out of here,” she pleaded. “These aren’t nice people!”

Merlin looked up at Alton. “She’s mine,” he stated. The lion nodded and then gave a hand-signal back toward the bulldog. Almost immediately, the electronic lock on the cell door opened with a clunk and Alton pulled it open. Lorelei jumped up into Merlin’s arms and began to bawl onto his shoulder. “C’mon,” the wolf said. “Let’s get you signed out.”

They followed Alton back toward the front desk and a dirty poodle looked up at them mournfully from one of the other cells. “Take me instead of zat booney-rabit,” he pleaded with an accented voice. “I am a gourmet chef and ken be of more use to you.”

“You’re no chef!” Lorelei spat at the canine. “You couldn’t cook your way out of a school lunchroom!”

“Pierre!” the poodle said in a strained voice to a Manx cat in the next cell, “thees floozy can’t talk to me in such a manner!”

“Oh, go soak your head,” hissed Pierre.

Lorelei stuck her tongue out at the poodle as Merlin pulled her away in irritation. When they passed through the glassteel panel the bulldog opened for them again, he grunted with a squint at the rabbit.

“The three o’dem have been at it like all day,” he said wearily to the wolf. He looked up at Alton and waved toward the elevator. “Get her outta here, please!”

Almost as soon as the elevator door closed behind them, Lorelei stuck her nose up against Merlin’s and looked him dead in the eye. “Why did this happen to me?” she demanded from him. “We’ve never had guards around the Horizon before! Has it been repossessed? You should’ve never let this happen!”

“It was a security precaution after what happened to the Hidalgo Sun,” Merlin said with a growl in his voice. If his cook wanted to challenge his authority, he would be more than willing to assert himself over her. Her attitude had not placed him in the best moods, especially after all the mental exhaustion he had been through that day. He reached up, placed one hand over her nose, and pushed some distance between their faces. Alton watched them curiously.

“The Sun?” she asked in surprise when he released her. “What happened?”

The elevator doors opened, Merlin grasped her wrist, and pulled her along. “I’ll explain after we get your release signed.”

It only took a few moments for Merlin to explain that the troublesome bunny was, in fact, one of his crew members; she had not been expected back at the ship and had not been given a clearance badge to get past the guards. As Sinclair had been the one to hire the security guards in the first place, there were no charges filed on Lorelei, and after the signing of a release form, they were free to go.

The human clerk gave Merlin a printed copy of the form; he folded it neatly and placed it in an interior pocket of his jacket. The lupine captain gave the man a nod and then said, “Please express my appreciation for a job well done to the guards surrounding my ship.” Lorelei gave him an astonished look, but Merlin ignored her. “Had my friend here not been someone of my acquaintance, they might have actually caught a saboteur. Give them my thanks, please.”

The red-haired man scratched his chin and smiled in quiet surprise. “I’ll do that, Captain,” he said. “I’m sure they will appreciate your words.”

Merlin nodded and then led his employee outside the precinct. He hailed a cab, and as soon as they were inside and he had given the mouse his destination, Lorelei grabbed his arm and looked at him with fearful eyes.

“What happened to the Hidalgo Sun?” she asked. “Don’t keep me in the dark!”

Merlin nodded quickly and then gave her an account of the damage to their sister ship. Moisture welled up in her eyes as he described the damage to the ship and the injuries to Mark Littlefeather, but when he went on to tell her about Renny, she broke down and cried.

***

Twenty minutes later, Merlin and Lorelei approached the Intensive Care station. A kittenish nurse smiled up at wolf, but instantly frowned when she recognized him.

“Hi, Gloria,” Merlin said. “Has there been any news?” The feline swallowed and nodded.

“Your friend has taken a turn for the worse, I’m afraid,” she said quietly. “Your other friends have been allowed into his room and are there now.” She pointed toward a pleated white curtain hanging across a doorway.

Lorelei’s bottom lip quivered and she left the station toward the curtain. Merlin frowned deeply and then coaxed the nurse to fill him in on the details. When he entered the room a few minutes later, he found Taro, Samantha and Lorelei all clinging together and crying. Tanis stood next to the bed looking lost.

Renny lay unconscious on the bed with a white sheet covering him up to his neck. The cheetah made no movement, and had it not been for the shallow rise and fall of his chest, Merlin might have thought him dead – a conclusion that seemed imminent.

Tanis looked up at his captain and shook his head slowly as if reading his thoughts. “Renny’s blood pressure has dropped dangerously low,” he told the wolf through a raspy voice. “He is not expected to live through the night.” Merlin nodded his understanding, but said nothing. He did not know what to say in this situation.

“He’s lost too much blood and the doctor told me there aren’t many cheetahs on Alexandrius,” Tanis continued, almost to himself. “If they can’t find a donor quickly, he’s not going to make it.”

“The nurse told me they have a synthesized blood substitute they can use for him,” Merlin said at last in a quiet voice, “but it's a temporary solution that will only sustain him a short while longer. I gave them authorization to try it.”

“For what good it will do him,” Tanis muttered, “I’d like to keep him around a little while longer.”

***

Taro could hear the occasional beeps of the hospital room and they silently reassured her as she lay with her head next to Renny’s arm on his bed. So long as the beeps continued, she knew her friend and lover still lived. She could hear a couple of the nurses talking quietly among themselves out near the monitoring station, and she recognized Tanis’ soft snores from the other chair in the room. She did not know where Merlin or the others were, but she could not smell them within the room and kept her eyes closed. As long as no one was in an excited state, she felt no need for alarm.

There was some movement by her head and she ignored it in her exhaustion until something lightly stroked the ornamental feather clipped to her fur. She looked up and saw the fingers of Renny’s hand moving. With a knot in her stomach, she stood up, leaned over the cheetah in the darkened room and saw his eyes opened to slits, the lights of the nurses’ station reflecting in them. Taro choked back a sob and swallowed as she drew nearer to him. His eyes tracked to her face and she could see recognition in them.

Renny raised his injured hand slightly and tried to gesture to her, but the action was weak. Taro reached over and lightly grasped his good hand to let him know she was there with him. She was so overjoyed to see him awake that she could not find her voice. Quiet tears flowed into her cheek fur.

“Ta… ro…” Renny said with difficulty. The tubes clipped to his nostrils gave his raspy voice a nasal quality as if he suffered from a cold, and his tongue was dry.

“Yes, darling,” the vixen whispered as she leaned closer to him, “I’m here.” She felt selfish for not waking the others to let them know their friend had regained consciousness, but she did not want to leave Renny for any second he might be awake. It seemed that the synthesized blood they had given him earlier had been enough to raise his blood pressure, but with a quick glance at the monitor, she could tell it was still too low. She did not know how much longer she might have with him and did not want to leave him to get the others.

“You… okay…?” Renny asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied with a nod. “It’s you I’m concerned about. Can you remember who did this to you?”

Renny closed his eyes, and for a brief moment, Taro thought he had stopped breathing. She jostled him gently and he opened his eyes a little. “Big cats…” he said finally. “Two… of them… black fur… jaguars, I think. Was dark.”

Taro nodded and began to stroke the fur of his left cheek with the back of her fingers. “We’ll get them,” she whispered in a hard voice.

“Heard doctor…” he said with a swallow. “Said I was… dying…” He closed his eyes again and the vixen’s heart moved up into her throat.

“No!” Taro hissed. He looked at her again and she shook her head vigorously. “You’re getting better, I swear it!” She put her hands gently on his cheeks and looked into his eyes. “You were hurt bad,” she admitted, “but now you’re coming back to us.”

“Don’t… think so…” he whispered. “Can’t feel… legs…”

“That’s the painkillers,” Taro said in a rush. “You have to…” she choked up and was unable to finish her words. Renny saw her tears and felt himself drifting away from consciousness.

“Do something…?” he rasped. She wiped her eyes and looked back at him with a nod. “Light a candle… for me…” he said. Renny’s eyes closed and then he went very still. Taro felt the fur on the back of her neck stiffen and she choked.

“Renny?” she asked. This time, he did not respond or even move, and she felt the blood drain from her face. “Renny!”

“His blood pressure has dropped again,” Tanis said from across the bed. Taro looked over at him with frightened eyes and then laid her head upon the cheetah’s chest. Yes, there was still a heartbeat, though it was slow and faint, and she could feel from the rise and fall of his chest that his lungs continued to draw in air, albeit shallow.

Tanis sat up in the chair he had slept in and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t think he’s going to make it, Taro,” he said gently. “Without a donor, there’s nothing else that can be done for him.”

The vixen glanced up at him with moist eyes, but kept her head on Renny’s chest. “Yes, there is,” she said quietly. “I can continue to love him, Tanis.”

The desert fox saw no accusations for his words in her tears that reflected the monitor lights, but he could think of nothing else to say. He nodded, stood up, and then reached across the bed. He lightly stroked her fur in compassion as she wept quietly.

***

“Watch your head, Max!” Patch growled around his cigar. A huge crate suspended from a rental crane swung by the canine mechanic’s ears and the German shepherd ducked in the nick of time. “Pay attention, boy!” the raccoon added with a raised eyebrow.

Max waved back acknowledge him, and then followed the moving crate until it was set down near the forward end of the Hidalgo Sun. The ship’s new Moss-unit floated nearby and monitored the activity with an occasional meow. Max hefted the crowbar he carried with him and began to open the wooden box. Tsarina and Riki followed his example on other sides of the crate; within moments, they had the top and three sides of the box removed.

The trio gathered around in the evening sunlight as Patch moved in and began to unpack the parts to the ship’s new main airlock amidst the blue smoke of his stogie. Fortunately for the business, the Sun’s chief engineer had been able to locate a local parts warehouse for the things they needed due to the commonality of Okami freighters. The parts for the larger cargo bay door would arrive on the following day according to the shipper, and they would have to be assembled.

While waiting for the airlock to arrive, Rezo had ordered everyone on his crew to assist in the repairs, inside and outside of his ship. Pockets and Paxton continued to work on the overhead crane inside the Sun’s cargo bay, while Sheila and Danaher repaired the internal lift that had been damaged. Even Jonesy and the captain worked together on the pressurized storage lockers around the perimeter of the hold that had been damaged by shrapnel. Doctor Carmen was at a local hotel looking after Mark Littlefeather as he recovered. She wanted to keep him away from the ship for the time being, and it took the polar bear’s longsuffering patience to deal with the human’s tenacity to get up so he could help with the repairs when he should be allowing modern medicine to assist in healing of his injuries.

The weight of the new outer frame of the airlock was almost more than Max and Tsarina could lift to a standing position, but they managed to struggle it upright. They had removed the old hatch and frame earlier in the day and had repaired the structure to the ship around where the new one would be installed. Riki rooted around inside the packing and found the purchase order slip and installation pamphlet wedged beneath the new hatch panel. It would take more than the lemur’s minute efforts to free the documentation, so she went over to the hired crane operator to have him assist her with it.

Max exchanged grave looks with Tsarina. Despite their busy work schedule to make repairs to the ship, both of them were constantly worried about Renny. The cheetah was one of Max’s closest friends and it bothered the young canine that he had left the Blue Horizon to come to Algegrath. His skills were needed here, but he would rather have been at the hospital waiting by his friend’s side.

It was no secret among the Hidalgo Sun’s crew that Tsarina held a crush on her counterpart on the Blue Horizon. Both were feline navigators and both were skilled pilots who loved to fly. When she had first heard the news of Renny getting shot, she had fainted and it had taken Carmen’s smelling-salts to bring the spotted jaguar around again. She had then bugged Riki for any news from the Iverson hospital to the point where the lemur had been convinced to carry a DC tied into relays from the com station on the Sun’s bridge, just so she would be up on any news sent to them.

It had never bothered Tsarina to know that Renny’s heart belonged to Taro, but that did not stop her for caring for him. She was also aware that Taro had no plans to settle down with Renny or anyone else, so she had held some hope that she might be able to get together with him someday. Those dreams looked futile now and her heart would not stop aching with the knowledge that he might not survive.

Pockets, on the other hand, was too immersed in his work to worry about Renny. He knew there would be nothing he could do for the cheetah had he been in Iverson and his help was needed here with his brother. Their anticipated reunion had been somber, but the siblings were glad to see one another. With tools in his hands and grease beneath his fingernails, Pockets was totally absorbed with the task at hand. Major repairs to the Blue Horizon were so seldom that he sometimes felt his skills might get rusty, so this was a great opportunity for him – despite the disaster that had caused it.

Captain Rezo Kegawa walked down the ramp of the cargo bay to the tarmac outside and looked up at the evening stars. The diminutive red panda heaved a quiet sigh and then looked over at the armed guards that had cordoned off a perimeter around the crimson freighter. He felt uncomfortable with them around, but after what had happened to his ship, he understood their presence. Temporary identification wristbands had been issued to the combined members of the two ships and it was mandatory to have their chips scanned upon exiting or reentering the protected zone.

Rezo idly glanced up at a departing private craft and wondered who would do such a thing to them.

***

Morning had come to the Iverson hospital, and by some miracle, Renny still lived. He had not made his way back to consciousness, but he still breathed on his own without a machine assist. Taro had spent the night beside him, sleeping fitfully with her head on the bed next to the cheetah’s arm and dreaming of ebony jaguars wielding huge guns that she had been unable to stop.

When Merlin brought her some coffee from the hospital cafeteria, she straightened the pale green blouse that Samantha had purchased for her and then ran a brush through her fur. She took her coffee laced with cream and a little bit of chocolate, but she barely tasted any of it.

The lupine captain studied the monitor readouts with a frown and then turned back toward her. “I think you’ve spent enough time up here, Taro,” he said quietly. “Let Tanis take you to your hotel so you can rest and clean up.”

“No,” Taro said as she tossed her empty paper cup into the trash bin. “I don’t want to leave him.”

Merlin moved to her side and then put a hand on her shoulder. “Taro, go. That’s an order. Samantha and I will keep watch—”

“No!” Taro said defiantly. “I’m not leaving the hospital until… until….”

“You are refusing an order?” Merlin said in a low voice. He understood how she felt, but he had given a command. Taro looked up at him with dark eyes and pressed her lips together at his words.

“Yes… sir,” she said hesitantly. “I am.” The vixen’s sense of duty made it hard to reject a command order, but this was not a normal situation. She tried to keep eye contact with him, but his piercing amber eyes went through her like a knife. She turned her head and lowered her ears, but said nothing more.

Merlin’s heart softened and he patted her shoulder gently to let her know it was all right. He fully understood her relationship with the cheetah, and he also knew he would have reacted the same if it had been Samantha on the bed.

He looked up at the Border collie who had watched the exchange in silence and then he motioned her closer as an idea came to him. “Taro,” he said gently, “I won’t make you leave the hospital, but there is something you need to do for Renny.”

The fox looked up at him. “What is it?” she asked.

“Come with me. Samantha will keep an eye on him while you and I take a walk down the hallway.”

Taro looked up at him suspiciously, wondering if he planned to pull her into an elevator and force her to leave. However, he did say he would not make her leave the hospital and she had never known him to lie to her before. Reluctantly, she stood up and Samantha gave her a reassuring smile. It took some effort, but she walked quietly behind her captain as he led her toward a corridor leading around a corner. She glanced briefly at Lorelei and Tanis, who slept against one another on one of the waiting room couches.

Her attention was on her feet as she mechanically trod the tiled floor, until she suddenly noticed a burgundy carpet beneath her. She looked up and discovered that Merlin had taken her to the hospital chapel. She looked up at him in dismay, but he motioned for her to follow him in.

The vixen closed the door behind her and the room darkened to the illumination of two large, aromatic red candles burning on the altar. She looked up at a stained-glass display on the wall of a human male brutally nailed to crossed wooden beams on a hill beneath an angry sky. She swallowed with difficulty and glanced nervously around the cushioned benches in the room. Merlin stood up near the altar and opened a wooden box beside it. From this, he pulled out two white candles and a couple of long-stemmed wooden sticks with blackened ends. He handed a candle and a stick to Taro.

“Our friend may not make it,” he said to her in a voice barely above a whisper, “so let’s honor him by lighting a few candles.”

Tears suddenly came to Taro’s eyes. She remembered Renny’s request, but did not think that Merlin had been awake during that conversation to hear it. Neither she nor Merlin were spiritual, but lighting a candle for the dead or dying was a practice held on many of the Planetary Alignment worlds, including her own Hestra, and she knew that her captain felt Renny needed all the help he could get. She nodded and fought back the tears as she followed the wolf’s example.

Merlin lit the end of his stick from one of the large red candles and then set his white candle near the center of the altar. He briefly closed his eyes, said a quiet prayer to God, and then silently lit his candle with the stick. Taro said a prayer of her own and then lit her candle. The two small candles looked inadequate to her, but she had fulfilled Renny’s request.

She looked up when the door to the chapel opened and Lorelei stepped in. Her long bunny ears drooped as she looked up at Taro and Merlin, and her eyes were tired. She looked apologetic, but did not say a word as she passed between them to the candle box. She withdrew four more candles, planning to light a few of her own for the feline navigator.

***

Samantha sat beside Renny’s bed and watched his blood pressure monitor drop another number. Her mind was numb from worry. She had finally gotten to a point where she no longer held any hope for her friend and merely waited for the inevitable. The synthesized blood had helped distribute oxygen throughout his body during the night, but there was only so much it could do for him.

She had watched Lorelei leave the waiting area and meander away up the hallway, and Tanis had checked in with her a few minutes later, only to leave again to head down to the cafeteria on the first floor of the hospital. A nurse had come in to check in on Renny, but had returned to her station after a solemn look at him. Samantha was alone with the cheetah and she leaned over him with sad eyes.

“I wish there was something I could do for you,” she said quietly. “I’m going to miss having you around to banter with… things won’t be the same without you, Ren-Ren.” A single tear fell from her cheek fur and landed on his chest. Samantha absently touched the tear stain on the bed sheet with a finger. “You and I were never intimate,” she whispered, “but I’ve loved you like a brother. I’m already missing you, my friend…”

The Border collie looked up at the sudden sounds of activity as the nurse and several orderlies rushed into the room. “Please step aside, dear,” the older nurse said as she gently slid between Sam and her friend. A gurney was wheeled in on the opposite side of the bed as the nurse unhooked the monitors from the cheetah. The orderlies worked together to lift Renny from the bed and quickly moved him to the gurney; one of them transferred his IV bags to an upright hook attached to the gurney.

“What’s going on?” Samantha asked desperately.

The nurse hesitated as the orderlies rushed out with the feline navigator, but only shook her head before she took off after the others who were now running up the corridor with the patient. Samantha started after them, but two security guards near the ICU station quickly barred her way.

“What’s going on?” Samantha repeated to them.

One of the German shepherds shook his head. “We don’t know,” he said apologetically, “but you aren’t allowed down that wing. You will have to wait until someone can come back to talk to you, ma’am.”

Samantha looked up at him with a deep frown, but nodded her understanding. She turned and walked to the ICU station, where she motioned for the nurse on duty. “Can you tell me what’s going on?” she asked. “Where did they take our friend?”

“Sorry, ma’am,” the Irish setter replied. “Doctor Sado will send word out to you when there’s something to report.”

“But…”

“Sorry, ma’am, but there’s nothing else I can tell you right now.”

Samantha gave the woman a cross look before she left the station. She walked briskly up the corridor until she came to the hospital chapel and then burst in through the door. Merlin, Taro and Lorelei looked up at her amidst two dozen burning candles and the vixen stood up in alarm.

“Is he….?” she choked.

Samantha shook her head, but explained what had just happened. Merlin stood up with a look of apprehension on his face and moved for the door. “Stay here,” he commanded when the others began to follow him. “I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on.”

The lupine captain stormed out of the small chapel and headed straight down the hallway to the ICU station. The nurse looked up and sighed, having expected this encounter.

“Where was Mr. Thornton just taken?” the wolf asked in a rush. “I’ve just been informed that he was removed from his room in a hurry.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t tell you anything.”

“You can’t tell me anything, or you won’t tell me anything?” he asked darkly.

The Irish setter stood up from her chair and leaned on the counter toward him. “Go sit down,” the nurse said in a tone that identified that she had dealt with demanding people before. “When the doctor has something to say to you, he will send someone out to say it.”

Unused to having his commands countered, Merlin’s hackles raised and he bared his teeth. “Get someone out here now to talk to me!” he growled. “I don’t care if it’s a blasted janitor, so long as it’s someone with information I want to know! Renny Thornton is my responsibility!”

“What’s your problem, buddy?” said one of the canine security guards from behind him. Merlin turned around and faced the pair of them with a dark look.

“The problem is that I’m getting the runaround from this nurse,” he said. “I’m not trying to interfere with your hospital business. All I want to know is why my navigator was taken away so suddenly. A simple explanation will do.”

“As the lady said,” the other guard replied, “you’ll be notified when the doctor has something to tell you.”

“That’s not good enough!” Merlin growled with his fists clenched. “Where was he taken?”

“Captain Sinclair?”

Merlin and both of the guards turned around to see a short brown bear standing just inside the door, his white smock barely containing his expansive girth and a grim look on his face.

“I’m Sinclair,” the wolf replied. The bear motioned him to come forward and Merlin complied.

“I’m Doctor Sado,” he said. “I’m sorry for the mystery surrounding your friend, but there wasn’t time to give you an explanation and the nurse you were just talking to had not yet been given the information you sought. Time is working against Mr. Thornton and we had to act quickly.”

“Thank you for coming to talk to me, sir,” Merlin said apologetically. “Is Renny….?”

“Your friend still lives, Captain,” the doctor told him, “although it will still be some time before we know how successful we are at saving him.”

“What’s going on?” Merlin asked. “He was taken in such haste that we assumed the worst.”

Doctor Sado lowered his voice as he looked up at the wolf. “Another cheetah was brought into the hospital just a few minutes ago,” he explained. “The young woman had severe trauma to the head and neck from a traffic accident and was DOA by the time the ambulance got her here. We were unable to revive her and the decision was made quickly to use her as a blood donor for your friend. Mr. Thornton was moved to the Emergency Room and has just begun receiving the transfusion.”

“You don’t look convinced this will help him,” Merlin replied.

The physician sighed and shook his head. “The donor’s blood is not an exact match, but the blood of cheetahs, even in its different types, is all very closely related. There is a chance hers will work for him, but we won’t know the results until later. There is still the possibility that the mismatch itself might be fatal if the antibodies in his system attack the new blood cells. All we can do now is let the transfusion do its job and then we wait to see how your friend reacts to it.”

Merlin nodded and put a hand on the doctor’s shoulder. “Thank you, Dr. Sado. All I wanted to know was what was going on. I won’t keep you further from your job.”

Sado looked up at him. “You should prepare your friends for the possibility that the transfusion may not help,” he said. “Without another donor, there’s nothing else we can do for him if this doesn’t work.”

Merlin nodded. He had already prepared himself for news of Renny’s death and thought the others probably had as well, but he still needed to talk to them. “I understand,” he said quietly. “Thank you.” The doctor patted his shoulder and then disappeared back through the door he had come through. The lupine captain walked quietly back to the chapel, careful not to look at the nurse and guards as he passed them.

When he arrived back inside the chapel, Taro jumped up from her seat and rushed to him, followed by Samantha and Lorelei.

“Did you find out anything?” Taro asked him. Merlin nodded and then related everything the doctor had told him. Lorelei began crying openly when he mentioned the young cheetah woman that had died, even though her death might actually mean Renny’s salvation. Taro drew the bunny to her side and let her cry on her shoulder. The vixen had brightened up with Merlin’s news, but he had to caution her.

“I don’t want to sound pessimistic,” the captain said quietly, “but there’s still the possibility that Renny won’t make it, even with the transfusion.”

Taro looked back at him and nodded. “I know,” she said with a voice stronger than she had spoken with lately, “but I’m not going to give up on him so long as there’s the slimmest chance he’ll make it.”

***

Rezo ambled around the curved corridor of the crew deck toward the bridge of his ship. His hands were clasped behind him as he walked and his head was down in deep thought. When he reached the door to the bridge, he reached up to activate the pad. Before his finger connected, however, the panel slid aside and Riki stepped out in front of him.

“Call for you, Captain,” she said in a startled voice. The slender lemur had not expected to see him so suddenly and gestured into the room behind her. “Merlin’s on the line. Audio only.”

“Thank you, Riki,” the red panda said in a quiet voice. He moved past her and went straight to the com station. “This is Kegawa,” he said into the condenser microphone of the headset he put around his ears.

“Hi Rezo. How’s everyone holding up?

“About as well as expected. Everyone’s trying to stay busy with repairs and trying not to think about why they’re doing it.”

“I see. How’s the ship?” asked Merlin’s voice, “May I have a progress report on the repairs?”

“Our final parts shipment arrived about an hour ago,” the small panda replied, “and the cargo bay door is currently undergoing assembly. The minor repairs have almost been completed – I’ve had most of the crew working around the clock on them, but I had to order both Porters to bed for rest early this morning or they would have dropped in exhaustion.”

“I’m assuming that Patch and Pockets are already back into the middle of things?”

“You know them well, boss,” Rezo replied with a little smile. “Both claim they got in four hours of sleep and that it was enough to recharge them, but as we’re running on a tight schedule, I didn’t argue. Pockets said he would catch up on his sleep later and they’re both working on the assembly. So far, everything’s going together properly, but that door’s big and it’s still going to take a while to get it finished.”

“Your people have done a lot in the past couple of days,” Merlin said in appreciation. “Let them know I’m proud of them.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you,” Rezo replied. He looked toward the door when he heard movement and saw Tsarina standing there. He put the conversation on the overhead speaker so his navigator could listen in, but kept the headset on to use the microphone. “What’s the word on Renny?” he asked.

There was a hesitation and then Merlin answered. “It doesn’t look good. They took him away a couple of hours ago to give him an emergency transfusion of blood from another cheetah who’d died in a traffic accident, but we’ve not heard anything else since then. I’ve talked to the doctor, and despite the transfusion, I don’t think he expects Renny to pull through due to a slight mismatch in the blood type. Now it’s just a matter of waiting.”

Rezo glanced over at the jaguar and saw that Tsarina was in distress by this news. She stood perfectly still, her eyes closed and fists clenched, with moisture beginning to dampen her cheek fur. She did not make a sound, but the red panda could see her whiskers trembling.

“I’ll pass on the news,” he said slowly, “and I’ll let you know as soon as the repairs have been completed.”

“How’s Mark doing?”

“Littlefeather is impatient to get back to the ship. Carmen’s had to force him back into bed to rest several times, and I would have to say that if she’d been a species other than a large polar bear, I don’t think she would have been able to keep that guy at bay. He’s determined, but she’s threatened to use cargo straps to keep him in bed if he doesn’t behave.”

“Humans are stubborn, alright,” Merlin agreed. “Has your armed guard encountered any resistance?”

“There have been few rubberneckers that have come close to the barrier, but it hasn’t taken much to shoo them away. Other than that, no trouble at all.”

“Okay, maybe you can appease Mark a little and have Dr. Burgess transfer him to his own cabin on board the ship. He still needs time to heal, but maybe he’ll be satisfied to be back on board.”

“Aye, Captain. That should quiet him down somewhat, but he’ll still probably be difficult to keep him in his quarters. I’ll make arrangements with Carmen to bring him back, though.”

“Very good. I’m down in the lobby of the hospital and need to get back upstairs. I’ll let you know when I know more.”

“Aye, sir,” Rezo replied. “Hidalgo Sun out.”

***

Tanis looked up at the cloudy sky with a frown as he approached the front steps of the hospital. He had gone back to his hotel room for several hours of rest, but discovered that he could not sleep very well. There was such a sense of gloom over him, and although he had received no messages from the hospital, he could not help but feel that Renny had slipped away from them.

The desert fox thought about his friendly rivalry with the navigator as he walked into the lobby and headed for the elevators. He and Renny had originally vied for Taro’s affections, but Tanis had always been aware that the vixen did not play favorites with the guys she toyed with and knew that he would never get serious with her. Renny, on the other hand, had always seemed the jealous type and the cheetah seemed to think his relationship with her should have been exclusive.

Tanis had often used this underlying tension to needle the cheetah merely for the point of getting a rise out of the navigator for a laugh, but eventually he had started to slack off when he realized just how deeply Renny felt for Taro. Of his own volition, Tanis had slowly distanced himself away from the vixen, and although they still shared intimacy on occasion, those times had become rarer for Renny’s sake. Taro, herself, had made no conscious decision for an exclusive relationship, but it was clear to see that she loved Renny’s presence.

Arktanis TeVann was not lonely because of this, however. Lorelei was a willing companion, and even though she appeared simple and easily distracted, Tanis did like her. The bunny was the first to go to him with needed hugs each time he had received devastating news about Nalirra. It was still hard for him to believe that his homeworld was now under the control of another planet and that he could never go back – even if he had wanted to. In the weeks following the last reports from the Roppa star system, Tanis had tried to put thoughts of Nalirra behind him and Lorelei had done her best to help him think of other things.

Now their roles were reversed. Despite the hobbies she might have that Tanis would never take part in himself, Lorelei had a tender and compassionate heart. Seeing Renny on his deathbed was tearing her apart and it was to Tanis she went for security. The desert fox knew that if he aspired to be a fully-licensed physician, he would have to keep his head during crises, and this included the present situation.

When the elevator doors opened and he stepped out into the hallway, he fully expected to see everybody crying over the cheetah’s death. He knew he had to be strong in order to provide some measure of comfort to Lorelei and Taro.

“Tanis,” Samantha’s voice called to him from a side hallway. The fox looked over at her and saw her struggling with a vending machine that refused to give up the snack bar she had purchased. “I thought you went off to sleep,” she mused. Suddenly, she gave a swift kick to the side of the vending machine that sounded loud in the quiet hospital wing.

Tanis allowed himself a little smile when the action resulted in two snack bars falling to the tray below. Samantha retrieved them with a shrug and handed one to her friend.

“I lay there for a couple of hours,” he replied to her as they walked back toward the ICU waiting room, “but was unable to fall asleep. All I could do was just to lay there thinking.”

“I’ve done a lot of that myself,” Samantha admitted. “It doesn’t seem possible that we may lose Renny.”

“Is he still with us?”

The Border collie nodded and took a bite of her snack bar. She brushed a few crumbs from her turquoise blouse, and smeared a bit of soft carob on the silky material. She groaned at the mess she made and looked up at Tanis with a look of resignation. She chewed her mouthful and then swallowed with the wish that she had bought a soda as well.

“They took him away last night for an emergency blood transfusion from another cheetah they’d brought in DOA, but we’ve not heard anything new since then, one way or another. I suppose that in this case, no news could be counted as good news.”

Merlin looked up at the pair when they walked into the waiting area and nodded a silent greeting. Lorelei lay on the couch beside him with her head in his lap. She was not asleep, but she stared off into infinity, unfocused on anyone around her. The wolf absently stroked the soft fur behind her left ear.

“You’re back early,” Merlin said quietly.

“Couldn’t sleep,” the fox replied. “Where’s Taro?”

Samantha sat down in a worn vinyl chair and gestured toward the far hallway. “She’s back in the chapel again, lighting more candles. I think she feels the more she lights, the better Renny’s chances will be.”

“I think she frightened that mouse family that went into the chapel to pray for their child,” Merlin mused as Tanis took another seat. “She has so many candles burning in there that it looks like the interior of a furnace; she’s refused to put out a single one of them.”

“What’s up with the mice?”

“A drunk driver smashed into the family car. The father’s in ICU with some fairly bad injuries and his survival chances aren’t good. Their eight-year-old son didn’t make it.”

Tanis grimaced. He had lost a childhood friend to a drunk driver himself and he knew how devastating it was to lose a young one to that. He stood up and Samantha looked up at him.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To see if I can give some consolation to the mouse family,” he said. “I don’t seem to be helping Renny, so perhaps I can help these other people.”

“I wish you would help me through this…” Lorelei said in a quiet voice. She looked up at him with sad eyes and Tanis knelt down in front of her.

“Alright, come with me back to my hotel,” he suggested.

“I don’t think I’m up to playing…” the bunny whispered.

Tanis shook his head. “That’s not what I had in mind. Ya need a chance to get away from the hospital sights and scents for a while, and we can talk or rest together there.”

The white rabbit sat up slowly and brushed down the fur on the side of her face she had been laying on. “Okay,” she said in a muted voice. She looked over at Samantha first, and then to Merlin before she took Tanis’ offered hand to stand up.

“Let us know if ya hear anything,” Tanis said to his captain.

***

The candles were burning all around her and the air was sweet with the scent of floral aroma. Taro was alone in the tiny chapel as she knelt on a small ornamental mat on the floor. She had prayed for what seemed hours and now merely stared into the candle flames. Her eyes were half closed as she let her mind drift though time.

She remembered the first night she and Renny had hooked up in his cabin on the Blue Horizon. She recalled the countless trips the two of them took together during their shore leaves, and she remembered the time when she thought he was going to propose to her during a mountain climbing vacation on Kantus. Her mind swirled over many more memories and her heart raced as each one vividly came back to her.

She had been unaware of it for a long while, but this situation had taught her the agony that Renny must have gone through after she had been whisked away following the fight with Sagan. He had not known if she had lived or had died and the worry that must have eaten at him had to be similar to what she now felt herself. Even after she finally returned home to the Blue Horizon, Taro had never really been aware of the turmoil that Renny had suffered until now — now she understood.

***

For the first time since he had arrived at the hospital, Merlin turned on the waiting room vidscreen. The channel was set to the local weather station for Iverson and he picked up the remote to change the frequency. He sat down beside Samantha, who busied herself with a crossword puzzle book, and then flipped the channels until he got to INN.

A field reporter was decked out in a lavender pressure suit giving an account in a desolate-looking field of scorched and blackened rock with a glassy texture she had difficulty standing upon. The air around her was thick with toxic clouds and through them moved a large mechanical device of some sort behind her.

“…and to that conclusion, the Jerath Mining Corporation of Dennier has high hopes that the surface of Mainor in its present state might wield rich minerals. Jerath has already filed mineral rights to what was once the Dojes Plain, which is about thirty kilometers to the south of where the metropolitan city of Risen used to exist before the Siilv War. However, Mainoran organizations located off-world are up in arms over a Dennieran company laying claim to Mainor, no matter the state of the planet. Memories of the Dennier-Mainor conflicts of over a decade ago have resurfaced, but the spokesman for Jerath has expressed no concerns for the now-dead world. For INN, this is field correspondent Jennifer Saxon.”

“Speaking of war,” said the voice of Holly Harken as the camera changed to show her at her normal post as the anchor of the Interstellar News Network. She was dressed in a powder blue blouse with a white tie and a pale-yellow carnation attached to her dark hair above her left ear. “The Roppa star system continues to be off-limits to anyone entering its borders. Six hours ago, a starship for rival news network PANN was shot down just inside the Reytharsa asteroid belt by a Tanatan battleship. Our sources tell us that the SS Noio Bloom tried to sneak into Nalirra for a news story, but the Planetary Alignment Network News cruiser was detected by the Tanatan battleship just as it entered the asteroid belt for cover. A chase into the Reytharsa region lasted only twenty minutes before the Noio Bloom was destroyed with all hands aboard. Names of the passengers and crew of the vessel have not been released pending notification of their families.”

Holly shuffled several papers in front of her without looking at them and then gave the camera a pretty smile. “Before we sign off with this broadcast, I have another news story to brighten the day of those who follow interests in the royal House of Aris of Tanthe. The long-awaited birth of new children in the royal line has just been confirmed only a few moments ago from our offices in Aris Grand. Princess Tinara has given birth to two healthy pups, one male and one female, as a result of a royal tradition to infuse new blood into the family line by an unrelated outside father. The identity of the children’s father has been kept anonymous in Aris tradition, but it has been made known that the coyote infants are half wolf, a hybrid sometimes known as a coywolf. Names of the infants have not yet been publicly released, but we will be sure to let you know as soon as we have them.”

Samantha looked up from her crossword book at the screen and then glanced over at Merlin with narrowed eyes. “Celebrations all over Tanthe have begun to honor the people’s favored Princess Tinara,” Holly continued. “Whoever the father of the children may be, the Aris monarch, King Adion Aris, has assured his subjects that the anonymous male has been well-compensated for his contribution to the family line. Well folks, this wraps up tonight’s edition of News Around the Planetary Alignment. I’m Holly Harken, bidding you a Good Day or Night, wherever you may be.”

A commercial for TranStar Shipping came on the screen and Merlin muted the sound. He felt Samantha’s eyes on him and he turned quietly to look at her.

“Is there something you need to tell me?” she asked in a flat tone.

***

Samantha wrapped her arms around her middle as she stared out the window of the hospital lobby to watch it rain. The sky had been cloud-heavy most of the day and the rain had begun at sundown. Rolling thunder sounded far off on the horizon and Samantha smiled thinly at the thought of Renny shaking in fear had he been able to see the distant lightning. For several moments, she watched the puddles grow on the garden walkway outside, but then she finally closed her eyes.

The rain shower outside the building was nothing compared to the storm within her mind. Had she not already been on edge from Renny’s situation, she might have been able to think more clearly, but the newscast in the waiting room had dropped a load into her thoughts. Merlin had been hesitant at first, but then seemed relieved to have someone to talk to concerning the House of Aris.

He had given her a lengthy account on what had happened with him during his visit to see Prince Merlin, but there were parts of his tale that she found difficult to believe. He had never lied to her in the past, at least she did not believe he had ever done so, but she had trouble swallowing everything he had told her.

Samantha told herself that he had been completely honest with her and she wanted to believe him, but it was so difficult. She was not as close to the Aris royalty as was her captain, but for the sake of the relationship she had with him, she was determined to contact Princess Tinara at the first opportunity that presented itself to her. Perhaps then she would be able to make up her mind about it all.

The Border collie opened her eyes with an audible sigh and shook her head in frustration. She took another look out into the rain showers that were strengthening into a storm, then turned and walked back to the elevator. She rode the lift back up to the floor where they had been camped out and then headed slowly back to the waiting area.

Merlin was nowhere to be seen, so she went up the hall toward the chapel. Perhaps she would find him in there, although she was not sure she really wanted to discuss anything more with him at that point.

She turned the corner in the corridor and saw Doctor Sado talking quietly with Taro up ahead. She could not hear what was said at this distance, but Sado shook his head and Taro suddenly buried her face in her hands. The black bear put a hand on her shoulder and said something else before he turned and walked away.

The vixen looked up at Samantha when she approached, then jumped to her, holding her tight. She cried onto the Border collie’s shoulder and Samantha swallowed hard, instinctively knowing what the doctor must have told her. Tears came to her own eyes as she listened to her friend’s sobs, but she said nothing to give the fox time.

Taro calmed down after a moment and then pulled away from the canine. She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her blouse and then looked into Samantha’s widened, brown eyes.

“The doctor just told me,” the vixen said in a hoarse voice, “that Renny isn’t responding to the transfusion.” She swallowed and then said, “He advised me to gather his friends around him… for his last few… to say good-bye…”

“Taro…” Samantha whispered with moist eyes, “we knew this was coming…”

“I… I know, Sam… I just…. I just…”

“I know, Taro. I know.” The collie took the vixen in to a warm embrace once more and for several moments they cried upon one another’s shoulders. Time, however, was on their minds, and if they were going to gather the others for Renny’s last moments alive, they would need to hurry.

***

Tsarina exited the lift she had taken to the crew deck and she stepped out into the corridor with her eyes barely open. Her rest period could not have come at a better time. She was exhausted from the rigorous repair schedule and could barely stand up. She was not sleepy, so much as she was just tired.

The Hidalgo Sun’s Mobile Sentry System floated past her and meowed its greeting, but Tsarina chose to ignore the Moss-unit. It had done nothing against her, but she did not like the little thing primarily for what it represented – that they had been under attack and that a dangerous element was still out there gunning for them somewhere.

She found her way to her cabin and then tapped the control to open the panel. It slid aside with a gentle hum and she looked into the darkened room for a moment before she stepped inside. She closed the door behind her and then leaned back against it with her arms wrapped around herself.

Tsarina Ahnya had served aboard various freighters over the years, and of those there were several which had been boarded by random pirates wanting their cargo, but this was the first time she had been employed by a company stalked by terrorists. It unnerved her and frightened her. After the attack on the home office on Dennier, Tsarina had considered looking for a job with another ship, but the freightliner business still had not fully recovered from the economic disaster following the Siilv War, and jobs in the market were hard to come by. Horizon Freight had done well due to a good PR team and Captain Sinclair’s good sense of business, but other freighters had not been so lucky. Despite the terrorist attacks, working for Sinclair had paid well and allowed her to work on board one of the newest model Okami-class ships in the business.

Still… being stalked by an unknown enemy frightened her. She felt she could hold her own in a straightforward fight, but this situation scared her more than she realized. When she allowed herself to ponder the situation, Tsarina was filled with horror. What would happen next? Would she be shot down in a dark alleyway like Renny… or would it happen to her out in the open, even in the midst of a crowd? When would it be her turn?

She choked up when her thoughts turned to Renny. Captain Kegawa had informed them all that the health of the Blue Horizon’s navigator had deteriorated further and now it was probably only a matter of time before they got word of his passing. Tsarina shook her head.

“No!” she hissed to the dark room. So long as he was still alive, there was hope that Renny could make it, no matter how pessimistic the doctors were.

The black jaguar reached out and found the light panel. She turned the light on to a low setting so she could see her way across the room and then moved through a Japanese noren curtain into her bedroom. She turned the light on to its lowest setting there as well before moving to her vanity table.

She sat down on a short stool covered with a large blue pillow and then reached for a framed photo on a corner of the tabletop. It was a picture of Renny Thornton in a pair of black swim trunks and a gray tank top with the Blue Horizon’s logo across the chest. He smiled toward the camera and his large yellow eyes glinted in the flash.

Tsarina held the framed picture before her and she lightly caressed the cheetah’s photo. She got up from her chair and took the picture back out into the front room. She set it on a low coffee table in front of her couch and then walked to a wall cabinet. She pulled out a lighter and a cardboard box, and then took them back to the coffee table.

The jaguar knelt down on the floor and opened the box. Inside were a number of short, red candles that she saved for special occasions. She pulled out eight of them and arranged them on the tabletop in a circle around Renny’s photo. When they were arranged, she closed her eyes in prayer for a moment then picked up the lighter. She lit each candle slowly, and with each one, she intoned the cheetah’s name in a whisper.

Tears fell freely from Tsarina’s cheeks as she lit the final candle. She lay her head down on her arms on the table and allowed herself to cry.

***

Merlin tried to swallow, but the lump in his throat was too big to get down. He looked around the small ICU room at the others gathered around their fallen friend. Taro stood next to him at the head of the bed, with Samantha holding hands with him on his other side at the navigator’s feet. Tanis and Lorelei were on the opposite side of the bed. The rabbit was on the verge of crying openly, but bravely held it in. With the exception of the EKG and blood pressure monitors, all the rest of the sensors and IV tubes had been removed from the cheetah.

Probably for the first time since she had picked him up from the filthy alleyway, Taro’s eyes were dry. It had been a long time since she had been cried out and she now leaned over Renny’s head to lovingly stroke the short fur on top of his head. She looked stronger than she had over the past couple of days and Merlin knew in his heart that she had finally given him up. Whatever it was that Renny now faced, the wolf hoped it would happen smoothly and without pain.

Samantha stared mutely at each of the faces around her and realized her own expression must mirror those she saw around her. Each was already in some form of mourning, but held their ground until what would be the very last moment.

She glanced over at the monitors still running and let her eyes become unfocused after a moment. The amber numbers counted up slowly and the monotony of it helped her mind to wander.

There was something at the back of her mind that tried to penetrate the fog surrounding her brain and it took several heartbeats before it solidified in her understanding. Samantha refocused her eyes and studied the monitors.

The numbers were counting up.

***

“This Hidalgo Sun,” a bobcat said into the headset microphone placed around his feathered head. “Sorry, but video not working at moment. What can do for you?”

“Danaher? Is that ya?”

“Aye, yes, is me. Who you?”

“Dan, this is Tanis of the Blue Horizon. Would ya please call Captain Kegawa to the com?”

The feline narrowed his green eyes. “Name not Dan. Name is Danaher, mister Arktanis. Sorry, but captain asleep, is tired.”

“Sorry about the name,” the desert fox’s voice said with levity. “Since Rezo is asleep, I need ya to relay a message to all on yer ship. Renny’s blood pressure is rising steadily on its own and the doctor says he is looking better with each passing moment!”

“YES!” shouted a voice from the doorway of the bridge. Jonesy grinned in at the startled bobcat and practically jumped into the room. “Here, let me have that!” the orange cat exclaimed as he plucked the headset off the accountant’s head.

“Tanis, this is Jonesy – I just heard what you told Dan… that’s great news!”

“Danaher!” the bobcat complained at the shortened use of his name. Jonesy ignored him as Tanis replied.

“We were all gathered around Renny’s deathbed a few hours ago when Sammy noticed the monitor numbers rising. Doctor Sado says it must have been the combination of the synthesized blood they’d put in him earlier along with the transfusion from a close donor. Whatever it was, it worked. It looks like Renny’s going to live!”

“I’ll bet Taro’s relieved,” the feline first officer said with an ear-to-ear grin.

“We all are,” Tanis replied. “Taro’s been stationed beside his bed and won’t let go of his hand as she watches the monitors. He regained consciousness about ten minutes ago and Taro made sure that her face was the first one he saw when he opened his eyes. He’s not completely out of the woods yet, but Doctor Sado is taking this as a good sign and they’re continuing to watch him closely. As soon as he’s stable, they will coax his marrow to produce more blood on its own, but they’ve pumped more donor blood into him for now.”

“Thanks for calling, Tanis,” Jonesy said, “but I’m itching to spread the news. I want to be the one to tell Tsarina – she’s likely to kiss me just for making her day!”

Tanis chuckled. “That’s a devious way to get a kiss, but I hope yer successful. That’s all the news I had for ya anyway. I just wanted everyone over there to get the word.”

“Thanks, Tanis. Hidalgo Sun signing off!” Jonesy cut the circuit and then set the headset on the counter in front of him.

“Danaher!” the bobcat said again with a shake of his head. “Have told you again! Name is Danaher!” Jonesy ignored him as he darted off the bridge. He trotted along the corridor and then stopped beside Tsarina’s cabin door. He knocked on the door and waited with a smile. When he did not get a response, Jonesy frowned. He tapped again and then heard a muted voice through the doorway.

“Not now…” he heard the jaguar’s voice.

“Tsarina,” he called through the door, “I have news about Renny!”

He heard nothing for moment, but just when he was about to try again, the door panel slid aside. Tsarina was dressed in a sheer teal nightgown and the tabby cat’s eyes bulged at the sight of her. The scent of roses was strong in the air, too. “C’mon in,” she told him, oblivious to the first officer’s stares.

Jonesy followed her into her cabin and then stopped still when he saw the front room. The room was full of lit candles. Every available tabletop surface contained red candles. He could feel the heat they generated and for a brief moment wondered how they had not set off the fire alarm. In the middle of the room, on the low table in front of the couch was a framed photograph of Renny. Tsarina walked over to it and then picked it up.

“Did you come to tell me that Renny has…?” she asked quietly, unable to finish the sentence.

The tabby cat shook his head and then looked up at her with a grin. “No, Tsarina,” he said quickly. “Renny is responding to the treatments – he’s going to be okay!”

The jaguar looked at him with wide eyes. “R-really? This had better not be a joke…” she said dangerously.

“No jokes, Tsarina. I just took a call from Tanis saying that Renny’s blood pressure is rising and that he regained consciousness just a little while ago!” He took a step toward her and opened his arms wide in invitation.

Instead of the expected response, however, Tsarina did not run into his arms, but instead dropped to her knees on a floor rug, clasping the photograph close to her chest. She began crying, but this time the tears were of relief and joy. Jonesy sighed, dropped his arms, and then walked over to her to lend his support.

***

Taro looked up at Merlin when the wolf entered the room. She had been keeping watch over Renny, but now he slept normally, no longer in a coma. Merlin set a tray of food from the cafeteria on a small table next to the vixen and smiled at her.

“You’ve been in here so long,” he said to her. “I knew you wouldn’t leave his side, so I brought you something to eat.”

Taro stood up and pulled Merlin to her. She embraced him gently and then laid her head on his shoulder. “Merlin,” she said quietly, “I……”

Without warning, her eyes rolled up and Taro collapsed in his arms. He struggled with her unexpected weight, but managed to get her back into the chair without dropping her. He looked at her closely and realized that she was physically and emotionally exhausted. Now that Renny was out of the worst danger and on his way to recovery, Taro’s mind had shut down to rest.

Merlin gave her a compassionate smile and brushed a few locks of red fur from her forehead gently. He picked up a blanket from a nearby chair, draped it around her shoulders and then made sure she would remain upright in her seat as she slept. He moved up to the head of the bed and put his hand lightly on the cheetah’s shoulder.

“You can both rest now,” he said in a whisper. “I’m glad to have you back with us.”

***

“Repairs have been completed, the safety inspectors have signed off on it, and the Port Security has given us authorization to leave as soon as we file our departure time with the Alexandrius Defense Authority.”

“What about your cargo?” Merlin asked of the red panda on the bridge screen.

“The SPF has examined everything closely and has found no other dangers. The material damaged by the blast has been replaced for immediate shipping to Tanthe, plus we have our mail quota that has also been scrutinized. We’ve paid and released our security detail, and I’ve given them our thanks. Our delivery will be a week and a half late getting to Tanthe, since it took us nearly that long to get the ship space-worthy again, but I’ve informed our contact on Tanthe of the situation and the SPF has validated our story with them. Aris Grand assures us the delay will cause no consequence as it wasn’t time-sensitive, so we’ll be getting underway as soon as you give the word. Pockets and Max are already en route back to Iverson, so you should see them soon.”

“What about Mark?”

“Although he’s still in a cast and on crutches, Carmen has released him back to work – much to her personal relief. That man doesn’t make a good patient and his complaining was really getting on her nerves. As for everyone else, we could all use shore leave to relax after all this work, but we are more than ready to get away from this place and back into a routine.”

“Well, then,” Merlin nodded, “you can launch as soon as you’re given the green light from the ADA.”

“Aye sir,” Rezo replied. “I will call back with a report after we’ve cleared the system.”

“Have a safe voyage, Captain.”

***

Merlin stood at the seventh-floor window of Renny’s private hospital room, his hands behind his back and his eyes closed as the warmth of the sunlight washed over his face. The last five days since the cheetah had regained consciousness had been thankfully uneventful. Renny was still in sore shape from the gunshot wounds and broken bones, but he was now out of danger. All he had to do was relax and heal, but waiting was not one of Renny’s finer attributes.

The navigator had been of such good cheer that the crew of the Blue Horizon joked with him and teased him constantly, but despite his sneers at their bad puns and snorts at their jokes, he enjoyed the attention he got from everyone.

Pockets and Max had returned to Iverson bearing several get-well-soon baskets and gifts from the crew of the Hidalgo Sun, as well as a personal letter from Tsarina. Renny would not divulge the contents of the letter, but he seemed quite embarrassed after reading it. Not even Taro could get him to talk and he would show it to no one.

Despite all that had happened, the Blue Horizon was being prepared for its next launch. They were scheduled to take standard operational supplies to Joplin, the headquarters of the Spatial Police Force. It would be a four-week journey with an immediate turnaround back to Earth flying empty. Officers Sashay and Wagner were personally inspecting the supplies that would be taken to their headquarters to make sure there were no more incidents like the one that had temporarily crippled the Hidalgo Sun. As Durant had not yet returned from his mountain excursion, Samantha was assigned as loadmaster to supervise the weight distribution of the load placement.

In association with the Iverson hospital, Tanis arranged to have Renny transported to the Blue Horizon, where he would be monitored closely during the rest of his recovery. Taro and Lorelei had already appointed themselves as his nurses, and as soon as the cheetah healed well enough, a rehab exercise routine was already planned to get him back up on his feet.

Merlin opened his eyes at the sound of wheels behind him. He turned as Tanis and two male nurses approached the sleeping cheetah. “Renny,” the desert fox said with a gentle shaking of his friend’s shoulder.”

The navigator yawned and opened his eyes. “Time to go?” he asked.

The nurses lined up beside his bed and one nodded to him. “We’re going to move you onto this gurney,” the cougar said, “and then you’ll be taken downstairs to a transport that your captain has arranged for you.”

“Okay,” Renny said. The nurses picked him up gently and moved him to the gurney. Due to his ribs and abdomen wounds, he still could not sit up, so he had to take his trip to the spaceport on his back. Tanis patted his friend on the shoulder and then walked over to Merlin as the nurses rolled Renny out of the room.

“Dr. Sado is in surgery right now,” Tanis said, “but he’s already approved Renny’s release. They need yer thumbprint down at the main desk on the first floor and then we can head to the Horizon.”

“Okay,” Merlin replied. “Let’s do it and be rid of this place. I don’t particularly like hospitals.”

“They’re not so bad,” Tanis mused. “I hope to get a job working in one someday.”

Merlin glanced at him with a smile. “I know you want to be a doctor, and I think you’ll make a great one, Tanis,” he said, “but for now, I’m glad to have you on my crew.”

“Thanks, boss,” the fox replied meekly.

***

Samantha looked up when a local cab floated in and settled down to a stop near the rope perimeter surrounding the Blue Horizon. Durant stepped out of the vehicle, paid the driver, and then removed his luggage from the back seat. The levicar floated away and an armed sentry approached the surprised grizzly with her weapon brandished.

Before a repeat of what had happened to Lorelei could take place, Samantha waved toward the guard. “Please let him through!” she called out. “He’s one of ours!” The guard lowered her weapon and allowed the puzzled bear through the ropes.

“Hi, Sammy,” Durant said when she met him at the loading ramp. “What’s with the guard?”

Samantha gave him a warm hug and then took one of his bags for him. “Just a safety precaution,” she told him. “We’ve had a lot of excitement in your absence and the guards are there to prevent any more of that excitement before we launch tomorrow.”

“Guards? There’s more of them? What kind of excitement?”

Samantha shrugged her shoulders, deciding to keep it simple for now. “Oh, nothing much. A bomb exploded in the Hidalgo Sun while they were loading cargo,” she said almost nonchalantly, “and Renny was shot outside of a nightclub and almost died.”

Durant stopped in his tracks and set down his suitcase. “What?” he exclaimed.

The Border collie took his arm and looked up at him. “You can get the details later, but everything’s fine now. The Sun has been fully repaired and is already on its delivery run, and Renny is up in his cabin being tended by Lori and Taro. The hospital released him earlier today. He’ll be out of commission for a while so he can heal, but for now the excitement is over.”

Durant looked down at her incredulously. “All this in the eleven days that I was gone?” he asked.

“Yeah, and if ya had taken a DC with ya on yer mountain trip, we could have let ya know about it,” Tanis said dryly.

The grizzly turned around to see the desert fox walking toward them. Tanis clutched a box in his arms full of printed books and crossword puzzle magazines for Renny’s convalescence. Despite his words, the medic was pleased to see him.

“It was probably better I didn’t know,” Durant admitted. “It would have ruined my perfect vacation, and it doesn’t sound as if there is anything I could have done had I been here anyway.”

“What an attitude,” Tanis said to Samantha. “It still would have been prudent had ya taken one with ya anyway, in case ya got into trouble yerself. How did things go?”

Durant smiled. “It was a perfect vacation – probably the best one I’ve had in years,” he said. “I fished in a mountain lake and took it easy in the fresh air at a rustic cabin. I relaxed in a peaceful environment and didn’t do a thing that involved using my brain.”

“Any… problems with yer heart?” Tanis ventured to ask. “Any trouble breathing… in the thin air?”

Samantha looked at him strangely, but Durant only shook his head with a grin. “No problems whatsoever, Doctor Tanis. I didn’t so much as sneeze at the hummingbirds while I was up there, nor even got a splinter from a thorn. I feel refreshed and fully recharged, as Pockets might say.”

“Well, as least you didn’t come back with a hunter’s ear-tag on you,” Samantha quipped with a grin.

“Ya took an awful risk going up there by yerself,” Tanis said, “but… I’m pleased to know yer feeling okay. I still intend to give ya a complete physical, objections or no.”

Durant merely shook his head and then winked at Samantha. “He’s persistent,” he said. “I’ll give him that.”

***

It had been a week since the Blue Horizon left Alexandrius. The ship was cleared by the Spatial Police Force and Merlin had paid the security guards well for their help with letters of appreciation going to their bosses. Company insurance had been filed for Renny and Mark for their injuries and Interstellar Insurance had come through for them again for the damage to the Hidalgo Sun. Long range sensors detected no other ships along their flight plan to Joplin, and for the time being, there appeared to be no further danger to ship or crew.

Inside Renny’s cabin, all the lights were out save two tall, red candles lit on a table beside the cheetah’s bed. He had healed well enough that he could now partially sit up with some pillows and Taro had personally prepared a special meal for him.

The vixen was dressed in an elegant black dress with the right side split up to her hip, and a plunging neckline that left little to the imagination. Renny was in awe of her beauty and could not think of a time he had ever seen her so lovely. Although the setting was only his personal bedroom on board a freighter, Taro was dressed for him as if they had been invited by royalty for dinner.

The red fox uncovered a tray of food and spread it out on top of his dresser so she could feed it to him slowly and deliberately. This was a special night and she had chosen soft music from his cabin com system.

Renny swallowed in anticipation after seeing the food spread out for him, but he couldn’t keep from smiling up at her.

“What is so amusing?” Taro asked with a grin of her own.

“Your feather seems out of place with the rest of your clothes,” he said hesitantly.

Taro instinctively reached up and stroked the feather clipped to the fur above her left ear. “I’m so used to seeing it in my reflection that I’d forgotten I was still wearing it,” she replied. She narrowed her eyes and gave him a mischievous grin. “I can’t wait until I can use it again,” she added.

Renny’s eyes widened. “Just because you’ve been designated a Grand Major by the Hestran Society of the Feather,” he said, squirming in his bed, “don’t think that you can go around tickling anyone who’s available. I heard what you did to poor Durant a few weeks back.”

Taro leaned forward over his bed. “There’s no one on board who’s more ticklish than you, my friend,” she said, “although I can think of other activities I’m looking forward to more.”

Renny swallowed once again. “Forget the feather… I’d rather have the other activities,” he said with a smile. “Right now, however, I’m starving!”

“Before I feed you,” Taro said quietly, I have a special gift to give you.” She turned her back on him and reached beneath a tented napkin on the dresser. When she turned around, she held a small package wrapped in red and white checked paper that was adorned by a red ribbon and a tiny bow. She held it out to him on one hand.

“What is this?” the cheetah asked.

“Open it,” Taro said. Hesitant, Renny picked up the small package and then carefully pulled off the wrapping. Underneath was a simple white box, so he stuck a claw under the lid and slowly lifted the top.

Renny smiled and pulled out a ceramic figurine of a wild red fox that was identical to the one she had purchased for him, so long ago it seemed. Next to it in the box was the ceramic cheetah that he had bought for her in exchange. A single red thread was tied with each end around each figurine, binding them together.

The navigator looked at them for a long moment and then hesitantly stretched out a finger to caress the head of the fox. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Taro sat on the edge of the bed and looked into his eyes with moisture in her own. “The red string signifies the bond between us,” she said to him. She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked back at him. “Don’t ever do this to me again,” she said in a quiet voice. “I don’t think I could have survived had you died back there.”

Renny set the figurines on the bed next to him and then reached out to take her hands. “Remember when you were hurt by Sagan and nearly died?” She nodded. “I didn’t have the luxury of worrying beside your bed, sweetheart,” he said in a whisper. “I was all alone.”

Taro swallowed and nodded. They had each come near death and both had agonized over the other in different ways. She picked up the figurines and set them aside, and then she leaned forward to give him a deep kiss. Afterward, she clung to him and held him tight, ever so thankful that each had survived for the other.

THE SECRET OF TANAGER CASTLE

By Ted R. Blasingame

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Journal

It has been three months since my last journal entry. Most of what’s happened since the attacks on Renny and the Hidalgo Sun hasn’t been much to note and I’ve been lax writing anything down.

After we left Alexandrius, we made deliveries of general supplies to the SPF Headquarters on Joplin, transported the equipment of a film crew and several members of its cast to Earth, and then picked up a load of metal pipelines for shipping to Ganis. After that, it was back to Joplin for some training, and then to Kantus to deliver an export of archaeological artifacts to a university for study.

We’ve had no further attacks on the company, but despite how good this sounds, it continues to make me nervous wondering when the next strike will happen. Granted, we have increased our security measures on the ship and cargo, and I have forbidden anyone to go out alone while on shore leave. It’s been expensive, but I’ve hired guards to watch the ship every time we’re down for a delivery or pick up.

In light of the multiple attacks on the company, the SPF granted my request for concealed weapon licenses that are recognized by the local authorities throughout the Planetary Alignment, and I made it compulsory for all my employees to have firearm training. During the Blue Horizon’s most recent visit to Joplin, I arranged a week of training with the SPF officers in the use of firearms for my crew. I’ll have to say that everyone was taken completely by surprise by Lori’ marksmanship. She maintained higher scores than anyone, including the three of us who have had prior military training.

To her credit, Lori played down how well she could shoot a gun saying that she had plenty of training due to the all of the military bases she lived on while growing up the daughter of a career-minded army officer of Kantus.  She doesn’t particularly like weapons, but she sure knows how to wield one… and I hate to admit that she was the one I had the lowest expectations for learning how to shoot.  Anyway, I made it mandatory for the crew of the Blue Horizon to carry concealed Binfurr handguns while on shore leave. I don’t like having to do this, but after what happened to Renny, I don’t want to take any chances until our enemy is finally caught.

Despite the vastness of space and the populations of each world in the Planetary Alignment, we’ve run across JW Chon twice in the last few months and our meetings have continued to be amiable. Neither of us has heard anything more of Armando, so we can hope he’s behaving himself wherever he may be. Perhaps he’s learned some responsibility and is working somewhere earning a real living.

Renny’s road to recovery has been slow, much to everyone’s displeasure. My navigator makes a terrible bed patient and has nearly driven everyone crazy. Tanis, Taro and Lori have been working with his physical therapy these past few weeks, and although he’s now up and about the ship, he still has to take it slow. If he happens to make a sudden movement, his injuries will remind him sharply that he hasn’t fully recovered. Samantha has tried to get him to use the antigrav pillow that Pockets made for her during her own convalescence, but he doesn’t want to bother with it. It’s a personal frustration for a cheetah that is used to being quick on his feet to have to rely on an external device to get around. It would be easier for him to accept the offer and just use it, but on the other hand, it has given him incentive to work hard to get back into shape.

I have allowed him to help me on the bridge with navigation, but not with the actual flying of the ship. Before the attack, I’d fallen lax on having the other crewmembers perform the landing and launches, but with my primary backup pilot out of commission for three months, a few of the others are being reintroduced to the Blue Horizon’s flight controls. Lucky for me, I have some decent pilots among my crew — although Max frightens everyone whenever he’s in the center seat. Inevitably, he will forget some small process, but I make sure I am always on the bridge to watch him and compensate for his mistakes.  He may have impressed everyone with his mechanical aptitude, and I’m glad to have him getting experience in the engine room with Pockets, but he has a lot of practice to go before he can be designated a trustworthy pilot.

At this time, we are currently approaching Tanthe, where we will be landing at Tanager Castle. I’m the only one on board who has actually been to this location before, but not long after we’d launched from Alexandrius, Samantha received an invitation to a wedding addressed to her and the crew of the Blue Horizon. It seems that her friend Alex Rogers issued a proposal to his Lady Ayana and she accepted.

Although our schedules are now sometimes set a month or three in advance, the home office was able to shuffle our deliveries around with the Hidalgo Sun to allow us the opportunity to spend a little time to attend the ceremony.  Since Lady Ayana Kojote is the cousin of Princess Tinara of the House of Aris, and Alex is the CEO of the largest pharmaceutical corporation in the Planetary Alignment, King Aris allowed that the wedding should take place at the ancient Tanager Castle.

As I understand it, Master Tristan, former Regent of Sillon, will be in attendance, which has been good news for Samantha. Alex worked for Tristan for a good many years and the Silloni master fully intended to be there for his wedding. It’s a long way to come from Sillon, but I understand that Master Tristan is in possession of a ship equipped with a new generation of LightDrive engines. It’s a little faster than what is currently on the market, and has enough of an edge that it could shave a week and half off the time it would normally take the Blue Horizon to go the same extreme distance. That may not sound like much, but when the journey normally takes three months going one direction, that week and a half could make a great deal of difference in food, air and water on board an interstellar ship.

I will have to talk to him about it when we meet. If it performs as well as I have heard, I may have to look into having the Horizon’s engines upgraded.

I admit that I feel strange coming back to Tanthe, especially back to Tanager Castle. I’ve not been back since being approached to take part in the Aris family tradition, and I am hesitant to see the Princess again. Of course, for the sake of her son who bears my name, I don’t intend to avoid her. I don’t know if her four-month-old twins will be there, but I have an obligation to see Tamari and Dorian if they’re also present. Needless to say, I am strongly curious to see how the little coywolves have developed.

I can’t say that this brief journal entry will make up for three months’ laziness, but I should wind this up and head to the bridge soon. We’ll be arriving at Tanthe in about two hours and I should begin my checklist. Tanis is assisting in the landing today and I’ll need to make sure he’s on the bridge long before we approach planetary orbit.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

The great hall of the ancient Tanager Castle was lit by hundreds of white candles from eight crystal chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceiling, and garlands made of every color were draped around the walls of the room. Braziers of open flame with baskets of flowering shrubs hanging beneath them lined the walls to provide a modicum of warmth while lush draperies adorned the walls to keep it in. The bronze and iron statues of Tanthean heroes that occupied each corner of the room were also festooned with flowering garlands. The crystals of the chandeliers above sparkled from the lights and movements below, and more flower arrangements were placed tastefully in every part of the room.  Tables draped with white satin cloth with candelabras in the middle of each gave the place a stylish feel.

Royal dignitaries, media personalities and other invited guests were gathered in between the rows of tables, a hundred conversations filling the air with joviality and laughter. Near the forward end of the chamber were a pair of elegant thrones of velvet drapes of purple on an upraised dais, but at the moment they were empty. We were unable to attend the wedding of Tinara and Kal, but I am sure it probably looked something like this.

Near the back of the room, a small group was huddled together within the larger crowd as if the regality of the place was overwhelming and something dread would happen if they split up. Each held a drink glass and most of them fidgeted while waiting. They were dressed in various garments of medieval design in order to match the fitting of the locale and the occasion.

“That was such a beautiful ceremony,” Lorelei said with bright eyes. “I just love weddings, don’t you?”

Tanis looked at her with an amused expression as he tugged at the strap across the back of his breeches that was just a little too tight for his tail. “Yeah, it was nice,” he replied in an unconvincing tone.  Lori looked at him suspiciously and then tsk’d at him.

“You’re lying,” she said with her hands on her hips. “What do you have against weddings?”

“That was a lot of pomp and showcasing,” the fennec fox said with a grin at her reaction. “In my hometown, all it took for a couple to become legally married was for them make an announcement at a local gathering that they had become mates. No certificates, no singing in foreign languages, no blessings by their parents or elders and no media coverage like those two just had.”

“That sounds rather dull,” Samantha said with the shake of her head.

Tanis grinned. “Oh, the couple would be given a grand party by family and friends,” he said, “but the union itself was nothing more than a public announcement.”

“Well,” Samantha said, “as much as I hate to agree with Lori on anything, I thought Alex and Ayana’s wedding was beautiful.” Lorelei tilted her head at the comment, but nodded.

“Alex has a gorgeous bride,” Durant said as he scratched the fur at his neck where the fancy medieval garment had been rubbing. “He certainly looks happy about it. All the fuss is probably worth it to him.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’d want all this attention either,” Renny piped up from the side where he leaned on his crutches.

Taro leaned over to him with a mischievous look and said, “What if Tsarina wants a big wedding, dear?” she teased.

Renny looked embarrassed. “I should have never told you all what was in Tsarina’s letter,” he groaned.  “I’ve gotten nothing but grief about it ever since I let you know she has a big crush on me.”

“Ren-Ren, we’ve all known she’s had a crush on you since our crews first met,” Samantha said with a smirk.

“More than a crush,” Tanis teased with a big grin. “If ya have not left out anything from the letter, it sounds as if she’s quite in love with ya.”

“I think she wants to have your kittens,” Samantha said with a sly look. Renny gave her a momentary glare, but could not hold it. He grinned in return.

“Yeah, well…” Renny started, “she’s nice an’ all, but I’d rather spend my time with Taro.”

The vixen grinned and then whispered something into his ear that the others could not hear. Merlin laughed at the embarrassed expression on the cheetah’s face and wondered just how risqué her whisper had been.

“Is that Samantha Holden I see?” said a voice from an approaching figure.  As one, the Horizon crew turned to see a shapely human woman with long dark hair in a golden dress adorned with silver leaves. Her eyes sparkled at the recognition by the others and her grin was a mile wide.

“Holly?” Pockets asked in amazement.  “Holly Harken!”

The woman smiled down at the diminutive raccoon and nodded her head.  Samantha had a canine grin that was ear to ear and she held out her hands. Holly took them and then pulled her into a hug. ”I am so glad to see you here,” she said. “This was a surprise I had not expected.”

Samantha pulled away and beamed at her. “The groom is a childhood friend,” she explained.  “There was no way I would miss his wedding.”

“Well, I didn’t know either of them myself,” Holly remarked, “but it was a media event that INN wanted me to cover in person.”  She leaned in close and added, “They don’t let me out of the studio very much, so I jumped at the chance for some field work.”  She looked up at the tall Hestran fox and gave her a warm smile.  “You must be Taro Nichols,” she said.

The vixen nodded quietly and seemed subdued in the famous anchorwoman’s presence. “That’s right,” she said in a quiet voice.  “I can’t thank you enough for your help with the situation on Hestra.”

Holly took a step toward her and touched Taro’s cheek lightly.  “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” she replied with sudden moisture in her eyes. She and Taro exchanged a brief hug and then the woman dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief she pulled from a small bag she carried.

“Now,” she said to Samantha in a voice that was a little stronger, “how about introducing me to your friends?”

The Border collie grinned and gestured toward Pockets, who was practically biting his lip to keep from blurting out his praise of the woman.  “This is our chief engineer, Jerad Porter,” she said.  Holly knelt down so that she looked the raccoon better in the eyes and shook his hand.  “I am delighted to meet you, Mr. Porter.”

Pockets felt himself blush beneath his fur and his bright eyes practically shone. “The pleasure is mine, I assure you,” he said in a shaky voice. He dug into a pocket of his suit and produced a worn notebook and a pen. “M-may I have your autograph, please?” he asked.

Holly’s eyes sparkled as she took the book and pen. She was used to this, but she never turned down the opportunity to please a fan with her autograph. She flipped through pages of engineering notes to a clean page near the back, and then signed her name with two small hearts. She handed it back to him and then gently tickled his left ear. Pockets took the book with honor with a short bow, his joy barely contained.

Max elbowed Pockets gently with a laugh and Holly gave him a wink.  Samantha introduced the German shepherd, and then went around their group one by one, ending with the wolf.

“This is our Captain, Merlin Sinclair,” Samantha said. Merlin took her hand and gave a short bow.

“Pleased to meet you, Captain,” Holly said in genuine admiration. “I have heard so many things about you that would fill up a program, were you to permit me to interview you.”

Merlin grinned at her lopsidedly. “I’m not so sure the life of a mere freighter captain would be of much interest to your viewers, Miss Harken,” he said in a smooth voice, “but I am pleased to meet you as well.”

“Modest, isn’t he?” Holly said with a laugh to the others.  “I’m glad to have had the chance to meet the crew of the Blue Horizon in person,” she added. “You have done the Planetary Alignment much service in your adventures, whether you are aware of them or not.  A mere freighter captain, indeed!”

Another human came up to Holly’s side and whispered something into her left ear.  She nodded and then he disappeared back into the crowd.  “I’m afraid I will have to cut our visit short,” she said apologetically. “I’ve been granted an interview with the bride and groom and have been told I’ve only ten minutes to prepare.  Nice meeting you folks!” she said.  She exchanged another short hug with Samantha and then she was gone.

“Well, that certainly was a surprise,” Tanis piped up after a moment of awkward silence.  “For a human, she’s a looker!”

Durant laughed and rested an elbow on the fennec’s shoulder.  “Fancy her, do you?” he teased.

Tanis grinned widely.  “I don’t’ think I’m alone in my admiration of the famous Holly Harken,” he replied.  “Pockets was practically drooling on himself when she was here.”

“Aww, I wasn’t that bad….” Pockets gushed. “Was I?”

“Yes, Pockets, ya were,” Tanis laughed, “and she could see it, too!”

“All I wanted was her autograph,” the raccoon said in embarrassment.

Renny put a hand on his shoulder.  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’m sure she has big fans all over the PA, and your request was probably commonplace.”

“I feel like a goofus,” the engineer muttered lowly.

“That should feel natural, Pockets,” Tanis said with a grin, “because ya are a goofus.”

“Gee, thanks too much!”

Merlin chuckled, took a drink of his punch, but then swallowed it hard when he noticed someone else walking over toward his small group.

He had managed to evade Princess Tinara since landing the day before. Even back when Sam had received Alex’s wedding invitation, he knew their eventual meeting was unavoidable.

When they had at last arrived on Tanthe, they were directed to land in a wide grassy plain a few kilometers to the south of the castle, where other ships and landers had also been parked. Shuttle services were provided from the ships to the castle, but no one was allowed to set down within the fortress walls themselves, nor were they allowed within the airspace over the nearby Tanager Village. Visits to the small village were permitted, but all items electronic in nature were forbidden within eight kilometers of the place. No explanation had been given over that last directive, but everyone complied.

“Good afternoon, your Highness,” Merlin said with a short bow. The other Horizon members turned to see the approach of Princess Tinara and each of them quickly gave a bow of their own, although Renny’s bow was nothing more than a nod of his head, owing to his prior injuries.

“Good afternoon to you all,” replied the coyote woman. Young Prince Merlin Aris trailed behind her with one small hand resting comfortably in his mother’s hand and one finger of the other resting on his lips as he stared at the crowds around him. Durant exchanged quick looks with Tanis and then the two of them covertly watched the expressions on Samantha’s face. They were all well familiar with the relationship between the captain and their supply officer, and of the recent events that tied them to Tinara. Max leaned over and whispered something to Pockets and the raccoon nodded silently.

Princess Tinara was dressed in an ice green gown with gold trim and white lace, with a plunging neckline decorated with an elaborate diamond necklace resting upon her chest and matching gems in an understated tiara between her ears. Merlin thought she looked lovely, but felt a knot in his throat as he realized the attention from his crew that was focused on the two of them.

“Princess,” he said in a welcoming tone, “I would like to introduce you to my crew.” Tinara nodded quietly and then Merlin named each of his friends around them. When he came to Samantha, the princess’ eyes lit up.

“I am so pleased to meet all of you,” she said, “but I am most pleased to meet the woman who has the heart of my wolf friend.”

Samantha swallowed and then gave a short curtsey. The group around them fell completely silent. “Likewise,” the Border collie replied quietly. “I hope your Highness and her children are doing well?” Taro drew in a sudden breath at Sam’s comment. While it was a simple pleasantry, it was a little bold for those who knew what they thought they knew.

Tinara gave her a warm smile. “Thank you for asking,” she said. “I am doing well, and so are my children.” Prince Merlin looked up at Captain Merlin in sudden familiar recognition and released his mother’s hand to jump up into the wolf’s arms. The lupine captain picked up the boy with a smile and lifted him up onto his shoulders to the delight of the child.

“Yayyy!” exclaimed the royal youngster.  Tinara’s eyes crinkled in amusement.

“Where are your other children?” Lori ventured to ask.

Tinara’s eyes shined when she looked at the rabbit. “Their nanny is caring for them in Aris Grand,” she replied. “She is a wonderful woman, but I still found it hard to leave my pups behind. Despite their royal upbringing, they are already becoming mischievous in their own ways. I suspect it is the wolf blood in them.” She turned and looked at Merlin with a look that silently suggested many things. Samantha moved closer to Merlin and possessively threaded an arm though his, avoiding the child’s leg that dangled from the captain’s shoulder.

“That reminds me,” Princess Tinara said as she raised a handbag that had been hidden in the folds of her gown. “I have something for you.”

She pulled out an envelope of parchment and handed it to Merlin, who took it with one hand in curiosity. Across the back flap was a purple waxed seal with the Aris crest impressed into it. “What is this?” he asked.  There was no writing on the package and he turned it over quietly, hesitant to open it.

“That is a letter from the wolf who fathered my youngest children,” Tinara replied casually. “He asked me to deliver it to you personally while you were here today.”  There were looks of astonishment among the Horizon crew, and Samantha raised her eyebrows.

Merlin looked up at her, oblivious to the stunned looks of his friends. “What is it?” he asked.

“I do not know,” the princess replied. “It was sealed before he gave it to me this morning and requested that no others were to handle it until it came into your possession. He stated that it was for your eyes only - to be read in private, but he did not divulge the contents to me.”

“Excuse me, your Highness,” Durant said meekly. “You said the father of your children wanted you to deliver that envelope to Merlin?”

“That is right, Mr. Durant,” she replied. “Is there a problem?”

The grizzly swallowed his embarrassment. “No, milady,” he answered. “It is just that I thought…”

Tanis put an elbow into the bear’s side and Durant became instantly silent. Tinara noted the action and frowned. “There appears to be some confusion among you,” she said. “Please tell me your thoughts on the matter of my children.”

Merlin cleared his throat and all eyes from the small group went to him. “I must apologize for the impoliteness of my crew, your Highness,” he said with a growl in his voice. “They have been making assumptions based upon a misconception.” Taro snickered at the wolf’s choice of words, but fell silent at the glare she received from him.

“What assumptions?” Tinara asked. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“They thought Merlin was the mysterious father of your cubs,” Samantha answered with a smirk. Tinara looked at her in sudden amusement.  She glanced over at the wolf and noted the embarrassed expression on his face.

“Is this what you have been telling them?” she asked him with a sparkle in her eyes.

“No,” Merlin replied. “They have assumed this on their own.”

“He hasn’t said a word, your Highness,” Pockets said, “but the timing of his last visit to see you would have been about right. We thought….”

“You thought that Merlin Sinclair had been chosen to father my children in a family tradition to bring new blood into the royal line?” she asked.  There were nods all around and Tinara suddenly moved to Merlin’s side, opposite that of Samantha. She threaded an arm through his and then laughed.

“You are not wrong, my friends,” she told them to astonished expressions. “Merlin was chosen for our tradition, but he declined.”  She giggled at the apparent awkwardness the wolf felt at her side.

“Why?” Lorelei asked boldly. “You are so beautiful!”

Tinara sighed. “Thank you, my dear, but he is a proud wolf who values family, and would not take part in something that would produce children if he could not stay to raise them. He even refused the royal counsel of my father, the king of all Tanthe. Imagine that.”

Samantha looked up at the fidgeting Merlin and felt a warm glow inside. He had told her of this before, but she had been reluctant to believe he had actually turned down the advances of a princess whom Merlin was known to be fond of, as well as the additional bonus of a nice fortune by the Aris monarch himself.

Tinara continued without interruption. “There was another reason he would not let himself be seduced,” she said as she looked over at Samantha. “His heart was already taken by another. He expressed strong feelings for someone already close to him.”

It was Sam’s turn to feel embarrassed and she clung to Merlin’s arm tighter. Merlin himself was unmoving, his eyes focused somewhere far away so that he did not have to meet the gaze of anyone in his crew. He absently waggled the envelope in one hand while keeping hold onto the child’s ankle with the other. He was careful that he met no one’s eyes.

“If Merlin’s not the father of yer kids,” Tanis said quietly, “then who is?” He glanced at the parchment envelope. “I understand that wolves are not common on Tanthe.”

Princess Tinara smiled. “It is customary in these matters for the father to remain anonymous, but apparently he is someone familiar with your captain,” she replied with a gesture toward the envelope. “I have said little to him about Merlin, but he is aware that my firstborn was named after Merlin Sinclair, commander of the Blue Horizon and seemed to know him.”

“It has to be someone from Dennier, then,” Taro said.  “There are lots of wolves there who know Merlin.”

For the first time since the explanations began, Merlin moved. He lifted the youngster from his shoulders, much to the displeasure of the child, and set him on the ground beside his mother. He smiled sheepishly. “Now you all know it wasn’t me,” he said in a low voice, finally relieved to have the secret truth out in the open.

“But why’d you never deny it?” Renny asked. “We’ve been speculating in front of you about it for months!”

Merlin shrugged his shoulders. “Because you wouldn’t have believed me, particularly since it was announced on INN that the cubs were half-wolf. It was safer just to let you speculate, than to have to endure your scoff and disbelief. Besides, I don’t know who the real father is either – or how he could choose not to stay and raise the pups.”

He removed Tinara’s arm from his and turned to face her. “Congratulations on your successful mating,” he said with a smile that was finally relaxed. “I know what it means to the House of Aris, and I am happy that you found someone willing to help you.”

Princess Tinara looked up into his golden eyes and felt unashamed before him and his friends. “I admit that I still wish it had been you, my dear wolf,” she said with a wink toward Samantha, “but I also admire your resolve, your sense of relationship and of family. These are commendable qualities, even if I did not wish to accept your rejection at the time.”

“Thank you, your Highness,” Merlin said with a short bow.  Tinara chuckled and then tiptoed up to lick the tip of his nose.

“That’s mushy stuff!” the young coyote prince said with a wrinkled nose. “Yuck!” The small group laughed at the child’s exclamation and Tinara could feel the tension had gone out of the air.

“Well,” she said at last, “the Prince and I must mingle with the other guests now. I don’t know if I will have the chance to speak with you for the remainder of your visit, so I bid you and your crew a fond fare well.”

The Blue Horizon crew bowed to her in unison and then she left with her son in tow. She glanced back toward Merlin and winked at him before she turned her attention elsewhere.

“Wow…” said Pockets. “That was quite a revelation!”

“That sure explains a lot,” Durant commented.

Tanis stepped forward and pointed to the envelope still in Merlin’s hands. “Ya gonna open that?” he asked.

Merlin looked at the parchment package, held it up and looked again at the seal. “Yes,” he replied, “but she said I was to read it in private. Why don’t you clowns go eat some wedding cake while I hide out and see what this other wolf has to say to me?”

Samantha looked up at him with a smile, the feeling of warmth all through her. “You turned down a princess for someone closer?” she asked as the others dispersed, talking animatedly amongst themselves.

Merlin grinned and then gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Yes, I did,” he replied.  “Now, go slap Alex on the back in congratulations while I go look at this.”

“What?” the Border collie asked in mock surprise. “I thought you’d at least let me read it with you.”

Merlin grinned. “Uh uh…” he said.  “It’s probably all the sordid details of his mating with Tinara and I don’t want your delicate eyes ruined by what might be in here.”

“My delicate eyes!” Samantha laughed.  “Go and read your royal porn, then,” she said. “Now I’m going to tease Alex about his impending wedding night!”

Samantha left his side and began to make her way through the crowd. The few seconds she had delayed had already lost her to the others, but she did not care. She walked idly among the people and nodded in greeting to those who met her in like manner. She had not heard a fanfare of any kind, so she knew that Alex and Ayana had not yet come forth to greet the visitors in the throne room’s reception hall, likely still tied up with Holly’s interview with them.

She milled around here and there, until she heard a voice she had hoped to hear.  She smiled widely and excused herself through several blocks of people until she stood before the one who had raised her as a pup.

“Master Tristan!” she exclaimed when a lull had come into the conversation with several other Silloni.

The tall, black equine looked down at her with gentle brown eyes and smiled. “My Samantha,” he said in a deep voice. “I had hoped to see my adopted collie,” he said.

Samantha moved forward and hugged him fiercely. She was so glad to see him, especially since he had suffered at the hands of a would-be assassin. There were very few off-worlders away from Sillon who was aware of the importance of the Silloni’s spiraled horns, but Samantha knew and was overjoyed to see him looking as if he were in his prime.

“I have missed you, Master!” she said with wide, moist eyes.

“There, my little one, no tears please,” he said gently. “Guinevere and Laura are around here somewhere, but until they return, I want to introduce you to the current Regent of Sillon.”

***

When Merlin left the great hall, a coyote guard stepped up to him. “I am sorry, Sir, but there are no unescorted sojourns allowed into the castle during this time, please,” he said.

Merlin nodded, but from a pocket pulled out a metallic badge that had been given to him upon his arrival, granting him full access to the estate.  The coyote examined it and grunted.  “My apologies, Milord. You may proceed.”

“Thank you,” Merlin told him with a smile. He looked around and searched for anything out of memory to show him where he was. He wanted to go to the library, and if he remembered correctly, it was to his left.  The lupine captain moved down a shadowy corridor that was lit by torches placed just far enough apart to give the passage an air of gloom.  His footsteps echoed off the rock flooring and he met no one else. He soon came upon what he was looking for — a flight of circular stone steps that led up to the next level. When he reached the top, he walked quietly along another torch-lit corridor, passing armed sentries along the way. Without preamble, he showed his badge as he passed each guard, and he received courteous nods that allowed him to pass.

When he was certain he had crossed the length of the fortress itself, he soon found a pair of polished wooden doors. He moved through them into a large chamber that was well-lit and extravagantly furnished with chandeliers, sculptures, potted plants and ornate furniture that were all surrounded by floor-to-ceiling shelves of books – some of which were centuries old. The overhead ceiling was painted in various shades of blues to represent a cloudless sky of a warm spring day and the columns that held it up were covered in live climbing ivy that issued a minty aroma.

Save for himself, the room was unoccupied and he moved quickly to a high-backed chair of comfort. He held up the parchment envelope and was about to break its seal when he noticed something on the wall opposite him. Merlin frowned and almost groaned aloud. The oil painting of himself that had once been in the room where he had last stayed was now on display in the castle library along with other royal heroes of the past. As the princess had indicated earlier, he was modest when it came to himself, and seeing the portrait unnerved him.

While there was no real reason to do so, Merlin got up and moved to another chair that faced in the other direction. He nodded to himself in satisfaction and then looked at the envelope.  With the tip of a claw, he pulled up on the flap and broke the Aris seal. It made a small snap in the quiet of the room and then he removed the contents.  Inside was a letter on matching parchment, and the neat lines of the missive looked as if they had been written with a well-dipped quill.

Merlin’s pulse skipped a beat and he felt his heart well up into his throat when he looked at the handwriting. He recognized it immediately. He closed his eyes momentarily and then swallowed hard before he allowed himself read the letter.

Merlin,

Please sit down, as this will undoubtedly be a shock to you. I will ask Princess Tinara to deliver this letter to you personally, for it to change hands with no one save between yourself and the Princess. If the seal to this letter is unbroken, then my secret may still be safe. As she has undoubtedly told you, I am the father of her newest children, due to a family tradition held in high esteem by the family Aris.  By Tanthean law, they are bound not to reveal the identity of the surrogate father to the general populace so that he may live in peace and remain anonymous, albeit highly rewarded. However, it’s in my right to reveal myself to whomever I please, so long as it is not brought to the attention of the public.

Tinara has told me of her infatuation with you, from the time you first met and through reports of the growth of your business in this time of trouble throughout the Planetary Alignment. As a schoolgirl sometimes does, Princess Tinara continues even now to hold a crush on you – one that will likely follow her for many years, even though you refused to grant her wish to take part in the Family Tradition.

The day after you left Tanager Castle, Tinara went horseback riding across the countryside, to clear her mind, she said. I don’t believe you have been there, but ten kilometers from the castle is the tiny Tanager Village, which exists solely to maintain and support the castle. Just before arriving in the village, her majesty’s horse threw a shoe and she walked her animal the rest of the way to the stable to have it looked at. In the village, I was nothing more than a delivery boy to the castle, and it was while she awaited her horse to be reshod that I delivered some grain to the blacksmith.

Almost as soon as she realized that I was a wolf, she drew me outside under a shade tree and explained the Aris Family Tradition to me. I was offered wealth beyond my dreams and the granting of any wish I could ask for, so long as I remained anonymous. I have been down on my luck for many years, usually due to my own foolhardiness, and this was really the first time that something good had happened to me.

I told her what my “wishes” were, and although they took her aback to hear my odd request, she assured me that everything would be taken care of. She took me into her bedchamber that night and I satisfied my bargain with the Aris family bloodline.

Over time, she visited me often, and as promised my wishes were fulfilled. I was introduced to a lovely lass who has since become my wife and we reside still in the quaint village of Tanager. There are some in this place who suspect that I am the father of the twins, as there are no other wolves here, but I let their tongues waggle without comment, for no one ever leaves this place. Wolves such as ourselves are taught from childhood the importance of family, of children and belonging, but honor has long eluded me and I made the decision to require no demands to take a part in the lives of those I’ve sired.

One of my granted wishes was that Tanager Village be rid of all forms of electronic equipment within a five-mile radius of the outskirts. This was done and the Aris monarch set forth a law banning all technology from the village on the pretense of keeping the spirit of the origins of the castle on its surrounding countryside intact. Of course, Tanager Village was already devoid of having much technology, but now it’s free of all such devices. The penalty for disobeying is rather stiff.

The reason for this particular wish is that I had been previously captured by an evil force and had numerous explosives implanted all through my body to ensure obedience. The Cold Fire virus that the Planetary Alignment fell under during the Siilv War was of my design, but please don’t place blame for the deaths upon me. I was forced under duress to write the virus and was punished violently by these internal explosives when I wouldn’t comply. I was also informed that any attempt at surgery to remove even one of them would set them all off at once, so I’d had no hope of ever escaping his influence. Due to this, I am now missing several fingers and toes. In spite of my malevolent captor’s torture, I encoded the antidote within the code itself. Apparently, someone on the outside had the foresight to examine the virus code deeply, for it was broken and eradicated far too quickly. I praise whoever it was that was able to find it in time.

My Master was unkind to me, but in the confusion of the War and its unforeseen sudden end, I found the opportunity to escape. I made it as far as Tanthe as an extra hand on a slow-moving, low-tech ship. I was deposited near Tanager Village, and when I realized there was no real technology here, I felt that perhaps I might be safe from anything that might generate a signal to set off the explosives within me.

I decided to settle in this place, and with my pact with Princess Tinara, this place has been declared free of all technology so that I may live the rest of my days without fear of my Master finding me and setting off anything further within me.  He has many eyes and ears throughout the Planetary Alignment, and so long as I am thought of as dead, the better off I can be. I would also ask that you destroy this letter after reading it to further my chances of safety.

In this place, I am known simply as Jorge Flanelle, the deliveryman. I now have wealth to cover the needs of my wife and our own expected pups, and I have my safety, but to you and our sister Shannon, I am your lost sibling. Live well, big brother. I know we have had differences in opinion in the past, but you can rest assured that I am happy here. We shall never see one another again, and I ask that you swear yourself to silence of your knowledge of me if you value my life and my new prosperity. However, I wanted you to know what had become of me so that you and Shannon may put me to rest in your thoughts.

May you and your business grow in health and wealth,

Lucas

Merlin sat back in the high-backed chair and was tense in the cushions. He read the letter slowly three times to make sure he missed nothing, before he folded it and returned it to its envelope.  The wording of the letter was more formal than his brother was used to writing, but perhaps his time in the quiet village that served a royal castle had impressed itself upon him.

He put the envelope inside his tunic and then sat in the chair with his eyes closed for a long while.

***

Merlin opened his eyes at the sound of voices and realized with a start that he had fallen asleep in the library chair. His first thought was that the letter had been a dream, but when he put his hand inside his tunic, the parchment envelope was still there.

He looked up and noticed that several of the chairs in the library were now occupied by guests of the wedding ceremony. Many were still garbed in the period medieval garments that had been required, but no one seemed to notice him.  He brushed a hand across the top of his head and fluffed up some of the fur that had been pressed down during his sleep. He sincerely hoped he had not been snoring.

With as much aplomb as he could muster, Merlin stood up as if he had only been sitting with a book and quickly left the library. The first thing he noticed was a large window to the outside and he was surprised to discover that night had fallen during his nap. A full moon shone in through the windows and he studied its pocked surface momentarily before he moved away.

The others must have wondered if I’d skipped out, he thought to himself. He made his way quickly to a staircase to find the third-floor rooms that had been assigned to him and the Blue Horizon crew. Either that, he mused with a wry smile, or they may think I have slipped off with the Princess again.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes to locate the area of the castle where his quarters were and another five to find the right door. He stepped up to the heavy wood door and hesitated. He looked across the hallway at a low brazier that lit the passage and then walked over to it. He pulled the parchment envelope from his tunic and held it out toward the flames. He hesitated a long moment before he let it fall into the middle of the fire and then stood transfixed until he had made sure the document was unrecoverable ash. He swallowed and heaved a sigh before he moved back toward the room.

He knocked lightly and Renny’s voice came through the heavy wood panel. “It’s open, come in.”

Merlin opened the door and stepped inside the room he shared with the feline navigator.  “It’s about time you showed up,” Renny said with concerned expression. A tray with a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese lay beside him on his bed, as well as an amber bottle of drink. “We looked everywhere for you. Alex and Ayana wanted to meet with you before they left for their honeymoon, but if you haven’t seen them yet, I’m afraid you missed them. They left a couple of hours ago.”

“I was in the library,” the wolf replied.

Renny scoffed.  “I know you like to read, boss, but don’t you think you could have waited until tomorrow to check out a library book?”

Merlin looked cross at the cheetah. He did not feel he had to answer to his subordinate and suddenly wanted only to leave. He moved to the door that opened out into an upper courtyard and stepped out without another word to Renny.

“Did Faltane find you?” Renny called before he shut the door behind him.

Merlin stopped and looked back in at him.  “Victor Faltane?” he asked.  “He was here?”

“Yeah, it was strange. He asked about you, but he seemed more interested wanting to know the health of your brother, Lucas.”

A cold feeling overcame the lupine captain. “Why would he ask about Lucas?” he wondered aloud. “I wasn’t aware the two of them even knew one another.  What did you tell him?”

Renny shrugged his shoulders. “I just told him the last time we saw the flea-bitten cretin was when we booted him off on Quet a couple years ago,” he replied.

“That’s awfully strange…” Merlin muttered. “Did you say anything about what you found in the code of the Cold Virus?”

“No, it didn’t occur to me to mention it.”

He looked at Renny after a moment’s thought and then asked, “Was there anyone else there I should know about?”

“Max introduced us to his long-distance girlfriend, Wendy Bengoro,” the cheetah said with a grin. “The kid’s got good taste – she was cute.”

“Isn’t that the tigress he met when we were down on Pomen?”

“Yeah, they’ve been exchanging letters ever since.  They were holding hands and both of them looked quite the cute couple.”

“If I remember right, her father is a surgeon,” Merlin mused. “He must be pretty prominent to have been invited to this wedding.”

“I think Dr. Bengoro was associated with Alex in some way, as both are in the medical field.”

“Well, I hope Max got to spend some quality time with his girl,” Merlin said. “He’s a good kid.  Anyone else?”

Renny chuckled.  “By going to the library, you missed the melodious song of the artist who had been hired to do the music during the reception, Pixly Dixly.”

“Now you’re pulling my leg,” Merlin said in surprise.

“Nope, they got the wonder bunny, herself,” Renny replied with a look of disgust. “I think everyone realized the mistake that had been made in hiring her after she and her performers started.  You wouldn’t believe how many different arrangements of her song, ‘Cause I’m a Girl she has — and she and her choreographed dancers have different routines to each version.”

Merlin shook his head. “Max must have been in heaven with Wendy holding his hand and his favorite performer on the stage.”

“Probably,” Renny replied. “He was gone almost as long as you were.”

Merlin’s smile faded at that. “Anything else?” he asked.

Renny flattened his ears against his head at the wolf’s tone. “Just the actual reception of Alex and Ayana,” he said. “Alex really wanted to see you.”

“Alright, I get the message,” Merlin growled irritably.  Without another word, he left the cheetah behind. When he stepped out into the moonlit night, he felt a gentle, warm breeze. There were many things on his mind and he felt like a little outside walk might refresh his brain. So much had happened in the past year and Merlin was tired - not just physically, but mentally as well. He walked over to a stone rail at the edge of the courtyard and leaned against it. Feeling warm, he opened the front of his tunic to his chest and looked around.

There were more flowering shrubs arranged all about the courtyard and potted trees at every available corner. Far away from metropolitan city lights, the stars above the castle were brilliant. Merlin gazed up at them and wondered if he really belonged out there among them. There were more changes ahead, he felt.  Some would undoubtedly be of his own choosing, but he was afraid that others would come of their own accord. It was rare that Merlin Sinclair was a wolf of indecision, but on this night, he wondered which course he should take.

He heard a soft footfall to his right and he glanced over toward its source.  Bathed in the full moonlight was a creature of beauty. The skirt of her blue and white dress wafted gently in the night breeze, and the moonlight reflected gently from her bodice. Her hands were together in front of her and the white gloves up to her elbows added to her elegance. Delicate pink slippers put a dash of color to her raiment and Merlin stood entranced with his mouth opened in awe.

Samantha stepped toward him hesitantly, a look of concern on her face.  “You look troubled,” she said in a quiet voice. “I suppose the contents of the letter the Princess gave you contained bad news?”

Merlin shook his head and swallowed as she stopped close before him.  “No,” he said in an equally quiet voice, “It was merely a thank-you for allowing him to have the honor of the Aris family tradition since I had turned it down,” he told her. It was not exactly a lie, but he would honor his brother’s request to keep his existence a secret. He took a step back and looked at her. It was the same outfit she had worn earlier, but he seemed to see her in it for the first time.

“You look absolutely stunning, milady” he said in a quiet voice.

The Border collie smiled warmly. “Why, thank you, milord” she said. She spun around slowly, flaring out the skirt so he could see her from all sides, and then stopped to face him again.  She lowered her nose, but looked up at him with half-lidded eyes.

Merlin caught his breath and moved closer to her.  He put his arms around her and then she tilted her head up to him. They shared an extended kiss and then held each other for a long moment. “Merlin,” Samantha said in a voice so quiet that even his sensitive ears almost missed, “I love you.”

Merlin looked at her and smiled. “I love you, Samantha,” he replied. Then he kissed her again, this time more passionately. Neither of them knew if it was the atmosphere of the ancient castle, the medieval garments or merely the night air under a full moon, but at that point in time, all either of them could see was the other.

Merlin Sinclair pulled away and took her hands gently in his own. She looked at him in wonder. He was handsome in his brown tunic that was open to expose his chest fur and dark blue pants that were bloused over black boots. She had seen the portrait of him in the castle library but felt that this is how the painter should have captured the King’s Hero on canvas.

Then, without warning, Merlin dropped to one knee and looked up at her, his hands still holding hers. “Will you marry me, Samantha Holden?”

Sam’s eyes misted over and a lump formed in her throat. For what seemed an eternity, she felt frozen in time and could do nothing more than gaze down into his bright, amber eyes. Then, finally, she could only nod her head and whisper, “Y-yes.”

Merlin swallowed the lump that had been in his throat and then stood up again. Without another word, he reached down and then picked her up in his arms. She slipped her arms around his shoulder as one of her slippers fell from a delicate foot, but neither of them noticed as he walked across the courtyard toward her room.

***

Merlin looked over his shoulder at Tanager Castle. It was beautiful in the morning sunlight. The first time he had been here, he had left with his emotions in turmoil. This time he would be leaving with a lighter heart. He and Samantha would discuss their own wedding at a later time, but for now, the atmosphere of the ancient castle had been good for them both. The Blue Horizon would be departing in a few hours, but there was something he felt he had to do before leaving this place. He gave the reins in his hand a light flick and the palomino horse beneath him trotted down the road toward the community that supported the castle.

In the time it took for Merlin to reach Tanager Village, he had enjoyed the quiet countryside. Fields of wheat bordered each side of the single-lane road of gravel and he waved back at the friendly field workers who greeted him as he rode by. He was no longer dressed in the medieval garb of the castle ceremony, but back in his familiar captain’s trousers and boots. He wore a light blue, short-sleeved shirt that was open to his chest and his comfortable captain’s hat was perched between his ears, right where it belonged.

He had been searched before he left the castle to ensure he carried no electronic devices on him before he was issued the non-sapient riding horse, and now that he approached the village, he wondered if he was doing the right thing by coming here.

The local folk were friendly as he rode in and he felt touched by the quaintness of the area. The houses and buildings were made of stone and in one place, he could see that the sod covering on the roofs were just a decoration over a more modern, and likely more weather-worthy roof beneath. He smiled and wondered just how “country” the village really was beneath its rustic exterior.

He dismounted his horse and held onto the reins as he walked through the town. His brother’s letter had mentioned a visit to the livery stable, so he asked an elderly coyote who idled his time in a chair outside a local store for directions.  He thanked the gentleman and led his horse to the stables. Beside the hitching post was a watering trough, so he let his mount have a drink before he tied off the reins. A moment later, he stepped inside the hay-strewn floor of the stable.

He heard the ringing of a hammer on metal and let his eyes adjust to the darker interior.  “May I help you, sir?” a voice called out when the ringing stopped.

“Yes,” he replied. “I’m looking for a wolf that makes deliveries to the castle. I believe his name is Jorge Flanelle.”

A burly coyote came up to him and wiped his hands on a dirty apron.  “Jorge? Yes, I think I saw him heading over to the market a bit ago,” he said.  He motioned Merlin to follow him outside and then pointed down the street.  “It’s that building down there with the green banner out front.”

Merlin nodded his appreciation. “Thank you, sir.”

“Have a good day, milord,” the man replied and then went back to his work.

Merlin left his horse tethered to the hitching post and walked down the street to the market.  He looked over the folk who moved up and down the aisles, but saw no wolves in the lot.  He stopped next to a pretty young woman in an apron who was arranging apples on a table, and pulled out a gold coin from his pocket. He had exchanged PA Credits for local currency before taking his leave of the castle.

“Excuse me, miss,” he said quietly. “I am new to this area. Will this cover two apples?”

The coyote lass smiled at him with warm eyes. “More than enough, milord,” she replied in a country accent.  She picked out two of the best-looking apples from her table, wiped dust from them with her apron, and then handed them to him.  Then she led him to a counter and opened a drawer. She pulled out five bronze coins and one copper, placing them in his hand after taking the gold.

“Thank you,” he said to her with a short bow.  The woman giggled and curtseyed in return.  Merlin put both apples in the pockets of his pants and then asked, “Pardon me, but do you know Jorge?” he asked

“Of course, milord,” she said with a nod. “He delivers things to the castle for me all the time. He was just in here a few moments ago, but I believe he had business with the groomer on the other end of the village.”

Merlin nodded, thanked her and then walked back out into the street.  He pulled one of the apples from his pocket and bit into it. He smiled, for it was juicy and probably one of the best-tasting apples he had had in a long time.  He continued munching on the apple as he walked through town with one hand in his pocket.

Half an hour later, Merlin returned to his horse.  The day had grown warm and he was disappointed. The people in Tanager Village had been friendly and helpful, but he had been all over the village and still had not seen his brother. It seemed he kept missing him every step of the way. Lucas was apparently a busy guy. He glanced at his watch and frowned. He would have to start toward the castle soon if he were to get back in time to start preflight preparations for their designated launch time.

He pulled out the second apple from his pocket and gave it to his horse, idly thinking that the animal’s coloring greatly resembled Roger Paxton of the Hidalgo Sun.  He waited patiently until the apple was eaten completely and he allowed the horse to drink from the trough. Then he stepped up into the saddle and took a last glance at the village before he urged his palomino back toward the distant castle.

As he rode past the last of the village buildings, Merlin did not see a pair of amber eyes watching his departure from the loft of a barn.  They watched until the horse and rider disappeared around a bend, and then they closed momentarily.

“Fare well, brother,” the wolf whispered to himself.

PERIL IN EBONY

By Ted R. Blasingame

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Journal

The Blue Horizon is approaching the world of Fyn. Almost as soon as we got back on board the ship following Alex’s wedding on Tanthe, Cindy had a message waiting for us explaining that we had received an urgent request for the delivery of standard supplies to an out-of-the-way colony in the backcountry of Fyn that’s suffered a major loss due to flooding. The supplies had already been ordered from Silvest, a large Tanthean city about eighty kilometers from Tanager Castle. I’m not sure how a backwater colony would know we were in the vicinity of the very place where their supplies had been ordered from, but a job is a job.

Fyn is probably the least industrialized world of the Planetary Alignment, so it’s not surprising that one of the colonies in the unexplored territories would call to another planet to replenish their supplies. Tanthe is a long way from Fyn, however. I would have thought Alexandrius would be a likelier place to get their supplies since the two worlds are in the same system and typically only a day away from one another by interplanetary freighter. Durant showed me the manifest for the supplies we picked up in Silvest and there’s nothing particularly special about them. Alexandrius could have provided them easily, but it’s not my job to worry where a customer orders their goods.

The Chimera Colony is located just about as far from local civilization as it could be. Fyn does not yet have a global positioning satellite system, so Renny used the directions the customer provided and found the site on the topography maps in the southern hemisphere. This place is located in the middle of the Kaisudon Mountain range, down in a deep canyon rift named the Valley of Bones. The map details show the region to be difficult to access. I would wager to guess the colonists got there by foot or pack animal, as a motorized vehicle would be unlikely to traverse the steep sides of the valley and colonists usually are not wealthy enough to afford to be airlifted. The planet of Fyn does not have many tall mountains on its surface to begin with, so it is my guess that the colonists chose the location specifically for its remoteness away from civilization. However, it doesn’t look as if they planned well enough to be self-sufficient if they have to order supplies from a world in another solar system altogether.

Still, they paid our standard delivery fee in advance for the supplies, so I shouldn’t complain. We will arrive during the local evening hours, so navigating the narrow canyon pass going instruments-only in the dark may prove to be a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, Samantha has been busy working up a guest list for the invitations for our upcoming wedding. We haven’t done much more than announce our engagement to everyone since we left Tanthe, and we haven’t even set a date yet, but Sam is acting the part of a bride preparing for her ceremony. She and Taro have been researching bridal companies on the StellarNet for dresses. Shannon has even been helping out by touring the local shops for her.

Lori wants to help out in any way she can, but Samantha is reluctant to trust her with any specific duties. To be expected, all the guys on board have given me good-natured ribbing about finally giving in to Samantha’s charms, though Durant keeps muttering “It’s about time,” with a grin whenever I’m near. I’ve tried to remind everyone not to get too gung-ho until an actual date is set for the ceremony on Dennier.  I may as well have saved my breath, as everyone, especially the ladies, are acting like it’s coming up right away.

As for me, I haven’t tried to think about it too much beyond my proposal. I am sure I will have my hand in on the preparations once we have a date to work towards, but for the time being, I have to keep the business in mind, and that is one of the factors to figure in on potential wedding dates.

The company’s been doing better than I anticipated. The girls at the home office have done an admirable job promoting the company, and there are calls almost daily requesting our services. I never thought it would come to this, but after talking it over with Durant, I’ve begun to think along the lines of buying a third freighter for Blue Horizon Freight Transfer. This would mean hiring another eight or ten people. The company account does have the capital to invest in another ship and crew, and I find it difficult to turn away customers who have been specifically requesting our services. With an expansion of the company like this, it could be harder to run my business out here in space. My brother-in-law has suggested turning the captaincy of the Blue Horizon over to someone else and settling down on Dennier to run things from the home office. While the thought has merit, I’m not sure I am quite ready to give up my ship just yet. Personally, I think he’s just trying to get me closer to Shannon and his kids.

The flight to Fyn has been quiet, without incident and rather pleasant. Renny is now getting around without his crutches, but he’s still walking rather slowly. With the type of wounds he had, it may be a while yet before he is back to his old self again. I overheard him make a comment to Durant that he’s never had as many injuries, nor seen the inside of hospitals as much as he has since joining the crew of the Blue Horizon. I suppose that is true, since life aboard a stellar freighter should be mundane, but it does seem as if we have seen our share of excitement in the past few years. I just hope he doesn’t decide to tender his resignation with us. He is one of the best navigators I have ever worked with, and he’s also a good friend. The rest of my crew gets along with him well, and even though he and Tanis often argue with one another, they’re actually good friends — at least I think they are. Since Renny’s gotten past the danger of his hospital stay, the two of them have resumed some of their earlier arguments.

Max has been in contact with Clarence Duffy while on the way to Fyn, but we’ll be in a completely different part of the world from him to make any stops to visit. They seem to have become good friends in a short time, although a father-son relationship hasn’t developed. Max has a good head on his shoulders and seems to have handled the situation in a mature manner. I am really proud of him.

Taro is currently in the pilot seat with Renny on the bridge at navigation. We entered the Fynian atmosphere fifteen minutes ago and we are already en route toward the landing coordinates. The Chimera colony is transmitting a locator signal and we should be landing shortly. It is normally my duty to take over the landing procedures when there are dangerous conditions to fly into, but my first officer assured me that she could handle it, even in the air currents of this harsh mountain range.

Pockets has reported that the filters in the atmosphere recycling unit located between the double-hulls of the ship are getting dangerously clogged and will need to be cleaned out while we’re down inside an atmosphere. It’s a relatively simple job and we should be on the ground for little more than a couple of hours, so I will excuse him and Max from cargo detail to take care of it while we are down.

Once we are finished here, we’ll be launching immediately to Pomen for our next pickup assignment. I hate to leave without allowing the crew shore leave, but since this was an unscheduled diversion, Cindy had to make excuses with the Torres Corporation for the six-week delay in picking up their automobile parts for delivery to Earth. She gave them the option to cancel out of the contract legally, but Torres assured us their people could weather the delay.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Merlin capped his pen and set his journal on the desk in front of him. Its cover of dyed Terran cowhide showed wear from excessive handling. It was the fifth such journal he had kept over the years and he knew he should order one with more pages in the future or learn to write smaller. Keeping a journal of his travels was a common tradition long held by ships’ captains of all the worlds he had ever visited, whether they commanded ships that sailed the seas or the void between the stars. He was proud to uphold the custom, whether or not he planned to ever show them to anyone. He had long intended to transcribe them into electronic form for safer keeping, but despite all the free time he usually had during the voyages between worlds, he had never taken the time to do it. For the time being, he continued to put ink to paper just as it had been done in the days of the earliest explorers.

“Attention all hands,” Taro’s voice sounded over the ship-wide intercom, “We’re approaching the Kaisudon Mountain Range, where we will experience wind-shear turbulences as we pass over them. The Valley of Bones is in the middle of this range, so I would advise everyone to buckle up until we have landed. You have about three minutes of stability.”

Merlin left his den quickly and made for the bridge next door. Thumbing a pad set in the wall beside it, the navy-blue panel with the golden image of a sailing ship’s wheel moved aside for him quietly. He walked to the com station, sat down, buckled in and then looked up at the amused faces of his bridge team.

“Even when you aren’t driving the boat,” Renny said with a chuckle, “you can’t stay off the bridge!”

“You want to drive?” Taro teased, knowing there would be no change in pilots once they had dropped inside an atmosphere. “You can have it now!”

“You keep your seat, lady,” the wolf retorted. “I just want to see.”

“Aye-Aye, Captain, sir!”

“Let’s hope everybody’s strapped in,” Renny said after a quick glance at his navigational readings.

Merlin looked out the forward windows. The sun was at their backs as they flew eastward and the sky before them was already growing dim from the approaching dusk. The ground below was a mixture of green and brown, darkening with imminent nightfall. Their course had taken them over low hills and sporadic forests, but directly ahead and below them were the jagged peaks of the Kaisudon Mountains, commonly called the Dragon’s Teeth by local folk.

“What the devil is that?” Renny asked suddenly. Merlin’s gaze moved from the mountain peaks to another ship approaching from the starboard at a lower altitude. It was long, cylindrical and seemed out of place flying above the ground. “Almost looks like a submarine.”

“Hey, that’s an old Altus-class cruiser,” Merlin replied after studying its design. “I’ve only seen them in museums and ship catalogs, but it looks like someone got one flying. It’s a dual-pressure vessel, designed for the vacuum of space as well as the pressures of a deep ocean – pretty solidly built, but I seem to remember their engines were rather unreliable.”

“Wow, you’re full of information,” Renny teased. “Where’s it from?”

Merlin turned to give him a smirk as the vessel slipped beneath them and continued on its journey. “Well, I can’t vouch for this one specifically,” he said, “but the Altus cruisers were built for Fyn’s first forays into deep space after they developed their own form of LightDrive technology using Falstar engines. They were only in use for a couple decades, but I don’t think they’ve been widely flown for the past thirty years.”

“Imagine seeing one out here in the middle of nowhere,” Renny remarked.

“Renny, we’re nearing the mountains,” Taro said in a quiet voice. “I need a navigator.”

“Right,” the cheetah said, instantly forgetting the submarine starship. He set to work to get a good fix on the landing beacon and sent the coordinates to the center seat’s console a moment later.

The Dragon’s Teeth rose to seemingly impossible heights and resembled the bottom of a spike-filled pit trap from the sheer numbers of their pointed crests. The tree line was far below, and while there was not much snow in this region at this time of year, Merlin could see patches of white in areas of perpetual shadow.

The canyons between the crags seemed bottomless and forbidding, and the mountain range stretched on for unseen kilometers in both directions. Merlin wondered again how the colonists had originally traversed them to set up shop deep in their midst. He forgot his musing when the Blue Horizon banked to the starboard and then suddenly bucked upward. Taro compensated with the guidance shifts without a word, but he could see the concern in her eyes.

The ship slipped sideways and abruptly dropped altitude in an unexpected pocket of dead air. Renny’s eyes widened considerably at the suddenly nearer peaks, and he gripped the padded armrests of his seat with a strength that would undoubtedly leave imprints in the material.

Merlin swallowed in apprehension as he eyed one dark peak that jutted up at them almost as if it was growing on the spot. The Blue Horizon sped past it without a meeting and Taro calmly increased their altitude, much to the relief of her companions.

The vixen had not handled a flight such as this in a long while and the bucking ship tested her experience. Fortunately for them all, she was a competent pilot and weathered the atmospheric roller coaster admirably, albeit with clenched teeth. The darkness made unexpected rock outcroppings near impossible to see, but Taro spent more of her time watching the instrument monitor on the console before her than she did looking out the forward windows.

The Horizon smoothed out suddenly and Merlin’s face lit up in appreciation. They had cleared the tallest peaks and were now descending toward a dark chasm that was wider than it seemed it should be in this place. Even so, he doubted that the bottom saw more than just a handful of hours of direct sunlight due to the height of the surrounding mountains. Although the area was now shrouded in deep shadow, the wolf thought he could see a mixture of forest, plains, and a meandering river that gently reflected the weakening sunlight in soft shimmers. Encircling both sides of the valley were huge fingers of wind-carved rocks that were bone-white and shaped like some titanic ribcage.

“The Valley of Bones,” Renny announced. “Alter our course two degrees starboard and we’ll be heading directly for it.”

“Changing course, two degrees starboard,” Taro repeated in a quiet voice. Merlin looked over and saw her rapidly blink several times, panting lightly as the ship passed beneath the stone rib formations. She caught him looking at her and swallowed in embarrassment. She managed a weak smile, but Merlin gave her a small nod of encouragement.

“The beacon is eight kilometers directly ahead,” Renny reported, “near the starboard wall of the valley.” He stretched his arms to ease the tension he had built in them and felt a small twinge in his side. He lowered them with a frown and glanced back at the wolf. “We should probably give our contact a call to let him know we’re on final approach,” he suggested.

“Right,” Merlin said as he turned to the com console beside him. He picked up a headset microphone and put it around the back of his head so that one small flexible boom was up near his ear and another down near his lips. Once he had it in place, Merlin called up the contact information for their customer from the main computer and then keyed in the calling code and frequency. A green light came on to indicate the com unit was ready and he touched it briefly.

“This is Captain Sinclair of the SS Blue Horizon, PA1138, calling the Chimera Colony, ID 50129,” he broadcast. There was no immediate reply, but Merlin waited patiently for a response. He was about to try again when a voice sounded in the earpiece of his com headset.

“Blue Horizon, this is Pamiu Nechet of the Chimera Colony. Good evening to you, Captain. How was your flight?”

Merlin smiled at the aged voice and routed the signal to the overhead bridge speakers. “Good evening to you, too. Our flight went well, Mr. Nechet. We have just cleared the Dragon’s Teeth and are descending into the Valley of Bones. We are on final approach to your position and the landing beacon is coming in clearly. We should be landing shortly.”

“Blue Horizon, I’m afraid you won’t be able land on the exact location of the beacon, which is here in our communication hut. We’re surrounded by forest and have limited free space around our homes, which is taken up by freshly plowed fields in the only area that gets sunlight that we would prefer you didn’t land on.”

“I understand, sir,” Merlin replied. He glanced out the forward windows and frowned at the darkness. He made a motion to Renny to pull out local navigation charts. “If you will tell us where to set down, we’ll gladly land there.”

“As you home in on the beacon, you will find a large clearing a half-mile beyond our colony that should be large enough for your ship. You may set down there. We will meet you shortly with lamps and carts for our supplies.”

“Aye, sir,” Merlin replied. “We will see you there. Blue Horizon out.”

“We’ll be over their position in about a minute,” Taro announced quietly.

Merlin activated the ship-wide intercom. “We’ll be landing in two minutes,” he announced, “but we have to set down a half-mile away from the Colony facilities. They will meet us there with carts and lights for their supplies and I want everyone except engineering to help get everything off-loaded. Pockets and Max are to get started with air filter cleaning as soon as we are powered down. Assuming all goes well, we should be back in the air within two hours.”

The wolf unbuckled his harness and moved to the engineering console. Before he could sit down, Taro wrenched the ship to the starboard to avoid a tree taller than the rest. The inertial dampers were active, but were set low inside the atmosphere. Merlin stumbled and lurched into the chair.

“Sorry about that,” Taro murmured.

Merlin waved it off, buckled himself to the seat and then tapped out a few commands on the terminal before him. He nodded to himself at the outside readings and then toggled a covered switch. Almost at once, the smell of plant life issued from the room ducts as fresh air from the outside began to vent throughout ship. By the time the cargo bay was unloaded and the hatches resealed for launch, the pumps of the ship’s environmental reserves would have replenished with fresh air.

“Mmm, smell that?” Renny said with his eyes closed. “It must have rained recently. I love the smell of fresh florence.”

Taro and Merlin looked at one another with impish grins. “Florence?” the vixen asked in an amused tone. “You know someone here?”

“And you can smell her already?” Merlin added as he playfully sniffed the air.

Renny opened his eyes and looked at them with a smirk. “Florence is a Fynian shrub that my captain used to grow in her quarters on the Argentina,” he explained. “They give off a minty scent when they’ve been watered.”

“Yeah, I can smell it,” Merlin replied. “It’s nice.”

Renny tapped in a set of figures into the navigational computer and transmitted the coordinates to Taro’s terminal. The vixen nodded without looking up and adjusted their course slightly. A heartbeat later, she moved the guidance shifts and then depressed a foot pedal gently. External thrusters slowed the ship considerably and they dropped to an altitude just above the tops of the trees below. There was a glow of torchlight ahead in the trees. A moment later, they could see nine wooden huts arranged in a loose circle around a larger one, all near a meandering stream. Several figures emerged from the buildings and waved as they passed overhead, and then were left behind as the Blue Horizon moved toward the desired landing site.

They flew over freshly plowed fields, although in the darkness it was impossible to tell exactly how much of it had been newly planted. The fields and the lights of the colony were left behind as they passed over trees once again. There were no moons shining down into the deep recesses of the valley and Renny had an eerie feeling. It was getting near pitch-black in this place. At least out in space the void was far from empty with starlight in every direction,

Then they were over a clearing that only the instruments could see and Taro toggled a switch beside her. The familiar clunk of the landing gear locking into place could be felt in the ship’s deck plates and the vixen lowered the vessel gently to the ground. Once down, Renny and Taro began shutting down the flight systems. Merlin stood up with a stretch.

“Well done, Taro,” he said with a smile. “You’ve earned your pay for the day.”

“How about a raise?” asked the vixen.

The wolf grinned. “It wasn’t that good,” he replied. Taro protruded her bottom lip and then giggled when Merlin added, “Careful dragging that lower lip. You could get a sticker in it!”

“A sticker?” Taro asked with a laugh. “What’s that?”

Merlin looked at her strangely. “A sticker is a small seed with spiny barbs that stick to anything that passes. My grandmother used to tell me I’d get a sticker in my lip if I pouted.”

Renny snickered. “You’re sure in a mood today, boss,” he said lightly. “What’s up?”

Merlin shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure,” he admitted, “I woke up in a good frame of mind. I haven’t had many of them lately, so I’m hoping nothing goes wrong to ruin the mood.”

“No doubt it’s the anticipation of getting married,” Taro teased. “Apparently Samantha’s not the only one looking forward to it!”

***

Durant filled his lungs with fresh air as soon as the bay doors began to open. He loved the smell of plants after a rain shower and preferred it to the stale air of the hold after a twenty-one-day flight. He looked out into the darkness, but could see nothing beyond the glow of the internal lights. He looked back at the console beside the main airlock and flipped a large switch. Brilliant external lamps on each side of the bay door illuminated the area beyond the ship and made wet grasses glisten. The cinnamon grizzly thumbed another control and the loading ramp began to extend toward the ground.

He turned back toward the supply crates cabled to the floor of the hold, but stopped when he suddenly felt light-headed. His neck and jaw began aching and he felt short of breath, despite the huge drafts of fresh air he had just taken into his lungs. He shuffled to the nearest crate and decided to wait there until the others arrived for cargo duty.

It was not the first time he had felt this way, but it had been weeks since the last time he had felt discomfort in his chest. He looked up toward the ceiling of the cargo bay and his eyes watered from an increasing pain in his left arm. He massaged it mechanically and swallowed as he tried to relax. The feeling passed a moment later and he felt his breathing return to normal. He knew he should have Tanis take a look at him, but he was frightened of what he suspected the desert fox might find.

He heard the lift door open somewhere behind him and he composed himself for the task at hand. Samantha approached him a moment later and gave him a smile. “Smells good out there, doesn’t it?” she asked.

“Aye to that,” Durant answered in a hoarse voice. The Border collie looked at him strangely and he cleared his throat. “I’d like to bottle up the aroma and take it with us,” he added in a regular voice.

“Are the colonists here yet?” another voice asked. Samantha turned to see Lorelei settle down on the crate next to Durant.

“Not yet,” the bear answered. He stood up slowly and grunted from the effort.

“You okay?” Samantha asked in concern when she saw the look in his eyes.

Durant grinned lopsidedly and kneaded a muscle in his side with a hand. “I’m getting old, girl,” he said, “but I’ll get over it.”

“I have an herbal tea that does wonderful things for tired muscles,” Lorelei offered with a smile.

“I may have to give it a try,” Durant said, “but first we need to get these crates unshackled. Sam, if you’d grab the lock codes from the slateboard on my desk, I’d be grateful.”

“I’ll get them,” the canine replied.

He looked at Lorelei and asked, “Would you get out the work gloves for everyone?” The bunny nodded without a word and darted across the cargo deck to a storage locker. Normally, Durant would have already prepared these things by the time the crew reported for cargo duty, but he was moving slow today.

Tanis and Taro showed up together by the time all the cable locks were open and Lorelei handed out the gloves, each pair labeled with their names by a marker. Renny made his way out of the lift and then to Durant’s side, his limp barely noticeable. The bear was stowing the cables in a locker near the starboard side of the cargo arena.

“What can I do?” he asked with a pair of gloves already on his hands.

Durant gnawed on his bottom lip in thought. “Since you’re still not fit for heavy-lifting,” he said, “you can man the overhead crane. There are a few crates too bulky to be moved by hand. It’s probably plowing equipment.”

“Can do,” the cheetah affirmed with a nod. It would take a few minutes to uncouple the crane arm from its stowed position, but it would take some time to unload the rest of the cargo around the larger crates before he could get to them anyway.

Merlin was the last to appear. He had changed into a loose-fitting blue work shirt with long sleeves; His captain’s hat was perched on its usual place between his ears. He took the gloves offered to him by Lorelei and then walked over to the loadmaster.

“Any sign of our customer?” he asked. Durant looked up from the delivery paperwork and shook his head.

“Not as yet,” the bear replied.

“Well, we’re a half-mile from their homes, so—”

“Ahoy, the ship!”

Merlin looked up with a smile and he and Durant automatically walked to the edge of the cargo ramp. “Hello!” he called back.

A group of various feline males emerged from the darkness, some leading non-sapient workhorses pulling wooden carts. An aged jaguar walked forward with a smile. “Captain Sinclair?” he asked.

Merlin walked down the cargo ramp and extended a hand. The cat took it warmly. “I’m Sinclair,” the wolf replied, “with the Blue Horizon at your service, sir.” More cats came into the light, and a quick count by Durant numbered them at twenty-five.

“I’m Pamiu Nechet,” the dark-furred jaguar replied. “Thank you for coming, Captain. I know it was such short notice, but our winter will be here in a few months and we need to start preparing even now in our planting season.”

Merlin glanced at the gray cat standing just behind Nechet and the younger male looked up at him with nervous eyes. His tail twitched in agitation and he tried to mouth something to the wolf, but shut his lips when the jaguar turned to look at him.

“Ah yes, this is Nicholas Moran,” Pamiu said, “my colony deputy.”

The jaguar looked around at the Horizon’s crew and motioned them forward. “I would like to meet each of your people,” Pamiu said. “Because of our seclusion, we rarely get any visitors from the outside, and never from off-world. It would be an honor to meet you all before we start working.”

“Of course.” Merlin gave a slight nod to his people and each of them walked down the ramp to assemble at his side. He chanced another glance at the gray cat, but the fellow was looking at his feet in apparent frustration. Merlin frowned and stepped toward him, but Pamiu grabbed his elbow lightly and steered him toward another cat.

The feline colonists gathered around them and introductions began. Renny was slow getting down the ramp, but as he neared the group with a friendly smile, others came close to meet with him. Another jaguar approached him through the crowd and the fur on the back of Renny’s neck suddenly began to bristle. Lorelei saw his hesitation and gave him a gentle nudge in his side.

“Not all jaguars are out to hurt you,” she reminded him in a whisper. Renny swallowed and nodded quietly to her. Only a portion of the felines in the colony was jaguar, while the rest were made up of other feline races. He cleared his throat as the dark-furred feline stepped up to him.

“Hi there,” the male said in a deep voice. “We’re so glad to see you. My name is Bomani Aleson.”

“I’m Lorelei,” the rabbit replied with a cheerful smile, “and my friend is Renny.”

Bomani looked at the cheetah and tilted his head. “I think my brother would like to meet you, Mr. Renny,” he said.

“Oh?” the navigator asked hesitantly. “Why is that?”

“You two have met before, but he never got to finish his business with you.”

“W-what business is that?” Renny asked hoarsely. Another jaguar moved toward him out of the crowd and Renny felt the blood drain from his face.

“Let me introduce you to Zuberi Aleson, my brother…” The new arrival gave Renny a wide, toothy grin, but it was anything but friendly. The cheetah’s eyes grew wide in recognition.

“You!” Renny exclaimed, lifting an arm up as if to protect himself.  The jaguar reached out and grabbed his wrist in a vise-like grip.

“Going somewhere, Mr. Thornton?” Zuberi growled at him, still maintaining the malicious grin. His yellow eyes were narrowed to slits.

Renny gasped as the jaguar squeezed his wrist with enough strength to make the cheetah’s eyes water from the pain. Lorelei’s puzzlement at the exchange turned to shock as Zuberi punched Renny in the gut, precisely where he had shot him months before. Renny’s air expelled forcefully from his lungs and he dropped to his knees.

Lori threw her hands up to her mouth in disbelief at what was happening. Shouts shattered the night from behind her and she whirled around to see Merlin throw a punch at Pamiu. Another, smaller jaguar jumped onto the wolf’s back before his fist could connect, eliciting a cry of surprise. Merlin stumbled and his shirt ripped from his assailant’s claws as he tried to throw the cat from his back. Unable to struggle away from the assault, Merlin was knocked to the ground by the older feline.

The chaos amplified around Lori. She saw Taro lift another jaguar over her head before throwing him over the crowd, even as another tried to tackle her. She heard more shouts and recognized the voice of Tanis, cut short by a silencing blow to the back of the head with a sock filled with sand. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Lori seemed to realize that of all the felines in the group, only the dark-furred jaguars were attacking her friends.

The fright of action paralyzed her, even as Bomani grabbed her ears and pulled the bunny around to face him.  She only managed a muffled squeak as he roughly shoved a handkerchief up to her nose. Her eyes went wide and she finally found strength to struggle, but it was too late.  The chloroform-soaked rag made her eyes roll back as it took her consciousness. She collapsed into his arms without a sound.

With the exception of Taro, who continued to fight everyone around her, the rest of the Horizon’s crew went down to similar blows or doped rags. The Hestran fox made a valiant effort even as the horrible reality set in that the delivery had been a ruse to ambush them.  Even tired, her instincts were vicious, gifting out broken limbs to anyone who tried to lay hands on her.  It was moments before the attackers realized that individual strength would not topple the fox.  They bore her to the ground from sheer numbers, piling on until they reached the threshold of her strength.  A blackjack found a spot behind her left ear and the vixen dropped heavily onto the wet grass.

***

Merlin opened his eyes but he was unable to see anything but a dirty white blur. His head throbbed and he ached in numerous other places. He was blindfolded and bound with chains in a standing position with his arms outstretched between two poles, though he had slumped against his bonds. Some part of his brain noted that his hat was missing and his shirt felt as though it was hanging on him in shreds. Stinging cuts on his back reminded him why his shirt was in tatters. He tried to stand up, but his legs had trouble supporting his weight. He dropped back against his bonds with a grunt and then he heard someone get up from a creaking chair to his left.

“Merlin Sinclair…” an unfamiliar voice said near his left ear. “It’s about time you woke up. I’m tired of listening to you snore.”

“Who… who are you?” the wolf said through swollen lips.

“I’m your mailman.”

“My….”

There was a soft chuckle and Merlin could feel the speaker’s hot breath against his ear. “I have sent you several letters over the past year and a half,” the voice explained, “but you chose to ignore them.”

“The threats!” Merlin said in sudden understanding.

“Threats? No, they were... promises!” Another chuckle. “Some as yet unfulfilled.”

“Do I know you?” the wolf said with a swallow. “How have I wronged you?” Merlin could see a portion of the floor in front of him beneath the bottom of the blindfold. He saw a pair of jack-booted feet move into view and then his companion spoke again from the front.

“You and I have never met before now,” his faceless enemy said, “but you have caused no limit of frustration to those I’ve served.”

“Who do you serve?”

“No, I won’t provide you with an answer, Sinclair, but you have met them. They know you very well and have followed your movements for some time.”

“Do I get to see the face of my enemy?” Merlin asked uneasily.

“Careful, Sinclair,” the voice said in a menacing tone, “to look upon the face of the basilisk is death!”

Merlin’s mind raced. He had been in tough predicaments before, but never one such as this. From the sound of the menacing voice, he knew his life was likely in jeopardy, but although he did not have a name, the man’s last statement identified his enemy. “How should I address you,” he pressed again, “if not by one of the names that immediately come to mind?”

A strong hand suddenly grabbed his throat and squeezed, but only as a brief warning. The hand relaxed, but the clawed fingers lingered on his neck for a heartbeat. Merlin swallowed involuntarily. There was another chuckle, very low. “Yes,” his enemy said, “I will kill you, Sinclair. Of that, you can be certain. Soon, but not right away.”

The individual stepped back from him and Merlin was glad to have the foul breath out of his face. “What about my crew?” Merlin asked in a low voice. It was difficult to talk with swollen lips. “What have you done wi—?”

“No more questions from you!” his captor snapped. “You will give only answers.” He paced around the wolf and growled lowly. “Now…” he said in a calmer voice, “you can begin by telling me where I can find your brother, Lucas Sinclair.”

“That deadbeat?” Merlin growled. “You can probably find him on Quet. I kicked him off my ship in the town of Lormun nearly two years go. He’s either a miner or a slave by now.”

“Yes, we are aware of this,” his captor said with a snort.

“If you’ve been following me as closely as you say you have,” Merlin said thickly, “then you know that my brother and I have never been friends. I’ve not talked to him since Quet.”

“We have reason to believe you have been in contact with the younger Sinclair. Where is he now?”

“Why are you so interested in him?” the wolf asked. “Does he owe you money like he does to most people in the PA? Go stand in line.”

A fist slammed into his stomach and all the air went out of him. He coughed and tried to double over, but his arms were still bound to the poles; he could do nothing more than hang against his chains. A hand grabbed the fur between his ears and pulled his head up sharply. Beneath the lower edge of his blindfold, he could see a black-furred chin. It was feline. Considering the group that attacked them at the ship, however, this was not really a revelation.

“Where is your brother?” the voice growled again. When Merlin did not answer, he kicked the wolf in the shin out of frustration. Merlin grunted from the pain, but otherwise did not cry out. “You are too stubborn for your well-being,” he said. “That’s your choice, Sinclair.”

The man walked away and it was then that Merlin realized someone else was in the room. “Mr. Moran, tell the captain what happens next.”

“No, p-please…” said a small voice.

“Tell him,” growled the captor. Merlin heard a shuffle of feet as Mr. Moran was shoved over to stand in front of him. Beneath his blindfold, Merlin could make out a bare feline foot with gray fur.

“C-captain…” Moran said in a frightened voice, “They will t-torture someone in front of you… It – it’s horrible! P-please… tell him what he w-wants to know…”

Merlin bit his bottom lip. This was the nervous gray cat that had tried to warn him just before the ambush, and the strain in his voice spoke volumes. Their captor had done something ghastly to the feline’s people before the Blue Horizon had arrived. Merlin could think of no reply to give the cat. Despite the frustration that Lucas had caused he and their sister over the years, the younger Sinclair had already redeemed himself. Merlin had no intention of revealing the location of him and his new wife, nor did he intend to send hostiles anywhere near King Aris’ ancient castle.

“Briggs, he’s not going to talk,” another voice said. Merlin tilted his head, but the name of his mysterious captor was not familiar to him.

“I think he will, Pamiu. Tell Bomani and Zuberi to bring in the cheetah.”

“Yes, sir,” the other replied

Merlin swallowed hard, his mind wrenched with the gravity of the situation. Renny had not yet fully recovered from his last encounter with assailants, and he had no doubts these were the ones responsible for nearly killing his friend. The thought of them doing something more to Renny gnawed at his stomach like the lingering punch.  It was unlikely the navigator would survive this time.

***

Durant opened his eyes, but he saw nothing. He ached all over and discovered he could not move. Oh Lord… he thought to himself, it’s hit me really hard this time – I’m blind and paralyzed! The grizzly bear started to panic, but then he heard Renny groan from a place near his right ear. It was then the ursine accountant realized he was lying on his back on a wooden floor; his arms and legs cramping. He could also hear the sound of thunder rumbling overhead.

“Ohhh…” the cheetah groaned again. “Just for once, I’d like to meet a black cat who doesn’t want to beat the tar out of me.”

“Tsarina doesn’t want to hurt ya,” said the voice of Tanis from the darkness. “She only wants to have yer kittens.” Durant smiled to himself, but even that hurt.

“Tanis?” the bear said in a raspy voice. “I can’t move and I can’t see.”

“We’re all tied up,” replied the medic, “and it’s just pitch dark here, wherever it is they put us. I don’t think the colonists liked Renny’s cologne.”

“Always the comedian,” the cheetah retorted. Tanis chuckled and then heard Renny grumble under his breath. “They took my concealed pistol,” the navigator complained.

“Is everybody else alright?” Durant asked.

“It’s just the three of us, from what I can tell,” the medic replied. “I don’t know where the others are.”

Durant sniffed the air. “I smell fertilizer,” he said quietly, “and fresh dirt.”

“I think we’re in a storage shed,” Tanis remarked. “I knocked over something a bit ago that almost hit me in the mouth. I think it was a rake.”

“See if you can knock over another one and let it hit its target this time,” Renny said sourly.

“Who put a thorn into yer tail?” Tanis replied. “I’m not the one who whooped up on ya!”

“I’m in a foul mood and you’re handy.”

“Quiet, you two,” Durant whispered sharply. “Someone’s coming.”

A moment later, they heard the sound of a key in a mechanical padlock and then a click. Two flashlights blazed in their eyes and Durant could only see the silhouettes of two shapes as he blinked rapidly in the sudden brilliance. Lightning illuminated the sky behind them briefly and both flashlights centered upon the cheetah. One of the figures stepped inside, moving to Renny. He picked him up with a grunt and draped him over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. In the lamplight, Durant and Tanis could see just how much rope had been wrapped around their friend; Tanis took a quick glance at Durant to confirm the realization. The colonists must have used every bit of rope they owned to bind the three of them.

The feline shadow turned and carried Renny out in the night.

***

Merlin felt fingers on the knot at the back of his blindfold and then the dirty white cloth was removed from his eyes. He blinked a few times and then looked around. The room took up the bulk of the hut he was in, likely the gathering place for the colonists during inclement weather, such as the rain that had begun to fall outside. He stood between two wooden supports of the room, his arms in manacles attached to the poles with light chains. His blue work shirt was in tatters, the remnants of sleeves still attached to cuffs beneath his manacles, but the rest of it barely hung upon his body. The white fur of his chest and belly was matted and dirty, and although his trousers were in better shape than his shirt, there were tears along the outer seams and both of his knees were exposed.

The floor and walls were made of wooden planks and the rafters in the ceiling were exposed. Light was provided by oil lamps attached to the building’s supports, rather than by electrical means, and he could see cloth curtains blowing in the cold breeze that came in through open-air windows. Several folding chairs were scattered about the room, but there were brown stains on the floor beneath a solitary chair positioned directly in front of him – dried blood, Merlin’s brain told him numbly.

From what he could see of the room, a box sat next to a wooden door, and a small folding table was near him with what appeared to be a rolled-up tool pouch. He saw crayon-drawn artwork on papers tacked up on one wall, likely from the colony children, and a few commercial scenic pictures adorning other walls. The cat with gray fur sat dejectedly in a chair against a far wall, his leg manacled to another support post. The two of them exchanged looks and Merlin could see the terror in the cat’s eyes as he waited what was next to come.

“Yes, Mr. Moran knows what’s about to happen,” said a voice from behind the wolf. Merlin tried to turn his head to look at the one called Briggs, but the jaguar was out of his range of vision. “I would listen to him, Sinclair. You could save you and your friends a lot of grief if you just tell me what I want to know.” Merlin thought he should probably say something witty in return, but the knot in his stomach prevented him from giving a reply. Instead, he just looked at the floor, unable to meet Moran’s forlorn expression again.

The door opened and Merlin looked over to see two jaguars escort a bound cheetah into the room. Moran gasped and his ears flattened in disbelief. The spotted feline looked up, and it was then Merlin realized that the cheetah was not Renny Thornton, although he was about the same build. He was taken to the chair in front of Merlin and forced to sit down.

“Jerome!” Moran exclaimed. One of the jaguars tied the cheetah’s ankles to the front legs of the chair while the other secured his wrists behind him. Moran looked frantically to Briggs. “No, please! Have mercy!”

Briggs chuckled. “Mercy, Mr. Moran? Only the captain can grant that now.”

“Nick, what’s going on?” the cheetah asked. Nicholas Moran swallowed deeply and tried to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. The gray cat bent over so that his face was in his hands, resting on his knees. The cheetah looked at Merlin and swallowed. “Who are you?” he asked.

“He is Death,” said the voice of Briggs. “Your death, as a matter of fact, Mr. Tippet.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Tell him,” Briggs said to the wolf. Merlin did not answer, so Briggs smacked the back of his head just hard enough for his head to rock. “Tell him,” he repeated.

Merlin cleared his throat. “He is going to torture you… unless I give him information he thinks I have,” he said quietly. One of the jaguars that had brought in the cheetah moved to the man’s side, brandishing a large serrated knife that glinted in the lamplights.

The cheetah gasped and tried to back away in his chair. “Tell him what he wants to know!” he exclaimed.

“I can’t tell him what I don’t know,” Merlin lied, feeling sickened by his own words. A fist slammed the back of the wolf’s head. Merlin saw stars for a moment and it took an effort to refocus his eyes.

“Zuberi,” said Briggs, “put away the knife for now. I want you to start simple.”

The jaguar beside Tippet grumbled in disappointment. “Simple, huh?” Zuberi used his knife to cut the cord binding the captive’s wrists behind him. He then grabbed the cheetah’s left arm roughly with both hands and unceremoniously broke it over his knee.

Moran’s head jerked up at Jerome Tippet’s shriek and Merlin jumped with an icy cold feeling along his spine. Zuberi had done his deed with such a quiet calmness that announced just how experienced he was at this. He dropped the broken arm into the cheetah’s lap and smiled as the action reduced the spotted feline to agonizing sobs. The lupine captain felt the blood drain from his face and he struggled vainly against the chains that held his arms. Tippet cradled his broken arm and rocked back and forth in his chair in whimpers.

Briggs’ hot breath whispered near Merlin’s right ear, “Where is Lucas Sinclair?” Merlin did not answer. He could not answer. He felt as if his heart were in his throat. Briggs took his silence as further defiance and he motioned toward the other jaguar that had brought in Tippet. “Bomani,” he said.

The other cat cracked his knuckles with a feral grin and then slugged the right side of the cheetah’s jaw. Merlin’s own jaw muscles clenched when Tippet nearly fell over with his chair, his cries of agony now lower in his throat. Zuberi caught the chair and put it upright again. Tippet’s cries of pain gurgled and he coughed up a tooth. Bomani then brought his boot down on the cheetah’s bare left foot. There was an audible crunch followed by a hoarse sob of pain.

Moran cried out for his friend and looked over to Merlin with pleading eyes. Merlin could not help it. He closed his eyes and held them tight. He muttered a curse beneath his breath, which only elicited a chuckle from the unseen Briggs. He grabbed Merlin’s head and forced him to look at the cheetah. “Where is Lucas?” he asked again, calmly.

Merlin knew it would do more harm than good, but he kicked backward with one leg and caught Briggs in the knee. The master jaguar fell backward off-balanced and crashed into a chair amid curses in another language. Bomani rushed forward and hit Merlin hard in the stomach. He was about to belt him again in the face when Briggs stopped him with a hiss. Merlin gasped for air, but found it hard to draw in a breath.

Bomani returned to Tippet’s side and Merlin heard Briggs struggle to stand up. He heard a limping footstep and then Briggs hit him hard in his right side. The wolf yelped and fell into his bonds, the chains tugging at his sore shoulders. Once again, he felt Briggs’ hands on his head, which forced him to look at the cheetah.

“Again,” he said. Bomani reached out, grabbed Tippet’s right ear, and yanked hard. The cheetah yowled loudly and the jaguar then hit him in the jaw once more for his noise.

“This will continue,” Briggs said quietly. “Tell me what I want to know.”

The door opened and two more jaguars entered the room. One had several weapons strapped to his arms and legs, and the other looked older than any other in the ebony group with bits of gray around his muzzle. While attentions were momentarily distracted by their arrival, Merlin again caught Briggs off guard and reared his head backward. The back of his skull struck the jaguar’s nose hard. Briggs stumbled backward with another string of curses and then hit the wolf between the shoulder blades with a fist. Merlin lost his footing and fell. Had he not been tethered to the poles by chains, he would have collapsed in a heap to the floor.

Briggs spat out some blood and then grabbed Merlin by the belt. He hauled him back into a standing position. “Zuberi,” he said in a strained voice. “Mr. Tippet is yours. Do whatever you want to him.”

“S-stop…” Merlin gasped hoarsely. “Don’t do any more…” Moran looked up in disbelief, realizing that Briggs would finally get the information he wanted and that Jerome Tippet would live. He could not have been more wrong.

“It’s too late to stop now,” Briggs spat in Merlin’s ear as Zuberi drew out his cruel blade. “You had your chance to stop this, but now you will know that protecting your worthless brother’s hide resulted in someone else’s death!”

“Captain Sinclair,” the one called Zuberi said to the wolf in an icy voice, “have you ever seen an animal when it’s been skinned alive?”

Mr. Moran fainted away at those words and fell to the floor with a thunk. Briggs gave a nervous chuckle and then said, “I’ll leave you to it.” Merlin heard him limp away and then exit through a door to another room.

The wolf coughed twice, still having trouble breathing after the hard punches to his middle. Zuberi laughed cruelly, unrolled a pouch of devilish cutting utensils on the table, and then looked to his brother. “Hold him,” he said. Bomani grabbed the cheetah’s undamaged arm and pulled it out straight as Zuberi put down his large blade and reached for the pouch.

***

Briggs sat back in a chair and gently rubbed his sore nose. He listened to the cheetah’s pleading from an adjoining room for a moment and then leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed.

He remembered stepping into a private alcove a fortnight earlier, a blue-white light flashing from the ceiling. On a tall and narrow vidscreen before him, an image was projected, that of his master cloaked in a draping pale cowl. “Captain Briggs, at your command, sir,” he said with a short bow.

The figure peered out at him with bright blue eyes, and through an artificially resonant frequency meant to alter his voice, he replied, “Take your ship to Fyn and wait there. Your long-awaited vengeance will come to you in the Valley of Bones. I believe you are familiar with the place.”

“We will destroy the Blue Horizon, sir?”

“No… I believe that Captain Sinclair may know the location of his brother. Finding the traitor is of utmost importance to me now. The younger Lucas possesses much more than he ever knew he did, and it was my own oversight that allowed him to escape. As you are aware, my contacts throughout the PA have all failed at finding him, which I largely credit to his previous life as a drifter and his ability to make himself disappear. It will be your duty to extract, by whatever means necessary, his whereabouts from Sinclair… or from whomever among his crew you deem worthy of attention.”

“That,” Briggs hissed, “is no duty. It’s my pleasure, sir.”

“A word of caution, Captain,” his master added in a dangerous tone. “Do not kill Sinclair until he has divulged the information I need, and then only after you have reported it to me. I have others who will check the validity of his words before you dispose of him.”

Briggs swallowed his anger, but managed to nod his acceptance of the warning. He knew just how short his lifespan would be if he disobeyed a direct order from this human. “I will see to it,” he said with a short bow.

The communications channel darkened and his master’s image faded to black.

A sudden long shriek from the next room startled Briggs and he opened his eyes wildly. He swallowed and exhaled quietly. Even by his own piratical standards, Var Briggs felt that Zuberi took a little too much pleasure administering grisly torture with as much pain as possible.

***

Renny was dumped unceremoniously to the wooden floor of another hut. A moment later, Tanis fell to his side, followed by Durant. The three of them looked up into the faces of the jaguars that had moved them from the storage shed; they had all been with the landing party. Renny clenched his teeth together and set his jaw tight as one of the jaguars grinned at him. The captors left them where they had been dropped, and then locked the door behind them. The cheetah was getting awfully tired of jaguars. He wanted nothing more than to get his claws into the one called Zuberi and rip him into shreds. He may not be fully recovered from getting shot, but the navigator resolved to have his revenge, even it if it was his last act in life.

“Are you guys okay?” said a new voice. A short bobcat bent down next to Durant and began to untie the ropes that bound him. A longhaired, black and white tuxedo cat knelt down next to Renny; a young cougar went to Tanis.

“We’ve all had a beating,” Tanis replied, “but I don’t think anything is broken.”

The bobcat with a white feline helped set Durant into a sitting position so they could remove the coils of rope. “You guys should not have come here,” the bobcat said somberly. “I don’t think any of you will be leaving.”

“What’s going on?” Durant asked. “We were hired to bring your colony a shipment of supplies from Tanthe.”

“Tanthe?” the black and white longhair repeated. “We didn’t make that order. We get our supplies from Ramah, right here on Fyn.”

“Then, who…?”

The cougar helping Renny snorted. “That was your jaguar friends,” he said. “I would wager they ordered the supplies to bait a trap for you.”

***

Samantha paced the floor of the hut that she shared with the colony females. She awoke an hour earlier to find Lorelei drugged and still asleep in a corner; Taro was bound up with iron chains wrapped around her so tight that even the Hestran fox could not get out of them. None of the feline women had been able to help get her free, and Samantha did not have anything available to her to pick the lock. She did not have Pockets’ skills as a locksmith, but she had learned well enough that she could do it if she had the proper tools. Even a hairpin would work, but no one in the room possessed one.

As she paced, she glanced around at the women, remembering what they had told her upon awakening. A dark ship had arrived a week ago with a crew made up entirely of black-furred jaguars. The colonists had gone out to welcome them, having had no visitors in a long while, but the jaguars attacked them with neither warning nor provocation. Several of the colonists were killed and the rest were rounded up and then separated. The children were taken away from the families by a female and locked up in one of the huts on the perimeter of their encampment. The remaining adults were split up. The females were locked up in this hut without further distress, but the men were all beaten one by one until they submitted. Several resisted and tried to fight back, but those were summarily tortured for their trouble. The women had seen nothing more of the men or the children after that, and they were only given meager amounts of food and water once a day. When Samantha inquired into the reasons the dark ship had come, none of the women could give her an answer.

“Samantha?”

The Border collie turned to look at the cheetah named Christine standing beside her. “I found this piece of wire,” she said. “Will it help get your friend’s lock off?”

Samantha gave her a smile and took the offered bit of wire. It was about four inches long, but its metal was soft. “I don’t know if this thing will hold a shape, but it’s worth a try,” she told the woman. She walked over to Taro and knelt down on the hard wooden floor beside the fox. Taro looked at her hopefully.

“My legs are going numb,” the vixen muttered. “They made sure I couldn’t even wriggle out of these things.”

Christine sat down on the floor next to them. “I’m sorry we got you into this mess,” she said with lowered eyes. The dark cry-lines of her facial stripes made her look forlorn. Samantha put a hand on the cheetah’s shoulder briefly before turning back to the lock.

“I think it’s we who should apologize to you,” she said. “These people are known to us and have caused us grief. It’s unthinkable that they would use innocents as bait to draw us here.”

“Why are they so cruel?” Christine asked. “They’ve taken our kits and our mates – we don’t even know if any of them are still alive.” She looked over at Taro with sad eyes. “We only know that some were killed and others were tortured horribly. Our captors tell us that much…”

“Yeah,” added a Siamese cat named Jennifer who sat down next to Christine, “it’s their own form of torture for us. They like to see how much misery they can cause us.”

“Do you know how many of them there are?” Taro asked.

“Just ten,” Jennifer replied, “but they were more than a match for the lot of us.”

Samantha gritted her teeth and heaved a sigh. The wire was too soft to be of use on the lock. “We’ll find a way out of here,” she said, “and the Basilisk will pay for all they’ve done. I’m sorry your people have been drawn into this, but however long our conflict has lasted, I believe that it will end here, one way or another.”

***

On board the Blue Horizon, a thick panel opened at the aft end of the cargo arena, near the open bay doors. Pockets emerged from the space between the double-hulls of the ship and took in a lungful of clean air. He moved out of the way to let Max through and set a large burlap sack on the floor beside him. Max shook his head as soon as he was out into the open room and then coughed several times. He set another bag next to the chief engineer’s sack. They were both dusty and dirty all over; Max even had bits of stray fur clinging to his whiskers.

“Ugh,” said the German shepherd. “It’s cramped and dirty back in there.”

“Don’t tell Merlin how dirty it is,” Pockets said with a smirk, “or he’ll have us back in there cleaning it!”

“Uh uh… I’m not saying a word. Pulling out all this old fur from the reclamation filters was bad enough!”

The diminutive raccoon stretched his arms and arched his back with a yawn. “I wonder if I can get in a quick nap before we launch again,” he mused aloud. He rubbed his face with one hand and then looked at the rainy night outside the ship with drowsy eyes.

“Pockets…” Max said in a hushed voice.

“Hmm?”

“None of the cargo has been unloaded.”

Pockets stifled another yawn and noticed the octagonal crates as if seeing them for the first time. The netting and cables to secure them in flight had been removed and stowed, but nothing else had been touched. He looked around the cargo bay, puzzled. “Durant?” he called. There was no reply. After a moment, he called again. “Anyone in here?”

Max frowned and walked to the nearest intercom terminal. He thumbed the pad for the bridge. “Hello?” he asked. As before, there was no reply. He exchanged puzzled looks with the chief engineer and then toggled the pad for ship-wide broadcast. “Pockets and Max are ready for cargo detail. We could use some assistance, folks.”

The two of them waited a minute before they surmised there was no one on board the ship. “I’ll try one of the DCs,” Pockets suggested. “Maybe the colonists refused to pay for their cargo and they all went to the colony to hash it out.”

“I thought Uncle Merlin said the cargo was paid for in advance, before we even left Tanthe,” Max replied.

“I dunno,” Pockets replied with a shrug. He walked around the cargo back to the engine room to get one of the hand-held DataCom units. While he was gone, Max shut the airlock to the inner-hull passage and secured the mechanism. He grabbed the ends of both sacks of fur and other debris they had removed from the air reclamation units and dragged them to a waste bin on the other end of the hold. Once they were stowed, he walked to the cargo ramp and peered out into the night. He doubted that the rain would have left any footprints behind in the soil, but he noticed some muddy prints tracked up the ramp and into the cargo bay. From the distance each print was apart, it appeared their owner had been in a hurry. He followed them as best he could around the hold and saw them rove back and forth, as if searching for something.

The fading tracks led around the hold and then back out into the rain. He peered out into the lights left shining and saw a bit of color in the trodden grass. He darted out into the rain and splashed through puddles to retrieve the items he had seen. He picked them up quickly and then scrambled back to the rain-free safety of the cargo arena.

“I can’t get anyone to answer on any of the frequencies,” Pockets said. He held up a DC and shook his head. Then he noticed the wet canine. “What have you got there?” he asked.

Max wiped water from his face and then held up the two articles he had recovered. One was a torn shred of blue cloth. “It looks like part of Uncle Merlin’s work shirt,” he said, “but there’s no mistaking this.” He held up a muddy naval captain’s hat, its brim creased in half and a boot print across the top.

***

Nicholas Moran stared at the wall beside him, but did not actually see it. He lay on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, unwilling to accept what he had been forced to watch. Not long after the start of his best friend’s torture, Moran had mercifully fainted, but one of the wretched jaguars had pushed a foul-smelling chemical beneath his nose that brought back alertness. The weapon-laden jaguar he knew as Runihura had held his head so that he could not look away from the scene, while Bomani and Zuberi, the ones who enjoyed giving pain, had done horrible things to Jerome, his lifelong friend and the colony’s doctor. The cheetah’s screams of agony were burned into his mind and Moran was near comatose from shock.

Likewise, the aged Pamiu had forced Merlin to witness the horror that Bomani and Zuberi had presented for him, with no reprieve for any of the captives present in the room. He was queasy and panted steadily from the emotional exhaustion of what he had just seen. The jaguars had taken their time with Tippet and had worked their particular brand of torture slowly, but finally – mercifully – they had put an end to the cheetah. Merlin’s brain was numb and he was afraid to think beyond the moment of who might be next.

After Tippet’s voice had been silenced, Pamiu and Runihura grabbed the remnants of the lifeless body and dragged it out of the room into the rainy night. A moment later, the door at the back of the room opened and Briggs stepped inside. He scowled at Zuberi and the amount of blood decorating the floor in front of the wolf, and then roughly clutched the back of the lupine captain’s head.

Briggs stuck his nose right up to Merlin’s left ear. “Where is Lucas Sinclair?” he growled.

Merlin swallowed hard and tried to focus on the far wall through the moisture in his eyes. “I … don’t know…” he whispered.

“Up until now, my master has been merciful with your…”

“Merciful!” gasped the wolf. “How is anything you’ve done merciful?”

Briggs tightened his grip on Merlin’s head and shook him violently to silence his captive. “We have been merciful with your company,” he continued with a hiss. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to release the Taquit Fever Virus inside your vessel, Sinclair. I almost did – twice! I have it on my ship with me even now… However, my master has continued to stay my hand.”

Merlin was unable to suppress the shudder that went through him. The Taquit Fever Virus was the lethal agent Sagan had claimed developing after releasing it upon Taro’s hometown on Hestra. Had it been let free inside his ship, the Blue Horizon would have arrived at its destination with everyone dead from a horrible, fast-acting disease. They had since hoped the pirate had not retained a stock of the killer virus, but the wolf now knew they could not have been that fortunate. He remembered the images on INN of the devastation in Taquit and his queasiness returned.

“It would have been so much easier to deal you that blow,” Briggs continued in a malevolent voice, “than to track you all over the Planetary Alignment on your insignificant little deliveries.” The jaguar changed position so that his nose now rested next to Merlin’s other ear. “I am forbidden to kill you, Sinclair,” he growled, “but you are the only one exempt from your crew.”

Briggs pulled back away from Merlin in caution, lest the wolf kick back at him again, and then looked over at his bloodthirsty men. “Time to begin again,” he said. “Get one of the captain’s friends.”

***

The night was black save for the occasional lightning flashes high in the Dragon’s Teeth above the valley. Muted thunder rolled with each burst of light, and two figures approached the perimeter of the colony dressed in dark cloaks that shed rainwater as well as the feathers of a duck.

“That’s the Chimera Colony?” Max whispered to his companion. He shifted the heavy bundle in his hands to get a better grip on it and he almost dropped it into the mud. Rain spattering on his hood made it hard to hear Pockets’ reply.

“Looks like it,” the raccoon answered. “Let’s see what we can see.” He shielded a small hand-held remote from the rain and moved a tiny joystick forward. There was a quiet whirring noise that was barely discernable against the rain and then Moss floated out of Max’s arms, its sensor eyes glowing in the darkness.

“I thought Moss would only work within the confines of the ship,” the German shepherd stated.

Pockets leaned closer to him as he adjusted the mobile sentry system’s course toward the nearest of the wooden huts. “After our encounter with the Walkabout,” he explained, “I increased Moss’ functional range out to two kilometers of our ship’s operating system. This is the first chance I’ve had to use it. However, it will only operate inside a pressurized atmosphere, not out in space. I’ve not yet sealed it against a vacuum. I haven’t had time.”

“If it gives out a meow, we’ll announce ourselves,” Max cautioned.

“I’ve already muted it with a security protocol,” Pockets assured him.

Max peered over the raccoon’s shoulder at the remote’s tiny video display and watched the greenish infrared image that was broadcast back to them. Pockets played with the controls and sent Moss to the edge of a window. A thin curtain wafted gently on the night breeze and Moss’ primary eye focused into the room beyond the window covering’s edge.

On the small viewer of the remote, Pockets and Max saw a room of feline children. Some were asleep on mats, but the majority of them were gathered around an adult female jaguar seated on a large pillow in their midst. There were nearly twenty children.

“Pockets,” Max said uneasily. “I’ve seen that woman before.”

“Where?”

“On Alexandrius. She was watching the reconstruction of the Hidalgo Sun when you and I were there to help Captain Rezo’s crew.”

“There were a lot of gawkers there watching us. Are you sure she was one of them?”

“Positive. See the notch in her right ear? I noticed it then too.”

Pockets studied the image. “What is she doing?” he asked.

“Reading them a bedtime story?” Max ventured to guess. As they watched, a small lynx cub tripped over his own feet and fell down. He started to yowl and the ebony woman reached forward and picked him up in her arms. She spoke to him with a smile and then cradled the child to her chest. The cub calmed down, clinging to her as she settled back onto her pillow, and answered some question by another child.

“Let’s try another hut,” Max suggested. Almost as soon as he spoke, a red light flickered on the remote. Pockets rotated Moss on its axis and pointed its lens at the door to a nearby building. Another of the jaguars stepped out into the rain, holding a flimsy square of plastic over his head to ward off the light raindrops. They watched him trot across the compound and then out toward the trees surrounding the colony.

“Max, you scout around to see if you can find the captain or the others. I’m going to take Moss and see what our dark friend is up to.”

“Right,” replied the young canine. “Be careful.” Max moved stealthily toward the huts and Pockets recalled Moss back to him. He watched the jaguar disappear into the trees and then Pockets sent the sentry unit a few paces before him as he followed.

If it was difficult to see anything in the darkness of the compound, it was impossible in the forest. Pockets stumbled over tree roots and he slogged through wet leaves and overhanging branches. If it weren’t for Moss’ seeker routine, Pockets would have never been able to track his quarry. He berated himself silently for losing his set of infrared goggles on their trek to the colony, but at least the rain felt like it was letting up.

He felt the ground rise slightly and the raccoon slipped getting to the top of the small hill. When he reached the top, he saw a dim light ahead. He dropped back behind and tree and then sent Moss forward to have a look.

As the sentry unit drew closer to the light from a higher vantage point in the branches above, Pockets recognized a large shape in the infrared image. It was a sleek vessel hidden in a large clearing, and the light came from an open airlock. The jaguar walked up a short ramp and then disappeared into the ship’s interior. Pockets took a moment and sent Moss around the ship to look for others who might be guarding the vessel, but while doing so, a sudden chill coursed down his spine. He recognized the Manta-class Brandtian cruiser even before Moss found its nameplate near the hatch. It was the Basilisk.

***

Max set a wooden box he had found next to the wall of a hut just under its solitary window. He thought he had heard sounds inside and he wanted to check them out. He wished that Pockets had left Moss with him to look over the colony, and did not know why the chief engineer felt he needed to take the floating sentry unit into the forest. Max could have made better use of it in amongst the buildings. It would have been safer than standing on a wet box to look into a window almost higher than he could reach.

He heard a sound to his right and quietly got off the box. He eased his nose around the corner of the building and saw two jaguars step inside the hut from where the other one had emerged. There were sounds of a commotion and then the felines emerged from the doorway dragging Tanis between them. They dropped him onto the wet grass and one of the cats kicked the fox in the side. Tanis clutched at his middle and the other jaguar kicked him from the opposite side.

It was all Max could do to remain out of sight, but if he gave his position away now, it would ruin any chances he and Pockets might have to help their friends. He found himself growling deeply in his throat, but forced himself to stop when one of the cats looked his direction.

They picked up Tanis again and then dragged him toward the largest hut in the compound. Max watched them go inside, resisting the urge to see where they had taken him. Instead, the young canine decided to reconnoiter the area to locate the rest of their friends. The hut where Tanis had been removed from would be a good place to start.

He did not see an ebony feline step outside of another hut and light up a cigarette.

***

Tanis looked up and the scent of fresh blood hit him when the door to the large hut opened. Bomani jerked on his arm and half-dragged him up three wooden steps into the structure. The medic saw a box of weapons just inside the door and he recognized them as the Blue Horizon’s Binfurr handguns. Despite this, he had no chance to grab one. Zuberi scowled at him and pushed him up the last step.

He was taken to the middle of the room, and in the dim lights, his jaw dropped in surprise. Merlin Sinclair stood wearily between two vertical poles, his arms suspended from chains attached to metal eyelets driven into the wooden supports. His shirt and breeches were in tatters and Merlin was filthy from dirt, mud and splatters of blood. His left eye was swollen nearly shut, but his right eye was open wide in apparent terror at the sight of Tanis.

The fennec fox was roughly seated on a wooden chair in the middle of the room and his ankles were secured to its legs. His wrists were tied loosely behind his back and then the two jaguars took up stations on either side of him. He glanced down at his boots and saw fresh pools of blood beneath that had not yet seeped between the floorboards. He looked up at Merlin in a panic and then noticed the yellow eyes of Briggs watching him from behind the lupine captain.

Merlin swallowed hard and felt Briggs’ familiar hot breath on his left ear. “Now we shall start over,” the feline said calmly. “Where is Lucas Sinclair?”

Merlin wet his lips and then replied in a hoarse voice, “He… Lucas was on Mainor…”

Briggs actually laughed and cuffed the wolf on the back of the head, almost playfully. “Good try, Sinclair,” he said, “but you’ll have to lie better than that. Your brother was in the care of my Master at the time the Kastans reduced Mainor to slag.”

“I – don’t know what to tell you,” Merlin tried again. “I haven’t seen him since Quet.” At least this was the truth.

Briggs exhaled loudly. “Take a look at your friend there,” he said in a darker tone. “Picture what happened to poor Mr. Tippet being done to this fox. Imagine it well, because if you don’t tell me what my Master wishes to know, your friend’s carcass will decorate the ground out in the rain next to Tippet’s, with his hide displayed on Zuberi’s wall!”

“I don’t know where my brother is,” Merlin replied again. It was not exactly a lie, since he had not actually been able to find Lucas, but he had no intention of setting pirates loose onto the countryside of Tanthe to look for him. The royal house of Aris would not react kindly to having their heirs’ seclusion threatened by murderers, whether or not the pirates were actually after the children.

Briggs was right, however. Protecting a brother that had done nothing but shame the family had resulted in the death of one of the colonists, but Lucas had also risked his own death to save countless others in the Siilv War.

“Alright,” Briggs growled into his ear, “your silence will take another life. Zuberi, you may begin.”

Merlin winched at the sound of the big jaguar’s open hand slapping the fox’s nose with enough force that Tanis’ head rocked. Already weakened from an earlier beating, the medic’s eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped down in the chair. That did not deter Zuberi from his job, however. He grabbed a small vial from the table full of sharp instruments and uncapped it. He waved it under Tanis’ nose and the fox came to immediately with a jerk.

Merlin’s mind raced frantically. He had to do something, to act quickly in order to save Tanis, but he was helpless. He did not know what to do!

Bomani grabbed both of Tanis’ large ears and pulled his head back so that his throat was exposed. The fox found he could not easily swallow and his eyes went wide when Zuberi held up a wicked looking instrument with a curved, razor-sharp blade. “I’m going to carve pretty red pictures around your neck,” the feline snarled with a sadistic grin.

There was a loud crash outside the window to the room and Briggs looked up in alarm. It sounded like a fistfight out in the compound amidst shouts and curses. He rushed to the window and whipped the curtain aside. It was dark, so he grabbed a flashlight torch from the floor and shined it out into the night. He saw two figures dancing around one another, one feline and one canine.

The canine, a German shepherd, used some kind of martial arts tactics against his aggressor and planted a kick into the jaguar’s stomach. Briggs growled over his shoulder, “One of Sinclair’s men has gotten free. All of you get out there and help Sennedjem take him down!”

“But… the fox—” Zuberi complained.

“He’s tied to the chair, you idiot! He’ll be here when you get back!”

“Right, boss!” Bomani scrambled across the room and burst out the door, but Zuberi hesitated just long enough to kick over Tanis’ chair. The fox fell hard to the floor. Briggs looked back out the window and saw the runt land a fist against the canine’s shoulder, but the cur twisted just in time so that the punch was robbed of its power. Sennedjem did not waste time and kicked out with a leg that caught the young German shepherd off balance.

Briggs whirled on his lupine captive and grabbed the fur at the back of his neck. “I don’t recognize that dog. How many more of your men are loose?” he demanded. Merlin’s good eye went wide. He had never been told just who had been captured in his crew, but he now knew that at least Max was free. He sincerely hoped the kid got away as quickly as he could. “How many more?” Briggs shouted angrily in his ear.

Outside in the wet grass, Max managed to get back to his feet before the jaguar could jump him and he took a roundhouse swipe at the cat. He heard a door slam and took a heartbeat’s hesitation to glance toward the main hut. Sennedjem did likewise and both of them saw Zuberi and Bomani barreling out at them with Pamiu and Runihura close on their heels.

Max took advantage of his opponent’s brief distraction, kicking him in the kneecap. Sennedjem yowled in pain and then Max took off running across the compound. Zuberi slipped on a patch of mud and fell headfirst into Sennedjem, but the other three kept their footing and raced after the canine. The dog was fast, but the jaguars gained on him quickly. Max splashed across the colony’s flooded stream and lit out as fast as he could for the forest. His only chance was of losing the felines among the trees and brush.

***

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a hair pin?” Samantha asked Lorelei in exasperation. There was a satisfying click as the padlock released its mechanism and the Border collie smiled despite her mood.

“You didn’t ask,” the bunny replied in a quiet voice. “Besides, I’m still sleepy…”

Christine and Samantha helped Taro into a semi-sitting position so they could remove the chains from around the vixen. It took a couple minutes before the last length of chain was on the floor, but Taro found that she had been bound up tight for so long that she was unable to stand up on her own.

The Siamese cat began massaging one of Taro’s legs and Christine followed her example with the other. Samantha knelt down next to her friend and brushed dust from her fur. “Despite Lori’s hairpin,” she said, “I can’t open the door.”

“Why?” Taro asked as she flexed her arms to get the feeling back in them. “Too difficult?”

“The padlock’s on the outside,” Sam replied. “I can’t get to it.”

“Well, as soon as I get control of my arms and legs back, I’ll see what I can do about that door.”

“How?” asked one of the other women.

Taro held up a fist. “I’m Hestran,” she said with a touch of pride.

“That would draw too much attention,” the Siamese said quietly.

“Jenny, do you expect me to just do nothing now that I’m out of these chains?” Taro asked with a frown.

“No, but I might have an alternative if you don’t mind getting dirty.” She gave the vixen a nod and twitched her whiskers. Taro fixed her with a puzzled look. “There’s a loose floorboard in the back corner beneath my bunk that can be pulled up,” Jenny explained. “It’s been on our list of things to repair, but for our purpose there’s a crawlspace underneath that leads to the outside.”

“If you’ve had that way out, why haven’t you escaped before now?” Samantha asked.

“If any of us are discovered missing,” a lioness named Melissa answered from behind them, “our kits might be harmed.”

“Sounds like a good reason to stay put,” Lorelei said with a yawn. “Keeping the kids safe is the right thing to do.”

Taro got to her knees and then stood up shakily. She took a few steps away from the others and then began doing a few exercises to loosen up cramped muscles. “I’ll be ready to try the crawlspace in a few minutes,” she said in a flat tone. No one challenged her statement, not even Melissa.

“Christine,” Samantha said in the awkward silence, “can you tell us which buildings the others are being kept in?”

“I can show you myself,” the cheetah replied, “if we look in on the kits first.”

“We need to find the guys,” Taro said. “The kids can’t help us subdue grown jaguars.”

“I want to see my kits,” Christine said crossly. “Once I know they’re okay, I’ll take you to the others.”

“Okay,” Taro said in resignation. There was no arguing with a mother. She stretched her legs against a wall and then dropped to the floor for several pushups. As there was nothing else to do, practically everyone in the small hut watched the vixen go through a short regiment of exercises. It had grown quiet outside, but suddenly there was a hard pattering on the roof.

“Sounds like it’s raining again,” Lorelei said unnecessarily. “You’re going to get wet.”

“I’m ready,” Taro announced with her hands on her hips and her feet planted defiantly apart, “rain or no rain.”

Jennifer got up with a nod and led Taro and Samantha to the back of the room. She grabbed the end of a bed, pushed it to the side, and then pointed to the edge of a warped floorboard. Taro knelt down, grabbed the end of the board with her fingertips and then pulled. The plank emitted a squeak as its nails pulled free of the wooden foundation frame. Several of the women started from the unexpected noise, but with the hard rain outside, it was unlikely anyone beyond the room would have heard it.

Taro pulled the board upright and let the nails in its other end hold it in place. The opening was just large enough to pass through, and the red fox eased herself down to the soggy ground beneath. Christine went through the hole next, followed by Samantha. The Border collie looked back up at the women gathered around the opening.

“Push the board closed behind us and put the cot back over it again,” she said. “If we’re successful, we’ll be back to open the front door.”

“What if you aren’t successful?” asked Jenny.

“Then you won’t have to worry about us anymore,” Samantha said grimly. “Our first concern is the welfare of your children. We’ll send Christine back to you with a report on them after we’ve taken a look.”

“Be careful,” said a young orange cat, “and good luck.”

“Thanks,” replied the Border collie. She turned and crawled away. Jennifer pushed the board back into place and then slid the bed to its original position.

Underneath the wooden hut, Taro crawled on her belly toward a vent of slats that she could see in the flash of lightning outside. The ground was muddy from rain seepage and the mold and fungus growth made their way slick and slimy. Samantha stuck her tongue out at the filthy feeling, but when Christine accidentally kicked a bit of mud into her face, she sputtered irritably. Lightning struck one of the peaks overhead and thunder vibrated throughout the colony.

Taro reached the slats and pushed on it gently. The wooden vent fell off easily; it had never been nailed in, just pushed snug into the hole. Like the floorboard opening, Taro was able to squeeze out of the aperture, but not without some discomfort to her bosom. She got up on her hands and knees once she was out in the pouring rain, and turned to give Christine a hand.

A moment later, Samantha stood up beside them and suddenly froze. “Hsst! Taro!” she said through clenched teeth. In the flash of lightning, the shadow of an approaching figure was visible beyond the edge of the hut.

Christine moved fearfully back behind Samantha, but Taro darted forward quickly. She reached out, snatched the individual and slammed him hard against the side of the building.

“Ow! Don’t be so rough!”

“Pockets!” Samantha nearly shouted in surprise. Taro clamped a hand over the Border collie’s mouth and held up a finger for silence as she released the engineer. She dropped her hand from Samantha’s face and bent down to look eye to eye with the diminutive raccoon.

“We’re sure glad to see you,” Taro whispered. “What are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you,” Pockets answered as he brushed her muddy handprints from his rain cloak. “Have you seen Max?”

***

Five minutes passed with Briggs growing angrier by the minute. He stared out the window at the woods where four of his crew had gone in after the young canine, but none had yet returned. He was furious for sending all of them out into the rain and his fingers clenched the windowsill. He had no way to call them back, so all he could do was wait for them to return.

Unnoticed behind him, Tanis had his eyes closed. He had been given a respite due to the distraction, but he knew that his eventual fate would return. He had never really feared dying before, but what he did fear was dying horribly. From the strong stench of blood, the look of terror on his captain’s face when he had been brought into the room, and the sadistic grin on the one jaguar’s face, Tanis had no doubt he would die very shortly and in a lot of pain. He had not been able to hear the words that Briggs had spoken into Merlin’s ear, so he had no idea what this was all about.

Like his medic, Merlin was grateful for the respite, no matter how short a time it might be. An idea had come to him and he was going to take advantage of the distraction Max had unknowingly provided. He let his weight rest on the chains, and although his wrists were sore where the manacles had chaffed him, he thought he felt the chains give ever so slightly. He set his jaw and then eased off the chains slowly so not to make them jingle, and then reapplied his weight. Each time he did this, he put more weight on one side than he did the other, but the next time he would switch for the other arm. He had no way of knowing if Briggs was watching him, but Merlin chanced tilting his head back and looked toward the ceiling. The jaguar did nothing more than fling more curses at his men out the window. Good, he had not been noticed.

As he expected, the metal eyelets that his chains were attached to were slowly working loose from the wooden poles. The movement was subtle, but it was there nonetheless. He worked the chains for several minutes, keeping his ears perked to listen for Briggs and an eye on his friend on the floor below. Tanis’ clothing and fur had soaked up some of the blood from the floor, and although Zuberi had not done anything more than slap him, his appearance suggested something more ghastly.

Briggs slammed his fist down on the windowsill and then turned back toward the wolf. He no longer cared if Merlin saw his face. He would continue the torture of the fox on his own. The quicker he frightened a confession out of the lupine captain, the sooner he could be through with this task and do away with Sinclair altogether.

He stomped his frustration as he walked over to where the wolf hung heavily against his chains and then walked around in front of him. Merlin looked at him with his good eye, surprised that Briggs had finally come into view. He studied the man and thought he recognized him. Then it came to him. Briggs had been a member of Sagan’s boarding party that night when the Basilisk ambushed them in the nebula where Jiro had been murdered. Merlin had fought with him briefly before the pirates were driven back through the airlock tunnel. That was two years ago, but the face came back to him.

Var Briggs stared at him for a long time, his yellow eyes unblinking and filled with malice. Merlin tried to look as unemotional as he could out of a beaten face, even as he continued to apply pressure to the chain eyelets above. Briggs snorted and finally turned away. He walked over to Tanis and then kicked the fox’s chair hard. Tanis grunted, but otherwise did not cry out.

Merlin growled low in his throat and the jaguar turned to look at him with a feral smile. “Got your blood up, haven’t I, Captain?” he asked. “Get used to the feeling, because you’re going to see more.” He took another step toward Tanis and then bent down to pick up the chair, occupant and all. Merlin lunged hard against the chains while Briggs had his back turned and the jaguar only laughed without looking.

Briggs set Tanis upright where he had previously sat and then slugged him in the jaw. He was miffed that the fox had not already started begging for his life, so he thought he would try some intimidation tactics. He was not as experienced with bloody torture as Zuberi and Bomani were, but he was angry enough to inflict some serious pain.

He put his face next to Tanis’ nose and said in a menacing voice, “Scream all you want. Feel free to cry out for mercy, but you will get none from me.” He pulled back and then picked up the curved scalpel from the pouch on the small table.

There was a grunt behind him and then the loud sound of a chain hitting the floor. Briggs whirled around and saw that the wolf had pulled one of his chains loose from its support pole and he was struggling frantically to free the other. The jaguar shrieked in rage and lunged for the captain.

Merlin was ready for him and quickly swung the freed length of chain in a wide arc. It smacked the jaguar across the face with such force combined with the cat’s forward momentum that the loose eyelet gouged a deep gash across his left cheek, over his nose and across his forehead. It was sheer luck that an eye was not taken out, but a bit of blood sprayed into the air as Briggs’ head rocked back from the blow. The jaguar crashed to the floor and Merlin used the intervening seconds to tug hard at his remaining chain before the mad cat could recover.

***

Renny rubbed the sore spot on his side where he had been waylaid back at the ship and winced. He was sick and tired of being a victim and wanted nothing more than to be on the offensive for once. He had stewed long enough that he had made up his mind that he would never again be afraid of dark-furred jaguars.

He looked over at Durant in the dimly lit room and frowned. The old bear seemed tired and worn out, but somehow, he did not think it had anything to do with their attackers. Tanis had mentioned the loadmaster’s reluctance to a physical examination and his growing concerns, but Renny had not thought much about it until now since the fox was inclined to be a worry wart when it came to their health. The grizzled bear tended to move slowly when he had seen him in the ship’s corridors and the look in Durant’s eyes this evening was far from alert. He had not said much since their capture, but had patiently listened to Renny’s rants.

He looked around the room lit by a single candle at the downtrodden faces of the other felines, but the one he missed was Tanis. Why had he been taken away? Was it for questioning or was it for the medic to tend to someone else’s wounds? Although some would say they were rivals, he was worried about his friend. Sure, they verbally sparred with one another, but in the end, they were friends.

He looked up at a sound near the door and wondered if their captors had brought Tanis back. He touched Durant, who had drifted off to sleep, and the two of them looked up as something smashed at the solid wooden panel. They raised their arms as splinters flew out into the room with repeated poundings. Suddenly the object of force burst through the panel. It was a black-furred fist that retreated and reappeared as the door swiftly fell apart before their eyes.

A moment later, a silhouette filled the doorway, but Renny recognized her immediately. “Taro!” he gasped. The wet and muddy vixen rushed to him, hugging him close as Samantha came inside and did likewise to Durant. The bear grinned up at them, but did not get to his feet.

“I’m so glad to see you two safe,” he said, “but you’re filthy!”

Samantha chuckled and purposely wiped some of her mud across the bear’s own dirty green shirt. He made a face of disgust, which only made Sam chuckle again.

Christine stepped inside a moment later and went straight to Renny, but then stopped when she realized he was not the one she was looking for. She glanced around at the other men gathered and then moved to a cougar. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. “Thomas,” she asked quietly, “where’s Jerome?”

The cougar averted his eyes and shook his head slowly. “They came and took him away an hour ago,” he said in a strained voice. “We heard his screams… We fear the worst.”

“No… God, no…” The woman buried her face in the cougar’s arms and began to sob. He held her close with his own moist eyes.

“Was Jerome your leader?” Samantha asked solemnly.

“No,” Thomas replied as he laid his cheek against the cheetah’s head, “but he was Christine’s mate.”

Taro helped Renny to his feet and then moved to Durant’s side. “I know this is a rough moment,” she said to the full group of men, “but if you want to help us stop those murderers, we need to start moving before they come to investigate the noise I just made.”

A bobcat stepped forward, looking embarrassed. “We may not be of much use to you,” he said. “We’ve been beaten and starved, and most of us are too weak to do more than stand up.”

Taro looked around the weary faces in the hut and nodded with understanding. “If there are any of you who feel up to helping, we’re going to take them out, one by one. There are only ten of them, so—”

“I don’t care if I’m not in the best shape,” Renny interrupted with darkened eyes, “but I want my claws in them!”

Thomas looked up with his own furrowed brow and replied, “You can count on me.” Christine looked up at him, her cry-lines wet with real tears. Thomas nodded to her and added, “I’ll be careful, Chris, but I’ve got to do something.”

The cheetah nodded and then glanced back at Renny. “Watch each other’s backs,” she said to him in a shaky voice.

“We will,” he acknowledged.

“I’m going too,” added a young lion that stepped forward from the back of the room. “I’m ready for a payback.”

“Yes, but be careful about it,” Christine said to him. “Your mate is worried about you, Reid.”

Renny looked out into the lightning-illuminated rain. “Someone’s coming!” he said suddenly. Thomas moved to stand behind him and looked over his shoulder. Lightning flashed again as the sky rumbled and the cougar saw two jaguars running across the compound from the direction of the forest. Without warning, Renny rushed out into the rain, driving a course directly for the ebony cats. Thomas took that as a signal and took off after him, leaving the others behind.

Samantha and Taro exchanged glances. “I guess that’s our cue,” the vixen said with a frown. With a quick glance back at the others gathered behind her, Taro jumped out of the hut and followed the two men through the rain. A second later, Samantha, Reid and Durant gave pursuit.

The jaguars noticed Renny barreling down upon them and changed direction for a direct attack. Thomas leaped forward and tackled Bomani into the mud just as Renny and Zuberi clashed. The two cats began to pummel one another fiercely. Zuberi landed a fist aside of Renny’s jaw, but the navigator twisted under the punch and brought his knee up into the jaguar’s stomach. Both of them fell to the ground, but Zuberi took the advantage to jump up on top of Renny and grind a knee into the cheetah’s previously injured side.

Thomas wasted no time to let Bomani recover from his assault and slashed at the jaguar’s face repeatedly with his claws. Thomas Rowley may have been previously beaten into submission and given little to eat for a week, but his pent-up anger and frustration against the crew of the Basilisk gave him desperate strength and the willpower for his attack. He did not know how long he would be able to hold out, so he was intent on getting the best of his opponent as quickly as possible.

Taro reached Renny and Zuberi and leaned in to pop the jaguar in the head. The black cat stumbled backward and fell to the ground, but Renny whirled on Taro with a battle-raged snarl. “He’s mine!” he screamed at her and then jumped Zuberi before he could recover. Taro stood in shock and mutely watched her lover slash out at the jaguar with his claws and teeth.  The cheetah had been trained by a Kastani assassin, but this attack used none of those techniques; this fight was fully feral.

Probably for the first time in many years, Zuberi was suddenly afraid and he began to panic at the hacking claws across his face. He flailed his arms, kicked with his feet, and tried to scramble away, but Renny was so enraged he would not give him a second to breathe.

There was no thought in the cheetah’s mind but murderous intent, and seeing this in his eyes frightened Taro. She had never seen this side of the navigator, but knew instantly that his fear and anger had been bottled up for so long that its release had been explosive. His attack was so fierce, so primal, that Taro felt momentary paralysis in the power of its expression.

Samantha let out a shout when three more jaguars emerged from the woods and raced toward them. Taro went on alert immediately and rushed at the new arrivals along with Reid and Samantha. Durant turned to follow them, but abruptly clutched at his shirt. His chest was tight and he became nauseated so suddenly that he dropped to his knees and doubled over. Despite feeling cold from the continuing rain, he began to pant heavily from an icy feeling throughout his left arm. It felt like someone was squeezing him in a death grip and it became hard to breathe.

Then, just as quickly as it had begun, the tightness released him. His chest muscles ached and he continued to pant, though no longer with a shortness of breath. He glanced over to see Renny’s fingers clamping down on Zuberi’s neck, but he was in a daze and was disoriented. He closed his eyes as the rain fell across his face, and he felt like he wanted to do nothing more than lie down and sleep, but something in the back of his mind told him to stay awake. The grizzly shook his head and then forced himself back to his feet. He wavered a moment, but retained his balance.

There was a sudden sharp snap and he turned to see Thomas holding up a limp Bomani, the jaguar’s head hanging just a little too loose. The cougar dropped the lifeless pirate and then rested his hands on his knees as he panted heavily.

“Are you alright?” Durant heard Thomas say. He nodded slowly, but when he looked up, the cougar was not looking at him, but at the Horizon’s navigator. Renny knelt atop Zuberi’s chest, shoulders heaving with expended effort. His bloody fingers, wrapped tightly around the jaguar’s throat, pulsed with residual energy, but in spite of the strong desires within, his enemy still lived.

The cheetah still had a wild look in his eyes, but the better part of his nature stopped him short of finishing the job he had begun. His eyes slowly cleared and he released the jaguar’s neck, letting the dark gasping form fall back into the mud. Renny’s shoulders slumped and he hung his head.  The steam from his body heat rose against the rain as the anger evaporated from his form.

“I’m…” he said slowly, “I’m… finished.”

“I’m not.” Thomas pushed Renny aside, and without warning, the cougar calmly stomped his heel down hard upon the jaguar’s throat. “That’s for Jerome,” he spat.

Renny looked at the scene in horror, knowing just how close he had come to murder. A cold, icy feeling spilled down his spine as Thomas left the body where it lay and loped off into the night.

Some distance away, and not having witnessed Zuberi’s demise at the last, a movement of white caught Durant’s eye; he looked up to see Lorelei on the far side of the compound moving toward the main hut. She had a soaked blanket over her head and seemed to be blindly walking through the rain. The grizzly knew he would be of no use to the others who had converged on the other three jaguars, so he started to make his way through the rain toward the bunny.

Durant glanced back toward the others, saw one of the jaguars break away from the brawl and run toward the main structure, leaving his two companions behind. At first, Durant thought the cat was after Lorelei, but it did not appear as if he had seen her. His intention was on the building itself.

***

Pamiu was the eldest of the Basilisk jaguars and second-in-command on the pirate ship. He had been Sagan’s advisor and afterward enjoyed the same position serving under the First Mate that had been promoted to Captain, Var Briggs. The campaigns he had followed them into had been profitable, but this time nothing had gone right. Their plan had seemed foolproof at first, but now it was falling apart. They had held the advantage of surprise when they took over the Chimera Colony, and the same with the landing of the Blue Horizon, but now some of the prisoners had gotten free and were quickly outnumbering the jaguars. If he could just get to Briggs, they could get out the weapons and regain control before it got too far out of hand.

He reached the door of the hut, flung it open with a bang, and then hopped up the steps into the main room. He stopped abruptly when he saw his commander and the wolf locked together on the floor in combat. Merlin favored his left foot and pain was on his beaten face, but he had a chain wrapped partially around the jaguar’s neck and one arm in an attempt to strangle him. Briggs was far from subdued, however. The one hand he had managed to raise before the length of chain had been thrown around his neck was the only thing that had kept him from a strangling death. He wrapped his legs around the wolf’s feet in a quick scissor-lock and put his weight into it, but he was unable to unbalance Sinclair as he had hoped. Briggs reached out and grabbed the wolf by the throat with his free hand, but Merlin only squeezed tighter with his chain.

“Look out!” Tanis yelled. He was still bound to his chair, but had been upended and shoved up against a wall next to the cowering Moran. “There’s another one!”

Pamiu reacted quickly. He circled the fighting and snatched up Zuberi’s favorite knife from the floor. Then he grabbed Tanis by one of his large ears and hefted him up enough that it stretched out the medic’s throat. He put the serrated blade up to the taut neck, backed up against a wall, and then shouted, “Sinclair! Stop or your fox dies right now!”

His threat had its desired effect. Merlin released Briggs and backed away from the pirate captain, dragging his chains beside him and panting for breath. He glared hard at Pamiu, calculating his chances of reaching him with the end of the chains that were still manacled to his bloody wrists, but it did not look good. He might hit Tanis too. Briggs gasped and struggled for air a moment before he could get to his hands and knees, but he finally gave his first officer a nod to let him know he would survive.

Briggs turned to face Sinclair and then walked boldly to him. He backhanded the wolf hard enough that Merlin’s weary knees buckled and he dropped to the floor, but the jaguar almost followed him down. He somehow managed to keep his feet and towered over Sinclair.

The door opened at that moment and everyone in the room turned to see who had entered. It was Lorelei and she stopped and stared at the scene before her. Immediately, her eyes fell upon the bruised and bloody wolf, his wrists still in manacles, blood all over the floor, and Briggs standing over him menacingly. Then she noticed Pamiu holding Tanis’ head back with a nasty looking knife at his throat.

In a desperate move that surprised everyone, the white rabbit grabbed one of the guns from the box next to the door. She whipped it up and pointed it at Pamiu, her thumb automatically releasing the safety. “G-get away from him!” she shouted. Her mouth quivered, but she held the firearm steady, aimed at the elder jaguar’s head.

The aged cat suddenly laughed and drew the blade across Tanis’ neck. It was not deep, but the cut was just enough that a small trickle of blood stained the fox’s white ruff. “Your friend is as good as dead, missy,” he said with a feral grin to show his indifference to her threat. “There’s not a thing you can d—”

Bang!

Pamiu’s eyes rolled up fast, almost as if they were trying hard to look at the purple hole that had suddenly appeared in the space of forehead above them. The knife dropped from his hands and clattered to the floor only a second before the jaguar collapsed to the floor, smearing blood down the wall behind him.

Briggs yelled out in rage and tensed his muscles to leap at the bunny that had swept her firearm toward him, but Merlin swung his right arm around and whipped the chain hard against the cat’s stomach. The jaguar collapsed to the floor and Merlin jumped him with the intent to beat him senseless.

Durant came in the door behind Lorelei and suddenly men from the colony swarmed in the door behind him. Briggs kicked Merlin aside with a lucky blow from his boot and he scrambled to his feet, slipping uncertainly on the slick floor. He took one look at the gathering of enraged colonists and then dove for the open window. His knee hit the sill and he tumbled messily out into the rain, landing right beside Jerome’s lifeless body in the mud. Before anyone could get out to him, the jaguar was on his feet and quickly limping for his life. Incensed colonists rushed out the door after him and followed him across the compound toward the trees of the forest.

Lorelei suddenly dropped to her knees, letting the pistol slide out of her hands to the floor in front of her. She buried her face in her hands and started bawling. Durant eased down on the floor beside her and put his arms around her shoulders with understanding. Her marksmanship had been perfect, but it was the first time she had ever killed anyone, even in defense.  She turned, clung tightly to him, and cried into his chest in racking sobs.

Merlin got to his feet shakily and moved across the room to check on Tanis, his chains dragging the floor behind him. The fennec fox looked up at him as the wolf picked up Zuberi’s knife and cut the ropes that still bound him to the chair. “Are… ya alright?” he asked his captain. Tanis ached from his beating, but knew he was in far better shape than Merlin was.

The wolf started to nod, but then changed his mind and shook his head instead. “No… but maybe I’ll live anyway.” He took a look at Moran with his one good eye and then put an aching hand on the gray cat’s shoulder. “It’s over,” he said hoarsely. “It’s over…”

Moran nodded and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry any of this happened, sir,” he said as he glanced over at Pamiu’s still form.

“Captain!”

Merlin looked up as Pockets rushed across the room to them. The wolf managed part of a smile through swollen lips and then held up one manacled wrist. “I need a locksmith,” he said. “So does Mr. Moran.”

The raccoon nodded and dug into one of his pockets. He pulled out a small pouch and unrolled it to reveal a set of gleaming metal instruments. Moran suddenly backed away, but Merlin put out a hand to calm the cat. “Those are tools to pick locks,” he explained gently.

Moran watched Pockets dubiously, but only relaxed when the raccoon took one of the tiny instruments and put in inside the lock of Merlin’s bracelet. The manacle parted seconds later and then the wolf held out his other wrist to his engineer. “See?” he said.

The gray cat closed his eyes when Pockets went to work on the manacle that bound him to the chair and jumped when it clicked apart.

***

Runihura was panting and out of breath when he reached the ramp into the Basilisk and almost collapsed to the floor once he was inside. He hit the intercom button on the wall beside the open airlock with his good hand, and then cradled the other arm the vixen had broken for him back at the colony. He had managed to escape in the darkness and confusion of the fighting, but he did not think Sennedjem had survived the mob attack.

“This is Nakhti,” a bored voiced reported from the small intercom speaker.

“Secure the ship,” Runihura gasped through his pain. “The prisoners have broken out!”

“Right.” The ramp began to slide back inside the side of the vessel and the airlock door automatically swung shut. Other apertures for ventilation around the ship closed up tight and all exterior lights extinguished. Lights inside the Basilisk dimmed to a low setting and then everything went quiet.

“Who’s on board?” Runihura asked. He remained where he sat on the floor, hoping the doctor was available.

“Just me and Runi.”

Runihura cursed aloud. Their doctor had been assigned to guard the children of the colonists and was probably still there at her post. Khepri filled several jobs on board the Basilisk. She was their doctor, their cook and their pleasure provider. She had been happy in her work when Sagan had led them, but since his death, she had shown signs of discontent in the things she did for all of them. The svelte and curvaceous female did not have the heart of a pirate, but had served her purpose and was paid well from their plunder. More than anything, however, Runihura needed her medical skills.

Suddenly there was a pounding on the hatch beside him. He could barely hear muffled shouts through the seals.

“Someone’s outside the main airlock,” Runihura whispered to the intercom.

“It’s just Briggs,” reported the bored jaguar on the bridge. “You want I should let him in?”

“Open it,” growled Runihura, “unless you want to face his wrath later.”

There was a soft hiss and the mechanism to the door released its lock. Briggs did not wait for the hydraulic arm to finish opening the door all the way and he scrambled inside. His eyes were crazed and his fur was matted with leaves, mud, grass and blood. He leaned into the intercom and shouted, “Secure the ship and prepare for immediate liftoff!”

“Aye,” replied Nakhti in a voice just as dull as it had been earlier; even in the midst of an emergency, nothing seemed to excite him. The airlock resealed itself and Briggs turned to go.

“Khepri’s still out there, sir,” Runihura said in a voice laced in pain. “We need the doctor…”

“We’re leaving!” Briggs growled.

Runihura held up his broken arm. “But, sir—”

Briggs roared in fury and brought his fist down hard on the proffered limb. Runihura bellowed in pain and fell to the floor in agony. Without a backward glance, Briggs left him and stormed toward the bridge.

***

There was a sound at the door of the hut and Khepri Mandisa looked up from her task as the outside lock clicked. The panel opened and a crowd of adults filed inside. They found the female jaguar surrounded by the colony children where she had been telling them an exciting tale of love and adventure, but as soon as the children recognized their parents, the air was filled with tears and the sounds of happiness.

Thomas and another male rushed forward and roughly picked her up by the arms, scattering pillows across a floor covered in crayon drawings. Khepri offered no resistance and allowed herself to be taken outside into the cool night air. The rain had finally stopped, though thunder could still be heard farther up the valley.

Christine cried openly when she knelt on the wooden floor and her two male kits bounded into her arms. She held them close and licked their muzzles over and over. Similar scenes were all over the room as parents were reunited with their children.

As the leonine family rejoiced in their reunion, Reid looked down at the drawings on the floor. He picked up one of them near his knee and studied it. He was puzzled at the likeness of a black cat playing with several kittens and looked down at his daughter. “Shanna,” he asked, “what is this?”

The young lioness grinned up at her father and pointed to the black cat image. “Tha’s miss Khepri, daddy,” she explained. “She’s a nice lady, plays wit’ us and tells us stories an’ stuff!”

“She treated you well?” Melissa asked her daughter. “She didn’t hurt you?”

“No mamma,” the child replied shaking her head. “Kevi fell down, but she picked him up and kissed his boo. She funs, even gave tickles.”

Reid and Melissa exchanged quick looks and then the lion got up quickly. He pushed his way past the other families and dashed outside. He found Thomas standing over the jaguar female, who had been shoved to her knees in the soggy grass and mud. The cougar had one of the Binfurr pistols in his hand and put its barrel to the back of her neck.

“No!” Reid shouted in alarm. Thomas looked up in surprise, but did not move the gun. “You mustn’t kill her!” the lion said in a rush.

“Why not?” growled the cougar. “She’s the last of the murderers!”

“She’s not a murderer, Thomas. She did no harm to the cubs, but she did care for them.” Reid held up the crayon drawing so that light from the hut fell upon the images. “My daughter said she was nothing but nice to them.”

“But she’s one of them!”

“She has done nothing against us,” Reid reminded him. “The kids look healthy and they’re all happy. They haven’t been starved or beaten as we were. Shanna likes her.”

Thomas looked uncertain, but Reid had never lied to him before. When the men had been locked up together in the hut, Reid had vowed serious revenge upon their captors, and it had been he who had dealt the deathblow to Sennedjem when they had fought him in the compound. It shocked Thomas to hear Reid sticking up for the jaguar who remained on her knees, but the woman had said nothing in her own defense.

“She’s okay, I tell you,” Reid insisted again. “I trust my daughter.”

Finally, after a long, tense moment, Thomas locked the safety on the pistol and quietly shoved it into his belt. He reached down, took Khepri’s arm gently, and then helped her to her feet. She kept her head bowed until the cougar put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up to meet his gaze.

“Why didn’t you harm our children,” Reid asked, “while the rest of your band did terrible things to us?”

The woman looked at him with sorrow-filled eyes. “I’ve never agreed with their horrors,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. “They disgust me, but I’ve never been allowed to leave them. I have always loved children – have always wanted some of my own, but I’ve had nothing but miscarriages. When I was put in charge of guarding your young ones, I knew I could do them no harm.”

Reid put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her with compassion. “Thank you, miss,” the lion said sincerely. “With all the horrors we’ve faced, thank you.”

***

Var Briggs angrily punched controls on the pilot’s station before him and the thrusters of the Basilisk came alive. The black ship lifted above the trees and he rotated the vessel on its axis. The infrared scanners and night-vision instrumentation were active and he easily located the colony on his screen.

Runihura limped onto the bridge, still cradling his decimated arm, but he said nothing to the madman who was his captain. He sat down in an empty seat and saw the ship’s lackey at the weapons console. Nakhti was disrespectful to everyone he met, but he was a pirate who never refused an order given him by a superior. Runihura recognized the ordnance controls the lackey was setting and knew that Briggs intended to bomb the Chimera Colony out of existence, and likely the freighter as well. The action would put Briggs at odds with their master’s direct orders, but it appeared that Briggs no longer cared. Runihura sat back to watch, calculating a rise in status for himself when he reported Briggs’ actions to the human. Since he and Nakhti were the only ones left of the crew, Runihura saw himself being awarded the captaincy of the Basilisk. As far as he was concerned, Briggs had sealed his own fate.

The Manta-class vessel moved forward, the tops of trees caressing its underside as its captain piloted it for a bombing run.

***

The survivors of the Chimera Colony and the Blue Horizon were gathered outside in the clearing between the buildings. Now that the rain had ended, it was the only place available that was large enough for them all to assemble. The main hut could have contained them all, but no one wanted to go back inside its bloodstained room of death. Several torches had been lit and a few bugs had already been drawn into erratic orbits around the flames despite the hours of rain.

“Now that we have firearms,” Thomas said loudly, “we should storm that devil’s ship!”

Samantha stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. “Our handguns will be of no use,” she told him. “They won’t do anything against the ship’s hull, and all he would have to do is open fire on you with their main guns to be rid of you.”

Thomas raised his arms in exasperation. “Are we supposed to let him get away just so he can come back at a later time with more murderers to finish us off?”

“Listen, we don—”

A loud roar from the forest drowned out Samantha’s words. They could see nothing at all, but everyone instantly knew it must be the Basilisk, probably flying without lights. Briggs was coming for them. People in the crowd started to panic and parents began to swoop up their children in fear and run.

Suddenly the sky lit up from a terrific explosion! A huge fireball expanded above the nearby treetops and engulfed the timbers in a searing heat. The bombing had begun… or so they thought. Burning debris began to rain down upon the field of crops, but a huge object over the decimated trees dropped to the ground with a thunderous crash. Had the area not been thoroughly soaked from the recent thunderstorms, a forest fire surely would have spread right away.

People scattered and ran into the buildings; most of the Blue Horizon crew bolted for the large central hut despite the carnage inside, but Merlin had to be carried. Taro picked him up and ran as burning debris continued to fall. A large, flaming chunk of twisted metal crashed through the roof at the far end of the main room, making everyone jump. Renny and Pockets grabbed extinguishers from wall brackets and managed to get the resulting fire put out before it was able to spread.

“What… what happened?” Lorelei asked as she stared out the open window in awe. A few small pieces of charred material continued to fall from the early morning sky, and the burning wreckage cast off a flickering orange glow in the woods, but the worst of it seemed to be over.

“The ship… just exploded,” Tanis said in a quiet voice. “Why… how?”

“The why is because the pirates had it coming,” Pockets said in a matter-of-fact tone. All eyes shifted to the short engineer. “How — is this!”  The raccoon set down his extinguisher and fished a small remote from the pocket of his coveralls.

“What’s that?” Merlin asked hoarsely.

Pockets pressed his lips together tightly when everyone in the room looked to him for an explanation.  “I followed one of the pirates out into the woods about an hour ago,” he said. “He led me straight to the Basilisk and I used Moss to do a little reconnoitering for me.”

“I thought Moss couldn’t leave the ship,” Durant replied.

“After our encounter at the Walkabout, I modified Moss so it could operate a distance outside the ship.”

“That’s great, Pockets,” Samantha said as she gestured out the window, “but it still doesn’t explain that.”

The raccoon walked over to the window and stood beside Lorelei. He stared out at the burning wreckage and put a hand up on the sill.  “Their main hatch was open,” he said, “and I flew Moss inside to look around. I watched its progress on my remote and had all its sensors on full alert in case one of the crew happened along. There was only one person on board on the bridge, so I guided Moss into the Basilisk’s engine room. Unlike the Okami freighters that we’re familiar with, there are no doors on the access panels in Manta-class cruisers. The engine rooms are cramped, so access ways are open for maintenance.”

He turned and looked back at Merlin with a frown. “I didn’t know they were torturing you guys in here, but I remembered when the pirates from the Basilisk boarded us and killed Jiro. We couldn’t do anything about it and they got away with it. He was my friend,” he said in a low voice. “When I saw easy access in the engine room through my viewer, I sent Moss into the one that would take it next to the core of their LightDrive engine for its final task.”

“What did Moss do in there?” Tanis asked.

“I programmed its internal altimeter to set the unit into overload if the ship got more than ten meters off the ground, the approximate height of the trees around here. I figured it would take the overload about two minutes before its instability exploded into the engine core.”

Pockets turned and looked back out the window. Several of the colonists had ventured back outside and a few had gone to investigate the crash site. “I’m a murderer,” he said solemnly, “just like they were. I didn’t kill in self-defense. I did it for revenge.”

Samantha moved to his side and then put her arms around him. She held him close to her and then said, “Justice was dealt, Pockets. The Basilisk was a band of murderers who had killed long before this incident, and some of us had a hand in fighting back, too. You aren’t alone.”

The room fell silent for a moment, but then Durant spoke up with a small smile. “Well, one thing’s for sure,” he said in a lighter tone. “Moss was finally useful for something.”  Despite the sobering events of the night, the bear’s comment brought out a few chuckles.

The raccoon grinned for a moment, but suddenly his eyes went wide. “Has anyone seen Max?” he asked. “I sent him to scout out the area just before I followed that guy to the Basilisk and I haven’t seen him since.”

“He’s over there,” Lorelei said in a casual voice, “talking to one of the colonists.”

Pockets looked to where the rabbit pointed and shook his head in relief. Max looked as bedraggled as the rest of them, but he did not appear to be injured.  The engineer left the hut a moment later, followed by most of the Blue Horizon’s crew. Max glanced up as the group approached him and gave them a worried look. “Where’s uncle Merlin?” he asked in concern. “Thomas just told me what happened.”

“Tanis is giving him medical treatment in the main hut,” Taro replied. “He’s a wreck, but we think he’ll be okay… now.”

“What happened with you?” Pockets asked.

Max shrugged his shoulders. “One of the jaguars discovered me and then five of them chased me into the woods,” he explained. “I had a hard time running through the trees and underbrush, but so did they. They chased me over by the canyon wall and I discovered a small cave behind a large rock to hide in.  They didn’t see me crawl into it, so I decided to wait there until I was sure they were gone.”  He made a comical face and spread his hands out wide. “The cave wasn’t empty, though,” he said. “A wild boar didn’t like me blocking his exit and chased me back out into the woods.  He almost got me, but I climbed a tree to get away from him.”

“You were treed?” Samantha asked with a grin.

“Yeah, and it wouldn’t let me alone, either. It stayed underneath my tree and even butted the trunk like it was trying to shake me out.” He gestured toward the crash site out in the woods. “I was stuck up in the tree until that explosion frightened away the boar.  It scared me too. I thought it might have been the Horizon.”

***

Merlin looked up when Thomas and Reid entered the hut, followed by Moran and a female jaguar.  Faint spot patterns in her dark fur shimmered in the lights of the room as she walked. Tanis had found some blankets and had made a bed for his captain in a far corner away from the bloodstained floor. He did not have any first aid supplies, but had done the best he could with clean water and strips of cloth.

Mr. Moran stepped forward and then knelt down next to the wolf. “Captain,” he said, “I want to introduce you to the only survivor of the late ship, Basilisk. Doctor Khepri Mandisa is here to help you.”  Tanis looked at the ebony feline dubiously, but she did hold a black medical bag in her hands.

Merlin stared at her through his good eye, but his swollen lips were drawn tight against his teeth in a snarl.  He started to growl, but Moran set a hand on the captain’s shoulder and shook his head. “I will vouch for her intentions,” the gray cat told him. “Please listen to her story. I think you will find it… enlightening.”

Merlin became quiet, though he did not relax, but he shot Tanis a dark glance as if to say, “Watch her.” The desert fox nodded in understanding.

“If you will allow me to treat your injuries, sir,” she said in a smooth voice, “I can talk while I work.”  Merlin stared at her for a moment before she added, “We are surrounded by your allies, Captain. They will make sure you are not left alone with me.” Finally, reluctantly, the wolf nodded and she gave him a sad smile in return.

She looked into her medical bog, took out some cotton swabs and a bottle of antiseptic, and then began cleaning his raw wrists where the manacles had cut into him. She began speaking in a quiet voice and held his hand firmly when she applied the stinging liquid to his wounds.

“Four years ago,” she started, “I became infatuated with the one you knew as Sagan.”  Merlin scowled, but she ignored his expression. “Unfortunately, he only saw my skills as a doctor, cook and a provider of pleasure for he and his crew. I was lonely and unemployed on Brandt, and he promised me a better life. I agreed, but to my dismay, I discovered the ship I had been brought onto was a pirate ship. By then, it was too late and he wouldn’t free me from his service.”  She glanced at her patient with a look of remembered frustration and then gently bandaged his wrist. She started on the other wrist and continued.

“I saw plenty of raids against freighters such as yours, but they never killed anyone — until Sagan brought in the Aleson brothers, a sadistic pair I know you were well acquainted with. After Bomani and Zuberi joined us, someone died with each campaign. I pleaded with Sagan for him to make them stop, but he never listened to me. He was only interested in the loot they stole, and if someone was killed, Oh well…”

She finished with his wrist and then began cleaning other lacerations about his head and neck. “After Sagan died,” she said, “I thought I might have a chance to escape my enslavement, but Sagan’s master put Var Briggs in charge instead. Briggs was used to having me around and wouldn’t let me leave.”

“Sagan’s master?” Tanis repeated. “Ya mean he worked for someone else?”

Khepri nodded. “Sagan was captured and imprisoned in his youth by a human named Faltane, who—”

“Faltane!” Merlin exclaimed. “Victor Faltane?”

“Yeah, that’s him. He’s not as innocent as he appears when he’s doing charitable work on the news, and he’s much older than he looks,” she said.  Merlin and Tanis exchanged expressions of astonishment. “This Faltane imprisoned Sagan when he was young. He tortured him into submission, and then later trained him to do his dirty work.  When Sagan was given the Basilisk, he was pretty much left to his own whims, but Faltane – or the Master as he was often referred to – would occasionally call on him to do jobs that he would assign to no one else.”

“Was Faltane responsible for unleashing that virus on Hestra?” Taro asked darkly.

Khepri shook her head. “No, that was Sagan’s own doing, and his master punished him severely for going public. Apparently, the Master had another intended purpose for the viral agent, but after Sagan broadcast the virus data to the whole PA, it ruined his plans and he was not happy about it.”

“What did he have planned for a fifth-level hot virus?” Tanis asked hoarsely.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know.”

Merlin winced when she put more of the antiseptic on the tender flesh near his swollen eye. “What more can you tell us about Faltane?” he asked. “We’ve come in contact with him on an occasion or two in the past.”

“Faltane’s a man with many contacts all over the Planetary Alignment,” she said. “I believe he appeals to people due to his innocent appearance and helps them under the table when they need it. He would later call in favors with those people for his own purposes, and then help them in other ways to make them continually indebted to him. Sometimes he would pose as a simple businessman or even a young arms dealer. He’s grown stronger in recent years and his influence is quite impressive.”

She looked up at the wolf with a dark expression. “Undoubtedly, I was not supposed to know this, but he even had Kastan assassins working for him who wiped out the officers of Intergalactic Aid.”

“Why would he do that?” Tanis asked. “Intergalactic Aid was helping people.”

“Intergalactic Aid was not as on the up-and-up as you think,” the jaguar replied. “With the organization’s other officers out of the way, that left Faltane in de facto charge of the group. He found himself suddenly sitting on trillions in tax-free credits that had been hidden by various special interest groups.  Would you believe that he orchestrated an attempt to kidnap the Kastani’s Heir Apparent away from Argeia?” she asked to looks of astonishment. “His intention was to extort cooperation from the Kastans for some grand scheme, but Argeia found a way to thwart his plan. Despite this, he has enough fiscal leverage with various guilds across the PA so that he has a little mafia of his own.”

“Wow…” Moran said. He had never heard of Victor Faltane and was oblivious to the politics of the Planetary Alignment, but he was riveted to Khepri’s words. From the expression on Sinclair’s face, however swollen, the wolf knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Intergalactic Aid’s headquarters were on Mainor,” the doctor continued, “so all the financial records are gone and the IA was too smart to let their assets rot in certificates – they bought resources… probably gold or Siilv.  This put Faltane sitting on top of a huge cache of liquid assets, and he’s been the primary source of funding for the Basilisk.”

Merlin winced again when she took a small tube of salve and began to apply it on his other abrasions. “You have certainly given me a lot to think about,” he said in a strained voice. He was thinking about all the times he had had dealings with Faltane and applied what she had told him to those occasions. As implausible as some of it sounded, the puzzle pieces fit together enough that Merlin felt she told him the truth.

As if reading his mind, Moran looked at him and asked, “Now do you believe her, captain?” The gray cat stood up to let the blood flow back to his legs. “When Briggs and his men were torturing us,” he said, “this woman cared for our children and kept them safe and happy without causing them any distress.”

Merlin caught her eyes with his and then he nodded. “What you say may all be true,” he said, “but I’m not quite certain I trust you completely. When all your crewmates are dead and you are facing your own execution, it’s easy to spill some knowledge to save your skin.”

“It’s possible,” Moran replied before Khepri might comment, “but I can’t deny that she cared for our children while knowing the rest of us might be killed. I choose to believe she is not evil as her companions were, Captain.”

Merlin held the jaguar’s gaze for a moment longer, but then looked over at the gray cat. It seemed strange to see this small feline acting like a leader of a colony. Merlin knew the horrors Moran had been forced to watch and didn’t blame him for his earlier terror. No doubt he would have sunk to the same level of despair had the Aleson brothers been able to do their work on Tanis. He looked back at the doctor and finally gave her a nod.

“What will you do now?” he asked.  He expected her to request passage on his ship back to a Fynian city, but it was Moran who answered.

“She will stay with us,” he said to Merlin’s astonishment. “Jerome Tippet was our doctor, but you saw him horribly tortured and murdered. I’ve talked it over with Dr. Mandisa and the remaining elders of our colony and most of us are in agreement that we can use her medical experience in Jerome’s absence.”

“Mr. Tippet’s mate was opposed to my staying,” Khepri said in a quiet voice, “but the majority overruled her. She may never come to like me, despite that I was not responsible for any wrongdoing, but I will do my best to be a friend.”

“How do ya feel about the deaths of yer pirate associates?” Tanis asked.

Khepri looked over at him and fixed him with a steady gaze. “Good riddance,” she said without hesitation. “I hold no grudge against the colony or your crew, if that’s what you mean.”

Tanis nodded. “That’s partially what I meant,” he said, “but I was also curious as to yer thoughts on staying here.  Ya said ya felt like a prisoner on board the Basilisk, but by staying with these people, ya will, in effect, be imprisoned here as well.”

Khepri nodded. “If I chose to think of it that way, you would be right, mister fox, but staying was also my decision, as well as their vote.  I love children and I enjoy helping people. That’s why I became a doctor. If serving this colony in that capacity equates to a sentence to make up for what my former associates did, then I will gladly fulfill my obligations to them.”

Tanis nodded in understanding. There was no way she could be aware of his personal desire to become a doctor to help others, but it was her last statements that convinced him of her intentions.

***

Merlin opened his eyes and yawned, but the ache in the side of his face reminded him of the previous night’s activities. His left eye opened further than it had before, and as he gently probed his cheek with a finger, he felt that some of the swelling had gone down once he had finally been allowed to sleep. The swelling in his lips had also subsided and it did not hurt to touch them. There were still places like his wrists that were tender, but they were bandaged and cared for. He reached to the side of his bed and touched a familiar control stud that turned on the light in his bedroom. He was back aboard the Blue Horizon where he had been taken to sleep, and although he was still stiff and sore, he felt somewhat rested.

He glanced over at the clock on his bedside table and noted it was the late afternoon in local time. He did not remember just exactly when he had drifted off to sleep, but his slumber had been free of dreams. He was immediately thankful he had experienced no nightmares of the torture he had been forced to witness.

He managed to lift himself into a sitting position and then swung his legs off the bed. He dressed himself stiffly, but managed it without too much trouble, though his captain’s hat was nowhere to be found.

He left his quarters and peeked onto the bridge of his ship, but it was vacant. Only the essential systems were in operation and they made no noise in the small control room.  He moved to the environmental station and looked at the weather readings outside the ship. The sun was shining in a sky high above the valley that was clear of all clouds and the temperature rated comfortable.

He left the bridge after shutting down the systems he had operated and made his way to the lift. Just as he arrived, the door slid aside and Samantha smiled out at him.  “Hello, darling,” she said with a gentle kiss to the side of his muzzle. “I was just coming to get you out of bed.”

“Is anyone else awake?” he asked as he stepped inside the lift beside her and pushed the pad for the cargo deck. “Everyone was fairly bushed after last night’s events.”

Samantha laughed. “Last night?  Merlin, you weren’t awake last night,” she informed him. “You’ve been asleep for a day and half!”

The wolf looked at her sideways and then shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said.  “How is everyone?”

“Considering what we all went through, pretty good.” The door to the lift opened and the pair of them stepped out into the cargo bay.  “Aside of those who didn’t survive, you were the one in the worst shape.”

Merlin was quiet for a moment. “Where’s our cargo?” he asked as he looked across the hold. The place was empty and the bay doors were closed.

“Well,” Sam answered, “in your absence, Taro told the colonists that since the pirates had paid in advance for the supplies in their ruse to get us here, the colony should have them. Was that alright?”

Merlin nodded and they began walking hand in hand toward the open airlock. “It’s what I would have done,” he said with a lazy smile. “So, what have you all been doing while I’ve been out of commission?  Slacking off?”

“Hardly,” the Border collie replied. “After everyone cleaned up and got their rest, we held a memorial service for those who didn’t survive, and then we all assisted in moving the supplies from the ship to the colony. Since then, we’ve been helping them pick up debris of the explosion from the compound and hauling it to the crash site.  Nick said they would probably pick over the junk at a later time to see if there was anything salvageable they could use, but for now they just wanted it out of the colony proper.”

Samantha led him down the airlock ramp to the ground and Merlin looked up at the sun that was just caressing the western peaks of the Dragon’s Teeth. He took in a lungful of fresh air and then smiled. The air was strong with the aroma of the minty florence shrubs that Renny had told him about when they had landed.

Something snorted from the right and Merlin looked over to see a non-sapient workhorse harnessed to a wooden cart. Samantha grinned and gestured toward it. “I didn’t think you’d feel up to walking a half-mile, so I got you a limousine.”

“Very thoughtful of you,” Merlin replied with a smile.  He had to have her help to get up into the cart and he sat back on a soft cushion to let her take the reins. Sam clicked her tongue, flipped the reins and then they were moving back toward the colony.

“Are you hungry?” she asked him.

“Famished,” he replied. “Do you think Moran will let us dip into their new supplies for a bite to eat?

“Oh, I think so,” Samantha replied with a smile.  “The feast they’ve been preparing all day long is almost ready.”

“A feast?”

“Lori’s been helping out, naturally. Nick thought everybody needed it to boost morale after all we’ve gone through and Lori agreed. She’s still upset with herself for shooting that guy, but everyone’s told her she did the right thing. It may take her a while to get over it.”

“It may take a while for me to get over it,” Merlin mused.

“Pocket has also been making comments about turning himself over to the authorities for destroying the Basilisk and killing those inside it. Moran and his people have been trying to talk him out of it, to just accept what he had done with thanks for saving their lives. Fynian law allows local communities to settle their own affairs and the Chimera Colony wants to keep all of this to themselves. Taro researched it and discovered that what they said is true. If Pockets turns himself in to local authorities, that would be the colony elders here.”

Merlin remained in silent thought for several long moments before he finally looked over at her. “I want you to promise me something, Sam.”

“What is that?”

“Never ask me to describe what I saw last night… uh, the other night.”

Samantha shook her head. “Don’t you think it’s dangerous to keep it bottled up inside?”

“I don’t think I could stand reliving it.”

The Border collie was quiet for a moment, but when she looked over and saw his pleading expression, she finally nodded.

“Okay, I promise.  I want you to think only of good times, but if the memories ever get too heavy for you to bear, please talk to me.”

***

“Are ya sure?” Tanis asked the cinnamon grizzly at his side. “Ya have been avoiding me for a long time.”

Durant looked down at the diminutive medic as the lift doors opened and nodded his head. “Yes, I’m sure,” he said wearily. “It took a long time for me to admit to myself that I haven’t been feeling all that good. I felt great and refreshed after my vacation on Alexandrius, so I didn’t think I had anything to worry about.”

“Well, now that we’ve made it through that business on Fyn and are on our way to Pomen, I can give ya a complete physical. It will tell us both what’s wrong with ya and what we can do about it.”

“Just in time, too,” the loadmaster mumbled. “I’m feeling a little lightheaded.” He followed the desert fox out of the lift and along the corridor toward Sickbay. Tanis absently rubbed the side of his face where he had been struck hard.

Tanis stopped when they came alongside the door to his quarters. “Go on and wait for me,” he said. “I’m going to grab my smock and slateboard, and then I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Sure. Uh, Tanis?”

“Yah?” the fox replied, looking up.

“Thanks,” Durant said sincerely. “For everything.”

“Sure, yer welcome,” Tanis replied with a nod. Durant gave him a tired smile and then turned to continue up the corridor.

The fennec opened his door and switched on the light. He made his way slowly around the furniture toward the back room, but stopped and turned when he noticed a blinking green dot on his cabin com terminal. He proceeded to the back room and then pulled a clean smock from a closet hanger. He needed a chance to clean and groom his fur better, but he wanted to examine Durant before the bear changed his mind.

He put on the garment stiffly and walked back out to the front room. He moved to the com terminal and thumbed a control to check messages. There was a missive for him from Alexandrius. He opened the file and read it quickly. The expression on his face was first one of disbelief, but then it spread into a smile across his features.

Mr. Arktanis TeVann,

In review of your past academic achievements and personal experiences, your application to the University of Alexandrius Medical Division has been accepted in order that you may complete your medical studies. The file attachments will give you all the information you will need to tender your tuition, sign up for your needed courses and obtain lodging, as well as other important facts concerning your membership with our facilities. The next semester begins on the fifteenth of Goldsun. You will need to be in place no later than one week before the start of semester.

Congratulations, Mr. TeVann, and welcome aboard.

Sincerely,

Vaughn Abrams, Director of Medical Studies

University of Alexandrius, Medical Division

4001 Tames Lamar, Alucara

Tanis reread the message twice more and decided to print out a hardcopy of the cover letter so that he could display it on Sickbay wall. He picked up the fresh page, grabbed his slateboard and then whistled a tune as he left his cabin. If he remembered the Alexandrian calendar correctly, Goldsun was two months away. Merlin would need to hire a new medic for the ship during their next landfall and Tanis would have to try to make all arrangements by com for his transfer to Alexandrius in time to make the new semester. He would also need to secure transportation from Pomen back to the Centaurus solar system they were currently leaving.

Had he known about the letter before the Blue Horizon had launched from the Chimera Colony, he could have asked Merlin to divert to a Fynian city where he could catch a transport to Alexandrius. It would have meant only a delay of an hour or two at the most. Still, there was plenty of time to get back to Alexandrius before his deadline, and that would allow the desert fox to say goodbye to everyone properly and make sure his replacement was settled in before he left.

Although he had enjoyed being a part of this crew, Tanis doubted he would ever serve on board the Blue Horizon again. Once he had graduated from UA and was licensed, he would finally get to serve at a real medical facility and do what he wanted more than anything else in life — to help people. His homeworld was off-limits to the rest of the Planetary Alignment, and he had finally accepted the fact he would likely never set foot on his home soil again, so all he had now was to press onward and fulfill his calling.

It was with a light heart that Tanis entered Sickbay and set the letter and his slateboard on the table near the door. “Now, my friend,” he said cheerily, “let’s see what—”

The desert fox hesitated a moment when he saw Durant lying in a heap on the floor next to the roller stool.  He rushed to the bear’s side with a lump rising in his throat and pushed the stool away before dropping to his knees beside the loadmaster’s still form.  With effort, he pushed the grizzly onto his back and then dug his fingers into the thick fur of Durant’s neck to find the carotid artery. He located it with some difficulty, but Tanis felt a chill up his spine when he realized there was no pulse.

”No, Durant!” Tanis shouted, giving the bear’s chest a quick thump over the heart with a fist. He tilted Durant’s head back and tried to force air into his lungs. The bear’s chest rose and fell but there was otherwise no response. The fox quickly knelt at his side and started to pump firmly on his chest. “C’mon…C’mon!”

A moment later with no pulse, Tanis raced for the defibrillator on the nearby wall and primed it. It was a simple machine, built for a simple purpose. The shock was designed to jump start a heart into beating again, though at any other time it would feel like being kicked in the chest by a horse. Tanis pressed the ready paddles to the bear’s chest and activated it, causing both of them to lurch at the shock. There was no response.

As Tanis pushed through another cycle to resuscitate the bear, he could feel the warmth of tears growing behind his eyes. It had taken so long for Durant to come to him. Why had he waited for so long? Found earlier there may have been a chance to help, but as the time stretched on, the crushing weight of the inevitable lay before him. Fifteen minutes of valiant effort left the exhausted fox crumpled on his knees next to the bear with the charged defibrillator paddles still held in his limp hands, tears running in dark lines down the side of his bruised muzzle. That was how Samantha discovered him when she came in to see him.

NEVER SAY LONG GOODBYES

By Ted R. Blasingame

The blue-green sky of Pomen was partly cloudy, and although the afternoon sun tried to warm the proceedings below, it was an unseasonably cold day that chilled to the bone. Tiny white flowers, the last remnants of a fading autumn season, dotted the hillside that overlooked a small lake in the foothills of a weathered mountain range. A gentle breeze came in off the water and dried tears in the cheek fur of those gathered around a bronze marker and an alabaster urn beside it in the grass.

“…To this we release you. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” intoned an ursine minister as he lightly tossed a pinch of dirt over the marker. “From the dust we came, and to the dust we return. Leonardo Allen Durant, we bid you farewell.” He raised his hands, laid them both palms outward on his forehead, and then put them palms-down against his chest with his eyes closed. He recited something in a local language and then raised his head to look at those gathered around.

“The family of Leonardo Durant thanks you for coming to pay your respects,” he said to them. He gave a short bow and then gathered his black robes around him to leave. An aged grizzly ambled toward him and then placed a huge paw on the minister’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Sire,” he said in a gravelly voice. “My son would have appreciated your words over him. Nicely done.”

The black bear looked up and nodded. “I’d known Leo since he was a cub, Allen. I remember him as a bright student and an attentive listener in the church, and although I hadn’t seen him in recent years, I have fond memories of his kindness. However, I must leave you now, Mr. Durant. I have another service to perform across town.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Altaira Adams.”

“Ah yes, I’d heard about her accident a couple days ago. Poor girl. That was an awful way to go.”

“If you will excuse me, Allen.”

“Of course, Sire. Thank you again.”

The aged bear watched the minister depart and then he turned back toward the mourners who had already begun to mill around. Low voices comforted those who still cried, but there were others who chuckled softly, recounting some humorous moment in their relationship with his son. Allen Durant inhaled deeply, taking in the scents of the small cemetery. There were no tears in his eyes. Those had been shed three weeks earlier when he had received the news from the captain of the Blue Horizon.

Even when they landed two days ago and presented the local medical authorities with the body of his son they had kept in cold storage, he had not cried. It was difficult, however, to remain so with a host of friends and family who were open with their emotions, especially since Leo’s marker had been set into the earth next to that of his mother, Joan. He swallowed hard and then turned to his remaining son, James, who clung to his fiancée in remorse. Allen placed a hand on James’ shoulder and then drew the man to himself. It was then he allowed a few tears.

A group of friends who had known Leonardo huddled together near the headstone marker, none of them saying much. Captain Merlin Sinclair stood behind Samantha, his arms around her gently as they stared mutely at an alabaster urn. Both were dressed in their best garments, and if they had not been standing in a cemetery, onlookers might have thought their sartorial perfection the result of a high-class family. Taro stood nearby between Renny and Tanis, their heads together in quiet conversation, accompanied by a local male red fox of the cheetah’s acquaintance. A few steps away, Lorelei was on her knees in the grass so she could weep openly on Pockets’ shoulders for support.

Max stood a short distance away from his crewmates, his hand holding tight to the hand of a shapely Bengal tigress at his side. Wendy Bengoro had driven alone three hundred kilometers from their home on Pomen to meet her friend of the Blue Horizon. They had been near inseparable since they had been reunited. She knew that Max was trying to be strong, but she had felt his shoulders shudder during the eulogy.

Standing in a group to themselves was the crew of the Hidalgo Sun. They had arrived several days earlier than the Blue Horizon due to their scheduled delivery, but Merlin had granted them leave to stand by for the funeral. Of the Hidalgo, only two of its crew was personally familiar with Leo Durant. Jasper Porter stood downwind of the gathering, silently puffing on a cigar. He had largely ignored his former crewmates from the Blue Horizon, with the exception of a muted reunion with his brother. He did not look as if he mourned the grizzly bear’s death at all, but in reality, he was nauseated by it. Of those he had served with on board the Horizon, the ill-tempered raccoon had always respected Durant.

He watched Renny step away from a male fox he did not know and approach the Hidalgo’s crew. The cheetah said a few quiet words to Sheila and Riki and then moved between them to the back of the group. Patch watched him take Tsarina’s hand and lead her down the hill to the edge of the lake. They talked for several moments, and then the jaguar flung herself into the cheetah’s arms to bawl onto his shoulder. Renny stroked the fur of her cheeks and spoke words of comfort. Patch grunted to himself with a nod. He had wondered how long it would take those two to get together.

The stoic raccoon had not been the only one to observe the felines’ behavior. Carmen Burgess watched them with sad eyes, but when she saw Tsarina begin to cry, she felt a sudden lump in her throat. She turned and spoke to Mark Littlefeather, and the human immediately produced a handkerchief from the pocket of his suit coat. The polar bear thanked him, wiped her eyes with it, and then stepped away from the group. She walked across the lawn toward the alabaster urn and then knelt down in the grass beside it.

Samantha was aware that she and Durant had maintained a long-distance relationship, so she led Merlin away to give the woman a few moments alone. Carmen looked up gratefully as the couple walked toward their friend’s father and then she folded her hands together in her lap. She glanced back down at the receptacle that housed the loadmaster’s ashes and felt tears escape down her cheek fur. She reached out quietly and stroked the edge of the container as if touching him one last time.

“You were to be my future,” she whispered, “but our plans were not meant to be.” She swallowed back a sob and closed her eyes briefly, but more tears escaped anyway. “Why did this have to happen?” she asked as she wiped her cheeks with Littlefeather’s handkerchief.

Although they had not yet made their plans public, Carmen had intended to tender her resignation with the company in a month’s time to coincide with Leo’s upcoming retirement. They had discussed setting up a medical office together in his hometown here on Pomen and then get married in the spring.

Carmen covered her face with both hands and cried into them. Her shoulders racked with sobs until she felt a pair of strong arms pull her into an embrace. She did not look to see who it was, but blindly accepted the comfort as she allowed herself to shed her tears.

“Let it all out, dear,” Taro whispered into her ear. “Take all the time you need. He will understand.”

***

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Journal

My ship feels empty without Durant. I’d known him for many years and losing him was like having lost a brother. It hurts. More than I would have imagined. As I write this, I am sitting in the dark in my cabin on board the Blue Horizon, with only the light of a single candle burning for him on the desk before me. I have released the crew for now, as this is difficult for all of us, and everyone will need time to deal with this on their own.

With Taro, we had no finality if she had actually died. With Renny, it was a slow time of waiting for the inevitable. With Durant, his death is past tense. It’s happened. It’s done. It was a complete shock to us all. Tanis told me that he had suspected something was wrong for months, but Durant wouldn’t allow him to examine him… until it was too late. Why did he wait? That seems to be the question on everyone’s mind. He never procrastinated about anything else.

Tanis feels guilty that he went into his quarters and read his mail that day. He feels that if he had gone on to Sickbay with Durant instead of stopping first in his quarters, he might have been able to save him. No one has blamed him but himself. There is no way he could have known those few moments were crucial, but all Tanis can seem to remember is the final look that Durant gave him, and his ‘thanks for everything’. It was almost as if Durant knew his time was at hand.

If nothing else, this has served to strengthen Tanis’ resolve to complete his medical training, and he’s moved forward in his plans to leave us for the University of Alexandrius. This was a difficult time to concentrate on hiring a replacement medic for the Blue Horizon, but Renny came to our rescue. He told me that he had a friend right on Pomen who was a local doctor that had been looking for a change of scenery. He prompted me to contact him, but even with the increase in business for my company, I doubted I could match the salary of a fully-licensed doctor; Renny assured me that what I was paying Tanis more than surpassed what his friend was getting in the backwater town clinic he was serving in, but I was dubious.

Upon his recommendation, I contacted Dr. Jerry Somner and tentatively presented him with an offer. It turns out Renny was right. Following a quick com-link interview, the doctor accepted the salary and position without hesitation and thanked me for the opportunity. By the time we traveled from Fyn to Pomen, Jerry had settled his affairs and met us at the home of Durant’s brother, James. I would have wished for better circumstances to introduce our new doctor to the crew, but he handled our free emotions in stride and was respectful at the funeral. I assured him that he would see us under better times.

Dr. Somner is a red fox, but unlike Taro, he is not Hestran. Renny has told me a little bit about him, but confessed that it’s been a number of years since they were colleagues in flight school. He’s an excellent pilot and showed enthusiasm when I told him of my requirement that my crew be able to fly the ship in an emergency; he has a passion for flying and even offered to take over the primary pilot’s duties. Renny covertly told me that Jerry was quite a womanizer, but to his credit, I’ve seen no signs of this during our time of mourning; such people are known to prey on the distraught when emotions are raw, but he’s taken no advantage of the situation.

Perhaps Jerry has settled down and matured since he and Renny knew one another in school. I just hope this doesn’t cause a conflict between he and Renny about Taro – the same valid concern I had when Tanis came back to us. He seems introspective, but is experienced and knowledgeable with current medical technologies. I don’t know all that much about his personal background, but there will be plenty of time to get better acquainted once we’ve launched again.

Just when we’ll be space-borne again is still undecided. I’ve had the home office juggle our schedules around and try to explain our situation to our ever-growing list of customers. I’m almost afraid we’ll lose a few to our competitors if I don’t get my ships back in operation soon, but I want to give everyone a chance to mourn first. There are few aboard the Hidalgo Sun who were close to Durant, knowing him only as an associate on their sister ship, but Carmen is the one I’ve been worried about the most.

I suppose I could have brought her onto the Horizon and assign Jerry to the Hidalgo, but in one brief visit onto our ship to let her see if there was anything from Durant’s quarters she wanted, she burst into tears just from his lingering scent. I realized then that making her a part of the Horizon’s crew would not necessarily be beneficial. She told me of their personal plans, which was not entirely surprising to me, but she said that since such plans were now gone, she would remain with the Hidalgo Sun and abandon her thoughts on resigning.

Captain Rezo will be launching his vessel tomorrow to pick up his mail-quota and our overdue delivery of automobile parts from Pomen to Earth, and Carmen has promised me that she’ll be okay to go. She has had a long visit with the Durant family, and despite her loss, she’s ready to be on her way.

As for the Blue Horizon, I’ve authorized another three days of downtime for the crew. It feels like it’s still too soon to be thinking about hiring a replacement for Durant, but eventually I need my ship back in operation; I’m currently without a loadmaster, as well as the senior accountant for my whole business. I’m still in mourning, but it’s time to move on. The funeral was only yesterday afternoon, but Durant died nearly a month ago. He had a great mind for business and I am sure he would agree with me. I need to get my business back on track.

Leo Durant was my friend, and although he was of a different species, I gladly considered him part of my family. I will miss him.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

***

Merlin closed his journal and looked at it with a sigh. He stood up after a moment and blew out his candle, dropping the room into darkness. Time to get to work, he thought to himself. He had to do a little research and then he would need to contact the home office after he talked with Taro.

Rather than stay free in their cabins on the Horizon, the collective crew had rented rooms at a local hotel during their stay on Pomen in Arctos, the Durant family’s hometown. As with their typical planetary downtime, the lupine captain liked to spend time away from the ship. Although the vessel had better com equipment than most hotels might afford, they were equipped with decent enough systems. Merlin felt he would make extensive use of it today.

He left his den and then rode the lift down to the cargo deck. When he stepped out into the empty hold, something caught his eye. He glanced over at the loadmaster’s office and noted that the light was on over Durant’s desk; he was sure it had been off when he had come on board earlier. He frowned and made his way to the room. When he stepped inside, he did not see anyone and wondered how the light came to be on.

He reached for the pad, but hesitated when he heard a sniffle. Merlin walked slowly around to the other side of the desk and then leaned over between the desk and Durant’s large chair. There on the floor beneath the oak desk was Pockets. He had his arms wrapped around his knees and his eyes glistened from recent tears as he looked up at his captain.

“I can’t seem to stop crying…” the raccoon whispered apologetically.

Merlin pushed the chair back against the wall and then knelt down on the floor beside him. He put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a tired smile. “It’s okay, Jerad,” he said compassionately. “Durant was with us a long time. It will be hard for a while.”

“I know, but… I was fine until the funeral.”

“Come on out of there,” Merlin said gently. “I’m heading back to the hotel. Let’s leave this place for a while.”

The raccoon nodded somberly and crawled out beside his captain. He pulled a handkerchief from one of the pockets of his familiar coveralls and blew his nose on it noisily. Merlin stood up, helped his chief engineer to his feet, and then led him around the desk. He looked back at Durant’s chair briefly and then shut off the light.

***

The ride back to their hotel was uneventful. Merlin drove the rented passenger van through the streets of the small town without a word and Pockets stared out the window at the passing trees. The quaint houses in Arctos had been built over a hundred years earlier, but had been taken care of exceptionally well. Durant had been reared in this community, and it was easy to see where he had gotten his easygoing personality. Here, life was quiet without being backward. Many of those old homes had the latest satellite multicom systems within their walls and there were recent model vehicles all around.

Children played happily in their yards and Pockets noticed that while not exclusive, the majority of the population was ursine. If Carmen had gone through with her plan to settle here without Durant, she would have fit in well. She was not xenophobic, but in a medical career it was always simpler if you only had to concentrate upon the anatomy of only a few species.

Merlin pulled up to their hotel, a recently constructed lodge next to a large, tree-filled park. There was a small stone amphitheater at the far end of the recreational area and a cluster of children was gathered at its center stage. The wolf smiled when he saw them, thinking of his sister’s cubs. He missed seeing them and wished there was a way he could spend more time around them during their formative years, but as an interstellar captain, he did not see that as possible. He would have to remember to call Shannon soon. It had been a while since their last communication.

He parked the van and Pockets hopped out of the other side. They walked into the plain lobby of the single-story building and saw Max and Wendy sitting on the couch in the common room. Pockets waved and headed off to his room, but Merlin stopped to visit with the young couple.

***

“But where did it come from?”

“I pulled it out of yer sister’s ear,” Tanis answered with a smile as he handed a small copper coin to a child in front of him.

“You didn’t!” exclaimed the unconvinced bear cub. “I was diggin’ in her ear a minit ago and didn’t see nuthin’ in there before!”

Jerry laughed and his eyes crinkled merrily. “Why were you digging in your sister’s ear?”

The young boy stuck his hands in the pockets of his overalls and shrugged. “I dunno,” he mumbled.

Tanis and Jerry sat on the edge of the amphitheater stage in the park next to their hotel, surrounded by children. They had been casually discussing the known medical histories of the various members of the Blue Horizon earlier. Since Jerry would soon be looking after the physical well-being of his new crewmates, he had wanted to know as much about them from their current physician as he could. Children playing nearby had come over to them one by one, curious to see two different kinds of foxes in their park. For the majority of the kids, it was the first time any of them had ever seen a Fur from another world before.

Before long, Tanis was entertaining them with sleight-of-hand illusions, wowing the children with magic! As with every group, however, there were always skeptics.

“You put that coin in her ear!” the cub complained.

Tanis only shook his head and laughed. “No,” he said with the first real grin he had had in weeks, “I pulled the coin out of her ear.”

The little girl cub with the financial ear canal looked up at him with wide eyes and promptly stuck a finger in her ear, obviously feeling for more coins.

There was a sharp whistle and all the children looked up in unison. A short brown bear near a school bus at the street waved them toward her and one of the other kids said, “Miss Collins wants us!”

The little skeptic looked up at Tanis and grinned. “Bye-bye, foxes,” he said and then ran away with the other cubs.

“You really like kids, don’t you?” Jerry asked as he stretched and yawned. Tanis turned back to the doctor and nodded.

“Yes, I do,” he replied. “They’re such a joy to be around and it’s often easy to make them laugh.”

The red fox looked at him with a tilt to his head. “Is pediatrics the field of study you intend to focus on?” he asked.

Tanis shook his head. “I once considered it, but after recent events, I’m thinking more along the lines of cardiology.”

“I can see where that would become important to you,” Jerry mused, “but you have a nice gift dealing with children. I wouldn’t discard that possibility if I had your talent with kids. The little carpet-commandoes are a mystery to me, and I’ve been a general practitioner for years.”

Tanis laughed. “Well, Doc, ya won’t have any of them to worry about on board the Horizon. Max is the youngest ya’ll have to deal with, and he won’t give ya any trouble at all.”

“What’s the story with that tigress he’s been orbiting? She isn’t another new member of the crew, is she?”

“Wendy? No, he hooked up with that cute lass while we were recuperating over in Adasa. They’ve maintained a long-distance relationship ever since.”

“Adasa? Oh yeah, the crash Renny told me about,” Jerry replied. “I was off to Kantus when you guys were here on Pomen. I didn’t get back until you had left.”

“We were there three months,” Tanis said. “What were ya doing on Kantus for so long?”

Jerry smiled. “One of my kid sisters got married and the whole family helped her and her mate build their new home. My brothers and I did most of the construction on the place.”

“Sounds like ya come from a big family.”

“My folks had eight kits – four boys and four girls. I was the youngest male and I have two sisters younger than I am.”

“Everybody on Kantus?”

“No, we’re scattered across the Planetary Alignment, but we all try to get back to see Mom and Dad whenever we can.”

“Well, if ya come from such a large group, ya should have no trouble with a crew of eight – so long as ya can stand being cooped up with them inside the ship for weeks at a time with no way to get away from anyone.”

Jerry rubbed his chin and nodded. “I suppose I can always lock my cabin door when I need time alone, but I’m looking forward to serving on the Blue Horizon.”

“It’s only a freighter, ya know…”

Jerry grinned. “I know that doesn’t sound very glamorous to you, but after spending years in a tiny clinic in a backwater town, I’m ready to see new sights. The Horizon may only be a freighter, but to me she’s a cruiser and I am anxious to fly her.”

“It sounds like ya and I will be trading places,” Tanis quipped. “Yer a doctor wanting a job that requires the skills of no more than a medic, and I’m a medic who wants to be a fully-licensed physician.”

“That about sums it up.”

“Then I wish ya luck,” Tanis said. “As for me, I’m looking forward to getting back to medical studies again. I’ve tried to keep up with new advancements online, but there’s only so much ya can learn outside a classroom or a real application.” He glanced up and the red fox followed his gaze. A large crowd was moving toward them from the hotel, consisting of the full crews of both the Blue Horizon and the Hidalgo Sun. He hopped down from the short stage and Jerry followed him to the outer wall.

“I wonder what’s up,” Tanis mused.

Jerry leaned toward him. “Thanks for taking the time out to talk with me, Tanis,” he said in a quiet voice. “I think I have a fair idea what everyone is like from what you’ve told me, as well as my brief exposure to them over the last couple days.”

“I think ya will do fine. Anything else?”

“I tried talking with Dr. Burgess about the crew she oversees with your other ship, but she doesn’t seem to want to talk to me.”

Tanis shook his head. “Don’t mind her,” he said. “Merlin told me that she and Durant were planning a future together. His loss has hit her harder than everyone else, so it’s not just yerself that she’s being quiet around.”

“Ah, okay. However, I do have a question concerning your bunny, Miss Lorelei.”

Tanis smirked at his formal use of Lori’s name. “Yes?”

“Does she always move in on the new guys so quickly?”

The fennec fox laughed. “Yes, actually. She does. She is a rabbit, after all. What’d she do, crawl into bed with ya?”

“Uh, nothing so bold,” Jerry said with a frown, “but I did feel as if I were being propositioned.”

“Knowing her, ya were…” Tanis said in a whisper. “However, from what I heard of yer reputation, ya should not mind her free spirit.”

Jerry narrowed his eyes at him. “What’s Renny been telling you?”

Tanis hesitated for a brief instant. That was not the reaction he had expected. “He said ya were quite the womanizing playboy.”

Jerry shook his head with a frown. “He should talk, from the way he’s been all over Taro and that jag lady, Tsarina.”

Tanis laughed. “Renny’s been focused on Taro for a long time, but Tsarina has been after him for a while now, not the other way around.”

“Ah... well, Renny has a selective memory. Yes, I’ve enjoyed the company of ladies in my time, but I’ve settled down in recent years. He knows that.” He grinned at the tan fox and added, “Spend time in a backwater town where the selection is limited, and you’d settle down too.”

“So ya still like the ladies,” Tanis remarked.

Jerry laughed out loud. “Very much,” he replied. “My tastes have not changed, but I don’t chase every tail I see anymore. However, I may have to investigate Miss Lorelei a little closer, if it won’t upset any of the guys on board.”

Tanis put a hand on his new friend’s shoulder. “As I said, she’s a free spirit and everyone knows it. Yer welcome to give her any attention she will have.”

There was laughing and joking from the voices of the mingled crews when the entourage approached the small amphitheater, filed in through the opening in the wall and began to sit down among the stone seats. Merlin did not feel like looming over everyone, so he moved to a position below the stage instead of up on it. He stood in the middle so that everyone could see him and Rezo took a seat on the front row. Jerry and Tanis sat down three rows up, next to the bobcat, Danaher. He nodded to them and Tanis leaned toward him.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

The feline gestured around at the gathered personnel. “Is a meeting of staffs,” he replied. “Merlin-captain says must talk, be short.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks.”

“Is welcome.”

“Hello, Mr. Tanis,” said a voice below him.

The medic smiled down into the amber eyes of the tigress that sat beside Max. He put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Hello, Wendy. Is Merlin about to announce that ya have signed onto our ship?”

Wendy giggled and shook her head. “No, silly. I’m just being nosey and decided to sit in on the meeting.”

“It would have been rude to leave her back at the hotel,” Max added when Tanis leaned forward, resting his elbows on the mechanic’s head.

“This will be a short meeting,” Merlin said in a loud voice, drawing everyone’s attention. The rock walls, seats and stage of the amphitheater carried the sound easily and he flinched at just how well his voice traveled. He smiled and continued in a quieter tone, “Due to recent events, I’m about to make a few changes to the company and thought everyone should be in on it. This is the largest spot I could think of to hold our meeting. Naturally, we don’t have a large vidscreen to stage a teleconference with the ladies at the home office, but Samantha has them online on her DataCom and will relay any comments they may have.”

He cleared his throat as he looked over the slateboard tablet in his hand and his voice took on a more somber tone. “This is not an easy subject, but one that has to be covered. Due to the loss of Durant…” —the amphitheater went silent instantly— “there are some gaps left in our personnel, and not just in the crew of my ship. Not only was he the loadmaster for the Horizon, Durant was also the senior accountant for the company. All financial transactions for the home office, the Hidalgo Sun and the Blue Horizon were given to him for tracking in the company books. This included your salaries and pay transfers, as well as expenses for parts, groceries, supplies, all insurance claims and processes.”

He cleared his throat again and looked around the solemn faces that stared back at him. “In a regular freighting business such as ours, all the accounting work would be handled from a central office, rather than a cubicle on one of the ships. I should have offered Durant a desk job at the home office as soon as we’d established it, but it never occurred to me. Leo Durant was my friend and accountant, and had been with me for nearly ten years, and although the home office was originally his suggestion, nothing was ever said about setting up the accounting department there.”

He cleared his throat and fidgeted with the slateboard in his hands. “As everyone’s expected, I will soon be interviewing applicants for a loadmaster for the Blue Horizon. Taro and I will take care of that, but for the role of senior accountant, I want that position based at the home office as it should be. I’ve already been in contact with the SPF, who will help screen the security credentials of the applicants for such a sensitive job, as well as coordinating with the ladies of the home office. Until such time as this position can be filled, Samantha and Danaher will be responsible for the accounts on their respective ships, and I will handle everyone’s pay myself. Captain Kegawa will oversee the pay transfers for the crew of the Hidalgo, so that no one will be overlooked in getting their pay. Likewise, Rezo and I will handle any insurance issues that come up, but hopefully that’s something we won’t have to deal with for a while.”

He put one hand in a pocket of his trousers and then looked straight at Taro. “I’ve also been thinking of implementing another of Durant’s suggestions, one that could help our delivery schedules, but there is someone I need to talk to first before I announce what it is. Any questions?” No one said anything for several long moments, but Samantha quietly answered something the ladies at the home office wanted clarified. Merlin pulled the hand from his pocket and then gestured toward the fennec fox seated next to Danaher.

“In other news, I’m sure everyone knows about the opportunity that Tanis received concerning his career, but in case anyone from either ship has somehow missed out, Arktanis TeVann has been accepted by the University of Alexandrius to continue his medical studies.” Half-hearted clapping echoed around the amphitheater, but Merlin noted some of the faces brightened to have the subject moved away from Durant.

“He will be leaving us tomorrow afternoon, so you’ll want to say your good-byes to him tonight. Also, for those who haven’t met him yet, Dr. Jerry Somner has graciously accepted our invitation to serve as the Horizon’s medical officer.” There was more clapping, a little livelier. “Tanis has been filling him in on all your dirty little secrets…” The crew of the Horizon groaned collectively, but Merlin continued with a grin. “…so you’ll want to get in on his good side.”

“Please replace the needle syringes with a new air-hypo!” Pockets said plaintively over his shoulder at the male fox. “The last time we all got sick, Tanis took too much pleasure giving us shots!”

Jerry knew he had to have a sense of humor working with this crew, so he looked down at the raccoon with a sly grin. “Treat me well,” he said to him, “and I’ll consider it.”

“Chocolate or whisky?” Pockets asked with a mock expression of wide-eyed innocence.

“Either or both… among other things,” the physician said with amusement. There were chuckles in the crowd at the exchange, and Merlin knew some of the ice had been broken. They still mourned the loss of Durant, but for the moment they had something else to think about.

“Do we get to initiate the new guy?” Renny asked with a grin.

“What do you mean by initiate?” Jerry wanted to know.

“We could all line up with wooden paddles and have you run past us!”

“Hey, that sounds like a good idea!” Max quipped. “I’m all for it!”

Jerry looked down at the German shepherd seated in the row before him and said in a voice loud enough for all to hear, “Pockets, your helper mechanic had better stay healthy. He just earned a needle the next time he gets sick – him and Renny, both!”

“Hey!” the cheetah exclaimed.

Wendy punched Max in the arm. “You deserved that,” she teased.

“Captain Sinclair?” another voice called out. Everyone looked down at the first row to the red panda that had sat quietly during the recent exchange.

“Yes, Rezo?” Merlin asked.

“You said you had something you were going to implement in the business to help our schedules,” the short captain replied. “Can you tell us anything more than that? My ship leaves to pick up our shipment to Earth tomorrow morning and I’d like to have an idea of your plan before we leave.”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I can,” Merlin said with a sideways glance at Taro, “but I need to talk to someone first.”

“How long will that take?”

”As long as necessary, Captain.”

“Can’t you make it quick?”

Merlin gave the panda a dark look. “I will let you know when I have—”

“Listen, we don’t have much time, so if you think you have someth—”

Merlin took three long strides and stopped abruptly in front of the diminutive red panda. He towered over Rezo, his lips curled back in a snarl with a low growl in his throat. “Mind your place, Captain,” he said in a menacing tone. “I will tell you when I am ready to tell you, and not before! Got that?”

Rezo cowered. “Y-yes, sir…” he squeaked.

Merlin stared down at him with piercing amber eyes, daring his subordinate to argue with him further. The back-talk was uncharacteristic of the red panda, but the wolf had always been intolerant of such disrespect.

Taro stood up from her seat next to Renny and Tsarina and made her way down to the front. She walked directly to the wolf and whispered something in his ear. He growled lowly, but then nodded toward her and gestured briskly toward the stage. Without a word to the gathered crowd or another glance at Rezo, Merlin led the vixen to a large evergreen tree that grew at the side of the stage and then bent his head low toward her.

“What did you need to ask me?” Taro whispered, her orange eyes smiling warmly at him. She clasped her hands behind her and leaned in toward him.

Merlin sighed and gave her an embarrassed smile as his anger melted away. “I wanted to wait until this evening and take you out for dinner to talk to you about this.”

“That sounds serious. Were you going to propose to me?” she asked with a grin.

Merlin chuckled softly. She sometimes knew ways to diffuse his anger. “You can’t have me. I’m already promised to Samantha! However, what I need to ask is a proposition of sorts,” he replied to her teasing smile. “On at least a couple recent occasions, Durant suggested that I purchase another ship for the business to help out with the workload.”

“We have been getting more requests for our services than we’ve had time to do, even with both ships,” Taro agreed with a nod of her head, “but you don’t need my input for that, Merlin.”

“Not for that,” he agreed, “but a new ship will need a captain and I would like it to be you.” Her eyes grew wide and he added, “It’s a big responsibility, but it comes with a significant raise in salary. I think you’re perfect for the job.”

Taro swallowed and hesitated. “Thank you, Merlin,” she said after a long moment of thought. “I’m flattered that you thought of me, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather stay on board the Horizon.”

Merlin tilted his head to the side, as if unsure he had heard her correctly. “You don’t want your own command?” he asked in a near whisper.

Taro chuckled. “Of course I do,” she admitted, “but I have higher aspirations. I’m aiming for the flagship of your fleet! If you and Sammy ever decide to settle down somewhere and raise some pups, or you decide to retire from command of your ship, I’ll gladly accept promotion at that time.”

“You’re the third person who has suggested that I step down to raise a family,” the wolf said with narrowed eyes. “You all just can’t wait for me to leave, can you?”

Taro stared back at him in surprise, but then recognized the twinkle in his eyes despite his scowl. She laughed and gave him a hug in front of everyone. “Don’t let it bother you, boss,” she said quietly. “If you don’t step down for another lifetime, I’ll still be there beside you. Thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid you’ll have to find another captain.”

Merlin smiled at her and then turned back toward the crowd that had begun to murmur amongst themselves. The two of them walked back to the center of attention and then Taro made her way back to her seat. The wolf gifted Rezo with a brief stare, making the red panda cringe, but then he looked back out over the expectant faces with a softer expression.

“Due to our increasing workload,” he said in a voice to carry, “I am going to add another ship to our company.” He held up a hand to silence sudden remarks and regain their attention. “Since Captain Kegawa was too impatient to give me the chance to ask her formally over dinner tonight, I just offered the captaincy of the new ship to Taro,” he said with a smile. A few claps started up, but the wolf held up his hand for quiet again. “She turned me down, however. It seems she intends to eventually challenge me for control of the Blue Horizon.” There were a few chuckles at his choice of words.

“That decision having just been made, I will be conducting a series of interviews for another captain and a whole new crew over the next week.” He looked at Rezo. “Go ahead and make preparations to launch as planned. I will inform you of the details once the new sister ship has been purchased, staffed and put into operation.” He turned toward Samantha and gestured toward the DC in her lap.

“Taro and I will be coordinating things for the new personnel with the home office every step of the way, so there’s likely to be some overtime in your near future, ladies.” Samantha listened to the unit for Cindy’s response and then gave Merlin a thumbs-up gesture.

Merlin set his slateboard up on the stage behind him and then put both hands into his pockets, looking over the faces of both crews. “We’ve had a rough time in the past few months, from the situation on Nalirra, the terrorist attacks against the Hidalgo Sun and the home office, injuries to Mark and Renny, the business on Fyn with the Basilisk, the passing of a friend, to changes in the business and its personnel. However, as always, it is time to move on and get back into a routine. The Hidalgo Sun will be leaving tomorrow morning and Tanis will be departing the same afternoon, but the crew of the Blue Horizon will be here on Pomen just a little while longer.”

“Vacation time?”

The wolf shook his head. “Not this time, Pockets. While Taro and I are conducting interviews here and through the home office, I’m placing you in charge of shopping for a new freighter to add to our inventory, which you will then get the others to help you get it stocked with standard supplies and tools for routine flight. We need to do this quickly. I want the ship ready to fly by the time I’ve hired the last person, so they can launch shortly thereafter. We’re nearly a month behind schedule on our entire timetable due to recent events and the new ship is going to help us make it up.”

“What are you going to call the new ship?” Riki asked.

Merlin shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t really given it much thought yet, but there’s still time. I might have a name that would work, but I would need specific permission from someone else before I can use it. You’ll all be informed when it’s all done, unless Captain Kegawa is in need of that information right now as well.” He glanced at Rezo, who quickly averted his eyes. “I’ll have a conference call between the home office and all three ships to introduce everyone when it’s time.”

The lupine captain stood there and looked at his employees for a moment. “As soon as we’ve wrapped up things here, we’ll be moving the Horizon to nearby Fryerton and we can put out a call for the positions for interviews there. Are there any further questions?”

When no one else spoke up, he raised his hands and said, “Okay, that’s all I have. You’re free to do what you need to do for today, but we’ll need to get right on this first thing tomorrow. Captain Kegawa, I want to speak to you before you go.”

Rezo got up and stepped forward as everyone else dispersed. Many from both crews cast sidelong glances at the two captains as Merlin led the red panda toward the stage. When they stopped beside the rock wall of the platform, Rezo turned and looked up at his boss.

Merlin remained silent and did not do anything but watch the rest of the people leave, but when a couple from Rezo’s crew tried to linger to listen in, he cleared his throat and gave them a stern stare that served as a mental command to leave. Once the final body was out of the area and heading back toward the hotel, the wolf turned to face the red panda.

“As someone with authority over others,” he began in a low, throaty voice, “you should realize that you placed yourself in a precarious position by challenging me openly.” He snarled, bared his teeth at the cowering panda, and stuck his nose into Rezo’s face. “Want to challenge me now?” he growled.

“N-no, s-sir!” the short captain stuttered. “I-I didn’t m-mean…”

“Then tell me what you did mean, Mister Kegawa.” Merlin asked harshly, his words echoed around the amphitheater. “Insubordination will not be tolerated, especially by a captain who thinks he’s above his employer!” He growled deeply in his throat and opened his mouth to say more, but then he noticed just how large Rezo’s eyes had grown in fear. He swallowed his tirade and straightened up, but never broke eye contact.

“Due to the amount of work we’ve had, sometimes doubling up multiple customers having their material shipped to the same places, you’ve almost paid off your loan on the Hidalgo Sun,” he said in a quieter voice. “If you wish to terminate your employment with me, Captain, you can take the ship so you can start up your own business. I will sign off on the loan and we can forget the rest of what you owe me, but since your personnel are contracted with me, I should have another ship soon they can serve on. You can hand-pick a new crew as you see fit.”

Rezo swallowed twice and then finally blinked his eyes, which had gone dry. He dropped his gaze and stared at his feet. “N-no…” he said meekly. “We’ve d-done much better working for you that we did on our own. Please let me stay with the company. I… I apologize for my public outburst. Please forgive my arrogance and my impatience.”

Merlin stared unblinking at him a moment, and then he nodded. “Apology accepted, Captain.” He motioned the panda to follow him to the stone seats and then the two of them sat down. “This has been a trying time for all of us,” he said in normal conversational tones. “Even though it’s been nearly a month since I was beaten, I’m still sore in places – and then I’ve been wrought with emotional pain over my friend’s death.” He looked over at Rezo and sighed. “I admit that I’ve always been testy when my authority is challenged, but this was not a good time to try it with me.”

“I’m sorry,” the red panda said again. “As you said, we’re behind schedule and since coming to work for you, I’ve been afraid of losing any of our customers to a bad schedule as I did all too often before you came along and rescued me twice. I don’t deal with down-time very well and I’m more than ready to get back to work, sir, but I didn’t mean to usurp your authority. I was flustered and spoke out of turn, but I won’t let it happen again.”

Merlin gave him a nod. “I accept that,” he said, “and I believe you’re right. Get your ship ready for an early launch tomorrow, Captain. Pomen Air Command should have no trouble granting you launch privileges from the local airfield. We’re far enough from standard air traffic that you should be able to take off as soon as you’re ready.”

“Thank you,” Rezo said in relief. “We’ll leave at dawn.”

***

Wendy leaned in, gently pressed her lips against Max’s, and wrapped her arms around his neck. The canine pulled her close and returned the kiss with closed eyes. They stood like that for a long moment outside the entrance to the hotel. The Bengal tigress had spent several days in a hotel room next to one Max shared with Pockets, but now it was time for her to return home. She had just begun pre-medical school and could not afford any more time away, but she had become fond of him and she was reluctant to leave the star-stranger.

“I wish you could come with us on the ship,” Max said quietly when they finally parted.

“I wish you could come with me back home,” Wendy replied. The young couple smiled at one another at their exchange and then the canine pulled her close in a warm hug.

“Be sure to write to me and let me know how your studies are going,” Max said. “I want to hear about everything.”

“Likewise,” the tigress replied, staring into his ice blue eyes. “I know you’ll be starting your own online college courses soon. It won’t be the same as actually attending a campus, but you’ll get a better education than what you have now.” She held up his left hand and then tapped his stubby middle finger with one of hers. “I’ll let Dad know you’re interested in a prosthetic replacement. He should get back with you with some information soon.”

Max nodded and then gently put a hand on either side of her head. He peered back into her yellow eyes and said, “I’m going to miss you, Wendy,” he said. “A lot.”

“I’m going to miss you too, Max,” she said. The tigress gently licked the side of his muzzle and then turned away.

Max put her suitcase into the back seat of her convertible levicar as she climbed into the front seat. She activated the repulsors and then looked back at him. “Take care, sweetheart,” she told him. All he could do was give her a sad smile when she raised the suspension landing gear and put the vehicle in motion.

Max watched his feline girlfriend float away and did not take his eyes off of her until she turned a corner far up the street.

***

Merlin rubbed his eyes as Taro entered the last of their notes into the slateboard on the desk before her. They had rented office space in Fryerton for a few days to conduct interviews and the last applicant had just left to await their decision in the reception room where Jerry and Samantha kept an eye on things.

“Well, what do you think?” Taro asked with a yawn.

Merlin looked over at her and shook his head. “I wouldn’t have believed there were so many out-of-work, ex-freighting personnel in this area. How many have we interviewed this morning?”

“Twenty-three,” the vixen replied after consulting the slateboard. “Unfortunately, all of them fit the qualification requirements for the Horizon’s loadmaster.”

“I guess it comes down to their personalities, then,” Merlin muttered. “Which one do we want sealed up in the ship with us for weeks at a time?”

“Are you asking me, or thinking aloud?”

Merlin rubbed his eyes again. “Thinking aloud,” he answered, “but I want your opinion, too.”

“Okay, in that case, I would say it’s a toss-up between these three: Conroy, Legrand or Kodai.” Merlin looked at the notes she pointed out and took several moments to reread them.

“Hmmm… the mastiff… is he one of those?”

“Yes, that was Damien Legrand. He’s the one who used to work for the Leaway Moving Company of Tanthe. You were thinking about him?”

The wolf nodded. “He seemed to be the most relaxed when he came in here, and probably the most experienced as well. He certainly knew how to make quick mental calculations for weight distribution in the cargo bay of an Okami freighter.”

“Do you want to speak with these three once more before making your decision?”

Merlin studied Taro’s notes and then glanced at the clock. “No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he replied. “It’s almost time to take Tanis to the airfield to catch his shuttle, so we won’t have time right now. Besides… I think Mr. Legrand is probably the best of the lot.” He stood up, stretched and then fluffed the fur on his tail where it had been pressed into the back of the chair for so long. “Go ahead and thank all the applicants for their time and send them all away – except Legrand. I’ll need Samantha to do a local background check on him, and I want Jerry to give him a complete physical this afternoon. If our new doctor gives him a clean bill of health, he’s got the job. “

“Okay, I’ll thank the other applicants while you speak with Sam and Jerry.”

Merlin touched the vixen lightly on the arm when she stood up; Taro looked at him curiously. “Are you okay?” she asked.

The lupine captain sighed and then gave her a weary look. “Durant was the one who always sat in on interviews with me,” he answered. “It felt strange not having him in here today… and stranger yet to be interviewing applicants for his job. Thanks for helping me with this. I don’t think I could have done it alone this time.”

Taro gave him a warm smile. “I understand what you’re feeling, Merlin,” she whispered. “You’re welcome.”

***

Tanis turned to look at his former crewmates and he gave them a friendly smile. With all the events of the past weeks, there had not been much time to get with each person as he had originally intended, but now time had run out. He had just checked in luggage containing all his possessions and the lot of them had followed him to the departure terminal, talking animatedly amongst themselves. Everyone fell silent as he met each pair of eyes. Some smiled back at him, while others looked remorse at his leaving.

He started to say something to his extended family, but he could not seem to get the words across his tongue. He set his carry-on bag on the floor at his feet and struggled with the words. Taro took the initiative with a smile and gifted him with a brief kiss on the lips, and then she pulled him to her in a warm embrace. He closed his eyes briefly and took in her scent for the last time.

“The shuttle for Merriam Flight 1621 to Alexandrius is now boarding,” an electronic voice said from the facility’s overhead speakers. “Ticket holders may now begin boarding flight number sixteen-twenty-one, bound for Alexandrius.”

Tanis forced himself to pull away from the vixen and then he looked at the other faces around him. “Never say long goodbyes,” he said hoarsely. “That’s what my Gram always used to tell me, but now it looks like I have no choice. I have to go now.”

Samantha stepped forward and licked him lightly on the cheek and then Lorelei pushed her way forward to do the same. Pockets and Max moved in simultaneously to shake his hand and he wound up taking them together with a grin, one on each hand.

Jerry eased up beside him and offered his hand as well. “Good luck, Tanis,” he said. “Study hard and the rewards will be worth it.”

The desert fox nodded as he shook his hand and then turned to Merlin who had appeared at his other side. “Tanis,” the wolf said quickly, “all the work you’ve done with us is well appreciated. Thanks for everything.”

“Thanks, boss,” the fox replied with a smile. “It’s sure been interesting working for ya.”

“Yeah, but I’ll be the one to miss you the most,” Renny said. Tanis looked up into the eyes of his friendly rival and suddenly felt moisture rimming his own. He had enjoyed sparring with the cheetah, but regretted their recent arguments.

“Thanks for putting up with me,” he said in a choked voice. “I know I’ve been a pain in the tail lately, but…”

“Forget it, Tanis,” Renny said with a grin as he embraced him. “I’ll probably get bored without you getting my fur up. You take care of yourself.”

“This is the final boarding call for Merriam Flight 1621 to Alexandrius. Ticket holders must board the shuttle now.”

Tanis looked apologetically to his friends. “I have to go…” he said. Before anyone could give him any further well wishes, he picked up his bag and sprinted toward the ticket clerk. He pulled his slateboard from the bag’s side pocket and showed his ticket to a young canine by the door; the desert fox then disappeared without a look back.

Merlin’s crew gathered by the large tinted windows and lingered a while until the shuttle launched toward the primary transport vessel in orbit. Nobody said anything as the crewmembers of the Blue Horizon turned and walked out of the terminal, several of them with eyes that were not dry.

***

Tina Winters lowered her head and tail submissively, but looked at the vidscreen with steady yellow eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Sinclair,” the white wolf said with genuine appreciation. “I know you have done a thorough security check on me, and I want you to know your finances will be safe with me.”

Merlin’s face stared back at her with a warm smile. “Welcome aboard, Ms. Winters,” he said as he reached up to adjust a new nautical hat between his ears. “Once Cindy’s set you up with a desk at the home office and has activated your account on the company system, contact me and we’ll arrange to transfer the company books and records to you for immediate processing. You will have the home office accounts, as well as those of the Blue Horizon and the Hidalgo Sun. My chief engineer has located another Okami-class freighter for the company, but I don’t think you’ll be in place before we process the financial paperwork on it. I’m afraid you’ve got your work cut out for you – likely some long hours of overtime until the transfers have been completed.”

Tina nodded and looked at him with a confident gaze. “I understand the situation you are currently in, sir, and I will try to get settled in as quickly as possible. I’m used to working long hours, and I’m sure I can help you get everything in order in short time.”

“Very good, Tina. You were highly recommended and I’m glad to have you on the team. My company is informal, so you don’t have to call me Mister Sinclair now that you’re a part of us.”

“How do you prefer to be addressed, sir?”

“First off, you can drop the ‘sir’ when you talk to me. You can call me Merlin, captain, boss, or anything similar. I’m sure you’ll find other creative names for me after you’ve worked with us for a while, but I’ll treat you as fair as I do the others.”

Tina smiled. “I think I can handle that, boss,” she said.

“Excellent. Please put Cindy on the line. I’ll have her process your employment and then get you set up for your work.”

“Right away.” Tina got up from Cindy’s desk and walked to the door. She stepped out, saw the mouse, and gave her a pleasant smile. “Captain Sinclair has accepted my application,” she said. “He wants to talk to you about getting me set up.”

The gray mouse brushed a stray lock of hair over one ear and then smiled widely. “Yay!” she said merrily. Cindy gave her a quick hug and then moved past her into the room. Tina chuckled, straightened the hem of her dark blue dress, and then walked down the short hall of the office to the front room. A smaller mouse with an extraordinarily large coffee cup sat on the edge of the receptionist’s desk, swinging her feet and idly chatting with a lithe ferret.

Keri looked up at the white wolf and said, “You look pleased. You must have gotten the job!”

“Yes, Miss Petrie, I did,” she replied. “I’m to start as soon as Ms. Allport can get me set up with an office.”

“That’s great news!” the ferret in the room said in a rushed voice. “You’re going to like it here.”

“I’m sure I will, Miss Pon,” Tina replied, “but it looks like I’ll be quite busy at first jump.”

The receptionist snickered and waved a casual handpaw at the wolf. “You can stop already with the formal names, dearie! I’m Penny, this is Keri and that’s Cindy in the other room.”

Tina gave her words a nod. The informal atmosphere of this small company would take some getting used to. It was nothing like the offices of Merrick Enterprises where strict business protocols were observed, but she was well aware that the increasing business of this little freight transfer company would keep her busy for a while. She also knew that a background check on her normally would have found little-to-no information on her time working for Harrison Merrick, but the SPF was thorough and obviously found some sort of records that had not been destroyed along with the rest of Mainor. Harrison had employed numerous accountants, but despite being one of many, she had distinguished herself professionally and she had been recognized for her skill with numbers and data.

She had been away on a visit to her family on Dennier when the Kastan super-weapon destroyed her homeworld along with her employer’s headquarters. She had been working small, unrelated jobs ever since. She was glad to have the opportunity to do accounting again, even if for a shipping business with only three ships and two dozen employees. Sinclair had told her that his late accountant was a stickler in maintaining the books, so perhaps there would be no discrepancies to deal with.

“You may call me Tina,” she replied with a smile.

Cindy walked out of the back room and pulled on a light jacket. “Okay, Tina, let’s go pick out your office furniture!”

***

Merlin looked up at the emerald green paint job of the SS Rambler and nodded appreciatively. Damien Legrand stood beside him and whistled his own approval. The mastiff was now a member of the Blue Horizon’s crew, but the new loadmaster appreciated being included checking out their newest sister ship all the same.

Renny, Pockets and Max had found the Okami freighter in a metropolitan city on the other side of the mountain range, and it was in perfect condition. The raccoon had been thorough in his inspection of the vessel, including a lengthy crawl through the access passages beneath the hold and in between the ship’s double hulls. Although just a year old, it had not seen many flights. Its owner had purchased the freighter to start up his own little business, but had fallen into ill health before he could establish himself in the market. It had been up for sale for three months, but Pockets had been the first to contact him about it.

“We got it for ten thousand credits less than what we paid for the Hidalgo Sun,” Pockets told him cheerily, “and it’s in better condition. Mr. Rambles was fond of his ship and took care of it.”

“How much flight time is on its engines?” Damien asked with a quick glance at the Blue Horizon parked next to it on the small tarmac.

“One trip to Ganis and back, and two hops across Pomen,” the engineer replied. “It’s been in a flight hangar the past few months, so it’s even been out of the weather.”

“What was in the large package you brought with us?” Damien asked.

The raccoon smiled. “A mobile sentry system for the new ship. We have them on all our vessels, so I thought it might be good to go ahead and integrate it into the system.”

“We call it Moss,” Max supplied. “It kinda just floats around in the background keeping a watch on systems and personnel. Everyone gets used to ignoring it after a while.”

“We’ll have you added to the Horizon’s security protocols when we get back,” Pockets added, “so our own Moss unit will see you as part of the crew.”

“Want to take a tour, Uncle Merlin? Mr. Legrand?” Max asked with a gentle wag of his tail.

“You can call me Damien, son,” the mastiff offered with a smile.

Merlin chuckled. “It has the same floor-plan as ours, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t imagine it looking any different.”

“Well,” the young canine answered with a shrug, “the floors and the walls are different colors than ours, but yeah, it’s the same layout. There’s more stuff on the recreation deck, though.”

Merlin put an arm around Max’s shoulders and nodded with a smile. “All right, take us on a tour. Before we put a crew on her, I suppose I should take a look around at least once.” Pockets and Legrand fell in step behind them as they headed for the ship, and were met at the airlock by Renny.

“Sorry about that,” the cheetah said with a grin. “I had to test out the ship’s facilities.”

“Everything in working order?” Merlin quipped.

“The plumbing’s in good shape,” he replied with a smirk.

“Yours or the ship’s?” Damien asked.

Renny looked at him with wide eyes and then grinned. “Both!” he answered. Max laughed aloud at the joke and Merlin chuckled with a shake of his head.

“Do we have a name for her yet?” Renny asked as he brought up the cargo bay lights from a control by the airlock. Aside from bright yellow reflective alignment lines painted on the floor, it looked identical to the Horizon.

“Since adding a third ship was originally his idea,” Merlin replied, “I wanted to call it the Leo Durant in his honor, but I needed his family’s permission first. However, Allen Durant asked me not to do it. He just wants to let his son’s name rest, so I agreed to honor his request.”

“That’s understandable,” the navigator said. “So, what name did you come up with?”

“The Mooncrest,” the lupine captain answered. “It’s what Jiro and I almost called the Blue Horizon when we first started this business.”

“That name sounds familiar,” Pockets muttered as they arrived at the forward lift. He thumbed the pad and then looked up at his captain. “Wasn’t she a legend somewhere?”

“That’s right. Noiré Mooncrest was instrumental in bringing the rediscovered colonies of Earth back together in forming the Planetary Alignment. I’m hoping this additional ship will help keep the business together as well.”

“Okay, she has a name. Now all she needs is a captain and a crew,” Renny mused.

The door to the lift opened and they stepped out into a corridor of green flooring and light gray walls. The lights came up immediately and Merlin looked up at the recessed light panels with a nod. “I hired the Mooncrest’s captain this morning,” he said casually, “but Taro and Samantha are conducting interviews for the rest of the crew until I get back.”

“Who’s the new captain?” Max asked.

“A buffalo by the name of Abner Corwin,” the wolf replied as he turned for the bridge. “He’s a retired…”

“…a retired freighter captain who prefers life in space,” Renny finished for him.

Merlin stopped in his tracks and looked back at his navigator. “How did you know that?” he asked in amazement.

“That’s how Corwin describes himself,” Pockets replied.

Renny, Max and Pockets all grinned at the wolf, who merely swished his tail and waited for an explanation.

“Did Taro tell you what happened on Nalirra while you were off on Tanthe getting seduced by the princess?” the cheetah asked.

“You were seduced by a princess?” Damien asked with wide eyes.

Merlin twitched an ear and narrowed his eyes. “I would like to forget the incident on Tanthe,” he muttered. “If you’re talking about your delivery to Nalirra prior to the Roppa War breaking out – yes, Taro gave me all the details. What does that have to do with Corwin?”

“He was the captain of another freighter that was stuck waiting to unload just like we were. His ship was destroyed when the Tanatans attacked the warehouse, but he and his crew escaped harm on another ship.”

“I played cards with his crew while we waited,” Pockets added. “They weren’t very good either.”

Merlin nodded. “Corwin mentioned losing his ship on Nalirra, but never said anything about meeting up with the Horizon. Good, at least a few of you know him already.” They stopped in front of a familiar blue door painted with a golden sailing ship’s wheel. It was a trademark on all Okami freighters, harking back to the days of sea faring vessels.

The bridge lights came on automatically when they passed through the door. “Navigator,” Merlin said to the cheetah as he moved to the center seat, “get on the com and contact the Pomen Air Command. See if you can secure permission to launch into an orbital altitude of two hundred forty kilometers, duration two revolutions, and then a return to our present position.”

“Sure, boss. What reason do I give them for this flight plan?”

“Tell them it’s just a test run of a new ship. I want to make sure it’s really flight-ready before we put Captain Corwin’s people on board. A three-hour flight should give us plenty of time to determine everything we need to know.”

Renny gave him a crisp salute. “Aye-yii, Cap’n!”

***

Later that afternoon, Merlin returned to the office they had rented for their interviews. The test flight of the Mooncrest had gone without a hitch and all systems seemed to be in perfect working order. Pockets confirmed that the ship had not been in service long enough to develop any bad quirks and seemed impressed with the condition of the engines and the maintenance logs. They had spent the past hour of their flight time in low orbit over Pomen, taking the ship through several scenarios and then finishing out the ride just marveling at the beauty of the world below them.

He had left Max and Pockets with the ship to change the security codes throughout the vessel and get the new Moss integrated into the system while he and Renny returned to the office. Damien left them at the entrance to seek out a bite to eat. The wolf and the cheetah stepped inside the front door and removed their flight jackets in unison. The front room was filled with more people than there were seats, and all of them looked up when they came in. Lorelei was half asleep in a chair by the door, the slateboard in her hands leaning heavily toward the floor.

“Good evening,” Merlin said to the assembled crowd as he slid Lori’s slateboard back into her hands. Several smiled courteously back at him, but it was apparent most of them had been there all day and were getting tired. He passed through the crowd and then moved toward the back room.

“Hey!” exclaimed a short bulldog, “Yer gonna hafta get signed in by the door and wait like the rest of us!” Merlin stopped and turned to look at the canine. Renny rolled his eyes with a sigh and watched the wolf walk over to the dog.

“I don’t have to sign in, sir. What’s your name?” Merlin asked.

“Walter Maverick, what’s it to ya?” the dog said haughtily. “I’ve been here all day an’ yer not takin’ cuts in line! Ain’t no one da likes of ya going to jest walk right in!”

Merlin stared at him for a moment and then looked up at Renny with a twinkle in his eye. “Mr. Thornton?”

“Yes, Mr. Sinclair?” Renny replied with a smirk.

“Please escort Mr. Maverick off the premises. He won’t be selected for the job he is applying for.”

“What?” bellowed the bulldog. “Who do’ya think ya are?”

“Whoever is hired today will be working for me.” Merlin smile, showing his lupine dental work. “I’ll be making the final decisions on who signs a contract, and I’ve just decided you won’t be among them,” he replied in a firm tone.

The bulldog’s eyes went wide and he sputtered as he tried to issue an apology, but Merlin tilted his head toward Renny. The cheetah stepped up beside the man and gestured toward the door.

“Please leave,” the navigator said in a clear voice. “It’ll be easier if you walk out on your own.”

Maverick looked mad at first, and then hung his head in embarrassment. He turned and walked out the door without another word. When Merlin looked up at the faces around him, he was greeted by smiles all around, as if letting him know that they were worthy of employment. A large wolf near the fireplace gave him an abbreviated salute and Merlin nodded in return.

“Excuse me, folks,” he said with a cordial smile. He turned and walked toward the back room. Samantha sat behind a small oak desk on her red floating pillow and grinned up at him when he stopped beside her near the hallway. He leaned over, gave her cheek a quick lick, and then looked at the slateboard in front of her.

“Thanks for getting rid of him,” she whispered in his ear. “He’s been on everyone’s nerves all day.”

“Only too glad to help. After the last time he contacted us, I knew I didn’t want him anyway.”

“You knew him?”

Merlin nodded. “Remember the last time we were on Pomen conducting interviews for Taro’s job? Walter Maverick was the name of the guy who got rather upset when I told him I wouldn’t hold off all other interviews for the four weeks it would take him to travel from Kantus.”

“Good memory,” Samantha replied. “I hadn’t remembered him.”

“His name stuck in my brain like an annoying splinter,” the wolf replied. “What else is going on?”

“Corwin came in a little bit ago. He’s in the back with Taro now.”

“How far along are you?”

The Border collie looked up at him wearily. “Just about everyone in this crowd has been in to see Taro and Abner, but there are still a few left. These people have been here for a long time, waiting to find out if they’ll be chosen.” She glanced back at the crowd and added, “The funny thing is that most of them already know one another from other job interviews. I hadn’t thought Pomen would have yielded so many local applicants for nine jobs, especially in this part of the world.”

“Times are hard,” Merlin admitted with a nod of his head. “Our company has been doing well, but there are still a lot of folks out of work following the Siilv War, even this long afterward. Losing Mainor put a lot of people on the streets, whether they were from there or not.” Samantha looked up at him with a strange expression on her face. “What is it?” he asked.

“You won’t believe who’s back there with Taro right now,” she said quietly.

“Oh?” he replied. “I take it that we know her?”

“Him,” Sam corrected. She opened her mouth to continue, but then looked up quickly at someone coming up the hallway behind the wolf. Merlin saw her diverted attention and turned. He narrowed his eyes and snorted.

“Armando Jensen…” he said in a low voice. He stood up to his full height, but only came up to the Mainoran lion’s shoulders.

“Hiya!” Armando looked pleased to see the wolf, but Merlin only sighed. The room was full of potential employees and the last thing the wolf wanted was a public confrontation with an old competitor. Before the lion had a chance to say more, Merlin took him by the elbow and led him back down the hallway. Taro and Abner looked up from the notes they were comparing when the two of them entered the room. Merlin cast them a brief glance, but then turned his attention back to the large feline.

“Okay Armando, what are you doing here?” keeping his voice level.

The lion looked embarrassed and stuck his hands in the pockets of his slacks. He was dressed in nice clothes and his mane had been well groomed. “I came in for the interview,” he said meekly. “I need a job and freighting is the only thing I really know. I didn’t even know it was your company that was hiring. Listen, Captain, I know we’ve been at odds in the past, but I promise to be a hard worker if you hire me.”

Merlin studied him a moment. “We treated you rather badly the last time you hooked up with us,” he stated in a neutral tone, “and you still want a job with us?”

Armando nodded. “You’n me had some bad blood between us and I figure you were getting it out of your system by taking it out on me. I don’t blame you,” he said. “I might have done the same if you’d been on my ship, but I’m willing to forget all that.”

Merlin nodded and found that his old hatred of the feline just was not what it used to be. Perhaps seeing him humiliated had been compensation for their past conflicts. He still was not sure he trusted Armando, but at least he did not hate him anymore. He glanced over at Taro and Corwin.

“You do the standard background check on him?” he asked. Armando brightened up. That question alone told him that his application might actually be considered.

Taro nodded. “I didn’t know if you really wanted to have him on the roster, but we ran the check on him anyway.”

“I just got a response and what he told us checks out,” Corwin said in a gravelly voice. He absently scratched his chest beneath the blue robe-like garment he wore. “After he was released from Nalirra—”

“Nalirra!” Merlin exclaimed. He turned back to Armando and the lion nodded in confirmation. Merlin gestured to the chairs in front of Taro’s desk; he and the lion sat down. “How did you wind up there?” he asked in genuine curiosity. “How did you get back out?”

Armando shrugged his shoulders and then put an elbow on the desk. “Something got mixed up somewhere,” he began, giving the explanation he had given to Taro and Corwin earlier. “MPs from Nalirra came for me, claiming I had tried to infiltrate their military and put me under arrest.”

“You infiltrated their non-feline military?” Merlin asked incredulously.

“No,” Armando replied. “I had no part in their conflict with the Tanatans, but somehow, they thought I had given it a try. I’m not sure who turned in my name, probably someone from my old crew making trouble for me, but I wound up being taken to their planet in manacles. They tossed me into a stinking prison somewhere in a tropical jungle and I stayed there until the Tanatans beat them down in their war and found me in my cell.” He glanced over at Taro, but she did not look sympathetic.

“At first they thought I was one of them that had been captured,” he continued, “but after their doctors checked me over, they decided I wasn’t from Oe’Tanata, but wasn’t from Nalirra either. They found nineteen others like me imprisoned, and after they set up their own government in place over the occupied planet, they put us on a transport out of their system and sent us here to Pomen; we were processed as ex-POWs and released. I’ve been here about three weeks, looking for work.”

Merlin leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees. “What are the conditions on Nalirra?” he asked.

“Pretty bad,” Armando answered with a frown. “Oe’Tanata is punishing the people of Nalirra for kidnapping their emperor’s little girl and they’ve hit them hard. Every Nalirran warship and private craft capable of getting to orbit has been destroyed, and even low-altitude aircraft were blown up so no one could escape. Major industries were eliminated and now the Nalirran population has to depend upon the Tanatans even for food and medicine. It’s not likely Nalirra will be a part of the PA again for a long, long time, if ever again. I’m not siding with Oe’Tanata,” he added quickly, “even if they did save me from rotting in that prison, but they’re in the right in this war. Nalirra’s leader is the one who instigated the whole mess, but the Tanatans sure put an end to it. Unfortunately, it’s the Nalirran population who are still paying for it.”

“Has anyone from the media talked to you yet?” Taro asked.

“The media? No, why would they?”

“There’s been no word from Nalirra since the Tanatans conquered it,” the vixen said. “INN would probably pay a lot to interview you. They’ve been trying for months to get any information out of the Roppa system on what’s going on there.”

Armando shook his head. “I don’t wanna talk to them,” he said. “Maybe some of the others who got released with me might talk, but I’m just glad to be back in the PA. All I want is a job to do some honest work.” He looked at Merlin’s steady gaze and dropped his eyes. “I told you how I lost my ship,” he said in a quiet voice. “I blew it with my own business, but I’ve learned my lesson. I’m lousy with a company of my own, but I promise I’ll work hard if you hire me.”

Merlin looked over at Corwin, who nodded to him, and then to Taro, who pursed her lips. He stood up and then said, “I’ll take your application under consideration. If you’ll wait outside with the rest of the applicants until we can finish up the last few, we’ll let you know what we decide.”

The lion stood up and extended his hand to Merlin. “Thanks, Captain,” he said. “All I ask is for a fair chance.” Merlin hesitated a moment and then took the proffered hand. He shook it briefly and then Armando left the room.

After he had gone, Taro set her stylus on the desk beside her slateboard and then stretched. “That sure was unexpected,” she remarked.

“What position did he apply for?” Merlin asked.

“Anything available,” Corwin answered, “but he seems best suited for loadmaster, having had some past experience in that field.”

Taro looked up at the wolf in surprise. “You aren’t actually going to consider him, are you?”

In answer, Merlin looked over at the buffalo. “Having never tangled with him before, what’s your personal impression of him?” he asked. “It’s your ship he would be on.”

Corwin moved his massive neck around until it cracked and then he raised his eyebrows. “Well, he looks like a strong back,” he said. “That’ll be handy in moving cargo, with or without equipment. Despite a deficiency in business sense, he worked as an assistant to another loadmaster before he got his own ship and he answered all my questions correctly – including mental weight calculations, so he is qualified. Plus, he seems genuinely sorry for whatever trouble he has caused you in the past and wants to make up for it. I think he should be okay.”

Taro crossed her arms. “We’ve had other applicants for loadmaster that are more qualified,” she said with a frown. “We already know what Armando is like.”

Merlin nodded. “True,” he admitted, “but it might be better to have him where he can be watched.” He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment and then looked up at the buffalo.

“Okay, I’m putting him into your hands, Abner,” he replied after a moment of thought. “I’m willing to give him a chance, but he would be on six-month probation. Should he prove to be untrustworthy, I won’t hesitate to terminate his employment. He’s been irresponsible in the past and a thorn in my side, but if he can keep his nose clean and do a good job, you can decide whether or not to make him permanent on your crew. Armando has promised his good behavior, Abner. Keep an eye on him to make sure he lives up to that promise.”

“Aye, sir, I will.”

Merlin looked at Taro, inviting her opinion, so she let out a little sigh and shrugged her shoulders. “If you’re going to hire him, at least he won’t be on board the Horizon where he has a reputation,” she said. “Maybe he can make some friends among strangers.”

The wolf nodded. “Okay, let’s see the last ones on your list so we can send those tired people out there home. I’ll look over your notes tomorrow and then call back the ones we decide to employ.” He looked over at the buffalo and added, “It will then be your job to call the ones who aren’t hired and thank them for coming in.”

Corwin crossed his thick arms and gave the wolf a lopsided smile. “Oh, joy.”

***

It had taken nearly a week to get the Mooncrest fully stocked and prepped while Merlin and Abner finalized the crew positions. In all, Corwin was pleased with his new team and he had spent a good deal of time with each of them prior to their first assignment together. Their new ship’s medic had already given everyone mandated inoculations and despite a few grumblings, everyone had checked out healthy. For his crew, Corwin had only made one specific request. He wanted his twenty-five-year-old nephew as the ship’s cook. The young buffalo was something of a specialist when it came to feeding different species and with a crew of various races on board, Abner could think of no one better for the job. Merlin allowed him that bit of nepotism as captain’s prerogative.

When the trucks from Holden Pharmaceutical arrived that morning with their cargo, Armando took the initiative and gave instructions to his new crewmates on where to set the heavier crates for proper load placement based upon floor sensor information fed to his slateboard. The process for filling the hold went smoothly. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and ready to be on their way. Bored with waiting, the crew of the Blue Horizon had joined in the loading, although some of them cast furtive glances at the Mainoran lion dressed in a bright, flowered shirt. Merlin stood next to Captain Corwin out of the way of the activity and chatted idly while they waited.

“Your mail quota should arrive any moment,” Merlin told the large buffalo. “They always seem to know when a ship’s cargo loading operation has completed. It’s almost as if they time it that way.”

Corwin stretched in the bright sunlight and then looked over at the wolf. He smiled at the lupine’s nautical cap and chuckled. “Does Captain Kegawa wear one of those too?” he asked.

Merlin looked at his teasing smile and shook his head. “No, it’s just my personal preference, Abner. I’ve worn one for years. I don’t have one your size, but if you want one too, there’s a shop just inside the spaceport terminal that sells them in all sizes.”

Corwin laughed aloud. “No, thanks,” he said in his gravelly voice. “I like my head uncovered. It’s hard enough having the edges of my horns in the periphery of my vision when I’m trying to navigate through a doorway or a narrow corridor, and I’ve been doing that all my adult life. A hat would only complicate matters.”

Both looked up at the same time when Armando approached them with a slateboard. He gave the buffalo a smart salute and then said, “Here’s the manifest, Cap’n. Who’s supposed to sign for it, you or me?”

“Either of us can, but in most cases, it will be your job to make sure the manifest matches what you load into the ship. We have to keep a record of everything that goes on and off the Mooncrest, whether it’s operational supplies or cargo.”

Armando nodded, remembering similar words from JW Chon. He pressed his thumb against a box on the screen and signed it with his print. He gave Merlin a quick nod of acknowledgement and then walked back toward the awaiting delivery driver to transfer the electronic document to her. Merlin noticed something with bright colors rolled up in the lion’s back pocket.

“What’s that he’s got there?” he asked.

Corwin glanced to where the wolf was looking and chuckled. “It’s a comic book,” he answered. “I saw him move a large box of them into his cabin this morning.”

“Sounds harmless enough.”

“You should have seen the size of the case of Adirondack’s Exotic Honey Mustard he had my nephew order for the galley. It seems he likes a dab of it on all his food.”

The delivery truck started its engine and a moment later pulled away. Right on cue, a mail truck emerged around the corner of the terminal building and floated toward them. “See? Here they come,” Merlin said.

“Once the mail is secured, I suppose we’ll need to be leaving,” Corwin said as he turned toward the wolf. “Mr. Silverthorne is making final preparations in the engine room, and Michaleen is on the bridge going over the pre-flight checklist. Everyone else has been running cargo duty.”

“Thanks for all your help, Abner,” Merlin said with an outstretched hand. “I think you and the Mooncrest will be a good asset to the company. Take good care of your people.”

Corwin returned the handshake warmly. “Glad to be a part of the team,” he said. “How much longer are you going to be here on Pomen?”

Merlin scratched his left ear and glanced back at the blue freighter behind him. “We’ll load cargo bound for Dennier tomorrow morning,” he answered. He looked pensive for a moment, but it passed quickly. “Everything is done here. We’ve brought our friend back home, made changes at the home office, and added another ship with a batch of new friends to the company. It seems like every time we’re on Pomen, it’s an extended stay. I have nothing against the place, but we’re all ready to be on our way.”

“I know what you mean. It can get monotonous out in space on those long journeys, but sometimes I get antsy if I’m on the ground for too long.” Corwin noticed various members of the crews of both the Blue Horizon and the Mooncrest giving one another farewell hugs and handshakes while the cargo bay door closed. “Time to go,” he said.

“May the wind be at your back, Captain,” Merlin said, quoting an old seafarers’ saying.

“Thank you, sir. I’ll report in once we’re underway to let you know our operational status.” With that, he turned and headed toward the main airlock of his ship. Merlin watched him go and sighed quietly to himself. He was now the master of three ships and employed over two dozen individuals. It would be hard to coordinate them all from the bridge of a ship, but he knew expanding his business was a smart move. How had Taro said it? Yes, he now had a small fleet of freighters and a thought was growing in his mind.

***

Later that afternoon, Merlin lay stretched out on his hotel room bed, his hat on the table next to him and his boots on the floor. It had been a full morning and the Mooncrest had launched on her maiden voyage with her captain and crew. Corwin had reported in two hours later to say that everything had gone smoothly to orbit and that they were speeding on their way up toward inertia out of the Lia-Noa star system.

The door to the room opened and Samantha walked in. She set a satchel on the room’s small table and then kicked off her shoes.

“I’ve turned in the keys to our rental office and got our deposit back after Jerry and Lorelei gave it a good cleaning,” she reported, looking pleased. She crawled onto the king-size bed next to him and looked into his soft amber eyes. She gave him a little nuzzle and then cuddled up next to his side, her tail wagging gently on the mattress beside her.

“Do you want to discuss our wedding plans before or after we take off?” she asked him quietly. “We really haven’t had a lot of opportunities to talk about it since Tanthe.”

Merlin gave her a gentle smile. “I’m sorry we haven’t made the time for it,” he said. “We could have discussed it on the flight from Fyn, but I don’t think either of us felt up to it, with my injuries and Durant’s….”

“I know, love,” the Border collie said, “I know.”

“If you want to discuss it now, I’m open.”

Samantha smiled and nodded. “Shannon and I have been on the com quite a bit,” she admitted. “She’s told me all about the various wedding customs on Dennier, specifically from the region you are from. Everything sounds simple enough, but there’s a lot of extra room for fluff in your traditions. I want a lot of fluff in my wedding.”

“You want fluff?”

“Yeah, I want fluff!”

Merlin chuckled and touched noses with her. “Okay, you can have your fluff. All I want is you, with or without the fluff.”

“Yay!” she exclaimed with a grin. “Okay, now let me tell you what fluff I want.” Samantha went on to tell him all the ideas that she, Shannon and Taro had come up with for their wedding. Merlin listened in patience and made a few suggestions, but was ultimately impressed by the amount of planning she had already done. Shannon had found a local wedding dress that went well with Samantha’s projected image and the price was reasonable. Merlin’s sister had been ecstatic when Sam contacted her for ideas and had been instrumental finding prices with the Grandstorm businesses.

“We are going to have the wedding in Grandstorm, aren’t we?” Samantha asked. “I just assumed.”

“Where else would it be?” Merlin asked with a smile. “I grew up in Grandstorm, that’s where Bill and Shannon and the kids live, and that’s where the home office is. I know your family was from Alexandrius and you grew up on Sillon, but Dennier is better suited for the business if we settle down there.”

Samantha looked at him quizzically. “Settle down?” she repeated.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately,” the wolf explained. “Something that Bill said not too long ago.”

“About having cubs of our own?” she asked. It was no secret that Bill had often teased Merlin with complaints that his children did not have any cousins. Bill had no siblings of his own, so it would be up to Merlin and Samantha to produce more relatives.

“Well, there is that,” the lupine captain replied, “but that’s not the idea foremost in my mind.”

“What then?”

“I just bought another freighter for my business and staffed it with ten people who are contracted to receive salaries and benefits. I stationed the company accountant on Dennier to make it more accessible to everyone through the home office, but yet here I am still commanding my fleet from a mobile location.”

Samantha nodded, understanding his train of thought. “Bill suggested that you give up your ship and run the business from the home office, didn’t he?”

Merlin nodded. “Having my own ship and business was something I’d wanted to do,” he said, “and I got to have it for nearly ten years. However, now that I have more than just a single crew to look after, it makes better sense to run the company from a centralized location.”

“Bill has a good mind for business,” the Border collie agreed.

Merlin gazed into her deep brown eyes. “If we did this, we’d have a real home together, Sam,” he said quietly. “It wouldn’t just be a shared stateroom on a freighter, but an actual house.”

Samantha’s eyes widened and she grinned. “I was already thinking Bill’s idea had merit, but you just added icing. I think it’s a wonderful idea… I like it.”

“We’d be leaving our friends behind,” Merlin reminded her in a quieter voice. “We’ve been with them a long time.”

“True,” the collie replied, “but we’d still be in contact. If you think it’s time to let someone else command the Blue Horizon, Merlin, I’m behind you. You’ll still have a crew to command at the home office – it just won’t be out in space where pirates are always a threat. Besides, I would like to give Bill and Shannon’s cubs those cousins.”

Merlin looked at her with renewed interest. “Oh, you would, would you?” He started to move closer with a certain glint in his eye, but Samantha laughed and pushed him away with a hand on his nose.

“Hold on, handsome! I didn’t mean right now!” Merlin gave her a playful pout and then settled back down against his pillow. Samantha giggled at his expression. “Do you remember what you said when Sparky and Roland were married? ‘A cargo ship with limited room is not the place to raise a family’. If we have pups, a house on Dennier is a better setting. Children need fresh air in the open sun and a lot of room to run.”

Merlin chuckled and looked at her lovingly. “It was only an idea, and I was worried you wouldn’t want to leave the Blue Horizon, but it looks like you’re already packing for us. I’m sure it will make Shannon happy.”

He thought for a moment and then added “It’s decided, then, but don’t tell anyone just yet. Taro has already expressed an interest in taking command of the ship if I ever decided to leave, so let’s take her out tonight to discuss it with her before we tell the others.”

Samantha leaned forward and ran a finger through the soft fur behind his left ear. “You’re a good man, Merlin Sinclair. It’s no wonder I love you.”

***

“Okay, Merlin, out with it.”

The lupine captain looked up at his first officer in mock surprise, but he could not keep a smile from the corners of his muzzle. He set his fork down on the table beside his plate then picked up his glass. He did not drink, but held it in his hands without breaking eye contact with the vixen. He peered at her between two candles that occupied the center of their table and then set his glass back on the table.

“Out with what?” he teased with a side-glance at Renny and Samantha, who occupied the other two seats at their table.

Taro snorted and leaned on the table with her chin rested on steepled fingers. The four of them were in a posh restaurant and the large room was dark to provide the candle-lit ambiance. A quartet of black bears was in a corner playing soft instrumental music and the tinkle of silverware and low voices of quiet conversations were in the air. Renny sat uncomfortable in a suit and tie, but he had refused none of the food. He was used to more of a casual atmosphere, but Taro and Samantha looked at home in their elegant evening gowns. Merlin wore a dark blue suit and a white shirt with a Mandarin collar so he would not have to wear a tie, but he had abandoned his hat for the night.

“It’s rare that you will take any of your royal subjects out to eat at an expensive restaurant,” the vixen said with a suspicious smile. “What’s on the king’s mind?”

“We’re practically done with our meals,” Samantha as Renny took another bite and looked up at her. “Go ahead and tell her.”

Merlin smiled mischievously. “I’m sure you already know what’s on my mind,” he said to Taro. “After all, it was partially your idea.”

Taro sat back in her chair, a sudden look of uncertainty on her face. “You aren’t… retiring… are you?” she asked.

Merlin chuckled. “No, I’m not retiring. However, what I am doing is offering you the captaincy of the Blue Horizon.”

Renny choked on his food and took a quick drink from his glass. “What?” he said after he regained his breath.

Merlin looked over at him in amusement and then grasped Samantha’s hand on top of the table. “Once we get to Dennier, Sam and I are going to start shopping for a house of our own, and then I am going to run the company from the home office instead of from a mobile location.”

Taro nodded and smiled. “I wondered how long it would be until you decided the business was getting too big to operate from the ship,” she said.

“You’re leaving?” Renny asked. He seemed surprised that Merlin would even think of giving up his vessel.

Samantha giggled. “That’s right, Ren-Ren. We’re going to settle down and raise a family.”

“Well, that’s great, I guess,” he grumbled with downcast eyes, “but it’s awfully sudden.”

“Sudden for you, but we’ve taken time to look at it from all angles,” Samantha clarified. “We feel this is what’s best for us.”

Renny merely grunted, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Taro Nichols,” the wolf said formally, “I am officially offering you a promotion to Captain of the SS Blue Horizon, with all its benefits and responsibilities. Do you accept?”

The vixen nodded her head elegantly and responded, “Yes, Milord. I accept your kind offer and am humbled by it.” Samantha tittered and had to cover her mouth. Taro snickered and Merlin chuckled along with her, but Renny just heaved a heavy sigh.

“May I make a request?” Taro asked when the brief mirth subsided.

“Anything,” Merlin replied.

“May I assign Mr. Gloom, here, as my first officer?”

Merlin nodded with a smile. “That’s your prerogative as the captain,” he said. “Once you’ve formally assumed command, your responsibilities will include whatever crew assignments you wish to make.”

“When does this go into effect?” Renny asked quietly. He had lost his appetite, a feat in of itself, and pushed his plate away from him.

“Once we land on Dennier, we’ll have an informal Change of Command ceremony,” Merlin explained after taking a lap of his drink. “This will be my final voyage as captain of the Blue Horizon.”

“I never thought I’d see the day when you would leave the ship,” Taro said, “but since you’re planning a family, I think you’re doing the right thing.”

“Thanks,” Merlin said. “That means a lot to me.”

The conversation came to a lull and all four of them sat for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. Then Taro stood up and picked up her small handbag. “Excuse me,” she said, “I need to visit the powder room.”

“I’ll go with you,” Samantha said. She licked Merlin on the nose and then followed the vixen across the room.

Merlin and Renny sat quietly for a moment and then the cheetah looked over at him. “I don’t want you to go,” he said in all seriousness. “I like things the way they are.”

“Times change, my friend,” the wolf replied. “If it was still just me and a crew on the Blue Horizon, I wouldn’t even consider it, but I have a whole fleet of employees now.”

“You’ve been running everything from the Horizon this long, even after we took on the Hidalgo Sun,” Renny countered. “What difference does it make if you’re behind a desk on the ship or a desk on Dennier?”

“The biggest difference is Samantha,” Merlin told him. “We’re about to be married and we both want a family. Considering the amount of danger we’ve run into over the past few years, I wouldn’t want to raise my cubs in that kind of environment. Children need fresh air in the open sun and a lot of room to run.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” The cheetah picked up a meal bone and began to gnaw on it idly.

“Are you going to stay with the Blue Horizon if we leave?” Merlin asked after a moment of thought.

Renny looked up at him in surprise. “Why would I leave?” he asked.

“You’ve had more injuries than anyone else since you came on board,” Merlin answered. “Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t resigned after all that.”

Renny’s eyes flashed and he pointed his bone at the wolf. “I’m no quitter,” he said in a strained voice. “No one will ever accuse me of that!” He dropped his bone to the plate with a clatter and leaned back in his seat. “I admit this job’s been more hazardous than I would have thought for a freighter navigator, but I like working with you and the Horizon has become my home. I get along with my coworkers and the pay is decent. You may have to increase my medical insurance benefits, though.” He said the last with a bit of a smile.

Merlin nodded with a smile of his own. “Well, you’ll be getting a raise just having the First Officer responsibilities tagged on you,” he said. “I think I can arrange a bit of hazard pay as well.”

“Fortunately for us, the Basilisk won’t be stalking us anymore.”

Merlin’s eyes grew dark at that comment. “I wouldn’t count on smooth sailing,” he cautioned in a low voice. “The Basilisk was just one pawn controlled by Victor Faltane. We got in the way of his plans against Argeia and he’s apparently trying to hunt down Lucas for the same reason. If he sent the Basilisk after us, I have no doubt he has other ships to take its place. From what we learned on Fyn, Faltane is more powerful than we knew and he probably hasn’t enjoyed our interference. I doubt we’ve seen the last of terrorists. Are you sure you want to remain on board?”

Renny snorted. “You sound like you’re trying to scare me away,” he said with a smirk. “Don’t worry, boss. I’m not going anywhere. Besides… I’m now second in command for the flagship of your fleet! I doubt I’d do as well anywhere else.” Merlin nodded and gave him a smile of appreciation. He had never regretted hiring Renny Thornton.

Both of them looked up as the ladies approached the table. Samantha sat down next to Merlin and gave him an impish smile. “Miss me?” she asked.

***

There was a knock on the door, but Lorelei did not hear it at first. She sat unclothed in the middle of the front room of her cabin on board the Blue Horizon. All the lights were out save for a single red candle on a small table before her, with a stick of incense burning from a stylized holder. She had her eyes closed, her legs crossed and her hands together in her lap holding a common wildflower she had picked just prior to the ship’s launch from Pomen.

The knock on the door repeated and a soft voice called out to her through the panel. “Lorelei? Are you in there?”

The white rabbit smiled gently when she recognized the voice of the ship’s new doctor. “You may come in, Jerry.”

The door opened and the red fox took one step into the room before he realized what he was seeing. “Oops,” he said in an embarrassed tone. “Sorry to bother your contemplation, Miss, but the captain’s called a staff meeting on the recreation deck.”

Lori opened her eyes slowly and then looked up at him with amusement as he unsuccessfully attempted to avert his gaze. She set her flower on the small table and then tapped out the incense stick before she stood up.

“Would you like to help me get dressed?” she asked with half-lidded eyes.

Jerry put his hands into the pockets of his medical smock. “Tempting, but I think I’ll just wait for you, Miss,” he said. The rabbit laughed and then disappeared into the bedroom. She reappeared a moment later wearing an ice-green hapi coat tied over a pair of pale-yellow shorts and then walked to her candle. She blew it out with a gentle breath and then moved to Jerry’s side.

She threaded an arm through his with a smile and chuckled at his discomfort. For someone who was supposed to have a reputation with the ladies, the doctor was acting awfully shy. “You can escort me, foxy,” she said. Jerry raised an eyebrow and then led her out into the corridor without a word. The door shut behind them automatically.

A few moments later, they walked out of the lift together and all eyes from the rest of the crew watched them enter the room. Merlin stood at the forward end of the recreation deck in front of the large window. Several sensor readings were displayed by the near-invisible circuitry in the upper right corner of the glass in red letters, but otherwise the view was of the stars before them.

Taro and Renny sat together on a short couch and Damien occupied a recliner next to them. Pockets sat in the other recliner and Max was stretched out on the floor at his feet. Samantha was absent, having the current bridge watch duty, but she had tied in the intercom system to listen in on the conversation. Jerry led his charge to another couch and sat down with her.

Merlin nodded to them and then all eyes returned to the captain when he cleared his throat. “I wanted everyone here together to let you know that although there have been a lot of changes to the company lately, there are a few more yet to take place.”

“What kind of changes?” Pockets asked suspiciously. “Are you buying another ship?”

Merlin chuckled, but shook his head. “No, I have enough of those for now,” he replied, “but there will be a few more personnel changes.”

“More?” Lorelei asked in a lazy voice.

“I know it will come as a shock to some of you…” Merlin hesitated, “…but Samantha and I will be leaving the Blue Horizon when we get to Dennier.”

“Leaving?” Max asked. He sat up and crossed his legs, his blue eyes imploring. There was a long and uncomfortable silence, and then Lorelei’s previous calm demeanor evaporated as the implications set in.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked with one ear drooping. “You aren’t leaving for good?”

“Are you selling the company?” Pockets asked in a near whisper.

“I am not selling my company,” Merlin explained calmly. “Now that there are more ships than just this one in the business, it has become apparent that I need to move my desk to the home office to run things from a central location.”

“Aww, no…” Max replied with a downcast expression.

Pockets sat very still in his seat, his lips partially open and his eyes wide. He had been with the Blue Horizon since Merlin had first put it into operation and had undoubtedly never entertained the thought that the wolf would ever leave. Neither Jerry nor Damien expressed distress at the announcement, both of them still a little new to the company.

“Sam and I are finalizing the plans for our wedding and we will begin house-shopping shortly after we depart,” Merlin continued.

“No!” Lorelei exclaimed with tears in her eyes. “That’s not fair! There’ve been too many good-byes lately!”

“Lori…” Jerry said with a hand on her shoulder. “The boss is right. It makes better sense to run things from the office.” The rabbit gave him a cold look and then turned her back on him.

Merlin shook his head and then said, “Taro has accepted promotion to captain of the Blue Horizon. There will be a short change of command ceremony after we’ve landed on Dennier, and then your captain will be conducting interviews for a new business coordinator, a supply officer and computer technician.”

“Merlin…” Pockets said in a quiet voice, “are you sure you want to do this? I mean… the Horizon has been your child…”

The wolf looked at his longtime friend with an uncertain expression. “All children grow up and eventually need to be on their own,” he said quietly. “Using your analogy, I am a father… one who now has three children. I can’t play favorites and travel with just the one, Pockets. The home office will be the home for the children to come back to for advice and direction.” He gazed around at the faces gathered before him and added, “Samantha and I plan to have cubs of our own and we don’t want to raise them within the confines of a ship. Perhaps in the future when they’ve grown up, Sam and I will return to a life in space, but for now, we need our feet on the ground.”

Max got up and then walked to the wolf. He stopped in front of him, and for a moment, they searched one another’s eyes.

“Uncle,” the canine said in a steady voice, “even when you were reluctant to bend the laws of Quet, you helped me escape my previous fate. You gave me a better life, you gave me confidence, and you gave me a real family. I don’t want you to go,” he swallowed briefly, “but I understand family. You’ll still be there for us, just not on board our ship. Thank you for everything you’ve given me.” He held out his hand to the wolf, but Merlin gave him a soft smile and then drew him into a warm embrace.

Lorelei jumped up, ran to them, wrapped her arms around them both, and began to cry. Pockets got up and joined them. He moved behind Merlin and then wrapped his arms around the captain’s middle. He closed his eyes, buried his nose in the wolf’s shirt, and tried very hard not to start crying too. Renny and Taro exchanged smiles and then stood up. They moved in and both of them joined the group hug.

Renny grinned widely at Merlin as he grabbed the back of his neck. He had finally accepted the reasons Merlin had given him the previous night, and although he would miss his friend, he was no longer upset by it. Taro leaned in to give Merlin a lick on the cheek and then winked.

Jerry and Damien looked at one another and stood up, but otherwise did not approach the others. Although they were now a part of the crew, they were still relative outsiders to the “family” of friends. Jerry stuck a hand into a pocket of his smock and then motioned for the loadmaster to follow him to the galley for coffee.

Lorelei continued to cry, and even Max and Pockets began to grin, but the rabbit continued to hold onto Merlin as if afraid to let him go.

“Hey!” Samantha’s voice cried out from the intercom speaker, “I think I’m missing out on all the hugs!”

***

There was a knock on the door and Merlin frowned. “Come on in,” he stated loudly. “I’m already awake.”

The door panel opened and Samantha stood there in a short silk robe with a tray of food. Her fur was well groomed and the scent of flowers followed her inside. She smiled and then touched the pad to close the door. The wolf sat on the couch wearing a simple blue silk robe of his own and he set his tablet on the short table in front of him with a smile up at her. She put the tray on his lap as so not to cover up his slateboard.

“What’s this?” Merlin asked with a friendly smile. The tray held all his favorite breakfast foods with a nice, steaming cup of coffee. He picked up the cup and lapped from it first.

Samantha wagged her tail gently and shrugged her shoulders. “Today’s going to be a full day for us all, so I thought I would help the captain get a good start.”

“At three in the morning?” he asked as he picked up a slice of buttered toast.

She laughed. “You can never get to sleep the night before a planetfall, Love. Everyone on board knows that.”

Merlin mocked a deep sigh. “Yeah, I’ve been told that I’m predictable.” Both snickered and Sam sat on the couch beside him. He offered her a bite of his toast, but she shook her head. She watched him eat what she had brought him, and after a few moments, the wolf arched an eyebrow at her. “Something on your mind?”

“Not really,” she admitted, “but I wondered if you wouldn’t mind a bit of snuggling when you are finished eating.”

“You wake up in the mood?” he teased.

Samantha shook her head with a smile. “Not really, I just need your arms around me.”

Merlin set his cup down and lightly brushed the fur on her left cheek. “You’re always welcome in my arms, Sam,” he said with a gentle smile. “Always and forever.”

Merlin quickly finished the last of his breakfast and then took another lap of his coffee before saving his place on the tablet. He set the tray on the table beside it, stood up, took his fiancé by the hand, and then led her to the back room. They placed their silk robes on a room chair, slid under the covers of the bed, and then settled in.

“I love you, Merlin,” she said quietly. “Forever and always.”

“I love you too, Sam.”

The collie wrapped her arms around his middle and they both slid down to a reclining position. The wolf held her close and then shut his eyes.

***

The northern shore of land appeared in the vidscreen and Samantha pointed with a smile. “There’s Grandstorm!” she said. The blue flying saucer zoomed over the green water of the Arvallian Sea toward the metropolitan city on the horizon. Merlin raised their altitude back up to standard air traffic while Taro exchanged information with the spaceport control tower. Since the Blue Horizon would be loaded up there for its next assignment, they could not land on Dennier at Bill and Shannon’s place as they had on previous visits.

The evening sun was just touching the western horizon and the traffic near the seaside spaceport facility was heavy. The five main skyscraper spires of the city were already lit up from internal offices and glittered in the evening as the ship approached Grandstorm. Commercial and private sea craft were plentiful nearer the coast, and the boardwalk at the beaches was lit up for nighttime visitors.

“Control tower is directing us to landing pad sixty-one,” Taro reported. “Bill had it reserved for us. He and Shannon are there already with the kids.”

“Very good,” Merlin replied. “Sam, begin equalizing our internal air pressure with that of the outside and then begin atmosphere transfer.”

“Aye, Captain,” the Border collie answered with a grin.

Taro touched a few pads and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “Artificial gravity has been disabled. In another five minutes we’ll be on the ground with full engine shutdown.”

The ship slowed even more and Renny glanced out the windows. They were now moving beneath the spaceport traffic and on approach to a landing spot ringed with flashing green lights. The Blue Horizon stopped to hover above the pad, and then began dropping slowly. Merlin flipped the toggle to lower the landing gear, and then a moment later, they were on the ground.

Merlin and Renny began closing down the onboard systems and Samantha looked over at Taro. She grinned at the vixen, but her smile faltered when she saw Taro’s sad expression.

“What’s the matter?” she asked her quietly. Renny and Merlin both looked up at the question.

“This is it,” the red fox replied. “The end of our last voyage together.”

Sam moved forward and put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Don’t look at it like that,” she said after a moment. She sat down in the chair nearest Taro and regarded her. “Think of this as the beginning of The Adventures of Captain Nichols and the Blue Horizon.”

Taro nodded with a chuckle. “I suppose you’re right,” she replied.

Renny stood up and then turned to Merlin, who still sat in the center seat, possibly for the last time. The others turned to look at him too, but the wolf did not meet anyone’s gaze. “Please assemble the crew outside the main airlock,” he muttered quietly.

“Merlin…?” Samantha asked. He did not look up at her, but continued to stare at the guidance shifts in front of him.

“I will be down in just a moment,” he said. “Wait for me there.”

Sam nodded and then followed Renny and Taro off the bridge. She turned back to look when she reached the door and saw Merlin unbuckle his harness quietly and then get up out of his seat. He retrieved his flight jacket from the back of the chair and slowly put it on over his blue shirt.

“I think the realization of your words just hit him,” Renny whispered to Taro as they headed toward the lift. “Until now, his leaving has been something in the near future. Now that it’s here…”

“Shhh…” Taro shushed him as Samantha caught up to them at the lift. The three of them climbed into the small elevator and took it down to the cargo deck. Damien came out of the nearby loadmaster’s office and walked over to join them. Everyone else was waiting outside the main hatch, and Lorelei was cooing over four children standing with Bill and Shannon. Max introduced Jerry to them and then Damien.

Two of the cubs, Marissa and Shane, looked up at the large mastiff with wide eyes when he gazed down at them with an unreadable expression. After a moment, his countenance softened and then he squatted down to look them at their level. “These are fine looking pups, ma’am,” he said to Shannon. Another black cub walked up to him and stuck out his little hand to the canine.

“Ah’m Jacob,” he said to Damien. Legrand shook small hand with a nod and then looked over at a chubby cub peering out at him from between his parents. Damien let out a soft sigh when Jaran finally smiled at him.

“Unca Merlin!” Shane exclaimed. He ran through the small group and jumped into the lupine captain’s waiting arms. The other three followed, yelling his name, and he gave each of them a hug with a nuzzle on the cheek.

“Hello, cubs,” he said happily. Shannon walked over to them and then Merlin put down the youngster to stand up. He gave her a warm hug. “Hello, sister of mine,” he said with a grin. “Is that husband of yours still treating you well?”

He shook hands with Bill and Shannon chuckled. “Very well,” she replied. “It’s good to see you again.”

Merlin looked down at a tugging on his tail and saw Shane gazing up at him. “Are you gonna stay with us again, Unca Merlin?” he asked.

Merlin nodded with a smile. “For a little while,” he said. “Samantha, too.”

“Samma?” Marissa jumped up and down and exclaimed. “Yaaaay!”

“Bill, can you and Shannon take the kids over there a few paces?” Merlin asked Bill. “I have a small ceremony to perform.”

“Sure,” the black wolf replied curiously.

While the family moved away, Merlin turned and looked at his people. “Taro Nichols, front and center!” he said aloud. The rest of the crew gathered to one side and then Taro stepped forward. She stood in front of the wolf at rigid attention amidst chuckles.

Merlin looked at her with a smile and said in a semi-serious tone, “To be recorded for this date and time, I hereby transfer command of the SS Blue Horizon, PA Registry 1138, to Captain Taro Nichols, with all the benefits and responsibilities that are associated with the position.”

With her arms straight at her sides, the vixen tried hard to keep a straight face and then replied, “I accept transfer of command, sir.” She gave him a crisp salute worthy of a military veteran and then said, “You are now relieved of command, sir.”

Merlin extended his hand, but Taro shook her head and then drew him into a tight hug instead. The wolf squeaked and she quickly released him with an apologetic smile.

Merlin pulled his hat from off his ears and then placed it on Taro’s head. “You don’t have to wear this,” he told her amongst the laughter of the assembled group, “but it’s symbolic of the position… and I won’t be wearing it anymore.”

“Thank you, Merlin,” Taro replied with a grin.

“However, I do have something you might like instead,” the wolf added in a more serious tone. He stuck his hand into a pocket of his flight jacket and withdrew a small gray box. He handed it to her and she took it curiously. The members of her crew gathered around to see what it might be, and when she opened it, Taro’s eyes grew moist.

Inside was a small gold pendant in the shape of a sailing ship’s wheel, much like the image painted on the door of the bridge. Set into its center was a deep blue gem. Merlin pulled it out of the box for her, raised its strong, yet lightweight chain over her head, and then set it gently upon the bosom of her white blouse.

“It’s lovely,” she said in a choked voice. Lorelei oooh’d at the sparkly gem.

“It was a gift from my sister when I bought the first Blue Horizon,” he said at Shannon’s look of recognition. “I rarely wear jewelry myself, but have kept it with me ever since. I’m now passing it on to you to keep safe.”

“Thank you, Merlin.” Taro put her arms around the wolf and then kissed him full on the lips. When the kiss lingered just a moment too long, Samantha and Renny exchanged glances. In unison, each grabbed one of the vixen’s arms and pulled her away from Merlin.

“That’s enough,” Samantha teased the vixen with a grin.

“Yeah,” agreed Renny. Once again, laughter echoed across the landing pad.

“Well folks,” Merlin said to the assembled crowd, “you now have a new captain. I’ve already made all the legal arrangements, so this is legit. She’s your boss, so be sure to give her plenty of grief!”

“Hey!” Taro said with a laugh.

Bill stepped in and shook hands with Taro. “Congratulations, dear. You managed quite a feat to make him give up the ship!”

“That was my doing, thankyouverymuch!” Samantha exclaimed. “It took me years to make him fall in love with me and propose!”

“Well, whosever fault it was, thanks!” Bill replied with a grin. “Now, if everyone will follow us, we have transportation lined up for the lot of you, with reservations for dinner.” He looked at Merlin and Samantha and added, “You can retrieve your personal effects from the ship later.”

Renny licked his lips. “All right, I’m starving!”

“Better hope the restaurant is well-stocked,” Pockets quipped. “If Renny’s starving, watch your fingers and don’t get too close to his mouth!”

***

A blue and gold taxi stopped at the edge of landing pad sixty-one of the Grandstorm Spaceport. A tall coyote slid out of the back and the cabbie retrieved two large suitcases from the trunk after she paid her fare. She tapped a control on the handle of each bag and gravity repulsors discs activated to levitate them a few inches above the tarmac. The cab drove away and the woman straightened her burgundy dress as she looked up at the two-tone, oval bulk of the Blue Horizon.

She was about to grab the straps of her floating luggage and pull them toward the ship when another taxi pulled up behind her. A koala in a pair of sunglass goggles and a bright, flowered shirt opened the door and dragged a large gray duffel bag out of the back seat with him. He handed the cabbie a few credits and then had to jump out of the way when the car took off in a hurry.

The koala looked up at the coyote and smiled. “Hello,” he said. “Are you here to meet me?” he asked in a thick voice.

The woman looked amused. “No, sorry,” she replied. “I just arrived myself.”

“New recruit?”

“Uh, something like that,” she said. “You?”

“Yeah, me too. Hello, my name is Justin Mandolin. Most folks call me Justy,” the koala said with a smile as he looked over the top of his sunglasses at her. “And no, I don’t play the musical instrument.”

“Pleased to meet you, Justy,” the woman said. “I’m Amanda Black, the new business coordinator for the Blue Horizon.” They shook hands and then Justy turned to look at the parked vessel.

“I’m her new supply officer and resident computer nerd,” he explained, “starting today.”

“I don’t know if anyone else knows we’re here,” Amanda said. “Do you think we should go up to the front door and knock?”

“Sure, sounds like a good idea.” Justy picked up his duffel bag and hefted it up onto his shoulder. It was nearly as large as he was and looked to be just as heavy. Amanda grabbed the straps of her bags and pulled them behind her as they walked toward the ship.

When they reached the main airlock, they found it open. Justy looked at Amanda, shrugged, and then walked up the ramp into its interior. The coyote followed him inside, but the only lights on in the cargo bay were the emergency glow panels.

“Hello?” Justy called out as he removed his sunglasses by its strap. His voice echoed in the semi-empty hold, but there was no reply. It seemed the only cargo on board consisted of six large crates anchored to the floor with the initials ‘DWT’ emblazoned in large, stylized letters upon their sides, and one tremendous red container marked ‘Mail: Dennier-Kantus’.

“There’s a lift over there,” he suggested.

“Do you think it’s advisable if we just walk in?” Amanda asked hesitantly.

“Why not?” said the koala. “Captain Nichols has our contracts and this is our ship. C’mon, let’s go see if we can find someone upstairs.” Amanda followed him across the cargo deck. Justy tapped a pad beside the lift and they heard a light hum as the carriage descended to their level.

When the panel opened, they found themselves face-to-lens with a small flying saucer hovering in the air before them. Its metal surface was light blue, and printed in tiny letters below a pair of offset sensor lenses was Moss^3.

Amanda started when it peered at them and said, “Meow!”

The small unit’s lights alternated between several colors as it tried to identify the intruders, and within a microsecond, it had made a match in its database for both individuals. It rotated a few of its whisker antennae and then floated past the pair toward the engine room.

“What was that?” Amanda asked. Justy stepped into the lift and shrugged his shoulders, setting his duffel on the floor at his feet.

“It might be a flobot,” the koala suggested. “I heard they use something like that on the ships of the Firebird Fleet, but I’ve never seen one in my trade magazines that looked like that.”

Amanda pulled her luggage into the carriage beside the koala and then the door slid shut. It opened again on the crew deck a moment later. There were no lights in the corridor, but as soon as Justy stuck his nose out into the hallway, the recessed lights came up full.

“The place looks deserted,” the coyote said nervously.

“If you want to wait here,” Justy said, setting his duffel on the floor next to the wall, “I’ll take a quick look around.”

“Uh-uh,” Amanda shook her head. “You’re not leaving me alone!” She left her suitcases beside his duffel and then followed him around the curved corridor. There were nameplates on seven crew cabins and Justy knocked on each one, but there was never a reply. When they reached Sickbay, the koala put his nose inside and sniffed at the scents. There was no one in there either.

“This is spooky. Let’s try the bridge,” he suggested. They found the blue door with the ship’s wheel and went inside. As with the other rooms, the bridge was deserted, though several systems were active on the boards. Justy studied them a moment while Amanda went through a side door and found a small water closet that contained an all-species squat toilet and a small sink. A fresh hand towel hung on a rack with the words SS Blue Horizon in fading blue-to-black letters.

Justy looked up at her from the computer terminal. “There’s another deck above us,” he said. “If they’re not there, then everyone must be out on the town.”

Amanda checked her small techwatch. “I was supposed to report to the ship at 0900 hours. We were standing at the main hatch right at that time and the front door was wide open.”  She followed the koala back to the lift and they got in once again. They did not bother with their belongings and left them in the corridor.

A second before the door opened, they heard the sound of laughter, and the scene that greeted them was one of pandemonium. On a large exercise mat spread out on the floor was nearly every member of the Blue Horizon’s crew. The red fox that Justy and Amanda knew to be Captain Nichols was pinned to the mat with two people holding each limb. A rabbit and a mastiff were on Taro’s right arm and a German shepherd and another red fox were holding down her left arm. A Border collie and a wolf were on her right leg, and a cheetah and a raccoon were on her left. The wolf and the cheetah were each voraciously tickling the bare soles of Taro’s feet while the others tried to keep the Hestran fox immobile as she laughed, cried, begged and pleaded.

The wolf wriggled the fingers of one hand between each of the vixen’s black toes and her foot jerked with each touch; his other hand continuously tickled the sole of her foot. On the other leg, the cheetah had grasped her toes with one hand and was tickling the underside of them with the claws of his other.

Taro screamed out with laughter and tried to jerk her legs free, but even with her strength, the combined weight of four people held them down. Then, as if the foot attack was not enough, the rabbit began tickling underneath Taro’s right arm. The vixen’s eyes flew open wide and then shut again, but she was unable to contain her laughter.

The young German shepherd practically sat on top of her left arm; he reached out with his fingers and found her ribs. He tickled them enthusiastically and grinned in satisfaction at her renewed efforts to free herself with shrieks of laughter.

Amanda put her hands to her mouth to cover up her smile, but Justy grinned openly and laughed at the commotion. He wondered if it would be rude to join in the fun without having been introduced to anyone but the captain herself, and had to restrain himself from moving from his spot.

As the assault on the vixen continued, Amanda took a moment to look around the recreation deck. Streamers and balloons were attached to the walls, and a galley table was spread out with a half-eaten cake, punch and assorted meat and vegetable snack trays. The large vidscreen on the forward end of the room displayed Congratulations and Fare Well, Merlin and Samantha! in large blue letters.

Her attention returned to the mob on the floor when the German shepherd and the male fox tumbled backward. The vulpine captain’s left arm had gotten free. Still grinning, Taro reached over, pulled the bunny off her arm, and then managed to extricate her right arm from beneath the large mastiff. Before the four of them could regain their hold on her, Taro sat up quickly and grabbed the first person she could reach.

The Border collie squealed out in surprise when Taro grabbed her around the middle and began tickling her in return. Samantha was as ticklish as they came and she shrieked out in laughter at the vixen’s attack on her ribs from behind. The raccoon’s eyes went wide at the screams in his ears and he turned to see what had happened. With a wide grin, the diminutive raccoon launched himself at Taro and tried to tackle her middle. Big mistake. Taro abandoned Samantha and wrapped her arms around Pockets, still laughing from the assault on her own feet, and grinning ear to ear at the raccoon’s own squeals of laughter from her fingers under his arms. Fortunately for all involved, Pocket was not wearing his heavy, tool-laden coveralls, but was in red shirt and trousers today.

Merlin was still oblivious to the fight behind him and continued to work on Taro’s feet, although it was getting harder to hold her without Samantha’s help. Renny had felt Pockets disappear from behind him and chanced a look back… just as Pockets rolled off onto the mat and Taro reached out to grab him!

It was Renny’s turn to shriek out in laughter. He was kneeling on the mat next to her leg and she had found his foot. The cheetah was extremely ticklish, himself, and yowled in distress. Instead of fighting back, he began to claw at the mat to get away. Taro tickled his toes with relish, knowing that Renny had made the mistake of taking off his own boots.

When Max knelt down behind her and went for her ribs again, she yelled out in surprise. After a moment, Taro finally released Renny’s foot and then held up her hands in submission. “Enough!” she managed to say between giggles and deep breaths. “Th-that’s enough…”

Merlin released her foot and sat down on the mat beside Samantha. Everyone who had been a part of the action breathed hard and continued to giggle or chuckle. One by one, almost all of them lay back on the mats to catch their breath.

Taro giggled and managed to sit up again, and it was then she finally saw the newcomers standing by the lift door. Amanda’s eyes crinkled in contained amusement, but Justy laughed openly.

“H-hi…!” Taro managed with a wide grin.

Justy gave her a wave and Amanda smiled with nod.

“Hello,” she said.

It was only then that the rest of the crew noticed the two new people. Merlin got to his feet and wiped his sweaty palms on a handkerchief he pulled from a pocket. He walked to them as the others slowly stood up, and he offered his hand first to the coyote.

“Welcome aboard,” he said with a smile. “I’m Merlin Sinclair, president of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer.”

The woman shook his hand and replied, “Thank you, sir. I am Amanda Black.”

Merlin shook hands with the male koala. “Good to be here, sir. I’m Justin Mandolin,” the marsupial said with a grin. “Quite a lively bunch you have here.”

Taro found a glass of ice water at the galley table, drained it dry and then wiped her hands on a napkin. Other members of her crew began introducing themselves to the newcomers until she rejoined them. “Sorry I didn’t meet you at the hatch,” she told them. “As you can see, I got sidetracked!”

Merlin looked up at the corner display on the vidscreen. “You’ve arrived just in time,” he said to Justy. “You’ve got about an hour to get acquainted with your crewmates, but Sam and I need to be going. We have an appointment to meet a realtor in a half hour so we can start shopping for a house.”

Lorelei moved to Merlin’s side and put her arms around him. They had already made their going away speeches and already said their emotional goodbyes, but the rabbit was still reluctant to let them go.

“I’ll miss you,” the rabbit said to him with moist eyes and a smile. Merlin gave her a warm hug and then the rabbit moved to Samantha, who had joined her wolf’s side. Samantha had always had a difficult time dealing with Lorelei, but as this was good-bye, she returned the bunny’s embrace without reservation.

“It won’t be the same without you,” Pockets said as he moved in, “but Max and I will take good care of your ship.”

“That’s right, Uncle Merlin,” Max agreed. The wolf shook hands with the engineer and then with Max.

“I know the Horizon is in good hands,” he told them. He put a hand on Max’s shoulder and repeated a sentiment he had voiced recently. “I’m proud of you, Max,” he said. “Keep up the good work.”

Renny came up behind Samantha and put an arm around her shoulders. “Think you’re leaving without giving me a goodbye kiss?”

Merlin, who had his back to the cheetah while talking to Max, said over his shoulder to him, “If you think you’re going to kiss me, you’re mistaken, mister…” Samantha and Renny exchanged amused looks and then burst out laughing. Merlin turned and then saw the cheetah’s arm around Sam, immediately feeling foolish.

“Don’t worry, boss,” Renny said. “I only have lips for your sweetheart!” Sam looked at him with an upraised eyebrow, but did not resist when the cheetah leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips. He did not linger as Taro had with Merlin.

Samantha pulled away and then grinned at him. “So long, Ren-Ren,” she said. “I’ll miss sparring with you.”

Renny smiled widely and then clasped hands with Merlin. “You take good care of this woman,” he told the wolf. “I think you have a keeper there.”

“I will, Renny,” Merlin replied, “and she is a keeper.”

Samantha turned to Pockets and Max. She gave a Max a warm hug, then a lick on the cheek, and then did the same with Pockets. She had never been aware that each of them had long harbored a crush on her, but even at their parting, neither felt brave enough to say anything about it. She put a finger on Max’s nose and smiled.

“You’ve done very well with your studies,” she told him. “It was a pleasure tutoring you, Max. I know you’ll go far in life if you apply yourself to everything you set yourself to do.”

“Thanks to you,” the mechanic said with a grin.

She turned to Pockets and then gave him a wink. “You’ll always be my co-conspirator, Jerad,” she whispered to the raccoon, using his first name as she had done in their earlier years serving together.

Merlin walked across the room to Damien and Jerry. “I know we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know one another,” he said as he shook hands with each, “but you’ll still be working for me and I dare say we’ll have a lot of contact in the future.”

“Glad to be working for you, Captain,” the mastiff said.

Merlin grinned. “I’m not a captain anymore,” he corrected, “but I’m still glad to have you on board the company.”

“Take care,” Jerry said with a smile. “If you have an appointment, you’d better get a move on.”

The wolf looked at the tine displayed and grimaced. “You’re right. It’s not far, but we’ve got to go.” He walked back over to where Samantha was trading hugs with Taro. “Sorry, but it’s time we were on our way,” he said.

“We need to prepare for our launch to Kantus, too,” Taro replied. “Good luck, you two.”

Samantha took the wolf’s hand in hers and then they turned toward the assembled crewmembers. “See you all later,” she said to them.

“Bye,” said the group in unison.

Merlin and Samantha moved to the lift and then moved inside. They took a last look at their friends as the doors closed.

***

It had been a week since the Blue Horizon had taken off from Dennier, its cargo consisting of nothing more than a half dozen containers of recording equipment for new studios on Kantus owned by Dragon, Wolf & Tiger. The progressive rock band had branched out to produce the music of others in addition to their own albums, and had chosen their friends with Blue Horizon to deliver the equipment for them.

The voyage was quiet, and with everything in working order, Pockets was using the free time in his cabin to study a set of data crystals he had kept locked up in his personal safe. The crystals were unremarkable and a common configuration, but the data contained on them had the potential of being something of great value. They had been secreted in the battery pack of a young mouse that had once been the cabin boy for the infamous Captain Natasha Khasho, otherwise known as the Pirate Queen.

Pockets knew from firsthand experience that the vixen had not been a bloodthirsty pirate as the vids made her out to be, but was rather an opportunist whose personal goals he felt were admirable. She had possessed a keen mind, and just from his brief visit to her vessel, the Lady of Dreams, Pockets knew that she had developed technologies only fictionalized by others. After she had died in the Siilv War protecting a defenseless vessel with her own, governments all over the PA had begun treasure hunts to track down her base of operations in the hopes of finding the secrets of her Particle Vault technology. None had yet to be found, however, and it became a common belief that all information on her sciences was contained on her single ship that was destroyed by the Kastani.

Since he had obtained the data crystals, Pockets had spent innumerable hours trying to crack the code that Natasha had used to encrypt them, but he had been unsuccessful. Even Samantha had tried her expertise on them a few times, but as with Pockets, she had not been able to get into them. It was a task that intrigued him, and the more he worked with it, the more convinced he was at her genius. As difficult as the encryption was, the engineer somehow felt that the Rosetta stone of the code would be something simple, if he could just determine what it was.

He leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. He calmed his mind with one of the relaxing techniques Lori had taught him, and then tried to remember his visit to her vessel. Surprisingly, he found that he could remember most of her conversation with him and he concentrated on it for a long time.

A half hour later, Pockets opened his eyes. He leaned forward and thumbed the intercom pad on the computer terminal. “This is Taro,” he heard a moment later.

“This is Pockets, Captain. I need to ask you a couple questions,” he said. “Didn’t you tell us at one time that you had grown up with Natasha Khasho?”

There was a hesitation. “Yes, that’s right. We knew one another as kits in Taquit.”

“I thought so,” Pockets replied. “I know this is out of the blue, but what is the Hestran word for ‘tickle’ from the region you’re from?”

There was a chuckle from the intercom speaker. “The word is pronounced ‘anejmil’ – what does this have to do with Natasha?”

“Just doing some research,” Pockets said vaguely. “Thanks, Taro.”

“Uh, you’re welcome.”

Pockets disconnected the circuit and then went to work on his computer. He inserted the first data crystal into the reader and then used the word Taro had given him as a key. He had tried this process so many times, but he always got an instant error message. It was no different this time.

The raccoon grumbled beneath his breath, but then had a wild idea. He opened another application and called up a language translator from Standard to the Hestran region of Taquit. He entered the word and directed it to display it in that locale’s alphabet. Then he copied the new configuration to system memory, went back to the screen for the data crystal, and then input it that way.

He expected the typical error, but this time, however, the monitor sat there without a message of any kind. He saw no activity that he could determine and was about to start a diagnostic when the screen suddenly came alive. Random characters filled the display, but instantly began to translate automatically into words of the common Standard language.

It had worked! That simple, yet obscure word had been Natasha’s key to her encryption. Decompressed data began to wash across the monitor at an astonishing rate, but Pockets had had the presence of mind beforehand to set his terminal to capture all keystrokes and displays.

The raccoon whistled to himself as the information flashed by too fast for him to read, and he felt giddy at his discovery. A random thought that crossed his mind was that although encrypted, the crystals might contain information no more useful than the tickling thresholds or underwear sizes of her crew. He knew he should not get his hopes up, but he could not help it. One just did not put an encryption that strong onto something that was not important.

After nearly an hour of downloading just the first crystal, the scrolling data ended. Pockets jumped at the terminal and began to play back the data at a slower rate. As he expected, the information was not unimportant. He was a starship engineer and always thought of himself to be one of great talent, but most of what he read was beyond even his knowledge. He knew he had hit the jackpot, but it would take years to analyze the data on his own, and this was just from one of the crystals.

He studied the information for hours, but he finally sat back and rubbed his eyes. He stretched and got up from his chair. He closed the translated file with a password of his own and then left his cabin. He walked around the curved corridor to the bridge and went inside. Jerry looked up from the book he was reading during his bridge watch and gave him a smile.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Would you please step outside,” the engineer requested. “I need to make a call that’s sensitive in nature.”

Jerry shrugged his shoulders and got up. “Sure,” he said. He left the bridge with book in hand, and when the door had closed behind him, Pockets sat down at the com terminal. He dialed up the access code for the home of Bill and Shannon, but it was several minutes before the connection was made.

“Wallace Residence,” said a sleepy voice.

“Bill, this is Pockets on the Blue Horizon. Sorry to wake you, but it’s important that I speak to Merlin.”

“It’s two in the morning, Pockets.”

“Sorry about the time differential, but this is really urgent.”

“Okay, I’ll get him.

A few long moments later, his former captain got on the line. “This is Merlin. What’s the emergency?”

Pockets hesitated. He did not want to blurt out what he had found on an unsecured channel, so he had to think fast. “Uh, hi,” he said. “There’s something I wanted you to know…”

“Pockets…”

“Right… Do you remember the young mouse we met after our last visit to the white planet?”

There was a hesitation and then, “What? Pockets, what are you talking about?”

“Do you remember him — Tim?”

“Okay, yes, I remember him. Little guy, big ears.”

“Do you also remember what I found on him?”

Another hesitation. “Yes.”

Pockets nodded in satisfaction. The tone in the wolf’s voice had changed to one of recognition. Good… they were thinking along the same lines now. “My studies have opened my eyes.”

Another pause, much longer as the wolf apparently went over the implications in his mind. “And?”

“Most of it is beyond me,” he admitted. “It’s going to take someone with better resources than what I have here.”

“Are you sure it’s what we think it is?”

“Oh yes, that much I’m positive about. I’ve seen just enough to recognize some of what I’ve studied.”

“Alex Rogers is currently in Aris Grand back on Tanthe,” Merlin said with sudden life. “Tell Taro that after you’ve made your current delivery, you are to take what you’ve found to him, with instructions to get it to Master Tristan as quickly as possible. He will have the resources for further study. Don’t tell Alex what this is about – only that it’s very important that it get to Sillon.”

“Understood, sir,” the raccoon replied.

“Good work. I knew you’d find a way, even if it takes others years to work it all out.”

“Thank you. I’ll let you get back to bed now.”

“G’night, Pockets.”

The raccoon shut down the com system and then padded lightly from the bridge. Jerry leaned against the opposite wall and curiously looked up from his book.  “All done?” the fox asked.

“All done,” the engineer replied with a smile.  He moved around the curved corridor to Taro’s quarters and tapped on her door.  Ten minutes later, he left for his own cabin after having given her Merlin’s message. As soon as he was back inside, he went to the closet of his bedroom and reached into the back corner. He pulled out a large, rolled up tube of coated paper and then spread it out on the bed after smoothing down the sheets. He pinned down the curled edges with books and magazines from the floor and then stood back to study it.

The blueprints were somewhat crumpled, a survivor of the wreck of the original Blue Horizon, but they were still readable. A smile crossed the engineer’s face as he remembered a long-ago conversation with Captain Natasha. The instructions on the plans were written in scrambled hieroglyphs that he had never been able to decipher, but the Pirate Queen had promised to meet with him again at a later date to release the cryptography to him. That meeting had never taken place due to her untimely demise, but now that he had unlocked the encryption of her data crystals, he might now be able to make use of her blueprints to modify the Blue Horizon’s engines with her technology.

***

On the faraway world of Sillon, a small white transport craft approached a small community built around the base of a massive overhanging rock cliff of a huge mountain. A large blue lake completely circular in shape was nestled up against the cliff, almost as if an ancient meteorite had created the watery crater. Sitting on the edge of the lake was a large, extravagant-looking lodge built in soft curves and iridescent colors that appeared to be made of fluid metal poured into place.

The slender ship set down gently upon a landing platform a short distance from the lodge as a fat silver tube approached soundlessly a meter above the surface of the grass. The shuttle seemed to be molded as a solid structure without seams and, to an outside observer, it had no doors, nor even a window to see through. The tube slowed, stopped beside the transport, and an opening suddenly appeared in the side closest to it.

The side of the transport ship parted and a short female lynx in a yellow sundress stepped out into the spring air. She squinted in the sunlight and brought a hand up to shield her amber eyes.

As she walked up to the silver tube, an aperture appeared without actually seeming to open and then she smiled as she stepped inside. She exchanged pleasantries with the operator of the craft and then sat down in a soft seat of burgundy velvet. The aperture closed, but the interior was well lit from the sunlight streaming in through the transparent metal of the tube. The operator played the control panel as if it were a musical instrument and there was only the faintest hum as the shuttle slipped quietly away from the transport to move quickly back the way it had come.

The tube approached the magnificent lodge and stopped near an outcropping that served as a covered walkway. Once again, the door of the craft just appeared. The single passenger said a few words of appreciation to the operator and then stepped back out into the morning air.

The lynx walked quietly through the front doors of The Dragon Loft, which were open to the outside air, and the metallic technology gave away to a different world of rich wood. She glanced around at the familiar interior of the finest timber that was polished to gleam, and was glad to be back after a trip to Wathradrim, a metropolitan city one hundred sixty kilometers to the north. Crystalline chandeliers hung from high rafters and soft music could be heard from somewhere down a long hallway. The receptionist at the registration counter waved her over to the desk and handed her a handwritten note.

“A message was flagged for you while you were gone, Mrs. Carlton,” a lithe gray Silloni told her.

The lynx took the note with a smile. “Thank you, Khari.” She had long ago realized that no matter how often she chided the lass about addressing her formally, she knew the girl would never call her Sparky, the feline’s preferred nickname.

She moved across the receiving area to one of the public terminals in the sitting room and sat down in a plush seat. She tapped out several commands and then entered her personal pass code to retrieve her personal mail on the active terminal. At once, her mail center came up on the screen with a dozen messages awaiting her attention. She quickly scanned through the list of originators for the one that matched the name on Khari’s note.

When she opened the message, it was all she could do to contain her delight.

You are cordially invited

to the joyous union of

Miss Samantha Holden

to

Mr. Merlin Sinclair

On Saturday, the twentieth of June

at eleven o’clock in the morning

at the Wildwood Cathedral

9300 South Anderson Road

Grandstorm

Capemay County

Dennier

Reception immediately following the ceremony.

DAY ONE, DAY LOST

By Ted R. Blasingame

Merlin Sinclair opened the door of polished wood into the offices of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer and walked inside to the digital sound of tiny bells. The room surrounded him with dark woodwork that made up built-in bookcases, accent tables and corner trim. The floor was polished wood with a large, intricate rug from Sillon in the center of the room. Save for a single table lamp in the corner near the door, the rest of the lighting was hidden and indirect, and a large fireplace dominated one wall. The front room was spacious, though the art deco motif of the place had always given him an odd feeling every time he walked through the door. It had started out with a rustic look in the beginning, but Cindy and Keri had since made interior design changes to the look of the small building after the pirate crew of the Basilisk had trashed the place in an attempt to thwart his business.

With an unbidden smirk at the interior decor, he wondered if he should buy a fedora, now that he no longer wore a captain’s hat. No, he thought with silent chuckle. It would not go with his suit. At least he would not be forced to wear a tie. He hated ties. When he needed to be formal, he typically wore a nice shirt with a Mandarin collar and an onyx button cover.

Penny looked up from a crossword puzzle when Merlin closed the door behind him. The corner of the ferret’s mouth crooked up in a pleasant smile when he approached her desk.

“Welcome back, sir,” she said in a rush. “Are you ready for your first day at the office?”

The wolf snickered. “This could be different,” he admitted. “I’m not used to being stationary on the ground for long periods of time. However, please don’t…”

“Please don’t call you Sir, yes, I know,” Penny interrupted, “but you are no longer a captain and we can’t call you that anymore. You are now the president of a growing company, so you should be prepared for everyone to address you with an associated title of respect.”  She folded her hands together on top of the desk and stared up at him with a tilt to her head.

Merlin opened his mouth to argue, and then shut it again. He raised an eyebrow at her and then nodded. “I suppose you’re right,” he said.

“Good morning, sir,” said another voice. Merlin and Penny looked up in unison at a sharply dressed white wolf.

“See?” Penny chirped. “You’ll be getting that from now on.”

“Right,” Merlin replied with a smirk.  “Good morning, Ms. Winters.”

“You may call me Tina, if you wish,” the woman said with a pleasant smile. “I tried formalities when I first came to this office, but the girls wouldn’t let me get away with that. However, I will leave it up to you how you wish to address me.”

“What is your personal preference?” Merlin asked.

“In a work environment, I have always aspired for professional appearance, but away from the office, I am comfortable with informality.”

Merlin sighed inwardly. “Well, then, Ms. Winters,” he said after a moment, “I will try to maintain your standards.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The front door opened to jingling bells again behind him. Merlin turned to see a large mastiff in denim jeans and a matching shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows walk inside the office. He carried a box under one arm and shut the door behind him.

“Hi there,” the canine said with a broad grin.

“Good morning,” Merlin said. It was the job of his receptionist to greet newcomers, but he was not yet used to the office routine. “Can we help you?”

Penny snickered and the mastiff walked toward them looking puzzled. “I brought breakfast from Mrs. Meers for the girls,” the canine said as he set the cardboard box on the ferret’s heavy wooden desk. He looked at Tina with a critical eye and asked, “Is this guy bothering you ladies?”

Penny snickered again and pulled a cup of steaming coffee from a carrier inside the box. “Stu, you’re silly,” she said. “That’s your boss.”

“Captain Sinclair?”

The wolf held out a hand. “I am Merlin Sinclair.”

“Pleased to meetcha, boss,” the mastiff replied. He took the wolf’s hand and shook it vigorously. “I’m Stuart Sloan, daytime security for your office, sir.”

Before Merlin could give the canine a reply, the front door opened yet again. Two short mice stepped inside, one brown and the other gray.

Cindy’s face widened in a big grin and the gray mouse ran over to the wolf happily. “It’s great to see you again, Merlin!” she said as she gave him a warm hug.

“Hello, Cindy,” the wolf said with a laugh. He looked over at the brown mouse and gave her a pleasant smile. “Hello, Keri.”

“Welcome back, sir,” Keri replied with a grin.

“See?” Penny piped up merrily, “You’re getting more of them!”

“Yes, I get the point,” Merlin murmured with a sigh directed at the ferret.

“What are you getting?” Cindy asked curiously.

“People calling him Sir.”

“Ah yes, I forgot that you didn’t like that,” the gray mouse said.

Merlin waved a hand through the air. “It’s okay,” he said with a look around the small group that was gathered in the large reception room. “I’ll get used to it.”

“You don’t like being called Sir?” Stuart inquired.

The wolf simply smiled. “It reminds me of my military days, but I’ll get used to it,” he said again.

“How’s Sam doing?” Cindy asked as Stuart passed around the breakfast items he had brought. The mastiff took his coffee and a cinnamon roll to a seat near the fireplace and sat down to eat it quietly.

The wolf perked up at Cindy’s question and grinned. “She’s like a happy puppy,” he answered. “We’ve spent the past two weeks with Bill, Shannon and the kids, but we’ve also been looking for a house of our own. We had it narrowed down to three, but each had hidden storm damage that I discovered while giving each of the places a close inspection.”

“Most people wouldn’t think to look that closely,” Stuart remarked. “It’s a common fault in a place like Grandstorm.”

“I’ve lived on a ship out between the stars for the past ten years,” Merlin reminded him. “Looking at everything closely to make sure there are no leaks or malfunctioning life-support systems is rather ingrained in me. Something potentially wrong can often be a life-or-death situation out in space.”

“That’s a good point.”

“It’s not as critical on the ground, but it’s still a habit. Shannon and Samantha will be looking at a couple more houses today, but I thought I should make an appearance here at the office and try to get settled into my new position.”

“How can we get you started?” Keri asked.

Merlin looked around at the faces that surrounded him. “First, I’ll need a desk. I know I’ve been here in the past during the Blue Horizon’s stops in the area, but I’ve not really spent any time in this building – especially if you’ve moved things around to accommodate me.”

“That’s easy,” Cindy replied. “Keri and I took the largest office and split it up between the two of us, packed it with our desks and equipment. I set you up in the office near the back, across the hall from Tina’s office. It’s not a large room, but Tina authorized new furniture for you and had the room soundproofed so you can have private conversations as needed.”

“That sounds good,” the wolf replied. “Once I’ve had a few moments to get myself oriented, I want to meet with each of you in my new den separately. I have a few business details to discuss one on one, and I’ll invite each of you to talk with me openly then if you have any gripes or suggestions.”

***

Merlin leaned back in a high-backed chair and stretched. He had gotten no real work done that morning, but had spent the greater part of the time simply talking with each of his office employees, including the contracted security guard, Stuart. He would have to chat with the nighttime security guard, Bob Robinson at a later time.

For the most part, everyone got along well enough to do their jobs, but it seemed that each person had some trivial nit-picking against their co-workers. It was no more unusual than any other work environment, but there was nothing he suspected that would indicate potential trouble down the line. However, while no one specifically came out to say anything, the home office had been self-sufficient since it had been set up, and he got the impression that he was considered merely a figurehead without any real purpose at the location.

It was only a notion without proof, but it frustrated him. Had he done the right thing by giving up his ship? Yes, he mused after a moment of thought. Even after he had put the home office in operation, there were things he had continued to take care of behind the scenes that the others never saw. For a while, at least, he supposed it would appear that he had no need setting up in the home office, but he planned to get into his regular work processes as quickly as possible.

Samantha’s talents, on the other hand, were another matter. The duties she performed on board the ship were redundant here, so there was no reason to set her up with a desk in the office. They had discussed the possibility of opening up a small consulting office of her own for computer services, but Bill had pointed out that Holden Pharmaceutical’s Dennier Branch would be more appropriate since she was still the primary shareholder of her father’s company. It was located in one of the city’s downtown skyscrapers not far from the Blue Horizon headquarters. Merlin had agreed with his brother-in-law and Samantha had acquiesced to the notion, but they would not pursue that course of action until they had settled into their own home.

Merlin stretched again and looked up at the ceiling, wishing his new den had a window or at least a skylight to let in the sunshine from outside. It might be worth the credits to have a virtual display mounted on a wall to simulate a window to outdoor scenery to keep the room from feeling closed in.

He straightened up in his chair with a wry smile. If anyone came into his den and found him leaning back in his chair, he really would present the image of someone without anything to do. Perhaps he should take care of his tasks with the door open so the others would see him working.

Merlin snorted. When had he ever been concerned with the opinions of others regarding his position as head of his own company? Just because he was no longer on board the deck of the Blue Horizon, he did not feel he should be obliged to adopt a different way of thinking just to please others.

A moment later, there was a tap on his door. “Come in, please,” he said as he picked up a slateboard from his desk. He pretended to study it when Cindy opened the door and walked inside.

“Hi, Cindy, what can I do for you?” he asked.

The gray mouse sat down on the corner of the desk with another slateboard in her hands. “You wanted a report on the status of the ships, sir.”

“Sit in the chair, Cindy, not on my desk.”

“Oh, right!” she said with a grin. The business coordinator sat down in the plush seat in front of the desk and then nodded as she consulted the slateboard over her lap. “The Blue Horizon made an unscheduled stop on Tanthe two days ago, but is now on its way to Kantus to pick up a shipment of textiles for delivery to Fiddlestone on Alexandrius. The cargo hold is empty, since they didn’t pick up anything on Tanthe.”

Merlin nodded, fully aware of the purpose of the stop in Aris Grand. “Continue,” he prompted. Cindy nodded and tapped out a command on her tablet.

“The Hidalgo Sun is currently en route to Osaka, Japan on Earth, where they are scheduled to pick up Taiko drums for delivery to Ganis for some kind of ancient ritual. They are presently transporting exotic food spices for delivery to Marseille, France. Rezo has plans to let his crew stay overnight in France, and then their remaining two days of shore leave in Osaka when they pick up the drums.”

“What of the Mooncrest?”

“Captain Corwin’s ship is about a week out from Pomen with severe weather monitoring equipment bound for Cortez Island on Crescentis.”

“Any problems?”

Cindy frowned. “An altercation broke out last night, but Captain Corwin says he has the situation under control.”

Merlin tilted his head. “An altercation? Who was involved?”

“Rob Caine and Armando Jensen.”

“Armando,” Merlin repeated with a frown. “What was the cause of this… altercation?”

Cindy glanced up briefly at an imaginary spot on the ceiling. “Word has it that Rob was upset at the amount of honey mustard Armando used on a particular dish that he had prepared for a special occasion. He said the honey mustard would kill the delicate flavor of the food, but Armando defended his taste preferences. Rob then hit him on the back of the head with a wooden ladle.”

“Let me guess,” Merlin said with a shake of his head. “Armando hit him back?”

The mouse shook her head. “Armando ignored him and went on eating, apparently unfazed by the spoon. Being ignored only made the cook angrier. Witnesses in the galley said Rob then dumped the entire hot dish over the lion’s head, lightly scalding his ears. That’s when Armando hit him.”

Merlin cringed. “Ouch,” he muttered, absently rubbing his face where Armando had once hit him. “How is Mr. Caine?”

“Armando punched him in the stomach and just knocked the wind out of him, so he’ll be okay, but Rob is now keeping his distance.”

“What was Abner’s course of action?”

Cindy crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. “It happened in front of just about everyone and the captain determined that Armando was provoked and therefore not at fault. Even though Rob is Corwin’s nephew, that fact did not stop the captain from giving him punishment. In addition to his cooking duties, Rob now has to do all the rest of KP duties himself without help from the rest of the crew for the duration of this voyage; he has also been assigned ship-wide laundry detail. Armando’s light burns have been treated, but otherwise he’s okay.”

Merlin made a face. “No need for me to get involved in that. Anything else?”

“The Moss unit on board the Hidalgo Sun went belly up a few days ago,” Cindy replied. “Patch said he would do a diagnostic on it, but I’ve not heard any more on it since. No one else has reported any other problems.”

“Glad to hear it,” Merlin said. “That reminds me… where’s our office Moss unit? I’ve not seen it since I got here.”

Cindy looked embarrassed. “It’s in the storm cellar out back,” she said hesitantly. “It startled me when I came in this morning and I spilled coffee all over my blouse. I shut the thing off and tossed it in the cellar before I went back home to change. I forgot to turn it on when I got back.”

Merlin chuckled. “I don’t know how many times I wanted to do that with the one we had on the Horizon,” he said. “I guess we need to —” The com unit interrupted with a soft chirp. Merlin tapped the control and responded, “Yes?”

“Sorry to bother you, sir,” the secretary’s voice emanated from the speaker, “but Samantha is on line two for you.”

“Thank you, Penny.”

“She sounded really excited, sir. I think she may have found the house you wanted!”

“Thank you, Penny. I will take the call now.”

“If you ask me, I think you should—”

“Thank you, Penny,” Merlin repeated irritably. “I will take the call now…”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Line two, sir.”

Merlin glanced at Cindy and shook his head. The gray mouse grinned and stood up. “I’ll be at my desk.”

“Thank you, Cindy.” The wolf watched her until she had disappeared and shut the door behind her, and then tapped the control for the waiting line.

“Hi, Sam,” he said in a calmer voice. “How’s it going today?”

“Hi, Sweetie,” said the Border collie’s voice from the speaker. “Shannon and I stumbled across a house that just went on the market. It looks like it might fit all our criteria just from our initial walk-through. I haven’t seen any storm damage, either, but you’ve been more adept finding those than I am.”

“You’ve already had a showing?” Merlin asked.

“Not officially,” she replied. “We were on our way home to get out of the heat and rest in the air conditioning when we came across the agent putting out a sign on the yard fence. We decided to stop and ask about the place, and wound up getting a brief tour of the estate. He hasn’t even listed the property yet, but has agreed to hold off if you can get down here right away to talk with him.”

Merlin looked at his office clock. “Right away? What’s the address?”

“It’s at 76 Totter’s Lane, right on the corner with Hartnell Circle. You should remember the place; we pass it every day. It’s just down the road from Bill and Shannon’s home. It’s the one with all the trees and the tall iron fence that surrounds the whole property.”

“Yes, I know the place,” Merlin replied. “It’ll take me about twenty minutes to get there, if the agent can wait that long.”

“He will wait for you, if Shannon and I have to lock him in the separate out-building to keep him here!” Samantha laughed.

Merlin chuckled. “I’m on my way.”

“See you soon, Luv.”

***

The wolf had been gone about two hours when the front door opened amidst the jingle of tiny bells inside the office on Timber Valley Road. The summer heat seeped inside with the arrival of a canine dressed in a heavy winter parka with the hood up over his head. Penny looked up from her calendar scheduling as the guy closed the door behind him.

“May I help you?” she asked in hesitation. His choice of clothing on a hot summer day puzzled her, but it was not her place to judge the garments of a potential paying customer.

The schnauzer did not reply to her query, however, and remained standing by the front door. He put his hands into the pockets of the parka and became still. His eyes were moist, but he licked his nose and lips periodically as he panted, but otherwise made no further movement.

“Sir?” Penny tried again. “Do you need some assistance?” Again, the man made no reply or movement. The secretary crooked up the corner of her mouth as she reached slowly for the com unit. She touched a pad lightly and then said, “Keri, is Stuart back there with you?”

“Yes, he is,” came an immediate response. “He’s helping me cut some —”

Penny kept her eyes trained on the mysterious canine. “Please send him to the reception room immediately. There’s someone here who may need his expertise.” There was no further response on the com unit, but slow steps in the hallway heralded the arrival of the security officer.

Penny looked up and saw the two mice standing behind him. Cindy looked over at her with a curious expression, but Keri looked suddenly worried as the mastiff walked out toward their visitor.

“Good afternoon,” Stu said in a casual tone. “What can we help you with?”

The schnauzer remained unmoving until Stuart got halfway across the room. “Stop!” the canine ordered in a raspy voice. From beneath his parka, the schnauzer pushed out an old revolver with a shaky hand and held it up at arm’s length, with its barrel aimed at the guard’s chest. Stu froze immediately, the fingers of both hands splayed out in submission.

“Easy now,” he said in a calm voice. “There’s no need for this. Just let us know what you want and we will do what we can to resolve —”

“Don’t talk to me!” the schnauzer said in a strained voice. “Don’t say another word! You ruined me!” He wiped a hand across his face angrily, as if to brush off something that was biting him.

Keri started to back away into the hallway, but the man’s eyes bulged and he screamed at her. “Don’t move! Stay where I can see you!” He held the gun out farther, as if an extra inch would increase its threat. The mouse swallowed and raised her hands in submission.

Penny slowly shifted one of her hands back toward her com unit, but the schnauzer whipped his gun toward her with a shaking hand. “Don’t touch anything!” he commanded.

“Sir, what seems to be the problem?” Cindy asked in a quiet voice. The man panted from the heat and blinked rapidly for a moment.

“You ruined me!” he repeated. “He ruined me!”

“How?” Cindy prompted.

“Quiet!” he shouted. He wavered, unsteady on his feet, and Stu took a step forward. The schnauzer screamed something incoherent and Stuart froze again when the barrel of the pistol leveled with the spot between his eyes. “I’ve waited five years to put a bullet into his brain,” the man told him in a quavering voice. “Where is he?”

The front door suddenly opened to the jingle of bells. Tina Winters walked in from her lunch break, unaware of the situation inside. The schnauzer grabbed her roughly, wrapping an arm around her neck. He shoved the barrel of his revolver up under her throat and then backed her up to the front window. Stuart took a step toward him.

“I will kill her if you come any closer!” he said to the mastiff, pressing the barrel harder against the white wolf’s neck. “Get over there by the fireplace – everybody with him!”

Stu backed away with upraised hands and then moved to where he had been directed. Cindy and Keri joined him in front of the hearth, but Penny remained in her seat. The schnauzer glared at her, but said nothing.

Tina swallowed hard at the gun in her throat, but otherwise tried to relax. If she struggled too much, he might blow her head off. “What – what do you want?” she whispered calmly.

“I want your boss,” the schnauzer replied through gritted teeth. “He ruined me! I lost everything because of him! Where is he?”

***

Merlin pulled up to the curb and shut off the engine of his car. He stepped out of the dark blue vehicle and looked up when he heard someone call his name. A middle-aged Golden Retriever across the street was sweeping the sidewalk in front of a rustic restaurant. She waved at him with a friendly smile. He returned the wave and crossed the street.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Sinclair,” the woman said pleasantly. “How are you today?”

“Good afternoon,” he replied with a smile. “Things are looking up, Mrs. Meers. My wife and I may have finally found a house to settle down in.”

“That’s wonderful news. Where did you find it?”

“Just up the road from my sister’s home,” Merlin said. “We didn’t intend to get a place so close to her, but it fits all our criteria and we didn’t have to haggle much on the price. The agent is working up the documents for us now, so we should be able to sign and close soon.”

“Would you like to come inside out of the heat and tell me about it?”

“I would love to,” Merlin replied with a smile, “but I need to get back to work. It’s my first day on the job and my boss might dock my pay if I don’t get back.”

Mrs. Meers grinned at him. “Is Tina that much of a slave driver?”

Merlin chuckled. “No, she’s formal, but shows the proper respect to her alpha. Thank you for the invite, but I’ll have to take you up on it another time.”

“Have a good day, then,” she said.

“Good day, Mrs. Meers.” Merlin turned and walked back across the street, skirting light traffic to the other side. When he stepped up on the curb, he glanced over at the large window and stopped in his tracks. Someone wearing a winter parka was on the other side of the glass, one arm wrapped around his accountant’s neck as he threatened the rest of his staff with a gun.

Merlin ducked out of sight of the window and pulled a DataCom from the pocket of his jacket. He thumbed the contact of the local police dispatcher and got an immediate connection. He spoke quietly for a moment and then nodded to himself as he hung up. He poked his nose around the window for another look and saw that Stu was talking to the hooded figure. Good, just keep him talking and distracted, Merlin thought.

Out of sight, he slipped around the building to the alley behind it. He shucked off his jacket as he neared the back door to his offices and hung it on the doorknob.

Beside the back door was a set of steps going below the foundation level to the storm cellar. He opened the shelter door as quietly as he could and descended quickly into the darkness. He found an emergency flashlight torch just inside the door and thumbed it on.

The metallic surface of a small flying saucer reflected in the lamp light. The unit lay upside down on the edge of a cot nearest the steps leading up into the interior of the building. Merlin knelt next to the cot and flipped the saucer over. He found a tiny reset switch in a recessed depression and pushed it. Both lenses came to life and the unit began to hum as its gravity repulsors became active. It floated off his hands and then focused its primary lens on him as it made identification.

“Mew!” the mobile sentry system responded in a shrill voice.

Merlin winced and leaned in close. “Moss,” he said in a low voice, “Security routine gamma-gamma.” Following its new command protocol, the small floating disc responded with a simple flashing light below its upper lens, instead of its normal audible responses.

“Moss, verbal instruction kappa-iota,” he said, trying to remember the proper codes that Pockets had taught him. The unit responded with another flashing light to show acknowledgement. Merlin quickly spoke into the Moss’ tiny condenser microphone. A moment later, Moss flashed twice and then even its normal humming dropped in auditory level.

The gray wolf nodded in satisfaction and then crept up the stairs leading into the interior of the office. He grasped the doorknob and turned it as quietly as he could. He released the latch once he had the panel open enough for him to slip inside, and then stepped aside to let Moss float past him. The lower surface of the small flying saucer hovered at a one-inch altitude above the floor as it moved into the hallway.

Assured the unit would accomplish its task, Merlin moved toward the kitchenette. He could hear Stuart’s voice from the front room, and the terrorist’s exasperated replies. Merlin hoped he had time to implement his plan or someone might get seriously injured when the hooded man’s tension snapped.

Merlin looked around the kitchenette for a weapon, but all he could seem to find were plastic butter knives, forks and chopsticks. With a frown, he picked up a small wooden rolling pin, hoping it would be better than nothing at all and silently resolved to stock up the small room with a proper set of utensils.

Out in the front room, Stuart tried not to lock eyes with the schnauzer, hoping that a stance of submission would keep the man from feeling threatened. While keeping his eyes averted, he saw movement near the floor at the back of the room.

The office Moss unit moved quietly along the baseboard, more silently that he had ever remembered it being, and hoped to the heavens that it did not come up from behind and meow at the schnauzer. The odd canine was already so tightly strung that anything might set him off.

So far, by keeping the man talking, Stu had learned that the schnauzer had recently been released from a local institution, where he had been confined for the past three years for a mental breakdown. The man seemed coherent and alert, though extremely agitated as they waited for “the boss” to return from his errands. However, it was still unknown just how Merlin had ruined the man’s life that he so desperately wanted to enact revenge.

As directed, the mobile sentry system targeted the hooded figure and covertly moved to a position parallel to the schnauzer as he faced the hostages. Keeping furniture and personnel in front of it for cover, it quietly increased its altitude until it was almost two meters off the floor. Keri and Cindy saw it at the same time, and both had to fight the expression of recognition from their faces. Penny, however, saw it and gasped.

The schnauzer stopped his ranting and turned his head slightly to look where she had. Moss calculated the man’s actions and implemented its next command. The flying saucer shot rapidly across the width of the room and slammed into the side of the canine’s head.

The stunned schnauzer lurched aside and reflexively released his hold on Tina. The white wolf dropped to her knees as Stuart rushed forward, his attention focused primarily on the revolver. The mastiff swung a hard fist at the schnauzer’s gun hand and struck the man’s wrist with as much force as he could muster. However, it was only a glancing blow and the firearm remained in the man’s grip.

The schnauzer squawked in rage and bared his teeth as he tried to regain his balance. He attempted to raise the gun barrel, but Stu clung to his arm at the wrist and the elbow as he tried to force the revolver away from him.

Unseen by the combatants, Merlin rushed out of the back room with the rolling pin above his head. He wanted the element of surprise, so he did not bother shouting for the fighters to stop, but as he swung the wooden bakery tool, the schnauzer wrenched the mastiff to the side and caught the rolling pin on his shoulder instead. It must have hurt, for the man gasped aloud, but it was not enough to disarm him.

The schnauzer suddenly dropped to his knees, but it was an action solely intended to pull the security guard off balance. Stuart stumbled and the man hit him behind the right ear with a fist. Stunned, Stu lost his equilibrium and fell to the floor. Before Merlin could draw his arm back for another blow, the barrel of the revolver was suddenly planted in the middle of his chest.

The hooded man stood up, snarling with bared teeth and pulled the trigger.

Merlin shut his eyes and dropped the rolling pin in reflex, but there was no explosion, only a sharp snap. He opened his eyes and saw the contorted face of the enraged schnauzer just as Penny fainted away at Keri’s feet. Not waiting for a second shot, Merlin spun around and dove for the lamp table near the corner. He picked up the lamp to use as a weapon, but its electric cord held fast to its wall socket.

Although still a little dazed, Stuart knocked the man’s knees out from under him and then jumped on him when the schnauzer fell backward onto the ornamental rug. The mastiff slugged him once in the jaw and then flipped the stunned individual over onto his stomach so he could sit on his back.

Stuart struggled to keep the schnauzer’s arms pinned behind him and Merlin used the opportunity to unplug the table lamp and then forcibly jerk the wires from the ceramic base. Stu held the man’s arms together as Merlin wrapped the electric cord tightly around his wrists. Cindy pulled a belt from around her waist and used it to bind the schnauzer’s legs while Stuart held him down.

With the man’s arms and legs bound tightly, Stuart rolled over onto the floor, still a little unsettled from the blow to the head. The schnauzer began screaming obscenities at everyone in the room.

Merlin put his boot up against the canine’s nose and applied a little pressure. “Shut up,” he told the man.

The schnauzer rolled his eyes up at Merlin with a scowl. “Where’s your boss?” he growled around the boot. “He ruined me!”

“What are you talking about?” Merlin replied as he knelt down next to the canine. “I’m the boss. I own this business.” He picked up the fallen revolver from the floor and noted the empty cylinder with surprised relief.

“You aren’t Meers! Where is he?”

“Meers?” Merlin looked puzzled and glanced out the front window toward the restaurant across the street. “Are you talking about Jonathan Meers?”

“Where is that mangy cur?” the schnauzer snarled angrily, struggling against his bonds. “I’ll rip his throat out with my teeth!”

“I’m afraid you’re too late,” Merlin told him as two patrol cars pulled up to the curb outside. “Meers died three years ago. The Savings and Loan that used to occupy this building is no longer in business here.”

“You’re lying!” the schnauzer spat. “Meers’ financial advice cost me everything I had! I’ve sworn to make him pay every day for the past four years! He’s hiding from me – I know it!”

Cindy darted around him with a scowl and went to open the front door before the police could knock it in.

“Careful!” Stuart barked at the mouse. “They may already have guns trained at the door.”

Cindy hesitated with a look back at the security guard and then opened the door slowly. She eased her hand out in an upraised position with her palm out and fingers splayed. “Don’t shoot!” she called out through the door. “You can come in now!”

“Identify yourself!” called one of the lupine cops.

“My name is Cynthya Allport. I work here.” She eased out into sight and then motioned slowly. “The man you want is tied up on the floor in here.”

One officer came forward slowly, his handgun still drawn, while the three others remained behind the patrol cars with their weapons focused on the building. The cop eyed her suspiciously as he eased past her through the door; he raised his eyebrows when he saw the bound schnauzer on the floor.

“I’m Officer Landry. Is there a Mr. Sinclair here?” the red wolf asked as he held his firearm with its barrel aimed at the ceiling.

Merlin looked up from where he was checking on Tina, and held up a hand. “That would be me. I’m the one who called your dispatcher.”

The officer surveyed the group in the room and then down at the schnauzer on the floor who panted from the heat. “Is everyone all right?” the cop asked.

“A few bumps and bruises, officer,” Stuart replied as he got to his feet, “but we’ll be okay.”

“Anyone else in the back?” Landry whispered, in the event someone else might be threatening their responses from a hidden position.

“No, sir. This is all of us.”

Landry made a hand signal out the front door to his squad and then stepped back inside. “Why’s this guy in a parka?” he asked.

“It’s my disguise…” the schnauzer grumbled into the rug beneath him.

“In the middle of the summer?” the red wolf asked with a shake of his head. “Are you mental?”

“I believe he is,” Stuart whispered to the officer. “He told us he was just released from the Shelton Institution several days ago. He’s been under their care for the past few years.”

Two more officers came inside the front door, and after a moment of explanation, they replaced the schnauzer’s electric cord with a pair of sturdy handcuffs, hauled him to his feet and then escorted him outside.

“Why did he come in here?” Landry asked.

“He was looking for someone who no longer occupies this building, a person who presumably caused his financial ruin.”

“Ah, I see,” Landry said as he jotted down the details on a small notepad. He and Stu moved to Penny’s large oak desk to discuss the rest of the particulars. Keri came out of the back room with a cup of water for Penny, who sat up in one of the reception room waiting chairs.

“Are you okay, Ms. Winters?” Merlin asked the white wolf. The disheveled woman looked up from the chair she sat in beside Cindy. She swallowed and put her hands together in her lap.

“He tried to choke me, sir, and I am shaken up a bit,” the accountant said in a raspy voice, “but I will be okay with a little rest. I would like to request the rest of the afternoon off, sir.”

Merlin nodded. “After the authorities have taken everyone’s statements, I think it would be a good idea if we closed the office and we all went home to calm down. We can start again fresh tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, sir,” Tina whispered.

“Mr. Sinclair?”

Merlin looked up as Abigail Meers tentatively walked through the front door.

“Is everyone all right?” she asked.

“We’ve had a little excitement,” he told the Golden Retriever, “I’m surprised the cops let you through.”

“They let me pass when I told them I owned the building you’re renting from me,” Mrs. Meers replied. “What happened?”

Merlin told her everything, and after a few minutes, the Retriever had her hands up to her mouth. “I am so very sorry,” she said in a quiet voice. “My Jonathan didn’t have the best judgment in his final years, I’m afraid.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Abigail,” Merlin said in a gentle voice. “We don’t blame you.”

“Still, this wouldn’t have happened if Jonathan had gotten better care.”

“We’ll be okay, Mrs. Meers,” Cindy told her.

“What is this?” asked another voice. Merlin looked over at a feline police officer and the small flying saucer in her hands.

Merlin excused himself from the Golden Retriever and walked over to the striped cat. “That’s a mobile sentry system for my office,” he said. He took the discus from her and noted a dent in its leading edge. He tapped the unit’s reset button and the lenses glowed again.

The flying saucer responded with flashing lights when it registered Merlin’s identity.

“Good job, Moss,” the gray wolf said when it floated away from his hands. “Verbal instruction kappa-iota. Resume normal routine.”

“Meow!” the saucer acknowledged.

***

An hour later, Merlin locked the door to the office and then put a hand on Stuart’s shoulder. The girls had already gone and now it was just the two of them. “Thank you for your help today, Stu,” he said to the security guard.

“This is the reason I am here,” the mastiff replied. “It’s usually fairly quiet and I don’t generally have much to do, so I help out the girls with any projects they might have. It’s generally peaceful, but you never know when something like this will happen.”

“This was my first day on the job here in the home office,” Merlin said with a slow shake of his head, “but it feels like a day lost to me. I can’t wait to see what day two will bring…”

TRAIL OF THE BICYCLE THIEF

By Ted R. Blasingame

Max tilted his nose to the autumn sky over the city and tried to sort out scents on the air. He frowned after a moment and then looked over at his companion. Lorelei’s perfume was a combination of cinnamon spice, rose petals and cherry blossoms, and while it was an interesting mix, it interfered with his olfactory senses.

“What’s the matter?” the white rabbit asked him in a lilting voice. “You look perplexed.”

Max sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t register the scents around us to keep a fix on our location,” he replied.

He rolled up the long sleeves of his loose-fitting denim shirt as he looked over at her. She wore a pair of bell-bottom blue jeans, a low-cut tee shirt with a rainbow tie-dye pattern, open sandals and a thin pair of dark sunglasses on an elastic strap. She appeared completely relaxed as they walked side by side along an undulating avenue bordered on both sides by old buildings of brick and stone. Colorful trees surrounded by iron bench seats dotted sidewalks of pedestrians, kids on skates and bicycles. The late afternoon was busy in this part of Coldsmith, the moderate city where the Blue Horizon had just made its most recent delivery on Kantus.

“Why do you need to do that?” she asked as they approached a corner crosswalk. “I know where we are.” She pointed to a tree park diagonally across the intersection. There were several fountains of running water and gardens of late-season flowers that made the area look inviting.

“Would you mind waiting over there for me?” she asked. “I need to take care of something while we’re here.” The rabbit did not wait for a reply and padded off around the corner without him.

Max frowned and looked up and down the avenue. He was disappointed to have been left alone in the midst of a city that was unfamiliar to him. He had hoped to spend time with Pockets and Justy in the entertainment district, but almost as soon as the cargo was unloaded and the captain had released everyone, Lori had grabbed him by the arm to have him accompany her on an errand into town. Now she had left him alone to finish whatever that errand might have been.

He scratched the soft fur behind his left ear and wondered if she intended to purchase something that she thought might embarrass him. He could not think of anything that she might be self-conscious about. Nothing seemed to shame her.

Whatever it was she went to get, he could do nothing but wait, so he crossed the busy street to the park and decided to have a look around. When he reached the curb, he stuck his hands into the pockets of his trousers and strolled over to the water fountain. There were many people about the park, from young children with their mothers, business partners discussing deals, to the elderly getting fresh air in the autumn sun.

A pair of pre-teen boys on bicycles pedaled past him, and Max watched them with interest. He had only been on a bicycle once before on Crescentis, and knew it was an efficient way to get around. Considering how many times he had to walk everywhere or rent a cab whenever they landed in a new city, he wondered if getting a bike to store on the ship might be a good investment.

He stretched his arms and felt lazy. He did not want to just sit around and wait for Lori to return, however, so he decided to stroll along the paved walkways through the park. If the bunny returned and needed to find him, she could call him with her DataCom.

Max passed several food vendors, but he was not yet hungry. Renny would have stopped at each of the self-contained carts, he thought to himself with a smile. He had never seen any single person eat as much as the cheetah did, and this included everyone he had ever seen at The Wild Star restaurant where he grew up.

He stepped around a bed of colorful flowers and then ducked under the low-hanging branches of a bright shrub with orange blossoms. He heard a small bell jingle and looked up when he rounded a bend in the pathway.

On a tall wooden stool was another German shepherd only slightly older than he was. Dressed in violet shorts and a white tank top, the girl was reading a printed magazine in one hand, while the other hand absently jingled a small bell to make her presence known. Max gave the bicycle vendor a smile as he walked up to her.

“Hi there,” the girl said pleasantly. She set her magazine on a small folding table beside her and then stood up. “My bikes can be rented for an hour, half day or full day. What can I do for you?”

“Hello,” Max replied. “I’m not sure I remember how to ride one of these, but I know it’s a good way to get around.”

“It’s the cheapest transportation besides walking,” she told him with a smile. “If you have a good sense of balance, they’re easy to ride, and once you’ve been on one, you never forget how to ride one.”

“I like to think of myself as a well-balanced guy,” Max quipped.

The girl’s brown eyes sparkled as she chuckled. She took a quick look at his leg length and then walked over to a red, medium-height bicycle. She unlocked a cable, pulled the bike free of its rack, and then wheeled it over to him.

“This one should fit you,” she said. “Hop on and I’ll give you a quick refresher.”

Max frowned, suddenly unsure if this was a good idea. He had been rather unsteady on the one he had previously ridden. “Uhm, I don’t know…”

“Aw, c’mon,” the girl prompted. “Surely a capable guy like you can remember something as easy as this.” She leaned forward onto the handlebars of the bike and looked up at him with a coaxing smile. Max swallowed and nodded.

The girl gave him a few instructions when he climbed on, and then walked along beside him with one hand on his arm and another on his seat just above his tail flap. Max wobbled as he tried to find his balance and felt completely unsafe sitting atop two thin wheels without anything for lateral balance. Tanis had once teased him about something called training wheels, but he now began to wonder if he should swallow his pride and request them.

The girl coaxed him with words of encouragement, and soon he was able to pedal along beside her with her hands only marginally on his tail. She worked patiently with him back and forth along the sidewalk in front of her stand, and soon to his delight, Max found himself actually riding the bike alone without much difficulty. She had been right. Although it had been over a year, it was coming back to him.

The young mechanic had flawlessly walked balanced on the tops of fences in Lormun, the dingy town where he had grown up on Quet, so it was only a matter of finding that center of balance again over the bicycle.

Max straddled the bike next to the girl’s stand and gave her a wide smile. “This is fun,” he said enthusiastically. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Blue Eyes,” she replied. “Now, how long would you like to rent the bike?”

Max looked back toward the corner where Lorelei had left him and then stuck a hand in his pocket for the local currency he had exchanged after they the ship. “Maybe for just an hour,” he said. “I’m waiting for a friend, but I don’t know how long until she gets back.”

“Pay now for an hour’s ride,” the vendor said. “If you need it longer, you can pay me for the extra time when you bring it back. I’m open until midnight.”

“Why open so late?” Max asked as he paid her.

“I’m always open until midnight on weekends,” she said with a smile. “Some people can’t afford cabs or other transportation, so they rent my bikes so they can get around for their evening activities. Not very accommodating for dates, but I don’t charge much.”

“Thank you,” Max said. “I appreciate you showing me how to get back up on one of these things.”

The girl stepped close to his bike and lightly touched him on the back of his hand. “You’re welcome. Listen… if your friend doesn’t show up, come back to visit with me. My name is Jennifer.”

The young mechanic swallowed nervously and then gave her a grin. “Sure thing, Jennifer. My name is Max.”

“Have fun riding, Max.”

Max gave her a wave and then headed back along the pathway unsteadily. He had his balance, but it would take more practice before he looked as relaxed at it as the others he saw riding bikes. When he neared the crosswalk at the corner of the busy street, he looked around for Lorelei. The bunny was still absent. She had not mentioned how long she might be gone, so he continued practicing with the bicycle along the paths in the park.

A half hour later, he was bored from just riding back and forth, so he decided to go looking for his crewmate. Traffic on the street had lightened up somewhat, so he rode the bike across to the corner where she had left him, and then moved in the direction she had gone.

Max had a fairly good idea of the types of businesses she might go into, so he kept a sharp eye out for them. Unfortunately, most of the businesses he saw along the sidewalk would have interested her, so he worked up a routine where he would stop in front of a shop window, peer inside for her, and then move on to the next store. He passed a mom-and-pop grocery store, though did not think she would be in there, but he peeked inside anyway.

Regular maintenance of the street ended after three blocks and the area beyond looked rougher. Dilapidated warehouses and ramshackle apartment buildings lined the street, and uncollected garbage overflowed from receptacles at the curb. Max frowned and turned his bike around, sure that she would not have gone this far up the road.

Max felt thirsty and decided to go back to a small street café he had passed. He pulled to a lurching stop beside a waist-high, iron fence and set the bike up against it. He walked in through the gate past mostly-empty tables to the counter and looked over a chalkboard menu hanging on the back wall. Soft singing issued from a portable music box at his elbow.

A bored-looking, female calico cat took his drink order and his credicard, processed the transaction and then handed him an empty cup. Max pocketed his credicard and then took his cup to a self-service drink dispenser at the end of the counter.

Just as he put his cup up to the machine, he heard a sound of metal clinking upon metal behind him. He turned his head and saw a brown bear cub about twelve years old take off on his rented bicycle.

“Hey!” Max shouted in surprise. The cub stuck out his tongue as the canine mechanic vaulted over the iron fence, his drink forgotten. Max raced after the kid, but quickly lost ground on foot.

He kept the bike in view for two blocks before he lost sight of it. The German shepherd growled beneath his breath and his thoughts were dark concerning the bicycle thief. He stopped to lean against an abandoned brick warehouse and panted heavily from the exertion, but he only allowed himself a brief rest. He began walking toward the last place he had seen the cub, but knew it was probably a wasted effort.

He walked another block before he decided that he should make his way back to the park and pay the girl Jennifer for the loss of the bike. He had plenty in his account to cover the expense, but he would have rather had the bicycle to return to her.

The fastener on one of his soft-sided boots had come loose, so he knelt down to reattach it. While down on one knee, Max noticed a particular track pattern in the dirt on the sidewalk. It matched the tread of the bicycle he had been riding.

The canine’s tail swished in agitation as his eyes silently followed the tracks to a nearby alley. He stood up quietly and then moved to the corner of the building. He peered around the brick wall cautiously, but there was no one in sight. There was nothing else to go on, so Max set his jaw rigid and followed the tracks.

He had not gone more than a dozen steps before his nose twitched. A scent lingered on the air in the dingy alley, a combination of cinnamon spice, rose petals and cherry blossoms. He stopped and sifted the aromas through his nostrils, recognizing them immediately.

Lorelei.

He looked up and down the alley, suddenly concerned that something sinister had befallen his crewmate, but he was also confused. His uncle Merlin had taught him to read the scents in the air, but it was apparent that the scent of fear was not present. For whatever reason that Lori had come this way, it had not been under duress.

The bicycle now forgotten, Max had a new mission. Where was Lorelei? He saw nothing in the shadows of the alley to indicate where she might have gone, so he put his back to the wall of the building closest to him and closed his eyes. He snorted out the old scents and then slowly drew in new air. Almost immediately, he felt compelled to start walking. His nose in the air, he followed the bunny’s perfume to a door just a few steps away.

He opened a torn screen door hanging only by its top hinge, and then peered into the interior of what appeared to be an old abandoned building. A single, low-wattage bulb illuminated a corridor with wooden floors and rotting walls that might have been painted green at one time. Scraps of yellowed newspapers littered the floor but little else.

Max frowned and stepped inside, but despite his misgivings on the condition of the place, Lorelei’s perfume led him on. He followed the scents through a maze of hallways that finally opened up into a larger area, no doubt a common room for whoever had once been tenants of the building. There were no lights inside, so he crossed the room as quickly as he could and remained silent. Only one exit left the room on the far side, but as soon as he walked through it, Lori’s perfume diminished.

He stopped and tilted his head, straining his ears. He decided she had not come this way and moved back into the common room. He halted in the center of the room and put his hands on his hips as he looked around. Aside from the papers on the floor, the room was empty. There were no other doors than the two he had been through, and there were no openings in the ceiling.

The German shepherd was perplexed, but in the quiet of the building, a new sound reached his ears. It was very faint, but he could hear nearby voices. Unsure if he might be in danger, Max moved to a corner of the room to get away from the doors.

He stood extremely still, but the voices seemed closer than before. He could almost make out the words, but could not pick up the actual conversation. His nose twitched again and he realized that Lorelei’s perfume seemed stronger too.

He began looking around for a door that he might have missed in the gloom of the common room, but the walls near him were as solid as they could be in their dilapidated condition. He moved a step closer to the corner and the floor beneath his boot disappeared.

Max caught himself with outstretched hands against the walls of the corner and he looked down at his feet into a triangular opening a meter across. He dropped to his knees quietly; Lori’s perfume emanated from the hole.

There was a soft illumination from somewhere below, but it was dim. He reached down into the opening and found a wooden shelf directly below him. It felt solid enough, so he turned around and stepped down onto it. The platform held his weight and was the same size and shape as the hole he had just dropped into, but it was not an end to the route. Opposite the shelf, there was another triangular hole, and with yet another matching shelf directly below it. He nodded to himself in the gloom and understood that it was a kind of alternating stairway that went straight down, probably to the basement.

He took the triangular path down through several levels, and the soft voices below grew in strength. One of the voices belonged to Lorelei, who seemed to be the one doing the most talking. She did not sound as if she were in trouble; her tones were conversational.

Max stepped off the final shelf onto a dirt floor in a dark corner of a room filled with burlap sacks of unshelled toca-nuts. A single oil lantern hung from a nail in the ceiling further inside the room and gave him some light to see his surroundings. He made his way quietly around piles of sacks, trying not to step on individually scattered nuts, until he knew he must be near to his crewmate.

He dropped lightly to his hands and knees and then eased his nose around a sack until he could see who was in the room. He studied the scene before him and raised an eyebrow.

Several toca-nut sacks were arranged like cushions, and sitting in the middle was Lorelei. Surrounding her were several kids of various species, the youngest of which was in her lap. Several more adults sat on other sacks, each one seemingly rapt in attention at the rabbit’s words as she told them all a story.

It took a moment before the German shepherd realized that she was telling her small audience a story about him. She explained how in his desperate hour locked in a filthy shed on Quet, he was rescued and found hope through a renewed life among new friends.

It was odd, hearing someone else relate his former existence, and he found himself listening just as intently as the others in the room did. The children interrupted her from time to time to ask her a question or insert their own comments, and Max found himself smiling at the exchange.

“Now listen,” Lori said as her blue eyes sparkled in the lantern light, “The moral of this true tale is that even when you are down and out, and have a hard time finding food from day to day, there may be some hope for a better life.” She looked across the gathered adults and added, “This kind of thing doesn’t happen to everyone, but if the hope exists, there’s always a chance.”

At her words, Max suddenly became aware of several paper sacks at her feet in front of the children, and that the kids and adults alike all had sandwiches and bottles of juice or soda to drink. Upon the sacks was the name of the mom-and-pop grocery store he had peeked inside on his search for her. He swallowed at the realization of what her little errand had been. Lorelei went on speaking quietly and Max began to fidget.

While looking over the group again, he suddenly recognized a brown bear cub sitting in the shadows at the periphery of the assembly. It was the kid who had stolen his rental bike. His eyebrows came together and he was about to step out of his hiding place when the cub stood up and walked closer to Lorelei.

“Miss Lori,” the boy said in a quiet voice, “I found a bicycle so you won’t have to walk all the way back on your sore foot.”

“Why thank you, Darin. That’s awfully sweet of you,” the bunny said with a smile.

“My mum said you’ve helped us before, so I wanted to help you too.”

Lorelei pulled the boy closer to her and then kissed him gently on the cheek. “I try to help out as much as I can,” she replied. She gestured toward the sacks at her feet and said to the adults, “I’ve made arrangements with Mr. Cashion up the street to deliver a month’s worth of groceries here in a few days. Maybe that will help you all for a bit. I’m sorry, but I can’t do more right now.”

“Miss Lori,” a scrawny feline woman said in a scratchy voice, “we can’t thank you enough for your generosity. This will keep our children fed a while longer while we try to find work.”

“Times are tough in Coldsmith right now,” a short beagle added, “but construction of an off-world business from Alexandrius will break ground next week. They’re promising several hundred new jobs soon, so perhaps there’s hope as you have said.”

Max swallowed back his anger and then stepped out into the dim light. One of the kids cried out in surprise, and the bear cub named Darin looked as if he was suddenly about to take flight. Lorelei looked up with a big grin and held out a hand to him.

“My friends,” she said to the group, “This is Maximillian, the one from the story I was just telling you. He started out as a beaten and punished slave in horrible conditions, but now he’s the adopted nephew of the owner of a profitable business. He’s proven himself as a capable mechanic on board the flagship of his uncle’s fleet, and he’s surrounded by friends who love him.”

Max looked embarrassed, grasped her proffered hand, and then stuck his other hand into his pocket. “Hello,” he said meekly.

“Hi!” several of the children replied in unison.

“Welcome, friend of Miss Lori,” said the collie with a weary smile. “Welcome, Maximillian.”

“What’s the matter, boy?” the scrawny feline said to the bear cub. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”

Darin swallowed hard and stared up at the German shepherd. “Uhm…” he said in fear. “I, uhm… think I’m in trouble.”

Max cleared his throat. “Darin got the bicycle from me,” he said with a nod to the cub. “I rented it from the park so Lorelei could have something to ride.”

“Aww, thanks, Max,” the rabbit said.

“Then why would you think you were in trouble?” the cat asked the cub suspiciously.

“Because… he lost me in the alleyway above,” Max answered with what he hoped looked like an innocent expression. “I had to find my way down here by myself.”

Darin hung his head, but looked up at Max with wide eyes. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

Max made his way to the boy through the small crowd and then held out a hand to him. “It’s okay, Darin. You were just in a hurry to help my friend.” The bear cub swallowed and then jumped forward to embrace the canine mechanic. Max cast a smile back at his crewmate and gave the child a hug. He then pulled away so he could drop to a knee to look into the boy’s soulful brown eyes.

“It’s okay,” he said to him again in a whisper. “I know you’re a good kid.”

Darin’s eyes welled up with tears, though he tried to hold them back. He grinned when Max poked him gently in the tummy with a finger.

“Well, folks,” Lorelei said to the small crowd, “my friend and I need to be going so I can take care of my bad ankle.”

The young child in her lap looked up at her in alarm. “Nooooooo!” the small collie whined in protest. “Don’ go!”

“I’m sorry, honey. I really would like to stay longer.”

“C’mon,” the child’s father said as he took the little girl. “Miss Lori will see us again when she can.”

“That’s right.” Lorelei gave the child a peck on the cheek and then started to get up. Max gave her a hand up on one side, and two other adults rushed forward to lend extra support.

“What did you do to yourself?” Max whispered to her.

“I stepped down wrong coming through the corner steps,” she replied, “but my friends here have taken good care of me.”

“We’ll take you back up through a different, easier way,” one the others said.

“Thank you.”

Several minutes later, Lorelei and Max waved goodbye to a small crowd. The doe rode atop the rented bicycle and Max walked alongside of her out of the alley back to the main road.

After a few quiet moments on the way back to the park, Lorelei looked over at Max. “Darin didn’t get this bike from you, did he?”

“Oh yes, he did,” Max replied, “but he stole it from me when I stopped at a café for something to drink. I rented it from the park and was out looking for you.”

The bunny reached out and stroked the fur of his closest cheek. “Thank you for not making a fuss back there,” she said. “You would’ve been right to be mad at him for stealing, but I think what you did made a better impression on him.”

Max looked embarrassed and stuck his hands into his pockets. “Lori, I know how he feels. I’m not exactly innocent, myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I used to steal stuff all the time when I lived on Quet. Although Mr. Tagon fed and clothed me, I was barely given anything else, so I helped myself when I needed something. I know that’s what Darin was doing, but I’m just glad it worked out okay.”

“I didn’t know you’d ever ridden a bike before,” Lori remarked with a grin. “You’re full of surprises.”

Max grinned at her. “Tanis taught me to ride one while we were on Crescentis about a year ago, but I’ve not been on one since. The vendor gave me a brief refresher before I was on my way.”

Lorelei looked thoughtful. “Was it a German shepherd girl named Jennifer?”

“Yes,” Max replied in amazement. “How’d you know?”

“She told me she thinks you’re cute.”

“She told you… Wait, when did she tell you that? I didn’t even meet her until after you left me to go on your errand!”

“Trust me,” Lori quipped with a wink. “She thinks you’re cute.”

“I think she’s cute, too, but how did you talk to her?”

“Hmm, what would your girlfriend have to say about that?”

“Leave Wendy out of this,” Max said perplexed. “How do you know Jennifer?”

Lorelei only gave him a smile and pedaled ahead of him. Max trotted to catch up, wondering if the bunny was ever going to answer his question.

GEMINI PI

By Ted R. Blasingame

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Renny Thornton’s eyes were open only to slits as he quietly jogged around the curved corridor of the Blue Horizon’s crew deck. The flooring beneath his bare feet was a blur of blue and gray and the simple white walls were only in the periphery of his vision as he made one circuit after another around the oval hallway.

Although he had no place to trim out at a full run, the cheetah was pleased that he felt well enough to jog around the corridor. Having been shot three times and then later beat up by the same person who had shot him, Renny felt fortunate to be alive. His former captain had noted that he had been frequently injured far more than any others in the crew had. Considering the feline navigator had always been in better physical condition than most of his coworkers, it made his situation grimmer.

If anyone else had been out in the corridor, he did not see anyone. Renny’s thoughts wandered over the events of the past few months as he jogged, and it was those horrors that he saw before him. It was becoming more difficult to maintain the casual personality he had always presented to others, and the dangers he had faced during the past few years had hardened him somewhat. He was now more alert and was apt to be distrustful of strangers, but he was growing stronger in both body and mind. He would be ready for further perils that might confront him.

He would no longer be afraid, and vowed to himself that he would never again be caught off guard.

***

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Jerry Somner opened one eye and looked out sleepily across the front room of his cabin. He had fallen asleep on the couch while reading crew medical records. The compartment was dark, save for a small reading lamp above the coffee table that had paper-stuffed folders scattered across it. Jerry distrusted computers for maintaining medical records, so he had printed out everything from the database onto hardcopy and had hand-written notes on some of them. He would use the computer records system only for his backup.

His eyes felt tired and he rubbed them sleepily before allowing himself a pleasant stretch.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

The red fox frowned and sat up. He had thought the thumping had been a part of a dream, but now that he was actually awake, the muted noise rose and diminished again. He stood up from the couch and absently brushed the wrinkles from his medical smock as he padded softly toward the door. The thumping returned just as he opened the panel.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Renny jogged past his cabin without seeing him and quickly disappeared around the curvature of the corridor. The cheetah was loosely dressed in a matching pair of black trunks and a tank top, his preferred dress for working out.

Jerry nodded quietly to himself and shut the door behind him. Although hearing the navigator trot around the corridor had awakened him, he was pleased to note that Renny had recovered well enough to resume an exercise routine during his off-duty hours. It had taken the feline quite some time to recover from his near-death experience, in both mind and body, and the ship’s doctor felt that his friend had progressed well.

Renny gave him a casual wave and a cordial nod when the physician stepped out into the corridor. Jerry returned the wave and made his way to the lift to the third deck. Now that he was awake, he needed coffee.

***

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Diary

I will probably get used to keeping up this diary after I do this for a while, but right now it feels like a chore to remember to sit down to record my thoughts concerning our voyages. Merlin says that I will prize my journal entries as time goes by, so I have taken his recommendation to heart.

It has been over a month since Merlin gave up his command of the Blue Horizon and promoted me as its captain. Almost half of my crew consists of new faces. Amanda, Damien, Jerry and Justy have taken the places of Durant, Merlin, Samantha and Tanis. Since I am still getting used to my new duties as captain, I have not taken as much time as I probably should to get to know the others, but I plan to place a priority on this soon. I already need to have a conversation with Damien about the recent friction between him and our doctor.

Our current mission has two purposes. We’re on our way to Alexandrius with a load of textiles for Fiddlestone and our standard mail quota, but just before we launched from Kantus, the home office called with a last-minute addition to our schedule. Added to our crates of fabric, we are also transporting a LightDrive engine pod and heat-shielded engine cowlings for a Gusev-class personnel cruiser that’s run into some trouble on Alexandrius. After we drop off the textiles, I can’t grant more than a couple hours of shore leave before we need to be off to a desolate place called Casperverah on the equatorial continent Parat.

I can’t help but feel apprehension with this assignment, and I have told Merlin of my concerns, but I have mentioned it to no one else. The last time we made a delivery into a remote area, it resulted in the torture of the Blue Horizon’s captain. I’m in no hurry to follow Merlin’s example.

– Capt. Taro Nichols

***

“Can an area be any more isolated and bleaker than this?” Renny asked as he peered up at the vidscreen from the navigational station on the bridge. He swished his tail through the slotted opening in the back of the seat and narrowed his eyes at the uninviting images.

“It’s about as remote as the Valley of Bones,” Taro muttered from her seat at the com station, “but more desolate.”

Jerry cast a glance toward the screen for a moment before he returned his attention to the piloting controls facing him. Taro fell silent and continued to study the terrain beneath them.

With the possible exception of Sillon, Alexandrius boasted the plushest environment of all the inhabited worlds in the Planetary Alignment. Casperverah’s existence seemed out of place on this world, but it seemed that even Alexandrius had its blemishes. The jutting, weatherworn hills and grayish, layered canyons appeared devoid of plant life, but upon closer inspection in the early morning sunlight, Taro could see sparse shrubs bleached of color among the washouts and gullies that blended into the inhospitable environment. The ground was riddled with small caves and sinkholes, with dirt mounds that appeared to have popped up randomly throughout the terrain. It was hard to tell if wind or water had shaped this land, but it looked about as arid as any place could be. Even the sky above seemed washed out and bland. One thing was certain - this was no place for a ship to break down.

“We’re coming up on the delivery coordinates,” Jerry reported, his eyes glued to the instrument panel before him. He reduced the Blue Horizon’s airspeed, but maintained their altitude to avoid jutting spires of sandstone.

“There it is,” Renny said with a frown. A blue and green vessel consisting of a fat central fuselage winged with upper wedge-shaped nacelles was upended, lying partially on its port side, the sinkhole-riddled ground underneath it having collapsed beneath its weight. The damage to the engine pod was visible even from their altitude.

Taro thumbed a control on the com panel and picked up a headset microphone. “Gemini Pi, this is Captain Nichols of the Blue Horizon, Registry PA1138. We’re on final approach.”

“Horizon, this is Garnet Castor of the Gemini Pi, Registry PA31415” a woman’s voice replied instantly. “We’ve just spotted your running lights and are so glad you could help us out.”

“The Blue Horizon is considerably larger than your vessel, Captain,” Taro said with a critical eye at the vidscreen. “I’m not sure landing on such an unstable area is going to be feasible for us.”

“I don’t know what to recommend, Captain Nichols, but we can’t get airborne again without your help.”

“There’s a wide, flat area over there by the caves that looks large enough for us,” Renny said as he stood up for a closer look; he pointed to the place he had seen. “I don’t see any sinkholes or depressions, and it looks stable enough.”

“Doc, what do you think?” Taro asked as she absently straightened out the wrinkles in her tan blouse.

Jerry frowned and kept an eye on his instruments. “I can use extra thrusters to set us down gently, with a finger on the power level to boost us back up if it appears the ground is going to give way beneath our weight. The Gemini Pi probably could have done the same thing, had they known what the ground stability was like. This difference is that we’re in a much larger vessel with more weight than theirs.”

Taro nodded in acknowledgement. “Right. Okay, take us down nice and gently, and be alert. Renny, watch the indicators like a hawk. If you get the slightest reading that the ground is collapsing, shout out a warning.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Jerry acknowledged. Renny merely nodded and focused his attention on his task.

“Captain Castor,” Taro broadcast in a quiet voice, “my navigator has spotted a nearby place we may be safe to land, but our thrusters will be ready for a power boost if things get dicey. Stand by.”

“We’re standing.”

“All hands, all hands,” Taro announced on ship-wide speakers, “landing sequence has begun. Strap yourselves in away from breakable items. This might not be an easy landing due to unstable terrain and we may have to make an immediate re-launch. Be prepared.”

Jerry moved the guidance shifts forward slightly and then pushed gently on a pad beneath one foot. The Blue Horizon slowed to a stop and hovered momentarily over the patch of ground they all hoped was solid and stable. Renny held his breath as he studied his readouts and Taro crossed the fingers of one hand for luck.

Jerry lowered the large freighter slower than usual, but his hands were steady and his concentration focused. A few moments later, the landing gear touched down; to everyone’s relief, the ground remained steady beneath the ship.

As soon as the physician was sure there would be no ground shifting, he gave Renny a nod and then began shutting down the flight systems.

“Good work,” Taro said with a pat on the fox’s shoulder. She leaned back over the com station and tapped a control. “We’re down and secure,” she broadcast ship-wide. “Everyone to the cargo deck.” She closed the circuit and then moved out the door, leaving the two men alone.

“I think you’ve earned your pay for the day,” Renny said to his longtime friend with a smile.

Jerry arched his back and then rubbed his eyes with a yawn. “I’m glad you think so,” he said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night and I was concerned it would affect my performance.”

“Why the trouble sleeping?”

“I had another argument with Damien in his quarters after the movie. It’s getting so that I get jumpy if he just walks into a room.”

“You two bickering about the usual thing?”

“Yes. I’ve reported him to the captain, but I don’t think she’s tried to do anything about it. As first officer, can you do something?”

“Taro has her own way of dealing with people, Jerry. Give it some time.”

The red fox yawned again widely with a curled tongue and then wiped at his eyes. “If she doesn’t do something soon, I won’t be fit to fly.”

***

By the time Taro got down to the cargo deck, Damien already had the bay doors rising. The coolness of the bay quickly evaporated as the arid, musty air from outside stole in through the opening. The loadmaster stood next to a control panel near the primary airlock, dressed only in sandals, white tee shirt and a loose pair of blue shorts with the Blue Horizon logo printed in white near his right hip. The captain saw a look of clarity in the mastiff’s eyes as she approached, and she wondered if this might be a good time to talk to him.

The chance was already lost when two human women approached the lowering cargo ramp. Both were short in stature and possessed brilliant red hair and sharp green eyes. Their heart-shaped faces were almost identical, though their hairstyles and clothing helped to distinguish one from another. The hair of one was short and curled under; she wore tan shorts and a pale-yellow blouse. The other had longer hair caught up in a ponytail; she wore blue jeans and a man’s white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

“Ahoy there!” said the one with the ponytail. “May we speak with your captain, please?”

Taro gave the women a pleasant smile. “I’m Captain Nichols,” she said, “but please call me Taro.” Before she walked down the ramp into the hot, dry climate, she gave the area a quick sweep with just her eyes. She did not see anyone else around, but would not let her defenses relax as she approached the strangers.

“Glad to meet you, Taro,” the woman said. “I’m Garnet Castor, and this is my twin, Gina Pollux.”

“We sure are glad to see you, Taro,” Gina said as she extended her hand up to the taller fox in greeting. “This is not the best of places to be, as we’d been led to believe.”

“What happened here?” Damien asked as he ambled down the ramp to them. The sisters looked up at the loadmaster in unison, frowning together.

“We use the Gemini Pi as a tourist service to ferry visitors to interesting parts of the Planetary Alignment,” Garnet said with a sweep of her ponytail. “Our cruiser can hold up to ten passengers and it’s equipped with the latest LightDrive engine technology from Kantus.”

“My late husband started the business, but we kept it going after he passed away, God rest his soul,” Gina added.

“Anyway,” Garnet continued, “we got a tip last week from a local that Casperverah was so different from the rest of Alexandrius that it was frequented as a tourist attraction. We decided to check it out before promoting it as part of our business.”

“We found a likely landing spot, but the ground fell in before we knew what was happening,” Gina explained. “We’re one engine down and we’ll need your help with the repairs.”

Taro tilted her head. “Delivery of the materials you needed was the only thing we were hired to do,” she said uneasily. “We weren’t contracted to perform installation of the cargo.”

Garnet frowned. “You weren’t? I distinctly remember asking your dispatcher for the help. While we both have the engineering backgrounds, neither of us will be able to install an entire engine without some kind of assistance. After we get the damaged engine removed, we’ll need help hoisting the ship out of its hole before we can even hook up and calibrate the new engine you’ve brought us from the Kantus manufacturer.”

“We have the funds to pay you for your help,” Gina added. “It will set us back a little, but one or two tourist trips to Mainor will recover those costs.”

“Mainor?” asked a new voice with a thick accent. “I thought the hulk of Mainor was now off-limits.”

The Terran sisters looked up in unison at a small group that had gathered at the top of the ramp to listen to their story. Gina broke out in a huge grin when she saw the speaker, a small gray koala in a brightly flowered shirt.

“Garnet, look! A teddy bear!” she exclaimed.

Justy looked confused and a bit intimidated when the woman walked up the ramp to him and began running her fingers through the soft fur between his ears. The koala rolled his eyes up at her with a goofy grin, but then realized how many faces were watching. He was about to ask her to stop when she stood and gathered him up in her arms as if he were a toy.

Standing beside them, Pockets smiled as he remembered a similar encounter with the human female accountant on the Hidalgo Sun when they had come across the decrepit freighter stalled in space. Like Gina, Toni Delondin had cuddled up to him, practically gushing about how cute the little raccoon was. Pockets quietly stepped out of sight behind Amanda and wondered if all human females were captivated by small, furry citizens.

Justy squirmed when the red-haired woman hugged him close to her and he cast a look for help at his captain. Taro laughed at the sight and turned back toward Garnet, who showed more restraint.

“Before I can agree to help you,” Taro said, “I will have to contact our home office to see if our delivery schedule will allow us the time. We had only planned to be down here long enough to unload your cargo before heading off to our next pickup.”

“When you’re talking with them, see if your dispatcher remembers our conversation,” Garnet said with an audible sigh of frustration. “I specifically requested the help of your mechanics for installation in addition to the delivery.”

“I’ll contact them right away,” Taro answered. She looked up at her loadmaster and waved a casual hand toward the interior of the ship. “Go ahead and get everything unshackled. Whether or not we help install them, we still have a contract to deliver the cargo.”

“Aye, Captain,” Damien said. When the Hestran fox disappeared back up into the ship, the mastiff clapped his hands and said, “Okay, folks, get your work gloves on. Time to get unpacked.”

“Make sure you people have plenty of water to drink,” Garnet said in a carrying voice. “It gets hot quickly when the sun gets higher.” She turned to go and added, “There are some really big ants around here too. Try to avoid them if you can.”

Justy tried to squirm out of Gina’s grasp, but she did not appear to want to let him go. “Excuse me, miss,” he said after clearing his throat to get her attention. “I – I should get to my work.”

“Gina, let him go,” Garnet said. Gina ran her fingers through his cheek fur and then released him with a smile.

“Go on, Mr. Teddy Bear. I’ll find you again later.”

Justy swallowed with a nervous smile and silently vowed to make himself as scarce as he could after his duties were done. He darted back inside toward the crew lockers at the back of the cargo bay to put distance between himself and the woman. She had not hurt him, but the attention was embarrassing.

Lorelei strode up beside him and chuckled. “Looks like you have a fan, Jus-tee,” she sing-songed. When they got to the lockers, she leaned over and pulled him to her bosom the same way that Gina had done. “Oh, Mister Teddy Bear! You are so cuddly and huggable!”

“Not so loud,” Maximillian whispered while he pulled on his work gloves. “The customers may hear you making fun of them!”

“Be careful, mates,” Justy replied with a strained chuckle. “She might like bunnies and puppy dogs, too.”

***

“Honestly, I don’t remember Castor’s request for assistance on installing the items shipped to her, but I can do a search and replay the original conversation. Merlin says to go ahead and assess the situation and then have Amanda work up a credit figure on what to charge them.”

“What about our next delivery?” Taro asked the mouse on the central bridge vidscreen. “Something the magnitude of replacing a LightDrive engine is not going to be on the order of an afternoon job. Once we get started, this may take us several days! Wouldn’t it better benefit Castor for us to find a local Alexandrian mechanic who can fly out here to do the job for them on-site? That kind of business would likely be better equipped to handle something like this.”

Cindy face looked concerned. “Normally, yes.”

Taro’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean by that?”

“I didn’t want to burden you with this just yet, but the customer at your next stop cancelled the delivery to go with a different carrier. Merlin was so mad that his hackles were raised talking to the guy, and has threatened a lawsuit on breach of contract. However, according to our business lawyer, a contract isn’t in effect until the Horizon has received the shipment and started its voyage to them.” Cindy sighed and absently brushed an errant strand of hair behind one of her large ears. “This means your ship was to have a bit of downtime and we’ve lost the revenue from that job. If Castor agrees to the price of the repair work, Merlin says to take the job.”

“Great, just great,” Taro muttered. “First, we’re told to take on mail quotas whether we want them or not, then we’re hired out as starship mechanics. Next Merlin will want to hire out our spare cabins as space-available for people needing personnel transportation.”

“Don’t joke,” Cindy said with a strange smile. “I heard Merlin discussing that very thing with Captain Corwin yesterday afternoon.”

“Lovely and wonderful,” the vixen muttered. “Okay, I’ll have Amanda get with Pockets, Max and the Gemini twins to discuss the work and see what kind of figure we can come up with. I’ll contact you back as soon as we have a yea or nay from Castor on the price of our extended services.”

Good luck, Taro. I know it’s frustrating, but the stellar freighting business is an expensive one, and we need the income anywhere we can get it.”

“I’m halfway hoping that Castor won’t be able to afford us.”

“Now, now,” Cindy chided with a grin. She glanced quickly to something off to the side and then looked back at the vixen.

Taro looked up at her with both hands on her hips and then let out a frustrated sigh. “I always figured being the captain of the ship meant I could make my own decisions.”

“You’re free to make whatever decisions you think necessary,” Merlin said as he stepped into view, “but you’re the one who called asking for guidance.”

Taro looked startled to see the wolf, but then caught herself and gave him a wry smile. “Have you been standing there the whole time?”

“Yes.”

“Sneak!”

“How else am I going to find out about my captains’ complaints if they don’t tell me directly?” He smiled back at her, his hands casually in the pockets of his slacks.

“Well, it’s just as well you knew my opinion on the matter,” Taro replied. “However, you’ve given us an assignment and I’ll make sure it’s carried out, even if I do think we’re stuck on the backside of Alexandrius just as it’s about to make a stink.”

“Thanks, Taro,” Merlin told her with a laugh. “I do appreciate it. Just do what you need to do and then report in when you’re finished. We should have another assignment for you by then.”

***

“Please come in,” Amanda’s voice called through the open door. Taro stepped inside the coyote’s cabin and looked around hesitantly. It was the first time she had been in the business coordinator’s quarters since the quiet woman had joined her crew. Amanda Black was about as “average” as anyone could be. Taro noted that while Amanda appeared to take pride in her work, she usually tried to stay out of the center of attention, apparently preferring instead to be an observer from the sidelines. She would usually only take part in a conversation if someone else drew her into the discussion, and then would keep her responses short and to the point, expounding on nothing. Communication skills were necessary as business coordinator and she was competent in her position, but Amanda rarely made an effort to join in activities when not working.

The Hestran fox glanced around the room in wonder. The entire décor of the room reflected a dragonfly motif in many colors and styles. Prints and oil paintings of dragonflies over water or fields decorated the walls, while ceramic and wire collectibles occupied spaces on the room’s bookcases. A knitted Afghan blanket with green and blue dragonflies was draped across the back of a sofa, with matching soft pillows neatly arranged on each end. A small coffee table in front of the sofa contained a sewing kit and scraps of fabric that were in the process of being converted into a garment of some sort, also bearing detailed stitching in the unmistakable dragonfly design.

The coyote was seated at a desk on the far wall beneath a rectangular port window, where muted Alexandrian sunlight streamed in through the polarized glass. Her ears swiveled at the vixen’s approach, but she kept her attention on the spreadsheet displayed on her computer terminal.

“I will have your figures in just a moment,” Amanda said quietly as she tapped in commands on the slateboard before her. Taro did not wish to appear impatient by standing over her, so the vulpine captain stepped aside to study one of the paintings on display. In the lower right corner of its simple frame was the coyote’s signature. Taro smiled, noting how talented her quiet crewmember was in her hobbies. Several moments later, Amanda stood up from her chair and approached the fox with a printout.

“Here you go, ma’am,” Amanda said with a smile. “As directed, I figured in every little detail I could think of. Pockets provided a list of what tools it would likely take to do the work, in addition to whatever spare parts they might have to take from our stores to make the repairs. I’ve calculated a working salary for everyone on board who might take a hand in the work, based on an approximation on how long it will take.”

“Thanks, Amanda,” Taro mused as she looked over the list. She did not like working this way, but she was determined to discourage Castor and Pollux from wanting their extra services. From the look of the final figures on the spreadsheet, she knew it would be cheaper if a local mechanic were hired to do the work. Merlin had ordered her to offer their services at a price, but he did not say she had to make the price reasonable.

“I see you didn’t include your own salary in the figures,” Taro said to the coyote.

“I’m not very mechanically inclined or that good with my hands,” Amanda admitted quietly. “I would be more of a hindrance than an asset in repair work.”

Taro glanced briefly at the meticulous skill of sewing she saw on the coffee table, but decided not to pursue how good with her hands she was. “Don’t worry about it; you’re excused from the repairs. These figures are what I needed anyway,” Taro said to the coyote. “Good work.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Amanda replied.

“Now comes the hard part – presenting it to the customer. Keep your digits crossed.”

“Yes ma’am, I will.”

***

When Taro approached the wreck of the Gemini Pi, Garnet Castor was on her knees on the coarse ground, peering ruefully down into part of the sinkhole beneath her ship.

“C’mon out of there,” the human woman said in a soothing voice. “That German shepherd isn’t going to eat you, but the ants might if you stay in there.”

“Don’t tell me your sister is afraid of us now?” Taro asked as she knelt down in the shade of the crumpled engine pod.

Garnet looked back at her with an amused grin. “No, Gina up on in the ship. This is the ship’s cat I’m trying to coax out of there. Your canine mechanic gave her a good-natured woof when she wandered out of the main hatch, and then she darted beneath the ship.”

Taro chuckled. “What is your crewmate’s name? Maybe I can talk her out of there.”

Garnet gave her a strange look. “Her name is Cinnamon and she’s down there with her fur and tail all fuzzed up.”

“Cinnamon?” Taro called softly. “My friend Max isn’t mean - he was just teasing you. I’m sure we can all get on if you come out of there so we can discuss it. What do you say?”

The human snickered. “Cinnamon is just a common housecat, Captain. Unless you understand kittycat meows, it won’t be much of a discussion.”

Taro twitched an ear. “She’s not sapient?”

“No, Captain. She is a pet who keeps us company on the long voyages and keeps mice out of the food stores. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but she’s just an animal.” Taro twitched an ear, but otherwise gave no indication she had reacted to the human’s last statement.

There was a little movement in the depression beneath the ship and Taro saw a pair of green eyes staring back out at her. The vixen had a sudden sense of nostalgia; it almost felt as if she were looking into the eyes of her friend Sparky.

Garnet extended a hand toward the hole and a moment later, a ginger longhair cat slinked out toward her. The human gathered up the feline into her arms and began to stroke the cat’s fur. Taro watched them for a moment, always in wonder at humans and their relationship with their pets. The vulpine captain would have never considered having another animal as a pet, unless it was someone like Renny. She smiled at the comparison, but then remembered why she was there.

“We’ve been in contact with our home office about your request, but you may not like the result,” she said as she presented Amanda’s printout.

“What’s this?” Garnet asked as she took the sheet.

“All audio and video feeds to our headquarters are recorded and the playback of your original request to pick up and deliver the engine has nothing of a request for help installing it. However, I’ve been authorized to present our services to you anyway if you agree to the amount.”

The woman looked over the figures quietly. “What’s this entry for Schedule Restructuring?” she asked as she gave Cinnamon a scratch behind the ears.

Taro tried to seem perplexed. “As I mentioned earlier, we’re scheduled for another pickup after unloading your shipment. If we stay to help you with the installation of your engine, that pickup will have to be rescheduled with the other customer in order to make our timetables; likewise with the consecutive assignments after that. This will put us behind.”

Garnet nodded quietly and continued to study the report. Taro saw her furrowed brow and thought her ruse was going to work, until the human handed the spreadsheet back to her with a nod.

“This is a little steep, but as Gina said before, we can make this back up with a couple of tourist runs to Mainor,” Garnet told her. “I’ll transfer the funds to your home office immediately.”

Taro suppressed a look of disappointment and gave the woman a nod. “I will gather my crew together to put at your command.”

Garnet shook her head. “If it’s all the same to you, I would rather have your chief engineer in charge of coordinating the repairs. Gina’s a capable engineer, but she’s not used to anything of this scale.”

Taro managed a smile. “Pockets enjoys this kind of thing – he’s the raccoon. I’ll have him meet with your sister to get things started. We’re still on a schedule, so we need to get this done as quickly as we can.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Castor said with a genuine smile. “We really appreciate this, and we’ll be sure to send any cargo business your way that we hear about.”

***

Work began quickly on the engine replacement. A workbench that Pockets had previously set up for Max in the engine room was used as the central table for coordinating the repairs and laying out printed schematic prints that had been included with the new engine. Together with Gina, Pockets quickly worked up a checklist so that the procedures would be done in a specific order so that nothing would be missed. Replacing a LightDrive engine was not the same as changing out a faulty power module or some other minor component. If not done right, critical components of the engine could be inoperative when needed the most. Power for all primary ship systems were routed through the LightDrive and even the smallest power falloff could affect sensitive areas. It would be too easy to get optical bundles misrouted, so special care would need to be maintained at all times.

The raccoon knew that most of the Blue Horizon’s crew were not mechanics, but everyone’s help would be needed at one point or another to get the job done quickly. For those with lesser skills, he would delegate tasks of lesser importance, but things that were necessary nonetheless. Gina looked over his recommendations and was impressed with her fellow engineer’s checklist. She only found a few places in the plan that needed tweaking, and together they finalized a work list they both thought was the most efficient.

The first project would be to assemble a structural framework beneath the Gemini Pi’s fuselage with sufficient scaffolding to keep the ship stable when they removed the weight of its crumpled engine pod. Due to the two-story height of the Horizon’s cargo bay, Pockets had plenty of scaffolding on hand. Renny, Jerry, Damien and Lorelei were assigned the task of building the framework, while Gina, Pockets, Taro and Max began removing the heat-shielded cowling from the engine pod and nacelle strut. Due to the damage, some of the cowling would have to be cut away since it would not be an easy task of simply removing the connecting fasteners. Justy and Amanda would act as runners to retrieve tools and parts that the work crews needed, and even Moss would take a part in the repair work since its cameras could relay back images from inside sections too small for anyone to fit.

***

Justy panted in the heat and from the exertion of carrying his burden. He moved from person to person with a knapsack full of water bottles. The arid conditions made everyone thirsty as they worked in the full sun.

He set his pack on the ground in the shade of the engine pod and looked up at Max, who was missing from the waist up. Justy peered up into the narrow access panel, but was unable to make out the canine’s face in the darkness; it was too bright outside for his eyes to adjust well enough.

“Care for some cool water, Max?” the koala asked of the pair of legs before him.

“Yes, thanks!” replied a muffled voice. “It’s like an oven up in here!” The young mechanic squirmed his way back out of the hole and then sat down on the dusty ground in the shadow of the ship. Justy handed him a bottle with a straw from his knapsack and Max took it with relish.

The koala swallowed and pulled out another bottle as Gina emerged from the other side of the engine pod. “Did someone say ‘water’?” Gina asked. “I’m parched!”

Justy handed her the bottle he had been about to open for himself and gave her a weary smile. “Here you go,” he said.

Gina took the offered bottle with glee, but then took hold of his arm and pulled him into a snug embrace. “Thank you, ya little cutie. You’re my hero!” She stroked the fur beneath his round chin as he struggled to free himself from her clutches; the woman had taken to hugging him at every opportunity. She nuzzled his ear and then released him.

Justy suppressed a heavy sigh and turned toward his shipmate. “How’s it coming?”

“We should have the main taper-lock fasteners loose soon, but we don’t want to take them free just yet,” Max replied after a long pull from his straw. “Taro’s gone to prepare the anti-grav cargo hoist to handle the weight of this engine, but the scaffolding beneath the starboard pod isn’t ready to support the altered center of axis when the weight distribution changes.”

“Spoken like a true mechanic,” Justy said with a grin. Max put his hand on his chest and made a formal bow from his seated position.

Gina chuckled, but then she saw his stubby index finger. “What happened to your finger, Max?” she asked curiously.

The German shepherd frowned and absently covered the hand with his other. He disliked recounting the reason for his damaged extremity. Although he now had a good life with his friends on the Blue Horizon, he was still ashamed of his upbringing on Quet. Instead of giving her the details, he simply said, “It was an accident a long time ago.”

The human pursed her lips, realizing it was a sensitive subject. “Sorry,” she muttered.

Max sighed, but gave her a small smile as he held up the hand. “That’s okay, Gina,” he said. “I have an appointment in a few months to have a prosthetic finger grafted on by a surgeon I know. He’s certain he can make it match my others and it will be fully functional. I made the arrangements with my uncle only a few days ago. He’s going to meet us when our schedule takes us back to Pomen, and then he’ll bring me back to the Horizon after a little rehab and recovery time.”

Gina reached out quietly and took his hand in her own. She stroked the back of his hand as she looked at the finger stub and then looked up into his ice blue eyes. “You’re too young to lose fingers or toes, Maxie. You be more careful.”

The canine mechanic gave her a warm smile and replied, “Yes, ma’am, I intend to keep the rest of them connected to me.”

Justy tilted his head and gestured toward a set of empty coveralls tossed aside onto the ground. “What happened to Pockets? Did he melt away in the heat?”

Max chuckled. “He’s up inside the nacelle strut with Moss, labeling wire bundles before he disconnects them from the engine systems. He had too much junk in his pockets to fit up in the narrow access, so he shed his coveralls to squeeze in. I’m not sure how we’ll get him back out, though.”

“I’m very flexible!” called out the raccoon’s voice from an open access panel.

Justy picked up his knapsack and pulled out another water bottle. He handed it to Max and then pointed up to where Pockets’ voice had emanated. The canine peered up inside the hole and handed the bottle up to his partner.

When the koala stepped back out into the sun, Gina looked up at him. “Where are you going, cute stuff?” she asked.

Justy hefted his knapsack and said, “Gotta continue my rounds.”

As he walked away, the human woman glanced over at Max. “I like him,” she said. “I would love to take him home with me.”

Max raised an eyebrow, but instead of voicing the remarks he had in his head, he merely took another pull of water before returning to work.

Justy stepped around the engine pod and made his way past the edge of the sinkhole to the other side of the vessel. Tubular plasteel scaffolding had been erected beneath the starboard engine to hold its weight after the Port pod was disconnected. Lorelei was on the ground, handing up sections to Renny, who in turn passed them up to Damien and their doctor. When the koala stepped up to Lori, she turned to greet him with a frown.

Justy was not used to seeing her with a frown in the short time he had known her. “What’s the matter?” he asked as he pulled out a bottle of water for her. Normally she would have inspected the bottle’s label to make sure there were no inorganic ingredients, but she seemed distracted and gestured toward the nacelle above them.

Jerry’s ears were back flat against his head; his eyes were locked in a challenge with those of the mastiff. Damien glared at him for another moment and then waved off the doctor with a hand. He turned and made his way unsteadily across the scaffolding to the other side of the engine.

The red fox watched the loadmaster settle down on a set of cross bars and turn his back to him. Jerry shook his head and exhaled a sigh that even Justy heard on the ground. “I see those two are at it again,” the koala muttered.

Lori nodded and fiddled with the straw in her bottle. She took a long drink and then started playing with the straw again. “I know Doc means to help, but I don’t think Damien is the kind to accept advice very well.” One of her long ears drooped and she gave her friend a shrug. “I don’t see a good outcome to this.”

“Well,” Justy said with a crooked smile, “maybe you could console one or both of them.”

The bunny moved only her eyes to peer down at her companion and then wriggled her nose at him after a moment of trying to look stern. “The idea has merit, but I’m afraid I would be the only one to benefit from it.”

A shadow fell over Justy as he chuckled, and he suddenly looked up to see Renny hanging upside down from the scaffolding above him. Both feet were curled around the plasteel tubing, his tail was stretched out for balance and one hand was extended toward the koala.

“Hi! I could use some water,” the cheetah said with a weary smile. “It’s hot up here!”

Justy fished a bottle from his insulated pack and then handed it up to the first officer with a grin. “Here you go, Ren-Ren!”

Renny did a double-take and then narrowed his eyes at the short supply officer. “You’ve been talking to Samantha.” Justy’s wide grin was answer enough. “Have it your way, Fuzzball,” Renny chuckled. “By the way, how is the First Lady these days?”

“She’s excited about the wedding,” the koala replied as he moved over into the shadow of the engine pod. “I’m not sure why she always seems to call when I’m the one on bridge watch, but she sure enjoys chatting.”

Lori moved over into the shadow with him and she bent down so that she was nose to nose with him. “What about the wedding?” she asked with sparkling eyes. “I need details.”

Justy swallowed at her proximity and shrugged. “All she can talk about is all the fluff she and Shannon have planned. The wedding is still weeks away, but she keeps talking like it’s tomorrow.”

Renny smiled. “That sounds just like—”

“Damien!”

The trio looked up at Jerry’s shout just as the mastiff hit the ground on the other side of the scaffolding, kicking up a cloud of dust. Justy dropped his pack and ran around the framework, followed closely by Lorelei. Renny looked up and saw the doctor scrambling down the framework to join them. With a lump in his throat, Renny fished a DataCom from his shirt pocket and thumbed for transmit.

“Taro, get to the Gemini, pronto! Damien just took a dive into the dirt off the starboard engine!”

“On our way!” came back her prompt reply.

Justy reached out toward Damien, who lay face down in the dust, but Jerry’s shout stopped him. “Don’t move him!” the fox exclaimed as he stepped down onto the ground. “If he’s broken anything, it could cause more damage if you move him before he’s stabilized.” Jerry ran over to his medical bag that he had kept close by and opened it. He pulled out a small medical device and then knelt down next to the loadmaster with it.

Lorelei’s eyes were moist as she softly petted the back of Damien’s hand. The mastiff groaned and wheezed a little. Justy brushed dirt away from the canine’s snout so he could breathe better.

“What happened?” Renny demanded as he knelt next to the doctor.

“The radius bone of his left arm has a hairline fracture and he probably has a bruised snout,” Jerry muttered, “but otherwise he’s just had the wind knocked out of him. Here, help me get him onto his back.” Renny and Justy helped turn him over, while the doctor gently cradled the injured arm. Damien groaned, but did not open his eyes.

“Doc, what happened?” Renny asked again.

Jerry searched for a specific vial in a padded case, and then prepared a hypodermic all without looking at the cheetah. “Damien fell off the scaffolding. Good thing it wasn’t any higher.”

“Why did he fall off?” Taro asked.

Jerry looked up at the vixen and the human woman standing beside her, but then returned his attention to his patient. He tightened his lips across the front of his snout and then replied matter-of-factly as he gave Damien an injection for the swelling that was already forming around the injured forearm. “He is intoxicated.”

“Intoxicated?” repeated Max as he and Gina gathered around.

“He’s dehydrated and likely has a bit of heat exhaustion,” Jerry answered. “We need to get him inside the Horizon quickly and get him cooled down or it could result in heat stroke.”

Renny grabbed a semi-flat access panel door as tall as himself and set it down next to the mastiff. “Here, we can carry him on this.”

Several of the group helped lift the heavy canine onto the makeshift litter, and then Renny took the lead as they carted him back toward the freighter. Taro put a hand on Jerry’s arm to hold him back.

“Explain,” the vixen commanded.

The physician twitched an ear with a frown. “He carries a flask of Winstle Vodka with him everywhere he goes. I’ve caught him taking sips from it today, but every time I warned him about the effects of alcohol and heat, he’d brush me off.” Jerry looked his captain straight in the eye and added, “I’ve already asked you to talk to him about his drinking on the job.”

Taro nodded, feeling a little deflated. “Yes, you have,” she admitted, “but I haven’t found the right time to bring it up.”

“You’ll have your opportunity as soon as I have him stable. You’re now down two people on your repair work, Captain,” Jerry said in clipped words. “Let’s hope that’s all that drops out.”

“Two?”

“Damien and myself. I’ve got to tend to him now to make sure this doesn’t progress further; I won’t be of any more help to you out here,” he said with an irritated gesture toward the Gemini Pi. Without waiting for a reply, the vulpine doctor gathered up his med bag and trotted off toward the Horizon’s Sickbay.

Taro watched him go, her emotions in turmoil. She saw her crew watching her and knew they had all recognized the scolding she had just received from her subordinate. “Doc will take care of him,” she said stiffly. “Everyone take twenty minutes in the shade to cool down, and then we’ll need to get back to work.

***

“Okay, everybody clear!” Pockets announced over the Horizon’s DataCom hand units. The day had been long and the evening sun didn’t seem much cooler at their equatorial location, despite the lengthy shadows already cast across the terrain. With ten bodies helping with the work, they had accomplished a lot, but there was too much to do to finish it in one day. With the daylight they had left, Pockets wanted to get to a certain place on their schedule before they stopped.

Inside the cockpit of the Gemini Pi, Garnet Castor sat at the piloting controls and waited for the signal. Without the energy generated through the port engine, the cruiser’s internal power was diminished, but there should be enough from the starboard for simple maneuvering thrusters.

“Port side is clear!” Renny’s voice issued from the DC unit.

“Starboard side, clear!” reported Max. “Alternate pad to the Starboard also clear!”

“All clear aft!” announced Gina.

“All clear fore!” Taro confirmed.

“Okay, Captain,” Pockets said, “Take her up!”

Castor spread her fingers out on the thruster slide controls and gently pushed them away from her on the control panel. Chemical rocket thrusters beneath the ship ignited and began their downward force. The Gemini Pi wobbled for a moment and then began to lift at a skewed angle before Garnet remembered to compensate for the uneven weight of her vessel minus one engine pod. She gave extra power to the starboard thruster to counter the imbalance and the ship slowly became level.

Outside the small ship, the others watched the vessel rise up out of the sinkhole with a steady roar. Its movement slowed to a hover as rocks and dirt fell from the landing skids now freed of the earth. It maintained its position only for a moment before the ship began to slip laterally to the starboard toward an area free of stones or vegetation.

The Gemini Pi hovered sideways until it had cleared the sinkhole by several meters, and then Pockets lifted the DC to his mouth.

“That’s good, Captain!” he signaled. “Hold it there until we can get the secondary scaffolding rolled into place.”

“Aye to that, Pockets!”

Renny, Max, Taro and Gina ran to another set of tubular scaffolding mounted on large rubber wheels. They moved quickly, rolling the smaller construct into place beneath the starboard engine amidst the dirt and rock kicked up by the thruster winds. Max adjusted the goggles on his face and then signaled Pockets that the framework was in position. Renny and Gina locked down the wheels and then cleared the area as Taro gave the raccoon a pre-arranged hand signal.

“Everything’s ready, Captain!” he announced into his DC unit. “Lower her gently!”

The blue and green vessel began to descend, its thrusters marking more power to keep the ship level. When the skids touched the dirt, and the ground remained stable beneath them, Garnet breathed a sigh of relief and removed her cramping fingers from the thruster controls.

Outside the vessel, Pockets nodded in satisfaction and walked over to the sinkhole where the Gemini formerly rested. He thought he saw movement down within its shadows, but it was getting dark with the setting sun.

“What do you see?” Renny asked as he removed his work gloves.

Pockets stared into the shadows a moment before looking up at the navigator. “Probably nothing,” he said. “Maybe just dirt and rocks falling into the hole.”

The cheetah gestured toward the original scaffolding they had erected beneath the engine that was now standing free. “Should we start taking that apart?” he asked.

“Leave it for tomorrow when we have more light,” said Taro from behind them. “I think this would be a good time to leave off for tonight. Lori and Mandy should have supper ready soon, so let everyone get cleaned up and relax. We’ve done enough work for one day.”

“Mandy?” Renny asked with a grin.

“Amanda,” Pockets chuckled. “Max started calling her Mandy since it’s easier to say, and it seems to have spread. She doesn’t seem to mind the nickname.”

“All hands, this is Lori,” broadcast the rabbit’s cheery words across the crew DC units. “You’ve labored hard and put in a good day’s work, but now it’s time to get cleaned up and report to the galley. Supper will be ready in ten minutes!”

Renny and Pockets exchanged amused looks. “Good timing,” the raccoon said to Taro with a grin.

“What about those two?” Renny asked as he nodded toward the Gemini twins.

“You have to ask?” Taro replied with a tsk. The vixen walked over to where the human sisters were talking next to their vessel’s primary airlock hatch. Taro spread out her arms and put them around each of their shoulders.

“You heard the bunny,” she said with a friendly smile, “let’s all get cleaned up to eat.”

Gina’s eyes lit up and Garnet returned her smile. “Thanks for the invitation,” Castor said with appreciation. “We’ve been so busy today that we’ve not really given much thought to preparing a meal beyond the nutrition bars we’ve nibbled on through the day.” Her stomach let out a prolonged gurgle and she bit her bottom lip with embarrassment.

“You’re welcome to share in our food,” Taro told them as they headed for the large freighter. “Lori’s a great cook and she’s good with interspecies meals.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Gina said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what she’s prepared.”

“We also have spare cabins with clean linens, if you wish to sleep in the Horizon tonight.”

Garnet pursed her lips. “Gina and I were just talking about that. I could feel a wobble to the Gemini when I walked through her corridors just now. With one engine pod missing, the ship is a little unstable on its skids, even with the scaffolding helping to support the unbalanced weight.”

“If you don’t mind putting us up for the night,” Gina added, “I’m sure we’ll sleep more comfortably knowing the deck beneath us isn’t going to tilt if we both roll over at the same time.”

Taro chuckled and gestured toward the Horizon’s hatch. “We don’t mind at all,” she told them. Her own stomach snarled for a moment, so she said, “Let’s eat now and relax. We’ll give further thought to your ship tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds good to me,” Garnet replied.

***

Garnet and Gina discovered that Taro’s words were true. Lorelei had prepared a fresh garden salad made of Terran vegetables for the two women with a nice pasta dish accompanied by light tomato sauce and garlic toast. Lori knew that most humans were omnivores, but she was unaware of the sisters’ meat preferences. The bunny was a vegetarian, herself, and although she detested handling meat, she served on a ship full of carnivores and was used to their diets. She had recipes to cover all meals and Lori’s culinary hunches won out in this case; the Gemini twins were appreciative of her skills.

As he had feared, Justy became the object of attention for Gina Pollux. She set her meal down beside him and spent the evening chattering away merrily while she constantly ran her fingers through the soft fur of his head, ears and his arms. The koala did not mind physical touch, but her unwavering attention made him nervous. His experience around humans was limited, but he was aware that they usually stuck with their own kind for relationships. Gina’s endless touching made him wonder where her motives lay, and he really wished she would just leave him alone. Unfortunately, she was a paying customer and had been invited to stay the night on board the Horizon. Besides that, Justy was a nice guy who disliked upsetting others, so he endured the attention as best he could. He would keep his cabin door locked during the night, however.

The only ones absent from the supper were Jerry and Damien. Legrand was resting in his cabin, with the vulpine doctor watching over him from Sickbay, so Amanda had taken a tray of food to them.

***

A little while later, Justy excused himself from the gathered party on the rec deck and took the lift down to the crew deck. He padded around the curved corridor to Sickbay and let himself in quietly.

The front room to the sick bay consisted of nothing more than cabinets and counters, with two roller stools out in the floor. There were various instruments mounted to the walls, as well as a number of charts that Doctor Somner had put up concerning his crew stats. The male fox sat on one of the stools as he quietly read printed pages from a folder on a counter.

“Hey, Doc,” Justy said quietly.

Jerry looked over at him. “Hello. Is there something I can do for you?” he asked.

“No, just wondering how Damien was doing.”

The fox rubbed his eyes. “He’s asleep in his cabin. I put his arm in a gel cast and gave him an injection to accelerate his body’s natural healing, but the alcohol in his system will slow its effects.”

“Did you give him anything to get over the alcohol?”

Jerry shook his head. “No, he’ll still get to have his hangover when he awakens.”

“That’s mean-spirited,” the koala said in disapproval.

Jerry shook his head. “No, Justy, the alcohol nullifier also inhibits the medication for his arm. Between a hangover and a broken arm, I’m sure he would take the hangover.”

“Well, I suppose,” Justy said with a frown. He was not entirely convinced with the doctor’s explanation. Jerry and Damien had often argued about the loadmaster’s drinking, with the physician usually losing the arguments.

“He chose to drink on the job,” Jerry said, “so he chose to accept its after-effects as well.” He fell silent for a moment, and then added, “If he ever drinks while he’s on bridge duty, we could all be in trouble.”

“I don’t think he would do that. He seems more responsible than that.”

Jerry’s brow furrowed. “I’d like to think that, Justy, but I just don’t get that feeling from him. He makes me nervous.”

“Aww, you’re just not used to him yet,” the koala replied with a smile. “Sit in on one of his card games sometime. You’ll get to know him better.”

The physician rubbed his eyes again. “Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “I don’t know what’s in his past that drives Legrand to drink so much, but when it gets to a point where he endangers others, I will to have to interfere. He doesn’t like people meddling into his personal affairs, and I think he holds grudges against those he thinks have wronged him; I’m probably on his list.”

“Justy? Are you in there?”

Jerry and Justy looked up together. Gina’s voice had come from the corridor. She began knocking on a door somewhere, likely Justy’s nearby quarters.

The koala looked back at the physician in alarm. “Hide me!” he whispered.

Jerry chuckled and gestured over his shoulder toward a doorway behind him. “You can hide out in the patient room, but don’t touch any of the equipment, please. It’s all been sterilized.”

“Thank you!” Justy crept into the back room just as Gina knocked on Sickbay door.

“Come in, please,” Jerry called out.

The door opened and the short, red-haired woman peeked inside. “Hey there, Doctor,” she said. “Have you seen Justy?”

“You just missed him,” the fox replied. “He may have headed outside for some fresh air.”

“Thanks, Doc!” Gina closed the door behind her and was gone.

Jerry rubbed his eyes once again and decided he had done enough reading for one night. He closed Damien’s medical file and placed it in a drawer beneath the counter. Without a backward glance to the room where Justy had hidden, the doctor turned out the light and left Sickbay.

Several moments passed before Justy felt it was safe to come out. There were only a few red diodes from the doctor’s equipment on the walls to mark his way, but he managed to make it to Sickbay door without knocking anything over. He eased open the panel and peered out into the corridor.

He saw Taro casually leaning up against the wall a short distance away. Renny was standing in front of her, with a hand on the wall beside her on each side and one foot on the floor between her feet. They were talking in quiet whispers and snickers, and then Justy saw the cheetah lean in and give her a kiss.

He felt like a voyeur, embarrassed to be witnessing something like this between the captain and her First Mate. His cabin was not far in the opposite direction, so he padded as quietly as he could around the curved passage, hoping they had not seen him. He let himself into his quarters and locked the door behind him.

It was only when he was in the bedroom that he finally sighed in relief. He had already cleaned up before supper, so he quickly undressed, turned out the lights and slid between the sheets of his bed.

***

Morning sunlight streamed in through a polarized window and fell across Garnet Castor’s face. Without opening her eyes, she raised a hand to her forehead and brushed the long red hair from her face. She stretched languidly, yawned without a sound, and finally opened her large green eyes. She gave the room a quick glance with a contented smile and brushed aside the single sheet covering her.

Despite that she had spent the night on a freighter, this cabin was comfortable and she had slept well. She could remember having no dreams, but this never bothered her. What mattered was that she felt well rested.

She lay still a few moments more before she sat up on the side of the bed and snared her cotton robe from the floor rug where she had discarded it the night before. She made her way into the lavatory and started the water for a shower. This freighter had a full-sized tub that she could have soaked in, but with the work still ahead of them today, she did not feel she had the luxury of time on her side.

After she had showered, dressed and dried her hair, Garnet gathered the long red tresses into a ponytail with a simple elastic band and then walked barefoot out into the corridor. She heard the thump, thump, thump of padded feet and looked up to see the cheetah in a matching pair of black trunks and tank top. He gave her a courteous wave as he trotted past her on his morning jog.

“Good morning, Renny!” she called after him. She heard his mumbled reply as he disappeared around the curve of the corridor. She did not remember exactly where the lift up to the galley on the rec deck was located, but did not think she would have too hard a time finding it. As she mused on this, a nearby cabin door opened and Justy’s nose peered out into the corridor. He saw her and started to withdraw back into his room, but stopped himself when he realized that Gina was not with her.

“Good morning, Miss Garnet,” he said to her with an embarrassed smile.

“Good morning, Justin,” the woman replied with a chuckle.

“Excuse me, but uhm… is your sister… uhm…”

Garnet laughed and shook her head. “No, she usually sleeps in as late as she can; you should be safe for now.”

Justy visibly relaxed. “Thank you,” he said. He stepped out into the hallway wearing a pale blue shirt over a set of cargo shorts, and walked with her to the lift. Renny’s thumping feet overtook them as he passed on another lap around the corridor.

“Please forgive my sister,” Garnet said quietly. “She’s always been an… animal lover, and gets over-enthusiastic sometimes.”

Justy noted the slight hesitation at her choice of words, but dismissed it with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I usually don’t mind a little attention,” he admitted as they stepped into the lift, “In fact, I usually try to get all the attention I can.” He thumbed the third level pad and continued, “However, Gina seems just a little too focused on me, and… well, it makes me uncomfortable.”

“I understand,” Garnet told him. “Do you want me to talk to her about it?”

Justy’s expression changed to one of gratitude, but then his countenance fell before he replied. “I would,” he said quietly, “but I really don’t want to hurt her feelings. Although a little clingy, she’s only been nice to me. I can probably tolerate it for the duration of our stay.”

“As you wish,” Garnet said. The lift came to a stop and they could hear the sound of voices before the door opened before them. “However,” she added, “let me know if you change your mind.”

“Thank you, Miss,” he said politely. His nose quivered when he caught the aroma of Lorelei’s breakfast. He excused himself and made his way straight to the galley where he knew a cup of coffee was calling out to him.

***

Amanda stopped next to Justy outside the loading ramp of the Horizon, and touched him quietly on the shoulder. The koala looked up at the tall coyote and gave her a pleasant smile.

“Hi, Mandy,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Amanda snickered and put her hands on her hips. “So now you’re calling me that too, are you?” she lilted.

“Does it bother you?” Justy asked with a frown.

Amanda shook her head and put her hands behind her back. “No, it’s kinda nice, really,” she replied with a small smile. “Up until now, I really hadn’t felt like the crew had accepted me as part of the team, but if they’re giving me a nickname now, perhaps I was wrong.”

Justy grinned at her. “That’s possible, but I don’t think you ever had anything to worry about.”

The pair fell silent for a moment and the koala’s gaze turned to several nearby caves in the hills that surrounded the landing site.

“What’s got your attention?” Amanda asked quietly when she noticed his focus.

Justy pointed toward the closest cavern entrance. “Have you heard anyone say what’s inside there?” he asked. “They don’t look like natural formations created from wind or water erosion.”

“I really hadn’t given them much thought,” the coyote admitted. “I haven’t heard the humans talk about the caves at all. I don’t think they’ve been in them.”

A smile slid across Justy’s lips. “Not even Gina?” he asked.

Amanda looked at him strangely. “I don’t think so,” she replied. “Why?”

The computer tech shrugged his shoulders. “Just curious…” he answered in a quiet voice.

“Justy, I need a number three spanner, please,” Max’s voice suddenly erupted from both of their DC units. “I’m up on top of the Port side nacelle.”

“Be right there,” Justy replied into his handset. He turned to go back up inside the Horizon to the tool chest, but cast another glance over his shoulder toward the caves.

***

“Justy, are you okay?” Renny asked. His arms were loaded with optical bundles to be reconnected between the new engine and the control systems of the Gusev cruiser. He had just stepped out of the Horizon’s cargo bay when he saw the koala kneeling down behind the Gemini’s new engine cowlings that were to be installed later.

The crews of both ships had been working on the installation of the new engine all morning and afternoon. With so many helping hands, the work had progressed nicely, but there was still a lot to do. Even Damien was back to work, acting as tool and parts runner, and Jerry was helping reconnect pneudraulic lines with Garnet.

The most difficult part of the operation had been maneuvering the new engine pod into place and raising it with their limited equipment to the nacelle struts, but they had miraculously managed the task without incident. Now the tedious task of reconnecting power transfer conduits, optical and electrical lines, and other small parts was under way.

Justy looked up at Renny in alarm and put a finger to his lips. “Don’t talk to me!” he pleaded. “Gina might realize it’s me you’ve seen!”

Renny sighed. “This is getting tiresome, Justy,” he said. “By hiding from the woman, you’ll only encourage her to look for you! Listen, you need to ask her to stop bothering you, as simple as that. She may be a customer, but if she can’t leave you alone, then she’s disrupting the work we’ve been hired to do.”

“Do you know what she’s doing now?” the koala croaked. “I overheard her talking to the captain about buying out my contract so she can take me with her when we’re done here!”

The cheetah readjusted the bundles in his arms for a better grip. “Justy, I think she was only joking when she said that to Taro. Gina’s a nice gal, but I don’t think she’s that obsessive.”

“Says you,” the computer tech snorted.

Renny furrowed his brow. “Justy, you’re of no use to anyone like this. As First Officer of the Blue Horizon, I’m giving you an order. You can either resolve your situation with Gina or you can forfeit your pay for this voyage and go hide in your room until we’re done. I don’t care which.”

The koala looked up at him in surprise. “You wouldn’t do that to me…” he whispered.

“We’re all tired of your game,” Renny said darkly. “Several of your crewmates have offered to speak to Gina for you and you’ve turned them all down. I know, because they’ve all come to either me or Taro about it. Since you’re so determined to endure what’s going on, I’m making it simple for you. Go find Gina now. Talk to her. Get it out into the air and get over with it. Otherwise, stop hiding behind the equipment or your shipmates and go confine yourself to your cabin since you’re not doing any actual work.”

Justy swallowed and then bowed his head with a nod. Renny shifted his bundle again and said in a gentler voice, “You’re a good guy, Justy. We all like you, so please take care of this so we can all focus on the job at hand. We all want to get away from this place, so we need everyone’s help, including yours.”

The koala nodded again without a word, so Renny headed toward the Gemini Pi with his armload. The tedious job of reconnecting the ship’s systems through the new engine and then getting everything calibrated would probably take the longest to do out of everything they had done so far.

Justy watched the cheetah walk away and felt the pit of his stomach twist. He harbored no ill feelings toward Renny for the reprimand he had just received, but he sighed, knowing what it was he was going to do. He walked up the ramp into the Horizon’s cargo bay, went straight to an equipment locker and pulled out a flashlight torch. He walked deliberately to an insulated cooler, pulled out a chilled water bottle and fastened its strap to his belt next to his utility knife. He heard his DC unit chirp with a low-charge alert, so he unfastened it from its clip and set it aside on a nearby crate.

As he walked out of the ship, he turned without looking at the Gemini Pi and headed for the opening of the nearest cave.

***

“How are you feeling?” Taro asked of her loadmaster. When he handed her a small anti-static sleeve containing a circuit board, the mastiff looked over at her with sad eyes. She knelt in front of an open access panel in the small engine room of the Gemini, quietly working on a monitoring system for energy flows between the two nacelles.

“Feeling foolish,” Damien replied. “It’s one thing to break your arm from an avoidable fall in front of your crewmates – it’s another when you do it while drunk. The arm hurts, but the injury to my pride is worse.”

Taro set the circuit package on the deck beside her and gently brushed his cheek with her fingers. “Both will heal,” she told him quietly, ‘if you let them.” She studied his deep brown eyes for a moment and then said, “I’m no psychologist, nor am I a mind reader, but it’s easy to tell that something’s bothering you, else you wouldn’t drink as you do.”

Legrand opened his mouth to reply, but his words caught in his throat. He closed his mouth and turned his head to look away. Taro frowned and picked up the packaged circuit card.

“Whatever is troubling you,” she said, “I want you to consider confiding in one of your crewmates about it. It doesn’t matter who you tell, but trust me when I say that it helps to share your burden. Just talking about it seems to ease the pain, even if it might not solve the situation.”

“It’s not easy for me to talk to others about my private concerns,” Damien said in a hesitant voice. “I once trusted someone with some very private information about myself, only to have it later used against me to great pain and embarrassment.”

“Old girlfriend?”

“Fiancé,” he admitted. “Three weeks before we were to be married, she decided that the transient lifestyle I used to lead on starship freighters would cause a hindrance in our marriage. It didn’t matter that I had given that up for her and already had a steady job lined up to be working elsewhere. That was just an excuse for ending our engagement, I think. She had a lot of pent-up frustrations in areas I won’t go into, but in dumping me, she brought up every little personal tidbit I’d told her in confidence, and used it all to hurt me while giving me the boot – all in front of mutual friends.”

Taro nodded in understanding. She had known two very good friends who had split amidst a similar situation. “Is that why you drink?” she asked in a whisper. To her surprise, Damien gave her a chuckle and shook his head.

“No,” he said. “That is why I don’t share my private concerns with anyone. If I couldn’t trust someone I was about to marry, who can I trust?”

“Perhaps you should choose someone with whom you have no attachments – an impartial third party, if you will.”

Legrand was silent for a moment, but then he gave the vixen a tired smile. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea either, but it might be something … to consider.”

“That’s all I ask,” Taro replied. “That and your promise that you will limit your drinking to when you are on your own time. I won’t order you not to drink, because I know it doesn’t work that way, but you’d better not do it again when you’re on duty. You only hurt yourself this time, Damien, but next time it could be someone else. Consider yourself reprimanded, with a broken arm as your personal punishment.”

“Aye, Captain,” the mastiff acknowledged with a nod.

“Then we’ll consider this matter resolved,” Taro said. “I need to get back to work now. I know you two have issues with one another, but if you see the Doc while you’re out running your errands, send him to me, please.”

“I will let him know you want to see him,” Damien said as he got up off his knees.

Taro pursed her lips as she watched him go. She felt she had taken care of one problem, but had another that involved the doctor. For the first time in all the years she had known and worked with Merlin Sinclair, she finally understood his reactions to insubordination.

***

Despite the light of the torch, Justy’s eyes took a few moments to adjust to the darkness of the cave. The featureless passageway curved to the left just inside the entrance and he quickly left the oppressive sunlight behind. The ambient air temperature dropped considerably, and it was a welcome relief from the equatorial heat. There was an odd odor to the air, but the koala had not spent much time in caves before, so did not know if the aroma was common to caverns or not.

The ceiling of the passage was barely high enough for his head; anyone taller would have to stoop. The floor was uneven, but there were many indistinct tracks in the gray dust at his feet. He was no geologist, but Justy’s original assessment of the cave held out; he did not feel as if this corridor had been formed by erosion. He idly wondered if it had been tunneled out, but there was no sign of who might have done it or why.

He had not walked very far when the passage branched off into three separate tunnels. Two jutted off to his right and one went to the left. The left-hand passage descended at a slight angle while the other two appeared to remain level. He wavered a moment at which one to take and then shrugged his shoulders; he took the one on the left.

The downward angle of the passage was not difficult, but he did have to keep a hand on one wall to maintain his balance. After he had gone about twenty steps, the tunnel began to curve toward the left and level out, with several smaller side passages again branching away.

He kept to the main tunnel, not by conscious thought, but merely kept walking as his brain mused over recent events. He stepped on a few sticks that had probably been washed into the corridor by a past flash flood, but ignored them as he trudged on into the darkness.

He had not confined himself to his cabin, but there was no doubt he would be in trouble with Renny when he returned to the Blue Horizon. He needed time away from Gina’s scrutiny to figure out what to do about their situation. He knew he should probably just endure her attention with a smile, but was afraid that would only encourage her. He was not the kind of guy who would deliberately hurt a person’s feelings by arrogantly telling her to back off. What could he do?

He stepped on another of the abundant sticks and it rolled out from under his heel. Shaken from his thoughts, he looked down with his flashlight and suddenly noted the sticks scattered on the passage floor were from neither trees nor shrubs. They were bones.

Justy squatted down with his torch to examine them closer. He picked up the one that his foot had rolled on and held it up close to his face in curiosity. He had no medical background, but he knew enough to identify it as a femur, possibly from a small animal.

He looked around and saw more bones scattered about. He twitched one of his large ears and unconsciously flexed his fingers. Had some critter crawled in here, injured or sick, and died in the passage? That would account for the odor he smelled.

The computer tech stood up, dropping the bone and suddenly feeling out of place in the cave passage. He checked his techwatch and noted that he had not been gone as long as he thought he had. He took a drink from his canteen and decided to head back to work topside. Perhaps he had not been missed.

Chk, chk, chk, chk.

Justy stopped, his hand with the canteen frozen over the belt clip. His ears twitched and he slowly looked beside him in the passage toward the sound. He saw nothing in the darkness, but he felt eerily nervous. He did not know what it was that he had heard, but he swiftly felt like getting back out into the sunlight. He turned to head back the way he had come in, but then he heard it again.

Chk, chk, chk, chk.

Justy swung around and aimed his flashlight along the passage behind him. This time, the light of his torch fell across an ant. This was not just any common ant, however. This one would have come up to Justy’s knees – the size of a joey just learning to walk. Its entire head and body was solid black, its large multifaceted eyes were cold, and its wavering feelers sent a shiver down Justy’s spine.

He remembered Garnet’s comment on the large ants in the area, but something this size had not occurred to the gray koala. He swallowed when he heard the sound again. Moving only his flashlight, he aimed the beam farther up the passage behind the ant. There were three more, all the same size.

At the moment, none had advanced closer, but the feel of an animal bone beneath his boot reminded him that he might be staring at the reason for its presence there. He took two steps backward, but the ants held their ground, possibly stunned by the light of his flashlight.

He took a chance and moved his light so that he could see his way in the opposite direction as he began to walk quickly.

Chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk.

Justy let out a little whimper. They had started toward him.

His boots were not able to get much traction in the soft sand that covered the cave floor, and his heels slipped as he rounded the curve in the tunnel. He nearly stumbled over himself when he stopped where the passage branched off in three directions.

Chk, chk, chk, chk.

He aimed his light behind him and saw an increased number of ants crawling along the corridor behind him. Most were on the floor, but some were advancing along the walls, too. There was something sinister about the determined movement they made toward him. Justy did not have time to remember which branch of the tunnel was the one he had originally come through, so he darted into one passage and began running for his life.

Chk, chk, chk, chk.

As he ran, the walls of the corridor became a blur to him. His feet slipped on more bones or sticks on the floor, but his self-preservation gave him enough resolve to keep himself on his feet. He passed more branches in the tunnel and he realized this was not the way he had come before. There was suddenly no doubt in his mind that he would never see the sun again. Justy was about to become ant food.

“What the – Justy!” a voice echoed in the confines of the passageway.

The koala slid to a stop and looked behind him at another junction in the corridor he had just passed. Renny’s head was peering out at him, a look of combined anger and confusion. Relief spread across Justy’s face at the sight of the cheetah, but then he returned to his earlier state of panic.

Chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk.

“Renny! Run!” he screamed out in terror. Without looking to see if the first officer heeded his warning, Justy continued running in the direction he had been going.

Renny heard the chk, chk, chk, chk of the ants and his mouth dropped open when he saw dozens of kit-sized creatures swarming toward him. He darted back into the passage he had come out of; he did his best to put distance between him and the ants that followed him, wondering just how the koala had gotten into something like this. As he ran stooped over, Renny pulled a DC unit from his pocket and thumbed the call button, hoping the signal would penetrate the dirt and rock of the cavern.

Chk, chk, chk, chk.

Justy felt he was losing ground. The ants were gaining on him and the ground was rising, slowing his momentum. He was certain that the ants would get him, but now he would probably be the cause of Renny’s demise as well.

As he scrambled up a sandy slope, the thought came to him that he would prefer to be in the arms of the overbearing human named Gina. He had felt threatened by her attention, but it was only an embarrassment and was nothing compared to the threat of the ants behind him.

He suddenly felt a hot breath of air and instantly realized that he must be near an exit from the cavern system. He saw another passage branch off to the right and decided to take the risk. He darted into the tunnel and scrambled as fast as he could, hoping the ants were far enough behind him to miss his quick detour.

He rounded another corner in the passage and plowed headlong into another body. He and the body rolled over once before coming to rest against the cave wall. Justy held up his flashlight and looked up into the green eyes of Gina Pollux. He let out a cry of joy, and before she could say anything, the koala jumped into her arms, hugging her fiercely.

“Justy!” she gasped. “Are you okay?”

“For the moment,” he replied in a dry, raspy voice. His thick accent and heavy panting made his words hard to understand, but he gripped her arms and said, “We’ve got to get out of here! The ants…!”

“Let’s go!” Gina said in immediate understanding and alarm. She stood up, but could only stoop in the small passage. She took him by the hand and led him back in the opposite direction with a finger to her lips for silence. They could hear the chk, chk, chk, chk of the ants in another corridor, but it did not sound as if they were heading their way.

When she was sure they were safe for the moment, the woman pulled out a DC unit and thumbed the call button. “This is Gina. I have him,” she whispered into its tiny microphone.

“Good! We’re ready out here,” returned the vixen’s concerned voice.

“Renny’s back there somewhere,” Justy gasped suddenly. “We’ve got to find him or the ants—”

“Jerry? Report in,” reported the cheetah’s voice from the DataCom. “The rest of us are out here waiting for you, Gina and our wayward Fuzzball.”

“I’m already out,” replied the doctor’s voice. “I’m about thirty meters to your right.”

“Okay, I see you.”

Justy sighed audibly, relieved that the first officer had made it out of the caverns safely. A moment later, he saw light up ahead in the passage that came from no flashlight torch. It was sunlight!

Chk, chk, ch-ch-chkk!

Something clamped down hard on Justy’s boot and he stumbled. He yelled out and looked down at the solitary ant that had followed them up the side tunnel to prevent a potential meal from getting away. Its pinchers had latched onto his boot and it was squeezing hard even as the koala fell to the ground, his balance upended.

Gina kicked at the thing’s face, trying hard for its eyes, but it was determined to keep its food source. Gina shined her flashlight back along the passageway, but so far, this was the only ant in sight. She moved around behind it and began stomping hard on the back of its head.

Justy shrieked in terror as he began frantically kicking the ant in the eyes with his free foot. He pounded hard, but his boot only slipped a little from the thing’s pinchers. It had an iron grip on the thick heel of his boot and he could see the hard indentions in the rubber.

He kicked harder as Gina continued her attack from the other side. It would probably be only seconds before more ants arrived, so Justy grabbed the utility knife from his belt and pulled open the longest blade. He stopped struggling for a moment so he could slip the blade beneath the laces, though it was difficult with the ant’s head bouncing from Gina’s heel.

Justy sawed quickly at the laces and watched them part. He would have to gift something expensive to Pockets for keeping the blade razor-sharp for him. When he had cut enough laces, Justy pulled his foot from the boot and rolled over backward to put distance between himself and the ant.

“Let’s go!” he cried out to Gina.

With her diminutive friend no longer in immediate danger, she leaned against the wall and brought both feet down on the ant’s thin neck. There was a sudden crunch and then the insect fell forward onto the empty boot. Justy did not bother trying to retrieve the footwear and just waved Gina toward him with his torch.

Chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk, chk.

Justy and Gina grasped hands and ran through the small tunnel as fast as the woman could go in a stooped position. Ants swarmed into the passage behind them, but they slowed when several in front paused at the body of the dead ant.

Justy shielded his eyes with an arm when they burst out of the cave into the sunlight, and Gina stumbled when she straightened up in the open air. Taro was there to catch them both from falling at her feet. Several others gathered behind her, but explanations would have to wait.

Max suddenly lifted a compact Binfurr pistol he had taken from the Blue Horizon’s armory and fired rapidly at several ants that made it out into the sunlight behind them.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!

Exoskeletons came apart quickly under the barrage. Encouraged, Garnet and Jerry produced pistols of their own and fired off a few more shots at ants that began to emerge from the cave entrance.

Unseen by anyone else, Pockets lifted a small metal globe that resembled an oversized marble, thumbed a tiny switch on its side, and then lobbed it into the cave.

Whoom! The air compressed and then suddenly expanded outward from the cavern in a blaze of terrific heat. Justy lurched off the ground with the concussion and blinked rapidly in the sunlight.

“Wow…” he gasped at the sight of burning ant bodies and a plume of smoke from the cave.

“Whoa, Pockets!” Max exclaimed with his hands up to his ears. “Warn us next time!”

“There’s more!” Renny shouted from somewhere off to the right. Everyone followed his voice and saw the cheetah fire his pistol at several ants that had come out of another cave. Pockets ran over to him as quick as his short legs would take him, and lobbed another marble toward the passage that more were coming out.

“Fire in the hole!” he announced loudly. His aim was off, however, and the intense little globe exploded upon the side of the cave, causing dirt, rock, and bits of ant bodies to shower the area. The roof of the passage collapsed in a plume of dirt and dust, burying more ants.

Before the dust could even settle, three more ants came out of another entrance further away. Unlike the others, these only stopped to stare for a moment before they retreated back into the safety of their domain.

For a few long moments, nobody moved, unsure if there would be more ants, but it soon became apparent that the ordeal was over. A number of ants were near the two cave entrances, dead, burning and stinking in the arid equatorial air.

Taro looked down at the koala in her arms. “Are you okay?” she asked in concern.

Justy wiggled the bare toes of his bootless foot and then glanced over at Gina, who still panted for breath in the heat. “Thanks to my friend, yeah. I’m okay,” he replied.

Gina gave him a wide grin and blew him a kiss. Justy returned her grin, not at all bothered by her gesture of affection. “That was close,” the human said. “We almost didn’t make it.”

Jerry walked up to them and gave the koala a quick examination to make sure he was okay. “How did you get into this mess?” he asked. “One minute we were calling for parts, and the next, Renny had us scrambling for weapons!”

Justy looked uncomfortable, especially when Renny looked down at him with a look of suspicion. He glanced over at Gina, feeling foolish, and opened his mouth to reply. At a loss for words, nothing came out, so he shut it again.

“It’s time we had a little talk,” Taro said to the koala with a frown. She turned to Gina and looked at her with an expression of embarrassment. “Sorry about this, but I think this concerns you too.”

Justy looked alarmed and Gina appeared confused. “Me? Uh, sure,” she replied.

Taro gave a nod to Renny, indicating he should come along, and then she turned to Pockets. “Get everyone back to their tasks,” she instructed him. “It’s better if there’s no more idle time for tongues to wag about what happened.”

“Sure, Captain,” the engineer acknowledged.

“I’ll get everyone together later after we’ve gotten this sorted out,” Taro said as Justy started hobbling toward the Blue Horizon with Renny and Gina. “In the meantime, keep a watchful eye that the ants don’t come back out looking for more of us.”

“Right,” Pockets agreed. Taro turned to go and heaved a sigh as she followed after the others. Max stepped up to his partner and popped the clip from his pistol to reload its ammunition.

“How’d you get thermite fire marbles?” the German shepherd asked in amazement. “I thought those were only available to licensed miners!”

Pockets looked up at the youth and cracked a wide smile. “How do you think I got them, Max?”

The mechanic stared at him only a moment before his eyes registered comprehension. His mouth formed a perfect “oh” and then he smiled in return at the little bandit.

***

Taro led them all in through the door of her cabin. The front room would be large enough for the four of them, whereas it would have been cramped in the captain’s office.

“Take a seat, everyone,” Taro said with a wave toward the group. Justy sat down in the recliner, but kept his feet near the floor. Renny and Gina sat on the couch while Taro stood with her feet planted apart in front of them all. She crossed her arms and then looked at the koala.

“Okay, let’s have it,” she said to him.

Justy looked uncomfortably at Gina, then looked down at his lap where he was wringing his hands together. “Captain,” he said in a low voice, “I don’t think this is really such a good —”

“Yes, it is,” Renny countered with a dark look. Justy looked up at him, swallowed and then returned his attention to his hands.

“Renny caught me hiding from Gina a while ago,” he confessed.

That took the human woman by surprise. “Hiding from me?” she asked. “Why?”

“Because… be-because you wouldn’t leave me alone,” Justy replied in near whisper. “I felt like I was being… stalked.”

Gina put a hand up to her chest. “I was only teasing, Justy,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to cause you any distress. I thought you knew it was just a friendly game.”

The koala continued to stare at his fingers. “That’s what I thought it was at first,” he admitted, “but when you kept it up and got bolder, I thought you were giving me a little too much attention.”

Gina glanced over at Taro, her cheeks red and then gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe I was,” she said, “but it wasn’t intended as anything more than a game with a new friend. I’m sorry, Justy. Will you forgive me?”

Justy looked up at her and saw the concerned look on the woman’s face. She reached out with both hands and held them out to him. He swallowed, feeling very foolish, and then gave her a nod. He put his hands into her own, and she gave them a gentle squeeze. Gina wanted to draw him into a hug in appreciation, but in light of his revelation, she made herself do nothing more than give him a caring smile.

“Thank you,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to lose a new friend over miscommunication. I never intended to creep you out.”

Renny relaxed against the back cushions of the couch and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Well, that was simple enough. I’m glad that’s over,” he said.

“It’s not over yet,” Taro said stiffly. “This only explains why you were hiding, Justy. Now I want to know why you went into the caves with the ants, when you were supposed to be running parts and tools for the rest of us.”

Justy looked up at his captain and nodded, drawing his hands back into his lap. “When Renny caught me hiding from Gina a while ago,” he muttered, “he told me that I needed to either work out my trouble with her, or confine myself to my cabin for the duration of our stay, forfeiting my pay for this outing.”

Taro looked over at her first officer with a look of surprise. “You told him that?”

Renny nodded. “I did. He was getting on everyone’s nerves and I wanted him to resolve it for all of us.”

The vixen chuckled and said, “I’m impressed. You’re starting to get a feel for your authority.” Renny gave her a smirk but the captain had already returned her attention to the koala. “I’ve already had to reprimand two of my crew since we’ve landed in this place. I didn’t really want to add you as a third.”

“Who else?” Renny asked.

“Legrand and Somner,” she answered. “Damien for drinking on the job and Jerry for public insubordination.”

“Sorry to be the cause of so much trouble,” Gina said with a raised eyebrow. She said it so dryly that it felt to Taro as if she had been stuck with a barb, but then she noticed the crook of a smile on the human’s lips. She gave her a nod to indicate she recognized the intent.

“Yeah, well, I may have three guys swabbing the cargo deck on the way to our next destination,” Taro replied as she rested a critical eye on Justy. The koala gulped and wrung his hands again. “Continue,” the captain told him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Justy said meekly with a quick glance at the human. “I didn’t want to lose my paycheck, so I knew I’d have to talk to Gina. I needed some time to work out how I was going to approach her, but I couldn’t do it while we were working. If I went back to my cabin, Renny would think I had taken the coward’s way out.”

Renny nodded. “You’re right. I probably would have.”

“I figured that if I went into one of the caves, I could be alone long enough to work out what I was going to say to Gina.” He looked apologetically toward the human, and then back down at his hands.

“I saw you take off for the caves,” Renny said as he leaned forward onto his knees. “I figured you were running away to throw a tantrum. I wasn’t the only one who saw you go; Max told me he thought he had seen you take a canteen and a flashlight, and I remembered Garnet warning Taro about the ants.”

“Garnet had told me how large the ants were and that their colony was in the caves,” Taro explained, “but I didn’t know you’d gone in there until Renny started putting together a search party.”

Justy looked up at the vixen, then over to Renny, and finally to Gina. “I’m sorry for being a bother to everyone,” he said. “I knew nothing about the ants, but I never should have blindly gone off into an unfamiliar cave. I’m glad you all came after me or I would have been ant food by now. I’m just happy none of you were hurt because of it.”

Gina reached out and tapped the back of Justy’s hand with an index finger. “When I heard you had gone into the ant colony,” she said, “I feared for your life.”

“Thanks,” Justy replied.

Taro heaved an audible sigh and then looked over at Renny. “Well, I think this little episode is over,” she said to him. The old familiar light in Justy’s eyes flickered and he almost smiled. He did not want to hope his luck was that strong, so he lightly bit his bottom lip.

“I think swabbing the deck is a good idea,” the cheetah replied with a nod toward the fidgeting koala. “Neither Pockets nor Max have cleaned it since we were back on Fyn.”

Taro nodded. “Yes, it does need a good cleansing,” she agreed with a glint in her eyes. She glanced back down at Justy, and he tried to look as innocent as he could possibly appear to her.

Gina patted the computer tech’s arm with a look of sympathy. “Poor Justy,” she said in a mock tone of pity. “First a clingy human, then a colony of ants out to eat him, and next a journey shackled to a mop and bucket. This isn’t likely a voyage you’ll remember with fondness!”

“Oh… thanks for your compassion,” he told her with a lopsided grin.

***

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Diary

We’ve just completed our launch away from Alexandrius. Usually, I am always eager to visit this world, but I have just seen a part of the planet that I never wish to see again. It was not so much the area, however, as it was the events. I have had to reprimand three of my crew, and having to do so as a new captain has left a bad taste in my mouth.

First, there was Damien Legrand. He’s a capable loadmaster, but drinking on the job resulted in self-inflicted injury by a fall from scaffolding. Our doctor reports that he will be okay, with just a broken arm to contend. In the investigation, I discovered that Damien has some personal issues that led him to drink on the job, but as yet he won’t tell me what’s eating away at him; I am hoping in time he will open up to someone on board. The Blue Horizon has always had a close-knit crew, so maybe it’s only a matter of time before he realizes that we do care.

My second reprimand was for Doctor Jerry Somner. He’s intelligent and a great guy to be around most of the time, but this voyage has shown me that when it comes to medical attention, Jerry can be quite bull-headed and even insubordinate. I understand that on military vessels, the chief physician can outrank the captain on certain issues, but I had to remind him that the Blue Horizon is not a military ship and that he has no such rights under my command.

I don’t want to compare my captaincy to the way Merlin ran this ship, but I served with him for so long that I can’t but help but follow his lead when it comes to problems among the crew. I understood Jerry’s indignation when Damien flatly refused the doctor’s advice concerning his drinking, but when the fox jumped down my throat — in front of my own crew — that was the last straw.

As soon as I was sure the doctor had stabilized Damien’s injuries, I ordered him to my office and gave him a stripping down that he won’t soon forget. I don’t often yell when I get mad, but by the time I let him go, Jerry left my office with his ears down and tail between his legs. Unfortunately, I’ll now have to have my desk resurfaced. It will be difficult doing paperwork around the dent in the desktop I made when I drove home a point while talking to the doctor. I need to get a handle on my anger if this is how I am going to react to situations that arise on my watch.

My third problem child was Justy Mandolin. Here’s a guy who has an easy-going nature, who tries to get along with everyone around him and tries to make light of situations with laughter and a smile. He’s probably the last person who should cause me any trouble.

While I understand that he felt harassed by one of our customers, a human woman named Gina Pollux of the personal cruiser Gemini Pi, his final reaction to dealing with her caused no small concern to the rest of his shipmates. I want to give Justy the benefit of the doubt, but my gut tells me that he didn’t go into the ant caves merely to think about how he was going to confront the woman. He had just been reprimanded by Renny on his behavior, and I think he was running away to sulk, despite his words stating otherwise.

No matter his reasons for going into the caves, he risked his life needlessly, as well as several of his crewmates and one of our clients. In the end, no one was hurt, but it caused quite a stir. Renny feels that Justy’s ordeal should have been punishment enough, but it’s my intention to make sure he thinks twice before doing something so foolish again. For our voyage to Dennier, I have assigned him to laundry detail, whereas Damien and Jerry will be cleaning the floor of our now-empty cargo deck.

As for this particular mission, we were able to complete everything within four days on the surface. To replace a LightDrive engine on a Gusev-class cruiser is not an easy task, and would normally have taken much longer, but with ten people working together, we managed to get everything reassembled and calibrated in good time. We were on our guard after Justy’s little adventure, but there were no further encounters with the ants.

Pockets signed off on the paperwork only a few hours ago, certain that everything would function as it should. Garnet was impressed with his meticulous coordination of the entire process and even offered him a job on her ship. Fortunately for me, Pockets declined, saying he was right where he wanted to be. Gina’s earlier infatuation with Justy has now become a joke between both crews, so after Pockets turned down Garnet’s earnest job offer, Gina made the same offer to our little koala. Justy was embarrassed, but this time he went along with the gag long enough to let her act as if she were going to carry him away in her arms back to her ship.

Garnet was appreciative of our work, and despite my initial misgivings, everything seemed to turn out okay. The purpose of their landing in Casperverah was originally to check it out as a possible location to ferry tourists into, but after the incident with the caves and an unstable ground surface, she and Gina have agreed that the place was better left to the ants. Their damaged engine has been left behind, a warning to others who might want to land there.

We finally said our goodbyes to one another, and after our launch, we monitored their progress into high orbit to make sure their systems were indeed working properly before we left them. Once Garnet informed us that everything looked good, we went our separate ways. Without another immediate customer due to a surprise cancellation, Merlin has recalled us to Dennier, where we can rest a bit before attending the wedding.

Merlin and Samantha have known one another for many years and it’s about time those two got together permanently. I am looking forward to seeing what Sam has prepared for the event, and I am excited about seeing two of my best friends becoming lifemates.

Time to close my diary and take a long, soaking bath. I think I’ve earned it – with lots of bubbles.

– Capt. Taro Nichols

FOREVER AND ALWAYS

By Eileen Blasingame

Once upon a time… on a little planet named Dennier, in a chapel painted white, a wolf named Merlin Sinclair stood in front of a long dress mirror, grumbling in frustration.

He hated ties.

Merlin growled lowly, muttering beneath his breath as he again tried to adjust his tie so that it looked perfect. It had to look perfect. Everything about this day had to be perfect. Wedding days were supposed to be perfect in every way. He had been captain of a space freighter that had fought off pirates at a great deal of risk to his own life, yet on his wedding day, he was as nervous as a teenage male was on his first date. He had butterflies the size of birds in his belly, making his fingers shake as he tried to make the knot look pleasing to the eye. It wasn’t working out so well. He growled again in impatience, amber eyes narrowed in irritation.

Renny gave a soft amused sigh and went over to help his former commander, having watched Merlin fumble with the errant tie for about fifteen minutes.

“I don’t know why you didn’t choose a clip-on bow tie,” the cheetah said as he easily fixed the tie, tucking the blood red, gold and black striped cloth into his friend’s jacket and patting him on the chest in an affectionate brotherly fashion. “Would have been loads easier.”

“I hate bow ties the most, always have,” the groom muttered, turning away and looking at himself in the mirror, making minor adjustments to the rich black suit made by Arlanistadus of Alexandrius. The wolf steadfastly refused to wear a tuxedo and the much-dreaded bow tie, opting for a more comfortable, if as expensively-tailored suit. Merlin looked over his shoulder and smirked at his best man. “They look stupid on me. I’d rather have gone with no tie at all, but Sam looked as if I’d sprouted another head when I mentioned the idea to her. Thanks for the help. This looks lots better.”

Renny was going to make a crack about Merlin spending more time in front of the mirror today than his bride would be, when the door opened, admitting the wolf’s sister who was wearing a pretty light blue dress. “Aren’t you ready yet?” Shannon asked incredulously, moving forward to straighten out both males’ ties and make sure the pink-kissed white roses were attached neatly to their lapels. “It’s almost time! You should already be in the sanctuary!”

“Okay, mother hen. We’re going,” Merlin teased, flashing a quick smile at his sister before he licked her gently on the cheek. He and Renny moved outside into the foyer and directly across from the bride’s room, which was a flurry of activity in itself. Renny grinned hugely at Merlin and tugged on his sleeve.

“Wanna go over and peek?” he asked, earning a swat on the shoulder from the groom.

***

Her adoptive mother fluttered about her, primping here, curling there, putting the finishing touches into Samantha’s dress and hair. Guinevere stared at her canine daughter with a critical, yet practiced eye. The lovely unicorn mare fussed about, sometimes having to dodge around the vixen in the room. The fox gave an apologetic grin to the graceful equine and found a place to sit out of the way. Taro was looking quite lovely as well, her hair done as a riot of cinnamon curls that fell loosely about her shoulders. There were diamond hair clips placed strategically through her hair, and she was garbed in a dress of light blue silk and velvet that made soft noises on the expensive and ornate floor rug.

“Something’s missing,” the Silloni said thoughtfully, brown eyes darting here and there. Samantha stood patiently, eyeing her friend and maid of honor with some amusement tinged with exasperation, waiting for the older equine to pronounce her ‘perfect.’ Guinevere would not do so until she was absolutely sure that the Border collie before her was, in her learned opinion, quite flawless. The unicorn would not leave anything to chance. Samantha’s wedding had to be perfection.

“I still think you should have chosen the dress with the corset,” joked Laura, Guinevere’s daughter. “Go for the bratty heiress look.”

“I love this one, it’s beautiful. Besides, corsets are your style; I’d look silly in it,” Sam countered her bridesmaid, chuckling. “By the way, you are so going to get it for the ‘bratty heiress’ thing.”

The dress was indeed beautiful, satin halter-top gown with an overlay of tulle, cotton lace that had long belled sleeves and was artfully draped across the back of her shoulders, as well as a small train. While not extremely elaborate, especially for someone as wealthy as the bride was, it was much more sophisticated looking than its price tag would have one believe.

For the life of her, she could not think of anything that was missing. What was Guinevere looking for? What had been omitted from her garments? Not even Gwen looked sure, even though she was snapping her dark eyes over Sam’s form, her brow wrinkled in concentration.

“What I still can’t believe is how you talked Merlin into having a Terran-style wedding ceremony. There are plenty of wedding customs in the Alignment to choose from, such as from Dennier, Alexandrius and Sillon,” Taro said, trying to calm her friend’s nerves by diverting the conversation to something other than the whatever Gwen could not find on the gown.

“I’m the bride, the choice of wedding customs was mine to make. Merlin was not happy at first, especially with his history with humans, but he came around to my choice,” Sam answered as Gwen poked and prodded her. “Besides, I did keep a couple of Dennieran wedding customs in the ceremony, like the linking of two handfuls of water to show unity, or two becoming one, and also the throwing of sugared nuts at the couple instead of birdseed or rice.”

“Being pelted with sugared nuts?” Laura smirked slightly. “That has to hurt.”

“Hopefully no one will be throwing them with all their strength, but yeah, it has to do with something about life being sweet. I looked over several other wedding ceremonies and customs as well, and this seems easier done than the others are. Alexandrius has a custom of jumping through a fiery hoop together. As for Sillon… well, let’s just say I don’t have the proper equipment for such things, nor does Merlin.”

“Horns are definitely required for Silloni wedding customs,” Gwen said, smiling broadly and patting her charge with motherly affection. “Tristan did offer to allow you and Merlin both to use some old discarded horns of our ancestors, but you said no, pup.”

“I prefer not to look stupid, my well-loved step mom,” Sam chuckled. “Horns are for the Silloni race, not just some nobody adopted puppy from Alexandrius.”

“My pup is not just some nobody!” said a deep commanding voice, causing the females in the room to turn in unison. A huge unicorn stallion entered, dressed in a charcoal-colored suit, escorting a small female lynx with bright green eyes and a pretty dress that matched both of those worn by Taro and Laura. He had a box in his hand that he set on the nearest vanity. None of the occupants in the room actually noticed it; they were intent upon the arrival of another in the bridal party. “Must be talk of wedding customs again.”

“I think they should have chosen a Fynian ceremony myself,” squeaked the little cat as the bride swiftly shook her head in answer. “My wedding was beautiful! Elegant and simple!”

“Your wedding was amongst friends only, Sparky,” Sam said, coming over and hugging the cat, happy to see the former ship’s cook. “I just don’t want to see all of our guests completely stripped down to their fur. One should never see one’s parent’s bits, especially mine. I like the ceremony I have planned.”

This caused momentary laughter, all of which was affectionate. Taro replaced the collie in her friend’s arms, as Gwen raked a critical eye over the bride yet again.

“I see living on Sillon agrees with you,” Taro teased, the Hestran holding the slender feline out at arm distance and sweeping her eyes over her friend. It had been pretty hard convincing the lynx to wear the gown; she much preferred wearing the colorful silken cheongsams and kimonos to western style dresses.

“She agrees with Sillon too,” answered the huge black unicorn after he placed an affectionate kiss upon the velvety lips of his wife. “Since hiring Ivy, the Dragon Loft has had several nice write-ups in the interplanetary travel guides as well as a Five Star review of her cooking in Zagrats! Her Fynian Wonder Meal has been featured in ‘Holly’s Culinary Journeys’ for INN as one of the best food finds in the whole of the Alignment.”

The little cat flushed beneath her fur, flattered by her employer’s words. Such praise from someone who had once been a regent! She gave a slight bow and said in the slightly squeaky tones of hers, “Thank you. I think that working in such a lovely, positive place has made my cooking even better than I had ever imagined! Although I can say that it’s hard for me to be unable to supervise the staff here, to make sure that all the food is perfectly seasoned and whatnot.”

Sam looked that the lynx, frowning ever so slightly. “Sparky, you weren’t in the kitchen again, where you? You’ll ruin that lovely gown I had made for you. I’m sure Rafael and the rest of your hand-picked staff is doing just fine.”

“I caught her in there three times, tasting the sauces,” Tristan revealed, his tone light as the little feline fidgeted in a guilty manner. “It’s one of the reasons why I think she should stay up here with you ladies, to keep her from meddling in the kitchen, as well as to get together with the rest of the wedding party. The time for the bridal party to enter the church is drawing near. By the way, I saw Lorelei outside with the children; she seemed to have them stirred up over something. They were growling, I think.”

“She just wouldn’t shut up about my dad’s company. I got sick of her holistic healing nonsense and had to throw her out of the room to keep my sanity,” Sam said as her adopted mother moved even more frantically about her. “I have enough pressure as it is today.”

“Oh dear!” said Gwen as the mare looked over Samantha again and still not satisfied at all. “I can’t send you out there yet, not without whatever it is that you are missing.”

Her mate moved to her side, looking down upon the tiny canine that was all but his adopted daughter. He gave the bride a fond smile and asked, “Something is missing? Have you thought of the five old human customs that you are so intent on copying this day?”

There was an uncomfortable silence as the females tried to figure out what customs the large stallion was talking about, each looking very perplexed.

“You didn’t study,” Tristan teased. “I should have known, Little One. Very well, I shall list them for you again in order. The customs are as follows: Something old.”

“Yes, I have that,” Samantha said, her tail wagging a little. Her fingers brushed a diamond and pearl necklace that she was wearing. “It’s my great grandmother’s that’s been passed down to all the Holden females.”

“Something new?”

“I bought the earrings Sam is wearing,” said Taro in response, pointing out the dangly gemstones hanging from her friend’s ears. “I gifted them to her this morning.”

“Something borrowed?” The unicorn continued, nodding as the women around him were beginning to catch on. Jazz was beginning to dig through her little handbag looking intently for something as her father spoke.

“She borrowed my diamond bracelet,” Gwen said with a grin. “Her own just was too gaudy for the occasion. Mine matched the rest of her jewelry a lot better.”

“Something blue?”

The women looked at one another. “I don’t have anything blue!” Samantha said softly, looking rather troubled at the thought and a slight hint of concern in her voice. “If you don’t comply with this little custom it’s bad luck, isn’t it?”

Gwen wrapped a motherly arm about Sam’s shoulders as her husband went to retrieve the box he had laid on the vanity. “Don’t worry so, pup. These customs are just a bit of human silliness.”

“I want everything to be perfect.” The collie said mournfully. “It has to be exactly right.”

“Listen to Guinevere, Little One. Your day certainly will not be ruined by a bit of trifling silliness, human or furman. Nevertheless, just in case. I brought this.” Tristan removed a pretty tiara from the box; it was studded with diamonds, blue sapphires and pearls. Giving it to his wife, he watched as she set it into Samantha’s upswept hair, just in front of the veil. The unicorn mare stepped back, looked at her charge and finally pronounced her perfect.

Just then, they heard the music from the sanctuary, signaling to the bridal party to take their positions. Tristan lowered the veil over the collie’s face after placing a fatherly kiss on her cheek. They were just about to head out of the bride’s room when Jazz gave pronounced “AaaHAAAA!” and produced a small coin to which she moved to the bride’s side.

“Father forgot the last of the customs Sami, the fifth. Something old, new, borrowed, blue,” she counted off on her fingers, folding them down. “The fifth is ‘and a penny in your shoe.’ Here, take this old copper that I got on Earth and put it in your shoe. No bad luck for you today!”

Sam smiled gratefully and as Laura slipped the coin into her shoe. Nothing was going to ruin her wedding; it was definitely going off without a hitch! She gave a little shake, looked up at her Master and slipped a hand on his arm, letting him lead her into the church.

***

Merlin felt a twinge of nervousness standing in the front of the church with Renny, waiting for the ceremony to start. The doors to the foyer were still closed, but he knew that behind them, the bridal party was assembling. His golden eyes watched as Guinevere of Sillon finally took a seat in the front of the auditorium on the bride’s side, the last of the guests seated. The priest, an otter named Father Lonergan, stood patiently by his side, occasionally making a small joke to calm Merlin’s nerves. The wolf was thankful for that.

The doors opened as the music began to swell, trumpeting the arrival of his bride. He looked in that direction, but could not see Samantha, even though he could see her escort, the massive unicorn easily discerned from the rest of the group of females. First to enter was Merlin’s niece Marissa, and Sparky’s daughter Kayla, the tiny children dressed in white matching with blue ribbons tied to their dresses, as well as a circlet of white, pink and blue roses in their hair, and carrying baskets of rose petals that they were throwing on the carpet. Following them, Merlin’s nephews, Shane and Jaran were dressed in matching tiny dark suits and holding a pillow between them.

Merlin heard a slight chuckle from behind him, and glanced over his shoulder at Renny who was smiling. It was hard not to smile, even if he had no idea what the children were doing, for the four cubs were baring their teeth, making claw fingers and growling “GrrrrrrrRarrrr!!!” at the guests on either side of them. Merlin glanced shortly at his sister Shannon, who had her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. It was a relief to see that most of the guests were responding to the kids in that manner, soft laughter echoed through the church.

Behind the children and looking like she wanted to stop her daughter from doing her little act ahead of her was Ivy Sparks, the little Lynx looking somewhat slightly scandalized by her daughter’s actions. Her gaze met Merlin’s for a moment and she shrugged apologetically, but kept a smile on her face.

Next was Lori, the white bunny so giddy from joy at the occasion that she was practically skipping down the aisle behind Sparky, she waved and giggled at some of the guests that she recognized. Nothing, not even being thrown unceremoniously out of the bridal chambers by Samantha, could dampen the day for Lorelei.

She was followed by Laura, better known to the Blue Horizon crew as Jazz, former crewmember of the Lady of Dreams. Laura and Sam had grown up together, been friends and sisters since they were old enough to remember. Even if the Lady of Dreams had not been destroyed in the Siilv War, the former communications officer would have made it here for the wedding. She owed Samantha’s late father her very life.

Then the Maid of Honor entered. The Hestran vixen smiled in the direction of the groom and his best man, looking lovely as ever. Merlin felt a bit of warmth seeing her dressed so pretty and looking so happy. It was hard to believe that they had once thought Taro dead.

It was then the music changed, and in stepped his bride. Merlin felt as if his heart had leapt into his throat. The gown was lovely, but his eyes were caught by the vision wearing it. She was smiling, even though she wore a veil. To Merlin, she was the most beautiful creature in the known universe, and she was about to take his name in tradition.

Samantha tightened her grip on her Master’s arm when she met the gaze of her chosen mate. The unicorn smiled down at her gently and told her to, please, leave him with some circulation in his arm, if she would not mind. She blushed as he laughed and relaxed her grip, giving the large equine an apologetic look before looking once again to Merlin. She was simply on cloud nine, practically walking on air. It was no wonder that she had not heard the two children that were carrying her long train doing as their siblings had. Joey Carlton and Jacob Wallace were posturing and growling at the assembled guests.

He stopped as the priest asked who “offers this woman” and after affirming that he was, Tristan placed a kiss on the little collie’s cheek and transferred her hand to Merlin’s arm. He took a seat beside his wife, who was now crying as she always did at weddings. Gwen grasped the lapels of her husband’s suit, buried her face in his shirt and sobbed loudly. This was echoed by Lorelei the white bunny crying out “I’m so moved!” as tears streamed down in her face fur.

The wedding was simple yet elegant, the couple trying hard not to be seen as overwhelmingly extravagant. As they read their vows to one another, they individually scooped some water from a crystalline bowl and combined them as one to symbolize the act of beginning their lives as one body and soul, each half of the whole.

The rings were soon exchanged, and Sam had trouble getting Merlin’s ring onto his lupine finger, causing Father Lonergan to joke about the “swelling of fear” to chuckles from the congregation. Then after being pronounced husband and wife, they kissed and the couple was introduced to their guests in Terran fashion as Mr. and Mrs. Merlin Sinclair.

The wolf and his mate ran the gauntlet of sugared nuts, the children not exactly knowing to undo their bags first and throwing them at the couple. One bag beaned Merlin in the head just as he was getting into the limousine to take them to the reception hall.

The reception was held at a very upscale restaurant called The Manor at Cliffside that was just outside of Grandstorm proper. The human-owned Manor was a large building that resembled a tasteful mixture of Grecian and Roman design, with lovely sloping lawns and high marble columns. There were lovely gazebos doting the immaculate landscaping, along with fountains and koi ponds here and there. It was a wedding photographer’s dream, though personally Merlin could not understand the fascination with fountains designed to resemble small, fat human children with wings and urinating into a reflecting pool. He refused be photographed anywhere near the thing.

As the wedding party was being photographed, their guests filed into the lovely dining hall with a large dance floor and a view of the back lawn that was exquisitely decorated and took seats at the surrounding tables, some of which were outside on the patio. The wait staff, which were all canine types and dressed in crisp white linen shirts and black slacks with small blue tinted roses pinned onto the right side of their chests. They took orders for the diners, asking if each party chose the chicken, fish or steak. There were also vegetarian choices for those of the herbivore types and those dieting.

The band was set up in a corner next to the dance floor. When the members of Dragon, Wolf and Tiger tired, across the dance floor from them was a DJ, who was currently playing soft romantic favorites as the guests milled about talking to one another. The photographer’s assistant soon arrived and whispered to the DJ, who announced the arrival of the wedding party.

Moving through a floral gateway were the bridesmaids, each on the arm of one of the ushers. Lori Easter was on the arm of Jerad “Pockets” Porter, the short raccoon all bright smiles and waving cheerfully. Laura came in on the arm of Max Sinclair, the handsome young German shepherd looking very pleased to be included. Sparky was on the arm of her husband, Roland, and Taro Nichols being the maid of honor walked in on the arm of the Best Man, Renny Thornton.

The children followed the adults into the hall, a little more subdued than they had been at the church, as they were no longer growling, making faces and claw hands at the assembly. The reason for this was simple and the sister-in-law of the newlyweds had asked about it. “Why were you making such horrible faces and snarling, pups?” asked Shannon Wallace as they had ridden in the limousine to the reception hall, looking over the small upturned faces of the assembled children. Kayla and Joey Carlton glanced at one another in confusion, since they were certainly not puppies. “Shane? Jaran? Marissa? Kayla? Anyone care to explain?”

At once, Shannon got what she was asking for as the pack of children related in that tone little kids use when they know that they have been caught doing something wrong and punished for it, that high pitch as well as in unison. It took Shannon the rest of the drive to get the actual story from the little ones, even though each seemed to want to override the others in the telling.

She gleaned this bit from the young bearers and flower girls: the kids thought that Lori had said that they were ring “bears” and train “bears”, which set off a whole spectacle of wild growling, face and claw making with the boys. Wanting to be ferocious bears too, the flower girls had decided to follow the example of their brothers and made faces and claws as well. Samantha and Merlin were not angry over the children being children; in fact, they were rather amused and even had one photo taken of themselves and the children being fierce bears in the west gazebo.

The DJ asked the assembled party to rise as he introduced the bride and groom, the couple looking so very happy as they entered the room underneath the flower strewn archway. Finally taking their seats in the central section of the long table, the reception got underway. Music played and people rose from their tables to dance and mingle, chatting happily as they greeted the newlyweds. The assembled children, which now included those of her Royal Highness Princess Tinara Aris, were soon in a game of tag, racing around the dance floor, often times around and between the older guests.

Merlin and Samantha were separated as old friends offered congratulations and then struck up conversations. Merlin turned as he felt a small hand on his arm. In front of him was the vision that could only be Tinara, princess of the Aris monarchy, the lovely coyote wearing a pretty and somewhat revealing dress in the royal shade of dark purple. She smiled up at the wolf, her hand lingering on his sleeve longer than most.

“It’s good to see you again, Merlin,” she said softly, looking over him rather boldly. “You look just as handsome as always.” She uttered a small sigh. “Your wife is very a lucky girl, but you could have had a princess, not just an heiress.”

“You look beautiful as always, Princess,” Merlin said, and shifted his feet as a momentary look of discomfort crossed his face. The announcement of the birth of Tinara’s coywolf pups had generated a lot of speculation amongst his crew, even though he had assured them that he had not fathered the cubs himself, which was the truth. However, it was well known that Tinara would not be indifferent to sharing a bed with the captain of the Blue Horizon at any time. “I love Samantha, and her wealth has nothing to do with it.”

The princess leaned up to whisper in the wolf’s ear as she pressed her body close to his. “You know, the offer still stands. I would certainly be very happy if you shared my bed, Merlin.”

“Princess, this is hardly the place or the time, though the answer is still ‘No’. How dense can you be?” Merlin growled, tugging his arm from her grip, feeling a surge of anger. What was wrong with this woman?

Tinara smiled, but did not apologize. As Tinara leaned to whisper again to Merlin, Samantha narrowed her eyes, the curl in her tail straightening out. She had been watching the coyote from the moment she approached her husband, and felt a sharp twinge of irritation as the woman pressed herself to the wolf and openly flirted with him.

She never had liked Tinara. The coyote was too clingy with Merlin, always trying to coax him into her bed, no matter if either was in a relationship. There were ugly rumors concerning the parentage of the coyote’s young coywolf pups. Sam chose to believe Merlin when the wolf said that he did not father them, but it did not mean she wanted that little scheming wench anywhere near her husband. She had not wanted to invite Tinara or anyone of the Aris royal family to the wedding, but knowing that such a thing would look like bad form especially in Merlin’s case, given his business history with the family, Sam reluctantly gave in.

Excusing herself from the guests she had been talking to, a couple of friends of her parents, Sam determinedly made her way over to where Merlin and Tinara were standing, having to dodge the children as they raced past, squealing with laughter. Sam had gotten within earshot of the couple just as the coyote said something about domesticated canine heiresses. Oh, but it took every ounce of decorum she possessed not to deck that smirking cur, to show her just a little of the Silloni martial arts she had been trained in. Instead, Sam decided to use words. A good thing, too since Merlin looked like he was going to say something not so nice. Merlin tended, as most males were, to be blunt when angered. His words would be like getting hit over the head with a sledge hammer. Sam’s words were more like being sliced apart with a scalpel. Razor sharp and precise in the cutting.

“Hello my handsome, sexy husband.” Slipping an arm through Merlin’s and snuggling into the wolf’s side, Sam grinned at her mate and licked his muzzle rather thoroughly, knowing Merlin would respond nicely. He did. Once the couple stopped kissing and licking, Sam looked over at the princess. She knew exactly what to say to the snide little coyote.

“Oh, is that you, Mrs. Navarre? Didn’t see you there. I thought I had my husband all to myself,” she said airily, though there was a slightly dismissive tone to her voice. It was something of a snub not to use the coyote’s title when in public, as well as to use the last name of her husband. Kal Navarre had taken the royal family’s name when he had married her, as per the laws of the Aris Monarchy. Samantha had been raised by the regent of Sillon, which was a sovereignty much older than that of the Tanthean coyotes as well as a multibillion credit heiress. Sam knew this like the back of her hand, what with all that etiquette training she had been forced to endure as a kid. It was too bad her guest was not as well trained, only being royalty and all. She was going to be schooled now. Sam delighted in being the smug wench’s teacher.

Ears going flat when the collie used her husband’s name, Tinara knew that Samantha had overheard her last comment, as well as possibly witnessed her making yet another play for the wolf that was Sam’s new husband. This was a serious breach of etiquette, and her own father would be scandalized by Princess Tinara’s behavior. The coyote knew what she had to do; she would have to apologize to the heiress.

Before the other female could express regret for her words and actions, the smaller Border collie turned her back on the princess, refusing to acknowledge her presence in the room any further. With her father’s successful business spread out across the Planetary Alignment, Sam knew she could buy and sell the Aris aristocracy and not even blink. It did not matter if the company lost the Tanthe accounts after this. It was about time this whelp knew her place.

“I think it is time for our first dance, love,” Sam said brightly, leading Merlin away from her royal highness and onto the dance floor. Stepping up to the microphone as the couple moved into the middle of the dance floor, Adam Singlebet, the lupine member of Dragon, Wolf and Tiger announced that they would be performing a new song, titled “Union” in honor of the happy couple. Sam placed a small hand on Merlin’s shoulder as the music swelled.

“That was very naughty, my lovely Samantha,” Merlin said quietly, a smile stealing onto his face. “And pretty funny too. Thanks for the timely rescue. I might not have been as nice.”

“I wanted to punch her in the face,” Sam said, chuckling. “But I didn’t want our wedding to be remembered as the one in which I decked a crowned princess. I’m not worried about how this will affect Holden Pharmaceuticals on Tanthe, either. I’m sure Alex and Ayana will smooth things over.”

“I’m sure they will,” Merlin agreed, and then he deftly changed the subject. “Looking forward to Ocean City?”

“OOOOhhh, am I ever! The beach, the ocean and the lovely Victorian architecture. Oh yeah, and spending some quality time with a certain wolf.”

The song ended, and there was a dull boom of cannonade, raining confetti on the guests. The children let out a loud chorus of oooo’s and ahhhh’s, momentarily distracted from their chasing games.

“You remembered!” the lupine captain said happily, before giving his mate an exuberant kiss.

“I told you I wouldn’t forget the wedding cannons; you ought to believe me,” Sam said, snuggling a little closer. Males and their love of loud noises, second only to their affection for power tools. “I knew that these Dennieran customs would make you happy.”

Merlin whispered to her. “You entertain the guests for a few minutes.  I see an old friend I want to talk to.”

“Sure, but don’t be gone long. This is our day together.” Her mate licked her on the end of the nose and then walked away through the crowd towards the new arrival. She turned almost directly into the chest of one of her taller guests, a young Siberian tiger. There were so many of feline species here. The Carltons, the Bengoros, Carson Vetter of DWT, and others.

“Sorry... I wasn’t watching where I was going… Oh my goodness! Pan? Pan Arkane?” she asked, eyes widening in surprise. She had not seen this particular tiger in several years, ten at the very least. He was about eight years younger than she was and his family being very wealthy stayed at the Dragon Loft when they were on vacation, even though they were from a non-PA planet in the Mytha System known as Ryu. Sam had been his cub-sitter back when Tristan had finally retired from the role as Silloni regent and opened the renowned vacation lodge.

The handsome feline smiled fondly at her, nodding at her question. Sam hugged him enthusiastically, her tail wagging furiously. She could not believe how tall Pan had gotten since she had last seen him. The Arkane males were rather large, especially since they were of the largest subspecies of tiger in the known galaxy. He was almost as tall as Tristan himself.

“How are Marlin and little Giah? Heavens, how is your grandfather, is he still with us? And most importantly, how in the world did you know? About the wedding, I mean?” Sam asked, taken aback at the sight of the big tiger.

“My oldest brother is doing well, I’m sorry to tell you that his mate and cub died in an accident a few months back. He wishes you joy, though. Giah is about as tall as you are and now about twenty-one and studying at the Alexandrius branch of the University of the Alliance. As for the ‘how’, I was vacationing at the Dragon Loft when your invitation to Tristan and Guinevere arrived. I simply insisted that I see you get married. Tristan brought us with him when the family left Sillon for the wedding.”

Sam felt a momentary bit of sadness at the news of his brother’s loss. Marlin Arkane had always been a dear friend, almost an older brother being that he was a year older than Sam herself. But Pan moved his left hand as he was speaking and light caught the band of gold about his fourth finger. Several cultures in the PA had retained the Terran wedding band as a symbol of fidelity between the married couple. Sam could hardly believe what she was seeing.

“You sly kittykat! When were you married and why wasn’t I invited?” she scolded, wagging an admonishing finger at the tiger. “I think I should feel insulted! Yes, indeed I should! I’m insulted.”

“You have never pouted well, so stop that at once.” The feline commanded with a smirk. “I was married a little over a year ago. As to why you hadn’t been invited, it is well known that you were off traipsing the known universe with your wolf at the time, on Argeia, I believe.”

“Okay, you have a good excuse. So, where is the bride of my favorite oversized tiger, hmmm?” She looked around, expecting to see a tigress like Wendy Bengoro and her mother, Tess.

Pan motioned towards a group of young women talking. His bride was feline, yes. A Tiger, no.

“Lori?” he said gently and a short yet very pretty American Rag Doll cat turned in his direction, she had cream colored fur that darkened to a shade closer to that of chocolate milk on her ears and tail as well as her muzzle. Her hands were white as was a small bib of fur on her chest. The coloring on her face made her lovely blue eyes stand out more. She also looked to be very pregnant. The poor thing was huge! The little cat snuggled into the tall tiger’s embrace, her expression happy. Sam blinked back sudden tears at the tender expressions on the feline’s faces. Young love. Her big kitty has grown up and found himself a mate!

“Loralei, I’d like you to meet Samantha Holden.”

“Sinclair,” the collie corrected fondly, patting Pan’s arm as the cat’s smile went wider as her eyes grew slightly round. Sam gave a slight start at the name, especially since the Loris and the Lorelei’s of her acquaintance usually were somewhat flighty. Okay, the one Lorelei she had ever met was a bit flakey. Besides this was Lor-ah-lay, not Lor-eh-lie.

The girl extricated herself from Pan’s hug and took Sam’s hands in her own.

“I’ve always wanted to meet you!” the cat said brightly, if slightly breathless from her mate’s embrace. “I could scarcely believe Pan when he said he knew you personally. We talked about you in my Women in Business class at the University. “I wrote a paper about you.”

Samantha grinned and gave the cat a gentle hug. “I’m happy to meet you, too Loralei. Anyone who makes my le tigre cub happy, is a friend for life. I do hope to see you both more often, and I want to see that cub! I swear I saw a not so… pregnant version of you here earlier.”

The girl laughed. “You saw my twin sister, Liana. She’s somewhere here with Pan’s cousin Mikhal.”

Just then, Merlin returned, wrapping his arms about his wife from behind and held her, nodding towards the felines to whom she was talking. Sam let him regain his composure before she introduced the wolf to her newfound friends.

“Merlin, this is Pan and Loralei Arkane. I used to cub-sit Pan when he was just a little shaver. This is my husband, Merlin Sinclair, President and CEO of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer.”

Personally, Merlin could never imagine that the young tiger who grinned and pumped his hand eagerly ever had been a ‘little shaver’. The kid was massive. He was probably taller than Sam had been when she had been his sitter.

“Nice to meet you both. Sam has mentioned you on and off to me since I’ve known her.”

“She did?” the young tiger asked, laughing a bit. “Did she ever tell you that I was always teasing her about eloping?”

Merlin raised an eyebrow, but since the affection the young soon to be parents was genuine, he had no doubts that this was just a running joke between old friends, much like the lighthearted sniping that Sam and Renny had engaged in on board the ship. He listened to the playful banter for a few minutes more, letting the feelings of affection for his chosen mate wash over him as she smiled back and touched him frequently throughout the conversation with the tiger and his mate.

Knowing that they had other guests to attend to, the Sinclairs bid the younger couple a good evening and exchanged contact addresses so that they could keep in touch. As they moved away, Sam placed a hand on Merlin’s arm, giving him a concerned look

“Is everything okay?” she asked noting that the wolf had been distracted when she had been in conversation with the Arkanes.

“Everything’s fine, my love,” Merlin answered warmly, taking his bride into his arms as he changed then the subject. “How much longer do we have to stay at the reception?”

“Well, we still have to sit down to dinner, cut the cake, toss the garter and throw the bouquet. I may just cut those last two.”

“Change your carefully scripted Terran wedding reception?’ teased her husband. “Horrors.”

“And here I thought you were eager to get to Ocean City,” Samantha shot back, sliding her arms about his waist. “You wanted to stay in that pretty Victorian bed and breakfast with the warm ocean breezes ruffling your fur. I think you also said something about a personal massage for both of us, with a spritz of perfume in my fur and a bit of cinnamon in yours.”

“There is that. Let’s drop the garter and bouquet throws; I don’t think anyone but humans would miss them anyway.” Merlin looked around, his ears perking up “Looks like it’s time to sit down and eat, so let’s go. I’m starving.”

The meal was wonderful, typical of Sparky and her crew. Renny gave his toast, which was laden with cheerful quips about the boss and his new wife. Lorelei asked if Samantha was going to keep her maiden name. The Border collie shook her head. While she would always be the heir and CEO of her father’s company, Samantha chose to go the old-fashioned route to take her husband’s last name. She would always be a Holden, but now considered herself Samantha Sinclair.

Then it was time to cut the cake. Merlin and Samantha stood close together as they sliced the confection and fed it to one another. There was no attempt to mash the cake into one another’s face. This bit pleased Sparky greatly, for the little lynx had been scandalized by the video Sam had shown her on Terran wedding customs. The tiny chef begged the canine couple not to ruin a perfectly good cake in such a way. Sam and Merlin readily agreed, since that custom bothered them both.

After the cake was served to the guests, Taro noted that Merlin and Sam had disappeared. She got to her feet to say something, when the couple returned dressed in everyday clothes. Moving quickly, they ran the gauntlet of thrown rice, seed and more sugared nuts to their car. The guests watched as the vehicle lights faded down the street.

The canine couple was finally off to their honeymoon in the little scenic ocean front villa in Ocean City.

SPACE AVAILABLE

By Ted R. Blasingame

The Blue Horizon is a freighter to the stars. The Planetary Alignment is its highway, a charter of fourteen partner worlds in eight star systems, and its fuel is paying customers. Blue Horizon Freight Transfer has been in operation in one form or another for nearly a decade, delivering cargo from one place to another across the Planetary Alignment. In its current form, the company consists of a fleet of three of the latest model Okami-class freighters, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Grandstorm on the world of Dennier.

The flagship of the fleet is the Blue Horizon herself, an H-model vessel of four levels in the shape of an elliptical flying saucer. Identical sister ships are the Hidalgo Sun and the Mooncrest. The lower two levels house the cargo deck, containing the engine room and a cavernous cargo hold accessible through a huge retracting airlock bay door. The third level is the crew deck, consisting of fifteen comfortable cabins, Sickbay, laundry room, supply storage, environmental systems, a business office and the bridge. The upper level is comprised of the recreation deck, a common area for the crew to relax, exercise and gather for their meals in the Galley.

In all, the vessel provides a comfortable ride for the captain and crew of a vessel designed primarily for hauling cargo across the Planetary Alignment. Ideally, an Okami-class freighter maintains a personnel roster of eight to ten individuals of various duties.

Due to the size and comfort of the crew deck, there are typically five empty cabins at all times. In these times of economic uncertainty, Blue Horizon Freight Transfer is pleased to offer these spare cabins on each of its vessels as Space Available to passengers wishing inexpensive travel from one PA world to another.

For a mere ©1,200 (a sixty percent savings over commercial interstellar travel cruisers), a Blue Horizon passenger will enjoy a three-room cabin complete with fully furnished visiting area, spacious sleeping room with a Queen-sized bed, walk-in closet and a roomy lavatory equipped with overhead shower and a water-immersion bathtub large enough to accommodate most PA species. Meals and snacks provided, with menus suited to meet the dietary needs of each passenger.

A typical voyage between PA worlds can be anywhere between three to six weeks in duration, so all passengers will have access to an extensive library of entertaining books and popular contemporary vids, in addition to the use of exercise equipment on the recreation deck.

Fly in comfort in our Space Available cabins with Blue Horizon Freight Transfer. Use the contact numbers located on the back of this information flyer for reservations, information and flight schedules. Walk-ins are also accepted on a space available basis. We hope you will join us on a journey across the stars.

***

A broad-shouldered cougar in brown slacks and a muted orange shirt studied the color photographs on the printed paper he held in his hands. He looked up from the glossy flyer when he heard his name called, and he saw a petite coyote standing in front of a glass door into the waiting area for commercial flights. She wore a simple white blouse and a pleated tan skirt that matched the color of her fur.

He gathered up a shoulder bag and a couple of wheeled suitcases, and then stood up from his seat. “I’m Rex Concolar,” he said. The coyote lass met him halfway across the semi-crowded room and greeted him with a pleasant smile.

“Good morning, Mr. Concolar,” she said. “I am Amanda Black, the Business Coordinator of the Blue Horizon. If you will follow me, I have a luggage pallet outside that you may use to bring your belongings out to the ship.”

The cougar nodded and gestured toward the door. “After you, ma’am,” he said. He followed her outside the building and set his luggage onto the waiting antigrav platform. When he was ready, Amanda led him and his cart across the tarmac past ground-to-orbit shuttles, out toward a large elliptical vessel painted in two shades of blue. Recently washed, the ship gleamed in the morning sunlight.

“Is that it?” he asked as he pushed the small floating cart. “The Blue Horizon?”

“Yes, sir, that’s your ride to Kantus.”

Rex gave it a critical eye and then decided it appeared space-worthy. “I know it’s not a regular passenger liner,” he said, “but I suppose a freighter will get me there as well as anything else.” Amanda gave him a sidelong glance and opened her mouth to reply, but the cougar chuckled with a shrug of his shoulders. “I do appreciate the ride, Sweetie,” he added. “All the current commercial flights between Dennier and Kantus are booked up, not to mention expensive, so this was a life-saver!”

“Once you’re on the upper decks, you won’t even know you’re on a freighter,” Amanda told him as they approached the primary airlock, ignoring the Sweetie remark. “You probably won’t be able to distinguish the cabins on the crew deck from those in a decent hotel here in town, and the common area of the recreation deck looks nothing like a freighter either.”

“Yeah, I saw the photos on your flyer,” he said in an off-handed manner. “Looks good enough for me, or I probably wouldn’t have even bothered.”

Amanda flipped open a hidden panel beside the airlock and tapped in a combination code. When the door split apart to allow them entrance, Rex immediately noticed the internal compression door was already open so they could walk in directly. Pressurizing the ship for the voyage had not yet begun.

The cougar reached for his luggage and then stopped. “Will the pallet be okay out here on the tarmac?” he asked.

Amanda shook her head. “That one belongs to the Blue Horizon,” she replied. “You can bring it inside up the ramp.”

Rex nodded and wondered why he had to move his luggage himself. Commercial transports always had skycaps to do that for passengers as a courtesy. No doubt, it was because he was boarding a freighter, not a cruise liner. He briefly wondered if he would have to make his own meals too.

The cougar looked up at the height of the ceiling once he was inside. With the deck practically empty of cargo, the place appeared cavernous. There were several large, octagonal crates with “Jerad Porter, PA1138” stenciled upon them, as well as several large red containers of mail that were tethered to rings in the floor near the center of the room, but nothing else.

Rex heard an approaching hum and looked up in time to see a small flying saucer slow to a hover in front of him. “Hello,” he said hesitantly.

The unit was the size of two inverted pie pans, its metal skin shimmered iridescently, and it had three whisker-like antennae sprouting from each side of its “face”. It studied the cougar with an offset pair of lenses, one slightly above the other. Amanda gave him a smile and said, “Moss, security scan, passenger authorization Rex Concolar.”

The saucer emitted a pale green light from its upper lens and scanned the visitor briefly. Then it moved to his luggage and scanned them as well. When it was finished, it moved to a position in front of the coyote and intoned a casual “Meow” as it rotated two of its whiskers.

“Thank you, Moss,” Amanda said to the unit. “You may resume your duties.”

“Meow!”

“What was that about?” Rex asked, scratching his head as the unit floated away across the cargo deck.

“It’s just a standard scan to enter you into the profile of our onboard security system,” the coyote replied, “as well as to make sure you were not bringing any harmful devices on board.”

“Is that a problem on a freighter?” he asked, suddenly concerned.

“Not recently,” she told him. “However, Moss has cleared you to come aboard and we’ve had no other threats lately.”

“Ah, okay,” Rex replied with a slow nod.

Amanda moved to the controls to close the airlock, but an echoed voice from across the deck stopped her hand above the panel.

“Mandy! Please leave it open for me!” The coyote and cougar both looked toward the voice. Approaching them from inside was a young German shepherd dressed casually in denim jeans with a matching short-sleeved shirt. He had a duffel bag slung over one shoulder and a cheerful grin on his face.

“Well, Max, are you off?” Amanda asked the newcomer. She stepped aside to allow him access to the airlock.

“Yeah, I’m late. Uncle Merlin’s brother-in-law should be waiting for me in the terminal,” the young canine replied. “I’m kinda nervous about this whole thing, but I have been looking forward to it, too.”

“You’ll be just fine,” Amanda told him. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a confident smile. “Have a safe journey, Max.”

“Thank you, Mandy!” He gave the cougar a nod and said, “I’m sorry I don’t have the time to visit with the Blue Horizon’s first official passenger, but I need to be going.”

“That’s quite all right, Blue Eyes,” Rex said with a smile. “Take care, wherever it is you are going.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Amanda gave Max a quick hug, and then he and his duffel bag were out the airlock. When he had gone, the coyote sealed both the internal and external airlock doors. She turned back to her companion and gestured across the hold.

“This way to the lift, Mr. Concolar,” she said and began walking. Rex pushed the cart along behind her, admiring the shape of her legs.

“What’s the story with that guy?” he asked in casual conversation.

“Max is one of our mechanics, but he’s taking some time away for surgery.”

“Surgery?” the cougar repeated. “He looked pretty healthy to me.”

“He lost a finger a few years back,” Amanda explained as they neared a red door, “and he’s now having a prosthetic replacement grafted on by a Pomen surgeon. We’re scheduled to pick up cargo on Kantus for delivery to Pomen, so we’ll meet back up with him there.”

“Ah, okay.” When the lift door opened, he took his luggage from the pallet cart and set them inside. “Since I’ll be flying with you folks for a few weeks, I’m sure I’ll hear others mention ol’ Blue Eyes’ finger.”

“No doubt. You’ll also hear that Max is the owner’s nephew.”

“Is the owner on board?”

“No, sir. He was just married and is now away on his honeymoon with his new bride.”

“Your mechanic just left and your captain is away with his honey,” Rex mused as the lift doors opened up to the crew deck. “Is anyone else gone, or will your sweetness be my only companion for this flight?”

Amanda led him to the right, around the curve of the corridor. “Max will be our only absentee for this voyage, Mr. Concolar. Everyone else is on board, including our captain.”

“I thought he just got married,” Rex said.

“That was the owner, not the captain.”

“Ah, okay. What’s his name?”

“Her name is Taro Nichols. You should meet her soon after we launch, Mr. Concolar.” Amanda stopped before a door that had the cougar’s name affixed on a temporary occupant plate. “Here’s your room. If you want to stow your belongings, I can give you a brief tour of Sickbay, laundry room and the recreation deck.”

Rex opened the door to his quarters and looked inside. The coyote was right. The place resembled a hotel suite. Without even realizing it, he immediately felt better about traveling on a freighter. Despite the photos in the pamphlet, he had actually expected a room no bigger than a closet, with a folding cot and a rusty washbasin; cruise ships typically advertised rooms that were nicer and roomier than the actual cabins would turn out to be.

He set his luggage on the floor beside a comfortable-looking sofa and then turned back to his escort. “Not bad,” he said with a smile. “How long until we take off?”

Amanda consulted a trim techwatch on her wrist. “We should be launching in about a half hour,” she replied. “The bridge crew is probably going through their pre-launch checklist right now, but we still have enough time for a brief tour.”

Rex put his hands on his hips and grinned at her. “Lead the way, Sweet Stuff!”

***

“Open your mouth wide, please,” Jerry Somner said to the cougar. Rex sat on a stool in front of the standing doctor, his chest bare and his shirt draped over one arm. The passenger opened his mouth as directed and the red fox pressed down on his tongue with a flat wooden stick. He shined a bright penlight into the cougar’s throat and then nodded in satisfaction.

“Is a physical really necessary?” Rex asked when the fox released his tongue and allowed him to swallow.

“Yes, Mr. Concolar, it is,” replied the doctor. “It was noted in the document you signed when you bought passage through our home office. You will be sharing our circulated air during the three weeks you’re on board, and we just want to make sure you aren’t going to catch anything we might have.”

“Or you catch anything I might have?”

Jerry gave the mountain lion a nod as he scribbled some notes onto a small paper steno pad. “That is correct, sir. I should have checked you out before we launched, in the event you had an illness or an infectious parasite on you, but there was no time left when you arrived.”

The cougar crossed his arms. “I sat in the waiting area nearly an hour before your sweet coyote came to get me.”

The fox looked up from his notes and raised his eyebrows. “Really? I will have to speak to her about it.” He scratched at his notepad a moment more and then set it aside. “At any rate, you appear to be just fine at first glance, Mr. Concolar. I will know more after I’ve run the tests on your blood and urine samples, but for now you’re free to go.”

“Thanks, Doc,” the cougar replied, pulling on his shirt.

His job complete, Jerry sat down on another nearby stool and leaned against the wall. “What brings you on board with us, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Rex grinned widely, clearly pleased to have someone ask. “I bought a lottery ticket just before I left Kantus to come out here to Dennier to visit a lady friend,” he explained. “I found out last night that I won the jackpot, but I have to report in person on Kantus to claim my prize.”

“Ah, very nice,” Jerry replied with a smile.

“This lottery is held PA-wide and only once a year, so due to travel distances, they will hold the numbers for ten months to allow the winner time to claim it.”

“What was the jackpot?”

The cougar finished buttoning his shirt and then he leaned on the counter. “Twenty-seven million credits! I’m surprised you didn’t see a report about it on INN.” Then he stood up and slipped his hands into his pockets. “However, until they award my prize, I’m still stuck on a budget. Yours is the only ship I could afford to get back to Kantus.”

“When you came to Dennier to see your friend, didn’t you have a round-trip ticket to get back home?” the doctor asked.

Rex shrugged. “It was my intention to get a local job and stay for a while, so my boarding pass was a one-way trip. Buying the lottery ticket on the way to the spaceport was done on the spur-of-the-moment.”

“So, what are your plans once you get your money?”

The cougar smiled again. “I was thinking I might buy a private transport with a small flight crew and travel around the Planetary Alignment with my lady. Why? Are you looking for a job as my medical officer?”

Jerry chuckled. “No, sir. I’m just curious about what someone would do with that kind of money.”

“Curious-schmurious… I’m sure I could use a doctor when I travel. Do you want the job?”

The red fox shook his head. “Thank you, but no. I am happy right here and I’m under contract anyway. Besides, you should not make offers or promises until you actually have the money in your account. Just don’t lose your ticket between now and Kantus.”

Rex raised an eyebrow and patted his shirt pocket. “No worries, Doc. The winning ticket is safe. Once you get me there, I can pay off all my debts and then live comfortably.” He moved toward the door and gave the physician a casual wave. “See ya around the galaxy, Doc!”

When the panel closed behind him out in the corridor, Rex frowned and rubbed the spot where the physician had taken the blood sample. With the advances in modern technology, he knew there were less painful ways of extracting blood. He glanced back at the door, wondering if he had gotten a needle simply because he was not a member of the crew. With a sigh, he turned around and saw several people get off a nearby lift.

“Hello!” he said with the sudden return of his grin. The trio all looked over at him in unison.

“Hi, there!” A white rabbit said with a lilt to her voice. A short koala merely gave a small wave and departed for his cabin.

“Mr. Concolar,” a tall red vixen said with a nod. The cougar joined them and rubbed his hands together. “I am Captain Nichols. What can we do for you?”

“The doctor’s just passed me on my physical, Lady Captain,” he said, “and I was wondering what there was to do now.”

“We have a library of books and movies up on the recreation deck,” Taro suggested, “or you may use the exercise equipment. My navigator is currently up there working through his daily routine, if you wish to join him.”

“Hmm, that sounds interesting,” Rex said with a nod.

“Are you hungry?” Lorelei asked. “I just came from the galley, but if there’s something you want, I don’t mind.”

The cougar’s eyes lit up. “Now that you mention it, I am feeling peckish!”

Lori took him by the arm and led him back to the lift. “What can I make for you?” she asked.

Rex gave Taro a small waggle of his fingers and then he looked down into the rabbit’s bright blue eyes. “I’m not particular,” he said.

Lori nodded as the lift door opened for them. “I looked over your food preferences right after you came on board, Mr. Concolar. You have a wide variety of things you like.”

“Why don’t you just surprise me with something, Bunnyfluff?”

“A surprise, eh? Okay, I think I can surprise your taste buds!”

Taro watched the lift door close and she shook her head with a chuckle. It was different having a passenger on board their ship. She just hoped he could stay out of trouble for the next three weeks he would be with them. Fortunately, all guests were restricted to the upper levels of the ship, even if they had no cargo on this voyage. Pockets had requested the use of the empty floor space in the hold to sort out the parts to a special project; he would be nose-deep into it on their way to Kantus, so the fewer people down there would be for the best.

She absently ran her fingers across the white, blue-tipped feather clipped to the fur behind her left ear and then she turned up the corridor. It was her shift to relieve Damien from bridge duty.

***

A short wait later, Lorelei set a plate down in front of the cougar with a smile. Renny’s nose twitched as he finished putting away the exercise mat in a nearby wall storage closet. “I’ll take some too, please,” he said from across the room. “Pile it high!” He hurried over to the galley and sat down with his tail through the slotted back of the chair, putting both elbows on the table.

“What is it?” Rex asked as he sniffed the aromas from the steaming plate.

Renny opened his mouth to reply, but Lori shushed him before he could say a word. “You said you wanted a surprise,” she reminded the passenger as she set up a plate for their navigator. “First give it a try before I tell you what it is.”

Rex studied the plate and sniffed it curiously. From his perspective, it resembled a mass of tiny intestinal strings covered in pulpy blood with the distinct presence of a grayish brown fungus, but its tangy aroma was throwing off its identification. As the rabbit had reminded him earlier, he had a wide and varied taste in foods, so he did not intend to turn his nose up at it.

Lorelei did not know his preference for eating utensils, so she set a ceramic canister of various instruments on the table. Rex looked again at the plate and then selected a pair of chopsticks. Renny grabbed a four-pronged fork as the ship’s chef set a plate before him. Rex watched the cheetah dig into the meal with glee and decided it was time to sample the food.

He sniffed it again and then used the chopsticks to gather up a bit of the stringy mass and raise it to his mouth. He took a moderate mouthful and chewed on it silently. Lori watched the cougar expectantly, and Renny smiled around another forkful as he continued to eat.

After the first swallow, Rex licked his lips and looked down at the meal. “I like this,” he said in genuine interest. “It’s good!”

Lorelei smiled widely and then filled drinking mugs for both her customers. “I’m glad to hear it,” she said to the cougar.

“What is this?” Rex asked as he lifted up another mouthful.

“This is popular in areas on Earth,” the rabbit answered. “It’s called pasta spaghetti, with tomato sauce, mushrooms and a bit of browned ground beef.” Lorelei did not eat meat herself, preferring a vegetarian diet, but she had long grown accustomed to the tastes of the predator-types she regularly fed.

“More please,” Renny said as he held up an empty plate. Lori gave him a smile and took the dish for a refill.

Rex ate his food slower than the cheetah, savoring the taste. The rabbit had not given him a large amount at first and he was soon finished with his portion. He licked his lips, picked up his mug, and then lapped up a healthy drink. He set his mug down and then hefted the empty plate toward the waiting chef as he had seen the cheetah do. “Bunnyfluff, I think I would like more of this pasty pasketti, please,” he said with a smile.

“Pasta spaghetti,” Renny corrected.

“Yeah, what Spots said – pasta spaghetti,” Rex said.

The cheetah turned to look at him and swallowed another mouthful. “Spots?” he repeated with a raised eyebrow. “Tell me, Mr. Concolar, do you have a personal name for yourself, or do you just like hearing people call you Mister?”

“My name’s Rex,” the cougar answered nonchalantly as Lorelei set a freshly filled plate before him.

“Well, Rex, my name is Renny, not Spots. Our gracious chef here is Lori, not Bunnyfluff.”

“Don’t get your fur up,” the cougar replied with a shrug, picking up his chopsticks. “I don’t mean anything by it,” he said. “I’m just bad with names.”

Renny took a drink from his mug and then leaned toward the passenger. “Fair enough, but at least try to use our names,” he said, attempting to be diplomatic. “Your time with us will be nearly a month, and attitudes will be nicer if you talk to us using our names instead of nicknames. You’ve already been introduced to everyone on board individually, but I doubt anyone will be offended if you ask their name if you’ve forgotten.”

Rex nodded and lifted another helping to his mouth. “I realize I’m your first passenger,” he said before eating, “but if you’re going to ferry people across the PA, perhaps you should wear name tags for people like me who won’t remember your crew names after hearing them just once.”

The cougar continued eating while Renny mulled over his words. He looked over at Lori, who nodded toward their guest. “I think that’s a good idea,” she said with a smile.

“That’s just it,” Renny replied thoughtfully. “I do, too. I don’t think this is something Merlin considered when he told us we were going to start taking on passengers.”

“You have a magician who makes decisions for your company?” Rex asked when he finished his plate.

“Magician?” Renny repeated.

“Merlin the Magician,” the cougar replied with a smile. “You know, from Terran legends.”

Renny shook his head. “I’m not familiar with that one.”

Lorelei laughed. “I know who he’s talking about,” she explained. “My father was stationed on Earth for a while and I saw some movies about that Merlin. Strange, I never thought of him when I first met our Merlin. That was clever, Rex!”

The cougar stood up with a hand on his chest and took a bow. “Thank you,” he said with a smile.

Renny grinned at the passenger. “How can you be familiar with Earth’s legends, but know nothing about a common food like spaghetti?” he asked.

Rex raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know about spaghetti because I’ve never been to Earth. However, I may have seen the same movie she did. We get a lot of Terran movies imported to Kantus.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Renny agreed with a nod. “I’m from Gate City on Kantus, myself.”

“Really?” Rex asked. “I grew up in Martell! That’s where I’m headed after we land.”

Lorelei picked up both empty plates and took them to a large sink. “Do you know where he’s from, Renny?” she asked.

The cheetah narrowed his eyes at the cougar with a grin. “Of course I do,” he answered. “Martell and Gate City were arch-rivals in college stamball competitions. Our two teams have been closely matched for years; it made the games intense and exciting.”

Rex chuckled. “Yeah, they were loads of fun.”

Renny leaned on the table toward their guest. “Did you ever play?” he asked. The cougar’s eyes lit up and he relaxed against the back of his chair as he began to regale his host with exploits of prowess.

Lorelei chuckled as the two males became immediately engrossed in sports talk. They’re all alike, she thought to herself with a smile.

***

The intercom chirped and Taro looked up from the entry she was writing in her Captain’s Diary. “Yes, what is it?” she asked.

“Captain, there’s a call for you from the home office.”

“Thank you, Justy. Could you route the audio in here for me, please?”

“Incoming.”

There was another small chirp and then Cindy’s voice emanated from the intercom speaker. “Taro?”

“I’m here, Cindy. How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking. My boyfriend wants me to spend some vacation time with him on the Kellogg Islands to the south; it’s very romantic with white sand beaches, clear blue water, secluded huts and lots of decadent fruit!”

Taro smiled. “That sounds great. When do you leave?”

“Next month sometime, providing Merlin lets me take the time off. I’ve been out sick a lot lately, and he’s been taking up the slack for me himself each time I’m away.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Merlin. So, what can I do for you?”

“There’s no easy way to say this, but the delivery you’re on the way to pick up has been cancelled.”

“Please tell me you’ve made an interstellar call to make a joke.”

“I’m afraid not. Crimson Astrogation is undergoing investigation, so they’ve stopped all shipments of their spatial navigation systems for the time being. There was nothing we could do about a situation like this, but I’ve already picked up a replacement for you on Tanthe.”

“Tanthe? At least that’s in the same star system,” Taro replied as she set up a new file on her computer terminal. “Okay, give me the details and then I’ll have Renny plot a new course to reroute us to the Tanthean location. We’ll lose a lot of inertia, but—”

“Actually,” Cindy interrupted, “you’re still going to Kantus. You have a passenger who paid for a ride to Gate City on Kantus, so you can’t do a mid-flight course change. Only once he’s disembarked can you launch to pick up your new shipment. At their current orbital relationships, it should only take you twenty hours to reach Tanthe from Kantus.”

Taro let out a snort. “Having passengers but no cargo is going to cost us time and money when changes in the schedule like this crop up. You know they’ve happened before, and things like this will happen again. I wonder if Merlin has really thought this through.”

“I admit it can be an inconvenience, but the decision was based upon having a regular shipment load for each voyage. The passenger space is only available as a courtesy to people like your Mr. Concolar. The only reason you’re empty now is because we altered the shipping schedules to allow you all to attend the wedding. We’ll try to keep your hold stocked for each trip from Tanthe and on out. At least your destination from Tanthe is still to Pomen.”

“Well, that’s good, at least. We can still meet back up with Max as scheduled.”

“That’s what I was trying for. By the way, how is your passenger doing?”

“He’s been with us a week now, but he seems to be finding enough to keep himself occupied,” Taro reported. “He’s caused no real trouble, but he has a bad memory for names and has been calling everyone by nicknames he creates on the spot. It was amusing at first, but it’s starting to annoy some of us. If we’re going to continue this facet of our business, we should probably invest in name badges for the crew to wear.”

“That’s a good idea, really.”

“Yeah, it was actually our passenger who suggested it.”

“That should be a negligible expense and we can probably hire a business on Tanthe to make them up for you while you’re en route. If Tina approves the funds, I’ll take care of getting them made for you in time for landfall.”

“Okay, that sounds good.”

“If you’re ready, I can transmit the details of your altered schedule.”

“I have a file open. Ready to receive.”

***

“Okay, Taro, Renny, you two can open your eyes now.”

When the pair looked up, Pockets and Justy were grinning ear to ear. “Ta-da!” they said in unison.

Sitting on the floor of the empty cargo hold were seven large engine components that the raccoon had built over the past week with the koala’s help, using the parts delivered to the ship while they were on Dennier. Each section was nearly as large as the engineer himself.

“Well, it certainly looks as if you’ve been productive,” Renny said as he scratched his head. “What are they?”

“All of these make up the heart of a small Particle Vault system!” Pockets said proudly.

“A Vault system?” Taro repeated in astonishment. “How?”

“Do you remember a few years back when I got shanghaied onto Natasha’s ship?”

“Yeah,” Renny recalled. “Merlin was mad at you for a week for wandering off into town when everyone had been ordered to stay on board while we were on Brandt. You probably would have died with her on the Lady of Dreams as part of her crew if you hadn’t made a deal with Natasha to get out of there.”

Pockets nodded. “As part of that deal, she gave me a set of plans to convert the Blue Horizon’s engines to Vault capability, but they were encrypted. Neither Patch nor I were able to make any use of them, but even if we had, major structural alterations would have been required to our ship to make it work. I was supposed to get back with Captain Natasha for the key to decrypt the plans after she checked out some information I gave her, but we never got the opportunity to meet with her again.”

“So, what’s the difference now?” Renny asked. Taro walked over to the nearest component, but she was no mechanic and it looked like just another heap of spare parts.

“The difference is that I discovered Natasha’s Rosetta stone to her encryption a couple months ago and was able to decipher them. I started going over the plans again and figured out a way to use them.”

“Wait a minute,” Taro said. “You told me the key to her code was a single word from the local language of the Hestran village where Natasha and I grew up together. How can an encryption as strong as the one you described be unlocked by a simple word?”

The raccoon stuck his hands into the pockets of his coveralls amidst the tinkling of tools, and then rocked back and forth on his heels. “It wasn’t as easy as you make it sound,” he admitted, “but each letter of the word written in your alphabet unlocked a series of encryption keys, and each of those keys unlocked even more parts to the cipher, and so on. The word itself was merely the catalyst to begin a cascading chain reaction to translate the code to Standard!”

Renny looked over at Justy at the explanation, but the koala merely pointed at Pockets with a smile and replied, “What he said!”

“How did you get roped into his experiment?” the cheetah asked him.

“I’ve had some experience as a mechanic. I was bored and Pockets asked me to help out since Max was gone,” Justy replied.

“That’s very clever, Pockets,” Taro said. “I’m impressed. So… now that you’ve made the components, what do you intend to do with them? You already told us it would take a structural modification for us to use them on the Horizon. Are you asking permission to take us apart?”

Pockets snickered. “No, Captain, that’s not what I’m asking…exactly.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Renny muttered. Taro merely waited for the raccoon to continue. Pockets raised his short arms and gestured at the vessel around them.

“This is a different model ship than the one we were flying when Natasha gave me her plans,” he explained. “That G-model Okami would have taken a structural overhaul to get these components integrated into the engine system. We don’t have that problem with our current H-model design! Naturally, I’ve already measured the spaces where they would need to go.”

“Naturally,” Renny remarked.

Taro swept a hand through the air over the engine parts beside them. “I know Merlin sometimes let you and Patch experiment with the systems to get more efficiency out of them,” she said, “but I don’t know if I want these things attached to our engine.”

“Why not?” Pockets asked in sudden distress. “Being able to fly faster would give us an edge over our competitors!”

Taro knelt down to look her diminutive friend at eye level. “Pockets, I admit Natasha’s engineers probably worked wonders on her ship,” she said, “but this kind of technology isn’t available to the public. After Natasha’s death, I heard there were concentrated efforts to locate her base of operations to exploit her technology. They found nothing, so the general assumption was that all her knowledge was aboard the Lady of Dreams when it was destroyed. What do you think would happen if the rest of the PA found out that our little shipping company possessed technology that has been obsessively sought after by virtually every world in the Planetary Alignment?”

Pockets looked down at his toes. “Merlin sent Natasha’s data crystals to Master Tristan on Sillon,” he said. “He thought that if Vault technology was made available to the PA, it should come from a source not related to anyone who had any prior contact with Natasha. Tristan is wise enough to handle revealing such a breakthrough slowly. If the Silloni are successful in using her plans to build new Vault ships, no one will think twice about a world so far away developing a method to travel vast distances quicker.”

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Taro said. “Still, that didn’t answer my question.”

Justy looked hopeful. “We could say that we’re testing a prototype for the Silloni,” he offered.

“Either that, or we just don’t tell anyone that we’ve got it,” Pockets added. “We could use it only on special occasions; you know, if we fall behind on a delivery for one reason or another.”

Taro sighed and looked up at Renny for a long moment. The First officer raised an eyebrow and made a brief shrug of his shoulders. Finally, she stood up and gestured toward the parts again.

“Are you sure these things will even work with our engines?” she asked.

Pockets nodded as he looked at his and Justy’s handiwork. “Pretty sure,” he said confidently. “We probably won’t have the sophisticated power technology to make extremely long hops like the Lady of Dreams, but it would cut considerable time off our trips.”

“How long would the engines be offline if you two were allowed to install these things?” Renny asked. Taro gave him a dirty look, but remained silent.

“Four hours, tops,” the raccoon replied quickly, “and we’d still be traveling along our route so it’s not like we’d be sitting still in space. The components are ready for installation, and we’ve already mapped out our procedures on how to integrate these to our engines with minimal downtime – with no structural modifications to the ship!”

“Natasha’s plans were fairly specific for use with a typical Liquid Crystal LightDrive engine,” Justy added. “It would have worked on your old ship, if only the engine room had been larger. There will be plenty of space to spare even with our new components in this ship!”

Pockets and Justy both gave the captain hopeful smiles, and the koala had his fingers crossed behind his back for luck.

Taro was quiet for a moment. Merlin may have jumped at such a chance to give the business an edge over competitors, but something of this magnitude was beyond a casual decision. However, the wolf was out of contact and she was captain of the ship, so weighing the advantages against the precautions lay fully on her shoulders. Pockets was one of the best engineers she had ever known, and he had discovered the decryption key and worked out the intricacies of the vastly superior technology with almost no assistance, so it was reasonable to trust his judgment here. The idea had merits, if they could keep its existence a secret for now.

“Let me think about it,” she said. “We may try it later, but we currently have a schedule to maintain where four hours of downtime would put us too far behind.”

“We won’t fall behind,” Pockets reminded her. “The engines are off for everything but power generation anyway and we are maintaining our current interstellar speeds on inertia. Even if we had to brake to a stop for an emergency or to help with another vessel, we can make up whatever downtime we have with loads of time on the clock left over using the Vault. We can even get our passenger to Kantus faster, and then be on to our next assignment much quicker!”

“Yes, but if the Vault doesn’t work and we can’t get our LD engines restarted,” Taro reminded him, “we’ll be operating solely on battery power for everything. We could also lose another client by failing to meet a timetable. I’m not sure it’s a good idea, but I promise I’ll give it some thought.”

Pockets’ countenance fell. He was out of arguments and it showed on his face. Justy patted him on the shoulder and looked back at the vixen with a disappointed expression.

“Listen, guys,” Taro said quietly. “You two have done a great job, and you have presented me with a nice little gift. However, give me a little time to weigh the pros and cons, okay?”

Pockets looked up at her and gave her a bit of a smile. “Sure,” he said. Justy merely nodded his agreement.

“Thanks.” Taro gave them a nod in return, and then turned back toward the lift. Renny followed beside her, but his eyes were off in the distance as he thought about the implications of Pockets’ request.

When they were out of earshot and inside the lift, Renny looked over at the vixen. “If the Blue Horizon was equipped with a mini-Vault drive,” he said quietly, “we could fit in more deliveries and bring in more income to the company, and since everyone but you is paid per-voyage, that’s more income to the crew as well. Remember the early days of space travel when it would take years just to get out of a solar system? From what I heard about the Lady of Dreams, it could travel half-way across the Planetary Alignment in just minutes, instead of the weeks it takes us now!”

“I really don’t understand how that can work,” Taro said. “Pockets tried to explain it to me back when we first encountered Natasha’s ship over Brandt, but I’m afraid that kind of stellar engineering is beyond me. I don’t understand slipping outside of real space, hopping over imaginary valleys between mountain tops, and zipping past everything else.”

“Yeah, but just think about it. He said we would not have the power capabilities that Natasha had, but there would be no more long weeks of boredom while we get from place to place! With the Vault and our power reserves, we could probably cut it down to a few days.”

“Yes, I admit that would be great,” Taro said as the lift came to a stop, “but I can’t think of anything that would justify having the whole Planetary Alignment after us for our plans to the technology.”

“Well, as Pockets said, we could just use it sparingly instead of all the time,” Renny replied, “I’m sure it could come in handy in some cases, even if we don’t use it to its full potential.”

“Maybe,” Taro said. The pair of them stepped out from the lift, and suddenly their passenger blocked their way on his way in.

“Hiya, Foxy!” Rex said cheerfully. “Hey, Speedo! Fluffbunny said she’s going to make a new dish for everyone tonight and wants to make sure everyone is there on time! Just try not to get in my way, or I might eat your fingers off!”

“Uh, right,” Renny said as the cougar pushed his way between them and into the lift. Rex gave them a wave just as the doors closed.

“Yeesh, I can’t wait until we can get to Kantus to dump this guy,” Renny muttered. “The longer he’s with us, the more irritated I get.”

“I thought you got along with him, seeing as how you two are from the same area.”

“That wore thin very quickly. He claims he’s bad with names, but I think he’s using his nicknames just to needle everyone around him. I know he’s a paying customer, but I’m sick of having him on board.”

“Yeah, I think everyone else is too,” Taro said. “The sooner we can get him to Kantus, we...” She stopped suddenly, stared back toward the closed lift doors, and then looked back at her companion. She bit her bottom lip and then walked down the curved corridor to the nearest intercom panel. She tapped a couple pads and then waited.

“Your favorite engineer is at your service,” said Pockets’ country drawl a long moment later.

Renny looked at Taro curiously, but she ignored him. “Pockets, this is Taro. You have permission to install and test your components, providing you can guarantee we won’t be on batteries for more than your promised four hours.”

“You got it, Captain!” the raccoon exclaimed happily. “It’ll take us about an hour to get everything ready and then I will let you known when we will need to shut down power generation. Four hours after that, tops!“

“Thank you, Pockets.”

Renny blinked and twitched his tail. “Did I just miss something?” he asked. “What made you change your mind about Pockets’ little experiment so quickly?

“Our passenger, Mister I-can’t-remember-anyone’s-name-so-I’ll-just-make-up-my-own-whether-they-like-it-or-not…”

Renny grinned at her. “Yeah, that sounds like a valid decision-maker to me.”

Taro snorted. “My concerns still stand,” she said, “but we’re just going to consider this an experiment in research and development. If it works, we will let Merlin decide whether or not we’ll keep it, and what to do about its implications later.”

“Let’s just hope Pockets is as good an engineer as he thinks he is.”

“In the meantime, call the crew together on the rec deck. I want to explain to everyone what we’re about to do.”

“Rex, too?”

“No, this will be a staff meeting. He’s not invited.”

***

“Three hours and forty-six minutes!” Pockets’ voice said proudly from the bridge intercom. “We’re ready to test.”

“Okay, restart the primary system and then stand by,” Renny said. “I need to re-calculate our new heading so we don’t come out of the Vault inside standard shipping traffic.”

“Aye to that.”

Almost immediately, the room lighting brightened slightly and the air handling system kicked in, signaling that they were no longer solely on battery power.

Jerry looked over at the cheetah from the pilot’s center seat. Aside from Renny, the crimson fox was probably the most experienced pilot on board, and for an experiment such as this one, Taro wanted him at the helm.

“Where are we going to come out?” the doctor asked.

“Theoretically, about two hours outside the orbit of the Kantus moon,” Renny replied distractedly. He held up a hand for silence as he worked his figures.

The door opened and Taro walked in. She saw the navigator concentrating on his task and moved to the com station without a word. She sat down, buckled her harness and then made a notation on her slateboard.

“What’s that?” Jerry whispered to the vixen.

“A signed non-disclosure legal document swearing our passenger to silence concerning our engine test,” Taro whispered back. “He wants to get to his lottery winnings quickly just as much as we want to get him there, so he was willing to sign.”

“I thought we all agreed at the staff meeting not to let him know about the Vault,” Jerry whispered in alarm.

“I didn’t tell him it was a Vault test,” Taro explained. “As far as he knows, our engineer is just experimenting with a standard LightDrive engine that could give us a tremendous boost for an edge against our competitors.” She held up the slateboard and added, “However, no matter the result, this will legally gag him from mentioning it to anyone else and the penalty for breaking it would cost him half his lottery winnings.”

“Ouch, that should keep him quiet.”

“Okay, I think that should do it,” Renny said after a moment. “I’m feeding the new coordinates to your panel, Jerry.”

“Receiving.” The pilot looked over at Taro and put his hands up on the guidance shifts. “Are we ready to give this a try?” he asked.

The captain opened her mouth to reply, but Renny spoke up first. “Have either of you been through a Vault jump before?” he asked.

Jerry shook his head, but Taro gave him a lopsided smile. “I probably went through one after we crashed on Crescentis and was transported to Pomen and Hestra on Natasha’s ship, but I was unconscious and have no memory of it,” she replied. “Why?”

Renny grinned. “A few of us were on the Lady of Dreams when Natasha transported the Blue Horizon inside her cargo bay to Argeia, so the rest of you will have a new experience today,” he said. “The first time through can play funny with your insides.”

Taro exchanged a quick look of concern with the doctor.

“What kind of funny?” Jerry asked.

Without answering the question, Renny looked over at Taro. “I need the intercom to connect only to the engine room and the rec deck,” he said. “I don’t want our passenger to hear what I have to say to the crew.”

Taro furrowed her brow, but then she turned to the com panel, tapped a series of controls, and gave him a nod.

“This is Damien,” the mastiff replied.

“Engine Room,” Justy’s voice came back.

“Sound off, is everyone there?” Renny asked.

“Lori, Amanda and I are here in the Galley,” Damien replied.

“Pockets and I are down here together with the engines,” the koala reported.

“We are about to give Pockets’ home-made system components a test, but first I wanted to give you a bit of a warning. If this works as planned, we’re all going to feel a little nausea when we jump, but it will only be momentary. Natasha told us that the best thing you can do is hold your breath, close your eyes and then tense up so the effect on the body is somewhat muted. They say it gets routine as you get used to it, but the first time can be disorienting. I don’t know how well our inertial dampers are going to work with a Vault jump, so I would suggest everyone get strapped into a flight harness. We will give you few moments to get buckled up, and then Jerry will announce when he’s ready to initiate the Vault. Prepare yourselves.”

The intercom chirped, so Taro switched the channel. “This is Taro, but we really don’t have time to chat,” she said.

“This is Pockets. One of the components we built enhances the inertia dampers,” he explained. “We shouldn’t need harnesses.”

“Maybe not,” Taro replied, “but since this an experiment, it’s better to play it safe.”

“Okie dokie. I will monitor the systems to make sure the regular engines still operate normally. The new components should have no effect on the LightDrive until it’s switched on, but I want to be sure.”

“Keep me informed of any changes to the readings you think look the least bit unusual,” Taro said.

“Of course!”

The captain closed the intercom circuit and gave Jerry a nod. “Power up the LightDrive, and once you’re sure that still works as it’s supposed to, we’ll make our Vault test.”

“Aye, ma’am,” the pilot replied as he initiated startup for the standard engines.

Taro tapped another control on her panel and waited for the reply. A moment later, the intercom chirped.

“Uh, this is Rex,” said the cougar’s voice. “I hope I touched the right pad to reply.”

“Mr. Concolar, this is the captain,” Taro replied.

“What can I do for the lovely vixen? My schedule is open if you want a rendezvous.”

Taro grimaced. “I just wanted to inform you that our down-time is over and we have engaged the engines for power generation.”

“Does this mean your Coongineer’s test worked? When do we arrive on Kantus?”

“We haven’t tested the upgrades yet, but the components are now in place. Once we are sure all systems are functioning as they should, we will make an announcement over the intercom and then initiate the test.”

“Do I need to hold onto anything?”

“If you look to the left of your desk, you will see a panel in the wall that pulls out and locks down into a small seat. It’s equipped with a harness for emergencies. To be on the safe side, I suggest you strap yourself into it when we give the warning.”

“I found it. I’ll be strapped in when you give the word.”

“Very good,” Taro said. “If this works, we should be able to shave off a good deal of our remaining timetable and get you to Kantus in record time.”

“Here’s hoping your masked mechanic knows what he’s doing!”

A moment later with his eyes on the instruments, Jerry reported, “LightDrive output has matched inertia, Captain.”

“What does spatial traffic look like?” Taro asked.

“Nothing within half a light-minute of us in any direction,” Renny reported. “This is a good time to do it.”

Taro heaved an audible sigh and then held up a hand with fingers crossed to her companions. She turned, activated the ship-wide intercom, and then gave the physician a thumbs-up.

“All hands, prepare for engine boost test,” Jerry announced throughout the ship. “All harnesses should be secure.” Taro left the com channel open while the pilot quickly glanced over his checklist once more. Satisfied everything was ready, he reached toward a new control box that Pockets had added to the right side of the center seat console.

The male fox held down three recessed pads simultaneously until a diode went from amber to green, and then he flipped a single toggle. He looked over at Renny and Taro and gave them both a silent nod.

“Engine Room, prepare for system activation,” he announced when he held his finger above a large green touch pad.

“Engine Room ready,” said Pockets over the open circuit.

“We are go on Five… Four… Three… Two… One.”

Jerry quickly held his breath, closed his eyes, tensed his body as Renny had instructed, and then tapped the green pad.

Outside the freighter, a ring of blue-white flame encompassed the entire vessel for a brief instant.

There was a momentary sensation that everything had stopped: heartbeat, brain activity, metabolism and even time itself. Everyone on board collectively felt a cessation of all senses at once. It was not a sensation in and of itself, but the lack of sensation. Then it was a feeling of suffocation, of being buried alive while sliding sideways. Those who had clenched up were too focused on their straining bodies to appreciate the experience of the Vault fully, but those who remained relaxed were sickened by it. Jerry felt as if his stomach was about to heave violently, but then it was gone before his body could follow through.

He felt disoriented, as if his inner ear was a little wobbly, but it subsided as soon as he opened his eyes. Taro and Renny both still had their eyes clenched so he looked up at the system clock on his console and noted that only a moment had passed.

“Renny?” he asked in voice that sounded strangely unlike his own.

The cheetah looked around and blinked rapidly to refocus his eyes. “Yeah,” he whispered. “You okay?”

To his surprise, Jerry felt just fine. The momentary queasiness was gone already without any residual effects. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he said.

Taro opened her eyes and shook her head as if clearing out cobwebs. “Uh, that was… surreal,” she breathed; she looked up and out the forward windows at the stars. “Did it work? Have we gone anywhere?” she asked. Renny turned to his navigational console and tapped in some commands.

The intercom chirped. “This is the bridge,” Taro responded. “Please stand by while we get our bearings.”

“C-captain,” said Rex’s quivering voice. “I got s-sick on myself. C-can I go clean up?”

Taro looked over at Jerry, who gave her a nod. “Yes,” she told him, “it’s safe to move around now.” There was no reply, but the intercom chirped again on another channel.

“Did we make it?” Lorelei asked. “That was weird! I don’t see Kantus on the vidscreen.”

“Hold on,” Taro told her. There was another chirp, but before she could respond, Pockets’ voice issued from the speaker.

“Captain!” he exclaimed with a cough. “We have a component on fire down here that’s eating a lot of oxygen! We’re going to seal off the bulkhead and vent the atmosphere from the engine room!”

“Do it!” Taro replied quickly. “Report ASAP!”

“Aye, Cap’n!”

“The navigational computer is trying to reinitialize,” Renny said after a moment, “but sensors are reading a nearby solar body, distance approximately one hundred forty-five million kilometers.”

“Is it Anya?” Jerry asked. “Maybe we just didn’t make it far enough inside the Anya solar system to Kantus.”

“Without the nav computer, I’ll have to make calculations based on the positions of the stars themselves,” Renny replied. He opened a panel near him and pulled out a brass sextant from a form-fitted, padded drawer. “Major constellations should still be recognizable no matter where we are in the PA, though they might be stretched or compressed a little due to stellar distances.”

He glanced up through the forward windows and then gestured behind him at the physician. “I need you to reorient the ship so the local star is visible through the forward windows with three-quarter polarization on the screen.”

“Coming right up,” the male fox replied. While the navigator prepared to take his readings, Taro moved past him to the environmental station.

When the ship was in position, Renny turned down the bridge interior lights and then leaned up close to the middle transparent vidscreen panel. He took a number of sightings in a short period, and then had Jerry turn the ship twice to orient on other stars. In the meantime, Taro monitored the engineering readouts and spoke quietly to Pockets with a headset so not to disturb the navigator’s concentration.

Once she was satisfied that Pockets and Justy were okay and the engine room was once again pressurized, she let them go inspect the damage before she would make a decision on what to do. She moved to the sensor panel and examined the readouts on the nearby star system.

“We’re detecting five planets,” she said quietly. “One is a methane gas giant, two are dwarf planetoids, and the other two are similar in diameter to one another, about the size of Kantus and Tanthe.”

“Then that is Anya out there,” Jerry said with an air of relief.

“No...” Renny said with a side-glance at Taro’s readout. “Not enough planets and they’re in the wrong order.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Anya star system has seven worlds; within the Goldilocks Zone, Kantus and Tanthe are the third and fourth planets, respectively. This star only has five planets, and the two worlds that size are numbers two and four, with the fourth being the only one in the habitable zone. This is not the Anya system.”

“Are you telling me that the star system out there is not part of the PA?” Jerry asked as he looked up at the vidscreen.

“That’s right,” Renny replied as he took another sighting. “It’s not on any of the charts.”

“How can you be sure?” the male fox asked with a strange look on his face. “You said the nav computer was offline, so how can you know that’s not the Anya star system?”

“Jerry,” Renny said patiently, “I’m a navigator and you know I have an eidetic memory of the PA star charts from the perspective of each world. Before the jump, I familiarized myself with the present locations of Kantus and Tanthe in their orbits around their sun for my navigational calculations, and I can assure you that this isn’t the Anya system.”

Jerry walked over to the forward screen and swished his tail. “Then where the blazes are we?”

Renny lowered the sextant with his eyes closed, and made some mental computations. When he had reached his decision, he looked back at Taro with a strange expression on his face.

“What is it?” she asked.

“We’re north of the galactic plane, so we’re above that star system out there, but if my calculations are correct, we’ve overshot our goal by a number of light years.”

“Overshot?” Jerry asked. “How far?”

“Without instruments, I can’t give you a figure, but I do believe we’ve gone out toward the Rim — or beyond.”

Taro dropped her headset in surprise, and then scrambled to pick it up. “Beyond the Rim?” she repeated hoarsely. The intercom chirped and all three of them jumped. “This is Taro,” she said into her headset. She listened for a moment and shook her head. “No, Lori, we’re still trying to figure that out,” she said. “Please, just hold on until we have something. Yes, you can move around now.” She disconnected the channel, unplugged the headset from its receptacle, and then sat down in the nearest seat.

“I want you two to do what you can up here to get our navigational computer operational,” she said. “I’m going down to check in on Pockets and Justy. If the Vault system is out of order, it’s going to take us a while to get back to PA traffic with the LightDrive engines if they’re still working and I want to know what we’ll be facing if it comes to that. I’ll meet with everyone on the rec deck in two hours to discuss our situation, so if anyone else calls up here to ask, just tell them to cool their heels.”

“Justy’s our computer expert,” Renny reminded her. “If you can spare him from the engine room, he can be better utilized up here.”

“Yes, I know,” Taro replied as she headed for the door, “but he helped Pockets build those components and right now our priority is to get engines online, with or without the Vault. Just do what you can for now, and I’ll have Justy help you later when Pockets can do without him.”

***

Taro looked out at the faces of those who depended upon her leadership; some were seated and others were standing. The crew was her family, and even though they had a passenger amongst them, she was responsible for him as well.

“Okay, I’m not given to long speeches like Merlin used to make,” she said as she leaned back against the edge of the rec deck’s vidscreen terminal, “so I’ll keep this short.” The cougar’s hand went up, and Taro sighed inwardly. “Yes, Mr. Concolar?”

“How much longer before we get to Kantus?” he asked.

Not soon enough, Taro thought to herself. “A little longer than expected, I’m afraid,” she told him.

“Longer, but I thought…”

“Just a moment, Rex,” Renny said. “Let her explain.”

“Okay,” the passenger said with a frown.

“We have good news and bad news...” Pockets singsonged from the side. Taro gave him a dark look and his smile faded.

“That is essentially correct,” the vixen said. “First, the good news, I suppose. Pockets’ experiment did work. However, we didn’t arrive at our intended destination.”

“We didn’t go far enough?” Amanda asked.

“Actually, we went too far,” Taro explained.

“Too far?” several responded in union. Rex immediately sat down on the arm of the chair nearest to him beside Lorelei.

“That’s right. We overshot our destination by a number of light years,” she said. Several of them spoke up at once, making the conversation nothing more than confused yammering. “Listen,” Taro said in a loud voice over the din, “if you’ll hold all your questions for a few minutes, I’ll tell you about our situation.”

The noise faded and then everyone’s attention was on her again. “The upgrades took the ship faster toward our destination as expected, but our navigation computer crashed when the new system activated. We didn’t brake in time and over-shot where we’d intended to stop.”

“Yeah, it’d be hard to know when to brake when the whole trip lasts only a moment!” Justy said with a grin.

“That’s why we needed the nav computer,” Renny replied.

“I think we moved much faster than anything should,” Rex said as he sat back down with his thick tail in his lap, “but I don’t think your invention is going to sell well if it makes people sick!”

Taro opened her mouth for an explanation, and then thought better of it. That sentiment of his could conveniently keep him from inquiring further into the technology after they finally got him back to Kantus.

“Right,” she said. “I agree it will take more research and development. However, as it stands right now, we’re a long way from home with two major systems currently out of operation.”

“What systems?” Damien asked. “It’s not Life Support, is it?”

“No, it’s not Life Support,” the vulpine captain reassured him. “The nav computer is still down and the experimental engine components are also out of commission.”

“They can all be repaired,” Pockets piped up, “but it will take a while.”

“Is the LightDrive out?” Damien asked. “If that still works, we should get started on our way back.”

“The LightDrive engines are fine,” Pockets replied, “but we had a component fire in the engine room that’s depleted some of our air reserves. We probably wouldn’t make the distance back to Kantus before it ran out.”

“I thought our air was regenerated and recycled,” Amanda said in alarm.

“It is,” Taro answered, “but with a depleted supply and nine sets of lungs, the reclamation unit would be over-tasked with carbon dioxide before we could reach PA traffic. Renny has calculated our position, and we’re about six months away from Kantus.”

“Six months!” Lori exclaimed. “I don’t want to suffocate!”

“You aren’t going to suffocate,” Pockets said with a shake of his head. “That’s a worst-case scenario if we head back to Kantus using only the LightDrive, but I’m confident that Justy and I can rebuild the components necessary to get our experimental unit operational again.”

“So, what do we do in the meantime?” Damien asked. “I don’t want to put a damper on Pockets’ optimism, but we’re going on the assumption that he can repair the unit. But… if he can’t, we’ll be dead before we make it back to the Planetary Alignment!”

Taro crossed her arms and nodded. “Now we’re back to where I was going with this,” she said. Everyone fell quiet and looked at her. “Using standard LightDrive, we’re currently within a day’s travel to a habitable world orbiting a star that Renny has identified on the charts as TES.84497. Due to its significant distance from the rest of the PA, we have no knowledge that it’s ever been explored, not even by the Firebird Fleet, but our long-range sensors have scanned a habitable atmosphere with acceptable pressure and solar protection.

“Since we’re without the nav computer, Renny is going to pilot the ship manually and take us down to the surface. Once we’ve landed, the engine systems will be shut down completely so Pockets and Justy can work on the damaged unit. They may need help, so if they ask for your assistance, please give it to them. After landing, we’ll use the local atmosphere to replenish the internal capacity we lost for the ride home, although we may have to filter it first. If the components aren’t reparable, at least we will have air to breathe on the long journey back.”

“Six months is a long time to be stuck on board the ship,” Lori murmured.

“That’s twice the time it takes to get to Sillon,” Renny added. “With luck, it can be done, but we may have to ration our groceries.”

Every eye went to the cheetah, but no one voiced a reminder of their navigator’s infamous appetite.

***

Following three orbits for the primary computer to map out global coordinates, the Blue Horizon passed through the atmosphere without incident. Taro shut off the infrared filters on the forward window panels as Renny banked the aerodynamic saucer starboard to throw off excess speed. The sky below them was wispy with cirrus clouds, and the yellow sun above reflected off the airborne ice crystals in vibrant rainbow colors. It only took a moment to descend through the thin cloud layer and Taro began scanning the ground far below for a good place to land.

“What’s it looking like down there?” Renny asked. He kept his eyes glued to his instrument readings, his hands steady on the guidance shifts.

“Unspoiled countryside,” the captain replied. “Not a city, village or farmland in sight and there’s no air traffic. I see natural lakes, groups of trees scattered in green valleys, and open fields. There are highlands and other snow-capped mountains to the east.”

“In that case, I’m heading west to avoid the mountains,” Renny decided. “Find us a nice open—”

Pip… pip… pip… pip… pip…

“Huh? What is that?” Renny asked.

Taro got up and moved to the com station with a puzzled look on her face. “It almost sounds like a standard landing beacon,” she said, checking the computer, “but it’s very weak.”

“How can that be?” the cheetah asked.

Taro looked up and out the forward windows. “I don’t know,” she replied. “The com channels are otherwise clear. The sensors don’t detect any other signs of technology.”

Renny frowned. “Can you pinpoint the beacon?” he asked. “Maybe there’s someone down there who can help us.”

“Maybe,” Taro muttered, “or it might just be a survey marker from some past visitor to this world. We’re so far from the Planetary Alignment that someone from other nearby stars may have explored this system, or it maybe it’s another of the lost Terran colonies.”

“Well, if the marker points us to a nice open field, we may as well set down there as opposed to anywhere else we might choose at random,” Renny suggested.

“Agreed. I have general coordinates of the signal, but it’s not strong enough for me to locate the exact spot.”

“That’s good enough. Is it near a field? That’s what I really need.”

Taro gave him a smirk and grabbed a notepad. “Yes, it’s near to a field, a lake, some trees, and is not far from the highlands,” She handed him a scrap of paper. “Here’s your field coordinates.”

“Thanks, darling,” the cheetah replied with a toothy grin. He compared the figures with their present location depicted on his instruments, and began to work out a trajectory to the landing spot.

While he was doing that, Taro turned back to the com station and picked up her headset microphone.

“All hands, this is the captain,” she broadcast over the ship-wide intercom. “We will be landing shortly, but this planet may not be as untouched as we first thought. We’ve picked up what seems to be a weak landing beacon so we are currently making for its location. It is unknown if there is anyone down there, because the beacon itself is the only technology we have been able to detect from the entire planet. Once we are down, our priority is repairing the ship, so please be prepared to help out. We’ll not be resetting our shipboard clocks as we typically do every time we land, but it appears to be early afternoon where we will be setting down. Please keep in mind that we’re no longer within the established civilizations of the Planetary Alignment, which means things could be different here than we’re used to.” She looked over at her navigator, who had already plotted their course, and she briefly glanced at his instruments. “We should touch down in about twenty minutes.”

***

In her cabin, Lorelei looked up at the announcement with a toothy smile. “Yay!” she exclaimed with glee. She shed her flight harness and then moved into the back room with a purpose. She quickly stepped out of her garments and into the bathroom, where she grabbed up her favorite scented shampoo for a quick shower. A landing beacon meant people! If there were any local shops out there on this new world, she planned to make a good first impression to get the best deals.

She thumbed the control on a wall-mounted music player to fill the room with energetic music, and then she turned on the shower to a heavy amount of steam. Dancing even before she stepped into the spray, Lorelei was happy with the ship’s current situation even when everybody else saw it as a bad thing. She raised her voice to sing along with the music and began to run the water through her white fur.

A moment later, the captain’s voice once more issued from the intercom in the front room.

“All hands, listen up. Our doctor has reminded me that a cargo vessel like the Blue Horizon is not equipped with the sensitive biological scanners standard on exploration ships like the Firebird Fleet, so our standard PA-regulated inoculations may not be effective against organisms native to this place. The outside vegetation seems similar to what we have on some of the PA worlds, but until we can test the local atmosphere for harmful elements, I suggest we all stay indoors. Jerry will be testing air and soil samples, but please don’t disturb him until he can provide a report on the outside conditions.”

***

The Blue Horizon slowed to a hover over a large field analogous to waving wheat. When Renny fired the landing thrusters and lowered the landing gear, he hoped he would not be setting the field on fire. The elliptical flying saucer set down gently on the virgin soil and then the sound of the vessel’s engines fell silent across the region.

Outside the star freighter, nothing moved for several long moments, but then colorful indigenous birds and insects promptly ignored the large blue rock that had fallen from the sky to resume their peaceful existence. Renny let out the breath he had been holding when there were no burning plumes of smoke beneath them.

Taro stared out the forward windows across the wheat field and saw trees and gently rolling hills not far away to their port side. Leaves fluttered on the trees and the wheat heads gently rocked with a light breeze. “It looks like spring out there,” the vixen said with a sigh, “peaceful and inviting.”

“Hopefully Jerry will give us some good news concerning the environment,” Renny replied while he shut down the flight systems.

“That’s providing that his tests can find and recognize local bacteria and viruses,” Taro said.

Despite her cautious remarks, Renny joined her at the window and slipped an arm around her waist. He looked out on the new land and smiled.

“I’d like the opportunity to get out in that field and run!” he said merrily. “I haven’t felt the need to take a run across the countryside since I was shot in Iverson, but looking out there now, my legs are practically flexing to get started!”

Taro grinned at him. “Well, cool your heels, lover,” she teased. “I don’t want anyone going outside until we know it’s safe. We really don’t want to replenish our air with anything that we can’t filter out, and it would be a bad thing if we brought back some biological hazard with us to the rest of the PA.”

“Better not let anyone else look out the windows,” Renny quipped. “Once they see that field, those trees and that sky, you won’t be able to get any work out of anyone!”

“Speaking of work,” the vixen said, “I need to make sure Pockets has all the help he needs with the repairs.”

***

Lorelei walked through the field with a huge smile on her face. Her small pink nose twitched with the sharp scents as she tried to identify everything around her. The stalks of wheat came up to her shoulders and she idly wondered at the potential of the plant as a supplement to their food stores. She plucked the ripe head off one and rolled its seeds between her hands, watching the chaff scatter in the light breeze.

As she neared the far edge of the field with the Blue Horizon behind her, she glanced into the shadows of the nearby trees and wondered where the nearest store might be. A flash of bright color at her feet attracted her attention and she squatted to pick a bright yellow flower. It had a mixture of red and green filaments and it gave off a pleasant scent when she put it up to her nose. She sneezed and felt her eyes water, dropping the flower as she rubbed her eyes. She felt fine a moment later, but left the flower where it had fallen.

She looked back toward the Blue Horizon, wondering why no one else had ventured outside. She surmised that her crewmates had probably already gone into town, leaving her behind. She pouted for a moment, but then she had a strong sensation of being watched. A shiver ran up her spine and she slowly looked around as the eerie feeling persisted.

Suddenly afraid, she squatted down in field, lowered her ears, and then became as still and quiet as the herbivore prey species she was descendant from. Only her wide blue eyes moved as she watched and waited. Everything around her was silent, with only the gentle breeze waving the heads of the tall, wheat-like stalks. She soon heard unfamiliar birdsong and the buzzing and tiny clicks of insects, but otherwise she could hear nothing else.

She began to wonder if it was her imagination playing tricks on her. She started to get back to her feet, but then she stopped when she heard a giggle.

A giggle?

Her ears went up and rotated as she listened quietly, trying to locate the source of what she thought she heard. There it was again — more giggling, but this time accompanied by indistinct whispers.

She was about to call out, but then suddenly she heard scampering through the field in places all around her. She grew very frightened as the realization came that something was stalking her!

She opened her mouth, wanting to scream, but she also did not want to give away her position. She had not thought to bring a DataCom or a weapon with her, and she was too far from the Horizon to make a run for it. Her heart was beating rapidly and her nose was twitching, but despite the urge to flee, she felt frozen in place.

Then there was a strange, yet familiar scent on the wind, but she could not readily identify it. All she could see was the wheat all around her, and then a white furry arm reached out and took her by the wrist.

Lorelei jumped up and began to shriek, but then a lapin male attached to the arm placed another gentle hand over her mouth. Lori’s breath caught in her throat and she began to shake all over. Her eyes were as wide as they could possibly go, but the face that looked back at her seemed puzzled by her reaction to his presence.

He released her wrist and then pressed two fingers to his bifurcated upper lip, but Lori did not understand the meaning. She swallowed back her fear and tried to calm herself. He removed his hand from her mouth and gave her a slight nod. Not knowing what else to do, she nodded back to him. He had not harmed her, only restrained her from running or causing noise. Perhaps there was something still out there that he did not want her attracting its attention.

The young buck had fur that was all white like her own. He had an impressive, broad-shouldered physique of an athlete, with arms that looked as if he could possibly pin her in a vice-like grip. He wore only what looked like a loose pair of shorts dyed to match the color of his blue-gray eyes, and had a simple pendant made from a polished amber stone upon his chest. Although he seemed like a robust specimen, Lorelei sensed fear from him.

He made some hand gestures that she did not recognize, but when he realized she did not understand, he eased up on her elbow, laid his long ears backward, and stood up to a stoop. She rose with him, keeping her ears down too, as they moved their heads just to the top of the wheat stalks. When she could see, they were facing the Blue Horizon, and then she understood.

This male was warning her, another rabbit, of the danger of what looked to be a large blue something that had come down from the sky. He did not seem afraid of her, so he may not have actually seen her come out through the airlock. She put a hand on his arm, and when he looked back at her, she nodded with a smile of understanding. The male nodded in return, and then pulled her back down to squat low to the ground.

He whispered something in a language she did not understand, and suddenly a dozen small rabbit children emerged all around them; there did not seem to be any kits older than five or six summers. The adult male looked around at them with two fingers pressed to his upper lip and the kits grew completely still and quiet. Lorelei was amazed at their sudden appearance and their obedience.

The adult male then leaned in so close to her that their whiskers brushed together and he put his lips next to her left ear. He whispered something in his language to her, but as before, she did not understand his words. She did close her eyes, however; his musky scent was pleasing in his closeness.

Likewise, the male’s nose quivered as he took in her strange scent. It was possible that he had never encountered perfume before and seemed puzzled at the odd aroma. It was a pleasant scent, but completely unknown to him.

He pulled back far enough to look into her eyes with puzzlement at her lack of response. He repeated his words, but when she again did not appear to understand, he frowned deeply. He glanced back in the direction of the alien thing and then took Lori by the hand. He spoke in quiet whispers to the children, and then they all suddenly disappeared back through the wheat stalks. He gestured in what Lori thought was an invitation for her to join him and then the two of them got up together, although they crouched to remain hidden beneath the wheat.

He led her by the hand away from the Blue Horizon and she cast a brief glance behind her. She no longer felt threatened by this buck and his large litter of kits, so she allowed herself to go with him willingly.

***

The intercom chirped and Jerry looked up from his microscope. He reached over to his com terminal and tapped a control. “Sickbay,” he said.

“Jerry, is the captain in there?”

“No, Damien, I am alone,” the fox replied. “I am calibrating my instruments in preparation to test our new planet.”

“Hmm, okay. I thought she was headed up to see you. If you see her, please have her contact me in my office right away.”

“I will,” the physician replied. The circuit disconnected, but before he could go back to his microscope, the door opened. Taro walked in, followed by Amanda.

“I brought you some help, Doctor,” the vixen told him. “She can assist with whatever you need in your study.”

“Thank you, I can use her help,” Jerry replied with a smile toward the lithe coyote. “Captain, Damien needs you to contact him ASAP. He’s down below in his office.”

Taro frowned, but moved directly to the intercom. A moment later, she opened the connection at the familiar system chirp. “This is Damien,” the loadmaster’s voice said.

“You needed me?” Taro asked.

“Captain, I just found the primary airlock open to the outside.”

Taro’s tail twitched. “I thought I ordered everyone to stay on board.”

“Yes, you did. Nevertheless, it’s open.”

“Close it and lock it with a security code. With it open, our air may already be contaminated, but I don’t want to expose ourselves any more than we have to.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Taro punched the ship-wide intercom button in irritation. “All hands, please gather at the Galley — immediately.” She cut off the circuit and turned to her companions. “You two are excused,” she said. “I just want to get a tally of the others to see who might be missing from our ranks. I don’t think anyone on the crew would violate my orders, so I have a hunch that it was our passenger who went out the airlock.”

“I’ll finish my calibrations and then suit up to test the air in the hold before I go outside for our samples. I just hope my simple lab will be able to detect and handle any foreign agents that might be harmful to us.”

“Just do the best you can,” Taro said. She gave a weary look toward Amanda and then was out the door.

The vixen stormed around the corridor to the nearest lift, but stopped short when Rex Concolar stepped out of his cabin door wearing only a pair of shorts and a towel.

“What’s going on, Captain Lady?” he asked around a toothbrush. His was towel draped across his bare shoulders and he used it to daub at a bit of foamy blue-green toothpaste on his lips.

Taro was at a brief loss for words, but she motioned him to join her in the lift. “I just need to get a head-count,” she told him. As they ascended to the upper deck, Rex continued to brush at his teeth, but when they stopped, Taro looked at him hesitantly. “Have you been on the cargo deck, Mr. Concolar?” she asked.

He shook his head and then turned away to empty the contents of his mouth into the folds of his towel. “Not since I came on board,” he replied when they stepped out into the recreation deck. “I was told to stay on the upper decks.” He dropped his towel next to the lift door and then followed her to the Galley where the rest of the crew waited for her already. Almost everybody.

Renny sat at the head of the dining table and Damien stood beside him with his arms crossed. Justy and Pockets were both seated at the long table. Rex took a seat next to the raccoon.

“Jerry and Amanda are in Sickbay. Where’s Lori?” Taro asked with an edge to her voice.

No one spoke up, but the captain did not see any deception on the faces of those who looked back at her. Justy shrugged his shoulders and said, “I haven’t seen her since lunchtime.”

Taro looked first to Renny, and then to Damien. “Why would she leave the ship against orders?” she mused aloud.

“Bun-bun’s gone outside?” Rex asked in alarm. “I thought you said it could be hazardous to our health out there.”

“I found the airlock open a few minutes ago and called the captain,” Damien reported. “Lori’s the only one of us missing.”

“That defenseless rabbit’s outside in an unknown environment!” Rex exclaimed, suddenly agitated. “She could be in serious danger!”

“Yes, that’s why I ordered everyone to stay on board,” Taro reminded him. “I thought I explained my reasons clearly enough.”

“I volunteer to go after her!” the cougar said valiantly, getting to his feet. He turned and took two steps toward the lift before Damien grabbed his belt.

“Hold on, Rex,” the mastiff said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“No one else is going outside,” Taro said firmly. Renny walked across the room to a com terminal and keyed in the combined frequencies of all the ship’s DataCom units and ship-wide intercom simultaneously

“Lori? This is the Blue Horizon,” he said into the com microphone. “Are you there?” Everyone grew quiet to listen for a response as it echoed from the overhead intercom. After a minute, Renny tried again. “Lori, this is Renny. Please respond.” He repeated his message several more times before he sighed with a frustrated look toward the vixen.

The intercom chirped suddenly.

“Lori?” Renny asked.

“No, this is Amanda. What’s going on?” she asked.

“We think Lori’s gone outside,” Justy replied.

Jerry’s voice came back in alarm. “We haven’t been out to make our tests of the environment yet!”

Taro set her jaw and thought for a moment. Then she walked to a storeroom closet and said, “I want everyone to take binoculars. Get to the cabin windows and start looking for her visually. With hope, she will not have wandered off too far and one of you can spot her.” Looking up at the ceiling intercom speaker, she added, “Doc, in the meantime, I want you and Mandy to go ahead with your task. Renny and I will also suit up to go look for Lori outside. If she’s been injured or is incapacitated in some way, we’ll be able to bring her back, but I’ll need you nearby in case we need your help.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jerry’s voice replied. “Amanda, let’s get suited up.”

“I’m right behind you,” the coyote answered.

Pockets took a pair of binoculars the vixen was passing out from the closet. “Taro, you and Renny may not need to go outside,” he said. “I can send Moss out to look for Lori. It can scan for things you might miss and it can be easily sterilized in the airlock before coming back on board the ship. It can’t carry her if she’s injured, but it can lead you to her location if you do have to go out in suits.”

“That’s a good idea, Pockets,” Renny said.

“Of course it is,” the raccoon replied with a smile. “All my ideas are good.”

***

“Lor-eh-lye… My name is Lorelei,” she tried again with a hand to her bosom. Unfortunately, there did not seem to be a common reference in their languages with which to work. She sat cross-legged in the grass below a large tree with triangular leaves, facing the lapin local. The small bunny kits were scattered out on the grass around them, either dozing or playing quietly with one another. The two adults had been attempting to communicate for the greater part of an hour without success.

Due to a transient lifestyle growing up in a military family, Lori knew several languages used in areas of the Planetary Alignment, but there was nothing in common with the tongue spoken by her new companion. It did not sound difficult to pronounce, but unless she knew the meanings and syntax, she might speak in gibberish if she tried it.

About the only thing she had been able to understand was the name of her companion. As far as she could tell, the buck said his name was “N’iik” as he put a hand up to his forehead, his palm facing outward. He tried to convey other words to her as well, but nothing else made any sense to her. Lori tried once more, unwilling to give up.

“Lorelei…”

N’iik tried to repeat her name, but he stumbled over the pronunciation. Lori’s eyes lit up and she tried a different tactic. “Lor-ee,” she said, using the hand gesture to her forehead. “I am also called Lori.”

N’iik watched her lip movements as she repeated the shortened name a few more times. Then he opened his mouth and said “L’ree.”

“Yes!” Lorelei exclaimed. She clapped her hands and then nodded to him with a wide smile. “That’s close enough for me!”

“L’ree.”

“Nick.”

N’iik seemed satisfied that they had finally made their introductions, but the lack of progress with the rest of their speech bothered him. He only knew the language spoken by his people, never having heard another tongue before. He briefly wondered if the fault lay with himself, since he did not appear to have the capability to understand this cute doe. Where she had come from, he could not guess. Some of the other lapin communities spoke with different dialects, but they all shared the same common language. What was so different about this one?

He said something quietly to the kits and then took a quick head-count to make sure the youngsters were all accounted for as they gathered close around. Then he slipped his hand into Lori’s and gestured for her to stand up. Retaining her hand, he pulled her along with him further through the trees away from the blue thing in the field, a dozen bunnies in tow.

Lorelei followed along with him in fascination. She did not know where he was leading her now, but after a time, she could hear other voices. Perhaps he was taking her to his town where she could do some shopping. She would love to have a souvenir from this quaint place.

She felt a tug on the rainbow tie-dyed tee shirt she wore and she looked down at a small lop-eared bunny who wandered along beside her. The kit held up a small handful of tiny blue flowers, and she took them from the child with a gentle smile. The little bunny seemed pleased that her gift had been accepted and she bounced up ahead of the adults in glee.

The ground beneath their feet meandered, and they were soon walking up a hill under tall trees with their lowest branches far above her head. When they crested the rise, the trees thinned and the area opened out onto a hilly plain that contained what Lori took as N’iik’s village. She found it of interest that all the homes and other structures were built into the sides of the surrounding hills, rather than buildings built on top of the ground. They were similar to some of the warrens on Mainor where lapin communities had once existed.

There were also no doors that she could see, but over the main openings into the homes were long, split curtains of pastel colors that were woven with artistic designs. Small windows in the hillsides were also covered with similar curtains that wafted gently in the breeze.

At first, Lorelei thought the place was completely primitive, but she saw numerous tools in use made from many different materials, including a metal with an amber tint, and some of those were very meticulous and specialized. There were no paved roads or walkways, and she saw nothing resembling mass transportation, nor did she see any non-sapient pack animals. Everything seemed natural, if not a little primitive to her. This was simply a complete lapin community that appeared to be very much alive.

Rabbits of all shapes, sizes, colors and fur patterns moved around quietly, entertained in various tasks, and several of them stopped what they were doing to look at her in curiosity as she passed. Clothing was minimal and similar to what N’iik wore, mostly just practical enough to provide some modicum of modesty, although there were some who wore nothing but their naturally grown fur.

N’iik was apparently well known in the village, and no one seemed distressed by his strange companion dressed in brilliant tie-dye colors. It was probably not uncommon for rabbits from other villages to wander in to their territory.

The dozen rabbit kits still surrounded the two adults as N’iik led them all to a small copse of trees near the center of the village. Lori correctly surmised that the area was a common gathering place when he walked to a basket made of woven grasses hanging from a tree. He took down the basket and held it out for her to see. Inside were breads, fruit and other food items she did not recognize, but she politely declined. N’iik used a curved knife in the basket to carve off bits of fruit for the children, and then he sent them out across the soft grass beneath the trees to play.

N’iik carved off another piece of fruit and took a bite, and Lori could smell a sweet aroma from it. She signaled to him that perhaps she would try the fruit, and he seemed pleased when she took one from him. She bit into it and was rewarded with a delicious juicy flavor unlike anything she had ever tasted before. If there were a way to communicate with this buck, she would ask to take some of the fruit back to the ship for her crewmates to try.

Another lapin male approached them and he squatted down beside them with a few quiet words to her companion. This person had brown fur with bits of white here and there, and one black ear, and like N’iik, he wore only a pair of shorts in the warm weather.

N’iik gestured toward Lori as he spoke with the newcomer, and then the buck turned to look at her. She heard N’iik speak his version of her name, and then the brown male nodded. He took her gently by the hand with a smile, and put his other hand to his forehead, the palm outward. “J’rran,” he said.

Lorelei put her free hand up to her forehead in like manner and said, “L’ree.” She gave him a pleasant grin when he lightly stroked the fur of the arm he still held.

J’rran settled down in front of her and began to speak to her. His voice was light, but held a different dialect than the language spoken by N’iik. Lorelei realized what he was trying to do, but it was to no avail. Lori simply did not know their language and could not understand their words. Given time, she might learn a few of their words and phrases, but the Blue Horizon was rarely ever down on a planet longer than a few days and she doubted that would be long enough to learn to converse with her new friends.

***

Jerry knelt down in the wheat field holding a collection kit with some difficulty. He wore a self-contained environmental suit, but since they were in a planetary atmosphere, he did not have the suit pressurized to full capacity. Still, the suit was bulky and the tail pouch was cumbersome. He had a little difficulty maintaining his balance and he had to watch his step since he was unable to rely on his tail to counter his movements. He had already gathered up air samples in containers filled with a thin, clear gel to trap molecules of pollens and other airborne agents. He had gathered wheat seeds, and was now digging into the rich soil for a spoonful. He planned to gather leaves and bark from the nearby trees, but was uneasy about going too far from the ship.

Inside the blue freighter, Pockets was unhappy that he had been stuck on the upper level along with everyone else with binoculars looking for their errant rabbit. He felt his time could be better utilized in the engine room repairing the damage done by his experiment. As yet, there had been no sign of Lorelei within sight of the vessel.

Out farther from the Horizon, Moss floated quietly through the trees in programmed search of the bunny. Its sensors were calibrated to maximize its scanning field, but it had not yet detected the presence of the rabbit. Its course did not take it in the direction that Lori had actually gone, so it could be some time before the small flying saucer might find her.

***

J’rran sat back on his tail, disappointed at the lack of progress he had made trying to communicate with the odd female visitor. Both of the males were usually possessed of almost infinite patience, but after a while, even that could wear down. Neither he nor N’iik could guess what far away community this doe had come in from, but both secretly wondered if she might have a type of mind madness that drove her to speak gibberish. Her language was just as insurmountable to them as theirs was to her.

L’ree seemed friendly enough and she did not seem to be a threat to the village, but unless they could find a way to talk, it was unlikely that she would be welcome to stay.

Lori’s general light attitude also showed signs of the strain and she no longer smiled openly. If one of the bunny kits came up to her, she was compassionate and gentle with a smile, but as soon as the child had gone, the weariness returned to her face. She began to entertain doubts of finding a souvenir and wondered if she should just return to the Blue Horizon.

N’iik had been silent for a long time while J’rran tried to make himself understood to L’ree, but now that all three of them had grown quiet, his thoughts returned to the field where he had found the strange doe. It was only then that he remembered the large blue thing that sat in the wheat field.

He gestured toward J’rran and told him about seeing the giant blue rock fall from the sky, accompanied by bright star-lights and a hot breath that stirred up the ground before it settled lightly in the field. J’rran’s eyes grew wide at the tale, and then he looked over at Lori as if a new thought had occurred to him.

Lorelei watched the two bucks suddenly engage in an animated conversation, and she was sure she heard her name mentioned several times. She was tired and ready to take a nap, but she decided to see if there were any new developments.

The conversation came to an abrupt end and then J’rran got to his feet. He gave Lori a nod and then he left them. N’iik turned toward Lori and gave her a tired smile, but the look in his eyes gave her new hope. He just looked like someone who had a plan.

Most of the children had dozed off in spots of warm sunshine that came down through the trees, so N’iik roused them all. He gathered them around, spoke a few words, and then held out a hand to Lori. She took it without hesitation and then he led them all farther across the village.

They arrived shortly in front of a curtained doorway and N’iik said something to the bunnies. They obediently settled down on the side of the grassy hill, some of them still groggy from their earlier nap that they curled up against one another and immediately went back to sleep.

N’iik then called to someone inside the warren and waited. There was a muffled reply from inside, and the buck again took Lori by the hand to pull her inside with him. They passed through a split in the pale green curtains and into the darkness beyond. Lori’s eyes adjusted quickly and she saw the floor of a room covered by woven blankets and pillows. Incense burned somewhere in the midst of a natural, earthy aroma. Candles burned on small, three-legged tables near walls shored up by polished timber. Chimes made from amber metal hung from the ceiling near a covered window. A sturdy wooden table with five chairs topped in pillows was set up beside a small fireplace with a stone hearth. The place had a comfortable feeling of home and Lorelei felt at ease.

A tunnel at the back of the room probably led off to other chambers and she could hear approaching movement. A plump doe with eyes of deep brown and light tan fur came out into the room and looked at N’iik curiously. She wore a simple yellow apron, with three hand-carved wooden bangles on one wrist. Several small bunnies that were not much younger than N’iik’s children were followed her out among the pillows.

N’iik said something with hand gestures toward Lori, and it was only then that the doe seemed to notice her. The female’s eyes widened as she looked over Lorelei’s colorful garments, and then a partial smile crossed her face as she locked eyes with her. The doe appeared to study her carefully, but then she cleared her throat and spoke.

“Hello, dear,” the newcomer said in perfect Standard. “My name is K’lssi. How may I help you?”

“Oh!” Lori’s eyes opened wide, but there was a pleased smile across her lips. She put a hand up to her bosom and replied, “You surprised me! I was beginning to think no one here could understand me!”

“My actual name is Calissa Thalia,” K’lssi explained patiently. “I was born on Mainor, but I have been on Se’rei for the past six years with my new family.”

“Serray?”

Calissa smiled as she shooed her children out the door past N’iik. “That’s what the inhabitants of this planet call their world,” she said quietly.

N’iik sat down on the fireplace hearth and watched the two females with rapt attention. He could not understand their words, but he seemed fascinated by their exchange and pleased that someone could finally comprehend the strange white doe’s tongue.

Lorelei giggled and moved forward to take the woman’s hand. “I’m glad to meet you, Calissa. I am Lori Easter. Our ship had some engine trouble and we landed on Se’rei to make repairs.”

Calissa tilted her head, making her long ears waver in the air. “You’re a long way from home, Lori. Has the Planetary Alignment really expanded this far out beyond the Rim?”

Lori shook her head. “Oh, heavens, no. I heard our captain say it would take us nearly six months to get here with the LightDrive. Our engineer was experimenting with a new technology, but he says our navigation system was not sensitive enough to stop us in time. We went too far.”

Calissa raised an eyebrow and gestured toward chairs topped with hand-made pillow cushions. “What kind of new technology?” she asked with an odd expression.

When they sat down, Lori put a finger to her chin and looked up toward the ceiling as she tried to remember. “I think Pockets said it was called a Party Vote drive, or something like that. Some pirate lady he met up with a few years ago shared it with him, but he’s only now just tried it out.”

“Natasha!” Calissa said hoarsely. She poured water from an urn on the table beside them and took a long drink from a carved wooden mug.

“Oh, you knew her?” Lorelei asked curiously.

Calissa looked over at her and then stared for a long moment. Finally, she cleared her throat and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Natasha Khasho was my captain,” she explained. “I served on the Lady of Dreams for three years as an engineer.”

A small, lop-eared youngster suddenly peeked over the edge of the table at Lorelei and stared up at her with wide eyes. Lori winked at the kit as Calissa picked up the small female and set her on her lap.

“How did you wind up here?” Lori asked as she wriggled her nose at the youngster. The child giggled and hid her face in her mother’s simple robes.

“Do you know how a Particle Vault drive works?” Calissa asked. Lorelei gave her a blank look for a moment and then shook her head silently. The tan rabbit pursed her lips and then sighed inwardly. “Well, let’s just say that Captain Natasha was a genius who employed other geniuses that helped her develop the Particle Vault drive, a system that allows a vessel to travel unimaginable distances in a short moment of time by slipping outside normal space. If Natasha shared her technology with your engineer, then he must have done her a great service for such a reward.”

“That’s good, huh?” Lori asked almost absently. Her attention was on the child in her companion’s lap, but she was still listening. “I mean, that would make trips faster, wouldn’t it? That’s what happened to us.”

Calissa nodded. “With such a system at her disposal, Natasha often made time just to explore numerous regions of space out beyond the Planetary Alignment. She loved to explore and enjoyed new discoveries.” She gestured toward the sunshine outside the door with a hand as she bounced the child on her knee. “The Lady of Dreams came upon this star system on its third Vault jump out into unexplored space. It was the first star with a habitable planet we’d come across, so we were jubilant. Unfortunately, that made us careless when we landed to investigate.”

“Careless?”

Calissa smiled. “We didn’t take any precautions against a possible sapient race living here, and these people found us. Fortunately for us, they were timid and fearful of the aliens who landed near their village making crop circles in the wheat field. Natasha’s first inclination was to just go and leave them alone, but a lone male named N’maa approached us before we could depart. He was either braver than the rest - or more foolhardy - for coming close to our landing party that consisted mostly of predator types.”

“I’d say he was brave,” Lori said with a side-glance toward the quiet N’iik.

“I’d have to agree with you,” Calissa said with a smile. “N’maa assumed he would be safe since there was already a rabbit in their midst – me. Fortunately for him, he was right.”

“Then what happened?”

“We couldn’t understand one another,” Calissa replied. “I’ve always suspected Se’rei was one of the lost colonies of Earth that was just too far away to maintain any contact. Something must have happened early on that knocked the settlers back to a non-technical society. I’ve never seen any kind of historical records, so we may never know what happened. If it is one of the lost colonies, they’ve been left alone for nearly three hundred years and seem to have developed their own language. There are a number of other lapin villages I know of, but everyone speaks the same common tongue. Without contact with other outside races, any similarities between the languages of the PA have long since disappeared. It made attempts at communication really difficult.” Calissa shrugged and then smiled at a memory.

“One thing was certain, though. N’maa was extremely interested in me and hardly left my side. Natasha felt that so long as no one on her crew was hostile to the locals, they should be safe enough to stay a few days and collect local flora and mineral samples before the Lady headed out again.”

Another bunny kit crept into the room and stopped beside Lorelei. It was a small male with tan and white fur, and he looked up at her expectantly. When Lori smiled down at the toddler, he broke out into a grin and immediately held up his little hands to her. Lorelei looked to the child’s mother, who gave her a quiet nod, and then she picked up the kit in her arms. He quickly snuggled up to her and closed his eyes with a tiny yawn.

“Yep, that’s a sign you’re a good person,” Calissa said with a chuckle. “T’raf won’t go near anyone he distrusts, and if he’s already settled down for a nap, I suspect he’s sure you’re mommy material.”

Lorelei gently stroked the youngster’s ears and saw a contented ripple move across his face. “I’ve always wanted kits of my own,” she said quietly, “but I just can’t seem to make myself settle down anywhere. My family moved around a lot and I just kept moving around when I got out on my own.”

Calissa nodded in understanding. “You sound like I was,” she said, “but by the time we found Se’rei, my contract with Natasha had expired. The captain expressed interest in retaining me, and I fully intended to stay on, but I’m afraid N’maa’s attentions distracted me.”

“Does that mean you and he…?”

“Yes, I became his mate. Even though we couldn’t speak one another’s language, certain types of communication are understood easily enough.” She said this last with a mischievous wiggle of her eyebrows. Lori laughed and suddenly realized that N’iik was standing beside her. She had not seen him get up from the hearth. He squatted down beside her, but his eyes were on the toddler in her lap.

“I believe N’iik’s just as surprised by T’raf’s confidence in you as I am,” Calissa said quietly. At the mention of his name, the buck looked back at her and said something that made her smile.

Lori smiled. “So, his name is Nick!” she said. “I wasn’t sure, since we didn’t communicate very well.”

“Your pronunciation is off a little, but otherwise yes, that’s his name.”

Lori seemed lost in thought for a moment, but then she slowly returned her attention to Calissa. “If you couldn’t understand one another, how’d you make a life here?”

“It took time,” the woman answered. “This is a slower society and these people have bottomless amounts of patience, it seems; everyone took part in helping me settle in once N’maa accepted me as a mate. Although their language isn’t related to any others in the PA that I know of, it was relatively simple to learn over time with a whole village of willing teachers.”

“Do you miss life in the PA?” Lori asked as N’iik settled down on a floor pillow beside her chair.

Calissa nodded with a wan expression. “Sometimes. I am surprised that Natasha hasn’t come back to visit, but I suppose she’s found other things to do with her time. I’ve kept a solar-powered landing beacon active for her.”

Lori tilted her head. “I don’t know of any easy way to tell you,” she said quietly, “but Natasha died when the Lady of Dreams was destroyed in the Siilv War by the Kastans.”

Calissa froze. Nothing moved, not even her small pink nose. It seemed like she even stopped breathing for a moment, but finally moisture rimmed her eyes. “Natasha is... uhm... she’s gone?” she asked in a whisper. “Destroyed, you say… by the Kastans?”

Were it not for the kit in her lap, Lori would have reached forward and laid a hand on the tan doe’s arm. Calissa remained quiet for another moment and then she wiped away the wetness in her cheek fur. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “Natasha was good to me... was good to a lot of people.”

“That’s what Pockets says,” Lori replied. “He said she was branded a pirate, but the things she did amounted to a greater good in the long run.”

Calissa nodded almost absently. “I can’t believe she was killed by the Kastans,” she said with sudden venom. Then she deflated just as quickly. “They killed her over some Siilv, you say? That just doesn’t sound like her style at all. Natasha frequently traded with Argeia, but to steal from them…?”

Lori shook her head. “No, they didn’t fight her over Siilv – that was a war between Argeia and other PA worlds. Some of them tried to take the Kastani’s Siilv just after they joined the Planetary Alignment.”

“Then what—?”

“During the fighting, the Kastans went after the Hestran monarch’s ship, but Natasha put the Lady of Dreams between it and one of their big ships for protection,” Lori explained as she tried to recall what she had heard on the Interstellar News Network. “I understand that Natasha took out the dreadnaught, but the Kastans retaliated with the weapon they used to smash Mainor – no, that’s wrong… not the same weapon, but they used something else no one else had ever seen before. The Lady of Dreams was destroyed.”

Calissa’s mouth fell open. “What... what do you mean, they... smashed Mainor?” She had been away from the Planetary Alignment so long that all of this was big news to her.

Lori nodded. “I don’t know what they did, but I saw a documentary on it afterward. The whole of Mainor is now just fused rock with a poisonous atmosphere. Some say they somehow punched a hole in the planet.”

“My family was... was on Mainor. Why would they attack Mainor?” More silence. “Were... were there any survivors?”

“Only those who were already off-world when it happened,” Lorelei answered. “The Kastans gave no warning to the planet before they attacked.”

Calissa swallowed. “No, I meant survivors from the Lady of Dreams.”

“Yeah, there were,” Lori said. “I heard that quite a bunch abandoned ship at the captain’s orders before it was destroyed.”

“Then how do you know that Natasha didn’t make it?”

Lori frowned. “The last person to see her alive had a brief stay with us on the Blue Horizon,” she replied. “He said the captain forced him off the ship in the last remaining life pod. The Lady of Dreams was destroyed just after.”

“Who said that?”

“I think his name was Tim... Yeah, it was Tim Mo, a young mouse. Cabin boy, I believe.”

Calissa shook her head. The name didn’t seem familiar to her, so he must have joined Natasha’s crew after she had gone. She wiped at her eyes again and cleared her throat. The child in her lap was beginning to show distress at her mother’s own anguish, so Calissa put on a calm demeanor once more.

“Well,” she said at last. “It appears a lot has happened since I settled down here with my new family.” She looked at Lorelei with a resigned smile. “It’s probably for the best, though. Life is peaceful here, and has had its rewards.” She gave her daughter a brief tickle and the small bunny giggled.

Lori looked over at N’iik, who had been quiet throughout the exchange in a foreign tongue, and she gave him a pleasant smile. He stared into her blue eyes for a moment and then asked something of Calissa with a look of concern. She answered with a few short words to reassure him that the mysterious stranger had not intentionally caused her distress, explaining only that she had received word of her own family from a far-off land. The reply seemed to satisfy N’iik, who returned his bold gaze to the white rabbit.

Lori reached out toward N’iik’s long ears and gently stroked the one closest to her. His eyes practically rolled back up into his head and a shiver rippled through his fur. Lorelei snickered at the reaction and touched the tip of his pink nose with a finger. He opened his eyes to look at her finger, his expression almost cross-eyed.

“Now then,” Calissa said with a sudden look of amusement, “what can I do for you, Lori Easter? Beyond N’iik’s obvious fascination with you, I assume he brought you to me for a reason.”

“Nick and his children found me in a wheat field, but I have yet to meet his mate,” Lorelei started to explain. A large smile suddenly spread across the tan bunny’s face. “What’s so funny?” Lori asked.

“N’iik has no children of his own, nor is he spoken for,” Calissa said. “However, I think he is looking for a mate if you’re interested.”

“But there were a dozen small kits with him!”

“Those belong to several families,” Calissa explained. “N’iik is their teacher, and he often takes them to the wheat field to play on nice days like this. Mine would have been there too if they all hadn’t stayed up so late waiting for their sire to come home last night.”

Lori looked over at the male with a soft smile. “He likes children, does he?” she asked with a wink. N’iik stared up into her bright blue eyes and swallowed.

Calissa snickered and the buck looked over at her with a look of embarrassment. “What rabbit doesn’t like kits?” she replied. She spoke a few words to N’iik and suddenly his eyes grew wide. He then gave her a dark look, muttering beneath his breath, and Calissa laughed aloud.

“What was that about?” Lori asked in amusement.

“Just teasing him,” her companion answered.

***

An elderly black and white doe near the edge of the lapin village put a wooden bucket beneath a simple water pump and gave the handle a few ratchets before cool fresh spring water flowed into her container. She hummed quietly to herself until the bucket was full, and then let the overflow spill into a trough below.

She stopped humming, but then she tilted her head when a monotone humming continued behind her. She turned around and came face-to-something with an iridescent metal saucer with whiskers! It had two gleaming glass eyes, one slightly offset above the other, and both were glowing from within in alternating colors. If that was not enough to frighten the doe out of her wits, that it hung suspended in midair with no visible means of support surely did.

Her mouth opened and closed rapidly without a sound, and the water bucket slipped from her fingers to spill over her feet. The metal object rotated a few of its whiskers and greeted her with an inquisitive “Meow?”

The female rabbit shrieked and bolted away from the unknown predator, tripping over the water bucket in her hurry. She flipped over onto her back and stared up at the floating thing with her heart in her throat.

Moss recognized a rabbit profile, but it did not match the criteria within its programming for Lorelei Easter; it dismissed the aged lapin doe and continued to search for its crewmate. It was calibrated to look for a female rabbit, and there appeared to be many within the community it happened upon, but now its search parameters would have to be narrowed to look for a specific lapin doe.

The elderly rabbit put a nervous hand to her heart when the floating saucer moved away from her. Her shrieks had drawn the attention of several nearby bucks, and in short clipped words, she described what she had encountered. It had been a while since the tranquil village had come under attack by the great feral mountain cats, but suddenly they were all afraid of what new danger might have come to their community.

***

“I think we’re being followed,” Lori said with a giggle. Calissa chuckled with a glance behind them at N’iik, and he frowned back at her. The buck had sent his class of kits back to their families and was now trailing along behind the pair of does as they walked across the village.

He fully realized that Lori had probably said something about him to K’lssi, but it was frustrating to be unable to understand her. It had been no less frustrating to N’maa when he had originally discovered the group of predators when K’lssi had come to them, but she stayed and finally learned the lapin language. Through the tan doe, N’iik learned that L’ree was only there for a visit and would be leaving soon. In the short time they had been together that day, N’iik had already become quite fond of the white-furred newcomer and her pleasant scent. It distressed him to think that now when they had an interpreter between them, L’ree would not stay.

He quickened his steps and suddenly placed himself in front of Lori, almost causing both females to stumble. He put both of his hands gently upon Lorelei’s shoulders and she looked up at him with bright blue eyes. She smiled at him curiously and merely waited to see what he wanted.

Those long-lashed blue eyes sent a shiver down his spine and he swallowed involuntarily. Before his nerve gave away, he leaned forward and rubbed his small pink nose gently against hers, and then slid his chin along her cheek.

Lorelei closed her eyes with a smile and then turned toward him to brush her lips against his cheek. N’iik became very still, and then he reluctantly pulled away. He pulled his simple amulet over his head and lowered ears, and then presented it to her.

He spoke for a moment to Calissa, who had watched the exchange silently with a smile, and then turned back to Lori.

“He wants you to wear his symbol,” the tan doe explained.

“What does the symbol represent?” Lori asked as she traced her fingers over the polished amber stone.

“When he wears it, it’s merely ornamental, but if you accept it and wear it for him, you are broadcasting your intent to mate with him.”

Lori’s eyes lit up and a number of thoughts shot through her mind at once. Given the chance, she would love that opportunity, but she already knew that if that happened, he would expect her to stay and bear his litter. When she played around with other males, it was always just that, play. However, with N’iik it would be a commitment to their offspring. She leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, but then she looked back over at Calissa.

“Is that what happened between you and N’maa?” she asked.

Calissa nodded. “Yes, and I accepted. For me, living here and having a family has been most satisfying. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Lorelei looked back at N’iik and stared into his blue-gray eyes for a long moment. She reached up again and lightly stroked one of his ears, causing him a delightful shiver, but then her face grew sad. She placed the amulet back into his hands and covered them with both of her own.

“Please tell him that I am honored,” she said in a voice just above a whisper, “and that although I have known him only a few hours, it would be tempting to bear his kits. However, I must decline. I am still under contract with my captain, and I really don’t wish to leave my friends; I won’t be able to stay.”

Calissa nodded again and then relayed the message to N’iik. He was quiet for a moment, but then he gave the strange doe a nod of understanding with a little smile. He said something to Calissa and then removed his hands from Lori’s to put the string of his amulet back over his ears.

“N’iik is disappointed, but says that he understands obligation, and hopes that you won’t forget him when you leave,” Calissa translated.

Lorelei slipped her arms around N’iik’s neck and pulled him into a warm embrace. “I am missing you already,” she whispered into his ear, knowing he would not understand.

“Meow!”

Calissa and N’iik jumped in unison, but Lorelei looked over at the unexpected intruder with a laugh. “Moss!” she scolded. “That was mean!” Had she not had her arms around N’iik, the buck would likely have bolted away in fright. His eyes were wide, his mouth was open, and Lori could feel his heart rate accelerate. She absently began to pet the fur behind his ears to calm him as she would a child.

“Meowrr, Meow...” the floating unit responded with lower volume.

“It’s a flobot!” Calissa exclaimed with a hand over her heart. “It gave me such a start!”

“This is Moss,” Lori said. “It’s from my ship, probably looking for me.”

“Moss?”

Lori rolled her eyes up to remember. “It means Mobile Sentry System, I think. Our engineer made it.”

Calissa smiled and examined the flying saucer with the eyes of an engineer. “Captain Natasha would never allow these things on board her ship,” she replied after a moment. “For all the gadgets and technology on the Lady of Dreams, she still felt a personality was an asset over artificial intelligence. Can this thing think for itself?”

“I dunno,” Lori answered. “Pockets says it only follows programming, but sometimes I think there’s more going on inside that pie plate than a set of instructions.”

N’iik reached out toward the floating sentry and touched its metallic surface with only minimal hesitation. Neither of the does seemed bothered by its presence, and that in of itself gave him the courage to touch the alien object. He waved his hand above and below the flobot in fascination, wondering how the thing could float in the air like the spring seeds of a puff-flower.

He looked over at Lori with a look of wonder and she simply smiled. He said something to Calissa, who only nodded back to him, and then he leaned in close to peer into the little eyes. While Moss’ proximity protocols had allowed the buck to touch its surface, it wanted to protect the cleanliness of its lenses, so it retreated from the rabbit just enough to stay out of reach. N’iik grinned at the thing’s reaction and chuckled.

Like all members of his race, he was naturally timid with things unknown, but once he made it past the initial fear, N’iik had a strong sense of curiosity.

“Do you think your captain will let us see your ship?” Calissa asked. “I wouldn’t mind talking to your engineer about the Vault drive he built from Natasha’s plans.”

Lori shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see why not,” she said. “Seeing as how Moss is here looking for me, I should probably be getting back anyway. I’d hoped to see what kind of shopping this new world might have, but since there’s not a mall in sight, I can give you a tour of my ship instead.”

Calissa smiled. “You know, if all you want is a souvenir, you could always take N’iik with you.”

Lori laughed and grinned widely. “Now there’s a thought,” she said.

Both of the does knew that he would never be happy in the realm of the Planetary Alignment, but it was still amusing to think about. After several moments, the buck tired of examining the flobot and returned his attention to the white-furred female.

“Can you lead me back to the wheat field, or should we follow Moss back to the ship?” Lori asked.

“C’mon,” Calissa said. “I know the way.” She spoke a few words to N’iik and then the trio set out across the village. Moss took up station above Lorelei’s ears, but she ignored it, slipping her hand into N’iik’s while they walked. Feeling her warm palm in his, he immediately forgot the flobot and sighed in contentment at her closeness.

The way back to the field seemed familiar to Lorelei, but this time she did not look around in wonder as she had on the way in. They walked down a hill beneath tall trees and meandered through the woods until they soon came upon the edge of the field.

Calissa nodded to herself when she saw the elliptical bulk of the freighter, but N’iik stopped and crouched down among the wheat stalks.

“My first guess is that’s an Okami-class cargo hauler,” the tan doe remarked, “but I don’t remember them being so big.”

“Yup, that’s the latest model,” Lori replied. “It’s been all over the Planetary Alignment.”

“And now beyond,” Calissa added with a smile.

N’iik tugged at Lorelei’s wrist when she did not hide with him. She shook her head and then pulled him back up to her side.

“That’s where I live,” she tried to explain to him. When he gave her that familiar look of puzzlement, she pointed to the ship and then pointed to herself. Calissa translated for him and then he finally stood up again beside her.

Moss moved on ahead of them and floated across the tops of the wheat toward the distant airlock. Just as it reached the ship, the panels split apart diagonally and someone walked out into the sunlight. It was Taro, Renny and Damien.

N’iik’s hand tightened in Lori’s as he caught sight of the trio of predators. He felt the strong instinctual urge to run and hide, but fear also kept him frozen in place. He stopped walking toward the freighter, almost causing Lorelei to stumble.

“Lori!” Renny called out when he saw her.

The white rabbit pried her fingers from N’iik’s tight grasp and then waved at the cheetah. “Hi, Renny!” she said. “Miss me?” She leaned toward Calissa and whispered, “He’s our navigator. Cute, isn’t he? The fox is my captain, and the dog is our loadmaster.”

Taro’s face was a mixture of anger and relief. She was still upset that the bunny had disobeyed orders and caused them all grief, but she was relieved that she appeared unharmed and in the company of more rabbits. “Lorelei Patricia Easter!” she said with venom. “You disobeyed a direct order, and I am going to dock your pay for this voyage!”

Lori’s ears drooped. “Why?” she whined when the trio stopped in front of them. N’iik stood his ground beside her, but a tremble shivered through his muscles at the proximity of the carnivores, especially the one with red fur that seemed ready to pounce on L’ree.

“I told you that no one was allowed off the ship until Doc could determine it was safe enough to go outside! We only got the okay from him a moment ago.”

“When did you say that?” Lori asked in concern. “The last thing you told us before I jumped into the shower was that you had picked up a landing beacon and that we would be landing in about twenty minutes.”

“You were in the shower?” Damien asked with a bit of a smile.

“Yeah,” the white rabbit replied. “Twenty minutes is plenty of time to clean up before going into town – only I didn’t find the kind of town I thought I’d find.”

Taro bit her bottom lip and looked at Renny with a frown. The cheetah shook his head. “You didn’t hear her warning to stay on board?” he asked.

Lorelei shook her head. “I guess not. Sorry, Taro.”

“Perhaps this would be a good time to introduce us,” the tan rabbit said from the side.

“You speak Standard!” Damien seemed surprised.

“She’s originally from Mainor,” Lori said with a grin, “but she lives here now. This is Calissa Thalia. This guy beside me is Nick, but he can’t understand us.” At the mention of his name, the buck set his jaw and looked up at them, trying so hard to remain calm. “This is Captain Taro Nichols,” Lori continued. “That’s Renny, and this is Damien.”

“Hello, Calissa,” Taro said. “Hello, Nick.”

Renny stepped forward to grasp hands with N’iik, but the action unnerved the rabbit and he looked at the cheetah’s proffered hand as if he were going to tear at him with it. Calissa intervened by gently taking N’iik’s hand and then putting it into Renny’s. She kept her hands over N’iik’s as she explained to him that it was a show of friendly greeting among Lori’s people, the clasped hands symbolizing the absence of weapons.

N’iik looked up into Renny’s large golden eyes as the cheetah gave him a friendly, non-threatening smile. The rabbit was still uneasy, but he nodded and returned the grip lightly. Then he put his hand up to his forehead with the palm outward and said, “N’iik.”

Renny deduced the gesture correctly and mimicked the action. “Renny,” he said.

“R’nee?”

“Yeah, Nick, that’s close enough,” the cheetah said.

Calissa turned to Taro while Damien and N’iik went through the same routine. “I know you thought she disobeyed your orders, Captain, but I want to thank you for letting Lori visit with me,” she said. “Spending the afternoon with her has been good for me.”

Taro nodded, looking weary. “When we landed, I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t catch a sickness from anything we might not be inoculated against. After all, the Blue Horizon is a long way from the Planetary Alignment.”

Calissa nodded. “So long as you don’t drink the water while you’re here, you shouldn’t have a problem with anything in the air,” she said with a smile. “If you did that, however, you’ll need to stay near a latrine for a couple days while your body acclimates, but otherwise it’s harmless. That’s something we learned when our landing party got here.”

Taro looked at her uncomfortably. “Uhm, how did you get here, so far away from the rest of the PA?” she asked cautiously.

“The same way you did,” the tan doe gestured toward the blue freighter. “We used Natasha’s Vault to gap the distance.”

“Natasha!” Renny repeated in surprise. “Just how many people did she give out her technology to, anyway?”

Calissa chuckled. “Very few people, Mr. Renny,” she explained. “I was one of her engineers when we came to this place and Natasha Khasho was my captain. Just how did you get her favor for such a gift?”

“I’ve never been sure of that myself,” Taro answered. “My chief engineer is the one who engineered that trade with her, although he’s never revealed just what it was he did for Natasha.”

Calissa nodded. “Would you mind if I talked to your engineer about the Vault system he built? There are some dangers involved that he may not know about.”

Taro pursed her lips at the word danger. “I’d appreciate having an engineer familiar with Natasha’s Vault system look over our engines,” she said. “Pockets put ours together based solely on an encrypted set of plans she gifted him, but he had no real guidance otherwise. That may be why our nav computer crashed and we over-shot our intended destination.”

Calissa grinned. It may have been six years since then, but she well remembered the trials and tribulations involved in testing the Vault. She had no doubt that Natasha’s people had fine-tuned it since she had left the crew to settle here, but the vulpine captain may have given the engineer of this common freighter an older set of plans.

“I may be able to help him get —”

“Fluffbunny!” a new voice exclaimed. The small group turned in unison to look back at the Blue Horizon. Rex stepped out into the sunshine with a hand shielding his eyes and he looked delighted that the errant rabbit had been found unharmed. He bounded toward the group, but one foot tripped up on a clump of wheat stalks and he fell forward onto his face. When the cougar got back up again with a toothy grin of embarrassment, N’iik suddenly let out a wail and bolted for the trees.

“N’iik!” Lori called. When she looked back at Calissa, there was a bit of fear in the tan doe’s eyes as well. “What is it?” she asked.

Rex ran up to Lorelei and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re all right, Fluff!” he said. “I was worried that something had happened to my favorite chef!”

Calissa swallowed and then put a hand to her heart, willing herself to calm down. “Are… are you part of Captain Taro’s crew?” she asked the cougar.

Rex released the white bunny and then immediately shook the tan doe’s hand. “Nope, just a passenger,” he said. “My name’s Rex! Pleased to meetcha.”

“Why did Nick run off like that?” Damien asked, scratching behind one large floppy ear.

Calissa let out a heavy sigh. “Because Mr. Rex resembles the great feral cats that sometimes come down out of the highlands to feed on our young,” she explained as she retrieved her hand from the cougar’s grasp. “We have been fortunate the last couple times we were attacked, but the mountain cats get desperate at certain times of the year when their native food supply runs low. N’iik lost a younger sister to one of them just last season.”

Rex looked downcast and shrugged his shoulders. “Please forgive me for rushing out and scaring the poor fellow,” he said. “I was just excited to see our bunny again.”

“About that,” Taro said as she faced him. She put one hand on her curvaceous hip and then pointed back to the Blue Horizon with the other. “Our flight insurance doesn’t cover you should anything happen to you outside the ship, Mr. Concolar. Get back on board, please.”

Rex plugged his hands into his pockets and nodded. Without further argument, he made his way back to the freighter.

“What should we do about Nick?” Renny asked.

“Leave him be,” Calissa replied. “I’ll talk with him later – show him that I survived the encounter. He’s had no exposure to our technology, so it may be best that he doesn’t come on board with us anyway.”

Lorelei looked hurt. “You go on,” she said. “I’m going to go find him.”

“You won’t have to look far,” Damien said as he pointed. “He’s over there by that clump of thick trees. I can see his eyeshine in the shadows.”

Lori moved off toward her friend, leaving the others as they walked through the field toward the freighter.

***

Although she was a few years out of practice, it took two days with Calissa’s assistance to repair the Particle Vault components and get the navigation computer in proper operation. She warned that she was unable to recalibrate the nav computer where it would be sensitive enough to be of use with the Vault, so they should use the special drive sparingly until they could upgrade to a high-end system. Although they had a recent-model ship, its current navigation structure would never be up to the challenge that Vault travel presented. It was her recommendation that they use the Vault to get back into PA territory, where they should then use standard LightDrive engines to return to standard traffic corridors. Thereafter, they should save the Vault only for life-threatening emergencies.

She had told them that traveling by Vault also had its share of dangers, though most were rare occurrences and could be avoided with a little assistance. She constructed a sophisticated device behind closed doors, and then permanently sealed its casing with a molecular weld. She attached it to a panel in the engine room with a simple set of wires merely for power and grounding, but not to the Vault components directly, knowing that it only needed to be near them to function.

When Pockets inquired about the device, which appeared to have only two outward color diodes, all she would say is that as long as the green light was on, they could use the Vault drive. However, if it should ever show red at any time, under no circumstances were they to use the Vault. Beyond this, she would not clarify her reasons.

“It’s for your protection,” she told the diminutive engineer in the presence of his captain. “This is not a rule you should ever bend.”

She went on to explain that once the Vault is used, it would take twenty-five hours for the system to recharge, and during that time, both lights would be dark and not to panic. The green diode would light up again when the system was ready and it was safe to use again.

When the tan lapin doe was sure everything was in order, Taro decided that they should be on their way. Their oxygen tanks had been scrubbed, refilled and pressurized, and with luck, the Vault would get them back to the vicinity of Kantus, where they would deposit their passenger and be on their way to their next assignment on Tanthe.

During their stay, Lorelei spent her days with N’iik and the children he taught, and the nights were spent with N’iik in his home. She continued to decline his invitations to stay and make a family with him, but knew that she would surely miss him after they were gone.

Despite her association with the blue thing from the sky, N’iik would not return to the wheat field. He had not seen the mountain cat again, but as long as it was near, he would protect his students by keeping them within the village. In order to keep the peace with others in the community, Taro had forbidden anyone but Lori from visiting the village. There were too many carnivores in the crew and the less panic they induced in the locals, the better it would be all around. Several from the lapin community did venture forth to take a peek at the blue freighter, but none chanced a look any closer than from the cover of trees.

When the time finally arrived to leave, Lorelei cried in N’iik’s arms. J’rran, Calissa, and her mate N’maa waited outside the buck’s home until they finally came out into the evening air. Lori gave each of them a hug, including the brown and white sire of Calissa’s kits. She had gotten to know him over past two days, and because of his knowledge of his mate’s past, he was a stable spot of understanding in the village to her.

During a conversation with Taro, Calissa requested they not reveal Se’rei’s existence to the rest of the Planetary Alignment, even if it might be one of the lost colonies. It would take too long to get there using traditional LightDrive and this world would be better off as it was anyway. Taro promised their silence, since the sensitive nature of the topic of Vault technology would keep the Blue Horizon crew from announcing their adventure to anyone, anyway.

Calissa finally took Lori by the shoulder and led her away from N’iik’s home. He would not accompany her to the ship, so he stayed rooted to the spot and watched her go in remorse. Lorelei turned back to look at him through her tears and gave him a half-hearted wave.

“It’s not too late to change your mind,” Calissa told Lori quietly. The white rabbit followed her across the village toward the tree path that would return her to the wheat field, but she only shook her head quietly. Her throat was tight and she was afraid to speak. Calissa nodded and then led her back to her ship.

When the does finally reached the airlock, Lori clung to the other female tightly. “I... I will miss you, Calissa!” she said to her.

“I will miss you too, hon,” the older woman replied. “It’s been nice having someone around who understands my old life, but now you must go. Due to the distances, I doubt you will ever make it back out this way, but I will keep the landing beacon going for you just in case.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Lori said as she wiped her eyes. She gave her a resigned smile and then took a step back toward the open airlock. “If there’s ever an opportunity to return, I will take it.”

“Good bye, Lorelei.”

“Good bye, Calissa.”

The white rabbit walked into the airlock, turned around, and then touched the control to close the diagonal panels. Just before they came together, she looked back out to the wheat field and saw N’iik standing at the edge of the woods, quietly watching her go. Lori felt a strong lump in her throat as the outer airlock doors closed and then she turned toward the inside to seal the internal compression door.

Outside in the wheat field, Calissa gathered up her apron and then quietly walked back to where N’iik waited. Fifteen minutes later, they watched the Blue Horizon lift off out of the field on a mighty wind, and then it quickly rose into the evening sky. N’iik’s eyes followed the vessel’s running lights until it passed through a high layer of clouds and was lost to sight in the darkness.

***

Alone in the engine room of the Blue Horizon, Pockets monitored his station. It had been four hours since they had departed Se’rei and everything appeared to be running smoothly. Using the navigational computer, Renny had calculated a Vault route back to the Planetary Alignment, hoping they would return to the vicinity of the Anya star system. Providing they did not overshoot their goal again by several light years, they could soon be on their way back to Kantus.

He glanced over at the small metal box that Calissa had installed and noted with a sense of ease that the light remained green. He had everything primed and ready for the jump, so now they merely waited until they were far enough above the solar system they were leaving behind that there should be no danger of flying through one of Se’rei’s sister planets.

The ship-wide intercom system chirped and then Renny’s voice came from the speakers. “Engine Room, prepare for system activation.”

“The light is green. Engine Room is ready,” Pockets reported over the open circuit.

“We are go on Five… Four… Three… Two… One.”

Pockets quickly held his breath, closed his eyes and tensed up all over in preparation for the jump. Outside the freighter, a ring of blue-white flame encompassed the entire vessel for a microsecond.

There was that momentary sensation where everything stopped, a cessation of seemingly everything in existence. The raccoon felt his stomach clench, but he was ready for it this time, and then the sensation was gone. He opened his eyes feeling disoriented, and immediately noted that the diodes on the box were dark. The Vault had discharged. He looked up at the system clock on his console and noted that only a moment had passed.

Pockets resisted the temptation to call the bridge, knowing that Renny would already be calculating their new position. While he waited, Pockets looked over the Vault system to make sure there were no burning components, but this time none of them was even warm to the touch. He smiled, pleased with the help that Calissa had given him. He had mistranslated a single calibration setting from Natasha’s original diagrams, and that had caused the burnout.

The intercom chirped and Taro’s voice said, “All hands, all hands. We made the jump without incident and Renny has just determined our location. We are outside of the normal traffic corridors, but we are back within the Planetary Alignment. We are only a day away from Kantus using standard LightDrive engines. We will be getting under way shortly, but you are free to get out of your harnesses and move around now.”

Pockets let out a Ganisan war whoop and danced a jig on the engine room floor. With all the tools and other miscellaneous items in the pockets of his coveralls, he sounded like a junk truck on a bumpy road, but the raccoon did not care. He was happy to be home.

***

“Where is it?”

Rex swept the covers of his bed onto the floor and then pulled off the sheets. He kicked the linens aside and dropped to his knees on the deck. He searched under the bed, but found only dust. He rushed over to the closet that he had just emptied by packing it all into his suitcase, but there was nothing on the floor or on the shelves.

“Where is that wretched thing?”

The cougar looked in dresser drawers, the cabinet in the bathroom and on the table out in the front room. He peered under the sofa and recliner, beneath the com terminal desk, and around all the baseboards. Convinced that he had searched everywhere in his quarters, he ran out into the hallway and moved around the corridor to the laundry room.

Rex dug through a few baskets of dirty clothes, into the cleaning equipment, and even through all the cabinets. He got down on his knees to peer under the folding tables, but his search was fruitless. He growled in frustration and left the room just as Justy approached with a basket of his own laundry.

Rex grabbed the basket from the koala and dumped the contents onto the corridor floor.

“Hey!” Justy exclaimed. Rex did not bother him with a look as he sifted through the garments and put his hands in all the pockets.

“Y’know,” Justy said, “that’s kinda creepy!” The cougar snorted, but not finding what he was looking for he stormed away, leaving the koala with the mess. Justy frowned deeply and then knelt down to retrieve his dirty laundry.

Rex impatiently took the nearest lift up to the third level. Lorelei, Taro, Renny and Amanda were at the galley table, sipping drinks and chatting in casual conversation. When the cougar stormed off the lift and darted to the couch to start throwing cushions off onto the floor, the group looked back at him curiously.

“What’s going on?” Renny asked.

“It’s gone!” Rex muttered as he dug in between the crevasses of the couch. “I can’t find it!”

“Find what?” Taro asked. “What did you lose?”

Rex stood up, distress on his face as he replied, “My lottery ticket! Now that we’re almost to Kantus, I can’t find it!”

“Where did you last see it?” Amanda asked.

“It was in my shirt pocket,” the mountain lion said. “I’ve kept it on my person through this whole trip!”

“Want some help looking for it?” Taro asked.

Rex started to nod, but then his eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. “I’ll bet one of you has it!” he accused. “You probably need more money to make your super-speed engine work right, and you think by taking my lottery winnings, you’ll have all the R&D money you could use!”

“Calm down, Mr. Concolar,” Taro said with a scowl at the accusation. “No one has your lottery ticket.”

“Yeah?” Rex sneered. “Doc Fox was asking me about my ticket when he gave me my physical, and made a comment warning me to make sure I didn’t lose it! I’ll bet he has it!”

“Jerry wouldn’t take it either!” Renny snarled. He rose from his chair and approached the cougar. “Don’t start accusing everyone of theft just because you dropped it!” Rex balled up his fists and took a step toward the cheetah. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Renny warned as he took up a Silloni martial arts stance. The cougar’s brow furrowed darkly, but then he stormed off toward the lift.

“Let us help you look for it,” Amanda told him. “More eyes will be quicker.”

Renny followed him across the room and the cougar felt stalked. Suspicious and frustrated, Rex whirled around, taking a swing at the cheetah. He looked up at the ceiling from the deck and suddenly wondered how he had wound up on his back on the floor; his breath had been knocked from him and the navigator was standing over him. He knew cheetahs were quick, but he had never seen anyone move that fast in a defensive move.

“Mr. Concolar,” Taro hissed at him, “I am confining you to your quarters for the remainder of our journey! We will look for your lost lottery ticket, and I promise you that you will get it back when it’s found, but if you are going to fight anyone on my crew, I will cancel your flight deposit and dump you out on the tarmac when we land without so much as a backward glance! Do you understand?”

Rex sat up and scowled at everyone around him. “If I don’t get my ticket back, and I find out that anyone associated with your company steps up to claim the prize, I’m gonna sue your company for my lost winnings!” he shouted. “My ticket has been DNA-imprinted, so I have legal proof that it was mine!”

“Renny, you and I will accompany our passenger to his quarters,” Taro said in a quiet voice. “Once there, he will be locked in until we land in four hours.”

“You’re gonna regret this!” Rex grumbled.

“Quit complaining and stop making threats,” Renny said with bared teeth. “You’re the fool who lost the ticket in the first place. You said it yourself that you carried it with you at all times, so I’m wondering how anyone could steal it from your body.”

“I can’t find it anywhere,” the cougar muttered. “Someone must have taken it…”

“Let’s go,” Taro said to him. “Go check your quarters again. Look through your luggage and under the furniture. We’ll do the same up here, and I promise that if it’s found, I will personally place it back in your hands.”

Rex grumbled under his breath, but then nodded as they led him back to the lift.

***

Taro faced her gathered crew. They were together on the cargo deck and the large bay door was open full to let the fresh morning air into the otherwise empty hold. During the last leg of the journey, they had searched the ship from top to bottom for the cougar’s lottery ticket, but it was to no avail. Before their distraught passenger stormed out the airlock upon landing, Taro had given him a thumbprint-signed document stating that if the ticket turned up, she would ship it to him free of charge with the utmost priority. Rex had taken the document grudgingly, but once it was in his hands, he shoved it into a suitcase and then departed toward the nearest attorney’s office.

Finally rid of the passenger, the captain called everyone together in the fresh air. “Despite our little detour, we’ve arrived on Kantus earlier than originally planned,” Taro told them all. “Due to this, I am releasing everyone for now. We will need to launch for Tanthe no later than 1600 hours tomorrow local time, so that gives you all a day and a half to get out and enjoy Gate City. Renny’s from this area, so ask him about local attractions if you don’t know what to do. I don’t want any stragglers, so try to be here no later than an hour or two before launch time.”

“I’ll be staying on board,” Lorelei muttered in remorse.

“Why?” Jerry asked her.

“Taro said she was docking my pay for this voyage, so there’s no reason for me to go out.”

The vulpine captain smiled and shook her head. “Lori, I had a change of heart and had your pay deposited as usual since it was a simple miscommunication, but at your next altercation I might not change my mind about your punishment.”

Lorelei’s jaw dropped open, but then she smiled with moist eyes. “Thank you, Taro,” she said quietly.

“You’re welcome, Lori. After our recent adventure, I think you need to get out on the town anyway. Now, before you all disperse, I have a warning,” she said. “I think we were successful in keeping Mr. Concolar in the dark about our Vault drive. He believes we experimented with the regular LightDrive engine and made some mistakes. If he says anything, it will be against a gag order that he willingly signed, but even if he does tell anyone about the speed of our journey, I doubt this experience will have given him anything positive to say about it to anyone. However, I still want to keep knowledge of our new technology out of general public view. I can’t stress enough just how much trouble this would cause us if word got out. I will tell Merlin about it at some point when I can arrange a secure, encrypted channel, but otherwise you are forbidden to mention it elsewhere until we have a chance to develop the system into a more reliable mode of transportation. I can’t say that we will or won’t use it again, so for now try to put it in the back of your mind.”

She looked into the eyes of each member of her crew, and when she was satisfied that they all understood her, she smiled and gave the group a nod as she reached into a pocket. “Okay, the soapbox is put away. Your pay has been deposited to your accounts, so go enjoy your shore leave.”

Damien was first to head for the ramp. It was his intent to secure a hotel room for the night and then head out to see what kind of entertainment was available, preferably something with liquor. When he reached the tarmac, he made a quick sweep of the nearby landing pad, and then stepped out into the sunshine. He only took three steps before he stopped and looked back at a nearby ship.

There were two delivery trucks parked at the loading ramp of a sleek Mayfair-class freighter with the TranStar Shipping logo on its side. A company name printed in dark red lettering on the side of the trucks caught his attention. Workers of various species were loading the vessel with forklifts and power loaders, so it appeared as if the TranStar freighter might be there a while.

The mastiff trotted back inside the Blue Horizon and flagged Taro’s attention. The captain put away her pocket slateboard and looked up at him.

“What is it, Damien?” she asked. “You look shaken.”

“Take a gander at the ship on our portside landing pad.”

The vixen followed him down to the tarmac and then peered over at the nearby ship. “That’s the Freckled Shark,” she said. “I read its transponder signal when we landed. What about it?”

“Now read the name on the side of the trucks loading it,” the loadmaster replied.

Taro looked at the lettering and felt the blood drain from her face. Crimson Astrogation.

“Isn’t that the name of the company that cancelled our account? I thought they were going out of business.”

“That’s them. Their story was that they were under investigation and all deliveries were stopped,” Taro growled. “Listen, Damien. You go ahead and enjoy your day off. I’ll look into this myself.”

***

All was quiet in the wheat field. There was morning dew on the stalks, but that did not prevent N’iik from returning to that special place. He sat alone in the middle of the flattened crop circle where the blue thing from the sky had rested, thinking about the lovely white L’ree and the effect she had on him. They had only known one another for three days, but he could not stop thinking about her. She had a strange, yet pleasant scent, and had the softest fur he had ever touched, even among his own people. There were blue eyes within the rabbits of his world, but he had never seen eyes that shade before; so bright and expressive.

He wanted her to return. He wanted to know all about her and he was remorseful that she had gone away. He had invited her to stay, even presenting his amulet to her, but still she had gone away. He knew she had been attracted to him too, but she never even asked him to go with her.  Perhaps it had been his open fear of her predator companions and she was ashamed of him. If she had only asked, he would have boldly joined her, facing his instinctual fears. If she felt comfortable around such creatures, maybe he could have grown to feel the same way, too… if only she had asked. He did not know if he would ever see her again, but he knew he would never forget her.

N’iik heaved a heavy sigh and stood up. He brushed the damp bits of crushed wheat from his shorts and started back across the field toward home. He left the flattened stalks behind him, but before he had made it halfway across to the trees, something at his feet caught his eye.

The white buck bent down and picked up a brightly colored object. It was flat, rectangular and had strange, meaningless symbols scrawled across its surface on both sides. The plastic material was foreign to him, but he knew it had to be from L’ree’s blue sky-home. He would keep it as a reminder of her visit, so he clutched the lottery ticket in his hand and quietly made his way back to the village.

ANGER MANAGEMENT

By Ted R. Blasingame

Taro stared across the tarmac of the spaceport where they had landed to a ship parked on Blue Horizon’s port side. She felt the blood drain from her face when she read the name emblazoned across the side of the delivery trucks that were loading it. It was Crimson Astrogation, a spatial navigation systems company that had cancelled a delivery contract with the Horizon while in flight, supposedly due to an investigation that was driving their client out of business.

The vixen turned to her cargo loadmaster. “Listen, Damien. You go ahead and enjoy your day off. I’ll look into this myself.”

“Are you sure?” the mastiff asked. “I’d like to know what happened before I go.”

“Come along if you wish,” she said.

Damien’s first inclination would have been to seek out the captain of the Freckled Shark, the freighter being loaded, but Taro had a different approach. She walked up to a Siamese cat with a slateboard who oversaw the loading process.

“Excuse me,” Taro said to him, “may I ask you something?”

The feline glanced over at her. “What?” he asked brusquely.

When he faced her, Taro saw the Crimson Astrogation logo on his dark red uniform. “How did your company get back on its feet so quickly,” she asked. “That was a fast investigation.”

“Huh?” asked the puzzled cat. “What are you talking about?”

“Word has it that Crimson Astrogation was under investigation and that all shipping of their products had been frozen until after the inquiry.”

The Siamese narrowed his blue eyes. “I think you’re mixed up, lady,” he said with a frown. “We’re not under any investigation. Our operation is strictly legit.”

Taro frowned and bit her bottom lip. Damien looked again at the freighter that was being loaded and then turned back to the cat. “Is that the ship you were scheduled to load up?” he asked.

“Not originally,” the feline replied in irritation, “but when our trucks got here, we were directed to take it to the Freckled Shark instead. I was told it was a replacement for the other ship.”

“What was the name of the other ship?” Taro asked.

The cat looked down at his slateboard and then pointed toward the name with the tip of a claw. “Blue Horizon,” he answered.

“You mean that ship,” Damien said as he indicated the vessel behind him.

The cat looked over at the blue freighter and frowned. “I don’t understand,” he said.

“We were scheduled to pick up a shipment from Crimson Astrogation for delivery to Pomen,” Taro explained, “but in-flight, we received word the contract had been cancelled due to an investigation into Crimson’s company.”

“There’s no investigation, and I wasn’t given a reason for the change of freighters,” the Siamese replied defensively, “just the orders that another ship would be used instead.”

“Where did your change of orders come from?” Taro asked.

The feline pointed with his stylus to a nearby service shed at the edge of the tarmac. “Hexter’s in there. He’s the official Crimson rep, so you can bother him for more information.”

“Thank you for your time,” Taro said.

“Yeah, whatever.” The feline dismissed them immediately, suddenly immersed in the data on his slateboard.

Taro and Damien walked to the shed, both of them puzzled by the information.

“What’s going on?” Damien asked.

“I don’t know. This doesn’t make any sense.”

Taro tapped on the door to the shed and a muffled voice said, “It’s open.”

It was dark inside the quiet, air-conditioned office when they stepped through the door, and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust. An aged badger looked up at them from behind one of three paper-strewn desks that filled the small room. The fellow was the only individual in the place and wore eyeglasses with thick, round lenses that made his eyes appear to bulge.

“What may I do for you?” he asked in a raspy voice.

“We’re looking for Mr. Hexter, the representative for Crimson Astrogation.”

“Amuel Hexter at your service, ma’am.” He peered at her through his thick lenses. “Have a seat and tell me how I may help you.”

“I just need to ask you a few questions,” Taro replied as she sat down in a well-worn seat in front of the fellow’s desk. Damien remained standing beside her.

“I’m Captain Nichols of the Blue Horizon.” The badger’s eyes appeared to bulge out farther. “Oh, good,” the vixen said dryly, “you know of my ship.”

Damien crossed his arms and took a step toward the desk. Hexter peered up at him and involuntarily crinkled the printed invoice he held in his hands.

“Uhm, w-well y-yes…” he stammered.

Taro leaned forward. “You have a contract with me, mister Hexter,” she said in an even voice. “Your dock workers are currently loading your equipment into the wrong freighter.”

“I-uhm-I am sorry, Captain,” the badger said, “b-but your contract was cancelled this morning. Another ship was hired as your replacement.”

“Why was it cancelled?” Taro asked icily.

“Y-your ship was deemed unsuitable for our needs,” Hexter answered. “I can’t tell you more than that.”

“Read the contract you have with us,” Taro reminded him with bared teeth. “There’s a ©25,000 cancellation penalty for the forfeiture of a contract in-progress, payable upon reaching the intended destination. We have been en route from Dennier for three weeks to pick up your cargo.”

“Twenty-five thousand credits!”

“Why the surprise?” Damien growled. “It’s clearly stated in the contract your company initiated with us.”

Taro nodded her agreement. “If you switched freighters for a lower price, this is going to put a knot in your budget,” she snarled. “Now you get to pay Blue Horizon Freight Transfer and TranStar Shipping!”

“Uh… uhm… I, uh… will need to consult my home office,” Hexter said with a gulp. “Y-you should expect to hear from us within two to three weeks.”

“Nope,” Taro said as she put her hands on the edge of his desk. “Payment is to be rendered upon reaching the intended destination. Read your contract. We are here, so that means right now.”

Hexter swallowed, his eyes darting back and forth between Taro and Damien, and then he saw the impressions of the Hestran vixen’s fingers in the metal edge of his desk. He swallowed, heaved a heavy sigh, and then nodded. He turned to his computer terminal and logged into the Crimson Astrogation financial system. A moment later, he held out his hand. With her eyes locked onto his, Taro reached into a pocket and then handed him a small metal device no larger than a pack of chewing gum.

Hexter plugged the credicard into a slot, tapped in a command, and then passed the hand-sized unit over to her so she could enter her authorization. Once she tapped in the passcode, a green light blipped in response; the badger removed the credicard and a printed receipt, handing both to her with a deep frown.

“Twenty-five thousand credits have been transferred to your company account,” Hexter said in a huff. “Now get out of my office.”

Taro stood up and consulted her pocket slateboard, making sure the transfer had actually been transacted. Once she confirmed the funds had been deposted, she waved a finger at her companion. “C’mon, Damien. Let’s go.”

“Not before I find out why this happened,” the loadmaster replied as he cracked his knuckles noisily. He stepped up to the desk and leaned over so that his nose was mere inches from the badger’s.

Hexter’s expression darkened and he stood up behind his desk. “Get out,” he repeated.

Damien reached out, snared the badger’s shirt roughly, and then yanked him closer over the top of the desk. “Answer the question!” he bellowed at high volume.

His eyes wide with fear, the badger’s momentary boldness evaporated. “Th-the order came directly f-from Arbogast Crimson, p-president of the company,” he stammered. “I d-d-don’t know why, other than you were unsuited. I don’t know anything more! I swear it!”

“Damien, let’s go,” Taro said calmly. “Merlin will take care of the legal ramifications from here.”

The mastiff released Mr. Hexter and made a show of brushing imaginary dirt from his knuckles. “Thank you for your time,” he said. The badger only glared at him.

Taro and Damien walked out of the shed without another word and started back toward their freighter. After a moment, Taro looked up when the local mail truck arrived to pick up their shipment.

“This is happening too often lately,” she said to her companion. “Merlin’s going to have a fit when he finds out what Crimson pulled on us.”

“Did they really think we wouldn’t find out about their lie?” Damien asked. Taro did not answer. She walked with her eyes on the ground as she replayed the whole scene in her mind.

“Hey, who’s that?” Damien asked after a moment. As they neared the mail truck, they saw the uniformed lupine driver talking with a couple who stood just inside the open bay doors of the freighter.

The mail carrier gave a wave as they approached and then pushed his antigrav dolly toward the red mail crates in the ship’s hold without a word.

Taro turned to the pair who had been talking with the him. “May we help you?” she asked politely. A huge male wolf and a shorter female Siberian husky smiled in unison.

“Yes, hello!” said the large wolf in a friendly voice. “We’re looking for the captain of the Blue Horizon.” Taro rarely felt small next to anyone, but she was dwarfed by the size of this guy. He was muscular, with broad shoulders and chest, a full mane of fur around his head, and golden amber eyes that held a direct gaze that was hard to behold. She almost felt as if she were looking into the piercing eyes of her former captain, though he was nowhere near the size of this guy.

“I’m Captain Nichols. What can we do for you?”

“You’re the captain of this fat bird?” the wolf asked in a throaty voice, maintaining his grin.

The husky put an elbow into her companion’s ribs. “You’ll have to excuse him,” she said. “He forgets himself a lot.”

Taro smiled and tilted her head as she looked up at the wolf. “Yes, I’m the captain, and you are standing inside my fat ship.” She said the last so casually with a straight face that the large visitor almost did not catch it.

“Right!” said the male wolf. “My friend and I need to book passage with you to Pomen. I just bought my own ship, but we have to get there to take possession.” He held up a slateboard with the Blue Horizon flyer on its screen. “We saw your availability announcement on the spaceport vidscreen, and then when I was at the public com terminal on a call to your home office, they told me you would be landing here at any moment! How’s that for timing?”

Damien nodded. “Yeah, you had a stroke of luck.”

“They said you had vacancies, so here we are to fill them!”

“Just so you are aware,” Taro said, “we’re not taking a direct flight to Pomen from here.”

“Wait,” the smaller husky replied. “Your home office said Pomen was your next destination.”

“That is our ultimate destination, but we will first make a stop on Tanthe to pick up the shipment that’s bound for Bassaris, Pomen.”

“How much longer will that take?” the wolf asked.

“It will only add a day to our schedule,” the captain replied. “The flight time from here is roughly twenty hours to our Tanthean destination, with another two hours to load up and square away the manifest.”

The wolf made a casual gesture of his hand through the air. “An extra day won’t matter,” he said. “How long will it take us to get to Pomen from there?”

“Four weeks.”

The wolf wrung his hands together. “More good timing!” he said.

“How’s that?” Damien asked.

“Frosty ordered modifications to the ship’s design,” the husky explained. “The shipyard said it would take about a month to get them installed.”

Taro nodded. “I take it you are Frosty?” she asked the large male.

“Tarjon Frost, ma’am,” the wolf said with a smile. “This is Mina Ferris, my engineer.”

“Well, Mr. Frost, the fare for you and Ms. Ferris together will be ©2,400. Will you need one or two cabins?”

Tarjon glanced quickly at his companion and cleared his throat. “Two, please.” Mina looked obviously disappointed, but remained silent.

“Well then, if you will follow me up to my office, I’ll collect your payment and get you registered. However, we won’t be able to put you up tonight. My crew is on shore leave this evening, so you will need to find lodging until tomorrow afternoon. Please be here two hours before liftoff, so you will need to be here no later than 1400 hours.”

“Lead the way, Captain,” Tarjon replied.

“Should I stay around until you are done?” Damien asked the red fox. He glanced over at the mail truck as it drove away with their delivered shipment.

“No, thank you,” Taro answered. “Go and enjoy your leave, Damien. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.”

“Aye, Captain,” the mastiff replied. “See you then.” The loadmaster departed and then Taro looked over at her passengers.

“This way,” she said.

“Why do we have to be here two hours before launch?” Mina asked as they walked across the empty cargo deck. “That seems like a long time to wait around.”

“For insurance purposes, our doctor will give each of you a physical before we depart,” the vixen replied. She noted Mina’s alarmed expression, so she gave her a smile for assurance. “Don’t worry, dear,” she added. “It’s brief and primarily to make sure you’re not inadvertently bringing anything on board that will infect the rest of the crew on our month in space.”

“Ah, okay,” the husky replied. “I’m not fond of getting poked and probed by doctors.”

“Neither am I,” Taro told her, “but my physician is experienced and is compassionate. You won’t have anything to worry about.”

The husky gave her a pained expression. “Thanks, but I think I’ll choose to worry anyway.”

***

Renny hopped down the steps in front of the antiquated bed and breakfast inn where he and Taro were registered and looked up at the vixen as she took slower steps down to him. “You look wonderful!” he told her.

She spun around slowly so that he could view her lavender dress from all sides. “It’s nice to see you dressed up, too,” she replied with a smile. The cheetah wore a pressed pair of dark gray slacks and a tan dress shirt with a thin silk tie. He felt conspicuous in garments that were anything but casual, but Taro wanted to go out on the town and enjoy the evening as a couple.

Renny extended his elbow courteously and the vixen slipped her arm through his. “Shall we go?” he asked.

“Lead the way, my handsome navigator.”

The cheetah looked up at the night sky, but was unable to see many stars due to the city lights. He feigned confusion and then pointed toward their left. “This way, I think,” he said.

Taro raised an eyebrow. “I thought you lived in this town all your life,” she said.

A wide grin spread across Renny’s face with a mischievous glint in his eye. “The Thornton farm is out on the savannah about a hundred sixty kilometers from here,” he said, “but I moved into Gate City when I was old enough to attend college. However, the restaurant is only three blocks that way. It’s one of the reasons I booked our room here at the Crescent.”

“That’s the one that has the live magic act, right? Have you ever eaten there before?” Taro asked when they began walking in the night air.

“That’s the place, but no, the Caplan Garden is generally out of my price range. However, since you’re buying tonight…”

Taro snickered. “I hope their kitchen is well-stocked, but I can only afford so much, Renny. Please be reasonable when you order.”

The navigator licked his lips. “I will… try,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Taro laughed and gestured casually back at the B&B inn. “Did you see the pamphlets in the lobby?” she asked. “The Crescent is supposed to be haunted!”

Renny shook his head with a frown. “I’d forgotten about those stories,” he muttered. “Hopefully they’re only tales to draw in tourists. If I’d remembered that, I might not have come here.”

“Why, Mr. Thornton, are you afraid of ghosts?” Taro teased. “I thought Pockets was the superstitious one.”

The cheetah looked over at her. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” he said in a quiet voice, “but I think I had a run-in with a spirit, ghost or something like it when I was younger.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No joke. My sister and I were prowling around in an old abandoned farmhouse one night while our folks were off to a neighboring town for a jamboree. We saw… something in the attic that we couldn’t explain, almost like a pale mist in the vague shape of a lion. It came at us with upraised paws and frightened us so badly that we ran from the house and didn’t slow down until we got back home! She and I both swore we felt something push against us as we ran.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a—” Taro began.

“We didn’t know what it was,” Renny responded by stopping in his tracks, “but Sophie couldn’t stop talking about it whenever she and I were doing our chores the next day. She was always too curious for her own good and she snuck back out there a few nights later when everyone was asleep.”

“What did she find?”

Renny’s expression grew dark and he stared down at his feet as they resumed walking. “When we all got up the next morning to do our chores, Sophie wasn’t in her bed. We looked all over for her, but she wasn’t in the house or barn. Ma started to panic and Pa was fixin’ to start calling up neighbors for a search party when I remembered something she’d told me the night before. She wanted to go back to see if she could find what we saw, but I didn’t want to. I confessed to us sneaking over there earlier and Pa took off without waiting on anyone else. By the time Ma, a neighbor and I got near the abandoned farmhouse, Pa was hiking back home with Sophie in his arms.”

“Was she okay?” Taro asked in a whisper.

Renny shook his head and swallowed. “No one knows exactly what happened, but… but… Pa said she probably fell from the attic ladder, landing on some old, rusty furniture with sharp edges. It was ruled an accident, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder if she was pushed again by the apparition we saw.” He looked over at his companion and heaved a heavy sigh. “I’ve never been afraid of ghost stories, but sometimes I get a chill if I think about Sophie’s death.”

“Wow… I’m sorry to hear that,” Taro said after a moment. “Listen, if it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t mind if we get a room somewhere other than the Crescent.”

Renny’s familiar smile returned as he puffed out his chest in comedic exaggeration. “No need for that, ma’am. I’ll protect you from any free-floating apparitions who dare enter our room!”

Caught off guard by the cheetah’s sudden mood switch, Taro simply stared at him with an open mouth. Renny reached out and closed her mouth with a finger. “I’m okay,” he assured her with a calm smile. “I still miss Sophie, but that was a long time ago and it was her own curiosity that got the better of her. You know what they say about curiosity and cats…”

Taro chuckled and shook her head. “Even after all this time, you can still surprise me. Come on, then. Let’s forget this ghost nonsense and go eat some expensive food.” Renny’s eyes lit up and he practically pulled her along the sidewalk toward the restaurant.

***

“Blue Horizon Freight Transfer. Keri Petrie speaking. How may I help you?”

“Keri, hello,” Taro said toward the port side bridge vidscreen. “We’ll be launching in a few hours and I wanted to report in.”

“Taro! It’s good to hear from you!” the brown mouse exclaimed with wide eyes and a big grin.

“I don’t usually get you when I call in to the home office. Where is everyone?”

“Penny’s out sick with the flu, Cindy is away on vacation, Stu went across the street for coffee, and Tina is in Merlin’s office discussing the books. It’s just me and my caffeine out here in the front room.” She took a drink from an oversized coffee mug and then licked her lips with a smile.

“Merlin’s back?” Taro asked. “Isn’t he supposed to be on his honeymoon?”

Keri snickered. “He and Samantha were at Ocean City for three weeks, Taro. Merlin came in this morning looking fluffed, relaxed and ready to get back to work. He also smells of cinnamon.”

“Cinnamon? Okay… Listen, I need you to have the cinnamon wolf contact me at his earliest opportunity. I have some information for him concerning Crimson Astrogation. Please tell him it’s important.”

“Isn’t Crimson under some kind of investigation?”

Taro’s brow furrowed. “Not yet, but I’m sure they will be after I talk to Merlin.”

“I don’t understand.”

“That’s okay, Keri. I’m sure you’ll hear it all when he explodes after I tell him how else the business is taking a hit.”

“Does this have anything to do with the Mooncrest?” the mouse asked.

Taro tilted her head. “Uh, no. What’s going on with them?”

“Abner’s ship left Fyn nearly four weeks ago with a load of perishable goods for Quet. When they got to the landing coordinates, the mining town they were to supply was abandoned, and it looked like it had been deserted for years. There was no one there to deliver the cargo to, so we tried to double-check the delivery location in case we had gotten it wrong. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to contact the customer who put in the order. Something about this is all wrong, but none of the business contacts will work. The Mooncrest was supposed to pick up a full load of micranite there for delivery to Dennier after unloading their Fynian cargo.”

“What happened?”

“We tried to get in touch with the customer on Dennier who’d ordered the micranite from Quet, but that contact information is non-working too. After that, Merlin authorized the Mooncrest to restock the ship’s stores from the cargo and continue on to their next assignment. We’ve arranged with a local store to buy the rest of the supplies at a reduced price to help recoup some of our costs, but we had to completely cancel the delivery of micranite to Dennier. We lost over a hundred thousand credits because of these and our lawyer is having difficulties trying to locate the ones responsible. He’s been working overtime for us lately.”

Taro looked down at the console in front of her and pursed her lips. “In that case, I’m not sure he’ll want to know about Crimson Astrogation…” she muttered.

“What is it I don’t want to know about?” asked Merlin’s voice. Taro looked up sharply and saw that Merlin and Tina had joined Keri behind the secretary’s desk. “I just caught the last of your conversation.”

“Merlin, hi! Uhm, I have twenty-five thousand credits to transfer into the company account,” the vixen said with a wilted smile.

“That’s always good news,” the gray wolf replied dryly. “Now tell me how we came to have this extra income and what it has to do with Crimson.”

***

Amanda led their latest passenger up the ramp into the airlock with a careful hand on his arm for assistance. The elderly human gave the coyote a grateful smile as she retrieved his suitcase from the tarmac and brought it inside for him. He had pulled the roller-equipped case across the tarmac, but had been unable to lift it up the ramp.

“Thank you, Miss,” he said. “I can take it from here.”

As the business coordinator handed the wrist strap to the gentleman, the Blue Horizon’s security unit floated across the cargo bay toward them. The saucer’s metal skin shimmered iridescently in the overhead lights, stopping to study the human with its offset pair of lenses; it rotated all six of its whisker-like antennae as if it were wondering what it was looking at.

“Moss, security scan, passenger authorization Lehigh Desmond,” Amanda told the unit. The saucer emitted a pale green light from its upper lens and scanned the elderly visitor briefly. Then it moved to his luggage and scanned them as well. When it finished, it moved to a position in front of the man and intoned a casual “Meow” as it rotated two of its whiskers.

“Thank you, Moss,” Amanda said to the unit. “You may resume your duties.”

“Meow!”

“That was curious,” Mr. Desmond said with a smile as he watched the unit float around the tethered cargo.

“It’s just a standard scan to enter you into the profile of our onboard security system,” the coyote explained, “as well as to make sure you weren’t bringing any harmful devices on board. We have to do this for all passengers who travel with us.”

The human grinned at her. “I hope it found me a harmless old man,” he said, running his fingers through his wispy shock of silver hair and then scratched his chin. “I am only a danger to myself these days.”

Amanda returned his smile. “Welcome aboard the Blue Horizon, Mr. Desmond. We can leave your luggage here for now; I will have someone take it up to your cabin for you shortly.”

“Thank you, Miss.” As the coyote led the elder gentleman toward the lift, he took her arm and hooked his elbow around hers with a smile. She did not know how old the human might be, but for his apparent age, he seemed to walk beside her well enough. He did not seem frail, just aged.

“Do you have a doctor on board?” Desmond asked.

“Yes sir, we do. Dr. Somner is a fully licensed physician.”

“Might I have a chance to talk with him before we take off? I brought my medication with me, but I’m not sure I will have enough for the whole voyage.”

“You’re in luck,” Amanda told him with a smile. “I was just about to take you to him.”

“Very good,” replied the old man. “We haven’t even left and you’re already taking good care of me. Thank you, Miss.”

“You’re quite welcome, Mr. Desmond. I’m happy to help.”

***

Releasing himself from the flight harness in his cabin, Jerry stood up and stretched. The launch went smoothly with Justy at the controls on the bridge, and Taro had just announced that it was okay to move about.

He stepped over to the small refrigerator beneath his desk and took out a cold bottle of minted water from his personal stash of drinks. He took a long swig of pale green liquid and then recapped the bottle while licking his lips.

The red fox walked to his bookcase and unstrapped a large blue tome from the bottom shelf, but as he pulled it out, he remembered something. He re-strapped the book and headed for the door, grabbing his medical smock on the way out.

A moment later, he tapped his claw tips on a door and heard a quiet reply.

“Please come in. Yes, please come in.”

He opened the door and stepped inside. The elderly human was still strapped in his flight harness. He held an old book with worn pages in his hands and he marked his place with a thin red ribbon. With a look of gratitude to the fox, he said, “Hello.”

“Hello,” Jerry replied as he tried to hide his smile.

Lehigh Desmond looked apologetic. “These are good buckles,” he said. “I can’t seem to get loose.”

The doctor looked at the straps with a frown. He tried to release it, but the buckle mechanism appeared to be jammed with a bent pin. He worked with it for a moment before the straps finally slid through the frame.

“There you go,” he said. “I will have someone fix this broken buckle before you need to use it again.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it!” Lehigh replied as he stood up and set his Bible aside. “I may have some age on me, but I’m not usually this helpless.”

Jerry looked at the man with a critical eye and then nodded. “I came by to make sure you were okay after the launch,” he said. “Other than a faulty harness, how are you feeling?”

Moving to the room’s rectangular window, Lehigh looked out into space and could see the receding disc of Kantus. “I’m a little stiff, but that’s my arthritis. The launch was interesting. I’ve never been out in space before.”

“Space travel is as routine as cross-country travel these days,” Jerry said with a smile.

“How come we can stand up okay? Shouldn’t we be floating around the room?”

“All the floors are equipped with one-gee artificial gravity regulators,” the doctor replied. “We just call them gravity plates, but they help us keep a sense of normality. It also helps keep muscle tissue from atrophy while out in space. Now, would you like to go up to the galley for some coffee? I believe Lori picked up a few Kantan blends before we left.”

Lehigh’s gaze lingered on the window a moment more before he turned toward the fox. “Yes, a cup of coffee would be nice.” He followed the doctor out the door and around the corridor to the lift.

“So, what brings you out into space now?” Jerry asked merely to make conversation with the guest. “It must have been important.”

Mr. Desmond nodded as the lift doors parted and they stepped out onto the recreation deck. “I’ve been a farmer all my life, Doctor. My wife and I had a son and tried to raise him with strong family values, but he moved away to Pomen after his mother passed away, unable to cope with the loss. I don’t think he realized that by going away he left me all alone, but he does send money with his letters from time to time.”

Lorelei had not yet come up to the galley, so Jerry moved back into the kitchen while Lehigh took a seat at the galley table. The fox rummaged around in the cupboard and found several bags of coffee strapped into the cabinet. “I know Lori bought some coffee from Kantus, but I only see one bag at the moment. Will Kidwell coffee do for you? It’s a simple breakfast blend.”

The human smiled. “That will be fine,” he said. Jerry pulled down a tan package and began preparing the rich granules to brew. “I’ve never met my daughter-in-law Chloe,” Lehigh continued, “but now that they are going to have my grandchild, I want to be there for that.”

“How long do you plan to stay with them?” the physician asked.

Lehigh chuckled. “I’m too old to keep up a farm on my own now, and my son has no plans to return to Kantus to work the crops, so I sold it before I left. I am hoping Pomen will be hospitable enough for a gentleman like me to live near my grandchild.”

“How do your son and his mate feel about you staying?”

The elderly human looked thoughtful. “They say I am welcome, but I’m hoping that does not change after my daughter-in-law meets me in person. I have enough money in my account from the sale of the farm that I should be able to get a small place of my own near them.”

Jerry nodded and leaned against the tabletop. “It’s not easy to pick up and move when you’ve been in one place for so long. It’s even tougher when you go to another world altogether.”

“That sounds like the voice of experience,” Lehigh said.

“Yes, sir,” the doctor replied. “I also grew up on Kantus. I have seven siblings and we always had a close family. My parents were pleased when I announced that I wanted to study medicine, but were not happy when I said I wanted to study on Pomen – that’s where the best hospitals in the Planetary Alignment are. I was the first of my family to go off world, and it was not easy learning new places, histories, traditions and customs, but my leaving seemed to prompt a mass exodus among my siblings to all parts of the PA. My parents made us all promise to make an effort to come back to visit as often as we could, but space-travel is expensive and I wasn’t able to afford it until after I had my license and was practicing. Despite that we’re all scattered across the cosmos, my family still remains close.”

“Did you get to visit with them before we left Kantus?”

Jerry nodded. “Yes, and it was nice to see them again. Two of my brothers were there too, so it was a nice little reunion.”

“I am hoping the reunion with my son goes as well,” Lehigh said with a nod. “Jack and I have stayed in contact, but it’s been ten years since we last saw one another face to face.”

“I’m sure he will be glad to see you again,” Jerry assured him as he pulled two cups from a cabinet. “He will get to show off his bride to you, with the anticipation of their child as well.”

“Whatever the outcome, I plan to make the best of it,” Lehigh said. “Even if I occasionally have my doubts, I have always been an optimist.” The human looked up and sniffed the air as Jerry brought him a cup adorned with a white unicorn. He took a sip of the hot liquid and leaned back in his chair with a smile.

“Yes, that’s good. Thank you, Doctor.”

***

Renny stepped out of Sickbay, studying the flight roster for the rest of their voyage. Taro had tasked him with making the bridge duty assignments and he juggled names in his head as he scratched them onto a slateboard with a claw tip.

Another door nearby opened, but he did not look up until Pockets stopped beside him with a grimace.

“Have you seen the Doc?” Pockets asked in a pained voice. “I burned my hand with a soldering iron.”

Renny looked alarmed. “Bad?”

“Not much, but I still want to get it treated. I forgot to turn off the iron before the launch and tried to catch it when it rolled off my workbench.”

“I was just looking for him, but Jerry left a note saying he’d be in Mandy’s quarters.”

Pockets’ eyes lit up. “Mandy?” he asked. “I never expected she and Jerry would hook up!”

“I don’t think it’s like that between them,” the cheetah replied with a grin. “Ever since Taro had them working together on Se’rei, Mandy has been helping Jerry with the paperwork associated with Sickbay. He doesn’t trust computers to keep good records, so he’s printed out everything, just about using up all our paper stock. She’s good with paperwork, so she volunteered to help him out.”

Pockets shook his head. “You know how relationships are in this ship,” he said. “If they aren’t together, they probably will be if they spend so much time in one another’s company.”

“Are you jealous?” Renny asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Nope,” the raccoon answered. “Mandy’s okay, but I don’t find myself attracted to her.”

“It’s possible that Jerry isn’t either. They may just be friends, do you think?”

“Maybe… but I still think they spend way more time together for just friends.”

Renny shook his head in resignation. “Jerry’s in Amanda’s quarters,” he said. “Go see him about your burn, but don’t cause a scene.”

“Who me?” Pockets responded with an innocent expression.

“Yes, you little bandit. You.”

***

“Come in, the door’s unlocked.”

Tarjon thumbed the control pad and then stepped into his partner’s room. The lights were dark and there was no one there. “Where are you?” the wolf asked.

“I’m in the bedroom, Frosty. Come on back.”

Tarjon tapped on the lights of the front room so he would not run into the furniture, and closed the door behind him. When he entered the back room, he stopped with a frown. The Siberian husky had her tail to him, but her garments were neatly folded on the bed. She wrapped a towel around her middle and then turned around to give him a smile with a wag of her tail.

“Hi,” she said.

“What are you doing?” Tarjon asked. “I thought we were going to get something to eat right after the launch.”

“That was before I decided I wanted an immersion bath,” she said. “I’ve never been on a ship with a bathtub before and it’s been a long time since I’ve used anything but a shower anywhere else.”

Snorting, her companion turned to go. “Have your bath. I’m going up to eat,” he said.

“Wait,” Mina called. Frost turned to look at her. She stepped up to him and put a hand on his muscular arm. “Share my bath with me,” she whispered. “There’s enough room, even for you.”

Tarjon let out a long exhale and shook his head. “No, Mina. We’ve discussed this before and you know my answer. Go take your bath. I’ll see you later on the upper deck.”

The husky shrugged her shoulders. “Can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said impishly. Just to spite her companion, she handed him her towel and then padded off into the bathroom in nothing but her fur.

Tarjon shook his head with a deep frown and then departed her quarters after dropping the towel on a chair. Out in the hallway, he saw Lorelei at the lift. The door opened and she stepped inside before noticing him.

“Going up?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you,” he replied.

“Where’s your friend?” the lapin doe asked as the door closed. She tapped the upper-level button.

“She wants to try out the bathtub,” he grumbled. “She’ll be up later.”

Lori smiled up at him with large blue eyes. “I’m surprised you aren’t in there with her,” she said.

Tarjon looked at her incredulously. “Listen, Mina is my business partner, not my bed partner,” he snorted.

“Why not? I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”

Tarjon could not believe how direct this rabbit was with him. It was irritating. He bared his teeth and growled, “That’s not your business!”

Lorelei only grinned at his response. “I thought so!”

“Thought what?”

“You do like her, don’t you? You’re just afraid of a relationship!”

Tarjon felt like wrapping his thick fingers around the doe’s neck, but he closed his eyes and silently counted to ten. The lift doors opened and Lorelei slipped an arm around his, pulling him out into the room with her. Renny and Jerry were in the galley, quietly chatting with the elderly human, and Damien was spreading out an exercise mat on the far side of the room.

The wolf followed Lori to a couch and then sat down beside her, his breakfast temporarily forgotten. He sat there quietly for a moment while Lorelei merely waited expectantly. Without prompting, Tarjon began talking in a low voice so the others would not hear.

“Mina and I first met about fifteen years ago,” he said. “We dated for a while, but she let her finances get out of hand and dug herself fairly deep into debt. My cousin’s brother-in-law had helped me make some good investments with my savings, so I had a nice little bank account that Mina thought she would tap into. She told me I’d gotten her pregnant, but her doctor was actually a friend of mine and I discovered otherwise. I realized that it was just a ploy to appeal to my sense of family and get me to propose to her. I thought that if I confronted her, she’d bolt and run away. I was wrong.”

“What happened?”

Tarjon leaned back against the couch cushions and rubbed his temples. “She admitted that she was never pregnant, but still wanted to marry me. By this time, I figured out that she saw me as nothing more than a way to get her out of debt, no matter how she felt about me.”

“But yet you’re still together after all this time,” Lori said.

Tarjon scowled at her. “Since she wouldn’t let up on me, I’m the one who bolted. In an effort to get away from her, I joined the Dennieran military as a helmsman on the battleship Deep Well during the Dennier-Mainor conflicts. Unfortunately, it did no good to run. She signed up too, but I’ll probably never know how she wound up serving on the same ship as a mechanic. We got busy with our assignments and she stopped trying to marry me, but she’s never let me out of her sight.”

Lori tilted her head, letting one ear droop. “She can’t be too bad if you still let her tag along with you, even now.”

The wolf finally smiled. “Well, even I can admit that she’s an extremely good mechanic. Our service contracts ended a year after Dennier and Mainor agreed to a truce and she followed me wherever I went as my mechanic. We hired out as a team on several vessels, but my investments finally earned enough that I could buy a ship of my own. She talked me into keeping her on as my mechanic and helped me pick out the rest of my crew.”

“Where’s your crew?”

“They’re waiting for us on Fyn, where we’re headed after I take possession of my ship on Pomen.”

Lorelei stretched and then smiled at the wolf. “Do you think that you and Mina will ever get married?”

“Miss, I…”

“You may call me Lori.”

“Lori, I may one day take a mate for life, but knowing Mina as I do, I don’t intend for it to be her. She’s a great mechanic and sometimes is a good friend, but she also likes to play mind-games. She probably thinks she’ll eventually wear me down, so I have to maintain a psychological barrier against her at all times.”

Lorelei’s pleasant smile faded at this last revelation, but then her eyes sparkled with a new thought. She put a hand on his knee and whispered, “If you need a break from her attentions, I’m willing to offer you a new distraction.”

“What kind of…. uh… oh…” Tarjon swallowed when he realized what her offer meant. “Is that part of the ship’s services?”

“No, it’s merely a personal invitation.”

“Uhm, thanks,” he said.

Lori giggled at his reaction and then stood up. “What would you like for breakfast?” she asked. Tarjon’s stomach growled at the mention of food. He stood up with her and named his request. Lori nodded at his short list and said, “I can have that ready for you in about twenty minutes, if you can wait that long.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Lori padded off to the galley. Tarjon considered joining the others at the galley table, but Damien’s exercise routine caught his eye. The mastiff was stripped to the waist and exercising in a number of moves that the wolf did not remember ever seeing before.

“Hello,” Tarjon said when he stopped beside the mat. Damien looked over at him, but continued exercising.

“Hi,” he replied. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Just watching you work out,” Tarjon answered. “I don’t recognize your moves.”

“I used to be a Tanthean boxer. This was my trainer’s personal exercise routine.”

“You’re a fighter?”

“Used to be, but I like to stay in shape. Boxing, wrestling, martial arts… How about yourself?”

Tarjon smiled. “I’ve been in more barroom brawls than I can count, but I’ve done some boxing in my time.”

Damien studied him quietly and Frost could almost read his mind. “How about a friendly match?” Tarjon asked.

Damien gave him a good-natured smile. “I’m not sure your passenger flight insurance will cover us if I hurt you.”

Pulling off his shirt, Tarjon grinned. “I’m willing to take that chance,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a good workout.”

Damien looked over toward the galley. “Did you hear that, Renny?” he called. “How about it?”

“Yes, I heard. Why are you asking my permission?”

“You’re the first officer.”

“If you’re both willing, go for it.”

Damien walked to a wall cabinet, pulled out two pair of Terran boxing gloves, and then tossed one set to the wolf. “Give us a hand lacing up,” he said. Renny walked over to the mat just as the lift door opened. Taro walked onto the deck and went to the galley to sit down next to Jerry.

“Hello, Mr. Desmond,” she said to the passenger.

“Hello, Captain,” the gentleman replied with a smile. He picked up a slice of toast and buttered it with a greenish paste from Alexandrius.

“What’s going on?” Taro asked when she noticed the trio on the exercise mat.

“Two fools want to beat up on one another,” Jerry replied. “I’m staying out of it until one of them needs Sickbay.” Taro frowned. Several of her crewmates occasionally worked out together on the deck, but she was unsure if including one of their passengers was a good idea. The vulpine reynard correctly guessed her train of thought and added, “Mr. Frost offered to work out with Damien. Renny gave his permission after Damien informed our passenger that his flight insurance won’t cover him if he’s injured.”

“I see,” she said quietly.

Jerry stood up. “Maybe I’d better play referee and keep a close watch on them,” he said.

As the fox approached the gloved pair, Renny told them, “The edge of the mats will mark the rope boundaries. Go to your corners and wait for my signal to begin.”

“I’ll take over from here,” the physician said. “Go eat your breakfast.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

Both combatants stood ready until Jerry dropped his hand a moment later. Damien and Tarjon approached one another and then tapped their gloves together. Tarjon took a sudden swing at the mastiff, but only found empty air. He grinned and then tried another tactic.

The lift door opened again and the ship’s engineer wandered into the room, both of his hands in his namesake pockets. He looked around the deck, watched the boxers jab at one another for a moment, and then noticed Lorelei serving a plate to the navigator. He sauntered over to the cheetah and took a seat next to him. He gave a casual wave to the captain, but she was busy watching the fighters.

“Hey, I heard you two spent the night in a haunted hotel while we were on Kantus,” Pockets said with wide eyes. Renny looked up as he swallowed the first bite of his breakfast.

“It was a bed and breakfast, not a hotel, and it was supposedly haunted,” the cheetah replied a moment later. “If there were any ghosts there, we never saw them.”

“Did you hear any strange noises or bumps in the night?”

Renny shook his head. “No, nothing. The place was peacefully quiet.”

Pockets looked thoughtful. “If I’d known you were going to a place like that, I would have given you my lucky four-leaf clover from Earth.”

“What is lucky about a plant with four leaves?”

“The clover on Earth only has three leaves. The locals there believe a rare one with four leaves is lucky!”

Renny took a drink from his cup. “Silly superstition,” he said with an amused expression. “I know you believe in that sort of thing, Pockets, but we saw no paranormal activity at the Crescent Bed & Breakfast Inn. I don’t think your mutant clover could have made our stay there any quieter.”

The raccoon frowned. “The Crescent, huh? I’ll have to remember not to stay there anytime I’m in Gate City.”

“Why? You don’t like a good night’s sleep?”

“There are rumors of ghosts there. I don’t want to anger any ghosts!”

The first officer rolled his eyes. The diminutive engineer apparently heard only what he wanted to hear. “I’ve heard the stories, but we didn’t see any ghosts, Pockets!”

“Did you go to sleep?”

“Of course I did.”

“They could have been in your room without you seeing them if your eyes were closed!”

“If they were, they left us alone.”

“What if they were plotting while you slept?”

Renny signed audibly. “Pockets… you’re making my brain hurt. Forget about it. I’m sure the Crescent won’t miss your money if you don’t check into one of their rooms.”

“You can bet I won’t be staying there!”

The cheetah left his empty plate and glass for Lorelei and then headed for the lift without another word to the superstitious raccoon. Pockets pulled out a transparent circlet from a shirt pocket of his coveralls and examined the clover within the disc. The acrylic was scratched and scuffed from sharing space in his pockets with tools and miscellaneous junk, but he vowed to keep it with him everywhere he went.

***

Damien found an opening and drove his glove up against the wolf’s jaw. Frost’s head rocked with the blow and he fell backward onto the mat. His equilibrium was skewed, so he lay there gathering his wits. When the marbles finished spinning around inside his skull, Tarjon looked up at the mastiff with a lopsided grin.

“You win,” he conceded. “You’re good… better than I am.”

Damien smiled and offered his glove to help him up to his feet. “You’re pretty good too,” he replied, “but you could use a little training to fine-tune your offense.”

Tarjon stood up and put a glove on the loadmaster’s shoulder. “Is that an offer to coach me?”

“Are you serious?”

“Sure am. As you say, I can use the training.”

“Hmm, okay. I’m agreeable, providing the captain gives her approval.”

Tarjon grinned and looked over at the vixen. “How about it, Captain?” he asked before he grabbed the end of a glove lace in his teeth.

Taro frowned. “I have to admit that I’m impressed by my loadmaster’s boxing abilities, so I’m afraid he might hurt you inadvertently, Mr. Frost. Your passenger flight insurance doesn’t cover something like that.”

“What if I sign a waiver?” the wolf asked. “I won’t hold him responsible if it’s an accident.”

“I don’t know…”

“I can pay him extra for the training,” Tarjon added. “Listen, we’re going to be with you folks for a month and this would be good to help me pass the time.”

Taro finally nodded. “If you’re willing to sign a waiver, then I don’t see why I should refuse it. All I ask is that you be careful.”

“Thank you, Captain. I’ll gladly sign it.”

“See me sometime tomorrow,” the vixen replied. “I’ll have the waiver drawn up for your thumbprint by then.”

“Excellent!” Tarjon said with a wide smile. He turned back to Damien as he removed a glove and went to retrieve his shirt. Lorelei waved at him from the galley and the wolf licked his lips in anticipation of his breakfast.

***

“Okay, folks, we have an unusual cargo this time around, so you can’t just load up the hold as we normally do with standard crates,” Damien told the gathered crew. The Blue Horizon landed twenty minutes earlier and the mastiff had just signed off on the official documents taking possession of the cargo.

“What’s so different about this load?” Justy asked. He looked over at a pair of large delivery trucks backed up to the loading ramp. Damien walked to the nearest one with his slateboard and flipped the latch. He raised the door with one hand and gestured inside.

“Rather than standard octagonal shipping crates, we have a number of rug and carpet rolls, each wrapped in plastic,” he said. “We’ve got them in several sizes, in length and diameter, so standard tie-downs aren’t going to work. Some of these are extremely heavy.”

He gestured up higher on the back wall above the storage bins at a series of racks with adjustable horizontal arms. “The larger ones will go up there, where they will transport better, but we’ll still have smaller ones secured to the deck with special straps I’ve requisitioned from Aris Grand so this can be done correctly.”

“These hand-made items are very expensive and are being exported to the Pomen ruler of Bassaris under serious scrutiny,” Taro added. “The Tanthean monarch has guaranteed safe passage for this cargo simply by requesting our services by name. The Blue Horizon has a special relationship with the House of Aris and we’re going to treat this cargo as if everything was made of irreplaceable Vaterfin Crystal. The Bassaran prince will have an armored truck waiting for them when we land.”

“Armored?” Justy repeated. “Wow…”

Damien clapped his hands and said, “We can hand-carry the smaller rolls with one person to each end, but power loaders will be needed for the larger rolls.”

“Jerry and I will operate the power loaders if they’re working,” Renny announced. He and the male fox left the group and walked across the hold to a pair of exoskeleton power suits stowed near the engine room. They had picked them up secondhand after getting the new ship, but it turned out they were not very reliable and often broke down under a heavy load.

The captain looked over at the coyote standing at her elbow as the others started in Damien’s direction. “Do you have a ride to the print shop?” she asked.

Amanda nodded. “I just called for a cab to meet me here,” she replied. “The name tags that Cindy ordered for us have been paid for and are ready to pick up, but the shop is across town from the spaceport. She didn’t know that when she placed the order. Depending upon traffic, it may take an hour and half to get there and back.”

Taro frowned and looked at her techwatch. “We’re scheduled to launch at fourteen hundred hours, local time. That gives you roughly two hours round trip.”

“You will wait for me if we get stuck in traffic, won’t you?” Amanda asked hopefully.

Chuckling, the vixen put a hand on the coyote’s shoulder. “We aren’t going anywhere without you, Mandy, even if we have to miss our launch window and reschedule take-off. Just don’t dawdle.”

“Hopefully, I’ll be back before that happens.”

“Well, you’re off to a good start. Here comes your cab.”

Amanda trotted off toward a green and yellow vehicle that pulled up next to the delivery trucks, but before Taro could join her crew to help with the cargo, she saw her passengers approach from the lift. She gave them a pleasant smile.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hi, Captain,” Tarjon answered. He wore a simple white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a pair of denim jeans and boots. Mina had on a blue skirt with a matching halter-top and sandals.

“We’ll be launching in two hours,” Taro said, “but if you want to get some fresh air and wander around the spaceport shops, you’re welcome to do so until then. Just don’t be late getting back.”

Mina grinned. “The fresh air and the sunshine out here is nice,” she replied, “but I think I will check out the trinket shops in the spaceport. It shouldn’t take me two hours to see what’s there.” She looked up at her companion. “You coming along?” she asked.

Tarjon shook his head. “No, if the captain says it’s okay, I’d like to help with the cargo.”

“Suit yourself, Frosty,” the Siberian husky said. She gave Taro a wave and then walked toward the terminal building.

“You don’t have to help us load rugs,” Taro said to the wolf. “I pay my crew to do that for me.”

“I’m not asking for payment,” Tarjon replied with a toothy grin. “I just want something to do while we’re waiting around.”

The red vixen nodded her understanding and pulled a pair of work gloves from her back pocket. “I doubt mine will fit you, so follow me to the storage closet and we’ll see if we have some you can wear.”

“Thanks, Captain. I appreciate you letting me help.”

“You’re welcome. Just don’t get hurt, okay? Your flight insurance doesn’t cover this.”

Tarjon grinned at her. “Y’know, you bring up our insurance coverage just about every time I ask if I can do something,” he observed.

“We’re liable to keep you safe as we transport you from one location to another,” Taro explained. “I just don’t want to see either you or Mina hurt from misconduct, whether by yourselves or one of my crew.”

“Yeah, I understand,” the wolf responded with a wide grin. “I’m just giving you a hard time about it.”

Taro raised an eyebrow and gave him a smirk as she opened a storage locker. She pulled out a large pair of worn gloves that had to have been Durant’s. She handed them to Frost. “Here, these should fit. Now, get to work!”

Tarjon laughed and gave her a casual salute with the gloves. “Yes, ma’am!”

***

“The Blue Horizon has been authorized for immediate launch,” Taro announced.

Jerry checked the readouts of the pilot’s console and unconsciously nodded to himself. Energy buildup was at one hundred percent and he was about to fire the thrusters when there came an urgent knock on the bridge door.

“Hold it,” Taro said in alarm. Jerry stayed his finger over the green-lit control as the vixen unstrapped herself from the com station. Renny bit his bottom lip as Taro tossed her headset to him and then moved quickly to the door. When she opened the panel, she looked up into Tarjon’s smiling face.

“Mister Frost!” the vixen said in surprise, “Please get back to your cabin and get strapped in. We need to launch right now!”

“May I watch the launch from up here?” he asked quickly. “I won’t be in the way.”

“Passengers aren’t allowed on the bridge,” Renny called from the center seat.

“You heard the announcement a moment ago to get strapped in!” Jerry added.

“I’m a pilot, too,” offered the wolf. “I thought that if—”

“The control tower is demanding to know why we haven’t launched,” Renny announced. “We’re on the clock!”

Taro growled beneath her breath and pulled Tarjon into the room forcibly. “Sit down and strap in!” she said angrily. She jumped for her own seat, strapped in and then said to Jerry, “Punch it!”

The doctor fired the thrusters and then moved his hands quickly over the controls. The Blue Horizon rose vertically from the spaceport and then the elliptical flying saucer nosed up through the overhead clouds toward the upper atmosphere.

Once the freighter had finally reached orbit, Renny handed the com headset back to Taro and began his calculations for their journey to Pomen. Without looking at their passenger, Taro touched a pad on the engineering console next to her and then spoke into her headset mike on ship-wide broadcast. “The ship’s artificial gravity has automatically enabled and is reading normal. Once we have broken orbit and are beyond all planetary traffic, the LightDrive engines will be engaged for cruising speed, but mobility is now safe. You may now shed your harnesses and move about.”

She disconnected the circuit and then turned to look icily at the wolf. Knowing what was coming, Tarjon looked embarrassed and gave the vixen a small smile.

“Mister Frost,” Taro hissed, “this bridge is off-limits to you at all times, especially during launch and landings! If I find you in here again, I am going to fine you five hundred credits and then have you locked in your cabin for the duration of our flight! What you did was incredibly dangerous and stupid! Had we launched while you were standing there at the door, I’m sure our doctor here would now be treating you for injuries.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry,” Tarjon said in a humbled tone while he unbuckled his harness. “I just wanted to —”

“Get off my bridge!” Taro shouted. Frost bolted for the door and quickly departed. After the panel closed, Taro glanced down at her hands and muttered a curse.

“What is it?” Jerry asked as he and Renny looked over at her. Without another word, the Hestran vixen lifted her hands and let them see the mangled arm rests of her seat.

Jerry raised an eyebrow and Renny politely went back to his calculations. Taro sighed and tried to straighten an armrest, but its metal base was fractured. This was something she would have to report in with the home office for funding approval to get the chair replaced. Merlin would not be happy.

The intercom chirped and the vixen tapped the control with a hard-placed finger. “This is Taro,” she said tersely.

“Captain, would you please meet me in my office?” Damien asked. Jerry frowned at the tone of the mastiff’s voice and returned his attention to the instruments in front of him just as Renny fed the navigational data to his panel.

“I’ll be down in a moment,” Taro replied. “What’s up?”

“I just caught Pockets trying to pilfer one of the smaller Tanthean rugs from our cargo.”

There was a sharp snap when one of the mangled armrests of Taro’s chair broke off completely in her hand. Renny winced as the vulpine captain raised the piece in the air, but then she changed her mind about throwing it into a wall.

“I’ll be right there,” she said through clenched teeth. She disconnected the circuit, stood up, dropped the armrest in her chair, and then stormed off the bridge.

The cheetah glanced over at Jerry and said, “Coordinates have been transferred to your station. I’ll check back with you in a bit to see if you need anything.” The male fox only nodded his acknowledgement.

A few moments later, Taro and Renny stepped in through the door of the mastiff’s small office. Pockets sat meekly on a chair in the corner, nervously swinging his legs. Damien rested on the corner of his desk. Rolled up on the desktop beside him was an ornate rug in shades of brown, beige and burgundy, its plastic wrapping partially torn open. The hand-woven detail was intricate and tassels of Tanthean silk adorned its edges.

Taro only made a cursory glance at the rug before boring her eyes into Pockets’. She had to resist the urge to scream at him. Instead, she crossed her arms and simply waited for him to explain himself. Renny was unable to keep quiet, however.

“Pockets…” he began, “are you insane?” The raccoon shrank further into the corner, but said nothing in his defense. “This cargo belongs to a friend of King Aris!”

Damien looked over at Taro. “He was out there just as soon as you gave the okay to move around,” he said. “I guess he thought no one would notice him getting a small rug with everyone distracted from the launch.”

“How did you catch him?” Renny asked.

“I used one of your previous loadmaster’s tricks and set up a perimeter alarm as soon as the bay doors were closed and we began pressurization. I thought it would be a good idea with an expensive cargo and three passengers on board the ship. I didn’t suspect I’d catch our own engineer.”

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Renny asked the raccoon. Pockets shook his head quietly and looked down at his feet.

Taro rubbed her eyes and then let out a long, drawn-out breath. In a voice that was calmer than she felt, she looked at the raccoon and said, “Pockets, I am docking your pay for this voyage. Everyone else may have looked the other way when you occasionally filched things from the cargo, but I won’t tolerate it. You may have forgotten, but were it not for King Aris’ friendship, we wouldn’t even have this freighter!”

Pockets pulled his feet up into the chair and wrapped his arms around his knees. He rested his forehead on them, but said nothing.

“You are also denied shore leave when we get to Pomen,” Taro continued tersely. That got the raccoon’s attention. He looked up at her and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Taro put her hands on her hips and concluded by saying, “This is the only warning you’re going to get, Jerad Porter. You’ve been with us from the beginning, but the next time you’re caught stealing from our clients, Merlin will be holding interviews for your job!”

Renny looked surprised and exchanged glances with Damien. He could smell Taro’s anger radiating outward like heat waves and was sure that Pockets could too. The vulpine captain glared at the engineer for a few heartbeats and then quickly left the small office.

Renny sighed quietly and then crouched down so that he could look the raccoon in the eye. “Pockets, I’m not going to rake you over the coals beyond what Taro already did,” he said quietly, “but I think you should take her at her word. You’ve known her longer than I have, so keep that in mind the next time you take interest in our cargo. We’ve already lost several clients lately. If the Tanthean king decides we can’t be trusted with his cargo, we’ll never get another customer once that news got out.”

Pockets looked up at the cheetah with moisture in his eyes. He began to shake a little, but he was only able to speak a single word. “Sorry…” he whispered.

Renny nodded and put a hand on his small friend’s shoulder. “I think that’s all Taro wanted to hear from you. I just wish you’d been able to tell it to her yourself.”

***

Taro stormed into her cabin, skirted around the furniture on her way to the back room, and then collapsed on her bed in frustration. It seemed as if she was continually losing her temper lately, and it was getting to her.

Was it her, or did they just seem to have a string of bad luck lately?

She lay on her back and lifted up her hands in front of her face. She unclenched her fists and simply looked at her hands. Every Hestran knew when they went off-world that they would have to control their anger due to their inherent strength born of a heavy-gravity planet. Although she did not look it, Taro was stronger than most everyone she ever met while out among the worlds of the Planetary Alignment.

Normally, she did not have trouble maintaining a reign on her anger, but lately it seemed she was out of control. She was afraid that if she did not do something about it soon, she might actually hurt someone; perhaps it was the weight of responsibility that was piling up on her.

She had seen Merlin lose his temper on occasion, but overall, he had handled his responsibilities with seeming ease. How had he done it? she wondered to herself.

The vixen closed her eyes and rested her hands on the bed beside her, willing her heart rate to decrease with breathing exercises she remembered from somewhere. After a while, she calmed down and rolled over onto her stomach, gathering up a fluffy pillow in her arms. Perhaps a nap would help her relax.

She closed her eyes and lay there for a long while, but her mind was simply too active for sleep. With an audible sigh, she sat up next to the headboard and looked around the room. On the nightstand next to her, she snatched up a well-worn paperback copy of How to Control Your Anger. She did not think it had helped her thus far, but it would not hurt to give it another read.

She heard a knock on the external door of her cabin and she closed the book in her lap wearily. Now what? she wondered. She heard the door panel open and then heard Jerry call out her name.

She got up and went out to the front room. “What can I do for you, Doc?” she asked in a tired voice. “I’m not really up for a visit right now.”

The male red fox studied her for a moment with his hands in the pockets of his white lab smock. “Captain, would you allow me to give you a brief examination?” he asked quietly.

Taro heaved a heavy sigh. “Why?”

“Because your first officer has asked me to take a look at you.” He pointed toward the book still in the vixen’s hand. “He’s not the only one who’s taken notice of your temper lately. I’ve heard several of the crew mention it in conversation.”

Taro’s expression grew dark and she opened her mouth to make a caustic remark, then thought better of it with a shake of her head. “I suppose I have been on edge lately,” she admitted. She sat down on the couch, set the book on a cushion beside her, and looked up at him with a tired expression. “Go ahead and examine me, Doc. Maybe you can do something for me that this book can’t.”

Jerry gave her a quiet nod and pulled a small med-kit from his pocket.

***

Max Sinclair looked up into the cloudy evening sky in anticipation. There were numerous sets of running lights over the spaceport and he wondered which ones might belong to the Blue Horizon. The German shepherd took a drink from a cup on his table near the terminal window, and then looked over at a lion sitting across from him.

“Are you making any progress?” he asked his companion.

The male lion shook his head as he kept his attention on the tiny instruments in his large hands. He was working on the slateboard tablet that Max took with him everywhere he went, but it had developed problems on this trip.

“Almost,” the lion replied after a moment. “I think the core values are almost shot, though. If you can afford it, you should upgrade to a S’leen model. This C’maat edition is a luxury item, but it’s obsolete and I don’t think many folks use them anymore.”

Max frowned. “How hard would it be to transfer the data from it to a new one?” he asked.

The lion looked up when the slateboard beeped at him. He reattached the back panel and answered, “Not hard at all, providing you can keep this one running long enough for the transference. For now, however, it’s working.”

“Thanks!”

“Don’t mention it, Max. I enjoy working on old computer systems.”

“Blue Horizon, PA registry one-one-three-eight, now landing on pad one-two,” a subtle voice announced over the terminal intercom.

“That’s my ship!” Max said with a grin.

The lion handed the slateboard to him and gave him a smile. “Lucky you,” he said, taking a quick lap from a cup of tea. “I have another two hours to wait for my ride.”

Max stood up, put the slateboard into his carry-on luggage, and then held out a hand to his companion. “How much do I owe you for repairing my C’maat?”

“Not a thing. It gave me something to do while we were waiting.”

“Thanks!” Max replied as they shook hands. “If there’s anything I can help you with, just contact me via the Blue Horizon.”

“Tell your boss that if he needs any upgrades or tech work done on your company systems, my services are open to negotiation. I put my contact info on your slateboard.”

“I will.” Max looked out the window and saw the blue freighter land gently on a brightly-lit launch pad. “Time to go. Take care of yourself.”

“You too. Bye, Max.”

The German shepherd gathered up his bags and headed for the terminal ramp. He trotted down the steps to ground-level, and then started out across the tarmac. He heard footsteps behind him so he glanced over his shoulder to see a human couple following him, a man and his pregnant mate.

“Excuse me,” the woman said when she saw his eyes dart quickly to her protruding belly.

“Ma’am?”

“Are you goink to that shep?” she asked with a thick accent.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m a mechanic on her crew.”

“Is that the Blauer Horizont?” asked the male.

“Yes, sir,” Max replied with a cordial smile. “They’ve just arrived from Kantus.”

“Thank you,” said the man. “My father is supposed to be a passenger on your ship. We’re here to take him home with us.”

“Come with me,” Max told them. “We’ll see who disembarks in a moment.” No sooner had he spoken than the large cargo bay door began to open on its port side and a ramp began to extend to the tarmac.

“There you are!” Damien called down to the young German shepherd with a grin. “I was about to report you to the captain as AWOL!”

“All hands!” Taro’s voice broadcast over the cargo bay intercom speakers, “All hands report to the hold to unload cargo. Passengers will please check out with Amanda at the main hatch before you disembark. Thank you for flying with Blue Horizon Space Available.”

Max turned toward the humans. “Your father should out in a few minutes,” he told them.

“Thank you, sir,” the man replied. Max hefted his bags and then trotted up the ramp to Damien at the bay door controls.

“Well,” said the mastiff. “Let me see it.”

Max grinned widely and then held up his left hand. Damien examined the middle finger and even gave it a good-natured tug.

“It looks and feels real,” he said. “It matches your skin and fur coloring.”

“Doctor Bengoro did a good job,” Max said proudly. “I like it!”

“Can you feel anything with it?”

The shepherd shook his head, but his ice blue eyes still shined. “No, it’s still a prosthetic just made to look like a real finger. I had to go through a week of physical therapy to learn how to pick up things with that hand all over again.” He wiggled it to show that it could operate normally. “It was weird at first, since I’d gotten used to nothing being there in the middle and had compensated for it. It feels natural now, even if there’s no sense of touch in it.”

Damien gave him a warm smile, tapped the new finger with one of his own, and said, “Just don’t lose this one!”

“Not a chance!” Max replied as he extended the finger by itself. “I can’t wait to show it to the others.”

The mastiff reached up and took hold of the young mechanic’s hand, gently folding the digit back down. “Don’t stick your middle finger out like that,” he said quietly so the pair of individuals waiting nearby wouldn’t hear. “It’s considered a rude gesture in some places, especially to humans.”

“Oh, yeah... I forgot.”

***

Tarjon shook hands with the Blue Horizon’s captain as the three of them departed the lift onto the cargo deck. He gave her a wide smile. “I apologize for being a pain in the trip, but Mina and I appreciated the chance to fly with you.”

Taro returned the grip. “Apology accepted, Mr. Frost. I’ve been a little irritable, myself, so it’s not all your fault. Doctor Jerry thinks I might have picked up something from our previous stop that our inoculations didn’t cover.”

“Is it contagious?” Mina asked in concern with a hand to her throat. Taro gave the husky a smile and shook her head.

“He doesn’t think so, but it might not be a bad idea if you have a physician look you over before you head out into deep space for any length of time. How are you feeling?”

Mina looked up, twitched an ear and then shrugged. “I feel like I always do,” she replied.

Tarjon put an arm around her and said into her ear, “That sounds like you’re still infected with whatever it is you’ve always had.”

Mina grinned and swatted his hand from her shoulder. “I guess I’m okay, captain,” she said. “I’ve been on board with you for nearly a month. If it was catching, I’m sure I would have gotten it before now.”

Taro nodded and asked, “What are your plans now?” They walked toward Amanda near the open bay door with their luggage. The rest of the crew had already begun transferring their cargo into an armored truck sent by the Pomen prince. Ursine guards watched the loading with serious scrutiny and Pockets’ demeanor was noticeably subdued by their presence.

“First we go find our new ship, we make sure they made all the modifications that were ordered, and then he can sign to take possession of it,” Mina replied, adjusting the straps of her overalls. “I’ve already ordered a full stock of supplies for the ship, so once it’s been delivered and put away, we can head over to Fyn to get the rest of our crew.”

Taro nodded when they got to the ramp. She saw a human couple greet Mr. Desmond with grins, tears and hugs, and she could not help but smile. Lehigh had been afraid that his son’s wife would not like him, but it appeared they were off together on a good start.

She looked back up at Mina and held out a hand to her. “I wish the two of you the best of luck,” she said. “Our next assignment will also be on Fyn, so perhaps we’ll see one another again.”

Tarjon rubbed his hands together and looked out across the spaceport tarmac. He stretched out his arm and pointed toward another landing pad several slots over. “I think that’s her, right there!”

Taro and Mina followed his gaze. A white vessel with gold paint trim gleamed in the nighttime flood lights. It was a sleek, flying wing starship of the compact Myotis class, built for interstellar travel and atmospheric aerodynamics, with the latest advancements in astrogation technology. It could hold a crew of ten comfortably and up to twenty if everyone doubled up in its cabins. The Myotis cruiser line had been in operation for years and boasted fine construction and repeat customers.

“Nice!” Taro said in appreciation.

“Thanks, Captain,” the wolf replied. “However, I’m itching to get my paws on her, so we’ll bid you safe journey and be on our way.”

“Safe journeys to you two as well.”

Tarjon met with Amanda to check out, and then a moment later he picked up his luggage with Mina following him down the ramp across the tarmac.

As they walked, the Siberian husky looked up at her companion with a smile. “You’re grinning like a happy puppy!” she teased.

“And why not?” he replied with a laugh. “You know what it’s like to want something for years? I’m looking forward to this!”

“Yes, Frosty. I know what it’s like to want someone for years.” Tarjon raised an eyebrow at her comment, but then she batted her eyes at him with hands clasped over her heart. He could not help but laugh.

“C’mon, mechanic!” he said. “Pick up the pace and double-time it!”

***

The Blue Horizon lifted off from Pomen three days later, its hold filled to capacity containing three separate paid shipments to various locations on Fyn. Considering the loss of clients in recent weeks, Taro was happy to have this trio of assignments at the same time to make up for dwindling company funds. Cindy and Keri had worked overtime to secure the deliveries, making sure they were all paid in advance. The mail quota was heavier than usual, so the hold was packed with only a narrow walkway dividing each customer’s goods, and a path around the entire perimeter of the cargo bay.

Damien was making a final inspection of the cargo before he was to report to the bridge for his watch. As he came around the bay near engineering on his way back to the lift, he saw the raccoon watching him from the doorway.

“What’s going on, Pockets?” the mastiff asked suspiciously.

The raccoon held up both hands with an annoyed expression. “Don’t worry, mister loadmaster,” he replied, “I’m not going to steal anything!”

“Then how come you’re out here?”

“I was cleaning the actuator on one of the landing claws and needed some fresh air. The recycler is now filtering the fumes out of the engineering compartment. You’re welcome to go in there and sample the air with a deep breath, if you don’t believe my story.”

Damien frowned at the raccoon’s attitude. “Listen, Pockets. There’s no need to get this way with me. I was—”

“Save it. I know you were only doing your job. Just don’t expect me to thank you for it.” Pockets turned his back on the loadmaster when a small blip sounded from the room behind him.

“Did you do this with Durant?”

Pockets stopped in his tracks, spun around and aimed a finger at the larger male. “Durant was my friend. Don’t ever compare yourself to him!” Before Damien could utter a response, the engineer retreated into his lair.

The mastiff stared after him in mute silence for a long moment, and then turned to go report in to the bridge.

***

Justy yawned widely, his small pink tongue curling up as he stretched. It had been quiet during his watch, and he had just finished the book he had brought with him, but he had another hour still left until his relief showed up.

He set the slateboard on the floor beside the center seat and stared out into space. Stellar distances were so vast that even at LightDrive speeds, the vista of stars appeared unmoving unless someone stared at them for long periods. Justy blinked to refresh his eyes, and one of the stars to the starboard suddenly appeared to be keeping pace with them.

He watched in interest as the star grew larger in size and stellar magnitude. He thought he might be witnessing a sun going into a rare nova and leaned forward on the console with interest.

The object continued to grow, however, and he jumped in his seat when sensors bleeped at him in alarm. The koala shook his head as he realized that it was another vessel approaching from the starboard, its speed closely matching their inertia.

He hit the intercom pad on his panel and a sleepy voice issued from the speaker. “This is Taro… what is it?”

“Sorry to bother you, Captain,” Justy exclaimed, “but we have another ship coming up alongside of us.”

“Who is it?”

Justy moved to another station and called up the sensor log. “Its transponder identifies it as the SS Frostbite, PA99473.”

“Frostbite? I don’t know that one. Has her captain tried to hail us?”

“No, ma’am. Do you think it’s a pirate ship?”

There was a moment of silence. “I wouldn’t rule out that possibility. See if you can raise them, but be on the alert for any trickery. I’ll be right there.”

“Aye.” The koala closed the connection and then dialed up the other vessel’s registry code. “Frostbite, this is the SS Blue Horizon. What can we help you with?”

“Blue Horizon,” said a familiar voice, “this is Captain Frost. If I’m not mistaken, is this Justy I’m speaking to?”

The koala grinned when Taro and Renny walked in through the door, both in robes and fur looking disheveled. “Yes, this is Justy,” he said into the headset microphone in his hand. “Good to hear from you, Tarjon. We didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

“My ship was already fully supplied when we got to it, so we were given clearance to launch about an hour after you. We’re on our way to Fyn to pick up the rest of my crew and thought we’d accompany you there, if that’s okay with your captain.”

Taro gave Justy a nod and then yawned widely; she tugged on Renny’s arm back toward the door. The pair departed without a single word.

“Taro’s asleep right now, Captain, but I don’t think having you along will be a problem,” Justy replied. “Are you sure we won’t be holding your faster ship back too much?”

There was a laugh from the connection. “Yeah, I’m sure we could outrun you, but you folks are good people and we’d like the company.”

“That’s great! Listen… if Mina doesn’t mind, I’d like the chance to match her at another game of chess while we’re in flying in tandem. I have an online board that she could connect into with your computer.”

“You know she’ll whoop your tail again, Justy.”

“Hey, she didn’t beat me every game! Besides, I got a lot of practice playing chess with her while you were with us. I think I can give her an even run for her efforts!”

“She just said that you’ll be sorry you tangled with her, but yes, she accepts your online challenge. Personally, I agree that you’ll be sorry you wanted her— Ow! Don’t hit, Mina!”

Justy grinned widely as there were sounds of a scuffle for a moment over the open connection.

“Sorry about that, Justy,” Mina’s voice said over the speaker. “CAPTAIN Frost has gone back to the galley to prepare my breakfast. You and I are now alone together to wreak havoc across the chess board. You ready?”

“I’m calling up the program now. You can connect using our transponder ID and the activation code, Chaturanga.”

“Chaturanga, eh? That’s appropriate for chess. Got it and connecting in now. Better have some bandages ready for your tail!”

***

Renny drummed his fingers on the guidance shifts before him and wondered idly why he had not brought a book with him to the bridge for his watch. He had relieved Justy two hours earlier and had already grown bored. When Merlin was captain, the cheetah had often suggested having a StellarNet feed routed to a screen on the bridge, but the idea was always nixed since the pilot needed to be alert for any emergency. Those so-called emergencies were extremely rare, so the first officer wondered if he might sweet-talk Taro into having Pockets rig up the connection anyway. It would help pass the time even if all he had to watch on StellarNet was INN broadcasts.

Standing up from the seat, he decided to do some exercises. He did not have a floor mat, but the bridge was not large enough for a full set of calisthenics anyway. Despite this, he dropped to the floor and began a routine of push-ups.

The door opened later just as he finished with a set of rigorous sit-ups, and Lorelei walked in with a tray of food in her hands.

“Have you worked up an appetite?” she asked with a teasing lilt to her voice. Renny looked up at her with a grin and licked his lips.

“You know me so well,” he said as he got up and took the tray from her. “Thank y—” The sensors bleeped suddenly in alarm and Renny heaved a big sigh. He handed the tray back to the rabbit and shut off the klaxon. “Looks like the Frostbite has gotten too close to our… no, wait a minute, that’s not Tarjon’s ship!”

Renny jumped into the pilot seat, buckled his flight harness and then activated the emergency maneuvering system. He grabbed the guidance shifts, keeping his eyes trained on the instrumentation before him, and said over his shoulder, “You’d better get strapped in!”

The white doe set the food tray on the floor and then took the nearest seat at the environmental station. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Proximity alarms suddenly blared out and the starboard vidscreen came to life with a digital representation of the Blue Horizon at its center. The Frostbite was ahead of them by several thousand kilometers, but another vessel was bearing down on them from the port side at a speed too great to be a casual approach. A quick check of the com reading gave news that the cheetah dreaded.

“Their transponder isn’t transponding! It’s gotta be pirates!”

Renny was in a sudden dilemma. He could not get to the armament panel without leaving the pilot’s seat. “Lori! Can you get to the weapons console? We need to defend ourselves!” He knew the bunny was the peaceful type, but she had exhibited her flawless skills with a handgun that time back on Fyn when the Basilisk crew had tortured Merlin. Perhaps she could be just as precise with the ship’s weaponry.

Lorelei was scared, but she knew what was at stake and unbuckled herself to move to the station at the front of the bridge. Renny cursed beneath his breath when another klaxon blared out and warning lights bathed the bridge in red. A spray of greenish-white energy spread out toward them from the oncoming ship, and he had to spin the Horizon over on one axis in order to avoid damage. From the angle of the shot, Renny knew they were trying to disable his engines.

He increased their velocity in an effort to outmaneuver their opponent. Unfortunately, the fully loaded freighter was no match for the speed and agility of the marauder’s smaller design. It resembled nothing more than a fat, blunt-nosed cylinder, but it could maneuver faster than the larger cargo vessel.

***

Taro’s quarters suddenly lurched to the side with a jolt hard enough to launch her out of the shower, a bottle of shampoo hitting the deck beside her. The vixen tumbled to the floor in a heap, slid across the tile to the side of the sink counter. She fought to regain her footing and equilibrium, and had to cling to the counter in order to stand. The room shuddered with a low growl as another heavy jolt rocked the ship again.

From the other room she heard Lori’s voice from the intercom, “Captain, come to bridge! We’re under attack!”

She struggled to her feet when another jolt rocked the ship. It sent her stumbling against a wall as she propelled herself out of the door and toward the hallway.

***

On the bridge, Renny’s fingers gripped the guidance shifts as he fought to evade the pirate vessel. He whipped it starboard while pushing up their speed for escape. The Horizon banked sharply as angry fingers of energy slashed out at the sluggish freighter, only to sail right back into the barrage of green fire. It was like trying to escape through an electrified fence.

Taro stumbled in through the bridge door just as the com station lit up with intercom requests from just about everyone on board. The towel-clad vixen somehow managed to get into the com chair and buckle up the harness.

She glanced up at the active vidscreen before she realized that some of the ethereal display came from her ship. She looked down at Lorelei at the weapons console and noted in wonder the ease in which the bunny operated the armaments against their attackers. Unfortunately, Renny was concentrating so intently on avoiding enemy fire that Lori’s chances of actually hitting the pirates was practically hopeless with the erratic flight of the Blue Horizon.

Taro turned quickly to her station and hit the ship-wide intercom as she glanced up at the active vidscreen.

“All hands, hang on!” she broadcast to everyone. “Looks like we’ve got pirates after our cargo. I’m not sure we can outrun their weapons for long, so be alert for armed boarders. If we can just—”

The attacking vessel suddenly veered off in a move that surprised both Renny and Lori at their controls. It almost looked as if the ship was trying to avoid collision. Then without warning, a white flying wing appeared directly between the freighter and its attackers, its thrusters on full braking as it whipped around to follow the pirates.

“It’s Frosty!” Lorelei exclaimed happily. She clapped her hands and bounced in her seat beneath the safety harness.

Mixed streamers of blue and green fire were exchanged between the Frostbite and the marauder as they sped off into the void, but Renny saw none of it. He recalculated their course and resumed their heading toward Fyn with as much speed as the blue saucer could manage to get back up to the interstellar inertia they had lost.

For several moments, it felt odd that the deck plates beneath their feet were no longer tilting and shaking crazily. Although they seemed to be out of danger for the moment, all three on the bridge maintained a watchful vigil.

Finally, Taro released her breath and looked over at her companions. “Good work, you two,” she said with a relieved smile. Cheetah and bunny exchanged quick glances.

“I couldn’t hit them,” Lori admitted with a frown. “Everything was too crazy!”

Renny shook his head too. “All I did was buy us a few minutes,” he replied. “If Tarjon hadn’t shown up, we would have been disabled and boarded.” He looked up at the screen, but saw no sign of the either vessel out among the stars. “That could still happen, y’know.”

Taro nodded, understanding their frustration, but still she gave each of them a warm smile. “Possibly,” she admitted, “but at least they wouldn’t have taken us without a fight. Good work, you two,” she repeated.

“I hope Mina and Frosty are okay,” Lorelei said in a quiet voice.

The intercom chirped and Taro would have leapt from her seat had she not been strapped in. She chuckled nervously and connected the call. “This is the bridge,” she said.

“Captain! Are we okay?” came a strained voice.

“For the moment, Max. Mr. Frost showed up to chase away the pirates, but we still don’t know how well they might be doing. Are you okay? The floor plates were shaking awfully hard during the attack.”

“Yeah, I’m okay, but we may find things scattered all over the ship. The backup inertia dampers for sudden jolts like this have been faulty lately and we haven’t had the extra parts to repair them.”

“Why haven’t we bought the parts we need?” Renny asked.

“Pockets requested the funding from the home office for the parts, but since we’ve lost several clients lately, Ms. Winters said she would have to find some other area in the budget to cut in order to pay for the parts we need. For a starship, those components aren’t cheap.”

Lori wrinkled her small nose. “I liked it better when we had money.”

Taro nodded in agreement. “I think several blasts might have gotten through our stellar shields during the attack. You and Pockets should start checking the ship for damage.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Taro made another glance at the vidscreen and then unbuckled her harness. “I’m going to go check on everyone else,” she said. “Lori, would you stay up here in case Renny needs anything?”

“Yes, ma’am, I will.”

“Thank you. Renny, should we need to—” The sensors bleeped again in alarm; Taro sat down quickly to buckle herself back in as Renny prepared to take evasive action. Before the vixen could get the harness fastened, a voice hailed them over the circuit she had left open.

“Ahoy Horizon!”

Taro visibly deflated in relief. “Ahoy, Frostbite! We’re so glad to see you! Are you two okay?” She transferred the conversation to the port vidscreen and the wolf’s grinning face peered out at them.

“Yeah, Mina and I are fine,” Tarjon replied. “We got to test out our new ship and modifications, and she passed wonderfully. Sorry we couldn’t get back here in time to save you from the initial attack. Are you guys all right in there?”

The Frostbite took up a position starboard aft of the Blue Horizon and made a lazy circuit over and above the freighter. Renny surmised that they were looking over the Horizon’s external damage.

“We’re shaken up, but still assessing condition of the ship. What happened with the other vessel? Do you think they’ll be back?”

A quiet chuckle came across the speaker. “Don’t worry about the Peg. We sent her running and then disabled its engines when we figured she had enough inertia to get her closer to Fynian traffic to be picked up by the local authorities, whom we’ve contacted.”

“Peg?” Lori asked.

“It’s a common nickname for that ship design,” Tarjon said with a laugh. “They’re small and cheap, but roomy with a decent little cargo hold. They also have interstellar range.”

Taro rubbed her eyes and suddenly remembered that she only wore a towel and had half-dried shampoo all through her fur. She figured she must look a fright, but it was too late to try to look presentable now. She looked up at the screen and asked, “Are you sure the Peg won’t be coming back for us?”

“Not to worry, Captain. Mina and I will watch over you until we get to Fyn. The rest of my crew will be disappointed they missed the excitement, but now we’ll have a tale to tell them.”

“Thank you, Captain Frost,” Taro said with a smile. “I appreciate your assistance and am grateful that you were here with us.”

“You’re welcome. Now why don’t you go tend to your people? You do look like you could use a shower, though.”

Taro chuckled with a shake of her head. “That’s where I was when the excitement began.”

***

Four hours later, Mina sat down in a comfortable chair on the bridge of the Frostbite, sliding her tail into the slotted seat back. The Siberian husky handed a cup of coffee to her companion and gave him a smile. “So, are you satisfied with the way she handles?” she asked.

Tarjon took a lap from his cup and then nodded. “Yeah, I enjoyed that little workout. Our little ship performed really well, and I think she’ll do nicely,” he said, “but I want you and Decade to see what you can do to tweak our speed when we have everyone on board.”

Mina smirked. “That’ll make him happy. You know how much he likes to improve upon any system he gets his paws onto!”

“This’s true.”

“You know… we still have a few hours before we get to Fyn. We’re all alone… with no distractions…” The husky leaned forward seductively and rolled a shoulder toward him. Frost swallowed, but shook his head. He opened his mouth to reply, but then a control panel twittered.

Tarjon looked up with a raised eyebrow. “What in thunder does that sound mean?” he muttered. The ship was still so new he was not familiar with all the sounds the vessel might make.

Mina laughed at him. “We have an interstellar call, Frosty.” She reached across a panel and thumbed a glowing blue touch pad. “This is Chief Engineer Ferris of the SS Frostbite, PA Registry 99473,” she said to a hidden microphone. “What can I help you with?”

There was a slight pause before the speaker’s voice came across the circuit. “Chief Ferris, my name is Merlin Sinclair, president of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer. May I speak with your captain, please?”

Mina toggled a switch and transferred the conversation to the large vidscreen window over them. Tarjon looked up at the image of a gray and white wolf in a dark blue dress shirt.

“Cousin Merle, hello,” he said with a smile.

“Hello, Tarjon,” said the other wolf. “It’s been a long time.”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve talked, but not that long since I’ve seen you.”

Merlin twitched an ear. “When was that?” he asked. “Was it on the Sagittarian Arrow on the flight from Tanthe to Crescentis? That’s the last commercial flight I took.”

Frost chuckled. “No, it was not on a commercial flight, but I’m hesitant to give you the name of the ship over an open channel.”

Merlin pursed his lip. “Well, the only other ship I’ve been on beside my own was the Lady of Dreams. Her captain transported us to Argeia to deliver the Cold Fire virus inoculation during the Siilv War.”

“As the humans would say, Bingo.”

Merlin’s amber eyes went wide in surprise. “You were there?”

“I was on the bridge at the helm.”

“I didn’t see you… Why didn’t you say anything?”

Tarjon grinned and spread out his arms. “Merle, you knew you were in the company of pirates. As with all who are considered pirates, I was keeping a low profile while guests were on board.”

Merlin nodded. He remembered hearing something similar from Tristan’s daughter, Laura Jazz, after she had been rescued from the destruction of Natasha’s great vessel.

“Well, that’s in the past now,” he replied. “I may not have exactly been close friends with your former captain, but she did help us twice when we needed it. I’m sorry she was lost.”

“Yes, she will be missed.”

Merlin nodded and then he brightened up. “Speaking of pirates, the reason I called is to thank you properly for the defense you provided for my flagship. Captain Nichols told me all about your heroics. I appreciate what you did.”

“You’re welcome, cousin. If there’s ever a time when you need my assistance, I’d consider it a favor if you would call on me. The Frostbite and her crew are for hire for any job needed, and for family I make special consideration. You and I always got along well when we spent our summers all over the countryside outside of Grandstorm.”

“Likewise, Tarjon. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.”

“I will. Thanks for calling, Merlin. I’ll be sure to stay in touch.”

***

Not a light was on in her bedroom, but Taro’s wet eyes were open as she gazed up at the ceiling. Her throat was tight, having just cried herself out. Her emotions had been running out of control, but she could not help for thinking that the cause was more than something she may have caught on the bunny planet. After all, she had not spent that much time out in the open air of that world, and it seemed to have affected only her. Perhaps there was more wrong with her.

Was she cut out to command the Blue Horizon? Did she really have what it takes to lead others, even if it was only for a common stellar freighter? The command decisions and crew reprimands made life tougher with her responsibilities, and lately they were really gnawing at her.

Taro felt the doubts rise up again in the pit of her stomach, churning as if she had eaten something bad. She turned over onto her side and wiped the moisture from her cheek fur, even as she felt as if she might cry again.

No! she thought to herself. I’m not going to give in to this fear! I can do this... Merlin says I can, and I know I can... I think...

She felt her throat tighten up and there was new moisture in her eyes. She forced it back, and burying her pride, realized she could not face this alone. She needed help. Taro made herself sit up on the bed and scoot back so she could lean against the headboard. With some hesitation, she reached out in the darkness for the intercom control on her nightstand.

“This is the bridge,” said a bored voice.

“Renny, this is Taro...” she said, trying to make her voice sound casual.

“Yes?”

“I... need you. Please come to my quarters.”

“Uh, I’m on watch, you know that.”

“Have someone relieve you. I need you... please.”

There was a momentary silence, and then he replied, “Okay, but I don’t think it’s appropriate that you drag me from bridge duty to ruffle the covers...”

Taro’s eyes went wide. “Renny....” she said with a little crack in her voice, “It’s not that, but I do need you. Please?”

The last was not an order and the cheetah on the bridge suddenly realized that it was a plea in her voice. He was suddenly filled with dread. “Sure, I’ll get Max up here and then I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you,” Taro said quietly. She closed the connection, wiped new moisture from her eyes, and then dried her hands on the hem of her nightshirt.

To get through this personal crisis, she needed the arms of her favorite cheetah around her. If she had to endure this emotional rollercoaster, she knew she could face it better if she were not alone. She would share her doubts and fears with him, and whether or not he had any answers, it would be enough that he was with her through it.

LIVE CARGO

By Ted R. Blasingame

Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain’s Diary

It’s been a while since I last updated my diary. I just can’t seem to remember to pull it out to write down what’s been going on, but Merlin insists that I will be glad I did someday. I wonder if he now spends his evenings with Samantha in his study, reading back through old adventures. I probably could have asked when I spoke to her on the com link last night, but I didn’t think of it at the time.

She and Merlin have finally settled into their married life. Sam says she missed the time with us on the Horizon at first, but her days are now being filled with other duties and responsibilities. There are frequently long periods of inactivity on board a freighter that takes weeks to reach its intended destination, but Samantha has found her schedule full with day to day living.

When she first left the ship, she filled her time searching for a new home. After they bought a house, she went shopping to fill it with furniture, accessories and other necessities, much as they had to do when Merlin stocked up the new Blue Horizon. Then came preparations for the wedding... the wedding itself... and then the honeymoon.

With all that behind her, she looked to other things to fill her time. There are so many things to do in Grandstorm and she seems to love every moment of her new life. However, she also went through a time of depression after things settled down and became so routine that boredom began to set in. Merlin recognized the signs quickly and put into motion a plan that he said had been in the back of his mind for a while. She needs to go back to work.

Samantha’s friend Alex Rogers is currently CEO of Holden Pharmaceutical, her father’s company, and is doing an admirable job in his position. Samantha has no intention of taking over that role, but Aaron Ohren recently announced his upcoming retirement from the Dennier branch office in Grandstorm, so things are currently underway for her to take over operations there. She has a bit of training to go through with Mr. Ohren, but there’s still some time before the effective date of his retirement.

Sam has never really liked the thought of an office job, which is why she signed onto the Blue Horizon in the first place all those years ago. In those early days, she’d taken a leave of absence from the family company so she could serve on board the Blue Horizon for a year in order to help Merlin’s fledgling business get off the ground, in addition to satisfying her sense of wanderlust.

After that time, she was to return to her place within Holden Pharmaceutical per an agreement with her Master Tristen, and she’d done so through teary farewells. Even though an office routine gave her much more to do than sitting around on a ship for weeks at a time, I think it was Merlin and the camaraderie of the crew she missed the most.

In the end, she left her father’s company again and returned to the Horizon, this time to stay. The first time was under the pretense that she’d gone to Sillon for family issues while she served on the ship under a false name, but when she returned, she’d done so with the company’s full knowledge, though amidst their consternation.

This time, however, it took some finagling for Master Tristen and Alex Rogers to convince the board of directors to agree to let her come back. Samantha Holden still owned the controlling interest in her father’s company, but the wayward heir wasn’t as well-thought of anymore for abandoning her place as their figurehead.

She’s been humbled by the whole experience, but she’s better seasoned now with a greater sense of responsibility. She’s meticulous enough that I think she’ll find the office routine better to her liking this time.

As for myself, it’s taken me a while to settle into my role as captain of the Blue Horizon. There are times when I am unsure of myself as a leader, even if over the crew of a common freighter, but I have started to see the support that everyone has for me.

The past few weeks have been rather tough, but Jerry assures me that I picked up a bacterium on Se’rei that was not affected by our standard inoculations. I seem to have been the only one to catch this thing, and it really hit me hard in the emotional arena. I’m still not convinced that was completely to blame for my behavior, but I’m feeling much better now and have an acceptable control over my temper.

Doc has isolated that bacteria in his lab and is working on a paper to present to the scientific community, but I’ve cautioned him against it, as it would reveal the presence of the lost Se’rei colony and bring into question our method of getting there. I’m not sure how he will finagle something like this, but he says he has it all in hand. I have made him promise to show me his material before he submits it anywhere, even to a colleague merely for proofreading.

I still haven’t had the opportunity to tell Merlin of that little adventure. It’s not a tale I want to broadcast over a com signal, and I’m not even sure that an encrypted channel would be secure enough for my comfort. I have written down the events so I won’t forget anything, and I’ve locked the encrypted document on a data crystal in my captain’s vault. Should the opportunity arise that I can get it to him, then I will. I am sure he would be very interested to know about our Particle Vault capability, but I don’t want anyone else to know about it.

Our current assignment has us on the way to Hestra, my homeworld. We left Fyn three hours ago with the hold full of miscellaneous import goods and we still have thirty-five hours left of the flight. Due to the higher gravity of the large planet, we won’t actually be landing on Hestra herself, but rather at Sharra Base located on its moon.

Vashon is a large enough natural satellite to hold a thin, pressurized atmosphere, but even that’s not enough to harbor sapient life on its own. The air pressure is low, but enough that a light pressure suit is all that’s needed to exist on the surface.

When Hestra joined the Planetary Alignment, Sharra Base was established on Vashon as a transfer station for ships, personnel and visitors not equipped to handle the heavier Hestran gravity. Made up of transparent, pressurized geodesic domes, Sharra has grown over the years to the size of a small city. Some members of the populace have businesses operating drop jumpers, the Hestran transfer vehicles to ferry cargo and personnel back and forth from the planet.

For non-Hestran visitors who have a need to travel down to the planet, there are endosuits that may be worn to allow the visitors to stand up and move around on the surface. These consist of a stiff wire outer skeleton that gives the body form and helps keep it standing or sitting straight under a heavy gravity, while also providing a medium of lower gravity within its net so internal organs are able to function.

However, I understand the endosuits are not comfortable and are nearly impossible to sleep in, so visits to the surface must be made only for short durations. A few low-gravity buildings have been constructed for individuals who have a need for longer stays (such as the one where I saw Dragon, Wolf & Tiger in concert), but there are plenty of hotels inside Sharra Base for people to stay.

Fortunately for my crew, we won’t be landing on Hestra herself, so the endosuits won’t be a necessity for them. We will unload our cargo in a pressurized hangar on Vashon, and then restock with export cargo bound for Alexandrius, which is only about thirty hours from Hestra in its orbit right now.

I don’t mind these one- or two-day deliveries within the Goldilocks Zone of the same system. It allows us to make up lost revenue in a short amount of time before we return to an interstellar schedule.

--Capt. Taro Nichols

***

It was quiet during Max’s watch. Due to a worrisome reading on the engineering computer, Taro had authorized Pockets to slow their interstellar inertia temporarily to run down what might be a potential problem. They continued on their course at sub-light speeds; they were still traveling at comparatively high velocities, just not over the speed of light.

To his relief, there had been no one to distract Max Sinclair from his studies during his watch. Due to a restrictive life on Quet and a transient lifestyle on board the Blue Horizon, Max had never had the opportunity for a formal education. Samantha had tutored him for three years and she felt that he had done well, but it seemed as if the more he learned about the universe, the more the German shepherd thirsted for knowledge.

Prompted by Doctor Bengoro, the tiger who had recently grafted a prosthetic in place of his missing finger for him, Max had looked into taking accredited online courses while he awaited the arrival of the Blue Horizon. The most promising appeared to be with a longstanding online degree program from Earth.

He knew that some higher-education programs required acceptance due to past educational experience to get in, but since he had no formal education, other avenues had to be pursued. The Phoenix system looked promising, so he had applied for the online testing in an effort to sign up.

He had not yet told anyone on board of this educational pursuit, and the time alone on bridge watch had given him ample opportunity to finish the test without distraction.

The young mechanic smiled to himself as he prepared to submit his test responses. He keyed in the proper PA transmission code and then established data-connect with a feeling of satisfaction.

It only took a moment, but the document was away now without a chance for him to change his mind and retrieve it. Almost simultaneously, an incoming message chirped at him for attention.

He glanced at the intended recipient and was surprised to see that it was addressed to him, rather than someone else in the crew. The message originated from Pomen and he recognized the tracking code immediately. It was from his girlfriend, Wendy.

Dear Max,

My father told me of your visit to his clinic and of how well everything went for you. I am sorry that I was not able to get away to visit you, but I was studying for exams and was unable to make it home. Dad said you looked good and he enjoyed working with you.

Despite this, however, I am afraid I have some bad news for you. I am not sure how to tell you this, but… I have met someone. We met at the university a month ago and we have begun dating. He is another tiger with the same major as I, and we have many things in common.

I know you will take this hard, and I am sorry. I like you very, very much, but since you have no plans to move to Pomen to be with me, and I am working toward a medical degree that will take me places other than a cargo freighter, we both know that our long-distance relationship has no future.

It’s been fun, and I have enjoyed my blue-eyed friend, but I think it’s time we both moved on with our lives.

Take care, Max. Please do well in everything you set yourself to do.

Wendy

With a lump in his throat, Max lifted his new finger to the touch pad to delete the message, but decided to print out a hard copy instead. He picked up the letter and reread it several times.

How was he supposed to feel? Before Wendy, he had never had a girlfriend before, so the whole experience with her had been new. There was a knot in the pit of his stomach, and he began to pant as the room suddenly seemed extraordinarily hot. He was not sure if he was supposed to be mad at Wendy - or sad that he had been rejected. What he did feel was confusion.

The door to the bridge slid aside and Jerry Somner entered the room. He held a thermal bottle in one hand and a stack of medical records in the other.

“Hello, Max,” he said with a casual smile. “I’m here to relieve you at the watch.”

The German shepherd folded his letter and put it into the pocket of his shirt. “Hi, Doc. Thanks. Nothing to report, all’s quiet.”

Jerry watched the young mechanic as he stood up and shuffled toward the door, his ears back and his tail low to the ground. “Is there something wrong?” the fox asked.

Max stopped before the door, but did not turn around. “I just got a letter from my… girlfriend,” he muttered. “She’s dating someone else now.”

Jerry sat down sideways in the center seat, his full attention on the German shepherd. “I’m sorry to hear that, Max,” he said in a quiet voice. “Long distance relationships are not easy to maintain.”

“Yeah…” Max muttered. He took a step toward the door, but then stopped again. Without looking up, he turned around and moved back to the com station. He sat down with his hands between his knees and closed his eyes. Jerry took a quick glance over the pilot terminal to make sure all was quiet, and then he returned his attention to the young adult after making a minor course correction.

“Max…” he started in a gentle voice.

“I… I already knew in my heart that something like this would happen,” Max suddenly said in a rush. “It was inev… uhm, inevitable. I knew it couldn’t last… but it still doesn’t feel very good.”

“It never does,” the fox replied.

Max looked over at him, feeling morose. “Has this ever happened to you?” he asked.

Jerry nodded. “Twice,” he replied with a sigh. “The first was a vixen I’d grown up with as neighbors. She grew impatient waiting for me to finish my studies and married a mutual friend of ours.”

“Wow…” Max whispered.

“The other time was about twelve years ago. I was dating the sister of one of my coworkers, and everything went well for a couple years.”

“What happened?”

“She was a Flight Attendant on a PA cruise ship. We only saw one another every couple months, but we were nearly inseparable every time she came home. I thought we were getting serious, and I’d entertained plans of proposing to her.” Jerry looked over at Max and swished his tail across the other side of the seat. “Then one day, I got a letter from her stating that she had married the ship’s Entertainment Director and was pregnant with their kits.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“What did you do?”

Jerry raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I moped around for a couple weeks, making myself and everyone around me miserable. It finally made me mad enough that I decided she wasn’t worth it.” He smiled at his companion. “I’m sure you’ve heard Renny talk about how I used to be a carouser.”

“Yeah, but you don’t seem like that kind of a guy to me.”

“True, I’m not that way now,” the physician said, “but after I got that message from her, I started going out with any vixen who’d flirt with me. Renny used to call me the Vixenator…”

Max laughed in spite of himself. “The Vixenator? Heh… that’s funny!” Jerry grinned, pleased that he was able to get a smile out of the young mechanic. Unfortunately, it did not last. Max grew quiet again and then put a hand in the pocket with the letter. “How should I respond to her, Jerry?”

“What’s your first thought about responding?”

“I dunno… I’m not sure I even want to write back to her. It seems pointless to reply.”

“There’s your answer. Go with your instincts. If she said everything there was to say in her letter, there’s no need to respond. I know you liked her, but if she’s lost interest in you, there’s no need to pursue her. Let her go and find someone else on your own… find several someones, if you need to.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Max said shyly. “I don’t have a lot of experience. I… I don’t think I could be a… a Maxinator.”

Jerry saw a glint of sudden mischief in the German shepherd’s eyes. He laughed aloud and reached for the thermal bottle on the floor at his feet. “Max, you don’t have to become a carouser, and I’m not suggesting that you do. All I am saying is that you can go ahead and mope about Wendy if you want to. You’re entitled, but please don’t think that’ll be the end of your relationships. You’re young and have a whole galaxy of women to —”

The astrogation computer suddenly gave off a warning blip for attention. Jerry swung around in his seat to face the controls and Max stood up to look over his shoulder.

“That’s odd. We’re off course,” the fox reported. He released the autopilot and corrected their heading slightly with the guidance shifts before he reengaged the automatic system. “Nothing looks amiss,” he muttered after checking the system.

Max returned to his seat and sighed. “I appreciate your suggestions,” he said, “but I don’t think I can just shrug it off so easily. I liked Wendy… a lot!”

“Wasn’t she a tiger or some kind of feline?”

“Yeah, she’s a tiger,” Max replied. “So’s the guy she’s dating.”

Jerry nodded. “Max, I’m sure the two of you had a great time together, but she’s young and it’s natural for a female to keep an eye out for potential male of her own species to have kittens with. The two of you would never have had any natural kids of your own.”

“Yeah, that’s because I’ve been—”

“No,” Jerry interrupted quickly, “it’s because you two don’t share the same genetic background. The plumbing may fit, but your seed and her eggs could never ignite the proper code to create life. There will never be a half canine, half feline mix – not naturally, anyway.”

“I know, but…” Max clamped his lips shut and stared down at his shoes.

Jerry sat back in the seat and crossed his arms. “Listen, Max, it won’t be easy, but feel free to talk to one or two of your shipmates about it. Closing up into yourself won’t be good for you. Your friends may not have the answers you need, but sometimes it helps just to talk to someone who cares. There are others who have been through similar situations.”

Max kept staring at his feet. “I’m not sure if I —”

The astrogation computer blipped again for attention and they both looked up in unison.

“Here, take over the center station, Max.”

The German shepherd did as told while the red fox moved to the navigation console. “What’s causing us go keep going off course?” Max asked, grateful to have a distraction away from their conversation. “I had to adjust it three times before you came in, but they were all really minor corrections.”

“I’m not sure… Checking to see if any of the maneuvering thrusters are kicking in by mistake… No… Nothing is malfunctioning.” Jerry tapped controls on the screen before him, a frown increasing across his muzzle. “This is very odd. I instructed the astrogation computer to make automatic minor adjustments to our course and it immediately went completely active.”

Even as he spoke, the system blipped for attention. “This time, it’s telling us it needs a course correction that’s more than minor.” He looked up at the vidscreen window, peering out into the stars. “Something’s pulling us off course, but I don’t think even Hestra’s gravity would have affected the ship this far out. There must be another cause.”

“Is there anything on the long-range sensors?” Max suggested. Jerry immediately shifted his attention to the appropriate control panel as the astrogation computer blipped again.

“Uh oh…” the fox muttered. “I’ve found the cause.”

“What is it?”

“That!” Jerry looked up at the starboard vidscreen panel and put up the view from the long-distance starboard cameras. They were bearing down on a huge asteroid just slightly off their course, and its size and proximity were enough for its mass to generate ample gravity to pull the freighter toward it with increasing strength and speed. The sensors placed its size at nearly eighty kilometers in diameter, although its shape was not exactly rounded. Lorelei would have said it resembled a gigantic potato from Earth. Even with auto-correction by the astrogation computer, they began to feel a slight shudder in the deck plates beneath their feet.

Mesmerized, Max and Jerry stared at the massive rock as it grew larger and larger, until the long-range collision and proximity alarms suddenly went off. Still in the pilot seat, Max acted quickly and grabbed the guidance shifts. They refused to move in his grip until he remembered to shut off the autopiloting system. The instant it was released, the ship lost its auto-correcting ability and began to nose over toward the slowly tumbling asteroid.

With their current velocity, it would only take a matter of moments to reach the rocky bulk. “Max!” Jerry exclaimed. “Get us out of here!” He would have taken the controls himself, but there was no time to switch places with the increasing gravitational pull. The Blue Horizon wanted desperately to go meet the interstellar Goliath.

The young German shepherd fought to pull the freighter away from the rock, but the closer they flew toward the asteroid, the stronger the gravity became.

The intercom chirped and Jerry reached for the nearest control as the ship’s faulty inertial dampers began to slip. He stumbled against the nearest chair and sat down quickly.

“This is the bridge,” he gasped into the intercom microphone.

“What’s going on up there?” Taro’s voice asked in a rush. “More pirates?”

“Asteroid! Big one!” was all Jerry managed to say. The spatial rock loomed larger in the vidscreen as Max struggled to force the guidance shifts away from it.

“Max!” Jerry exclaimed. “Instead of trying to pull us away from it, use the thrusters to increase our speed and skim in closer to it. If we’re lucky, a combination of our speed and its gravity will slingshot us past the asteroid before it has a chance to pull us down.”

The young mechanic’s eyes went wider. “Are you sure?” he croaked.

“Trust me!” said the fox. “I’d do it myself if I was in your seat.”

Max bit his bottom lip and flattened his ears. “I’m not sure…”

“Do it!” Jerry shouted irritably. He had to reduce the magnification on the vidscreen to keep it from filling up the view.

Max jumped at the fox’s command and pushed up the ship’s velocity as ordered. The difference in the asteroid was significant, as it grew larger extremely quick. The canine pilot braced himself as he altered their course in closer to the massive rock.

Jerry felt himself tightly gripping the armrests of his seat. The pockmarked gray surface of the stellar boulder stood out in stark relief from the distant sun’s illumination. “Max…” he whispered, “we’re getting awfully close!”

“That’s what you told me to do!” the mechanic retorted through clenched teeth. Without waiting for further instruction, he increased their speed further and suddenly felt the guidance shifts lose a bit of their struggle. He suddenly understood what Jerry wanted and eased the controls ever so slightly.

Pockets stumbled in through the bridge door and nearly went to his knees when he saw the vidscreen. Instead, he backed up against the nearby wall and swallowed hard.

“Wha... wha… wha…” was all he managed to say.

A moment later, Taro burst in the room, nearly tripping over the raccoon. She stumbled around him and darted to a station seat while staring up at the asteroid. She buckled herself in and reached for the armrests before she realized she was in the seat she had broken on their previous voyage.

The Blue Horizon hurled closer, but the space rock was suddenly sheering sideways across the starboard vidscreen panel. Multiple finger-like outcroppings appeared to jut out at them as they sped by and Max had to maneuver the freighter down to avoid their touch.

Then, just as suddenly, the asteroid was behind them. Not convinced they were out of danger, Max maintained their current speed to put distance between them and the rock.

Jerry managed to pry his fingers loose from the armrest and tap the control to reverse the angle on one of the vidscreen panels. The asteroid still filled up the view, but it was slowly receding behind them.

“What happened?” Taro asked, breaking the silence. She looked over at Pockets as he slid down the wall to a sitting position.

Jerry answered, detailing everything that happened from the time the astrogation computer gave its first warning blip, only leaving out the topic of his conversation with the young canine. Max remained at his post, saying nothing, but continually watched the instruments before him. The adrenaline would wear off in a moment, and he would then be glad his watch was over. He was already panting.

When Jerry finished, he gestured toward the young mechanic and said, “I’m glad to know that Max has what it takes to stay in control in an emergency like this. I don’t think I could have gotten us out of there any better than he did.”

“Thanks… thank you, Max!” Pockets finally spoke.

Taro unbuckled her harness and moved to the German shepherd’s side. “Yes, Max,” she said. “Thank you. I’m really proud of you.”

The young pilot closed his eyes for a moment and then looked up at her. “Does it still count if I tell you I was scared?” he asked in a small voice.

Jerry chuckled. “Max, we were all scared!”

“You were entitled to be afraid,” Taro assured him, “but you held yourself together even though you were frightened. That’s why I’m proud of you, Max.”

“Thank you,” the youth replied. “C-can I make a request, though?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Max looked over at Jerry, feeling a little lightheaded. “May I go to my cabin now? My watch is over and I think I’m going to be sick…”

“Here, Max,” Pockets said with a hand on his friend’s arm. “Come with me. I’ll make sure you get back to your room.”

Jerry gestured toward the door with a casual wave of his hand. “Go rest. You deserve it.”

Grateful, Max locked the controls down with the autopilot and then slid out of the seat to stand up next to Pockets.

“How soon can we engage the LightDrive?” Taro asked with a glance up at the vidscreen. “I’d like to get out of the reach of those space rocks as soon as possible.”

“Anytime,” Pockets replied. “I was on my up here to do it myself when the floor tried to go out from under me.”

“All right, we can take it from here,” the vulpine captain said. Once Pockets and Max were out the door, Jerry looked down at the navigation console and he began tapping commands into the astrogation computer.

“What are you doing?” Taro asked. She glanced back up to the rear-view screen and felt a shudder at the thought of how close they had been to that behemoth.

“I’m recalculating our heading to put us back on course to Hestra,” the male fox replied. “I’m not as quick as Renny is doing this, so I may be distracted for a few minutes.”

“Are you okay?” Taro asked.

The physician glanced up at her with a wan smile. “I’m still coming down from the adrenaline, but yeah, I’ll be okay if you want to go.”

“Call me if you need anything,” the captain replied.

The intercom chirped and Jerry gestured toward the com station. “Can you field that for me while I do these calculations?” he asked.

“Yeah, I have a feeling there may be several calls. Do your ciphering. I’ll handle the crew inquiries.”

“Thanks.”

***

“Do you feel that?” Justy asked.

Standing next to the koala on the recreation deck in front of the large vidscreen window, Lorelei tilted her head to the left as she tried to listen hard. Justy smirked as she said, “I don’t hear anything.”

“Feel, Lori, not hear. Do you feel that?”

The bunny tilted her head to the right. “Nope,” she said. “I still don’t hear anything.”

“Give it up, Justy,” Amanda said with a chuckle from across the room. “I don’t think she’s feeling much right now. I caught a whiff of incense from her room a bit ago. I’m not sure what she’s been burning in there, but it was rather strong.”

“Are you sure it was incense?” Justy asked with a shake of his head. He scratched one of his large round ears and left the rabbit standing in front of the forward window. He joined the coyote on the couch and sat cross-legged up on the cushions. When Amanda did not reply, he gave her a nod. “There it is again. Did you just feel that?” he asked.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to,” Amanda answered.

“It’s a slight shifting of the deck plates, almost as if we are sliding a little to the port as we fly through space.”

Amanda looked surprised. “Just how would you feel that without some frame of gravity or visual reference?”

“I dunno... Just a sensation, I guess. I’ve gotten so used to the way the ship feels beneath my toes that I guess it’s just a subtle inclination. I do have a bit of heaviness in my stomach, so maybe that means something.”

“I didn’t know you were psychic,” the coyote deadpanned.

“I’m not,” Justy replied before he realized she was teasing him. She gave him a wide canine grin with a wink, causing him to laugh. “Okay, I guess that means you didn’t feel it either!

“Nope,” she teased. “I didn’t hear a thing.”

“All hands, all hands,” Taro’s voice emanated from the overhead intercom. “We have just passed into the Hestran gravity curtain, so you may feel a little heavier until we can compensate with the deck plates and readjust our current heading. Hestra should be visible on your monitors as a bright star in the lower left if you have the view angle facing directly forward. It will grow in magnitude over the next hour as we slow toward Hestran orbit to match up with Sharra Base. Depending upon Vashon traffic, we should be landing in about two hours, so be ready for cargo detail in light pressure suits at that time.”

“Wow, you are psychic!” Amanda seemed impressed. “You felt the Hestran gravity before Taro could announce it!”

Justy grinned and tapped each of his ears simultaneously. “Pockets says I must get good reception on these things. Perhaps he’s right!”

“Aw, that’s mean…” the coyote said with a mock pout. Justy chuckled with a shrug of his shoulders, secretly pleased that Amanda seemed to be coming out of her shell. Ever since she had joined the crew, the business coordinator had preferred to stay quiet and always in the background, but lately she appeared more relaxed and a little more open. He was not sure what might have changed for her, other than simply getting more used to the crew, but he was glad for whatever it may be. The two of them had joined the crew at the same time and he felt a certain kinship with her because of it.

“No worries,” he replied. “He may be right!”

Amanda snickered and stretched with a yawn, her pink tongue curling in on itself. She closed her eyes with a smile and kicked her shoes off onto the floor next to the couch.

“You seem to be in a good mood,” Lorelei lilted as she plopped down on the couch between the coyote and koala. She leaned closer to the female and grinned. “What’s up?”

“I’ve lost weight!” Amanda exclaimed.

“Yay!” Lori replied. “What size are you down to?”

“I don’t want to burst your bubble,” Justy commented, “but you’re about to gain it all back.”

“What?” Amanda and Lori said in unison, both of them gifting the koala with a glare.

Justy could not keep the smirk off his face. “We’re all going to gain weight as we get closer to Hestra’s gravity!” he said with a laugh.

“Oh, you!” the coyote gasped with a grin. “That doesn’t count!”

“You’re evil!” Lori added with a poke to the koala’s middle. Justy grinned as both females took turns swatting and poking him, enjoying the attention.

***

Hestra loomed great in the forward vidscreen, a large world where colony life had flourished despite its heavier gravity. It was a mountainous planet with hardy vegetation covering most of the surface like a lush carpet, and its single ocean measuring some thirty-two hundred kilometers across meandered like a continuous giant river near the equator. The landscape was dotted with myriads of freshwater lakes, with whirls of cloud formations across its skies.

Early vulpine settlers to the planet nearly perished from the gravity, but those who somehow managed to survive lived on with an equally hardy determination to make the lush world their own. The mortality rate was high in the beginning, but the children that survived became stronger, their physiology becoming denser as they grew more accustomed to the environment. Generations later, the Hestrans were considered the muscle men of the Planetary Alignment, but their population numbers were still small compared to the other colony worlds.

One such Hestran stood on the bridge of the ship at her command, silently reminiscing about her childhood. The vixen had lost her family and hometown to a terrorist attack a few years earlier, but oddly enough, she felt at ease and was not concerned with the past. For the first time in weeks, she was confident, felt sure of herself and was in control of her emotions.

“We’re now in lunar orbit, Captain,” Jerry reported automatically. Although he was also a red fox, the reynard pilot was not Hestran. “It will take us approximately twenty minutes to catch up to Sharra Base on Vashon in this orbit from our insertion point.”

“Very good,” Taro replied. She looked at her two bridge companions and asked, “How are you guys doing?”

Renny held up his hand and let the others see the subtle trembling of his fingers. “Although the Horizon’s deck plates are compensating for the Hestran gravity, I’m still shaking a little,” he said.

“There’s not much I can do for you, medically,” Jerry told him. “You might want to put on an endosuit if it gets too bad.”

Taro reached over to her friend and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to sit out while we unload the cargo?”

Renny raised an eyebrow. “I said I was shaking a little, not weak as a kitten,” he scoffed. “I’ll survive and do my duty to the cargo, thank you.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jerry replied with a smile. “I didn’t want to carry your load for you, anyway!”

Taro picked up her com headset with a chuckle. She keyed in a registry code and thumbed the call control. “Sharra Base, this is the Blue Horizon, PA one-one-three-eight. We are now on lunar approach.”

“Blue Horizon, this is Sharra Base,” instantly replied a nasal voice. “We have you on approach in lunar traffic, estimated time of arrival seventeen minutes. You will be directed to dome twenty-three in through air hatch seven, where you will hover in a null-gravity field until the hatch is pressurized. You will then proceed in through the dome where you will be guided to landing pad DC. Please make sure your bay doors are oriented toward the drop jumpers stationed at your pad when you set down. The dock master will greet you upon your arrival and arrange to transfer cargo directly into the jumpers with your loadmaster. Welcome to Vashon.”

“Blue Horizon acknowledges instructions,” Taro replied. “Thank you for the welcome.”

***

Fifteen minutes later, the blue elliptical saucer descended toward the southern pole of the moon. Unlike many planetary satellites, Vashon was not a dead body. Although its pressure was light and no sapient creatures had ever developed there, the moon did have its own ecosystem of vegetation and atmosphere. There were no oceans or lakes, for its water reserves were underground, but nearly the entire surface was covered by flowers, grasses and shrubs. There were no real trees to speak of, but the population had been experimenting with transplanted Hestran trees inside the domed Sharra Base.

Renny continued to pass on navigational data to Jerry as he piloted the freighter down toward a directional beacon. “We’re on final approach to dome twenty-three,” the red fox reported.

“There’s hatch seven,” Taro replied and gestured to the vidscreen with a claw tip. She paused to listen to a message over her headset. “We’ve been invited to enter.”

Jerry dropped their altitude until they were only a few meters above a field of long pale grasses and then moved forward in through a set of huge bay doors in the side of the translucent geodesic dome. The Blue Horizon was nearly four stories tall, but the massive airlock they flew in through could easily hold a vessel three times her size.

On the facing wall before them inside the bay was a control tower window with several figures inside. A trio of red lights flashed rapidly when the Horizon was in the center of the chamber; Jerry stopped all forward movement of the vessel. A null field surrounded the freighter so hovering thrusters were not needed to maintain its altitude above the floor. The airlock doors traveled shut quickly behind them, closing out the low-pressure atmosphere in a matter of seconds.

It took longer to pressurize the chamber, but it was so efficiently done that it was only a few moments before internal doors were opened for them with an alternating set of green and blue lights to signal them to continue.

Jerry eased the maneuvering controls forward, following a directional set of chaser lights embedded in the flooring below them. They moved through a long corridor of landing pads that were occupied by other cargo carriers of the Planetary Alignment. Most contained Okami, Sakura, Prairie Dog and Carico-class freighters, all common designs, but others held smaller, heavy-duty drop jumpers that would be transporting incoming cargo down to the planet.

The directional markers presently indicated an empty pad beside a pair of bright red drop jumpers. “Landing pad DC,” Taro read aloud from a large sign affixed to the side of the building.

“We’re home, dear,” Renny lilted with a smile.

Jerry said nothing as he positioned the Horizon over the landing pad and then rotated on its horizontal axis to line up their cargo bay with the twin jumpers. The freighter set down gently and then the bridge crew began to shut down the flight systems.

“All hand, all hands,” Taro broadcast over the ship-wide intercom, “Report for cargo duty. Expected light-pressure suits won’t be needed after all, so you can all work in your shirt sleeves. Hop to, folks.”

Jerry stood up and stretched his legs. “How long is shore leave this time, boss-lady?” he asked. “I’ve never been here before and might need a little time to explore.”

“You can have the standard three days,” Taro replied with a smile, motioning her companions to follow her out into the corridor. “However, you may get bored before it’s time to leave. Sharra Base may not contain enough entertainment to occupy your attention for more than a day or so, unless you’re a female who loves to shop!”

Jerry exchanged looks with Renny. “Uh oh... I think we’ve been had,” the physician said.

“Leave it to a lady captain to find a shopping mall where we are to deliver our goods,” Renny quipped. He expected to get swatted for the remark, but Taro merely turned around and walked backward into the lift, her tongue sticking out at them. Jerry shook his head in amusement and entered the lift with the cheetah beside him.

***

Damien blew his nose on a handkerchief and felt his eyes water. Within moments of opening the cargo bay door, his sinuses had started to clog. The mastiff had no allergies that he was aware of, but something in the air at Sharra Base had not agreed with him rather quickly. He tried to ignore it while he worked, but now that the cargo had all been unloaded into the pad-side drop jumpers, he could feel a headache coming on.

Everyone else had scattered in twos and threes for shore leave, but suddenly he did not feel like roaming around in an atmosphere hostile to his senses. He clutched his handkerchief and headed for the lift after the ship’s bay door had been closed and secured.

When the lift door opened, Pockets stood inside wearing a bright blue and yellow flowered shirt with a travel bag slung over his shoulder. The raccoon looked out at him with wide eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You don’t look well.”

Damien sneezed into his handkerchief and peered down at the engineer with bloodshot eyes. “I think I’m allergig to somthin here.”

“I think Doc’s already gone,” Pockets replied. “Is there anything I can get for you?”

The mastiff narrowed his eyes as he fought back another sneeze. “Ah thot you din’t wan’ to have anything t’do with me.”

Pockets frowned and lowered his ears. “Yeah, about that...” he said in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry for what I said and how I acted. You didn’t deserve that. I’m the one who got in trouble, but I took out my frustrations on you.”

Despite his clogged sinuses, Damien’s expression softened. He put his free hand on the raccoon’s shoulder and said, “Apology aggepted, Poggets.”

Pockets smiled up at the loadmaster and put a small hand on top of Damien’s. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ve felt bad about what happened ever since, and I would like things to be okay between us.”

“Thaggs. Be too.”

“Now… can I get you anything?”

The mastiff nodded as he stepped into the lift beside the raccoon. “Hep me git somthin in Sig Bay for mah zinuzes?”

“Sure, let’s go up and see what we can find.”

***

“Wow, that was a great movie!” Max exclaimed as he, Justy, Lorelei and Amanda walked out of a Sharra Base theatre.

“What was your favorite part?” Lori asked as she hooked a hand around the young mechanic’s arm. The German shepherd’s friends had taken him out in an effort to get his mind off of Wendy, and for the moment, the tactic had worked. “I liked it when Darnell showed up at the last minute to save Fumiko! The way they looked at one another was so saucy!”

Max grinned at her. “I liked the destruction of the Sereton super-fortress! The effects made it look real and the sound system made you feel like you were there!”

The coyote beside him laughed. “That’s just like a guy!” Amanda said. “Did anything but the explosions interest you?”

“Of course they did,” Max defended himself with a grin, “but Lori wanted to know what my favorite part was. My favorite was the explosions!”

“Of course!” Amanda replied.

“Of course!” Lori echoed. She looked over at Justy and tilted her head. “What was your favorite part of the movie?” she asked him.

Justy dipped another hand in his popcorn bucket and contemplated the snack for a moment. “I liked the bedroom scene,” he muttered before eating the handful.

“Justy, there wasn’t a bedroom scene in this movie…” Amanda said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, there was,” Justy countered. “It was on while you were out at the concession stand getting a refill on your soda.”

The coyote female’s eyes flashed to Lorelei in a panic. “I missed the bedroom scene?” she asked. “Ah, no! The line at the stand was too long! What did I miss? I want details!”

“It was hot and juicy,” Justy told her. “It was graphic for all three characters that…”

“All three!”

“…involved several milk bottles, a lawn chair and a tuning fork,” Justy continued.

“Heavens! I’m not sure I want to know what they did with those? Yes! Yes, I do! What happened? How? Who was it?”

Lorelei was laughing at the coyote’s distress as she stared at the koala. The doe put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. “Justy’s pulling your tail, Mandy! There was no such scene.”

Amanda stopped in her tracks, making her companions look back at her. “There wasn’t? Really?” Justy and Max both laughed at her and she suddenly felt foolish. “Justy….”

The koala cackled aloud and had to trot ahead to avoid getting swatted. “Nyah, nyah!” he said back to her. Amanda heaved a sigh and gave Justy a look to let him know she would get him back for teasing her, but it only made him laugh again.

A local alarm suddenly sounded, causing them and others around them to clasp hands to their ears. When everyone looked up, all the public vidscreens stationed around the base avenues lit up with a red sign stating the words “Attention - Emergency Announcement” written in Standard.

A male red fox suddenly appeared at a news desk with the globe of Hestra as a backdrop behind him. Other pedestrians in the area gathered around the Blue Horizon crewmates to watch the screen.

“This is an emergency worldwide announcement carried on all Hestran bands. To repeat, this is an emergency worldwide announcement carried on all Hestran bands. It was confirmed just minutes ago that an asteroid previously monitored passing harmlessly through the Centaurus star system was sighted by an incoming cargo vessel, its path apparently altered by the Hestran gravity well. What originally was only of casual interest to backyard astronomers has suddenly turned into a deadly threat. Trajectory analysis projects that the seventy-nine-kilometer rock is on a parabolic course into Hestran orbit that is predicted to intersect with the planet within nine hours.”

Gasps from the gathered crowd were almost in unison, and frightened conversations suddenly broke out. Someone yelled “Quiet!” and the hushed congregation returned its attention once more to the public vidscreen. Max swallowed hard, remembering their earlier close encounter with the subject asteroid. Taro must have made a report to the local administration.

“Authorities explain that planetary long-range sensors have been offline, undergoing upgrades for the past week, and were unavailable for detection of the asteroid’s altered trajectory. Once operational with the upgrades, the extended range for spatial objects such as this would have been nearly tripled in sensitivity, but little use does this do for Hestra now, as there is now no time to effect plans to deflect such a huge object.”

“Does that mean it’s going to hit Hestra?” someone behind Max asked in a voice full of emotion.

“Dunno,” someone else replied. “They only said it would cross our orbit.”

“Hush!” said a third voice.

Max’s ears swiveled to and fro to hear the comments, but like the rest of the crowd, he realized that the news reporter was still speaking.

“...further calculations will have to be made to determine its full effect on Hestra. Even should the rock not strike the planet, its sheer size will likely affect the tides and possibly cause a few quakes. The Hestran Emergency Response Authority is currently in session with planetary scientists to determine a possible course of action. Stay tuned to local broadcasts for further instructions. Whatever it is we are to do in the face of this crisis will have to be executed quickly to minimize disruption.”

“A disruption?” Justy muttered hoarsely. “What do they think this is, a simple local disturbance?” An advertisement for a new Prime-class freighter suddenly dominated the screen, prompting the crowd to disperse.

“Do you think that Taro will—?” Amanda’s DataCom chirped before she could finish her thought. She thumbed the call switch and lifted it up to her muzzle. “This is Amanda,” she said.

“Mandy? This is Taro. I need the crew to assemble at the ship immediately. I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but we have an emergency on our hands. Shore leave has been canceled.”

“Yeah, we just saw it on a public vidscreen,” the coyote replied as the others gathered around her.

“We? Who’s with you? I haven’t gotten in touch with everyone yet, only you, Renny and Doc so far.”

“Lori, Justy and Max are here with me. We just got out of a theatre.”

“Good, that’s four of you with one call. Please return to the Horizon right away.”

“Yes ma’am. We’re on our way.”

“Taro, out.”

“Does that answer your question what Taro will—?” Justy asked with a smirk as they made their way through the thickening crowd in the entertainment district.

“Yes, but this is no time to be smarmy,” Amanda rebuked. “This is serious!”

“Yeah, this is serious!” Lori echoed.

Justy exchanged amused looks with Max and then shrugged with a big grin. “I agree this is serious, but I can still be smarmy if I want to!” Both females snorted in unison, which only served to give Justy the giggles.

Max shook his head. “Come on, folks. Let’s get going.”

Lori slipped an arm around Max’s waist and gave him a nod. “Yes sir, Former Captain’s Nephew, sir!” she said crisply. Amanda turned her back on the koala and then took up a position on the German shepherd’s other side, taking his free arm. Justy maintained his smile as he followed along behind them, lightly swatting at their tails.

It took twenty minutes for them to make their way back to the Blue Horizon. By the time they stepped in through the main hatch, everyone else was already present in the cargo bay. Damien sat on an empty crate looking miserable and sleepy with a handkerchief up against the end of his nose while Jerry looked him over with a pen light.

“Any further news?” Justy asked.

“Actually, yes,” Taro replied when she had everyone’s attention. “I just got word through the dock master that trajectory analysis has determined that Vashon’s orbit around Hestra may put us in the asteroid’s path. They are guessing that it will hit this moon rather than the planet. Either way, it will be a disaster. Evacuations are encouraged to begin as soon as possible.”

Pockets looked up suddenly and trotted to the airlock. “Looks like the news just hit,” he called back. “People are running for their ships!” Indeed, they could all hear upraised voices in alarm and panic out in the hangar.

“How long before we have authorization to launch?” Renny asked. “We passed a lot of parked ships on the way in.”

Taro started as if the thought had not occurred to her. “We’d better get up to the bridge and prepare for liftoff,” she said. “We haven’t even reloaded our air reserves and food stores yet. We’ll need to have the com system open for official authorization.”

There was a roar from outside the hatch and Pockets looked back inside. “Another ship is taking off,” he reported. “I’d wager it’s without permission.”

The crew moved forward and filed out on the ramp beside the raccoon. A green and gold Prairie Dog-class freighter lifted off a nearby landing pad. One of its multiple cargo bay doors was still open and they could see crew members inside scrambling to keep their footing. They were trying to get the door closed even as the rectangular vessel rotated in mid-air to nose toward the distant dome hatch.

“I don’t like the looks of this,” Jerry muttered as the ship moved away faster than was usually allowed inside the structure.

“Right,” agreed Taro. “Everyone inside and prepare for launch. We may have to lift off in a hurry like they did, so do what you need to do quickly.”

Following her lead, the group of them moved back inside and headed for the lift. Max and Pockets raced for the engine room, apprehension clearly in their minds.

***

At a complete surprise to everyone on the bridge, Taro growled impatiently. Although the situation was grim, Renny looked back at her with a small look of amusement, quietly reflecting that Taro was probably unaware she had taken up Merlin’s old habit. She had never growled low in her throat even when she had been afflicted following their stay on Se’rei. Perhaps growling was an attribute that all starship captains eventually acquired — stresses of command and all that.

Outside the forward windows, the hangar was clogged with traffic. Freighters of all colors, shapes and sizes vied for position to get their ship out through the airlock. Due to the rapid congestion, the Blue Horizon had not even made it off its landing pad yet. The engines were primed and ready, but only on standby as they awaited their turn.

Not for the first time, Taro looked up at the geodesic dome above them, fervently wishing they had been able to set down on an outside pad as usual anywhere else. The building was only slightly pressurized; they could have easily used light suits to unload their cargo. Had that been the case, they could have already launched away from the Hestran satellite.

Time was running out for the Vashon moon and Taro wanted to be as far away as possible when the strike came. The Hestran government was preparing to launch a military warhead at the asteroid, but due to its size and nearness, the effectiveness of the action was in question. World leaders quarreled and bickered over where the fault lay in the disaster, and it was unlikely to be resolved even after the catastrophe.

Taro had no love of politics and wanted only to leave in time to make it to safety. She growled again and fidgeted with impatience.

***

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Amanda whispered. She, Justy and Lorelei were belted into cushioned foldout launch chairs on the recreation deck. The vidscreen on the far wall was tuned to a local broadcast, although its sound was muted so they could listen for Taro’s launch announcements. Justy could watch in silence no more, so he turned on the volume while keeping an ear out for anything from the bridge.

The broadcast showed panic. People of all species were running to and fro, children, luggage and prized possessions gripped tightly in their arms as they rushed to find escape. In the midst of the pandemonium were others who used the situation to smash shop windows and loot anything in sight. Older couples who had settled on Vashon during its original establishment refused to leave their home and all their possessions, even knowing they would likely perish with it all. Local religious centers saw packed congregations and scam artists hawked good-luck charms in the streets. Among the population were those who scoffed at the impending doom, blaming the government for scaring the public with such nonsense, and those who refused to leave their homes open to looters and vandalism. The regional law enforcement was stretched thin as those still on the job attempted to quell riots and stop a sudden rash of panicked killing, including those who tried to defend their homes.

Outside one of the Sharra Base domes, a small group in light pressure suits had gathered around a series of telescopes to watch the incoming asteroid, which was now visible even to the naked eye.

A steady stream of freighters, cruisers and drop jumpers cycled through the massive warehouse airlocks, and some smaller vessels had doubled up through them in an attempt to speed up the evacuation. The Blue Horizon, however, was too large a vessel to attempt a quick getaway. They were stuck in a traffic jam, but the asteroid would wait for no one.

The trio on the recreation deck watched in horror as the on-scene reporter suddenly went down under a hail of large rocks thrown by laughing members of a local gang organization. The news camera operator tried to make a run for it, but the brave individual was run down by the mob and beaten in front of the camera.

“Turn it off!” Lorelei wailed. “Please!”

Justy thumbed the remote without a word and transformed the vidscreen back over to clear, forward-facing windows. Amanda closed her eyes and rested her head back against the launch cushion while Lori sobbed quietly beside her. Justy rubbed his eyes and wondered if they would make it out in time.

***

Down in the engine room, Pockets moved from gauge to gauge for the hundredth time, making sure all settings were correct and power was available so they could launch immediately. Max was strapped into his launch chair, quietly watching the raccoon pace back and forth.

“Don’t you think you should be belted in?” he asked his partner. The chief engineer thrust his hands into his namesake pockets and looked over at him with a frown.

“I should be,” he admitted, “but I can’t sit still!”

“The inertial dampers still aren’t working right,” the German shepherd reminded him. “If we take off while you’re pacing the floor, I’ll need Jerry down here to help me scrape you off the back wall.”

Pockets looked at the young mechanic in annoyance, but he knew he was right. He padded over to his chair and started to get into his harness.

“What’s that?” Max suddenly asked. Pockets looked up and saw the canine’s ears perked up and his head tilted to the side. He strained his hearing and suddenly heard a muted thumping from the direction of the cargo bay.

Both of them unbelted and ran out into the empty hold. They saw Damien run toward the main hatch and it was then they realized that someone was pounding on the outside door.

The mastiff activated an external camera and he saw a crowd of locals gathered at their airlock. There was no audio, but he could see them yelling in a panic and pounding on the hatch.

Damien thumbed the intercom and a moment later, there was a signal chirp.

“This is Taro. Make it quick, we’re about ready to move.”

“Captain, there’s a crowd outside our main airlock, pounding on the door to get in!” The medication the doctor had given him had begun to clear up his sinuses, so he was able to breathe well enough to be understood when he spoke.

On the bridge, Renny activated the right-hand vidscreen to match the image picked up by Damien’s external camera.

“What do we do?” the cheetah asked. “If we launch with them standing there, they’ll be blasted by the thrusters!”

“Are they looters or are they trying to escape?” Jerry asked with a frown. “Crowds are gathering at other ships, too.”

Taro studied the scene in a brief instant and shook her head. “I don’t see anger in their faces,” she said. “They’re afraid for their lives and are looking for any chance to get away.” Unbidden, memories of the devastation of her hometown during the Taquit Fever terrorist attack came back to Taro. The people there had been unable to escape their doom, with no way to escape. She made a quick decision and thumbed the intercom.

“Damien, open the airlock,” she said. “Let in as many people as will come on board and have them sit on the floor of the cargo deck. We’ll try to make our launch as smooth as we can, and then return them when the danger has passed.”

“Aye, Captain!”

Damien closed the connection and then tapped out a sequence on the control panel before him. He turned to Pocket and Max and said, “You two better get back to the engine room and lock the door. Panicked crowds can get ugly and the bridge may need you in an instant.”

“Right-o!” Pockets replied. He and Max trotted back to their domain and shut the door behind them just as the airlock completed cycling.

Damien opened both the inner and outer hatch doors and called out in a loud voice, “Inside quickly!” There were a few cheers from the crowd outside and the mastiff also heard sobs of relief. As people of all kinds poured into the hold, Damien shouted out instructions. “Please move as far inside as you can and sit on the floor. Our inertial dampers are not working well and you will need to be as low to the floor as you can when we take off!” He had to repeat this every moment or so as others scrambled to get inside the freighter.

It became noisy inside as everyone attempted to get situated, and a few arguments broke out as some fought for their own piece of flooring. Nearly the entire throng of evacuees was inside the vessel when a crowd trying to get inside another ship noticed the open airlock and surged toward the Blue Horizon en masse.

Moments later, Damien was finally able to close and seal the hatches before he signaled the bridge. “Captain, we’re secure again. The floor of the hold is three-quarters full of frightened people and I’ve cycled pressurization.”

“Acknowledged. Prepare for launch.”

Damien skirted around the crowd toward his office and was about to call for everyone’s attention when a Dalmatian tugged on his shirt sleeve.

“Are we going to get out of here in time?” the guy asked. “That rock is going to be here any minute!”

“We’re going to get out of here as soon as we can, sir,” the loadmaster replied. He stepped up on a tethered crate of freight tie-downs near his office and held up both hands. “May I have your attention, please?” he said in a loud voice. He had to repeat himself over the crowd noise twice before it was quiet enough to continue.

“Listen folks,” he said as his eyes swept the assembly, “my captain has informed me that we should be launching at any moment. This is an emergency situation and we will do all we can to get you out of the danger zone, but we’ll need the cooperation of everyone.”

“This is all your fault for not alerting us sooner!” someone shouted. There were a few echoes of agreement until Damien called back at the jackal who had spoken out.

“Sir, this ship does not belong to your local government and we are not an appointed rescue vessel. This is a commercial freighter trapped up in the same situation with the lot of you. We could have easily just left you standing on the tarmac to face the asteroid on your own, but our captain chose to give you the opportunity to escape with us.” Damien swept his gaze across the crowd once more. “We’ll try to accommodate you as best we can, but you will have to be patient. We’re in this just as much as you are.”

“Why aren’t we moving? You’ve got the hatch shut and now we’re just waiting?” called a woman in the back.

“We are awaiting our turn to leave, ma’am,” Damien replied. “You saw the hangar out there – we can’t all leave at the same time. There are a number of ships in front of us.”

“Is there any other way out of this building?” someone else asked.

“Not for a starship, sir.”

“Why don’t we just blast through the dome?”

“Yeah, it’s only glassteel under a metal frame!”

“That metal frame is what’s keeping us from going through it. It’s stout enough to puncture our hull,” Damien replied in exasperation. “Listen! We’re getting out of here as soon as we can. Please, just bear with us!”

***

“The control tower reports that it will be another thirty-five minutes before we can leave our launch pad just to get in line,” Taro said in irritation. She dropped the headset onto the console and moved to the forward windows. She leaned on the counter beside Renny and heaved another sigh. “They also report that the asteroid is within an hour of striking Vashon, its velocity increasing as gets drawn further into Hestra’s gravity well.”

“This is not good,” Jerry muttered. “This is not good at all.”

Renny flattened his ears against his head. “At this rate, we won’t make it out of the building by the time that thing hits.”

Suddenly a loud roar penetrated the bridge from the outside. The larger Carico-class freighter on the pad next to them suddenly lifted off, its thrusters stirring up dust and other debris.

“Did Gaston Leroux just get clearance to leave?” Renny asked.

“I don’t think so,” Taro replied as she glanced down at the landing pad and saw several bodies sprawled on the thruster-heated concrete. When she looked up, the rectangular vessel continued to rise toward the dome, far above the airlock corridor. The ship gained altitude and picked up speed.

“It’s going to go through!” Jerry exclaimed.

Before anyone else had a chance to comment, the blunt nose of the Leroux struck the geodesic grid with such a force that the entire structure shook violently. Pressurized glassteel panels shattered and fell to the ground below while the metal framework buckled and the air within escaped out into the thin Vashon atmosphere. The ship’s thrusters brightened with increased power and it pushed through the grid at an angle.

The action was not without its consequences. Steel girders from the dome framework penetrated the freighter’s hull near its stern as it passed through the ragged opening it had made. More of the grid peeled outward with the ship, but it began to hold fast.

The Leroux sheered suddenly toward the port, its thrusters now pushing against a different direction. The vessel spun out of control, and everyone watched in horror as it nosed back toward the base of the dome in an inevitable crash.

Even while glass and other debris continued to rain down upon the ship, Taro spun around and barked an order to Jerry. “That hole’s big enough for the Horizon!” she said through clenched teeth. “Launch immediately!”

Keyed up for the past hour, Jerry jumped at the command and ignited their thrusters instantly. Before anyone had a chance to brace themselves against the launch, the Blue Horizon rose quickly toward the breech in the dome.

Taro lost her footing on the tilting deck and tumbled over a chair. Renny tried to snare her leg, but he grasped empty air; Taro slid along the floor and slammed into a control panel. She clung to the counter supports and held on tight.

***

Damien’s body strained against his launch harness as the Horizon shot upward. Mindful of their living cargo, Jerry tried to take the freighter straight up, but the wind shears borne of equalizing air pressure between the internal atmosphere and that of the outside buffed the elliptical saucer. The floor tilted crazily, and although the gravity deck plates were on, the faulty inertia dampers could not keep things in place.

Evacuees piled up together amidst cries and screams as they slid across and over one another with little to hang onto. Those who were near the freight tie-down rings recessed into the floor tried to hang on tightly, but other bodies tumbling into them knocked them loose to slide into others.

Cries of fear, panic and pain filled the air amidst the roar of the ventral thrusters. Damien was unaware of the situation outside that prompted such a rough launch and quietly cursed Jerry’s piloting skills. There was nothing Damien could do for their unwitting passengers, but watch and hope their flight would smooth out quickly.

***

The Blue Horizon passed through the torn opening in the dome ceiling with only meters to spare on all sides, the landing gear having retracted only seconds earlier. A concussion fireball from the Leroux’s destruction took out a large section of the building’s support base, and the structure quickly began to collapse upon the ships and people still inside.

Jerry saw none of this with his attention riveted to his instruments. He pushed the vertical thrusters for all they could give him, since he was unable to tilt the nose upward and use the main engines to drive them up out of the atmosphere.

Air resistance decreased quickly and suddenly they were away from the doomed satellite. Hestra loomed large to their starboard and the planet’s gravity began to tug at the ship’s mass. Free of Vashon’s influence, Jerry gently nosed the ship’s leading edge forward and engaged the main drive. The Blue Horizon shot away from the moon’s southern pole and he aimed for deep space below the galactic plane without a heading.

“Renny,” Taro gasped from the back of the command center.

“Are you okay?” the cheetah asked as he struggled out of his harness. He knelt down beside the vixen and helped her into a nearby seat.

Taro coughed and rubbed her ribs. “I’ll live,” she said at last. “Jerry, alter heading and take us toward the asteroid.”

“Toward the asteroid!” Renny and Jerry exclaimed in unison.

“We’ll circumvent it, using its mass gravity to slingshot us away from the area just as Max did on the way in. We’ll avoid collateral damage from expelled debris when that thing hits Vashon!”

Renny exchanged looks with the pilot and both knew the captain was right. They needed to be as far from the strike zone as possible, and they could use the incoming rock to increase their speed to do it.

“May I request that either you or Renny take over the flight controls,” Jerry said with a frown. “That was a lousy take-off, and I would assume there are some injured passengers in the hold.”

“You did the best you could under the conditions,” Taro told him, “but you’re right. You should grab your med kit and get down there. Take Mandy with you, and have Lori and Justy prepare water and paper cups for our guests. We weren’t prepared for this, but I would imagine we have a bunch of frightened people on board, so try to deal with them as well as you can.”

“Right, we’ll get on it right away.”

***

It had seemed like an eternity, but the flooring beneath the evacuees finally calmed down when the ship left the thin Vashon atmosphere. Jumbled and stunned, groans and cries began to permeate the air as everyone tried to disentangle themselves from one another.

“My leg is broken!” someone cried out.

Damien thumbed the intercom control. “Bridge,” came Taro’s immediate response.

“Send Jerry down here,” the mastiff said in a rush. “We’ve got some injuries from the launch.”

“Doc and Mandy are already on their way.”

“Acknowledged.” Damien made his way the aft end of the hold and found a ferret with a twisted leg threaded through one of the immovable cargo tie-down rings embedded in the floor. The fellow looked up at him with tears streaming down his cheek fur.

“Our doctor’s on the way,” he told the ferret in a soothing voice as he knelt down next to him. He was examining the leg and wondering if he should attempt to pull it free of the tie-down when he felt a small hand on his shoulder.

“Mister, I can’t find my brother,” a young bobcat said to him. Damien turned to look at the small female and he felt a sudden catch in his throat. He had to force down the chill that shivered down his spine and then glanced around. He saw passengers clutching arms, legs and heads as they began to take inventory of their aches and pains.

“Is that him over there?” he asked hoarsely. The little bobcat followed his pointing finger to see a younger male bobcat with his back up against the cargo bay door clutching a plushie that resembled himself.

“Yes!” the girl exclaimed. “Thanks, mister!” To his relief, she bounded away toward her sibling just as a door opened across the hold. Jerry and Amanda dashed out of the lift toward the nearest injured individual and the fox started treatment right away. Damien waved to the coyote and called her over.

Amanda knelt next to him and took the ferret’s hand as she made a cursory examination of the twisted leg. “The doctor is here and will be with you shortly if you can hang on, sir,” she said in a calm voice.

“It hurts!” the ferret cried.

“Is there anything you can give him for the pain?” Damien asked as he appeared to have made a decision.

The coyote shook her head. “Jerry didn’t give me anything to dispense,” she answered apologetically. “I’m not a nurse, and I think he has different meds for different species.”

“Do you have a pencil?”

The non sequitur took Amanda by surprise, but she nodded and pulled two of them from the pocket of her pink blouse. She held them out to him, but Damien shook his head. “It’s for him to bite on,” he explained.

The ferret’s eyes grew wide. “What are you going to do?” he croaked.

The mastiff looked at him in what he hoped was a compassionate look and said, “Before your leg can be treated, the bone must be re-set as quickly as it can. I’m afraid this is going to hurt.”

Amanda pursed her lips. “Have you done this before?”

“Yes.”

The coyote nodded and then offered a pencil to the ferret. The guy looked like he might pass out from the pain at any moment, but he opened his mouth obediently. He took the wooden cylinder between his teeth and clenched his eyes shut as Damien reached for his leg.

***

Taro wrapped her arms around herself as she and Renny stared at the aft view on the vidscreen. The cheetah gripped the guidance shifts nervously, wishing it was his arms that were around the vixen as they watched the killer approach her homeworld.

A message chirped from the com station and Taro moved quickly to read it. She studied the readout a moment and then picked up her headset. She thumbed the ship-wide intercom and then gave Renny a quick glance.

“May I have your attention, please?” Taro’s voice echoed from the ship-wide intercom system. “We have just received a news feed from the Hestran emergency broadcast system. It has been determined that the incoming asteroid will miss Hestra, but Vashon is coming around the planet in its orbit and it will hit the asteroid almost head-on. Estimated time of impact is in ten minutes.”

Taro shut off the intercom and could almost hear the cries of anguish from their passengers. Most of the Blue Horizon’s crew could watch the event dispassionately from the onboard vidscreens, but Taro’s emotions were in turmoil as she helplessly watched the existence of her world’s satellite draw to a close.

***

The asteroid filled the Vashon sky as a science vessel from Earth launched to escape. The SS Michael Faraday had waited until the last possible moment to record sensor readings of the gravitational stresses of the moon caught between the influences of Hestra and the asteroid.  It was insane to stay that long when remote sensors could have recorded data instead, but Dr. Barrowman’s enthusiasm for being there could not be sated that way.

The Faraday cleared the satellite’s orbit, its sensors still recording as it safely headed out into space. A moment later, the space rock struck the moon head-on.

Untapped resources of quartz, opal and siris inside the satellite struck equally volatile elements in the asteroid, causing a chain reaction that ignited both in a celestial detonation more powerful than all the Hestran defense weapons combined.  A bright flash of released energy burned out sensitive camera lenses trained on the event as megatons of material were blasted out into space. A shock wave circled the moon and swiftly expanded outward, destroying orbiting satellites and slow-moving vessels.

The bridge crew of the Faraday thought they had put plenty of distance away from the collateral damage, but they had underestimated the devastating effects of the collision. Measurements taken of observed shockwaves had occurred in the thick Hestran atmosphere where they were retarded.  In the vacuum of space, however, the unimpeded shock wave surged across empty void and caught up the ship before it could activate its LightDrive system. The aft engine pods buckled and split apart under the impact, sparking and igniting the fuel cells into an intense fireball that expanded through the rest of the fuselage, flaring brilliantly before snuffing out in the vacuum. The explosion was but a flicker of light compared to the lunar firestorm.

The Blue Horizon’s vidscreen circuitry flashed from an overload of sensor information and anyone looking at them was blinded for several seconds. The effect was only temporary, and when their retinas finally cleared, Renny and Taro looked up through watering eyes to the forward glassteel windows.

The atmosphere of Vashon instantly thickened, permeated with an immense dust cloud that completely obscured the surface from view. Tons of debris that had not achieved escape velocity rained back down upon the satellite in the form of superheated boulders, rocks and pellets that left burning streaks across the clouded sky.

Renny tried to speak, but discovered his voice had fled. He was amazed that the moon had not split apart from the impact, but he could only imagine the size of the crater that lay beneath the dusty atmosphere. He could see Taro shaking visibly in her strapped harness at the com station, and had he not been occupied at the ship’s controls, he would

have gone to her and given what comfort he could.

It would be a while yet before news could be released on the aftermath of the impact. Considering the Horizon’s narrow escape from Sharra Base, he knew that Vashon had not been completely evacuated before the collision. Shock waves through the core of the moon would have shaken apart all structures on or beneath the surface, and it was unlikely there would be many survivors.

***

“…the effects have had repercussions even on the planet. Early data shows the impact has altered Vashon’s orbit somewhat, which in turn has affected tidal forces throughout Hestra. Ground quakes have occurred throughout many regions around the world, and although the asteroid struck Vashon, the danger has not yet passed for Hestra herself. Fragments of the moon and the asteroid have penetrated the planet’s atmosphere and some regions have experienced a rain of fire from above. It may be some time before the total effects of the incident are fully known.”

A brown bear looked up from bandaging his mate’s wrist with a torn bit of shirt and sighed at the audio news signal that had been piped down to the cargo hold. Although the Blue Horizon’s doctor was going through the crowd with the help of his crewmates, it might take a while for them to get to his friends.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked a voice. The bear looked up at a white rabbit wearing sandals and a long gray tee shirt with the Blue Horizon’s name and logo across the front. She gave him a friendly smile, but appeared to be just as weary as the rest of them.

“We could use some water,” he replied in a low voice. “If your doctor has any anti-inflammatory medication, I think my mate could use some for her wrist.”

“I’ll get you some water,” Lorelei replied, “but I have some natural herbs I can mix in with it that will work to reduce your lady-friend’s swelling.”

“Whatever you have…”

After the bunny moved away, the female black bear looked up at her mate with moisture-rimmed eyes. “What are we going to do, Rhone?” she asked. “We just lost everything! Our apartment, our ship and all our belongings! We have nothing, not even our insurance information! What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, Tress, I don’t know. If I hadn’t already taken apart the drive circuit in the ship for repairs, we could have launched in plenty of time to get away. That’s my fault!”

“Where’s this ship taking us?” Tress suddenly asked. “How long are we going to sit here on the cold floor? There’s no place else we can go!”

Rhone looked at his mate with a frown and then looked away. “We should be lucky they let us on board instead of leaving us to die.”

Tress buried her face in his chest fur and let the tears fall freely. “Is this lucky? It might have been better to die,” she whimpered bitterly.

***

Taro sat down at the com station, her legs unsteady as she listened to the Hestran dispatcher on the vidscreen give her details on the situation. It seemed like she spent more time on the bridge lately than any time in memory and she wondered if she should simply take over all watches until she could no longer stand. For now, she was alert to every trickle of information that came through the channels.

Much of Vashon had been successfully evacuated before the asteroid struck, but it was estimated that nearly three hundred were unable to leave in time, including ships in the dome that had been unable to get away. There were reports from some who had escaped that others had remained on Vashon who simply did not believe they were in danger and stayed in their homes to wait out the emergency. There could be survivors, but it was doubtful.

“I am not sure what we can do to help,” the vixen told the fennec dispatcher on the center bridge vidscreen. “We let a number of evacuees catch a ride with us in our cargo hold and I will try to get you a tally of how many we have. Perhaps this will help drop the reported numbers of those still missing. However, I’m not sure we have room to go back and pick up more.”

“We appreciate your willingness to help others in need, Captain, but we are not asking you to return to Vashon. We have established a tent city near the capitol that has been relatively free of seismic activity where you can land and deposit your evacuees. Medical teams are standing by to help those who may be injured, and we have counselors to assist any who may need psychological help from this disaster.”

“I’m afraid there’s a problem with your plan, Mr. Rifkin,” Taro replied. “Most of my passengers are not Hestran, and unless you have a truckload of endosuits to equip them for the high gravity once we land, they won’t be able to disembark.”

The desert fox looked back at her in alarm. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he muttered. “There are already three other ships like yours on their way down with evacuees from the moon. We’ll have to recall them right away. Excuse me, Captain.”

“Rifkin, wait!” Taro exclaimed. The dispatcher looked back at her, his expression one of stress.

“Make it quick, please,” he pleaded.

“My ship is merely a freighter and is not equipped to handle the amount of people we have on board. We had not yet re-stocked our supplies, so I don’t have sufficient air, food or water to hold us all for long.”

“I’m sorry, Captain. I have marked you as a priority, but will have to get back to you on that. Please stand by.”

The signal contact dropped and the vidscreen circuitry returned the panel to its transparent window view. Taro bit her bottom lip and closed the channel on the station beside her. Her first impulse was to pound on the counter in frustration, but she nixed the thought before it had time to make it past her mind.

Instead, she tapped out a command on the com station and found a local news broadcast to pipe on the overhead speakers. She wished she could see the video images of a StellarNet channel, but the bridge was not equipped for such signals. It was something that Renny had often campaigned to get in the command center.

Taro pursed her lips at the thought and made a quick decision. She signaled the engine room and it was only a moment later when the intercom chirped back at her.

“Engineering.”

“Max, would you send Pockets up to the bridge with his tool bag?”

“Aye, Captain. Anything I can do for you?”

“Just let him know that I need him to route StellarNet up to the bridge so I can keep tabs on things going on with Hestra and Vashon.”

“Okie dokie. I’ll send him up as soon as I can find him.”

“Thanks, Max.”

***

“Did I just hear one of you say that you don’t have enough oxygen for us all?” asked a bull moose. He stood with his feet planted apart and his question had been voiced loud enough to carry. Max and Damien exchanged a brief look as a crowd collected around the door to engineering. The faces around them were worried, and some were angry.

Damien raised a hand for attention, but it did not appear to quiet the gathering much. “May I have your attention, please?” he said loudly.

“You’ve got our attention,” the bull said sarcastically. “We’re just not sure we want to hear anything else you have to say!”

“Sir, if you will let me—”

“We’re going to suffocate! What more can you possibly say?”

“Sir,” Damien said to the moose, “you aren’t helping the situation.”

“Not helping!” the bull shouted. “We all just lost everything, and now you’re telling us we may die anyway?”

“I don’t want to die!” exclaimed a feline in the crowd.

“We said nothing of the sort!” Damien roared. “You heard part of a conversation and took it upon yourself to—”

The moose grabbed the mastiff’s shirt and there was an audible rip in the fabric. Max backed into the engine room and thumbed the bridge call pad as Damien fastened his meaty fingers around the moose’s wrists.

“Let go and shut up!” Damien growled, tightening his grip on the fellow’s arms.

A Mainoran lion stepped in between them and tried to force them apart. The moose looked at him darkly. “Stay out of this, Wiltz!”

“Calm down, my friend. Let this guy try to explain away his words,” the lion said. “If it’s true you only heard part of the conversation, I want to know what it was he really said that included running out of oxygen.”

The moose released Damien’s collar and snorted into his face. “If anything happens to us while we are on your ship, you will hear from my lawyers, Thomlinson, Gosselin and Young!”

“Kieran, I said ‘calm down’,” Wiltz stated firmly. “You’re using up more oxygen by shouting,” The bull opened his mouth again, but then shut it with a snap of his teeth. The lion looked at Damien and nodded. “Explain?” he requested.

The mastiff glanced around at the angry and frightened faces around him and tried to choose his words carefully. The wrong expression could incite further panic. “Like the rest of you,” he began, “we were unprepared for the emergency. Our ship had only recently landed and we had not yet re-supplied our vessel for launch. Yes, supplies are low, but while you are with us, you are welcome to all the resources we have on board: food, water and anything else we can provide.”

“What about oxygen?” asked a young bobcat. “Are we going to suffocate?”

“Our generated air is recycled and may get a little stale, but while we don’t have enough to make another long voyage, our captain is currently on the com with the Hestran emergency committee to get you folks some proper care as soon as possible.”

“How long is that gonna take?” a gray mouse wanted to know. “Some of us were injured in the escape from Vashon. Your doctor and nurse are treating everyone, but I doubt they’ll get to all of us before something sets up wrong.”

“Are we going to run out of air before help can arrive from Hestra?” asked the bobcat again. “Mr. Kieran said he heard you say you didn’t have enough!”

“My engineer was concerned about our carbon dioxide filters having trouble with so many sets of lungs on board,” Damien admitted, “but this should not be a concern if Hestra dispatches rescue ships to take you to an emergency center.”

“Where can they take us?” cried a spaniel female. “I’m not Hestran! I won’t be able to stand up on the surface!”

“We can’t go back to the moon!” said another. “What’s going to happen to us?”

“We’re going to run out of air before we can get anywhere safe!”

Damien looked helplessly as the situation took on more panicked questions and exclamations. “Our captain is working on that!” he offered, but knew that it would appease no one now. The bull moose’s eyes were getting bloodshot and the tension was mounting in his face as word of their dilemma spread throughout the evacuees. “Any rescue ships will be set up to handle everything better than we can.”

“What are you gonna do about this?” Kieran demanded of the mastiff.

Damien backed into the engineering doorway and said, “We are going to continue doing what we can for you, sir.”

With that, he shut the door to the crowd and locked it. He leaned back against the wall and then glanced over at Max.

“Pockets said to do what we can,” Max told him. “Taro’s been in touch with Hestra, but until someone comes up with a plan, we’re stuck with these people.”

The loadmaster tilted his head back and rubbed his eyes. “I know they’ve been through a lot, but I just wish they’d understand that we’re not the enemy. We helped them escape death and are still trying to keep them alive.”

Although the door to engineering was closed, they could hear elevated voices from the other side. Damien looked over at the young mechanic and heaved a sigh. “I think we’d better stay in here a while, Max. They’re frightened and upset, but wait until they realize that there’s only one latrine out there on this deck. Then we’ll really have a riot on our hands.”

***

The raccoon crawled out from beneath the bridge com station and tapped the call-receive control from on his knees. “This is Chief Engineer Porter of the SS Blue Horizon,” he said. “How may I help you?”

“Blue Horizon, this is Hestra Spatial Control. May I speak with your captain, please?” requested a weary-looking fennec fox.

“Sure, hold just a moment.” Pockets put the incoming call on standby and then paged the captain to the bridge. Almost immediately, the intercom chirped.

“This is Taro.”

“Captain, HSC wants to chat with you.”

“On my way.”

The vixen and her first officer walked in through the door seconds later. They had been in the captain’s office in the next compartment. Pockets crawled back under the counter to continue his work while Taro took the call. Renny took a seat quietly and looked up at the vidscreen.

“Hello, Rifkin,” she said, recognizing him from their earlier conversation.

“Captain,” the desert fox said with a quick nod, “an empty Merriam Cruise Liner from Alexandrius has been dispatched and should arrive in approximately twenty-nine hours to collect the civilians from yours and other ships that helped get the evacuees off Vashon. The SS Soundchaser will be better equipped to harbor the large number of folks that aren’t physically able to be ferried down to the surface.”

“That is good news,” the vixen replied. “However, my supply officer took an inventory since our last conversation and determined that our supplies will completely run out in approximately fifteen hours. Our atmosphere generators and reclamation units are running on full, but with nearly sixty pair of lungs on board, breathable air will be running stale and very thin by the time Soundchaser arrives.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s the closest ship we could call upon to help you. All vessels planetside are currently tied up with surface emergency operations in the tidal quake and meteorite impact zones.”

“In that case, I think it best that we launch toward Alexandrius immediately to close the distance between the Blue Horizon and the Soundchaser to reduce our wait time.”

Renny nodded at her words and made a quick calculation on the astrogation computer. “At top speeds, it will take us roughly thirteen hours to meet up with the cruise ship,” he said aloud. “We’ll scan for their transponder so we don’t miss one another along the way.”

Taro looked up at Rifkin. “That should get us there with a couple hours to spare. Once we’ve transferred our passengers to the Soundchaser, we will continue on to Alexandrius with our limited supplies. Is there any chance the cruise ship can replenish our air reserves before we disconnect?”

“I will get in contact with the captain of the Soundchaser and see that you are supplied with enough air, food and water to get you to Alexandrius. I can’t thank you enough for your help in this disaster, Captain Nichols. The supplies they give you will be charged to the Hestran Emergency Response Authority.”

“Thank you, Rifkin. We’ll be on our way presently.”

“Good luck to you, Captain Nichols.”

Taro turned immediately to the cheetah. “Plot an immediate course to Alexandrius and launch as soon as you can at best possible speeds we can get up to. We can coordinate our trajectory with the Soundchaser as we get nearer so we can find a suitable rendezvous point. Justy, Lori and the others will ration out the food and water from our stores to our passengers. Hopefully that will keep them calm until we can get them over to the Soundchaser.”

“Don’t forget to save some of those rations for your lowly crew,” Renny said with a frown.

“Don’t worry, dear. You won’t go hungry for long. Pockets, you should stop what you’re doing now and get down to the engine room. I want you and Max to make sure all systems are running smoothly while we stress the engines to full capacity.”

The engineer backed out from the counter access area. “I’m almost finished,” he said. “Gimmee ten more minutes and I’ll have the feed routed up here. Max can watch the engine diagnostics in the meantime.”

“Okay, finish what you’re doing and then get down there,” Taro agreed.

Pockets glanced around the room as if to make sure it was only just the three of them, and then he spoke again in a low voice. “You know, we could use the Vault drive to get the evacuees to the Soundchaser a lot quicker. Then we could continue on to Alexandrius on our own without having to deplete all our stores of food, water and air.” He looked up hopefully at the vixen.

Renny and Taro exchanged dubious looks and then the captain shook her head. “No, I’m adamant against using the Vault in public, and there’s no way we could keep something like that from our passengers, the Soundchaser or Hestran command. I haven’t even told Merlin about it yet! Besides, you know how unreliable it is with our navigation equipment. We could wind up even farther away from help than we are now without meaning to.”

“Yeah, but I thought I would mention it,” Pockets muttered before he ducked back under the counter.

Renny redirected the right-hand vidscreen panel to an aft view and looked back at the planetary body receding in the distance. “What about Hestra?” he asked quietly.

Taro looked up with a frown and felt a shudder go through her. “We will have to leave Hestra to her fate. Planned or not, the well-being of our passengers is our biggest priority.”

***

“There, Madsen, that’s almost got it,” the bull moose muttered. He and a young brown bear each had a pry bar they had found in an equipment locker and had them wedged into the split of the elevator lift door. The two panels were warped with ragged edges where the pair had worked on it for some time, but the door was finally starting to give.

“This is ridiculous, Kieran,” grumbled the bear. “There’s only one latrine we can find down here, and they shut off the power to the lift to keep us from using their facilities on the upper decks.”

“I don’t know who these people think they are,” said the moose. “Cargo haulers are nothing more than truckers in space. They ain’t any more uppity than the rest of us. If they have what we need up there, we ought to have access! We have nothing now.”

“Probably afraid we’ll steal stuff from their cabins.”

There was a sudden pop and the lift door panels separated. “Great, that’s got it!” exclaimed the moose. He and the bear dropped their pry bars noisily and then pulled the panels open as far as they would go.

Kieran moved into the tubular room and looked up. He grinned and used his fist to pop up an access panel in the roof next to the light. “Give me a boost,” he said to his companion. “I’ll bet there’s an emergency ladder up in the shaft.”

“You won’t find a ladder, but you will find live power conduits that will give you a nasty jolt as soon as you get your hands on them,” Damien said. Kieran and Madsen both jumped, turning in unison.

“For your own safety, I suggest you leave the elevator.” The loadmaster held both pry bars in his hands. One was down at his side and the other was resting casually over his shoulder, but when the moose took a step toward him, both bars came up in front of him in a ready stance. Kieran stopped and snorted in anger.

“You can’t do this to us!” he shouted. “We aren’t your prisoners!”

“Sir, you will be off our ship in six more hours when we meet up with a cruise ship from Alexandrius,” Damien said evenly, trying to remain diplomatic. “Try to stay out of trouble until then and then you’ll never have to see our ship again.”

The moose took another step toward him. “Why, I ought to—”

“That won’t improve your situation, I assure you.”

Kieran made a quick glance at his companion, but the bear showed no signs of joining him in a fight. The moose weighed his chances of running his antlers into the mastiff, but then thought better of it when he considered the pry bars in the cur’s hands.

“Six hours won’t come soon enough,” Kieran grumbled as he finally moved out of the lift. He slipped past the mastiff haughtily and then disappeared into the crowd that had gathered outside the elevator. Madsen stepped up to the loadmaster and sighed with a frown.

“You’ll have to excuse him,” the bear said in a low voice. “His family lived on Quet until over-mining ruined its atmosphere, and then they moved to Brandt. They did well there until the Siilv deposits ran out and ruined the economy, so they packed up and moved to Mainor. He was off-world when you-know-what happened to that place, but his family didn’t make it. Now he’s just lost his business on Vashon and everything left that he owned.” The bear licked his lips and shook his head. “I don’t think I want to be living on the next planet Mr. Good-Luck happens to settle down on.”

“Yeesh,” Damien muttered. The crowd around them started to disperse, so he turned toward the bear and spoke in a low voice. “Listen, I was just coming to tell you that my captain agreed to allow folks in limited quantities on the upper decks for use of the latrines in our unoccupied cabins. We can take a few up at a time.”

“Limited quantities? Why the escort?”

“The easiest way to put it is that’s where we live. You’re welcome to use the unoccupied facilities, but you don’t have freedom to invade our homes, disaster or no.”

“Yeah, okay, I can live with that explanation,” said the bear. “So, can we go up now? I could do with a shower.”

Damien raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “No, you and your buddy just ruined the lift doors, and it sounded like you snapped an actuator arm. You are going to help me repair them first or no one will be going up there.”

***

Renny rubbed his eyes as he rounded the curved corridor to his cabin. He was just as tired and weary as the crew and their impromptu passengers. Taro had granted him an hour to rest and clean up, but he would need to be back on the bridge thereafter. Jerry and Amanda were still going through the crowd, treating what hurts they could, while Pockets and Max nursed the Horizon’s engines to give them everything they could. Lori, Justy and Damien were busy escorting folks up and down the lift to the spare cabins, so that just left he and Taro to manage the bridge.

As he neared the door to his quarters, he felt a tug on the tip of his tail. He turned around and found a young cheetah girl looking up at him with wide, golden eyes. He quickly looked both ways up the corridor, but saw no one else.

“Hello, there,” he said to the youngster. She could not have been more than three or four summers old. She wore a single beige garment that draped across her skinny shoulders and hung to her knees, and there were two colorful bangles on the wrist of the hand that held his tail.

“Uhm, hi,” she replied in a small, squeaky voice.

“What is your name?”

“Sandilee.”

Renny smiled at her and knelt down to look at her at her own level. “You’re a cutie. Where are your folks?”

“Dunno,” she said with a shrug.

“Can you tell me your full name?”

“Sandilee,” she repeated.

“Sandilee what?”

“I dunno,” she said.

“Okay then, I’ll see if I can help you find them,” the navigator replied. “Did they come up here with you?”

“No,” Sandilee said.

“Did you come up here with someone else to go to the bathroom?”

“No.”

“Hmm, okay. Let’s take the elevator back down and see if we can find who you belong to.”

“I don’t wanna go back down there.”

“Why not?”

“It makes me afraid. I’m not afraid with you.”

Renny pursed his lips. “Well, Sandilee, I need to get you back to your folks. It will make them afraid if you are gone too long.”

“They aren’t there,” the girl said. “I can’t find them. Can I stay with you?”

The navigator reached out and lightly ran a finger under her chin. The girl smiled and looked up at him hopefully, but Renny slowly shook his head. “Come on,” he said. “I will help you find your family.”

***

Taro looked up from the INN broadcast on the StellarNet feed she was watching when Renny walked in through the door. It had been an hour since she had sent him out for rest, but the navigator did not look rested. In fact, he still wore the same clothes he had on when he left. She frowned at his weary expression and motioned him to sit down at the com station.

“Couldn’t rest?” she asked.

Renny heaved a sigh and rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t get a chance to,” he answered. “I found a young cheetah girl wandering the corridor out there and spent the past hour trying to reunite her with her family.”

“That was sweet of you,” the vixen told him. “I’m sure she’s happy to be back with them. If you want to go back to your cabin, I can spare you another hour.”

“I couldn’t find her family,” Renny said. “She and I are the only cheetahs on board and I couldn’t find anyone else who might have been taking care of her.”

Taro looked troubled. “That’s a big crowd down there,” she said. “Maybe you just missed them.”

“I stood on a crate, called for everyone’s attention, and then held her up for everyone to see. No one claimed her when I asked, but one guy heckled me for trying to pawn off my own child to anyone who would take her.”

Taro snickered, but then sobered up quickly. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t be amused at this kitten’s plight. Do you think her family might have been up using the facilities up here while you were down on the cargo deck with her? You did say you found her up here, right?”

“That was the first place I looked, but neither Justy nor Lorelei have seen any other cheetahs on board with the evacuees.” Taro crossed her arms and looked down at the floor, her thoughts working overtime. Renny glanced out the vidscreen window and added, “I’m wondering if she got separated from her family on Vashon and got swept away into our hold when the crowd surged on board.”

The vixen looked up and absently toyed with a feather dangling from a clip in the fur near her left ear. “I’ll contact HERA and see if anyone has reported a lost cheetah kitten. Perhaps her family got out on another ship.”

“Hera? Isn’t that one of the Terran gods?”

“The Hestran Emergency Response Authority, silly. It was formed after the Taquit Fever incident. They’re collecting the names of those who escaped, and I’ve had Jerry and Mandy getting the names of our passengers for them.”

“Hopefully they can find Sandilee’s folks,” Renny mused. “I’ve tried asking her about her family, but she’s young enough that she hasn’t yet learned much about her family beyond her folks and siblings. She can’t even tell me what planet her family’s from, or if she has any relatives elsewhere.”

“I don’t want to think about it,” Taro said, “but we also have to consider the possibility that her family didn’t make it out of Sharra Base alive. You remember how we got out of there? They could have been in one of the other ships trapped under the dome when the building collapsed under the crash of the Gaston Leroux.”

“I hope to Hera that someone there can help her. She’s too young to lose her family.”

“Where is she now?”

Renny rubbed his eyes again. “I left her with Lori. She said she’d watch over her until the Soundchaser can take her.”

Taro moved over to her friend and gently rubbed his shoulders from behind his chair. “Why don’t you go get your lost hour?” she said. “Once you’ve had a bit of rest, you can relieve me so I can do the same.”

“Thanks. I’m so tired right now that I can barely stay on my feet. At least a short nap should recharge me a bit.”

“Go then,” the vixen ordered. “Try not to pick up any more lost children on the way to your cabin this time.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

***

“Blue Horizon, this is the SS Soundchaser,” said a uniformed lynx from the left-hand vidscreen. “We have you on our long-range sensors. Please stand down from current velocity and then report your coordinates so we don’t overshoot your position. Captain Ransdell welcomes your passengers at the behest of the Hestran government.”

“Thank you, Soundchaser,” Taro replied with a weary smile, “I’m Captain Nichols. We’re dropping out of spatial velocity now. Our supplies are almost exhausted and our atmospheric reclamation units are over-taxed, so we’re very glad to see you.”

“Very glad,” Renny repeated with a grateful expression.

“The Hestran government thanks you for your help. Once we are in position, we will extend a gravity deck walkway to your main hatch. As soon as your passengers have been transferred to this vessel, we have been authorized to grant you food, water and air to speed you on the remainder of your journey to Alexandrius.”

“Thank you, Soundchaser,” Taro repeated. “We have slowed to sub-light velocity and will be solely on inertia within ten minutes. At that time, we will fire thrusters to stop all momentum. What orientation do you need us so we can align our hatches?”

The lynx’s ears dropped back for only a second, but Renny caught it in the Soundchaser’s communication officer’s voice. “The Soundchaser is equipped with extended walkways on both port and starboard.” He almost sounded miffed that his ship would only be equipped with one walkway.

Taro quietly dismissed the feline’s look of indignation and replied, “In that case, you should approach with us on your port side.”

“Acknowledged. We will await your final coordinates, Captain. Soundchaser, out.”

“That’s a Paladin class cruiser,” Renny remarked once the connection dropped. “Just because it’s five times the size of the Horizon doesn’t mean they—”

“Drop it,” Taro snapped irritably. “Once we can get these people into better conditions, we’ll be on our way. When we get to Alexandrius, I’m going to authorize a full week of shore leave so we can all rest up from this madness.”

Renny flinched at her rebuke and just shook his head. “What are we going to do about our next assignment?” he asked. “Won’t an extended break hurt our schedule?”

The vixen waved a hand toward the aft end of the bridge. “The cargo we were to take from Vashon to Alexandrius was probably pulverized into dust by that asteroid, Renny. We don’t have anything to deliver. The main office will have to refund the advance payment.”

“Right.”

The cheetah fell silent and gave focus to his job, wishing it was Jerry sitting in the pilot seat instead of him. Some minutes later, the Blue Horizon was stationary in space and he calculated their present coordinates. Taro reestablished contact with the larger vessel and got an immediate response.

“Blue Horizon, we have just received coordinates from your navigation transponder. You may prepare your passengers to disembark.”

“Acknowledged.” She tapped a command on her console and then spoke into her headset for a ship-wide broadcast.

***

“May I have your attention, please? This is the captain speaking.”

A family of multicolored cottontail rabbits looked up from their huddle in the middle of the cargo deck at the announcement. The doe looked up at her mate and began trembling. “More bad news?” she asked. “I don’t think my heart can take much more.”

“I have some good news for you, folks. The SS Soundchaser, a luxury cruise liner from Alexandrius is now on final approach to our position to take you on board their vessel. The Hestran government has hired this vessel to take care of you and others like you who survived the Vashon collision. They will be sufficiently set up to handle all your needs and are here to welcome you aboard.”

Voices began to rise in discussion at Taro’s words, but others strained to hear the rest of the announcement. “The Soundchaser will be docking with us momentarily. All passengers will need to be ready by the main hatch and will disembark quietly in single file. Once aboard the Soundchaser, you will be assigned cabins for the remainder of your journey and their medical staff will see to your injuries. This is Captain Nichols, wishing you a safe journey.”

Damien moved quickly around the perimeter of the cargo deck to the main hatch. He had to push through a congregation of bodies who were already starting to gather at the airlock with excited voices. When he got to the control panel, he looked up and felt the hackles on the back of his neck stand up. The first one in line was the moose, Kieran.

The loadmaster cleared his throat and looked at the press of bodies around him. “I need everyone to form a line, please! Everyone will get their chance to go across, so there’s no need to hurry. The Soundchaser has enough room, food and medical supplies for all of you, and we won’t be leaving until everyone has been transferred across. So now, please form a line!”

He turned his back on the crowd as a great number of them either began grumbling and complaining about losing a close spot near the door. Kieran did not budge, making sure that everyone lined up behind him.

Damien activated a small monitor on a panel next to the airlock and a camera mounted flush with the outside of the hatch showed the hull of another ship sliding past. He began pressurizing the airlock as the other vessel slowed.

The intercom chirped on the cargo deck. There was a com terminal next to his console, so he thumbed a pad as he kept his eyes on the monitor. “This is Damien. I’m at the hatch.”

“The Soundchaser has signaled that they are in position. Make preparations to receive boarders.”

“Already pressurizing,” he said.

“I’ll be down there in a moment,” Taro said. The connection was terminated and Damien could see a hard-walled tunnel extending toward them. This was not one of the inflatable, flexible tunnels used on smaller ships like the Blue Horizon, but had solid sides and was equipped with gravity deck plates for efficient movement. A moment later, its soft-seal end came in contact with the freighter’s hull. Through the airlock’s thick glassteel window, Damien could see an amber caution light flashing as the tunnel was pressurized by its parent ship.

“Hurry it up!” complained a voice behind him.

Damien turned to see the bull moose leaning over his shoulder just as there was a muted beep from the control panel. “Gladly,” he replied, punching a large red button beneath the pressure gauge. The outer door locks released, and when the sensors confirmed full pressure, Damien toggled another switch; the inside hatch locks released with a thunk. He stepped back and had to push Kieran aside to let the thick door slid to the right on tracks.

Without waiting to see if anyone was in the hatch, the moose shoved his way past the loadmaster into the walkway tunnel. The crowd surged in behind him, clogging the hatch even as Damien tried shouting for order. He was knocked to the side for his trouble, and then the mastiff decided to just let the tide take its course.

As he expected, the walkway filled up with people, but the hatch on the other side had not yet opened. Kieran was shoved up against the other ship by the crowd behind him. He would have tried punching people to get them to back up, but they were pressed in too tightly.

A loudspeaker suddenly blared in the walkway. “Back away from the hatch, people. We can’t open it with you up against it!”

“Back off!” Kieran shouted. “Get off me!”

It took several moments before the crowd could ease up enough for the moose to step away from the door. Inner door locks inside the hatch released with heavy clunks and then the panel pushed outward to slide sideways, nearly taking off a moose antler.

Before another announcement could be made, the crowd surged into the Soundchaser without bothering to get proper instructions for boarding from the cruise director.

Damien watched the evacuees flow past him, glad to be rid of them. This was not an experience he would soon wish to repeat.

***

Two hours later, the Blue Horizon was on its way to Alexandrius. The Soundchaser had replenished their oxygen supply and granted them a day’s supply of prepared gourmet food for the entire crew. Unfortunately, everyone was so exhausted from the ordeal that no one wanted to do anything about it. Lori promised to put out the food in the galley for anyone who wanted it, but she was going to spend some time in the tub in her quarters, soaking and relaxing.

Taro thought that was a good idea and suggested everyone take a rest period, but she would man the bridge herself for now. She settled into the pilot’s center seat with the autopilot engaged and a stack of old printed magazines from the Soundchaser at her side. She wanted a break from the disaster and decided to avoid the news channels for a while.

The engines were gunning to get them up to reduced interstellar speed, but would be shut off soon for inertial coasting the rest of the way to Alexandrius. Taro could do that from the bridge, so Pockets retired to his cabin to rest his eyes, but Max and Renny went up to the recreation deck to put on a movie to relax with. Justy went to his bed to sleep, citing he would not emerge from his cocoon until he had sprouted colorful wings.

Damien wanted to rest as well, but agitation kept him on his feet. He had a push broom in his hands, sweeping up the litter that the crowd had left behind. The evacuees had been on board for less than a day, but the deck looked as if they had camped there for a week. He found several spots near the sides where someone had gotten sick on the floor and he felt he could not rest until that had been cleaned up as well.

All that was to be expected after such a crowd, especially after the ordeal they had all had to go through. However, his patience ran out and he let his anger get the best of him when he found several equipment lockers where the contents had been scattered out onto the deck and the locker itself had been used as a latrine – by several people, from the looks of it.

He cursed and threw a few tools across the hold, but once he had vented his anger, he dutifully cleaned up the mess and retrieved the tools. It took him three hours to disinfect all the messes he could find, and then he headed up to his cabin to clean himself. He felt disgustingly filthy and wanted nothing more than a bath and then a meal.

***

Taro looked up at the clear vidscreen windows and worried her lower lip for a moment. She had browsed through the magazines that had been given to her by the Soundchaser’s steward, but the disaster would not leave her mind.

She finally gave in to the temptation and put up the StellarNet feed Pockets had installed. She keyed in the channel for INN and steeled herself to what she knew she would see. Holly Harken was there, fulfilling her usual role informing the Planetary Alignment of the situation at hand. The Terran woman was still young, but aging gracefully and still the most well-known news anchor on PA-wide broadcasts. Her face was grim as she reported what the Hestran Emergency Response Authority had released to her.

Vashon’s orbit had already begun to stabilize, and the tidal ground quakes on Hestra had subsided. Early estimates figured in a death toll of nearly one hundred thirty thousand across Hestra, and four hundred fifty on Vashon. The moon’s atmosphere would likely be clouded for some time, and its reflected light on the planet had increased several-fold. Infrared and other sensors that penetrated the cloud layer confirmed that the satellite had great cracks across its surface in chasms fathoms deep. Further plans included dropping unmanned probes beneath the atmosphere for further investigation.

Taro sighed and muted the sound. She watched images of the devastation silently for several minutes and then she looked up at a thought. The vixen moved to the com station and called up a bookmarked call code. She keyed it in and waited for the response. The wait was brief. She received an error stating that the code was either invalid or inaccessible.

Taro was not surprised. She was certain that communication lines on Hestra would likely either be down or so busily jammed that she could not get through to her father’s cousin, Dr. Rhineheart. She desperately hoped that Leslie was okay. It had been she who had aided in Taro’s surgeries and recovery after the hand-to-hand combat with the pirate Sagan. Taro had been unaware that any of her relatives had survived the Taquit Fever disaster, another disastrous situation engineered by the dread pirate. Her entire immediate family had perished to that horrible virus. If anything happened to Leslie through this disaster, Taro would be totally alone in the universe.

The vulpine captain resisted the urge to get emotional. She had no proof that Leslie had been in any danger, so until the communication lines opened, she would have faith that her father’s cousin was okay.

Taro watched a little more of the news and then switched it off. She yawned widely, her pink tongue curling in over itself, and she was still drawing in air when Damien walked into the room.

“Looks like you could use a rest period,” the mastiff said. He had a thick book tucked under one arm with a sand-colored ribbon hanging from the middle of its thousand pages, a heavy novel with a cloth cover and its title printed in bold script down its spine.

“I can barely keep my eyes open,” Taro agreed, “but I think I can hang in here for the rest of the journey.

Damien gave her a knowing smile and shook his head. He stuck his face up close to hers, almost touching nose to nose with her. “I am relieving you of duty,” he said in a light tone. “Go to bed. That’s an order.”

The vixen leaned back away from him and looked at him in amusement. It was the first time she had seen him so light-hearted, especially after a hard assignment. She sniffed lightly but didn’t smell any liquor on his breath. In fact, he smelled clean. “Who gave you the authority to give orders to your superior officer?” she asked lightly.

“Authority self-assigned,” he said with a straight face. “But seriously, go get some rest. I’ll watch over the brood from here while you take a turn with a pillow.”

Taro rested her chin on a fist and looked at him wearily. “I think you’re just as delirious as I feel,” she told him with a smile. “I’d dock your pay for insubordination, but I’m too tired. Carry on, then, mate. I’m going to bed.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

Taro gave the controls a quick glance before she stood up and stretched. “Thanks, Damien. I appreciate the hard work you and everyone else gave on this voyage.”

“You’re welcome. Now, scoot. I want to get back to my book and you’re using up valuable reading time!”

Taro chuckled with pat a on his shoulder. “All yours, my friend. You have the watch.”

***

Taro stepped into her dark cabin and stopped just inside the door. Peace and quiet. Finally, some time to herself. She heaved a heavy sigh, smiled to herself and then closed the door panel behind her.

As she made her way through the dark to the bedroom in the back, she remembered how small the cabins were on the original Blue Horizon, so many years ago, it felt like. The entire cabin could have fit inside the front room of her current quarters, a one-room affair with a small bed, a closet, a desk with a terminal to the computer and com system, a built-in bookcase and a small latrine with a connecting shower stall.

The vixen stopped inside the door of her bedroom and looked across the queen-size bed. It looked inviting and she started to remove her blouse, but then she stopped. She was tired, but she did not want to be alone.

She had no plans to play, but she suddenly wanted to snuggle up next to Renny on his mattress. She needed someone beside her while she slept. It would help to relax her and ease her dreams that would likely be focused on Hestra and Vashon.

The red fox left her cabin and padded quietly to Renny’s door. She tapped on it lightly, but there was no answer. It was possible he was already asleep, so she let herself in and crept toward his bedroom.

She did not turn on the lights, but a small blue nightlight from the bathroom gave her enough light to see her way to the bed and the lump under the covers. She sat on the side of the bed to remove her shoes and listened to the slow, rhythmic breathing. She tilted her head to the side with a frown, realizing it was not Renny’s familiar breathing she heard.

Taro’s first thought was that it might be Lorelei or Amanda in his bed. Although Taro and Renny shared a relationship, it was long understood that it was not exclusive. She stood up to leave, but then a small voice stopped her cold.

“Mommy?”

The vixen swallowed the lump in her throat and felt the furs at the back of her neck stand out. “What is it, dear?” she tried to whisper reassuringly.

“Can I have a cup of water?”

“Just a moment, kitling.” Taro moved quickly into the bathroom and ran some water into a small paper cup, trying desperately to keep her hands from shaking. She returned to the bed a moment later with the water, but the child had already drifted back to sleep. Taro set the cup on the nightstand, tucked the covers around the kitten’s shoulders and then quickly departed the cheetah’s cabin.

Just as she stepped out into the corridor, Renny came out of the elevator lift with a cup of coffee and a piece of pie on a paper plate. He saw her and flashed a wide smile. “Hey, foxy,” he said. Taro walked over to him and resisted the urge to slap him. Her eyebrows came together in anger and Renny suddenly felt shiver run up and down his spine. “What’s the matter?” he asked cautiously.

“I just found your kitten,” Taro said coldly. “Did you think you could hide her from me?”

Renny’s large eyes grew wider. “What are you — wait… Sandilee – that lost cub? Where?”

The vixen narrowed her eyes. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No,” Renny said quickly, his temperature rising, “but I’m confused. Start over and tell me what the blazes you’re talking about.”

Taro snorted irritably. She was too tired to engage in an argument, so she grabbed his wrist, nearly spilling his coffee, and pulled him back to his cabin. Renny managed to convince her to let him set his coffee and pie on a table just inside the door, and then allowed himself to be led back to his bedroom. When they got into the room, Taro pointed toward the bed.

Renny’s heart skipped a beat and he shook off Taro’s grip from his wrist. He moved quickly into the bathroom to turn on a small light and then looked over at the bed. A small, fuzzy head with tiny round ears and spotted fur lay upon his favorite pillow. “Oh, my…” he replied with a gulp.

He turned back to Taro and looked back at her with a shocked expression. “How long has she been in here?” he muttered in a whisper.

“You tell me!”

“Taro, I’m asking you!”

The vixen blinked. “You didn’t know she was in here?”

“No, this is the first I’ve seen her since trying to help her find her folks. Then again, this is the first time I’ve even been back in my quarters since I left her with Lorelei.”

“You’re kidding, right? Where have you been since the Soundchaser left?”

Renny pointed a thumb at the ceiling. “Up watching a movie with Max,” he replied. “You know that helps me to relax when I’m bushed. Ask him, he’ll tell you I’ve been there.”

Taro grabbed his wrist again and pulled him back out into the front room. “That kitten can’t be here, Renny!” she said in a rush. “She’s supposed to be on her way back to Hestra to find her family!”

“Should we turn around and go after that ship?” the navigator asked.

Taro swallowed and sat down on his couch. “No, uhm, I don’t think…” She fell silent and the cheetah sat down next to her. “We can’t. The Soundchaser only gave us enough supplies to get us back to Alexandrius. We have to go on as planned or we won’t make it anywhere else.”

“Do you think Lori put her in here?” Renny asked. “She was just as tired as everyone else and might have forgotten about her when the cruise ship got here.”

“It’s possible,” Taro replied with her head in her hands. “Listen, it looks like we have an obligation to get her to the proper authorities when we get to Alexandrius. Perhaps they can get her passage back to Hestra.”

“Taro,” Renny said as he slipped an arm around her shoulder, “I didn’t know that she was in my quarters, and I didn’t hide her from you. I would have grabbed you as soon as I’d found her in here, myself.”

“Yeah, I realize that now,” the vixen muttered wearily, leaning over to rest her head upon his shoulder. “I’m going back to my bed and try to get some sleep. I’m too exhausted to think about this right now.”

“I’ll go with you,” Renny said. “My bed’s occupied.”

Taro gave him a tired smirk. “Come on, then,” she replied. “Just no playing around. I really need to sleep.”

“Yes, ma’am, one sleep-only rest period coming right up!”

***

The world of Alexandrius appeared as a blue crescent in the forward windows, but only one of its two moons could be seen on a backdrop of glittering stars. Clouds swirled like ribbons across the planet’s visible surface and a portion of its oceans glittered even from the distance of spatial orbit.

Jerry sat in the pilot seat, with Taro stationed at the com terminal and Renny at navigation.

“Adjusting ship’s time to Delorme standard clocks,” Taro announced over the intercom. “Local time is nineteen oh-seven.” It was standard procedure to set themselves to whatever world and time zone they were about to spend much time in and would remain as standard ship’s time until their next planetfall. The ship’s systems would reflect the change instantaneously with her reset.

The red fox received a signal in her headset and nodded to herself at the information scrolling across her station screen. “This is the Blue Horizon,” she stated into her microphone, “Planetary Alignment registry number PA1138. We’re coming in on standard approach for landing at the Garrison Spaceport in Delorme.” She listened a second and then answered, “Any available pad, please. We have just arrived from Hestra. No cargo. Yes, thank you.” She received the transmitted coordinates on her screen and as she listened, her fingers glided across her panel to transfer the data to Renny’s terminal. The cheetah set about programming the information into the main computer as Taro finalized their approach from the Alexandrius Defense Authority.

“ADA has given us authorization for landing, Jerry,” she announced.

“Good,” the physician replied. “Renny?”

“Transferring navigational trajectory to your panel now.”

“All hands, all hands,” Taro announced on ship-wide speakers, “landing sequence has begun. Strap yourselves in.”

When the cargo vessel finally emerged beneath the cloud layer over the city below, the vixen turned back to her board. “Equalizing our internal air pressure with that of the city,” Taro intoned automatically. “Full atmosphere transfer to replenish our depleted reserves will commence in two minutes.”

“I hope the filters are working properly,” Jerry remarked. “We don’t want any smog on board.”

“Agreed,” Renny said.

Taro engaged a few switches and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “Artificial gravity has now been disabled. In another ten minutes, we’ll be on the ground with full engine shutdown. I want to meet everyone on the cargo deck after we’ve landed. Damien, don’t open the airlock or bay doors yet. I am granting everyone five days of shore leave to get this experience out of your system, but I need to explain our situation to everyone before we disembark, so wait for me in the hold.”

Renny gazed out the windows when the vixen closed the intercom, glad to be almost back on the ground. They were moving beneath the spaceport traffic and on approach to a small gray building simply marked with a pad number. The Blue Horizon stopped forward movement above a concrete landing pad and began dropping slowly.

Jerry lowered the landing gear and set the ship gently onto the pad with the slightest of bumps. He began shutting down systems on his panel and Renny did likewise. Within moments, only the necessary systems on board were still operational.

The male fox got out of his harness and glanced at movement on a nearby monitor. “Captain, I think you should see this,” he said. He tapped a control and put the image on the left-hand vidscreen panel.

Taro and Renny looked up to see a crowd of news reporters converging on the Horizon’s airlock hatch. “Uh, oh, what’s going on now?” Renny asked.

Taro frowned. “We’re the first ship out of the Hestran disaster zone to arrive,” she explained. “I was contacted about an hour ago with requests from INN and several local news channels to interview us as eye witnesses to the catastrophe.”

“And?” Renny asked.

“I agreed,” Taro replied. “That’s what I wanted to tell everyone before we scattered. I also agreed to turn over our video recordings of the asteroid collision exclusively to INN due to our past relationship with Holly Harken.”

“Do we have to be interviewed?” Jerry asked. “I’m not afraid of a little on-air exposure for the business, but I really don’t feel like getting grilled by the media. You know they won’t just ask simple questions. By the time they’re through with us, they’ll twist our words around and make it sound like we caused the disaster!”

“I thought about that, but I also want to use this to our advantage,” Taro said. “HERA has turned up nothing so far on Sandilee’s family, so I am going to try to steer the focus of the questions directed to me onto her. If we can get her picture and name broadcast PA-wide, it will increase our chances of finding someone to claim her.”

“Yeah, but what about the rest of us?” Renny asked.

Taro gave him a smile. “Give them your charm and just tell them what happened. We will be hounded until we give in and give them something, so we may as well just get it over. I will explain this to everyone once we get down to the hold.”

“You replenished our air supply already, right?” Jerry asked.

Taro glanced at the engineering console. “The pumps just finished, yes,” she replied.

“How about we take off again and go somewhere else where there aren’t any reporters? Some place out in the country would do nicely.”

“Nice try, Doc. Now, let’s go.”

***

Taro faced the small com unit in her hotel room and tried to keep the frustration out of her expressions. It was so hard to keep her ears upright while listening to the Hestran Secretary to the Ambassador.

“I am sorry, Captain, but there’s nothing I can do for her,” said an elegant Irish Setter. “HERA operations are completely tied to the situation on Hestra and there’s been no time to do any research on the child survivor. Without a family name, there’s little for us to go on, but the ambassador believes it was wise of you to work the girl’s plight into your INN interview. We can only hope this will serve to gain a response from the child’s family, but for now this may be her only chance.”

“I understand, Ms. Trevre. Who should I turn her over to in the meantime until she is claimed?”

The canine on the screen shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “You have a mixed crew on your ship, Captain? I believe you have one or two felines, yes?”

Taro flicked an ear at the odd question, but nodded. “My first officer is a cheetah, but what does this—?”

“Captain, although the metropolis of Delorme boasts of a large population, there are actually very few felines in that area. After I received your query, I looked into local shelters for underage children. However, there are none that are equipped to properly care for a young kitten. Since you do have a feline among you, and a cheetah at that, it’s the ambassador’s belief that you will be better suited to protect the child until such time as when her family may be located.”

“I beg your pardon,” Taro said as she allowed her ears to fall back to show her distress. “Do you really think a freighter is the proper place to keep a child?” she asked. “I do have a cheetah on board, but neither he nor anyone else on my crew has had experience caring for a child so young. Besides this, it would be more appropriate if the girl stayed on Alexandrius. My ship flies all over the Planetary Alignment. If her family is found quickly, they’ll likely still be in the Centaurus system and want her back as soon as possible. Our delivery schedule will be taking us away from this area; it may be months to a year before we’re back this way!”

“Yes, Captain, we understand your concerns, but—”

“Her best chances would be to have her transported to the feline population of Fyn for proper care until her family claims her.”

“Yes, Captain, that would be preferable, but that option is currently not open to us right now. I have been authorized to provide a stipend to your business account to cover the child’s care in your custody, funded by the Hestran Emergency Response Authority. The Blue Horizon is not unknown to us and the ambassador vouches for your crew’s reliability in this situation. Please rest assured that we won’t simply leave her in your care indefinitely, but this office will continue to do all we can to locate the kitten’s family.”

Taro heaved a heavy sigh, caring not if the Secretary to the Ambassador noticed. “Please believe me, Captain,” the canine said in a soft voice, “If there was another option, we would take it, but you have proven yourselves to be trustworthy and compassionate. Please take care of Miss Sandilee, Captain. We will have her funds set up by tomorrow morning and then we will contact you periodically to check on her well-being until her case is resolved.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Taro responded numbly.

“Good evening, Captain.”

“Good evening, Ms. Trevre.”

The vixen shut off the com unit and sat back in the small desk chair, her tail through the slotted opening in the back and twitching in agitation. She hated to be backed into a corner, but there seemed to be nothing she could do about it. The child had fallen into their laps and it was up to them to take care of her.

Taro looked over at the small bed beside her. The hotel did not have a suite containing more than one small bed, so she and Renny had rented separate rooms next to one another for their stay in Delorme. Max and Justy had taken other rooms in the same hotel, while the rest of the crew scattered on the wind for their shore leave. Despite her orders to cooperate, Damien had hidden himself from the reporters when they had converged on the crew, and then had disappeared into the city as soon as he could get away. She did not fault him for his actions and decided just to forget it. She would have hidden from the media herself if she felt she could have gotten away with it.

She moved to the bed and stretched out on its firm mattress, burying her face in both pillows provided to her. She drifted off within moments, but it did not seem as if she had been asleep long when there was a knock on her door.

The fox crawled to her feet and unfastened the lock. Renny stood in the doorway with Sandilee beside him, holding his hand. She held an ice cream cone in her other small hand and licked at it slowly as if savoring its taste.

“Hi, come on in,” Taro said. The cheetah pair moved into the room and Sandilee immediately found a spot in the middle of the floor to sit and finish her cone. Renny took a seat in the desk chair while Taro locked the door and returned to the bed.

“Thank you for taking her out while I called the Embassy,” Taro said quietly.

“Sandy didn’t give me any trouble,” Renny said. “I pushed her on a swing in the park, let her play in the tall grass of that field next door, and then bought her the ice cream.”

“Sandy?” Taro asked with amusement.

“It’s easier than Sandilee.”

“An’ I like it!” the kitten squeaked between licks. Taro chuckled and then looked over at her friend.

“How did it go?” he asked in a whisper. The vixen shook her head and then glanced over at the kitten.

“The Ambassador believes we can take care of her better than they can,” she replied quietly. She did not want to give him the details of her argument in front of the youngster, so she kept it simple. “They’re paying a stipend for her needs out of the emergency funds, but will continue to look for her family in the meantime.”

“Why do they think we can do a better job?” Renny asked.

Taro gave him a little smirk. “Mostly because of you,” she said. “They think you make a good daddy.”

“I make a better friend,” Renny countered quickly. “Don’t they have foster care facilities at all?”

Taro hushed him to keep his voice down. “They do,” she answered, “but apparently none who can take a feline. It seems there are few of you in this region.”

Renny sat back and looked down at the young cheetah that had started crunching on the waffle cone. He remembered back to when Merlin had taken it upon himself to be an uncle to Max, but Renny had no plans to adopt the youngster. He could be a big brother until she could return to her real family.

“Are you up to this assignment?” Taro asked.

Renny looked alarmed. “I can help look after her, if that’s what you mean. I expect the whole crew to lend support.”

The vixen chuckled again. “Yes, that’s what I meant, but since she’s taken to you, I expect she’ll be staying with you in your quarters.”

The navigator leaned in close to the fox. “We have spare cabins,” he reminded her in a whisper.

“Yes, but she’s too young to stay by herself. Make a bed for her on your couch, if you must, but she needs someone close by. You two are related by species, if not by blood, and right now she needs you.”

Renny shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. “Okay, I’ll look after her as if she were my own sister. I think Sophie would like that.”

Taro nodded. “Yes, I think she would. Now, how about we all go shopping? Sandy’s going to need more than one outfit, and HERA is paying for it.”

“Are we goin’ shoppin’?” Sandilee asked as she licked off the remaining cream from her fingers.

“Yes, kitling, just for you,” Taro said with a smile. The youngster grinned up at her, and then held out her hands to Renny to carry her.

CATNAP

By Ted R. Blasingame

“Hello, Amanda. How are you today?”

The coyote smiled up at the right-hand vidscreen. She had a pillow in her lap and her slateboard on top of the pillow while sitting in the pilot’s seat. “Couldn’t be better, Cindy. I’m the only one currently on board; everyone else is gallivanting around the countryside while we wait for our next assignment. I assume that’s why you are calling, so I’m glad I was here.”

“It’s awful what happened at Hestra, but Merlin’s proud of you guys for your help with those evacuees.”

“Yeah, we did what we could, but it got ugly before it got better. Everyone’s glad to have a bit of time off after our next delivery was summarily canceled by an asteroid, but frankly I’m ready to get back to work.”

“In that case, I’m here to grant your wish!”

“You’re smiling awfully wide, Cindiloo. Did we get a juicy assignment that pays double?”

The gray mouse on the screen snickered. “I’m sworn to secrecy to divulge specific details, but on Merlin’s orders, the Blue Horizon has been recalled to Dennier. You won’t be flying home empty, though. We lined up a three-fold delivery that will fill your cargo deck. You’ll be carrying high-tech electronics for JR Lane Astrogation, six communication satellites for Loxley DataStream, as well as a last-minute passenger addition who will ride with you to Grandstorm to meet her business partner. All will converge on the Blue Horizon tomorrow morning, so you’ll need to schedule a flight plan with the Alexandrius Defense Authority and then contact your crew. I’m uploading the mission file with all the details of your cargoes and passenger as we speak.”

Amanda nodded and put a finger under her chin. “All that sounds great, but my interest has been piqued by the real reason behind our flight to Dennier. A recall? That’s usually something rather serious, if you’re bringing us back to home base. Did you recall our sisters too?”

“No, this really doesn’t concern the Hidalgo Sun or Mooncrest as directly as it does the Blue Horizon, so they’re still on schedule.” Cindy Allport giggled again and put a hand over her mouth. “Only the flagship is being recalled.”

Amanda narrowed her eyes. “C’mon, give! What’s this about?”

“Nope, can’t tell you. It’s something you’ll have to find out for yourselves once you get here.”

“Cindy!  Dennier is four weeks away from Alexandrius!  I’m gonna die of curiosity before we get there!”

“Heh… quit your whining. I’m not going to tell you.  Not even Captain Nichols will know what this is about, so all you need to do is focus on your mission deliveries.”

“We’re getting fired, aren’t we? It’s because of all those jobs we lost.”

Cindy looked surprised. “Huh uh – nobody’s losing their jobs. This is going to be a good surprise, not something awful. Would I be giggling if that was the case?”

Amanda pouted. “Why’d you even mention it, then?” she grumbled. “You could have told me about the assignment and just left off the part about the recall.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to give you something to look forward to at the end of the flight.”

The coyote swished her tail through the slotted opening in the back of the chair and switched tactics. She gave the mouse a smile with wide eyes and clasped hands. “I promise I’ll look forward to it if you tell me what it is…”

“Nope, not a chance.”

“Brat!”

“Did you just call me a rat?  I’m a mouse, I’ll have you know!”

“Same thing, as far as I’m concerned!” Amanda stuck out her tongue.

“Nyah, nyah. Keep the recall to yourself, if you want. Just give the mission file to Taro when you’ve called her back to the ship. I won’t keep you any longer. You’ll need to contact your crew immediately.”

“You’re mean,” Amanda muttered with the back of her hand up to her forehead. “You’re going to cause me mental anguish for the next month. I might not be able to survive!”

“It’ll be worth it, I promise!”

“It better be. I won’t ever talk to you again if it’s not!”

Cindy laughed. “Then I have nothing to worry about.  Bye, then.  See you in four weeks.”

“Bye.”

***

“Blue Risen!”

Renny looked down at the young cheetah holding his hand. “Yes, Sandy, that’s the Blue Horizon, our home.”

The four-year-old who had recently become his charge released his hand and ran to the airlock ramp, waiting for him to open the door. She trotted up to it and slapped lightly on the painted door panel, grinning back at him, Taro and Lorelei.

“She’s such a cutie,” the white rabbit whispered. “That outfit you bought looks good on her.” The youngster wore a dark blue jumper that was loose over her fur, with yellow butterflies across the front and a matching blue ribbon at the end of her tail.

Renny strode up the ramp with a shopping bag of their purchases and gave the young girl’s head fur a tousle before punching in the security entry code in a recessed panel. With no pressurized air to cycle, the doors split apart diagonally right away and the chamber light of the airlock came on. Sandy darted inside and began running around the empty cargo hold with her arms outspread like airplane wings.

“Looks like we beat Damien back,” Renny said to the ladies when they stepped inside.

The vixen turned to a panel beside the airlock and keyed in a long-memorized sequence. The massive bay door began to rise up and outward. “May as well let in some fresh air,” she said. “Lori, would you go pull out the work gloves?”

“I’ll get them,” the doe replied with a light hop. She chased after the small cheetah girl and followed her around with outspread arms a moment before she continued on to the equipment locker on the far side of the chamber. Sandy enjoyed the attention and followed the bunny to see what she was doing.

“I’m going to gather up our little bird and set her in front of a video in my cabin,” Renny said. “Once I’ve gotten her set down with water and a snack, I’ll lock the door to keep her inside and then I’ll be back down to help with the cargo.”

Taro nodded and glanced at her techwatch. “The first truck should be here in about twenty minutes,” she said. “Would you stop by my desk on your way back and grab my slateboard? I need to send Lori out on a supply run. She knows what foodstuffs we need, but Justy left me a list of the other shipboard supplies we needed before he left for shore leave.”

“Sure.” The navigator walked across the deck while the bay doors completed their opening cycle. “Lori,” he said to the rabbit, “Taro needs you to make up a grocery list to stock up the galley before we launch. Do you think you can get everything within two hours?”

The bunny looked up at him with a handful of work gloves and flashed him a pleasant smile. “I already have a list in my quarters of what we need,” she replied.

Renny nodded his approval. “You’re fast!” he said.

Lori laughed and gave him a wink. “Of course I’m fast. I’m a rabbit!”

The navigator looked at her with a grin and said, “Anytime you want to see if you’re faster than a cheetah, just let me know.”

Lorelei laughed aloud and touched the tip of his nose with a finger at arm’s length. “Your legs must really be feeling better if you’re willing to race,” she said, “but some things are better done slowly, though.” She then leaned in and whispered something in his ear that made the end of his tail twitch.

Renny cleared his throat and looked down at Sandilee. “C’mon, kitten,” he said. Lori gathered up the rest of the work gloves with a mischievous smile. “Let’s go.”

“Where we goin’?” she asked, scratching an ear.

“Up to our cabin,” he answered, trying to ignore the suggestive looks the rabbit was giving him. Renny reached inside the shopping bag and pulled out a vid package. On its cover in primary colors was a children’s show butterfly character sniffing a flower next to a sparkling lake. The title emblazoned across its sky read: Happy Bug and the Rainbow Song of Sillon. “Want to watch this?”

Sandy’s eyes lit up over a wide grin. “Yeah!” she exclaimed. All other thoughts evaporated as she reached up for the video. Renny handed it to her and led her to the lift.

“Bye, Sandy!” Lori lilted. The small cheetah waved absently, her focus now on the package.

When they got up into their quarters, Renny quickly got her situated in front of the video player so he could put away her new belongings and set up her bed on the couch. He went up to the galley, grabbed some water and few snacks for her, and then came back to pause her show. When she looked up at him in surprise, he squatted down next to her.

“I need to go back down and help the others do some work, so I need you to stay in here for a while,” he told her. “Can you do that for me?”

“Don’ go!” she said in sudden distress.

Renny brushed a finger lightly under her chin with a gentle smile. “Don’t worry, kitten. Happy Bug will keep you company and I won’t be gone long.” Sandilee put out her bottom lip and looked forlorn. The adult cheetah sighed and shook his head. “Do this for me,” he said, “and I’ll let you sit on my lap on the bridge when we fly up into the sky.”

Sandy’s distress disappeared and her eyes grew wider. “Promise!” she said.

Renny put his hand over his heart and said with a wink, “I promise.”

“Okay,” the appeased youngster said.

Renny pulled out a coloring book and box of wax markers from the shopping bag. He set them on the floor beside her and replied, “Good girl. I’ll be back in later to get you.”

“Okay,” she repeated. Renny resumed her program and stood up. The kitten’s attention instantly refocused on the screen, so the navigator gave the room a quick glance and then shut the door behind him.

He started to head directly to the lift, but then snapped his fingers sharply as his memory kicked in. He walked into the captain’s office and spied her favorite slateboard resting on one corner of the wooden desk. As he picked it up, he noted that she had left her monitor on to the news feed. He reached out to shut it off, but then recognized the cruise liner on the report.

He took up a position on the corner of the desk, turned up the volume, and listened to the local broadcast for a moment.

“The SS Soundchaser has just arrived in the capitol city with its load of refugees from the Hestra-Vashon disaster. Dispatched several days ago, the empty cruise ship’s function in this emergency was to collect evacuees of the Vashon moon from various smaller vessels that helped get the populace out of the danger zone. The first response of the Hestran government was to set up a tent city on the parent planet for these folk, but then it was discovered that nearly ninety percent of the evacuees were non-Hestran, and therefore wouldn’t be able to stand up on the surface of the heavy-gravity world.

“The Merriam Cruise Line graciously offered the use of one of their liners for the emergency, the SS Soundchaser, which was currently in port in Alucara. The Vashon refugees will be granted temporary housing in Alucara set up just for—”

Renny switched off the monitor and headed back down to the cargo deck. When he stepped out of the lift, he saw two trucks backed up to the loading ramp, each bearing the silhouette of a shapely female rabbit and the words “JR Lane Astrogation” painted upon their sides. Several of the Blue Horizon crew was already moving crates from the trucks up into the hold, with Damien directing for proper weight load placement.

Taro was chatting with the truck drivers, both male red foxes who had taken it upon themselves to be friendly with the curvaceous vixen. Renny frowned as he stopped next to her with the slateboard.

“Here you go, Honey,” he said, putting emphasis on the last word for the benefit of the truck drivers. Both vulpine drivers instantly looked uncomfortable when the navigator leaned in and placed a quick lick on the side of her muzzle.

Taro raised an amused eyebrow at him and replied, “Thank you, Luv.” She glanced at the foxes and said, “Excuse me, guys. I need to take care of this.” Both murmured something and ambled back to their trucks to stand in the shade.

“Feeling jealous, lover?” she whispered impishly to the cheetah.

Renny gave her a crooked smile and shook his head. “Flirt all you want,” he said. “I’m still the one who gets to travel with you.”

Taro laughed and gave him a quick hug. “Too true,” she said.

“Listen, there’s something I need to discuss with you,” Renny told her while they walked back toward the hold. “I saw a local news broadcast while I was up on the crew deck. The Soundchaser just arrived in Alucara with all the evacuees collected around Hestra.”

The captain nodded. “That’s good to know,” she said as she gestured to Lorelei that she had just transferred Justy’s supply list over to the bunny’s slateboard. “They’ll get good care from the Alexandrians.”

“You went to the Hestran Ambassador on Sandy’s behalf when we couldn’t turn around and take her back to the Soundchaser, where she should have gone. Now that all the evacuees are now here on Alexandrius, shouldn’t she go join them until her family can be found? There were other felines among those we had on board the Horizon. Perhaps some of them can take care of her.”

Taro looked at him for a moment. “I thought you liked Sandy,” she said.

“I do, but that’s not the issue,” Renny replied defensively. “As you told the Ambassador, we’ll be launching halfway across the Planetary Alignment once we leave here, and may not be back this way for some time. It would be better if she were here local when her family comes to get her.”

“Yes, I agree that would be best,” the vixen answered, “but we’ve already made an agreement with the Ambassador. I doubt she would be pleased if we bothered her with this again.”

Lorelei bounced up to them, bumped fists playfully with both the cheetah and vixen, and then bounded away. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” she said.

“Don’t be late!” Taro called after her. The bunny headed to the spaceport terminal building, where a busy line of local cabs waited for fares. The captain looked at her watch and then back to Renny’s forlorn face. “Fine, I’ll go call the Ambassador again, now that the Soundchaser has arrived. However, even if she agrees, there may not be time for her to arrange a transport for our little friend. We’re on a tight schedule to make our launch window and Sandy can’t wait for a cab or other transport by herself if we run out of time.”

Renny nodded. “I accept that you’ll give it a shot,” he said. “I do like Sandy, but she does need to go back to her family, wherever they may be.”

“Agreed.” Taro pantomimed handing something to the cheetah and said, “Don’t whip the galley slaves too hard, taskmaster, while I’m making the call.”

Renny swung an imaginary whip into the air and made a crack! noise with his lips. Taro laughed aloud and then headed toward the lift.

***

Max looked up from his work as a shapely Cocker Spaniel walked up to him. She was dressed in calf-high boots, a mini-skirt that barely covered her tail and a narrow halter-top, all the same golden-blond shade as her fur. There was a matching fringed purse in her slender hands and a wheeled suitcase beside her. He looked up into her chocolate brown eyes and was instantly lost in her wide smile.

“Hello, Max,” she said in a high, bubbly voice, “is this the Blue Horizon?”

“Uhm, uh, yeah,” the German shepherd replied thickly. “Yes, it is.”

“Oh, good!” she replied with a bit of a bounce. “I’m supposed to be your passenger to Grandstorm. My name is Ariel Bennington.”

The German shepherd blinked away the fog that had suddenly wrapped around his brain and he gave her a big smile. “Ariel, hi! How did you know my name is Max?” She reached out and lightly tapped the name tag attached to his shirt with a grin. “Oh, yeah,” he replied.

“Can you check me?” she asked.

Max quickly glanced over her form and then forced his eyes back up to her face. She was only a few years older than he was, but she definitely had his interest. “Excuse me?” he asked hoarsely.

She giggled and held out a printed ticket. “Can you check me onto your ship, please?” she asked. “I would like to put my things on board.”

“Uh, sure,” he said absently. When Pockets set small crate on the floor beside him, the mechanic remembered his place. “Actually, if you speak to that coyote over there,” Max gestured toward the airlock hatch, “Amanda will get you checked in and taken to your quarters.”

Ariel nodded with a bop of her head and then made a cursory glance at Max’s shoulders. He was no longer the skinny boy he had been when he first came on board; his shoulders were broad and his physique was shaping nicely from his workouts with Renny and Damien on the exercise mats.

“What do you do on this ship, Max?” the woman replied.

“I’m a mechanic in the engine room,” he replied, automatically pointing to the engineering symbol on his sleeve displaying a crossed wrench and a screwdriver.

Ariel’s eyes lit up. “You help make the ship go fast?” she asked.

“Yeah, something like that,” Max answered.

The Cocker Spaniel moved in closer and then turned away just enough so that she looked at him over her bare shoulder. “Could you give me a tour later?” she asked. “I’d really like to see where you work.”

Pockets set another crate next to Max and cleared his throat. The young mechanic grinned at the woman and said, “Sure, we can do that after we’ve taken off. However, my partner needs my help loading the ship. Amanda will see you to your cabin.”

“Thank you, Blue-Eyed Max,” Ariel gave a friendly wave. “I’m looking forward to seeing more of you later!”

Max returned her wave with a waggle of his fingers and then watched her bop across the tarmac toward the coyote, her floppy ears and tail swaying with the wiggle in her walk. Pockets gave him a nudge in the side and clicked his tongue.

“What?” Max asked, startled.

“You’re stirring up the dust with that wagging tail of yours, partner.”

“Huh?”

The raccoon laughed aloud at him. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about finding another girlfriend,” Pockets said in a low voice. “She was checking you out as much as you were of her!”

Max grinned at his friend and shook his head. “Hush!” he scolded. “She might hear you!”

“She probably did,” Renny said dryly. Max and Pockets whirled around to see the first officer standing behind them looking stern. Both mechanics dropped the conversation and went back to work without saying anything more. When Renny walked away, he had to hide the smile that spread across his face. He liked Max and felt sorry for his broken heart, but as Jerry had tried to tell him, he would get over his breakup with Wendy. It would take time and maybe a different female form to push him onward.

“Renny,” Justy said as he trotted up beside him, “Have you seen the captain? A truck with the satellites for Loxley DataStream just arrived.”

“Thanks. I’ll get Damien to sign for them.”

***

Sandy’s eyes were wide with wonder and delight as the Blue Horizon launched from the Garrison Spaceport. The middle vidscreen showed their forward path, while the left-hand screen showed their departure angle. As promised, the cheetah kitten was strapped into Renny’s lap behind his flight harness so she could see their launch. Normally this would not be a good idea with the stresses of launch, but Jerry had promised a smooth take-off now that Pockets and Max had successfully repaired the faulty inertia compensators with parts they had purchased on the company account while in Delorme.

Likewise, Taro’s seat at the com station had been repaired and the vixen calmly sat with her elbows on the new armrests. She smiled at the kitten’s enthralled expressions and then looked over at her pilot. Jerry appeared to be struggling with the guidance shifts and his lips were pressed together tight.

“Something the matter, Doc?” she asked in a quiet voice so as not to alarm the youngster.

The edge of the male fox’s lips curled up slightly. “The controls are little sluggish, probably due to a full hold. The launch thrusters just aren’t used to the weight of the satellites we’re carrying.”

“Are we going to have trouble making orbit?”

“No, but it may take a little longer to get there.”

As predicted, the extra weight added nearly ten minutes to orbital entry. It may not have seemed like much time to the rest of the crew, but it took more thruster fuel to gain the altitude. Thankfully, they had refueled all systems while they were dirtside.

Taro touched a pad on the engineering console next to her and then spoke into her headset mike on ship-wide broadcast. “The ship’s artificial gravity has automatically enabled and is reading normal. Once we are beyond planetary traffic, the LightDrive engines will be engaged for our run to Dennier. Mobility is now safe; you may shed your harnesses and move about.”

Sandy’s little eyes shifted from the view looking aft toward the forward vista of stars. She looked back and shared a wide grin with Renny. The navigator never tired of the stars and was pleased to share the sight with the youngster.

After several moments, however, the forward view remained unchanging. Without a stationary frame of reference, it appeared to the kitten that they had stopped moving, even though they were increasing velocity to incredible speeds. Bored, she looked back to the aft view and saw the blue-green world shrinking on the monitor. She stared at it for a long while, but as they traveled farther away, there were no more wonders to see.

Sandy started to squirm on Renny’s lap, so the navigator unbuckled his harness and set her on the floor. Taro reached out for the child’s hand with a smile. “Renny needs to do some work now,” she said. “Let’s go see if Lori can find us a snack.”

“Okay,” the kitten replied with an exaggerated nod of her small head. Renny was already deep into his astrogation calculations by the time they walked out the door.

***

No sooner had Taro’s announcement come over the intercom that Ariel Bennington was out of the flight harness in her cabin. She stowed it into its recessed wall receptacle just as Amanda had instructed, and then she moved to the back room to study her reflection in the mirror. She fluffed up the fur around her large, floppy ears and then checked to make sure her skimpy outfit was presentable. She briefly considered spritzing a bit of perfume into her fur, but instead decided her own natural scent would be sufficient.

She checked her reflection once again, made a cheerful bounce on the tips of her toes, and wagged her tail with a happy smile. She was ready.

Ariel peered out the cabin door into the corridor, but saw no one else about. Pleased, she darted to the lift with her small purse and thumbed the call. A moment later, she stepped into the elevator and tapped the “1” pad just as a short koala stepped out into the hall.

Justy tried to stop her so he could catch a ride up to the recreation deck, but the panels closed before he could get there. He shrugged his shoulders and stretched, waiting for the lift to return.

When the elevator reached the cargo deck, Ariel stepped out into the cold chamber. Although pressurized and insulated, the hold was always difficult to keep warm while the ship was in space simply due to its volume. The Cocker Spaniel’s fur was not thick and she felt a shiver as she stared up at the large satellites tethered in cradles at the center of the deck. Octagonal crates surrounded each of the satellites for proper weight distribution, and they were secure to the deck beneath sturdy freight nets. There was a three-meter-wide aisle around the perimeter of the chamber and she looked each direction, wondering which to take.

It had been a while since the shapely canine had last been on board an Okami freighter, and this model was a new design to her. Simply on a hunch, she turned to her left and began walking along the aisle.

Several moments later, she passed by a compartment that looked out into the hold behind a thick sheet of glassteel. Inside, there was a large, paper-strewn desk with laden book shelves lining the walls and a small kitchenette on one end of the room that was littered with paper coffee cups and paper plates. Sitting behind the desk was a broad-shouldered mastiff in a white shirt with long, billowed sleeves. The office pressure door was currently open.

Her sandal bumped into a metal chain lying on the floor up against the wall and the mastiff looked up at her through the window. He stood up and moved around the desk to the doorway.

“Excuse me, miss,” Damien said in a deep voice, “but passengers are not allowed on this deck.”

Ariel looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. “Why not?” she asked.

The mastiff leaned against the door frame. “We’re carrying cargo for other customers that needs to remain untouched, and also because it’s dangerous for you to be wandering around alone down here.” He tapped the chain on the floor with the toe of his boot. “Things like this can trip you up and your flight insurance doesn’t cover you in areas that are forbidden to non-crew personnel.”

“Oh,” she replied with a crestfallen expression. “That cute German shepherd said he would show me where he worked after we launched.”

Damien sighed inwardly, wondering if Max would need a chaperon now that the young mechanic was inviting women into his out-of-the-way work area.

“Just a minute,” he said after a moment. From the ethereal look the girl was giving him, Damien wondered just how much dust might be upstairs in that attic. He moved to a control panel beneath the window and tapped a control. A moment later, there was a sharp chirp that echoed into the upper rafters of the cargo deck.

“You have reached the mightily impressive engine room to the flagship of the Sinclair fleet,” drawled Pockets’ country voice. “How might I be of service?”

Damien simultaneously raised an eyebrow and the edge of his lips. “I have a young lady here who claims that your partner promised her a tour of engineering,” he said with amusement.

“Oh, he did, did he?” Then in a voice that was slightly removed from the microphone, “Max! Your date’s here!”

Damien flashed a quick look at the Cocker Spaniel, but the girl only beamed back a wide grin at him with a gentle wag of her tail. He chuckled and shrugged briefly.

“The young stud is on his way,” Pockets said with a laugh, apparently not caring if the girl heard him.

Somewhere out around the perimeter of the cargo deck, Damien and Ariel heard booted feet stepping quickly around the aisle. Maximilian emerged from the shadows with an embarrassed look on his face.

“Hi, Ariel,” he said shyly.

“Hello, Max,” replied the spaniel. She moved closer to him and then very gently licked the side of his muzzle. Damien chose to return to his desk at that moment, and Max was unsure if he liked being left to the female. He gave her a crooked smile and then offered his arm as he had seen Merlin do countless times with Samantha.

“Did you handle the launch okay?” Max asked as he led her back toward the engine room.

“Yes, it was okay,” she replied. “The launch chair was a little stiff, and my rear could use a massage, but otherwise it was just fine. I was lonely up there all by myself, though.” She snuggled up to the German shepherd and Max suddenly found it difficult to swallow.

They approached the pressure door into engineering and met up with Pockets. Ariel’s eyes grew wide and she bent over to rub the short raccoon’s ears. “Aww, how adorable!” she cooed. Max’s eyes went to the back of her short skirt that had ridden up while Pockets looked up into the girl’s smiling face.

“Yes, I am!” he said with a grin. “You must be Ariel.”

She blinked and looked back at him in delight. “You know my name!” she squealed.

“Yeah, well, Max could not stop talking about you while we waited for lift-off!”

Max bristled. “Pockets!” he hissed indignantly. Since the canine mechanic had grown up a bit during his stay with the Blue Horizon crew, the raccoon had taken to teasing the boy that he had taken on to be his partner.

“If you two will excuse me,” Pockets said, “Lorelei called us to supper. I told her you two would be busy for a while,” he said with a waggle of eyebrows, “so she said she’d keep your food warm until you came up to claim it.”

Max scowled at the engineer and hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Shoo!” he said. “We’ll be up there in a bit.”

“Bye, mister Pocketo,” Ariel said with wriggling fingers. “We’ll see you later!”

“Goodbye for now,” Pockets responded. He scurried past Max, narrowly missing the swat that had been aimed at him. After the raccoon had gone, the German shepherd slowly turned to face his guest. He put an arm across the back of his neck and grinned at her sheepishly.

“So…” he started. “What would you like to see first?”

The Cocker Spaniel looked at him coyly through long eyelashes and said in a quiet voice, “Impress me and show me everything you’ve got. I want to see it all.”

***

“After all the jobs we lost, I’m glad to have a full cargo hold again,” Justy said before he scooped up a forkful of eucalyptus salad.

“It feels like we’re making up the lost revenue with multiple loads,” Renny agreed as he fed a half spoonful of tuna to the small cheetah beside him, “but I wonder if Merlin ever found out why all those folks were dropping out on us.”

Taro took a drink of green tea and pushed an empty plate away from her. “I haven’t had much opportunity to talk with him lately,” she said, “but I intend to have a long discussion with him about our Vault capabilities when I can speak with him privately. Since all three deliveries of our current assignment are to be shipped to Grandstorm, it’s a lucky coincidence that we get to return to headquarters.”

“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Amanda murmured absently as she cut her meal into smaller portions. “Since we’ve been recalled, I can only wonder—” The coyote realized what she was saying and suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Recall?” Justy asked with a sharp look at their captain.

“What do you mean, we’ve been recalled?” Damien asked.

Taro appeared just as puzzled as the rest of them. She looked at the coyote with a furrowed brow. “Mandy, you’re the one who told me about our assignments,” the vixen said in a quiet voice. “I don’t remember you saying anything about a recall.” Amanda’s eyes betrayed her fear, but she didn’t remover her hand from her mouth.

“This isn’t looking good,” Pockets muttered. He wiped his hands on his coveralls and put them on the edge of the table. “Are we in trouble?” Lorelei sat next to him in stunned silence.

Amanda put her hands in her lap and nervously wrung them together. “I-I don’t know why we are being recalled,” she said quietly, making everyone strain to hear her. “Cindy acted like she wanted to tell me, but said that Merlin had forbidden her to give us any details.”

“Mandy, you aren’t making sense,” Renny replied. “Start over.”

The coyote nodded, took a deep breath, and then looked around the gathered crew. “When Cindy called to give us our assignment,” she explained, “she was acting strange, as if she had a big secret. I asked her why she was acting like that, and she said that she was sworn not to give out any details, but that the Blue Horizon was being recalled to Dennier along with our triple delivery. I begged her to explain, but she wouldn’t say anything more about it. I asked her if the other ships were being recalled too, but she said this only concerned us and that we would find out what was going on once we arrived.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” Taro asked in annoyance.

“I called Cindy mean-spirited, but she told me that not even you were to know why we’re being recalled. I was told it would be best if I didn’t mention it to anyone else so we could focus on our assignment. I messed up just now.”

“I’ll bet we’re getting canned,” Justy said dejectedly. Everybody looked at him in surprise and he stared back at them indignantly. “What?” he exclaimed. “You were probably thinking it too!”

“I said the same thing,” Amanda continued. “I thought it might be because we lost those clients and were being punished for lost revenue, but she denies that anyone’s jobs are in jeopardy.”

“Then what is this all about and why all the hush-hush?” Pockets wanted to know.

“She wouldn’t tell me,” Amanda replied, “and that is all I know about it – honest!”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Taro asked again. “Even if you didn’t know details, I think this is something important enough that your captain should know about!”

“I’m sorry,” Amanda replied with a lump in her throat. “I don’t know why Cindy told me what she did if Merlin had forbidden her to say anything!”

“It sounds like Cindy has a big mouth,” Pockets said dryly. “If it’s such a secret, she shouldn’t have said anything to you at all.”

The vixen set her tea cup on the table and got to her feet. “I’ll get to the bottom of this, folks. I’m going to talk to Merlin directly.” Without another word, she walked defiantly toward the door to the lift.

***

“What does this do, Max?” Ariel asked. She clung to one of his arms and had her body pressed up against him as she trailed her fingers along a panel full of indicators and controls.

The German shepherd had difficulty focusing with the girl pressing in on him so much. He was sharply conscious of their points of contact and he swallowed uncomfortably. She did not seem to be aware of her effect on him.

“Th-that’s for liquid crystal fuel regulation,” he replied. “We have to keep the inflow of energy balanced to get the most efficiency for engine output when we’re getting up to interstellar speeds. If any of the settings are out of synchronization, we’d lose speed rapidly and fall back to sub-light velocities before we even get up to full inertia.”

“That’s bad, huh?” Ariel asked with a bop of her chin against his shoulder.

“It’s certainly not good,” Max said with a smile. “If it gets too far out of balance, we could wind up with a ruined feedloop module. Now, if you want to see something really interesting, look over here,”

The German shepherd went on with a mouthful of technical jargon, but Ariel looked back at the fuel regulation panel with sharp interest. Her eyes took on a focused expression until her host asked her a question. She returned her attention to him instantly with wide eyes of innocence and fluttered her eye lashes at him.

“I’m sorry, Max,” she said with a giggle. ‘I was daydreaming.”

“That’s okay,” the young mechanic responded with a smile. “I’ve learned so much from Pockets the past few years that I’m afraid I can spout out technical babble almost as much as he can! I apologize for boring you with all this.”

“Not at all,” the Cocker Spaniel replied with encouragement. “This is all so interesting, but I admit that I don’t understand everything you’ve explained.”

“Is there something else I can show you that would be of more interest?” Max asked.

The female canine’s eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth curled up. “Yes, show me your cabin, Max,” she said in a whisper. “I want to see your bed.”

“Y-you want to see where I s-sleep?” The German shepherd swallowed, suddenly feeling the girl’s hand at the base of his tail. “I, uh,”

“Don’t be embarrassed, Max,” she cooed in his ear. “I like you, a lot! Don’t you like me?”

“Uh, yeah, I d-do,” he stammered, “but I don’t know if…”

“Let’s go, Max,” she whispered. “It’ll be okay.”  She led him by the hand out of the engine room, but suddenly stopped just outside the door. “Oops,” she said. “I left my purse in there. Be right back!”

Max fidgeted, waiting courteously for her to return. Although he was sure he could read her intentions correctly, he was not certain he could meet her expectations.  A moment later, she bopped out to his side with her purse in hand, and then threaded an arm through his.

“Lead me on, Max,” she said with a giggle.

***

“No, Taro, I can’t tell you anything more.”

The vulpine captain scowled up at the brown mouse on the right-hand vidscreen. “Keri, I want to know what’s going on, and I want to know right now! Get Merlin on the line.”

“Taro, everyone’s gone home for the evening. The only ones here are me and the night guard, Bob, and I’ll be leaving in about ten minutes. Bob doesn’t know the answers to your questions, Taro, so there’s no one else you can talk to tonight.”

“Will Merlin be there tomorrow?” Taro asked irritably.

“No, I believe he and Samantha have an appointment together,” the mouse replied.

Taro’s expression softened and she leaned on the forward console. “Please, Keri, tell me what’s going on. My crew is afraid for their jobs and I need assurances.”

“Listen,” the mouse said sternly, “what you want to know is information that has been classified SECRET by our boss, Merlin. We have been forbidden to divulge any information on the matter, especially over a com line. Cindy should have never mentioned it!”

Taro’s ears twitched and she nodded with a sigh. “Okay, if it’s that sensitive, we’ll wait until we get to Grandstorm to get our new orders.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny whatever it is you are thinking, Taro, but it will be better to simply wait until you arrive to find out what all this is about.”

“I don’t like all this secrecy,” the vixen muttered, “but I’ll refrain from asking further. All I can say is we’ll be on edge the rest of our voyage wondering what’s up.”

“It’s better if you just try not to think about it,” Keri said with a nod, “but I assure you that it will be worth the wait. However, it’s time for me to go. I have a date tonight and I still need time to get ready.”

“A date?” Taro asked, the focus of her attention diverted. “With whom?”

Keri grinned widely. “His name is Jomo, but I don’t have time to tell you more. See you later, Taro!”

“Good night, Keri. Have fun tonight.”

The communication circuit closed and Taro sat down in the chair at navigation. She glanced over at Jerry, who stared back at her from the pilot’s center seat, and shook her head. “I just don’t get it,” she said. “Merlin’s never been this secretive with the crew before.”

Jerry thought for a moment and then glanced briefly up at the vidscreen where Keri’s visage had been. “Since our purpose at Grandstorm is classified a secret and everyone is forbidden to talk about it, it’s possible we may have been contracted to take on a government cargo to haul somewhere covertly,” he guessed. “That could pay really well.”

Taro’s eyes widened in surprise. “I hadn’t thought of that,” she replied. “That would explain why we can’t get straight answers out of anyone. It would be foolish to discuss it on an open com channel.”

“It makes sense,” Jerry said. “Either they don’t want anyone listening in to find out, or they don’t want anyone on board finding out.”

“Who would they want to keep information from on this flight?”

“Well, we do have a passenger on board.”

Taro snickered. “Yes, but I think she’s cut from the same cloth as Lorelei. She doesn’t seem all that intelligent.”

Jerry smiled. “I don’t think she’s all that innocent. From what Pockets has said, that little spaniel has her cross hairs on Max.”

“Poor Max, that girl has no clue to his past. She won’t get a full performance out of that show.”

Jerry looked at her with a tilt to his head. “Max may be shooting blanks, but he can still perform if he wants to.”

Taro looked surprised. “Huh? I thought he couldn’t…. I mean, he was neutered as a pup!”

Jerry shook his head. “I dare say you’ve not had a close inspection,” he said. “Max was sterilized when he was young, but he still has all his equipment. He’s young and hasn’t had many opportunities for experience, but he would have if he had stayed on Quet.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since you were only a crewmate at the time he came on board, I don’t suppose Max ever gave you his full story,” the male fox replied, “but as his doctor and a male friend, he’s told me all about his childhood.”

“Aren’t you breaking the doctor-patient confidentiality by telling me this?”

“No, because there were others present when he told me,” Jerry replied. “Besides, as his captain, you may need to know anyway, in case you ever run across his former owner again.”

Taro studied him for a moment and thought it over. “All I really know is that he worked on Quet in a restaurant as a kitchen slave,” she admitted. “His father was a visiting space pilot and his mother was a working girl who owed money to the owner of another pleasure house. When she got pregnant, her master made her go through the birth and then sold the child to settle her debts. When he was old enough, Max’s owner had him neutered since he would be working among all the females at the establishment.”

“All that’s mostly true,” the doctor replied, “but the rat wasn’t protecting his girls from Max by having him sterilized. When he bought the puppy, Tagon intended to add Max to his business when old enough, so he had him sterilized to protect future clients.”

“Wait… Max was going to be a male prostitute?”

“That was the plan. The establishment also catered to female clients and Max would have brought in extra revenue to the business. I doubt he would have taken the pup merely to be a slave, since he purchased him before Max would be old enough for that. Even as a pup, Tagon could probably tell that a blue-eyed German shepherd male would be an exotic draw to his female clients.”

Taro looked perplexed. “Okay, I can understand all that,” she said, “but he told us he’d been neutered when he first joined us here on the Horizon. That’s not the same thing as being sterilized.”

“How old was Max when he came on board?”

“Fourteen or fifteen. I don’t remember exactly.”

“Right, and a fourteen or fifteen-year-old probably doesn’t have much of an idea what being neutered means. He probably heard it from one of the ladies of the house and thought that meant him – either that or that’s what Tagon told his girls to keep their paws off him until he was old enough to start learning the business. At any rate, until you guys came along, it was in Max’s future to spend his life pleasuring others for money – something that’s as legal and widely practiced on Quet as slavery.”

Taro leaned back in her chair. “Did he tell you about Merlin’s deception that freed him from that place?

“Yes.”

“Do you agree with what he did? Merlin practically stole him from his rightful owner to keep him with us.”

It was Jerry’s turn to look perplexed. “I don’t intend to argue in generalities, Taro, but let’s look specifically at Max’s situation. Yes, Tagon legally owned him and was in his full rights to raise the boy into the business as he wished. However, he frequently beat the child, kept him in deplorable conditions and even starved him. It’s possible that Tagon had no prior experience raising a child and let his anger get away with him when dealing out punishment. However, the more Tagon overly punished Max, the more the kid rebelled, so it was likely the rat changed his mind about him; otherwise, he would have done everything in his power to make sure the boy grew up safe, strong and handsome for the ladies to fawn over when older.”

“That might explain why he let Max go so easily,” Taro mused. “Sure, he put up a fuss, but I don’t think he really tried all that hard to get him back.”

Jerry gestured with a hand. “Do I agree with what Merlin did? Speaking in generalities, I would say ‘no’ – but in Max’s situation, I think it was better that he came to live here than stay on Quet where he may have died from mistreatment. The owner willingly offered to sell the boy’s contract to Merlin, so that was a legal transaction by Quetian law. There might have been deception involved on how Max wound up on board the Horizon, but Merlin didn’t steal him from anyone.”

Taro fell silent again, but then a moment later a smile crossed her face. Jerry saw it and twitched an ear. “You find this amusing?” he asked.

“Not that,” the vixen replied. “It just occurred to me that Lori might have tried to bed Max when he became of age if he hadn’t already told everyone he had been neutered. As with most bunnies, she’s free with her affections and will play with any willing male, but she never thought he would even be able to perform. Although he’s now an adult, she’s left him alone.”

Jerry shared her smile. “I’m sure she could teach him all he might have learned at the Wild Star if she knew his real physical condition. Are you sure that she never worked at a pleasure house?”

“No,” Taro laughed, “I’m not sure, but we’ll just have to take her at her word that she’s just a typical bunny.”

***

Justy hummed to himself on the quiet bridge and flipped through an old printed magazine. The Blue Horizon was approaching the Van Conner nebula, an area of space filled with gaseous hazes of blues and greens. Their current course would take them just beyond the edge of it on their starboard side, and although the area contained large traces of chorterium gas that would diffuse their sensors, it was otherwise harmless.

Kicking back in his seat, the koala flipped on the new StellarNet connection that had been routed to the bridge. He bypassed the INN news broadcast to a movie channel, and although the show was already in progress, Justy did not care. He came in during an action scene and immediately riveted his attention to the screen while he idly munched on a eucalyptus leaf.

“What’s going on?”

“The enemy’s found us and is attacking!”

“WHAT?”

“Two of them entered the entrance tunnel by cutting through the side airlock, and now they’re trying to breach the inner airlock. The remainder of their forces are blasting down from above, trying to break through the hardened roof.”

“Get everyone moving!  We’ve got to get out—reach the ship!”

A warning chirp from the engineering console interrupted Justy’s enjoyment of the movie. The koala paused and muted his entertainment, stood up, and then moved to see what needed his attention. He expected it was probably a warning that the sensors had lost a signal, but that was to be expected in this nebular region. Instead, he saw that the ship was losing speed, falling rapidly below sub-light. They had not yet reached full interstellar velocities, which could sometimes take hours to reach, so the engines had still been running.

He checked the flight settings, but everything appeared to be correct. The ship should still be building up speed. Unable to ascertain the cause of their falloff, he punched up the intercom for the engine room.

Justy waited for a reply, but there did not seem to be anyone down there. He frowned and signaled Pockets’ quarters. A moment later, the intercom chirped.

“Yeah?” drawled the raccoon’s drowsy voice. “Twas nappin’.”

“Pockets, this is Justy. We just had a major drop in the engine output and I can’t find the cause for it up here on the bridge. Max isn’t down in the engine room either.”

“How bad is the drop?”

“We’re already below sub-light.”

“Yikes!” Pockets’ voice came alive. “I’m heading down to engineering!” Before he had a chance to close the channel, the entire ship began to shudder beneath their feet, and then there came a roar through the deck plates that could be felt just as much as they could all hear it. “That’s definitely not good!” Pockets exclaimed. The roar stopped abruptly and then the ship shuddered once more before it too ceased.

Justy swallowed and looked up at the vidscreen. The usual, slight telltale ‘smear’ of starlight that denoted near-FTL speeds was gone. The stars he could see through the nebula gases were sharply in focus, although there was no visual frame of reference to see how much they had slowed.

The intercom suddenly chirped several times in rapid succession. He tapped the control to open the first connection. “Bridge,” he said.

“Justy, what’s going on up there?” Renny’s voice asked. The koala could hear frightened whimpers from the cheetah’s young friend in the background.

“Something’s happened to the engines,” Justy reported. “Dunno what yet.”

“Let me get Sandy calmed down, and then I’ll be up there.”

“Okay.” Justy tapped the next connection. “Bridge.”

“What took you so long to reply?” Taro exclaimed.

“Renny called the same time you did,” he explained. “Something’s happened to the engines. Dunno what yet.”

“I’ll be right there as soon as I get dressed.”

“Okay.” Justy sighed and tapped the next connection. “Bridge.”

“Justy,” Jerry started.

“Something’s happened to the engines. Dunno what yet,” the koala repeated.

“You need any help up there?”

“No, but Pockets may need help in the engine room.”

“Where’s Max?”

“No idea,” Justy replied with a shrug he knew the fox could not see. “I suppose he’s with his lady friend.”

“This is a heck of a time to be away from the engines!”

“The last time I checked, I don’t think Max was clairvoyant,” Justy said dryly.

Jerry started a retort, then stopped himself and said, “Right,” before he closed the connection. The short koala stuck the tip of his tongue out between his lips and held his finger poised over the intercom answer pad as if he was a snake about to strike, awaiting the next call from someone to ask about their situation. Right on cue, there was another chirp.

***

Ariel opened Max’s cabin door only a crack and peered out into the corridor with one brown eyeball. The German shepherd had just left her alone to report in to Pockets to help assess the problem with the engines.

She saw Renny leave his quarters and then trot around the curve in the passageway, followed by Taro a moment later wearing a set of medical scrubs and toweling the fur of her head dry with a large multicolored towel.

When the corridor was empty, the Cocker Spaniel opened her door and slipped out into the hallway. She glanced around sharply focused, her innocent and bouncy demeanor gone, and she walked quickly to the door Renny had just departed. She tried the panel, found it unlocked, and let herself inside.

The floor inside the cabin was covered in toys, coloring books, crayons and other oddments. Sitting in the middle of it all, on a large floor rug beneath a long coffee table was the small cheetah kitten wearing a mint green jumper. Sandilee looked up with a crayon in hand and stiffened when she saw the canine woman.

Up until that moment, neither the little cheetah nor the spaniel had been together in the same room on the Blue Horizon, yet there was instant recognition between them.

“I knew I’d find you, brat!” Ariel said with a smile that was anything but friendly.

A ridge of fur on the back of Sandy’s neck stood up and she swiftly scrambled beneath the coffee table. Ariel rushed forward and dropped her knees, breaking several crayons. She snared the kitten’s scrawny tail and tried to pull her out, but Sandy dug her claws into the rug and began to yowl.

“I don’t have time for this,” Ariel snarled. “Come out of there!” She yanked hard on the spotted tail and then grabbed one of the small ankles, making the cat screech louder. Ariel pulled harder and the pain to her tail was frightening, but Sandy’s claws were firmly embedded in the rug. Ariel knocked the coffee table aside angrily with an elbow and then gathered the kitten up roughly in her arms.

“No!” Sandy screeched. “Lemego!” She took a scared swipe at the spaniel and her tiny claws raked thin furrows across Ariel’s snout. The canine cursed and dropped the kitten to the floor to grab at her nose with one hand, but retained a grip on the kitten’s wrist with the other.

Angered, Ariel reared back to slap the child when the cabin door opened. With no hesitation whatsoever, Renny reacted swiftly, instantly launching himself at the Cocker Spaniel with a feline shriek that set the dog’s teeth on edge. She tried to twist out of the way, but Renny bowled her over and all three landed hard against the couch. Ariel’s grip on the kitten released only when Renny bared his teeth and went for her throat.

As cheerful and bouncy as the passenger had appeared when she had first come on board, Ariel Bennington was none of that now. She jammed the point of her elbow into the adult cheetah’s side while simultaneously slamming her open palm against his throat. Renny dropped to the deck with a gurgle as the Spaniel scrambled away from him.

Sandy darted around the couch and swiftly ran toward the back room, but Ariel was onto her instantly. The kitten shrieked and tried to use her claws again, but the canine woman pinned her little arms to her side and held her tight.

“You aren’t getting away from me again!” Ariel spat. When she turned around, Renny was there. He was having trouble swallowing, but his anger made him desperate. He slapped her hard across the snout, and then grabbed her wrists in a tight grip before she could react.

Sandy dropped to the floor and scrambled away as Ariel reeled back against a bookcase. Books, curios and photographs rained down upon her, but she was not down yet. She raised her knee swiftly toward his crotch, but Renny had anticipated this and twisted enough that her knee hit his hip bone instead. Undaunted, Ariel growled fiercely and lunged back at the navigator, her jaws going for his throat.

Renny got an arm up in front of him and her teeth sank deep into his left forearm. He hissed in pain, but then the Cocker Spaniel’s head rocked suddenly to the side, taking his arm with her. Both fell over onto the floor, but Ariel’s eyes rolled back and she stopped struggling.

“Are you okay?” Jerry asked. Renny looked up sharply with wild eyes, but shook it off quickly when he saw the remnants of a shattered clay vase in the fox’s hand. The cheetah grimaced and nodded toward his bleeding arm.

“Glad you could stop by for a visit,” Renny said hoarsely as he extricated his arm from the unconscious woman’s mouth. “I didn’t like that tacky vase, anyway.” Jerry knelt down to check his injuries, but Renny waved him off, cradling the arm close to his chest. “Do something with her, in case she wakes up,” he suggested.

Jerry nodded and whipped off the belt from his trousers. “What happened?” he asked, swiftly strapping the woman’s arms together behind her back. “I heard the commotion from the corridor.”

Renny sat back and struggled out of his burgundy tee shirt. “I came back to check on Sandy,” he said between breaths as he wrapped the cloth around his injured arm. “I found this idiot going berserk, trying to hit her, so I jumped in without asking questions.”

“Yes, I see,” the physician said as he unplugged a small lamp table, snapped the power cord from its base, and then used the wire to bind the spaniel’s ankles together. “I don’t understand it, though. Ms. Bennington didn’t seem like the type who would want to hurt anyone.” He knelt close to examine the back of her head where he had struck her with the vase. There was a bit of blood beneath her fur, but the cut was only superficial. She would have a tender lump as a gift when she awoke.

Renny got up to his feet and leaned up against the back of the couch, rubbing his bruised hip. “It had to have been an act,” he said with a scowl. “She’s not as innocent as she appeared. Little Miss Bubbly here knows how to fight.” He started looking around the room, but didn’t see the kitten. “Sandy?” he called in a raspy voice. There was no reply, but he assumed she was hiding somewhere in terror and was unlikely to answer right away. “Sandy, kitten. Where are you?”

Jerry got to his feet and moved to the navigator’s desk while the cheetah started looking under furniture. The fox tapped the intercom pad and the return signal chirped almost instantly.

“Bridge,” Taro’s voice said.

“Captain, we’ve just had an incident in Renny’s quarters,” the doctor replied. “Our passenger was trying to hurt the kitten and got into a row about it with Renny.”

“What? Are you talking about Ms. Bennington?”

Jerry gave her a brief rundown of what he had seen and what the navigator had told him, while Renny got down on his knees beside his bed in the back room. There was nothing but dust balls and a couple of missing socks under there, so he slowly looked around the room.

“Sandilee, little kitten,” he called softly. “It’s okay, you can come out now. The bad doggie won’t hurt you anymore.”

He still could not see her, but he did hear a small chirp from the closet. He moved closer and saw the tip of her tail wrapped tightly around her butt underneath his old duffel bag. “C’mon, little one,” he said gently. “Renny’s here for you.”

There was a rustle from the closet and then a tiny spotted form launched out at him, landing up against his chest. She clung to him and buried her face in his chest fur as he wrapped his good arm around her. She shivered and shook, and then started bawling.

The navigator picked her up gently and carried her into the front room. The first thing he saw was Taro hefting the conscious Cocker Spaniel bodily from the floor. Renny turned his back to them so the sobbing kitten would not have to look at the canine. He moved quickly to the door and said, “I’m taking her topside,” before he disappeared out into the corridor.

Taro deposited Ariel roughly into a chair and then she and Jerry stood over her. “What’s the meaning of this insanity?” the captain shouted at her. “She’s just a kitten!”

The canine woman looked up at her in defiance and then spat out several choice words about the vixen’s ancestry in several languages. Taro’s eyes widened and drew back in surprise. The spaniel’s reactions did not match the personality she had earlier presented to them all. The captain’s eyes narrowed and Jerry wondered if he would have to stop her from jumping their captive for a sound thrashing for her tirade. He need not have worried. Taro was in better control of her temper and merely crossed her arms to give their passenger a calculating stare.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Jerry said with dark eyes at the canine. “Do you have a hatred against children, or felines in general?”

Ariel snorted and added his ancestral history to her repertoire. The doctor scowled and looked at his captain. “May I have permission to infect her with something nasty from Sickbay?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“If she doesn’t start answering questions,” Taro replied, “I might be tempted to let you.” She held up her fist in front of the canine’s nose. “Hurting a child is a serious offense, especially on board my ship! We might just have to return the favor. Now, start talking!”

***

Justy jumped in his seat when the bridge sensors bleeped at him in alarm. The koala willed his heartbeat to slow back down as he peered up through the forward windows. He recognized the shape of a Tandem-class, long-range cruiser as it pulled up alongside the port side of the stationary Blue Horizon. Lit up and painted in a stylized script across the white cruiser’s bow was the name, Oubliette.

He was about to call for the captain, but the com station blipped when the other vessel hailed them. He shuffled to the panel and tapped the appropriate command. “This is the cargo freighter, Blue Horizon,” he said. “Our engines are down. Are you here to help us?”

A hoarse, voice-only response came back across the bridge speakers. “Blue Horizon, we know you are transporting a cheetah kitten and we demand that you hand her over to us right away.”

Justy blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?” he replied.

“Playing ignorant isn’t going to work,” the gruff voice said impatiently. “We saw your broadcast stating that Sandilee Binfurr was traveling with you, and our operative on board your vessel has confirmed it. We want both at your primary airlock within ten minutes or we will be forced to come and get her ourselves.”

“Your operative? Wait, I don’t think—”

“That’s right. Don’t think. We can do this peacefully or forcibly. Take your pick. You wanted to find someone to take her. We’re here to help.”

“If you’re here to help, you could have simply asked,” Justy replied with an empty hand-gesture toward the clear vidscreen.

“In that case, we’re asking you to have them at your airlock immediately,” the voice replied in thick sarcasm. “Your time is running out. We’ll come over with pressure suits for them as soon as we have an indication they’re there.”

The circuit was disconnected and Justy frowned up at the other ship through the windows. He knew nothing about the trouble with Ariel or the kitten. Taro had left without an explanation; he assumed she had gone to check on the engine trouble. He tapped a control, but it was a moment before he got a response.

“Make it quick,” Pockets replied in a harried voice. “We’re rather busy at the moment.”

“Is the captain down there?”

“Haven’t seen her.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Justy did not know where she might have gone, so he locked down the bridge controls to go looking for her. He checked the captain’s office in the compartment next door, but it was empty. Just as he passed Renny’s quarters on the way to Taro’s cabin, he heard muffled shouting coming from behind the door. He recognized the vixen’s voice and hesitated about intruding. He knew that she and the cheetah often dallied together and wondered if they might be having a lover’s spat. Then he remembered why he needed her and steeled himself against possible embarrassment at intruding. This was more important.

Justy tried the door and found it unlocked. He knocked and then opened the panel without waiting for a response; he stopped immediately just inside, stunned to see their passenger strapped to a chair with several belts, with Taro and Jerry standing over her. All three turned angry gazes back toward the short koala.

“Not now!” Taro growled at the computer tech.

Justy lost his voice for a moment, but then he cleared his throat. He pointed back out the door behind him and said in a rush, “A ship just pulled alongside demanding we turn over Renny’s kitten and some operative on board!”

Taro turned back to the canine and snatched up a handful of her blouse. She hefted Ariel and her chair up so the women were nose-to-nose to one another. “What. Is. This?” she demanded in clipped tones.

Ariel gave her a smug smile. “That would be the Oubliette,” she remarked. “They have come for me and the kitten.”

“Yeah, that’s the name of the ship,” Justy supplied. “They said we have ten minutes to get her,” he pointed at the Cocker Spaniel, “and Sandilee to the airlock.”

Ariel grunted. “You’d better do as my companions say. They aren’t blessed with a lot of patience.”

The vulpine captain tightened her grip on Ariel’s blouse and they could all hear fabric start to tear. “Why are you people after Sandilee?”

“What’s it to you?” Ariel retorted. “In your interview, you were practically begging someone to come and take the little brat so you wouldn’t have to bother with her.”

“You’re far from her family species,” Jerry said dryly. “What makes you think we’re going to just give her away to anyone?”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Taro said with another twist of her grip. Ariel felt some of her fur pinch and pull in the vixen’s grasp.

“Ow, you’re hurting me!” she hissed.

“You mean to tell me that it’s okay for you to hurt a defenseless kitten, but it’s not okay for me to hurt you?” Taro said in a suddenly calm voice. She indicated the scratch marks on the canine’s snout and added, “Semi-defenseless kitten, from the looks of your nose. Now, why are you here?”

Ariel grimaced. “I came on board to determine if the child really was on your ship, and if so, disable the engines so my people can come to get us. That’s it.”

“Why do you want Sandy so badly?”

“You don’t need to know,” Ariel replied evenly. “Just hand us over to my friends and you won’t have to worry about the kid any more. She’ll be in safe hands.”

“Somehow, I really doubt that,” Jerry muttered.

***

Two figures in silver pressure suits hovered near the Horizon’s airlock, each with a simple magnet on a tether keeping them in place near the freighter’s hull; the first one had an extra tether attached to a fat metal case. The second had a cable attached to his helmet with the other end in his hand up against the hatch door.

“I’m detecting no one anywhere near the airlock. I don’t hear any movement in there.”

“Stubborn idiots. They aren’t making this easy for any of us. Okay, this is on their own heads. Do it.”

The other figure let the listening device float beside him, and then opened a pouch on his leg to pull out a small domed object with a solitary covered switch. He affixed the flat end of the item against the outer rim of the hatch, flipped up the switch cover, and then pressed the button beneath.

Both figures moved their tethers and retreated a safe distance from the hatch with small jets affixed to their backpack units. Two compartments on bottom of the small dome opened and a pair of vacuum-activated chemicals combined in the intense cold into a clear gelatinous blob against the hull. The result was instantaneous. A metal-melting compound started to make quick work of the thick pressure door, burning the material and emitting a brilliant light in the spatial darkness.

A sizeable section of the hatch swiftly melted away in super-hot globular clusters, along with a portion of the surrounding structural frame. When the breach punctured the internal secondary hull, warning klaxons went off inside the vessel, but outside the ship, the two figures watched as a sudden rush of air spewed out and crystallized. The Horizon’s bulk began to drift a bit from the powerful thrust of escaping air.

The chemical process continued despite the presence of a pressurized atmosphere, widening the hole considerably, but soon the elements began to play out. The suited figures watched passively, knowing from experience not to approach the damaged hull section until the chemicals were totally depleted and rendered inert. Jagged oxygen crystals, bits of molten metal, as well as frozen flotsam and jetsam from the cargo hold were all ejected at a high velocity out away from the moving freighter, but any of it could present a danger to the pressure suits if any lingered in the area.

One of the figures checked a techwatch mounted to the wrist of his suit and nodded. “Okay, that should do it. Get Matreh and Dinco out here with their stunners. We may have to search the entire ship for Ariel and the brat. Terson and I are going in.”

“Copy that, Piers. Be careful and try to get out as quickly as you can.”

Piers grabbed the floating suitcase while Terson uncoupled their tether magnets and put away his listening cable. A moment later, they jetted slowly toward the large opening in the side of the Blue Horizon’s hull. Once they crossed over the nearest gravity plate, their boots touched down on the deck.

***

When the klaxons sounded at the hull breach, all pressure doors on the affected deck closed instantly, and then automatic shutters slid over them to seal the rest of the compartments from deadly decompressive vacuum. Max and Pockets were in the engineering room trying to diagnose the disabled engines. Without knowing specifically what had happened, it was taking time to locate the problem before they could even begin repairs.

They were totally unaware of the events on the upper decks, and knew nothing of the external assault until klaxon alarms went off; the pressure door to the engine room slammed noisily into place, sealing itself immediately with the external shutters. Max banged his head in surprise against the top of his access tunnel.

“What was that?” he called out to his partner amidst the loud alarms.

“Hull breach!” Pockets exclaimed. The short raccoon ran to the sealed door and saw the negative pressure on the indicator next to it. Fear crossed his masked face as he ran back to a diagnostic console that was currently littered with engine schematics.

Max backed out of the crawlway and pressed his hands over his ears against the noisy din. He saw Pockets rushing back and forth between control stations and marveled at the speed at which the short raccoon worked. The klaxon quickly silenced, but Max’s sensitive ears were still ringing.

“What happened?” he asked. “Did we get struck by a meteorite?”

“Dunno,” Pockets replied distractedly. “I didn’t feel an impact. Indicators show a vacuum in the cargo deck, but nowhere else. There’s no pressure outside that door.”

Max swallowed nervously. “I hope no one was out there.”

“Yeah, me too,” the raccoon replied.

“Are we going to be all right in here?”

“We should be,” Pockets answered, looking around them. “This compartment has its own air supply and kitchenette, so we won’t suffocate or go hungry. However, we’re sealed in here by ourselves. Our pressure suits are in the lockers right outside our door… yeah, currently in a vacuum.”

“Can someone bring the pressure suits to us?”

“Just how do you expect them to get to us?” he asked tersely, looking up at his partner. When he saw the canine’s surprised expression, he apologized and put a hand on the young mechanic’s arm. “I’m sorry, Max. You’ve been a good student and have learned a lot,” he said, “so sometimes I take it for granted you know as much as I do about space ships. The answer to your question is ‘No’.  All the suits are in lockers in the hold, to be put on before going out the airlock if necessary. Right now, everyone else is just as trapped on the upper decks as we are down here. There are manual controls to open the pressure doors, but without air or pressure in the hold, that would be suicide.”

The raccoon leaned back against the wall and passed a hand over his face. “Even if we get the engines working again, I’m not sure how the Horizon could land anywhere with a hole in our heat shield-protected hull. We can’t even go check out the damage to see how bad it is or find out what happened. The breach could be huge, or as small as a marble. Either way, the result is the same.”

He stopped for a moment and licked his lips. “Moss!” he exclaimed, darting to a terminal on his desk. Max followed him to see what the engineer had in mind.

Pockets called up the mobile sentry system’s interface. A tinny “Meow?” issued from the computer speakers when the connection was made, and an image from the flying saucer’s camera appeared on the monitor.

“Yes!” the raccoon whispered.

***

Terson and Piers stood before the lift door and studied the pressure shutters that covered it. The door itself looked as if it had been forced with a pry bar at some point in the past, but the puckered metal ends did not look as if the damage would keep it from opening.

Having some knowledge of Okami freighters, Piers opened a panel beside the elevator that revealed toggle switches and a manual crank. He tripped the first toggle and the emergency shutters retreated into their receptacle above the door. He flipped the second toggle and then an amber diode lit up as the elevator shaft depressurized. When the light turned red, he reached for the crank and began to turn it counter-clockwise. The cogs had been unused for so long that the wheel was stiff, but he managed to move it with two hands. The lift door began to open. As luck would have it, the elevator cage was on their level.

When the door was wide enough, the two figures stepped inside. Terson opened another panel inside the elevator and thumbed an internal power switch. As a precaution against the vacuum, power to the lift had been shut off to prevent anyone from the upper decks taking it down to the hold. The overhead lamp lit up and then the lift doors closed stiffly in the cold spatial air. A second switch repressurized the compartment before movement could be initiated.

***

“What are you doing?” Max asked quietly, feeling chastised by Pockets’ earlier rebuke.

“Just before the klaxons went off, I thought I’d seen Moss float through the door out into the hold. I don’t know how it kept from getting sucked out through the breach, but I’m glad to see it still operating.”

“Where is he?”

Pockets looked at the young mechanic with amusement. “He?”

Max shrugged. “I’ve always thought of Moss as male,” he explained. “I know Moss is only a device and has no gender, but I’ve often found myself talking to him when I needed someone to talk to about my problems.”

The raccoon looked hurt. “You can always talk to me, Max,” he said quietly. “I’ll never spread anything you tell me to anyone else.”

The canine looked down at his feet. “Yeah, I know, but sometimes…. sometimes I just need to talk about embarrassing stuff that I could never say even to you, Pockets.”

An impish smile crept across the engineer’s face. He could not resist teasing his partner whenever he had the chance, even in the midst of an emergency. “If you tell Moss your deepest secrets, then it’s fortunate that you and I are such good friends!”

“Huh?  Why?”

Pockets’ smile grew wider. “You are aware that Moss records everything it monitors, right?  Guess who has sole access to all those recordings?”

The German shepherd’s ears flattened. “You’ve been listening to my private conversations with Moss about Wendy?” he croaked.

“Maybe I have, and maybe I haven’t.”

Max’s pupils dilated quickly and his mouth went dry. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a quiet whimper.

The raccoon could barely keep from laughing, but he took pity on the young mechanic. “Relax, Max,” he said in amusement. “I haven’t listened in on your private secrets.  Until now, I wasn’t even aware you were talking to it. Moss only keeps its recordings in the system for twenty hours and then they are overwritten with new recordings on a continuous loop. Unless you’ve had any private talks with our little flying saucer in the last day, I don’t have a way to go back in and peek at them.”

Max looked doubtful. “Twenty hours, you say?” he asked hoarsely.

“That’s right. I rarely even look at its data unless it signals me for an emergency anyway, so I didn’t think it needed to keep more than twenty hours at a time.”  The canine still didn’t look completely convinced, but Pockets chuckled. “Trust me,” he said. “Even though I enjoy teasing you, I don’t really care about digging up dirt on my partners. Your secrets are safe with Moss. They’d be safe with me, too, if you ever told me any.”

The raccoon turned back to his controls when Max did not reply. “Anyhoo, let’s find out what Moss sees out in the hold. We’ll report our findings to the captain once we have something to tell her.”

***

Amanda stepped out of her cabin, buttoning the front of her blouse with only her claw tips. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, but the only person she saw was Lorelei. The rabbit padded up to her with a worried expression and placed a hand on the coyote’s arm.

“What was that noise?” the doe asked. The alarms had left her sensitive ears ringing and her own voice sounded muffled to her.

“I think our hull’s been punctured somewhere,” Amanda replied. “I was taking a nap when the alarm sounded.” She looked around the corridor, wondering where everyone else was. “I’ll check with the bridge,” she said. “Maybe I can find out what happened there.”

“I’m going with you,” the bunny said in a quiet voice. “I don’t like this.”

Just as they started for the command center, the elevator lift door opened. Amanda automatically turned toward it, but stopped short when she saw two figures in silver pressure suits with elongated helmets step out toward them. She assumed it was a couple of their crewmates behind those mirrored faceplates, but one of them raised a small device toward them and pressed the switch.

There was no visual discharge of the device, but Amanda dropped to the deck with a thud. Lori landed beside her, her thin arms splayed out beside her.

“Piers, where are you?” said a voice in the helmet speakers of both suited individuals.

“We’re up on the crew deck, Matreh,” Piers replied. “We just stunned two of them, so watch yourselves when you come up. Terson and I will check the crew cabins. You and Dinco go on to the top level and look up there for them.”

“Understood.”

***

“I can’t raise anyone on the bridge,” Pockets said in a worried voice. “The bridge is never left unmanned! Never, ever!”

“Maybe they’re trying to get to us,” Max suggested.

Pockets shook his head and thumbed the ship-wide intercom. He hated using it, as he really disliked the sound of his own voice on the compartmental speakers, but there was a need for it. “Captain, please contact engineering. Captain, contact engineering, please.” There was a pregnant pause before the local intercom chirped. Pockets tapped the control. “Engine Room,” he said.

“Sorry, Pockets,” came Justy’s strained voice. “The captain is rather busy at the moment. You guys okay down there? We’ve heard more loud noises while you two have been doing whatever it is you’ve been doing to the engines; you even had us all worried when you set off that alarm!”

“Justy, the alarms sounded because we’ve had a hull breach in the cargo bay, and not because of anything that we’ve done!”

“Hull breach! Ohmigosh!”

“Please get Taro-”

“I’m here, Pockets,” the vixen’s voice said anxiously. “What was that you said about a breach?”

“Yeah, we’ve got a great gaping hole in through the airlock and surrounding structure of both hulls,” he reported. “Max and I are okay, but the emergency systems have sealed us in engineering.”

“A hole!”

Before he could explain further, Pockets heard another voice across the intercom speaking in a haughty voice. “I told you they’d come if you didn’t hand us over!”

“That sounded like Ariel!” Max whispered into the raccoon’s ear.

“How do you know there’s a hole in the cargo bay if you can’t go out there?” Justy asked.

“Moss is in the hold. We can see the damage through its camera signal. The damaged area looks like it was… melted through from the outside.”

“Did you see anyone?” Taro asked. “We may have been boarded!”

“No, but I directed Moss to recon the damage out through the hole and there is another ship alongside of us. Captain, what’s going on?”

“I don’t have all the details yet, but our passenger was a plant on board to disable our engines so she and her friends could kidnap Sandy.”

“Kidnap Sandy!” Max exclaimed. He was already distressed that the friendly young canine woman was in some kind of trouble, and this last news made his head swim. He leaned back against a bulkhead and slid down the wall to the floor.

“Have you seen Damien?” Taro asked in a concerned tone. “I think he might have been down in his office earlier, working on the accounts.”

Pockets and Max exchanged sudden looks. “Uh, no,” the engineer replied hesitantly. “Moss hasn’t detected anyone on this deck but us.”

“I’ll bet he got sucked out the hole!” Ariel called.

“Quiet!” Jerry’s voice exclaimed.

“Pockets,” Taro said, “would you send Moss over to Damien’s office and see if you can visually spot him through his office window? Maybe he’s sealed in like you are.”

“Aye,” Pockets answered mutely. He moved back to the mobile sentry system’s control, but a sudden noise from the intercom made him and Max both look up toward the overhead speaker. There was a sudden shout, a crash, and then Ariel began yelling loudly in a language the raccoon did not understand. That was followed by another bang and the sound of a frantic struggle.

***

“That sounded like Ariel’s voice,” Terson whispered.

“Yeah, I think she said someone got sucked out the hole we made,” Piers growled. “We didn’t want to kill anyone, but they were warned and had their chance to cooperate. Get ready.”

Both figures stood by the cabin door where they had heard their associate’s voice. Each held stunners ready and Terson set the fat metal case he had been carrying on the floor beside the wall. Piers held a hand above the door control and then nodded to his companion.

Terson unfastened his faceplate and then raised a hand to his canine mouth as he shouted out a pre-arranged call-sign through the door in a little-known Alexandrian language. Piers punched the door control and the two of them jumped inside. Terson knocked over a floor lamp beside the door and it fell to the deck with a crash, causing Justy to jump backward into a bookcase.

Ariel began shouting instructions to her associates in the same language, even as Taro and Jerry leaped toward the intruders. Piers tried to fire his stunner at the male fox, but the doctor twisted out of the way when he saw his weapon and scooped up one of Sandy’s toys from the floor. He hurled it at Piers, but it failed to connect with the stunner in time. Jerry received a quick blast from the weapon and he tumbled over on top of the coffee table.

Terson shot Justy with his stunner and then turned it on the vixen. Taro swung for the weapon and successfully knocked it from his hand, bouncing it across the room, but then Piers fired upon her. Taro’s Hestran physiology resisted the stun beam for a moment, and she managed to throw a punch at Terson’s faceplate before she fell. The canine intruder’s head rocked back from a blow to the head that made his helmet rattle; he sat down hard.

Piers knelt down beside his partner. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“St-still seeing sparks,” Terson replied, “but I’ll be okay.”

“Untie me!” Ariel demanded. “My right arm’s going to sleep!”

Piers moved toward the Cocker Spaniel while Terson went out into the corridor to retrieve the fat metal case. He set it on the coffee table beside Jerry’s unconscious form and then sat down on the couch to let his head clear.

Freed from the restraints, Ariel massaged her arm for a moment before she opened the case. Inside was a thin pressure suit and helmet. She set the oblong helmet aside and then picked up the suit designed for her lithe form. Without hesitating in front of the others, she shed her sparse clothing completely, dropping them all to her feet, and then began to slip into the form-fitting suit.

“The brat was in here, but the adult cheetah took her out to another compartment,” she reported quickly. “He’s gotten protective of her, so be careful.”

“Matreh and Dinco are already heading up to the top level,” Piers replied, “but we’ll start searching the other cabins on this deck.”

Terson got to his feet. He was still a little unsteady from the blow to the helmet, but he followed Piers out into the corridor.

Ariel took out a compact air recycling unit from the bottom of the case. She slung it around onto her back and began fastening the straps across her chest. While she was preoccupied, she did not notice Taro get up onto her hands and knees, shaking her head from the effects of the stunner. The vixen felt woozy and nauseated, but knew exactly where she was. She heard the Cocker Spaniel grumbling to herself about a hose fitting and turned toward her.

Ariel snapped the connector into place and then reached for her helmet. A black-furred hand closed around her arm and spun her around dizzily, but the canine struck out instinctively and caught Taro across the snout.

Not to be taken down again, the vulpine captain reeled and snared Ariel around the waist. She twisted around to pull them both off-balance and the female combatants stumbled over one another. They fell entangled to the floor and Taro’s knee came down hard on the back of Ariel’s ankle. There was an audible snap and the canine cried out in genuine pain. She curled up and clawed at her ankle, but Taro got to her feet and pulled the whimpering spaniel up with her.

She deposited Ariel into the chair and grabbed the belts off the floor while the canine sobbed, no longer interested in anything but her ankle. Taro strapped her to the chair again, and then grabbed the woman’s ears to make her look her in the eyes.

“You aren’t going anywhere with your friends,” the vixen hissed at her. To prove her point, Taro grabbed a handful of the pressure suit fabric and pulled the metal fibers apart between her fingers. At the tearing of her clothes, Ariel’s wet eyes darkened, but then they widened at the realization that even if she were to get free, she could no longer follow her companions out through the vacuum of space to their ship.

Taro turned her back on her and knelt down next to Jerry, brushing her blue-tipped white feather ornament away from her face. Aside of a small cut on his cheek, he appeared unharmed, just sleeping off the stunner ray. She next went to Justy and rolled him over onto his back. He snored softly and also appeared unharmed.

Ariel began to bawl from the pain in her ankle, but Taro left her in the cabin and moved out into the corridor. She immediately spotted Lorelei and Amanda and rushed to their sides. Fortunately, they were also unharmed, just stunned. She did not know how long the effects would keep them out, so she moved them out of the way near the wall.

She heard a noise from a nearby cabin, so she crept stealthily closer to the intruders’ location.

***

It took a while, but Renny had finally gotten the kitten settled down. He had stroked the soft fur behind her ears, talked gently in a soothing voice, promising to protect her from all harm, and reminded her how pretty she was. She remained snuggled up to him with small shakes, but eventually she calmed down into an exhausted sleep.

Unfortunately, the navigator’s bladder was in need of relieving, so he gently pulled her small arms free of his sides and lifted her onto a soft couch cushion. She mewed once in complaint, but he assured her in a soothing tone that she was okay, and then she curled up in a small, fuzzy ball.

Renny got up slowly so not to disturb her, and then padded quietly to the head. Just as he closed the door behind him, the lift arrived and its panels opened.

Two figures in silver pressure suits stepped out onto the deck, each holding a stunner pistol out in front of them. One carried a fat metal case similar to the one that had held Ariel’s suit. They peered around the room through elongated mirrored helmets and spied their quarry on the couch, amazed that the kitten had been left alone.

“I’ll grab the brat and hold her,” said one in an under-modulated voice across the other’s tinny helmet speaker. “You get her into her little suit.”

“Right.”

Renny had just refastened the tail flap on the back of his trousers when he heard Sandy’s frightened screech. A ridge of fur on the back of his neck stood up as he bolted out the door, expecting another fight with the Cocker Spaniel, but drew up short when he saw two suited figures struggling to stuff the kitten into another small pressure suit. Both had their hands full with the suit and the youngster, but Renny instantly recognized the presence of the stunner guns in leg holsters.

He launched himself and landed in the midst of them, knocking the trio to the deck. Thinking quickly, he snatched up Sandy and bolted back to the head, favoring his bitten arm. Before the intruders could get back to their feet, the cheetah thrust the kitten into the water closet and locked her inside.

From within a panel beside the head, Renny pulled out one of Merlin’s rapiers from a tethered rack. The navigator might not have been a champion fencer, but he had learned from the Dennieran wolf well enough that he was confident enough in his skill.

Dinco fired his stunner at the cheetah, but Renny had anticipated the action and ran toward him in a zigzag pattern, swinging the thin blade. He caught the pistol with the tip of the blade and flung the weapon across the room.

Matreh could not fire without hitting his partner, so he shouted instructions to Dinco in the same Alexandrian language their companions had used earlier. The two of them rushed the cheetah, planning to pin him to the galley counter, but Renny thwarted their efforts by whipping the rapier back and forth toward the fabric of their pressure suits.

Both intruders realized the folly of their action and darted away from the angry navigator. Although he only held a blunt-ended practice sword, a single tear in their suits would prevent them from getting back to the Oubliette. With his partner now clear of the line of fire, Matreh touched off his stunner at the cheetah.

Again, Renny anticipated the move and rolled over onto the floor behind a recliner. He came to rest beside a couple of weight-lifting dumbbells that had not been stowed away. He dropped the rapier to the deck beside him and snatched up both weights.

He rose up quickly and heaved one at Matreh. It struck the intruder’s forearm in a glancing blow and the stunner dropped to the deck. Before anyone had a chance to scramble for the weapon, Renny hurled the other weight, catching Dinco flat across the chest and knocking him backward.

The cheetah retrieved the rapier and started for the now-defenseless kidnappers. Realizing they had failed, Matreh and Dinco got up and bolted for the elevator, one barely able to breathe while the other cradled his bruised arm.

Renny reached the lift just as the doors closed. He leaned against the wall, his narrow chest heaving. He could call the lift back up to go after them, but he did not want to leave Sandy unprotected.

Suddenly thinking of her, he moved back to the head and called out to her. “Sandy, they’re gone, little one. Are you okay?”

There was no reply, but Renny was not worried. He knew she would likely be hiding beneath the small sink, curled up and shaking in fear. He was concerned for the mental trauma the young kitten would probably experience, so he moved quickly to the galley and opened a drawer of utensils. In the back was a small brass key that he picked up deftly before moving back to the locked door of the head. He kept an eye on the lift to make sure the intruders did not regroup and come back to try again.

He did not know who the suited figures might be or where they had come from, being unaware of the hull breach and the situation on the lower decks, but like the Cocker Spaniel, they had tried to abduct the young kitten for reasons unknown. Whatever their purpose might be, it was plain to see that it was not in Sandy’s best interest, so Renny strengthened his resolve to protect the youngster at any cost.

***

When Matreh and Dinco reached the crew deck, they stumbled out of the lift and looked back into the compartment as if expecting the adult cheetah to come out after them. Their attention was drawn to a commotion inside a nearby cabin and they recognized Terson’s voice in the fray. They moved quickly to an open doorway and peered inside to see a female red fox struggling with both of their partners.

Taro had her arms wrapped across Terson’s lower rib cage while Piers was up on her back trying to strangle her with an arm around her neck. Mindful of his bruised arm, Matreh grabbed an ornate vase full of Terran cattails. He tossed the dried plants aside and then brought it down upon the preoccupied vixen’s head. Still a little weak from the stunner, Taro collapsed and they all fell to the floor in a heap.

“Gahh,” Terson gasped as he rolled over off of the vixen. He looked up, saw his own face reflected in the mirrored helmet above him and nodded. “Thanks,” he wheezed.

Piers helped his friend up and then looked at Dinco. “Where’s the brat?”

“She’s up on their play deck. We couldn’t get her. There’s an armed cheetah guarding her.”

“We barely got out of there!” Matreh added. “He had a blade and tried to rip our suits.”

Piers looked annoyed as he readjusted his helmet. “We’ll all go up and get her. He can’t stop all four of us!”

“He’s got our stunners,” Dinco said. “Both of them.”

“We can’t all fit in the lift, and he’ll be waiting for us to come back,” Matreh added.

Piers’ look of annoyance became anger. They left Taro lying on the floor of Max’s cabin and went out into the corridor. Terson looked around and grabbed Piers’ arm. He pointed to Amanda, who was on her hands and knees, shaking the cobwebs from her head. “Look. That one’s waking up.”

A door opened further up the corridor and a male fox stumbled out of Renny’s cabin. He was woozy, but when he saw the four suited figures, an expression of anger crossed his face.

“Let’s cut our losses and get out of here,” Matreh exclaimed. “We’ve lost our surprise!”

“Where’s Ariel?” Dinco asked.

Piers shut his helmet faceplate angrily. “Forget her. Everybody back to the ship!”

“But—”

“Now!”

Dinco let his exasperation show, but Piers would not have it. He pushed his partner toward the elevator. Despite the close quarters, all four of them did pile into the lift, but it was snug with their suits and environmental packs. It took precious time to cycle the shaft’s air handlers back to a vacuum, but the doors would not open for them until the environment matched the compartment outside.

They rushed around the cargo back toward the hole in the airlock while Piers transmitted orders to their pilot on the Oubliette to prepare for immediate departure.

Dinco muttered obscenities in his helmet and then spied a control panel set into the wall. Operating purely on spite, he turned a key set into a knob and punched several buttons angrily. An amber flashing light activated overhead and the canine intruder turned to look up toward the ceiling. One of the Blue Horizon’s overhead cargo cranes released a large cabled hook, its brakes disabled. The heavy-duty iron hook descended rapidly and smashed half a dozen crates of delicate electronics, narrowly missing one of the satellites.

Dinco snarled and made a rude gesture toward the mess, and then turned on his heel to follow his companions out through the hull breach. Minutes later, all four of them were safely inside their vessel as the Oubliette sped off into the nebula, leaving both Ariel and Sandilee behind.

***

Justy loped groggily back onto the bridge. Almost absently, he checked the automated systems and found things just as he had left them. There was no sign of the other vessel, but the long-range sensors were unable to pick up anything due to the nebular region. At the captain’s order, he recorded an automated distress signal that included the ship’s name, registry and a brief explanation of their damage. With that task accomplished, he sat down in the pilot’s center seat and studied the readouts. They were still moving on sub-light inertia, but with the main engines out of operation, they could do nothing to increase their speed. They were now dependent upon the help of another vessel along spatial traffic lanes; otherwise, they could be coasting for months before they ever got close to Dennier.

***

Ariel lay on her back on a bed in Sickbay while Jerry attended to her broken ankle. She was sedated for the pain, but the Cocker Spaniel was despondent about the failure of her mission and being left behind. With nowhere to go and no hope for rescue, the fight had gone out of the canine woman. She lay there passively, talking to no one. Taro intended to interrogate her further once the doctor was finished with his treatment, but for now she was out checking on the well-being of the others who had been stunned.

Pockets and Max had been busy trying to find the problem with the engines, but they still had not pinpointed the cause. From Taro’s report, they knew that Ariel was responsible for disabling their engines, but it had to have been something she could do quickly. She had not been alone in the engine room long enough to do anything elaborate. Contrary to what they had feared at first, there had been no bomb or explosion, but internal components had been seriously damaged as a result of whatever she had done.

There had been no sign of Damien anywhere in his office or the cargo bay, and while no one was keen on voicing what was on everyone’s mind, it was feared that he had perished when the hull was punctured. If he had not been sucked outside with the escaping air, it was likely they would later find his body wedged in amongst the cargo crates when they were able to return.

Taro walked into Damien’s quarters dejectedly and turned on the lights. It was the first time she had been in his cabin since he had joined the crew; until now, there had never been a reason. She stared at the unkempt front room littered with randomly discarded books, magazines and clothing. The remnants of meals on plates were stacked on the coffee table. Damien did not always join the rest of the crew at mealtimes, and it appeared that he even neglected to take Lorelei’s dishes back up to the galley.

She stepped around the clutter on the floor, wondering how someone could live like this. She was no neat-freak herself, but she did keep her cabin picked up well enough that she would never be embarrassed if she received visitors. Moving to the bedroom, she peered in around the corner and turned on the light, but the unmade bed was unoccupied. The room was just as much in disarray as the front and she felt reluctant to enter. The only reason she had come into his quarters this time was to give herself confirmation that he was not inside. He had not answered the intercom from any compartment on the freighter, nor had he responded to knocks and calls through his door.

On the nightstand beside the bed were several empty liquor bottles. She felt her stomach knot up at the amount of them, but had to remind herself that she had not forbidden him to drink in his quarters, only when on duty. On a hunch, she knelt down on the floor and looked beneath his bed, hoping that he may have fallen off in a drunken stupor and rolled under. All she found was more clutter and more empty bottles. There was not enough room under there for the mastiff’s bulk anyway.

The vixen stood up, heaved an audible sigh and turned to go. When she did, a faint sound came to her that she had not noticed before - running water. Daring not to let her hopes get too high, she looked up at the bathroom door and noted that it was closed.

She set her jaw as she strode over to it, grasped the handle and then opened the door. Water was running in the shower, but she heard no movement of anyone inside. She pulled back a brown plastic curtain decorated with river reeds and found Damien lying face down on top of his hands and knees in the tub, cold shower water hitting his bare back just above his tail.

Taro resisted the urge to call out his name, but instead knelt down beside the tub. She turned off the water and then put a hand on the mastiff’s back. The skin beneath his fur was cold to the touch and she held her breath as she moved her fingers up to his neck to feel for a pulse. The canine groaned, but did not move his face from his hands.

“Damien,” Taro said gently. He did not respond to her voice, so she tried again louder. “Damien!” The loadmaster groaned again, but otherwise made no effort to move or respond.

The vixen walked back out to the front room and tapped the intercom to Sickbay. The signal chirped and Jerry responded with a distracted “Yes?”

“Doc, this is Taro. I found Damien in his cabin. He was lying on his face in the bathtub under cold running water. He’s alive, but not responsive. Please get over here quickly.”

“On my way,” Jerry responded in an alert voice.

Taro moved back into the bathroom and pulled several large towels out of his linen closet. She was reluctant to move Damien for fear of causing him further injury if he was hurt, but she could try to warm him up a bit by rubbing his fur with the towels. Her emotions were in flux. She was disheartened to see him in this condition, but she was also glad to know he had not been on the cargo deck when the hull was punctured. What had happened to him, however, remained unclear for the moment.

***

“Are there any access tunnels from engineering to the upper decks?” Taro asked. She sat unclothed in front of the desk terminal of her quarters, grooming her fur with a thick brush after a shower.

“Well, yes and no,” Pockets’ country accent replied. “There are plenty of vacuum-sealed power conduits running from the engine room up to all compartments, but there’s nothing large enough for either Max or myself to crawl through to get topside – no matter how flexible I might be. There aren’t any emergency passageways between the decks — a design flaw that I intend to report to the Okami Corporation, to be sure, but at the moment the two of us are stuck down here until we can put a pressurized atmosphere in the cargo hold. I can control Moss from here, but since it’s nothing more than floating camera and sensor package, all it can do is look around. It has no claws, arms or other means to make repairs for us.”

“I see. We’ve been doing a little brainstorming to try to find a way to get you guys out of there, but so far that’s all we’ve been able to come up with for you. Justy reminded us that we have an emergency hatch on top of the ship through the recreation deck, but even if we depressurized the deck to open the hatch, we still have no pressure suits up here to go out to get to you.”

“Yeah, do you think we should skin the raccoon who decided to stow all the pressure suits in one convenient place in a cargo bay locker?” Pockets asked dryly. He had been kicking himself all day for being so efficient in that decision. If they made it out of this situation, he resolved to stow at least one pressure suit on each of the three decks.

Taro sighed and put down her brush. She could hear the fatigue in the engineer’s voice. “How are you two doing down there?”

“We have water, sodas and snackies in our kitchenette, but nothing that would make an actual meal. The water closet is working and we have cots to sleep on. We’ve gotten on each other’s nerves a bit, but otherwise we’re fine. However, we’re still weeks away from Dennier even if the engines were working.”

“Any progress on that?”

“Well, we’ve found the damaged components, but don’t have the necessary parts to replace what’s broken. You want details?”

Taro smiled. “Your technical lingo would probably be over my head,” she admitted. “Any idea what caused the problem?”

“The best we can figure is that the fuel regulation settings were all out of whack. Max gave Ariel a tour of the place earlier and remembers her asking him about that system. He said he didn’t think anything of it at the time, but he was playing tour guide and explained its purpose to her trying to sound knowledgeable. It’s something she could have done quickly and easily, so that would be my guess. With the settings out of calibration, three components overheated with the imbalance. One swelled up so tight that we can’t get it out without a laser torch, and the other two developed structural fractures. Coolant leaked out of one onto a wiring bundle that’s now fused together.”

The vixen frowned and picked up an ornamental disc that trailed a blue-tipped white feather. She clipped it to the fur behind her left ear. She hesitated to make the next suggestion, but since it was an emergency, she felt like she had no choice.

“What about your Vault drive?” There was an amused chuckle over the line. “What was that?” she asked.

“Of course, now you give us permission to use it… The Vault drive is a wonderful piece of astro-engineering, but it is not an independent system. It works with our standard LightDrive engine, but with that out of commission, it won’t be of any use to us.”

“If you had the components, how long would it take to get us operational?” Taro asked.

“With the exception of the one part we need the torch to get out, we’ve already removed the other ruined components and are in the process of cleaning up the vacant spots. With the right parts, we could be up and running in a day if we had Justy down here to help, and then it would be just a matter of minutes to have the Vault prepped for operation.”

“No, forget the Vault for now. I was only going to authorize its use if it was possible to use it in place of the LightDrive.”

“You know, Taro,” Pockets said in a suggestive voice, “If we put the Vault into operation for normal use, pirates would never catch us, and groups like this last bunch couldn’t even track us on our runs. We wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like this ever happening again!”

“That’s a valid argument, Pockets, but we’ve already discussed the implications on what would happen if word got out. Besides that, I’m still distrustful of that system. Even if we were able to use it now, what would happen if we overshot our destination again and find ourselves stranded even farther away from help than we are now? We can’t count on another Se’rei being available to land on for help.”

Pockets huffed in frustration and did not care if Taro heard him across the com line. His nerves were on edge and he was getting awfully tired of the same argument. “Listen,” he said, “if I upgrade the Horizon’s navigation system myself, would you give the Vault a try? We really need that system.”

The vulpine captain closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. Upgrading to a more sensitive navigation system would be out of the company’s operating budget, so it was probably safe to assume that it was out of her chief engineer’s personal finances as well.

“Sure, why not? Merlin would probably agree to your logic, Pockets,” she said wearily to pacify him. “I’ll tell him about it the first chance we get to meet in person.”

“Thank you, captain,” the raccoon replied in an appeased tone. Then, in a concerned voice, “How is Damien?”

Taro kept the line open, but she began to move around the room to get dressed now that her fur was fully dry. “He’s resting in Sickbay. I didn’t feel his quarters were such a good place to recover, but I’m not going to clean up the place for him. He can do that himself once he’s mobile again.”

“Has Doc found out what happened to him?”

“Partially,” Taro called across the room as she slipped on a white blouse. “He’d been drinking and woke up with a hangover, so he got into the shower to clear his head. While he was in there, we figure the intruders found him while looking for Sandy and hit him with a stunner. He collapsed in the shower and lay there until we found him, although he hadn’t had time to process all the alcohol out of his system. He doesn’t remember a thing, so I’ve ordered him to sleep it off. Once he’s fully sober, I’ll have a talk with him.”

“Ouch. I know what those ‘talks’ are like…”

“I’m about to gather everyone onto the rec deck so we can all hash all this out with our passenger. You want to listen in over the intercom or let you guys alone to work?”

“Tune us in,” Pockets replied. “We could use a break from the work, even if we can’t change the local scenery.”

“Actually, a break sounds like a good idea. I think I’ll give everyone a two-hour rest period before we do this. Everyone’s nerves are frazzled and it will be better if we confront Ariel with clear heads.”

“If that’s the order of the day, I think Max and I are going to curl up on cots down here too. There’s really nothing more we can do to fix things at the moment.”

“I’ll give you a wakeup call in a couple hours.”

***

It was a room full of touchy nerves. With the exception of Pockets and Max, who were still trapped in the engine room, the entire crew was there. When Taro brought in the Cocker Spaniel, Sandy burrowed under the cushions of the couch, so Renny gathered her up in his arms and took her to the bridge without a word. Someone needed to monitor the com station in the event their distress signal was answered, anyway. The navigator had become extra-protective of the cheetah kitten and did everything he could to shield the child from further trauma.

If the sight of the Cocker Spaniel bothered her, Renny would simply remove her from the area. Some of the crew thought the cheetah should make the kitten confront the canine woman, but Renny argued that she was too young for that to be of much help. No matter the argument either way, Renny had been appointed her guardian, and guard her he would.

Taro set Ariel down in a chair placed in the middle of the room, her leg out in front of her in a straight-leg splincast. The couch, recliners and galley chairs were arranged in a circle around her and everyone present surrounded her talking in low voices between themselves. Damien was still in confusion about all he missed, but he still was not feeling well and intended only to listen quietly to the proceedings.

Taro had no real plan for the gathering, but she wanted answers. Everyone grew quiet when she got up and began to pace back and forth in front of their passenger with arms crossed. In an even voice, devoid of anger or other emotion, she simply asked, “Why are you after Sandy?” Ariel said nothing, keeping her expression just as neutral. “For what purpose could you have in abducting this child?” No answer. Taro cast a glance around to the others, and although she was not telepathic, everyone seemed to understand what she wanted.

Jerry gestured toward the Cocker Spaniel. “What’s so important about her?” he asked. “She’s only four years old.” Ariel looked at him, but kept her mouth shut. She did not appear angry or even resistant. She simply did not answer.

“You’ve been watching her,” Amanda stated. “You were sent to make sure she was really here. Why?”

Nothing.

“You wanted her enough to play me for a fool and then damage our ship!” Max’s angry voice issued from the intercom. “If you and your friends were only after the kid, why did you have to damage our ship the way you did? Someone could have been killed and you would have been responsible!” A look of regret crossed Ariel’s features, but still she did not say anything.

“Sandy is too young to understand, and you’re hurting her mind!” Lorelei added. “How do you think she’s going to grow up with this?”

Ariel only looked down at her feet.

“Why are you doing this?” Justy pleaded. “Just tell us why…”

“Answer the questions,” Taro said quietly. Ariel glanced up at her with a sudden look of defiance, but remained quiet. Taro nodded. “Okay, I didn’t want to resort to this, but you have left us with little choice. Doc?”

Jerry pulled a capped needle syringe from the pocket of his lab coat and got to his feet. Ariel’s eyes widened and Lorelei gasped. “What’s that?” the rabbit asked. She was no friend to chemical medications, but knew that the physician had to be prepared for most emergencies and had a well-stocked lockup of pharmaceuticals.

The vulpine doctor held up the syringe in front of the canine woman. “Have you ever heard of silphium?” he asked. Ariel swallowed hard and shook her head. Lorelei, however, tilted her head to the side and was about to say something when the doctor turned and shushed her. Taro moved behind Ariel and gently took her arms to hold her in place. Jerry knelt down beside the canine and parted the fur of her forearm with two fingers.

“Silphium is a powerful truth serum,” he explained. Lorelei cleared her throat and started to say something again, but the doctor turned to glare hard at her. The rabbit closed her mouth and sat back with a puzzled look. Jerry continued as if he had not been interrupted. “It puts the patient’s mind into a dulled, malleable state that prevents her from remembering that she needs to lie to questions put to her.” Ariel suddenly looked afraid and stared at the drop of clear liquid oozing from the tip of the sharp needle.

Taro asked over the canine woman’s shoulder, “Are there any side effects?”

Jerry nodded with a solemn expression. “Just one,” he replied. “Silphium has a gray history of sometimes destroying brain cells in the higher cognitive functions. It’s only a fifty-fifty chance that she’ll come out of it with her intelligence intact, but if we get the information we want, she may never know it.” Ariel’s pupils dilated greatly at that news and she began to pant as the room seemed to spin around her.

Justy sat up, a horrified expression on his face. “Is that ethical?” he asked in a strained voice. “I thought you doctors were supposed to be against harming a patient!”

“That is our creed,” Jerry admitted, “but I am also under the command of our captain. I was instructed to give our passenger a dose of silphium if she refused to answer our questions.”

“Ariel Bennington’s actions have endangered us all,” Taro added with an edge to her voice. “Our distress signal may not be picked up in time. We may drift too far out of traditional shipping lanes for help to arrive in time.”

“Don’t do it!” Amanda pleaded. Lorelei’s puzzlement became amusement as she listened to the reactions around her. She had to hold a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling aloud. Amanda turned to glare at her in disbelief that the doe could be so heartless.

“Do it!” Max’s voice called from the intercom, uncharacteristic anger dripping from his words. “I want to know why she did this to us all!”

“Captain?” Jerry asked.

Taro leaned closer to the Cocker Spaniel’s ear. “Her companions left her behind and she knows we won’t just let her go even if we do get rescued, so I don’t think we have anything to lose,” she said coldly. “We can hand what’s left of her over to the authorities. I’m sure they can find a nice quiet corner of a sanitarium to park her until mealtimes. Go ahead, Doctor.”

Jerry nodded with a grim expression and Ariel suddenly shouted in his face, “Don’t!” she shrieked. “Don’t!” Her eyes welled up with tears, but the male red fox pressed the tip of the needle up to her skin between two fingers. On the couch, Amanda clutched a pillow to her chest and began to gnaw on a corner tassel.

Jerry let the tip of the needle barely prick her skin and Ariel shrieked again. “No!” she screamed. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you want you want to know!”

“That’s right, you will,” Taro said. “Continue, Doctor.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Ariel started bawling. So did Amanda.

“Hold it, Doc. I think she’s really changed her mind,” Taro said. Ariel bobbed her head up and down frantically and the physician finally withdrew the syringe to a safe distance. He did not put it away, however. He held it within her field of vision should she change her mind.

“I’ll talk… I’ll talk…” the Cocker Spaniel whimpered. Taro released the canine’s arms and then she took a seat in the circle.

It took a moment for her to compose herself and wipe her eyes on the fur of her arms. When Ariel spoke a moment later, she folded her hands together in her lap and stared down at them.

“Since you never found her family,” she began, “I can only assume you don’t know who she is. The kitten you are protecting is Sandilee Binfurr, the only daughter of the Binfurr clan of Fyn.”

“Binfurr? Don’t they make firearms?” Taro asked.

Ariel nodded. “Three years ago, Binfurr financially ruined my family and several others,” she said quietly. “We began plotting shortly afterward and have been watching their daily routine for patterns ever since. Last week, we put our plan in motion and kidnapped Sandilee from her nanny while they were shopping. Several of my friends took her to Vashon to hide out until the ransom was paid, but then that asteroid messed up our plans.”

“It messed up everybody’s plans,” Justy muttered.

“We think the kid got separated from our friends during the evacuation. Somehow, she ended up on your ship while the others got swept away onto another.” She looked up and glanced briefly at the koala who had spoken. “The ship my friends got on didn’t make it off the moon in time.”

She sighed and leaned against the back of her chair, looking over at Taro. “We thought the kid was lost with them until we saw the interview where you showed her to the cameras, asking for help identifying her family. We knew we had to act fast. If we saw your broadcast, then it was likely that someone in the Binfurr clan probably did too. It became a race to get me on board before you left. If I discovered that you still had the kid, then I was to find a way to disable the ship so my friends could come and get us before Binfurr sent their own ship out after you.”

“Sandy’s family is on their way now?” Lori asked.

“Probably. That’s why my friends didn’t hang around. We failed in our attempt to get the kitten back, so they had to get out before someone else got here.”

“That means we’ll be rescued!” Justy said with a smile.

“Ariel,” Max said tersely, “why the bouncy, seductive act when you first came on board?”

“In case any of you had seen the local news about the kidnapping, I needed to make sure none of you would be suspicious of a last-minute passenger.” She looked embarrassed and then looked back down at her hands. “I saw the mechanic’s crest on your shirt, Max, so I knew you worked on the engines that I would need to disable. When I bought a ticket on your ship, your dispatcher gave me your rules, and one of them stated that passengers were not allowed on the lowermost deck with the cargo and engine room. You’re close to my age and a canine like me, so I figured it would be simple to sweet-talk you into getting a tour of your engines, even if it wasn’t really allowed.”

“Then… then why did we… uh, y’know?”

Ariel smiled a little. “I found out what I needed to do about the engines. After that, I was on my own until my friends arrived, so I saw no harm in having a little fun with an attractive male.” Max cleared his throat uncomfortably, but said nothing more.

Lorelei looked at Ariel. “How much fun could you have with Max?” she asked. “He’s been neutered.” Nearly everyone stared at the rabbit’s audacity to say something like that publicly.

Ariel looked back at the bunny in amusement. “Really? If he was, I couldn’t tell. Everything was there and in working order.”

Max cleared his throat again and suddenly his crewmates looked all around them, anywhere but at one another. “Lori,” the young mechanic said quietly, “I was sterilized, not neutered.”

“But… you told us all that you were neutered,” the rabbit reminded him.

“I was a kid when I told you that, and I didn’t know the difference at the time. I’ve learned more about myself since then.”

Taro stood up and waved a hand toward the bunny. “Lori, this is neither the time nor the place for this topic.” Lorelei sat back on the couch, a strange expression on her face as she considered what she had just discovered. She suddenly started to laugh.

“What’s gotten into you?” Amanda asked her. “I don’t think it’s funny to embarrass Max!”

The lapin cook snickered and glanced over at Jerry. “Sorry, Max, but it’s actually appropriate and ironic at the same time.”

“Why is that?” Damien asked; it was the first thing he had said since the interrogation had begun.

Lori giggled. “The silphium that Doc was going to inject her with isn’t a truth serum,” she explained. “It’s an herbal contraceptive!”

“What?” Ariel exclaimed. She looked at Jerry in shock. He gave her a satisfied smile and capped the needle.

“I’ve been had…” the Cocker Spaniel muttered. There were chuckles at her crestfallen expression, but Taro waved her arms for silence.

“Well, we got what we were after,” she said. “If what she says is true, we should expect a representative from the Binfurr family before long. If we’re lucky, they’ll be able to get us safely off the Blue Horizon and allow us to ride with them back to Fyn. We’ll have to abandon the ship for now, but I’m sure Merlin can arrange with someone to get out here to tow it to a safe port where it can be repaired.”

“If pirates don’t find it first and strip it of our cargo,” Pockets grumbled. “We can’t just leave the Horizon behind!”

“We may not have a choice,” Taro said. “I doubt that Binfurr will have a spare airlock on board to loan us. Without it, it’s pointless to stay on board. However, we haven’t been rescued yet, so we still have to rely on someone picking up our distress signal in time.”

“Are we done here?” Damien asked wearily. “I need to go lie down again.”

Taro nodded. “Yes, we’re done for now.” She turned to Ariel. “You will be confined to your quarters with the door locked. Lori will provide you with food at mealtimes, but will have an armed escort with her. Any attempts to escape or hurt any of us, and you will be sedated for the rest of your time with us. Understand?”

The Cocker Spaniel nodded. “Understood,” she muttered.

***

“That was some good acting there, partner!” Pockets said with a grin. “We all thought you were so angry you were going to crawl through the com system to get at her!”

Max turned to the raccoon and raised an eyebrow. “Who said I was acting?” he replied in a stony voice. The smile evaporated from Pockets’ face and he stared at the German shepherd in disbelief.

“Uh, uhm…. Max?” he said. “I know what she did was bad, but… but don’t you think you might be taking this just a little too—”

“Gotcha!” the canine mechanic said with a face lit up in a wide grin.

Pockets’ expression froze for a moment before he remembered to blink. “Huh? You… you mean you didn’t really…”

Max laughed and took a bow. “As you said, I was acting! May I have my award now?”

The chief engineer sat down hard against the back of his chair. “You scared me!” he admitted, putting a hand up over his heart. “Why did you do that to poor Pockets?”

“You’re always teasing me,” Max replied. “I just thought it was good for a little payback!”

Pockets looked at him sideways for a moment before letting a smirk cross his face. “Okay, touché. You won that round, Maxie.”

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I? Besides, Taro asked me to play it up ahead of time.” The German shepherd grinned widely, but then after a moment, it faded from his face.

“What’s the matter?”

Max rubbed a hand over his face. “I still can’t believe what she did,” he muttered.

“Now, don’t get that way,” his partner replied. “You’re a great guy and she was attracted to you.”

The canine shook his head and gestured toward the LightDrive component systems outside the engineer’s office. “No, I meant what she did to the Horizon. Couldn’t she have slowed us down without doing major damage to the engine? I don’t condone her mission, but if all she wanted was Sandy, she didn’t have to hurt the rest of us like this.”

Pockets raised an eyebrow. “You’re not upset that she used you to get to the engine room?”

“Of course not, that would be silly.”

“Silly? That’s certainly not a reply I expected.”

“I’m not happy that her goal was to sabotage the engine, but why should I be upset that she gave me some personal attention?” the young mechanic asked. “After getting dumped by Wendy, I’m not ready for another relationship, but I think I needed the notice of cute girl, even for a short while. You tell me, Pockets — who used who?”

The raccoon shook his head in amusement. Max had grown up.

***

Renny brushed a finger across the top of Sandy’s fuzzy head as she slept. He had made a pallet for her on the floor of the bridge using blankets from his quarters and now she slept peacefully with the tip of her tail curled up against her nose.

He had never grown up around other children younger than himself, and he had never really seen himself as a fatherly type, but since he had taken on the role of the kitten’s protector, he was enjoying his time with the youngster. Her innocence and wide-eyed wonder at everything around them continually amazed him, and her naïve take on life was amusing. She seemed to have an endless supply of questions, asking him about everything she saw, and never seemed daunted when Renny failed to explain the answers in a manner for someone as young as her to understand.

She made him laugh, and it pleased him that he could make her giggle as well. Sometimes it took a tender tickle, but other times all it took was a goofy look or funny-phrased answer to her questions. She snuggled up to him often and purred contently when he stroked the fur along her back.

Renny was unsure if he felt like he was acting as either a father or a big brother to the kitten, but however it was that she felt about him, he knew he would not hesitate to put himself in harm’s way to protect her. She had been threatened twice in the past few hours and he would not tolerate it to happen again.

He watched her sleep for a few moments before he stood up and moved to the pilot’s center seat. Having the kitten around had given him some new things to think about during the quiet times. Sandy had only been with them a few days, but Renny discovered that he liked having someone to care for and protect.

He had always enjoyed a free lifestyle, and although he and Taro maintained something of a relationship, it was unlikely they would ever be married. With these new thoughts, the cheetah afforded himself a smile. Even if he and the vixen tried a species-mixed marriage, there would never be any natural cubs or kits in their family. Adoption was possible, and sad as it may be, there would always be orphan children who needed the love and attention of an adult.

He glanced back down at the kitten and wondered how anyone could willingly harm a life so innocent.

Short-range sensors suddenly chirped for his attention. The navigator pulled up the information on the left-hand vidscreen and felt the fur between his shoulder blades stand at attention. The Oubliette had returned.

The cheetah reacted instantly. Not bothering to hail them, he primed the freighter’s unconventional weaponry and locked it onto the incoming ship. He would have to be quick, as he could not operate the weapons and the maneuvering thrusters simultaneously from different stations. Renny fired the shock thread emitters, sending out a precise ripple of energy. However, the incoming ship was not yet in range for a weapon designed for close combat and the Oubliette received little more than a bumpy ride.

Cursing beneath his breath, the cheetah punched up the pulse cannons and fired off a shot. This had better results, blowing off a section of the other ship’s angular flight surface. It was not enough to cripple the space vessel, but it would hamper its ability to maneuver within a planetary atmosphere. His target had been the ship’s midsection, but without his ability to rotate the Horizon on its axis, his aim had been off. With his hands full on the weapons control, he could not even call someone to the bridge to pilot for him.

The commander of the Oubliette apparently recognized his handicap, for the vessel stayed out of range and maintained a position out of his line-of-sight to fire. The sensors showed him exactly where the ship was stationed, but he was unable to bring the cannons to bear upon it again. It was not unlike a mosquito one could hear in the night over a bed, but could not see to swat it.

He was puzzled, however, because the Oubliette never fired upon the freighter. It merely harried the ship, annoying its navigator. Jerry suddenly burst in through the door behind him. “I heard the weapons fire. What can I do to help?” he asked in a rush.

“Orient the Horizon with the thrusters so I can get off a shot at them.”

“Aye!”

With only maneuvering thrusters at their command, all they could do was spin around to point their weapons. It was enough, however. Several close grazes convinced the Oubliette to depart for deeper space at a high velocity. It completely disappeared from the sensors just as Taro walked in through the door.

The vixen knelt down next to Sandy, who was now sitting up and rubbing her little eyes with her paws. “What happened?” she asked no one in particular. Sandy held up her arms to the captain and Taro picked her up obediently.

“Ariel’s friends came back,” Renny replied. His attention was riveted to the sensors, awaiting the Oubliette to return for another round. His eyes popped wide, however, when a return signal came from the opposite direction. He had no idea how the ship could have circled them so fast, but he primed the pulse cannons for another fight.

The com station chirped, so Taro carried the kitten with her to answer. Like Renny, she expected the Oubliette to demand the release of their passengers, but all three adults on the bridge received a surprise. A Siamese cat wearing a pressed gray uniform stared out at them with bright blue eyes from the center vidscreen.

“Blue Horizon, stand down your weapons for assistance,” she said. “This is the SPF Cruiser Aldantia in answer to your distress signal. I repeat, stand down your weapons. The hostile has launched into spatial warp and is no longer a threat.”

Taro gave Sandy a smile and thumbed the reply as Renny obediently shut down his array. “This is Captain Taro Nichols of the Blue Horizon. Thank you for coming, Aldantia. We’re glad you could make it to our little party.”

“Our sister ship, SPF Garroway is in pursuit of your attacker. I am Spatial Police Officer Celia Sashay. What is your condition, Captain?”

Taro gave the feline a quick rundown on their troubles, the cat nodding and taking notes on a slateboard, but never interrupting the vixen’s account. Taro covered everything from the escape of Vashon to their present situation. “We have Ariel Bennington locked up in one of our cabins,” she finished. Then she indicated the kitten in her arms. “Sandilee Binfurr is well. If you can help us, I am sure her family would like to know of her whereabouts.”

“We have been in contact with child’s family. The Chitraka was already en route to your destination on Dennier and should arrive in a couple hours. Mr. Binfurr will be most anxious to see his daughter again. Captain, will you allow us to couple with your vessel for a personal meeting?”

“That would be great, but as I mentioned, our airlock is damaged beyond repair. We have no way to receive you.”

The Siamese smiled and her eyelids appeared quite slanted with the expression. “We are prepared for this emergency,” she said. “A modified walkway will be extended to cover the opening in your hull and we have enough reserves to pressurize your hold. This will allow your engineers to leave the engine room and then we can move freely between our two vessels. When the Garroway returns, she will stand watch over us while our ships are connected.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Taro replied. “Feel free to begin at any time.”

“Operation will begin immediately. See you soon, Captain.”

***

The procedure took two hours to get the walkway in place and the cargo bay fully pressurized. The second SPF cruiser arrived before Pockets and Max were freed from engineering, but the Garroway maintained a discreet distance to ward off any further attacks.

SPO Sashay introduced herself and four other SPF officers to Taro while Jerry gave the mechanics a quick physical check before he released them to the upper decks. Max and Pockets both headed to their respective showers to clean up before going up to a full meal that Lorelei had prepared for them.

With the exception of Damien, who remained in his cabin, the rest of the Blue Horizon crew had gathered on the recreation deck to meet their rescuers. Sashay and her partners took all their statements, and although both Renny and Jerry insisted that Sandilee was in good health, one of the officers looked her over and talked quietly with the kitten for a short time.

In the end, the officer complimented Renny on his care of the youngster. Despite the traumatic events she had experienced, the child was in good spirits. The real test came when two of the officers escorted Ariel up to the deck and Sandy saw her again for the first time since the attempted abduction.

The kitten stiffened up at first, but when the Cocker Spaniel did nothing threatening, she relaxed and sat down on the floor rug to retrieve a crayon from under the couch so she could color on a scrap piece of paper.

SPO Wagner approached Taro and looked up at her with a small slateboard in his hands. “Captain, before we go any further, we will need a decision from you,” the silver fox told her.

“Sure, what I do I need to do?” the vixen replied.

“Well, the damage to your hatch and double hulls is more than what we can repair and make functional, but there are three options open to you. One, we can transfer your crew and passengers to the Aldantia and then transport you to Joplin to the SPF Headquarters, where another transport can be arranged to take you on to Dennier. Two, you can board the Garroway for a return to Alexandrius. Either way, you will have to abandon the Blue Horizon until such time as when your company can send a tow transport or a fully equipped repair team out to it. We can set up a transmission denying salvage rights to anyone who may happen across it in the meantime, but we can’t guarantee that pirates won’t simply ignore the warning and take what they want from your ship. We’re still at the edge of the Van Conner Nebula, which is a known hunting ground for pirates. Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t been accosted by any of them since you sent out a distress. Like a wounded animal, I’m sure others will come sniffing for you soon enough. Anyway, we can offer you transport if you wish.”

Taro frowned. “I’m not sure I really care for either option if it means abandoning our ship to all-comers,” she said, “but it’s something we’ve already discussed. What was the third possibility?”

“Even if we had a spare airlock to replace with yours, there is still major structural damage outside the hatch area. The best we can offer is to seal you and your crew inside, and then you can make your way to whatever port you desire. We can help you repair your engines to get you mobile, then vacuweld thick metal plates over the damaged area as an external patch. Once sealed, you can then pressurize your cargo chamber and be on your way. It will allow you to make an atmospheric landing someplace where you can then make more permanent repairs, whether back on Alexandrius or continue on to your Dennieran destination. When you land, you’ll have to disembark through your cargo bay door, but at least the primary airlock will be sealed against the vacuum and reentry.”

Taro absently toyed with the feather hanging from her fur as she mulled over the choices. Finally, she nodded to the silver fox with a sigh. “I think the third option is our best scenario,” she said, “but my mechanics say they don’t have the parts necessary to replace the damaged components of the engine. I am assuming you think your engineers can help us return to flight if you’ve offered that option, so I’ll have Max and Pockets get with them as soon as they’ve had a chance to rest a bit from their meals.”

Wagner nodded and made a notation in his slateboard. “Very well, then,” he said. “SPF Officers Lawrence and Bruner will start accessing your damaged systems as soon as your folks are ready. They are among the best engineering mechanics in the Spatial Police Force.”

“Thank you, Officer,” Taro replied. “We really appreciate your willingness to help.” Wagner gave her a grateful smile and then wandered away to report in to his shipmates. Before Taro had a moment to turn around, another officer walked over to her.

“Captain?” said a tan coyote with eyes the color of burnished copper. “I’m SPO Bergey. I’ve been examining the damaged cargo in your hold. If I could talk to your loadmaster and have a look at your manifest, I’ll do what I can to make sure a proper report is made to the owners of the cargo and all insurance parties involved.”

“My loadmaster has been ill and out of commission through this whole affair, so he’s currently resting in his quarters,” Taro replied. “However, if we go talk to him, I’m sure he will be able to provide whatever you need.”

“Thank you, Captain. Lead the way.”

Taro and the Bergey quickly left the din of the recreation deck and quietly rode the elevator lift down to the crew deck. The coyote said nothing until they stopped in front of the cabin door and read the name plate beside the panel. His eyes narrowed briefly.

“Is this the name of your crewmate?” he said with a suddenly cautious expression on his face. “Is he a mastiff?”

“Yes, on both accounts,” Taro replied, puzzled. “Do you know him?”

The coyote pulled up his DataCom unit and tapped a code. There was a blip and then he spoke quietly. “This is Bergey. I’m on the second level of the Blue Horizon at the cabin door of Damien Legrand. Please assist.”

“Legrand?” There was a noticeable pause. “We’re on our way.”

Taro twitched an ear and ran a hand through her head fur. “Officer, what’s going on?”

The coyote looked up at her. “How long have you known Mr. Legrand?” he asked.

The question took the vixen by surprise. “Only a few months,” she replied truthfully. “We hired him on Pomen after our previous loadmaster passed away from a heart condition. Why?”

They heard the lift door around the corridor open and feet moved quickly in their direction. They could not know where the cabin was located, but the deck was elliptical in a full circle, so it would not have mattered which direction they took.

Taro watched in sudden trepidation when the lion and the black bear pulled out their side arms, taking up positions on both sides of the cabin door. “Will someone give me an explanation before this goes any further?” she asked, stepping in front of the coyote. “We’ve had a lot of excitement lately and I don’t care to be in the dark.”

“Captain,” Bergey started with a worried expression, “A mastiff named Damien Legrand has been on the run for over a year in connection with the death of two children on Pomen.”

Taro’s eyes grew wide and her lips parted in disbelief. “M-murdered?” she asked.

“Evidence supports a hit and run. Legrand has an extended DUI record and it’s believed he may have been intoxicated when he sped through a school zone. Two ursine children died instantly and their mother had to be committed to a local institution from a mental breakdown. The father also sold much of their assets to tender a reward for his capture.”

“Oh God!” The vixen gasped. She put both hands up to her mouth and backed up against the cabin door.

“Please keep in mind that so far this is all circumstantial with evidence found on his vehicle. It will be up to a court to decide whether or not he is the one who ran down the children, but we have a standing warrant for his arrest.”

One of the other officers stepped forward, but did not touch her. “Captain,” the lion asked in a firm voice, “will you allow us to do our job, or are you going to block our way to him?”

Taro blinked and looked over at him with a tight throat. “What? Uh, no… I won’t stop you,” she said as she moved away from the door.

“Captain,” Bergey said gently. “Will you call him out, please?”

The vixen nodded and composed herself. She tapped on the panel and spoke loudly. “Damien? This is Taro. I need you out here, please.”

There was a hesitation, and then a muffled reply. “Coming.” When the door opened, the mastiff looked up with tired eyes. He had showered and put on clean clothes, but he still looked haggard. As soon as he saw the SPF officers, he swallowed and raised his arms in surrender.

“Then… it’s true?” Taro whispered with moist eyes.

Damien looked at her with a sorrowful expression and nodded before looking down at his feet. “I’m not sure what they told you,” he said quietly, “but they have been after me.”

“Damien Legrand,” SPO Bergey said in a firm voice as the other two pulled stout manacles from their belts and cuffed his arms behind him, “you are under arrest in connection with the hit and run deaths of Jomy and Karina Soljer. Will you come peacefully?”

“Yes,” the mastiff replied solemnly. “I’m through running.” He looked back over at the vixen and said, “Thank you for taking care of me, Taro, and thank you for caring.”

The vulpine captain put a hand on his arm. She did not know how to respond, so she leaned in and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek as moisture rimmed her eyes.

“Excuse us, ma’am,” Bergey said. The lion and the black bear led Damien away, back to the elevator lift. He would be taken over to the Aldantia and likely locked up in the brig with Ariel Bennington.

Shaken, Taro looked at the coyote still with her. “Can you give me a few minutes,” she asked in a quiet voice, “and then we can key in to his files for the manifest you need.”

“Certainly,” he said. “I will await you on your bridge.”

“Thank you.” The captain of the freighter walked numbly to her cabin and shut the door behind her. She needed to get her emotions under control and compose herself before seeing to this latest task, so she collapsed into a chair to put her head in her hands.

***

“I am now transmitting the SPF report for Interstellar Insurance,” Taro said, bringing her report close to an end. “The officers have gone over the manifest, but the crane smashed several of the containers into such rubble that identifying individual parts is going to be next to impossible. We have swept up the debris into a spare container, but it will be up to someone else to sift through them as needed. Fortunately for Loxley DataStream, none of the satellites were damaged, but we may have to replace the crane hook.”

The piercing amber eyes of Merlin Sinclair peered out of the monitor in the captain’s den, his expression one of longsuffering. Taro set her slateboard onto the desk and picked up a cup of water, awaiting his response.

The wolf was well-groomed, dressed in a pressed gray suit with a tie the color of his eyes. He hated wearing ties, but he would be meeting shortly with local agents of both JR Lane Astrogation and Interstellar Insurance and wanted to look professional.

“Have you talked with Damien since he was placed under arrest?” he asked quietly.

“No, I can’t get onto the Aldantia to see him,” Taro replied. “There’s an officer guarding the airlock to their vessel, and the rest of them are helping Pockets fabricate some kind of replacement for the damaged components. They don’t have actual Okami parts, so they are trying to come up with something that will work long enough to get us to Dennier.”

“We do a security background check with every new employee we hire. I don’t understand why Damien’s police records were never brought to our attention,” Merlin grumbled.

“We usually go through SPF channels for the security checks,” Taro reminded him, “but I think we used a local firm when Damien was hired.”

“You’re right. I think we did. Admittedly, none of us was thinking clearly after we lost Durant, especially since we were interviewing applicants for the job that was his.”

“We can only guess that local firm may not have had full access to SPF records.” The vixen leaned forward on the desk and rested her chin on an arm. “Damien’s shown signs of inner demons for a while. I’d talked with him a couple times, but he would never open up to what was bothering him. Now I know why. I asked Sashay if there was anything we could do to help him, but she told me that Damien’s problems are out of our hands. What was done happened before he came on board, that it doesn’t concern us. I understand that, but it seemed like a cold answer.”

“How is everyone handling it?”

Taro frowned and closed her eyes. “I’ve not told anyone yet. Since no one else saw them take him away, he’s still resting in his quarters as far as everyone else knows. I figure they don’t need another worry at the moment. None of the SPF officers have mentioned it to my crew, so I assume they’re focusing on their current work to help us get up and running again.”

She sat back in her chair, kicked off her sandals, and put her feet up on the corner of her desk. “I know that Interstellar Insurance will help with some of it, Merlin, but you know it’s going to cost an arm, a leg and three toes to get the Blue Horizon back into service. Not only do the makeshift engine components need to be replaced with actual parts, and not only does the airlock hatch have to be replaced, but Pockets said that whatever they used on us did some major structural damage to both the internal and outer hulls. That’s going to put us out of commission for a long time, and we’ll probably lose more customers since we can’t stick to our current schedule.”

It was subtle, and quick, but Taro saw a brief expression flicker across the wolf’s face. Had she not been looking directly at him, she might have missed it, but Merlin acted as if nothing transpired. “Let me worry about all that,” he said in an even voice. “I’m sure we can weather this okay.”

Taro narrowed her eyes. “You’re not usually so calm talking about this kind of money. What’s going on?”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “Everything is under control on this end,” he assured her. “However, I am starting to re-think my decision to allow passengers on board as Space Available. It’s brought in only small amount of extra revenue, and situations like yours might not have happened if Ms. Bennington hadn’t been on board.”

“I’m sure she and her partners would have tried another way to get Sandy from us,” Taro replied, allowing the conversation to be redirected away from her question. “I didn’t care for the idea at first, but now I’m okay with having passengers on board. We do have more cabins than personnel, so why not use them to bring in a little extra income?”

“Well, I’m still going to think about it. I’m not sure if it’s worth the bother to all our crews.” He fell silent for a moment and then snapped his fingers. “I just remembered… Have you been watching INN lately?”

Taro chuckled. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t. We’ve been a little busy for that luxury.”

“Interpost has undergone major restructuring and is back in business. After you land, Interpost will take possession of your final mail shipment. You’ll no longer be required to pick up and deliver a mail quota with each flight”

Taro nodded. “That’s just one less thing for us to be concerned about,” she said. “Good.”

“While I’m thinking of it, tell Renny we’re proud of his involvement with the kitten. I’m glad he was there for her.”

“He wasn’t happy with the assignment at first, but now I think he’ll be distraught when he has to give her up. He’s gotten quite fond of the kid.”

There was a soft ping from the techwatch on Merlin’s wrist. He glanced at it and frowned. “Whoops… Time for me to meet with Interstellar.”

“Have fun with your meeting.”

The wolf gave her a smirk. “Uh huh, I’m sure it’s something I will enjoy immensely… Keep me posted on your progress.”

“I will. Talk to you later, Merlin.” Taro terminated the signal and lapped up another drink from her cup. The intercom chirped and she reached for it automatically. “This is Taro.”

“Captain, we have a problem,” Amanda’s reported from the bridge.

“So, what else is new?” the vixen replied with a wry smile. “What is it this time?”

“A long-range cruiser called Chitraka has just pulled up alongside us, Registry 80898. The captain has identified himself as Tisané Binfurr.”

“That would be Sandy’s father. The SPF said he was on his way. What’s the problem?”

“He wants to come aboard and get his daughter, but the Aldantia is still coupled with the Horizon. I tried to explain our situation to him that the SPF ship can’t pull away without decompressing the cargo deck, but he doesn’t seem to care.”

“Put him in contact with Sashay over on the Aldantia. Maybe she can explain it to him sufficiently. Until we can get the engines operational to LightDrive capability, we cannot uncouple the ships.”

“I don’t think he’ll listen, but I’ll refer him to the SPF as directed.”

“I understand his excitement about seeing Sandy again, but he’s going to have to wait, or he will have to come over to us in a spacesuit.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

***

“Hello, Captain. I am Tisané Binfurr. Sandilee is my daughter.”

Taro shook his hand and gave him a pleasant nod. The male cheetah was not much older than Renny, but he had the air about him of someone with money and power. He wore minimal clothing over his spotted fur, but it was considered expensive business attire on Fyn. He was also accompanied by three other male cheetahs with stony expressions.

“Welcome aboard, Mr. Binfurr,” she told him as she gestured toward the gaping hole in their hull. Fortunately for them all, the SPF walkway covered it over as protection against the void outside. “I’m sorry for the delay in getting you over here, but you can see our problem here. Fortunately, the Aldantia had a portside airlock that you could connect to them in order to get over here to us.”

“Yes, I apologize for my impatience,” Binfurr replied, dropping his smile. “I’m sorry for the problems you have faced on my daughter’s behalf, but I’m appreciative that your people fought to protect her. I will be in touch with your company’s president to offer compensation as soon as we return to Fyn.”

“I am sure Mr. Sinclair will be grateful, but our insurance will cover part of the costs.”

Binfurr took Taro gently by the arm and led her a few steps away from his escort. In a quieter voice he said, “Let me pay for the damage. I’m good with numbers and estimates, and from the report the SPF sent me, repairing your vessel will cost me far less than the ransom that was demanded on my kitten. I can also help if you will allow me to send some business your way. I was using TranStar to deliver our goods, but of late, they have proven unreliable. I suppose that is inevitable when you use a company so large they no longer provide a personal touch for their clients.”

Taro nodded. “I have heard rumors that TranStar Shipping can be a little stiff with their customers, but I’ve never had direct dealings with them myself. We would appreciate any business you can direct our way, sir.”

Binfurr rubbed his hands together. “Consider it done. Now, may I see my daughter, please?”

The vixen led him past the smashed cargo containers around the perimeter of the hold and took him to the elevator lift. The stony escort followed a few steps behind. When Taro glanced back at them, Binfurr pursed his lips.

“Apologies for the armed escort, Captain, but after recent events, it’s a necessity.”

“Armed?” Taro repeated in shock. “How did you get weapons through a police ship?”

The cheetah grinned. “An armed escort for the armed escort,” he explained. “We have the necessary PA firearm licenses, so they let us through, but only with their own escort.”

“What kind of firearms?” Taro asked tentatively, punching the lift control for the third deck. “We have our own, but I’m always reluctant to bring them out while we’re in flight, no matter the reason. Too many things can happen with a tiny puncture through the hull from a wild shot.”

“I agree,” Binfurr said with a nod. “At the moment, we’re carrying stunners.”

Taro looked up in alarm. “That’s what the intruders used on us.”

“I hate to side with our enemies, but stunners are best for use in instances like what you went through,” the cheetah remarked. “Better a temporary shock to your nervous system than a bullet through a vital organ. Stunners also won’t pierce a pressurized hull by accident. I would recommend adding stunners to your armory.”

The lift door opened and Binfurr stepped out onto the recreation deck. Renny stood near one of the room’s couches, quietly grooming Sandy’s fur with his good arm. The kitten sat on the cushion with her eyes closed and hands folded in her lap, purring contentedly.

Binfurr’s eyes crinkled in delight and his breath caught in his throat. He swallowed and then spoke the child’s name in voice barely above a whisper. “Sandilee.”

The kitten’s eyes snapped open and she bounded off the couch before she had even seen his face. “Papa!” she exclaimed with an excited squeak. The kitten launched from the floor into her father’s arms. Binfurr’s eyes filled with moisture as he held his daughter close and rubbed his cheek against hers, both of them purring joyfully.

Taro moved to Renny’s side and put an arm around his shoulders. The navigator wore a wide grin, but it began to fade from his lips. He glanced over at her as she gave him a knowing smile. Even she could see how much he was going to miss the kitten, and she was not even gone yet.

Carrying Sandilee in his arms, Binfurr walked over to Renny and held out his hand. “Mr. Thornton,” he said respectfully, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The cheetah males shook hands and the navigator gave him a nod.

“Mr. Binfurr.”

“Rinny!” the kitten said as she pointed a tiny finger at him. Renny reached out automatically and touched the tip of her finger with his own before he even realized he had done so.

“It looks like you two have gotten along well,” said the father. “I am thankful for the care and protection you have given my daughter. What can I do to repay your kindness?”

Renny’s throat tightened and he shook his head. “Nothing, sir. Having her around has been a treat. She was well-behaved and I do think I will… miss her.”

“Allow me to do something for you.”

Renny reached out and stroked the kitten’s cheek with a finger. She rubbed her chin on it with a smile and a fresh purr. “Just make sure she’s safe and happy,” he replied. “Goodbye, Sandy-kitten.”

“Bye?” the youngster said, grasping his finger. “Don’ go!”

Renny smiled. “I’m not going anywhere, kitling. You are going home with your papa.”

“Come with!”

Binfurr looked amused. “You are welcome to join us, Mr. Thornton,” he said. “It should not be difficult to find a place for someone with your skills within my company.”

There was no hesitation in the navigator’s reply. He shook his head with a smile and said, “Thank you, sir, but my skills are needed here aboard the Horizon. I appreciate the offer.”

“Don’ want you to go,” Sandilee whined with a pout.

Renny snickered and gave her a little tickle, making the protruding lip pull in over a giggle. “Be a good girl, Sandy,” he said.

Binfurr tilted his head. “I’m not quite sure I recognize your accent. Where on Fyn are you from?”

Renny chuckled. “I’m from Kantus, actually,” he replied. “The Gatian Savannah, to be precise. My family has been there for generations.”

“That’s interesting. If you are ever on Fyn, Mr. Thornton, you are welcome at my estate at any time.”

“May I make a request, sir?” the navigator asked.

“Name it.”

“May I have permission to write to Sandilee on occasion? I would like to know that the experiences she has witnessed since she was taken from you have not caused her lasting trauma.”

“Of course. We will stay in touch. I am sure she would like to know that her protector is doing well.” The child’s father leaned in closer with a wry smile. “Protection means a lot to the Binfurr name, you know!”

“Yes, I suppose it does.”

“Well, if you will excuse me, I want to get Sandilee safely back to the Chitraka.” Binfurr’s look became troubled as he added, “Then I will have a long talk with Ms. Bennington. I understand there are grievances that caused this whole mess and I would like to address them.”

“Of course,” Renny answered. He leaned in and rubbed noses with the kitten. “I will miss you, Sandy,” he said. “Be good for your papa.”

The youngster stuck out her bottom lip again and then wrapped her arms around her father. Binfurr shook hands with the navigator warmly and then did the same with Taro.

“Thank you again, Captain,” he said. “I bid you all a safe journey.”

***

A day after the departure of the Chitraka, several of the Blue Horizon’s crew was in the galley eating lunch. Amanda had just put on some light music on the sound system and everyone was chatting idly when the lights went out and the music went dead. Red emergency lights in the ceiling flicked on, giving the surprised personnel an eerie glow.

“That can’t be good,” Justy muttered.

Taro wiped her hands on a napkin and got up to make her way to the intercom panel, but she only made three strides before the power came back on. The intercom chirped for attention before she reached it.

“This is the captain,” the vixen responded.

“Captain, this is SPO Wagner. Have you had any power interruptions up there?”

“Yes, just now. It only lasted a moment, though.”

“Good, that’s what we needed to hear. Wagner, out.”

“Wait!” Taro exclaimed into the microphone.

“Yes?”

“What’s going on? What was that?”

“Your ship’s power has just been transferred through the replacement components. We should be ready for an engine start test in about thirty minutes.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Taro replied, “but will that be a good idea with our ships still coupled together?”

“There will be no forward movement, ma’am, but the chargers will need to be powered up so we can determine if the makeshift repairs are going to handle the amount of power running through them.”

“Understood. Let us know if we need to do anything from the bridge.”

“Acknowledged. Wagner, out.”

***

Pockets, Max and SPO Lawrence were in pressure suits inside the cargo bay as pumps removed the atmosphere from the deck. The engine startup had been successful and Lorelei had later prepared a celebration meal for the crews of both vessels. A rest period followed to allow everyone the chance for a respite from fatigue, especially the engineers and mechanics. Several hours later, the second phase of the repair work began. If the first had not been successful, there would have been no need for the second.

Pockets monitored the readings from a control panel just outside the engine room door, while Max and Lawrence stood by the damaged airlock. The Aldantia had already sealed its primary hatch, and as soon as there was no pressure within the Horizon’s hold, the walkway would be retracted.

“That’s got it,” Pockets announced over his suit com signal. He shut off the vacuum pumps and set the safety switch.

“This is the Aldantia,” came back a reply that echoed in all three helmets. “Negative pressure confirmed. Retracting walkway. You may now open your cargo door.”

As soon as the cushioned seals of the walkway pulled away from the Horizon’s hull, Pockets activated the controls to open the large bay door. There was no need to let it fully extend up and outward, for all they required was enough room to pull out the large metal plates that had been transferred over from the Aldantia.

Lawrence and Max each picked up a tethered magnet from the floor at their feet. The gravity plates continued to provide them with normal footsteps across the deck, but as soon as they reached the edge of the breach, Max balked before stepping outside the ship.

“Don’t worry, Max,” Lawrence assured the German shepherd. “Just make sure your magnet is attached to the hull before you step out of the ship. It’s strong enough you won’t float away from the ship.”

The young mechanic frowned as he peered over the edge of the airlock. There was nothing but stars below the toes of his boots. “My brain knows that isn’t ‘down’, but to my eyes, it still looks like a long way to fall,” he muttered.

Lawrence smiled inside his helmet at the canine’s hesitation. “Is this your first time weightless in a space suit?” he asked.

“I’ve been weightless here in the cargo bay doing maintenance on the overhead crane, and I’ve been in a space suit before, but that was inside another ship that had no air. I’ve never been outside in space with nothing under my feet, though.”

Lawrence flung his tether diagonally out the hole and felt it swing around to attach to the hull. Then he stepped out into space, feeling gravity’s weight disappear. The lion turned slowly and faced his companion. “See?” he said. “No falling.”

Max chuckled nervously. “Okay, it’s my turn.” He moved one boot out away from the deck and felt the tug of gravity release it. He had the conditioned urge to step down, but there was no need, there being nothing for his foot to land on. He swallowed hard, and then instead of stepping out with the other foot, he closed his eyes and pushed off with his toes as Pockets had instructed him to do that day they worked on the crane pulley.

The German shepherd floated out away from the ship, but Lawrence suddenly latched onto his arm. “You forgot to deploy your tether,” the SPO informed him, taking hold of the magnet still in the canine mechanic’s hand. He flipped it toward the Horizon’s blue hull, where it picked up speed from attraction and hit the metal side hard without a bounce.

“Don’t ever do that again,” the lion scolded gently. “If you propelled yourself out here without a tether, you might keep going and never stop, long after your oxygen ran out. These suits aren’t equipped with thrusters. Those are too bulky for the work we’ll be doing.”

Max turned in his helmet to look at Lawrence with wide eyes. “I-I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I-uh, I-I didn’t think…”

“That’s right, and that’s what can kill you. Space is hostile – it’s a predator. We were never meant to be out here, Max, but we went beyond our natural abilities and came anyway. Since we broke the rules, Space will always try to kill us. Because of that, we must always be alert and we must always think. If you let your guard down while you are out here, you’ll never do anything again.”

Max was shaken. Literally. He started shaking inside his suit and he swallowed hard. “I… I… I don’t think I c-can do this,” he said after a moment.

“I think you can,” Lawrence said with an encouraging smile. “Once you fear Space, then you will respect Space. Having that respect will make you alert. I believe you’re now more ready than you were before you stepped out here with me a moment ago. Do you remember how we went over one another’s pressure suits to make sure all seals were properly sealed, that our airlines were connected properly, and that there were no kinks or tears in the material?” Max nodded. “That’s what partners do for one another. It’s too easy to forget something on your own, even if you are thorough, so you should always have a partner help you double-check everything – including your tether. For today, you’re my partner, and we will rely on one another to get this job done.”

“Oh… okay,” Max replied. He had been fine, and even a little excited about working with the SPO on the hull patch, until he had made an error that could have been potentially fatal. Now he was unsure of his abilities, and was not all that comfortable being outside of the ship, but feeling the light tug of the tether against his belt harness was reassuring. “Uh, sir?” he asked as he willed his heart to calm down. “Thank you.”

Lawrence smiled and put a hand on the canine mechanic’s shoulder. “You’re welcome, Max. That’s what partners do.”

“Lawrence?” said another voice in their earphones.

“I’m reading, Sashay. Go ahead.”

“Wagner and Bruner are on their way out, but the com in Bruner’s helmet is intermittent.”

“Thanks for the heads-up. We may have to use hand signals like we did during the Firedog incident.”

“Understood.”

Lawrence turned back to Max. “You remember the plan?” he asked.

“Yeah, you and I will position each of the large metal plates over the ruined airlock and the hole, while Mr. Wagner and Mr. Bruner vacuweld them into place.”

“It sounds simple, but the mass of the plates may be difficult to wrangle. You ready?”

Max took a moment to consult his insides and found them stable. He gave the lion a nod inside his suit and replied, “Yessir. Let’s get started.”

“Excellent. Follow my lead and go slow.”

***

From the small vidscreen in the engine room, Max and Pockets watched the twin SPF cruisers Aldantia and Garroway disappear from sight into deep space. Three metal panels had been welded into place over the external damage without an incident and then the engines had been tested on a brief trip that took them completely out of the Van Conner Nebula. Satisfied the jury-rigged engines would perform well enough to get them to Dennier, Taro thanked each of the Spatial Police Officers personally before they bid one another safe journeys.

Taro had promised her mechanics that they could rest and relax after it was determined the ship could run without constant monitoring. With both cruisers away to deliver their prisoners, she wanted the Blue Horizon on its way as quickly as possible.

Pockets switched off the vidscreen and then moved to the main control engineering console. He and Max prepped the LightDrive system and then the raccoon called up the bridge.

“This is Jerry,” said the fox’s voice.

“All systems are green. We can depart any time.”

“Thank you. Captain?”

Taro’s response could be heard over the intercom. “Let’s go.” Twenty minutes later, the captain’s voice echoed in the engine room. “Everything looks normal up here,” she said. “Anything to report?”

“No problems,” Pockets replied. “Siilv energy transfer through the liquid crystal mix is normal. Output generation is down just a smidgeon, but it’s nothing that will hamper our flight or disrupt onboard systems.” He smirked at his partner. “I suspect it’s from some inferior parts that were recently installed. I wonder who did that.”

“Jerry says it was some goofus, but I don’t know who he might be talking about. Okay, guys, that all sounds good. Doc will take the first watch and keep an eye on the readings from up here. You boys are free to go rest. I imagine you’re sick of seeing the engine room for a while.”

“Aye to that,” the raccoon said with a smile. “I’m tired, but not really sleepy, so I may go up and watch one of the movies Sashay left with us.”

“I’ll watch one with you,” Max piped up. “I’ll even make the popcorn.”

“Deal!”

“Okay, guys. Have fun.”

Pockets sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.

“Ready to go?” the young mechanic asked, wiping his hands on a rag.

“Max…”

“Yeah?” The German shepherd looked back at his partner. The usually-chipper raccoon worried on his lower lip for a moment, studying his canine companion. “What’s up?”

Pockets motioned for the young mechanic to join him in a small alcove at the back of the compartment. Something lay in the corner with a dark gray tarpaulin covering its bulk. The engineer pulled the tarp off onto the floor and then looked back at his friend.

“After we’ve had a chance to rest, I want your help installing something,” he said quietly.

Max looked at him oddly. “I thought we had all the engine parts back together,” he said. “What’s that?”

“This is a high-end navigation system,” the masked raccoon answered proudly. “I filched it from the cargo.”

“You did what?”

“Keep your voice down, Max. Taro told me we could use the Vault drive for emergencies if we had an astronomical navigation system that was sensitive enough to work with it, but that the company couldn’t afford it. I asked her that if I got one myself, would she allow us to use the drive and she said ‘Yes’.”

“Pockets… I don’t think that’s what she had in mind!”

“Taro should know by now to be more specific,” the raccoon chuckled. “I never told her I could afford to buy one either, only that I could get one.”

“But not from our cargo!”

“Calm down, Max,” Pockets said with a sudden edge to his voice. “We could have used the Vault system twice for recent emergencies, but Taro didn’t trust our current astrogation system. She told me she still hasn’t even told Merlin about the Vault or what happened on Se’rei, so I took it upon myself to see that we were not without the Vault again in the future.”

“But…”

“We may not use it for typical delivery flights, but for emergencies, I intend for it to be available to use without fear of ending up somewhere astray out in the cosmos.”

“Pockets, you can’t just steal something that expensive from our customer! What about the manifest!”

The raccoon grinned. “I’ve been fixing the manifest in Durant’s books long enough to know just how to make it look like a clerical error. I can do the same with Damien’s books, and since he’s still holed up in his quarters, this might be a good time for me to sneak into his office and take care of it. In our favor, it should be a simple task to make it appear that this was one of the cases smashed by the intruders.”

“I can’t believe you, Pockets!” Max exclaimed. “This is… piracy! Are you no better than a pirate?”

The engineer gave him an uncharacteristic dark look, and his facial mask accented the expression. “Listen to me, Max. Our job on this ship is to keep her running and to keep her safe. If you’re going to be a mechanic on a starship, you are going to need to learn that sometimes you will do whatever is necessary to keep your friends and your cargo safe. I learned that a long time ago. I admit taking the Tanthean rug was a mistake, and I am sick and tired of apologizing for it, but something like this navigation system is a necessary step. Because of the actions of Ariel’s partners, Lane will be fully compensated for the loss by the insurance company. Had I not taken the equipment, it might have been damaged anyway. I took it from the very area where the other containers were smashed.”

“Did you know the intruders would damage the cargo?” Max asked with sudden wide eyes. It seemed inconceivable that his friend was in league with an intruder attack.

“No,” snorted the engineer, “but it worked into our favor anyway. As a friend once told me, ‘In confusion there is profit.’“

“Pockets, how can you think like that?”

“Max, if we’d had the Vault drive when the Basilisk attacked us four years ago, we could have gotten away and my friend Jiro would still be alive. Likewise, Sagan would have never been able to board us to hurt Taro if we’d had this system. That is worth stealing a bit of technology. When I weigh someone’s financial loss against the loss of an innocent person’s life, I always choose to protect the life.”

The young canine mechanic sighed and put a hand to his forehead. He understood what Pockets was trying to tell him. He had often stolen food and other things to stay alive when he was a slave on Quet, but since he had become a part of the Blue Horizon’s crew, they had all tried to teach him a better life.

“Max, if you won’t help me protect our ship and you intend to turn me in, Taro will definitely fire me for taking this equipment; one day the Horizon is going to find itself in a situation where speed is needed to save someone’s life, and a standard LightDrive engine isn’t going to be fast enough. It used to take years just to get out of one’s own solar system, and then decades on sleeper ships to get to the nearest star system. Even now, it still takes weeks to cross the systems. The distances between them are simply too great if you’re in a rush. Someone you care for is going to die and you will vow never to let that ever happen again. Because of pirates, we lost Jiro and we almost lost Taro. We could have easily lost someone this time – maybe even you or me. I don’t want to risk that again!”

“All right, all right!” Max exclaimed in exasperation. “You’ve convinced me and I promise I won’t turn you in. I still don’t like the way you went about it, but I’ll help you.”

“Good boy, Max. The Vault may seem like an unreliable luxury to some, but with a top-of-the-line navigation system, we’ll have it at our disposal when the next emergency arises.”

“Okay, but we’d better get it installed before Taro finds out about it and cans us both.”

“There’s plenty of time to do it before we get to Dennier,” Pockets replied as he recovered the crate. “Let’s go watch a movie.”

***

The room was dark, save for a butterfly nightlight that glowed faintly on the wall. Renny Thornton sat on the floor rug of the front room, picking up broken bits of crayons, colored-on papers and scattered toys that Sandy had left behind.

The navigator had never considered himself the type who would ever have a family, but ever since the cheetah kitten had touched his life, he found himself thinking about it a great deal. As long as he remained on board the Blue Horizon, however, he did not see ever having another child to care for as a possibility. There were no other felines in the crew to start a family with, and it was unlikely he would be allowed to legally adopt unless he were part of a mated pair. Tsarina had often expressed a playful interest in having his kittens, but with the two of them as navigators on two separate vessels of Merlin’s fleet, it was unlikely they would ever get to serve on the same crew together.

Should he go back to Kantus and try to find a mate – or take up Binfurr’s offer to join his company on Fyn in hopes he would meet someone there?

No, he thought to himself with a smile. There’s no guarantee I would find anyone suitable, and I really don’t want to leave the Horizon anyway.

The cheetah got to his feet with Sandy’s things in his hands. He would store them away as souvenirs of her stay with him. Perhaps he would meet her again someday when she was older and return them as tokens of a shared moment in time.

The intercom system chirped for attention and then Taro’s voice issued over the ship-wide broadcast.

“Attention, please. I need all personnel to gather on the recreation deck in fifteen minutes for a mandatory staff meeting. I repeat, all personnel to the recreation deck.”

Renny raised an eyebrow. As Taro’s first officer, he was usually privy to everything she had in mind for the crew, but of this, he knew nothing. He put the crayons and other items into a drawer of his desk and then moved quickly to the bedroom to change into a fresh shirt.

When he stepped off the lift onto the recreation deck a few moments later, everyone was already present except for Damien and Jerry. Taro stood at the front of the room, leaning back against the large vidscreen window behind her. Everyone talked among themselves as they waited for the cheetah to find a seat.

With everyone settled, the captain held up a hand with a remote. “Okay, quiet down everyone,” she said in a loud voice. It took a moment until everyone’s attention was on her. “Are you listening, Doc?”

“You have my full attention and I have one vidscreen tied into the one up there. Everything’s quiet here on the bridge and we’re cruising up to inertia normally.”

“What’s going on?” Justy asked.

“Something serious,” the vixen replied without further preamble. “If you look around, you will notice that Damien is not among us.”

“Is he still sick?” Lori asked with a snicker. “He’s slept through this whole mess! That’s what he gets for using chemicals in his system. I have some herbal tea that’ll perk him right up.”

“Please,” Taro said in annoyance. “I have the floor and need to say this without further interruption.”

Lorelei’s ears drooped and she put her hands in her lap. “Sorry.”

“Now,” the vixen started again, “let me start off by saying that I think Damien did an admirable job as loadmaster.”

“Did?” Pockets repeated.

“Shhhh!” Max hissed at him.

“Damien is no longer a member of our crew,” Taro continued. “He is now resting in a cell on the Aldantia next to Ms. Bennington’s.” Before there was a chance for more unwelcome comments, she clicked the remote in her hand and an image appeared on the vidscreen behind her. It was an SPF wanted poster for Damien Legrand. The captain stepped to the side to allow everyone the opportunity to read it.

“Ohmigosh!” Amanda gasped in shock. “He killed two cubs!”

“That can’t be!” Justy exclaimed. “He was a good guy!”

“One of the SPOs recognized his name from this PA-wide alert,” Taro responded by gesturing toward the poster with the remote. “When three of them went to his cabin, he surrendered immediately without a fight. When confronted, all he would confirm is that he has been on the run.” More voices rose in comment, but the vixen shushed them with a wave of her hand. “He has been arrested and will be transferred back to the Pomen authorities after Ms. Bennington has been delivered to Fyn.”

“I guess that’s why he was always brooding,” Jerry said from the bridge.

“Are we in trouble for harboring a criminal?” Renny asked.

“The SPOs made no mention of that,” Taro answered. “I was told that his situation didn’t concern us, but you know that once the lawyers get involved, we may be drawn back into it. If this does happen, I am ordering you to be truthful with any investigation. Damien never talked about his past, so none of us knew why he was with us other than for the job on our crew. I have informed the home office of the situation, and Merlin agrees that the best thing for now is to let it go. We will deal with an investigation only if it comes back to us.”

The vixen shut off the image and then set the remote down on the control panel in front of the vidscreen. She leaned back against the counter, her hands behind her. “We’re still two and a half weeks away from Dennier. Once we land, I will assume Damien’s duties with Lane and Loxley when we offload our cargo from the Horizon and until such time as I can hire someone to replace him.”

The room fell quiet for a few moments, everyone a little introspective about their now-former coworker. Justy held up a hand, hesitant about interrupting the silence. “Yes?” Taro responded with a nod.

“All this aside, has there been any word on the reason for our recall to Dennier?” the koala asked.

Taro shook her head. “None. No one at the home office is talking, but Doc and I are assuming we may have been given an assignment for some secret government delivery with a handsome payout. That would explain why no one will discuss it on an open channel, but again, we’re only guessing. Until we find out for sure, it’s probably a good idea not to worry about it. Merlin has assured me that we have nothing to be concerned about. However, before we can do anything, the Horizon will need extensive repairs to the hull, and that means we’ll have some downtime – probably a lot of it. Merlin’s already arranged for us all to stay at his and Samantha’s home in Grandstorm, so no one will be out anything by renting hotel rooms this time.”

“It’ll be good to see Uncle Merlin and Samantha again,” Max said with a smile.

“That it will,” Taro agreed. “Now… I need Justy, Mandy and Lori to help me clean up Damien’s cabin and box up his belongings. Although we have plenty of time, I really don’t want to wait to get this done. His rooms are quite a mess and it’s going to take a while to get everything cleaned up.”

“I’ll help, too,” Renny added. “I could use the busy-work right now.”

“Okay, that’s all I have,” Taro said.

***

The northern shore of land appeared in the vidscreen as ocean waters rushed beneath them. “There’s Grandstorm,” Renny announced. “This is one trip I’m glad to have over and done.”

The Blue Horizon had left orbit and descended upon Dennier over the Arvallian Sea after a harrowing time with nearly everyone on board concerned that the external patches over the hull would stand up to the heat of reentry. Fortunately for all, the descent had been uneventful.

There were cumulonimbus thunderheads in the distance, a sight common over the area during this time of year. The blue flying saucer zoomed low over green choppy water toward the shore, but then Jerry raised their altitude back up to standard air traffic while Taro exchanged information with the spaceport control tower for a landing site.

The evening sun was just touching the western horizon beneath the clouds and the traffic near the seaside spaceport facility was heavy. The skyscraper spires of the city were lit up from internal offices and glittered in the evening as the ship approached Grandstorm. Commercial and private sea craft were scarce that evening and the boardwalk at the beaches was practically vacant of nighttime visitors as the city prepared for incoming storms.

“The control tower is directing us to pad eighteen,” Taro reported. “Merlin should be waiting there now. I’m equalizing our internal air pressure with that of the outside and will then begin atmosphere transfer.”

She engaged a few switches, watched for confirmation of her commands, and then spoke over the ship-wide intercom, “Artificial gravity will be disabled in fifteen seconds. In another five minutes, we will be on the ground with full engine shutdown.”

The ship slowed even more and Renny glanced out the windows. They were moving beneath the spaceport traffic and on approach to a landing pad ringed with flashing green lights. The Blue Horizon stopped forward movement and hovered above the pad, and then began dropping slowly. Jerry flipped the toggle to lower the landing gear, and then a moment later they were on the ground. Even though they were no longer moving, the floor seemed to shift slightly beneath them.

Jerry and Renny looked up from their stations in unison. “Did you feel that?” the cheetah asked.

“Yeah, I can’t say what it was, but something felt… different about that landing.”

Taro tapped in some commands at her console and activated the cameras beneath the ship. She cycled through them looking at the vessel’s underside, but nothing appeared out of place, including the landing gear.

She shut them off and then shrugged toward her bridge crew. “Maybe the landing pad wasn’t designed for a ship of our weight class and it settled beneath us.”

“Maybe so,” Jerry replied.

“I’ll report it to Merlin when I check in,” Taro said.

Back to work, the males began shutting down all but the necessary onboard systems, fully aware that it could be some time before they launched again. Taro enabled the intercom once more. “Landing complete. All hands to the cargo bay. Get your work gloves and prepare to unload freight.”

The three of them left the bridge a moment later and headed for the elevator lift. “One of the good things about coming back to Grandstorm,” Taro said, “is that the home office has already taken care of all insurance matters. All we need do with the damaged items is load them onto the Lane trucks with the rest of their goods.”

“I’m almost happy the ship is damaged and needs to be repaired,” Jerry remarked as they stepped out of the lift at the bottom level.

“That’s an odd thing to say,” Renny replied. “Why?”

The vulpine physician stretched his arms and yawned widely. “After the disaster on Vashon, the unexpected passengers we picked up, and now the whole mess with the Oubliette, I think we all need a vacation!”

The large cargo bay door was already opening, Pockets having activated the controls in Damien’s absence. The salty evening air flowed through the chamber and Taro inhaled deeply.

“Mmmm, I’ve missed the smell of the sea,” she mused with a little smile.

“After what nearly happened to us, I’m glad to be smelling air of any kind!” Renny quipped. Thunder rumbled in the distance and his joviality disappeared. “Although I could do without a storm.”

“Ah, it’s only a little rain,” Jerry teased. He was fully aware of his longtime friend’s feelings toward violent weather.

Renny raised an eyebrow at him. “There is a reason this place is called ‘grand storm’. I probably won’t be getting any sleep tonight!”

Before they made their way around the perimeter of the cargo to the open door, they could hear Lorelei squealing in delight, and when they got to the ramp, they saw the white rabbit’s arms wrapped around a grinning gray wolf with a small crowd surrounding them both.

Merlin Sinclair peeled free of the happy doe and then rushed forward to welcome the captain of his flagship. “Welcome home,” he said as he extended a hand toward her.

Taro grinned and hugged him instead. “Thanks, Merlin. We’re glad to be on the ground again!”

“I’ll take that hand,” Jerry said with a smile.

The wolf shook his hand gratefully. “Good to see you again, Doctor,” he replied. “I appreciate you taking care of my crew.”

“My crew!” Taro laughed.

Renny bypassed the hand offered to him and grasped full arms with Merlin instead. “You’re looking good,” the cheetah said with a grin, “despite being married to Samantha!”

“Hey!” the wolf retorted, “She’s the reason why I’m looking so good!”

The others took their turn greeting the president of their little company and then Merlin walked over to the damaged airlock with an arm around Max’s shoulders. “It doesn’t look so bad from out here,” he said with a gesture toward the three aerodynamic patches welded to the hull.

“You should see it from the inside!” the German shepherd replied. “Want to see it?”

“Not right now,” Merlin replied as two large trucks pulled up. “You all have work to do. I’ll have transportation arranged by the time you get everything offloaded, and then we can head out to the house, hopefully before it starts to rain.”

“How’s Samantha doing?” Lori asked.

Merlin grinned widely. “She’s almost ready,” he replied.

“Ready for guests?” asked Amanda.

Merlin’s smile filled up his whole face. “You’re a little late getting here because of your problems, but we tried to schedule it so you would arrive in time. You just made it.”

“Just made it for what?” Renny asked wearily. “We’re too tired to play guessing games, Merlin.”

“Samantha’s pregnant,” the wolf announced proudly, “and she’s almost ready to give birth to our pups. We wanted you all here for the main event.”

The small crowd around him looked stunned for a moment, and then cheers and exclamations of congratulations filled the air.

LULLABY

by Ted R. Blasingame

“Miracles do happen.”

Shannon Wallace turned to look at her sister-in-law with a raised eyebrow. “What was that?” she asked with a chuckle.  She and Samantha were resting in the afternoon shade with cups of cool water. The small round gazebo they occupied was under a large, fruit-laden jamon tree in the back yard of the Sinclair home; its wide summer leaves flapped gently against one another in the breezes that flowed in off the Arvallian Sea. Shannon wore a pale-yellow sun dress over her predominantly tan fur. Samantha, largely pregnant with several canine-lupine pups, wore a simple maternity nightgown of powder blue with a pale red blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

The Border collie lapped from her cup and gave her mate’s sister a smile. “Miracles do happen,” she repeated. “Considering the injuries I received during my fight with the Kastan assassin during the Siilv War, Merlin and I were never sure I’d be able to have puppies.”

“Yes, I remember,” Shannon replied quietly. “Your wounds were pretty severe. I’m glad to know your fears were not realized.”

Samantha looked out through the black iron fence surrounding their property and gazed across the sea. Fishing trawlers moved in the distance and the sound of lapping waves was calming.

“You two have known one another for what… half your lives together?” Shannon asked, breaking the momentary silence.

“That’s right, and we’ve had that long friendship to use as the foundation for our marriage. Too many other couples barely know one another before they get married, and too often those marriages fail because they later find out what one another is really like.  Merlin and I have few surprises left to discover about one another’s pasts. We have only new horizons to look forward to together.”

“Speaking of horizons,” Shannon said, “are you ready for a whole houseful of guests? The Blue Horizon should be here this evening.”

The Border collie gave a small jump and her eyes widened. She put both hands on her swollen belly and gave her sister-in-law a smirk. “I think someone in here just reacted to that name.”

“You mean Blue Horizon?”

Samantha jumped again. “Yeah,” she snickered.

“Blue Horizon!”

Sam jumped yet again. “Stop doing that!” she whined.

Shannon grinned impishly. “That one will likely be a future captain of the…” —Sam narrowed her eyes, daring her to say it— “…ship. Any idea which one it might have been?”

The collie shook her floppy ears. “There are five of them in there, Shannon. It could have been any one of them. I just hope he or she didn’t kick one of their siblings. It wouldn’t do to have one of my pups start out their first day with a bloody nose!”

The female wolf shook her head. “Miracles do happen,” she admitted. “Not only were you able to conceive after your terrible injuries, but you had to go and out-do me and Bill by making one more than we did!”

Samantha snickered and then gestured toward her chest. “Yeah, but I hadn’t remembered that this would happen,” she said in amusement. “I’m used to the top two, but when the other four started filling up, I had to change my wardrobe!”

“Get used to it for a while. It’s common for wolves to have anywhere from one to six puppies, so with five of them, you’re going to need all the help your body can give you when it’s feeding time!” They both laughed and relaxed in their soft lawn chairs.

“My doctor said they all appear to be healthy and so do I,” Samantha said. “She feels there’s nothing to be concerned about, but I’m glad you’ll be there to play midwife for me.”

“I’m honored,” Shannon replied with a short bow. “It’s about time you and Merlin gave my children some cousins.”

“Selfish! Is that all you care about?” Sam retorted, causing the wolf to laugh again. The two women had become closer since she and Merlin had settled in on Dennier, and although they were related only by marriage, they were becoming the best of friends.

Shannon and Samantha fell quiet and gazed out to sea again when a private boat came into view near the coastline. After several long moments, Samantha spoke in a whisper.

“My pups will arrive soon. I can feel it.”

***

A long passenger van floated along Totter’s Lane parallel with the Arvallian Sea. The running lights of a fishing boat trying to get in to port before the storm arrived were visible a short distance from the shore. The sun had set, and although the tall cumulonimbus clouds were no longer easy to see in the darkness, flashes of lightning within them occasionally highlighted their location. Low rumbles moved across the choppy water as area winds picked up, flowing into the storm. Inside the van, riding beside the driver, Renny Thornton kept his eyes fixed upon the distant flashes of light.

“Don’t worry,” said the wolf at the controls of the vehicle, “we’re almost to the house and we’ll be inside long before it rains.”

“Yeah…” the cheetah murmured.

Taro leaned forward from her seat behind the driver and placed a hand on her navigator’s arm. “You okay?”

Renny turned to look at her with a look of amusement. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just hoping Merlin’s house is stronger than the inn where we stayed on Earth.”

There was a chuckle from the driver. “Within a city named Grandstorm, you should know that we build our structures to withstand great forces of wind and rain,” Merlin said.

“That’s what they said about the homes built in Tornado Alley,” Renny rebuffed.

“True, but that inn was over a hundred years old,” Max piped up from the back of the van. “It wasn’t built to stand up to the tornado that hit Woodward that day.”

“There isn’t much that will stand up to three hundred mile per hour winds,” Jerry added, “no matter how it was built. That’s nearly twice the sustained wind speeds of most hurricanes.”

“We’ve had our share of those, too,” Merlin said. “However, the storm that’s coming isn’t breathing the conditions for either, so we’ll just have wind, rain and lightning tonight. It’ll be bumpy, but we won’t be in any real danger. Our house is on a rise above the sea level, so there shouldn’t be any flooding to worry about, and yes, Renny, the construction of the house and barn will withstand what we’re facing.”

“You have a barn?” Justy asked with interest. “Are you raising your own food stock?”

Merlin chuckled. “No, the barn is for the vehicles and yard tools. The house didn’t come with a conventional garage, so everything is parked in a detached out building, although the place came equipped with an underground tunnel linking the buildings together.”

“Do you have many trees on your property?” Amanda asked as she tried vainly to see the terrain of the countryside through the van windows.

“We have two jamon fruit trees out front and one in the back, but there’s also a mix of other trees out in the back. We’re almost there, so you can see the place for yourself.”

Normally a chatterbox, Lorelei had remained quiet since they had left the spaceport. She was unusually bothered by the arrest of Damien Legrand. Although none of them had known him for more than a few months, he had always seemed like a good guy to her, even if his drinking was excessive. That he had drunkenly run over two children in a school zone and fled was more than she was willing to accept.  Despite her eager anticipation over the impending birth of Samantha’s pups, Lori’s ears drooped as she stared out into the darkness.

A row of lights caught her attention through a tall iron gate, and she realized the vehicle was slowing.  Merlin guided the long van along a curved drive to the front of a two-story house of white rocks and red brick. He set it down on runners, shut off the engine and then looked back at his friends.

“We’d best get your luggage inside the foyer before the rain starts,” he said with a smile. “Our place is large enough for everyone, and I made sure that your rooms and beds upstairs were ready for you.  Once you’re all inside, I’ll put the van in the barn and then will come back to give you the tour.”

“Boss, I know it’s late,” Justy said, “but do you think we could get something to eat?”

Opening the driver side door, Merlin looked over his shoulder. “You’re in luck!” he replied. “Sam and my sister should have supper about ready for you.”

At the mention of food, Renny perked up. “Aside of Sam’s pregnancy, that’s the best news I’ve heard all night!”

Moments later, Taro and her crew stood in the entry hall of the house while Merlin took the van around the back. The interior of the house had been thoroughly cleaned in anticipation of the arrival of the guests. None of the polished wood trim on the walls, the wooden beams in the vaulted ceilings or the green plants that decorated tables and counters showed a speck of dust. The multi-hued stone tile of the foyer gave way to a wooden floor with large woven rugs, and although the furniture of the front room was nice, it was not extravagant.  A medium-sized oil painting of a younger Merlin and Samantha held a lighted place over the fireplace mantle, the signature of Jiro Brannon unobtrusive in a lower corner.

“Welcome to our home!” Samantha said pleasantly. She stepped out into the front room around the furniture and held out her arms toward them. The Border collie’s footsteps were slow but sure, as she carried the weight of her puppies within her. She wore a powder blue maternity dress with a beige shawl across her shoulders.

Taro grinned widely and moved in to give her a gentle hug. “Wow,” she said with delighted eyes, “you look great!” She stroked her friend’s cheek fur and chuckled. “Your fur is so soft!”

Lorelei and Amanda moved in toward Samantha, while the guys hung back a step, most of them not quite sure how to approach the pregnant mother. Sam would have none of it, though, and after an initial greeting and hugs by the females, she moved toward the males and latched onto her friends one by one, starting with Pockets.

The raccoon hesitated, looking unsure. “What’s the matter?” Sam asked.

“I’m afraid I might hurt them.”

“They’ll be fine, Jerad. Just a light hug will do.”

Pockets smiled and tried to wrap her arms around her, but his short arms barely encircled her girth.  Sam laughed and hugged him warmly.

“Oh, it’s so great to see each of you!” she said with bright eyes, moving to each of the others. “I’ve missed you all!”  She turned to Justy and Jerry at last and grinned. “I don’t know you guys as well as the others,” she said, “but you’re family too.  Here, let me hug you.”

Justy felt a little uncomfortable with the embrace, but the vulpine doctor smiled at her and wrapped his arms gently around the collie’s shoulders. “You’re looking well,” he told her.

“I’m feeling good,” she said, “although tired. Now that the hugs have been passed out, I need to sit.”

“Sit, doggie, sit!” Renny quipped with a wide grin.

Sam gave him a smirk. “Yeah, c’mon, kitty cat!” She then gestured them all further into the front room. She took her place in a simple gliding rocking chair and wrapped the shawl around her.

The front door opened and Merlin came inside. He walked quietly to his mate’s side and gave her a brief nuzzle. “Where are the others?” he asked.

“Others?” Taro asked. “Who else is coming?”

Samantha shook her head, but looked up at her lupine mate. “They’re still in the study, looking at the ultrasound pictures.” Heavy footsteps sounded behind her and all eyes went to the newcomer.

“Guinevere and Shannon will be here in a moment to meet the guests,” replied a deep voice.  Merlin looked up at the black Silloni unicorn dressed in a sharp charcoal suit tailored to his physique.

“For those who’ve not met him,” he said, “this is Master Tristan, former Regent of Sillon, and Samantha’s adopted father.” Tristan gave the group a short bow while Merlin introduced each of them to him.

“This is Jerry Somner, Justin Mandolin and Amanda Black,” he said as he indicated each one. You have already met Taro Nichols, Renny Thornton, Jerad Porter, Max Sinclair and Lori Easter.” Justy looked up at the huge equine male, his mouth open in sheer awe of the bipedal unicorn.

“I am charmed to meet you all,” Tristan replied in the rich tones of an orator. He turned at a sound and then gestured to a white Silloni female beside him. “This is my wife, Guinevere.”

“Good evening,” Gwen said with a smile and a short nod of her head.  She was only a foot shorter than her mate was, but she still towered over everyone else in the room. “Thank you all for coming in honor of our daughter’s birthing.” Her voice sounded melodious and held the timbre of an operatic singer.

Amanda gently nudged Justy and the koala suddenly remembered his manners.  He bowed slightly from the waist and said, “We’re honored to honor your… daughter?”

Guinevere smiled. “Yes, Mr. Mandolin, Samantha is our adopted daughter. We took her in after her parents, who were friends of ours, were lost in an accident when she was a pup. Although we are of different species, the puppies she and Merlin have created together will be our legal grandchildren.”

“Wow,” Amanda said quietly.  She looked over at the gray wolf and could not help but share in Merlin’s contagious grin. “Congratulations to you all,” she said with a large smile. “We only found out about the pregnancy this evening.”

“Yes, we tried to keep it a secret,” said yet another voice with a chuckle, “but wagging tongues at the office almost gave it away.” A tan wolf stepped out from behind the Silloni pair and she held out a hand toward Amanda. “Hello, I am Shannon Wallace, Merlin’s sister.”

“Very pleased to meet you!” the coyote replied.

“It looks like you’ve got a full house,” Taro said to Merlin. “Are you sure you have room for us all?”

“Plenty of room,” the wolf assured her. “Shannon, Bill and their cubs only live up the road from here, just down the shore, actually.”

“Where’s Bill?” Pockets asked, finally finding his voice.

“He’s at home with the children,” Shannon answered. “He will be here shortly with them after they have had their supper.”

With introductions out of the way, the group started to mingle. At what must have seemed an unspoken signal, all five women swarmed over to Samantha, while the guys gravitated to Merlin and Tristan.

Pockets held back a moment, his thoughts whirling, but then he courteously asked to speak with Tristan alone. They removed to the other side of the room and then Tristan took a seat in a large wing-back chair so he could converse with the short raccoon face to face.

“Of what service may I be to Master Porter?” the Silloni asked.

Pockets hooked his thumbs under the belt loops of his dark green trousers. “It’s good to see you again, sir,” he began. “Have you been on Dennier since the wedding?”

Tristan smiled, but shook his head. “No, we arrived yesterday morning.”

Pockets raised an eyebrow. “It’s a three-month journey between here and Sillon, but it hasn’t been six months since we saw you at the wedding. I figured you had to have been here the whole time.”

Tristan’s large brown eyes sparkled. “Following the wedding, we returned directly to Sillon,” he said, “but along the way, we received word of the impending birth. We refreshed our supplies upon our arrival on Sillon and then made a return trip.”

The raccoon studied him silently, running the explanation over in his mind. Something in the story did not sound right. The gestation period for canine types was only around nine weeks, so the turnaround time for Tristan’s party would have made it impossible for the person sitting before him to be there now.

Tristan could see the wheels turning in the engineer’s mind, but he only gave Pockets a smile. A radical thought seized the raccoon, but the front door to the house suddenly opened with a bang, interrupting their conversation. Four young wolf pups burst into the room followed by an adult black wolf.

Bill Wallace quietly closed the door behind him as his children spread out in through the gathered adults. “Hello, everyone,” he said wearily. It was evident that keeping up with four energetic youngsters had taken its toll on him that day. When one of the children saw Pockets, he squealed and ran straight for the raccoon.

“Pocky! Pocky!” little Jaran exclaimed.  Jacob and Marissa followed suit when they spotted him, and all three of them started jumping up and down in front of the engineer.

Pockets grinned widely, gave them a group hug, and then asked in a loud voice, “Who wants candy?”

The fourth cub came running over and joined the bouncing pups in their energetic responses.  “Me!”  “Candy!”  “Yay!” “I do!”

The raccoon walked over to his overnight bag, and from a side pocket, he pulled out several large straws of flavored sugar that he had brought along from Earth just for them.  He whipped out a pocket knife, snipped off a crimped end from each of the straws, and then passed them out to the youngsters.

The kids cheered, each of them gave the raccoon a peck on the cheek, and then they ran off excitedly with their confectionary treasure. Bill stepped over to him and put a hand on the engineer’s shoulder.  The engineer looked up into the disapproving face of the black wolf.

“Pockets, did you have to give them sugar this late in the evening? They’ll be bouncing off the walls all night.”

The raccoon’s face fell.  “Oops,” he said with a frown.

Bill shook his head wearily, but gave Pockets a chuckle. “You can help me round them up and take them out into the back yard where they can run off their newfound energy.”

“What about the rain?” Renny asked as he joined them.

“The air’s gotten cooler, but the weather announcer said the expected storm has stalled. I think we can let the kids outside for a little while anyway.”

The cheetah looked relieved. “Maybe the storm will turn and go elsewhere up the coast.”

“I could use some fresh air, myself,” Amanda said from across the room. There were other similar sentiments, so the children and several of the adults moved out to chairs on a wooden deck behind the house. Samantha begged off, however, citing the need for a cushy chair to rest in, but Bill and Renny offered to move a chair for her out onto the deck.

Not wishing to be separated from her guests just yet, Sam accepted and then watched the guys move her heavy cushioned chair out through the back door. Once set up next to a waist-high wooden railing beneath the branches of a large tree, Gwen, Shannon and Taro attended her with glasses of locally squeezed jamonade and animated conversation.

Pockets, Justy, Max and Lori ran around the yard with the children for a bit, but then Merlin flagged the engineer back up to the deck.  The raccoon brushed bits of grass from his Polynesian-style shirt and gulped for breath as he clomped up the wooden steps.

“Have a seat before you fall over,” Merlin said with a grin.

“I don’t have the energy I used to have for running around like that,” Pockets gasped as he dropped into a canvas beach chair beside their ship’s doctor.

“You’re what?  Only thirty-six years old?” Jerry asked.

“No comments from the peanut gallery,” the raccoon wheezed. “When you’re as out of shape as I am, thirty-six feels like forty-six!”

“I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks that you need more exercise.”

“Yeah, yeah… I’ll put together a hamster wheel for the rec room.”  Pockets gave the fox a grin and then looked over at Merlin when he took a seat beside him. The wolf carried a slateboard and a small box, the latter of which he held out toward him.

“This came for you about a week ago, addressed in care of the home office,” Merlin explained.

Pockets took the package and looked at the return address. It was from the offices of the Okami Corporation of Dennier, the builders of the very freighters that Blue Horizon Freight Transfer used as its fleet.  His eyes lit up and he grinned at his boss delightedly.

“What is it?” Jerry asked curiously.

Pockets cut through the seal on the package with a claw tip and opened it slowly. Inside was a single data crystal packed in form-fitting foam padding. He picked it up, its slender faceted surfaces reflecting the room lights, and looked over at Merlin.

“May I borrow your slateboard?” he asked. “I left mine in my quarters.”

The wolf smiled and handed him the one he had brought with him. He had not known what the package had contained, but had the tablet with him for other reasons.

Pockets plugged the crystal into the unit’s receptacle and then tapped the screen to open the contents. A cover page came up first and his eyes moved quickly over the text. When he looked up a moment later, he had to swallow hard before answering Jerry’s question.

“Months ago, I submitted design drawings and technical notes on Moss to the PA Patent Office on Alexandrius. At the same time, I sent the designs for the flobot, notes for computer integration, security protocols and its functional history to Okami Corp. here on Dennier, noting that the patent was pending.”  He swallowed again as he looked around at several others who had gathered nearby to hear his words. “It… it’s all been accepted by Okami for Moss to be made standard equipment exclusively for all future Okami-class freighters, with installation kits to be made available for current and older model ships that can be purchased separately…”

“Wow, that’s great!” Justy said with a clap of his hands.

“It sure is,” Lori added.

“Don’t they already have flobots on some ships?” Tristan asked. “I seem to recall reading about them.”

“As far as I know, they only have them in the Firebird Fleet,” Pockets replied, “Patch showed me an article about them in one of his trade magazines, and those bots are highly specialized for exploration. The Fleet hadn’t launched yet at that time, but after reading what was planned for the new vessels, I thought I could make one of my own to fit the needs of an ordinary ship. Beyond that they are both floating robots, there’s really very little in common between them. Moss and its operating software was all of my own design.”

“Did they send you a contract?” Taro asked.

Pockets flipped through the document amidst copies of his drawings and technical notes and stopped at one. “Yes, here it is,” he said. He glanced over it quickly and then his eyes bugged out when he saw the payment figures stated there before him.

“May I see it?” Bill asked, as he often examined legal documents in his line of work.

Pockets nodded, handed the slateboard over to the financial advisor without hesitation, and watched the black wolf’s face intently while he looked over the language of the document.

“What does it say?” Max asked quietly, kneeling next to the engineer’s side. Before Pockets could reply, Bill looked down at him with a nod.

“I can help you go over it in more detail to make sure everything is tight and legal before you apply your thumbprint to sign,” he offered, “but upon first glance, I think you’re going to get some nice residuals from your little invention.”

“Wow…” was all Pockets could say.  He was flabbergasted as he took the slateboard from the wolf and stared at the numbers again.  Not daring to speak, he merely passed around the document for the others to see.

“Wow, is right!” Amanda commented. “What are you going to do with all that money, Pockets?”

The raccoon sat quietly for a moment as he thought over her question. “First, I’m going to pay off all my debts, and then I’m going to pay off Jasper’s debts too, since he helped me fine-tune it all with another pair of eyes.” When the slateboard came back to him, he closed the document and then pulled out the crystal. He handed the tablet back to Merlin and then reverently placed the data crystal back into its small box.

“I’ve missed my brother,” he said, “and it’s because of his debts that he’s no longer serving on board the Horizon. I know this won’t bring him back, but he won’t be able to use that as an excuse to be grumpy anymore.”  He said the last with a grin.

“Well, it looks like Durant’s wish will never come true,” Samantha said with a chuckle from her nearby chair. “He never did like Moss, but it appears that little pie pan is here to stay.”

“Yeah, just think,” Max added. “Moss will soon be invading ships all across the Planetary Alignment!”

***

Not long after the excitement of Pockets’ news, everyone moved back inside the house. The storm that had stalled over the sea appeared to have caught its second wind and it was once again advancing toward Grandstorm. Jerry and Max helped Merlin stow the patio furniture in the barn while Bill and Renny wrestled Samantha’s chair back inside the house.  The wind picked up, growing cooler, but the rain had not yet reached the shore.

Once everyone resettled inside the house, Shannon took the Suga-Stix from her children to pitiful wails of indignation. She promised to give the candy back to them tomorrow, but neither she nor her mate wanted their pups to have any further fuel. The kids were already into everything, and every time one of them had to be scolded, it was done with a sidelong glance toward the raccoon who had foolishly given them what Lorelei jokingly called drugs for kids.

Shannon disappeared into another room for several minutes before she came back out wiping her hands on a dish towel.  “For those of you who might be hungry,” she said, “we’ve prepared something for you to eat.”

Although the farthest from the dining room, Renny made it through the crowd swiftly and was already seated by the time the others arrived at the table.  The cheetah wore a wide grin as the others started teasing him about his appetite and he took the kidding as something he was used to.

Later after they had all been fed and the dining table cleared, Taro approached Samantha’s chair and looked at the group that had filtered back into the front room. Conversations were in full swing as everyone apparently had some tale to relate, and the din was getting so loud it was hard to chat. The vixen studied her friend and saw the fatigue in her eyes, so she knelt down next to her and placed gentle fingertips on her arm.

“Should we go to a quieter room?” she said in a voice just loud enough for the collie to hear.  Sam looked at her in gratitude and nodded without trying to reply over the noise.  Taro took her by the arm and helped her up, but when the two of them started to leave the room, Merlin was instantly at his mate’s side.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with a mixture of dread and anticipation. “Is it time?”

Samantha chuckled, but it was Taro who answered. “Nothing’s wrong, and no, it’s not yet time.  Sam just needs a quiet room from the crowd for a while.”

“What do I need to do?”

Sam patted his cheek. “Go back to your friends,” she said with warm eyes. “Taro and I are just going to visit for a while. We will let you know if there are any developments.”

Merlin looked unconvinced, but he finally nodded. He stood rooted to his spot, wringing his hands together, ears back and tail down, while the women retired to a back room.  Renny startled him with a good-natured slap on the back.

“Cheer up,” the cheetah said with a casual wave toward one of the wolf’s nephews. The kid was currently digging in the base of a potted plant, scattering soil on the floor rug. “You’ll have several of those of your own running around here before you know it!”

“You’ve got to keep me occupied,” Merlin said with a frown, “or the anticipation is gonna kill me.”

“You want to get out of the house for a while? You can show me a local club, if you want.”

The gray wolf pursed his lips. “No, I don’t want to leave the premises. Sure as I do, something will happen.”

“Well, in that case, let’s sit back down. I can tell you about a little cheetah kitten I know. Taro or Shannon will alert us if you’re needed.”

***

Taro followed Samantha down a long hallway, its walls adorned with framed photographs of friends and family members from both sides of the Sinclair household. She paused in mid-step at an old group portrait of the original crew of the Blue Horizon taken just prior to its maiden voyage.

Merlin and Samantha stood side-by-side. They had dated casually prior to the business startup, but they were not yet an exclusive couple. Merlin was striking a stance with crossed arms attempting to look like the serious captain, but the glint in his eyes belied his pose. Samantha’s face beheld amusement, although she looked directly into the camera.

Jiro Brannon appeared relaxed, the bare-chested cougar ever the follower of his lupine best friend, and not yet a couple, Taro stood beside him looking so much younger than she felt now. Standing just behind her and to the side was Durant, the older grizzly bear who was “everyone’s elder brother”.  Taro felt moisture in her eyes as she realized that the photo framed her between two dear friends who were no longer with them.

Little Sparky sat on a cushioned stool in the front of the group, dressed in a pale-yellow dress with a kitchen apron adorned with a smiling kitty; this was before the lynx had developed a fondness for Asian-style garments. Standing beside her were the raccoon bookends, Patch and Pockets Porter, both of them in their usual green work coveralls. Patch’s ever-present cigar was lit with a curl of gray smoke, and Pockets held a rather large wrench across two small hands as a personal prop.

Taro frowned when her eyes fell upon the final member of their crew, a short red-headed human woman who had signed on as their medical officer on false pretenses that later endangered one of them on their first voyage together. It was largely because of her that Merlin rarely trusted humans, and Taro was puzzled that he would allow the portrait to hang on the wall of his home.

Samantha looked back at her friend and noticed the photograph she studied. “That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?” she asked softly.

Taro nodded and refocused her eyes on Jiro’s smile. “Yeah,” she answered slowly. “Sometimes I wish we could go back to those times.”

The collie nodded, but then rested a hand on her swollen belly. “Those were simpler times,” she agreed, “but that would mean I wouldn’t have my family.”

The vixen looked over at her and nodded with a renewed smile. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry, but I still miss Jiro at times.”

“Taro, there’s no need to apologize,” Sam chided gently. “Jiro was a great guy. We all liked him.”  Laughter rang out from the front room, so they continued toward the back.  The canine led her friend to a room with a modified door that looked like a recent addition. It was lower than normal and looked as if it were designed for a person shorter than either of them.

“Are you going in there?” Taro asked when Samantha ducked her head to enter.

Sam chuckled and her eyes crinkled with amusement. “It’s an old canine instinct for a mother dog to prepare a birthing den to have her pups in.  It’s a little close quarter, but there’s still plenty of room for me, my pups and a midwife.”

Taro shook her head with a grin. “You didn’t leave Merlin much room out here in the hallway to pace when it’s time.”

Sam looked behind her and chuckled. “You know, we never thought of that.”

“Too late to change things now.”

Samantha grinned at her and then ducked into the small room.  The full-sized adjustable bed was equipped with a low plush mattress to make the mother as comfortable as possible, as well as a pair of stirrups on a frame that were currently folded down out of the way. At the time of birth, one end of the bed would be raised so mother would sit upright and let gravity assist in the delivery. The sheets were pale blue with tiny white flowers and a row of small heated cribs lined the far wall. The ceiling was low and the indirect lighting was dim to allow the illusion of an earthen den. Even the walls were lined with dark wood paneling. On the near side of the bed was a table already set up with a pitcher of iced water that had been recently refreshed by Shannon, along with towels and a black bag of medical instruments should the need arise. A short roller chair with a cushion and a low, slotted-seatback provided the only place to sit down in the small room.

Taro helped Samantha onto the currently-horizontal bed and then relaxed in the chair as her friend adjusted a pillow behind her back so she could sit upright.  When they finally got situated, the vixen looked over at her friend.

“How are you feeling?” she asked. “Are you close?”

“I’ve not yet lost my water, but I’m sure that could happen at any time. For now, I’m fine, just a little tired. I think Merlin is more nervous than I am, but I’m glad you and the others are here to help distract him.”

“After all we’ve experienced lately,” Taro said after a brief sigh, “we could use the distraction, too.”

“Yeah, I heard what you and the others went through.  Wow, that can’t have been easy to handle.”

The vixen smiled. “You have no idea,” she replied, “but I have a good crew – well, most of ‘em, but I couldn’t do anything for Damien’s situation. Even in the midst of the crisis, he was a benefit to the crew, I suppose.”

“Damien? What happened with him?” Samantha asked. “I’m afraid I didn’t realize he wasn’t here with you.”

A frown crossed Taro’s face and she described his attitude from the time he came on board, covering most everything up to his arrest by the Spatial Police Force.  “He was supposed to be one of us,” she finished, “but he would never open up to anyone. We never knew why he was so secretive, right up until the SPF took him away. We’ve heard nothing of him since then. When I’ve inquired, the SPF have politely told me that we should no longer be concerned with him. That’s not right, even if I understand their reasoning.”

“It’s not easy being captain, is it?” Sam asked, patting the vixen lightly on the arm.

“Not always, but it does have its rewards.”

“Has Merlin told you about the ship?”

Taro shook her head. “No, we’ve not had much time to talk about the damages since we landed. Max tried to show him the repairs, but he didn’t seem interested.  I suppose Merlin was more concerned getting us all here quickly in case you went into labor.”

Samantha chuckled. “No, I didn’t mean the damages. There doesn’t seem to be a need in repairing the ship now that…”  She trailed off and raised an eyebrow at Taro’s puzzled expression.  “No, I don’t think he has told you,”

“Told me what? Why isn’t there a need to repair the Horizon?”

Sam studied her for a moment and then shook her head gently. “No, that should be Merlin’s job, not mine.  Besides, that would take the fun out of the recall.”

“I don’t understand,” Taro muttered. “I thought the recall was due to your pups.”

“Well, that was part of it, yeah. We did think it was appropriate that you were here for this, but that wasn’t the primary reason he called you back. The timing just happened to put everything together at the same time.

“But what—?”

“That news will have to come from Merlin.”

“Okay, now I’m nervous. If we’re not going to repair the ship, then our earlier fears must be true – you’re going to lay us off since we lost all those delivery contracts!”

Samantha looked surprised and firmly gripped Taro’s arm. “No, you are not losing your jobs, Taro. None of you are. Trust me!”

“But—”

“Trust me,” she repeated. The Border collie closed her eyes and leaned back against her pillow. “Go talk to Merlin, Taro. Right now. He needs to explain what’s going on before you have a stroke. I am in need of rest, but I can’t do it with you needlessly stressed out like this.”

The vixen parted her lips to speak, but Samantha merely pointed toward the door without even opening her eyes. With a feeling of foreboding, Taro ducked out of the small room and headed back to the front of the house.

***

The gray wolf was at the center of attention, reading aloud from a message he had just received on his slateboard.

“…and due to your invaluable contributions to the House of Aris, a trust fund will be set up for each of your children immediately upon notification of the birth namings. Congratulations on your new family.  With greatest admiration, King Adion Aris, Monarch of Tanthe.”

“Wow…” Pockets said.

The wolf set the slateboard on his lap and looked embarrassed. “If King Aris thought he owed me a debt, I think it was long paid off with all that he’s done for us since. I need to let him know he doesn’t have to do this.”

“Never underestimate the appreciation of a ruler toward those who have helped his House,” Tristan replied. “Everyone knows you didn’t help them out of financial gain, so accept the gift with grace, son; not for yourself, but for your children.”

“After what happened between Samantha and Tinara at our wedding reception, I’m surprised the Aris family even gives me a passing thought anymore.”

“Samantha embarrassed the princess,” Shannon remarked. “It is unlikely she related that bit of information back to her family to keep the focus off her herself, especially with what prompted the confrontation in the first place.”

“Yeah, the King probably knows nothing about her imprudence,” Justy added.

Guinevere noticed Taro’s return. “How is Samantha, my dear?” she asked.  All eyes went directly to the vixen.

Taro tried to hide the apprehension she felt and gave everyone a smile. “She’s tired, but resting,” she answered. “There’s no change in her condition.”

“Her condition?” Jerry replied with a grin. “You make it sound like she has a disease!”  Everyone laughed, including Taro, glad to have the attention diverted for the moment.

“Well, her abdomen is swollen!” Renny said lively. “Perhaps she needs one of Lori’s herbal remedies to reduce the swelling!”

“Oh, wouldn’t the heiress to Holden Pharmaceutical like that!” Amanda quipped.

Lorelei laughed with everyone else, until she realized the implications of the coyote’s remark.  “Hey!” she retorted with a frown.

The conversations around them became animated with laughter, so Taro chose the moment to pull Merlin to the side while everyone else was distracted.

“May I talk to you in private?” she whispered into his ear. At his look of excitement, she added, “It’s not about Sam or the pups. I need to talk to you about my ship – right now, in private.”

Merlin understood and gave her a nod. The two of them started toward the back door, but Max decided to join them.  The gray wolf turned to the young mechanic with a look of apology. “Would you excuse us?” he asked quietly. “The captain needs to speak with her boss for a moment.”

“Uh, sure,” the German shepherd said. While he returned to his seat, Merlin led Taro out to the back deck. Muted flashes of lightning illuminated the clouds above them, but there was no rain. The wind had picked up a bit, but as yet, it was tolerable.

When the wolf descended the steps to the grassy yard, Taro followed him meekly out past the large barn to a gazebo nestled beneath a large tree bearing round purple fruit. Merlin motioned her to sit on a wooden bench built into the inside perimeter of the small structure, and then sat beside her.

Taro gave him a worried look. “What’s going on with the Blue Horizon?” she asked. “Sam told me I needed to talk to you about it.”

***

Conversations in the main room of the house eventually grew quiet in consideration of the expectant mother elsewhere in the Sinclair home, prompted by Shannon’s gentle admonishment. Max, Lori and Amanda were down on the floor with Bill’s pups, quietly showing them creative things to do with a set of blocks that Samantha kept in her house just for them.

Tristan and Guinevere sat quietly apart while the others tried to keep themselves occupied as they waited. Pockets put away the Okami contract that he had been studying on Merlin’s slateboard once again, and sauntered over to the immense black Silloni.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said with a slight bow to Gwen, and then to Tristan, “May I ask you something?”

The unicorn stallion gave the raccoon a friendly smile and answered in a deep voice. “Something bothering you, son?”

“Yes, sir. I can’t seem to wrap my brain around the fact that you’re here – today - when you should still be a couple months distant out in space. Could you please enlighten me how this can be?”

“I do not believe it has started raining yet,” Guinevere mused, tilting her head slightly to listen toward a nearby window.

Tristan took up her cue and nodded.  “If my lovely wife will excuse us, let us take a walk outside, Master Porter.”

“Of course,” Gwen replied.

“Uh, sure,” Pockets replied.  Being the shortest person on board the Blue Horizon, he was used to everyone else towering over him, but beside the massive form of Tristan, he felt positively miniscule. The Silloni stood up beside him and motioned Pockets to follow him to the front door.   Renny looked up curiously, but since they did not appear to be in distress or in a hurry, he returned his attention to the printed magazine in his lap.

Out on the front porch, Tristan motioned to a pair of rustic iron benches beneath a large tree in the yard.  Once they were seated, Pockets looked expectantly toward the large unicorn.

Tristan leaned forward, resting elbows on his knees and focused his deep brown eyes upon the raccoon. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others,” he said, “but to the engineer of the Blue Horizon who discovered the key to decrypting priceless data, I will divulge the information you wish to know. However, I must insist that you keep what I tell you in strict confidence.”  Pockets swallowed with a nod, but kept his tongue.

“Thanks to your discovery,” Tristan began, “a team of engineers and scientists on Silloni began poring over the data detailing Natasha Khasho’s technology.  Despite that she was branded a pirate, the genius of she and her people cannot be denied. There were plans to many inventions created under her guidance that would be a boon to the Planetary Alignment as a whole, while there were others which would be of interest to only a few. Be that as it may, the crowning jewel of her technology is the Particle Vault system that was often of interest to public fancy and speculation.”

“She gave me encrypted plans for a small version for use on a vessel the size of the Horizon,” Pockets replied with the crook of a smile, “but I wasn’t able to decipher them until I stumbled across its Rosetta key.” He was unsure how much of his experimentation he should reveal to the Silloni Master, so he said nothing about the working system currently integrated into his ship’s engine.

Tristan nodded. “With the data at hand, our current Regent, Master Ritchka, prompted me to assemble a team to develop the technology into a prototype hybrid LightDrive and Particle Vault system. Unfortunately, time was short and we had to begin our voyage here to Dennier to make it in time for our Samantha’s wedding. Rigorous development on the new system continued in my absence and a deep space probe was used for initial testing, although it met with some mishaps. When the system was stabilized and coupled with a high-tech astrogation computer, two prototype production models were completed just prior to our return home.”

Pockets held his breath, instinctively riveted to his seat. “The smaller of the two systems,” Tristan continued, “was installed into a standard Hoshi-class cruiser, a type common to Sillon. I met with Master Ritchka in conference about it for several days when I received word of Samantha’s pregnancy. Although a couple of short test runs had been made within our star system, it had not yet been tested at greater distances. I volunteered to command two small crews to make Vault jumps within the Planetary Alignment in a series of tests.  As with all new propulsion systems, there is always a risk, but we felt confident that Captain Khasho’s technology could be combined with standard LightDrive systems. If our flights were deemed successful, the Regent would consider introduction of the LightDrive/Particle Vault system into Silloni-made starships that could be sold throughout the PA.”

Pockets grinned widely. “Who better to release Natasha’s secret technology to the public than the Silloni, who are so far from the rest of the Planetary Alignment that research into making faster long-distance travel possible would be expected?”

“That is essentially correct. Of course, word of the technology’s origin would have to be kept a close secret. To the galaxy at large, there are no connections between Captain Khasho and Sillon, so this will be viewed as the result of independent research, not the exploitation of lost knowledge. To this end, we are calling it the Hyld, a Hyper-LightDrive system.”

“So that’s how you were able to make the return voyage from Sillon to Dennier so quickly,” Pockets said excitedly. “Did you have any problems with braking in time?” he asked. “We overshot our destination when our own tests with Natasha’s Vault technology proved a little…”  he trailed off at the expression on Tristan’s face.

Oops…   Realizing that the unicorn had trusted him with a Silloni state secret, Pockets now felt obligated to relate his own story of experimentation in return. He had to think fast, however, as he was still sworn not to divulge the existence of Se’rei and its inhabitants, but he could tell Tristan about the test of his home-made Particle Vault system.

***

Taro looked at Merlin with pleading eyes and dutifully waited for him to begin. The gray wolf knew the internal struggle his longtime friend must be feeling, but he wasn’t quite ready to jump into the heart of the matter head first. Instead, he put his arms up on the railing behind him and tried to appear relaxed.

“You seem to have had a plate full of adventures lately,” he said in a casual tone.

“Yeah, but no more than usual for the Blue Horizon,” Taro replied, feeling anything but relaxed herself. “Why is it that a common freighter such as ours always seems to attract attention? Why couldn’t our business be mundane?”

Merlin laughed. “That’s because our crews have been anything but mundane, Taro. You’ve seen the characters we’ve always had on board. Have we ever had anyone in the crew that could be called ordinary?”

Taro was unable to keep a smirk from tugging at the corners of her mouth. It was not long ago that she felt Amanda Black was as ordinary as they come and Merlin’s comment recalled that sentiment. She could not bring herself to voice that personal opinion, however.

“Still,” he continued, taking her silence as a negative, “you have to admit that we’ve had a good bunch since the beginning.”

Taro tilted her head. “Are you including Connie Davies?” she asked, remembering the crew portrait inside the house.  The wolf’s ears laid back at the mention of the human’s name, but the dark look in his eyes was there only an instant and vanished just as quickly.

“Connie was an exception,” he said in a flat tone. “I learned from my experience with her and counted that as a lesson in trust. You can never be sure of anyone’s background.”

“Don’t I know it,” Taro muttered. “Imagine my shock when I discovered that Damien was on the run for the deaths of two children.”

Merlin nodded. “Connie was the only really bad egg I had in my first crew, so perhaps Damien was yours.  Everyone else you hire from here on out should be just as eccentric as the rest of us!”

The vixen gave him a smirk. She did not realize it, but she was beginning to relax a little from their conversation. “Yeah, well that’s going to have to be one of my next priorities. While the Horizon is being repaired,” she said with a sidelong glance at him, “I’ll need to hire a new loadmaster to fill the vacancy.”

“So, the fiasco with Damien is not duplicated, I’m going to ask the SPF do extensive background checks on all applicants,” Merlin replied, purposely ignoring her attempts to fish for information on repairs to the ship. “I want to know the next person we hire for the company is clean.”

Merlin looked up at a flash in the clouds and then listened for the rolling thunder that rumbled a heartbeat later. A few sprinkles of rain began to patter the top of the gazebo, so Merlin stood up and motioned for Taro to follow him. The wolf darted out into the light rain, weaving back and forth across the grass.

“Quick! Between the drops!” he quipped with a grin. Taro followed him, trotting across the lawn to the large barn up near the house; he tapped in a passcode set into the side door and opened it. They darted inside, barely wet from the raindrops, just as the sky opened up. Merlin shut the door on the sudden downpour and flicked on the overhead lights.

Taro looked out into the barn and whistled at the sight before her. A sleek personal star cruiser with gleaming red and black paint occupied most of the large building. The Starwolf-class vessel was small enough that it could be flown across the planet and land without a spaceport launching pad, yet it also had long-range capabilities for interplanetary travel. It could sleep up to three, but only required a single operator to fly it. Its sleek sport design was of a type popular across the Planetary Alignment, and its atmospheric wings were currently retracted within the fuselage for storage. Taro knew he had purchased it as a company ship, but this was the first time she had seen it.  The name Christopher Watson was painted in a stylized script beneath the bridge window panels across the nose, its registry number below it.

Parked beside the cruiser was the long passenger van that Merlin had rented to pick up her crew from the spaceport. Next to the van were two smaller air cars that Taro guessed were Merlin and Samantha’s personal transports. Along the side wall next to a small motorboat laden with fishing poles was a riding lawn mower and a tool board equipped with numerous yard instruments. Near the door they had entered through was a large workbench fully stocked with hand and power tools.

“This way,” Merlin told her.  She followed the wolf under the tail of the Starwolf to a small cubicle in a back corner next to shelves of assorted odds and ends. Inside the enclosed cubicle were three chairs, a desk and a cot. Merlin sat behind the desk and Taro dropped into a chair in the corner after first removing some printed maintenance manuals.

“Is this the doghouse where Samantha sends you when you’ve been bad?” Taro teased.

Merlin grinned. “No, but I may use it as an escape as the pups grow and I need a moment of peace. Bill has something similar at his place that he uses for that purpose.”

Taro chuckled, but then looked up at a sound. The storm outside moved in full force; winds shook the building and the lights flickered briefly when a loud crack was instantly followed by a rattling boom. A bolt of lightning had struck something just outside the structure, causing the vixen’s ears to flatten back against her head.

She looked back at Merlin’s wide eyes that looked comical above a silly grin. “What?” she asked with a lopsided smile.

“I love these storms,” the wolf admitted, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if Renny was clinging to the ceiling rafters about now!”

“You’re mean!” Taro rebuked with a grin of her own.  The storm raged on, but the barn had been constructed to withstand the frequent gales that blew in off the sea. Merlin merely winked at her and kicked his boots off onto a worn rug beneath his desk.

The pair of them sat for several moments, doing nothing more than listening to the wind, rain and thunder. After a while, Taro grew used to the storm and visibly relaxed. She was not frightened by the tempest, but she held a healthy respect for the potential violence any storm was capable of. It might be a while before they could brave the weather to get back to the main house, so she settled in to her chair and looked over at the wolf.

It was the first time she had been alone with her former captain in what seemed like ages, and a memory jumped to the forefront of her mind. “Since we’re alone and away from potential ears,” she said to him, “I just remembered there was something I needed to tell you in private, for your ears only.”

Merlin merely looked at her curiously and gestured that she should continue. “Do you remember Rex Concolar, that cougar we took on as our first passenger to Kantus not long ago?”

The wolf twitched an ear and nodded. “He’s contacted the home office at least once a week since then, wanting to know if you’ve found his lottery ticket yet. At first, he was angry and belligerent, accusing us of stealing his millions, but then he became apologetic after hiring a private investigator to check into our company finances. When we had no sudden rise in revenue above our typical operations, and the lottery office had no takers to claim the prize, he finally decided we hadn’t cashed it in. Please tell me you found his ticket.”

“No such luck,” Taro told him. “Sorry.”

“Okay, so what else should I know about him if you needed to talk to me in private?”

The vixen shook her head, causing the blue-tipped white feather by her right ear to flutter beside her. “Nothing about him, but I want to give you some details about that particular voyage.”

“Go ahead.”

Hesitantly, she told him about the experimental Particle Vault system, how the engineer had implored her to let him test it, and her own weakness to grant him permission. Merlin listened quietly, neither voicing comments nor displaying body language to display his thoughts. Encouraged that he did not appear upset, Taro went on to describe over-shooting their goal and winding up far beyond the accepted boundaries of the Planetary Alignment.

He seemed genuinely intrigued with the lapin race on Se’rei and the fortuitous meeting with Calissa due to her landing beacon, but when Taro related the assistance that Captain Khasho’s former engineer gave with the Vault system, he suddenly started to fidget. Taro finished up her tale and folded her hands in her lap, silently awaiting a reprimand.

Merlin leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” he asked. “That was some time ago.”

“I was paranoid,” Taro admitted. “I was afraid of releasing that kind of information over an open channel that could easily be intercepted. The whole PA has been searching for Natasha’s secrets. If word got out that we had a working Vault unit on our ship, who knows what kind of attention would be drawn to us.” The vixen wrung her hands and took a slow, deep breath. “Besides, I promised Calissa that I wouldn’t tell anyone about the existence of Se’rei, with or without news of the Vault. I’m sure that once word of another lost colony of Earth got back to the scientific communities of the PA, it would be swarmed over with explorers and exploiters.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Merlin agreed. “They may be discovered eventually, but there’s no need to speed up the process.”

“Despite our problems, Pockets is convinced his Vault system is usable, but we would need to upgrade our astro-navigation computer to a more sensitive unit in order for it to be of any real use. The cost of repairs to the Blue Horizon fairly eliminates any possibility of that, so I’m afraid he’ll have to forget about it for now.  I don’t even want to think about the legal ramifications, either. Every world in the PA would feel entitled and demand we turn over Natasha’s technology to them.”

“I’m impressed that you’ve thought all this through so thoroughly,” Merlin told her. “You have a good head on your shoulders, Taro. I think you’ve made a fine captain.”

The vixen beamed at his praise. “Thank you, Merlin,” she said with a tight throat. “Coming from you, that means a lot to me. I – I don’t think I’ve really done that great of a job, though.”

“Nonsense. No command is easy, even for a mere freighter,” Merlin assured her with a friendly smile. “Space presents so many variables that you can never predict what’s going to happen from one day to the next, so you must always be on the alert. I’ll say it again, because I believe it.  You have done a fine job, Taro.”

“Thank you.”

Another close lightning strike boomed and reverberated off the sides of the building; the wind and hard rain did not sound as if either would let up any time soon. To give herself time to swallow the personal embarrassment at Merlin’s praise, Taro got up to her feet and peered from the cubicle out into the barn.

Behind her, the gray wolf mulled over his thoughts, but his eyes never left the vixen. She held herself well, even relaxed against the door frame looking out away from their conversation. Many things had happened behind the scenes at the home office that she was unaware of, and he felt the lull in their conversation might be a good time to reveal them.

“Taro,” he said in a calm voice. He had spoken quietly, but loud enough to be heard over the din of the storm outside.  The vixen looked over her shoulder at him, and he motioned back toward the chair she had occupied.

She sat down, but before Merlin had a chance to say anything more, she held his gaze and said, “I know you’ve been occupied with the birth of your pups, but I think we need to make plans to get the Horizon repaired and back in business as soon as possible. We don’t want to lose any more clients by our—”

Merlin shook his head. “Taro, I don’t know how to tell you this other than outright, but I don’t intend to have your ship repaired.”

“What?” Taro exclaimed.

“I’m going to decommission her, probably early next week. Now, before you—”

“Merlin,” Taro gasped with wide eyes, “this Horizon is only three years old! Surely the jobs we lost didn’t amount to the cost of our ship?”

“Taro…”

“I knew we were getting canned!” she spat in anger.

“Taro, calm down,” Merlin said patiently. “That’s not the end of the story.”

The Hestran fox snorted, crossed her arms, and then glared at the wolf. It was a confrontational stare that would normally have garnered Merlin’s wrath, but her emotions were in such a state of flux that she tensed her Hestran muscles and silently dared the wolf to come at her for it.

Instead, Merlin relaxed back in his chair and looked at her with compassion and spoke in a gentle tone. “Just as my original ship was damaged and replaced by another, so is yours, Captain.”

That took the vixen off guard. She was not sure she had heard him correctly. “What did you say?”

“That’s right, your ship is being replaced by a shiny new freighter.”

Taro blinked rapidly and swallowed. “But… the new Okami models aren’t due to be released for another couple years,” she said. “I remember Patch once saying each new model is produced every five years, all with new technologies and upgrades.”

Knowing he finally had her attention, the wolf explained. “The new ship is not an Okami freighter, but a —”

“Is it one of the new Prime-class cargo haulers from Earth?” Taro interrupted. She had seen the ads on the StellarNet channels, as well as in some magazines, but had not really given them much thought. What she did remember of them, however, the ads seemed to be promising the advancement of interstellar travel with a new type of LightDrive engine.

Merlin shook his head, but smiled at her renewed interest. “No, this is a brand-new design from Sillon, a Kirin-class freighter. This one resulted from the cooperative efforts of Silloni and Ryujin engineers, and Tristan has delivered it here to us.”

“You’re… deviating from the Okami line?” Taro asked, quietly surprised.

“They’ve served us well, but times change under certain conditions.”

Taro thought it over for a moment. “Isn’t a kirin some kind of unicorn-dragon mix from mythology?”

Merlin grinned. “Yes, I think so. Since the Silloni resemble unicorns and the Ryujin as dragons, a ship designed in cooperation by both races would make the name fitting, wouldn’t it?”

“How long has this new design been on the market?”

The wolf sat up and then leaned forward. “Here’s where it gets interesting, Taro. Your new freighter is the prototype of the new Kirin-class of freighter. You’ll be flying the first one built, but that’s not all.  Tristan’s original plan was for Blue Horizon Freight Transfer to test it for the Silloni government as an additional ship in our fleet. However, since the damage to the Horizon is so extensive, the new vessel is going to replace her.  You see, Taro – no one will be losing his or her job.”

“This… is the real reason for the recall?” the vixen asked. Merlin nodded. “You must have been planning this for some time.”

“Months, actually,” Merlin admitted.  “The design has been in development for the past couple years, but recent advancements in certain technologies altered its final configuration and Tristan’s people were most anxious that we be the ones to test it for them.”

“Why? Is it because of Samantha’s ties to Master Tristan?”

“Partially, but the Silloni representative said it’s primarily because of our help a few years ago when that star between here and there went nova, cutting them off from the rest of the PA. They were never in any danger from it, but they’ve never forgotten our proactive endeavor to check in on them when the rest of the Alignment had written them off.”

Taro sat back in her seat, amazed at the turn of events. Merlin had not brought his slateboard out with them, but he opened a folder on the desk and pulled out several large photographs. He spread them out on the desktop in front of the vixen. “The Kirin holds roughly the same amount of cargo as your Okami, but as you can see, it’s no longer a flying saucer. It’s longer, more slender, though not as tall as the former ship.”

Taro studied the pictures taken from several angles. The vessel was royal blue with a pair of double white stripes running along its sides from bow to stern. Instead of one large cargo bay door, there were two of them side by side on the port side of the ship. It had two airlock hatches, one on the port and the other on the starboard. Something like this would have eliminated a lot of headaches on our last voyage, she thought to herself. Thick polarized glassteel windows dotted the upper deck on both sides.

The photos did not depict the interior of the vessel, but from first glance, she guessed there were only two decks, rather than the three of their Okami. The aft section flared out slightly over the engine compartment, but none of the photos focused on the actual propulsion nodules from the rear. Beneath the relatively flat underbelly were caterpillar treads comprising a trio of landing gear, and it was easy to see the rotating mechanism that could turn them for lateral movement once on the ground. The bridge was located above and just behind a softly rounded nose, and the ship’s name and registry number were painted just below the forward windows.

Blue Horizon

PA28080

Taro looked up at the wolf.  “I thought the name of the new ship was the Kirin.”

“It was originally, but now that’s the class of vessel. Since it is going to replace the Blue Horizon, I had it registered under the same name and the different vessel class required a new registry number. PA1138 is going to be retired just as soon as it is decommissioned.” Merlin grinned and added, “You didn’t think my company flagship should continue to be called the Blue Horizon?”

Taro chuckled. “No, I wasn’t thinking,” she replied. “You said that we would be testing the prototype for Sillon. How long is this test supposed to last?  Will we get to buy the ship after the testing is over, or will we need to turn it back over to them?”

“Testing period is for two years. I know that’s a long time to test a ship, but this one has a special engine system and they want to make sure all the bugs are worked out of it before it’s released to the public market.”

“What’s so special about the new engines?”

Merlin leaned forward onto the desk, his eyes practically glowing with excitement. “The ship has the latest Silloni LightDrive engines, but they’ve been specially modified into what they’re calling a ‘Hyld’ combination propulsion system.”

“Hilde?”

“H-Y-L-D for Hyper-LightDrive. It’s basically a Particle Vault and LightDrive combination.” The vixen’s eyes went wide, but Merlin continued. “The same decryption key Pockets used to decipher the plans Captain Khasho gave him for your home-made particle vault system on the Horizon was used by the Silloni to translate the crystals she stashed in the young mouse’s endosuit. I had Alex Rogers deliver the crystals to Tristan’s people for decryption, but they were unsuccessful cracking the code until Pockets stumbled upon the key using his personal knowledge of his time with her.”

The wolf paused and tilted his head, listening to the unrelenting thunder outside. “Once they discovered what they had, the Silloni immediately began researching how they could use the technology. Although Captain Khasho originally developed the particle vault system, those of us in the know have sworn not to make any association to her with the public, so they’re calling it a Hyper-LightDrive instead. Since the Mytha star system is so far from the rest of the PA, no one should question such a world coming up with an interstellar propulsion system designed to travel faster than standard LightDrive technology. To the rest of the galaxy, it will be the Silloni who developed this system.”

“I can understand that,” Taro said with a nod. “When Pockets begged me to let him install his components, I lectured him on the ramifications if word got out that we had Natasha’s technology. If the general knowledge to public mentions nothing of her, it should be safer to release it to the masses with everyone thinking that someone else came up with a similar system as hers.”

“Not even Captain Khasho’s own people will be aware that she gave away her technology.”

Taro twitched an ear. “Wasn’t Master Tristan’s daughter a member of Natasha’s crew for a while? I’m sure she knows of the Hyld’s origin.”

Merlin shook his head. “Tristan told me that she is unaware of the data crystals delivered to him, and therefore doesn’t know the origin of this technology. He confessed that he purposely left her out of the loop because of her association with the Pirate Queen. After all, Laura did run away from home to join up with pirates. Although he’s happy she has returned, he doesn’t know how strongly her loyalty to Captain Khasho’s people might be. As far as she and her surviving crewmates are concerned, the Silloni has concurrently done research along similar lines as Natasha had.”

“What is she doing now?” Taro asked.

“She joined up with the Silloni Spatial Forces after spending some time as a counselor for disabled children. She wanted to go out into space before, but they wouldn’t hear of it. Fearing she might do it again, Tristan and Guinevere have given their blessing for her enlistment into the SSF.”

Rumbles of the storm continued, but the thunder seemed to be moving on. Hard rain now fell without so much wind, though it still sounded as if there was a water fall overhead. Merlin checked his techwatch and discovered they had not been out in the barn as long as he thought they had.  He settled back into his chair and put his bare feet up on the desk.

“The Silloni have built two versions of the Hyld for testing,” the wolf continued. “The smaller of the two was installed in a light cruiser common to Sillon that Tristan is now personally testing, and they are currently installing the same engine in another vessel to be tested by the Spatial Police Force. The larger version was installed into their new Kirin freighter prototype. The LightDrive part of the system by itself is still faster than standard LD engines currently in use throughout the Planetary Alignment, and there were already plans to include those in all new Silloni-built spacecraft. Your ship, however, will be the only freighter in the galaxy equipped with a Hyper-LightDrive system.”

“How are we going to keep something like this a secret?” Taro asked. “Giving it a fancy new name isn’t going to shield what it can do from the rest of the PA once we start making quick trips around the cosmos.”

“There won’t be any need to be secretive,” Merlin replied. “Tristan will be releasing an article to select scientific journals concerning the Hyld system, with a cover story that since the Blue Horizon rushed to the planet Sillon’s aid when the rest of the PA had written them off, our company was selected to help Sillon test its new prototype over a two-year period. Until the testing period has been completed and all bugs are worked out of the system to ensure that it’s safe before producing it commercially, there will be no further release of the technology beyond the three vessels. This is standard research and development into any new technology. The Kirin-class freighter itself had already been in development by the Silloni before Pockets discovered Captain Khasho’s information; it was just about ready to be released on the market with the new Silloni LightDrive engines anyway, and would have undergone a similar period of testing before being released to the public.”

“Merlin, all this sounds great, but you must know that we’ll be under close scrutiny by the rest of the Planetary Alignment for those two years,” Taro pointed out. “Everyone will want to get a closer look at the engine system and will likely try to come up with all kinds of ways to get inside. The scientific community will be drooling to see how it works, our competitors in shipping will be jealous of our ability to deliver goods faster than they can, and I’m sure that pirates and other dishonorable organizations will want to possess the technology for their own purposes. Are we going to be able to defend ourselves from everyone?”

“At my request, the Kirin is equipped with combat weaponry similar to what your ship has now. The engine room has an encrypted biometric door lock to prevent outsiders like Ms. Bennington from doing damage or trying to steal the technology, and any passengers will be limited strictly to the upper crew deck. All visitors will be forbidden without exception from entering the engine room, as will most of the crew.”

Taro furrowed her brow at that last statement but Merlin continued without noticing her expression. “Pockets and Max will have to enter the encryption with a bio-scan of their hand each time they enter or exit the Hyld compartment. As commander and first officer, of course, you and Renny will also have your hand scans encrypted to enter, but I do not want anyone else entered into the biometrics, no matter how much you think the others can be trusted. This is simply a measure of extra security that I agreed to make on behalf of the Silloni government.”

Taro nodded with a frown. “This is sure to give our company an edge over our competitors. We’ll have to be on constant alert against sabotage or other attacks like the one that nearly cost us Renny’s life. What about the Hidalgo Sun and the Mooncrest?”

“The Kirin is the only Hyld-equipped freighter Sillon has produced, and until our two-year test period has expired, your sister ships will continue operating normally using standard LightDrive engines. Since we’re not making any PA-wide announcements that we’ve got this system, it may take a while before news of our capability is spread word-of-mouth to the public through the scientific communities.”

“Won’t that work against us?” the vixen wanted to know. “As a business out to make a profit, aren’t we supposed to advertise our capability to get things delivered faster?”

Merlin smiled. “Normally, yes, but when the home office makes arrangements with our clients to deliver their goods, we’ll be stacking the jobs closer together instead of spreading them out in three-to-four-week ship dates. Despite the lost jobs of late, we still have plenty of work. Once some of our customers realize just how quickly we can get their cargo delivered, I’m sure many of them will be repeat clients.”

For the first time since they started this conversation, Merlin frowned and released a heavy sigh. “Having the new Hyld system will likely increase the Blue Horizon’s workload exponentially. It takes twenty-five hours for the jump components to recharge, so there will be at least a one-day layover after every delivery.  However, this means you will likely have new cargo to deliver every two or three days. You’ll no longer have weeks of inactivity on the flight between systems. This will force your crew into cargo detail more often, and likely produce fatigue from the increased activity. Due to the recharge, you will have a day off after every delivery, but with the frequency of jobs, I think your crew should be granted a full week of downtime after every eight weeks of business. Additionally, you won’t have to re-supply the ship after every voyage. Once a month should be sufficient to get everything you need restocked during downtime.”

“Despite our new capabilities, I don’t know if everyone is going to be thrilled with the increased workload,” Taro mused. “Everyone, including myself, is used to having time to sit back and relax while we’re traveling between systems – time to work on personal projects, read, watch movies, and so on. I can already see Amanda stressed from trying to coordinate all the jobs packed so close together.”

Merlin thought about this for a moment and then nodded. “After we’ve informed your crew of the new ship and new potential workloads, we can grant each member of the Horizon the opportunity to either accept or turn down service on the new ship. If there are any who don’t think they can live up to the workload, their positions can be offered up to their counterparts on the Hidalgo Sun or Mooncrest. If there are any takers, then the personnel will simply have their assignments transferred between the crews. No one will lose his or her job from these decisions, unless someone willingly decides to resign due to the changes.”

“That sounds reasonable. May I make a suggestion?”

“Always.”

“While we are keeping the origin of the Hyld system from the rest of the PA, I think it would be prudent to do the same with everyone within our company. Granted that Pockets, Max, Renny and I will know, but there’s no need to tell anyone else that this was a result of Natasha’s lost technology. Let them all believe it’s a Silloni invention. That way, if anyone does resign, there won’t be any danger of the secret leaking out when they leave. It would also curb the potential of someone blabbing about what we have and where we got it during shore leave.”

“That’s a good idea. The less who know about it, the greater will be our chances of keeping a lid on this,” Merlin agreed. “Who knows, after the testing is done and Silloni Hyld ships become commonplace throughout the Planetary Alignment, then the system’s origins can be revealed, but that will be a decision made by someone other than ourselves.”

Taro nodded quietly, picking up the photographs again and studying the Kirin’s sleek design. “Well, maybe the next two years will give me what I asked for.”

“What’s that?”

“Mundane voyages,” the vixen said with a wry smile. “With such an increased workload like this, we won’t have time for any adventures along the way.”

Merlin chuckled. “Perhaps, but I wouldn’t count on it. Shipping freight across the galaxy should be mundane, but that never seems to be the case for the Blue Horizon. Besides, you’ll still have standard LightDrive capability that can be used without vault jumps. I’m sure some jobs will be accomplished between worlds within the same solar systems and won’t require the Hyld system at all.”

“What about the astro-navigation system?” Taro asked after a moment of thought. “The one on the Horizon wasn’t sensitive enough to brake in time, which is why we shot too far past Kantus on our test run.”

Merlin nodded. “The Silloni have already encountered this oversight during the initial test flights with unmanned probes. The Kirin has the highest sensitivity astrogation system they possess. I don’t think you’ll be repeating that mistake with the new ship.”

The pair of them fell silent, and rain became the only noise in the barn hangar for several long minutes. After a time, Taro dropped the photos onto the desk and then stretched. Merlin checked his techwatch again and looked as if he wanted to head back to the house to check on his pregnant mate. However, the vixen had something else on her mind they needed to discuss before the distraction of puppy birth took over.

Merlin dropped his bare feet down onto the floor next to his boots and began to slip them on. “What about my loadmaster?” Taro asked suddenly.  The wolf looked at her in veiled frustration for only a second before he released a boot and sat back in his seat.

“That will be tricky, given the sensitive nature of the new ship,” he muttered. “We’ll have to ask the SPF to do an extensive background investigation on anyone we might consider for the position.”

“Why don’t we offer the position right away to the loadmasters of our sister ships before we hire anyone else?” Taro suggested. “We can give them first choice, and if there’s a taker, then we can hire a new person for the crew that loses its person.”

Merlin thought about it for a moment. “The idea has merit,” he admitted, “but the loadmaster for the Mooncrest is Armando Jensen. Although he’s kept his nose clean and has given me no further cause for trouble, I don’t want him on this Horizon.” He looked up at Taro and gestured toward the photos. “We can offer the position to Mark Littlefeather of the Hidalgo Sun, if you wish, but not Armando.”

Taro raised an eyebrow. “It doesn’t matter to me,” she said slowly, as if choosing her words carefully for the wolf, “but what about your uh, mistrust of humans?”

Merlin surprised her with a lopsided smile. “Mark has always shown proper respect for his alpha and has been the exception in my dealings with his species. I trust him far more than I do my old competitor, Armando.”

“What if he declines? It will mean quite an increase in his workload.”

“We won’t hold it against him if he chooses not to transfer. We’ll then take applications for the job with an extensive security background check by the Spatial Police Force. Honestly, though… do you really think he might turn down the opportunity to crew on such a flagship, even without the Hyld system?” Merlin asked with a continued smile. “I wouldn’t.”

The vixen relaxed visibly. “In that case, I’d gladly accept him as my new loadmaster if he wants a job on a soon-to-be overworked ship.” She said the last with a smile.

“While we’re on the topic of new crew members,” Merlin said, “there is one more thing I forgot to mention. As part of the deal with the research and development of the Hyld, a Silloni engineer will join your crew for the first year.”

Taro frowned. “A watchdog, so to speak?”

“No, more of a specialist. Pockets will remain your chief engineer, but this new person will be your expert on the new ship and its engines. If something breaks down, you won’t be able to call the nearest shipyard for parts on a prototype, so you’ll have someone on board with knowledge of its construction, and she can teach Pockets everything he needs to know. She will be a regular member of your crew, even helping with cargo detail along with everyone else.”

“She?” Taro repeated with interest.

“Her name is Suzuko. She’s a Silloni engineer who has been with the Kirin program since its inception and was also part of the team who attempted to unlock Natasha’s code before Pockets found the key. She has full knowledge of the Hyld’s origin and she was on board the first manned hyper-jumps for both ships. As you put the ship through a regular routine, she will be making reports on the ship’s performance. If there are problems, or even suggestions for improvements to make before the design goes into mass production, this will be the time to make them. Your crew will have full input rights for any aspect of the new ship, but please don’t let them get too nitpicky about every little thing.  Remember, you are testing the ship for someone else. It’s not your personal vessel, so Suzuko will need to keep a rein on Pockets’ personal need to experiment. The program engineers may welcome his insight, but if he has suggestions to make for major improvements, he will have to go through Silloni channels for permission before he can do them.”

“What happens to the ship after the two years are up?”

“Providing all goes well and the ship is still in operation at that time, we will turn the prototype back over to them, in return for the first three ships off the commercial line at half price. We can replace our entire fleet with the latest Kirin-class freighters that have been upgraded and equipped with the suggestions and recommendations your crew makes during the test period. “

“Wow!”

“Exactly,” Merlin replied with a nod, “but keep in mind that since this is a prototype, there are likely to be bugs and glitches in the system that you may have to deal with on a regular basis until Suzuko, Pockets and Max can get them all smoothed out.”

“Yes, that’s to be expected. Are we still going to take on space-available passengers?”

“Not at first,” Merlin told her, “although it may be necessary to ship some associated personnel with the cargo you deliver on occasion, as we’ve done in the past. We will try to keep those to a bare minimum, allowed only as needed. Space Available was designed to help bring in extra income, but since the Horizon will be taking on more and more customers, it won’t be necessary. After the incident with Ms. Bennington, I’m reluctant to let non-personnel on board, especially in a ship using a propulsion system that all our competitors would give their first-born to possess, but I know there will be some cases where it can’t be helped.”

“With this extra income,” Taro said, “would you authorize me to hire licensed guards to watch the ship during our downtimes? Once word starts to spread about our new capabilities, jealous competitors may attempt to sabotage us. The guards can keep the snoops and saboteurs out.”

“If you can hire from SPF-accredited security organizations, yes, I’ll approve it.” Merlin looked at his watch again. “Is there anything else you need to discuss in private?” he asked.

“I have more questions, but nothing that can’t be answered in front of the crew later,” Taro replied, noting his clock-watching.

Merlin reached for a boot. “In that case, I want to get back to the house and check on Samantha.”

“I hope you have an umbrella,” the vixen muttered, an ear tilted upward toward the continued sound of rain.

“No need. We have an underground tunnel between the barn and the house to keep us out of the weather.”

Taro grinned. “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“It came with the house, actually.”

“Well then, let’s go check on Sam and Renny.”

“Renny?”

“To peel his claws out of the rafters after that storm.”

Merlin gave her a smirk as he stood up and tamped the toe of his boot on the ground. “Either that, or we’ll have to drag him out from beneath a bed, leaving scratches in my bare wood floor. Either way, I may have to charge the repairs of his claw marks in the woodwork against his pay!” The pair of them laughed at their friend’s expense and then the wolf led her out into the barn toward a set of steps that dropped below the foundation of the structure.

***

The next morning arrived, calm and peaceful. The storm had passed in the night, leaving the land refreshed under a clear sky with only a few small tree limbs and a scattering of leaves on the lawn. A slight breeze wafted gently in from the sea, giving the air a salty tang and the temperature was pleasant.

Samantha opened her eyes with a quiet yawn, her pink tongue curling as she stretched lazily. She had slept well through the night, despite the soreness of her lower back from carrying her pups. As yet, they had not made an entrance into the world, despite everyone’s predictions they would arrive during the storm.

The gentle sea breeze that spread out thin beige curtains over the king-size bed was cool and she pulled up a fluffy white comforter with blue and yellow flowers up to her chin. She turned and looked to her left, but Merlin was not there beside her.  The clock showed it was still early, but he had a habit of getting up before she did every morning to jog along the coast for the exercise.

She closed her eyes again with a final stretch and then snuggled further down into the covers. No sooner had she done so, there was a light tapping at her door.

“Sam, are you awake?” asked a quiet voice.

“Yes, come on in,” the Border collie responded with a smile.  It pleased her to see her vulpine friend, glad she was able to be here during this special time.

Taro eased open the door with her elbow and brought in a bed tray with a glass of juice, a bowl of oatmeal, a small plate of buttered toast and a jar of red plum jam. “Shannon’s not here yet, so I decided to prepare a bit of breakfast for you,” she said with a smile.  She set the tray at the foot of the four-poster bed and then helped her friend into a sitting position with several pillows behind the collie’s back.

“Thank you.” Sam sat with the tray across her lap and picked up her teacup.

“How are you this morning?” Taro asked her.

“Tired, as always. I really thought they would arrive last night, but I had nary a kick from any of them.”

A smirk crossed Taro’s face. “Speaking of kicks, Shannon wanted me to give you a message.”

“What is it?” Samantha asked around a slice of toast.

“Blue Horizon!”

Sam’s eyes went wide and she gave a small lurch beneath the breakfast tray. One hand went immediately to her belly and then she narrowed her eyes at the vixen.

“It works!” Taro exclaimed in surprise.

“Stop that!” Samantha huffed. “I can’t believe she told you about that!”

Taro laughed aloud and sat in a nearby wing-back chair decorated in paisleys. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist trying it out.”

Samantha growled playfully. “If you have to mention your ship, just say ‘Horizon’ – that by itself doesn’t get my insides kicked!”

“Oh, all right,” the fox said with a grin. “Just trying to help kick start your day!”

“You’re horrible, Taro. As mischievous as he is, not even Merlin’s done that to me.”

“Does he know about it?”

Samantha smiled and shook a piece of toast at her friend. “Actually, no, but you’d better not tell him!”

“Why not? If we keep the one in there kicking, perhaps the others will get tired of him and induce their own labor to get out!”

“Don’t you dare,” the Border collie warned, raising her eyebrow at her friend and spreading jam over her slice of toast. “They’ll come out in their own good time.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

“I’m lots of fun!” Sam countered. “Just ask Merlin.”

Taro snickered and pointed toward the canine’s swollen belly. “I think we can all see that Merlin thinks you’re loads of fun!”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “I can’t believe you just said that!” she whispered. Taro only giggled in reply. The collie shook her head and took a bite of her toast. A moment later, she asked, “Speaking of my mate, where is he?”

“He’s playing leader to my crew once again,” Taro replied. “He got up early to take a jog, but Renny, Jerry, Mandy and Max wouldn’t let him go without them. They’re all in shorts, tee-shirts and sneakers, jogging right alongside him somewhere out on the road.”

“Good, I’m sure they can all use the exercise in the clean air. He does that every morning before preparing for work, so I’m glad he has the company today. How come you’re not out there with them?” Samantha asked. “Don’t you have a daily workout routine of your own?”

“I do, but this weekend I’m sticking close to your house.”

“Anyone else awake?”

“Tristan and Gwen are having coffee out on the back deck in the cool air and Pockets is out in the barn checking on the Starwolf. Lori and Justy are still in bed, I think, and I’m in here with you.”

“Did you talk to Merlin last night about the Horizon?”

Taro nodded. “Yeah, we had a nice long chat out in the barn while it was raining. He gave me the low-down on all that’s going on with the ships, giving me a stroke in the process; I’m fine, now that I have all the details. Renny and I took a hot soaking bath before bed last night and discussed it.”

“What was his reaction?”

“I think he’s more excited about it that I am,” Taro admitted. “He’s never really been content to just sit around during our three-to-four-week voyages across the Planetary Alignment, so he’s looking forward to having more to do. He does not have a problem with the secrecy surrounding the vault system and figures that even we will forget about its origins after a while of calling it Hyld. Unless Merlin mentions it to the others during their jog, we’ve not told anyone else of the new ship. I’m sure Pockets and Max would want to be out in it at this moment if we told them, but right now we’re here for you, so I’m not going to have my people scattered all over Grandstorm until you’ve popped out those biscuits.”

“My biscuits, eh?” Sam laughed. “I’ve been told that I have buns in the oven, so I guess that fits!”

“Even if you don’t go into labor for a while, I’m content to stick around and relax. If you get tired of me hanging around, just let me know and maybe I’ll go for a jog down the shore.”

“I appreciate you bringing me breakfast, Taro. If you’ll take the tray back to the kitchen, I think I’m going to waddle into the shower and then get dressed.”

“You need any assistance?”

“Nope, that I can do myself.”

“Okay then, I’ll see you later,” the vixen replied, reaching for the tray. “I should probably go check in on Pockets or he may have all the wiring out on the floor of the Starwolf, making modifications on his own!”

“Checking on Pockets is always a good thing.”

***

Jerry looked up from the local printed newspaper he was reading, silently noting that Samantha had begun pacing the floor, her back arched to hold the weight of her unborn children. With nothing to do but wait, most of the crew had grown bored and gone outside in the yard to busy themselves with various activities to keep from fidgeting. The expectant mother appeared to be restless as well. As he studied her, he watched Lorelei approach from the kitchen and say something quietly to her. Samantha shook her head slowly and resumed her pacing, leaving the bunny with a frown.

Lori returned to the kitchen where she and Shannon were preparing lunch for everyone. Jerry watched the canine pace for another moment before he returned his attention to the article he had been reading.

“Are you okay?” Amanda asked. Jerry looked up and saw Samantha leaning against the back of the couch behind the coyote.

“Sorry,” Samantha said. “It’s hot in here and I guess I got a little lightheaded.”

Jerry frowned. The house was comfortably air conditioned, even a little cool to his nose, and the ceiling fans had been on for hours to circulate the air. Sam picked up a paper magazine from a lamp table and fanned herself with it.

“Maybe you should sit down for a while,” Amanda suggested.

Samantha gave her a smile, but shook her head. “No, I’m too restless to sit still right now,” she said. “I think I’ll be better if I’m moving around.” She walked around the furniture to a thermostat on a wall and checked its readings. She frowned and tapped the control to lower the temperature further.

Jerry heard her mutter to herself about the inefficiency of their cooling unit as she resumed her pacing. The fox followed her back and forth across the room, his orange eyes tracking her across the top of his paper.

He was about to return his attention to the article once more when he saw her falter and sit down heavily in a large wingback chair. He was up and across the room to her side before Amanda had noted her action.

Samantha looked up at him with watery eyes when he bent over to have a look at her. She was panting and holding her stomach lightly.

“What is it?” he asked quietly. Amanda crouched down beside him.

“I feel nauseated,” the Border collie replied, “and really hot.”

Jerry nodded to himself and took her pulse automatically. “Mandy, would you get Shannon, please?”

“Shouldn’t I get Merlin?” the coyote asked.

“Shannon,” he repeated patiently. Amanda trotted across the room and disappeared into the kitchen.

“I don’t feel well, Doc,” Samantha said. “What’s wrong with me?”

Jerry gave her a gentle smile. “You have five foreign bodies within you that may soon want out for some fresh air,” he said in a soothing voice. She smiled back at him weakly, but only panted in reply.

“What is it?” Shannon asked a moment later. She wiped her hands nervously on a kitchen apron, Lori behind her mimicking her actions unconsciously.

“Is she sick?” the lapin doe asked.

“She’s going to be just fine,” the doctor answered and glanced over at Shannon. “I think you should turn the kitchen duties over to Lorelei. Sam is going to need a midwife now.”

“She’s gonna have her puppies?” Lori asked excitedly.

“Not yet, but soon. I think we should get Sam back to her bed where Shannon can watch over her. She’s hot and nauseated, and I think I have something in my med kit to calm her stomach.”

“There’s no need, Jerry,” Shannon replied, putting a gentle hand on her sister-in-law’s shoulder. “I have everything she needs to calm down and ride this out already prepared in Samantha’s birthing den.”

The fox gave her a nod. “In that case, let’s help her to her room, and then you can take care of her from there.”

Although she knew the reason, Samantha was slightly annoyed that she could not get back up from the chair by herself. Her legs felt weak and the room had begun to wobble – or was that her that was wobbling? Shannon and Jerry helped her to her feet and she felt herself shuffled slowly down the narrow hallway.

Her sister-in-law opened a door and then turned back toward Jerry. “There’s not enough room for the three of us in there, so I can help Sam inside from here.”

“All yours,” the physician replied without argument. “Have fun, you two.”

Shannon chuckled. Sam would have scowled at him for his remark, but another wave of dizziness washed over her. With Shannon’s help, she took two steps toward the bed and then stopped to catch her breath. The birthing den had trapped a nice pocket of cold air and felt better than the front room, but she was still hot.

Shannon turned to close the panel behind them, but just as she grabbed the door handle, she heard something wet splashing on the tiled floor behind her. She turned and looked back at Samantha, whose eyes were as wide and round as the shape she made with her mouth.

“Come on, dear,” she said to the expectant mother. “Shed your nightgown so I can get you cleaned up and into bed. It begins.”

***

Although there had been no plans to do so, Taro’s crew had been slowly congregating on the wooden deck behind the Sinclair house. The afternoon sun was hidden above the shade of a large tree beside the deck and the temperature was pleasant with gentle breezes from the nearby sea. Lorelei kept everyone supplied with glasses of tea, soda, jamonade, water or coffee, merrily serving her friends.

Merlin and Bill were pacing the floors inside the house, while Tristan and Guinevere calmly kept them company in the front room. Jerry’s help had been politely turned down by Shannon, so he was outside with his shipmates. With Samantha so near to giving birth, no one wanted to be away from the house. Not even Bill’s children could provide much distraction for the gathered crew, so the pups played together out on the lawn, happily chasing one another around the trees, the barn and through the gazebo throwing fallen purple jamon fruit at one another while the adults fidgeted collectively.

Taro had been talking privately with Renny in low voices, but the others soon realized that the conversation had nothing to do with either Samantha or their intimate history. Renny’s eyes were too wide, his tail twitching and his arms gesturing just a bit too much for comfort’s sake.

“Okay, are you two gonna let us in on the big secret?” Pockets finally grumbled, rocking back and forth in a wooden glide chair. His legs were too short to push off from the ground, so he had one foot up on the deck guard rail.

Taro looked up and noticed that all eyes were upon her and her first officer. She glanced back at Renny, who gave her an imperceptible nod. She reached a quick decision and stood up to lean back against the railing. Her ornamental blue-tipped white feather fluttered beside her and she reached up absently to still its motion.

“I suppose this is as good a time as any to give you all the news,” she said. “I had hoped to wait until after the pups were born so nothing would distract you, but I think a distraction is what we all need right now.”

“Uh oh, here it comes…” Justy said with a gulp. Amanda put a nervous hand on his arm, dreading the expected bad news just as Taro had the night before.

The vixen looked over at her chief engineer. “Pockets, do you remember the little experiment you and Justy put together with your present from Natasha?”

The raccoon stopped rocking. “Uh, yeah…?”

“I want you, Max and Justy to go out to the ship tomorrow and dismantle it.”

“Huh?”

“Get everything out, including Calissa’s black box, and return the engine room to its original state. We need to—”

“I know you don’t trust it,” the engineer grumbled, “but I assure you I can make it work with a new astrogation computer I just got my paws on.”

“Please don’t interrupt me,” Taro said patiently. “I have more to say.” She gave him a compassionate look, knowing she hadn’t started out as well as she had wanted. She was never good at dragging out a mystery, so she decided to tell them outright.

“Okay, here it is. Merlin is replacing our damaged ship with a new freighter from Sillon,” she said to looks of surprise. “The new one—”

“Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have ours repaired?” Jerry asked suddenly.

“No interruptions,” Taro reminded him with a smile. The doctor sat back with a furrowed brow. “I’ll answer any questions you may have after you hear what I have to say. For now, please just listen to your captain.”

There were annoyed and fearful faces looking back at her, so she set her jaw and began. “The Silloni have developed a new Hyper-LightDrive propulsion system that works along similar lines of the Vault and they have produced two prototypes for testing. Master Tristan is testing a small personal cruiser equipped with the new system.” Pockets nodded, having already heard about the Silloni test from the unicorn himself with a promise of silence. However, he was unaware of what Taro was to say next.

“The second prototype is a larger unit and was installed into a new class of freighter that was already being prepared for the market. Due to the help we provided to Sillon a few years back, Blue Horizon Freight Transfer has been chosen to test the new freighter equipped with the Hyper-LightDrive system.” Several mouths opened in excitement, but Taro held up a finger to quell their expected comments and questions just a bit longer.

Spurred on by their own enthusiasm, the vixen went on to tell them about the new ship and their two-year testing phase. The only thing she kept from them was the origin of the new Hyld system, as she had agreed with Merlin. Everyone was riveted to her words, and faces brightened with each additional thing she told them about their new ship.

***

Merlin was a nervous wreck. The fur of his face and the top of his head was all in disarray from running fidgety hands over his head for the past three hours. His eyes were red and his feet were tired from pacing around the house. Bill was in better shape, having only just been anxious, but both wolves felt worn out from the long wait. Although no less in anticipation for the news, Tristan and Gwen had gone out to the rustic iron benches under the tree in the front yard to get some fresh air. Every time Shannon came out of the birthing den, both lupine males would rush to greet her for the news. However, she would only grant each of them impatient looks as she rushed to the kitchen for ice, water or other items.

Merlin unbuttoned his shirt completely and pulled the shirttail from his trousers. He paced absently around the room, narrowly missing the furniture with each revolution. He heard a door open and looked expectantly toward the hall. When Shannon emerged from the shadows, there was a different expression on her face. Merlin felt a lump in his throat as he tried to read the stoic look in her eyes.

Unable to maintain the façade any longer, Shannon let a wide grin spread across her face. “Congratulations, Merlin. You have two daughters and three sons!”

The new father had to stop himself from howling for joy, but he reached out for his sister’s hands with a sudden worried look. “Samantha?” he asked hesitantly.

“She’s fine and so are all the puppies,” Shannon replied with a nod to his concern. “There were a few worrisome moments during the birthing, but everything turned out okay. Everyone’s been cleaned up and ready to see you now.”

“You mean I can —”

“Yes, brother!” she laughed. “You can go in now!”

Merlin bolted down the hall and Bill tried to follow, but Shannon held him back. “Whoa, there,” she said with a chuckle. “Let the father see his new pack first. You can see them in a minute.”

“Yeah, okay,” Bill replied and gave his mate an excited hug. He pulled back, brushed a hand over his face to calm himself, and then looked at her with bright eyes. “Have they chosen names?”

The tan wolf led him to the couch and then sat down beside him wearily. “Sam says they have, but she would not tell me what they were.”

“Why?”

“They agreed that Merlin will be the one to decide which male name goes with each of his sons, and she would do the same with their daughters. Moreover, due to the presence of Tristan and Guinevere, Sam wanted Merlin to announce each of them in a Silloni naming ceremony as each puppy is brought out for the official grandparents to see. I thought it was a good idea and didn’t press her for the names.”

“Speaking of the grandparents,” Bill said, “they’re out in front of the house. You go give them the news; I’ll tell everyone out back.”

“That’s a good idea.” Before she let him get up, however, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled him affectionately.

***

Merlin reached the low door of the birthing den and tentatively opened the panel into the small dark room. Samantha looked up wearily from the bed, but when she saw who it was, her expression softened. She lay on her side facing his direction and beckoned him near.

“See what we made, my love?” she whispered.

The wolf moved forward silently, afraid to disturb the five tiny pups suckling at their first meal. He sank to his knees beside the bed and rested his chin on top of his hands on the mattress. There was moisture in his eyes and a smile on his face that threatened to split his jaw in two. He swallowed as he studied them all, and then he looked back up at his mate.

“You did a fine job,” he whispered to her, stretching out a hand to clasp her fingers gently. “They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful!”

“Thank you. I can’t get up, so you’ll have to come here so I can kiss you.”

Merlin complied, giving his mate his undivided attention. Moments later, he drew up the room’s solitary roller chair and sat beside her bed. He studied the tiny pups and could already see both canine and lupine physical characteristics in them. He had never been a father before, and had never really spent much time around small children, but the instincts within him had come alive and he already felt protective of them and their mother.

One pup stopped feeding to catch its breath, so Merlin gently scooped up the tiny body and leaned forward to take in the small female’s scent. He gave her a small lick and then pulled her up against the chest fur through his open shirt. The pup whimpered briefly, but then sniffed at the new body warmth. Merlin stroked her back gently with a forefinger and swallowed at the depth of emotion in his chest. When she whimpered again for her lost breakfast, Merlin set her back down beside her mother.

For a long while, Merlin spoke quietly with his mate, and repeated his action with each pup that paused long enough it its feeding for him to pick it up to get acquainted.

***

The guests had all gathered back inside the house in the front room, and when Merlin walked out to face them, no one could blame him for the unabashed look of pride on his face. He held up one hand with two fingers extended, and the other hand with three fingers displayed.

“Two girls, three boys,” he said proudly. “All are healthy, and so is their mother.” Pockets let out a sharp whistle, startling Lori into a fit of giggles, and Renny began a round of applause with a wide grin. Merlin allowed them to show their celebration, and when they had calmed down, he gestured toward the two Silloni unicorns occupying a matching pair of large wingback chairs.

“In honor of the official grandparents,” he said with a slight bow of respect toward them, “Samantha and I would like to follow a Silloni tradition with a Naming Ceremony.” The bright look in Guinevere’s eyes was filled with emotion, and Tristan’s chest swelled with pride. The large black equine may have once been Regent on his world, but he was still susceptible to certain private honors where family was concerned. Samantha’s family had meant a great deal to them, and the love for their adopted daughter was genuine.

Merlin turned toward the hallway behind him and made a brief gesture. A moment later, Shannon appeared with a pale red blanket in her arms. In the folds of the blanket was a tiny puppy. The new father gently picked up the naked infant and then held it up for all to see. At this stage, the male child looked little different from a non-sapient puppy, but humanoid characteristics would continue to grow into well-defined limbs and features in the coming weeks, as it was with most all of the anthro-races that made up the Planetary Alignment.

The small male made no sound as he was presented to his guests. He was predominantly lupine in appearance with brown, gray and white fur, but the small ears were longer and rounder than the usual triangular ears, evident of his mother’s heritage. The tiny eyes would remain closed for nearly two weeks, so it would be a while yet before the color of his eyes could be determined. Merlin carried the infant over to the grandparents, held the bundle out toward them and said, “This young one will be known as Alexander Merle Sinclair.”

Keeping with the custom of their people, Tristan and Guinevere stood up from their seats and bowed forward so that their alicorns crossed over the top of the puppy.

“Alexander Merle,” they repeated together, “may your life be long, happy, full and prosperous.”

Amanda began to clap, but Taro stopped her with a light touch. With a smile of embarrassment, the coyote put her hands together in her lap with a look of apology toward the lupine father.

Merlin responded to the unicorns with a bow of his own as he licked the top of Alexander’s head. He smiled warmly, holding the infant up against his chest, and then he returned the puppy to Shannon’s arms. His sister gave him a pleasant smile and then retraced her steps back down the hallway. Merlin refrained from looking back at his friends while he awaited her return.

Moments later, Shannon presented another bundle to her sibling. Merlin held up a small female with fur of red and brown, and although the product of a canine and lupine union, her ears and other features appeared distinctly lupine. She let out a soft whimper as her father presented her to her grandparents.

“This little girl will be known as Cassandra Diane Sinclair,” Merlin said quietly.

Tristan and Guinevere crossed their horns and responded, “Cassandra Diane, may your life be long, happy, full and prosperous.”

Merlin bowed, licked his daughter lightly on the head and then held Cassandra up against his chest. He turned, set her in Shannon’s arms, and then put his hands behind his back as he waited.

Like Alexander, the next puppy was predominantly lupine in appearance, but the young male had Samantha’s Border collie ears. His fur was an even mix of gray, black and white, and he wriggled around in Merlin’s hands. The pup’s father grinned as he held onto the squirmy child.

“This son of mine will be known as “Marcus Derek Sinclair.”

“Marcus Derek, may your life be long, happy, full and prosperous.”

Shannon brought out another female puppy. This little girl looked as if she were entirely Border collie, and with the pattern of her monochrome fur, she was a tiny version of her mother. When Merlin picked her up to show her off, the infant snuggled up close into her father’s hands and began sucking on a fingertip.

“This daughter of mine will be known as “Katherine Amy Sinclair.”

“Katherine Amy, may your life be long, happy, full and prosperous.”

Only when Merlin tried to give the puppy back to Shannon did little Katherine begin to whimper at being separated from her father. Lori let out a soft “awww” and there were a few chuckles in the group. Shannon grinned as she gathered the little girl in the blanket, and then she disappeared back into the back room.

When Merlin held up his final offspring moments later, there was a couple of gasps from the guests. As much as Katherine resembled Samantha, this infant male looked like a miniature version of Merlin. His coloring, ears, fur pattern and even his facial eye mask bore a striking likeness to his father. While his siblings had remained passive in Merlin’s hands, this little guy sniffed the air and even attempted to get up on his front paws facing toward the larger wolf. Merlin smiled and touched noses with his son before presenting him to the grandparents.

“This one will be known as Ramius Christopher Sinclair,” Merlin said proudly.

“Ramius Christopher, may your life be long, happy, full and prosperous,” Tristan and Guinevere said together. Gwen’s voice cracked with emotion and Tristan put a strong arm around his mate’s shoulders.

Merlin returned little Ramius to Shannon’s blanket, and after she had disappeared into the darkened hallway, Tristan stepped up to the wolf and clasped hands with the new father.

“Congratulations, son,” the Silloni unicorn said with full, rich tones. “You and our Samantha have produced a fine litter that you can be proud of.”

Merlin swallowed and looked up into the former Regent’s deep brown eyes. “Thank you, Master,” he replied with a chest unconsciously puffed up in pride.

Guinevere bent down to pull him into a warm embrace. She beamed at him with moist eyes and said, “I am so proud of you both. I know your little ones will be well-cared for with enriched lives.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” Merlin replied.

The room was intensely quiet when they parted, and everyone could hear Amanda’s whispered question to her captain. “May I clap now?”

Merlin laughed aloud and said with a nod, “Yes, please do. Samantha’s birthing den is soundproofed, so make as much noise as you wish!”

The coyote grinned widely and began clapping vigorously. The others joined in, and Renny let out a sharp whistle. Pockets, Max and Justy cheered in unison, and the others expressed their congratulations in different ways.

Renny, Taro and Jerry approached Merlin at the same time, but the cheetah managed to secure his friend’s hand first. “It looks like you’re the alpha of your own wolf pack now!” he said cheerfully.

“Congratulations, Merlin,” Jerry said with a smile. “You have a fine family of pups.”

Taro pushed both males aside and slipped her arms around Merlin’s neck. She gave him a quick peck on the side of his muzzle and then hugged him. “You’re a daddy now,” she said. “Treat those young’uns good, train them well, and you’ll have half the compliment of a new crew for a future generation for the Blue Horizon.”

“He can train up my children for the other half!” Bill Wallace piped up as he joined them. “They could use good jobs!”

“I figured they’d all grow up juggling numbers like their father,” Merlin quipped as he pried himself from Taro’s arms and gave his brother in law’s hand a good squeeze.

“Possibly, but you know children – they never seem to grow up to follow their parents’ wishes,” Bill replied. “Take me, for example. My folks wanted me to be a starship designer, but I can’t draw a straight line to save my life – even with a computer!”

“That’s true,” Shannon said from behind the group. “That’s why his sister’s now the head of the design team for the Firebird Fleet on Alexandrius instead of him.”

“How is Samantha?” Taro asked. “Is she going to get to come out to revel in the adulation of the masses?”

“Sam’s tired and now sleeping,” Shannon replied. “The kids are tucked into a warming crib so she can get some rest, but I would imagine they’ll be ready for another feeding in a couple hours. Once she’s ready to come out to see the sun, Samantha will be ready to visit with you all. For now, she needs her rest.”

“May I speak with Merlin alone, please?” said Guinevere. The group parted to allow the white Silloni mare access to the wolf.

“Of course, Ma’am,” Taro replied, hooking arms with Jerry and Renny. “C’mon, you two. It’ll be a while before Sam’s ready to see us, so let’s go back outside where we can talk about our new ship. We have pictures!”

Merlin allowed himself to be led to a quiet corner of the room. Guinevere held both of his hands in hers and spoke in a gentle voice. “My dear Merlin,” she said, “Tristan and I have been Samantha’s legal guardians since she was a child, and although she grew to adulthood and went off to follow her own direction in life, we have always tried to be there for her in times of difficulty. Although the great distances have not often been helpful in her times of need, we have always done our best to make ourselves available to her.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Samantha has told me much of her life with you, and I’m most grateful for your love and affection for one not born of your own blood,” Merlin replied quietly. “You were influential in her upbringing, and had she been raised by her biological parents, she might have grown up to be someone else who may have never come my way. I am indebted to you for her.”

Gwen nodded. “Thank you,” she said. “It is of those influences I wish to speak. We have no authority and make no demands to have any sway in the rearing of your young, but if you would permit us, Tristan and I would appreciate any opportunity you may grant us to take part in their lives.”

Merlin looked up at her in surprise. “Ma’am, I feel confident that I can speak on behalf of Samantha on this issue. It’s likely that a Dennieran upbringing may differ from the methods you used with your children, but we would be grateful for any benefits you can bring to the lives of our pups – not necessarily the wealth of currency, but in the wealth of your knowledge, experience and wisdom.” He gave her a smile and added, “Not to mention the wealth of your love and compassion.”

The mare’s eyes crinkled in delight. “Thank you, Merlin. May I make one small request of you?”

“Name it.”

“I know you hold Tristan and myself in high regard – this much our Samantha has told us, but we both would be pleased if you would drop titles of office or status when speaking to us. Please… use our names. We are family now.”

Merlin nodded with understanding. He had once received a similar request from a Tanthean princess. “It may be a difficult habit for me to break, Guinevere, so I ask your patience until the practice becomes comfortable for me,” he said with a smile.

Gwen smiled at the use of her name. “Thank you, Merlin. Now, let us return to your guests. I imagine there are others who would like to pat you on the back.”

NEW CONTRACTS

by Ted R. Blasingame

Jerad Porter paced the yard behind Merlin and Samantha’s house, his small hands jammed into two of his namesake pockets and his feet making tracks in the now-dry grass along the tall iron fence. He was happy for Merlin and Samantha on the birth of their children, but now that the event had finally taken place, the engineer was most anxious to see their new ship. He had been with the Blue Horizon since Merlin had originally set up the business a decade earlier, and although he had become intimately familiar with each vessel to carry the name, he was not particularly attached to the specific machine. From what Taro had told them of the prototype Kirin freighter, he was anxious to see it and start to familiarize himself with its new systems.

He and his brother had been servicing Okami class freighters built on Dennier for nearly fourteen years, and while he knew those systems through and through, he was ready for something new. He and Jasper had often experimented with existing systems to improve performance, but with the prototype of a ship, everything was new. There would be plenty of opportunities to test and improve upon the freighter before it even went on the market, so he was now in the enviable position to mold and shape the vessel to his whims.

It bothered him little that there would be a Silloni engineer assigned to them for their first year. He would still be Chief engineer, and would tap the new person’s knowledge of fledgling technology. It would also be nice to have another individual on board with whom he could hold coherent technical conversations. Max had learned much in his short time, but he was still inexperienced and was lacking in practical knowledge. The young mechanic could learn more with another engineer on board to guide him.

Pockets had enjoyed working on the H-model Okami version of the Blue Horizon, but as far as he was concerned, it was now an old and damaged tool to be replaced. Ironically, the new contract with Okami Corp for his Moss designs would limit the flobot for use only on Okami freighters. Yet another tool, Pockets would miss having Moss on board the new ship, so he might have to come up with a different flobot design to work with the Silloni security systems. That was a challenge he was more than willing to face.

Anxious to get started familiarizing himself with the new vessel, Pockets had been to Merlin and Taro twice, entreating them to let he and Max go see the new ship. However, the new father was still too distracted with his family that he would do nothing more than tell Pockets to be patient. They would all go out to see the Kirin the first thing on the morrow. Pockets even tried to convince the wolf to divulge the location of the new ship, but Merlin refused to tell him where it was parked.

The raccoon continued his pacing, but then looked up at the sound of footsteps in the grass. Renny wore a smirk on his face, but Pockets was in no mood to hear about anything else that Merlin may have discovered about his children. However, Jerad was not the grumpy half of the Porter siblings, so he greeted the cheetah with a look of amusement.

“What’s tickling your fuzz?” he asked.

Renny chuckled and shook his head. “You, Justy, Lori and Max have all worn down Merlin’s patience,” he said. Pockets’ eyes lit up with hope. “He still doesn’t want to leave his new family just yet,” Renny continued, “so he has asked Master Tristen to take us all out to see the new ship. He’s already given the security codes to Taro so we can head out to see it as soon as everyone’s in the van.”

Pockets tried to split his face with a wide grin. “What are we waiting for?” he asked, taking a few steps toward the house. “I’ll race ya to the van!”

Renny raised an eyebrow at the raccoon’s challenge to race a cheetah, but he gave the engineer a grin and nodded his chin. “I’ll give you a head start,” he said, getting down into a sprinter’s stance.

***

Renny guided the passenger van along the marked lanes toward the spaceport tarmac, following Tristan’s open-air vehicle at a safe distance. Talk had been animated on the drive from the Sinclair home, but now voices were hushed as they drew nearer their anticipated destination.

“Is this a joke?” Pockets asked, hanging onto the back of Taro’s front seat. “Master Tristan’s taking us back to our old ship!” Indeed, their familiar Okami freighter rested on its landing gear directly ahead of them, the patches over its battle scars still an ugly blemish.

Taro grinned at the raccoon over her shoulder and shook her head. “No joke, Pockets. We set down on pad eighteen. The Kirin is on pad seventeen and Tristan’s cruiser, the Kokoro, is on pad sixteen.” She pointed past their injured vessel, where they could just see the softly pointed nose of another ship beyond. “We landed right next to our new ship!”

“I hope the Horizon isn’t jealous,” Max said from somewhere in the back, “sitting next to her replacement.”

Keeping up with the mechanic’s analogy, Justy replied, “Nah, Max, she’s ready for retirement. She’s got several million kilometers of travel on her bones and she’s so damaged that repairs will never be made.”

“Well, that’s only partially true,” Jerry countered. “I heard Merlin and Bill discuss selling the Horizon to a local vocational technical school that uses decommissioned ships like this for their trainee mechanics to work on. It won’t go for a top-credit price, but with its structural damage, it would be difficult to sell it otherwise.”

“At least it won’t go to a junk heap,” Amanda added.

“Like the last one,” Max murmured sadly.

“The Horizon deserves a better fate than that,” Amanda added.

“When do we get to move in?” Lori asked. “At least we won’t have far to take our stuff.”

“Tonight, we’re just here to visit and look around,” Taro answered. “The call-sign transfer cannot take place until the old ship has been officially decommissioned tomorrow afternoon, and until that happens, we can’t set up shop. Merlin’s already made arrangements to have local officials on hand to do their officiating.”

Renny followed Tristan’s vehicle around their freighter and soon the new ship came into view. Taro locked her eyes onto the vessel she had seen only in the photographs she had passed around to her crew, and saw instantly that the pictures didn’t do it justice.

“Would you look at that!” Justy exclaimed. Although not as tall as the Okami freighter, the Kirin was longer and more slender, a fact accentuated by a pair of double white stripes that ran the length of its sides from bow to stern just beneath a row of polarized glassteel windows. The vessel’s base color was royal blue and the early evening sunlight hit it just right for it to glisten. The Kirin rested on triangularly spaced landing gear, each a set of caterpillar treads that sat low beneath the relatively flat underbelly. There were aerodynamic nubs at the bottom of the structure beneath a pair of cargo bay doors that likely housed loading ramps not currently extended.

Renny pulled up beside Tristan’s parked vehicle on the vessel’s port side near the primary hatch. They knew from the photographs that another airlock hatch occupied a similar position on the starboard side of the fuselage. Taro and her crew piled out of the van as soon as the cheetah set it onto the ground and shut off the engine.

Pockets started to run for the hatch, but then checked himself and stopped.

“What’s the matter?” Max asked from his side.

The raccoon turned to him with a grin. “I just want to take it all in before I touch her,” he said. “Take a look there, Max. You see where the aft section flares out slightly? That’s over the propulsion nodules and will be our domain. C’mon, let’s go look at her rear end!”

“Pockets wants to look at her bottom!” the young mechanic announced to the group. Pockets swatted his arm playfully and then lead the canine toward his goal.

Taro watched the mechanics trot away and gave Jerry a smile. “Did you see the sparkle in his eyes?” she asked.

“Yeah, they were practically glowing,” the doctor replied with a laugh. He glanced toward the softly rounded nose of the craft and saw the ship’s name and registry number painted on the underside of the curvature. The photos had shown the same name and number below the bridge windows on the upper surface. It made sense that it would be repeated below for landing crews on the ground to identify the vessel when coming in.

“Come on, Taro!” Lorelei called to her from the extended ramp below the airlock hatch. Justy and Amanda stood with her, and all acted as if they were awaiting permission to open holiday gifts. “Unlock it so we can go inside!” the bunny whined.

“Alright, I’m coming,” Taro said. She looked around for her first officer and saw Renny quietly conversing with Tristan beside the van.

As the captain approached the airlock, Jerry silently studied the walkway ramp. It appeared that while in flight, it would swing up into a recessed trough around the airlock and fit flush into the fuselage to maintain the vessel’s aerodynamic profile. Likewise, he noted, the dual cargo bay doors fit flush with the sleek surface. They were currently closed, but he idly wondered what method they used to retract when open.

“Move aside, Lori,” Taro told the white-furred doe. “I need to be right where you’re standing.” Lorelei scooted to the side, bumping into Justy and nearly knocking him off the ramp.

Taro slid open another flush panel that revealed a ten-digit number touch pad. The vixen retrieved a small plastic card from within the envelope she had carried from the van and studied the security passcode. She tapped the numerical sequence on the key pad and was rewarded with an active green diode.

Standing beside the airlock, they could hear the internal mechanism cycle a moment before the panel pulled in several inches and then slid to the right within the hull. Just inside was the pressurization chamber, large enough to hold four fully-suited people and equipment, if needed. Since the ship was on land in a friendly environment, the internal airlock door was already open. In flight, both panels would be closed and sealed against external climates.

Justy rushed through first and found a control panel on the wall just inside. Overhead light panels came on, but instead of standing inside the cargo bay, they found themselves in a wide corridor with walls of azure and standing upon earthtone flooring. It wasn’t carpet or even tile, but a material that gave slightly beneath their weight and provided traction to preventing slipping.

A glassteel window on their right looked out into the hold, but the connecting pressure door to it was farther up the passage. That entrance was also equipped with a locking number pad, an extra measure that would keep potential passengers from getting into whatever cargo they might be carrying.

Rather than looking into it, however, the group followed the passage across the breadth of the vessel, bypassing several intersecting doors; at the other end, they walked directly into an airlock to the outside.

“Did we get turned around?” Lori asked. “We’re right back where we started!”

“How?” said Justy. We walked in a straight line.”

“This is the starboard airlock,” Taro reminded them. “This ship has two of them, one on each side.”

“I think one of the doors we passed back there must have been the lift,” Amanda suggested, hooking a thumb over her shoulder.

“What about the others?” Justy asked.

“Probably storage closets for pressure suits, equipment or access to internal systems,” Jerry replied.

“About face!” Taro commanded in a light tone. She headed back the way they came, and after a moment, they saw Renny standing inside the open door of a large elevator lift located exactly halfway between both airlocks.

“What did you find?” he asked.

“Just the back door,” Justy replied. He moved past the cheetah into the lift and made room for the others who filed in behind him. Amazingly, it was large enough for them all, if a little snug for that number.

Jerry activated a control with just a solitary button and the elevator took them up quickly. When the single door panel slid aside, automated lights in recessed panels came on immediately and illuminated a short corridor with the same type of earthtone flooring. It led away to both port and starboard sides of the ship, much like the hallway they had just left behind on the first level. Instead of concluding in an airlock, however, the ends of the passage made right angle turns toward the aft areas of the vessel in parallel hallways that mirrored one another. Lori looked down the long starboard corridor and saw a row of door panels on both sides of the passage. Amanda went to the end of the port corridor and saw much of the same thing.

Due to his being the shortest individual in the present group, Justy noticed that all the doorways and corridors seemed higher than usual. He had no doubt that it was due to the ship having been designed by taller Silloni-unicorn and Ryuji-dragon engineers.

“Here’s the bridge,” Renny said. Everyone turned to look at the cheetah. The lift had opened up next door to the command center and they had completely missed seeing the gold-painted panel beside them, no doubt because it was missing the ship’s-wheel motif common on Okami vessels.

“I’m going exploring,” Justy said with a wave. He disappeared down the portside corridor with Lori following, while Jerry and Amanda wandered off down the starboard hallway.

Taro looked at Renny and smiled. “That leaves you and me, Luv,” she said brightly.

The navigator gave her a smirk and then a quick lick on the cheek before he turned toward the interior of the bridge.

“Want to see if the door has a lock on it?” he asked slyly. Taro laughed and gently pushed him into the room. The lights here did not come on automatically, so the vixen fumbled around a moment before finding a touch pad beside the door. The illumination was not bright, giving just enough light to read instruments labeled in Standard.

The bridge was an oval shaped room, with a large curving glassteel window occupying the forward wall. There were stations right up front, with the other stations arranged in a semi-circle behind them. Upon closer examination, Renny discovered that the left forward console was designated for astrogation, while the one next to it was marked as the helm, though the ship could be piloted from either station due to switchable touch screens.

The room was not overly large and instrumentation covered most of the walls and low ceiling. Taro guessed that once powered up, the room would have plenty of light from backlit dials and control touch pads.

Renny sat down in the primary pilot seat and slid his tail through the slotted chair back. He had to adjust the seat to his anatomy since its last occupant must have had a larger rear end than his, and then he looked over the console before him. He was relieved to find a standard set of guidance shifts with swivel handles that would control all three axis, four foot pedals on the floor and several other levers mounted on each side of seat. The console itself was equipped with indicators and controls for all aspects of flight, for interstellar and atmospheric travel. He looked at the low ceiling above him and saw controls for the Hyld system within easy reach.

“Mommy, may I take it out for a test drive, please?” the cheetah quipped with a smile.

Taro pursed her lips and shook her head with a mock stern look. “Not today, Junior,” she replied, walking toward two door panels at the back of the room.

One opened up into a small lavatory, and the other into a small room with a desk built into the wall with two recessed cabinets. Taro assumed it was designed to be the captain’s office, but she noted there was no door out into the hallway. Whoever came to see her while she was in there would have to come in through the back of the bridge compartment to see her. It was not a problem, just a noted difference.

“Why don’t we go check out the cabins and see what the beds are like?”

Renny raised his eyebrows over a grin. “Feeling frisky?”

“No, silly, but I do want to see the rooms. As fearless leader, I get to pick out mine first.”

“That’s not fair! What if I wanted the room you choose?”

Taro smiled at him. “In that case, you might have to just share it with me.”

“Yeah, I thought so. You are feeling frisky!”

The vixen laughed and grabbed his wrist. “C’mon, Ren-Ren, let’s go see what we have.”

***

“Well, Sickbay was rather generic,” Jerry muttered, stepping out into the corridor with his coyote companion. He shut off the light and closed the door behind them.

“It’s larger than the one on the Horizon,” Amanda assured him. “You should be pleased with that.”

“Yes, but there’s too much automation in there,” the fox replied. “I can alter the place to my liking, though. At least there’s a good-sized cabinet built into the wall that should hold all of the printed records from the boxes in my quarters, anyway.”

“You don’t trust digital storage, do you?” she asked with a smile.

“I don’t!” the physician responded with a scowl. “I lost several years’ worth of client records due to faulty equipment, and it seemed that even the automatic background backups were never made. I’ve put my trust into printed records ever since.”

“Let’s go see what our new quarters look like,” Amanda said. She turned around, walking backward along the hallway, looking up at the doctor with a smile.

“What are you so cheery about?” Jerry asked.

“Samantha had her puppies, silly! That should make anyone cheery. Why are you so sullen today?” Amanda countered with a grin.

The fox stopped at a random cabin door without answering and thumbed the control. The panel slid aside and he reached in to turn on the lights. Amanda walked back to him and hooked an arm through one of his. He arched an eyebrow at her in momentary surprise and then led her into the room.

Amanda and Jerry stopped just inside the door, both of them wearing sudden frowns. The cabin was considerably smaller than the ones they had on the Okami freighter. The bed was little larger than a full, tucked into an alcove in the wall, with storage above and below it. Across a wide aisle from the bed was a dresser, also built into the wall, with six drawers below the counter and a moderate size vidscreen mounted above it. Next to the dresser was a closet large enough to walk into. However, once it was filled with clothing, there would barely be room to turn around in it. A full-length mirror occupied the inside panel of the closet door. Beside the wall at one end of the bed was a cushioned chair before a small, built-in desk that was equipped with a monitor and touchpad keyboard. At the other end of the room was another door that led to a lavatory with a multi-species squat toilet, a counter with a sink and a large shower. There was no immersion bathtub for soaking, something that Amanda loved using in her current cabin on board the Horizon.

In all, the entire cabin was no larger than a single-occupancy hotel room. It was a nice room, just smaller than what they were used to, about the size of the front chamber of the cabins in the other ship.

“I don’t believe this,” Jerry muttered. “They want us to spend all our time in here when we’re not on duty?”

Amanda had to check her own disappointment before responding. “Well,” she said quietly, “Taro did say that with the new engine system we wouldn’t be spending weeks at a time out in space between worlds. I guess the engineers didn’t feel we needed as much room for visitors if we weren’t going to be in them as much.”

The doctor looked over at her with a nod and then sat down on the edge of the bed. “I guess that makes sense,” he replied, “but I don’t think I like it. It was nicer having a front room to entertain guests without them having to see where I slept.”

He poked at the mattress to test its firmness. “The rest of this ship seems to be designed with the larger Silloni and Ryujin in mind, but I just can’t see someone the size of Tristen sleeping on this bed.” He looked up at his companion and muttered, “It may be a faster vessel, but I think we should be glad that Merlin didn’t have to buy this ship.”

Both Jerry and Amanda had joined the crew of the Blue Horizon years after Merlin had acquired the current H-model Okami freighter. Unlike the other, long-time members of the crew, they had never stayed in the smaller cabins of the original G-model vessel the business had started out with. In comparison, the crew quarters of the Kirin-class freighter were a little larger than those on that original freighter, but considerably smaller than the one they currently lived in.

“It’s a prototype,” Amanda reminded him. “One of our tasks will be to make suggestions and recommendations for improvements to the company for future models. I vote we propose larger cabins as a design change, even at the sacrifice to the number of them we have.”

***

“It’s not as big as our quarters on the Horizon,” Justy said as he stretched out on the bed of a cabin he and Lori had ducked into, “but I like it!”

The white doe stretched out on the mattress next to him. “Why?” she asked. “I admit it’s cozy, but it’s a lot smaller than what we have now.”

Justy grinned and began to pet the soft fur of the arm she draped across him. “I always thought the Horizon’s cabins were too large for my tastes,” he replied. “I’ve stayed in some cabins in a luxury liner that were smaller than this, but a larger room is harder to keep clean.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have as much stuff as the rest of us,” Lori agreed. “Your cabin is always so sparse and looks almost empty. Why is that?”

“I’m still trying to figure out why most of you keep as much stuff as you do!” the koala countered with a smile. “I have only what I need, with a few things that I fancy, but there’s no need to keep loads of stuff that you may only use or even look at once in a long while.”

The bunny’s blue eyes sparkled with her smile. “Those bits of things and stuff are pieces of memories, Justy. I can pick up my trinkets and associate good times with each one of them. They help me remember those times when I might otherwise forget them.”

“Did you see all the clutter and junk that was all over Damien’s cabin when we cleaned it?” the koala asked. “If that stuff was reminders of good memories, I don’t even what to think about what he might consider bad times.”

Lori rested her chin on his shoulder with a frown. “Well,” she mused sadly, “he probably didn’t have many good things to remember. In his case, I suppose his stuff was just clutter that he never bothered to throw away.” She fell quiet for several moments and then moisture began to rim her eyes when she remembered the reason he had been so closed off from everyone.

Justy reached up and wiped away a tear from her cheek fur with a finger, and then he used it to tickle the end of her pink nose. “Don’t think about it, Lori. We have a new ship, so let’s go explore it some more!”

Her expression softened and she leaned in to give him a gentle nuzzle before crawling back off the bed. “Okay,” she said with a little smile. “I want to see my kitchen.”

***

Renny opened a door in the corridor and took a peek in at the air and water reclamation units inside. So far, they had found the laundry room, empty storage closets, system lockers and the ship’s computer mainframe. Fourteen cabins also lined the passage, seven in each corridor.

The navigator shut the door and looked at Taro. “There’s so much equipment in there, a couple wouldn’t have enough room to hide out and get frisky!”

The vixen shook her head in amusement, but didn’t bother with a reply. They had reached the end of the starboard corridor without meeting anyone else, so they turned the corner and found two doors, each across the hall from one another.

One door on the aft wall was adorned with the PA-universal symbol for eating: a vertical fork, knife and a spoon arranged side by side and crossed by a pair of horizontal chopsticks. That would be the galley, so they turned to the remaining door to see what was inside.

Aside from the cargo deck seen through the glassteel window when they had first come on board, the recreation room was the largest compartment they had found so far. There was another door like the one they had just come in through on the opposite end of the room, likely leading out into the corridor across from the door to the bridge.

The floor was covered in more of the pliable earthtone material, the walls were a blue so pale that was almost white, and there were two skylight windows in the ceiling between light panels. Two curving sofas resided in front of a huge vidscreen display that took up most of its wall. The room was relatively empty of recreational equipment, but they had plenty on board the Okami with which to fill it.

“Not bad,” Renny commented. “Since our cabins are smaller, I can see myself spending more of my free time in here.”

“You probably won’t need your exercise equipment, though,” Taro said, pulling him back out into the corridor. “You’re going to get plenty of exercise moving cargo every few days.”

“Maybe, but I’m not leaving my equipment behind!”

Taro thumbed the pad to enter the galley, but before the door opened, they could hear voices raised in heated argument. The panel slid aside and they saw a large, polarized window dominating the opposite wall, looking aft of the ship between the round flared edges of engine pods. This particular view overlooked the spaceport toward the Arvallian Sea, but none in the room were focused on it.

Jerry was leaning over a long dining table toward a flustered Justy. Lori sat beside the koala and Amanda was opposite her beside the fox, both of them looking apprehensive.

“—can be repaired!” Jerry fairly shouted at the computer tech. “He can just hire another--” His words trailed off when everyone noticed the captain and her first officer.

“What’s going on, guys?” Taro asked with a twitch of her whiskers. Renny took up a station just behind her to the left as the door panel shut behind his tail.

“I like the ship,” Justy said, hooking a thumb up at the doctor. “He doesn’t.”

Jerry sat down, but looked up at the captain. “May I ask you a question?”

Taro appeared as if she were going to say something, but then changed her mind and simply replied, “Ask.”

“During the test of this ship, does Merlin actually own it?

“No, it belongs to the Silloni. We’re only testing it for them.”

“If Mister Tristan had not handed Merlin a new ship, would he have used insurance money to have the Blue Horizon repaired?”

“Probably.”

The male fox looked over at Justy and said, “There you have it.”

“What is this between you two?” Renny wanted to know. He sat down at the end of the galley table and leaned back against the wall behind him.

“I think Merlin should have our ship repaired and leave us on it,” Jerry answered. “There’s no need for him to sell it to a bunch of trainee mechanics. With his plans for the increased workload, he should make plenty of money during those two years to pay another crew to test it, plus have plenty to finance the repairs to the Horizon for us.”

“I doubt Merlin will change his mind about this ship,” Taro replied. “He and Master Tristan have been planning this for months.”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Jerry retorted irritably. “He can go ahead and test this ship, just don’t knock us out of our own ship to do it! He’ll have enough extra credits to pay another bunch to crew it for him.”

“It’s my turn to ask you a question,” Taro said, leaning against the wall beside the door. Jerry looked uncertain, but he gave his captain a nod. “Why are you so adamant against upgrading to a new ship?”

The male fox opened his mouth to speak, shut it again, and then gave the question some thought for a moment before giving an answer. “It’s not the upgrade that concerns me,” he said slowly. “Upgrades are fine, but that’s fine for equipment. As a doctor, I don’t think everyone in this crew will be up to the workload that will be forced upon them.” He gestured to those around him. “Look at them and think about it. No offense to any of them, but neither Justy, Lori, Amanda, nor even Pockets are physically built to do a lot of lifting.” Justy opened his mouth to speak up, but Jerry cut him off with an impatient wave of his hand.

“They do fine when they have to move cargo once every few weeks, but now the plan is to do it every few days. You can forget them going on shore leave during the day it takes the new engine to recharge. They’ll be too exhausted in their tiny, cramped cabins to move after the first several days. Renny, Max and I are probably in better shape that we could do it only a few days more than them before we would join them in exhaustion. Taro, you could outlast any of us, but you’re the captain and you sure aren’t going to move the cargo by yourself.”

“Those are valid concerns,” Renny said, “but —”

“As cargo movers, we’re a soft lot,” Jerry interrupted. “Myself included. Let Merlin hire a physically fit crew with an athletic trainer to do the kind of workload he intends with this ship. The science of the faster engine is great, but I don’t think he’s thought through the physical repercussions of its application in freight transfer.”

“The rest of us aren’t afraid of hard work, despite our sizes,” Justy grumbled. “I think you just prefer lying around for several weeks at a time to get your pay!” The koala was usually an easy-going guy, but the fox’s ill mood was rubbing off on him.

Jerry took a swipe at him angrily, but Taro reached out quickly and snared his wrist before he could connect. “Calm down,” she said darkly. “Both of you.”

“He started it!” Justy complained.

“I’m going to finish it!” Taro snapped. “Listen, all of you. As Renny said, Doc has some valid concerns. The testing of a prototype system means more than just testing the equipment. It also means testing the way we do things. If something doesn’t work out, we make suggestions to change the way procedures are done so others to follow can benefit from it.”

The vixen released the doctor’s wrist and moved to put her hands on his shoulders. “You and I can talk with Merlin and discuss your concerns with him. It’s very possible that moving cargo every two or three days is only a preliminary arrangement at this early stage in the testing, and once he’s aware of your thoughts, he’ll probably be willing to work with us on a schedule that would be more feasible.” She began to knead his shoulders gently. It startled him at first, but he did not attempt to stop her ministrations.

“You’ve never really worked with Merlin himself,” she told him as everyone else remained quiet, “but he was my captain for almost ten years before he left the ship in my care. He always allowed his crew to come to him with their concerns, and he always listened. If it was something he could change and felt would be a benefit, he never had a problem doing it. Let’s talk to him in a civil manner, and you’ll see how attentive he can be to your concerns.”

“You think he will accept my idea to repair the Horizon and keep it in service?” Jerry asked in surprisingly normal tones.

“You never know, he might. On the other hand, the structural damage to our ship may prove too expensive to repair. Even without the arrangement with Sillon, he still may have needed to replace the Horizon outright to stay in business. In any case, Merlin may heed your advice about the workload on the Kirin and loosen it up so that the crew doesn’t have too many jobs so close together to cause fatigue.”

“He might even come up with a third option that none of us have thought about yet,” Renny added.

Jerry closed his eyes and felt tense muscles relax under Taro’s massage. “In the meantime,” the vixen said with a glance over at Justy, “control your tempers if you don’t like what someone else has to say. That’s all I’m going to say on that matter. If I have to bring it up again, some heads will roll. Now… this new ship will have both pros and cons, but try not to nit-pick it to death. We’re going to have it for two years, so there’s no need to try to find all its faults right off. Come to either me or Renny with your comments or concerns, and in turn, we’ll present them to Merlin and Master Tristan.”

She looked around the room, but no one else appeared to have anything more to say at the moment. “Okay, she said with a look at her techwatch, “go ahead and look around some more if you want – I know that I do. We’ll meet down at the van in an hour and then we’ll head back to Merlin and Samantha’s house for supper.”

The door to the galley suddenly slid open. Pockets burst into the room, followed more slowly by Max and Tristan. “Wow, have you guys seen the ship?” the raccoon exclaimed gleefully. “This is gonna be great!”

***

Mid-morning of the next day, Merlin casually sat down at the Kirin’s pilot station and motioned for Taro to take another seat. He studied the console in front of him for a moment and then spied what he was looking for. A video box appeared in the middle of the forward window, displayed by its near-invisible internal circuitry. The image on the vidscreen showed a view of the cargo deck, where the dual bay doors were open to let in the late morning sunshine.

In view, Master Tristen and a younger pinto-patterned Silloni woman led a small group of PASS journalists into the ship on a casual tour of both Hyld-equipped vessels they had brought to Dennier. Local representatives of the Planetary Alignment Scientific Society had been invited to examine the Kokoro and Kirin as part of the Silloni spokesman’s public announcement on the Hyper-LightDrive’s existence.

The bridge speakers picked up Tristan’s rich tones explaining that through their intention to develop a faster system to bridge the distance between the Mytha star system and the rest of the PA, a breakthrough technology shared with Sillon’s sister world Ryu provided the solution to the problem. He went on to explain that only the two prototypes had been constructed, but if successful after a two-year testing period, the Hyld engine systems could be mass-produced for sale to the rest of the Planetary Alignment. He said nothing of the third vessel equipped with the new system, at the request of the Spatial Police Force testing it for them.

“Due to their immeasurable help to Sillon when star SDC-971 exploded and disrupted communications,” Tristan told them, “our government has selected Blue Horizon Freight Transfer of Dennier to test the freighter design of our Hyld system. Testing will begin— yes?”

He nodded toward a yellow Labrador who had raised a hand for attention. “Thank you, sir,” she said. “Are you aware that word has been circulating that Blue Horizon is not a reliable freight transfer company? Is it wise to trust this technological miracle to such a business?”

Merlin sat up straight in his chair, flattening his ears against his head. On the screen, Tristan nodded and clasped his hands together behind his back. “I have heard this and we have looked into it,” he replied, “but there has been no evidence to support such an accusation that likely originated with a competitor. Following the Siilv War, the captain of the Blue Horizon practiced sound business tactics and kept his company above the rough waters of economic instability. They did well enough that extra ships had to be added to their small fleet to handle the business coming their way. Other freightliners were not so fortunate and no doubt envious, so I would suggest the foundationless rumors began there.” The look of confidence on the unicorn’s face betrayed no second thoughts.

“Blue Horizon Freight Transfer has the full support of both the Silloni and Ryujin governments, the latter of which has been actively sought for membership into the Planetary Alignment. Our choice of test crew is not open for negotiation, so let us move on to the more important issues for which you were invited here to report. Testing will begin within a week’s time, as soon as the crew has acquired sufficient instruction on the new vessel’s operation. Now, for the technical aspects of the Hyld system, I wish to introduce you to this lovely engineer who will join the Blue Horizon’s crew for its first year of testing.”

Merlin muted the sound and swiveled his seat to face his flagship captain. “Well,” he said quietly, “the secret’s now out of the bag. Granted, the information was given to a technical science group rather than released through multimedia news channels, but I’m sure INN and others will eventually find out about it.”

“Something of this nature will be too important to the Planetary Alignment for this to stay quiet for long,” Taro agreed. “When the news does break, I hope you and the home office are prepared for the flood of folks demanding to know more about the new system.” The vixen absently toyed with the ornamental feather hanging from the disk clipped to the fur behind her left ear. “Personally, I wouldn’t have even told the scientific community about it until the testing was well underway, or even completed. That way we could have continued to operate our business without having to deal with newshounds or idiots who might want to take the ship from us.”

Merlin nodded. “That was my original suggestion to Master Tristan as well, but he seems to feel the dangers will be at a minimum and that the scientists have a right to know about such a breakthrough, even though they have no intention of stating where the technology originated. If anyone on board the ship or in the home office are besieged with demands for information, we are to direct all inquirers to Master Tristen’s office. They will handle all PR for this. We are obligated to give nothing to the public.”

Taro looked at him in hesitation and took a moment before she asked, “Have you had the chance to think about the concerns we brought to you last night?”

“Yes,” the wolf replied. “I happen to agree with your doctor about the workload. Although we have the means to move a lot of freight in a short period of time, that doesn’t mean we have to fill our workload as full as it can be. However, once these ships are available to the public, you know that some captains will push their people and their schedules to the limit to bring in as many credits as possible.”

“Yes, but that won’t be for at least another two years,” Taro countered. “While we’re testing the new ship and procedures, there’s no reason to push this crew to their limits right away, is there?”

Merlin shook his head. “No, there is no reason for that,” he agreed. “As soon as the home office was open this morning, I instructed Cindy to start altering the initial delivery schedule we’d already come up with per Jerry’s recommendations. She and Keri should be working on that right now.”

“That’s good to know. What about the other request?”

The wolf grew quiet for a moment, but then shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. The structural damage to the Horizon is too great to keep her in service. While we were all at my house awaiting the birth of the pups this weekend, there were engineers from Okami Corp. out here looking at the damage for me.”

“What?” Taro exclaimed. “You had people on board my ship without telling me about it?”

“That’s right,” Merlin replied in a suddenly stern voice. “I had already anticipated that someone would bring up the argument you and Jerry gave me last night after supper, so I wanted an unbiased engineering inspection of the damage to your ship without interference. I had Stuart Sloan accompany them into the ship, but they were not allowed on the upper decks, only in the damaged area. The lift was locked down so no one could sneak upside.”

Taro crossed her arms and looked at him defiantly, but then turned away when she could not maintain contact with his piercing gaze. When she did not say anything, the wolf continued.

“The Oubliette did far more damage than you realize,” he told her. “That solvent melted a hole through both of your hulls, right across a major structural rib, and when the substance finally played out, the immediate area around it crystallized and became brittle. Yes, you were able to affix a patch over the hole to allow you to pressurize that deck, but when you dropped out of orbit to land, gravitational and atmospheric stresses of your aerodynamic flight further strained the fatigued structure. The engineers believe that the major load-bearing rib fractured like a dry stick close to the moment you landed. Had you been in the air much longer, the ship might have come apart on you to disastrous results.”

“Renny and Jerry both remarked that the landing felt different this time,” Taro admitted.

“Being experienced with how the ship flies and how it feels during a landing, I have no doubt they noticed something that major.”

Taro leaned forward, trying to make sense of the technical explanation he had given her. “When that bomb took out the Hidalgo Sun’s airlock and cargo bay door, they had more damage than what we got, but yet they were able to repair the damage to get their ship back in business!”

“That’s because you’re only looking at the external evidence of the damage. That bomb didn’t do the same thing to the Hidalgo Sun as what Bennington’s associates did to the Blue Horizon. That structural rib cannot be simply patched like a cracked bulkhead or replaced with a spare in stock. The ship is built around the keel and ribs; it’s not a replaceable part. The metal fatigue has become so great that I’m not sure I would even trust a short flight from the spaceport to a junk yard!”

He tapped out a few commands on the console and brought up several high-resolution photos on the righthand screen. They were detailed images of the Blue Horizon’s structure and Taro’s eyes widened when she realized what it was she was seeing. The metal alloy supports were splintered quite severely, and several sections had even started to spread apart. Even without having an engineering background, she could tell just how close they had come to falling apart. It was quite frightening.

“Oh, my goodness!” she breathed in a bare whisper. She looked at Merlin and he had his arms across his chest.

“It’s quite an eye-opener, it’s it?” he murmured. “Perhaps we should show these images to the others too.”

The vixen swallowed hard as the realization finally sunk in with vivid understanding. The death of her first ship was just as final as Merlin’s first one had been. Slowly, she shook her head and dropped her hands into her lap.

“What about buying another Okami to replace her?” she asked meekly. “Surely the insurance from the damage would pay for a good part of the cost. That’s what you would have done anyway, right?”

Merlin looked at her compassionately and leaned forward in his chair. “Taro, you know as well as I that if the test of the Kirin is successful, I will be replacing my entire fleet with these ships. It’s true that I probably would have purchased another Okami to replace the Horizon under normal circumstances, but with the present situation, you know I’m not going to spend that kind of money for a ship that will be replaced in just a couple of years. The need simply isn’t there.”

Merlin sat up and rubbed the back of his neck for a moment. “We already have a replacement for your damaged ship, Taro — it’s just not another Okami. You are still in command, if you want to be.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “You were thinking of replacing me?” she asked hoarsely.

“Not at all. I think you’ve done a fine job, but you don’t seem like you are really interested in this ship. I know Jerry isn’t interested, and I’m afraid we may have to make some personnel transfers just as you and I discussed a couple days ago.”

Taro released a long sigh and then gave him the hint of a smile. “I’m sorry, Merlin. Yes, I am interested in remaining captain of the Horizon, no matter what class of vessel she may be.”

“I am pleased to hear it,” the wolf responded with a smile. “There’s no one else I would rather have in command of this sparkler.”

“Sparkler?”

Merlin chuckled. “The ship is sparkling new – thus, a sparkler.”

Taro snickered and felt more at ease than she had since the conversation with her crew in the galley the night before. She stretched languidly and then wiped the back of her hands across her eyes.

“I would hate to lose Jerry,” she finally said after a moment, “but I won’t try to make him stay against his wishes.”

“After Master Tristan has finished with his presentation to the PASS representatives, we’ll need to assemble your crew. We will show them these images and give them all the details on why I’m not repairing the Horizon or buying another, and then we can talk to them about their service on the new ship. I’ll get on the com to the captains of the Hidalgo Sun and the Mooncrest tomorrow after we talk with your people. We’ve said nothing to either Rezo or Corwin about the Kirin yet, so I’ll need to give them the details I gave you the other night, minus the connection to Natasha. Probably best if I do it in a conference call so I don’t have to say it all more than one more time.  I’d like you to be there, since it’s your crewmates you’ll be discussing with them in the end.”

“Sure. Even if none of my crew chooses to leave, I still have to extend the offer of transfer to Mark Littlefeather as cargo loadmaster, but I don’t want to do it until his captain knows what’s going on.”

The door to the bridge suddenly opened and Master Tristan looked in at them. “Please excuse us, Captain,” he said warmly. “I would like to show your command center to our guests.”

“Of course, please do,” Taro said with a smile. She stepped forward to extend a hand toward the first of the visitors. “Welcome aboard the Kirin, soon to be recommissioned as the Blue Horizon. I am Captain Nichols.”

Merlin got to his feet and moved quietly aside to let others come into the small room. He was pleased that Taro had finally come to understand the situation, but they still had the daunting task to face her crew.

***

Just outside engineering, Pockets held his palm up to a biometric scanner set into the wall beside the door. A small diode beneath scan glass blinked from red to amber, but otherwise did nothing more. The raccoon looked aside to his partner and shrugged.

“Maybe there’s no power to it yet,” Max suggested.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Pockets replied. He withdrew his hand and tried again. “Still nothing. You try it.”

Max put his palm up to the scanner, but he had no more luck than the chief engineer did. “Maybe we can’t get in until the ship has been formally commissioned,” he said.

“It was working for Master Tristan’s crew who flew it here. There must be a trick to it.”

“Has your chief engineer initialized it with the security passcode?” asked another voice. Max and Pockets looked around sharply. Neither of them had heard the lithe Silloni woman come up behind them. She smiled at them calmly, secretly amused that she had surprised them; despite walking on hooves, she was light on her feet.

“Hello,” she said in a light voice, picking a spot of lint from the front of her crème-colored blouse. “We have not yet been introduced. I am Suzuko.” She was not as tall as Tristan or Guinevere, and although her alicorn towered above her by nearly a foot, she was no taller than either Taro or Renny. She wore a delicate gold chain from her neck and it glittered lightly in the corridor lights when she moved toward them. The natural paint patterns across her body that were exposed gave her a mixture of the common and of the exotic.

The raccoon smiled up at her. “Suzuko, hello! My name is Jerad Porter, but everyone calls me Pockets. I’m the chief engineer. This is Max Sinclair, my partner mechanic.”

“Hi,” the German Shepherd said quickly.

“Sinclair?” repeated the woman. “I thought Mr. Sinclair’s family line was lupine.”

Max gave her a wide grin. “He adopted me as his nephew,” he told her proudly.

“Ah, I see,” she said. She looked at Pockets. “You said you were the chief engineer? You should have the security passcode for engineering. Otherwise, I cannot let you inside.”

The raccoon nodded. No one was allowed in engineering without authorization anymore and she was adhering to the policy. Anyone could say he was authorized, but without the codes, entry was not permitted. He dug into a chest pocket and withdrew a small envelope that Master Tristan had given him.

“I’m sorry,” he told her. “We’re not yet familiar with this new design. I wasn’t sure what to do to get set up.”

Suzuko gave him a warm smile. “That’s why I’m here. I am assigned to your crew for the first year of testing. May I have your passcode, please? I will show you how to set up the biometric scanner to recognize your prints.”

Pockets remembered policy, too. He shook his head and said, “Thanks, but if you’ll just instruct me on what to do, I’ll hang onto the passcode.”

Suzuko nodded. “Very good, Mr. Porter. Had you given me the code, I would have marked it as a violation of our security agreement.”

Max furrowed his brow. “Are we to be tested as well as the ship?” he asked guardedly. “I’m not sure everyone will like having a snitch on board.”

The unicorn chuckled, but shook her head. “No, Mr. Sinclair, that’s not why I’m here. However, due to the sensitivity of this new system, we must take our security very seriously. Foremost, I am an engineer and will be a working member of your crew. I don’t have any authority over your chain of command, but if I see any major violations, please understand that I am under obligation to report them.”

“I see,” said Pockets quietly. “I have my passcode. What do I need to do to get us into the system?”

Suzuko stepped up next to him and tapped a blank section of the wall panel just beneath the scanner. A hidden alphanumeric keypad flipped out at a forty-five-degree angle and Pockets nodded when it clicked into place.

“Type in your sixteen-digit passcode and then press the white tab.” Pockets pulled a small beige card from the envelope and studied it for a moment before he tapped in the alphanumeric sequence. He tapped the white tab and then the red diode beneath the scan glass changed to amber.

“Place one palm on the scanner. Now with your other hand, hit the white tab twice.” Pockets did as instructed. He expected the glass to glow, hear a hum or something, but there was no visible activity with the scanner. Only the tiny diode beneath it changed its color to blue.

“Okay, you’re now in the system, Mr. Porter,” Suzuko said. “Has Mr. Sinclair been authorized for access to the engine room?”

Pockets nodded and stepped back. “Yes, this is his work station.”

“Mr. Sinclair, please place a hand on the scanner.” Max quietly did as he was told, still somewhat unsure of her purpose for being there. The diode turned red as soon as his hand came in contact with the scanner glass. Pockets worked the keypad, and a moment later, the diode changed once again to blue.

“The captain and her first officer will need to be added in the same manner, but for now you will need to input the passcode once again to close out the sequence.”

Pockets did as instructed, and then tucked the beige card back into its envelope. “Now what?” he asked.

Suzuko tapped the bottom of the keypad and then it flipped back into place, the panel fitting flush with the wall. “Now, when you need to enter the engine room, simply place your palm upon the scanner. It will detect your presence and automatically check to make sure you are in the system. There is an identical scanner on the other side of the door. Likewise, you will not be able to leave the compartment without the scanner.”

“What if there’s a power failure?” Max asked. “How do we get out if the scanner’s not working?”

“Now that the security system has recognized you, I can tell you this. There’s an emergency exit inside that I will show you, but you must not reveal its existence to anyone else on the crew,” Suzuko answered with a sudden smile that crinkled the corners of her large brown eyes. “It isn’t even on the schematics.”

“We could have used an emergency exit on our last voyage,” Max replied. “I really don’t want to have to go through that again.”

Pockets reached up and placed his palm face down on the scanner. As before, there was no visible activity other than the tiny diode changing color. This time it turned green and the pressure door slid aside smoothly. “Nice,” the raccoon said with a grin.

Suzuko walked in through the door and Pockets followed her inside. Max hesitated for just a heartbeat before he walked into the new engine room. The panel slid shut behind him, almost trapping his tail against the door jamb, but he managed to jump out of the way just before it sealed. He sighed quietly, resolving to learn to get through that door more quickly.

***

Taro’s crew was to meet in the Rec Room of the new ship for a staff meeting she had called, but it was not for another hour. Plenty of time, Pockets thought to himself. He walked quietly up and down the aisles of engineering with a small black box tucked under one arm, making sure he was alone. He and Max had just met with engineers from Okami Corp. concerning the damage to the Horizon at Merlin’s insistence, and the raccoon had been in full agreement of their final assessment once he had seen the structural splintering with his own eyes.

With his excitement over the capabilities of the new Kirin freighter, Pockets felt no remorse over the loss of their old vessel. Although he had long been intimately familiar with the Okami design, he was thrilled to have an entirely new ship to discover.

Max was over on the Blue Horizon, boxing up his personal effects to get ready for the eventual move to his new cabin. Technically, they could not transfer anything to the new vessel until the two ships were processed through their commissions later that day, but Suzuko had gone with Tristan back to the Sinclair home and Pockets wanted to use the time alone to make a small modification.

When he and Max had taken their initial tour through the engine room led by the Silloni pinto, he had taken a close inspection of the Hyld system that was modeled after Natasha’s Particle Vault system. He was impressed by what he saw, but saw nothing that resembled the safety box that Calissa had constructed and installed onto the Blue Horizon while they were on Se’rei.

According to Calissa, traveling by Vault had its share of dangers, only some of which she had warned him about, and then only hinting at some that she said were rare occurrences. The component appeared to have only two outward color diodes, and as long as the green light was on, she had said the Vault was safe to use.

However, if it should ever show red at any time, under no circumstances were they to use the Vault. She would not elaborate, only telling him it was for their protection and that it was not a rule they should ever bend. Both lights would go dark after a Vault jump discharged the unit. Only when it was safe to use again, the green diode would illuminate.

Although the unit was in a molecularly-sealed box, Calissa had shown him that it only had to be installed near the Vault’s primary components. When he had pressed her for more details, all she would divulge was that the small unit monitored for specific spatial signatures. Beyond that, she would not say. It was apparent she had believed that they would have only used the home-built Vault system on the Horizon for emergencies, never dreaming it would become part of the heart of a new ship.

He could install the unit with common tools he typically carried on his person when in his coveralls, and it would only take five minutes. Nothing special required.

***

Lorelei Easter stood dutifully at a serving cart she had brought up with her from the Horizon, handing out drinks to her crewmates as they entered the Kirin’s Rec Room. The brightness of her rainbow tie-dyed tee shirt stood out vibrantly in the sunlight that streamed into the room from the overhead skylights. The large vidscreen also displayed the forward view from the nose of the ship, adding additional light to the room.

Amanda requested a glass of jamonade and the bunny filled a frosted glass from a chilled pitcher of the local fruit drink. The coyote took her glass to a long, curved couch and sat down between Renny and Doctor Somner. Jerry looked sullen, but Renny was all smiles as he chatted quietly with a female unicorn seated on his other side.

Amanda did not recognize the Silloni pinto, but admired the way she held herself. Her hair was predominantly white, and from what Amanda could see, her right shoulder and arm were chocolate brown, as was her mane and tail. She wore loose tan slacks shaped for her digitigrade anatomy and a bright yellow blouse. Her alicorn was pearly white with a hint of iridescent sheen, but Amanda thought that last might simply be an application of Silloni makeup to accent the beauty of her horn, since it had been applied to her hooves to match. The woman looked to be in her late twenties and she had an easy laugh toward something Renny had said to her.

In contrast, the coyote looked over at Jerry, who stared out at the external vista displayed on the vidscreen. He seemed lost in thought, but the expression on his face and in his orange eyes reflected inner turmoil. She felt saddened that her friend was in such a mood concerning their situation, but with things being as they were, she did not think there was any real alternative.

The coyote had a small sense of foreboding about the meeting that Taro had called of her crew. It could be something as simple as direction to begin stocking the new ship, but with Merlin’s presence at the gathering, she suspected it was something more. The gray wolf stood over in a corner with her captain, whispering quietly with occasion glances back toward the congregating crew. Amanda shook her head and tried to shake off the feeling. Perhaps it was just the jitters at having to transfer to another vessel when she had not even been on the other one for much more than a few months.

Pockets was the last to show up, and after he and Lori took the last spots on the adjacent couch, Merlin and Taro walked over to the group. The vixen stood in front of the large vidscreen, dressed smartly in a pair of black slacks and a mint green blouse, while Merlin activated a control that shut off the external image so there would be no outside distractions.

“I hope you are comfortable,” Taro told her people. “Merlin and I will need your full attention for a while, but if anyone needs a break, just ask. First of all, let me tell you all that Merlin and I are in agreement over what we are going to discuss. We have had some long talks with debates and deliberations, and now it’s time to let you know what we’ve come up with.” She looked at each of them before her for a moment before she added, “Let me remind you that this is a discussion, and any responses you may have are to be kept civil, as what is decided here today may affect your futures.”

Amanda swallowed hard at the captain’s last statement. Perhaps the feeling of foreboding was not inaccurate after all.

“The first topic I want to bring up is a suggestion brought up at our last meeting concerning replacement of the Blue Horizon with another Okami freighter.” Jerry locked eyes with Taro, but otherwise kept his facial expression neutral. “While we were gathered at the Sinclair home this weekend, Merlin had the damage to the Horizon inspected by engineers brought in from Okami Corp. After a thorough examination, it was determined that the damage to a primary structural rib is not reparable. “We all knew this might be the case, but now we have official confirmation.” With this, Merlin brought up the images of the damage to their ship. There were some gasps, while some of the others were not sure what they were looking at.

“Pockets has already confirmed their findings, so there’s no doubt about the extent of the damages. But our old ship will never fly again in its condition, and the tech school that will assume ownership may have to have it manually transported by a heavy-lifter.”

There were nods around the room, but Jerry remained impassive. “However,” Taro continued, “it has been decided that with the likely replacement of all the current ships in our company with these Kirin-class freighters after our testing period has ended, there is no reason to spend the credits to replace the Horizon with another Okami model for such a short duration. Due to Sillon’s trust in us to test their new vessel, we already have a replacement.”

Jerry set his jaw firmly and Taro could see his neck muscles tighten up as he slowly crossed his arms. The vixen sighed inwardly and forced herself to break his penetrating stare to look around at the others, but thankfully the physician remained quiet.

“Nevertheless,” Taro continued, “Merlin agrees that the preliminary workload imposed upon us with the new ship’s capabilities was too ambitious and he has been working with the home office to relax it a bit to give us all a little more recoup time between jobs. We will still be making more shipments than we are used to, but we will no longer have three or four weeks of downtime between worlds. At first, we will be making one shipment a week until we get used to the physical demands of the new schedule, and then possibly to two a week if we feel we can decrease the time between shipments later. Before that happens, I promise we will make the decision together – it will not be forced upon you.”

Taro looked over her shoulder at Merlin, who stood with his tail to the large vidscreen. He gave her a subtle nod to indicate he was still there to back her up, and then she faced her silent people once more. She was surprised that no one had tried to interrupt her, but was grateful for their full attention.

“Now, several of you have come to me in private with your concerns about transferring our operations to the Kirin, and we have taken your feelings to heart, so this brings us to an announcement that is going to require a personal decision by each of you.”

“Uh oh,” Justy muttered beneath his breath. In the quiet of the room, however, everyone heard him.

“As we have been reminded, there are those among us who may not be as physically suited for extensive cargo moving as others. If… there are any of you who do not think you are up to the task with our new workload, Merlin has agreed to let—”

“Let us go?” Lori exclaimed with a sudden fear scent.

Taro looked at the bunny with shake of her head. “Merlin has agreed to let you transfer to either of our other ships, providing one of your counterparts will agree to swap with you and come over to this crew.” Most of the eyes looking back at her reflected the surprise she knew they were feeling. The vulpine doctor was no exception; this was not an announcement he had anticipated.

“No one will lose his or her job, unless even this arrangement is not satisfactory,” Taro said over the conversations that had started. “I know this is not a welcome thought, but if you wish to transfer to another ship, but none of your counterparts want to swap out with you, you will be left with the choice of staying here — or resigning your employment with us altogether.”

That stopped discussions and drew the focus back upon her.

“If it comes to that, you will not be penalized for breaking contract, but we will provide you with references for your next employer. At the moment, we have not informed the captains of the Hidalgo Sun or Mooncrest of our arrangement with Sillon, so there are none on those vessels who yet know anything about this new ship. Once word gets out to them, however, I am sure there will be those within their crews who would be envious of the opportunity you folks have here. Keep in mind that if you do choose to swap out, which is nothing to be ashamed of, it is extremely likely that the vessel you transfer to will also be replaced by another Kirin freighter in two years after the testing period. However, I am sure we will have the shipping schedule shaped into something workable by that time and perhaps a new ship will not be so daunting then.

“The choice is yours, but since we are on a timetable, I’m afraid that I will need your decision whether to swap or stay no later than 0900 tomorrow morning. That only gives you overnight to think about it, but Merlin is going to have a conference call with Captains Corwin and Kegawa tomorrow to give them the details of our Silloni contract. He will need to know if there are any swaps to be offered to their crews so he can open discussions with those individuals immediately.” A hand was raised. “Yes, Pockets?”

“Count me in,” the raccoon said with a smile. “I’m staying!”

“No surprise, there,” Renny said with a chuckle.

“Well, no surprise here either,” Max piped up with a grin. “I’m staying too!”

Taro raised her voice. “Before anyone else gives me an immediate response one way or the other,” she said over beginning discussions, “I want you to think it over tonight. Even if you are sure of your decision right now, think about it. Tell me tomorrow morning – in private. I will get up early in the morning and will set up out in the gazebo behind Merlin’s house. Your current contracts were for the old ship, so I will have new contracts for the two-year duration testing the new ship. Now, as with your previous contracts, you will be paid per voyage. This means that if you choose to serve with us on the new ship — and we make more frequent voyages —”

“More credits for everybody!” Pockets said excitedly.

“That’s right,” Taro continued, “but even if you decide to stay on board, you will still need to come out to me in the gazebo to sign your new contract.” She looked out over the group, but purposely did not lock eyes with anyone. “Now listen to me, folks – this is very important. If you fail to sign your contract or fail to inform me of your intention to swap with another crew by 0900, I will mark you down as needing references to take to another employer.”

“Hey Max,” Justy said with an impish grin, “if you want to move up the chain of command to Chief Engineer, now’s your chance to slip Pockets a Mickey Finn tonight so he oversleeps!” Some of the tension in the room dissipated with shared laughter. The raccoon pulled a rubber band from a shirt pocket and snapped Justy’s arm with it. “Ow!”

Pockets pulled out another rubber band and aimed it at his partner. “You stay away from my drink, Max!” he growled playfully.

The German shepherd raised his hands as if he were being held up by an outlaw. “You’d better go to bed thirsty,” he warned him with a smirk.

Renny and Taro exchange amused looks with one another as Merlin chuckled behind the vulpine captain. Taro shook her head with a smile and clapped her hands a few times. When she finally held everyone’s attention, she put her hands behind her back.

“Okay, now that we’re on the subject of personnel, I have two announcements to make,” she said. “As you have probably noticed, we have a newcomer among us. As part of our two-year contract, a Silloni engineer will join our crew for the first year as an advisor with the new ship and Hyld system. She is not here to spy on us, but is an expert on all things Kirin. She will be working with Pockets and Max during all our tests and every day usages to help us over any rough areas. Once we get underway, if you have suggestions or recommendations on how the ship may need to be improved or altered before they are mass-produced for the public, she’s the one to go to. This is Suzuko, everyone. She will be a regular member of our crew and will join us in everything as one of us, including cargo detail. Please introduce yourselves to her as you get the chance; get to know one another.”

“Hi, Suzuko, I’m Lori!” the lapin doe said cheerily with a finger wave.

The unicorn waved back with a smile. “Hello, Lori,” she replied.

“Later, she said!” Renny quipped.

“Moving right along,” Taro continued. “In addition to all this, we’re still in need of a cargo loadmaster, so when we contact Captain Kegawa tomorrow, I’m going to offer the position to Mark Littlefeather at Merlin’s recommendation.”

There were looks of surprise. At least half of the crew was aware of the wolf’s trust issues with humans, but Merlin merely smiled back at their looks of wonder. “He’s the best one for the job,” he assured them, “and was my first choice for Mr. Legrand’s replacement.”

Taro winced inwardly. She had not wanted to mention the mastiff’s name, and the expressions on several faces confirmed that they had suddenly recalled the reason for needing a new cargo loadmaster. Merlin caught it too and cleared his throat.

“Listen, folks,” he said. “Many of you attempted to help your crewmate through his unnamed troubles while he was with you, but his difficulties started before you ever met him. Whether or not he is guilty will be settled by a court of law, but there’s nothing more you can do but try to remember him well. Now… I trust Mr. Littlefeather, and if he accepts the position, he will be one of you. Most of you already know Mark and he’s already a part of the company. If he agrees to the transfer, Master Tristan has agreed to rendezvous with the Hidalgo Sun in the Kokoro to bring Mark back to us. I’ll then try to have a replacement hired and waiting for Captain Kegawa at his next stop. Likewise, if any of you make the decision, Tristan will transport all other personnel swaps for us.”

Taro motioned the wolf to stand beside her in front of her crew. She looked at her techwatch and said, “If any of you have questions, you can come up to either of us tonight and you can be assured to get an honest answer. However, I need everyone to gather outside the cargo ramp of the old ship in about thirty minutes for a ceremony with local officials to decommission the old ship. Once that has taken place, Merlin will process the paperwork to transfer the name and operational status to this ship. You are all now free for the next half hour.”

***

Despite his verbal assurances to everyone that the Blue Horizon was only a worn or broken tool to be traded in for a new one, Pockets wiped his eyes when the Dennieran official declared the H-model Okami vessel decommissioned. PA1138 was now permanently retired. The oval-shaped flying saucer with dual paint that had been their home for the past three years was no longer Blue Horizon. For official purposes, it was now a nameless broken hulk that would soon be swarming with a new generation of students who would cut their engineering teeth on it. For convenience, however, they all started referring to the older vessel now simply as “the Okami”.

Following was another ceremony commissioning the Kirin-class Silloni freighter with Planetary Alignment registry number PA28080 and a transfer of the name SS Blue Horizon to it.

In attendance was Captain Taro Nichols and her crew, Merlin Sinclair, president of Blue Horizon Freight Transfer, Master Tristen and the seven crewmembers who had traveled with him from Sillon on both the Kokoro and the Kirin, as well as three local officials from the PA Registry office to sign and stamp the final paperwork.

Afterward, Taro had a few quiet words with her crew while Merlin and Tristan took care of a few minor details with the officials.

“Okay, folks, you’re free to do whatever you wish the rest of the evening,” Taro said with a quick glance toward a sun that would soon descend in the distance. “The new Blue Horizon is officially in service, so feel free to spend time aboard her or the Okami. We’ve already picked up a number of empty boxes and put them in the hold, so you can move some of your stuff if you wish, but you are not required to do so until Wednesday. that time, we will begin a concerted push to transfer everything that is not part of the old ship over to the new one, with our first official liftoff next Saturday. Don’t forget your favorite toothbrush, because once we depart, there will be no returning to the Okami later for anything left behind.

“For now, however, I want all of you to give serious thought to your contracts on whether you will continue serving on the Blue Horizon, transfer to the Hidalgo Sun or Mooncrest, or tender separation. Merlin said he would be here with the van for another two hours, so you can have a ride back to his place with him up until then. As for me, I’m taking a cab back to his place to visit with Samantha and the pups as soon as we’re done here.”

“I’ll ride back with you,” Renny said. “I’ll see plenty of both ships when we start to move everything over. Besides, I’m ready for supper.”

“You’re always ready for supper,” Pockets said with a grin. “As for me, though, I’m gonna hang around for a while.”

Like the raccoon, most of the others decided to loiter around the ships for a while longer. Some wished to get started boxing up their personal effects, while a couple others wanted the time to give Taro’s proposals the serious thought they deserved.

Due to his previous reaction, everyone already knew what Jerry’s thoughts were on the matter, but now that they could all disperse, he seemed more relaxed and at ease.

When Taro and Renny hailed a cab for a ride back to the Sinclair home, the doctor joined them. “I’ll split the fare with you,” he said with a smile. When they looked at him curiously, Jerry shrugged and said, “If I don’t get in on supper now, Renny won’t leave anything for me to eat later!”

Taro laughed and wondered if she had misjudged the male fox. He and the cheetah had long been friends, but for the first time in a long while, he acted in a lighthearted manner.

“You’ll have to get inside the door ahead of me,” Renny said with a dig to the doctor’s ribs while Taro gave the destination address to the driver.

“Yes, I know… Just make sure my fingers are out of the way when you get started!” Jerry quipped.

The cab pulled out into traffic and the trio spent the entire journey back to Totter’s Lane in relaxed conversation. None of them brought up the evening’s serious topics, but instead bantered back and forth to keep the mood light.

***

When they were alone inside the engine room of the Okami with the door closed behind them, Max put a hand on Pockets’ arm. “What are we going to do about that new navigation system you acquired?” he asked.

The masked raccoon frowned and looked around as if he was afraid someone else was in the compartment with them. “Let’s keep that quiet,” he admonished. “I’m already taking care of it.”

“What did you do?” Max asked.

“I can’t return it, now, can I?”

“I suppose not, but what…?”

“I’m sure I can find a buyer for it,” Pockets replied. “I have contacts just about everywhere and I think I can get a premium price for it.”

“Pockets,” Max said with a deep frown. “What do you need the money for? With your Moss contract, you’ll have all the credits you can handle!”

The engineer gave his partner a stern look and said, “Just you forget all about that navigation system. We won’t need it on the new ship since it’s probably not as good, but I can’t let it go to the vo-tech students. I’ll take care of it myself.”

The German shepherd snorted and then let out a long sigh. “Okay,” he said. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I always do. C’mon, let’s grab a few things and take them over to the new ship.”

***

Max stumbled as he whipped his tail out of the way of the new engine room door and fell over onto the deck. Pockets chuckled and looked back at him. “Having a problem with gravity?” the raccoon asked.

The German shepherd looked up at him and Suzuko with a grimace. “I must be,” he replied, getting to his feet. He dusted off his jeans and then looked at the unicorn. “Is there a way to slow down the speed of that door?” he asked. “It nearly takes off my tail every time I go through it!”

The woman nodded. “Yes, it can be adjusted. I don’t think it was originally designed for three people to go through it at once, and since you usually bring up the rear, you’re the one it tries to close on.”

“If we could adjust it right away, I won’t be so anxious every time I go through it.”

“Sure, just let me get my tools,” she replied.

Pockets looked up at her and put his hands into two of the namesakes in the green coveralls he now wore. “What do you need?” he asked with a grin. “I probably have the tool already.”

Suzuko smiled. “Do you have a number three Kistler driver in there?”

The raccoon’s eyes lit up and he rummaged around in his left pocket a moment before holding up a double-pronged instrument. “Here ya go,” he told her.

The unicorn pinto studied him a moment in amusement and then took the tool. “Thank you,” she said.

Moments later, Max sauntered back through the door, an eye on his tail, but the closure time of the panel was more hesitant. “Yes, much better,” he admitted. Suzuko handed the tool back to Pockets and then led them deeper into the engine room.

“If you guys are willing, I’d like to show you a—” the unicorn hesitated when she saw a small black box mounted to the side of a Hyld system monitor. She knew the systems on this new ship better than anyone did and the box was foreign to her. “What…” she said with a furrowed brow, “…is this?” she asked, walking over to it.

The raccoon studied her for a moment. “You said you were aware of the origins of your new Hyld system?”

Suzuko nodded, secure that they could not be overheard in the engine room. “The system was gleaned from Captain Khasho’s encrypted data that you unlocked for us.”

“What I am about to tell you is confidential, but I think you should know since it is related,” Pockets told her. “During a recent voyage, but prior to our recent calamity, we tested a homemade Vault system on the Blue Horizon constructed from plans Natasha gave me several years ago in exchange for some information. We had a mishap, winding up beyond the established Rim of the Planetary Alignment near a previously unknown planet.” Suzuko’s eyes widened with interest. “We detected a landing beacon and followed it down to make repairs to damage caused by a misinterpretation of the plans, and also to replenish our oxygen. There at the beacon, we found one of Natasha’s former engineers who’d made a home with the local residents. She helped us make our repairs and then built this little box for us.”

“What is it?” Suzuko asked again.

“Calissa said that—”

“Calissa Thalia?” the unicorn asked in surprise. “Was she a brown rabbit?”

“Uh, yeah, with lop ears,” Pockets replied. “Do you know her?”

“Calissa Thalia was a prominent lapin engineer from Mainor who disappeared about eight years ago. This is the first I’ve heard about her since the PA-wide search for her was called off.”

Pockets grinned. “She didn’t tell me her personal history, other than she had been a member of Captain Natasha’s engineering team for a while,” he said. “When she learned of our homemade Vault unit, she asked to see the plans we used. She helped correctly translate something I’d gotten wrong, and then said that Vault travel had some dangers involved that required monitoring.”

“What sort of dangers?”

“She didn’t explain, although I did ask her. She said I probably wouldn’t have believed her, but she insisted on constructing this monitoring device for us. She said that as long as the diode was green, we could use the Vault system, but if it ever showed red, she warned us not to use it.”

“Yeah, she stressed that several times,” Max added. “She said it was a rule we should never ignore.”

“The diodes will go dark after a jump discharge, but one would light up again with a full charge,” Pockets said.

Suzuko frowned and looked again at the box. Outwardly, it was simple. There were two color diodes and then a small bundle of three wires that exited a small hole in the side. “You said this was a monitor. What does it monitor?”

“She wouldn’t tell me,” Pockets admitted with a sigh. “The box is shielded with micranite and is molecularly welded, so I haven’t been able to see what’s inside. I didn’t want to risk breaking what she built for us, so I’ve just left it hooked up as she intended. When I saw that your Hyld system didn’t have a monitor like this, I decided to hook it up for our safety. It may be nothing more than a warning system, but if we’re going to be making vault… er, hyper jumps on a regular basis, it couldn’t hurt to have the safeguard.”

“If you don’t know what it does, how did you know what to hook it up to?”

“It just needs power and grounding. Otherwise, it’s all self-contained and is hooked to nothing else, but it needs to be near the vault components. Whatever it monitors, it does it internally on its own.”

The Silloni pinto fell quiet and mulled over what she had just been told. Finally, she looked over the guys and said, “President Sinclair warned me that you liked to experiment with the engines, Mr. Porter. You know, our agreement to let you test our prototype does not allow you to make personal modifications to the system, so I’m afraid we’ll have to disconnect the box.”

“Yes, it’s true I like to experiment,” the raccoon admitted, “but that’s not what this is. It’s a safeguard put in place by someone who helped develop Natasha’s system! Calissa knew the dangers and wanted to protect us from them.”

“Dangers that she would not name,” the unicorn reminded him. “Don’t you think it’s suspicious that a member of a pirate crew would attach a mysterious box in your engine room? What if it’s a tracking device so Captain Khasho’s allies can find you and plunder your cargo? …or worse, an explosive device to disable us?”

Pockets’ eyes narrowed. “I knew Natasha personally,” he said defensively. “She never attacked private cargo ships or military vessels unless she was provoked into it. They only boarded tax ships that were extorting from the needy to the greedy, and they always left their crews alive and unharmed as possible! There would be no reason to track our ship, especially since our vault system was gifted to us – a gift that she wouldn’t hand out to just anyone!”

“Be that as it may, installing it without authorization on this ship is a security violation.”

The raccoon spread his arms wide in exasperation. “What is it with you and your stubbornness to improve the systems of your ship? Isn’t that what a prototype is for – to improve upon the base design before it goes public?”

“I didn’t say improvements couldn’t be made,” Suzuko rebuffed. “I said you were not allowed to make changes without authorization!”

“So, authorize it!”

“I can’t do that, not on my own!”

Pockets stamped a foot and snorted at her. “You want authorization? Let’s go directly to Master Tristen! He’ll understand!” Without waiting for a response, the raccoon turned on his heel and stormed out of the engine room.

***

“Unruffle your fur, Master Porter,” the large black unicorn said calmly to the raccoon. “I will listen to your argument, but at a much slower pace so I may understand your words.”

Tristan and Pockets were on opposite sides of a round table in the galley of the other Hyld-equipped vessel, the Kokoro. The former Regent was dressed in a slate gray suit of sartorial perfection designed for his physique, with a muted red tie for a spot of color. Seated, he was in contrast to the standing raccoon’s rumpled and worn green coveralls that were adorned with multiple pockets, some of which had been added on haphazardly by the engineer himself.

The raccoon was out of breath, but he forced himself to calm down. He began again, detailing his conversation with Suzuko and recalling the Blue Horizon’s prior voyage to Se’rei to the Silloni master. As long as Pockets was coherent, Tristan listened quietly without interruption until his small visitor was finished.

“When you told me of your journey to Se’rei on the night of your arrival,” the unicorn said at last, “why did you not tell me of this addition to your self-made Particle Vault system?”

“In all truth, I’d forgotten about it,” Pockets replied, scooting up on the large chair beside him. “Outside of you, Taro, Renny, Max and now Suzuko, no one else is aware of the monitoring device Calissa built for us. Sir, I know that we aren’t supposed to be allowed to modify the new ship without authorization, but this really can’t be counted as a modification. I didn’t alter anything. All I did was connect three wires for power and grounding to an otherwise self-contained unit; plugging in a fur dryer in my cabin amounts to the same thing!”

Tristan held up a hand and nodded to his guest. “Yes, I would have to agree with you, Master Porter. However, I also understand Suzuko’s hesitation to plug in a pirate’s alien device that’s purpose is hazy, at best.”

“Sir, Calissa was on Natasha’s original design team when they came up with the Vault system!” Pockets reminded him. “I admit there’s the possibility for ulterior motives as Suzuko pointed out, but I trust Calissa’s intention for building the monitor to keep us safe. She could have easily kept her mouth shut and let us face the dangers on our own without a clue.”

The unicorn clasped his hands together on top of the table and then closed his eyes. Pockets watched him for several long silent moments, almost afraid to say anything more. He knew well that sometimes saying too much could ruin his case. After bit, he began to fidget and swung his feet back and forth under the large chair he sat upon.

Tristen opened his large brown eyes and stared off into a memory without focusing on his guest. “I am curious about the dangers involved that Ms. Thalia referred to,” he said in a calmly accented voice. “After we received the key to unlock Captain Khasho’s encryption, we immediately built a small Particle Vault engine system for testing. It was installed into a remote-controlled probe and then sent off into deep space out away from the Planetary Alignment for safety reasons. It did not come back to us right away, and we thought it lost, but that was before we knew of its twenty-five-hour recharge time. It returned to orbit over Sillon the next day. When we studied the probe’s recorded data, we discovered that it had traveled the distance of nearly two hundred light-years and back. It emerged within a day’s flight at normal LightDrive speeds from a red dwarf star, so we were understandably excited about returning to investigate.

“We had designed that test engine in a modular frame, so it was pulled out of the probe and reinstalled into a small, one-person craft equipped with an armada of scientific sensors, recorders and personal supplies. One of our colleagues, a prominent scientist as well as a skilled pilot, volunteered to go back to the red dwarf to study it up close. The ship was programmed to automatically return within a week in the event the pilot was incapacitated in some way, but it never returned.”

Tristan looked down at Pockets. The raccoon’s attention was riveted to his words. “We did more testing with and without a pilot,” he continued, “but we never lost another test vessel. Without proof, we could only conjecture that either that first test engine malfunctioned or the navigational computer was not sensitive enough to brake in time and we shot him directly into the heart of the red dwarf. We may never know what happened to our associate, but with what you tell me of Ms. Thalia’s warning, I am now wondering if one of those unnamed dangers was the cause of that initial failure.”

Tristan stood up and began to pace. Pockets felt tiny next to the huge equine male and kept his seat. “I think it might be prudent for me to take your little black box back to Sillon for further study,” the unicorn said. “If traveling by vault or hyper jump presents hidden dangers, we may need to look into this more closely before setting up ships like this and yours for long-term testing.”

Pockets opened his mouth to comment, but the unicorn sighed and shook his head. “We have already announced the testing period to several scientific journals,” he remembered aloud. “If we halt the test before it’s really begun, this is going to throw the shadow of doubt across the potential of the system.”

Pockets tried again to speak, but Tristan continued. “My team and I have flown our two ships on several flights without any indication that we have been in any danger without the black box.” The raccoon held up his hand, but the unicorn did not notice. “However, I am hesitant to continue without an acceptable safety margin.” Pockets began waving his hand back and forth, and the movement finally caught Tristan’s eye. “Yes?” he responded.

“May I make a suggestion, sir?” Pockets asked.

“By all means.”

“Sir, for something with this kind of potential for safety or hazard, why don’t we ask Merlin to make the Blue Horizon’s first journey a covert return back to Se’rei? Suzuko and I could talk with Calissa about the black box and explain our intention to incorporate it into a public transport as a safety feature. She may be hesitant to help us in a commercial venture like this, but in exchange for the information, we will do what we can to keep the existence of Se’rei from the rest of the Planetary Alignment. Perhaps Sillon could claim Se’rei as its territory and quarantine that star system if or when the Hyld engine is commercialized.”

Tristan studied the raccoon for a moment before he nodded. “That might work. If Ms. Thalia is willing to draw up technical plans of the monitoring device, and explain what those dangers might be, I can offer up a treaty to her world with Master Ritchka’s authority to shield their existence from others, or whatever other compensation she might name.”

“If we act quickly, Merlin can alter our initial shipping schedule long enough for us to confer with Calissa and give her time to draw up the plans to show us how to construct the black box, if she’s amiable to sharing her knowledge.”

Tristan placed a hand palm down on the table. “I will inform Suzuko that the monitoring device will need to stay in place so that you may make a safe return to Se’rei and back. I’m afraid she may not be pleased that I have sided with you on this decision, but she knows that I have full authority over the Hyld project and will abide by it. Had we not lost our colleague mysteriously in the initial manned flight, I may not have given in to your argument, but in this instance, the safety of future Hyld-equipped vessels may depend upon your return to Se’rei.”

***

Right after Pockets had stormed out of the engine room, Max apologized to Suzuko and excused himself. He was unwilling to listen to further bickering between the two of them, so he departed the ship and hailed a cab to return to his Uncle Merlin’s home.

Shannon Wallace was surprised to see him on the front step when she answered the door chime. “Come on in, Max,” she invited after a brief hesitation.

“Is everything okay?” the German shepherd asked of her concern.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” the tan wolf answered. “I’m just not used to seeing you alone without one of your shipmates. I thought you would come back with Pockets later on this evening.”

Max gave her a wan smile and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m tired and just wanted to come back,” he said.

“Okay, return question,” Shannon said as they crossed the front room toward the kitchen. “Is everything okay with you?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said, plunging his hands into the pockets of his jeans, “but Pockets and our new mare have been arguing. I understand what both of them are saying, but didn’t feel like being in the middle of it.”

“What are they arguing about?” Renny asked. Max looked up and saw the cheetah at the dining table with a large piece of pie on a paper plate.

He took a seat opposite the navigator, crossed his arms upon the tabletop, and then put his chin down on them. He was unsure how much he should say in front of Shannon, so he decided to keep it vague. “Modifications to the engine room,” he stated in tired voice.

“Hmph, it sure didn’t take long for Pockets to start looking to see what he could upgrade or change,” Renny replied with a shake of his head. “We haven’t even lifted off on our maiden voyage yet and already he’s butting heads with another engineer.”

“Something like that,” Max agreed.

“Are you hungry?” Shannon asked.

The German shepherd thought about it for a moment, but then shook his head. “Not very much,” he replied. “I just need something else to think about besides the new ship.”

Renny took a sip from his soda straw and then stood up. He leaned across the table and put a hand on the young canine’s forehead. “Hmm, you feel okay,” the cheetah said with the hint of a smile, “but it can’t be normal for an engineer’s mechanic to want to think about something other than a new ship!”

“Ha ha,” Max responded with a smirk.

“If you want a distraction,” Shannon said while she covered a dish to keep the local flies from it, “I have an idea for you.”

“What’s that?” Max asked with interest. Renny sat down again and resumed eating.

“Follow me.” The German shepherd got up from his chair and followed the tan wolf from the kitchen. She led him down a dim hallway to a closed door. She tapped on it lightly with a claw. Samantha’s voice answered in a quiet voice.

“Yes?”

Shannon opened the door and stuck her nose into the opening. “I have someone here who would like to see his adopted relatives.”

There was a light chuckle. “Please show him in.”

The wolf waved Max into the room and then shut the door behind him on her way out. The German shepherd stood beside an oak chest of drawers in the master bedroom of the house. The room was dimly lit by three aromatic candles that smelled of lilacs.

“Hello, Max,” Samantha said lightly. “Come on in and sit beside me.”

The young mechanic unconsciously wiped both hands on his light blue tee shirt and nodded. He approached a king-size, four-posted bed with a thick set of mattresses. A fluffy comforter with a subtle floral pattern covered the bed and its primary occupant.

Samantha Sinclair lay on her side in the middle of the bed, her bare-fur shoulders slightly exposed above the comforter. She had a freshly-cut red flower clipped to the fur behind her left ear and the smile upon her face was pleasant and warm.

Max sat down in a chair beside the bed and put his hands in his lap. “How are you doing?” he asked nervously. “Are your puppies okay?”

“See for yourself,” Samantha replied. She raised an arm beneath the comforter and drew it aside. Sleeping beside her on the mattress were five small bodies in a row whose tiny sides moved rhythmically in their slumber.

Max swallowed and averted his eyes when he realized that Samantha wore nothing but her fur beneath the cover. She did not seem embarrassed, however, and seemed proud to show off her children to him. Max leaned forward with a growing smile on his face as he focused his attention on the infant pups. Although he knew that the women of The Wild Star occasionally gave birth, he rarely ever got to see them, and never this close.

“They’re so small,” he whispered, looking up at her with bright eyes.

“Yes, but they will grow considerably in the weeks to come,” Sam replied. “When they have grown a bit, I would like you to come visit them as often as you can so they can get to know the man their father adopted as his nephew.”

“I would like that very much,” Max answered. “How soon before I may hold one of them?”

“If you are gentle, you can pick one up now.

“Uhm, are you sure?”

“Just be gentle and don’t be concerned if one or more of them wake up. They are not very active the first few days, and will get plenty of sleep if you let them.”

Hesitant at first, the German shepherd reached out toward one of the pups on the end and tenderly scooped up the small body that filled two hands. He pulled his hands back towards him without lifting them much above the comforter and then leaned in closer to inspect the child. Already the infant’s limbs seemed longer than they had been during the naming ceremony and he marveled at its continued growth.

“Which one is this?” he asked of the reddish-furred body that began to squirm a bit in his hands.

“That is Cassandra,” Samantha replied quietly. “Merlin has already started calling her Cassie.”

“Cassandra,” Max repeated in a whisper. With a quick glance at the mother, he pulled his hands up to his chest so that the little female rested up against his shirt. Cassie let out a soft whimper and then began to sniff the air at him. She whimpered again and then one of the other pups whimpered in response to the absence of her warm body.

Max looked apologetic and then carefully returned the little girl to her place beside her siblings. “There you go,” he whispered. “Safe and sound with your momma.” He looked up at Samantha and gave her a bright smile. “Thank you,” he said. “She’s beautiful, just like you.”

Sam let out a happy sigh and reached out to stroke the fur behind Max’s right ear. “Thank you, Max. You’re sweet. I am glad you could be here with us now. I hope you get the chance to experience this yourself someday.”

The young canine raised an eyebrow at her and sat back slowly in his chair. “You know that will never happen,” he said with a look of regret. “I couldn’t father a child any more than I could give birth to one.”

Samantha stifled a chuckle at his comment and shook her head. “Max, just because you can’t create one, doesn’t mean you have to love one any less. You may have the opportunity to adopt a child someday, just as Merlin adopted you and gave you a home.”

Max nodded and grew quiet, lost in thought. Finally, Samantha drew the covers back over her children to keep them warm, though leaving enough of an opening for fresh air. After a time, the young mechanic looked up at her. “May I ask you a personal question?”

“What is it you wish to know?”

“When Uncle Merlin adopted me, how come he adopted me as his nephew, instead of his son?”

“That is something we’ve never discussed,” Sam replied honestly, “so I really don’t know. However, I can only guess that it was because at that time, he didn’t have a proper mate so you would also have a mother. You were already nearing adulthood, so perhaps he thought an uncle would be more appropriate of a relationship, still closer than that of a guardian. Do you feel like you were unloved?”

Max looked at her in surprise. “Never!” he said, louder than he intended. Mindful of the pups, he swallowed and lowered his voice back to a whisper. “Uncle Merlin has been good to me. After he allowed me to stay on board, he spent a good deal of time with me and seemed to always make sure I knew that I was welcome. He hugged me when I went to him with problems that I could only talk to him about, and he let me know when I did something that pleased him.”

“What kind of problems did you have that you needed his advice?” Sam asked curiously. “You always seemed a happy kid – except when you thought I gave you too much homework in your tutoring.”

“After I left Quet, I had a lot of emotional baggage to go through, and it wasn’t always easy,” he admitted. “I sometimes still have nightmares of what Mr. Tagon did when he got angry.”

“I’m sorry, Max. I didn’t know.”

He looked up at her with a wan smile and shrugged his shoulders. “As a slave, I was never really allowed to go talk to anyone about my personal problems, so I learned to bottle it up and keep it to myself.”

“That’s not healthy!”

“That’s what Cindy used to tell me during our counseling sessions,” he said. “I… I think I told her things that I’ve never told anyone else, but she helped me through some real pain.”

“I’m glad you had someone to talk to.”

“Me too, but I think Uncle Merlin was a bigger help over time. He kept me laughing, gave me encouragement, and even lent an ear when I had a specific personal dilemma.”

Samantha raised her eyebrows. “What was that?”

Max looked embarrassed and he looked away, suddenly wishing he had not said anything more. “I… I had a… uhm… a crush on someone in the crew,” he admitted hoarsely.

“I’ll bet it was Sparky,” Sam said with a smile. “She was cute and really liked you.”

“N-no, it was not Sparky.”

Sam tilted her head. “Taro?”

“Nope.”

“Cindy? Lori?

He shook his head to both names, dreading the direction of the conversation.

“No? But that just leaves…”

Max peered up as the realization sunk in for her and her expression looked for confirmation.

“Uh huh.” He nodded and swallowed hard, suddenly wanting to crawl beneath the bed for his confession.

Samantha looked at him in wonder, suddenly recalling the quick kiss he had given her that time when the Blue Horizon was shot out of orbit over Crescentis and they were just about to plunge into the watery planet’s atmosphere.

“I’m flattered, Max,” she told him sweetly. “Please don’t feel embarrassed to tell me this. You and I spent a great deal of time together in your studies, and I became quite fond of you too.”

“Thanks, but that’s not really the same,” he muttered, still feeling the heat on his cheeks beneath his fur.

“No, I don’t suppose it was,” Sam admitted. “However, we’re now family and I still love you very much, Max.”

“Why do you say I’m family?” the young mechanic asked, moisture glinting in his eyes from the low light. “You now have five children of your own fur and blood. I’m only a bystander.”

“You are part of my family,” Samantha stressed. “Listen, Max, in some cultures throughout the Planetary Alignment, someone who is adopted into a family has stronger rights than someone with a blood birthright. A natural child can be disowned by a family, but not so with an adopted child. Merlin adopted you, and now I’m married to Merlin. You are one of our rightful heirs and don’t ever forget that.” Sam gave him a smile and added, “Not only are you an heir to the Sinclair estate, but you’re also an heir to the Holden estate. You’ve already been written into our wills. How about that?”

“I don’t care anything about being an heir to some estate,” Max said, looking across the room, anywhere but at her. “All I care about is being part of a family…”

“Max, I will say it again. You are very much a part of my family. Would you feel better about it if I filed official paperwork adopting you directly? I could even suggest that Merlin and I alter your adoption as a son, rather than a nephew – then you would be an older sibling to these five little ones.”

A grin suddenly spread across Max’s face. He started to speak, but his voice cracked and he started again. “Th-thank you,” he said. “That means more to me than you can ever know, but you’ve convinced me. There’s no need to change my adoption status. I’m okay with being your nephew. Besides, I’ve been calling Merlin my uncle for so long that it would be hard to change now anyway. I just needed to know where I stand, now that your pups have come along.”

“As soon as I’m back on my feet,” Samantha said with moist eyes, “I’m going to give you the warmest, motherly hug I can muster!”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Max replied with a satisfied smile. “Thank you.”

***

Taro was up at the crack of dawn. By the time she had showered, dried her fur, dressed and headed downstairs to the kitchen for a toasted muffin and a cup of coffee, Merlin had already returned from his morning jog and had set up a small card table and two lawn chairs out in the gazebo for her. She carried a slateboard tucked under one arm, while she balanced a small plate with her butter and muffin on top of a coffee cup with the other.

She met Merlin halfway across the yard, the morning dew clinging to her sandaled feet and the tip of her fluffy tail. “Good morning,” she said with a smile.

“Good morning,” the wolf replied. “Here, let me take that for you.” He took her coffee and plate and walked back with her to the gazebo. “Are you up for this?”

Taro stepped up into the wooden structure and set the slateboard on the table. “Probably not, but it’s one of the evils of command, I’m sure you know.”

“Don’t I know it! I always dreaded times like this.” He waited a moment, absently smoothing out the wrinkles in his black jogging shorts and shirt while she set up her things. When she sat down behind the table in a lawn chair and faced him, he took the opposite chair.

“Would you prefer I was here with you for support during the proceedings?” he asked.

The vixen shook her head with a smile while she spread a pat of fresh butter over her muffin. “Thanks, but I’ll be okay. I only have to collect the signatures of those who are going to stay with my crew, or at least the decisions of those who would transfer.” The two of them were alone in the yard, but she lowered her voice and leaned toward Merlin across the table.

“If Jerry is going to transfer, he may have a difficult time finding a swap-mate,” she whispered. “I doubt Carmen Burgess will want to come over here from the Hidalgo Sun since she was involved with Durant and this was his crew. Alicia Tangle is the medic on the Mooncrest and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard she has an exclusive relationship there that she won’t want to leave. Other than that, I don’t know that much about her. She’s not that big, and may not want the added workload that Jerry wants us all to avoid anyway.”

“I’ve visited with Alicia a few times,” Merlin whispered back, “and she’s a nice person. She has an open personality and has a good medical bedside manner, so I wouldn’t discount her if it comes down to this. That relationship you mentioned isn’t too stable right now, so that might not be a factor. I wouldn’t dismiss Doctor Burgess, however. Durant’s scent won’t be all over your new ship, and that’s what bothered her about the old Horizon. Besides, it’s been long enough that she could probably handle it anyway.” The wolf sat back and gestured back to the house. “However, Jerry has yet to make his decision, but if he does, try to keep his feelings in mind when you get his answer.”

“Yeah, that’s all true,” said the vulpine captain after a lap of coffee. “I just wish he were a little more flexible.”

Merlin looked at his techwatch. “You have roughly two and a half hours until your oh-nine-hundred deadline. Is there anything I can do to help you get ready?”

Taro took a bite of her muffin and shook her head. “Not that I can think of,” she replied a moment later. “You might check in on me in a while just to make sure I still have a crew. I might need someone’s shoulder to cry on.”

The wolf smiled. “I think you’ll do better than you think. Your first two customers are already on their way out and they’ve already publicly announced their decisions.”

Taro looked up to see both Pockets and Max trudging across the wet lawn toward the gazebo. She straightened her pale-yellow blouse and brushed muffin crumbs from her dark gray slacks.

“I didn’t expect anyone out here for another hour,” she whispered to the wolf. “I thought I’d have time to gather my thoughts and my wits about me before dealing with anyone.”

“I will check in on you after I’ve cleaned up and have had breakfast,” Merlin told her. “Good luck!”

“Thanks.”

Merlin looked over at Pockets when he hopped up both steps into the gazebo. “Morning, boss – bosses!” the raccoon said cheerily.

“Good morning, Pockets,” Merlin replied. “Max, however, you still look asleep!” Indeed, the German shepherd was still in his sleeping shorts and tank top, and his fur had not been groomed.

Max yawned in reply and then nodded. “I just want to sign my contract and then go back to bed,” he said. “…didn’t want to miss the deadline…”

“I had to drag him out of his bed by the tail,” Pockets said with a grin.

“I had a bad night,” the young mechanic muttered. Merlin looked at him in concern, but the short raccoon turned toward Taro, rubbing his small hands together.

“Good morning, Pockets,” Taro said with a smile. “You too, Max.”

“Gimmee your slateboard so I can put my thumb on it!” the engineer demanded. “You may be captain of the crew, but the new ship is mine!”

“That’s an interesting theory,” Merlin told him with a grin. The smile faded when the young canine beside him did not seem amused by his partner’s antics. He was about to inquire, but Max noticed the look and simply shook his head. Merlin nodded and finally said, “I’ll see you guys later. I need to clean up.”

“See ya,” Max said with another yawn.

Taro looked over at the German shepherd and gestured toward the house. “Max, can you go wait up on the deck until Pockets and I are through?” she asked. “I want to talk to each of you in private before any of you sign anything, and this may take a few minutes.”

“Sure,” the young mechanic said, “but I may be asleep in a lawn chair by the time you’re ready for me.” He headed back out across the grass, unconsciously stepping in Merlin’s dew tracks back to the house.

***

An hour later, Amanda tentatively approached the gazebo. The morning was still cool and there was a gentle salty breeze coming in off the sea. The coyote wore a pair of black slacks and a lavender blouse with the buttons fastened up to the ruff at her throat. She seemed nervous, but wanted to look professional.

“Come on up,” Taro invited calmly. “Have a seat.” Amanda slid her tail through the slotted back of the vacant lawn chair and sat down with her hands together in her lap. “Would you like some coffee?” Taro asked her, reaching for a thermal bottle at her feet.

“No, but thank you, ma’am,” the coyote said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Taro caught her mood, but pretended not to notice as she refilled her own cup. The vixen took a lap of her drink and then set the cup aside. “How are you this morning?” she asked.

A smile briefly crossed Amanda’s face, but then was gone just as quickly. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I didn’t sleep much last night.”

Taro sighed inwardly and canted her head slightly. “Is it about the contract,” she asked quietly, “or is it something else?”

The coyote looked down at her hands. “It’s the contract, ma’am,” she replied.

“I see. What can I do to make this easier for you?”

Amanda looked up and swallowed. She was never one for confrontation, but she knew she had to work through this. In her job as the ship’s business coordinator, she had no problem hammering out the details of their shipments with their clients. She did her job well, but when it came to personal issues, she was often timid.

“Please don’t think ill of me, ma’am,” she forced herself to say, “but I don’t think I’m up to the physical demands of the new workload. One… uhm, one of the reasons I originally applied with you was that that I knew that cargo moving would only be a small part of what I did as a member of your crew.”

Taro gave her a look of compassion. “That’s okay, Mandy. I understand your reasons for leaving us and I assure you that I won’t hold it against you. Some people just aren’t cut out for the amount of physical exercise it takes to work on a freighter.”

The coyote shook her head and gave the fox a little smile. “Actually, I’m not leaving,” she said.

Taro looked at her in surprise. “Huh?” she asked before she even realized she had spoken.

“Well, I was – originally. I seriously considered swapping out with someone on one of the other ships, until I realized who did my job for those crews.”

“You’ve already contacted them?”

“No, ma’am, but I looked up the crew rosters for both ships. The business coordinator for the Hidalgo Sun is Sean Jones. He’s also the ship’s first officer, so it was unlikely he would want to downgrade from that position to swap with me. I found a similar setup on the Mooncrest. Captain Corwin is the coordinator for his own ship, so I can’t swap out with him either.”

“I didn’t know that,” Taro admitted, “but it doesn’t surprise me. I was Merlin’s first officer when he was captain of the Blue Horizon, and I was also the business coordinator, although we called it customer liaison at the time.”

“Exactly,” Amanda replied, dropping her gaze back to her hands. “I… I really don’t want to lose my job, ma’am, but there’s no one to swap with, so I have decided to stay on with your crew – if you’ll still have me.”

Taro smiled, though the coyote wasn’t looking at her. She opened a folder on her slateboard and pulled up a document. She handed it to the coyote and said, “Here you go, Mandy. I’m glad you’ve decided to stay. If the workload gets too strenuous for you, we’ll try to work out something. Your primary job is my business coordinator, and as someone who used to hold that position myself, I can honestly say you’ve done a good job.”

“Really?” Amanda looked up with moist eyes. “Thank you, ma’am.” She wiped at her eyes and then made her thumbprint in the appropriate box to sign the document. “I will try to hold up my end of my other duties as well, but it may be difficult at first.” She swallowed and then gave her captain a big smile. “Besides, I can use the extra credits in my new pay to help my brother with his tuition.”

***

Justy met Taro’s gaze easily and settled back in his chair. “I have to admit that I was unsure about staying on with the new workload, but then I realized a couple things.” He held up two fingers and waggled them.

“What’s that?”

“First off, I did sign up for a cargo ship and I knew beforehand that I would be moving cargo, but it’s not like I knew what your shipping schedule was going to be like before I applied. For all I could guess, we might have made a bunch of on-planet deliveries without making it far out into space, and I could have been moving freight every other day in such a case!”

Taro returned his smile. “Yes, that could have happened. What was your second thought?”

The koala leaned forward and rested an elbow on the small table. “If I quit or ran away to another ship, I’d be validating Jerry’s argument that because I’m short I wouldn’t be up to the challenge!” The twinkle in his eye was mischievous, and he could not help but give her a wink.

Taro laughed aloud and felt the tension melt from her shoulders. “Well, we can’t have you giving him that satisfaction now, can we?”

“I’ll sign my new contract now,” Justy said, retaining his smirk. “I may not be very tall, but I’ll keep up my end of the workload.”

The vixen handed him the slateboard with his contract document open on the screen. “I thought you and Doc got along okay,” she said. “When did things change, or have I just been blind to it all this time?”

Justy signed the document with his thumbprint without bothering to look it over, trusting her implicitly. “Oh, there’s been no real bother between us,” he admitted. “He has his creative moments, but overall, he doesn’t loosen up as much as I do and sometimes, he seems annoyed with my free spirit. I try not to be annoying, but sometimes I can’t help being in a good mood!”

Taro took the slateboard back from him. “Well, I’m glad you’re such a nice guy, Justin,” she said. “I’m sure it helps with the morale of the others, so I hope you don’t change anytime soon.”

Justy grinned at the formal use of his name and he presented her with a sharp salute. “Aye, aye, Captain! You can depend upon me.”

“Thanks,” Taro replied with another laugh. “Now… since you’ve fulfilled your obligation for this morning, there’s something you need to do.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to get with Master Tristan and have him introduce you to one of his people, a palomino named Stoyan.”

“Stoyan, okay.”

“He knows Silloni computer systems inside and out, and you should get in some training with him on the new ship between now and Saturday when we take off. I understand that their file system command structure is a little different than what the rest of the PA uses, so it would be in your best interest to pick his knowledge while you have him available to you.”

“That’s a good idea,” Justy nodded. “I’m familiar with seven different Planetary Alignment operating systems, but I’ve never played with one from Sillon.”

Taro sat back and picked up her coffee cup. “Do you have any further questions or concerns?”

The koala shook his head. “Nope, I think we’re good.”

“Okay, then. I’ll transfer a copy of your signed contract to you later today for your records.

“Thanks. How many more are left to come out to talk to you?”

“Just one,” Taro said with a glance at her techwatch. “I’ve talked to everyone else, but this one has only twenty-three minutes left until the deadline I imposed.”

“May I ask you a question,” Justy asked in a low voice. Taro nodded hesitantly. “Have we lost anyone from the crew?”

The vixen relaxed and shook her head. “None yet. There were a couple like you who were hesitant at first, but in the end, everyone so far has signed the new contract.”

Justy bit his bottom lip. “I guess that tells me who the last guy is,” he said. Taro did not reply to his statement, but he could read the confirmation in her eyes. “Well, I guess I’ll grab some breakfast and then go find Stoyan. Thanks again, Captain.”

“You’re welcome, Justy. Thanks for staying on.”

***

Taro heard the sound of soft footsteps in the grass. She looked up from the notes she had made on her slateboard and saw Jerry Somner standing just outside the gazebo. He wore a pair of black slacks, a matching black shirt, and was in his medical smock, the last of which he had not worn since they had landed several days ago.

“Hello, Jerry,” she said in a voice that was calmer than the way she felt inside. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach when she looked at her techwatch. 08:58. The male fox stepped up into the gazebo, slid his tail into the chair’s slotted opening, and then looked straight into her eyes.

“Good morning, Captain,” he said courteously. He crossed one leg over the other and then rested his hands on top of his elevated knee. Taro was unable to read the expression in his eyes and had to force herself not to swallow hard in front of him. “Am I the last?” he asked.

“Yes, and you cut it rather close.”

“Sorry about that,” he told her. “Shannon’s away on a school field trip with one of her boys this morning and Samantha needed attention.”

“Is she okay?” Taro asked with sudden dread.

“She’s fine, just a little case of new-mother jitters, thinking she might not be giving her children enough milk. Her pups are looking healthy, but I looked them over for her peace of mind.” He nodded and added, “She has nothing to worry about. All five are still growing, as they should. Their fingers and toes are becoming more pronounced, and the length of their arms and legs are extending slowly. They should be at the desired stage of post-birth development within a week.”

“That’s good to know,” the vixen replied. She steeled herself inwardly and then put both hands calmly upon the table. “Well, I suppose it’s time,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Sure,” Jerry said with a smile. “May I see the contract, please?”

Taro started, and instantly felt embarrassed at her outward sign. “Uh, uhm… here.” She already had his pulled up on the screen of her slateboard when she handed it to him. While the doctor read over the entire document, Taro tried to will her heart to slow back down. Jerry seemed calm and relaxed, but the vixen felt as if he were just waiting for right amount of tension in the air to reach the proper snapping point.

Several long moments passed before the physician finally nodded and then signed his name on a line at the bottom of the page with the proper placement of his thumbprint. When he handed the slateboard back to Taro, he chuckled at the diameter of her eyes.

“Surprised you, did I?” he asked casually.

The vixen nodded mutely as she looked down at the contract to make sure he really had signed the document in agreement to stay on with her crew. She let out a long, audible sigh that she did not try to hide and then looked back over at him with a relieved smile.

“Yes, I guess you did,” she admitted truthfully. “May I ask what made you change your mind about staying with us?”

He rested his hands back on his knee, but did not break eye contact with her. “Taro,” he said calmly, “I never intended to leave the crew, despite all of my arguments. I was troubled due to the physical demands of the new potential workload, but just as you said, Merlin listened to my concerns and was willing to do something about them.”

He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward onto them, clasping his hands together. “I may not be as impressed with the layout of the new ship as the others, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. The new Sickbay is larger than the old one, and we have a decent recreational room, so if I don’t feel like locking myself up into the closet that is my cabin, I have other places on board I can be.”

Taro was appreciative of the cool breeze still coming in off the sea. She returned his smile and said, “Thank you,” with the hint of emotion in her voice. “I really didn’t want to lose you.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Captain. As the ship’s doctor, I’ll keep a close eye on everyone’s well-being under the new conditions. If I have any concerns, I now know you’ll be willing to listen.”

The vixen nodded. “You know I will. Are there any other questions or concerns I can clarify for you?”

Jerry thought for a moment, but then he shook his head. “No, I’m clear on what’s going on. I know we’ll be moving everything from the old ship to the new one, but we’ve been running low on some medical supplies. While taking care of Samantha, she told me that she would authorize a discount through her pharmaceutical company to get what we need in that area, so that will help us get my new Sickbay restocked. However, even with the discount and her influence, I still need to get your authorization for everything on my list to keep the business legal, in particular for the controlled meds.”

“Sure, just let me see your list before you go shopping.”

“I will.”

“Okay, well, I guess that wraps up everything,” Taro said at last. “I’m out of coffee and you were the last to sign. I’ll have a copy of your contract forwarded to you later today for your records.”

“Thank you, Captain. If that’s all, then, I’m going to see if I can get a ride out to the ship to start packing for the big move.”

“I’ll see you later, Jerry.”

Taro watched him idly as he walked back toward the house, but then a sudden thought occurred to her. She looked at her techwatch and noted with some bit of embarrassment that the deadline had come and gone, but she had not yet signed the captain’s contract that Merlin had discussed with her the night before.

With a chuckle and a glance around to make sure nobody was watching her, Taro pulled up her own contract and put her print on it. She made sure the notes she had scratched down were saved on the slateboard and then began to gather up everything to go see Merlin.

***

The Kokoro took off late that afternoon, bound for high orbit before launching via Hyper-LightDrive to rendezvous with the Hidalgo Sun that was en route to Ganis from Crescentis. The conference call between Merlin and Taro with Captains Kegawa and Corwin had gone well enough, describing the non-repairable damage to the Blue Horizon, the offer of the Kirin for testing, and an explanation of its capabilities.

However, when Taro told them of Damien’s arrest and of her need for a new cargo loadmaster, Rezo Kegawa was less than pleased with her request for Mark Littlefeather to relocate to her ship; the human had been a member of his crew for years even before they had joined Merlin’s company and Rezo flatly refused the transfer, demanding that Taro take Captain Corwin’s loadmaster instead.

Abner was more open to the transfer, but Merlin stepped in and nixed the idea without explanation. The request had come from Taro, but Merlin backed her up with his desire to have Mark on board the new ship where security restrictions would be tighter.

Rezo argued and ranted for a long while, but in the end, Merlin overruled him with a warning of insubordination and ordered him to bring the human into the conversation. Fuming, the red panda called Mark to his bridge and then vocally grumbled in the background while Merlin filled the cargo loadmaster in on the situation. The formal offer was made, but Mark hesitated with furtive glances toward Rezo before accepting the new assignment.

Merlin informed them all that Master Tristan would rendezvous with the Hidalgo Sun for Littlefeather, so he would have little time to pack up his personal belongings. The wolf assured Rezo that applications for his new cargo loadmaster were already being tendered through a third-party business at their destination on Ganis and Mark’s replacement would be awaiting him upon landing.

That set off Rezo into another tirade since he would not even have a say in who Merlin might hire for his ship. The wolf had to remind him again that the Sun’s timetable would not allow for an extended time of interviews, so they would be conducted ahead of time before he got there. Rezo did not like it and was plenty vocal in his displeasure. The conversation had ended with the president of the company giving his subordinate another warning. If Rezo was intent upon challenging Merlin’s authority, he was welcome to accompany Mark back to Dennier on the Kokoro, but he would need to bring all his personal possessions with him. The red panda finally backed down, though not at all gracefully.

Despite the upcoming increase in workload for Taro’s crew, everyone in her crew had signed two-year contracts for the testing period. After experiencing Rezo’s tantrums, however, Taro was glad that there were no further requests for personnel transfer between their ships.

***

Renny’s DataCom chirped at his belt and he set down a box of free weights he had just brought up to the new recreation room on an antigrav dolly. With everyone on the crew scattered between the two vessels, they had all taken to carrying their DC units to stay connected.

“This is Renny,” he answered.

“Hey, Renny —Justy here. When you get a moment, could you meet me at the main airlock over here inside the Okami? We’ve found something you should see.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Thanks.”

After the cheetah properly stowed his burden, he made his way around the corridors to the lift, passing Lori and Mandy guiding another antigrav cart full of pots and pans toward the galley. Outside the ship, he looked up at the overcast sky with a hand shielding his eyes, wondering if it was going to rain again. He crossed the tarmac between the ships and then trotted up the ramp of the open cargo bay door of the decommissioned Okami. He saw Justy and Max standing over two long boxes of olive green near the controls of the damaged airlock.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” he asked.

Justy looked up and scratched one of his large ears. “Hi. I finished moving everything from my quarters to the new ship yesterday afternoon,” he said, “so I’ve been down here since this morning, moving over things from this deck – tools, tie-downs, padding, etc. Taro said we were not to leave anything behind.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you and Max carting over stuff.”

“Well, he and I finally made it over to this area of the deck and Max found these two crates sitting here.”

“Since we put the patch over the airlock on the outside,” the German shepherd explained, “none of us have had a reason to come over here until now.”

“Okay, so what’s in the boxes?”

“Dunno yet,” Justy replied. “We were afraid they might be bombs, left behind by those people who came on board, so we thought we’d report it to you first. I think the captain has gone out shopping, so we called you. Maybe we should call the police.”

“Could be another bomb,” Renny muttered uncertainly, “but why hasn’t one of them gone off before now?”

“Maybe they’re triggered to explode when the top is opened,” Max theorized.

Renny studied the box with a furrowed brow. The plastic crates were approximately a half meter wide and thick, and two meters long. There were rope handles on each end and a pair of latches along one side keeping the top closed, though there were no locks.

“Why don’t you have Moss scan it?” he suggested. “That’s one of the functions that Pockets programmed into it for passenger luggage, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was,” Max answered, “but Pockets has already shut it down and purged its special programming. He said he didn’t want some bright vo-tech student to reverse-engineer it before it gets implemented through his new contract with Okami Corp, and he can’t use it on the new Horizon since they are now exclusive to Okami ships.”

Renny nodded quietly, still looking over the crates. The only printing he could see upon the containers was “BA” in stylized black letters near a bottom corner. The letters seemed familiar, somehow.

Then his eyes lit up. “Binfurr Arms!” he exclaimed in sudden realization. The letters were stamped upon every Binfurr rifle and handgun they kept on board. Renny reached down toward the box closest to him and Justy suddenly ran for the open bay door.

“What are you doing?” the koala called back hoarsely when the navigator flipped open both latches. Max looked suddenly afraid, wondering if he should run too.

Renny lifted the lid of the container with a smile and threw back the lid. Max jumped when the top hit the adjacent box with a loud bang, but the cheetah reached in and pulled out an oversized pistol from a fitted foam block. It was a stunner gun, identical to the ones Mr. Binfurr’s people carried when they had come to get his daughter, Sandilee. He looked at the power pack in the handle grip and noted that the gun held a full charge.

“Where did those come from?” Max wanted to know. Renny handed the gun to him and then picked up another. The crate held five of the pistols and ten extra rechargeable power packs.

“Mr. Binfurr told Taro that stunners like these are best for protection on a ship out in space,” the cheetah answered. “We have rifles and hand guns in our armory, but a solid bullet from one of those might pierce the hull or a window.” He looked up at the damaged airlock and nodded toward it. “You know the kind of danger that can be out in space.”

“Yeah, don’t I know it.”

“’Better a temporary shock to someone’s nervous system than a bullet through a vital organ’, I think Binfurr said. These may be similar to what was used on us when Ariel’s friends came on board.”

Justy had slowly rejoined them and looked over at the firearms hesitantly. “Okay, now we know what’s in the crates,” he said, “why are they here? We’ve not had time to go gun shopping since we landed.”

Renny looked over at him with a smile. “I’ll wager that Mr. Binfurr had them left on our ship before he left. He apologized for what we went through, but was grateful to have his daughter back. He probably thought we could use them.”

“Wow,” Max said. He aimed it at the floor and sighted along its fat barrel, but knew better than to discharge it. He handed it to Justy, who only glanced at it before putting back into the crate.

“Come on, Max,” the koala said. “Let’s get these over to the new ship and add them to the armory closet.”

A klaxon sounded out on the tarmac, signaling the arrival of a vessel to one of the other landing pads. Out of curiosity, all three of the guys stepped outside to see what was coming in, and they were surprised to recognize the scarlet form of a Silloni cruiser descending from the sky. The Kokoro landed lightly on a triad of landing gear and the whine of its atmospheric engines immediately began to wind down.

“Okay, let’s get back to work,” Renny said. “No need to gawk at Master Tristan when he disembarks. You two grab that crate and I’ll see if Jerry will help me with the other.”

“He just went up in the lift a moment ago,” Max grunted as he grabbed one end of a crate and lifted.

***

When Mark Littlefeather emerged from the airlock of the Kokoro a few minutes later, the human’s brown eyes displayed excitement, but otherwise he seemed calm and collected for someone who had just experienced his first hyper jump. He was dressed in a pair of brown leather boots, close-fitting blue jeans and a white, long-sleeved shirt; the collar was open to reveal a silver and turquoise medallion in the shape of the Blue Horizon company emblem; it rested upon the smooth dark skin of his chest. His black hair was cut to collar length, framing his Amerindian face.

The broad-backed man shifted the strap of a large duffel bag over his left shoulder and looked behind him into the vessel. He nodded to something said to him and then he walked across the tarmac toward the new Blue Horizon. Although the Kokoro had flown in over the top of the other vessel, he had been strapped into a seat in a cabin during the descent into the Dennieran atmosphere and had not seen the new ship from the air. This was his first view of his new home and he admired its sleek beauty as he slowly stepped toward it.

Taro was already walking toward him and greeted him as he neared the vessel. “It’s good to see you again,” she said with a smile. “You’re looking well.” The last time they had seen one another in person was at Durant’s funeral, and although the human had not known the grizzly that well, they had all mourned his loss as a fellow wingman and none had been in the best frame of mind for visiting.

“Thank you, I am,” he replied with a grin. “It is good to see you again too.” He had always felt that the vixen had an exotic beauty, and her curves fit her black slacks and pale lavender blouse well. When his eyes fell upon the blue-tipped white feather dangling at her left ear, his eyes sparkled behind his smile.

Taro extended a hand in greeting, which he took gratefully, and then he moved back a step, set down his duffel, and then presented her with a sharp salute.

“Mark Ski’rik Littlefeather, reporting for duty, Captain Nichols,” he said formally.

Taro smiled and returned the salute. “Welcome to the Blue Horizon, Mr. Littlefeather. I’m happy you could join us.”

“Thank you, Captain. The new ship is impressive, and I’ve not even seen the inside yet.”

“Well then, I think we have time for a brief tour before we put you to work,” the vixen said with a smile. “I just got back from a shopping trip and need to take up my packages anyway. I picked up all new linens for the beds, since they’re a different size than the ones on the old ship.”

Mark hefted the strap of his duffel back over his shoulder and then gestured toward the ship with his free hand. “After you,” he said politely.

“Is that all you brought with you?”

“No,” he said. “I have three boxes of personal effects still on board Master Tristan’s ship, but they said I could get them later. They aren’t taking off again for several days, so I can retrieve them any time before then.”

“How long did the Kokoro stay in the vicinity of the Hidalgo Sun?” Taro asked while they walked up the ramp and in through the airlock hatch.

“Only about an hour, just long enough for the usual greetings and to get my things moved. The Kokoro got there so fast that my crewmates didn’t have time to throw me a goodbye party, so all I got was a few quick hugs and pats on the back.”

Taro stopped just inside the entry corridor and picked up several shopping bags full of linens. “The Hyld system takes twenty-five hours to recharge. How did you leave after only an hour?”

Mark frowned. “Rezo was so upset that I was yanked from his crew that he demanded the Silloni ship just take me and go. He said they were delaying his delivery schedule and that he didn’t have their luxury of a super-engine to make up the time. Master Tristan did as he requested and once the Sun continued on its way, we headed back using standard LightDrive engines until the Hyld was recharged. It didn’t take off any of our flight time getting back, but it gave his crew something to do, rather than just sitting in space.”

“You seem rather informed and comfortable with the new propulsion system,” Taro told him with a smile.

Mark’s easy grin resurfaced. “We had a day of travel to sit and talk,” he replied. “Master Tristan, Stoyan, Metra and the others all took time out to visit with me and tell me about my new ship, the Hyld system, plus our contract to test it for them.”

“May I ask you a personal question?” Taro asked in a quiet voice.

“Fasten, and then zip,” Mark answered automatically.

“Huh? What are you… oh.” Taro chuckled and shook her head. “No, my question is not that personal.”

Mark laughed. “Sure, ask your question.”

“When we offered you the position on my ship, you didn’t look very excited about it. Did you have any reservations about coming over here?”

Mark let out a sigh. “I was excited by the offer,” he replied. “Very much. However, Rezo was upset when he called me to the bridge, so I already knew that whatever reason I was there had not set well with him. I didn’t want to seem over-eager in his eyes. He can get quite vindictive when he doesn’t get his way on his own ship.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that about him.”

“Speaking candidly, ma’am, he puts on a good front for guests, but behind the scenes he’s a regular Captain Edwards.”

“Edwards?” Taro asked. “I don’t know him.”

Mark shook his head. “Edwards was the cruel captain of the HMS Pandora on Earth’s seas several centuries ago. Perhaps I should have compared Rezo to Captain Bligh of the HMS Bounty instead. People feared Bligh’s acidic tongue more than they did physical punishment. Rezo never abused us physically, but if you ever get him stirred up, he can strip you down to nothing with just his words. For several hours after you called, he did everything he could to make me feel like a heel for accepting your offer. Personally, I’m glad to be out from under his command. He always found some way to coerce me into renewing my contracts when they came up, so I’ve served with him for quite a while.”

Taro grimaced. “Yeesh… why did you sign back up under him after he sold his old ship for scrap and then hired his crew back?”

The human shrugged. “Like my crewmates, I needed the work. Had it only been for Rezo, there’s no way I would have come back, but with Merlin in charge, I hoped things would be better. At least the ship and the pay contract had improved, but lately it seems like Rezo gets a warning of insubordination from Merlin every time there’s a major company decision made. Knowing what he’s said about Merlin behind his back, I’m frankly surprised Captain Kegawa is still employed with the company.”

“Hm, nice. Speaking of contracts, I have yours up in my cabin when you’re ready to sign. No coercion, I promise.”

“Captain,” Mark said with raised eyebrows, “I can already tell that you’ll be easier to work for than he was, even under a heavier workload. I’ll gladly put my print on the document.”

“Very good. So, how was your first hyper jump?”

The human made a face and put a hand on his stomach. “Gut wrenching,” he answered. “Literally. It wasn’t pleasant, but Metra told me how to prepare for it. She said that in time, I would get so used to it that my body would react to it automatically, rather than me having to consciously prepare myself.”

“That’s good to know,” the vixen replied. “I’ve only been through it a couple times, and even with prior warning, it still wasn’t what I would call fun. It’s the only part of testing the new ship that I’m not looking forward to experiencing.”

They began walking but then Mark stopped again beside a thick glassteel window. He looked out into the cargo bay and nodded. “It looks larger,” he said, “but maybe that’s because it’s longer. It’s not as wide, though.”

“You want to see your office down here first?”

The human shook his head of dark hair. “No, I’d like to go up to my cabin and drop off my duffel. Without this hanging off my shoulder, I can enjoy the tour better.”

“A sound idea. This way.”

***

A tall, metallic figure emerged from behind a large wall locker and stepped forward across the cargo bay. Renny and Jerry both turned to the sound of a warning klaxon and grinned. The white-gold figure strode quickly, despite its mass and apparent weight, down the ramp toward one of seven octagonal containers that had just been delivered by truck to the ship.

“Everybody step back, okay?” Taro said to the other crewmembers that were busily unlocking cargo straps.

The form stepped forward with heavy mechanical movements, and the scattered crew saw that it was actually Mark Littlefeather in one of the new augmented power loaders. The human gave Taro a friendly smile, extended one of the thick, robotic arms and spun the large pincer.

He motioned to the rest of his crew, and the brand-new mechanical loader stepped toward the truck. Large pincers grasped lift-points on the nearest crate, and the power loader lifted it effortlessly from the truck. He then pivoted and stepped back up the ramp to take the fresh food supplies into the freighter.

Renny smiled at Jerry, approving of the mechanized loader. “I’m glad Merlin authorized the purchase of new units for our increased workload.” The used models they had purchased with the last ship had proven unreliable and it had caused Pockets to work on them all the time to keep them running.

“That’s just what the doctor ordered,” Jerry agreed. “Should I go get the other one and help out?”

The cheetah shook his head and gestured toward the loader with a smile. “No, let Mark play with his new toy. He’ll have all the crates loaded by the time you get the other one out anyway.”

In a relaxed moment of levity, Jerry stuck out his bottom lip. “Aw, daddy… I wanted to play with the toys too!”

“Later, son,” Renny quipped, “but only if you eat your vegetables.”

***

Saturday morning eventually arrived. The weather was fair, spirits were high and the ship was fully stocked and prepared for their first voyage. As per Master Tristan’s suggestion, Merlin had set the Blue Horizon’s first flight to Se’rei to seek out Calissa Thalia’s knowledge on the monitoring device she had constructed for them on their first visit to the lapin community. Taro, Renny, Pockets and Suzuko had been given specific instructions on dealing with the former pirate engineer, and their hopes were high that she would help them for the sake of safety. Due to her friendship during their prior visit, Lori would act as a liaison to strike some kind of deal with Calissa for her help.

For one month, the home office would route all shipping customers to the other two vessels in the small fleet, and then the Blue Horizon would need to be back in service.

In the event that Calissa would not help them, the Horizon’s black box would be confiscated upon their return to Dennier for Tristan’s people to study back on Sillon; all Hyld jumps would then be banned until a proper monitoring system could be reverse-engineered. The Blue Horizon would use its new Silloni-engineered LightDrive system for deliveries in the meantime, which in of themselves were a little faster than what the rest of the Planetary Alignment used. It would be a blow to the planned test, but in the name of the associate they had lost, Tristan was adamant about the safety of those who might use the new jump system.

At an hour before launch, everyone gathered in front of the bow of the Blue Horizon. The cargo bay doors were sealed, but a temporary awning had been set up over twenty-five folding chairs for an official send-off ceremony.

In attendance were the ten who made up Taro’s crew of the Blue Horizon, Tristan and his crew of six Silloni unicorns, Cindy, Keri, Penny and Tina from the home office, Bill and Shannon Wallace, and also Merlin and Samantha Sinclair. The children of Bill and Shannon were in school, and the Sinclair infants were in the care of a trusted friend so Samantha could attend.

When everyone had assembled and they were in their seats, Merlin stood up and moved to a spot in front of them. Although he would not be leading the ship, the gray wolf wore an outfit familiar to the crew. He was dressed in a beige mock-neck shirt with a loose collar, a pair of dark blue pants with gold vertical stripes on the outside seams, black jackboots, a brown flight jacket with the company logo on the right shoulder and over the left chest pocket, and a blue and white nautical cap that was perched on his head between his thick, triangular ears. He set a paper sack on the ground at his feet and then faced them all.

“My friends,” he said with a casual smile, “it is the end of an era. Ever since my friend Jiro and I first decided to go into the cargo-hauling business with a used freighter a decade ago, the Blue Horizon has been an Okami-class vessel. Due to a few mishaps along the way, our ship has been broken twice, but now thanks to Master Tristan and the Silloni government, the Blue Horizon rises yet again, but this time she’s a different species.”

He looked around at the faces focused on him. “The Kirin-class freighter behind me is the latest in state-of-the-art Silloni technology, and although she is still in her prototypical testing phase, I think we can all be proud of what her potential can be in our career field. If the solar winds are with us, we can expect to be flying Kirin freighters for a long time to come. The next two years will determine if there are any improvements or changes to be implemented in the design before the ships are made available to the public, and the Blue Horizon’s crew will be instrumental in making this happen.”

Merlin smiled and put his hands into his pockets. “Samantha and I are the proud parents of five new lives, but our pack is much larger. Between the Blue Horizon, the Hidalgo Sun, the Mooncrest and our home office, we have forty individuals in the Sinclair family. I want to thank each and every one of you, whether you are in the crew of a ship, associates from Sillon, colleagues from the office, or actual blood relatives. This new ship now goes into service as a result of everyone’s participation. May your journeys be smooth, your friendships are strong, and may the stars forever light your pathways.”

The gray wolf bent down and pulled a glass wine bottle from the sack at his feet. He walked over to the bow of the ship and then held the bottle up high. He winked at his wife and then said in an elevated voice, “As captains have done for centuries, I now give you the SS Blue Horizon, PA28080!”

Merlin brought the bottle down hard against the hull. Its green glass shattered, splashing the wine juices across the forward curve of the vessel as the gathered crowd clapped in celebration.

***

“Sir, I think you should see this.”

Victor Faltane, former black marketer and now current Representative of the Earth to the Planetary Alignment, looked up from a document on his desk toward an aid in a dark suit who had just stepped in through his office door. The swarthy man tapped on the large vidscreen on the wall of Faltane’s office and the narrator’s voice of a broadcast documentary issued from the room’s surround speakers.

“…from a joint venture between Sillon and non-Alignment world Ryu. What began as merely an opportunity for these sister worlds to work together to pool their resources has been beneficial to both planets. When stellar distances…”

“You know my schedule, Kane,” said the man with pale blue eyes, cropped beard and styled blonde hair that lightly brushed the collar of his navy-blue suit. “I don’t have time to watch a documentary on Science Discoveries.”

The aid, a broad-shouldered man of twenty-five brushed a hand across his flat-top haircut and nodded toward the screen. “You will want to watch this one, sir,” he said.

Faltane knew his people well enough to recognize the edge to the man’s voice. He set down the slateboard he had been holding and gave his full attention to the StellarNet program.

“Local Dennieran representatives of the Planetary Alignment Scientific Society were invited by Tristan of Sillon to examine two new prototype starships equipped with a combination propulsion system consisting of the latest Silloni LightDrive engines with a new technology developed into a Hyper Jump system. They are calling this engineering marvel a Hyper-LightDrive engine system, or a ‘Hyld Engine’ for short. Due to the extreme distances between Sillon and the rest of the Planetary Alignment for which it holds a membership, Silloni and Ryujin engineers have long worked together to break the LightDrive barrier. It was announced early this week that two versions of the Hyld Engine have been constructed for testing, a small unit for personnel-size cruisers, and a larger unit for moving large transports. The smaller of the two was installed into a Hoshi-class staff cruiser, and Tristan, a former Silloni regent and owner of a plush vacation resort call the Dragon Loft, was appointed by Regent Master Ritchka to head the commercial development of the Hyld Engine.

“The larger unit was installed into a new class of freighter the Silloni had been developing for sale to the Planetary Alignment. These two prototype starships will undergo a two-year testing period before they are released to the general public for sale. Tristan’s personal team is testing the Hoshi-class staff cruiser, while a private shipping company has been chosen to test its new Kirin-class freighter.

“Despite unsubstantiated rumors of unreliability, the combined governments of Sillon and Ryu have shown faith in Blue Horizon Freight Transfer of Dennier and have secured their services for testing in a real-world environment. Although the launch date of its maiden flight is not yet…”

Faltane sputtered and cursed. He checked himself with a quick glance at Kane and then steeled himself to watch the rest of the broadcast. The documentary itself was dry, and it was unlikely to be viewed by anyone without a scientific interest in traffic throughout the Planetary Alignment, but it was the kind of thing that the opportunist in Victor Faltane frequently watched for.

A half-hour later, the show ended with a techno soundtrack over the end credits. Faltane snapped his fingers sharply and then pointed toward the screen. “I want a copy of that broadcast available to me by tomorrow,” he said to his aid with a menacing look.

“Yes, sir. I’ll get on it right away.” Kane withdrew from the room and quietly shut the heavy oak door behind him.

Faltane growled beneath his breath and fought to maintain control of his temper. The development of his Prime-class freighters was intended to revolutionize shipping freight, and they had only recently gone on the market to the public. He understood every bit of technical jargon that had been used in the program to profile this Hyper-LightDrive engine system, and the stellar mechanics behind its theory ran along similar lines to the particle vault technology that Sagan had stolen from the pirate queen, Natasha Khasho – a system that his own engineers had thus far been unable to recreate for his own purposes.

If the Silloni had perfected hyper travel on their own and have announced the possible distribution of its technology to the public on the outside of two years, it was unlikely Faltane would be able to sell many of the Prime ships. Who would want to buy his expensive freighters when everyone could simply wait a couple years for vault-like capability?

To rub salt in the wound, one of the Silloni prototypes had been given to Merlin Sinclair, a Dennieran wolf who had unwittingly side-railed some of his plans already. Despite Faltane’s recent covert efforts to steer customers away from Sinclair’s business, he was fairly certain that companies would compete for the Horizon’s services once it became known that they could now get their goods delivered faster than anyone else in the industry.

Faltane’s own attempts to reverse-engineer Natasha’s vault drive had not been successful. Despite having a working model of her technology, there were key elements in the way things worked that were simply beyond the capabilities of his engineers. They had been able to construct a prototype that appeared promising, but after its third test flight, the manned ship simply vanished without a trace. It was unknown whether the ship or its pilot encountered problems related to the vault or some other issue altogether, but a second manned prototype was rushed into construction using the same technology. It had vanished on its first flight.

Rather than pour billions more into a technology they did not fully understand that seemed determined to defeat them, Faltane had redirected his R&D department over to the Prime starships instead. Gargantuan advances were made and a new type of LightDrive technology promised to revolutionize transportation – not only in simple freighters, but also for all interstellar transportation.

Faltane Industries of Earth stood to become the wealthiest concern in the Planetary Alignment, but now Sillon’s advancements could completely derail his efforts. Faltane was livid. Even if he thought to take out the Blue Horizon itself, the Silloni government still had the technology to build more.

The deceptively young-appearing human ground his teeth together. When he needed to be, Faltane could be cutthroat and use emotional blackmail in order to accomplish his goals. He could have his affiliates leak news of his company’s failed Vault prototype, attributing it to one of his sub-contractors for plausible deniability. His cronies could make a number of loud statements about “concern for public safety” and other bland, formless terms. The Blue Horizon would have to demonstrate that they would not just disappear into the void with someone’s cargo or passengers using experimental technology. Lawsuits could be threatened, environmental concerns addressed, and plain old, outright lies could be spread throughout the media.

The man let out a guttural growl and drummed his fingers on the desktop. It was an ill wind when someone crossed Victor Faltane. One thing the human forgot, however, was that no matter how large and expansive his empire might be, there were always larger predators in life. Some hunted for sport and fun, some hunted for food, but there were others that hunted for revenge.

The hunter on the veranda creeping stealthily toward Faltane’s office was of the latter variety.

***

Samantha opened her eyes from a dreamless sleep. The lights were out, the curtains wafted gently in the cool sea air that came in through the open bedroom window and crickets chirred somewhere out in the yard. She could hear a gentle ting ting ting from the sailboat marina up the road and she felt calm and relaxed.

It was in the middle of the night, but she chose not to turn her head to see the glowing blue numbers of the clock on the nightstand to check the time. Without moving, she could mentally feel the presence of her five tiny children in the room, but she could sense there was someone else. The feeling did not come from Merlin’s side of the bed and she suddenly felt a small tang of fear.

The Border collie turned her head and saw a silhouette bent over the large crib that contained the pile of puppies all snuggled together. When her eyes adjusted to the moonlight coming through the window, she could see that it was her wolf gently stroking each pup’s small ears.

Merlin sensed her gaze and looked over at her with a contented smile. She could see the moisture reflected in his amber eyes, but knew the tears were not of sorrow, but of deep emotion. He turned back to their young ones and continued bestowing affection upon them.

Samantha Sinclair sighed deeply and closed her eyes with a smile. All was right in their world.

COMMAND DECISION

by Ted R. Blasingame

Captain Rezo Kegawa muttered beneath his breath as he watched the scarlet form of the Kokoro settle down on a nearby landing pad. He recognized its form easily, since he had just seen it days earlier when it had rendezvoused with the Hidalgo Sun in flight to Crescentis to take his cargo loadmaster away from him. His protests had been overruled and then Mark Littlefeather was transferred to the newest ship in the company fleet.

This had left him without anyone to coordinate the offloading of cargo when they had reached the watery world. He had had to tackle the job himself, but somehow, they had managed to get everything unloaded onto a fleet of trucks that had arrived to take possession of the delivery. Since they had to slow their inertia for the ships to be coupled, and then speed back up to interstellar cruising speeds, they had arrived a day late and their client had not been happy about it, having had to retain personnel on overtime to wait for them.

When Mark had been taken, he had been told that a new cargo master would have already been hired and waiting for them by the time they landed, but as yet no one had arrived to claim that position. Then, before he could release his crew to shore leave, he had received yet another message from the home office requiring them all to stand by for another arrival of the Kokoro.

It was freaky knowing that the little scarlet vessel with their new super engines could zip back and forth between worlds in minutes with only the turnaround of a day, but yet here it was again – probably bearing more bad news. All he had been told was that an important passenger had immediate business with the captain and his first officer that would affect the crew as well. Who was this mysterious passenger he and Jonesy were to meet? Was it another Silloni like Tristan, or were they bringing Mark back already? He sincerely hoped it was the latter so he could inflict his displeasure upon the human deserter.

The red panda narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth together, making his companion look over at him surreptitiously. Rezo’s attitude had already gotten him into trouble with the company president once this week. He had always been in control over his crew, and it grated on the captain’s nerves to know that he had been powerless to prevent Mark’s departure. Making command decisions for others had suited him, and although he had not always made sound choices, those responsibilities were his own and no one else’s, mistakes and all.

He shielded his eyes against the Crescentan afternoon sun and waited for the flight crew to shut down their systems and open the airlock.

The captain’s first officer stood beside him, a slateboard tablet in the orange feline’s hands. The rest of the red panda’s crew was gathered a few meters behind them and all were anxious.

“Any idea what this is about?” asked the cat.

“Jonesy, I have no clue, but I hope they make this quick,” he said in annoyance. “We’re already behind schedule as it is and I didn’t like having to cut everybody’s shore leave by a day to make up for it.”

“Someone’s coming out,” Tsarina remarked from the back of the group. Rezo and Jonesy looked up from their conversation to see the hatch on the other ship recess back in to the hull and then slide aside. One of the unicorn-like Silloni in a one-piece uniform walked out into the sunlight and then stopped to await the personnel ramp to complete its descent to the tarmac.

Rezo frowned, recognizing the captain of Master Tristan’s new personal test ship. He motioned to Jonesy to follow him and the two of them walked toward the Silloni vessel. The others waited a moment and then followed Patch as he went out after his captain. Rezo stopped at the bottom of the ramp and looked up at the unicorn.

“Hello again,” the tan and brown Silloni female said with a slight tip of her horn.

“Metra,” Rezo replied with a nod of his head in an approximation of her greeting. “Why are you back so soon? Have you come to take another employee off my hands — or bring the other one back?”

The unicorn frowned at the snide tone of the red panda’s voice. “Not exactly,” she answered. There were a few low spoken words from within the ship, and then a silhouette appeared at the airlock. Rezo’s eyebrows shot up when he recognized the face that emerged from the shadows.

“Hello, Captain,” Merlin Sinclair said. The expression on the wolf’s face was neutral, hiding the true nature of his thoughts. He nodded to the other and added, “Hello, Jonesy.”

“This must be serious if the company president himself diverts his resources to touch base with one of his ships,” Rezo said, stepping forward. “Couldn’t you have just contacted me online?”

Merlin straightened up to his full height, placing his hands into the pockets of the slate gray overcoat he wore over matching slacks and beige mock-neck shirt. He looked down at the short red panda and shook his head. “Something of this nature must be discussed in person,” he replied. “I will need to talk to you and Mr. Jones in private, right away.”

“Are we getting one of the new ships too?” the orange cat asked.

“Not yet,” Sinclair replied, not taking his eyes off the short captain. He did not appear to be in a good mood and the orange cat looked back and forth between Merlin and Rezo.

“Let’s go up to your office on the Sun,” the wolf directed.

The red panda crossed his arms and looked up at his imposing employer, trying his best to keep from being intimidated. “Why don’t we discuss it right here?” he asked with a swallow. “If it affects the whole crew, they should hear too.”

“In private,” Merlin insisted.

Jonesy looked behind him at the others and exchanged concerned looks with the chief engineer. Rezo stared up at the wolf for a moment longer before he turned and walked away. “Suit yourself,” he said. The orange striped cat followed his captain, and then Merlin turned to Metra.

“Thanks for your help,” he told her.

“You are welcome, sir,” the Silloni captain replied. “Let us know if you need anything. We’ll be preparing for the return flight, to leave as soon as you’re ready.”

Merlin gave her a nod and then followed Rezo’s crew back to the Hidalgo Sun.

***

Rezo, Jonesy and Merlin rode up to the crew deck in silence, leaving everyone else down outside the ship to wait. When they stepped out into the corridor, Merlin followed the Hidalgo Sun’s command personnel to the captain’s office. Once inside, the wolf shut the door behind him and gestured the others to take their seats. He remained standing, his hands back into the pockets of his overcoat.

Without preamble, he moved directly to the purpose of his visit. “Rezo Kegawa,” he said in a somber tone, “In accordance with the written conditions of your signed contract with Blue Horizon Freight Transfer, I am terminating your employment on the grounds of multiple accounts of insubordination to your superior officer.”

“What?” Rezo exclaimed in shock. Jonesy opened his mouth and shut it quickly, swallowing hard. This had not been what either of them expected.

“You have openly challenged me on several occasions and I won’t tolerate it further. You have been treading on dangerous ground ever since you came to work for me, and since you apparently don’t appreciate all I’ve done for you, that ground has now given away beneath you.”

“You… You can’t fire me!” Rezo sputtered indignantly. “I have the title! I own this ship!”

“Captain, as of this moment, you no longer work for Blue Horizon Freight Transfer,” Merlin said in an even voice. “It’s true you purchased the Hidalgo Sun from me with the split in the profits, so I can’t take that away from you.”

The red panda snorted triumphantly, crossing his arms.

“The crew, however, belongs to me,” Merlin reminded him, “and my personnel will be returning to Dennier aboard the Kokoro.”

“What do you mean the crew belongs to you?” Rezo spat. “These people are mine and they aren’t going anywhere with you!”

“Wrong. As I’d already reminded you when you challenged me in front of everyone on Pomen, the contracts of the personnel serving on your ship all belong to me. Those contracts were made with my company, Kegawa, not to you. I have no intention of cancelling their employment, so I’ll try to get them set up right away on another freighter.”

Despite his short stature, Rezo Kegawa stood to his full height and glared directly up into the wolf’s amber eyes. “I’m not afraid of you,” he hissed. “Get off my ship right now. My crew’s staying put.”

“Do you really want a legal battle with my lawyer? If you want me off your ship, so be it. The others are coming with me.”  He turned to the orange cat and said, “Mr. Jones, inform your crewmates of the circumstances. Since we are all unwelcome here, we must leave immediately, so you’ll all need to gather your belongings as quickly as possible. Once back on Dennier, I will grant them the shore leave they won’t get here, but I will make sure they have another ship to serve on as soon as possible.”

Jonesy swallowed, glanced quickly at Rezo, and then nodded slowly to the wolf. “Aye, sir,” he acknowledged before getting up from his seat.

“What am I supposed to do with a ship and no crew?” Rezo spat after he had gone.

“That’s not really my concern. You’ve had your own ship and crew before. You already know how to hire people.”

The short captain glared at the wolf for a long moment. “All of my profits went to buy the Hidalgo Sun from you,” he said in a quieter voice. “I don’t have the startup capital in reserve to hire another crew and set up as a new business.”

“Also not my concern,” Merlin said coldly. “I take challenges very seriously, Mr. Kegawa, but I gave you ample opportunities to straighten up your act. You’ve apologized and made empty promises to do better, but your open challenges to my authority have come to an end.” His eyes softened for only a moment. “I don’t regret giving you and your people the chance to contribute to my company, and the profits from our association have been worthwhile, but — you aren’t irreplaceable. Another captain who can follow orders will be happy to have the job.”

“You already knew I couldn’t afford to hire another crew,” Rezo grumbled. “My only alternative would be the sell the ship, putting me out of the business altogether. I suppose your next move is to offer to buy her from me; you’re doing this just so you can get your hands on my ship!”

Merlin looked surprised. “Actually, that had never occurred to me.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

The wolf arched an eyebrow at him. “If all I wanted was your freighter, I could buy another one myself. With the economy still trying to recover from the Siilv War, there are plenty of ships to be had at a good price. By taking these people with me, I’ll have to do just that, since they’re contracted to crew a ship for me and I still have a delivery schedule for them to maintain. I don’t need the Hidalgo Sun herself. You own the title and she’s all yours to do with as you will, Captain.”

He turned his back on the panda and took a step toward the door. Rezo looked in panic at him. Without the first officer in the room, his demeanor crumbled and he rushed forward to face the wolf. “Don’t do this to me,” he pleaded. “I lost my ship once, and I don’t want to do it again. Please, give me another chance! Don’t fire me!”

Merlin sighed inwardly. “Mr. Kegawa,” he said in a quieter voice, “I have warned you against insubordination many times. Despite constant reprimands, you have continued to rebel against me when you don’t get your way, even though you have openly admitted that your life has been better off since you joined the company. As someone in authority over others, you should be well aware of the dangerous position you placed yourself in every time you defied my orders, especially when you have flatly refused them in front of others. Since you joined us, I have allowed you to run this ship in the manner you wished, but there have been numerous complaints against you by members of your crew.

“I am well aware of the way you treat your people, but that’s not the issue here. The issue is with my patience, which has finally run out. You have given me promises to adjust your attitude, but you have constantly proven otherwise. Morale under your command is dangerously low, and that isn’t healthy.  You’ve just asked me for another chance, but I have given you several that you’ve squandered. No more. Further chances have run out. Your latest temper tantrum on my decision to transfer Mr. Littlefeather to the Blue Horizon was made without regard to the repercussions. Instead of trying to talk me out of it in a civil manner, you chose to contest me by openly refusing. You have apparently never enjoyed working for me, so as of now, your association with my company is at an end. I have cancelled your contract, so you are now free to do as you wish without my interference.”

Kegawa sat down heavily in the chair behind the desk and closed his eyes. He was silent for several moments before he buried his face in his hands and spoke without looking up.

“You win,” he muttered in resignation. “I want nothing more to do with you, Sinclair. If you want it, I’ll sell the Hidalgo Sun to you and then I’ll clear out.” He paused for a moment, and then added, “I think I’m tired of freighting anyway. Perhaps I’ll use the money to buy a boat and take up fishing with the Crescentis fleets.”

Merlin took a seat opposite that of the red panda and sat back with a sigh. “I am sorry, Rezo,” he said in a soft voice. “I think that you were your own boss for so long that you were unable to accept my authority over you. I didn’t want to do this, but I can’t allow you to challenge my decisions anymore.”

“Yeah, whatever,” grumbled the panda.

Merlin nodded. “Have it your way. You can sell her to me or you can sell her to someone else. I don’t care which. Name your price.”

Rezo still did not look at him. “What I paid you for it.”

The wolf stood up and looked down at the former captain. That was half the cost of one on the market — an older, used one at that; Rezo could have easily demanded more, but Merlin was just as weary of the argument as the red panda was and simply nodded.

“Prepare the Hidalgo Sun’s title to be signed over to me. I will arrange a transfer of the funds directly into your personal account.”  Then, without waiting for another disgruntled reply, he reached across the desk and toggled the intercom control for a ship-wide announcement.

“Attention all hands,” he said, “This is Merlin Sinclair. I need everyone to assemble on the Recreation Deck in thirty minutes. Mr. Jones, please return to the captain’s office immediately.” He closed the circuit and then waited for the orange feline.

Rezo sat back in his chair and then looked up at the wolf with a neutral expression. “May I go to my cabin to prepare your ship’s title and to start packing up my stuff,” he asked, “or do you intend to embarrass me further in front of the crew at this meeting?”

Annoyed with the whole issue, Merlin just said, “Go.”

Rezo Kegawa got up from his chair, fighting off the urge to give the wolf a rude gesture, and then quickly departed the compartment. He bumped into Jonesy out in the corridor, but didn’t bother to excuse himself as he stormed away.

The orange striped cat entered the office with a frown. “You needed to see me, sir?” he asked.

Merlin sighed, nodded and then gestured toward the chair that Rezo had just vacated. “Have a seat, Mr. Jones. There’s been a change of plan.”

***

Merlin and Jonesy stepped out of the lift together onto the tan-themed Recreation Deck. With the exception of the red panda, the rest of the crew was seated on chairs and couches in front of the forward vidscreen. Jonesy had changed out of his jeans and tee-shirt and was now in a cream-colored polo shirt and gray slacks. Since the cat had not had time to carry out Merlin’s previous order to inform the crew of the whole command mess with Rezo, no one had an idea what the assembly was about. All they knew was that the Kokoro had brought the company president out to them on urgent business, so there were several worried faces amongst the crew.

Merlin was aware of what they must be thinking, assuming their jobs were on the line; fortunately for them all, the news was not that dire. Only one of them had lost his job today, and he had elected not to take part in the assembly.

Dr. Carmen Burgess watched him from her seat with rapt attention; the polar bear almost felt that she would miss something if she looked away. Beside her on the end of a couch was the raccoon, Jasper Porter, gnawing silently on the end of an unlit cigar. The chief engineer was familiar with Merlin’s tactics and quietly waited for the wolf to spring a nasty surprise upon them all.

Next to him was Roger Paxton, his Palomino mechanic, who was nervously grooming his mane with an old brush. He swallowed and licked his lips several times, but kept his eyes on the floor at his feet. Riki Nori watched him in concern and put a gentle hand on his arm. He jumped, and then gave her an embarrassed smile.

Upon a second couch, Sheila Aval and Tsarina Ahnya sat together, the kangaroo and the jaguar talking animatedly in soft whispers. The bobcat, Danaher sat stiffly upon a chair by himself, slightly removed from the others. He tended to be a loner, but the accountant was good with numbers and had never turned in an error to the home office.

When Merlin and Jonesy walked together to the front of the room, all eyes went to them. There was some confusion when they realized that it was Sean Jones who stood with Merlin, rather than the absent Rezo Kegawa.

Assured he had everyone’s full attention, Merlin put his hands behind his back, unconsciously standing in a military parade rest stance. He had shed his overcoat, as he did not wish to intimidate the crew.

“Hello, everyone,” he said in a calm voice. “I won’t take up any more of your time than necessary, but this meeting is an important one. I will ask you not to comment or open up discussion until I have finished.”

Several faces displayed open anxiety. He had hoped to give some background behind his decision before making the announcement, but there was no time. From the way the fear scent in the room was growing, he would have to make this quick before there was a panic.  “As many of you have noticed, Rezo Kegawa is not in attendance. This is because I have relieved him of command of this vessel.”

Stunned expressions gazed back at him, and the scent of fear wavered in the wolf’s nostrils. Several voices started up, but Merlin raised a hand with his palm out toward them.

“Quiet, please!” he commanded. “I am not finished.”

Patch scowled openly toward his former captain and crossed his arms across his chest. Of all those on board, the raccoon had gotten along with the temperamental red panda best of all; he had considered Rezo a friend.

“From the start of Mr. Kegawa’s employment with Blue Horizon Freight Transfer, many of you have contacted me with complaints against your captain. So long as deliveries were made on time and expenses kept within budget, I’ve allowed this vessel to operate under the captain’s discretion. However, at times when personnel complaints were on the rise, I did talk to him as requested. I have since learned that often afterwards, he would threaten retaliation on those who spoke out against him. This in itself was inexcusable, but was unknown to me until this afternoon.”

Several eyes went to Jonesy, but the orange feline kept his face and focus carefully neutral.

“Nevertheless,” Merlin continued, his hands still clasped behind him, “Rezo has constantly challenged my business decisions and commands, usually openly in front of others, and as many of you know, I handle all challenges to my authority with a serious single-mindedness.” He looked around at their faces and saw that the fear had mostly been replaced with curiosity, and everyone was now focused on his words. “Normally I try to work with those who have a problem with me, but despite promises of respect to my authority on several occasions, Mr. Kegawa never changed his ways; this became a constant issue not just with me personally, but with the company too.”

He unclasped his hands and raised one up to gesture around him. “When I first brought you all into the company, it was done out of a sense of responsibility to pay back a similar favor done for me. I set Mr. Kegawa as captain of my second freighter, and even allowed him to name this vessel. Thanks to scheduling by an efficient home office, the Sun managed to pull in a good profit for the company and I allowed half of those profits to go toward the purchase of the ship for Mr. Kegawa. Last year, the purchase debt was paid off and I transferred the Sun’s title to him, with the option of staying with Blue Horizon Freight Transfer or buying out your contracts and going into business for himself. He chose to stay. I have counted you all as good assets to my company, but despite all this, your numerous complaints against him have been heard, and his insubordination against the chain of command has unraveled all this.”

“Wait a minute!” Patch exclaimed, sitting up straight in his seat, “Rezo owns this ship. How can you remove—?”

Merlin held up a hand. “Quiet!” he commanded. “I’ll take your questions and listen to your discussions after I have finished. However, I will go ahead and answer this one. Mr. Kegawa has offered to sell the Hidalgo Sun back to the company and get out of freighting altogether.”

“Did you strong-arm him to sell?” Patch asked with a growl.

Merlin narrowed his eyes at his former crewmate. “It was his own decision to sell the ship when I informed him that I would be taking the crew back with me to Dennier.” There were many surprised looks at this. “Your employment contracts belong to me, not to this ship. He informed me that he didn’t have the funds to establish another crew and set up a new business on his own, so he offered to sell.”

“So, you did strong-arm him!” Patch exclaimed.

Merlin stood his ground. “The idea to sell was his own, and there was no coercion to do so. The only other alternative would have been for him to buy out all of your work contracts, but if he didn’t have funds to hire a new crew, he didn’t have them for that either.”  He crossed his arms and stared down the brazen raccoon. “Now shut up and let me continue.” The engineer could not meet his direct gaze for more than a moment and had to turn away.

“Mr. Kegawa is now taking his leave from us. He told me that he was tired of freighting and has expressed a possible interest in joining the local fishing fleets, so he is already taking his future in hand.” Merlin looked over at the orange feline beside him and his expression softened. “At my behest, Sean Jones has agreed to serve as your captain to keep the crew and the business in operation without a break. He has requested that he fill this merely as a temporary promotion, so I have allowed him this caveat. If his performance is satisfactory and he wishes the position to be permanent at a later date, he and I will work out the particulars of his contract at that time. Effective immediately, he is now your captain.”

With the possible exception of Jasper’s perpetual scowl, the rest of the crew seemed to be okay with Jonesy as their new commander. He had been their first officer for years and he seemed to be universally well-liked among them. Merlin had never received a complaint about the feline, and Jonesy was already familiar with the daily routine, so he felt the ship would be in good hands.

Merlin had nothing more to announce, so he gestured to the cat to take over. Jonesy cleared his throat and seemed embarrassed by the attention of so many pairs of eyes focused upon him.

“Well,” he said in hesitation, “I don’t have anything else to add. Any questions?” Tsarina held up a tentative hand.  “Yes?”

“Do we call you ‘sir’ now?”

Jonesy suddenly smiled, the first time since the Kokoro had arrived. “Only if you want to,” he replied. “Don’t expect me to be making too many changes. We already work well together, so I’m hoping things can go a little more smoothly now that… uh, now that…”

“…Now that the arrogant little snot is no longer in charge?” Sheila finished for him cheerily. Although unknown to the rest of her crewmates, the kangaroo lass had suffered greatly under the red panda’s acidic tongue and she had lodged the most complaints with the home office. Several of the crew looked at her in surprise, but Jonesy nodded with the return of his frown.

Roger Paxton held up a hand, and the orange tabby pointed at him. “Yes, Pax?”

“As Mr. Sinclair reminded us,” the equine mechanic said, speaking with a southern drawl, “the name of this ship was chosen by Captain Rezo, after his old ship. Now that he’s neither the captain nor the owner of the Hidalgo Sun, will you rename it?”

Jonesy looked surprised and looked over at the wolf. Merlin raised an eyebrow and then placed his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “Things have happened so fast regarding all this,” he said, “that I hadn’t even considered that.”  He looked at Jonesy and then back out over the faces of the crew. “Mr. Paxton has a valid point, but at the moment I don’t have an answer for you. If you all wish to choose a different name for your freighter, I have no objections. Mr. Kegawa is now preparing the title to be signed over to me, and I will submit it to PA Registration when I get back to Dennier.  If you wish to talk it over between yourselves, you will need to let me know what you’ve chosen no later than tomorrow so I can register that along with the title transfer.”

Jonesy looked around. “Are there any other questions?”

No one else raised a hand or said anything more, so the orange feline nodded. “Okay, then. Merlin is going to take me to meet the new cargo master he’s hired to fill Mark’s vacant position before he departs with the Kokoro. The rest of you are free for shore leave, but remember we only get two days this time in order to meet our next delivery and get back into a routine. I’ll introduce everyone to our new crewmate when you come back, and then I’ll announce who I’ve chosen as my first officer. For now, you’re dismissed.”

Jonesy turned toward the gray wolf while everyone else began to disperse amidst new conversations. “Well, that went better than I expected,” he said.  Before he could say anything more, however, Patch approached them.

“Yes, Jasper, what’s on your mind?” Merlin asked of the raccoon. He was reluctant to hear anything the engineer might want to say, but he had long offered an open-door policy with those he employed.

“Am I next?” Patch asked with a dark look at the wolf. “Are you going to can me next on insubordination for questioning you?”

Merlin knew he was being baited, but shook his head at the shorter male. “You had a valid question,” he responded diplomatically, “even if you ignored my orders to keep your questions until I was finished. I can’t fault you for asking, but I shall warn you not to challenge my authority. That was the mistake that Mr. Kegawa made, time and again.”

Patch pulled a partially chewed cigar from the shirt pocket of his coveralls. He studied it for a moment and then looked up at the wolf. “What would you say if I requested that you terminate my contract as well?”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “Why would you request that?” he asked in genuine surprise. “Do you have a problem with serving with Mr. Jones in command?”

“No, I think he’s capable enough. It’s you I have a problem with,” replied the raccoon boldly.

“I see,” Merlin said with a frown. “You’ve always seemed to harbor something against me, even though I gave you and your brother an extraordinary amount of leeway running my engine room.”

Patch looked up at the wolf and was able to hold his gaze, perhaps because Merlin was not glaring at him this time. “You were never the commander you should have been,” the raccoon answered truthfully. “With your prior military training, you should have kept a tighter ship than you did, and I sincerely believe that a lot of the difficulties we ran into were caused by your lax attitude.”

Merlin’s expression darkened. “Despite my background, the Blue Horizon was not a military vessel, Jasper, and I refused to treat her as one. I gave everyone on my crew the opportunity to serve in a relaxed atmosphere for reasons of morale; I’ve never regretted that decision, though I am sorry if you didn’t appreciate what I did for you all.”

Jonesy directed a rare scowl at the raccoon. “I suppose that’s the reason why you were sticking up for Rezo,” he said in annoyance. “He’s been beating down this crew’s morale for far longer than you’ve been with us, Patch. The greater majority of us were sick and tired of his iron fist, and you can bet your cigar that I’m not going to follow his lead!  It bothered me that his actions resulted in getting himself fired, but not anymore. He pulled that down upon himself. Is that what you want for yourself?”

Jasper’s eyes widened. He had never seen the orange tabby so assertive before, and he unconsciously took a step backward in surprise. Momentarily flustered, the raccoon did not have a reply. Merlin looked down at the engineer.

“If you feel that I have been too lax with you, Jasper, I’m about to grant you your dream,” he said with a hardened gaze. “Your request for the termination of your contract has been denied. You still have a little over a year on your contract to fulfill before you have the option to seek employment elsewhere. Until that time and no matter how your associates act, I expect you to give Jonesy your best in military efficiency as his chief engineer. Is that understood, mister?”

To the surprise of both the wolf and the cat, Jasper gave them a lopsided smile. “Aye, sir. You can count on that.” He gave his captain a crisp salute and held his pose until Jonesy smirked and returned the action.

“Unless you have anything further,” said the feline, “you’re dismissed.”

Patch nodded and stuck the chewed end of the cigar between his lips. “I’ve said my piece,” he said. “Despite how everyone seems to claim that Rezo treated them, he’s always been fair to me. I don’t intend to shut him out for the reminder of our stay here. He is my friend.”

Merlin relaxed and said to the raccoon, “I am glad to hear that, Jasper.  Everyone needs a friend, especially when life is not going well.”

The raccoon nodded and then excused himself. The three of them had been the only ones left on the recreation deck, and soon it was just Merlin and Jonesy.

***

The Kokoro departed an hour and a half later. From the window of a nearby hotel, Rezo watched the scarlet cruiser’s running lights shrink into the distant darkness of space. The vessel’s Hyld system still had the greater part of a day to recharge before it could be of use on the return journey to Dennier, but it could still make headway using its LightDrive engines. The Hidalgo Sun would launch in a couple of days to resume its delivery schedule without him.

The red panda uttered a mouthful of curses directed at the lupine passenger of that Silloni ship, and then he took a drink of amber liquid from a square glass of crystal he held in both hands. When he turned from the window, he moved to the computer desk and called up his personal account. He was now several hundred thousand credits richer than he had been a few hours ago. He had signed over the title of the freighter to Sinclair and he was now just a local tenant of the hotel.

With the credits in his account, Rezo planned to play tourist on Crescentis for a few days before looking for a job with one of the ships in the fleet. He had considered buying his own boat, but he had to admit to himself that he lacked the necessary skills to start his own fishing business right away. He would seek out a local boat in need of deck hands and learn the ropes before trying to run one of his own. He knew it would be hard work, but if it meant that he would never have to take another space flight, it would be worth it to him.

***

Merlin Sinclair relaxed upon his bunk in the small cabin that had been assigned to him on the Kokoro. He had not needed it for more than a few minutes on the flight out, but now that he had hours to wait out the Hyld recharge, he had taken advantage of the time to rest and reflect upon the situation.

After the Blue Horizon had departed Dennier on its return trip to visit the lapin community on Se’rei, Merlin knew then that it was time to confront Rezo Kegawa while he had certain resources available to him. With the birth of Samantha’s cubs and the prototype Kirin freighter delivered as the new Blue Horizon, Master Tristen would soon be returning to Sillon. Merlin had begged the use of the Kokoro for one final voyage so he could put an end to Rezo’s insubordination once and for all, face to face. With this trip alone, he was already convinced how such quick transportation would be greatly coveted by every world in the Planetary Alignment.

He had already transmitted the freighter’s title to the Dennier branch of the PA Registration office in Grandstorm, but the name of the ship would remain Hidalgo Sun, as voted upon by her crew. None of them could agree upon a new name, so in the end they had chosen to remain with what they were used to, despite its origin. He agreed it would make things easier with the company paperwork.

Later, when the ship-wide intercom beeped for attention and then the captain’s voice announced the jump time was imminent, Merlin roused himself to prepare himself for the gut-wrenching that was associated with a Hyld jump. Once through on the other end, he would soon see his family again. That alone would make the discomfort worth the trip.

HIGHLAND FERAL

by Ted R. Blasingame

Seated directly below the large curving glassteel window occupying the forward wall of the Blue Horizon’s new bridge, Renny and Jerry were at the astrogation and helm stations respectively. The cheetah was engaged in navigational calculations for their mission, while the red fox monitored the interstellar traffic orbiting the moon of Dennier below as he guided the new freighter past it on a course set for deep space.

Although there were no overhead lights in the small compartment, the instrumentation covering most of the walls and low ceiling provided ample illumination from cool temperature backlit dials and control touch pads. Behind the two forward pilot stations were four smaller consoles and seats arranged in a semicircle. Seated at the communication station, Taro tapped out commands on the terminal in front of her as she listened and spoke through a small wire headset.

The preceding three hours had consisted of a test flight around the local planetary body, preparing its crew for the first mission of their new Silloni-made vessel. All systems seemed to be working as designed and each member of the flight team on the bridge and in the engine room were satisfied with the handling of the controls.

Taro sat back in her seat and rubbed her eyes, but her respite did not last.  A chirp from her board heralded an intercom call, but it took her a moment to find the right control to answer it. The Silloni engineers that designed this new vessel had not adopted the standard layout that most of the Planetary Alignment used, so she was still learning where things were located on her console.

“This is the captain,” she said at last into the small boom microphone that rested in front of her lips.

“…and this is your illustrious chief engineer,” drawled the responding voice. “The checklists are checked and the lights are lit – all green. We’ve performed all designated tests prior to first flight and things are running satisfactory. Suzuko concurs that we may begin as soon as you are ready.”

“Thank you,” the Hestran red fox replied. “Course to destination is still in calculation. Stand by.”

“We’re standing.”

Renny looked up from his board. “Astrogation is ready,” he announced at the same time he transferred figures to Jerry’s terminal.  “These coordinates will take us to a relatively empty area I’ve selected north of the ecliptic, estimated time of arrival in forty-five minutes. We don’t want to make our Hyld jump within interstellar traffic, so we will engage the system at that point. I’ll have the coordinates to Se’rei ready for you by the time we get there.”

“Aye to that,” Jerry responded automatically, programming in the data he had been given.  They still had to cross commercial shipping lanes to reach their jump point, so the next three quarters of an hour would require a close eye on the surrounding traffic. It had been tricky filing a flight plan that did not include the route to Se’rei, but with luck their instant flight out there and back would circumvent any close monitoring.

Once they began to rise above the current plane of the ecliptic, the traffic should thin out and then they could depart without running over anyone — despite Suzuko’s assurances that the Hyld jump would take the ship outside of normal space and that they would not be running over anybody. Nevertheless, Taro did not want to take any unnecessary chances.

“Helm is ready,” Jerry announced a moment later.

“Good, let’s get going,” Taro told him.  She looked over her board and then tapped the control for ship-wide intercom with the tip of a claw.

“All hands, all hands,” she broadcast throughout the ship, “Initial company testing of the Blue Horizon has been completed and we are now on our way to our jump point; ETA is approximately forty-five minutes.  This is it, boys and girls — we’re on our way.  If all goes according to plan with the Hyld jump, we should be near the Se’rei system in about an hour.”

Renny looked back and gave her a thumbs-up sign.  The vixen closed the intercom and then looked at her flight team at the stations in front of her.  “Well, guys,” she said with a smile, “I’ve enjoyed our time with Merlin and Samantha, but I’m ready to get back to work. This may be a new ship, but we’re all familiar with the business. Hopefully our stop will be short and sweet so we can be on our way.”

“You know things are never that simple for us,” Renny said over his shoulder with a smirk, “but perhaps we’ll get lucky this time.”

***

“All hands, all hands, prepare for Hyld jump,” Taro announced throughout the ship. “Get into your harnesses. We’ve already covered this in our staff meeting, but as a reminder to those who have never experienced a Hyld jump before, the sensation will make you feel a little ill but only for just a moment. At the jump, hold your breath, close your eyes and tense up. This will help mask the effects to get you through it; I’m told this will become routine as you get used to it with several jumps, but the first time can be a shock, so prepare yourselves.”

The vixen closed the intercom and waited. Jerry reached out to his console with one hand, held down two spring-resistant buttons simultaneously until a diode went from amber to green, and then with his other hand, he flipped a single toggle before releasing them. He looked over his shoulder at Taro and gave her a silent nod, holding his finger ready above a green switch.

Taro reopened the intercom. “Engineering, prepare for Hyld activation,” she announced.

“Engine room is ready,” replied Pockets’ voice over the open circuit. “Safety monitor is green.”

“We are go for Hyld jump in Five… Four… Three… Two… One!”

Jerry quickly closed his eyes, tensed up, held his breath and then stabbed the green switch.

Outside the freighter, a ring of blue-white flame encompassed the entire vessel for a brief instant, and then the ship and the ring vanished from visible space.

Although he had been through this before, Jerry felt as if his stomach was about to heave violently, but then it was gone just as quickly. He opened his eyes feeling disoriented, and looked around panting; Taro and Renny both still had their eyes clenched, each with pained expressions on their faces. He glanced at the system clock on his console and confirmed that only a moment had passed.

When he looked back over at Renny, the tip of the cheetah’s tongue was sticking out between his lips. “Are you okay?” the fox asked in a raspy voice.

Renny pulled his tongue back in and swallowed. “Yeah,” the feline replied after a moment. “I am now.”

“I don’t care what anybody says,” Taro gasped behind them, “I can’t see how I’ll ever get used to that feeling.”  The queasiness may have already gone, but the memory was still fresh.  The vixen looked up at the forward windows and saw only distant stars. “Did we make it?” she asked.

Renny checked his terminal and nodded almost immediately. “Right on target,” he told his companions. “As with our first visit, we’re above the galactic plane, but this time the planet is right below us to the starboard.”

“How did you get so precise?” Jerry asked in amazement. “When we were here before, we weren’t on the planet long enough for you to learn its orbital speed. How did you know it wouldn’t be on the other side of its sun by now?”

Renny grinned at him. “I didn’t. The first time we were here, we were still a day’s travel away from where we emerged from the jump. For this trip, I used the stellar coordinates I’d calculated last time using the sextant, so we’ve arrived at virtually the same area we did before. As you’ve noted, I had no way of knowing where the planet would be in its orbit around the sun, and I certainly didn’t know we’d come out almost on top of the one we wanted. Thankfully, the navigation system on this ship was sensitive enough that we braked right when we were supposed to this time.”

Jerry shook his head in wonder, looking back at his captain. “Maybe this is a good sign that the rest of this visit will be as lucky.” Taro shrugged, but was delighted with the outcome of their first Hyld jump in the new Silloni freighter. Renny looked insufferably pleased with himself.

The male fox turned in his seat and went to work with the controls to reorient the ship while Taro opened the intercom.

“Attention please – our brief, gut-wrenching journey was a success,” she said with a smile on her muzzle. “We have arrived. Renny put us almost on top of Se’rei and we’ll be assuming planetary orbit shortly. We will be scanning for the landing beacon, and once we’ve established ground-based coordinates, we’ll be descending into the atmosphere. For the moment, it would be best if you remained in your seat harnesses until we have landed.”

She closed the circuit and then turned to the communications console to begin her scan of the planet’s frequencies below. Despite the captain’s edict to remain seated, Renny would be free of duty for a few moments, so he unbuckled his harness and moved to the engineering station.

He tapped in a command and the small screen built into the console panel played back a recording of the jump from one of the forward mounted cameras. The star field was normal with the sound of the captain’s voice counting down, but at the moment of the Hyld jump, the forward view was simply replaced by a new pattern of stars from one second to the next. There was no flash, no blackout, no swirled vortex, or even streaks of stars.

“Hmm,” he muttered. “That was unimpressive.”

“Jumping instantly across numerous light years in just a moment wasn’t impressive?” Taro asked, keeping her focus on her monitors.

“Visually,” the cheetah responded. “I expected more special effects from our point of view.”

Taro chuckled. “You’ve been watching too many movies, Ren-Ren.”

The navigator snorted, moving back to the chair he had previously occupied. He did not sit down, however, but leaned over his console, gazing out through the forward windows.

The nearby star was known only as TES.84497 on Planetary Alignment stellar charts, and although a published study had never been done by PA astronomers of this particular distant star, the Blue Horizon had been there once before right after they had begun taking on passengers through a Space Available program. An initial scan of the solar system on their previous visit had recorded five orbiting planets; one was a methane gas giant, two were small dwarf planets, and the other two were respectably similar in size to those typically populated within the Planetary Alignment, only one of which was within the habitable Goldilocks Zone.  The world known as Se’rei by its inhabitants was the fourth from its sun; it had a breathable atmosphere with acceptable pressure and solar protection and had an abundance of life.

***

Pip… pip… pip… pip… pip…

“I’ve got the landing beacon,” Taro announced. “It’s weak, but we’re picking it up. All other local com channels are clear.” The console before her let out a small chirp. “Okay, we’ve got the coordinates and it looks like it’s in the right place — wooded area with large nearby fields, some highlands close by and snow-capped mountains farther out. The scanners don’t detect any structures, though – metal, wooden or otherwise.”

“I think Lori mentioned that the lapin community built their homes into the sides of hills,” Jerry remarked. “The scanners wouldn’t pick up underground warrens.”

“Probably true,” Taro replied, transferring the landing coordinates to the helm station. “The beacon is all we have to go on, so we’ll try to put down in the same field as before.”

Renny studied the coordinates from his console. “We can make standard orbit in twelve minutes from our current location, but then we’ll need at least three revolutions for optimum insertion into the atmosphere.”

“Aye-yi,” Jerry acknowledged.

“Actually,” Taro interjected, “can we put the ship on automatic pilot once we get into standard orbit?”

“Sure,” Renny answered, “the autopilot can handle the necessary three orbits. What did you have in mind?”

“I want to meet with everyone assembled in the Rec Room before we land.”

“In that case, you can let everyone out of their harnesses now,” the cheetah replied. “Jerry and I will be there as soon as we establish our orbit and get everything locked down.”

“Thanks, guys,” Taro said.  She turned back to the intercom to make the announcement.

***

Taro stood with her hands behind her, in front of the large vidscreen that dominated one wall. Her feet were bare, toes dug into a soft, dark earth-tone floor rug and her thick brush of a tail swayed gently from side to side behind her. The bulk of her crew had already gathered on the two long curving sofas in front of her and all seemed engaged in animated conversations about the world displayed on that screen. It was not often they got to see a virginal untouched world. The vulpine captain allowed her mind to wander as they all awaited the bridge crew.  It only took a few more minutes before the reynard and his feline companion entered the room. The couches were full, so they took up positions behind them and stood there relaxed.

Not knowing what to do with her hands while she spoke, Taro put them behind her back again and then looked over at each face before she began.

“I know that this will be the first visit to Se’rei for some of you,” she said, “so let me reiterate a few of the facts with a little conjecture.  A little research while we were at Merlin’s place has dug up a name that may correspond to this place. One of the early colonies of Earth was established upon a far, distant world that took more than a year to reach using the FTL engines of the time. While there are no surviving records identifying the planet or even the star they went to, we have learned that the name of one such colony was called Surrey in English, due to the large number of four wheeled covered carriages pulled by horses they had taken along for transportation in lieu of more modern transports that might have broken down over time. Sometime over the long years following the Great Abandonment, the colonists may have forgotten their homeworld and reverted to a simpler life without even basic technology; perhaps the tech they had stopped working over the years and they did not have the skills to repair them.

“It’s possible that Se’rei is an approximation of the Surrey name that’s been a little twisted over the past three hundred years, but we have no concrete proof it’s the same group. There’re no other records specifying what Fur species made up the colony, but it may have been anthrolapins as we’ve discovered. Due to the extreme distance, it would be no wonder that contact was never reestablished. Even at today’s top LightDrive speeds, a one-way trip here would take approximately six months, about twice the distance from Dennier to Sillon. That’s not too bad where interstellar distances are concerned, but it was hardly close enough for a trade route.

“Standard is apparently no longer spoken by the inhabitants, but there is one individual among them who still remembers the common language of the Planetary Alignment. Known as K’lssi to the inhabitants, Calissa Thalia was a former lapin crew member of the Lady of Dreams who stayed behind after Captain Khasho’s ship stumbled across the planet during their initial testing of her now-infamous Particle Vault system – a system along similar lines of what the Silloni have developed as the Hyper-LightDrive engine that we are now testing for them in real-world use.

“Although we are cargo-movers, the purpose of this first voyage has nothing to do with shipping freight, even though we are not flying empty.  The crates within our hold contain hand tools, clothing, seeds and other oddments that a simple village like the one we’re visiting could use.  Our primary purpose for returning to Se’rei is to encourage Ms. Thalia to provide a little engineering information about Natasha’s Vault system that can also be applied to the Hyld in order to increase the safety factors in Hyld jumps.

“Now, I must warn you that the locals are all rabbits and are unfamiliar with the mixed species of the Planetary Alignment. I want to keep contact with our crew strictly limited to the non-predator types so we don’t frighten them. Although several of us have met Ms. Thalia in person, this is only because she came to us aboard our ship. Lori is the only one among us who has actually been to the lapin village. Because of this, she will be our liaison with the locals, and through her, we hope to get the information we need.

“If all goes well, we should have what we came for and can be on our way to our first real job in two or three days. For optimum landing, we’ll need to make three full orbits before we can descend and we are already within the first.” She looked at a dainty techwatch on her wrist. “This means we’ll have about four hours before we begin our landing sequence, so for now you’re free to make yourselves at home and move around the ship. Lori has volunteered to prepare a light meal before we land so we won’t have to worry about our bellies once we get down there.  I’ll make an announcement ten minutes prior to our drop from orbit, and then a countdown to the drop itself. That’s all I have.”

***

The sleek form of the Blue Horizon slipped through light, wispy cirrus clouds over the continent of its target destination as it descended. Though still far below, the ground terrain seemed to rush by while Renny maneuvered the unfamiliar ship into a series of turns across the sky to throw off excess speed gained from atmospheric entry. Unspoiled country stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction, dotted by natural lakes, forests, valleys, open plains and a snow-capped mountain range that was reduced to mere highlands at its southern tip. The constant pip-pip-pip of the landing beacon directed the ship’s course to a land of trees and gently rolling hills near the highlands.

“There’s the wheat field,” Jerry announced to his companions on the bridge.

“I see it,” Taro confirmed. “Let’s set down roughly in the same area where we came down before. It’s been months since we were here, but I think I can still see the shape of the old Blue Horizon where we crushed the wheat stalks. It’s grown back in, but the new growth hasn’t matched the old.”

“That’s a prime example of an alien crop circle,” Renny remarked.

“True, but splashing water on us will only get our fur wet,” Jerry responded in reference to an old movie they had watched while at Merlin and Samantha’s place. “Besides, we weren’t here to harvest the locals for food either.”

“Three minutes until full shutdown,” Renny reported. “Let’s just hope we don’t frighten everybody with our return – after all, we aren’t even in the same ship they saw us leave in, so they might think we’re someone else.”

“We’ll send Lori out to their village first with a letter I’ve written explaining to Calissa why we’ve returned,” Taro said. “I don’t want the lot of us out tromping through their woods without letting them know we’re here and only want their help. We’ve too many predator types on board that would scare them needlessly.”

“Coming over the field now,” Renny informed them. “Slowing to hover, activating landing thrusters.” The forward windows only showed the clouds and the peaks of the nearby mountains, but smaller vidscreens tied to recessed cameras along the bottom of the craft showed the landing spot and the caterpillar treads as they locked into place. Within a moment, clouds of dust and chaff filled the air around the vessel.

***

Wearing a bright orange tee-shirt and a pair of tan shorts, Lorelei stepped out through the field just as she had done once before. She crossed over halfway between the ship and trees and stopped to listen, looking up at the blue, partly cloudy afternoon sky. She closed her eyes for a moment and then squatted down amongst the wheat stalks, listening for any sign that her lapin friends were nearby.

She waited for several long minutes, but she heard nothing but birdsong, the clicks of insects and soft pings as the metal of the ship cooled. There were no giggles of small bunnies and no one reached out to take her by the arm. It seemed she was quite alone this time. Even the air was still and there were no new scents in the air.

The white rabbit slowly stood up and looked back at the Blue Horizon. How strange it was to see this new vessel design and think of it as her ship. The name and color might be the same, but it looked nothing like the old freighter she had called home. She felt a small surge of nostalgia, but then remembered why she was here. The airlock had closed behind her, but she was sure that someone on board was keeping tabs on her.

There was no sense of danger, just the feeling of being alone. She could not expect her friend N’iik to visit the field with the village children he watched over every day, so she was not really surprised that they were not there now; she had merely hoped that he was.

She smiled to herself at the thought of the broad-shouldered white male rabbit who had invited her to stay and be his mate despite only knowing her a few hours, and this despite that he had been unable to understand anything she had told him besides her name. While she had been intrigued and even a little tempted by the invitation, she knew her place was with her crew aboard the Blue Horizon. Even if the offer was repeated on this visit, she would be unable to consider it due to the fresh new contract she had just signed with the company.

Still, it would not hurt to indulge in the fantasy of a simpler life in a village of nothing but other rabbits for a few hours. She was hopeful to spend some time with N’iik, but she found she was looking forward to her time with K’lssi even more. The older lapin female known as Calissa Thalia in a previous life had been a relatable delight during her earlier visit. Both she and her mate N’maa had been the best of hosts in their home and their children took to Lori as if she was a beloved aunt.

When she reached the cover of shade, she looked around until she recognized a particular old gnarled tree with broad leaves that were green on one side and yellow on the other, remembering it as the start of the path that would take her to the village. She glanced back at the ship, waved to whoever might be watching, and then boldly walked into the forest.

***

“It’s been an hour since she left,” Mark Littlefeather mused, looking out across the field with binoculars. The forward cargo bay door was open to the fresh air and the human sat comfortably in a lawn chair at the edge of the opening. It was his first time to Se’rei, but no one besides Lorelei had been allowed off the ship, so he was sitting as close to outside as he could get. His cargo bay still smelled of its newness, and while there was nothing wrong with that, the man preferred the fresh fragrances of the countryside.

It did not matter that the world and its plant life was all alien to what he was familiar with on other planets, but the similarities were comfortable. No matter where they went, grass was grass, trees were trees and birds were birds, even if Mother Nature’s designs were different from place to place. Although his nose may not be as sensitive as his furman associates, he still preferred the outdoor scents to the recycled air of a space ship. With the cargo door open, he was hoping that some of the aromas would take up residence inside.

Had Taro known of this, she might have ordered him to close the door at once, for although Jerry and Amanda had tested the soil and atmosphere samples on their previous visit, it was still a new world with an ecosystem of its own. There was no way of knowing what airborne agents might be on the local air that would now be inside the vessel.

The captain, however, was on the bridge engaged in tachyon burst communication with the home office, giving a full report on the new vessel’s performance thus far, unaware of her cargo master’s actions. It was unlikely that anyone else would report the faux pas, as several of them had just gathered at the lower level to do much the same.

Pockets sat down upon the edge of the ramp that extended from the ship down to the field. The raccoon adjusted his tail behind him and then looked down at a small green and yellow bird that alighted near his feet. The avian creature looked back at him for a moment, a high topknot of feathers on its head quivering with its movement and then flew off across the field.

“How far is it to the village?” Suzuko asked. “It might take her a while to find the place again and then find the right rabbit to talk to.”

“I wish we could have gone with her,” Max remarked. “We’re going to be really busy soon and a quiet walk through the woods would be nice.”

“Better enjoy the unpolluted countryside now any way you can,” Justy recommended, taking a seat on the floor at the German shepherd’s feet.

“We’ve just had extended downtime due to Merlin and Samantha’s pups, but I do like this fresh air,” Pockets agreed. “There are scents I don’t recognize, but they’re all nice.”

The door between the cargo bay and the forward corridor opened, but no one bothered to look back until they heard hurried steps across the cargo bay floor. “Hey boss,” Mark said when the vixen stopped beside his lawn chair.

The gamut of emotions playing across her face was a mixture of annoyance, fear and impatience.

“Has anyone seen Renny?” she asked in a hurried breath.

“I think he was going to see Jerry,” Max replied. “He said something about inoculations.”

“Is there something we can help you with, Captain?” Suzuko asked.

Taro shook her head, but then changed her mind. “Yes, get everyone down here at once,” she replied. “Make sure you all have your walking shoes on and everyone has a DataCom.”

“What’s going on?” Mark asked, getting up from his chair.

“Renny’s got the codes to the armory lock-up and I need everyone armed before we head out to the rabbit village.” She turned back toward the corridor and then said over her shoulder to the human, “Get this bay door shut by the time I get back down here. I want the ship locked down tight when we go.”

“Armed and under lockdown?” Max repeated, suddenly exchanging looks with his human crewmate. “Why are we going to the rabbits? I thought we were going to stay away.”

“I just got a panicked call from Lori,” Taro explained. “She’s frantic, saying that everyone in the village is dead and there’s fresh blood all over the place.”

***

Amanda walked along a forest path beside Jerry, completely ill at ease holding a Binfurr stun gun in her hands, its barrel pointed carefully at the ground beside her. Others in the crew were armed with standard firearms, but she had never felt comfortable with a regular gun and had tried to refuse to carry one. The captain was adamant about everyone being protected against a potential threat, so the shy coyote had agreed to only to carry a stunner. She was unsure that she would be able to use even that if the situation turned ugly, but Taro’s orders were immutable; they had no idea what they might be up against. She was not alone, however; at his own request, Max also carried a stunner.

Mark led the way, although none of them had ever been to the lapin village. The human had grown up in central North America on Earth and had spent much of his youth tracking animals to learn the skill. If pressured to confess, he might have pleaded guilty to hunting for food and sport, but surrounded by a crew of sapient and anthropomorphic animal types, Mark had wisely kept this part of his personal history to himself. Later in life, he had used these same skills in a small war between countries, and it was due to this knowledge that Taro had asked him to track Lorelei’s recent passage through the forest. He might not have the sensitive olfactory senses of his companions, but his other skills more than made up for it.

The seven who followed him moved quietly, whispering only when necessary. All were nervous; Lori’s frantic message had given no real details other than finding bloody bodies throughout the village and that she had found no one alive. She was frightened and fearful that whatever had decimated the local population might still be in the area. She had not wanted to wait for her crewmates to come for her, but was afraid to go back into the forest alone. Taro had instructed her to find a deep warren tunnel or a tall tree to hide in, and that they would find their way there as quickly as they could.

Although there was a sense of urgency in their steps, Mark took care in studying their surroundings. Whereas others might have missed the signs, a few thin, freshly broken branches in the underbrush here and a small tuft of white rabbit fur on a bush there showed the human where Lori had likely passed. The forest floor was covered in leaves and pine-like needles which did not retain footprints very well, but in places where the debris had been scuffed or shuffled aside to bare the rich soil beneath, he found a familiar shoe print. Although Lorelei had often shopped throughout the Planetary Alignment for shoes to fit her large rabbit feet, he suspected that the local lapin inhabitants would not be as well-shod.

Mark led his entourage up a slight hill and then discovered a well-used path across a rocky area that had been worn virtually smooth in places from ages of travel. Over the crest of the hill, the underbrush thinned out and the tree trunks were farther apart. The tracker saw signs of recent passage that he doubted were caused by his white-furred crewmate and knew they were heading in the right direction.

Taro was impatient to get to the village, but it was taking all of her own attention to keep those behind her from rushing forward. With emotions high and the uncertainty of what they would find, she was afraid of itchy trigger fingers on the weapons they carried.

She had just shushed a discussion between Justy and Max from getting too loud when Mark tapped her on the wrist. Startled, the vixen jerked her hand up away from him, but then sighed heavily when she realized that he simply wanted her attention.

He leveled an arm and pointed through the trees to the edge of a clearing at an old, rusted pipe of a hand-cranked water pump. Its design was crude but proved that the lapin residents possessed some mechanical and metalworking knowledge. Water dripped from the faucet into a wooden trough, but there was no one else in the vicinity.

“Okay, we’re nearing the village,” Taro said in a voice barely above a whisper to those behind her. “We don’t know what happened or what we’re facing yet, so I want everyone to stay alert. Be careful with your firearms; I don’t want any of you to shoot one another by accident – or any survivors we may find – but keep an eye out for potential danger. I don’t want to draw any undue attention to ourselves, so stay quiet unless you need to sound an alarm.”

She glanced over at Renny and nodded quietly. The cheetah stepped up beside Mark and gave him a few quiet instructions. The pair of them held their handguns ready and walked forward together. Jerry began to follow, but Taro stretched out her arm to stop him.

“Let them go first,” she whispered. “No need to have us all grouped together out in the open where an enemy could take us out all at once.”

Once Mark and Renny reached the edge of the clearing, the human squatted down beside the wooden trough. There was only a thin layer of water on the bottom, but nothing else to indicate how long ago it had been used. Renny grabbed the handle and gave the pump a few heaves. The metal squeaked a little, but water rushed out of the faucet into the trough.

Mark let the cold well water run over his fingers beneath the faucet and then lifted them to his nose. It smelled no different than regular spring water, so he put a damp finger to his tongue; the water droplet had a metallic taste to it, but otherwise seemed fine. He did not suspect the water supply as the cause of deaths, especially with Lori’s report of fresh blood, but he did not want to discount anything.

He stood up, nodded quietly to his companion, and then the two of them continued on. Taro patted Jerry’s arm, giving silent permission to move forward. She waved everyone on in pairs, and then followed up behind everyone to watch their backs. She had tried to reach Lori on her DataCom, but there had been no reply. She was either somewhere trying to remain hidden and quiet – or she had suffered the same fate as those in the village; it was not a thought she wanted to entertain, but she had to be realistic.

Although Mark’s human nose was not as sensitive as his crewmates, even he could smell the blood before they reached the village proper. He did not smell rotting meat from the lapin bodies lying out in the sun throughout the clearing, so he suspected the carnage was recent, possibly within mere hours.

Jerry knelt next to the first body he came upon, an older rabbit female with brown and white fur, frowning at the damage to her throat and belly. The bloody flesh was ragged and the vulpine physician suspected that it had been rent by powerful teeth. Other wounds upon the body appeared to be caused by large, sharp claws due to deep gouges that penetrated deep into the body cavity. The internal organs were missing, having been torn out by the rabbit’s assailant and partially eaten on the spot.

Max stood behind him, one hand over his mouth and the other holding his pistol flat up against his stomach in an attempt to keep his last meal down. Tearing his eyes away from the woman, the young mechanic looked out across the clearing of the lapin village. The area was covered in a lush green grass, though travel paths had been worn down to the dirt. Rabbit bodies were scattered about and he swallowed involuntarily. What had happened here?

The clearing was ringed by a rise of low hills dotted with openings that he assumed were doorways into the warrens, the humble homes of the inhabitants. Split curtains hung from carved wooden sticks fitted tightly into the openings, providing a simple door cover.

Mark approached one such door and gently pulled aside one of the draperies of a rough-weave cloth. He peered into the darkness beyond, but hesitated at the entrance. Renny stepped up beside him and the two of them exchanged a quiet nod before he pushed in through the pale green curtains.

He took two steps inside and then stopped to let his eyes adjust to the gloom within. The place was a disaster. He did not know what a Se’rei lapin warren home was supposed to look like, but he seriously doubted it typically looked anything like this. The room he entered looked as if a mad bull had rampaged through it all. The floor was littered with the broken debris of anything that might have once been in larger pieces, there were shreds of cloth hanging from various spots on the walls and there were grisly splotches on the fabric of woven pillows and blankets throughout the stuff on the floor. Amidst the iron smell of blood was the hint of incense.

Mark stepped in behind him and held open the curtain for some light. He gasped and swallowed hard when the cheetah knelt down and reached for a tan-furred hand that stuck out from beneath floor detritus near a rustic fireplace. Renny brushed aside three wooden bangles to feel for a pulse. Without looking at his companion, he shook his head sadly and then pushed away some of the debris to get a look at the body – only there was not one. The hand and arm up to the elbow were all that remained of the rabbit who had once lived in this place. He gently set the grisly limb onto a pillow and then sighed inwardly, wondering if there were more body parts under the debris covering the floor.

Renny’s ears suddenly twitched and he stood up quickly, nearly knocking Mark over as he held his handgun pointed back into the recesses of a dark passage leading away from the main room.

“Something?” Mark whispered.

“Movement,” Renny replied quietly, gesturing with the gun. “Back there.”

The human looked around and spied a small wooden bowl of fat with a burned wick, instantly recognizing it as a handmade candle. He fished a small lighter from the pocket of his shirt and then picked up the candle bowl to light it; he was not a smoker, but the cargo master always carried one with him for situations such as this one.

Renny’s eyes narrowed in the sudden light, but he caught the glimpse of red eye-shine from the back tunnel before it blinked and disappeared.

“Did you see that?” Mark whispered. Renny nodded, but did not otherwise reply. He held his gun ready in front of him and advanced slowly, taking careful steps around the things on the ground. Mark took a tentative step to the side with his firearm raised to cover him.

“Hello?” Renny called out in what he hoped was a friendly voice, even though he knew the locals did not speak Standard. “We’re here to help you.”

There was a rustle of movement, a whimpered sob, and then a white figure rushed out and jumped for him. Renny pulled his gun up just in time to keep from shooting the lapin female and Mark was almost a heartbeat behind of firing his own.

“Renny!” Lorelei cried out, wrapping her arms tightly around the cheetah. She clung to him and started bawling onto his shoulder.

Mark wiped the sweat from his brow and grinned nervously while Renny tried to console the trembling rabbit. After several long moments, Lori looked up at him with tear streaks soaking the fur of her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” Renny asked quietly. “Are you hurt?”

Lori nodded to the first question and then shook her head to the second, but her throat was still too tight to answer verbally.

“Did you find Calissa?” Mark asked from behind them, glad to see his shipmate was okay.

With a trembling hand, Lori pointed toward the fireplace hearth. Lying on the pillow where Renny had set it was the tan-furred arm and hand with the wooden bangles. The cheetah wrapped his arm around his shipmate and held her close. Lori did her best not to cry again, but tears still leaked onto her cheek fur.

“Nobody’s alive!” she gasped at last, voice cracking. “I was so afraid!”

“You found no one?” Mark asked quietly. “What about your friend Nick?”

She bowed her head. “No one.”

“You checked all the homes?” Renny asked.

Lori started to nod, but then shook her head. “Only a few,” she admitted. “When I f-found Calissa… I fainted. Then… then I thought I saw something outside s-stalking me from the s-shadows, so I… I hid.”

“What it the same thing that killed everyone else?” Renny asked.

“I don’t know, but it was big. I heard it panting, but didn’t get a l-look at it. Didn’t w-want to.”

“We should check the other homes,” Mark suggested.

Renny took Lori by the hand and led her around the debris to the doorway. Before going through, however, he checked his firearm and held it ready. He pushed the curtains apart and then stepped out into the sun. The rabbit continued clinging to one arm and Mark flanked her other side, his eyes alert for trouble.

The only movement they saw across the village was the other Blue Horizon personnel combing the area. Each doorway was being checked, and Taro was picking up the remains of the dead left behind and setting them gently beside one another beneath a large tree near the center of the clearing. Her normally tidy clothing was stained by the blood of the victims and the expression on her face had hardened against the deeds that had taken their lives.

There were no complete bodies. All had been partially eaten, their internal organs gone, and the local variety of flies and gnats had already begun to gather on them. The incident with the Walkabout still haunting his memories, Max had elected to dig graves for the dead instead of helping search for survivors. He tried not to focus upon the remains, but concentrated solely upon his physical task.

Taro looked up when the trio approached her. The captain knelt beside the body of a female about her own age with a frozen expression of terror upon her face. Something had taken her down with a ripping bite to the throat, but then it had fed on her as it had on everyone else.

Mark knelt down to look at a track print the size of his hand in the dust of a trail when the vixen looked up at Lori. Seeing her distress, Taro stood up and took the rabbit’s hands in her own.

“Are you all right?” she asked quietly.

Lori swallowed with difficulty, but managed to nod. She parted her lips to say something, but a high-pitched shriek filled the air. Fearful that one of her crew had just been attacked by the same thing that had slaughtered the villagers, Taro took off running toward the source of the scream, followed closely by her first officer.

Others of her crew had already gathered outside a set of powder blue curtains separating them from the interior, but it seemed no one really wanted to go in.

“Who screamed?” Renny demanded, preparing to jump inside.

“Mandy went in this one to look for survivors,” Pockets answered, “but I don’t think that was her.”

Renny moved forward, but Taro stopped him with a touch. She took his place at the curtains, though she did not enter.

“Mandy?” she called out. “Are you okay in there?” There was a moment of eerie silence and Taro was about to repeat herself when the coyote’s demure voice called out.

“I’m okay,” Amanda said from the interior, “but I think I scared someone in the back.”

“Come on out,” Taro instructed. “These people have never seen sapients besides other rabbits, so you might have been seen as another predator.”

There was a shuffle inside and then the coyote poked her nose through the curtain, her stunner gun clutched to her chest. Amanda saw Lori and then rushed forward to embrace her crewmate.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she told her. “I was afraid something had gotten you too!”

“I’m okay,” Lorelei assured her. “I’m just frightened out of my wits.”

“Me too!”

Taro put a hand on the rabbit’s shoulder. “Lori, I need you to go inside and see if you can coax whoever’s in there to come out with you. I know you don’t know their language, but perhaps because you’re another rabbit that this one will be more comforted by your presence. You may have to try hard to convince him or her that we aren’t another threat, but we’ll back away from the door to give you room to come out.”

Lorelei nodded and wiped her eyes again. She had not met everyone in the village during her previous visit, but she hoped it might be someone who recognized her. Whoever it was, she was thankful there was someone who had survived the decimation of the lapin people.

“Hello?” she called out softly, moving toward the back of the abode. She reached for a shelf on the wall that was surprisingly untouched and picked up a small candle bowl. There was a striker of some kind with it, but it only took a moment to figure out how it worked. She snapped two bits of hinged metal together and a small flame came out of one end. Not devoting any time to figure out how it performed its task, she used it to light the candle and then put the striker back on the shelf.  Instead of using one of the bright flashlight torches from the ship, the doe figured whoever it was back there might be a little more comforted by one of the local candles instead.

“Hello?” she repeated in a soft voice. “Please come out. We won’t hurt you.” As she moved farther back into the narrow corridor, she could hear a whimper and someone shuffling. A moment later, there were two points of eye-shine reflecting back at her. From the muffled sound and limited movement of air, it was apparent this was the end of this particular passageway; the refugee could not back up any farther.

Lorelei knelt down slowly and set the candle on the floor beside her. Then she opened her arms wide and then nodded to the individual she faced.  It only took a moment before the person rushed forward into her arms and began crying.  It was a young girl, an adolescent dressed in only her honey-gold fur, and she clung desperately to the older rabbit.

Lorelei held her tight with one arm and then gently rubbed the young girl’s back while cooing in a soothing voice. After a few quiet moments, she heard Taro’s voice call out.

“Lori? Are you okay?”

“We’re okay,” she replied in a soft voice as so not to startle the female. “I’ve found a teenage girl and I’m trying to calm her down a little; she just needs some arms around her at the moment. I’ll try to bring her out.”

“Okay.”

At Lorelei’s words, the young girl looked up at her in the candlelight. She reached up and lightly touched Lori’s lips, clearly puzzled by her foreign words.

Remembering her earlier visit, Lorelei put the back of one hand up against her forehead and introduced herself. “L’ree.”

The girl swallowed and put a shaking hand up to her own forehead. “Nay’ha.”

“Nay’ha,” Lorelei repeated with a nod. She took both of her hands and began to stand up with her. Nay’ha stopped her long enough to pick up the candle bowl and then held it up to peer behind the white doe. Seeing no one else, she stood up and then walked hand-in-hand with Lorelei back out to the front room, her eyes searching everywhere and her nose twitching constantly. She did not understand some of the scents she picked up, but there was no one else in sight.

Lorelei saw something on the floor and bent to pick it up. She handed it to the girl, who swiftly donned a long tunic-like garment that hung to her knees. They moved together to the front curtain, but then Lori stopped. She did not know if it would be wise to lead her out where her people still lay where they had died. Then, there were a few more shouts of alarm. Lorelei gestured to Nay’ha to wait and then she left through the curtain.

She had expected the same crowd outside this dwelling as she had gone in, but instead they had all scattered across the village, apparently shooed away by their captain. However, there were now several running toward another curtained doorway, but this time the situation was different.

A white-furred male rabbit with broad shoulders and thick arms was standing just outside one of the homes, brandishing a two-pronged spear tipped with what looked like deer antler points. He wore nothing but a loose pair of dusty brown shorts and a simple pendant made from a polished amber stone upon his chest. There were the stains of blood smeared over places of his exposed fur, but it was unknown whether any of it was his own.

His face was a mixture of fear and anger, and his blue-gray eyes kept darting from one person to another as he held the spear before him. Jerry and Taro were backing away from the buck with the weapons in their hands raised and pointing toward the sky; Renny had one hand extended to the male, attempting to talk to him in a calming voice.

Lorelei had been trotting across the village clearing toward them, but when she recognized the male, she ran to him as fast as she could.

“N’iik!” she called, rushing past Renny.

The buck looked up in surprise and then moved the spear aside just before she jumped into his arms. The matched pair of all-white rabbits clutched one another in a fierce embrace, and once again, Lorelei began sobbing.

Taro led her people away to look into other homes, but then the three of them stopped and held still. The adolescent female that Lorelei had left behind had followed the white rabbit timidly across the clearing. Fear in her eyes of the other alien species roaming around her village was almost petrifying, but she did not want to be left alone. Somehow, she made it past predators that were not attacking so she could join N’iik and L’ree. When she touched the buck’s arm, he looked up at her with relief spread across his face. He pulled her and Lori together in a group hug, speaking lowly.

After several long moments, N’iik put his arm around Nay’ha’s shoulders and then pointed straight at Renny with another few words to her. N’iik gestured to the cheetah for him to come closer, but Renny was hesitant. Without a word, Lorelei copied the motion and then the navigator came forward slowly. The girl shrank back when the cheetah grew closer, but N’iik kept her right beside him.

Renny stopped a few steps away and then the white buck said to the girl, “R’nee.”

Nay’ha swallowed with difficulty. She looked at N’iik, then she looked at L’ree. Both nodded with confident smiles. She looked back at the feline, and with some hesitation, raised the back of her hand to her forehead.

“N… Nay’ha…” she said in a trembling voice.

The cheetah mimicked the action. “R’nee,” he said. He smiled without showing his teeth and extended his hand toward her, palm up. She looked at his semi-retractable claws with fear, but then N’iik took her hand gently and placed it palm down upon the navigator’s hand. Renny held her hand gently and without pressure.

N’iik had not recognized the cheetah at first, but with Lorelei’s appearance, he remembered him now. Their first meeting had unnerved him, but through Calissa’s patient explanation, he came to know that the strange spotted cat and the others were somehow a part of L’ree’s extended “family”. The other cougar that had accompanied them last time, however, had resembled the great feral cats of the highlands too much and N’iik had then left the newcomers alone, visiting only with L’ree until she had left after only a few days. He did not know why they had all returned, but the timing could not have been any more wrong.

Renny gripped Nay’ha’s hand very gently and then dipped his head before releasing her. He wanted her to know that she was in no danger from him. When she drew her hand back to her bosom, she looked at him in wonder, but then averted her eyes timidly.

N’iik looked over at Lorelei and stared into her bright blue eyes. “Glad see you again,” he said in a fair approximation of Standard. “Why here now?”

Everyone looked back at him in surprise. The last time they had met, he could not understand a word of Standard.

Lorelei recovered first and placed a hand on his chest over his heart. “I am glad to see you again too,” she said. “We came back to see K’lssi, but we’re too late.”

“Too late?” the buck repeated. “She here somewhere.”

Lorelei shook her head. “We found her… arm,” she whispered, moisture returning to her eyes. “Nothing more.” N’iik looked stricken and Nay’ha asked him quietly. He responded and then she clung to him to cry again.

“N’iik,” Taro said in a quiet voice, “how is it you can understand us now?”

He looked over at the vixen, but seemed unwilling to speak to her. Remembering her manners, she put the back of her hand up to her forehead and said, “Taro”.

“Ter-ro,” the white-furred male repeated. “K’lssi teach words after L’ree did leave. Not many good, but understand some.”

“What happened here?” Renny asked. “We just found it like this.”

N’iik swallowed with difficulty. “Poor hunting high lands, great cats come down here to eat today,” he explained. “Many died, some hide, some gone other villages.” He saw that Lorelei’s other friends were taking the remains of the dead and laying them quietly beneath the large tree in the central clearing. He noted the reverent respect they gave them, even though they were of different species, including that the predators among them were not feasting upon the kills. K’lssi had told him of faraway lands where peoples of all kinds worked together as friends. It had seemed like little bunny tales to him at the time, but now he saw that she had given him the truth.

There was a sound from within the home behind him and N’iik’s ears twitched. He looked at Lorelei. “Is safe now?”

“We believe so,” she answered. “We’ve not seen any of the great cats since we got here.”

The buck looked relieved and relayed the message to Nay’ha. “Waits,” he said to Lorelei and the others. He ducked back into the home through the split curtain and Nay’ha suddenly felt exposed. Despite N’iik’s assurances that these strangers were safe, she stood close beside Lorelei. Lori put an arm around the girl automatically.

Renny spoke to Jerry and Taro in quiet words for a moment and then he and the doctor left to continue their search for other survivors. Taro kept a watch around the village, but the only movements she saw were by her own people and by a gathering of large birds with scarlet feathers in the trees, no doubt scavengers that had been drawn in by the smell of blood on the breeze.

When N’iik emerged again moments later, a crowd of small bunnies trailed after him, all looking frightened and unwilling to leave the vicinity of his legs. Lorelei remembered that he had been a teacher of small children and figured that they must have been in his company when the feral cats attacked. There had been an even dozen of them before, but now there were nine. She knelt down beside them and several immediately gravitated toward her arms.

Taro watched the display silently for a moment, but then Pockets called out for her from across the clearing. She excused herself and left Lorelei with the survivors. She approached the frowning raccoon. He brushed a hand across his face and looked hesitant.

“What’s up?” Taro asked.

“I heard Renny telling others that Calissa was killed in the attack.”

Taro nodded with an audible sigh. “A piece of her was found that was identifiable,” she admitted quietly. “We were too late. Maybe we could have stopped this slaughter if we’d been here sooner, maybe not.”

“That means the knowledge of her vault monitor’s been lost.”

“The knowledge… and her life,” she reminded him.

“What do we do now? Are we going to go back?”

The vixen looked around. “We’ll help them bury their dead before we go. That’s the decent thing to do.”

“What about the cargo we brought for them?”

She thought about it for a moment. Merlin had purchased the seeds, clothing, hand tools and other things they thought the rabbits of Se’rei might find useful, primarily as a bargaining chip to use with Calissa for her knowledge, but there would be no purpose in returning them either. It was doubtful that Merlin could sell them back to the vendors he had bought them from.

“I’ll explain to Nick what we have and I’ll offer to let them have them. Maybe they can still use them after all this.”

“Do you think Lori’s friend will understand? We can’t speak one another’s language.”

Taro shook her head. “We just found out Calissa taught him some Standard after our last visit. I think he knows enough that he’ll understand, but we may just have to unload it in the field. None of them may want to come near the ship to get it, so they can pick through it later.”

She looked around the small village and her gaze came to rest upon Justy kneeling in the lush grass beside one of the bodies he had just placed beside the others. It was too small.

Without speaking, she began walking toward the koala, a growing unease within her; Pockets followed quietly. When they stopped beside Justy, he looked up at the vixen with sorrowful eyes. Beside him was the half-eaten body of a toddler. The expression frozen upon the small face made Taro’s insides twist and she clutched at her belly, looking away.

“Such indiscriminate death,” Justy whispered. “Young and old alike. Even the babies.”

Taro looked back at the child and something snapped within her. A growl issued low in her throat and her two crewmates looked at her in surprise. She clenched her fists and the expression upon her face grew darker by the moment.

“Inexcusable,” she muttered. “Unforgivable.”

“Really sad,” Justy remarked.

“Destroy them,” she hissed with sudden ferocity.

“Huh?” Pockets asked. “Taro, whu—?”

“We are going to hunt down the feral cats and kill every last one of them!” she said through clenched teeth.

“Taro…” Justy said in a quiet voice. “This is the natural course of things, a potential danger to anyone in a setting like this.”

Her eyes shifted to look at him, but then went right back to the child’s body. “Yes, and my natural reaction is to kill them all so that it doesn’t happen again!” she exclaimed. She stood upright and then pulled the DC from her belt clip. She tapped its transmitter to go out to all the units carried by her crew and then lifted it up to her mouth.

“I want all Blue Horizon personnel to gather to me in the clearing. Right now.” She clicked it off and then motioned Pockets and Justy to follow her away from the bodies lined up in a row. It took about ten minutes for everyone to congregate together, but Taro refused to say anything until the last of them were present. Unwilling to be left alone, even N’iik, Nay’ha and the bunny children came out to see what was going on, though the rabbits still kept some distance from the other predator types. Lorelei remained with them to help keep the youngsters all together.

“Folks, listen up,” Taro said in a voice loud enough to carry to everyone. “We cannot do anything for those who lost their lives this morning beyond giving them a respectful burial. However, what we can do is prevent it from happening again, at least in this region.”

“What do you mean?” Renny asked. He was usually aware of anything she might announce to the crew ahead of time, but he was just as in the dark about her words as the rest of them.

“I want Jerry, Mark, Max and Renny to join me on a hunt,” she said with both hands upon her hips. “We will load up with all the guns and ammo we can carry. I want to the rest of you to continue the work here, but stay armed in case the murderers come back.”

“What’s going on?” Suzuko asked. She did not know Taro as well as the others and hadn’t followed her line of thought.

“Those of us on the hunt are going to track down and kill the feral cats that decimated this village,” Taro replied with an edge to her voice. “As long as a rabbit community exists here, they will be in danger from the cats anytime their food source in the highlands is scarce.”

“That’s going to be awfully dangerous,” Pockets remarked.

N’iik handed a small bunny in his arms over to Nay’ha and then stepped forward. “No need,” he said in halting Standard.

“Why not?” Taro asked incredulously.

“Cats always come,” he said. “You kill some maybe, not all. Many, many.”

From her experience, Taro knew that rabbits as a species across the PA were usually passive and N’iik was not acting any different. She swept a hand across the clearing with a snarl. “Doesn’t it bother you that your friends and family died today?”

N’iik nodded with a frown. “Yes, too many,” he said. “Sorrow.”

“If we kill the cats, they won’t be able to harm you here again!”

The buck shook his head. “Lost too many to stay,” he said. “We go.”

“I can’t believe you’re just going to let them drive you away from your homes!”

“Taro,” Justy spoke up from the front of the group. “Look how small the number of survivors are. There are only eleven left of a whole community and most are very young children.”

“That’s not enough to rebuild a village,” Suzuko added.

“Truth,” N’iik said, following the discussion well enough to understand. “We leave, go other warrens to, uh… north and east. Two walk days.”

Taro gritted her teeth. “Then you’re letting the cats win,” she grumbled.

N’iik shrugged his shoulders. “If us not here, cats starve on own.”

The vixen wiped a palm across her face, trying hard to quell the anger within her. “Don’t you even want revenge against the murder they’ve done to your people?”

“Revenge?” N’iik seemed genuinely puzzled. Taro did not know if he was unfamiliar with the concept or if he just did not know the word in Standard. Before she could ask, however, he shook his head, making his long ears wave above him. “No mur-der. Is nature, cats feed on others. Was our turn.”

Taro clenched her fists so hard that her claws pricked the palms of her hands. She looked around at her people and the miniscule number of survivors beside them. She saw many different expressions. There were some that mirrored her own disgust, but others looked as if they agreed with the rabbit. It was their lives and their kin that had been destroyed, but as Taro looked around at the village itself, noting the bodies, the smell of fresh blood and the scavenger birds gathering in the trees, she could feel the anger rebuilding within her.

She looked at N’iik, Nay’ha and the bunnies, with Lorelei standing among them as a kindred species. After a long moment, a dark resolve crossed her face.

“So be it,” she said unkindly. “You’re so few that all you think you can do is run and hide in another warren, but the feral cats might also follow to get the rest of you!” N’iik looked stricken, as if the thought had not occurred to him.

“Go ahead and run away, leaving the cats triumphant in their slaughter,” Taro continued. “You have a responsibility to protect the children left parentless and you can best do that in another warren, but I don’t intend to let the cats have the rest of you.”

She turned back to her crew. “Renny, Mark, Jerry and Max – we are going to hunt down and destroy every feral cat we can find so there’s no chance they’ll ever go after these when they leave.”

“All of them?” Max asked with wide eyes. “Everywhere on the whole planet?”

“That would be impossible,” Jerry said.

“Just the ones in the highlands,” Taro clarified. “The ones responsible for today!”

“Captain,” Amanda said meekly, “Is that really necessary? What if we just accompany Nick and his kids to the new village, making sure they get there safely?”

“Because the cats might follow the food source!” Taro shot back. “With our backs to this place, we might not see them coming – and they may even try to take us down with them!”

“But—”

“No!” Taro exclaimed hotly. “The longer we wait, the cats could be gathering for a return meal. The five of us will track down and slaughter them before they have a chance to return. The rest of you get back to work. If you finish before we return, get everyone back inside the ship for protection, including the rabbits. It’ll be safer there.”

Lorelei raised her hand, but Taro brushed her off. “We’re going back to the Horizon to get what we need. We don’t have a lot of the day left, so I want to finish this before dark.”

Without waiting for more distractions, the vixen stormed off across the clearing in the direction of the ship, expecting her orders to be carried out. Renny and Jerry had a quiet conversation before they began moving, and continued it in low voices. Max followed behind meekly, looking back at the others left behind. Mark remained in his spot for a moment, watching after his captain in concern, and the rest began discussions of their own.

Lorelei put the two bunnies she had in her lap in the grass beside Nay’ha and then moved to stand in front of N’iik. They faced one another in silence for a moment and she could tell he was not pleased with her captain’s plans. She stepped closer and put a hand upon his chest fur beside his amber pendant, looking up into his eyes.

N’iik studied her and then put his arms around her shoulders, drawing her chin up beneath his. She rubbed her forehead against him for a moment and they both sighed.

She pulled back and swallowed with difficulty, her thoughts anything but still. Without a word, she nodded almost to herself, picked up the pendant from his chest and then drew it over his head. N’iik looked at her in shock, but then dipped his head so she could get it past his ears. With no further hesitation, she put the woven string of the amulet over her head and let the polished stone rest upon her bosom in the middle of her bright orange tee-shirt.

When she looked up at him, she moved only her eyes, almost afraid to see his reaction in the symbolism of her action.

***

“Taro, wait!”

The vixen turned to look at the white doe running after her, but she did not stop. She and the four males of her party were halfway back to the Blue Horizon. Taro frowned at Lorelei, certain the rabbit was going to try to talk her out of the hunt.

“What is it, Lori?” she asked guardedly.

Lorelei drew up beside her and matched her pace walking along the trail out to the wheat field. “May I talk to you for a moment, please?” she asked.

Taro shook her head. “If you’re going to talk me out of—”

“No, this is something else. Something important.”

“If you can talk while we walk, go ahead.”

“Thank you.” Lorelei put her hands together down in front of her and considered her next words. The guys were several steps behind them, so she spoke in a low voice.

“Captain…” she started. She stopped, sighed audibly and began again. “Taro… Please don’t be mad at me, but I would like you to… to break my new contract.”

This time, Taro did stop. “Huh? Why?”

The rabbit lowered her chin, unable to meet the vixen’s eyes. “I… I want to stay here,” she admitted. “As you said, the orphan bunnies need N’iik to care for them and keep them safe. That’s not a task he can do alone, so I would like to stay and help him.”

Renny stepped up beside her. “What about the other girl? I think her name was Nay’ha. Wouldn’t she be there to help him? They’re from the same village, so he might take her as his mate.”

“She’s too young,” Lorelei informed him with a frown. “Even if they made it to the other lapin village okay, she would probably be taken in to be raised by another family. There, she won’t be permitted the responsibilities of raising bunnies until she’s considered an adult.” She gave Renny an embarrassed smirk. “She’s also his cousin, and even for them, a mating is out of the question.”

“Lori, consider what you’re asking,” Taro said, resuming her walk. “This is a primitive culture. You’ll have none of the things you’re used to and life will be a lot harder than you think, including dangers like today’s! This other village may not even accept you since you’re not really one of them. You can’t speak their language and you don’t know their customs.”

“Taro, I can already speak a half dozen languages passably due to all the places my family lived while I was growing up. With N’iik’s help, this will be just another language for me to learn, and he will also help me with the customs. Calissa did the same thing six years ago and she loved her life here.”

“You barely know him,” Jerry reminded her. “What if we leave you behind and then you find you two can’t stand one another after a week or a month? You won’t be able to come back! Without Calissa’s help, we can’t build the safety box for future Hyld ships and we probably won’t even be allowed to use the one she did build for us. No one from the Planetary Alignment will ever be back this way again in your lifetime. He’s fascinated with you now, but how do you know he’d even want you as his mate?”

“Despite what you think of my species, the rabbits here are monogamous and mate for life,” Lorelei told him. “By accepting me as his mate, there is no divorce or separation for as long as we both live.” Renny chuckled. “What’s so funny about that?” she asked in an offended tone.

“Lori, no malice intended,” the cheetah explained, “but you and monogamous have never gone together. I’ve lost count of how many beds you’ve shared since I’ve known you.”

The doe tilted her head. “Have you ever known me to share my bed with another rabbit?”

“Hmm, no – now that I think about it, I can’t recall that you have.”

“That’s because there’s no danger of pregnancy with species other than my own. I’ve been free to play as much and as often as I please, but I’d never be that careless with someone I could produce children with. That’s a lifetime commitment, Renny.”

She turned back to Jerry and then put a hand upon the polished amber stone of the amulet pendant she now wore. “As for N’iik, he has already accepted me as his mate. That’s what this represents. All I have to do is stay.”

Taro had been watching the white doe while she had been talking. In all the time she had known Lori, she had never seen her so serious-minded before. The rabbit had always been happy, carefree and even a little ditzy at times, but that was almost another person now. Lorelei had changed in just the short time they had been here, no doubt due to the carnage she had seen in the village.

“Lori…” she said. “I will consider your request, but I won’t give you an answer right away.” The rabbit began to speak, but the captain held up a hand to silence her. “While the guys and I are away, think about what you’ve asked. Don’t make a spur of the moment decision. I want you to realize exactly what it would mean to leave behind your whole life. Think about your family and friends back home, and all that you’ve accomplished. As Jerry said, if we leave you here, it’s permanent.”

Lorelei sighed, but nodded. “I will give your arguments some thought while you’re away,” she said, “but please be careful when you go. I don’t want to lose any of you before it’s just a decision to make.”

The vixen nodded in relief. “Thank you, Lori. We’ll be as careful as we can be, but we will do this thing. I appreciate that you haven’t tried to talk us out of it.”

“Taro, I won’t pretend to believe you’re doing the right thing with this hunt, but I know you think you’re doing what’s best.” The rabbit looked at the ones the captain had chosen to go. “This isn’t necessary, and it isn’t your fight, but please come back alive. All of you.”

They had reached the edge of the wheat field, but Lorelei did not follow them to the ship. She watched them for a moment and then turned back to return to the village.

The hunting party pushed through the wheat stalks, but before they reached the airlock of the Horizon, Renny looked over at the vixen who walked beside him.

“Taro,” he said quietly, “I don’t think this is a good idea. We should just get the survivors out of here as quickly as possible.” She turned and gave him a dark look, but he continued before she could interrupt him. “They probably won’t like riding in the Horizon, but if we can coax them on board, we can fly them most of the way to the other village. The cats would never be able to follow us.”

“That’s right,” Jerry added. “We don’t have to go all the way to the other warrens, just drop them off far enough away they can walk in on their own without us frightening more rabbits with our flying ship.”

Taro flipped open the recessed control panel beside the ship’s hatch and angrily punched in the security code without a word. She waited until the panels pulled into the hull and then slid aside. She stormed inside through the open pressurization chamber and into the azure corridor beyond as the overhead light panels turned on automatically.

After they had all stepped into the ship, she turned on them abruptly. “Stop trying to change my mind!” she said in a huff. “I am your captain and you are contracted to do as I say!”

There were expressions of surprise on all the guys’ faces, but then Jerry stepped forward. “Captain,” he said, stressing the title, “I think you’ve been infected by the same bacteria that got you the last time we were here.”

“Just what are you insinuating, Doctor?” she hissed, balling her fists.

“No insinuations. I’m telling you outright that you have no control over your temper right now and it’s affecting your judgment. You are making decisions you should not be commanding under this condition.”

The vixen stared at him incredulously for a moment, but then she narrowed her eyes at him. “Go back to the village,” she growled. “If you’re going to drag your heels and give me nothing but resistance, you’re only going to get in my way. Go gather bodies with the rest of the pacifists, Doctor!”

Jerry crossed his arms defiantly. “I think I’d better go along,” he retorted boldly. “In your current frame of mind, you may be more of a danger to your hunters than you will be to the cats.”

Taro snorted forcefully and then turned to glare at Renny. “What about you?” she spat. “Are you going to keep being a hindrance too?”

The cheetah swallowed, but said nothing. The vulpine captain gave each of the four males a hard look. “Come with me or go back to the village, all of you. I don’t care anymore. I’ll go hunt down the cats myself if I have to!” Without waiting for further argument, she turned her back on them and headed for the armory.

“She’ll get herself killed if we let her go alone,” Mark whispered. Without waiting for the others to say anything, he went after the vixen. Max did not look as if he felt very brave, but he followed the human anyway. Renny and Jerry exchanged looks and then joined them.

***

An hour later, Taro and her hunting party arrived at the foothills of the highlands, a rise of terrain not high enough to be mountains, but serving as a stepping stone toward the range in the distance. The ascending ground was broken with numerous boulders, outcrops and capstone, festooned with scrubby vegetation that clung to minimal patches of soil. There were plenty of places to hide, so the five of them had to watch everywhere at once as they progressed.

They were equipped with rifles and pistols, each carrying extra clips of ammunition in small day-packs, in addition to stunners and hunting knives. No one knew where the knives had come from or why they had been included in the ship’s armory, but they had been stocked along with a few swords as well. This was likely Merlin’s doing, though they had not brought the cumbersome swords along for this outing.

Mark led the party, checking their surroundings for the spoor of their quarry while Renny scanned the landscape with a thermal sensor. He found many small creatures hiding beneath brush or in the shadows of rocks in the late afternoon sun, but nothing large enough to have caused the decimation of the village.

N’iik had described the feral cats as resembling Rex Concolar, the Space Available passenger on their previous visit, but the local felines had tawny fur in splotches that made the others think of camouflage. That alone would likely make them hard to see in the light and shadows among rocks and brush, but they also had the advantage of knowing the lay of the land while the technological-minded Furs of the Horizon did not.

Taro kept watch around them while Mark had his attention focused upon tracking. It would be so easy for him to miss a living creature stalking him with his head down and absorbed with his task.

Jerry brought up the rear, his own attention sharply tuned to his surroundings, and Max was just up ahead. The youngster had grown up well with the crew of the Blue Horizon, but he was still inexperienced with many of life’s lessons. He carried one of the Binfurr stunners instead of a rifle; that way, if he accidentally shot one of his companions, it would only be a temporary setback. If he used it against one of the feral cats, someone else could dispatch the animal he had stunned. This was a request he had made on his own, but no one else had tried to change his mind; they had all agreed this was the better course of action for their own sakes.

It was while Mark was on one knee examining an older cat print impressed in mud that had dried following a past rain when he saw something peculiar. A small item was out of place in this setting and he picked it up out of curiosity.

“Captain?” he whispered behind him. Taro approached him and then he handed something to her. “What do you make of this?” he asked.

At first, Taro thought he had handed her a strangely formed stone, but as she examined it further, it took on a familiar shape. The object was obviously iron that was heavily rusted from having been exposed to the elements for ages, but the hills and valleys of threads were still discernible along the length of its two-inch shaft. She turned it over in her hands and looked closely at the six-sided head of the large bolt. Although heavily pitted, she could just make out a surface stamp printed in English. Portland Iron.

She looked up at the human in surprise. “How can this be?” she whispered. Renny abandoned his scanning for a moment to look at what had been found. She handed it to him and his eyes widened as well. In turn, he passed the iron bolt to Max and Jerry. The German shepherd did not understand its significance, but the doctor almost whistled at the find, only to catch himself in time.

They had found numerous tools, pipes and other items made of metal in the lapin village, but they had thought nothing of it at the time, all of them assuming that the primitive culture had discovered local ores to fashion their own items. This old iron bolt bearing an English stamp was beyond their make, however.

Taro looked at the human. “Anything else?” she asked quietly.

“Just that,” he replied. He looked up at the knoll ahead of them and saw a number of dark shadows in the rocks that could be shallow caves. The sight sent a ripple down his spine. He had been so focused on subtle signs on the ground or bushes that he had not even seen where he had been headed.

“Up there, maybe,” he suggested. “Be on the lookout – possible cat den.”

With those words, the mystery of the Terran bolt was instantly forgotten. Jerry pocketed the rusty item and crept forward following the others up the rise. He held his rifle ready and made sure to look around at their sides and behind them too.

The human abandoned his tracking to focus on the hill side. As he suspected, there were hollows in the rock where wind and water had worn away the dirt and stone. It was a series of caves, though none appeared to go far back into the knoll, but most were large enough that the Furs could walk upright into them.

“Careful,” Taro whispered as Renny approached the nearest opening. Max felt a strong sense of curiosity, but at his captain’s instruction, he kept watch around them while the cheetah checked out the cave.

The navigator held his rifle ready before him, fully expecting a cat the size of himself to jump out at him. He knelt down to pick up a few stones from the ground at his feet, never taking his eyes off the dark opening. One at a time, he flipped the rocks into the shadows, his legs ready to propel him away if something came out after him, but there was no reaction.

He moved forward and then stood just inside the shadows of the cave, letting his eyes adjust to the gloom, but his other senses told him the place was empty. There were a multitude of tracks inside in the dirt, however. Renny did not need Mark’s expertise to know the cats had used this place to relax out of the sun.

He walked inside just to satisfy his curiosity, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. He examined the floor, the walls and the ceiling, but it was nothing more than a weathered blemish in the hillside.

“It’s empty,” he reported when he walked back out into the sun.  “The others may not be, though.”

Keeping a close watch around them, the hunting party crept around the side of the hill to another opening. This one was larger, but before anyone could go inside, Renny made another discovery.  Carved into the rock wall beside the opening was a shelf about shoulder-high to the cheetah, and upon the ledge was something that looked like a heavy glass bowl. It was cracked, dusty and filled with bits of dirt, grass, leaves and dust, but at the bottom was the remnant of a burned wick.

“Looks like the rabbits might have lived up here at one time,” Jerry observed. “This could have been the equivalent of a porch light for past inhabitants.”

Max looked at the old item with interest. “Maybe there’s more stuff inside,” he said.  He started to walk right into the opening, but Mark put out a hand to stop him.

“Let’s make sure there’s nobody home first,” the human whispered.  Just as Renny had done before, Mark lobbed a few rocks into the dark recesses of the cave. Everyone held their breath subconsciously, but as before there was no response from inside. Even that did not necessarily mean it was safe, so Mark stepped inside quietly with his rifle ready.

Taro and the others waited anxiously. The surrounding terrain was quiet but for the natural sounds of birds, insects and the little breeze that blew in off the plains. The human stepped back outside a few moments later.  “It’s empty of cats,” he said with a raised eyebrow, “but the cave itself isn’t empty.”

“More stuff left behind by the rabbits?” Jerry asked.

“Probably, but I’d wager it’s been a long while ago.”

Taro stepped forward, but then stopped to look at the others behind her. “Check the other caves, but be careful,” she said. “We’re here to find the feral cats.”

Jerry, Max and Renny moved off as directed, but Taro joined Mark inside the dark cave. The sky outside provided a medium light so she could walk in without a lamp. When her vision adjusted, she saw that the inside of the cave was furnished, at least partially. There were three old wooden chairs near a far wall, none of which looked substantial enough to hold anyone’s weight anymore. A round-top table on a central pedestal occupied a spot in the middle of the small room. More carved shelves adorned the natural walls and there were a few oddments upon them, but everything looked ancient. This might have been someone’s home shelter at one time, or perhaps it had been a small meeting place. There was nothing like a bed or bedding, and if there had been any curtains or draperies, they were long gone.

Mark picked up a small tray from one shelf and examined it. It was made of some kind of metal that looked as if it had been stamped with intricate little designs and he wondered if there might have once been a more technological civilization on this world more advanced than the small village they had visited.

Taro moved around the room with a growing sense of impatience. This was an interesting find, but they were losing time they could be hunting down the feral cats. They could be anywhere, she mused. These highlands went on for kilometers, so they would need to get back to tracking and leave this place behind.

She had been pacing around the perimeter of the room without really seeing anything of real interest, but her focus was upon her thoughts. She kept seeing the half-eaten remains of a toddler and her throat was tight. She was about to grab Mark and depart the old abode when she tripped on something in the dim light. She almost fell, but caught herself with a hand to the wall. Mark looked up at her muttered remark, but then stood up straight when he saw what she had bumped into.

There was a small alcove cut into the rock at ground level and there was something protruding from it. Taro slung her rifle over a shoulder and then knelt down to reach for a dusty old blanket covering the object. The aged cloth fell apart beneath her fingers and she coughed at the sudden dust cloud. Revealed beneath the blanket was an old trunk made of wood and bound by thin metal bands; a hinged metal handle occupied the center of the box end.

Mark squatted down beside her and the two of them exchanged glances. Without a word, Taro grasped the handle and pulled the trunk out into the open. For all appearances, it looked to Mark as if it was an old, classical treasure chest, and the spectacle was completed by the addition of a rusty padlock.

“Stranger and stranger,” he murmured. “I wonder if the key is on one of the shelves.”

Taro picked up the padlock and examined it. She did not often flaunt the strength of her Hestran-born muscles, but she could feel how pliable the metal felt between her fingers. She tightened her grip and twisted; the lock came apart in her hand. Mark gave her a smirk and shook his head.

“Who needs a key?” he quipped. There was a twinkle in the vixen’s eyes, but then she returned her attention to the trunk. It was a half meter tall and the same thickness, and twice that in length. She hesitated only a moment and then raised the lid. The hinges were also rusted together, so their fasteners simply pulled loose from the old wood. Taro found herself holding the lid up by itself, so she set it aside on the ground beside her.

They both peered into the box, but the illumination was too dim to see much with their bodies blocking the light from the cave entrance. Mark was about to pull out his lighter, but Taro already had a small flashlight torch in her hand. She clicked it on and both of them suddenly squinted in the brilliance.

Taro chuckled nervously and then looked over into the trunk, Mark’s head right beside hers. Inside were several items of curiosity. The first thing they saw was an old ship’s sextant, it’s shape instantly recognizable; there was one of a similar design to this one inside a padded compartment on the bridge of the Blue Horizon. Mark picked it up gently, almost afraid that it would fall apart in his hands too. He hefted its weight and looked over at the vixen.

“Didn’t you say that Natasha Khasho came to this world?” he asked quietly. “Maybe this was from her ship.”

Taro shook her head. “That was only six years ago, according to Calissa, the one we came here to find. This has been here much longer than that.”

The human brushed his jet-black bangs from his eyes and then set the sextant on the ground beside him. “Maybe another ship from the Planetary Alignment came here years ago,” he suggested. “Surely the distance involved didn’t appeal to anyone but deep-space explorers.”

“Maybe.”

The next thing Taro picked up from the box was even more out of place than the sextant. It was an electronic device of some kind made of molded plastic and metal, but any labels that might have adorned its surface had long since worn off. There were two plastic-coated wires plugged into a receptacle on one side, but they fell apart as soon as they were lifted out of the box.

“Definitely something from another world,” the human mused. “The people of this planet don’t have the capability to make anything like this.”

“Remember the rusty bolt we found outside?” Taro reminded him. “It had Terran writing on it.”

“Okay, it’s from Earth, then – from a long time ago. Anything else in the box?”

Taro aimed her torch inside and found a number of smaller items all made of cloth, but she assumed they would all fall apart if she tried to pick them up. Beneath them, however, was something shining back in the lamp light. She brushed away the cloth items to a resulting cloud of dust, but picked up the item beneath. It was a glass box several inches long and wide, but it seemed to be fitted together with some kind of rubber seal that appeared to have survived the years. Inside the clear container was a paper-leaf book in surprisingly good condition. Upon its cowhide cover were English words embossed in dull gold letters: Terran Colony Surrey, Planet Aphaea.

Mark’s eyes lit up. “Aphaea!” he exclaimed. “I remember reading something about the discovery of that planet as a habitable world. If memory serves, it was named after a Greek goddess having something to do with agriculture and fertility. That would be an appropriate place to populate with rabbit farmers, wouldn’t you say?”

“I was right…” Taro whispered, almost to herself. “I thought this might be Surrey.”

She looked back inside the trunk, but there was nothing more of interest inside. She held the box of thick glass in her lap, wondering if she should open it here. If it was indeed a leftover relic from a time three hundred years earlier, she was afraid the book might disintegrate as soon as she opened its container.

On the other hand, the book would never be read otherwise. If they were going to keep this world a secret from the rest of the Planetary Alignment, it could never be taken back where it could be opened and preserved in a sterile environment. If it fell apart here, no one would ever read it in the future anyway.

Taro decided to chance opening the container, so she sat down on the dirt cave floor and put the glass box in her lap. She looked at Mark, who nodded quietly, and then she grasped the lip of the top. The glass and its sealer were long stuck together and it took her special brand of strength before the layers finally began to separate. When the top finally came loose of the box, there was a sudden acrid smell that escaped. Even the human’s dull olfactory senses could smell it and he flinched, barely able to contain a sneeze.

“Gas?” he whispered. “A preservative, perhaps?”

Taro did not answer. She set the lid aside and then gingerly put a finger upon the book’s cover; it felt like Terran cowhide, but it held up against her touch. She eased her fingers around it and gently picked it up. So far, so good.

When she opened the cover, the yellowed pages within looked old, but did not seem to be in danger of disintegrating at her touch. The container had somehow preserved the old book as Mark conjectured. She opened to the first page and found a neat handwriting written in English. Fortunately for her, she had learned to read that Terran language years ago, although it was the only one from that world she could understand. For the benefit of her companion, she read aloud.

First Day. Our fourteen-month journey to Aphaea came to an end with a rather rough landing due to unstable air over the mountains. Our mechanics will have to see if the thrusters will be capable of launching the ship again, but the engineer thinks the keel of the ship may have been damaged and too structurally unsound to support the weight of the ship in flight. Any such repairs will have to wait until a later time, however. For now, we’re celebrating our arrival and enjoying the relative spring-like weather we have today. We’ve rationed our food the past two months in space, but now that we’re here, I’ve authorized breaking into the stores for a feast.

I’m no scientist myself, but even I’m excited as the ones who are at just how Earth-like this place is. There are differences, to be sure, but as the old adage goes: Grass, trees and birds are grass, trees and birds no matter how nature has shaped them. Of course, we’ll have to analyze everything first before we start eating any of it. There may be no nutritional value to anything we ingest and it could be all poisonous, but at first glance, it could be a veritable Garden of Eden.

There are seventy-two colony Furs that include myself, and we’re all of anthrolapin genetic transformation. If all goes well and we can survive here, we may be the first of many to migrate to this world much like what happened with Kantus twenty years ago. I have more I could say on our first day here, but I need to put away this journal to help out with the feast preparations.

Jonas Kasseris, Surrey Colony Captain

“Sounds like a standard captain’s journal recording the first landing here,” Mark observed. “You might keep it in your library for night reading.” Taro nodded and flipped forward through the pages. She stopped at another entry at random and read a little more.

Although light years away, the conflicts on Earth affect us even here. The last data-burst we received contained distressing news. The anti-Fur organizations across the world are gaining strength and there’s talk of abandoning ALL the starter colonies that have been established, and this – of course - includes ourselves. We’ve been here a little over a year and are fairly self-sufficient for the most part, but we’d all hate to be completely cut off from home.

There’ve been reports of violence in some areas where the Fur laboratories have been burned to the ground and there have even been attacks upon the mission control centers for the colony launches. It’s terrible to think it’s come down to this. The reason Furs like us were created in the first place was to aid in the exploration and colonization of habitable planets to pave the way for new lands for an overcrowded Earth. The program has been successful so far, but pure-human groups don’t see this.

In a way, I’m glad we’re here on a world so far away that the violence can’t reach us from Earth, but the news of what’s going on is damaging enough. If we do get abandoned and cut off from home, I’m sure we’ll survive here well enough. Think of the future.

Jonas Kasseris, Surrey Colony Captain

At the time this journal was written, the events were still happening, but for Mark and Taro it was ancient history. The anti-Fur movements on Earth had indeed peaked with a complete abandonment of all Fur colonies for a period that lasted well over a hundred years. Generations later, however, the altered sons and daughters of Terra were remembered and emissaries were dispatched to reestablish contact with the orphaned worlds. Not all of the diplomats were welcomed with opened arms, the prolific Furs having had a century to nurture resentment over their past treatment.

Since many of the records of the furman colony program had been lost during the worldwide uprising on Earth, and enough time had passed that there was no one still living from that era, there were no surviving documents listing all of the colony worlds that had been established. Some were remembered, but others forgotten altogether; it appeared that Aphaea was one of the latter.

An influential woman named Noiré Mooncrest was at the head of the efforts to reestablish contact with Earth’s children and it was through her endeavors over a fifteen-year period that saw the formation of the Planetary Alignment. During the period that had become known as the Great Abandonment, each of the colonies had become fully-fledged worlds with their own governments and societies. There were those that kept some of the customs and traditions from the areas of Earth where they had originated, but others developed their own cultures, completely turning their backs on their heritage. As a result, there was almost as much variety on each of the PA worlds as there was on Earth.

Unfortunately, something happened here on Aphaea that stunted the cultural growth of the lapin society that had been abandoned here. Other worlds had nearly three hundred years of their own civilizations behind them now, but this place had regressed to a more primitive time. Was it by design or chance?

Perhaps that answer was contained with this journal, but there was no time to read it all now. Taro flipped to the final entry in the book.

Surrey is finished. Jonas is dead, along with most of the colony, and the remaining survivors have taken what food and tools they can haul in their horse-drawn surreys to scatter to the four winds. There aren’t many of us left, and some of these balked at separating, but most have agreed that if we set up other camps instead of everyone staying together, the mountain lions can’t get us all.

Maybe it was a mistake to send rabbits to a world with so many predators. We’ve become the prey animals that our engineered genes came from and there will never be any help from that cursed planet Earth. Sure, we’ve survived well enough here in the highlands for the most part, but we don’t have the defenses necessary to fight off so many cats.

The rabbits of Earth have a long history of being fertile and prolific, but they can’t hold a candle to the mountain lions of this place. They’re everywhere, and now that they’ve discovered how tasty we are, they won’t leave us alone.

I’m with the last group to leave our colony home to find another place far from the highlands in hopes the cats won’t follow so far from their dens. There are other creatures here among the mountains they’ve preyed upon before we came along, so they’ll have to go back to eating them once we’ve gone.

There’s no one left alive with the knowledge to maintain or repair our electronic equipment and we may not even be able to use what mechanical items we have after they break down too. It’s possible we may have to live a simple life for a while. Maybe someone amongst us has the mechanical aptitude to figure out how to repair what we have in time, but for now, all we have left are farmers, gardeners, ranchers and other common folk.

I am preserving this journal in a gas-filled box in hopes that a future generation may find this record of our beginnings here on Aphaea. Unable to repair it to flight status, our ship was salvaged for useable parts long ago; the land has overtaken what’s left of it and its shell wouldn’t be much shelter against the cats now anyway.

The Earth has disowned us, our technology has failed and the mountain lions are driving us away from our colony site. This journal may never be found, but in case there are eyes from the future who can read my scrawling writing, this was our beginning. Please remember us.

Jo Erms, Colony Secretary

Taro closed the cover of the book and looked over at her companion. “Well,” she said, “now we know.”

“Now that we know, what do we do with this information?”

The vixen rubbed a hand over the exterior of the well-preserved book for a moment, but then pulled her pack around to place it inside. “I’ll give it to Merlin once we’ve returned to Dennier,” she said. “There would be far-reaching effects if word of Surrey’s existence got out to the public. Just as Calissa feared when we were here last, I’m sure someone would try to make the journey out here to exploit the planet. For now, you and I should just keep this between us. It’s probably best we leave this world to the rabbits from now on to make their own way.”

Mark looked at her. “After how long they’ve been abandoned, don’t you think the rabbits might be ready to go home?”

Taro shook her head. “If Nick’s people are typical of the Surrey descendants, none of them even remember Earth after so long. To them, Se’rei is home. They have their own customs and even their own language now. Perhaps it didn’t turn out how the original designers of the program planned, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

With the exception of the journal, she returned the glass box and everything else she had removed to the trunk and then put the broken lid back on top. Without the book, the trunk held no more value, but she pushed the box back into its alcove anyway.

Mark followed her back to the entrance of the cave, but when Taro stepped outside, she stopped and looked at the sky. The time was crawling into early evening and she did not know how long the days might be on this world. “That was certainly educational,” she muttered quietly, “but we need to get moving if we’re going to find the cats before dark.”

“We don’t have to look very far,” Mark whispered.

Two pair of golden yellow eyes peered at them from the shadows of the scrub brush directly across from the cave entrance, but the new arrivals didn’t bother to stay concealed. Both of the mountain cats stepped out into the sunlight, one with its head down, and it was then that Taro and Mark saw just how large these creatures were.

Down on four feet, the male was nearly two meters from the ground to its shoulder and its companion was only slightly smaller. Both had a head eerily reminiscent of the non-sapient mountain lions they were familiar with, and it was with an unnerving feeling that Taro could see the resemblance to the passenger she had had on her ship months earlier. Their pelts were tawny brown with lighter and darker patches that could only be described as a camouflage pattern. Thick, non-retractable claws and powerful jaws open in excited panting completed the picture of danger.

Without preamble or ceremony, Taro drew the rifle from her shoulder sling, took aim and shot the larger male right between the eyes in one swift motion. As it dropped, the second one flinched in reaction to the loud report, but before she could bolt away, Taro plugged another bullet through her temple.

“Look at the size of that thing!” Renny exclaimed from an elevation somewhere a little higher. Jerry and Max also came running from the caves they had been investigating. Until now, there had been no sign of the great cats other than shed fur and tracks in the dirt.

“Everybody on your toes and be on the alert,” Taro said, giving the dead animals no further attention. “There will be more coming to investigate, I’m sure. You are to shoot them on sight.” She turned a critical eye to the youngest member of her party and added, “If you shoot any with your stunner, Max, let one of us know so we can dispatch it for real before it can get back up.”

The German shepherd felt stung by her words, but he merely nodded to show obedience to his captain’s command.

“What do we do about those two?” Jerry asked, pointing to the dead cats.

Taro was about to wave them off as unimportant, but then changed her mind. She moved to the larger of the two and then knelt beside it. She pulled a large knife from her boot and then deeply cut its belly open in a wide swath. The ground flowed red at her feet and she backed away several steps.

“We’ll use them as bait,” she said as Max turned his head and the others looked on in horror. “The blood will draw others, so find yourself a safe place to wait and we’ll let them come to us.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Jerry muttered, but now that the deed was done, there surely would be others drawn to the scent; he quickly returned to a nearby shallow cave he had just looked into and put his back to it. He did not really want to be cornered there if several of them rushed him, but it was preferable to leaving his tail unguarded.

It did not take long before several other mountain lions appeared, their noses to the air and twitching. Renny took aim at one, but hesitated. In that moment, another lion appeared on the hillside above him and the cheetah could feel a ridge raise along his back beneath his shirt.

The lioness saw him and drew her lips back into a snarl as she gathered her feet together. Renny did not hesitate this time and swung his rifle up toward her. He managed to squeeze off a shot before she could leap down at him, but it was not a clean kill. The lioness dropped to her belly and began to convulse, kicking up dust and dirt, but Renny had to force himself to shoot again. This time she lay still and did not move again.

The navigator was unable to relax, however; others were now coming after him from the surrounding hills. In only a matter of seconds, the hunter had quickly become the hunted, and now the cheetah became focused to protect himself. There was no hesitation this time as he began shooting.

A short distance away, Jerry had his back to the wall with three of the feral mountain cats facing him. His rifle level and steady, he shot one through an eye, but another jumped for him before he could alter his aim. A young male landed right in front of him and slashed out with a massive paw. The fox slid sideways along the wall behind him and just managed to avoid being gutted by razor sharp claws. He did not escape injury, however; part of his shirt was ripped into sudden shreds and claw tips cut furrows into his side. Luckily for him, the cuts were shallow, but it was enough to incapacitate him.

The cat suddenly collapsed to the ground before it could strike again, however; it had been caught in Max’s invisible stunner beam. Spurred on by Jerry’s injury, the young mechanic rushed toward the other cats surging forward and sprayed his beam across them with gritted teeth. One dropped instantly, but the other charged toward him barely affected. It was larger than the other two and Max had to fire again, this time at point-blank range.

The animal dropped, though not before running headlong onto the German shepherd. The cat’s great weight pinned Max to the ground and he began struggling frantically to get out from beneath it before another of the feral felines discovered him. He also did not know how long the stunning effects would last, and he did not want to be around if this one woke up with its massive head in his lap.

He managed to wriggle free and then got up onto his feet. He limped on a bruised hip to Jerry and the fox looked up at him in pain.

“You’ve got to kill them,” Jerry gasped, holding his arms across his middle in an attempt to stop the flow of blood. “I can’t do it for you.”

Max swallowed with difficulty, but when the big cat at Jerry’s feet began to stir already, he knew he did not have a choice. He picked up the fox’s rifle and stood up. He aimed its barrel at the animal’s head and put his finger on the trigger.

“Do we have to do this?” he asked in a quiet voice.

Jerry looked up at him. “We’re in too deep, Max,” he said.

The lion opened its eyes and started to shake off the effects of the stun to its nervous system. The teenage canine braced for the recoil and pulled the trigger, killing the great cat instantly.

“Good man,” Jerry encouraged him. “Now the others.”

Steeling himself for the job at hand, Max moved to the other sleeping lions and then shot them all quickly before he could think himself out of it. Relatively safe for the moment, he moved back to Jerry to see if he could help with his injuries.

At another place upon the side of the hill, Mark ejected the clip from his rifle, shoved it into a pocket and then grabbed another from his back pack to reload. He had been systematically shooting every mountain cat he saw, and there were considerably more of them than he had hoped to see.

He had sustained a few injuries of his own from felines that had gotten in too close, but all were superficial. He did not like killing the animals any more than the others had, but he was no stranger to the task and his frame of mind had moved into an automatic zone where he did not have to consciously think about what he was doing.

He did not stand still against the hillside waiting for the lions to come to him, but methodically sought them out. He knew from the journal they had found that these cats were more prolific than rabbits and there were likely to be many more amongst the highlands, though he tried not to think about the odds. Now that battle had been engaged and other cats were drawn to the noise and blood, he would likely run out of ammunition before they had all been dispatched.

Elsewhere, in spite of the anger and rage within her, there was a part of Taro’s mind that realized for all the kills she and the others had made, there seemed to be no end to the large animals. Most she had killed with bullets, but one had come at her from above and she had had fight for her life when it went for her throat. She had claw marks across her back and shoulders from when it had taken her in a fierce offensive hug, but she had managed to keep its jaws from tearing the life out of her. In the end, it had taken all the reserves of her Hestran strength to break its neck, and this had brought forth suppressed memories of her fight with another murderous feline, the pirate Sagan.

She heard movement behind her and she turned with wild eyes to kill another, but Renny raised his hands swiftly and grabbed the end of her rifle to keep it pointed away from him.

“It’s me!” he said with a gasp. Taro blinked in rapid succession and then exhaled strongly. She was so full of adrenaline that her eyes would not focus on him. She kept her attention on the hills and brush all around them. For the moment, however, it seemed they had a moment of respite.

“Taro,” Renny said firmly, “we’ve got to get out of here! There are too many!”

“Too many…” she growled. The cheetah shook her briefly and she finally looked at him with clearer eyes. Yes… you’re right, of course,” she acquiesced. “Let’s find the others and get out while we can.”

For the first time since they had left the lapin village, Renny sighed in relief, but did not allow himself to relax; feline reinforcements could arrive at any moment. When they started stepping around the fallen mountain cats, Taro came out of her daze and her attention became sharply focused.

“Are you okay?” Renny asked, looking over the shredded back of her blouse.

“I’ll live. I can’t believe I thought we could get rid of them all,” she admitted to her first officer and best friend as they climbed to higher ground. They were looking for their fellow crewmates, but had to keep alert for more of the feral cats.

They found Max tending to Jerry. The young mechanic had pulled off his own shirt and cut it into strips with his knife to bind around the fox’s middle.

“How bad is it?” Taro asked, kneeling beside them.

“Superficial,” the vulpine doctor replied, “but it hurts just the same.”

“Can you travel? We’re getting out of here.”

“I can travel well enough to do that!” Jerry grumbled.

“What about you?” she asked Max.

“Just bruises,” he reported. “I’m okay, but has anyone seen Mark?”

“I’m here,” the human said, standing on the rise above the shallow cave where Jerry rested on the ground. “Just keeping an eye out for more. We seem to have a moment to catch our breath, but I wouldn’t let down my guard just yet.”

Max and Renny helped Jerry to his feet and Taro looked up at her cargo master. “Are you injured?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I can live with it until we get back to the ship. Lead on and I’ll watch our backs.”

The hunting party began moving around dead cats, rocks and brush down the hill, but they were still on the lookout. They could hear a feline shriek some distance away and they all assumed it was either a cat calling for more of its kind or it was mourning the loss of kin.

On the way back down to the plains with the forest of the rabbits in sight, Mark had to dispatch only two more of the feral mountain lions they encountered. They surmised that they had either managed to kill off all those in the immediate vicinity or the cats had pulled back to regroup in the face of such losses.

Taro felt that they had been extremely lucky in that their own injuries were survivable. When they reached the flat wheat lands between the highlands and the forest without further battle, Taro felt the need to speak to the others as they walked.

“Guys,” she said quietly, “I’m sorry for this. I was blind with rage over what happened in the village, especially to the children, and I wouldn’t listen to reason. I… was wrong.” No one said anything and Max was the only one who would meet her eyes as she looked them over. Discouraged, the vixen fumbled for more words, but while she was momentarily quiet, Jerry cleared his throat.

“Captain,” he said, keeping his eyes straight ahead across the plains while Max and Renny continued to help keep him upright. “I mentioned this earlier, but I want you to remember our last visit here. You were infected by a local bacterium that affected your judgment and you were unable to stay in control of your anger for a while thereafter.”

“I remember.”

“It seems to have affected you quicker this time around, probably because you’d caught it before, but instead of building up an immunity, you just became more susceptible.” He finally looked over at her, but his expression had not really softened. “I don’t blame you for your convictions because of it,” he said, “but because you’re our captain, we had to follow your orders.”

“Yes, and I am really sorry,” Taro murmured. “I should have listened to the counsel given me, but I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“You seem okay now,” the teen canine observed quietly.

“I think I’m all used up, Max. I had so much anger and rage in a killing rage back there that I probably burned up the bacteria. Now I’m spent.”

“If I ever get to publish a paper about the bacteria,” Jerry said in a moment of levity despite his pain, “I’m going to name it after you, Taro.”

The vixen gave him a wan smile. “That can never happen, and you know it,” she responded, rubbing one of the scratches across her shoulder. “You’d have to reveal where the bacteria came from, and that would lead back here.”

Mark’s gun spat three staccato reports behind them and they all whirled around expecting more teeth and claws coming after them. The human lowered his rifle and looked back at Taro with a frown.

“We were being stalked,” he explained. “Hopefully those were just scouts. We’re losing daylight fast and I don’t guarantee that I’ll be able to see more of them once the sun goes down.”

“I lost my thermal scanner during the fight,” Renny mumbled, “so that’s no help.”

Taro nodded. “Once we get back to the village, I will apologize to everybody and then we’ll all need to abandon the site quickly in case the night brings the rest of the cats out to finish the job they started. We can hold up safely inside the Horizon, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to get the rabbits inside. They don’t understand our technology, and although we’ve proven they are under no threat by any of us, they may not feel safe enough inside the ship with our predators anyway. I’m not sure what to do about them.”

***

The hunting party returned to the decimated village just as the sun set beneath the western horizon. On a slight rise above the village proper, Renny stopped and turned back the way they had just come. He peered behind them looking for movement, silently wishing for the thermal scanner. He and Mark had traded places helping Jerry on the way back, just as Taro and Max had swapped out.

Internally, he sighed with relief that his night vision found nothing larger than small nocturnal critters after several long minutes of meticulous searching. He finally turned and followed the others down toward a large bonfire that had been built in the center of the clearing. A slight evening breeze was sending the column of smoke toward the east.

Whether or not the hunting party had been successful in their task, N’iik had already determined that he and the survivors would be leaving this place to join another lapin community he knew of to the northeast. He had been there numerous times, familiar with the route and with several individuals living there.

Before abandoning a village, however, it was customary to burn the personal belongings of all the dwellings but one, and in that one would be stored an assortment of items representing the lives of those who had once lived there.

Unfortunately, no other survivors had been found, so N’iik and Nay’ha had already selected the largest abode, emptied it, and then gathered from the other homes what would be placed there. The Blue Horizon crew had then helped them bring out everything else to the central clearing to be burned to ash.

When Taro learned of this tradition, she asked that Calissa’s portable landing beacon be added to the fire, as it was unlikely they would ever have the opportunity to return to this world. It would also be unwise to announce their presence to any other vessels that might happen to come this way, whether from the Planetary Alignment worlds or elsewhere.

The bonfire would serve three purposes. The dead would first be placed in the center, and then the personal possessions stacked over them and piled high, so that the ritual burning of the belongings would also serve as a funeral pyre. The third purpose would help keep away any of the feral cats or other predators that might try to come back during the night.

Max had balked at this at first, as he had already dug several graves to bury the dead, but that was not the lapin way of this place. N’iik had patiently explained to the young canine that this would prevent scavengers from digging up the bodies.

They had already driven off all the red-feathered scavenger birds that had gathered earlier, and now that night was falling, there may be more drawn to the smell of so much blood; the bodies may be consumed by the fire, but spilled blood still remained throughout the village. Once the deed was done, they would leave the village altogether, spending the night elsewhere before starting their two-day journey the next morning.

Taro made a humble speech to the entire gathering, giving only a brief account of the siege against the feral highland cats, and then she offered a public apology for her actions and reactions.

“I have no excuse for what I’ve said and done,” she said to the crowd. “I can claim a sickness due to something here I alone seem to have no immunity against, but I’m still responsible for my actions. All I can do is say I am sorry and that I hope you all can forgive me.” She looked over at her bedraggled hunting party where Amanda and Suzuko were tending to their wounds using Jerry’s med kit. “I’ve caused injury to those who followed me into needless battle, and I could have easily lost any of them to the overwhelming odds we faced this evening.”

She looked down at her hands, her ears back and her tail hanging low. “When we get back to Dennier, I will tender my resignation as captain of the Blue Horizon and let Merlin choose someone else better suited to the responsibility.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Jerry said from the sidelines. Taro looked over at him as other voices began to raise in response to her declaration.

“No, you can’t resign!” Pockets wailed loudly. There were other similar sentiments, but it was the vulpine doctor that Taro’s attention went to. Jerry saw her focus and nodded toward her.

“Captain,” he said in a voice loud enough to be heard over the sudden din, “your judgment may or may not have been impaired by a sickness, but the fact remains that you were doing what you thought was necessary in light of what happened here this morning. There were so many deaths here that almost an entire village was decimated, and after what we five experienced tonight, it’s a wonder that there were any survivors among the rabbits at all. We may not have agreed with your methods, but I think we understand your motivations. That you realize what you’ve done and have apologized for it is good enough for me and I would prefer that you not resign.”

“Yeah, what he said!” Justy exclaimed. Again, there were more voices that backed up what the doctor expressed, and Taro’s eyes grew moist.

“Thank you,” she said when the noise died down. “That doesn’t excuse what I’ve done, but I appreciate your acceptance.” She looked over at N’iik, who had not understood everything she had said in the Standard language, but he had relayed what he could to Nay’ha beside him.

The vixen approached him with her hands down and clasped together demurely. “I have done you a great wrong,” she told him quietly. “I hope you can one day forgive me.”

The white buck tilted his head at her words. “Forgived,” he said simply. “Understand you help us, but our way best.”

Taro nodded. “Yes, your way is best. You will find safety with other rabbits. I hope you, Nay’ha and the children will have long and prosperous lives.” She glanced at Lorelei and then back to N’iik. “Since I won’t be here to protect her, I will trust you to keep L’ree safe at your side.”

The white doe’s eyes went wide. “You… mean you’ll let me stay?” she asked in a trembling voice.

Taro nodded. “For the sake of N’iik and these children, yes, I will honor your request. For the sake of those back home, you and I will need to sign a consent form legally breaking your contract and you’ll need to put together some kind of letter to your family to explain why they’ll never see you again - without revealing too much about this place, of course.”

Lorelei moved forward and enveloped the vixen in a warm embrace. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Taro gasped when the doe’s hands brushed her injuries and it was only then that she realized that she had been ignoring the stinging pain across her back and shoulders to make her public apologies. It all came rushing back to her and she suddenly felt light-headed.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Lorelei gasped when Taro wavered on her feet.

“Maybe I should sit down somewhere,” the captain murmured as she sank to her knees. N’iik and Nay’ha immediately knelt beside her and Lorelei went in search of something to treat the wounds with from Jerry’s med kit.

***

N’iik declined Taro’s offer to take the rabbits to a place near the next village in the ship so that they would not have to be concerned if the cats tried to follow them. He had conveyed that the felines would likely be too gorged from eating the villagers — and their own dead —to come after them across the plains.

He also believed that the two-day travel would give them time to grieve over their losses and prepare to present themselves and the children to their new elders.

However, he did take her up on the offer of letting them spend the night in safety inside the “cavern” within the ship’s hold. N’iik and Nay’ha were fascinated by the giant blue sky-thing that L’ree had arrived in, neither of them understanding how it could happen, but accepting that it must be so. The young bunnies ran around inside the cavernous hold for a while, but eventually the lateness of the night wore them down and they all gathered back together in a sleepy pile near the adults.

Cushions, pillows and blankets had been provided for them to sleep on, but despite the events of the day, it was long into the night before anyone but the little bunnies could sleep. Taro had sent everyone but Lorelei and herself to the upper decks, and while they were alone, she had opened the cargo crates to let the adult rabbits pick through the contents so they could take anything they wanted and anything they thought they could use from the items that Merlin had sent.

There were a few small tools that N’iik thought could be handy, and they took all of the food seeds, but the most valuable objects among the crates were the most practical. Blankets and clothing along with the other oddments they had chosen would be loaded into backpacks that the rabbits could take with them; heavier items would have to be left behind since they had nothing like cart or wagon to take them in. There were no more surreys, or horses either. Everything they took would have to be carried, and with nine bunny children along for the two-day trek to the closest village, they would need to travel light. The biggest concern would be food and water, and Taro had allowed Lori to take anything she thought they could use from the galley.

As for the rest of the cargo items the rabbits did not want or could not carry, Taro was tempted to simply dump them out on the ground outside the ship for other rabbits to discover and go through, but there were no guarantees the stuff would be found anytime soon due to the distance to the nearest village. It seemed like such a waste, but the original purpose for them had also been overcome by events.

Instead, she decided to take them back to Merlin. Most of the items could be used in a garden setting and the wolf had often expressed a desire to grow his own vegetables, so perhaps he could use them himself.

Everyone exhausted from the ordeals of the day, they finally bid one another good night and they all settled down in their beds.

***

The next morning, Mark opened the forward cargo bay door to let in the sunshine and fresh spring air, impressing the rabbits that the whole side of their “cave” could swing outward at his command. The weather for the day looked to be calm and pleasant with only a gentle breeze; it was a perfect day for traveling. A report from the bridge confirmed that thermal scans in all directions found no awaiting mountain cats within range.

Taro and Lorelei had fulfilled the final requirements of her contract the night before, with a brief letter written for her family, so Lori now considered herself a new resident of Se’rei. The captain had not told her of the origins of the rabbits on this world that she and Mark had discovered, deeming it unnecessary to her lapin friend’s existence within her new life.

The rabbits had a long journey ahead of them, and hampered by a herd of children, the voyage would be slower, but the crew of the Blue Horizon was unwilling to let their former crewmate simply leave. With promises to keep it as short as possible, a small going-away party was given for Lori.

As expected, the native rabbits declined to delve deeper into the interior of the ship-cave, but they understood the need to allow L’ree to properly say goodbye to her extended family. N’iik and Nay’ha would be getting the children ready to travel, but neither complained about the burden the journey was apt to be. They all lived, and that was the only thing to remember.

On the deck above them, the recreational area was crowded with the crew all gathered around their former cook. Some of them had served with Lori for years, while others only knew her for a short while. When Justy had lamented the coming loss of her good cooking, Suzuko announced that she was willing to fill in to make sure nobody went hungry, herself an experienced cook in addition to being a great engineer. There were good-natured jokes at the unicorn’s expense on her modesty after that, but it was all taken with grace and humor.

There were hugs and teary farewells, but eventually things began to wind down simply due to the injured weariness of some and the need for the rabbits to begin on their way. Everyone accompanied Lori to the cargo bay, and there she joined her new mate with his cousin and the small bunnies that now depended upon them.

The dozen rabbits stood at the bottom of the cargo ramp and Lorelei grinned back at everyone. She had taken only her most prized possessions from her quarters on the ship and those consisted merely of a few pretty trinkets she thought she could trade amongst the other rabbits she might encounter. She had changed into locally-made clothing that Nay’ha had given her from the village before everything else had been burned, and she had decided to leave behind all her brightly-dyed garments and fancy footwear, though she did keep one pair of simple sandals.

The pack and bedroll upon her back was full, but one small bunny sat on top of it and clung to the back of her neck while another tiny bunny rode in her arms. Only the smallest would be carried thusly by N’iik and Nay’ha too. The other children would have to walk. Most of them were too young to even remember the events of the previous day for long, though some would miss their parents for a while. All they knew now was the love and compassion of their teacher; the strange looking people in the big blue cave would also soon be forgotten.

The time finally came for them to leave. Taro walked down to the rabbits out in the field to give Lori a final hug and fond wish that she be forever happy, and then the travelers turned toward the northeast.

Amanda had not known Lori for long, but there were tears streaming into her cheek fur as she watched them go. Pockets had known the rabbit far longer and was not to be outdone by the simple coyote. He wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his coveralls, only to have his eyes fill up again as sobs threatened to escape from his throat.

The rabbits stopped and Lorelei suddenly trotted back to the cargo ramp, holding onto her two squealing bunnies as she ran. Taro looked at her curiously as the white doe tried reaching one of her pockets. It was difficult with her arms full, but she finally managed to snare something that was inside.

“I almost forgot!” Lori exclaimed with a wide grin. “N’iik gave this to me, thinking it was mine.” What she handed the vixen was a small, brightly colored sheet of plastic. It was flat, rectangular and had words and numbers written across both sides in stylish Standard. A scrawling signature had also been penned in across one side of it.

“Rex’s lottery ticket!” Taro exclaimed with a laugh. “I’ll bet it fell out of his shirt pocket when he ran out of the ship and tripped up in the wheat field!”

Lori nodded. “N’iik said he found it after we left last time. He did not know what it was, but kept it as a reminder of my visit. Can you make sure it gets back to Mr. Concolar, please?”

Taro laughed again and tickled the large bare feet of the bunny in the doe’s arms, making the little girl giggle. “By all means. He keeps contacting the home office about once a month hoping we’ve found it somewhere on the ship. We’ll all be glad to make sure it gets to him.”

Lori leaned forward, kissed her former captain on the cheek and then made sure she had a good hold on both little bunnies before she trotted back out to her waiting party.

Taro pocketed the lottery ticket carefully and then waved one last time. When she was sure that the rabbits were far enough away, she turned to Mark and nodded. “Time to close up and prep the ship for liftoff.”

***

Thirty minutes later, the Blue Horizon leapt straight up into the sky on full thrusters, flattening the wheat stalks beneath it in powerful hot winds. The lower cameras showed their departure angle on the vidscreens and anyone watching could see the small party of rabbits looking up and waving from a distance. The sight of the giant blue thing soaring up through the sky must have been awe-inspiring to the primitive lapin folk.

It did not take long for the ship to gain an altitude where the atmospheric engines could be engaged to increase velocity to get them up into orbit. A short while after that, the entire world could be seen below as a blue and green marble with patches and swirls of white.

Once the gravity deck plates were active and they were in a stable orbit, Pockets unfastened his harness and padded over to look at Calissa’s little black box. One diode was lit up brightly. He thumbed an intercom pad and gave a brief report.

“The Hyld system is fully charged and the safety light is green. We can jump any time you’re ready.”

“Aye to that,” Taro’s voice replied. “We’ll reach optimum orbital departure in twenty-three minutes, and approximately fifteen more to reach our jump point. Let us know if anything changes.”

“Aye-yi, will do.”

***

The Blue Horizon emerged from its jump at a distance of just half a day away on standard LightDrive velocities from Dennier. They were far enough outside the standard traffic lanes that there had been no danger of running into any other ships in the area.

Shaking off the ill effects of the jump, Renny immediately began calculating their route back to the nearby world, and while he was working, Suzuko guided the ship back down in line with the galactic plane, piloting the interstellar vessel with ease. Taro watched from the com station, pleased that the painted-pony unicorn had prior experience flying the Kirin-class freighter. With Jerry out of commission for a while and her own injuries limiting movement, Suzuko and Renny were the only other two on board who could currently fly the new ship design. This oversight would be corrected later as the other crewmembers got their chance to familiarize themselves with the ship and her controls.

Satisfied that Suzuko had control of things, Taro turned to the console beside her and slipped on a headset with a flexible arm to place the speaker bud within one of her high ears with the tiny microphone on a boom near her lips. She tuned into the local traffic and listened for a while, but was puzzled by some of the chatter she heard.

She switched over to StellarNet and tuned into INN to see if she could get a clearer picture of the news snippets she had picked up. She listened for a good long time while her crewmates took care of getting them back to home port.

After Renny had finished his calculations and transferred the data to Suzuko’s panel, he turned in his seat to face the lithe unicorn lass beside him.

“What happens now?” he asked quietly. He could see Taro focused upon whatever it was she listened to, so he kept his voice low. Suzuko looked up at him after setting their course to match the figures he had provided.

“What do you mean?”

The cheetah frowned. “The purpose of our first flight was to see if we could talk Natasha’s engineer into providing plans for the particle vault safety monitor so you could include them in future Hyld ships. Right now, we have only the one unit with no idea what it monitors or how to build more.”

Suzuko considered his words for a moment and then shook her head. “It’s likely that Master Tristen will take the device back to Sillon to see if they can figure it out, and that is if they can even determine what it is that it monitors and why. Calissa only hinted at dangers and Tristan seems to think this has bearing upon a few events that happened during our own initial testing.”

“Can we still use the Hyld jump system built into this ship for our testing phase?”

“I don’t see how we can,” she answered. “If we don’t have the monitor, Master Tristan is unlikely to allow us to use the system for safety reasons.”

Renny crossed his arms. “Does this mean our two-year contract is finished before it really begins?”

“Not necessarily. Before the Hyld package was included in the Kirin, this ship had already been equipped with the latest Silloni LightDrive propulsion system. It is point-seven-five percent faster than the current LD systems on the market today and point-five faster than Earth’s new Prime ships, so we’ll still have a slight edge on the competition.”

“We?” Renny asked. “Will you be staying with us even if we can’t use the Hyld? I thought that was the reason you had joined the crew.”

The equine engineer smiled. “The Kirin is a prototype that needs to be tested before it goes on the market for mass production, so we all still have work to do here; the Hyld was only one system of the whole ship I was to look after. Besides, I had already set my home affairs in order to be gone for two years before I left Sillon, so there’s no reason to leave you just yet.”

The navigator smiled. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I was afraid you’d take this new ship away from us and Merlin would have to shop for another Horizon.”

“That’s not going to happen. I still have to prove to everyone that I’m a good cook, anyway. I can’t do that from Sillon.” She smiled and Renny grinned.

“I’m sure you’ve already heard about my appetite, so I hope you’re up to the challenge.”

At the com station, Taro pulled off the headset and set it down on her console. Renny looked over at her and saw the expression on her face. “What’s up?” he asked. “Looks like you got some bad news.” Suzuko looked over her shoulder at the vixen.

“Well, there is news,” said the captain, “but how you take it personally will be up to you.”

“Why? What’s happened?”

“The news channels are all abuzz with the assassination of Earth’s Representative to the PA Legislature.”

“The Representative?” Suzuko repeated.

“That guy we met, Victor Faltane,” Renny guessed with raised eyebrows.

“The one and the same. You and I know him as Sagan’s master, but others thought of him as a successful businessman and a leader of men.”

“If he was assassinated,” Suzuko remarked, “I suppose that means he had enemies somewhere. That happens if you’ve stepped on the wrong people for your successes.”

Taro nodded. “The news reports say the identity of the murderer is unknown, but even in the early stages of the investigation, evidence has turned up that Faltane may have had plans to kidnap the Argeian Heir Apparent during the Siilv War to force some issue. Popular opinion is that a Kastan assassin caught up to him due to the way he died.”

“What happened?” Renny asked.

“Something tunneled into the back of his head and came out through the top, and also the skin of his face was surgically sheared away.”

“Ew!” Suzuko responded, sticking out her tongue.

Renny made a retching sound in his throat, but then shook his head. “I’ve heard rumors that the commodore of the Kastan fleet wears a vest made of the faces of those he’s personally bested in combat. I don’t remember his name, but heard he could be brutal in battle.”

Taro nodded. “Commodore Blanc. His name came up in the new reports; it’s his style. alright, but I wouldn’t think he’d stoop to something he could hire an assassin to do.”

“Maybe someone’s mimicking his methods to make him look like the culprit,” Renny surmised.

“Earth was one of the worlds that tried force against Argeia to give up their Siilv, so I suppose it isn’t surprising that the Kastans would kill off their Representative to the Legislature,” Taro said, “but the Terrans are livid and are demanding answers. None of the news services have been able to get any response to this action from Argeia, and I don’t think they’ll get one anyhow. Argeia is off-limits to the PA worlds and the Kastans themselves have written off the PA anyway.”

Suzuko looked back down at a blip from her console and made a quick calculation. “We’re coming up on Dennieran traffic. We should be back in Grandstorm in about five hours.”

***

Bandaged and moving stiffly, Taro followed Merlin out to the workshop adjacent to his house so they could be alone together for a private conversation. The home office was locked up for the weekend, so she had taken a cab to the Sinclair residence. She had left her crew back at the spaceport with the ship so she could give the wolf a personal account of the trip to Se’rei and get their next assignment.

Secluded in Merlin’s little cubicle where they had had a conversation about the new ship only days before, the wolf sat behind his desk and listened to the vixen’s story. He tried not to interrupt her so she could get everything off her chest, but there was a time or two he needed clarification on something.

When she finished, she opened the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a cloth-wrapped object.  She set it on the desk and then unfolded the cloth to reveal the old colony journal she and Mark had found. Beside it, she also placed the plastic lottery ticket, but neither of them was really interested in that item just now.

Merlin lifted the book gently, as if afraid it might fall apart in his hands, but it felt just as solid as the journals he had written in over the years while on board the Blue Horizon.

“So, this is it,” he said quietly. “Historical proof on the life of another of the lost colonies, yet we can’t show it to anyone.”

“We’d be grilled day and night for information if our trip to Surrey ever went public,” Taro remarked. “I don’t think it’s right to keep something like this a secret, but we’d be ruining the lives of Lori and the way of life for the people she’s joined.”

“After the Great Abandonment,” Merlin said, flipping through the old pages of the book, “the colony worlds had to make their own way, developing at their own speeds and in the directions their societies went. It wasn’t up to Earth how another world governed itself or what cultures they produced, and it doesn’t matter if Surrey moved forward or regressed to a more primitive time. The rest of the PA doesn’t have the right to interfere with how they’ve lived for the past three centuries and I’m afraid if we divulged the location to anyone, irrevocable changes would take place.”

He hefted the book. “I’m sure this will be some very interesting reading, but I’m not sure I know what to do with it otherwise.”

Taro looked at him with a smile. “I’ve been thinking about that,” she said, “and I may have a solution.”

***

Master Tristan stood just inside the azure corridor of the Blue Horizon, waiting with the ship’s captain and her first officer. The wrappings on Taro’s shoulder stuck out from beneath the short sleeves of her white blouse, but she did not appear to be in any pain.

Several moments passed before the door to the cargo bay opened. Pockets, Max and Suzuko stepped inside and the shorter unicorn gave the larger a short bow of respect. The raccoon behind her looked gloomy, giving the box in Suzuko’s arms a furtive glance.

“Master,” Suzuko reported in a quiet voice. “It is done.”

“Thank you, dear. Would you deliver the package straight away to Stoyan aboard the Kokoro, please? We will be departing within the hour and I would like this active for our journey.”

“At once.” The painted-pony unicorn turned and was out the airlock quickly.

The larger black unicorn chuckled at the forlorn expressions on the mechanics’ faces. “Do not look so glum, gentlemen. This is for the best.”

Pockets looked up into the former Regent’s calm brown eyes. “You took away the best part of the ship!” he complained. “I miss it already!”

“I will have the top engineers of Sillon working to unlock the mystery of Ms. Calissa Thalia’s particle vault monitor. With luck, we will be able to determine its functionality and soon be able to create more to include on future Hyld vessels.”

“Yes, but did you have to take the key component from our Hyld system too?”

Taro put a hand on the raccoon’s shoulder. “Pockets, it’s for our own good. As long as we have a working system, we’d be tempted to use it despite the potential dangers, and you know it.”

“But what if we’re attacked by pirates again?” Max interjected. “You already told several organizations that we’d be testing the Hyld system and someone will probably come after us to get it – only we won’t have it to get away from them!”

“All good points, Mister Sinclair,” Tristan admitted, “but until we know what the danger might be using it under the wrong conditions, you will not take that chance. I will release a statement to the same scientific organization as before saying that an unforeseen situation arose after first use and that further research will have to be made before the system can be used publicly. This is not a lie, and hopefully word will circulate to those proverbial pirates you mentioned that you will no longer have jump capability. You should still be able to outrun any who come your way and this vessel is not without defenses at any case.”

“We’ll still be testing this new prototype ship and its new LightDrive engines for Sillon and Ryu,” Renny reminded them, “so our contracts are still valid. It’s just going to take us a little longer to get from place to place than we’d originally planned.”

“Yeah, I know,” Pockets acquiesced, “but now that we have a slower ship, we’re all going to have to listen to Jerry complain about the small size of his cabin on every trip we make!”

***

A month later, a human courier with tanned skin and short black hair approached an office on the third floor of a building in the city of London on Earth. Dressed in a sharp uniform, the man stepped up to an open doorway and tapped lightly on the wooden panel identifying the office belonging to Director Leatherby.

A portly gentleman with thinning gray hair and a massive mustache looked up from a tablet upon his oak desk, his large eyes annoyed at having been interrupted.

“Yes, what is it?” Leatherby grumbled.

“I have a package for you, sir. It was delivered to the main desk downstairs just a few minutes ago.”

“Very well, let me have it.”

The courier moved the desk and then pulled a common cardboard box from the pouch hanging from his right shoulder. It was not overly thick, but a moderate size book or computer tablet would fit into it neatly. He set it on the desk and then handed a slateboard tablet to the portly man. “Sign here, please.”

The man put his thumb print upon the screen and then handed the unit back to its owner. The courier thanked him and then quickly departed.

Rhys Leatherby examined the package for a moment. It was simply addressed to The Director of Colonization Antiquities with the address beneath it. There was no return label on the box, so he reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a small pen knife.

He cut the strapping from the box lid and then opened the flaps carefully. Something inside was wrapped up in plastic, so he set the knife aside and then picked up the item. He pulled the sheeting apart and found an old book with a cowhide cover. The words Terran Colony Surrey, Planet Aphaea were embossed in faded gold-colored letters.

Leatherby’s heart thumped in his chest and his breathing became shallow when he realized what it must be. He set the book gently upon his desk blotter and then opened the cover, hardly able to contain his excitement.

He read the opening lines but then quickly shut the book. He rifled through the box it had come in, but there was no letter, note or data crystal to accompany it. He struggled to get his bulk out of the plush chair and then he rushed out of the office into the hall. He looked down the corridor and saw the courier at the far end approaching the staircase that led to the lower floors.

“You there!” he called, startling coworkers in nearby offices. “Please come back!”

The courier turned around at the man’s shout and nodded. He walked casually back to Leatherby and looked down at the shorter gentleman. “Yes sir?” he asked courteously.

“Excuse me,” said the portly man, “but did you see who delivered this package? There was no identification inside or out.”

“No sir,” the courier replied. “I had just arrived at the main desk and found this sitting upon the counter. The public doors had just opened, so it couldn’t have been there more than a few minutes at most.”

Leatherby pulled a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit and wiped it across his forehead. “You’re certain no one knows who left it?”

“Positive, sir. Is it important?”

Leatherby considered the question a moment and then pursed his lips. “Perhaps the delivery itself is not important, but the content of the package is of great significance.” He patted the courier on the arm and gave him a smile. “Thank you, you may go now. I have an interesting book to begin reading this morning.”

“You are welcome, sir,” Mark Littlefeather replied. “Have a good day.”

LINGERING FEARS

by Ted R. Blasingame

Merlin opened his eyes but discovered that he could not see anything. His head throbbed and he ached in numerous other places. He was blindfolded and bound with chains in a slumped, standing position with his arms outstretched between two poles. Some part of his brain noted that his shirt was hanging on him in shreds. Stinging cuts on his back reminded him why the shirt was in tatters. He tried to stand up, but his legs were weak. He dropped back against his bonds with a grunt and then he heard someone stand from a creaking chair to his left.

“Merlin Sinclair…” a voice said near his left ear.  ”It’s about time you woke up. I’m tired of listening to you snore.”

“Who… who are you?” the wolf said through swollen lips.

“I’m your mailman.”

“My….”

There was a soft chuckle and Merlin could feel the speaker’s hot breath against his ear. “I have delivered letters,” the voice explained, “but you chose to ignore them.”

“Those were your threats!” Merlin said in sudden understanding.

“Threats? No, promises!” Another chuckle. “Some are as yet unfulfilled.”

“Do I know you?” the wolf said with a swallow. “How have I wronged you?” Merlin could see a portion of the floor in front of him beneath the bottom of the blindfold. He saw a pair of booted feet move into view and then his companion spoke again from the front.

“You have caused no limit of frustration to those I’ve served,” his faceless enemy said.

“Who do you serve?”

“No, I won’t provide you with an answer, Sinclair, but you have met them. You are well known and we have followed your movements for some time.”

“Do I get to see the face of my enemy?” Merlin asked uneasily.

“Careful, Sinclair,” the voice said menacingly, “to look upon the face of the basilisk is death!”

Merlin’s mind raced. He had been in tough predicaments before, but never one such as this. Although he did not have a name, he now knew his enemy from that one word. “How should I address you, if not by one of the names that immediately come to mind?”

A strong hand suddenly grabbed his throat, but only as a brief warning. The hand relaxed, but the clawed fingers lingered on his neck. Merlin swallowed hard. There was another chuckle, very low. “Yes,” his enemy said, “I will kill you, Sinclair. Of that, you can be certain. Soon, but not right away.”

The individual stepped back from him. “What about my crew?” Merlin asked in a low voice. It was difficult to talk with beaten, swollen lips. “What have you done—?”

“No more questions!” his captor snapped. “You will give only answers.” He paced around the wolf with a growl. “Now… tell me where I can find your children.”

“M-my children?” Merlin asked with a thick tongue.

“Where are they, Sinclair?” the voice hissed. “I want them!”

“I don’t understand…” the wolf said in confusion.  Children?  He did not have any…

The voice lowered to barely a whisper, the fetid breath nauseating the already-battered lupine captain. “Alexander… Cassandra… Katherine… Marcus…” a long-drawn-out pause, “Ramius... I want them all.”

“I-I don’t know what—”

A fist slammed into his stomach and all the air went out of him. Merlin coughed and tried to double over, but his arms were still bound to the poles; he could nothing more than hang against his chains. A hand grabbed the fur between his ears and pulled his head up sharply. Beneath the lower edge of his blindfold, he could see a black-furred feline chin.

“Where are your children?” the voice growled again. “Where have you hidden them?” When Merlin did not answer, the assailant kicked the wolf in the shin. Merlin grunted from the pain, but otherwise did not cry out. “You’re too stubborn,” the feline said, “but that’s your choice, Sinclair.”

The cat walked away and it was then that Merlin realized someone else was in the room. “Tell the captain what happens next.”

“No, p-please…” said a small voice.

“Tell him,” growled the captor. Merlin heard a shuffle of feet as someone was shoved over to stand in front of him. Beneath his blindfold, Merlin could make out a bare foot with gray fur.

“They…” said in a frightened voice, “They will t-torture her in front of you… It – it’s horrible! P-please… tell him what he w-wants to know…”

Merlin bit his bottom lip, a sinking feeling deep in his gut, but otherwise said nothing.

“He’s not going to talk,” another voice said. Merlin tilted his head, but the voices of the mysterious captors were not familiar to him.

“I think he will. Bring her in now.”

“Yes, sir,” the other replied.

Merlin swallowed hard, his mind wrenched with the gravity of the situation. Something about all this seemed somehow familiar, but it was not quite right. He felt fingers on the knot at the back of his blindfold and then a dirty white cloth was removed from his eyes. He blinked a few times and then looked around. The room took up the bulk of a hut he was in, likely the gathering place for a large crowd of people during inclement weather. He stood between two wooden supports of the room, his arms in manacles, attached to the poles with light chains. His work shirt was in tatters, with the remnants of sleeves still attached to cuffs beneath his manacles, but the rest of it barely hung upon his body. The white fur of his chest and belly was matted and dirty, and although his trousers were in better shape than his shirt, there were tears along the outer seams and both of his knees were exposed.

The floor and walls were made of wooden planks and the rafters in the ceiling were exposed. Light was provided by oil lamps attached to the building’s supports rather than by electrical means, and he could see cloth curtains blowing in the cold breeze that came in through open-air windows. Several folding chairs were scattered about the room, but there were brown stains on the floor beneath a solitary chair positioned directly in front of him; dried blood, Merlin’s brain told him numbly.

From what he could see of the room, a small folding table was near him with what appeared to be a rolled-up tool pouch. He saw crayon-drawn artwork on papers tacked up on one wall, likely from the children his captor wanted.  A cat with gray fur sat dejectedly in a chair against a far wall, his leg manacled to another support post. The two of them exchanged looks and Merlin could see the terror in the cat’s eyes as he waited what was next to come.

“Yes, he knows what’s about to happen,” said a voice from behind the wolf. Merlin tried to turn his head to look at the one who had spoken, but the individual was out of his range of vision. “I would listen to him, Sinclair. You would save yourself a lot of grief if you just tell me what I want to know.” Merlin thought he should probably say something witty in return, but the knot in his stomach prevented him from giving a reply. Instead, he just looked at the floor, unable to meet the unfamiliar cat’s forlorn expression again.

The door opened and Merlin looked over to see two black-furred jaguars escort a bound Border collie into the room. He gasped and his ears flattened in disbelief. Samantha looked as beaten and battered as he was, her clothing ripped in shreds, barely covering her modesty, blood matted in her fur and her breathing coming in great rattling rasps. She was taken to the chair in front of Merlin and forced to sit down.

“No!” Merlin croaked. “Don’t do this! Please! Have mercy!”

The unseen assailant chuckled. “Mercy? Only you can grant that now.”

“Merlin, what’s going on?” the Border collie asked. The wolf swallowed deeply and tried to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. The canine looked at someone behind Merlin and swallowed. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I am Death,” said the voice. “Your death, Mrs. Sinclair.”

“I don’t understand.”

There was an evil cackle. “We are going to torture you… until your mate tells me where your children are hiding,” he said quietly. One of the jaguars that had brought her in moved to her side, brandishing a large serrated knife that glinted in the lamplights.

“Why do you want our children?” Samantha gasped as rough hands held her in her chair.

Merlin heard the lips smack in anticipation. “I am going to eat them…” the voice purred.  “I am very, very hungry, and I am going to gobble them up!”

“Get away from us!” Merlin exclaimed. “You’ll never find them!” A fist slammed the back of the wolf’s head. Merlin saw stars for a moment and it took an effort to refocus his eyes.

“Torture her… slowly,” growled the remembered voice of Var Briggs, “Keep her alive for now, but cause her great pain…”

The dark jaguar gave Merlin a feral grin with bloodshot green eyes and raised his knife. “I am going to enjoy this!” said the feline. The razor-sharp blade glinted in the light as he reached for the Border collie’s throat.

Samantha’s terrified scream rang in Merlin’s ears and he jumped forward with a shriek of his own. Blankets wrapped round his bare feet tripped him up and he sprawled hard onto the floor, hitting the bed stand and causing a lamp to fall to the floor beside him with a broken crash.

Another bedside light came on and Merlin looked up into the worried face of his mate peering at him over the edge of their mattress. “Merlin?” she asked tentatively. “What’s the matter?”

“S-Sam?” he rasped. “Are you okay? Where did he go?”

The Border collie looked around the room, seeing no one else but the two of them. A nearby clock registered the time as 02:30. Nervous, she gathered her nightgown up around her throat and searched the shadows of the bedroom.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered in a whisper. “Where did who go?”

“Briggs,” Merlin whispered in alarm. “He’s after our children!” He kicked the blankets from his ankles and got to his feet in a crouch, his ears back, his fangs bared and his tail swishing behind him in agitation. He reached up a hesitant hand to Samantha’s cheek and caressed it gently, suppressing a shudder. He was relieved that there were no marks upon her pretty throat, but then he clenched his fists and pushed himself up from the bed to his feet.

“Merlin,” Samantha said quietly. “Briggs is not here. He’s dead, remember?”

The gray wolf looked at her as if she were in grave error and then shook his head. “I saw him, Sam,” he croaked. “He wanted to eat our cubs!” He turned and walked quickly to the door to their room. He reached for a pair of crossed rapiers mounted to the wall and pulled one free of its clasps, holding its hilt close to his chest.

“It must have been a dream,” she reassured him. “You had another nightmare.”

Merlin looked back at her and swallowed. It had seemed so real, so lucid; he knew she must be right, but there would be no rest for him until he looked in on their young ones. He gave her a tentative nod and then opened the door.  Samantha sighed and crawled out of the bed. She pulled a blanket from a nearby rocking chair and draped it around her shoulders over the light nightgown. She padded quietly out of the room, turned down the hallway, and then approached the room belonging to their beloved children.

As with all young Furs, the young cubs of Merlin and Samantha Sinclair were growing fast. At only a year in age, they were already equal in physical and mental development with a three-year old human child. They were still small enough that all five of them could sleep in the same room, but that would not last long. Plans were already in mind to split up the three males from the two female pups into separate rooms, but the Sinclair house had plenty of space when the time came.

When Samantha stepped inside the room next to theirs, she paused in the doorway and leaned lightly against the wooden frame. Merlin was on his knees beside the large bed where all five small bodies slept quietly, the sword on the floor beside him. The gray wolf had one hand stretched out and was caressing the reddish-brown fur of little Cassandra.

When he turned to find Samantha kneeling beside him, moisture glinted in the dim nightlight from his cheek fur. He took her into a tight embrace and held her tight for a long moment. When he finally pulled away, Samantha took him by the hand and quietly led him from the room.

She did not take him back to their bedroom, however, but kept his hand clutched tightly in her own as she took him down the stairs at the end of the hall and out to the living room of their home. She tapped a touch lamp to its lowest setting and then settled onto one end of an oversized couch. As he had done numerous times before, Merlin lay down on the couch with his head in his mate’s lap. She leaned over so her nose was mere inches from his ears and she stroked his cheek fur gently.

After several long moments of stillness, Merlin wiped his eyes and then closed them with a heavy sigh. “I am so tired of the nightmares,” he told her in a quiet whisper. “They are becoming altogether too real to me.”

“Perhaps you should schedule an appointment with Dr. Siegfield,” Samantha suggested. “Shannon said he was highly recommended.”

There was a subtle shake of the wolf’s head. “No,” he said. “I’m not ready to see a shrink.”

Samantha frowned and continued petting her mate’s facial fur. “Merlin… until you talk to someone about your experiences, the pain of the memories won’t go away.” She gave a small sigh. They had held this conversation before, but it always resulted in her wolf’s stubbornness.  ”Since you were tortured in the Valley of Bones, you’ve refused to talk to anyone about it.” A small tear escaped her eye and it dribbled down across her nose to drop onto Merlin’s cheek. “You made me promise never to ask you what you saw, but until you open up to someone, it will continue to eat away at you. Give Dr. Siegfield a chance.”

Merlin stared off across the room, seeing nothing but that fateful day on Fyn during their final confrontation with the Basilisk. The horrors of his nightmares were as real to him as the events of that experience, and although they were only twisted creations of his memory, the psychological effects were just as painful. He knew Samantha was right. If he could not speak of the memories and get them out into the open, bottling them up inside would do more damage and cause a greater emotional state over time.

The gray wolf trusted his mate implicitly, but he had sworn to protect her from harm, real or imagined; he never wanted her to know the horrors he witnessed, but perhaps it was time to share those memories. He had long heard that simply talking to someone about terrible events could help to lessen their emotional impact, but he was afraid to relive the pain and terror.

Merlin Sinclair swallowed deeply and closed his eyes. No, he would not talk to a stranger about his experiences, no matter how well recommended. There was only one person within all of existence he could share this with.

Samantha took her mate’s silence as a resurgence of his stubbornness, and she let out a long, low sigh of helpless frustration. There seemed to be nothing she could do but comfort him after the frequent nightmares, a duty she would continue to perform for him as long as necessary.

Merlin turned over on the couch so that he curled up facing the back cushions, his nose on her lap resting gently against her stomach. She stroked the soft fur behind the wolf’s triangular ears, but then hesitated when he began talking.

For the first time since the incident, Merlin allowed himself to relive the experience to someone else in succinct words, describing to Samantha what happened with such vivid detail that had been permanently etched into his memory. He left nothing out, from what he saw to what he felt. She cried with him at the horrors he witnessed and comforted him through the terror of it all, and by the end of his narration, both of them were shaking and shaken, emotionally spent and exhausted.

When sunlight through the east window blinds fell upon Merlin’s face, he awoke slowly and found himself still on the couch. They were spooned together, one of his arms gently around Samantha’s middle and his nose up against one of her floppy ears. Her tail was draped over across his bent legs, but when he tried to move a foot, there was an unexpected weight.

He raised his head above Samantha’s shoulder to look at the opposite end of the couch and then a smile spread across his face.  There were cubs curled up with one another around the feet and legs of their parents. There were occasions when one or more of the youngsters would slip into Merlin and Samantha’s bed during the night, and it appeared that some of them had found the master bedroom empty.

Merlin counted noses and knew that the entire family had somehow managed to snuggle up together on the large couch. Without disturbing either his mate or his children, the wolf laid his head back and closed his eyes, although he did not go back to sleep.

He had not enjoyed reliving the horrors and lingering fears left over from his experience in the Valley of Bones, but sharing it with Samantha had loosened the bonds across his heart. She had taken it with more strength than he had thought she had within her, but she had always been of strong character. She cried when appropriate, and she was strong for him when it was needed, but there was something deep inside that told him that he would probably be okay because of her.

Samantha’s ear flicked rapidly with his breath and then she opened her eyes. She yawned widely and then smiled contentedly upon feeling his arm around her. He slightly shifted his other arm trapped beneath them and she knew he was awake.

“Good morning, my Love,” she whispered. “How are you?”

“Freer than I have felt in a long while,” he whispered back. “I think I may be okay now.  Thank you.”

“That’s what I am here for, always and forever.”

“Forever and always,” Merlin intoned back, snuggling up closer to his mate. “The devil is dead, and our children are alive… at our feet.”

Samantha chuckled and then she felt the small bodies across her ankles. “So they are,” she said with amusement, lifting her head up enough to see a small black tail with a white tip wagging gently against her toes. She relaxed back into the comforting arms of her mate with a smile on her face. It had been difficult hearing what Merlin had gone through, but it was something she needed to hear, for her sake as well as his. Together now, perhaps the nightmares and lingering fears could be banished forever.

CAPTAIN’S AUTHORITY

by Ted R. Blasingame

Merlin finished his narration and closed the cover of his journal as he looked around at his family with a smile. Samantha sat beside him on the loveseat in the front room of their home in Grandstorm, their five pups sitting on the carpeted floor at their feet. Now six years of age, the anthrocanine youngsters were curiously inquisitive, and one of them had pulled out their father’s very first Blue Horizon Captain’s Journal, taking it to the wolf in his study for him to read to them.

Merlin rubbed his hand over the worn cover of the journal with affection. “Now you know how the Blue Horizon came to be, sixteen years ago,” he said with a smile. “I imagine that one day, each of you will also fly on board the flagship of our fleet.”

“Who gets to be captain?” little Ramius asked with wide, golden eyes. His triangular ears stood up erect and his tail thumped the carpet behind him.

“I’ll bet it’s me!” Cassandra said immediately, tapping her chest with a fist.

Samantha laughed aloud and leaned down toward her children. “It could be any of you,” she said with a grin, “if you mind those in authority above you.”

“If you’re captain, you’re the boss!” Marcus piped up. “Ain’t nobody in ‘thority over you!”

Merlin shook his finger in front of them all. “There is always someone in authority over you, even a captain,” he told them.

“That’s right!” Katherine said haughtily over her siblings. “Taro’s the captain of the ship, but father is president over her!”

Alexander scratched an ear. “Father doesn’t have a boss!” he replied. “You can be captain, I wanna be president!”

Katherine jumped to her feet and raised her hands into the air triumphantly. “I get to be captain! I get to be captain!” she boasted. “The Blue Horizon is mine!”

“No, it’s not!” yelled Ramius. “I called it first!”

“No, you didn’t!” Cassandra yelled just as loudly, “I did!”

“Settle down!” Samantha said loudly. When the noise level did not drop, Merlin put fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle that made them all stop and clutch their ears.

Once he was sure that he had everyone’s attention, Merlin held up his old journal. “Being the captain of a ship is not an easy task,” he said. “Just because you are the alpha over others does not mean you always get your way, nor does it mean that it’s easy. It’s not always fun, and you have to be responsible for the actions of your crew as well as your own. If you want, I can read more of my journal entries to you each night.”

“Yeah!” all the kids exclaimed in unison.

Merlin tapped the journal. “There are lessons to be learned in here,” he added. “You will learn how hard it can sometimes be, and I might even tell you the story on how your mother wound up coming back to us on the ship after returning to her father’s company after that first year was up.” All five cubs nodded, but one of them held up a small hand. “Yes, Cassie?”

“Can I still be captain?” she asked.

Merlin glanced over at his mate and gave her a subtle wink before answering his daughter’s question over the whines of the others.

“That will depend upon you,” he said. “Before you can become captain, you must first serve others faithfully. I became captain only after I had served in the Dennieran military and had proven myself capable of leading others. If you serve well, you might be able to lead well, and this means doing what you are told when you are told to do it. Prove yourself to be trustworthy, and you may have a chance at being captain someday.”

All five of the children fell quiet, lost in their little thoughts; Merlin sat back on the loveseat, putting an arm around Samantha’s shoulders. After several moments, Ramius looked up at his parents and held up a hand.

“Yes?” Merlin asked.

“I want to be captain someday,” Ramius replied. “What do I need to do?”

The wolf smiled. “A captain has to set a good example for his pack. The last time I looked, your room was a mess. Go straighten it up, and I think you will have a good start.”

Ramius stood up and gave his father a snappy salute. “Yessir!” he responded loudly. Then he dashed off toward his bedroom as commanded. Not to be outdone, Cassandra saluted and gave her own loud “Yessir!” before running off to do likewise.

The other three cubs looked at one another for a moment before getting to their own feet. They were not as excited about cleaning their bedrooms as their siblings were, but none of them wanted to be left out of a possible captaincy.

After the last one was gone, Samantha turned toward her mate and gave him a smirk. “I have been trying to get them to pick up their things all day.” she said.

Merlin raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. “All it takes is a little encouragement to the crew,” he said. “It isn’t that important to me that they all serve aboard the Horizon or any of our other ships, but it would be nice to hand over the business to one of them someday. If one becomes captain, I am sure they will have adventures of their own. Some might think that life should be mundane shipping freight across the galaxy, but that never seemed to be the case for the captain and crew of the Blue Horizon.”

You have just finished the end of the Blue Horizon series, but if you are interested in seeing other stories in this universe, you may wish to read these titles:

Blue Horizon 1261

Things were not easy setting up a new business, hiring a crew and getting a secondhand ship in order, all while trying to find clients that were unwilling to trust their goods to a new freighter with no history. Trouble and frustration seemed to hamper them at every turn, even after they finally get into space.  Set six years prior to the first Blue Horizon tale, at a time when the ship and business are first put into operation.

Hoenix

Aramis Thorne was a genetic anthro wolf with no memories of a possible past life of piracy. When he is approached with an old starship of questionable reliability, his life takes a turn for discovery and tragedy with the legend of an ancient city's treasure snapping at his heels.

Table of Contents

BLUE HORIZON

Copyright

Dedication

Tagline

DRUG RUNNING

UNEXPECTED PARTNERS

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

VEXED OF KIN

A LITTLE LIBERATION

LOST, DISTANT WORLD

DRAGON, WOLF & TIGER

VIXEN’S NIGHTMARE

THE BLOOD OF ARIS

BLUE HORIZON DOWN

LIFE’S A BEACH

UP FROM THE ASHES

ALL THE LUCK

HIDALGO SUN

RESPECT THE WIND

THE MYSTERY OF WALKABOUT

THE ASSASSIN

COLD FIRE

THE DEATHS OF GODS

EXPANDING HORIZONS

OPERATION RAINBOW

FAMILY TRADITION

RISE OF THE BAMBOO WIND

OUT OF ORDER

LIGHT A CANDLE FOR ME

THE SECRET OF TANAGER CASTLE

PERIL IN EBONY

NEVER SAY LONG GOODBYES

DAY ONE, DAY LOST

TRAIL OF THE BICYCLE THIEF

GEMINI PI

FOREVER AND ALWAYS

SPACE AVAILABLE

ANGER MANAGEMENT

LIVE CARGO

CATNAP

LULLABY

NEW CONTRACTS

COMMAND DECISION

HIGHLAND FERAL

LINGERING FEARS

CAPTAIN’S AUTHORITY