Ted R. Blasingame's Fictional Life   "Never lose your sense of wonder and imagination."

| Home | Library | Gallery | Contact |

HOENIX

©2004 by Ted R. Blasingame

Chapter 16

Aramis Thorne stuck his hands into the pockets of his trousers and stared out the window at a raging thunderstorm outside. Torrential rain fell hard in sheets and the thunder from lightning was near constant. The window panes rattled with each new peal of thunder, but there was no danger from this storm, unless it might be from flooding. The street outside had already transformed into a small rivulet.

The windows lit up again and he peered across the warehouse district from the third story catwalk above wooden crates lined up in rows below him. Several people were gathered around a smaller crate they used as a table, their various box lunches spread out over it.

One of the individuals, a white Samoyed, looked up over her meal and saw the wolf’s silhouette against the flashes of lightning. “Hey, Thorny!” she called up to him. “Boris and Abel want to start up a game of Telha da Cor. Want to join us?”

Aramis looked down at her expectant face and nodded. “I’ll be right down, Deidre,” he called back. He walked across the catwalk to a rusty metal ladder mounted to the inner wall of the warehouse and took it back down to the floor. He skirted casually around stacks of boxes toward his coworkers and then sat down on a rickety folding chair beside the canine.

“Abel will shuffle,” Deidre said as she cleared the remnants of her lunch from the box top. A black bear picked up a metal can of colorful tiles and then dumped them out onto the crate. He began to turn them over methodically so that the symbols carved into them faced downward. While Abel set up for the game, a short beaver on Thorne’s right pulled out a small pad of paper from a shirt pocket and then began to search around on the floor at his feet for a pencil.

While he waited for the game to begin, Thorne glanced back up at the warehouse windows and heaved a quiet sigh. Deidre glanced over at him, but then was distracted when Abel began to shuffle the tiles noisily.

It had been a little over a month since Aramis had left Dennier. He had buried Cinjin and Jenda in a small cemetery in his hometown, and then had waited around in a local motel for three days to allow the crew of the Hoenix to have their shore leave and then depart. He had told his crew that he would return once he had completed new business on Dennier, but the truth was that he had no intention of ever contacting them again.

With the loss of his family, he was sick of the potentially violent lifestyle he had maintained for so long. He was tired and weary of the piratical life, and he knew that the human Faltane would likely be on the lookout for him. Upon arriving in Mangum, he had gone to the town’s only bank and had opened up an account under a slightly altered name, and then transferred everything from his account on Brandt into it.

He had then purchased a seat on a commercial space flight to Pomen to cover his tracks further. If any of Randon’s crew let slip to Faltane about the extra box of gold that got away, Thorne could find himself the subject of a wolf-hunt. It was a dangerous position he had placed himself in, but all he wanted in life now was a quiet existence.

Unfortunately, the small job he had taken at a warehouse in a little town had proven to be just a little too quiet and boring for his tastes. The foreman paid well enough, but his employees spent more time waiting for shipments than they did actually working. That was not the fault of the workers, but of their scheduler who sat in another office across town. The work was hard only once or twice a week and Aramis had quickly grown discontent with the situation.

Deidre had often expressed similar sentiments and the two of them had become friends in a short amount of time. Despite her coaxing, however, the Samoyed had not been able to get him to open up about his previous career. She had the impression that he was a lot more complex than a mere warehouse worker, and his intelligence intrigued her sense of curiosity.

The storm raged on for another hour before Aramis sat back in his chair with a hand up to his mouth. He yawned and then wiped away moisture from his eyes. “This weather is making me drowsy,” he muttered. “I think I’ve played enough for now. I can’t concentrate on the game very well.”

Boris stretched his arms and gave out a yawn of his own. “Will you stop that, Thorny?” the beaver complained as he got to his feet. “I’m tired of playing, too. I think I need to go take a walk around the warehouse. Deidre, what time is our next shipment?”

The Samoyed consulted a scrap of paper tucked into the pocket of her blue work shirt. “Not for another two hours,” she replied.

“With this rain, it could be delayed further,” Abel grunted. He stood up and walked off toward the snack machine at the other end of the building. Deidre picked up a local newspaper and browsed through the classified advertisements.

Aramis yawned again and then propped his boots up onto their box. He crossed his arms, leaned back and closed his eyes. He listened to the rain hitting the metal roof of the building and felt himself begin to drift. The sound of the storm slowly faded away to the buzzing of a sarcastic voice. Cinjin’s face appeared before him, his cocky expression maddening as he confessed to his mother’s murder. Aramis cringed at the words, his fingers writhing in anticipation of wringing the young wolf’s neck, but he could not understand it. Children who were desperate for attention got into trouble through any means necessary, but what made murder a necessity? Had Cinjin really hated his mother that much? He had followed the young wolf into the king’s death chamber seething in fury, but for a brief moment in the room, father and son exchanged looks of regret. Thorne’s throat tightened up from the anger that rapidly grew inside. He took my mate!

Aramis felt himself kick out toward the younger wolf, but the legs of his chair tilted from the sudden movement and dumped him out onto the cold concrete floor of the warehouse. Deidre looked up from her newspaper in amusement as he struggled to get untangled from the cheap chair legs.

“Careful there, Thorny,” she said with a chuckle. “I don’t think the foreman would be too happy if you got hurt just before a shipment arrived.” Thorne muttered something beneath his breath, but it was too low for her to hear. She laughed at his expression and picked up Boris’ pencil.

While the wolf recomposed himself, the Samoyed’s eyes fell upon a small listing in the paper. “Hey, Thorny,” she said. “Lookit this!”

Aramis scooted his chair closer to hers, mindful of the rickety legs beneath him. He glanced at the spot she had circled with the pencil. “Local office of a Dennieran interstellar freighting business is looking for experienced personnel for immediate hiring, all positions for new ship in service. Competitive salary and full benefits.”

“Have you ever been out in space?” Deidre asked lazily.

“Yeah, a time or two,” the wolf replied in a tone he hoped was casual.

Deidre looked over at him with a grin. “Want to try for it?” she asked. “I have communication experience, but it’s been a while. What position do you think you could be qualified for?”

Aramis raised his eyebrows. “Well,” he hesitated, “I do have experience in engineering, but if that position is taken, I could always try for Shipping Specialist, seeing as how that goes right along with my current career choice.”

Deidre laughed and rested her chin on her hands. “They’re taking applications in person tomorrow morning,” she said. “We don’t have any deliveries tomorrow, so we can go downtown right after breakfast and dazzle them with our charm!”

Aramis chuckled, the first time he had done so in some time. “I don’t know,” he said as he scratched his chin and glanced at the boxes stacked up around them with a critical eye. “This job will be hard to beat.”

The Samoyed laughed and swatted him on the shoulder. “You stinker,” she said. “Do you want to give it a try or not?”

“Yes, we can give it a try. If we don’t get it, we’ll still have this job to keep us fed until something else comes along.”

“Good. After breakfast together, then.”

Aramis tilted his head a little and looked back at her. “Are you inviting me to breakfast?” he asked in a quiet voice.

The Samoyed’s eyes narrowed as she considered the implications of his words and then she nodded. “Yes, yes I am,” she said with a wink. The wolf returned her smile for a moment, but then his expression faded. “What is it?” she asked. When Aramis did not reply, she sat back in her chair and said, “Let me guess. You have a wife, right?”

Thorne sighed and shook his head. “Had a wife,” he admitted with downcast eyes. “She died a few weeks ago.”

“So that’s it,” the Samoyed said in a gentle voice. “I wondered why you seemed so quiet all the time. I’m sorry.”

Aramis looked up at her and gave her a weary smile. “That’s okay, you didn’t know. Listen, Deidre, I think breakfast might be too soon for me. How about I just meet you in the morning and we can go apply for this ship together?”

Deidre leaned forward and gently licked the side of his snout. “Okay, we can do that,” she replied. “We’ll go in and impress the interviewers with our skills and personalities!”

Aramis chuckled again, thankful that the awkward moment had passed. He glanced back down at her paper and said, “Now if we can just figure out where this place is downtown.”

***

The next morning, Aramis was back in his dark suit. Deidre wore a light blue dress, accented by a few colorful bangles on her left wrist. The wolf tugged at the tail flap of his slacks as they walked from the public bus stop to the address the Samoyed had written on a scrap of paper. The previous rain had ended sometime in the night, and the air smelled clean despite the local traffic.

“What’s the matter?” Deidre asked her companion.

Aramis gave her a lopsided smile. “My tail flap is too tight,” he said. “I rarely wear suits and should have had it adjusted for the thickness of my tail last night. I just hope this doesn’t take all day, or I may have to unbutton the flap altogether.”

Deidre stopped and looked at his backside with a critical eye. “Your tail curls up out of the spilt in your suit coat, but I can’t see your tail flap from back here. Unbutton it and let me see if it’s noticeable.”

The wolf hesitated for a brief moment, but then did as she said. “How’s that?” he asked.

Deidre studied his tail and then nodded. “I still can’t see your tail flap through your coat,” she replied. “So long as you don’t take off your coat, you should be fine.”

“Then the coat stays on. This feels better,” Aramis said. He raised an eyebrow at her and added, “You can stop looking at my tail now.”

The Samoyed grinned at him and then slipped an arm through one of his. The pair walked together for another block and then came upon a rented office with the name of the business taped to the inside of the glass door.

“Here’s the place,” Deidre said.

Aramis opened the door to the small building amidst the tinkling of tiny bells and allowed Deidre to go in first. There was already a small group of people in the reception area, and a white rabbit dressed in a rainbow tie-dye shirt and orange shorts greeted them inside with a clipboard.

“Hello and welcome to Blue Horizon Shipping,” said the bunny. “I’m Lorelei.” She shook hands with both of them and then held out the clipboard to Aramis. “If you’re here about an application, sign in here, please. If you’re here to schedule a pick up or delivery, you may talk to Samantha at the desk over there.”

Aramis took the clipboard with a professional smile and then wrote his name on the first available line. He then handed it to Deidre and tried not to stare at the bunny’s bright garments. Deidre handed the clipboard back to the rabbit.

“Thank you,” Lorelei said as she set the clipboard on a chair next to the door. She picked up two more clipboards with pens from a box at her feet and handed one to each of them. “Please fill out these applications and then turn them in to Samantha at the front desk. The interviews haven’t begun yet, so you have plenty of time.”

“Thank you, Lorelei,” Deidre said with a smile. The bunny seemed pleased to have been addressed by name and grinned widely.

“You’re welcome, dear!”

Aramis and Deidre moved further into the room. There was only one chair available next to an old stone fireplace, so Aramis leaned up against the hearth to allow Deidre to have the seat. A bulldog in the next chair gave her a look of annoyance, as if her presence diminished his chances for employment.

Thorne frowned when he looked over the sheet of paper. Listing his past experience and employment would be tricky, especially if this place checked the references. He did not think it would be wise to list “Captain of the SS Hoenix, Altus-class pirate vessel.” He briefly wondered how Duster and the others were doing, but then shook his head to clear his thoughts. He glanced around the room at the other applicants before his eyes fell upon a printed magazine on a wooden table near Deidre’s legs.

The front cover showed a color photograph of the remnants of the broken planet Mainor from spatial orbit and boasted in-depth articles about the recent destruction of its civilizations near the end of the Siilv War. Aramis nodded to himself and went to work on his application. With the exception of his recent employment at the warehouse, he listed his actual experience with fictional references to reflect a colorful past working for Mainoran businesses and vessels. They would not be able to confirm employment with businesses on a world that no longer existed as anything more than slag and rubble.

He completed the document and then walked it over the desk. A Border collie seated in front of a computer tablet looked up at him with a smile. She took the clipboard from him and gave the application a quick review.

“Thank you,” she said. “Everything looks complete. If you will wait until your name is called, someone will be with you when we begin the interviews. Your references will be checked while you’re waiting.”

Aramis gave her a slight bow that was similar to the one that Ringo had often given him. By the time he returned to his spot by the fireplace, Deidre had finished her application.

The bells at the door jingled and a large Mainoran lion dressed in slacks and a nice shirt stepped inside. The rabbit at the door turned to greet him, but then the smile on her face wilted. Aramis watched in interest. He did not see anything specifically frightening about the lion, but there was something about him that seemed to distress the rabbit.

The lion gave her a smile and then a pat on the head with a few quiet words. Lorelei nodded and said something in return before handing him the sign-in board.

Deidre returned to her seat as the lion moved into the room with his application. He sat down on the fireplace hearth next to Thorne and began his work on the document.

“Great, another applicant,” muttered the bulldog next to Deidre. “I wish they would jest lock the door.”

Deidre looked over at him. “What good would that do?” she asked.

The bulldog snorted. “Every person who walks through dat door takes away from my chances at gettin’ a job here!” he said in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. The Border collie glanced up at him in annoyance, but said nothing.

Deidre crossed her arms. “What position did you apply for?” she asked.

“None of yer business!” he snapped at her.

A gloomy quiet fell over the crowd as everyone waited for something to happen. The door jingled several more times, each time punctuated by degrading comments from the bulldog.

Deidre tapped Aramis on the leg and then whispered to him when he leaned over for her. “It’s a good thing there were no shipments planned for the warehouse today. This may take a while.”

“We passed a corner diner up the street,” Aramis whispered back. “If they give us a break around noon, we can go there for lunch.”

“Are you asking me out, Thorny?” she teased him.

Aramis frowned and gave her a perplexed look. “For lunch today, yes. If they let us.”

“I accept.” The Samoyed gave him a big grin and batted her eyelashes at him. Aramis groaned and stood back up when she chuckled at his reaction.

The door bells jingled again and a buffalo and a red vixen stepped inside. Lorelei gave the fox a hug and then shook hands with the buffalo. Just as the bulldog started another grumble, the vixen held up her hand and cleared her throat for everyone to hear.

“Hello everyone, I’m Taro Nichols, the business coordinator for Blue Horizon Shipping,” she said, “This is Abner Corwin, the captain of the Mooncrest.” She looked up at a clock on the wall and continued. “He and I will look over your applications and then we will begin calling names to interview for the positions in about a half hour. Thank you for waiting.”

“It’s about time dey got here,” the bulldog grumbled under his breath. Captain Corwin turned and looked in his direction with narrowed eyes. He whispered something to Nichols as they got to Samantha’s desk and the vixen nodded quietly. The collie handed Taro a sheaf of paper applications and pointed out something on her tablet. The vixen looked up suddenly, but the one she peered at was not the short bulldog, but the large lion standing beside Aramis.

The look of animosity on her face was there for only a heartbeat, but Thorne had seen it. He glanced up at the lion, who had occupied himself by reading a comic book he had pulled out of a back pocket. Aramis frowned and wondered what kind of background this guy had.

*** 

The day had drawn out longer than anyone had anticipated due to the number of applicants that had arrived in hope of being chosen. The bulldog, Walter Maverick, had proven to be an irritation to everyone else in the room. He complained each time someone came in the door or was called back for an interview, and had especially been vocal that he had not yet been called. Aramis suspected that the bulldog’s application might have been purposely shuffled to the back of the stack by the Border collie at the desk. From the look on everyone’s face every time Maverick opened his mouth, it was evident he was on everyone’s nerves, but no one chanced to bark back at him for fear a show of anger might hurt their chances of being chosen. After all, one of the requirements of life aboard a freighter was the ability to get along with other people.

They had been given an hour break for lunch, and everyone but Maverick had gone up the street to the local diner. The bulldog had brought his lunch and he ate it noisily in the closest chair to the office desk, no doubt convinced that if he left the building, his chances would be lost.

The afternoon dragged on. Names were called, some of them multiple times, but not everyone had been through the process yet. Samantha had turned on a vidscreen mounted up high on the wall to give those waiting something to watch. INN became repetitious after a while, so the channel had been switched to a film about a specially trained team’s adventures as they combated an encroaching threat on their world.

The process slowed further at one point when Captain Corwin had to leave for a short while, but he had finally returned and the interviews resumed, much to the relief of those who had to listen to more of Maverick’s complaints.

“Deidre Rennerfelt,” Samantha called out when a ringtail lemur walked out of the back room.  The Samoyed stood up and gave Aramis a wide grin.

“Wish me luck,” she told him.

“Luck,” said the wolf.

Deidre went to the front desk and then Samantha led her along a narrow hallway. The lemur that had just come out walked over to Deidre’s vacant seat and sat down.  She looked up at the wolf beside her and gently touched his hand.

The sudden contact startled Thorne, who had been thinking of the Hoenix, and he jerked his hand up to his chest.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the lemur said with wide, red eyes. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Aramis raised an eyebrow at her. “Did you need something?” he asked quietly.

“I just wanted to say Hello,” she replied. “You looked like you could use someone to talk to. You have sad eyes.”

Aramis sighed and leaned back against the fireplace. “Sad times will do that,” he admitted. “Not something I really wish to discuss, however.”

“That’s okay,” the lemur said with a shrug. “If you change your mind, I don’t mind listening.”

“But I do mind listening to yer chatter,” Maverick muttered from her other side.

The lemur turned and gave him an icy stare. “I wasn’t addressing you,” she said in surprisingly conversational tones. “Mind your own nose. It’s already dirty.”  Maverick sputtered incoherently, but got up and stormed to another part of the room.

A female bobcat in a nearby seat snickered in amusement. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m so tired of listening to that guy!”

The lemur and the bobcat began whispering among themselves, so Aramis allowed himself to relax now that he did not have to field questions about his troubles.

Sometime later, Deidre emerged from the back. Samantha consulted her tablet and then called out, “Armando Jensen.”  The Mainoran lion beside Aramis stood up and walked forward. Since her earlier seat was now occupied, Deidre stopped in front of Aramis and gave him a weary smile.

“How did it go?” the wolf asked quietly.

“I’m not sure,” Deidre replied with a shrug. “They seemed pleased with my skillset, but they did not give me any indication whether or not I might be chosen. However, they did appear impressed with my attitude when I told them right off I was the one for the job. You might try that. They’re hiring for nine positions, so I’m sure that not everyone in here is after the same job.”

“Maybe you should tell that to Mr. Maverick,” Aramis said dryly.

Deidre snickered, but shook her head. “That might please him, but I doubt it would shut him up.”  She gestured for him to sit on the hearth with her and then she began to quietly detail everything they had gone over in the back room.

The front door opened to a jingle of bells and all eyes in the room looked up to see who else had arrived. A grey wolf and a cheetah stepped inside the front door and removed flight jackets in unison. Nearly everyone in the crowded room looked up when the pair came in, but Lorelei was half asleep in a chair by the door, the clipboard in her hands leaning heavily toward the floor.

“Good evening,” the wolf said to the assembled crowd as he slid the bunny’s clipboard back into her hands. Deidre and Aramis smiled courteously back at him, but they had been there all day and were tired. The wolf passed through the crowd and then moved toward the back room as the cheetah gently prodded the bunny.

“Hey!” exclaimed the short bulldog, “Yer gonna hafta get signed in by the door and wait like the rest of us!” The wolf stopped and turned to look at the canine. Aramis watched the exchange with interest. The newcomer had the look of authority about him.

“I don’t have to sign in, sir. What is your name?” the wolf asked.

“Walter Maverick, what’s it to ya?” the dog said haughtily. “I’ve been here all day an’ yer not takin’ cuts! Ain’t no one the likes of ya is going to jest walk right in!”

The wolf stared at him for a moment and then looked up at the cheetah with a twinkle in his eye. “Mr. Thornton?”

“Yes, Mr. Sinclair?” the cheetah replied with a smirk.

“Please escort Mr. Maverick off the premises. He will not be selected for the job he is applying for.”

“What?” bellowed the bulldog. “Who do ya think ya are?”

Sinclair shook his head and smiled with brandished teeth. “I’m the owner of the ship’s business who decides who will be working for me,” he replied in a firm tone.

The bulldog’s eyes went wide and he sputtered as he tried to issue an apology, but the wolf tilted his head toward the cheetah that stepped up beside the man and gestured toward the door.

“Please leave,” Thornton said in a clear voice. “It will be easier for everyone 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 Sinclair looked up at the faces around him, he was greeted by smiles all around, as if to let him know that they were worthy of employment. Aramis gave him an abbreviated salute and the other wolf nodded in return.

“Excuse me, folks,” Sinclair said with a pleasant smile. He turned and walked toward the back room. The Border collie at the desk grinned up at him when he stopped beside her near the hallway. The wolf leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, and then began to talk to her in a quiet voice.

The Mainoran lion came out of the back while they were talking. Aramis watched the wolf grab him by the elbow and then steer him back out of sight.

“I wonder what that was about,” Deidre said. She leaned over and rested her head on Thorne’s shoulder, who frowned at the contact.

“You two look like a nice couple,” the lemur said with a smile. “How long have you been together?”

Aramis opened his mouth in surprise, but Deidre chuckled and answered, “Three weeks.”

“Newlyweds?” asked the bobcat.

“Uhm, no,” Aramis said quickly. “Actually, we’re only friends.”

Deidre sat up with a giggle. “You’re no fun,” she teased.

“You’re not married?” the lemur asked.

“No.”

“Uhm, lovers?”

“No,” Deidre said with a wide grin. Aramis tried to hide his embarrassment and the lemur felt foolish.

“I apologize,” she said sheepishly. “I thought…”

“That’s okay, dear,” Deidre said. “He’s fun to tease, though.”

The lion came out of the back room with a pleased look on his face. Before Aramis could inquire about it, his name was called. Thorne stood up and walked to the front desk.

“Follow me,” Samantha said.

“Good luck!” Deidre said from across the room.

Aramis followed the Border collie down a narrow hallway and then she opened a door. “Please go in,” she said.

When he stepped inside, he was faced with the vixen, the buffalo and the wolf that had come in earlier. All three sat behind a long folding table covered with applications and résumés, and a small computer terminal hummed quietly in front of the red fox.

“Welcome to Blue Horizon Shipping,” the wolf said with an extended hand. “I am Captain Merlin Sinclair. This is Taro Nichols, my business coordinator, and this is Abner Corwin, the captain of the freighter that needs a crew.  Please have a seat, tell us who you are, and why you believe we should hire you.”

“Thank you, sir,” Aramis replied.  He sat down in a plush, high-backed chair and put his hands in his lap. “My name is Argent Silverthorne, and I am the Engineer you have been looking for…”

***

Jason Talos stood on the bridge of the Hoenix during the second watch, his arms crossed and his attention riveted to the small vidscreen. His steady yellow eyes darted to the tracking sensors at the small words trailing the blip of the ship they quietly followed. 

PA1138

Okami-Class Freighter 

This cargo hauler looked to be harmless and the Hoenix was in need of a hit. The crew was disoriented and confused over recent events, and the black wolf knew that a raid on a freighter would boost their morale. He did not know what Captain Thorne had in mind by sending the Hoenix back to their home base on Castelrosso without clearer instructions, but as the ship’s first officer, Talos intended to follow his orders. At least the captain had also given him the freedom to go out after other jobs as the opportunities came to them.

The intercom speaker emitted a sharp whistle and then Errol’s voice came from the crackling speaker. “Bridge, we’ve got a drain in the power reserves somewhere!”

Talos frowned and picked up the hand microphone from a hook on the starboard wall. “What’s the cause, Mr. Colfax?” he asked with a sigh. His eyes went back to the vidscreen, where the magnified view kept their prey in sharp focus. The two-tone blue flying saucer was moving at standard cruising speed, and had not shown any indication that it had not noticed the pirate vessel trailing it.

“We haven’t located the source of the trouble yet, just reporting the symptoms.”

“Okay, keep me informed.”

“Aye, sir.”

Talos went to the gunner’s station and put a hand on the miniature pincher’s shoulder. “What about it, Cal?” he asked in a low voice.

“No,” replied the canine in a disgusted tone as he checked over his readings. “With the power drain, we don’t have enough juice in the weapons array to do much more than mess up their paint job.”

There was a sudden shudder throughout the vessel and then the freighter jumped out of sight. The Hoenix had slowed to sub-light speeds.

“That’s done it!” Errol growled from the crackling intercom system. “Our energy transfer unit just had a stroke.”

“Meaning?”

“It means, sir, that we’re going nowhere for several hours.”

“But our prey…”

“…is now long gone,” Chalmoy confirmed.