Page 37 of Experimental Voyage
The Veloc hooted their amusement while Waldren grinned at me. “We are. I’d apologize for your experimental voyage being cut short, but I think we’ve all had our fair share of excitement for the next while.”
Truer words had never been spoken.
THIRTEEN
How could I already miss the stars?
Within five minutesof his departure, I resented that Waldren had left me to the Deltan wolves. I realized the grumpy pilot wasn’t of Deltan stock, which led me to wonder where he’d come from, how his failed colony had met its demise, and what lurked in his past. As promised, a woman with auburn hair and fox ears and a tail met me, and she delighted in having another hybrid to keep her company. Her fox, Pandora, greeted me with excited yips.
The animal made everything a little better, although I viewed the whole thing as miserable.
How could I already miss the stars?
I hadn’t been on the planet for even an hour.
“I know that look in your eyes,” Viva informed me in a conspiratorial whisper. “You have made mistakes. Is letting that handsome pilot escape one of them?”
Viva’s husband, who went by the name Delta, sighed. “You can’t have six new foxes, Viva. We have enough foxes. Boo-Boo and Pandora have mastered the art of procreation, and if youcould stop forgetting to give them their birth control, we might be able to consider new kits.”
“I’m not forgetting. We just keep getting requests, and Pandora loves being a mommy. And don’t you lie, Delta. You love the kits.”
“We have twenty-nine kits of various ages destroying our home.” Delta attempted to stare his wife into submission, failed, and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Camellia. Viva is always looking for someone else who enjoys space travel as much as she does. While she’s trained me to join her, it’s not the same. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy going up into the great unknown with her, but I don’t spend my every waking moment planetside longing to chase the stars.”
While there was no chance of spotting Waldren or his ship, I glanced skyward anyway. “Space is full of wonders. The pilot is just one of those wonders,” I replied. “I do regret leaving Squeakers with him, but she wouldn’t be happy here.”
Later, when no one could catch me, I would cry about that. I’d spent a great deal of time explaining to the little bird why I would be going away for a while. I’d used ‘a while’ in the talk for her comfort more than mine. Would the stars align to allow me to escape the heavy weight of Cremora Delta’s gravity for the freedom I’d discovered in the expansive nothingness?
The experimental voyage had taught me many things, but one lesson rose above all others: I’d only begun the journey.
“You can help with our foxes. It’s not the same, but you’ll be able to pet them. That’s something.” Viva grinned at me, and she gestured to the bustling terminal. “It’s a busy day here today. It’s an import day. The Deltans like chaos, and they prefer when they can cram as many ships into this maze as possible. For the next week, it’ll be paperwork hell as we discover what sort of goods we’ll have to work with for the next few months. Our exports are next week, and the ships here for importingwill serve as our exporters. Honestly, it works pretty well. The ships will do their engine checks and maintenance here, and our economy is boosted. While this backwater isn’t all that advanced on the universal front, we have a great maintenance crew here. We provide mechanics at a nominal fee to do the checks, too. We have a top safety rating.” The woman bounced on her toes, and her red tail whipped back and forth, much like Pandora’s did upon greeting a new and interesting person.
“She is excited because she got to make the project more robust. Our safety rating increased since she started working on it,” Delta explained, smiling at his wife. “If ship repairs are an interest of yours, just ask her to get you into one of the courses. If you like space travel, because of her, we have one of the best schools for ship care, maintenance, and recovery in the universe. Honestly, it alarms me that she was able to get us set up with an excellent schooling system in less than a year. If I let her take charge of anything else, she really might take over.”
“Pass. That would get in the way of going into space.”
If I wanted to go back to the reaches of space, I would need that knowledge. “I thought I’d be quarantined.” I eyed the crowds of people. “This is not quarantine.” Before I’d been let off the ship, a bunch of overenthusiastic Deltans had jabbed me with a series of needles before leaving me with Viva and Delta. “This is definitely not quarantine. This is more like throwing me in the pool without the benefit of any swimming lessons.”
“My father wants to test our pandemic protocols,” Delta informed me with a rather crooked grin. “The odds of you being sick with anything serious are low. You would have gotten sick by now. But he’s hoping for a new strain of influenza or some such to give us a reminder of why we need to be careful. You were vaccinated with everything serious for our world, and the specific cocktail we gave you begins working right away. You’ll feel pretty sick tomorrow, but today, you’ll have a sore arm andlittle else. We’ve been assigned to give you a tour of the area, show you where the Veloc tend to roam, and take you to the school’s dorm. You’ll have one of the dorm suites, which are usually for the honor roll students, but they felt you’d be more comfortable with a little more space and your own bathroom.”
Communal bathrooms never failed to irritate me. “Did someone from Schwana Major tell you that?”
Viva grinned. “We’ve been talking to them about your education, and youhatecommunal bathrooms. Did your pilot’s ship have private facilities?”
“All quarters had a small bathroom, but there was also a communal bathing room with a tub. I don’t mind rooms like that. It could be properly locked, and not with just a latch or flimsy curtain. My issue with communal bathrooms is the utter lack of privacy. Waldren’s ship had privacy.”
I shuddered.
It had only taken once of someone walking in on me to scar me for life.
“It’ll be fine. You won’t have to make use of those nasty communal dorm bathrooms unless you want to.” Viva regarded her husband with resignation. “There are some things you need to know about this planet and its occupants.”
I grinned at her tone, her patience worn to a mere thread. “Beyond their love of staying on their planet?”
“That is definitely a problem, but I’ve trained this one nicely. He willalmostgo to space on demand. But yes, they’re space shy. You’ll get one space voyage as part of your training, so choose your destination wisely. I’ll likely be the pilot, as I’m licensed to go anywhere in space. Delta needs more flights to be truly comfortable, so he’ll be piloting, too. At most, you’ll get a three week round trip, but I can get us most places with that much time. My new ship is a bit of a racer. Delta couldn’t help himself, saw her for sale, and reduced himself tobegging.Fortunately, we are clan with a bunch of Veloc, and once they found out how badly he wanted her, she got to come home with us. It’ll be a crew of six, yourself included. The others will be Veloc.” Viva smiled. “It should be a nice reward for you, and it’ll give you something to do when the school has its mid-semester break.”
“I didn’t understand how much I love speed until she took me to a spaceship race course. Then I wanted a ship that didn’tlumberthrough the course. But Viva owns the ship, because my license doesn’t allow for it,” Delta explained. “We already got clearance to take you on a flight in our racer.”
“It is an exploratory vessel,” Viva announced with pride. “I have all the fun toys and gadgets people like you appreciate. Do you have somewhere in mind that you’d like to go?”
