Page 42 of Experimental Voyage
“Yes, if you can afford it, you can request it. In your case, your fees were covered by the company that owned the ship responsible for the crash.”
I wondered if I would ever fully recover from the crash, as the urge to wince whenever it was mentioned remained. “Nobody has actually given me a sum of my care,” I admitted. “I guess they didn’t want to add to my trauma.”
“Do you want to know?”
I nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful, but I feel like I’m missing the perspective.”
Delta nodded. “All survivors received a sum from the company, mind you, although you were the only one actually crippled. Those who would have been died from their injuries. Regenerative machines, time, and surgeons were able to help everyone else. The few who needed regenerative machines were ferried off world to a visiting medical center that handled everyone at once. They didn’t need your level of care or the same type of regenerative machine you did.” Delta crossed the cargo bay, pressed a button on the wall, and waited for a ramp to lower. “This ship is nice; we have multiple loading points. We can use the one we brought you in on for just people and quick boarding. Her first ship tends to be all or nothing through either an airlock hatch or the cargo bay. The hatch is a pain in the ass. Her newer ship, which is our main explorer and cruiser, sharessimilarities with her racer. For the record, she still has her first ship, but it’s parked on Veloci Minor, where the Veloc use it for teaching their hatchlings how to fly into space. She even offered it to one of the clans as a payment, and they tricked her. They only acceptedusageof her ship, and that means they pay her fees whenever they take it out.”
The Veloc hooted their laughter and bobbed their heads, leaping from the cargo bay to the ground below to begin ferrying the waiting cargo containers on board.
“Every time I go to class, I think about trying to buy a ship.”
“Buy one,” Delta suggested. “Get a racer like this, that way, you can zip off anywhere with ease. If you happen to want to keep company with a certain pilot and his cat, there’s plenty of room. This specific model can actually attach to transports, and it’s pretty easy to install the modifications. We’re going to be installing the mods so we can tow both our racers around when we aren’t game to solo fly. And if thereisan issue, that gives us three ships to work with.”
“I don’t know if I can afford a ship.”
“You can afford a ship. I’ll help show you how to access the money in your token account. You received compensation on top of the mods and the links, and you have your share of the earnings from the discovered shiftgem gates and the habitable planets. There are at least two habitable worlds, and because you were part of the initial expedition, you get your share. Waldren refused to do the paperwork without you getting your proper credit. He’s been stuck on Veloci Major handling everything. His clan became uncomfortable with the idea of him not being protected while he handled the paperwork, so he’s visiting with one of the more… dangerous… clans.”
Fogali hooted a laugh, set the box he carried down, and hopped over to me, nuzzling my neck. “Every few years, the Veloc meet on Veloci Major to posture, offer courtshipproposals, and invite younglings to change clans. The more combative Veloc clans run the show, as there are many hatchlings in the same place—and hatchlings are targets of traffickers. So Waldren is under lock and key, surrounded by feathered murder machines willing to kill on his behalf. His clan has some younglings present, but they expect to welcome more new members than they lose. The new planets and protectorates make their clan highly desirable.”
“As there is bound to be confusion, I am being hunted by most Veloc clans. I have dodged adoptions to date because I find the Veloc posturing to be amusing. Viva loves it. I have blood ties to the Emerald Crests, which is why we have an escort. Viva has been adopted by the Crimson Crests, and the only reason theydon’thave an escort with us is because we got a Crimson Tail instead—and the Crimson Tails are elite feathered murder machines.”
“We truly are,” the elite feathered murder machine confirmed, pausing long enough in his work to offer a gentle scratching behind my ear.
In the time since landing on Cremora Delta, I’d discovered I could, when relaxed or comfortable enough, purr. The sound emerged, and the Veloc chuckled before switching his attention to my other ear.
“Your itching was notorious, and we were warned you could be tamed with gentle scratches.”
I laughed. “I almost feel badly for that, but the itching was justsobad, Yulgali.”
“By the time we are finished with you, you will be a true marvel to behold—and no wise Veloc will allow you to experience even the ghost of an itch should they value their lives. But there will be time enough for that after we finish this bothersome inventorying and are on our way through the stars.”
Delta heaved a patience worn sigh and made his way down the ramp to conquer a box. “Don’t feel like you need to do manual labor unless you want to.”
I followed, grabbed a box, grunted at its weight, and said, “The faster we’re done, the faster we’re in space. I don’t suppose you’ll forget to bring me back, would you?”
The Veloc hooted their laughter.
Fogali whistled, and he fluffed his feathers. “Is this a common trait of hybridhomo sapiens? Once ears and a tail are added, they thirst for the stars?”
Delta grinned and plunked his box down, pulled a scanner out of his pocket, and checked a barcode. “How many of these boxes contain fresh food this time?”
“Many,” Yulgali replied in a solemn tone. “While we waited, we made use of Viva’s precious containers and put everything into stasis. We went to the market six times. We are spoiled and must enjoy the proper wonders of your galley.”
“I told Viva the instant she decided she was having a proper galley in this ship that we would lose most of our cargo space to ingredients. She did not care. I swear, if that woman forgot the stable rations, I’m going to scream!”
“After Camellia’s prior mishap, we have a two year supply.” Yulgali bounced down the ramp, and he fanned his crimson tail, showing off a fortune of shiftgems. He patted a stack of boxes. “These have the supplies, and there is a spare water production system in one. Two years, Delta. Two. And we might not contain the beast with even that.”
“Two years is good enough. And if it’s not, we have more problems than I care to address. Put those close to the door. Maybe Viva won’t indulge in pointless anxiety this way. And yes, Camellia, she about lost it when she found out what happened to your expedition. That was one thing shehadn’tplanned for, and now she plans for it. I’m going to lose my mind. That womansimply cannot relax unless she has addressed every possible scenario. It’s a trauma response for dealing with so many derelicts. I’ve been told I’ll be just as bad one day.”
I could understand that. “Running out of food and water is definitely a scary proposition.”
Delta and the Veloc nodded. “It is a fate Viva has witnessed time and time again, and to her, it’s one of the scariest ways to die. She can accept catastrophic failure of life support systems. She can accept suffocation. In the grand scheme of things, it’s over quickly. Buthomo sapienscan survive an Earth week without water and a month without food but access to water. She’s one of the bravest people I know, but that can—and does—wake her in a cold sweat. And so we take precautions and hope it’s enough.”
“And if you’re drifting alone in space for more than two years waiting for rescue, you have more problems than starving to death,” I muttered.
“Exactly. I try not to let it bother me. I’m sure Viva will relax soon enough. Once she’s aware we have plenty of supplies, she’ll become focused on venturing through the stars, and all will be right in her world. Well, excepting Pandora’s absence, but she’ll manage.”
