Page 68 of Experimental Voyage
“You have no idea what paperwork Viva made you fill out, do you?”
“Not particularly. She helped me fill it out, but it was about three hundred pages long.”
Waldren snorted at me and shook his head. “For someone as smart as you, you can sure be damned dumb sometimes.”
I scowled, realizing he made a good point. “You even said it to my face!”
“Don’t sign legally binding agreements without reading them first. And make sure you pay Viva back for the registration fee.”
“As I’m aware of this specific situation, there is no reason to pay Viva back for the registration fee. She wiped out a life-debt with a Veloc to handle the registration fee and secondary confirmations,” Halgrissi announced. “We discussed it when I was certifying her ship as space worthy.”
“Ah, she’s back in space?”
“She was cleared yesterday. The treatments did a number on her hull, and I was an asshole about the certification. Her family wanted to have her in custody for a few extra weeks.”
Delta’s family loved the fox hybrid, and I respected their ruthless cunning to keep the pair around a little longer. “She’ll forgive you one day. Maybe.”
“She’ll forgive me the next time she has something weird going on with her ship and she can’t figure it out.”
“Like the cracked shiftgem in Pandora’s cage?”
“Exactly that. I already replaced the stone and consoled her over its loss. Delta begged me to be the one to break her heart over it, and he already had the right stone in his possession. I expect you’ll both be heading to Veloci Major together. In fact, I recommended that you travel together just in case there is a problem with either of your ships. That did a surprisingly good job of convincing Viva to stick around. She’s aware of just how much overhaul has been done on this beauty. Are you taking the racer with you?”
I glanced at Waldren, unsure of how we’d couple the racer.
“Delta can fly your racer into space and dock it with my coupling unit, then he can transfer back to his ship while suited. He needs more practice doing space walks anyway,” Waldren replied. “We’ll start your piloting lessons after the festivities on Veloci Major.”
“Apparently, yes.”
“I’ll certify both ships, then. You two go away for a while. I’ll get this done a lot faster if I don’t have worried ship owners and mechanics hovering, terrified of what I might find.”
As I’d quadruple checked all systems, if he found anything amiss, I would fling myself to the ground and cry.
I’d spent two extra days making sure there was nothing wrong with Waldren’s baby.
I headed off the ship to see Plague and Pestilence, discovering the death horses had opted for naptime, ignoring the bustle of the spaceport, the loud sounds of ships arriving and departing, and the curiosity of those who spotted them flopped on the ground, masquerading as carcasses.
I regarded Waldren with a solemn expression. “If I hadn’t learned, early on, that this is how they enjoy napping in the sun, that might have scared me. While regular horses will play at being corpses, these two have mastered the art of terrifyingtheir caretakers. I have learned to check for breathing.” I pointed at Plague’s side, which rose and fell with her breaths. “The first time I caught them playing at being corpses, I about had a heart attack. But no, they just like acting like they’re carcasses. But if you want to see a fun reaction, wait for a Veloc to spot them playing dead. They keen first, think second.”
Waldren snickered. “Having seen them do this when I was a kid, I expected it. If they’re given a pasture with a pond, they will lie in the water with only their noses exposed. And they will sleep like this for hours if you let them.”
I stared at him with wide eyes. “That doesn’t sound good for my sanity.”
“I recommend against pastures with bodies of water in them to say the least. And once it starts raining? You will have mud horses rather than death horses. They will bathe in mud and like it.”
I did not want to have to wash a death horse, and I foresaw such a fate in my future. “Space doesn’t have mud puddles. I do hope they enjoy long expeditions in space. Space seems like the ideal environment to keep my death horses clean.”
“Grooming them will fill many an hour, though. You will not be getting bored. You won’t have time to get bored. You adopted chores that wander around on four hooves.”
I really had. “I’ll survive, somehow. Where are Palta and Squeakers?”
“They’re in my quarters taking a nap. I managed to explain inspections to them, so they’re in Palta’s cubby, although it’s open so they can roam my quarters if they want. When Halgrissi inspects my quarters, they’ll wait in her cubby until I come for them. Squeakers wasn’t easy to train, but she’s gotten the basics mastered.”
“That’s good. The death horses are mostly prepped for space, so we shouldn’t have trouble with them, especially not withboth ships having good stalls.” Waldren stared deeper into the spaceport and sighed. “Viva and Delta are going with us?”
“Yes. They’ll be nearby. Don’t worry, Waldren. You won’t have to actually interact with them unless you want to—at least after they’ve gotten my racer coupled with your ship. Before that, you’re going to have to deal with them.”
He grunted, and his expression reminded me of when we’d first met, grumpy and resentful.
