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Cain meets the crew, Nai and Haluk are puzzled, and Leph and Feldoh's families have dinner.
All my life
I'm in the stakin' bar
I got debts, I'm a debaser
All my life
Saturnz about to make love
And I'm just a heartbreaker
All my life
And I won't get a take in
'Cause I'm out when I'm stakin'
And the rings I am breaking
Are making you a personal day
Nai clasped his paws together and stared into the camera. He never had nerves doing this before now, but the message he was about to send would undoubtedly make Verva annoyed at least, and River angrier with him. He sighed and hit record. Thanks to the top-secret nature of the work he was doing, no live communication with anyone outside the station was allowed, so messages to family and friends had to be recorded onto a data pad and brought out physically. He smiled to the camera and waved. “Hey guys! I have really good news for you… well, it’s not all good, but it’s exciting. We, uh, we finished. The project is done, at least the hard part is. Now… the unfair part is I’ll have to stay here longer to oversee things. I really don’t know how long it’ll be, but I will try and get back to you as soon as I can. For good. Hopefully… Anyway, enough of that. You guys can go ahead and listen to your private recordings now.”
He clicked a button on the camera and saved the file to the data pad. “Private recordings I haven’t made yet. Heh.”
He clicked the button again. “Hey, lover girl. How’s my favorite person in the universe?”
He blew a kiss, though the action seemed insincere somehow. He put his paw down as though he’d done something wrong and tried to gather his thoughts. “I miss you, as usual. And I know what you’re saying to yourself. “Why doesn’t he just come back?””
Nai laughed nervously and looked down at his feet. Discarded food wrappers hid under a few surfaces. “I know, Verva. You have every right to think that. My paws are tied behind my back, though and… I can’t tell you why.”
He looked around as if just remembering something. He reached over for a pot in the corner and brought it into view of the camera. “The flowers you sent me are doing well. How you found blue gelflowers are beyond me, though. They’re wonderful, thank you.”
He looked down into the pot at the little blue flowers that floated around in the water like flies swimming on a hot summer day. “I love you.”
He clicked the button, hesitated, then clicked it again. “Hey River. I just want to start by saying I’m sorry that I missed your birthday. I promise I’ll be there for your eighteenth. I’m not going to miss my boy becoming a man… Ah, who am I kidding, you’ve always been my man. I hope you’ve been taking care of your mother like I asked. Drifrasa knows she can’t do all the chores herself. How’s…”
Nai searched his brain for the name of River’s mate. For a terrifying moment, he couldn’t remember. “Dia? I want to hear all about her in your next message, you hear? Hell, bring her along. No more putting it off!”
He chuckled to himself. “What else… Don’t neglect your studies… um… don’t touch my miniatures… I’m proud of you…”
Once again Nai was struck by the strange feeling that his words were insincere. He choked up a bit, then clicked the button. He saved the files to the data pad and closed his eyes. “God dammit…”
“Nai?”
He jumped. “AH! Gray Fox… Um, what is it?”
Gray Fox had been standing in the doorway for the better part of twenty minutes. His natural quietness allowed him to go completely unnoticed by Nai. “What was that you were doing?”
“I, uh… Just some work.”
“I see. Haluk wants to see you in Observation Pod 1.”
Gray Fox walked down the hallway and out of sight. Nai stood and walked a few steps between the door. He looked at the data pad in his paws, then snapped it in two and tossed it into the garbage disposal.
Up in the observation pod, Haluk was staring intently into his screen. Nai wondered how the particularly bright blue light coming from it wasn’t causing him great pain. “Haluk.”
He jumped. “Nai! I sent that big doofus down half an hour ago!”
“Sorry. Guess he was caught up in something else. What do you need?”
Haluk beckoned for him to take a look at the same screen he was looking at. “Tell me if these readings make sense. This is the latest scan we did on what was coming out of the aperture.”
Nai looked them over, scrutinizing each number and percentage. “This is strange… What’s the aperture’s width?”
“Oh, about a picometer by now. At this rate of growth that’s about forty percent open.”
“So, we should be seeing something by now?”
“Yes.”
“We’re not.”
“Yes.”
Nai scratched his head. “Give me Gray Fox’s predictions about The Other Side.”
The data pad, which was never far from paw due to how often it was looked through, was on the desk in front of Nai. Haluk pointed. “In front of you nose.”
He read the entire thing. Gray Fox was part of the special forces, but he himself was well versed in theoretical, cross dimensional physics. Apparently, it was him that discovered that that region of space could be used to access The Other Side. Along with that thesis, was a list of his predictions as to what was on The Other Side. In summary, he predicted that The Other Side was a universe of pure energy. A hot soup of charged matter that could power all of Atriea, its colonies, and the Solar Federation and its colonies millions of times over (not that there was any guarantee that Atriea would share this massive boon). Nai looked over the numbers a second time. “Even with an aperture that small, we should be seeing massive amounts of light and radiation coming through. That means we put up all the shielding for nothing.”
Haluk looked to where the window used to be. Many layers of wall now covered it. “I wouldn’t risk opening the shields to take a look with our eyes, though. We might be getting false readings from our instruments.”
Both of the scientists looked uneasily at the closed shutters.
“Maybe we should talk to Fox.”
Nai nodded. “I’ll go find him. Wait here.”
~~~
Cain and Polos sat in a hovercar across from a warehouse at the edge of town. They had been sitting there for an hour, and Polos was asleep. Cain watched the Atrieans and occasional Humans walk by. None of them entered the warehouse, or even seemed to notice it. One fellow, who looked exactly as casual and natural as the rest of the people, slipped inside the warehouse so quickly, Cain almost missed that he did. He smacked Polos’s arm. “Hey sleepyhead the guy just went in!”
Polos rose as though he had never been asleep. “That means it’s safe, come on.”
They got out and slipped into the warehouse as well. The man that had entered was nowhere to be found. Cain smiled. “That trick got old after the second time. Where’s the trapdoor then?”
Polos smiled. A voice from behind Cain almost made him jump. “There is not a trapdoor, old man.”
He turned. “Now where were you hiding?”
The man was wearing a jacket and hat. He was short, so Cain couldn’t see his eyes. He spoke in an accent typical of the most northern parts of Atriea. “I was behind you, of course. Polos you have brought an idiot. He does not check behind doors.”
Cain grinned. “Ha! Behind the door? Nice to meet you, Mr.…?”
The man removed his hat and extended a paw. “I am glad to meet someone with a reputation, anyway.”
Cain took his? paw and shook slowly. The person he was looking at was not male. His facial structure was distinctly female, and now that Cain was looking, he could see a hint of his chest under his long coat. He smiled at Cain’s visible confusion. “I have the gender dysphoria. I was diagnosed late, so I may not appear correct right now. Please use he.”
“Right. Okay. Your name?”
“Oh, I forget. Yalogalil is my name. Cain is yours no?”
“Yes. Forgive me, but you seem a bit polite for this line of work.”
Yalogalil lowered his head and stroked his chin. Cain guessed that he was a wolverine. He had sea green eyes and sharp ears. “I respect my fellow man. That is not antithetical to being a criminal. Do not mistake respect for an unwillingness to do what is necessary. I kill.”
Something about the way Yalogalil said ‘I kill’ gave Cain a chill. He noted that he was probably dangerous. “There’s one more, right?”
Polos nodded. “He’s just bought some equipment for us. He’ll be along.”
The door slammed open and a man waltzed in lugging a trolley full of boxes. “Help me here!”
Polos heaved the top crate and set it on the floor, quickly making sure the door was closed. “No one was suspicious, right?”
The guy grinned. “Nah.”
Cain looked at the crate. There was a large “DANGER: EXPLOSIVE” on the side. “How did you haul explosives across the city without arousing suspicion?”
The slim man grinned widely. “That’s literally my job. Tokush is my name. I know weapons, that’s my thing. Hi.”
Cain laughed. “A walking cliché. Well what have you brought?”
The mid height husky looked like one of those guys who always hung out at bars and tried to pick up girls. He looked strong enough to fight and was the only one in the group who bothered to show off his winter fur coat. He was missing an eye but chose to wear a glass eye instead of a patch or prosthetic. Polos nudged Cain. “If you’re wondering about the eye, we were drunk, and he stabbed himself with a fork.”
Tokush flung a crate top at Polos, and it bounced off his stomach. “It was a war wound! Stop telling people it was a fork!”
Yalogalil chimed in. “Well a true thing is that he chose a different eye colour for the glass one because he is vain.”
Tokush pulled out a compact weapon Cain wasn’t familiar with. “Say that again buddy.”
“Is jokes.”
Tokush tossed the gun to Polos. “Good. I got us some newer tech. MR x73. Light, compact, and chambered in .72nm.”
Polos removed the battery pack from the gun. “That’s a high beam intensity for a gun this size.”
“It’s semi auto, so don’t get too excited. All bought and paid for under the radar of any law enforcement. You can thank my hard work for that.”
Cain was without a weapon. He crossed his arms. “What about me?”
Tokush smiled. “These guns would be a little small for your sausage fingers, Human. I got you something native to your empire.”
He tossed Cain a military grade .50 caliber handgun. Nothing interesting. It was dull gray and had the Solar Federation’s markings all over it. The serial number had been removed. The design was over sixty years old, but the Solar Federation still couldn’t find a reason to replace it. “Huh. Good choice.”
He slipped it into his pocket. “I suppose it’s too late to buy a holster.”
“You won’t have it holstered much, don’t worry.”
Polos tossed the empty crates towards the wall of the warehouse and dusted off his paws. “I think that’s it. Tokush, grab that crate of grenades and follow me. Let’s fly.”
Cain grinned as the motley crew followed Polos towards the back of the warehouse, where behind a shuttered door sat their ship.
~~~
Feldoh was old. In his fifties. His already white fur was long, and he refused to trim it any further. He was hunched over a little but was still as full of life as the day he first set out with Teri on the Sky Links. Teri was still as beautiful as ever. Her eyes never lost their vibrancy, but her fur was whitening and one of her arms was in a sling. Both of them wore the same utilitarian/casual jackets and pants. As the two stepped through the airlock, Leph grinned widely and stepped forward to embrace Feldoh. “Hey bud. Nice of you to come by.”
Feldoh reluctantly accepted the hug. “Yeah… well it’s only been about a week or two…”
Teri laughed. “Come on, darling! We have been too busy to get out and you wanna be a grump when we finally get time to spend on ourselves?”
“I’ll be a grump when I damn well please… It’s good to see you, Leph.”
Feldoh glanced around in annoyance as Leph stepped back and nodded to Teri. “Where’s Cyan? Cyan!”
A kid poked his head around the airlock. “Hey uncle Leph!”
“Hey Cyan. How are you?”
“Fine. Where’s Teliko?”
“With Leena. Come on, let’s join them.”
Cyan stepped out of the airlock. He was almost as skinny as Feldoh was and was already as tall. His fur was almost a yellow colour, and his eyes were a blue green colour. He grinned through any situation, including the simple act of walking down the hall towards the conference room. Leph chatted with Feldoh as Teri fussed over Cyan. “Oh, Denoka’s guiding light! I told you to wash your face, you’ve got grease all over it!”
“My face isn’t an it, mom.”
“Hush.” She wiped at his face with a wipe she pulled from her pocket.
She adjusted her sling and smiled widely when they entered the room. “Leena~!”
Leena turned and grinned. “Hey, you!”
They hugged, and Teri immediately took interest in what Leena was cooking. “What is this?”
“I am glad you asked. I have been trying to perfect this recipe for ages. Leph found it and tried to make it one night, but it didn’t turn out right. Look…”
They chatted as Leph, Feldoh and Cyan sat at the table. Cyan looked around, his grin falling away. “Hey, Leph! You said Teliko was here!”
“She was a minute ago…”
Cyan jumped from his seat and darted out of the door. Leph called after him. “Remember not to touch anything!”
Feldoh watched the two ladies for a moment, then turned to Leph. “Leph, my friend…”
Leph’s smile faded slightly. “When you call me that, it’s never a good sign. What’s on your mind?”
Feldoh licked his lips, then leaned forward over the table. “This cargo we’re hauling. I don’t like it. It spells trouble in no uncertain terms and you know it.”
“We’ve worked for the government before, Feldoh. It got a little rough, but we got out alright. Besides, this is top secret stuff. The only people who know these crates exist are the four of us, and Zach.”
Leena looked back momentarily. “I don’t like it either, Leph!”
“Guys, please. Do you know how much this’ll net us?”
“Always with the money, eh Leph?” Feldoh said, dryly.
Teri walked from the stove and swatted Feldoh on the ear. “Don’t be rude. Leph has mouths to feed, and so do we. Maybe after this we’ll be able to afford those new engines for the fleet?”
“True…”
“I still don’t like it!” Leena said.
“Peach-”
“This isn’t the old days, Leph. This is not worth any money.”
“Leena, we agreed on this already.”
She turned from the stove and sat next to him. She tried her best to keep a positive air. “I know. I just don’t want to put our kids in danger.”
Leph furrowed his brow and laughed nervously. “Who said anything about danger?”
“You’re doing that thing again, Leph.” Leena scolded.
“Sorry, sorry. I realize working with Atriea has gotten us into some trouble in the past. But this time we’re on a science mission, not a military one.”
Feldoh grumbled. “Science is as dangerous as any bomb.”
Leena scratched her chin. “Can we at least hire another escort? I know Leo is a good captain, but I’d feel better if we hired someone else.”
Leph nodded. “I suppose that would put my mind at ease too. Do you guys know anybody?”
Teri nodded. “There are a few people I know who still might be kicking around this sector of space. I’ll call them in the morning. Should we delay casting off?”
Leena stood and returned to her cooking, mind set at ease somewhat. She stirred the soup and tasted It as Leph shook his head. “I’d like to avoid it. We’re on a tight schedule.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Down the hall, Cyan was poking around the ship. “Hey Teliko? C’mon out already!”
He walked down the hall until he was at her cabin. He knocked. “Quit it already!”
She opened the door. “What do you want Cyan?”
“Y’know, to hang out! Like we always do.”
Teliko sighed. “Fine.”
Cyan pushed inside her room. “Yay! So, tell me something.”
He flopped down onto a pile of pillows. She sat at her desk and grabbed a data pad. “What?”
“Written anything recently?”
“No. What’s the point?”
He scoffed. “Art for the sake of art? Plus I like them!”
“You’re just saying that.”
“Of course I’m saying it, it’s true!”
Teliko turned the chair and turned on the pad. “I got rejected by those people you found.”
He shrugged and tossed a pillow into the air. “Well you know they’re not going to accept everyone…”
Teliko scrolled through her work. She had been writing for as long as she’d been reading, but she never showed anyone her work. Cyan, who she had caught going through her things, had snuck a read and was the only person who knew she wrote. As clueless as he was, he seemed to genuinely love her work. She sighed. “You told me they would “one hundred percent take your poem no question.” Well that didn’t pan out.”
“Hey, I was trying to make you feel better.”
She smiled slightly, then turned and growled. “Well it didn’t work out. So I don’t know why I should write more.”
“Quit being emo.”
“What?!”
“Getting published isn’t everything. Like I said, art for art’s sake.”
“That’s nice and all, but what do I get out of it but a bit of distraction? It just doesn’t feel as meaningful anymore.”
“Whoa, deep. I don’t know. I don’t art.”
“No, you play video games all day.”
“Yep.”
Cyan rolled off the stack of pillows and sat up. “Hey, you should show your parents your poems.”
“No.”
“You always say that.”
Teliko tossed the data pad onto the table as though it had suddenly become offensive to her. “You can’t get any good criticism out of people you know.”
“I give good criticism.”
“You didn’t even know poems could rhyme.”
He waved his paw and blew a raspberry. “Pff. I was like… thirteen. C’mon.”
“That was last year.”
“Point is, it doesn’t hurt to show people your work. It’ll make them proud!”
Teliko spun the chair. Her tail didn’t quite fit through the hole in the back, but for some reason Leph refused to have it replaced. “They’re annoying when they’re proud.”
Cyan laughed. “I wouldn’t know.”
Teliko frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Ah, nothing.”
Before Teliko could press, Leena poked her head around the door. When she saw Cyan on the floor, she smiled warmly. “Hey you two, dinner’s ready.”
They followed her quickly. Cyan licked his lips as the smell in the corridor hit his nose. “Man, Teliko’s mom, you can cook better than my mom.”
Leena laughed. “Thanks, but don’t insult your mother like that! She helped cook, you know.”
“Uh oh.”
Leena laughed again. “You little rip!”
Teliko followed behind as Cyan and her mother chatted. Leph was already eating when they came in, and Leena tapped him on the nose. “I told you to wait.”
He swallowed. “Hey, it was just too good smelling.”
He continued eating without much pause. Teliko sat down and Leena gave her a bowl. During the cooking process, the soup had mysteriously transformed into a stew. The vegetable chunks were massive. She looked up to complain, but Leena was already wagging her finger. “Eat those vegetables, Teliko. You too Leph!”
Leph sighed and spooned the chunk of arrowroot back from the side of his bowl where he was about to hide it in a napkin. “I’m too old to eat healthy.”
Feldoh was munching almost exclusively on the veggie. “C’mon Leph. When you get to be my age, and go dodging heart attacks left and right, you’ll wanna eat healthy.”
“Hey, I shouldn’t need to remind you of that time I basically shrugged off a heart attack.”
Leena put her spoon down and fidgeted with a napkin. Feldoh chuckled. “Ha! You’re right. I’m talking real heart attack, not whatever you had.”
Teri looked around confusedly. “What do you mean? Leph had a heart attack?”
Feldoh nodded. “Yep! I remember Teliko- Err, not you, kiddo. She came running into the cargo bay saying Leph had basically yelled at her to shut up! Well I went in there to give him a piece of my mind and he was laid out on the floor dead. Leena-”
Leena coughed. Her voice shook. “Sorry. Sorry, can we change the subject please?”
Cyan spoke with his mouth full. “But I wanna hear the story! You were dead uncle Leph?”
Teliko nodded. “For once I agree with Cyan. You guys never talk about you adventures. I had to go online to figure out what happened!”
Leena was red faced. She had abandoned her food. Leph glanced uneasily around the room. “It was a long time ago.” she said quietly.
Everyone ate in silence. Suddenly there was a blaring noise as Zach spoke over the intercom. “Leph! Get up here now! We have a guest!”
Zach’s voice didn’t sound urgent, but he was excited about something. Leph stood and excused himself. “I’ll go see what he wants.”
Zach was looking through the window at a small ship that flew towards them. It dodged around other ships that were docking, and nearly rammed into one. Zach was in the middle of laughing hysterically with someone female on the con. “Yeah! Ha ha! I remember that! Didn’t know it was a- shit, he’s here!”
“Leph! Long time no see.”
Leph sat down and looked through the tiny screen. “Serleah?”
Serleah grinned back at him. She had gained some weight, but otherwise looked the same as she did the last time Leph saw her. She also seemed to be in a much better mood than the last time he saw her. “What’s it been? Ten years?”
“Nine… What… Why are you here?”
“Don’t sound so scared! I’m here looking for work, and I thought my best friend would be a great place to start.”
Leph's smile faltered. “Best friend? It's been a while, Serleah...”
“Listen, we can talk about it in person. And I want you to meet my husband.”
Someone in the background said “Hi!”
Leph laughed. “Of course! Get over here on the double!”
He cut the com and rushed from the room. “Zach, I’m ordering you to come to dinner.”
He was already gathering his things. “You couldn’t order me not to come, Leph.”
Cain meets the crew, Nai and Haluk are puzzled, and Leph and Feldoh's families have dinner.
All my life
I'm in the stakin' bar
I got debts, I'm a debaser
All my life
Saturnz about to make love
And I'm just a heartbreaker
All my life
And I won't get a take in
'Cause I'm out when I'm stakin'
And the rings I am breaking
Are making you a personal day
Nai clasped his paws together and stared into the camera. He never had nerves doing this before now, but the message he was about to send would undoubtedly make Verva annoyed at least, and River angrier with him. He sighed and hit record. Thanks to the top-secret nature of the work he was doing, no live communication with anyone outside the station was allowed, so messages to family and friends had to be recorded onto a data pad and brought out physically. He smiled to the camera and waved. “Hey guys! I have really good news for you… well, it’s not all good, but it’s exciting. We, uh, we finished. The project is done, at least the hard part is. Now… the unfair part is I’ll have to stay here longer to oversee things. I really don’t know how long it’ll be, but I will try and get back to you as soon as I can. For good. Hopefully… Anyway, enough of that. You guys can go ahead and listen to your private recordings now.”
He clicked a button on the camera and saved the file to the data pad. “Private recordings I haven’t made yet. Heh.”
He clicked the button again. “Hey, lover girl. How’s my favorite person in the universe?”
He blew a kiss, though the action seemed insincere somehow. He put his paw down as though he’d done something wrong and tried to gather his thoughts. “I miss you, as usual. And I know what you’re saying to yourself. “Why doesn’t he just come back?””
Nai laughed nervously and looked down at his feet. Discarded food wrappers hid under a few surfaces. “I know, Verva. You have every right to think that. My paws are tied behind my back, though and… I can’t tell you why.”
He looked around as if just remembering something. He reached over for a pot in the corner and brought it into view of the camera. “The flowers you sent me are doing well. How you found blue gelflowers are beyond me, though. They’re wonderful, thank you.”
He looked down into the pot at the little blue flowers that floated around in the water like flies swimming on a hot summer day. “I love you.”
He clicked the button, hesitated, then clicked it again. “Hey River. I just want to start by saying I’m sorry that I missed your birthday. I promise I’ll be there for your eighteenth. I’m not going to miss my boy becoming a man… Ah, who am I kidding, you’ve always been my man. I hope you’ve been taking care of your mother like I asked. Drifrasa knows she can’t do all the chores herself. How’s…”
Nai searched his brain for the name of River’s mate. For a terrifying moment, he couldn’t remember. “Dia? I want to hear all about her in your next message, you hear? Hell, bring her along. No more putting it off!”
He chuckled to himself. “What else… Don’t neglect your studies… um… don’t touch my miniatures… I’m proud of you…”
Once again Nai was struck by the strange feeling that his words were insincere. He choked up a bit, then clicked the button. He saved the files to the data pad and closed his eyes. “God dammit…”
“Nai?”
He jumped. “AH! Gray Fox… Um, what is it?”
Gray Fox had been standing in the doorway for the better part of twenty minutes. His natural quietness allowed him to go completely unnoticed by Nai. “What was that you were doing?”
“I, uh… Just some work.”
“I see. Haluk wants to see you in Observation Pod 1.”
Gray Fox walked down the hallway and out of sight. Nai stood and walked a few steps between the door. He looked at the data pad in his paws, then snapped it in two and tossed it into the garbage disposal.
Up in the observation pod, Haluk was staring intently into his screen. Nai wondered how the particularly bright blue light coming from it wasn’t causing him great pain. “Haluk.”
He jumped. “Nai! I sent that big doofus down half an hour ago!”
“Sorry. Guess he was caught up in something else. What do you need?”
Haluk beckoned for him to take a look at the same screen he was looking at. “Tell me if these readings make sense. This is the latest scan we did on what was coming out of the aperture.”
Nai looked them over, scrutinizing each number and percentage. “This is strange… What’s the aperture’s width?”
“Oh, about a picometer by now. At this rate of growth that’s about forty percent open.”
“So, we should be seeing something by now?”
“Yes.”
“We’re not.”
“Yes.”
Nai scratched his head. “Give me Gray Fox’s predictions about The Other Side.”
The data pad, which was never far from paw due to how often it was looked through, was on the desk in front of Nai. Haluk pointed. “In front of you nose.”
He read the entire thing. Gray Fox was part of the special forces, but he himself was well versed in theoretical, cross dimensional physics. Apparently, it was him that discovered that that region of space could be used to access The Other Side. Along with that thesis, was a list of his predictions as to what was on The Other Side. In summary, he predicted that The Other Side was a universe of pure energy. A hot soup of charged matter that could power all of Atriea, its colonies, and the Solar Federation and its colonies millions of times over (not that there was any guarantee that Atriea would share this massive boon). Nai looked over the numbers a second time. “Even with an aperture that small, we should be seeing massive amounts of light and radiation coming through. That means we put up all the shielding for nothing.”
Haluk looked to where the window used to be. Many layers of wall now covered it. “I wouldn’t risk opening the shields to take a look with our eyes, though. We might be getting false readings from our instruments.”
Both of the scientists looked uneasily at the closed shutters.
“Maybe we should talk to Fox.”
Nai nodded. “I’ll go find him. Wait here.”
~~~
Cain and Polos sat in a hovercar across from a warehouse at the edge of town. They had been sitting there for an hour, and Polos was asleep. Cain watched the Atrieans and occasional Humans walk by. None of them entered the warehouse, or even seemed to notice it. One fellow, who looked exactly as casual and natural as the rest of the people, slipped inside the warehouse so quickly, Cain almost missed that he did. He smacked Polos’s arm. “Hey sleepyhead the guy just went in!”
Polos rose as though he had never been asleep. “That means it’s safe, come on.”
They got out and slipped into the warehouse as well. The man that had entered was nowhere to be found. Cain smiled. “That trick got old after the second time. Where’s the trapdoor then?”
Polos smiled. A voice from behind Cain almost made him jump. “There is not a trapdoor, old man.”
He turned. “Now where were you hiding?”
The man was wearing a jacket and hat. He was short, so Cain couldn’t see his eyes. He spoke in an accent typical of the most northern parts of Atriea. “I was behind you, of course. Polos you have brought an idiot. He does not check behind doors.”
Cain grinned. “Ha! Behind the door? Nice to meet you, Mr.…?”
The man removed his hat and extended a paw. “I am glad to meet someone with a reputation, anyway.”
Cain took his? paw and shook slowly. The person he was looking at was not male. His facial structure was distinctly female, and now that Cain was looking, he could see a hint of his chest under his long coat. He smiled at Cain’s visible confusion. “I have the gender dysphoria. I was diagnosed late, so I may not appear correct right now. Please use he.”
“Right. Okay. Your name?”
“Oh, I forget. Yalogalil is my name. Cain is yours no?”
“Yes. Forgive me, but you seem a bit polite for this line of work.”
Yalogalil lowered his head and stroked his chin. Cain guessed that he was a wolverine. He had sea green eyes and sharp ears. “I respect my fellow man. That is not antithetical to being a criminal. Do not mistake respect for an unwillingness to do what is necessary. I kill.”
Something about the way Yalogalil said ‘I kill’ gave Cain a chill. He noted that he was probably dangerous. “There’s one more, right?”
Polos nodded. “He’s just bought some equipment for us. He’ll be along.”
The door slammed open and a man waltzed in lugging a trolley full of boxes. “Help me here!”
Polos heaved the top crate and set it on the floor, quickly making sure the door was closed. “No one was suspicious, right?”
The guy grinned. “Nah.”
Cain looked at the crate. There was a large “DANGER: EXPLOSIVE” on the side. “How did you haul explosives across the city without arousing suspicion?”
The slim man grinned widely. “That’s literally my job. Tokush is my name. I know weapons, that’s my thing. Hi.”
Cain laughed. “A walking cliché. Well what have you brought?”
The mid height husky looked like one of those guys who always hung out at bars and tried to pick up girls. He looked strong enough to fight and was the only one in the group who bothered to show off his winter fur coat. He was missing an eye but chose to wear a glass eye instead of a patch or prosthetic. Polos nudged Cain. “If you’re wondering about the eye, we were drunk, and he stabbed himself with a fork.”
Tokush flung a crate top at Polos, and it bounced off his stomach. “It was a war wound! Stop telling people it was a fork!”
Yalogalil chimed in. “Well a true thing is that he chose a different eye colour for the glass one because he is vain.”
Tokush pulled out a compact weapon Cain wasn’t familiar with. “Say that again buddy.”
“Is jokes.”
Tokush tossed the gun to Polos. “Good. I got us some newer tech. MR x73. Light, compact, and chambered in .72nm.”
Polos removed the battery pack from the gun. “That’s a high beam intensity for a gun this size.”
“It’s semi auto, so don’t get too excited. All bought and paid for under the radar of any law enforcement. You can thank my hard work for that.”
Cain was without a weapon. He crossed his arms. “What about me?”
Tokush smiled. “These guns would be a little small for your sausage fingers, Human. I got you something native to your empire.”
He tossed Cain a military grade .50 caliber handgun. Nothing interesting. It was dull gray and had the Solar Federation’s markings all over it. The serial number had been removed. The design was over sixty years old, but the Solar Federation still couldn’t find a reason to replace it. “Huh. Good choice.”
He slipped it into his pocket. “I suppose it’s too late to buy a holster.”
“You won’t have it holstered much, don’t worry.”
Polos tossed the empty crates towards the wall of the warehouse and dusted off his paws. “I think that’s it. Tokush, grab that crate of grenades and follow me. Let’s fly.”
Cain grinned as the motley crew followed Polos towards the back of the warehouse, where behind a shuttered door sat their ship.
~~~
Feldoh was old. In his fifties. His already white fur was long, and he refused to trim it any further. He was hunched over a little but was still as full of life as the day he first set out with Teri on the Sky Links. Teri was still as beautiful as ever. Her eyes never lost their vibrancy, but her fur was whitening and one of her arms was in a sling. Both of them wore the same utilitarian/casual jackets and pants. As the two stepped through the airlock, Leph grinned widely and stepped forward to embrace Feldoh. “Hey bud. Nice of you to come by.”
Feldoh reluctantly accepted the hug. “Yeah… well it’s only been about a week or two…”
Teri laughed. “Come on, darling! We have been too busy to get out and you wanna be a grump when we finally get time to spend on ourselves?”
“I’ll be a grump when I damn well please… It’s good to see you, Leph.”
Feldoh glanced around in annoyance as Leph stepped back and nodded to Teri. “Where’s Cyan? Cyan!”
A kid poked his head around the airlock. “Hey uncle Leph!”
“Hey Cyan. How are you?”
“Fine. Where’s Teliko?”
“With Leena. Come on, let’s join them.”
Cyan stepped out of the airlock. He was almost as skinny as Feldoh was and was already as tall. His fur was almost a yellow colour, and his eyes were a blue green colour. He grinned through any situation, including the simple act of walking down the hall towards the conference room. Leph chatted with Feldoh as Teri fussed over Cyan. “Oh, Denoka’s guiding light! I told you to wash your face, you’ve got grease all over it!”
“My face isn’t an it, mom.”
“Hush.” She wiped at his face with a wipe she pulled from her pocket.
She adjusted her sling and smiled widely when they entered the room. “Leena~!”
Leena turned and grinned. “Hey, you!”
They hugged, and Teri immediately took interest in what Leena was cooking. “What is this?”
“I am glad you asked. I have been trying to perfect this recipe for ages. Leph found it and tried to make it one night, but it didn’t turn out right. Look…”
They chatted as Leph, Feldoh and Cyan sat at the table. Cyan looked around, his grin falling away. “Hey, Leph! You said Teliko was here!”
“She was a minute ago…”
Cyan jumped from his seat and darted out of the door. Leph called after him. “Remember not to touch anything!”
Feldoh watched the two ladies for a moment, then turned to Leph. “Leph, my friend…”
Leph’s smile faded slightly. “When you call me that, it’s never a good sign. What’s on your mind?”
Feldoh licked his lips, then leaned forward over the table. “This cargo we’re hauling. I don’t like it. It spells trouble in no uncertain terms and you know it.”
“We’ve worked for the government before, Feldoh. It got a little rough, but we got out alright. Besides, this is top secret stuff. The only people who know these crates exist are the four of us, and Zach.”
Leena looked back momentarily. “I don’t like it either, Leph!”
“Guys, please. Do you know how much this’ll net us?”
“Always with the money, eh Leph?” Feldoh said, dryly.
Teri walked from the stove and swatted Feldoh on the ear. “Don’t be rude. Leph has mouths to feed, and so do we. Maybe after this we’ll be able to afford those new engines for the fleet?”
“True…”
“I still don’t like it!” Leena said.
“Peach-”
“This isn’t the old days, Leph. This is not worth any money.”
“Leena, we agreed on this already.”
She turned from the stove and sat next to him. She tried her best to keep a positive air. “I know. I just don’t want to put our kids in danger.”
Leph furrowed his brow and laughed nervously. “Who said anything about danger?”
“You’re doing that thing again, Leph.” Leena scolded.
“Sorry, sorry. I realize working with Atriea has gotten us into some trouble in the past. But this time we’re on a science mission, not a military one.”
Feldoh grumbled. “Science is as dangerous as any bomb.”
Leena scratched her chin. “Can we at least hire another escort? I know Leo is a good captain, but I’d feel better if we hired someone else.”
Leph nodded. “I suppose that would put my mind at ease too. Do you guys know anybody?”
Teri nodded. “There are a few people I know who still might be kicking around this sector of space. I’ll call them in the morning. Should we delay casting off?”
Leena stood and returned to her cooking, mind set at ease somewhat. She stirred the soup and tasted It as Leph shook his head. “I’d like to avoid it. We’re on a tight schedule.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Down the hall, Cyan was poking around the ship. “Hey Teliko? C’mon out already!”
He walked down the hall until he was at her cabin. He knocked. “Quit it already!”
She opened the door. “What do you want Cyan?”
“Y’know, to hang out! Like we always do.”
Teliko sighed. “Fine.”
Cyan pushed inside her room. “Yay! So, tell me something.”
He flopped down onto a pile of pillows. She sat at her desk and grabbed a data pad. “What?”
“Written anything recently?”
“No. What’s the point?”
He scoffed. “Art for the sake of art? Plus I like them!”
“You’re just saying that.”
“Of course I’m saying it, it’s true!”
Teliko turned the chair and turned on the pad. “I got rejected by those people you found.”
He shrugged and tossed a pillow into the air. “Well you know they’re not going to accept everyone…”
Teliko scrolled through her work. She had been writing for as long as she’d been reading, but she never showed anyone her work. Cyan, who she had caught going through her things, had snuck a read and was the only person who knew she wrote. As clueless as he was, he seemed to genuinely love her work. She sighed. “You told me they would “one hundred percent take your poem no question.” Well that didn’t pan out.”
“Hey, I was trying to make you feel better.”
She smiled slightly, then turned and growled. “Well it didn’t work out. So I don’t know why I should write more.”
“Quit being emo.”
“What?!”
“Getting published isn’t everything. Like I said, art for art’s sake.”
“That’s nice and all, but what do I get out of it but a bit of distraction? It just doesn’t feel as meaningful anymore.”
“Whoa, deep. I don’t know. I don’t art.”
“No, you play video games all day.”
“Yep.”
Cyan rolled off the stack of pillows and sat up. “Hey, you should show your parents your poems.”
“No.”
“You always say that.”
Teliko tossed the data pad onto the table as though it had suddenly become offensive to her. “You can’t get any good criticism out of people you know.”
“I give good criticism.”
“You didn’t even know poems could rhyme.”
He waved his paw and blew a raspberry. “Pff. I was like… thirteen. C’mon.”
“That was last year.”
“Point is, it doesn’t hurt to show people your work. It’ll make them proud!”
Teliko spun the chair. Her tail didn’t quite fit through the hole in the back, but for some reason Leph refused to have it replaced. “They’re annoying when they’re proud.”
Cyan laughed. “I wouldn’t know.”
Teliko frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Ah, nothing.”
Before Teliko could press, Leena poked her head around the door. When she saw Cyan on the floor, she smiled warmly. “Hey you two, dinner’s ready.”
They followed her quickly. Cyan licked his lips as the smell in the corridor hit his nose. “Man, Teliko’s mom, you can cook better than my mom.”
Leena laughed. “Thanks, but don’t insult your mother like that! She helped cook, you know.”
“Uh oh.”
Leena laughed again. “You little rip!”
Teliko followed behind as Cyan and her mother chatted. Leph was already eating when they came in, and Leena tapped him on the nose. “I told you to wait.”
He swallowed. “Hey, it was just too good smelling.”
He continued eating without much pause. Teliko sat down and Leena gave her a bowl. During the cooking process, the soup had mysteriously transformed into a stew. The vegetable chunks were massive. She looked up to complain, but Leena was already wagging her finger. “Eat those vegetables, Teliko. You too Leph!”
Leph sighed and spooned the chunk of arrowroot back from the side of his bowl where he was about to hide it in a napkin. “I’m too old to eat healthy.”
Feldoh was munching almost exclusively on the veggie. “C’mon Leph. When you get to be my age, and go dodging heart attacks left and right, you’ll wanna eat healthy.”
“Hey, I shouldn’t need to remind you of that time I basically shrugged off a heart attack.”
Leena put her spoon down and fidgeted with a napkin. Feldoh chuckled. “Ha! You’re right. I’m talking real heart attack, not whatever you had.”
Teri looked around confusedly. “What do you mean? Leph had a heart attack?”
Feldoh nodded. “Yep! I remember Teliko- Err, not you, kiddo. She came running into the cargo bay saying Leph had basically yelled at her to shut up! Well I went in there to give him a piece of my mind and he was laid out on the floor dead. Leena-”
Leena coughed. Her voice shook. “Sorry. Sorry, can we change the subject please?”
Cyan spoke with his mouth full. “But I wanna hear the story! You were dead uncle Leph?”
Teliko nodded. “For once I agree with Cyan. You guys never talk about you adventures. I had to go online to figure out what happened!”
Leena was red faced. She had abandoned her food. Leph glanced uneasily around the room. “It was a long time ago.” she said quietly.
Everyone ate in silence. Suddenly there was a blaring noise as Zach spoke over the intercom. “Leph! Get up here now! We have a guest!”
Zach’s voice didn’t sound urgent, but he was excited about something. Leph stood and excused himself. “I’ll go see what he wants.”
Zach was looking through the window at a small ship that flew towards them. It dodged around other ships that were docking, and nearly rammed into one. Zach was in the middle of laughing hysterically with someone female on the con. “Yeah! Ha ha! I remember that! Didn’t know it was a- shit, he’s here!”
“Leph! Long time no see.”
Leph sat down and looked through the tiny screen. “Serleah?”
Serleah grinned back at him. She had gained some weight, but otherwise looked the same as she did the last time Leph saw her. She also seemed to be in a much better mood than the last time he saw her. “What’s it been? Ten years?”
“Nine… What… Why are you here?”
“Don’t sound so scared! I’m here looking for work, and I thought my best friend would be a great place to start.”
Leph's smile faltered. “Best friend? It's been a while, Serleah...”
“Listen, we can talk about it in person. And I want you to meet my husband.”
Someone in the background said “Hi!”
Leph laughed. “Of course! Get over here on the double!”
He cut the com and rushed from the room. “Zach, I’m ordering you to come to dinner.”
He was already gathering his things. “You couldn’t order me not to come, Leph.”
Category Story / All
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