Return Run

© 2019 by Walter Reimer



Meredith was having a cup of coffee in the dining room with the other members of her shift when she felt a change in vibration beneath her hooves. A glance at a display mounted on a bulkhead between a ridiculously cute sculpture of a feral kitten and the beverage locker showed that the Kiss Me in the Dark had phased into hyperspace, headed away from Downtime Station and back into Confederate space.

Elroy and Ginny had been the last ones to embark, and the rabbit doe and the beagle received a tongue-lashing from Kwinton for being almost late. In a parting shot, the skunk warned them to not “snog” on the command deck when they were supposed to be working. The couple took the admonition in stride.

After a shower the mare had checked the itinerary, and was surprised to learn that the ship was en route to her home planet. This Far had automated refineries, and the cargo ship was bringing a full load of raw materials to be broken down into a usable form.

Kwinton stamped into the room, barely seeming to notice the mare, and poured coffee into his mug before turning to face her. “D’Estcourt.”

She nodded. “Captain. So, back to This Far?”

The skunk nodded. “Got to keep the factories fed.”

“What are we hauling?” Christina asked.

“Raw ore – tungsten, chromium, titanium,” Kwinton replied, sticking a meaty paw down the front of his pants and scratching himself. “The deal’s with Imperial Chartering, that’s a Mercantile Fellowship.” Fuji glanced up sharply, his tongue flicking. “What?” the skunk asked.

“Better make sure we get it to This Far on time,” the Komodo monitor said. “Bad joss if we don’t.”

“Why?” Wally asked around a mouthful of food.

Castro’s tail swished as he replied, “I worked for a freight company that did business with one of the Fellowships. We were late getting into dock with a cargo.” He glanced at the others. “Nothing vital, but these shlani like being punctual.”

“Engine trouble?” Ginny asked.

Fuji shook his head. “Just slow. The Fellowship . . . took it badly. They called an embargo, and the company went bankrupt.”

Ed Yi closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, then reopened his eyes. “That’s insane. They’re Kashlani – “

“Right, but they’re like a bunch of families. You piss one off, you piss them all off – and if one embargoes you, they all do, and they make sure that anyone doing business with them won’t have anything to do with you.” The big lizard sighed. “After a while, the company went out of business.”

Even Kwinton looked a little taken aback at what the monitor said. “So, we’d best not fuck around, is what you’re saying.”

Fuji chuckled softly. “Yeah, you might say that, Captain.” The skunk gave Meredith, Elroy and Ginny a hard glare before leaving the dining room.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Ed asked.

Elroy smiled, looking past Ginny. “Probably going to yell at Karla if she’s dawdling along the route.” He glanced at Meredith.

The mare snorted. “Provided we don’t wreck the engines, we should get there on schedule. It’s not like we’re running all the way to the core worlds.” A couple chuckled while the others nodded. “This Far’s just a few days away from the border.” Meredith got up to refresh her mug of coffee and saw Fuji opening up his padd and accessing the regional infonet. “Anything happening in the universe today?” she asked.

Castro gave a soft, almost contemplative hiss before taking a sip of fruit juice. “Not too much,” he said. “Empire’s increased trade with the colonies – “

“That’s good news,” Christina remarked.

“ – And, um, huh.” The monitor’s voice trailed away before he recovered himself. “Small item here about Transcosm.”

Ed Yi’s ears perked. “What about our bosses?”

“They’re announcing wage increases,” and he paused as the others reacted favorably to the news, “based on the contract they signed with . . . Imperial Chartering. A few months ago,” and he looked up from his padd. “Huh.”

Meredith’s ears dipped, sticking out almost sideways. “That’s . . . interesting. You’d think the company would have told us before this.”

Happy said evenly, “Maybe they wanted to see how things turned out.”

Wally nodded. “Maybe. Anything else in the news, Fuji?”

“Not all that much. Little bit here about the Foreign Minister dying in an accident.” He flicked a claw over the screen and read the expanded article. “Says here that one of the defense stations got a bad transponder signal off his shuttle and shot it down. The AI’s being interrogated.”

Elroy piped up. “Yeah, that is odd. Those defense AIs are supposed to be smarter than that.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Christina said.

“What’s that?” Al-Najar asked.

“To err is Terran, but to really fuck up requires a computer,” the cow said, and the others laughed.