Indications

© 2019 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom


Two days later, Meredith suddenly paused in the act of fastening her pink plaid skirt, a curiously neutral expression on her face. Several meters away, Fuji had finished toweling off and was getting ready to dress. They had to be aboard their ship soon in order to get their cargo loaded.

Varan, already dressed, asked, “Kras zatan aan, Meredidh ‘i?”

The mare blinked and looked at Fuji and Varan for a moment before saying, “A thought occurred to me. Maybe there’s a way for me to have a child and still do something useful for the company. Transcosm policy says that if I get pregnant, I can’t stay aboard the Kiss Me. It’s either quit or get an office job.” She fastened her skirt and put on her shirt. “I’ll have to think more about it before I do anything, though.”

“You’ll have to tell us,” Fuji said.

Varan glanced at the monitor and said, “I agree.”

Glancing at her lovers, Meredith finally sat down on the bed. “It suddenly occurred to me that Transcosm ships, like ours, stop here at Downtime as part of its regular freighter routes.”

“Go on,” Varan said. Fuji’s eyes suddenly widened and his thick tail thumped against the backs of his legs.

“Well, my thought was to send a message to Transcosm’s head office on God’s Armpit and ask if an office should be opened here.” The mare glanced at Fuji. “What?”

“Do you know anything about business?” the monitor asked.

Meredith shrugged. “Not yet, but I can read and I’m a fast learner.”

“I can attest to that,” Varan interjected. “She has a Weapons Officer qualification, and strategic and tactical thinking are stressed.”

“And stressful,” Meredith said, frowning as she remembered. She brightened. “Still, I have plenty of time. No harm in exploring the options.” She smoothed out her skirt before hugging Varan. “Of course, I’ll let you know what I decide. No secrets between us, aka?”

Varan smiled and pulled Fuji into the embrace as well. “No, no secrets.” She was taller than both Terrans, and they didn’t see the slightly troubled look in her eyes as she spoke. The vir released the mare and the bull and said, “We had best get going over to the Terran side so you two can get back to work.”

As they made their way through the corridors hand in paw, Meredith glanced up at Varan. The vir turned to her and Meredith said, “I regret that we didn’t get a chance to play the game.”

Varan’s lips pulled upward before she chuckled. “Aka, the latest level. I think I know the key to the Land of Contusion, and I’ll send you a message about it.”

“It has to do with the clowns, right?”

“Yes.” The vir was pleased to see her Terran friend smile.

They parted company at the dividing line between Imperial and Terran sides of the station, with Varan hugging Fuji and briefly holding Meredith’s paws before embracing her. She had to bend slightly as the mare kissed her, a curious Terran gesture but one that she welcomed from the palomino.

She hugged Meredith again. “Please let me know when your mothers give birth. I will try to think of something appropriate for a gift.”

The mare grinned. “I will, and I’ll let you know what I decide.”

“And if she doesn’t, I’ll tell you,” Fuji said. He was already across the line, his tail twitching as he readjusted to the higher gravity. Meredith stuck her tongue out at the Komodo monitor and slowly stepped across the line. With a final wave, they moved down the corridor.

Varan huffed softly. Aka, that went well, she thought. She felt a bit disquieted at having to keep a secret from her lover, but the matter of the Terran cruiser’s defection hadn’t come up. The vir took another deep breath and decided that she needed to get a beverage and spend a small amount of time in the station’s amusement center before leaving her quarters and moving her possessions back onto the Kith.


***


Jakeisha Sirivati, formerly a commander in the Terra’s Colonial Navy, smiled and shook paws with the elderly bear. “Shalom aleichem,” he said, and the translator in her ear whispered “Welcome” in Basic, “to M’ownah, Miss Sirivati.” The bear smiled at the wolf. “The name means ‘refuge’ in our language – our Terran language, although many here prefer to speak Kashlanin.”

“What language is that?” the wolf asked.

The bear listened to the translation and smiled. “Hebrew.”