by Chris Hechtl
“Now see here, lady, I'm a damn good captain! Yes, I'm not good with numbers and money, I never said I was,” he rumbled, getting annoyed. “But don't go pulling shit you don't know into this!” he snarled.
He was a bear, a bit of a pear with his big thighs and paunch stomach, but he was a true bear. She wasn't. She was a genie, a half human, half teddy bear. Human body frame, lithe and very much a woman with the breasts, hips, and long brown hair she kept in a clasp. She was fully clothed. He didn't bother with that human crap, his stained yellow shirt and captain's hat was all he needed. After all, he had fur.
She'd gone full human, wearing shoes of all things, plus black slacks, a white turtleneck shirt and a red coat. She must be an inne, he thought, a core worlder. He was too, but he didn't like to brag about it.
Rebecca fired him. The little bundle of know it all told him to leave and informed him he had to stay away from the Duck and her crew. He tried to talk her out of it but she pushed him out. She threw a wadded-up shirt at him then slammed the hatch shut in his face. She had him locked out. “Sheriff! Do your duty!” she practically screamed.
The sheriff sighed, shaking his head. The sheriff posted a yellow notice on the window and hatch of the Duck then pushed him back down the pier. Baloo protested, but didn't put up a fight. When he got to land, all the resistance drained out of him at once. He slumped.
“I'm sorry, Baloo, I really am,” the sheriff said. “You know this was the last thing I wanted.”
“I know, Rory. Not your fault, mine. I screwed up. It's just all coming back to bite me in the ass,” Baloo said.
“She's a pistol. Straight shooter.”
“Fresh out of college?” Baloo asked. The sheriff shrugged. “Hmmm,” Baloo murmured, rubbing his chin. “I think there is something there. Yup, I think I can use that.”
The sheriff eyed him. “Now Baloo, don't go stirring up trouble,” he warned.
“I won't do a thing,” Baloo said, hand paws up. He even made an X over his heart. “Honest injun here, I'll just let her make her move.”
“You…”
“Trust me, she'll come back to me. I'm just going to wait it out,” Baloo said. “She has NO idea what she's getting into. And she's about to find out. Class has begun,” he murmured. He eyed the for a moment then turned away.
Baloo wanted to drown his sorrows but he'd run his tab up too high. Besides, he needed to keep a clear head. But he did put in some calls. Then he went to the pilot guild lounge to wait and see what happened.
<-----/^----->
Once the insufferable bear was gone, she went into the pigsty he called a Duck captain's quarters and cleaned it out fast. She held her nose half the time, making yuck faces as she dug things out and tossed them in trash bags. She hauled the rank bags out the hatch and then down the pier. Then she went and picked up Molly from the sitter she had found.
Molly was her cub, a rare yellow cub. Her ex-husband had tinkered with his genetics, which was why one-year-old Molly was not only an only child, but yellow. She was a precious thing, a bit precocious, but her sunny look brightened her mother's day every time she smiled or giggled. “Look, baby, see? A yellow ship. This is all for you,” she murmured, kissing her daughter.
Molly was excited. She burbled, reaching to touch the ship. Rebecca was amused. She held her up over her head to do so, then had her on her shoulders to duck under the hatch. She tossed their gear into the captain's cabin, then set Molly up with her favorite tablet and a bottle. She sat in a chair and rocked her daughter to sleep, crooning softly. Soon the little cub was drowsy from all the excitement. She fought it, but eventually a yawn escaped. She rolled in her mother's arms and then fell asleep.
Rebecca rather regretted weaning the cub off breast milk so early. She couldn't afford to look like a nursing mom, so she'd been forced to do it. Just another sacrifice she rather regretted, she thought as she put the cub into the bed. She tucked her jacket over the cub. She made a note to find new bedding soon, then tip toed out and closed the hatch behind her. She headed to the wardroom, she had calls to make.
<-----/^----->
Rebecca tried to post a captain/pilot position on the for-hire boards but found it wasn't that simple. She argued with the computer until she gave up, throwing her hands in the air. “So, what you are telling me is that I'm not on the registry? So? I'm the new owner! I've got the paperwork to prove it! As soon as I get to the sector capital I'll make it official!” she said.
“Yes Ma'am. Since you aren't registered as crew of the Duck and you don't have a flight permit, you can't file for her. You need a crew member to do that. Specifically, an officer. The only officers on record are Baloo and Bagheera.”
“Great,” she snarled, hanging up in frustration. She'd half expected Baloo to try something, run or something, make it hard for her to repossess the Duck, which was why she hadn't filed the preliminary papers or given him his notice. Technically, she was in the wrong about that, but he wouldn't know. He was too stupid to know. “Stupid flyboy,” she muttered. She checked on Molly who was still sleeping, then went to check the rest of the crew.
<-----/^----->
She tried to talk to Wildcat the engineer, but he clammed up and told her to talk to Baloo. He was a cougar, obviously Baloo had hired a mostly Neo crew. It was a bit racist, but she didn't mind it. After all, she'd can them and get new crew when she had the money and time. From the look of it, the cougar was another slob, which made her wonder about the ship and how well it really functioned. After all, if his coverall was covered in that many stains it couldn't be good right?
When she patiently explained that Baloo was gone, he looked so forlorn she left the strange cougar alone.
She talked with Mowgli, but he glared at her and hissed. She was startled by the reaction from a human. The human left as she looked on, wide eyed muttering “Well!”
“Don't mind the cub,” Bagheera the neopanther said. She turned to him. “He's had a rough life, and he's a good cub under the rough exterior. You just need to give him a chance. Same for him. He's not easy to get along with at first, but he grows on you.”
“Oh? He should be at home in school. With his family.”
“We are his family,” Bagheera said, eyes going to slits. His ears flattened. He explained that Mowgli was a special friend of him and Baloo. “I'm his official guardian, but Baloo has taken him under his wing too.”
He tried to explain to her that a ship's crew was as much a family as a living breathing organism. Intruders needed to prove themselves. Stirring up trouble and tossing them around wasn't the right way to do it. “Granted, Baloo needed a wake-up call. A female like you could put him in his place easy enough, but…” he shrugged.
Rebecca frowned ferociously. She wasn't used to the help lecturing her on how things were supposed to be done. That wasn't the proper way things were supposed to go or at least how she'd been taught. “I…” Her phone buzzed, cutting her off.
“I'm sorry but…”
She got a call and cut him off with an imperious hand. He reared back in surprise, ears out and flat. She turned and stomped off. “Well!” she heard him say in shock as she left. She went to the pig sty of a captain's cabin and then listened to the guild bot.
“Miss Rebecca bear, you need a license to captain the Duck. Currently it is registered to Baloo bear. Any relation?”
“No. I bought the Duck and his company after he let it go under.”
“I…see. Yes well, you'll need to re-register the Duck under a new captain's name then. And you'll need to do that on the sector capital, which is a problem.”
“I see. So, I need a temporary license or permit...”
“There is a permit in your name, but you have to have a registered space officer with you, which you don't.”
“I…”
“Do you?”
“No.” She frowned. “Are there any available?”
“Just one.”
“One? Let me guess…”
“I…didn't know that.”
“Funny what you learn when you ask questions and don't go in and throw your weight around.”
“I…now wait a minute!”
“Yes?” the bot asked politely.
“I…” she strangled her hot retort, she needed the AI's help. “Fine,” she ground out, grinding her teeth. “Where can I find Baloo?”
“Pilot's lounge I believe. Or he's on the docks looking to hire on as crew to another ship. You'd better act fast if you want him back. With his experience another crew will snap him up. Pilots with his skills are rare. Pilots who can handle a Space Duck? Ever rarer.”
“Thanks for the unsolicited advice,” she snarled, closing the circuit. She dropped Molly off with Bagheera who mumbled something dark about being a glorified babysitter then rushed out to look for Baloo.
<-----/^----->
She tracked Baloo down and found him at the space port. He was hanging out, but when he saw her coming, he went the other way. She cornered him and physically pushed him into a restaurant lounge to get him to listen to her. He was amused by the manhandling but let her have her way.
She gnashed her teeth at such a humiliating task. “Look, I'm sorry. We got off on the wrong foot,” she said. She had to sweet talk him back, and eating crow wasn't easy for her. She was angry over being put in such a situation but realized she couldn't take her ire out on him.
She seethed when he insisted on a contract with a pay bump for him and “his” crew. Flight pay and hazard pay. EVA pay, they broke it down by job. She had looked into it but hadn't known how much it could cost, nor how fast it could add up. He patiently explained it to her.
She was a tough negotiator, keeping to her budget the best she could. It made it easier when she mentioned being a single parent, that sort of got him to ease off on the hard line and even bend a bit more. He no longer saw her as a Bitch she'd made herself out to be. Flirting with him helped a bit too; he was soon hanging on her every word. Men, she thought in disgust. Such fools, she thought in amusement, so easily led by the wrong brain sometimes. So, maybe it wouldn't be so bad having a bear. At least for a while, she thought as they sealed the deal with a handshake and signature on the contract.
When they were done, she vowed to can him the first chance she could, if only for his breath and slobbish looks. He'd need a makeover if he was going to match what she had in mind for her new company. He could look distinguished once she had him properly trained she thought. He was old, which she could tell from the whitening around his muzzle and irises. He could look distinguished she thought; it just took training and some cleaning up. But he was light hearted and didn't hold much of a grudge. That she rather admired.
“This isn't at all what I'd planned,” she wryly admitted after they registered the new contract with the guild.
“Heh, I kind of figured,” Baloo grunted.
“This…this isn't going as I had planned,” she said again.
“Hey lady, it's not all nicety nice from my perspective either. I just finished a contract; I made my loan payment, went to the bar to celebrate and then you show up. Welcome to reality. No plan survives reality. It's all nice in your head, but other people have their own agenda, and sometimes it's not in synch with your own. In fact, it rarely is,” Baloo said, spreading his hands apart. “I guess we've just got to make it work. Come together somehow.”
That little tidbit of news made her stop and think. If he had done what he said, it could make her takeover illegal, not that she intended to tell him. It was legally recorded in the sector capital after all. He may have made the payment through the branch office of Khan banking here. She'd have to check carefully. If he had that might be an issue. If you were making payments and the bank accepted them, they couldn't legally default. She frowned. Yes, she would have to tread carefully. But if she did find he had, what could he do? It was done and over with now. But she'd have to keep him around.
It was fortunate Khan industries hadn't quite gotten around to putting their reputed Ansible out into general production. Had they done that, things might have been different. Ansibles were still classified as rumor but one she trusted.
“Well, you boy, are going on a diet. And exercise,” she said, poking him. He chuckled. She just glared, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. After a moment she started tapping one toe.
“Wait, your serious?” he asked looking down at her, now thoroughly dismayed. She nodded slowly, eyes now twinkling. He gulped. That put her in an even better mood. She realized she'd gone about it all wrong with him, too much stick. A bit of carrot was needed. A little flirting might help her more.
“You have to pass the flight physical after all,” she said in a female voice. A rich not quite teasing, but not quite sweet voice. There was a firmness there; one he hadn't heard in a long, long time.
“Oh boy,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. He tipped his hat back and scratched at his head. This was going to be hard. He saw her bump and grind as she moved off.
“Coming?” she asked over her shoulder, batting her long lashes. He smiled a goofy smile. Okay, so it could be fun and interesting too he thought, following in her wake. He scented her scent. She heard the sniff but ignored it.
<-----/^----->
She looked over the Duck. She obviously didn't understand the yellow ship; she knew it was from Conwing, Model L, series one, production number six. She was a classic, one of the few ships that could detach her hyperdrive, enter an atmosphere, and land on water if necessary, hence the name. Her main body had a 200-meter-long hexagon shaped cylinder central fuselage in between two booms that extended aft by a hundred meters to a squared-off tail. The underside was shaped like the hull of a water boat, to facilitate water landings. It was clad in special copper and ceramic tiles, most likely to protect the ship from the negative effects of the sea water while also handling the heat of re-entry.
Her yellow color was most likely due to the heavy concentration of copper mixed into the paint. The copper formed a Faraday cage, protecting the ship from radiation.
Her wings were each 200 meters long and delta shaped, with pontoons in the center. The pontoons extended out when she did her water landings. They too were copper and ceramic coated. The booms extended through the wing;, in the front were her two turbine engine intakes. In the rear was her jet and rocket exhausts. The main fuselage was where everything was kept—cargo, crew, and the small but functional fusion plant.
The ship had a side-mounted hatch on each side, which led to an airlock. She also had a cargo ramp in her rear. Rebecca studied the craft carefully. She was old; she saw that now. She felt a pang of dismay. She could see water markings on the hull. The ship was a bit scorched she had some odd burns but looked functional. “She's odd. An odd Duck.” She was already wondering how long since her last servicing and how much the next one would cost. It could very well bankrupt her little venture before it got off the ground.
“She's a keeper. One of a kind,” Baloo said proudly. “Ain't she a beaut?” he asked with that odd accent of his. He stroked the ship as it rocked in the waves, moored to the pier.
“She's a bit worn,” Rebecca said, rubbing her chin. She was wondering what a paint job would cost.
“It's all surface. Well, mostly surface. She's got some age, but also thousands of hours of breaking in. This here is my baby. Treat her right and she'll always bring you home,” Baloo said. He rubbed the hull. “Papa bear's back,” he said.
“Do I need to give you some alone time? Rebecca asked with a snort. He waved it off. She followed Baloo up the gang ramp to the hatch. He popped it open, and they climbed inside.
“Wouldn't a new ship be better?” Rebecca asked. “I mean, I've heard of the Ducks, I looked them up…They didn't last long.” Which was true. The Space Duck was already an obsolete model over fifty yea
rs old. Her hyperdrive alone was ancient. Throw in her induction shield ring? It might be superconductor fibers woven into a thirty meter wide one kilometer diameter cylinder, but the latest force emitters made that obsolete. One of the few things going for the Duck was her speed and the ability to detach her interstellar drive and shield ring and then drop into a planet's atmosphere. She could land on any body of water, bringing down over a thousand tons of cargo in one drop. That was nearly ten times what a shuttle could do. It was right up there with a barge. She was a fuel hog but popular with outer colony systems that lacked a space station and shuttle fleet.
“A new ship?” he laughed. “Lady, you don't take on a new ship straight out of the yard.”
“Why not?”
“Because…because you don't know what's wrong with her!” he said throwing his arms apart. He banged on a bulkhead. The compartment overhead fell open. He reached in and took out a bottle of water and then slammed the door shut. “See? I know this ship inside and out. I know what works, what doesn't. I know just how far I can push her. I know what every sound means. You can't do that with a new ship. It takes time to break em in gentle. This sector? You don't want a new ship this sector.”
“Oh?”
“Besides, you don't know what will break; there is the new factor. People see you with a new ship they think you've got all kinds of creds to burn. So they jack the price up.”
She looked thoughtful. “Oh,” she replied thoughtfully. Slowly she nodded. So, maybe there was more to the bear then she realized. Thoughts of dumping him the first chance she got were fading fast.
Baloo shook his head. “Another one.”
“Another one what?” she demanded. The bear infuriated her.
“A know it all. Real world versus class room crap.”