by M J Gauntlet
“It was still a breach of ship protocol on her part and she will be censured for her transgression,” Captain Ahosi replied, brushing aside his protest with a wave of her hand. “But…considering the outcome, only a mild reprimand will be logged into her record. Abrams informs me, that your reconstruction of the two injectors was exemplary. By your actions, you have saved the ship and crew several thousand eunits of the cost of replacing those units. By trader’s code, I must now ask you if you seek any compensation for your work?” The captain finished saying, in a formal tone. Zax noticed that several of the crew had leaned in slightly to hear is reply.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t quite understand. What sort of ‘compensation’?”
“It would be within your rights to request that the fee for your passage be amended or even refunded if you wish,” she explained.
Zax thought for a moment, then shook his head in the negative.
“I’m sorry captain, but it seems to me if I asked for that, then the ship and its crew wouldn’t actually ‘save’ any units after all. Besides, I offered to work on the injectors. I wasn’t asked. No… the gratitude of you and that of the crew is enough,” he said finally.
To Zax’s immense relief and surprise, Captain Ahosi’s face broke out into a wide grin, and he felt his back being pounded by a heavy-handed Brax.
“Well said, Zaxxion Grayson. I would like to call you Zax if you don’t mind,” Ahosi said.
“Err…no…that is to say…I don’t mind at all ma’am,” Zax sputtered.
“Good, Zax it is then. I wish to inform you, after our cargo delivery to the Krillian rook ship T’kkrill, and after transition, when we reach the edge of the Greco system, I will send out a com laser marked ‘priority’ to Plato’s spaceport regarding the whereabouts of the tradership Rapture. It will take four hours or so for the message to reach Plato and another four hours for their reply to reach us out there on the system’s rim. In the meantime, you are now authorized to have complete access to all areas of the ship, including the engine room, under Abram’s supervision of course. I figure, I might as well give you this permission, since you have already found ways to suborn both members of my crew and the Windjammer’s supposedly impartial A.I., Windy.”
“I have not been suborned; my cognitive reasoning is not compromised.”
“Oh, is that so Windy? According to ships’ stores, one of components used in the repair of one of the injectors was not a scrap item, but was a spare part, located in storage locker A61 in the machine shop. That locker was monitored as being locked for transition. I wonder how a non-crew member, was able to gain access to that part through the locked storage bin?” Ahosi questioned, speaking into the air.
Silence…
Looking back at Zax, Ahosi continued speaking. “As I was saying, if we are off duty and there is a question that I or the crew, or Windy (she looked at the ceiling) can answer please feel free to ask. Word of warning…this is still a tradership young man. Be careful of what you do, if there is ever a question about something ask first. Do not take it upon yourself to solve any problems you might think you see.”
Knowing a dismissal when he heard one, Zax bobbed a short nod and exited the overcrowded bridge. As he passed various crewmembers, he noticed a decided shift in their attitudes towards him. There were more smiles directed at him and some nods of recognition. When he reached the passageway leading to his stateroom, he spied Pilar waiting for him at the door to his cabin. Chagrined, he walked towards her and tried to apologize.
“Pilar, I am so sorry that I got you into…” The huge grin on her face stopped his apology in mid-sentence. “Silly man!” Pilar said playfully, “Are you kidding? I knew what I was doing and what I was letting myself in for when I left you alone with those scrap parts. I figured, I would most likely catch hell for letting you stay down there, but you seemed so sure of yourself. I took a chance that you were right about being able to salvage something out of that pile of junk. And I was right! What you did resulted in higher profit shares for the entire crew and a bonus share for me! Oh, by the way, the crew wants to extend its thanks for waving your right to compensation. How did you know that was the right thing to do?”
“It just seemed like the right way to handle the situation, that’s all,” he said, shrugging off the compliment.
“Well, I personally think that you are still entitled to some sort of compensation,” she said coyly, and before he could reply, she reached up and pulled his face down to hers and kissed him long and deep. After a brief hesitation, he passionately returned the kiss. Minutes later, they both came up for air.
“Are all spacers so…fast?” he gasped, flabbergasted.
“Humm…? Why yes, yes, we are… pretty much.
Zax, spacers are a different breed from planet bound folk. We spend a great deal of time in space and the Einstein relativity effect plays merry hell on any long- term commitments. We can leave a system for a year and when we return, up to a couple of years may have passed dirtside. You leave your child when he is two and when you come back home, he is five! Between that and us spending most of our time either onboard ship or going to planets, with brief planetfalls in between, spacers cannot afford long drawn out courtships or all that playing coy nonsense. To be frank, normally I would never even consider getting involved with a ground hugger, but you are kinda special. You don’t make demands, you take what is given, and almost have a spacer’s sense of humor and proportion, plus Windy likes you to boot. It doesn’t hurt that you are kinda cute, with that Nubian look. But let’s take this inside your quarters, where I will be happy to demonstrate in detail the other advantages spacers have in terms of full body contact interaction …humm?
As he palmed the access panel his stateroom door, Pilar gently pulled him inside. Once inside, he palmed the door closed and was surprised to see that Pilar had already divested herself of her bulky work overalls with lightning speed. The overalls hid her body that was toned, strong and curvy. Underneath she wore a garment, that was simultaneously flesh revealing and strategically concealing both at the same time. A low appreciative whistle escaped Zax’s lips, causing Pilar to grin devilishly.
“Oh, you like this little thing I have on, do you? Well I’m glad because I wore it specially for you!” Twirling around, she allowed the garment to reveal yet more tantalizing flesh, than its makers had originally intended. Zax found himself laughing appreciatively, as he reached out to try and capture the enchanting will-o-the-wisp before him.
Eventually he drew her to him, deeply inhaling her scent. It took him moment to discover the secret code to unsnap her outfit’s devious clasps. As the last clasp opened, Pilar stopped and placed both her hands on his chest, holding him at arm’s length while looking deeply into his eyes.
“Wait Zax, there is something you must understand before anything happens…” looking down below his waist, she giggled and continued, “…before anything else happens. I want you to understand that what happens here today, and hopefully many more days to follow, will remain onboard. You must recognize that this can be no more than a pleasant diversion for the both of us. Nothing lasting can come of it. I am a spacer and that is all I want to be. If you can’t accept that, then we better stop right here before things…um… get bent out of shape,” she said earnestly.
“I understand fully Pilar. What happens between us is just for the moment. You are an exciting, smart, beautiful and delightful woman, who appears to have temporarily taken leave of her senses, something that I intend to take full advantage of, and the only thing that is going to get bent out of shape will be your body.”
Pilar laughed hardily. “Promises, promises. Well if that is how you feel, then why are you still in those clothes?!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Over the last couple of days, for the first time since he boarded the Windjammer, Zax felt truly relaxed. Eyes closed he reached over and found only a warm spot, where Pilar should have been. Opening his eyes, he felt rather
than saw, her presence standing at the foot of the contragrav bed. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he finally focused on her lithe figure. He marveled how such a seemingly tiny but voluptuous body, could wield such strength and energy. He was worn out!
“Zax, there is something that I must let you know about,” Pilar began, with a strange look on her face. “I know that the necklace you constantly wear is there because either it is precious to you or you don’t know how to take it off,” she added, with a giggle. “But it is almost impossible to hide something on your body when it has been, shall we say, explored as much as we have just done with each other’s. I can tell that you have at least two body pouches and they contain something you want to remain hidden, for some reason.” At the startled look on Zax’s face, Pilar quickly went on. “Look, it is none of my business, really, but I thought that you should remember that, if you find yourself…mmm… close… to someone else.”
“Thanks for warning me, Pilar. I’m sorry if they made you uncomfortable, they are just personal items that I want to keep close to me, that’s all. After my experience with those two thugs in space port, I’m glad I have them.”
Pilar stood at the foot of the contragrav bed and smiled her understanding, wearing only a towel, and that was on her head. Looking at her like that, was enough to wipe away Zax’s worry and fatigue.
She was idly gazing over his body, when her eyes stopped, and she noticed the change that had begun in his nether regions and suddenly grinned.
“Whoa, hold on fella!” she laughed heartedly, “I’m not so sure that I could go another round and still be fit for duty! Are all the males from Bright like you?! If so, then I’m gonna have to con the captain into stopping there more often!”
Zax grinned shyly and shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t say, but if you are any indication of what spacer females are like, then I better start exercising! Or get used to being sore all the time.”
Pilar laughed again. “Touché. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were a ground hugging dirtsider, and I have my eye on Brax, I could get real used to you.” Zax raised his eyebrows at the mention of Brax’s name, causing Pilar to smile and shake her head slowly.
“Don’t be surprised Zax. About Brax, I mean. Like I said earlier, we spacers have a different attitude about relationships and such. I have no doubt that Brax, and the rest of the crew, I bet, knows what we have been doing for the past couple of days.” When Zax’s surprise turned into a look of alarm, Pilar made a calming motion with her arms (causing other parts of her anatomy to jiggle). “Don’t worry, no one, including the captain, thinks about it one way or the other. What I choose to do, and who I do it with, is strictly my business and no spacer would ever think of judging another’s private relationships.
“Brax is going to be a captain someday and we both get along quite well. He is going to need a first mate and I plan on being it. He’s not too hard on the eyes, a strong yet gentle man, and he is not too bad in the sack either. But after you, I think I may have to reevaluate my standards. Ha, ha, ha, now maybe, there are a couple of new things I can teach him!
“So, get that ground hugger look off your face and come over here so I can get another lesson! I think I have just enough time before my shift starts, but if you wear me out anymore, the captain will have both our hides. She hates it when a crew member is not up to speed,” she gasped, with a low, slow, pleasing moan as Zax reached for her, grasping her hips and pulling her against him.
“One thing Pilar, stop calling me ‘young man’ please. Besides you can’t be more than a year or two older than me, if that,” Zax half mumbled into her belly button.
“What? You mean that you didn’t know?” Pilar said, pushing him back down on the bed as she lay above him, her weight supported by her braced arms on either side of his head. When she saw the look of puzzlement on Zax’s face, she sat up and clapped her hands with glee.
“I’m a Xavierian! I thought you knew that!” When he still did not respond to her words, she started to massage his chest as she spoke, making it even harder to concentrate on her explanation. “I see you don’t know much about people from Xavier. It is what is known as a high-gravity world. That is why we are so short. Actually… I’m considered tall and skinny on Xavier. We also age differently than other citizens of the Empire. I am about thirty-five T-years old. Back on Xavier, I would be considered an ‘old maid’ since we marry about the age of sixteen and have our first child by the age of seventeen.
Xavier’s gravity is about one and a half Earth standard. It is what gives us our strength and quickness in normal ‘g’, but the downside is that we tend to die at an early age. High gravity is hard on the bones and internal organs. That is why I went off-world and became a spacer. I wanted to see more than the heavy metal mines of home. Living in standard gee will more than double my life expectancy. Now, if you want to talk away the extra few minutes I have before my shift starts, that’s ok with me, but I can think of a much better way to spend the time!”
Zax had to agree, it was a much better way to spend the time.
When Pilar finally left his cabin (at a dead run, after Windy informed her that the captain was inquiring of the A.I. as to her whereabouts), Zax dressed and had something to eat. Not surprisingly he found that he was famished. After finishing something called ‘bacon and fowl (or was it hen) eggs, he looked up and asked a question.
“Windy, how close are we to the Krillian colony ship?”
“I’m sorry Zax, but I thought you already knew that we have rendezvoused with the Krillian rookery and are currently matching velocities and rotational vectors. The captain suggested that I inform you of this the moment that we reached the rookery boundary, but since you and Pilar were otherwise engaged, I thought it best to withhold the information. That is why Pilar was in such a hurry when she left your cabin. She was due down in the ‘C’ deck cargo hold, ten minutes ago. The ‘C’ deck is two decks below your current stateroom.
“Pilar says that if you wanted to watch the cargo debarkation after docking, it would be alright with her. The captain has given her permission for me to guide you to the cargo bays, if you so wish.”
“Thank you, Windjammer I would very much like to see the off-loading procedure. Maybe I will get a glimpse of the inside of the rookery as well.
“Very well, I shall inform Captain Ahosi of your decision. When you are ready just follow the lighted floor strips and they will lead you to ‘C’ deck and the cargo bays.”
By the time Zax got dressed and made his way down to the cargo bays, the Windjammer had already matched velocity with the gigantic Krillian ship and was docking within a hanger of the Krillian ship that could have easily swallowed both it and a couple of highliners. If Zax was on the bridge, he would have seen the two Krillian guard ships peel away and take up their stations at the perimeter of the rookery, as the massive woven hanger doors slid shut behind the tradership. The Krillian rookery vessel looked like it was composed of interlaced strands of thick white cords. It appeared as though it was organically grown, rather than mechanically constructed. The entire structure slowly turned around a central axis, but not to create artificial gravity, but rather to simulate a day and night cycle. A massive contragrav field was generated from the center of the mass, which created a gravitational field that was 0.93 that of Earth norm.
Zax reached the cargo bay doors just in time to see the tradership’s bay doors open and the conveyer ramp extrude out onto the dock. Both Pilar and Brax, were talking to a pair of Krillian male (?) dockworkers. The pair of aliens looked different from the few he had seen in Plex on Bright. While those were festooned with bright colorful feathers and cloth, these were a dull brown and a dusty red in color. Their top-notch crown of feathers trailed down their backs and lay flat against their skulls. They both had the gangly posture of most Krillians, but their movements seemed awkward and clumsy.
“Windy, what exactly is the cargo we are offloading to the colony ship?”
“T
wo crates of sand sculptures from Bright and a container of Terrian earthworms, grown in nurturing tanks from the Southern continent.”
“I understand about the sculptures, Krillians seem to have a particular affection for art, but earthworms?”
“They consider the Lumbricina to be a culinary delicacy.”
“Really? Well, I guess some of the things we eat might seem a little odd to them,” he said, thinking of the fowl eggs he had eaten earlier.
Krillians were one of the first species of aliens humanity had discovered, or rather, had discovered us. One of their huge rookery ships/station sent emissaries to the human colony on Balax 3, and peaceful negotiations began with the old Federated worlds, over five hundred T-years ago. Now they co-exist with the Empire of Unity as friendly associates. They are a birdlike reptilian species composed of two sexes: male and female. Both the males and females have skin that is covered with iridescent scales, with feathers appearing only in tufts at the wrist of their elongated four fingered hands. Male Krillians, sported a crest like plume of feathers that runs down the center of their squat looking heads. It is said, they only erect the plume in anger or in courtship rituals. Females have a much slighter frame and have a small tuft of hair that runs from the crown of their heads down the center of their backs. Humans were surprised that their stiff orange striped bills could produce humanlike sounds, until they learned of the incredibly flexible throat structure behind that immensely strong eagle like beak.
Zax had never been this close to the aliens and leaned forward, craning his neck in an attempt to look around the corner of the bulkhead, but his view was blocked by the ramp’s loading arm. Just as he was about to step up on the conveyor belt and out into the open to get a clearer view, he was violently jerked backwards into the shadows of the ship.
“What the…” he exclaimed startled, then turned around to see the engineer Abrams standing behind him with his hands on his hips.