Page 21 of Life-Debt

“I would,” Mystoran replied, rising to his feet and scooping up Pandora before she could run off and lose us precious time. “Might I inquire where you received such a fine beast?”

“My parents bred her from their vulpes vulpes. I’m sure you could inquire with the Andromeda homo sapiens for one. The kits don’t go cheaply to outsiders, but I’ll vouch for you if you would like a pair of foxes. They usually are sold in unrelated pairs to allow them to breed. There are rules about the kits born, though. They have to be sterilized or sent to unrelated owners in a trade. If you breed, you can inquire with other owners for trading kits to establish a healthy population on your world if they’re determined to be a viable introduction to the environment. If not, you’ll have to verify the location and state of all vulpes vulpes on the planet.”

“Tedious but reasonable. I will inquire. She is a remarkable creature. I am amused she often checks on you in the lulls between our hunts and games.”

She’d been checking on me? I smiled and rewarded my fox with a petting. “You are such a good girl.”

Once I had the gangway closed, I ordered Pandora to go to her bed for launch. The instant Mystoran set her down, the fox ran for her launch station. “She has a special padded nest she hides in for launches. Foxes aren’t built well for seat harnesses, and with a fresh engine overhaul, things could get bumpy. Usually, we only do this for planetary launches. Getting a ship of this model in and out of orbit is rough. She’s rated for it, but she much prefers spaceport docking.” I gestured to the quarantine bay. “This is just luxury.”

“Most of the docks here are enclosed with gravity. It’s an expensive spaceport, but it is favored by long distance travelers. Your docking fees are covered by the spaceport itself, as its owned and operated by Cremora.”

I guided the pair to my main navigation room, grateful I’d opted to have seating enough for five sentients. “I’ll apologize in advance for the discomfort, Mystoran. I was informed most Veloc would become quite unreasonable about my ship and would rather risk life and limb in a blackhole than venture out on a death trap like this.”

Mystoran hooted his amusement. “My tail shall be fine, no worries. We are masters of lounging in chairs meant for smaller sentients. I would replace a seat were I to fly long term, but that would be my expense rather than yours, for I am vain and my tail is beautiful.”

That it was. “I’d say buckle up, but uncap those claws and dig your toes in if something goes wrong. The belts aren’t rated for your weight and would rip right out anyway.”

The Veloc chuckled, picked one of the seats, and made himself as comfortable as he could.

“I have to do a walk around the ship, which basically involves making sure there’s nothing loose that can cause problems, shut all the doors, raise the gangway, and so on. It’ll take about ten minutes. Gossip while I’m gone, but don’t touch any buttons. You won’t get to fly this go around, Delta, but I might let you get a taste for it after quarantine is over and I can submit paperwork for you to do a test flight.”

“A generous offer,” the Veloc murmured.

“You don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind at all. Consider it some temptation to get you back into space again. If you can fix it and you can fly it, you’re a lot safer in the vast unknown. Make your own security.” That way, no one would be able to take his peace of mind away from him, even in the middle of a disaster.

He might not get lucky twice, but he wouldn’t die with the crushing weight of helplessness closing in.

He would die trying.

“I’d go back. It would be reluctantly, but I’d go back if needed,” Delta replied.

I pointed at the co-captain’s chair, which was near mine. “You can sit in that chair, and you can watch and learn.”

Delta obeyed, and I went on my walk around my ship, fetched a few treats and a new bone for Pandora, and took to her launch nest and gave them to her. I checked the nest’s ties, buttoned the entry so she could escape with some work but not as a result of a rough takeoff or landing, and checked over the rest of the ship, which I’d kept flight ready. Satisfied, I closed and locked the gangway, input the security codes into the system to lock the ship down, and returned to my seat. Pleased, I buckled in, coached Delta on how to secure his belt, and began my checklists for launch.

I opened the comm link, identified my ship, and requested flight authorization from the quarantine bay to do a complete system check, establishing my planned route to Cremora Delta 005-23 and back to the same bay. The traffic controller approved, notified me I would be performing a gravity based takeoff, and began the process of preparing the quarantine bay for access to open space.

“Gravity based takeoff?” Delta asked. “Why is that significant?”

“Essentially, when gravity is on when I take off, I will have takeoff velocity propelling me out of the spaceport. This can result in a rather hasty departure from the spaceport. As we’re at a quarantine bay, most ships are on the other side of the spaceport, so we can zip in and out at a much higher velocity. We’ll come in at a crawl, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the spaceport staff disinfects the quarantine bay while we’re gone and leaves supplies—and possibly dinner—as we won’t be under foot to infect them.”

Mystoran chuckled. “They know we’re not infected with anything at this stage. They have viral scanners in the quarantine bay. They’re just testing your ethics.”

I snorted, as most spaceports pulled that trick at least once or twice in a captain’s career. “It was unlikely we were infected, but corpses in space can cause trouble in a hurry. It’s better safe than everyone sorry.”

“Precisely,” the Veloc agreed.

“Captain Viva, you are approved for takeoff at your leisure. Space is clear around your bay. Have a safe flight. We have full comm reach with Cremora Delta 005-23, and there is a tug available should you encounter any system difficulties.”

“Roger.” I changed the frequency to general spaceport monitoring to listen in on other flights coming in and out in case someone decided to venture off their authorized path while beginning my support system startup. I confirmed the life support system first, nodded at no warnings, and started the engine.

The ship purred with a hint of a thrum, and I smiled at the sound. “And that is what a good engine sounds like. Well done, Delta. Let’s see how she handles, shall we?”

The quarantine bay doors opened, revealing empty space and a blanket of stars, and I engaged the hover thrusters. My ship wobbled before stabilizing. One day, I would get around to identifying the source of the wobble and fix it, but as I expected the wobble, and she maintained her position three feet above the bay floor, I considered it to be Delta’s victory.

“Hover thrusters are all functioning normally,” I announced, before easing the throttle forward. My ship glided towards the bay doors. “Ready to see what tri-color crystals can do?”