The jump had sted shorter than a blink of ahe bigger scare was that the whole coil trol sole was fshing red and bring an arm to the background of the rattling of loose panels and the screaming psma torch drive. First, she cut the mains: "Cluster-Kbauter-Cloth, standby."

  The eatus bar went back to a yellow outline and the noise and vibrations ceased. The coil paill fshed and bred angrily. The red was reflected everywhere in the dark cockpit.

  "Switch the coils back from capacitors to mains!" Ken anded.

  She grabbed and turhe heavy switch back to the fusion mark and immediately the coil trol went to an angry e background and the arm was silenced. A quice showed no other panels fshing for attention. All the tensio her, she went limb.

  "gratutions on your first jump." And when she was not immediately replying, "Are you ok?"

  "Fine now. The arm, uh." She panted heavily and was happy for a thinsuit with inbuilt facilities.

  "Now get us back to celebrate”, he smiled.

  "Give me a few moments, please.” She inhaled deeply a few more times and turo the ss again. First, she checked their position. The station y now quite a bit aft. They had jumped almost 0.05 pc. Hence, she rotated the ship and thehe navigation thrusters to get closer to the station. She only ra 25 % power which was their maximum effid they already gave a nice 0.15 g. The better efficy at low g was an excellent reason for not using the noisy main drive. Because every stronger acceleratio blowing more expensive xenon into space.

  A quick calcution showed that they would be ba about 0700 or 0750, if she saved a little more fuel. Given their reserves, saving fuel would be a good idea.

  "Flight trol to hull 472, what is your status?"

  Ok, she had fotten flight trol and was now overdue.

  "Hull 472 to flight trol, jump was successful. Returning on own power on a direct path to the shipyard airlock 1. Request clearail 4250."

  "Flight trol to hull 472, good news. No traffic scheduled on your side, choose aor. Oside, a shuttle will arrive in 0082."

  "Hull 472 to flight trol, thank you."

  She rotated the ship so the station and the p were both visible. Ken also looked out of the window.

  "Here, you switch the autotrim to first order, och further. That will keep the current acceleration." Their hands touched on the s. It was the first time they had touched each other. It felt like aric shod not because of static charges even her sweaty fur had built up ihinsuit. Her adrenalin had bee aupid instincts suddenly cried for attention. Also in the small , the st of the mouldy filters had lessened with extended circution, but the male st had bee stronger. A male for her own. She shivered.

  Ken had no idea. "What has happened?"

  "You", she whispered, "I am aloh you, a male and, uh," she sighed, "I am spent, I want you, stupid cat genes. I, harr."

  "Rerra, stay with me", he sounded really worried, "e talk. Please."

  "Talking is hard. Your st", she slurred.

  "Put on your helmet, now!" He did as well.

  She followed his and without thinking. Stale air from the tank and her own stank purged any male smell. Slowly her mind was able to focus again on the ship.

  "Is it really that hard?" he asked, muffled through the helmet.

  "No experieh humans. Maybe the stress was too much. I am ok now." Barely ok.

  "Ok, we have some time, so let’s go down on the new warnings?"

  Right, there were quite some. Oh, the first one was a little serious. They had lost the sed and st z-down thruster portside back. She would have to be extra careful about man into the station.

  "I see the shuttle", Ken interrupted.

  She looked up from the s and through the window. Indeed, a tiny bright dot with a white vapour trail was visible just above the p. It moved very slowly from here, looking almost like a meteor frozen imosphere. She followed its progress until the shuttle was hidden by the station. They would probably arrive at a simir time. But the shuttle would do the outer ring and they would be he rotatire.

  "Say, is there also an automatic dog fun?"

  "No, but I take over any time."

  She shook her head. "No, I am not sure when I fly the ime. No, I will do it. I am fine now."

  "Rerra, you've handled her very well. But, if you need any assistance, do not hesitate to ask. Please."

  She nodded a further through the list. One fusion core t pump power distributor had fried. Although the temperature looked fine, she set the new power limit to 10 %. They would not hat much power to reach the airlock. All the other items were not important right now. Many were from broken systems she knew from the start. And the vibrations from the main drive had reset some subsystems so she cleared those warnings again.

  Not only her adrenalin ent, but the initial excitement was overid by unfulfilled expectations: The stars had called but she had not been able to answer. Yet.

  Another warning popped up, xenon was at 3 %. Which should be still enough.

  Time seemed to pass slowly after the jump. Every 0100 she tacted flight trol. To pass the time, she went through the dog checklist, even though they would not dock. She still needed something to distract her from Ken. Just because he was still there, st or not. So she switched off the autotrim even if their flight path would bee a little less straight. Finally, flying again required her full tration. And going full manual, she got a better feeling for the final approach.

  Hence, she had fottehing around her wheation filled their outside view. She was the ship. Even with the missing aft thruster, she could match rotation a on the vector. The xenon arm sounded again, they had dropped below the 1 % mark.

  They slowly drifted into the wide airlock. She held them steady in the tre and finally fired the thruster to push them down until the cmps of the shipyard engaged. She powered down the fusion core and switched to backup power. One system after the other went to cold shutdown.

  The backup power sent a lower power level warning.

  "Penny, what about the UDA?"

  "W on it", came Penny’s voice.

  An arm sounded and then the ship went dark. They had run out of backup power.

  She switched her helmet mp on and put on her gloves. "If the fusion core would have lost power?"

  "Yes, same. These suits were for a reason. e."

  "Penny, fet about the UDA. We are out of power and will EVA through the lock."

  "As you wish", Penny sighed, "Take the personal airlock rotationwise."

  Ke first into the airlock. It could be vented manually, he showed her the two valves to either open to the inner ship or to the outside. Not that one could fuse them with the is a in five nguages as required by w.

  0020 ter she was also o him oop and sailed with a wide jump onto the ground. She was not long enough oatio and did not factor in that the station rotated further while jumpie just nding a ship on it. Thus, she had built up quite a momentum when she nded on all fours, not at all elegantly as real cats are supposed to do it. No, she nearly bashed into the far wall. Before Ken could send something over her radio, she went into the shipyard's personal airlock.

  * * *

  Only Penny was waiting oher side.

  She took off her helmet and gloves. "Penny, do you have a suppressant?"

  "No, I took mihis m. You went out without?" Penny’s look got even grumpier.

  "Never used one before", she sighed, "I thought I could do without. I really hate that my brain almost shuts up. Free will, what a joke."

  Penny shook her head slowly. "You have an iron will, Rerra, I wouldn’t have sted a tenth. Feelier?"

  "Yes, thanks." She took another deep breath, bringing the familiar smell of the shipyard and Penny's too. "Yes, and the stars were great."

  "I know, each time I do a test jump".

  "The stars, it was so tempting to try to get to them. Just jumping a little longer. Penny, what?"

  "I am so happy for you. 25 years ago that could have been me", Penny sniffed.

  "Oh, Penny!" But a thinsuit was not suitable fging. Thus, she just nuzzled her while fighting to get out of the gy thinsuit in almost zero g.

  The airlock cycled again. Ken o her and rushed past as fast as he could move in the low gravity. He was unscrewing his helmet while getting into the lift. "Please see me at my ship soon", he shouted from the closing doors.

  Seeing Ken's awkward gait when rushing by brought again a smile to Penny's face. "You’ve tormehis nice human too, you know."

  "Not on purpose", she sighed, "I am so grateful for him."

  "You should be. If he did not have family, he would be yours", Penny grinned.

  "Ah, Penny. Let me shower and then I the suit. I stink and the excitement, I had ugh."

  Penny smiled knowingly. "We all had it done oime or the other."

  "Rerra, gratutions", Trina's voice came from the PA, "you take off today as well, celebrate the evening. I have to work tonight. And Rerra, first thing tomorrow is filter duty. And the Terendiptis must fly in three days."

  Penny muttered something inprehensible.

  "Aunt order."

  Rerra sighed with Penny.

  * * *

  She had gone back to her to ge into her most servative set of clothes, somewhat imitating the business look she had seen on Kehey met first: The long bck trousers and a loose long-sleeved white blouse, which she had worn for her graduation ceremony. Below she wore a slightly padded bra to show absolutely nothing.

  On her way, she bought an inhaler. It felt like a defeat. But she had no willpower left to be in the pany of 5 males fined on a ship. At the checkout, she registered the io her ID. Unless she had a special permit, no new inhaler for her for 50 days. She was not overly worried that the 16 doses would not be enough. Ken would leave soon, and she was rather looking forward to meeting Lead again.

  She inhaled one dose while she waited for the lift. The suppressa a bitter aftertaste. She still took a sed. Now, this should keep her sane even through a male striptease. Although she had trouble imaginiher Ken or Lead doing this. Not that she would pin …

  She got off as usual at the lowest public level as if she was going to the shipyard which had its entry at its uppermost level in the 0.2 g zone. But now her destination was Ken's ship which was still docked there sinloading.

  A bleary-eyed member of Ken's party was already waiting outside of the dog port for her. Maybe it was the suppressant, but pared to Ken, his male st was weak.

  "Hello, Rerra, I suppose?"

  "Hello, yes, indeed."

  "Kevin, o meet the cute cat that almost got Ken."

  She blushed, had she really left that impression on Ken? It had not been one-side pheromone-driven instincts? That was all so new and fusing. "I have no i in promising him", she answered diplomatically.

  He nodded. "Don't worry, it is just, you know, he es here for business, not, er. Gets him a lot of teasing bae too. And I must say, apart from the head and tail, you look almost human."

  She was unsure if that was a pliment. "Er, I thought formal business wear … "

  "Don't worry, I have seen enough naked cats i two days. I sider you a nice ge. Ken is just in the shower. Do you want to e in or wait here?"

  "If it is ok, I would like to see the ship."

  He shrugged. "Don't expect much, it is small, just a she freighter." He keyed in the code and the heavy freight hatch slid upwards.

  In the shipyard, she had already been inside of five different freighters. However, pared to them, this one was almost factory-fresh. She was sure that if checked, all sealed screws were still untouched. The air smelled fresh, eveer than oation. But even it could not remove the heavy male uone. She could identify five males and could even si Ken. Thanks to the suppressant, it did not affect her mind. "So you are a crew of five?"

  Kevin was surprised. "Yes, five, ah, the restaurant. But not a crew, this is Ken's ship. I work for Ken, usually doing the innersystem jobs. The others are business partners."

  "If you do not mind, I would like to see the living spa such a new ship."

  "Oh, she is already around for 15 years. Anyway, e." They went to the mess which was quite spacious.

  Kevin tio expin. The ship was built fht and occasional passengers. For the tter were the two double bunk s. Kevin showed him his . His mate, Yu, was sleeping and did not stir at all.

  "Alcohol, sex, and drugs, not necessarily in this order", Kevin said after he had closed the door, yes, a real door, not a hatch. "The sex part was exhausting enough for me. And with five people, I am the sed obligatory C css pilot. Want to see the cockpit?"

  She nodded and followed him up. At the bottom of the stairs was the pilot's . In the cockpit at the top was only a single and rather small s with six multifunal trol sliders below it and no outside windows. But the proje of the outside view on the wall ectacur. It was as if they stood on top of the ship. Top-notch, and much better than anything she had seen in the shipyard.

  "Have a seat!" Kevin invited her.

  She didn’t need a sed invitation, trying hard not to show teeth while smiling and hopped on the pilot chair. And nded hard oail. She still smiled.

  "Yarn, may I introduce Rerra, also css C pilot."

  "Wele Rerra, please i your ID into the ser." The starfield faded at one position to shoen box which destroyed the illusion of a panoramic view. The ship ID had a childish voice, somewhat matg her unusual name. But what did she know about human names for real? "Eh, Yarn, I am just visiting."

  "Rerra, I see. You have an iing voice."

  "Yarn, she is a cat."

  "Rerra, may I use my camera?"

  "Eh? Yarn, yes, of course." Privacy from AI was o her.

  A camera i floated in front of the stars. But no further rea came from the AI.

  Then Ken climbed up the stairs and the AI asked, "Ken, should I cease rec?"

  "Yarn, at your discretion. Hello Rerra, wele on Yarn."

  "Ken, er, I am very impressed by your ship. And I brought the money. Please s my wallet." Her firembled slightly as she held out her pad.

  Ken took out his pad and ran it over hers. "Dear Rerra, the Sagan Melorian II is now yours. I will ge the ownership certificate back at home since I do not want to promise Trina. Officially, you bought her on Sergarch. The courier should give you the dots in five to ten days. But let me send you the key codes."

  "No hurry with the dots, there is still some tiny bit of work left. Maybe just a year?"

  Ken smiled. "I have full fiden you. And you are young, so what is a year? The gaxy will soon be yours to roam."

  She smiled toothfully which made Kevireat a little. Guiltily, she notched it down.

  Ken ughed. "Ah, Rerra, I have just known you for two days but you almost feel like family. Yarn, you take a picture, please! e Kevin."

  "Ken, my view is on the s."

  "Yarn, just record."

  They all side-hugged and smiled.

  "Yarn, thanks."

  Ken turain. "You are holding up well. Sorry, this was not to tease you."

  She took out the inhaler. "I bought a suppressant. I want to be in and, not my body."

  He nodded. "Thank you Rerra, hat you came in perso's go down."

  He started climbing dowairs, and she followed. Then he rummaged through the drawers in the galley and came with a package of tea.

  "I am such a bad host but with our test jump, we have fallen far behind our schedule. And they will charge hefty for dog extension."

  "Yes, they surely do. No problem. When is your departure window?"

  "In 0450, so please take this tea and think of us when brewing it yourself. And w on the Sagan."

  "Thank you", she smiled and stood up; they really had to prepare.

  Ken raced ahead to the entrance. "I will send you a message when I e ime. And if you get the Sagan ready before, then visit me. I want to see her flying, I will pay for your fuel."

  "Ken", she said and wheuro her, she hugged him front to front. It felt so nice, she did not want to let go. But she forced herself. "Thank you. And I will pay myself."

  "There are more cats needed like you", Ken sighed, "my pleasure. Take care."

  "You too, take care!"

  And with that, Ken hit the panel o the entrand the outer sealing lid slowly slid down. Soon, the indicator o it showed that the ship's hatch had closed too and the access tunnel was now evacuating.

  She retty sure that they could not access the cameras on this ded thus could not see her standing at the dog port. heless, she waited until the indicator ged from occupied to empty. Ken's st still sted a little longer on her.