prissi

  Her beautiful long and fluffy tail sailed in front of him through the universal dog adapter rings. Dark by Fallerian standards, the wrey pstic between the rings was even darker with the metallic smell of space. He smiled up to his ears, goosebumps all over. He was b a spaceship, and a magnifit o that: A Sagan Melorian, the fastest manned ship ever built by humans. And not a lonely one-hand flight, no, at the helm was the most beautiful alien he had ever met. Rerra was strong, tall, elegant, such a good match for the sleek, flowing lines of the cockpit and the raw power of this ship. And such a skilled pilot. Not only had she restored this ship t order on her own, she even jumped without an AI.

  The cat still smiled discreetly, not showieeth. He appreciated it, even if he was getting aced to it. "Wele to the White Ocelot."

  He went straight for her, putting his arms around her, sinking his fato the short fur and breathing in her st. "Thanks," he whispered with teary eyes, "thanks for takio space. Big cute cat."

  The big cute cat started to vibrate deep iomach. Her strong big hand stroked his head gently. "Please, you've more than ear, and I"

  "White Ocelot you are cleared for departure in 0050. Please firm."

  He heard her sighing whe her go.

  "Flight trol, White Ocetlot firms." She turo him. "You wao fly."

  What a stupid idea. "Not now, we have less than 50. No way that I get her ready until then. I will watch closely."

  Instead of an answer, she reached into the small utility belt and took out the inhator, tiny in her rge hands. She pced the mouthpie her muzzle and inhaled deeply.

  "I'm sorry," he said. He still hadn't quite digested the fact that he was driving her crazy without it. It did not suit her at all.

  The cat gestured to the right acceleration coud took off her clothes.

  He was aroused and fused.

  The cat, however, quickly y down and then pulled a white thing over her her regions. Only when it was fastened did she look up. "Sorry, this is a toilet belt. Either that or a thinsuit. Sagans were never built for passengers or long jumps. And don't worry, it should fit you better tha was made for humans."

  He undressed and fiddled with his toilet belt while the cat demonstratively went through several checks on the s to her left, staring straight at the s the eime. But her hand was shaking.

  "I've buckled it." He pulled up his trousers as high as he could but they could not cover the toilet belt. It looked stupid, but the slow flow of the cold air gave him goosebumps. "And we turemperature up a bit? Not everyone has soft fur."

  Only then did she look at him. "Oh, sorry. I had it set to Hopkins default. How much warmer?"

  "Five Kelvins more would be great." It was still a far cry from Fallerian, barely above 290. He should have brought his coat. Since his stay in Lalellli's por hotel he had even a sed one. Why hadn't he asked about the temperature? 100 days out of spad he had fotten the most basic preparations.

  "Life support is on the back of the s. I have it set at 290 K." The cat turned back to the s and tihe start-up of the ship. The more she worked, the more steadily her hands moved. He enjoyed her trated expressioongue hanging slightly to the side.

  "Jerko, thank you for all." She switched recipients. "Flight trol, White Ocelot announced departure."

  And then they were gone.

  Only now she rexed and smiled at him. "Yes, show me those fangs, tiger!", he thought while he also smiled. "Yes, in space again!"

  "You have the trols."

  That came out of the blue. Hesitantly, he put his hands on the massive trol sticks on the armrests and tried to remember which was which. The sticks required a certain amount of force but theed to the slightest ge, the ship would gear or pitch, as agile as a tiger in the movies, going after her owner. After the first scare, he treated the sticks with respect. But it was fun, he could turn faster than he ever thought possible.

  She was grinning too. "Great response, didn't I tell you?"

  "Yes, although I don't think any passenger would appreciate it."

  "And sorry to spoil your fun, but we may he xenon for Hopkins."

  "ht." He righted the ship, fag them backwards. The Fallerian III station and the rge green Fallerian homeworld behind it filled their cockpit windows as they slowly drifted away.

  The ship jerked as he suddenly felt her hand on his leg and he had pulled the stick a little.

  "Thank you for your help," she said, "I have not said it often enough. I could not have achieved any of this, never so quickly and never so easily and not for so little."

  "No, I have to thank you, big crazy cat partner." He wao say so much more. Like she was the best thing that had happeo him. But he couldn't find the right words. Simple would do. "You got me bato space, and that other thing."

  "Making love? That's for both of us."

  Just mentioning it was distrag enough. Unfortunately, they would spend the few days strapped to the acceleration couches. He slowly rotated the ship forward as they reached the outer dog zone. Yes, piloting a ship. He hummed a little.

  "What's that song?"

  "Oh, an old human spathem, I was told. You don't mind music, then? Pad, py Kasheemes from Kirrtis."

  The drivis of the loud musi the pad were in stark trast to their slow drift. The odded. "Good choice to get the main engines ready. But for now, use the thrusters for 0.3 g into the departure window. Ok, we prime the xenon pumps. tral lower s." She took his hand and led him through the stairs. He had no fur, but the few hairs on his hand all stood up, shutting down his brain. Through the fog, he tried to remember what she was saying. Was the cat's craziness rubbing off? The partner tract meant sharing everything; but that should not include craziness in close proximity. He turned up the music.

  After six songs, they were nearing the jump window. They were the only sed ship to go to Hopkins sihe arrival of Rerra, so there was no other ship around. And the other ship before them was Fanny, the even taller but much more slender cat with the strange spot patterns and more protruding chest and buttocks. A pattern, Rerra had expined. Which was not white and fused him because their ship's name made even less sense.

  "Now prime the sed ehe cat ordered.

  He hesitated for a moment, trying to remember what she had shown him just before. Somehow his hand remembered what his brain did not. Now two-thirds of the s was blue. She just nodded and this time he sciously followed the movement of his hand. Now that he thought about it, it was obvious.

  He smiled at her. "Xenon is ready and the main rail is ready. What is ?"

  "The coil."

  He looked up at the two slitted pupils that had followed his every move. "One coil? No redundancy?"

  She shook her head. "Didn't I mention it?"

  He wasn't sure, his brain was so soft at the moment. "What s?"

  It was a s at his side, allowing him to trate on something other than the soft, inviting fur of Rerra o him. He listened carefully ahe values as instructed. Seeing all those bels reminded him of Jerka and what she had taught him about the coils. He reised the coil's avanche amplifier trol circuits. "If I set this to 50 kAmps and ramp up the voltage, the coil should ignite," he surprised himself when he spoke this aloud.

  "Uh, yes, probably. But there is an automatic for that. Here, just set the tdown timer. There, the box at the bottom. But first, we put in the jump solution. you do that?"

  "Of course, even if I only jumped with an AI, the solution was always done by the pilot and checked by the AI."

  But here only another pilot would check it. Or nobody, if she had jumped solo. He shuddered, crazy cat indeed.

  "Your solution is a bit slow, only 2.2 g maximum. Well, a rexed jump on 2 days and 4700. So let's go slow."

  "2.2 g is slow?" He swallowed. "Not everyone is such a fit cat superwoman."

  Rerra turned her head the other way. Only the ears turned in his dire, but they y ft on her head. Slowly he began to uand her expression.

  "Ok," she said, "let's fire the mains. Say 'Cluster-Kbauter-Cloth' and then the and. There is status, number, power pertages and standy. Try simple ands, this is not an AI."

  "Cluster-Kbauter-Cloth, status," he said and another wide engine trol s lit up just below the windows. A low rumble started in the back.

  She nodded. "Cut the thrusters now."

  He did. They drifted weightlessly.

  "Cluster-Kbauter-Cloth, engines 1, 2, 3 all to 10%."

  The main engines roared audibly into a, the White Ocelot leapt forward, accelerating steadily at 0.5 g. The thrust of the three eogether was smooth, but the he crag and slight vibrations only hi the fluctuations in thrust, making it very noisy even at this low acceleration.

  The cat handed him two patches. "I only have pre-timed patches. So the best match is 2.5 days. You take them now and I will do the jump as soon as you are out. Where do I put them?"

  He looked at her in surprise. "Here, behind my ear. Where cats put them?"

  She turned her left ear towards him. "Here, ihe ear lobes. We are not so different. Shall I stick yours?"

  "We should have installed a proper dispenser. I usually stick a matg oer the jump. ried two together."

  "Don't worry, I don't need patches."

  He looked at her with wide eyes. "Your cats are so lucky."

  "No, just me, a Mod. Courtesy of a Koni."

  "A mod. You know, you are the sed woman I have met with such a mod." If he could t Jerka as a mere woman. But Jerka was a Kibanderi, an a civilisation, akin to gods. So out of reach, even if they had cuddled.

  "You tell me after the jump, now we have to get ready. So take your patches and I will take over the trols for the jump."

  He was not happy about being a helpless passenger. She smiled and reached out with her arm, running it through his hair. "Sweet dreams, little human," she grihis time barieeth as she applied the first patch.

  He started to say something but was out before he opened his mouth.