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“Sure, I’d love to see the ship!” she said, and fell into step with Bev and me.

Something had happened when I was not looking. For the first time I noticed that Brill did not walk with her stoop. What’s more, people no longer regarded her with the same kind of derision I had grown used to ignoring. Seeing her stride along with Bev, I could see why. She was awe inspiring. Bev held station on her port side and I took up my position on the starboard. We strode the corridors together, invincible, if only for a few more stans. Pip walked slightly ahead of us and I could see his smile in the reflections in the shop windows as we passed.

The
Bad Penny’s
telltale showed clear when we got there and Pip rang. Cousin Roger opened up. His eyes bugged out slightly when Brill and Beverly stepped in with us but I could not blame him. They had that effect on a lot of people—me among them.

Roger led us through the living room and into a cozy galley. There was no mess deck, per se, but a table large enough to seat twelve comfortably was there. It felt warm and welcoming, like I had just come home.

Aunt P beamed when she saw us and came over to hug. “How good to see you all!”

Bev and Brill stepped up and returned her embrace and I thought Brill said something to her, but Pip asked, “What’s the big rush? I thought we were gonna hang around for a few days.”

Roger said, “Cargo deadline. Extra fifty kilocreds if we deliver on time.”

Pip gave me a
I-told-ya-so
look.

Aunt P patted Brill on the cheek before turning to me. “I’m so glad you’re going with Pip. His father wasn’t nearly as upset as I thought he’d be.”

“He knew all along, Aunt P,” Pip said. “We ran into him on Umber.”

“Well, I should hope so. That’s where we sent him. And here you are. Are you excited?” she asked Pip.

“Excited isn’t the word, really, Aunt P, it’s more of a, ‘yes, it’s time I went, so let’s get on with it’ kind of feeling.

“What about you, Ishmael? Are you excited?”

“Yes and no,” I told her. “The
Lois
was like my family after my mother died and now I’m leaving her. It’s the right thing to do, but I hate going.”

“Well, it’s not permanent and we’re a small community. You’re bound to meet up again.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Bev said with a shuttle full of irony that flew right past me.

Aunt P gave us the short tour of the ship. It was really impressive. I could see every part of the ship was built for efficiency, compared to the
Lois
everything was very compacted. The cabins were nice. Besides the captain’s cabin, there were two more singles, four doubles and a big one with four bunks. There was even a small work out area with exercise equipment and, in lieu of a sauna, a hot tub that looked like about ten people could fit in.

As we went back to the living room, I said, “This is so nice! I wish we had more than just a few weeks!”

“Just wait until those few weeks are over, then see if you’ll be saying that,” Roger put in with a low chuckle. “It can get pretty cramped.”

I allowed how that was possibly true, but it still looked good to me.

“Well, who’s up for some lunch?” Aunt P asked. “Quent’s gone to deal with the cargo but Roger and I were just heading up to a little place we like on level five. You kids wanna join us?”

We had a ball at lunch but it was so unfair. Bev, Brill, and Aunt P got on like gang busters. We had such a good time and I tried to stay in the moment and ignore the pending break in my heart. I succeeded but only because everybody was having such fun. It was easier to ignore while I was distracted.

As lunch wrapped up, Aunt P said, “Well, I expect you young people will have things to do this evening, but everybody needs to be aboard by 09:00 for a 12:00 pull out. Normally, it’s less but the Confederation is being persnickety about it.”

“Okay, Aunt P,” Pip said. “We’ll be there. And thanks for giving us a ride.”

“Oh, you know me. I’m always willing to fly half way across the galaxy to turn a profit.” She grinned, then took Roger’s arm and sauntered back toward the lift.

Bev said, “We’ve got some stuff to do too.”

Brill agreed. “You know how it is. Always something needing doing.”

I looked at Bev. “You don’t have watch tonight?”

She shook her head. “Normally I would but they’re breaking Tabitha in on it.”

Brill broke in with, “We’ll meet you back at the suite at about 18:00?” She looked at Bev who nodded in confirmation.

I wanted to spend every last remaining moment with them, but all I could do was say, “See you soon.”

They linked arms and followed in the wake of Aunt P and Roger.

“Those two are up to something,” I told Pip.

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know. Something’s up, and with that pair it could be anything,” I said admiring the view until they passed out of sight.

“You may be right,” he said. “We’ll find out when they’re darn good and ready to tell us, though, so it’s no good speculating.”

I chuckled in agreement. “So? What’ll we do for,”—I checked my chrono—“three stans?”

“I’m thinking sleep. I didn’t get much last night and judging from the sounds, you didn’t either.”

“I like your idea better than any I could come up with.”

When I woke up it was 18:15 and the women were sitting and talking in the common room. They had changed clothes and looked ready for a night out. “You didn’t come wake me?” I asked.

Bev said, “I was pretty rough on ya last night, and I suspect you needed the nap.”

Brill added, “Yes, and she intends on keeping you awake tonight, too, so it’s probably a good thing.”

That was both good and bad. Good for what it promised. Bad for what it meant for the next day.

Pip came out of his room, dressed and ready to go. “So what are we doing?”

“Dinner and dancing?” Bev suggested.

Brill added, “Dinner anyway. We need to feed.”

“Last night in port,” Pip noted. “Any preferences for dinner?”

I had some but they involved smearing various tasty morsels across an amazing array of anatomy. I did not mention that, instead I said, “I’m open to almost anything.”

There was a knock on the door and Pip said, “Ah, my date!”

He went to open it and Rhon Scham launched herself at him, pinning him to the wall, and kissing him very thoroughly.

She came up for air and looked over at us, “Oh, hi! You kids about ready for dinner?” Then she went back for a second helping of Pip before any of us could summon sufficient wit to reply.

When she surfaced the second time, Pip looked like he might have died right there, but he shook himself and came back to us. “Hi, Rhon. Good to see you.”

She grinned at him, “You too.” She kissed him on the tip of his nose before releasing the lapels of his jacket. She came into the room and flopped down on the sofa. “So? What are we doing for dinner? I’m starved.”

“We’re just trying to decide. You have any preferences?” I asked her.

“I’m pretty sure I know what I’m having for dessert,” she said with a nakedly wanton glance in Pip’s direction. “But I think I’d like a nice steak as entree. You kids know of any good steak places?”

“Yeah,” Bev said, “There’s one just down to starboard a couple hundred meters.”

“Oh, good,” Rhon said, “close.”

This was a side of Rhon I had never seen before and I laughed along with everybody else. In less than ten ticks we had adjourned to the restaurant and the maitre d’ was happy to find us a quiet corner.

When I sat down, I thought, so this is our last dinner together. I remembered all the dinners I had shared with Brill and Bev—starting with Maurice’s on Gugara, and including all the mess deck meals we had shared out in the Deep Dark, eating Cookie’s excellent meals. Luckily, Rhon’s antics soon distracted me from that morose contemplation and we started having fun. We were there until nearly 21:00, eating, drinking a little, telling stories, and laughing together. It was all so deliciously distracting and fun. For a little while I was able to forget that in just a few stans, I would be leaving Bev and Brill on the wrong side of the galaxy.

After we finished the third bottle of wine, though, we settled up and headed back to the suite. Rhon practically dragged Pip into his bedroom and with a cheerful little, “Night, now! You kids have fun!” closed the door. I heard her turn the bolt and I wondered if it was to keep us out or Pip in.

Bev and Brill looked at each other. “He’s in for a hell of a night, isn’t he?” Bev asked Brill.

“Yes,” Bev said. Then with a grin she added, “So is Pip.”

Brill turned to me and said, “You take care of yourself. I’ll see ya around the docks.” Before I knew what had happened, she had slipped out of the suite and the door latch clicked shut behind her.

Bev took my arm and led me to the bedroom, stopping at the door to look up at me as if to make sure I was actually there. She looked anxiously from one eye to the other until I managed a little smile. She took me the rest of the way into the room, closing the door behind us.

We didn’t rip our clothes off and attack, it was more deliberate, more loving. The sheets had been changed again, but we saw no reason not to make as much mess of this new set as we had the last ones. We were in no hurry and we took our time with each other. It was by turns: tender, hilarious, wanton, and gentle. Bodies intertwined—fingers, tongues, arms, legs, feet, ears. In many cases, napes of necks were favored. There was so much skin to kiss, hold, and cry on. We fell asleep, completely sated before midnight and woke again at 03:00 to have another round before finally sleeping for good.

Bev kissed me awake at 07:30. “You need to get cleaned up and get out of here. Grab the shower quick and get your clothes on. If you hurry you can grab breakfast on the way down to the docks.” She kissed me again and kicked me unceremoniously out of bed and onto the floor.

I crawled reluctantly to my feet and into the shower. It only took a few moments to wash up and clean my teeth. I skipped the Depil. My beard didn’t grow that fast.

Bev was still in bed watching me move about and get dressed. She followed me with her eyes as I packed my things, getting ready to leave her. She did not look as sad as I felt. Perhaps her feelings were something I had built up in my own mind and I was making more of it than I should. I sat beside her on the bed and took her in my arms one last time, kissing her gently on her eyes and nose and mouth. “Thank you, Beverly Arith. You are a she-wolf, you know.”

She grinned lazily up at me, stretching sensuously in my arms. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she growled at me. She reached up and kissed me very tenderly, putting her hand around my head and stroking the back of my skull.

I heard Pip stirring about in the common room, so I knew it was time to go. I let Bev go with a final peck on the cheek, and crossed to the connecting door. Before I opened it, I turned back and said, “I love you, you know. Thank you for all you’ve done for me.” I slipped out and closed the door behind me without waiting for a reply.

Pip waited with his duffel packed and fully dressed. “Ready?” he asked.

I shrugged, not trusting myself to speak and headed for the door. I did not have a lot to say on the way down to the docks and Pip didn’t press. Remembering how long it had taken me to recover from Alvarez, I wondered how long it would take to get over Bev. I chuckled to myself, at that. Did you ever get over being loved by a she-wolf?

I turned to Pip. “Do you wanna grab some breakfast?”

“Can you eat?” he asked.

“Probably not, but—” I shrugged. “Gotta try.”

We slipped into a spacer diner just off the docks and ordered the standard egg, bacon, and potato breakfast. Pip said it was good and I ate mine, but I didn’t taste it. By the time we finished and settled up, it was already pushing 08:45. We had to hustle to make it to the docks. Cousin Roger waited with the lock open and grinned when he saw us.

“Welcome aboard,” he said. “You can drop your duffels in the living room, Mom and Dad are in the galley and the coffee’s hot.”

It is going to be okay
, I thought. This was so homey. I could recover here and be, if not whole, then at least mostly healed by the time we hit Port Newmar. Pip and I dropped our bags in the corner of the living room and went on to find Aunt P and Uncle Q sitting at one end of the big table.

Aunt P pointed to a coffee pot— a real coffee pot—not a utility sized urn. “Help yourself, boys. Mugs are in the cabinet above.”

Uncle Q said, “Welcome aboard, guys. You timed it well.”

Aunt P looked at the chrono, “Yeah, now if the others make it on time, we’ll be shaking the dust off right on schedule.”

I took my coffee over and sat across from them at the table. I figured we’d be sharing a few meals. I wondered who would be cooking. “Others, Aunt P?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah, we got a couple more cadets needing a ride. Figured we could get you all in the same trip and save some time.” She kept her eye on the chrono and waited.

We all heard the lock start to close as the chrono read 08:55. Aunt P punched a button on her tablet. “There! Now the port authorities know we’re buttoned up on time. They’ll be happy.”

“I didn’t know there would be other passengers. How about you Pip?” I asked.

He was studying his coffee but I could see a grin. I heard voices in the living room, then steps in the passage, and finally Brill and Bev walked into the kitchen.

“You girls cut that a bit close, didn’t you?” Aunt P asked.

“We got caught in traffic,” Brill said.

Bev just grinned and I realized that everybody was looking at me.

“You all knew!” I said. “Cadets?”

Brill said, “Yeah, when I heard you’d applied, I went to Mr. Kelley and told him I wanted to go. He’d been after me for two stanyers to head there so he was delighted.”

Bev added, “I’m number thirty-five on the captain’s hit parade. That filled out application with the stack of recommendations on it is a very effective tactic.” She turned to Aunt P. “Thank you for your recommendation as well, Captain.”

“I’m Penny when I’m at home, dear. and I’m glad to help Alys out whenever I can. How did your father take the news, Brill?”