Smuggler's Dilemma (14 page)

"It’s not as crazy as you think," Marny answered. "You bring in enough cargo, you’ll get rats. Two adult cats would handle that – they're probably around here somewhere."

"How’d we miss that?" I asked.

"We weren’t looking for it," she said. "Last time we were here, we were struggling just to stay alive. With all the gun fire, those animals would have hidden."

Nick arrived with a small crate. He put it down carefully next to where I sat cradling the two animals in my lap.

I saw the soft material he'd placed inside it and looked up at him with gratitude. "Thanks. I know I’m being nutty about this. I just can’t kill 'em though. They’re innocents."

He put his hand on my shoulder. "I get it, Liam. I’m glad you care."

I placed the tiny orange animals into the crate. Neither made any attempt to move. I felt bad sealing the top, but there was no helping it. I carried the crate back to my quarters on the ship and opened it back up.

When people got sick, it was common to apply a small adhesive discs to their skin to monitor health. While treating animals in space wasn’t particularly common, medical data was easily accessible and I found a feline monitoring disc pattern for the replicator. It cost me a hundred credits, but I was all in by now.

As much as I wanted to save these little guys, it wasn’t lost on me that they might have some ugly bugs that I wouldn’t want in my bed. I manufactured a couple soft towels, placed them on the bottom of the crate and gently transferred the kittens onto them. The smaller kitten wasn’t moving at all when I applied the diagnostic disc to its stomach. It was still alive, but barely. Its brother had the energy to complain slightly about the disc's application.

The AI’s diagnosis was immediate and followed by a prescription which included manufacturing an appliance that clipped on a front leg and a medical blanket that would treat the parasites and provide an appropriate level of warmth.

I found it difficult to walk away, but we were in a dangerous place and there was little more I could do. I carved off a small spot in my HUD to constantly show a view of the kittens and caught up to Nick and Marny, who were still searching the base commander’s suite.

Marny acknowledged my return. "What are you going to call them?"

"No idea. I’ve never had pets before," I said.

They had assembled several two cubic meter crates and were throwing items into them in a way that looked haphazard. Nick pinched and tossed a subroutine at me.

"What’s that?" I asked.

"Run it and then just pick up anything. Your AI will tell you which crate to put it in," Nick answered.

"Even the junk?" I asked.

"We’ll pack that last, but the salvage is worth more than the fuel to transport it. By the way, we found the mother cat and the rest of the litter." Nick gave a small sigh.

"Dead?" I asked.

"Yeah, sorry."

There wasn’t much to say. I wasn’t particularly upset by the news, but it did put me in a funky mood. I decided the best course of action was to get to the work at hand. Nick’s subroutine was pretty well designed. As soon as I picked up something, my HUD displayed an outline around the appropriate crate and directed me on how to orient the items as I put them in. Two hours later, we had picked up and crated everything as directed.

"I’d say we get some dinner," Marny said. "I’m starving."

"I’ll program the construction bot to take down these domes and we can stack the full crates," Nick said.

"How many bots did you bring?" I asked.

"Just two. You can’t believe how much security deposit they wanted," Nick said. "I had to tie up over a hundred thousand of our bond just for these. Apparently, we’re considered a high risk."

I guffawed, "I can’t imagine why. Do you need my help? I’d like to go back and check on the kittens. One of them isn’t moving much and isn’t responding to the medical cuff."

"No problem. Would you take the half-loaded crates into the next quad for when we start back up? The construction bot will need a few hours to take down this side and get it crated up."

"Do we have enough room to haul everything?" I asked.

"I think so. I haven’t been able to get a full list yet, but my estimates are that we have more than enough room. Even so, I’m stacking the junk crates to the side. I wish we had a reclaimer, but they’re just not practical to haul around. I’d love to have all the raw materials from this junk."

"Once we get to Colony 40 we can use the big reclaimer in the down-under," I reminded him.

The down-under referred to the bottom side of the main station of Colony 40, which was called P-Zero (Perth Zero). P-Zero had been carved out of a large, watermelon shaped asteroid. Anything below the equator was called the down-under and it was where most of the industrial type activities took place. It was also where the more unsavory types could be found, which I’d had more than enough experience with.

"Yup." Nick answered. I knew enough about his responses to know that he’d already thought it through.

I entered my quarters and sat on the floor next to the box where the two kittens lay. I’d been watching their progress from my HUD and knew that the littlest one didn’t stand much of a chance. Its vitals had declined even with the help of the cuff.

"How are they doing?" Marny asked from the doorway, holding out a cup of coffee.

"Oh, you are my favorite person," I said, gratefully taking the cup. "The little one isn’t responding to the cuff."

"How about the other?"

"He’s getting stronger. I hope they make it," I said.

FILBERT

"Where are the kitties?" Ada burst into the mess/galley. Nick, Marny and I had gathered around the long table, waiting expectantly for her to arrive with Jake. Marny had been ordering Nick and me around for the last thirty minutes in preparation for one of her signature feasts.

I pointed up. "In my room."

"We’ve got to go see 'em. Marny said one is really sick. Is he going to make it? Can I hold them?" Ada fired off rapidly.

"Neither is doing very well. I’ve got a video channel, here…" I pinched the channel from my HUD and flicked it at her. "How about after dinner we go up and look at them?" I glanced at Marny, not wanting to ruin her dinner plans.

"Don’t be silly, Cap," Marny said, "We can wait to eat."

Jake entered from the direction of the cargo hold and looked confused to find us lined up waiting to step onto the lift. To his credit he just lifted an eyebrow and watched as Ada and I disappeared.

"They’re tiny," Ada whispered, looking into the box. "Can I hold them? They look so lonely." I started to suggest that it might not be a good idea, but Ada had apparently already decided. She reached into the box and lifted the blanket containing the two tiny felines and cradled them against her chest. "You can’t just leave them in there, they need to know that someone loves them."

"You want to eat up here?" I asked, knowing better than to argue.

"No. They can come down with me." She smiled, turned and walked out of the room. We rejoined the crew at the mess table where Marny gave me what I could only guess was an 'I told you so' look.

"How can we help pack up?" Jake asked after we sat down.

"Inventory," Nick said. "I’ve sent everyone a subroutine that will scan the contents of a crate and create a bill of lading. We have to assume that everything in here has been stolen, there’s a good chance that some of it is also illegal. We’ll send a list of it to Mars Protectorate and see what they want us to do with it."

"We’re in Indian space. Any legal problems with bringing this stuff into Mars space?" Jake asked.

"Already cleared it," Nick said.

"What’d that cost?" I asked. I’d started to realize that Mars Navy gifts never came without a price.

"They want our scans of the cargo. I’m sure they want to track the stolen goods."

"Why wouldn’t they just confiscate it all?" Jake asked.

Marny took that one. "They don’t care about the stuff, they just want to track Red Houzi’s movements. If they start seizing our plunder, then we might just decide to start hiding things from them. It’s a symbiotic relationship."

"I like it," Jake said, nodding.

"Marny, how do you want to run security while we’re here? Do we need to have shifts on both ships?" I asked.

"We’ll maintain a watch on the
Hotspur
. Nick has it connected to the command center so one person can easily cover both."

Ada spoke immediately. "I volunteer."

"You want first watch?" I asked.

"I’ll take 'em all, that way I can watch the kitties. Any problem if I snooze, Marny? " she asked.

Marny shrugged her shoulders. "I don’t think so. We’re not expecting trouble and the ship will certainly wake you if there’s a problem."

"Good. It’s settled then," Ada said triumphantly. I’d never seen her so excited about anything before.

"Perfect," Nick interrupted and drew everyone's attention back. "I know everyone’s tired, so the first order of business is sleep. We won't set a specific schedule, just work your way to the warehouse whenever you’re ready. The two things we need to focus on are organizing the junk in the two remaining quads and completing the inventory of the warehouse. It’s 2200 now. I plan to start at 0600 tomorrow morning, join me when you can."

It didn’t take long for us to break up. Everyone was exhausted. We’d been pushing hard and the tension of being in enemy territory weighed on us all. I walked Ada up to the cockpit and sat next to her.

"You need to hold them, Liam," she said and pushed the warm bundle into my arms. They were so small, I couldn’t imagine how they’d survived to this point.

"Do you think they’ll live?" I asked.

"You have to have faith, Liam."

"I hope you’re right." I leaned back in the pilot’s chair, surprised at how attached to these little guys I’d become in such a short period of time. I heard a tiny fluttering sound from the blankets. "I think one of them is having trouble breathing," I said quietly, more than a little concerned.

"No, he just likes you, that’s a happy sound he makes," Ada whispered.

I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I knew, I woke up with the kittens still on my chest. I checked the medical display and was sorry to see that sometime in the night the smaller of the two had passed away. I looked over to Ada, who was awake and looking at me. She held her finger up to her mouth and I saw tears in her eyes.

"He passed half an hour ago," she whispered, "and there was nothing we could do for him."

It was almost 0500 and I’d been asleep for over six hours. "I think he should be buried with the rest of his litter," I said.

Ada held out her arms and I handed the blankets to her and stood up. I leaned over and gave her a hug then wrapped the deceased kitten carefully in one of the blankets. I felt a strong responsibility to take him back to his family.

I didn’t have any trouble locating the small mound of rocks where Nick and Marny had buried the small family of cats. I removed a few of the rocks and placed his body next to his mother and then covered them all back up.

"Don’t worry," I said before leaving. "We’ll take care of him." I felt a little self-conscious talking to the dead, but it didn’t stop me.

I wasn’t surprised when I entered the galley and found Marny standing in front of the coffee maker. I suspected she’d already talked to Ada since she just nodded and handed me a cup of coffee.

"You know, it’s why people are drawn to you, Cap," she said.

"What’s that?" I asked.

"You care," she said. "The universe is full of people who are just out for themselves, but you make people feel like they’re part of something bigger because you care."

I took a deep breath. "Well, it kind of sucks today."

"Aye, Cap. Some days it sure does."

"Where’s Nick?" I asked.

"He’s working on getting the first quad packed onto the barge," she said. "He’s pushing hard."

"I feel it too. This place gives me the creeps and I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to. Are you ready to head over?"

She nodded in agreement. "Might as well. It’s all got to get done."

A couple of hours later Jake joined us in packing up the two remaining quads and by the end of the day we were finished with both of them. It had been a long day, but we’d accomplished a lot. At dinner, Nick informed us that the construction bot estimated its completion by 1000 the next morning. It was quicker than we’d need, since it would take us all of the next day to inventory the crates in the warehouse.

Ada brought the kitten down to dinner. She looked tired and I knew it was because she hadn’t slept much the night before. We hadn’t talked about it yet and I wondered if we ever would.

"Liam, I think it’s up to you to give him a name," she said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Of course. I might be caring for him, but he’s your cat."

Everyone looked at me expectantly.

"Filbert," I said. I got more than a few questioning eyebrows. "It’s what I thought about when I first saw him. He looked like a little hazelnut curled up next to his brother."

Marny let loose a small laugh. "When have you ever had a hazelnut?"

"Sometimes we’d get hazelnuts when the family traders docked on Colony 40. It seems fitting," I said.

Ada handed me the bundle. "Well, Filbert, you need to go to Liam because Auntie Ada needs a few minutes to get cleaned up."

"It seems like he’s responding to the cuff," I said, looking down at him. He still looked pretty bad with the large tufts of missing fur.

"AI says all the parasites are gone and he’s gained fifty grams today, mostly fluid," Ada said. She continued to fill us in on all of the minute details of Filbert’s day. If anyone thought it was annoying they sure didn’t let on. I, for one, found it interesting.

"I found a pattern for a gravity box," Ada finally said after recounting the day. "You should manufacture two and install one in the cockpit and one in your quarters."

I’d heard of a gravity box, although I’d never seen a reason to have one before. Ultimately, it created a stable gravitational field in a very small area. If we could train Filbert to rest in the gravity box during combat maneuvers or when we dropped out of hard burn, he’d be a lot more comfortable. I looked at the plan Ada had sent and noticed she’d found one designed by spacers. In addition to being able to plug into the gravitational system, it also maintained heat, pressure, atmo and had cartridges for water and food. The cost of the pattern was two hundred credits for a single use, but it was perfect, so I shipped the pattern to our replicator. At two hours construction time for each unit, I set the priority to low, so Nick’s packing supplies would get completed first.