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Stellar Cruise Part 2

Tracking

By daniel morrisPublished 6 years ago 21 min read
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When there is nothing to do, people will find a way

Rory shared a cabin with one of her best friends from college. They had shared a dorm for the better part of five years, and were now both on their way to new worlds, to make names for themselves in their respective fields. As recent grads, they had very little in the way of spare cash, so their cabin was the cheapest possible. It was barely big enough for the two racks and tie downs for their trunks. By far, the biggest problem, though, was that it lacked private facilities. But since they just got out of the dorm, and new each other so well, what was another 2 years of skirting the halls barely dressed before and after a shower. All in all, it was almost tolerable.

Currently, the cabin was empty save Rory, who had spent the last few days ensconced in the room trying to figure things out. Because her friend disliked when she went on searches for meaning, she could only look over the pamphlet when she was alone. So now, she lie on the top bunk of the cabin perusing the pamphlet the snow tigress had slipped into her pocket. She had had success in disproving false religion before, and so she searched for the holes.

In all her study of the small pamphlet, she learned very little. All she could say for certain was that it was a brief introduction to Rralbresurl. Her friend was not enthusiastic about the return of her obsessions, she hated when they surfaced the first time. But it was all she could think about right now.

"Imagine, 'Way of the Path'." she sighed letting it fall to her chest, "But somehow, this Kestra is not nearly as bonkers as people think. It may be harder to debunk than I thought."

The obsession had paid her way through collage and gave her a sense of purpose, it had been a search for meaning in her own life. That search had cleared out all the religions of the capital city, and made her a hero to the government that had tried to get rid of them for years. Just another day, for her. Now, though, it was starting again.

As she closed her eyes to ponder the words, the door cracked and Calia slipped in and finished drying her long-furs. Calia was a leopard spotted beauty. She was tall lanky, but had curves in all the right places. When she finished with her long furs, she looked up to see Rory in her bunk, eyes closed, probably trying to sleep.

"You know you'll be bored to death if you just stay in here. The Tigress is under cabin arrest."

Calia had noted her friend’s funk and had been trying to get her out of the cabin. It was not healthy to stew in ones juices for too long but Rory just would not hear it. She remembered the last time Rory had acted like this, and they were still getting the hate mail when they hopped ship.

"I'm not scared of the tigress.” Rory returned with a sigh, trying to surupticisaly hide the pamphlet “I'm just distracted.”

"Last time you said that," Calia growled, putting on nice skirt, "You went on a religion busting campaign that cleared out all the cults in the capitol area... Oh no, not another pamphlet."

Calia had helped Rory in the past, reluctantly, to deal with the capital zealots, she needed the money too. But now, she had absolutely no intention of helping again. She dropped her towel and rummaged through her trunk, looking for her best dress.

Calia’s spotted fur bristled in agitation. She willed it to lay back down as she did her best to adjust the deep blue skirt and ignore her friend.

"Just because you can't explain something..." Rory sat up to look at her friend.

"Look, Ror, your own words, 'Why would any being regardless of power want a completely docile, stupid population, unwilling or unable to do anything significant on their own'."

"That's not always the case..." Rory dropped to the ground to regard her friend, face to face.

Calia turned on Rory after placing an earring in. She adjusted her unders to more appropriately support her ample mammaries, and took a deep breath.

"What about the god givens, you know, the god given right to procreate, even when facing exponential population growth threatening global collapse, or manifest destiny, or any of that other crap.” Calia groaned and when she got no coherent response continued, “Right, well, if you want to fill your head with malarkey, don't expect me to follow along, again."

"Cali, you’re my friend..."

"Ha, yet, you didn't want to be my wing-girl for tonight's festivities." With that, Calia was out the door, "Imagine, of all the half-baked ideas…"

The steerage section of the ship, retaining the term from old sea faring ships, was the cheap section. Purely functional, it was not quite the lowest part of the ship; that would be the maintenance corridors, but is might as well be. This section of the ship was not as aesthetically pleasing as the more expensive sections, but as people were seldom in these halls for long, it did not matter.

As always, the passages were empty. Not feeling the need to act civilized in private, Calia went four down to quickly make her way to the Promenade, where everything happened, where there was no real thing called time.

As the vibrant sounds of the market area filled her ears, Calia inhaled deeply and let the stress of a crazy roommate go. Though she was hungry, she was going to a mixer, so she bypassed the restaurant ring. As she passed a little nook, she did wonder what kind of world it was that an old man and young woman would be sitting at the same street café-esc nook nuzzling each other, backs to the wall, without another care in the world.

Selna could believe her luck. For the first time in her life she was with a man she could not handily beat, some one that she could spar with indefinitely. Best of all, he did not look upon her in fear, he was just as fascinated with her as she was with him.

Today they had spared for two hours, and then shared an hour shower, “Do you believe in fate, I mean of all the people we could have met on this trip, we run into each other?”

Coffin chuckled, he had never felt so happy in his life, “If it is fate, she certainly has a toxic sense of humor.”

The crowd today was kind of sparse. Then again the ebb and flow still revolved around the false sense of time imposed by the clock still set to capitol time. The ship’s clock was tolling just after seven PM, dinner was winding down, but they did not want to go. Time together was worth more than any other thing else in the universe.

The scooted closer together to watch the pageantry of the promenade unfold, as they were wrapped in each other’s arms. Being on the lowest level, it was like sitting a fancy food court of a mall that was 10 floors high. Almost everything was visible, and it was beautiful.

Coffin played with Selna’s long furs then sniffed the top of her head, “I can’t believe you have never had a boyfriend, you’re practically perfect…” Coffin shook his head with a smile, sipping his wine.

Selna shuddered with happiness, he made her feel so damn good. Her head was on his manly chest, and it was so right. But she pulled away and teased him by holding some of the bread out for him to try to bite at.

“I can kick the crap out of all the other guys I’ve met, and it freaked them out.” She finally laughed, throwing a piece of bread at him.

The area was vibrant, the flow of people picked up slightly. But, the pair noticed nothing else, even when the wait staff brought out their main courses.

Atemi finished up his food and stood with a sigh. He looked with a bit of sadness at the happy couple he had sat across from. It was always a discomfort when he watched others in companionship.

“Why does it seem everybody has someone but me." He sighed, stepping through the gate.

Born on a world that was changing from fringe to civilized, He had spent his life, all 47 years, cataloging its flora and fauna for possible medicinal, scientific, and food uses. He never took any notice of the women in his life until it was too late. They all moved on and so was he. He was starting out on his own, he would be the lead in starting the catalog on a new world, and he hoped that he would find some companionship as well.

He had been to other worlds, though normally he would have been cryogenically frozen, then thawed upon arrival. In reality he had been alive for more than 80 years, but when in cryo, one doesn’t age. This being his last foreseeable trans-stellar trip, he decided it might be an interesting experience to actually be awake for a trip.

Transteller travel had originally been all awake, having started when cryonics was in its infancy and it was not guaranteed that one would wake up. And as the industry grew there was less and less need for it. Now that it was big business, and FTL drives were 1,000 percent more efficient, so it had never quite made sense to get rid of the cruises, though some made cryo-trips because it was less expensive and boring.

As far as interesting, Atemi had been woefully wrong; there were way too many people for his comfort, he was a fringer after all. As always when he had nothing to do (which was most of the time), he walked the halls without purpose. What purpose could a xenobotanist have on a cruise ship, anyway. Some of the passengers offered greetings, most either ignored him or really didn't see him. No destination ever in mind, yet he always ended up here.

The ship's arboretum was a beautiful aquaponic space. It was designed not only as pleasant acreage to pass the time in, but as a backup to the ship's artificial life support. Back in the early years of stellar voyages, it was worry some that at any point the machines that kept the air breathable could fail. So every early ship had the ability to house enough plants that they could live for a while. Of course, it never occurred to the travelers that power would ever be a problem, so it was really just for a warm and fuzzy client relationship anyway.

"Why would anyone want to design a ship without an arboretum?" He asked himself taking a deep breath of the naturally processed air.

This was the last ship designed with gardens big enough to supply the ship with air. It was a crossover design to see if the idea was plausible and kept the passengers happy. It was always about the money. After all, maintaining such an environment was rather difficult at best, and ate into the profits.

As he let the naturally filtered air rush over he moved out of the way of a couple that was also 'getting away' from the ship life, "Ah sweet surrender!"

All the stress and boredom from the trip seemed to evaporate from his cream fur as it always did when he was in this place. There were few other passengers in the area, most preferred the metal and ceramic spaces of the main ship, it seemed. There were some groups of kids playing games, some couples looking for alone time, but it was mostly single people sitting or jogging the time away.

He slowed to a stop near a stand of bushes, out of the way of the others, closed his eyes and scented the air. At one time he could name nearly all the plants in a particular area by smell alone. That was when he was younger though. After a few deep breaths through his nose to clear it he started naming the ones he could, by common then scientific names.

Debra had been born and breed in the wilds of the fringe world of Collinswood. It had been a wonderful life but when it became civilized enough to need a space port she knew it was time to go. She hated being constantly surrounded by machines and tech, but it was worth it to get somewhere less sophisticated. She had thought about a cryo-trip, but didn’t trust the machines enough. So now she camped out in the arboretum rather in her steerage berth. When she heard a man listing plants.

"Quick, which one of those would you use to staunch bleeding?" she asked him just to see what he would do.

Caught completely off guard, Atemi named the plant with the biggest leaf as he turned to regard the girl asking such an odd question. As he struggled to think he looked over the girl. She was a relatively young girl, long furs just passing the nape of the neck, she was a chocolate goddess. She wore loose fitting black cargo pants and a vest over her white tee. She had the look of a girl that had never received a formal education, she was born a true fringe world, he convinced himself, and now that that world was no longer considered fringe, she was moving on.

As the man’s face went blank, Debra took the opportunity to look completely over. This man was sort of good looking, She thought as she watched him struggle to answer her simple question his cream long furs starting to round his face.

When he finally answered she had to suppress a chuckle, "If you’re just going to staunch the bleeding, a sock would be more useful."

"If you’re thinking of using the hemoto-dendrifa, or blood bush," Atemi rebutted, "I would advise against it, the species here was picked primarily for its looks and oxygen generation, not its blood clotting factors."

"So," she smiled, "A smarty pants."

"Xenobotanist,” he countered, “I have a working knowledge of all species and subspecies."

"On your way to the fringe, hunh, same here."

"So, if there is a fire, or something else bad, I know who to run to..."

"Slow down, Pops, trainings all I'm willing to offer to a stranger..."

"It’s not like I'm asking to have go with you..."

She looked him up and down, then a smile crossed her snout, "What the hell, I have a few hours to kill."

With that, she grabbed his vest and pulled him in a direction of her berthing. Most did not see this sudden coupling, but at least one did.

Diana, a huntress of the highest regard prided herself on seeing without being scene. As a bounty hunter she had a license to track the most dangerous prey, her own species, and no one could say a damn thing about her methods. With nothing else to do she had decided to track Debra as a kind of sport, mostly to ensure her skills were not degraded. After all, if a fringe born was not aware of her presence, a civilized man like the prey she was on this hell of a ship for, could would not be able to detect her either.

She saw the coupling devoid of pomp, circumstance, or even emotion, "Just like that?" Diana turned away, rolling her eyes, "That guy is old, and not in a good way."

No longer finding any interest in her quarry that was gone anyway, Diana turned away. Suddenly, she was face to face with an old woman, silver longfurs almost to her bottom. The woman regarded her calmly as if she expected the surprise meeting. How had this woman snuck upon her?

"I agree." Tynessia affirmed after appraising the young huntress, "Men are only good for one thing, but we are obliged to make them feel important the rest of the time..."

Tynessia had been convinced from an early age, that men were pigs and not worth much attention. Now that she was an older woman, she spent her time spreading her poison, or wisdom in the field of romance to any woman that would listen. She had learned that sometimes it took longer to draw out the truth than others. She expected great things from this woman in front of her.

Diana, for her part, instinctually jumped away from the other woman, turning and reaching for the rifle that should have been strapped to her back. Not finding her gun she drew the dagger from out of her boot, and brandished it like a seasoned professional.

"What do you think you’re doing sneaking up on a bounty hunter like that!" she demanded, heart in her throat.

Senses heightened by the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she began to notice everything. There was a trio in the back of the compartment getting busy; there was a group of kids playing some kind of tag game; and a young girl behind the bushes; amongst others. But she could only focus on this woman in front of her and her strange ideas.

Tynessia, knowing it could get complicated, stepped back holding the palms of her for-paws out in submission. Her light brown fur was pailing with age. She was always looking for women that shared her beliefs, to join her cult of sorts.

"I snuck up on no one my dear, you were, ahem, focused on your, prey..." she eventually returned the accusation.

"I, no, I wasn't..." Diana’s mind was racing with implications.

"Even we desire the act..." Tynessia knew how to calm and reassure, as a master could.

"I was walking around..." Diana struggled to defend.

"Following that nice youngling..."

"Going in a similar direction, yes, I'm just biding my time until we reach Girdania, there is a dangerous criminal..."

"I don’t need to know the details, Dear." The old lady smiled, "Just know there are others that, just believe, you’re not alone..."

"What are you talking about lady?"

"You know, but you are not ready to admit it. When you are, I'll be around." She smiled over her shoulder as she left.

"Uhgh." Diana shuddered, turning toward the promenade, "That was weird."

A short distance away from the scene, behind a bush ayoung girl had watched the exchange that had woken her up from the nap she had been having.

"...Weird, yes.” She shrugged smiling and turning away, “But not entirely uninteresting."

As a kid born on a cruise ship, and only walking planetside when they briefly moored, she kept her own schedule, independent from anyone else's artificially imposed day or night. As far as she was concerned, whenever she was awake it was day, the little that she slept was night. She racked up 3 hours every 24 hour period, 20 minutes at a time. No one could keep up with her.

She stretched and checked her wrist Chrono, "Perfect right on time." she got up and jogged two down all the way to the promenade.

The current ships fashion was good enough for the strangely translucent furred youngster that had never known any light that was not artificial. Brownish long shorts and a tee, she didn't even complain about wearing shoes. She had, after all grew up on a ship and considered herself highly civilized, she hadn't even been four down since she could balance two down.

Within the promenade, the parade of barely conscious passengers didn't even notice the kid ducking between them, "It’s like they've all been replaced by pod people." she chuckled to herself making it to the grand stair.

"Killing your way through a ship of zombies, that would be an awesome videogame." she smiled to herself, "Wait! I've played millions of videogames, won hundreds of tourneys, I could write that kind of game!!"

Renewed with fresh purpose, she darted off to the Net lounge too began her game, barely missing an elder doctor who lifted her fore-paws with drinks in them to avoid spilling them on the excitable youth. The elder watched the pup zig and zag through the rest of the passengers who probably didn't notice the youngster.

After a few more moments she continued to the catwalk. The upper levels of the promenade were all cat walks going between store fronts and up and down levels. Some of them were even designed to be moved, an effort to break up monotony by having something different occasionally.

It never failed to surprise Yalinda, former chief of phycology and neural surgery at Hacertrafen institute, what bored to death people get a mind to do in the face of the prospect of 'absolutely nothing to do'. As she navigated the newest iteration of the catwalks, paths that changed constantly in order to reduce tedium, she noticed her friend, sitting at a table at the far end, who inclined her snout in recognition and worked her way there.

Her friend was a social pariah savant, an expert when it came to the odd and unexplainable, with prematurely matte salt and pepper fur, which suited her fine because she refused to work on any people skills despite her role a healer. Puzzles and logic problems were her only joy.

"I can't believe you convinced me to be awake for this." Kyrin barked as Yalinda took her seat, "I would have been perfectly happy frozen in a tube. You said this was going to be interesting."

"I said I always find the trips interesting." Yalinda corrected handing the other her coffee, "I mean, I just witnessed a small pup of a girl thinking that because she played games, winning a good deal of them, she could easily program one."

"You head shrinking bi..."

"You know there is never any need for language." Yalinda held up a claw, "And my ability to best you in wordplay is why you tolerate me more than anyone else."

"You find intrapersonal relationships fascinating," Kyrin sighed and shrugged, "I on the other hand find diseases fascinating."

"Then your going to love it when we dock at Girdania and all the schmucks that didn't take their generalized immunity doses start vomiting their heads off."

"That’s not what I mean, I like the intellectual challenge of figuring out a disease that no one else can even fathom. That’s why I'm going to Gonath, no one has figured out that plague yet, and as only a quarter of people get it, I should be safe."

"You know you have to be specific around me, that’s why you like me." Yalinda smiled, "What do you plan on doing this evening?"

"Ship's time is 6 pm."

"I just woke up." Yalinda countered too quickly.

"Who's talking inaccurately now?" Kyrin smiled.

"I feel obliged to let you win occasionally..." She tried, then gave up, "Ohh, look, a fight!"

They glanced over the edge of the catwalk to look in fascination at the lowest level. Indeed a fight was breaking out at the bottom of the promenade. It was like a switch had been flipped, chaos erupted as pent up aggressions suddenly had an outlet.

The masses began to turn violent, any contact had become a rage inducing smack to the face. All the individuals morphed into a single rage monster warring with itself.

Sten smiled, this was going perfectly to plan. Amazing what a few shoulder taps and trips can accomplish. He was dressed all in light green, a distinct contrast to his khaki norm. Security had been diverted from this area through strategic complaints by him and his team. Now security would have to storm out from the door he was standing by to attempt to calm the storm.

Right on time, months of casing had assured him that the re-enforcements would only be minutes from the instigation. They didn't even slow to make certain the door was closed, as was protocol on all ships. This mission was a go.

The passenger sections were designed for visual stimulation, all the shades of the rainbow in muted aspect. But, the maintenance ways were only functional, the sea foam green was almost calming. As expected there was no one else back there. Sten carefully navigated the passages toward the ANC or astral navigation core, the heart of the ship’s ability to determine where it was and where it was going.

The doors to the ANC were nothing special, simply an air tight door that stated what was beyond. Sten typed his pilfered code into the keypad and it hissed open. Beyond was the core, multiple layers and partial layers of catwalks allowing access to the different terminals to assess the unit’s performance. The core itself was a giant glass and metallic structure full of blinking lights and gauges. Only the highest trained and most gifted individuals could make sense of this cacophony of stimulation.

Sten did not need to understand it, all he needed was to get to the right terminal to download the virus that would turn the ship in the direction his employer needed.

He walked casually to the appropriate terminal and plugged in his memory stick and the program took over, “The laundry is in the wash.” He announced, tapping a key on his over ear communicator.

science fiction
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About the Creator

daniel morris

Sci fi writer, Laser maker, tecnician, Navy Vet, one that enjoys video and board games, and movies

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