She washed quickly, dried herself off, and remembered to check her color before she dressed. She was still gray enough. Oh, Lord, how glad she'd be to be Human again. She used some eyewash to soothe the irritation, hoping it would ease before she had to use her eyes for something important.
The way Chuck was sleeping, her eyes would be normal by the time he woke. Should she wake him before Zainal returned? No, she'd say she'd!i ' just relieved him on watch.
"You caught me in the shower, Zainal," she rehearsed aloud as she dressed if he asked about the delay in response.
Damn, he hadn't indicated how long before he'd be there. No, he'd said he wanted the ship ready for immediate takeoff. Had he run into trouble?
She started the pre-flight check, having watched Zainal, G/no, and Raisha do it often enough to know the drill. She then checked each cargo deck to be sure everything was locked down there for takeoff and left the empty deck ready. When she returned to the bridge, she noticed a dust cloud appearing at the edge of the forestry. The truck, and it was a good-sized one, did not, as she half-expected, come directly to the ship but paused in front of the command post. Whatever transpired there was very brief for the vehicle did not stop long. And, as it turned toward the ship, she noticed it headed toward the cargo hatch so she made her way as fast as she could down the companionway, rather pleased with being able to move with some speed in the heavy gravity. One really did get used to it.
She unfastened the hatch so all was ready for a speedy loading as the truck backed up, almost but not quite banging against the fleshly repainted hull.
Coo and Pess emerged first, lifting the accordion backdoor of the truck. They hurried on board with a large and heavy-looking carton. It made a heavy thud as they let it down. Behind them Ninety, Mack, and Gino each struggled to bring in more crates and containers. Zainal appeared with satchels that he deposited with more care on the bow end of the cargo space. He grinned at her, his eyes sparkling with success but he immediately turned to bring yet more crates on board.
"Where's Chuck?" Zainal asked on his next trip back, and he was speaking English again.
"He had a busy night as the Emassi's guest," she said and stepped forward to help unload in Chuck's absence but Zainal shook his head and tapped the control panel for her to be ready to close the hatch at his command.
It didn't take all that long to unload with Pess, Coo, and Zainal all more used to Catteni gravity than the Humans who handled the lighter objects.
This deck was almost as full as the others and Kris was obsessed with curiosity.
"Pess," Zainal said, pointing to the truck and indicating that the Ru-garian was to take it back to the command post. They had to wait until Pess came back, covering the distance quickly with his oddly jointed long legs.
"That's all?" Kris asked, her hands on the cargo controls.
"Yes. You didn't happen to do a pre-flight check, did you?" Zainal asked as she closed the cargo hatch. She nodded an affirmative. He and Coo were netting the cargo down, fastening the ropes tight to the deck cleats.
Gino had already gone forward. Mack and Ninety looked about done in as they leaned against the bulkhead.
"Had a good time, lads?" she asked blandly.
"It'll take the entire trip back to fill you in," Ninety said with a ghost of his usual impudent grin. "Lenny will never believe what I've seen and done."
"Yes, he will. I'll vouch for it:'
"C'mon, let's get strapped in for takeoff," Zainal said, urgently pointing forward.
"Is anyone after us?" Kris asked anxiously.
"Not exactly;' Zainal said with a grin, "but they're not above following us back to where we left all that high-grade ore;'
"How can they find an asteroid that doesn't exist?" Kris asked, answering his grin.
"Ah," and he put his hand under her elbow to speed her along the companionway, "but that is exactly what we must find before we can go home to Botany:'
They were almost to the bridge compartment when Kris remembered that Chuck wasn't strapped in. "I'll have to net Chuck down."
"Don't waste any time;' Zainal said, turning sideways to squeeze past her. He smelled of something acrid which she couldn't identify.
"Zay's also got to be gone for at least a full Catteni day;' Mack muttered to her as she strapped in beside him.
Kris rolled her eyes. "You can't leave that man out of your sight but he gets into trouble:'
Fortunately Zainal was far too busy laying in the course with Gino, making the necessary com calls to hear their soft remarks.
"Tell you one thing, Kris, he's not a man I'd tangle with anywhere or anytime, and even in my own gravity," Ninety said, impressed.
Mack chuckled. Having received clearance from Emassi Kivel himself, they proceeded to take off at a sedate vertical ascent.
"Kivel tried to get Chuck drunk enough last night to interrogate him," Kris said. "I don't know what they use for such purposes here on Catten, but it was a miracle Chuck made it back this morning."
Kris severely berated herself for her adjustments to the exact truth but no one would be hurt by her version, and she might not even have any reason to explain anything to anyone.
After enduring the Catten homeworld gravity, the takeoff pressure was minimal. As they rounded Catten on the outward-bound orbit, Kris once again found the beauty of the planet almost breath-stopping.
The space station hove in sight and this time, one of the dreadnoughts was maneuvering out of its dock. By noticing some of the H-class ships nearby, Kris got a better idea of just how ginormous the dreadnoughts actually were. It was comparable to being in a Tomahawk with a 747 looming behind you. And these ships had not been able to penetrate the Bubble?
The com unit blurped, and Gino answered in a totally expressionless Catteni voice.
"Your destination?"
"This is Emassi Venlik. Eosi Ba is responsible for our destination," Zainal said.
"Understood."
Maybe Kris only imagined it, but there was even a note of awe in that response. Zainal grinned at Gino who chuckled softly when the com line was off.
The KDL executed a course alteration and then showed its stern to the space station. Zainal poured on the speed as the ship headed out to where thousands of stars gleamed in the black of space.
"Did he beat someone up?" Kris asked when she felt they were safely away.
"To a faretheewell;' grinned Gino, and then he rolled his eyes. "Some nerd sycophant of an Eosi. I don't think the ones we met were that anxious for trouble. At least not the ones that Worry and Leon saw. Now the guys I met… One was humongously wide and I made myself as small as possible against the nearest wall. But the ones in an ugly mood were worse than anything Hollywood ever dreamed up, including the aliens in Aliens."
Zainal now leaned back in the command chair and stretched until every joint and tendon seemed to crack.
"Let's hope Duxie can get us some more of that high-grade ore and we'll be the toast of the cap,to, Gino added, and out as often as we choose;'
"Gino, are you okay?" Zainal asked, rising.
"I'm great, Zay, you need the rest;'
"Chuck's in your bed," Kris said.
"Where is immaterial so long as pointing to Mack and Ninety, "and you're off duty, too. It should be all clear ahead, Gino, but wake me if something you don't understand comes up.