Chapter 29: 29. Attracted

Our first expedition into the city of Port Ecclestone ended early, but we came out of it with a truly epic amount of grilled meat and side dishes. We actually had enough that I probably wouldn't need to cook for another two or three days.

Jenny watched us load all the left-overs into a cold-storage cupboard in the mess, while me and Sarah told her about our experiences at the restaurant.

The following day Piper took the two of us back into the city, and our second trip was more or less without incident. I still attracted a lot more attention than I was comfortable with, but nobody acted especially rude or threatening towards us. On the other hand my big pointed ears were pretty good at picking up the quiet whispered comments some folks exchanged when they thought we were too far away to hear them.

I did my best not to let it bother me, but it was still unsettling to learn some of the locals thought of me as an animal rather than a person, simply because of a couple fuzzy ears and a tail. When Sarah teased me about being the ships mascot or pet it was kind of cute and fun, albeit embarrassing. Hearing malicious strangers wonder if I ought to be on a leash, if I was fully obedient, or which of my two companions was my owner and whether or not they'd consider selling me was just disturbing.

Upsetting comments aside, things weren't so bad as the three of us did a bit of touring and a bit of shopping. Having both Sarah and Piper with me made all the difference, I doubted I'd ever feel comfortable enough to visit Port Ecclestone by myself.

All in all I felt more comfortable back on Rolandan-2. That world seemed a lot friendlier and a lot more civilized than Ecclestone's World, even if this planet did remind me of home. Or perhaps that was part of what made me so uncomfortable. It was like a lawless, more dangerous, less friendly version of Kaitor-7.

When we got back to the ship after our second visit to the city we filled Jenny in on the day's activities again. Though I was starting to feel bad about the fact that she was stuck with the ship. She had the ship's sensors to see what was happening outside, and the HPD could theoretically leave the ship and travel a short distance away, but she simply couldn't accompany us into town.

On the third day me and Sarah stayed on the ship with Jenny, while Piper took care of some business.

First she paid our landing fees and got the Demeter refuelled, then she went into the city and arranged to have a load of supplies delivered. And after that arrived she left again to handle some other business while Sarah and I got to work stowing the goods in the ship's mess and the adjacent storage room.

I was surprised and embarrassed when I discovered the supplies included a shipment of meat from Gilly's restaurant. Apparently Sarah spoke to Piper at some point after our meal there, and our captain made the arrangements to have a load of top quality meat delivered to the ship.

"I didn't realize you were serious," I told Sarah as the two of us loaded it into one of the freezers. "I thought that was just some more one of your teasing."

The cute engineer blushed slightly as she shrugged, "It's not a tease, you're a really good cook. So I figured we should get you some quality ingredients to work with."

After a moment she smirked and added, "Anyways aren't you part carnivore or something? You have those adorable little fangs after all, I figured you'd appreciate all this meat."

I felt my cheeks going pink as I tried to figure out if she was teasing again, despite her claims to the contrary. The smirk suggested she was, but her compliment about my cooking felt genuine. And she said my fangs were adorable, which I wasn't even sure how to take that.

Then the other thing she said finally registered and I frowned, "Wait am I part carnivore? Are foxes carnivores? I have no idea, but I've been eating plenty of food that's not meat, and I haven't gotten sick..."

Jenny wasn't with us, or at least her HPD wasn't in the mess, but thanks to the ship's internal sensors she was still sort of everywhere at once.

She reminded us of that fact as her voice came over the intercom speakers above us when she replied, "Neither my nor the Demeter's databases have much information on Vulpes vulpes, also known as the common red fox, but I do know that you Amanda are not a carnivore. While your vulpine traits are much more than cosmetic, they do not include any specific dietary requirements or restrictions."

"Thanks Jenny," I said as I glanced vaguely upwards. I never knew where to address her when we talked through the intercom like that.

"You're quite welcome Amanda," she responded. A moment later she added, "I've consulted with some local databases and determined that foxes are also omnivores. As predators they may have a preference for meat, but they are able to safely eat a number of other things. There are some specific restrictions mentioned, in the context of keeping foxes as pets? They're not to have access to chocolate, caffein, alcohol, and a number of other human staples are unsafe for them. But happily you do not share those limitations."

Sarah smirked, "Good to know it's safe to get our pet fox drunk, or hyped up on coffee and chocolate."

I felt my cheeks going red again, there was no mistaking that as a tease.

Before I could respond though the engineer frowned, "Hang on. Jenny, what do you mean you consulted local databases? How'd you do that?"

The AI responded, "I accessed this world's wireless data network and located a few of their knowledge repositories. There are several educational institutions, the largest is here in the city. I had a look through their databases and found the information in question."

"You did all that in a few seconds?" Sarah asked. "Wasn't there any kind of security or something?"

Jenny hesitated, "There wasn't any serious security? I may have forged an access token to allow me onto the wireless network in the first place, then I might have exploited a weakness in the educational institution's software so I could gain access to their data."

I could swear I actually heard the AI blushing as she admitted that.

Meanwhile Sarah laughed, "I think I know one reason why the Imperium hates AIs. If it's that easy for you to interface with non-sentient networks, you'd be a huge threat to them."

"I'm not doing anything malicious," Jenny protested. "I just wanted to learn the dietary habits and requirements of the common red fox."

The cute engineer grinned, "It's ok, I wasn't complaining! Honestly I'm impressed. Now I'm kind of curious to know if you'd be able to penetrate the internal network of a Navy ship. Not that I'd ever suggest you should try it!"

"Noted," Jenny responded. "And I've just received a transmission from Piper, warning she is bringing a business associate to the ship. She advises the three of us should avoid both the primary and secondary holds until further notice."

I frowned, "Did she say who it is? Is it another one of Lebeau's people or something?"

The AI replied, "She didn't elaborate, sorry Amanda."

Sarah suggested, "Let's finish putting away the last of the supplies, then we can just wait for the boss's orders?"

"Right," I nodded.

In addition to the meat there was plenty more to be stowed, including dry goods, canned ingredients, and some cartridges of heavily-processed goop that the auto-chef turned into something like food. There were also several cases of drinks, including two dozen bottles of liquor and a couple cases of soft drinks.

Between the two of us we got everything put away, then when we were done Sarah and I sat down next to each other at the dining table with drinks. I had a glass of water but she got herself a chilled soft drink.

She had a gulp of her beverage then commented, "I wonder how much longer we'll be staying on this world?"

"No idea," I shrugged. "I think we're still waiting to hear back from Lebeau right? Piper wasn't sure if he bought her story about where she picked us up."

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Sarah nodded, "Yeah that's right. I guess we're waiting to find out if we still work for him."

After another sip of her drink she asked, "Do you have any opinion either way? Apart from the guy seeming like a slime, I get the feeling it's good to have a regular customer."

"Yeah," I grimaced. "Honestly I'm not really a fan of this world at all, but if the job's still ours I think we should keep doing it. I think Piper said the contract was going to expire in half a year anyways, so we may as well keep doing it for now."

"I'm sure we're going to visit the Hammersmith again soon," she commented. "Even if we got the big payout for the computer, there's still a lot more to be salvaged. May as well take advantage of that while we can. Unless someone else has already found it and picked it over."

I frowned as I drank some water, then asked "Are you still ok with that?"

Sarah shrugged, "I made my peace with it back when we were salvaging it, I said a quiet goodbye to the friends I lost. And if somebody's going to profit from her loss, why not us? I'd say we have more right to it than strangers who never set foot on board her."

"Good point," I nodded slowly. After a moment I added, "Sorry to bring the mood down."

The cute blonde smiled and put a hand on my shoulder as she said, "Not your fault Amanda, I'm the one who brought it up."

I just smiled back at her, but I wasn't sure how to respond to the physical contact. That silence lasted long enough to just start feeling awkward, when Jenny's voice came through the overhead speakers.

"Piper and her business associate have arrived via grav-sled. Two heavily-armed gentlemen remain outside with the craft, while our captain and a third gentleman have come aboard and entered the secondary hold," she informed us. "I'm monitoring via the internal sensors, they are discussing the cases of small arms recovered from the Hammersmith's armoury. I believe the other party is an arms dealer."

A moment later she added, "He and Piper are inspecting some of the weapons now."

The mention of armed guys showing up on a grav-sled made me anxious, but I actually relaxed again after finding out it was just an arms dealer. It wasn't Lebeau anyways, and that made me feel better.

The AI kept Sarah and I updated on what was happening in the hold below us, and after fifteen or twenty minutes the dealer and his associates carried out most of the weapons, but not all of them. After the three men were gone Piper sealed up the ramp and airlock then a few minutes later she joined us in the mess.

Jenny activated her HPD and came up from the lower deck as well. She took a seat at the table, while Piper got herself a drink before sitting down.

The captain announced, "I sold off most of the weapons from the Hammersmith's armoury, for just over eighty-thousand ecks. Five dozen handguns, eighteen carbines, ten rifles, a half dozen shotguns, and eight cases of ammunition."

"Is that the last of our business here?" Sarah asked. "Have you heard anything back from Lebeau yet?"

"Not yet," Piper shook her head. "If I don't hear from him tomorrow I'll send word and ask whether he has any more work for us or not."

I asked, "What are our options, either way?"

"If he's cutting us loose, we'll take off and head straight back to the Hammersmith for another load of salvage," she replied. "Otherwise we'll load up his cargo and stick to our schedule. We'll still visit the Hammersmith again, but it'll have to wait till we can squeeze it in between our regular deliveries."

By that point we were all ready for dinner, so I took care of that while the captain worked out the profit and our pay for this latest trip. Not that I had a lot to do, we were finishing up the last of the food we'd brought back from the restaurant the other day so I just warmed it up then served it.

After dinner Piper took care of our pay. Sarah and Jenny and I each earned just over fifty-five hundred ecks, with most of that coming from selling those salvaged weapons. Then all four of us had a quiet evening together back in the mess. There was some more conversation over drinks until we all decided to call it a night.

Back in our cabin, Sarah and I had our backs to each other as usual while we got ready for bed. Once I was out of my clothes I pulled on a cute dark green nightie I got back at Rolandan-2, while my roommate tended to sleep in a small t-shirt and panties.

As we got changed she commented, "I know you haven't really enjoyed our stay on this world Amanda. Are you holding up ok with this new frontier lifestyle?"

I sat down on the edge of my bunk and frowned, then finally nodded "Yeah I'm ok. You're right, I'm not a fan of this planet. I'm going to have to get used to it though, since it sounds like we'll be stopping here a lot. Lebeau or not, Piper said it's the main port in the sector."

The cute engineer surprised me as she sat beside me on my bunk.

"I haven't much enjoyed this world either, and I have the benefit of not looking too out of place here. I'm confident we'll both do ok though? Like the captain said the other day, we just need more experience. Till then, Piper will take care of us. And..."

She surprised me once more as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against her side in a hug. "And we'll look out for each other, right?"

I couldn't remember the last time anyone hugged me, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like. It was good though, Sarah's body was warm and soft and she was gentle as she held me. Rather than tensing up or pulling away, I found myself leaning into the hug and resting my head against her shoulder.

My heart beat a little quicker as I replied quietly, "Right."

She gave me a gentle squeeze as she continued to hold me.

I had no idea what to do or how to react, but after a few more seconds I tentatively moved my arm around her waist to hug her back. She didn't react negatively, in fact she seemed ok with my arm around her. My head was still resting against her shoulder, and I felt my tail start swishing back and forth on the bunk behind me.

The two of us sat quietly like that for a minute or two, till Sarah shifted towards me. We continued to hug as we ended up facing each other.

"Amanda," she asked softly, "May I kiss you?"

My eyes widened and my heart beat even faster. I'd never been close to anyone before, I had no experience with this sort of situation. My mind raced as I tried to figure out how I wanted to answer her.

I quickly came to the conclusion that I liked Sarah, I was attracted to her, and obviously she had similar feelings for me. My only hesitation came from thoughts about our captain. I liked Piper too and wanted to get to know her better as well, but I had no idea if she had any such feelings towards either the engineer or myself. I decided that was something to worry about later, because right then I needed to give Sarah my answer.

"Yes," I half-whispered.

She pulled me closer and our lips met as she gave me my very first kiss.