Chapter 32: 32. Relationships

Once again there was a wide smile on my face as soon as I was awake.

The only thing better than waking up hugging my big fluffy tail to my chest was waking up in the arms of a cute blonde engineer. Actually no, the best thing of all was waking up to both.

Sarah and I were cuddling on our sides together. She was behind me, I could feel her chest pressed against my back and her arms were wrapped around me. Her hands were just under my boobs, and one of her legs was in between mine.

My tail was also wrapped down and around between my legs, so the end was in front of me, and I was hugging it to my chest. I was warm and cosy, between the engineer's soft smooth body on one side and my soft floofy tail on the other.

It was a little bit of bliss and I let out a contented sigh as I snuggled closer against Sarah then pulled my tail in tighter as well.

"That was a happy sound," she whispered in my ear, then she planted a kiss on my cheek.

"Mmhmm," I sighed again. And with a wide smile I added softly, "I could get used to this. Maybe I already have."

Sarah giggled softly then gave me another kiss. "It's nice, but we'll have to get up eventually. I'm supposed to work on the boss's grav-sled idea, and she'll probably want you to make us a nice breakfast first."

I pouted, "That seems very unfair. Expecting us to get up and work when we're so comfy like this."

She gave me another kiss then suggested playfully, "Maybe she just doesn't know how warm and cuddly foxgirls are in bed? We could always invite her to join us tonight, so she can find out first-hand?"

"What?" I squeaked. I honestly couldn't tell if she was serious or just teasing again, and with her behind me I couldn't see her expression.

After a couple seconds I squirmed out of her arms then turned over so we were face to face. She was wearing a playful smile on her face, but that wasn't actually enough to tell me for sure if she'd been joking or not.

I stared at her for another few seconds before I finally asked, "You're kidding, right Sarah? You're not seriously suggesting we ask the captain to sleep with us?"

"Not as such," she replied with a shrug and a slight frown. "I mean, these bunks are pretty generous and you and me fit in here ok together, but I doubt we could get a third person in here with us. I bet the officers' cabins have bigger beds though."

"You're actually serious?" I asked in disbelief as I kept staring at her.

She shrugged again, "It doesn't have to be all three of us in bed together at the same time. But don't you think she might be lonely? She brought the two of us on board after spending six years working and living alone, then we go and hook up with each other while she's still all by herself. It feels a bit rude, don't you think? Maybe we should at least find out if she's interested?"

I still had trouble believing she was serious, and I pulled myself up so I was sitting crosslegged at the foot of the bunk. I was facing towards her, with my tail wrapped around on my lap.

"Do you really want to sleep with Piper?" I asked her again. "Or are you suggesting I should try and sleep with her?"

Sarah's cheeks coloured as she finally blushed, "I'm just worried she's lonely, or that she might get jealous or envious of us."

After a second or two she asked softly, "I take it from your reaction, you're not interested in the captain?"

I felt my cheeks going red as well, but I admitted "It's not that I'm not interested, but... I guess since you and I have been together for the last couple days, I thought..."

"I'm sorry Amanda," she sighed as her cheeks got brighter. "Like I said the other day, I don't know if it's hormones or something to do with being young again, or a bit of both? I wasn't this um, frisky before. And yeah, I guess I'm serious about talking to Piper about this? To find out if she's lonely, if she wants some companionship. Or if she'd like to join us. But I also realize some people would probably think that was a bit unusual."

I watched her for a few more seconds, as I tried to figure out what I thought and how I felt. I finally asked, "I think we need to get something cleared up before I can even begin to process this conversation. Are we together? Are you and I in a relationship? Or have the past three days just been a... I don't know? A fling or a diversion or something?"

Sarah sat up and moved next to me at the foot of the bunk. She put an arm around my shoulders and gave me a kiss as she replied softly, "I'm sorry Amanda. Of course this isn't just a fling. I really like you, and yes we're in a relationship. You're right, this is something we need to discuss."

I relaxed into the hug, and after the kiss I leaned my head against her shoulder and slipped my arm around her waist. My voice came out sounding a little more anxious than I hoped as I asked, "So we're in a relationship, does that mean we're girlfriends?"

"Sorry Sarah," I added. "This is all brand new to me. I mean everything."

She continued to hold me as she replied with a hopeful tone in her voice, "I'd really like to be girlfriends with you, if you're comfortable with that? If it's not obvious, I've been physically attracted to you right from the start. And the more we've got to know each other the more I like you, the closer I want to be with you."

With a sigh she added, "On the other hand, my first love is always going to be ships. I told you that's what ended my marriage. And I have to be honest with you, I'm also interested in Piper. I like her too, but she's a lot harder to get to know. I'd like to know her better, I'd like to get closer to her as well."

"Honestly, it'd be ideal if I could be with both you and Piper. Or better still, if all three of us were together? That'd be perfect," she said quietly. "For that matter I wouldn't want to exclude Jenny either, but I don't know how that'd work exactly, or if she'd even be interested..."

Her voice trailed off for a moment, then she sighed. "I know some worlds, some people would say it's unconventional, or just plan wrong for more than two people to be involved like that? But it wasn't all that unusual where I'm from. It was actually pretty common there."

I didn't respond right away, it felt like I was going to need a minute or so to catch up with everything she just said. Like being girlfriends with her made me happy, but I wasn't sure how I felt about her wanting to get close to Piper as well. And even though I had similar thoughts, I had no idea how to act on them or how I'd feel if I tried.

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Sarah was watching me as we continued hugging together at the end of the bunk. She finally asked, "Amanda? How are you feeling, after hearing all that? Are you ok?"

"I'm ok," I replied quietly. "And thank you for being honest with me."

She gave me a kiss on the cheek then asked, "I've basically told you what I'm hoping for in terms of a relationship, or relationships. Would you like to tell me what you want?"

My cheeks coloured again and I admitted quietly, "I honestly don't know. I've been happy the last few days with you, and the thought of us being girlfriends makes me really happy. And I've worried about Piper being lonely too, and I'd like to be friends with her. Beyond that, I just don't know yet."

"That's valid," Sarah responded, and followed up with another kiss. "In a lot of ways this is new for me too, so how about we just take it one step at a time? And most importantly, let's keep talking ok? Be open with each other, so if we do run into any trouble we can fix it together before anyone gets hurt."

I nodded, "Ok Sarah."

The two of us cuddled for a little while longer, before she finally asked "So what do we do now?"

"We should probably get up," I replied with a grimace. "Like you said, there's work to be done. And the captain's probably waiting for us."

A half hour later we were both cleaned up and fully dressed when we emerged from our cabin. Piper was indeed waiting, but she wasn't uptight about it. I made us all a nice breakfast and we all took our time to enjoy it, then the four of us headed back down to the main hold so we could all discuss the grav-sled project. And it sounded like the captain wanted to go with that third option.

"Where were you planning to get the material for the shelf?" Piper asked. She didn't sound critical, just curious. "And are you sure it'll be strong enough?"

Sarah smiled, "From the shipping containers. Once we get the grav sled parts out, those two containers will be redundant right? Not worth anything, just empty metal shells taking up space. The panels aren't very strong, but the frame is. And the locking mechanism on the doors along with the hinges will be repurposed into the clamps to help secure the grav sled once it's parked."

She gestured to the top shelf on the starboard side of the hold and continued, "I've already verified the ship's structure can take the extra load. That's basically what those shelves are for, right? So I just need to make the top shelf another meter wider, then reinforce it a little. All the material will come from the empty containers."

The cute blonde gestured upwards and continued, "We can add the hoist system and run the main supports lengthwise, basically from the main cargo doors to the secondary doors. Better still, since those doors go all the way to the ceiling we can continue the supports down the length of the secondary hold as well. The system can handle a bit of a gap to accommodate the doors. Then the hoist mechanism can be stowed in either main or secondary hold, whichever's most convenient."

The captain asked, "So we're basically going to be parking and storing the grav-sled on the top shelf, then when we need it just use the hoist to lower it down. How do we handle the locking clamps?"

Sarah replied, "That's the only bit that's a hassle. Someone will have to climb up and do it manually. But that's why I'm saying we should put it on the starboard side instead of the port side? That's one of the reasons anyways. The ladder-way is on that side, so it's not that inconvenient."

"What's the other reason?" I asked.

"Power," the engineer replied with a grin. "There's a power conduit running along the starboard side, as well as access to the ship's data bus. So we can hook up a power feed and recharge grav-sled while it's parked. That way it'll always be topped up and ready to go."

Piper asked, "I take it you'll power the hoist from the same feed as the grav-sled? What about the hoist mechanism's controls, where will that go?"

Sarah replied, "The system uses a portable control unit, with a recharging base. I figured we could mount it by the secondary cargo doors. Doesn't really matter if we put it in the main hold or secondary hold. It'll either be near the base of the starboard ladder-way, or next to Jenny's Re/Gen capsule. That's just where we'll stow it though, since it's portable you carry it around with you while you're operating it."

The captain looked thoughtful for a few moments as she stared at the ceiling and that top shelf, then she looked towards the secondary cargo doors. After a minute or so she finally nodded, "All right, I like this plan. Do we have everything we need to get started?"

Sarah smiled, "We do. All the tools we need are in the ship's workshop, and the grav-sled's shipping containers will provide the material."

I looked from Sarah to Jenny and asked, "Did you two also come up with a plan or a procedure on how to actually do it? I remember yesterday there was some talk of logistics."

Our AI crew-mate responded, "We did indeed. We'll use the main hold as a staging area for the grav-sled components, there's enough floor space available to get all the parts out and prepped. The secondary hold will be the assembly area, so as the assembly progresses the main hold will gradually be emptied again. When finished, the vehicle will remain in the secondary hold for the time being. Then the shipping containers will be dismantled, and work will begin on turning that shelf into a permanent safe storage location for the sled."

Sarah took over, "Once the work is done on the shelf, we can cut the ship's gravity and move the sled into its new spot by hand, and temporarily secure it with cargo straps. Then with everything in place I can fabricate some clamps that'll replace the straps. And when we're done, any leftover scrap metal from the containers can be dumped overboard."

"Last question," Piper stated. "Can we do all this before we reach our next port of call? That's ten and a half days away."

"I guarantee we'll be done with time to spare," Sarah stated with confidence. "It'll only take us a few hours to unpack all the components and get them organized. We'll probably have the whole thing assembled by the end of the day tomorrow. The day after that we tear down the two containers, then two days tops to do the upgrades to that shelf. That's only five days. Even if everything takes twice as long we'll still be finished on time."

The captain smiled, "Then let's get to work."

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