With o serve the suppressant any longer, she inhaled a dose and crossed the station as fast as she could to get back to Jedro's hangar/workshop, eager to see the disassembled main thruster. She arrived after 5000, plenty of time for the suppressant to have kicked in for distraless w.

  Marik was there, but the two owners of the workshop were o be seen. The human was almost boung and not because the gravity was low here. "Hello Rerra, look!" He dragged her over to the nozzle, not that she would have put up aance, curious as she was. "Here, you see, this is broken, the sedary focus coil has a much too high resistance." He pushed the multimeter into her hands. "See, it's over 3700 kilumps."

  She looked at the dispy. The instrument was of Fallerian manufacture and showed Fallerian numbers with strange units, not helped by the fact that the base for the numbers was 8. "Sorry, what is that in standard units?"

  He touched a few buttons and it dispyed Standard. While she could now read the number and units, It didn't help much, as she'd never found a manual for the engine. So she just nodded. "It seems pretty high for a superdug coil, yes."

  "Yes!" He beamed. "Jedro found it quickly. The good thing is, you know, Crostas has experien making coils, so Jedro is over there and is discussing what field strength we need. I think he po run a simution too. But your static psma drive is quite unusual, and because it is so old, it is royalty-free under all Human-Falleriaies. They are thinking of making a smaller version, perhaps useful as an ultra-pact thruster, although xenon is not"

  "Wait!" His torrent of words was even more than she was used to from Ber seemed more like he needed a suppressant.

  He stopped his verbal torrent when she did not immediately answer and then looked as if she had scolded him. "Oh, sorry. Did I do something wrong? Should we have waited for you?" He looked at her with big kitten eyes. She felt the overwhelming urge to cuddle him, even with the suppressant. She smiled carefully, not showieeth. "No, don't worry, I just didn't expect you to work that fast."

  "Ah." That was enough praise to get him going again. "We were both curious, but this was mostly Jedro's work, she is really good at figuring out old tech. Even if she hasn't seen much human teology before, aainly never something this old."

  "And you are sure it is this coil?"

  "That was the thing that deviated the most. And you gave the xenon ption and thrust, which limits possible field strengths, and for that, the resistance was certainly wrong. The other coils were fine. Of course, it could be a faulty power supply that is still ihe ship or a misalig of the fields as a whole. Now with a simution, there would be at least one dynamically stable solution one could set as the initial figuration"

  She wondered briefly who would yield first in a duel of oratory between Berni and Marik. After he talked a little slower about what Jedro had told him of superdug coils and their power supplies, she interrupted. "Back to the point, so Jedro and her partner are having someone run a simution of this eo see what field strength would be needed? Based on a 3D s, total thrust and fuel ption?"

  "Yes, and a safety margin. They thought of 100%, as this is a critical part." He smiled his human smile. "You promised me that we would fly together. Our tract still stands?"

  "By Hopkins, if I get this fixed it so quickly, yes, whatever you want." And by Hopkins, he ged subjects quickly too.

  "Do you want a bigger safety margin?"

  "No, I mean I o get a new coil wound after the simution. A superdug coil?"

  "Yes, of course. We have not yet analysed the material of the old coil. Do you know it? If not, we even have a simple XPS close by, but"

  She shook her head. "Won't that be very expensive? Simution, analysis, and coil winding?" It was more a reflex, not that she o worry so much after Fanny's generous tribution.

  "Simutions are charged by the operator time. A full day would be 500 or so, then I think it will be less than 100. I am not sure how long it would take to set up the model, so that will cost extra. Jedro thought that she would be ba 2000, so certainly less than 500 for all the simutions. And we would have the best field figuration for that thrust, you might even save fuel ter. Maybe we get even more thrust".

  "No, thank you, eagine alone goes to 2 g, so 6 g would be killing me. No need for more thrust. No, I mean, making ized superdug coils does not seem very on. I know 3D printing doesn't work well for superductors."

  "Coils are cheap, it seems. They break often, brittle ceramid so. That was why Jedro found it so fast. You mentioned 1000 as a budget. Jedro would certainly stay within that, it's in the tract. In fact, for every 100 she us, she is allowed to take 33 for herself. Standard cuse in capped tracts."

  She eechless. A ramshackle workshop on an i world was about to repair a highly unique human psma drive ihan a full day for the scrap-value price at which the Hopkins shipyard bought obsolete third-hand drives. She would never order repairs from Hopkins again, sorry Trina. Well, it certainly expined why they had had so few indepe ers then.

  "Is it too expensive?" Marik asked worriedly, the silence again growing too long for him.

  She ughed and hugged him. "No, thank you, I almost expected that 1000 would not be enough."

  But Marik was distracted by the hug. "Great. Hmm, so soft. May I stroke you?"

  The hair on her arms stood up, suppressant or not. Her brain was still gging behind. How could a jump pilot switch focus so quickly, human or not? Anyway, "I don't think a dirty workshop is the right pce for petting. How about getting some more work done first?"

  * * *

  It took lohan 2000 until Jedro and Chirkos returned. It gave them plenty of time and soon were more than 25 new panels c most of the forward-fag wall between the ss and the soles, all slightly curved individuals. Slowly the cockpit began to look like a cockpit and no longer like a ste rack for eleics. And her suppressant was still good, even in the fined cockpit she could work normally side by side with Marik. like s, finishing two panels iime it took her to finish one. Maybe driven by the prospect of soon heading into spa this cockpit.

  But now the two beetles were back with a result from the simution. The numbers meant nothing to her but the current sped the shape of the coil were clear. As it should, the result matched the external dimensions of the old coil which they were now breaking off from the nozzle. For this, the beetles only wore masks. But they had put ohinsuits because superductors often taioxipos aher she nor Marik waoxic dust stu their fur or hair. Smooth chitiainly had its advantages.

  They would soon find out what kind of dust it was, as an analysis of the coil was underway in a pay-by-time boratory across the corridor. But before they went there, Marik and Rerra carefully brushed each other's thinsuits in the airless hangar to remove any of the possible nasty dust.

  The analysis was already running, and on the s bars and ball-and-stick atomic models ged height and shape at each iteration. She could not follow the details of the analysis, and it was not because of the Fallerian on the s. Her education in sd engineering had been almost ent at Crice, as there was no demand for it in their society. Even if she would have traded all the lessons on court etiquette and w for some engineering anytime back then. Thus, she was very excited, it felt like witnessing an engineering breakthrough and the equipment looked very stific with its shiny half-dome and lots of gleaming stainless steel tubing.

  Soon they had the result, the old coil was an oxide-doped iron pniktide with lots of arseni it. Now she dimly remembered the name from the hazard chart on the wall at Hopkins. But it was a rarely used material, and Chirkos could not produce such a coil, he said. However, with the simuted field strengths, and assuming the cooling system could keep it below 100K, a cssic YBCO alloy could do the job, though it would be heavier. It souill very advanced, making superdug ceramic coils. But Chirkos assured her that it was standard stuff. Dirty and toxic, but standard. He would 3D print a mould, fuse the pre-mixed powder and then siwo halves of the coil into shape ht. Again, lots of uhy powder, nothing for a person with fur. Chrikos even agreed. The workbench for the panels was not needed for the ould. So their work for today was done.

  They packed their thinsuits into sealed bags, inteo shower off any remaining dust. She smiled carefully at Marik, not showieeth. "Thank you, you worked so hard today. We are more than even. Where would you like to eat? The least I do is to invite you tonight."

  "You have paid for two meals with your lodging. Fanny's gone, but I have heard that your nddy will prepare something onight. Why here? Less walking for you." He looked down. "You look tired," he almost whispered.

  "Yes, you are right," now that he had said it. "Thank you, see you then."

  * * *

  She had a long shower. First for the thinsuit, then the gym uniform she had worn underh and finally herself. The weak Fallerian soap left her fur still too oily. At least it dried a lot faster. Not that it was needed with the humid heat.

  Fanny had left her two sets of clothes, well, human woman clothes. But sihey were just shorts and tank tops, the anatomical differences should not be an issue and the sizes looked abht. She smiled, Fanainly was a good Ketcher doctor and thus would be able to guess her sizes correctly. Still, the short bck denims were quite tight whe, too much leg muscle. At least, Fanny had them cut a tail hole which fit well even for her rather bushy appendix. The bck tank top was also tight and thus revealing. Maybe that had been even Fanny's iion. But she should be thankful, both certainly beat the gym uniform which was wet now anyway. She still wondered where Fanny had found them or if they had beeailored; and if she had deliberately selected them that tight. Since she had goh Marik, it was likely the same pce he got his clothes from. And the tailhole, well, she got the impression that if you named your price you would get anything here. The bugs were savvy, clever, and skilful tinkerers. By now, she wouldn't been surprised if evecher's suppressant was manufactured here.

  She had brushed her fur with the brush Fanny had also bought somewhere, again an unusual item for the locals with hard chitin bodies. The brushing rexed her. After this, she was more rexed and more presentable than she had been in many a day. In the knock of the nddybug, she left her room, bowed to her and sat cross-legged at the low table in the dining room. The nddy soht her a tray with water and a salty green tea with a strong st, simir to the one she had drunk in the restaurant when they had met Marik. In the Falleria, she drank the water ahe tea cool.

  Soon Marik arrived. She stood up and followed the nddy to the entrance - and stared. He looked so different, his hair not tousled but ly bed. He wore a formal short-sleeved shirt with thiical green stripes and elegant long trousers, even in the heat. Overall, he looked like a rich businessman from the dramas. She swallowed and forced her ears thten. "You looked stunning," she whispered.

  "Thank you," he smiled, "and you look even stronger."

  She was not sure how to answer. Fortunately, the nddy had now taken reeting Marik with a very eborate antennae wiggle to which Marik responded with his hands and, of course, with overly polite Fallerian phrases, most of which she had never heard before.

  And now she was sitting at the low table across from Marik. The nddy soht a bowl of tiny is, gzed in a salty-sweet brown sticky sauce as a starter. It was so chy, she had never eaten something parable. Even the salt was well-appreciated, after w in the heat of the station, she must have lost a lot of salt with her sweat. The main course was some fried rvae and greens, again excellent. The meal tihe very educational st two days on Fallerian food culture. By now, her knowledge of Fallerian cuisine had surely surpassed even etra Catering knew about it.

  The nddy and Marik talked a lot, the old beetle ehe versation and Marik seemed much more rexed with the Fallerians than with her. He still talked more than the nddy aheless, often gnced a lot in her dire. The nddy enced him to talk more, and he was as chatty as before. She barely uood a quarter. But it was clear that he talked about his childhood here oation.

  "This tastes greatness," she tried a polite phrase in her g Fallerian during a break when Marik chewed his food, "how shouting it?"

  The nddy crossed her upper antennae, which was either amusement, embarrassment or perhaps the equivalent of a facepalm. Marik certainly knew better but he did not correct her, just smiled. "This is called Kribchik, the hatgs o the soil during the full moon after the equinox."

  "I hoo eat," she tried an ultra-polite reply, copying a phrase Marik had used a lot. The food sounded expensive and tasted so good. She was sad that she could not better express her thanks.

  Marik praised the food to the nddy in many more words, which made her very happy and pleased the nddy, or at least her antennae were very excited.

  After the dihe nddy returned with something inedible. It turned out to be a musical instrument. Ohat would o be put on Hopkins' import trol list: the sound of it pierced her ears, a dissonant shriek in the highest registers. Her fur puffed up, no matter ho and agaiy it had bee from sav the exquisite but steaming hot dishes. Even closing her ears, the gift from the avatar for jumping without patches could not fully mute the pierg noise. After a few moments, she gave up and pressed her hand to her ears as her st resort. "Hurting my ears!" she shouted in Standard.

  Marik found more diplomatic words to stop the nddy’s performance.

  "Very sorry, the wrong ears having me." She said, still half deaf and with ringing ears.

  The nddy was of course very sorry.

  She assured her, with Marik's help, that it was not her fault, just her very different ears. "See, these rge ears?" She evehe nddy stroke her ears with her hard and surprisingly cool chitin cws. And then, with the most polite phrase she knew, she told them that she wao retire to her room.

  Marik stood as well, again with an eborate 'thank you for the hospitality', more hand waving than talking. She just bowed. But then Marik also turowards her room.

  She turo him but he fixed a point just below her snout, his hands writhing, expressing his feeling the Fallerian way. "Marik?"

  "Rerra, uh, you said we could cuddle ter. we? It has been a long time since I cuddled with someone?"

  She had almost fotten. So not so different from the others. But of all of them, he had certainly ear. "Yes, I have promised and you did well." But she grinned all the way tums, her heart was rag, her body was more than ready. She would have to apologise to Fanny when they meet ime. "e."

  She went ahead, could almost feel his eyes oail. Inside she sat otress and took off her top. But his attention was still elsewhere.

  " I touch your tail? It is so fluffy, with so much fur. Very unlike Lalleli's."

  She stiffened involuntarily. "Who's Lalleli?"

  "Have you fotten? The woman who was sold into svery after she had been modded into a taur. Her tail was mostly hair. And brown. Not so fluffy. Please."

  This was certainly not what she had expected. her from the dramas nor from the rumours she had heard at Crice of how it went with humans. Whatever, he was the male, so it was for him to decide.

  She y ooma the mattress and Marik sat beside her. Her fur raised all over her body wheook her tail and stroked it gently, from root to tip. He khe tip and she began to purr, strohan she had ever purred before, it almost hurt. So hard worked those rarely used muscles.