The awakening was hazy, it took a few moments the pounding sound as her arm. She was still highly aroused, sweaty and tired. The suppressant had worn off and the air was saturated with her sweat and the musky st of an aroused male.

  Nothing had happened during the night, Marik had just snuggled up o her, stroking her as he slept, his face buried in the fur at the side of her neck. His tig breath didn't let her sleep, aroused and happy, yet so tired. Well, and his hand had wandered around and ruffled a lot of fur. He had been incredibly naive. She had been more than ready but couldn't bring herself to take the initiative.

  After lying awake for half the night, she inhaled a dose of suppressant and y behind him, still unsure what to do with her hands. Damn, it was so far from everything she had learned about human males that she felt like an insecure ten-year-old. And a very tired o that.

  The arm was still drilling into her head. She rose slowly from the mattress, sile, inhaled another dose of suppressant and headed for the shower. She would some fur shampoo with her the ime she visited Fallerian; her fur was even more oily from the extra heat of cuddling in the Fallerian jungle climate, and Marik's st did not wash out.

  She sighed and sat naked otress while her fur dried. Marik was cute the way he slept there. But by Hopkins, why didn't he go further?

  The nddy knocked on her door. Time to wake him up. She quickly put on the gym uniform and then leaned over to Marik's ear. "e on, wake up," she whispered into his ear. And then she licked it. It tasted horrible, but it woke him up quickly.

  "Good m. I have already showered. I think breakfast is ready."

  "M," he mumbled, looking at his pad. "Oh, so te already." He yawned and stretched, a pathetic performance.

  Watg his awakening in slow motion made her yawn again. Huh, showieeth made him sit up quickly. She grinned, lips closed. "Well, another day. Let's see the new coil."

  "Oh yes." He almost jumped off the mattress and stood up. "Let's go."

  * * *

  First thing, they put the two halves of the coil around the engine’s ior nozzle to be crystal-bonded, which would take all m. , she repced the st two t pump bearings. Jedro was eager to see the pumps and help. The beetle was enthusiastic about any teology, no matter how simple, broken, or old. Marik tio work on the panelling of the bow se of the cockpit. She joined him ter, and by early afternoon the cockpit walls were elegantly curved without gaps, looking as aerodynami the inside as the smooth hull from the outside. Both just to please the eye, as her would ever feel even a breeze.

  They went for a quick lunch at a nearby fast-food ter, long fried rvae with a thick, hot white sauce. She had to sit down as even the ceiling was low enough to bump her head. They ate quickly, the engine was ready to be installed, the thing everyone looked forward to.

  While Jedro and Marik could help with the meical work in the vacuum, onstalled aested, she could fill the ship with atmosphere again. It was so much easier to make the ree to the ship's trols and power without a thinsuit and gloves. And she could set the temperature to something more suited to a person with fur. eg mismatched hardware had been her main job at the shipyard. Now even on her very own ship. She grinned and even hummed a tune. Marik just stood aside, only occasionally pressing a button or reading a status message for her while she was deep inside a duct. With her solid knowledge from rewiring half the cockpit, she was fident even without AI guidance, just with the hints from the raw protocol dumps.

  "The eatus just switched from red to blue and the s looks totally different," Marik shouted.

  She crawled out and looked at the s. Ihe engine was now in warm standby together with her two panions. "We did it!" She nudged Marik hard enough to knock him against the wall. Dazed, he looked at her and then grioo. The White Ocelot was fully restored, a real ship now, from the eo the interior. Even Penny would have to agree. Where would she be now? She soon might know.

  "Now get out so I start the cooling."

  She looked after Marik as he climbed through the UDA bato the pressurised part of the workshop. She was so grateful. He did not look like much, small and short, and he was so insecure when talking to her. Especially her, he had been less hesitant with Fanny. And he showed no inhibitioalking to the Fallerians. Or when it came to ships, an area where he knew so much more than her.

  Back to the task at hand: cool down the superductors. She would like to do a very low power test firing but the temperature interlock prevehis. A movement jerked her back to reality. She held on to the acceleration couch while Jedro rotated the holding cmp so she could extend the main radiator and begin the cooling. Wheation was plete, she hastily slipped into the thinsuit, because the UDA had been disected si did end to that angle. She would have to spacewalk back to the workshop.

  Soon all the checks were pleted that could be doh warm superductors and the new field settings had beeered. The radiator unfolded for once even in its warm state, and the cooling system ran on station power. Now they had just to wait until all systems were below their critical temperatures. That would take close to midnight, time to call it a day.

  The stars seemed closer when she looked out of the hatch while climbing back to the workshop.

  Before they left the shop, Jedro asked for payment for the e had e to a total of 627. She did not even try to haggle. Tt was indeed a pleasure doing business with them.

  After that, she was even more thankful for Marik. She wao invite him to the fi meal they could get. But the human wao di her pce. When she shook her head, he expihat he had asked her nddy to prepare a very special meal for tonight. She felt beaten again. She could not eve him. It was all s, he took care of everything, she just paid. It should be the other way round, the cat helping her mate. Still, male was male, and of course, she would respect Marik's wish. But she was not too happy about it.

  The dinner, however, turned out to be another very rare Falleria, a very special dish. A kind of pie made of crushed transparent wings. The pie was semi-transparent even after baking, yers upon yers of thin, crispy transparent sheets around a caramelized, frothy red mousse ade from tiny pien eggs. The beatehenware of the nddy was in stark trast.

  "She's probably been preparing for this for half a day," Marik whispered to her when the nddy was again i.

  This was indeed food worthy of a mother. Although she was sure that no mother had ever eaten it. Whily added to her inner fusion, no cat should be treated like this by a male. To distract herself, she thanked several times in Fallerian the nddy, still not finding the words to express how honoured and grateful she was, silently cursing the ck of words.

  It was obvious that the nddy had grown very fond of Marik. Apart from his human appearance, Marik behaved like a Fallerian model child. The nddy even said so more than once. With his small size, he did have a childlike quality even to her, and yes, cute too, in a special way.

  She would enjoy this more if she didn't owe him so much. She would never have found Jedro's workshop and asted such good food. She was determio repay him with everything he asked for, she would fly him deep into the human region. Whatever.

  Today's tea ecial too. It had a different aftersmell, not like alcohol, but like some kind of ing liquid. It certainly affected the nddy. She spoke a lot more, but with a slur that made her almost inprehensible. She too felt a little lightheaded.

  "Rerra," the nddy began. Her ear jerked up, she had never been called by her name before by the nddy. "To the new tract partners," the beetle toasted and almost tipped over.

  Now Marik rose as well and turo her. "Rerra," he began. And this time, he looked into her eyes. He had big brown eyes with huge bck pupils. "Rerra of Petra, sorry, I would like to make a formal tract. Let us be tract partners for 64 days, Fallerian time. Share the profits, fly together and everything."

  She was suddenly very sober. "64 days? From now on? I promised to drop you off in any nearby system, you deserve even more. But I must return to Hopkin. My , I worry about them. There may still be fighting, perhaps eveation’s life support is failing. And there are so many kittens, I..." She swallowed.

  "The us go there first. No matter. If you think 64 is too long, how about 32 days?"

  "I'm a small cat. You saw Fanny? She is of average size. No, the station is too dangerous, I 't endanger a, a." She took a deep breath. "I'll e back, I promise. Back as far as I ."

  "Please, I want to go now. With you. Please, even 16 days would be fine." His big puppy eyes nearly liquefied her brain.

  "It's not the duration," she mao say, almost strangled by her instincts. How could she even think to disagree with a male?

  He took her hand. "Please, Rerra of Petra, take me with you as a tract partner for as long as you like."

  Her fur rose, this was too much. She had nht to refuse him, he was male and, worse, she was in his debt. "Yes," she said, not that she could say anything else.

  "Thank you!" And the down on her p and hugged her. The nddy made a sound like chirping and Marik stood up again, his face flushed. He exged very intricate hand patterns with the nddy and then took out his pad. "Here, a standard partner tract, 16 days, extendable. Please firm."

  Still pletely overwhelmed, she took out her pad, sed it ahe firmation back. The nddy stood up and walked them unsteadily to her room. Even in her intoxicated and pheromon saturated state, she wondered what had just happened. It was as if she had agreed to start a ribe with him.

  * * *

  In her room, they finally went all the way. He was clueless, but an eager learner. Having been introduced to the full range of adult fun besides pying with her tail, he was eager to repeat the act as soon as he could. And again in the m. No pints from her.

  They showered, she packed the few things Fanny had bought for her and then, after anreat breakfast, they said goodbye to the nddy. She swore the old beetle wore a smug expression on her antennae.

  But Marik did not ght to the workshop. Instead, he went the other way. She had not inhaled a suppressant; she should not have needed oer that night. And as with Lead, her mind was unclouded. But with each step that he walked down the corridor and his st fainted, he looked smaller and more vulnerable. She could not even look the other way, started to tremble and a low growl escaped her throat. Her fur rose until she submitted to the overwhelming urge to go with him and protect the human male. She ran after him and rexed only when his st filled her nostrils. She smiled as if it was nothing.

  He looked surprised but let her take his hand. Together they walked a short distand theered a small shop.

  "It is good that you came. We should prepare for the station."

  She looked around. "ons?" Even in this world, they were easy tnise: a rger ha the bad one or two elongated protrusions at the front to give your enemies a bad day. She lifted her foot aended her rge cws. "That's not enough?"

  "There are murderers oation. You said so."

  "Yes," she ceded and then fell silent. Still pletely under his spell. While he talked to the clerk, she iwo doses of suppressant. But it would take time for them to work. Until then, she stood not more than a few paces away, her ears pivoted in all dires and her eyes sing the room, on high alert for any dangerous enemies.

  Somehow, Marik did not notice. He took one of the ons from a shelf. "Look, these are shock pistols. Space station safe and nohal with adaptive charges, 127 rounds." He read it from the bel on the shelf. "You said it could be dangerous. Please, I want you to live through this."

  "Of course," she sighed. "Do they have any smaller ones?"

  Marik exged a few words and the owner produced a much smaller one, so small that she could hide it in her hand. It was not made of metal, it was light and had a rough surface like stone. And it was the first time she had ever held a on in her hand. She felt dirty somehow, not a good feeling. She sighed again. "I'm scared."

  "Yes, good, you should be. e o's try it."

  She moved like a puppet on a string, afraid of the on she held, even though her lower brain clearly demao protect him.

  Marik took the pistol and pushed the trigger at the bottom of the hahere uffing sound, not uhruster firing as heard ihe ship, and an area on the tipede-shaped target lit up in yellow.

  She held the small oween two fingers and pressed the trigger with her thumb. A blue area above the target lit up. She shuddered.

  Marik fired again, this time hitting the tre of the target. Marik certainly showed the cold practicality of the Fallerians which she had seen everywhere. Her hands shook too much tain.

  Marik bought two of these guns, a small ste box for each, and four spare magazines. 252 rounds seemed excessive. She had no iion of putting that many victims to sleep. That would be a siderable pertage of the station. No, she had no iion of using these ons at all.

  As she had expected, the beetle sold them without aration or proof; he/she did not even care that she aying for the ons. He just reminded her that the ons wouldn't work on this station.

  Outside, she inhaled deeply. Marik still smelled tiny and vulnerable but slowly the suppressants started to work. She was able to stand still while Marik walked down the corridor to his pce. She was frozen for a few more moments until all that lingered from him was the st of where he had held her hand. She shook her head, her mind was clearing while she walked towards the workshop. The further she walked the more spring got into her steps: The White Ocelot's trial run!

  * * *

  Jedro was sittio the entrand threw into a box whatever the beetle had tinkered with. She was as excited as her; but of course, business first. No pints, the two beetles had more than earned her money, and she paid them for filling all the tanks and the rent until today. She would have even added a tip. But Jedro refused any bonus payment until the test was successful.

  The beetles looked as impatient as she was. Uhe waving antenna and unmoving eyes, she quickly put ohinsuit and spacewalked into the cockpit. The superductors were cold and she raced through the st checks and the core preparation sequence as fast as she could, while priming the life support. Finally, the fusion core was ready and came up on the first try. Nid reliable, a good core. It better had to be, it was the only one on her ship.

  "Jedro, I am ready to go," she radioed, at least her Fallerian seemed good enough for Jedro. "For flight trol, what is the bay number?"

  "You have pre-clearance. Part of the service. Ask for slot JC 7."

  Flight trol uood her on the sed try a her the flight pn, a wide loop out and back to the workshop. She firmed it, thanked Jedro and flight trol, and then slowly drifted out of the open hangar. With full clearance, she turhe White Ocelot into the taial off-station ne. Finally, the life-support had reached the proper pressure and temperature. Cold air hit her when she removed her helmet, and she wished for thicker fur for her finders on the cold s and switches. But the better feedback for the trol sticks was worth the cold fingers. Also, after all the Fallerian humid heat, the dry cold air from tanks was refreshing and with them came the familiar odour of space.

  After 0300 she was far enough to fire the main engines. For the first time, she prepared 1 and 3. She checked the new field settings. This meant going through many normally hidden parameter ss. But everything looked as it should.

  And the minimum thrust only on 1. The repaired engine powered up, all circuits green, coil current holding, and the field figuration as set. Which meant no broken power supplies, and the coil had survived the cooling. Great. She started xenon iion, still in full manual mode and some thrust built up.

  She switched to assisted mode. The thrust was steady as it should be at this low level. She added number 3 oher side to fly straight and slowly ramped them both up. Number 1 had even more thrust, so she should sider adjusting the field settings on number 3. For now, she set the power trim ratio betweeo 92%.

  With two engines, acceleration was smoother than ever. She went higher and higher and at 48%, some vibrations started. At 69%, just over 3.6 g, engine number 1 turned e and she shut them both down. 'Field out of spec', well, the different superdug material of the new coil had a higher critical temperature and it would need better cooling to reach stronger fields for even more thrust. Nothing could be done about that. But for all practical purposes it owerful enough, with all three engines running she could easily exceed 6 g with her mass-to-thrust ratio. That was over her limit for sure.

  Anyway, it was time for the turnaround manoeuvre. Ourn leg, she went up to 2.5 g a it without problems until she shut them down when she reached the outer dog zone again. Three w engines, she smiled to herself. The White Ocelot was ready for a.

  AnnouWith this chapter, volume V ends. I will take a short break to fill my buffer again. My guess for now is mid April.