Page 29 of Life-Debt

TEN

“Guard her.”

While Carthello and his fellow operators installed the stasis chamber in my cargo bay, taking over the corner nearest the entry to the rest of the ship, I introduced myself to the Veloc. She barely came up to my knee, and some asshole had caged her. She whistled, the cry of distress hurting my heart. Someone had made an effort to feed her, although she wore half of her food rather than eating it.

First, I needed to get the gunk out of her downy feathers, then I needed to apply the oil to keep moisture away from her skin. The work would take me hours, but I’d manage.

They would need hours to install the stasis chamber and calibrate it.

I trilled at her to catch her attention, then I introduced myself and promised I would be taking her home to her parents. Her crest snapped up, and she whistled and trilled, the equivalent of baby babble with a few words smattered in. I recognized the two important ones: pleas for her mother and father. I cooed to her and used a mix of whistles, trills, and clicks to confirm I would be taking her home to her mother and father. She waved her taloned hands at me, the claws already sharp despite her age.

While I needed to calm her several times, I managed to install the caps so she wouldn’t hurt me or herself in her excitement, then I released her from the cage and eased her onto my lap. Using a damp cloth, I removed the spilled food from her feathers before taking a clean cloth and the feather oils and applying them from head to tail to help prevent her from becoming ill. Once done, I fed her properly, wearing a thick pair of leather gloves and following a pictorial guide on how to get most of the food down her gullet rather than onto her chest. She also got milk, which she drank from a bottle. I grinned at her effort to hold the metal cylinder containing her meal. I adjusted the angle so she could rest her hands on it.

She went through three before she had her fill and decided I made a safe haven, snuggling on my lap. I whistled for Pandora, who came over and sniffed at our new companion.

“Guard her,” I ordered the fox.

Pandora flicked an ear, sniffed the hatchling, and assumed a position by the door. A moment later, she chittered a warning.

“Your chamber is finished. I will leave your new treasure in the hall here. I’m charging you two hundred tokens for it. I’ll leave you to get your ship ready. We’ll make certain we close the inner hatch before letting ourselves out.”

“Take your tracker with you when you go. Fly safe.”

He told me the coordinates for the new spaceport and left. I heard the interior door to the cargo bay close. A few minutes later, the gangway opened. The daredevils would hop to the dock, the sensible would retrieve the ones who misjudged their trajectory, and I’d laugh at the thought of black market operators indulging in more childish tendencies.

Ten minutes later, I transferred the hatchling to my co-captain’s chair and retrieved a blanket to make a nest for her. Once done, and with Pandora standing guard, I investigated the trouble Carthello and his crew had left for me. In the hallway, I discovered a cage with a vulpes vulpes kit in it, and the kit cowered, staring at me with wide brown eyes. Knowing Carthello, he’d given me a boy, and he would have come from a different line than my Pandora.

I went to the nearest console near the bay, tapped in Carthello’s frequency, and said, “Two hundred tokens? You’re taking a loss there, sir!”

The black market operator laughed. “You’re saving me a fortune in care costs, and you have a vulpes vulpes. Yes, I know your rules, yes, they’re genetically diverse, and yes, he’s a legal acquisition. He is two hundred tokens because that is what I invested to get him here. I was waiting for you to show up, and I had figured you would be due. Of course, I thought you’d show up in two or three months, but he can grow with you rather than with me. He is a life-debt gift, so you cannot refuse him.”

“How the hell did I get so many life-debts?”

“That is simple. You live to save, so you do. That one remembered your lonely vulpes vulpes and wished to acquire companionship for her.”

“Well, please pass my gratitude and whatever wishy-washy bullshit is appropriate to say to the life-debt species I tangoed with that time.”

“Any other problems, Viva?”

“I wouldn’t call it a problem, but I have to check after everything you did and find the trackers you inevitably hid.”

“I took them with me since you asked so kindly. And anyway, it’s more fun when you aren’t tracked. Open a communication line with me in twenty minutes. I’ll send you the safest flight path to Veloci Minor. She should be returned to her family as soon as possible.”

“I can do three jumps without an engine check.”

“It’s two and a doozy to get there, so you’ll be fine. Your rainbow blacks are in three new storage containers. The fee for the containers are included with their price. I didn’t ask if you approved of the cost before charging you. You can afford it.”

“For the sake of my curiosity, how much?”

“One token per, three hundred per container.”

I choked on my own spit. “What the hell?”

“The authorities deemed it would be unethical to sell them when you’ll be using them for derelict rescues. And the three hundred for the containers is the minimum they can sell the containers for due to trade rules.”

Huh. When I thought about it, it made sense. Rainbow blacks tended to create more disasters than they averted. “Please thank them for me.”

“I shall, but you will ultimately be the one deserving of thanks.”