Chapter 32

Jack finished off his cigarette in the smokehouse of the ship, then snubbed it out in the sand bin. When he left the room, he was greeted by Kazlaena and Pri, who had both been waiting for him.

“All done wis sa smellies?” Kazlaena asked with a grin.

“All done,” Jack smiled back.

“I can’t wait. So many stores to go to,” she clapped her hands together in excitement.

“Heh. Gonna be a mad dash to get to all of them,” Jack remarked.

“Advise little lady to consume energy drink to maintain speed and stamina.” Pri set a hand on Kazlaena’s shoulder.

“Haha, I don’t need sa energy drinks you silly,” Kazlaena patted at Pri’s stomach as she laughed, receiving a tickle around her ears in response. “Time to go?”

“Time to go,” Jack replied.

Kazlaena was wearing a light pink t-shirt and blue shorts, a plain green cap on her head and robust sandals on her feet. She adjusted her favorite blue backpack and waited for Jack to grab his suitcase, which was sitting in the hall. Pri was wearing a light blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She had on khaki style tan pants with a heavy-duty boot to keep her claws in check. She wore a belt with a couple of pouches for carrying her ID, cash and her stunner as well as a cuff that held her tail in a loop behind her. A large brimmed brown hat sat upon her head, held in place by loops around her ears to prevent her feathers from pushing the hat off. She had a travel bag slung over one shoulder, which she used to bump Jack. Jack was wishing he had followed Kazlaenas lightly dressed option. It was supposed to be warm at their destination and he could already feel some humidity in his clothing. He wore a grey shirt, black pants, dark grey shoes and a belt in similar design and purpose to Pri. Jack maneuvered his suitcase in front of him and, as Kazlaena and Pri watched with curiosity, he took a seat on his suitcase. He then pulled a bar up in front of him with handles and a throttle control. Jack gave them both a nod and hummed away, driving down the hall, seated on his suitcase.

“What sa...” Kazlaena started giggling.

“Motorized suitcase. Should have held expectation for such antics.” Pri nodded, being mildly impressed with Jack’s ride. They caught up to Jack at the stairwell and followed him up-level as Kazlaena’s giggle echoed up the stairs. They then entered the airlock room a moment later, Jack being first as he rode in on his suitcase and saw the rest of the ground party waiting. Cardox and Sita were near the airlock, with Delilah, Charm, Zakia and Andor close to them. Near the hall entrance stood both Nyka and Rusu, who joined with Jack, Kazlaena and Pri.

“You got a damn ride-on suitcase?” Sita exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded as he stood up.

“Might have to look that up,” Cardox sounded impressed. “Alright then, we all here?”

“Yeah, this is all of us,” Jack replied.

“Everyone have what they need? It’ll be pricey to come back for anything. I advise doing a kit check unless your confident you have it all.” Cardox spoke to the group.

Some of them confirmed they had all their required items and within a couple minutes, they all stood ready to go.

“Alright, remember, no more than two teams. Stay with your security persons and don’t wander out of sight.” Cardox reminded everyone. “We should be alright, but we need to be safe at all times regardless. When we are at the park or any other store or venue, we stay in arms reach of our buddy, and within eyesight of the group. No lone shoppers. Everyone knows where everyone else is at all times. We all savvy?”

“So that’s all the options?” Andor asked, a bit sourly. “Can’t we do three groups for those that want to go somewhere else?”

“We’ve been over this several times.” Cardox replied. “Two teams to keep ourselves from spreading too thin.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Andor complained. “I don’t want to wander aimlessly while everyone else shops. I don’t want to sit at the park all afternoon either.”

“You can follow Sita to a rough part of town if you want?” Cardox suggested.

“No,” Andor scowled, not getting the joke, then rolled his eyes. “like seriously, I’d rather go get drunk in a bar and...” He trailed off when he saw Nyka looking at him in a scornful manner.

“These were the rules we fuckin’ provided to make sure everyone gets back to the ship tomorrow, so suck thumb. You’re fuckin up the mickles here.” Sita sneered.

“Um,” Kazlaena leaned over to Jack and whispered, “What does sat mean?”

“To be content,” Jack whispered back. “Mickles is a play on amicable.”

“Oh,” Kazlaena tilted her head to one side for a moment. “Um, ‘e sure does sat lots, yes? Messin up sa mickles...”

“Yes,” Jack replied in a stifled laugh, finding the plain delivery of her remark far funnier than it was ever meant to be.

As he worked to stop laughing, he caught sight of Pri, also trying to stop laughing and failing. She turned her back to the group and bent down, pretending to fix one of her boots. Jack moved slightly, hiding behind Nyka’s tall frame, before turning around and copying Pri’s deception.

“Um,” He felt a hand on his shoulder. “What is so funny?” Kazlaena asked with innocent curiosity.

“Ah,” Jack let out a bit of laughter amidst the murmurs of a few conversations in the room.

Pri stood back up and left, laughing in the hall loud enough to be heard back in the room.

“Yo, giggles-r-us, everything ok over there?” Sita asked.

“Not at all,” Jack replied. “Some things are just too funny.”

“Eh-heh, like what?” Andor asked.

“Ah, stupid inside jokes,” Jack deflected, not wanting to allude to the real reason.

“Ok,” Andor rolled his eyes. “Guess some people are easy to amuse.”

“Words with boundless wisdom,” Pri said as she re-entered the room, seeing Andor shrug and start fiddling with his commpad.

“Alright, if we’re all good to go, let’s go get it.” Cardox said, then thumbed his radio. “Control, ground party, message, over.”

“Ground party, control, send message, over.”

“Control, ground party is oscar mike, over.”

“Ground party, control does not understand, use plain terms, over.” Proculus’ voice came back with irritation.

“Fuckin,” Cardox muttered, then replied, “Control, ground party is on-the-move, over.”

“Ground party, control copies, timing is 14:12, expect return no later than 18:00 tomorrow, control out.”

“Fuckin Proci-fide,” Sita muttered. “You’d think he would be thrilled to use League terms and phonetics ‘to be all proper like’.” She spoke in a mocking tone.

“Fuck it,” Cardox said as he started to open the inner airlock. “We’re burnin time here. Let’s make sure we don’t waste any more than necessary on that clown.”

They left the Astral Feather via the crew airlock, entering a tubular gangway that gave access to the station. The taxi service they planned to use was on the far side of the berthing from where they were docked, meaning a lengthy walk down an access hall. Jack became the target of some humorous envy as he drove his suitcase ahead of the others. Kazlaena tried to join him, but he throttled up, always staying just out of reach, until she gave up. He stopped and allowed her to climb on, clinging to his back as they motored off.

“And thus Pranza Stations first motorized suitcase gang was formed.” Cardox joked.

Pri mused on that remark for a couple of minutes, thinking of Jack and Kazlaena wearing helmets and goggles and leather jackets with a flaming sword emblem behind a motorized piece of luggage. They both had a tough look to them and were cruising to unleash mayhem. She pushed the thought away, thinking it might make a worthwhile piece of joke art to go with many others that the crew had yet to see. As they travelled along the gangway, they could see several dozen vessels occupying the dock, with a couple departing and one in the process of docking at the far end. Mainly passenger liners or personal ships docked here, with industrial vessels handled on a separate module on the other side of the massive station. At the end of the hall, they had to pass through an automated security checkpoint. They were required to swipe their IDs and their medical cards, then stand for a moment as they were scanned for contraband, or medical hazards. Several minutes later, they approached an attendant at the travel booth for the taxi service. A Praeminian male stood up from a desk and greeted Jack and Cardox at the counter.

“Green pastures. How may I assist?” The Praeminian spoke in a soft, polite manner.

“Heya,” Cardox replied. “Looking for passage for eleven to the surface. Looking for Catania, as close to the Posean district as we can get.”

“Ah! large group. Nice to see. Fare cheap that way. We have large shuttle to carry all. Can land at pad in Posean. District is popular with off-worlders. Direct flight is possible. Two destinations available.” The Praeminian brought up a digital map and used a tech-glove on his hand to pull it off his personal terminal and set it on a different screen to face them.

“This pad is perfect,” Cardox pointed to the site closer to their target.

“Return for all eleven?”

“Hope so,” Cardox joked.

“Ah, ok, ok. How long until return?”

“17:30 tomorrow eve for pickup,” Cardox answered.

“Ok. Price for eleven will be eighteen hundred and twenty-nine credits. Split eleven ways?”

“No,” Jack spoke up. “I’ll cover this.”

“Hey, thanks buddy,” Cardox lightly punched his shoulder.

A few of the others echoed Cardox’ thanks with gratitude of their own.

“I’ll let ya win our next chess game,” Charm said.

“No, next two games,” Jack grinned.

“Ah, ya drive a hard bargain mister.”

Jack swiped a bank card over a scanner and a green light notified him the purchase was complete.

“Thank you, Pata,” The Praeminian bowed momentarily as he collected the tickets and handed them to Jack in an envelope, then gave him a thumbs up.

“Alright,” Jack looked at the nametag on the Praeminians uniform. “Batam, thank you and green pastures.”

“Catch your name?” Batam asked cheerfully.

“Jack.”

“Green pastures, Jack.” Batam replied happily. “Enjoy district and shopping.”

Jack held up his fist and after a moment Batam realized the intent, bumping it enthusiastically with his own fist, with his little fluffy tail wagging with joy.

A few moments later the group was seated in a waiting area as a large shuttle was undergoing a preflight before them.

“Why did that Prae get so excited with you?” Cardox asked Jack as they sat across from each other.

“Praeminians take personal interactions seriously. By saying his name, it makes it personal. You make it more about a person helping a person, rather than it just being about him as an employee and you a customer and nothing else.”

“He got pretty fuckin excited though,” Sita raised her brows. “Like you two were long lost friends or somethin with that fist bump.”

“Fist bumps from Terrans have always meant a big deal to them,” Jack remarked, catching the other two smiling. “Sure, it’s silly to us, but it’s how they take it that matters. Most could care less to do something so trivial, which is why Prae’s react so enthusiastically to something like that.”

“I guess,” Cardox rubbed his chin. “That’s not all there is to it, is there?” “Most people, most races rather, tend to treat Praeminians as servants because so many Praes are in the service industries due to their eager mannerisms. Many tend to forget they’re people too, working their job, just like anyone else. Being a customer doesn’t mean you get a free pass to be a shitty fucknuckle. Thank the fuckin stars they got rid of that shitty ‘customer is always right’ bull. So many Praeminians have lost their jobs by people using that against them and taking advantage of their generally submissive behavior. No-one deserves to lose their job because some bottom-feeding fuckmander’s greed gets the better of the situation.”

“Certainly agreeable,” Cardox said. “So, you know the secret ingratiation move with Prae’s huh?”

“Well,” Jack leaned back in his chair. “I guess. As I mentioned, by saying his name, he knows I see him as a person, not a clerk. For a Praeminian to get that kind of interaction from another race, that sits well with them. Always has, probably always will. Different race, different morals and values.”

“You two friends now?” Sita asked.

“Praeminians have a very good memory when it comes to people. I imagine he’ll probably remember who I am and my name for some time if we were to run into each other.”

“Shoulda made it personal with him first,” Sita remarked. “Maybe he would’ve given you a discount.”

“He may have,” Jack nodded. “But I feel that would be taking advantage of the mannerism of his race. Pretty sure when someone gives a discount, they must account for it to their boss at the end of the day. Ain’t something I’m gonna be responsible for.”

“Fair enough,” Cardox nodded. “You think he’s had some bad interactions over his time working here?”

“I expect so,” Jack looked over his shoulder and saw Batam working on a computer, not nearly as cheerful as they had left him now that he was alone. “He doesn’t look all that happy.”

“Who is these days,” Sita spoke in a dour tone. “Poor kid. Wish we could do somethin’ though.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “Maybe we can manage something before we depart. Little things can make a big impact.”

“Can try,” Cardox nodded. “Maybe pick something up for him. They like those etched stones yeah?”

“And crystals and all that mineral art,” Jack added. “I’ll take a look around.”

A few moments later they were waved to by the taxi pilot, a middle-aged Terran male with a clean-shaven face, round features, and a bit of a belly.

“Looks like we’re good to go,” Jack stood up and was followed by the rest over to the pilot.

“Alrighty, yous all ready for fun times in plenty?” The pilot spoke in a thick Pranzese accent as he took the closed envelope from Jack and scanned it with a handheld device, getting a chime in return.

“Hope so,” Jack said as the pilot opened one side door and allowed the group to enter.