Cats in Space and Other Places by Bill Fawcett (the first e reader txt) 📕

the video memo blaring in the I.A.T.A. employee cafeteria stated, "to crew an exciting but potentially hazardous and rewarding expedition featuring the latest in Drebian/Terran technology. If you are interested in being one of the few, the brave, call extension 6508."

That brief message had begun a dizzying odyssey for Balin Jurgenevski. He had been with the Intergalactic Assay and Trade Association on Fladium station for a mere five years, four months. His dream of becoming a trade ship captain had been heretofore laughed at, let alone unfulfilled. Men and women with four times his seniority were still without commands of their own. Everyone wanted to be a captain, sailing the stars in the command chair of a powerful vessel, or even one that had the training wheels off. Still, "potentially hazardous" didn't sound nearly as interesting as "rewarding." It wouldn't hurt to find out if their idea of rewarding matched his. He applied for the job.

As the personnel director explained it to him and the two other people who "made the cut" (Jurgenevski's suspicion was that they were the only ones who applied),

Humanity's newest ally and trading partner, the strange, bloblike Drebs, were seeking to pay their debt for goods and services tendered to them by the Terran government by offering it their space travel technology, which lay far beyond the Terrans' current reach. Naturally, every single company which had ever launched a charge into space was interested. The government threw open the rights at auction.

I.A.T.A, had been the winner of the sealed bid seeking to gain and manufacture the Drebian starship electronics. The Drebs duly signed, or rather smeared, their symbols on contracts, and the deal was done. All this had been beamed all over the news for months. At last, the first machinery off the line was finished and ready for testing. Jurgenevski's first command would be the double shake-down cruise of a newly refitted vessel, the Pandora.

Because the knowledge was irreplaceable and the ship wasn't, I.A.T.A. wanted three volunteers, chosen only from its rank of junior officers, for a quick mission to Argylenia, a textile supplier orbiting a blue-white star in Leo Sector.

The flight to Argylenia was intended at first only to test the new superfast space drive, but I.A.T.A.'s board of directors had, at the last minute, decided to add the Drebs' interactive computer electronics system to the Pandora. This had not been leaked to the press, or as far as Jurgenevski could remember, throughout the rest of I.A.T.A.

So if it was potentially a one-way trip, why take it? Jurgenevski had to admit he knew the answers: the money and the prestige. There was trip pay to be earned, recording fees, specialist fees, and the big one: hazard pay. It was tough for anyone with less than ten years experience to pull down that much credit or accrue the instant seniority that they'd earn for bringing the Pandora back successfully. It might, it was hinted, get him at least exec officer status—if not a full command—if he, the crew, and the Pandora made it back in their several pieces.

"We have an emergency order for a shipment of stauralinium 106 that has to get out to Argylenia as soon as possible to prevent the planetary computer system from melting down," the vice president of the company told him. "With a half-life of only 110 days, the sooner you get it out there, the better. With her new drives, the Pandora is the fastest ship we have, not to mention the only one ready to depart for a week, You're still going to the same destination. It's just more urgent that you get there quickly, even with an experimental ship. I'm prepared to offer you a bonus of 10% per day for every day you can knock off the transit time.

"I'm willing to try, sir," Jurgenevski promised.

Getting to know the ship with her reconstructed innards was a piece of cake. The controls were standard, and as for the new computer system, the Drebs made that effortless. The sky-blue-and-pink blob scientists guided them one by one into the fold-out booth that attached to the left side of the control unit.

"It reads your personality and intellect," the chief Dreb burbled through his translator, "thereby saving time between command and execution. This is particularly of use during a crisis."

As the newly promoted commander, Jurgenevski went first. At twenty-six, he was the youngest of the three crew members. The whole process consisted of a lot of lights flashing into his eyes, and probes poking into his ears and against his scalp, but beyond slightly disorienting him, it didn't feel like much. He shrugged to the other two as he came out. With a wary expression on her face, Diani Marius followed. She was the ship's helm and navigation officer. Okabe Thomas went last. Thomas, the old man of the crew at thirty-four, was known as a trade specialist and diplomat, aside from his talents as an engineer. None of them had been with the company more than seven years, and none had immediate family. I.A.T.A. was taking no chances with survivor benefits or suits for wrongful death.

All three of them acted with great solemnity during the departure ceremony, in which the Drebs and the Humans praised the spirit of cooperation and one another. Carrying the ship's cat, I.A.T.A's traditional mascot of good luck that went on every vessel it sent out, they filed on board with the floodlights of the media recorders following them into the Pandora's, hatch. They all waved goodbye to the press and their employers. Jurgenevski felt his heart sink. Fladium Base wasn't much, but it had been his home for years. He might never see it again. He felt a little uncomfortable being alone with the Pandora's reconstructed innards for the first time.

Not everyone shared his anxiety. As soon as the white enameled doors sealed behind them, Okabe Thomas let out a whoop and slapped his hands together.

"Oh, friends, is this going to be a blast!" he cried,