Freelancers 02: The Cat's Genes

'We're not sure. The explosion was sudden but luckily we were at the far side of the ship. But it damaged our life support systems and we can't repair them when our tools are unreachable, and the backup system won't activate.'

'Stand by, we'll come over to you.'

'Thank you! Oh thank you!'

Kal looked at Saeru. 'I suggest we two go while Viri and Tori keep an eye on our surroundings.'

Saeru rose from her seat. 'Okay.' she said, and followed Kal to the airlock.

'The area is not poisonous, and pressure and temperature are within the safe margins to go outside without a suit, but you will need breathing masks.' said Viri over the intercom while Saeru and Kal gathered equipment for emergency repairs and dressed into protective coveralls.

Saeru pushed the microphone button on the communication panel. 'We're about to go outside.'

'Be careful.' said Viri, and scanned the projected view of the surrounding space again.

Saeru and Kal entered the airlock, closed the inner door, and opened the outer hatch. Dust floated inside while Kal aimed a magnetic harpoon with an attached cable at the other ship, and fired. It hit close to the main airlock. He pulled on the cable to test it and secured the reel. 'We're good to go.'

They pulled themselves along the cable towards the ship where the face of a man appeared at one of the windows close to the airlock. He waved in joy.

The inside of the airlock looked safe from the peek through the hatch window, and Kal and Saeru went inside. When they went through the inner hatch, a man in his sixties welcomed them with open arms. 'So good to see you.' he said and beckoned them farther inside. 'Come in, come in.'

Kal and Saeru surveyed the room filled with laboratory equipment, of which some lay broken on the floor, while they followed the man. 'Wasn't there anyone more than just you here?' asked Kal.

'Yes.' said the man and gestured at the next compartment. 'She's in there.'

They stepped into a compartment furnished for use as a living and kitchen space, and a woman of similar age to the man stepped from behind the door and pulled a gun on them. 'Don't move.'

The man picked up another gun from underneath a seat cushion. 'We don't intend to harm you, but we will if we have to.'

Kal and Saeru raised their hands. 'What do you want?' asked Kal.

'You transport something that we want.'

Kal chuckled once. 'What? We don't have anything much on board now. You would have better done this on our way back when we actually have a client's cargo to transport.'

'Don't play coy.' said the woman. 'We know you have cargo from Telum on board. We've been monitoring their communications, but while they are looking for you closer to home, we were pretty sure you were deceiving everyone and came through here because the border is so close to your destination.'

Kal gave her a nod. 'Excellent deduction. I'll commend you for that.'

'Oh kwarf.' said Saeru, and twitched.

Kal looked at her. 'What's wrong?'

She slapped her hand against her mouth as she convulsed once. 'The sausages we ate.' she said with her muffled voice. 'I'm having an allergic reaction.'

The woman looked in confusion at her. 'What? Here!? Now!?'

Saeru made a hurling noise as she bent forward, and the woman stepped immediately backwards. At the same time, Kal snatched the medical pouch from his belt and threw it at the man's head.

The gun in his hand went off when he tumbled backwards from the hit and the woman fired at the ceiling in panic.

Kal and Saeru ran back to the airlock and didn't even bother to close the inner hatch behind them when they hurried outside. They reached Torianne in time to see the inner hatch close at the ship and the woman's annoyed face at the window. 'What happened?' asked Viri over the intercom.

Saeru went to the panel while Kal retracted the harpoon. 'An older couple trying to rob us.'

'What?'

'They knew about our cargo.'

'How weird can it be? Are you two all right?'

Kal closed the outer hatch. 'We're fine and secure. Fly us away from here, Tori.'

'At once.' said Tori, and continued on their original course.

Back on the bridge, Kal sat down in a command chair. 'Pirates, police, and now pensioners? It's all pretty preposterous to me.'

Viri sniggered. 'I say we take a closer look at the very attractive cargo we have on board. This is too weird to not break our no questions asked rule.'

He nodded. 'I'm now very curious to find out what we're dealing with as well.' he said, and rose from his seat again. 'Let's find out if we can open that crate and determine if the contents are a threat to us.'

In the small cargo hold where the crate was stored, Kal examined the locks on the crate closely. 'These are highly precision ones made with the same advanced alloy as the crate, but I think I can still cut slowly through the material. Cutting the locks will be quicker than cutting the lid anyway.' He concentrated his powers again, and went to work while the girls returned to the bridge.

It took a while, but eventually he cut through the last bolt and took a deep breath. 'Done.' he said. 'Tori, can you ask Saeru and Viri to come here?'

'Already done.' she said, and the girls arrived quickly, driven by curiosity.

Kal grabbed the lid at the handles, and lifted it with some effort because of the weight. Saeru and Viri pricked up their ears and stared at the contents in surprise. He laid the lid down on the floor and quickly looked for himself. A panel on the medical device in the corner of the crate indicated the unconscious, large cat-like creature with large, pointy ears and covered in snow white long fur was apparently in good health.

'What's this?' asked Viri. 'I've never seen a species like this.'

'Neither have I.' said Saeru, and cautiously reached out to its head. She giggled once when she touched its fur. 'It's so soft.'

Viri and Kal touched it carefully as well, and sniggered. 'I haven't felt anything like this before.' said Viri.

Kal hummed. 'Well, it does feel good, but you two are still my favourites to touch.'

The girls laughed and gave him a push. He leaned on the edge of the crate and looked at the fluffy animal again. 'I wonder what's so special about this one, apart from maybe being unique.'

'We'll have to ask the folks from Telum when we arrive.' said Viri.

Saeru caressed the creature's ear. 'If they plan on performing tests on it, I don't want to return it to them.' she said, and Viri nodded in agreement.

The medical device beeped, and Kal grumbled. 'Whatever it is, I hope it's not an aggressive species that attacks on sight when it wakes up.' he said, and they stepped away from he crate and went over to the doorway, prepared to shut it fast if there was any danger.

The creature stirred as it regained conscious slowly, then trashed inside the crate and jumped out, swaying slightly on its feet.

'Such a big, fluffy tail.' whispered Saeru. 'It's definitely a rival for attention if it's friendly to Kal.'

Viri suppressed a snigger while Kal nudged Saeru. 'I'll settle for friendly. Just look at the size of those paws and its claws.'

It shook its head to clear it, spotted the people at the door, and quickly jumped in hiding behind the crate. It carefully peeked over the edge with flattened ears and stared at the strangers.

Kal sniggered in amusement at the wary but curious expression in the animal's light green eyes. 'I suspect it might not be as wild as it looks.'

Saeru giggled. 'It's actually very cute.' she said, with a surprised 'Oh!' when the animal raised its ears halfway. She smiled at it. 'Yes, I'm talking about you.'

It pricked up its ears completely, and Viri gave it a small wave. 'I agree. You are very cute with your big ears and fluffy tail.'

It raised its head above the crate, and Kal took a slow step forward. 'I guess you don't want to hurt us as much as we don't want to hurt you.' he said, bent through his knees, and held out a hand. 'So, how about we introduce ourselves?'

The animal moved its head to the side of the crate for a moment, then cautiously moved to its side, and approached Kal step by careful step while staying on guard.

Saeru and Viri watched with bated breath as the animal neared Kal and sniffed at a short distance first. 'Do I pass the first test?' he asked, and it sniffed a little more until it moved close enough to sniff his fingers directly. He chuckled. 'If you smell any scents of food, it's not to bribe you, although we could arrange for that if you prefer.'

It let out a sound halfway between a meow and a gentle growl, and sat down. Kal chuckled again. 'Looks like I didn't pass the taste test. Luckily.' It tilted its head slightly sideways and looked at the girls, and they stepped slowly forward and sat down next to Kal to let it smell their hands.

'So, may we pet your lovely fur?' asked Saeru, and to her delight, the animal moved its head towards her. She carefully touched the top of its head, then stroked it firmer when it didn't pull back. 'So fluffy.' she said with delight.

Viri joined her, and little by little they moved closer until they sat at its side and ran their fingers through the thick and soft fur along its entire back, and the creature purred in relaxation. 'And so we made a new friend.' Kal said, and scratched the animal behind one ear. 'Now we have no choice but to go to the bottom of this situation.' He stood up with a little caution to not startle the animal. 'But first, maybe you two can see if it's hungry.'

It answered that question with a growl in interest, and Saeru stood up as well. 'Let's go then.' she said to it. 'I'm sure we'll find something to your liking.'

It followed her and Viri happily, and Kal went to the bridge where he went to one of the consoles and brought up the audiovisual menu. 'Tori, are we still alone out here?'

'Yes.' she said. 'No contact. Not even from the people we left behind.'

He found the footage from the camera he was looking for, and rewound the feed until he had shots of the man and the woman. He drummed his fingers on the console. 'Why did an older couple try to steal our cargo?' he said to himself. 'Why did they want this cat or whatever it is? They were lousy in their attempt.' He projected their images onto the front of the bridge and gazed at them.

The girls and the animal stepped onto the bridge a little later. 'We did have something for her to eat.' said Viri.

Kal looked over his shoulder at her, his mind still working on the mystery of the couple. 'Her?'

Viri stroked the animal's head. 'Yep. We have another woman on board.'

'Wait, how do you know?'

She laughed, then spoke in a tone of a serious teacher. 'You know, in most species there's a difference between the bodies of females and males. For instance, male mammals often have exterior-'

Kal slapped his hand in his face. 'Yes. Of course. That's not what I meant.'

She smirked at him. 'We just happened to see it when she lifted her tail, although very subtle.'

'You also didn't happen to discover her name?'

Viri shook her head. 'No collar or tattoo in her ear, and nothing in the crate.'

'Then we might have to come up with one for her.' said Kal, and stepped towards the console at the side again. He stopped when the animal meowed softly in surprise.

She went up to the couple's image on the wall, and let out a longing soft and short low meow as she placed her paws against the wall underneath.

'Do you know them?' asked Saeru, and the animal looked back at her and gave her a growl in confirmation.

She went up to her and stroked her head. 'You can actually understand most of what we say, don't you, girl?'

Saeru looked at Kal at another resolute growl from the animal. 'Maybe we should have a talk with those two.'

Kal leaned back against the console. 'Yes, we should since it seems they're connected.' he said. 'Tori? Can you return us to that ship with the couple?'

Tori banked while she answered 'Of course.'.

#

Kal, Saeru, and Viri went over to the ship when there was no sign of life, and cautiously entered it with drawn weapons. 'Messy.' said Viri at the laboratory compartment.

Saeru glanced around at the increased amount of broken equipment on the floor and the workbenches. 'It already was, but not this bad.'

'Indeed.' said Kal when he spotted file folders and binders strewn all over the floor at the filing cabinet in the corner. 'Something happened after we left.'

The sight of the trashed living room and damage from bullets confirmed it for him, and they checked the remaining accessible compartments. 'Nothing.' said Viri when she came from the last place, the undamaged utilities compartment.

A glimmer caught Kal's eye, and he kicked a seat cushion aside to reveal the badge underneath it. He read the word Telum on it as he picked it up. 'They mentioned they monitored Telum's communications. Looks like someone there found out.'

'What do we do?' asked Saeru. 'They might not be the bad guys they pretended to be.'

Kal tossed the badge on the floor. 'I'm thinking the same thing after our fluffy guest's reaction to their image. If we want answers, we'll have to find them.'

Viri spotted a photo frame on a shelf in the corner. 'Hey, look.' she said, and picked up the photo of the couple with the creature sitting on an examination table between them. The mood was that of parents with their child. She checked the back of the photo, and read the name written on it.

'Genuata?' said Saeru to the animal after they returned to Torianne.

She pricked up her ears and gave her a cheerful meow-growl.

Saeru giggled and petted her. 'So that's really your name.'

Kal chuckled as he sat down. 'Well, that saves us from trying to come up with one. I always have difficulty doing that.' He leaned back in his seat. 'I wonder how writers manage to do that all the time.'

Viri sat down in her pilot seat. 'Where do we go? Tori, can you project a star chart of the local area?'

It appeared after a moment around them. 'There you go.' said Tori.

The three studied the map. Viri pointed out one star. 'My guess would be there. It's the farthest away from the others, which is usually preferred while doing some covert operations.'

'It's also one of the closest systems to this point in space which can be reached by the average ship.' said Kal. 'We'll begin our search there.'

#

Torianne arrived at the edge of the system after a short jump when they cleared the dust cloud around Kalb Nine. 'Only one habitable planet here.' said Viri. 'Thela.'

'Looks like you can hide in the asteroid belt close to it, Tori.' said Kal. 'We'll take Reliant to the planet.'

They touched down as planned at the largest port later, and consulted one of the several public information terminals. 'They made it easy for us.' said Saeru when Telum showed up in the directory of local companies. 'Applied Research. I never understood what it actually means.'

'I think it's just a fancy term for playing around with toys on the company's dime.' said Viri.

Kal gestured at the sign for the rail terminal. 'Let's scout the place.'

The Telum campus consisted of several buildings of different sizes, surrounded by a wired fence with barbed wire on top. The entrance had a gate which would only open for personnel and allowed visitors. The armed guard made it clear they weren't kidding about that. Kal and the girls were sitting outside of a small shop that sold refreshments, observing the campus and enjoying ice cream while they were waiting on the warm, sunny day. 'That smaller building to the side, I've only seen guards come and go and an occasional person who looks like higher management. That seems the most likely place to hold people in secret.'

'Night time raid?' suggested Saeru, and Kal nodded.

#

When darkness fell and the guards were the only personnel on campus, the three sneaked to the fence at the rear after a guard had passed it on their round. Kal used his ability to quickly cut a hole in it, then closed it again once inside by concentrating his chemical magic to an intense heat at a couple of the cut wires and weld them together again. They kept to the dimly lit edge of the campus and sneaked along the fence to avoid the cameras attached to the buildings that monitored the entrances. The target building had them as well, but not at the rear where there were three small windows with iron bars. The bars were made of standard iron, and Kal cut quickly through them at a window that stood partially open. A quick weld point made them look intact from a short distance, while a good kick against them could break them again in case of a hasty retreat. The interior was that of a simple small office with some desks, filing cabinets, and terminals in several rooms, and the three went down the stairs at the hall at the front next. Some of the doors at the end of a corridor were made of steel, and Saeru and Viri heard breathing and a murmur behind one of them.

Kal slid the hatch in the door silently aside and spotted the man and woman lying on stretchers at the far wall. 'Yes, it's them. Asleep.' he whispered, and went to work on cutting the lock.

They moved silently inside to not wake the couple, then placed their hands on their mouths as they shook them. The couple jerked back startled while their shouts were muffled, and Kal and Saeru gestured at them to keep quiet. They pulled their hands back when the couple nodded their compliance.

The man looked at the three of them. 'Why are you here?' he whispered urgently.

'We're here at the request of a mutual friend.' whispered Kal. 'You basically have two choices, either come with us, or stay here.'

The man looked at the woman for a moment. 'There's no choice to make. Obviously I'll choose the likely safety of my wife.'

'Good.' whispered Kal. 'Do exactly as we say and you'll be fine.' He gestured at the girls. 'This is Viri, this is Saeru, and I'm Kal.'

The man gave them a nod and gestured at his wife. 'Delia, and I'm Gerond.'

Gun fire and shouting in the distance put them at full alert. Gerond pulled Delia close to him. 'What's happening?'

Kal and Viri rushed to the front hall of the building while Saeru stayed with the couple as they followed. Through the windows next to the entrance doors, Viri and Kal observed a firefight between the guards and an unknown group at the campus gate. 'I'll have a quick look.' said Viri, and disappeared into the shadows next to her.

She reappeared in the shadow behind the guard post and peeked around it. The assailants were a ragtag bunch but well armed. Looking around, she noticed two men and a woman in dark clothing standing behind the row of vehicles surrounding the entrance at the street, and slipped through the shadows again to one behind a car close to them.

'Those guards are not your average ones.' said one of the men. 'The pay better be worth it.'

'Don't worry,' said the woman as she lit a cigarillo behind her hand. 'it's worth it along with any of their toys we can snatch with us. Rivalry between companies is a lucrative business. Send the extraction team to fetch the pair.' The second man waved towards the end of the street, and a team of six jogged to the side of the campus.

Viri slipped quickly through the shadows and returned to Kal. 'There are six people coming here, most likely for the couple.'

Kal gave her a nod in acknowledgement. 'We leave through the rear window, hoping they plan to enter through the front here.'

They moved as fast as the couple could handle to the storage room at the rear. Kal cut the single welds at the bars quickly to avoid noise, and went through the window first after verifying no one was in the vicinity. Viri went through next, and the noise of glass breaking from the front entrance was their queue to help the couple through the window as quick as possible. Saeru heard a shout about them being gone from downstairs when she slipped through the window last, and they all hurried towards the rear of the campus. The armed men and women there was not a welcome sight. One of them shouting 'That's them!' and firing his gun wasn't either.