Accommodations
© 2021 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  Ahro


When the word finally came, all properly authenticated and verified, Meredith was not surprised.

The ceasefire was holding, so far, and the Confed Navy had conferred with the civilian freight companies before announcing that all unarmed freighters and passenger liners taken into military service would be released to civilian control, subject to recall if hostilities resumed. Older armed freighters would take their place.

A Quiet Life, being new, would remain close to the Fleet in a combat support role along with other newer ships. The news caused some flattened ears and irritated mumbling, but everyone agreed that standing down in gradual steps made more sense than simply releasing all civil transport and hoping for the best.

The convoy’s trip to Indawo was completely uneventful, and the ships unloaded their cargoes while in orbit over the planet. The view of the largest city was . . . disturbing, with the huge scar left by the Mars Ultor’s single mass driver shot quite visible. The word on the planetary infonet was that the crater would be excavated and made into a park to memorialize the several thousand people whose lives had been snuffed out in an instant.

Most of the crew opted to take their liberty at the stations in orbit over Indawo, rather than burden the inhabitants by going dirtside and gawking.

The golden palomino mare was sitting in the crew lounge, sipping at a beer between bites of a sandwich when Christina asked, “Got a moment, Merry?” The cow’s boyfriend, Hui, stood just behind her.

“Hm? Sure. Have a seat,” and as the Hereford cow and the brown bear sat down Meredith asked, “What’s up?”

“Well, you remember when we talked about maybe combining me and Chris’ quarters?” Hui asked.

Meredith thought for a moment before giving the pair a wary nod. “Yes.”

Christina grinned and took her padd from a pocket of her jumpsuit, folding it out flat on the table as Meredith moved her glass of ale and sandwich plate out of the way. The cow activated the device’s projection function, and a 3-D cutaway of the ship appeared. Christina put her paw into the projection and moved her fingers apart, causing the image to zoom in until two cabins were shown outlined in blue. “Hui and I have been working on this – “

“And I ran the idea past Transcosm’s chief designer,” Hui put in, and both of the mare’s ears went up in surprise.

“Wow, you two have put in the effort, no doubt. So, what do you have in mind?”

Hui replied, “We plan on bracing the hull framing here and here,” and Christina highlighted the areas with a finger, “before removing the bulkhead and one of the bathrooms.”

“I see.” The mare poked her own paw into the image and turned it so that she could look at it from above. “Wider bed?”

Christina nodded, adding with a giggle, “And adding more reinforcement to the frame.” All three of them chuckled before she said, “All said and done, the ship loses about two hundred kilos, and the ship’s chief designer helped us with the calculations for calibrating the artigrav.”

“Well, Boss?” Hui asked.

Meredith sat back and took a swallow of her ale, looking into the projection and thinking. “I have a question.”

“Yeah?” Christina asked.

“You’re not going to like it,” the mare said.

The bear and the cow glanced at each other before Hui asked, “What is it?”

Meredith took a deep breath. “No one can deny that you’ve put a lot of work into this, and it’s a great effort. But – and I’m not asking this as a Captain, I’m asking as a friend – what if you two have a falling out, and you stop seeing each other or sleeping together?” They both looked startled. “I hate to toss your idea out of the airlock like that; I’m sorry.”

“What about you and Fuji?” Hui asked.

“They’re on different shifts,” Christina said. “They hot bunk.” She peered at the mare. “How about this, then? We keep the bathroom,” and her fingers moved about within the schematic, “put in the larger bed and break the bulkhead down into sections that can be taken down or put up as needed?”

Hui’s eyes lit up. “We can store the wall sections in the cargo hold. There’s always a little unused volume for stowage.”

They both looked at Meredith expectantly.

The mare grinned. “Draw it up,” she said, “and run it by the designer again to make sure it’s doable. We smooth?”

“As glass,” Hui said. He got to his feet, gave Christina a kiss, and left the lounge.

Christina deactivated the padd and started to fold it up. “Thanks, Merry.”

“I’m sorry – “

“Don’t be,” the cow said, pocketing the device. “We never thought of the possibility that we might have a falling-out. You’re a good friend, and we can adjust things.”

“Just one thing, Chris.”

“Yeah, Merry?”

The golden palomino mare smiled. “If you two decide to get married, let me host the party.”

“Gotcha.”