“To Captain Tom!”

  Glassing clink and drinks are drunk. That's the tenth time they’ve toasted to me. I think. I lost count after the sixth. Or seventh. I don’t know, I lost count.

  Moby is stuck at dock. Apparently now that I’m “Official” they want me to have a proper ship and a real crew. So the underlings are stuck doing training exercises. Moby is getting her guts ripped out and new ones thrown in. And I’m here at some resort satellite getting drunk for the third night in the row. Or fourth. I don’t know. I lost count.

  “Wasting your life away in a bar yet again, Captain?”

  Inanna looks like she’s taken to the slow life well. Thought she’d be the type who couldn’t go five minutes without doing something useful. Instead it's been nothing but massages and pedicures. She tried taking me to one. Do not trust a chiropractor that has never even seen a human before.

  “Hey now, You told me to branch out. So I branched out.”

  “Last time I saw you it was in a bar. This is a different bar.”

  “Correction. This is a club. Welcome to Impulse. Grab a drink, shake your ass, find some hot stuff for the night. Space God knows you’ll have better luck then I do.’

  “And what is that supposed to mean? Is this about chests again? You mammals have issues. Can’t stand to see someone with nothing on top can you?”

  Inanna wasn’t kidding when she said she usually goes bare chested when off duty. Even has a short open front blazer to frame that particular spot. My monkey brain is telling me this should be really hot. And yet, I’m not feeling anything. It’s not even that I have a problem with a smaller chest. Any size in a storm. There’s just nothing there to get excited about. Maybe I’m just not into Amphibian girls.

  “Why are you here Inanna?”

  “We got a transmission. The Moby has finished and we are going to be shipping back out tomorrow. I have been trying to reach everyone to let them know but so far only Deed and Vivvian have responded.”

  I see Vivvian behind Inanna. Didn’t notice her there behind that giant blue body. She’s carrying six full bags. Vivvian has spent every waking hour shopping but I don’t see her getting admonished for her decisions.

  “Of course no one else has responded. It's a vacation. Relax. They’ll turn up. Join me for another round. They toast me here every couple minutes.”

  “To Captain Tom!”

  “See? Bottoms up.”

  I close my eyes and lift my glass. I don’t get any drink. Where is my drink? Why is Inanna holding my drink and giving me a look like she’s my disappointed mother?

  “I wasn’t finished with that.”

  “How did I lose to you?”

  “Was that?”

  “I said do you know where the rest of the crew is?”

  “Well Raze is right down there. How you holding up buddy?”

  A snore like a chainsaw replies. My Chief of Security is collapsed in the corner booth surrounded by enough alcohol to kill an elephant.

  “Good old Raze. Best conversation I’ve had with him all week.”

  “Vivvian, take this.”

  Inanna takes the bottle off the table and hands it to my Helmsman.

  “You know drinking and driving is a bad idea.”

  “Which is why we will not be drinking.”

  “You tell Vivvian that?”

  Our Wahk Helmsman takes a small swig before the First Officer swipes the bottle back. She seems oddly panicked about it.

  “Vivvian, you know what Alcohol does to Wahk. Why would you-”

  “SIlence is a virtue which you should fucking use!”

  Whoa! Was that even a metaphor?

  “The Southerwind is a fucking Whore! I flew to the sun on a star of meat. Why does the rolling stone gather no moss? Does moss not love the stone? SWEET HOME IN THE FLUFFY CLOUDY SKY!!!”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  THUD

  “...Is she dead?”

  “No, just an extreme lightweight. Avians in general don’t handle their booze well. Wahk especially. Help me carry him.”

  “Alright. What about Raze?”

  “What about him?”

  I pick up Vivvian, doing my best newlyweds impression. Lighter than I expected. Must be those hollow bones. Inanna grabs all her bags. She has to bend down pretty far to grab them. Bending away from me. With her wide hips in tights. I can say for certain the issue is not that I am not into amphibians.

  “Did he buy bricks? These bags weigh a ton.”

  “Looks like feather cleaning products. Must be an insane routine.”

  “Ughh. I can barely stand the moisturizers I use and that literally keeps me from dying.”

  “Could have guessed you weren’t a girly girl.”

  “Bite me. Where are the others?”

  “Joan is over there.”

  I motion to the dance floor. Joan has been shaking her bug butt on the neon floor for hours. Evidently, Harvesters dance often. It’s the one form of entertainment to survive. They could dance for days at a time. Being a very physical species, she’s become quite popular. Surrounded by people from many races. Touching, grinding, clutching all over. Joan shows them all a good time. Perhaps a little too good. The loud pumping slows. A male Phibian holds her tightly. Swaying close together. The music is quiet enough for me to hear them.

  “Would you like to come to my room?”

  “Was for?”

  “We can have a private dance together. Just the two of us.”

  “Why Joan want dance only two? More here. More to dance better.”

  “No, we wouldn’t actually be dancing. I mean-”

  “Joan want dance. You no want dance you go. Joan stay to dance.”

  Guy walks off. More confused than anything. Talk about barking up the wrong tree.

  “I think she’ll be fine here. Let’s get Vivvian home.”

  We exit the Impulse. This Station is top of the line. Feels like a real city on the inside. Holographic roof creates an artificial sky complete with a day night cycle and even clouds. If you didn't know any better you’d think this was a real planet. There is enough space for small repulsor craft to fly around the air. Including taxis, which we need to hail.

  “Yo! Taxi!”

  Careens right past me.

  “Expiditionary Captain in need of a lift!”

  That one didn’t stop either. And I know it was empty.

  “Let me do it. Move out of the way.”

  Inanna takes a turn. She sticks her leg out, butt pointed at the traffic so everyone can see what she’s got. First taxi stopped so hard I thought it’s gyroscope was going to fail and cause it to crash. Guess some things are universal.

  “In, now.”

  Damn, Inanna is a lot less polite when she off the clock. Or maybe she's just stressed. You’d think all those massages would have loosened her up. Either way, off to the Grand Hotel. We all got rooms there. Some of us nicer rooms than others.

  “I just got a reply from Sagaci. Said they are taking some Me, Me and Me time. Alcea sent something, too. Turns out they were with Deed.”

  “I could have guessed that much. Anything from Fairy?”

  “She’s still out on date night with Sugar. I imagine they will be out late.”

  “When we gonna meet her girlfriend, anyway?"

  “I already have. A few times. She’s very nice.”

  “What? Why have you-”

  “Because I don’t spend all day at a bar.”

  Yeah, I got nothing for that one. Think I’ll let the silence take over for a little while. It's a really pretty city out there. High buildings, bright lights, shops and restaurants and shows at every corner. I have been told Earth used to have cities just like this. It may again in my lifetime.

  “We’re here.”

  I scan my Black Card to cover the bill. Thank you discretionary spending. I grab Vivvian and we step out to the lobby. It’s funny how not even a month ago I would be marveling at the luxury this place has and now I’m already numb to it. Maybe I’m just too much of a simpleton to appreciate it all.

  The elevator takes us to the 178th floor, Vivvian’s floor. Lucky she had her room card in her pocket. It’s a nice room. Got a luxury bird bath and everything. I plop her on the bed big enough for three while Inanna drops the six bags she was carrying next to the fifty something other bags in the corner. We try to leave quickly before we get too deep into her personal stuff.

  “You see all that crap Vivvian bought?”

  “Yeah. He better not be expecting us to help him carry it all.”

  Another elevator ride and we hit 292. Inanna's floor. She doesn’t need any carrying so I stay in the elevator as she leaves on her own.

  “Good night Tom. I’m setting up wake up calls for everyone so make sure you get some sleep as soon as you reach your room.’

  “Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow.”

  Huh, Inanna stopped the door. What she want to talk about so badly?

  “At the club, you said I’d have better luck. What did you mean?”

  “I am far to drunk and tired to have any tact so I should probably say nothing. For the sake of our professional relationship.”

  “And if I were to say this was all off record?”

  “You got a fantastic ass, legs for days and a winning smile. You could have landed any man you wanted. Or woman, I’m still learning what everyone is into around here.”

  “And my chest?”

  “Frankly, doesn’t do anything for me.”

  “Well, I guess I won’t hold it against you.”

  The elevator shuts and I’m alone.

  “There ain’t nothing to hold against me.”

  My floor. 300. The very tip top. I don’t have the penthouse or anything but all the rooms up here are still twice the size of anything else. Not that I need all that much space. I drag myself across the rare red marble floors, crawl into the sheets that make silk feel like sandpaper by comparison, and try to sleep. It’s been a long day. Might take a while for, me… to………