Free Trader Coventry
Catalina Highport, Califia
Pacifica System, the Gray Zone

Space on interstellar craft is always at a premium, so the room to work was tight, even for a Thalendri. Yet with practiced ease, Nuyann squeezed his slim paravulpine body through the access hatch and slid inside, seven-eighths of his weight vanishing as ship gravity gave way to Catalina's one-eighth gee. The enclosed air was stale with the odor of hot electronics, old plastics, and lubricants; Nuyann fought the urge to sneeze.
Leave it to Humandri to design a ship they can't repair themselves, he thought as he braced himself in the tight low-gee accessway, massaging the tools and parts out of his tote-vest. Nuyann had enjoyed his status as chief engineer aboard the Coventry for almost two years now, but even two years was not enough time to understand all the reasoning and actions of the primarily Human crew. If it weren't for the two Thalendri and the one Rylii aboard, the slickskins would never have survived the political and social intricacies of the Gray Zone.

The ship groaned, the pressure bulkhead massaging his back with a shudder that ended with a jolt. The sharp metal-on-metal sounds of a freight container being secured in the hold set his vulpine ears twitching, then silence. A moment later, the shuddering resumed as the next container slid into place on the other side of the bulkhead.

This time, they'd be running nearly full; forty-two standard containers, common-carrier shipments filled out with spec-trade goods, bound from Califia System to the main-trunk Web connection at Alorya. Load, undock, boost out, FTL insertion, FTL emergence, boost-in, dock, unload, repeat--the routine of a small-trader in the halo of minor worlds and systems between WebFed and the New Suns Nebula, where traffic was too sparse for the big main-route merchies. This time, complicated with five passengers and an avionics grid that decided to go keshi at the last minute.

"Nuyann?" a human voice crackled over his intercom. "We're done here. See you forward."

"I just have to replace this panel, Lewis," Nuyann yipped back into the shoulder-mounted intercom. "Ten minutes tops. Tell the Captain for me."

The Thalendri continued his work, gekkering over the manufacturer of cheap electronics that would fry just when the need for them was most critical. Behind him, the crew left on other important pre-lift tasks, leaving him in peace.

He had the last circuit panel almost in place when he froze, ears and tail twitching. A noise, a sound, so subtle that his fox-like ears had almost missed it.

"Wowowow?" he called. "Anybody there?" No answer; just the crackling and popping of normal thermal stress. Instinctively, he tongued his nosepad, trying to catch some scent. Captain, Lewis, Williams, Sayers, Melai, nim-Chokonnu, traces of the last batch of passengers and stevedores--nothing out of the ordinary...

Then it hit--a wave of para-adrenalin that stood his fur on end. Something was in there with him--without sound, without scent, but there. A predator, like some sort of invisible gildarr, stalking him, closing for the kill.

And he was trapped--wedged into the tight accessway. Any second the great-clawed paw of a gildarr would reach in and dig him out in pieces; or the toothy maw of a para-serp would slither in....

Senses heightened by dread, Nuyann felt the presence as it inexorably moved closer to where he lay paralyzed in the accessway. Trapped in a burrow. At any moment, it would seize him and his fear whispered of unthinkable horror.

"Nuyann!" a voice crackled through his intercom.

Nuyann screamed, a shrill piercing yelp that reverberated in the narrow crawlway even while a tiny rational part of his brain assured him the voice was nothing but Captain Carroll and that the presence had already left as quickly as shadows when a light is turned on.

"Nuyann!" the voice cried again, but this time through both intercom and accessway, heavy with concern. "You all right in there?"

The Thalendri gulped in air as fought to keep his emotions under control. "Yes," he said, his voice reduced to a squeal. "You just startled me."

The captain's face appeared at the accessway hatch. "Lewis said you'd be done in ten. Not asleep in there are you?"

"My ten minutes aren't up yet," Nuyann said. "I'm almost finished."

"Nuyann," the captain said calmly, "That was half an hour ago. I think you've lost track of time."

* * *

In her undress uniform with rank-striped sleeves, Merchant Captain Third-class Louise Carroll made her way through the entry airlock into the pressurized boarding tunnel where it was ship's tradition to greet oncoming passengers along with the Coventry's stewardess. At Nuyann's panicked request, she had stayed with him, "standing guard" just outside the accessway entry, until the panel had been replaced. The captain had tactfully avoided pointing out that, despite his protests that all was well, there was a large wet spot in the crotch of his coveralls. She could hardly believe that her calling out Nuyann's name would have scared him to that degree, but time was of the essence, and she would pursue the matter later with Melanai, his girlfriend as well as shipmate.

Carroll found Melanai, the ship's stewardess, in the small reception alcove in the boarding tunnel waiting patiently for the Captain to grant permission to allow the passengers on board. Carroll thought it best not to mention the incident with Nuyann at present. Passengers could be a handful and Melanai had other problems.

Melanai's name was para-human, a recurring fashion among Thalendri. Her main responsibility was to make sure the passengers were reasonably comfortable throughout the voyage, and she did her job not only efficiently, but with the trademark elegance of a Thalendri.

Though humanity's xenophobic tendencies were still present in their racial memory, the bottom line was the vast majority of humans liked Thalendri. The fear of what was different had been replaced by memories of Reynard the Fox and other tales and amusements of human childhood. Xenobiologists had a field day arguing how an alien race could so accurately mimic an anthropomorphic version of Terry foxes, but regardless, the Thalendri reaped the rewards of the coincidence and everybody was happy.

"Are we ready for our guests?" Carroll asked.

"Yes, Captain," the sharp-uniformed vixen replied. "We have five passengers. Three Humandri, one Rylii, and another."

The captain arched her eyebrow in question. "Please tell me we're not taking a Skreeln." Involuntarily she shuddered. Those great flightless birds-of-prey from N'kree had bad reputations as ship's passengers--at least aboard non-Skreeln ships. Like any warlike society, their social skills were highly ritualistic. It was a five-minute ceremony of bowing and greeting and invitations and hospitality offerings just to enter a ship, and the captain hated the lengthy rites.

"No," Melanai said. "An Artificial."

Melanai carefully observed the captain, watching her facial features tighten in an amazing passage of emotions from repugnance to anger to frustration to very reluctant acceptance. In spite of the captain's feelings, even in the Zone there were laws that had to be obeyed. If a passenger had the money, they were given a ticket. To refuse for any reason could result in loss of the license needed to carry passengers, and carrying passengers was good money even if you had to carry genetically-created lifeforms.

"Of course, it's female," the captain said, gritting her teeth.

"Yes," Melanai said.

"And it's a porn star."

"No. Some sort of Courier."

"I'm surprised," the Captain said and then sighed. "Sometimes humanity disgusts me."

The Thalendri put her silken hand on the captain's arm. "Mirai, please remember that we create Artificials too."

"I know," Carroll said, "but you treat them like real people, give them full rights and all sorts of legal protection. We use ours for wanker-toys. What's the base-template?"
Melanai checked her smartpad. "Ferret," she said. "I'm unfamiliar with the species."

"It's an Earth animal," the captain said. "A pet."

The Thalendri again checked her smartpad. "They're waiting."

Captain Carroll sighed. "Crack the hatch," she said. "Let's greet the guests."

Melanai prided herself in knowing the psychology of many species that formed WebFed and its surrounding territories. It didn't matter whether her guests were the ritualistic Skreeln, the telepathic M'Kranthi, the saurian Larant, or any of the other species that formed the interstellar community. She could effectively interact with each one, no mean feat for a Thalendri.

Captain Carroll knew this all too well, which was why Melanai was one of the best-paid ship's stewardesses in the entire Gray Zone--at least outside corporate liveries.

The pressure doors at the far end of the boarding tunnel spun open. The first guests were a human woman and her daughter in Califian casual wear. The woman was obviously distracted by the hustle-and-bustle of preparing for the trip to Alorya, and she tugged her eight-year-old daughter after her as if she were merely another piece of baggage.

"Mrs. Naomi Goodrich?" the Thalendri asked in her soft yipping voice. "Welcome aboard the Coventrai. I am Melanai, your stewardess for the journey. May I introduce Captain Louise Carroll?"

The woman blinked at them owlishly. Far back in her eyes, Melanai could see awareness gathering as synapses started firing into recognizable patterns.

"Oh, yes," the woman said. "I'm sorry. I'm not much for space travel. Where's my stateroom?"

"I'll be happy to show you," Melanai purred. She bent down to stare eye-to-eye with the human child. "And you must be Winter."

The girl stared at the fox-like alien with an open mouth, a little frightened and yet mostly enchanted. Melanai wondered if she were the first Thalendri the child had seen close-up and prepared for the indignity of being petted.

"Come, Winter," the mother said.

The next passenger was a Selkie whom Melanai introduced to the Captain as Mr. Pitter. Definitely not a Selkie name, which meant he was traveling obviously incognito--not unusual for the small musteloids.

If Thalendri served as the cosmos' equivalent to Terry foxes, Rylii/Selkies were the equivalent of Terry otters: small and agile, with slick fur that made them glisten in the light. Pitter was a three-tone-blue Littorial, with dark blue-gray head and tail and large, blue eyes, nude except for a wide utility tote-belt and a cloth Gatsby cap.

He bowed low toward Captain Carroll, chirping in the Selkie tradition. Standing, his head was level with the Captain's abdomen. "I'm looking forward to the trip, Captain," he chittered, his small front teeth glistening as his lips pulled back in a parody of a human grin. "I'm a freelance travel-writer, and I do hope we'll have an opportunity to talk while FTL. I get all my ideas from the fascinating people I meet."
Melanai was secretly pleased to see the Captain smile in response and assure the Selkie that she looked forward to a small chat.

Assured that his luggage was waiting for him in his stateroom, the Selkie moved gracefully down the hallway.

The next guest was an elderly Human, tall and gaunt, but with a smile on his face, in not-quite-casual wear except for a black shirt with a Roman collar. "Father Eric Heidler," he said, shaking the Captain's hand before Melanai had a chance to introduce him. "Roman Catholic Church, Old Earth. My friends call me Eric."

"And friends call me Melanai. Welcome aboard the Coventrai," the Thalendri said, offering her hand in an attempt to regain some modicum of control. The priest took her hand and smiled.

"I just arrived in the Zone two weeks ago," he said, "and I've not had an opportunity to talk to any Thalendri yet. I hope you'll offer me an opportunity to rectify that situation?"

Melanai nodded her head and gave the priest the location and number of his stateroom.

The captain waited until Father Heidler was well out of earshot. "How delightful," she muttered. "I'm going to be cornered by a writer-wannabe, and you're going to be converted. Now where is our last passenger? She's going to be late in five minutes."

Twenty-five minutes later, Melanai watched Captain Carroll run through the fascinating human transition from frustration to annoyance to anger. In five more minutes, the passenger could be classed as a no-show, but the half-hour allowed a passenger to be late directly impacted the port's launch schedules.

Exactly with one minute to spare, the final passenger arrived, nonchalantly strolling down the boarding tunnel. Melanai smelled the Artificial well before she saw her. The creature reeked of benga--cheap rush-blends, instead of the fragrant taste-blends she and Nuyann liked occasionally.

"Captain Carroll, please meet Jill Noir."

The Captain stared despite her professionalism. The construct only stood up to the captain's chin, but despite her short stature, she could easily turn heads due to her overwhelming uniqueness.

Black, intelligent eyes peered out of a furry, muzzled face: an anthropomorphic ferret from a child's fairy-tale story with a large pink nosepad and a dark-brown mask stretching around her eyes. The face was framed by a long cascade of jet-black curls, an outrageous addition to her frilled costume and long, black tailcoat that reminded the captain of childhood stories of fairies and pirate captains. Not really wanting to do so, she sneaked a look at the creature's left hand.

Instead of the half-expected sharp hook, the creature had a hand, chocolate-furred and claw-tipped, with the source of her incense-burner odor--a benga cigarette at the end of an ivory-tipped holder.

"I'm sorry," Melanai said, "but smoking is restricted to your stateroom. You'll have to extinguish your bengastick before boarding."

With a graceful move, the ferret lifted cigarette holder to muzzle and took two long deep inhales that made Melanai wince before simply pinching out the end of the bengastick, ignoring what had to be some discomfort to her fingertips from the burning embers. It blew a column of grey smoke towards the overhead, then faced the human and vixen. "Satisfied?

"I will be staying in my room throughout most of the trip," it continued with a slight lisp. "I trust that I have a solo stateroom as contracted?"

"Of course," Melanai said, the picture of an effective stewardess. "We hope you will enjoy your passage."

"And my baggage?"

"Stowed and confirmed. In our LCL area, at the forward end of the hold."

The creature moved on, declining to shake the captain's hand or even address her.

The Captain simply stared and shook her head.

"Tahai ari, Captain?" Melanai asked.

Carroll sighed and shook her head. "I swear the reason you're the stewardess and I'm the captain is because I could never do your job."

Melanai gave the equivalent of a Thalendri smile. "That's why I earn the shildri."