Chapter 2: Male Kangaroos Don't Have Pouches. "He" is actually a hermaphrodite.
After several long hours of flying, they landed on planet Darwin finally. Jake had given her coordinates to where to land, and it was a small out-of-the way place she presumed was a private landing platform to which he'd deliver his coronite. Upon landing, Kalli climbed out of her ship and strode over to wbere Jake's ship had landed. It was very windy here but at least it wasn't raining.
"Nice flight," Jake said. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Kalli pulled her wind-blown hair out of her face and opened her mouth to demand an explanation finally, but was interrupted by a voice behind her. "Ah, there you are, Jake! I was wondering when you'd get here." She turned to see a man covered in fur, with a thick tail and a red shirt, and a conspicuous lack of pants. She had heard of these. They were called Furries, and were humans genetically engineered with the traits of animals. However, she was uncertain exactly what species this one was.
Jake grinned faintly. "Yeah, I ran into an unexpected delay out in Coventry."
"Pity. Glad you're here in one piece, though. Did you bring it?"
"Bring what?" Jake said with a hint of amusement.
"You know," the Furry said impatiently. "The muse, the words, the nano? Did you bring it?"
Kalli quirked an eyebrow questioningly, but said nothing. Jake glanced at her and said to the Furry, "Yeah, Tom, it's in the hold." He went over and opened the hold, the others following to take a look. Inside there were many crates stacked upon one another, outlined with a faintly glistening amber-colored material.
Tom went over to one of them and opened it to verify the contents. "Excellent," he said. He motioned over some other people with anti-gravity lifters to unload the ship. "Here is your payment, as promised." He pulled out some plastic cards from a pouch on his belly and handed them to Jake.
"Thanks for the escort," Jake said to Kalli, handing her one of the cards absently. She glanced at it and her eyes opened wide when she saw that it read "10,000 credits". It was more money than she'd ever had in her life.
Kalli sighed and grabbed Jake's arm and said to Tom, "Excuse us." She dragged Jake over toward the side of his freighter. He was a bit bemused and didn't offer any resistance. "We need to talk," she said.
Jake smiled at her and said, "Yep, I suppose we do." He opened the hatch of the freighter and said, "Let's take a seat inside."
Kalli stepped inside out of the wind and sat down across from him. "You're not hauling coronite, are you," Kalli said, without a hint of a question in her voice.
"Nope, not really. Technically, the crates are made of coronite. Or at least partly."
Kalli smirked. "You may think me fairly naive, but I'm not stupid. What, exactly, did you really bring here?"
"Nanowrimo," Jake explained. "It's a drug. Some Glyphans swear by it, claim it enhances creativity and provides inspiration. I say it just makes them write long, nonsensical novels in a short period of time, but they're willing to pay well for it so I'll not complain. I don't have to read them after all."
Kalli sighed, leaning back in her seat and tapping the ten thousand credit card against the table. It might be technically against the law, but she couldn't think that it could be particularly harmful. "So you're a smuggler, then."
"Yeah, you could say that," Jake said casually. "When I need some quick cash and aren't doing anything else at least."
Kalli stared at the credits for a long while. She considered briefly just throwing it at him and telling him the deal was off, but she needed the money. She also considered just taking it and going back home, but she did still want to see the universe in some way or another.
"Understandably," Jake went on, "I don't really want people going off and telling the Military what I do, you know?"
"Naturally," Kalli repeated hollowly.
"Sorry," Jake said. "I don't want to sound like I'm forcing you into anything. I'm not exactly holding a gun to your head, I just want to make sure you don't go run off blabbing to the wrong people, right?"
"Of course," Kalli muttered, still staring at the money.
"Although if you wanted to stick with me, I could still use an escort for some more runs. Moving things from here to there. People always want stuff moved. Good way to see the universe, I suppose. Some of them are even legal."
It was very tempting. She didn't much want to wander around the galaxy alone and end up broke again. It didn't sound too tough. With a sigh, she shoved the ten thousand credits in her pocket and said, "Alright. I'm in."
"Great," Jake said, smiling broadly and clapping her on the shoulder. "Anything else you want to know?"
Kalli thought for a moment. "What happened to your other escort?"
Jake's smile faded. "Ah, right. We were attacked in the Coventry system. It's easier to pull off claiming you're hauling coronite away from the Lorres system and not into it. So the Military came after us. We escaped with our lives and cargo intact, but Mike's ship was badly damaged so he put down in Lorres for repairs."
"You couldn't have found another escort in Lorres?"
"I did, but she only took me as far as Secundus and then ran off saying something important had come up," Jake smirked.
"So what's next on the agenda, then?" Kalli asked.
"I was thinking to stay here for the night and rest up, then head back to Lorres and see how Mike's repairs are coming along. And if he's ready, head out for another run somewhere. No offense, babe, but if it comes to fighting, I want the Death Dancer at my side. Nobody should bother us getting back to Lorres, particularly if we carry pharmaceuticals or something." Kalli nodded. Jake said, "Okay. Let's see if they're finished unloading the cargo yet."
He opened the hatch and hopped out onto the platform again and headed back to the back of the ship, Kalli following. Some people were still hauling crates off the ship. "Just three more left," Tom said.
"Great. I don't think I've properly introduced you. Tom, this is Kalli May, my escort." Kalli nodded to him. "Kalli, this is Thomas Gerlock, a member of the Darwin chapter of Glypha. We'll be staying planetside for the night."
"Excellent. I shall arrange rooms for you if you like," Tom offered.
"No, thank you, I believe we'll just stay at the hotel in town. We'll need to pick up some pharmaceuticals to haul back to Lorres anyway."
"As you wish. Good rest."