Cargo
Chapter 8
"This had better be a good idea," Rick stated as he donned his space suit. Kate didn't say anything, mostly because he was right. It had to be an excellent idea.
They picked up their weapons, went into the airlock, came out, and floated across to the airlock. They went through the first of two double airlocks. Rick stopped at the second of two double airlocks. "Are you sure about this, Kate? It's not too late to change your mind and go back. We have things to sell."
"Of course, I'm not. Let's get this over with." Kate watched him open the airlock and step inside.
At first, he didn't see anyone, which was good. Kate joined him and looked around. There was no movement anywhere. She didn't know what came next, so she moved toward the control room.
They just got there when the door opened, and a man came out. He looked familiar to them.
"Dos morfel ol. Qualla flohlu uns'aa."
"There's that qualla word again. I'm pretty sure it means please," Kate told Rick. They didn't level their rifles at him, though they did have them at the ready.
"Qualla," he said again, waving for them to follow him.
Rick looked at Kate. "Do we follow him?"
"I don't think we have a choice," Kate replied. She took a deep breath and walked toward him. She watched him back through the door while motioning for them to follow him.
They went through the double airlock after seeing people in the control room. They emerged in the room with a simple enough door. There, they encountered two armed men who raised their weapons at them.
"No nau. Nind're naut ghil whol dos. Nind ghil ulu sslig'ne dos." The man made a motion and the men lowered their weapons.
"He said no," Kate told Rick. "And they don't have their weapons out."
"They don't, do they. Fine." Rick lowered his weapon, as did Kate.
"Bwael, qualla flohlu uns'aa." He gestured for them to follow him.
"There's that word qualla again," Kate remarked. She followed him but kept an eye on the two with weapons.
They exited through the door, removed their helmets, and carried them in one hand while they hung onto their rifles.
"Bwael, qualla flohlu uns'aa." Again, he waved for them to follow him.
They walked and noticed the two armed men took up positions flanking them while they cleared the street of people.
"So far, so good," Kate told Rick. They watched as he continued to motion for them to follow him as they walked down the street. But the building they were moving toward was one Kate didn't want to enter. The closer they got, the more nervous she became.
When it became clear he was going inside the building, Kate froze. "I'm not going in there. There are pods in there."
"Vel'bol's xusst?"
"There are pods in there. You understand, pods?" Rick asked him.
"Pods?" He repeated the word. "Xun dos hass'l vith zenpheir? Gaer phu' nau vith zenpheir wun lil' beldraein."
"Nau pods. Kampi'un? Nau pods."
By now Kate was trembling. "I can't go in there, Rick, I can't."
"This was your idea. I'll be right there." Rick shouldered his weapon. "Take my hand, Kate. I won't let you enter a pod, I give you my word."
"Good, bwael, flohlu uns'aa." He waved for them to follow him. The two armed guards were already inside the building and nowhere in sight.
"This is different." Rick looked around. They passed a receptionist who stared at them but didn't do anything else. He led them down a hallway. "Very different."
They entered a large room with a sort of bench on one end with two tables and places to sit in front of them.
"Kyorl ghil qualla." He repeated a signal for them to stay, then disappeared through a door.
"Well, no pods," Rick told her. He let go of her hand and looked around. "A raised seating area, two tables. It looks like a place where people pass judgment on others. That or they listen to what someone has to say."
"They don't seem overly concerned that we're armed," Rick noted. "Hey, are you okay?" He returned to Kate. "There are no pods, love. This building seems built for something else."
Kate looked around nervously. "I guess."
"Look at me." Rick waited until he had her full attention. "You're fine, Kate. There are no pods." Suddenly, the door opened, and the man came back out. He motioned for them to wait.
Eventually, seven people came out the door. The four men and three women took the seats. "Ud'phuul kr'athin ulu kre'j," one of them announced.
"Telanth fridj telanth," the man told them, miming them speaking.
Kate caught on first and motioned talking. "You want us to talk?"
"Siyo fridj telanth. Telanth bauth jalbol."
"My name is Katherine Beckett." She gestured toward Rick. "That man is my partner, Richard Castle. We own a cargo ship and transport goods from the inner planets to the outer planets. I was born on Mars, one of the inner planets.
"A while back, there was a war between the inner and outer planets. The reason for the war was simple. The inner planets treated the outer planets like they were third-class citizens. The people living there were there for their benefit. They didn't even have autonomy over their own planet. So there was a war.
"The outer planets lost that war. They got caught in one great battle. But in the end, they were given autonomy and won out.
She looked at Rick. "Your turn."
He nodded. "I'm Richard Castle, and I was born on Earth, one of the inner planets. I was searching for a partner to purchase a cargo ship. We needed two people to man the ship. Then I ran into Kate. She was willing to split the cost of the ship with me. It's not brand-new; we couldn't afford that. It's a pod ship. It has 34 pods with four different sizes. You detach a pod and take it down to the surface, then fill it up and bring it back to the ship. We've been at this for a while now." He looked at each one of them. "And you didn't understand a word I said."
"Pholor lil' contrary. Udos aslu mzilst de' ol," he said, but what Rick and Kate heard was, "On the contrary, we got most of it. We have a translator. We just needed you to get here to utilize it."
"We mean you no harm. We want to know what you have learned about the other cities. Provided you've visited the other cities," yet another one stated.
"Really? Alright. We've visited four cities so far. One was an older city that didn't have a Maglev line. At least we didn't see one. It did, however, have an older train that ran on rails. We think there was someone there or maybe several someones. But we could never get in close.
"One of them was full of zombies. That's what we call them, anyway. They were in rags and had things on their faces." Kate pointed where on her face. "They screamed at us and rushed us. We were lucky to escape them.
"The other two had a building, much like this one," she continued. "But it housed these pods. Everyone in the pods, though admittedly, neither of us searched all of the pods. There had to be thousands of them with dead people in them."
"Yes, we're aware of the sex-gender machines. It was a trap. They went in and never came out. We had a search team temporarily trapped in them. We learned the hard way what they can do," one of the women said.
"Can you tell us where this older city is?" someone else asked them. "There has to be a Maglev line that goes to it."
"Kind of. It's close to the main doors. It was a long trip from the landing bay via a rail line to reach it," Kate tried to explain.
He wrote something down. "Thank you."
"You said you have a cargo ship?" another inquired.
"Yes," Kate replied hesitantly.
"We have a list of materials we would like. We'll trade you for them, of course," the woman assured them.
"What kind of materials?" Kate asked.
"We'll start with the most needed items," she stated. "Trilithium, Dilithium, Latinum, Trellium-D, Kironide, Pergium. Do you think you can get them for us? We would greatly appreciate it."
"We have some of those on the ship now," Kate whispered to Rick.
He looked at her and made his decision. "What is the state of your medical unit? I ask because Kate would love to have tits. That's breasts. You see, she's flat-chested. Completely flat-chested, but she wants them to be real, not fake."
"RICK!" Aghast, Kate was embarrassed that he would say such a thing.
"It is advanced, or so we would like to think. She would need to be examined by our doctor first," the same woman informed them.
"If you can do it, you've got yourself a deal," Rick told them. "And to show our good intent, we can offer you some of the material now. But, there is an issue."
"What kind of issue?"
"Ours is a pod ship. You would need a tug to take the pod off our ship and return here with it. Forgive me, but all I saw was shuttles in your bay."
"That is a problem," he was willing to admit. He whispered to the two next to him.
"If we can work out a way to take the pod, you've got yourself a deal. To show our good intent, we'll offer you a place to stay and feed you while she undergoes surgery and recovers. Provided our doctor can perform the procedure," she told them.
"Then you've got yourself a deal," Rick agreed, looking at all of them.
"RICK!" Kate looked at him like he had lost his mind.
"You want breasts, and if they can do it, you'll get your wish. And we'll have another new client. That's what you wanted, correct?
"Yes, but…" Kate didn't know if he was crazy or if she loved him even more than she already did.
~oo0oo~
A short time later, Kate found herself in an exam room in a hospital, not wearing her space suit. And she was topless while a nurse and a doctor looked her over. Rick was there. He was still in his space suit and carrying his helmet and weapon.
They didn't seem at all concerned that he was armed.
"You understand me?" Kate questioned them.
"Yes, the intercom is connected to the translator. As I understand it, you want breasts, and you want them to be real, not fake," the doctor stated.
"Yes," Kate replied.
"First, define your version of fake."
"Fake involves putting a bag full of fluid under my skin. But I lack the skin to perform such a procedure."
"I see. In this case, we would involve cloning. I trust that is alright with you?" He waited patiently for her reply.
"Cloning. Cloning what exactly?"
"You may be flat-chested, but should you become pregnant, you would still generate milk for your baby. While possibly insufficient to produce enough milk, they still exist. We would take a sample from your chest area and clone what we need. Now, there's only one thing I need to know: how big do you want them?"
Kate blushed. "Oh. I suppose that would be alright. Well, 35B would be nice. 35C would be better. Maybe 36C?"
"I'm not sure I understand your measurements, but I believe I can guess. Please lie down for me," the doctor instructed her.
Kate stretched out and panicked when panels rose over her. "Relax, please. These are only there to help me analyze your body."
She relaxed just a little and searched the room for Rick who was standing right over there. He was still armed, so she felt better.
"Hmm. Let's see what we can do. This size or this size or this size?" the doctor asked, and Kate saw breasts that she didn't have up on the screen in front of her.
"How did you do that? Never mind, can you show them to me again, but slower this time?"
"Certainly." He did as she asked and showed her the sizes again, but slowly.
As much as Kate would love to have big tits, she thought maybe 36C was just a little too big. "What do you think, Rick?" She wanted his opinion, seeing as how he would be touching them.
Rick came closer and asked to see them again. "I think the second one would be nice. They're big but not too big. Though I would be happy with the first one."
"Second one it is, then," Kate decided.
"Very good. I asked because it tells me how much cloning we need to do," the doctor explained. "I am going to take a sample now. You'll feel it, but it shouldn't hurt.
And Kate watched as this thing came down out of the ceiling and headed for her breast. She closed her eyes since she didn't want to see it.
"There, all done."
Kate opened her eyes. She hadn't felt a thing. Not anything.
"Nurse, please take this for cloning." She stepped over and removed something so small that Kate couldn't see it.
The panels retracted, and Kate was allowed to sit up. "We're done for today. You can put your top and space suit back on. The guard out front will escort you back to the council chambers," he told them. "It will take about a week to generate the required tissue."
~oo0oo~
Kate and Rick found themselves in front of the seven again.
"I trust things went well," she inquired.
Kate nodded. "Yes, thank you."
"Now, to your part of the deal. We do not have a tug, as you call it, to collect your pods. We will have to construct one, which will take about a week to complete. What do you presently have in the pods?" one of them asked.
Kate rattled off their list of what they had, didn't have, and how long it would take to get it. "We have raw Trilithium, Dilithium, and Latinum in six pods. We don't have Trellium-D, Kironide, or Pergium. We would have to go to one of the inner planets to obtain it, about a two-month journey, one way. We would need another month to secure them and anything else we might want, then two months to return."
"So, about five months overall. We can work with that. Perhaps we can set up another delivery?" another asked.
Kate smiled at her. "We would like that. It's why we have a cargo ship. To deliver cargo."
"Good. Did the doctor tell you how long your recovery would be?" she inquired.
"No, but he did tell us it would be a week to clone the material needed."
"In that case, we'll let you return to your ship and come back in a week. We will hold up our end of the bargain and provide you a place to stay and feed you while you recover." She made a point to look at Rick, "Both of you."
Another spoke up. "The timing works out since constructing a tug will take a week. Two of our men will escort you back to your ship. For your safety, they will carry weapons."
The seven got up and left, leaving them with the original man.
"Follow me, please. I want to talk to you now since our translator doesn't work outside the intercom system. May I ask why you came back?"
"We talked about that a lot. It was the fact that you chased down us unarmed, knowing we were armed. That and we caught a few of the words you said." Kate shrugged. "Honestly, it was just a feeling I had."
"I'm glad you did. We desperately need those materials. We're descendants of those who built this place. We believe that the materials were rare when they built it and are even rarer now, even though they used up the entire system building this place.
"Shall we go?" He motioned for them to go first.
Before they made it outside, he said, "I'll be at the control room waiting for you, in addition to two of our guards. Please understand it's for your protection."
He stepped outside, while they picked up their guard and walked back to the control center.
"Goros udos thalra sohna dorn dos al," he told them and watched them leave the same way they came.
Rick and Kate made it home. She whirled around and poked him in the chest. "Why in the world did you do that? Why did you tell them I'm flat-chested and wanted tits?"
He touched her face. "I wanted you to be happy. Well, happier than you are now."
Kate felt tears starting to well up. She loved him. She truly did. No one had done anything like that for her before.
"Marry me, Rick."
"You're serious?" Rick watched her crying while she nodded her head. He put his arms around her. "I would be honored to marry you, Katherine Beckett." And he kissed her.