"Right on time." Cora smiled as she picked up her black duster from the armchair in the quarters she shared with her husband and wives. She slipped it on over her old Doctor Who T-shirt and cargo pants and pointed at the side of her head. She’d detected the arrival of the science team via her wireless link with her ship’s sensors and hull-mounted cameras. "Grishnag and Ayastal are already waiting in the cargo hold to help them bring their equipment aboard."

"Glad they didn’t arrive early." Dylan winked at her as he glanced around in search of his clothing. Syala grinned, picked up his pants from the floor beside their bed, and handed them over. He smiled back and kissed her before putting them on. "Thanks."

"It’ll be nice to finally go somewhere," Syala said as she put her loose-fitting shirt and shorts on. "I was hoping we’d be able to visit Earth, but heading in the opposite direction will be just as much of an adventure. I’m just glad the refit is finished and we get to see a new place."

"Yeah, it’ll be good to get off this station. If we’re lucky, we’ll have a chance to explore a planet’s surface." Dylan shrugged, helped Syala fasten the button on the back of her shorts, securing the flap of material above her tail, and then finished dressing. "The station was cool at first, but after being cooped up here for several months, I’m ready for a look around the neighborhood."

"I think we all are." Cora gave each of them a kiss and stepped into the corridor. Dylan and Syala followed her, Syala’s hooves producing a tapping sound with each step on the synthetic hardwood floor. Cora grinned and added, "Zilaka is already waiting on the bridge and Nishara’s just arrived from her last-minute shopping expedition."

"Zee’s eager to go adventuring, eh?" Dylan smiled. "That’s a good change from when we first met."

Cora nodded. The young alien woman had come from a technologically primitive culture, as had most of her other wives, and had been severely traumatized by the events that brought them all together. Cora was glad to see Zilaka gradually pull herself together and embrace her new life on the Mae Jemison.

They reached the cargo hold and found the ramp already lowered. Ayastal stood on the docking bay floor, conversing with the science team. The team was made up of two shonari, a mekharan, a bioengineered minotaur from Earth, and a human. The shonari were taller than humans, as was the minotaur, but Ayastal towered over all of them. The ten-foot-tall reptilian woman nodded at something one of the shonari said, turned, waved at Cora and the others, and then picked up a huge metal crate. She carried it effortlessly up the ramp, paused to give each of them a kiss, and locked the crate into position beside one of the six-wheeled rovers.

"Perfect timing, guys," she said with a glance over her shoulder. "Our guests arrived just a couple of minutes ago."

One of the shonari stepped forward with a smile and held her hand out. "Hello. I’m Ralissa Thorana, team leader."

"Glad to have you and your team aboard, Dr. Thorana. I’m Cora Engstrom, owner and captain of the Mae Jemison." Cora smiled back, reached out, and gently grasped Thorana’s flesh hand with her metal one.

"Just call me Ralissa." The scientist motioned at the rest of her team. "We’re grateful that you were able to transport us on such short notice."

"We’re glad to be in the right place at the right time. Welcome aboard." Cora checked her internal chronometer and glanced at the ramp. "There’s just one more member of the team, and she should be joining us any moment now."

***

"So," Donovan said as they walked across the docking bay floor, "where’d you learn to fight like that?"

"When I was growing up, some of my friends were learning martial arts for competitions, and I wanted to learn just because I thought it was interesting. Never had any desire to do it competitively, though." Kolya shrugged. "I only managed to get some of the basics down. After I started hitchhiking on starships, I gradually picked things up here and there. I ended up learning more street fighting than anything else -- no fancy moves, just whatever it takes to put your opponent down."

"Ah. Get into a lot of bar fights and whatnot?" He flicked his eyes around but kept his head pointed forward as if trying to keep an eye on his surroundings without being obvious about it. He returned his attention to her and grinned.

Huh. What’s that about? Kolya shrugged it off and said, "A few, yeah. Usually because of my habit of finding trouble and poking it with a stick." She pointed at a one hundred-twenty meter long spacecraft parked near the middle of the wall to their left. "That’s where I’m headed -- the Mae Jemison."

Donovan gave the ship a quick looking-over as they approached. "Sweet ride. Looks brand-new."

"From what I was told, it’s actually a really old ship, but an extensive refit was finished about a week ago. It was pretty much rebuilt from the inside out." Kolya smiled and let her gaze sweep slowly from one end of the ship to the other. Its general shape looked a bit like a horseshoe with the central part filled in, with the command deck on the larger, curved end. The hull had a brushed-copper paint job and the usual markings -- serial numbers, warning signs on the parts that weren’t safe to stand near, and the name in an old sci-fi font along the side. It had other colors added here and there, and nose art of the astronaut for whom the ship was named. The paint job was custom since the ship was privately owned.

"Hmm. Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing ships like this one somewhere. Same general shape, but smaller." Donovan glanced at her. "In high school, I think. Science or history or something like that."

Kolya nodded. "It was on the news recently, too. It was one of the original Tyson-class research and exploration ships and was eventually decommissioned. It was left in the boneyard of the Io starship construction facility until a synth came along and bought it. She had the ship upgraded and spent the better part of a decade hustling her ass off doing odd jobs to pay back the loan. The ship vanished over a century ago, then reappeared a few months back. The owner and her passengers made a small fortune doing interviews and there’ll probably be multiple books and vids made which’ll bring ’em even more money. They used a lot of it to pay for the refit."

"Oh, yeah, I remember hearing some friends talking about that. Wasn’t paying much attention to the news around that time. Had a lot of other things on my mind." He glanced over his shoulder before quickly turning back to the ship. "I do remember bits and pieces I picked up here and there. Something about multiple ship disappearances over the last century or so."

"Yep. The Jemison was the first one to actually reappear, as far as I know." Kolya grinned and rubbed her hands together. "Until now. Another long-lost ship has turned up, and the Jemison’s ferrying a science team to its location. I got hired on as a general helper -- sort of a Jill-of-all-trades. Pilot, driver, mechanic, scout, that sort of thing. Whatever might come up that the team or the crew aren’t prepared to deal with."

"Ah. You must’ve spent a lot of time in training, then." He turned and glanced around quickly before focusing on her again.

"Nope. I pick it up as I go." She grinned as they reached the ship. "That’s part of the fun."

A mildly bewildered look crossed his face, but Kolya walked on over to the group standing at the top of the cargo ramp before he could ask any more questions. She glanced around and took them all in. Two shonari and a mekharan stood closer to the ramp, with a robot and another alien who kind of resembled the shonari a few feet to the left. Two humans, a zorai, a minotaur, and a giant reptilian alien were deeper inside the cargo hold, securing their equipment. One of the shonari walked over to help the others put away their gear.

All of them except the mekharan wore casual T-shirts and cargo pants or shorts. Being a giant snake with four arms, his shirt had an extra pair of sleeves and he wore what might be called a cargo skirt due to the absence of legs on his species. Adult mekharans averaged from thirty to forty feet in length, but at first glance this one looked under twenty feet. Kolya guessed he was in his mid-teens and was probably a lab assistant or maybe one of those genius kids who started college before puberty kicked in.

The other shonari glanced up as Kolya and Donovan reached them. She smiled, clopped over, and held out her right hand.

"Hello. You must be Kolya Mason. I’m Ralissa Thorana. I’m in charge of the science team."

"Good to meet you. I’m … well, whatever you need me to be on the mission." Kolya shook the alien woman’s hand and grinned. Aside from the zorai, she hadn’t run into any aliens before starting her long journey, and their hands in particular had always struck her as rather curious. All the sentient alien species she’d encountered so far had hands with three digits, while only humans and some of their synths and anthros had five. Aside from being the new kids on the block, Terrans seemed to have a few other traits that set them apart from everyone else, though admittedly those traits appeared to be superficial.

"Glad to have you on the team. Our specialties are kind of narrow, so I thought it would be good to have someone with a more well-rounded skillset on hand." The mekharan slithered over and Ralissa motioned at him. "This is our tech specialist, Lorkis Azanar."

"Very pleased to make your acquaintance." He gave her a brilliant smile as she shook his hand.

"Same here." Kolya smiled back. Lorkis kept his hold on her hand for a few more seconds, and she waited it out.

Ralissa chuckled, gave his upper shoulder a nudge, and muttered, "Put it back in your pants."

Lorkis’s scaly face turned a darker shade of brown as he slithered away.

"And this is Donovan McCallister," Kolya said with a nod to her right.

"Nice to meet you," Donovan said.

"A pleasure." Ralissa glanced at Kolya. "Brought someone to help out?"

"Actually, we just met a couple minutes ago and he tagged along."

"Are you leaving soon?" Donovan flicked his eyes toward the floor outside the ramp and turned back to Kolya. "I was hoping we’d have time for lunch."

"We’ll be taking off soon after the last of our gear is loaded up." Ralissa motioned at the stack of crates and cases behind her. "I have no objection to any additional help, but that has to be up to the ship’s captain."

"Donovan probably has his own stuff going on here on the station." Kolya shrugged. "Maybe another time, if we run into each other again."

"Actually, all this sounds really interesting. I’d like to hang around if it’s okay with the captain." Donovan grinned again. "Is this a long-duration job?"

"The transit time will be a few days. Once we’re there, we’re expecting it to take anywhere from a week to a month, depending on how things go." Ralissa shrugged. "Then a few more days to return."

"Well, my stuff will still be here when I get back, then." Donovan glanced outside again before beaming at Kolya. "If it’s okay with the crew, we can still have that lunch date."

Kolya arched an eyebrow and shrugged. "If the Jemison’s captain has no problem with it, I have no problem with it."

"It’s okay with me." The robot woman smiled. "We’ve got plenty of room and supplies. Real food, too, not just MREs." She extended her hand and shook Kolya’s first, then Donovan’s. "Welcome aboard. I’m Cora Engstrom, the ship’s owner, captain, and pilot."

Lorkis slid over to Captain Engstrom and gave her the same smile he’d used on Kolya as he greeted her. She shook his hand, disengaged it smoothly, and turned back to Kolya and Donovan.

"Thanks for taking me onboard, Captain," Donovan said with a brilliant grin.

"You’re welcome. Never know when we might need an extra hand. And just call me Cora." She motioned at the hooved alien girl beside her. "This is Syala."

"Nice to meet you." Kolya greeted her with a smile and a nod. She finally remembered the name of Syala’s species -- mulathi -- and wondered if they were some sort of offshoot of the shonari. Or vice-versa. There were many similarities, but Syala wasn’t quite as tall, her eyes glowed white instead of yellow, her horns were shaped differently, and she was kind of plus-sized. Kolya had never met one before, but she’d learned in school that they were one of the galaxy’s most technologically-advanced species, and had been a spacefaring civilization for thousands of years.

Donovan turned to grin at Kolya. "So I guess we’re on for lunch, then?"

She chuckled. "Okay, you’ve twisted my arm into it." She gave him a playful whap on the shoulder just to see how he’d react. Still smiling, he gave her shoulder an equally playful shove. She swayed, regained her balance, and laughed.

Huh. Maybe he actually likes me. Probably not, but … maybe.

Lorkis slithered over to Syala and beamed. "Very nice to meet you."

"And you." Even though she looked close to his age, she seemed to figure out his intentions instantly. "I’m Syala Engstrom."

"Ah." Lorkis blushed again, cleared his throat, and managed to keep his smile on.

Kolya had to suppress a snicker.

"Okay." Donovan flicked another quick glance around. "So, where are we headed? Or is that classified?"

"We’ll brief everyone once we’re underway," Ralissa said.

"We’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew and the science team after we launch." Cora motioned at a hatch on the inner wall. "If you’d like, you can join us on the flight deck."

***

"Cargo’s secured and passengers are ready to go," a female voice said from behind Kolya. Its accent was an odd mixture of Scottish and Russian. Kolya glanced over her shoulder and found a muscular zorai female and a young human male jogging through the corridor toward them.

Kolya looked each of them over quickly. The human appeared to be in his early to mid-teens and had shoulder-length brown hair and an easygoing way of carrying himself -- quite unlike the boasting, aggressive, borderline-insane-thanks-to-raging-hormones boys she’d known in school. He wore black cargo pants, ankle-high sneakers, and a T-shirt with the caffeine molecule on the front.

The zorai wore olive drab cargo pants and a tight-fitting black shirt that showed off every impressive bulge of her burly frame. She appeared to have barely any fat on her at all, and thus her chest looked almost masculine, yet she still had curves and a way of moving that made her femininity clear at first glance. Her waist-length burgundy hair contrasted nicely with her dark green skin and was tied into a ponytail with a pair of thick locks hanging past the sides of her face, almost like any number of anime characters Kolya had seen in vids while growing up.

Lorkis zipped up to her and she arched an eyebrow. He smiled and held a hand out. "Well, hello there. My name is Lorkis Azanar. It’s a pleasure to meet you."

The female appeared to stifle a sigh as she shook his hand and released it quickly. She waved her hand at the male and said, "I’m Grishnag. Grishnag Engstrom. And that’s Dylan Engstrom."

"A-ah." Lorkis deflated visibly but forced a smile back on. "Glad to meet you."

Donovan glanced around at them and raised an eyebrow. Cora chuckled.

"I didn’t actually have a last name, originally, so I just took Dylan’s when we got married. All the others did the same."

Donovan arched an eyebrow. "All?"

"Yes. Dylan, Grish, Syala, and I have three other wives, and they’re all members of the crew, though they’re busy with other tasks at the moment. You probably saw one of them, Ayastal, helping load the crates."

"So, there are other females on the crew?" Lorkis’s expression brightened.

"Just those three," Dylan said with a grin.

"Ah." Lorkis deflated a little more. He forced another smile and fell silent.

Donovan turned away and held his breath to avoid laughing. When it passed, he leaned closer to Kolya and whispered, "Holy shit. The poor kid."

"I know." Kolya had to suppress her own laugh, but she could easily imagine something similar happening if she tried to ask a guy out. The result would probably be a quickly-concealed wince and a stammered excuse to turn her down.

Donovan turned back to Dylan. "You’re married to all the women on the crew?"

"Well, we’re all married to each other, but yeah. I’m the only male on the crew." His grin expanded.

Kolya stifled a laugh. No wonder the kid seems so mellow. It’s because he’s exhausted.

Donovan whistled softly. "Lucky bastard."

Dylan smirked and nodded slowly. "I really am." He shrugged. "It probably seems weird to you two, but, uh …"

"Not really." Kolya laughed softly. "One of my aunts has four husbands and two wives. Several of my friends have dated synths, anthros, and aliens. And a lot of the guys I knew in junior high went out and had zorai hookers demolish their virginity as soon as they could scrape up enough money. So none of this is exactly a foreign concept for me."

"That’s a relief." Dylan sighed. "I keep forgetting where I am and expecting to catch a little crap from people."

Kolya shrugged. "Eh, the weirder things get, the more interesting they are. We experience ‘normal’ almost every moment of every day, and that gets boring after a while."

Cora grinned. "I think we’re going to get along famously." She turned and walked on to the next hatch. "We’ve got everything prepped ahead of time, and our scheduled launch isn’t for another half hour. So, for now, we’ll show you to your quarters and let you stow your gear."

"Sounds good." Ralissa smiled. "Lead the way."

Everyone followed her through the corridors to a hexagonal hub area with a hatch in each of the walls. The first thing Kolya had noticed about the ship’s interior was that the walls were lined with wood paneling -- probably synthetic, but quite easy on the eyes. The only bits of metal were around the edges where panels connected and joined with the ceiling and floor, and pieces that framed monitors and touchscreen consoles.

"The upgrades this ship has just gotten include four of these crew and passenger quarters sections. One hub is reserved for the crew, one room for each of us." Cora’s grin turned a bit saucy. "And one room for all of us. The other three are for any passengers we might be hired to transport."

Kolya opened the nearest hatch and took a quick look around. The quarters were about the size of a motel room, with mahogany paneling and a soft beige carpet. A full-size bed sat at the far end of the room, and a large vid screen was set into the wall beside the door. Underneath it sat a desk with a keyboard.

She grinned and placed her bag on the bed. There’d be plenty of time to put her stuff away later. She returned to the hub and waited for the others to store their belongings.

Cora led everyone to the flight deck. It was much larger than Kolya had expected. A huge window took up most of the forward wall, with graphics and data in a heads-up display overlaid on the view of the hangar deck outside. At the rear of the compartment was a large, circular station with consoles lining the outer edge and a holographic projector in the middle.

Wow. This is one hell of a ship. Kolya turned to Cora as the synth eased herself into the pilot’s station and waved at another alien woman seated to her left. "Everyone, this is Zilaka Engstrom."

"Hi. Glad to meet you." Kolya smiled and stopped herself from cocking her head. She’d never seen Zilaka’s species before. The young woman appeared to have both equine and bovine traits but had the same number of digits as the other aliens. Like the mulathi and the shonari, she had digitigrade legs and hooves.

Kolya glanced at Lorkis and barely managed to hold in another laugh. Poor kid. All these females on the ship and none of them are available. If he’s anything like the kids I grew up with, he’s gonna be spending a lot of "alone time" in his quarters.

"Go ahead and take a seat, everyone." Cora motioned at the other chairs. She put on a cheesy grin and added, in an old-timey vid narrator’s tone, "Prepare for … a journey into the unknown!"

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: In Transit