He didn’t agree about that, but he also refused to admit that the allergies made him a poor choice. The other options would be Barr or Zion, and there was no way he’d trust either of them around Meja. But that also didn’t mean he wouldn’t have preferred being spaced.
“How long is long?” Meja followed behind Layth, not sure what else to do. She knew transit between systems wasn’t instantaneous, but she’d always thought of it as fast. Certainly the holovids she’d watched didn’t seem to take time into consideration. In her arms, A was squirming, demanding to be put down. She adjusted her grip on the cat and hoped it would be enough.
“Depends,” the doctor said at last. “I don’t know how far apart Accipiter and Kronus are right now. My guess? More than two weeks, but less than three.”
“Fewer.” She smiled as the doctor glared at her. “You’re counting the weeks, it’s fewer. Less is for abstracts.” Getting under his skin shouldn’t feel as good as it did. His arrogance needed a good foil, and she found herself enjoying the role. At GRCA she’d had to bury her smartassery beneath a layer of meek subservience, and the opportunity to be herself was a welcome one.
His lips, normally full, flattened into a thin line. “There’s only room for one pedant on this ship.”
“Good thing I’m leaving soon, then. I’d hate to step on your toes.” Despite the flippancy of her tone, she realized she was already becoming attached to this misfit crew, and the doctor specifically. She pushed past the sudden spike of regret. “We don’t need to be secured that entire time, do we?”
“Just the initial shift to transit speeds. Rotation will have to stop, so we’ll be weightless.”
“Because it’s not a full ring, right.” She remembered seeing the cargo hauler as they’d approached. Its rotational arm had been just long enough to mimic gravity, counterweighted as it spun around the engine core. “I’m not sure how the kittens will respond to microgravity.”
As if on cue, 0511-A started to struggle again, twisting in her grip to try to get away. The cat was definitely going to be the problem child of the trio, independent minded and eager to do her own thing.
“They should be fine.” He stopped at the door to her cabin as lights in the ship’s hall went yellow. “That’s your ten-minute warning. They’re slowing the arm now. Once it stops, we’ll accelerate to transit speeds. Your bed can fold into an acceleration couch.”
She didn’t feel any lighter, but the transition would be gradual enough that she might not notice it right away. She stood at the door, not entirely sure she wanted to be on her own in the ship yet. “What about the cats?”
“We don’t have time to print harnesses for them. Do you have additional shirts?”
“No. I figured I’d just be naked once this one wore through.” She shook her head, amused he’d even ask such an obvious question.
The tips of his ears pinked slightly. “If you have shirts, we can swaddle them. It won’t be perfect, but it will keep them safe on the couch during the acceleration.”
She nodded. They’d had special swaddling cloths at GRCA, to serve as gentle restraint during nail trims and the like. She hadn’t thought about it for use in travel. “I hate to ask with your allergies, but…”
His sigh felt like it carried half the TriSystems. “Yes, I’ll help you.”
Relief washed through her. She didn’t want to admit that she wasn’t ready to be left on her own yet. She done some cross-continental travel on Burbidge but had never so much as left the world before, let alone the entirety of Kronus’s system.
She opened the door a crack and peeked inside to count kittens. One was asleep on the foot of her bed, while the other had curled up on her pillow. Warmth bloomed in her chest looking at them—that anyone could have considered the beautiful animals anything less than perfect astonished her. They were everything they needed to be, just as they were. She opened the door enough to slip into the room, conscious of the warmth of Layth’s body following close behind her.
Her stomach fluttered as the door clicked shut, and she crammed down the sudden burst of nerves. She wasn’t bringing a lover home to her apartment; she was recruiting an ally to help her with the kittens. Get your head in the game, Meja.
The two cats woke at the sound of the door, and A gave a joyful chirp to see her siblings. Meja turned to the doctor, kitten in her outstretched arms. “My luggage is there.” She indicated the box by pointing a cat butt in the general direction. “I can hold her.”
He opened the container, and she thanked her lucky stars that she’d packed her shirts on top in her hurry. If he’d had to paw past her undergarments to find them, she’d have died of embarrassment. Layth pulled out a long-sleeved Henley and wrapped it carefully around A, careful to go tight enough to keep the cat contained but not so tight that she’d be scared of it. “Tah-dah. One kitten burrito.”
Meja chuckled and nodded her approval as she set A on the bed. Rapid movements were starting to throw her off balance now, and she could feel herself lifting with each step. Weightlessness was definitely on its way. “That’s a good swaddle. You refold the bed and I’ll get the next one?” C walked over to sniff his constrained sister, stalking in a low crouch as if already aware of how to move in the reduced gravity.
“On it,” was Layth’s terse response. “And thanks.” She noticed that he secured A next to a pillow before shifting the bed up and in half along its central axis, rotating along the tracks she hadn’t noticed until the back of the now-couch settled against the wall to help shield them against the brutal forces of acceleration.
Her own efforts with swaddling B weren’t as successful; she could place him on the shirt, but he bolted as soon as the cloth touched his back. She swore and snagged the cat a third time, dragging him back into position. Fortunately, Layth had already finished with the couch, and he was able to complete the swaddle while she held the cat in place. Being that close to him, she found herself fascinated by his eyes. She’d thought them dark brown at first glance, but this close she could see the streaks of gold at their core that lightened the overall effect and were softened by the long lashes that framed them.
He touched her hand, lightly enough to let her pull away if she wanted. “Get seated and buckle in. We’re almost weightless.”
“What about C?”
“They really need better names.” He chuckled softly. “I’ll get him.”
She moved toward the couch, and he was right; the single step almost carried her and B into the wall. She grabbed the couch as she glided past it and pulled herself carefully into a seated position with C on her lap. She tugged A closer to her while Layth crossed the cabin in a perfectly timed bound to scoop C from where he was inspecting Meja’s luggage.
He sat beside her, careful not to dislodge her or A, and positioned C on his lap. She could see that his eyes had gone red again and were watering, but he didn’t complain. “Shoulder straps are behind you. They’ll hook into the lap belt. Not that it will matter once we’re underway.” He demonstrated by fastening his own before using C’s weightless disorientation to swaddle him effectively.