The Bet

Space, the edge of existence. A place beyond imagination. Where countless items are lost in its oblivion; only to be discovered by space explorers.

Explorer, such a funny word, Sulaco thought to himself. His slender body wrapped around the space window. Starring at his first home, Owai-6. Explorers were people that purposely found something new. The more that he thought about it, he had been an explorer his entire life. Although, instead of discovering worlds and asteroids, he had been an explorer of pipes, cables, and wires; always fresh territory in the rusty frigate named the SS-Drifter. Still, any excuse that got him on a spaceship, to begin with made him happy. Otherwise, he could never see sweet views like the one he is seeing right now.

“Suli!” a voice shouted over his wristband. “The cargo bay light isn’t working again. Get on it. Over.” Suli stretched out, from his paws down to his tail. His bones cracking into place.

“Hey, you old geezer,” Suli shouted back. “We are docking in fifteen minutes. Any work I do on it now will just cause more problems later on.” Suli takes a deep breath in.

“For the love of the Oasis!” The old man spat back, “Say over when you’re done!” Suli rolled his eyes. Tarris, the shipmaster, his age: about to die. conversation level: annoyingly aggressive. “Suli, I once had an engineer that could fix the problem in five minutes, so get your experimental gray and purple hinny on it now! Over!” Tarris responded.

“Explains why you run a rust bucket. Over.” Suli spat back.

“How dare you make fun of Drifty. You can’t make jokes like those until you have been here for at least three years. Over.”

Suli moved out of the docking rig into his workshop, a labyrinth of things far too familiar. He floated to his workbench. There wasn’t too much point in arguing with Tarris. Any job he asked, he expected to be done. Arguing would just bring out more stories of past crewmates that were better than him. Because Alurizans and Xeros love to hear that. Grabbing tools and stuffing them in his pockets. A solder gun, a wrench, electric tape, an electric drill with enough bits to play a game of poker with other crewmates. (Which he did from time to time.) As well as a handy chewy mint. The treat that mixed well with the natural poison. Providing a tingly sensation in his mouth while he worked.

“How about a bet? Over.” Tarris said as Suli climbed through the under haul of the ship.

“I’m listening. Over.” Suli said.

“A treat of the winner’s choice. To see if you can finish the task faster than the best engineerwhoeverr was on this ship.”

Suli smiled, his excuses were playing off. He could complete things faster than the average Alurizan. Being a fourth of the size and able to move around freely in the vents didn’t hurt. Though he wasn’t being paid to complete the job, so why hurry it along when he could just complete his quota. He pulled his wristband closer to himself. “You’re on.”

“Time starts now. We are seven minutes from a complete dock. Over.”

Suli put on his headset, allowing him to hear the communications to the entire ship. A heat seeker to boot to find any broken wires.

“Beginning docking process,” A female voice said over the comm. Docking, five minutes from the starting step to the ending step. Shavins, Suli thought as he popped the mint in his mouth. This wouldn’t be as easy as he thought.

***

“Over-riding thruster controls.” The voice said, deceptively calming. Suli worked his way to the cargo bay. The metal pipes and wires betraying no sign of the problem. He made his way to the light that wasn’t working. Pointed on his map by Tarris. There didn’t seem to be any problems with the start of the wire. The internal properties showing no shorts. At least he didn’t have to run any new wires through the system.

“Uploading the mission data.” The voice continued. Suli could almost hear spite out of its peaceful tones. Suli ran himself along the wire. Testing electrical current along the tip of one of his wrenches. Nothing.

Blast, Suli thought, the mint bubbling in his mouth now. Unlike simulations where it was as simple as seeing where the wire dislodged itself from the wall, this piece of junk had that happening with all of its wires. Suli making a mental note to fix that later. The ship shook violently as if something clicked into place. Nearly knocking Suli out of his area.

“Ship restrained in the  stationary cradle.” The voice continued, as if mocking him. Wait, he thought. The wire probably insulated itself with a corrosive mold. Which still had metal in it. While the Sauter gun would mess with his heat seeker. It would react to the corrosive mold. With as much care as a watchmaker, Suli inched the gun along. The ship clicked again, throwing him forward till he saw sparks. The fiery embers were  worth more than gold to him.

“Bringing haul into orbit.” The voice said evilly as if it had won already.

“Not yet,” suli whispered to himself. Pinpointing the wire again. Counting in his head, he had thirty seconds before the ship landed. The troubled wire in tangles. Not something fixable in twenty seconds. Suli felt as the substance in his mouth boiled. As if it were rubbing his mouth raw. Shoot, with as much stress as he went through, he must have salivated more poison than he wanted to. Though mixed with the mint, he tasted an acid. He bit his lip, trying to decide what to do. Forgive me, Tarris. he thought as he made a mental note never to tell the other crew members about this. He thought as he spits the acid on the wire.

“Beginning orbital drop, all members of the SS-Drifter fasten your seat belts now.”

Fetch, thought Suli.

***

Tarris waited outside the ship. Watching as the other crew members hauled out the cargo, placing it on the light train to be distributed around the planet. He found Suli riding on a crate two crew members were pulling; the Xero panting hard and slumped over the box like a sack of potatoes. Tarris put down his clipboard before walking over to the cargo box. Tarris looked over to the crew mate and then to Suli in disgust. His mouth was open, with dribble coming out on the cargo case.

“Marnack, what is this?” The crewmate looked at the frazzled Suli and back at the captain.

“Apparently Suli, the engine rat was down in the works as the ship was docking. I don’t know what you did to get this brat to work so hard but whatever you did it worked.” Marnack answered, a smug smile on his face.

“I know that you fried fish liver. Why is he like that?” Marnack scratched his head.

“He got stuck in the vents when the ship came to the surface. I pulled him out of a vent close to the cargo bay when we landed.” Marnack replied calmly.

“Well, I won, didn’t I, captain?” Suli said groggily. Trying and failing to get up. A weak smile on his face as he panted.

“Suli!” Tarris yelled. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. “Clean up your mess, you half-whit runt! You wouldn’t want to see a turd in your next meal, would you?!” Tarris yelled at his face. Suli’s face went green as he covered his mouth with his hands. Tarris dropped him to the ground. Watching as he ran to the side of the building before losing his breakfast.

“You done? Tarris asked as a Suli walked back, clutching at his stomach.

“Quite.” Suli croaked as he ran to the cargo bin, taking out a grease-stained rag and wiping away the bile. Once Suli finished up, Tarris gave Suli a nod.

“Marnack! make yourself useful. Get another crate.” Tarris yelled, pushing Marnack towards the ship. Marnack hurried himself along.

“Suli! come over here.” Tarris said as Suli approached the shipmaster, his arms folded and a scowl on his face.

“I guess I owe you something,” Suli said disheartened.

“Yes,” Tarris answered. Suli sinking even further in his cargo pants. If the Orbital drop hadn’t started immediately after he started fixing the wire. As Suli got lost in thought, a rock clobbered him in the head.

“Hey!” Suli said, rubbing the bruise with his paw. “I lost, so what? Your lunges going to give out after yelling at me old man!” He said, growling at his boss.

“Why don’t you look at what I threw at you, Sulaco!” He answered. Suli looked at him in surprise. Tarris had only said his true name three times before. Once when he applied at the space station and the other two times when it was his birthday. Suli looked down at the rock. Grabbing the fancy wrapper with a greenish-white rock in it.

“A sugar rock from planet N-6? These aren’t something that you get normal rations of every day.”

“I saw you eyeing it when we were passing by two months ago. I thought I would spend a few credits to reward my fully fledged engineer.” Tarris said, a smile cracking on his face.

“Why?” Suli asked.

“Simple! I can go through the hazard zones now. Plus, I always keep my end of the bargain, especially when it is a bet.”

“I… I won” Suli stuttered.

“Yes, now get the cargo out! We’re wasting daylight here!” Tarris pushed the Xero towards the ship. Suli turned around with a smile on his face. Full-fledged engineer, eh, Suli liked the sound of it. It rolled off his tongue so well. As he grabbed a cargo crate, he saw the old man yelling at the docking lady. Apparently, there is a semblance of an Alurizan underneath that rough exterior.