So at the end of unloading, it was a relief
to hear that we'd be in port for a week before loading would take
place. I don't know why it takes that long to get a load together,
I'm just glad that it did because I was dying to go look around. On
the shuttle flights I had gotten an overhead view of the city and I
had gotten to check out a tiny bit of the company's local plant
while they unloaded the shuttle between runs.
Most of the Astra's crew moved to the
company's temporary quarters on the surface where we were given a
map of the local city and a quick briefing.
"Okay, listen up folks," said the local
company rep, who was a small dark brown Raccoon. I noticed there
were no humans in the crowd anywhere.
"This planet is pretty tolerant of us animen
and the company has a good reputation here, so let's not ruin it.
The local populace is about thirty percent animen, and about forty
percent of those are paid off or freeborn.
"Now don't go around stirring up any trouble,
but if you do get into a mix-up with any Auntie-anns, here on
Hobson's you have the right to defend yourself against attacks by
anybody, even humans."
A small cheer went up after that statement;
maybe some of the stories I had heard about beatings and lynching
really were true.
"But," he continued, "we had better not find
you baiting them either. They're not too popular a group on this
planet, especially since during the Corporate Wars of the 60's, a
lot of animen died here protecting the city. But we don't want to
give them any martyrs either. Plus if you go beyond what is
strictly
required to defend yourself, you’ll have to answer
for your actions.
"So go on out, enjoy yourselves and remember
to be nice to the locals. We've marked the maps with the areas of
town you’re to avoid, and why. Oh, and one last thing: No fighting
with the members of other companies. That's enforced by all of the
companies that have an installation here."
"What's the story on weapons here?" Asked a
wolf in the back of the room.
"Knifes are okay, anything bigger animen need
a permit. Humans don’t need a permit to carry sidearms, but I
wouldn’t expect to find many carrying in the city."
"What about the police?" Asked a large black
Bear, I knew him from the ship, his name was Tanson and he worked
in engineering with Terease.
"About half the police are animen, so don't
worry too much about them. Unless of course you're looking for
trouble, in which case they’ll give it to you. Any other
questions?" He looked around, "No? Okay enjoy your liberty, and
keep out of trouble."
He turned around and left the room. I looked
around and saw Gabe and a few of the other shuttle crews gathering
in one area. So I walked over there to see what they had
planned.
"Hi guys, what's up?" I asked.
"Oh, just tryin' to figure out where to go,"
said Dave. "Gabe wants to head to that bar of his down in the
animen part of town, but most of the rest just want to go someplace
quieter tonight."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I can go either way really, but somebody's
got to keep an eye on Gabe." he smiled.
"Hey, I can take care of myself you know,"
butted in Gabe, "and I'm sure I won't be the only guy from the ship
there either. You want to go Raj?"
"What's the place like?" I asked.
"Well," said Dave before Gabe could say
anything, "It's a pickup place mostly. A lot of humans do go there
to pick up on animen. But a lot of animen go there to pick up on
each other as well."
"Yeah," said Gabe "It's a pretty big place
and drinks are cheap too."
"I guess I'll go," I said. "Cheap drinks
sound good to me right now. And I'd like to check this place out
anyway."
"Fine by me I guess. Anybody else coming?"
Asked Dave.
Nobody was, so we headed out on our own,
walking across town.
It was early evening outside, the sun was due
to set soon and it was starting to get dark. It was pretty nice
out, the city was located near the equator and the weather was
fairly warm and mild. I spent a lot of time looking around at
everything as we walked along.
"What's the name of this city anyway?" I
asked.
"New Cape," responded Gabe, "It was founded
by a group from South Africa, who were fed up with the history
there. That's why they're so tolerant here."
"Oh."
"And stop gawking like somebody straight out
of the crèche, will you?"
"But I
am
'straight out of the
crèche'!" I laughed and Dave joined me.
"Well at least stop acting like it. Haven't
you ever been to a city before?"
"Once or twice, but that was always with a
supervised group. We weren't allowed out on our own."
"I keep forgetting you're from Earth," Gabe
sighed. "Just stay with us and you'll be okay. Just remember where
the plant is and how to get back."
"And don't trust strangers," Dave added,
"Everybody's out to make a buck, and some are just downright
dishonest."
"I'm not totally naive!" I said.
"They're not that bad," said Gabe, "Dave's
just a total pessimist. Most of the people here are pretty good.
Last time I was here there was even talk about making Auntie-ann
attacks illegal."
"Never happen, too many corporations want us
to remain second class." responded Dave.
"It's not like anybody's asking for the right
to vote, or run for office," said Gabe, "just the right to live in
peace. Or at least retire in peace." He added with a smile.
"Listen guys" I said, "Let's not talk
politics. We've got the right to defend ourselves, and that's good
enough for me!"
"Typical Leopard, happy as long as he can
fight." responded Gabe sarcastically.
"So? What's wrong with that? It's what I do
best and it's what they pay me for. But right now I want to go out,
have some drinks and have a little fun."
"Can't argue with that." said Dave.
"But you'll probably try!" laughed Gabe.
We continued on walking through the city. It
took us about an hour, but after being in the ship for so long it
felt good to be outside walking. When we got there, it was a pretty
simple looking place from the outside. It was called 'The Lining',
and while the surrounding area wasn't fancy, at least it wasn't in
a slum.
We went in and it really was pretty big
inside, the first thing to hit me was the strong collage of scents
of all the different species. I liked it. Looking around I saw that
the place was split up into several areas. The front one was the
fanciest, with a plush bar and well lit booths. The middle was
darker and had a stage, with a band performing as well another bar
and a dance floor. The back was even darker with a lot of booths.
Some of which were already occupied with some couples and small
groups.
We sat down at the bar in the front and got a
couple of beers from the buffalo tending bar. Gabe disappeared for
a few minutes as soon as we got in, saying he wanted to call
somebody he knew and over the next hour the place started to fill
up quite a bit.
I did see a few members of the crew turn up
as well, most of them I only knew from sight but I did see Sheen
with Clint, the Jag she was going with. We waved and said hello,
but she seemed more interested in finding an empty booth in the
back. I started looking around myself curious to see what
possibilities the crowd might offer.
I had only gone out with Leopards myself, and
not really that many honestly. Looking around I didn't see any
unattached female ones and shrugged. There were some cute females
of other species around, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to date or
even just flirt with someone who wasn’t at least another cat. There
were some social barriers there that I didn’t want to try crossing
or more likely tripping over, just yet. Cross species dating wasn’t
uncommon, but I really didn’t feel that confident about it
either.
I continued to look over the crowd. There
really were quite a few humans in the place, and I was surprised to
see that most of them were paired off with animen. I guess Gabe had
been right about this place after all. I didn't see any single Cats
of any breed as I continued to look around while sipping my beer,
but I did notice quite a few women, human and otherwise, were
looking my way.
"Don't worry Raj," said Gabe leaning over to
me, "I've got it covered."
"Got what covered?" I asked.
"I called up the girl I met last time we were
here, and she's bringing a couple of friends with her."
"I don't know about this," I said, "I've
never really had much to do with humans before."
"It's their universe," said Dave, "time you
started."
"You don't mind?" I asked Dave.
"There's nothing that says you have to sleep
with them."
"Anyway," added Gabe quietly, "they're here."
He motioned to a trio of women who were over by the door. The one
in front saw Gabe and headed over to us smiling. They appeared to
be around twenty or so by my guess and I guess they were attractive
by human standards, I know I liked what I saw. They walked up to us
and the one in the lead gave Gabe a kiss, and then made
introductions.
"Hi Gabriel, it's been awhile. I'm glad you
called." she was blond, about Gabe’s height, and had a slender
figure, "I brought Terry along, who I believe you remember Dave."
she indicated the other girl who had walked up to Dave. She was a
little taller than the blond, and had a more ample figure. From the
way Dave was putting his arm around her, I guess he did remember
her. She then turned to me, "You must be Raj, I'm Karen and this is
my friend Kathy."
"Hi, glad to meet you." I said standing
up.
"Hello yourself." she said, looking me over
as I looked at her myself. She was shorter than me of course,
coming up just to my chin, and was wearing a black jumpsuit, which
showed a well conditioned body beneath it, as well as an ample
chest. She also had very long black hair, which I found very
captivating. Leopards don't have any hair, just fur.
"I like your taste in color." I said with a
smile, hoping I didn't sound like a complete idiot.
"Thank you, I had hoped you might. Shall we
follow the others?" The rest were heading towards the booths in the
rear of the bar.
"Yes, lets." I put my arm around hers and we
headed after the others. She wasn't wearing any perfume and smelled
very nice, kind of like apricots. Most people don't realize it but
some perfumes are really quite obnoxious to cats. Of course some
just made you want to drool too, but those were the rare exception,
not the rule.
I found myself already liking her as we
walked to the back. She moved well, and I noticed she drew quite a
few looks from the rest of the crowd. As we got towards the back,
where conversation was again possible, I asked her a question.
"Ever been in here before?" Okay it was a
stupid question.
"Nope, how 'bout you?"
Well, at least she didn't seem to think
so.
"Actually, this is my first day on the
planet," I admitted.
At this point we caught up with the others
who were just sitting down. Kathy sat down and slid in, I sat next
to her, looked at Gabe and smiled.
"So Raj, Gabriel tells me this is your first
assignment," Karen said, "how do you like it?"
"Pretty much actually. I think I really got
lucky."
"What do you do?" asked Kathy.
"I'm a shuttle pilot, like Gabe." I said
taking a drink of my beer.
"Oh!" She replied giving my bicep a little
squeeze, surprising me, most humans usually didn’t like to get too
close. "You look a little big to just be a shuttle pilot."
"Well I do have some combat training too." I
really didn't want to look like a, well, like what I was. Somebody
trained to kill, and good at it too.
"Don't let him fool you," said Gabe, "with
the training he's had he could tear this place apart." I started to
glare at Gabe, after all I didn't want to scare anybody off, when I
suddenly noticed that Kathy was sitting quite a bit closer. I
stopped glaring at Gabe, and realized I had a lot to learn about
women in general. So instead of kicking him under the table I
wrapped my tail around her waist instead.
"Oh, what's.." She jumped a little then
smiled, "Oh, it's your tail. I can't say anybody has ever done that
before."
"Then I guess you don't know too many cats,
do you?" I smiled.
"Well, not very close. But," she smiled at
me, and I really started to find myself very attracted to her,
"maybe that will change."
"The secret to a cat's soul is in his tail,"
Dave spoke up from the back of the table.
"Well, it is pretty nice," Kathy said
stroking it with her free hand, "pretty thick too."
"Yes but watch how it moves," he continued,
"especially the tip. It can tell you all sorts of things about the
owner."
I looked over at Dave and he smiled back at
me, suddenly I realized why I lost at poker.
"It does seem to have a mind of its own
sometimes," I confessed. "What do you ladies do?"
"We're college students actually," answered
Karen, "I'm in my third year studying law."
"I'm a third year law student too," added
Terry.
I looked at Kathy, "And you?"
"I'm only in my first year, but I'm studying
law as well," She said shyly.
"You look in pretty good condition for
somebody studying law." I said, lightly squeezing one of her biceps
with a grin.
"I'm on the college track team. That's how I
can afford to go, I'm on a scholarship."
"I thought you didn't have to pay for
school."
"That's just the state run schools," answered
Karen, "the private ones cost."
"So why go there?" I was puzzled by that.
"Because the better the school," said Kathy,
"the better the job when you graduate."