Chapter 3

Chapter 3

D aedalus set the pet carrier on the galley table. Lothario was still happily loafing in there, like he had zero objections to being confined to the carrier. Not like he’d tried to skin the two men who’d stuck him in there. It had to be the cat in him that made him that crazy. It couldn’t possibly be the owl.

He considered releasing the meowl, but his comm chimed with an incoming call. Sighing, he headed to the cockpit to answer it.

“You’ve called the Burro ,” he began.

“Daedalus, it’s Lilith. I’ve just sent you the cargo manifest for your next delivery run. Destination is Delta. You’ll need a custom fit out for your cargo holds for this one. Sending through the specifications now. Can you tell me how long it will take, so I can schedule your cargo delivery?”

Daedalus flicked through the blueprints. Yes, this would require some alterations to the cargo bays, but the Burro had a surprising number of automatic configurations already programmed into its cargo compartments. The ship itself would do most of the work. All he’d have to do was upload the blueprints with the right commands. Of course, if the ship couldn’t do something, he’d have to go down there with a welder and it could take weeks…

“Three days. The cargo bay will be ready to receive in three days.” But he was willing to bet it would be done by tomorrow, giving the meowl a couple of extra days to put a decent dent in the moth problem. It hadn’t reached the cargo bays yet, but if someone came into the galley or the living quarters, the moths were bound to make an appearance. If the meowl hadn’t already eaten them all, of course. He could hope…

“I’ll let her know, then. Make sure you have guest quarters prepared for her, too. She’ll be accompanying the cargo to Delta, where you’re to wait for her. Hydroponics on the surface say they’re ready for this delivery, but you’re not to unload until she gives the all clear. She’ll supervise the delivery and the installation, and only when the system is established and functional are you to return to the Colony with her. She’ll set the timeline, and you’ll take orders from her. Am I clear, Daedalus?”

“Crystal,” he replied, mind whirling. He couldn’t have guests in the living quarters, not with the moths. He needed to release the meowl, and he needed to do it now. “So I have three days until…who’s coming with the cargo?”

It had to be a Titan, as Delta was a Titan planet. An ocean planet with a warm, tropical climate, stuck in a sort of endless sunset. While his passenger set up whatever she had to, he’d relax on the beach. It might be the last holiday he ever got if she found the moths…unless…

“Is she Mer?” he blurted out. “Because I don’t get along well with the Mer. I’ve been banned from their habitat and even Sven won’t let me shop in Fish Supply. How was I to know I wasn’t allowed to catch my own fish before I bought it?”

“No, she’s not Mer. Is there anyone you haven’t slept with, D? Because it takes a lot to annoy the Mer, or so I’ve heard.”

Daedalus closed his eyes. No good deed ever went unpunished. He should have stayed at the party and let those girls do whatever they wanted without him. But his conscience hadn’t let him. If he’d just taken a moment to think things through…

“You’ll be transporting Primula Naucrates, along with her freshwater fish so she can upgrade the dome hydroponics system. Once the system is operational, we can start building a real community down on Delta. It’ll be the first Titan city in the system. That’s why it’s important nothing goes wrong, Daedalus. I mean it.”

“Primula Naucrates?” he squeaked.

The prettiest human to have ever walked in any Eden, past or present. Possibly future, too. An expert fish biologist from Earth who’d only been transiting through Exodus Space Station when disaster had struck, and both she and her fish had been transferred to the Genesis instead, to be sent here to the Altan System.

Dark hair, big, luminous eyes, topping the most perfect set of curves that were enough to make any man drool, which they often did, because she spent half her time in a wetsuit, in the tanks with her fish. She was the only woman in the whole of Eden who’d never put in a technical or maintenance request, because she did all the work on her systems herself. When Daedalus would pay his own weight in platinum ten times over just to be the one to service her tanks. Even just once…

“Primula Naucrates, with her fish. You will grant her free access to the entirety of the ship, so she can monitor the tanks throughout the voyage, and fulfil any maintenance services she requires. No matter what,” Lilith said. “Rocail wants me to remind you not to stuff this up. You were lucky not to be charged with murder after the Watch found that body in your cargo hold.”

Daedalus winced. “I had nothing to do with that. I didn’t know she was hiding in one of the crates, and I had specific instructions to store that entire shipment in vacuum. All I did was follow instructions. I didn’t know there was a woman in there until she was already dead. Maybe Rocail should check what’s in the boxes before he gives them to me!”

“Primula herself will be checking these tanks, and I expect you to inspect them, too. Rocail was very specific that there should be no corpses on this or any future voyage, or he’ll find another pilot. Maybe you can find repair work down at the docking bay.”

No, he wasn’t allowed in the docking bay. He’d tried to automate some of the armour down there, so that a remote operator could send the armour into vacuum to do the repair work without the operator ever having to leave the breathable atmosphere in the control room, and the next thing he knew, sparks were flying and three sets of armour were fused together into a pile of unrecognisable slag. Someone must have sabotaged them, because nothing he’d done would have set one, let along three sets of armour on fire, or generated enough heat to melt steel. Yet when he tried to tell people that, no one believed him.

Instead, they insisted the Burro could only dock at Eden’s external loading dock, and if he wanted to keep his job, that’s what he had to do.

A job that included ferrying Primula Naucrates to Delta.

Stars.

He knew he didn’t stand a chance with her, especially after the last office party, but a man could dream. If he did everything perfectly this trip, maybe she’d put in a good word for him with Rocail. Maybe she’d even agree to go out to dinner with him to celebrate a successful mission, and one thing would lead to another, and…

No. Primula Naucrates never even noticed him. He was the technician she didn’t need. She’d never drink too much at the office party, and need his help making it safely home to her apartment.

“Everything will be perfect,” Daedalus promised. For Primula Naucrates, he’d make sure of it.

When Lilith ended the call, he slumped down on the console. Who was he kidding? His ship was full of illegal moths, he had a violent meowl on board, and he…well, it was only a matter of time before he completely screwed things up, like he did with everything.

What he needed was a copy of himself that looked like him, but did everything perfectly. So Primula on the inside, but him on the outside. Well, maybe with a few more muscles, and broader shoulders…

He headed to the galley to find his tablet, so he could sketch out a blueprint. He couldn’t build Robot Daedalus, of course, because that would be illegal, but maybe if he used a clone. Human tissue, but with a programmable brain…

He picked up his tablet from the galley table, where it sat next to the open pet carrier. The very empty pet carrier.

Clanging sounded from the ceiling, where the ventilation hatch had come loose and fallen to the floor. A very feline yowl echoed through the open vent.

The homicidal meowl was loose. Oh, stars. He was doomed.