Much to everyone's relief, the small collection of reporters completely failed to notice the delivery van as it drove away, still focused on the buildings windows and occasionally harassing hospital employees that got too close. “I’m going to have to add that to the things Malcolm and I need to talk about,” Jeph muttered as they paused by a stop sign. “I’m all for freedom of the press, but when they start interfering with a hospital…”
“Fire extinguishers,” Chris said dryly. “Let them try and bullshit their way through that.”
“Probably a PR nightmare waiting to happen,” Nene pointed out reasonably.
“Yeah, probably. Would still be funny for a little bit,” Chris sighed. “Darn you for bringing logic and common sense into this.”
“It’s one of the many reasons I keep her around.” Jeph noted as they started moving again. “I’d be utterly ruined without her around.” With his attention on the road, he didn’t notice Nene’s delighted expression at that comment. Chris did, and gave the other woman an encouraging smile. “So,” he asked a few minutes later. “What’s your plans for the short term?”
Closing her eyes for a moment, Chris considered that. “Call my parents. They need to find out my new status from me, not the news.” She opened her eyes and sighed. “I really hope they don’t freak out too much. Given how they reacted to Kit after she woke up, I’d put my money on them being weirded out but being able to deal. Mum especially. Now Dad, he’ll have a bit more trouble I think.”
“Bit more old fashioned?” Nene asked.
Looking over at her, Chris shrugged mildly. “That’s the polite way of putting it. I love him, but he’s got a rather... narrow set of opinions about life. A lot of Fenspace is outside those opinions, as it were,” she said dryly. Cupping her hands under her considerable cleavage, she lifted them slightly and noted, “Now this, this is really going to mess with his calm.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Jeph mumbled under his breath, forcing himself to look away from the rear view mirror.
Nene resisted the urge to give Chris a glare. “But will he deal?”
“Yeah. He’s set in his ways, but he’s nowhere near as bad as my uncle,” she smirked. “Now, that’ll be a disaster and a half. But I never deal with him anyway, so eh.” Frowning, she thought some more. “Right, so that was first. Next is the company. Kit sent out a company wide email, but I’ll put together a conference call with all the ships and the home office, bring them in the loop.”
“Makes sense. You can use our offices for that if you want,” Jeph offered.
“Thank you. I’m not seeing a problem there really. We’ve never had it happen to an active employee, but it’s come up before.”
Tapping his fingers against the steering wheel, Jeph nodded. “Right. One of your captains, what was it, the Solar Cormorant?”
“That’s the one. Her captain had a run in with the Catgirling Machine back in the war,” Chris confirmed. Giggling, she leaned back in her chair. “Honestly, if I’d been betting, I’d have put good money on getting the ears and tail out of a biomod.” Considering that for a moment, Nene got a minor case of the giggles as as well, drawing an odd look from the man in the drivers seat. “A lot of my ‘wave incidents have come from my gaming history, especially the MMOs,” she explained. Some of Kitbash is taken from the myth imprints of two and a half characters I rolled up.”
“And his favorites, back in his favorite MMO,” Nene continued.
“Catgirls. Lots of catgirls,” Chris finished, giggling again, before looking wistful. “I’d probably be a lot taller too.”
“Now that I think about it,” Nene mused. “You do have a lot of Orions in one of your other regular games." Chris blinked, then counted off names on her fingers, and made a thoughtful noise. “Personally, I blame all the people that think you’re a diehard Warsie just because of the Void Eagle.”
Braking to avoid someone cutting in front of them, Jeph snorted in amusement. “Well, we do know Handwavium has a sense of humor.”
“Or what passes for one in some circles,” Chris replied. “After that, give my statement to the Sheriff and hopefully not get pulled into this any more than I have to. From here, it’s the authorities problem. I’m a simple freighter captain, nothing more.”
“Amen to that,” Jeph agreed as he pulled up at the gates of the Jupiter Mining Corporation offices. Nene gave both captains a skeptical look, but kept her peace as Jeph rolled down the window to speak to the approaching guard. “Morning Mike. How’s it going out here?” he asked.
The man grinned, removing his hat and running a hand through his fading hair. “Not too shabby boss,” he replied. “There’s a few reporters up in the visitors lobby. No mudrakers, just some guys from ZNN and Crystal News. They’re not making any trouble, so I think they’re just checking if you’ve released a statement yet.” Glancing past his employer, he paused at the tiny Orion girl in the back of the van. “Captain Wood?” he asked carefully.
Wiggling her fingers in a tiny wave, Chris gave the man a shy smile. “Nice to see you again Mike.”
Recovering from his surprise quickly, Mike smiled back at her. “Likewise Captain. That was a hell of thing you did yesterday. You should be proud.” Turning back to Jeph he added, “unloading bay three is empty at the moment, that’d be your best bet.”
Nodding, Jeph put the van back in gear. “Thanks Mike,” he said, driving off.
***
Stepping into his office, Jeph grinned in triumph as he put his hat on the stand by the door. “You know, it might be a little childish of me, but a bit of ‘spy-work’ never stops being fun.”
“You were fighting the urge to hum the Avengers theme, weren’t you?” Nene teased.
“Just a little,” he replied.
“Oh good, it wasn’t just me,” Chris commented with a smile, looking around the office. “I think you’ve redecorated a little since the last time I visited,” she added, looking at the painting on the wall. “I don’t think I recognize the artist. Not a shock really,” she admitted.
“She’s a local,” Jeph replied, stepping up next to her. “Part of the first wave of colonists in Serenity actually,” he noted. “I think she painted this from memory.” The Orion whistled quietly, impressed. In front of her, the first dome of the colony was growing, watched over by spacesuited engineers as it reached up to the Ganymede sky. Several ships could be seen landing and taking off far behind the dome, including the bulbous shape of Starbug 1. Looking over the image again, she laughed as she recognised that one of the spacesuited figures handling the handwavium for the dome was the unmistakable pear shape of Myk-el Miller.
“I’m impressed,” she said at last.
“So am I,” Jeph agreed. “I’ve purchased some of her works, which I admit, has done good things to her reputation. I hear that there are people back on Earth bidding on some of her art now.”
“Where is Myk right now?” his friend asked, glancing at that section of the painting again.
“Safety class for new employees,” Nene replied. “Chris, do you want coffee?”
Shaking her head, she turned away from the painting. “No thank you, just water. I think I’ll go easy on caffeine and sugar until I get used to things. I’ve got a lot less mass to contain the sugar buzz,” she grinned. “Besides,” she added playfully, running a hand down her thigh, “I need to watch my figure.”
Jeph smirked, his eyes following her hand. Then he paused, took a closer look at the shapely figure, and scowled. “Oh, that is just not fair,” he grumbled. Both women gave him a curious look, and he gestured at Chris. “Your clothes!” Looking her over, Nene blinked, then her eyes widened in understanding and she chuckled. For her part, Chris took a bit longer to make the connection, but when she did, her expression shifted to a mixture of bafflement and delight.
When she’d gotten dressed at the hospital, the handwavium in the jeans had altered them to fit, but in such a way they became almost a second skin, molding to her legs like they were a thin body paint. Now they had softened, becoming skinny jeans that looked tailored for her legs but weren’t at risk of someone screaming indecency. The shirt was the same way, the hemline receding to show a hint of her waist, the neckline expanding to do the same with her cleavage. Even the scrunchie in her hair had gotten in on the act, having changed from simple fabric and elastic to a small little black bow.
“Years now, years, I’ve been trying to make clothes that do that,” Jeph complained, looking rather put out by this new development. “No matter what I do, no matter what I try, I get pants that nearly give Myk a heart attack. And you’ve got them behaving for you on the first day!” Dropping into his chair, he gave her a disgusted look. “Damn smartass handwavium,” he grumbled.
The two women in the room looked at him, then each other, then broke down laughing. “I, I’m sorry Jeph,” Chris managed, hand covering her mouth. “I’m not doing it on purpose?” she offered.
Breaking his mock grumbling, Jeph gave the girl a smile, noting, not for the first time, just how quickly she seemed to be adjusting. But then, the same thing had happened to him to some extent, so maybe there was nothing to worry about.
Before he could speak, the comm terminal on his desk buzzed for attention. “Boss, Miss Takami Sakuragi from Stellvia is here. She'd like to say hello."
The timing seemed odd, but not completely unreasonable. "Send her in." A moment later, the office door opened, admitting a familiar figure. "Come in, Miss Sakuragi,” Jeph said, standing back up. "Don't take this the wrong way, but why are you here?"
"I was making a courtesy call before going looking for Chris Wood, but it looks like I can put those two visits together." Takami smiled as she turned to Chris. "You are Captain Wood, are you not?"
Blinking in confusion, the smaller girl nodded. "Yes, I am. How did you know?"
Nene rolled her eyes at Jeph's question. "Takami's one of the rising stars of the Hacker Underspace. It’s possible she’s been doing things she shouldn’t… again."
"What?” Takami blinked, then her eyes widened. “Oh, I wouldn't do that! No, I just noticed all the little telltales and put them together. Captain Wood, we need to get your fingerprints and photo again to update your contractor file. Is now a good time?"
Chris shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it's as good a time as any, but I don't see any of the equipment you'd need to do that."
"Oh, I don’t need to worry about that. All the proper gear is installed in my body. I can take a photo of you just by looking at you. Smile!" Chris did as she was told, putting her hands behind her and smiling cutely. Takami looked straight at Chris' face for a long moment. "Has anyone told you how beautiful your face is? I'm jealous.” Stepping back, she ran her eyes down the girls body. “Height, one thirty four point five… And wow, that’s a figure. Now I’m really jealous. You could outdo Mikuru. Okay, next I'll have to look at your hands to get your fingerprints. Left hand first please."
As Takami leaned down and stared closely at Chris' fingers, Jeph asked Nene, "Does that look as creepy to you as it does to me?" Nene just nodded.
"So pretty and tiny. You’re going to have all the boys after you… All done! Thank you for your time, Captain Wood; we'll get your ID card to you by the end of the week." Takami turned to leave, then turned back. "What name do you want on the ID?"
Looking slightly dazed, Chris blinked slightly. “My name?” she asked.
“Well, you could keep calling yourself Christopher, but you don’t have to, and really, a beautiful lady shouldn’t have a man’s name, right?” Takami said with a smile, completely failing to notice the ‘what the hell’ looks both Nene and Jeph were giving her.
Chris nodded slightly, still looking a bit overwhelmed from the girls intensity. “Um. Christina?” she said quietly.
“Okay!” Takami chirped. “I’ll take care of it for you. Have a nice day. Bye Nene, Captain Antilles!” she added, darting out the door again.
For several long moments, the office was completely silent, considering the social hurricane that had just rampaged through. Chris spoke first, her voice mildly shell-shocked. “I think I need to sit down.” ">
">
“Fire extinguishers,” Chris said dryly. “Let them try and bullshit their way through that.”
“Probably a PR nightmare waiting to happen,” Nene pointed out reasonably.
“Yeah, probably. Would still be funny for a little bit,” Chris sighed. “Darn you for bringing logic and common sense into this.”
“It’s one of the many reasons I keep her around.” Jeph noted as they started moving again. “I’d be utterly ruined without her around.” With his attention on the road, he didn’t notice Nene’s delighted expression at that comment. Chris did, and gave the other woman an encouraging smile. “So,” he asked a few minutes later. “What’s your plans for the short term?”
Closing her eyes for a moment, Chris considered that. “Call my parents. They need to find out my new status from me, not the news.” She opened her eyes and sighed. “I really hope they don’t freak out too much. Given how they reacted to Kit after she woke up, I’d put my money on them being weirded out but being able to deal. Mum especially. Now Dad, he’ll have a bit more trouble I think.”
“Bit more old fashioned?” Nene asked.
Looking over at her, Chris shrugged mildly. “That’s the polite way of putting it. I love him, but he’s got a rather... narrow set of opinions about life. A lot of Fenspace is outside those opinions, as it were,” she said dryly. Cupping her hands under her considerable cleavage, she lifted them slightly and noted, “Now this, this is really going to mess with his calm.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Jeph mumbled under his breath, forcing himself to look away from the rear view mirror.
Nene resisted the urge to give Chris a glare. “But will he deal?”
“Yeah. He’s set in his ways, but he’s nowhere near as bad as my uncle,” she smirked. “Now, that’ll be a disaster and a half. But I never deal with him anyway, so eh.” Frowning, she thought some more. “Right, so that was first. Next is the company. Kit sent out a company wide email, but I’ll put together a conference call with all the ships and the home office, bring them in the loop.”
“Makes sense. You can use our offices for that if you want,” Jeph offered.
“Thank you. I’m not seeing a problem there really. We’ve never had it happen to an active employee, but it’s come up before.”
Tapping his fingers against the steering wheel, Jeph nodded. “Right. One of your captains, what was it, the Solar Cormorant?”
“That’s the one. Her captain had a run in with the Catgirling Machine back in the war,” Chris confirmed. Giggling, she leaned back in her chair. “Honestly, if I’d been betting, I’d have put good money on getting the ears and tail out of a biomod.” Considering that for a moment, Nene got a minor case of the giggles as as well, drawing an odd look from the man in the drivers seat. “A lot of my ‘wave incidents have come from my gaming history, especially the MMOs,” she explained. Some of Kitbash is taken from the myth imprints of two and a half characters I rolled up.”
“And his favorites, back in his favorite MMO,” Nene continued.
“Catgirls. Lots of catgirls,” Chris finished, giggling again, before looking wistful. “I’d probably be a lot taller too.”
“Now that I think about it,” Nene mused. “You do have a lot of Orions in one of your other regular games." Chris blinked, then counted off names on her fingers, and made a thoughtful noise. “Personally, I blame all the people that think you’re a diehard Warsie just because of the Void Eagle.”
Braking to avoid someone cutting in front of them, Jeph snorted in amusement. “Well, we do know Handwavium has a sense of humor.”
“Or what passes for one in some circles,” Chris replied. “After that, give my statement to the Sheriff and hopefully not get pulled into this any more than I have to. From here, it’s the authorities problem. I’m a simple freighter captain, nothing more.”
“Amen to that,” Jeph agreed as he pulled up at the gates of the Jupiter Mining Corporation offices. Nene gave both captains a skeptical look, but kept her peace as Jeph rolled down the window to speak to the approaching guard. “Morning Mike. How’s it going out here?” he asked.
The man grinned, removing his hat and running a hand through his fading hair. “Not too shabby boss,” he replied. “There’s a few reporters up in the visitors lobby. No mudrakers, just some guys from ZNN and Crystal News. They’re not making any trouble, so I think they’re just checking if you’ve released a statement yet.” Glancing past his employer, he paused at the tiny Orion girl in the back of the van. “Captain Wood?” he asked carefully.
Wiggling her fingers in a tiny wave, Chris gave the man a shy smile. “Nice to see you again Mike.”
Recovering from his surprise quickly, Mike smiled back at her. “Likewise Captain. That was a hell of thing you did yesterday. You should be proud.” Turning back to Jeph he added, “unloading bay three is empty at the moment, that’d be your best bet.”
Nodding, Jeph put the van back in gear. “Thanks Mike,” he said, driving off.
***
Stepping into his office, Jeph grinned in triumph as he put his hat on the stand by the door. “You know, it might be a little childish of me, but a bit of ‘spy-work’ never stops being fun.”
“You were fighting the urge to hum the Avengers theme, weren’t you?” Nene teased.
“Just a little,” he replied.
“Oh good, it wasn’t just me,” Chris commented with a smile, looking around the office. “I think you’ve redecorated a little since the last time I visited,” she added, looking at the painting on the wall. “I don’t think I recognize the artist. Not a shock really,” she admitted.
“She’s a local,” Jeph replied, stepping up next to her. “Part of the first wave of colonists in Serenity actually,” he noted. “I think she painted this from memory.” The Orion whistled quietly, impressed. In front of her, the first dome of the colony was growing, watched over by spacesuited engineers as it reached up to the Ganymede sky. Several ships could be seen landing and taking off far behind the dome, including the bulbous shape of Starbug 1. Looking over the image again, she laughed as she recognised that one of the spacesuited figures handling the handwavium for the dome was the unmistakable pear shape of Myk-el Miller.
“I’m impressed,” she said at last.
“So am I,” Jeph agreed. “I’ve purchased some of her works, which I admit, has done good things to her reputation. I hear that there are people back on Earth bidding on some of her art now.”
“Where is Myk right now?” his friend asked, glancing at that section of the painting again.
“Safety class for new employees,” Nene replied. “Chris, do you want coffee?”
Shaking her head, she turned away from the painting. “No thank you, just water. I think I’ll go easy on caffeine and sugar until I get used to things. I’ve got a lot less mass to contain the sugar buzz,” she grinned. “Besides,” she added playfully, running a hand down her thigh, “I need to watch my figure.”
Jeph smirked, his eyes following her hand. Then he paused, took a closer look at the shapely figure, and scowled. “Oh, that is just not fair,” he grumbled. Both women gave him a curious look, and he gestured at Chris. “Your clothes!” Looking her over, Nene blinked, then her eyes widened in understanding and she chuckled. For her part, Chris took a bit longer to make the connection, but when she did, her expression shifted to a mixture of bafflement and delight.
When she’d gotten dressed at the hospital, the handwavium in the jeans had altered them to fit, but in such a way they became almost a second skin, molding to her legs like they were a thin body paint. Now they had softened, becoming skinny jeans that looked tailored for her legs but weren’t at risk of someone screaming indecency. The shirt was the same way, the hemline receding to show a hint of her waist, the neckline expanding to do the same with her cleavage. Even the scrunchie in her hair had gotten in on the act, having changed from simple fabric and elastic to a small little black bow.
“Years now, years, I’ve been trying to make clothes that do that,” Jeph complained, looking rather put out by this new development. “No matter what I do, no matter what I try, I get pants that nearly give Myk a heart attack. And you’ve got them behaving for you on the first day!” Dropping into his chair, he gave her a disgusted look. “Damn smartass handwavium,” he grumbled.
The two women in the room looked at him, then each other, then broke down laughing. “I, I’m sorry Jeph,” Chris managed, hand covering her mouth. “I’m not doing it on purpose?” she offered.
Breaking his mock grumbling, Jeph gave the girl a smile, noting, not for the first time, just how quickly she seemed to be adjusting. But then, the same thing had happened to him to some extent, so maybe there was nothing to worry about.
Before he could speak, the comm terminal on his desk buzzed for attention. “Boss, Miss Takami Sakuragi from Stellvia is here. She'd like to say hello."
The timing seemed odd, but not completely unreasonable. "Send her in." A moment later, the office door opened, admitting a familiar figure. "Come in, Miss Sakuragi,” Jeph said, standing back up. "Don't take this the wrong way, but why are you here?"
"I was making a courtesy call before going looking for Chris Wood, but it looks like I can put those two visits together." Takami smiled as she turned to Chris. "You are Captain Wood, are you not?"
Blinking in confusion, the smaller girl nodded. "Yes, I am. How did you know?"
Nene rolled her eyes at Jeph's question. "Takami's one of the rising stars of the Hacker Underspace. It’s possible she’s been doing things she shouldn’t… again."
"What?” Takami blinked, then her eyes widened. “Oh, I wouldn't do that! No, I just noticed all the little telltales and put them together. Captain Wood, we need to get your fingerprints and photo again to update your contractor file. Is now a good time?"
Chris shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it's as good a time as any, but I don't see any of the equipment you'd need to do that."
"Oh, I don’t need to worry about that. All the proper gear is installed in my body. I can take a photo of you just by looking at you. Smile!" Chris did as she was told, putting her hands behind her and smiling cutely. Takami looked straight at Chris' face for a long moment. "Has anyone told you how beautiful your face is? I'm jealous.” Stepping back, she ran her eyes down the girls body. “Height, one thirty four point five… And wow, that’s a figure. Now I’m really jealous. You could outdo Mikuru. Okay, next I'll have to look at your hands to get your fingerprints. Left hand first please."
As Takami leaned down and stared closely at Chris' fingers, Jeph asked Nene, "Does that look as creepy to you as it does to me?" Nene just nodded.
"So pretty and tiny. You’re going to have all the boys after you… All done! Thank you for your time, Captain Wood; we'll get your ID card to you by the end of the week." Takami turned to leave, then turned back. "What name do you want on the ID?"
Looking slightly dazed, Chris blinked slightly. “My name?” she asked.
“Well, you could keep calling yourself Christopher, but you don’t have to, and really, a beautiful lady shouldn’t have a man’s name, right?” Takami said with a smile, completely failing to notice the ‘what the hell’ looks both Nene and Jeph were giving her.
Chris nodded slightly, still looking a bit overwhelmed from the girls intensity. “Um. Christina?” she said quietly.
“Okay!” Takami chirped. “I’ll take care of it for you. Have a nice day. Bye Nene, Captain Antilles!” she added, darting out the door again.
For several long moments, the office was completely silent, considering the social hurricane that had just rampaged through. Chris spoke first, her voice mildly shell-shocked. “I think I need to sit down.” ">
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