Daughters of Demeter

My heart was racing while my tail remained down between my legs as my ears were flicking this way and that. I stood by the grav-sled and slowly turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees, looking and listening for any sign of the missing cat-kin.

On the one hand I reminded myself that they were an adult and I shouldn't worry about them wandering off and getting lost. But on the other hand this was only the second world they'd visited since leaving home, their second experience being in a strange new city, and literally the first time they'd been on their own away from the safety of the ship.

There was also the darker possibility, that they hadn't wandered off, that someone took them by force. As far as I knew we didn't have any enemies on this world, but we certainly had enemies in this sector. Then again, despite looking young and petite and vulnerable Cam was just as strong and fast as my girlfriends and I. And even though they might be naive about some things, they were also very clever.

My mind filled with competing visions, either of them seeing something interesting and chasing after it or being attacked and fleeing to find somewhere safe. Either way I kicked myself for not ensuring they had a commlink before we left the ship. It simply hadn't occurred to me, I never considered we might get separated.

Then I started worrying about how I was going to find them. I figured I could use the grav-sled, circling outwards from the Vesfar building in a low slow spiral while keeping an eye and my ears on things at ground-level.

It also crossed my mind that maybe Jenny could somehow locate the cat-kin with the ship's sensors. It felt like a pretty safe bet that Cam and I were the only demi-humans on this world, so maybe our AI could -

"Oh hi Amanda," Cam said as they wandered around a corner and approached the grav-sled. "Did you get that message you were looking for?"

I blinked at them as I felt a wave of relief pass through me, "Cam! What happened, where did you go? Is everything ok?"

The cat-kin shrugged and gestured where they'd come from, "I spotted someone interesting over that way and I wanted to go and speak with her? But she and her friend got into a hired sled and took off towards the spaceport before I could get her attention."

My relief shifted into incredulousness as I stared at them for a few seconds. Then with my ears folded back I half-demanded, "Your first visit to a brand new planet, in a city with two and a half million people, that you don't know your way around, and the very first time you're on your own you wander off to talk to a complete stranger because she caught your eye? What was so special about her?"

"I'm sorry Amanda," they apologized as their ears and tail drooped down. "I didn't mean to get you upset."

Cam continued a moment later, "I wanted to talk to her on account of she was another cat-kin, like me? I thought folks like us would be super rare, so I never expected to see another person with fuzzy ears and a tail. She was real pretty too, like a ginger tabby cat? With the cream-coloured stripes in her ginger hair and around her tail and all?"

"But like I said," they added, "The catgirl and her friend got into a for-hire grav-sled before I could get their attention. So I never got the chance to find out who she was or where she was from."

I stared at them for a few seconds as that sank in. I wouldn't have expected to see other demi-humans here either, and I couldn't help feeling as disappointed as Cam that I didn't get a chance to meet the catgirl or see her for myself.

"All right Cam," I sighed as my own ears and tail drooped too, "I'm sorry I over-reacted. I was worried about you when I got back to the sled and you were missing, but I'm glad you're safe and nothing went wrong."

"Was there anything else you wanted to do while we're in the city? Anything else you'd like to see?" I asked.

They hesitated a moment then in a tentative voice responded, "I was wondering if maybe we could get some lunch? Of course we can always eat back at the ship if you'd prefer, I just thought it'd save you the trouble of having to do the cooking."

"Not that I don't like your cooking!" they added quickly. "It's delicious, best food I've ever had. I just thought to maybe save you the effort..."

I gave them a sympathetic smile, "All right Cam. Lunch sounds like a good idea. Actually how do you feel about eating in a park? I know a place that's kind of pretty, and the food's good too. It's a little different, but tasty."

They nodded, "That sounds really good."

It was only a short hop by grav-sled from the Vesfar Urox building over to the large park in the middle of the city. There were a dozen food vendors there just outside the park, all preparing different kinds of exotic cuisine for people to enjoy in the little oasis of nature.

The two of us looked around at the various options, before getting meals from two different vendors. Mine was seasoned ground meat in a spicy sauce served over rice and veggies, all bundled up inside a large thin disc of some kind of flatbread. And Cam got a couple skewers of grilled meat served in a disposable bowl atop some grilled veggies. We both got soda to drink, then with food in hand we wandered into the park until we found an available bench.

After a few bites of my lunch I asked, "So this other catgirl you saw, do you think her ears and tail were real? Attached I mean, as opposed to prosthetics or something?"

"Pretty sure," they nodded, after swallowing a chunk of meat they'd been chewing on. "Her tail was moving around naturally, and I saw her ears move too. I don't mean just like following a pre-programmed routine either. Like she and her friend were talking, and one ear was focused on her friend while the other one moved in response to other noises."

Cam grinned as they added, "Just like yours are doing now actually? With one pointed at me and another pointed over there."

I couldn't help smiling back at them, "Yours too Cammie."

The cat-kin blushed and had a sip of their drink before continuing, "Same with their tail? Whatever it was their friend was telling them, I could tell it got them a bit flustered but excited just from how their tail was moving."

"Huh," I commented as I had another bite of my meal. I thought about that while I was chewing, then I asked, "What did this friend look like?"

They were munching on another mouthful of their grilled meat, but after swallowing they replied "She actually reminded me a bit of the captain? She was tall and strong, like some kind of warrior woman? Only with long golden blonde hair. The catgirl was more like Sarah's height I think? They both looked young too, like about the same age as all of us do?"

"That's..." I frowned as I thought about it for a few seconds. "That's a worrying coincidence. I think we should mention it to Rebecca and Jenny, when we get back to the ship."

Cam tilted their head slightly and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Oh!" their eyes widened a moment later as their tail started twitching back and forth behind them. They lowered their voice as they asked, "You reckon they've got a Re/Gen capsule as well?"

I shook my head and replied quietly, "Probably not? Based on everything Rebecca and Jenny have said it seems highly unlikely anyways. I'm still going to mention it to them though, just in case."

"It's too bad I never got a chance to talk to them," Cam frowned. "Maybe I could have got their names, or found out where they're from. Or what ship they're with? I'm pretty sure they were heading to the spaceport, so I figure they're signed on with a ship."

I nodded but suggested softly, "We'll tell the others later, but let's let it go for now? We shouldn't be discussing this stuff out in public."

Then at normal volume I asked, "Anyways how are you enjoying your lunch?"

Cam was chewing on another little chunk of meat again at that point so it took a moment before they replied, "It's tasty! And kind of fun? I already forget what the guy called it, but I've never had meat served on little sticks like this before. And the seasoning's really good too, same with the veggies."

"How about you, how's yours?" they asked a moment later.

I smiled, "It's interesting. A bit spicier than I'm used to, but it's good."

The cat-kin nodded as they had another bite of their lunch. Then they looked around where we were sitting and commented, "This is kind of a nice place too? Sort of pretty even, with the strange trees and things."

"Yeah," I agreed. "It's a nice idea, putting a park in the middle of the city. It's not exactly wild nature, but I find it relaxing."

I added, "Sarah Rebecca and I visited a much larger park a while back, that's actually a restored wilderness area? It's really scenic, but it takes a while to get there even by grav-sled since it's a few hundred kilometres from the city. If we're going to stay on this world for a few more days maybe we could talk the others into another trip out there."

Cam just nodded again quietly as they continued looking around at our corner of the park as they finished their meal. By that point I'd had enough of my lunch as well, and there wasn't anything else either of us wanted to do in the city so we decided to just head straight back to the ship.

As we approached the shipyard I was worried for a moment when I realized the Demeter wasn't where we left it. Fortunately it hadn't gone far and wasn't hard to spot, our home had only moved a few hundred meters into one of the open work bays. The ramp was down and the main airlock open, but there wasn't enough clearance to fly straight into the hold so I set down just off to the side next to the ship.

"Hello Amanda. And Cam you look lovely in that new outfit," Jenny greeted us as she emerged from the Demeter.

Her compliment left the cat-kin both blushing and smiling, but before either of us could respond the AI continued. "Your purchases were delivered to the ship. We've already moved them up to the main deck. Cam your parcels are on the table in the mess, and Sarah put yours in your cabin Amanda."

"Thanks Jenny," I replied with a smile. "Are we getting some work done on the ship?"

She nodded as the three of us started up the ramp together, "Indeed. The captain and Sarah met with Ms. Ortega this morning, and Miss Lancaster was present for that as well. Rebecca made some decisions based on Sarah and Tamsin's recommendations and the information they found in the ship's design files."

There wasn't anything going on in the main hold, but we found things had been moved around in the secondary hold. Everything we'd stored on the starboard side aft of Jenny's Re/Gen capsule had been moved into a pile on the port side instead, leaving those shelves empty.

"I take it this is where they're going to be working?" I asked as I gestured at the empty shelves.

Jenny nodded, "That's one of the locations. The other is in the ship's lounge. I'll let Sarah brief you both though. She's supervising things up on the main deck right now."

"And by 'supervising' I mean getting in the way of the shipyard staff and generally making a nuisance of herself," the android added. "Perhaps the two of you can distract her now that you're back."

I smiled and rolled my eyes as we reached the lift in engineering, "What about Rebecca?"

"Our captain is off-ship at the moment," Jenny replied. "She's meeting with Ms. Ortega again, to discuss the value of the salvage we delivered yesterday."

I nodded as we arrived at the main deck, "All right. Let's see if we can't get our engineer to let the shipyard employees to do their job."

Moving forward it was easy to see there was work going on in the middle of the main deck. The small round table and the four large comfy chairs had been moved out of the lounge and were taking up space in the mess area, next to the dining table. We could also hear people working in there.

Sarah was standing just inside the lounge area with her hands on her hips as she watched a couple men in coveralls. They'd removed the wall panels from the port-side and aft walls of the lounge, and were in the process of re-routing some conduits and cables in the space behind the panels.

"How's it going?" I quietly asked my blonde girlfriend. "I take it the schematics Jenny found were helpful?"

She turned and grinned, "Hi cutie, hi Cammie. The documents Jenny found were perfect! I've already got a job planned to keep Cam and I busy on our next transit? We'll be working on an updated copy of the blueprints and schematics, to include all the modifications and changes to the ship since she was launched."

I smiled back, "Sounds good. Why don't we leave these folks to work in peace for now? You can brief Cam and I on what upgrades you and Rebecca decided on."

"And maybe let me know how things went with Tamsin?" I added in a half-whisper.

Sarah looked over at the two men who were still working quietly, then back at me again. She grimaced, "Yeah ok. How about we all go talk in our cabin? I'd suggest the mess, but considering it's right there we'd still be bothering these guys I think."

We didn't have a lot of seating in our cabin, but we made do. Sarah turned the desk chair around while Cam looked a little awkward as they sat on the big comfy reading chair we had off to the side. I parked myself on the bed, and Jenny stayed on her feet just inside the door.

"So with the documents Jenny found, Tamsin and I were able to identify a few likely spots where we could install smuggling compartments," Sarah explained. "We talked with Rebecca about them, and like you saw we decided to install one in the lounge? I think the plan is to stow the valuables in that one. Strongboxes full of cash, and any other small valuable items will go there."

She continued, "A second, larger hidden compartment will go into the secondary hold, on the starboard side towards the aft end. That'll be big enough to stow those cases of weapons and ammunition, or other goods we don't want to leave out in the open."

"How accessible will they be?" I asked. "Or put it the other way, how secure will they be?"

Sarah replied, "The plan is all the original panelling will go back in place, so there won't be any obvious opening or gaps. No obvious controls or anything like that either."

"The shipyard is installing the compartments," Jenny added. "They're making the structural changes and they'll be adding the opening closing and securing mechanisms, as well as wiring them up. Then it will be up to Sarah and Cam to complete the work, installing and programming the control mechanisms."

The blonde engineer nodded, "Right. So not even the Freeborn Shipyard will know how to access those compartments, even though they'll know the spaces exist."

I smiled, "That sounds like a good plan. I take it Tamsin wasn't able to convince Helen to let her work on the project?"

"Unfortunately not," Sarah sighed. "She's already assigned to another job, but she wouldn't have been doing this even if she was available. Helen said it's considered sensitive work, so only long-term trusted employees are qualified to do it."

A moment later she asked, "Anyways how's your day been? I know you two got lots of shopping done, did you do anything else while you were out in the city?"

Cam and I exchanged a look, then I nodded.

"Yeah," I replied. "There's something we wanted to discuss, but I think we should wait until the captain's back."