The interior of the space station might have been filled with electronic beeps and bleeps; instead, the last notes of a Vivaldi composition for two mandolins died away as Petal put her head into the control room.
"Quiet shift?" she said, as she swung through the hatchway. On the other side of the control room, Arky Del opened one eye and gave a satisfied nod. Arky had had enough excitement in her life in the last year and gave thanks each time nothing unusual took place on her shift. Petal Smith, however, was still new to interstellar travel and was always looking for something dramatic to happen.
"All systems running in the green," said Arky smugly. "Not a malfunction or a warning light to be seen." She stood up and stretched like a cat that's just decided to go out to the kitchen for a saucer of milk before its next nap. Mental attitude wasn't the only difference between the two young women: Arky's fair hair was cropped short and her slim figure was almost boyish, whereas Petal had a bob of red hair above her forever-twinkling green eyes and her young body was still inclined to wobble in interesting places whenever she moved faster than a dignified stroll.
Petal slipped into the duty officer's chair and ran her eye over the panel. Just as Arky said - completely normal. Arky was watching her and said dryly "Try not to have any galaxy-class emergencies before you sign off. It might hold up your trip to the surface tomorrow."
"Mmmmm, I can't wait," sighed Petal. "It's only the third time I've been down to an extra-solar planet. Maybe I'll meet some dashing extra-terrestrial Romeo..."
"Don't forget these guys are aliens!" cautioned Arky. "You might not want anything to do with them in a romantic sense. I can't see you setting up house with an intelligent gas-cloud from the Sigma cluster."
"Well, of course not," said Petal. "That would just be silly! But there are plenty of species that are ... well, compatible. At least that's what I hear." She looked at the other woman. "Those guys with the gold skin from Klys were very pretty, and there are others like the Qstin and the M'na..."
"Scratch the M'na off your dance card, lover, unless you fancy sex with King Kong." She stared into middle distance for a second. "I don't think you're ready for that."
"You mean they're... er..."
"Take what you're thinking and add 30%, kiddo."
"Ouch! Sounds intimidating. Hey, wait a minute, how do you know this? I thought the M'na were very private types."
Arky didn't answer and after a second Petal's mouth opened in a silent O. "Arky, you didn't... I mean, you haven't..." There was another second of silence and Petal said softly "Good grief!!"
"Well, I'd rather you didn't spread it round, thanks. Nothing ruins a girl's reputation like a rumor that she screws reptiles."
"OK, scout's honor. But before we leave the subject - how was he?" Petal leaned forward, her eyes wide.
"Let's just say the second time was a lot easier than the first," said Arky, picking up her satchel as a signal that the conversation was coming to a close.
"The second time? Hmmmmm. I'd like to hear more about that someday," purred Petal. "Do you want to meet up for a drink on the surface?"
Arky shrugged. "Maybe. My day off is only provisional. If the Scylo IV cruiser gets away early I may get the rest of the day off. I'll see you when I see you." Arky swung through the hatchway and turned towards the human-gravity living quarters.
It was hard to dislike Petal, but sometimes she could be a little too curious and eager, like a puppy wanting to rummage through everything in the trash basket. Arky didn't usually discuss her misadventures when she'd been temporarily marooned last year during a deep-space mission.
The next day, Petal came out of the Transit Center building and took a deep breath of extra-terrestrial air. She was on another world! Giving an involuntary wiggle of excitement, she stepped out of the drab and practical building and looked at the immense market that stretched in both directions down the street.
Beings from half a dozen species were bartering and dickering at stalls, mostly from Earth-type planets though she did glimpse a couple of methane breathers encased in transparent spacesuits, their atmosphere generators humming softly as they made their way through the crowd. She felt very ordinary in her off-duty clothes, a beige pants-suit with rhodium-plated belt. A shadow passed over the crowd and Petal glanced upwards.
Overhead, an immense bird was gliding down onto the top of an inn; the only clue as to his nature was a belt holding several gadgets necessary to interpret his chirps. Petal gave a squeal of anticipation; she'd only been here five minutes and already she'd seen one of the rare intelligent avians for the first time. Who knew what else she might see?
She spent an hour of intensive sightseeing in the quarter of the city of Pola that was the crossroads for spacefarers. After a while she had even been brave enough to strike up a conversation with some of the less exotic beings, leaving her as star-struck as a fan who's just said "Hi!" to their favourite celebrity. It was starting to make her dizzy and she really wanted a seat and a cold drink.
The inn that catered to aliens was named the Crimson Stone for some reason (names of bars never seemed to mean anything, no matter what planet you were on) and Petal gave a sigh of relief as she slid onto a bar stool and signalled for a cleansing ale.
"Busy day?" said a voice from nowhere and Petal looked up in surprise. There was no one next to her. Then she looked down and saw a roly-poly little being seated in a sort of hammock; he was nearly as round as he was tall, but his smile was friendly and he didn't look offended at her initial difficulty in locating him.
"Mental overload," she said with a sigh. "So many different people from so many different worlds - one lifetime wouldn't be enough to understand even a fraction of their cultures." She shook her head. "I don't know if I can stand this level of immersion in the wonders of the galaxy." She gave a wry grin. "You can probably tell I'm new here. I sound as though it's my first time away from home."
"I think it's admirable that you still have such enthusiasm and a willingness to open yourself to new experiences." He slapped his rounded stomach for emphasis. "The time to worry is when you are no longer excited by new experiences and surroundings!" He put out a hand. "My name is Kro of the Kaazam trading guild."
Petal shook his hand carefully, aware that many races only tolerated the strange human custom of shaking hands for the sake of diplomacy. "My name is Petal Smith. I work on the space station but this is only my third time off Earth. I guess it shows."
Kro began to expound on some problems he'd run into on his first trip into space and Petal listened fascinated. She suspected that some of his adventures might be exaggerated to make them more dramatic, but it was all quite engrossing.
After her third beer, some of the other customers starting getting noisy and she had trouble in hearing Kro, his softly-spoken conversation from around her knees getting lost in the background din. Finally she leaned over to him and said "Let's move over to one of the booths. All this racket is starting to give me a headache."
Kro nodded and hopped out of his hammock. He was much lighter on his feet than a human being of his build would have been, probably because Kaazam was a planet of higher gravity than Earth.
They found a booth on the far side of the inn, and Petal drew the curtain halfway across to further cut the background noise. Kro slid onto the seat without difficulty, though only his head and shoulders were visible over the table. He sat down his tankard of sparkling Zel wine and commenced from the beginning his story about the M'na customs official which Petal had been trying to follow.
When he'd finished, she snorted and drained her beer. "Now that's incredible," she chuckled. "I think you might be making some of this up, Kro. Either that or the galaxy is an even stranger place than I've heard."
He laughed. "No, it's true. Well, nearly all of it! You can't blame me for wanting to impress such a lovely lady. My deeds make up for my lack of stature I hope." Petal wondered for a moment how she looked from his viewpoint; to him, she must be abnormally tall and thin to somebody brought up in the severe gravity pull of Kaazam.
Kro sighed a little and said "My dear Petal, we are both a very long way from our birthplaces. Companionship is a precious thing way out here." He patted her consolingly on the leg.
It took Petal a moment to notice that he had not removed his hand; instead he seemed to be settling in with an almost proprietorial air, as though he'd bought a mining lease on her thigh and was about to exercise his option.
"Er, what are you doing, Kro?" Petal was a little fuzzy from the strong ales she'd been knocking back, but she had the unmistakable impression that the rotund little man was hitting on her. "That is your hand on my leg, isn't it?"
"Petal, we are both a long way from home. Space can be a lonely profession for all of us who travel the ways between the stars. Sometimes only the presence of a friend and companion stops it from being a scary experience." He looked at her earnestly and apparently sincerely.
Petal had a sudden flash of insight as to what this would look like to an outside observer. He'd picked her up at the bar, they'd had a few drinks then she'd suggested they go somewhere more private to continue their conversation. Maybe she shouldn't be surprised that things were progressing in this direction - men were the same on most worlds.
She tried to order her thoughts, wondering exactly what her attitude should be to his overture. The fact that he wasn't a human being was a factor, but to dismiss him out of hand because of it bordered on racism. If they were sitting in the local pub down the street from her apartment back home, what would be her response?
Her mind strayed to Arky. At least he wasn't a seven-foot tall lizard like the M'na males. Kro didn't look at all threatening in that way. (Though in an ideal universe she would have had time to log on to the Alien Species Database and check the infamous "Dr. Susan's Intimate List of Compatible Aliens".) So where did she go from here?
