Damned, this whole "magic in Fenspace" discussion derailed my progress with this story completely. Hope you enjoy the new chapter.
###########
“... so thats our status at the moment.” Eric Hunt ended his small presentation. “We got kicked hard, but the big book of rules has been burned too. Oh... and we might be the ones who define the fate of ESA and JAXA for the next decades.”
21 astronauts were sitting around the large table together with Hunt, six of them were still in their beds because of their injuries. The only member of the Aurora expedition that had been injured badly and was at the table was Sarah Meier. Eric was still a bit dazed about how fast she had healed.
“Max, you organize everyone who is not hurt at all. You will get back to the moon and make a first survey which parts got damaged and what survived the attack intact.” Eric continued. “Everything that might be damaged must be checked before we can continue.”
Mac Raffa, one of the engineers that had arrived with the Ferdinand Magellan nodded, but Masuna Soetsu complained.
“What? I have to go out on the moon again right now?” he said with a wide grin, “can you not assign me a job together with our new cute one?”
He smiled at Sarah Meier and tried to pat her on her furred arm, but Sarah drew her arm away with lightning speed and hissed angrily. Masuno suddenly saw a series of sharp looking claws right above his hand.
“Oh damned” he shouted and drew his hand back carefully. “Why do the cute ones always get sharp claws!”
That made everyone at the table snicker, including Sarah Meier.
“Sarah, they said you should stay on the space station for a few more days to get used to... to everything. But you are not injured anymore, so get in contact with our host.” Eric said, “we will need some additional support to plan our next steps. You can also ask them if they can help us checking the equipment on the moon later, or what other ideas they have.”
Sarah wasn’t in a good mood, but she nodded. At least Eric wasn’t keeping her out of the mission.
“Okay Eric, I will do so.”
Before Eric Hunt could continue, someone knocked at the door.
“Yes?” he shouted and a catgirl entered the room.
“Mr. Hunt, the police will arrive in a few minutes, we thought you wanted to be there.”
----
Cathy and Eric Hunt were looking at a control monitor while the large Camping Car slowly moved into Jengas airlock for trucks. It was the first time that an investigator from Space Patrol was coming to Jenga, normally the catgirls liked their privacy.
“Couldn’t you just close the airlock with one of these ‘atmospheric forcefields’ you see in Scifi” Eric asked, “It would allow us to watch our visitors from the Hangar itself!”
“We tried, we really tried” Cathy answered and chuckled. “But the forcefield sometimes failed when a car with gravity drive moved through. We decided to keep the normal airlock procedures until we can fix it.”
The car finally stopped moving and the airlock closed behind it. A few moments later the light on the inner door changed from red to green and the door opened.
“Lets greet our visitors” Cathy said and both of them entered the large airlock. The doors of the car were already opening and three people stepped out of the car.
“Hello,” Cathy said with a smile, “welcome to Catgirl Industries. My name is Cathy and this is Eric Hunt, the leader of the expedition from Earth.”
“Thank you Cathy” one of the three men answered, “my name is Arthur Nkomo. Great Justice sent me out here when we got the news what has happened.”
Cathy blinked a few times, she had expected someone from Space Patrol.
“And these two gentlemen” Arthur continued and looked left and right “are Mr. Juergen Schmidt of Europol and Mr. Ichikawa Zenigata of the Japanese National Police Agency.”
“Good to see you here” Cathy said as she looked over the group. All three of them looked a little bit tired. “I can show you your rooms, we can give you a short summary what happened here on Pan afterwards. And we already brought some parts of the attack weapon to Jenga, I am sure you want to see them.”
Arthur looked at his two associates from Earth.
“I think we will start talking with some of the astronauts who remember the attack. And maybe a few of the catgirls who were in the control room at this time.” Arthur said flatly. “Oh, and we would like to see all the parts of the weapon system tomorrow!”
“I am not sure we will have all parts today” Cathy disagreed, “it might take us a few days to assemble them all.”
Arthur sighed.
“Cathy, can I just talk to you alone for a momen?”
Cathy looked a bit puzzled but led Arthur into a small utility room.
“Cathy, you have been doing work with Great Justice before and you might be pretty happy that everything has been going well since the terror strike... let me just tell you this will not continue for long.”
“What do you mean?” Cathy asked.
“While this joined investigation is great, the pressure is increasing. Just look up ‘Boskonian war, second round’ on the Interwave. And lets not forget that there are already politicians in the EU and Japan who talk about ‘these Fen terrorists’ and ‘protect the peaceful interests of Earth in space’. We are all working on borrowed time.”
Cathy looked unhappy, but did not interrupted Arthur.
“We might have only a few days until we have to show them something... and only a few weeks until this whole thing turns into a major crisis.” Arthur said flatly. “Or war.”
Cathy gulped.
“So please do me a favor and hurry up, we need a look at this weapon system,” Arthur added quietly, “we still have a chance to prevent a disaster.”
###########
“... so thats our status at the moment.” Eric Hunt ended his small presentation. “We got kicked hard, but the big book of rules has been burned too. Oh... and we might be the ones who define the fate of ESA and JAXA for the next decades.”
21 astronauts were sitting around the large table together with Hunt, six of them were still in their beds because of their injuries. The only member of the Aurora expedition that had been injured badly and was at the table was Sarah Meier. Eric was still a bit dazed about how fast she had healed.
“Max, you organize everyone who is not hurt at all. You will get back to the moon and make a first survey which parts got damaged and what survived the attack intact.” Eric continued. “Everything that might be damaged must be checked before we can continue.”
Mac Raffa, one of the engineers that had arrived with the Ferdinand Magellan nodded, but Masuna Soetsu complained.
“What? I have to go out on the moon again right now?” he said with a wide grin, “can you not assign me a job together with our new cute one?”
He smiled at Sarah Meier and tried to pat her on her furred arm, but Sarah drew her arm away with lightning speed and hissed angrily. Masuno suddenly saw a series of sharp looking claws right above his hand.
“Oh damned” he shouted and drew his hand back carefully. “Why do the cute ones always get sharp claws!”
That made everyone at the table snicker, including Sarah Meier.
“Sarah, they said you should stay on the space station for a few more days to get used to... to everything. But you are not injured anymore, so get in contact with our host.” Eric said, “we will need some additional support to plan our next steps. You can also ask them if they can help us checking the equipment on the moon later, or what other ideas they have.”
Sarah wasn’t in a good mood, but she nodded. At least Eric wasn’t keeping her out of the mission.
“Okay Eric, I will do so.”
Before Eric Hunt could continue, someone knocked at the door.
“Yes?” he shouted and a catgirl entered the room.
“Mr. Hunt, the police will arrive in a few minutes, we thought you wanted to be there.”
----
Cathy and Eric Hunt were looking at a control monitor while the large Camping Car slowly moved into Jengas airlock for trucks. It was the first time that an investigator from Space Patrol was coming to Jenga, normally the catgirls liked their privacy.
“Couldn’t you just close the airlock with one of these ‘atmospheric forcefields’ you see in Scifi” Eric asked, “It would allow us to watch our visitors from the Hangar itself!”
“We tried, we really tried” Cathy answered and chuckled. “But the forcefield sometimes failed when a car with gravity drive moved through. We decided to keep the normal airlock procedures until we can fix it.”
The car finally stopped moving and the airlock closed behind it. A few moments later the light on the inner door changed from red to green and the door opened.
“Lets greet our visitors” Cathy said and both of them entered the large airlock. The doors of the car were already opening and three people stepped out of the car.
“Hello,” Cathy said with a smile, “welcome to Catgirl Industries. My name is Cathy and this is Eric Hunt, the leader of the expedition from Earth.”
“Thank you Cathy” one of the three men answered, “my name is Arthur Nkomo. Great Justice sent me out here when we got the news what has happened.”
Cathy blinked a few times, she had expected someone from Space Patrol.
“And these two gentlemen” Arthur continued and looked left and right “are Mr. Juergen Schmidt of Europol and Mr. Ichikawa Zenigata of the Japanese National Police Agency.”
“Good to see you here” Cathy said as she looked over the group. All three of them looked a little bit tired. “I can show you your rooms, we can give you a short summary what happened here on Pan afterwards. And we already brought some parts of the attack weapon to Jenga, I am sure you want to see them.”
Arthur looked at his two associates from Earth.
“I think we will start talking with some of the astronauts who remember the attack. And maybe a few of the catgirls who were in the control room at this time.” Arthur said flatly. “Oh, and we would like to see all the parts of the weapon system tomorrow!”
“I am not sure we will have all parts today” Cathy disagreed, “it might take us a few days to assemble them all.”
Arthur sighed.
“Cathy, can I just talk to you alone for a momen?”
Cathy looked a bit puzzled but led Arthur into a small utility room.
“Cathy, you have been doing work with Great Justice before and you might be pretty happy that everything has been going well since the terror strike... let me just tell you this will not continue for long.”
“What do you mean?” Cathy asked.
“While this joined investigation is great, the pressure is increasing. Just look up ‘Boskonian war, second round’ on the Interwave. And lets not forget that there are already politicians in the EU and Japan who talk about ‘these Fen terrorists’ and ‘protect the peaceful interests of Earth in space’. We are all working on borrowed time.”
Cathy looked unhappy, but did not interrupted Arthur.
“We might have only a few days until we have to show them something... and only a few weeks until this whole thing turns into a major crisis.” Arthur said flatly. “Or war.”
Cathy gulped.
“So please do me a favor and hurry up, we need a look at this weapon system,” Arthur added quietly, “we still have a chance to prevent a disaster.”