The few repairs were quickly done. Not because of his awesome skills, he just ran out of spare parts.
"Simon," he sighed, "what does the reading say?"
"Marik, this second distributor switch seems to be fully working again."
"Yeah, redundancy for the stove," he mumbled. "Simon, we need to leave at 8800. Please call the delivery guys again and then ask for a departure permit or whatever is needed here."
"Marik, yes, will do that."
"Simon, I saw a shower in the back. How is the status?"
"Marik, fully operational."
He almost grinned. It would not have been the first ship without a shower. The last one had none, but then it had been a single jump only. For the long journey ahead, a shower was good news. He got some clean clothes from his bag and went for the shower. A shower while there was 1.2 g gravity and some time, yes, no way he would skip this. It took a moment to get the unfamiliar controls to do what he wanted but then he stood under the warm water for 0040 until the tank was empty. A quick glance at the reverse osmosis unit confirmed that a daily shower would be possible. Yes, jackpot!
"Simon, are you human made?"
"Marik, sorry, I was installed after completion. According to the certificates, no, the ship’s frame came from KRxAL. But this shipyard delivers to humans too."
"Simon, thanks."
Now, showered and with clean clothes, he was ready to start the journey. Even with a passenger, although he wondered when Jerka would come aboard. If she was coming at all. And no way to contact her, they had not exchanged pad addresses.
Well, the deliveries would not arrive until 8000. So, he ruffled the blankets and sheets to something comfortable and slept, to be fresh for the departure and the first jump.
* * *
"Knock, Knock?"
It took a few seconds until he was awake. "Jerka!"
She stood in his open hatch. And she had totally changed her look, wore green jeans, ripped off above her knee, and a cropped black t-shirt that almost showed her navel, with a large cut-out at the shoulders, so one could see her thin bra straps. A finger-sized golden cylinder was on a chain around her neck. He had not much experience with humans (and less with women) but it looked rather like she was on her way to clubbing than to an interstellar jump trip.
"Like what you see?" She smiled.
He suddenly felt like he was the prey. "Well, nice, er, outfit, but, er, how on earth did you enter the ship?"
She waved his question away. "I travel seldom with a human. That calls for some celebration."
That was more information than his half-awake brain could handle. He slowly got out of the bed alcove and stretched. "Let's show you the ship. Last chance to stay back. Simon, I mean the AI thinks it is 0.06% per jump for resting in limbo."
She giggled again. "Then let's dance limbo. No seriously, you're flying, and so will I. Can I take the cabin across?"
"Be my guest." As if he had any say in it.
He still sat on his bed, leg dangling, and reprocessing the conversation. He did not get far, the AI chimed.
"Marik, it is 8000. Oh, you are already awake. The deliveries are waiting at the airlock."
"I'll get them!" shouted Jerka and was off to the airlock.
He wondered if ships were that easy to hack or how else Jerka had found entry. Anyway, she was here and there was their departure to prepare for. And he seriously needed some clothes, he was still only in his briefs.
"Simon, how is the departure clearance?"
"Marik, we are cleared for 8800 as scheduled. The fusion reactors are cold, the containment superconducting coils are ready. We have from 8500 to start the fusion reactors with station power, which should be more than enough. After 0500, we would reach the first jump zone. I have done a preliminary optimisation and decided on Ross 334231, an uninhabited brown dwarf star without planets or clouds."
"Simon, I will come to the cockpit to see the route."
He simply slipped on a pair of black training pants over his briefs and a dark blue slouchy hoodie, comfortable attire for a jump. Even if he wanted to match Jerka's clubbing outfit, none of his clothing items came even close. Well, since he had set off from Fallerian almost two years ago, he had been going to non-human systems only. Nobody there cared about his age or what he was wearing. Probably not even if he was clothed beyond bare basics. And no exposure to human fashion: He had just bought whatever was there when he outgrew some clothes.
The ten steps of the ladder to the cockpit did not give time for more musings. The largest screen (again, no working 3D here) showed a rotating animation of the suggested route, four jumps across the galaxy, even through the outer core of the galaxy. He did not look at the transit systems in detail. No, the entire route was too much, he had never been jumping that close to the core, and none of his mentors had either. Anyway, that was not pressing. With the accumulating errors, an empty system was the best destination for the first long jump. And there was only one system in the general direction, which the AI had selected.
"Simon, can we reach this one, Ross 335271?"
"Marik, no, Ross 335271 is just out of reach." Well, that confirmed it.
"Simon, then I confirm the route for the first jump. And let's register your route to the flight control for now."
"Marik, done. The airlock has cycled and the spare parts and food have been delivered and booked from your wallet."
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"Simon, thank you. Now take the wallet offline. And when was the airlock cycled before?"
"Marik, when you entered."
"Simon, and after that?"
"Marik, just now. Station energy is ready. Can we start the fusion reactors?" He felt like the AI wanted to distract him from the question. Had Jerka hacked the logs too?
"Marik, please confirm the reactor start?"
"Simon, yes."
Every time he witnessed a fusion core coming up, he felt like the lights and screen were dimming. Which was of course nonsense, the consumption of the lights would have no impact on the gigawatt pulses needed to ignite the plasma fusion. Still, the waiting bar filled half the screen, with the indicators plotted left and right of the growing bar. It felt like a tiny, tiny whomp, when the indicator changed to positive power balance and the bar turned green, first for core 1 and soon for core 2. They were good to go, on the first try and with 0100 to spare. Time to clean up his cabin and store the new provisions in the galley and the new spare parts in the small workshop. "Simon, where is Jerka?"
"Simon, there is no one on board but you."
"Simon, did the airlock cycle again?"
"Marik, no. Only once since your arrival."
"Simon, from now on a new standard procedure: before important manoeuvres a PA to all spaces on the ship."
"Marik. ok."
"Simon, now PA, dedocking in 0050, prepare for weightless and then low g."
He really should add Jerka to the manifest. He did not feel well doing things illegally.
The announcement played.
* * *
His room was secured, and Jerka had clamped her bag too in the wall-net inside her cabin. But she was not there. He trusted her that she had secured the spare parts and provisions. Instead, he rushed back to the cockpit. "Simon, ok, starting dedocking sequence. Hello, Cobasian II control, here is freighter 0834-sdf on the pre-registered flight to Ribbentoa for 8800 departure."
"Yes, ok." The station was not answering following any protocols at all. "Freighter 0824-sdf, go."
At the same moment, a jerk, a flicker, and weightlessness, all indicating that the station had opened the clamps without any warnings or checks. Even his stomach lurched with the unexpected change in gravity. And even though it was only 8724. The normal procedure should be a warning, then closing all hatches, then dedocking. Now they slowly drifted away. "Simon, 0.05 g rolling and then accelerating in the same g-vector as before. Are all hatches closed and sealed."
"Marik, confirm, all sealed. We can still follow the calculated path. Orientation for acceleration as in docking position. I am warming up the main engines. I would suggest only three for this long jump to avoid problems with overheating the distributors."
"Simon, yes, proceed."
If the AI said so. Overheating power distributors, great. He quickly flipped through the few still working internal cameras. No Jerka, but then half of the ship was not covered. She would have surely noticed the departure.
He stood up slowly to not bump into the ceiling: 0.05 g was nearly weightless, just enough to drift to the ground and allow to shuffle around carefully.
"Jerka, you are ok?", he shouted down the cockpit ladder.
Her face appeared moments later. "Yes, fine, I can hear you well. Luckily all were stored before that premature departure. You also voted for some dark fashion, nice." He blushed which made her smile. "So can I see the route?"
He nodded dumbstruck.
She jumped up, ignoring the ladder in the low g and landed elegantly. Apparently, no stranger to low g. In the low gravity, her green hair flowed around her head like kelp. But her eyes were on the display while his eyes were glued on her. "Show me."
"Simon, display route please."
"Can you enable gesture?"
He gulped. "Should be on." He had a hard time focusing on the display.
"What is our jump range?"
"Short of 100 pc according to spec."
"Hmm." She quickly zoomed in and out, zooming in and out of systems near the core of which he had never ever heard from. Looking at her, the time seemed to accelerate. The display flickered from the in and out zooming and was reflected off her face and green hair.
"The route is solid for four jumps. But I suggest to rather do five. You see here the third jump, there out of the core. This one especially arrives at a challenging destination: A ternary system and gravity might be very different depending on the arrival phase. And the three stars are all nearly aligned in jump direction, which would require too much precision for such a long haul, at 92 pc. I would not push the specs that far into the journey. But if making it five jumps, then why not go a little further out around the core? First jump is the same and then Jasper. Don't worry, transits are free there and then three comfortable ones, here, here and here."
It looked very convincing, and not too close to the core either. "Jasper?" The world was marked orange. Somehow, he felt like he should remember that name. But honestly, he had trouble remembering his name right now.
"Jasper, homeworld of the Tulag, the only water dwellers who made it to space and are still active. They even have a space lift. One of the wonders of the galaxy."
Oh, those! Of course, he had heard of them, but he had no idea that he could transit there on his route. "Wow, Jerka."
"Marik, we need to get to the final vector and switch navigation and to run up the main engines for the jump."
Out of reflex, he looked at the computer key. "Simon, yes, ready. Give me the 0010 mark then. And two patches, each for the full length plus 0200. One for me and one for a human female, slightly taller. And we will follow this route. Give the new flight plan to Cobasian, if they care at all about our flight plan."
"Marik, you can take the patches. The top one is yours. All preparations are go."
He took out the two drug laced plasters out, careful to keep their order. "Ok, we are ready to jump," he trailed off because Jerka had left already.
Now the slow acceleration had vanished and with it the illusion of up and down. The ship swayed sidewards for a moment, turning onto the new vector and getting the mains ready. Using the pause, he floated down.
“Attention, prepare for mains”, came the warning and the mains kicked in. Not with force but they were slowly building up acceleration. He walked over to Jerka's cabin, where she lay on the bunk.
"You are ready to jump?"
She grinned. "Are you?"
"I mean, here is your patch. It should knock you out for just the time of the jump." He held up the drug patch that he had Simon make for her.
"Don't worry about me. See you later."
"Er, no patch?"
"No, luckily my eyes close in 4D. See." She winked and a second set of lids closed from the side. Was she really human? Not that it would change anything. "Great I wish"
"The main engines are going down for the coil ignition," interrupted Simon, doing the PA as he had ordered before their departure.
"Yes," he said lamely, left her cabin still confused and in awe, and climbed up the ladder. 0011 left. He did a short last check, the coils were ready, reactor 2 was up at jump power too and all the other main systems were green as well, apart from the fourth main engine, which was offline by choice.
"Simon, for the jump, ramp down the main engines to zero thrust and only ramp them up if the coils are ignited evenly else abort."
"Marik yes. I recommend sticking the patch now."
"Simon, no I will do it as soon as we are off. I can do this blindly, even in 4D. So I would be ready if there is trouble."
"Marik, I understand. 0010 mark now." A countdown from 10.00 down appeared on the main display and the standardized jump warning sounded through the ship. Its rhythm accelerated as the countdown approached zero. Then the room folded out, really hard to describe, always fascinating and frightening. Almost familiar thanks to the delayed patch. A nice trick he learned from his last mentor. Well, the patch after ignition was well known but only a few dared it. Some were still saying that one goes crazy in 4D. But that was not true, he once had to jump without, when he had missed. It was torture since waves damped differently, and the noises and light accumulated in the 4D shock cone. Closing his eyes was useless, the light shone around through the nose channel maybe. During that jump, it had become noisier and brighter until he thought he would be rattled to pieces and evaporated by the light. But he had no lasting physical damage from that.
However, this time all went well. With the well-trained movement, he put the patch on his cheek, even in 4D. If he had watched it in a mirror, he would not be able to do it with all those wrong angles in 4D. Almost immediately, his brain was knocked out, 4D safe.