"Hey, sleepyhead." Jerka tickled his nose.

"What?"

"We'll be ready in 0050."

He was wide awake. "Sorry," he mumbled and hurried through the cabin hatch to the bathroom. And then on to the cockpit.

"Simon, status!"

"Marik, main engine warm-up completed at 1 % in 0012. We are already inside the window, but I recommend jumping in 0034. At Jasper we only have 3000 to the next jump point. Based on the last time, your patch is timed at 98.2 % of the nominal dose."

"Simon, thanks." He took the drug-laced patch from the dispenser. "Simon, I see you have warmed up all the main engines?"

"Marik, regulations for Jasper. But I will only use 1 and 4 this time, that should be enough on this short jump. "

He still had time, so he stuck his head down. "Jerka, all is well. The nominal jump duration is 1+4719. And, uh, cuddling was nice."

She looked out of her cabin hatch with a smile. "You need to work on your delivery, but the compliment is well received. My cabin is open to you anytime. And don't worry about me for the jump."

Well, worry was the wrong word. He was certainly thinking about her a lot. And she made him feel like a hatchling. "Ok, I am back to piloting." Which of course the AI would do in 4D.

He found the most comfortable position in his pilot's seat, tightened the 4D-save belts and waited for the countdown to end.

The space folded, his hand placed the patch on his cheek and darkness shut out the 4D chaos.

* * *

"Hello, Marik?"

"Hmm, what?" Someone tipped his nose again. "Jerka!" He looked around. The main drives were on. "Simon, status."

"Marik, we entered real space 0002 ago and are on point. The main engines are still ramping down. I have set a flight path with 0.05 g, which gives us 3156 to the next jump point."

"Simon, thank you."

"Marik, there are friendly AI at the jump points. I have submitted our flight path to their system. This means that we can only change it in an emergency or if we announce it beforehand. I am afraid, no sudden changes of acceleration in this system."

"Simon, I understand, it is fine."

"Marik, the AI is very accommodating, I think we can still change it whenever we need to. We just have to register first."

He grinned. "Simon, thanks. Have fun talking to the AIs then."

Jerka was still next to him in the cockpit. He unbuckled his belts, which took a few moments and rubbed his hands to get the circulation going. "Just go ahead."

She hopped down the hatch without a word, vertically, like a cardboard cutout disappearing into a stage floor. He followed with a rougher, bouncing performance down the ladder, his joints still stiff with the rest of the drugs circulating through his system.

She caught him before he hit the opposite wall. "Please, get your pad. Can you get an external feed?"

"I haven't even synced it with Simon yet. Why not use yours? Seems better than mine."

"You forgot? I'm not here?"

"But Simon, I mean, you hacked all the logs, and ..."

She shook her head. "No, but no worries, I'll explain later. Please ask Simon."

"Simon, I would like you to interface with my pad."

"Marik, I can try. Put it in search mode."

He went into his cabin and retrieved his pad. "Simon, search mode is on."

"Marik, give me the ID numbers you see."

"Simon, 42442756."

"Marik, thank you. It seems your pad uses octal notation. I can interface."

"Simon, do you have a live feed?"

"Marik, yes, there is a live feed from the system. Quite busy. May I suggest you view it in the 3D simulation chamber? There are controllers. But if you request it, I can also route it to your pad."

They had a 3D sim chamber? "Simon, where is the 3D sim?"

"Marik, next to the galley."

They both quickly sailed down through the galley and there was indeed a small door leading into a dark room, little more than a walk-in cupboard. He was happy, now the route plotting would be so much easier. But before he went in, he had to go to another chamber to relieve himself after the jump.

Jerka had the 3D started already when he finally entered. He could barely see her in the pitch-black room.

"Come in and close the hatch." She pulled him beside her and when the hatch closed there was absolute darkness. Until a star lit up in the distance. The view changed. "Here is the only planet, a gas giant." She must be right behind him, her breath moved the hairs on his neck which raised and caused goosebumps. He had trouble concentrating. But then the view changed. "Jasper is the eleventh moon of this very large gas planet." The view zoomed in on a planet, a gas giant with colourful circulating cloud bands and a debris ring. And then the view changed to a place far outside of the ring, to a small moon. "There, Jasper, 1.1 standard size." Well, not so small then. A line circled around the gas giant, indicating the orbit. "It has a highly inclined orbit, far beyond the debris field of the ring. Hence, almost no seasons, only a two-week eclipse every 34 years that causes global freezing. Otherwise, mild at all times, and spectacular night skies with the gas giant." She zoomed in on the blue planet. "Deep ocean everywhere, except for a few scattered volcanic islands. And that line is the space lift, a tower-like structure reaching out into space."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then she zoomed out far again and changed the view mode. The empty space was now filled with red clouds. "This is the shipping activity. Each red dot is a ship with its keep-off radius, according to its propulsion system and speed."

He was in awe. Fallerian was always busy, but here were more ships than he had ever seen in any system. "Can you show me a native?"

The view changed. A furry creature appeared in front of them. "Here is a Tulag." The Tulag reached to his shoulders, but otherwise, their build was not so different, some kind of arms below a head and legs, no visible tail. "They had made lungs for themselves when they went into space. They all still have gills. They are closer in origin to what humans would classify as fish, no hard bones, scales that end in hairs, no stable body temperature."

The explanation did nothing for him, neither familiar with fish nor bones or any of the other things mentioned.

"Can you show me our route through the system?"

The view rotated again, zooming to an outer region. There were only three other red dots following a dotted tangent and a fourth, their ship, was flashing orange. However, many more ships were heading inwards from the jump windows.

"And that jump window over there?"

The view zoomed in on the thickest red strand and expanded. Dotted cubes appeared, marking the borders of the jump zones. A steady stream of ships flickered in and out. This single jump window saw ten times more traffic in a day than Cobasian saw in a year. "Wow. How they avoid collisions?” His stomach growled.

The 3D view disappeared and the light returned, revealing the small black-painted utilitarian room. "Sorry, yes, you need to eat, we're going to jump again soon. I'm afraid we'll need some of your food this time."

Back in the galley, he opened the first drawer and took out a box. "What about Krataz?"

"The crunchy insects? Well, I doubt you have gotten the real thing. Give me the box!" Indeed, she pointed: "Here, 'better than the real thing', I told you."

“I had no time and no money”, he defended himself. Well, how could he know? It was all in Cobasian cuniform.

“Don’t worry, Cobasian Krataz is not too bad. Just very different from what you know, I guess. Let’s find a matching side dish.”

They quickly sorted through the food. Jerka recommended the toast, which was more like a cake. And some Gimlich sauce. He would not have combined them without her suggestion, but it was tasty and filling. However, the crunching of the fried insects made conversation impossible while they ate.

Jerka finished first again and began to clean up and prepare a Kwas tea, using her own spices. To her dismay, she had to use dried Kranta powder again, 'better than the real thing'. Which it was clearly not. She put up a show, probably inadvertently. She stood on one leg, holding the kettle in her leg hand, and the spoon and Kranta powder in her arm hands.

He swallowed the last of the insects. "Jerka, uh, do you think it would be possible to get a mod like your foot hands?"

She did not turn around, handling the Kranta powder and stirring at low g's was challenging enough. "Yes, of course. But it is not so easy at the moment. Fifty years ago, the purebred human movement started to gain traction on most human worlds. Mods are now banned almost everywhere in human space by one or another genetic purity clause."

"Fifty years?"

She carefully placed the kettle on the table until the magnets held, stowed the powder away and sat down. "Come, have some tea with me. I'll explain."

She waited until his low g lidded mug was safely filled. "You see, I was not born human. My whole body is a mod. But I like humans. Very tough, can stand a wide range of temperatures, agile and smart enough, mostly."

"So you are not a human?"

"No, you misunderstood. This body is human. Mostly. But that does not matter, does it?"

"No, sorry, it doesn't." Had he offended her?

"Ha," she smiled, "you are far too easy. Don't worry, I know you have your heart in the right place. I told you this body had some mods. How old am I, what do you think?"

He blushed. "Maybe 20 or 25."

She blushed too. "Thanks, nice. But it rather shows that you have not lived much among humans. Anyway, I am much older. Well, after the next jump, there will be a two-day break in real space for the vector change, there will be plenty of time for more stories." She emptied her tea. "Now you should take a shower, lie down for a bit and then get ready for the next jump."

"Simon, when is the next jump?"

"Marik, 2241."

"Simon, thank you." He yawned, suddenly tired again. "You woke me up very quickly."

"Here, drink your Kwas tea, it helps with detoxification."

It was a good Kwas tea despite using the ‘better than real’ Kranta powder. Eye-wateringly spicy, but mild in the throat. "Jerka, thank you, this is great."

"I'm not a computer that needs a name to know when to listen," she reminded him but smiled nevertheless.

"Sorry." He yawned again, despite the tea. "I'd rather sleep and then shower. But you can come and snuggle if you're cold." He emptied the cup and then floated to his cabin.

She smiled and followed.

* * *

Jerka woke him by blowing in his ear and whispering: "0214 to go. Another frozen dessert is waiting for you after the shower."

He could get used to waking up like this. "Jerka, hmm, you really spoil me."

"You have no idea", she grinned, "Ok, I will wait in my cabin and you can take your shower." And off she sailed.

He took a little longer to wake up, got a change of clothes and went to the shower. Which was not much fun in low g as he had to wear the breathing mask. He hurried, not least because he was looking forward to the sweets.

"Jerka, I am ready!" he called out, his wet hair still stuck to his head.

She left her cabin in a somersault and took two more iced cups from their small galley freezer. He wondered for a moment where she had kept them if she had brought them with her own freezer. But then the taste was all that mattered, fruity and sour, with a flat breadstick and a warm fruity sauce.

"Great, what is this?"

"It is called 'Hot Love' the berries only grow in a small area on a planet far from here. Berries are small fruits", she added, "Have you actually been on a planet’s surface?"

He froze for a moment and sighed. She seemed to know all the areas where he lacked experience. "Five times on Fallerian. Once on a world called Xat'ten. But ground trips are expensive."

She nodded.

"But I would like to see some of those berries."

Her smile turned into a grin. "Well, let’s see what time brings."

"Marik, 0150 to jump."

"Simon, I will go up at 0100."

Another spoonful was slowly dissolving in his mouth. He felt so happy right now. He was flying, and not just with an AI, but with a super nice, generous, wise, almost human companion. He blushed as he thought of more adjectives. He was eating the best food of his life. And on a nice ship, passing through one of the oldest civilisations in this sector, if not the galaxy. He would never have expected this when he exited the shabby office on Cobasian.

He carefully scraped the cup as clean as he could, not wanting to waste anything.

"That was really delicious. Next time I'll pay you to cook."

She waved her hand. "You do all the work around here. I am just a bored passenger." Her smile did not look very bored though.

He quickly washed his cup, put it in the 0 g dryer, "Thank you again," and fled to the cockpit.

"Take it slow," she called after him.

He sat down and waited a few moments. He was not sure what he felt. But he had to put it aside, a long jump was coming up, 88 pc, almost their limit. He went through the whole checklist, nothing important was outside the margins, except for one coil that was reaching 40 %, the low safety margin. There was nothing he could do for that coil and they still had a total of 232 %. He had jumped with lower margins, way lower even. And the overheating main engine power distributor. But so far, it had not been much of a problem. And this time they would cycle through the main engines which would also reduce the load on the distributor. Everything was as good as it could be. One last visit to the toilet and he was ready too.

"Marik, greetings from Jasper Control. They wish us a good jump. We are scheduled to leave at 0010." The jump warning came on at the same time.

"Simon, thank you, give me the patch."

He had the patch ready and waited for the space to fold at the end of the jump warning. The space folded, although it was a bit rough. His hand with the patch missed.