Her beautiful long and fluffy tail sailed in front of him through the universal docking adapter rings. Dark by Fallerian standards, the worn grey plastic between the rings was even darker with the metallic smell of space. He smiled up to his ears, goosebumps all over. He was boarding a spaceship, and a magnificent one at that: A Sagan Melorian, the fastest manned ship ever built by humans. And not a lonely one-hand flight, no, at the helm was the most beautiful alien he had ever met. Rerra was strong, tall, elegant, such a good match for the sleek, flowing lines of the cockpit and the raw power of this ship. And such a skilled pilot. Not only had she restored this ship to working order on her own, she even jumped without an AI.

The cat still smiled discreetly, not showing her teeth. He appreciated it, even if he was getting accustomed to it. "Welcome to the White Ocelot."

He went straight for her, putting his arms around her, sinking his face into the short fur and breathing in her scent. "Thanks," he whispered with teary eyes, "thanks for taking me into space. Big cute cat."

The big cute cat started to vibrate deep in her stomach. Her strong big hand stroked his head gently. "Please, you've more than earned it, and I"

"White Ocelot you are cleared for departure in 0050. Please confirm."

He heard her sighing when he let her go.

"Flight control, White Ocetlot confirms." She turned to him. "You wanted to fly."

What a stupid idea. "Not now, we have less than 50. No way that I get her ready until then. I will watch closely."

Instead of an answer, she reached into the small utility belt and took out the inhalator, tiny in her large hands. She placed the mouthpiece in her muzzle and inhaled deeply.

"I'm sorry," he said. He still hadn't quite digested the fact that he was driving her crazy without it. It did not suit her at all.

The cat gestured to the right acceleration couch and took off her clothes.

He was aroused and confused.

The cat, however, quickly lay down and then pulled a white thing over her nether regions. Only when it was fastened did she look up. "Sorry, this is a toilet belt. Either that or a thinsuit. Sagans were never built for passengers or long jumps. And don't worry, it should fit you better than me, it was made for humans."

He undressed and fiddled with his toilet belt while the cat demonstratively went through several checks on the screen to her left, staring straight at the screen the entire time. But her hand was shaking.

"I've buckled it." He pulled up his trousers as high as he could but they could not cover the toilet belt. It looked stupid, but the slow flow of the cold air gave him goosebumps. "And can we turn the temperature up a bit? Not everyone has soft fur."

Only then did she look at him. "Oh, sorry. I had it set to Hopkins default. How much warmer?"

"Five Kelvins more would be great." It was still a far cry from Fallerian, barely above 290. He should have brought his coat. Since his stay in Lalellli's polar hotel he had even a second one. Why hadn't he asked about the temperature? 100 days out of space and he had forgotten the most basic preparations.

"Life support is on the back of the screen. I have it set at 290 K." The cat turned back to the screen and continued the start-up of the ship. The more she worked, the more steadily her hands moved. He enjoyed her concentrated expression, her tongue hanging slightly to the side.

"Jerko, thank you for all." She switched recipients. "Flight control, White Ocelot announced departure."

And then they were gone.

Only now she relaxed and smiled at him. "Yes, show me those fangs, tiger!", he thought while he also smiled. "Yes, in space again!"

"You can have the controls."

That came out of the blue. Hesitantly, he put his hands on the massive control sticks on the armrests and tried to remember which was which. The sticks required a certain amount of force but then reacted to the slightest change, the ship would gear or pitch, as agile as a tiger in the movies, going after her owner. After the first scare, he treated the sticks with respect. But it was fun, he could turn faster than he ever thought possible.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

She was grinning too. "Great response, didn't I tell you?"

"Yes, although I don't think any passenger would appreciate it."

"And sorry to spoil your fun, but we may need the xenon for Hopkins."

"Oh, right." He righted the ship, facing them backwards. The Fallerian III station and the large green Fallerian homeworld behind it filled their cockpit windows as they slowly drifted away.

The ship jerked as he suddenly felt her hand on his leg and he had pulled the stick a little.

"Thank you for your help," she said, "I have not said it often enough. I could not have achieved any of this, never so quickly and never so easily and not for so little."

"No, I have to thank you, big crazy cat partner." He wanted to say so much more. Like she was the best thing that had happened to him. But he couldn't find the right words. Simple would do. "You got me back into space, and that other thing."

"Making love? That's for both of us."

Just mentioning it was distracting enough. Unfortunately, they would spend the next few days strapped to the acceleration couches. He slowly rotated the ship forward as they reached the outer docking zone. Yes, piloting a ship. He hummed a little.

"What's that song?"

"Oh, an old human space anthem, I was told. You don't mind music, then? Pad, play Kasheemes from Kirrtis."

The driving beats of the loud music from the pad were in stark contrast to their slow drift. The cat nodded. "Good choice to get the main engines ready. But for now, use the thrusters for 0.3 g into the departure window. Ok, next we prime the xenon pumps. Central lower screen." She took his hand and led him through the stairs. He had no fur, but the few hairs on his hand all stood up, shutting down his brain. Through the fog, he tried to remember what she was saying. Was the cat's craziness rubbing off? The partner contract meant sharing everything; but that should not include craziness in close proximity. He turned up the music.

After six songs, they were nearing the jump window. They were the only second ship to go to Hopkins since the arrival of Rerra, so there was no other ship around. And the other ship before them was Fanny, the even taller but much more slender cat with the strange spot patterns and more protruding chest and buttocks. An ocelot pattern, Rerra had explained. Which was not white and confused him because their ship's name made even less sense.

"Now prime the second engine," the cat ordered.

He hesitated for a moment, trying to remember what she had shown him just before. Somehow his hand remembered what his brain did not. Now two-thirds of the screen was blue. She just nodded and this time he consciously followed the movement of his hand. Now that he thought about it, it was obvious.

He smiled at her. "Xenon is ready and the main rail is ready. What is next?"

"The coil."

He looked up at the two slitted pupils that had followed his every move. "One coil? No redundancy?"

She shook her head. "Didn't I mention it?"

He wasn't sure, his brain was so soft at the moment. "What screen?"

It was a screen at his side, allowing him to concentrate on something other than the soft, inviting fur of Rerra next to him. He listened carefully and set the values as instructed. Seeing all those labels reminded him of Jerka and what she had taught him about the coils. He recognised the coil's avalanche amplifier control circuits. "If I set this to 50 kAmps and ramp up the voltage, the coil should ignite," he surprised himself when he spoke this aloud.

"Uh, yes, probably. But there is an automatic for that. Here, just set the countdown timer. There, the box at the bottom. But first, we put in the jump solution. Can you do that?"

"Of course, even if I only jumped with an AI, the solution was always done by the pilot and checked by the AI."

But here only another pilot would check it. Or nobody, if she had jumped solo. He shuddered, crazy cat indeed.

"Your solution is a bit slow, only 2.2 g maximum. Well, a relaxed jump on 2 days and 4700. So let's go slow."

"2.2 g is slow?" He swallowed. "Not everyone is such a fit cat superwoman."

Rerra turned her head the other way. Only the ears turned in his direction, but they lay flat on her head. Slowly he began to understand her expression.

"Ok," she said, "let's fire the mains. Say 'Cluster-Klabauter-Cloth' and then the command. There is status, number, power percentages and standy. Try simple commands, this is not an AI."

"Cluster-Klabauter-Cloth, status," he said and another wide engine control screen lit up just below the windows. A low rumble started in the back.

She nodded. "Cut the thrusters now."

He did. They drifted weightlessly.

"Cluster-Klabauter-Cloth, engines 1, 2, 3 all to 10%."

The main engines roared audibly into action, the White Ocelot leapt forward, accelerating steadily at 0.5 g. The thrust of the three engines together was smooth, but the noise! The crackling and slight vibrations only hinted at the fluctuations in thrust, making it very noisy even at this low acceleration.

The cat handed him two patches. "I only have pre-timed patches. So the best match is 2.5 days. You can take them now and I will do the jump as soon as you are out. Where do I put them?"

He looked at her in surprise. "Here, behind my ear. Where cats put them?"

She turned her left ear towards him. "Here, inside the ear lobes. We are not so different. Shall I stick yours?"

"We should have installed a proper dispenser. I usually stick a matching one after the jump. Never tried two together."

"Don't worry, I don't need patches."

He looked at her with wide eyes. "Your cats are so lucky."

"No, just me, a Mod. Courtesy of a Kolani."

"A mod. You know, you are the second woman I have met with such a mod." If he could count Jerka as a mere woman. But Jerka was a Kibanderi, an ancient civilisation, akin to gods. So out of reach, even if they had cuddled.

"You can tell me after the jump, now we have to get ready. So take your patches and I will take over the controls for the jump."

He was not happy about being a helpless passenger. She smiled and reached out with her arm, running it through his hair. "Sweet dreams, little human," she grinned, this time baring her teeth as she applied the first patch.

He started to say something but was out before he opened his mouth.