Maybell had Bobcat position his Queen Anne bathtub in the center of the room just so. As she soaked, a table to her right held an on-the-rocks glass actually made of real glass, with enough Kentucky bourbon in it to make her sigh. The glass also held enough whiskey made out of seaweed so that every time Maybell took a snort, she sank into her bath until her nose was beneath the bubbles, to get the cut's salty scent out of her nostrils.
Maybell fretted over how living on Mu-Beta-Prime made her stink like a skunk, as Gavin too often reminded her. Perhaps it was from eating bull-rex meat all the time, or a bad combination of her genetics and the microbes in the sun-scorched dust. Either way, she despaired as her bathwater turned gray, and its daylily scent turned more to that of her crotch and armpits. She wondered what kind of sex trick she might have to turn in order to get Bobcat to scrub the water later, and give it another shot of bubbles.
It wasn't much fun thinking about Bobcat and his freaky perversions, so Maybell turned her thoughts to Gavin. At least he was all man, which Bobcat most definitely was not.
Maybell tilted her head up so that her mouth surfaced on the water. She fumbled at the table for a bowl of fruit sitting next to the bourbon. A soft peach the size of a baseball sat there with several bites already from it. After taking another, she held it high in the air, letting its juice run down her arm. Also in the bowl were four strawberries, whose size told Maybell how much Gavin liked her. She imagined what the sex with him tomorrow was going to be like. Sex with real men—and real women—was always so sweet.
"They're like eating peaches and cream!" Maybell said out loud to amuse herself, laughing before taking a congratulatory sip of bourbon.
The tub was pointed towards a corner of the room that had two large windows, one on either wall. The saloon below had a high ceiling, so the view from upstairs was panoramic, given that few other buildings on Mu-Beta-Prime were any taller. Because of this, it was easy to see dust roiling the landscape when something huge descended from outer space.
Maybell's view was also in the direction of the town's only reservoir, and she could think of just one jackass who would sully the water supply by dropping in from space this way. Her suspicions were confirmed when her telecomm link buzzed.
Maybell sank her mouth and nose into the fading bubbles of her bath. "Answer," she burbled.
"Quit drinking and screwing, and get your ass up here!"
"Hello to you, too, Sara Jane," Maybell burbled into her bubbles.
"What? What did you say? Get that cock out of your mouth so I can hear you."
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Maybell rose from her tub to speak clearly. "Fuck you, Sara Jane."
"There! I heard that! Fuck you to you, too, Maybell!"
"Stop yelling. I can hear you through the window."
Sara Jane whinnied on a laugh.
"Oh God," Maybell moaned. "You didn't get another gene job, did you?"
"Yeah, Baby! Genetics is the way to go!"
"Uh-huh," Maybell burbled, her mouth under water again. "Straight to hell."
"Finish blowing that guy and get out here. Come see my new ship!"
"I'm not blowing anyone, you horse ass. I'm blowing bubbles."
"Come again, Bitch?"
Maybell laughed at Sara Jane's double entendre. No matter how much equine DNA her former partner had implanted in her genes, the way Sara Jane talked always gave Maybell the giggles.
Or made her horny as hell. "I not coming for you at all," Maybell shot back, sounding terse. "I'm taking a bubble bath."
Sara Jane whinnied on mirth. "Ooh! Washing the stink off ya, hey?"
"I'm trying."
"Good! Living dirt-side has left you with a foul funk. You should go back to spacing!"
Maybell smiled. "With a horse ass like you?"
"Yeah, Baby! Spacin's the way to go!"
Maybell took a big bite from her peach and spat the pit in the tub. "I think all the horse junk in you has soaked through to your brain," she said as she chewed.
"You sure you're not eating someone out down there? You sound like your mouth is full, or something."
"Fuck you, Sara Jane," Maybell said again, this time into her peach while taking another bite.
"Listen, Bell, we could exchange lovelies on the link all day, or you could come up and see me."
"What's the job, Girl?"
"That's more like it! Got a gunner with a bounty on him, fresh off the fax."
"A gunner? No thanks."
"Ah, he only gunned down a cigarette mule."
"A mule? Not a merchant?"
"Nope. He stole what some other rube stole first. A whole butt load of grits."
Cigarettes were worth more than creds on the frontiers of space. Of all the things cut, faked or downright lied about, cigarettes were one of the few things that were one-hundred percent real.
"So, we get some, too?" Maybell asked. "We get the bounty and the grits?"
"Well, who knows? The first guy probably stole'em from some other guy, for all we know. Anyway, whatever. A few packs out of every hundred ain't gonna be missed, Baby."
If Maybell had some cigarettes to trade, she could stop screwing Bobcat for bathwater, at least for a while. Still, she pondered, sinking into her bubbles.
"I dunno, Girl. Why should I board your boat?"
"Good God, Bell. Can't you see me?"
"I'm in a tub."
"Well get out of it and take a look out the window!"
"No. I'm eating fruit. And drinking bourbon. And you're killing my whole buzz."
"Come on, Baby! Just come to the window so you can see my ship."
"No. Go away."
The roar outside grew deafening. So much dust flew around the little town Maybell called home that some of it seeped through the cracks to her room. To keep from smelling the stink of Mu-Beta-Prime, she sank her nose further into her bath.
Then she sat up as straight as she could. Right outside her window was a glistening white, brand new airship. Built as much for show as it was for function, it scarcely had a single micro-meteor ding in it. It shone bright with tons of decorative trim, all set against Mu-Beta-Prime's blue sky. As its turbulent wake filled the town's reservoir with dirt, dust and sand, this time it was a good thing Sara Jane often spoke loud.
----------------------------------------
[https://t00.deviantart.net/LTMI5ox12OiE_o2xqIw0IDKUmzc=/fit-in/700x350/filters:fixed_height(100,100):origin()/pre04/8c30/th/pre/i/2005/333/0/6/desert_airship_by_silversword9.jpg]
----------------------------------------
"Can you see me now, Bitch?"