The Neko's Tail - 4. Faster than the Speed of Light

Artemis let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

“When you’re finished with your soumada come speak with me. We have a lot to discuss, you and I,” he smiled.

Standing, the tiger left the kitchen and sat at the pilot chair. He pointed the ship away from the planet below and switched seats, sitting at a computer in the cockpit. Artemis began typing rapidly on a holographic keyboard, listening to the hum of the ship as it reacted to his touch. The portal was powering up, preparing to jump them into the other universe.

Spinning his seat to the right, Artemis powered up his light drive, slowly increasing the throttle of the ship until it approached the speed of light.

The tiger walked around the ship, ensuring every view port was closed. There would be nothing to see outside when they hit light speed, and already, just fifteen minutes into speeding up, the stars outside were dimming as the ship caught up to the light they emitted.

Locking the door to the landing bay, the tiger ran into Elias as he reentered the cockpit.

“Do you need me to do anything?” the neko asked.

“Not this time. This is your first jump, and I want you to enjoy it,” Artemis said. “The next time we jump, you can help out.”

Striding to the computers, the tiger sat down and typed in the command to create a portal. The computer whirred and the air around them seemed to thicken. Heat enveloped the ship, and Elias hissed in pain as his hand brushed against one of the walls.

“This is the worst part of every jump, getting the portal created. Once we’re through, the ship will cool down gradually.”

Artemis increased the speed of the ship just slightly, and the heat increased with their speed, nearly roasting the two. Suddenly the computer whirred down and fell silent once more.

The heat slowly dissapated, though it left both Elias and Artemis glistening with sweat.

“Welcome to a new universe,” Artemis grinned.

Elias stared at him, his eyes widening.

“It’s a parallel dimension, though not everything is the same. There’s a risk coming through the portals that you’ll run into a body, but the risk is astronomically low.”

Artemis turned to the other computer, bringing their speed down to normal space. Checking the radar, he found that thy were around a light minute from the sun, an M class star of some heat.

“Perfect,” he smiled with satisfaction. “We’ll refuel and I’ll get us going on our way. It will take us about an hour to fuel up. Not to be a perv, but you might want to remove your shirt for this,” he added. “We need to get rather close to the star to scoop.”

The tiger turned back to his work, aiming the ship toward the star. Increasing their speed to a quarter light speed, he waited about twenty seconds before shutting the throttle down.

The ship coasted to a stop, heating up again. Artemis flipped a switch, and Elias heard a thunk from somewhere in the bowels of the ship.

“Fuel scoop,” Artemis explained. “We have to get the hydrogen somehow.”

The neko looked more confused than before, and Artemis had to remind himself that the translator didn’t always have the words needed to explain certain procedures. That would change when they reached the port.

Elias entered the cabin and removed the shirt Artemis had given him. He lay in the bed, careful not to touch the walls.

It was done, his choice made. There was no going back now, just as there was no taking back that shot that had sliced the woman in half.

The neko shuddered, squeezing his eyes tight against the images his brain seemed intent on forcing him to see. His sister was safe, with Danuva. She would be in safe hands, caring hands. Artemis was right, the human had freed him. He would do the same for Naia.

Sweat ran in streams down Elias’ body. He felt hotter than he ever had during the hottest summer at home- no, on his old planet. If this was a common occurrence on the ship, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have been better off back on the planet.

The neko rolled so he was facing the wall, the heat of the metal radiating over his face. He liked basking in the sun as much as the next cat, but this was ridiculous. He couldn’t sleep like this.

The door opened behind him, and he heard Artemis say, “If you want to take a shower you’ll be first up after we leave the… zone.”

The door closed again and Elias groaned, rolling onto his back. This had to be the punishment for everything he'd done wrong in his life.

The computer beeped, signalling a safe route was plotted to their destination, some 42 light years distant. A second beep followed quickly, and Artemis flipped the switch to recall the fuel scoop. Fuel days were the worst, but fortunately, they only occurred around once a week when at cruising speed.

He turned the nose of the ship away from the star and pushed the throttle up just slightly. It would take a while to get away from the heat of the sun, and then another hour to reach their max speed, but they were on their way already. He hoped Elias would be happy with his choice.

An image of the neko’s backside leapt into his mind and the tiger sighed. He did not need any lustful thoughts complicating things with the cat right now. Elias barely trusted him as it was.

But his ass was so perfect, curvy in all the right ways and still slender.

“Enough…” Artemis growled, standing.

He paced the cockpit, trying to force the errant thoughts back down. With limited success.

Feeling the heat of the star lessen, the tiger returned to his seat and increased the speed of the ship. Turning until the ship was facing the path the computer had made, Artemis continued adding speed, hitting light speed and then passing it.

This was the entire reason for travelling into an entirely different universe. Here light speed didn’t increase the mass of the ship or take any extra energy. Here they could surpass light speed and not have to worry about whether the people on either side of the journey would be dead long before they got there. It made everything much simpler to be able to treat light speed as just another stepping stone like the speed of sound for atmosphere bound craft.

Artemis let the autopilot take over. He wouldn’t have to touch the controls for almost two days, save for an emergency. It was rare that he travelled these distances in one leap; usually, he would find a new system and spend around a month mapping everything it the system before moving on to the next star.

The tiger walked silently into the kitchen and set about making a meal for himself. Elias seemed like he needed some sleep and Artemis could understand that. He’d had an exhausting day today. When the neko decided to leave the cabin Artemis would explain things to him.

For now, he pulled out his tablet and worked on his travel log while he ate, documenting meeting the neko and Elias’ two-week long probation. He omitted the whole laser thing. No one needed to hear about that.

They would make a stop at the port and then Artemis planned to take Elias to his home planet for some R&R for both of them. There he would get the neko tested and possibly put him in a piloting school if the neko decided he was interested. He hoped he would.

Elias stretched out on the bed, purring quietly. He felt rested, well rested. It was a sensation he still wasn’t used to, even after two weeks on board the ship.

Pulling his shirt on, the neko passed through the door into the hall. His stomach growling, he turned toward the cockpit to ask Artemis about breakfast.

The door to the bathroom opened and the neko heard water falling in the shower. He glanced over and froze.

Artemis stood in the shower, his ears folded down over his head. Elias stared at the tiger’s body, running his eyes down the pilot’s muscled back and swishing tail with honey coloured tip.

Tearing his eyes away from the tiger’s naked body, Elias stumbled toward the cockpit, horrified to find his body reacting to the sight. This was wrong. A slave shouldn’t look at his master-

“Stop it,” he hissed.

He wasn’t a slave. He was not a slave. The neko kept repeating the words in his mind, hoping they’d stick.

Elias glanced around the cockpit, looking for something, anything to occupy his mind while Artemis finished bathing. To his dismay, there was nothing he could find. He couldn’t even look outside. Artemis had blocked off all the windows.

The door to the cockpit hissed open and the neko turned, coming face to face with the tiger. The still naked tiger.

“Oh. You are awake,” Artemis said, shocked.

Elias fought the downwards drift of his gaze, a losing battle, but Artemis suddenly realised the situation and hurried back to the cabin to grab some clothes.

When he returned, the tiger motioned for Elias to sit in a chair.

“So, I have been thinking about your situation. You are a stranger thrust into a strange land, so to speak. You could really use some help,” the tiger said. “The thing is I could also use help. Exploring for the IEFL is dull work most of the time, and I could use a friend to keep me company for the long haul. So what I propose is a partnership. I am willing to put up some credits to help you get started, learning as much as you can about exploring the galaxy before our next journey into the unknown.”

Elias blinked, his mind still stuck on the tiger’s body. He shook his head, trying to clear it.

“You do not want to?” Artemis asked in surprise.

“No, sorry, my mind was on… something else,” Elias apologised.

“Oh. Would you like to be partners?”

The neko’s eyes widened.

“What kind of partners?” he asked almost fearfully.

“Business partners. I can get you into a good school, and you can learn a lot about flying to different stars.”

Relieved, Elias nodded. He could do that.

“We’ll each get half shares from turning in exploration..., grants from the Fleet, and any mining we do. It will take a few months to set everything up though. In the meantime, I will help you pay for schooling and housing, and you can pay me back any time.”

Elias’ stomach grumbled loudly, and the tiger chuckled.

“First thing’s first though. Let’s get you some food. Then it’s my turn to use the bed.”