Twinks in Space: Destination Unknown - Part One - 18. Chapter 18 - The City

Ratchet and her team of mechanics were able to handle all of the other repairs to the Cometskipper, and it was soon leaving the mining community behind. Once the ship was beyond the atmosphere, Fonith activated the cavitation engine.

She scowled at the screen in front of her. “Only 4.1 light speed? Dammit, there must still be something wrong. At least we’re moving faster.” She pulled up a map of the neighboring galaxies. “All the way over there?” she asked, more to herself than the others.

“What is it?” Lyoth asked.

Fonith pointed at the map. “We’re trying to get to the base that was supposedly built here.” She moved her hand to another galaxy. “But this is where we need to go to fix the engine. I want to take it to the place where I got it installed.” Fonith looked at Stawren. “Your aunt was right; there’s nothing out there. We need to veer way off course just to get my engine repaired.”

“Can it wait until after we help Captain Suoki?” Phentrom asked.

“I don’t like the vulnerability that comes with lack of speed.” Fonith shook her head. “If the ship can’t achieve 10 light speed, at the very minimum, we will be much more easily detectable. When it gets up to 11 light speed and above, the Cometskipper becomes a ghost. I’d feel much more comfortable if the engine was in peak working order before we confront the mutineers on your old ship.

Lyoth nodded. “I agree. I think it’s important for your ship to be at premium functionality.” He took Phentrom’s hand. “We’re not abandoning Captain Suoki; we’re making sure we’re completely prepared before we go after him.”

Fonith altered the Cometskipper’s course, and the ship made its way toward the distant galaxy. The journey took them 22 hours. The system’s sun was a yellow star, and two planets orbited in its habitable zone. Both were colonized and one of them was Fonith’s destination.

“These are the planets Hiana A and Hiana B,” she informed the other three. “We’re headed to B. There’s a sprawling urbanscape that people refer to as the City, and the cavitation specialist mechanic shop is right at its heart. We’ll see if they can get us in today. It’s currently close to noon in the City.” Fonith chuckled and added, “This place is known for its premium cloning facilities. The City can be… a little weird. You’ll see what I mean.”

The Cometskipper came into orbit above Hiana B, and Fonith initiated the descent. She connected a call to the mechanic on the planet’s surface. A woman on the other end answered.

“Tilthon,” Fonith exclaimed, “great to see you again!”

“Hey there, the bounty hunter, right? Did you do something to my cavitation engine?”

Fonith made an apologetic face into the monitor. “Something’s wrong with it. We haven’t been able to get above 4.9 light speed.”

Tilthon gasped. “What happened to my baby? What did you do?”

“Some asteroid marauders needed to get murdered. We got clipped by one of their gravity mines.”

Tilthon scowled. “The gravitational discharges from those things might have caused a major problem to the internal structure of your cavitation engine. Bring it in to me. I suspect it’ll need serious repairs. I’m transmitting you the landing sequence code. See you shortly.”

The call disconnected and several minutes later, the Cometskipper was docked.

“Tilthon,” Fonith greeted the mechanic as she entered the shop, “these are my friends. Friends, this is Tilthon. First, Tilthon,” Fonith continued, “is that pod of food carts still down the street?”

“It is,” Tilthon replied.

Fonith turned to Phentrom, Lyoth, and Stawren. “Head out front and turn left. Only two or maybe three blocks down, there’s a bunch of eating options. I’ll meet you there in a bit.”

They left, and Fonith and Tilthon started going over the ship.

“Godsdammit,” the mechanic scoffed, “they really did a number on the engine. Cavitation engines do not like gravitational waves. Nice of you to kill off those assholes,” she added. “Alright, give me a hand. Help me disengage one of the exterior shielding panels, and let’s see what’s going on inside this thing.”

“We were in a remote sector when we got hit,” Fonith explained, “and I needed to bring the Cometskipper to the nearest repair shop, but they weren’t able to fix it.”

Tilthon climbed inside and looked around at different parts of the interior, “Okay, okay… okay… I can see what the other mechanics were trying to do. We need to dismantle the void chamber in here. The primary rod has a minor fracture, and that the housing unit is misaligned. Dammit, and one of the antigravity pockets isn’t even attached; it’s just dangling. I’m going to call in a couple of my assistants. Why don’t you go have a meal with your friends and check back after? I’ll have more details in an hour or so.” She got right to work.

Fonith walked out into the street, and life in the City was just as boisterous and energetic as the last time she was there. People wandered the neighborhood with their clones. They shopped and ate and partied. Fonith always thought the packs of identical people were amusing, and she enjoyed watching originals interact with their replicas. She liked trying to figure out which one in a group was the original. Fonith did not think anything would ever convince her to clone herself.

Before joining the others, Fonith entered a tavern and booked rooms again for the four of them. A few minutes later, she arrived at the food carts. She saw Stawren, Phentrom, and Lyoth seated at a table. None of them were speaking. They were all staring at the clones.

The largest group of indistinguishable people Fonith spotted was only six, but that meant one of them was an original and the other five were all their clones. Most of the groups were two or three, but there were a few fours and fives as well. Fonith was amused as she watched the trio who were watching everyone else.

“You three aren’t very subtle,” she commented through a snicker. “Have you ordered food?”

“Yes,” Phentrom replied, fixing his eyes on Fonith so as not to stare at the bizarre groups of duplicate people everywhere around him. “What are you going to get?”

“There’s a local dish that’s popular here in the City made from the meat of cave boars. I’m salivating just thinking about it! Be right back.”

A few minutes later, plates of food were in front of each of them.

Phentrom ate a quail curry.

Lyoth had a spit of roast kid.

Stawren enjoyed a bowl full of pasta in a hearty cream sauce topped with sausages sliced into medallions.

Fonith’s dish was filled to the brim with saucy chunks of fatty pork.

All four of them enjoyed their meals very much.

When they finished eating, Fonith informed the others, “Tilthon told me to come back and check on the ship after we ate lunch, so let’s head that direction, and then I’d like to take you three someplace interesting.”

“Sounds fun,” Stawren replied. “Do you think the repairs will take a while?”

Fonith shrugged. “I suspected we would need to stay in the City for the night,” she admitted, “so I got us rooms.”

Back at the service station, Tilthon was feeling positive about the cavitation engine. “We should be able to get this baby back to perfect working order. Once my team and I took it apart, we could see some intricate components that needed replacing. I sent a messenger to the far side of the City where there’s a machining shop. I’m getting a custom replacement rod made for the engine, so it’ll be at least midday tomorrow before I’ll be able to install it. Some of these repairs might take longer, but we hope to have everything tiptop again by the end of tomorrow or partway into the next day.”

“Tilthon, you’re a goddess!” Fonith declared.

The mechanic waved a dismissive hand at her, but she was smiling like she enjoyed the compliment. “Shucks, it’s nothing.”

“I’ll come back and check on the Cometskipper in the morning.”

Tilthon sucked her teeth. “I won’t have the replacement rod until probably noon at the earliest. Might as well wait to swing by until after lunch again.”

Fonith nodded. “Sounds good.” She led Phentrom, Lyoth, and Stawren back out into the street. “Shall we go have a little adventure?”

Lyoth was intrigued. “What have you got in mind?” he asked in reply.

Despite Fonith’s rich olive complexion and the tattoos that stretched up onto her jaw and cheeks, she seemed to blush. “Well, one other thing the City is known for, besides clones, is its pleasure houses.” She brought a hand to the back of her neck in an embarrassed way, and she smiled awkwardly. “Don’t suppose you three want to go watch people dance and take their clothes off, or browse a sextoy shop, or take in a naughty movie?”

Phentrom replied immediately. “I’d love to! I think it sounds like a marvelous idea!” He looked at Lyoth with wide eyes and a beaming smile.

Lyoth chuckled, turned to Stawren, and asked, “Are you into it?”

“Oh, totally!” she answered. “But I wasn’t going to say anything until one of you two replied.” She burst out laughing. “Count me in!”

“This way!” Fonith called out in a singsong voice. “Let’s go to the Periwinkle Pickle!”