Blue Horizon, PA1138

Captain's Journal

We have had smooth sailing since we left Kantus, unless you can count some of the crew having some kind of flu-like symptoms. Our cargo hold contains four panel trucks loaded down with books from Book Depot to be delivered to their location in Iverson, Alexandrius. I might have to consider hauling our cargo like this more often. It didn't save us any time loading up the ship, since we had to manually inspect the shipment for possible tampering from our unknown enemy, but the subsequent time to reverse the process once we reach our destination will be greatly reduced.

This was a replacement customer for Brandersen Electronics, who cancelled our contract to give their business to the Savannah Hunter - which I have since learned has been renamed the Bamboo Wind by the ship's new owner, Jiawen Chon. There has been no further word on this guy's operations, and in view of what happened at the home office, I am suspicious of him. Likewise, we have heard nothing more from Armando, so perhaps he’s out of our fur for good.

Cindy hired two security guards for the home office, one for the evening shift and one for the early morning times. One is a wolf named Bob Robinson and the other is Stuart Sloan, a mastiff who prefers to go by his nickname, Stu. Both are ex-military and come with references that the SPF was good enough to check into for us. On board the Hidalgo Sun, Patch has already built a Moss unit based on Pockets' designs. Cindy contracted out a local shop to build a Moss unit for the home office, but they have not yet received it. Although there are already flobots standard on board exploration ships like those in the Firebird Fleet, I think Pockets is planning to apply for a patent for Moss and then submit the plans for the unit to the Okami Corporation.

Our lawyer’s already leaning hard on Brandersen for the breach in contract, and despite that Brandersen has been a repeat customer over the years, I hope Mr. Wyatt burns the guy's biscuits for his arrogance. Still, this whole mess has me rethinking the business a bit. Blue Horizon Freight Transfer has done well since we expanded our reach, but I realize that in such hard economical times our prices might be a little steep. I have instructed the home office that when dealing with a customer that is hesitant with our prices to offer a lower rate by ©2,000. If the customer is still hedging, she has my authorization to work with them ©2,000 at a time, though limited down to a ©6,000 discount, in an attempt to secure their business. Hopefully she won't have to drop our fee that far, but if that's what it takes to keep our customers, it may have to be done.

Keri has also informed me that most of our promotional advertising contacts seem to have difficulty with our long business name, so I considered a name change for the business and asked my employees for possible suggestions. Of those I've heard so far, the general consensus is to just shorten the name to something like Horizon Freight, dropping the words "blue" and "transfer". I’ve had a few other suggestions, in addition to a few thoughts of my own, but as yet I've not settled on anything else. I’ve made no guarantees that I will change the business name, but I am still open for their ideas. Even if the business title changes, the name of the ship itself will remain Blue Horizon.

There’s been no word from Clarence Duffy since he returned to his home on Fyn, and Tanis is concerned about his friend and the continuing Roppa War. The Oe'Tanata forces are still pounding Nalirra with unpredictable strike patterns, and it's clear that Sed Amittias is in way too deep. Still, the dictator hasn’t called on any of the other PA worlds for assistance, other than medical aid. Unfortunately, it's apparent that the Tanatans are far better equipped for this war, despite their own losses. They have the upper hand in this conflict and haven’t backed down. Only time can tell how much longer Nalirra's government can hold out.

Merlin Sinclair, Captain

"WaChoo!"

Max looked up from the spanner he was calibrating with a small tool. "Bless you," he said for the tenth time. Pockets blew his nose on a handkerchief he produced from his coveralls, and then rubbed his eyes with his other hand. He sniffled and then looked over at the trainee mechanic.

"D'ank you," he said through a stuffy nose, which he again blew into his handkerchief. "Ugh."

"You aren't looking very well," Max said to him. Pockets nodded in agreement, and then returned his attention to the monitor on his workbench. "Why don't you go lie down for a while," the youth suggested, "or go see Tanis?"

The raccoon shook his head with a sniffle. "Mahss reporded a probleb wit the ladding gear mechadism lass night," he said with clogged sinuses. "Id looks serious, Magx."

"What’s wrong?"

Pockets pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his nose again. "The speudraulig eggstender is leaging fluid from the bood gasgedt. If the gasgedt idsn't reblaced before we get to Aleggsandrius, we won'd be able to eggstend the ladding gear."

It took Max a moment to work out what Pockets had said, but he thought he understood. "We have to replace the boot gasket in the spadraulic extender in the landing gear before we get to Alexandrius?" he asked.

Pockets nodded and blew his nose again. "Id's not an easy job," he gasped. "Id'll take bo' of us worgin in crambed guarters to ged the ohd one out, and a harder timb puddin' the dnew one bagk in."

“Do you think Armando damaged it when you sent him in to grease the gears?”

“Poz’bly, bud I don’ thig he coud ged in ta where ids at.” WAchoo!

"Bless you. We still have a few days before we land," Max said, worried for his friend. "You should have time for a few hours of rest, anyway."

Pockets shook his head and just waved him off. "I'll redst lader," he said. Max frowned dubiously. The chief engineer was not breathing well and his eyelids were half closed as if the dim light in the room was painful to his eyes. Max went back to his calibration and just shook his head in concern.

Leo Durant trudged out of his quarters in a dark green bathrobe over his shorts and a tee shirt, feeling as if his head was going to fall off his shoulders to bounce along the corridor. He had been awake most of his regular sleeping period with a stuffy head, and the sinus drainage had given him a sore throat. He felt miserable, and while he usually resisted taking medication, he knew he would only find relief in the Infirmary.

As luck would have it, Tanis was in the room studying a terminal screen on notable medical universities. He looked up when Durant noisily blew his nose into a paper tissue. He frowned and shook his head at the sight of the load master.

He tsked at the bear and motioned toward the single bed in the middle of the room. "Have a seat, m'friend," he said. "I wondered how long it would be before ya shuffled into my sick bay."

Durant glared at him through bloodshot eyes and just nodded in reply, his throat too sore to speak. Tanis opened a clear jar on a nearby counter and pulled out a simple wooden tongue depressor. He pulled a penlight from the pocket of his white smock and then held the flat stick up to Duran's nose.

"Open wide," he said. The bear did as he was told, but felt like he was going to gag when the medic pressed down on his tongue. Tanis peered into the grizzly's throat with his light and frowned to himself. He released the bear and stepped back. "Ya have a lot of drainage," he said. "How's the head?"

Durant swallowed hard and then replied as gently as he could, "Stobbed ub. Feels lighg idz gonna 'splode."

Tanis nodded in reply and then disappeared into a back room. When he emerged a few moments later, he held two bottles out toward the accountant with one hand. The other hand was resting inside the pocket of his white lab coat. One of the bottles contained several large blue pills and the other held a vile-looking, green liquid. Durant took them reluctantly.

"Swallow a tablespoon of the syrup every four hours," Tanis instructed. "That will help relieve the soreness caused by yer drainage. If ya take one of the pills every twelve hours with some food, that should help relieve the pressure in yer sinuses." Durant nodded his head and immediately regretted the motion.

"Whut 'ave I got?"

"Considering where ya picked it up, I would wager ya have the Waxflatter flu virus. It's a native viral infection of the region of Kantus we just visited. It's not too nasty, but bad enough to make most folk fairly miserable. It doesn't take much exposure in cold weather to catch it."

Durant looked at him through tired eyes. "I thod we were vaccinaded from all dose thigs for Kandus…"

"Well, I suppose that's one that didn't get into the normal inoculations," Tanis admitted. "I may have to immunize almost everyone on board for it. Would ya like some immediate relief?" Durant nodded again. Tanis waggled his eyebrows and then pulled his other hand from the pocket of his smock. It held a capped syringe. Durant instinctively backed away. Tanis smiled and pulled the cap from the thin needle. "Turn around and show me yer full moon," he ordered.

"Uh uh…" Durant gasped. "No needles, blease…"

"Listen, I know ya really don't like needles, but if ya want to get better, yer going to have to listen to yer doctor and take yer medicine properly."

The bear growled lowly, but knew the medic was right. He turned around, dropped his shorts to the floor, and pulled aside his robe. He leaned up against the bed, rolled his eyes to the ceiling, and waited for the expected sharp sting; it came a heartbeat later.

"Ow!" he gasped through a stuffy head. Tanis daubed the needle mark in the bear's right buttock with a cotton-swab daubed in an amber liquid, and then ejected the syringe into a bin marked with a triple-bladed biohazard symbol.

"I hade thadt! I wish you still hab thadt bressure-hybo," Durant gasped. "It didn'd hurd as mudch."

"Sorry, but it doesn't work right anymore," Tanis replied. "Instead of a nice little snik, it now grabs the skin and won't let go. I just haven't gotten around to replacing it as yet."

"Jusd by kine of luck…" the bear muttered.

"Now," the desert fox commanded, "I would recommend getting something in yer stomach and then taking yer pills before going back to bed for rest."

"Danis," the bear said as he pulled his shorts back up to their proper place, "I gan't go back to bed. I hab worg to do."

"Not today, ya don't," Tanis said with authority. "To bed with ya. Rest and medicine is what is going to make ya better, not more work."

Suddenly Durant felt extremely tired, and after a moment, nodded his acceptance. "First food," Tanis reminded him, "then back to bed with ya."

"Right," the bear replied. He gathered his robe around himself with what dignity he could muster and then left the Infirmary.

Tanis frowned to himself. This would get around the crew and probably distress everyone but the canines, since Waxflatter did not have much effect on them as a species.

Lorelei stared mutely at the grizzly bear sitting at the galley table as he quietly sipped the hot tomato soup she had made for him. The load master looked absolutely miserable, but the Horizon's cook was not much more animated than he was. Unlike Durant, she was breathing fine, but she ached all over and felt lethargic. She was not quite her normal bubbly self, but the grizzly had not even noticed when he had come in to ask her for something to eat before his medicine.

Even in her current state, she still worried after her co-workers. She had offered to replace his blue pills with an herbal paste she kept in her quarters for sinus infections, but he waved her off, telling her that Tanis had already given him a shot. All he wanted was something to eat that would not aggravate his sore throat. Normally, she would have berated him for going to Tanis for drugs before coming to her first for a natural remedy, but at the moment, she did not feel like bothering with it. She had fixed his soup without argument and then quietly cleaned up her pan and utensils, all the while feeling weak.

Lorelei checked with Durant to make sure he did not need anything else, and once she was satisfied that he would not require her any further, she took the lift down to retreat to her cabin. A nice herbal tea should help perk me up, she thought to herself.

When Taro stepped off the lift onto the recreation deck in green shorts and a tan halter top, she was pleased to find the room vacant, though Moss floated quietly over the galley stove monitoring its diminishing heat. She had not seen Durant shuffle off the lift several moments before she got into it herself, but thought it had an odd medicinal smell, like cough syrup.

She moved to the forward curved wall of the room and hummed quietly to herself as she tapped out a few commands on the computer terminal. The room was suddenly filled with active music and she began to sway her hips with the steady beat. In perfect time with the music of veteran star Dahlia Neko, Taro tapped out a few more commands and then glanced back at Moss. The small saucer-shaped unit suddenly sunk from sight and she could hear it bang against a countertop.

"Meoroow!" Moss squawked as it compensated for the sudden gravity increase. It reappeared over the galley counter, reoriented itself, and then flew directly at her at a high rate of speed. The fox thought it was going to ram her, but it swerved around her and then stopped above the computer console, its whisker antennae rotating in agitation. "Meow. Me-meow…"

Taro suddenly felt lighter as the gravity plates returned to ship-normal. She slammed a hand down on the counter and felt it give a little. "Moss!" she said in a voice raised above the din of the music, "I want the Rec Room's gravity to match Hestra!"

The small unit rotated on its axis until it stared at her with its two sensor lenses. "Meow?" The offset, upper lens changed from green to blue.

"Put it back where I had it!" Taro commanded. Without further hesitation, Moss raised the gravity of the rec deck to the level where the first officer had originally set it, and then made its own internal compensations. Then it moved away from her toward the back of the room.

Satisfied that she had her music and gravity where she wanted it, Taro moved to the exercise equipment on one side of the room. She loaded up the barbells with a set of weights on both sides that would have normally bested Renny at ship-normal gravity. She then slid beneath the crossbar with her feet planted firmly on the floor. The Hestran fox lifted the barbell up off the rack with some effort, and then began to press the set in time with the music.

Ten minutes had passed when the lift door opened and Taro heard curses above her music. She set down the dumbbells she had just started working out with and looked toward the door. Merlin was sprawled out on the floor, struggling in vain to stand up, and gasping for breath. Taro ran to the computer terminal to reset the room's gravity and shut off the music. She began to feel lighter as she rushed over to the captain.

She helped him roll over and sit up. He looked up at her with a puzzled expression, and then ran his fingers through the fur on top of his head, looking for his hat. Taro picked it up off the floor and handed it to him.

"What happened?" he asked her as he sat back against the closed lift doors.

"Sorry about that," Taro replied. "I had the gravity set higher so I could get in some exercise."

Merlin looked at her and shook his head. "You had it set for Hestra, didn't you?" he growled.

"That's right," she admitted. "I don't get a good workout if it's set to ship-normal. If I don't exercise periodically, my muscles might start to atrophy again," she explained as she helped him stand up. "It took me a while during my convalescence to get re-acclimated to Hestran gravity since it had been years since I'd last been there. I've tried to get in an exercise session like this at least once a week since I've been back, but I usually try to do it while everyone's on their sleep period."

Merlin felt a twinge in his left ankle when he stood up. He had crumpled on top of his foot as soon as he stepped out of the lower gravity of the lift. "Ouch," he yipped. He massaged it and looked up at his first officer with a weary expression.

"I came up to get a late-night snack," he said as he limped toward the galley. The vixen followed him to the table and he waved casually back toward the lift. "Do us all a favor, Taro… Next time you want to do something like this, hang a note inside the lift so the rest of us mere mortals will know we might break a leg if we step out into the room without an endosuit."

Taro looked embarrassed. "Sorry about that, Merlin. I'll make sure there's a note next time."

"Thanks," the wolf replied. "As penance for crippling me, you can make me something to eat." Taro grinned and nodded. She moved into the kitchen and Merlin picked up a remote off the table. He aimed it at the dark vidscreen at the fore end of the room and switched it on. The channel was set on a cooking frequency, indicating that Lorelei had probably been the last one to use it. He tapped in the channel for INN and sat back to wait for his food.

Popular news anchor Holly Harken was on the screen, dressed totally in denim, with her dark hair pulled back into a stylish ponytail. Apparently, it was a dress-down day at her studio. Merlin turned up the volume and listened to the human woman as she covered the maiden launch of the first of five new vessels whose mission would be to explore the areas of space beyond the perimeter of the Planetary Alignment worlds. He listened idly for several moments, but then perked up when someone off-camera handed her a sheet of paper.

"Pardon me for this interruption in our profile of the Firebird Fleet, but INN has just received information concerning the Roppa War between neighboring planets Nalirra and Oe'Tanata. Ever since this conflict started a month ago, it has been unclear to observers what started this bloody campaign. Earlier today, an anonymous source within the Sardis Citadel in the region of Braf has revealed that Sed Amittias initiated the kidnapping of the Tanatan Emperor's youngest daughter, using hired feline pirates from Brandt. Our source tells us that Amittias intended to use the three-year-old child as leverage in his mounting campaign against the Tanatans, but the kidnapping backfired upon the Nalirran dictator and he is now on the run as his world is suffering the massive retaliation by the superior Tanatan forces.

"INN was able to get this information out of Nalirra only because our source reports that Sed Amittias has taken the child and has fled into an underground labyrinth somewhere beneath the desert region of Kardon, leaving the remaining government officials to deal with the Tanatan onslaught."

The intercom beeped in the Blue Horizon's Infirmary and Tanis chose not to look up from his work. He had just started cutting into the material of Renny's cast and frowned at the interruption. The cheetah looked at him in concern, but Tanis shook his head very gently to let him know his arm was in no danger from a distraction. He increased the speed of the tiny circular blade that began to separate the cast material. Renny held his breath, but it was not an easy thing to do with running sinuses. The apprehension of the cutter digging into him outweighed the dripping from his nose, so he tried to quell the urge to wipe his nose with the handkerchief he held in his free hand.

A moment later, the door to the Infirmary swished open and Merlin limped inside. "Tanis," he said. "We just –"

"Don't distract him…" Renny hissed at the captain. Merlin stopped just inside the door and saw what the medic was doing. The news could wait a bit longer.

After several agonizing moments, Tanis shut off the cutter and then pried the cast away from Renny's wrist. At once, the cheetah began scratching at the sweat-matted fur that had finally been exposed to fresh air. He chirped unconsciously as he rolled his eyes in paroxysms of long denied relief.

"Careful!" Tanis scolded him, "or ya'll scratch all the fur off yer arm!"

"Oh, but it feels so good…" Renny purred.

Tanis just smiled and shook his head as he tossed the remnants of the cast into a waste receptacle. He looked over at the wolf and immediately noted how the captain favored his ankle. "What happened to ya?" he asked.

Merlin lifted up his foot and grimaced. "Taro had the Rec Room gravity turned up so she could exercise," he explained. "I collapsed as soon as I got off the lift."

"Ouch," Renny said in sympathy. "That happened to me last week."

"I ordered her to put a note in the lift next time she does it," Merlin said.

"That why yer here?" Tanis asked.

The wolf shook his head. "No, we just caught an INN report about Nalirra," he said. Tanis and Renny listened in rapt attention as Merlin related the details of the news spot. When he finished, Tanis spat out a string of curses in his native language. The words were meaningless to Renny, but Merlin winced with understanding.

"I knew Amittias was ambitious," the desert fox said at last, "but I didn't think he was insane!"

"I don't understand," Renny said as he rubbed his freed arm. "Why would anyone do something that crazy? Surely he would have scoped out the military strength of Oe'Tanata before doing something like this. He had to know the Tanatans would clean his clock. He and those poor Nalirrans are not holding up very well against them."

Tanis let out a deep breath and then nodded. "Right," he said in a clipped tone. He looked up at the cheetah and then gestured toward the arm that was now free of its cast. "Try not to task yer arm too much for the next week," he said in a professional manner, "unless ya just like visiting my Infirmary."

Renny rubbed his arm again unconsciously and then shook his head. "That's incentive enough," he said appreciatively. "Thanks."

Without another word or a glance to the captain, Renny walked out of the room. When he was gone, Merlin studied the fox. "How are you feeling about this situation?" he asked.

"Feelin' what I can, and a few things I shouldn't," came the reply. "To be totally honest, with the critters fighting against my own people, it's hard to talk with Renny sometimes."

"Is it because he's feline?"

"Yeah," Tanis sighed. "I know it's wrong and he's not responsible for it, but…"

"You're angry, frustrated, and he shares enough qualities with the bad guys to make a convenient target."

Tanis grumbled, "Yes."

"Renny is your friend, Tanis." Merlin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I appreciate and admire that you're strong enough to put your professionalism before these issues."

Tanis managed a wan smile. "Thanks, boss."

"Now," he said, "how about taking a gander at my ankle?"

Pockets aimed his flashlight torch down into the maintenance access tunnel and frowned. The light was mounted to an elastic strap fitted over his head and provided an illuminating brilliance from a tiny bulb powered by a sliver of rare Siilv. Max wore an identical lamp and followed the raccoon into the small passageway. He was larger than the chief engineer and would have a harder time negotiating the tight quarters, but knew his help would be needed. Unlike Pockets, he did not wear coveralls every waking minute while on board, but while working on the ship like they were today, he had donned a pair of light blue coveralls with equally as many pockets as the raccoon's garment.

While seemingly ready to do his work, the engineer appeared lethargic and did not look at all well. Max had tried again to convince Pockets to take a bit of a rest before tackling a job of this enormity, but the engineer was adamant about taking a physical look at the leakage in the landing gear extenders before doing anything else. Once done, then they could plot out their course of action to begin the repairs.

Max readjusted the rubber kneepads he wore and then followed Pockets on his hands and knees into the access tunnel. He could hear the raccoon gasping for breath and sniffling, but resolved not to say anything more. Pockets was starting to get cranky every time he brought up his health.

They crawled along for several minutes before they came to a cross-junction in the passage. Pockets consulted numbers stenciled onto the ceiling that denoted internal grid locations, and grunted in satisfaction. He turned to the left and started down another tunnel. Two minutes later, Pockets stopped, his head hanging low between his arms.

"What do you see?" Max asked. He could not tell what the engineer examined

"I'b seein' spods in frond of my eyes," Pockets replied weakly, "and I feel lige I'b gonna throw ub…"

Max looked alarmed. This was no place to be getting sick. "Let's go back," he suggested. To his surprise, he saw Pockets' light bob up and down in agreement, and then the raccoon began to back up. Max had no choice but to back up the crawlway before him. When they reached the junction in the passage, Max backed up further to allow Pockets to turn around so he could crawl out forwards.

Pockets stopped at the junction to get his bearings and Max pointed in the correct direction. The raccoon looked up wearily at the canine and swallowed hard. "Mags," he said, "I'b goin' to see Tanis. See if you cand assess the damage on your own. Maybe by the time I'b get back, we can get started."

Max had no delusions that Tanis would actually allow Pockets to go back to work, but he thought he had learned enough from the chief engineer to examine the landing gear on his own. He had studied the layout diagram along with Pockets, and he knew what to look for.

"Go ahead, Pockets," he said. "Go take care of yourself. I'll take care of looking things over down here."

Pockets nodded and felt another wave of nausea come over him. "Guud boy," he muttered. He began trudging along the tunnel back to the engine room. Max watched him go for a moment, to make sure his friend could indeed crawl back on his own, and then nodded to himself.

He pointed his lamp back up the direction they had been traveling and then started on his way.

Samantha rubbed her eyes and then shook her head to clear the cobwebs from her brain. It had been her turn for bridge watch and she had occupied her time by doing file maintenance on the ship's VIP computer system. Voshnesinski Information System computers were generally considered to be among the best throughout the Planetary Alignment and required little maintenance, but there were times when the computer tech in her just had to tweak the system here and there.

She had installed a provided firmware upgrade to the Geo-25 system during their last voyage and everything seemed to be functioning more efficiently. What she did during this particular downtime consisted of nothing more than locating and backing up old personal files that she and other members of the crew no longer needed in certain places within the memory. She had just completed tagging over seven hundred individual files and the process for backup had been initiated. Now all she had to do was sit back and relax for a while.

The Border collie stood up from the terminal she had pored over and stretched in satisfaction. She leaned forward on the engineering station and peered out the windows at the stars. Just off-center was a yellow star of a brighter magnitude than the others around it were. That would be Centaurus, the primary star of Alexandrius, Fyn and Hestra. Slightly to the left was a bluish-green smudge in space, the Van Conner Nebula, a constant source of irritation to freighters due to pirates. However, the Spatial Police Force had been patrolling the region on a regular basis for the past few months, and reports of trouble in that area had been greatly reduced, practically eliminated.

Samantha put her finger up to the forward glass and placed it over the top of Centaurus. She then traced out an imaginary design with other lights to form a star picture. From this position in space, it was not a real constellation she drew, but she was bored and had a good imagination.

There was a chirp from the console to her right, so the canine moved to the Com terminal and tapped out several buttons. "This is the SS Blue Horizon," she broadcast. "What can we do for you?"

"Samantha?" asked a familiar voice.

The collie smiled. "Hello! Yes, Cindy, it's me. How are things? We lose another customer?"

"No, Sam, nothing like that," the mouse replied with a chuckle. "I don't always call when there's trouble… We have another job, but I wanted to ask Merlin about it before I make the assignment."

"Is it a big delivery, or a problem with the customer?"

"The delivery is sizeable, but neither that nor the customer is the problem. There's no problem with this one. I just wanted Merlin's advice."

"Okay, I'll get him for you." Samantha touched the intercom controls and waited for the response.

"This is the captain," said the wolf's voice a moment later.

"Cindy's on the line, Merlin," she told him. "She needs to pick your brain about a customer."

"Alright, Sam, pipe it down here."

The Border collie rerouted the call, but decided to listen in to see what was on the mouse's mind.

"Hi, Cindy, this is Merlin. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Boss," the mouse replied. "I received a delivery request from Aris Grand a little while ago. They need a shipment of expensive textiles delivered there from Alexandrius. I know both the Blue Horizon and the Hidalgo Sun will be on Alexandrius within a few days of one another, but Captain Kegawa will be there before you will. In fact, he should be landing in a few hours."

"Okay, so what is the dilemma?"

"Well, I know you're pretty chummy with the royalty on Tanthe and thought you might like the Horizon to take the job, rather than Hidalgo."

"No," Merlin said without hesitation. "If the remainder of his schedule can handle the job, have Rezo make the delivery."

"There's no problem moving his schedule around," Cindy replied in a disappointed voice. "But your schedule is also flexible at this time."

"No, give it to the Hidalgo Sun."

"But, I thought—?"

"No, give it to the Hidalgo Sun," he said again.

"I was sure you would want—"

Merlin cleared his throat. "Do I have to repeat myself again?"

"No sir. I'll make the arrangements with Captain Kegawa."

"Anything else?"

"No sir, that was all."

"Good night, then. I'm going back to bed."

"G'night, sir."

When both sides closed their connections, Samantha reset the controls on the Com terminal with a frown. She would have loved to visit Tanthe again, but did not understand Merlin's adamant refusal to return to the capitol city. Merlin had been extremely quiet about his last visit to see the royal family and the longer he went without telling anyone about what happened there, the more concerned she grew. There were rumors among the crew that he had a relationship with the Princess, but he would neither confirm nor deny the crew's teasing about it. If asked about it directly, he would either change the subject or just act as if he had not heard the question.

Samantha sat down in the center seat and rested her chin on the back of her right hand. Why would he want to avoid Tanthe? she thought to herself. There was something Merlin was not telling them, and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to know.

By the time Pockets had made his way back to the engine room, dropped his lamp and tool belt, and shuffled to the elevator lift closest to him, he was so weak that he could barely stand up. He had thrown up once in the small lavatory in the engine room, although he knew without a doubt that there was more in him that could easily follow.

The chief engineer rode the lift up to the crew deck and trudged out into the corridor. He saw no one, but did not care. His quarters were nearby and the queasiness had increased. Rather than attempting to make it around the curve of the deck to the Infirmary, he decided to make a quick dash to his cabin instead.

A moment later, Pockets was hanging over the toilet and throwing up hard. He gasped for air and felt another surge well up inside him. He felt extremely hot and yearned for a cool towel for his forehead. His middle knotted up and he felt his head spin as his stomach turned itself inside out yet again.

Ten minutes later, he clung to the side of the metal bowl and pressed his brow against its cool surface. He was weak, light-headed, and wanted nothing more than to lie down and die. Yes, that sounded like an excellent idea – to be released from his misery. He opened his eyes and looked around slowly. There was a discarded towel lying on the floor nearby and he reached out to grab it. He used it to wipe the residue from his mouth and then set it aside.

Pockets crawled on his hands and knees. He passed the little workbench where he often spent his free time tinkering with some new tool invention, but paid it no mind. He was in no frame of existence to play now.

When he reached the side of the bed, he managed to pull himself up and onto its soft mattress without bothering to get out of his tool-laden coveralls. He pulled back the covers and then allowed himself to plop facedown onto the cool sheets.

Now I can die, he thought to himself.

Maximillian hauled himself out of the open access panel in the floor of the engine room and removed his headlamp and kneepads. He had just surveyed the damaged boot gasket that surrounded a section of the spadraulic extenders for the landing gear and it did not take a chief engineer to recognize a cracked rubber covering leaking fluid. He had checked all four of the extender arms and it was the only one leaking.

Pockets had said that changing out the rubber boot would be quite involved, especially having to do it in flight with the massive landing gear folded up inside tight recesses in the belly of the ship. The job would have been fairly easy with the Horizon on a landing pad where they could have the gear extended out away from the ship. The young canine did not believe that Pockets would be back anytime soon, so now he had to figure out what to do until the engineer did get back; it might be a number of hours, or even days, from the way the raccoon had looked.

Max decided to study the ship's tech manuals on the landing gear. Perhaps by the time Pockets returned, the mechanic would have a better understanding of the job they would have to do. He took his time and put away his gear, and a few moments later he was reading titles on the large, bound volumes of the Tech Manual library closet in Pockets' office. All the information was in the ship's computer already, but Max wanted to be able to put the manual out on the desk and read through it at his leisure. Max had always preferred reading from a printed page rather than from a monitor screen.

The German shepherd smiled when he found the correct tome and pulled it off the shelf. The volume was heavy, thick with stain-resistant paper, but he managed to get it over to the desk with a little effort. He looked up when he heard a humming noise and nodded to himself when a small flying saucer floated into the room.

"Meow!"

"Hello, Moss," he said with a smile. The mobile sentry unit alternated different colors on its upper secondary sensor lens and then went about its business to monitor gauges and other settings throughout the engine room. Max watched it lazily for a moment and then returned his attention to the manual. Before long, memories of the things that Pockets had taught him about the ship came back to him as he studied the book.

The young canine sat back after a few minutes and smiled to himself. He felt he had learned more about the Blue Horizon in the past year under Pockets' tutelage than he had learned about anything in all the previous years he had been alive. He hungered to learn new things and seemed to have a good retention for details. He shook his head in wonder and then returned once more to the large book.

"Tanis," Merlin asked as he limped into the Infirmary, "have you found out what's going on with our crew?"

The desert fox set down the notepad that he had been using to inventory the medications in the cabinet and looked over at the captain. Merlin sat on the closest stool he could find and began to massage his sore ankle.

"It's not quite an epidemic, but there is something going around," the medic answered. "It's nothing really to worry about, in my opinion. It's just the Waxflatter flu virus."

"Waxflatter?"

"It's not serious, but bad enough to make those who get it feel awful." Tanis jumped up on a bed and put his hands in his lap. "We maintain a constant climate on board the Blue Horizon," he explained. "When we landed on Kantus and had to inspect the cargo outside before loading it on the ship out in the middle of the winter, most of the crew was not insulated with much more than their own fur and regular clothing. The Waxflatter virus thrives in those conditions, but it is local to the region where we landed. More than likely, the Waxflatter virus is prolific but more benign in cold weather. The warmth of the Blue Horizon probably made it very active, multiply rapidly, and cause the illness. Of course, we have a limited and recycled air supply on the ship, so I'm not surprised there are several on board who aren't feeling well. I took a small blood sample from Durant to test for it and he came up positive."

Merlin looked thoughtful. It had been a while since they had had to move cargo in wintry conditions. Their deliveries always seemed to coincide with a region on each planet with fairly decent weather, but this time they had had to operate in freezing temperatures. A few of the thinner-furred members like Renny had complained about it at the time, but otherwise did their job as normal. The wolf was probably better suited for the cold than the others on board, but even he did not have his winter undercoat.

"So, who's healthy and who's not?" he asked.

Tanis looked upward in thought and then scratched one of his huge, wing-like ears. "Renny and Durant have come to me for medicine," he replied. "I tried to make them both go rest, but I think Durant's back down in his office going over the books some more."

"Yeah, that sounds like him," Merlin commented. "Who else?"

"Lori wasn't acting like her usual bubbly self, so I would bet she's got it too. But, ya know her… she'd rather meditate, peer into a crystal or tea leaves, or toss bones to make herself feel better before she'd come to me for vile and evil drugs." Merlin chuckled and nodded. Tanis thought some more and said, "Samantha told me earlier that she was feeling a little stuffy, but otherwise was okay. She took some sinus medicine and seems to be okay for now." He looked at the wolf and added, "I've heard ya sniffling, too."

"Just a little. What about the others?"

"Well, I talked with Taro a little while ago and so far she's been unaffected by this. I haven't talked with Max or Pockets, so I can't give ya a status on their health at the moment. I think they're down in the bowels of the ship working on important repairs, and I didn't feel like crawling through grid supports to stick a thermometer in their ears."

"What about yourself?" Merlin asked. "After being in direct contact with sick folk, I don't imagine you are immune."

Tanis smiled. "Actually, I'm in good health," he answered. "I'd already taken some preventive medicine prior to landing on Kantus, so I think I'll make it through this okay."

Merlin nodded and then reached for a tissue on the counter next to him. He blew his nose and then sniffed again. "What have you got to keep me on my feet too?" he asked with a smile. "It seems like most of my crew could be down during this flight, and I don't want to be out of order, myself. What did you give Renny and Durant?"

"I gave a fairly mild antiviral and sinus decongestant to Renny, and an antihistamine and cough suppressant to Durant."

"What do you think I need?" Merlin asked with another sniffle. "If I can beat this before it gets worse, I should be okay."

"I would prescribe a simple antihistamine for ya."

"Okay, I'll take it."

Tanis grinned and hopped down off the bed. "Alright, that can be done. I'll need ya to show me a full moon." He walked to the back room to get his medicine and Merlin looked oddly in his direction.

"What was that?" he asked.

Tanis returned to the front room and uncapped the fresh needle atop his syringe. "Drop yer drawers and moon me," he said with a wink. "I need a bare hip for this…"

Merlin swallowed. He was not afraid of needles, but he was not fond of them either. Feeling quite hesitant, he turned around and unbuckled his trousers.

Durant blinked in rapid succession and then rubbed his eyes for the twentieth time. He was trying to locate a subtle discrepancy in the accounts that was nagging on him, but he found that concentrating on columns of numbers while his head was pounding was not making him very productive.

He picked up a handkerchief from the desk beside his ledger and blew his nose. He winced and closed his eyes. The pressure in his head had returned and his nose was raw from all the blowing. He set the handkerchief down and picked up his pencil to resume his work.

As he glanced down at the numerical columns, he had to blink several times to get the numbers to stay in focus. Durant coughed suddenly and felt his head balloon again.

"Forgedd dis," he muttered to himself. "I'b goin' bagg to bed…"

The grizzly closed his ledger and stood up, only to feel the room move beneath his feet. He steadied himself against the wall and knew that if he were going to stay dizzy and eventually topple to the ground, it may as well be in his cabin and over his bed before he dropped.

Although unsteadily on his feet, Durant left his cargo deck office and headed for the lift.

Just missing Durant, Merlin took the lift down to the cargo deck. The wolf stepped out near the engine room and wrinkled his nose at the familiar smell of grease and oil. He walked over to the door to the engineer's office and poked his nose in through the opening.

"Hello?" he asked.

"I'm back here, Uncle Merlin," said a voice from the rear cubicle. Merlin moved around the boxes of tools and spare parts that Pockets always seemed to have on the floor and then saw Maximillian dressed in light blue coveralls, sitting at the raccoon's desk with several large volumes of engineering schematics and drawings spread out across the tabletop.

"Did you get assigned some homework?" Merlin asked with a chuckle.

Max looked up at him with a wide grin. "No, I get plenty of that from Samantha," he replied. He waved a hand over the open books and said, "I'm doing my own research on the problem with our landing gear. I think I might be able to repair it myself, but wanted to make sure before I got started on it."

"By yourself?" the wolf asked as he rested on a corner of the desk. "Where's Pockets? I would think he'd be right in the middle of it himself. That's the kind of stuff he lives for."

The German shepherd nodded. "He wanted to be in the thick of it," he agreed, "but he hasn't been feeling well and went to go see Tanis."

"That's odd," Merlin said as he glanced up at several pin-up calendars on the walls, displaying scantily-clan females of different species who were surrounded by tools. "I just talked with Tanis and he hasn't seen Pockets at all. He thought you two were buried under the deck plates somewhere."

Max grinned again. "I've been under there three times today already," he said, "but Pockets left me to research the problem. I've not heard from him since."

The captain nodded. "I think I'll go looking for our missing engineer," he said with a frown. "If he didn't make it to the Infirmary, he's probably in his quarters." He looked over the drawing layouts and gestured to them. "Do you understand all that?" he asked. Merlin was no stranger to working on ship systems, but sometimes engineering schematics were a little beyond his comprehension.

"Most of it," Max admitted. "What I don't understand, I've been cross-referencing with the other books we have here."

"Wouldn't it be faster using the computer? I think he has all that information already loaded into the VIP system."

"He does, but I wanted to spread everything out where I can see it better and take notes."

"Well, good luck, Max. I'd assign someone else to help you work on the problem, but it seems most everyone else is out sick, and I've got to help Samantha prepare meals for everyone."

The canine youth looked puzzled. "Everybody's sick?" he asked. "Is that what Tanis calls an epi… epidermic… uh?"

"Epidemic," Merlin corrected. "He doesn't think so, but he's giving everyone inoculations for it anyway. He'll probably be down to give you a dose later."

"Pills or needles?"

"Needle, I'm afraid," Merlin replied as he rubbed his hip.

Max made a face. "Ugh… I'd rather take a pill…"

"You and me both. How are you feeling?"

Max shrugged his shoulders. "I feel fine. I don't have any of the stuff that Pockets had, that's for sure. I'm getting hungry, though."

"That's good," Merlin replied as he slipped back off the desk corner. "Lori's down with it, too, so Sam and I are making everyone's meals today. You can join us in about an hour, if you can hold off that long."

"I think I can make it," Max said with a grin.

"Okay. I'm going to go look in on Pockets. Have fun with your project."

"Thanks, Uncle."

When Merlin knocked on the engineer's door for the third time, he frowned to himself. He pressed the Open button beside the door and it slid aside quietly. He had been afraid it would have been locked, but as it was not Merlin stepped inside the darkened front room.

"Pockets?" he called out. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. He could smell sickness in the room. There was no reply, so he clicked on the lights and then made his way across the magazine-strewn room. He frowned at the condition of the cabin. Pockets was an excellent mechanic and engineer, but he had poor housekeeping habits. Magazines, books, and notepads were all over the floor in seemingly random piles, and there were papers and pens all over the computer desk. Even at a quick glance, Merlin could tell that most of the newer publications sported pictures of the Firebird Fleet on their covers. The raccoon was always mindful of new technologies and he had a keen interest in exploration. Merlin had no doubt that Pockets would feel right at home on one of the Firebirds.

He reached the door to the bedroom and called out again. "Pockets? Are you in there?"

"Somebody shood me," a weak voice sounded from the darkness.

Merlin turned up the bedroom light just enough so he could see. He did not want to trip over the strewn clothing all over the floor, but did not want the lights bright enough to bother the raccoon. He approached the bed and found his engineer lying on his back, panting heavily with one arm resting across his eyes. He had not removed his green coveralls, and there was a foul wet stain across his chest.

The wolf sat down on the edge of the bed beside him and put a hand to Pockets' forehead. "Good night!" he said with widened eyes. He reached toward the intercom button on the lamp stand beside the bed and Pockets lightly grabbed his arm.

"Thad you, Cap'n?"

"Yes, I'm here, Pockets," Merlin replied. "Why didn't you tell Tanis you were this sick? You have a fever!"

Pockets let go of his arm and swallowed before answering. "Tried to…" he said weakly. "Coude't magg it that far… widout throwing ub…"

Merlin clicked the intercom button to the Infirmary and the medic's voice piped in. "Sick Bay."

"Tanis, I need you in Pockets' quarters ASAP. He feels like he has a fever, and looks like he's been throwing up."

"I'm on my way."

Merlin switched off the intercom and then stood up. "Can you get up and out of your clothes?" he asked the raccoon. He grasped hands with Pockets and helped him sit up gently.

"Maybe," the engineer muttered.

Merlin walked around the bed and went to the lavatory sink. He picked up a washcloth from the counter and ran cold water over it. He heard the clinking of tools and then a clunk. He wrung out the cloth and then moved back into the other room just as Pockets was sliding under a cool sheet. Merlin daubed the cloth around the sides of the raccoon's mouth and then set it across his forehead.

"Captain?" a voice called from the front room.

"Back here, Tanis."

The desert fox walked into the room and switched the lights to full strength. Pockets groaned and draped his arm back over his eyes as the medic gingerly stepped over the discarded, tool-laden coveralls toward the bed. Tanis pulled the damp cloth up and felt of the engineer's forehead. He frowned and then replaced the cloth.

"Why didn't ya tell me ya were sick?" Tanis scolded as he dug into the black medical bag he had brought in with him. Pockets only grunted at him. Tanis did not find what he wanted so he put a hand into the large pocket of the white smock he wore and then pulled out small plastic pouch labeled Refloxin. He handed this to Merlin and said, "Go mix this in a coffee cup of cold water, then pour it down his throat."

The wolf nodded and headed back to the lavatory. Tanis pulled out an electronic thermometer and placed the end of it inside Pockets' ear. With his other hand, he lifted one of the raccoon's hands and felt for the pulse. He watched the digital clock on the lamp stand and counted off the beats.

Merlin came back into the room with a white coffee cup adorned with a cartoon fish, stirring the contents with the handle end of a toothbrush. Tanis looked up at him and snickered.

"I couldn't find a spoon," the wolf explained at the medic's amused look.

There was a small beep and Tanis brought the thermometer's readout up close to view. "Mmhmm…" he hummed to himself. He stepped aside to let Merlin bring in the mixture and then started digging in his bag again.

The captain bent over the bed and said, "Drink this, Pockets."

"Whut is it?"

"I don't know," Merlin admitted. "Tanis said for you to take it."

"Then I don' wannit," Pockets grimaced. "He's tryin' to poison me for beatin' him at cards the odder night."

Tanis glanced over his shoulder and snorted. "For that I should just let ya suffer," he replied. "I still say ya were cheating."

Merlin smiled and then held the cup up to the raccoon's lips. "Drink it, Engineer. That's an order."

Pockets complied and swallowed the lemony liquid. To his surprise, it did not taste as nasty as he had expected. It took three swallows, but he finally emptied the cup.

"Good," the wolf said. "What is that stuff for?"

"It'll calm his stomach and help reduce his fever. Now he needs something a bit more unpleasant," Tanis said as he produced a syringe. Merlin winced when he saw it and suddenly felt his own needle wound throb.

The medic lifted up the sheet and then jabbed the needle expertly into the raccoon's bare hip. To his surprise, Pockets did not flinch or even grunt. He daubed the spot using a cotton swab coated with an antiseptic and then replaced the sheet.

"That will get him headed back to himself," Tanis told the captain. "Give him a couple hours for the mixture to work on his stomach and then have someone feed him something light. I'll check back in on him periodically."

"Thanks, Tanis," Merlin said. "I need to get up to the galley to help Samantha with the meals now." He left the medic with his patient and then departed the cabin.

Tanis sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at Pockets, who had his arm once again across his face. "Take care of yerself, partner," he said quietly. "We need ya up and about again." When he did not get a response, he stood up and gathered together his things.

Pockets reached up and lightly grasped his wrist. "Thangs, doc," he whispered.

Tanis frowned. "I'm not a doctor yet," he mused aloud, "but I intend to be one day."

Maximillian frowned to himself. He had waited for the chief engineer's return by doing research on the ship's landing gear. Pockets was undoubtedly sick in bed, but the repairs would take time and needed to be done before they could land at the destination they were speeding toward. Max believed he could make the repairs by himself, but he did not know if Pockets would allow him to work on it alone. He wished he could take the schematics down into the crawlways with him to refer to while working. Unfortunately, the tomes were too large to lug around with him. He could not spend the time to crawl back and forth between the work area to the books and the canine was at a loss of what to do.

Max sat down at Pockets' desk, resting his chin on his hands. Pockets had taught him enough that the young mechanic was restless to get started and anxious to prove he could do it. He sighed in frustration and then closed the largest volume with a whump. The resulting poof of air from the book's closing caused a pamphlet-sized document to dislodge from a shelf above the desk and drop to the floor. Max picked it up to return it to its place, but then he saw what it was. It was the homemade User Manual that Pockets had put together on the ship's Mobile Sentry System. There were design changes and new drawings stuck inside that denoted the differences between the current Moss and the previous unit that had been destroyed in the crash. Out of boredom and curiosity, Max propped his feet up on the desk and began to study the information.

Several minutes into reading, Max's eyes widened and smile crept across his lips. There was a reference to a function of the Moss unit he had not been previously aware. He read further with interest and then reached toward the computer terminal on the desktop. Referencing the pamphlet, Max accessed a software routine and then typed in several commands in a programmed sequence to recall Moss to the engine room.

"Durant?" Samantha stuck her head into the grizzly's front room. She heard a mumbled response from the bedroom so she moved through the room and to the rear doorway. "Durant?" she called again.

"Blease go away," said the accountant's voice.

"I brought you something to eat," the Border collie replied as she set a tray of food down on the table next to the bed. There was a huge lump under the covers, but no sign of a head. Despite this, weary words emanated from the light blanket.

"Don' wan any…" Durant said.

"Durant, you have to keep your strength up," Samantha said and crossed her arms.

"Don' wan any…" the bear repeated.  "Jus' wanna be left alone."

"Durant…"

"Jus' leave it and go, blease…"

Samantha shook her head, but nodded. "Okay, Durant. I'll check in on you again later, but if I see that you have not eaten the good food I've brought you, I'll see that Tanis rigs up an IV to get the nutrients into you – and I know how much you like needles, my sick friend!"

There was movement under the covers and a cinnamon-colored snout protruded from under the blanket. "All right…" Durant said irritably, "I'll eat it. But blease make everyone else leabe me alone, 'kay?"

"Okay," Samantha agreed. "Just get well, please."

Durant slid a hand out of the blanket and his face emerged after it as he shakily picked up a small glass of juice from the tray. Samantha gave him a nod, a small smile, and then left the grizzly to his food.

Maximillian grunted in satisfaction. It had taken him half an hour in multiple trips to get all the tools he thought he would need down in through the crawlway, to the landing gear well, and another half hour to wrestle the replacement, three-meter long boot gasket into the same area. The crawlway, already crowded with just him, was now absolutely cramped. However, the schematic of the place showed two lower deck plates that could be removed to give him more room to work on the spadraulic extender. There were three bright lamps giving the mechanic ample illumination and Max wondered briefly if this was what a cave might be like. The robust tunes of Pixly Dixly echoed through the lower cavities of the Blue Horizon, and Max hummed along with it as he set to work to remove the access floor panels. Inane as she was, at least she was consistent inasmuch as all her music sounded the same; Max could have white noise that was not too distracting.

"Meow?"

The canine looked up with a smile. "Just hold right there, Moss," he said in a reassuring tone. The small flying saucer hovered to his left and twitched its antennae slightly as it emanated Max's work music. Several moments later, the mechanic removed the deck plates and set them aside. He crawled down into the lower space and wriggled his toes inside his soft boots. They had started to cramp in the squatting position he had been in, but now that he had room to stretch out his legs a little, he got some relief.

He shined his headlamp around the area and recognized the layout from the schematics he had studied before. He had trouble remembering what the sequence was for draining the spadraulic fluids without causing a mess, so he pulled a small notebook from a pocket and consulted some figures.

He nodded to himself and looked back up at the mobile sentry. "Okay, Moss, I need to see the plans for sub-section 121-661."

Moss turned on its axis and faced the nearest bulkhead. Its secondary lens became a projector as it displayed an image of the system plans the mechanic needed onto the wall. Max consulted the diagram and nodded once in appreciation for a good idea.

"That's good, Moss," he said. "Continue to hold that image until I need the next one."

"Meow…"

Maximillian began his work. He knew it would take a while to complete, and he was aware that he would not be able to stop work once he began the repair work, but he was confident he could manage it. His only regret was that he had neglected to grab something to eat first.

Merlin frowned at the rabbit. He had stopped to check in on her condition and had been trying to leave for twenty minutes. Lorelei was not as sick as some of the others on board were, but she did not seem to be handling being cooped up alone in her cabin very well. The fact that she had decorated her quarters in vibrant colors to fluoresce under black lights, with hanging crystals and magma lamps all around, it did not seem like an ideal setting for someone sick, the captain mused to himself. In addition, her sickly-sweet music with birds chirping, water babbling, and the rush of wheat fields in the wind seemed brain numbing to the wolf. No wonder she did not want to be by herself.

"Merrrrliiiiiin…" Lorelei whined as she clung to the captain's arm. "Please don' go!" (sniff) "I need combany… Id's lonely here."

Merlin sighed and wrenched his arm free of her grasp. It was truly amazing how strong she was for one who was ill. The wolf's stomach did a small flip when Lori wiped her streaming nose with the back of her hand and then wiped it on the front of her cotton night shirt. Ugh, he thought, noting the unused box of tissues on the bedside table. He grabbed the box and handed it to her.

"Lori," he said as she took it with a shrug, "I have other members of the crew to look in on before I relieve Taro on the bridge."

"Nooo," the rabbit whined again. "Don't wanchu to go…"

"Sorry, girl, but I can't stay," Merlin replied as he took a step back out of her reach, lest she cling to him again. "Check StellarNet for the talk shows you like, or perhaps you can watch your gold cooking show." The bunny looked up at him and pouted. She attempted to give him her best pitiful look. When he did not seem moved by it, she nodded reluctantly and accepted the vidscreen remote he handed to her.

Before she could latch onto him or start whining again, Merlin gave her a nod and retreated quickly.

Max grunted and snorted as he tugged and pulled on the damaged boot gasket. As per the textbook, he had sliced the old gasket from top to bottom along its three-meter length, but despite this supposed freedom, the boot would not come off.

He was slippery from burgundy fluids that had been inside the landing gear extender and grimy from all the dusts and particles in the crawlway that adhered to him. He had drained the affected area before he had cut the gasket, but there had been a pocket of the spadraulic fluid trapped inside that had come flooding out after he had released it unknowingly.

He was more than a little annoyed at his condition, as well as the resistance of the gasket, but he was determined to triumph over the irritation. He slipped on the slick deck plates and fell once again. Moss let out a sympathetic mew at the canine's plight, but Max interpreted it another way.

He glared up at the small flying saucer that watched him and growled beneath his breath. "I will personally dismantle you with a sledge hammer if you've recorded any of this to show anyone!" he snapped.

Moss twitched its antennae whiskers and let out a small mewip noise in alarm. Unknown to Max, the small unit quickly erased a record it had made of the mechanic's progress and then deleted a redundant copy it had been storing in real-time on the ship's VIP computer system.

Without another word, Maximillian turned back to the boot gasket and tried again.

"Come on, darling, you have to eat something," Taro said in a soothing voice. Renny looked up at her with puffy eyes and a forlorn expression. The cheetah was covered up in his bed by a dark green sheet. All other blankets had been pushed off onto the floor.

"Not hungry…" he replied. His companion knew he must be sick, if he was not hungry.  Renny had an infamous, ongoing appetite that could best anyone on board the ship.

Taro absently toyed with the feather clipped on the left side beside her ear. "What can I do for you?" she asked gently. "I'll do anything you need or want me to do."

Renny closed his eyes and swallowed before he looked back up at her. "I could use some cool water," he said at last, "but not too much. My stomach is still tender."

The vixen nodded and got up to get his water. Renny did not seem to be as sick as he had been earlier, but he was still miserable.

When Tanis stepped into Lorelei's cabin, he had to stop inside the door to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He activated the light switch; the only thing that came on was a black light that made posters of bright colors flare out at him, but did not do much to illuminate the room.

"Lori?" he called out.

"Bagg here," the rabbit responded meekly from the bedroom.

Tanis stepped gingerly through the room and made his way to the door in the back. Had it not been that all the cabins on the Blue Horizon were identical in layout, he might have had more difficulty finding his way without bumping into things. He managed to reach the darkened doorway and stepped through.

"Lori, it's me, Tanis. I got yer message that ya wanted to see me."

"Thangs. You can turn on the light."

The desert fox flipped on the overhead light and found Lorelei burrowed under a mountain of blankets. Only her ears and the pink tip of her nose were showing, as well as the edge of her right hip. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put a hand under her pillow to feel of her forehead. It was warm, but not as if she had a fever.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked quietly. A sparkling crystal on the floor at his feet caught his attention. He picked it up idly and looked back at the rabbit that now peeked out at him from under her pillow.

"I'b sick…" she replied in an embarrassed tone.

"Yes," he agreed. She had been ill while on board from time to time in the past, but would never call on him as a medic due to her belief in using natural remedies to take care of herself.

"I don'd thigk I'b getting any better…" she admitted.  "I… I need somb help…"

Tanis raised his eyebrows. "Are ya sure ya want my help?" he asked as he put a hand into the pocket of his white lab coat. "My job is usually evil to ya."

Lorelei glared at him, but then nodded. "I don'd agree wit' your methods," she said, "but nothig of mine is workig this time. I need some relief."

Tanis held up the crystal he had picked up off the floor and let it spin a little on its gold colored string. "I've heard ya give names to yer crystals," he said casually as he stood up and held it over her nose. "What's this one called?"

The rabbit stared up at the faceted orb and concentrated. "I thig that one is – Oww!" She cried out when she felt a needle pierce her hip and she looked up at Tanis in alarm. He was not smiling, but appeared satisfied that his method of distracting her enough to give her a shot had worked. He daubed a small cotton swab on the spot he had pierced and Lori whimpered.

In a voice loud despite her sinus congestion, she called him a few choice names in several languages. Tanis was shocked, as he had never heard the gentle bunny use profanity before, but it was apparent she was well versed in her verbal selection. He let her continue her tirade as he capped his syringe and replaced it into his pocket. Finally, when it appeared she had exhausted her vocabulary, Lorelei began to cry.

She reached out, took his wrist, and then pulled him down to her so she could bawl onto his shoulder. The fennec rolled his eyes, but allowed himself to be wept upon. He deduced that she cried not because of the needle, but because she had made the difficult decision to accept medicinal help. She probably feared it was something she had never live down, especially if Samantha found out about it.

"Lori, look at it this way: what I do is merely a refinement of holistic medicine. You believe in natural remedies, and all the ingredients that I use in my practice have to come from somewhere, right?"

From the look that the rabbit gave Tanis, he knew his reasoning words were not working with her.

When Tanis finally left Lorelei's cabin, she had cried herself to sleep. The medic felt confident that now that she had received a dose of medication that would fight the viral infection within her body, she would start to feel better after some rest. Of all those on board that had become ill, she was perhaps the least sick of them all.

The worst one had to be Pockets, however. The desert fox moved around the perimeter of the crew deck until he came to the chief engineer's quarters. He did not bother to knock and went right inside. As soon as the door panel had closed behind him, he could hear the raccoon retching in the back room. He moved quickly, but did not find Pockets in his bed. More retching came from the lavatory and Tanis shook his head. Apparently, the liquid he had had Merlin force him to drink earlier had not helped quiet Pockets' stomach.

He stepped into the bathroom and found the short raccoon huddled over the toilet bowl. He had a blue cotton robe haphazardly wrapped around him that had residue from his current activity across the front of it. Pockets looked over at the medic with half-lidded eyes and looked exhausted.

"Help…" he said weakly.

"I'm sorry, Pockets," Tanis said as he grabbed a washcloth from the sink and then wet it down with cool water. "I'm surprised yer stomach is still this active after the Refloxin I gave ya earlier." He knelt down next to the engineer and wiped his mouth with the cloth.

"Threw id ub right after you left…" Pockets replied.

"Ah, so it didn't have a chance to work on ya," Tanis said. "Merlin probably used lukewarm water from the tap, instead of cold water like I instructed him to use." Pockets closed his eyes and panted without a word. "Are ya willing to try this again?" Tanis asked him. "I'll stay with ya this time to make sure it stays down like it's supposed to."

The raccoon nodded and Tanis pulled another pouch of Refloxin out of his black bag to fix another batch. "After I'm sure it stays down this time," he added, "I'm going to get an IV of saline to set up beside yer bed; yer going to need to help battling the dehydration."

A deafening roar filled the lower levels of the Blue Horizon. Maximillian had dragged a suction hose down into the bowels of the landing gear crawlway and was earnestly cleaning up the fluids he had spilled earlier. Covered in the greasy fluid himself, he had stripped off the saturated coveralls after he had gone to get the hose and had taken a quick shower in the cargo deck restroom. He had donned another set of coveralls before resuming his job.

It had taken him nearly two frustrating hours to get the old gasket off the unit and out of the crawlway, but he had finally been successful in his task. Before he could begin the process of putting in the new gasket in the cramped quarters, he would have to clean up all the old fluids. Fortunately, the Blue Horizon was equipped with a high-powered vacuum system—"Big Suck" as Pockets called it—designed for such usage, although a pair of snug ear protectors was necessary to prevent deafness.

Once finished with the cleanup, he would have to inspect the landing gear extenders to make sure he had caused no damage getting the old gasket out before beginning to install the new one. Once the new boot was finally in place, he would have to refill the area with fresh spadraulic fluid, a task he was sure would be just as unappealing.

Tanis stepped off the lift onto the recreation deck and glanced over at the wall-sized vidscreen that was currently tuned to an all-music channel. He recognized the band members of Wulf playing their instruments in what appeared to be an isolated canyon in some remote area of Earth. He did not recognize the lyrics of the song they sang, but he nodded in time with the music as he walked across the room to the galley.

"Hey, Tanis," Samantha said when he sat down at the counter. She was cutting vegetables into a clear broth in a pan on the stove and she was wearing Max's old apron – it had the cartoon figure of a canine on it, with its tongue sticking out the side of his mouth, while holding a fork in one hand and a knife in the other.

"Hi, Luv," Taro said when she came out of the large, walk-in freezer with several packages of previously prepared meat. "The meals won't be ready for another hour yet."

"Hello, ladies," Tanis replied with a smile. "I am getting hungry, but I can wait. I'm more concerned about our ship full of patients. They're the ones who need to eat." He looked back at the vidscreen and asked, "Where's Merlin?"

"He's on bridge duty," Taro answered as she started to work on portioning out the frozen meat.