Free Theodore by Marcus LaGrone Page A

and bones!  Gives them an
amazingly strong skeleton! They also...”
    Her conversation was cut short as the engines on the gunship
flared to full power and were augmented by a parade of JATO bottles
accelerating them even faster than normal.  Theodore counted five complete
cycles of exterior rockets firing off.  Those normally just fell off
when they were spent.  He wondered if the spaceport below was being suddenly
pelted by empty rocket casings...
    Anna was thoroughly rattled by the time the exterior rockets
finally stopped, so Theodore leaned close and teased, “So, am I just a big
science project, too?”
    Anna grinned, “Yep, and a really cute one, too!”
    That should have taught Theodore not to tease...
     
     

13  
     
     
    Traveling with the Shukurae was definitely a novelty. 
Theodore feared the novelty would wear thin before they finished the short
three day journey to Afon.  Much to his relief, distractions came in many
forms.  Talking with Anna never got old, but it was much to his relief and her
fascination, there were people of other races on the dreadnaught as well,
humans, Kiarazar as well as Taiks of all varieties: Highlanders, Altshea and
Kulpgurie.
    Lt. Katchmel, a Taik from the Kulpgurie Republic, had
quickly become the pair's guide for their short trip.  “A great many peoples
transfer or volunteer to work with the Shukurae.  Everything from people
wanting to see the galaxy, adventurers, police, paramilitary to front-line
assault troops.  The Shukurae travel far and wide and do contract and emergency
work just as far and wide.  There are all kinds here.  The one thing that we
all universally agree on is action: no pencil pushers here!  Everyone is here
for the real world experience.”
    “And you,” asked Anna bright eyed and curious.
    Katchmel grinned, “Maritime rescue and salvage is my
expertise.  I free dive to a hundred meters unassisted and have over a thousand
hours of Heli-Ox deep water dives.”
    “Maritime?” asked Theodore slightly surprised.
    Katchmel laughed, “Yeah, that catches a lot of people at
first.  Think about it, if orbital ships, or especially escape pods, do an
emergency landing on a typical habitable world...”
    “Odds are they may hit an ocean!” grinned Theodore finally
catching the point.  “Most colony worlds are about two-thirds ocean...”
    “Or more,” Katchmel grinned.
    “So you are more on the humanitarian side of the house,”
offered Anna.  Suddenly she looked disgusted, “That was a horribly species
centric choice of words.  I'm terribly sorry!”
    Katchmel just laughed again, “Nah!  Don't worry about it,
ma'am... There are a lot of things that come across weird in
translation.  You have to roll with it around here, there are so many species
working together all sorts of expressions come out to getcha!  Some of the
Shukurae ones are just weird.  Other expressions, like the Highlander's 'paint
your fur blue,' are so thoroughly obscene to the Kiarazar that they will clam
up and not talk for an hour or more.”
    Anna grinned, “Okay, normally I'm terribly curious, but I
think I’ll let it pass on that one!”
    “Good!  I think that one is best left to the over-twenty-one
crowd!”
    “Too much information...” grinned Theodore.
    “Well, it's about dinner time, let me get you two over to
either the mess hall or the canteen.  The canteen is actually kinda sedate this
time of day, so it might be a better choice.  Don't eat too much tomorrow
night: drop ship flight down to the Highlands of Afon is almost always a very
rough ride.”
    “Why so rough?” asked Anna.
    “Very, very strong and turbulent magnetic fields in the
upper atmosphere... once you're down to 10-15km, it's a nice and smooth ride.
But the upper layer, wow!  It can be nasty!”  Katchmel grinned at Anna sensing
the obvious next question, “We think the disturbances are caused by the
Gatehouses and their little perpetual wormholes.  We say 'think' because