‘I won’t mention this to anyone,’ Ouloo said. ‘I know I’m chatty, but this is personal. I understand.’ Her neck bobbed thoughtfully. ‘Oh! But – oh, I can help! Here, come on.’ She dropped the paint tube and hurried down the path toward the office. Pei followed.

Tupo was in the office when they entered, standing on xyr back legs and placing snack packs onto the shelves, one bag at a time, not even remotely in a rush.

‘Tupo, I need you out,’ Ouloo said as she trotted in.

Tupo swung xyr neck around, confused. ‘You said to restock the—’

‘I know what I said, but you need to go outside.’

Tupo looked at Pei, dumbfounded, then swung back to xyr mother. ‘Is … everything okay?’

‘Everything is fine,’ Ouloo said, ‘but we need grown-ups only. Shoo.’

Relative as both parenting and childhood were, the look on Tupo’s face of what the hell is wrong with my mom was universal. Tupo dropped xyr snack packs back into the crate and muttered vehemently as xe trotted off. ‘If I’m playing outside, I’m supposed to do my chores. If I’m doing my chores, I’m supposed to go outside. It’s ridiculous.’ This general vein of complaint continued until the kid was out and the door slid shut.

Ouloo ignored her child’s negative feedback, and instead began to dig through a storage cabinet behind her desk. ‘There was … hmm, where is it … there was this Aeluon man who … no, not here …’ She shut one drawer and opened another. ‘I want to say he stopped with us two or three standards ago, on his way home from vacation. He … no, that’s not it … wait … aha!’ Her paw came up from the drawer, triumphantly holding an info chip. She walked over to Pei on her back two legs and handed it to her. ‘He was a creche father from Ethiris and gave me this just in case any interested parties came through. It’s details about the creche he works at. Or at least, he worked there then.’ Ouloo bobbed with satisfaction. ‘This is why you never throw anything out.’

Pei took the chip. ‘Where’s Ethiris?’ she asked.

‘Oh, very close. Tunnel number four connects there directly,’ Ouloo said. ‘It’s just one hop and a tenday away.’

Pei flashed approving blue, for that was a good answer. Her window of opportunity would still be wide at that point, and she could stop pursuing the undesirable avenue of one of Ouloo’s neighbours. She could do this at a proper creche, with proper fathers, the way she’d always wanted to.

But while one hop and a tenday was good news for the biological countdown she’d been thrust under, there was a problem. She did some math. One hop and a tenday, plus five or six tendays at this creche, then a tenday back to Gora, and one and a half more back to the Mav Bre. That would encompass the entirety of her leave, and then some.

She wouldn’t be able to meet Ashby.

Pei scolded herself for thinking that way. She was shimmering, for fuck’s sake. Everything in life paused for that. Holidays were cancelled, jobs were frozen, soldiers got sent to safer space. That was just how things worked. Ashby knew that. They’d discussed it, many times. She knew he would understand. There would be other chances, other shore leaves. It was fine to be disappointed, but this was how it had to be.

She told herself these obvious things. She took a breath, waiting for their indisputable reason to chase the tightness in her chest away.

They did not.

Ouloo’s face rose up, startling Pei out of her reverie. ‘I’m sure this whole thing must be a surprise,’ Ouloo said. ‘But don’t worry. From everything I’ve heard, it sounds like a wonderful experience.’

Pei forced herself to smile blue. ‘That’s what they say. And, thank you,’ she said, sticking the chip in her pocket. ‘This is … thank you. Really.’

The Laru beamed. ‘I’m just so happy I could help.’ She moved her face closer, confidentially. ‘And I’m glad it doesn’t have to be Kopi. He’s rather boring.’

Pei laughed at this, her cheeks freckling a bit of genuine green. ‘Well, then I’m glad, too.’ She glanced around at the snacks and sundries. ‘Uh, one more question.’

‘Of course.’

‘Do you sell anything to drink?’

‘Oh, goodness, yes. We’ve got water, plenty of mek powder, plenty of fizz—’

‘No, no,’ Pei said. She looked Ouloo square in the eye. ‘Something to drink.’

Daily 238, GC Standard 307

COMPOUNDED SYSTEM FAILURE

Received message Encryption: 0

From: GC Transit Authority – Gora System (path: 487-45411-479-4) To: Ooli Oht Ouloo (path: 5787-598-66) Subject: URGENT UPDATE

This is an urgent message from the Emergency Response Team aboard the GC Transit Authority Regional Management Orbiter (Gora System). As both standard ansible and Linking channels are currently unavailable, we will be communicating via the emergency beacon network for the time being. We ask that you leave your scribs locked to this channel until proper communications are restored.

We are now able to provide a firm estimate of 240/307 for the restoration of safe travel conditions. We know this comes a day later than our previously stated estimate, and we apologise for the inconvenience. As this situation is ever-changing, we have been unable to provide travellers with information that meets our typical standards for accuracy.