“You’re doing great!” Cai says.

  Nyx spins the wheel, and the thing called a boat turns.

  This was the first time for her to pilot something. Of course, the captain never let her near any controls for the Az Gaper, but Cai seemed downright eager to let her. It was simple. Turn the wheel and use the throttle to adjust speed. Right now she had it going as fast as it could go, and she knew she was grinning, “Full thrust and no stoppin’ ‘til we be reachin’ the station!”

  Cai pauses and looks into the air as if he’s reading something, “Oh! Your new spacesuit is done! Why don’t you finish by seeing how fast you can crash into the pier and then we can see how well your suit fits?”

  Nyx eyes the pier, “Mya! Spark yeah, Cap’n!”

  Cai chuckles, “You’re the cap’n now. Cap’n Nyx!”

  She steers the boat to the pier and grins as they rapidly approach.

  There’s a loud crunch as they collide with the pier, and Nyx flies forward into the wheel, breaking it, before flying over it and to the deck below.

  She knew she should be in pain right now, but just felt the pressure from her landing.

  Nyx stands up and looks at her body. Not a scratch on her or a bruise anywhere.

  Her scars are gone…

  Cai walks to her, grinning, “What’d you think? You totalled the boat and the dock.”

  “Sparks. I went flyin’ through the air like a busted air tank!”

  “That’s what's great about VR. You can do anything and not get hurt. Breaking stuff is a great way to relieve anger and stress.” He motions for her to follow, “Let’s see what the damage to the boat looks like.”

  He hops off the front of the boat.

  Nyx follows and sees that she wrecked the pier and there’s a large gash in the boat and water is flooding it, “Goddum, I was gettin’ her good!”

  Cai is right, it felt amazing breaking the boat and pier.

  “Let’s exit and see to your new spacesuit.” He looks around, “Unless you want to explore more?”

  Nyx looks around. The lake is behind them, and she’s already had her fun there. Surrounding them are trees. More trees than stars in the sky, it seems. She also sees more flying animals and even a thing with a fuzzy tail climbing a nearby tree. There’s also a walkway away from the pier that leads to a structure.

  “What’s bein’ in there?”

  Cai looks at the structure, “That? It’s a house. I mostly use it for decoration, but you can go inside if you want. It’s got soft beds, a TV with access to the Donati’s media archive, soft places to sit, and even a fully stocked kitchen, pool, hot tub, and a game room. Of course, eating in here doesn’t fill your stomach since it’s just simulated food, but I could show you Earth foods that we can’t make anymore.”

  Nyx looks at the house. She’s curious, but would rather see her new space suit, “Let’s go be gettin’ my dum spacesuit.” She paused, “How the spark are we leavin’?”

  “Donati, end simulation.”

  Nyx’s vision turns black, and she feels disoriented, but soon finds herself strapped into the chair and floating.

  Cai gets out of his sling, “Okay! Let’s get you your suit!”

  Nyx unstraps herself and follows Cai out of the room. She wonders what it looks like.

  They move to the machine deck and to the clothing fabricator.

  Cai holds up a black suit liner that’s skin tight as usual, and it makes her self conscious, but happy to have one that isn’t more patches than a suit, “Mya…” The tail section is still see-through.

  Nyx takes it, “Thanks…”

  She properly thanked him!

  Cai smiles, “Oh, I’ve got more regular clothing for you. Not sure what style you like, so I made you something simple, but feminine.”

  He hands her a tank top that will hug her and not feel uncomfortable under the suit and some shorts made for fitting comfortably under a suit as well.

  Nyx takes these too, “Cai…” She pauses and blushes, remembering the sundress, “Can ya be makin’ me that sundress thing ya had me be wearin’ in the sim yoo lay shun?”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Cai cracks a smile, “The simulation? Sure, but you know you can’t wear it in zero g or you’ll be showing off your rear.”

  Nyx growls, “Yeah, I sparkin’ know that!” She feels angry at herself for snapping at him. “Sorry…”

  He shrugs, “It’s okay. You were raised by pirates.”

  Nyx remembers the pants she’s wearing, “Can ya be makin’ me more of the shorts you were givin’ me earlier?”

  Cai looks like she’s said something funny, but holds back a laugh, “You mean boxers? You do realize those are made for men. The hole is so we don’t have to take them off to pee.”

  Nyx feels her face go bright red, her ears flatten from embarrassment, and her tail curl around her waist protectively, “Sparks!” Her tail was now going through a hole men pulled their meat rod through to pee? But these boxers are so comfortable, and the hole is perfect for her tail… “Make me more. I don’t sparkin’ care!”

  Cai shrugs, “I guess at the end of the day they’re cloth. And they are comfy… Just use the ones in my closet. I’ve got plenty. Or I can make some more to your style?”

  Nyx considers a second, why make more when they can share, “Mya… It’s wastin’ to make more.” She feels a strange excitement, then more embarrassment at sharing these boxers with Cai.

  Cai nods, “Okay…” He moves to the metal fabricator, “Here’s the suit’s outer layer.”

  Nyx looks through them. There’s boots that are black with a teal stripe up their front. Knee pads that have a shiny gold front with a shiny black backing. Leg coverings that are gold on the outside of the thighs and black on the inner thigh. Black gloves. A gauntlet for her right arm that’s black with gold accents. A chest piece with shoulder guards that is gold with teal and black accents. The power and air pack on the back that’s the same coloring as the chest piece. A helmet collar that’s gold with teal accents where the helmet connects to it.

  Finally, she looks at the helmet. It’s made to support her Felis ears and has speakers there. She’s not sure if she’s happy that the helmet shows off her ears too much, but it looks much more comfortable than how she’s had to smash her ears inside the human helmet. Cai has used the protrusions to fit in two headlamps, which actually could fool people into thinking they’re not Felis ears. There’s also a fluid suction tube so fluids don’t build up in zero g and a water tube so she can drink.

  “Mya… Cai…” Nyx takes her new suit, “I’m gonna be puttin’ this on now.”

  Cai stops her, “One last thing.” He heads to the most complex looking fabricator, “Your wrist computer. I’ve given you permission to view everything in the Donati’s database and basic commands like communicating with me, opening or closing the Donati’s blast windows, or turning on your VR.”

  Nyx takes it. She’d wanted one of these too, “Mya. Thanks.”

  Cai smiles, “Now go on. The measurements should be spot on, but let’s see how you look in it.” He pauses, “Oh! I had the drones take your other things to your room. Your bathing supplies, brushes, and medicine.”

  Nyx is feeling overwhelmed, she’s never had someone give her so many things.

  Oyx and Tyx’s faces flash in her mind. How come she’s getting all of this and they had to die?

  Her ears flatten, and she pauses.

  Cai gives her a knowing look, “Hey. Are you okay?”

  Nyx shakes her head, “I… Goddumit, Cai!”

  Her anger returns, and she flees to her room before she can yell more at him.

  She’s tempted as she glances at the circlet to go in again and destroy things to vent her anger and grief.

  No, she wants to try on her new spacesuit, so she strips until she’s in her underclothing. The too big shirt and the boxers.

  She blushes as she looks at the boxers. But they’re just clothes, and they feel so soft and nice…

  Nyx changes the baggy shirt, Cai’s, and puts on the tank top. It fits her perfectly, though she’s not happy about how much it shows off the shape of her body. But it’s going to be under her space suit, so it doesn’t matter and it won’t bother her.

  She looks at her old suit as its dirty and dented pieces float around her room. She takes her wrist computer as she has an idea as she finds the drone door on the wall, “Donati, take my sparkin’ shunked spacesuit to recyclin’.”

  There’s a blink on the computer showing it understood her. As she waits, she puts on the rest of the suit, but pauses as she realizes she stinks again thanks to her suit, “Goddum it…”

  One quick shower later, a hair brushing with her new brush, and brushing her teeth, she’s now in her new spacesuit. Sometime while she was showering, her spacesuit disappeared, and she felt relieved knowing another connection to the Az Gaper is now gone. She’d even put on the cream that is supposed to heal her scars.

  Nyx looks in the mirror.

  She sees a stranger. Her face is harsh, with a scar here and there, but clean. Her hair is no longer matted and tangled, and she wonders if she should grow it out from the short length she keeps it at. The suit… It’s so shiny and clean that she’s scared to move in it and put a scratch on it. It feels like a treasure that she could sell for more food. But it’s hers.

  She leaves her room, noticing a lingering scent of sweat and filth from her old spacesuit. She’d showered not just once today, but twice. How much water had she used? It seemed so wasteful, but she knew the ship could handle it, and considering how long Cai was out here, he probably mined comets easily, like the ships the Az Gaper often raided, if he needed more.

  She finds Cai where she last saw him, and he’s looking at a hologram on his wrist computer. It’s some data she has no clue what it is, “Cai!”

  Cai looks up, “Nyx! You look great! Like an Egyptian goddess.”

  “The spark is an Egypt?” Nyx floats to Cai, and blushes when she realizes she’s grinning and clears her throat. “What’cha lookin’ at?”

  Cai shows her, “Oh, the hard drives we took from the secret lab. It looks like they only deleted part of the data. The Donati is trying to break the encryption for the rest, but it’s gonna take a while.”

  Nyx’s ears perk up, “Sparks… We can be findin’ ‘em?”

  Cai shrugs and turns off the hologram, “No way of knowing. The only data left was on a computer near the nursery where… where we found your siblings. If I had to guess, they either forgot about it, or it wasn’t important enough to take the time to delete.”

  “Cai…”

  Cai shakes his head, “Let’s not think about it. I want to test your spacesuit to make sure everything’s working. We can explore the lab some more and maybe we can find anything we missed?”

  Nyx flattens her ears, “Myeh. Okay…”

  Cai smiles, “How about a race around the station’s habitation ring?”

  Nyx’s ears perk up again, “Mya! I’m gonna kick yer az!”

  They both put on their helmets and head for the airlock. Nyx is gonna show off her grace and agility to Cai. She grins as she imagines how badly she’s going to beat him in the race.