Lost Change

Chapter 89

It took about twenty more minutes to finish the last few rooms on the ship. Once we had finished I returned to Minna's shoulder and relaxed while she had a brief conversation with someone from the crew. She led us off the ship once that was done, and we walked a safe distance from the ship. Minna turned to watch it, and a few minutes later the sound of its powerful engines filled the air.

I lowered my ear tufts in annoyance and tried to slink down against Minna's shoulder. The ships were loud, and I did not appreciate how loud they got... but it only lasted a few seconds. And I knew Minna liked watching them take off.

I knew part of her missed being able to fly ships like she had done before she had met me.

But I also knew that she wouldn't trade me for all the ships in the universe.

The ship shuddered on the concrete-like field, then began to ascend upwards into the sky. I leaned over and nudged Minna's chin with my head and chirped at her. She smiled and reached up to pet my back, then whispered softly. "Thanks."

She turned back to the other Kymari after another moment of skygazing. Her father still had that same frown that suggested he wasn't impressed by what he was seeing, but the rest of the Kymari seemed to have the slight bit of upbeatness that came with a job well done. "Okay. Is the supply ship ready for us?"

"It is landing on the far side of the spaceport now. It should be ready when we reach it." Morton tapped the device on his wrist and it made a soft beep. "I sent them an update to let them know we are on the way."

"Thanks." Minna smiled gratefully and clipped the longer leash to my harness, then we began walking across the spaceport. It might have been quicker to go through the buildings themselves, but Minna almost always walked along the outside of the buildings instead. I wasn't sure if that was to give me a break from being around Kymari or because she just liked seeing the different spaceships, but it meant I got a chance to fly around between inspections.

It was nice to just have a moment to glide through the open air.

We arrived at the cargo ship after just a few minutes. It looked much different from the passenger ships I was used to. Those ships had been long and sleek, and looked like some thought had gone into making them look pretty. They had gentle curves and colorful decorations. I could imagine the Kymari being impressed with those ships, and the pilots being proud of their vessels.

The cargo ship, on the other wing, just looked like a giant brick. The guiding philosophy in its design process had obviously been, 'fit as much stuff inside it as possible', with little thought to any other concerns.

I wasn't sure if this was just a unique model, or if all the cargo ships were like this. Either way I was glad the other dragonets dealt with these. Having to look at ships like this one all day seemed like it would get depressing rather quickly.

From her expression, Minna didn't seem that impressed by the ship either. She eyed it dubiously for a moment while Morton called somebody on his wrist device, then she called me back down to swap my leash for the shorter one. I waited on her shoulder while we all filed into the airlock, then waited some more while the outer doors sealed back behind us.

The inner doors opened... and I hissed as the scents of the ship began to reach me. There was a crawler on board. I wasn't sure exactly where on the ship it was yet, but I knew it was somewhere on the ship.

I saw Minna's father turn to look at me when I hissed. "Is he okay?"

Morton and Kilpin both grinned. They had worked with me enough that they knew what it meant. The two younger guards didn't say anything, but Minna nodded. "He's fine. He gets like that when he's smelling something."