Bard watched the ship dock, her whiskers twitching with curiosity. It was a small ship, faceted like a sapphire, but a deeper blue. It had the dust of a ship that had been in deep space, but other than that, it should have been unremarkable.
Unremarkable to anyone other than Bard.
She adjusted her hat and raised her arms, “Ladies and everybody, I will tell you a tale of tragic love.”
The ladies were too busy being fashionable to heed Bard, but she did succeed in attracting the attention of some of the others. They gathered around her, a crowd of different species. “Tell us, Bard of felines,” called out an android.
“Once upon a dying planet, a halfling adventurer set out. He left his promised hamlet, his love in a redoubt,” Bard watched the ship, her mind far away from the words springing from her furry lips.
The door to the ship opened and a set of steps was brought to the door.
“He thought to find his fortune, to make a nest for them.”
A figure in a hooded jacket and tinted goggles stepped out of the ship.
“He climbed a mountain top, to the very volcano’s rim.”
One of the feline on-lookers let out a shrill cry, “My wallet! That one took it.” She pointed, “Stop, thief!”
The crowd turned in the direction of the space docks. The android took off running, the sound of its pistons like the hiss of a pneumatic gun. Ladies ran in every direction, their eyes as wide as their hoop skirts. A reptilian tripped over a humanoid and the two went sprawling.
Really, the chaos was better than Bard had hoped for. She slipped through the crowd like the cat she was, winding her way around the ladies’ skirts and straight up to the hooded figure.
“Hello, Chosen,” Bard purred, “If you wouldn’t mind coming with me?”
The hooded figure backed up, heels hitting the metal steps.
“Your security is busy right now,” Bard took a handkerchief from her pocket, “There was something in the spaceport that looked like a bomb, wasn’t there? And you couldn’t let anyone get hurt, so you sent them to check it out, didn’t you?”
“How do you know all that?” Chosen looked back at the ship.
“You don’t want to go back in there. I’ll follow you,” Bard covered the Chosen’s nose and mouth with the handkerchief, “Wouldn’t want the flight crew to get hurt.”
Chosen grabbed Bard’s paw. For a moment the two struggled, then, Chosen went limp. Bard dragged the body under the metal docking and waited.
She waited until the last strip of light left the sky. She had been afraid that Chosen would awaken, but being from a weaker species, Chosen slept on.
“Pssst . . .” Bard hissed. She slunk out from under the pier, eyes searching for other eyes. In the darkness, she saw no answering flicker of green. “Where is everybody?”
Chosen was heavy, and Bard staggered under the weight. The only light came from the neon sign of a songhouse, a diseased treble clef glowing a dim red. Bard shuffled up to the paper-covered door, Chosen sliding down to the tops of her boots.
“Someone had a little too much,” cooed a song boy, “Why don’t you come in?”
“I will if you help me,” Bard gritted her teeth.
The song boy put an arm under Chosen’s, “I’m Lyric and I’m a tenor.”
“Gross,” Bard stumbled over the threshold.
“What voice part pleases you?”
“The part where I don’t pay you to sing for me.”
“So it’s the drunk, then. Should I get us a room?”
Bard’s ears perked up as a car rumbled down the street, “Yeah, okay, just do it fast.”
“You gotta pay first.”
“I’m on my ninth life here, Lyric. Can we just go to a room?” The fur on Bard’s back stood on end as the car hummed to a stop. Someone was coming.
“No way. I don’t think you mean to pay me at all. I provide a service. I work hard for - “
Bard thrust a fistful of twenties in Lyric’s face. The song boy snatched them and stuffed them in his sequined cummerbund.
They squeezed down a hallway, Chosen sandwiched between them. Music found its way under doors and through the keyholes. Bard shuddered. They stopped at a room the size of a closet. The walls were lined with crumbling yellow foam, and a square music bot lurked in the corner.
“I can sing you a ballad about springtime,” Lyric adjusted his bow tie.
“Ugh,” Bard shivered. Outside the door, there was the sound of heavy boots. “Yes! Sing me a ballad! Or a roundel!” Bard shoved Chosen behind the music bot. Legs protruded from the side. Bard stripped off her coat and threw it over the legs.
“Now you’re getting into it,” Lyric took a deep breath. He squared his shoulders, closed his eyes, and sang.
As the door banged open, Bard tried not to think of the invisible droplets of spit that hung in the air like notes on a staff.
“You there!” A long-barreled gun pointed at Bard. Attached to the gun was a reptilian, his black eyes unblinking against his green skin. A sliver of a tongue darted out of his mouth, “You’re coming with me.”
Bard held up her paws. She couldn’t decide what was worse; being arrested or being caught paying for singing. The latter, she decided.
“Excuse me,” Lyric waved his hand, “You’re forgetting something.”
The reptilian slid a cuff around Bard’s wrist, “She don’t need nothing.”
“Oh, but it’s just a coat,” Lyric picked it up by the hem. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it over the reptilian’s head. “Now, Siren!” The music bot rumbled across the floor, speakers blaring. It hit the reptilian, knocking him off his feet.
Bard dove for Chosen. She growled as she heard the sound of a gun in the hallway, then she looked down and hissed.
Chosen’s eyes were open.
Bard snapped the other end of the handcuff on Chosen’s wrist.
“Did I hear gunshots?”
“Yeah, the police failed. You’re my captive, and you’ll go where I say.”
A hood was lowered, goggles were removed. Chosen was just a humanoid woman, sometimes Bard forgot that. She had smooth bronze skin, the hair on her head done up in braids. Her teeth were square, she had no claws. She was fragile, defenseless.
“Okay,” Chosen shrugged, “You got me. Now what?”
“Now we go to Conate.”
“Conate? Isn’t that the planet orbiting the star Maaz?”
“Yes, the dying star of Maaz. As it flames out the temperatures continue to drop. The remaining felines have taken to living underground, but soon, that too will be unsustainable. My people are dying,” Bard’s voice shook, “and no one will do anything because it’s the way of nature.”
The gunfire stopped. Chosen leaned in close to Bard’s ear, “We better go now.”
“Okay, Chosen, but we’re not going out the front,” Bard poked her head into the hallway. Motes of dust danced in the music that trickled out from under a closed door. Bard gritted her teeth, “There’s gotta be another way out.”
“If we go to the end of this hall and turn left, then right, there should be an exit.”
“How - “
“Evacuation map. It’s on the back of the door,” Chosen tugged on her cuffed wrist, “C’mon.”
Bard’s ears flattened, but she could think of no other option. “This day just keeps getting better,” she grumbled as Chosen pulled her along. They emerged from the songhouse next to an overflowing dumpster. A used mask lay next to a cigarette butt. Bard’s whiskers stood on end.
“What’s wrong?” Chosen held a hand out in front of her. Her species had trouble seeing at night.
“Nothing,” Bard pointed back towards the docks, “We need to go that-a-way.”
Chosen didn’t say anything else until they were right up to the ship. It was an old planet hopper, shaped like a disc. It had a few dents, some peeling paint, and a glass dome top that had been popular twenty years ago.
“This isn’t going to take us to Conate.”
“No, we’re picking up our ship on Pegasi.”
“Why not here on Kashir? Pegasi’s too hot to do much of anything on.”
“That’s exactly why,” Bard pulled down the door, “No one’s gonna think we went there.”
When the planet hopper was new, steps had folded out every time the passenger door was opened. Now they stayed frozen in the entrance, blocking the bottom part of the door. Bard could have made it by herself but shackled to Chosen, she was helpless.
“Hello? Chocco? Fideli?”
A furry face appeared in the hatch, “Hop in, Bard.”
“I can’t,” Bard held up her shackled wrist.
“Fie, Bard. You sure mucked up this one.”
“Me? I’ve been looking for you two all night. Where were you?”
“We got caught up with that android. He was sure I was a thief,” Fideli lowered a rope ladder, “Chocco kept saying, ‘I don’t think it was a feline.’ And that infernal . . . hello.” Fideli’s eyes widened as Chosen ascended, “Aren’t you the most lovely, delicate flower.”
“Knock it off, Fideli,” Bard scrambled up after Chosen, one paw above her head. Every time Chosen went up a rung, she felt like her arm was being pulled from the socket. “Tell Chocco to fire up the thrusters. I’ll close the hatch.”
Fideli slicked back his fur with a paw and ducked down the hallway.
There was a pause, then the ship started to rumble.
Chosen scrambled over the steps. Bard followed her, slamming the door so the bent latch could engage.
“What’s that?” purred a voice.
Bard’s ears popped up. Chocco sounded curious. Anytime Chocco sounded curious, it was bad news. Bard pulled Chosen down the hall. They emerged in a circular cockpit that gave a panoramic view of the space docks.
Chocco wasn’t looking at her screen, she was staring out the domed window, “Something is coming.”
“No, oh no,” Bard’s back hunched in terror.
Chocco pushed a button, her tail swishing.
“What are you doing?”
“Opening the hold.”
“Close it, Chocco.”
“Why? Are you embarrassed?”
Fideli craned his neck too, “Why does that look like a song boy riding a music bot?”
“Not just any song boy,” Chocco sneezed a laugh, “He’s wearing Bard’s coat and carrying a very large gun.”
The two felines dissolved into laughter. Bard sunk into a bench seat, her ears burning.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Chocco toggled her controls, “The hold’s not pressurized and you’ll have to let him in the cabin.”
“Why me?”
“Not it,” Fideli grinned, “Anyway, I got something better to do.” He patted the seat next to him, “Hey, Chosen, come over here. I want to talk to you.”
“We’re kind of connected right now,” Bard held up her wrist.
“Fie, Bard. That’s taking the third wheel too far.”
“Fideli,” Chocco didn’t take her eyes off her screen, “There’s some wire in the hold. Try to jimmy the lock on the handcuffs with it.”
“Hmm,” purred Fideli, “You know the males of our species aren’t good with mechanical things.”
Chocco rolled her eyes, “Fine. Bard will do it if she wants to. If she decides to let her halfling song boy in, she might just get some wire too, maybe.”
“Yeah, okay, make me do all the work,” Fideli slunk down the hall to the hold.
Once he was out of earshot, Chocco mumbled, “Sexist bastard.”
Bard was too humiliated to respond. Next to her, Chosen rubbed her own wrist and squinted at the stars, “What do you think should be done, Bard?”
“Fideli’s really not a bad guy,” Bard shrugged, “You do what you want.”
“I meant about Conate.”
“Oh, you know, a solar tunnel that converts Maaz into a red dwarf,” Bard slumped, “or relocation. They could tow Conate to another star, put it in a new orbit.”
“No one wants to do that,” Chocco pushed a button, “Even other felines. Any that could afford to emigrate, did. All that’s left is our trash, you know: the weak, the old, the poor.”
“I don’t think that’s trash,” Chosen frowned, “I think everyone has value.”
“And that’s why we kidnapped you,” Chocco grinned, “Sorry about that.”
“We needed a champion, someone with power to stand up for us,” Bard straightened up, “If you tell them to pay attention to Conate if there are pictures of you there . . . “ She trailed off as Fideli returned. Lyric was behind him, the oversized gun over his shoulder. He didn’t even glance at Bard, he just sat, a weariness in his orange eyes.
Fideli puckered up his lips and walked with an exaggerated swing of his hips, “You wanna hear me sing, Bard?”
“No one wants to hear you sing,” Chocco pushed her yoke down, “Now sit, or you’ll end up on the ceiling.”
Bard closed her eyes. She hated take-offs.
“Hey Chosen,” Fideli dropped into the seat next to her, “I’m gonna try to spring you.” He held up a piece of wire, “If you could hold my paw, that will help me get the right angle.”
Chosen took his paw and giggled.
“Don’t mind me,” Bard grumbled.
It took Fideli a few tries, but finally, the handcuffs came off. Bard stretched, then scooted over to Lyric. “What did you do with the cop?”
“Siren and I tied him up and left him in an empty practice room.”
“Ah.”
“He got a really good look at me, so I knew I had to skip town.”
“And you just happened to pick this ship.”
“I followed you.”
“Great. Yeah, I get it now. Can I have my coat back? It doesn’t really match you anyway. Not enough sequins.”
Chocco burbled a laugh.
“Shut it, Chocco,” Bard hissed.
“Just the thought of you patronizing a songhouse,” Chocco dissolved into giggles.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with what I do,” Lyric wriggled out of the coat, “Long ago, warriors used to sing as they went into battle.”
Bard heaved a sigh, “I could use a warrior about now, a warrior to save my planet.”
“Maaz?”
“Maaz is the star. Conate is where I was born. It’s a lovely place, or it used to be,” Bard put her coat on.
“Fie, Bard, it was always ugly,” Fideli murmured, “Brown oceans.”
“And the sky was always that greyish pink,” Chocco smirked, “like puke.”
“And we’d hide out behind the tall grasses and pounce, remember?” Fideli shook his head, “I don’t even remember the point of that game.”
“And we used to have carnivals with fireworks and fried moths on a stick,” Chocco paused, “I miss that.”
“Is it enough though?” Bard hung her head, “Does summertime and fried moths make a planet worth saving? Or the way the mist would blend the sky into the sea with all those layers of pink and brown? Maybe it’s not.”
Fideli put a paw on her shoulder, “Maybe it is.”