With no need to conserve the suppressant any longer, she inhaled a dose and crossed the station as fast as she could to get back to Jedro's hangar/workshop, eager to see the disassembled main thruster. She arrived after 5000, plenty of time for the suppressant to have kicked in for distractionless working.

Marik was there, but the two owners of the workshop were nowhere to be seen. The human was almost bouncing and not because the gravity was low here. "Hello Rerra, look!" He dragged her over to the nozzle, not that she would have put up any resistance, curious as she was. "Here, you see, this is broken, the secondary focus coil has a much too high resistance." He pushed the multimeter into her hands. "See, it's over 3700 kilumps."

She looked at the display. The instrument was of Fallerian manufacture and showed Fallerian numbers with strange units, not helped by the fact that the base for the numbers was 8. "Sorry, what is that in standard units?"

He touched a few buttons and it displayed Standard. While she could now read the number and units, It didn't help much, as she'd never found a manual for the engine. So she just nodded. "It seems pretty high for a superconducting coil, yes."

"Yes!" He beamed. "Jedro found it quickly. The good thing is, you know, Crostas has experience in making coils, so Jedro is over there and is discussing what field strength we need. I think he planned to run a simulation too. But your static plasma drive is quite unusual, and because it is so old, it is royalty-free under all Human-Fallerian treaties. They are thinking of making a smaller version, perhaps useful as an ultra-compact thruster, although xenon is not"

"Wait!" His torrent of words was even more than she was used to from Bernie. It seemed more like he needed a suppressant.

He stopped his verbal torrent when she did not immediately answer and then looked as if she had scolded him. "Oh, sorry. Did I do something wrong? Should we have waited for you?" He looked at her with big kitten eyes. She felt the overwhelming urge to cuddle him, even with the suppressant. She smiled carefully, not showing her teeth. "No, don't worry, I just didn't expect you to work that fast."

"Ah." That was enough praise to get him going again. "We were both curious, but this was mostly Jedro's work, she is really good at figuring out old tech. Even if she hasn't seen much human technology before, and certainly never something this old."

"And you are sure it is this coil?"

"That was the thing that deviated the most. And you gave the xenon consumption and thrust, which limits possible field strengths, and for that, the resistance was certainly wrong. The other coils were fine. Of course, it could be a faulty power supply that is still inside the ship or a misalignment of the fields as a whole. Now with a simulation, there would be at least one dynamically stable solution one could set as the initial configuration"

She wondered briefly who would yield first in a duel of oratory between Berni and Marik. After he talked a little slower about what Jedro had told him of superconducting coils and their power supplies, she interrupted. "Back to the point, so Jedro and her partner are having someone run a simulation of this engine to see what field strength would be needed? Based on a 3D scan, total thrust and fuel consumption?"

"Yes, and a safety margin. They thought of 100%, as this is a critical part." He smiled his human smile. "You promised me that we would fly together. Our contract still stands?"

"By Hopkins, if I can get this fixed it so quickly, yes, whatever you want." And by Hopkins, he changed subjects quickly too.

"Do you want a bigger safety margin?"

"No, I mean I need to get a new coil wound after the simulation. A superconducting coil?"

"Yes, of course. We have not yet analysed the material of the old coil. Do you know it? If not, we even have a simple XPS close by, but"

She shook her head. "Won't that be very expensive? Simulation, analysis, and coil winding?" It was more a reflex, not that she needed to worry so much after Fanny's generous contribution.

"Simulations are charged by the operator time. A full day would be 500 or so, then I think it will be less than 100. I am not sure how long it would take to set up the model, so that will cost extra. Jedro thought that she would be back in 2000, so certainly less than 500 for all the simulations. And we would have the best field configuration for that thrust, you might even save fuel later. Maybe we can get even more thrust".

"No, thank you, each engine alone goes to 2 g, so 6 g would be killing me. No need for more thrust. No, I mean, making customized superconducting coils does not seem very common. I know 3D printing doesn't work well for superconductors."

"Coils are cheap, it seems. They break often, brittle ceramics and so. That was why Jedro found it so fast. You mentioned 1000 as a budget. Jedro would certainly stay within that, it's in the contract. In fact, for every 100 she undercuts, she is allowed to take 33 for herself. Standard clause in capped contracts."

She was speechless. A ramshackle workshop on an insect world was about to repair a highly unique human plasma drive in less than a full day for the scrap-value price at which the Hopkins shipyard bought obsolete third-hand drives. She would never order repairs from Hopkins again, sorry Trina. Well, it certainly explained why they had had so few independent customers then.

"Is it too expensive?" Marik asked worriedly, the silence again growing too long for him.

She laughed and hugged him. "No, thank you, I almost expected that 1000 would not be enough."

But Marik was distracted by the hug. "Great. Hmm, so soft. May I stroke you?"

The hair on her arms stood up, suppressant or not. Her brain was still lagging behind. How could a jump pilot switch focus so quickly, human or not? Anyway, "I don't think a dirty workshop is the right place for petting. How about getting some more work done first?"

* * *

It took longer than 2000 until Jedro and Chirkos returned. It gave them plenty of time and soon were more than 25 new panels covering most of the forward-facing wall between the screens and the consoles, all slightly curved individuals. Slowly the cockpit began to look like a cockpit and no longer like a storage rack for electronics. And her suppressant was still good, even in the confined cockpit she could work normally side by side with Marik. Who was working like on drugs, finishing two panels in the time it took her to finish one. Maybe driven by the prospect of soon heading into space in this cockpit.

But now the two beetles were back with a result from the simulation. The numbers meant nothing to her but the current specs and the shape of the coil were clear. As it should, the result matched the external dimensions of the old coil which they were now breaking off from the nozzle. For this, the beetles only wore masks. But they had put on their thinsuits because superconductors often contained toxic components and neither she nor Marik wanted toxic dust stuck in their fur or hair. Smooth chitin certainly had its advantages.

They would soon find out what kind of dust it was, as an analysis of the coil was underway in a pay-by-time laboratory across the corridor. But before they went there, Marik and Rerra carefully brushed each other's thinsuits in the airless hangar to remove any of the possible nasty dust.

The analysis was already running, and on the screen bars and ball-and-stick atomic models changed height and shape at each iteration. She could not follow the details of the analysis, and it was not because of the Fallerian on the screen. Her education in science and engineering had been almost non-existent at Clarice, as there was no demand for it in their society. Even if she would have traded all the lessons on court etiquette and law for some engineering anytime back then. Thus, she was very excited, it felt like witnessing an engineering breakthrough and the equipment looked very scientific with its shiny half-dome and lots of gleaming stainless steel tubing.

Soon they had the result, the old coil was an oxide-doped iron pniktide with lots of arsenic in it. Now she dimly remembered the name from the hazard chart on the wall at Hopkins. But it was a rarely used material, and Chirkos could not produce such a coil, he said. However, with the simulated field strengths, and assuming the cooling system could keep it below 100K, a classic YBCO alloy could do the job, though it would be heavier. It sounded still very advanced, making superconducting ceramic coils. But Chirkos assured her that it was standard stuff. Dirty and toxic, but standard. He would 3D print a mould, fuse the pre-mixed powder and then sinter two halves of the coil into shape overnight. Again, lots of unhealthy powder, nothing for a person with fur. Chrikos even agreed. The workbench for the panels was not needed for the coil mould. So their work for today was done.

They packed their thinsuits into sealed bags, intended to shower off any remaining dust. She smiled carefully at Marik, not showing her teeth. "Thank you, you worked so hard today. We are more than even. Where would you like to eat? The least I can do is to invite you tonight."

"You have paid for two meals with your lodging. Fanny's gone, but I have heard that your landlady will prepare something nice tonight. Why not eat there? Less walking for you." He looked down. "You look tired," he almost whispered.

"Yes, you are right," now that he had said it. "Thank you, see you then."

* * *

She had a long shower. First for the thinsuit, then the gym uniform she had worn underneath and finally herself. The weak Fallerian soap left her fur still too oily. At least it dried a lot faster. Not that it was needed with the humid heat.

Fanny had left her two sets of clothes, well, human woman clothes. But since they were just shorts and tank tops, the anatomical differences should not be an issue and the sizes looked about right. She smiled, Fanny certainly was a good Ketcher doctor and thus would be able to guess her sizes correctly. Still, the short black denims were quite tight when she sat, too much leg muscle. At least, Fanny had them cut a tail hole which fit well even for her rather bushy appendix. The black tank top was also tight and thus revealing. Maybe that had been even Fanny's intention. But she should be thankful, both certainly beat the gym uniform which was wet now anyway. She still wondered where Fanny had found them or if they had been even tailored; and if she had deliberately selected them that tight. Since she had gone with Marik, it was likely the same place he got his clothes from. And the tailhole, well, she got the impression that if you named your price you would get anything here. The bugs were savvy, clever, and skilful tinkerers. By now, she wouldn't been surprised if even Ketcher's suppressant was manufactured here.

She had brushed her fur with the brush Fanny had also bought somewhere, again an unusual item for the locals with hard chitin bodies. The brushing relaxed her. After this, she was more relaxed and more presentable than she had been in many a day. In the knock of the landladybug, she left her room, bowed to her and sat cross-legged at the low table in the dining room. The landlady soon brought her a tray with water and a salty green tea with a strong scent, similar to the one she had drunk in the restaurant when they had met Marik. In the Fallerian heat, she drank the water and let the tea cool.

Soon Marik arrived. She stood up and followed the landlady to the entrance - and stared. He looked so different, his hair not tousled but neatly combed. He wore a formal short-sleeved shirt with thin vertical green stripes and elegant long trousers, even in the heat. Overall, he looked like a rich businessman from the dramas. She swallowed and forced her ears to straighten. "You looked stunning," she whispered.

"Thank you," he smiled, "and you look even stronger."

She was not sure how to answer. Fortunately, the landlady had now taken over, greeting Marik with a very elaborate antennae wiggle to which Marik responded with his hands and, of course, with overly polite Fallerian phrases, most of which she had never heard before.

And now she was sitting at the low table across from Marik. The landlady soon brought a bowl of tiny insects, glazed in a salty-sweet brown sticky sauce as a starter. It was so crunchy, she had never eaten something comparable. Even the salt was well-appreciated, after working in the heat of the station, she must have lost a lot of salt with her sweat. The main course was some fried larvae and greens, again excellent. The meal continued the very educational last two days on Fallerian food culture. By now, her knowledge of Fallerian cuisine had surely surpassed even what Petra Catering knew about it.

The landlady and Marik talked a lot, the old beetle enjoyed the conversation and Marik seemed much more relaxed with the Fallerians than with her. He still talked more than the landlady and nevertheless, often glanced a lot in her direction. The landlady encouraged him to talk more, and he was as chatty as before. She barely understood a quarter. But it was clear that he talked about his childhood here on the station.

"This tastes greatness," she tried a polite phrase in her lacking Fallerian during a break when Marik chewed his food, "how shouting it?"

The landlady crossed her upper antennae, which was either amusement, embarrassment or perhaps the equivalent of a facepalm. Marik certainly knew better but he did not correct her, just smiled. "This is called Kribchik, the hatchlings only exit the soil during the full moon after the equinox."

"I honoured to eat," she tried an ultra-polite reply, copying a phrase Marik had used a lot. The food sounded expensive and tasted so good. She was sad that she could not better express her thanks.

Marik praised the food to the landlady in many more words, which made her very happy and pleased the landlady, or at least her antennae were very excited.

After the dinner, the landlady returned with something inedible. It turned out to be a musical instrument. One that would need to be put on Hopkins' import control list: the sound of it pierced her ears, a dissonant shriek in the highest registers. Her fur puffed up, no matter how damp and again sweaty it had become from savouring the exquisite but steaming hot dishes. Even closing her ears, the gift from the avatar for jumping without patches could not fully mute the piercing noise. After a few moments, she gave up and pressed her hand to her ears as her last resort. "Hurting my ears!" she shouted in Standard.

Marik found more diplomatic words to stop the landlady’s performance.

"Very sorry, the wrong ears having me." She said, still half deaf and with ringing ears.

The landlady was of course very sorry.

She assured her, with Marik's help, that it was not her fault, just her very different ears. "See, these large ears?" She even let the landlady stroke her ears with her hard and surprisingly cool chitin claws. And then, with the most polite phrase she knew, she told them that she wanted to retire to her room.

Marik stood as well, again with an elaborate 'thank you for the hospitality', more hand waving than talking. She just bowed. But then Marik also turned towards her room.

She turned to him but he fixed a point just below her snout, his hands writhing, expressing his feeling the Fallerian way. "Marik?"

"Rerra, uh, you said we could cuddle later. Can we? It has been a long time since I cuddled with someone?"

She had almost forgotten. So not so different from the others. But of all of them, he had certainly earned it. "Yes, I have promised and you did well." But she grinned all the way to her gums, her heart was racing, her body was more than ready. She would have to apologise to Fanny when they meet next time. "Come."

She went ahead, could almost feel his eyes on her tail. Inside she sat on the mattress and took off her top. But his attention was still elsewhere.

"Can I touch your tail? It is so fluffy, with so much fur. Very unlike Lalleli's."

She stiffened involuntarily. "Who's Lalleli?"

"Have you forgotten? The woman who was sold into slavery after she had been modded into a centaur. Her tail was mostly hair. And brown. Not so fluffy. Please."

This was certainly not what she had expected. Neither from the dramas nor from the rumours she had heard at Clarice of how it went with humans. Whatever, he was the male, so it was for him to decide.

She lay on her stomach on the mattress and Marik sat beside her. Her fur raised all over her body when he took her tail and stroked it gently, from root to tip. He kneaded the tip and she began to purr, stronger than she had ever purred before, it almost hurt. So hard worked those rarely used muscles.