The night was a little less romantic and brought a reality check. Even before midnight, one of the kittens had peed on her. It was not much, so only she and the kitten were wet. She carefully put the other kittens to her side who happily slept on, and then woke Yuha, who was next to her.

Yuha was quickly awake and got three towels from a chest near the entrance, one to dry the kitten who was still sleeping through all this, a second one for her to clean, and a third wet one for her to dry. Then Yuha went to sleep again, apparently used to this.

She still lay there and could not get right back to sleep. The air was thick with the now somewhat familiar but still new smells of the Petra den. She had not realised how lonely she had been in the last three years at Clarice, being bullied and pushed outside of any groups there, and on top shunted by her tribe. She was overwhelmed and that was an understatement. In the silent night, she wept tears of joy.

Just when she had drifted asleep, a kitten had jumped for her hand, hunting in its sleep. Probably she would get used to this. But now her instincts woke her whenever some kitten tails or paw touched her.

In the morning, she was still tired. And the morning came very early, the first kitten woke the rest quickly. Eli nursed her infants and then went to the kitchen after Kit. She stood up too and followed them to the kitchen.

"Morning, Rerra", greeted Eli without looking up from chopping meat substitute into smaller chunks. "Can you put 17 bowlch on the trolley? Checond cupboard lowecht rack."

She did as told on automatic, her brain still too tired.

"Morning", she finally mumbled.

Only then Eli turned to her. "Oh, rough nightch?"

"It was nice, but I am not used to, er, so much, er, kittens."

Eli smiled. "Yech, chey can be echhauchting."

"The den was nice, really, just, never slept with so many together. Samul had no dens, and", she yawned.

"I think you need some alone time in your cabin", interjected Kit.

"Thank you, I really enjoyed it, but yes, Kit", she wrought her hands, "Maybe I will leave."

"No problem. Come."

She went with Eli to the other room and Eli took out her drawer. "Pleache come again."

"I will, Eli." She hugged her and then got into her clothes while Eil went back to the kitchen. "Bye", she shouted in the kitchen. This time Kit saw her off.

She walked around the station to the counterside on the fourth desk. It was longer but she hoped that the exercise would wake her up. And the lift was cheaper there as well, the cheapskate who she had become. She was now saving everything to repair her Sagan.

She arrived at her cabin just when Trina came to pick her up.

"You look awful? Should I ask?"

She waved her hands, "Not now. You said a lot of work today?"

Trina sighed. "Yes, my mother wants the Terendiptis leaving tomorrow evening."

"So a quick breakfast and then overtime?", she sighed.

Trina did a crooked smile. "Welcome to the eternal crisis mode."

* * *

Today she worked until 8450. She and Trina were the last to leave the shipyard. Only after she had showered, she saw the message from Eli on her pad, inviting her again for dinner tonight. She quickly typed her response, 'Sorry not tonight, just saw it now.' But there was a good chance that it would not reach Eli before the den went to sleep. Instead, she hurried over to the 'Blended Follower' where Trina was already at her table and had also ordered for her. The food arrived as soon as she sat down.

"Enjoy", and they silently ate their gratin.

Halfway through, she had a snout-breaking yawn. "Trina, you know, this can't go on."

Trina nodded tiredly. "The Terendiptis will be finished and then I will close the shipyard until the day after tomorrow. We have all worked way too much", she sighed, "as usual."

"I mean, most contracts are five days and then one day off."

"Yes, we try to do this as well. Maybe, we only do three days after tomorrow and then another day off. Let's hope there is not another urgent fix needed. Do you have any plans for your day off?"

"Actually yes, gym in the morning and then working on the Sagan."

Trina looked a little put-off. "Gym and work. Come on, that does not sound like relaxing."

She grinned. "You have no idea."

* * *

The Terendiptis had left the shipyard in the late afternoon with Penny doing the acceptance flight. Trina stayed in the office to catch up with the administrative work and be ready for any reports from Penny. She left with the rest as soon as the ship had left the shipyard's airlock.

She returned to her cabin, put the two sports dresses into the laundry next door together with the other dirty clothes and then showered as long as her daily allowance of water would let her. With shampooing and brushing, it was always a close call.

Then she messaged Eli who did not reply. Thus, she sent a message to Yuha, if it would ok to come over for dinner. Her answer came moments later, she was welcomed any time.

She waited for the laundry to finish and put on her gym uniform. She was really looking forward to the den, her steps had a spring and her body radiated joy. Her gym uniform blended much better with the fashion of other scantily clad cats on this floor and the dimmed lights let her freshly washed fur look thicker.

Yuha opened the door. "Good evening, great that you have found the time."

"Good evening and thank you", she smiled and entered, "Can you help me to get my box from the top row?"

Only then Yuha realised that she was a head taller. Well, the last time she had kneeled and then it was less obvious. "Oh."

"Yes", she lifted one foot, "these human-like feet make me much shorter."

"Sorry, I had not paid attention." Yuha had her box out already.

That meant caring, the best possible answer. "Thanks, those feet come with Rerra", she smiled and put her clothes in the drawer.

Yuha had already exchanged two drawers and now there was a hole in the second row from the top which was within her reach.

She followed Yuha into the den.

"Rerra", five kitten cried and all raced to her and hugged her legs or her tail. She did not mind, no, she fought hard with tears.

"Tabita, and Kelly", she petted each head, "and Filou, and, er"

"Jet" was the feeble reply, dripping with cuteness.

"And?"

"Yem", whispered the youngest, still moving on all fours. The only male in the den.

She carefully lifted Yem, who was smiling and was super adorable with his big eyes. She then lifted each of them, repeating the names in her head, together with their scents.

She lets them chase her tail. Their claws did not reach her skin through it thick fur.

It entertained them for a short time. Then she wiggled her fingers and made a counting game with them, hiding her thumbs for it so everyone had four digits.

Some of the teens had been called to the kitchen to help with chopping and dinner preparations while the two oldest teens were busy with their homework. Just having finished school, she was curious and went over to have a look. All while the youngest kittens were again chasing her tail which she had good control over, thanks to the hated etiquette training since her childhood.

The older teen, Senta, was struggling with mathematics. It was obvious that she had no idea how to tackle the problems in her homework. She tried to gently direct her so she could find the missing steps herself. But in the end, she explained to her how to solve this type of question and let her solve two further problems until she was sure that the teen actually understood it.

The kitten demanded her attention again. But from time to time, she glanced at the homework and helped her with another math problems. Maths was clearly not Senta's strong point. Meanwhile, the kittens assaulted her toes, trying to catch and bite them playfully while she lay on her belly and had her feet up in the air.

The rumble of the serving trolley was interrupting her explanation.

* * *

The night had been more relaxing, or she had become less nervous. But she slept through with the kittens still cuddling with her. But their excitement had dropped enough that no further nightly accidents happened. And while she was still somewhat afraid of crushing the kittens when sinking into sleep, it seemed that the kitten pile moved with her in their sleep.

She woke only when the morning lights were already bright and the first kittens stirred. Yuha and Fieta were already in the kitchen and Eli was nursing her two infants.

She stood up as well and went to the kitchen with a detour through the bathroom.

Yuha was cutting some roots and Fieta was stacking the plates on the trolley. She wished she could be of more help than pushing the trolley into the den.

Breakfast went in the same order as dinner, first herself as the guest, then the kittens, the teens, the adults and finally the clanmother.

When everyone was eating, she went to Eli. "Eli, can we forgo first serving me, please? I do not like being singled out."

"Guecht ich guecht."

"Can I contribute? Like pay my part and help cooking?"

"Not ach guecht."

"Please, Eli, let me help with cooking at least."

"I will chpeak to the clanmother. Will you come thich evening too?"

"Yes, but please, let me help or contribute."

"Ok, come around 6500 then. We chtart cooking then."

* * *

She took the stairs down to the docking ring. They were dirty and smelly, but she did not want to wait for a lift car for three decks only. She still had to jog around a third of the docking ring, a good warm-up. Then she was at the gym.

Lead was serving another cat. She checked in and wanted to go to the left.

"Rerra, stop, go right. Right now, the left is males only."

"Thanks", she said, barely hiding her disappointment that today looked like regular training only.

Her frustration was rising because she was badly out of shape. The few days pulling long shift under reduced gravity at the shipyard had really affected her stamina. She gritted her teeth and still finished only four-fifths of her program. She really needed to train again more regularly. Maybe every second morning from now on.

There were only two other cats training with her, otherwise, the gym was empty. One was also very young, but taller than her and more in for looks than for power, judging from her stylish gym uniform. The other was an older cat, her fur getting lighter but in great shape, a much better shape than her. She tried another round but admitted early defeat.

She showered but had brought nothing else. Releuctantly, she put on again the sweaty gym uniform.

"Hey, Rerra!"

She turned, Lead leaned at the wall next to the entrance and held out his pad.

She smiled broadly and scanned his pad's code. "Thanks", she whispered.

"See you then!" Lead's smile was hungry.

She nodded and went out, fighting her body and her lower brain. Outside his smell was quickly diluted.

So she went to her cabin, changed, and went straight to the shipyard. She had made a list of the things to work on the Sagan. First was more reactor power and that meant fixing the second cooling loop. For this, she needed two more working pumps. The shipyards had no proper register but Bernie, the second AI, knew approximately which ships might be in what state. Soon, she was searching for wrecks that matched the AI's descriptions.

After some looking around, she found a really old wreck. It was dusty as hell, more skeleton than a ship. Its remaining fusion core was of the same design as the one of the Sagan. But it was broken, so she did not know which components would be still good. And when she was deep in the dusty innards, she had to admit that she had no idea how to test the pumps. She could not even remove them. There were no joints, the tubes were welded to the pumps. "What a useless cat you are!" she scolded herself.

She went back to her Sagan and had a look at the pumps there. They were also welded to the pipes. She sighed and went to the next point on her list: A better power pack for sustained emergency power and even allowing a fusion core restart. Disconnecting the old broken cells was straightforward, there was even a plug. In the low gravity zone where the Sagan was, the removal of the power was easy too.

When she had it outside and secured on the ground, she read Bernie the specs from the side of the power pack. The search for another power pack went better, Bernie found a relatively new ship with a matching power pack. And luckily, even the connector matched. It was disconnected quickly and she walked with the half-ton power pack over her shoulder to the Sagan. Even with the low gravity, it was not easy, a continuation of her gym workout.

As on command, her pad chimed. 'From 5500 for 1000 Your place?' Lead's message read.

'I have a small bunk bed', she replied.

'My treat then', his reply, followed by an address. She connected the new power pack and secured it. Her first repair alone. She was proud and called it a day. She was eager to see Lead instead of getting her hands even more dirty.