Kanti 13 (Patreon)

No one asked for more Kanti this month, but you get him anyhow!

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Kanti sat in a far corner of the market, nursing his beer. The icy cold beverage tasted delicious, and he’d missed beer so much in his years away, but this was not an ideal situation for him, and so his enjoyment was fleeting at best.

Across from him sat Mila, still radiating anger and resentment since Kanti had bargained away Tikkatikkachitter’s help instead of his freedom.

And what of Tikkatikkachitter? Kanti had deluded himself into thinking that she was different, that she was now his friend, but nothing had changed. She still thought of people from other races as lesser things to be bought and sold. Ugh. What a nightmare.

A tall yellow male with broad shoulders pulled out a seat and sat without invitation. He set a bag on the table. “You must be Mila,” he said with a smile before turning toward Kanti, “and you’re … Pasca?”

The scruffy geroo rolled his eyes before offering his paw. “Call me ‘Shaggy’, if you will.”

The yellow male grinned as he touched paws. Then, he reached in the bag. “First things first,” he said to Mila, “I understand that you’ve been kept as a slave, but we can’t have you walking naked around the corridors of the Meteor Lake I. It’ll … attract attention. Here’s an old bracelet for your tail and a new strand. I transferred some credits onto it—not a ton, but enough for you to go shopping for something you prefer and to pick out a new necklace, certainly.”

“Thank you so much,” said Mila with complete sincerity. He took a quick selfie and typed in his name to initialize the device before strapping the holster to his left shoulder.

“I did find two empty apartments for you guys. They’re nothing great, but from the way Numea talks, even the worst we have to offer might be an upgrade,” said the yellow male with a smile. He removed his strand and held it out for Kanti. “I already loaded one address and key code onto Mila’s strand, and I’ve got another for you. Oh, and some credits for you to use as well.”

“Thanks,” said Kanti. “I take it you’re the captain’s mate?”

“Oh, so sorry, I got ahead of myself. It’s not often we get visitors—unless you count Commissioner Sarsuk. Call me Adi,” he said, offering his paw a second time. “My mate asked me to find jobs for you two—not that we need to put you to work for the next two weeks or anything, but mostly so your presence won’t arouse suspicion. That’s just how life is aboard a gate ship—”

“Everyone works,” interrupted both Mila and Kanti in unison. Kanti explained, “We both grew up aboard the White Flower II. We understand.”

“Very well,” said Adi as he pulled up the job listings on his strand. “You guys probably have some prior experience then, right? What sort of jobs can you do without needing much training?”

“We’ve both worked on a cleaning crew,” offered Kanti. “Before that, I was an engineering cadet, and before that, I worked the recycler bay for seven years. I’d rather not—”

Mila interrupted with, “I worked security for two years. Are there any openings in security?”

Adi winced. “It would be difficult to place you with security,” he said. “You’ve got no background aboard this ship, and every security position comes with access… Would you mind taking a janitorial position for the next two weeks? Mopping, sweeping, just light stuff where no one would notice a new face?”

“Yeah, okay,” grumbled Mila before drinking more of his beer.

“As for you … Shaggy,” the captain’s mate said, studying his list once more, “I don’t have any openings for an engineering cadet, but there is a spot in the recycler.”

Kanti frowned. He hated working the recycler. It was an easy job and crucially important aboard a gate ship, but all the rotting garbage stunk so bad! “I suppose—”

“It is a supervisor position,” explained Adi. “You’ll still have to drive a dozer, but some of your time will be spent scheduling the rest of the crew. Can you handle that?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kanti said with a nod. “My mate was a supervisor in the bay. I know what the job entails.”

“Great,” said the yellow male. “Both are first-shift positions, so make yourselves at home tonight, and then turn up for work in the—”

“Amnesty!” said Mila suddenly, his voice urgent.

“Amnesty?” asked Kanti.

Adi blinked. “You mean asylum?”

“Yes!” Mila shouted, pointing at the broad-shouldered male. “Please, I request asylum. Take me in. Please don’t make me go back to Krakuntec.”

Kanti shook his head. “You can’t do that,” he said. “You don’t have a birth token anymore. And besides, Tikkatikkachitter owns you—”

Mila crossed his arms. “Slavery is illegal aboard a gate ship… At least it was aboard the White Flower II…”

The younger males looked at Adi. He hesitated a moment before nodding. “Here too, yes.”

Planetary Acquisitions prohibited anyone from owning someone else aboard a ship. But the rule was ironic, in a way, since the entire crew were slaves to the company, but few seemed to realize this. The geroo had been indoctrinated from birth, taught that they were free employees.

In a way this was true, but that depended a lot on one’s perspective. The geroo did have some freedom. They could change jobs as they wished and take whatever mates they chose, but those freedoms ended with the ship’s confines. The company didn’t allow anyone to leave.

Kanti sputtered with outrage. Mila had been an accomplice in his own murder! He deserved to be punished, and so far, he’d only been a slave to the sourang for a few months. Big deal! Kanti had served sourang for years, and he hadn’t even done anything wrong! He didn’t know what a fair punishment for Mila’s crimes might be, but he certainly didn’t feel that he’d paid his debt to society just yet.

“You can’t!” shouted Kanti, turning a few heads. He stood. “You’re a … a…” He looked around and closed his muzzle, realizing that it might be better not to publicly accuse Mila for being a criminal. That would surely complicate their stay.

“Sure,” said Adi as Kanti retook his seat. “In fact, that was a topic I was going to bring up. It would take some sleight of hand to get new birth tokens for the two of you, but it could be done—”

“I… I’m not staying!” Kanti sputtered. “And neither should Mila. You should go back—”

“Back to what?” he asked with a severe glare. “Back to being a slave and hoping that one day she releases me to return to … what? A village that hates me?”

Kanti frowned. “They don’t hate you.”

“Oh yes, they do!” Mila growled. “Tish does. The security squad were my only friends, and now Tish hates me and both Saquel and Girish are dead. I don’t want to go back.”

Silence hung over the table. “Well,” Adi said at last, “only Captain Numea could really authorize asylum, but I suspect that she’d be excited to have you stay, Mila. My contact information is on your new strand. Keep a low profile for the next two weeks, and I’m sure we’ll be able to set up a new life for you here that you can slip into right before you’re scheduled to leave. Sound good?”

Adi offered his paw a third time and Mila leapt for it, sandwiching it between both of his palms. “Oh, yes, please! Oh, thank you!”

Kanti scowled. He pulled out his strand. “We’ll talk about this—” he started to say as he moved to exchange contact information with Mila, but the younger male was quick to bat the communicator away with his paw before Kanti could get his number.

A pause, then Mila stood. “No, I don’t think we will,” he said. “You may run the village these days, but I don’t live there anymore. You don’t get any say over my life.”

With that, he turned and left, leaving the other two speechless.

Eventually, Adi cleared his throat. “Wow. Sensing a little tension between you two.”

Kanti smiled and sipped at his beer. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Adi sat back in his seat. He tapped his claws idly on the tabletop. “Is this … going to be a problem?”

Kanti sighed. “No, I suppose not,” he said. “Mila’s a good cub … mostly. He means well. He’s just … impressionable. So long as he runs with a good crowd, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

The scruffy geroo sat in silence a moment, rolling various thoughts through his mind. “And if guys you piss Tikkatikkachitter off by stealing him away from her … well … that’s not really my problem. And at this point? I don’t think I really give two kerrati tails whether she gets what she deserves or not.”

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MHULHjJMcoaW_rGcTghhSm4JnQtPSfNYYdhDupogyaU/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?