Oil and cinnamon

Del leans back in his chair and tries for this all-important relaxed look. He is determined to convince their potential customers that he is not only smart, good looking and competent but also the one and only smuggler who is able to satisfy their needs on time. This is kind of tricky, because he can neither see nor speak directly with his unusual customers. They are enclosed in a dark metal box of roughly two by two by two meters. The container maintains the atmosphere that allows the hkhrrry delegation to exist on this outer reach space station. Communication is made possible by a sophisticated translator system and some visual sensors built in the slightly sparkling surface of the box. But possible doesn't equal easy or fast.

Del glances in Br'ri's direction only to realise that his partner seems to be disgusted. Her skin shows that typical wrinkling around the mouth. He is not sure if she disapproves of his performance or the strange beings in the box. Hopefully the visuals don't translate this to the customers.

The waiting starts to get on Del's nerves as well. Nonchalantly he starts cleaning his fingernails with a dangerous looking dagger. He is aware that most people are either impressed or distressed by this behaviour. Briefly he wonders what the inhabitants of the box make of it? Hkhrrry are not people in the strict sense, so there is no telling if they even understand his gesture.

Del knows from experience that Br'ri is getting exceedingly nervous. So he puts the dagger away and tries to send her a mental message, telling her to calm down. Of course she can't read his thought, same as the last roughly five hundred times he tried this tactic. But you never know, maybe one day he will develop enough mind power to make it work. Hope dies last.

Del sighs inwardly. Finally the translator cackles with the long awaited response.

"Very - well. You - may - pick - up - the - freight - immediately - and - deliver - it - by - human - trade - routes - to - G9-station - without - delay. Paperwork - is - provided. Payment - at - delivery."

Del nods and stands up, all business now. Br'ri follows his lead with a slight frown. She is ka'arian, blue skin, stilted eyes and all. Actually she is ka'arian royalty, a princess or duchess or whatever, for what this is worth today. For a royal she is certainly the best partner he ever had, a competent mechanic, navigator and all-round agreeable company. But something seems off today.

"What's wrong, Br'ri?"

"This job, the hkhrrry pay way too much for what the freight is worth."

"There is no such thing as too much pay. Besides, you know we need the money to pay off the replacement of our busted hyperdrive."

Br'ri only nods, her cheeks a shade darker as usual, the green spots more prominent. She still feels guilty for the stupid incident with the drive, and although Del doesn't actually blame her he is not about some teasing. He chuckles and gives her a mischievous grin. But then it is time to go back to diplomatic mode. They have reached the fright dock, there is a job to be done.

~ ~ ~

The trade patrol officer studies the fright papers with a deepening frown. Del can understand him very well. He checked and rechecked the papers himself. Like Br'ri he is pretty sure that there must be something wrong with this job. But unlike her he is determined to pull it through. They really need the money. He tries to look adequately relaxed as the two other officers come back to the bridge. Br'ri follows them with a confused look. The taller of the two humans hands his captain TPO a log pad.

"Everything alright, boss. There actually is oil in these containers. They contain approximately one litre each. All in all we are talking about thirteen litres of unrefined oil. I just don't get what anybody wants with this amount of absolutely worthless stinking liquid."

If possible the TPO's frown deepens.

"Oil? As in fossilised organic matter?"

Del shrugs. He has asked himself this question since they took the strange hkhrrry freight on board. But everything seems legal, far more so than on most of their other cargo runs. And he is not one to complain about the small amount of cargo when the price is right.

He offers one of the more silly explanations Br'ri and himself found the other night over a few keethi drinks.

"Maybe they have a museum with some old combustion engines on G9?"

"Hardly. Well, it seems that you're clear on the cargo. May the boys check your life-pods? May as well finish the job thoroughly."

"Sure. Br'ri, can you show them?"

While Br'ri leads the two patrol men down into accommodation Del fills a glass with amber liquid for his guest. The officer takes it with a smirk.

"Thanks mate. And sorry for the inconvenience. Hope you don't mind the delay."

"As long as we get that cargo to G9 on time, I'm happy. Why the life-pods?"

"New regulation. Seems there lately was some smuggling done in life-pods. A Centauri trader got hit by an asteroid. The whole crew died because all their pods were filled with plasma crystals. Poor sods."

"Their own decision. I believe in working life-pods."

"I would too, with a girl like your little ka'arian. How long has she been your wife?"

The officer sips his drink and winks knowingly. Del is kind of shocked. Br'ri is a competent partner and even a friend. But that's all there is about their relationship.

"Wait, she's my engineer and navigator. We're friends, that's all. Why would you think there is more?"

"Come on, haven't you seen the green mating spots on her skin? That's a sure enough sign that she has recently chosen a partner for life. I'm sure I would know, lived on a ka'ari station for twenty years. As there are only the two of you aboard I reckon it must be you...?"

Luckily Br'ri's return interrupts the conversation. The patrol men are finally satisfied, the TPO drowns the dregs of his drink and calls the boarding off, but not without winking conspirationaly at Del again. Somehow it seems to be incredibly hot on the bridge today. Del fetches two new glasses and some ice. His hand shakes slightly while he pours a drink for Br'ri and another one for himself. He needs to cool down.

~ ~ ~

Del enters the bridge quietly. But Br'ri immediately turns one of her sparkling eyes in his direction while the other two remain fixed on the screen. It's the first time this period that she actually acknowledges his presence.

"Del, I think I know what they use the oil for."

Del raises his eyebrows. He was not aware that Br'ri is still preoccupied with their strange cargo from a while ago. After all the delivery was rather unspectacular and the payment on time. He counts themselves lucky that they were boarded by the trade patrol with such an uncompromising cargo and not some really hot stuff, like plasma crystals or giiky hides.

"Still wondering about the oil? Everybody knows that these days it is completely and utterly useless. A nostalgic rarity at best. Humans stopped using fossil fuels centuries ago when earth's reserves were almost depleted. And your people were never stupid enough to build their economy on restricted energy resources."

"Yes, exactly. That's why I wanted to know why the hkhrrry are interested in this utterly worthless stuff. Check this out!"

Del leans over Br'ri's shoulder to read the small note on the screen. He gasps. Suddenly everything makes sense. Br'ri's purple smile broadens and two of her eyes wink happy at Del.

"They believe it enhances fertility and potency. I thought, hkhrrry are all the same sex anyway. Why would they need something like that?"

"Maybe because they are all the same sex. But why don't they replace it by something synthetic?"

"Maybe something religious?"

"Maybe..."

Br'ri scrolls down the information while her eyes are individually busy quick-reading. Del is impressed.

"See, here it says that only fossilised planetary oil does the job properly. And according to this source really small amounts are worth a fortune on the inner worlds..."

"... And trade goes through G9. Br'ri this is it! This is our chance to get finally incredibly, stupidly and unbelievably rich!"

"Only if we can get our hands on some more oil. What they paid us last time was ridiculous."

"Yeah. Ridiculous enough to get you wondering about it. I know that there's still a lot of oil on old earth. When we got your amazing ka'arian hyperdrive technology it became worthless overnight."

Br'ri's dark pupils widen and the green spots on her cheeks almost glow.

"So you know where we can get some of this stuff?"

"Sure. I told you that I grew up on old earth. The neighbourhood was not exactly the best. In the vicinity there is still one of this old storage dumps. My brother and I discovered two barrels of oil when we were playing pirates in the pit. It was forbidden as hell and we swore to keep our treasure secret. Some years later we admitted that it was worth- and useless. Im sure it's still there. Would you like to get to know my family?"

Br'ri's smile turns brilliant as Del pulls her into an unexpected hug. While he admires her eyes turning silver he briefly wonders where the TPO is right now. Probably checking the life-pods of another poor smuggler on the outer cargo run. Does he know that ka'arian kisses taste like cinnamon?