Is Something Burning?
28 Dec 2016Kyndi the Badass Space Chick
Oh, God. What time is it? I'm on my ship, right?
Yeah. This is my bunk. Okay. Good.
Jesus. I must have hit it hard last night. It wasn't even a celebration, either. Just a port visit on my way to Goeng Gong in Imperial space. Hold full of opium, just stopping for a quicky refuel...
Oh yeah. I remember now. Sort of.
He was tall, right? Tall and filled out. With that relaxed, nothing-to-prove demeanor that men his size have. Confident without being cocky. Gentlemanly, but not afraid to say what he wanted. Eyes that convinced me that maybe I had time to stay, after all...
I sit up, rubbing my eyes. They're stinging, and the ship seems hazy. Why are they stinging? And why do I feel like I've just emerged from a week-long debauch?
Something isn't right.
I gingerly stand up, my footing unsteady. Memories of last night slowly filter in. The conversation at the pilots' lounge. The walk back to the ship, swigging a bottle of almost pure rotgut alcohol. The immediate passion as the entryway door closed. Our impatience. The way that we had fucked and smoked and fucked some more, all over the ship. He'd even sat me on top of one of the cubes of soft-packed opium in the cargo bay, putting a very personal touch on the merchandise before finally making it down the corridor to the bunk.
But he left. Right? I mean, he isn't here, so-
Jesus, Kyndi. Get it together.
Even walking is hard. Why is that? I'm not even concerned about how spaced out everything is. In fact, I'm rather euphoric. Which is concerning...
The smoke and pungent odor hits me as soon as I open the door into the Cool Under Pressure's main corridor. It's a familiar smell, not my favorite, but-
The opium.
I shut the door and double over, coughing my lungs out and ripping open my locker, groping for an atmo mask. So that's what's got me so discombobulated.
But how?-
No time to worry about that right now. Just find out what the hell is going on.
Even with the mask, some of the smoke gets in my system. Well, more than what's already seeped through the ship for hours and hours. It seems to be coming from the cargo bay. The smoke is so thick that I can barely see.
Yep. Definitely the cargo bay.
I survey the remains of what used to be my haul. At least half the load is gone, burned away and filling the ship with its rancid odor. I shake my head, my eyes stinging more than ever.
But how?
On the deck, amid the smoldering ash, is the blackened bottle. The memories of our carnal exertions sharpen, my drug-addled mind recalling the details. The look of lust in his eye as he effortlessly picked me up and laid me down on the opium. The cool feeling of the liquor washing over my chest as he poured it on me to lick up. Rocking in carnal bliss as our bodies moved, the onionhead joint dangling in my fingers. In a hazy flash, it hits me:
Being sat on a cube of opium.
Liquor poured on and around me.
Smoking as the man pounded away, the herb and the climax carrying me away...
I looked again to the ground, the realization sinking in as quickly as my numbed mind allowed.
Oh, shit.
The cube alone wouldn't have caught fire so dramatically, but soaked in high-proof alcohol...
Oh, fuck.
The ventilation systems couldn't handle it. The smoke from the burning drug had slowly permeated the ship- and my body. Half the load was gone, and the other half was probably undeliverable. The Cool Under Pressure herself was never in any real danger, but damn if her and her commander didn't smell like a third-rate opium den. I turned away, closing the door to the cargo bay and trying to stop my head from reeling.
I'm out so many credits. And the client is going to be fucking pissed.
Leaning against the wall for support, I again nearly hack my lungs out.
And it's not like I can get my ship deep-cleaned. Shit's illegal here. I'll just have to Remlock up and move on.
The coughing passes, and I hold up the mask to my face, breathing deeply. In the midst of my spinning, drugged-up shock, I laugh deliriously.
O-head, dick, and engine-cleaner rotgut. Everything I love is bad for business.
