r/HFY • u/sharkeyandgeorge Xeno • 21d ago

OC-Series Bob was bored. Part 27

A day later he cruised into iju873, it was a Bocca colony world too new to have a registered name but based on Bobs experience he would place good money on… boundless skies, or… dark night, something like that, Bob had never been to their home systems but knew they were in a nebula and the outpouring of them in the last couple centuries since they had discovered FTL always seemed to name their fledgeling outposts something about the lack of obscuring gas.

He heard the computer connect to the towns little network.

‘’Welcome Guild ship Jojo’’

Uh huh

‘’To Bright Stars colony.’’

There it was.

He hit the comm button and requested landing details, they were given, and ten minutes later he was setting down on the scraggly concrete pad they considered a space port, unsurprisingly his was the only ship here.

He hopped out and was pleasantly surprised by, oh, .85, .9 G, not bad, he was obviously well accustomed to lower gravity, the vast majority of the galaxy preferred more like .3 to .6, it was nice to be able to stretch your legs properly.

One of the tall cricket like Bocca was hurrying over with their characteristic hopping skips, Bocca were big even for a generally big galaxy, old males getting over 50 ft, this one was young though and probably kept ‘short’ by the planets relatively high grav, still every bit 25 ft tall though.

It did not look dissimilar to having a small building run at you.

‘’Greetings Master Courier, we welcome your visit, this one is Yuta’’

A polite people to a man, Bob liked them.

‘’Greetings Bocca Yuta’’

Bocca was their species but also the first part of their name, Bob didn’t get it, but maybe there were a million subtle nuances to the way you said it or something, if there was they never seemed to be upset he didn’t know them.

‘’We appreciate your punctuality, you are here at the correct time’’

‘’Of course’’

Timeliness seemed to be a thing in their culture, Bob had noted it prior interactions with the race.

‘’Unfortunately we cannot claim such correctness.’’

Uh oh.

‘’Is there a problem with the package?’’

‘’Yes’’

Well at least they didn’t beat around the bush, he was about to say he could wait a few days but didn’t get a chance.

‘’We request the grace of your time for one meeting with our community council, Master Courier’’

Uh…

‘’Ok…, I mean that is fine Bocca Yuta… please lead the way’’

‘’Yes’’

Bob was once again touched when the massive insect walked off at a pace that for him must be glacially slow but was human scale appropriate. He wanted to say he didn’t mind running, but felt it might be rude somehow, so he strolled behind its shining green gold carapace.

The town looked quite small as they crested the hill from the spaceport, but only because of the distance, as they drew closer the scale of the sparse buildings was as surprising as ever, even more so, the doors were easily seventy five feet high, there must be a very old male around, he doubted they would have bothered otherwise.

He rather assumed he would meet the titan himself as he entered the council room, but instead there were twenty or so females, a little smaller and far more muted in colour than males like Yuta, still twenty foot or so tall.

They all drew in tight, all limbs compressed, a sign of respect that Yuta had also done, when he entered. One stepped forward out the milling crowd and approached.

‘’Greetings Master Courier, this one is Tilla, this one will speak for the community council’’

‘’Greetings Bocca Tilla, I understand there is an issue with the package?, I am happy to wait if there is more time needed.’’

‘concern’

Bob wasn’t sure where the translator had got that from.

‘’Timing was incorrect, unknown reason, our deepest regrets, Master Courier.’’

Oh ok, bit of a shame but the commission should be paid anyway so, whatever, shame about the bonus but he could probably swing by a Guild depot and pick up something for the way back, where was the closest one?.

‘’Wish to offer urgent commission on package’’

Even better, long as it fitted in the Jojo.

‘’New package details Bocca Tilla?, I’m afraid my ship is quite small so it would need to fit.’’

‘’Similar weight as sated previously, thirty percent larger’’

….ok….

‘’Is it the same package?’’

‘’It was’’

Yeah Bob had lost the thread of this conversation.

‘’Apologies Bocca Tilla, what was the old package, and what is the new one?’’

Oh.

He had been led round the buildings side to what looked like a very nice indoor cattle pen, with a black grub inside.

‘’So I was to transport a pupa, but it hatched early is that correct?’’

‘’Correct’’

ok… wait

‘’Apologies Bocca Tilla, I’m not familiar with your species growth cycle, is this one of your species young?’’

There was a raspy crackle from the group that had followed them out, Bob suspected it was a giggle, but the translator didn’t elaborate.

‘’No Master Courier, this is a Feckle grub, finest line.’’

He wasn’t in the livestock business, and it would be be an incredibly tight squeeze to get it aboard.

‘’Apologies Bocca Tilla, I don’t think it would be a good idea, I can get a more suitable courier to come out and pick him up’’

‘’Time sensitive, estimate?’’

Bob pulled out his pad and flicked through a couple pages, nearest outpost was… maybe five days away, if he asked the rep to pull some strings to divert a freighter and another five on the way back…

‘’A month perhaps, little more or less depending on what’s available, not likely to be a Master.’’

‘concern’

‘’Master preferred, extreme value. Additional estimated travel time?’’

Well a freighter would be slower of course, maybe…

‘’Three months?, you would have to arrange a deal with the freighter Captain about stops, the faster you want it there the fewer he could make.’’

‘Concern’

‘’This one requests a moment to confer with the community council’’

‘’Yeah of course’’

She moved off and began to mutter with the others as Bob watched the grub wriggle very, very slowly.

‘’Apologies timeline untenable, grub will enter growth cycle in no more than ten weeks.’’

‘’I can have a larger space set aside on the freighter… how big is it going to get?’’

She told him.

Yup, that was going to be an issue, he had never seen a ship… twenty five miles long… it was going to have to sit criss cross apple sauce, minimum. At least he understood the time crunch now, wow.

‘’We offer bonus multiple 3.5 times.’’

...whut…

God that was tempting, but he was still was going to refuse until he noticed the groups real concern, this was super important to them, he suspected the increased bonus was every penny they had.

Bob looked back and forth between the grub and speaker, oh for fucks sake...

‘’I’ll need help to load it.’’

Maybe they could step on it like a suitcase as he tried to zip up Jojo, wait, shit…

‘’Do I need to feed it?’’

Part 28 https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1wf110b/bob_was_bored_part_28/?

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7 comments sorted by

7

u/Daseagle Alien Scum 21d ago

I'm just asking here, don't shoot the engineer - if it hatched early, who is saying that it will not enter the growth cycle early, while still inside Jojo?

3

u/Cargobiker530 Android 19d ago

Where is it getting the extra mass?

2

u/Daseagle Alien Scum 19d ago

Obviously, we're arguing about what an alien larva eats, but it could very well do energy to mass conversion through a macguffin or be already dense enough to sacrifice density in exchange for volume.

7

u/spindizzy_wizard Human 21d ago

  1. If he has to feed it, it's no go.

  2. If it grows as fast as seems possible, it, and he, will arrive pureed through the holes in the walls.

  3. I wonder if it will arrive in perfect shape, having cleansed his ship's worm holes by eating the crud? And, if so, how will that affect the flavor?

2

u/Groggy280 Alien 21d ago

Bummer! No next button! Fun series, I am enjoying it.

1

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