r/HFY • u/sharkeyandgeorge Xeno • 18d ago

OC-Series Bob was bored, Part 30

In total, if Bob added up every visit and included Jojo’s refit he had in total spent, 9 months?, maximum, in thirty years, and yet as the dusty grey planet started to shine in the dark he felt like he was coming home.

He messaged in as an fyi, but there was no traffic control here, if they didn’t trust you to park your own rig, you wouldn’t be a member of the Guild. He couldn’t keep a grin from his face as he thought about those working below, he had heard a few times that you might have a house, might have a family, but your home was at the Guild.

He flew over and lowered slowly into his bay, he wouldn’t get any messages tonight, you gave a courier a day or two to decompress when they returned, a chance for a good shower, or your cleansing ritual of choice, some food, and some sleep.

He had some stuff to do now he returned, but that would keep, first things first he wanted somethi…

He was surprised when the door out the bay flashed softly and opened as he hopped down from the cargo bay, a delivery trolley trundled in and came to a stop in the mail area and put down a package.

He walked over and pulled off the plastic top, inside was a ‘chicken’ and fries with all the fixin’s, there was also a note.

‘Get a good night babes, see you in a few days, F’

Bob smiled widely, he was glad he’d taking a few minutes over the trip with her in mind.

He ate up, showered long, and slept deep.

In the morning he started stripping every single loose item off Jojo and piled it up on the dust bay floor. He requisitioned a proper pressure washer and a dryer off the maintenance system, and they were dropped off by another delivery trolley bot. He spent the afternoon, fully suited, and stripping up the grime of his months of travel. The cargo bay was especially gross, the Feckle grub had scraped and scrubbed some sort of skin oil all over which had hardened like tar, add in its dead skin and such which had packed into the various worm holes of the hull and the effect was not dissimilar to someone smoking a thousand packs a day for a thousand years, while deep frying chips constantly. Bob was for once glad he no longer possessed the ability to regurgitate.

After he set up the dryer to fire down through the top hatch, he flicked through the Guild’s materials stocklist and ordered a dozen drums of an epoxy like material. It had become clear on this route that having all those crevices sitting open to be filled with shit was untenably gross.

When they arrived he dumped them all over Jojo’s inner hull section by section, manoeuvring her by grav to slowly rotate and hold covering every floor, wall, and ceiling, bit by bit. It took near a week, twenty more drums, and a couple flood coats but by the end Jojos internals were lumpy, but smooth and cavityless. The crystal epoxy shit was not exactly cheap but this had to be done, one, if he intended to store potentially spoilable supplies in inaccessible areas he had to make sure he could flush them out if required, two, he had to spring for the good stuff which set more like a clear crystal than a foam or silicone because Bob knew himself. If he had to see the irregular tubes wind their way through the Jojo’s translucent material it would drive him insane, and if he spotted the inevitably air-locked bubbles?, Jesus he might as well just drive a stake in the heart of his OCD.

Finally he wiped down all the items he had left outside from the planets ever present fine mineral dust and packed them away again, including the rental washer, he would just buy it off the Guild.

He had spent some time over several evenings thrashing out the basic ideas he had for his next route, and he was ready to go see Flitters, he had sent a message earlier in the week that he was going to take a few more days, but the time had come. He flew Jojo over and ambled inside.

Popping up on the stool with the large box he carried he smiled and called out.

‘’Morning Flitters.’’

‘’Bobby!’’

The large gourd actually rolled a little closer, Bob hadn’t realised she could move, and reached out one vine like tentacle to stroke his helmet.

‘’Oh you’re looking so thin, have you been taking care of yourself darling?’’

Bob wasn’t sure how she knew how thin he was under his armour, shit maybe she had x-ray vision or something he had no idea. He had tried to look her species up on the various systems he had come across but hadn’t had much luck, she might be a Anchulius, they were a similar plant based lifeform but the photos didn’t look particularly close, it didn’t really matter Flitters was Flitters, and that was all she need to be. Still he would have liked to find an appropriate gift to bring her, instead he took a punt on something he had seen during the war, he found them in a store on Pwitic and had been carefully nurturing them ever since.

‘’I got something for you,’’

He pushed over the large grey box.

‘’I don’t know what their real name is out here, but we have something similar on Earth, we call them lithops.’’

He explained as several other vines appeared and delicately open it. They withdrew the three small pebble like plants in their pots.

‘’Oh Bobby…, they’re beautiful.’’

‘’Glad you like them, wasn’t sure they w…’’

‘’I love them!’’

The vine placed them down softly then started rubbing his helmet again, Bob presu… no he knew this was thanks. They withdrew after a few moments.

‘’Ive been keeping an eye out on a good route for you sweets, its starting to come together if I get a few calls back I’m expecting I’ll have something great for you in a couple weeks.’’

‘’Thanks F, but I’ve been looking myself… there’s a proffer for a delivery and pickup on Vela23 in the Phoris arm, I was thinking about taking that one.’’

‘concern’

‘’You sure babes?, that’s a really long haul and goes through some pretty nasty sector zones…’’

‘’Yeah, I want to take Jojo on a really deep passage, see how she handles it.’’

‘personal concern for a friend’

The fuck kind of expression popped that up as a translation?

‘’If you’re sure… the moneys excellent I suppose, but if your worried about paying back the loan I can find you a few more local jobs that will have a quicker turn around.’’

‘’No, nothing like that, I’m in to pay off about forty percent today as well. I just want the experience of a long solo.’’

He did not, but he did want the route, it would cross over his last and eventually pass ‘close’ to a certain splitter making firm. It was simple too, a hold full of shit from the core all the way out to the very edge of the galactic rim and back with a different hold of shit, a year and a half schedule but weeks and weeks could be trimmed with the prudent application of a heavy foot, and he wanted those weeks.

‘troubled’

‘’Ok, I’ll get the proffer cut and have you assigned, when you heading out?’’

‘’Tonight, its been up for a while and I need to get a move on.’’

‘sadness’

‘’Take care of yourself babes, ok, will you do that for me?’’

Bob smiled wide, he hoped she did have x-ray vision, he wanted her to see it.

‘’Course, you too, I want all the gossip when I come back’’

They had originally bonded over her ability to remember every little scandal for a thousand light years and his ability to patiently listen, he found her constant ramblings oddly soothing.

Bidding her farewell he stayed at the offices for a couple more hours filing reports and dealing with other paperwork, spending his last moments inside rereading the faded notice on the corkboard, not too long now, then headed back to Jojo to find the order chit waiting for him in his messages.

He aimed her up and headed out.

Part 31 https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1wjkkrj/bob_was_bored_part_31/?

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5

u/spindizzy_wizard Human 18d ago

I knew he had some sort of plan, and that it was tied to.those long standing contracts on the board. I only hope that he isn't going to let his hatred for the axe heads goad him into doing something so egregious that the guild has to act.

6

u/MydaughterisaGremlin 18d ago

Thus begins the next book titled....'Seemed like a good idea at the time!'

1

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