Cold Therapy

An Alleycat Crew Short

Kash woke with a start, shivering.

Something was wrong.

The temperature inside the Alleycat Savant had dropped well below freezing. He rolled under the stiff sheets, opened the hatch containing his recon suit, and quickly slipped it on. He didn’t know if it could regulate the temperatures enough to keep him warm at these temperatures, but it was better than nothing.

“Baby Girl?” Kash hollered for Calynn as he exited their bedroom.

No answer.

The engines and HLD were still purring along, so his ship hadn’t lost power. Next, he drew in a deep breath. The oxygen levels seemed to be okay, so it wasn’t a hull breach. Every hard surface had an icy sheen to it, which told him the temperature drop had been quick enough to freeze the humidity in the air. But it still didn’t explain why.

Kash turned right and took the couple steps up to the cockpit still looking for Calynn, but the cockpit was empty. So, he turned on his heels and headed to the cargo hold.

Calynn was sitting on the floor in the center of the hold with her arms crossed. She wasn’t moving.

Kash scowled at her and slowly descended the ship ladder, and walked up behind her.

“Do you know what these are?” Calynn asked as he got closer, motioning to something black in front of her.

“No,” Kash replied slowly. “Should I?”

“Do you want a hint?”

“No,” Kash replied sharply. “I want to know why it’s freezing cold in here.”

“Because of this,” Calynn said, motioning to the black blob again.

Kash slowed and focused on the blob. He stopped scowling. It must have been dangerous to them or the ship unless she froze it solid. Now, he was thankful she dropped the temperature.

“What is it?” Kash asked, kneeling beside her. “Like a bacteria or something.”

“Oh, it’s something.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“To you… maybe.”

“It can’t affect you?”

“Oh, it already affected me… it really… really affected me,” Calynn said in a snarky tone. “Took a dump on my whole day.”

Kash started scowling again.

“Why would you think it was a good idea to stuff your stinky… stanky… god awful socks inside your recon boots, and then stuff the boots inside a cubby hole to fester?” Calynn asked, her words dripping with disgust. “Did you forget where the laundry basket was?”

“When did I…”

“I should make you put them back on your feet so all that grime can leech its way into your feet.”

“But…”

“So I froze the socks to prevent the odor from spreading,” she continued while standing up. “After you toss the offending smell into the depths of space and finish disinfecting my ship…”

“Whose ship?”

“I’ll consider turning the temps back up,” Calynn finished, undeterred by Kash’s question.

She strolled by him leisurely and patted him on the chest.

“When you’re done, you can apologize to my nose for making it smell something so horrid,” Calynn continued as she walked away. “I’ll be at the helm… waiting for my apology.”

Kash watched her walk away until she was out of sight, and then turned back to the thing that offended her.

He picked up the socks and walked to the rear cargo doors. He engaged the atmospheric fields, opened the cargo door just a crack, tossed the socks into space, closed the door, and disengaged the field. Then he grabbed the cleaner Calynn left by the stairs and cleaned the cubby hole, his boots, and the spot where the socks were sitting on the floor.

He knew she was watching because the more he did, the warmer the air in The Cat got. When he got to the catwalk at the top of the ship ladder, he saw her walking toward him from the helm.

Calynn paused at the door to their bedroom, gave him a sly grin, and then disappeared through the door.

Kash took two steps closer and then stopped when Calynn’s shirt landed in the hallway.

He grinned ear to ear knowing he was forgiven.