Ideas and Repasts

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

04/09/96:

"Fox," Oria asked, "Why are you grinning like that?"

I looked up from my mail, and grinned, "Oh, just ordered a
few things, that may come in handy some day."

She shook her head a bit, dismissing it for the moment, "All
right," she said, sitting down across the table from me.
"So, what's actually going on?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Playing shrink again? Nothing is going
on, truly."

Oria lowered her ears a little bit. "Really, and why have
you been sneaking around lately?"

"Oria, if there was *anything* going on, I would tell you
about it." I said, hating having to lie to her.

She nodded, accepting that for the moment. "Very well. So,
have any plans?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, rubbing my fingers a bit.

She shrugged, "Well, you've been out of Exile for a week,
and have yet to go anywhere. Do you have any plans, or
anything else for that matter?"

"Um... No, not actually," I admitted.

Leaning forward a bit, she said, "Then maybe you should go
out and do something. Maybe get a hobby or something like
that."

I thought about it for a few seconds. "Well... maybe, but I
don't know what to do."

"Well then, what have you always wanted to do, that you
haven't yet?"

I grinned, "Easy, go into space."

This caused her to raise an eyebrow. "You've been into
space," she pointed out.

"Yes. On somebody else's terms, and rules. I want to do it
my way. I'm just not sure what that is, yet." I told her, a
small though tickling at the back of my mind.

She grinned, "Start at the beginning then. What is the first
thing you will need?"

I thought about this for a second. "A ship, of course, and
some kind of docking space for it, preferably pressurized."

"Well then, why not do that?" she said.

"Easier said then done," I said, waving my hand in the air,
"I'm a bit short on funds for that kind of thing."

"So, go to some limited verse where the exchange rate works
in your favor," she said, shooting down my objection.

I slowly nodded. "I'll look into it," I agreed, knowing that
she would probably shoot down any other objections I might
have.

"Good, that's all I wanted to hear," she said, sounding
proud of herself as she stood up and left.

I leaned back in the chair, rubbing my chin through my
beard. 'A ship...' I thought to myself. 'That would be
fun...'

-----

This story (AFiW #116) is copyright 1996, 2005 by Fox
Cutter. Hardcopy reprints limited to one per person, all
other rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for
a fee except by permission of the author, and this copyright
notice may not be removed.