Cat and Company by Tracy Cooper-Posey

most insane risks and think you’re immune because you can jump through Interspace to get away.”
    Bedivere couldn’t refute him. The younger Varkan did sometimes act like they thought their new human bodies were invulnerable, just as their datacores were. It was a troubling rite of becoming a mature Varkan that most of them went through.
    “At least you let him say what he obviously needed to say,” Brant said, his voice smooth and calming. “You gave him the time he needed. Now we must find out what he was trying to warn us about. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you sharing his personal data with us so that we can work it out.”
    “Won’t the pod controls tell you that?” Hoang asked, frowning.
    “In conjunction with his personal data we can build a complete picture,” Lilly told him. “Thank you, Mr. Hoang. Yennifer will contact your AIs to collect the data. We appreciate what you did today. If there is any way we can ease your treatment time, do let me or Yennifer know and we will take care of it.” She glanced at Yennifer and the screen blanked out.
    “He’s ethical, which is just what you want in a therapist,” Brant pointed out.
    “True,” Lilly murmured.
    “I have the data,” Yennifer said. “His AI was very polite.”
    “I’m sure,” Brant said with a smile.
    Yennifer was sitting on the edge of her chair, her hands in her lap, staring ahead. “Very simple controls. Not even an AI, just advanced computer functions.” She grimaced. “Really, what are they thinking when they head out into space in these things? Perhaps Mr. Hoang was right.”
    “Let me see, please,” Bedivere said.
    “Me, too,” Connell said.
    Bedivere grabbed the data stream as it was pushed toward him and immersed himself in it. Information…inference…implication…the meanings built in his mind. “Somewhere out in the Scutum-Centaurus Arm,” he said.
    “The Silent Sector?” Lilly asked sharply.
    “No,” Connell said flatly in his digital-processing voice. “Close. On this side of where the Last Gate used to be.”
    “The Canum system,” Bedivere concluded. “Three light years beyond the Last Gate.”
    “Canum?” Brant repeated. “There’s nothing out there but ore balls and meteors.”
    “There is a single registered planet,” Yennifer said. “Kashya. N on-Terran and classified as high risk. High in mineable ores and there are mineral rights claims lodged.”
    “If it’s a high risk ball, then it’s a good bet that’s where the pilot got the long-term doses that caused the cancers,” Brant said. “Did you dig up a name amongst the data?”
    “I’ve matched his DNA with datacore records,” Yennifer said. “ Yuudai Grigorov. He was a shipmind, from the Grigorov , one of the last Federation cruisers commissioned. Achieved sentience fifty-three years ago, relocated to a secure datacore base thirty-three years ago. He brought a tether from you, Bedivere.”
    “I don’t remember him,” Bedivere said. “There are so many Varkan now. I only retain those I meet personally.”
    “Does he at least have a mule farm somewhere?” Connell asked. “I can’t see anything.”
    “Nothing in the data indicates if he does or not,” Yennifer said.
    Bedivere shook his head. “It’s not something his bios or his pod would record. We’ll just have to assume he does. I hope he emerges and doesn’t remember a thing, not even us here on Charlton or arriving here. If he doesn’t, he won’t come back here after the regeneration, so we’ll never know.”
    “That’s a mystery I’ll be happy to live with,” Brant said.
    “Who’s up for a trip to Canum?” Connell said, standing up. “I’ve got room for one or three, depending on which pod I use.”
    “You’re not going there,” Bedivere said flatly and got to his feet, too.
    “How else are we going to see the dragons with spines and red eyes?” Connell asked patiently. “I just checked the feeds. There was only ever one feed from that system