housepets in space

[biddyfox]

With a hiss from the electronic door, Maxwell padded into the pilot room. The formerly scruffy cat was trying his best to look trim and professional, with his obsessively groomed fur and proud-of-himself expression, but the effect was ruined by his uniform, which had more wrinkles in it than a geriatric Sphynx.
"Commander," stated Maxwell.
"What is it, Max?" said Tarot, not looking away from the blinking screens full of completely incomprehensible navigation info.
"That's Officer to you," said the cat, with smooth but obviously fragile confidence.
"What is it, Officer Max?" said Tarot, still not looking at him.
"Well!" said Max, nodding at Tarot importantly. "I've been given an assignment. A very important assignment. One we can't afford to mess up. And it involves you."
"Alright," the Pomeranian declared, turning over towards Max. The cat almost thought he could see a green glint disappear from her deep yellow eyes. "What do you need, Officer?"
Max let out a deep breath, steadied himself, and looked the canine straight in the eye.
"I need you to tell me the ETA for our next destination."
Tarot was not a particularly expressive dog, but Max could detect a clear change from her usual dutiful neutrality to a look of clear frustration. Max was extremely familiar with this change of expression, because he usually caused it on purpose.
"Approximately twelve and a half hours," sighed Tarot, looking back to her screens.

Space is extremely large. Space is extremely empty. Planets tend to be unfathomable distances away, and habitable planets tend to be even moreso; so much that, without faster-than-light-speed travel, going between them would be more than impractical, to say the least.
About a thousand years before this story takes place, faster-than-light travel was invented by accident. Originally, it was a miracle. Within a century, it was commonplace. One thousand years later, it is considered perhaps a little less ubiquitous than the wheel.
And, since the debut of this technology, there have been small ships, piloted by rag-tag groups of mercenaries. These mercenaries, for reasons long forgotten by all but the most dedicated of history buffs, are called "spacers."

[Amazee Dayzee]

The way yo have started this story so far is wonderful! I can't wait to read more!

[NHWestoN]

Title has a "Muppet-tonian" ring to it.....

[Nathan Kerbonaut]

A sci-fi HP fic? And Tarot's in it? It's like this story was made just for me Well done, I'm really excited to read more!

[trekkie]

I like Max and Tarot together. Nice job on this, looking forward to more.