The boy, Finnegan, was at it again.
"Slag!" A curse escaped his despicable mouth.
"Oh!" Then he turned shyly to his side, and there lay a tabby cat.
It meowed its displeasure.
"Sorry, Thimble, I know! I know! No cursing!"
The boy stuttered an apology.
His hand reached out and softly caressed the tabby cat's head. Of course, Thimble, the tabby cat, reluctantly snuggled closer. It was not like it enjoyed being pampered.
Not at all.
"Oh, the sensor is picking up another vein." The boy said as he went back to operating the claw machinery, carefully extracting silver ores for miserly scraps.
From time to time, the boy would ask Thimble to point out suitable spots for extracting more ore.
The tabby cat would use its tail to tap on a spot on the HoloMap, and the boy would steer the rickety DrillShip to the section of the asteroid belt that had been highlighted.
Of course, the rickety DrillShip had no gas scanners, no radiation checkers, or integrity mappers. Just a chumbucket of a ship with a boy in his rusty, grimy suit... and his strange pet cat.
A cat so strange that it could detect silver, and it seemed unreasonably intelligent, too.
"Preparing drill for extraction!" He chimed to no one in particular.
The sounds of the drill and extractor, excavating the precious stones from the asteroids, were intermittently interrupted by the boy's hoarse coughs.
He had been working twenty straight hours and overdosing on cheap stimulants to stay awake.
Which wasn't ideal for his already frail, failing body.
Thimble squinted its eyes and hissed before returning to clean its fur.
Not like it minded really, the boy needed to work for a meal, and each meal cost credits. Credits weren't cheap... besides, the little treats he got Thimble after closing hours were tasty morsels. Plus, the tabby cat barely did any work, so it couldn't care less if the boy worked to death as long as it meant it got more tasty morsels.
ACHOOO! A heavy sneeze betrayed the fact that the boy had been feeling slightly feverish since he woke up.
Then he coughed, this one harder than the others, and spat a mouthful of blood.
Thimble, displeased, puffed up its tail and flattened its ears before releasing an angered growl.
A sheepish smile appeared on Finnegan's sickly face.
"Yeah, you're right!" He paused and spat the phlegm from his throat. "That's enough work for today."
Maybe, Finnegan thought. He could squeeze out one more vein run.
Hiss
The tabby cat hissed, this time meaner.
"Geepers, man, you're so strict!" Finnegan blurted out as he turned the Drillship, returning to a haphazard megalostructure...
That was his home.
...
Some minutes later, a rickety DrillShip landed in the docking site of a RigShip.
The hatch popped open, and Finnegan jumped down from the cockpit. Thimble followed on his heels.
"Well, if it isn't our diligent lamb," a hoarse voice called out.
Finnegan turned to meet an old man in a trench coat, who was flanked by two hefty bodyguards on either side.
"That's six hundred kilos of raw etheneum, or demon eggs, Sir!"
The Old Man smirked, "Marvelous job, lad."
He brought out his communicator, "The haul would fetch a large sum of money in the black market."
"Your reward is seven hundred thousand Kreditz."
Finnegan's eyes lit up, "Wow, thanks so much, sir-"
"We take out the finder's fee et cetera..." The old man continued as he pressed some instructions into his communicator.
PING!
Finnegan checked his communicator, "I'm left with thirty-five thousand Kreditz."
'And if I remove this week's waterbill, lightbill... uh, and that bill and the otherrrrrr'
Finnegan exhaled, "...I'd have seven thousand Kreditz left for the week."
"Well!" The Oldman gave Finnnegan a good slap on his back before leaving. "See you in seven days- Argh!"
The old mob boss reeled away and almost tripped. He had been spooked by something.
A hiss came from where the old man had been standing, Thimble; he was tensed and pissed, staring daggers into the old man's soul.
"Damn cat!" The mob boss barked, "Kill that damned cat!"
The bodyguards moved.
Finnegan stood before them, Thimble hiding behind his legs. And in his hand was an alloy pipe; he had the look of a demented mother who would do everything to protect her offspring.
There was a madness to the glint in his eyes when he spoke;
"You don't want this, sirs."
One of the bodyguards smirked and pulled out a slug, "Listen, kid, no hard feelings, alright?"
The other pulled out a katana, "Yeah, no hard feelings."
He pointed the slug at the cat, but Finnegan stood in his way.
The bodyguard tilted his head,
"I guess that's one more dead kid," he spat before he could pull the trigger.
"Wait! You fools!" The old man yabbered. "I said kill the cat, not the boy! Kill him, and you and your family will have hell to pay!"
"B-But boss," The bodyguard stammered.
"You can't kill him, he's working to pay the three billion kredtiz debt he inherited from his father," the mob boss explained.
Then he turned to Finnegan, "Keep that strange cat away from me, kid. Or I'm warning you, I'll kill the little shit!"
"Yes, sir!" Finnegan fell on his knees and kissed the old man's feet, "Thank you so much."
"Hmph!" The old man snorted, then turned to his bodyguards.
"I have a meeting and we are running late." He said before leaving.
A defeated sigh escaped Finnegan's lips as he gradually rose to his feet, "That was close."
A tiny meow sounded from under his feet. Thimble was staring at him with eyes begging to be carried.
"Aww, alright," he said and picked up the tabby cat, stroking its head.
His mind wandered to more important issues.
"There's no food at home, and we got seven thousand for a whole week."
His eyes grew a little dimmer and watery, "...seven thousand."
He stood there, in the docking site, for a while doing nothing. Even as the dock workers towed the rickety ship back to the mob boss's station.
A chuckle escaped his lips. He could figure out the future when he got there. For now, "I should focus on the now," He said. "The future will sort itself."
Almost as if answering him, the cat meowed.
He chuckled, then the chuckle turned into infectious laughter.
"I love you too, fuzzball!" Then he put the cat on his shoulder, before skipping away.