According to O’Bannon, it was a question of when, not if, some assortment of claim jumpers, pirates, and thieves attempted to take over lcy Mama. He played the game to survive and win. By Juergens’ reckoning, the smart thieves had long since learned to steer clear of O’Bannon and the Madre De Hielo. The stupid ones could be dangerous, but usually ended up contributing their ship, weapons, and equipment to the voyage’s bottom line.
Unfortunately, there always seemed to be someone willing to try, because the smaller worlds out here didn’t really care too much about the provenance of their D2.
All of this had Kenaz wondering about the opening on the crew he had filled, and whether that person was still breathing. No one had mentioned a thing about it, so he had decided not to broach the subject. They were close to having the comet completely bagged and tagged, and the skull sessions on where to sell were lively, to say the least.
Kenaz dished up a blackberry cobbler dessert and sat down with the rest of the crew. “This is the last of the frozen blackberries; it’s a shame I can’t grow them on the rig. The way they spread, you’d probably have a vine crawling in your bunk with you. They only produce on second-year growth, so they are kind of impractical out here.”
“All I know is I’m going to miss them for what’s left of the trip,” Juergens allowed, as he scooped up a generous bite.
“How is our food supply looking?”
“With what I’ve been able to supplement from the hydroponics truck garden, we’re in really good shape. We still have thirty percent of what I loaded out with from Ganymede, and the balance, other than the blackberries and a few other items, is still good. If that runs out, there’s six months’ worth of Acme high-density ration paste to keep us going. I think that’s left over from your last trip. Has anyone checked the expiration dates?”
“I picked that stuff up in a trade in ought ninety-five, and it’s supposed to be good for thirty years, so it should still be close to edible,” returned O’Bannon.
“ ‘Edible’ is not a word I would use to describe that stuff,” said Siobahn. “What it does to your digestive system doesn’t bear talking about, either. We had to subsist, if that’s not too strong a word, on that goo for a month on the last trip. The frozen pirates we had bagged with the cargo were starting to seem like a better option, there at the end.”
“Don’t remind me,” said Juergens. “Those bastards were about seventy-five percent non-organic, and I was still wondering how they would taste with a bit of barbecue sauce, if we’d had any.”
“Those non-organic parts added about a thousand credits to your share, as I recall, so it’s a good thing you didn’t try to grill them up,” said O’Bannon.
Kenaz was aghast at the casual talk of cannibalism, even if it was half in jest. Salvaging the bodies for spare parts was apparently business as usual. These Diskers didn’t waste mass, that was for sure.
“You realize, Kenaz, that the main reason you’re on this trip is all the lovely food you brought to the table,” said Beads. “We were down to that nasty paste, and a shakedown by the banks on Ganymede had us without access to our capital from the last trip. You could have been a four-armed orangutan, and the captain would have signed you on. Come to think of it, the orangutan might have been more useful…certainly more attractive.”
“You’re a barrel of laughs, Beads. I should have held out for a bigger percentage.”
“Probably,” said the captain, “but I would have just taken it out of your hide in the dojo. Enough shooting the bull, let’s look at our possible markets and see what makes the most sense. We’ll be flipping Icy Mama in another couple of days, so it’s getting to crunch time.”
“My vote is for New Pottstown. I have some friends there, and I haven’t had a Yuengling lager in ages,” Juergens put in.
“It’s in my top two also, along with Steen’s Freehold. Steen’s would likely bring us the better price but there’s the problem of getting in and out of there alive,” the captain qualified. “What do you think, Dodson? How goes the number crunching?”
“How much of a higher profit are we talking?”
“Hmm.. not really worth the added risk. Beads, Siobahn, what’s your take?”
“I’m leaning toward New Pottstown also. The liberty possibilities are better, and they have a bigger variety of food than the Freehold for restocking our supplies,” Siobahn pointed out.
“I would prefer Steen’s Freehold,” said Beads. “The mod upgrades market there is really lively, and I’ve got quite a bit of my special inventory built up. We would probably have a better market there for whatever claim jumpers’ equipment we liberate along the way as well.”
“How about you, kid? For a greenhorn, you’ve proven fairly savvy on the business end of things.”
“Since I’m fond of my skin, I’ll say New Pottstown as well. They have a diversified agricultural base, and I’m sure the seeds I’ve saved will fetch some valuable trade in kind.”
“We’ll provisionally call it New Pottstown, then. We won’t be committed until we make our burn, so keep an open mind in the interim,” finished the captain.
A few days later, it was all hands to stations. The comet was now separated into all its saleable constituents, and it was time to flip the Madre De Hielo and latch onto the mass of interlocked ice blocks that was the most massive part of the cargo and tie it down.
Kenaz was in the rig’s core, monitoring the NSAIs managing the shutdown of the last few ES fields. Beads was outside with the sled, standing by at a safe distance to run down anything valuable that might break loose. The rest of the crew was working a carbon nanotube net over the mass of film-covered ice. Once the net was in place, they could begin the tiedown procedure.
the captain sent over the Link.
Dodson replied.
He used the rig’s massive carbon fiber composite flywheel to generate a very gentle rotation. The flywheel also served as a tertiary source of emergency energy in case they lost the fusion plant and what was stored in their large bank of SC batteries. The Madre De Hielo came ponderously about, then slowed as it came into alignment.
sent O’Bannon.
The stubby pyramid of ice blocks was shaped to nest with the processing end of the rig. O’Bannon and Juergens maintained a respectful distance in their armored suits, making sure the alignment was right. Getting in between the rig and that mountain of ice was an invitation to disaster. The Madre De Hielo’s legs were fully retracted, but would soon grasp as much of the pyramid as they could reach. They were really only a backup to the net and tie-downs that the crew was presently getting in place to attach.
As the rig and ice came together at a glacial pace, Beads, Siobahn, Juergens, and the captain attached the net’s tiedowns to sixteen separate retractors. Kenaz heard a muted, grinding rumble followed by some truly ominous creaks and pops as the Madre De Hielo made contact with her ice mountain cargo.
sent Dodson.
celebratory dinner.>
Kenaz rechecked the optical coverage status, now that everything was realigned, made a few adjustments, and then shut the board down. Unstrapping from his station, he launched himself gently toward the hatch to the hab ring hub and waved to Dodson’s visual pickup.