by Jaleta Clegg
We hit atmosphere and I worked hard at keeping the ship level. The stabilizers worked beautifully but the atmosphere was riddled with cross winds and fast moving jets of air. Jerimon dropped us down faster until we hit a slower moving, more stable layer.
"I’ve got a fix on the landing beacon," Jasyn said. "Slightly better than four handlights and a com beam, but not much."
Jerimon shifted the ship a few points to one side. The wind picked up. I pushed the stabilizers to keep us steady.
"We’re drifting to port," Jerimon told me.
"I know," I said and boosted the stabilizers.
"Steady down," Jerimon said. "I’m losing the signal."
"I’ve got a visual," Jasyn said. "They expect us to land in that?"
"What?" Jerimon demanded.
"I’ve got a field of boulders and the signal puts us right in the middle." She fiddled with the equipment. "You’ve got one clear spot. Should be just big enough."
I powered up the shields. They wouldn’t keep us from gouging out the bottom of the ship if we missed, but they would slow the ship enough to hopefully keep us alive. I routed as much power as I could spare to the maglev drive.
Jerimon switched over earlier than I expected him to. We drifted slowly down to the surface. The ship settled gracefully. We’d missed the boulders.
Jerimon flipped the engines off and dropped his face into his hands, propping his elbows on the edge of the control board. "Can we please go somewhere where they have real beacons and real landing fields?"
"I’m all for it," I said as I shut down the rest of the engines. Everything was still well in the green.
Jerimon was still sitting with his head in his hands when I finished. I stood and hung the headset on the hook over his head.
"You all right?" I touched his shoulder.
He was shaking. "I never want to do that again."
"That makes two of us," I agreed. "Thanks for not smashing my ship."
"Jasyn would never have forgiven me."
His shoulder was warm. I pulled my hand away. We’d just agreed to be only friends. I didn’t want to spoil that.
The lounge was bedlam. The smell was overpowering. Jasyn opened the hatch. The air blowing in smelled fresher, though it was cold. A gust swirled through the ship, blowing in grit. She shut the door again. I picked my way over to her.
"There’s a storm out there," she said.
"Better than what’s in here." I used the airlock.
The wind outside howled. It whipped my hair around. But there wasn’t any rain or snow, only wind. I stepped away from the ship and looked back.
Jerimon had barely cleared the boulders on one side. The ship nestled within a few inches of them, huge blocks of stone bigger than some houses. We’d been very lucky. I turned back to where the boulders seemed smaller and fewer.
Three people hurried towards us from a small shack. The boulders grew smaller until they disappeared on the far side of the shack. There was a ship with a company logo blazoned on the side parked out where it was much flatter and a lot less rocky. I saw plenty of room on that flat field for my ship.
The people huddled in jackets to keep out the howling wind. The one in front pushed back her hood. Long braids of blond hair spilled over her shoulder. She smiled and held out her hand. "We thought you were goners for sure when we saw you headed for the rocks."
"That’s where the beacon put us." I ignored her hand.
"The wind blew the transmitters out here just after you called." She kept her hand out. "We would have moved them in, but you were already on your way down. We hoped you’d see the rocks."
"Barely," I said.
"Our regular transmitters are out there, where that ship is parked. We couldn’t use that, so we rigged up a temporary set and then the wind started up." She cocked her head to the side. "You set on being unfriendly?"
"Sorry, I just landed my ship in a boulder field."
The hatch opened behind me. All of their attention focused on the two people crowding out of the ship and the sheep they led.
"You said you came from Onipas?" The man behind the blond woman pushed forward. He didn’t wait for my answer. "Halvel, what are you doing here? I thought you’d never manage it."
The others came out of the ship as fast as the airlock could cycle, animals and all. The howling wind died down.
"It does that sometimes," the blond woman said to me. "Dead calm and then, wham, you got winds that’ll blow you halfway to the mountains before you catch your breath. And then they’re gone."
The last breath of wind tossed my hair to one side. And it was dead calm. The sky overhead was still gray with cloud, though.
"You want blue sky, go back to Onipas," she said. "Name’s Mindy Gray."
This time I took her hand. "Dace."
"I’m glad you didn’t smack into the rocks," Mindy said. She watched the unloading over my shoulder. "Ryvie and Toula," she shouted and waved madly. She hurried over and hugged two of the passengers.
I picked a spot out of the way and watched the procession of animals and people walk away. A town sprawled just the other side of the wide field where the other ship was parked. I picked my way around the Phoenix, still amazed that we hadn’t turned her into scrap. By the time I came back to the hatch, our cargo was gone, over the hill and well on its noisy way to town. The smell lingered. Clark had the hatch wide open and was standing in it, staring back inside.
"You were right, Dace," he said, surveying the mess. He wrinkled his nose. "Live animals are not as easy as they convinced me they would be."
"And neither are passengers. I’d rather haul ore."
"Think we can salvage the fibermat?"
"I think that’s your problem." I stepped inside and changed my mind. I stepped back out. "Do me a favor and get the smell of animals out of the ship before nightfall. Jasyn can help. She’s the one who signed the contract."
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"Stay outside where I can still breathe."
"Can I come with you?" Jerimon asked.
"You get to stay," Jasyn said from behind him. "You can help clean."
"I think Dace is right," Jerimon said. "I told you animals were trouble."
"Ghost agrees," I said. The cat sat at the end of the boarding ramp, sniffing the unfamiliar plants. "You want to come with us, Ginni?"
"What about Habim?" she said. "He won’t leave the engine room."
"Does he want to clean the filters again?"
"He’s already started."
"Then Clark and Jasyn can keep an eye on him. While they’re scrubbing the floor."
"Don’t get smug, Dace." Jasyn put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. "Even if you were right."
"We’ll buy you something in town," I said. "Industrial strength deodorizer, maybe."
"Get out of here before I change my mind."
We got.
The crew of the company ship stood outside their hatch, watching us approach. They were all men, dressed alike in plain gray shipsuits.
"You fly that bird?" one of them asked. "Tricky landing. Maybe next time you should try landing on the field." They laughed
"Maybe next time you should leave the landing beacon alone," Jerimon said.
"You want to fight about it?" the first man offered. He was big and by the way he moved he knew something about fist fights.
"Not really," Jerimon said.
"Pretty boy is chicken," the man said.
"You don’t want trouble," I said as reasonably as I could.
"You need your women to fight for you?" the man said.
"Watch it, Bud," one of the other men called. "She’s got captain’s bars."
"Captain of a junk freighter," Bud answered. "I ain’t scared."
It took me less than three seconds to have him on his knees. I twisted his arm behind him and pinched a nerve. He squealed like a pig.
"You want trouble?" I said.
"No," he gasped.
"You want to explain what you’re doing to my engineer?" a new voice said behind me. This one was crisp, full of authority. I let go of Bud and turned around.
The captain of the company ship stood behind me, arms crossed over his chest and a massive glare on his face. I knew him. I’d spent three days shut in a thorn pen with him on Vallius deep in the hazards of the Kumadai Run.
He recognized me, his eyes went wide. "Dace? That’s your ship that just about landed on the rocks? You really do like to live dangerously."
"I don’t think I ever heard your name," I said awkwardly.
"You were rather busy at the time. Blake Yarrow." He held his hand out. I shook it.
"How do you know each other?" Jerimon asked.
I introduced him and Ginni and ignored his question.
"Sorry about that with your engineer," I said.
Blake shrugged. "He needed someone to cut him down to size. You headed to town?" He invited himself along. Three others of his crew, vaguely familiar, joined us. It didn’t take much from Jerimon to get them telling him the story about our escape from Vallius. Ginni’s eyes got bigger and bigger. She kept glancing at me while they talked.
"It really wasn’t that big of a deal," I said.
"And you didn’t tell me any of it? I’m hurt," Jerimon said to me. He turned back to the others. "Let me tell you about some of the other things Dace has done."
"Shut your mouth, Jerimon, or I’ll shut it for you."
"We’ll buy lunch if you tell," Blake said to Jerimon.
I wished I’d stayed behind to hose animal manure out of the fibermat floor covering.
The town boasted a couple of restaraunts. Blake took us to the bigger one. The waitress obviously knew him, she smiled and went out of her way to serve us. The place wasn’t very busy, it was the middle of their afternoon. We got settled and ordered.
"So, tell me what happened," Jerimon said. "After you got off the planet."
"I was on the Phoenix," Blake said. "Along with about fifty other people."
"No wonder you were objecting to fifteen plus animals," Jerimon said to me. "Fifty?"
"Emergency situation, Jerimon. Don’t you dare try it."
"Things were going as well as we could expect," Blake continued. "And then about two days into the flight, Dace and Darus have a huge fight. And Dace drops the biggest bombshell. She tells Darus he’s her father."
"You’re kidding," Jerimon said. "You found your father?" He stared at me.
"Didn’t Jasyn tell you about it?"
He shook his head. "That explains who Darus is, I was wondering about that."
"Jasyn is still with you? And Clark?" Blake asked.
"They’re hosing out the flooring on the ship. It was their idea to bring live animals from Onipas."
Blake laughed. The other three asked their own questions. Jerimon had fun embarrassing me by telling them about the Sessimoniss.
"Hovart was convinced you were Patrol," Blake said.
"Patrol?" Ginni squeaked. Her eyes were bigger than her face by this point.
"I am not Patrol. I do not work for the Patrol," I said flatly.
Blake wasn’t convinced. I knew I’d never convince any of those people who had been trapped on Vallius that I wasn’t Patrol.
"So what have you been up to?" I asked.
"Back to routine," Blake said. "We fly mostly between Kimmel, Shamustel, Hegate and Onipas. Manufactured goods and ag tools out, raw materials back. Hebrides Trading makes a decent profit off it. What brings you out here?"
"Still looking to hit it big. We could do it with plants from Brugundhi, but I don’t want to deal with the Sidyatha. Animals are definitely out of the picture."
"How long are you here for?" Blake asked.
"Probably leaving tomorrow," I said.
"That’s fast. Barely gives the engine time to cool."
"We spent too long on Onipas."
"Omar’s famous hospitality." Blake grinned. "I’ve been stuck there a time or two."
"I doubt he dragged you off to pick berries and make jam," I said. "Jasyn’s idea. As was the quilting bee and the pie baking session."
"Sounds fun," Blake said.
"It was, mostly."
He frowned, drawing circles in a damp patch on the table from his drink. "You’re headed in past Shamustel?"
"Typoll, eventually."
"Then take a warning or two. I've heard rumbles of planets moving to secede from the Empire. There’s different trouble brewing in Cygnus. Rumor is that some of the crime syndicates are moving in. Watch your step, Dace. Independents are easy targets. Even with Guild backing."
"Thanks. We don’t plan to stay long."
"Good luck." He stood. "Good to see you again, Dace, especially under better circumstances."
Blake paid for the meal. He and his crew returned to their ship. Jerimon, Ginni and I went outside and wandered the town. We headed back to the ship when the wind started gusting again.
Ginni was very quiet. "Did you really do all of that?" she asked when we were crossing the field towards the boulders and our ship.
"Jerimon didn’t tell half the story," I said. "Mostly because he doesn’t know what really went on. And no, I don’t work for the Patrol."
"Then what is the story?" Jerimon asked.
"Ask Jasyn and Clark." We were at the ship. I stopped in the open hatch. The interior smelled of cleaner and disinfectant. It was better than manure, barely.
Clark was on his knees, scrubbing a patch of floor. He looked up at us. "Have fun?"
"More than you," I answered. "You want some help?"
"I’ll help Jasyn scrub the bathrooms," Jerimon said.
We spent the next two hours scrubbing the ship clean. Ginni followed me around, studying me with her big eyes. Habim was in the engine room, up to his elbows cleaning filters and grinning like a maniac.
By the time we finished, it was dark outside and we were all grouchy. Except Habim. He finished the filters and curled up in a corner of the engine room to sleep.
"When are we lifting?" Clark asked.
"Tomorrow, as soon as our passengers get back," I said.
Jasyn made a face.
"Three of them," Clark said. "And then I promise never to do it again. No animals, and definitely no college students."
We went to bed soon after that. My cabin still smelled of cow.
Our passengers straggled back late the next morning. And brought three others with them. It was going to mean tight quarters, but it was more doable than fifteen plus animals.
We lifted at noon.
Chapter 17
Fortunately, the six passengers we had were the less rowdy ones. The smell of animal gradually faded. Habim’s constant scrubbing of the filters helped. I worried that he’d scrub the finish off and we’d need new ones on Shamustel.
Ghost deserted me to sleep with Habim in the engine room. She played with our passengers, batting at strings, and begged food off them when we ate.
Our passengers spent the time playing games and talking. Jerimon made friends, joining in their games. Ginni moved into the engine room with Habim.
Jasyn painted. Her panel of fish was close to finished. I could almost hear the surf, it was so well done. Her fish almost seemed to swim. She got a lot of compliments from our passengers, both for the painting and for her cooking.
Clark spent most of the five days reading. What, I don’t know. He kept it secret.
I puttered around. I pulled out my lute and pretended I knew what I was doing. Whatever game Jerimon had our passengers playing was very loud. I took the lute into the engine room.
Ginni was a natural with it. By the time the reentry alarm sounded, four days later, she was already playing simple songs. I gave her the lute. I was never going to learn more than how to tune it.
We made the downshift to normal space with barely a ripple. The week on Onipas letting Habim rebuild the engine had been worth every second.
Shamustel was as
busy as I remembered. After our last two stops, it was almost too busy. There were a lot of big freighters, personal yachts, and everything in between. The Patrol had several cruisers passing through the system. We were assigned an approach path and a berth at the landing field. After the last two landings, Shamustel was easy. Even with all the traffic.
Clark and I shut the ship down while Jasyn and Jerimon herded our passengers off. The ship was much quieter after they left. Clark finished with his controls and sat back, frowning at the viewscreen. It showed morning sky, filled with ships lifting and landing.
"We have to decide what we’re doing about Ginni and Habim," Clark said. "Onipas and Hegate may have been far enough out they didn’t care. Shamustel won’t ignore them, if the Sidyathari are after them."
"I can’t just turn them in, Clark."
"I’m not asking you to."
"Let’s wait and see. If the Sidyathari haven’t posted anything about them, then we don’t have to worry. We just register them as apprentice whatever. Problem solved."
"I don’t think it will be quite that easy, Dace."
It was still a nice thought. "They stay on as crew. One way or another. I can send a message to Lowell. He can do something."
"And ask what in return?"
"Whatever it is, they deserve a better chance."
Jasyn stuck her head in the door. "Who’s taking care of port authority? Think they still remember the two of you?"
The last time we were on Shamustel, Clark and I had both been politely but firmly invited to not come back. I was hoping a year was long enough for them to forget us. I wasn’t intending on getting into trouble this time. I didn’t intend to the last time, either. It made no difference that it wasn’t my fault.
"What about Jerimon?" Clark asked.
"He said he’d stay here and keep an eye on Habim for us."
"The longer we stay," I said, "the more likely they are to remember us."
"Are we going to look for cargo?" Jasyn asked. "We don’t need to. We made a good profit off Hegate and Onipas."
"No, except for the necklaces," I said. Blake’s warning about trouble bothered me. "The less time we spend here, the better."
"Since you’re the only one who knows where that shop is, you’re going to have to find it." Clark stood and stretched.