by Alan Black
The captain of the Araña had also called him a trader. He was a chiamra farmer, not a trader. He was only pretending to be a trader until he could get back to his Saronno valley, claim title to his land, and grow chiamra for spice. He was no more a trader than he was the attic cleanup boy or a ribbon sales clerk in a lingerie shop. Those were things he did, not who he was.
The time was late, but Cherry said they were going to have a lot of Araña crew visiting their promenade. Instead of heading to his cabin, he went straight from Anisa and Kendra’s door to Cherry’s Lingerie Shop. He might as well do something productive if his anger was going to keep him awake.
The extruder was sitting quietly in the corner, waiting for him to wake it up. He grumbled to himself as he put the extruder through its paces. He ran spool after spool of ribbon until Cherry’s shelves were overstocked and dozens of piles were stacked under the counter and in the backroom. He ran dozens of blue, white, and red rolls with Araña Rojo’s crest imbedded on them. If the Spider’s crew was as excited about them as the Scorpion’s crew was, they would be out of stock quicker than he could make more.
He extruded blue and red stretch belts for their cheerleaders. He made dozens of dataport and locator wristbands, and he extruded shoelaces by the hundreds in such a variety of weird color combinations that it made his eyes hurt. He made cinches and bridles in the other ship’s colors for The Big Barn Saddle and Tackle Shop across the promenade. He made so many piles of packing straps in blue, white, and red that he had to stack them outside of the store by setting up extra tables, being careful not to block the walkway. He worked the extruder so hard he had to refill the material bin before the promenade started filling with other shopkeepers trying to get an early start.
Without Cherry and Ain in the store, the women’s garments and things on the racks around the store didn’t embarrass him. When the extruder was busy cranking out various items in long lengths, he took the time to carry everything from the back of the store and fill up every shelf and rack. There wouldn’t be any way to put everything out, since the deliveries of many items were sometimes months apart, but he filled up as much as he could in preparation for a busy day.
The Okpara family had promised to deliver their goods early, so he left enough space for their goods on a few shelves. He agreed with Cherry that everything from the Okpara dress shop would sell quickly. He didn’t need to save much rack space because of the scant Okpara inventory.
He was deep in thought trying to figure out a way to put spangles on multi-colored hatbands when Cherry and Ain bustled into the store. Both women stood google-eyed at the piles of goods stacked neatly in every corner and open space. Cherry was speechless, causing Ain to laugh.
“My friend Tasso, you are amazing. Are you not a djinn?”
Tasso shook his head, “I don’t think so. I’m a Menzies.”
Ain said. “A djinn is a magical creature who performs miracles. I’ve always heard a djinn would deny his own true nature, claiming to be just a man like any other. Tasso, you are not like other men.”
Tasso shook his said, “I came in early to run a few extra thing—”
“I do not mean your inability to take time off,” Ain interrupted. “I would expect nothing less from you. The miracle I speak of is that you have rendered our Cherry mute once again.”
Cherry finally found her voice enough to give Ain a razzberry, blowing the rude wet noise at both of them until she was breathless. “I saw you at the barbeque, Tasso. Did you even go to bed last night? There is so much here.”
Tasso shook his head. “Don’t worry, if we don’t sell something to the Araña’s crew, we can put everything back in the extruder and rework it into something else.”
“Sell it? Unless I miss our customer’s desires, we may have to glue your butt onto a chair to keep up. I have dozens and dozens of special orders already on my dataport from Araña’s crew who sought me out at the barbeque last night. I wonder if we have enough time to extrude everything they requested, especially the bulk orders from their promenade shops, before we leave port.”
“I can get started on the requests now if you can give me a download. I should be able to get some of them done before the Okparas show up this morning.”
“Ain and I were going to come in and get the stock levels increased to get a jumpstart on the day. We didn’t realize you were so far ahead of the race that we’re in a completely different competition. From what I remember of the special orders, it looks like some of the things you have already extruded will fill most of the special orders. It’s only an hour or so before the Okparas agreed to meet us at the main hatch with their inventory, so let’s get to sorting.”
Cherry started by reading the special orders aloud. Tasso pointed out previously extruded goods matching the descriptions. Ain made notes and scurried about marking and separating anything presold, giggling with uncharacteristic excitement to have sold piles of goods without ever having a customer set foot in their little store. Whenever a special order was still unmade, Tasso entered the order into the extruder and let it begin spitting out product. He entered every order into the machine’s memory and set it to run order after order, letting it go without being there to catch the goods. Ain swept in, swept up the extruded product, and swept it away, setting it aside for the customer. They had barely made a dent in the premade goods before they ran out of special orders. Ain had all but run out of clear space to stack the presold goods. She giggled every time she scanned a new order and location into the store’s database. Finally, Ain shouted in triumph, “Take that, whores!”
Cherry stopped and stared, “Excuse me?”
Ain said, “I am embarrassed, yet exalted beyond decency. You have my deepest apologies for my rude outburst. You should both know that I was turned out of my home. My husband cast me away because I was unable to provide him children. On my world there is nowhere for a woman alone to go. The Ministry of Decency picked me up off the street and took me to a house of prostitution. The women there said it was either whore myself or starve to death. I was prepared to starve to death when you found me, Cherry. Now,” she gestured around her, “I am surrounded by an embarrassment of riches. And I say again, take that, whores! You will starve long before I do.” No matter what she said, she didn’t sound embarrassed.
Cherry laughed.
Tasso was shocked. He wondered what kind of men would dismiss a smart and beautiful woman, turning her away to starve and die. It made him think of his own father, wondering why he left his mother behind. Even though that was before he was born, it made him feel like he was abandoned. It made him embarrassed to be a man and more than a little angry.
CHAPTER 26
TASSO MADE a quick change into fresh coveralls before meeting Cherry at the main hatch. He was trying to both hurry and not get lost while going to meet the Okparas. Even after months on the ship, he still floundered while finding his way around. He had only been to the main hatch twice. Once just yesterday, but he was coming at it from a different direction this time and was unsure. He glanced down at the dataport map readout, turned a corner, and bumped into a crowd of men, some young and some a little older. One of them was Flacco, and they were obviously waiting for him.
Tasso’s initial reaction was to start swinging. Flacco had attacked him in the shower and would have attacked him at the elevator if Gordo and Security hadn’t been there to stop the fight. He’d been pushed enough to make anyone angry. These boys had pushed him more than enough! He was fuming. Although, he wasn’t furious enough to throw the first punch. No, not this time.
He didn’t have any desire to try to get away, even though he knew there were more boys and men than he could successfully fight. A couple of the men had mature muscular frames and were well past their youthful years. Tasso was tough and strong, having spent his young life working at farm labor and breaking rocks in the rough highlands north of the McWithy Range, but not this strong. A beating was coming, but he was angry enough he didn’t ca
re. He’d get his licks in before he went down.
He pointed at the ceiling, indicating La Dueña Dunstan was listening. One of the young men snickered, “I work in Security. It didn’t take much to set up a malfunction in this section. La Dueña Dunstan is deaf and blind along this whole corridor.”
Tasso said, “Flacco, I guess since you couldn’t take me in a four against one fight, you had to call in more reinforcements.”
One man shook his head. “No, Menzies, we’re here to make sure you fight fair this time and not jump Flacco from behind.”
“From behind?” Tasso snorted. This wasn’t the time for diplomacy. “Anyone who says that is a liar. So, how many of you do I have to fight at the same time? I mean, Flacco hasn’t been able to face me one on one yet. I’d be surprised if he has the courage to do it now?”
Flacco said, “Are you calling me a coward?”
“Yes and a liar.” Tasso wanted to toss out some quick-witted retort, but nothing came to mind. He let his answer stand for itself.
Flacco rose up on the balls of his feet, raised his fists, and began dancing in front of Tasso. “Come on, you gringo sack of shit. It’s you and me, face to face so you can’t sneak up on me.”
Tasso didn’t raise his fists. Instead, he shot out his left fist, sliding it between Flacco’s hands, landing a stinging punch on the other boy’s nose. He spun, jumped into the air, and using gravity and momentum, he threw his whole body weight behind his forearm, driving it into Flacco’s stomach with a snap of his elbow. He’d made the same move every time Grandpa’s rock jack was stuck in a small crevice. The move often broke the rock trapping the chisel point. The move was hard-hitting, but it always left Tasso down on one knee. If he didn’t hit Flacco hard enough, the boy would remain standing over him.
Flacco was still standing. Tasso almost jumped back, but Flacco wasn’t moving. He was gasping for breath as his nose leaked blood across his mouth. His knees looked wobbly. Tasso wanted to beat Flacco to the deck and hurt him so bad that he wouldn’t get up again. This was the third time Flacco had challenged him and he didn’t want a fourth time. He stood, prepared to hit Flacco again, but he didn’t strike. Stepping back, he said, “Who’s next?”
Flacco gasped, “You sucker punched me.”
“Really? Why, because you were looking right at me when I hit you? I thought you were ready.”
Flacco sneered through the blood, getting his breath back. “You got in a lucky hit.”
Tasso hit him again and Flacco’s knees buckled.
Tasso shouted, “I’m tired of taking crap from you—” His voice cracked in anger. He pointed at the security man standing behind Flacco. “You’re next. You helped set this up.”
The young man shook his head and smiled. “You don’t want to try me. I’ve fought in the ring.” He stepped forward and raised his fists. A surprised look came over his face when Tasso suddenly stepped forward and hit him twice in the face, once with each hand. Tasso knew the man would be harder to knock down than Flacco, so he kicked sideways into the side of the man’s knees. As the man’s legs wobbled, Tasso hit him three times under the ribcage before the man crashed to the deck.
Tasso bellowed and would have rushed forward, but the remainder of Flacco’s backup stepped back. Another man said, “Enough, Señor Menzies. It’s clear to me you didn’t have to attack anyone from behind. It’s also clear to me I’ve been misinformed about you.”
Tasso felt like someone had burst his anger balloon. He deflated and all of his rage dissipated. He sensed someone behind him and spun about. There stood a security detail, led by an officer Tasso didn’t recognize.
The Security officer pointed at Flacco and the Security man moaning on the floor. “Take those two to medical, and if anyone asks, they were fighting each other in a friendly training match that got out of hand.” He looked at Tasso, “That is unless you want to file assault charges against these men?”
Tasso said, “How do you know I didn’t start this? They shut the computer down, didn’t they? I have my dataport recording if I need it, but you didn’t tap into that, did you?”
The Security officer chuckled. “We don’t listen in on anyone’s dataport. That’s a clear violation of your privacy. However, what many people fail to realize is that you cannot shut La Dueña Dunstan down anywhere without a report coming across my desk. We turned it back on and have a full scan of this corridor, but I hate the paperwork this little dustup will cause me. So, what say we forget this and everybody here get on with your business?” The officer looked at Tasso, “Besides, I’ve been asked to locate you and get you to the main hatch. There are people there looking for you.”
CHAPTER 27
TASSO WAS SURPRISED to see Captain Rojo and Purser Rojo with Cherry waiting at the main hatch. He realized he shouldn’t be the least bit astonished. The trade prospects he proposed to her at last night’s barbeque should have piqued her curiosity, and there was enough potential profit to warrant their personal attention.
Bill Rojo shook his hand, “I hear you didn’t get much sleep last night. Neither did some of my evaluation staff. That building brick you brought us held up under higher stress levels than we anticipated.” The man was positively giddy. “The hydrostatic tests were off the charts! Water slides off this stuff like snot on a doorknob.”
Tasso wasn’t sure why anyone would put snot on a doorknob, but he could imagine it would make the knob slick. He smiled, not knowing what to say. He was shocked when Captain Rojo grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a deep hug. She said, “I’m indebted to you, mijo. You’ve touched my heart and reminded me of why I’m in space in the first place. I’d marry you if I was forty years younger. Hell, I’d let you marry one of my daughters, if I had any.” She released her hug, but slid a hand down around his waist and held onto him.
Bill laughed. “I’ll let him have any of my daughters. They’re all more problems than they’re worth.”
Tasso said, “Be careful, sir. I may take you up on that someday.” He wanted to feel uncomfortable with Captain Rojo holding him, but somehow it felt right. His mother’s face may be fading from his memory, but he remembered her hugs.
Cherry pointed at a wagon through the early morning heat waves coming across the baked Kaduna ground. “A wagon is approaching the main hatch.” That’s the Okparas. It looks like the whole clan.”
Tasso stepped to the opening, arm in arm with the captain. He could see Mr. Okpara sitting on the front seat of the cattle powered wagon with his wife. Seated in the back, with the few boxes holding their store’s complete inventory, was his son, daughter, and daughter-in-law. The man sat high and regal, his pride evident even at a distance. His son threw caution and pride away, waving like a small boy on an exciting trip.
When introductions became possible at the far end of the main hatch ramp, Tasso presented Mr. Okpara to the captain and Purser Rojo. Mr. Okpara was shocked when Captain Rojo grabbed his hand and shook it in greeting. He got over his shock at such familiarity with a strange female only because Cherry stepped up and hugged his wife and then grabbed him in a hearty embrace.
Tasso knew how the man felt. He hadn’t grown up in an affectionate family. He may remember his mother’s hugs, but he didn’t think his grandfather had ever hugged him. Living among people who gave away hugs and kisses as if they were easy to share was strange.
Bill cleared his throat. “I don’t know your culture, Mr. Okpara. In my culture we’d sit and share a few pots of coffee, have breakfast, tell each other our life stories, all before we’d get down to business. I suggest we take care of business first and then we can get down to the important part of becoming friends.”
Okpara said, “Eminently practical. The cattle began off-loading at dawn through the underground tunnels and our cowboys are moving them up and into our corrals. I have a competent foreman overseeing that business. Moving the cattle should take much of the day. My wife has a few goods Miss Cherry and my friend Tasso agreed to buy. Once
the exchange is complete, it will conclude our business. Forgive me for bringing my family along for such a minor sale. They are curious to see the inside of a spaceship. If it is possible, may we step inside for a brief peek?”
Captain Rojo laughed and said, “Mr. Okpara, you and your family are my guests for the day. We hope you will accept our hospitality for more than a brief peek.”
Cherry stepped up and handed Mrs. Okpara a small purse of credits. “This is the agreed payment for your inventory. I do hope you will take the time to visit my shop today, but I’d like to get these goods on my shelves to sell, so I need to rush off. I have to get my store open.”
Mrs. Okpara stared at the purse and handed it to her husband. He dumped the handful of credits into a deep pocket and handed the purse back to Cherry. Cherry completed the round robin and gave the purse back to Mrs. Okpara.
Cherry said, “The purse is a gift. Please enjoy it.” She and Tasso loaded her goods onto a pallet along with the carvings Tasso had agreed to buy from Okpara’s son. Cherry waved farewell and disappeared into the ship.
Captain Rojo led the rest of them to a conference room near the main hatch. Tasso knew how the Okparas felt as he watched them gawk at everything they passed. He was still in awe of the spaceship, although there were times, he had to stop and remember that the ship was in space and that he wasn’t inside a huge building on some strange planet.
Once inside the conference room, Bill gestured towards a sideboard stacked with refreshments. “Y’all please help yourself. Let’s make ourselves comfortable while we discuss business.”
Tasso had missed breakfast, so he grabbed a plate and stacked it high with fresh fruit. No matter how many days he had bananas and oranges, the taste was always such a thrill. His favorite fruit was still pineapple. He realized the Okparas were still standing, not taking seats, or partaking of the refreshments. The captain had seated herself with a small cup of tea and was thumbing through reports on her dataport.