The Space Merchants

by Wendie Nordgren

  "A hundred credits in one day and I get to see the ships? Henry, how can I ever repay you for this?" I asked.

  Henry laughed and reminded me, "Sunrise at the Coffee Counter" and walked off to his own place.

  Chapter Three

  Somehow, I managed to make it back home to my housing unit. Even though I was sweaty and tired, I was so excited that I could barely function.

  "Really? Am I really going to see starships and aliens at the land port? Calm down before you drive yourself crazy, Teagan. Follow your schedule. Don't get your hopes up, and you won't be disappointed."

  Taking my own advice, I grabbed my stack of clean laundry and headed off to the showers, but hid the work pass Henry had given me under my pillow before locking my door. Twenty minutes later and somewhat clean and refreshed, with free hands, having dropped my clean uniform off at my house, I entered the cafeteria. Looking around the room, I saw Mary at one of the tables. Mary sat with Paul. Paul is not one of my most favorite people in the world. He passed the entrance exams for the Galaxic Militia and was accepted as a new recruit. Paul would have a future involving starships, off world travel, and aliens. I did not pass the entrance exams. I didn't think I had a chance of passing certain portions of those exams. Even had I passed all of the tests, the physical fitness tests would have been my undoing. Yes, I could dump and haul garbage all day in the hot sun, trudging back and forth. No, I couldn't do a pull-up, run a mile, or complete an obstacle course. Whatever. Okay, maybe I disliked Paul because of the painfully jealous feelings I had toward him. Mary's feelings for Paul differed greatly from mine. Mary had stars in her eyes every time she looked at him. At the moment I thought the sparkles in Mary's eyes were so bright that they might jump out of her eyes and set the cafeteria on fire. I turned away and got in line. I picked up a tray and placed a napkin and utensils on it. Ms. Reeves was working. I decided to please her and ended up with a small salad, a piece of chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, milk, and water. Sara charged me a credit. The water was always free of charge. Feeling awkward about where to sit, I headed in Mary's direction, but didn't want to intrude. Mary waved me over and invited me to sit with her and Paul. After I sat down, Mary showed me her left hand where a small diamond ring sparkled almost as brightly as her eyes. I looked up and from a smiling Mary to a smiling Paul.

  "Teagan, Paul asked me to marry him, and I said yes!"

  Kind of in shock, I tried to focus as Paul proceeded to tell me that since he had been accepted into the Galaxic Militia, he and Mary had been granted a small apartment together at the base even though he was a new recruit.

  "Mary, Paul, I am so happy for you! Have you set a date?" I asked.

  "Actually, we are leaving tonight and getting married tomorrow at the base. I think this may be goodbye, Teagan. Thank you for being such a good friend to me these past few months," Mary said.

  Stunned I said, "I'm so happy for you both. You're going to have an amazing life together."

  With that both Mary and Paul hugged me and then left the housing community we had shared for months, never to return. I felt like some farewell to poverty song should be playing for them in the background, not that I had any idea what one would sound like. I also felt completely and totally alone. With Mary gone I would have no one. I had no family, and Mary had been my only real friend. I pushed my remorse away. I headed back to housing unit fourteen and tried to get some sleep. At least I had one thing to look forward to.

  An hour before sunrise found me sitting in the dark alone at a small table outside of the Coffee Counter sipping black coffee from a large lidded disposable cup. My excitement about getting to work for Henry at the land port warred with my conflicted feelings about Mary and Paul and had destroyed any chance I might have had of getting some sound sleep the night before. Losing the only real friend I had ever had made my chest feel like it was full of jagged old concrete. The few hours of sleep to which I had managed to surrender myself would have to be enough. The work pass Henry had given me poked my chest each time I raised the coffee to my lips for a sip. It comforted me to know I had not lost it, but made my hands begin to sweat because of my nervous excitement. Yesterday, I had eradicated all of the trash from the bins in my sector, all forty of them. Many of the bins were not even a quarter of the way full. This job today wouldn't put me in a bind tomorrow. However, tomorrow I wouldn't have a friend to run into throughout my sector or with whom to share lunch. I really would be invisible. I heard footsteps approaching. Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw Henry. This was really going to happen I thought as I jumped up. Henry walked up to the door of the Coffee Counter, pausing with his hand on the handle.

  "Good morning, garbage girl! Don't worry. I will do my best to call you Teagan for the remainder of the day, but why the hell are you wearing that?"

  I looked down at myself. The lighting from the store provided Henry with plenty of illumination. I wore my tan jumper, the uniform I wore while working my route in the city. It was the most professional outfit that I owned. All of the city workers were required to wear them. Also, other than my pajamas, I didn't own anything else. What was the point? Why waste my credits? On average I earned a hundred credits a week. I spent about five credits a day on food. At least fourteen credits a week went toward showers and laundry. My housing unit charge was twenty credits a week. Some spending had to happen on other frivolity as well, like toothpaste. My eyes had fallen to my boots. I felt my cheeks grow warm and hoped he couldn't tell. Henry knew where I lived. He had walked me home.

  I threw my eyes back up to his and in a somewhat snotty tone responded with, "Would you have preferred pajamas?"

  Henry looked at the door, opened it, and came back out with his own coffee.

  "Let's go, Teagan."

  Henry started walking, and I followed. We both finished our coffees as we arrived at one of Union City's public hover transports. Throwing my cup into some other city worker's trash bin, I followed Henry and got in line. A hand scan later and I took a seat next to Henry. The hover transport was quiet and fast, riding through the streets on waves of air.

  "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. You look fine, and I didn't mean anything by it."

  "Henry, I'm not upset with you. My situation is what it is. I've been trudging through from day to day watching people from the sidewalks going about their lives. I try to stay busy and when I'm not busy working, I'm alone. I haven't really had reason to splurge on fashion."

  I couldn't tell if what I had said had mollified him. With Mary leaving Henry was now, quite literally, the only friend I had in the world, aside from Ms. Reeves, who was more of an acquaintance. Maybe, I should get out more. Thankfully, the hover transport stopped, putting at least a temporary end to our uncomfortable conversation. Henry stood up and walked out with me close on his heels.

  "You still have the work pass I gave you?" Henry paused on the sidewalk, turning to look at me.

  I nodded and put my hand into the front of my jumper and pulled the pass out of the inside pocket where I had placed it for safe keeping. Henry widened his eyes at me and gave me a little laugh.

  "Check point's this way." He turned around and started walking.

  "What?" I asked.

  After multiple scans of both hands and work passes by different teams of enforcers in stations along the way, we were finally at the land port. The Union Land Port was the reason Union City existed. Interstellar travel, colonization off world, and the necessity of a military presence created the jobs of all of the men and women in the city, who ate in the cafes and left things for me to clean up. Without it the city would die. Henry and I were inside. I must have been looking around the land port with the same rapture with which Mary gazed at Paul.

  Henry asked, "Well, what do you think?"

  A wall several stories tall and longer than I could see stretched into the distance. It formed the back wall to the offices of the Union Land Port. It provided protection to the city in case of a malfunctioning ship, as a def
ense against hostile aliens, and as protection to any aliens from hostile humans. Anyone with an actual ship could land where ever they had enough space, but it was frowned upon and heavily fined if they got caught. In front of me, maybe two miles away, two giant space ships, each one the size of three large office buildings combined, were docked. Down the line other ships of varying size and design rested on land. They looked ready to leap to the sky at any moment.

  "This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my entire life," I said.

  From our position at the entrance, the people working around the ships seemed small which made the ships look even larger.

  "You ready to get to work?" Henry asked.

  I wiped my hands on my jumper and said, "Yes."

  "Those two monsters over there are military ships. We won't be working over there. They use their own soldiers to load and unload cargo, to refuel, and to make repairs. We will be unloading cargo for a trade and exploration vessel, the Tora."

  We hopped on the back of a motorized cart and were propelled to the docking ramp that led to Tora's cargo hold. Henry walked up the ramp and into the ship's hold. I followed and could have died happy at that moment. The cavernous space was filled with large crates constructed from some form of aluminum. Henry walked up to his boss. Mr. Ted Fennick stood at over six feet tall and had muscled arms that were larger than my thighs. He had thick short grey hair and wrinkles at the corners of his mouth from years of smiling. I thought I might understand why, now that I had a smile of my own. Ted and Henry shook hands. Ted nodded at me in way of a greeting, and Henry introduced me.

  "You know the drill. Everything in this hold gets loaded up, moved out, and left for Roger and Derrick to load into a transport. Fill up a cart. Take it to them and get back in here with an empty cart. This is gonna take all day, so try and make lunch fast. There's a bonus in this for us if it's done by midnight."

  Henry's eyes bugged out a bit. "Shit, Ted. This is two days’ worth of cargo."

  Ted said, "That's why I gave you a pass for your buddy. We done talking?"

  Henry answered, "Yes, sir. You heard him, Teagan."

  A large cart was ready for us. We loaded up a cart, and Henry took it down and brought up an empty one, over and over again. Eventually, I could hear Henry's stomach over my own. Henry, Roger, and Derrick invited me to grab lunch with them at one of the food counters inside of the Union Port building on the other side of the wall. We were all too hungry to talk, so after eating in silence, we got back to work. It was just as hot around the ships as it was in the sector where I worked, and it showed on all of us. After several hours and several loads, the cargo hold held nothing but a pleased Ted Fennick. Mr. Fennick approached us at the bottom of the ramp with a portable scanner. Each of the men scanned their hands, and credits automatically were added into their accounts. Then, it was my turn. One hundred and fifty credits had been added to mine.

  "Thank you, Mr. Fennick! This opportunity has meant so much to me," I said.

  "Then, come back in two days with Henry, and it can mean some more to you," Mr. Fennick said.

  He nodded at me and walked away. Really? I had more credits than I had ever had before, had seen and actually been inside a real space ship, and I was invited to come back? I was thrilled but so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. For the second time since I had known him, Henry guided me home from the land port so I wouldn't get lost.

  Chapter Four

  The next day I had to push myself hard to empty all of my bins. I decided to treat myself to lunch at the Sun Palace. Just as Mr. Lee seated me at the table that Mary and I used to share, Henry walked inside.

  "I thought I would find you in here, gar... Teagan. Mind if I join you?"

  I said, "Please, do and allow me to buy lunch for the man who made all of my dreams come true."

  Luckily, Mr. Lee, having gone for a second glass of water for Henry, did not hear that part.

  "Ted was impressed with you yesterday. Keep it up, and he might offer you a permanent job."

  I looked up at Henry. "That would be amazing!"

  Mr. Lee came back with a glass of water for Henry and a pitcher with which to refill my glass.

  "Thank you, Mr. Lee," I said.

  "Are you ready to order?" I looked at Henry, not sure what he would like.

  "I'll have whatever the lady is having," he said. Lady? I was a lady, now? Wow. I was moving up in the world.

  "The usual, please, with the addition of an order of spring rolls," I said. Mr. Lee left to fill our order. I figured a man like Henry might need more to eat than Mary had. "So, why are you stalking me today?"

  Henry rolled his eyes at me. "After lunch I am taking you to the lovely boutique frequented by me and other Union Land Port workers so that you can attire yourself in a way appropriate to creating a favorable impression on a Mr. Ted Fennick, not that the tan reclamation uniform doesn't look striking on you."

  It was my turn to roll my eyes at him, but I laughed instead. "Thank you, Henry. That sounds like a great idea."

  Mr. Lee arrived with our food. After making short work of it, I paid and we left for Henry's boutique.

  The store sold sturdy men's work clothes and accessories in solid colors. A sales lady directed me to stand still while a palm sized orb zipped around me taking my measurements. The orb decided that I was a men's ten, in my size at least. Henry and the sales lady took over. Three pairs of black pants, three black shirts, a belt, socks, and a small backpack later and she tallied up the credits. It cost me the bonus portion of the credits I had earned at the port. She folded everything and placed the items in the backpack.

  As we were leaving the store, Henry said, "Meet me at the Coffee Counter again at sunrise tomorrow, and we'll impress the hell out of Mr. Fennick."

  "Will do. Thanks for helping me with all of this, Henry."

  "No problem. See you later, Teagan."

  I spent the remainder of the day emptying bins.

  Sipping my coffee in the predawn light, I waited for Henry. The few people entering the Coffee Counter didn't notice me. The dark clothes made me even less visible than the tan jumper. Looking down at my outfit, I was pleased. The pants had several pockets that were held closed with magnets hidden within the seams. My work pass rested in one such pocket above my right knee. The new black shirt was sturdy, but soft and kept its wearer cool or warm depending on the climate. I heard Henry approaching. He stopped and looked around searching for me.

  "Hey, I thought you had decided to sleep in and had begun to worry," I said.

  "Well, well, well, look at you in your new land port dock worker attire. Looking good, Teagan. Let me grab some coffee, and then we'll go," Henry said.

  Knowing what to expect, getting to the Union Land Port didn't seem to take as long as it did the first time. I noticed a tall female wearing a Galaxic Militia uniform, striding gracefully into the port's business offices. Her black hair was twisted up and secured behind her head, and her long straight nose combined with her uniform made her look regal.

  "Who is she?" I asked.

  "That is Captain Espanoza. Her ship takes medical supplies, farming equipment, and soldiers to off world colonies."

  "So, she travels all over the Galaxic Expanse. Is this Captain Espanoza as smart and tough as she looks?" I asked.

  Henry said, "I heard that a couple of Parvac ships were giving the colonists on Aurilius a hard time. The colonists lacked the fire power of the Parvac’s who were trying to kill the colonists and take the planet. Captain Espanoza arrived and fired repeatedly at the Parvac ships destroying them. Captain Espanoza took the surviving Parvacs into custody and turned them over to a detainment facility. The Parvac Empire didn't make a big deal out of it, but we all need to watch our backs."

  Henry and I arrived, along with Derrick and Roger. Mr. Fennick gave us our assignments. Today we were loading cargo into the Tora's now empty cargo hold. With the first cart loaded, Henry and I headed up the ramp and began unloadi
ng. Mr. Fennick stood in the cargo hold listening attentively to a handsome, serious looking man.

  "Captain Hiroshi gave me specific orders on how to load his cargo, so pay attention. I'll be working with you both today so that I can show you where to stack the crates."

  By the time my stomach had started to complain, we had stacked and categorized over half of the cargo. Captain Hiroshi checked our progress and expressed his approval to Mr. Fennick.

  Derrick, Roger, Henry, and I gobbled down another hasty lunch inside the Union Land Port and then got back to work. Several crates later Derrick and Roger entered the cargo hold of the Tora with the last of the load on the second cart. Mr. Fennick told them where to unload it. Finished, we secured the two carts against the hull near the ship's cargo door. As soon as Mr. Fennick had paid Roger and Derrick, they left. Captain Hiroshi approached the three of us who remained, watching silently until our transactions were completed.

  "I have time to offer a brief tour of my ship, if anyone is interested," said Captain Hiroshi. I whipped my head to him so fast that my ponytail hit me in the eye. I brushed the end away with my hand.

  "I'm interested, Captain Hiroshi!" I said in complete disbelief at my incredible good fortune.

  "We'll leave you to it, then. See you in a few months when you're back to port," Mr. Fennick said. Before Henry could say anything, Mr. Fennick said, "Come on, Henry. I'll buy you a drink," ushering him out of the hold.

  Chapter Five

  Captain Hiroshi turned to me and when I looked up, I noticed for the first time the swirling rich brown of his eyes. Quickly, I looked away and hoped he hadn't noticed my appreciative perusal. Captain Hiroshi led me through a door in the back of the cargo bay and into a corridor.

  "Have you been on a ship before, Miss Green?" I followed Captain Hiroshi into a lift. The lift began to move as soon as the door closed.

  "No, Captain Hiroshi. I never thought I would ever actually get to see a starship up close. Being here, right now, is a dream come true for me."