The Space Merchants

by Wendie Nordgren

  "Thunderdrop! Here boy! Time to go!" I made kissing noises. Scanning for him, I saw him climbing along an overhanging branch high above. He started to fall, and fear gripped me as I rushed forward, but he floated. I saw his trailing line of silk. He drifted to me, detached his line of silk, and crawled up my skirt to my shoulder. "Well, that was a fancy trick, Thunderdrop! Did you have fun?" He chittered at me as we walked back to the large land transport. Yukihyo opened the door and helped us to get inside. "Thank you. Today has been beautiful," I said. My husband kissed me again. Then, he got in and drove us home to Tora. Upon our arrival we were greeted with the sight of dock workers loading the cargo hold with crates of supplies. "What is all of that?" I asked.

  "With the influx of refugees who decided to stay to open a new mine, they ordered a substantial amount of goods and supplies. We also procured orders for Amphictyon." Yukihyo drove up the ramp and parked. He grabbed our blanket and handed me our now empty lunch bag so that I could recycle the contents. We took the lift up to the laundry room. I disposed of our bag while Yukihyo placed our blanket and wet clothing inside the cleaning unit. I pressed my face into his back and wrapped my arms around him.

  "I have never been as happy and content, as I am in this moment," I said.

  "If this is so, I will endeavor to place laundry in the cleaning unit more often." I laughed at him, squeezed him with my arms, and let him go.

  "I love you."

  "I love you, lady wife." He put the blanket in a drawer by the cleaning unit and carried our laundry back to my quarters.

  "I think I want to wash my hair after swimming in the lake," I said.

  "I will do so later. Now, I feel I should help our brother."

  "I like the sound of that, our brother." Yukihyo left to help Hiroshi. Thunderdrop followed me. After washing my hair, I dried off and decided to wear my new pink and blue skirt with a white top I had bought from Felicia to match. I had soft blue slippers from Arachne of the same shade. I brushed through my damp hair. I stared at my wedding ring for several minutes.

  I knew once the cargo bay had been loaded, Hiroshi would lift Tora from Scipio and set our course for Malta. I hoped they would take a break for dinner. I gathered up my laundry basket. My wedding dress spilled over the sides. I giggled. I had never expected it to be my wedding dress. I had never even thought that I would ever marry. Thunderdrop trailed me to the laundry room and hopped up on the counter. With the task complete, he followed me as I first put away Yukihyo's things, and then went to my quarters and carefully put away my dress and other items. Next, we went to Hiroshi's quarters and then returned his cleaned laundry. It took longer to find all of Phillip's laundry, but I finally returned his basket full of clean clothing to the place just inside his door. From where I stood by Phillip's door, I could hear a joyous commotion from the bridge. Hiroshi strode from the bridge toward me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and spun me in the air while he laughed.

  Placing me back on my feet and smiling broadly, he said, "I hear you have married my brother and become my sister!" I nodded and smiled. Hiroshi gave me a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek before returning to the bridge.

  Then, Phillip whipped me up into his arms giving a loud "Whoop!" of sound. "Watch out, Cupcake! Yukihyo's gonna want to consummate your marriage!" I grew still and furrowed my brows.

  I whispered, "Again? Phillip, I feel consummated enough for one day. How many times does it take?" my cheeks were flames.

  "Once," Phillip said.

  I raised my eyebrows and whispered, "Then, he should be caught up for a few days." Phillip put me down, kissed the top of my head, and walked back to the bridge where I heard him begin to tease Yukihyo without mercy.

  Throughout dinner Yukihyo had to force his broad recurring smiles away so that he could chew. Our spirits were high on our return trip to Malta, and the trip seemed faster because of it. My husband prevented me from becoming bored on the way there. Only one odd thing happened the second day of the voyage. While in bed looking up at the stars, the bathroom door slid open and then closed. Then, it opened and closed again a few minutes later. I sat up and found Thunderdrop on the floor blinking at us. "What are you doing?" I asked him. Turning to Yukihyo I said, "Did you see him? He learned to set off the door sensor!"

  Yukihyo said, "Thunderdrop and I had a talk about how happy a clean environment makes you. He allowed me to teach him the use of the waste unit."

  "Wait. What? I didn't realize he even pooped."

  Yukihyo sighed, "Oh, he poops. I have dealt with it." I curled my lips over my teeth and held them shut.

  Then managed to say, "I'm sorry. That is so gross, and I'm so glad you cleaned it up. Was it a lot?"

  "No, and not very often, but I am brave and manly to protect you. Am I not?" Thunderdrop chittered at him. Yukihyo said, "Thunderdrop, your name has new meaning for me alone." Thunderdrop climbed up into his web.

  I was excited by our arrival on Malta. During my lunch with Felicia on Scipio, I had described Malta to her. The utter lack of shopping distressed her. We devised a plan. She had sold me more than the dress, shirt, and skirt that day, my wedding day. Once the workers had loaded the transport, I asked Hiroshi if I could ride along to the general store. I looked around at the store's arrangement while Hiroshi and the shopkeeper, Arthur Gregory, completed their business. Hiroshi and Yukihyo were ready to deliver to one of the bars. "May I stay here?" I asked. Yukihyo and Arthur exchanged glances.

  "She'll be safe here. You have my word," Arthur said. After they had gone, I approached Mr. Gregory.

  "Excuse me, sir. You have a very nice store."

  "Thank you, ma'am."

  "I notice you have a selection of men's clothing, but there do not appear to be any stores in town that sell women's clothing." Mr. Gregory thought about that for a moment.

  "No, I guess we don't have anything much for ladies." He scratched at his jaw.

  "I have an idea, if you would care to hear it."

  "Go on, I'm listening," Mr. Gregory said.

  "I thought Ms. Laura and her ladies might have an interest in shopping for new things or that men might like surprising ladies with gifts." Mr. Gregory became speculative. "I made several beautiful purchases on Scipio. If you like I could show them to you. Maybe we could create a nice display in the corner near the work clothes?" He agreed to try out my idea. I clapped my hands. "May I come back today?" My spider chose that moment to climb to his perch on top of my head.

  "Aww!" Mr. Gregory jumped and started to pull back his arm to swat Thunderdrop off of me.

  "No!" I lifted up my arms to protect him and stepped back. Thunderdrop chittered angrily. "He's my baby spider! Don't hurt him!"

  A pale Mr. Gregory said, "What the hell kind of pet is that?" I rubbed Thunderdrop's leg and made soothing sounds to him.

  "He's a sweet boy. Thunderdrop is from Arachne. Lord Montgomery gave him to me. Do you want to pet him?"

  Hands held up to ward me off, he said, "No, no that's alright. You keep it."

  "Okay, well, I'll see you again in a bit!" I said as I waved.

  "Wait! Where are you going?" Mr. Gregory asked. I turned back to him.

  "I need a ride to Tora, so I can pick up all of the pretty things I bought to show you. I'll be back in a bit."

  Mr. Gregory said, "Wait! Let my boy walk you back to Yukihyo. I don't want him pissed at me." Mr. Gregory's son escorted me to Yukihyo in the bar and then returned to his store. I touched Yukihyo's arm to get his attention.

  "Hey, is Phillip at the doctor's office?" He looked at me.

  "I think so. Why? Are you hurt?"

  "No, I'm going over there to see him. Bye!" I left before he could say anything. I crossed the street and stepped around Phillip's land transport to enter the office. It was spotless. A seating area was in a corner. A desk faced the room. No one was there. "Hello? Phillip?" A man came through a door in the middle of the back wall. He gave me a surprised look.

  "May I help you, miss?"


  "Yes, sir. Could you please tell me if Phillip is here?" Phillip stood behind him in the hall and scooted past him to get to me.

  "Hey, Cupcake. Everything alright?"

  "Yes, but I'm hoping for a favor."

  "What is it?"

  "May I borrow your land transport for a trip back to Tora? I need to get some things."

  "Do you need help?" he asked.

  "No, I can do it. I'll put it back when I'm done. Promise."

  "Okay, Cupcake. Be careful."

  "I will!" With that Thunderdrop and I got in the land transport and drove home, lowering the ramp to drive into the bay. I closed the bay, and we went up to our quarters. I had filled the middle column of my storage unit with bags. It took me three trips to get them all out and next to the lift, and three more trips from the lift and into the back and last row of seats in the transport. Finished, I got into the transport, lowered the ramp, carefully drove out of the bay, closed up the ship, and drove back to the general store. I parked and began to unload. Mr. Gregory rushed from his store with his son and insisted that I go inside and allow them to bring things inside for me. Felicia and I had made a list of all of the items I had purchased. I had raised their prices at her suggestion to make a profit. Once they had brought all of the bags inside, I showed Mr. Gregory and his son a couple of the dresses, shirts, skirts, and accessories I had brought.

  "The ladies will get a kick out of this," he said. Mr. Gregory and his son moved some things aside and made room in the corner. In storage they found a long metal rack from which I could hang the dresses and shirts. I had bought a bag of hangers on Scipio at Felicia's prompting. After I had hung all of the dresses by size, I did the same with the shirts. The men had gone back into their storage and found a table for me as well. We placed it perpendicular to the wall leaving space to walk around it. After I had given the table a good cleaning, I arranged the skirts across it as I had seen Felicia do.

  "Do you have any baskets?" I asked. They found a few. I turned them upside down under the table and placed soft colorful shoes on top of and propped against the baskets. I showed Mr. Gregory my list of prices.

  "This all looks real nice, miss. I think the ladies will appreciate it. We'll see." Mr. Gregory paid me in full.

  "Thank you for giving this a try, sir. I'll check in with you before we leave to see if they liked anything." Mr. Gregory walked me to the transport and opened the door for me. Two ladies were entering the store as I returned the transport to Phillip.

  "You were gone for three hours. What have you been up to?" Phillip asked. He sat on top of the desk talking with his doctor friend.

  "I was doing my best to improve the terrible shopping conditions on this planet, Phillip." He snorted.

  "How's that?" I told him what I had done with Felicia's help. "Aww, Felicia. Such a woman," Phillip said. I waved to the doctor.

  "It is nice to see you again, Miss Green," he said. I blushed.

  "Thank you. It's Mrs. Lee now, sir. It is nice to see you again under calmer circumstances, too."

  The doctor kissed my hand, "I should have known a kind, beautiful woman such as you wouldn't remain unmarried for long."

  "Okay, back off there, Anders. This is Yukihyo's wife." Anders flinched.

  "What was that for?" I asked.

  "He's smart. He's a doctor. He knows the force required to break skulls and knows Yukihyo has it," he laughed. "See ya later! I'm taking her home!" Dr. Anders smiled and held the door open for us. I could see that the land transport had made it down to the brothel. Phillip and I went home to Tora. I thought I saw a can of spider food in my imagination. I shook my head to clear it.

  "I could use a cup of coffee, Phillip. Would you like to join me? It is time for me to feed, Thunderdrop, too. He has been a good boy today." I scratched him as we got into the lift.

  Thunderdrop ate his dinner in the laundry room, while we sipped coffee in the kitchen. "How are your former patients on Malta?" I asked. Phillip wrapped his hands around his cup.

  "All better. They closed down the emergency facility and are working from the office in town."

  "I'm glad all of the suffering has come to an end. It made me prouder to know you though, seeing you helping all of those people." He lifted his cup to me and finished it off.

  "I can only take so much of it for so long, Teagan. I changed my life for a reason." Phillip had grown pensive. Hiroshi and Yukihyo returned. During dinner they explained their plan to fill the hold with sealed containers of fuel for delivery to Arachne. Miners would begin loading Tora's hold in the morning. Hiroshi's eyes glittered.

  "This will be profitable. It may also allow us to purchase enough Arachnean silk to sell on Earth. Most of our buyers here on Malta have requested both perishable and non-perishable food items and medical supplies. I propose selling the fuel on Arachne, investing the profits in Arachnean silk, making a brief stop on Scipio to buy soaps and goods, and then selling it all on Earth. Then, we load the hold with buyer requests and return to Malta." Yukihyo nodded his agreement.

  Phillip said, "Sounds like a solid plan."

  "When do we leave?" I asked.

  "As soon as the miners have loaded the fuel," Hiroshi answered.

  Yukihyo had gone before I woke up the next morning. I took my time getting dressed which turned out to be a good thing. My tardiness, in leaving my quarters to feed my irritated hungry spider, saved me from a terrible lady accident. "No more cramps means no more warning." I found supplies I had left in a drawer of my vanity and left some of them in the bathroom. Thunderdrop chittered at me to hurry. "Okay!" He forgave me after his bowl was filled. I drank coffee and ate a bowl of oatmeal. I cleaned our dishes. I looked around Tora and found I was alone. "Come on, Thunderdrop. Let's go see if anyone liked anything we picked out." He hopped to my shoulder, and we took the lift down to the cargo hold. All activity was centered there. Hiroshi came to my side.

  "Is everything alright, Teagan?"

  "Yes, but may I go to the general store for a moment?"

  "I can't take you right now. Yukihyo and Phillip have each taken transports to our buyers to inform them of our trip to Earth and take any additional orders." I shrugged.

  "It's fine. I can walk and catch a ride back with one of them. It's not far." Hiroshi flattened out his mouth.

  "I will allow you to go, if you wear your blaster."

  Furrowing my brow, I said, "My blaster, why?"

  "Because otherwise my brother would do more than spar with me in the exercise room. You do not wish to see your loving brother injured, do you?" Hiroshi asked with a raised eyebrow.

  I kissed his cheek and said, "Of course not." Thunderdrop and I went back to our quarters and got my blaster out of the box in my vanity. I buckled on the brown braided belt and slid the blaster into its holster. I put the box away, and we made our way once again down to the cargo hold. Thunderdrop's legs tickled my neck. I showed Hiroshi that I was armed. He grunted in approval. I kissed his other cheek and began the walk from the land port to the small town.

  As we walked I saw in the distance a woman leaving the brothel unmistakably wearing one of the dresses I had brought. "Hey, Thunderdrop! A lady bought one of our dresses!" My spirits rose. We made it to the general store. When Mr. Gregory saw me, he rushed forward. In the corner, the baskets had been stacked on the empty table. "Did you change your mind, Mr. Gregory?"

  "Change my mind? No, it's all gone! I've already sold everything you sold me!"

  Tilting my head to the side, I said, "You sold it all? I brought ten dresses, five skirts, and shirts, and shoes." He nodded vigorously. I felt a few of Thunderdrop's claws sliding down the back of my collar and straightened my head. He hid behind my hair.

  "Yes, when you come back to Malta, bring me as much as you want. Ms. Laura's ladies went nuts. Great idea you had. My boy is gonna make a nicer display area while you're gone. The ladies have got the money to spend, too. I'll buy fancy stuff from you!" I beamed.

  "Thank you, Mr.
Gregory! This is so exciting! Now, I'll have something to do when we come to Malta. I'll see you when we return." I waved goodbye to him.

  Yukihyo waited with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning his back against the transport. I ran to him and kissed his cheek. His hands moved to his hips. His eyes sparked. He placed my hand on his arm and walked me to the passenger side door which he opened. He helped me inside and closed the door. My spider had become very still. He got in and drove us back to Tora. I smiled at my silent husband. "Your timing couldn't have been better. I hoped to find you." Yukihyo said nothing. He parked the transport inside, closed the ramp, got out, helped me out, and walked with me to the lift.

  "Yukihyo, what's wrong? Are you okay?" His jaw clenched and released. He went to the kitchen and made himself a cup of tea. Phillip and Hiroshi happily discussed the deal they had made for the fuel. "May I heat up anything for anyone?" I asked.

  "Sure! Thanks we were just waiting on you two. I'd like some of that chicken," Phillip said. I pulled it from cold storage.

  "Hiroshi?" I asked.

  "Are there any potatoes with toppings?" I found what he wanted. I heated up their choices and handed them forks.

  "Yukihyo?" I asked.

  "No, not at the moment," he answered. What had happened to him? I sat down on the bench beside him. Was he angry? Hiroshi chewed and swallowed a mouthful of baked potato.

  "Something wrong?" he asked.

  "You know very well what is wrong," Yukihyo answered. I didn't. "Teagan, I thought you were safe aboard Tora. Instead, I find you alone and unprotected in the general store. Do you give no thought to your safety? Do my feelings not affect your judgement?" My heart dropped through my feet and away from me.