One Trade Too Many

by D. A. Boulter

  “I agree,” she said, backing him up.

  Clay nodded. “I do, too. Sean and Doreen it is.”

  Telford gave a short smile that lacked humour. “One other thing: we’re going to have to tell Mr Pelburn something. And he’s going to have to tell his staff something. Unless they think we have a problem, they will relax. And,” he sighed, “we’ll have to tell the rest of the crew something, too.”

  Clay pressed his lips together, looking as if he didn’t like that at all. “Unfortunately, you’re right, Mr Telford. But we can’t tell them the truth; we’ve just heard why not. So, what would you suggest? You’re Security; this falls in your domain.”

  “The Family tasks Security with one thing: keep Yrden interests safe. That includes people – crew and passengers on ships, Family and otherhires elsewhere – the ships themselves, cargos, warehouses, and information. A saboteur creates all sorts of problems for the Family. Making it public would raise all sorts of questions. And Family, crew, other Families, trade partners, and the public would ask them very publicly.”

  Minda caught on. “But if we had a secret, we’d want to protect it from a spy. All Families engage in espionage to one degree or another, even if it’s merely listening in to conversations by other lines’ crews at the local bar to see what’s hot in trade and where it’s hot.”

  “Exactly,” Telford said. “And spies get their information in a variety of ways that range from actually stealing it from locked locales, to bribery, to pumping people for information and putting together the pieces. We simply say that Starfield reported a failed espionage attempt, and that some unknown party may try our other ships next. Please report any suspicious conversations or requests from passengers, as well as any attempts to gain access to normally restricted areas.

  “Security, of course, will also be on alert to prevent any such access. Doing our job more vigilantly now has a purpose. We don’t have to know exactly what we are protecting. No one thinks that there’s anything important in the crew exercise area, for example, but if someone were to compromise our comm from there, they might get what they want. And Starfield is dumping its cargo and passengers for a reason. Is she really going back to Haida Gwaii for repairs or did we put out the story to disguise her preparations for another mission? We could start a rumour.”

  Clay grinned. “Beautiful, Mr Telford. That means no one lets down their guard anywhere. I like it.”

  Telford stood. “I’ll spread the word.”

  “Before you do that, I have something else I want you to do.”

  “Mr Yrden?”

  “I want you to pack your luggage and vacate your room.”

  * * *

  Sean Williams waved as Clay approached his table at the cafeteria.

  “Morning, Clay. How’s the Captain?”

  “Out of sorts, Mr Williams. Seems Brian left me a job. Now, I’m going to have to pawn it off on someone else.”

  Sean’s incipient smile faded. “You mean me.”

  Clay placed his tray on the table, and sat. “I mean you. I have a nice little joy-ride for you, Sean.”

  Sean looked at him suspiciously. “Where? And when?”

  “In a couple of hours. I’d like you to take a datastick back to Haida Gwaii and give it to Jenna or Tamm. After you deliver it, you can head for Manila to catch up to us there. If you beat us there, you get to do whatever you want until we arrive. Call it a little holiday.”

  Yeah, a holiday with no fun attached.

  “You want me, personally, to deliver it? I’m not taking a passenger, a Family member?” Something didn’t sound right to him. “What about a co-pilot?”

  “Pick whomever you want.” Clay smeared his pancake with jam, cut off a section and stuffed it in his mouth. Sean waited for him to swallow before speaking again.

  “How about Doreen, then.” With her along, the whole trip would be a bit of a holiday, and they actually could have fun if they arrived at Manila before Blue Powder.

  Clay shrugged. “Sure, why not?” Then he leaned forward. “This is important, Sean. Jenna needs to see this soon.”

  “I thought you said to give it Jenna or Tamm.”

  “Tamm will give it to Jenna if you give it to him. She’s Head Trader for the Family as well as Family Head.”

  Sean’s curiosity spiked. Were they going somewhere new? “Do I wait for a reply?” he asked.

  “Yes. You should get it very quickly. Jenna doesn’t take long to make decisions. Then you bring her reply back to me.”

  “And we get Scout-1. Any restrictions?”

  “None. As long as you return to me in one piece before we leave Manila, I’m happy. Be as frugal or extravagant with fuel as you like. You won’t be questioned if you use it all. Come back fast, and enjoy some time on Manila or her station, or come back slow, and have alone time in Scout-1. Up to you.”

  “But get to Haida Gwaii fast?”

  Clay laughed. “We still prize safety, Pilot Williams. I recall Brian telling the story of you going through the asteroid belt. Even watching the datastream you sent back still makes me shudder.”

  Sean didn’t laugh. “You saw an instance of life or death.”

  “I know. This isn’t. I just want you to understand that I’m not asking you to take any chances at all. It is important, but getting the info to Jenna six hours earlier won’t make any difference. Getting the information to Jenna and getting back to me with a reply is the number one priority. To do that, you have to stay safe.”

  “Got it,” Sean said. “Got that the first time.”

  “Sorry.” Clay finished his meal before speaking again. “Oh, and if you decide to go down to the planet, leave Jenna’s reply with our warehouseman on the station ... just in case you fall in love with Manila City and decide to not come back up.”

  Sean laughed. Him planet-bound? Even if with Doreen? Not a chance. “I’ll go find Dor, and then we’ll pack.” He stood with Clay. “I can pretty well guarantee you that we’ll dock at Manila before you.”

  Clay shook hands with him.

  “Oh,” Clay said. “I’ll give you authorization to charge a return trip to the planet for the pair of you.” He winked. “I’ll expect you to be on the lookout for trade goods. And you don’t have to report back to Blue Powder until the day we leave.”

  “That won’t give you much time to trade for those goods.”

  Clay laughed. “I don’t really expect you to find anything.”

  Sean grinned, and left the cafeteria with Clay, then watched him walk away towards the bridge. One thing about the Yrdens, they didn’t stint an employee, and they rewarded good work and loyalty.

  He found Doreen resting in their room, reading in bed.

  “Get up,” he said. “You go on shift in one hour.”

  “What? I just got off shift. What happened?” She sat up, looking worried.

  He really shouldn’t have done it that way. With everyone upset about the changes to routine and schedule, he should have worded it differently.

  “We have a courier job to do,” he said smiling broadly. “And the faster we do it, the more time we get off at the other end – time off with pay, and a trip down to Manila, also paid for.”

  Her eyes brightened. “We’re taking something to Manila?” Then she blinked. “But that’s our destination in Blue Powder.”

  “We’re going to Manila via Haida Gwaii, my love. We take a message to Jenna, get a message in return, and bring it to Clay. If we reach Manila before him, we dock Scout-1 at the station and don’t have to show up until Blue Powder is ready to leave for Pelgraff.”

  Doreen kicked off the sheet. “Out of my way, Mr Williams.”

  He dodged aside, getting a good look at her naked body as she strode towards the shower.

  “Do something useful besides ogling,” she ordered. “Pack a swimsuit. They have a lovely lake at Manila City, and it’s midsummer there right now.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he replied, laughing. Then his smile faded. �
�Right.”

  He threw himself into hurried packing. Every minute he wasted here lost them a minute on the beach.

  Thirty minutes later, they began the launch checklist on Scout-1. She kicked off nicely, and they began a light acceleration away from ship and station.

  “We far enough?” Doreen asked.

  “Far enough,” he conceded, then braced himself as she went to full burn.

  The acceleration forcefully pushed them back into their seats. He laughed with the joy of it all. This beat running a big ship all hollow.

  “Three hours before we can go to hyperspace, Mr Williams. Can you think of anything we might do with three hours?”

  He could, and they did.

  CHAPTER 7

  Blue Powder

  “Purser reports all passengers on board, all luggage on board. Passengers in the lounges getting initial briefing,” Brint Yrden reported on the comm. “Cargo Master reports all cargo on board, stored and lashed down. Now we’re just waiting for Minda’s shuttle from the surface. He estimates us ready to break orbit in two hours.”

  “Thank you, Brint,” Clay replied. “I’ll be up to the bridge in one hour.”

  But first he would go to the acceleration lounges to welcome their newly arrived guests. He shrugged on his captain’s jacket and put on the hat, which he almost never wore. A quick glance in the mirror to satisfy himself that all looked in order, and he stepped out.

  Thirty-four passengers waited for him in the portside lounge, and he went to the front of the room, standing on the stage.

  “Welcome, everyone, to Blue Powder. I’m sure that Captain Brian Yrden of Starfield conveyed his regrets, but I’ll add my apologies on behalf of Yrden Lines.” He allowed his gaze to go from passenger to passenger, wondering if any of them were saboteurs. “I understand that all accommodations and meals on New Brittain’s Topside Station were complimentary...”

  “As they should have been,” interrupted an older gentleman with thinning grey hair.

  “As they should have been,” Clay agreed amiably. “But if anyone has receipts for meals they took in other than the FTL restaurant, please present them to our purser, and you’ll get reimbursed.”

  “Oh,” the gentleman he had interrupted said, looking much mollified.

  Clay smiled. “We’ll be leaving orbit here on New Brittain in two hours. You have one hour and forty-five minutes to check out your cabins, and read the Ship’s Regs as pertaining to passengers before returning here for the boost out of orbit.

  “After that, we’ll run an emergency drill where you will all be asked to make your way to the Catastrophe Core. From there, the emergency will deepen, and you’ll be required to go to the abandon ship stations. Everyone will board a lifeboat, and get strapped in. At that point, the drill will end and you will be free for the next six hours – at which point you’ll return here for our final burn and then our jump to hyperspace.”

  He looked around the seated passengers. As they had all come from Starfield, they would be acquainted with this procedure.

  “Any questions?”

  As he had thought, no one asked anything.

  “Thank you for your attention. I now must go to the starboard lounge and make those who come to us from New Brittain aware of the procedures we follow. Some of them are making their first voyage, so they may ask what seem to be foolish questions of more seasoned travellers like yourselves.” He grinned. “Be kind.”

  That brought forth some laughter. He needn’t have said anything, but this would make them feel a little more special, more important. It couldn’t hurt.

  In the starboard lounge he made much the same speech, but in more detail, as well as outlining the meal times and opportunities for leisure. Again, he looked from person to person, wondering which – if any – held the Yrdens in disfavour. He only glanced in passing at Telford, who sat in the middle of the group. All the rest appeared nice enough, but that meant nothing.

  This time, however, he had to answer many questions.

  “This emergency drill to abandon ship,” an sharp-faced lady of about 50 asked, “what are the chances of us needing to actually go through with it?”

  “This time? About nil. No emergency actually exists. It’s a planned drill so that all passengers will know what to do should a real emergency occur, and to further train my crew so that they will react more rapidly in that same emergency.”

  “And how many emergencies like this have you had?”

  Great. Just what he needed: someone to distress the other passengers. He took in the woman’s features. One might have considered her quite lovely in her younger days, but the tightness of the mouth and severe pulled-back hairstyle made her look perpetually antagonistic.

  “The crew and passengers of Blue Powder have never needed to abandon ship. Once, about fourteen years ago, Blue Powder went on a rescue mission where some danger existed, and the crew asked all passengers to report to the Catastrophe Core. Blue Powder suffered no damage during that mission, but the captain at that time made the correct decision. We take our responsibility for the safety of passengers – and crew – very seriously.”

  The sharp-faced woman didn’t appear placated. “You deliberately put your passengers in danger?”

  Clay wanted to kick her off the ship, but instead just smiled. “Yes, we did. An asteroid mining station had suffered catastrophic loss of air. Four hundred miners had only Blue Powder between them and death. The company later estimated that at least – at the very least – three hundred of those miners would have died had we not answered the call. At worst, none of them would have survived.

  “Life in space carries its dangers. Ships answer distress calls. For any who think that we should have left those miners to be rescued by their own company instead of risking this ship, consider how you would feel if you were put in their position. If you had to abandon ship, and others decided to just let you run out of air instead of coming to the rescue – even if the risks it entailed were slight.

  The faces of most appeared as if they contemplated that very thing.

  “Yrden Lines answered that call, will always answer that call. If this discomfits you overly, then I suggest that you return to your planet and stay safe where you can just open a door to get more air. You can’t do so in space.” He let that sink in for a moment. “And, it’s not just Yrden Lines. Any ship of the Family Trading League, any non-FTL ship that plies the stars or only just one particular star system, will always feel itself honour-bound to rescue those in distress. It’s what spacers do because it’s what we would want done for us.”

  He looked directly at the sharp-faced woman. “If anyone here feels unable to accept this, we will gladly refund you your fare and return you to the surface of your planet – without charge.

  “That’s all. You have the next hour and a half to go over Ship’s Regs, look at the maps to see where your emergency stations are – either the Catastrophe Core or the lifeboats – and to return here for the burn as we leave orbit.

  “Any who wish to cancel their trip have forty-five minutes to make this known to myself or another member of the crew. Thank you for your attention.”

  He left the lounge and passengers in the capable hands of Tarya Copeland. Still feeling a slight anger, he returned to the crew deck, and went to his cabin.

  “You look like you’re ready to tackle a maddened Pagayan all by yourself,” Colleen commented.

  Clay smiled at the thought. “About how often does one encounter a maddened Pagayan?”

  “Haven’t heard of it occurring, myself, but surely it must upon occasion. What happened?”

  Clay told her, and in the telling found that the incident had dwindled in importance. At the end, he just shrugged.

  “It’s the other,” Colleen said. “We have the possibility of saboteurs, so even the thought of an emergency becomes more vivid.”

  “I suppose.” He walked over to the chair where she sat. “Give me a hug. I have duty on the bridge in fifteen
minutes.”

  Colleen stood and hugged him, pressing her body against his.

  “Have I told you lately that I’m quite enamoured of you?” he asked.

  “With just about every look you give me,” she answered.

  “Good. Enjoy your off-shift.”

  “Unlikely. I’ll be going over the passenger files, putting names to faces. And I’ll check into this sharp-faced lady of yours, though I doubt she’s anything more than a self-centred, pampered, rich-bitch.”

  His eyebrows went up. “Such language.”

  “Time and a place for everything, my love.”

  “Speaking of that, how did Brian’s birthday party go?”

  She rolled her eyes. “How do you think it went? The kids loved it, my grandparents loved having their great-grandchildren over, and I got a headache. We missed you.”

  “Yeah, I know. Too much going on. I just couldn’t make it. Next year, though, I’ll put everything else aside.”

  She laughed. “Don’t make promises you might not be able to keep. But I’ll hold you to that as far as is practicable. Now, go do your duty. That’s an order from your First Mate.”

  “My one-and-only mate,” he replied.

  She picked up a small building block that David had left out and threw it at him. “Just go.”

  But her eyes had both laughed and looked pleased at his words. So, with his wife’s good wishes, he walked away from their cabin in a much better mood than when he had entered it.

  By the time he reached the bridge, he felt at peace with the universe.

  “Everyone ready to break orbit?” he asked. “Any problems?”

  “We’re ready, Captain,” Brint replied. “And no one has asked to leave the ship.”

  So, that had gotten around quickly. Tarya hadn’t lost any time relating the dressing-down he had given old sharp-face. And the crew looked pretty pleased about it. Doubtless they had, each one, wished to do similar at more than one time during their employment.

  He looked at all the smiling faces.