2.1: Arumba Hotel
As the two entered the reception area, they had to avoid porter droids, tasked with carrying luggage, whilst other droids were wheeling around drinks and food trolleys, prepared by the android barman and his counterpart chef.
At the reception, stood a tall, thin, silvery android, with a red beam sensor across its face, where eyes would have been on a human.
‘Great, I hate robot hotels,’ said Phillips.
‘I find androids somewhat impersonal, and not up for a conversation!’ replied Avery, with a wit Phillips found surprising at such a late hour.
‘We would like a room for the night - what is left of it - with two single beds,’ replied Phillips, after the longest pause he could manage.
‘Okay sir, have you any bags to be taken to your room?’ replied the android receptionist, oblivious to Phillips’ distain.
A porter droid appeared by their side, like some electronic pet, waiting for a tasty treat. Its electric sensors around its four wheels whizzed, from red to green, to yellow and back again, expecting the bags that did not exist, to be placed on its flat body.
‘No bags,’ replied Avery politely.
The porter droid shot backwards, then forwards, and disappeared into a lift, greeted by the android attendant, with a pat on the curved bar, at the front of its bag holder. The doors closed, and the lift began to descend into the basement of the hotel.
‘Here are your entry sticks.’ The receptionist placed two small electronic sticks on the desk. ‘Room 524 on the fifth floor, out of the lift and turn right.’
Both men slid the small electronic devices off the counter, attached them to their other key-like paraphernalia. They proceeded to make their way to the lift, on the opposite side of the lobby. Neither man spoke, but both clearly felt uncomfortable, being outnumbered by robots. It had been a running theme in the Galactic Times, and on the Mechanized Channel on the inter-web, that robots could eventually make humans totally redundant, and that commerce, trade and everything else could exist without them.
Avery pressed the button on the lift. It whirred into action and a reassuring “Ping”, produced a smile from him, knowing that soon, they would be in an environment where they, as a species, would be in the majority. They stepped into the lift and the attendant said his usual greeting.
‘Evening gentlemen, which floor?’
‘Five,’ said Phillips as bored as he could sound.
‘Thank you,’ said the android, without noticing Phillips’ sarcasm.
The lift whirred into action once again. There was complete silence, as the lift rose at what seemed an unnaturally fast speed. The silence was only broken by another “Ping”, as the lift reached its destination.
‘Enjoy your stay gentlemen,’ uttered the android, as they left the elevator. Both men remained silent.
As soon as they had reached the robot free zone of their hotel room, Avery went to the mini-bar, poured himself and Phillips large spirits.
‘We will meet Rackham tomorrow, for lunch, in the Sky Restaurant across the plaza, then retire here after for drinks, rendezvous with Marie at three. Then, hopefully we will all be in a position to take this mission to the next stage,’ announced Phillips.
‘You certainly appear to have everything under control. However, one small factor remains to be resolved,’ said Avery.
‘What’s that Avery?’
‘The fact that you do not own your ship that I have exchanged for the Lion S Class.’
‘Oh that,’ said Phillips, with a certain amount of regret in his voice.
‘Yes, that Phillips,’ parroted Avery.
‘Well sure, you have enough left to pay off Rackham and to buy Marie a ship?’ inquired Phillips.
‘Well, after paying Marie for the taxi ride, and the hotel room, I reckon I am going to be short after buying those ships. What about the restaurant tomorrow?’ asked Avery.
‘Rackham is shouting that one,’ replied Phillips.
‘Phillips, have you got any money at all?’ asked Avery.
‘Well not exactly, I had to pay my way out of jail, then I had debts, which Rackham paid, in exchange for my ship, so in a word: no.’
‘I thought so! Well in that case we’d better take our drinks down to the gaming rooms, to try and double our money I have left, so we can afford to pay for this crazy mission, which I don’t mind saying, I am starting to regret getting involved with -’
‘Avery, don’t be like that old friend,’ cut in Phillips, ‘it will all be worth it, when we are sat there on your porch, sipping a couple of these, watching those craft take off.’ Phillips, by this point, was mimicking a spacecraft in flight, with his hand. ‘Knowing full well we do not need to go on another spacecraft, as long as we both shall live.’
‘It is a good job that I know how to trick a table, especially an android tended table, for a few hands at least, so that we can guarantee success. I am banned from most venues. This one however, is new and therefore does not know me,’ stated Avery.
‘I knew I could count on you Avery,’ smiled Phillips.
So, the two men took their drinks down to the gaming room, where an array of tables and machines were slowly, but surely, fleecing the respective players. Avery spotted the card table, and moved over to it, where the android duly dealt him and Phillips a hand, for the card game Zouse. In which, the player has to get the family cards, of the respective ruling families, of the Diso System. There were four financial ruling families of Diso; there were four family cards with four face cards. If you could get four cards with the faces of the same family on them, you won half the pot. To change a card, would cost to exchange, and therefore, the pot would rise depending on how many players were playing. Avery and Phillips were now two of ten players. In theory, if Avery won and Phillips lost it did not matter.
Avery watched the android shuffle the pack of cards, and as he thought, it did not do it thoroughly. When it shuffled, they came out in the same order, and therefore, he counted the location of the cards that he wanted, and realized that he could locate the cards in the pack. He looked around the table, to see if anyone was doing the same. However, nobody else seemed to have noticed. The pile of money in the middle was beginning to mount up, and people were beginning to leave and new players joined.
‘Deal,’ said Avery; the android dealt him his first head card of the Reuture family. He waited and counted in his head; ‘Deal;’ now he realized that he had two head cards of the Reuture family. Just two more, then he could claim the 50% stake on the table with the other half going to the house.
Phillips was having no luck at all and just played as if he did not know what he was doing, which was true. Avery counted the cards going out, and knew, the next card he wanted, was coming.
‘Deal,’ he said again, to the shiny red android, and sure enough, another Reuture family head card, one more. Avery knew exactly when to go next, but covered his move, that was being recorded, by the camera in the ceiling, and said ‘Deal,’ on the next round knowing full well that the card he wanted, was at the bottom of the pack, three cards from the bottom. Avery waited.
Other players swapped cards and Avery passed, now he knew that the card was coming up next. Phillips felt a sudden kick under the table, and requested the next card. This gave Avery, the third from bottom card.
‘Deal,’ he said, with a little trepidation. The android span the card across the blue table; it flipped over revealing Reginald Reuture. ‘Zouse!’ shouted Avery and stood up. There was a gasp, as he divided the money, and clawed it towards him and his zipper pants. ‘Stay here Phillips, play one more hand, then join me back in the hotel room.’ whispered Avery.
2.2: Sky Restaurant
The twin suns, shone through the thick glass of the highest point in Diso City. The Sky Restaurant, the most exclusive venue, and pricey eatery that had ever existed, in this somewhat drab city port. Three men sat with the menus in their hands, doing the math of how much lighter Rackham’s pockets would be, by the ti
me they left.
‘Gentlemen,’ announced the waiter, ‘can I get you drinks?’
‘Well men,’ said Rackham, ‘I think this calls for a celebration. Three of your most expensive bottles from Sigma Draconis.’
‘Very good sir,’ replied the waiter, collecting the drinks menus and was back, faster than was normally humanly possible.
The Sky Restaurant prided itself in giving super-fast service. A PSI device had been fitted to the doorframe, which read the minds of the clientele as they passed through the entrance. This would determine what was going to be eaten and drunk by each party. Three steaks were cooking on a griddle, in the kitchen, one rare, two medium rare, in anticipation.
‘What do you say Rackham?’ asked Phillips. ‘Avery has your cash on him. Sign the ship over to him, and then we can make good our small fleet?’
‘Very well gentlemen, I cannot argue with that, cash is always welcome. This other member, you picked up yesterday night, Marie?’
‘Yes Marie,’ confirmed Avery.
‘How do we know we can trust her, to keep quiet, what have you offered her?’ asked Rackham.
‘Well,’ jumped in Phillips, ‘we are paying for her ship.’
‘Her ship, so she is without any funding for this mission. What were you guys thinking?’ asked Rackham.
‘We need an extra fighter, three is not enough to take on ten guard ships, the odds are against us,’ replied Avery.
‘And you would feel safe with this taxi driver covering your rear if it came to it?’ inquired Rackham.
‘Well, she has taken on pirates,’ Avery looked around, ‘such as us and lived to tell the tale. That is enough for me.’
‘Phillips?’ asked Rackham.
‘Yes, makes sense to me, she can fly and fight. Does not matter to me if our number four is a man or woman: we need a number four, and I say she is it.’
‘Very well gentlemen,’ said Rackham, as he poured the contents of the first bottle of fine wine into Avery’s glass. ‘Let’s order some food, I am starving! Steak anyone?’ both men nodded.
The waiter returned, took their order, noting down what they wanted, but only for performance.
‘For you sir?’ asked the waiter to Phillips.
‘Medium rare for me.’
‘And for you sir?’ asking Avery.
‘Rare.’
‘Okay that’s fine and yours is the other medium rare,’ he said to Rackham as he took the menus away.
‘Yes that’s right, how did you . . ? Oh yes okay!’ replied a somewhat surprised Rackham.
As the waiter left, he lifted up his wrist to his mouth, spoke into his watch. ‘There here. . . Three. . . No. . . . At the Arumba Hotel I believe. Shall I follow? . . . Okay.’ He then collected the meals and returned, the anonymous waiter at the Sky Restaurant, ‘Gentlemen your steaks.’
Rackham was busy pouring his wine into his own glass. ‘I remember that one Avery. Nice little earner that, I would have killed to have been on that job. Nobody left from that mission, except Phillips here.’
‘Yes, and I only made it out of jail by the skin of my teeth. Good old Rackham here has paid my way up to now, by buying my ship from me and leasing it back. Now I can think about making some serious money!’
‘Come on, drink up gentlemen, we need to meet up with this Marie, at the hotel. Let’s finish this last bottle and be on our way.’ Rackham turned towards the waiter raising his hand, ‘waiter, and the bill!’
The waiter returned, placed a folded leather pouch in which the bill was sitting, in front of Rackham; his hand slowly opened, then closed the pouch, quickly.
A slight look of pain, could be seen in his eyes as he produced a credit book, and wrote out a large figure across the middle, signed it and put it in the pouch, sitting back, somewhat dazed.
He looked out of the window, and could just make out the edge of space, satellites passing around, on their orbits. Various spacecraft passed by, using the restaurant as a reference point, for entering the atmosphere. No one seemed to be in ore of this close range traffic, but old Rackham could remember a time when, no spacecraft existed in the Diso System, nor did they visit. The rise in inter-galactic trade, in the system was a relatively new phenomenon, brought about by colonization, by the Federation, and the rapid industrialization, of a previous rural self-sufficient society.
Rackham had sold his family’s farm, for a handsome profit, to the Space Utensils Company, who provided all space travellers with the cutlery and cooking equipment, required for eating in space. Everyone used them across the galaxy, so therefore, exports were a big part of their operations, and Rackham had tendered for the contract, and won it.
Trouble had come in the form of a band of pirates, who had ambushed his travelling fleet outside the safety of the star Altair. They were finishing their run, and had one more hyperspace jump to make, before heading home to Diso, when the band of some twelve ships attacked them. They had jammed their hyperspace equipment, forced the fleet to an uninhabited moon, and stripped the vessels bare.
Rackham limped back to Diso and was instantly relieved of his duties. However, he was given a hefty pension, as a backhander, for some thirty years’ loyal service. Nevertheless, he had seen the profits to be made on the other side of the business fence, bought his first ship and had taken many prizes, before he met up with Phillips and Roberts.
2.3: Arumba Hotel Lobby
Marie sat in the lobby, and had just taken a drink off the droid trolley, when the three men arrived. She smiled, waved them over to her. The men sat, and Avery placed his order with the droid.
‘Three glasses of mountain water please robot’, as he turned to Marie. ‘Please forgive us if we don’t join you in a drink Marie, we have probably had enough for one day already,’ he said with a very definite slur in his voice.
‘Marie, this is Captain Rackham, the other member of our little band. Marie, sorry, I didn’t catch your last name?’ asked Phillips.
‘We can’t call you Captain Marie now can we!’ joked Rackham.
‘No, I would find that slightly strange: it’s Bonny,’ she replied.
‘Phillips,’ said Rackham, ‘I like her already. Captain Bonny, welcome aboard our merry campaign. Now, I bet these boys have not told you what we are up to, have they?’
‘No, nothing. Only that I will not have to work again after this trip.’
‘That is right lassie, never again. No more taxi driving for you. Those days are over. Okay Phillips, why don’t you tell Captain Bonny what we are up to.’
Phillips looked around the room, which was completely empty, apart from droids, all going about their business. ‘Well, Captain Bonny, we are going to hit the Bank of Zeanlia, who are moving from one system to another, to Zeandin. We are going to hit them as they arrive after hyper-spacing to Zeandin, so they cannot hyperspace back, or onwards,’ explained Phillips.
‘Why wait until they have hyperspaced? Why not hit them outside Zeanlia?’ inquired Bonny.
‘Because we do not possess hyperspace jamming equipment; there is no way we will be able to stop them from making the jump. If we hit them outside Zeandin, they will have to move close enough to the sun to build up their energies, to make another jump,’ explained Phillips. ‘Therefore, we will have time to take out their escorting fighters, board the freighter, and take control.’
‘How many fighters?’ inquired Bonny.
‘Ten,’ replied Avery.
‘You fancy the odds?’ asked Phillips.
‘I guess two each, plus two shared. Yes, as long as we have the element of surprise.’
‘Right!’ said Rackham.
At this point the waiter trolley droid arrived, with three waters. They all stopped talking, as if the droid could hear their conversation. But, this was precisely the reason Rackham had chosen to stay at this hotel, due to the lack of ears, which could snoop in on a lucrative deal, and possibly scupper a perfectly good plan.
‘What do we do with the vessel, once w
e have secured it?’ asked Bonny.
‘Well, we will have to board it first, and fly it towards the sun, to regenerate the hyper-drives. Then we will jump to the Sol System,’ replied Phillips.
‘Sol System!’ Bonny said, with some trepidation, her eyes going wide. ‘Sol System! Are you totally mad? You know who runs that! Plus it is completely out of bounds.’
‘That is right Captain Bonny, that is right.’ replied Rackham. ‘But, I have acquired a top secret system chart for the Sol System and therefore,’ as he produced a small chart from his inside jacket pocket, and spread it out on the table, ‘nobody will know how to, or where to look for us, once we have jumped. Without this solar system map, they will not know where to start looking!’ He closed up the map, laughed out-loud, and returned it into his jacket.
‘Okay, I’m convinced, but what about The Council? Surely, they are out looking for this map?’ asked Bonny.
‘That is correct Miss. That is why we are talking in a robot served hotel: no eyes and ears you see,’ as he tapped his nose. ‘I will keep hold of this map until we make the hyperspace to Sol, then I will give you all copies onboard the freighter. A kind of insurance policy, you understand. Do not want them falling into the wrong hands do we?’
‘I didn’t think we needed a map,’ said Avery. ‘I just assumed Phillips knew his way around Sol. Why I don’t know, as no one is allowed there by order of The Council.’
‘So what about The Council?’ asked Bonny. ‘What will they do to us if they catch us in their experimental zone?’
‘They won’t catch us, we are heading straight to a planet where we can land, load and leave within a day. No messing, as the atmosphere should be breathable, so no need for slow laborious space suit work or decompression chambers.’
‘What is this place called?’ inquired Bonny.
‘Err or Earth.’ Rackham said, while retrieving the chart. ‘It looks like from the map that it is under construction. For what reason, I don’t know, but it is indicated, that it has naturally produced H²0 and oxygen. Therefore, it is at a stage of habitation, and perfect for us to dump the remains of the freighter, where nobody would suspect it to be, because nobody knows what is being built, in the Sol System.’
‘Well, that is comforting. I would not want to spend a second more in restricted space that came under The Council’s jurisdiction!’ exclaimed Bonny.
‘That is what we all feel,’ stated Avery. ‘The chances of getting away with this are good: 95% level of success, on my calculation.’
‘What do you think The Council are up to, in the Sol System?’ inquired Bonny.
‘From what I can make out,’ replied Rackham, ‘they are building a new colony: all the elements are there for life. The idea of spacecraft turning up wanting to trade is out of the question – at least for, let’s say, 400, 000 years. No point in them building a model that is interfered with. All the space travel and trading has to go on, without passing through it. But why they are keeping it such a secret, is puzzling, as they did not make any secret of, setting up a new colony in the Reticulum System.’
‘Yes, I remember that,’ said Avery. ‘They were actually encouraging people to make their way there, to build a trading outpost off the main planet. I knew someone who went off and did ten years yap welding on that structure. He was paid a ship-full of money for that one, retired after, but died from over exposure to the suns, here on Radian: too much sunbathing. Fell asleep, I heard, and fried himself to death using an experimental lens. - Not a nice way to go -’
‘That's horrible!’ exclaimed Bonny.
‘Yep, still, his first fifty years were spent at the gambling houses, and I think he lost more than he won. I certainly fleeced him at least once,’ stated Avery.
‘I think it is high time we make a move to our space crafts ladies and gentleman,’ said Rackham. ‘We need to stock our ships at the space station, to buy enough fuel for hyperspace jumping.’
They did not sell fuel in the quantities they require on the surface of Radian. Too much danger of someone hyper-spacing whilst still in the atmosphere, which would cause parts of the planet to be exposed, to dangerous levels of radiation, which would have a devastating effect on crops and industry.
‘Let’s take my taxi,’ said Bonny.
All the men nodded.
2.4: Used Spacecraft Yard
Captain Avery and Phillips were Frank’s last customers of his long twelve-hour shift. His business partner Lewis was due at any moment. If the two customers returned as promised the next day, then Frank and Louis would make a tidy profit for the first time in months.
Trade had been slow since the Federation allowed a sales court on the off world station, thoughtfully called New Station. It had drained profits and customers, especially customers such as Avery and Phillips, who would not usually land on the planet, but rather preferred to trade in the relative safer more lackadaisical world of a space station, where backhanders meant officials were more likely to turn a blind-eye to illicit activities.
He contemplated going to the Arumba that night; but figured that he would wait until the next day so that his cut would make him a rich man for a few months and therefore, he could afford to gamble at least part of it.
Louis appeared at the open door, looked in, and then stepped across the buzzer not setting it off, as it angered both of them.
‘Morning Frank, How’s business going?’ asked Louis.
‘Could be worse,’ replied Frank.
‘Any sales?’ he looked at Frank with a wanton look in his eyes.
‘Yes, only the Lion S Class!’ exclaimed Frank.
‘You are having me on Frank; you sold that?’
‘Seriously, with a part exchange on a Lynx Mark III.’
‘Well, this is a good day for Frank & Louis Used Spacecraft. One day my friend, we will buy out our rivals on New Station and corner the market on Radian once again,’ stated Louis.
‘If only my luck would change at the casino, just need to find a way of getting enough stake to risk it on a win that would send us on our way, but at the moment, nothing.’ Frank got up and picked his jacket off the coat stand.
‘Oh well Frank, keep trying. In the meantime, go home, get some sleep, and I will see you tonight, I’ll finish the paperwork on this deal.’ Louis sat down in Frank’s now vacant chair.
‘See you Louis,’ Frank said as he stepped over the doormat and entered the sun-lit space park; gestured to a passing sky-taxi that was heading towards the suburbs and was soon on his way home.
Louis put his feet up on the desk and contemplated the day that he and Frank could rule the second-hand spacecraft market once again. He is jolted from his thoughts by the sound of the buzzer, “Buzz!”
Louis snorted and blinked as four figures came into focus standing in front of him. One he recognized as Bonny, but the other three were totally new to him.
‘Can I help you people?’ he inquired. ‘Marie, Frank’s left if you were coming to pick him up?’
‘Not today,’ returned Bonny. ‘I’ve come to buy a ship with the assistance of these fine gentlemen.’
‘Well, that, that is good news; how did you? . . . Oh, never mind, it does not matter about the money, as long as it is real. And you gentlemen? Are you the guys who bought the Lion S Class?’ inquired Louis.
‘That is correct,’ answered Avery ‘we have the paperwork ready for the part-exchange on the Lynx III.’
‘Well that is music to my ears!’ I will just get the documents to sign, and then the Lion S Class is all yours and the Lynx III all ours.’ Louis turned to Bonny at this point and inquired. ‘How did you come to be buying a ship? I think that there might be something more to this situation.’
Avery piped up, ‘She’s here to buy a ship.’
Louis laughed, ‘Not on Marie’s wage, I know how much she would like to get back into trading, but there is no way, no way!’
At this point Avery stood up from one of the chairs he and Bonny were oc
cupying, unzipped the side of his pants, which produced a cascade of bound new banknotes.
‘Ah. . well. . I can see that you have enough . . . ah, to cover the expense of another ship. Well Bonny, have you seen anything that has caught your eye?’ He felt his collar and his embarrassment rising.
‘Not as yet Louis,’ replied a somewhat smug looking Marie.
‘What was your old ship?’ asked Phillips as he slid into the now vacant seat next to Bonny.
‘A Puma LS,’ replied Bonny.
‘Well’ said Louis, rubbing his red forehead. ‘I do have one, just come in, needs a bit of work to make it up to scratch,’ he flicked casually through the sales paperwork. ‘Frank left a note with the paperwork saying that a hyper-drive had been ordered and should arrive tomorrow for the Lion S Class.’
‘Ah, I’d forgotten about the hyper-drive!’ exclaimed Avery.
‘Another four days and it will be fitted, sprayed and ready to go. The Puma LS will also be ready the same time.’ stated Louis.
‘I don’t fancy waiting around here for another four days,’ stated Rackham.
‘Nor me!’ said Phillips.
‘We will go on ahead,’ said Rackham. ‘You two sort out your business here, and join us on New Station in four days.’
All agreed. Avery agreed a price and paid the money for Marie’s Puma LS and Rackham signed the papers for the part-exchange. Phillips and Rackham took to their respective crafts and were soon just vapour trails in the sky, heading towards a small white dot: New Station.
Avery and Bonny were left outside, standing by Bonny’s taxi, which she was hoping to sell to Louis and Frank for scrap, but now needed.
‘Well,’ said Bonny, ‘there is no point in us standing here, let’s go off into the countryside. I will show you where I grew up.’
‘I did not realize you were from the Diso System.’ replied Avery.
‘Yes of course, all my life and you?’
‘Beethti.’
‘Beethti, why that’s -’
‘Yes I know,’ interrupted Avery, ‘it’s a long way away, and I like to keep it there.’
‘Not planning to go back anytime soon then?’
‘Not if I can help it. Let’s just say that I have no business there anymore, that I made a choice to leave and never return.’
‘Female was she?’ inquired Bonny.
‘What do you mean? Yes, as a matter of fact,’ said an angry looking Avery.
‘Well at least that’s something,’ said Bonny with a glint in her eye.
They both got into the sky-taxi, Avery in the front this time. The taxi rose off the ground slowly and headed off in the opposite direction to the city and the hotels. There were hills in the distance and what looked like forests at their bases.
‘I will take you to meet my dad; I have not been back since I started taxiing.’
‘I’m sure he is dying to meet me,’ said Avery sarcastically.
3 ASSEMBLY