It took us another week of travel to arrive at Beta colony. During that time, Gabby and I had grown much closer than we ever were before. Call it a lack of anyone else besides Martha to really talk to. But ultimately, we actually became friends.
“Reason for visit?” The bored agent on the other side of the screen asked as the ship sat in holding position above the space port.
“Pleasure.” I informed him.
“Tourist destination?” Came the next question.
“Mines of Morga.” I answered. The look of boredom evaporated from the man’s face.
“Lodging?” He asked, eyes so sharp they could cut glass.
“I heard there was a nice resort hotel called Bedlam’s Rest that my friend will be staying at.” I didn’t think it was possible but the look sharpened further.
“How long will you be staying?” Came the final question.
“My friend will be staying until such time as there is nothing left to see.” I finished.
“You are to dock at bay six. There will be a liaison that waiting to greet you and ensure that your stay will be a safe and pleasurable one.” Comms cut off and I breathed out a sigh to ease the tension of the conversation.
When we docked, it wasn’t but three minutes until a very petite and brightly smiling dark skinned woman showed up to greet us inside the docking bay.
“Hello, my name is Sheila. Welcome to Beta Colony. I have been told that someone is here to take advantage of the Mines of Morga tourist package?” She asked. Gabby took that moment to vent her curiosity.
“You aren’t just trying to stick me into the same spot I stuck you and sell me into slavery in a mine are you?” She asked me.
Sheila’s smile didn’t waiver but she looked between the two of us and quickly sized us both up. Her false chuckle was well timed and well placed. “First time to Beta colony I take it?” She asked Gabby directly.
“Yeah. My friend told me it’s all the rage.” Gabby answered.
The fake grin and façade of happy welcoming committee dropped from Sheila. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what you’ve done, or why you need to start over. What I do care about is that you are ready and willing to work. Only work, no comms time, no leisure time, and most of all, I personally get to have fun and ship your lazy ass wherever I want to send you if you piss me off since I’m your case worker.
“We have very simple rules here. You work for six months, then you leave. When you leave, you will have a new identity that will stand up to any test you want to put it to. During those six months, you aren’t allowed to do a whole list of things and we’ll provide you that list in your orientation. But the other requirement is that you come here willing to work twelve to fourteen hour days, live in the most basic living conditions possible, and keep your mouth shut. You work just enough to get by, we do just enough to get by. We send you off with a high school GED and no work experience plus dump forty dollars in your pocket and wish you a long happy life of drudgery.”
Sheila’s shark like grin grew as she explained the agreement. “You bust your ass and actually make a difference here and try, along with observing all of our rules, then we send you out with a degree under your belt and possibly a scholarship to some college to get an advanced education. Also, we have a lot of contacts in a lot of different parts of the Galaxy that do us favors. So the choice is yours. Piss away a golden opportunity or make the most of it.”
Gabby looked at Sheila then turned to look at me. “Tell Dave I love him.”
Before she could go any further, I cut her off. “Look, Gabby, do the best you can here and when you’re established get in touch with him yourself. Or don’t. But I’m not going to tell him I ever talked to you. And if you tell him I ever talked to you, I won’t remain the friend to you that I am right now. If Dave meets whoever, that looks amazingly like you, sounds like you, and talks like you then I’m sure he will be exceedingly happy to not question his luck. Gabby is now dead. Best get used to that, because if she ever magically resurrects herself then you know what will happen.”
Gabby nodded and looked over at Sheila for a moment. “Is there anything I need to bring?”
“Everything you need will be provided to you. Best to leave everything else behind. It helps with the transition.” Sheila explained.
“I’m burning all of your stuff personally.” I smiled brightly. Gabby laughed.
“Thank you for this. For everything. I still don’t know why you are doing this for me.” Gabby relayed.
“I’m doing this for Dave. We’ve become friends, but I helped you because of Dave. Remember that when you choose where you want to live and what kind of person you want to be when you leave here. If it wasn’t for Dave, you’d be dead in a gutter. Another drug addled prostitute.” I stopped myself from prolonging the goodbye and gave her a quick hug then moved briskly back to the airlock of my ship.
“Take off as soon as you are cleared Martha, the sooner we leave the better in my opinion.”
A week later, we were at Barrier Point Station, picking up the cargo. It went down smooth, all things considered. I was scared out of my mind when I first arrived since security was locked down tighter than a drum and no one was getting in or out without the most intensive look over. I found out the reason was that the Prime Minister of the Klaxton home world was visiting. He’d brought his entire entourage with him and his family. Barrier Point was a very beautiful world that the colony that lived there spent extremely large amounts of time and money to improve the aesthetics and make it the premier tourist hot spot of the galaxy.
Bryan was no one special and completely non-descript. It took almost no time for us to get the cargo loaded in the smuggling bay. Thankfully, no money changed hands, and I didn’t have to do anything special with the cargo. Within an hour of taking on the cargo, we were headed back toward Omega zone.
Red Flashing lights and a blaring siren woke me from a long awaited nap that I decided to take. The last Jump gate had carried me into the Omega zone. The leisurely sub-light speed stroll we were taking through the area to get to the station where I would need all of my wits dealing with Mark was a slow agonizing process.
“Martha, what is that annoying alarm for?” I asked, throwing on a pair of coveralls from the day before.
“Detecting an unknown bio signature in cargo bay five, Joe.” She answered.
“Martha, this is the tenth time I have told you, my name is John!” I shouted, making my way through the very haphazard trail of unkempt erratic passages and multiple-times-redesigned compartments.
“Yes, Jack, I know.” Martha said with amusement lacing her voice.
“Okay Martha, don’t get testy!” I sternly scolded her. At which point the passage immediately dropped twenty-degrees in temperature. Hugging myself and teeth chattering, I yelled, “Hey! No f-f-f-fair!”
“Sorry Jared, you are currently in the outlying passages of cargo bay five and my files indicate that the life form would be much more comfortable at a pleasant fifty-one degrees.” Martha answered. I was about to yell, even louder this time, when it hit me.
“Did you just say ‘Life form’?” I asked…
Table of Contents
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About the Author:
Travis Holley is a former US Navy sailor living in Texas. He has two children, Tristin and Niya that are the light of his world and the reasons for every success he’s had since August of 2000. He believes in magic, aliens, conspiracies, and every other little thing that gets people thrown into insane asylums.
Book Two: Moron’s Guide to Raising an Alien
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