* * *
The Excelsior Hotel was a modest establishment by Toula standards. Deep pile oriental rugs were spread over different sections of the parquet lobby floor and its service desk was genuine mahogany with a polished granite top. Recessed wall sconces provided soft background lighting while a pair of art deco chandeliers floated near the ceiling on suspensor fields. The chandeliers threw muted rainbow shafts of light down onto the array of overstuffed chairs arranged in intimate groups throughout the space. Several paintings by talented, but unknown artists adorned the walls and a few tasteful, abstract sculptures were scattered around on various end tables. The stone fireplace at the far end of the room was tall enough for a man to step into without bowing. The gas fueled fire on the hearth slowly morphed through a series of animated sculptures as pressor fields shaped the rippling flames. Although there was no doorman there was a live person on duty at the desk. The desk manager looked up as we approached, her smile cooling quickly as she ran her eyes up and down our worn uniforms.
“May I help you?” she asked.
“Nice place you have here,” I said as we stepped up to the desk.
“Thank you, sir.” She made a show of looking us up and down a second time, in case we hadn’t caught her look before. “If you are looking for accommodations I’m afraid I cannot help you ... unless you have a reservation,” she said in a condescending tone.
I hated snobs.
“No thanks. We’re already checked in at the Palace.” The Moon Palace was the most expensive hotel in the city. Even in a city like Toula where conspicuous extravagance was the norm, the Moon Palace was the extreme. Their cheapest rooms went for daily rates higher than what most spacers earned in a week and only the fabulously wealthy could even think about one of the high roller suites.
The manager narrowed her eyes as she tried to reconcile our humble appearance with my comment. Crew who were dressed the way we were usually stayed aboard ship instead of shelling out for a hotel room. After a few moments she resumed her icy tone, probably assuming that I was lying.
“Well then, how may I be of assistance?”
“We’re trying to get in touch with one of your employees, Billy Smalls,” I said.
Now she openly frowned. “Mr. Smalls is currently engaged in his assigned duties. May I enquire as to the nature of your business?”
“No. Just tell him that Captain Pell is here and would like to speak to him.” Glancing around I hooked a thumb over my shoulder, indicating a couple of seats directly in front of the lobby entrance. “We’ll be sitting over there.”
We turned and walked away before she could say anything. As we were settling into our seats I watched from the corner of my eye as the manager pressed a finger to her ear and spoke rapidly into her phone.
“She’s calling him now,” I said. “I’ll bet he’s here within five minutes.”
“Sooner, if she can arrange it,” Morgana said.
I nodded. “Can’t have riff-raff loitering in the lobby.”
I looked up and smiled as a couple dressed in the turquoise and salmon colored uniforms of the Galapagos Shipping Combine entered the lobby and gave us a surprised look.
“How you doin’?” I said brightly.
The woman pointedly looked away from us while her companion put a protective arm around her and hurried them off.
“Those have got to be the most hideous uniforms I’ve ever seen,” I said when they were out of earshot.
“Enjoying yourself?” Morgana asked.
“What can I say? Whenever I see someone with their nose in the air I just have an overwhelming urge to pick it.”
“Now there’s a charming image.”
“Captain?” a familiar voice called from behind me.
Morgana and I stood and turned to greet Billy. It had been over a year since we had last seen him and the three of us exchanged warm handshakes. Dressed in gray coveralls, Billy flashed us the same lopsided smile I remembered. His eyes were bloodshot but he didn’t seem to be under the influence of anything at the moment. I was happy to see that he was at least controlling his addiction. Although he wasn’t currently high, I could see that his lifestyle was taking a toll on him. His complexion was sallow and his features gaunt. His once thick hair was a dull, lusterless patch that was receding from his prematurely lined forehead. His skin looked like aged parchment and his movements were slow, as if his limbs felt heavy to him.
Billy was a former crewmember from the Prometheus who had opted to be put ashore here rather than give up using drugs. Although he had been detoxed several times by Doc Jacobs, Billy had enjoyed getting stoned too much to stay clean. When his drug use started to interfere with his ability to do his job aboard ship, something had to be done. After sitting down with me for a long talk, he had chosen to leave the ship for a life on Toula. Here he had access to cheap narcotics which he could afford on the meager salary he made as a maintenance worker. In spite of his addiction problem, Billy was a good person who hurt himself more than he did anyone else with his drug use. He was a gentle soul who had genuinely been missed by the rest of the crew when he left the ship. Seeing him like this took something out of me.
“What are you doing here?” Billy asked. “I didn’t think Toula was part of your regular run.”
“It isn’t,” I said, “but we had a job that brought us out this way so we stopped by to say hello. I, uh, also wanted to see if you might be able to help us with a bit of business.”
“Of course, Captain.” Billy glanced over his shoulder at the desk manager who was blatantly scowling at us now. “Why don’t you come back to my room so we can talk in private. I’ve got a break coming so I can give you twenty minutes or so.”
Billy led us past the main desk and down an obscure hallway to a door marked ‘employees only’ which slid open at the wave of his ID card toward the sensor plate. We followed him down another short hallway and past a few offices before he turned into a door that led to a utility stairwell. We took the stairs down one level and found ourselves in a basement corridor.
Billy led us along a bare neocrete corridor with exposed pipes and power conduits running overhead. Several meters along the hallway he stopped and opened a door next to the main utility room. He switched on the harsh overhead light panel and gestured us into his room. The space was small, barely three meters by five and furnished with only a bed and a wardrobe. Although the furniture was battered and mismatched, the room was clean and neat. Billy offered us a seat on his bed while he upended a metal trash can and sat facing us.
“So what can I do for you, Captain?” he asked once we were all settled.
“Frankly, we’re looking for a job,” I said. “With all the pirate activity that’s been going on it’s been getting harder and harder to find cargo to move. Independents are easy targets and most people would rather go with one of the combines than trust someone like us.”
“Things must be getting pretty rough for you guys,” Billy said with genuine concern in his voice.
I shrugged. “We’ve been making do by running more … special items to worlds in the central systems. But even that’s starting to dry up. The bottom line, Billy, is that we really need to pick up a job this trip, something that’ll put a decent profit in our pockets. I was hoping that you might know somebody who had a cargo they wanted moved.” I hated lying to Billy but with his drug problem I couldn’t trust him to keep our secret. It was safer all around if he thought our cover story was the truth.
Billy pulled at his lower lip for a few moments as he thought.
“I guess you’ve already tried the postings at the spaceport,” he said.
“There’s nothing on the net right now,” I told him. “Nothing that’ll pay anything decent. But, as you know, most of the more, ah, sensitive cargo transactions aren’t made through the net. For something like that we’re going to need an introduction.”
“Right.”
Billy stopped playing with his lip and looked me in the eye. “I might know somebody who knows somebody. But I gotta warn you, Captain, these are some pretty serious folks. You get into bed with them and you need to watch your back. I also can’t guarantee what type of stuff they’re going to want you to move. I know you have rules against transporting certain kinds of things.”
Morgana and I exchanged looks.
“We need a cargo, Billy. I’ve got a crew to feed and a ship to maintain. I’d be in your debt for any help you could give us.”
Billy made a dismissive gesture. “Hell, Captain, it’s my pleasure. As long as you’re sure you want to be dealing with people like this.”
I shrugged. “We’ll keep our eyes open but, like I said, we really need a cargo.”
Billy nodded and stood up. “Okay. Let’s go see this guy I know.”
Billy led us out a back entrance to the hotel and we set off. It was midday by the local time and the streets were filled. In spite of the fact that Toula was a relatively small city, just over a dozen kilometers from end to end, there was a surprising amount of traffic. Hover cabs and limos dominated the scene, although there were a fair number of high end sport cars here as well. These were mostly private toys brought in by the fabulously wealthy who wanted to cruise the famous main strip in their own style.
Like the streets, the sidewalks were also filled with people. It wasn’t exactly elbow to elbow, but we found ourselves weaving in and out through knots of crowds as we made our way to a location Billy said was nearby. It was a diverse crowd, with people from every nation represented. The snatches of conversation I heard were in a number of different languages. A large number of the people we passed were wearing ship uniforms, but just as many weren’t. The weather in the city was regulated to maintain a constant temperature of 26 degrees C and everyone dressed to suit their tastes. The non-uniformed people we passed were attired in everything from formal evening wear to shorts and sandals.
We made our way through the streets for a few minutes before Billy turned into the doorway of the city’s central police station.
“Your contact’s in here?” I said.
Billy nodded. “Yeah. If there’s anyone with cargo to move this guy will know about it.”
He led us inside and went straight to the front desk. It was the cleanest, most comfortably appointed police station I had ever seen.
“Is Kovacks in?” Billy asked the desk officer.
The officer looked up at him with a bored expression. “What do you want, Billy?”
“Tell him I brought him some business.”
The officer reached out and touched a switch on the desk. A moment later a gruff voice sounded from the desk speaker.
“Billy Smalls is asking to see you.”
There was a brief, unintelligible growl from the speaker.
“He’s got a couple of spacers with him. Says he’s got some business for you.”
Another incoherent growl and the connection was cut.
“Have a seat,” the officer said, pointing to the waiting area across from the desk. With a number of large, cushioned float chairs arranged around a low table of crystal and genuine wood that held a rack of periodical chips and several flat-pad readers, the waiting area looked more like it belonged in a plastic surgeon’s waiting room than in a police precinct.
“So who is this guy you’re introducing us to?” I asked as we sat down.
“Inspector Kovacks, the police commander. He’s hooked into everything going on in the city. He’ll know if there’s anybody looking to move some unadvertised cargo.”
“Won’t that get him in trouble?” Morgana asked.
Billy shrugged. “Don’t see how. The Council doesn’t care if he makes a few introductions on the side. As a matter of fact, I kind of get the idea it’s one of the perks of the job. As long as the parties involved pay their percentage to the Council, nobody’s going to bat an eye.”
“This inspector,” I said, “is he one of the ‘serious folks’ you warned us about?”
“Kovacks? Nah. He’s hard-nosed, but he’s just a cop. You don’t want him coming after you if you’re causing a fuss in his city, but he’s not the one you have to worry about. It’s the people he can put you in touch with that you have to watch out for. Tick them off and you can wind up in a recycler somewhere.”
“Okay, Billy,” the desk sergeant called. “You can go in now.”
We stood and Billy led us to a security door that hummed open for us. Billy seemed to know where he was going and led us through a few short corridors to an office in the back corner of the building. Billy knocked and the door slid open.
Kovacks stood up behind his desk as we entered. He was a bull of a man, with a boulder of a head jammed on top of a thick neck and broad shoulders. His hair was a close cropped bristle and he sported a neatly trimmed goatee. His eyes were dark and intelligent and he seemed to size us up quickly as he held out a ham sized hand to each of us in turn. He gestured us into a pair of comfortable chairs facing his desk, then sat back down and rested meaty forearms on the desk.
“How can I help you folks?” Kovacks asked.
“This is Captain Pell and his security officer, Alex Feign,” Billy said, using the personas he knew us by from his time as a crewmember aboard the Prometheus. “They run an independent transport ship and are looking for a cargo to move offplanet.”
Kovaks nodded to himself, then relaxed back into his chair. “A thousand Galaxies, up front.” The Galaxy was the standard trade currency. All of the larger nations used it for international exchange. Its relative value to a given nation’s currency fluctuated daily but it roughly translated to one and a quarter Solars to a Galaxy.
“That seems a little steep,” I said, instinctively falling back into the customary haggling that was part of business as usual on Toula. “Especially since you undoubtedly get a cut of the action from the people you’re going to put us in touch with.”
Kovacks shrugged. “What if they decide not to hire you? If I don’t collect from you I might not get paid at all.”
“I doubt that, Inspector. You’re too smart to pass us along without checking things out first. Five hundred seems fair to me.”
“Nine hundred,” Kovacks countered.
I paused as if considering his offer. “Inspector, money is a little tight for us right now. I can go as high as seven fifty. That’s it.”
Kovacks held my eyes for a few moments before a smile slowly spread across his face.
“Done,” he agreed.
Knowing that payoffs were the standard business lubricant on Toula, I had secreted various amounts of cash in different places about my person. Reaching into my left pocket I pulled out a small pack of folded bills. I carefully counted out his fee and placed the cash on the desk which the inspector promptly scooped up.
“Okay, Billy, take a walk,” he said as he tucked the money away.
“Right,” Billy said, sounding a little deflated. “Well, it was good to see you again, Captain.” Billy held out his hand.
“Thanks, Billy. We’ll be in touch,” I said as I stood and shook his hand. Billy hesitated, standing there looking uncomfortable for a moment.
“I don’t suppose Billy mentioned that he gets a ten percent finder’s fee,” Kovacks said with a wry smile.
Billy snatched his hand back and shoved it into his pocket. “That’s okay, Captain,” he said, hanging his head. “It’s on me, you know, old times and all that.”
I gave Kovacks a hard look then let him see me peel two fifties from the nearly depleted pack I was carrying. Grabbing the cuff of his sleeve, I tugged Billy’s hand out of his pocket and pressed the money into his palm.
“You did us a real favor, Billy,” I told him. “You earned it.”
Billy eyed the money hungrily. A moment later it disappeared into his pocket.
“Careful what you do with that,” I said.
<
br /> Billy gave me a self conscious smile. “Don’t worry, Captain. I don’t party until after work hours.” He started to turn away, but I stopped him with a hand on his arm. I was shocked at how bony it was.
“You know there’s always a berth for you on board if you want it. I don’t know if you’ve heard but King Jason is back on the throne in Gilead. He’s given pardons to everyone who was convicted of crimes against the state under King Sebastian’s rule. You could go home again.”
“I appreciate that, Captain,” Billy said, giving me a sad smile. “I really do. But I’m good here. This is what I want. I’ll catch you on your next stopover.” He gave Morgana a brief nod then stepped out of the office and was gone.
Once the door was closed behind him, Kovacks turned to the transparent screen rising from his desk.
“So, what’s the name of your ship, Captain?”
“The Prometheus,” I told him.
He pulled up the port records on our ship and spent a few moments studying his display. After a while he pulled up another file and spent some time reviewing that information.
“You’re in luck, Captain,” he said finally. “It seems that there is a party with an outbound shipment ready to go. Your rated cargo capacity seems like it will meet their needs. But they want their merchandise moved quickly. Can you be ready to lift ship within twelve hours?”
“If we have to,” I said, warily. “What are they looking to ship out?”
Kovacks shot me a glacial look over the top of his monitor. “I thought you were smarter than that, Captain Pell. You came to me because you needed a cargo that would generate a quick profit. The people I can put you in touch with pay well, but part of what they’re paying for is discrete service.”
“Of course, Inspector,” I said. “My mistake.”
Kovacks held my eyes for a moment before looking back at his screen. He typed a brief message on his keyboard and sat back.
“Now we wait,” he said.
We didn’t have to sit for long. Within a minute a tone from his monitor announced an incoming message. After a glance at the screen he took a piece of note paper and jotted down a quick line.
“Go to that address and ask for Mr. Smith,” he said, handing me the note.
“That’s it?” I said.
“That’s it. Mr. Smith will give you the particulars. Oh, and Captain, a bit of advice. Don’t try to haggle with him. You really don’t want to piss these people off.” He flashed me a predatory smile. “After all, I do want to get my cut.”
He stood and gestured us toward the door. As Morgana and I headed back toward the station entrance I couldn’t help wondering about this Mr. Smith whom everyone seemed to be wary of getting on the bad side of. Smith had to be a rather intimidating character if the head of the Toula police department didn’t want to cross him. I found myself looking forward to meeting him.