Chapter 23 Sanre-tay Day 1 – CraterPort
01
'Look at all the shipping! Leave it to Sanre-tay to make a boom out of a bust,' I said to Vynnia as we waited on the landing stage for the arrival of the ferry to take us down to CraterCity.
Beyond the clearsteel hull, the marbled sky glittered with the lights of a thousand ships, boats, tugs and lighters looking like a starry night – something largely unseen in the Nine Star Nebula as the outer shell veils all but the brightest of the stars outside.
'Looks like a miniature star cluster,' I added.
'Yes,' replied Vynnia, blandly.
I glanced at her. 'Ah, yes, of course. You've seen the First Worlds. This must pale in comparison.'
' I grew up on Murlinn, where the night sky is littered with thousands of orbital cities, resorts and facilities.'
'Oh my, a First Worlder. You're rather far from home and civilization.'
'Blame it on Ten. He's a Rigtanian, though he'll never admit it. However, my parents came from Dunlea in the Apier system, so I'm not a real First Worlder, by First World standards anyway.'
'What carried your parents to Murlinn?' I asked politely, taking the opportunity to get to know her a little better. I couldn't ask for a better first mate, but our relationship had remained rather formal, the friendship I'd prefer, slow to develop.
'They're career Patrol.'
'Ah, of course,' I said. Murlinn is the Patrol's BasePrime. 'You followed in their orbit.'
'Hardly,' she said with a faint, wry smile.
'Well, yes, I suppose being a first mate on a small tramp freighter in the outer most system was not quite their orbit.'
'Not that I wanted to,' she added. 'They're long-career officers, admirals these days. By the time they had me they were already posted in BasePrime, so I grew up at Prime. I followed them into service, of course, not that I'd a real choice, and advanced rapidly. To a point. The Patrol doesn't want dynasties, so I reached a rank where my family connection became a detriment rather than a plus. Further advancement would've been decades in the making, and well, I fell in love with a shiftless boarding boat leader and decided to follow him to the ends of the nebula. And here I am,' she added with a shrug.
'I'll not complain,' I said. She didn't reply. She probably couldn't say the same.
I certainly don't measure up to Patrol standards. Of course, most tramp captains don't bother with the style or stature of a Patrol ship captain, but my casual, band of equals approach, likely grated on her sense of what's proper. Still, the Patrol trained her well. I was captain and she, a competent, conscientious and respectful subordinate.
I shivered. Sanre-tay is a hot, inner belt planet and most of the terraformed craters and rifts of Lontria, Sanre-tay's moon, reflect that climate as well, so I'd dressed in light magnetic soled shoes, trousers, cap and light pull-over jersey with my old pilot insignia tabs still on the shoulders – too lightly for the Lost Star. Luckily before I froze, Tenry, who had the watch, announced the arrival of the ferry. Astro and Orbit, who had been quietly sitting alongside us, leaped to their feet and started barking. I wasn't impressed, this time.
We were taking the ferry rather than the gig down to CraterPort on the advice of the Trade Control official who conducted our brief inspection. He'd warned us that with so many ships in the anchorage, heavy boat traffic landing in CraterPort often caused long waits for landing slots and parking was often kilometers away from any access point. He advised catching a ferry to the Transit Terminal or a bum boat to one of the outlying landing fields instead.
The ferry slipped into view, a broad, twenty-meter-long barge sporting a single deck under a clearsteel dome. Its pilot deftly aligned its side airlock with our gangplank. I sternly told the hounds to 'stay' and followed Vynnia aboard.
The ferry was jammed with loud spaceers clinging or floating about the rows of narrow seats – surging this way and that as the vessel maneuvered. Since Lontria is an airless, .21 standard gravity moon, elaborate accommodations weren't required to transport passengers down.
'Who's boarding us?' called out one of the spaceers as we emerged from the airlock.
'Wil Litang and Vynnia enCarn of the Lost Star,' I replied, searching the crowded deck for a familiar face.
'Willy, over here!' said Ram NiLang of the LeStellar, shooting up above the standing crowd to give me a wave – a fellow pilot who I've crossed orbits with countless times over the years.
Meanwhile another spaceer called out 'Captain enCarn!' and Vynnia, recognizing him replied 'Hello, Chief!' We exchanged nods and separated to gossip with our friends.
Somewhat paradoxically for a profession whose practitioners spend most of their lives sealed in little D-matter cans in the middle of nothing, spaceers are a very social lot as a rule – no doubt because we do spend so much time in our D-matter cans. We often pass our off watched talking with other spaceers in the radio lounge and as likely as not, cross orbits with them on the next planet or two in the dives of spaceers' row. And when you consider many spaceers spend a century or more in the trade, it is easy to see how they can accumulate a vast number of friends, acquaintances and enemies. Given the number of ships in Sanre-tay anchorage, there will be plenty of mates to pass our idle hours and lift glasses with during our stay.
'Roll an old drunk captain for the cap, Wil?' asked Ram, glancing at the star on my cap as I reached him through the press of spaceers. 'I thought your captain gig was just a jobbing commission to Calissant.'
'There were not many old captains, sober or drunk, on Calissant to offer the job to, once Vynnia enCarn passed on it, so I'm it, believe it or not.'
'Well, congratulations, it's good to see they're bringing in new blood. For as long as it'll last...'
'Aye. Might last for a while, we're heading out of system...' We went on to banter, gossip, and catch up on what's swinging in and around CraterCity. With cargoes scarce, what was swinging was mostly a good time – while the credits lasted, anyway. And as we talked, other spaceers pushed their way through the crush to inquire about friends and acquaintances aboard the Lost Star.
The ferry called on a half a dozen additional ships filling it to standing room only, dove for the mottled dark and glowing night side of Lontria and CraterPort, the system's prime spaceport.
Sanre-tay is an unpleasant world. Located on the inside track of the inhabitable worlds, it's mostly a steaming hot, poisonous jungle. Only its polar regions are, more or less, comfortable, and that only after 10,000 years of terraforming, and only if you like it hot. Many Sanre-tayians split their lives between working on Lontria or in the jungle factories and relaxing in the resorts and cities of the poles. It is nevertheless, a world rich in resources. The jungles provide not only the famous fireproof taywood, the wood used for the wood trim aboard our ship – but also a rich array of bio chemicals, spices and pharmaceuticals – harvested and processed by massive mobile factories slowly creeping through the continent-wide jungles.
While moons are usually developed for mining, heavy industries, and as colonies for dissenting populations, Lontria, due to the long millenniums spent making the poles inhabitable, became the major Unity Standard population center of the Sanre-tay system and the most populous moon in the Azminn system.
Given how inhospitable the planet was, (and is) it's not surprising that Lontria was settled and developed first and has a far greater concentration of Unity Standard communities than other moons. And since moving cargo is far more economical in space or from the surface of an airless moon than up and down through a heavy atmosphere, Lontria developed into a major interplanetary transshipment point. Located opposite Azminn's prime planets of Pinelea and Calissant, it's a convenient collection node for neighboring planets whose product are forwarded in fast cargo liners to Pinelea, Calissant and the other major planets. And because of this direct liner service to all the major planets of the system, it's the main interstellar portal of Azminn as well, serving the trade with Amdia and Atico
r star systems.
The surface of Lontria is the usual jumble of craters and chasms, many of which have been turned into inhabitable valleys by doming them with a tough, self-mending fabric made up of various layers of D-matter materials for strength, insulation and shielding and terraforming them into sustainable human environments. Metrolontria, comprising some seven hundred craters tied together by a wide, five-hundred-kilometer-long domed canyon is the largest city complex, home to nearly 300 million people. The whole complex includes everything required for self-sufficiency – farms, lakes, parks and light industrial complexes. The heavy industrial base, warehouses, shipyards, heavy factories, and foundries are built in open craters adjacent to domed ones. In addition to the Met, there are thousands of other crater and rift systems communities, home to a further 550 million people. A majority of these systems operate under Unity Standard law, but even so, there are almost a thousand dissenting semi-autonomous kingdoms, principalities and utopias, the type found on every moon of the Nebula.
The ferry swooped low over dark mountains and raced over the glowing domed craters and rifts towards CraterPort. We circled and approached the wide, brightly lit plain of CraterPort and joined a queue of rocket boats, taxis and ferries lined up to enter the vast Transit Terminal building set in the crater wall. The crater's wall itself is hidden behind clearsteel banks of offices, shops, hotels and residences burning brightly in the Lontria night.
The Transit Terminal's slowly rotating, hundred-meter-tall and wide, circular airlock is divided into four sections. Outbound boats use the upper half, inbound boats the lower half. The ferry, in its turn entered as the section opened and followed the moving partition around, first to the intermediate stage where air is rapidly pumped in, and out, into the bright spacious, multilevel hangar to discharge our passengers.
We joined the crush of eager spaceers pushed out into the thin, cold atmosphere of the hangar smelling of hot metal and rocket exhaust as the ferry's airlocks opened and dashed across the hangar apron to a bank of revolving doors to reach the warm, brightly-lit inspection area. I said a hasty 'see you later' to Ram and rejoined Vynnia. Clearing inspections, we hurried out into the high, wide and bustling concourse, and boarding an express velowalk, set out for Vix Fange & Co.
02
We met a pounding storm of Saypori Screez music as we pushed through the doors of Vix Fange & Co. Tat Timlor sat alone in the office beating out the wild rhythms on his desktop, keeping the grim hours before sunrise at bay.
Though the office was low and on the far edge of the CraterPort side of the rim, one could still see the distant rocket flares of ships rising or landing beyond the reflections in the clearsteel office wall. The shipbroker business pays, in good times anyway, but not enough to have an office high and centered on the rim.
He saw us reflected in the clearsteel and turned, with a wide smile. He held up his hand for a moment, and when the tune drew to an abrupt close, turned down the volume to subdued roar and eagerly rose to greet us.
'Welcome, welcome! It's fine to see you once again, Captain Wil, and a delight to see you Captain enCarn!' he exclaimed energetically shaking our hands.
'Hello Tat, It's Vyn, I'm just a pilot these days,' Vynnia said before I could speak.
'Good to see you, Tat, and don't believe her. She's my first mate and I'm lucky to have her,' I said, adding, 'Tallith Min sold the Silvery Moon and convinced Vyn and Ten to give tramping a try.'
'You're lucky, Wil,' agreed Tat. 'But your luck's been running hot and high these days. Permanent Skipper are we now?'
'As permanent as any skipper is.'
'Well, grab a chair, download your mail and I'll give you a concise overview of your depressing prospects.'
'Where's your professional optimism? We're counting on you,' I said as I brought out my data drive and plugged it into the secure terminal on the desktop.
'Professional optimism? Well, I'm pretty sure I'll have a cargo that'll pay the expenses of passage inside of six months. No promises, but you wanted the optimistic outlook.'
'Is it really that grim?' I asked entering my code to download all the waiting radio-packets for ship and crew. 'I assume you're aware of our owners plan to send us out of system.'
'No more cargoes outbound than in-system. I know the day crew has been working with Min & Co to set you up to roam the eight systems to your heart's content, but we've five other ships on our list looking for outbound cargoes and you’re number five. And when you consider there's half a dozen other ship brokers here in CraterCity with similar lists, you can gauge your prospects as well as I.'
'Six months to get to the top of your list?'
He shrugged. 'On the basis of the past four weeks, I'd say never,' he said with a grim laugh. 'Of course trade will eventually pick up, or so Vix assures me. We'll find you a cargo before never, but we'd be lucky to find that cargo within the six months. Just about everything going out of system is being grabbed by the big interstellar lines with a combination of cheap rates and delivery times you'd not be able to match. You're only hope at this point is a cargo direct to the drifts, and they're never common out of Sanre-tay in the best of times.'
'We're counting on you Tat. I'm just going to put this gloominess down to the time of night. However, just to put you on notice, I've Rafe gil'Giles as my systems mate, and I'd hate to see you starve for lack of commission should Rafe find one before you do.'
'Oh my, Wil. Your luck is indeed red hot,' exclaimed Tat. ' Still, I'll wager that while Ol'Rafe may find boxes, you'll not be able to offer the price and the delivery time that'll take 'em away from the liners. To match delivery time, you'd have to add so many auxiliary fuel tanks you'd not come close to their rates and end up losing more credits than if you went out hollow. Now if your owner's willing to wait, the outbound market should evolve into something like its former self over time. We're starting to see the interstellar lines cutting scheduled runs and putting smaller ships in the remaining slots, so that the normal balance between capacity, rates and delivery times should be restored, eventually.'
'My impression is that our owners are not patient enough to wait. An idle ship doesn't earn quarterly dividends.'
'All too true, but with Sanre-tay waiving anchorage fees, laying up here and paying off the crew means they'll not be losing the credits running hollow will cost, but, well, I'll not lecture you on the business of tramping, Wil...'
'Not my decision. The thinking is better now before other owners decide things aren't going to be picking up and send their ships out too.'
'Aye, yet, I've heard others say the collapse of trade and shipping rates has created so many opportunities for new businesses with new and different products to break into the interplanetary export/import market, that it'll snap back much quicker than you'd expect.'
I shrugged, 'Glad it's not my call. I just go where the radio-packet sends me. I guess I should be happy life's that simple for me.'
'Good luck keeping it simple,' said Tat.
'I'm going to try. Well that seems to get our business out of the way. I grabbed some shut-eye waiting for the inspectors instead of running down the list of shipping. Who's here and what's going on?' I asked and spent the next hour gossiping.
There were many familiar ships and many old friends who, I'm sure, we'd be crossing orbits with during our stay. These days even working ships, like Jann's Comet King can spend weeks gathering a cargo, so we could expect a lively time aboard ship and in CraterCity during our stay. But facing a two-hundred-day cruise to either Amdia or Aticor, a lively time was welcome.
'Well, we'd best be lifting, Tat. I'm sure the gang is anxiously awaiting their mail, and their release...' I said as I climbed to my feet.
'I should be getting back to work as well,' Tat laughed, reaching for volume dial. 'Great to see you both, you know where and when to find me when you need more cheering up. Fair orbits, Vyn, Wil,' he yelled over the rising tide of music, and with a wave, began to once more pound out the b
eat on his desk.
Outside, the multistory concourse was nearly deserted. The rim is essentially one vast building straddling the natural stone rim, tied together by fast vertical lifts and horizontal velowalks. We walked down to the express velowalk, a level below the main pedestrian concourse and stepped on-board to speed walk back to the Terminal. The velowalk's surface layer energy fields kept the soles of our boots just suspended above its surface and propelled us along in proportion to the effort we made walking, creating the illusion that the velowalk was moving and carrying us swiftly along, though we were actually gliding meters with every step we took.
As we sped along, we discussed plans for entertaining friends and how we'd manage the social whirl of idle spaceers we'd have aboard. Crew entertainments, and I'm thinking of my engineers here, if left to themselves, would probably be too unrestrained even by my relaxed standards. Engineers have a tradition going back to the beginning of time of being very partial to alcohol, so the firm hand of an ex-Patrol first mate would likely come in handy.
My com link registered a signal from the ship, which I answered. 'Litang here.'
'Greetings Captain, Illy told me you're down in CraterCity, so I had her redirect my signal.'
I recognized the voice of our owner from the implanted speaker in my ear.
'Min,' I exclaimed. 'Good to hear your voice. And yes, Vyn and I have just called at the agency and are on our way back to the Terminal.'
'Good. I'm here and I'd like to see you both. I suggest we meet in the NueNova Hotel Terrace Gardens. Pick a nice secluded table on the upper level. I'll find you.'
'Right. We can be there in ten minutes.'
'Then I'll see you soon,' she replied and cut the connection.
I turned to Vynnia. 'We're to meet Tallith in the NueNova Gardens.'
'It will be good to see her. I've been worried.'
I knew what she was going to tell us, I doubt Vynnia will be any less worried after seeing her.
There'd been a brief radio-packet from Min waiting for us on our arrival in Tiladore orbit sixteen days ago. It merely instructed us to proceed hollow to Sanre-tay upon completion of the charter. We stayed in Tiladore orbit for five days while our passengers were off-loaded and revived, clearing our charter without penalties. Shortly before we sailed, I received a second, longer radio-packet from her.
She apologized again for her abrupt departure. It was, she said, a combination of impulsiveness to follow the Azure Night and panic at being swept into a situation that she was far from sure she was ready to handle. Aboard the Aurora she realized chasing the Azure Night was not a smart idea – there was little she could do or discover on her own though she's certain the Azure Night is connected with both the death of her parents and our attack. She had Phylea search the records of the ships in Calissant orbit during both incidents and the Azure Night was the only ship present at both that did not have a simple explanation for being in orbit. Still, yachts sail on the whims of their owners, so it was not conclusive proof, but it was suspicious.
The Azure Night arrived two days before the Aurora, refueled and departed for its home port of Jaspoor's Folly in the Helgot Drift, discharging two system pilots. Being a drifteer owned yacht, not a Guild ship, no information was available on her crew, save that the owner was Gin Detri, which told her nothing.
She felt that two unidentified system pilots left behind might well be the assassin team for a criminal guild hired to kill her. She admitted that she had no solid basis to believe that, but instinctively felt it was the most likely explanation and was acting on that premise, taking every precaution to stay out of their likely orbits. She added that with the Last Striker story making the news, this theoretical criminal guild would have strong reasons, with me still alive, and no mention of her murder making the news, to believe the whole operation had failed and investigate further. If they did even a basic data search for her after the assassination attempt, she'd turn up as a passenger aboard the Aurora, and her entry, but not exit on Lontria as well. She didn't know how criminal guilds operated, but she was pretty certain they'd have to act decisively to rectify their failure – if only because they were acting for clients out of the Four Shipmates past rather than on their own account. She was afraid that on my arrival in Sanre-tay, I'd become a person of special interest to them, and so I'd need to be on my guard.
It was all just plausible enough to make me wonder again what I'd gotten myself into.
She went on to say that for just these reasons, she decided not to sail aboard the Lost Star. She'd always be a danger to everyone close to her and she didn't want to put the people she cared for in danger. I'd be dead now if a wharf rat hadn't knocked the assassin's hand just a centimeter or two off target, and she wasn't about to carry that danger aboard the ship. She sounded quite determined. She or Phylea would act as owner, when needed, and she assured me that she'd talk Vynnia and Tenry into staying aboard as well. I seriously doubt that.
Finally, she said that she hoped that by being completely honest with me, I'd accept her decisions. They'd been hard to make, but necessary for her peace of mind. She hoped that with her letter, I'd have time to come to terms with her decisions and we could work comfortably together without conflict. I sent a radio-packet to her assuring her I'd follow her orders, as was my duty. Indeed, I'd tentatively come to terms with her decisions, though not quite on her terms. To say that I've plans of my own, is an exaggeration, but I'd ideas, anyway.
If she sent a similar radio-packet to Vynnia and Tenry, they'd said nothing to me. I rather doubted it, hence a certain trepidation as we approached the NueNova.
The NueNova Hotel is located high above the Transit Terminal, rising wide and high over the Rim, overlooking both the flats of CraterPort on one side and the glowing dome of CraterCity on the other. On reaching the Transit Terminal, we boarded an express lift to the clearsteel domed roof of the NueNova, whose elaborate rooftop terraces are open to the public, each terrace boasting cafes and grotto lounges set amongst trees, flowers, walks and benches. It was, however, an hour before Lontria's abrupt airless sunrise and the terraces were largely deserted, populated by only a few travelers, out of sync with Lontria time. We selected a table in deep shadows under an arching tree with a wide view of the busy port and I set out in search of an open cafe and a pot of cha. By the time I'd returned, Min had found our table and was happily chatting with Vynnia, allowing me time to study her.
Our table was lit by a low light set in the center of the table and the turquoise sliver of Sanre-tay low over the distant crater rims, so it was impossible to get a comprehensive read of our owner, but I'd have hardly recognized her even in bright sunlight. She was dressed in loose boots, wide pantaloons (noted only later) and several layers of thin, patterned blouses with lots of bangles jangling, and a floppy beret. She looked and acted differently, which is to say, she seemed relaxed and happy. She glanced up, 'Ah, Captain Litang, with cha. Always with cha! Good to see you, Captain, and the cha,' she laughed. 'I was up way too early today.'
I set the tray down and took her offered hand, 'Why, you're looking quite refreshed. Lontria agrees with you.'
'Amazing what sufficient credits and the beachcomber life will do!'
'And here I've been trying very hard to avoid the beach!' I said as I sat down, reaching for the steaming pot to pour our cha. 'Well, in any event, I am glad to see you so happy. What's your secret?'
'Well, first I'm far from a stranger here. The Aurora makes monthly calls on Sanre-tay and having served aboard her for the better part of five years, I've a good friend here who helped me unravel some of the tension...' she said with a faintly seen smile, adding, 'That's one of my secrets.'
Well, yes, of course. Min was a spaceer. However, I was rather alarmed, nevertheless.
'I hope your friend is very, very discrete,' I said. 'I assure you there's not much that goes on in port that doesn't make its way to the ears of companions. And with your story, well, I hope I don't hear abo
ut you...'
'Oh, she's very, very discrete. I trust her. She knows how important it is for me to remain anonymous,' she replied, watching me intently, her dark eyes impossible to read in the shadows.
That may have been a warning for me – an unneeded one. And her reassurance did little to reassure me. Too late now anyway. I'd have a better idea if any damage was done in a few days after I'd a chance to catch up with Leafa, my friend here. Like all my companion friends, she knew all the gossip worth knowing.
'Will you be joining us aboard ship?' asked Vynnia to change the subject.
Min hesitated, glanced quickly at me before admitting, 'No and I might as well tell you right off that I won't be sailing with you, either. I know this'll disappoint you, but as Captain Litang pointed out when I'd inherited the Lost Star, I can be her owner and just collect my dividends, letting you go about the business of earning them. I don't have the experience to actively manage my ship, so I'd best stay out of the way and let you and Captain Litang go about your business. I need far more experiences in life before I take on running a ship.'
Vynnia darted me a sharp glance, so I said mildly, 'Our original idea was that you'd get that experience sailing with us as a pilot and slowly taking up owner's role as you learned the trade.'
'But you pointed out, I'd always be the person in charge should blast come to lift,' she replied, lightly, doing me no good with Vynnia. It was, however, true.
'I thought it might work, but the more I thought about it... Well, I guess my time here on my own – all responsibilities left behind – has opened my eyes to new possibilities. I'm not ready to spend my life confined to a metal box and spaceers' row.'
'What are you planning to do, instead?' asked Vynnia.
'To begin with, I've discovered the joy of discovery. There are thousands of different crater communities here, Unity Standard and dissenting. And unlike most moons, many of the dissenting communities are linked by levatrains, so they're easily accessible.'
'Isn't that rather dangerous? I didn't think dissenting societies were very open and welcoming to casual visitors,' I asked. People who for one reason or another, rejected life under Unity Standard standards, lived in self-exile in isolated multi-crater communities on every sizable moon in the Nebula.
'Most, at least here on Lontria, aren't all that different than Unity Standard. There are, of course, some very dissenting ones, some of which are, indeed, located in isolated crater complexes that don't welcome tourists. But I gather Lontria has always been much more cosmopolitan than your average moon with Unity Standard and dissenting societies freely intermingling. You'll see dissenters everywhere you go, and you can find hundreds of dissenting communities that welcome visitors and vacationers. Whenever you get off a levatrain, the laws and customs of that community are automatically downloaded to your com link so that you can decide if you care to conform to the laws and customs or not. You're not subject to its customs and laws until you exit the station.
'Anyway, I've had so much fun exploring these little crater complex societies – each a colorful little world, differing from the rest in colors, shapes, smells and even sounds. I've been bitten by the wanderlust bug. I've enough credits to travel, boxed of course, to the eight systems, and I want to see so much more than ports and spaceer dives glimpsed between loading and unloading boxes... So, well, that’s what I'm going to do. Travel. Be a tourist. Live.'
Vynnia glanced at me and waited for my response. But mindful of my owner's wishes, I said nothing. I'd leave the arguing to Vynnia and Tenry.
'Alone?' asked Vynnia, when I didn't. 'According to Tat we're not likely to drag you away from here anytime soon. You're certainly owed a holiday, but traveling by yourself might soon become a very lonely experience. Why not explore the worlds in the company of your friends and shipmates? After all, being the owner, there'd be no one to drag you away from any world until you're ready to go.'
'I know it'll be hard for you to accept, but, you see, I've grown up,' said Min with a smile. 'And yes, I realize it might be lonely at times, but I intend to give it a try. I can always find a ship to pilot if I get too lonely. But,' she added, forestalling Vynnia's objection, 'Right now all I want to do is travel... Having freed myself of the day to day responsibility of Min & Co, I intend to go all the way and free myself of the day to day responsibility of the Lost Star as well. Not forever, but for now... Maybe after I've had my spree... but not now.' And she took a sip of cha to avoid meeting our gazes.
She not an accomplished liar, but there was enough truth in what she said to give it a facsimile of the whole truth, at least in the dim shadows of the NueNova Terrace.
'I was young once. And I did tell you not to let your tragic losses rob you of youth, so I can't now tell you to give up your plans, though I hope you'll reconsider them. I think you'd be happy aboard the Lost Star, and as Vyn said, we can mix some tourism in with business. Why not give it a try first and if it doesn't work out, you can always strike out on your own? It'll save you a ton of credits in boxed passages.'
I could see that Vynnia wasn't pleased with my rather tepid objection and I'd a feeling I was going to hear about it later.
Best to push ahead, I decided. 'Anyway, we'll have more time to discuss your future plans. We'll also need to discuss the ship's plans as well. Vyn and Ten have suggested some alterations with drift work in mind that'll need your approval and perhaps credits, so you can't give us a miss entirely.'
'Oh, I'm not abandoning you, Captain. I'm here to launch the Lost Star on its new course, so I'll be glad to go over any plans with you. And I haven't neglected my ship's business while wandering either. I've been collecting data on trade prospects in the Aticor and Amdia systems, and I've arranged to cut the ship's financial strings to Min & Co as well, so that you'll be able to carry your credits with you wherever your cargoes take you.'
'Great. And I assure you that Vyn, the gang and I are committed to making the Lost Star a resource, not a burden,' I said, whistling in the starless night. Min would certainly have her work cut out keeping Vynnia and Tenry aboard if she wasn't going to be aboard as well.
'Thank you, Captain. I realize that neither you nor Vyn are happy with my decision, but I hope you'll come around to understand it is for the best.'
'Well, my dear,' said Vynnia, 'I'll admit that I'm far from happy and will try to talk you out of them... But not tonight. We'll have time to talk later, I hope.'
'Oh, we'll have plenty of time and I'm always willing to listen to your advice, Vyn. I know enough to respect whatever you have to say, though I make no promises. I reserve my right to be young and foolish.'
Vynnia just nodded and put a hand on Min's.
Having put that conversation behind her, Min sipped her cha and talked gaily of her travels through the various communities of Lontria and questioned us on our passage to Tiladore. I did, however, refuse to go into great detail about the Last Striker Affair, telling her, 'Ask Ten, he makes a far more entertaining yarn of it. I've yet to learn the art of spinning a humorous yarn out of being chased by homicidal robots.'
'Oh, I insist on hearing your version, Captain, but I'm certain that the crew is eagerly awaiting their mail, so we'll postpone it for now. Vyn, would you mind if Litang and I have a captain and owner discussion?'
'Not at all,' Vynnia said, loyally. 'I'll run the mail back to the ship and, I hope, will see you shortly.'
'As soon as Captain Litang can get by without you,' Min assured her, and turned to me, 'I hope I'm not presuming. I got some sleep before I came, but I've lost track of Primecentra time, so if you're too tired, Captain, we can postpone our talk.'
'I grabbed a nap on arrival, so I'm fresh. You've a lot to consider and I'd like to at least brief you on what we've in mind. I haven't hard credit figures, but I suspect they'll be substantial. However, your uncle always refitted using the & Kin ship yard here, so we can get any work done by a company we can trust,' I said as I handed the data drive over to Vynnia.
> Min nodded, adding, 'Oh, Vyn, I hope you and the crew will keep my presence here to yourselves. As long as I'm associated with Min & Co I'd prefer to keep my ownership of the ship and my presence here secret, if only to make life easier for Phylea.'
'Of course, I'll pass that along to the crew,' she said, rising. And with a nod to me, 'Captain,' she dodged through the scattered empty tables and disappeared into the shadows of the garden.
Min turned to me, 'Let's find a more out of the way place to talk, Captain. I know of a nice quiet Unity Standard community with a park where we can walk and talk.'
'Lead on, my Owner,' I said, pushing back my chair and rising.