Chapter 30 Sanre-tay Days 9 – 12 – Visiting & Racing
Molaye is now driving in two races a day, with syndicate members filling in for her whenever she was scheduled to stand watch. In order to keep favorable odds on her, the syndicate needed to keep her true skills under wraps, while still moving her into position to challenge Az Binric before we sailed. To do this, Molaye had to lose badly and win just as badly by making her wins look like lucky breaks, which, I gather, requires a great deal of skill. She was that skillful, and in only five days she was known as “Lucky Laye” amongst the buggy racing set and advanced one level and needing only one more win to advance to the next. I wasn't surprised. Having closely observed her piloting, I knew she had an instinctive feel for machines, just as her father said, be it an old tramp, a rocket boat or a crater buggy.
I was kept surprisingly busy making the rounds of the anchorage and ashore, both on business and for pleasure. I called on Tat to see if there were any prospects for a cargo anytime soon. There were none. I explored the show rooms of exporters lining up products for purchasing on the ship's account which could be traded at a good profit in the Aticor or Amdia systems. I hadn't a budget yet, nor a destination, so I was just window shopping. I called at the Guild Trading Post to see what they had for cha and picked up several cases of premium cha leaves, for trade and my own use. Good cha is in demand anywhere in the Nebula, and by buying or trading via the Guild Trading Post allows you to get very good prices on very rare cha leaf purchased and traded by spaceers star systems away.
I also called on friends in half a dozen ships, and had several fellow pilots and first mates, including Kan, over for a meal and a bit of a party. I was also invited to Captain Seni Shir's sendoff party as the new captain of the Comet King. Once everyone knew I was bound for the drifts, I was regaled with all their old spaceer yarns about their days sailing the drifts – it seems to be a requirement of being a tramp ship captain. Most of their yarns fell into the old spaceer claimed category, though they seemed authentic enough when they told them. I don't believe I hid my leeriness for drift work very well, since they seemed to relish telling me about all their brushes with ruthless miners, possible pirates and iffy cargoes. As I toasted Seni, I rather envied her. It's tough to make a profit these days, and the beach would never be too far away. But she wasn't headed for the Neb-blasted drifts.