Episode 109. Part 2
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We let the man on board and he immediately starts checking things off his list. At least the Gift is very clean. Rina’s spent a lot of time lately spit-shining the engine room to work off her stress, and Christian likewise has been keeping himself busy doing the same. At least Arden is holed up in his quarters mining the Cortex, Mike is making himself scarce and Donovan is off on yet another bar crawl. The less people the Inspector sees, the better.
Inspector: Ah…I see here that you’ve changed your registry recently?
Oh, hell no. That, too?
Nika: Mm-hm.
Inspector: This used to be the…MakeMake. Now, did you pay off all of the old fines against this vessel? When you took ownership?
Nika: In all reality, that would be the previous owner’s responsibility.
Christian: Which fines are on this ship? What fines are we talking about?
The Inspector pulls up a list.
Inspector: It’s mostly delinquent registration fees.
Christian: Ah, that’s interesting that they can even have fines for this ship, considering at the time it was stolen.
Inspector: Oh? Well, then.
Christian: The ship was stolen. We returned it to its original owner…
And so we tell the man the story of how the Gift was legally transferred to us, thanks to the generosity of Jamison Fairweather’s daughter and sole heir. To do good works.
Inspector: Oh. And was there a report of a stolen vehicle?
Unfortunately, no. It was some long time before the theft was discovered, because the thieves were particularly clever. However, the Sheriff on Angel is looking into the theft as a possible murder in connection to the event.
Nika: However, that had nothing to do with our crew.
Inspector: Of course, not.
Nika: You are certainly welcome to contact the former owner of the ship to check the transfer.
Inspector: Let me check with the Federal Marshals and see if they have any evidence or anything like that off the ship. There’s been a murder, so that’s definitely something to look into. We’ll hold off on the inspection for today, we don’t want to disturb any crime scenes.
Christian draws breath to talk when Nika shushes him, and tells the Inspector :
Nika: You go check your paperwork and come back and let us know.
Inspector: Don’t leave Parth…soon.
He leaves.
Crime scene? Aboard the Gift? What the hell is the man talking about?
Christian: If we weren’t going to a Core planet, now would be a good time to leave Parth.
Nika: Then let’s go.
Christian: We can’t. We’re going to a place where they’re going to be able to radio ahead and there’ll be more authorities there. And we will get fined, if not jailed.
Rina: Maybe we should have told him to call ahead to clear it.
Christian: I was about to, when you told me to shut up.
Nika: I didn’t want you to reassure him we weren’t going to leave.
Christian: I wasn’t going to reassure him. I was going to suggest that he may want to have the authorities on Osiris do the paperwork, because we had a deadline. Hopefully this won’t take too long.
Nika: Oh, it’s going to take a while.
Christian: We’ll see.
Rina: What’s the SOL comm delay between here and Osiris?
Christian: Probably a day or two.
Oh, yeah. This is going to take a while.
Nika: (To Christian) Make arrangements to meet back up with him, show him our good faith, “Hey, we’re on a deadline, here, here’s where we’re going to be.”
Right. What are the chances the man will cut us some slack? None.
Christian: I’ll go make dinner.
And so we wait. Christian cooks. Nika thinks. Rina pulls out her deck of cards. Donovan shows up….and he’s not alone.
Donovan: Hey, everybody. Brought a friend! Actually, she needs a trip off this moon.
Christian: We won’t be going anywhere for a little while.
Donovan: Oh-kay, we’ll be in my stateroom.
Christian: Sure. And when the authorities come and want to see everybody, what should we tell them about your stateroom?
Donovan. Uh….. “Knock first”?
Donovan and his lady friend make their exit for the staterooms, leaving the rest of us to stare after them. Rina recovers first.
Rina: Of all the times he has to bring a sliushka aboard, it would have to be now.
Christian: Is that “whore” or “slut”?
Rina: Yes.
Nika orders Christian to make the call to the Inspector, explaining we have a deadline and that we need to leave. Hours pass. We don’t hear anything in response to our call. Not that we expected one, but still... Christian shrugs, saying he doubts we could afford to pay the thousands in fees it would take to get the landlock off us and leave. Nika’s worried at this juncture that the authorities are going to impound our ship. All this waiting around speculating is making Rina antsy.
Rina: I think I’ll go check the car.
Christian: Don’t unwrap it.
Rina: Can’t we say it’s Christmas, early?
Christian: We could. Do you have the ten thousand credits it would take to pay for this?
Rina: (muttering) Not yet.
Nika: (catching this) Not yet? What, you’ve won the lottery?
Christian: On the other hand, they haven’t done the inspection yet. There may be time for you to go undo and fix the things that need to be fixed.
But nothing’s actually broken. Grah!
Rina: (irked) True. I can drool later. I’ll see what I can do.
It takes some of our scrap stock and a few solid hours fabricating panels and covers for it all, plus rerouting some exposed piping, and welding the new-made plates down. With Mike’s help and by dint of pulling an all-nighter, she gets it done. And since she’s busy doing that, she misses what happens next.
Nika waits until Arden retreats back into his quarters after dinner before asking Christian just what the hell is going on. Christian sits down and tells her a little about his past and how it’s caught up with us now.
Christian: There is a family, the Camden family….
Nika: I got that much.
Christian: They have a vacation home here but are native to Osiris. Or maybe it’s the other way around. One of my regular clients was a member of that line. He, ah …had tastes, we shall say, which—
Nika: That’s far enough with that, thank you.
Christian: Yes. And unfortunately I was a poor judge of character. As time went on, his tastes grew more… extreme. Until one day I was forced to defend myself and in doing so, the young man died.
Nika: (Oh, shoot me now) Oh, good.
Christian: There are laws in place and procedures in place in the Guild to prevent fallout from that sort of …event. Because it does happen occasionally, though more often than not it has more to do with heart attacks than with anything else.
Nika: And you chose not to avail yourself of the continuing coverage, there?
Christian: No, I did and this would be why I’m not in jail. After that, however, I left the Guild because I knew that this particular family would not rest easily and I didn’t want to bring that down upon on the organization that I’d dedicated my lifetime to, and that has served me well during my lifetime there.
Nika: You don’t think that you’re the first person this has ever happened to, do you?
Christian: I’m not the first person. But what happened or didn’t happen to another person isn’t my concern. My concern is just myself. I can only control my own actions. Anyway, the point being that they know I am here and, tracing me back to the ship, are doing everything they can to make my life miserable. Honestly, I would just rather they’d send the assassins out after me. It would be a lot easier.
Nika: So, here’s my question: Were you still affiliated with the Guild, would this be mitigated?
Meaning our situation here and now.
Christian: No, they could certainly do everything they could to make my life, our life, more difficult. I might be able to ask the Guild for help in this situation, but quite honestly the best they could do was try to counter the influence of the family.
Nika: I figured that was going to be the answer. It’s not like I’m living by myself back home. Far far smaller sphere of influence, there….
Christian: The Guild is incredibly powerful and I’m sure could, um…let me put it this way, I am sure that our Inspector’s boss’s boss’s boss occasionally availed himself of our services and often our clients are very open to discussion on a range of issues, but it wouldn’t be very helpful. And it’s a moot point anyway. I am not associated with the Guild.
Nika: So basically, we’re screwed.
Christian: There’s only so much the law can do, as long as we’re compliant. And we are.
Nika: How much of our story is going to get back to Potemkin, who most people don’t cross.
Christian: I think you overestimate Potemkin’s importance.
Nika: I hope so.
Christian: If Potemkin was actually that important, he’d own more than one ship.
Nika: We don’t know what he owns. Just because this ship was under his name doesn’t mean every ship he owns is under his name. Or that particular name. For all we know that’s not even his name.
True. There’s nothing we can do about it now, in any case. We’re stuck with simply waiting and seeing what happens next. The evening passes.
Early the next morning, there’s a bit of a scuffle. Donovan’s lady friend is being escorted off-ship by Donovan…and not in a particularly friendly manner either. He’s got her by the arms and he’s marching her for the stairs down to the main airlock.
Donovan: All right. Evening’s over. Time to go home.
Christian, Rina and Nika stick their heads out of their quarters, see what’s going on and bam! some hot-buttons get pushed. Rina makes tracks, fast, for Donovan.
Rina: Donovan, what the hell are you doing?
Donovan: Just cleanin’ up my messes…
Donovan isn’t hurting the woman, but she’s clearly not enjoying the treatment. Not that it makes much difference to Rina at this point. She gets Donovan’s mitts off her.
Rina: Look, I’ll take care of her for you.
Donovan: A’right.
He starts back for his quarters and Nika nails him with a stare and an order.
Nika: No more guests. You can’t treat ’em right, you can’t bring ’em on board.
Donovan: (who pissed in your coffee?) Ooh-kaay….d’ya wanna hear my side of the story?
Nika: I don’t care what your side of the story is.
Donovan: (overriding her) Okay, okay, yeah-yeah….I thought we were leaving?
Nika: Change of plans.
Donovan: Yeah? Just as well.
While Nika and Donovan are going round and round, Rina pulls the woman aside.
Rina: Are you okay?
Woman: (weary) Yeah, I’m okay.
Rina: You wanna wash up? (points) Crew head’s just down there.
Woman: No, no. Not here.
Rina: Does he owe you money?
That nets Rina an outraged stare.
Woman: (pulling her clothes tighter together) You think I’m a whore, too?
Rina: He owes us money. God! He owes everybody money. Don’t take it personally.
The woman stomps off with a stream of Chinese invective, breaking a heel on the way out, and Rina follows to escort her off-ship. Nika tells Rina as the engineer draws even with her door:
Nika: (nodding her head toward the stairs) Don’t know what she expects us to think.
Christian: Could’a told you she wasn’t. (To Nika) This close in to the Core, you’re not likely to find non-licensed practitioners.
Rina: (over her shoulder) Darn. I was looking forward to beating her fee out of him. (Points at the barfly’s back) And I would let her watch.
Rina runs after the woman to catch her up.
A morning call to the Inspector yields us the news that they are concerned about the information they’ve received, they need to do some follow up work on it, and they advise us to sit tight. Christian stresses that we have time sensitive cargo. The response is should we need to make arrangements for moving our cargo off our ship, they would allow it so long as the cargo originated on Parth. They also have a voucher that can extend our port stay and we are free to apply for it by filling out form double-naught-seventeen—
Christian: I don’t suppose that we could deal with this on Osiris? Where the authorities, I would imagine, would have a much better set of resources. For this sort of investigation.
Inspector: Well, you were the ones who initiated the investigations.
Christian: True, but at the same time I don’t want my clients suffering because of my desire for the truth in the matter.
Inspector: Mm-hm. I’ll look into it. I know we’re only a small moon, but we are a fully licensed Inspector station and I still have my inspection to do. I’ll talk to the Federal Marshals and see if they’re willing to allow you to leave the space port.
Christian: Thank you. I appreciate it.
The call ends. More delay. No surprise there.
Nika offers to go out and get those spices Christian wanted, and Christian reminds her that food supplies are more important. She promises she’ll do what she can to get the spices anyway. He hands her a list of what he needs and resigns himself to another day of exile on-board. He locks himself in his quarters and boots up his Cortex connection.
The first thing he does is call home. The SOL delay precludes real-time conversation, so Christian composes a voice message.
Christian: Hello, Mother. Hello, Father. I seem to have run into the Camden family here and suffice it to say, there are difficulties. And at this point, were it just myself I would endure them, but unfortunately my crewmates are suffering as well. Any help you could give would be appreciated. I love you both and I look forward to seeing you as soon we can actually get off this moon and come to Osiris. Love, Christian
Christian sends the message on its way. Twenty-five minutes later he gets a response.
Response: We’re glad you’re in the Core. We will see what we can do about your difficulties. Our influence in retirement is not as much as it once was, but the Camdens are not universally liked, and we may be able to call in some favors. We’re not going to let you get so close, and not see you.
The message ends, Christian closes his connection and gets up to do something useful. Cleaning. Laundry. That should be sufficient to kill a few hours.
Since the engine room and its ‘repairs’ are as ready as they’ll ever be, Rina takes the opportunity to check out the car sitting below decks. She approaches the container, torn: she so does want to unwrap the car to look under the hood and yet she doesn’t want to bring trouble down on the crew. We’re already in enough hot water as it is. She enters the container, sees the car wrap hanging loose to one side and she stops dead in her tracks.
Rina: (to herself) What? No way.
She takes a hard look at it from the entrance and realizes that the car has been carefully unwrapped and the door on that side has been opened. The rear passenger door, to be exact. Rina remembers Donovan’s guest, connects the dots, and completes the picture.
Shit.
If Donovan or his lady friend has puked in there, we’ll never get the damned smell out. She sniffs. Ammonia hits her nose. Puke and a piss? That tears it. Donovan’s ass is grass. Rina strides forward to inspect the damage and the smell shifts.
Wait a minute.
She casts about for the odor and finds a suspicious puddle in the far corner of the container. The corner farthest from the car… passenger door opened, not the driver’s…
Rina thumbs her comm live and hails Nika’s channel.
Rina: Captain, we’ve got a problem.
Nika: I am not the Captain. Whaddya got?
Rina: It would make more sense if you could just see it. Could you just meet me in the cargo container with the car, please?
Nika: What?!
Luckily for everyone, Nika hasn’t quite left the ship but was on her way out. She changes course and pounds on Christian’s door.
Nika: Come with me!
Christian is out of there like a shot and they both haul ass belowdecks.
Meanwhile, Rina moves forward to inspect the car. She sees the car has been opened, no scratches or chips are evident, but she suspects she sees some smudges. Since the door’s already been opened, she tries the handle gently. The door opens with a silken snick! Rina eases it open a crack and takes a deep sniff, praying she doesn’t smell anything that spells trouble.
A whisper of movement from the interior has her jumping clear and drawing her gun.
Rina pulls her pencil torch from her sleeve pocket and with her gun and torch held at the ready, she points both into the interior of the car.
More movement, a glimpse of clothing and limbs in the light of the torch.
Rina: (firmly) Hey. You in there. Come on out.
Christian and Nika arrive just in time to see the first of the stowaways slide out of the car at gunpoint. Rina backs up, keeps her eyes to the front and fixed on the targets.
Rina: (to Nika and Christian) We’ve got stowaways.
Sure enough. Two young ladies of indeterminate age, between their teens and twenties, inch timorously out of the car. One is well-to-do and well-dressed. The other is younger and less well-dressed. By the body language it’s pretty evident we have a young woman and her personal maid.
Woman: Hi…are we in space yet?
Rina: (squinting) Not quite.
Christian: Hello.
He walks over. Rina gives him some room, but keeps her gun up and keeps him covered.
Woman: (dubiously) Hi.
Both women look a bit sheepish. Disheveled as if they’ve slept in their clothes. Which they have.
Christian: Miss Tolson, I presume?
Woman: (drawing it out, unsure) Yes….?
Nika pulls a facepalm and mutters.
Nika: You gotta be shittin’ me.
The hot water we’ve all landed in just got hotter. A whole helluva lot hotter.
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