Episode 112. Part 2
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Thus we land on Persephone. It’s surprisingly still agricultural for the most part, though you’d have a hard time recognizing it looking at Kore Docks. It’s pretty low-rent and urban. So low rent, that traffic control is pretty lax in terms of ship IDs. We made our way to the dirt as we could, without telling them exactly who we are.
As we’re trawling the usual outlets for job opportunities, Arden mentions that he knows someone on Persephone, a private investigator whose daughter he’d saved from an accidental poisoning. It’s possible this man would help us out with finding a paying job or a buyer for the drugs or the car.
Christian and Nika decide on looking for cargo bound for Red Sun or Kalidasa. Most of the cargo listed for transport, however, are going toward the Core. There are a few jobs heading out for the Rim. A livestock job headed for Verbena. Two handlers are listed in the cargo manifest, possibly sparing us the chore of taking care of the cargo. If the livestock is anything like that found on a ranch, Mike’s experience will come in handy.
Looking at the passenger listings, we realize we could be making more money hauling people over animals…but until we off-load the girls somewhere safe, we can’t risk passengers. After all, cattle don’t give a good gorram if our passengers are wanted runaways. People, on the other hand, can be swayed to make trouble for a whole lot less than a pat on the back from the Feds for turning the girls in. If we do take passengers on, especially those two handlers that come with that livestock job, Nika’s of the opinion that the girls stay in their quarters until we get them where they’re going.
Christian objects.
Christian: The entire time?
Nika: Yes.
Christian: They’ll have to eat.
Nika: So you’ll take it to them in their rooms. We’ll tell the rest of the passengers they’re honeymooners.
Christian: Technically, that’s true.
Nika: If it’s a lucrative contract? We could really use the credits.
Arden: Why do we care if they’re seen by somebody else?
Nika: ‘Cuz if anyone’s seen the Cortex …
Christian: I don’t think you understand. Persephone is very tied to the Core.
Nika: Look. We tell them they stay in their cabin and they don’t come out until the other passengers have gone to bed. All it takes is one person…
She leaves the threat hanging.
As for acquiring cargo, there are other avenues we can explore beyond the officially listed ones. In a place like Kore, you can find cargo just by asking around. Plenty are eager to shift their goods under the table, because they lack the money or the legality to do it any other way. Of course, hauling cargo illegally isn’t the most circumspect way to make money when we’re already transporting two young women illegally—however much they wish it—but circumspection just might have to take backseat to necessity if we’ve got no other options left.
Christian decides to set himself up outside our ship as a barker to talk up some commerce for us. We need food, we need fuel, we need ammo, we need medical supplies, we need cargo, we need money—hell, we need everything. We could stand to make some progress toward the plus side of the ledger in those areas.
Speaking of plusses… Over the past four days with a little bit of practice, although he’s been complaining about migraines, Mike has been regaining his will bit by bit, foiling everyone’s fuck-with-him tests in a reasonable amount of time. If he’s not paying attention, however, he can still be manipulated, but when you sit him down and test him, he’s able to concentrate and bypass the Jedi mind tricks. He’s not sure it’s worth it. The migraines from his resistance hurt like fuckin’ hell, but the alternative is still worse.
Omar gets back to Rina on the comm.
Omar: So how did you get hold of a car like this?
Rina: A long story. I’ll tell you later.
Omar: What? Is this a hot vehicle? Is it something someone’s looking for?
Rina: (annoyed) It involves passengers…
Omar: Do you have papers?
Good question. The car actually belongs to the Tolson family, not the Tolson girl.
Rina: (drawing it out) … No….Look, I’ll tell you everything when we meet. Just give me a time.
Omar: Whenever. You know where I am.
Rina: All right.
She kills the channel and looks at Nika.
Rina: Let’s go pick up your package and go see an old friend of mine.
Nika: Okay. Girl’s day out. Not that we have any money.
The women go out, with a sample of each of the drugs we purloined to show Omar what we’ve got. Mike opts to go with them. Rina dithers over the drugs, trying to find a way to carry them securely.
Arden: Do you have a drug problem?
Rina: No. I’m just worried about pickpockets. Hello.
Mike: Nahh, there’s nothing to it.
Nika: You’re carrying six samples. It’s not a big problem. Pockets. Cargo pants.
She points at Rina’s coveralls, which sport at least 15, 20 pockets of various sizes.
Mike: Just don’t bump anything. Or anybody.
Christian: I mean, seriously— you’re the most lesbian-looking non-lesbian in the world, so…(spreads his hands: whaddya gonna do?)
Nika grabs Rina by the arm on one side and Mike grabs Rina by the arm on the other and get her out of there before she can argue, and hie off to get that package. It’s waiting at the post office in a brown paper bag. Nika peeks into the bag, raises a brow and she tucks the whole caboodle under her arm without comment. We exit the post office and turn for Omar’s. The walk is uneventful. No one accosts us. We don’t have to kill anybody. It’s almost as if we were normal people. After so long a run of ducking and hiding, it feels decidedly strange.
Omar's Garage
Eavesdown Docks, Eavesdown
10:45 hrs, local time
Omar’s is right where Rina remembers it, on Waverly halfway down the block past Ah-Bing’s Barber Shop and across from Mama Liu’s Tea and Dumplings, and in pretty much the same condition. Concrete and tile construction, none too clean, one floor with a loft, two big-assed bays with two big-assed metal doors rolled up for business, with a blue neon sign buzzing away over everything: Omar’s Garage is open for business.
Rina walks right in.
Rina: Hey, Omar! You here?
A muffled “I’m here!” comes from the floor of the garage and looking, we see Omar’s legs sticking out from under a hovercar. Rina goes right over and abruptly knocks on Omar’s wheeled creeper with her boot. Bump-bump-bump. There’s a clang and a curse, and Rina grins.
Rina: I’ve always wanted to do that. He did it to me often enough. Drove me crazy
Omar curses her thoroughly in Chinese and wheels out from under the car.
Rina: Sweet-talker.
Omar: Ah, you made it all the way over here. You remembered where we were.
Rina: (Well, Buh-Duh!) Yaaah….!
Omar gets up from the creeper and stretches. He’s about 5-10 and 200, a craggy face crowned with thick dark hair going grey at the temples. A thick mustache graces his upper lip, brushing up against the cigarette Omar's smoking. He tosses the cancer stick to the deck and grinds it out. He wipes the grease off his hands, but not enough, and gives Rina a firm handshake. Then claps it on her back in greeting. Rina rolls her eyes: comes with the territory. She grins and returns the favor, wiping her greased-up hand clean on his coveralls.
Rina: So. Howya been?
Omar: (lighting a cigarette) Business is not too bad, not too bad. (sucks in a long draw) How have you been? We’ve heard ripples in the ’waves of your activities.
Rina: (shrugging) Oh, you know. Can’t believe everything you hear.
Omar: No? (another draw) And your friend?
Rina: Oh! Yeah….
Omar: (murmuring to Nika) Omar, pleased to meet you.
Rina: Nika, Omar. Omar, Nika.
Omar: (pointing with his cigarette) Why don’t we go upstairs?
Rina: There’s an upstairs now?
Omar leads the way up the stairs to a catwalked loft, says over his shoulder.
Omar: Well, my office.
Rina: Ohhhh, very posh.
Omar: I don’t like them being able to peer over my computer screen.
Rina: True. (looking at his set-up) Hmm. Nice rig.
Omar: Have a seat.
Omar wheels a chair out from the desk and sits. We perch where we can, drafting an overturned bucket for the task, leaning on the railing or sitting on it. Omar drags on his cigarette and gestures with it to Rina and Mike.
Omar: You know that there are some people who are very nervous about you two. And probably you three.
The cigarette waves in Nika’s direction.
Omar: Other than your name, I don’t know anything about you, but….
Rina: (annoyed) Oh, god, what have you heard?
Omar: Well… Rumor has it that Mr. Carter here was held captive for an extended period of time in an Alliance hospital.
Nika: And who’s spreading rumors like that?
Omar: Well, you are involved in that unfortunate business in Beaumonde, yes? No?
Nika: (Yah, right.) You don’t really expect me to confirm or deny that, do you?
Omar: (shrugs) I’m not confirming or denying anything. All I’m saying is that word gets out. When things like this happen. Some people, you know, think you’re all heroes. Everyone agrees, you know, overall, that this was probably a good thing. But. There is some concern, when you just disappeared off the radar afterwards, everyone assumed you’d gone on the run. And why would you go on the run unless you had something to hide?
Omar lights a new cigarette off the stub of his old one as Nika answers.
Nika: Because Feds were chasing us maybe?
Omar: Where they?
Nika: Yah!
Omar: (drags, blows smoke) Which ones? What ship?
Nika: Why?
Omar: Well, if the Feds were chasing you, like who?
Nika: (looks narrowly at him) Why?
Omar: ‘Why should you tell me’? Or ‘Why would they be chasing you’?
Nika: No, I’m offering a thought process here that would be a little more plausible than that we had something to hide. Given the activities we’d just been involved in, laying low would have been the most appropriate response.
Omar: So you weren’t actually, to your knowledge, tracked or followed by any Alliance vessels?
Nika: Not to my knowledge, no.
Omar: You just thought you were, or might have been.
Nika: We were just getting’ outa Dodge to make sure that didn’t happen. And quite frankly, didn’t feel the need to check in with Nguyen.
Omar: All I’m saying is that there are people who are concerned. Perhaps if you went back to Nyguen and explained what happened, he’d be able to quell those rumors. He knows a lot of people. I don’t particularly like Nguyen. (drags, blows) But he has a lot of friends, he wields a lot of power. He does some narco trafficking on the side. And of course, he has that whole restaurant business.
Nika: I’ve forgotten how much like little old ladies they are.
Omar: But now, I’m not taking sides on this and I’m not supporting a thing. I’m just saying if you wanna make friends, you might wanna change your attitude a little bit.
Nika: (insulted) I’m not implying that it’s you who’s acting like a little old lady. We appreciate that you’re telling us what the little old ladies out there are chattin’ about.
Omar: (squinting through the smoke) The appreciation is dripping off me, lemme tellya. I feel appreciated, all thanks to your attitude.
Nika: You just accused me of doing something when you have no idea what I did. So yes, I’m feeling a little less than pleased.
Omar: (stubs out cigarette) I’m just passing on the information I have. I’m not accusing you of anything.
Nika: Okay.
Omar: I know Rina. She wouldn’t be doing anything untoward. Nothing I wouldn’t approve of.
Nika: Then I apologize for getting cranky at you.
We all take a step back, smoothing our ruffled feathers.
Rina: Can you sell the car or not?
Omar: Sure. I can sell anything. I take it that it’s not 100% yours?
Rina: You’d be 100% right.
Omar: It’s a fairly recognizable car, so I’ll have to move it off-planet.
Rina: Yup.
Omar: I assume you got it off-planet.
Rina: Yup.
Omar: I don’t want to get associated with it if it does get tracked. So I can’t offer you much. Maybe … I’m embarrassed to even tell you this number, because times are tough but I can maybe get you…700?
Rina: Well, that’s 700 more that we didn’t have ten minutes ago.
Nika: And he’s doing a wonderful favor for us, so I would say that’s an extremely reasonable offer.
Omar: (lighting another cigarette) It’s not. It’s worth a lot more. I’m serious. If you’re leaving the system, you might be better off selling it someplace else. Find some mining baron off on some Rim planet and you can probably sell it for twice that much.
Rina: Who do we know who’s a mining baron who needs a flash car on nowt?
Nika: Afterward, when we’re headed back to Angel, I’m sure we can find some corrupt folk might wanna—.
Rina: Okay. We don’t have to sell the car here.
Omar: If you’re going to Angel, there’s some real money on Angel.
Rina: What about the drugs?
Omar: The drugs? (drags, blows, shifts in his seat) Are they recreational or medical?
Rina: They’re in my pocket, is what they are. Here.
She pulls them out and hands them over.
Omar: (to himself) Mostly medical stuff. (another drag, another blow) I’m going to have to pull some favors out. This really isn’t my thing.
Rina: Well, yeah. I figured you know people.
Omar: I know people, yeah. These aren’t the nicest of people, but I’ll call in some acquaintances and see what I can get you for this. How much of this do you have?
We tell him.
Omar: I’ll see what I can get.
Rina: All right.
Omar: Again, it might take some time. This stuff’s fairly hard to move on.
Business concluded, Rina indulges her curiosity.
Rina: So, how’s the neighborhood?
Omar: Not much worse than its usual.
Rina: Yeah, oh well…
Nika: So what other news besides the rumor mill chowing on us have you heard? Anything unusual?
So much for Memory Lane. Back to Business.
Omar: Well, everybody heard the Wave, of course. Heard about everybody going nuts, but it’s not been so horrible here.
Nika: How so?
Omar: Have you been to Persephone before? Are you familiar with politics here? It’s a little bit different than other places, because we got the Upper House here. And normally, these are a bunch of pompous blowhard sash-wearing fairies, if you ask me.
Nika snickers and Rina snorts. Mike keeps his opinion to himself. Omar drags on his cigarette and sends the smoke upward.
Omar: But I will say they actually seem to… demonstrate some cohones. They’re pushing for an inquiry.
Nika: Pushing as a government for a large-scale inquiry?
Omar: Not as the Persephone local government, but they are pressuring the Alliance to do something.
Nika: Wow.
Omar: It’s the bicameral system, so they haven’t gone very far yet, but they’re talkin’ about it. And when I say ‘they’, it’s certainly not all of them, but there are several Lords who are pushing it. Some of these guys seem to actually have the best interest of the ’Verse at heart.
Rina: So, they’re pushing for an inquiry into the Miranda Wave and the truth behind it?
Omar: Yeah, and whether it’s true. Yeah.
Nika: I can see that argument waging for decades over whether the Wave was real or not.
Unlike the traditional Alliance Parliament, which is a single House made up of Members of Parliament, Persephone has a Bi-Cameral Parliamentary system with a Prime Minister and a House of Lords and a House of Commons, harkening back to an older Parliament from Earth That Was. So it’s a good bet that any decision making by Persephone’s government on something like this will be somewhat ….fractious.
Rina: Short term, this means they’re tied up, they’re going to be arguing this til the cows come home. Where does that leave us?
Omar: It is helpful for figuring out who might be…
Nika: (getting it) Amenable.
Omar: …useful people… to develop relationships within the government.
Rina: And that’s right up your alley.
Omar: Yes. (drag, blow) So you’re asking for what’s going on, I’m telling you what’s going on, that I thought might interest you.
Nika: Have we had any additional news out of Blue Sun?
Omar: They stopped the quarantine. So that’s good. They’ve apparently cleaned up everything that they needed to clean up.
Rina: Hmm.
Omar: My tech friends tell me that one of the stations got pulled out of service. Which is assuming where Mr. Universe’s feed is coming from. He was on one of the automated stations, apparently.
Rina: Mmm, I would’ve loved to have seen that set-up. Damn.
Omar: (Teasing her) S2-27, I think it is.
Nika: So has traffic resumed?
Omar: It’s a network, so even when it was down, it w—
Nika: No, I mean—
Omar: Oh, ship traffic. Ship traffic is picking up again, and it’s good business if you’ve got an armed ship because apparently whatever happened up there seems to have increased the amount of piracy, lately.
Rina: So when you say ‘cleaned up’, exactly what did you mean by ‘cleaned up’?
Omar: (drag, blow) Well, from what we can tell the Alliance Navy is pulling out of the area. Not the entire Blue Sun system, but they’re not doing their giant thing. They’re pulling broken ships out of the area, they’ve—.
Nika: You said piracy is on the rise. What about Reaver activity reports?
Omar: We call that ‘piracy’ out here. The Reavers are still sorta unofficial.
Nika: For me, piracy means two things: ‘Reavers’, and ‘Other’.
Omar: It appears that these Reavers-slash-Pirates, whatever they were, were scattered by whatever happened up there. So, yeah. They’re kinda loose. Which may be good, if they don’t have a base to return to, to make repairs and so on. No one knows exactly who or what they are or how they operate. The Wave was not particularly explicit about these things.
Rina: You know what I’d do? If I wanted to clear out the Reavers, I would simply declare a bounty on every Reaver head out there and tell everyone it’s open season on them.
Omar: (shaking his head) I don’t think that’s their primary interest right now.
Rina: It would get rid of a lot of malcontents with guns who would normally be using them on you.
Omar: (quietly) It’s possible.
Rina: You pit both sides against the middle. You know.
Omar: So…Escorting duty’s been pretty popular in that region, if you’re interested in that kind of job. I don’t know if your current ship is armored….
Rina: (rueful laugh) Oh, God, no.
Nika: Not even close.
Rina: Not unless you want to lob containers at them.
Omar:(stubbing out cigarette) And that’s about the gist of it, at this stage. I mean, there’s grumbles in the Parliament, and most people on this planet say it was a buncha terrorists that were responsible for what happened.
Rina: They would.
Omar: That they lured the fleet into that area and then attacked them with …you know, nuclear weapons or something.
Nika: It’s amazing what people will believe.
Omar: Well…a lot of people here lost family in the war.
Rina: (very quietly) You got that right.
Rina sighs and looks at Omar.
Rina: So. You wanna get lunch?
Omar: Sure.
Rina: You’re buyin’.
Omar: Of course. Your money’s no good here.
Rina: (starts to laugh) Great. We can go across the street.
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