The Asking Price of Stars Page 7

“Push some through the slot.” The voice instructed.

  Shadow tossed Fidelity two packets of high energy food paste. She in turn pushed the packets into the slot.

  After three very long minutes negotiating, the door slowly opened. Standing before them was a girl of no more than nineteen years. She was of mid height, with dull brown hair. Her face would have been pretty if she wasn’t so thin. The thin girl wore dull gray-brown coveralls that had been washed so many times the original color was gone. In her hand was an old rocket pistol.

  Fidelity told her, “Morgan at the White Pendant gave us this letter.”

  Suddenly Nirabella charged up the steps and pushed past Fidelity and the girl. “You have someone here with a wicked infection! I smell the wound! Let me see the infected person. It’s possible I can save them.”

  Shocked, the girl slowly turned and walked to the back of the shack. They all followed her. A hidden vegetable garden filled the back of the shack. The roof was pushed open to the sunlight. A young man lay nude on a cot near the garden. He was gaunt and sweat covered him despite the coolness of the garden. His right leg had a deep wound from his upper leg to below the knee. As they approached the boy the stench was overpowering.

  Nirabella knelt beside the boy and asked, “What’s your name?”

  The boy weakly rasped, “Ping.”

  “Ping, I am going to take a look at your leg and see what we need to do to control the pain and to heal it.” She said calmly.

  “Just give me a shot of drugs to kill me.” He whispered.

  Nirabella told Ping, “You are not going to die.” But, she knew it might not be true.

  Light handed Nirabella her medical kit as she asked what else she needed.

  “Boil the cleanest water you can find, add two drops of the green liquid to each liter. Then bring me a bowl of the water and everyone wash with the water. Shadow, Fidelity, find all the clean cloth you can and then Shadow please guard the door and the van.” She injected Ping with Imperial Pain Stop and antibiotics. She started an IV drip to give Ping nourishment and liquids. Next, she began to cut away the rotting flesh. Within minutes a stack of clean sheets and towels was handed to Light.

  While Nirabella and Light worked on Ping's leg, Fidelity talked quietly to the girl.

  “My name is Fidelity Stone, what’s your name?” she asked.

  “Rhonda Santacruz” the girl answered.

  Fidelity asked Rhonda if she was alright.

  “No, we’re not ‘alright’,” Rhonda responded and then continued, “Ping is dying and we’re all trapped in this hell hole.”

  Fidelity put her arms around Ronda. “We can help, please tell me where the other kids are.”

  “They are working the midnight to midday shift at the field. They will be back here in a few hours. I stayed home today so Ping would not be alone. I washed him and packed herbs into his wound. It did not help. We can’t afford a doctor.”

  “How many of you live here?”

  “If you count Ping there are twenty-three of us left.”

  Fidelity asked, “Please tell me your story.”

  Ronda nibbled a food bar and began, “We were dumb kids, so dumb you can’t believe it. One year ago, back on Freehome, we all passed the first screening for the Space Force Crew. But, we were not in the final group selected. There were twenty-nine of us who were close but not selected. This con artist told us and our parents that he could get us on as Space Force Crew out on the Green Line. Our parents used their savings to pay him. He took their money and dumped us here on Pangerbar. There never were openings in Space Force, may the gods damn his soul to the deepest hell.”

  Without correct documents, we could not get legitimate jobs on Pangerbar. Four kids were able to sign onto commercial ships. After a month, the money ran out and those left moved to Pleasant Valley where we took any job we could get at the landing field. Two kids simply disappeared not long after we moved. A week ago, Ping’s leg was deeply cut at the landing field. They do not assist slum people; we are merely expendable labor,” Ronda concluded sadly.

  Three hours later Nirabella was still sitting next to Ping. To remove the rot, she cut away a significant amount of flesh. Ping was weaker and she hoped to get him to hospital but their driver Marsborn dashed that hope. Even if they had the money, he told her that it would take days to get a slum kid into a hospital. Their best hope was to get him to the space station.

  The twenty-one other members of the reconnaissance mission arrived in the kids’ home. They learned the kids leader was a girl of sixteen named Centari Shamir. Shadow explained the reason for the trip to Pleasant Valley.

  He told them, “We need a crew for a private warship. We will take all twenty-three of you. You know each other and have worked together to survive under impossible conditions. Each of you came very close to being sent to Free Space Force crew training. We believe you would fit into our crew quickly.”

  “Before you make any decision, here’s what you’re getting into,” Shadow said. “First, you will serve aboard an Escort. She is an old pirate ship and needs considerable work. Secondly, the ex-officers and crew are Space Force castoffs; everyone was found guilty of charges and dismissed from the Space Force. The next issue is pay. There is no money to pay any of us. When and if we turn a profit, you will get a share but we are deeply in debt to a bank. We will see you have a clean place to live, full sets of clothing and adequate meals. However, the clean place to live will take some time because the ship is a mess.

  Centari interrupted Shadow, “You don’t need to say more; we accept with grateful thanks. We do have one condition. We won’t leave Ping to die here, as you said we survive together. By the way, we call ourselves The Lost.”

  An hour later they were packed and the team and the new crew members were moving out to load the van. Twenty-seven was a hell of a load for the old van. Some would ride on top. Nirabella, Light, and four of the crew were just moving Ping out to the van when the driver, Marsborn yelled, “Everyone get out here and bring your weapons!”

  When Nirabella arrived out on the road she found Marsborn, Shadow, Fidelity, Centari, and Ronda all with pistols drawn. As they stepped across the road Light drew her pistol. Coming down the road were six of the ugliest creatures Nirabella had ever seen. A man rode on the back of each beast.

  “What in all the hells are they?” Nirabella asked.

  Centari replied, “The beasts are Kirgiiiz. The men are the Contract Patrol. The government hires them to keep the peace in the valley. Mostly the patrol just steals all they can. Keep back from the beasts they have a two-meter tongue with a sharp claw at the tip.”

  As the beasts came closer Nirabella saw them clearly. She thought, Look at them, segmented bodies over five meters long, two meters at the shoulders, six legs with claws, two front limbs with more claws and a massive head with a mouthful of teeth. They are armored with scales the color of yellow green pool slime. The men on their backs do not look any better. They are big, unkempt men wearing bits and pieces of old body armor. The three in front carry rocket pistols. The three behind them have long guns. How do we deal with this?

  The three menacing men in front slipped off their Kirgiiiz mounts. The largest man, his face covered with a tangled red beard spoke, “I see you are moving. We’re here to collect the moving tax.”

  Centari replied, “There is no such thing as a moving tax.”

  The big one said, “There is a moving tax if the Patrol says so.”

  After a short pause, he continued, “We have a special tax deal for you. We kill all of you slowly or you give us all your money and weapons, let us rape your women and we allow you to live!”

  Suddenly Light said, “You don’t have to rape me, I love big men. Let’s go to it.”

  Shock ran through everyone including the patrol men. Light pulled off her utility pullover and stood there bare breasted. Next, she kicked off her boots and her utility pants then the last of her under garments. Wearing only socks she walked towa
rd the big man.

  She said, “Let’s go big guy, I don’t want to wait all day.”

  She stepped up to him and put her arm around him and said, “Over in the van we can go at it until I faint.”

  Arm in arm they took ten or twelve steps toward the van. The attention of the other patrol men was fixed on Light’s bare body. She stumbled and he pulled her up. Light kissed the big man on the cheek and drove the razor thin knife into his armpit. The big man coughed up blood and dropped like a rock. Light hit the ground using the body as a shield. Shadow fired and the head of the man on the right exploded. Fidelity shot the man on the left five times in the chest. His armor was not that good. Centari and Ronda took out the center beast with multiple hits.

  As the beast on the right lashed out with its claw tipped tongue, one crewman dashed in from the side and cut its tongue off with an ax. He was slashed in the shoulder by a limb claw, but rolled away. Marsborn stepped in close and emptied his pistol into the beast’s eye, it collapsed. A dozen crew members attacked the beast on the left. They rammed a sharpened five-meter steel beam into its flank. The beast lashed out, two young men at the front of the beam were cut in half. Three more of the crew fell back with serious injuries, but they had driven the beam deep within the beast.

  Someone flipped Light her pistol and she hit one of the patrol men still mounted and took off his left arm. Poor shooting, she thought. Nirabella shot wildly killing no one but wounded the three remaining beasts convincing the remaining two patrol men that a moving tax was not needed. They disappeared in the dust as they rushed their beasts back up the road.

  Light stood up and said, “Perhaps they should have checked my socks instead of ogling my body.”

  Halfway back to the landing field the van was rent with screams. Centari and Ronda screamed as Nirabella cried, “Ping is gone; may the gods forgive me I could not save him.” She put her arms around both young women. The van was filled with sobs until they reached the landing field.

  As the sun set, the lifter landed. In silence, they loaded two bodies in bags and Ping, then assisted the four wounded into the lifter. One of the kids, Mark Bittman, carried Centari and then Ronda aboard, they were beyond walking from the grief of Ping’s death. Nirabella pulled Marsborn on board. There was no future for him on Pangerbar. The lifter took off with all twenty-nine on board.

  Piloting the lifter Tracey asked, “Tougher than you expected?”

  Light answered sarcastically, “Not exactly an autumn day’s stroll.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  – Space Near Pangergar 04-17-518

  Two months later, the Escort Outcast Lady was accelerating at ten gravities matching her speed to the great old liner White Star that she escorted. Like all imperial built ships, the liner was shaped like a striker fish with a pointed nose. Two other escorts Boomer’s Girl and Dark Fire were also matching speed with the great liner. As the four ships approached critical speed Commander Shane Kat Jang commanded, “Give me your final checks for time wave travel.”

  “First Officer Tracey Mills-Watkins reporting all ships systems are stable and fully functional.”

  “Weapons Officer Cici De Santis reporting all weapons locked out and safe for time wave travel.”

  Engineering Officer Baryic Chahill smoothly adjusted the gravity field, and stated, “Time wave engines ready.”

  “Chief Time Wave Navigator Peter Guderian ready!”

  Commander Jang said, “You have control Mister Guderian! Initiate the Time Wave Drive whenever you wish.”

  Peter replied, “Thank you Commander. I have full control and I am initiating TWD on my mark - Now!”

  They felt the minor disorientation as Peter sent the ship into the peak of a wave of compressed time and space.

  “The Outcast Lady is now above light speed.” Peter announced on the com system throughout the ship.

  Nirabella, in an acceleration couch at the edge of the control room, smiled. Cheering rang out throughout the ship. Light, Shadow, and Centari Shamir, in the single missile bay of the small ship, halted checking missile storage and cheered Kat’s announcement. On the mess deck Anna Morgan, Morgan’s daughter, and Rhonda Santacruz stopped storing supplies and raised a toast with cups of hot Gubble brew. In the Engine Room Neil Marsborn and Fidelity paused from monitoring The Time Wave Drive Engine and cheered.

  At that moment, Purple Cat killed a motan by driving her special center claw into the motan’s single eye. C-cats have five claws on each paw. The center claw is not hooked. It is straight and via powerful muscles and special ligaments the claw can be driven forward stabbing prey with deadly force.

  The motan was typical of the species; the overall size was about 10 centimeters across with a round center body and a single eye on top which could be focused in any direction. The legs were arranged in an X shape each one with a razor-sharp claw. The powerful beak on the bottom is surrounded with eight tentacles to feel food and push it into the beak. All this covered in a tough scaled skin which enabled motans to withstand attacks and to even survive the vacuum of space for as much as two standard days.

  Purple Cat started killing rats and motans as soon as the crew took possession of the ship two months ago. The ship was filthy and overrun with rats and motans so the cat’s hunting supply was excellent. As the cleanup and repair of the ship proceeded, hunting became more challenging. However, Purple Cat was still killing one or two vermin a day.

  *********

  A few hours later Tracey and Kat sat at a table in the mess area.

  Kat said, "It’s been a hell of a demanding two months. By the gods, I never thought we could get the Outcast Lady ready."

  Tracey replied, “What a piece of trash she was when we took possession. The gods did not favor us at the auction. "

  "Tracey, it was the only ship we could afford. You were at the auction. We had only the eighty million stars. Both of the Trocnavar -built fast escorts went for more than ninety million stars. We could only afford the last of the escorts and we had to bid almost seventy million to get her." Kat reiterated.

  “Kat, what did we get; an ex-pirate ship, the one that surrendered at the last battle off Pangerbar? She is a League designed and constructed, a fast escort sphere ship. She was built over seventy years ago. The ship was filthy and poorly maintained. It took us three days just to clean out the trash. We spent days in air dock for repairs and more days working on her when docked at the station. The only good thing about her was the Free Space Force had started to install a new navigation computer and a new weapons computer before they decided to sell her. Somehow we got those wired in and operational.” Tracey sighed.

  “Tracey, Outcast Lady is a good ship; all of us together have made her a good ship. The crew, both those from the Lady Delapasse and the ones Nirabella and her team brought back from Pangerbar, are working together effectively. Hell, even Anna Morgan chose to join the crew and run the mess deck.”

  “Kat, you are right, but two points. First, we have a crew of fifty-one including Anna Morgan and six people who joined off the space station. The Outcast Lady was designed to be operated by seventy highly trained crew members. Point two, this is our first contract and it’s to escort one of the most famous ships operating on the Green Line. This voyage is deep along the Line. If White Star is lost, our reputation as an escort is destroyed.”

  “Tracey, if White Star is lost I believe we will all be dead in the effort to defend her!” Kat exclaimed. Kat went off to check on engineering. Tracey sat for a long time thinking about Outcast Lady. She is not a true sphere ship, she thought. Somewhere in the ship’s history someone added an extended mid-section giving her an egg shape. It allows for more fuel and supplies to be carried and that’s good out here on the Green Line. The ship is an egg covered with hatches, antennas, sensors, and control jets. Under the surface is two hundred millimeters of plastio-cement and foam carbon armor. The aft section is the smooth black surface of a Time Wave Drive. The TWD surface is pierced by a circula
r hole at the aft center of the egg. Long tubes project through the hole, the nozzles for the main plasma and dark matter engines. At the center of the bow is the armored iris ten meters in diameter. Under the iris is a clear dome over the Control Center.

  Mounted around the midsection are three rail-gun turrets, placed so that all directions of fire are covered. However, the turrets don’t match each other; two are single guns firing an eight-kilo projectile. The other turret is equipped with twin quick-fire rail-guns shooting four kilo projectiles. Her single missile bay has two drop racks each capable of holding eight medium F2 League or X2 Troc missiles. The pirates did leave fifteen new Troc missiles X2 in the racks.

  Maybe the little war ship is all right? Yes! Tracey told herself, the Outcast Lady is a fine pocket-sized war ship!

  Chapter Twenty

  - In Orbit above the Planet Martha’s Hide 05-15-518.

  Martha’s Hide was very small for an inhabited planet. The space station, an important link in the trade along the Green Line, was capable handling significant trade. However, the surface settlement was too small to provide the supplies and grow the food needed to support the trade. Almost everything was imported.