XANDER BRINDLE
After what had happened to their compy the last time they visited here, Xander was much more wary when the Verne returned to Ulio Station. Previously, he and Terry had traveled around the Spiral Arm, happy-go-lucky, enjoying the places they visited. Danger was only theoretical.
But when Aaron Duquesne and his bully companions battered poor OK, the experience threw a bucket of cold water in Xander’s face. He had heard plenty of stories about the Elemental War, and he knew about the Shana Rei, so he was fully aware that the Spiral Arm was a dangerous place. But Xander had never believed anything could happen to him.
Naïve and stupid!
Now, he and Terry were on guard, suspicious. It felt like a loss of innocence. Terry still had many friends at the station from when he had worked for old Maria Ulio, but it was a rough-and-tumble place that attracted certain unsavory elements.
As they snagged a docking spot for the Verne on Ulio’s third outer ring, OK was the only one perfectly cheery. He looked polished and new, all damage repaired, programming restored. “I’ve logged our arrival with the Central Offices. According to station records, Elisa Enturi arrived seven hours ago with a full array of ekti-X, more than she has ever had us distribute before. I calculate this run should be highly profitable for us.”
Terry found that odd. “She doesn’t usually deliver the fuel directly here.”
Xander said, “Maybe she’s flaunting Iswander’s production?”
“I would rather she didn’t provoke anyone.” Terry pulled himself over to the Verne’s weapons locker and removed a stun pistol for himself and one for Xander. “Better take these. Just in case.”
Xander never would have considered such precautions only a few weeks ago. “Just in case.”
The compy remained cheery. “I am glad to help us out in any way possible. I hope my services will be satisfactory.”
“I know they will.” Xander bent down in front of him. Rlinda Kett’s compy technicians had also added mission parameters for a special job the two young men wanted OK to do. “You understand that this is an independent mission. You’ll have to take care of it by yourself, solve any problems that might arise. This is very important to us.”
The compy’s optical sensors brightened. “Yes, and it is also important to Tasia Tamblyn and Robb Brindle. Our future business model and understanding of ekti-X operations relies upon my mission.” He seemed proud. “A trading company has the right to know what it ships.”
“Yes, it does. We’re counting on you.”
Terry applied an Ulio Station decal to OK’s polymer shoulder, then attached a standard station-maintenance kit. “There, now you look like a Maintenance-model compy. I used to work with dozens of compies just like you, and this will make you unobtrusive. Be a spy for us and go where we need you to go. If you look like you know what you’re doing, nobody’ll ask questions.”
OK said, “I do know what I’m doing. I have new programming.”
Xander opened the typical repair kit, pulled out a small, unmarked hemispherical device. “Rlinda Kett used this in her old blockade-runner days. It’s a special undetectable tracker. If you install it properly on Elisa’s ship, it’ll record everywhere she goes and give us assurance that the ekti-X operations are legit.”
“I will not let you down,” OK said.
Exiting the Verne, the compy headed off in one direction while Xander and Terry went in the other. Xander wore a traditional Roamer jumpsuit with Tamblyn clan markings on the breast and sleeve, along with Kett Shipping insignia. Terry chose more casual clothes and an old jacket he had kept from Ulio Station. They looked comfortable and at-ease, but they kept their stunners handy. They stayed in low- or no-gravity areas, so Terry needed no extra help to move about.
Xander looked at his comm, scrolled down to a new message he had just received. “Looks like Elisa is waiting for us in the star balcony lounge.”
Terry sighed. “I don’t know why she always wants to meet us there, since she never drinks. I read about a new crepe restaurant featuring fruits from seventeen different planets. That would have been more interesting.”
“We’ll do that afterward to celebrate—if OK does what he’s supposed to. A meal of exotic fruit crepes sounds like a good way to end the day.”
Terry nodded, resigned. “I suppose it would be a waste to have a nice lunch with Elisa Enturi. She’s always in a hurry.”
“She’s always Elisa,” said Xander. He, for one, was glad the woman didn’t spend hours in casual conversation before coming to the point. With her, each interaction was all business—mercifully so. Elisa just wanted to finalize the ekti-X transaction, verify the accounts, and return to her duties.
Inside the star balcony, Elisa Enturi sat at a table by herself, staring out at the ships swarming around the station. She was an attractive woman sitting alone in a spaceport bar filled with lonely traders, but no one ventured close to the ice barrier she kept up.
Wearing his usual grin, Xander signaled a serving compy and placed a drink order. Elisa already had a cup of coffee, which was sufficient for her. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she said.
Terry looked at his chronometer. “We’re right on time.”
“I arrived early.” She seemed to think they should have known that.
Xander ignored the comment. “We saw that giant array you delivered. It’s the largest load you’ve ever brought. We’re going to have to store a lot of it here before we can arrange for distribution, even if we bring in another ship or two.”
“It’s not all for you. Special circumstances. I signed a contract with Darwin Felliwell,” Elisa said, naming Ulio’s current station manager. “Seventy percent of the array canisters are earmarked to be used as a strategic stockpile for station operations. Iswander Industries has surplus production, and we felt this was a wise diversification. The other thirty percent of the ekti-X is my usual delivery to Kett Shipping. You have not been shorted.”
Xander didn’t like the idea of Elisa selling stardrive fuel to other customers, whether or not it was a strategic stockpile.
When the serving compy brought their drinks—two new and oddly named frothy concoctions that sounded interesting on the menu—Xander said, “We hope you’re not looking for other distributors. We’ve been very successful working with you, and this is a beneficial arrangement for both parties, but our boss does have some concerns.”
Terry took a sip of the strange new drink, approved. “Your secrecy, not to mention the sheer productivity, has been raising a lot of questions.”
“Let them ask questions,” Elisa said. “It’s our business, not theirs.”
“Some of them think it is their business,” Terry said. “All that stardrive fuel is affecting the ekti market for the Roamer clans.”
“And the mood is getting hostile out there,” Xander said. “On our last trip here we were assaulted in a back corridor by members of clan Duquesne who demanded to know about Iswander operations. They damaged our compy.”
Elisa was unsympathetic. “Then get another compy. Learn how to take care of yourselves and defend your profits. It’s only common sense.”
“We’re your business partners,” Xander said. “And that makes us your accomplices if you’re doing something illegal to produce the stardrive fuel. How do we know there’s nothing to worry about?”
“You don’t. And you have no need to know anything at all about our production methods.”
Terry frowned. “That’s not exactly reassuring.”
“You shouldn’t need reassurance.” As she sipped her coffee, Elisa looked not quite past Xander, but through him, to the observation window where a large passenger ship could be seen docking at an inner ring on the other side of the star balcony. “I deliver the ekti, you distribute it. You make profits, we make profits. There’s no need for you to be involved any further than that.”
Xander said, realizing that his voice had taken on an annoying tone, “Can’t you give us at least a general idea? Do you get the ekti from skymining on a gas giant? Or nebula skimming? Or—”
She cut him off abruptly. “Proprietary information. And I can always find an alternative distributor if you keep pressing.” Elisa finished her coffee. “We’re done here. I need to be going.”
After she left, both of them looked disturbed. “Miss Congeniality,” Xander said.
“She’s definitely hiding something,” Terry said. “I was uneasy about spying on her, even if it was just to dispel our concerns, but now…”
“If OK placed the tracker, we’ll know in a month or two, after we retrieve the data. She has to head back to their ekti operations at some point, and the tracker will record her movements. We just have to wait.” He grinned and placed a hand on his partner’s forearm. “Right now, we have time for that crepe lunch.”
* * *
Later, fully satisfied with their delicious meal, although somewhat disappointed that they had been able to taste only eight of the excellent selections, they returned to the Verne and found OK waiting there. The little compy seemed pleased that he had accomplished his covert mission of placing the tracker on Elisa’s ship.
He also had intriguing information for them. “The Verne received a message from an unknown sender. Terry Handon was tagged with very specific identification codes. The sender knew to locate you here on this ship.”
“Probably somebody trying to sell you something,” Xander teased.
As Terry read the message, his brow furrowed. “Sounds like someone from my old days here at Ulio Station.” He looked at the embedded images—old and obscure photos of himself when he was younger. Xander was amused to see his partner at a much younger age. “It is a little creepy that somebody has those.”
“It’s a set of coordinates.” Terry displayed the destination. “We’re supposed to go to this point … but it’s between star systems. Why would anyone want us out there?” He shook his head. “It says this is urgent.”
Xander knew there wouldn’t be much discussion. “Then we have to go.”