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The Skymander team lead’s hopes were answered, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to ported, anywhere, as then. We were back on board the Shady Marie in a lot less time than it took for the arach splatter to start to stink—and under the showers shortly after.
Doc insisted we use the ones in med bay to make sure we hadn’t picked up anything while on the arach ship, and Tens brought us both a change of combat armor and under garments.
“Skymander requests your presence at your earliest convenience,” he told us, and I guess Mack interpreted that the same way I did, because we were both in the control center, five minutes later.
Skymander was pleased.
“I have awarded bonuses for completion,” he said, “...or I will, as soon as you hand over the files and serum you promised. My shuttle will arrive shortly.
It arrived as he spoke, and Tens supervised its docking, having one of Mack’s security teams escort Doc and the serum to meet the Skymander envoy in the shuttle bay.
“You are welcome aboard,” Doc told him, as Mack and I watched the meeting on a secondary screen. Skymander waited patiently on the main screen, although I was certain he, too, watched the exchange, right down to when his men verified the serum for what it was.
“Thank you, but we are under orders to return in time shortest,” the envoy said, and Doc stepped back.
“If that is all?”
“Thank you, Doctor,” and the envoy wheeled about and returned to the shuttle.
Doc and the security team retreated to the observation deck, and watched as the shuttle left.
“Thank you,” Skymander said. “The files have arrived, and are confirmed complete.”
“We have no need of them,” Mack said.
“Please go over the final contract and invoice,” Skymander said. “There are some points of negotiation, and I am available for the next half day standard.”
“Thank you,” Mack said. “I will be in touch to render approval or negotiate as required.”
Skymander inclined his head, and cut the call. Mack breathed a big sigh of relief, and then looked around at the control center.
“You are dismissed,” he said. “There will be a meal in the caf, and we’ll debrief once I’ve finalized the contract.”
I left with Tens and Case, but we went our separate ways once we hit the corridor. For a moment, I felt at a loose end, but I headed for the caf, and food, figuring it might be a good idea to eat. After that?
After that, I didn’t know. Returning to my cabin had no appeal, so I figured I’d hit the rec room or gym. Maybe in that order, given I’d have a bellyful of food. It seemed like forever since I’d had any time of my own to kill.
“Don’t get used to it, Cutter.”
Yeah, whatever, Mack.
As it turned out, I’d just hit the rec room, when Mack called us back. He’d finalized the contract with Skymander, and was ready to debrief. That took a goodly part of the afternoon, but it was worth it.
After we’d gone over the mission details, Mack sent us the details of what we’d earned.
“Go over them before you hit your racks. Any disagreements, come and see me, soonest. We’ll sort them out.”
I nodded, pretty much lost for words. The numbers scrolling through my implant were... They were far more than I’d expected.
I turned the figures over in my head, as I headed back to the cabin, and then I verified them on the computer. It was no surprise to find an Odyssey invoice waiting in my in-box. Delight didn’t let any grass grow under her feet. The mission was over, and I had the option of knocking down some of the debt, provided I paid it off in the next four hours.
When I compared what I’d been credited against what I owed, I could have cried. Between the payments from Skymander, the bonus from the Hazernas, Odyssey’s multiple bonuses for contract completion, retrieving Delight, assisting Pritchard, and its compensation for injury, amongst other things, I had enough to pay out every single cent of the Odyssey debt, including the extra penalties I’d incurred.
The only thing was, that once I did, I’d have nothing left. My solvency would consist solely of what I had in my locker and on my back. On top of that, if I paid Odyssey out, I’d have nowhere to stay, no work, and no way of finding any. I pushed myself away from the desk, and Delight’s impatient email.
I didn’t want to answer it. I knew the deadline loomed, but I didn’t want to just pay a portion of it—and I couldn’t pay it all. Once I started the next round of training, I’d been in debt, again, and who knew how long it would take to put the credit together to pay that out? The last spate of missions we’d had, they had to be an aberration, right?
I mean, that’s not a tempo any company can hope to keep pace with, right? Too much wear and tear on its agents. Too much of a drain on equipment and resources, not to mention that every single mission seemed to unearth yet another problem. The last few weeks had been like playing with a many-headed hydra full of trouble. Wasn’t hard to figure out that that couldn’t last. Knowing my luck, I’d be stuck in a quiet patch after this, and the debt would return to the monumental heights it had reached before.
I wasn’t ever getting out from under. It made me want to weep. To be so close to freedom, and yet so very, very far away. I didn’t want to pass up the chance, but I didn’t want to... I don’t know. I mean, what would Mack do, anyway? It wasn’t like he’d toss me out the nearest airlock. Cold-blooded murder wasn’t quite his style.
And therein lay the dilemma. I didn’t want to owe Mack—not in the same way I owed Odyssey. I wanted to choose my own path. I wanted... I sighed. I couldn’t win, either way, and I was just going to have to knuckle under, and do as Odyssey bid. It wasn’t like I could hold them off until I got to the next port. Delight’s email was very explicit regarding when the payment was due, and when the next payment could be made.
I sighed, again.
I could always run again. Sure, I’d be a lot poorer, but at least it was within reach.
“You’d be a lot deader, too.” Mack’s voice rolled over me, and I jolted out of my seat and two steps away from it before I got a hold of myself.
He was leaning on the doorframe to my cabin, having opened the door without me noticing. I just stood and stared at him. I mean, what the fuck was there to say?
“You could try asking me for a job,” he suggested. “Pay and conditions are reasonable.”
“I didn’t think... I didn’t...”
“Truth is, you’re so used to help not being there, you just don’t bother to ask, anymore.”
He was almost right.
Truth was I was so used to not having help, to having to do everything on my own, that any assistance, no matter how well intended completely overwhelmed me, and I never knew what to do with any help I got—or the appropriate way to say thanks.
“That’s really sad, Cutter.”
“Shut up, Tens.” Mack and I formed a chorus, but Tens was not subdued.
“You make a lovely couple, by the way.”
This time I let Mack answer.
“Don’t make me come up there.”
Tens snickered, but the comms went silent, and Mack turned back to me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure that was any better.
“Well?” Mack said, and I did what I did best.
“So, do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Have any vacancies on crew?”
Mack looked at me, and then smirked.
“I have a great position in Bio,” he said. “The recycling tanks need constant cleaning.”
It wasn’t exactly the offer I was expecting, and I stared. The smirk faded from Mack’s face.
“That was a joke, Cutter. I always have vacancies for folk like you.”
“Like me?”
And the smirk came back.
“Shit-for-brains troublemakers.”
“Well, if you put it like that...” I said, and couldn’t help asking, “Is there a contract?”
“Do you want one?”
I didn’t know, so I didn’t answer, but Mack waved me towards the computer.
“Give Odyssey their money, before your time runs out. Chance like this doesn’t come along very often.”
“But I won’t be able to pay you,” I whispered, and he scowled.
“Pay me for what?”
“For the room, ammunition... you know.”
“I pay for what we use on missions,” Mack said. “That way I have veto rights on what you can take along.”
Oh. Well, that made sense. Mack made most control freaks look easy going.
“Hey!”
“And accommodation?”
“It’s part of the running cost of this kind of ship,” he said. “I pick my personnel, house them, transport them, and feed them. It’s part of the price of making sure they’re available when I need them to be.”
“What if they want leave?”
“They ask,” Mack said. “If I can afford to spare them, they get a break.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, Cutter. Just like that. I’m not as much of a control freak as I seem.”
“What if they don’t come back?”
“Then I retrieve them.”
So much for him not being a control freak.
“Even if they don’t want to return?”
“In that case, I leave them until I can’t do without them.”
“But you’ll still go find them.”
“Yes, Cutter, each and every time.”
