13 Degrees of Separation (10 page)

Once the holds were cleared of structural components
Vanessa champed at the bit to get back to Epsilon. The Captain however reined
her in. Instead she let Faith and her crew do their thing.

Faith set up an inflatable hab with the scaffolding, then
they start putting the frame together. It was a Liberty ship, a simple light
freighter the admiral recommended as a first project. They tapped the stashed
gear in the system to expand on the project. They also hit the system for raw
material.

The ship's vast industrial replicators were kept fed,
drawing on the raw materials from the small asteroids the shuttle pilots towed
in. Vanessa grumbled about the fuel use until Hibiki towed in a twenty ton
Carbon Chloride asteroid. Vanessa wasn't quite mollified by it, but she at
least stopped complaining.

For their part Hibiki and Dorah were kept busy shuttling
people and components around. Dorah still found time to cuddle and steal an
occasional kiss of course.

“All right all right, I'm getting there! Geesh!” Dorah
grumbled when impatient techs called for her to move faster. “You obviously
don't understand piloting, you don't go too fast. The admiral said if you do
you have to brake as much and we can't waste the fuel. And if I use my
wedge...”

“No!” Faith said.

“See?" Dorah said, for once sounding smug. "Told
you so.”

<===^===>

Over two long hard weeks the EVA and engineering crews
built the basic structure. They had focused on the critical skeleton of the
ship, and Taki the cargo master had carefully packed every hold and cubby space
with the heavy metal components before it had all been unloaded. Now they took
in marked pallets at a time into two of their cargo holds. They built sections
in the cargo holds of the Io 11, then moved the pieces out for final assembly
with the growing ship.

The admiral had taught them that trick, though it took a
bit of time to get it right. The boat bays had to be kept clear for the traffic
that moved in and out of them every half hour or so.

It was a five hundred meter long ship, with holds along the
flanks. Nacelles stuck out along the rear flanks. Four sublight engines were
clustered in the rear. They each used coil guns instead of gravity emitters.
The linear actuators were much easier to make and repair over the gravity
emitters, though they used up a lot more space and mass... and weren't nearly
as energy efficient. The trade off was worth it in the eyes of the engineering
department, after all, they could make the coils, they couldn't make the gravity
emitters.

It took them several weeks to finish the basic structure.
They finished the basics of the holds easily, as well as the habitats, but then
ran into a logistical wall. They lacked a fusion reactor, hyperdrive, and other
vital components. It did however have hull components stored in pallets in her
own hull. There was no point installing them until the critical engineering
components were installed after all.

<===^===>

Finished with what they had on hand, they reluctantly
powered down the scaffolding and hab.

Faith's crew tacked and wired rocks to the entire thing to
hide what it was. By the time they were done the engineers complained it was
ugly, amusing the crew.

“So, that's it? We just pack up and leave?” Vanessa asked.
“No more?”

“For now,” Faith said. She had pushed her people hard to
get the job done as quickly as they had. All were in need of a rest. They
hadn't worked that hard since the admiral had been on board.

“What about security?”

“We can leave a bot,” Io said.

“I'm talking about people. Shouldn't we leave a crew
behind?”

“And do what?” The chief engineer asked. “They could keep
working on it if we left them a reactor, replicator, some life support and
materials. But for what? Right now it's a space station. A platform. We need
more gear. We'll have to trade for some of it.”

“I see.”

“But still, if someone comes buy and steals it...”

“Then they'll get a shell and will have a hell of a time
hauling it off,” Faith said, shaking her head. “Some gear yes. But if we left
people behind they would be in the line of fire.”

“True,” Emily said, shaking her head. “No,” she said
slowly. “We're not leaving people behind. Are we gram?” she asked, turning to
the Captain.

“No,” the Captain said, crossing her arms in front of her.
“I know it's a risk. But there's no telling what the future may hold,” she
said. The Captain put the idea to rest. “If they stay they'd be stuck if
anything happened to us. No. Besides, if they were there they'd need power and
life support, a sure give away to anyone passing through the system.”

The Captain was ready to move on. She wanted to go to
Avalon but Vanessa talked her into doubling back to Epsilon. “It has factories
there, the planet may have something we can pick up and use. Besides, I'd
rather the crew have shore leave in that system than in Avalon.”

“Besides Captain, Epsilon has a better asteroid field. We
can stuff our holds again and make more parts.”

“Ah.”

“And then back to B448c?”

“Why not?”

“You can't finish the ship! All this time! Materials,
energy, all wasted!”

“It's not wasted!” Jenny replied hotly. “We just haven't
finished. We need time and parts. If we had the admiral here...”

“Well he's not here!”

“Well, let's see what's in Epsilon first,” the Captain
said. “Who knows, we might find something there we can use. Stranger things
have been known to happen.”

The end

Senka system, two years
after the events in Fool's gold.

...*...*...*...*...

Sixteen year old Mairi Jersey swore again
as she picked at the controls. It wasn't prudent to take one's ire out on your
own ship, as bad things happened then. But she didn't know how to vent other
than turning the air blue. A quick glance at the heater in subconscious reflex
as that thought hit her. Nope, just fine, 18 degrees Celsius. She ran a dirty
hand through the blue hair under her hand knitted cap before resetting it on
her closely buzz cut head. She was a spacer born and bred; spacers had no need
of hair. Hair just got in the way; she just wished she was bald at times like
this. Of course there was always the option of letting it grow out like her
mother's so she could sell it, but that was a pittance.

She was also a bitter asteroid miner she
thought with a disgusted sigh. Here she was, out and about picking up salvage.
She should be happy she realized, but the unfairness of the universe still
bothered her. There really was no justice, even though she'd turned it to some
of her advantage. Maybe. If she got back alive that was.

A few months ago a ship passing through
had brought news. Momentous news. News that affected their home system even
though they hadn't known the full story four years ago. They all knew about the
pirates, thankfully they rarely stayed long these days. Stories of the pirates
passing through her system tended to annoy, but at least they were just passing
through now, not using the few and far between habitats as target practice
anymore. Word of Irons and how he'd been picked up in their system angered her
however.

He should have been their find, their sale
to another group, or used to help benefit them! But no, some damn freighter
jockey had literally stumbled onto his pod while being chased by pirates! Pure
dumb luck! Sometimes she cursed the spirits for such things. Why should others
get so lucky when people like her who desperately needed the luck had none?

Her mother had pointed out that Irons had
been here all along and no one had found him. That wasn't her point she'd
fumed. Trust her mother to see both sides of the situation. And her mother had
been right, Irons was out of the system anyway. It wasn't like he'd return, not
to a death trap of a system like this one.

Now she fumed again, sifting through the
wreckage. She'd found some choice bits, stuff she'd packed onto her hull or
marked for later retrieval. Digs... damn him, she had to be careful, and he too
had gotten wind of where Irons had been picked up. She checked the long range.
He'd tagged her on her way out, she was sure of it. She couldn't go all evasive
either; she'd had just enough juice and life support for a straight shot out.
She couldn't linger long either, not unless she wanted to become a part of the
funeral cloud.

Uncle Edgar had provided some of the data,
for his usual fee of course. She curled her lip in disgust. The man had no
respect for family. None at all. Even when he had her work at the bar to pay
her mother's tab, he still didn't cut her a break. He'd even charge her
interest if the debt ran overlong. At least she had the data though. The course
data from both ships.

Edgar hadn't twigged onto what she was
doing, or at least hadn't said anything out loud. He'd just watched her work on
the problem on an old tablet. She was good with math, good with navigation.
What she'd been after was what she'd thought off after she'd heard the story
about Irons and gotten over her initial resentment. If Irons had been picked
up... then maybe there was something else out there. Another survivor perhaps?

She'd triangulated the debris cloud from
the path of the two ships, the unknown pirate and the so called Io 11. By back
tracking along their course she'd found the wreckage strewn across millions of
kilometers in a glob emanating from a central point. Indeed some of that same
wreckage had already passed through the system or had been picked up over the
centuries. But apparently not all of it. She was eager to get her fair share.

Digs was a slike, a slime ball grifter who
tended to have wandering hands and a total lack of appreciation for proper
hygiene. He liked to drift between the small asteroid and moon colonies in the
system. There couldn't be more than a thousand people left in the system and of
course he had to be one of them. She still couldn't believe how low he'd sunk,
hitting on her of all people! He was also shifty, and it wouldn't be surprising
if he had followed her. She regretted the slip she'd made talking to Uncle
Edgar. She'd wished she'd had the foresight to do it away from the bar. In
hindsight that might have been her undoing.

Senka had a small population, growing
smaller every year. Many had died by the pirates, others died when the air or
power ran out. Trying to survive with what was left was next to impossible but
somehow they did it. Without a planet, without a formal space station...
somehow they still did it, still lived. It would be a testimony to people and
how stubborn they could be if it didn't make her want to cry.

She was tired of Senka, tired of
scratching a living out of the rock, trying to survive, watching the air bottle
run out, worried about the heater freezing up, the constant threat of radiation...
a retro misfiring... to others it was part and parcel of their life, but not
her. No, not her. She wanted out. She wanted to strike it rich and get her mom
out of this wretched system. Go somewhere it was safer, where there were more
people. She was spacer born and bred so she would prefer somewhere like Pyrax.
She'd heard about New Dublin and wanted no part of that mess. Hell no! No way.
She wanted a guy to maybe settle down with, but not some slave master. Screw
that.

No, she wanted more and she'd damn well
get more or die trying. Already she'd picked up enough bits to pay for this
trip and her next two refuelling's as well as enough O2 for both her and her
mother for the next solar year.

She rubbed her brow gently, aware her skin
was dry. The air was too dry; there was too little water in it, a problem in
this ship. She had to keep it dry; too much humidity affected the electronics.
But that wasn't the problem on her mind right now. She licked her chapped lips
and then took a sip of water from the tube rigged by her head.

She had to do something about her mother's
gambling habit, it was just too much to support. Mom kept promising she'd stop
upon each return to port town she'd found creditors waiting for her in the dock
and mom looking all sad and puppy eyed.

Twice she'd thought she'd made it. Made
enough to buy passage out of here, only to find mom had lost it all and she had
to pay her mother's debtors off... which of course sucked her dry. Twice. Her
mother was apologetic for days afterward. She'd resent it but she knew her
mother just couldn't help it. She had to bet on what she thought was a
"sure thing."

It was getting to the point where she was
afraid of leaving. But she had to, she had to survive. They didn't make enough
in port town to support the both of them! And of course her mother fretted when
she was gone, gambling helped ease that apparently, but damn it all! Why did
she have to throw good credits down the refresher like that!

Burning lava like resentment cut through
her once more before she sighed, forcing herself to relax and put it aside. No,
she'd gotten Felix’s word that he wouldn't take her mother's money, he'd turn
her away. She'd even paid him to do it. Hopefully he'd hold up his end.

He'd better, she thought in disgust as she
checked the readings. She had to be careful; the EPS conduits she'd already
salvaged were going to make balancing the bitch a pain in the ass. The life
support parts strapped to her undercarriage were great but the conduits were
where the credits really were. Life support parts could be made or remade given
the right materials and time. Conduits couldn't.

Whoever had named her battered elderly tug
the Tin Plated Bitch had one hell of a sense of humor she thought wryly,
twisting her lips as she studied the read outs. Seven hundred plus years old
and still going strong, she thought, stroking the taped arm rest.

A few minutes later she arrived at the
next find. A jumble of wreckage a meter long tumbled in space, wiring snaking
out and jiggling like Medusa's tentacles. No, not worth it. One really good
scare with one of those cables was enough for a life time.

She didn't need to get trapped again. Next
time she may not be so lucky. She stared at the screen and then tapped at
another piece further off. She shivered a little but kept it under control.
There was no need to get all freaky, it had been a brief scare and she'd gotten
through it relatively unscathed. She hated the suit but it sure was a life
saver she thought, rubbing the faded orange left bicep armor.

She was still in her hard suit, though she
hated the thing, but getting in and out of it was too much of a pain in the
closed confines of the tug's claustrophobic cabin. Her helmet and gloves were
racked nearby. She looked up to the controls and flipped a switch. When the red
light on the pump stayed lit she swore and tapped at it a few times until it
went out. She watched it suspiciously for several minutes, making sure the fuel
was moving from one tank to the other as she'd intended. She needed to keep the
bitch's balance just right or she'd fly off course when she did her main burn.

She'd also worn the suit just in case
she'd have to pump the cabin down and run on her suit to get to port. She'd had
to do that twice and it had been a terrifying experience. One she vehemently
didn't want to repeat. Not now or ever again.

From the look of things she'd be okay. If
she could find at least one more tidbit and bring it home.

Uncle Edgar had told her how a ship
normally died. She'd carefully listened and even took notes when he'd explained
it. When a ship died it died in one of three ways. The first, it was chewed up
but her reactors scrammed before they blew and she was a derelict in space,
adrift and salvageable.

The second, she broke in half, or in
several pieces, each tumbling off into space. That hadn't happened here either.
The third, the reactors were hit, or a nuke got past the armor and tore her up
from the inside out.

Most of her innards were toast, free
floating atoms and bits that had pushed other bits out during the rather
exciting explosion. The armor had briefly contained some of the damage, but it
was designed to protect stuff from coming in, not out.

Sometimes bits spewed from ports, hatches,
and other places before they were chewed up by the nuclear fireball and
consumed. Sometimes this wreckage was pushed out, past the dead ship and into
space. And in a one and a million shot, some of that wreckage bore fruit.

Like this one, she thought, smiling as she
expertly picked her way through the floating bits of rubbish to another find.
It was a piece of a shuttle bay she recognized, maybe... she used a waldo to
catch it and then turn it to inspect. She reared back; a body was melted into
it. She bit her lip and let it go, letting it drift once more.

"May you rest until the spirits bring
back our dead," she said softly, turning once more.

She wasn't like Digs or Halfcock, she
didn't bring in things like that. Not to the recyclers who broke them down to
use in the food. No, they'd suffered enough.

She turned, looking onward and sighed.

After a long moment she glanced at the
clock. She had another... hour and ten minutes before her window to return home
closed. Just enough time... she scanned the area once more. She picked out the
nearest return and hit the retro's to investigate it.

She was glad she did a half hour later.
Strapped to her remaining flank was the bow of a military shuttle. She grinned
at the find. Sure it was milspec, she wasn't sure if the electronics were
salvageable, probably not, they might blow. But the rest of it was great.

And even if it wasn't useable she could
always sell it to the recyclers who'd melt it down for scrap. She'd found the
right bit to make a tidy little of profit out of this venture after all.

She cracked her knuckles and set course
for home, complacent.

...*...*...*...*...

As she passed a rock something latched
onto her. Her little tug pitched over, spinning. Klaxons wailed. She was
shocked to see another waldo in front of her cockpit glass, tearing at her
little tug. "What the hell?" she demanded, trying to regain control.
This was way beyond a prank. This was a serious assault!

"Didn't
anyone teach you to
share
bitch?" Digs growled, cutting at her
lashings.

"Why you bastard! I never thought
you'd turn jack!" she snarled, trying to fight Digs off. He caught her one
freed waldo and held it. They drifted closer. She could see him in his cockpit.
He smiled his greasy smile and touched the boom mike in front of his mouth.

"Now now, don't be rude. There is
more than enough here for the both of us."

"Bullshit! You know I found it fair
and square! Go get your own!" she snarled, struggling.

He tss tss'd her mockingly and kept the
tug pinned. "Stalemate. And from the looks of it, you've used up a lot of
your juice finding all those nice bits."