13 Degrees of Separation (27 page)

“Um...” Mairi wasn't sure that was possible. She didn't
have a good handle on coding though. “Wait, admiral's AI?” She was starting to
get that dazed feeling, when she'd read too much or too many things had
happened all at once.

“Commander Sprite,” Savo said and then picked up his beer
for a swig. He set it down on the bar napkin. “Coder, adjunct, friend. Nice
gal.”

“You'd know, you had more contact with John than most of
us, Me and Ralphi included,” Alice said smiling.

“True. Though John was nice enough to not kick my ass
too
hard on the mat,” he said, leaning forward to rub the small of his back. “No
broken bones so I'm pretty sure he took it easy on me, which I appreciate. Not
that I did on him. Or at least tried not to.”

“Um...”

“Martial arts master,” Savo said, wiggling his fingers at
her. “I'm sort of the security for the company right now.”

“Oh.” Mairi snorted. “Cool. I want to learn,” she said.

“Cool,” Savo replied with a small smile. “Good attitude,”
he said looking to Alice. He got a small nod in response. She obviously
approved too.

“This tug, does it need repair?” Clio asked.

“Not much,” Mairi responded with a shrug. “Her port RCS is
still kicking but I know about it. Thrust is a bit sluggish, I wanted to do a
full tear down but we just don't have the materials or parts in Senka. Besides
MM showed up and I wanted out of there.”

“Ah.” Clio nodded. She threw a few piloting and
navigational questions at the girl. When Mairi realized it was a test she
snorted but answered each promptly. She even took a napkin and pulled a stylus
out of her pocket to diagram how to do a turn in burn with the least amount of
fuel.

“Can I access your ship's computer?” Clio asked.

“What? Sure. But I've got to get her out of the MM to do
that.”

“Not necessarily,” Clio answered, suddenly sounding
distracted as she looked up and to the side. “Accessing. MM firewall... access
granted. Tin Plated Bitch access...” she turned with a frown to Mairi. “Code?”

“You got in?” Mairi asked, staring again.

“Yes. Access Code?”

“Um... she looked around and then sighed. She rattled off
an eighteen digit code. She could and would change it later she vowed.

Clio cocked her head in amusement. “An eighteen digit alpha
numeric code? Unusual for an organic to use,” she said.

“I'm good with numbers,” Mairi admitted looking down.

“I see that. And yes, she's good. I've gained access to her
black box and logs, she's legit. I'm surprised, her computer is very clean, no
viruses. Very,
very
good for her age. For any age really. I think only a
pilot with implants could do better,” Clio said. “Though I am not much of a
judge as far as piloting skills,” she admitted.

“True. We can swing implants later,” Savo said.

“Implants?” Mairi asked, eying the chimp.

He smiled a tight lipped smile. “Several of our members are
medics. Each of us have basic ident implants. A few like me have more...
classified implants. Nothing Major but...” he shrugged.

“Implants,” Mairi said, sounding dazed.

“Here dear,” Alice said handing her a glass from the tray.
The girl took it and drank. “Better?”

“Yeah,” the girl responded. “Um...”

“We're offering you a job. We'll work out the details
later. The question now is, are you willing to take it?” Taylor Warner asked.
He was on the fence about the girl, but they had to take chances. They had to
take risks if they were going to break this blockade and succeed.

“What are you asking me to do? I mean other than pilot,”
Mairi responded setting the glass down. Alice noted a customer waving and she
got up and reluctantly left.

“Piloting primarily. Your tug to begin with, though we may
ask you to pilot other ships later. Right now we need you to gather materials
for our manufacturing needs and transport crews, supplies, and equipment to and
from any construction sites,” Clio answered. “I've got a contract drawn up. You
can review it later if you wish. I strongly advise you to do so.”

“Okay,” Mairi replied.

“I've sent it to your room,” Clio said. Mairi nodded, not
at all surprised that the AI could do that without her even saying where she
lived.

“Kid, we're going to do our best to first repair, and then
later build ships. Are you in or out?” Savo asked.

Mairi searched her feeling for a brief moment. Finally she
nodded. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to go. “Yeah. Sure. I'm in,” she
said firmly.

“Good,” Howie said, slapping her on the shoulder. She
winced. “I knew you were a good kid the first time I laid eyes on you!” the
other chimp said, chuffing. The others snorted or smiled.

“What about the bitch? I need a docking space. They won't
even let me dock to an airlock,” Mairi said, aggrieved. “MM leaves in 2 days.”

“We've got that covered,” Savo said getting up. He made a
show of stretching.

“You do?” She asked as the others got up as well. She
scooted off the bench seat to let them get out.

“Sure,” Taylor said, smiling. “We've got our own berthing slip.
For the time being anyway,” he said and then disappeared. His wife and Clio did
as well.

Mairi turned in surprise to the chimps and Terrans. The
laughed at her expression of surprise. “Come on, we'll show you.

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

Savo, Howie, and Shari took her to their Berth. It was
nearby, only three decks down and near the outer docking ring. Savo logged them
in and then walked them through the control room and various support and
maintenance rooms to the main berth. “It's not much but it's home,” Savo
explained to her. “At least for now.” Turn lights on with dramatic flair. It
was a massive room, easily big enough to fit five, no six bitches inside with
room to spare. Mairi nodded silently and poked around a bit and then nodded
again, turning to the silently watching group.

“We've got clear access there,” Howie said, pointing to the
doors. “And we've got a warehouse of stuff. All kinds of tools and stuff.”

“Which he's just aching to get his grubby paws on to play
with,” Shari said and laughed at Howie's expression. After a moment Howie
grinned in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck.

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

They separated outside in the corridor when they left the
berth a short time later. Savo turned, making sure the hatch locked securely
behind them. Mairi was told to report to the MM the next shift for the
transfer. She nodded quietly and left to find her mother and to find out what
trouble she'd gotten herself into in Mairi's absence. When she was gone Savo
turned to the others. “Any thoughts?”

“Nice kid. Blue hair though...” Howie mocked, shaking his
head and picturing himself or Shari with that look. He shivered.

“And red eyes. I'm not sure if she's about to cry or go all
psycho or something,” Shari said.

“Superficial nonsense. Any feel for her?”

Howie spread his hands apart, shaking his head. “Hey man, I
don't do humans. No way, no how. I ain't coppin no feel. Shari here would break
my hands if I did.”

Shari smiled. “He's right I would. But I think in this
instance Savo meant feel for her personality. Do you feel like she's holding
back? A spy?”

“Nah, I saw her and her what mom? Damn young to be her
mom!” Howie said shaking his head. “I saw them leave that freighter with my own
eyes. Their legit. I don't feel anything for her. She's a bit of a tight ass,
but we'll see.”

“Stiff. I don't think she's used to being around people.”

“Well, long hours in a cockpit wrangle rocks would do
that,” Shari observed. The others slowly nodded.

“We'll see how good she really is when we have her move her
tug,” Savo said and then yawned. “I'm going to get some chow and then hit the
sack. What about you two?” he asked.

“I'm all for that,” Howie readily agreed. “Been a long ass
day. Coming?” he asked, holding a hand out to Shari. She snorted and took his
hand and together they left.

Chapter
3

The next shift Mairi reported to the MM. She smiled
politely to the crew as she was escorted to the cargo bay. The bitch was there,
ready. She smirked as she typed in her access code, when the light turned green
she climbed in and pulled her hard suit out of the lock. It only took a minute
to shuck her coverall and climb into the faded orange suit.

“So found a new home? I won't say I'll miss that thing, I
will miss you though kid,” Knuyuk the Veraxin cargo master said, waving to her
from the lock. She smiled and waved back and then touched her microphone.

“I'll miss you too you old fart. Take care of this old
girl,” she said. The Veraxin chittered a laugh and waved a true hand in
response as he dogged the hatch.

“Atmo decompressing in ten seconds. Good luck kid,” he said
over the intercom.

“Roger that,” Mairi replied, all business. She watched the
count down with one eye as her practiced hands ran through the pre-flight
sequence. The bitch responded readily, only needing a single bang to get the
red light for the port RCS to turn yellow. She'd have to check that if she was
going to be doing any long close runs.

“Tin Plated Bitch to Prime flight control, maneuvering free
of Mariah's Mischief.”

“Did you bother to file a flight plan?” a bored voice said.

“Flight plan?” Mairi asked, wrinkling her nose as she
watched the light above the hatch turn from green to yellow, and then finally
red.

“Yeah, you are required to file a flight plan,” the control
voice responded.

“Flight plan filed,” Clio interjected. “For the record, no
she didn't but I just did. Pilot Mairi Jersey, in the future do file the proper
paperwork.”

“Roger,” Mairi replied, nettled at the rebuke.

“You didn't know. I believe flight plans weren't required
in Senka space so you never experienced that level of bureaucracy,” Clio
responded.

“Roger,” Mairi repeated, eyes roving her display. She had
half a tank, enough to get around the station easily and even to the planet.
But not back. She glanced at the main display and snorted. A flight plan was
there, running from the MM's dock to the Yard Dog berth. Warnings were marked
about speed. Did they really have all these rules? Apparently they did. She'd
have to look into that later.

“Tin Plated Bitch to Prime flight control, maneuvering to
our new home in Yard Dog Berth Alpha one.”

“Roger,” the control responded. “You're flight plan is
approved. Mind the speed limit in our space,” The controller replied. “Who the
heck named that thing anyway?” the male voice asked, clearly not intending that
to be broadcast.

Mairi laughed softly. “Hot mike control. But to answer your
question, not me. I just like the name,” she said with a smile as the hatch
door started to open.

With practiced ease she shot a puff to get the bitch up off
the deck just as she felt the gravity shut down. A second puff from her
starboard RCS and then a millisecond counter puff from her nose pointed her in
the right direction. A slight tap of the controls and her aft RCS pod kicked,
sending the little tug out into the outer dark.

“Mariah's Mischief this is bitch, clear,” she said.

“Good flying kid,” Warrick the bridge officer on duty
replied a moment later. “Good luck,” he said signing off.

“We make our own,” Mairi replied, maneuvering along the
flight path.

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

Clio watched the young human fly the seemingly ungainly
tug. It was tiny like her, barely a tug, but a powerful one. She was all
engine, obviously a custom job, she didn't register in any of her scans for
type. She swore as another thought connected to that. She checked and swore
again. Yup, someone on the station had taken notice and Mairi wasn't going to
like the homecoming she was about to get.

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

Mairi took her helmet off and shook her still short blue
hair out. She tucked the helmet under her arm as she climbed out of the craft.
She'd had a bit of tricky maneuvering, she'd flipped the old girl to use the
starboard RCS over the port, but they'd arrived all right, and her landing
skids hadn't even so much as scratched the station's paint when she landed. She
was proud of herself.

That pride lasted right up until she left the berth and met
an unsmiling Veraxin holding a tablet. He tisked tisked and printed something
out and handed it to her as he turned away. “What's this?” she asked.

“You're fine,” the Veraxin replied, already leaving the
compartment.

“For what?” Mairi demanded, voice rising as she scanned the
document. “A thousand credits! Are you serious??” she demanded.

“That's what you get for flying an unregistered craft in
Antiguan space,” the Department of Space Vehicles responded as he paused at the
hatch. “Just count your blessings we won't impound the vessel. But before you
fly her again you'll have to pay that fine and register the craft.”