OMEGA Exile (24 page)

I turned back to Go. "Do you still have the chair?"

Go shook his head. "Malcom is sitting in it!"

I nodded as I stood up and hunched over. "Let’s go get our chair back."

Go leaped up, giddy with excitement. "I sure am happy to be your maintainer, Mr. Beutcher. I think things are finally looking up around here."

I walked over and stood next to Malcom with Go eagerly standing behind me with a big grin. "Mr. Barber. I believe you are sitting in my chair. I would like it back now."

Malcom replied as he looked at his magazine, "It wasn’t bolted down. Rules of the bay say that makes it fair game for whoever can put it to use. And as you can see, I’m using it!"

Go reacted. "That’s our chair, get out of it!"

I turned back to look at Go. He went silent.

When I returned my gaze to Malcom, he continued to swipe through his magazine.

I spoke. "I’m asking you to please get out of my chair."

Malcom shrugged. "Hmm."

I leaned in close to his head and let out a low growl. "I want my chair. Either you get out of it now, or I pull you out by your head."

Malcom showed a sudden nervousness. He stood and held out his magazine in a 'take it' gesture. I picked up the heavy leather-and-steel chair with one hand and turned back toward the
Mabel
. Go was beside himself.

Malcom spoke as I walked away. "I should report you for threatening me!"

I laughed. "I’m sure the Captain would want to hear all about it. You should go up and tell him right now."

Malcom turned toward Gerald. "Gerald, did you see that? The dinosaur took my chair!"

Gerald glanced up, chuckled, and pushed his hat back over his eyes.

I carried the chair into the cockpit. "How long to get this bolted in?"

Go replied as he headed for his tools, "Give me three minutes!"

The scrawny Human was in and out of the cockpit several times in the three minutes that he had budgeted. On his third trip, the lights on the chair arm lit up and the console recognized the copilot’s controls.

Go smiled. "All set!"

I pointed back. "Button up that hatch, and let’s take her out."

We soon lifted off the deck. Go walked me through the steps for exiting the gravity wall into the free space beyond.

I spoke. "We don’t have to file flight plans? And what of portal sweeps? Do we call them in if we have the coordinates?"

Go laughed. "Portal sweeps? You are dreaming; we haven’t had those in fifteen years. Something was broken when the AMP was in charge, and no one out here could fix it. If we want to actually go somewhere, we have to actually go there, I mean fly there the whole way."

I pushed the throttle to full and was surprised by the acceleration of the old ship.
Mabel
, for an old ship, still had some guts to her.

After an hour of tutorial, I brought the ship to a stop. "Should we do an inspection?"

Go replied, "What? Now? I don’t know, I’ve never been out here for one of those."

I laughed. "Well, I think it’s time you saw how the professionals do it. Pull up the nav display and pick out a vessel."

Go eagerly complied. "How about this tug? He’s not even hauling anything. That should be simple, right?"

I replied, "Tug it is. Set us a course for intercept, and we'll see what she’s hauling."

Fifteen minutes later, we were pulling alongside the space tug. "Captain of tug WXM44788A. This is Detective Beutcher of the New Alliance security force. You have been selected for a random inspection. Under the shipping laws of the New Alliance, I am ordering you to a full stop for an inspection."

Several seconds passed before a response came back. "What? Who is this? I’m not even hauling anything."

I replied, "Captain, come to a full stop, or I will be forced to shut down your core."

Several more seconds passed before the tug began to slow. I pulled the
Mabel
alongside and connected with a universal docking collar. I crossed through the docking tube with Go close behind.

The captain was standing in a small cabin area with his arms crossed. "What’s the meaning of this? I paid my shipping dues to the security force last week."

I looked at the captain. "I apologize if some misguided detective has been shaking you down, Captain. I am only here to inspect your tug. Now, may I have a copy of your manifest logs?"

The captain laughed. "Manifest logs? I don’t think I’ve had manifest logs in a dozen years. Nobody requires them, so nobody carries them. You have got to be new to the force."

I shook my head. "Forty-plus years, Captain. Only those years were in a sector where the rules were generally followed. I’m not sure there are any rules out here."

The captain replied, "You want rules? You cross the slavers, and you will see what the rules are out here. Take that as a warning. They will kill you dead if you mess with their business."

I nodded. "I will keep that in mind, Captain. The design of this tug shows two sets of storage lockers and a bilge tub. If you can show me to each of those, we will try to get you on your way."

The captain complied with the locker searches turning up clean. "This is the bilge tub. I don’t think you are getting in there, though. I don’t know why anyone would want to, but it’s rusted shut."

I inspected the leaky seal. The captain was right. The bilge tub had probably been rusted shut for as long as he had been flying the tug. After signing a log, I thanked the captain for his time and moved back through the transfer tube.

As we pulled away from the tug, I spoke. "That was a standard inspection. Shorter than most, but largely the same. When we get back, I’ll write up the report and list you as an attendee."

Go was all smiles for the return trip to Bay-68. When we set down on the deck, the detective named Carter was standing just outside of his ship with his maintainer.

I walked over and introduced myself. "Mr. Carter, Knog Beutcher. I’m the new detective."

Carter continued to look at whatever his maintainer was doing. "Yeah, whatever, congratulations or condolences, take your pick."

I continued, "I wanted to ask you a couple of questions, if you don’t mind. I just had a tug captain warn me about the slavers. Is that something I should be worried about?"

Tom Carter turned around with an agitated look on his face that quickly turned to surprise. "Look, I…whoa, hello? Nobody said the new guy would be Grunta!"

I replied, "I’m sorry if I startled you, Mr. Carter. Now, can you tell me anything about the slavers?"

Tom Carter puffed up his chest. "Hey, nobody was startled here. I just wasn’t expecting a Grunta. And as for your slavers question, yeah, you don’t want to mess with those people. I think they have ties going up to the station Governor, so you cause them problems and you are going to disappear, and no one will care.

"And stay away from the Dallex colony and any ship heading to or from there. I hear that’s where they do most of their trading. If a ship is registered for a Dallex pickup or drop-off, you are going to want to steer clear of it."

I replied, "I appreciate your candid response, Mr. Carter. I am sure I will have further questions for you from time to time."

Tom Carter nodded as he turned back to his ship. "Sure, no problem."

As I began to turn away, Carter looked back for one last word. "Oh, and if you ask anything at all of Malcom, he’s probably lying to you, hoping you will screw something up. He’s one of those guys that think bringing others down somehow boosts him up. You are best off just not dealing with him at all if you can."

I nodded. "Thanks for the information, Mr. Carter. I'll keep that in mind."

As I walked past Gerald in his chair, he spoke. "I heard you asking about slavers. Let me just tell you they are bad news. Detective Hal, the guy you took over for, got his throat slit by them because they thought he was nosing around. Hal didn’t want anything to do with them. I think he butted heads with Malcom one too many times, and Malcom set him up. Just watch yourself around Malcom. He plays dirty."

~~~

Once again, this Human is asking for your help! In return for that help I have a free science fiction ebook short story, titled 'THE SQUAD', waiting for anyone who joins my email list. Also, find out when the next exciting release is available by joining the email list at
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