The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) (11 page)

"That makes about a year." Stone nodded approvingly. "But why not just transmit the data back to Earth? I'm sure you would get a large reward." Stone inclined his head, suspicious.
"Are you so sure?" Ellis shrugged. "I've heard people say that freighter captains don't know anything about mineralogy. Even if I did send it back, it would be met with the same skepticism you displayed just now. They'd still be nearly a year getting an expedition together."
"In which time, I can lay a legal claim." Stone rubbed his plump hands together.
"Indeed," said Ellis. "Plus, you'll have to find the Erdonium."
"What?" asked Stone, nearly jumping out of the chair.
"You'll have to discover the Erdonium for yourself. If the Mao Corporation learns you found out from me, they'll pull strings with the Gaean Alliance and insist you jumped their claim," explained Ellis.
"But that's not legal!"
"So sue them," said Ellis, grinning. "Or do you think you won't have enough money to sue the Mao Corporation?"
Stone's eyes narrowed. "So, what do you get out of this deal?"
"What deal?" asked Ellis. "Finding rocks is my hobby."
"Surely you want something else," said Stone suspiciously.
"All I ask is that you don't go out of your way to find all of the deposits. If there's enough left for Mao to make a profit, I'll get a raise and that'll make me happy as a quohog."
"What's a quohog?"
"Like a clam only tastier."
Stone sighed. "Okay, can I see the map again, off the record?"
Ellis nodded and turned on the terminal redisplaying the map. Stone stared at it for a while. He got up and left without a word. Ellis was certain that he was going to sketch the location on a map somewhere. He didn't mind. In fact, he was relieved to have Stone out of his quarters. Standing, he made sure his shirt was tucked in, then returned to the command deck to see what new finds there would be.
At the command deck, the
Nantucket's
shipping clerk was waiting. "Sir, awaiting orders for delivery of the first shipment."
Ellis took the clipboard-sized computer from the lieutenant's hand. He saw the names of cities that items were going to: Nuevo Santa Fe, New Des Moines, and Succor. He looked at the last. They were supplies for a windmill power generator to go to an Ellison Firebrandt. Ellis tapped the screen. "Why do I know that name?" he asked.
"What name?" asked Pfister, turning.
"Ellison Firebrandt."
"He was Sufiro's first homesteader," explained Pfister. "He named the planet and pretty much runs the show."
"I thought a Floyd McClintlock was the governor," said Ellis.
"He may be," said Pfister shrugging. "All I know is that whoever the governor is, he listens to Ellison Firebrandt."
Ellis nodded, understanding. "Then I'd better take that shipment personally." He turned to the shipping clerk. "Would you see to it please."
"Aye, sir," responded the clerk. He turned on his heel and left.
"Still..." said Ellis, musing. "Wasn't Firebrandt famous for something else? Over twenty years ago, before the founding of Sufiro's World?" Ellis ran his fingers through his short hair. "Wasn't he a ship's captain or something?"
"Privateer captain," said Pfister, nodding.
"Privateer..." Ellis shook his head. "That's it. Not the same person." He snapped his fingers. "Admiral Barbara Firebrandt of Alpha Coma Berenices. She's the one who went around and routed out all the pirates." He shook his head remembering the fact from his history classes. It was a major moment in history. Yet it was the kind of fact that happened recently enough that it wasn't always covered in class. As a child, he'd only been vaguely aware of the event. Still, her task had been an impressive one. "Strange coincidence in names, though," he mused. He thought about meeting with a pirate. Though he didn't like the idea, the service of a large multi-planet corporation often put him in situations he didn't like. He also didn't necessarily like the idea of going down for an extended time, but knew that was a possibility. Leaders of frontier worlds could be quite chatty. "Ms. Pfister, I'll leave you in charge here. Meanwhile, I'll go squeeze myself into a dress uniform."
"Aye aye, sir," she said as he left the command deck. * * * *

Peter Stone was humming a merry tune as he stepped into the quarters he shared with his son aboard the
Nantucket
. He pulled out a small foldout desk in the wall and typed a command on the keypad embedded in its surface. A map of the unexplored continent appeared from the slot at the back of the desk. With a trembling hand, Stone managed to add circles around the locations of the Erdonium deposits. He folded the map carefully and placed it inside his luggage. As he closed the mag-clasp on his suitcase, he heard the gentle swish of the door opening.

Sam Stone dragged his feet as he sulked into the room. His hands were thrust deeply in the pockets of the over-sized jump suit. The boy dropped heavily into the chair his father had abandoned.

Peter Stone hefted the suitcase to the ground and sat on the bed, facing his son. "What's the matter?"
"I miss Earth," said Sam, looking down, kicking at the deck with the toe of his boot. The boy sighed heavily. "Why do we have to go to some hick planet out in the sticks?"
Stone pursed his lips and looked toward the cabin's ceiling, remembering his last week on Earth. He sat in his office in the lavish Gaean Bank building, working late on a contract due the next morning. The next thing he remembered was the faint glow of light streaming in through the office window and the bank president standing in front of him, tapping his foot. Stone had fallen asleep. He had been late with a contract and cost the bank quadrillions in electronic currency. The next thing he knew, he was without work. Taxes began to accumulate on his savings. "We had to get out when we could," he said, shrugging.
Sam snorted. "You were an assistant vice-president of Gaean Bank. You could have got another job."
Peter Stone clapped his pudgy hands together and looked his son in the eye. "A job?" He was suddenly struck by a paroxysm of laughter that rolled through his girth. "Why would I want to be assistant vice-president of a mere bank when I could be a captain of industry?" Sam Stone shook his head slowly, leaving his father alone in the ship's cabin, humming happily.
SEDUCTION
Ellison Firebrandt sat in his office. Twenty years before, he would not have thought it possible he would ultimately sit behind a paper-covered desk within the homestead. He had been forced to accept the reality that people looked up to him as a planetary leader. He and Roberts built the office ten years after the first settlers arrived. Large windows faced out, over the valley. The captain sat at his desk after a hard morning in the field, intermittently reading an old, tattered book and staring out the windows. From his vantage, he could see that Succor had turned into an impressive village. In the north, New Des Moines had grown even faster.
The teleholo beeped from somewhere deep in the ship. "I'll get it," came the young voice of Suki Firebrandt. The captain smiled to himself. He thought about his daughter's wish to get off the planet. She wanted to attend college, but there were none on Sufiro. "Daddy," she called.
"Yes, sweetie?" he replied.
"It's a freighter in orbit—the
Nantucket
," she said.
"I'll be right out," said Firebrandt. He deliberately did not put a teleholo in the office. He preferred an office full of natural light and a view of the river. The teleholo required subdued lighting and would have been a constant distraction. As he walked out, his daughter stood up from the chair. She was a beautiful young woman. It was not just a father's pride. She had long black hair with dark eyes. The green T-shirt she had been wearing in the field did little to conceal her ample breasts. He knew full well that the hormones of Sufiro's boys went wild when they saw her.
He sat down in the teleholo chamber and his jaw dropped. The teleholo wall extended into a near-replica of the
Legacy's
battle deck. A woman in her thirties with angular features stood at the front of the command deck. The hologram of the deck and the people on it nearly brought tears to Firebrandt's eyes. The old battle deck now served as Roberts' office and looked much different today than twenty years ago. "How may I help you?" he asked, regaining his composure.
"I'm Lieutenant Pfister of the Mao Corporation Freighter
Nantucket
. We have some items you ordered," she said. "When may they be delivered?"
"Any time this evening would be fine." Firebrandt stroked his moustache. "You may land your launch anywhere within the compound or east, away from the river."
"Very well," said Lieutenant Pfister. "Captain Jerome Ellis will leave in approximately one hour."
Firebrandt checked his watch. "Please extend my thanks to the captain. Would you be so kind as to extend an invitation to dine with my family this evening?"
"The captain will be delighted, I'm sure," said Pfister. She signed off. Firebrandt sat back. Something in her voice indicated that the captain did a few too many social calls for his liking. Still, Firebrandt looked forward to the company of a ship's captain. He longed for stories from the microcosmic world of a star vessel.
"Fire, Roberts," called Firebrandt. Fire ran into the room, enthusiasm radiating like the sun. Secretly, he hoped she would not do that when the captain arrived. Her lithe body moved in ways that took young men's breath away and sent old men's hearts into palpitations. Roberts followed, hobbling with the help of a cane. He was in pain from arthritis almost constantly. Firebrandt had tried to talk him into using a hover chair at least some of the time. Roberts would hear none of it, though, insisting he would be useless without his feet.
"Captain Jerome Ellis of the
Nantucket
will be dining with us this evening." Firebrandt was suspicious of Fire's lopsided grin.
"Excellent," said Roberts. "It'll be good to see someone who's been in space; hear some new stories and bore him with some of our own. I'll be ready."
"And we'll be dressing formally," said Firebrandt. Fire looked somewhat crestfallen. The captain knew his daughter preferred to look stunning wearing shorts and a T-shirt, or even better, nothing at all, as she often did around the house.
"I shall have the cooks prepare something special." With a smile, Roberts turned and left.
"Formally?" Fire asked, sitting down.
"He's the captain of a corporate cruiser. Ordinarily, he would not deliver these items himself. He's only coming down because he has some notion that I'm an important person," Firebrandt explained.
"But you
are
an important person." Fire stood and kissed him on the cheek.
"Flattery won't get you out of formal wear." The captain stood his ground, his arms folded.
She smiled and left. Firebrandt found himself wondering what a lonely star cruiser captain might think of his daughter. Then he thought about the fact that most corporate cruiser captains were married old men. He smiled to himself and stood to get dressed.
The teleholo beeped again. He heard, "I'll get it," from across the house.
"I'm right here." Firebrandt shook his head, laughing to himself. As he answered, a short, balding man appeared, wearing a gray suit. From the background, Firebrandt could tell he was somewhere aboard a ship. "What can I do for you?" asked Firebrandt.
"I'm Peter Stone aboard the
Nantucket
." The heavy-set man gestured to the room behind him.
"So I see," said Firebrandt.
"I'm hoping to settle on Sufiro's World with my son," he said, frowning slightly. "I was hoping to come down with Captain Ellis. Unfortunately, I don't have any contacts. He suggested I call you." Stone grumbled, "He suggested I call you myself."
"Well..." The captain rubbed his chin, thinking. "I'm sure we can find someplace for you to stay. I'll have someone meet you with a carryhover."
"Thank you very much," said Stone. He terminated the connection abruptly.
Fire stepped up behind her father. "Who was that?"
"Someone who wants to settle," said Firebrandt, a little dismayed.
"Another one," she said, understanding her father's feelings. Her disconcerted look melted into one of her lopsided grins. "Is he good looking?"
"Old, fat, and balding." Firebrandt smirked, poking his daughter in the arm.
Roberts was walking through at that moment. "I heard that," he said.
Fire kissed him on the cheek. "You're not old," she said smiling. "Plus, you're completely bald. I think it's sexy."
Roberts sighed. "That's dangerous talk, young lady. After all, I'm not your genetic father."
Firebrandt glanced sidelong at Roberts. "Well, this gentleman wasn't sexy at all; not in appearance nor manner."
Fire looked a little too disappointed for Firebrandt's taste. She wandered back to her room while he made a few calls. He found out that Espedie was willing to pick up Stone and his son and give them a room for the night. Firebrandt was grateful and explained that Stone had seemed quite rude.
"That's okay," said Espedie. "He probably just hates holo conversations. Anyway, Carmen's making her chiles rellenos tonight. That'll put him in a better mood."
"Is she using the hot chiles from last year's harvest?" asked Firebrandt, raising his eyebrows.
"What else? Best crop we've had in years!"
Firebrandt laughed. "If the heat doesn't kill him, the endorphin rush might just put him in a better mood, my friend." He turned off the holo and sat back, waiting a few moments to make sure the holo wasn't going to ring again. When he was convinced, he left to get dressed for the evening.
* * * *

The bright blue launch came out of the sky, landing just half a mile east of Firebrandt's homestead. Raton and Roberts were both there to meet the craft. Captain Jerome Ellis was the first to step out. He wore a blue jacket with white trousers. On the shoulders were black epaulets. On the left breast was the
Nantucket's
insignia. Below the right shoulder was the Mao Corporation patch: the word MAO emblazoned in large silver letters. Ellis left the unloading operation to the launch crew, giving orders for them to return to the ship when the job was complete. He would call when the time came to retrieve him.

As Ellis gave orders to the launch crew, Peter Stone and his son Sam stepped out. They looked about, a little confused. Espedie Raton stepped up and introduced himself, mentioning that Firebrandt had arranged for them to spend the night at his house. Stone took his hand, a little surprised. "I thought we would be staying in a hotel," he said.