Rookie Privateer (7 page)

"Want to go up?" Nick offered.

"
Think they will let us?" I asked skeptically.

"
Hah. You haven't been out and about much. Liam, people are treating us like heroes. We're being given credit for stopping the attack, because who knows what they would have done once they finished with the refinery."

"
Huh. Guess I didn't think about it that way."

The gondola met us at the bottom of the tether. Deputy Stella Bound stepped off and offered her hand. Fortunately
I was balanced on my left crutch and I wobbled a bit when I reached to shake it. I mentally noted that I would need to be more careful about that.

Deputy Bound said,
"Sorry 'bout your leg there. It’s just, well, it’s a real honor and I wanted to shake your hand. You kids did good work here, although you might not hear that from the guys upstairs. I don't think they're real happy about cleaning the station foam out of all of the equipment."

I didn't know what to say, so I just nodded.

"Load up. Let’s get you a first class tour." She seemed to be in a good mood. "Never saw it coming ..." She let it hang there without specifying what it might be.

Nick finally gave in.
"Saw what?"

"
Sheriff Xid and Andy just didn't seem like bad guys. You know they were the inside guys, right? Andy shut down the perimeter defense and Xid held down the refinery staff with an automatic, ended up killing ten people. I wouldn't have thought either of them was capable of that, never in a million years." Deputy Stella Bound shook her head remorsefully. "Even worse is that Xid got away."

"
How's that?" I turned to her.

"
He was one of them all this time. Once you all shut down the guns from the perimeter defense, he loaded up into the freighter with the rest of them and took off."

"
Any ideas on where they went?" I couldn't believe he had gotten away.

"
Nah. They say it was Red Houzi, so I bet they ran off to some hideout. That ship is long gone," she replied.

The gondola arrived at its destination and Deputy Bound jumped off. A temporary work platform had been constructed next to the gondola and was filled with parts from the security control tower's one room. Two workers in suits were pulling the last pieces out. They couldn't pressurize the room until they removed all of the equipment. They were confident they could get things fixed in a couple of days and actually
bore neither Nick or me any ill will. They even wanted to shake our hands.

A chirp notified me that a priority message was waiting. The M-Cor freighter had arrived.
It would be docking mid station.
Track M-Cor
, I instructed and followed my heads up display. At thirty kilometers away it was still pretty small. It would take them the better part of two hours to dock up with the refinery.

For the next three days the activity around Colony 40 would go into overdrive. We were the second to last stop on the way back to Mars for the M-Cor ship and as a result it had grown to well over a kilometer in length. The freighter's design was similar to my ore sled. The front of the ship was dedicated to the flight deck and passenger quarters. The segments that trailed the passenger section were individual bundles of tightly packed containers. Each segment was joined with a coupling and could extend indefinitely.

The ship I was looking at was stacked using a 12 by 12 by 6 container cube format coming out to 864 containers per segment. I counted 14 segments with a small container trailing along. Between each segment was a tractor unit that provided thrust for nearly 120 degrees vertically and could rotate freely for 360 degrees horizontally. It was definitely a big one. The tractor jets burned brightly in deceleration mode. I couldn't imagine how much the cost of the fuel was.

There were two ways to ship with M-Cor. You could pay for the trip by mass or simply sell directly to the corporation. If you had good contacts at both ends, it was possible to come out ahead by shipping the materials and selling them to the market, but Colony 40 had a deal with M-Cor and we weren't allowed that option. We were free to ship other materials that way, just not ore or ingots. Dad explained that it would be hard to get M-Cor to make regular stops if they couldn't count on a good cut. As it was with the recent pirate action, M-Cor would not be at all pleased to have lost so much material. If they hadn't been so close
already, they might have skipped us entirely.

I was thankful for all of the activity that took my mind off my missing foot. I didn't feel any pain at all and had even inspected the stump without the medical cap on it. It looked like any other part of my leg. The doctor showed me a replacement prosthetic I would be able to wear. The least expensive technology could be manufactured on one of the station's replicators. It spent a considerable portion of my savings to buy the pattern. I knew my folks would want to pay for it but with their recent losses, I couldn't let that happen. I was a free EMC and didn't want to lean on my parents. Yup, I did just say that.

The break-in period for a prosthetic takes several weeks. This basic unit would interface with my AI and had the ability to mimic fairly realistic ankle and foot movement. I would never dance with it, but I would eventually be able to walk without crutches. Trying it on for the first time took me nearly two hours. It probably would have been easier if I had taken the doctor's advice and waited for a human physical therapist to help me learn how, but I was done with all that. My AI and I could get through this on our own.

Nick and Jack were at the shop with their mom, Wendy. Between M-Cor's arrival, new equipment coming in, and miners scrambling to make their final load, they were run ragged. Nick offered to let me use his apartment for the maiden voyage with my new leg.

I wasn't supposed to wear the prosthetic for three more days, but I wanted to see Tabby off to the Academy standing on my own two feet. The idea of her thinking of me as a cripple drove me like nothing else could.

I soon discovered the feedback you receive from an inexpensive prosthetic leg is extremely limited. For the first couple of seconds, I thought I had it down cold, only to discover I was leaning past the point of no return. At .6 gravity, the apartment floor showed me pretty quickly who was boss. Gravity was a bitch.

By the end of the afternoon my leg was unbelievably sore. It chafed where the cuff attached and hurt like crazy where the stub rested on the prosthetic foot.
I hoped it wouldn't always be like this. I thought about taking some of the pain meds the doctor had prescribed, but I didn't like doing that. I would rather be sore than foggy. I removed the prosthetic (I couldn't refer to it as my foot yet) and headed over to the Gravel Pit, another diner/bar much like Millie's, using crutches.

It was hard to get through the crowd at the Pit.
People stopped me to ask how I was doing, shake my hand and whack me on the back. All of these things play havoc with my balance and I was getting annoyed. Fortunately, Tabby saw me and knifed her way through the crowd. I was surprised by her new haircut. Her long copper hair had been cut off. She now boasted a flat-top with shaved sides. I wasn’t sure what to think about that.

After a couple of
"frak off" and "stow it dickhead" responses from Tabby, the crowd around us thinned out. Tabby had decided celebrity wasn't something she was interested in. I gave a couple of apologetic shrugs to some of the more offended, but I really didn't care.

Tabby grabbed my arm to help me through the crowd, but a short bark from me stopped her in her tracks. She settled for clearing a path back to the table where Nick and Mutt were sitting. It took us nearly ten minutes to get beer ordered.

"How did team Paradox Blue do? Didn't you play M-Cor One today?" Mutt had been pretty quiet since I arrived.

Mutt shifted his gaze uncomfortably from Nick to me. He knew our team, Loose Nuts, had been originally slated to play M-Cor One. Since we had to forfeit, Mutt's team took our place.

"They creamed us forty two ta twelve." Mutt hung his head.

"
I watched. You guys hung in there solid in the beginning. It was the second half where you got beat down," Tabby offered analytically.

"
Yeah, it was like they knew everything we were going to do before we did it. Solid team to be sure. I bet they play in the Central Core League back on Mars," Mutt said. The Central Core was a league that included the best teams from Mars, Earth’s Moon and Earth.

"
Yup, they do. Play under the name Red Monkeys," Nick said. "They are ranked pretty low, but that is in the semi-pro division of the Central Core league."

"
Man, I would like to have had a shot at them," Tabby said without thinking, immediately regretting it. "Shite. Sorry Liam."

Both Nick and Mutt looked away uncomfortably.

"Knock it off Tabby. It is what it is. I would have loved taking a shot at them, too, but don't go getting all soft on me."

Nobody said anything for a few minutes. We didn't know what to do with awkward. I couldn't stand the silence, so I forged ahead.

"Look guys. I get enough of that sorry crap from everyone else. Does it suck that I lost my foot? Yes. Do I feel bad? Yes. Do I want to break down and give up sometimes? Yes. You know what I can't handle the most? Pity. So deal with it and move on. That's what I gotta do. You too."

Yeah, that was me, bringing the awkward. I let it sit there for a few and then decided to try a different tack.

"Tabs, when do you report to the ship?"

She seemed relieved to find familiar ground and looked down at a small display on the back of her forearm before replying.
"2200 hours. I report an hour before burn."

"
How much mass are you taking?" I was curious about how this worked.

"
All in, I am allowed seventy kilos, which leaves me thirteen kilos after counting this svelte form. It's pretty much me, a case of clothing and some trade goods. Every kilo counts, so I will end up buying just about everything when I get there. I won't even be able to take my AGBs along, they’re too heavy."

Nick piped up,
"How long before the first semester starts?"

"
Actually, I'll be two weeks late if M-Cor is on schedule. The Academy at Coolidge makes exceptions for spacers," Tabby explained.

"
Any idea what Coolidge is like?" Mutt asked. It was a question we all had. None of us had ever experienced a real city.

"
Beats the hell out of me. All I know is they have atmosphere over the entire planet. That’s something I want to see." Tabby said. I agreed, it was such an odd idea that a person could walk outside and still have atmosphere.

"
What's the gravity like?" I asked.

Nick piped up.
"It is naturally .38, but most of the cities run generators to bump that up to .75."

We all knew about the problems people had with long term exposure to low gravity. In fact, none of us would find Earth to be comfortable given the normal .6 gravity we had grown up with. Apparently, a spacer could adjust over time, but that period was painful.

"They say you can't really tell the difference between .6 and .75 gravity," Mutt said.

It was well into morning when the crowd in the Gravel Pit finally thinned down to a handful. Tabby and I were sitting next to each other on a bench against the wall and Nick was draped over a chair. Mutt had long since given up on us, citing that he had a long day of work ahead of him.

At some point I'd reached over and taken Tabby's hand. I didn't want to make anything weird, but I was sad to think of her leaving and it felt natural. Instead of pulling away and making a sharp comment, she slid down a bit into the bench and laid her head against me. I knew it was short-lived, but I welcomed the warm feeling.

The Gravel Pit was a twenty-four hour operation and the manager didn't mind us taking up residence as long as we weren't sleeping. At 0200, we switched to stim drinks and water.

"How about we meet up at 1800 at the refinery to see you off. I'm exhausted and can get four hours of sleep in if I head out now." Nick was barely holding his head up.

"
Yeah, works for me. Want to walk him back, Tabs?" I said.

Tabby kept hold of my hand and I used her to maintain my balance as I maneuvered around a few tables.
If she noticed, she sure didn’t let on. We walked back to Nick’s apartment, then Tabby and I watched the door close behind him. Without any warning at all, Tabby grabbed the sides of my face and pulled me in. It caused me to stumble a little, but she wasn't to be dissuaded. If it was awkward, I wasn't going to say anything. Her lips met my own and I closed my eyes, focusing on her warmth. Her lips parted ever so slightly. I pulled her in closely. With one hand behind her head, I allowed my other hand to slide down, resting just above her hip. I expected to feel her tense up, but she simply pulled me in even closer.

I found myself shifting, trying to deal with my body's response to her. Apparently, Tabby felt my growing excitement because she pulled back a bit and took a breath.

"Glad to see the bullet didn't get anything important," she said in a rough whisper.

"
Sorry." I was a little embarrassed.

"
Look. So… that isn't on the table tonight, but I'm leaving in fourteen hours and I want us to spend it together."

Classic Tabby. Don't worry about guessing what she is thinking because you will know it shortly. We made our way back to the apartment she shared with her dad. He was a member of the CO-OP board and was probably at the refinery overseeing the loading of cargo.

"You sure this is okay?" I asked, not wanting to incur her dad's wrath.

"
Look, my problem. Not yours."

I didn't push it.

We lay down in her bed after she removed her station suit. She pulled the top shirt of her two piece suit liner off exposing a bra.

"
Okay, that's as far as we go. Got it?"

I smirked. Oh, how I would miss this girl. I pulled her down on top of me and we started where we had left off. I spent the better part of an hour holding her and exploring her body with my hands and she did the same with me. We mostly avoided sensitive areas, although she was pretty curious. She did have a good idea of how far she was willing to go and finally we backed off and simply held each other, awaiting her pending departure.

At 1300, we woke to an alarm she had set. I sat on the edge of the bed while she readied herself for a shower. I was thrilled that she allowed me a small peek when she changed, but I knew better than to push it any further.

When she had finally changed into a fresh suit liner and pulled her suit back on we grabbed a small snack. I planned to spend every second I could with her until she took off. Why the frak hadn't we figured this out before yesterday? I mentally kicked myself, then laughed. I had lost my foot and this was my big regret. I felt so alive!

Her gear was already stowed in the freighter's passenger cargo area and she had a small bag that would stay with her on the trip. We walked back to Nick's apartment so I could shower and refresh my suit liner. I would have been willing to let her have a peek of me getting in the shower, but she didn't seem interested.

"
Hey! Close your eyes. I want to show you something." It wasn't as important as it had been, but it was still something I wanted her to see. I strapped my prosthetic foot on and straightened my suit liner over the top. If I stood very still you couldn't notice a difference between my legs. My foot was another thing entirely, but this is what I had to work with. I positioned myself in front of where she sat with her hands over her eyes.

"
Okay. Open up," I said triumphantly.

She looked me up and down for a moment and gave me a small grin.
"Hah, look at you. I didn't think you would get to that for a few days."

It wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for, although in retrospect I wasn't sure what I was looking for.

"Don't you like it?" I asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

"
Sure I do," she answered.

I was confused and maybe a little hurt. She seemed completely unimpressed. I knew better than to whine at her but it just came out.

"Crap Tabby. I look normal, don't I?"

"
Don't get your panties in a wad, Hoffen. Maybe you don't get it. Foot. No foot. Doesn't matter to me. If you weren't so darn dense, I wouldn't have had to throw myself at you last night. Imagine what we could have been doing if you would have figured that out a couple of years ago." Tabby looked at me, her eyebrows raised with a sort of school teacher disapproving look.

"
Oh, geez, I want to space myself." I muttered.

"
No kidding, right?" she replied.

Five hours couldn't have gone faster. We finally ended up at James' Rental and picked up Nick, who along with his mom, was suitably impressed with my prosthetic foot. The three of us loaded into my ore sled and made our way to the refinery.

I stood next to the gangway that Tabby would be walking up in a couple of minutes and felt an overwhelming sense of regret. We were down to kissing, at which point Nick definitely felt like a third wheel. He decided to head back to the sled. A chime warned the passengers that it was time for final loading.

We released each other and Tabby looked at me and delivered a knockout punch I would never forget,
"Liam, I will always love you but get this straight. If you don't find yourself you will be no good to anyone. Live a good life my friend. I hope to see you again."