by LeRoy Clary
Two lanky upright lizards, both with tails extended for balance, followed by the Simian. The lizards avoided direct eye contact, however, when they entered the bridge, both paused at the hatch and stared with revulsion at Fang. Their posture went rigid.
Fang’s mister sprayed a mist of lemon-scented water and a small swarm of insects acted eager to be eaten as they circled his wide head. He said to all three, “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”
The Simian strode closer to face Fang directly. Fang directed all eyes on it, which should have been a warning to the bookkeeper. Captain Stone watched Fang’s talons extend a few centimeters and dig into the armrest of the chair. She had no doubt the Simian had placed itself in danger, or that Fang had also met representatives of both races.
She said abruptly, “I am Captain Stone. You may address me instead of my crew, or you may leave this ship.”
The Simian and upright lizards turned to face her as one. The Simian said in a voice as smooth as melting ice, “You may address me as Adjuster. I was sent to this foul place to settle the claim for salvage of this vessel, a claim I am inclined to reject.”
“You are threatening me with your first words?” she asked calmly. “I usually believe in negotiating on neutral territory however, you somehow believe you are in charge of this situation.”
“I control the purse; therefore, I control the situation.” The Adjuster’s response left little room for argument. The lizards froze in position as if made of iron. Their talons were as extended as far as Fang’s and they seemed just as ready to fight.
Her eyes flicked briefly to the ceiling. “Bert, seal all exterior hatches. Keep the shuttle secured and take us to the nearest wormhole nexus.”
“You can’t do that,” the Simian said. “This is not your vessel. It belongs to my company.”
The engines whined and accelerated. Captain Stone had been standing in respect for them, as she would any visitor. Now she sat heavily in the captain’s chair and said, “Until we settle this situation,” she used the same tone as the Simian had, “this is my ship.”
“Where are we going?” the Simian asked.
She smiled and reclined the chair slightly as if relaxing. Instead of answering directly, she looked away and up at the ceiling. “Bert, when we arrive at the nexus, set a random course for the Dreamer somewhere outside the human sphere, a place far away. Those of my crew will return to the Hab on the shuttle. Notify them to assemble at the cargo hatch.”
A ping responded instantly. “Programmed and ready to execute.”
She turned back to the Simian. “Would you like to begin our negotiations now?”
“You wouldn’t dare send this ship and everyone on board into the emptiness.”
She smiled faintly. “You know what? You’re right.”
The Simian matched her smile.
She turned to face Fang. “I have duties to attend. While I am gone, I expect you to represent my best interests with the Adjuster, who represents the owners of this ship. You are in command.”
The Simian’s smile faded. The pair of lizards extended their talons another centimeter. Fang matched them with an extension of his own.
Captain Stone allowed time to crawl by. Negotiating was her business. She’d seen the response when they saw Fang and suspected the races had a contentious history. The Simian had intended to intimidate her and threatened to refuse to pay the salvage fees. It had anticipated using that leverage to reduce the salvage to a smaller amount.
She had leveled the playing field.
Fang was the swing-vote. While her conscience wouldn’t let her send the ship into the nether regions, it appeared Fang wouldn’t hesitate—and he might enjoy it.
The Adjuster said, “We prefer to bargain with the captain.”
“Your preferences do not interest me. The laws of salvage do. You going to pay the standard fees you owe me and my crew for our services. The passengers know I saved their lives and with a few words from me, they will all file lawsuits. I will gladly use my salvage fees to pay their legal fees.”
“You can’t do that,” the Adjuster said weakly. He knew she could and suspected she would.
She said, “Bert, clear any crew and passengers from the dining room. Have Lila meet us there to serve refreshments. And ask Kat to sit in on the meeting.”
The company representatives scowled in unison but when she stood and walked from the bridge, they followed. Once in the passageway, she said loud enough for all to hear, “Bert, seal and lock the hatch to the bridge, please. We need to keep it secure.”
Without looking back, she heard the hatch slam shut harder than necessary.
In the dining room, Lila stood to one side. Kat stood beside her.
Captain Stone said to the Simian who hadn’t offered his name, “You will sit with me. Tell your minions to stand aside against the wall. Would you like a refreshment?”
The Simian who wanted to be addressed as “Adjuster” slowly advanced and sat. The lizards moved to the wall opposite of where Kat and Lila stood.
When he didn’t respond, Captain Stone glanced at Lila. “Please bring me a tall glass of iced tea. Lots of sugar.”
She turned her attention back to the Simian Adjuster. “I’ll do the talking for the moment. There is no set percentage for salvage, as you know. There are rare cases where it has been as high as forty percent of the value of the vessel.”
“And as low as two percent,” the Simian growled.
“Agreed. My staff has researched the value of the Dreamer, as set by your company, so we now only have to agree on a percentage. See? We’re already finding mutual ground.”
“You are holding me hostage.”
“As you were willing to do to me, earlier. I’m certain your company and any legal enforcement agency will understand my counter-threats. Now, back to bargaining, I assume you are not going to offer forty percent.”
“Three.”
“Please be reasonable. We are not only returning the ship but believe we have prevented the passengers from filing multiple lawsuits.”
“Five.”
She had hoped for as much as seven or eight percent, but even five would buy her a nice ship to use for her exploration. However, the Adjuster had gotten under her skin. She shook her head. “Besides the lawsuits, there is the matter of taking command and bringing the ship to a neutral port. My services do not come cheap. Delivering it to any of a hundred different ship habitats where they would repurpose the ship with a new name and crew would have brought me ten times that amount.”
The Adjuster scowled.
She added, “There is also the issue of a member of your crew murdering the Captain. We prevented a long, embarrassing trial. That is worth something. And you would be buying our silence in the matter. We were also threatened by the murderer and since we, meaning my crewmen, were passengers on your ship at that time, we are entitled to the same options of filing suit. If you consider the number of us, and threats to our lives you did not prevent, I think a fair settlement might be twenty percent.”
“It would take years to settle a suit of that magnitude.”
“I own a starship outright and keep substantial bank accounts on several worlds, as I’m sure you are already aware of. I have the means to hire quality lawyers and wait for the settlement.”
The Adjuster muttered, “Eight.”
“Fifteen.”
“Ten.”
“Done.” She extended her hand to seal the deal for twice what she had wanted.
The Simian eventually extended his hand slightly. She took it and traditionally shook hands. Captain Stone seethed at the attitude and disrespect and said, “Bert, did you record the agreement?”
A single ping.
She said, “Good. Encrypt it, store it, and submit it to both the legal department of Heshmat and have a copy sent by subspace radio to the parent firm, at their cost, of course.”
A single ping responded.
The Simian Adjus
ter snarled, “Now, return us to Heshmat Habitat.”
“Bert, ask Fang to do as he asked. You may have to plead or threaten him but try your best to convince him to do as I want.”
The Simian stood and turned away without speaking. He reached to open the door.
Captain Stone still sat on one of the tall stools, a frown on her face, anger rising. She said, “Oh, Adjuster, one more thing.”
“I have no wish to speak further with you.”
“Okay, I understand. But come and find me if you wish to negotiate for the cargo.”
He spun on her. “The cargo is part of the ship.”
Bert interrupted before she could answer, “No, it is classed as an extraneous value under the interstellar salvage laws. A ship might carry a cargo of little value or one of immense value, so it is considered a separate salvage fee beyond that of the vessel.”
Captain Stone had been going to settle for five percent, an enormous sum. The deal they struck was for twice that. Because of the disrespect, the Adjuster had shown, she smiled and said sweetly, “I would have believed you would know that. Bert had recorded our salvage agreement and it is legally binding, as you know.”
From his expression, he had known about the cargo, too. He had intended to ignore it, thinking she didn’t know the salvage laws. He was now trapped by his inaction. The contract to salvage the ship was a separate issue.
The ten percent he had agreed upon was the maximum she had hoped for, including the cargo. She would have agreed to five for both at the inception of the talk. Now, she wanted blood.
“Two percent.”
She stood and stalked the two steps between them, barely holding her anger in check. “You came aboard and immediately attempted to intimidate me and bully me into accepting a lowball offer. You then tried to make me accept a ridiculous offer for no other reason that you believe you could.”
“Two percent is a lot of money,” he said.
She said, “Bert, I believe the cargo contains a threat to this ship. As captain of a vessel under power, I must protect the ship. Send every crewman we have to the cargo deck and get them into atmosphere suits. If the Adjuster does not agree to ten percent of the cargo value, open the cargo doors, and shove every container out. I will not be compromised nor change my order to protect all of us from what may be in those containers.”
A single ping sounded like a gunshot. “All crew have been notified.”
The Adjustor stood his ground. He didn’t believe she would do it.
If there was one point her father had taught her as the child of the captain of a trader, it was never to make a threat you do not intend to carry out. The Adjustor was wrong. She would empty the cargo hold and smile while doing it.
She sat and sipped her tea, aware of all eyes on her.
The door to the dining room opened and a crewman in a bulky spacesuit lumbered inside, then out the other door, heading for the cargo area of the Dreamer. The door behind him closed and a silence as deep as death shrouded the room.
Her eyes rose to meet those of Lila, who stood pale and scared against the wall. Stone lifted the empty tea glass and said calmly, “More tea, please.”
“Ten!” the Adjustor shouted as if that made his position stronger.
She turned to him. “There are two cargo containers that I’m claiming for myself. You may inspect them to make sure they do not contain valuables, however, for reasons of my own, they go with me. You may deduct the cost of paying the insurance for them from my ten percent.”
His eyes turned greedy. “At my judgment alone, I will value the contents of the two cargo containers.”
She glared at him. The additional ten percent hadn’t been a consideration in the beginning, so if he decreased it by half, she still received an additional five percent. It also allowed him to save face with his company. She stuck out her hand. “Agreed.”
Bert sounded a ping, “Should I stop the cargo pods from being ejected? They are sitting at the lip of the cargo bay and will be gone in a few instants.”
“Stop them,” she said.
“Too late,” Bert replied. “Seven cargo pods have been ejected and are not retrievable. The crew has more lined up and ready to go. Is the deal between you still in effect with the already ejected pods?”
“Yes,” the Adjuster shouted. “Make them stop!”
“Yes,” Captain Stone confirmed calmly. “Bert, tell them to stand down.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Kat
I was ordered to stand against the wall and watch the negotiations between the Simian administrator and Captain Stone. I was not invited to join in, and she hadn’t asked me to use my empathic abilities, even if they would have worked on the lizards and Simian. At one point, I wanted to warn her of his deceit. I knew of it because of watching him closely, not because of any mental powers.
Instead, she seemed to sense it too and had turned the tables on him.
It was quite a lesson. Empathy might help in some situations, but her skill and determination were magical to observe. For the first time, I questioned the value of my mental abilities concerning experience and skill.
Of course, that was not a rational comparison because I knew so little of empathy. If I was already near the top of the learning curve, empathy was little more than a handy knack. At the bottom of the same curve, it held immense value. And that was my problem in short. I knew too little to make an informed judgment.
Fang agreed to turn the ship around and return us safely to Heshmat only after the Simian agreed that neither he nor his two lizards would enter the bridge until the ship was docked. Finally, only Lila and I were in the dining room.
She looked at me.
I looked at her.
We smiled at each other.
She said, “I will remember this day for the rest of my life.”
“She was really something. So, you’re now part of our crew?”
“I am. I’m so glad to join you. Tell me all you know about the Escolta.”
I had to laugh. She was more innocent than me. That didn’t seem possible. I said, “Let’s get some ice cream and compare notes.”
Later, we both sat with bowls in front of us. She said, “I feel so funny sitting here and eating this.”
“Why?”
“I’ve never sat here. I’m a steward. And eating ice cream like a wealthy passenger? I would have been fired and my history flagged against any future ship hiring me. Now, tell me of the Escolta.”
“Until a dozen sleep periods ago, or maybe a little longer, it was called the Guardia. Before that, it had other names. Captain Stone sent it to a hab for refitting.”
“What does it look like?”
“I’ve never seen it,” I admitted, wondering what to tell her and how much. Captain Stone and I had to have another discussion before I said anything out of turn. To cover me and cut off certain questions before they were asked, I said, “Bert, Fang, Bill, and I have never seen the ship. Captain Stone gathered us all either on Roma or since we departed.”
“And me,” Lila said.
“And you. She seems to know exactly what she wants in a crewman and we all fill her needs, I guess.”
Lila said, “I’ve been deceived, cheated, overworked and underpaid since leaving home. Do you think it’s going to be different on another ship?”
I felt a pang of pity along with a sense that her trials and tribulations were few compared to mine. I said, “I have a theory. When we meet those on the Escolta, we’ll know. If they’re unhappy, we’ll be the same. The reverse is also true.”
“As simple as that?” she asked between spoons full of ice cream. A male steward approached and silently gave Lila an inquiring look. She said, “I no longer work here. I am now a passenger.”
The steward stood taller and asked stiffly in an unbelieving tone, “More ice cream?”
She shook her head. The steward raced off, no doubt to tell the others and ask about rumors. I said, “Did I hear you are pa
cked?”
“Yes. You?”
That brought me up short. I didn’t have anything to pack. A few dirty articles of clothing, but nothing else. A sense of dread swept over me like a storm on a dark night. The dozen days on the Dreamer were the only permanent home for me. There were a few days on the planetoid military base, but those were a blur of meetings and activity. Returning to the Dreamer was my first experience in returning home.
Now I was about to leave it.
As if to punctuate that idea, the engines shut down.
Bert pinged three times and said, “Shuttle departing. I have ordered another that is due to arrive right after this one is away. Those of us transferring to the Escolta will assemble near the docking bay as quickly as possible.”
Lila and I exchanged excited looks.
Bert pinged again. “For the crew of the Dreamer, representatives of your company will arrive soon. Proceed with your regular duties. It has been a pleasure traveling with you. For the passengers, we are assured that by the end of this day you will be on your way to your original destination. We appreciate your cooperation in foiling the attempted mutiny and if nothing else, you each have an exciting story about pirates to tell your families and friends.”
Lila said, “I only have one small bag to grab. Meet you back at the shuttle bay?”
I agreed and went to our cabin where I found the captain. She stood in the center of the small cabin and said, “In some ways, I’ll miss this place.”
“I have nothing to pack,” I muttered.
She laughed.
That startled me until I realized she believed I had said something funny instead of pathetic. I said, “What?”
“We, and I mean all of my newest crew, are going shopping. Heshmat is full of shops and you need uniforms, underwear, dress outfits, shoes, and a hundred other things.”
“That will cost a lot,” I added.
