by Jay Toney
"They wanted us as dinner guests. I respectfully refused."
"Get in here before someone sees the two of you. Beverly thinks that you might try sneaking onto your new ship before tomorrow's christening ceremony. Her security guards have orders to detain you if they see you aboard her ship.
I'll have to try sneaking you off of the Lucy when business quiets down. The guards won't be paying any attention to the people leaving the Lucy."
"Jewel we came here to get your help to sneak aboard one of the Lucy's shuttlecraft. They will be looking for us and will not pay any attention to you. We can hide in a laundry cart or cargo containers; then you can take us to the shuttle bay."
"You have to be kidding. No one will fall for that. That only works in the holovids."
"Well, what do you suggest?"
"How about getting out of here before Beverly finds you here? All of you should be safe inside my cabin for now. I will help you sneak off of the ship after she retires for the night,"
Jewels cabin wasn't just small; it was tiny. Her bedroom had a double bed and an armoire taking up nearly all of the space. There was barely enough room to walk around the bed to get to the fresher. The common room was barely large enough for all of us to sit. It also served as the galley and dining area. Clothes lay piled everywhere on the floor. She had more clothes than her tiny armoire could hold. None of them were folded. When it came to laundry, she was as lazy as Amber, and I are.
Someone hammered on the door rather than using the door chime. "Quick, hide in the bedroom." As soon as we were out of sight, Jewel opened the door.
"Where are they?"
"Where are who?"
"Don't play games with me, Jewel. I'm not in the mood. Where are Amber and Nathaniel? I know they are on my ship."
"I don't know. As you can see, neither Amber or Nathaniel is here."
"They were reported as being in this area. Surveillance video shows them coming here." Beverly played back the video recording of us entering her cabin. "Do you want to change your story?"
"It must be old data. They visit me frequently, but I haven't seen them in three weeks. They are gone someplace doing a job for your brother."
"They got back hours ago. Guards, search her quarters!"
"That won't be necessary," I said stepping out of the bedroom with Amber; Tanya and Natasha followed behind us.
"I don't know who those two are," Beverly pointed at Tanya and Natasha. "They are undoubtedly members of your crew, whom you coaxed to help you with your scheme. Guards, escort them off of my ship," She pointed at Tanya and Natasha.
"Jewel, I expect a certain level of loyalty and obedience from my employees. Your loyalties appear to lay elsewhere. I will not tolerate any of my employees lying to me. You are fired!"
"We were just here to visit with Jewel. Nathaniel and I haven't seen her in nearly a month."
"Amber, you are my sister, and I love you. I've lived with you long enough to know when you are lying. If all of you were just here to visit, why were you hiding in the bedroom? It couldn't be because you were getting to have sex with her. Jewel isn't into group sex, or she would have more paying customers.
Isn't that so Jewel or are you ready to join my entertainment staff?"
"No, Beverly."
"No what? No, you are not into group sex or no, you don't want to join the rest of the girls?"
"No to both."
"Leave her alone Beverly; you are hurting her."
"She's been babied for too long. But, to show you how kind I am, I will provide her with a shuttle flight to San Paulos. I don't expect her to be able to find a job, but she will be okay. With her looks, someone will buy out her debt and then she will have someone to take care of her. She might even come to like being a sex slave.
Guards, lock them in one of the empty staterooms."
At least she had us locked in someplace comfortable. The cabin had two sleeping berths and a private fresher. The galley had a fully stocked pantry and the common room came equipped with a full-sized holovid unit. Unfortunately, the suite's comm unit was disabled before our arrival. Natasha could have easily hacked into the system and reactivated it, but she wasn't here. We were stuck here until Beverly let us out.
"What am I going to do? Beverly is right. No one will hire me. I'm not good at doing anything other than giving massages."
"It's my fault that my sister fired you. You can come live with us aboard our ship."
"I wouldn't make a very good crewman. I'm not good at doing anything useful. Maybe Beverly will let me stay if I agree to join the other girls."
"That is not something that you want to do. My sister would just use you to make more money, and if you don't make enough to satisfy her, she will dump you off at the nearest spaceport.
We can use your help. Nathaniel and I are short-handed. We will teach you whatever you need to learn."
"You know that I am a slow learner."
"We all have our faults."
"But, you are perfect."
"I'm far from being perfect. When I am not with Nathaniel, I suffer from nightmares and can't sleep. He has the same problem."
"I'll try."
Jewel turned on the holovid and selected one of the ship's entertainment networks. "Oh look, its one of my favorite shows; it's called Busted. Holovid crews record unsuspecting people catching them in the act of doing things that they are not supposed to be doing. Some of the stuff they catch people doing is hilarious, like secret rendezvous."
The holograph showed three people leaving a cabin aboard a starship. Two of the people were females and one a male. One of the women had long curly blonde hair; the other was a redhead. "Hey, that's my cabin! Amber, that's you, but you, but you are here." The redheaded woman looked identical to Amber. The faces of the other two people were kept carefully hidden from camera view.
The trio snuck from building to building hiding when they needed to stay hidden from passersby. "We'll be spotted if we stay on the main decks. I know where there is an entrance to the maintenance tunnels," the blonde suggested.
"There aren't any maintenance tunnels in that section of the Lucy," Amber informed us.
It made for good viewing though. The director and the cameraman knew what they were doing. I turned my attention back to the holovid. At the entry hatch, the male actor removed a device from within his jacket. It had a single button, a wire lead which he attached to the bulkhead next to the hatch's keypad, and a series of lights.
I had seen that device used on holovid shows before. It was frequently used in spy shows. It was a lock decoder that would unlock any lock, coded or biometric. I tried buying one recently on the black market; I was told they didn't exist. It was only a prop used in holovids, but it looked good.
The lights on the decoder cycled from red to yellow and then finally to green. The actor detached the wire lead and opened the maintenance hatch. The three actors entered the tunnel and closed the door behind them, thinking they were safe. They followed the passage, stopping to open other bulkhead hatches, turning at what appeared to be random passageways. To someone who never worked as a crewman on a starship it would have looked real. Most maintenance tunnels aboard starships were little more than crawl spaces between decks and didn't go far before exiting into other corridors. The only place big enough to walk was inside the ventilation ducts. There were no bulkhead hatches inside of the air ducts. They were designed to move high volumes of air at low pressure.
The trio, not surprisingly, exited into a hangar with a shuttle on the launch pad, ready to launch. Large ships had shuttle bays, but not the Lucy. Its small shuttle bays were just big enough to house a singl
e shuttle and its docking clamps. The shuttle bay's exterior doors only opened after the compartment was depressurized.
Several teams of people, dressed to look like space station security officers rushed in with their weapons drawn. They arrested the actors. The redheaded girl stared straight into the camera. She looked identical to Amber. It had to be Beverly. "We will get away with it next the next time." She dropped two bags that I didn't notice her carrying until now. The camera panned down to show that the bags were full of credit chips."
"That was some of the worse acting I've ever seen. People can't possibly believe this crap!"
"This is one of the most popular holovid shows. Billions of people watch it every night. They replay the episode every shift for the shift workers who can't watch the prime time airing of the show.
Look!" Jewel pointed down to the bottom right corner of the holovid. There was an audience approval meter, showing a 93% approval rating and the number of viewers. "That is the highest rating I have ever seen. We are famous."
"Special announcement! Due to the nature of the crimes committed by these suspects, Amber and Nathaniel Roberts will not be available for tomorrow's christening ceremony. Jewel Stonewall, who has an extensive criminal record, was banned from the space station and transported to planet's spaceport. She will spend the rest of her days doing hard labor in the planet's salt mines to pay for her crimes. Remember, all subjects are guilty until proven innocent. Evidence gathered during this filming will be used to prove their guilt."
"I don't think I like being on this show anymore," Jewel said.
"Beverly must have had this planned all along, and we played right into her plans."
"She will have to let us out in time for tomorrow's ceremony. We are the guests of honor."
"Don't count on it. My sister must have found out about our involvement in her marriage. She is ruining our reputation to get back at us."
"What about Jewel? Why hurt her?"
"Jewel and I have been best friends since the first day we met. She is hurting Jewel to hurt me. I won't let her get away with it. Jewel is like a sister to me."
The Persephone
When we got up the next morning, we were still locked in the stateroom. Jewel turned the holovid on, "Its Tuesday. I'm off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so I can stay here and watch holovids all day if I want."
"Jewel, Beverly fired you yesterday."
"She wouldn't really fire me. We've been friends for a long time. She just wants me to work with her other girls."
"You don't have to do that. You are welcome to live aboard our ship."
"Look; the christening for your new ship is about to begin, and they are broadcasting it live."
A banner that said, "Busted," hung centered above the stage. It matched the logo on the holovid show. It had a black and white striped background with bold red letters, outlined in gold. Seated on the stage were holograms of Amber and me, wearing black and white prison uniforms. In the background, a large viewscreen was showing two different views. The left side had Jewel's hologram hammering a rock pick against a cave wall. The right side was rebroadcasting last nights episode of Busted.
Beverly walked to the center of the stage where a podium was ready for the speakers. Beverly cleared her throat, took a sip of water from a water bottle and spoke, "Amber and her new husband, Nathaniel, cannot be here today to give their speeches. The courts have agreed to be lenient with them. They are, after all, heroes. They were stopped before they could do any real harm to the hard workers aboard the Lucy; this is also their first offense. Details of their probation and fines are still being worked out; they are expected to be released later this afternoon. My sister and her husband will be watched to ensure they do not commit any other crimes. As everyone knows, the next time they commit a criminal act, they will face either a lifetime of slavery doing hard labor in the mines or execution.
Their accomplice, Jewel, was a former worker of mine and before that she worked for my sister. Her life has been full of petty crimes. She has records of offenses going back to her early childhood. Last night she took part in trying to steal the credits my employees worked hard to earn, and make her escape in one of my shuttlecraft. As you can see, she is paying for those crimes.
Jewel turned off the holovid, "I can't work anyplace now. Everyone will think I am a thief."
We waited two more hours before Beverly unlocked the suite we were held captive in. "Beverly, how could you? You ruined our reputations and Jewels life."
"Your sniveling reminds me of thistlepops, always excreting vile fluids. Maybe you and Nathaniel will think twice before interfering in the lives of other people. You both deserve what I did to the two of you and more. If you weren't family, you would be joining Jewel in the mines. You should be thankful."
We only did what you were too afraid to do yourself. You can't tell me that you don't enjoy having Sultan all to yourself. There was no grauping reason to ruin Jewel's life."
"The sneazle shouldn't have lied to me.
Jewel, I want you off my ship before noon. I have a shuttle waiting to take you dirtside."
"You know I don't have enough credits to last more than a day or two. I can't go down there. I'll do..." Jewel couldn't finish the words. Her lips moved, but no sound passed her lips."
"You will do what?" Beverly smiled.
Tears filled Jewel's eyes. She still couldn't speak.
"I almost thought you were going to ask to be one of the big girls. I guess not."
"There is no reason to be so cruel to Jewel. Besides, she already accepted a job on the Persephone."
"She doesn't have any useful skills."
"You are right, We will teach her."
"She will never make a decent crewman."
"Then we will make her an officer."
Beverly was furious. I couldn't let Amber have all of the fun. I had to get at least one stab at her, "Beverly, I guess this means that you won't be taking me up on my offer."
"You should know by now that I get everything that I want." She turned away from us and headed away.
"What was that about?"
"While she was robbing me I asked her for a rematch."
"What type of rematch?"
"Sex."
"And..."
"She agreed."
"Don't count on having a rematch."
"I'm not. I am happy enough with who I am with."
"Does that include Jewel?"
"Absolutely."
"Are you two done or do you need to go back inside."
"We're done for now. As soon as we get to the ship, I will send crewmen to get your belongings.
We left the Lucy. The nearest shuttle for hire was at dock 9, That meant we had to walk past eighteen docking ports to reach it. The group waiting for a transport car looked menacing; we decided to walk past them and walk to another stop. Individuals gathered into groups and followed us; we quickened our pace. The groups formed into a mob and our walk became a run. The mob continued following us and started throwing garbage at us. At first, we were pelted with organics from the recycling containers left outside the different businesses for pick up, then other objects were added, when the slop they were throwing at us ran low. Station security did nothing to stop the crowd; more than a few of them joined the mob.
A mix of gas grenades and flash-bang grenades were launched into the crowd followed by blaster fire set on stun. "We thought you might need a hand getting to the ship. We have a shuttle waiting for us at the next docking bay," Tanya and Natasha led the way to the shuttle. "Aren't you supposed to be working in the mines? How did you escape?" Natasha ask
ed Jewel.
"She didn't. We were all locked up aboard the Lucy. Beverly was using actors to have an episode of Busted recorded with us as its stars. None of it was real, but the viewers who watched the show believe what they saw and think we are criminals."
"They will forget about it in a few weeks. Until then, I recommend that the three of you stay aboard the Persephone. Jewel is joining our crew, isn't she? No one else will hire her if she doesn't. Her being fired was real. I have people aboard the Lucy packing her personal possessions and bringing them aboard the ship, but I need to know her rating so I can assign her a cabin."
"Officer rating; assign her the empty cabin next to yours."
"An officer?"
"It was Amber's idea, and I agree. She will make a lousy crewman, but she will make a good officer with a little training. She has already proven her loyalty to us."
"What posting?"
"Bridge officer. We will start her training with Amber, working with the ship's sensors, then communications, and finally helm."
"Do I list her as a cadet or an ensign?"
"Neither, make her a lieutenant. That will piss Beverly off when she finds out."
Natasha and Tanya stayed behind, waiting for another shuttle. Tanya tried thinking of an excuse to for them needing to take a different shuttlecraft that wouldn't offend us. Natasha didn't, she blurted out the truth, "The three of you stink. There is no way we can ride up to the white ring with the three of you."
When we arrived on the Persephone, I was anxious to tour the entire ship. I couldn't wait for Tanya and Natasha to meet with us. Besides, they had already been aboard, it wasn't a surprise for them. Mike was waiting in the shuttle bay for us. We approached him; he stepped back gagging and gasping for air. "What in the hell is that on you? Don't come any closer."
"The people in the blue ring formed a mob and pelted us with refuse from the organic recycling bins."
"Whatever was in those bins reeks. I don't know how the pilot was able to stand it."
"That explains why he sealed the cockpit off from the main cabin."
