\n4 Sina 1117: Boilingbrook – Adar\/Hinterworlds (0801 A9C9751-D 700 Na G0 II<\/B>)<\/p>\n
I didn’t do much today.<\/p>\n
I posted our spec cargoes and sold most of them, all without leaving my room. Once that was done, I was a bit at loose ends, so I started looking to see what I could do.<\/p>\n
The population on Boilingbrook is mostly confined to the Floaters. That’s what the locals call them; calling them “balloons” or “domes” or even “floating cities” marks you as an off-worlder. They have any kind of entertainment you may want on the various floaters, but nothing outside. There were local races where competitors took one-person floaters out and tried to be the fastest to circumnavigate the planet in the jet streams, but that was about it. There were a few tours to the surface, but being immersed in hydrogen sulfide clouds and enduring sulfuric acid rain was not my idea of a good time.<\/p>\n
They also had a few factory complexes where they built the floaters, some to expand locally and some to ship off-world to other planets. There were tours to those, but they were really just oversized factories; not something high on my list of sights to see.<\/p>\n
So I just watched net-vids for a bit. It was the typical mix of galaxy-wide programming from the X-Boat network and locally created content. Sometimes I preferred the local programming, but here I couldn’t get past the high-pitched voices.<\/p>\n
I wondered if the voices on the off-world programming sounded comically low-pitched to the locals. Probably.<\/p>\n
Eventually, I gave up and wandered downstairs to the hotel bar. It was still relatively early, by the clock anyway, but it was the local “off-day.” It was fairly dark outside, and there weren’t many people in the bar. Fine with me.<\/p>\n
A waitbot came over as I sat down. I ordered an Imperial Boil and a basket of tama leaves, then pulled up local data on my comp. I idly looked over the local tours and sights, but couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for them. I sighed and flicked off my comp in annoyance.<\/p>\n
I wasn’t mad at Saahna. Well, not really. But I was a bit irritated that she wouldn’t confide in me with what was really bothering her. I could tell it wasn’t our usual cycle.<\/p>\n
Whatever it was, it seemed to have something to do with that datastick from Fugitak, but that was hardly the first clandestine cargo we had carried. I wondered what it was.<\/p>\n
“That bad, huh?” came a voice from beside me. I looked up to see a young man, barely of registration age, standing beside me. Without invitation, he sat down on the next stool.<\/p>\n
“I’m not looking for company,” I said, more irritated than I should have been. He was clean-shaven and bald, wearing a sleeveless shirt and vest, with cargo pants and boots. There was an intricate tattoo on his upper arm and, despite myself, I tilted my head to get a better look.<\/p>\n
“I’m not either,” he said. “I’m looking for a business partner.” He noticed my gaze and, with a frown, pushed a cuff up his arm to cover the tattoo. I looked away awkwardly.<\/p>\n
“What kind of business partner?” I asked, waving the waitbot back over. “If you’ve got cargo that you want transported, we’ll probably be posting our next destination in a day or two.”<\/p>\n
He shook his head. “Nope. I need someone on-planet.” <\/p>\n
The waitbot arrived, and I ordered another Boil. He ordered a Stemilk for himself. I raised an eyebrow at that. Stemilk is a K’kree drink that is basically fermented algae. What happens to a salad when it gets left out in the sun too long. It was intoxicating; beyond that, I couldn’t think of a single good thing to say about it.<\/p>\n
I said nothing until the waitbot returned with our drinks. I took a sip of mine as he took a long swallow of his and coughed. I shook my head.<\/p>\n
“OK,” I said, finally, when it became apparent that he wasn’t going to volunteer anything more on his own. “What is this about?”<\/p>\n
He took another drink, grimaced, and set it aside. “I need someone who can get into a place and be accepted there. Someone who has been there before and so won’t be scrutinized as closely.”<\/p>\n
“We only hit atmosphere yesterday; I haven’t exactly been to a lot of places.”<\/p>\n
“Besides the Uptown Downport<\/em>, you mean?”<\/p>\n I frowned further. What was this about? I took another drink.<\/p>\n “There didn’t seem to be any restrictions on who they let in. Why not just go there yourself?”<\/p>\n He made a snorting laugh, gesturing down at himself. “Do I look like someone who they would let in?”<\/p>\n “They let me in.”<\/p>\n “You’re a ship’s captain. A Free Trader. That opens a lot of doors that we grounders can’t access.”<\/p>\n “So what is it that you want?”<\/p>\n He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small, thin disc. “Just take this in there and stick it somewhere. Under a table, on a wall, whatever. It’ll camouflage itself to fit in. That’s all.”<\/p>\n I looked at him skeptically. “Why? And what is in it for me?”<\/p>\n “You don’t need to know why.” He pulled up something on his comp and flicked it to me. “And that’s what is in it for you.”<\/p>\n I looked at my own comp. There was a voucher there for a High Passage; 10 k-creds.<\/p>\n “We haven’t even said where we’re going yet.”<\/p>\n “Doesn’t matter. Do the job, and you’ll have a passenger. Don’t, and the voucher won’t activate. That’s all.”<\/p>\n He glanced at the Stemilk then got up, shoving the stool back into place. “It’s your call.” He left without looking back.<\/p>\n I sighed. Had Captain Anna put up with biowaste like this? I drained my beer and called over the waitbot, handing it my glass and waving away what was left of the kid’s Stemilk. I quickly looked over the menu, then ordered what seemed to be a seafood pie and another beer.<\/p>\n When the waitbot left, I pulled up the voucher on my comp again. It looked valid, but it wouldn’t activate until the passenger entered a crypto code upon boarding. Not entirely unheard of, but I had only seen it done that way a couple of times before.<\/p>\n There was something about the whole encounter that seemed wrong. The kid was too young, obviously didn’t like the drink he had ordered, and I could only get paid if I accepted someone onto my ship after doing something that, while maybe not illegal, was definitely on the questionable side. Either I was dealing with someone completely incompetent, which I doubted, or they were doing everything they could to confuse me. At which they were succeeding.<\/p>\n My beer and seafood pie arrived, and I took several minutes to eat. I was hungrier than I had realized. That taken care of, I pulled out my comp again.<\/p>\n I usually wouldn’t bother the crew with something like this. As I had told them, we had done a number of weird deliveries or questionable actions before. But something had set them off this time.<\/p>\n OK, something had set Saahna off. And I didn’t know what it was, or why, but I didn’t want to alienate her further. So I composed a message describing my latest encounter and pinged the crew. If they were unhappy with me doing things without them, then they couldn’t complain if I kept them informed about what was going on. Then, for what could only be described as irritation, I sent a second copy of the message to Dr. Korvusar.<\/p>\n I didn’t expect to hear back from anyone. Not directly, anyway. Varan pinged back that he didn’t think it was a good idea, but no one else responded. I had been hoping to hear something from Saahna, but wasn’t really surprised when I didn’t. I was about to head back to my room when my comm pinged. I answered.<\/p>\n “Can you send me a copy of that voucher?” It was Dr. Korvusar’s voice.<\/p>\n I hesitated. “Sure… I guess?” I paused. “I don’t know why I sent that to you; I just thought you might possibly be interested.”<\/p>\n “I’m on your ship for the foreseeable future,” she said, sounding annoyed. “Of course I’d be interested.”<\/p>\n I hesitated, wondering if my impulsive decision had been correct. “I needed everyone’s input on this. You aren’t crew, but you’re with us for a while, so I figured you’d want to be involved.”<\/p>\n “Very,” came the reply. There was a long silence. I almost thought that she had disconnected, then she spoke. “Are you going to do it?”<\/p>\n “Do what?”<\/p>\n “Place the scanner.”<\/p>\n I had assumed that was what she had meant, but I decided not to acknowledge it. “No. I’ve already stepped in enough biowaste since getting here; I’m not going to get myself further into whatever is going on.”<\/p>\n “What does your crew think?”<\/p>\n “Varan isn’t keen on the idea. Saahna isn’t talking to me. Haven’t heard from anyone else.”<\/p>\n “You know what you need to do.”<\/p>\n I looked around. The bar was still relatively empty.<\/p>\n “I know. Something is off about this. And I don’t need to let someone on board my ship who might be determined to make sure there are no witnesses.”<\/p>\n “I don’t think you have anything to worry about that. Too obvious.”<\/p>\n “So what do you think I should do?”<\/p>\n She laughed. “Why are you asking me, Captain?”<\/p>\n “Because you know something!” I said, angrily. “I have no idea what I have gotten myself into, but I think you do. That’s why you were so determined to travel with us! What the hell is going on?”<\/p>\n There was a very long pause. <\/p>\n “Do you trust me? And are you sure you want to know?”<\/p>\n I hesitated at that. Did I trust her? Finally, I replied.<\/p>\n “If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have let you on my ship. And I know you know more than I do. You know I know your background; you even called me on it. So, what is this all about?”<\/p>\n There was another long pause. “Travellers come here to see the floating city factories, right?”<\/p>\n “I… guess?”<\/p>\n “Take the Boilingbrook Tours tour to the Mastodon factory tomorrow. You can still sign up.”<\/p>\n “What?” <\/p>\n “Just take the tour.” She abruptly terminated the call.<\/p>\n I sighed and looked around. The bar was still relatively empty, even for an off day. I waved the waitbot over to pay my tab, only to discover that my visitor had left me with his bill earlier. I became more determined not to do what he wanted and headed back to my room.<\/p>\n Once there, I booked a tour to the Mastodon Floater Factory through Boilingbrook Tours. Now I’m going to watch local net dramas until I fall asleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Grayswandir<\/I> lands on Boilingbrook. Derek makes his special delivery and finds that it was a “test” of some kind, then finds that the crew is less than happy about getting them involved in something they know nothing 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