‘Find-B’. She stared at it, just sitting there in Raivenn’s cargo bay; the mysterious wooden crate at the centre of this whole mess. An archaeologist’s dream; a shipwright’s revolution… And catalyst for an extremely long think on Emma’s part.
It began on Persephone. Emma and Gabe were sitting atop an unused mass of old cargo containers, exchanging the usual pleasantries, pondering on the importance of chewing and amusing themselves as they waited for the Captain to come back with the client. The man in question was Podwangler Zapedski, a long-time associate of Duncan’s, who oft threw jobs his way when he needed them done well, and by someone he could trust.
After some rushed introductions, and some assurances from Duncan that the new girl wasn’t in fact a problem, Mr. Z got down to explaining the job. Duncan followed intently, or at least did a darn good impression, Gabe nodded each time money was mentioned, and Emma just sat at the back, trying not to get in the way or say anything stupid. Mr. Z was convinced that the job would be a cakewalk; he wanted the trio to steal some cargo from a ship that was already disabled due to ‘technical malfunctions’ and was willingly to pay handsomely, more than handsomely even. The price was so handsome; it would win a “Mr. Verse” competition by far, even getting full marks from the Sihnon judge.
That alone seemed to sell Gabe on the plan instantly, though she did a good job of nodding and listening to the rest so not to seem too greedy. Final say though, of course, lay with the Captain; Duncan gave each of his crew a look to scan for any objections, and then nodded to Mr. Zapedski, the job was accepted. His joy was almost tangible; whatever was in the crate we needed to get him meant a lot to him, he was like a child who had just been told he could have anything he wanted from a toy store.
The journey was uneventful, Duncan flew the ship while Gabe and Emma discussed their fears regarding the task.
"It'll be fine, you'll see. You heard the man, scientists... what're they gonna do, think us to death?" Emma just blinked and looked back at Gabe, "You kidding? They’re scientists... they could build evil doom things to squish us out of paperclips and sprockets! Brainy people are scary..."
Gabe’s tone changed, and she looked down, worry-lines suddenly creasing her forehead. "Y'think… ?"
Emma nodded sincerely, "Ain’t you ever watched the old movies on the cortex? The most dangerous villains are always scientists"
"Well, yeah..." Gabe couldn’t help but sound a bit hesitant now. "But I have guns."
The girl lay back in her chair and pondered, "Hmm... Guns are useful... that could tip the balance back in our favour..."
Gabe’s confidence flowed back into her upon hearing that, "Damn straight." She nodded authoritatively.
Duncan meanwhile was smiling, having been listening to their conversation, he turned round and called back into the living area "Scientists an' the guys in the black hats Emma. Best not be forgettin' them.”
Emma just squeaked, "I hope none of the scientists are wearing black hats... then we're doomed. The power of hat and science combined..."
As it turned out, much to the relief of the two girls, there were no hats, and no sign of paperclips nor the dreaded sprocket. Just one lowly archaeologist, the rest sleeping in their rooms to preserve the air, and, of course the crate, the mysterious ‘Find-B’. While the captain and first mate discussed business, Emma wandered around the rest of the ship, under the guise of “extra-curricular thieving" In truth, she was looking for the reactor room.
She couldn’t help it. As strange as it sounds for a girl who dressed most the time in purple, she didn’t like being bad to people, especially nice people, and the scientist on the whole didn’t seem a bad sort. She figured if she fixed their reactor, it would make up for robbing the poor soul of his discovery, just a little bit. Gabe managed to catch up and inform the girl why that would be a very bad idea. Reluctantly she went back to skulking round the ship, looking for even more things to take from the man as instructed..
The girls finished their survey and walked back to the cargo bay, where Duncan was busy finalising the details of their transaction with the victim. "Now... if'n it'd make you feel better, like as you gave better 'count of yourself an' all, well happen I can rough you up some."
~
“And that was that.” She thought, staring at the crate, now lashed securely in the cargo hold of their ship. “We stole a mans dream… what he’d been wishing for his whole career. And the nicest thing we could offer him in return was to maybe beat him up a little” She sighed. “I knew… I knew that spacer jobs were sometimes a little morally ambiguous… but there’s normally some greater good served… or, the people deserved it or something… But we stole a mans dream, to fuel another mans pockets… That’s just…"
“Someone, just please tell me the big picture on this one, that we did some good, that this wasn’t just us being mean for money…”
“I mean, I can live with it if that’s all it was… But I’d… I’d really like not to have to…”
“Please?”
No comments:
Post a Comment