The Scapegoat: a Capricorn Adventure

Moon Part 5

"What are you planning to do today?" Yohanna asked when shecaught up with her cousin in the breakfast area.

"I thought I might refresh my import safety certifications,"Peyton said. "That is, if it is okay for me to use a computer inthe spaceport?"

Yohanna nodded. "Of course," she said. "All Corporation pilotsare welcome on official business. You can also watch me work."

There were no vessels scheduled to arrive from the outlying planets,but one shuttle did pull in from Earth Prime. As the crewdisembarked, the metal detector went off. Yohanna hurried forward.

"Stop guys, please step over here," she commanded.

Politely, Yohanna requested that each member of the shuttle crew walkthrough the gate separately. Most passed through without triggeringany alarm, but finally, one caused a beep.

"What are you carrying?" Yohanna asked.

The crew member reluctantly reached into his pocket and drew out asmall mechanical part. The component had no explosive qualities, andno sharp edges. It wasn't even heavy enough to use as a weapon.

Yohanna heaved a sigh. "Why didn't you put it on the conveyor?"she asked.

The crew member shrugged. "I guess I forgot I was carrying it,"he said.

Yohanna inspected his paperwork. Everything checked out and he was areliable Taurus and a certified space mechanic. Moreover, thecomponent he was carrying was legal.

"Don't do it again," she said. "Look how it held yourcolleagues up - and most of them look like they would kill to get tothe Spacebar!"

The fleeters hooted in agreement and several began to heckle theircrewmate for drawing attention and subjecting them to an extrascanning. Peyton grinned. She suspected the crewman would not forgetto empty his pockets again in a hurry.

(Sci-fi illustration generated using AI Photo Editor v.4.0 (ChatGPT-based creative tool from OpenAI), with creative direction by the author.)