"I've always been attracted to exotic Spanish ladies," Ivan murmured when Yohanna arrived in the cafeteria some hours later. Ivan and Doran had caught up with Peyton, and they were eating their evening meal.
"So long as you intend to stick to THIS Spanish lady," Yohanna joked lightly.
"Of course," Ivan said. "Peyton has never given me the vibe!"
"And if she had - I saw her first," Doran objected.
"I'm not looking," Peyton muttered shortly, and Yohanna made amental note. There was some story to be shared in a moment ofcousinly confidence.
"I thought you might like this," Ivan said, and he handed Yohannaa bracelet.
Yohanna was charmed by the gesture, and turned the bracelet over inher hands. It was silver, and one of the charms was shaped like a fishin honour of her being a Pisces. Such frivolous things were luxury items in space, and this would have set Ivan back more credits than a gold one would have done on Earth.
"I love it," she said. "Wherever did you get it?"
"At the market," Ivan said, referring to the pop-up shoppingbazaar that bloomed into trade whenever a cargo bearing ship hadvisited the Moon Terminus.
"It's a while since I've been down there," Yohanna said. "Imust go again sometime."
"I was surprised at what they had," Peyton said. She lowered hervoice: "Even hemp."
"Hemp?" the customs officer in Yohanna was all ears.
"Ivan recognised it," Peyton said.
"It was immature and harmless," Ivan said in a low voice. "ButI think it indicates you might have some unauthorised hydroponicsfarming happening somewhere in the colony."
"Hmm," Yohanna sounded serious.
Peyton knew some people believed hemp had medicinal uses. The concernwasn't so much that hemp was contraband, but that unregulated cultivation might breed microbes that could easily wipe out their entire food supply.
"Show me where," Yohanna requested urgently. Time was of essence, as the pop-up market could pack up and would not be in evidence again until another freighter, such as the one from Mars visited.
(Sci-fi illustration generated using AI Photo Editor v.4.0 (ChatGPT-based creative tool from OpenAI), with creative direction by the author.)
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