In A Starship's Wake

Chapter Three: Stops and Stoplights

Tyrone twisted his head around as he heard their truck pull up next to the ship, but didn't turn away from the cargo being loaded. The ten thousand rubber tree seedlings being loaded onto their ship were making him a little nervous. They didn't usually carry cargo this delicate.

Neither of the two men were wild pilots, but they mostly carried packaged goods. This would be the first time either was flying with cargo that could be seriously damaged if they had to do any hard maneuvering. The inertial drive did a good job of compensating for normal maneuvers, but they could still throw you off balance. In hard maneuvers it couldn't modify the complex gravitational fields that kept everything pointed at the floor fast enough to prevent things from flying around; its priority was to prevent blackouts and serious injury to the people on board.

Tyrone didn't really expect any aggressive flying to be necessary on this trip, but they'd have to rely on their shields instead of their thrusters for defense if attacked. Tyrone didn't like losing the option. Piracy was always a concern even in the Teton Sector, and was significantly more likely out in unaffiliated planets, because few had enough warships to patrol their own space. Temoran was home to less than one hundred million people and the planet didn't have a unified government; anti-piracy work was minimal.

Joseph and their new passenger approached him just as the first of the large racks holding the seedlings was driven aboard on a four-wheeled lift twice the size of their pickup. The girl had the apprehensive look of one who hadn't been around starships before.

"I'd thought they would be further along by now." The cargo bay had six large clamshell doors, three on each side, which were sixty feet long so that shipping containers could be loaded easily. All six currently stood open, so it was easy for Joseph to see how far the work had progressed.

"They spent a lot of time getting the water tanks loaded." Tyrone pointed out the long cylinders at the front of the bay. "That alone is about a third of the cargo. You can expect them to fuss over the irrigation connections to every rack of seedlings too. They're rainforest plants, they need a lot of moisture."

"I can't argue with that, I suppose. I don't want to have to water ten thousand plants by hand every day."

"Nor I. There's going to be enough extra work for this trip anyway. We have to check each plant every day to make sure it's at the right moisture level and adjust the irrigation system if it isn't."

Joseph sighed. "I remember Mr. Carver saying something about that. It's not like we have anything better to do during a week in FTL, but it's still a pain in the neck."

"Well, that's partly why it pays so much better than our normal cargo. Twice the money we would make hauling back a hold full of steel or something similar. It also makes it an opportune time to have an extra set of hands around." Tyrone nodded significantly toward the girl, who was still looking at the ship.

"Convenient timing then." Joseph took the hint. "Allison, this is my business partner Tyrone Barret."

"Hello," she said, timidly shaking the hand he extended.

"Welcome aboard," he replied, smiling gently.

"I should show you where to put your things I suppose," Joseph said. He led her into the ship through the cargo hold after the lift rolled back out and several workers began connecting irrigation lines.

Joseph returned a few minutes later. "She's getting settled in. I put her in the empty cabin on the port side, forward from the living quarters."

Tyrone nodded. "I'll remember not to go in there uninvited then."

"Neither of us ever goes in there except to clean anyway, I don't think you'll have a problem there. We don't do much with our unoccupied cabins. We don't even take on passengers that often."