Higgs & Soap: Galaxy Delivery

Chapter 10

"What do mean we're 58 kilos overweight? We passed weigh-in at Williams City Spaceport without any problems!"

The large man with the moustache rubbed his nose and sniffed as the strange young man with the tall hair and the ginger cat lady looked at him with puzzled expressions.

"Says right here. You were 58 kilos over your confirmed weight on landing, but now your ship weight matches fine. So 58 kilos have gone missing somewhere between hitting the pad and right now."

"Did you throw up again Higgs?"

Higgs patted his waist. "Nope, didn't go for a dump either."

"Very funny guys."

Morley Station security had stopped them as they went through Arrivals. They were standing next to a tall counter and a queue was slowly building up behind them. Barty McClough, Acting Head of Station Security, had seen this all before. They were most likely people smugglers. Their missing passenger would have snuck out through the baggage or servicing areas before attempting to get on board another craft. These two may or may not have known they were carrying an extra body, either way it didn't change procedures much. Barty tapped at the holoscreen floating above the counter as he went through the forms.

"Look Mr Dittum, I'm afraid we can't let you leave the station until we track down this extra weight, most likely a stowaway. Until then your ship is impounded."

"What? But we have to get to Scylla urgently!"

"We all have to be somewhere Mr Dittum," said Barty with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I have to be in the Federation Wild Corps, bravely battling bandits and raiders between the outer planets, but that's not going to happen is it?" Barty's blue shirt gained stretch marks over his bulging stomach as he shrugged. "Now, there is a stowaway flat fee to be paid. And it's payable whether you knew anyone was there or not..."

"WE DON'T SMUGGLE PEOPLE!" said Higgs.

Everything went very quiet.

"Or anything at all, for that matter. But definitely not people. Which we don't, because we don't smuggle anything, let alone people... which we wouldn't smuggle if we did... which we don't..." Higgs bit his lips together.

Something was definitely off about these two, figured Barty. "Then, there is a one-off impound charge to cover the administration and an eight hourly landing pad overstay fee to cover security and the station's lost earnings while your craft is kept here."

Soap leaned over to Higgs as his jaw slowly dropped. "There goes our Densi IV beach holiday."

"And any chance of a profit this cycle."

"Then there is an additional security charge, which is our cost for the extra work incurred searching for this stowaway. Oh and of course the pad lockdown fee: a systems admin duty for our port staff who have to keep your craft flight systems shut off for the duration." He leant forwards. "So you can't go skipping out on us, yes?"

Barty smiled. He might not be fighting deadly pirates on the fringes of space, but he loved it when he could at least get his quota for the month. These two looked pretty clueless though, he thought. Most likely a sly hitch and ditch. Still, getting in some cash for the station was almost as good as blasting apart a raider ship as it tried to force dock with a transport. Almost.

"How long till you find this person?" said Higgs, his voice wavering.

Barty sighed. He would check the CCTV footage some time next week. By then whoever this person was would be long gone. All he had to do then was call the destination planet and let it be someone else's problem. Easy life.