Chapter 4

“Zeke! You made it,” yelled Paul as soon as he spied his brother.

He quickly wrapped his taller brother in a bear hug and slapped his back while Zeke hugged back one-handed and knuckled Paul’s sandy-haired noggin. His own hair was more burnished copper like his mother’s.

Dallas was grinning like a loon, and as soon as Paul released his brother, he pushed him out of the way so he could hug Zeke. Zeke had to chuckle at their exuberance. He had missed them too.

“So, is some fool actually going to say you two are competent enough to drive a starship?”

One of the other lads pipped up, “Even worse than that, they said that these two were the best in our class.”

Zeke shook his and said sorrily, “Bugger me, that doesn’t say much for the rest of you.”

The other cadets laughed. They had met Zeke before and knew how the boys liked to rib each other. It was never done in malice. Zeke had gone to the expense to visit his brothers every two months.

A one-way trip from Mars to Morpheus SS took him four days, and he tried not to stay more than a day. Until recently, he’d made the round trip every two weeks. Adding in a couple of days to go to Armstrong stretched his timetable as he did have other businesses to run on Mars.

He would be glad to hand the transport run over to the boys. At least with two of them, they might get some sleep. While he occasionally had a passenger, he found them more of a hindrance than a help. Mostly because they got bored and wanted to talk his ears off, some even expected him to wait on them.

However, passengers willing to travel on a freighter were often willing to pay well for the privilege. The commercial ventures didn’t operate as often as people wished, and they took six to seven days. Whereas freighters came and went all the time.

They also tried to get up to jump speed faster than the passenger liners did.

Zeke barely got a drink before they were called to take their seats.

Nothing made him prouder than seeing his brothers receive their Captain’s certificates. He was surprised by the numerous ships they had achieved the right to operate.

As he suspected, Paul excelled at piloting and navigation and Dallas at mechanics and electrical systems. While Paul was the most outgoing of the two, Dallas wasn’t a wallflower and could hold his own in social situations.

Zeke could see that they were well-liked by the other cadets and the trainers. He was glad that he sent them here. He had a fun evening catching up with his brothers and their friends. He was surprised by how little they drank and how early they called quits.

They parted ways after the boys saw him back to Bella. They didn’t come aboard as they had to muster out in the morning and told him that they would see him around tenish.

That suited Zeke as he had to get Bella sorted out and go to the shipyard to see if his new ship was ready for him.

It surprised Zeke how well he slept.

Six hours in a stretch was a sleep-in. More often than not, on board the ship, he slept in shifts of two hours down with ten awake. While he was on station, four to five hours was normal.

Zeke had stocked Bella with enough supplies for two ships while on Morpheus. It was cheaper than on the Armstrong SS. Several years before, he had included a hidden pantry that held enough food for six people for three months. The spells in the room made sure the food never went bad.

He could have put the medical supplies in that room with room to spare. However, because other people had to load and unload the stores, he had to make do with the visible space. It could have gone into his workshop, but most of that area was hidden.

He was still debating whether he should tell the boys about what he was. Since the news three years before about Utopia having wizards, he had thought about coming clean. However, the reactions of many people on Earth and on Luna had given him second thoughts.

Even so, he could spruce up the cabins for the boys before he left.

Zeke rocked up at the office for Burnie’s Shipyards right at nine.

“Good morning, my name is Zeke Walker, and I’ve come to pick up my ship.”

The girl looked at him in surprise. She frowned and started tapping away on her keyboard. She ummed, gave Zeke a furtive look and turned away to tap her ear. She spoke quickly and softly for a few seconds.

Zeke distinctly heard her say, “I’m not telling him that. You have to come and deal with him.”

“No,” she growled and then said a little louder, “I’ll send him in.”

Zeke grimaced and guessed there was a problem. He watched the girl tap her ear again. She stood and came over to lift a section of the counter. She asked Zeke to follow her, then led him down the hall to the end office.

She tapped on the door, opened it and then stood back to let Zeke in. Once he stepped into the room, she shut the door and left. The guilty look on Burnie’s face was not encouraging.

“So, what is the problem with my ship, Burnie? You promised it would be ready when I got here.”

The man had the decency to look extremely uncomfortable. “Ah, Zeke. Um, well, I was told that you had been arrested on Morpheus two days ago. That you were going to be put in prison for murder.”

“And yet here I stand, a free man. Did you bother to check those facts with the MPs?”

“Um, no,” Burnie replied and wiggled in discomfort in his chair, causing his comb-over to flop over his eyes. He nervously flicked it back into place.

“So, what did you do, Burnie?”

“I ... well ... It was an incredibly good offer, Zeke. I ... I ... I couldn’t refuse,” he stammered while sweat beaded on his forehead.

Zeke sighed. “Is the ship and the runner still here?”