Chapter 5

Travis tisked.

“I’m sorry, Art, but in this case, my client today, Zeke Walker, is the legal owner of the freighter and the shuttle. Burnie is going to have to give you your deposit back. If either of you gentlemen wishes to have Burnie charged with stealing and selling stolen goods, I believe we can proceed with those charges.”

Bernie looked at Travis, horrified.

“What about the modifications done without my consent?” Zeke asked.

Burnie groaned as he knew this was going to cost him more.

“What were the modifications?” Travis asked with his pen, poised to take more notes.

“I had him install one of those new recycle and replication units. It wasn’t cheap, and they are hard to get,” Art replied. He then glared at poor Burnie.

“Will it be hard to remove?” Travis asked Burnie.

Burnie nodded glumly, “Yes, we had to redirect all the plumbing and remove the waste recycler and water filtration system, as the R&R unit does both. The element storage part of the unit had to go in its place. The crew did overtime to get it all installed.”

“Then how do you plan to return the unit I gave you?” Art asked angrily.

“I’ll have to pay you for it or give you one of the ones I have for the UNSEC ships and order a new one. They are the same model. With luck, it will turn up before I get the third ship finished.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to pay for it,” Zeke replied.

“No,” Burnie replied morosely after glancing at Travis and Zeke.

“Well, I’m glad that is settled,” Travis said. “Do either of you gentlemen plan to press charges against Mr Bolt?”

Zeke and Art looked at each other. Both of them were men of business, and this affair had wasted enough of their time and energy.

They shook their heads.

While Art wasn’t happy, he knew there was little he could do.

Art did say, “As long as I get my money back and the replacement unit, I’ll let it go. Mind you, I won’t be in a hurry to do business with you again, Burnie. My boy will not be happy when I have to tell him I couldn’t get him the ship I promised.”

Burnie replied in a whiny voice, “I was trying to do as you wanted. I had no reason to not believe Simba Gordano when he contacted me.”

“Why did he contact you?” Zeke asked with some confusion.

“Oh, my last shipment of parts was short a pallet. He contacted me to tell me it had been found. The bastard wanted to charge me extra to send them as a special delivery, or else he couldn’t guarantee them arriving for weeks.”

“Well, that may be difficult, Burnie, as he is the one in prison for bugging Manny’s office and running an extortion racket. There was even talk of banning or disbanding their Union.”

Art and Burnie looked at Zeke in shock at his news.

There was a knock at the door, and the girl popped her head around it. “Uncle Burnie, I have three young men out here looking for your guests.”

“Tell them we won’t be long,” Zeke replied.

She nodded and left.

The four men headed to the reception.

Zeke smiled at the flustered girl. It was obvious that his brothers had been flirting with her. They moved away from the desk when Burnie hurried over to her, and they had a whispered conversation.

The girl, whom Zeke had finally learned was called Gigi, scowled at Burnie before tapping away at her keyboard. She hadn’t been working here the last time Zeke came in. Burnie had a habit of going through receptionists. It looked like he had been reduced to hiring family.

“What’s up, Zeke?” Dallas asked as he watched Art drag Joey over to a corner to tell him something.

Zeke glanced at Joey and felt bad that he was the real loser in this debacle. “Burnie got told a pack of lies. He thought that I wasn’t going to turn up to claim my ship, so he tried to sell it to Art.”

Paul glanced and Joey and knew why he had a long face. “Can’t his dad buy him another ship?”

“He would if anything at the station was worth buying. Small, affordable freighters like mine are in short supply. With all the expansion happening on Terra, there are fewer ships in system,” Zeke replied.

“That’s too bad,” Dallas chipped in. “So, when do we get to see this much sought-after wonder of ships?”

“I do suggest a final inspection Zeke before you pay Burnie,” Travis commented dryly.

Zeke grinned, “I had every intention of doing just that. Do you wish to join us, Travis?”

“Yes, I think I should,” he replied and looked at his Mad. “I have an hour to spare, believe it or not, and I bill by the hour.”

“Can we join you?” Art asked as he and Joey joined them.

Zeke chuckled, “Why not? The more, the merrier.”

Burnie called Art over to refund his money. He assured him that he would deliver the R&R unit to wherever he wanted it sent. Once they were done, he picked up his pad and led the men to a lift.

“The boys parked it at the showroom airlocks,” Burnie informed them.

They stepped out into the point of a long, crescent-shaped room.

The long, concave wall in front of them was floor-to-ceiling Oznglass. The personnel port entrance was around the curve, so you got to look at the ship from the nose and down one side. The men chuckled as the boys raced up to the glass, babbling to each other about the ship’s extremities.