Chapter 5

We passed through the port gate without incident. The same guards and inspector were on duty from when we came through the last time. A quick swipe with his handheld over the customs inspection sticker that Yuatan had provided covered the inspector’s ass if anyone questioned why he let us pass.

It took over an hour to load and secure the container on the ship, do a preflight check and wait for the port authorities to clear us for takeoff. Oxy used the time to do a few repairs and had the cooling system on the bridge working again.

I was not sure if I was disappointed or relieved when Mom put her shirt back on when the air conditioning kicked in.

We could have taken a wormhole to Janus and cut two weeks off the trip. We could easily afford the Central Government toll with what we would be paid to smuggle the munitions to the rebels. I never liked to go near Central Government inspectors when carrying goods we could not afford to have confiscated. Government inspectors were damn near impossible to bribe and suspicious as hell of any cargo ship not registered as a Central Government licensed cargo ship. In a way, I could not blame them. The only ones not registered as Central Government licensed cargo ships were independent armed traders like us and pirates.

Mom plotted a course that would require four jumps and just a little under a month to complete. I entered the recognition codes that Yuatan gave us that we would need upon arrival into our computer.

I was just relaxing with my hands behind my head when I heard in my implant. “Cargo ship YU666U, Registry Mestoria. You’re cleared to depart.”

Mom had the ship all warmed up and ready to go. She hit the launch button, and we held on as we roared through the atmosphere on our way to our first jump point. It took 22 hours at 0.20 light speed to reach the first jump point. All three of us stayed on duty until we were a safe distance from the planet and other craft, and Mom could jump us into Nullspace.

In Nullspace, we each stood an 8-hour bridge watch and had 16 hours off. I once asked Mom why we didn’t use a 10-hour watch cycle like a lot of other ships used. Then we could do 10-hour watches and have 20 hours off. Mom said it was a tradition from long ago on our mother planet, and it was essential to keep customs and traditions to remind us of where we came from.

I did some research on our mother planet. It was called Earth. I thought it was aptly named because apparently, it is nothing but a big dirtball primarily used as a trash dump. Somehow it lost its ozone layer during its last pre-intergalactic space travel war that pretty much trashed the place, pardon the pun, a few thousand years ago. There was not a lot of information about the war, and what there was vague. The best I could dig up was that some city called USA was constantly bullying and interfering with the politics of cities called Asia, South America and one called the Middle East. The three cities formed an alliance and declared war. They pretty much wiped out USA along with its two allies, Britain and Israel. History after that is more complete.

It’s a shame the planet was trashed because it was mostly a water planet, and those are rare. Apparently, the planet was in such bad shape that space exploration became a worldwide priority. It was necessary to get off-world or die. Sin Lan Loo, a Chinese genius, developed the Nulldrive Theory and built the prototype. It was quite a surprise when they found out we were latecomers to intergalactic space travel.

Mom was about to enter the last coordinates for the third Null jump when my comm buzzed with a distress call. I hit the abort button. Each station had an abort option if they spotted something amiss prior to a jump.

Mom looked at me and raised an eyebrow but didn’t panic or appear upset.

“Distress call. Weak but steady.”

“Send me the coordinates.”

“On your comm ... now.”

Space is a dangerous and lonely place when your ship lets you down, and a distress call is the one thing no spacer ignores. Even pirates didn’t ignore distress calls. They may take a few souvenirs if you are carrying cargo or request ‘modest’ payment, but they would do everything they could to send you safely on your way or, in the worst-case, transport you to the nearest inhabitable planet. Even pirates break down and need help, so they play nice. Those who don’t play nice get put on a kill list and usually don’t last more than a year. There is an unwritten spacer code of no harm to ship or personnel in distress.

It wasn’t a Null jump, so Mom had the coordinates plotted and a course laid in within minutes that avoided all known space debris, asteroids and gravity fields. We changed course and headed out at 22% light speed, the best our old crate could muster.

It took a little over 4 hours to rendezvous with the distressed ship. I did a visual scan, and it appeared to be a private luxury cruise ship. “Cargo Ship YU666U hailing distressed vessel. Please acknowledge if you are able.”

My comm lit up with a portly woman’s face and upper torso sporting enough fine jewelry for us to layover on a decent planet for a year, “Thank you for responding to our distress call. I will be forever grateful for your assistance.”

“What assistance do you require?” I transferred the woman’s image and voice onto our main screen.

“Our Nulldrive computer overheated and burned the main circuit before we could shut it down. I am sorry to say I do not have a computer expert who can rebuild it, nor do I have a spare on board. The closest inhabited planet is six months away at our best sub-light speed, but we only have provisions for two months.”

Mom said, “I’ll take it from here, Tag.”

I switched communication from my comm to Mom.

“I think we can help out a former employer.”

Recognition showed in the eyes of the woman on the main screen. “Duma, Duma Waterfall, is it truly you, my dear?”

“The very one, Madam Matara. My son Tag that you were speaking to is my computer technician. I will send him over to assess the damage and let you know what it will take to get you on your way.”

“Fate has surely shined its fickle face on me today.”

“Do not be alarmed. I will honor distress call protocol to the letter Madam Matara.”

“Thank you, Duma. I am grateful for your assistance. The hatch is unlocked. I will have one of my associates meet Tag and escort him to the damaged computer.”

After suiting up, I opened the outer hatch to the cold and unforgiving vacuum. I shot a safety line across to the hull of the distressed ship and hooked up my tether. I got a kick out of the hologram vids when the hero maneuvered himself around in a vacuum without a safety line. One sticky valve or a puncture from space debris in your MP (maneuver pack), and goodbye, hero. But I guess that only happens to the villains.