Chapter 17

Following Dan Larson’s directions, I found the ‘Airfoil.’ As advertised, it was a good-sized and loud meeting place. I could hear the music and crowd noises long before I found the entrance. When I got inside, the place was crowded. The music was blaring, and most everybody was dancing. As I dodged and weaved my way to the bar, several people stopped me. They were offering various diversions, chemical and physical. I ignored them and continued on.

At the bar, the harried bartender asked, “What’ll it be?”

“I’m looking for Tom Olivet.”

“Sorry buddy, I serve booze here. Food’s next door and cards are in the back room. Information isn’t on the menu.”

“I was told that Tom Olivet was here, or I could get a message to him.”

“Look, booze or get I’m not Western Union or the lost and found.” he raised his hand, and I could see a bruiser to my right stand up and start moving towards me.

“Ok, I get it.” I took a 20 credit coin and put it on the bar. As he reached for it, I covered the coin with my left hand and let the blade in my right sleeve drop down. The approaching bouncer saw it and stopped. “If you happen to see Tom Olivet, I’ll be next door eating dinner.” I pulled my left hand away from the coin and turned to the bouncer. I smiled at him and said, “You have a nice day. Sir.” and then walked out of the bar.

The restaurant next door was nothing to write home about. But it did have two things going for it. It was clean and cheap, the food was so-so, but they did have a rather decent house brew. I was halfway through my red beans and rice when somebody stepped up next to me. I had deliberately taken a seat with my back to the door. I wanted to show whoever followed me that I wasn’t afraid. I also wanted to give them the opportunity to sit facing the door.

“I hear you’re looking for Tom Olivet?”

“That’s right Commander, please have a seat. Would you like something to eat? Drink? This pilsner is rather good. I think you would enjoy it. My treat, by the way. I know what it’s like to be between jobs.”

As he sat down, he was closely looking me over. “Wilma, pilsner, bitte.” he called out.

The rather stout waitress came out and put a liter mug down. She stood there, rubbing her fingers together. “I’ve got it Ma’am. Just add it to my bill.”

“Ja ja, still mit da geld, him or you.” I sighed and pulled a 50 credit coin out. “Enough?” She looked at it closely. I almost expected her to bite it. “Jou wan’ change?” Knowing that the 50 was twice what the bill would have been, I declined. “No Wilma, consider it a tip.”

“Ja ja, big spender.” she turned and walked back to the counter.

Olivet sat and stared at me, waiting for me to start. I smiled and went back to eating. “You sure you won’t have a bite. It’s not the greatest but satisfactory.”

“What do you want? You’re paying for the beer and about five more minutes of my time, and then I’m jetting, so speak up.”

“Ok, I’ll get right down to it. I’m the Captain of the Seward’s Folly”

“No!” he interrupted me “Nope, no way. I won’t have anything to do with you. I don’t care what you’re offering. I’m not interested.”

As he stood to leave, I asked, “Why? At least tell me why?”

“Look mate, I won’t have anything to do with somebody who loses his ship to a mutiny and also manages to get cashiered for ignoring a direct order. If you’re not an albatross, you’re incompetent, and I won’t ship out with you.”

“Hang on a minute, none of that ever happened to me. I’ll admit they cashiered me. But that was because of Windemere. Not losing a ship.”

“Windemere? Edwards, I know you didn’t have anything to do with Windemere. You were halfway to the deep dark when Windemere went down.”

“Edwards? Who the hell is Edwards? I’m Henry Sullivan.”

“You’re not Donald Edwards? The Donald Edwards that lost the ‘Prometheus’ to a crew mutiny?”

“Negative, I’m Sullivan.”

“Well, how about that. The scuttlebutt is that Edwards had a sponsor on the inside of the Seward and was a shoo-in for Captain.”

“I’ll admit to having a sponsor. Two of them. The retiring Captain, Alan Greene, was an old shipmate of mine. I served with him when I was a wet behind the ears Ensign. The other was the social boss Agnes Seward. Between the two of them, I was hired before I knew the Folly even existed.”