Chapter 8

I wasn’t quite sure where Monty might be and didn’t know how to get ahold of him. The last I remembered was him telling me to look for the Seward Folly, which seemed to be very important, seeing as how he stressed it several times.

It dawned on me that Seward Folly might be the name of a ship, which made sense. Monty wanted to ship out, and signing onto an outbound ship was the way to do it. So, I headed to the hiring hall.

Anyone wanting a job onboard a ship looked to the hiring hall for a job. This was the halfway house for ship jobs. Each side paid a fee. The ships paid for the crew members they hired on. Based on a position scale. And the folks looking for a job also paid a fee. Again, based on the job. A 3rd class deckhand paid a minimum. A ship’s captain was an outrageous fortune both ways.

I walked into what was optimistically called a hall. In reality, it was the size of the living space of a housing pod, which is all it needed to be. The room had several bench seats, and on the far end was a desk, a computer station, and a bored-looking receptionist. Or at least I thought so at first.

When I came in, she looked up from her computer. “Hi, what can I do for you?”

I could tell walking in that Monty wasn’t there. Nobody was. I also had a feeling that if I asked for him, she would deny knowing him or having ever heard the name. instead, I asked. “Thank you. got any pilot jobs?”

“Pilot? Got lots of pilot jobs got lots of pilots. you got the ten credits?”

“10 credits?” I exclaimed, “I can hang out in a dockside beer garden and get a job for the price of a beer.”

“That’s right, sweety and ship out for five years on a garbage scow with an antisocial crew and homicidal captain. Here you get quality and pay for it. Now how good a pilot are you? And don’t bother telling me you’re the greatest. Pilots today are a dime a dozen. my clients want experience and skill.”

I remembered what Monty had said about hanging onto my recovery vids. I pulled the data disc and handed it to her. “I’m qualified. check this.”

She looked at me skeptically but slid the disc into the reader. it didn’t take long, but I could see the lights go off in her eyes. “Nice, not the best I’ve seen, but nice. I’ll tell you what. I’ll knock the price down to say eight credits, and I’ll guarantee a quality ship. good food, good berths, good crew.”

“Great, got anything heading far out. Time doesn’t matter. A mining gig would be best. I was hoping to get my grubstake and set up shop for myself. I figure that new territory would be best, most profitable.”

“Well, I’ve got a couple of independents. Only one outbound, and they say they’re headed to the far side. five-year minimum and family status after that.”

“Interesting how much?”

“Like I said, eight credits. But the job requires an interview first. give me your info, and I’ll let them know where you are.”

I gave her my name and said that I could be contacted at the grange hall. I was a member, and they had decent food and drink. Plus, a body could usually find a good poker game. She punched in my information. Then a startled look came over her face.

“Your Thad Sawyer? from the Sawyer homestead?”

“Yes, I am. why?”

“I’ve got a couple of flags on you. One is some kind of FN alert for any and all Sawyers or anybody from your homestead. There’s another from an independent ship. Both are report flags. There’s also a message here. From someone named Monty. What have you been up to, boy? I’ve never seen this kind of interest in somebody.”

“The message? what does it say?”

“Hang on. It’s just two words Seward’s Folly. Know what that means? wait a minute, that independent ship that was from the Seward’s Folly.”

“And what do they have to say?”

“Wow, hiring fees both ways paid. It says stand by at the grange. You’ll be met. It seems like you’ve got a job already. let’s see what the Feddies want.”

Before I could stop her, she pulled up the alert. “Funny, there’s nothing here. No message, no information at all.”

I didn’t tell her, but I knew that the message had been sent, and the troops were on the way. Without saying another word, I bolted from the room. I headed right and then at the first corridor right again. Then left at the next. At the first alley, I could find, I ducked in. Reaching into my ship’s bag, I pulled out a set of coveralls. They were a standard blue ship issue and fitted over my civvies without trouble. I also pulled out a bio mask and welders cap.