Dar's Adventures in Space 1: Space Crazy (15 page)

Shutting it down, Dar tromped aft to the engine room. When he opened the door, all he could see was red—red everywhere. Some of it dripped from the ceiling onto him. “Shit!” He stepped further inside, trying not to slip on the red goo. “Oh, fucking great, the mix tank for the
Ceriddium blew…Now there’s no way I can jump to warp. It’s gonna take months to get to Newrillis at this rate.” He growled and took a few swings in the air, almost falling as he slipped in the Ceriddium.

Dar stomped out, shutting the door. Later, after he cooled off, he’d go back and try and clean some of it up. Returning to the bridge, he brought the engine back on line and at least got full impulse power. Newrillis was a long way off. “Gee, what else can go wrong with this hunk of junk?” he grumbled, deciding maybe it’d be best to call it a day.

Going to the door on the right of the bridge, Dar guessed it to be the captain’s cabin. He opened the door and found a few bits of rickety furniture and a bed. “Ah, at least this place has a bed.” Unlacing his boots, he kicked them off. “I need a nap.” He flipped onto the bed. Just as his whole body weight landed, the bed platform collapsed, leaving him in a sunken hole. “Would anything else care to break or fuck up today? Bring it on!”

15

Dar was stuck cruising through space for nearly three months. With no shuttle, and no space stations on his route, he’d been forced to return to Sirrix to get supplies. Adding to his misfortune, the Sirrixians didn’t possess the capabilities to fix the mix tank. So he could go no faster than full impulse.

Now, back underway, he had plenty of time to kill. Dar decided to make an out of the way detour to Uyoninis, hoping maybe he could find an engineer and perhaps a shuttle. After fashioning crude repairs to the bed, so he could sleep in it—the floor was proving rather uncomfortable and there were no mattresses in the crew quarters. Dar started to explore his cabin. Opening one of the cabinets, he found a log book. It was old and dusty, but he figured it might hold some information about the ship. The Satiren writing on the control console had him curious.

As he took the log book and opened it, he found the first entries. They were written in Satiren. “Captain Rogoff Sarik. Log entry one.” He looked at the date. “Over fifty years ago!” Dar continued reading. “Pulled out of dock and set course for Erotis 3. Hauling a shipment of farming equipment, supplies, and 45. Warp engine working fine...” He sneered. “Yeah, working fine back then!”

Deciding he wanted to try and relax, Dar got up and poured a glass of port. Settling back down, he continued reading. “…Marcy is a fine ship, probably one of the best Satiris has ever made. She’s certainly the biggest. Next trip I hope to get a full load of Ouzin caviar and deliver it to Uyoninis.” He took a sip. “
Marcy
, he called you Marcy, huh? Is that your name?” Turning a few pages, he looked at other entries. He noted that Captain Sarik commanded the ship for nearly fifteen years before it was evidently lost to pirates. Then there was a long break before the next log entry, one made by a Captain Ikt, written in Universal Ontarrin. “I have found this ship adrift in the Psi sector, taking it to the Delta 6 space station to see if anyone will claim it.” Dar noted the date of entry. “That was only ten years ago. Marcy, have you been drifting all that time?”

As he read a bit more, he got to the bottom and turned the page; it was blank. Turning a few more, he realized that was where the log entries stopped. “Well, Marcy, I guess as your captain, it’s my duty to report in the ship’s log now.” He reached over and grabbed a scribe stylus. Looking at the time piece on the wall, he noted the date, time, and wrote:

I am Captain Dar Meltom—half Satiren. This ship, the Marsuian, of Satiren origin now belongs to me after I won it in a poker game on the Sirrix space station. I’m taking her to Newrillis for a refit. Marcy is old and sorely outdated. I plan on starting a freight hauling business in the dark side, since my long-time friend and mentor, Gwog, chooses to work the light side. I hope Marcy and I will have a long, successful relationship together.

Taking another sip of port, he set the log off to the side. Lying back further, he gazed out the large, triangular window above his bed. The stars were passing slowly. He reached his hand out, as if touching them. “Yes, mother, I do belong to the stars.” Finishing off the last of his port, he undressed and went to bed.

Dar checked his navigation computer against his reading tablet. The computer was so old he really didn’t trust it. Then he looked out the window to the planet ahead. “Okay, Marcy, if you’re not lying to me, that should be Uyoninis.” He poked a few buttons on the control console. “Let’s get into orbit, and then I gotta figure out a way to get to the surface. It would’ve been nice if you came with a shuttle.”

He made a slight course correction. Putting on his headset, he adjusted frequencies until he found the one for the planet. “This is freighter Marsuian to the planet Uyoninis.”

“Go ahead, Marsuian.”

“Uh, I’d like to come down for the slave auction, but I got a problem.”

“Problem?”

“Yeah, I just became captain of this vessel and it didn’t come with a shuttle…Is there a place I can land? Or perhaps a service that can come pick me up?”

“Negative, Marsuian. No place to land, and we don’t have a shuttle service.” There was a long pause. “But you can try contacting one of the other freighters in orbit and see if they can come get you. We have an equipment auction that takes place right after the slave auction. Once in a while we get a few shuttles for sale.”

“Ah, thanks, Uyoninis. I could sure use a shuttle.”

“Try contacting the freighter Gokk, their captain is Urin Natto—very nice. He may be able to give you a ride to the surface.”

“I appreciate it.” Dar flipped through some more frequencies. “Freighter Gokk, this is the Marsuian.”

“Marsuian? Who are you?”

“Captain Dar Meltom, I recently acquired this vessel. I used to be crew for Gwog on the Cunik.”

“Ah, yes, Gwog. What can we do for you, captain?”

“Are you by chance going to the slave auction?”

“Yes, why?”

“I’m in a bit of a bind. I need an engineer, and this ship has no shuttle. Could you possibly come pick me up? I’m hoping to get a shuttle at the equipment auction.”

“Sure, we can do that. Two hours, okay?”

“Yes, thank you, very much. And should we pass a tavern, I’ll buy you a round as thanks.”

“Much obliged, captain.”

Three hours later, Dar was on the surface, in the auction house, looking for an engineer. They’d stopped at a tavern, and Dar bought a round for everyone who came along. He realized that rule number four of Gwog’s rules of being a freighter captain applied: “Always treat your competition politely, you never know when you may need their help.” The captain of the Gokk was most gracious and even offered him a return trip should he fail to find a shuttle.

Walking along slowly, Dar wondered if he’d even get lucky and find an engineer. Most were slaves out of the mines, or forced domestic help. Occasionally, he’d see one and ask if they had engineering skills. After a while, he was getting nowhere, and stopped to talk to the slave master, who stood guard over the cages of dangerous slaves. Dar wondered why they bothered to try selling slaves that would kill you if given the chance. “Excuse me?” he said.

“Yes?” the slave master replied.

“I was wondering if you might know if any of these slaves have skills in engineering?”

“Engineering? Who are you?”

“Captain Dar Meltom, of the Marsuian.”

“Oh. You’re looking for someone who can work a warp drive?”

“Yes.”

“Dunno. Good luck finding one. I just keep ’em in line while they’re here, you know, give ’em a whipping if needed.” He pointed to the whip hanging off his belt.

“Oh, right.” Dar looked at one of the cages. Inside, was a small, brown, furry creature about four and a half feet tall. He had a string around his neck with a piece of paper. His lot number was written on it. “Is that a Nouian?”

“Yeah. Some rich Uyonin bought him a few weeks ago as a
toy
for his youngling. It seems the nasty little fur ball got mad and bit the youngling—nearly killed him.”

“
Killed
?”

“Didn’t you know Nouians have venomous bites? They got poison sacks in their mouths. When they bite, they can inject venom and either make you really sick, or kill you.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound too good.” He looked down at the Nouian, whose brownish-yellow eyes twinkled in the dim light. It seemed as if the creature was listening to their conversation.

“Naw, if he doesn’t sell tonight, he’ll probably be taken out back and shot.” The slave master went on down the line of cages.

Dar studied the creature for a moment before turning to move on. A small hand reached out and grabbed his leg. “Hey!”

“Kaptaw,” the Nouian said.

“What?”

He pointed to Dar. “Je, kaptaw.”

“I, I don’t understand. I’m sorry.”

“Je kaptaw uk fregidor.” He pointed to the ceiling. “Fregidor.”

“Fre-gi-dor?” Dar scratched his head. “Freighter?”

“Ga!” the Nouian nodded.

“Yes, I’m captain of the Marsuian.”

He pointed to Dar. “Je kaptaw uk fregidor.”

“I see. And you don’t speak Universal Ontarrin, huh?”

The Nouian shook his head. “Nak.”

“What do you want?”

“Eg’m eginar.” He pointed to himself.

“Huh?”

“Eg’m eginar.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying.”

The Nouian stretched, trying to get a stick lying on the floor.

Dar picked it up and handed it to him. The little alien drew a rectangle in the dirt. “Fregidor.”

“Okay.”

Then he drew a smaller rectangle inside the first one, toward one end. “Egin.”

“You mean engine? Like a warp engine?”

“Ga!” He pointed to himself again. “Eg’m eginar.”

“You’re saying you’re an engineer?”

“Ga!” He nodded vigorously.

Dar shook his head. “You’ve got to be joking.”

“Nak! Nak! Eg’m eginar!”

“I think you’re just saying that so I’ll buy you.”

“Nak. Je neg eginar, ag eg’m eginar.”

Dar wasn’t exactly sure what the Nouian said, but he got the general idea that he was an engineer of some sorts. “If I buy you, you better not be lying. If you are, I’ll bring you right back here. Understand?”

“Ga, eg
unkterstundd.”

Taking out a scribe stylus and a scrap of paper, Dar wrote down the Nouian’s lot number. He hoped the little fur ball wasn’t lying. He really couldn’t afford to come back and try selling him. Continuing, he went down the line, occasionally asking a slave some questions. Finding not much more in the way of possibilities, he went outside to view the equipment for sale. Amidst the odd lots of cargo handling equipment, farming implements, and a few things he didn’t recognize, he found a shuttle. The door was open, gangplank down, so he went in and had a look. There was a rear compartment that looked like it would hold a small amount of cargo, or maybe four or five reasonable sized passengers. Up front, a cockpit that sat two. It didn’t seem in too bad of shape, so Dar took the lot number down and decided he’d try bidding on it.

At the end of the evening, Dar went up to pay for his purchases. The Nouian only cost three hundred drig. It seemed there wasn’t much call for a mean, venomous creature that no one could understand. The shuttle, however, cost a quarter million drig. But he sorely needed one, and figured that if necessary, he’d get the line of credit to fix up Marcy.

“Hello, I’m paying for these two lots.” Dar handed over his scrap of paper.

“Two hundred-fifty thousand and three hundred.”

“Yes,” he replied with a pained expression, handing over the wad of drig.

The clerk counted it out and gave him a receipt. “Pick up your slave in the back. The shuttle is outside. Just show this to the slave and property masters.”

“Thank you.” He took the slip and headed to the back. The slave master met him at the door. “Hello, I purchased the Nouian.”

The slave master chuckled. “Okay, hope you know what you’re gettin’ into.”

“I guess I’ll be taking my chances.” He waited patiently while a cage with the Nouian was brought out.

“I’d keep him in the cage at least until you get back to your ship.”

Dar looked down at the Nouian. “Will you behave?”

“Ga.”

The slave master laughed. “You’re taking his word?!”

He knelt down so he was eye level with the little alien. “What’s your name?”

“Schmuff.”

“I’m Dar, but captain to you. Understand? I need an engineer, and I hope you’ll be able to help me. I’m not one to beat a slave, but I do expect you to work. I’m a fair captain, and if you prove your worth, I’ll give you pay.”

“Eg
unkterstundd. Ka goo.” He folded his hands together, lacing his fingers, trying to show he wasn’t a threat.

Dar looked at the slave master. “Please, let him out.”

“Okay, but it’s your own risk.”