“Oh, I get it.”
“I’d like you to assist me in getting him settled in, so that I’ll have a ready opportunity to introduce you as my assistant. After that I expect you shall be at loose ends for the remainder of the day. You may study or visit the techs if you like. I suppose I should also inform you that Dusty has extended a request for a few hours of your time. He claims to want help preparing some cargo for offloading at Hadrin, but I suspect this is only an excuse to get you alone. No doubt he has some scheme in mind that he believes would suit you. I can put him off if you wish.”
“No, we kind of owe him for helping out at Hoshida. I should return the favor, as long as he doesn’t drag me into anything stupid. The captain does know about his side businesses, right?”
Naoko gave a long-suffering sigh. “He does. I don’t understand why he tolerates it, but Dusty has been part of the crew for many years. He’s crafty enough not to get caught, and I doubt he’d involve you in anything dangerous. Just don’t allow him to be a bad influence on you, Alice.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Naoko.”
You’d think someone who was built by the yakuza wouldn’t mind a little petty larceny now and then. Ah, well. I resolved not to tell her about anything that might upset her. But as long as the captain was okay with it, I wasn’t going to pass up any chances to make a little money on the side.
Mr. Desh turned out to be the punctual sort, arriving right at the start of his boarding window. His little groundcar was followed across the landing field by a huge cargo hauler, which reminded me just how big fifteen hundred tons of anything is. The transporter was three lanes wide and twice as tall as the truck I’d used back on Takeo Station, not to mention a heck of a lot longer. It was kind of impressive, watching something that big float along two meters off the ground like it was weightless.
We met him beneath the looming bulk of the ship, at the foot of a cargo ramp that led up into the cavernous space of the ship’s vehicle bays. Naoko was in her armor, so I’d changed into my spacesuit to match. Mr. Desh parked a few meters from the foot of the ramp, and got out to shake Naoko’s hand while the big transporter slowly drifted towards us.
“Miss Sokol? Ginar Desh, of Jakarth Mechworks.”
“Please, call me Naoko. This is my assistant, Alice Long.”
I shook his hand. Interesting. A human brain, in a synthetic body that was designed to look like a normal human. I guess that made sense for someone who spent a lot of time wandering around Dark Space. He wouldn’t have to worry as much about life support failures or radiation leaks, but he’d still look as normal as possible to his customers.
“Good day, Miss Long. I suppose we shall be seeing a good deal of one another. Is there space prepared for my transporter?”
“Four thousand cubic meters of contiguous space, as specified,” Naoko replied. “Just go on up the ramp, and then straight ahead to Bay 17. You’ve got the whole bay, plus the storage and servicing area behind it.”
Mr. Desh raised an eyebrow at that. “Your ship has vehicle bays sized for a two thousand ton cargo transporter?”
“Cybertanks, actually. Square Deal was originally a military transport. Each vehicle bay was laid out to accommodate a battalion of heavy warbots, or a single heavy cybertank of three to four thousand tons. The maintenance bays were stripped down long ago, but the industrial power and coolant connections are still functional if you need them.”
“Very good, Miss Sokol, very good. Yes, once the ship is underway I shall need to set up my equipment and break the transporter back down to feedstock. Please inform engineering to expect a three-megawatt power draw and a proportionate cooling load for our first day or so in hyperspace.”
The transporter reached us, and started to float silently up the ramp. The long slab of smart matter armor barely creaked under the load.
“That’s not a problem, sir,” Naoko said. “If you’ll follow us up we’ll help get everything squared away, and then show you to your cabin.”
Mr. Desh nodded, and climbed back into his car. Naoko spread her arms, and rose a few cems into the air on her armor’s lift field.
“Come along, Alice. I shall see to securing the transporter, but I’d like you to observe and learn the process.”
“Sure thing, Naoko.” I kicked on my own suit’s lift field, and flew up the ramp after her.
I’d never thought about securing heavy cargo items before, but of course you wouldn’t want something as massive as that cargo transporter to start drifting around if the artificial gravity went out. Apparently there was a standard system for that kind of thing, though, because there was a set of clamps on the floor of the vehicle bay that mated perfectly with couplings around the base of the transporter.
Naoko showed me how to work the clamps and make sure they were all secure, and pointed out the controls that told the bay which of several dozen layouts to use for each cargo item.
“I’m surprised there’s an actual control panel,” I said. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just have a control node on the ship’s datanet?”
“Not everyone has your facility with such things, Alice. I believe there is such a mechanism, but you would have to ask the techs how to access it. I’m adding you to the authorized user list now-”
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “I see the online controls now. They just weren’t showing up for me because I didn’t have access. Oh, ah, sorry. You were saying?”
Naoko smiled tolerantly. “You have access, but please do not use the system without supervision. Loose cargo can be dangerous, and Beatrice must be informed of any movements that could affect the ship’s trim. Now, let’s show Mr. Desh to his cabin.”
He hadn’t paid for any upgrades, so we showed him to one of the standard cabins and left him to his own devices. Once the hatch was safely shut Naoko sighed, and shook her head.
“I suppose I should have expected him to insist on remaining formal,” she said. “Ah, well. At least he isn’t a demanding passenger.”
“Yet. He could still turn into a pain in the neck once he unpacks. Why was he calling you ‘Miss’ Sokol, though? If you’re with the captain, shouldn’t that be ‘Mrs.’?
“We aren’t married, Alice,” she chided gently. “The custom is that an android takes the name of her owner, to show where her loyalties lie. Though my captain insists I am not property I have imprinted on him quite firmly, so I’m happy enough to be Miss Sokol. In truth, that is more courtesy than I could hope for on most colonies. Certainly it is better than being called ‘cutie’ or ‘slut’, as if I had no identity worth remembering.”
“Oh.”
Should I have called those elves back on Takeo Station something different? Or did I even care about that, after what the rebels did? Well, whatever. I had more important things on my mind.