Project Charon 2 by Patty Jansen (brene brown rising strong .TXT) 📗

Tina felt cold at the idea that her son was turning into a fighting machine. He was too young to face violence.

They left the ship to see how Rasa was doing and whether she needed anything. The crowd still stood at the gate into the docks, hurling questions at Tina when they passed.

“I wonder if these people ever get what they want?” Rex asked after they had cleared the checkpoint.

“They’re probably so hopeless that waiting here is all they can do.”

It was a world that was strange to her. She knew these things happened, because she had travelled to stations where she had seen these people return day in day out to the same area, hoping that someone would give them a job, a lift off the place or scraps of food.

It had never been clear to her what stations usually did with these people. She wouldn’t be surprised if they were being shipped off to a planet as soon as the opportunity arose. But there was no nearby world to Aurora.

Once in the Ship Supply office, they saw that the makeshift beds had all been cleared and the waiting had resumed.

Except they couldn’t find Rasa in the queue. Rex looked around over the heads of the many people.

“Can you see her?” Tina’s heart was thudding. Something happened to Rasa. They shouldn’t have left her overnight.

But then Rex said. “There she is, over there, in that room.”

To the side of the main waiting area was another room behind a wall of glass. Inside the room stood easy chairs and screens to watch the news. People sat talking to each other in a relaxed fashion, while someone in a station authority uniform circulated around with a computer.

“It’s some kind of VIP area,” Rex said.

“How did she end up there?”

Rasa spotted them, got up from her seat and came to the door. “Come in.”

The room felt fresher and smelled nicer than the large waiting area. Food sat on the table, and the smell of coffee hung in the air. Real coffee. Not that fake stuff.

“You want some?” Rasa said.

Before Tina could reply, Rasa went to a little bar in the corner, where she helped herself to three cups of coffee, some biscuits and pieces of toast.

“How did you end up here?” Tina asked.

“Contacts,” Rasa said.

“How do you get contacts when you live in the docks at Kelso Station?”

“Are you kidding? That’s the place you get contacts. The docks. Everybody who travels through comes through the docks. People who travel have money. If you help them, they’re happy to help you out. They have these wonderful rooms, but what’s the point of it if they can’t share and they can’t boast about their existence.”

“So what? You helped someone? What with?”

Rasa held up another device. “I’m in the line for two ships now. Yes, I’m being paid for it. You said we needed money. People who want to leave stations and are frustrated have money. All you need to do is smile at people and win their trust.”

Tina was beginning to feel distinctly duped. Everyone on this trip was smarter than she was. And Rasa was really good at this stuff.

“Anyway, I won’t need to stay here very long, because it will be our turn soon. They gave me a list of all the papers they said we needed to sign and told me how much it costs to supply the ship.

“And how much is that?” Deep dread settled in Tina’s stomach, because the subject of money was one they hadn’t covered up to now.

Rasa said, cheerfully, “Five thousand credits.”

“You have got to be kidding.”

“No, that’s what he said.”

“I don’t have that much money. I don’t have near that much money. At Kelso this costs less than half that amount. That is just a rip-off. And clearly just because you are in this area, and sitting here like a rich person, so they think we have lots of money. I am not paying five thousand credits because I don’t have five thousand credits.”

As she spoke Tina lowered her voice more and more but other people were listening. Eventually one of the men said, jerking his head at the crowded room on the other side of the glass wall, “That’s what they pay out there, too. It’s the going rate for this place.”

Tina stared at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I wish I was, but I’m not.”

Right.

Finn was going to have to pay if he wanted to get out of here. Which, clearly, he did.

She said to Rasa, “I’m going to talk to Finn. Stay here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Rasa put a biscuit in her mouth.

“Come on, Rex.”

But Rex wasn’t listening at all. He stared at the wall screen. He said in low voice, “Mum.”

Tina turned to the wall screen and saw her own face from an ugly, poorly exposed photo taken many years ago when she still worked for Project Charon.

The announcer said, “The situation at Kelso Station has worsened, with the Federacy now taking control of the station again. They have captured our freedom fighters, and have executed a number of our brave soldiers. We are aware that the traitor we came to capture has escaped the station, unfortunately. If you have seen this woman, please do not talk to her or engage her, because she is considered dangerous. She is in possession of important information that may determine our survival. Contact the authorities straight away. If you are watching this, hand yourself over to authorities in orderly fashion. You will not be able to leave this station alive otherwise.”

Tina turned away from the screen. People were still watching the announcement, and she didn’t think any of them had recognised her. Yet.

“We’ve gotta get out of here,” she said to Rex.

Chapter Thirteen

“Mum, that was you on the screen,” Rex said, while he and Tina walked down the stairs from the Ship Supply Office to the entrance to the docks.

“So I noticed.”

“They said you were dangerous.”

“All these people