Galaxy's End: Book One by LeRoy Clary (popular ebook readers txt) 📗

Now she had the chance to add three more valuable members, and the oddity of it was that the most important one might not be the empath or a possible engineer, but the digger underneath the clothing on the bunk above her. Bert was an insatiable investigator; one might say a “digger” of information. She snorted at the pun, a weakness that she always found enjoyable.

In their brief time together, Bert had already earned his keep by warning of the approaching police, then directing their escape and avoiding the traps.

With his future input for which cargo would bring the best prices, she foresaw better trades. There was no way to anticipate what else Bert might do for them. If she could choose only one of the three for her ship, it might be Bert.

However, she sensed and understood they were a package deal. The money the ship had made on Roma betting on her to win the gladiator match would be dwarfed with what they might earn with the help of the three recruits.

A soft knock on the connecting door brought her upright.

Bert said softly, “It’s Bill.”

She opened the door and found him dressed and looking uncertain. His eyes went to the room where Kat was sleeping. He was asking to enter. She motioned for him to advance, and he closed the door quietly.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?”

A while ago she’s been wondering how to approach him on the same subject. She found a heavy, oversized shirt that fell nearly to her knees to cover the shorts and thin top she had been sleeping in. Her feet slipped into her boots and she sealed them with a swipe of her palms on the sides. She led the way.

Once in the main corridor, she took him directly to the dining room, the only place on the passenger ship large enough to accommodate several passengers at once. Larger, more luxurious ships had game rooms, gambling, dancing, and a few even had swimming pools. The Dreamer they traveled on was basic accommodations and “entertain yourself in your cabin” recreation.

They said nothing until they entered the small, square room and sat at the only unoccupied table. Four tables held beings from many worlds. A game of dice rattled at one, a complicated puzzle of interlocking pieces formed the emerging image of a tree with crisp blue leaves at another. Two more held people talking softly as they imbibed liquids.

Bill sat across from her as a steward rushed to their table.

Stone ordered a small square plastic container of inexpensive white wine for them. Square containers store far better than bottles that break and take up excess room. That’s the trader in her even when a passenger.

She said, “What’s on your mind, Bill?”

“Me. Bert. Kat. You’ve been pushed into accepting all three of us, or none.”

She should have expected his reaction. He was going to take the high road. She’d wait to be sure. “Go on.”

“I have no education, training, or anything of value to offer a starship captain. I want the best for my friends, so I’ll agree to quietly leave this ship at Franklin and make a life there. No-fuss and you don’t have to look bad to my friends. It will be my idea. Everyone is happy.”

Stone kept her face and voice stern, “I’d rather identify myself as a fellow captain to the captain of this ship and ask if he would put you out an airlock as a professional favor.”

“What?”

Stone smiled. “Bill, listen to me. I’m in a rough business surrounded by scoundrels, crooks, thieves, and worse. Many would put me out an airlock for a hundred credits. Hell, some would do it for free.”

“What are you saying?”

He was like a loop of computer coding that repeated the same things over and over. She paused to allow him to think and wonder where the conversation was going. When he’d completely confused himself and the wine arrived and was being poured, she continued, “Bill, of all things in life, I value trust. Just that. Call it trust, loyalty, faith, allegiance, or fidelity, it’s all the same. I’ve searched a hundred planets and found six people that fit that mold. People I can believe in, no matter what.”

“Six?”

“Well, my father found three of them, I’ll take credit for the others. Until I met the three of you, that was it. Seven of us do all the work on my ship. They are loyal to me in the way you are to Kat and Bert. I value that above all else. The same with you. You’re willing to walk away and sacrifice your future for the sake of your friends. I can only hope to earn that sort of relationship with each of the three of you.”

He paused, then said, “But I have nothing to offer in return. Bert’s computer research will help you, I think. Kat has her ability to sway thoughts.”

“Bill, I have room on my ship for a hundred crew. In that room, there are places to set up a ‘school’ for you to study any subject that interests you. I’ll hire instructors. If you could do anything at all, what would it be?”

“I like to make things.”

“Like what?”

He hesitated again his youthful age apparent. “It probably sounds silly to you, but even the threads on the end of a pipe that fit into threads made on the inside of a coupling amazes me. There is beauty in that fitting I cannot explain. But once, I made a threaded end of a stick that threaded into a socket of another. I put it in and removed it so many times it became loose and broke.”

“You were proud of that?”

“Yes. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. So,