Freelance On The Galactic Tunnel Network by E. Foner (best beach reads of all time TXT) 📗

of pizza from the box, put them on a plate for the microwave, and instructed the ship controller, “Thirty seconds.”

“I’ve been all over this place looking for work,” Mario said, unable to keep his eyes off the rotating plate visible through the microwave’s tinted door as he spoke. “You mentioned a delivery. Are you in the consignment business?”

“That was just dropping off some ore for a friend. My cargo includes some good chemicals for extracting gold—cyanide salts and hydrochloric acid. I’m sure I could sell them to the cooperative that runs the refining center here on the habitat, but I think I could get a better price from independent operators.”

“Ding,” the ship’s controller announced, and John removed the plate and handed it to his guest.

“Half and half?” Mario asked, taking a slice and offering the plate to his host.

“I’ve already hit my pizza quota for the day. Take your time and eat, there’s more in the box if you want, and there’s plenty of water. I actually have somebody coming to meet me so I’ve got to head back down.”

“I’ll come with you,” the hungry guest offered through a mouthful of pizza. “You can’t be comfortable leaving a stranger on your bridge.”

“I’ve got the security upgrade for my ship controller,” John told him bluntly. “It will inform me if you start poking around. Just relax and get some food in and then we’ll talk.”

Fifteen minutes later, when Mario went looking for his host, he found John engaged in close conversation with a familiar-looking young woman who was dressed in black. He was about to head back up to the bridge to let them conduct their business in private when John motioned him over.

“Mario, this is Sharon. I mentioned your situation to her and she said she knew about you.”

“I’m the third shift bartender at Green Earth,” the woman explained, naming the most popular bar on the habitat. “You told me your life story a couple of times while you drank your last ten creds.”

“Sorry about that,” the bankrupt trader said. “I must have gotten pretty drunk not to recognize you right away. I hope I had enough left for a tip.”

“It’s probably better you don’t remember,” Sharon said. “I’ve got to get going. Good luck, Mario. John helped me out of a jam one time, so listen to him.”

“Thanks,” Mario said, and turned to his benefactor. “All fed and reporting for work, Boss.”

“Sharon told me there’s a new claim consolidator working the asteroid belt. The independent operators I was hoping to sell my chemicals to don’t come in to the habitat anymore.”

“You’re talking about SHARE. The miners who held onto their claims aren’t very happy about it. I pick up a day or two of work here and there going out with solo prospectors to help load ore. They say that SHARE hires people who don’t have any regard for the basic rules of asteroid mining. It gets more and more hazardous commuting to claims every day with all the blasting going on.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to hit the asteroid belt to look for customers. Do you have any things you need to get?”

 “All I have are the clothes on my back. I thought about going to work for SHARE myself, but then I decided to try to hold out until I could work my passage to the elevator hub on Borten Four. I’m sure the Drazens would give me a short term contract so I could earn enough for a ticket to a Stryx station.”

“Play it straight with me and I’ll take you to Rendezvous. It’s at Aarden this year, the Vergallian Fleet open world that was recently admitted to the tunnel network. The EarthCent circuit ship is making her first stop there at the same time, and Flower always has work for humans.”

“I’ll play it so straight that you could use me to draw lines. But I thought those Fleet Vergallians broke away from their empire because they didn’t want to be tunnel network members.”

“And they’re not, but there are so many humans living on Aarden that the Stryx opened a tunnel based on our population and economic activity there.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Mario asked.

“I’ve only been in the Borten system once, and I never made it to the asteroid belt, so you can be my guide. Do you think you can locate any of the claims managed by SHARE?”

“Piece of cake. All we have to do is watch for an expanding debris field and then backtrack it to the source.”

“Makes sense.” John punched the button next to the ramp, watched while it closed, and then led the way back up to the bridge. “You cleaned up after yourself.”

“I kind of finished off the pizza,” Mario said guiltily.

“You did me a favor. Strap into the co-pilot seat. Controller. Recognize Mario as a guest.”

“Please state your name for voice recognition,” the controller responded.

“Mario.”

“Now you won’t be stranded if I eat the cyanide and fall into the hydrochloric acid,” John told him. “Controller. Negotiate departure with the habitat’s traffic control and let me know when they release us. Main viewer on.”

The ship began to move almost immediately, and Mario commented, “That was quick.”

“The Drazens source their habitat landing systems from the Dollnicks. When you go to the expense of building a structure this big, there’s no point trying to save a few creds on the manipulator fields for traffic control that keep visitors from crashing into it,” John pointed out.

“I always hated instructing my controller to hand over control to the local traffic system.”

“Nobody likes it, but I can’t think of a better alternative. So, do you mind if I ask you about losing your ship? I know repossessions are becoming more common, but I haven’t ever seen one taking place.”

“You