Making Trouble Read online

  “Dead skin, grease, smoke…” Jack paled. “Do you think they burned the bodies?”

  Triss cast him a sidelong look. “What are you talking about?”

  “There’s the blood, but where are the bodies?” he replied.

  “I think Jack is going to be checked out for a few,” Finn commented. “Whatever he saw, I’m happy not to have a cybernetic eye. I like seeing things through my own filter.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” Alyssa agreed.

  The access hatch control console beeped that the seal was solid with the station.

  Jack unlocked the door and shoved it open. He took a deep breath of the fresh station air, only to realize it smelled like burned fish tacos. The scent hit the back of his throat, and he collapsed in a coughing fit.

  “Are you all right?” Finn asked, helping him to his feet.

  “I won’t go back in there until those stains are gone,” Jack replied. He backed down the gangway away from the ship.

  Triss stepped out, followed by Alyssa.

  “What’s going on?” Alyssa requested again. “You just started shouting about grime and blood, I think? I’m confused.”

  Triss swallowed. “So, um, remember when the shipyard manager said the yacht had been detailed?”

  Alyssa nodded.

  “Well, it wasn’t. In fact, I don’t think it has been properly cleaned in years.”

  “That’s impossible,” Alyssa replied, but her tone was lacking conviction.

  “You can inspect it for yourself or take my word for it,” Triss said. “I’m with Jack, though: now that I’ve seen it for what it is, that entire place needs to be sterilized before I go back in there.”

  Alyssa frowned. “When you told me to look for a detailer, I didn’t think it was that serious of a request.”

  “There has to be someone around here who can do the work,” Finn insisted. “I mean, even criminals need housekeeping services on occasion.”

  “The docking aid suggested one, but from their name, I think it may have been misclassified,” Alyssa went on.

  Triss cocked her head. “What are they called?”

  “Perfect Touch.”

  Finn snorted. “That totally sounds like the front for a brothel.”

  “Or maybe an escort service.” Triss sighed. “Maybe there’s an information kiosk that can give us some more leads.”

  The four intrepid travelers set off down the gangway to the main concourse through that branch of the station. As soon as they reached the corridor, it was apparent the station’s culture fully embodied its seedy reputation. Shops lining the interior of the concourse boasted sales on all manner of weapons from unregistered handguns to high-powered explosives, thinly veiled drug euphemisms were listed in conjunction with ‘ask us about…’ bonus offerings, and most ads involved a nearly topless woman or shirtless man.

  In the case of the store across from the ship’s gangway, they had a trifecta of sales messaging. A hologram by the front door depicted a woman wearing a tiny bikini top and a shirtless man perched atop a hoverscooter inexplicably traveling through space with no shielding. They each carried a ridiculously over-sized weapon and had rainbows shooting out of their eyes while they grinned in bliss. Jack wasn’t sure whether to be intrigued or horrified.

  “No,” Alyssa stated when she saw him eyeing the ad. “Just no.”

  He shrugged. “Lead the way.”

  She set off to the left branch of the concourse, doing her best to navigate the group around the occasional pedestrian who blocked their path. The other people in the station all seemed to be in their own little world, and whenever Jack approached someone, they made no attempt to get out of his way.

  “What’s with these people?” he whispered to Triss.

  “I think they’re seeing rainbows,” she replied in a low voice.

  “What does that even mean?”

  “I dunno, some new drug that hit the street a while back. Apparently, it burns on the way down, but then you get this fantastic high that’s like you’re living inside a rainbow.”

  “That sounds… intense.”

  Triss nodded. “I think we have enough going on without getting involved in something like that.”

  “Agreed.”

  A hundred meters from the Little Princess II’s berth, Alyssa deviated from the main walkway to access an information kiosk marked with a holographic ‘i’ floating above it. She scrolled through the directory entries with a swipe of her hand. “Ugh, I hate this kind of directory. They don’t offer suggestions for businesses in similar categories. It’s a guessing game for what it might be filed under—detailing, cleaning, hazmat…”

  “I’d think ‘cleaning’,” Triss suggested.

  “Yeah, I did, too,” Alyssa replied, “except the category list goes straight from ‘caretaker’ to ‘coroner’.”

  “No ‘clergy’?” Finn asked.

  “Might be under ‘priest’ or ‘minister’,” Jack suggested.

  “Or they don’t have it. There’s no way of knowing.” Alyssa sighed.

  “How did you find out about Perfect Touch before?” Triss questioned.

  “Verbal referral from the docking aid when I asked about any cleaning services.”

  Finn nodded. “That would seem to indicate ‘cleaning’ is the appropriate term.”

  Alyssa threw her hands in the air. “That’s my problem!”

  “And you tried detailing already?” Triss asked.

  “Yes!”

  “Washing?” Finn offered.

  Alyssa rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Uh, guys,” Jack tried to get their attention.

  Triss waved him off. “We’re thinking.”

  “I don’t think we need the directory,” Jack tried again.

  Alyssa made an entry on the screen. “Nope, not ‘washing’, either.”

  “No, guys, it’s right there.” Jack pointed at the establishment seventy meters down the corridor.

  “Oh.” Alyssa dropped her hands to her sides. “I guess that’s why the docking attendant sent us to this section.”

  “Come on. We need to get the ship scrubbed.” Jack set off toward the storefront.

  The shop was one of the few establishments on the side of the concourse that had gangways leading to docked ships. Based on what Jack could tell as they approached, its placement was so the craft they were working on could be berthed directly at the shop. A small cargo vessel presently occupied the slip, and three workers in EVA suits were maneuvering around its hull.

  Inside the station, the storefront was distinguished by a four-meter-wide holographic sign reading ‘Perfect Touch’ with a looping image of a woman blowing a kiss. At the front of the suite, a bored-looking man in a dark blue jumper was playing solitaire with a deck of physical cards. Behind the front counter where he was seated, racks of various electronic and mechanical components were arranged around a central walkway, which appeared to lead to a private gangway for the docking berth.

  “Hi, do you offer cleaning services for ships?” Jack asked as he approached the counter.

  The man looked up from his card game. A badge on his jumpsuit read ‘Greg’. “We do,” he replied.

  “Great! We need that. Badly.”

  “You know, we had a hell of a time finding you,” Finn said. “What is your business filed under in the directory?”

  The receptionist nodded. “Ah, yeah, we get that a lot. You need to look under ‘undirtying’.”

  “Uh…” Alyssa looked around at the faces of the other crewmembers.

  “Is that even a word?” Jack asked.

  Greg shrugged. “Well, we kept getting mistaken for an escort service, because of the name, so we wanted something that couldn’t be read as an innuendo.”

  “Ah,” Jack replied, though it didn’t make sense why they wouldn’t just change the name rather than bury the business in the station directory. “So, about cleaning our ship…”

  “Righ
t.” Greg nodded. “Well, we’re finishing up a service request at the moment. We might be able to squeeze you in afterward if it won’t take too long. What do you need done, exactly?”

  “Complete interior detailing,” Jack replied. “We need to make it ready for passengers.”

  Greg came to attention. “Oh, passengers! Yes, we can help you with that. Let me check with the boss, hold on.” He hopped off of his swiveling stool and jogged into the back area of the shop, disappearing from view.

  “Good, we should be out of here by this evening,” Alyssa said. “I don’t like the idea of spending the night in a place like this.”

  Triss crossed her arms. “Agreed.”

  A minute later, Greg returned to the counter. “The boss will see you now.”

  “Oh, uh, okay,” Alyssa said, taking the lead.

  “This way.” Greg opened a flip-up portion of the counter and motioned them to the back of the shop.

  The rear storage area was messier than Jack had realized when viewing it from the outside, with numerous components littering the floor between the shelves. Strangely, there were a number of crates stored on the racks, which were marked with a series of blue rabbit silhouettes in groupings ranging from one to five. Jack had never seen markings like that before, especially on wingnuts, but he did need to give the shop credit for maintaining an impressive inventory of such an archaic component.

  At the back of the shop, Greg passed through a doorway into a back office space with a view of the ship berth.

  Seated behind a metal desk cluttered with spacesuit-wearing bubbleheads was a broad, bearded man wearing a black t-shirt that displayed a white lollipop and the words ‘Suck it’. He evaluated the group as they entered, his brown eyes slightly narrowed and his fingers steepled as he leaned back in his seat.

  “I hear you would like to have your ship detailed in preparation for taking on passengers,” he stated in a thick accent that Jack couldn’t place.

  “Yes,” Alyssa replied. “You’re the owner of this establishment?”

  “Yes, I am Bettino, but you may call me Betty.”

  Jack bit his tongue.

  Finn, however, snickered, but attempted to hide it with a cough.

  “Thank you for seeing us on short notice,” Alyssa said at an elevated volume. She kicked her foot behind her toward Finn. “We decided today that the ship really needed to get clean, you know? Gotta up our business game.”

  “Yes, we can detail it to get you ready for passengers. You will pay a security deposit now and then there will be full payment upon delivery,” Betty continued.

  “Right, of course,” Alyssa agreed.

  Betty grabbed a tablet from a shelf behind his desk and made entries on the screen. “You go to Rufan.”

  Alyssa glanced back at the others and they shrugged. “Sorry, was that a statement or a question?”

  “You go to Rufan?” Betty repeated with almost identical inflection.

  “I think he’s asking if we’ve ever been there,” Jack suggested in a whisper. “Yes, I’m familiar with it,” he replied to the proprietor. “Lovely system. Lots of business.”

  “Good.” Betty nodded.

  “So, about getting our ship cleaned…” Alyssa said.

  “Bring it here and we will prepare it for you,” Betty told her. He thrust the tablet toward her. “Pay deposit.”

  Alyssa looked at the amount. “A thousand credits is a little steep for cleaning, isn’t it?”

  Triss took the tablet. “And that’s per unit. How many units are there?”

  “One ship. We will make it very nice for passengers,” Betty said.

  Alyssa shook her head. “But what about the total payment? If the thousand is just the deposit.”

  “That’s all of your portion, don’t worry,” Betty said. “You will make ten times more with passengers.”

  Triss leaned in to whisper in Alyssa’s ear just loud enough for Jack to overhear. “A thousand credits isn’t terrible given the size of the ship. I’m surprised he didn’t want to do a walkthrough before bidding. I say we take it.”

  The captain thought for a moment. “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll need to authorize the payment with the bank, just a moment.” She stepped out of the room.

  “Is something wrong?” Betty asked.

  “No, we just haven’t done business at this station before—need to clear it with the bank,” Triss replied.

  Betty frowned. “If you wish to work with places like this, you will need to stay away from institutions.”

  “Well, this cleaning need was unexpected. We didn’t have time to withdraw physical currency.”

  “You understand there will be credit chips for future transactions, yes?” he asked.

  Triss nodded. “Not a problem. I hope we won’t need another cleaning anytime soon, but you never know.” She smiled.

  Betty crossed his arms. “I hope you intend to deliver.”

  “Yes, Alyssa will be right back with our deposit,” Triss assured him.

  On cue, Alyssa reentered the office. “All set,” she said.

  “Good, here is the contract.” Betty handed her the tablet with the terms.

  “Anything unusual I should be aware of?” Alyssa asked.

  “Very standard. Payment for services rendered,” the proprietor replied.

  Alyssa scanned over the text on the tablet, not seeming to read very carefully. She placed her hand on it as a biometric signature.

  The screen flashed green, and she handed it back to Betty.

  “Bring the ship here in ten minutes,” he said. “We are almost finished with this job.”

  “We have to move the ship over ourselves?” Alyssa asked with obvious disappointment.

  “Is that a problem?” Betty tilted his head.

  “I guess we were hoping it would be all clean next time we stepped foot on board,” she murmured.

  “Where is it now?” the proprietor asked.

  “Just a quarter kilometer down this concourse,” Triss said.

  “Oh, yes, we will bring it over for you. Leave the command keys.” Betty nodded.

  “Uh, should we really hand over the command access codes like that?” Jack asked in a low voice to Alyssa. “They could make any changes to the ship and it wouldn’t set off warnings.”

  “Do you want to go back on the ship and fly it over?” she replied.

  Jack frowned. “Not really, no.”

  Alyssa removed a chip hanging from a chain tucked inside her shirt. “Here it is, for the Little Princess II.”

  Betty gave a quizzical look to Finn and Jack. “You travel on a ship with such a girly name?”

  “Yeah, go figure…” Jack muttered.

  “Come back in four hours. The ship will be ready,” Betty told them.

  “Thank you. See you then,” Alyssa said.

  The group exited the shop the same way they came in. When they were back in the main concourse, they looked at each other.

  “What are we supposed to do for four hours?” Jack asked.

  Finn rubbed his hands together. “Shopping!”

  CHAPTER 3: The World through Another’s Eyes

  — — —

  “This is so exciting!” Jack exclaimed. “You haven’t let me wander around a station for weeks.”

  “Usually because you always get yourself into trouble,” Alyssa replied.

  He cast her a sidelong glance. “Hey, don’t forget that my antics saved us not too long ago.”

  “It’s true, Alyssa,” Triss interjected. “We did promise to occasionally acknowledge that he was a hero.”

  “I thought we had agreed on ‘performed a heroic act’?” she replied. “Full-on ‘hero’ sounded too, you know, competent.”

  “It wasn’t by dumb luck that I saved you,” Jack countered. “I did plan ahead, and that saved us.”

  Alyssa raised an eyebrow. “You bought a confetti insert for your jacket collar. Pretty sure you were planning on a rave, not a daring escape.”
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  “But I used the tool effectively in the moment,” Jack pointed out. “Everyone appreciates tasteful applications of glitter.”

  “I do like shiny things,” Finn admitted.

  Jack spread his arms with vindication. “See?”

  Alyssa sighed. “All right, you heroically came to our rescue. Happy?”

  Jack beamed. “Yes.”

  They continued down the broad corridor. Up ahead, to the right, Jack spotted the opening to a SpaceMall store. While the online catalog was the main business operation, there were a handful of physical locations where one could sample the wares.

  Jack had previously ordered his confetti-collar, gold rainbow light-up shoes, jacket speakers, and button-sized micro-cutters from the online platform, but there were a handful of products he’d been meaning to check out in person. Caleron was likely the only system they’d visit in the coming months that would have a physical store, so there was no question in his mind that this was a prime opportunity to assess the products.

  “We’re going in there.” He pointed at the storefront.

  Finn’s eyes lit up. “I think the Toastmaster 10,000 was just released.”

  “No, Finn,” Alyssa said with a hint of panic in her tone. “We already have enough toasters.”

  “Like I’ve said before, toasting technology is always evolving. You can’t expect me to stick with last month’s model!”

  Triss frowned. “I can’t imagine it’s evolving that much on a month-to-month basis.”

  “The 10,000 toasts while it bakes. Can your toaster do that?” he asked.

  “Uh… I slice the bread and then stick it in the thing, then it pops up when it’s done,” Triss replied.

  Disgust twisted Finn’s face. “I knew you hated modern technology, but such archaic toast-making methods—”

  “What makes you think I hate modern technology?” Triss interrupted.

  “The fact that you still have one of those toasters, for starters.”

  “How have you not seen it in the galley?”

  Finn shrugged. “I have a selective visual filter. If something is too discordant with my preferred perception, I see it as something else. I must have been perceiving it as a different item.”

  “That explains why I kept finding credit chips in the toaster,” Alyssa mused.