Nathan Lowell - Quarter Share

Bev spoke up, “More trade goods, Captain. At this rate, we’re going to run out. We need to let the rest of the crew know what we’re doing so they can take advantage of the booth.”

The captain nodded and smiled. “Mr. Carstairs has been recruiting all day. I think there will be enough to sell tomorrow.” She scanned our faces. “Anything else?”

We looked at each other and I answered, “No, Captain. You’ve done a lot for us already, thank you.”

“No, thank you, Mr. Wang. This is a good thing you and Mr. Carstairs are doing for the ship.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

She nodded to all of us and started on down the aisle after a few steps she turned back. “Oh, Mr. Wang, when you get aboard this evening, please collect Mr. Carstairs and report to my cabin? Around 20:00 would be good. I’d like a status report.”

“Aye, aye, Captain. My pleasure.”

She smiled and, with a jaunty wave, disappeared into the crowd.

As soon as she was gone, Bev slugged me on the shoulder. “You didn’t recognize the captain?”

“I’ve never seen her in civvies.” I rubbed my arm. “How was I to know she’d be here?”

“You’ve seen her practically naked in the sauna and you can’t spot her in civvies?” Diane laughed at me.

I looked to Francis for support but he shrugged in response.

“Well, if she’d come to the table in her towel, I might have.”

Bev punched me again.

We proceeded to sell the table bare as the last crowd of buyers came through looking for end of day bargains.

Around 16:45 the speakers gave a ping-ping-ping warning. The customers wrapped up whatever deals they were working on and began filing out. The big doors started slowly closing at 17:00 and when the pa-pong tone sounded again, most of the vendors had already taken down the booths, and pulled their grav-pallets and cargo totes toward the staff doors.

Diane and Francis helped by folding the banner neatly while I pulled the badge off the drape and Bev collapsed the table. We dropped it off at the office and headed down the lifts.

On the way down, Francis turned to Bev and me. “Diane and I are heading out to grab dinner. Either or both of you want to join us?”

I shook my head. “I need to get back to the ship. Pip is going to be chewing the bulkheads to find out how it went.”

Bev declined as well. “I’ve got the duty in the morning and my legs are killing me. I just want to get back and into the sauna.”

The banner and badge went into my duffel to pass off to Pip and we separated at level six. Bev and I headed for the ship while Diane and Frances went off to eat. We checked in with the officer of the watch and had our respective mass allowances adjusted. Mine went down but Bev’s went up because of the buckles. They did indeed mass a lot for their size. Curiously, the banner didn’t get charged to either of us, but instead was marked down to Lois McKendrick. I looked to Bev, but she didn’t seem surprised so I didn’t ask.

Back in the berthing area, Bev changed and headed for the sauna while I stowed my gear, took a quick shower, and jumped into a shipsuit before going to the mess deck to see Pip and Cookie. It had been a long day.

Margary Station

2352-January-11

Just after 18:00 I stepped onto the mess deck and took advantage of mealtime by grabbing some pasta and bread from the buffet. Pip heard me and came out of the galley. Cookie followed right behind him.

Pip looked at me, anticipation radiating from his body. “Well? How’d it go?”

“Great. I sold everything I had, but I’m bushed. It’s hard standing there all day.”

Pip drew me a mug of coffee and delivered it to the table. “Okay, pleasantries over. Where’d you find that buckle?”

“I didn’t.” I swallowed a mouthful of pasta before continuing, “Bev did, booth two something. Two-eighteen, I think she said, or maybe it was two-sixteen. It shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

Cookie smiled and stepped back into the galley, but Pip nodded. “So? Tell me everything.”

I ran through the day in roughly chronological order, starting with picking up the banner at the lock and returning it. “In the morning, you need to take the badge to the office and get a table. It’s already paid for. Somewhere we need to find some clips so you can hang the banner and you’ll also need some kind of cloth to put down on the table to cover the top. They’re in pretty rough shape.”

Pip nodded.

“Now, it’s your turn. The captain said you’ve been recruiting?”

He nodded again. “I’ve got a couple of people who are interested. Rhon Scham has a ton of stuff to sell and agreed to be my wingman for the day. She’s good at buying but hasn’t had a lot of success selling so she was really enthusiastic. Sean Grishan from the bridge crew and Biddy Murphy from cargo are coming along too.”

“Sounds like it’s going to be worthwhile again tomorrow. Oh, by the way, we have an appointment tonight at 20:00.”

“Yeah? Who with?”

“The captain. She wants a status report.”

Pip chuckled nervously. “Well, at least we’ve got something to report.”

I finished my dinner and took the dishes into the galley. Cookie smiled and waved to us as he left for his nightly card game. “You gentlemen don’t need me under foot. Well done today-both of you.” We waved to his back as he left. It was only a few ticks of work for us to clear away the dinner buffet, sweep, and swab.

We had a stan to spare before our meeting with the captain so we retired to the berthing area to compare notes. Bev was back from the sauna and got the packet of buckles out to show Pip. We spread them out on the berthing area’s table and he looked them all over.

Pip considered the buckles as he asked Bev, “What did you think of the day?”

She grinned. “It was a kick. Between the selling and the ogling-”

“Ogling?” Pip shot me a glance. “You didn’t say anything about that.”

I shrugged and he turned back to Bev. “What is this ogling of which you speak?”

She laughed at his expression. “Well, between the ones who came to see the tough bitch in leather and the others who wanted to look down Diane’s blouse, there was a lot of it. I might have even done a bit of it myself.” She winked with a sly grin. “There were a lot of tight butts walking around there today.” She looked at me. “Don’t you think?”

I coughed in surprise. “Um, I didn’t notice, actually. I was trying to figure out how the whole booth thing was going to work and then I got tied up in selling stuff and all.”

She pulled a long face at me. “Oh, Ish, you were too busy watching the merchandise. If you want to be a real seller, you need to learn to watch the customers. That last belt you could have gotten another five credits for. That lady liked you.”

“She was old enough to be my mother!”

“And your point is what?”

Pip rapped on the table. “Please, children, focus.”

Bev sat up straight and folded her hands playfully in front of her before continuing, “Anyway, the initial set up was rough. We looked like the amateurs we are. If we hadn’t had the banner, we would have been displaying the belts on that dinged up tabletop and that wouldn’t have been pretty.”

Pip nodded. “If we hang the banner, we’ll need a cloth or something for the table. Anything else?”

“Several of the vendors had grav-pallets with their booth already set up on it. They just towed the pallet into place, locked it down, and started selling.”

Pip nodded. “Yeah, I told you about Drus’ setup. She had something like that. I don’t know how we’d manage that. We can’t very well use one of the ship’s and we can’t afford the mass to buy one of our own.” He shrugged.