“You believe this story about her sister?”
I nodded.“I do.I’ve seen the videos and I agree with her logic.”
“Videos?”Mercer asked.
“Yeah, if you’re in, you can hear all about them.If not, I’d rather respect her privacy.”
Orion and Mercer looked at each other.Orion shrugged.“I’m in,” he said.
“Are you sure?”Mercer asked.
“It’s Dax.Of course I’m sure.If he trusts her, I trust her.”His smile broke through the new beard he was sporting.“Plus, I want to hear about the treasure.”
“It’s not as exciting as you think it is,” I warned.I still didn’t believe it was out there.
Mercer threw his hands up.“Fine, I’m in too.I’m not letting you idiots go down to a backwater planet without backup.”He paused.“So tell us about this treasure.”
I shook my head.“Nope, that’s Lacy’s job.While I wait for the cargo to be delivered, you two head back to the spaceport and grab dinner for all of us.Noodles if you can find them.”
Orion nodded.“What kind?”
“Spicy garlic.Or whatever they have, I guess.”Maybe Lacy would accept the noodles as a peace offering.
“What, we’re out of heat-and-eats?”Mercer joked.
“No.But while we’re on station, we might as well eat real food.”
Mercer stared at me.“You’re not going to leave without us, are you?”
“Despite whatever Finn might have told you, I’m not abandoning my crew.That’s you guys.”
“C’mon, Orion,” Mercer said and stomped toward the exit.
I crossed to the steps so I could lower the ramp.“Drinks too,” I called out behind them.
Mercer raised his hand and flipped me off, while Orion laughed.
45
Lacy
Dinner wasan awkward meal of spaghetti and garlic bread, with fizzy fruit-flavored drinks.I hadn’t been expecting it, so it was a nice change of pace.And the garlic smelled much better than the aroma of livestock feed that had drifted through the ship until the filters kicked in.
Dax didn’t seem to enjoy dinner, because he spent most of the meal glaring at Mercer, who, at one point, muttered, “What?They’re noodles.”
Now we were all crammed onto the bridge around the holo table.All eyes were on me as I zoomed in on the little dot that was Kottke.“We are here,” I said, pointing to the small dot that represented Justin on the screen.“Based on the information from the cargo master andFortuna’s calculations, it will take us about ten hours to reach Kottke.”
I zoomed in further and the screen switched to a satellite image that I’d been able to find on Justin’s network.“This was taken a year and a half ago, but as far as I can tell, Kottke isn’t really growing.”The majority of the image showed dry dusty land.There was a cluster of buildings near the upper right, maybe twenty of them, and then other buildings scattered about the landscape in ones and twos.What looked like dirt roads connected them.
“Looks unpleasant,” Dax said.He reached up and zoomed in further, but the picture turned grainy.
“Yeah, it’s mostly sandy desert, from what I was able to find.I prefer my sand on the beach,” I joked.
“Good to know.”Dax wasn’t looking at me, but there was something in his tone that made me tingle.
“Any industry?”Mercer asked.
“Not exactly.”I’d dug up everything I could find during our transit to Justin and I had some thoughts about their industry, but I’d build up to that.“Most of the people and businesses are in and around the spaceport, Crash City.”I pointed to the cluster of buildings.
