“Sounds like a great place,” Burn muttered.
“Right?Crash City is home to a couple of bars and restaurants.A place I think is a general store, maybe, and some rundown hangars and ship-repair shops.Those are most likely chop shops.”
“For the crashed ships?”Burn asked.
“Yeah, probably.Most estimates put the population around a thousand permanent residents.I’m not sure how many live in or around Crash City, versus the outlying properties.From what I can tell, it’s mostly subsistence farming and some hard-scrabble mining.”
“For what?”Dax asked.
I shrugged.“Not enough info.The most common beliefs are either gold flakes or some type of gemstone.”Personally, I thought most of the expensive trade goods came from crashed ships, though I could be wrong.I wasn’t a geologist.
“Is that the treasure Burn mentioned?”Orion asked.He stood a few feet behind the rest of us.He was a big guy, probably at least six foot three or four.He was definitely taller than the rest of the crew, so he could probably see over them.He was solid too.It’d be easy to find him intimidating, but so far I’d experienced nothing but kindness from him.
“Treasure?What?No, that’s...I’ll explain that shortly.”Flustered, I tried to remember where I was.I skimmed my notes.“The original settlers were prospectors who thought they could terraform it.The process created an atmosphere, but didn’t do much to the planet itself.”
“When was that?”
“Hundred and fifty years or so ago.”
“And it’s still that unsettled?”Mercer sounded surprised.Then again, with the accent that he put on and off, it was likely he came from one of the big planets at the center of the system.Where everything was built up, because there was no more available land on the surface.
“It’s at the ass end of nowhere,” Burn said before I could reply.I wondered if that was what her home planet was like.“No plants, no industry.Why the hell would anyone want to settle there?”
I agreed.
Dax grimaced.“I’ve been to a few places like that.No central government?”
I shook my head and switched the screen again.This time it showed a closeup of the city, including a control tower and the landing pad.No buildings that looked like they housed a government.“None that I can find.”
Dax stepped back and leaned against the ship’s main console.“No industry.No government.”He looked at me.“You’re thinking crime?”
Glad someone else had come to the same conclusion, I nodded.“It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”
“Walk us through it,” Mercer said, without even a please or thank-you.
“No central government is a good start.No one to keep an eye on what you’re doing.It’s possible that it’s run by a crime family, maybe more than one, but it’s so small I can’t see it supporting several.The control tower looks to be in good shape and that takes funds, especially if you’re bringing things in and out.Then there’s the warning the cargo master gave me about folks not being that nice.And finally, the few export records I was able to find read more like a parts catalog than farm products or ores.”
“I’m guessing you learned all about a life of crime while you served on the ship of the most notorious outlaw?—”
“—Scoundrel—”
“What?”Mercer’s question, but everyone was staring at me.
“He’s really more of a scoundrel than an outlaw.Maybe a rogue?I don’t know exactly.He has his own code which, sure, is mostly in the gray area, but the law isn’t always right.”
“How long were you part of his crew?”
Crap.I tended to get a little defensive whenever anyone went after my dad.“Does it matter?”Please say no.
“I guess not.But those are some really interesting ideas you have there.It almost sounds like you believe them.”Mercer stared hard at me.
“Let’s just say I don’tnotbelieve them and leave it at that.Anyway, now that we’ve established that Kottke’s main industry is probably crime, how should we approach this?”Hopefully that would be enough to distract them from my oversharing.
“Wait,” Burn said.“What about your sister?And the treasure?”
With a few flicks of my wrist, the image of Kottke disappeared and was replaced by one of my sister.
“This was one of my sister’s last videos.”I paused, closed my eyes, then opened them and took a big leap.“She’s spent her entire life researching theQueen of Stars.”
