Aston West Triple-Shots

Ever Dark

Space is a glamorous place, at least so spaceship salesmen and travel agents would have you believe. In reality, journeys through the darkness bore one to near-death and usually get exciting when you least expect it.

Or want it to.

My ship’s computer broke the silence with her female voice. “We’re in range.”

“Full stop.”

On my forward viewscreen, a background of dismal black was sprinkled with tiny pinpoints of light. A shiny metal sphere hovered a couple kilpars ahead, its sole purpose to span information throughout the darkness. Identical devices were placed around the galaxy, marked on every space chart one could buy. Even in the dark regions of the galaxy, we still needed to communicate with one other.

I leaned back and folded my hands behind my head. “Hack in, Jeanie.”

“Already done.”

I smiled. It was cheaper than paying for a login subscription.

“Retrieve. Start with the newest.”

“Three new messages. First from Tabor Yurick.”

I was tempted to skip his message, but there was always a slim chance he might say something useful. Tabor’s ragged voice carried over the internal speakers.

“West? You’re still alive? I thought you’d have stumbled across the wrong end of a blast rifle by now.”

I rolled my eyes as he continued.

“Not a lot of takers around here for low-value cargo. Bring me something I can sell or don’t bother.”

It didn’t matter what people were buying, as my four cargo bays were all empty. “Delete.”

“Second message, from an unknown sender.”

I sat up. “Pause and explain.”

“It appears the sender’s identity has been masked.”

Rather odd, but intriguing. “Continue.”

A quiet voice mumbled, to the point I could barely make it out. “Mr. West, I received your name from a mutual acquaintance and would like to hire you for a cargo run. If you’re interested, proceed to Mahs system spacedock.”

I was.

The message continued. “We’ll find you.”

“Save for later.”

“Last message, from...”

A white flash filled every spot on my viewscreen and disrupted the beacon’s signal. A vessel appeared a few kilpars the other side of the beacon.

I cursed and shielded my eyes too late. “Jeanie, report.”

“An Ursulan freighter just dropped out of hyperspeed.”

I blinked, then squinted at the viewscreen as spots danced before my eyes. Six exhaust nozzles at the back of the vessel were dormant against the starfield while the mammoth ship raced along on its own momentum.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Cargo freighters didn’t make unscheduled stops, especially in the middle of nowhere.

“Freighter’s status?”

A few moments passed as Jeanie gathered information from the freighter’s computer. “Original destination was the Triton system. The ship is out of fuel.”

“Triton? I’d say the crew is having navigation problems. We’re not on any shipping route to Triton.”

“The crew does not have a navigation problem.”

“How’s that?”

“I find no life signs to indicate a crew.”

Her statement made me pause, though some of my best scavenging efforts had been from crewless ships.

She continued. “They are transmitting on the emergency channel.”

I had to take a golden opportunity for what it was, and quickly.

“Move to intercept.”

I watched the squashed hexagon of a ship as our aft thrusters fired and we closed the distance. Every usable amount of space on the hull was covered with a cargo bay door, five rows down the length and eight bays around the perimeter. A large spherical dome rested on top of the freighter at its front end. A pair of docking stations waited for us, one on each side.

“So, any idea what happened to the crew?”

“There is evidence of video logs, but they can only be accessed from the Captain’s quarters.”

There was a more pressing issue at stake anyway.

“What’s the cargo?”

Jeanie paused a little longer than she probably should have. “According to the manifest, all of the bays are filled with containers of platinum ore.”

I let out a laugh of excitement. “Can you drop the bays remotely?”

Again, she paused. “Negative.”

If not for the fact she was a machine programmed to obey, I would have thought she had just sabotaged my efforts.