I looked at Cade and Gianni, then Phill, pleading with my eyes for them to consent to my request. The whole room was silent for a moment, then both Cade and Gianni sat down either side of me, sandwiching me in. Without a word they surrounded me with a familial love that I'd not even had from my own ever loving parents before.
[This is something I do not understand. They haven't said a thing but I believe your emotional receptors are in overload. Will you begin crying again, Cia?]
Shut it, Nova! I growled loudly in my mind.
"You guys are horrible, making me cry." I grumbled out loud.
"You started it." Cade murmured like a preteen adolescent.
"I think we now understand your request, and I believe we can give you what you require." Gianni squeezed my hand that I didn't even know she was holding. Mocha and Latte were included on the love-fest when Mama Quadrozzi pulled them both down onto the floor before us so she could pat their heads. They sat frozen stiff, unsure what was going on. It made me sad to see they obviously had no idea what non-sexual love and physical touch felt like.
"There's a little dusty moon, way out past the outskirts of the Omicron Corp sector. You wouldn't know it exists unless you come across is accidentally. It isn't on any known astronav maps. We've only been there once, but the logs in my cache still have the coordinates. Want me to make arrangements, Boss?" Phill looked up on his BrainComp then projected it onto the office room's holo-projector. Data for the F class star system, the gas giant and the tidal locked moon was shown on the monitor.
Nova, you getting this? What do you think? I asked my digital friend.
[For what we require and for the length of time we require it, I believe this location will suffice. Our needs should be met on this moon, as long as there is no large dangerous predators. You can't fight to save yourself.]
I huffed at his last remark. Being around the Quadrozzi Clan members has irrevocably changes Nova's humour algorithms and his sarcasm has grown in leaps and bounds.
"It is basically a dust ball, hazy air, dirty water. It is mostly rock and stunted forest growth. You'd have to take a large supply of air and water filters, but it could work." Phill spun the world map about to show a smallish moon pock-marked with craters and forest clearings. It was dark and bleak, but I knew I could make this work.
"No one would expect a high flying débutante and business heiress to place herself on a moon like this to live alone. This is perfect." I pretend to watch the holo-projector that Phill has his information displayed on, but Nova was well ahead of him.
[The moon is tidally locked to a gas giant planet that orbits an F class star. Days are 12 Earth days long, six days in cloud filtered sunlight, six day of darkness that get down to freezing during the cooler months. Due to the nature of being tidally locked, there is a twelve hour eclipse each day cycle.] Nova began rattling off stats on the moon for my personal database.
[The moon has a thick atmosphere that is breathable, but particles are blown around the planet due to its stormy weather condition, making it difficult for humans to survive without some sort of filtration apparatus. The weather is windy and humid, the forests mostly black or dark green in colour, and the water is never clean.
[Food options include the black vegetation found in the jungles on the surface that faces the gas giant as nothing grows on the other side of the moon. Fungi, fruit and small rodent such as creatures that burrow.
[The biggest predators are large land manuals, a white pig like creature with long tails and sharp tusks.]
That's a long day time/night time cycle. I commented. Filtration could become an issue in an emergency. Would my body be able to adjust to training in this kind of environment, Nova? I asked my knowledgeable friend, then spoke out loud to Phill asking him another random question.
"How come it isn't on the star astro-charts?"
"Man-kind hasn't settled on the moon because the planet is under contention with two different alien species fighting over mining rights for the system. We happened to bump into the place when we were asked, years ago, to deliver emergency supplies and relief aide to a human colony was given permission to set up in the oort cloud asteroid belt. The colony has since gone and the fighting in the sector moved onto grander pickings when a platinum mining consortium opened up a few sectors over." Phill answered my question and explained a little history of the sector.
"I remember that run. I said it was a bad job, that we'd get into trouble and we did. Wasn't I right? They jibbed us the payment and we ended up with half a cargo hold full of useless medical supplies." Cade complained loudly.
"Yes, Dear, you were right. But we couldn't leave that poor colony without aid. You know that. And it was the right thing to do, so stop complaining. It was over sixteen years ago now." Gianni shoved her husband to get him to stop talking. She then used the same hand to pull me into her side again, tucking me under her wings, so to speak.
"If this is what you want to do, we can help you make arrangements. I have a few conditions, especially since we will be made accountable to your Grandfather and parents when word gets to them that you've gone Walkabout."
"Sure, if it keeps me safe and helps me with my plans, then I'm sure I can agree." I replied to Mama Gianni.
"Don't speak too quickly, Kid." Phill murmured. Cade threw a shoe at him and told him to go check the supplies for what we'd need on the moon. He dodged the shoe and went around his desk to his ships computer and started searching The Chaser's cargo manifest for anything he thought we might need dirt-side.
"Don't listen to him, Cia. These are the requests we make of all our kids when they go Walkabout. Same applies to you." I nod my head, ready to hear her extra conditions for my Walkabout on the moon.
"Firstly, you have laser gun training for a week before we leave you alone. Once you have gained your certification, we will loan you a laser gun for the purpose of self-defence. This does NOT give you permission to go hunting or start attacking the local wild-life. Self-defence, OK?" I had a think about that.
[We can always rig up another way to hunt that doesn't involve a laser gun, Cia. I have half a dozen ways to hunt using primitive means.] Once I heard Nova's idea, I nodded my head.
"I can do that. How long until we get to the moon, anyway?" I asked, turning to Phill over at his desk.
"Six days, give or take. I'm sure the bosses won't let you off The Chaser until you pass your gun qualifications, anyway. Don't worry." He smirked at me then went back to his desk work.
"Secondly, you visit us straight away, once you leave the moon. Whether by us or someone else passing through, you come visit us first. Understand?"
"Yes, I was planning that anyway. I'd love to see your ancestral home." I smiled. Cade butted in the third condition.
"No getting drunk." He growled.
"Aaah. Are you planning on dropping me off with alcohol, Cade?" I asked.
"Yes, medicinal purposes only." He replied. Phill chuckled in the background and I was sure there was a story to go with that. I nodded my agreement.
"We've going to give you an emergency beacon. Use this if you are in any kind of trouble. Anyone passing within three sectors will be able to pick it up. Use it for rescue purposes." I nod my head to this request, but I doubted I'd ever use it.
"Lastly, if you get sick, stub a toe, catch a cold, you will be in big trouble with me, you hear? You keep yourself safe, keep yourself sharp. Don't do anything stupid, and come home to us as soon as you can." Gianni squeezed my shoulders again.
"Get a gun license, visit upon return, don't get drunk, emergency beacon, and don't get hurt. Did I miss anything?" I smile.
"Smart arse. You promise you will visit when you're on the move again." Cade growled at me, his voice vibrating through the whole settee.
"Take this." Phill came over with a large metal broach in the shape of a diamond. Etched into the rose gold metal was the Quadrozzi Merchant Clan logo of four Tudor style roses. "This is your Clan ID. It pairs with your BrainComp to give contact details, navigational cordinates for our station, and also gives permissions for entering and exiting the guild. Without this," he taps the pin in my hand. "You won't be able to get in out out, so don't lose it."
"Thank you. I'll keep it safe and return it once I've visited."
"No! We don't want it back. What do you take us for, Young Lady?" Cade yelled, jostling me on the settee next to him with is abruptness.
"It is your Clan identification. Usually you'd get this at your coming-of-age ceremony, before you go Walkabout, but well, you have it now so that's OK. Just don't lose it or you will besmirching our Clan's name. This holds our reputation, our clan secret details and has a million credits loaded onto it. It doubles as a credit card for you to use on the merchant guild station."
"You can use it on all major casinos in human space, as well." Phill laughed as he dropped that little tid-bit. Then quickly dropped the smile when he realised Cade and Gianni were both glaring at him. "Sorry. Sorry. I'll get onto the supplies, right away." He bolted back to his desk to hide away.
"Don't listen to him." Cade took the Four Roses broach from my hand and pinned it onto my edge of my cowl hood.
Nova, do you have all of the data on this thing? Could you ever duplicate it if I ever lost it? That is what I was most afraid of at this point in time. It was an amazing boon that Mama Gianni and Papa Cade had given me so far. This was evidence that I was one of their own.
[Data, digital signature, manufacturing details all coded in backup. It can easily be replaced on a mid to high end fabricator, without the need for authorisation. If you wanted to print off to sell on the dark web, you'd make a fair mint.]
Nova! That is unethical and a really good way to lose our friendship standing with these people. What made you think I'd be interested in doing something like that?
[Anything can be sold on the dark web if you know where to go.]
What does that have to do with me? I asked him, incredibly confused.
[Just wanted to point this out. Also, your name appeared on the black web a total of sixteen times before we'd even left New Cali station.]
What? How come? I asked, then realised I already knew. Don't worry. I can guess. Did you remove me?
[Of course. *Sniff*] I think I need to give Nova a bit more study material on human ethics and moral codes. Then I realised that he probably already had it.
Yes, my Dear. The ASF had data banks and data banks of moral coding and standard expected ethical behaviour. I will endeavour to keep my opinions to myself in the future. My apologies.
OK, this wasn't a conversation I could have with Nova right now and continue my conversation with Cade and Gianni. I hummed in my mind then asked Nova if we could pin the conversation for a later time. He agreed and we turned to other more pressing matters.