Chapter 48 Lacy
Lacy
I’d spent the walk from the ship to the center of Crash City looking around in wonder.
I hadn’t been on a planet in years. Kottke was so bright.
It was late afternoon, but the way the sun reflected off the sand made it seem like the middle of the day.
I’d forgotten what outside—real outside—was like. I obviously needed to get out more.
The landing zone and our ship were on the outskirts of town, but since the town was so small, the walk had only taken a few minutes.
While I gawked, Dax and Burn had been getting the lay of the land. I would’ve walked right into the side of a building if Dax hadn’t stopped me.
“Are you ready for this?”
I met his concerned gaze and nodded. “Ready.”
We were stopped in front of Greenfield, the bar the control tower had “recommended.” Like most of the buildings in town, it was low and squat and made of wood that had bleached after so many years in the harsh sun. It looked sad and old, not welcoming in the slightest.
“You remember the plan?” Dax rested his hand on my lower back.
“I remember.” It was just the three of us, nice and casual. Mercer and Orion had already made their way here to do reconnaissance. We’d split up so we didn’t look like a scary group. Fortuna was the only ship at the spaceport, so it was obvious where any newcomers were from.
I exhaled slowly. Now that we were face-to-face with the plan, I realized how out of my depth I was. Even with Burn and Dax at my back, my nerves were jangling. Thank god I had stolen their ship. Doing this alone would be even scarier.
“Deep breath. You got this,” Dax murmured. He gave me a squeeze and then his hand was gone.
I could do this.
The door swung open with a creak. Crossing the threshold, we transitioned from bright day to gloomy night. Conversation stopped, but the clink of glassware continued. Once inside, I stepped to the side and let my eyes adjust. Burn and Dax entered right behind me. The door swung closed with a groan.
Despite feeling everyone’s eyes on me, I kept to the plan and walked in like I did this every day.
“Beer?” Burn asked.
Dax and I both nodded and she peeled off toward the bar.
The inside was bigger than I’d expected, with more than two dozen tables and a bar that ran the length of one side of the building. Maybe a third of the tables were in use, including the one where Mercer and Orion sat.
Dax ignored them when we walked past. He chose a table on the other side of the room, near the wall. He grabbed the seat that gave him the best view of the whole space.
My shoulders tensed as I settled across from him, exposing my back to the room. I scooted my chair around so I had at least a limited view.
“Drinks?” A waitress in black cargo pants and a tank top appeared at our table.
“Got drinks taken care of.” Dax pointed to Burn standing at the bar. “But you got anything to eat?”
The waitress curled her lip. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “If you want food poisoning, order anything that says fresh. Something fried is your best bet. That or a sealed snack bag if you want to splurge.”
Wow. That all sounded delicious.
I let Dax do the talking since she didn’t look at me the whole time. He ordered fries, which I planned to stay away from, and a few bags of chips. Hopefully the snacks would be edible, since I was hungry and would need to absorb the alcohol if the beer was drinkable.
“Be right back with those, handsome.”
She turned and deftly sidestepped past Burn, who was juggling three glasses of beer. I grabbed two and set one in front of Dax. She nodded in thanks before taking the chair next to him. “Ooh, you got the handsome treatment. Think she really thinks so or is it part of the service here?”
Dax shrugged, but he looked embarrassed.
“Probably both,” I said. “Guys probably tip better if they think she’s into them. Plus, how many actually good-looking men come in here every day?”
Burn looked around the room. “Looks like one or two locals, but I think we broke records bringing three of them in today.”
My eyes had adjusted to the dim light and I could see Dax’s cheeks turn red.
I burst out laughing.
“Well, that got people’s attention.” His voice was a quiet rumble. His eyes were sharp, taking in everything happening behind me.
“They all looked when we entered the room, but no one’s paying much attention to us now,” Burn added.
“Give it a few more minutes,” I said. “Maybe something will look promising.” Speaking of promising, my beer smelled like beer, but I wasn’t brave enough to try it first. “Have you tried this yet?”
Burn shook her head. “Too busy juggling. And also too afraid. I can’t decide if this place is just your average spaceport bar or if there’s something more sinister.”
“Me too!”
Dax just shook his head at both of us.
I was going to go crazy if I didn’t have something to do. And drinking was doing something, so . . . I picked up my glass and sniffed again. Still smelled like beer. “If this kills me, please still try to rescue my sister.”
“We will,” Burn said. She lifted her glass and we clinked.
I looked at Dax expectantly. He sighed in exasperation, but lifted his glass. “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” I repeated. “Here goes nothing.” I took a baby sip of the beer. It tasted . . . good. Like, surprisingly good. A bit hoppy, with little bursts of freshness. I took another small sip.
Same results. I lowered my glass and stared at it.
The waitress dropped three bags of chips on the table, then reached past Burn to place the fries in front of Dax. “Everything okay with your drinks?”
“Yes,” I said. “No. Maybe?”
She finally tore her gaze away from Dax and looked at me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s a good beer. I didn’t expect that?”
She laughed. “So you want to know if it’s poisoned or something?”
“Well . . . yeah.”
“Not today,” she said, absolutely straight-faced.
I looked at her in horror and set my beer down so fast it sloshed.
“That’s a joke. The owner’s grandfather always wanted to make beer, so a few years ago they cobbled together a brewing apparatus for him. He’s been tinkering since.” She grimaced. “Some batches are better than others.”
Practically every planet made beer, but a good, small-batch alcohol could fetch a nice price in the right markets. “Do you sell it off-planet? Are you looking for someone to ship it?” The words flowed out of me so quickly, I worried that there was some kind of truth serum in it.
“You looking for cargo?” The waitress got a speculative look in her eye.
I put my drink down and dialed back my enthusiasm. It wouldn’t do to oversell our hand. “Wouldn’t hurt. Delivered some feed and wouldn’t mind an outbound load.”
The waitress looked at all three of us one by one. “If you’re serious, I can let some people know.”
We all nodded. Dax let me continue the conversation.
“Saw the hangars. Got anyone who sells spare parts? This lot,” I gestured at Dax and Burn, “decided to go ‘exploring’ and I’m worried a few of our parts are gonna fritz out.
I’d rather have spares with me, if I can, rather than need a part and not have it. ”
“Sure. I can put the word out for that too.” There was a gleam in her eyes that told me that she got a cut of any business she sent their way.
“Thanks.”
The waitress took off and instead of returning to the bar, she headed toward the back room.
“Well, we’ve started the ball rolling.” I reached for a bag of chips. My beer was half gone and I really needed to slow down.
“You went off script.” Dax sounded disapproving.
“I know,” I said. “I was nervous. It seems to have worked, though.”
He was still frowning but he nodded.
“Let’s call it a win then,” I said.
He crossed his arms over his chest and looked everywhere but at me. I tried not to take it personally—he was probably keeping an eye out for trouble—but it still felt like he was mad at me.
I raised my glass and put a smile on my face even though I wanted to scowl back at him. “Pick up your glass and take a sip. Or a pretend sip. We’re supposed to be having a good time.”
“She’s right,” Burn said.
“Thank you.” I could really get used to having her on my side instead of against me.
Dax unwound enough to take a drink. “You’re right.” He raised his glass again, then paused, staring over my shoulder.
I turned my head and caught a glimpse of checkerboard plaid in my periphery.
“You the ones looking for parts?” A gruff older man stepped closer to our table and I got a better look at him. He wore grease-streaked overalls over the plaid shirt. His hands were streaked with grease. His nails were short and blunt and I bet if we shook hands, I’d feel calluses similar to mine.
“Yep,” Dax said.
His abruptness didn’t seem to deter the old guy. He grabbed a chair from a nearby table, flipped it around and straddled it, resting his arms on the top of the back.
“Whatcha need?” he asked Dax.
“Ask her.” Dax pointed at me. “Tell him what we need.”
Although the command made me bristle, these were the roles we were playing. I pulled a datapad out of my pocket and powered it up. It was an old one that we’d scrubbed clean of any usable data. We weren’t taking any chances on this planet.
During the transit from Justin, I’d created a list of parts, starting with common ones that any ship might want to have on hand and then ending with the ones specific to Fortuna. I read it off, keeping one eye on the list as I scrolled through it and the other on him to watch his reaction.
“That all you got?” he asked when I finished.
“There’s more. I just didn’t want to waste your time if you can’t handle it.”
“Girlie, you’re wasting my time right now. Give me the whole dang list. I got work to do.” He pulled out a beat-up tablet and set it on the table.
“Sure, sorry.” I transferred the file to his datapad with a flick of my finger.
He scrolled through it once or twice, then tapped his fingers on the screen. “I can cover about 90 percent of that.” He quoted a number I found reasonable and a time of a couple hours from now, so I agreed.
“What about the rest?”
He rubbed his jaw. “That’s some pretty specialized stuff, and well, we’re not a real specialized planet. Can’t you get those parts at your next stop?”
Valid question and I pretended to give it the consideration it deserved.
“If we were going somewhere civilized, sure. But they,” I jerked my thumb at Dax and Burn, “think we’ll do better sticking to the edge of the system for a while.
We don’t need any of those parts right away, but I don’t want to be caught without it either. Can anyone else here help us out?”
He rubbed his jaw again. “Well . . .” He drew the word out and the wait nearly killed me. “You may be able to get the parts on-planet, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Bad stock?”
He frowned and shook his head. “Bad guys.” He pointed his finger at me. “If you’re determined to look for those parts, you be sure and take your crew with you. Between the four of them, you should get there and back safely. If you decide to go. Which you shouldn’t.”
The old man was a lot sharper than I’d figured, since he’d put Mercer and Orion with our group. And more honest than I’d expected, since he seemed to be trying to steer us away from the guys who ran the chop shop.
“I’ll take them with me,” I said. “I’ll need someone to carry the heavy stuff.”
“This ain’t no joking matter, girlie. The men who might have the parts you want didn’t get them legally, if you get what I’m sayin.’ You don’t want to be messing with them.”
“In and out,” I promised. I leaned close. “Is our ship safe?”
He was quiet a long moment. “Long as you and your crew don’t go missin’, it should be fine. So make sure you don’t.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I ain’t done nothin’,” he said. “Just business. You get those parts before dark. You want to be in your ship when night falls around here.”
I nodded.
“It’s the big hangar on the edge of town,” he said. “I can’t stop you, but I wish you’d reconsider.” Standing abruptly, he shoved his tablet in his pocket. Over my shoulder, Burn and Dax watched him go.