Chapter 10
Ten
“What would you like from the NuProd before Alyce picks you up for your station tour?”
Holly’s head whipped toward Luv. “What station tour?”
Luv made a staticky sound from her interface. “Did you not check your schedule? It is on your schedule.”
It was the morning after she’d gone through Charles’ possessions and she wasn’t in a particularly great mood. Her dreams had been anxiety-ridden messes involving being lost in mazes. Holly looked up from her d-pad. “What schedule?”
“It should be in your d-pad,” Luv said. “And in your wrist comm. Bloody hell, I will not babysit you, too.”
“Fine.” Holly made a show of changing menus in her d-pad to an option she hadn’t thought she needed so far, here. Sure enough, a calendar item appeared: Station tour with Alyce: 09:00.
“Oh.” When had that happened?
“Yes,” Luv snapped. “Oh. Do check your agenda on a regular basis. You are the owner of this station now. Best you not be as unreliable as your late grandfather.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” she said with a scowl. “Don’t yell at me, Luv. I just got up.”
“I apologize,” Luv replied without sounding at all apologetic. “Now, about breakfast. Porridge, hot or cold?”
Holly was reaching a point where the word “porridge” was making her stomach literally clench.
Even with Luv’s additions to it—some berries for breakfast and vegetables for other meals—it was becoming intolerable.
Holly sighed. Nevertheless: “Hot, please. The same way you made it yesterday, with the berries.”
“Berries.” Luv’s tone suggested this was a tall order, even though they seemed to be easily obtained in the lounge. “I’ll see what I can manage.”
The robot turned toward the door, then stopped and rotated back to face Holly.
“Take the dog outside before you do anything else,” Luv said. “Or else he’ll empty his bladder on the floor.”
Holly looked at Bean. The beagle was sitting by the door, his body tense with urgency. He stared at her with an expression that clearly said, hurry up.
“Right.” Holly grabbed the leash from the hook and clipped it to his collar. “Come on, Bean.”
The dog bolted the moment she opened the door, nearly yanking her arm from its socket. Holly stumbled after him, struggling to keep up as he dragged her through the hotel lobby and out into the square.
The morning light was soft and golden. The dome arched overhead, its crystal-plex panels catching the glow and scattering it across the stone walkways below. Holly drew in a breath and let it out slowly. Despite everything, this place really was beautiful.
She looked up and saw the gas giant hanging in the sky beyond the dome, enormous and striped with bands of toxic color and dusty rings.
The system’s star was smaller than the sun she had grown up with, but warm enough to cast gentle shadows across the square.
The light felt different this morning. Softer. More forgiving.
Bean tugged on the leash, pulling her toward the patch of trees that clustered at one edge of the square.
There lay an opening that would lead down a dirt path that wound through the forest. It was their usual route and the one Bean always went for.
Holly didn’t mind. The trees rose around her, their branches reaching toward the dome roof.
Birds fluttered between the leaves, chirping and calling to one another.
Insects buzzed in the undergrowth. Something rustled in the brush nearby, and Holly heard the scurry of small feet.
Critters. The forest was alive, despite the neglect.
She never let Bean take them too far in.
She didn’t know what lived in these woods, and she wasn’t eager to find out until she had a bit more information.
Stations like this were often infested with odd creatures.
Some arrived as stowaways on ships. Some were abandoned.
Either way, she wasn’t eager to encounter them.
Her wrist comm pinged, and Holly’s heart lifted, knowing who this likely was. She tapped the simple white bracelet that served as a communicator. A small earpiece popped out when she received a call. She pried it off and tucked it into her ear.
“Holly?” Her father’s voice came through, warm and familiar. “Are you there?”
She smiled at the sound of his voice. “I’m here, Dad.”
“Oh, good. This frequency sounds shaky, but I hope it holds.” Her mother’s voice joined the call. “We were worried when we didn’t hear from you for over a week. How is it going? What’s it like?”
Holly looked up through the canopy of leaves. A bird with iridescent feathers hopped along a branch, tilting its head to watch her.
“I’m overwhelmed,” she admitted. “But the outpost is very pretty. The dome is stunning. The forest is bigger than I expected. The gardens and the architecture are as beautiful as the schematics promised.” She sighed.
“But it’s all out-of-date. Systems aren’t working properly.
The air circulation is sluggish. Half the storefronts are empty. And I haven’t even seen all of it yet.”
“I knew it would be a lot to take on,” her mother said carefully. “Have you met the residents?”
Holly filled them in on the people she had encountered so far.
Alyce, the woman who managed, well, everything with sharp efficiency.
Sam, the big, quiet man who ran the spaceport.
Orba and Sula, the Vepins at The Emporium who had somehow known exactly what she wanted.
Harry, Mish, and Mish’s fourteen identical, hive-minded, potentially deadly children.
“And a consultant sent by Rest ’N Recharge, who wants to buy the outpost,” Holly added. “He’s staying at the hotel.”
“Rest ’N Recharge?” Her father sounded annoyed. “Ugh, those outposts are hideous.”
“I know,” Holly said. “His name is Rasker Vipp and he’s as unpleasant as his name suggests.”
Her mother made a disapproving noise. “We try to avoid those awful stations. I don’t understand why they must plaster advertisements on every surface.”
“Even inside the shower.” Holly watched a beetle crawl across a leaf. “I told him I wasn’t selling. He didn’t seem convinced.”
“You’ll convince him,” her father said firmly.
Holly smiled despite herself. “We’ll see.” She paused, then asked, “Mom, do you remember a third cousin of mine? A guy named Cody Barkois?”
“Barkois…” There was a moment of silence.
“Oh, dear. Yes, I think I know who you mean. My second cousin’s youngest son.
Only met him once or twice but it was years ago, at a reunion.
He was a bit of a troublemaker as a child, as I recall.
” Her mother’s tone was thoughtful. “Got into all sorts of mischief. His parents moved around a lot, so we lost touch. Why do you ask?”
“He showed up a couple months ago, before Charles died. Charles hired him as a cook. Apparently, he’s not a good one.
” Holly tugged Bean back from sniffing something suspicious in the brush.
“I haven’t met him yet. I’ve tried, but every time I go to the lounge, he’s not there.
His messes are, though. He leaves it in shambles.
” She bit her lip. “I’ll have to go in there and address that. ”
“Oh dear,” her mother tutted. “Do you think you’ll have to fire him?”
“Probably,” Holly replied. “Otherwise, I plan to set up a meeting with the residents. I’ve gone over all the records I have on the station, but I want to introduce myself and get a feel for the morale. I have a feeling it’s low.”
“How could it not be?” her father asked. “Upgrading that place is going to be expensive and they surely know it.”
Holly frowned. “Speaking of which, I’m surprised at how low Charles’ accounts are. For someone who took a full fifty percent of all fees collected by the spaceport, I expected there to be more funds to work with.”
“I saw those accounts too,” her mother said. “I don’t know where the currency units went. Charles wasn’t known for his generosity, so I doubt he gave them away.”
“Maybe he spent them on something,” her father suggested. “Or maybe he hid them somewhere.”
“The last expensive thing he bought was a gen-one Homeboti unit…at least fifty years ago.” But Holly would have to look into the idea that there was a currency chip floating around somewhere, overlooked. She’d need the nits if she was going to update the outpost.
“Be careful, Holly,” her father added. “I know you want to save that place, but don’t dump all your savings into it before you’re sure it can be saved. You have two and a half months to decide whether or not to stay there. Use that time wisely.”
“I will, Dad.” She meant it. She had her own savings, but it wasn’t a fortune by any means.
It was enough to support her on the lunar city, which was the most expensive comm-code in the solar system.
She had to determine whether the outpost could be turned around and made more appealing to travelers.
If not, then maybe she would have to return to Nova and the enhanced aesthetics program, and Beenan’s smug face.
The thought made her stomach clench.
Just then, Bean squatted beside the path and glared up at her, as if unhappy she was present for such a private moment.
Holly cursed herself for forgetting a bag. “Hold on,” she said. “The dog just pooped on the ground and I forgot to bring a waste bag.”
“What dog?” Her father sounded surprised.
“Oh, right. You didn’t know. I inherited Charles’ dog. A beagle. He doesn’t like me. He does his business on our walks—which is where we are right now—and I forgot to bring something to clean it up.”
“My father had a dog?” Mirth sounded aghast.
“Yes.” Holly gazed down at the beagle in question. “Maybe he got lonely.”
Mirth snorted. “Why would you need to clean up after him?” her mother wanted to know. “I was a little girl, but I remember cleaning bots coming around.”
Holly had not seen a single cleaning bot. “I don’t think Moone’s Landing has had them in quite some time, Mom.”
Her father let out a low whistle. “I had no idea the outpost was so rustic.”
“Neither did I.” Holly took note of where Bean had made his deposit so she could clean it up later, then turned around and began walking back toward the hotel, Bean trotting alongside her.
She thought about mentioning the untouched childhood room to her mother and decided to wait on that.
There was a tightness in Mirth’s voice that made Holly wonder if her mother had spent their call braced for some information exactly like that.
Moone’s Landing was a complicated topic for both of them, in different ways.
“Anyway, I’ll have to look into cleaning bots. ”
Her parents wished her luck, and Holly ended the call with a promise to check in soon. She made her way out of the forest and back across the square to the hotel, and breakfast. Bean seemed content now that he had done his business, his white-tipped tail swinging as they walked.
Holly pushed open the hotel door and stopped short. Bean’s tail stopped wagging and dropped as he spotted a young man in the lobby, being sternly spoken to by Alyce. Holly knew instantly who he was. It looked like today was the day she was going to meet her elusive cousin Cody.