4

"Five?"

"Yeah, and I can barely afford that. I don't know how the others do it." Ness poked her head into the bedroom. She pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down. "Do you know what's wrong with the ship?"

Tox laughed. "You mean besides the fact that it's a hundred years old? First of all, there's something wrong with the diagnostics computer."

"There is?"

"Yeah, it doesn't have one." Tox opened the chiller and looked inside. "I haven't done any shopping yet. I've got water?"

"That would be nice, thanks."

Then he had to find a clean glass. "So, with no computer and the engines not running at all now, I don't really know where to start." When he'd handed Ness her drink, he leaned against the bench and drank straight from the bottle. "I've decided to just start stripping down the engine and see what I can find."

Ness nodded thoughtfully. She opened her mouth to speak, but a sound erupted form the cockpit.

Tox spun to look. "What the hell's that?" It didn't sound good. He moved quickly thought the short passage and started to look. Ness followed close behind. She was the one who found the radio flashing.

"You have a call," she said, pointing.

"Nobody even knows where I am." Tox hit the button and turned the mic on. "Hello?"

"Is that Tox Intya?"

"Yeah."

"Greetings, Tox. I am Captain Calit Dramil from the Flight Academy."

"Yes Sir. Of course. I know who you are."

"Excellent. I thought you might. We received your application today-- your tenth in a row-- and thought we would get you in for a bit of an informal chat before we make any decisions on the short list."

"Yes, Sir. That would be wonderful."

"Are you available soon? Say, at Blue 2?"

It was less than 2 hours away. "Of course."

"Right. Why don't you come to the Flight Deck Bar then and we can see what we can see. You can bring your friend if you like, though of course she will have to do without your company while we talk. I'm sure she will be able to amuse herself."

"Thank you, Sir. I'll be there."

"Of course you will. If you want to come early you can have a drink while you wait. The guards will be expecting you."

The radio went dead.

Tox spun to look at Ness. She had a shocked look on her face. Tox knew he probably looked much the same.

"That's amazing."

"I'm not in yet. I'm not even on the short list yet. They're probably just sick of me and intend to tell me to leave them alone."

"You think Captain Dramil usually makes calls like that?"

"Well... no..." Tox had to get ready. He nudged past Ness and back into the living quarters of the ship. "So do you want to come?"

"Me? Why? I..."

"He said you could come."

"But how did I know I was here?"

It was a good question. Tox looked around as if he might see a camera he hadn't noticed before. The ship was too old to even have on board cameras. "I don't know. Does it matter?"

"Umm... No. Do you know how many people like us get invited to the Flight Deck?"

Tox laughed as he stripped of his clothes and inserted himself into the cramped confines of the san-cubical. He hadn't tried it yet and hoped it worked without any assistance from the ship's driving components. "I don't even know of anyone who's gotten above the 150th floor of Keel Sector, let alone onto the flight deck." The water was hot and steady-- better than he'd ever gotten in his unit in Groat Sector.

"I knew a guy who stepped through the door on level 150. He made it three steps before he was shot."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, to say the least."

"No. Sorry. I just hit my elbow. This thing is bloody small."

"Oh, right. You could probably install a larger cubical now. The kitchen could be halved in size with newer equipment."

Tox turned off the water and climbed back out into the open. He towelled himself dry while he looked around. "You're probably right. If I had the money I could probably double the size of the living areas." He tapped the wall opposite the equipment. "The life support module is in this wall. It's huge."

"Like I said, 'nice' isn't exactly the right work, but it could be."

"If I had the money." Tox went into the back room and threw the towel on the bed. He opened his pack-- he hadn't had a chance to organise anything yet-- and started to sort through his clothes.

Ness followed and sat down on the bed to watch. "You don't want to over do it. You don't want to look desperate."

Tox laughed. "Two points, Ness. One. I've applied ten times-- they already know I'm desperate. And two. I work in a spare parts shop and live in a 100 year old space ship. Or is that two points? Whatever. Anyway, over doing it isn't really an option."

Ness was smiling as she looked at the choices. "How about this?" She held up a lime green skirt that was just flared enough to almost be in fashion.

"Hmmm... Maybe. I don't know."

"You put it with this shirt." A bright blue one with concertina sleeves. "And you uses this head scarf as a cummerbund. "

"It might work." He started to get dressed. "So are you coming?"

"Of course."

"Do you want to use the san?"

"No thanks."

Ten minutes later, Tox was ready to go. "So what do you think?"

Ness smiled and nodded. "You won't embarrass me."

They climbed the ladder back into the storeroom then made their way quickly out into the passage. A Knuckle sauntered past, as if out for an innocent stroll, as Tox locked the door. Tinner's would be left alone, but someone else was in for a surprise in the morning.

#

Tox took a deep breath. He looked back at the lift, as if getting back on really was an option.

"Don't back out now," Ness said. "You've wanted this for five years."

"I've wanted this all my life."

"Right. And besides, you can tell them you aren't interested later-- after we have a drink on the Flight Deck."

"Tell them I'm not interested." Tox laughed, and it was exactly what he needed. He smoothed his skirt and walked towards the door. Ness strode along by his side. The door opened at their approach, sliding silently into the corners.

Beyond were 13 heavily armed guards. Twelve stood as still as statues. The final one stepped crisply forward.

Tox took another deep breath, but the man didn't look concerned. "Mr Intya, welcome aboard." He bowed slightly, without lowering his gaze.

"Ahhh... Thank you."

"Miss Taflo." Another bow.

"Ummm... Hi."

"If you will kindly use the lift at the far end." He gestured. "The button for the Flight Deck is clearly marked. You may want to avoid exiting on the incorrect floor." He smiled a little smile.

"Right. Thanks."

The lift was an express that skipped the first 45 of the fifty floors. Each button was as a breakfast bowl. The Flight Deck was clearly marked. Tox carefully pressed the button. He smoothed his skirt. He fixed the collar on his shirt.

"Stop fiddling."

"Right." He cleared his throat. "Right."

The lift opened directly into the bar. It was nothing life Tox had ever seen before.

3 Rendezvous

Tox took the customer's crits and entered the sale. By the time he looked up the next person in line was standing at the counter. It was a young woman, slightly plump, attractive in a girl-next-door way. She stood quietly, fingers drumming nervously against the edge of the counter.

"Hi," Tox said. "What can I help you with?"

"Hi. I'm Ness."

"Sorry? Ness?"

"Ness... The mag-grab from yesterday."

"Oh. Right. Sorry. A lot's happened since then."

"Hasn't it though."

"So what can I do for you?"

"Well, it's just... I've did some reading about the Wexlers last night and they sound amazing. I was wondering if I could actually take a look. I own a Nikota myself and I know how hard they are to keep running after 30 years so a 100 year old ship that works even a little bit is worth seeing."

"Ahhh... sure. You can have a look. I haven't had a chance to look at it myself really." He looked around the shop. There was nobody there. Red Shift finished in about five minutes. "If you just give me a few minutes to finish up here."

"Sure."

Ness went and sat in the corner while Tox served another customer than reconciled the day's takings. Tinner wandered out of the storeroom, eyed Ness suspiciously, then said goodbye as he wandered out through the front door. Tox locked the door behind him.

"Come on through." Tox lead the way into the storeroom and towards the docks on the left. "So you own a Nikota? Let me know when you need and lanaki converter. We have a few lying around."

"I bought one from here last year sometime."

"Last year?" Tox smiled. "Well, you might just about be due for another."

"Tell me about it."

Tox let Ness go down the ladder first, leaving the hatch open behind him. When he crawled out into the cockpit she was already examining the controls like she knew what she was looking at. There was an empty cup balanced precariously on the edge of the consol.

"Just let me..." Tox grabbed the cup then slipped past Ness and into the rear of the ship. Where once there would have been three rows seats along one side of the ship, there was now a san-cubical and a small kitchenette. Through another door, into what had once been storage space, was now a bed and table. There was mess everywhere.

"You live here?"

Tox stopped his hurried cleaning and turned to look at Ness. "Yeah. The only reason I could afford to buy this thing was because of that... And Tinner letting me use the dock for virtually nothing."

"It's ahhh, nice."

"Sure it is."

"No serious. Well, you know what I mean. Maybe 'nice' isn't exactly the right word, but I'm sharing a unit with five complete strangers."

2

Tox hurried out through the shop and into the passage beyond. Like in Akanasi Sector, most of the businesses operated on Red Shift. They were locked up tight, security screens rolled down across already unbreakable steglass windows. But here and there doors were still open and signs still glowed softly. There were hardly enough people around to make it worthwhile. There was basically no passing trade at the bottom of Neering Sector. It had long been associated with black market trading and the Knoglin Clan. Tinner's survived on reputation alone.

Customers came from all over the Station and even from the world below to make use of Tinner's vast knowledge and even vaster array of parts-- if he had bits of a Wexler he'd have bits for anything and could find them in an instant without electronic assistance. Tox wasn't up to the old man's standard yet but was getting close. He certainly knew where to find the Wexler bits.

At the end of the passage, Tox entered a small chamber where a bank of lifts lined one of the walls. A couple of Knoglin Knuckles slouched against a wall, talking quietly as they scanned the pedestrians. One of them had a small nod for Tox as they let him through into a lift.

He went up ten levels to a Class 2 hub and changed to an express. He crowded in with about 60 others and felt the internal grav compensation kick in as they surged upwards. Most of the group stayed on all the way to level 100 and bustled out into Neering Centre. Tox stopped by the fake garden, examining the crowd as if he might find a reason to hang around. After a moment, he crossed to the nearest public access terminal and logged on. Applications to the Flight Academy were open for only one hour, apparently in an attempt to cut down on numbers. He checked over what he'd written one more time, checked the time, then hit the send button. He'd applied every round for the last five years and never even gotten as far as an interview-- he was running out of different ways to say the same thing.

With the main job of the day done, he found the next bank of lift and piled in with a few dozen people again. Most of these exited long before the top-- only five were still present when the door hissed open on level 190 a few minutes later.

"Hey Tox."

Tox sighed. He thought of hurrying to the next lift but knew it would be pointless. He looked around. "Hi, Grit."

"What are you doing up here?" The little man was standing a few meters away, leaning against a drink dispenser as if trying to hide in its shadow.

"I'm just going to the viewing platform. I had a tough day at work and wanted to be along for a while."

"But the viewing platform will be full of people."

"Alone in my head, Grit. I can be in a crowd for that."

"Oh. Mind if I come."

"Grit--"

"Just on the lift."

Tox didn't say anything. Again, he knew it wouldn't make much difference. He made his way to the next bank of lifts for the journey up the final 10 floors and Grit inevitably followed.

Grit stood in the corner as they ascended.

The lift opened out directly into the viewing platform. A clear dome in the ceiling gave views out into the Hakahei. There were a dozen people already there but for the most part they were ignoring the starscape overhead. None of them had noticed the extra pinprick of light.

Grit took one glance out through the dome and saw it. "There's a ship out there," he said.

Tox nodded.

"You knew? That's why you were coming here."

"And to be alone."

"Oh."

Grit didn't move, so Tox wandered away and found an empty couch that would let him lie back and watch. He even took his last ten crits and slotted half into the telescope and half into the comm unit. He shifted through the dozens of music channels until he could hear Control. The operators were still only doing general alerts but it wasn't long until that changed.

"All traffic, be advised. All traffic be advised. This call is a general hold. Repeat, this is a general hold. All lanes will be shut down in fifteen minutes. Please make your way to your destination as quickly as possible or find a public dock. All lanes will shut down in fifteen minutes."

The Master Control channel should only have been used by control but it was the one channel that would easily allow for general conversation. Questions flew. No answers were given. The freighter coming in from Caranoota was still 20 minutes away from hitting the coupling and wanted to know if they should hold were they were. A Life Support service vehicle was half way through a 10 hour repair that couldn't be left half finished-- they'd have to continue or start all over again later. There were a group of school children sitting in a bus waiting to watch the moon rise over the station. There was a film crew shooting a chase scene across the top of one of the Sectors. There was a bit of leaway-- the freighter should continue. There was 27 Sectors between the work crew and the as yet unmentioned threat-- continue. Everyone else-- don't be stupid, of course you have to get inside.

Soon, even those who weren't interested couldn't help but notice the sun growing in the dome overhead. Everyone turned to stare. The chatter on the channel turned to the new comer for a few minutes then fell completely silent as they listened to Control hailing across all frequencies. Any reply they might have seen went unheard by Tox. If anyone else heard it was unlikely they got more than a few seconds for their efforts-- Control would switch to a tighter band width the moment anything happened.

Tox switched to a music channel and listened to mellow base as the star continued to grow. Half an hour after he'd entered the platform, the true shape of the newcomer was visible to the naked eye. It was roughly spherical with numerous exhaust ports marring the dark surface. It was only fifty yards in diamater. For that to come out of the Hakahei...

The ship stopped about ten miles out off the low east face of the station, orientated top Up. The bridge seemed to be a dome on the top of the ship and, from his position, Tox could use the telescope and see right inside. There were humans on board.

Humans had flown out of the Hakahei.