Chapter 28: 28. Grilled

"If you come across a ship in space that's got nobody on board," Piper explained as the three of us walked through the port towards the city. "That technically counts as being abandoned. Which means it's fair game to salvage it. Or if it's functional, to try and claim it for yourself."

She continued, "That's been a problem I've had to deal with working alone for the past six years. Any time I had to do EVA work or leave on the shuttle, I was risking my ship. So I almost never did that, most of my salvage work involved grabbing ships or parts of ships with the Demeter's tractor/repulser beams."

"In port's a different story," she stated. "The ship's locked up tight, airlocks are sealed, and only I have the codes. Or, well now all three of us have the codes. And a ship that's at port isn't considered abandoned even if there's nobody on board. It's docked or moored. But some worlds, or some people, might not respect that rule."

"Mind you," she added, "If you leave a ship unoccupied in port for a prolonged length of time, depending on the port they may consider it abandoned. You might get hit with additional fees, or they might even seize it or something. But that's rarely a problem. Ships don't earn money in port, so you don't want to park it and leave it there for any length of time."

Sarah asked, "What about Jenny? She's part of the crew, so there's always someone on board now right?"

Our captain grimaced, "I honestly don't know? If she can convince people she's human, she definitely counts as crew on board. But if they figure out she's AI, they might consider her part of the equipment. At this point I'm not willing to risk the ship to see how that might play out."

"So that's another reason I was left on the ship while you two were doing the salvage work," I commented. "I mean, not that I would have been much help with that anyways."

Piper nodded, "That's right. The lack of a suitable e-suit meant you had to stay behind regardless, but even if there was a way to bring you with us I wouldn't have. Leaving you on the ship meant she wasn't abandoned."

After a few moments I asked, "Yet despite that huge risk of working alone, it still took you six years before you decided to take on some crew?"

Piper sighed, "Yeah. It's a long story, and I'll tell you two about it some time. Short version is after I lost Gabe, I wasn't ready to deal with anyone else. Part of it's because of the age thing, having to explain all that to some stranger. And first impressions, people look at me and see a young woman. They assume I'm inexperienced. So I'd have trouble finding crew who trusted me to know what I was doing and wouldn't just try and take the ship out from under me."

"And the age thing turned out to be a non-issue with me and Amanda," Sarah said with a smile. "I mean, considering we both have the same problem now and we both understand where you're coming from."

The captain smiled as well, "I wasn't thinking about that when I pulled your lifepod into the hold. Though I'll admit it crossed my mind when I found out what condition you were in. At that point I knew both you kids would understand."

She glanced at me and added, "Of course I didn't expect Amanda would be so eager to climb into it as soon as you got out."

I tried not to blush as I continued walking alongside them.

There was no border or demarcation when we left the port area and entered the city proper, the only indication we'd left the port was rather than having ships scattered around us on the hard-packed ground there were buildings around us instead.

Piper was taking Sarah and I to see some safe areas of the city where we could spend money on goods or services or entertainment. Our first stop would be to sample the local cuisine at a restaurant she said was pretty good, as well as fairly safe.

This part of the city was mostly home to an assortment of low buildings in various sizes. The tallest I saw was only about three stories, though the largest easily covered an entire city block. There were taller buildings, including some that were impressively tall, but they were concentrated in the centre of the city which was some distance from the port area.

I didn't see much in the way of ground vehicles around, but as we walked we did pass by other folks on foot here and there. Meanwhile that crazy chaotic mess of air traffic continued over our heads, with grav-sleds and air-cars going in all different directions.

The three of us were walking along a wide street or pathway, and every now and then I noticed some old well-worn faded cement underfoot but it was mostly just hard-packed dirt. I had a feeling the streets were paved a long time back, but the lack of ground traffic meant there wasn't any real need to maintain the roads.

Then I remembered what Piper said about the local government, and figured it might be the other way around. Poorly maintained roads meant it was probably safer and easier to take grav-sleds instead.

That still left pedestrians like us, and the other people I saw on foot looked a lot like the kind of people I saw back on my home-world. And it made me feel extremely self-conscious, because with my fuzzy pointed ears and big floofy tail I looked as out of place here as I would back home.

In fact the way the local folks looked, combined with the sorts of buildings in this part of the city and the way the roads were all just hard-packed dirt, I could almost believe we were back on my home-world. The main thing that broke the illusion and reminded me this wasn't my old home was the high percentage of people we saw walking around armed.

Most wore some kind of handgun on their belt or hip similar to my crew-mates and I, but a few people were carrying heavier weaponry. I saw some with shotguns, and a couple with assault rifles. The long arms were usually slung over a shoulder, but one or two carried them in hand like they were ready to use them.

"How do you find your way around here?" Sarah asked. "I'm assuming you can get a map or something?"

Piper shrugged, "Experience. When the Demeter first arrived in this sector way back when, we were clueless. We probably got ripped off and taken advantage of dozen times a day. Overpriced maps, overpriced landing-vectors, overpriced everything. We may as well have hung signs around our necks that read 'gullible newcomers'. But you eventually figure it out. Find your way around, figure out what's safe and what isn't, and what's a good deal and what isn't."

"And I'll pass that on to you two," she added. "Like I said though, it's experience. And that takes time."

Speaking of time, it took us another twenty or thirty minutes before we reached our destination. There were some turns along the way, but it was fairly easy to keep a sense of direction thanks to the steady stream of orbital lift ships launching or landing at the port every ten or fifteen minutes.

The place our captain brought us was a squat square two-story building. From the side it looked like some kind of concrete bunker, but when we came around to the front there were some windows and an open door. There was a fairly simple hand-painted sign above the door which identified it as a restaurant.

Not that we needed the sign, the smells emanating from the structure had my mouth watering. One thing I knew for certain, this place didn't serve food from an auto-chef. That aroma could only mean one thing. Real meat cooked over a real grill.

Of course, this being an agricultural world it only made sense they'd have a ready supply of local produce and livestock. Even if most of it was shipped off-world on that steady stream of orbital lift ships, there'd almost always be some kept back for local enjoyment.

The restaurant interior was kind of run-down. Half a dozen old tables were scattered around, each surrounded by four chairs. There were some counters along the back wall, which gave the place a feel like it was part restaurant and part butcher shop.

And once again I was reminded of home. My family rarely went out to eat, but there was a place just like this back in my home town. I was positive it matched right down to the dusty old yellowing tiles on the floor, the off-white walls, and the wobbly tables and chairs. And the delicious aromas too, for that matter.

There wasn't anyone else in here, the tables were all empty and there was nobody behind the counters at first.

Before any of us had a chance to talk a middle-aged woman emerged from somewhere in the back. She came through a doorway in the middle of the wall behind the counters, then smiled "Well if isn't miss Piper! What can I do for you today? And who are these two lovely young ladies you've brought with you?"

She looked to be in her late forties, or if she was into her fifties she was wearing it well. She looked fit, with just a few extra pounds around the midsection. Her long hair was blonde but with a few streaks of grey, and it was pulled back into a simple pony-tail. She wore the same sort of working-clothes I'd grown up with back home, but overtop of that was an apron. It was mostly white, but had accumulated a number of colourful stains.

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Our captain smiled back at her, "Hello Gilly, nice to see you again too. These are my new crew, Amanda and Sarah. And the three of us are here so I can introduce my new ship-mates to your fine cooking."

She punctuated that statement by placing a big five-hundred-eck coin on the counter, then glanced at me and Sarah and said "Food's on me today kids, so order whatever you like."

Gilly's eyebrows shot up and she scooped up the coin as she grinned, "Looks like someone's had a run of good luck! You girls order whatever you like, and if it's not on the menu don't be shy to ask anyways. Krick's manning the grill and he'll do what it takes to make your bellies happy."

The 'menu' was hand-written on a couple big boards on the wall behind the counter, and after saying a polite hello to Gilly it only took me a few seconds to pick what I wanted. Sarah wasn't far behind, and after we'd both given the woman our order Piper picked something out for herself as well. We all got drinks too, I went with a soft drink but Piper ordered some local ale so Sarah did the same.

Gilly disappeared into the back for a few moments, then returned with our drinks. As she handed them over she said "You girls sit wherever you like, I'll bring out the food the minute it's ready."

We picked a table off to one side, and as we all got seated Sarah gave me a funny look and asked "Are you doing ok there Amanda? You've had some odd expressions on your face the past twenty minutes."

"Oh," I grimaced. "I'm fine. It's just, this all really reminds me of my home-world. Even this place, I could swear we had the same identical kind of restaurant in the local town. Right down to the middle-aged woman behind the counter."

The cute engineer smirked, "What are you saying Amanda? That if you've seen one agri-world you've seen them all?"

I rolled my eyes but didn't bother replying.

"What was your home-world called?" Piper asked. "I don't think I've ever caught the name."

I replied, "It was Kaitor-7. An average world in an average sector with absolutely nothing going for it."

Sarah had a swig of her ale then shook her head, "That's not true. It's where you come from, that alone makes it special."

For a moment I thought she was teasing me again, until it sort of hit me she wasn't making a joke or something at my expense. I wasn't sure how to react, but Piper spoke up before I could finish parsing what Sarah just said, and our captain's words left me even more stunned.

"I know it," she said as she sipped her beer. "I was stationed there for a year, it was my first posting out of basic training. There was some problem with the local constabulary, so they were using marines to handle security around the port for a while."

I found myself staring at Piper with wide eyes.

"Small galaxy, huh?" Sarah grinned.

"Yeah," I nodded slowly. I didn't know what else to say.

The next distraction came in the form of Gilly, who delivered three huge plates covered in food. There was enough on the table for a family of eight, let alone the three of us. It all looked and smelled great though. I had grilled beef ribs smothered in tangy-smelling sauce. Sarah had a huge slab of grilled lamb, dripping with juices and looked to be perfectly seasoned. And Piper had a thick juicy steak, grilled to perfection. All three meals came with several side-dishes, and I knew whatever we couldn't finish was coming with us back to the ship.

The three of us all got started on the food, and it tasted even better than it smelled. As we were all digging in Gilly brought us more drinks then disappeared into the back to let us enjoy our meal in private.

About halfway through our lunch we were distracted by some noise outside as some wind and dust blew in through the open door. We all looked in time to see a grav-sled set down right outside, and two rough-looking guys stepped off the vehicle and into the restaurant.

They were in their late twenties or early thirties. Both were dressed in coveralls and work boots, and the guy on the left was carrying a shotgun. He had his hand on the grip while the barrel rested on his shoulder in a sort of semi-relaxed pose, where he could easily swing it down and start shooting at a moment's notice.

Both of them took a moment to ogle me and my ship-mates, and I felt my heart-rate rising as my appetite faded. Sarah looked uneasy as well, but Piper gave us both a look that I took to mean everything was ok.

Meanwhile the guy on the right called out, "Gilly! We're here to pick up our regular order!"

"Rizz you ain't paid for the last two orders!" Gilly retorted as she emerged from the back.

The guy on the right, Rizz apparently, protested "Mr. Trursor says you'll get paid up-to-date next time, but we gotta bring back today's order."

The older blonde shook her head, "I don't care what Mr. Trursor says, you're not getting so much as a sausage until you pay up."

"Hey Gilly," the guy with the shotgun spoke up. He sounded like he was acting tough or threatening, and his next words sent a chill through me and killed what was left of my appetite. "What's the deal letting an animal eat in here? I thought the only animals in this place ended up on the grill."

Piper glanced at me and gave me a very subtle shake of her head. Not that I was going to speak up regardless, but I understood to keep out of it. Meanwhile our captain's eyes were back on the two men as she sipped her ale. And I realized with a bit of shock, while she was holding her drink in her left hand, her right hand was resting on the grip of her gun.

Unlike me, Gilly didn't seem the least bit intimidated. She actually sounded scarier than the guy with the shotgun as she stated angrily, "Darl you do not come in here and insult my paying customers. Get the hell out of here the both of you, or Krick will be having words with you and you do not want do deal with that!"

Rizz and Darl looked angry, but after a few seconds the two actually backed down. They turned around and stalked back out, then got in their grav-sled and took off.

"I'm so sorry you girls had to see that," Gilly apologized to us. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

Piper shook her head, "Not your fault. But tell you what, we'll take all this, plus another round of the same, packed up to go."

Sarah gave me a smile and a wink then asked Gilly, "Do you sell cuts of meat as well? We could come back and stock up before we have to head off-world. Amanda here's a pretty good cook, I'd love to see what she can do with some quality ingredients."

I felt my cheeks burning as Gilly gave all three of us a wide smile.