Chapter 88: 87. Referral

For some reason I expected Helen to be back within an hour or so. I thought she'd take Tamsin off to an apartment or something, get her settled in, then return to finish her business with us.

Instead it was more like four or five hours later when the shipyard CEO finally returned. The delay wasn't all wasted, we had some shipyard staff visit in the meantime to refuel the Demeter. They also delivered a case of expensive-looking whiskey, apparently that was a parting gift the former shipyard owner wanted Rebecca to have.

It was late afternoon pushing towards evening when Helen finally set down in a small grav-sled just outside the ship. And like her earlier visits the boss invited her up to the mess to speak with us.

We all got something to drink as we settled in to talk around the table in the mess, the captain and our guest had coffee, Sarah got some soda, while I just had water.

"Sorry for keeping you all waiting so long," Helen apologized once we were all seated.

She grimaced as she added in a surprised tone, "Tamsin is a lot more rambunctious than I was expecting."

The boss gave her a sympathetic smile, "Keep in mind that she's just been cured of a fatal disease, so she's probably going to be a little exuberant about that. And she wasn't just cured, she's been restored to full health. Overnight she's gone from being weak and in pain to feeling strong and healthy. And finally, she's gone from a sixty-year-old man to an eighteen-year-old girl. That means she has a lot more energy now than she did a few days ago."

"Add all that up and it's not surprising that she might be acting a little more like a teen on her first big adventure, rather than the dying man you brought to the ship the other day," I added.

Helen grimaced again, "Of course, I hadn't thought of it like that. I suppose I was expecting her to look different but continue to act the same as before. I hadn't considered how all the changes together would impact her in other ways."

Rebecca nodded, "Sorry Helen. She's still the same person you knew in there, but you're probably going to notice other little differences in her behaviour as she continues to adjust. She'll calm down eventually, but I wouldn't be surprised if she's never quite the same as she was before."

"That's..." Helen frowned slightly. "I admit that worries me? Will she be able to take over the shipyard when the time comes? Will she want to? How different are we talking about? You said she's the same person as before, but now I can't help feeling concerned."

Jenny responded, "My understanding is she'll need to be at least twenty-five before she's considered old enough to take control of the shipyard? That's seven years. I'm confident that's more than enough time for her to settle in to her new life. As Rebecca said, she is quite definitely the same person as before, but obviously she's going to have new experiences as Tamsin. Experiences she couldn't have had in her previous life."

I pointed out, "In addition to the health and youth Rebecca mentioned, bear in mind she's also adapting to what it's like being a girl. A very different new body, new hormones, that's going to be a factor as well."

Helen looked a little more concerned, then Sarah spoke up to try and set her mind at ease. "Tamsin still loves ships and engines. That's something she and I have in common. I was an engineer before and I'm an engineer now. I wouldn't worry about that Helen."

She grinned and added, "Tam spent half the trip with me in the Demeter's engine room. She couldn't stop talking about how she was looking forward to getting out into the shipyard again. She's going to be your newest mechanic, if she hasn't already discussed that with you."

Our guest sipped her coffee as she accepted all the information the four of us gave her. After a few seconds she finally nodded, "All right. Thank you all for explaining things. And thanks again to all of you for taking such good care of M... of Miss Lancaster. Your ship's been refuelled and I have your payment in strongboxes in my grav-sled, but I'll ask you to come out and pick it up yourselves. It's a little heavy for me."

"In addition to the two hundred thousand ecks for ferrying Miss Lancaster," she explained after another sip of coffee, "I have another two-point-one million ecks for the sale of the ship's boat you salvaged recently. It was sold at auction six days ago, and the payment was delivered while you were off-world with Tamsin."

That was good news, it put smiles on my and Sarah's faces. Rebecca looked pleased as well, and when everyone was finished with their drinks we all accompanied Helen back down to the lower deck then out into the work bay.

Me and Sarah and Jenny each picked up one of the three strongboxes, while Helen had another word with the boss.

"One more thing Captain Piper," Helen said as she stood next to her small craft. "You mentioned you were looking for work. M... Tamsin gave me some suggestions and I made a few calls. Head over to the spaceport and contact a Hayden Ponson of Magellan Zhukov Industries. He has some cargo in need of transport, and he knows to expect a call from you."

"Thanks Helen," the boss smiled. "We appreciate the referral. And please pass on my thanks to Tamsin as well."

With that Ms. Ortega got back in her grav-sled and was soon on her way, while the rest of us headed back into the ship.

The ramp and airlock were sealed up behind us, then rather than carrying the money all up to the main deck to sort it out we stopped and did it in the secondary hold. There were four hundred and sixty bars in total, Sarah and Jenny and I received twenty-three bars each as our cut.

Finally we all started prepping the ship for a short hop over to the port. Unfortunately what was essentially a fifteen minute flight ended up taking over an hour once we factored in the time it took to get clearance and a flight path and a landing assignment at the port.

It was about dinner time when we were finally on the ground again, but we still had some work to do.

Sarah and I went through the landing checklist while Rebecca got on the comm and contacted the guy Helen told her about.

Apparently he had a half dozen shipping containers full of goods he needed to get to a customer on Ecclestone's World in the next two days. The freighter he usually hired was in the shop for repairs, so he was happy we were available.

The boss made all the arrangements with him over the comm, and by the end of the conversation we had a new customer. He'd bring the containers to the port first thing in the morning, we'd load up the ship, then be on our way. Based on what I overheard of the conversation the shipment was some high-tech agricultural equipment, primarily advanced pumps and water purification gear. All of it was destined for Ecclestonian farms.

The Demeter didn't need any fuel, but the boss did have to take care of some additional port fees. Once that was out of the way we were pretty much finished work until morning. Since we were already in the city, Rebecca and Sarah and myself all agreed to go out for a nice dinner. It also meant we didn't need to get out the grav-sled, we found a nice place near enough that we could walk there and back without any trouble.

As the three of us got ready to set out Sarah did her best to convince Jenny to come along. Our AI crewmate declined though, she wasn't quite ready yet to let her android self wander off autonomously.

The restaurant we picked wasn't quite as fancy as some of the other places we'd visited during our time on Rolandan-2, but it was still nice and the three of us all enjoyed ourselves. We had a good meal, some nice drinks, then returned to the ship together.

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As we made our way up to the main deck Sarah hooked an arm around the boss's waist and asked with a wide grin, "What do you think Rebecca? We're all off duty till tomorrow morning. How about the three of us finish off the evening together? Our bed's plenty big enough for three."

"I'm not sure about that," the tall redhead hesitated.

She looked like she was trying to come up with an excuse or a reason to decline the offer, but I slipped an arm around her from the other side and leaned my head against her upper arm.

I pointed out, "We're off duty, on the ground, safe in port."

By that point the three of us were standing in the corridor between our two cabins, hers on the right and ours on the left. The boss took a few more seconds as she thought it over, then she relented.

"You two are awful terrible naughty influences," she said with a grin.

Sarah guided all three of us into our cabin as she smirked, "Yeah, we sure are."

• • • • •

Waking up the next morning cuddled up with both Rebecca and Sarah was especially nice. I'd missed that, it hadn't happened since our shore leave ended five or six days earlier. Unfortunately I couldn't make the most of it, there was work to be done so the three of us had to get up soon.

Me and Sarah settled for a few kisses and some cuddling with our tall redheaded girlfriend, before she pulled herself free of our clutches. She gathered up her clothes and walked naked across the corridor to her own cabin to get dressed and ready.

The two of us did the same, and within a half hour all three of us were dressed in the sort of 'business outfit' the boss preferred. We met Jenny in the ship's mess, and we had enough supplies left over from our Tamsin trip for me to make us all a nice breakfast. Then by the time we'd finished eating our new customer had arrived with the cargo.

A large flat-bed grav-sled loaded down with shipping containers was parked outside the ship, so the others went down to open up the hold and get the cargo loaded while I cleaned up the mess and galley. Things must have gone very smoothly loading the shipment as my crewmates were back up in the mess just as I finished putting away the clean dishes.

"That was quick," I commented.

Rebecca grinned, "Yes it was, Mr. Ponson was very well organized. I think I like efficient customers. His shipment is all secured in the hold, I've got the information for his contact on Ecclestone's World, and he provided a contract and a manifest for the shipment."

I asked, "Should we think about scanning the cargo, just in case? Maybe I'm being a little paranoid, but after what happened with Lebeau..."

"No need," the boss shook her head. "Ponson opened up the containers so I could see what was inside. They're not sealed, there's nothing clandestine or secret about this. The manifest matches the goods, it's all just a standard boring freight job."

A moment later she added, "On the other hand it is a rush shipment, there's a bonus if we get this stuff delivered in twelve hours. We're fuelled up, the port fees are paid, now it's time to get this ship moving."

"Aye-aye boss," Sarah responded.

She headed aft to the engine room while the rest of us made our way to the cockpit. Rebecca and I took our seats, and Jenny sat in the engineering station behind me again.

Like last time, the captain let me handle the entire lift-off myself. I brought all the controls online while Sarah got the engines warmed up, then I handled the communications with the port authority. They assigned us a departure vector, a few minutes later we were given clearance to launch.

When everything was ready I put my hands on the controls, throttled up the engines, and within a few seconds we were heading skyward.

As usual the ship shook and groaned and rattled, but sure enough I was getting more used to it. I was even starting to notice the different sounds she made as we ascended into thinner air, till at last she was quiet when we slipped past the outer-most edge of the atmosphere and into the void.

We had another hour or so of boring conventional flight while I followed the assigned vector. When we were finally clear of the planet's controlled space I left the ship on a steady course while I began plotting our level-one jump to Ecclestone's World.

That took me a couple minutes, and when I finished I realized the boss had been relaxing in her chair with her eyes closed the whole time. She finally sat up and did some work when I asked her to verify my plot. That took a minute or so, and when she was done she gave me a smile.

"Congratulations Amanda," she stated. "This is perfect, I don't need to make any corrections."

That put a smile on my face as well. I hadn't been keeping track of them, but I was sure I'd done less than a dozen level-one jump plots before getting it right.

Rebecca's smile faded as she added, "I'll still be double-checking your plots for the foreseeable future. I'll need to see maybe a dozen or two perfect plots in a row before you're certified to handle level-one jumps unsupervised."

I nodded my understanding. I was more than fine with her verifying my work. I knew all it took was one small mistake for a jump to be instantly fatal.

"Here we go," she added. And without any further ado she activated the jump drive and the ship surged forward.