Page 3

“Yes, I conversed briefly with Maglia. She made it very clear that if you didn't leave our ship at the agreed time limit, then she'd be quick to collect you,” the client said. “I want you to know you're safe now.”

That seemed like an odd thing to say, but maybe it was a traditional greeting. Suddenly all I wanted was to get this over with.

“Do you want me to come onboard?” I asked.

“Yes, that would be good,” he agreed. “Can I carry your burden?”

He reached for my bag. I clutched it to my chest and took a step back. “No, this is mine.”

That was probably rude, but he didn't act upset. “Yes, it's yours, little human. No one will take away your things.”

It was almost as if he was talking to a child or I had developmental disabilities. Well, he wouldn't be the first to think humans were a dumb species.

“My name is Tolreum,” he said, stepping to the side and gesturing for me to walk ahead of him.

“I’m Opal,” I said and moved up the ramp. It wasn't long before I was walking through the hatch and into the ship, with him right behind me.

“Opal is a good name for a rare treasure," he said.

“Where is your….” My words trailed off as I came face to face with three more crew, all as big and dangerous looking as Tolreum.

There were four of them? Maglia hadn't said anything about there being more than one client!

One was going to be difficult enough, but four?

I was going to turn and run when I heard the hatch hiss shut behind me. That sound made me freeze in place. What to do now? Come up with an excuse? Try to contact Maglia so she could talk to them?

As I thought about what to do, Tolreum walked past me and stood with the rest of the crew.

“Opal, this is Mieshorum, Lexarit, and Narmuna,” he said, pointing to each one as he named them.

“We own this ship, Ever Secure,” Narmuna said. “It's a midclass high-energy transport.”

“She probably doesn't know what high-energy transports do,” Mieshorum said with a clear reprimand in his voice.

“Yes, you're correct,” Narmuna said to Mieshorum and then turned his attention back to me. “High-energy transports are specialty ships that can safely carry fuel rods and fuel rounds. We have lucrative service contracts with many stations and outposts.”

“Don't be afraid,” Tolreum said. “Our hull is designed to keep the rods and rounds suspended in a neutral state. Even if there was a failure in the storage crates, the storage bay would keep everything stable.”

Rods and rounds were exceptionally safe once installed in a fuel port and engaged, but they didn’t like being idle. They were notorious for exploding during transit.

Tolreum's earlier comment made so much more sense now. He didn't want me to be worried that I was going to get exploded by poorly stored fuel rods or rounds.

Not that I was concerned. The station wouldn’t have let them dock if the ship didn't have all the appropriate safety protocols in place.

My worry was about something entirely different.

“I'm only going to serve one of you,” I said, proud of how firm and authoritative my voice sounded.

All four of them made a slow and irregular thumping sound in their chest. It reminded me of an engine that wasn’t running right. They all looked at each other until Lexarit spoke.

“There's a contract in place,” he said. “She must abide by the contract.”

The other three made a sound that was like stockinged feet running and looked back at me. Their facial expressions never changed. The sounds must be how they expressed emotions.

“You don't have to serve any of us,” Lexarit said.

Now that I was here, the idea of not fulfilling the contract and getting the wealth made me frustrated enough to be insistent.