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I shake my head and sigh. When did this all get so complicated?
“We’ll see.”
Sixteen
Nina
The tavern turns out to be virtually empty when I get there. Taylon is engaged in a lively discussion with the human barkeep.
“Hello, gentlemen,” I say, seating myself at the bar beside Taylon.
“Oh, look,” Taylon snorts. “Look who’s graced us with his presence, Jim. It’s Yarvok lover boy.”
“What?” I ask, half laughing.
“You heard me, I didn’t stutter,” he growls back. “You’ve been running around with that human woman for so long that you forgot your friends here at Jim’s Place.”
“I didn’t forget you, I’ve just been busy.”
Jim the bartender snorts and pours me some of the cheap moonshine.
“It’s all I got left. Ever since the EC announced that they were going to allow liquor production to start up on the colony, my sources for booze have dried up. No pun intended.”
“They know they’re going out of business, which is what the Erebus Collective wanted in the first place.”
“Hey, I hear you’re getting into the booze business yourself,” Jim says, his eyes lighting up with avarice. “Any chance you could cut your old pal Jimbo a deal?”
I give him a grin.
“I think that can be arranged. Especially if you keep my stuff on tap.”
“On tap, huh? I guess that could work. But don’t you actually have to have a brewery first for this to work?”
“I do. I have to go in this afternoon and do an in person signature in order to finalize the deal. Then the subsidy money in my account will be unlocked and I can get started.”
“Well, do you have any idea of what you’re going to call your brew?”
I look over at Taylon, totally at a loss. I never gave it a moment’s consideration.
“I have not.”
“Well, you’ll have to think about marketing and stuff when you pick your name. You can’t call it Bey Piss or something like that.”
“Bey Piss has a specific meaning in the Vakutan tongue, you know?”
“It does?” Taylon asks.
“Yes, it means Your Mom.”
I drink my moonshine while they laugh. I stick around for a couple more rounds but I don’t want to get drunk. I must go and sign the contracts at the EC administration building soon. It would be bad form to go in there drunk.
I head downtown, shaking my head at the sight of yet another incoming ship. There are more and more people coming all the time. Of course, that’s good for a prospective businessman like me. I bet all of those passengers on that freighter are thirsty…
When I get to the admin building, I am sent to a small waiting room on the third floor. A Fratvoyan sits across the table from me. He waves cheerfully and I wave back.
“Hey,” he says.
“Greetings,” I reply, not really wanting to talk.
