My reflection looked skeptical. But I didn’t have another option, so instead of dwelling on things I pulled up the list of ships in port and started planning my approach.
The directory said there were forty-eight shuttles on the landing field, but six of them were from big cargo ships that didn’t even send humans down with them. Five more were owned by Felicity natives, who I didn’t dare approach, and three were from military ships. That left thirty-four possibilities, including everything from tramp freighters to private yachts. One of them was bound to give me a chance, right?
“Yolanda Corporation does not hire anonymous ragamuffins with no record of training or prior service.”
“Run on back to mommy, little girl. Space is no place for kids.”
“Can you run a fusion plant, or rebuild these damned multifuel thruster feeds when they get fouled up? No? Then get lost.”
“We’ve got an opening in passenger service, but you’re not old enough for that job.”
It was enough to make a girl feel unwanted.
“Why are you so desperate to get into space?” A tired-looking faerie morph asked me at one point.
“Do you have any idea how crazy this planet is?” I replied. “I can’t live here for long.”
She sighed. “Teenagers. Always so dramatic. Look, kid, you’re doing this the wrong way. You need to go back to school and get your spacer certs, and then get a job with a reputable company that has offices on Felicity. If you keep wandering around a port town asking strangers to let you on their ship someone is going to end up kidnapping you, and once they’re out of the system no one will bother tracking you down. Unless your parents are rich?”
“I’m an orphan,” I admitted.
“There, you see? Now go home, before you get in over your head.”
“Ma’am, you don’t know how things work here on Felicity. I’m not just being dramatic. If I stay here they’re either going to rip out my enhancements and brainwash me, or break something they don’t understand and kill me. Please, ma’am, I’m desperate. I can follow orders, and I’ll do whatever work you want. I don’t need to be paid, or anything like that. I just need a way off this rock.”
For a second I thought I’d gotten through to her. But then she shrugged, and turned back to the cargo bots she was supervising. “Sorry, kid. Captain isn’t hiring right now, and he doesn’t let crewmembers bring dependents on board.”
By nightfall I’d tried every ship in the port, and been turned away by all of them. Well, there were two ships that had been locked up, with no sign of any crew around. But I couldn’t plead my case to a closed door, so that was no help.
I trudged wearily through the streets of the port, trying to think of something else I could try. There had to be hundreds of spacers gathered in the bars and restaurants along the port’s main road. If I were a social infiltration type like Kovy it wouldn’t take an hour to find some lonely traveler and have her wrapped around my finger. But I had no idea how to do something like that.
A sudden burst of static from an alley caught my attention. It was so loud it completely drowned out the port datanet. Was that a jammer? Why would anyone be running a com jammer in the middle of a spaceport?
I ducked into the alley, curious to see what was going on. From there the sound of an argument led me around a corner, to where three rough-looking dog morphs were confronting an elegant lady in the fanciest dress I’d ever seen. The language they spoke was one I’d never heard before.
But it was in my database. Japanese. One of the frontier dialects, but it wasn’t that different from the traditional version that I knew. I could understand them just fine.
“As I said before, I am no longer Mr. Ishida’s property,” the fancy lady was saying. “Captain Sokol commands my loyalty now, and while I have no intention of violating past confidences I also will not allow myself to be stolen. I suggest you withdraw and request new instructions, before things become unpleasant.”
“Like we’re going to be intimidated by some jumped-up geisha?” One of the dog morphs sneered. “The rose bends to the storm, Naoko. Stand down, and do as you’re told.”
The lady flinched back a step. “What? No, you can’t… who told you that phrase?”
That was when one of the dog girls spotted me, and made a grab for my arm. “Jin! We’ve got a witness here.”
She was fast. A lot faster than any of the girls at the orphanage. But she was twice my weight, and that made her just a little too slow to catch me. I ducked under her hand, swatting her arm away as I spun behind her, and the world slowed down.
Three against one was bad odds. Maybe Naoko would fight, but it sounded like they might have used a control code on her. Did that mean she was an android? She looked organic to me, except that there was a computer inside her head instead of a brain. That’s right, I’d seen that on a vidshow once. Sometimes rich people put their androids in organic bodies instead of synthetic ones, because it’s supposed to be more ‘authentic’ or something.
Later. I couldn’t afford to get into a big fight here, especially since I had no idea if I could win. What was the fastest way to make them go away?
Well, that was obvious.
I jumped, reoriented and kicked off the back of the woman who’d tried to grab me. That sent her stumbling away from me, out of action for a few seconds while I rocketed through the air towards the one who’d been talking. She was already reacting, dodging out of my way while she pulled a knife from her belt.
But I didn’t need to hit her. I just needed to get close enough to reach out as I flew past, and pluck the jammer off her belt. I tumbled to my feet, and crushed it in my hand.
“Oops. You didn’t need that, did you?”
“Nicely done,” Naoko said. “Distress call is out, Jin. Are you still going to be here when my backup arrives?”
Jin growled in frustration. “A loli combat droid that’s pretending to be human? That’s the best you can do for a bodyguard? Naoko, you know that isn’t going to cut it in the long run. You’d better turn yourself in before things get serious.”
“That will not happen tonight,” Naoko said calmly.
“Your funeral. Come on, girls.”
They slunk off down the alley, and broke into a run once they were around the nearest corner. I focused my hearing and listened to them go, making sure they weren’t sneaking back for another try.
Naoko sagged in relief.
“Thank you for your help,” she said softly. “That was a very thorough surrender code. I don’t believe I could have escaped them on my own.”
“You’re welcome. I’m Alice Long, by the way. You aren’t going to call the proctors for real?”