The Stars Came Back (37 page)

RO: Shooters ready?!

Both nod.

RO: GO!

The guns come up quickly. Allonia isn’t rushing, and squeezes off five aimed shots, not shooting as fast as her opponent, but each shot is well placed, and the pins move off the table in fine fashion, each pin falling in one shot. Two of them roll to get over the edge, but the other three were hit square and clear the table promptly. Her opponent is shooting faster but not as accurately, and some of his pins get knocked over but not off the table. Her last pin falls over the edge while he’s still finishing off his last two rolling around on the table, one spinning madly. Allonia comes back to a low ready, and looks over at her opponents table, then smiles broadly. There is a scattered clapping from the crowd. Her opponent sees he’s lost, flicks his safety on, and holsters. He takes a step over to her as she unscrews the can to return to the lender, and holsters her pistol. He waits for her to finish, sticks out his hand with a wry smile and a slight bow.

Opponent1: (
Polite and sincere) Very well done! Especially for a first timer. Sorry I’m out, but (shrug) I can’t argue losing to a more lovely competitor! Best of luck to you.

Allonia nods a somewhat
self-conscious acceptance of the praise, and shakes his hand.

Allonia: Thank you! I have a good teacher.

CUT TO

INT – DAY - Cargo bay

Quinn leads a small posse of kids to show them around
his
kingdom. He is no longer quite so clean and polished as when he came down the ramp. He’s got BBQ sauce on his face, but his new friends look around impressed, and he’s obviously having a good time.

Quinn: This is where we load the BIG stuff, and where Mr
. Ski and the rest of them train a lot. Not as big as your barn, but it goes a LOT faster!

DISSOLVE TO

EXT – DAY -
Another table well-supplied with food

Bipasha, Kwon, and Sar are talk business with a
seven man and two women.

Kwon: Sides of beef are OK, but boned would be bett
er; less waste, pack better.

Seller1: We
’re not really set up for processing beyond the most basic. Sides or quarters are easy. Cut up more than that… (shrugs)

Seller2:
Really not looking at much more than sample quantities.

Bipasha: Anything we can get aboard and store puts us ahead of where we are now.

Seller3: As you said, bags of dry goods can go anywhere.

Sar: It’s just a room issue. The hold is totally full.

Seller3: Looks empty to me.

Bipasha: We have a hold full of…
cargo… in orbital storage. Wanted to take it easy on the drives coming down. It also gives us access to places that needed work.

Kwon: If we had more room, we’d take more. Either use it ourselves, or sell it at Newoz. And the barrels of salted or pickled herring would be good too.

Seller4: We can pack that in any of a dozen different sizes, Miss, from a one liter box to a five hundred liter barrel or a fifty thousand liter cargo container. As much as you’d like; still trying to expand the market, so I’d be happy to put together a lot of smaller packs for easier distribution.

Kwon: That would help
. We have a lot of small nooks and crannies.

Seller5: We are not really set up for anything other than bulk. But didn’t one of the Brenneke kids plan
on putting a bagger on his grav hauler for doing smaller jobs? I’m sure they’d be happy to go around and collect a few hundred kilos from each of us if the price was right, or maybe even for free if they saw a long term opportunity for regular business.

The others nod agreement, and the negotiations for supplies
go on.

DISSOLVE TO

INT – DAY – Non-deck access area

Quinn and his new friends are in a cramped space with a small hatch on one side.

Quinn: Ship is really,
really
old, and has all kinds of secret hatches and rooms and stuff. (Mysteriously) Like
this
. It looks like it’s on the outside hull… (dramatic) but there’s no outside hatch.

Kid1: So where’s it go?

Quinn: Dunno. Ship won’t say.

T
he green light on the hatchway lock lights up.

Kid1: Should we open it up?

Quinn: (excited) Yeah!

He reaches for the lock pad, pushes the light, then turns the locking handle. He pulls, it doesn’t move. All three of the kids grab and pull as hard
as they can. There is a CLICK and it swings open. The hatch is 20 cm thick, similar to a small bank-vault door, wide enough an adult man could go through. It swings up and aside. Quinn sticks his head through the hatch. It’s dark. They all crawl inside.

Quinn: Lights.

Nothing happens, but his voice echoes like he’s in a big can.

Quinn: What’s here?

Ship AI: (OC) Heavy armor storage.

Quinn: Any lights in here?

Ship AI: (OC) Only from the outside. Shall I open it for you?

Quinn: SURE!

The dark space they are sitting in is filled by the sound of shifting metal. The dark is pierced by a thin line of light, as if they are sitting inside a great hollowed out pumpkin and the carved lid is being slowly lifted, first up, then sliding aside, to reveal they are sitting in a depression on the top angled side of the ship, about six meters long, four wide, and more than a meter deep. The giant hatch slides mostly out of the way, revealing the BBQ spread out before them.

CUT TO

Stenson and Helton walk with a few new friends among the crowd
. Kids and dogs run by, and the sound to another shooting match drifts across the area. They stop at a grill and start to look the items over.

Griller1: Best pork short ribs you’ll get here, guaranteed! Better than any ship rations you EVER had!

Helton: Looks good alright, but you’ve not had Kwon’s cooking.

Griller1: Kwon? Little old Asian guy, asking lots of recipe questions?

Both Stenson and Helton laugh.

Stenson: Yes, that sounds like him! Always looking for something new.

Griller1: I hadn’t thought about ginger, but he might be right. Have to give it a try. Glad you folks came by. Best BBQ we’ve had in a while. Having a good time, I hope?

Helton: Yes, very.

Griller1 looks over their shoulder toward the ship.

Griller1: Huh.
Didn’t notice that hatch earlier.

Helton: (
Without looking) Just the loading ramp.

Griller1: No, that one in the side.

Stenson and Helton freeze for a fraction of a second looking at Griller1, then spin around. Sure enough, there is a large, oblong octagonal hatch open on the top angled side, about a quarter of the way back from the front angle. Along the bottom edge are three small faces with big grubby smiles. There is a slight shift along the whole side, top and bottom angles. A series of similar shapes, outlined in dark shadow under the dust, four on each side angle. The shadow outlines grow and shift, sliding forward. As they do, a similar movement can be seen on the top, great slabs of armor unlocking from position and shifting up and out, then forward. As they watch, in a few brief seconds they can see eight side hatches, and more on top, slightly offset.

CUT TO

C
lose-up of Stenson and Helton

Helton: (
Slight daze of incredulity) What?!

Stenson: (
Quietly to himself) One day. Just
one
day, with no new weirdness. Is that
really
so much to ask?

DISSOLVE TO

EXT – DAY -
Tajemnica
top-side

Helton, Lag, Harbin, Stenson, and Quinn stand on top, looking at the open hatches. At the bottom of each is a small hatch like Quinn opened. Each armor door is massive, with huge
locking lugs all around and obscure objects on the underside. The sides of the opening are angled, with holes for the lugs to be inserted, and a bit more than two meters deep.

Stenson: Grav-tanks. These holes should fit the lower hull of a grav-tank perfectly. They could nestle down in, get partially covered by the hatch pulling back. Two dozen. That’s a
lot
of firepower if they were all filled.

Quinn: Cooooool. Tanks
and
cowboys.

Helton: Explains how they’d land heavy and do so much damage. Hadn’t really considered the details of transporting a whole tank company. Little hatch to get aboard before hitting the LZ.

Stenson: And power-feed hookups. You could either power the tank from ship power, or feed tank power into the ship.

Harbin: Simplify some hull repairs, too. Just swap out a damaged hatch.

Helton: And, for now, opens up a whole bunch of storage. Access from inside’s a bitch for storage, but a lot of unused cubes. Load from the outside, close the hatch, leave it cold until arrival, open to unload. Maybe not wholesale, but more than sample quantities.

Stenson: (
Thoughtfully) Wonder why
now
?

They all ponder the development for a moment.

Lag: Maybe
Tajemnica
forgot about them?

Ship AI: (OC,
bland male voice through Lag’s personal wrist com unit) Not forgotten. They did not need repair, access was not needed. You needed more room for cargo. They are unused.

Lag looks at his com unit for a moment in surprise, then the rest of them.

Lag: How did you hear that?

Ship AI: (OC, through com unit)
I monitor the environment. All sounds picked up by communications devices are broadcast.

They look at one another in surprise and concern.

Lag: But they only broadcast when we send. And what about encryption?

Ship AI: (OC, though com unit) They broadcast on a frequency I can detect, if they are properly asked to do so. All forms of encryption observed so far have been primitive and of negligible effect.

Lag and Stenson look at each another in dismay. Lag points to his wrist com with a question on his face.

Ship AI: (OC) Two point four seconds when you first came aboard.
Information is only utilized for the efficient operation of the ship. It is likely secure from outside. An upgrade is recommended for security and encryption protocols.

Stenson: (
Dryly) Um, yes, that
would
seem to be called for. Thank you for the advice. And that explains Nerona’s broadcast.

Ship AI: (OC, through ALL their com units) Affirmative.

Helton: So, can you tell us what
anyone
here is saying?

Ship AI: (OC, only through Helton’s com unit) Negative.

Lag: But you just said-

Ship AI: (O
C, though just Lag’s com unit) That would violate their privacy.

Helton: But
you
can hear them?

Silence. T
hey look at one another, at their com units, and the massive open hatches, as they digest what the silence implies.

Helton: Guess I didn’t ask
exactly
the right question after Nerona left.

Quinn:
Can we get some tanks?

Helton chuckles and grins at him, ruffling his hair.

Helton: Not right now. A hundred tons apiece, plus the ammo, would be a very heavy load. Maybe later, if we find some on sale.

DISSOLVE TO

EXT -
DUSK - Alvarez ranch veranda

The crew of
Tajemnica
sit in the fading red light of sunset, relaxing after a long day.

Kaminski: You should have been there. She just barely lost to the guy who came in third. But still, 9th in a field of almost a
hundred on her very first pin shoot is outstanding.

Victor
Alvarez: Yes, I heard about it. She made quite an impression on a lot of folks, especially the young men. She’s got a home here for sure if she wanted to move. Even managed to make friends with some of the younger ladies, who are normally a bit, ah,
defensive
, around competition.

Mrs
. Alvarez: I heard nothing but good things about her. About any of you.

Allonia: I just followed Kat’s three rules, and didn’t have any problems. Just being myself, really. I had an
excellent teacher, and the Saint Browning is really easy to shoot.

Helton: Well, keep being yourself, please!

Harbin: Lots of good recruit material here, and interest, too. Smart, fit, confident, eager to learn. Also discovered the heavy grav tank attachments. A very useful stop to make.