Starship For Sale #1 Starship for Sale by M R Forbes

Author:M R Forbes [Forbes, M R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-21T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

Matt’s hands shook slightly as he navigated to the phone’s hypercom screen, which immediately displayed a search function on top and what probably should have been a long list of saved identifiers below. Instead, it appeared that Keep had wiped the hypercom datastore clean, leaving only the single ID that he had collected prior to his departure from the ship.

Duke Sedaya’s ID.

“You’re sure about this?” I asked as Matt’s thumb shifted to tap the entry.

“If you have a better idea, I’m open to it,” he replied.

We both knew I didn’t. I used the lack of gravity to jump over Matt and the sofa, pushing off the ceiling and twisting in the air to come down behind him, unable to hold back my smile when I stuck the landing. My initial confusion over the weightlessness had faded fast. It was all a matter of physics, anyway.

“Show off,” he said, pressing down on the entry. “How long do you think it will take to—”

He stopped talking when a man’s face appeared on the phone’s screen, causing us both to flinch. The connection wasn’t great, the image grainy and indistinct, but it only added to the creepiness of the visage looking back at us. Frankly, Sedaya looked like a frostbitten elf. His face was pale, long, and narrow, with a tiny nose, high cheekbones, deep set purple eyes and too-blue lips. His long white hair and pointed ears only solidified that view. But hadn’t Keep said he was human?

He looked back at us curiously, an expression of rage crossing over his expression.

“You’re not Avelus,” he said, his voice too soft and high to match his otherwise evil and unfriendly look. The tension in his jaw relaxed as he seemed to realize the state of things. “Ah. You’re the buyers.”

He said the word buyers like a cobra spitting venom. Maybe because Keep had managed to sell only minutes before his lackeys arrived on the scene? The timing was good for us, bad for him. At least, I thought it had been good for us. If only I had known we were about to be fleeced.

Matt and I just kept staring at him. Our nerves and surprise prevented us from speaking.

“You’re Earthians, aren’t you?” he said.

“Y…yes,” I stammered out, fighting to regain control of my anxiety.

“We got your hypercom ID from one of your people,” Matt said bluntly, kicking his shock to the curb. “He told us you were interested in negotiating for the Star of Caprum, and suggested we could make a deal.”

“I see.”

That was all he said, silently staring at us as the seconds ticked away. I glanced over my shoulder, making sure Alter hadn’t come back yet.

“Are you interested?” Matt asked.

“You just made the purchase,” Sedaya replied. “Why do you want to sell so quickly? Greed?”

“What?”

“I just checked the hypernet. It appears a bounty has been placed against your registered identifier. You left Caprum without settling your debt to the storage facility.”

“That wasn’t us,” I said. “Mister Keep said he was covering the prior charges.

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