The Jump Point by Anthony James

Author:Anthony James [James, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JC Productions
Published: 2017-08-27T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Far beyond the slowly rising ship, the orbital platform continued with its duties. It registered the approach, identified the call signal, and catalogued it before flashing the displays on the main console. This time the display was blue. This ship had been recognised and was legally registered. Otherwise, the displays would have been in flashing yellow.

This was not a particularly busy time and the sole member of the watch crew on duty sat idly drumming on his thighs with his palms. He leaned back listening to music on his phones. There were times such as this where the job was pretty boring, but it had its advantages as well. Being able to sit and relax with a bit of head space was nice every now and again. Markin got through a lot of music that way. Of course, there were busy periods as well where there was no time to think and the work came thick and fast. Now, however, it was out of season and the traffic was slight.

Out of habit born of routine, Markin's gaze wandered from time to time over to the main console, checking for movement. He noticed the call sign flashing with its steady blue identifier and hissed between his teeth as he pulled off the phones with one hand. Work was never finished. There was always someone or something willing to interrupt a bit of peace.

He scanned the call sign and grunted his recognition. Markin knew this ship, one of the old beaten-up traders that occasionally frequented the system. It was legally registered but on an outward journey, so it had little to interest him. Once or twice he might have had caused to look the other way for this particular ship in exchange for the appropriate adjustment to his cred balance, but it was always on the inward journey. There was never anything to look for on the Catseye on its way out of system.

Markin tapped the sequence to bring her up on visual, letting his gaze wander over her as she approached. It amazed him sometimes how some of these traders got away with flying buckets like this one. They were a hazard to themselves as much as to other shipping, but that was of minor importance as far as he was concerned. It'd be nobody's loss if she were to break up. For a moment or two, he toyed with the idea of shaking her down just for the sheer hell of it to mark his disapproval, but then thought better of it. It would be a waste of energy and only give him a moment or two of satisfaction for all the effort. Then there'd be all the paperwork to fill out.

He shook his head and leaned forward to tap the sequence that started the ritual question and answer of the recognition drill. His finger paused above the pad, waiting for the next step. All of a sudden, the screens went crazy. First one, then the other flared brilliant yellow and flowered in reverse to darkness flecked with traceries of white.

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