at being personable, better at handling whatever bullshit questions whoever was running security and customs might have for them, but handing over responsibility for something made his skin crawl a little. He could do it. He should do it.
Laramie snorted. “Oh, shut up. It’s thinking like that that ends with you so exhausted you’re useless for a week.”
“I’m fine.”
“You can say that all you like, it doesn’t make it true. Just… relax, okay? Marit and I can dock the Jiminy without you holding our hands. Go get something to drink.” He let go and headed for the cockpit.
Denver cleared his throat to call after him, then ended up coughing instead. Maybe Laramie had a point.
The panel over the hidden pod still looked too clean. He spent a minute or two stomping around the cargo bay, shifting boxes to cover the panel in question, intentionally stirring up as much dust as possible. He made himself sneeze a few times, but still felt the panel stood out like a beacon, which was a pretty sure sign it was all in his head anyway. He gave it up for a lost cause and went to change out of his overalls before following Laramie to the cockpit. He arrived just as Titan X came into view.
It was an enormous station, the biggest in the outer solar system. Originally it had been a wheel design, but need over the years had grown so large that Titan X had built up and out. It bristled like an exploding star now, slowly spinning to maintain its artificial gravity, every square meter of it glistening with dark, oily solar cells to power the lives of the hundred thousand people living within its confines.
“The Scab is bigger,” Marit said. “Look, it’s spreading to a second spire now.” The Scab was Titan X’s latest woe, a section of the station where the nanobots that constantly repaired the solar cells had failed. Smooth black had given way to grainy gray, and an entire living spire had been abandoned after station officials couldn’t guarantee they could keep the walls secure against the vacuum of space.
“If they don’t get a fresh infusion of bots, it’ll just keep spreading,” Laramie said. “Those cells are old tech. Mars isn’t making them anymore. They can’t be easily replaced.”
“Mars doing their best to squeeze us dry,” Marit grumbled. “As usual.”
Denver could feel Laramie roll his eyes. “Between you and Denver, I feel like I’m gettin’ sucked into a black hole. Calm down, would you? We’re going to be fine.” He punched in the hailing frequency for Titan X. “Station, this is the Jiminy. Registration Delta, five seven zero eight. Requesting clearance to dock at our usual berth.”
“Hey, Laramie!” A voice Denver only vaguely recognized came on, but Laramie lit up. “You all are back early. Ginn said not to look for you until next week. Have any trouble out there?”
“Not particularly, Rand.”
Marit turned around and mouthed Rand? at Denver.
“Ginn’s little brother,” he murmured back. “He contracts with station security.”
“Gee. Is he as swarmy as his sister?”
Laramie hit the mute button. “Could you all shut up for a second?” he sniped, then went back to the comm. “We didn’t have much luck this run. Thought we’d come back and save some fuel. Also had a run-in with Tonlet’s ship, which was unexpected.”
“They headed out there?” Rand sounded surprised. “They didn’t declare it when they left.”
“In that case, you didn’t hear it from us, yeah?”
Rand laughed. “Sure. You bring anything home with you?”
“A bit of scrap metal, some electronics. Nothing too special, but it’ll cover expenses for a while.”
“That’s what counts. The inspector should be around sometime tomorrow, I think.”
“Tomorrow? Why the wait?”
“We’re backed up right now. Too many ships, not enough crew, and my boss is on my ass like I have anything to do with it.”
“I hear you. I have a pain-in-the-ass boss on my side too.” Denver smacked the back of Laramie’s head and got only laughter in return. Not that Rand could hear any of it. Sympathy practically dripped from Laramie’s voice. “Rough times for everybody, friend. We’re good, though?”
“Yeah, you’re good. Head on in. I know Ginn’ll be happy to see you.”
Laramie grinned. “It’s always nice to be missed. Thanks, Rand.” He shut the comm off and sat back with an air of satisfaction.
“Such a sweet talker,” Marit said as she guided the Jiminy in closer. Their dock was one of the more remote ones, far away from the city center. “What’s the old