did a quick search to make sure the Bannon didn’t list Prospect as its port of record. All clear. Book the Bannon, Sarah.
I left my agent to that task as I contemplated the hydroponics booth. My stomach issued a hollow rumble, reminding me that new coils needed fuel, and that this coil, in particular, had been put through a rather rough morning. I needed to get aboard the Bannon as soon as possible.
* * *
I boarded a shuttle to the Bannon an hour later. The tiny shuttle, designed for operation around the habitat, had a dozen seats, six marching down either side of a narrow aisle. And they were seats, not acceleration chairs, molded out of plastic with straps to keep their occupants firmly in place when the shuttle was not under acceleration. All but three of the seats were occupied, by men and women wearing worn but well-maintained vacc suits. The low buzz of conversation stopped as I floated in from the lock, using the handrails set near head-height to propel myself.
Nine sets of eyes turned to regard me, and I felt the silent appraisal in those gazes. Crew from the Bannon, then, wondering who and what was about to intrude on their territory. I swam down the aisle, only lightly touching the rails, long experience in microgravity keeping me on the right trajectory. As I neared one of the empty seats, I curled into a ball, letting that motion start to spin me gently. I oriented on the chair as down and uncoiled, pushing off the overhead with my arms. I slid smoothly into the seat, gripping the arm with one hand while deftly securing the harness with the other. Most of the eyes still watched me, but some now held a grudging respect. Spacers and habbers had an often less-than-friendly rivalry, and my zero-G acrobatics had just put me firmly in the spacer camp.
The people around me were already zoning out, their faces taking on the glazed expression of people dropping into full VR. Small talk was a lost art as everyone settled into whatever personal world would help them pass the journey in comfort.
I sat back in my chair, closed my eyes, and asked Sarah to start feeding me news from the past two months. Time to catch up on what I had missed.
The Bannon was as ugly a ship as I’d ever seen. Since freight haulers didn’t bother with generating artificial gravity and didn’t have to worry about atmospheric flight, the ship was purpose-built to be stuffed full of as much cargo as its engines could push. The result was a blocky, rectangular behemoth lacking any of the pleasing aesthetics that were the byproducts of efficient fluid dynamics. The shuttle locked to an external docking point—no interior space was wasted on shuttle bays—and the crew began to unbuckle harnesses and drift toward the front of the cabin.
I felt tension flow from me as I crossed through the airlock and boarded the Bannon. I was officially outside the reach of Prospect HabSec. If they tracked me to the ship, the best they could do was ask—not order, ask—the captain to turn me over to their officers. But this was the last shuttle to the ship, and as soon as the crew got on station, the Bannon would be starting the burn toward Daedalus. No freighter captain would bother turning back and losing the time and fuel to hand over someone wanted by the station. Sure, she might decide to space the criminal and be done with it, but there would be no turning back.
By now, my agent would have negotiated protocols with the ShipNet. Sarah, can you show me to my berth?
Another schematic obligingly popped into my vision, zooming to a point where I could see the star that represented me and the path I needed to follow to find my room. The crew had already dispersed, and whatever passengers might have been traveling aboard the Bannon must have already boarded, because I was left alone in the bay. Modern technology precluded the need for niceties like crew to show you to your quarters or tell you when and where to get food. With the ShipNet and the universality of agent implants, all that was left was for me to follow the directions Sarah provided.
Ten minutes to burn, Sarah said. I nodded to myself and began following the instructions to my cabin. There would be no warnings or reminders from the ship’s captain that everyone needed