Planet Designation 014.666.2460 - Chapter 8

At first I didn’t know what woke me. I was just jolted awake by some unfamiliar noise. But then the sound rattled the hull of Ma-rye-a again. There was no mistaking it. It was Kay-o bellowing at the top of his lungs. His booming howl vibrated my chest as if I had the bass tuned up way too high on Ma-rye-a’s sound system.

“What the…” I started to swear.

I tumbled out of bed and headed out of my room and down the hall toward the guest room where Jake, Arr and Kay-o chose to spend the night rather than pod back over to their ship. We had a few too many drinks. They considered that room theirs anyway, so had tucked in for the night.

The fact that I had one too many before retiring, was not helping my navigation down the hall. Jake came crashing out of the guest room. We collided head on.

“What the…” Jake said.

“That’s what I said,” I rubbed my temple as Kay-o let out with yet another ear splitting howl.

Planet Designation 014.666.2460 - Chapter Seven

I hugged Jake around the waist as he squeezed me back.

“Great to see you,” I said, as I pulled away.

I turned to Arr and gave him a big hug too until Kay-o pushed is huge head between us to get his share of attention.

“Good to be here,” Jake responded.

I asked the guys to meet me here so we could talk about what I was planning and see if they wanted to join in. Since I most likely had some kind of bad mojo on my tail I decided to offer Jake and Arr some monetary compensation for accompanying me. With them at my back, I knew I would be as safe as anyone could be in space.

Planet Designation 014.666.2460 - Chapter Six

“Project it on the big screen,” I told Ma-rye-a.

I had Ma-rye-a open the file on Planet Designation 014.666.2460. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I wanted to see it bigger then my small screen on the chair arm.

“Wow!” I exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Horus said with admiration.

“Are those bones?” Carrie asked innocently.

“Huge bones,” Ma-rye-a confirmed.

Planet Designation 014.666.2460 - Chapter 5

“Calm down,” Daniel soothed. “I can fix this.”

I thumbed tears from my eyes. I know I looked pitiful. I am not one of those pretty criers. My face gets all blotchy and my eyes turn red.

“How?” I asked in disbelief.

Even though I had total confidence in Daniel I thought it was hopeless. I actually called him because I knew I could not function in my profession without an AI to handle the loading and unloading of cargo. I figured I would have Daniel program me another as soon as possible.

“Every time you come in for maintenance checks I do a backup,” Daniel said with a smile. “I checked the crew a little less than a year ago. He’ll be missing any current memories, but other than that, he’ll be fine.”

“You have a SAM!” I almost shouted with relief.

Planet Designation 014.666.2460 - Chapter Four

“Tilt your head a little further toward me,” the dentist instructed.

I obliged and felt the jaw mike snap into place over my back molar.

“That should do it,” she announced. “Give it a try.”

I ordered the mike over a year ago, but hadn’t been anywhere with the facilities to install it. This layman’s variety of a jaw mike, unlike the Galactic Forces model, was not actually installed in the jaw surgically. Theirs was far more sophisticated. For this model the wearer had one of their back molar’s ground down like you were prepping for a crown, but instead the mike was fit over the tooth.

I leaned up and took my “Ear” out of my pocket and stuck it in.

“Just touch the top of the mike with your tongue,” Dr. Hval instructed.

Planet Designation 014.666.2460 - Chapter Three

I sat in the lounge aboard my ship flipping through the pictures on mom and dad’s flat.

“How old were you there,” Horus asked.

Horus is one of five disembodied AIs I have on board my ship. All of them programmed by my dear friend, Daniel Dresden, one of – if not the most, talented programmer in the verse. Why he chose me as a friend I will never know, because I don’t know squat about programming and couldn’t carry on a conversation about software if I tried. That said, I really do appreciate Daniel’s handiwork especially when I am on long deliveries by myself, because heck, I am never really by myself. Space is a lonely place, but I always have company.

Planet Designation 014.666.2460 - Chapter Two

It was yet another day and my third without a decent night’s sleep. This time Marstead sat across from me behind the desk in his office on the sixty-fourth floor of the Marstead building. I told you he was a famous trial attorney. He dabbles in other things as well.

“I know you are familiar with all this, but we have to go through it to satisfy the legality of the estate’s distribution and closing,” Marstead explained.

Collin, Marstead’s assistant, came in carrying a tray with all the accoutrements for tea. He set the tray down on the table between the two Chippendale sofas behind us. Once he set the service off, poured, and placed the small two tiered plate of savories and sweets in place he nodded Marstead’s direction.

“Will you give us about fifteen minutes and then bring it in?” Marstead asked.

“Of course,” Collin replied. He took the tray and dismissed himself.

I gave Marstead a questioning look.