High Flyght – Chapter 19

“Hmmm, I don’t know about this.” Skylar stands with her hip cocked to the side, chewing on the skin around her thumbnail. “We’ve got six hours until our slip opens at the Concord City spaceport. I’m not sure we should open Pandora’s box so close to landing… or ever.”

I gathered everyone in the cargo bay to help me decide what to do about the cryocontainer. Lia finishes feeding the raposquirrels and locks them in their crates, ready for delivery, but the cryocontainer sits and waits, silently mocking me. Making a fool out of me.

I imagine landing in Concord City to a raid of police and drug dogs. They pop open the cryocontainer and find either contraband or maybe some young girl ready to be sold off to an off-system baron looking for a fuck toy.

It’s been known to happen. Some people who need the money sell off their daughters, especially if they’re born with genetic anomalies or handicaps. The parents reason that their daughter won’t be able to build a relationship network, so why bother? Ugh. Human trafficking makes me sick. If I had the resources, I’d foster every single girl who needed it. I look in the mirror every day and thank my lucky stars I’m just attractive and smart enough to get by.

“The stasis read-outs could be a ruse,” Carlos says, circling the box. “Or they may have been activated by mistake.”

“The situation doesn’t strike me as a ruse.” Jinzo folds his arms across his chest. “They counted on Vivian not to ask questions.”

“Gai Reis figured I was desperate enough for money that I would just deliver everything, no questions asked.” I lean back against the wall. “And he’s right. I was desperate for money. He could probably smell it on me from a light-year away.”

“So yeah, I think we should leave this alone. We deliver everything and walk away from Gai Reis. We don’t need his money.” Skylar nods once, sure of her opinion and its weight in these proceedings.

“But we do need his money,” I insist. I cringe as I head into ‘money-talk’ territory. “Right now, we’re 2,592,000 credits short of making a claim on the family land. That’s without being paid for this shipment, so I’m really hoping we get those credits in hand, or we’re going to be hurting come time for the re-supply.”

Skylar pouts. “And re-supply will come sooner rather than later. I did the math, and we’re running out of air, fuel, and food faster than I anticipated. What with all the animals on board, I think my calculations have been off.”

“Then maybe we should just deliver the goods,” Ken says, finally chiming in. “If you need more work after this, I’ll shuffle you around in the Flyght system.”

“That’s your best option, Ms. Vivian,” Marcelo says. “After today, you should concentrate on work from Flyght.”

I sigh and shake my head. “Reis will wonder why I won’t work with him again. And the box is seriously bothering me. It sets off all of my warning signals.”

“Mine too.” Gus raises his hand.

From far off down the hall to the bridge, a chime sounds.

Carlos steps forward. “Speaking of warning bells…”

“We’re being hailed by Customs officials.” Ai is back online, and her voice is chipper as ever. “They are requesting a vidcall.”

“Customs officials? How?” I lose track of my mouth as my mind races forward. “They want to talk now?”

“Yes, Captain.” Ai is way too calm.

With my heart beating like a wild animal on the run, I step off to the side, activate my wristlet, and accept the call.

“This is Vivian Kawabata, Captain of the Amagi. How can I assist you?” Ugh. I sound like a customer service representative, not a captain. Smooth, Vivian. Real smooth.

“This is Chief Reynold, STRA Customs Authority. We received word from our Customs officials at the Rio-Palo Alto jump ring exit that you are delivering a shipment of raposquirrels and frozen fish to Concord City. Is that correct?”

The way this official is staring at me, I know he’s analyzing my face for any tale-tell signs I’m lying.

“That’s correct. Our slip at the spaceport opens in six hours. All the permits are in order. Your men at the Customs stop went over our cargo and sent us on our way.”

He clears his throat. “We occasionally do random re-screenings of ships, and yours came up in the lottery. We will be docking with you in approximately” — he looks away from the camera — “thirty-five minutes. Please have all permits and the cargo ready for re-inspection.”

Uh, uhhhh. Shit.

Stall!

“A random inspection?” I shoot a glance at Ken, and he pales. Marcelo shakes his head. “We have a Diamond level Flyght permit. Surely, that gives us some leeway from these —”

He interrupts. “All ships flying to and from any of the inhabited worlds of the Duo Systems are required to submit to STRA regulations and inspections. Ms. Kawabata, are you trying to shirk your duties as captain?”

“No, I am not.” My whole body begins to sweat. “I’m merely a woman trying to do honest business in the Duo Systems.”

“Any honest woman would be happy to submit to a re-inspection. Please prepare for our arrival.”

The connection blinks out.

That seals the deal.

I let out a string of profanities that make Lia gasp.

“An STRA Customs ship is going to dock with us in thirty minutes, and I can guarantee Gai Reis did not pay off these guys.” I stalk back to the cryocontainer, but I look to Ken. “Any chance they’ll be forgiving if they find something illegal in here?”

“Nope. No way. Every captain takes full responsibility for whatever they bring onboard. This is why Flyght exists, you know, to keep ship captains out of hot water. But you’re not currently transporting anyone or anything for Flyght, so if there’s something in here that’ll get you jailed, then we better get rid of it. Fast.”

I pace back and forth, but there’s only one right answer to this rapidly declining situation.

“Fuck it. Open it up.”

I step back as Carlos leans in to mess with the stasis controls. “There’s a standard procedure for backing out of a stasis freeze.”

The panel beeps, and a voice from the cryocontainer says, “Stasis operations aborted. Warming countdown procedure activated.” And the panel begins to count down from five minutes.

I tap my foot as my anxiety races along with every second counted down.

“Ai, how long until the STRA ship docks?” I ask.

“Eighteen minutes, Captain.”

“Fuck. We’re cutting it awfully close.” I pace back and forth, again and again. “Let’s look busy, everyone. Lia, make sure the raposquirrels and our farm animals are ready for visitors again. Skylar, go get ready for docking. Marcelo, you should be in your shuttle, yeah? You can feign ignorance from there. Guys, you stay here with me.”

Everyone splits up and gets moving.

After two minutes of me pacing and playing with my hair, Ken stops me with his hands to my shoulders.

“Jesus, Vivian. You’re making me sick with your anxiety.” He drops his head. “I wish I wasn’t so connected to you now. You are never at peace.”

“What in my damned life is there to be peaceful about?”

He thinks for a moment.

“Nothing,” I fill in for him. “Nothing is easy or peaceful or not on the verge of breaking me apart.”

“We’re going to have to change that if you hope to live long enough to see that farm of yours.” Gus’s eyes are on the countdown timer. Only one minute left. “Maybe consider which of the plants you’ll take to give you some distance from your anxiety. Or I can find meds or THC supplements. They help others.”

I wave my hand and step up to the cryocontainer. “Those are all topics to discuss on a different day. Now, we have to deal with this.”

The cryocontainer beeps, the top slides open, and foggy mist spills over the side.

What am I expecting now? “Please don’t be a young girl,” I whisper, closing my eyes and crossing my fingers.

The guys and I step to the container, lean over the edge, and peer into the mist.

“Son of a bitch,” Jinzo says, his jaw tightening. “It’s not a girl.”

Nope. It’s not a girl.

It’s two boys. Two young, maybe five-or-six-year-old boys, clutched to each other, their eyes pressed shut, their naked bodies frosted and blue around the edges.

“What… the…?” Carlos holds back his swear as he turns away from the cryocontainer. His face pales to a ghostly white, and he has to hold on to a bulkhead to stay upright.

I turn my eyes back to the container as it whooshes with warm air, and the boys begin to thaw out.

“Are they dead?” I ask, looking to Gus.

Gus’s game face is on, his clinical side taking over. He pulls an empty crate to the side of the cryocontainer, steps up and bends over to get inside far enough.

“We can’t cover this up.” Ken shakes his head. “Shipping people in cryo is…” He sighs. “It’s bad. This is end-up-in-a-military-prison bad.”

“They’re not dead,” Gus calls out from inside, his feet practically in the air. “Respiration and heartbeat are slow but speeding up. If the person who put them in cold sleep did their job, they should wake up soon. Like within an hour or two.”

Gus kicks his legs and rights himself back on the crate with Jinzo’s help.

We stare at each other, each of us running the doomsday scenarios in our heads, no doubt.

That’s when Student Vivian takes over. She looks at the cryocontainer and the auxiliary cargo bay. One plus one equals two, always.

I turn to Jinzo and squeeze his arm. “They’re expecting frozen fish. How fast do these things freeze?”

Jinzo looks to Carlos and shrugs. “They’re fast on purpose. It’s less damaging to cells.”

Carlos nods. “Five minutes, tops.”

“Ai, how much time do we have now?” I ask, lifting my voice.

“Approximately nine minutes, thirty-five seconds. Shall I ask Skylar to delay?”

Ken shakes his head.

“No. No. I have an idea. Student Vivian was always good at solving problems.” I point to Gus and Ken. “You two get the boys out and bring them to a bedroom. Then lock yourselves in there with them. Jinzo, you come with me. Carlos, you set this thing up to freeze again.”

I run for the stairs with Jinzo on my heels. “I think I know what you’re doing. Do you really want to do this? You need to grow those seeds.”

“No choice,” I say, flinging myself into the auxiliary cargo bay. “Grab a bucket.”

My fish net is leaning against the side of the tank, the tank of fish I rely on to run my aquaponics system.

“Sorry,” I whisper to the fish inside as I snag one and pull it wiggling from the water straight into the bucket Jinzo holds. “What a waste.”

“Hurry up, Vivi.”

Tears pool in my eyes as I watch the tilapia flop about in the bucket. I only had these for a few weeks! Now my investment is going down the drain, or into deep freeze, actually. And for this to work, I need to catch and freeze them all otherwise the game is up.

“How many do you have?” I chase after the one left in the tank, but it darts away. “Damned fish! It knows something’s up.”

“There’s seventeen in the bucket.”

“Okay, then this is the last.” I take a deep breath before I curse the fish to kingdom come and snag it when it retreats to a corner. I dump it in the bucket. “Go.”

Jinzo sprints out of the auxiliary cargo bay, and I’m not far behind him. I’m going to have to buy more fish on Palo Alto… If I make it to Palo Alto.

“Oh my God,” Carlos squeals as Jinzo dumps the bucket of fish in the cryocontainer. “Captain! That’s several hundred credits worth of fish!”

“Freeze them! I’m going to take the credits out of Gai Reis’s ass.”

With a hiss and clunk, the cryocontainer seals back up and starts the freeze countdown.

“Can you make it look like we never touched it?” I ask Carlos, then I turn to the footsteps approaching. “Lia, get some towels. We need to clean this up. Can’t have it looking like we defrosted the thing.”

“Got it!” She runs off to her utility closet.

“Captain,” Ai interrupts, “the STRA ship is four minutes, five seconds away. I suspect docking will take another minute.”

“It’s just enough time,” Carlos says, crouched at the panel. “I’m erasing the last few commands from the log files.”

“I’m going to go check on those boys.” Jinzo takes my hand. “Will you be fine here?”

I nod and squeeze his hand, sending him on his way. Lia and I clean up, and I try to cool myself down and look like nothing’s wrong.

Nothing’s wrong. I just killed a bunch of fish because some other asshole is trafficking humans, and now I have to pretend like everything is business as usual.

The rage in my belly grows. I hate Tomu for doing this to me. And Gai Reis? He’s going to lose a testicle or two as soon as I see him next.

Lia’s hand closes around mine. “It’s okay, Captain. The fish will serve their purpose.”

I nod without saying anything. If I do, I may start crying again.

The Amagi jolts, and Ai announces the STRA ship has docked. I throw back my hair, smooth out my pants, and run my gaze over the cargo hold again. Everything is in place. The raposquirrels are relaxed, and the cryocontainer looks like it was never touched.

When Chief Reynold enters the cargo bay led by Carlos, I step forward and introduce myself. This man is all business, but my first impression is that he’s just doing his job. No one has snitched on us.

“My records show your permits are in order,” Reynold says, gesturing at his wristlet with the faraway gaze that indicates he’s accessing his optical implant. “We’ll count the raposquirrels, check their living conditions, and open the cryocontainer to make sure there are fish inside. Our records show we’re to expect two dozen koi carp.”

I swallow and try to keep my face neutral as I shrug. “That’s what’s on the list.”

Reynold lets his two men do the work while he wanders around my cargo bay, making me nervous as hell. My stomach is in a ball that squeezes tighter and tighter as he makes his way past the stairs to the crew quarters. He stops to lean on the stair’s railing, and a bead of sweat rolls down my back.

“All good here, Chief. Every raposquirrel accounted for, and the cage conditions are acceptable.” Both men step out of the maze of crates.

Lia scoffs. “Of course, the conditions are acceptable. I don’t keep my animals in squalor.”

“No offense,” one of the guys says, raising his hands. “Not every ship is as clean as this one.”

Lia nods her acceptance of his quasi-praise.

The two men approach the cryocontainer and inspect it. “Have you opened this at all since you left Rio?”

I shrug. “No. No reason to.”

Turning around and sighing, I pretend like I’m so bored I’m going to die. I grab the crate Gus used earlier to get inside the cryocontainer and sit down on it. I’m so tired I could fall asleep, yet so keyed up I could zoom straight out of this cargo bay. My body is stressed to the max.

While the cryocontainer is beginning its countdown to defrost and open, the two men chat quietly with Chief Reynold. I catch a few words like ‘drinks’ and ‘the game’ which makes me think they’re talking about plans for later. They suspect nothing yet.

But what will they say when they see what’s inside the cryocontainer?

I squeeze my hands together and watch the countdown timer.

Thirty seconds. Ten seconds. Five, four, three, two, one.

The container beeps and slides open.

“Ah, good. Let’s get moving. We have two more ships to inspect before shift change.” Chief Reynold pulls up his pants over his bulging belly and approaches the container. He looks around for something to stand on, so I give him my seat.

“It’s fish, boss.” One guy is already done and ready to walk out.

“Are those carp?” The other guy’s eyebrows are drawn together. “And it’s only… hmm, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. Only eighteen, Chief.”

Chief Reynold and his one interested man both stare into the cryocontainer, and I get the feeling that they hope the outcome will change the longer they look at it. My foot bounces as we wait.

“I don’t know fish. I’m more of a land-animal person.” Chief Reynold straightens back up, thinks for a moment, and looks back in. “I don’t know. Something’s not right here.”

Oh God, oh shit.

“Maybe something’s fishy?” Lia asks, and both men guffaw.

“Possibly?” The chief holds his place for a moment, seeming to think about the situation.

I’m going to be sick. I swallow hard. “Perhaps we got the wrong cryocontainer? I’ll have to ask my client. Still, it’s just fish.”

Chief Reynold accesses his wristlet again and sighs.

Did we pass?

“Well, whatever fish they are, they’re fish. I suppose we could take them out and inspect them, but…” He jumps down from the crate. “We’ve got other ships we need to inspect. I’m sorry, but I’ll need to put a flag on your ship. It’s policy. You can’t be carting around cargo that isn’t declared.”

“Really?” A flag? A flag is better than jail! But I have to sell my disappointment. “What does that mean for us? I can’t afford to lose business.”

He shrugs. “It means anything outside of insured business, like Flyght or Ampla, will require a full-ship inspection. Not just cargo, but all your quarters as well. If you want to have the flag removed, you’ll need to submit paperwork from your client explaining the mixup.”

I slump and throw my hands out to the side. “This is entirely unfair.”

“Sorry, Ms. Kawabata. Those are the rules.” He touches his right hand to his forehead. “You have a nice day.”

I hold my breath until I hear the airlock door shut.

“Fucking hell. There goes our extra money.” I sink to the empty crate and rest my head in my hands.

“Captain, I don’t think we want to work with Gai Reis again, anyway.” I look up at Lia, and her face is turned to the crew quarters.

Yeah, she’s right about that.

There’s no way I ever want to work with Gai Reis again.

Who are those boys? Where did they come from? And why were they in cold sleep in my cargo bay?

Too many questions. Not enough answers.