Chapter 49: Growing Crew

Chapter 49: Growing Crew

Location: Estriduros Republic; Estriduros System; Estriduros; Duros; Lower Levels

We arrive back at Don Fernando's warehouse about an hour later. Someone notices our truck and one of the shutters rolls up to let us drive inside. The people inside start cheering when Jack powers down the truck and even the Don wears a big smile.

We exit the vehicle, carefully helping Alex along. She woke up a bit earlier but is still a bit wobbly on her feet. The guard dude got her good… Upon seeing this, Marc immediately comes rushing over and helps us with Alex. We guide her to a chair standing to the side, and she sits down while sighing. “Ughh, my head…”

Marc gets another point on the nice list and offers to get some painkillers. Alex happily agrees. Jack squads down next to her and holds her hand. Seeing, that she is in good hands, I start walking over to Don Fernando. Once I’m in earshot, I call out. “We need to talk!”

That gets me some angry stares from some of the people who aren’t busy unloading, but Fernando waves them off. “We do. Follow me.”

He leads me to a small office in the back and sits down behind the wooden desk inside. He bends down and when he sits back up, he has a small cardboard box in his hands. “Your payment, as we’ve agreed.”

I scowl at him. “Thanks, but that’s not enough… Drugs weren’t part of the deal! Also, my friend got hurt.”

Now it’s his turn to scowl back. “You weren’t supposed to look into the crates. But that doesn’t matter, we made a deal and I expect you to honor it. Do not test my patience.”

“But…”

He interrupts my retort before I can form it. “But I’m not a cruel man. Your friend getting hurt was not planned, so I’ll compensate you.” He bends down again and lifts a small suitcase. “Here, take the money. Keep your secret with the collars. That one strike almost got the authorities swarming the whole level. You need to be careful with your friend’s magic. Now leave. We’re finished here.”

I glance at the suitcase, then back at him, and back at the suitcase. That was conveniently placed under the table… Almost as if it was prearranged. I look at the Don again and catch his smirk. That sly bastard! I nod at him. Well played…

He planned to give me the money all along! It’s probably just a little bit, but now I don’t have any reasons to ask for more. Especially now that he doesn’t want the collar secret anymore… I grab the suitcase and the box full of IDs and turn around without another word. Arriving back at where Jack and Alex are sitting, I nod my head toward the exit. “We’re leaving. We’ve got what we wanted…”

I must have sounded angrier than intended, as they both look at me in concern after we exited the warehouse. “Sorry, I just got played by the Don…” I continue and explain what happened in his office.

Jack laughs. “Well, in the end, it’s still you who played him more. He still doesn’t know that I’m not the only Mage.”

That brings a smile back to my face. Jack’s right!

----------------------------------------

We decided to chill a bit more in the hotel before returning to the Stargazer. Alex spent the last day ordering food and other things for the ship, so we have to wait a bit anyway till it’s ready to be shipped up. I’m currently sitting with the others playing a card game when I suddenly hear a crackling sound in my ear. Huh?

“Sara? You there?”

It’s Maja! She’s back? “I’m here, are you back already?” At the confused glances from the others, I point at my ear and mouth the word Maja. They nod in understanding.

“Yes, and I’ve got some exciting news. You’re still on the planet, right?”

“Uh, yeah we are. What’s up?”

“Good, I just arrived at the Stargazer, and you weren’t there. But that’s actually great because the next person on your list is down on the planet with you.”

Someone’s here on the planet? “Who is it?”

It’s Doctor Silver. She’s currently on leave from the academy and should be back home in the city of Greatham. I’ll send you the address.”

That is very good news, I think the city is pretty close as well. “Wow, Maja that’s amazing. How was the rest of your mission?”

Good, good. It looks like Sean’s people were able to destroy everything… I didn’t find any backups. And I managed to locate all your friends as well!”

I pump my fist up in the air. “Yes! You’re the best Maja! So we’ll go get the Doctor, then we come back up to you. There should be a delivery to the Stargazer sometime tomorrow, by the way, Alex managed to get us some supplies.”

Alright, I’ll take care of it. Oh and did you manage to get some IDs?”

“Yeah, we did. I even got blank cards, so you can fill them up with our data once we’re back at the ship.”

“Nice, see you later then. Good luck with the Doctor.”

“Did she find someone here on the planet?” Jack asks, looking a bit confused.

I nod. “She did, Doctor Silver is just one city away. We need to get to Greatham.”

“Already on it,” Alex replies with the tablet still in her hands. “Got it, the train leaves in two hours a few levels above us.”

----------------------------------------

Location: Estriduros Republic; Estriduros System; Estriduros; Greatham

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The trains here on planet Estriduros are something else. I thought the UFT on Acordus 3 was nice, but this thing is miles above. Super soft seats, onboard catering, and not a bit of acceleration felt. When we exit the train in the city of Greatham, I turn to Alex. “Did you choose the super fancy train or is this normal?”

She laughs. “That’s pretty much normal here, nothing fancy at all. You should see the fancy ones. They cost ten times as much and are way faster and way more comfortable.”

How can it be even more comfortable? That’s hard to believe, but she’s probably right. I mean she lived on a core planet before, and I am only from the fringe.

We exit the train station, it’s located at the top of a tall skyscraper, just like the Spire in Acordia. When we arrive at the bottom and enter the city proper, it looks way different compared to Duros. Actually, it looks just like a normal city. Well, normal in my opinion. Everything is located on the ground. Sure, there are several tall buildings and even a few skyscrapers, but the city doesn’t consist of different levels.

Jack's stomach grumbles. I smirk. “Should we grab something to eat before looking for the Doctor?”

He pulls at the scarf he’s wearing that hides his pale neck and nods. “Yeah, I could do with some food.”

“Alex, can you find us something nice to eat?” She’s still carrying the tablet, and I don’t trust S-57 with something so important like finding us good food. I don’t want to eat trash, just because it’s close to us.

“Yeah, give me a minute.” She starts walking toward the west and we follow her. A few minutes later, she grins. “Found something. I hope you like Chinese food. It’s also very close to Doctor Silver’s apartment, so we don’t even have to detour.”

Nice, that does sound like a plan.

A bit of walking later, we arrive at the restaurant. I look through the window and find it quite empty. Only a few patrons are sitting and eating inside. One of them looks quite familiar actually. She’s got bright pink hair and grey eyes. She smiles at her food… Wait, is she? I laugh out loud. Her hair was green back then, but I think I just found Doctor Silver!

The others look at me confused. “What’s so funny? It’s just food, you know,” Jack says. “We should head inside, staring through the window is a bit rude.”

“Yeah, I know,” I reply still laughing. “It’s just that I think I found Doctor Silver. The pink-haired woman inside… I’m pretty sure that’s her.”

Now Jack laughs as well and puts an arm around his wife. “You should become a private investigator honey, looks like you found us just the right restaurant.”

Alex smiles and leads the way inside. She asks for a table for three and the hostess leads us to a table pretty close to Doctor Silver. I now get a better look, but it’s clearly her. We order our food and while we wait, I think about how to approach her.

In the end, I decide to wait till she leaves. She hasn’t recognized me and if I just walk over to her and tell her I’m a Mage, she met over four years ago, she might react badly. I don’t want something like this as I’m still an illegal person here in the republic.

So while we wait for our food, Doctor Silver pays up and leaves. She frowns a bit when she walks by our table, but then leaves the restaurant shrugging. Huh, looks like she did recognize me, but couldn’t think of where she met me before.

Anyway, our food arrives, and we eat in silence. Then we pay and leave and walk the last half kilometer to Doctor Silver’s apartment.

When we arrive at her front door on the third floor of a quite nice-looking building, I turn to the others. “Uhm, would you mind letting me talk to her alone? I don’t know how she’ll react and uh, maybe it’s better if she only sees me?”

Jack shrugs. “Well, I’m already without a collar and so kinda illegal, so it wouldn’t matter if she sees me as well. But if you want to go alone, sure go ahead. We’ll wait out here.”

Alex just gives me a thumbs-up and so I walk the final meters to the door and press the doorbell. A minute later, the door opens, and Doctor Silver looks at me in confusion. “Do I know you?” Then understanding dawns on her face. “Wait, you’re the girl from the restaurant! Did you follow me here? What do you want?” Understanding turns into a little bit of panic and I quickly take a step back.

“Doctor Silver, wait. Our meeting in the restaurant was pure coincidence. I was actually on the way to your apartment all along.”

She frowns. “You were? But why? I don’t know you, do I?”

“Actually, you do. We’ve met before… At your workplace. About four years ago.”

I can see the gears turning in her head. I mean, I still look quite young. Well, I am quite young. Four years ago makes me sixteen back then and that can only mean one thing.

We stare at each other and finally, I can see the recognition in her eyes. “You’re Sara Nelson!”

I grimace.

“Holy shit, it’s truly you! That grimace!” She grabs my shirt collar and pulls me into the room, then closes the door with a bang. “Are you out of your mind? Where the fuck is your collar? What are you doing here? Do you know how dangerous it is here for someone like you?”

Her rant goes on, while she walks into the living room. A big window shows the sprawling city behind. Doctor Silver quietly mumbles some curse words while I think about how to reply. Her reaction was quite intense, but not bad so far. I sit down on the white leather sofa. She finally composes herself and sits down on the armchair opposite. “Now explain.”

I take a deep breath. “You see, I obviously got rid of my collar. In the process, I came into possession of a starship and an attached mission, I have to carry out. I won’t go into details for now, just that the mission requires me to leave the republic. For that, I need the ship and the ship needs a crew. Now you can probably imagine, why I’m here.” I pause for the dramatic effect. “You’re pretty much the only Doctor I know, and you were so nice to me back then. I know that’s a bit of naïve reasoning, but here I am… Do you want to join my crew as our Doc?”

“You’re crazy…” She shakes her head in disbelief but her trademark smile comes back. “She got rid of her collar… That has to mean something.”

I don’t think that second sentence was meant to be heard by me. It was pretty silent.

“But still, seeing all those young people at the academy realize what being a Mage here in the republic means… I can’t say I like it. You know, I applied to the academy because I thought I could get a glance at magical healing. I’ve read about it before in some dubious online forums. It was quite a disappointment when I learned that there isn’t any healing taught at the academy. Now I don’t even know if this is possible at all… Hmm, you’ll probably cross more Mage friendly nations on your way to your destination, right? Where are you going anyway? Oh, and I need a bit more information than what you told me so far.”

I smile back at her. “Well, our destination is The Magicon Empire. I don’t know if you’ve heard about them, but they are the big shots out there in the galaxy. Due to circumstances, I found myself on Earth for the past few months.” Doctor Silver stares at me with wide eyes, but before she can reply, I continue. “Yes Earth, it wasn’t destroyed as everyone believes. That’s false information that was spread deliberately to hide what happened there for real. And now I do have critical information, that needs to be delivered to the rulers of The Empire, as they were the ones that decided to hide the real happenings on Earth back then.”

Her smile slipped a little during my short explanation due to her struggles to believe me, but now it’s back in full force. “Holy shit. You already had me with The Empire as our destination. I’ve only heard rumors so far when I read about the healing, but that place must be amazing. If there is something like magical healing, than I’ll find it there. And now you throw me a curveball with flippin’ Earth… Damn, I’d be a complete moron if I say no to this. So yes, I’m in. I’ll be your Doctor all day, but call me Ronja.”

I smile back at her. “Alright, Ronja welcome to the Stargazer’s crew. Now, you can take pretty much everything you want with you, as we’ve got the space up there. Oh and do you have a tablet at hand? I can connect you to Maja and then you two can go over everything you need to set up a medical room up there.”

She jumps up and walks over to a nearby shelf. Then she comes back with a tablet in her hand. “Sure have, here. And you really mean everything? I've got some gym equipment in the back room…”

I grab the tablet and whisper to S-57 to connect to it, so Maja can access it as well. He confirms and gets to work. “You can for sure. Our gym room is still empty anyway.”

The connection is established and Maja’s voice drones through the speaker. I give the tablet back to Ronja and they both get to work. They mention things, I've never heard about, but they sound medical, so everything should be good.

Then one last brilliant thought hits me and I quickly focus back on the Doctor. “Hey Ronja, could you maybe equip me with a holographic interface?”

She smiles. “Sure can. Do you already have one or should I include it with our purchases?”

I almost jump in jubilation. “I still need one, so if we can afford one right now, please do so!”