Tin Star (17 page)

The Yertina Feray always seemed to have poor reception, but now it was down to near silence. As isolated as we were, messages needed to come out and in. Worse, ships could not hail us to dock. The normal low quality had always made everyone grumble, but it was as though the whole station were blind now. You could feel the panic about it as everyone tried to maintain a sense of normalcy while living in a crippled place.

Maintenance needed to be done. Now. If the crew didn’t get outside and fix things, everything on the station would fall into disrepair. Disrepair was never allowed on a space station. It meant death.

But somehow, the station was slow to react. Aliens clamored outside of the Ministry of Colonies and Travel, desperate to communicate with their planets. Even I, though I had no one to send messages to, was feeling a sense of panic without my routine listening to chatter. There had been comfort in paying to hear the public radio communications from Earth and the pre-broadcasted messages from the Children of Earth colonies, even if those messages meant no salvation for me.

I was bartering with the shopkeeper who had taken all of my wires for a certain ball bearing piece that Caleb needed when I noticed Reza hovering near me. It bothered me. I could not help but feel his eyes on me. It made me aware of the movements of my body, as I gesticulated with the shopkeeper. Did I look ridiculous with my hands waving in the air wildly? I did not want Reza to think I looked ridiculous. The shopkeeper’s species negotiated not only with their voice, but also with their gestures. Self-conscious, my gestures were off and so, instead of four perfect grade-A silver balls, I got three tarnished silver plated balls. Caleb had Reza to blame for it.

I walked toward Reza, deciding to take a direct approach.

“Don’t you have something better to do than watch me?” I asked him.

“The way your hands move, it’s beautiful,” he said. “Almost like a dance, like a flamenco.”

“I don’t know what that means,” I said. But it thrilled me that he thought something about me was beautiful because standing this close to him, I felt charged. I’d been wanting to see him. He’d been in my thoughts.

“It’s a compliment,” he said.

He then began to gesture in such an awkward way that if I were the shopkeeper’s species I would be violently insulted. I grabbed his hands to make him stop. His hands curled over mine.

“What do you want?” I asked. His fingers played with my skin.

“This communications problem,” he said. “I have to hear what’s going on back home. If I’m going to go back there to try to help Earth Gov see that joining together makes humanity stronger, then I need to know everything. I need to hear the chatter. There is likely a civil war brewing on Earth now that the Earth Imperium Alliance is trying to regain control, and I’m flying blind here. It’s driving me crazy.”

“You’re not the only one,” I said, pointing to the gathered crowd outside the Ministry of Colonies and Travel.

“But all they can do is yell. I can help,” he said. “I can fix this.”

“The dishes are outside,” I said. “You can’t just hack your way to making it better no matter how good your Earth Imperium Alliance youth cadet training was back on Earth.”

“No, I mean, I’m trained for EVAs and communications,” he said. “That’s my specialty.”

“So?”

“Get me a spacesuit,” he said.

“What?” I said. “You want to go out there?”

“I told you I’d ask you for what I needed when I needed it. This is what I need. Get me a spacesuit, and I can probably fix the array. Get me two, and I’ll get it done for sure.”

“You want two spacesuits?”

“Yes, one for Els and one for me,” he said.

I wondered how many trades I’d have to do to get two working spacesuits. I stared over Reza’s shoulder as I calculated. It would be challenge. I liked the idea of a challenge. It made me feel alive in some way. And if I could do it, Reza would be impressed. As strange as it was, I wanted Reza to be impressed with me.

I nodded.

Besides, the station was dragging its feet. They were waiting for experts to come and assess the damage; there were bids from different species to get the job. It was taking too long. If I helped Reza to fix the array, then everyone would owe me just a little more. Helping him helped me.

“What will you give me for it?”

“Besides communication?” he asked. “When I succeed, I’ll have clout on Earth.”

I almost said that wasn’t worth anything, but then I stopped myself. Heckleck had often told me that things that seem worthless have a way of being the exact thing that one needs in a pinch down the line.

I nodded and then walked away. I knew exactly where to start. Thado.

It took me twelve trades to get the spacesuits. They weren’t the most modern model, but they would work, and better yet, with only a few alterations, they would do for a Human.

*   *   *

It was not easy to get off the space station without authorization. Reza and Els chose to exit from one of the docking bays when a small ship was leaving. I went and joined them with the Nurlok who had agreed to tailor the suits. I watched as Reza and Els suited up with the help of Caleb. When they were dressed, they tested their air supply and did their final checks. Reza turned to me and gave me a thumbs up.

Caleb, the Nurlock, and I stepped into the safe zone as the air lock shut. So many things could go wrong. It made me wonder why Reza and Els would purposely put themselves in harm’s way on the remote chance that they could fix something. It seemed irresponsible. But I had contributed to the folly.

The outer door opened, and Reza and Els stepped out into space.

“Come,” the Nurlock said.

We walked the station, finding the windows that would allow us to see their progress. Reza was wearing the suit with the red stripe and Els, the one with the blue stripe. The Nurlock, Caleb, and I had earbuds in and could hear their communications. They were all business.

Slowly, as we watched, others gathered. Aliens everywhere began to notice that someone was outside the station. Throngs crowded together, pressing themselves against the windows.

“Looks like you’ve got an audience,” I said to Reza.

He turned away from the main dish, slowly rotating until he faced the station window. And then he waved.

“It’s a pretty view of Quint from here,” he said. “I bet you’d like it.”

I loved how self-assured Reza was. He looked comfortable floating in space while he worked, and it made me happy to watch him doing something that he clearly did well. He was in his element, and that made him seem like he was the only person worth paying attention to. I felt proud that I knew him and that I had helped make this happen.

“Stay on task,” Caleb said into his communicator.

“Finalizing and reinitiating dish start up,” Els said.

“Three … two … one … engage,” Reza said, getting back to work.

“Moving to dish two,” Els said.

They went to every dish checking them out. By now the entire station was clued in to the fact that Reza and Els were out there. Caleb was standing near a window, biting his thumb. He looked more worried than I was. Despite wanting something totally different from each other, in a crunch or crisis, they had all three come together. I felt a certain pride in that. Their repair job did more for Human alien relations than anything.

“It’s working!” The aliens came out of the ministry. “The dishes are starting to communicate beautifully. It’s never been so clear.”

There was a united cheer from the station. And the panic that had been so steady in the air lifted in relief and celebration.

“What’s going on here?” Tournour appeared next to me. I turned to him and grabbed his arm excitedly, pointing at Reza, floating by our window.

“Did you help with this, Tula?” he asked.

I nodded.

“You are all violating around thirty different rules and station protocols.”

Reza and Els had moved onto another array and had given the signal that it was working as well. The crowd around us cheered.

Tournour took in all the joyfulness around him.

“Didn’t you say to me once that the Yertina Feray takes care of its own?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“This wasn’t smart,” he said. “I should throw them in the brig. Dangerous. Stupid.”

“But you won’t.”

“Are you protecting them? Are you protecting him?” He pointed outside the window at Reza.

“They’re doing what you couldn’t get done,” I said.

“Is that what you think?”

“It’s what I know.”

“You’re so naïve sometimes, Tula.”

Embarrassed at the fact that two Humans had taken matters into their own hands, Tournour made the call to the maintenance crews who then suited up themselves to take over the EVA operation from these upstart Humans. Reza and Els would not be punished. They were relieved of their mission and sent back inside.

“I have to go find Reza,” I said.

“Why?” Tournour asked.

“To thank him.”

Tournour’s eyes narrowed and his antennae stopped moving.

They had gotten the job done where the Imperium could not.

It felt like a first victory.

24

I remembered what my mother had said when I was growing up. If a person had been rude, they should try to make repair with an offering of some kind. The truth was I felt bad about how I’d handled the Human situation. I wanted to start over with them. They had done a great thing for the station.

I could not go without a present. I unstrapped the items that I’d procured during the day, but rejected them. None of them were quite right. I opened my secret panel, pushing aside the passes, knowing they would be the best gift, but not something I would ever consider giving away. Besides, the passes still held a glimmer of hope for me, and I didn’t know whom I would choose to take the spare one. One thing Heckleck had often told me was to hint at the possibility of yes to everything and everyone and then to sort it out later. I wasn’t sure in whose hands the passes would be best utilized, but I think I could cross Caleb off the list. When I did go, if I managed it, we were headed in different directions.

Wherever Brother Blue was, it definitely wasn’t on the Outer Rim.

I slid out a beaded light. It was pretty and practical. It would be appreciated and seen as a gesture of warmth and goodwill.

I pushed the curtain aside and made my way to the alley where the Humans were staying. It seemed quiet.

I announced myself.

“It’s Tula,” I said, rapping on the side of the plastic to make my presence known.

The curtain pulled aside. I expected to see them all huddled in there together. But it was only one of them. Reza.

“Hello,” he said. “Come in. What a nice surprise.” He put the datapad he was reading aside and patted the place next to him.

He was not lying. He was glad to see me. He extended his hand out to me in a friendly gesture. I took it and we shook. His hand was warm. I didn’t want him to let mine go.

I hesitated but realized that I was the one who had come. I stepped inside and sat down.

“Where are the others?” I asked.

“They’ve moved.”

“Moved? How did you manage that?”

“Funny thing if you help fix a space station. People give you things,” he said and then handed me a bottle of premium water. I took it when I noticed that he had a case of it.

“Haven’t you moved, too?” I asked. The water was sweet and cool.

“No,” he said. “I’ve made a split from the others.”

“Why?” I asked.

“We’re going in different directions. That was getting us nowhere. I want to go home. To Earth. On my own, I think I’ll get there.”

Suddenly I saw him, gone from here, on his way to somewhere else. He had a certain determination about him that I didn’t see in most people who were stranded here. I didn’t even always see it in myself.

“Yes. You look like you have the luck about you.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I think we need to regroup and go home to Earth. Back to the beginning.”

“That’s what my father used to say,” I said.

I was still holding the beaded lights in my hands.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s a gift.”

“You’ve come with a gift?”

“I thought perhaps for Els.”

“Ah,” he said. “She’s taken quarters up in the upper decks.”

“Of course,” I said. Els liked luxury in everything. Lately I noticed that Els had started wearing alien fashions of high quality. I often saw her up at Kitch Rutsok’s on the entertainment level, laughing and going to parties.

“What about Caleb?”

“He’s four aisles down by the coolant vent.”

“Bad spot,” I said.

“Caleb doesn’t negotiate well,” he said.

That made me laugh. Which made him smile.

“She’ll like that. She does have a taste for the extravagant,” he said taking the lamp.

“Why are you and Caleb still down here and not up there?” I asked.

“I’m not settling in. I aim to leave. A place like this…” he indicated the bin, “is temporary.”

That was what I had always thought. And yet I was still here, living in miserable conditions, saving my comfort for later, when I’d be gone. But I had been here so long I began to wonder if that day would ever come.

“It’s nice to be in this bin, alone,” Reza said. “Don’t you ever want to be alone?”

“I’ve been alone a long time,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” he nodded. “I’m sorry that you’ve been here all alone for so long. I’ve never been alone.”

“You must not mind it,” I said. “I imagine you joined up.”

“I had no choice,” Reza said.

“Someone forced you?”

“My father. He always told me that a man ‘had to have a future! Have a cause!’ His cause was to take advantage of the Imperium’s generous offer to Earth and to become rich. Gain power. I am a pawn in his cause. Offer the son to the galaxy to prove you are true.”

“So you’re an isolationist,” I said.

“I don’t know what I am. I just know that Earth is my cause, and the best way to help her is to be there, on the ground. Not here, in space.”

“I have no cause, and I’m better off for it,” I said.