Charlie Boone

by Geron Kees

Life Is Like A New Suit of Clothes, Charlie Boone! - Chapter 2

Browbeat, who had watched the initial meeting in the conference room with the elder Elias Grampet on a monitor from the bored room, was present in person for the meeting with Elias the Younger. Charlie figured that whatever was going on with their new visitor, he seemed not to be someone that would be startled by any sort of unusual presence or appearance now. Charlie also felt the more formal setting of the company conference room was not needed here. The bored room would do just fine.

They walked back and entered the room, and Horace closed the door behind them. Browbeat was introduced to their visitor, and the two of them traded pleasantries. Elias the Younger seemed delighted by this unexpected encounter, and responded with a smile and twinkling eyes, "And how grand you look, too!"

Browbeat tittered happily at that, feeling it as more appreciation for the work he had done to change his appearance. "You're not so bad, yourself!"

Elias looked around the room, and then indicated the seating area. "Shall we make ourselves comfortable?"

They sat, and then all eyes turned to their visitor.

"This seems not to be your true appearance, then," Charlie observed. "Are you even human?"

"Not like you or your friends." Elias turned his eyes to Browbeat. "Or, most of your friends."

"I'm a Pintuckin," Browbeat offered. "I just did a few changes to my appearance. It's like an experiment."

"I like them," Elias said, nodding appreciatively.

He turned his gaze back to Charlie then. "You have some good friends, it seems," he continued, extending a hand. Charlie felt an answering burst of warmth from Castor in the amulet he wore on his chest beneath his shirt. He automatically raised a hand to cover the amulet protectively...but the warmth he felt was in the way of a greeting, not one of alarm.

Elias smiled. "Hello, little one." He gave a small sigh then, and gazed around at those seated with him. "An explanation is in order."

Kippy looked at Charlie, a little wide-eyed; but then he pushed his shoulder gently against Charlie's, to show he was not worried about their guest. "That would be nice."

Elias closed his eyes briefly, and nodded. "I am somewhere between a refugee and a political outcast. I was banished from my homeworld long ago, sent here to consider my evil ways." He smiled. "Which I have done, and dismissed."

Kippy frowned. "You certainly don't come across as evil."

"Good and evil are a matter of perspective, I'm afraid," Elias responded. "But that's neither here nor there."

"You've been here some time, I take it?" Robin asked.

"Oh, yes. Something on the order of a million years."

Everyone simply stared.

"I know, I know, it's a large number to consider," Elias continued, smiling. "But it's true. I have spent my existence on your Earth as a multitude of life forms, only settling down to be one of your kind as you became ascendant here. And up until now, I have minded my own business. It's not in my nature to bother others, only to point out what I think of them, if asked." He laughed. "Which tendency is what got me into trouble in the first place."

Robin looked slightly askance at their visitor. "You've been here throughout human history, and you've never gotten involved, even once?"

"Not even once. The affairs of this world are not my affairs, you see. Not mine to embrace, not mine to interfere with."

"You do sound more like a good guy than a bad one," Adrian observed.

"It's also a matter of practicality," Elias said, waving a hand airily. "I have been here a long time, and I will be here for a great many more millennia hence. The changes in your cultures and civilizations are so brief to me as to often escape notice. It is unwise for me to even focus on them too much, as they are often gone again before they can be fully appreciated." He smiled. "It is a trait of my people that we observe, but seldom interact. At least with others." The smile turned into a sad one. "That trait does not apply to our internal dealings, however."

Rick leaned forward. "You were banished here? Does that mean you have to stay here?"

"I'm afraid it does. Simply depositing one of my kind here wouldn't do. I can travel between the stars as easily as I can walk around here. That does take time, but time is something I have a lot of, you see."

Robin nodded. "There's something keeping you here?"

"Yes. When I was brought here, the mechanisms of my life were intertwined with the energies of this world, and my ability to seek new sources of energy inhibited. Otherwise, I would have simply left the moment my captors were gone."

"You're stuck here," Browbeat said, his small face screwing up into a frown. "That sucks!"

Elias smiled. "It does, and it doesn't. I have actually been content here, alone with my own musings, my own ideas. Away from my own kind, the differences I once objected to no longer seem to matter. I have become a civilization of one, and have found it to be less than a hardship."

Horace shook his head. "If you aren't trying to leave here, then what do you need us for?"

"He means, how can we help you?" Amy clarified, again looking faintly impatient at the long way around the guys seemed to be taking.

Elias closed his eyes a moment. "It has been impossible for me to live on your world and not notice the rise of energy manipulation among your kind. First with those members of your species that eventually moved to an alternate version of this world, and then among those that remained behind."

Charlie blinked in surprise at at that. Elias knew about the elves!

Elias smiled at his look of surprise. "Even now, I can readily sense the powers that live among your own group. This is what I was looking for, because it was among your kind that I thought would be my best chance at finding those that might be able to leave this world and go elsewhere into the galaxy."

"If you can sense humans with skwish, then you shouldn't have had to look hard for help," Kippy pointed out. "There are quite a few humans out there that have it."

"Yes, but I did not need just humans with, er, skwish, I needed those that were organized and able, and displayed talents commensurate with those that might have access to offworld venues."

"You can tell that just by sensing us?" Rick asked, his eyes wide. "And how could you even expect to find such people here? Earth is scarcely at the center of galactic empire."

"That's true. But people with your sort of talents tend eventually to range beyond the common borders. Its not easy to explain how I can determine this. It is both a quantitative analysis as well as a qualitative one, totally sensory on my part. Once I narrowed my search down to Elias as someone who might know of such a group, it remained only for me to coax him into leading me to you." Their visitor turned to look at Browbeat, and nodded. "And now, I am certain I have made the correct choice." He leaned closer to the flyer. "Madracorn quantum biomechanism, aren't you?"

Browbeat's tiny face looked astonished. "How could you know?"

Elias sat back again. "Every creation has a signature all its own, especially every technology. How any given people come to understand and manipulate the universe, while similar in function, is also quite unique in execution. Your recent use of the transformation abilities of your body still resonates with my senses. I detected you even before I came back here to meet you."

Charlie held up a hand. "Wait just a second. I think we're wandering around the map here a little too much." He sighed. "You're non-native to earth. You seem familiar with at least one species also not native to our world, the Madracorn, which indicates to me that you are also familiar with galactic civilizations, even vanished ones. I'm trying to fit that all in with why you might be here to see us."

"You have the ability to travel offworld?" Elias asked.

"Maybe," Kip said quickly, causing their visitor to smile.

"That's as good as an admission, young man. I can sense the thoughts behind your words, too."

"Why this world?" Rick asked. "Why were you banished to Earth?"

"A totally random process, with no significance whatsoever," Elias explained. "At the time, there were thousands of my kind being banished by the regime. My prison, as it were, was simply fired off into a random direction within the galaxy, as were all the others. The mind-segment that was my keeper eventually selected your star from a range of stars that would likely have worlds with life, and here I was deposited. And here I have stayed."

"You said you can't leave here," Amy reminded. "So, you're not looking for a ride someplace."

"I am unable to leave," Elias confirmed. "But you are."

Charlie nodded. "You want us to go somewhere, and do something?"

Robin held up a hand. "Just a second." He smiled at Elias. "Just what sort of life are you, anyway? You can't be a bio-organism like we are. Not with a lifespan like that."

"And I'm not. I am composed of a complex of interdependent energy fields, with no actual matter a part of my make-up." He pointed at Charlie, at where Castor resided beneath his shirt. "Like your small friend there."

Horace nodded, and looked at Charlie. "And like Gretchen, I felt. A genius loci."

"Or like a hernacki," Charlie mused, the idea intriguing.

"Or like a boojum," Rick said softly, his eyebrows raised pointedly. "Like Pyewacket."

Elias' eyes moved among them. "I sense from your minds these varied entities, and admit to you that my kind are definitely related to them. But these sorts of life are not unique to your own world, as you already know. They exist everywhere within the universe."

"We do know," Charlie agreed. "And, our experiences with the ones like you we have encountered have mostly been positive."

Horace nodded at that. "My friend, Gretchen, is very much rooted to her small plot of land, which I also happen to occupy. This must be similar to your own confinement to our planet now."

"I would agree. Some variations on my sort of life are definitely associated with very particular locations, as their life energy is intertwined with local conditions. Others of our sort are entirely mobile, able to seek and utilize energy sources on the fly. I used to be that way, but my ability to seek and interpret other energy sources has been thoroughly inhibited. I am now dependent on those sources particular to your world, though my captors were decent enough to give me the run of the entire planet."

Robin shook his head. "It amazes me that you've been here all this time, and no one has sensed you."

Kip smiled at the man. "You mean, that no one like you has sensed him."

Robin frowned, but then followed it with a smile. "Something like that. But as far as I know, neither Nicholaas nor the elves are aware of Elias, either."

"It could be we just never asked," Adrian put in. "You know how Max is!"

Elias chuckled at that. "I think you would be surprised if you actually knew what sorts of life you share your planet with. Your own mental talents would seem to be maturing quickly, but they are still a far cry from those of us who have been using them for...well, a lot longer than you."

Charlie grinned at Robin. "Okay?"

History's favorite thief nodded. "Yeah. I am put in my place."

"That was not my intention," Elias countered. "It was simply to point out that you are still growing, with much to learn as you go."

Amy gave a faint sigh, and shook her head again at the men. "Can we just find out what Elias would like us to do, so that I can get back to my desk?"

Horace chuckled softly, and placed a hand on his wife's arm. "That's probably a good idea, Charlie."

Charlie leaned forward to smile at Elias. "So. What can we do for you, Elias?"

"Despite my banishment, I was never totally cut off from my people," Elias explained. "I have maintained an...awareness, shall we say, that they are still there. Or, that they were still there."

Amy leaned closer over the tabletop. "Something has happened to them?"

Elias frowned. "I actually don't know. I just know that, recently, I stopped sensing them." He immediately shook his head. "Rather, I stopped sensing the majority of them. Those like myself, cast adrift, I can still sense. But the homeworld seems to have vanished from my perception."

Charlie rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. "Would that only be possible if they were all...well, gone?"

"You mean dead?" Elias smiled. "My kind are not eternal. Each of us faces an eventual randomization of our energy fields, in keeping with the laws of this universe. With that randomization comes a loss of awareness. Our basic energies cannot be destroyed, but their unique interactions that make us who we are as individuals will eventually cease. In that manner, our individual awareness does die." He shook his head. "But I have been on your earth far less than a lifetime for one such as I. To think all my people could perish in so short a span seems unbelievable to me."

Kippy pursed his lips. "You want someone to go and look, in other words."

"I knew you would understand. This is why I need someone capable of offworld travel."

"How would we find your, um, planet?" Adrian asked.

"I will give you coordinates that should be able to be interpreted by the artificial quantum mind of a starship."

"You know a lot about how things work out there," Rick said, watching the man. "Even if you don't use starships, yourselves."

"Of course. My people have observed the other intelligences that exist in the arm with us, even as they come and go. But we don't interfere in what they do. It is simple curiosity, and nothing more."

"How will we know if we find your people, though?" Browbeat asked. "From what I understand of your make-up, you guys are normally invisible to the eye."

"I would have to train one of you, or all of you, to recognize us."

Horace held up a hand. "I can already sense you, and that sense is refining itself even as we speak."

Elias nodded. "I felt there was something different about you. You strike me as unusually sympathetic."

Horace laughed softly. "I have an ability to sense your kind of life. You feel different from any such being I have ever sensed before, but enough like my Gretchen for me to be comfortable with who you are."

Kippy now waved a hand. "I think we can all sense you as a skwish entity. I don't know that we'd need more than that."

"You're pretty nice to look at with my inner eye," Browbeat agreed. "I bet you'd really light up a dark room!"

There was laughter at that.

"It's not a visible light you see in me," Elias said. "But that you can see it at all is reassuring."

Charlie looked around at his friends. "Anyone want to say anything?"

Robin smiled. "I'm sufficiently intrigued to want to go along, if you decide to accept this job."

"I'm going!" Browbeat announced. "It sounds like fun!"

Charlie turned to his boyfriend. Kip smiled. "I'm going anywhere you're going."

Rick turned to Adrian, who nodded. "Sure. I'm going, especially if you are."

Rick grinned at Charlie. "I guess that puts us in."

"I'll go," Horace said immediately. He turned to Amy, who blinked at him in surprise.

"What? We can't all go. Someone has to mind the store!"

Charlie smiled. "That's what we have the answering service for, remember?"

Horace nodded eagerly. "It could be fun. But it will be interesting, at the least."

Amy looked from one face to another, and then came back to Elias, who tried to look impartial.. She smiled then. "Okay. Why not?"

Charlie smiled, and turned back to Elias. "We'll take the job."

"Thank you." The man seemed to relax. "While I have come to terms with my exile here on your world, it does not relieve me of concern for my kind."

Amy smiled at him. "How will we reach you once we have any news for you?"

"I will come to you. I am attuned to your group now. I will know when you leave this world, and when you return."

Charlie looked at Kip. "I think Murcha is engaged this week, if I remember correctly."

His boyfriend smiled. "Murcha and Onglet stay engaged. They spend all their time going back and forth between worlds, making money for us."

"Bless their little quantum hearts!" Adrian added, grinning. "They have contracts, though. They can't just break them."

"I know." Charlie frowned. "We'll check with them, just to make sure. And if they are unavailable, then we can go to Engris and see what we can rent, borrow, or buy to take us where we need to go."

"Or steal?" Rick added, jokingly.

Charlie shrugged, his eyes bright. "Well...not unless it's absolutely necessary!"

The pirate market on Engris was busy, as usual. In the real-time years they had been coming here, they had come to know many of the species that frequented the place. But the Five Empires were vast, and each new visit yielded new peoples and new sales outlets they had never seen before. That gave the market a special flavor, one that was a little mysterious, a little bizarre, and always exciting.

After leaving the villa, they had gone straight to the stall of Forvish, a Delphanian they had come to know, who specialized in what he called 'exotic technologies', a euphemism they had determined covered the fact that where an item had come from and whether or not it was legally obtained was not of consideration. Forvish, despite his obviously murky background -- and most everyone at the pirate market had a murky background -- was startlingly straightforward in his business dealings. One thing a thief could not afford to acquire at the pirate market here was a reputation as being dishonest in business. It was one more bit of the convoluted morality in play on Engris that Charlie and the others had come to accept as an integral part of the place.

Browbeat zoomed ahead of their group, and was hovering before the stall even as they arrived before the counter.

"I am Browbeat!" the flyer was saying, sounding annoyed.

Forvish was leaning on the counter from behind, the ring of four eyes central to the bland lump that was his head inspecting Browbeat with a trace of apparent skepticism. His four serpentine arms were also waving a little warily, the sucker tips at the ends hissing noisily; but that motion stilled as Charlie and the others arrived before him.

"Chur-lee! Dis is da Brow-beet, for real-real?"

The little blob of the translator they all wore in their ears tended to be a literal device, making alien languages comfortable to understand, yet not attempting to completely sanitize their individual flavor. While that made communication mostly easy, the oddities of alien tongues often showed through quite clearly. Charlie and the others were used to the many degrees of strangeness they often encountered in dealing with others at the market, and had even come to enjoy it.

He smiled. "Yes, that's Browbeat, for real."

"I changed my appearance, I told you!" Browbeat called, sliding sideways in his flight to land on Charlie's shoulder. For a second his friend's wing buffeted the back of Charlie's head, and then they were quiet.

Forvish contemplated them quietly a moment, while one of his arms dug in the roach pot beneath the counter. It reappeared, grasping one of the squirming, many-legged occupants of the pot, which was popped into a wide slit of a mouth that appeared almost magically beneath the alien's eyes. There was a brief couple of crunches, and then silence.

They weren't really roaches, of course, but some squirmy thing from the Delphanian homeworld that was considered a positive delicacy by his kind. By so casually snacking on these expensive delights during the conversation, Charlie had determined, Forvish was conveying the success he had made for himself as an entrepreneur, and therefore as one whose words held some weight. Alien customs were many and strange in their meanings, but Charlie had come to view them as good indicators of where a conversation might be going. Forvish was starting off by saying right away that Browbeat's new look was an unexpected change in the game, and so the alien was going to reserve the right to judge whatever mission had brought Charlie and his group to his stall until the bitter end. In other words, they would need to convince the alien that their business was in his best interests to engage with.

"Relax," Charlie continued. "We're not here to put you on the spot."

"No put Forvish on spot-spot," the alien returned, but at the same time retrieving another roach from beneath the counter and popping it into his mouth.

"I thought you liked us," Kip complained, watching the alien questioningly.

"Do like, Kipp-ee. Just hear stories about your kind and Madracorn. Makes one wary-wary."

Kippy smiled. "Oh, them. We're just friends."

The alien emitted a hissing sound of laughter. "Good friends to have here! Just want to stay on good side of hosts-hosts."

"They aren't involved in this," Rick told him. "This is just business."

The alien watched them for a quiet moment before his upper two eyes blinked, and then his lower two eyes. "Ready to do business, if can-can."

"We need a ship," Charlie said then, leaning on the countertop. "Something capable of galactic travel. A rental, probably, but we'll buy if the price is right and the maintenance logs look good."

Two of Forvish's arms came up, and the tips briefly touched together. "Thought you hired Rootar in past. Neema, and Ishkatar. Saw them just other day-day."

"They aren't in port now," Charlie answered, not even curious about how Forvish even knew of their dealings with Captain Neema in the past. Secrets were one of the most precious of commodities in the pirate market, risky to own, hard to keep. "They're outward bound on a hire even now, apparently."

"Don't deal in ships, me-me," Forvish answered, but his eyes inspected Charlie in a way that said there would be more to this answer. "But do know someone that does-does."

Kippy smiled. "Naturally."

Rick came to lean on the counter with Charlie, and Robin joined him on the other side.

"Someone you trust?" Rick asked carefully.

"We won't buy junk," Robin said casually. "And we will know junk when we see it."

"No junk," Forvish agreed. "Just...some ships older, or from unknown builder. Advise you bring your own mind to run same-same."

"We can do that," Charlie agreed. There were a half-dozen manufacturers of AI ship-minds just here on Engris.

"Let me make communication then," Forvish said. He leaned forward on the countertop himself. "I get commission for introduction yes-yes?"

Charlie nodded. "How about five percent?"

All four of the alien's eyes widened, before he visibly pulled himself together. "Um, sound good to me-me."

Empire credits had enormous buying power. Five percent of the price of a starship, even used, would be a very healthy profit. Charlie wasn't just being generous. He was hoping that such a fee would guarantee they were not hooked up with some junkyard merchant instead of a true ship-dealer.

"When?" Kip asked.

"Soon. Make call, get back to you-you."

They had dealt with Forvish enough in the past for each of them to have the other's com address.

Charlie stood upright. "Good enough. We'll wait for your call, then."

Browbeat tittered happily, and Forvish waved a hand at him, his eyes now taking on a humorous light. "Know that laugh anywhere-where."

Browbeat lifted from Charlie's shoulder and hovered beside him. "I'll bet you guys are hungry! Wanna get a bite to eat while we wait?"

Charlie grinned, already knowing where this was going. "Well, let's see...can you recommend a good place?"

Browbeat laughed again, and his golden eyes were bright. "Aw, you guys know where I mean! You like pizza, don't you?"

Kippy held out an arm and waved it gently, and Browbeat side-slipped over to him and landed on his wrist. Kip brought the flyer closer, rubbed his soft fur with a fingertip, and smiled into his eyes. "Yes, I do believe that we do."

"Whoop! Let's go then!"

Forvish's ship acquaintence, one Edrich, it turned out, was a Molokar, like their friend Sefton. That was an assurance in itself, as the Molokar were the unofficial keepers of Engris, and generally respected for their honesty and capability. They met with the man at Mertril's place, The Missing Ingredient, renting one of the small tasting rooms behind the shop, where the often exotic foodstuffs that Mertril dealt in could be easily sampled as ingredients in whatever luxurious dishes patrons might imagine. The rooms were also used as meeting rooms, places where deals were struck in the buying and selling of items from all over known space. And even unknown space, as well.

The loot of empires dead and buried could be found at the pirate market on Engris, and most of the shops edging the market itself provided quiet meeting places to facilitate the many dealings taking place.

Edrich was as big as Sefton, looked very much like him, and even dressed somewhat like him, in what Charlie liked to call the Indiana Jones Empire look. There was something of adventure in the way that all the Molokar dressed, mirroring a spirit of questing and exploration that seemed a motivating force now for this segment of their race. Those Molokar who called Engris home now were the descendants of refugees, people who had originally been driven from their homeworld by war, and who had stumbled across Engris by sheer accident, the first to do so in ages. They had been allowed to land there by the planetary mind, which had perceived both the Molokar's need and the fairness by which they could be expected to operate there. And it was largely through the efforts of these Molokar that the world was the haven for so many that it was today. The Madracrom keepers of the place had found the Molokar quite acceptable keepers in their own right, their sense of fairness and forthrightness mirroring the philosophies the creators of Engris kept within their own heart of hearts.

The small room where they met was shielded from the prying eyes of known surveillance technologies, another reason for Charlie to feel confident there. Edrich was already seated at the meeting table when they arrived, sipping a frothy beverage popular among his people, known at vith. He looked up at them as they entered, and then got slowly to his feet. Charlie smiled at the sight. If nothing else, Edrich was definitely going to be the tallest person in the room.

"I be Edrich," the man said. "Which is Charlie Boone?" There was a bit of a sh sound to the way Edrich pronounced Charlie's first name, but Charlie was used to the way the translators worked.

"That would be me," Charlie said, patting his chest. He introduced his friends, and everyone sat down, save for Browbeat, who landed on the tabletop between Charlie and Kip.

Edrich got right to the point. "You wish to rent ship, or buy? Forvish not clear on that."

Charlie had done some more thinking on the matter, and had come to the conclusion that owning a second ship would not be a bad idea. Too many times they had needed Lollipop when that vessel was engaged in what was now its primary function, that of a transport vessel engaged in moving items and people around the Five Empires. It was the chief source of their income, and they hated to interfere with that. Interstellar transport contracts were tight, and all came with hefty penalties for lateness or cancellation.

What Charlie wasn't sure of yet was what type of second vessel he wanted to buy. Lollipop was of Moth origin, and was well-armed and technologically superior to much of what plied the spaceways. Should they retain the vessel for their own needs, and buy something more on the order of a real transport for Murcha and Onglet to use? Or, should they perhaps look for something as speedy and well-armed as Lollipop for their own needs? Moth space vessels were generally not for sale, but there were other ships built by other races that were almost as good.

With the buying power of Empire credit considered, they should be able to get another vessel for a price in the millions of credits, Charlie had determined that ten million credits should be a cap, as he didn't want to dig too deeply into what were really group funds. And while he had discussed the plans with the others, and received their approval, it still felt a little like he was plundering his friend's piggy banks.

"We're looking to buy," Charlie responded.

Charlie knew the Molokar people well enough now to see that Edrich was pleased by the idea.

"Have a broad selection of vessels," Edrich responded. "What type interest you?"

Charlie blew out a tiny breath of air. "Well...we aren't certain just yet. We thought maybe we could look over your inventory and decide then."

Edrich watched them quietly a moment, and then gave the Molokar version of a nod. "Can do that. Can go now? My ship at port."

Robin leaned forward on the tabletop. "Your inventory is not on Engris?"

If Edrich was surprised by the question, he didn't show it. "No. Only place ships can land on Engris is at the one port. Space limited there, no room for extra ships."

"Where then?" Robin continued.

The Molokar canted his head to one side, and emitted a gravelly laugh. "Not tell you location, of course. Safe place. Asteroid in certain star system, where room to park many vessels. Take you there. Safe for all involved."

Charlie nodded, but turned to Kip a moment. "What do you think?" he used mind-touch to ask.

Kip smiled. "I like him. I get good things from him. He's honest."

Charlie turned to Adrian, and got pretty much the same response. "Go for it, Charlie."

He turned back to Edrich, who was watching him intently now. "Safe to go," the Molokar told him. "Edrich not cross you, promise."

Even Charlie could feel the sincerity of the other man's words. "Very well. We'll go whenever you're ready."

But the Molokar simply sat there, watching him. "You promise not to cross Edrich?"

Charlie was surprised by the question, but immediately nodded. "I can promise that."

Browbeat stirred, and smiled at Edrich. "We're good guys!"

The Molokar blinked, and then slowly smiled, himself. "Have to be careful. Especially with power users. But sense you mean what you say."

Charlie and Kippy traded glances. They already knew that the Molokar had passive skwish senses, but it was intriguing that Edrich had scoped them out so easily.

Charlie reached out and gently stroked Browbeat's furry head between his two antennae, and then smiled at Edrich. "Like my friend here says, we're good guys."

Edrich rose to his feet then, and towered over them. "Then we go."

"We need to make one stop first," Charlie said then, as he and the others got to their feet. "We need to buy a new mind to run our new ship."

"Can recommend sellers, but best you decide yourself." Edrich offered a small smile, and then turned, and motioned for them to follow.

The ship that Edrich kept for his personal use was clean and seemed very well-maintained. Charlie didn't recognize the make, but that didn't matter. Most anything capable of star travel was, by nature of its level of technology, exceedingly good at looking out for itself. If there was anything going on that was deemed unsafe, a ship's AI would not allow the ship to take to space at all. The many science fiction movies Charlie had seen on Earth, where the heroes gallivanted around the starways in cantankerous vessels that were rusting, falling apart, or needed to be pounded on to get to operate, simply weren't realistic. Star ship technology at the empire-level was self-repairing and self-maintaining, and generally only an accident of some kind could lay one up in a repair dock.

The operations center of the vessel was well-laid out in a pattern popular with many cultures, including the Moth who had built Lollipop. A central operations console, surrounded by seats, all focused on a holographic display above the console that gave each seating position the same view. Behind the inner row of seats, and spaced so that the occupants would be looking between the two seats before them, a second row of seating could be raised from hidden wells in the deck, and had been, providing enough seating for everyone in the group. Charlie, Kip, and Robin had the seats in the first row with Edrich, while the others had taken seats behind.

The fact that the seats were of extremely generous size, each fit for a Molokar, made them quite comfortable, especially as the inner matrix adjusted itself automatically to provide a closer fit to their human forms.

"It's hugging me," Kippy whispered, from the seat beside Charlie.

Charlie smiled at that. His own seat had done the same thing. "Just pretend it's me hugging you," he whispered back. "Enjoy it."

Kippy beamed at him. "Oh, well, then!"

Robin, seated on Charlie's other side, chuckled. "I could use one of these in my living room!"

"You could buy something at the pirate market like it, I'd be willing to bet," Charlie returned. "Why don't you look when we get back?"

"You guys get all the fun," Browbeat sighed out, from his position atop the back of Charlie's seat. "No one's hugging me!"

Kippy waved a hand at him. "Well, come here, and I'll fix that!"

The little flyer tittered happily, and was soon seated on Kip's lap getting his fur stroked, and looking quite content about it.

Charlie smiled, and looked around the operations room. As they had left the starport on Engris, the holo display above the center console had lit, showing the starport outside the ship. It was an excellent view, quite stupendous, and they watched as the vessel silently lifted and Engris quickly retreated beneath them. In mere moments, the black, amorphous heart of the Cooee was all around them.

"Is good release," Edrich said then, watching the very minimal instrumentation before him. "Never know where Engris will release a ship in space. Most times, is fairly close to destination, as if world knows where we want to be. Sometimes, is farther away, requiring some days travel. This time, close. Be there later today."

"I didn't bring my sleeping bag, so that's good to know," Rick said then. "As comfortable as this big seat is, I'm not good at sleeping sitting up."

"Have sleeping accommodations aboard," Edrich informed him, smiling over one large shoulder. "Not need, though. Be there in some hours."

There wasn't even a pause in the translation of the Molokar's words as the little blob in their ears converted the Molokar's time reference to their own.

"Just a few hours?" Horace asked. "Your asteroid must be really close to Engris."

"Nothing close to Engris," Edrich countered. "When want to go to Engris, planet finds you. Mostly the same when you leave. Engris drop you close to your destination. Have always figured when that does not happen, is because planet is seeking someone else for entry. Cannot be two places at one time."

That made sense to Charlie. The mysteries of Engris were many. More than once he had stashed some question in memory in order to ask Eseffa and Jorli about it when next they met. And, mostly, he had forgotten to do so, every time!

"It's amazing to think of the distances we're crossing, just while we sit here," Amy said. She shook her head, and smiled at Charlie. "What an adventure working for Third Planet Inquiries has become!"

"We try to make it fun," Adrian said, smiling.

"It's always fun!" Browbeat added, smiling up at Kip. "A little to the left, please."

Kippy moved his finger in the asked for direction, and sighed down at the flyer. "You can't itch. That hide of yours is artificial."

"I still feel everything like it's real, though," Browbeat returned. "What feels good in one spot feels good in all of them. More to the left, please?"

Kippy flashed a smile at Charlie, and it was clear that his boyfriend was happy to comply.

"Not know your kind," Edrich said then, watching. "May ask what empire you call home?"

"No empire," Robin said, looking over at Charlie.

Charlie nodded. "That's right. We're independents, from outside the Five Empires."

The Molokar's eyes widened. "Not meet too many independents, even on Engris." He laughed his gravelly laugh. "This most interesting meeting!"

"We've met your kind before, though," Kippy announced. "We have a good friend on Engris who is a Molokar."

The alien looked surprised by that. "Know all my kind on Engris. Can you tell who is? Only if not betray confidence, though."

Kippy looked suddenly uneasy, as if he realized he might have spoken out of turn. He frowned, and turned to Charlie, seeking guidance.

Charlie smiled at Edrich. He could see no harm in answering. But...maybe better to give a clue, and see if Edrich could fill in the blanks?

"Um, he runs a sightseeing service, taking people to the ancient cities."

Edrich looked delighted. "Uncle Sefton!"

Kippy looked surprised, and then relieved. "Sefton is your uncle?"

"Yes! Once own business I have now. Sold to me when he retired." Another laugh rumbled out of the alien, sounding like boulders gnashing together in a landslide. "Though favorite uncle never really retire. Love to meet people and move around too much for that!"

Charlie and Robin exchanged looks.

"You mean that Sefton used to own the ship business you have now?" Robin asked.

"Yes. Uncle Sefton own many businesses in his time. I buy this one. Have sold a few ships, and bought a few more, since buy him out, but most ships are ones bought from him."

Robin relaxed, and smiled at Charlie. "That's reassuring."

Charlie nodded. It was. Sefton's honesty was not open to argument. And now, it seemed that his nephew was made of the same stuff!

Edrich nodded happily, and leaned closer to them. "Any friends of Sefton, friends of mine! This mean you get family deal, too. Ten-percent off any buy!"

Everyone smiled at that.

Browbeat fluttered his wings briefly, and then tittered happily. "I sure love the ways things work out with you guys. It's fun!"

Charlie nodded at that. "We have our share of good luck, it seems."

The rest of the afternoon passed in a similarly pleasant fashion, until Edrich finally told them they'd be leaving the Cooee. They transitioned back to normal space, and the view around them suddenly brightened as a blue-white star came into view in the distance. They had arrived a good distance from the sun, in order for its gravitation not to distort the matrix that allowed entry and exit from the Cooee. Charlie blinked in surprise at how distant the star appeared, but Edrich seemed unconcerned. Their vessel turned, and headed parallel to the star, and another hour passed as they seemed to be homing in on their destination.

And then something came into view ahead, just a dot at first, but a dot which rapidly expanded, and quickly proved itself to not be a globular object at all. In mere moments their destination further resolved, until a large, flat, jagged-edged rock filled the holographic view. It looked like a shattered remnant of something bigger, but there was nothing else visible nearby.

"Amazing," Robin breathed softly, giving his head a little shake.

Charlie nodded. "It's a fragment of something larger, by the looks of it."

"Where's the rest of it?" Rick asked.

Charlie shrugged. "If it came apart violently, which it almost surely did, the other parts probably went in every direction."

Edrich seemed not to be listening to the conversation, instead being focused on his instruments. The big Molokar nodded to himself. "Security all in place. No visitors since last here. Safe to go in."

Charlie realized then that they were not nearly as close to the object as he had first imagined. The ship accelerated towards the fragment, and it only took a few moments before Charlie realized the truth.

This was no mere rock! The fragment must be a couple of hundred kilometers in length, or more!

Previous
Chapter

We support Ukraine — Мы поддерживаем Украину — Ми підтримуємо Україну

We support Palestine — We support Palestine — We support Palestine

Iomfats.org

Charlie Boone

by Geron Kees

Life Is Like A New Suit of Clothes, Charlie Boone! - Chapter 2