A space station should be considered one of the most astonishing pieces of intelligent engineering and construction. The emptiness of space is one of the most hostile places for any creature that originated from a planet’s surface and to take that emptiness and fill it with a strong habitable structure capable of withstanding the dangers of interplanetary stresses and also the traffic of thousands of humanoids a day should be enough to fill any sensible person with awe.
But to Jerall and her brother Jalldrid, the space station they were in at the moment, Arpelligo, was exceedingly mundane. And for all the persons occupying it or docking at it from their shuttles an freighters, or viewing it as they passed by on whatever purpose they had, the space station was nothing out of the ordinary. That such a structure could exist was taken for granted, indeed, that such a setting could exist without such a common thing as space stations was a setting unimaginable.
After all, space had been domesticated for thousands of years.
Jerall and her brother were one of the several dozen species that were represented in the common room of the station. At the moment, the two were finishing up the remnants of a meal and were just starting their talk of business. It was clear from their body language that they were meeting to sort out problems.
Jerall picked lightly at the bread light substance on her plate and spoke harshly to her brother, “And what is Deward claiming exactly?” she crumbled up the food on her plate with the long dexterous fingers her species had. “That we mishandled his merchandise?”
“In a sense,” Jelldrid replied, looking down on his data pad. “But obviously that’s not true technically, as we don’t actually handle the goods per our contract with him.” He sighed, the long snout his species had naturally made them look dower, but now especially the weight of dismay made him look especially tired, “He’s using a lot of technical language to bypass that little bit of legality, but either way, the machine worked before we transported it, and it doesn’t work after it was received i.e., it must have broke while we were transporting it.”
“That’s absurd,” Jerall lashed out angrily, looking off to the side, “These moves were we don’t touch the goods pay less, but are structured specifically so that we don’t get these types of claims. How can we get paid piddle and still have a big claim over our heads? We shouldn’t have to deal with this!”
“Right.” Jelldrid replied, not looking up. He was still frowning at the datapad, apparently used to his sister’s behavior.
“And what does DRAIS say about this? As the booker for this move they have skin in on this too, right?
Jelldrid returned his attention to his sister and shifted his weight comfortably, “Right, I am still waiting on a response from them. A lot of this should be covered by them, but depending on how much the repair costs on the machine are, we could be looking at a fair amount due from us.” He shook his head and shrugged, “Perhaps 5 or 7 percent, I’d say.”
"That, on top of the kickback for claim negotiation.” Jerall added contemptuously. Jalldrid didn’t respond .
There was a pause between the two and Jalldrid returned his attention to the datapad and started punching in characters. Jerall nibbled on her food.
A loud metallic clang reverberated through the system, and then the hissing of released gas equalizing pressure. A ship had just docked at the station and seconds later, the passengers unloaded. Jerall watched them with disinterest, several different species came off and most of them hustled off in practices ease. Several families came off too, perhaps looking for a new home and life here on the station. Many such migrations had been increasingly more common these days due to the instabilities in the sector.
Jerall suddenly slammed her fist down on the table in passion, “By Space, Brother, how are we supposed to be able to run a business like this?” She turned towards Jalldrid angrily.
Jalldrid looked up in surprise, “What’s the problem?”
“Everything! What isn’t a problem? We just lost all our profits from this job, this was supposed to be an easy fix. But now we are left with nothing. And it’s always like this, how are we supposed to make a living, if they can’t take money away from us one way, they will find another!”
“You’re overreacting, sister,” Jalldrid responded with concern, “This isn’t the first time this has happened and we’ve made it through okay. And once we purchase the stabilizer for the roto-engine, we’ll have a lot less claims regarding the transport.”
“Yeah!” Jerall said, still on fire, “The profits from this job were supposed to go to that, but now those are gone and the purchase will be pushed back, again. We’ve been trying to buy the stupid stabilizer for half a year now, but all we have are delays and delays and our equipment is just going to continue to deteriorate. We can barely keep up with repairs as it is.”
“Well,” Jalldrid responded defensively, “Ship repairs should be paid by Asdred. They own the ship you know.”
“Of course I know,” Jerall responded savagely, “we pay them half our income to lease the ship! Gal-uh-xy! That’s the root of the problem, right there you know! We should be able to own our own ship!”
“Yeah, well it would be nice if we won the galactic lottery too,” Jalldrid said grumpily, “but it can’t be helped. All this is the cost of doing business. We are doing the best we can, but we don’t have control over all this stuff. We knew this coming into the business!” Jerall snorted in displeasure.
Jalldrid sighed, “Look, we have the job you picked up going on tomorrow, and after next week when we get back, DRIAS will be posting the next batch of jobs on their board and we’ll get a decent job out of that too, maybe two if we are lucky. If everything goes smoothly from those jobs we should have earned enough to afford the stabilizer. That’s all we can do! This was a small job that we did on the side and it didn’t pay off, I’m sorry! But at least we didn’t lose anything on it.”
“It’s wrong,” Jerall replied flatly. Her fire had disappeared and she now slumped in her seat, “Its just plain wrong.”
Jalldrid frowned in concern again, “We’ll get up from this; we always do. Good jobs are just scarce now due to Asdred and that other family squabbling. It will be over in half a year and then it will be easier again. We are a successful company you know. DRIAS has a lot of faith in us and we will get good jobs from them. You are acting strange, what’s wrong? There is something else, isn’t there?”
Jerall didn’t respond, but watched the departing passengers from the passenger ship. Almost all of them have dispersed by now, but currently a single man of a species she hadn’t seen before was coming off it. It was clear he was unused to such a place and he looked around in half awe and half worry. He had with him a single bag and he walked forward uncertainly.
“Next month is the five year anniversary of us starting up Freeline Transportation, you know.” Jerall said, breaking the silence. She looked back to her brother, “Our Company will be five years old, and what do we have to show for it? We are practically right back where we started.”
Jalldrid didn’t respond at first, contemplating his sister’s works. He then shook his head at his sister, “It was never our goal to become wealthy; we just wanted to be able to work for ourselves, remember? Not many people have as much success as us; many don’t last past the first year. And look at us, we’ve been able to support ourselves independently for the past five years, that a first for anybody in our family. I think we have done well. What were you expecting? We have accomplished our goal, what more do you want?”
“I know, I know!” Jerall said, “I know what our goals were. But I had just hoped that maybe we would surpass them, you know?”
“That might have been a foolish hope.”
Silence came back up between them and the lobby they were in was losing its members fast. The meal time was ending and most of the people were returning to work. Inwardly, Jerall smiled slightly. Despite everything she was still glad she and her brother decided to strike off on their own five years ago, if only to escape the numbing routine of desk work that everybody in their family subscribed to.
She sat up suddenly, almost in alarm and startled her brother. She peered out across the nearly vacant room towards the foreign man she had saw earlier.
“What, what is it?” her brother was asking, looking up from his datapad.
“That man over there, what species is he?”
Jalldrid looked over at him, “Never seen it before. Looks like a mammal judging by the hair on its head. Why? It’s not that unusual to see new species now and then. We live on a trading station, you know.”
“I think he’s a Citizen.”
Jalldrid looked back at the man for a second and returned to his work. “Don’t be stupid.” He said flatly.
“It’s true!” she insisted, half getting up, “I saw him with his headpiece on just now!”
Jalldrid looked up at his sister skeptically, “You must have seen it wrong. There is no way a Citizen would be here.” He looked over at the person of interest again, “And why isn’t he wearing it now? From what I heard, Citizens never take it off.”
“I don’t know.” She said breathlessly. It was clear she believed her own words, “But I saw it.”
Jalldrid protested, “But you’ve never even seen a citizen before, how can you be sure? Hey wait!” Jerall shouted at his sister, who had now gotten up and was making a beeline towards the alleged citizen. The man had ordered a plate of food and was now sitting down with it, eyeing it suspiciously. “What are you doing?” Jalldrid hissed at his sister when he caught up with her, dodging the tables.
She ignored her brother and pushed forward. Within seconds she was standing right in front of the stranger with her brother in tow. The man looked up from his food in surprise.
They stared at each other for a second, and then Jerall made a fist with her right hand and then gathered it in her left. She thrust them both forward with a slight bow and said, “Peace to you.”
The man looked back at her without saying anything, his utensil still hanging in the air. It was difficult to read the facial expression of this new species, but it looked like it was annoyed. He slowly responded with words, but Jerall did not recognize the language.
“He doesn’t appear to even know galactic standard,” Jalldrid, said amazed. “How can he be a citizen? Put your hands down already and leave him alone.”
“Shut up!” Jerall snapped at her brother. He scowled back at her. The foreigner sighed and then reached for his bag next to him, obviously searching for something. “We don’t have time for this,” Jalldrid spoke up again, “we got to be back at the yards for the de-cretization in an hour. What could you want from this poor man? let him-“ Jalldrid gasped suddenly.
The foreigner pulled out the citizen’s headpiece from his bag. The head piece was a small metallic item about 4 inches across with a perpendicular piece straight up from the middle and a large gem like stone in the center. When the foreigner put it on, it fit nicely across his forehead.
After securing the accessory, the man spoke again. “Can you understand me now?” Jalldrid eyes were wide in astonishment and he didn’t respond. Jerall nodded stiffly. “What can I do for you?” he added stiffly.
Jerall spoke quickly, not resting her hands, “I am Jerall and this is my brother Jalldrid, we are the owners to Freeline Transit, an intra-sector hauling company. I’d like to propose a business opportunity to you.”
The Citizen scowled and responded indignantly, “Excuse me?”
“Please, Please,” Jerall said desperately, “It will only take a moment of your time, I won’t hurt to hear us out.”
“Excuse us for a moment, Citizen.” Jalldird interrupted respectively before the Citizen could respond. He grabbed his sister and turned her away.
“What in the blazes are you thinking?” he whispered angrily, “What business proposition?”
“This is our chance to get out from under the thumb of Asdred!”
Jalldrid paused in sudden understanding. “I know what you are thinking.” He whispered accusingly, “And it is insane. Are you insane? You know what Section 17 means, we shouldn’t even be talking with him, we shouldn’t even be here. Under the thumb of Asdred? This whole sector is under their thumb! You are insane!”
“We are on Arpeligo, Section 17 doesn’t apply here. You’re just scared aren’t you?” Jerall taunted.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“By Space, Yes I am! He’s a citizen, you fool! You make him an enemy out of him and it is all over for us, business and otherwise. Don’t you know what a Citizen is?”
Jerall grabbed her brother’s shirt and dragged his face close to her. She whispered fiercely to him, “Listen you useless lump of carbon, we did not start Freeline to live a life of mediocrity, we did it to live free from the influence of the Asdred family as much as possible. Even now, we are at their mercy from having to lease their ship from them. When we will finally be free in reality? No other chance like this will come again, so shut up and stay behind me!”
She released and turned back towards the citizen, with a smile on her face. The long muzzle her species had revealed several layers of teeth as the action. The foreigner looked uncomfortable.
“I’m not sure what you might be expecting of me,” he said warily, “I’m probably not like any Citizen you’ve ever met before. Whatever ‘business opportunity’ you want to talk about, I’m probably not interested. You’d have better luck preying on some other traveler.”
Jerall quickly took a seat directly across from from the citizen. Jalldrid hesitantly took his seat as well. The siblings didn’t speak and the citizen frowned back at them. “Is my translation program running properly?”
“Yes,” Jerall gasped back, “Yes, I am sorry. It is working fine, we can hear you.”
“It's just,” Jalldrid cut in, “We have never been in the presence of a Citizen before.”
The man blinked in surprise, “Never? Are we that rare?”
“Here you are,” Jerall added, “If citizens do come to the station, they do not get off at the common floor, they always enter through the glassway, up above. I doubt they would ever set foot upon this floor anyway.”
“Ah,” the man replied uncomfortably, “Well, I didn’t know that. I only came to this station because I read there were job openings. I didn’t come expecting some sort of special treatment.”
Jalldrid responded in disbelief, “You are looking for a job?”
“It’s only natural isn’t it?” the man replied defensively, “I need money for food and lodging. Nothing is free, right?”
Jerall replied, “no, no! you are right, I apologize for my brother here, he is just an idiot. All people need have the right to support themselves with a job, even citizens. Our names are Jerall and Jalldrid, can we have the honor of knowing your name, Citizen?”
“Right,” the Citizen said, looking down at his plate of food. He hadn’t touched it yet and to Jerall, it looked like the man had never seen that dish before. He looked up again, “you can call me Bob.”
“Thank you, Citizen Bob,” Jerall continued, “In, fact, you could say that that spirit of personal achievement is the truth that brings me here today. As I said before, my brother and I are the owners of Freeline Transportation and we run it as an independent hauling business. The Asdred Family owns 95% of the transportation industry in this sector, but five years ago my brother and I decided to venture out and earn a living for ourselves. As of now we are licensed to haul cargo from and to any point inside this sector as one of only a handful of independent contractors in the entire sector!”
“Congratulations,” Bob responded halfheartedly. He was looking at his food, perhaps wondering what the proper way of eating it was.
“But still,” Jerall continued as if giving a speech, “we cannot get away from Asdred. The Asdred family is the only company that owns ships capable of hauling cargo in this sector, and as such we still need to lease our Cruiser from them and the leasing is not in our favor.”
“But still it is the only option available to us and we believed that we could make it even with that.” Jalldrid added.
“Is it not working now?” Bob asked dryly.
The sibling answered together, Jalldrid saying yes and Jerall saying no. Jerall glared at her brother and pushed forward.
“We are able to survive but that is it. Asdred tolerates our existence, but if they wanted to, they could squash us in a heartbeat by simply denying us continued leases with them on their equipment. As it is anyway, we hand over to them the majority of our profits. It is simply not a sustainable structure for business.”
“Its works fine.” Jalldrid added in protest, “We are covering all of our expenses and we continue to do work. We are not losing money.”
“But we aren’t gaining any money either,” Jerall said earnestly turning to her brother, “sure, we can make it through like we have been, giving all of our exceeds to Asdred. But we aren’t saving any money, we are stagnate; unmoving. That is as good as dying, what do we do in 60 years when we realize that all of our efforts have produced nothing?!”
Jalldrid stared back stonily at his sister, “we will have earned an honest clean living, and we have done it by ourselves. Isn’t that enough? That is more than our Father did and he provided for his family well enough. What do you have to complain about? Didn’t dad always say that it was enough to simply take care of family?”
“Father was a fool!” Jerall spat and Jalldrid paled in anger, “and so are you! The mindset that mediocrity is desirable is unacceptable. But all of us, all of the second class citizens seem okay with it. We have the right to pursue something better!”
Jalldrid responded angrily, “You, what’s gotten into you? You know as well as I do how much Dad sacrificed for us! How dare you-” He started stand up, but a sudden clapping stopped him.
“Hey, you two!,” Bob hissed, lowing his hands, “What’s the matter with you? Keep it down! Are you trying to create a scene? Isn’t this a conversation that you two should have in private? As siblings and as business partners? Why are you coming to me anyway? If you are looking for consulting I am afraid I can’t help you. And if you are looking for investing capital, I would be even less helpful. I may be a Citizen, but that doesn’t mean I am rich. I certainly don’t have enough money to loan you enough to buy your own cruiser.”
The two siblings stared back at Bob in disbelief and he shifted uncomfortably under their gazes. “What?” he asked defensively, “If you have something to say then say it.”
“Only citizens,” Jerall said uncertainly, forgetting her anger, “Can own spaceships.”
Bob lifted his eyebrows in surprise, “Really? That sucks.”
Jalldrid broke in; his eyes squinted in sudden suspicion, “Did you live in a black hole till now? How can you not know that?”
Bob’s face reddened but he said angrily, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
Jalldrid continued in indignation, “It is this law that restricts the movement of the lower class the most, owning a spaceship is the sole right of a citizen, not for the secondary class like us. It has been common knowledge for a thousand years. How can you not know this? In fact, allow me to be frank, are you really a citizen? I know what a citizen is, and you sir, do not fit the definition.”
“Then tell me, what is a citizen to you?” Bob replied, scowling.
“To be a citizen means to be powerful. It means to be wealthy and superior and it means to be above the rest of us.”
“You make it sound mystical,” Bob replied cynically.
“And, to quote Gerantis,” Jalldrd continued coldly, “A Citizen is, ‘A plague more deadly, more powerful, and more impatient than our tiny minds can comprehend.’”
Bob was taken aback at his words. He looked at the two with a frown. “Who is Gerantis?”
Jalldrid huffed indignantly but Jerall cut in saying, “Just some poet from long ago, don’t worry about it.” Jalldrid looked away.
“Look,” Bob sighed, “I’m sorry I don’t live up to your expectation. Well, actually I’m not, i don’t care what you two think about me. I have had a long and tiresome trip here and I am in a bad mood. I don’t need to prove myself to you. You approached me, remember? Spouting off something about a business proposition, which I have actually heard yet mind you. If you’re looking for fresh meat to exploit, please go elsewhere as I am losing patience. I just came to this station for a job.”
“I am sorry Citizen, please, you are right. You can ignore my brother,” Jerall spoke hurriedly, “And believe me, we are not trying to hustle you into anything,.” She paused, thinking about the best way to frame her words, “As you know, we are second class citizens and while many of us are content with that fact, I do not want to rest on this. I want to be able to break through the barriers that society put in place, the ones that have nothing to do with law. I want to surpass the limits of mediocrity we are fated to have. But the way I am doing it now, there is no way it will happen.”
“Is this more poetry?”
Jerall pushed forward ignoring the comment, “You are right to suggest that we need to own our own ship to succeed the way I want to, but as second class, it is illegal for us to do so. I need a citizen to own it in our stead. You say you are looking for a job, I’d like to propose to you a plan for you becoming a co-owner in Freeline Transportation. With a citizen on as part of the ownership, even a company like Freeline can own a spaceship.”
Bob didn’t respond at first, but looked back in an expression Jerall couldn’t interpret. She suddenly felt like she had made a mistake after all.
Bob spoke out at last, “How did you even know I was going to be here? I hadn’t told anybody where I was going, yet when I arrive I find you two waiting for me. Who are you working for? Did Lawnberg send you?”
Jerall swallowed nervously, “Sir, we are not working for anybody and we were not waiting for you. I just happened to notice you were a Citizen when you put on your head piece to order your food. We really are just common workers; we are independent contractors with DRIAS. You can look us up, I’m sure it’s public record!”
Bob shook his head in disbelief, “What? Are you telling me you just approached me, a complete stranger, for this out of the blue?” he scowled back at them. “I don’t believe you. And you probably don’t believe me, but I tell you I really don’t have any money for you to scam off me!”
“It's fine if you aren’t interested in the offer,” Jalldrid said suddenly, turning back to Bob, “But I won’t allow you to keep insulting Freeline. We are not some scum sucking duo, we are a respectable independent hauling company. I’ve put my life into this and I’ll not let anyone, not even a citizen, talk like that about us.”
Bob looked back stonily. “Sir,” Jerall cut in, “I don’t give a radiated rognut whether you have money or not. All that matters to me is that you have the legal ability to own a ship! I’ve dreamed of making this kind of deal with a citizen that is not attached to an existing noble family, but it was never a possibility to be taken seriously before.”
“But here you come, portraying yourself, if you’ll pardon my words, as a common man. Although you are a citizen! Who else could I possibly turn to with my need? And sir, we are in dire need. We are imprisoned by the laws of society that we cannot break out of by our own strength. We’ve tried for the past five years!”
“For Freeline to survive, it must own a ship! Do you understand now why I bring this up to you, this seemingly absurd proposition? It’s not out of madness or some ulterior motive; it is out of desperation and a desire to achieve something beyond the ordinary.”
Bob listened carefully and now looked at Jerall with not unkind eyes. He sighed and said, “Please don’t believe that I am unsympathetic to your problem. But I am afraid that I am not the person you are looking for and this isn’t something I can agree to on a whim. I don’t know anything about the hauling industry, and I don’t know what it is you are specifically-“
Jalldrid broke in with sudden energy, “It doesn’t have to be like that, I understand your reservations, they are completely normal. And this situation is sudden and unpanned for us too. But listen, we are leaving for a job tomorrow morning that will last a few days. It’s a pretty standard job of delivery a load of… what was it?” he asked, turning to his sister.
She stared back blankly. “Processed carbonite.”
“Right,” Jalldrid replied, “Such a shipment isn’t complicated at all. Come with us! You can stay with us, observe our operation. It will give us time to talk to each other, let you understand Freeline much better and be able to make an informed opinion about us. If you like what you see, we can talk about details and I’m confident that you will find a partnership with us to be beneficial. Together we can provide you a secure job as well as a place to call home. And if you feel otherwise,” he shrugged, “We can also help you find a job here after we’re done. No harm done!”
Bob shifted uneasily in his seat. “I don’t know guys. I mean, I need to find some lodging yet for tonight. Not to mention I was supposed to meet somebody here regarding a job post I saw. I don’t think I have time…”
Jalldrid interrupted, saying quickly, “For the time your with us, we will pay for you living expenses. Not to mention we would have lodging available on our ship for you. And in the end if you don’t like what you see, you won’t have lost anything.”
“I… well…” The citizen stopped and sighed. When he looked up, it was almost carelessly, “Fine, I understand. Give me some time to consider this. I would still like to find a place by myself here at least for the first night and perhaps tour the station a little. It is my first time on a station like this, you know. And later tonight, I will be looking up your company on public record. After I acquire more public information on you I will let you know if I will accompany you tomorrow.”
Jalldrid, seemed unable to respond to Bob, but Jerall stood up quickly with a large smile on her face. “As you say, Citizen, please plan on meeting us at docking port 16 at 0600 tomorrow. You won’t regret this sir.” She made the same gesture with her hands as she did when they first met, putting her hands together in front of her. “Peace of the stars on you.”’
Bob frowned, but replied clumsily, “You have peace too.” He looked back uncomfortably at the two, of which one seemed unable to put her excitement into words. Bob added grumpily, “Now, let me finish my lunch in peace.”
“Right,” Jerall responded quickly, getting up. “Enjoy your lunch citizen.” She turned to her brother and dragged her away, “We’re going to be late for the de-cretization if we don’t hurry.”
The siblings left the room quickly, Jerall not even trying to hide the massive joy she was experiencing on her face. “Wipe that grin off your face,” Jalldrid said, “Nothing’s final, nothing’s anything.”
“What is the problem, Brother?” she replied, leading them into the hallway, “Fortune is finally radiating down on us. You had a change of heart at the end! This is our chance to truly become independent! This will never happen again to us were our lives tripled. Imagine it! What would Freeline look like if it could own its own ship?”
Jalldrid grunted in reply. He could imagine what his sister was talking about. But it was painful to do. The possibility of having such a precious thing and thought that they might or might not attain it twisted his gut. He looked back at the man alone in the eating hall.
The man sniffed his food and took a small bite. His body twitched in revulsion and he spat it back out quickly. Pushing the food away he turned away and looked out the large view screen that showed the endless stars outside, a hand propping up his head in thought.
“He’s dangerous.” Jalldrid said. “If we handle this wrong, we could lose everything.” He shook his head; he knew that she couldn’t understand.
Jerall huffed, picking up her pace, “We’ll be using our time together to study him too, you know. If he turns out to not be what we are looking for, we’ll cancel the deal too, you know. I’m not stupid. Besides, he’s a perfectly normal fellow. It’s like he said, Citizens are people too, not mystical creatures full of unseen power. Trust me in this, I can tell.”
“There is always section 17, Sister. That rule is very real and we’ve just invited the citizen onto our ship.”
She rolled her eyes. “You heard him didn’t you? He didn’t even know that only citizens can own ships. I don’t know where he grew up, probably a black hole like you said. He probably doesn’t even know about section 17.”
Jalldrid thought about it and as he did so, his lunch threatened to return. He groaned, “I must have been mad, Jerall. This is too risky. We will lose everything over this.”
“No we won’t, “ Jerall said confidently. They reached the crossroads in the station where they would split ways and they both stopped. The corridor was busy and hundreds of different species walked past in every way, ignoring them. “This will be a great day for Freeline, Jalldrid. You will look back at this day and admire my courage and insight.” Jerall chuckled and Jalldrid didn’t respond. “Go do your thing, Jalldrid, tomorrow’s a big day for us.”
Jerall turned and left and Jalldrid stood still in the hallway for a couple minutes, attracting attention from passerbys. “We are going to need some divine help on this.” He said after a moment. With that said, he turned and left that spot too.