Jayce waved his hand over the payment icon on the stall. It beeped twice to acknowledge the transfer of funds. He winked at Malachi.

‘Magic, right?’

Malachi scooped up his own food in one hand – a sandwich of four different meats and what seemed like every condiment on the menu – and with his other hand he picked up a tray containing the girls’ meals. He shook his head.

‘Are you joking? Or do you think I’ve never seen a credit chip built into jewellery before?’

Jayce wiggled his finger, showing off an ostentatious ring of silver bands layered with obsidian.

‘Nice. You must be the smart one.’

Malachi winked and stepped aside so Jayce could reach his seat.

‘I’m starting to understand what she sees in you.’

‘Who?’

‘Over here, smart one,’ said Tila.

‘Ah,’ said Jayce quietly so only Malachi could hear. ‘The grumpy one.’

Malachi handed the girls their food and sat down.

‘Apparently, I’m the smart one,’ he said.

Jayce nodded. ‘Smarter than most people around here. Hardly anyone even knows you can install a credit chip in a ring. They stick to the cards or the company wristbands. You’re a step ahead of most. That’s impressive.’ He stuffed the sandwich into his mouth and took an enormous bite.

‘We’re from the Juggernaut,’ said Tila with exaggerated patience. ‘It doesn’t mean we don’t know anything. We,’ she gave the word careful emphasis, ‘are not idiots.’

‘Tila’s the proud one,’ Malachi explained to Jayce. He winked at Tila.

Ellie shuffled in her seat. ‘What am I?’ she said. Tila could swear she saw Ellie flutter her eyelashes.

‘That’s easy,’ Jayce began, with his mouth full, ‘You’re the pretty—’

‘The young one,’ Tila interrupted. She glared at Jayce, daring him to say more. Jayce swallowed and wisely changed the subject.

‘So, what do you think of Parador so far?’ he said to Ellie.

‘It’s very, um, different.’

‘There’s a lot of up, right?’

Ellie beamed at Malachi. ‘See!’

‘You said you came here for business? Who with?’ Jayce continued. Between sentences he attacked his sandwich with more huge bites. It was like watching someone try to suffocate themselves with bread.

Tila shook her head at Malachi, warning him off.

‘It can’t hurt,’ said Malachi.

‘It’s none of his business, Mal,’ insisted Tila.

Jayce whispered to Ellie, ‘Does this happen a lot?’

‘Does what happen?’

‘The arguing.’

‘Not at home.’

The back and forth continued.

‘Tell him, then,’ said Tila eventually. ‘I don’t care.’

‘Yes, tell him,’ Jayce said to Malachi. ‘She doesn’t care.’

Malachi finished a mouthful of food and put down his half-eaten sandwich.

‘Do you know anything about the colony expedition from about ten years ago?’

‘Twelve,’ corrected Tila.

‘A little. We used it in school as a case study on salvage law.’

‘You know about the mission?’ said Ellie. She held her sandwich halfway to her mouth. The bread was dense and round with a hole in the middle. She had chosen it for its novelty as much as for the weird orange fish within. Fish was hard to come by in a star system with no lakes.

‘I know it was the biggest engineering feat the Commonwealth had ever tried. Some people think it was as significant as the first jump away from earth. Shame it failed, but I’m sure someone will try again one day.’

‘A shame?’ Tila stabbed her fork into her bowl, spearing rice and potatoes and spicy chicken as if they were the ones who had offended her.

‘Yeah, all that money wasted.’

Tila stared at Jayce. One tiny potato impaled on her fork. ‘Yes, that is a shame,’ she said flatly.

‘And the thousands of lives too, right?’ said Malachi.

‘Oh yeah, course. Big tragedy. But you have to admire the attempt, right?’

‘Why?’ said Tila, making another tiny potato suffer.

‘Because they had no way of knowing it would work. Now we know what went wrong, but even with all that knowledge we still wouldn’t try again. The risks are too high. They were pioneers, man. They were heroes, stepping out into the unknown and all that. I mean, if you’re gonna dream, dream big. Right, Ellie?’ He winked at her and she hid behind her sandwich and blushed.

‘What do you mean you know what went wrong?’ said Tila.

‘I thought it was still a mystery,’ said Malachi.

‘I guess you don’t get all the news way out where you come from,’ he grinned. ‘Even the stuff that’s years old.’

‘So, tell us,’ said Tila.

‘Well, the official story was that the jump portal collapsed because the engines on the New Dawn were faulty. That’s what made the portal collapse around the Rising Star—’

Tila shook her head and banged her fork on the table to stop Jayce talking.

‘No. The Far Horizon went first. The portal collapsed on the New Dawn, and that exploded and hit the Rising Star.’

‘Okay, okay,’ he said, raising his hands. ‘I don’t remember every little detail. It’s not like I was there.’

‘Go on,’ said Malachi. Under the table, Ellie pressed her foot against Tila’s leg. An invisible gesture of solidarity.

‘The investigators thought it was an engineering issue at first, but everyone contested that, of course, especially the investors.’

‘Why?’ said Malachi. Tila just stared at Jayce.

‘Because if the engineering was negligent, the insurance wouldn’t pay. And trust me, what that mission cost, they did not want to pay.’ He tucked into his sandwich again and mustard squicked out both sides. ‘So, it went to court, because what else are you gonna do but sue someone? Engineers blamed project managers who blamed cost-cutting and so on, so you know, it was messy. Anyway, during the hearings it turned out the mission logs pointed the finger at the captain. It was his fault.’

‘She. The captain was a "she", Jayce,’ said Tila.

Jayce paused, mid-chew, and waved his sandwich at Tila. ‘Uh, right, the captain was a woman. Anyway, it was her fault. She ordered the jump too soon, before the portal had stabilised.’

‘She wouldn’t have done that!’ Tila insisted.

Jayce smiled. ‘It’s not like you were there either, Tila.’

Ellie perked up. ‘Actually—’

‘No,’ said Tila.

‘But—’ said Ellie, looking puzzled.

‘No,’ Tila repeated firmly.

Jayce looked from one to the other before continuing. ‘Okay… anyway, the case was split between a cabal of companies that backed the engineering, and the company that backed the captain. The investors’ coalition was led by a woman named Cho Suleman, and she was out for blood, man. The cabal proved the engineering was sound, so that left either the jump equations or the leadership as the reason it failed.’

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

‘Cho Suleman?’ Tila interrupted. ‘We went to see her earlier, and Simon Harrington.’

‘Really? Why? I’m impressed you got an appointment.’

‘We didn’t have an appointment. We tried to get one,’ said Malachi.

‘Just like that?’

‘We had to,’ said Tila.

‘No way! You actually went to see Harrington and Suleman without an appointment?’

‘Yeah, why?’

Jayce was incredulous.

‘Seriously? You just walked in to Harrington’s place and asked to see him? You thought that would work?’

The trio looked at each other. Tila felt herself starting to blush. She didn’t like being made to feel stupid.

‘That’s how things work back home. How are we supposed to know it’s different here?’

Jayce was still laughing at her.

‘I can’t believe you tried that. You must be some kind of, uh, mistaken.’ He caught the look Ellie was giving him just in time to stop himself from saying the word ‘idiot’. Even if this strange trio had demonstrated an incredible lack of awareness in how things are done, the last thing he wanted was for Ellie to think he was being mean.

But maybe he could help them. Ellie would like that, wouldn’t she?

‘I still don’t get why you want to see them. Why did you come all this way to talk to some of the richest and most powerful people in the Commonwealth? I mean, you didn’t really think that would work, right?’

Ellie opened her mouth to explain. Tila shook her head and gave her another sharp look. Ellie filled her mouth with sandwich and looked down at the table instead.

‘That’s our business,’ said Tila.

Jayce shrugged. ‘Whatever. I’m not trying to steal your secrets, but you have to plan for these things. These guys are major players. You can’t just knock on the door. Look, maybe I can help? I mean, I can’t get you in to see top cats like Harrington and Suleman, but maybe I can help with some others. My family has some contacts. Who else do you want to see?’ He fished in a pocket for a small datapad and began tapping and swiping awkwardly with a thump and the two clean fingers he had left. ‘Where’s your next appointment?’

‘Conway,’ said Malachi from memory. He checked his own datapad. ‘Alastair Conway.’

‘Um, what?’ Jayce’s thumb hovered over the screen. ‘You want to see Conway?’

Tila gave Malachi a worried look. Why did this feel like bad news?

‘He was the biggest investor in the mission, so we thought he would want to see us about the— about the information we have.’

‘What information? Never mind. Look, Conway’s a crook, man. Well, maybe not a crook crook, but definitely shady. He’s always dealing under the table.’

‘Dealing what?’

‘Dealing, you know, business deals. Where no one can see.’ He dropped his datapad on the table and wiggled his fingers in the air like a magician performing a trick. ‘Secret dealings.’

Tila shot Malachi another look while still speaking to Jayce. ‘So, you’re saying we can’t trust him?’

‘No way. You can’t trust any of them, but he’s the worst of all.’

‘Them? Who’s them?’

‘All those CEOs and corporates. They’re all up to it.’

Tila clenched her jaw. A straight answer would be nice. ‘Up to what, Jayce?’

Malachi spoke up. ‘Okay, let’s make sure we know what’s going on,’ he said, and heard a whispered ‘thank you!’ from Tila.

‘You’re saying Conway can’t be trusted because he makes secret deals, but that he is just the worst of them? Which means everyone in his position is doing the same thing? Is that right?’

‘Uh huh,’ said Jayce.

‘If everyone is doing it, why does he have the bad reputation?’

‘Conway led the other businesses in the coalition. He backed the captain.’

‘Why is that bad?’ said Tila.

Some support for my mother at last?

‘It’s not, but that’s not everything. Before the trial started, Conway traded short all the engineering firms. When it looked like the accident was their fault the prices fell, so Conway sold them and made a fortune. Then later, during the trial, it came out that he bought all the shares back after the price crashed, but before the captain’s decision was challenged in court. Once the captain was blamed, the engineering firms were off the hook, so their share price recovered in a big way. Conway made two fortunes on one case. He played both sides.’

Tila felt lost. ‘I don’t think I’m keeping up.’

‘Wait, it gets better! By the time the dust had settled, and the insurance had paid out, you know who got rich again?’

‘Conway,’ guessed Malachi. ‘But how?’

‘You got it. The insurance deals were so complicated that Conway ended up benefiting from the claims more than anyone. Even more than Cho Suleman and her corporate cabal. You can guess how that made them feel.’

Malachi leaned forward in disbelief. ‘He made a profit?’

‘Three profits. And then, when it was all over, he claimed salvage rights over what was left of the New Dawn and Rising Star.’ He dived into the remains of his sandwich and spoke with his mouth full. ‘Anyway, that’s when the rumours started. I guess you can’t blame them. You’d think once that mission went up in smoke no one would come out on top, but Conway managed it four times. I mean, who spends all that money on a disaster only to come out twice as rich as he was when he went in?’

‘Follow the money?’ Tila said to Malachi, her fork hovered halfway to her mouth.

Malachi looked across the table at Tila. He knew what she was thinking, and he agreed. This didn’t sound good.

Tila dropped her fork into the bowl.

‘We need to see him. He made the biggest investment, so I need to talk to him as much as any of the others. Maybe more.’

Jayce held up his hands in surrender.

‘Then you’re on your own. I can’t get you in to see him. I’m sorry.’

‘Fine. I’ll do it myself.’

Malachi touched Tila’s arm before her irritation turned into belligerence. ‘Jayce, do you know someone else who can help us? What about one of your friends?’ He thumbed over his shoulder to where Jayce’s companions were laughing and eating.

Jayce shook his head with obvious regret. Is he sad that he can’t help, or sad he can’t impress Ellie? thought Tila.

‘None of my friends can.’ He pointed at the noisy crowd that had followed them into the market. ‘But that guy over there, the big guy, with white hair, he works as an intern in Conway’s building, but—’

Tila jumped to her feet. ‘Then I’ll go and ask him,’ she said.

‘—he’s an ass—’ Jayce added.

Malachi leapt up to follow Tila and make sure she wasn’t about to make their third enemy of the day, leaving Ellie and Jayce alone.

‘…hole,’ Jayce finished at last.

‘Won’t he help us?’ said Ellie.

‘Yeah, right! Blake is the kind of guy who would refuse to help on principle. And once he knows I’m involved – well, I just don’t think he is going to cooperate with anyone. Especially me.’

‘Why not?’

‘My family’s business competes with his for one thing, and for another he won’t help because all he’s interested in is spending his daddy’s money on the fastest skimmers on the market and then humiliating everyone he races.’

Ellie’s ears pricked up. She tried to catch Tila’s eye, but Tila was already arguing with Blake.

‘Race?’

‘He loves to race. Loves it! We all do. That’s why we’re meeting here now. We have one this afternoon. I'm going to break in my new ride.’

Ellie turned back to Jayce.

‘Do you race? Are you racing him?’

‘Ha! Good one. No. It’s not worth the risk. I’ll fly some laps with my friends, but he’s too dangerous.’

‘Dangerous how?’

‘Because he can do what he likes in a race: ram people off course, damage their skimmers, anything. His family has enough money to make any problem go away. The only reason he hasn’t killed anyone yet is because no one stands up to him any more.’

Ellie watched Blake thoughtfully while Jayce swallowed the last of his food. ‘What if someone did?’

‘Good luck finding someone like that.’ His eyes searched the leftovers. ‘Hey, do you think Tila’s going to finish this biryani?’ He picked up Tila’s fork and helped himself to her paper bowl.

‘But what if someone did?’ pressed Ellie.

‘Never gonna happen. Hey, where are you going?’

Ellie sprang from her chair and walked quickly to where Malachi, Tila and Blake were already deep in a heated discussion.

Tila had quickly taken to her traditional role of arguing while Malachi fell to his and tried to play peacemaker.

This time, Ellie’s friends were outnumbered by a half-dozen hangers-on who surrounded Blake. Ellie tapped Malachi on the shoulder to get his attention and wriggled her way into the group when he turned around.

‘Just a meeting. One meeting,’ Tila was saying. ‘Why can’t you do that?’

‘Why the hell should I? Who are you people, anyway? I’m not going to spend my valuable time helping a couple of scrags from the Juggernaut. How did you even get here, anyway? I thought you people weren’t allowed to have any tech.’

‘Of course we are,’ said Malachi, bristling.

‘They just don’t know how to use it,’ added a hanger-on to scornful laughs.

‘Of course you are,’ mocked Blake, riding the wave. ‘But how can you understand anything more complicated than a wheel? If you could, you wouldn’t be living there, right?’ He laughed at his own joke, and on cue, his retinue laughed too, adding their own comments and catcalls.

‘Don’t do it for us, do it for Jayce,’ said Ellie, piping up. Everyone looked at her, then at Jayce who was about to take the last bite of his sandwich when he suddenly realised what Ellie had said.

‘For him? I like him even less than I like you, and I don’t even know you well enough to have a reason.’

‘I dunno, Blake, I like her,’ said one of the gang slyly, who immediately earned a flash of anger from Tila.

‘You! Stay quiet,’ she said.

‘Besides,’ continued Blake, ‘it’s not like he could even win a race.’

‘What if he could?’ pressed Ellie.

‘He can’t win. And he has nothing I want anyway, so why bother. I need a challenge and something to make it worthwhile, and you are not worthwhile, little princess.’

‘Why does everyone keep calling me that?!’

‘Ellie…’ Tila warned.

‘Fine. I’ll race you,’ said Ellie.

‘Uh, Ellie, what are you doing?’ said Malachi.

Blake was unimpressed. ‘You want to race?’ Ellie stuck out her chin and nodded. ‘You don’t look like you know how.’

‘I don’t know how to lose,’ Ellie heard herself say.

More laughter. ‘Where? On the Juggernaut? Does that even count as racing? Anyway, how are you going to make it interesting?’

‘Ellie, stop talking,’ Tila warned.

Ellie ignored her. ‘If I win you get us a meeting with Conway. If you win I’ll give you, uh, Jayce’s new cruiser.’

Now Jayce leapt out of his chair. ‘Uh, Ellie! Can we talk about this?’ he said.

But Blake was shaking his head. ‘I don’t want that third-rate piece of junk. I said interesting.’

‘Ellie, stop it,’ Tila demanded.

‘Careful, your mother’s getting upset,’ said Blake.

‘No, Tila,’ said Ellie. ‘You think I’m just getting in the way, well you’re wrong. I can help. You need this meeting and when I win I’ll get it for you.’

‘Ellie!’ Tila shouted.

Ellie turned back to Blake. She had to make this interesting. Jayce’s cruiser wasn’t interesting. The stakes weren’t high enough. Her stake had to be compelling, irresistible, or Blake didn’t stand to gain anything of value. She knew they didn’t have much to bargain with, but there was one thing she could use. It might be enough. The only thing Ellie was sure of was that Tila wouldn’t be happy. She would be a long way from happy.

So what’s new?

‘Okay,’ Ellie said, slowly, ‘if you win we’ll give you Tila’s staff. It’s paleotech.’

‘No, it’s not,’ Tila protested.

‘It is!’ Insisted Ellie, still facing Tila, but looking at Blake. ‘You have money, right? Well, we have something money can’t buy. Deal?’

Blake slowly leaned back and folded his arms. He had no intention of getting scammed by Juggernaut scrags, but he had heard stories about paleotech discoveries. Was it worth the risk? He knew he wouldn’t lose, that was unthinkable, but he didn’t want to risk the humiliation of a bad deal when he won.

On the other hand, if the staff turned out to be a lie, so what? They were nothing more than scrags from the Juggernaut. Dispossessed. It’s not like anyone expected the truth from them anyway, and he could simply say he hadn’t been suckered in if it did turn out to be worthless.

And if they really were, somehow, telling the truth, he would have a genuine piece of earth history in his hands. That sort of currency would go a long way toward impressing someone like Conway, and impressing Conway would be a good step on the career ladder from intern to apprentice.

Blake couldn’t see a downside and he couldn’t see a trap, so he stuck out his hand.

‘Deal.’