“I know the museum has a similar one. I had mine for a while now, and they contacted me to be a consultant during their ship’s restoration,” I answered casually.

The little guy snapped together his sharp teeth several times in quick succession from excitement. It was a disturbing sight to see and hear.

“Would you… would you be interested in selling it?” he asked while inching closer to me.

[Oi! Greed demon! Can we sell the piece of shit without giving away our identity?] I asked Genna.

[Ugh… I’m not a greed demon! I’m financially conscious! Stop calling me that!] she huffed back.

[The answer please!]

[In a twisted way I could manage it, but nobody in their right mind would agree to that.]

“Depends... The ship is a rare gem you know. She’s been my precious little baby for a long time now… but.... my business hit a rough spot recently,” I coughed and fidgeted around a little. “One of the reasons I accepted the consultation as a side job.” I looked back towards my ship in the distance and continued with a weak voice, “I sold most of my assets in hopes of getting back on my feet but… I have debts, and I only managed to sink further. I tried to keep her for as long as I could but…” My voice cracked.

I looked back to the little linbog then to my ship and back to the guy. I cleared my throat and sad, “I’m in a bad situation, and I need to get somewhere in a hurry, but now my little beauty isn’t exactly in travel condition.” I took a long, deep sigh and added, “It-it might be time to give her to someone who would properly take care of her.”

Fuck… I was going too fast. I was overselling my situation. I should have pulled him along a bit longer.

The Maleficent guy or whatshisface was barely containing himself. Apparently, he took my shitty performance and story at face value. He didn’t want to trample over my devastated mood, but he was over the moon.

“I’m sorry for your situation, but I can assure you that in my hands it would be treasured. If you are truly willing to part with her we can agree on a price and finish the transaction in less than ten days I believe,” he nodded to himself.

“No, no, no! I have to go now, and I really need the money too!” I jerked my head up and objected strongly.

“But-but these ships cost around 3-3,5 million. I don’t have that much credits available on my account at the moment,” complained the little guy with a huge frown.

I nearly collapsed when I heard the amount, but I managed to play off my shock as sadness.

“I-I… I really can’t wait now that I finally convinced myself to sell my baby,” I said nearly sobbing. “How much could you pay now?” I tried with my most pathetic voice. Having my helmet on really limited my acting tools in order to help me sell off the piece of shit.

“At most… I could pay 800,000,” he said with raised eyebrows… or at least where they would have been since he didn’t have actual ones.

“Ugh,” I moaned loudly. I took a little time to seem like I was really struggling with the decision. I knew I should have hurried, but I had to do this properly to convince them. I already fucked up at the start with my rashness.

“Fine! But I have a favor to ask in return,” I sighed finally.

The Linbog’s eyes opened up to full circles in surprise. “Anything to you my friend!” he shouted.

“I want to do this anonymously and do the transaction right now.”

“Ugh… that...” he hesitated. He turned back to the female Linbog, and they stared at each other for a while. Finally, the female nodded, and the guy turned back with a huge grin.

“Deal!”

[How do we make this actually happen?]

[Touch each other somewhere. I’ll handle the rest with his A.I..]

[Make sure they won’t get our information and stuff okay?]

[I’m not an idiot.]

I held out my hand for a shake. He took my hint and grabbed it… but... he grabbed the back of my hand with his wrong hand. Whatever…

He finally released my hand and looked towards the ship with sparkling eyes.

[800,000 credits arrived to Rabunde’s auxiliary account,] informed me, Genna.

“It was a great pleasure doing business with you Mr. Rabunde!” said the little guy without turning back to me.

“I can’t say I’m happy but… it will be better this way,” I said with a pained voice.

The female linbog walked up to the guy that was just mindlessly staring that the ship and she started whispering something into his enormous, floppy ear.

I decided it was time for me to book it. I looked at the silent dock supervisor who was similarly in a deep conversation of whispers with the little yellow-eyed girl. I cleared my throat to get their attention. “I’m in dire need of transportation. Do you know any ships that would take an extra passenger and they will leave in less than...”

[15 minutes.]

“... 15 minutes?”

“The 9th sector doesn’t have any civilian transport ships,” said the guy with a frown.

“I’d like to take a ship that's not for public transport.”

“That’s… Okay, it’s your decision. In that case, which direction would you like to go?”

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“Anywhere.”

“Anywhere?” he looked at me smirking.

“Yes.”

“Then,” he started while a screen popped up in front of him, “I’d suggest you the ship on the far right. The pure white one but better hurry because they’ll be leaving any moment now. Also, they won’t take you for free just so you know.”

“Thanks a lot!” I said and started walking towards the spot near the entrance with the sign on the ground that indicated one of those hover platforms.

Before I could go too far, someone grabbed my hand. I turned back, and it was the little linbog guy. He had a stiff half smile on his face, and his eyes weren’t filled with energy anymore. He hesitantly took a glance back at the expressionless female goblin in plain clothes and then cleared his throat as I did before. At first, I thought I was found out, but his next comment completely proved me wrong.

“Since I got a beautiful ship from you for such a good price I can’t just let you go without a proper gift. I wanted to gift this to the kid with the best teeth in my brother’s very first natural litter but... ” he said while he took out a metal stick and laid it on top of his palm with his long fingers stretched out. The thing unfolded into a decent sized circle plate. It lit up with a static noise and the next moment a little box appeared on it. “This will be a better gift for you I believe. Thank you again for doing business with me!” he said while handing me the box and bowing to me. After that, he took another wary glance back at the female, but she remained expressionless.

“Yeah. Thank you for the business and the gift,” I said while returning the bow. I didn’t even ask what the gift was or how he pulled it out of nowhere. I had to leave!

Before I got to the hover platform stopped me again as he shouted after me a question, “Does the ship have a name?”

Without thinking too much, I responded, “Piece of shit!”

...

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Priscilla!”

“Ah, that’s a lovely name.”

I didn’t wait any longer and hopped on the hoverer that appeared out of nowhere.

[That was a nice save,] chuckled Genna.

[Yeah… I wasn’t even thinking.]

[800.000 is a lot-]

[SHHHHH!!!!!!!! Don’t jinx it! No talk about it until we leave!] I interrupted her.

[Jinx?]

[When you celebrate too early, and the universe fucks you over just because.]

[Ah… So, another utterly ludicrous nonsense.]

As I was hovering towards the white ship in the distance, the hover platform thingy held my body comfortably so I could take a look around at the other ships in the bay.

I saw several dark green ships of different shapes covered in goo and some of them I swore squirmed around at some parts. They were creepy to the extreme. I bet they were filled with eggs and worms that would happily feast on my insides. There were ships made from dark metal with exteriors that every few seconds shook like a wet dog’s fur. Another type of ship that was popular was the hairdryer looking ones without the handle. One was so strange, it nearly gave me a headache. The ship didn’t have any central part. It was made up of bigger and smaller metal parts chaotically swirling around each other. I wasn’t even sure it was a ship.

Most of these were quietly floating in place waiting for their passengers or owners, but I could see that there was always some leaving and coming. You could also spot several hover platforms carrying people around on the ground.

The docking bay was a huge area with only two sides of it covered by the rest of the station. It was in a corner position so instead of the other two walls and the ceiling the rest was just plain open, looking out to space. There must have been a shield of some kind, but you couldn’t see anything other than the dark space in the distance and the twinkling stars. It was breathtaking, a sight of a lifetime.

I couldn’t help myself and just stared out into the endless darkness for a while. A particularly interesting ship steered away my attention to itself as it was coming into the bay from space. The ship was made up of a dozen boxes that were wildly spinning around. The boxes were positioned after each other like the old snake game and in a cycle, they separated from the rest to a short distance and then joined back together in a strange wave-like motion.

[That ship’s crazy! What’s the point of that movement?! How do they move inside?]

[They move between the sections with bridges, and the passengers don’t feel or notice any of the movement. This type of ship was invented by a resonar named Lerona Morbould. She originally wanted to make a ship that could scatter its hull in case it ventured into an asteroid field or other environments with clustered objects where a big hull could be problematic. Sadly, there were already dozens of solutions for this problem, so her design wasn’t popular. Later on, after her death, the ship design became a novelty. Its purpose shifted to being a prestige item.]

[It’s like a luxury car?] I asked in wonder.

[I wouldn’t call it luxury. It’s just uncommon. The luxury category starts with ships that wouldn’t even fit into this docking bay.]

[Oh boy...]

Finally, I reached the white ship. It was blindingly light and shaped like a long egg. There was nothing on its surface. It was smooth and seamless from top to bottom, from front to end. Quietly floating in place this white egg was quite the sight. The question was… how to get in or get someone out to talk to.

[How do you get in this thing? Or call out someone?]

[Go to the bridge gate at the back and give them a ring.]

The gate Genna talked about was just a huge and thick metal door frame. I touched the familiar metal plate on its side, but there was no immediate response. I waited for a little and wanted to touch again, but I didn’t need to because there was a response.

With a bright blue light and static noise, the door frame came alive. I blinked a few time, and when the light faded, I saw a different sight in the doorframe. It was a big white area, and a yellowed eyed guy was standing in front of me in the middle of the doorframe.

He interrupted my wide-eyed staring. “How can I help you?” he asked with a monotone voice.

“Erm… I was looking for a traveling spot on a ship, and the dock supervisor told me you guys are leaving soon. Is that true?”

“Yes. We intend to leave in 250 seconds.”

“Can you take me with you to your next stop? I’m willing to pay!”

“We are going to the Bruhma Varis system’s 4th station. It will cost you 30,000 credits, and we can only provide you with basic necessities,” he explained without the slightest change in his tone or expression after a few moments of thinking.

“That’s… That’s fine.” I said with a slight pain in my chest because of the price.

“Is this body a clone?”

[Just say yes...] sighed Genna.

“Yes.”

The guy didn’t say anything and just held out his hand palm up. It took me a second to realize that he wanted me to pay right away and weren’t asking me for my hand to help me through. I clapped my hand down to his, and after a few seconds he nodded and stood to the side inviting me onboard.

After stepping through I found myself in a big empty room instead of the docking bay. I looked back at the doorframe I came through but it already sizzled out, and behind it only the white wall of the room was visible. Was I already on the ship? Was this my first teleportation?

“SalenKarr will be here momentarily, and she’ll brief you. Please stay here until she arrives,” instructed the guy and then he walked off through the exit leaving me behind, standing awkwardly still in front of the teleport door.

I was looking around silently while fidgeting a little. This was an uncomfortable situation.

I looked down at the box I was still holding in my hand.

[What do you think the gift is?] I asked with a smile.

[Seriously? You saw the logo and the name on it.]

[Yeah. Progress Atom… what’s that?] I asked while looking down at the box in my hand to read the text on it again.

[Ugh… Don’t tell me you don’t remember it despite that you already took one of their products!]