Chương 14: Risk Tolerance

The truck which pulled up was definitely not a Diamond Medallion member rental. Life had not been kind to the vehicle; the left front fender was covered in the local equivalent of space tape, and the right had been procured from a different truck entirely. It had a simple two-door cab attached to a flat bed, the engine grumbling irritably beneath the center of its stubby nose. A long crack spread across the windshield, though at least somewhat remarkably the other windows showed no sign of damage.

The only concession to vanity was a solid coat of primer-grey over the entire front half, with only a bit of the cherry-red of the replacement fender shining through. Kyra pulled on a tab near her door's window, which revealed why it was intact: the panel which folded down was made of the same transparent composite as the Magpie's viewports. She leaned out the window, glancing first at Felix, then the club's entrance.

They were both quiet, the rumbling idle of the engine the only sound between them for a long moment. Twice, Kyra looked about ready to say something, but she bit it off each time before finally settling with a question.

"You gonna stick around?"

"Do I really have a choice?" She looked down and away, biting her lip, shaking her head in a slow, sad 'no' and popped door on the passenger side open. Felix mounted the short steps into the cab, onto the dingy brown and tattered cloth bench. As he swung in, he made note there weren't actually any safety belts, nor was there any tab on his own side to release the window-panel. A loop of rope hung from the door frame.

"How'd you find me?" Kyra shifted the truck into gear with a stick that wouldn't have appeared out of place back on old Earth, and the vehicle lurched forward with a low groan." Magpie knows where you are, so Gavin gave me directions." The vents hissed, pretending they wanted to actually cool the moist air they were pumping into the cab. Led by instinct, Felix took hold of the dangling rope as Kyra navigated a turn.

Again, silence dominated the space, just the protestations of the gearbox and the tired whine of an abused fanbelt interjecting themselves.

The large, at least for Buffalo, buildings which hadn't loomed as much as squatted aggressively over the city streets began to give way to the smaller, more reserved cousins as they moved further from downtown. The truck wasn't the fastest, and that gave him time to think as questions pressed for release. Eventually, he picked one.

"How does a ship and crew end up with twenty-two million in debt?" Kyra's hands gripped the steering wheel harder.

"Bad decisions, bad luck, and even more bad decisions. With a side of bad cargo."

"Try me. I've heard a few stories today, might as well hear the one that matters, if you're done lying to me. If you're going to blow smoke up my ass, I'd rather you take me back to the bar; at least there's beer there." She winced, and her fingertips turned white.

"Heigel took a few Hirelane cargoes. First one went fine, second one was closer to the margins but still made decent money. The third, we were a bit late because of a mix-up on the pick-up side and got penalized pretty severely." Now her jaw clenched, blonde ponytail bouncing with the bumps.

"We should have seen the signs, but Heigel was set on seeing it through. We'd been contracted for five runs, and breaking contract was more than he was willing to spend." The truck turned another corner, merging onto a wider road.

"Why did you stick around," Felix asked.

"Ship was obviously sinking." Kyra kept her eyes locked forward.

"Heigel held my contract, and I didn't want to leave for…other reasons. I mean, I had plans, but I was so close and once I'd finished…" She trailed off. An extra layer of regret hung between them, before she finally continued.

"We took the next run and that's the one that put us in the red. Lane pirates caught us, just some low level assholes with more bark than bite, but it was enough to hole the cargo hold. Livestock." She shook her head bitterly.

"Hirelane charged us back for that one, then turned around and offered a loan for patching us up and finishing the contract. We were in too deep to quit, so, Heigel took it." The truck idled roughly as they waited at a stoplight. The vibration was enough to set Felix's teeth on edge, though Kyra's story didn't help. The warning signs were indeed there, signs even he, from outside their universe, could understand. They'd fallen into a future version of the company store trap.

Something glistened in the corner of her eye, and she quickly wiped it with the back of her hand.

"Another group of lane pirates, but these ones were tougher. Shot out our engines and came aboard, taking the load. My f—our gunner, the ship manager and Mitch tried to hold them off while I worked on getting engines back, but the pirates…" She worked her jaw and wiped her eye again.

"They made an example of them, and Doc could only save Mitch." The engine growled and the musty air hung in the cab as Felix sat with Kyra, something in his own gut twisting with a sense of loss, echoing the pain in her own voice. A memory lurked near, though the wall sat squarely in the way, leaving him with the vague ache in head and heart.

"That's tough," he finally said.

"I'm sorry that happened to you all." Kyra laughed, raw and sad.

"Why are you apologizing? We just took all our problems and piled them on your head." She shook her head, ruefully.

"If anything, we deserve it, especially after what we did to you."

"Maybe." Felix said. He wasn't planning to absolve them of their sins, but it was obvious beating Kyra for them was unnecessary. She seemed to be able to handle the task all on her own. After a few more minutes, he finally asked another question.

"What about the Taggarts? Why would they sign on to a sinking ship, even if Bates and Misty are siblings?"

"Desperation, I guess," she shrugged.

"They don't talk about it, but they needed something, and Gavin thought he and Misty could help us out of the hole." She coughed another bitter laugh.

"He couldn't. Heigel was scared of more pirates, so we only took the easy stuff, cheap work, at least until Gavin convinced him to try Baltic salvage. Just work to barely keep us out of the gravity well, though it was still pulling us in. Then…you showed up."

"With a pod worth enough to give you some breathing room." He tried to keep his own bitterness under control, but it was obvious from the way Kyra winced the tone was still there.

"I didn't know about that. But when you flew us out of that ambush…" She bit her lip.

"I shouldn't have let myself get mad about averaging. I'm…sorry." Her shoulders slumped, as she released the tension she'd held between them for the entire drive.

"I could have taken Captain and ignored Misty and Gavin, getting you out of this before you were even stuck." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Felix looked at his lap. He'd begun to accept becoming captain and had already made the decision to take the job from Buffalo Chips, though if the data chit pressing into his thigh asked him to do anything he found morally reprehensible he'd revisit that.

Staying in the role would give him an opportunity to at least look into the possibility of getting home, if Miranda wasn't playing him for a fool. It wasn't in his best interest to give it up, but…

"Do you want it?" He found himself asking.

"Last offer." Kyra took a deep breath before answering.

"No. The Taggarts were right. I'd just wreck everything, screw myself over—and you, again now—while trying to pretend I could actually do the job." Her shoulders drooped.

"No, I'm already bad enough an engineer. I'd be a worse captain." Worse. It was a good reminder that he'd not hit rock bottom yet, though Felix could see it from his vantage point. It was time to start taking the initiative, before he sank any further.

"So, what's the plan now? Are you going to be an engineer I can rely on, or should I pick that up, too?" Kyra flicked the turn signal and swung the vehicle around a corner, buying time with her focus on the road.

"I'm going to be an engineer."

"Can you? You said you're a bad one already." Her jaw worked, flustered by her words being thrown back into her lap.

"I'm just all over the place. I started with the wrong kind of engineering for this, but I've made up for it where it counts."

"Good. Do your job." She nodded.

"Any other traps waiting for me, Engineer?"

"No, sir." According to Felix's Crew Sense, they were still driving away from the Magpie. The buildings had changed again, now to larger warehouses, stretching the length of whole blocks.

"Are we heading somewhere to find work?"

"That's what Misty's up to right now, with Mitch. She goes out and finds jobs, and then you'll get to pick from them since you're Captain." Kyra's expression darkened.

"She said she was going to dig a bit deeper this time, give you a few options so she can, as she puts it, figure out your risk tolerances." At the last, she raised one hand to make scare quotes. Felix couldn't help but feel a small amount of alarm.

"Risk tolerance? What does that mean?" She bit her lip again, this time in thought.

"Well," Kyra hedged carefully, "jobs that might require a bit more…opportunities for things to get interesting. They tend to pay better than the normal cargo load where you buy a bunch of goods and hope the market on the other end is up, or the even safer runs under contract." Her expression turned bitter again.

"At least, supposed to be safer."

"Illegal?" This wasn't the sort of work Felix wanted to get into, however, between the debt and that data chit…

"Strictly speaking, some places are a bit more uptight about some cargoes than others." Glancing at Felix and seeing his obvious discomfort, she hurried to reassure him.

"But nothing that Misty would find immoral, so you don't have to worry about slaves or anything like that." Felix choked on a laugh.

"I haven't exactly found paladins of morality lately."

"No, I suppose you haven't," Kyra said as she slumped in her seat.

"Just the same," she added, "aside from the obvious exception, we do try to maintain some sort of line."

"I guess we'll see what she brings me, then. We'll just add it to the lists of ways I get to bend over to save you all." Kyra pulled the truck to a halt in front of a particularly large warehouse, in front of which a half-dozen other flatbeds waited.

"Now, I have to apologize again, I didn't ask but I need your help here." Felix gave her a questioning glance. Everyone seemed to need something from him, still.

"We need to pick up a few things for the ship, that's why I've got the spaceport loaner. Well, that and Misty took the nice one for the cargo." She glanced over at him and allowed herself a small smile.

"One of the defense lasers was destroyed by that hit, so we need a replacement. Also, you gave me another mount, and I want to take advantage of it with the bit of extra we got from the… your capsule. Something to make… all of this worth it." The woman who'd seemed so big, loud and protective of her space when he'd come aboard Magpie now sat deflated, vulnerable, and apologetic next to him. Her boisterous personality had taken backseat to someone else who ached and felt regret.

The sharp cut of their betrayal still stung, but now at least Felix had a shred of hope they could get along. He almost made a joke about being wanted for his money, or for his signature, but the moment of vulnerability was something he recognized shouldn't be wasted. Instead, Felix simply smiled back.

"I think finding something to help the ship and protect our crew would be a great way to start working together." Kyra paused after switching off the engine.

"Why aren't you yelling at me? If I was in your seat, I'd be screaming."

"A few hours ago, I would have been." He shook his head.

"I've had some room to breathe, and at this point, what's screaming going to do? Is it going to fix this mess? Turn you into a loyal crew I can trust? Free me of your debts?" He shook with a short laugh.

"No, getting big, angry and loud isn't going to do anything helpful. So let's go do something worthwhile." She nodded, and slipped out of the cab, leading them into the warehouse. Overhead the entrance hung a cheerful flashing sign, "Al's Bargain Crib," ringed by various currency symbols. The doors themselves were covered with a reflective film, blocking the view inside. Felix shot Kyra a concerned look.

"This place looks rather shady."

"It's no shadier than the bar I found you." She had a point, Felix had to admit.

"Besides, I've bought plenty of parts here before. They've been mostly reliable."

"Mostly?" Kyra shrugged, then pushed the door open and ushered Felix inside. The lights inside were present but could never be accused of being adequate. They bathed row upon row of shelves in their yellowy-pink light that made part of him want to get what they needed and leave as quickly as possible. His discomfort must have been obvious, because Kyra shook her head and handed him a pair of otherwise clear safety glasses before putting on a pair of her own.

"These should help, they block some of the color. And whatever Al says, don't let him get under your skin. He can be a bit weird. Though he shouldn't be here today." Felix donned the offered glasses, and the light softened to a gentle amber. There still wasn't nearly enough, but at least now it wasn't actively assaulting his eyes. He could actually focus on the objects residing among the shelves, though it was immediately apparent he was still entirely out of his depth. Which he made clear to Kyra.

"I don't have any idea where to start."

"That's my job now…Captain!" She allowed herself another smile, this one a bit wider, closer to the one she'd given him when she'd taken him through the Magpie tour.

"We've got to get a new laser mount, since that Arrowhead completely wrecked it. Then we can decide if we want another weapon, or to boost our shields." She pulled a floating flatbed handcart from the corral near the front door and passed it to Felix.

"Ah! If it isn't Kyra of the great ship Magpie!" Behind him, a pair of hands clapped together and Felix twisted to see the owner of the booming voice. A short and rather rounded man stood in the doorway of an office near the first aisle in the warehouse. He was wrapped in a green and white striped suit that was meant to be slimming but actually gave him the appearance of a beach ball, which was only made more absurd by the ring of grey hair surrounding the crown of an otherwise bald and shiny head.

He spread his arms wide and approached, wrapping Kyra into a hug. She replied with a very light, slightly awkward hug of her own, but didn't bend down to allow his puckered lips to meet her cheeks.

"Al, what a pleasure, I thought you'd be out today," she said through clenched teeth. The man beamed at her and stepped back, looking Felix up and down.

"I had work I needed to handle in the office today, so I came in." He offered Felix a hand.

"Felix Conway, Magpie's new pilot, and, unfortunately, Captain," he replied, taking the hand.

"Interesting place you have here." Al grasped Felix's hand firmly, almost too firm, and gave it a single shake while staring directly at him with an unexpected intensity.

"A shame what happened, I heard about it this afternoon. And yes, I do love my warehouse, it is a place for only the most enlightened of customers!" For the second time today, Felix's blood ran cold.