Page 25 of Escape Velocity

Chapter Five

Before the station was in view, Max sent a message. “This is The Golden Fleece, on vector 1037. Permission to land.”

A message came back quickly. “Captain Maxwell Cassidy?”

“Yes.”

“Show yourself.”

He switched the big screen to video and saw a guy dressed like a refugee from a desert wasteland sitting at the console. The guy wore a barely-there muscle shirt, showing off impressive tats on both arms. His hair was buzz-cut short, and he sported a ring in his bottom lip and one on the left side of his nose.

Beside him, Max saw Amber blink as she stared at the scruffy representative of authority on the SS Freedom.

He flicked his gaze back to the screen.

“Cassidy,” the man said.

“Yeah.”

“Hold your position.” The screen blanked out, and Amber looked at Max. “You know him?”

“Yeah. He’s an ex-trooper named Fish.”

The man clicked back into view. “How long is your estimated stay?”

“No more than twenty-four hours.”

“What is the purpose of your stay?”

“Picking up supplies.”

Fish consulted a computer to his left.

Max stayed where he was until the guy looked up and said, “You are cleared for docking at bay twenty-five.”

“Thanks.”

As Max powered up again, Amber asked, “Isn’t that a lot of . . . regulations for an outlaw station?”

“They have to be careful about who they let in. There have been a couple of stealth attacks by the Feds—innocent-looking ships docking who turned out to hold armed boarding parties.”

He steered the ship to bay twenty-five, completed the docking maneuver and cut the engines. Next, he connected his fuel cells to the chargers the station provided.

“We just walk off?” Amber asked.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about what else to do that will make you less attractive?”

“Give me beauty bumps?”

He shuddered. “Not quite that bad. Come back to the galley where I can work.”

At the table, he pointed to a chair. “Sit.”

“And what?”

“I could cut your hair.”

“No,” was her instant answer.

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