2954-08-19 – Tales from the Inbox: The Homecoming Duplicity
The account we have been relaying these past weeks is of some interest, but Nojus and I are thinking that we will not publish its remaining two entries, at least not now. It is most certainly time to go to the Håkøya backlog, which continues to flow in.
Obviously, other events on either front or interesting events from the civilian spacer world which reach our inbox will be interleaved as we decide is most entertaining.
Margaret's message was, as usual for Lydia Fernandez's experience of her older sister, brief. It explained that Margaret was on the way back from her business trip unexpectedly early, and had received the message of regret just as the ship she was on had started its in-system run. It expressed hope – sincere or otherwise, it was impossible to say – that Lydia was still in the system and could redirect to meet at the spaceport.
Of course, the bit about returning unexpectedly early from an interstellar business trip was bunk, Lydia knew that. The cost of moving a return-trip booking up on short notice would have far outweighed the cost of simply staying on location the few extra days, and Margaret's employer - some interstellar minerals firm or other – would almost certainly never pay a steep premium for her convenience.
What Margaret was hiding, though, wasn't Lydia's problem. Perhaps she involved in some sort of corporate skullduggery, or covering for an affair. Lydia had always considered herself the more honest of the Fernandez women, since Margaret took after their mother in almost everything. It made no difference, at least to Lydia, that she was a solo operator in the gray markets, and her sister was married and held a legitimate salaried middle-management job with a stable corporation.
Margaret having uncomfortable secrets of her own might be some help, at least this time. The only times Lydia could remember ever keeping secrets from her sister had been when Margaret was more interested in her own schemes.
With a grin borne of knowing she was about give both her employer's agent and her pursuers fits, Lydia changed course, then sent a message requesting docking permission at the Terre Weigand spaceport. She didn't give any reason for the request, but then, as a small-time spacer, she rarely needed to, except at ports where docking slips were at a premium.
With that done, she pulled up the list of all the other spacecraft in-system once more. It didn't take too long to narrow Margaret's ship down to two candidates: an old, creaky passenger mover running the line from Terre Weigand to Tours, and a small hauler operating a mixed passenger and freight service to Cardona's Landing, the mercantile hub of the coreward side of the Silver Strand. Lydia had a hunch her sister was on the latter, but they were set to arrive at the port within ten hours of each other so it didn't matter much if she was right.
Knowing approximately when her sister would arrive at the station, Lydia quickly booked a suite on the station for three days, making sure to include her sister's name on the booking as well as her own, and forwarding the details to her sister's inbox. With that done, she went aft for a cup of coffee, then returned to send a message herself. If she did this right, her sister would have half an hour or so to stew over the meaning of the booking and to worry whether Lydia was onto her own schemes, and would interpret everything in that light.
As soon as the recording started, Lydia beamed into the camera. "I was so afraid I'd missed you, Margaret!" She gestured around herself. "One of the perks of flying my own ship is that I set my own course. I was just on my way out of the system to pick up my next job when I got your message. And I would love the opportunity to catch up, Sis. It's been a long time, and I've heard so much about all you've been doing from Cousin Trent."
After a pause to take a long and loaded sip of her coffee, Lydia continued. "I'll be there at the gangway on Weigand's Roost to welcome you home. And don't worry about the booking. I figure, if your trip ended early, you've got a few days to kick your heels up like old times. My treat."
With an exaggerated blown kiss, Lydia stopped recording, shuddered, and drained the rest of her coffee before confirming and transmitting. With a deep sigh, she got up once more to figure out whether she had a valise aboard that was the right shape and size to carry her cargo aboard the station, where she could keep an eye on it. No doubt the authorities – at least, those who wanted to covertly reclaim that cargo – would be searching the Minotaur while she was trading jabs with Margaret. She had about a half-day to make sure this took them a long time – but she still didn't want them to find anything.
