Personal Log 44: 17th - 23rd August, 3301
23 Sep 2016Jemine Caesar
17th - 23rd August, 3301 Sam looked worried as he left for a check-up at the station medicentre the next day. His injuries, as it turned out, were more than superficial. A benign tumour was found in his leg. Its removal was straightforward, but his ocular implants had proved to be more of a problem. "Hopefully they'll be replaced tonight," he told me.
I still had a hold full of mineral extractors I'd been unable to sell. A trader I met in the Compass suggested I take them to LTT 7509. "The mining companies at Sharman Installation are always looking for them," he said.
Sam's eye operation meant he would be sedated and out of action for at least a day. So, with Sam's blessing, I set off for LTT 7509 the next day. The trader's advice was good, and I was rewarded with a tidy profit on the sale of the mineral extractors.
The remainder of the day, and the day after, was taken up with trading, deliveries and exploring. My eye was caught by the name of a nearby star system on the navmap.
"Tara! Oh! I've got to go there," I said to myself, memories of my grandmama's ten second appearance in the remake of 'Gone With The Wind' suddenly filling my mind. As it turned out, Tara (the star system) was a rather dull place.
An interdiction at LTT 7509 by a novice Viper pirate named Rednop earned me a bounty of 11,000CR. After a sleep at Thoreau Horizons (how I hate zero-g beds!), I ran some more deliveries and trades. One of the jobs involved a return to Tara, followed by a trip to the remote Simonyi Enterprise in the Mulachi system. During this long stretch of travel I panicked when my fuel gauge dropped towards zero at an alarming rate. It was here I received a welcome call from Sam.
"High hoop, Jem!" he said. "The op was a success. My new ocular implants are working fine, and I've been discharged from the medicentre. I'm already heading your way."
I was glad of this news, but told Sam about my low fuel problem. Then, suddenly, the tank was full again!
"Oh!" I said, sheepishly. "It's a small tank which refills from the main reservoir. I have plenty of fuel after all, Sam." One more thing my flying instructor hadn't covered, I thought. I still felt like an idiot, though.
Sam and I agreed to meet up in the Santy system, as I had another couple of delivery jobs in hand which would take me there. Once docked at Szilard Terminal, I popped on a short white dress and made my way to our chosen bar, The Weary Reindeer. Sam, without thinking, bought me a gin & tonic. I, equally without thinking, drank it, only realising later that I was not supposed to have alcohol for at least another couple of weeks due to my treatment. Oh well, one little gin couldn't hurt, could it?
I told Sam I'd been reading about the Black Mausoleum starport in Beta Hydri. I had discovered it was hundreds of years old, and had originally been a research station. In recent times it had become a popular haunt for pirates and smugglers. I asked Sam if he had ever heard of Ziva Eschel, one of the system's more famous celebrities. He said he had. Eschel had once been in the Beta Hydri police, later becoming a very successful and feared bounty hunter.
"She went missing last year," I said. "Rumour had it she was following one last bounty before retiring. Some say the trail took her to Jackson's Lighthouse." I had learned that Jackson's Lighthouse was a neutron star, orbited by a cavernous asteroid that provided shelter from the star's deadly radiation. So far as anyone knew, Ziva Eschel had not returned.
*****
After a short trading stop at Wylie Dock in the Baker system, we arrived at Beta Hydri and set course for Stevenson Base.
"It feels good to be home," Sam said.
Once docked, I changed into a blue knee-length dress and my new 15cm heel Lalande shoes, and put on some make-up. Sam had said we would be going to The Red Rose, the first in the Hodkin family bar empire.
"My Dad'll be in tonight," he told me.
"Oh, Sam," I replied, nervously. "I hope I make a good impression on your family."
Arm in arm, we walked into The Red Rose. "How lovely!" I said, looking around.
Sam nodded. "It's a proper traditional English pub," he informed me, pride evident in his voice. "Here's my sister, Jenna," he said, with a grin, adding, "Looks like she's serving." Taking a deep breath, I stepped up to the bar.
Once Sam had introduced us, Jenna and I chatted quite happily. Sam ordered drinks; beer for him and fruit juice for me. Sam had already told me that Jenna was expecting a baby in January, and Jenna told me her partner's name was Andrew Thoms.
"He's Scottish," Sam explained, adding that Scotland is a part of Great Britain. I also learned that Andrew was the son of a politician but worked as a miner on Beta Hydri 1.
Just then a man in his mid-40's appeared behind the bar. "Hi, Dad!" said Sam.
"High hoop!" replied Sam's father. Or something like that, anyway. Sam introduced us.
"I'm very pleased to meet you, Mr Hodkin," I said. Sam's father grinned.
"Call me Ben, love," he said. Ben had arrived to take over from Jenna, who was clearly very tired.
After bidding goodnight to Jenna, I began to chat with Ben. "You must be very proud of all your children," I said, noticing a holopic of Sam and his three siblings on the wall. Ben replied that he was indeed proud of them.
"And I'm glad that Sam's found himself a nice young girl, too," he said. I could feel myself blushing at this.
The pub was steadily getting busier. Sam explained it was the influx of miners after the end of their shift.
"In that case," I said to Ben, "we'd best let you get on with serving your customers." I didn't want to cause a riot on my first day! Finishing our drinks, Sam took me to his spacious apartment on Deck 7.
"Well?" I said. "How did I do?"
Sam gave me a warm kiss. "Dad and Jenna love you," he said, "and mum will love you, too. You'll meet her tomorrow."
*****
Sam's mother turned out to be such a lovely woman. I saw quite a bit of her over the next couple of days, and we got on ever so well. She knew Stevenson Base like the back of her hand, and showed me just about every clothes shop on the station. My poor feet were aching! She even asked me if I like ice cream, so naturally I told her about Rikk's Café and their amazing mint chic chip fudge sundaes.
"In that case," said Sam's mother, "I have a treat for you!"
She took me to a café called 'The Rocket', which does the most incredible range of ice cream sundaes I've ever seen. Diso Peach, Kremainn Cumquat, Martian Whortleberry, Achenar Apricot... the list of flavours is endless. I had to stop after three, as I could feel the waistband of my dress starting to tighten. It wasn't until later I learned from Sam that his mother's name was Lillian, or Lil for short. I think she assumed I knew it already. I, however, had been too embarrassed to ask.
August 23rd was the date of my first trip down to Homeland. Sam had got tickets for a performance of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance Of Being Earnest". Sam explained that the tickets had come courtesy of the show's star, Oliver Reade, a famous comic actor Sam had met while in the Navy on entertainments duty.
"And it'll be quite a gathering," Sam said. "Sarah and Jenna are coming with us, along with their partners, Luke and Andrew."
After a short shuttle ride to New London's theatre district, we took our seats in a box with a superb view of the stage. It was a delightful evening, and I instantly felt at ease with my new friends. The three men, very smart in their immaculate suits, gallantly complimented we girls on our colourful full-length evening dresses. I had opted for royal blue, Sarah's was a rich burgundy, and Jenna's dress a striking emerald green, so fortunately none of us clashed!
I admired Sarah's beautiful sapphire engagement ring, and learned from Luke how he had met Sarah while on leave, having called in at The Red Rose for a drink with some friends. Andrew told me how he had chosen a career in mining, rather than follow his father into politics. I later admitted to Sam that I had found Andrew's Scottish accent a little difficult to understand.
The play itself was a joy, and Oliver Reade gave an excellent performance as Jack Worthing. Unfortunately we were unable to meet him afterwards, as he had to rush off to do an interview for 'Celebrities And Their Pets'.