Personal Log 100: 29th February - 6th March, 3302 (Part One)
10 Oct 2016Jemine Caesar
29th February - 6th March, 3302 (part 1) February 29th was, according to the newsfeeds, the day that shouldn't exist.
Ricardo Bentonio, the notorious conspiracy theorist, had just announced his appeal for cartographic data to help him prove that today's date would somehow bring about the end of the universe. It was a well-known fact that the addition of one day to the calendar every four years was something to do with ancient Earth timekeeping. Quite why it should lead to "the very fabric of space-time collapsing in on itself", as Bentonio was claiming, was clearly ridiculous.
In any event, the universe survived.
The horrific events of the previous night at the Max Wonder magic show were weighing heavily on my mind. After making some enquiries at the theatre, I managed to pay a visit to the magician at his lodgings, to offer my condolences.
Max, that is Mark Winter, confirmed what I already knew; his late wife was indeed the Arkady Seldon on the Harem List of John Graham. I felt sickened to think that I had fired the weapon that killed her. Winter told me he'd decided he'd had enough of show business.
"I'll buy a Diamondback Explorer," he said, sadly, "and go back to my old career of mining."
Later, Sam and I travelled to LHS 3836. On Gell-Mann we had dinner at a restaurant run by another of his ex-navy colleagues, Paolo Azzuri. A newsfeed in the restaurant was showing details of plans to construct a new starport, to be called Bluford Orbital, at LHS 3447. An appeal had been made for pilots to deliver metals of any kind to Worlidge Terminal.
"Oh, Sam!" I said. "That's my home system. I feel I must help if I can."
The next day I took The Last Thing to LHS 3447, stopping on the way at Uzumeru to load up with tantalum, gallium and lithium. The journey across the LHS 3447 system to Worlidge Terminal was long and time consuming, which was one of the main reasons for the building of the new starport.
On arrival at Worlidge Terminal I had to ask another commander for advice. "I don't quite understand how this works," I said.
"It's easy, darlin'," he replied. "Just sign up, then bring in your metal and sell it as normal. The more you bring, the bigger your reward'll be at the end of the appeal."
It certainly sounded easy, so I signed up and sold the metals in my hold.
*****
On March 3rd I brought in a variety of metals from Potriti and Yakabugai, and supplemented my income by taking on a job to deliver two canisters of men's workwear to Dalton Gateway. As I approached the station I was hailed by a commander calling himself Gamecat. I asked if he was also bringing metals to the system.
"No," he replied, "I'm an Imperial spy." I thought this was highly unlikely, but I asked what he was spying on.
"That would be telling," he replied. "I am mainly here to pick up parts for my ship," he added. We exchanged a few more pleasantries, then parted company.
"I hope your, er, spy mission turns out well," I said.
Sam joined me at Dalton Gateway, having also joined the metals appeal. I told him about my conversation with commander Gamecat. Sam laughed, and we agreed that Gamecat was probably not being serious.
As we undressed for bed Sam clicked his fingers. "Oh, by the way," he said. "I was at Fairbairn Station earlier, and got chatting to someone in the observation lounge. I happened to mention your name, and he said he remembered you. It seems he was one of those showpeople you travelled with when you were younger, back on LHS 3447. He gave me his card, look. Ring a bell?"
Sam showed me his dataslate. "Elias Manston!" I said. "He was a rogue if ever there was one. What he didn't know about cheating at cards isn't worth knowing. What's he up to now?"
I read the rest of the card. "'Legal Advisor'? Ha! Well, I suppose he could certainly advise anyone on the best ways to break the law."
Sam told me Manston had spoken of me in less than flattering terms. "I should have hit him," he said.
I closed my eyes, remembering. "Elias was... a client of mine," I said.
Sam understood perfectly. "He came across as a slimy son of a gun to me," he replied.
I touched my hand to my cheek. "He had a good right hook," I said, wincing at the memory of a pain felt long ago...
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OOC bit:
Regular followers of my logs (and I thank you so much for reading them!) will know that I include many accounts of meetings and conversations with other Commanders. These accounts are the results of RP sessions, both in-game and by PM.
Until recently I hadn't thought of them as collaborations, which I now realise was very remiss of me. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank and give credit to those Commanders who have been kind and sporting enough to contribute to my story as so far presented here.
In order of appearance :
Rudolphus
Jopo
Stanchion Ra
MK Potter
Marky G
Sam Hodkin
Aden Majes
Nathalie (Nagita) Hudson
Ignatius Davest
Marcus Trelawney
Divorahk Tarin
Aiden Venters
Argent Steel
Gamecat
Take care out there.