Aborovi Causeway 1: trading behind the curtain
22 May 2023Claude Lecardunoie
... Continued from Aborovi Causeway 1: black marketAfter 2 months of exploration between the Bubble and Elephant's Trunk Nebula, I decided to land in Elephant's Trunk Mine, a small and remote asteroid mining installation in GM Cephei for ship maintenance. Unfortunately, I forgot about some illegal freight I had in my cargo. Instead of being caught by the station's authorities, I have been intercepted by the organisation running the local black market. And for some mysterious reason, they wanted to deal with me, or so said Basileus Thornby, their boss...
- "So, commander Lecardunoie as I said we don't like unexpected smuggler landing in our backyard", started Basileus, "It's the first time you show up here, and one can make mistake and after seizing your cargo, we would have let you go. Had it been the second time, we would have turned you in to the spatioport authorities. A third time, your body would be rotting in one of these abandonned mine galleries".
- "Aye aye Sir, duly noted", I answered, with an ironic tone I couldn't hide.
- "Oh, make no mistake", he warned, "We run a business here and we are no angels. You are extremely lucky. It turns out that these illegal containers you brought are ours, from one of our smuggling Asp Scout reported missing two months ago. Now, may I ask where did you find these weapons and narcotics?".
- "Don't remember exactly... Near a ship wreck in some system between the Bubble and Veil West Nebula", I said, a little more scared now.
- "The good thing", he said, "is that you picked up the escape pods there. And my sister is in one them, which is why we brought you here."
Oh, that was the reason! And I was really lucky indeed because back then, I couldn't take all the pods in my ship, and I might very well have left Basileus sister stranded on that planet. (Read Aborovi Causeway 1 : an explorer daily routine and an ethical dilemna).
- "Now, let's get to business", continued Basileus, "We can't open the pods ourselves: we don't have the equipment to do that and the occupants of these pods have been officially reported missing and therefore the pods need to be opened by the Custom Services of the station to get their civil registration back, just like for a birth. Problem is that your ship hasn't been registered landing in Elephant's Trunk Mine. You actually don't exist here".
- "By the way, I am curious: how did you manage to get me out of sight of the traffic control and the local custom services?", I asked.
- "Well, a small and isolated spatioport like this one has 2 sides: first the usual official services, a market, a traffic control, local administration etc. and then the black market and whatever business we can make behind the curtain. Because although the local mining company got contracts from big corporations like Taurus, Torval or Mastopolos, it's not enough for this station to survive.
Actually, local authorities, they know we exist, but they don't care as long as we don't get caught by the corporations having contracts here and as long as we avoid their regular inspections.
Now, to make this work, most of us have important positions here: I am one of the team manager at Traffic Control.
Tianjin, the guy with gun, serves as sergeant in the local police.
Lulu, I mean Lucien works in the mine but is also a Miner's Union delegate, allowing him to 'borrow' some mining equipment like this buggy that drove you here.
Astrid, she works in the Medical Service, always useful, as you will see.
And that is only the people you met, but of the 30000 people living in this system, I'd say that 800 are involved at various level in our organisation".
- "Ok, I see, impressive! And so what's next?"
- "Easy: we'll give your ship an existence here on Elephant's Trunk Mine docks", said Basileus, smiling, "I already reported to Traffic Control a failure in your ship transponder and Astrid will order an hygiene inspection on it and a quarantine around your landing pad. And pshhht, just like that, your landing here will be official. On your side, you'll contact the Search and Rescue offices to deal with the escape pods you brought here and to open them. And as a reward for your cooperation and mostly for my sister and our comrades you saved, we will buy your cargo. See, everyone wins."
And so they did. I just had to wait a couple of hours in the abandonned mining gallery they used as hideout and where they store illegal containers, the time for Basileus and Astrid to deal with everything on the landing pad. Then, Lucien came to pick me up in that same buggy to drive me back to my ship:
- "Ok, Basileus and Princess, well Astrid, they have things under control up there", said Lucien.
- "Cool. So tell me, Lulu, what's with you and Astrid? Why do you keep calling her Princess", I asked, just to start some kind of conversation, a way for me to release some of the pressure I went through these last hours.
And then, he started to tell me a little bit about his life. His family moved to Elephant's Trunk Mine some 25 years ago in the same colonists ship than Astrid and her relatives. They were both kids then, he was 8, she was 5. They became friends and Lucien started to call her Princess, she didn't mind then...
- "Life was not easy here, back then, you know", explained Lucien, "The station was not completely functional. Life support system failures were frequent. A lot of people died here because of that, including my folks actually. Astrid's parents, they raised me. She and I were really close".
He sighed...
- "But now", he continued, "she kinda keep her distances..."
I felt him uneased and he remained silent all the way back to my landing pad. And so long for the pressure relief!
Niklas O'Malley, Saïd Ahmed, Silvère Halveg and Basileus sister, Cleo Thornby, were the four people I saved from that ship wreck on Col 359 Sector FL-X d1-61 3 a. I told the Search and Rescue Service that 3 other pods were still there, hoping they'll send a team. As for me, although I received money selling my cargo on the black market to Basileus, I still had to pay a fine to access the spatioport maintenance services to cover the decontamination cost after the fake quarantine imposed by Astrid.
- "Sorry, but nothing I could do about that", said Basileus on the comms as I was leaving Elephant's Trunk Mine, "But listen, we just picked up a communication from a pilot... Hum, let me check... a pilot named Darkbeetle*. Seems that he found a Guardian Site in Synuefe NL-N c23-4 B 3. Could be interesting for an explorer like you".
- "That barely makes it up for the fine", I joked.
- "Oh, and now that we know you, you can now trade with us".
- "Yep, but behind the curtain, right?".
- "Always", said Basileus.
*: Read Darkbeetle log entry Journey to Synuefe NL-N c23-4 B 3