“From what? Moondust?” she asked, laughing. “We need the
oxygen and hydrogen from the water to power the colony ship and
keep everyone breathing.”
“Just wait, sis,” I said. “One day, I’m gonna snag an asteroid and get
enough ore to fix the colony ship and move us back to Earth.”
“An asteroid? How?” she asked between fits of laughter. “Even if
we hitched a ride on one of the freighters, our little tub wouldn’t be
able to handle the inertial stress. It’d rip the ship apart before you even
attached to the asteroid.”
“Don’t laugh, sis,” I said, scowling. “It’ll happen one day.”
“Bishop, I love you. But you’re only seventeen, and you don’t even
have an education. They’re not gonna let you use up resources that the
colony can use for more important projects. Hell, the only reason we
even have the ship is that Mom and Dad left it to us.”
“What’s my age have to do with it? You’re only sixteen, and you’re
one of the best pilots any of us has ever seen.” She blushed. “I’ll find a
way and I’ll save the colony ship.”
“Unidentified ship, please send identification codes,” chattered the
comms console.
Anne responded with whatever today’s rotating code cipher was,
and we proceeded to dock with a massive freighter. Once aboard, we
helped connect the freighter’s hoses to our cargo bay and let their
workers do the rest.
“I’ll catch you at dinner,” said Anne. I nodded, mind entirely elsewhere,
and I headed off toward the back of the cargo bay.
I waited by some storage crates until a scruffy-looking man in his
mid-twenties approached me.
“Bishop,” he said.
“Steve,” I nodded. “Did ya get it?” I asked, beside myself with
excitement.
“Kid, you have to get that eagerness under control. If we hadn’t
been friends, I’d have price gouged you for being an easy mark.” He
chuckled. “Had to pull some strings, but yeah, I got it.” He pulled a
small black cylinder out of his coat pocket.
“No shit, you’re serious?” I asked.