Quarter Share: A Trader's Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper by Nathan Lowell Page A
Authors: Nathan Lowell
Ads: Link
specialist?”
“Wait, Cookie, you’re going too fast for me.” I waved a soapy hand in the air to stop him. “Why would I want to do one of those things? Can’t I just be a cook?”
Cookie smiled and gave a little shrug. “How you spend the time is, of course, up to you. As for cooking, it’s my life and I love it. My pleasure comes from creating the best meals I can and making life more pleasant for the crew. You would make an excellent cook, Ishmael.” He paused and considered me with pursed lips for a heartbeat. “But I suspect you would find that it loses its challenge rapidly.”
“You might be right but I’m not even certain what the other choices are.”
“Look in your handbook, young Ishmael and consider that your feet are already on a path. It might be wiser to select a branch before one is thrust upon you by circumstance.” With that, he strolled out of the galley.
I stood there considering his words and he startled me by poking his head back through the door. “And we’re out of coffee out here. Please brew a new pot before you go.” With a playful grin and a wink he left once more.
Chapter 6
Neris System
2351-September-16
Pip was the closest thing to a friend I’d had since Angela Markova. It was weird. I’d only known him a couple of weeks. Granted, they were long weeks and we’d been working together almost non-stop every day. In many ways it felt like he’d taken me under his wing, but he also seemed—I don’t know—adrift might be a good word. After Cookie’s visit I had a hard time looking at Pip the same way. Of course that same conversation also made me look at Cookie differently. He was taking the role of a wise uncle. I shied away from the notion of father since I wasn’t terribly sure what that really meant. As for Pip, he became the rascally younger brother and Uncle Cookie had made him my problem.
Day nine out of Neris and I stayed late to help Pip clean up and to talk. The galley was the only place we had that approached any level of privacy, and even there we were interrupted by people dropping in at odd hours to grab a cookie, make a sandwich, or ask me to brew another urn of coffee. Cookie’s discussion weighed on me all day and Pip noticed as he started in as soon as Cookie had left for his card game.
“Okay, Ish. What gives?”
I knew better than to play dumb, but I didn’t want to confront this particular problem head on, either. “The walls are really starting to close in. There’s no privacy. We work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep…it just doesn’t end. Not to mention that every time I turn around there’s somebody looking for more coffee.”
Pip grinned mischievously. “I warned ya about that. You’re the caffeine god now and it comes with a terrible price.”
I knew he was teasing, sort of. “Yes, I know, but you’re in your second stanyer…I’m barely into my second week. How do you cope?”
“Ishmael, my boy, it’s all about the journey. In this business, you never get there, wherever there is, so you better enjoy the trip. As an allegory for life, I kinda like it.”
I looked at him, perhaps a bit strangely. It was so unlike Pip, I wondered who he was channeling.
He looked a bit embarrassed and gave a half shrug. “I got that from the second mate on the Duchamp . Just before she threatened to put me ashore on Arghon.”
I laughed. “So you were a troublemaker.”
“Let’s just say, I got off on the wrong foot with that crew. The Duchamp had just put into Arghon and the Lois came in right behind it. Word got around the docks that there was a woman on the Lois who wanted to get into environmental but there weren’t any openings. By that time I had a miserable reputation and I really was afraid they were going to strand me. Alvarez, she was the second mate on the Duchamp , talked to Mr. Maxwell, and I gladly traded my space there for the opening in the mess here.”
“Wow, luck was in your pocket that day, huh?”
He
“Wait, Cookie, you’re going too fast for me.” I waved a soapy hand in the air to stop him. “Why would I want to do one of those things? Can’t I just be a cook?”
Cookie smiled and gave a little shrug. “How you spend the time is, of course, up to you. As for cooking, it’s my life and I love it. My pleasure comes from creating the best meals I can and making life more pleasant for the crew. You would make an excellent cook, Ishmael.” He paused and considered me with pursed lips for a heartbeat. “But I suspect you would find that it loses its challenge rapidly.”
“You might be right but I’m not even certain what the other choices are.”
“Look in your handbook, young Ishmael and consider that your feet are already on a path. It might be wiser to select a branch before one is thrust upon you by circumstance.” With that, he strolled out of the galley.
I stood there considering his words and he startled me by poking his head back through the door. “And we’re out of coffee out here. Please brew a new pot before you go.” With a playful grin and a wink he left once more.
Chapter 6
Neris System
2351-September-16
Pip was the closest thing to a friend I’d had since Angela Markova. It was weird. I’d only known him a couple of weeks. Granted, they were long weeks and we’d been working together almost non-stop every day. In many ways it felt like he’d taken me under his wing, but he also seemed—I don’t know—adrift might be a good word. After Cookie’s visit I had a hard time looking at Pip the same way. Of course that same conversation also made me look at Cookie differently. He was taking the role of a wise uncle. I shied away from the notion of father since I wasn’t terribly sure what that really meant. As for Pip, he became the rascally younger brother and Uncle Cookie had made him my problem.
Day nine out of Neris and I stayed late to help Pip clean up and to talk. The galley was the only place we had that approached any level of privacy, and even there we were interrupted by people dropping in at odd hours to grab a cookie, make a sandwich, or ask me to brew another urn of coffee. Cookie’s discussion weighed on me all day and Pip noticed as he started in as soon as Cookie had left for his card game.
“Okay, Ish. What gives?”
I knew better than to play dumb, but I didn’t want to confront this particular problem head on, either. “The walls are really starting to close in. There’s no privacy. We work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep…it just doesn’t end. Not to mention that every time I turn around there’s somebody looking for more coffee.”
Pip grinned mischievously. “I warned ya about that. You’re the caffeine god now and it comes with a terrible price.”
I knew he was teasing, sort of. “Yes, I know, but you’re in your second stanyer…I’m barely into my second week. How do you cope?”
“Ishmael, my boy, it’s all about the journey. In this business, you never get there, wherever there is, so you better enjoy the trip. As an allegory for life, I kinda like it.”
I looked at him, perhaps a bit strangely. It was so unlike Pip, I wondered who he was channeling.
He looked a bit embarrassed and gave a half shrug. “I got that from the second mate on the Duchamp . Just before she threatened to put me ashore on Arghon.”
I laughed. “So you were a troublemaker.”
“Let’s just say, I got off on the wrong foot with that crew. The Duchamp had just put into Arghon and the Lois came in right behind it. Word got around the docks that there was a woman on the Lois who wanted to get into environmental but there weren’t any openings. By that time I had a miserable reputation and I really was afraid they were going to strand me. Alvarez, she was the second mate on the Duchamp , talked to Mr. Maxwell, and I gladly traded my space there for the opening in the mess here.”
“Wow, luck was in your pocket that day, huh?”
He
Similar Books
