Intergalactic

The next morning the hotel served its primary purpose for their mission: As an inconspicuous location to meet with Dr. Quennell Scotcher, according to his business card, the man Yezzania had connected them with.

„I will need size and weight of your cargo to arrange the transport.“, the scientist came to the point immediately. He was dressed in a standard business attire fashionable on Chroma IV: White trousers, a colorful vest over a black shirt, top button opened, a thin scarf of synthetic silk around the neck with both ends tucked through the vest’s arm holes and hanging down his sides. He was also wearing the augmented reality glasses they had noticed on other people on the planet. A fashion statement as Chroma IV was certainly connected well enough to import AR contact lenses from Earth.

„I can arrange for an analysis, conducted by me personally, that won’t appear in our official records.“

He looked around the room expectantly. They had met in Red’s hotel room, which had a comfortable size for one person staying a few nights, but barely enough space and definitely not enough seats for the four of them. Red and Dr. Scotcher were sitting in the two armchairs near the window, Twitch was half leaning against, half sitting on the small desk, and Grubs was standing near the entrance.

„Glad to hear that, Dr. Scotcher.“, Red began. The scientist interrupted her with a sly smile: „Please, everyone calls me Quenn.“

Red gave this is a second and decided to follow the lead: „Very well. Quenn, that’s good.“ She picked a folded piece of paper out of a pocket on the inside of her vest. „Here are the exact dimensions. It should fit into a standard truck with some room to spare. And here,“ she pulled out another folded paper from the same pocket, „are the customs documents for one hypercore, all official and proper.“

Quenn carefully checked both documents, nodding several times. „Yes“, he said finally, folding the papers up again and putting them away into a small tablet case he had brought. „It looks legitimate and convincing. Very refreshing to work with professionals. Now, for the pickup and discussion of details, I can only get guest passes for two of you. Three would be suspicious, no shipping company these days sends three people when one is enough and two is plenty.“

The three looked at each other, exchanging glances and the two men finally resting their gazes on their captain. Red had a sliver of annoyance in her voice, barely detectable if one didn’t know her well, as she responded: „Fine. Get us passes for Mrs. Rodriguez and Mr. O’Malley.“

„Are those“, the scientist remarked „your real names? I’d advise against using those.“

„Why not?“, Red questioned, surprised. „We landed under our real names, booked our hotel with our real names, it’s not like we could hide or that it means much to anyone once we’ve left.“

„True“, Quenn agreed, „But until then it does. Someone could connect the dots quickly and the spaceport logs would lead straight to you. Or to me.“

„So would the travel logs.“, Grubs jumped in.

„Travel logs?“, Quenn looked at him, wondering.

„Robotaxi protocol, camera surveillance, hotel entrance and exit logs, road and passage scanners, you know what I mean.“

„No, I don’t.“, Quenn answered. „I really don’t.“

„Chroma IV is a Freeport“, Twitch intervened. „There’s no continuous surveillance like on other planets. The spaceport probably doesn’t have a record beyond our manifest, and the hotel doesn’t report our stay to the local government.“

„Of course not!“, Quenn said with conviction. He had spent most of his life on Chroma IV and had only visited another planet once, without noticing the intricate tracking there.

„Interesting.“, Red said quietly, and without saying it out loud her two companions understood that in her thoughts she completed the sentence with „Almost like Binary Bloom. Or any pirate outpost.“

Quenn changed the subject: „Since this might well take more than one night, do you care for some suggestions on what to do while you are here? I have a friend who can get you into some of the more exclusive locations on short notice, and for a very moderate tip.“