watching him. ‘It is Uragan City policy that no crew may remain in their ships while the spaceport is shut for a hurricane.’
‘I …
what
?’ Drift tried to fight down the sensation of increasing frustration. ‘Why not, for the love of God? Where are we supposed to go?’
‘We have had too many people trying to get out,’ Muradov shrugged. ‘Some idiot decides they can fly through a hurricane and finds some way to open the bay doors, then you get half a ton of sand and three rocks the size of apartments dropping in before anyone can shut it again. As for where you go, Uragan City is well-equipped with accommodation for visitors.’
‘Which will cost more money,’ Drift replied through clenched teeth as he stepped out of the interview room, ‘and probably goes up in price drastically when there’s a storm, am I right?’
‘Is capitalism not wonderful?’ Muradov followed him out and clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Chin up, Captain; I am sure a resourceful fellow like you will be able to survive the loss. I will arrange for your crew to be escorted to your shuttle to collect essentials for the next couple of days, but no dallying.’ He turned and walked away, leaving Drift to trail in the footsteps of the officer who’d released him from his cuffs.
He found his crew in the main reception area, signing for the possessions they’d had confiscated upon arrest. He’d clearly been the last to be interviewed, but from what Muradov had said it sounded like they could have all been held had he slipped up and uttered a provable falsehood. He exchanged a glance with Jenna as she fastened her wrist-mounted console back onto her arm and booted it up again, but she didn’t seem concerned at what she saw so Drift assumed that there was no sign her files had been compromised. A quick scan of the area found the Shirokovs standing to one side, looking very uncomfortable. He didn’t feel in the slightest bit sympathetic.
‘Can we leave before the storm hits?’ Rourke asked him urgently as he scrawled and thumbprinted to recover his comm, personal pad and credit chips.
‘Too late,’ he replied bitterly, ‘we’re stuck here until it blows over now.’ He turned back to face them, saw the mixture of disappointment and anger on their faces and decided to usher everyone out before any comments about not getting paid landed them in further trouble. ‘C’mon, let’s get out of here.’
‘So what now?’ Kuai asked once they were safely out of the front doors of the
politsiya
building.
‘I vote we go find Moutinho an’ kick his ass,’ Jia said forcefully. ‘Bet you anything he was behind that pile of
hùnzhàng
!’ Drift couldn’t deny the appeal of the idea but he gritted his teeth and shook his head.
‘I asked the captain interviewing me if it was Moutinho – he said the tip was anonymous. They know Moutinho though, apparently he’s been here a lot recently, and now
they
know
I
think it was him.’ He sighed bitterly. ‘I’d love to take that bastard down a peg or two but we can’t afford to do anything that might bring these guys back down on us, and I’d bet good money we’ll be under surveillance for a little while.’
‘Brings me back to my question,’ Kuai pointed out. ‘What now?’
‘We need to find somewhere to stay until the storm blows over,’ Drift said as calmly as he could, although the frustration inside him was clamouring for at least a minor release by, for example, kicking his infuriating mechanic in his bad leg. ‘We can get an escort to collect clothes and so on from the
Jonah
, but let’s make sure we have somewhere to put them first. All the outsider accommodation is likely to be priced exorbitantly right now but,
luckily
, we have a couple of guides who know the city.’
As one, the entire crew of the
Keiko
swivelled until they were staring at the Shirokovs, who had tailed them out and then stood at a distance like a pair of anxious puppies. Drift wasn’t looking at
‘I …
what
?’ Drift tried to fight down the sensation of increasing frustration. ‘Why not, for the love of God? Where are we supposed to go?’
‘We have had too many people trying to get out,’ Muradov shrugged. ‘Some idiot decides they can fly through a hurricane and finds some way to open the bay doors, then you get half a ton of sand and three rocks the size of apartments dropping in before anyone can shut it again. As for where you go, Uragan City is well-equipped with accommodation for visitors.’
‘Which will cost more money,’ Drift replied through clenched teeth as he stepped out of the interview room, ‘and probably goes up in price drastically when there’s a storm, am I right?’
‘Is capitalism not wonderful?’ Muradov followed him out and clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Chin up, Captain; I am sure a resourceful fellow like you will be able to survive the loss. I will arrange for your crew to be escorted to your shuttle to collect essentials for the next couple of days, but no dallying.’ He turned and walked away, leaving Drift to trail in the footsteps of the officer who’d released him from his cuffs.
He found his crew in the main reception area, signing for the possessions they’d had confiscated upon arrest. He’d clearly been the last to be interviewed, but from what Muradov had said it sounded like they could have all been held had he slipped up and uttered a provable falsehood. He exchanged a glance with Jenna as she fastened her wrist-mounted console back onto her arm and booted it up again, but she didn’t seem concerned at what she saw so Drift assumed that there was no sign her files had been compromised. A quick scan of the area found the Shirokovs standing to one side, looking very uncomfortable. He didn’t feel in the slightest bit sympathetic.
‘Can we leave before the storm hits?’ Rourke asked him urgently as he scrawled and thumbprinted to recover his comm, personal pad and credit chips.
‘Too late,’ he replied bitterly, ‘we’re stuck here until it blows over now.’ He turned back to face them, saw the mixture of disappointment and anger on their faces and decided to usher everyone out before any comments about not getting paid landed them in further trouble. ‘C’mon, let’s get out of here.’
‘So what now?’ Kuai asked once they were safely out of the front doors of the
politsiya
building.
‘I vote we go find Moutinho an’ kick his ass,’ Jia said forcefully. ‘Bet you anything he was behind that pile of
hùnzhàng
!’ Drift couldn’t deny the appeal of the idea but he gritted his teeth and shook his head.
‘I asked the captain interviewing me if it was Moutinho – he said the tip was anonymous. They know Moutinho though, apparently he’s been here a lot recently, and now
they
know
I
think it was him.’ He sighed bitterly. ‘I’d love to take that bastard down a peg or two but we can’t afford to do anything that might bring these guys back down on us, and I’d bet good money we’ll be under surveillance for a little while.’
‘Brings me back to my question,’ Kuai pointed out. ‘What now?’
‘We need to find somewhere to stay until the storm blows over,’ Drift said as calmly as he could, although the frustration inside him was clamouring for at least a minor release by, for example, kicking his infuriating mechanic in his bad leg. ‘We can get an escort to collect clothes and so on from the
Jonah
, but let’s make sure we have somewhere to put them first. All the outsider accommodation is likely to be priced exorbitantly right now but,
luckily
, we have a couple of guides who know the city.’
As one, the entire crew of the
Keiko
swivelled until they were staring at the Shirokovs, who had tailed them out and then stood at a distance like a pair of anxious puppies. Drift wasn’t looking at
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