Offspring Ch. 043

"From that moment on we became a target. They will want to know how we managed to establish contact with the mainland government and to whom we are talking there. To find out they need to infiltrate our organisation at the senior level. When I invited Bernice to Olympus as liaison officer I gave them the opportunity to do just that. By controlling Bernice we control their espionage efforts, at least that's the theory behind the scam."

***

The Tikana arrived in due course and set down next to the Pygmalion. After transferring Bernice to the Pygmalion Captain Gomez lifted the Tikana off again and set her down in the area where the other freighters were so her cargo could be unloaded and handed over to the Oktonians.

That evening we had dinner on the Pygmalion. I introduced Bernice and Captain Gomez to Pedro, Juan, Feng, George and Talla. Over drinks afterwards I informed Bernice that the Pygmalion was scheduled to leave for Olympus in the morning and that Talla, Juan and myself were staying behind with the Tikana who would have to remain in port for the next ten days to enable modifications to the vessel to be made and to take on cargo. She expressed disappointment.

I had arranged a room for Captain Gomez at my hotel. We left early. After booking our guest in we went to the bar for some more liquid refreshments. Julio Gomez turned out to be a jovial fellow with a wicked sense of humour. He was no foreigner to a good old fashioned piss up. We kept going late into the night swapping spacer stories. Julio got on well with Talla, treating her like a fellow spacer. For a joke he challenged her to a drinking competition. Talla accepted, on condition they only drank beer, since her metabolism couldn't handle wine or spirits. Throughout the night she matched him glass for glass.

When we broke up Julio was stinking drunk and Talla still stone cold sober. He got up on shaky feet, bowed to her and conceded defeat.

"Captain Talla," he said, kissing her hand, "You are the first creature to ever drink me under the table. I salute you."

Juan and I broke out laughing. I didn't have the heart to tell the old captain that Angels are impervious to the alcohol in beer.

***

We had a late breakfast, still battle weary from last night. I called Al and introduced him to Julio.

"Alright gentlemen,"I said, "let's go and have a look how the unloading is going."

An hour later we were on the Tikana. It was my first look at the interior of the ship. The cargo master informed us that unloading was on schedule and would be completed late that afternoon.

Captain Gomez introduced us to his crew of twelve and showed us around the ship. As expected the decor and fittings were simple and functional. There were thirty cabins in all to accommodate the crew and some passengers, which was the usual thing to be found on a vessel of this type. A fair sized galley and a mess room as well as an officer's mess that served as a conference room. The bridge was well equipped and spacious. He showed us the loading bay where we would install accommodation for up to two-hundred Angels and the customary Angel cafeteria.

I had wanted to install a separate galley for the Angels, but Talla pointed out that on the two day trip to Olympus her people could happily live on beer alone, which to them was food. With Jeremy's help the whole installation had been planned and all the material required was on stand by; courtesy Chang Corporation. Al would be in charge of construction. It would start as soon as unloading was complete.

There was one thing that surprised me about the Tikana. She was clean. I don't mean the sort of clean used spaceships get when they are up for sale, I mean really clean, you could eat off the floor with appetite anywhere on the ship. When I complimented Captain Gomez on that fact he said:

"This ship has been our home for a long time. We have treated her accordingly, with love and attention to detail. She may be an old girl, but she was our old girl. We've looked after her."

I assured him we would honour that tradition.

We stayed until the cargo was off the vessel. Julio's crew would work through the night to clean the cargo bays making her ready for official hand over in the morning.

Back at the hotel Julio asked us about Olympus. I showed him some footage of Talla and the agricultural project I had on my computer. He seemed impressed. We had a few drinks, nothing like the night before and went to bed early.

After breakfast we went back to the ship. There was little ceremony when we took possession of the Tikana. The handover was duly entered into the ship's log, signed by Captain Gomez and Talla and witnessed by Juan and myself. A message was dispatched to the Federation that as of this moment the Tikana belonged officially to Olympus Colonisation Command with Captain Talla in charge of the vessel.