Tales from the Stream Ch. 05

"Rich Corinthian Leather," Lúcia sighed and leaned against Captain Jade's shoulder. She fingered Jade's earlobe where the gold ring was now missing.

"Thank you for trading your earring for the couch," Lúcia said. "It was a most generous gesture."

"De rien, chéri. Easy come, easy go."

"But, it was supposed to cover your pirate funeral expenses." Lúcia squeezed Jade's arm.

"If I die, just lay me out on a Megacomf and throw some dirt over me." Jade wove her fingers in with Lúcia's.

"Good girls don't use their hands, Amaliya. And good girls get to come before they leave," Emily cooed. "But bad girls get their bottoms—"

"Are you two ready yet?" Jade hollered.

"Just one more dress? Please?"

Charles De Galle Space Elevator, Orbital Terminus

"Where's our couches?" asked Amaliya, surveying the area where the Black Prince was docked. "Where's our Megacomf?"

Lúcia looked down and picked up a card embossed with the Megacomf logo. Below the logo was written, 'Thank you for your recent purchase.'

"So they were here," said Amaliya, "And someone 'jacked 'em? I swear I'm gonna—"

Lúcia opened the card. A holographic bust of Megacomf Brian appeared. "You haven't made it until you've made it on a Magacomf," he said.

"Shit," Jade mumbled, standing at the ship's airlock, fingering a piece of e-ink paper.

"What's that, a ransom note?" Amaliya said. "From the bastards who stole our couches?"

"Parking ticket," said Jade.

"Parking ticket?" said the other three in unison.

Jade nodded.

"Rip it up," said Amaliya. "We have more important things to do. Like finding our Megacomfs."

"What happened to advertising creates feelings of inadequacy with the sole intent of making you buy their product?" Jade asked.

"I was promised a ride on the Megacomf." Amaliya began to pace. "I was a good girl in the dressing room. Wasn't I, Emily? I used my mouth instead of my hands..."

"It's electronic." Jade sighed. "Looks like paper, but we're locked out of the ship until this thing says we're not."

"I want my fucking Megacomf," Amaliya huffed.

"Em?" Jade said, arching an eyebrow in Emily's direction.

"Remember at the café, when I said financial systems were a tough hack?" Emily said. "That's nothing compared to government bureaucracy."

"So we have to pay it?" Amaliya grumbled. "Shit."

Lúcia closed the Thank You card and opened it again. "You haven't made it until you've made it on a Magacomf."

"And that's all that's left of our money, right there."

Lúcia closed the card again. "Megacomf Brian would not let us get this far only to deny us. We will find a way, I'm sure of it."

Lúcia opened the card. "You haven't made it, until you've made it on a Megacomf."

Afterword

Okay, small cliffhanger. If you can call a parking ticket and missing couches a cliffhanger. Even with no money, I imagine the nicest space pirates in the galaxy will find some way to prevail.

Until then, there's more Megacomf in your future. Read 'A Space Oddity' by Maonaigh, also on this site. An excellent combination of sci-fi and spy fiction. Sexy one minute, and hilarious the next, this origin story of the Megacomf couch deserves to be on your reading list.