Acquisitions

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

04/30/96:

I leaned back on the couch, and grimaced a bit. I set down
the paper I was reading and I rubbed my eyes.

I dug out my pad and pencil from under the stacks of papers,
and jotted down a figure at the bottom of the twenty or so I
already had. Doing some quick addition, I sighed. "Well this
is going to be a tight squeeze."

"What is?" Oria asked leaning over the railing of the second
floor.

I tapped the pad, "The cost for the ship; keeping it in a
dock here on Prid is going to cost a bloody fortune."

"Why here? It's not like you can't go anyplace. Why not
store it in your verse?"

"Well," I said, looking up at her, "First, we would have to
build the dock. Second, to get a ship away from Earth,
without anyone noticing... well, it's not something I want
to try."

She nodded, her hair falling over her face, "Anything other
than that?"

I shrugged, "This and that, but in the end, I think I've
found a good ship, at the right cost."

"Free?" she joked.

I shook my head, "I wish. Try about three times more than
what I probably should be spending, but it's still the
cheapest one I can find," I said and then offered her my
figures.

She blinked, and leaned forward a bit over the railing,
"That is a lot of cash."

"Ya, but the next cheapest was double that, and this one has
everything I need, mostly."

"If it's so cheap, someone will get it before you do."

I grinned up at her, "It's been rusting for twenty years, it
can wait an hour or so until we get there."

She rolled her eyes, "Sounds fun." Then she ducked back, and
came down the stairs.

I picked a credit chit for that world off the table and
pocketed it. The world wasn't a member of the Council, but
there was some communication--enough that I could get the
chit. "Come on, then. I've been there setting up some of
this, and all I needed was a place to dock it, which I now
have." Then grabbing my backpack, I gave her a slight grin,
and headed out the door.

* * *

The young weasel grinned at me as he entered the office,
"Hello... You must be Mr. Cutter."

I nodded, "And you must be Mr. Henderson; nice to actually
meet in person, and not just over the phone," I said and
gave his hand a firm shake. We had been talking for a few
days about the ship.

"Yes, yes it is. Now you have expressed interest..." he
trailed off as he actually saw me and Oriana. "Um... no
offense... but what are you two?"

Oria glanced at me, "One species, no contact?" she mouthed.

I nodded, "Um... don't worry, we're from a few worlds out."

He raised an eyebrow, "I heard the far colonies had some
strange mutations... still that won't effect out business,"
she said.

I laughed, "Well... about the ship?"

"Oh um... yes. You said you where interested in one of our
ships. You seemed to have a specific one in mind, but are
you sure I can't show you the rest? We just got in a ten
year old Centari Freighter; it would be perfect for your
needs," she said.

"I know which one I want--serial number 487-32515," I told
him.

He nodded, muttering the number under his breath as he dug
through some files in one of his drawers. Setting it on his
desk he opened it, and flipped through the papers. Looking
up, he stared at me, "Are you sure? I have a nice number
with a new hyper drive and--"

"No," I said, cutting him off. "That one will be perfect."

He nodded, "Alright then, I can work with that, but save
your judgment until you see the ship," he said. Then picking
the file up, he headed out the door.

I followed him, my backpack over my shoulder and Oriana
followed me.

"How much do you know about this ship?" Henderson asked.

I shrugged, "Very little actually, I know it's been cycling
the lots for about twenty years, and that you've had it for
six months."

He flipped through the file as we walked past a few ships
under construction, "Yes, also the ship itself is about
fifty years old, and has been a swap for spare parts for
years. It has sub-light drive only, partial life support, no
real functional computer core, minimal piloting systems. I
can't even tell you if the space frame can support the
current generation of hyper drives!"

"I knew it would be something like that," I said.

Oriana tapped me on the shoulder, "Why are you buying a
junker like this, then?" she whispered

"I plan to rebuild it. I mean, that's half the fun." I
whispered back.

She roller her eyes, "Whatever."

"Well," Henderson said, stopping in front of a ship, "This
is it."

I tilted my head and look at it. It was about two-hundred
feet tall, seven-hundred or so long, and I was unable to
tell how wide. It was a blackish blue in color, and had a
few windows here and there. Compared to the other ships in
the bay it looked blocky.

"Well... It's definitely an old ship. How's the inside?"

He chuckled, "In pieces, though the bridge is together, and
the only place under gravity."

I pulled out the credit chit, and handed it to him, "We'll
take it."

He blinked, and took it from me, "Are you sure?"

"Yep."

He rolled his eyes, and pulled out a small device, in which
he placed the chit. Then pressing a few buttons, he pulled
the chit out, and passed it to me. "You're credit is fine,
the ship will be yours once we finish the paperwork. Though
I don't know how you plan to get it anywhere."

I put the chit back into my pocket, "I'll have someone come
to tow it a few light-years out. I plan to take it from
there."

He shook his head, and grinned. "Well, if you say so." He
then handed me the folder. "This has all the codes and
blueprints. The data-bit inside has details, and the repair,
replacement, and swapping history of every part."

I took the folder and flipped through it, reading through
what was there (I'd had the foresight to get the language,
spoken and written, downloaded into our translators, though
it cost me a good chunk of cash).

"Well, everything looks in order," I said, "It's been a
pleasure doing business with you. I would like to take a
look at the inside before we finish the paper work."

He grinned, "You bought that flying junk pile... I think
you'll get less pleasure out of it than I will from this
sale." He looked up at the ship, then back at us. "No
offence, but I'm not going inside that beast, but if you
want to, you can. I'll meet you back at the front office,"
he said with a soft chuckle.

"That's fine, it won't take more than half an hour," I told
him.

He gave us a tip of his head and started back to his office.

I grinned, walking down the length of the ship. "So, what do
you think?" I asked Oria.

She shook her head, "I think you just blew a good chunk of
cash."

I laughed, "Come on, Oriana! I picked this ship because it
_was_ such a junker. The idea is to rebuild it!"

"Fox, are you nuts?! There is no way you can rebuild this
thing by yourself."

"Ah, that's where you're right, and wrong." I said, stopping
next to an airlock.

"Oh?"

I nodded, dusting off the panel next to it. "Yep, the dock I
have has an automated system, and the old owner is
contracted to fifteen different companies. As I'm currently
renting it for a steal, all the contracts fall to me."

She rubbed her chin, "Well, that could help, but do you
really think you can rebuild it?"

"Yes." I said, as I punched in the code for the airlock.
There was a slight hiss as the door opened. I went inside.

Following me, Oria said, "Well... I guess I could help you."

I chuckled as I closed the outer door, and opened the inner
one, "I kind of thought so."

She shook her head as we headed up to the bridge, working
our way up the steps. A good chunk of the ship was in
pieces; in a few places you could see both sides of the
inside hull. Every few feet there was a missing wall panel,
or wiring on the floor, and once there was even no floor.

Eventually we made it to the bridge. "Fox, not to burst your
bubble, but how do you plan to get this to Prid?" Oria
asked.

I grinned, unshouldering my backpack, "Easy. I've paid to
have the ship dropped by the nearest megafold."

"And how do you plan to get to it without going to the
megafold yourself?"

"That's also easy," I said, pulling out a small radio-type
device, "When they leave, their instructions are to send a
message that will kick this on. It will send a signal back
to Prid. I've paid people to go through the megafold and
fetch the ship once that happens."

She furrowed her eyebrows as I connected it up, "How far
away from Prid is that?"

I grinned again, "About an AU. Remember Prid is a binary
star system--"

She cut me off, "--and megafolds form between stars. I
didn't think about that."

I dusted my hands off, "No one does, but that was one of the
main reasons that system was picked for the seat of the
Council. Come on, let's go."

"How long till it arrives on Prid?"

I shrugged, heading down the hall, "A week or so."

She chuckled a bit, "And while you wait?"

"I'll be reading the specs in this folder."

Oriana shook her head, and patted me on the back, "Good
idea, don't want you to get sucked into space or something."

I grinned, "Yes... that would be a bad thing."

-----

This story (AFiW #118) is copyright 1996, 2005 by Fox
Cutter. Hardcopy reprints limited to one per person, all
other rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for
a fee except by permission of the author, and this copyright
notice may not be removed.