Owner's Share (Trader's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper) by Nathan Lowell

time.”
    “What about the sail generators? You said they need work?”
    “New coils. They flex over time. The metal gets fatigued and they need to be replaced. They’re standard parts and any competent re-fitter should be able to deal with them. It’s just one of those things that you’ll want to.”
    “Thanks for this,” Kirsten said. “I’ve had ships inspected before but this is the first time I’ve gone along to see.”
    The chief chuckled. “I’ll send you my bill.”
    “Please do.” Kirsten smiled. “We owe you for this. While we’re at it, do you want to look over the galley and the bridge?”
    “I’d love to. I’ve heard about these Higbee’s but this is the first one I’ve been on.”
    The two of them wandered off toward the ladder and left me standing in engineering. I wondered how far they’d go before they realized I wasn’t with them. They disappeared through the hatch on the first deck, still chattering away. Kirsten had her tablet out, taking more notes.
    I chuckled to myself and wandered back through the stores locker and onto the cargo deck. The ship almost thrummed from the sound of blowers cranked up on high to facilitate the change of air. The main deck was one of the largest open spaces I’d ever seen in a ship. I figured the space to be ten meters wide, perhaps as much as thirty meters long, and close to four meters from deck to overhead. That seemed like a lot of volume to me. I considered the general criticism on the design that said it was difficult to get a full nine and a half metric kilotons aboard. Filing that observation away, I wandered forward and up the ladder to the first deck to look for the others.
    I found them on bridge with Chief Gerheart on her hands and knees, her head stuck inside a console. I could see the flashes from her light shining out through the cracks.
    Her voice echoed in the metal cabinetry. “No, these are okay. I’d leave it up to the next owner to replace them or not.” She sneezed. “Needs cleaning, though.”
    Kirsten actually giggled. “I’m not surprised at this point.” She saw me climb up the ladder. “Hi, Captain.”
    “Hello, Kirsten. Is Chief Gerheart giving you the lowdown?”
    “Oh, yeah. Greta’s been very helpful.”
    I didn’t react to the use of her first name, but things seemed to have progressed a bit. I found that intriguing given the chief’s past.
    The chief backed out of the cabinet, and stood. She started to dust down the front of her shipsuit and realized that the slime on it wasn’t quite dry, and that she really didn’t want it on her hands again.
    “Okay, you two,” Kirsten said after a heartbeat. “Recommendations?”
    I nodded for the chief to go first. “Well, I gave you the list in engineering for that space. There’s the one problematic chiller in the galley. You’ll want to have all those galley fittings gone over.” She paused and looked around the small bridge. “The electronics here are a bit dated, but adequate. The fiber-optics look sound, and the linkages seem okay. You’d need a good systems person to check out the internals there.” She shrugged. “That’s about it.”
    Kirsten looked at me. “Captain?”
    I thought about it for a few heartbeats. “You’ve got a lot of routine work that needs doing. Stuff that a crew should have done as a matter of course, but I’m guessing morale may have been a problem.”
    Chief Gerheart nodded agreement, her mouth pinched together in a rueful-looking grimace.
    “From my perspective, you have a couple of choices. Leave it for the new owner to deal with, and discount the price. Or you can fix it up and try for the best deal possible.”
    She looked at me with a frown. “The way you say that makes me think you’re not interested in buying it yourself.”
    The chief and I shared a glance. Kirsten saw it but before she worked out enough to ask, I said, “I might be, but after meeting with Larks, and doing a little homework of my own, I