The Bright Black Sea by C. Litka

at?'
    'The Indus and Lyra , Distant Star Line, Anna Li , a Circle Star Line tramp, Scarlet Sun , a
Rigtania Express, and two Azminn Worlds Express ships, the Sanre-tay Prime and Laslion Alpha . There are also
assorted Calissant tramps in orbit, but none are manned at the
present. Anything to add from your experience?'
    'Only that Captain Noy of the Lyra, is highly
regarded. Distant Star gives their captains a very free hand in
finding cargo, and Noy of the Lyra is their best,' I said,
pausing to consider what I wanted to say next.
    'However, tramp captains are leery of passengers –
should anything go wrong and passengers lost, it's likely the end
of your career and maybe the company's as well. We leave that trade
to the liners and the box tourist ships. I suspect even Noy would
defer the decisions about a three thousand immigrant cargo to the
Distant Star Line front office, and what they decide will likely
depend, on how bad they want those credits.'
    'But you don't have a problem carrying three thousand
immigrants?' Min asked, watching me closely.
    I shrugged. 'Candidly, I'd not be too heartbroken if
we don't get the charter. Still, keeping the Lost Star in
service is our prime priority so I'd not object, cargo's cargo. We
can handle it. It's merely the consequences of a mishap that give
me pause.'
    I was, indeed, less enthusiastic than when it was
merely a rock in the drift. The risks were slight, but meteors can
penetrate holds, container environmental units occasionally fail
and fires or mechanical malfunctions can deprive ships of power for
days, Rare, but somewhere in the space ways of Nine Star Nebula
they likely happen on a daily basis. Bad business for regular
cargo, but potential tragedies when it involves passengers. And at
the back of my mind, there was always the slight risk of pirates as
well. For these reasons Miccall never carried passengers,
period.
    'What about the freight lines? I'd say we'd have to
worry more about them than any tramp,' I said, perhaps too
hopefully.
    'Only two possible in the time frame, the Z-line Azimuth , leaving on the third of SecondSpring, and a
Tri-Star Packet Rigtania on 28 FirstSpring. Neither, of
course, serves Tiladore direct. Times being what they are, they
might be tempted to alter their run to call on Tiladore for 80
containers since it's not too far out of their usual track. More
likely they'd just offer to arrange transhipment from Sanre-tay. We
should be able to under bid them, their business departments are
unlikely to discount their standard passenger fare even for a three
thousand person package.'
    'Then we have the inside orbit.'
    'I believe so, and I intend to take advantage of it,'
she replied. 'Tiladore's first priority is getting their immigrants
off on schedule, so I want to make a prompt, competent impression
by getting our bid to them or their broker tomorrow morning.'
    'Right, let's jump up to the chart room and see what
we can work up,' I replied, seeing which way the drift was
flowing.
    As the dogs raced us up the access well, she said,
'I'm thinking we'll offer several price points and transit times,
to cover us in response to any competing bids... Failing to land
this contract, my only real alternative is sending it empty to
Sanre-tay at a loss.'
    'A minimal one if we take our time in transit, but
let's see how the figures work out.'
    We swung out onto the bridge deck, Astro and Orbit
waiting for us with wide grins.
    The dogs followed us to the chartroom and settled
quietly into the corner so I let them be. Min and I anchored
ourselves along side the large chart table and turned on the larger
chart screen on the forward bulkhead as well. I called up the
positions of Calissant and Tiladore and adjusted them for the
scheduled departure day while Min downloaded the manifest
information.
    Tiladore lays nearly opposite Calissant in the Azminn
system. The most direct course would plunge us deep into the sun's
gravitational well and use it to fling us back out