Pip nodded. “He makes them, and by the looks, he’s darn good at it, too.”
“He makes them? Here? On the ship?”
Pip nodded. “Yeah. He knits, too. Claims sailors on the clipper ships used to do it to pass the time and he’s been teaching himself for the last couple of stanyers. They sold well, so, to each his own, I guess.”
“Excellent. What’d the belt buckle guy say?”
“He’ll give us a good price, probably between ten and fifteen creds, depending on quantity, but of course we have to take them off-station. I explained we’re leaving for St. Cloud in a couple days so that wasn’t an issue. That really was his biggest concern.”
“What’s the mass look like?” I pulled up my quota on my tablet. “I have about eight kilos.”
Pip nodded. “I’ve got a little more, but about the same. The question is how many buckles do we buy?”
“We can’t afford too many-” I started to say but then I noticed Pip’s grin.
“Three thousand creds will buy a lot of buckles. How many do you think you can put in eight kilos of mass?”
“You gentlemen should think about this carefully, I think,” Cookie interrupted us. “Pip, you should either get off the ship, or change your clothing. Young Ishmael needs to clean up the galley and mess deck. Then you’ll both be free for the entire evening to discuss this all you like.”
He was right so we split up. I floated through the next stan or so of work.
Chapter 23
Margary Station
2352-January-12
We picked up the conversation later in the sauna. “We’re missing something.”
“What’s that?” Pip basked sleepily on one of the benches.
“The Mercantile Cooperative.”
“Miss it? I was staring at it all day.”
“I know, but I think I’m starting to see what the captain was talking about. What’s going to happen to the booth for the next couple of days?”
“Nothing as far as I know. We don’t have anything left to sell.”
“Yeah, so we’re out twenty creds rent for the time we paid for but won’t use. It’s a shame. There could be others on the ship who could benefit, but because they don’t know about it, they’re out of luck.”
“With the margins we got today, that twenty creds is a rounding error. But I take your meaning about the rest of the crew. There’s another thing too.”
“What’s that?”
“Time in port is limited and if you and I have to spend all day selling, we won’t be able to buy anything.”
That thought had been banging up against the inside of my skull already as well.
He sat up and looked at me. “Okay, some lessons learned. First, this was a last tick idea. Whatever we did here was really just testing the water.”
I nodded in agreement. “Who’d have thought, huh?”
Pip grinned. “Obviously, the captain, because if I remember correctly, she warned us of most of this.”
“True.”
“So, how does a mercantile cooperative work, anyway? We’re thinking like traders but we need to act like businessmen. So what do we do?”
“I don’t know, but there is someone who does.”
Pip looked at me and we both said, “The captain.”
“Okay, before we bother her…” I held up my hand and counted off with my fingers, “…we need to figure out what it’s supposed to be, how it might work in our situation, and who we can get to help us.”
Pip bobbed his head once. “The first should be easy. The second would be better discussed after we have an answer to the third.”
“Makes sense, and I’m ready to get out of here.”
We showered up and went out to find who else might be aboard.
Turns out there weren’t many.
“Hey, how’s it going? Do you have a few minutes to talk?” I asked Francis when we found him in environmental.
“Sure, I just need to keep an eye on the gauges and fill out my logs. What’s on your mind?”
Pip and I looked at each other and he nodded at me to start. “Well, we did pretty well in the flea market yesterday, don’t ya think?”
“Oh yeah, that was not only fun, but profitable as well. I’m going back tomorrow afternoon and see what I can pick up to take to St. Cloud.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s what we wanted to talk about.”
“You’ll have another booth there, won’t you?”
Pip chimed in, “That’s what we’re trying to determine. Margary was a spur of the moment thing and we weren’t very organized.”
Francis chuckled. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“We have five weeks to figure out how to do better on St. Cloud and we’re trying to make this work for everybody without having Pip and me spend all our time at it.” I summed the situation up for him.
“And we’d like to organize it so that the expenses are covered,” Pip added. “Ish and I paid for the booth out of our own pocket, and it wasn’t that much, but if we’re going to do this all the time then we should share the expense. Plus, there are other things that we should get to make it easier.”
“Like chairs?” Francis asked.
I nodded and grinned. “Yeah, chairs, food, signs, whatever we need to do a professional job out there.”
Pip added, “I’d like to have a grav-pallet set up like the regulars do so all we have to do is slide it out of the cargo lock and drag it up to the flea market.”
“Whose mass would that come out of?” Francis asked.
“We don’t know. That’s just the point. Maybe we can get it assigned to Lois, but what we need now are people who are willing to form a co-op to do this on an ongoing basis. If we can get a core group who’ll be responsible for organizing this between ports, then we should be able to make out better from here on out.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Makes sense to me. When are we doing this?”
Pip shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re just testing the waters to see who is interested at this point.”
Francis didn’t even pause. “I’m in. I had a ball out there and I’d love to do it again. Hell, just watching Diane and Beverly play the crowd was worth the price of admission. If you want me to contribute to the rental fund, just let me know.”
I shook my head. “Nothing is needed just now. The captain actually paid the rental from ship’s funds and paid back the ship. We just need to think this through more.”
“Okay, look it’s time for my rounds,” Francis said, “but count me in. I made more creds yesterday than I did all of last stanyer. If we can do that all the time, that would be great.”
Pip and I both nodded. “Thanks, Francis. Spread the word if you can. Let us know about anybody else who is interested. We’ll try to set up a meeting for just after pull out.”
We headed back to the berthing area and I turned to Pip. “Do you have a handle on stores trades for St. Cloud?”
He shrugged. “Between the Sarabanda and the mushrooms, we’re in good shape. We’re bound for Dunsany Roads after that and there’s a lot of similarities between the two. To get a good margin, it’s better if there is more of a difference.”
“How about the empty container?”
He shrugged again. “I met with Mr. Maxwell while you were in the booth. The beefalo robes were popular but the rugs didn’t sell. We’re taking them to St. Cloud. Having a planet under you and room to spread out might make them more viable. I should have considered that.”
