“Thank you, Sir.”
“Do you mind if I ask how you came to be working for the Captain, here?”
“Some of the crew found my Dad and me marooned on Earth. I thought it would be more fun to work here, than to go back to Squirrel space.”
“Your Dad is okay with it?”
“He works here too. He’s away right now, but he’ll be back soon.”
Captain Dressi looked at me. “I feel like there is much to learn here. I will have to return when I can stay longer.”
I replied, “Feel free. It’s nice to meet a Squirrel who’s willing to do business, instead of wanting to blow us out of space.”
“The walnut vendors are powerful. You’re trying to cut into their market. They aren’t going to take that well.”
“How do you figure to move the walnuts you’ve traded for without getting in trouble with them?”
“Sell them well away from Oak, for one thing. They aren’t as powerful on the smaller colonies.”
Saucy stuck his head out the main hatch. “Boss, Captain Dressi needs to come and inspect our work.”
The Captain looked surprised. He turned to Saucy. “You are finished?”
“Yes, Sir. We would like to know if our work is up to your standard. If it isn’t, we’ll be glad to redo it so that it is.”
Captain Dressi went aboard to inspect the bunks. I noticed Tikki chatting up one of his helpers. Dingus said, “It’s not like she has a lot of people to socialize with around here, is it?”
I replied, “No, I don’t suppose so. Has Tex gotten ahold of you yet?”
“No, I haven’t spoken to him. What does he need?”
“Apparently, there’s a lady bot he’d like to see join the company. I told him you were in charge of acquisitions.”
“I’ll go by the bridge and see what he has to say, when we get done here.”
“Thanks. Gotta keep this crew happy.”
Captain Dressi came back out of his ship, the bots trailing behind. He said, “Captain Wilson, your crew is amazing. They put those bunks in better than I ever could have expected, and fast, too.”
I asked, “You won’t have any trouble getting them back out, when you’re done with them?”
“Nope. They’re put in with our regular quick-disconnect fasteners. Your people do good work. You must treat them well. They laughed at me when I tried to hire them.”
“Good workers like that, I’ve got to keep them happy.”
My comm rang. “Captain Wilson.”
Abe said, “Boss, are you ready to receive the passengers? I’ve got the first load, and I’m nearly aboard.”
“Bring ‘em on. They just finished putting in the bunks.”
“Be there in a minute, then.” The connection dropped. I said, “B-128, hang around a minute. They’re probably going to need help getting those folks aboard.”
“Sure, Boss. You think we might ought to move back so they can use the closest docking clamp?”
“Trying to save yourself some steps?”
“Yep. Is that a problem, Boss?”
“Not at all.” We all moved out of the way, so the ship could dock next to the other one. It still amazed me that we could open that great big hatch and not lose any air. The ship came in and settled into the docking clamp. Ace waved from the cockpit window. I waved back. The Marines formed a line and started passing the unconscious Squirrels out. The smaller bots formed their own line, and handed them into Captain Dressi’s ship. Once they were all transferred, they closed the hatch, and Ace took off to put the ship away. Abe came up to me, and said, “The other shipload were dirtier. It may take them longer to get cleaned up.”
“Was Morning Flower too upset about losing the cleaning help?”
“I think she was glad to be rid of them. She said they were too small to do much work, and too mouthy to get along with.”
Captain Dressi asked, “Why would she think they were too small? Our people aren’t that much smaller than yours.”
I replied, “She’s not one of my people. Her people are bigger and stronger than us.”
He got a strange look. “You mean there is another race of intelligent life?”
“Yep. Back home, they’re legendary, but this is their home planet, as near as we can tell.”
“What kind of people are they?”
“Folks back home call them Sasquatch. The ones here have taken to calling themselves Starfoot.”
He started messing with his watch. “All the information on this thing claims they aren’t real.”
“They are very good at hiding.”
“It also doesn’t mention anything about them having technology.”
“They haven’t developed much of their own, but they don’t have any trouble using it. Three shiploads of your cargo, here, were captured by some of their females, flying fighters.”
“Three shiploads? Really?”
“The way I hear it, they came in one ship at a time, meaning to rendezvous here, and ambush us when we returned from Oak. Morning Flower had other ideas.” He twitched again. I asked, “Why does it bother you so much that we went to Oak?”
“Because no monkeys are supposed to know we exist, much less how to get to Oak.”
“As far as I know, no monkeys do. Only the bot who pilots the ship. Heck, I don’t even know how to get to the system we’re in. We’re trying to keep it as secret as we can.”
“You mean you haven’t given the coordinates to the Commonwealth?”
“Nope. They have too many rules, makes it hard to do business the way we want to.”
“That’s a relief. The government back home is always afraid the Commonwealth
