"So, you created this mess," she said, sounding a little more empathetic.
I most definitely had not created this mess for Alora. However, my saving her life repeatedly didn't fix things for her. And it certainly created a mess for me. So, yeah, after I thought about it, I did create a mess.
"Hey," Lin said softly as she returned to the galley. Thankfully, the marks were completely gone from her ankles already. I knew the pain was removed as well. There was no need to ask her and bring up the memory of what I had done. "I asked Portia to look into the financial situation for families in TruPort. Maybe we can help this girl out somehow."
"Thanks, Lin."
"We can't keep her, you know," Lin gave me the same line that Nancy had just a minute ago. That was the problem with having wives in your crew. Even as ship’s captain I would often be told what I can and cannot do.
"Yes, I know that," I answered agitatedly again.
"So, the way I understand it," Nancy said. "We need to help Alora's whole family somehow. Get them out of debt with this gang, relocate them and get them set up with a little money to keep them going until they find legitimate work. Does that sound right, honey?"
"Yes," I nodded as I thought about it. I was happy to hear both of my wives on board with the plan before I could even voice it. If we could do this thing for Alora, I could leave TruPort with a clean conscience and return to focusing on my own problems.
"We'll be back in a few weeks," Lin said as she rubbed my shoulder consolingly. "We can check on her again then."
"She can be your little pet project," Nancy added. Lin and I both gave her a disapproving stare from her use of the word pet.
Alora slept for a few hours as we went about our business. I left her door open so she wouldn't feel like a captive. We just stayed a little quieter than usual. It was harder for Nancy. Her happy loud side was resurfacing from her joy of having me back. It was much easier to tolerate than her angry loud side.
Our cargo was scheduled to arrive the next morning. Portia would have that loaded by lunchtime then we could get queued for a late afternoon or evening launch, depending on how busy the spaceport got. I wasn't necessarily in a hurry to leave Pegillas. But for once, I'd be more comfortable back in space.
Our next stop was Teegarden. Recent prices for what we were about to transport looked good there. Especially the gems that stored daylight. I expected to profit an extra twenty-five thousand credits on that decision. That was good, because I just agreed to give five thousand to Alora's family.
That kind of money for a Peggy household was life changing, like winning the lottery back on Earth. It could set them up for years if they spent it wisely. I would entrust Alora to make those decisions. We were working on a way to have an account set up specifically for her. The family would then depend on her generosity. Based on my feel for the girl that shouldn't be an issue.
Portia came to me with a problem shortly after that decision. She found a discrepancy in the finances. Our invoice for the lighting gems was exactly five thousand less that what I was claiming we paid for them. I hadn't had a chance to add a special handling fee to the transaction yet to cover my tracks.
I didn't like being dishonest with anyone. That policy just recently included androids. So I told her what I had done.
There were apparently different tiers of laws for androids. There were the basic laws of robotics from centuries ago. If I recalled currently, those were written by a science fiction author, not a robotics engineer. Then was the obedience to the laws of the Galactic Merchant Federation. After that was a guideline structure that had a lot of flexibility. For example, Portia shouldn't break someone's arm. However, if she believes that breaking that arm could save a human life, she may choose to do so.
The last layer of rules was compliance with the policies of procedures of the android's owner. Though I referred to Portia as my android regularly, in my mind if not verbally, she did not actually belong to me. She was property of Oxeonn.
My questionable accounting practices was a red flag for her. I took a real risk in being straight up about it. Yet, I felt it was the right call. We had started off poorly, since the entire crew was hesitant to accept an android as a member of the crew. But since then I felt we had bonded significantly. Was that just me bonding to her? Or was she feeling the same way? A stupid question, if I let myself reason it out.
"Captain, you are claiming that five thousand credits of Oxeonn funds were spent on a special handling fee of the Pegillas gems?"
"That is correct."
"That is the five thousand credits that we plan to supply Alora's family?"
"Correct again."
"My programming requires an explanation," she declared.
I thought, oh shit. I made a mistake. On my very first route circle I fucked up and risked my job as captain of this ship. I needed to go back to thinking that she wasn't a real person.
"Please submit a statement that the account set up for Alora directly impacts our profitability on the
