Part 14

Alright, fine. I'd rather not put up with Slev sulking for the next year.



We are on the same ship as Lady Shimmer.
Wait, no! It's more than that! She's on our ship! We're giving her a ride!
So it seems.
I can't believe this. I seriously can't believe it. This is the greatest day of my life.
Right. Just so we're clear, will you be spending the whole journey hiding in the bathroom?
...yes.



Ah! There's my shuttle. They'll be taking me from here. Thanks so much for your help, pumpkin. Bye bye, now.
Whoa, whoa. What happened to "I'll make it worth your while"?
Oh, I nearly forgot! Here you go.
And these are...?
Tickets.
Tickets?
To my show. Not this show, but I'll be performing on Vexx in...sixteen months, I think? These'll get you the best seats in the house. On me.
Wow. Thanks so much.
No problem, sugar. And don't you worry about the price. They're free.
Yeah. You said that.
...did I?
Yes, you...
Oh. Ohhh. "On you." I get it. My bad.



Is she gone?
Yeah. You're safe.
Did you get her autograph for me?
No, but I did get two tickets to her show.
...
_eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Well. At least someone's happy.



A decidedly odd woman, sirs, if you'll forgive my impertinence.
Why do you say that?
Well, sir. Before departing, she saw fit to press her mouth into my helmet, sir.
She did what?
Hey-hey! Guess you must have caught her eye, you dog. Good for you.
I'm afraid I don't see what's good about it, sir.
...you don't?
No, sir. I don't know what manner of substance she had applied to her lips, but it left quite a mark on the visor, sir.
Did it now.
Yes, sir. It was very troublesome to remove, sir.
Was it now.
Yes, sir. I am unsure as to why she would wish to inconvenience me so, sir. I only meant to assist, sir.
How TERRIBLE for you.
Uh, dude? You might want to stop talking now.
I'm sorry, sir. Have I misspoken?
...I, uh...I'll explain when you're older.
Very good, sir.





Hey Tark'la, listen to this. Apparently any company in Kukubia that's signed up with the Trader's Union is entitled to free warehouse space. I went ahead and requested some for us.
Warehouse space?
Yes. We'll get one warehouse on each planet, and we can use them to store extra commodities; you know, if there's a lot to buy but we can't fit it all on the ship? They can hold up to fifty tons each, I think.
Oh, cool. So it's basically like having a bigger cargo bay, then.
Er...not really. I mean, if we put goods in our Vexx warehouse then they'll still be on Vexx once we leave. We can't sell them from somewhere else.
Well, yeah. But we can arrange to have the stuff shipped from warehouse to warehouse, right? Without having to fly it there ourselves, I mean.
...I don't think so, no.
...
I'm not really seeing how this is useful to us, Slev.
Well...you know. If we buy some cheap goods and put them in the warehouse, then come back later when they're more expensive...we could take them out again and sell them?
So IF there's more stuff to buy than we have room for, and IF we happen go back to the right planet at the right time, and IF the price of the goods is higher than it was when we bought them, we MIGHT be able to sell them for a profit. And it MIGHT be worth more than whatever interest we'd have gotten if we hadn't spent the money to begin with.
...did I mention it's free, though? I don't know if I mentioned that.
Notice I haven't smacked you upside the head? Yeah. You mentioned it.








Oh, hey. Look at this awful selection of goods. It's almost like we paid 6,000 kubars for advertisements on Xeen and then didn't go to Xeen for some reason.
...
Still worth it.