The Long Forever. Eugene Lambert

and Anuk swap looks, neither of them happy. Other kids mutter. Nobody likes to be reminded of a debt.

      ‘What Sky means is we’d welcome your help,’ I say.

      Murdo chuckles. Sky glares daggers at him, but he’s not bothered. He waits until everyone’s looking at him, then spreads his arms wide.

      ‘So now you know what Sky wants to do,’ he says. ‘But what do you want to do? The way I see it, we should all get a say in what our next move is. It seems only fair.’

      Sky’s scowl darkens, but what can she say?

      The kids look confused, some anxious even. And it’s not hard to see why. Their whole lives will have been about doing what they’re told, without question.

      ‘We . . . get to choose?’ one kid says, uncertainly.

      Murdo holds his hands out to them, like our old preacher used to back in Freshwater. ‘Course you do. That’s how things work when you’re free. You’ve got rights.’

      They stare at him, transfixed.

      ‘Sky wants to chase after her sister,’ he goes on. ‘And that’s fine by me. If I can help her, I will. But a landing on Enshi Four is fierce risky. No way am I signing up for that. Neither should you guys, if you want to live.’

      Sky looks like she’ll explode. Not for the first time I wish she didn’t have that blaster.

      ‘What’s so risky about it?’ I say, quickly.

      ‘Everything! Sneaking a landing on a world isn’t like sticking a windjammer down in a field. Whoever sent this freighter to Wrath, they’ll be big-time operators. They won’t take kindly to us grabbing their ship, so why would we go running back to them? It’s plain mad.’

      ‘We make sure we don’t run into them,’ Sky growls.

      ‘Best way to do that is to steer clear of Enshi Four!’ Murdo snaps back. He winces, clearly still hurting, and looks at the nublood kids. ‘Look, I’ll be straight with you –’

      ‘You don’t know how!’ Sky says.

      ‘Don’t I?’ His gaze never leaves the kids. ‘Listen, I stowed away on this crate to get back off-world, and because chances like this don’t come along twice in one lifetime. And it worked out. Take a look around. Here we are in control of a star freighter, with me to fly it wherever we want, a cargo bay full of the richest mineral in the galaxy and a ready-made crew in you guys. I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.

      ‘You should too. Think about it: you guys have gone from nailed-on doomed to being able to do whatever you want! Why the frag would you risk that?’

      I roll my eyes. ‘You’ve got a better idea, huh?’

      ‘Damn right I do. We’ve got a month before we’re due at Enshi. A month before we’ll be missed and anybody will come looking for us. I say we use that time to flog our darkblende cargo. Even if we only get half what it’s worth on the dark market, that’s still a fraggin’ fortune. We could trade up to a better ship, one nobody’s looking for. Set up as a legit free-trader, smuggle bootleg stuff on the side. It’s that kind of money, with plenty to go around.’

      Sky’s lip twitches. ‘And I should forget about Tarn?’

      Murdo sighs heavily, like he’s offended.

      ‘Did I say that? No. I just figure we should get ourselves sorted first, and then we can all do what we like. With your share, you could buy yourself passage to Enshi. That way nobody would see you coming. You’d have creds to loosen tongues and get answers. You could pay some of these kids to come with you as backup, if they were up for that.’

      I’m liking this better with every word he says. Sky must see this on my face, because I get glared at big time. But being glared at is better than being dead.

      ‘Maybe Murdo’s right,’ I say.

      The nublood kids watch us, their tough faces not giving much away. I wish I could say the same about Sky.

      ‘Every second we waste,’ she spits through her scowl, ‘something awful could be happening to Tarn.’

      Murdo throws his hands up. ‘You don’t know that. And I’ll tell you something else, Sky, your sister won’t be on Enshi Four. Not a chance. She’ll have been sold and shipped out soon after she got there. She could be anywhere in the sector by now. You’ve seen the stars – that’s a whole lot of anywhere. If you want to find her, your best chance is to ask the guys I’ll be trying to sell the darkblende to. If anybody can help you track her down, it’ll be them.’

      Sky goes to snarl back at him, but starts coughing.

      ‘Okay, Murdo, we hear you,’ I say. ‘But would this freighter have any med supplies?’

      ‘I’ll be fine,’ Sky croaks.

      Murdo hesitates. ‘Bound to. Somewhere.’

      ‘Can you find them?’ I say, crossly.

      ‘Sure. Soon as we sort out what we’re doing. We need to elect a captain and a quartermaster, so we might as well get that done too while we’re all gathered together.’

      He explains this is how crews on free-traders have organised themselves since the days of sail back on Earth in the Long Ago. Everyone gets a say in big decisions, like where to go and what to do. The captain leads when there isn’t time for discussion, like in a battle. The quartermaster has the same day-to-day authority as the captain, but looks after the crew’s interests. He or she keeps order and settles any disputes. Captain and quartermaster get two shares of any profits, the rest of the crew get one. Either can be voted out at any time if the crew is unhappy.

      ‘Don’t tell me,’ Sky says, when Murdo’s done rattling through all this. ‘You figure on being captain.’

      He grins at her, then around at the nublood kids.

      ‘Sure. I’ll be throwing my name into the hat. Don’t forget, I’m the only one who can fly this freighter. And only I have the contacts to sell the darkblende to!’

      The nublood kids huddle and swap whispers.

      Sky shoots a disgusted look at me. But what can I do?

      ‘Okay,’ Murdo says. ‘If you want me as your captain, stick your hand in the air to be counted.’

      Pretty much all the kids hoist their hands. I’m tempted, but don’t. Sky just sneers and folds her arms.

      Murdo grins and treats us to a stiff little bow.

      ‘Thank you. A sound choice, if you don’t mind me saying so. Now then, who shall we have as our quartermaster?’

      I worry eyes might slide my way. They don’t. Cam calls out that he’ll do it. But Anuk gets shoved forward to stand against him, and collects way more hands. She looks as pleased about this as if she’s been shot. Cam looks gutted. There’s loads of good-humoured shouting, so it takes Murdo a while to get them to listen to him again. Beside me, I feel Sky stiffen.

      ‘One last thing to decide before we go back to celebrating,’ he yells. ‘I say we look up my old contacts, flog the darkblende and get ourselves settled. Sky says we risk our necks to hunt for her sister. What do you guys say?’

      ‘That’s not fair,’ I protest.

      Murdo ignores this. ‘Who’s with me?’

      Hands are slower going up this time, but up they go until he grunts with satisfaction. It’s a big win for him.

      ‘Anybody for Sky?’

      Anuk sticks her hand up. So do two others. I raise mine too, but only so that Sky sees.

      Her lip wrinkles. Bleak-faced, she stomps off down to the lower deck and the sleeping quarters. Truth is, I’m glad the vote went the way it did. But I hate seeing her