Disturbing Implications of Land Rising into the Sky

[robkelk]

"People, people..." They weren't listening. "PEOPLE!"

It's amazing how yelling at a bickering mob can get them to agree on something. Usually what they agree on is that they don't like being interrupted, but at least shouting at them gets their attention.

"Now that you're paying attention to your host..." At least some of them had the decency to look embarassed. "...we have to work out who's going to pay the Grover's Corners a visit."

"Don't they have room enough in their landing bay for all of our ships?"

I recognized the voice; it was a Senshi who I'd done business with in the past. "I don't know, Leda, but let's put it this way: If Crystal Tokyo had a choice between a dozen ships suddenly showing up and a hundred ships suddenly showing up, which would their traffic control prefer?"

"Oh, ... right."

One of the Hidden Asteroid yahoos looked like he was about to say something stupid; I went on before he could open his mouth. "Add to that the fact that a lot of people skipped right past Stellvia and have already docked with our newest neighbours. We're probably looking at barging in on a bunch of folks who already have a lot more visitors than they planned for right after launching. So, who absolutely has to be in the first group of visitors, and who can wait for a while?"

Before anyone could answer, the intercom beeped. "Mr. Scott, the crew of the Epsilon Blade says that cargo loading is complete. They're ready for passengers now."

I thumbed my palmtop computer on, switched its foreground program to "intercom", and spoke into its microphone. "Thank you, control. Please inform the Epsilon Blade that I and six other passengers will be there shortly. Scott out." I turned back to the crowd as I thumbed the palmtop off. "You all heard what I said - six passengers besides me. Since there are more than six factions represented here, somebody's going to have to wait, or get there on their own. Who here has their own ships?"

The Heinleinians raised their hands, as did the Buccaneers and the Browncoats. The Gearheads' commander piped up. "We can squeeze in three or four passengers in our mechs."

The Warsie delegation's leader added, "We have room for a dozen supernumeraries in our launch."

"I'll leave the others to you then, Mr. Solo, Mr. Duo." I know it was traditional for Fen to take false names to avoid the 'Danelaw, but why did they have to take such obviously false names? "I think that covers the bases. I'll go first, with one representative each from the ..." I caught myself before I used any of the faction nicknames "... Crystal Millennium, the Interstellar Alliance, the United Federation of Planets, ..." You'd think the Trekkies would have had their own ship. "... the Musician's Aid Society, the Watch, and the Barsoomians."

"But no Ninjas, huh?"

I looked straight at the sneering, snot-nosed brat. "You folks make a point of traveling in threes. I have room for one person per faction. Why would I offer to break up your group?"

He deflated visibly. (Now is not the time to pick a fight, moron.) "I guess that makes sense." The idiot walked over to the Warsie commander and started whispering to him.

I turned back to the others. "If you've decided who's going with me, let's head down to the landing slip."

---

"Noah, we're ready to launch as soon as our passengers settle in in the lounge. I've taken the liberty of securing the hatches to the crew quarters and your cabin."

"Thank you, Yayoi." Securing the hatch to the crew quarters meant nobody'd be able to wander back to the weapons locker or the turret. "Sora's in engineering; would you be kind enough to assist me on the bridge?"

Which meant I didn't have to unlock the door to my own cabin, so nobody'd be wandering in there, either. My personal pilot's a smart girl. "Certainly, Yayoi. I'll be right there, as soon as I make sure our passengers are comfortable."

A few minutes later, we were away. Five minutes later (we took things slowly to avoid colliding with the Inelegant Truth, who'd just beat us to our new comrades), we were there. "Hello, Grover's Corners, this is the SS Epsilon Blade out of space station Stellvia, requesting permission to land. We've got nine people aboard who'd like to say hello to you in person. We also have some communications equipment I suspect you'd appreciate having, and one of the people aboard is an engineer who knows how to install it. Awaiting your reply..."

---

Edit: At which point, I fully expect Wire Geek to let the Grover's Corners folks know that Noah has a reputation for not simply giving things away. Won't they be surprised when they ask the price of the comm system...