A Gift for Baba 06/08/2021 - 5:01 PM
By: Will Weissbaum
Writer's Note: A Gift for Baba (Part Two) first appeared in Jump Point 5.10. Read Part One here and Part Two here. Original artwork by Sean Andrew Murray. Part Three Daymar, by far the best with knots, had been put in charge of tying the unconscious smuggler to one of the rear utility seats on the bridge. It had taken all three of them working together to move the rather large and limp Rose into position. Yela had sympathetically cringed every time they had bumped the woman’s head or limbs as they dragged her along, but there was no time to be overly careful and as Cellin pointed out, the woman had held them hostage aboard her ship, so a few bumps and bruises seemed only fair.
“I think this mutiny is going really well,” said Daymar as he finished securing Rose’s hands.
“Now all we have to do is comm someone to rescue us,” said Yela, striding towards the control terminal.
“You’re supposed to ask my permission,” said Cellin. “It was my mutiny, so I’m the captain now.”
Cellin had been quite brave and daring during their escape, though Yela. Maybe she deserved to be called captain for a little bit. “Permission to use the comms, Captain?”
“Permission granted.”
“Actually, I don’t think it is,” said Yela. She tapped repeatedly on the terminal, but it remained dark. “The comms, flight controls. None of the external control terminals are responding.”
Daymar and Cellin rushed to the console and tried to activate it themselves, but nothing worked.
“Did leaking the air break it?” asked Daymar.
“I don’t think so,” said Yela. “Otherwise Cellin wouldn’t have been able to use the security controls to free us from the cargo hold. Plus, you can see the processing lights on the side activate when I press on the surface. No, I think the main screens must be locked.”
“What a dirty trick,” said Cellin, pounding her small fist angrily against the terminal.
“Careful! You might break —” Yela paused mid-sentence as she noticed a small hatch shake loose on the side of the main terminal. “What’s that?”
Cellin lifted the cover on the hatch. Inside was a number pad.
“That’s just like on the crates down in the cargo bay,” said Daymar. “You think the computer leads to a secret treasure too?” He looked down to the furry sniblet perched on the shoulder of his pressure suit. “Hear that, Rodin? Maybe there’s another sculpture for you to eat!”
“Try using code 2380 again,” instructed Yela.
Cellin carefully entered the digits, but all that happened was that the little light on the pad flashed red.
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t it work this time?”
“Because a good smuggler is a paranoid smuggler,” a deep, raspy voice informed them.
The children turned to see that Rose had awoken. The woman glared at the children with a pained expression on her face. “I’ll give you the atmosphere thing. It was a good trick. Gave me one beast of a headache.” The large woman pulled on her restraints, testing their strength. Thankfully, Daymar’s knots held. “But fun times are over. There’s no way you’re gonna figure out how to unlock the main ship controls, and even if you did, it wouldn’t do you any good. Do you even know where we are? Look out there,” she said gesturing with her head to the cockpit-glass.
Outside was darkness and a spattering of twinkling stars, but little else.
“You know why I chose this spot? Because it’s thousands of klicks from the closest anything in Croshaw. No one’s going to find you out here. Trust me. My specialty is flying under the radar. Plus, since you all decided it would be such a good idea to completely vent the atmosphere, I’d say we only have a few more hours of breathing left. Think you can find help by then?”
Yela crossed over to the life support monitor. Rose was telling the truth; their oxygen supply was severely depleted. So much for her brilliant plan to free her siblings.
“See? Your best bet is to untie me right now. You do that and I promise I’ll take you back to Sol. How about it? We have an accord?”
“Maybe we should,” said Daymar. “I don’t want to run out of oxygen.”
“Ah, the sniblet,” said Rose, noticing the small creature on Daymar’s shoulder. “I was wondering how you got out of the hold. Smart. I definitely underestimated you three. Now untie me before I lose my patience.”
“You’re underestimating us again if you think we’re going to untie you just like that,” said Yela, stepping protectively in front of Daymar. “Tell us the code first, then we can discuss the terms of your release.”
“See. That’s what I’m talking about. Smart,” said Rose. “But I’m smart, too. I know my negotiation history. The Helberg Treaty. The Ealing-Lester Moot. All the same. I tell you the code and then you have no reason to let me go. So, why would I do that?”
Cellin stepped over to the alcove in the back of the bridge and pulled out the formidable rifle Rose kept stored there. Though it was almost as long as she was tall, she managed to hoist the end of the barrel up so it was aimed squarely at their captive. “Because I’m the captain now and you have to do what I say.”
Yela almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Cellin was always quick to take action, but this? Daymar summed up Yela’s feelings succinctly when he said, “Woah.”
“Tell us the code.”
Rose’s response was not what Cellin was expecting. The smuggler grinned down at the little girl and the massive gun. “Nice try, little girl, but that rifle’s nothing but a family antique. My great-grandfather brought it home from the Unification Wars. Hasn’t worked in centuries. I just keep it around to scare people like you. Don’t believe me, give it a squeeze.”
Cellin had thought to just scare the smuggler with the gun, but now the woman was taunting her. Rose had kidnapped them, threatened their lives, and even though she was tied to a chair, was still acting like they were just some kids she could boss around. Cellin hated when adults thought they could do whatever they wanted just because they were bigger and older. If she had to follow the rules and be nice, why didn’t they?
Whether the gun was broken or not broken — Cellin didn’t really care. One way or another she was going to make Rose listen.
“Fine! I will!” Cellin aimed the gun at Rose’s left boot and reached for the trigger. But before she could attempt to fire, Yela put a hand on her sister’s shoulder.
“Cellin, wait.”
Cellin didn’t want to wait. Her brother and sister’s lives depended on getting that code. She had to protect her family. “We have to get the code. It’s the only way.”
For what seemed like a very long moment, Yela thought about stepping back and letting Cellin do things her way. With the atmosphere running out, the stakes were dire. Shouldn’t they do anything in their power to get the code? But then she thought about what would happen afterwards. What would her brave and bold sister be like then? She thought about the time they were visiting Baba and had found a credit-chit on the floor of the market.
After they found the money, they had wanted to keep it at first, but Baba asked them, “Do you know who TipTop Tupper is?” The children hadn’t, so Baba explained that TipTop Tupper was the best, most kind, most brave, most clever Human that ever lived or ever would. “Whenever I’m not sure what to do, I try to guess how TipTop would do it. Figure if it’s good enough for the best Human, it’s good enough for me.”
“We can get out of this, and we can do it the right way,” said Yela. She turned to her brother. “Daymar, what do you think TipTop would do if they were trapped in a ship losing air?”
Daymar thought for a second before answering, “Well, I’m not sure. TipTop probably wouldn’t hurt someone. Definitely not someone tied to a chair.”
“What do you think, Cellin? What would TipTop do?”
Cellin hesitated. It had been years since they first learned about TipTop and returned that nice woman’s lost money. For the most part, they had outgrown the game, but the hours they spent guessing and arguing about how the best Human in the universe would tackle life’s problems came back to her. With a sigh, Cellin lowered the gun. “TipTop would figure out the code using smarts.”
“That’s what I think, too. Want to help me?”
“We’re not untying her, though.”
“Agreed. Not even TipTop would trust her.”
“Hey!” protested Rose, but the children ignored her as they left the bridge and headed into the adjoining crew quarters. “Who the heck is TipTop?”
- * *
“We’re looking for four numbers that would be important to her. Something like her birthday or the last four digits in her registration,” instructed Yela as she and her two siblings began searching through Rose’s quarters. “See if you can find anything that stands out.”
“How do we do that in this mess?” asked Daymar, lifting up a discarded bag and peering at the small piles of coins scattered underneath. “There’s numbers everywhere.” Daymar picked up a hexagonal coin with a hollow center, and inspected it. Seeing that the only number on it was a five, he fed it to Rodin. The small creature hungrily munched on the metal; clearly it was starting to get its appetite back.
“You’re wasting your time,” shouted Rose from the bridge, “and oxygen. Four-digit codes have thousands of possible combinations. You’ll never guess the right one.”
“Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine!” returned Daymar. “We already tried one.”
“And anyway, we don’t need to guess. We’re going to figure it out.”
“Look for stuff that’s out in the open,” suggested Cellin. “I know at home, the things I care about usually wind up on top of all the other garbage. Like this.” She held up a small glass sphere that had a holo-image frozen inside. “It looks like Rose standing in a hole.”
Cellin handed it to Yela so she could take a look. “She’s at a dig site. The label says ‘Graduate Thesis, Kolkata.’ No number, but if she graduated from school, that year could be the code. See if there’s a diploma or something around.”
“You’re way off track!” shouted Rose from the other room. “It’s just four random digits. Impossible to guess. Very secure.”
“Not likely,” said Yela as she sorted through the contents on the desk. “Our father taught a series of classes on xeno-cryptology and I know that most passwords are inspired by personal significance. Truly random passwords are almost non-existent. In fact, almost 73% of four digit codes are years. Your other code, 2380? Probably a meaningful year.”
“Wrong!”
“Oh yeah? Then why is there a 2380 on that book?” asked Daymar, pointing to the shelf.
Yela grabbed the volume in question. October 20th, 2380: A Step Too Far. “It’s about the Stanley Mutiny. 2380 was the year that the Unification War began.”
“You said she had a lot of books about that, right?”
“Yeah, more than any other. Seems like it’s one of her favorite periods in history.”
“Coincidence!” yelled Rose.
“She said that the rifle was from the Unification War, too,” said Cellin.
“You’re right! Her great-something brought the gun home when the war was over.”
All three children’s eyes went wide with realization at the same time. “When the war was over!”
Yela quickly flipped opened the book and scanned for the date she was looking for.
Rushing back to the console, past a protesting Rose, Yela keyed 2-3-8-4 into the number pad, the year the Unification War ended.
Almost as if by magic, the main terminal sprang back to life as readouts and ship status alerts flooded the screen.
“It worked!”
“We did it!”
The three siblings embraced, celebrating the moment and feeling a sense of relief for the first time in what seemed like a very long time. Yela laughed as her cheek accidentally brushed against Rodin’s furry body, and Cellin grinned widely at the sight of Rose’s displeasure.
“But we’re not in the clear yet. Let’s send out that distress comm and get rescued.”
Yela brought up the comm screen and began to scan for open channels in the area. Almost immediately, a ship popped up on the notifications. “I’ve got a contact! There’s a ship flying right towards our coordinates.”
“Of course it is,” said Rose. “I’m the one who told them to meet us here.”
- * *
Yela, Daymar and Cellin stared through the cockpit-glass at the small speck of light in the distance that marked the ship rapidly approaching their location. Yela’s head swam. To go from being so happy one moment, to being so full of dread, was a lot for her heart to take.
“Hope you three are ready to spend the rest of your lives aboard a Banu ship shoveling reactor fuel or whatever it is they do with their Human servants,” crowed Rose with obvious delight.
“She’s lying again,” said Cellin. “That could be any ship.”
Daymar checked the scan info for the approaching vessel. “It’s a Triptaker. That’s a Banu model.”
“You should have heard how excited they were when I told them I had three little kiddies for sale. Who knows, maybe I’ll sell them that gift you were so worked up about since you won’t be seeing your ‘Baba’ ever again. ’Course, it’s so nice, maybe I’ll go ahead and keep it myself.”
Suddenly, the comms lit up. A hail was coming in. It was the Banu ship.
“Answer it,” encouraged Rose. “I want to say hi to my old friends.”
The comms chimed again. By now, the speck in the distance had begun to take on the rough form of a ship. They were getting closer.
“We still have the rifle,” said Cellin. “We could fight if they try to board.”
“But Rose said the gun didn’t work,” pointed out Daymar.
“She probably just wanted us to think that, and even if it is broken, the Banu don’t know that.”
“What if I fly us out of here?” suggested Daymar. “I’ve always wanted to be a pilot and I’m pretty sure I could learn how to do jump points. Maybe there’s a manual Yela can read.”
The terminal rang once more as the Banu continued to hail their ship.
“I think we should answer the comm,” said Yela with a surprising confidence.
“What?”
“Why?”
“Because it won’t matter to them that Rose is tied up. All they’ll want to know is who is in charge now, and that’s us.” Yela paused before admitting, “Plus, I’ve always really, really wanted to meet a Banu.”
“It would be pretty fun to meet a real alien,” agreed Daymar.
“And I guess if they take us prisoner, we could always do another mutiny,” mulled Cellin.
“We are really good at them.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
“Yeah, I trust you.”
With a deep breath, Yela pressed the controls on the terminal and answered the hail.
On the screen, a Banu appeared. Leaning in too close to the camera, the alien’s elongated and deeply ridged face filled the image. Dark eyes twinkling, mouth spread into a wide grimace, the Banu said, “Hello!”
Before Yela could respond, Rose strained forward against her bindings and shouted to get the Banu’s attention, “Draffa, these little monsters kidnapped me! You have to help. I’ll give you anything you want!”
Draffa noticed the smuggler in the background, “Oh, hello, Rose! Much sorry for your kidnap. Much luck to you.” The Banu turned their attention back to the children. “You are little monsters? Owners of ship now?”
“Yes,” said Yela.
“Excellent! I will tell Partu to have three doniyo ready for our negotiations.”
“Wait! Draffa, you can’t be serious?” demanded Rose.
“Oh, yes, servant Rose. Very serious. Every negotiation needs doniyo.”
- * *
Helmets locked in place, and Rodin safely stored inside Daymar’s suit, the three children waited for the docking tube to pressurize. With a hiss, the hatch slipped open and Yela crawled forward onto the ladder inside. Soon, she was less crawling and more pulling herself along as they left the gravity of the hauling ship behind. Daymar, who had entered the tube second, gently bumped into her, after using a bit too much force to propel himself. “Sorry!”
Past the halfway mark, the pulling turned to climbing as they aligned with the ship above. A few seconds later, Yela knocked on the hatch overhead. The bottom of the tube sealed, the pressure changed again, and the top dilated open. A grinning Banu face leaned over the hole and reaching down with a longer fingered hand, assisted Yela in pulling herself up and out into the grand main chamber of the Triptaker. Her heart raced as she touched an alien for the first time. Even through a pressure suit, it was exciting.
Yela immediately noticed the intricate, detailed work of Banu craftsmanship glowing in the room’s warm lighting. Different materials and patterns combined in a patchwork along the curving, sweeping walls which met in a high pointed arch.
“Yela, you’re in the way,” said Daymar, waiting for his turn to climb out of the hatch.
Nearby, Draffa, so tall that the crest on their head nearly touched the ceiling, stood proudly in intricately woven robes waiting to greet the children. “Welcome to my ship. I am Essosouli Draffa. That is apprentice Partu,” said Draffa, pointing to the other Banu who had helped them. “It is an honor of fortune and luck to have you. May we all be rich today.”
Taking off her helmet and stepping forward, Yela swept outward from her chest with an open hand and carefully pronounced, “Thank you. I am Yela. This is Daymar. And Cellin. Ged-anu mas-sama.”
Draffa repeated the motion and responded, “Mas-sama. You speak Banu very well, yes?”
“Only the little bit my father taught me,” said Yela.
“A little bit is always good place to start. Partu only speaks a little Human, but that is why apprentice. Partu will learn.”
Partu murmured something to Draffa in Banu. It was too fast for Yela to pick out any of the words.
“Oh, yes. Sloma is nearly ready. Follow, we will drink and talk.” Turning from the docking port, the two Banu led the way towards the narrow end of the chamber, where a lavish table surrounded by thick cushions waited.
“What’s sloma?” whispered Daymar once the Banu were a few steps ahead.
“It’s a tea that Banu drink when making trades,” answered Yela.
“I don’t have to drink it, do I?”
Before Yela could respond, Draffa paused and brought their attention to a display of dozens of objects of varying shapes and sizes. “Behold. These are the treasures of my souli. Each a rare and useful item. We have made much wealth and are very good at trading. It is lucky fortunate for you to be trading with a souli like ours.”
Yela leaned in to take a closer look. Some sparkled and some bristled with spikes, but what most of the items were was beyond her knowledge. Daymar pointed to a small machine on one of the lower shelves, “Woah. That’s a GX-MicroComp. They stopped making those years ago.”
“Yes. That is the first trade Partu made. Very good apprentice. Bad at talking Human, but Partu is excellent at appraising. Won’t be apprentice long.”
Cellin ignored the display and looked around the rest of the room. “Where do you keep the slaves?” she asked, still thinking about what Rose had said.
“Oh, little one, we do not have any.”
“Is that why you were so eager to buy us?”
“Cellin!” Yela scolded, but Draffa just shrugged.
“The truth of it is slaves are not our market, but Smuggler Rose had talked of having Humans to trade, and there is a slave souli in possession of a shield generator that I would very much like have. I considered making a deal to trade with them, but no terms had been finalized.”
“You good trade,” said Partu with a big smile.
“What?” demanded Cellin.
“Partu is appraising you. Thinks that we would be smart to have traded for you.”
“Thank you,” said Yela.
Cellin roughly yanked her older sister aside, “Thank you?! They’re talking about owning us!”
“Don’t worry. You heard Draffa. They’re not slave traders. Partu was just complimenting us by saying that we’re valuable people.”
Before Cellin could utter the snarky response that came to mind, Daymar excitedly asked, “What is that?”
The sisters looked over to see that their brother was pointing at a small transparent cage with what looked like a purple crab with tentacles instead of claws perched inside a silvery nest.
“Ah. That is nalagerd. Very rare. Very useful. See its web. Stronger than diamonds.”
Daymar took Rodin out and held the sniblet up so it could see. “Look Rodin, a new friend for you.”
Partu grew very excited upon seeing the creature in Daymar’s hand. Ridge-nostrils flared, the Banu leaned in to look more closely.
“It’s a sniblet. They are also very rare and useful,” said Daymar, gently stroking Rodin’s fur. “This one’s called Rodin. He saved our lives.”
Partu gave a wide grin and said, “Very good.”
- * *
Seated on a thick comfortable cushion, Yela inspected the small cup that Draffa had given her. Intricately carved and decorated with inlaid shell pieces, she had been excited to learn that it was called a doniyo.
Cellin sat next to her kicking her legs against the cushion, the formalities and pleasantries of negotiating with the Banu burning quickly through her short supply of patience. Though she did appreciate how nice it was to finally be out of that pressure suit.
Partu placed a burbling, meter-tall, shiny metal urn in front of them. Steam slowly rose from the spigots that adorned each side, releasing a woody fragrance into the air.
“Ah, the slomaddon. Wonderful. In honor of your first time on my Triptaker, I have something special to brew.” Draffa pulled out a little embroidered bag from their waist binding and withdrew a bundle of dark petals bound into a little sachet. “This is the flower of a black rose. I have tied it into a little bundle. Appropriate, yes? I think you will like very much.”
Partu twisted open the slomaddon’s hinged top and Draffa carefully lowered in the leaves.
“Do you have anything you would like to brew?”
Yela couldn’t believe she hadn’t planned ahead. She knew that Banu liked to drink tea and that it was customary for guests to bring something, but with all the excitement it had slipped her mind.
“Here,” said Daymar holding out a can of bitter melon drink that he had saved just in case. “I wasn’t going to drink it anyway.”
It struck Yela in that moment just how much she depended on her siblings. I don’t think I could have gotten through any of this without them . . . Then again, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into this much trouble in the first place, but still . . .
“This bitter melon drink represents that difficult path we took to get here, and our happiness at meeting you.” Standing on her toes, she poured the contents of the drink into the slomaddon.
“Good,” said Draffa as Partu closed the lid. “Now, raise your doniyo.”
Following the Banu’s lead, Yela, Daymar and Cellin held their cups beneath the spigots. Partu pushed down on the top, and piping hot tea poured out, filling all their drinking vessels at once.
“Grasyo asan-sloma thunad,” Draffa toasted. “Drink deep of me as I drink of you,” and then tilted the cup back, tasting the mixture.
“Graysa,” replied Yela, and then did the same. She nearly spit the sloma out, but managed to swallow the mouthful. “Zesty,” she managed to sputter.
“This is an interesting brew,” reflected Draffa. “I do not like, but I am very glad to know the taste.”
“It kinda tastes like that medicine Baba gave us when we all had shrivens,” said Cellin, taking another sip.
Daymar scrunched his nose unhappily as the smell wafted towards him. “It smells like our cleaning bucket.”
Yela whispered to him, “You don’t have to drink all of it, but you have to try it. Do you want to tell Baba that you were aboard an actual, real live Banu ship, but didn’t try their alien drink?”
Daymar stared down at the doniyo, before closing his eyes and taking a tentative sip. “Huh. It’s sorta like that dangshen soup Dad gets us during the winter.” Drinking more he added, “But sort of sweeter. I like it!”
“We have shared sloma, now share with me what it is you want,” said Draffa.
“We need a ride back to Sol,” responded Cellin.
“You have a ship. Why do you not take this?”
“We don’t know how to fly it,” explained Daymar.
“Ah, I see. Then Rose, your servant, can take you, yes?”
“She couldn’t be trusted if we untied her,” said Yela.
“Ah, yes. Yes. That is a problem,” considered Draffa, stroking a long finger along their ridge. “You really want to go to Sol, you do not have any way of going there. You know, I could get to Sol with my Triptaker. Very good ship.”
“We were hoping you would take us.”
“This is good. Trade us the sniblet and we trade you transport to Sol.”
“You can’t have Rodin!” protested Daymar, grabbing the sniblet from his shoulder perch and holding him tight.
“But it is the sniblet that we have come all this way for. Very rare. Very useful.”
“Daymar, I’m sure they would take very good care of Rodin.”
“Oh, yes. I take very excellent care. Look at ship. Look at clothing. Look at Partu. This is a good souli.”
“No. Rodin isn’t something you can just trade.”
“But we could get back to Baba,” said Yela.
“He’s part of our family now. If we go to back, he’s coming with.”
“There’s got to be something else we can trade,” said Cellin.
“Yes. Yes. It is bad you do not want to trade sniblet. It was a fair trade. See, you want us to fly to Sol. Trip to Sol is very risky for my souli. See, not everything on the Triptaker allowed in Sol by Humans. We would have to be very careful. It is a very expensive thing you want.”
“You could have Rose’s ship,” suggested Yela.
“Yes. If I was a ship trader, that would be good trade. But I am not a ship trader. I only have one pilot. No one to fly that ship. Plus, much work to sell the ship. It is old ship too. Parts not worth much. No, ship is bad trade for my souli.”
“What about the other treasures?” asked Daymar.
“Treasure?” repeated Partu with a grin.
- * *
The very tall Banu could barely fit inside the cramped secret smuggling room beneath the hauling ship’s cargo bay. Partu held the pair of ancient goggles and inspected them closely, holding them in front of one eye and then the other. “No work.”
“How is it that there’s a room full of rare items and you don’t want a single one?” asked Cellin.
“Yes, maybe rare items. But they are not useful. What good to me are goggles that don’t work? What good is painting of man with one ear? This map could be useful, but Partu says the city doesn’t exist anymore. Why would my souli want any of these things?”
“There’s got to be something on this ship we can trade,” said Yela.
Together they walked through the ship as Partu carefully appraised and evaluated. The cargo in the hold was worth enough, but the Triptaker did not have enough room to carry it. The engine, the jump drive, the gravity generator, all could be removed and sold, but Draffa’s souli did not have a mechanic who could remove the parts carefully. Finally, they ended up back in Rose’s quarters, but none of the historical artifacts held appeal for the Banu. “What good are books that talk about dead Humans?”
“Because if you don’t study history,” said Rose as she stepped into the room holding the rifle, “you are doomed to repeat it. Now all of you put your hands up.”
“You said that gun didn’t work,” Cellin pointed out.
Rose revved the charging plate and the gun let out a highpitched whine as the tip began to glow red. “I lied. Last warning. Get your hands up.”
“How did you untie my knots?” asked Daymar as he raised his arms.
“I didn’t. My ship just happens to be old and rusty. Wasn’t too long before enough pushing and pulling broke the chair.”
“Bad trade,” nodded Partu.
“You’re not kidding bad trade. Still can’t believe you double-crossed me like that, Draffa. Guess there’s no such thing as thief’s honor with you cragheads.”
“You are wrong. My souli has most honor. Every trade we have done has been fair and I have always kept my word. It is you who disgrace yourself. Do you not see that we are in the middle of negotiations? If you wish to free yourself, do so on your own time.”
Rose shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, that is it. I want all of you off my ship right now. First things first, though.” She swung the gun at Daymar. “You. Give me back my sniblet.”
Daymar looked down at his furry friend before looking up to meet Rose’s gaze. “You want him. Here, you can have him.” Daymar held the sniblet out.
Rose reached down to grab him, but before she could, Daymar stepped forward and put Rodin onto the barrel of the rifle. Before Rose even had a chance to realize what had happened, the gun sparked and released a cloud of dark smoke. The sniblet had chewed through the metal!
The smuggler squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened.
“Guess you weren’t lying about the gun not working after all,” happily taunted Cellin.
“Why you little —” Rose threatened as she menacingly stepped forward, but before she could do anything, Partu interposed and drove the palm of their hand up into her jaw. Just like that, Rose collapsed into a pile on the floor, unconscious for the second time that day.
Daymar dropped to all fours and quickly found where the sniblet was still happily munching away on the rifle. “You saved us again, Rodin!”
“That was quick thinking, Daymar,” said Yela. “You were right that we could never trade Rodin away.”
Cellin looked up at Partu in awe, “Can you teach me to fight like that?”
The Banu grinned down at her. “Trade? Help teach Partu Human?” asked Partu.
“Deal!” replied Cellin.
“I am happy that one trade has been made. I think I see another. If you give us the smuggler Rose, we shall take you to Sol. She knows much about finding rare items and would be a good addition to my souli.”
“You mean make her a slave?” asked Yela.
“Yes, until she can earn her freedom. She is good at treasures so it will not take her long.”
“That’d be awesome,” said Cellin, “but we can’t. Humans aren’t for trading. Even ones like Rose. It’s not the TipTop way.”
“Then I am afraid the negotiations are almost over,” said Draffa sadly. “It is bad that the weapon was destroyed. That would have been worth a trip to Sol. Rare and useful. Except against sniblets apparently. But there does not seem to be anything left on your ship to trade.”
“There is one thing,” said Yela. Quietly she strode over to her sister. “But I will only trade it if you and Daymar say it’s okay, Cellin.”
Yela had been bracing herself for an argument, but to her surprise, Cellin simply opened up her backpack, removed the gift for Baba, and handed it over.
“Daymar?”
“I think Baba would want us to come home more than she’d want a gift, no matter how perfect it is. And I’m pretty ready to go home.”
Yela held the gift out to Partu, who leaned in to inspect it. “Oh, this very good trade.”
“May I see it?” asked Draffa, taking the gift from Yela. “Oh, yes. Very rare. Very useful. We take this, we take you to Sol. Fair trade?”
- * *
The ride back to Sol felt much quicker than the jump to Croshaw. For one thing, now that they had jumped once before, they didn’t feel as sick this time when they went through. Though what really helped is that there was plenty to keep them busy aboard the Triptaker.
Cellin stuck to her deal and gave Partu Human lessons, teaching the different words for the body parts that the Banu was teaching her to hit.
Yela spent the entire trip back with Draffa, going over each and every item in the Banu’s collection. She learned quickly that the Essosouli couldn’t answer who made something or when it was made, but that Draffa could describe in minute detail how each of the rare and useful items worked. Yela could not wait to tell her dad everything she learned.
Daymar tried his best to get Rodin and the nalagerd to be friends, but in the end, since the two kept hissing and spitting at each other, decided his efforts would be better spent trying different sloma brews.
Before they knew it, they were back at Transfer Station Banaru where their adventure had started. It was strange for Yela to see the station again. She remembered when their transport had approached Banaru and it had seemed so impressive, but now, as the Triptaker pulled into the approach vector, it seemed so different. Yela thought about how in the third book of House of Ashen Grey, Lord Falton returns home after the Battle of Hammerforge, surprised to find that life has continued on just the same while he was away.
When they requested docking permission, they got stopped and scanned by the local authorities. Draffa was worried that some of their more illicit items would be discovered, but as soon as Yela mentioned her name, they were granted priority clearance.
It turned out that Baba had everyone on high alert looking for her missing grandchildren.
- * *
They didn’t take two steps into the station before they were scooped up in a big hug. Baba squeezed each one of them so hard that they couldn’t breathe, and then she did it again. Tears ran down her weathered cheeks and soon all four of them were crying together, so happy to be reunited.
But after wiping away their tears with the soft sleeve of her thick sweater, the smile melted from her face. She stood up to her full height, which though it was only a little bit taller than Yela, seem a lot taller thanks to the stern expression etched into her face. “You all had me worried something pretty terrible. The security cameras clocked you going onto that ship, but it turned out the registration had been faked. No one had any idea where you could have wound up. And everyone seemed to think that space is too big to go running all over it looking for three lost young ones. I was about to buy my own ship and start hunting for you myself when you turned back up with those Banu.”
“We’re sorry,” said the siblings.
“Save the sorries ’till after you tell me what the ’verse happened to you three.”
And so they did. They told her about the mean man on the shuttle, and losing the chocolates, and sneaking off to find a new gift, and almost solving the lockbox, and about getting lost, and then getting kidnapped, and then finding the treasure and the sniblet, and then launching the mutiny, and cracking the computer code, and then negotiating with the Banu, and then Rose escaping, and then how they eventually traded the gift, and finally flying back home to Sol. All in all, it took them almost two hours and a very large ice cream sundae to get through the full tale.
Through all of it, Baba just sat there, watching each one of the children take over part of the story from their perspective, a slight smile on her face, until they were done.
“Baba?”
“I won’t lie and say that I’m not mad at you for sneaking off in the first place, but you three acquitted yourself quite well when things got tough. You were clever, brave, loyal, and I couldn’t be more proud of you.”
“We’re sorry we had to trade away your gift,” Yela replied.
“But don’t you want the other gift we got you, Baba?” Daymar reached under his shirt and pulled out Rodin from where he had been staying warm.
“You’re giving me your sniblet?”
“Well, he’s part of the family now, and you’re always saying about how you wished family visited more. Plus, I figure he could help you at work by eating scrap metal and stuff.”
“That’s a great idea, Daymar!” said Yela. “Rodin would be very happy living with Baba.”
“And we can visit Rodin when we come see Baba,” said Cellin.
Daymar reached out and the little furry creature eagerly crawled from his hand to Baba’s.
“I don’t know what to say, he’s perfect. Thank you!” Baba stroked Rodin’s back. “But you know, you didn’t need to get me anything. Getting you back safe and hearing all about your adventure is just about the best gift I could’ve asked for.”
She hugged her three clever, brave and loyal grandchildren.
“Now, what say you three to us getting out of here and heading home to Europa?”
“Actually, there’s one more thing I have to do before we can go,” replied Yela, her mind once more thinking about the Banu lockbox waiting at Vasko’s stall and all the new tips Draffa taught her.
The End