Full Share (41 page)

“He was overjoyed. I thought he was going to fly out himself.”

“Any problems from the co-op, Bev?” Aunt P asked.

“Nope, they’re tickled that another one of us is going.”

“Are you going to have to serve your time there?”

“No, Mom and Dad have been investing just for this. They’re going to do everything they can to help me out. I got a nice financial aid package. It’s gonna work out.”

Bev and Brill settled at the table with us all and it felt so amazingly right. Aunt P and Uncle Q beamed at us and Aunt P said, “You four are the craziest, luckiest, and least likely team I think I’ve ever met. You watch out for each other down in Port Newmar and you’ll all do just fine. Now let’s go get you settled.”

We all trouped back to the living room and picked up duffels. I still had no idea how they’d pulled it off, and I wasn’t going to ask. I was just counting my blessings. Aunt P led us down to the cabins and turned to Pip. “You want your old cabin?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said, and peeled off into one of the singles.

Aunt P looked at us then. “You three can have any combination that you want,” she said with a devilish little grin.

Brill chuckled, pointed at one of the singles, and said, “Dibs! I don’t remember the last time I had a room to myself!”

We took a couple of ticks, divvying up the rooms and figuring out where to stash duffel bags. We changed into shipsuits and it amused me when Brill showed up in a suit in midnight black, while Bev wore blood-red. I felt almost under dressed in my gray. All told it took us close to a stan to get out of our civvies, into the shipsuits, and finally make our way to the kitchen for coffee.

When we got close to departure, Pip led us up to the bridge. It was the first time I had seen it. Because it was so small I felt like I was standing in space, surrounded by stars. There was even a skylight in the overhead and I could look up the see the orbital from where I stood at the back of the bridge. It would be a very romantic setting out in the Deep Dark with stars all around and the ship sailing through the ever-night. The bridge had three consoles along with two mismatched sofas and two over-stuffed chairs.

We heard Aunt P giggling as she came up the ladder to the bridge and Uncle Q was very close behind her and I wondered what he had been doing to make her laugh like that. The thought made me grin.

Aunt P took the center seat, Uncle Q sat to her right. She waved Bev over to take the seat on her left. “You stood helm watch, didn’t you, Bev?” she asked.

“Of course,” Bev said.

If getting the
Lois McKendrick
underway was a ballet, leaving on the
Bad Penny
was a jam session. I stood at the back of the bridge so I could watch. Brill stood beside me, close enough I could feel the heat of her but not quite touching. Pip sprawled on one of the couches, possibly dozing.

Aunt P. keyed a mic and asked, “You ready, Roger?”

“We’re ready to rumble, Mom,” his voice came back from a speaker on the console.

“Mother may I?” she said to Quent.

He was watching a systems board and said, “Clearance requested.” A moment later he said, “Clearance granted.”

Aunt P ran a few commands through her board and I felt the docking clamps release with a small thump. In a moment we were sliding backwards under our own power. “Just keep us pointing at the orbital, dear,” she said to Bev. “We’ll slide out for a half a stan or so and then come about to our exit vector.”

Bev’s console was live and she grinned as she watched her screens and the ports all at once. “After the
Lois
, this is like driving a flitter!”

“If you think this is good, wait until we get the sails up,” Aunt P said. “You may need a towel.”

“A towel?” she asked.

Aunt P nodded. “Yeah. To sit on,” she said with a wink.

Uncle Q sat back in his chair and smiled at his wife. She did not seem to be looking in his direction, but she reached over and patted his thigh. Brill must have seen the gesture because she shifted her weight so she was leaning against me. Or maybe I shifted mine. It didn’t matter. As long as I could feel her, I felt at peace. I had the same sensation looking over at Bev on helm. Just looking at her made me feel whole.

I could see Aunt P getting ready on her board and glancing out the ports as if she could actually eyeball the positions. She keyed her mic once more and said, “Stand by, Roger. Another tick and we’ll be coming about.”

“Okay, Mom,” Rogers voice came back.

Aunt P turned to Bev and asked, “Could you bring her around about sixty-five degrees to port with a fifteen degree up angle at the bow, please, Bev?”

“Sixty-five degrees port and fifteen degrees up, aye, Captain,” Bev said automatically, then she squealed in delight as the view outside the ports shifted.

Aunt P laughed. “I shoulda mentioned that. She’s a bit ticklish. Now watch her, I’m gonna bring up the engines.”

Bev just grinned.

Aunt P ran up the engines and I could actually feel them come on-line through the frame of the ship. Our vector shifted and we pulled away.

“Did you log us out, honey?” P asked Q.

“Yes, dear. On the mark at 12:00 and leaving orbital space at 12:35.”

She patted his thigh again and left her hand resting there for a long moment.

In what seemed like no time at all, we were clear of the proximity markers and Aunt P keyed her mic, “Okay, Roger, we’re out. See you in the galley.”

“What do you want for lunch?” he asked.

I hadn’t thought about food, but as soon as he said the word lunch, my stomach reminded me. Apparently Aunt P heard it too because she said, “I think we need something quick, hon. How about sandwiches, for now.”

“You got it, Mom. See ya in the galley.”

I looked over my shoulder and out the aft port where the planet was almost visibly falling astern. I turned back to the woman I loved and who seemed to love me in return. I smiled. I knew it could not last. Demands of school and, later, career would drag us apart. We would grow along our separate paths and maybe come to need things we could not give each other. But still, I remembered the way P’s hand had rested on Q’s thigh. The loving familiarity of long association in the touch and the thought gave me hope for some day, perhaps in a ship like this. I dreamed that it might be with this wonderful woman, but I also knew that not all dreams come true. Most evaporate in the light of waking, disappearing—never to be seen again.

Of course, when you are really fortunate, others come to take their places.

Aunt P ran the engines down and secured them before glancing at Bev. “I’m bringing up the sails. You ready?”

“Yes,” Bev said, “I think so.”

Aunt P grinned and keyed up the field generators that unfurled sails to the solar winds.

I could see Bev’s hands on the controls actually loosen and relax as the sails filled and the
Penny
began clawing up out of the gravity well. “Oh, my, you can almost feel them.”

“Yup,” Aunt P said.

After just a few ticks running out like that Aunt P stood up and stretched. “Well, I want some lunch. You guys coming?”

Pip was on his feet instantly and heading for the door. “Last one to the galley does the dishes.”

Uncle Q was right behind him.

Aunt P stepped over and gave Bev a pat on the back, “You don’t need to sit here,” she said. “The autopilot works perfectly well.”

“Is it okay if I stay for a while?” Bev asked.

Aunt P leaned down and gave her a peck on the cheek, “Of course, dear. I sail her myself sometimes. The autopilot has the course. Anytime you’re ready, just engage it with that control.” She pointed to a broad button at the upper edge of the console.

As Aunt P stepped off the bridge, she paused at the door and looked out of the forward port with a happy little smile. “First star on the right, Ms. Arith. Straight on til morning.”

Bev grinned at that and answered, “Aye, aye, Captain, straight on til morning.”

Books in the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Series

 

Trader Tales
**Forthcoming

 

 

 

Full Share is the third in the six book
Trader
series from The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper. Nathan's series tells the tales of everyday men and women, real people doing ordinary things and forging bonds of friendship while traveling the stars in the Deep Dark. It is a coming of age story of Ishmael Horatio Wang—a broke, uneducated, orphan from a backwater planet at the edge of no where. He’s not a “hidden prince” and he wasn’t adopted. He’s just an average Joe trying to make a living.

This series was originally released as Podcasts, an audio format distributed for free (donations accepted and appreciated) where fss are released serially. The next four podiobooks in the series are available now and can be listened to at
www.podiobooks.com
. Ridan Publishing plans to publish each book in the Trader series in both printed and ebooks formats and editing is underway. If you wish to be notified as the books are released please send an email to:
[email protected]
and we'll let you know when they become available.

Nathan's stories are some of the most popular out of the hundreds of offerings from
www.podiobooks.com
, and as of May 2011 he held 6 out of 10 Top Overall Rated (#3 Ravenwood, #4 Quarter Share, #5 Double Share, #6 Captain's Share, #7 Full Share, #10 South Coast) and 5 out of 10 Top Overall Ratings by Votes (#2 Double Share, #3 Quarter Share, #4 Full Share, #7 Half Share, #10 Captain's Share).

 

Nathan Lowell has been a writer for more than forty years, and first entered the literary world by podcasting his novels. His sci-fi series, The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper grew from his long time fascination with space opera and his own experiences shipboard in the United States Coast Guard. Unlike most works which focus on a larger-than-life hero (prophesized savior, charismatic captain, or exiled prince), Nathan centers on the people behind the scenes--ordinary men and women trying to make a living in the depths of space. In his novels, there are no bug-eyed monsters, or galactic space battles, instead he paints a richly vivid and realistic world where the “hero” uses hard work and his own innate talents to improve his station and the lives of those of his community.

 

 

Dr. Nathan Lowell holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology with specializations in Distance Education and Instructional Design. He also holds an M.A. in Educational Technology and a BS in Business Administration. He grew up on the south coast of Maine and is strongly rooted in the maritime heritage of the sea-farer. He served in the USCG from 1970 to 1975, seeing duty aboard a cutter on hurricane patrol in the North Atlantic and at a communications station in Kodiak, Alaska. He currently lives in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains with his wife and two daughters.

 

 

Awards for Nathan's Books