Chapter 18

Higgins World, Port Settlement, Main House…

    Spacer was drunk again. Mandy heard him coming and opened the door. Every time the executive officer and leader of Port lost his buffer woman, he got drunk and stayed that way until Mandy could find him another. When he was drunk, he could not hear the others’ thoughts, but he knew the woman who blocked his mind from the world was burned out.

    “Damn the woman, where is she? Where did she go?” Spacer staggered into the center hall waving the now-empty gin flagon. “I don’t want you, Mandy. Where is Deana?”

    “She’s gone, Spacer.” Mandy knew the routine. They went through it at least twice a day until he finally admitted to himself the woman was gone.

    “I need my buffer. I need her, Mandy,” Spacer attempted another swig out of the bottle and slumped on the wall bench. Mandy waited. Maybe today he’d finally break down and let her try to find another woman for him. Each time one burned out, it took longer for him to get over it.

    “Mandy, need a new buffer woman. I know it. You know it. Go get one.” Spacer shakily set the pottery container on the floor and slumped over on the bench. He had passed out.

    Mandy had the ability to sense psy power. Spacer was a receiving telepath, but he was unable to filter what others were broadcasting. He had discovered when he manifested his power, if he worked through the mind of someone else, he could control what he heard. The problem was, when he worked through the other person, they were trapped inside their own mind, and he was in control. And oddest of all, only a woman was able to serve as a filter; men’s minds were not flexible enough. Few women lasted long under those conditions. Most went crazy. Mandy’s job was to find him a new buffer. Right now, she was not sure where she was going to find one. In a community as small as Port, everyone knew what it took, and virgin women were protected by their loved ones from being chosen. Mandy slipped on her hat before she headed out into the intense sun of Higgins.

     She entered the main square of Port, the village where the crew from the transport had settled. “Mandy, you’re needed at the dock building,” said Boats, the exec’s petty officer, calling to her from the steps of administrative center of Port, the Bridge. “Blackie is back with a bunch of new hires. They need sorted.”

    “Glad to hear that. Spacer needs a new buffer woman. Hope they have someone who will do the job.” She headed to the warehouse at the beach end of the dock.

    “Mandy, over here!” Blackie led a group off the ship with help from some of his crew. When they used the drugs on the people they collected, it took a while for it to wear off. As Mandy approached, she could sense psy-power coming from the people in the group.

    “Got some power there, Blackie,” Mandy said.

    “Yeah, the old guy is some sort of official. I think we can maybe get a buyback of his contract from Refugio. The old lady is a healer. Maybe Doc can use her in sick bay.” Blackie and his buffers guided the slightly drugged and recently washed down group into the darkness of the lava-stone building. “I’ll settle up with Spacer before I leave,” Blackie said, “but Mack hired out to carry these three to Refugio. He hollered at me to come get ‘em.” Blackie sounded a bit uncertain about what Mack Gunson had done. “Not sure we can keep hauling stuff if he does this too often. I didn’t get a chance to get any food, so I am going to try that when I get a buyback on this old guy. I need to get the ship cleaned up first.”

    Mandy had the three seated on the wall benches along an outside wall. She went down the group, touching each on the head. When new hires were drugged like this bunch, she had to make physical contact with them to read their full psy-powers.

    “Blackie, this woman’s a virgin, and just what Spacer needs.” Mandy called to the ship captain. She was shocked. The woman had to be at least as old as she was and bursting with multiple powers.

    “If I get a contract buyback on the old man, it will cover what I might have gotten from Kitty at the Tail, but Spacer will owe me a finder’s fee on that one. You be sure he knows that.” Mandy waited until the three soaking-wet and disheveled people began to come out from under the drug. Blackie has rinsed them off with sea water, but the stench of the days they spent drugged hung on their clothing.

    “Welcome to Port, new hires. You will be given the opportunity to join the crew, but you have to go through probation first. Once you are finished with your interning, you’ll be offered a crew member contract. For now, you are new hires and will follow orders.” Mandy had given the speech so many times. She knew to watch for power surges from the new hires. Some would be angry at the requirements. It was only fair. You came to Port, and you must be tested to see where on the ship you could work. Everyone worked. There were no passengers on this ship. It was a working ship.

    “New hires, when I speak to you, you will give me your name and employment placement at your last posting.” Mandy waited as the three people struggled to orient themselves from the drugs.

    “Male recruit, name, and placement on last hire?” Mandy directed her secondary power of compulsion toward the old man. Spacer would retain control of him until Refugio could be contacted, but he needed to be sorted and housed.

    Tony became aware of his surroundings. He was sitting on a stone bench inside a large building. A slight young woman dressed in coarse, baggy clothing demanded an answer from him.

    “My apologies child, what did you say?” Tony tried to be polite even if the pirates had not been.

    “What is your name old man? What did you do in Refugio?” Mandy knew the drug used keep the captives quiet sometimes disoriented the new hires. Sometimes, if the ship crew gave too high a dose, they were damaged so much they became quiet brains with no more psy power. Those were turned over to be used as swamp workers.

    Tony felt as if he had been on a seven-day binge with little to eat and no thought to his personal hygiene. His mouth tasted like spoiled milk, and it seemed as if every bone in his body was aching.

    “May I have some water?” Tony rasped. “I will answer your questions, but I need water.” Mandy motioned one of the guards to hand him a dipper of nut juice. Fresh water was precious in Port so the liquid from the large tree nuts was the main drink. Tony sipped, then offered the gourd to Rita, but the guard dipped out two more and handed one to each of the women.

    “I am Antonio Pesch, deputy trade envoy to Northwest Trade City in Utopia. Where are we?”

    “I ask the questions new hire. Old woman, report the same.”

    “Are you addressing me, young woman?” Rita was annoyed. This child was barely older than her youngest child and yet she addressed her with no courtesy or deference.

    “You are now a new hire to the ship’s crew. I am the recruiting officer, and you will answer my questions.” Mandy snapped.

    “Just answer Rita, she is only doing her job,” Tony said to his much-offended older sister.

    “I am Rita Pesch Kearney. I am a senior instructor at the Amaurot University Medical School, and I demand to see the Utopia trade envoy.”

    “Hey, Blackie, you might get a contract buyback on this one too. She’s some kind of teacher,” Mandy said to the returning ship’s captain.

    “No way, Mandy. Pins aren’t willing to cough up the goods to buyback.” Blackie was followed by a pair of sailors carrying the belongings of the three captives.

    “Did you hear me young woman? I demand to see the trade envoy!” Rita tried to rise but Tony caught her arm.

    “There is no trade envoy in Port, Rita. You don’t have trade agreements with pirates.” Tony sighed. His sister was still being difficult.

    “Watch it old man,” Blackie snarled. “We’re not pirates. We’re collecting the pay due us as crew. You landers owe us.”

    “I beg your pardon, young man!” Tony snapped. “You boarded an official Refugio courier ship in mid ocean and removed us from it. I call that piracy or kidnapping at the very least.” Blackie realized he needed to have a talk with Mack Gunson the next time he was in Port. If he had seized a diplomatic flag, that was going to cause problems.

    “That’s enough of the chatter old man. Blackie, go ahead and process these two. I’ll take this one up to the main house for Spacer. You can settle with Spacer for the charges.”

***

    Rita started to say something, but Tony put his hand on her arm and quietly began explaining their situation. Rita realized they could drug her again, so she reluctantly cooperated with the men who urged them out into the blazing midday sun.

    Tony and Rita were escorted out of the long dock building and led to a small shelter where they were given baskets with a change of clothing and some toiletries.

    “Most of the recruits want a bath first thing. We use these hot springs for washing ‘cause we don’t have much fresh water,” the guard said. “Everybody gets one suit of clothes and soap. There’s a drying rag in the basket. Choose a booth and set your basket on the shelf.”

    “Tony, none of these men have face hair,” Rita was shocked. Males in both other settlements wore beards.

    “I noticed that when I first saw the sailors on the ship. I thought them very large for immature boys. I wonder how they do that?” One of the men accompanying them overheard and showed him a small container in his basket of clothing.

    “It’s too hot here to be messing with all that hair,” He pulled on the end of the case and showed him a small handle with shiny black material set in one side. “This stuff is sharper than you will ever see, so you have to be careful. When you get through with your swim, I’ll show you how to use it.”

    “Tony, are you sure you want to lose your beard? You have had it for so many years. I can’t image you without it!”

    “You have no idea how nasty it is right now. Full of bugs and filth from the ship. It will grow back, and the guard is correct. Summers are terrible with a full beard like this. When in the south of Utopia, I would cut it as close as possible because it was just too hot.” Rita made a face at the smelly water.

    “Ugh, this waster smells of hydrogen sulfide. Is there no place else to bathe?”

    “We don’t have much fresh water, so we bathe here where the hot springs come out on the beach. The water stinks but the surf mixes it with the sea water, so it’s not too bad. Just pick a stand and put your dirty stuff in the water with you. Everybody does their own laundry here in Port. That bag thing has the soap.”

    Rita reluctantly placed her basket on the raised divider and stepped into the water without taking off her clothes. They were so dirty, she didn’t want to touch them. Tony was more reluctant, but he too was dirty. He noticed his sister’s method and copied her. The water was hot but with a bit of wiggling, he was able to get out of his coverall and managed to put on the long, baggy shirt without exposing himself. He joined the guard on the rock steps.

    “Let’s be civilized here,” Tony said. “My name is Tony Pesch, and I would like to know yours.” The man grinned and laughed.

    “Well, Tony, that’s a good step at getting along. My name is Two Bob Doe and I’m part of the Shore Patrol, but I get assigned to this duty regular-like, because I can make you behave if I have to. Not that you seem to be wanting to do anything I’d have to stop.” Two Bob took a rough cloth out of the basket and dipped it into the hole where the hottest water came out. “Have you ever tried to take the hair off your face?”

    “Well, we all tried when it first showed up,” Tony said. “But after the scraped skin and cuts, believed our elders that our knives were just not sharp enough.”

    “Been told it was that way here in Port at first, until somebody found this obsidian,” Two Bob said. “It comes out of the cooled outflow from the volcanoes, and it’s really sharp. I’ll do you this first time and make sure one of the other guys helps you in a day or two. You’ll need to get a sign up for the see-me if you decide to do it yourself.” Two Bob stepped into the water below where Tony was seated and rubbed some of the oily soap into Tony’s beard. “Now I have to make your skin tight so don’t move or it might really get nasty. You could lose part of your nose, or I’d slit your throat. Don’t want that. Too much explaining to do to Captain Okapie.” He reached up and pulled the skin of Tony’s face up until it was tight. The blade slid easily over his skin and Tony felt the tangled mass of his beard dropping into his lap. Slowly, Two Bob moved around on his face cutting off the accumulation of hair.

    Rita had finished her bath and joined them on the bank. The second escort asked if she was ready to go to the Bridge to be assigned.

    “I will wait until my brother is done,” Rita snapped. “What do you mean assigned?” She suddenly felt a powerful compulsion to stop talking and follow the young man. She fought against the compulsion, but it was too strong. She stumbled and almost fell as she tried to fight it. Tony found out how sharp the obsidian blade was when tried to intervene.

    “Now, I told you not to move, Tony. Now we got a cut, ruined my record on first shaves,” Two Bob grabbed a small white blob from the basket and pressed it onto the cut.

    “Yikes, that stings, what is it?” Tony caught the small rock Two Bob had pressed on the cut.

    “We call it blood stop, it will help stop the bleeding,” Two Bob called to the other escort.

    “Just take her down to the brig for now. I heard she is a healer back in ‘Topia. See if Doc Gupta thinks she can use her.” The other Patrol member caught Rita’s arm and pulled her away from the beach.

    “Rita is a very proud woman,” Tony said. “She does not understand the situation among the three settlements.” Tony turned his head a bit so Two Bob could continue cutting off his beard. He knew there was nothing he could do to help Rita. The best policy for them was to cooperate until things were clearer.

    “Well, we get the job of Shore Patrol because we have strong compulsion. She got caught off guard. I can sense she has powers, most Pins do, but you said you are from Refugio, and she is your sister? No, don’t answer that. We don’t need another cut.”