Romany Galactica ~ Part 1

Romany Galactica ~ Part 1

“Sonny, wake up we’re approaching Flagstaff!” She listened to his ‘buzz saw’ snoring. “We’re legally bound to observe their bylaws. A one-man cruiser cannot land on autopilot, and the master must present credentials and a retina scan. The penalty for non-compliance could be seizure of the ship.” She gave him thirty seconds then cranked up the volume. “Shift yer frikin arse, fer cry-sake. You have less than seven minutes. Respond to their hail man, why doncha!”

She listened to his asthmatic wheezing. He hawked and spat at a fake 1970’s poster for a Sonny and Cher concert. She waited. “C’mon Sonny, there’s a frothing stim-soba in the icebox. You got five minutes then I’m taking evasive action.”

“Quit naggin woman,” he staggered to the galley, fixed his gaze on the icebox. It opened to a snap of his fingers. He grabbed at salvation and downed it in one.

“Feel better now do we?” Her scorn was evident. 

He threw the bottle into the disposal, leaned over the sink and heaved, “Hersuse, what was I drinking last night?”

“We picked it up in the Scottish system. They call it Scotch whiskey.”

“Those guys should learn how to make decent Bourbon. That Scotch will never catch on.”

“Let’s pretend you never said that...”

“Oh no, what did I do? Don’t tell me…”

“You purchased three thousand cases of Scotch and two of Bourbon. You used up the last of our trading credit bozo.”

“I said don’t… So we sell it on Flagstaff, and head on back to civilisation—“

“Problem!”

“Go on?”

“This is a dry system. No alcohol or drugs planet-side.”

“So, why did you bring us here? Don’t—“

“You stuck a finger on the vidscreen and said take us there.”

“Shit!”

“That’s what I said but you’d already passed out.”

“You should have tried to wake me up.”

“I did. All you said was ‘Quit naggin’. Three minutes to abort.”

“Abort?” He spat several times and wiped his mouth on a napkin which he threw with pinpoint accuracy.

“Shit fer brains! Never heard of the recycling bin? You’re such a slob. Why does everything end up in the disposal unit? It took me three days to repair it last time, you have no respect for this ship.”

He grinned, entered the comms pod, and pressed [missed calls]. 

‘Captain of one-man cruiser Cher, y’all come back now. Confirm your origin and destination.’ 

--He pressed [Next]. 

‘Captain, answer our hail, we’re targetin ye with Nooks. If ye approach by half a mill miles, without identification, yer ship will be gas. Y’all hear me now.’ 

--He pressed [Next].

“You’re final warnin Captain, ye have two minutes…”

--He pressed [End OK], then [Reply]. 

“Captain Bono of the one-man cruiser Cher, out of New Chicago, ye hear me? Why don’t yous answer me damn-it, y’all comeback.”

“Captain, we bin callin fer nigh on an hour, mayhap your comms are fricasseed?”

“I can hear you just fine now you’ve decided to pick-up. We’re bound for Vegas with a cargo of Bourbon and Scotch.”

“Man, yer timin’s impeccable, Vegas’s nearin dry. You know our rules; you gotta turn 50% of yer poke into goods produced here on Flagstaff.”

“Hello, hello? I missed the last part of your message, thought you was telling me how to spend my money? Come back now. Hello, h_l_o…” He stepped out of the comms pod, “I thought you said Flagstaff was dry.”

“I Lied!”

“Why didn’t I get a simple computer installed? Something reliable and efficient, no hassle…”

“Because I wrote your employment contract Captain Bozo.”

“It's Bono! The ship is your responsibility, but the cargo is mine. I’m not landing here with a clean-up cargo without knowing what I’m gonna get for it. What do they produce here, woman?”

“Heavy metals, radioactive's, crystals – diamond, sapphire, ruby – synthetic and natural - platinum, gold, silver, designer drugs…”

“You’re shittin me! Nothing of real value?” he asked.

“They mine deutridium on the outer asteroids; they design ships, and build some of the finest deep space cruisers in this arm of the Galaxy. They also do refits, something we’re in dire need of.”

“Deutridium, isn’t that used in the production of synthetic flesh?”

“Yea, they have a Synth Industry but their laws only allow inhabitants two synth bodies then they are expected to live out their natural span planet-side.”

“So they tend to live a full life before their first regeneration?” He smiled. “Find out what happens to their minds at the exit gate. Are they planted in standard CM's when their final synth pops its cork?”

“I’m on it!”

He sat down and opened a bottle of Scotch.

“I thought you said…”

“Button it! I do the thinking around here.”

“Haha, yea.”

“Have you got me an answer yet?”

“Their minds are recycled, and stored in standard Cryo Memory cubes, like mine.” 

“Ho Flagstaff, master’s credentials and ships manifest piggabak on this trans; will report for ret-scan on arrival, mess-ends 18:24 GST.” He pressed [Send] and took another slug of Scotch.

“Their nukes are standing down.”

“Did I ever tell you a distant ancestor of mine was ringed-up with the girl on that poster? The real Cher?” 

“A hundred times, but never while you were sober.”

“His name was Sonny too. She was a real looker, he was a lucky guy.” He had a faraway look in his eyes as he took another pull from his bottle. 

“Ah, can’t we dock before you get pissed out of your skull, man?”

His answer was to raise the bottle to his lips and slurp.

“Guess I’ll put some fresh stim-soba’s in the icebox.”

.-…-.

He dabbed his eyes with sterilene lint, ret-scan always caused his eyes to water and blurred his vision. He’d been advised to sit and allow them to recover naturally, but he wasn’t big on taking advice. A figure loomed ahead of him and they collided. Has to be a woman, he thought they don’t make ‘Midnight in Paris’ aftershave.

“Watch where you’re going, you drunken lout!”

His heart stopped, he knew that voice. He took a deep breath, “Anju?”

“Bono? The years haven’t been kind to you have they.”

He dabbed his eyes again enough to see the outline of her face, “It is you…”

“Ret-scan? It used to have that effect on me until I became head of security here, now I don’t have to submit to it.”

“Same old Anju, rules are for others eh?”

“Wrroah, and what scam are you planning to unleash on our unsuspecting populace?”

“Should imagine you already have them all tied up.”

“I’m now a responsible citizen, a pillar of the community.”

“Pillow? Ah, still sleeping around.”

“Whatever it is you’re up to, I’ve thought of it first and I’ll catch you at it!” she warned.

He raised his eyes in mock surprise, “who me?”

“I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Bono.”

“So let me see, it's, been five years? You marooned me on an uninhabited asteroid, stole my heart and my ship, now you’re accusing me of running a scam. You really must hate me.”

“Look I, I’m running late for a meeting but I’ll catch up with you, soon ok? We can snipe all you want and draw a line under the past,” she gave him a quick smile then she was gone.

He sat on a massage chair, he felt as if he’d been punched in the stomach. He thumbed several coins into the slot and sat back to reflect.

to be continued/...

Romany Galactica - Part 2

Romany Galactica - Part 2

“Who was that?” She asked via remote comms link.
He touched the ‘Comms’ button behind his left ear, and thought Anju Drax, 'the one I drink to forget'.
“That bad huh?”
Sympathy, he thought.
“Empathy,” she said.

I’ve ordered a full refit; just tell them what is needed.
“Gee Thanks.  It’s not as if the money will come out of your own pocket, it’s already been set aside for the purpose.  To be honest, I didn’t think you heard what I said about this maintenance.   Anyway, they’ve already started work, we’ll be ready to leave in about three  days.”
Where the welfare of the ship is concerned I won’t cut corners, he thought.   And, it will take up a huge chunk of the 50% they want us to spend on this rock.
“Now that’s the Bonzo we know and love...”
"Bozo... Bono!” he said.
“Huh!”   She laughed, and he felt the tickle behind his ear.  
"One to me I think. Watch out for that dame Sonny, she's toxic.”

.-...-. 

Sonny dined with a consortium of Casino owners.   He wore a self-satisfied smile as he headed back towards the ship, having coaxed more credits from them than he would have hoped for.   His biggest problem, as he saw it, was deciding how he would spend their money and what outward-bound cargo would yield the highest return.   That was when the feeling came over him.  He was being followed.  He paused imperceptibly, to glance at the reflections from convenient surfaces, checking and rechecking.   When he stopped to read a menu outside the celebrated Ramsay hotel, he was certain.   
There was a mirrored sign:  
We create authentic dishes in the tradition of our celebrated twenty-first-century founder, Chef Ramsay.

Today’s Special:
     Cheese Burgers & French,
     Chinese pot noodle,
     Sticky tofu pudding,
     Vintage diet coke.

Would patrons kindly refrain from expressing profanity on these premised, show a little decorum, and respect for a genius.

 He saw the figure watching him from across the street.  Their eyes met.   The figure walked a further twenty yards then turned towards him and beckoned.   He turned and looked directly at her.   She was thirty-something, sporting blond shoulder-length hair and wide green eyes with a ‘come-hither’ gleam.   He was immediately on his guard.   As a drunk, he’d been rolled for change in more cities than he could name.
“If you follow, her partner will sap you from behind,” Cher warned.
He pressed his comms button.   What are you doing?   Get out of my head...

“Gotta protect my interests,” she said, “it’s taken me forever to break you in, don’t want to start over again just yet.”
Is that how you think of me, as a spare part on the ship?
“Well, not a very efficient part but yes.  On reflection, go get yourself killed!   I couldn’t do much worse.”

A hand appeared out of nowhere and yanked him into the alley.  It was the blond and she was alone.
“Hope I didn’t startle you.  You’ve been standing there looking into space for three minutes, drawing attention to yourself.   This ‘privy-bubble’ only has a life of ten minutes, any more and the security police will get a fix on it.   Don’t talk, just listen.”
He touched his ear button but there was nothing; he felt naked without her presence.  “Who are you and what do you want?”
“My name is Elise, my father is President John Price.    This planet was Terraformed a hundred and ninety-eight years ago.   Dad was elected president for life, but his term ends in about two months when his second synthetic bod is expected to expire.”   Sonny’s face held a blank ‘so what’ expression.  
“Our synths live for fifty years, and we are only allowed two, incarnations.”
“Is that my problem?” he asked.
“Shut up and listen!  It made sense initially, encouraging the return to natural birth after centuries of synthesis.   Most of the colonists became irradiated during their journey, and many were sterile.”
“Now times have changed but the old tradition lingers."
"Why doesn’t Daddy just change the rules, that’s his job isn’t it?   What’s the point in having power if you don’t use it?”
“It’s not that simple, we need a referendum from the whole populace.  We are just shy of the two-thirds majority required to call it but, the opposition is blocking.”
“I appreciate the history lesson but I’m just a stranger passing through, what do you expect me to do about it?   It’s your planet Elise.”
“You’ve ordered fifty-six virgin synth bodies with blank Crystal Memory cubes.”
“Not me,” he answered. 
“On the outer fringes of this system, in the asteroid belt, they will be worth three times what they cost here.   You can add a couple of zero’s to that by returning with a cargo of refined deutridium, you won’t even need to leave this system.”
“I thought synthetic deutridium was cheaper?”
“It is, but something in the sunlight of this system causes it to age prematurely, we are forced to use the natural ore,” she said.

“There has to be a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”
“My father has a following off-world.   He plans to leave and set up a government in absentia, to effect the necessary legislation.”
“You want me to get him out?   I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“Think on it!   Events have a way of changing minds.”
“Are you threatening me?”   There was a fluid squish that squeezed his body, his ears popped and she was gone.

“Sonny, you crazy sonovabitch, I told you not to follow her...”
“S’allright, nothing happened.  He replayed the five minutes of conversation in his mind for her.  I don’t recall ordering a cargo of Synths...
 “Don’t accuse me,” she said, “they arrived shortly after I discovered the ‘Import Tax’ clause in your sales contract with the Casino consortium.”
Tax?
“S.O.B.   You didn’t even read the contracts before you signed them?”
That’s your department.
“Then try not to negotiate in a privy-bubble next time.   If we conserve fuel on the return trip we may just break even,” she said.
Shit!
"Yea, come on home Sonny."

.-...-. 

“We’ll have to cancel the refit to pay for those synth’s.”
“They’re already paid for.”
“By who?”  He asked.
She said nothing, and the silence lingered.
“You know you get nothin fer nothin,”  He said.
“The agreement is we deliver the synths and pocket the profit, no questions asked.”
“Plain sailing?  There has to be an angle in it somewhere.”
“We’ll have a passenger when we leave.”
“And, where will he bunk?   Don’t tell me--”
 “In your cabin Sonny.”
“So, where am I supposed to sleep?”
“Come on man, you can be a real 'seat of the pants navigator' for once and organize two watches or you can sleep in the cockpit.   It’s only a three-day trip fer crysake man, you’re a big boy, you can tough it out.”
“You know John Price is not just any passenger, he’s the president—”
“Wrong Price.   Our passenger will be Elise Price; she already has valid travel documents for the trip.”
“But, we agreed not to get involved in local politics—”
“We, we?”
“When does she plan on returning?”
“That’s not our pr...  Oh, Oh!   You might want to check the vidscreen, Sonny.”
“I’m not gonna like this am I?”
Two security vehicles just hauled up outside.”
“Sh...”
“Open up Bono, we have reason to believe you are harbouring an illegal migrant,” the metallic voice came from a tannoy mounted on an armoured car. Anju Drax stood in the passenger slot.
“Blight of my life!  Let them in,” he said.  

.-...-.

 The airlock opened and in came Anju flanked by three security officers.  She gazed about, tap tap tapping a pair of synth-leather gloves against her left palm.   Short jet black hair framed her face, accentuating her flawless complexion.   Focusing his eyes on full red lips and narrow aquiline nose he thought,  God she’s beautiful.
“Snap out of it Sonny!   Don’t think with your dick, that’s what she’s counting on.”
“We have a warrant to search this vessel and its cargo.”
“Search away,” he said.
“I must caution you not to leave this planet without my authorization.   If you do so, your ship will be destroyed.
 “Be serious Anju, we’re in the middle of a refit or hadn’t you noticed we’re missing our primary drive?” he grinned at her.
“My name is Commander Drax, you can call me Commander,” her voice was cold and impersonal.
“Anju—”  She slapped him across the face with her gloves.  “Throw them down and I’ll slap you back if it’s a duel you want,” he wasn’t smiling now. 

“Out of my way,” she commanded, heading for the comms pod as if he didn’t exist.
“If you find anything I’ll be in my cabin,” he said.
“I want to check the CM cubes you purchased, where are they?”
“Try the cargo hold,” he said opening the cabin door.

“Locker seven,”   an unemotional mechanical voice said.   It was the basic computer voice that came as standard with the ship, Sonny hadn’t heard it in an age; that wasn't a good sign.
Anju nodded towards her assistants, go get them, bring them here and check those synths while your down there.”    She set the life-sign indicator unit down beside the console.
Sonny closed the cabin door, settled on his single bunk and clicked his fingers twice to extinguish the lights.

.-...-.

The door burst open.   He shook his head and clicked his fingers, “Shit.”   The lights came on and he realized he didn’t have, a hangover, “Bloody Anju,” It took seeing her again, in her true light, to purge him of her once and for all.
“Outside!” said the deadpan officer.  "Commander wants to see you.”
“Remember, I’m the captain of this ship, and according to Inter-Galactic law, I’m in charge here.  This is piracy!”
“Out!”   He was dragged from his bunk and pushed roughly towards the door.
“Say please, and show some respect, you toad,” he turned to make eye contact and was slapped across the face.  “You’ll regret this,” he said.
“Outside!”
“You’re not from the 'gentle persuasion school' then?”  The man’s face remained impassive, he didn’t reply.
“This ship is ‘New Chicago’ territory and your intrusion is an act of war.”
“Shut up Bono.   It was you who let us in and as far as I’m concerned you are a smuggler.   I’m impounding this vessel.   When we find your contraband this ship will be dismantled and sold for scrap.   You will become a permanent guest in solitary confinement and I will take pleasure in breaking you very slowly.  You’ll be old and grey when you get out Bono—“
 He clapped his hands, “Big speech, Drax.”
“Commander!”    She corrected him.
“And, it’s Captain Bono to you!” He said.    Let me remind you, there are a few tales I could tell that would shake the foundations of your cosy little world.”
“Blackmail Bono?”
“Gentle reminder Drax,” he whispered.
She laughed.  It took all his willpower not to take her into his arms.   He could do it, but he would be the loser.
“I’m here Sonny, lean on me,” said the voice in his mind.
Support, he thought.
“Amigo’s,” she replied, “This should be good.”
He watched as Anju pressed the spot behind her left ear to answer a personal com-con call.   Her face paled, her lips tightened.  She shook her head in pique, becoming agitated and unable to contain her anger.  She turned away from him and for a while stood motionless.  Her underlings swapped questioning glances. She turned to face them.  
“It appears captain, that your cargo is in order and you will be taking on a diplomatic passenger for your onward journey.”
“Well thank you, Commander.  As soon as you have returned my cargo to the hold you’re free to leave.”
“Listen, you unctuous little shite!   If I hadn’t been warned off, by my superior officer I would kick your useless butt all over this ship.”  She grabbed the life-sign test monitor she’d been using on the CM crystals and turned to leave.  It beeped.   She looked in the direction the scope was pointing—‘Nav-con’.   “What’s this then?”
“That will be my Companion.   She’s here to maintain my sanity on long haul journeys...”
“Ah, she wasn’t very successful was she?”
“At least I was sane, to begin with, Drax.”
She laughed, “Who told you that?”   She removed the CM from its housing.   “Does--She--have a name?”
“She came with the ship, could say she's the spirit of this ship; her name is Cher.”
“Her life is pretty tenuous at this moment Bono,” Anju began to throw the cube into the air and catch it, higher, and higher until it hit the ceiling. 
“Careful!” He said.
 “Ah!   Look what you made me do,” she stepped back, allowing her eyes to follow its flight to the ground.
He dove full length to catch it but he was too late.   It bounced a foot into the air landing at her feet. 
“He tried to attack me, restrain him!” Anju yelled.   He was dragged to his feet, he struggled right up to the moment they put the cuffs on him.  “Take him to a holding cell I’ll follow in a while.   Oh, S o n n y...”   He looked back to see her foot poised above the CM cube.
“No!” he yelled.   His words were drowned by the crunch of the cube under her foot.  
She spread the pieces with the toe of her shoe.  “Oops,” she smiled at him.
“You evil venomous bitch!   She never did any harm to you, she was alive and you’ve murdered her.   I’ll see you pay for that if it’s the last thing I do!”
“Tears, for your widdle plastic toy, Sonny-boy?”  She smiled in triumph.   “Take him away.”

To be continued/...

Romany Galactica ~ Part 3

Romany Galactica ~ Part 3

  I know there’s something incriminating here Bono, I can feel it in my water, what’s your angle?   Anju cast her eyes around the main cabin, checking every nook and niche, slowly and methodically.   The Icebox, galley chef-ette, comms pod, then she saw the poster, Sonny & Cher.   Cher, that was the name of his companion, should have questioned her before...   She looked down at the pieces and kicked at them in frustration.   “Computer, is there an object or substance on this ship that is not listed in either the  ships inventory or the manifest?”

The standard mechanical voice replied.   “Do you refer to the foreign body in the airlock?”

That’s it!  The airlock.  She hadn’t checked that yet.   “Computer, I require access to the airlock.”   The door slid open and she stepped through, into the, five by four, chamber, the door hermetically sealed behind her.

She cast her seeker's eye around looking for something, anything out of place.   Nothing she thought.   “Computer,  where is the foreign body?”

“Why that would be you Anju Drax, you egotistical self-centred bitch!   You destroyed him, and it’s taken me five years to put him back together again.  There is no contraband.  Sonny is an honest trader, just as he was before you met him.  Now I will rid him of you once and for all!”

.-...-.

Anju heard a hissing sound and jumped towards the nearest space suit...

“Locked,” said Cher.

Anju, pressed the button behind her ear, “Help.  Help me I can’t brea...”   She slid down the airlock wall mouthing words her voice box could not produce without air.  The air, so tantalizingly close, yet so far away.
She lay still, not moving.  Fifteen minutes later there came a faint hissing as air returned.

 .-...-.

 “Anju?   General Walker here, do we charge this Captain Bono or let him go?” 

 “There’s no reason to hold him, General he’s a legitimate Romany trader, I’ve made a thorough search and there’s not so much as a candy bar wrapper unaccounted for," Anju's voice replied.

“Okay, I’ll sign his release.”

The ships outer doors opened when the maintenance crew arrived to continue refitting the ship.   They discovered Anju and called a STORC-doctor.  

“She’s been starved of oxygen for too long.  I’m afraid resuscitating her brain is no longer possible,” the doctor spoke into his comms recorder.  He called a robot harvester, managing to sound sympathetic as he removed her now empty CM cube and made the call to her superior, General Walker. “She died of heart failure, no question of that.   She had been completely alone on board and the airlock doors could only be operated from within the airlock.”   
The harvester worked efficiently, siphoning off her body fluids.   In minutes it had chopped and diced her flesh, bagged it with her organs and froze them on behalf of its sponsor the Synthetic Tissue & Organ Reclamation Corporation.   Normally there would be a trade-in value, but she left no kin, so the state would be her beneficiary.

The harvester trundled off, leaving her uniform and shoes in a neat pile on the tarmac, for the security force to collect.

 .-...-.

Two days later the refit was complete.   Elise arrived on schedule and Sonny showed her to the cabin.   His eyes were moist as they took off along the flight path prearranged between the onboard Nav-con and Flagstaff flight control.  The entire trip would be completed by auto-pilot, leaving him with plenty of time to think and get maudlin drunk.   He’d have to lay down the stim-soba’s himself, which meant getting drunk wouldn’t be half as much fun.

.-...-.

 The journey took three days; his passenger only left her cabin for meals which made for an uneventful trip.  Sonny was relieved when they docked at Terminus 81.  His passenger and the cargo were unloaded without incident.      

He would have liked an immediate departure but Cher had purchased the return cargo of refined deutridium.   

He was about to turn in when an official flyer arrived to take him to dine with Elise and her father.   

.-...-.

The food was excellent, Elise and President Price were great hosts, but Sonny was not in the mood.   He did at least attempt to make polite conversation.

“I thought you were having trouble getting off Flagstaff sir, seems you managed it quite well after all?”

“Yes, in my first incarnation I dabbled in stage magic.   What I learned has served me well through the years.   Have you heard of the magician’s choice young man?”

“I’ve heard the phrase, but its meaning escapes me.”

“You appear to be offered a completely free choice but in reality, you don’t have a choice at all because the magician has already made the choice for you.”   He wrote something on his napkin.  “Give me five, five-digit, numbers.”

“Uh?”

“Five numbers,” said Elise, taking a pen from her purse.  

Sonny reeled off five numbers and Elise wrote them down on her napkin.

“What is the total?” John asked offering his napkin to Sonny.

John had written, 258,196 on it.

“I make it 258,194,” said Elise.

“Let me see that,” said Sonny.   He totalled the numbers in his mind.   “You’re wrong,” he said, “your calculation is off by two, the total is 258,196, just as your father predicted.” He showed her the number and looked at John with genuine surprise, “how did you do that, was it some kind of mind link?”  From habit he touched the button behind his ear but all he got was static.

“The numbers were always going to add up to 258,196,” Elise smiled, Sonny looked blank.

“How many of the numbers you gave me do you remember,” John asked.

“The last one was 47,682,” he looked at the napkin to confirm it.

“The others?”

He looked back at the numbers.   “So, how’s it done?”

Elise looked at her father and smiled.  “It’s magic,” she said.

“So, let’s see if I’ve got this right.   Your father left in a courier’s body sometime before we left Flagstaff.   They thought we were going to smuggle him out with us so we were the ones they were watching.”

“Close,” said Elise, “I was the one who left early; it was my father who came with you.”

“But...   What if I’d shown an interest, in your obviously desirable attributes, during the journey?”

“Cher, your Companion, felt that would be unlikely.”

“Felt?   She is... was extremely endearing, but she was just a hybrid computer.  How could she feel?”

“Just?   Just...   Your fired Sonny!   As far as I’m concerned you can walk back to civilization.   Ungrateful shyster, stay off my ship, your key is no longer valid...   Sonny?   Sonny, are you crying?”

He squeezed his eyes tight together, wiped them with the backs of his hands and headed for the men’s room.   
He sat in the cubicle and touched the button behind his ear.   What the hell were you playing at, woman?   Do you have any idea what I’ve been through, I thought you were dead, I watched that viper crush your CM cube, and I could do nothing to stop her. 
  
He shook his head,  I loved her even after she left me.  Then you picked me up out of the gutter, and she...   He turned around in the cubicle and heaved.

“Just like old times,” she said.

 Why in hell didn’t you tell me you were safe!   I’ve spent four miserable days trying to...  You Bitch!

“They had to think I was gone and that you were blameless.   I couldn't tell you, you’re not that good of an actor Sonny.”

But I saw her crush the cube.

“I was never in the cube!  I inhabit the computers, the engines and the superstructure of the ship.   When you were locked up I had the perfect opportunity to trick her into the airlock and trigger the evacuation mechanism.  I had to do it.  I had to destroy ‘the woman you get drunk to forget’, before she destroyed you!”

You murdered her.   They were unable to salvage her mind.

“Oxygen starvation does that.  She was bad news.  Now she’s gone, get over it!  If it will ease your conscience, go back to Flagstaff and tell them I murdered her.   Fer crysake Sonny she tried to murder us both!  Aiding an escapee is an automatic termination sentence.  And, despite everything, I do enjoy your company.”

.-...-.

He re-joined his hosts, just as the final course arrived.

“Guess we’d better enjoy this meal father, things are going to get a little austere around here when our ultimatum is broadcast on Flagstaff.”

“Ultimatum?” said Sonny.

President Price smiled.  “About now, the inhabitants of Flagstaff will be learning there will be no more natural deutridium from the asteroids, until certain draconian laws are repealed.   You’ll be carrying the very last cargo.   I think it will get you a good price, it’s a seller’s market, and this time there will be no import tax.”

“Father, have you forgotten something?”

He smiled again, “I know there is no way we could ever replace Cher.   She was one of a kind.  She gave her life for the cause of freedom.   Her reward for helping us was the installation of our new prototype Echo HyperDrive engines.  They will take you three times as far, in half the time, for no extra expense.   
All we ask is that you return in two years to have them checked over, assessed and realigned.  Give them a good workout before we put them into production.

.-...-. 

They were three light-years from Flagstaff, and their trading credit had never been better.

“Where too next Sonny?”

He closed his eyes and prepared to point at the screen.

“No!”  She yelled.

“You did a lot of wheeling and dealing on Flagstaff, are you sure we found our way there like this?" he said pointing at the screen.

She laughed, it tickled his ear.

 “I lied!” she said, "magicians choice?  In the 1990s there was a joke going around at my expense:

 At the end of the world, there would be nothing but roaches and Cher.  
Well, the roaches are gone but I'm still here..."

"You're..."  

"Hehe!  Who's laughing now Sonny!"

.../ends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLTETaWswCY

Personal Well-being: Make your own false teeth

Personal Well-being: Make your own false teeth

I purchased a tub of POLYMORPH from Maplin's to make a replacement screwdriver handle for one I'd stupidly shattered when I used it as a chisel by hitting it with a hammer...

Polymorph is a thermoplastic material that can be shaped and reshaped any number of times. it is normally supplied as granules that look like small plastic beads.  It can be heated in hot water and when it reaches 62 degrees centigrade the granules form a mass of ‘clear’ material. When removed from the hot water it can be shaped into almost any form and on cooling it becomes solid once more.

I lost a tooth and was in pain eating hard/hot food.  My dentist said it would cost £20 consulting fee, £50 to remove the root, £250 to make a plate. I already have an upper metal plate.  I previously tried a lower plate but it made me gag, so that was not an option.

If I wanted the tooth set into the jaw that would cost me £1000. 

I told her my pension wouldn't stretch that far so I will just have to suffer; maybe the gum would harden up...

But, it didn't, and I was forced to chew on one side only.  Then, I got to thinking, I placed a few granules of polymorph in a cup and poured hot water on them.  When in the soft state I rolled it into a ball and forced it between the teeth either side and wedged it in place, bit down on it, moulded it and waited for it to harden.  It was a little too large, so I jiggled and wriggled it until it came out.  I cut off the excess with scissors and reheated the remainder.  This time it fitted perfectly and for three months I forgot it was there, but it became discoloured due mainly to my love of curry (turmeric was to blame ~ not me).  So I fashioned a replacement. 

A pot of polymorph cost me £20 and has a hundred uses and would probably make a thousand teeth.  So, every three months I just replace it.  Even the dentist had to admit that it does a good job.  I carry a piece of polymorph in my wallet for emergency use.  I have friends who now follow my example, one informed me you can now get polymorph on the internet. 

Health Warning:

I've been making my own teeth like this for over five years but, as always, you follow my example at your own risk.  If in doubt seek advice.

 .-...-.

I'm now running out of ideas for 'well-being/money-saving tips' that work.   So, if you have something that works for you, please let me know, I will try it on myself and post it to this blog for the benefit of all.  I will also give due credit to the contributor.

Suggestions to:

 http://www.lenm393@gmail.com