Drifter

Cavalier touched down on a worn and patched landing field. The sun was just starting to set. A little electric shuttle drove up, towing a trailer. The passengers got up off of the benches and grabbed their bags off of the trailer. Eli greeted the weary procession as they lumbered up the boarding ramp. Gami sat on a container in the cargo hold, pretending to read something on a tablet while she watched them through her helmet’s visor.

The first passenger was a tall, pale female with wild red hair. Eli wondered if she was the same species as Gami, till he saw that a second pair of arms grew out of her back, these were skeletal and naturally tipped with blades. She identified herself as Sateen.

The second passenger was a spindly thing, like a network of tubes had taken on a humanoid form. It reminded Eli of a nervous or circulatory system. He had no idea how it perceived the world around it or took in nutrients. Its name was Thracia, and as it checked in, it made sure to mention that it was a skilled freelance computer engineer.

The third was a tall and muscular female whose body was covered in brown fur. She smiled with a toothy maw. There were several natural holes in her chest and back, which reminded Eli of the hole on the top of a tarantula’s head. Her name was Eibel.

The fourth was named Lukas. Eli could picture the handsome being as a fashion model or a movie star, despite his alien features. The green and blue skin and the general shape of his face caused Eli to see him as an inhabitant of some lost undersea race, a noble and strong people.

The fifth was a leathery skinned businessman named Ka’darka. His most notable feature was his wide head that curved up at the top. The sides were tipped with a pair of large, black eyes.

“Business or pleasure,” Eli jokingly asked.

He didn’t pick up on the joke, “Just passage.”

The sixth was humanoid and female, but everything else was a mystery, because she wore an encounter suit. An effort had been made to decorate this suit, the functional lines broken up by strips of colorful cloth and the occasional engraving. Her name was Azai.

The seventh was a squat being with dark green skin. He wore red and yellow robes. Religious icons made of heavy metal hung from these robes. He identified himself as a monk. His name was Babur.

The eighth and final passenger strutted up the ramp and into the ship. He was a big brute with dark grey fur and a long, toothy snout. Oddly, He kept looking over his shoulder while Eli checked him in. He went by the name Skant.

The passengers went to their cabins. Eli raised the boarding ramp. Gami walked over to him.

“Anything interesting?” he asked.

“No, none of them have bounties or warrants in any databases that I have access to.”

“Great. A nice, quiet voyage will do us both some good.”

“Transporting passengers is boring and the profits are low.”

“It’s easy money,” he countered.

“’Nothing which is easy is ever worth it,’ the third mantra of Düren,” she recited the words proudly.

“Sometimes you just have to take what you can get. Now come on, it’s time to get on the road.”