Read Cleon Moon for Free Online

something. The chickens might object.”
    “Yumi can keep them in her cabin again. Or they can escape and roam around the ship like they prefer to do anyway.”
    “Don’t remind me,” Alisa said.
    “It would only take a week or so, and look. He’s offering twenty thousand tindarks. That’s stellar good money for a week’s work.”
    “It is good money, especially for hauling fungi. These aren’t Yumi’s orgasmic mushrooms, are they?”
    Alisa had a hard time believing restaurant mushrooms could be so valuable that the owner could afford to pay so much. Of course, based on what she had experienced so far, she did not have a hard time believing that hauling cargo in and out of these moons had become a challenging enough chore that freighter captains had raised their fees substantially. The system had changed a lot since the days she had traversed the freight lanes with her mother.
    “Beck?” she prompted when he did not answer, his face gone distant, or perhaps thoughtful.
    “Uh, sorry. You said Yumi and orgasmic and my mind went… elsewhere.”
    “Uh huh. Are you sure these are legal mushrooms? I don’t want to accidentally get involved in something illicit.” She might not object to intentionally getting involved, if it would help her upgrade her ship, but she preferred to exhaust other options before going that route. And on the chance that she would have Jelena four days from now… she did not want to deliberately choose danger if her daughter would be on board. No, she was becoming convinced that heading back to haul freight between the Alliance core worlds would be the safe thing to do then. So long as she could figure out something to do with that staff first. And find a way to keep the Alliance from coming after her because she had Leonidas on board.
    She rubbed her temple. When had her life grown so complicated?
    One thing at a time. She would get Jelena and then worry about everything else.
    “Says they’re for condiments for his restaurants,” Beck said. “I can’t imagine why such a successful chef would bother with illegal activities.”
    “Unless his restaurants are nothing more than a cover for illegal activities.”
    “Captain, if you’d had his moonstorm burger, you wouldn’t say such things.” Beck leaned over and laid a hand on her arm. “And this could be my chance. If he’s overseeing one of his restaurants when we deliver the cargo, I could stroll in nonchalantly, pull some of my sauce bottles out of my pockets, and casually offer him a taste. Could you imagine?”
    “You pulling bottles of sauce out of your pocket? Oddly, I can imagine that.”
    “What if he tried them?” Beck asked, oblivious to her sarcasm. “And liked them? Blessing of the Suns Trinity, my apple cider barbecue sauce would be brilliant on his burgers. What if he realizes that and wants to order some for his restaurants? He’s got dozens of restaurants. It could make my career, Captain.”
    “Will you still protect me from thugs and brutes when you’re rich and famous, Beck?”
    “Uh, maybe not indefinitely, but at first, of course I would. Do you know how expensive it is to contract a quality co-pack facility and ramp up production when you’re just getting started? But maybe I could start here, set aside a portion of the cargo hold.” Beck gazed through the hatchway, as if he was even now envisioning conveyer belts of bottles down there with robotic equipment squirting sauce into them. “I’d cut you in, of course.”
    “Thoughtful.”
    He smiled hopefully at her.
    Alisa waved her hand toward the comm. “Go ahead. Get in contact with them, and see if we can bid for the freight. Four days should give us enough time to get situated.” And by situated, she meant biking out to the Starseer outpost and back. Alisa wouldn’t let herself get her hopes too high, but she couldn’t help but think that maybe she could find Jelena and get back to the ship in time to pick up the cargo. “But make sure