Read Drifter's Run for Free Online Page B

The cargo would be stacked in there.
    Lando did as he was instructed, shoving the cargo module toward Cy, and looking down for another. It was already there, a little to the right this time, and tumbling end over end.
    As he scrambled to catch it Lando wondered if this was some sort of test, Cap's idea of an initiation, a gut check. If so, Lando decided that he'd show the drunken bastard a thing or two, and threw himself in front of the module. It knocked him backward a step, but he held on, and passed the container to Cy.
    After that it became a game, more than that a minor war, with Cap pitching modules as hard as he could and Lando catching them. Finally, after an hour or so, he detected a slight slackening in pace. Grinning to himself, Lando chinned his suit radio and did his best to sound bored.
    "What am I supposed to do between modules? Read a book? Let's pick up the pace."
    Cap made no answer, but the modules came fast and furious for a while, eventually dropping off to an even slower pace than before.
    Six hours later the job was about a third done, and as the crew took a break, Lando was pleased to see that Sorenson looked like death warmed over. It served the old geezer right for playing silly games.
    But the break was soon over. A meal, a few hours of sleep, and the whole thing started over. This time it lasted a full day, and by the time it was over, Lando was too tired to enjoy Cap's obvious exhaustion. In fact he sort of admired the older man for having the guts to stick it out. The guy was a drunk, and a poor excuse for a father, but deep down something remained. Something that might even be worth saving.
    It reminded Lando of his own father, a smuggler like his father before him, more mystery than person. Lando remembered growing up, time spent with his mother mostly, the two of them waiting for his father's return. Smugglers are gone a lot, picking up and delivering their secret cargoes, so Lando's childhood was filled with a multitude of joyous homecomings and sad departures.
    But even the good times were tinged with sadness, because just beneath the surface of his mother's cheerful conversation, there lurked the certainty of tragedy to come. She never talked about it. But with the sixth sense of children everywhere, Lando knew, and his dreams were filled with horror.
    Little did Lando know that when tragedy came it would take his mother first. And that when his father died he'd be there to see it. See it and run as fast and far as he could go. But he couldn't outrun the memories and they followed Lando into his dreams.
    Lando awoke to the strains of "All Hail the Emperor" piped throughout the ship. It was Cy's idea of humor and Lando's idea of hell. As he stepped into his fresher Lando swore a terrible revenge on the cyborg, but the hot water felt wonderful, and his mood was much improved by the time he emerged.
    Thanks to Junk 'sunorthodox design, Lando's cabin was much larger than what was found aboard most ships her size, and compared favorably with a Class B suite on a liner. He had a double-sized bunk with overhead storage, a comfortable lounge chair, and a nice desk with built-in comp.
    The only thing that bothered him was a vague sense of otherness, as if the space belonged to someone else only recently gone.
    Lando raised the question over one of Melissa's instant meals, still in their original containers, and right out of the microwave. The galley was a cheerful space full of white plastic and shiny metal.
    Melissa was her usual energetic self, Cap was drawn and haggard, and Cy was elsewhere. Rehydrated mystery strips and simu-eggs don't mean much without digestive organs to process them with.
    Lando speared a strip of soggy meat and stuffed it into his mouth. "Gross, Melissa, truly disgusting."
    Melissa stuck out her tongue and made a face.
    Lando nodded his understanding. "By the way, whatever happened to my predecessor anyway?"
    Melissa looked down at the table and fiddled with a burned piece of