Read Quarter Share: A Trader's Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper for Free Online

of bean and water together. I found it comforting as well as saddening.
    “Pip,” Cookie crowed. “You could learn from this one.” He patted me on the shoulder. “You’ll make an excellent cook. Now both of you drain and clean the other two urns.” He filled his mug again before returning to the galley.
    Pip grabbed china from the rack and drew off a mug of his own. He buried his muzzle into it and sucked down a swallow. His green eyes went wide as he dove for another drink. “Where’d you learn to do that?”
    “My mom always said that coffee cost too much to make badly and she taught me how to brew at a young age.”
    “This might be the best this ship has ever had.” Pip looked up to where I was working on the next urn with newfound appreciation. “And to think I knew ya when…”
    While we worked together on the remaining machines, Mr. Maxwell entered absorbed in reading something from a tablet. He didn’t acknowledge our presence. I could feel Pip holding his breath while the first mate poured and then sipped. He kept right on moving back out of the mess, never looking up from his reading.
    Pip and I exchanged glances and I’m sure he was wondering the same thing…did he even notice? My unasked question was answered when I heard his voice from the passage. “Good work, Mr. Wang. Carry on.”
    Pip’s face split in a broad grin. “How do you suppose he knew it was you?”
    Cookie was strolling over to refill his mug. “Because, Mr. Carstairs, he’s had your coffee.” He gave me a wink and returned to the galley.
    I had to chuckle at the look on Pip’s face but I hid my grin by returning to scrub the urn.

***

    My duties, at least in those first couple of days, were pretty easy. Pip showed me where to find the duty roster and helped me learn how to find ingredients in the various storerooms and pantries. Mostly, my job consisted of ensuring there were plenty of sandwich fixings in the cooler and keeping the urns filled with fresh coffee.
    I learned that there were three main seatings for meals: 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00 ship standard time. Most of the crew went ashore when the ship docked so we only served watch standers and the few others who stayed aboard. Officers shared the mess with the crew, although they sat at one large table set aside for their exclusive use.
    As the time for our departure approached, more and more people ate meals aboard. “Broke, most likely,” Pip explained. Knowing the prices on the orbital, and the nature of Neris Port, I judged he was probably right. The pace in the mess picked up accordingly. Cookie took care of the menu planning, but he had me and Pip crawling through the storage spaces, pantries, coolers, and freezers to check the computer inventory against the actual stores. Where we were going, it wouldn’t be possible to step out to buy a gallon of milk if we came up short.
    “How much stuff is there?” I followed Pip to what felt like the tenth walk-in freezer of the morning.
    “We carry stores for up to a hundred twenty days, but we’re seldom underway for more than sixty at a stretch.”
    When he told me that, I got a strange feeling. “Sixty days? That’s two months.” During the short time I’d been aboard, I’d been too busy learning my new job and finding my way around to think much about being cooped up inside the ship for weeks at a time. What would it be like when I was trapped for two solid months?
    Pip poked me. “Ish, It’s okay.”
    I took a deep breath. “Sorry. It just hit me and I…”
    “No worries. You’ll be fine. Just keep working.”
    “I suppose, but the ship just seems so small.”
    He looked at me oddly. “Small?”
    “Yeah, everything all packed together. The narrow passages…you know…small.”
    He paused and frowned at me for a moment. “You’ve never seen the ship, have you?”
    “Of course, I have. I’m on it, aren’t I?”
    “No, I mean the whole ship.”
    He bipped Cookie on his tablet and asked, “Can