Chapter 3p1 – Just Drink It

Tic's mind was swimming laps in a hot tub while he swivelled agitatedly in his captain's chair. Money. She'd said there was money. But how much was her grandfather actually worth? How much access did she have to those funds? And how could Tic get his hands on some?

He let Pelly handle the back-and-forth with Space Traffic Control. The launch went relatively smoothly, which is to say that the trip through the atmosphere was bone-jarringly, jaw-rattlingly, rib-crushingly unpleasant, but at least there hadn't been any problems with the paperwork.

When they were safely in orbit Tic engaged the autograv system, set the Origami Engine to spool up, then unclipped himself and floated back to the passenger cabin to check on Milly. She was just dropping a barf bag into a disposal tube.

"Here," said Tic, opening a minifridge in the corner and mixing the ingredients of a few bottles. "Have a Saucy Wench. It'll help."

"A what?"

"A… Never mind what it's called, just drink it."

"Er… Thanks," she said, taking the proffered glass. "Why does every part of space travel have to be so unpleasant?"

"You get used to it," said Tic.

Milly took a swig, swished it around in her mouth for a second, then dove into her cabin's en-suite bathroom and spat it out into the sink. "Ow! My mouth is burning!"

"Doesn't taste like puke now, though, does it?"

"I think it seared the nerves off my tastebuds!"

"Can't deny that it's effective!" said Tic. "So… You say your parents have been missing for how money—I mean, how many—years now?"

"Fifteen."

"And after all that time, what makes you think they're on Haddock?"

"Because," said Milly, examining her tongue tenderly, "about a week ago they sent me a message."

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