Farewells are said, good wishes exchanged, and a few minutes later the airraft soars skyward.  Conrad circles the outpost once, then swings away towards the port and its attendant startown, where Jago is awaiting their return.

Once again, the 'raft stays low as it travels, avoiding the debilitating effects of high altitude flight in the CO₂ rich atmosphere.  They pass the camp site, scene of their earlier battle, without incident.  Indeed, the attackers, and their vehicles, are gone.  Doubtless they too have returned to town.  Or, with any luck, to a different town.

Eventually they reach the town, and a quick comm call to Jago reveals that the work crew are already aboard Profit Margin, so he has retired to the best hotel in town, a modern, twelve storey structure just beyond the port's security perimeter.

The Hotel Halcyon, as it is named, certainly looks impressive from the outside.  There is extensive parking, and even a rooftop lot for airrafts.

Inside, it is just as impressive.  The lobby is large and airy, and moderately crowded.  The receptionist, an immaculately dressed man wearing what appear to be genuine antique spectacles, looks up as the crew approach the front desk.  He smiles politely.  "Good day, ladies and gentlemen.  How may the Halcyon serve you today?"

Tylen turned to the assembled crew,

"Well, I don't know about you folks, but I could do with a steak and a beer. It's been a long incident packed day and I'm famished."

The long ride back had proven a relaxing counterpoint to the harrowing day.  Shui feels considerably rejuvenated.  Tylen's suggestion of food, however, certainly piques her interest - it has been considerable time since they last ate, and between that and the stress, she finds herself ravenous.

"Good day, sir," she replies to the receptionist.  A nod toward Tylen follows.  "As my companion intimates, we wish to enjoy your restaurant for the moment."  It's possible some of them will be taking rooms here - Shui has little doubt that Saskia will be sleeping aboard the ship, and she, herself, would like to return for an hour at least, in order to check upon her roommates.

"Also, we're looking for our friend." Saskia adds, looking quickly around the room to see if she can spot Jago, "He said he'd meet us here.  His name is Jago Lanza."

"I believe Mister Lanza left a message for you.  Just a moment... " the receptionist stares into space for a moment, and there is a faint flickering across the lenses of his spectacles, "Ah, here we are... I am to tell you that he has been called back to Profit Margin on urgent business, and will meet you here for dinner shortly.  On the other hand, if he owes you money, then I am to tell you that he has caught a fast ship to the Arcturus system."

He smiles, before adding, "You do, however, fit the description of the friends he asked me to look out for.  Mister Lanza has taken the liberty of booking rooms for each of you, should you wish to freshen up, or you are free to use the restaurant, which is just through there."

"Before you do the former, though, I will need you register."

There is a display screen and keyboard set into the top of the desk, with a small camera-like device alongside.  "Please enter your name, while the lens performs a retinal scan."

Tylen grinned at Jago's message, he doubted that there was anyone in the system that would be pursuing Jago for cash, but the old rogue could not resist leaving a message that would suggest he was notorious.

"OK, we'll book in."

He typed in his name and presented his eye to the scanner.

"We'll be lucky if Jago hasn't booked us into the parking garage to save cash!"

He chuckled to his friends.

"Thank you, sir."  Shui bows to the receptionist, listening to his message.  A small smile appears for a moment at Jago's witticism, and she nods with appreciation for the booking of the rooms.

She pauses, though, as he profers the computer and retinal scanner.

Fortunately, Tylen steps forward, a wry comment tumbling from his lips, and gives the steward a needed moment to compose herself.  So many worlds.  Communication restrictions.  Com-lag.  Keeping the smile pasted in place, she steps up to sign in, allowing the machine to read the map of her retina and typing in her name, then steps aside for the others.

"I think I'm going to go and take a shower, before I hit the restaurant." Saskia explains, as she steps up to the register.  She enters her name and stares at the lens, frowning as the scanner gives an indignant chirp.  She removes her spectacles, and tries again, this time without the alarm.

She holds the eyeglasses up to the light for a moment, then wipes them on her sleeve before putting them on again.

She turns back to the receptionist, "Where is my room, please?"

The receptionist hands each crewmember a keycard as they register.  When Saskia asks about how to find her room, the man smiles, and replies, "All of the rooms are on the same corridor on the top floor, the numbers are on the keys, of course."

He taps once on something hidden from view behind the desk, and there is a faint whirring from an opening above and behind him.  A moment later, the source of the sound becomes apparent as a small machine, shaped like a flattened sphere descends from the opening.

It looks to be made of copper, and is studded with a number of lenses, some of which are emitting fans of low intensity laser light.  There are four ducts located around the circumference, and the whole thing is perhaps thirty centimetres across.

As it drops lower, a fan becomes visible beneath a mesh which covers most of the top surface.

It hovers in front of the receptionist, who explains, "You can summon a guide from anywhere in the hotel, simply insert your key into one of the marked slots that you'll find in your room, or in most of the public areas.  Just tell it where you want to go, and it will lead the way.  Like so... Guide: Lobby."

The small robot whistles, but doesn't move for a few seconds, then heads back to the hole it came out of.  "Of course, this time it didn't go anywhere, because it was already in the Lobby.  They will show you to your room, if you give them the number, as well as to any public location inside the hotel.  Their logic and command routines are quite adaptable, so they can usually work out what you mean, even if the name isn't quite right.  That one, for example, would have been able to find the Lobby, Front Desk, Receptionist, Reception, or Entrance, as well as any reasonable variation on those."

"Though I saw it roll its little mechanical eyes," Yas mutters under breath and then steps up to the scanner.  Leaning in with a sigh she waits for it to finish and then yelps as if in pain.

"Ow, my eye!" she complains and covers the left one with a hand, "Does it remove the eye to scan it?"  She rubs it and pouts, looking for a reaction from anyone, but especially the receptionist of course.

Shui waits until after the demonstration, nodding politely the whole time, then agrees with Saskia, eyeing Yasmine's histrionics with some amusement.  "A shower.  A fine idea."

Dust, dirt, rolling on the ground to avoid getting shot...all things Shui would like to forget, washing the memories down the drain with whatever planetary particulate has clung to her.

The receptionist smiles at Yas, "Yes, Miss, very droll.  I will need to be careful not to injure injure myself by laughing too hard."  It seems that he may have seen that particular joke before.

Conrad looks about, and finds one of the wall slots.  A few moments later one of the hovering machines is floating just out of reach.  "If'n the rooms're all bunched together, then maybe we c'n all follow this one?"


The rooms are... well, "large" would be a serious understatement.  As would "very nice".  They are, quite frankly, very large and extremely nice, each with its own bathroom.  Each also has a view, looking out towards the port, where ships can be seen arriving and departing at fairly frequent intervals.  It's probably a good thing that the windows are soundproofed, so that the noise of their passage is muted to no more than a whisper...

There is one more thing about the rooms - on each bed lays a box, perhaps a metre by a half metre, with an attached card, bearing the appropriate crewmember's name.  On the reverse of the card, there are just five words, immaculately printed in a flowing script: "Hope you like it.  Jago."

It seems that Profit Margin's captain may have had some time on his hands.  Each box contains a complete outfit - a match for the sort of things that each person might normally wear aboard ship.  Except for the fact that these clothes look much newer, and still have the stores' labels attached.