Smooth Landing

The Pernach approached Jemdet at medium speed. Passing by a trading space station, the last place one could acquire legal goods before the pirate planet, Merin never understood why the station set up shop so close to such a lawless place. She and Tiye decreased speed as the ship passed through the planet’s red-tinted atmosphere. They were headed for a community known as Tramonto; of all the towns on Jemdet, it was one of the better ones. “Tramonto Spaceport Authority, this is the ship Pernach. Requesting landing on any available medium-sized pads,” Merin said, holding a communications dial to her mouth.

“This is the Tramonto Spaceport Authority. Please head for pad eighteen. Are you carrying any freight?” The spaceport authority officials sounded as uninterested as always.

“Negative, that's negative. No freight on board.”

“Understood. Pad eighteen, please have your pilot ready to sign the documents.”

Merin turned to Tiye. “You heard the lady, go and get ready to sort all that stuff. I’ll land this bird for us.” Tiye turned to Merin and purred to show he was annoyed. It was a rule of the universe that you should never pull a Magellan from their ship’s controls before landing had been finalized. Nero walked in; finally he had changed from his prison uniform. “You finally got out of those pajamas. It’s a shame they would have suited you well here.”

“So this is Jemdet?” he asked.

“It sure is,” Merin replied as she activated the landing gear. The Pernach gracefully touched down on pad eighteen. Once everything felt right, she started to deactivate all the ship’s engines and functions. She turned to look over the back of her seat, looking at Nero as he examined the planet outside the cockpit window. “Now let’s find you a doctor.”

The three went into town, gaining a variety of looks from the locals. It was a tradition for all the newcomers. “Welcoming bunch, aren't they?”

“These are the friendlier ones,” Merin laughed. Soon they were approaching a building with a large sign above it that read: Medicines. “This is where we want to go. I know someone here who might give us the answers we are after.”

“Who?”

“Being in my line of work, you meet all sorts of characters. Doctor Abban is one of those; I helped him out in a time of need, and he owes me a favour back.”

“Abban?” Nero recognised the name for some reason, like something was brought forward from the very back of his mind. But he couldn’t remember why.

“You know him?”

“No,” Nero shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.” Merin pushed the doors open; the insides looked rough. The place had been raided. She looked down to the ground; there was a Magellan lying in a pool of its own blood. “Is that?”

“Yes, that’s Abban.” She couldn’t believe it; they had come all this way for nothing. Tiye went down to observe the body, removing the translation collar from the dead Magellan’s neck. “Who could have done this?”

“What should we do?”

“Get answers,” she replied. Abban was a respected member of this community; nobody from Tramonto would be responsible; they relied on him. Merin swore to herself not to leave Jemdet until the killer had been identified. Something wasn’t right.

To Be Continued...