28 June 2012
Jude stood on the dock, awaiting the arrival of The Liberator. It had been almost two hours since they last checked in announcing their proximity. The dock spanned the entire bay. As far as Jude could see, left to right. The sea below him, if you could call it that, filled with trash and covered with a sleek streak of oil. The smell pungent but Jude hardly noticed these days.
It was a busy morning, ships arriving every other minute and ships departing in dozens. The logistics of it all unfathomable. Then you had the traders hassling the crews as they exited their ships. Trying to push homeland fruit and vegetables as well as lucky charms onto them. Sailors by nature were superstitious and always bought something, just for luck. Trading was a major part of the economy at the docks and as such highly regulated by the port owner, American Port Co. Licence fees were payable weekly by the traders and only produce coming into the dock could be bought or sold. Nothing from the outside world could be traded. More profit for them and it kept them in control.
Jude took a look up at the sky trying to spot The Liberator. Visibility was good for a couple hundred meters or so but after that the white smog blocked out where the rest of the sky should be. Every now and then Jude could make out the odd faint navigational beacons from passing ships, flying lower than they should and of course the unmistakeable strobes of craft making their approach for landing. Jude loved this place. The noise, the people. This was his home.
He had worked the docks since he was fifteen but not by choice.
His father, Gabe, was the captain of the Nostradamus II and liked to drink and gamble. After he lost his cargo to a Somalian pirate raid, falling asleep on the job years ago after too much rum, he was obliged as per the terms of his contract to compensate his employer for the loss. The only things of worth he had were his boat and his young son, no more than a year old. The ship was sold, but Gabe gambled away his money in an attempt to double it in a few games of chance. Captain Gabe was left with nothing but his son Jude. The only option he had was to turn himself in. Maybe a prison sentence would be his comeuppance or they could be lenient and put him to work as a labourer, a slave until his debt was paid off. American Port Co had different ideas. They sent Gabe off-world to a mining colony, beyond our solar system and took his son into service. Gabe put up a fight. He didn't want to loose his son this way, the thought of his son being raised as a slave and not knowing where he was, was more than heartbreaking. The company took pity on Gabe and promised that his son would be looked after well. They said it was a mark of respect for the years of service he had formerly provided them.
Jude was cared for as promised. He had a decent education and a normal childhood considering his circumstances. After tests when he was seven years old he was enlisted as a Cadet in the company's youth fleet, an excellent prospect according to the results. He was his fathers son.
For the past few years Jude had ferried ship crews back and forth from their vessels to the dock. He would listen to the seadogs daily, trying to pick up news of his father. They always knew nothing. Turns out space is a big place.
He was waiting for the Liberator for this same reason. One more chance he could find his father. He was excited for her arrival.
The Liberator • Opuss № I