Evolutionary Liberator - Chapter 27 Everything Has a Price

“Unknown ship, announce yourself, and the reason for your visit,” said the voice through the speakers, after Dustin finally got the wires back together.

He had been floating here for half an hour, outside the space station, trying to get the communications to work after he had shredded the wires.

“Sorry, we have suffered damage, and I have just gotten our communications working well enough to respond,” said Dustin into the tiny microphone he held in his hand.

“Please announce yourself, for our information, then you will be escorted to our repair docking bay, unless you need to be towed?”

“No, I believe I can steer it in without a tow. I am Dustin from the Uz’En Kingdom. I seek repairs to my ship, supplies for the survivors I picked up from a damaged ship, and access to the galactic network for news.”

“I am not familiar with the Uz’En Kingdom? Is it known among the Galactic Empire?”

“No, we are a new kingdom. We have not yet been officially recognized.”

“Alright. I will put your information down, for our records, but you will not be allowed any credit. All purchases and services must be paid with recognized currency. There will not be a charge to dock in our bay, but you will not be allowed access to any repairs until all issues with payment are dealt with.”

“That is fine. Thank you.”

Dustin disconnected the two wires he had been holding together. They wouldn’t reach for him to quick fix. Sitting back into the seat, he watched as a small one-person vessel zoomed in front of his ship, before guiding him around to a service bay. As he settled the ship into the lock, he sighed in relief and stood to go meet the person they no doubt had waiting to speak with him about payment.

Pausing in the cafeteria, he saw that everyone was still alive, only resting and waiting for orders. He went over to the wall dispenser, that would spit out what food was requested, and thought carefully about what he wanted.

The last time he had been at a station, he had a small quantity of a material that the person he dealt with, had been ecstatic about. He wanted to recreate that material, and looked over the options the food dispenser had to offer. Punching in a few buttons, he waited patiently as it spit out a black chunk of something unrecognizable.

Holding it in his hands, he focused on what was necessary to change it into the material from before. Dustin didn’t know how to do it, himself, but his body did. It was so used to doing exactly what he wanted, immediately, from the PED forcing it to do it, that it didn’t question when he wanted it to change the entire makeup of the material in his hands.

When he opened his hands a few moments later, he looked over the crystal in his hands. It had a variety of colors running through it, rather then just one whole color. That would probably lower the value, but he hoped it would be enough to pay for the repairs.

Ignoring the curious looks of those around him, he took the crystal and left for the air lock. They had attached a locking mechanism to the outside of his ship, to allow him an atmosphere to open his air lock into.

Before opening the door, for them to see him, he changed his look back to that of a human-like look. Just under his skin, he had the crystal plates, to prevent any damage, if someone wanted to attack him. He wasn’t sure who might have recognized the name of his people.

The two individuals waiting for him, just outside his air lock, were looking very interested to meet him, as he stepped out, and then closed the door back behind him. It auto-locked behind him, not allowing anyone else onto the ship, or off of it, without a special code he had programmed into the ship’s main computer. What little computer, the ship had, was sufficient to manage that.

“Greetings, we are here to speak with Dustin, of the Uz’En Kingdom?” said the smaller of the two before him. Their skin was a dark orange, almost a red, and they smiled far too much, for his taste.

“I am Dustin. I was told you needed payment, before I could buy anything?” He held out the crystal for them to see it.

“Ah, please bring that back with us, to the scanner. It looks beautiful, but until we know its worth, we are unable to place a price to it.”

“I understand,” he said, lowering his hand and following them as they turned back towards the station proper.

The room that opened up on the other side of the tunnel wasn’t very large, but it was very secure. The taller of the two pulled out a small device that was attached to the wall, and motioned for him to place the crystal in the small port that opened on its side.

It slid shut to scan the crystal after he inserted it, and they waited the few seconds while it scanned, in silence. With a beep, it announced when it was done placing a value to it.

Dustin waited, trying not to grin, as the two started whispering to each other frantically.

“Please excuse us, but I do not think we can accept this. Its value is such that we could never sell it.”

“How about a piece this size?” he asked, holding up a fragment that was half the size of a pea.

It took the two several minutes to get over their horror in order to be able to answer him.

Finally, the younger one, managed to motion towards the port, for it to be rescanned. Dustin slid it in, and then pocketed the rest in his shirt pocket. He could feel the eyes of the two on his shirt pocket, as if they couldn’t believe he would carry something so valuable, so carelessly.

When the machine beeped, they pried their eyes away from his shirt, and checked on the resulting worth together. They whispered to each other again, and finally, turned to him, and said, “This we could sell, but its worth is still incredible. We would never be able to give you any change, if you failed to spend this much during your visit.”

“That’s alright. I need my ship fixed, some supplies to restock with, and access to the network so I can see the news. I’ve been floating in space for what feels like weeks, trying to deal with things.”

They nodded in agreement, unable to believe their luck, and the taller of the two carefully took out the crystal and left the room very quickly.

Dustin knew exactly what he needed on the ship, having taken stock of what foods the people ate, and what supplies he would need to make his repairs. It would take him a couple days, but the remaining guy assured him he could take his time, and that everything would be available within three hours. It was nice to have people waiting on him again. He hadn’t realized how much he missed that, from when he had been king.

It wasn’t enough to make him want to go back, but it was still nice.