Title Page Copyright Dedication CONTENTS The Wayward Current The Myth Buster Interlude One The Starship Graveyard Interlude Two Fishing in the Deluge Interlude Three I Droid Interlude Four The Tale of Lugubrious Mote Interlude Five Big Inside Dreams and Heroes
THE WAYWARD CURRENT THE LONG HAUL TRANSPORT BARGE Wayward Current was almost through its six week journey from the wild sparsely populated Mooshie Cluster to glitzy flamboyant Canto Bight on the planet Cantonica The deckhands gathered on the mess deck had just come off their watch they were there to eat socialize and play games before catching a few hours of sleep They made a motley crew some humanoid and human a few reptilian and avian and even a few droids Almost all the deckhands were still short of full maturity by the standards of whatever species they belonged to That was important because Tuuma the Hutt captain of the Wayward Current insisted on having having a crew the majority of which were still so enchanted
by the boundless possibilities of the future that they would accept next to no pay in exchange for a chance to see the galaxy Ulina the third mate drained her pungent tongue burning Olo tea as a loud moan echoed through the dimly lit corridors of the barge like the last dregs of steam departing from the furnace of an old moisture farm She scanned through the dozen or so deckhands gathered around the low rusty table wolfing down their food and settled on a lanky fifteen year old girl with cropped hair Sounds like the feisty filly in the corner stall is having having trouble sleeping The patch over Ulina's left eye glowed red with annoyance Did you do the endurance endurance exercises with her in the double gravity chamber today You know fathiers need heavy exercise when they're cooped up on a ship like this Sorry said Teal the fifteen year old I had to clean the reflux combusters
No excuses said Ulina Each of these fathiers is worth more than three years of your wages Go fix your mistake Do I get only half rations next meal asked Teal timidly You've been making a lot of mistakes on this trip Almost late for some chore every day Though her tone was severe the red glow in Ulina's eye patch faded to a gentler orange But we've been shorthanded If you finish and come back quickly I might not even remember that you had to do your chores out of order I'm old as some of you keep reminding me The young deckhands around the table chuckled at this No one knew where Ulina was from but it was said that she was older than all the deckhands put together The gruff third mate had a kind streak in her that was all too rare among the desperadoes who plied the long haul trade routes to eke out a living If you dawdle and the first mate runs into you when
