Summary: By Scott W. Baker Read by Mat Weller Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in Triangulation anthology (2004) All stories by Scott W. Baker All stories read by Mat Weller Rated 13 and up Chasers by Scott W. Baker Sebastian’s organs squeezed into his pelvis as he accelerated past point-one. He had a good feeling this time. This catch was going to be his. He could see his objective ahead of him, the enormous Drifter-class colony ship Calypso barreling through space on her inertial journey from Earth to Terra III. Since she carried no fuel for deceleration, Calypso would travel through space forever without Chasers like Sebastian. It was the job of a Chaser to run down Drifters and fill their tanks. The job had sounded easy when he signed with Mulligan Mining eight months ago. But despite nine arrivals since then, Sebastian has not made one catch. Calypso was a slow Drifter at a mere point-13 c. Surely he could catch that. His Skeeter was designed to reach point-2, faster and more maneuverable than any other company’s ships. Yet what advantages Skeeters held in speed and agility they sacrificed in capacity. Even if he caught the Drifter, it took a total of three Skeeters to fill her. Sebastian ran a scan of Calypso. Leonard was already docked. That was too fast for him to have waited for the Drifter’s beacon; he must have taken his Skeeter out without confirmation a Drifter was coming in. Lucky. Blind patrols were expensive gambles, especially on a Chaser’s budget. The exorbitant price of fuel on Earth was the primary reason Drifter-class colonizers dominated the colonization market, and a booming fuel industry made Terra III the most popular destination. Like most things, it boiled down to money. A pair of blips appeared on Sebastian’s nav screen. Two ships were approaching from behind. The tiny blip indicated the presence of another Skeeter, the third they’d need to fill the Calypso. The larger blip was an Essex Bus, a hundred-percent capacity tanker from a rival fuel company. Rather, Essex was the rival of Mulligan. Both Sebastian and the other Skeeter would have to beat this Bus if Mulligan was going to make the sale. If the Bus docked first, the sale would go to Essex. One Bus could do the job of three Skeeters, assuming it could get to the colony ship first. Sebastian pushed his engines harder. The big blip was moving fast for a ship its size. It drew closer until Sebastian could see it through his canopy. It was more than three times the size of his little Skeeter and was now careening at point-16 c. “Damn,” Sebastian whispered as he was overtaken, “I thought Busses maxed out at point-15.” It was the reason Sebastian had signed with Mulligan instead of Essex: the need for speed. Busses just weren’t meant to go that fast. But even one percent of the speed of light could mean the difference between a bonus check and a long flight back to port. If a Chaser could finagle a little extra zip out of his ship, he did. Apparently this Bus pilot was a finagler. Sebastian adjusted his fuel ratios and pushed his engines even harder. The ship began to vibrate around him. Still the Bus pulled away. “One Skeeter already on and Essex is going to get the sale anyway,” Sebastian said. He started the calculations for his return to port. “You ain’t giving up, are you?” a voice croaked across the closed-circuit communicator. Closed-circuit meant it was another Mulligan pilot. “Repeat?” Sebastian replied. “Bas, that you?” Only one person ever called him Bas. “Roger, this is Sebastian. What’s your twenty, Wild?” “I’ll be on your screen in a shake.” “Don’t bother. I was just passed by a Bus going point-16.” “Isn’t Freebird already on?” Wild meant Leonard. He refused to call anyone by their actual name, inclu[...]
