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Sid continued, once the drone was well
out of earshot.
    “Three hundred, maybe?” Chris
hazarded. He wasn’t too sure. He had lost count.
    “How much of that was simulated,
though?”
    “Almost all of it.” Chris felt a
little despondent about that. He had no idea whether he would have
been much good as a fighter pilot, or of much use to the Resistance
at the end of the day. The times he had been in an actual craft in
space he had been good, but far from exceptional.
    “Do you have a plan? For when we
get to Hail, I mean,” Sid was pressing.
    Not really , Chris thought to
himself. He was winging it, making it up as he went along, and hoping
for a spark of inspiration. The first thing he wanted to do was
attempt to contact any remaining members of the Resistance that were
still gathered in Spirit, and get the movement started again. He told
Sid as much.
    “You don’t have to come with me
if you don’t want to,” Chris added as they finished up and exited
the restaurant. “I’m not going to force you to do anything that
you don’t want to. I think right now that you’re one of the few
people I can trust, though.”
    “No, that’s why I am coming along,” Sid said. “You’re probably one of the few people
that I know of right now that wouldn’t try to turn me in.”
    Chris smiled. At least he had one
ally. “Come on. Let’s go wait for our shuttle,” he said.

Chapter 5

    T hey
had no money. They needed money. Chris wondered what he possessed
that he could sell. Nothing of any real value. The phone might have
gotten him something, but that was lost to him now. He and Sid still
had the chameleon suit with them, though. That could fetch quite a
lot of money. Yet it didn’t feel right to sell it. Something told
him he should hold onto it for the time being.
    “Thoughts?” Chris asked Sid, as
they disembarked from the shuttle and onto the platform at the space
station.
    “I could try hacking something,”
Sid suggested. “If I can get to a terminal, maybe I could rig us up
some fake bank accounts, put some money in there, load it on to the
cash cards, and then close everything up again. Risky as hell,
though. Could result in WEAPCO tracking us.”
    Chris was willing to take the
chance. Their stopover up here was a good seven hours. Time enough
for Sid to work some magic and find a way to get them some funds, he
hoped.
    “What do you need?” Chris asked,
continuing to walk along the platform with everyone else who had
arrived at the space station.
    “Just tools and a computer that
can talk to the outside world.”
    “I seem to remember there being a
net café around here,” Chris said. “Want me to come with you?”
    “No,” Sid shook his head
immediately. “It’s best I do this alone.”
    “You’re sure?” Chris said.
    “Positive. But how about I meet
you in the departure lounge in an hour, whichever way it goes. I’m
not going to go for it immediately. I’ll first of all evaluate how
easy it is to do, and just how visible I’ll make myself in the
process.”
    “Got it,” Chris nodded. “I’ll
see you, then.”
    Leaving Sid to go about his task,
Chris took to wandering the station. He was relieved not to see any
drones around. Perhaps they had already been through here, or maybe
they were yet to come. He was glad that his disguise was still in
place and apparently working. He had become aware of food particles
trapped in his false beard as he had journeyed up from the ground in
the shuttle. Not a good look most of the time, but here it added to
the authenticity.
    He passed an electronic noticeboard,
doubling back to see if there was any work to be had. It was possible
that someone might want something transported from Ceradse to Hail.
Some senders chose to work with individuals, rather than companies,
due to budget constraints, paranoia, or because of the dubious nature
of the item being transported.
    Chris saw as he commenced working
through the listings that the lead item was the