"Hey, when did you get back?" Seren enquired, standing at the door to her father's workshop, a long factory-like structure with panelled windows the length of each wall and an odour of various mechanical oils and concotions."Oh, not very long" said Ulyssees trying to hide he'd been asleep."I came in here to finish up some work on the new coolant and ended up picking up this book.". He stood up and smiled at his daughter. She'd aged since her last visit to the planet, not so much physically but something about the way she carried herself. A new toughness layered over older scars of hardship. It was unsurprising given the hard life they'd endured. That wasn't how Ulyssees had wanted to raise his daughter, hidden away on an obscure colony on a struggling planet mired in poverty, criminality and corruption.
He motioned for his daughter to join him on the sofa at the end of the workshop.
"You get more like your mother every time I see you."
"I wish I remembered her enough to tell."
Ulysses nodded and smiled, "She'd be proud of you. Getting the company back up and running. Seeking the old ship and getting it back. You're making a tidy amount judging my the amount of credits you're sending my way"
Seren leaned forward and clasped her hand "Not doing too badly. I'm getting lucrative one off contracts here and there. Some more interesting than others."
"Interesting sounds like a way of saying illegal to me...."
She turned to her father smiling "I couldn't possibly say.."
"Yes, well....be careful. I am the local Justice of the Peace don't forget."
Seren put her hands forward as if expecting cuffs and her father shook his head half repressing his smile.
He sat up forwards and paused for a few moments before speaking "I've been channeling my share of the company's proceeds to a few different things. Hiring a few hands around the farm, repairing the hoverwagons, that sort of thing. Anyway....I play the occasional game of Kah-tiki and well, wouldn't you know I happen to have won a few games."
"For money?""Yes, for money and various other things. Turning the occasional blind eye to more minor infractions of the law for example But in this instance, I happen to have won a new boat."
"A new boat? What sort of boat?"
"It's old, needs some work but it's a classic design. I've got it parked at the Kerner City land dock. I'll take you down tomorrow and we can have a good look if you'd like?"
*****************************************
"There she is!" pointed out Ulysses, the overcast dampness doing nothing to disrupt his enthusiasm.
"I called her Persephone's Folly - Gulgus thinks I'm a bit senile wanting to take her off his hands."
Seren looked the ship over from afar. "You got this from Gulgus? Are you sure it's not stolen?"
"Now, now Seren. Give me some credit. As it is, the ship doesn't cover the debt he owes me but refitted and working it'll repay me many times over. I've got some engineers working on it now. Come on."
He jogged excitedly to the ship. Keeping pace with him, Seren noticed how ships seemed to inject youthfulness into her father. He'd been the same when she brought the Persephone One home. Tinkering with every little circuit, his fingers dancing over the panels, his mind entirely focused on getting the vessel ship shape. He'd been born for it, of that there was no doubt. They reached the landing ramp and climbed up into the innards of the ship.
"This here", Ulysses exclaimed excitedly, "is a dual entry port. The ramp extends when you're planetside, the airlock opens when you're docking with a space station. Score one to the Folly because Persephone One can't do that."
"And this here, is your cargo bay. Lots of room for anything you're carrying, your hovercycle, even a buffalo-yak. All at the same time, no need to keep swapping and changing at the PTC station"
"It's very nice" Seren eyeballed the dimensions of the ship, "has potential"
"Come on in here. General operations - over there is the navigational computer and analytical systems, over there is a work table and look here. You know what those are? Beds. I spoke to Elena, she said you were sleeping on boxes. Boxes? All that buying and selling and it never occured to you to get a bed. Really?"
There was a forlornness to his speech, an aching to revisit the past.
"The ships yours if you want her, Seren. You carry on making me and your mother proud."
Seren put her hand on her father's shoulder, sharing the view of Kerner City as it sprawled out beneath them.
"It's your ship, dad..."
"I brought her for you. I'm too old to make use of her. "
"I don't think so. You could teach people a few things I reckon.", she said cuddling close to her father.
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