Two Men (and a Woman) in a Boat

The two on the starboard side were empty, the first on the port side held a tall thin man who upon the door opening attempted with limited success to squeeze himself into a corner. His expression was one of wide-eyed horror as if his worst nightmare had walked in. I tried to communicate with him, but to no avail. Shrugging, I left and went to the adjacent cabin. This too was occupied by a single male. He was well- built and appeared to be wearing an old-style tuxedo. Upon seeing me he got up with a large grin on his face and started pumping my hand up and down repeatedly saying, "Thank you! Thank you!"

Eventually I was able to retrieve my arm from his deathgrip and managed to calm him down enough to introduce myself, and ask him what happened.

The man, who told me his name was Hank, said, "I was a passenger on the pleasure-liner Aurora," he explained. "Engine trouble delayed us for a few days so the captain decided to get us back on track by going through the Bokaneir Field."

I blinked at this. The Bokaneir Field was one of the most treacherous areas in known space and was plagued by frequent meteor showers and ion storms. No captain worth their salt would order their ship to try and travel through there, schedule or no schedule.

"Naturally," the man continued, "the Aurora got caught in a meteor shower and was badly damaged." He grabbed my shoulders, distress in his eyes. "She was carrying over two thousand passengers." He released me, his distress turning to anger. "You've noticed how there's only the three of us?" He pointed a finger at the next cabin. "It's that guy in there's fault. Amanda and I," obviously the woman on the bridge, "were the first aboard. He ran in not long afterwards and attempted to launch us straight away. My wife tried to intervene but had her head bashed against a bulkhead for her trouble. By the time I'd got there, it was too late. I'm not naturally a violent man, but it took all I could not to beat the guy into a pulp. Instead I shoved him into a cabin, where he's remained ever since."

"But why is your wife on the bridge and not in your cabin?" He shrugged at that.

"She was drifting in and out of consciousness all the time, but was adamant about staying there just on case somebody did find us." He gave a wry smile. "If I'd attempted to move her, I'd get an earful."

Since my relationships with women had always been short term, there was nothing I could say to that.

So I told Hank to retrieve his wife. As for 'that guy', I couldn't have him on the Astra not so much because what he'd done, but there would only be problems if I let him aboard. The supplies aboard the liferaft were designed to last 12 people a number of months. As there had been only three of them, he should have enough to last him awhile. Maybe he'd get picked up.

1. I had a large number of other concerns.
2. Ah, hell! I couldn't just leave him. I radioed my find to the Imperial Police. They can deal with him.

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