On Jan 19, 2005, at 1:18 PM, Eris Reddoch wrote:

> Bruce Johnson wrote:
>
>>> "Tell me what you think of it.", she presents Ricardo with the
>>> mug and then says, "So, you another spacer from one of the
>>> ships that came in today?"
>>
>> Ricardo sips the beer. "Yah, off the 'Mae Lee', the big
>> thousand-tonner." He glances around for any reaction to the name.
>>
> No reaction from anyone that you notice, but the bartender nods and
> says, "I was really surprised to hear that a big ship like yours had
> dropped in on us. We usually have to make do with smaller ships. All
> the big ships stop at the GG outsystem and ferry what little cargo
> they have for us in on boats."

Ricardo shrugs. "Well, we like to keep her near at hand, she's home, 
after all, and the stuff we had for here on would have meant more than 
one trip.

This stop is mostly because we've not been out this way before. We just 
got her recently, and this sort of a sightseeing stop.  We came this 
way because a Ollis on Mark had some cargo for here."

>
>>> She glances over at the man wearing the ship suit before
>>> looking back at Ricardo and smiling, "We don't get a lot of
>>> ships in here, and we *do* depend on travellers for outsystem
>>> news."
>>
>> "Well, we can send yah some old Mark newsfeeds and such. Not a
>> lot going on rimward.
>
> "You'd find a market for them, I suspect. Even if it's old news,
> it'll be new to us. You ought to see if our local networks is
> interested in buying them from you."

"I'll see what we got, and more importantly, what we're tired of 
reading over and over ." He smiles.

>
>> The Confeds and the Lizards are into Cold War mode, dancing
>> around each other. Mark looks to be their next dance hall,
>> unfortunately, but that's probably years off. Both sides are
>> kinda worn out from the last one.
>>
>> "Big storm and lotsa flooding on Sequi, particularly around some
>> of the Bion ranches..in the north. We got caught up in the SAR
>> there, since we were dirtside there.
>
> "Oh really?" she says, "That sounds interesting!"
>

Ricardo shrugs. "Well, it was exciting, in that sort of 'Oh we're going 
to die now' way. We flew way too close to a tornado...put a tree branch 
through the hull of our boat."

> She glances at the man in the stained ship suit and says, "And a lot
> more informative than some of the spacers we get in here."

Ricardo smiles. "I'm told I gab a lot. Always willing to swap stories. 
Spent a lot of years in the Argent scouts, and have 'sung for my 
supper' on occasion. so which ship's he from? That old scout ship looks 
vaguely familiar."

>
>> "You got a window to send feed grain that way for a decent price,
>> I'll wager, since they're getting help with that epidemic and
>> will want to build their herds back up."
>
> She nods, "That would be good for the local economy I'm sure."
>
>> "We're headed on coreward, though."
>
> "Like toward Montrose?" she asks, when you nod she says, "You should
> put that on the net. I know a lot of people here on Serbia have
> family there and we seldom have a way of getting messages to our
> relatives there. If you let it be known that you're going there, I
> bet you could pick up a lot of messages to be delivered into the
> Montrose net, probably a lot of small packages and paper mail as well."
>

Ricardo says "Sure. We've got the room this time."

--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs