Barnaby was wearing a wide grin. He walked over to the broken crate, crouched down, and picked up one of the little white bags. Then he turned to the boys. "Looks like it's only the crate that broke. I'll take it from here."
Youri stared at him, confused. "I'm sorry — you work here too?"
Barnaby smiled. "No. But this is my ship. So since I'm docked here, I suppose I'm sort of part of the process."
While he was speaking, Casey came up the ramp into the hold, and the moment he saw the shattered crate on the floor he shouted, "Is anybody hurt!?" and came rushing over to the boys. Then he noticed Barnaby crouched beside it, and as soon as he recognized him he straightened sharply. "Are you all right, sir?"
"Don't worry, Casey," Barnaby said easily. "I was just inspecting the merchandise."
"I'm sorry for the trouble, Commander," Casey said.
Commander. Youri turned and looked at Barnaby again, thinking, Who is this guy?
"It's fine, Casey," Barnaby went on. "My boys and I will clean this up. It was the last crate anyway."
"Of course, sir. We'll move the vehicles and leave you to it."
Casey and the boys went back down the ramp to the warehouse. The moment they were inside, Youri asked, "Who was that?"
Casey let out a breath. "One of our clients. A military commander of the Terrian Empire. Think of him as a kind of nobleman around here. They ship goods from Volar to Terria, and he oversees the deliveries." He lowered his voice a little. "The Terrian Empire rules this whole galaxy, and Volar is one of the lucky few planets that were granted autonomy. So whenever a Terrian shows up, he's treated like nobility, on account of his pure Terrian blood. And if Volar wants to keep its autonomy, it's crucial that we treat every one of their envoys with the highest regard."
With that explanation, they all went back to stacking cargo. A little while later, Barnaby appeared again, leaning against the warehouse doorway and smoking a cigarette. When Youri caught sight of him between the crates, Barnaby crooked two fingers at him. Youri put down what he was carrying and went over.
"You called me, sir?"
Barnaby smiled. "Drop the etiquette. We already knew each other before today, so there's no need for all that. So you two work here, huh?"
"Yeah. About a month now."
"That explains why I haven't seen you around." Barnaby studied him for a moment. "How old are you, Youri?"
"I'll be thirteen in a few months."
"Thirteen?" Barnaby raised his eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be in school instead of here?"
Youri gave a small smile. "School hasn't really been an option."
Barnaby looked down at him. "Are you an orphan?"
"Yeah. Since birth."
"I see." Barnaby breathed smoke out through his nose. "Did you find the place you and your brother were looking for?"
"We're going to look around after work," Youri said. "Maybe we'll find something."
Barnaby dropped his cigarette, crushed it under his boot, and started walking off. Just before he turned the corner, he lifted a hand. "If you don't find anything, feel free to come back. I'll be around for a few more days, and I can't use all three beds anyway."
Youri and Six finished their shift and went looking for an apartment, but every place they tried wanted a down payment before it would rent to them. They didn't have anything close to that kind of money. Their search ended almost as soon as it started, and they found themselves sitting on the same bench where they had spent their first morning in Talion, looking out over the lively, glowing city.
Youri sighed. "That Barnaby guy — I talked to him for a bit. He said we could stay in the room a few more days. What do you think?"
Six gave a small rumbling roar.
"Yeah," Youri said with a tired smile. "It beats sleeping outside."
So they went back to the Skylark. When Youri knocked on the white door, Barnaby opened it, took one look at their faces, and said, "Looks like it didn't go well."
Youri nodded. They went in, and Barnaby shut the door behind them. "They wanted a down payment, didn't they?"
"Yeah."
Barnaby crossed his arms and looked the two of them over. "Do you two want to make some quick money?"
Youri and Six exchanged a confused glance.
"It's simple," Barnaby said. "You know the Cloaked Market?"
"We've been there once," Youri said.
"Good. Then you know the place." Barnaby grinned. "The job's easy. I sell goods from my home planet there, and all I need is for you two to stand on a corner and sell what I give you. It sells fast — shouldn't take more than half an hour. And once it's all gone, you each get four thousand zells."
Four thousand zells. For Youri and Six, that was a fortune. They earned twenty-eight hundred for a whole month at the warehouse, and the idea of making more than that in half an hour seemed unreal. With their situation the way it was, that much money would finally pay for a down payment. So they shook Barnaby's hand, believing he truly wanted to help them, and the three of them set off for the Cloaked Market together.
When they got there, Barnaby sent Six deep into a narrow alley between two tall brick walls and handed him a small package full of tightly sealed white bags. "Five hundred zells each," he told him. Then he posted Youri at the opposite end of the same alley with an identical package and the same instructions. He laid a hand on Youri's shoulder.
"You've got this, bud. Just remember — five hundred a piece."
Youri nodded, and Barnaby disappeared into the crowd.
People came and went, buying from both of them. The bags went quickly. Before long, Youri was down to his last one, and that was when the bald man — the same one who had shoved into Six on their first visit to the market — came walking toward him with an irritated, almost desperate look on his face.
"A bag. Quick," he demanded.
Youri handed it over, and the man snatched it and tore it open as he walked away. But the moment he looked inside, it slipped out of his fingers and hit the ground. A small packet rolled out of it and came to a stop beside Youri's foot. Youri glanced down at it, and as his eyes focused on what was inside, his heart stopped. Small crystal stones, glowing faintly purple.
It was Galley — the drug that had taken over the market.