Free Titanium Texicans by Alan Black

Miss Maria. I am Tasso Menzies.” He pointed at his uncle’s picture on the dataport display. “That is my Uncle Bruce Menzies and that man is some guy named Moffatt.”
    “Some guy named Moffatt?” she asked. “Anywho, this is your tio’s signature here ..., I mean your uncle’s signature and this is Moffatt’s counter signature. This document is your tio’s declaration of guardianship. And this document is his authorization signing you up for a drive on the Escorpión Rojo. As of right now, you are a member of this crew whether you like it or not.”
    Tasso said, “I didn’t agree to this.”
    Maria shrugged. “According to this, Saronno law says you don’t have to agree. You just have to go. However, as I said, we will not force you to go if you don’t want to. We don’t work that way. Still, we’ll be subject to substantial fines if you aren’t on board when we take off.”
    Stefan frowned, “Fines? Who the frak agreed to that?”
    Maria said, “The ramp foreman signed it, but it looked as if he didn’t have much choice. Either we agreed to take the boy or we would forfiet all profit here. And according to this addendum, the Escorpión Rojo would become ship non-gratis on Saronno. We’d never be allowed back and the rest of Rojo’s ships would be blacklisted.”
    Stefan looked shocked. “So the boy goes with us or we’re all screwed.” He looked at Tasso, “Who’d you make angry, amigo?”
    Tasso shrugged, “I don’t know. I really don’t understand any of this. I know I’m an embarrassment to Uncle Bruce and he didn’t want to be my guardian. I don’t know about the rest of this. Why would he stop trading with your spaceship because of me?”
    Maria said, “Not just our ship, Señor Menzies. This threatens all of our family’s ships, all sixteen spacecraft, and every one of our crews and their families. Saronno is one of our more profitable ports. I’m going to have to take this to the captain. This is going to force us to put some of our spaceships in dry dock.”
    Stefan shrugged, “I hate this, but it would be worse to force the boy.”
    Maria shook her head, “I agree. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Señor Menzies. The exit from the spaceport is that way.” She pointed off in the distance and turned to Stefan. “Let’s get this hatch locked down. We’re getting close to hitting the trail.”
    Tasso said, “Wait! Where am I supposed to go?”
    Maria shook her head again. “I wish I could tell you, Señor Menzies. I don’t know what Saronno law says about youngsters who disobey their legal guardians. Do you?”
    Tasso shook his head. He could hear his Grandpa, ‘Respect your elders’.
    “Okay,” he said in resignation. “Okay! Okay! Okay! I don’t want to go, but Uncle Bruce says I have to and it doesn’t seem right to hurt you folks for my disobedience. I’ll go, but I’m not happy about it.” In one respect, Tasso knew he wasn’t completely truthful about not wanting to go. A voyage in a spaceship was nothing short of a childhood dream.
    His little valley would be all right. He could take a short space cruise, return there to claim his land, and harvest his chiamra crop. He would set foot on another world and come back here soon to breathe Saronno air again in a few months.
    Stefan pointed at his bag. “Get yer possibles, amigo. It’s time to head ‘em up and move ‘em out. Maria, you want him to hang around here with me until I get this hatch locked down?”
    Maria said, “Nope. I’ll ride herd on him. I’m going to corral him in the observation lounge until I can throw a lasso around FO Graham and find out what’s going on. I hate to bother the captain with this, but we need to address this addendum. I don’t like planetary governments pushing crap like this on us. I don’t like being threatened.”
    Stefan grinned, “You ready to climb aboard, amigo?”
    Maria said, “Ready or not, we gotta get a move on. If you’re gonna be crew, I ain’t