Free Space For Hire (Seven For Space) by William F Nolan

Mr. Space. Verlag is waiting for me in the lab. I must trot. Come, my dear." He nodded his head at Nicole. "I'll show you your quarters."
    "See you later, Sam." Nicole said.
    Umani gave me a parting smile. Big yellow teeth in black gums.
    I never liked to watch a giraffehead smile.

Twelve
     
    "You seen the Gimp around?"
    I was doing the asking. The dogface to whom I'd directed my question was big and shaggy and built like the side of a bank. His name was Ham Bodeen and he never said three words when he could say two and never said two when one would get the job done.
    Now he said, "Naw."
    "When was he in last?"
    "Week ago," said Ham.
    "Alone?"
    "Nope."
    "Who was with him?"
    "The usual."
    He meant TeTe, Gimp's hanger. Gimp Hovel was too dumb and too ugly to latch onto anyone better than TeTe, an ex-goongirl whose best days — and nights — were behind her.
    "So she still flops with him, eh?"
    "Still."
    "Where?"
    "Hard to say."
    I slipped him a fiver. "Any easier now?"
    We were at a table in one of the rougher dendives on Luna, and in a place like this it's better to keep your credits out of sight. That's why I passed him the fiver under the table. His big hardskinned paw folded over it and his dog-bright eyes gave a flicker. He was going to tell me more.
    "Old Colony," he said. "Second fleahut from the crossing off Black-crater Road. You might try it."
    "I just might," I said.
    * * *
     
    Blackcrater Road had been slashed into the lunar surface back in the days when the first Moon colony was established, and it was in lousy shape now, tough to negotiate even in a sandcar.
    The area was dark and deserted, a fetid backwash of cracked dome-buildings and occasional fleahuts — which had housed the Moonworkers when the colony had still been operational.
    The sandcar I'd rented was nearly as used up as the area around it; the vehicle wouldn't respond to more than half power and its engine labored to propel it over the pitted, rock-strewn road. I was beginning to heartily curse its poor performance when the Gimp's fleahut popped into view over a sand rise.
    It was where Bodeen said it would be, just one hut past the crossing. I spotted Hovel's dented sandbike, meaning he was inside. With TeTe, no doubt.
    I cut power and climbed out of my machine.
    The fleahut's slidedoor was unsealed, and I didn't bother to knock. The Gimp was an old pal of mine.
    He was there all right, but he wasn't in any condition to say hello. The strong odor of Moonjuice hit me like a fist as I stepped inside. Hovel was on a fraying, half-sagged plastocot near the wall, flopped on his back, arms flung out, mouth open, breathing harshly through his fleshy nose.
    He was juiced to the eyeballs.
    "Who the freeb are you?" demanded TeTe. She was at the hut's table with a drink in front of her, a skinny little blueblonde in a faded slackbag. The bag had holes at both elbows. From the anger in her eyes I could see she was still sober enough to talk.
    "If it matters to you, sister, my name is Space." I nodded toward the Gimp. "Wake him up fast and pour some hot Earth coffee into him. I need the bum."
    "Don't try and give me orders. You —"
    I whacked her once and she shut up, knowing I'd do it again. "You heard me. Move it!"
    She hauled Gimpy into a sitting position, yelling at him to wake up, that there was some kind of nut here to see him.
    "Huh, huh, huh," he sniffled. "Whosa matter?"
    I walked over and grabbed a handful of shirtfront, pulling him half off the cot. "Wake up, Hovell! You've got what I need and you're going to give it to me. C'mon, on your feet."
    I jerked him up. He swayed there, blinking me into focus. "Sam … Sam, ole pal."
    "Yeah," I said, smacking him hard with the flat of one hand while I held him up with the other. "It's your ole pal, here to collect a debt."
    "You're outa luck, Space," declared TeTe sourly, beginning to fix the hot java. "The Gimp here can't pay nobody nothing on no debt. He's flat."
    "I saved this bum's life once on