...Turtle

[Turtle]

Albert Turtle grasped the bottle of Edinburgh whisky and poured himself another glass. He then walked back to his chair and sat down. He had been sitting there and thinking about his family for a while now.

........
His grandfather Antonio Juarez had moved from Omicron Alpha to a base in Newcastle because he had developed some sort of rash against the so essential Cardamine. With only the Cardamine mask on his health improved gradually, he also had been able to reduce the daily doses of Cardamine.

On the base he met his grandmother Anne Turtle whom he then married after knowing her for eight weeks only. Anne was nine years older than my grandfather. They only had had one son, my father Andres. His grandfather Antonio was killed in a fight on the station when my father hd been ten. After this his grandmother had moved to Manhattan. Tired of being asked about the origins of her name and the name of her son she had resumed the name Turtle and had changed the name of my father from Andres Juarez to Andrew Turtle.

Albert remembered that he had not recorded that before and picked upt he Dictaphone:

"It was a difficult time but my grandmother finally found a job at a trader's office where they were glad about her knowledge of the language if Hispania. My father was recruited by the DSE when he was eighteen, DSE offering him an education in Geology and a subsequent job.

My grandmother died at the age of 62 when my father had not yet finished his education. My father then moved to Pittsburgh to start to work for DSE there. My father there met again a girl that had studied together with him in Manhattan. They got married shortly after I, Albert, was born. At that time my mother Angela also was employed by DSE.

My father worked hard for DSE for nearly thirty years. When DSE had to reduce headcounts, he early retired and received a small mining vessel with good equipment as a bonus.

With this vessel he started as miner, still working mainly for DSE. He was successful, and finally was flying a Mafic. He also was able to help me financially when I started as a trader. But soon after that my dad started to suffer more and more pain, all those years of mining having worn on his health. My father finally retired. He and his mother still live nearby and my father still flies his Mafic from time to time."

Albert Turtle sighed and laid down the dictaphone when his memories about his own beginnings as trader came up. Him, first in a tiny freighter, then in a larger one, a Rhino. He then met his wife Amanda on Pittsburgh. She started to accompany him after he had been able to afford a Camara freighter which had enough room for the two of them. That were the best times he ever had. She even took up to accompany him after the birth of their first son, Adam. At that time he also decided to stay an independent trader and not to join any house company or the Junkers. He chose to affiliate with the Freelancers and not to join any organization or faction at all. Knowing that his wife and son were with him he never chose to smuggle and avoided the borderworlds. But one day they were held up by a Hessian bomber. He attacked them after only a short conversation (he damanded an incredibly high amount of credits). Albert barely managed to escape with considerable hull damage. This incident was a real shock, especially for Amanda. She did not trust the escape pods and surely not for her baby. After this she stayed at home while Albert was on tour, and it was never the same again. But Amanda was busy anyhow, his second son James being born a year later and then two years later the twins Robert and Linda.

Over the years he (Albert) had been able to expand the business and change to larger transportation vehicles, first a Bumblebee and now (just some hours ago) a Firefly. His new ship, the TsCC, was a real beauty.

(A lot of memories came back to him, like the incident where he unintentionally missed the trade lane from Leeds to Newcastle and was held up and accused of breaking the blockade.)
The kids also were growing up, Adam being sixteen right now, also James was in his adolescense. All children were great, but got increasingly difficult to handle. Not being at home regularly it became more and more difficult for him to influence his children, and Amanda was a wonderful mother but very lenient.

Albert Turtle got up. Still, he was confident that they all, as a family, would be able to manage their lifes and be successful.

Suddenly the whole room seemed to move, he instantly lost conscience. When he woke up again he had some brusies and there were splinters of glass lying around everywhere. He quickly checked the news com. He then checked the logs. "Darn, must have been an ion storm. Haven't seen the warnings. Luckily I was in Barrier Gate Station and not in open space." He then went to the hospital ward. He had to wait for fourtty minutes until they started to treat him, others were hurt morebadly. What he heard in the waiting room confirmed that it had been an ion storm.

Later he entered the bar of Barrier Gate Station. After the barkeeper had poured him a whiskey he took a mouthful and turned around. "What happened to you?" Sarah Whitney asked him. Already his pain had nearly vanished...

---

She: Some soldiers, I know, are afraid of death.
He: All of them, dear lady, all of them, believe me. It is our duty to live as long as we can, and kill as many of the enemy as we can.