The long-haul freight triton-212 followed the adjusted course along the edge of the vast nebula known in the Galaxy as Argo 9000.

The propulsion systems operated in the mode of average photon thrust, usually used when passing planetary systems. A little more than three hours remained before sending to hyper-mode. In other circumstances, this time could seem unbearably long and boring, but not here and not now.

For someone who has never seen the Argo nebula, a meeting with her should be added to the list of tasks required for execution in this life. Well, for those whose eyes even once recognized the grandeur and beauty of “Argo” there was always a reason to re-enter sector 34–818, to once again delight in seeing a delightful palette, perfection of colors and their shades, unhurried, magnificent movement, overflowing color born by the brush of the universal Creator.

The upper and lower boundaries of the nebula were denoted by golden ribbons twisted in a spiral under the influence of powerful magnetic fields. A huge red cloud of hydrogen in the shape of a sail in the center sparkled with short but bright flashes. From the same place, violet flowers, multi-jet fountains, super-hot coronal gas was thrown to the sides. In the lower part of the nebula, it merged with thick bluish scraps of oxygen and bright red spherical clusters of nitrogen. Two stars immersed in the nebula, one bluish-white spectrum and the other yellow-orange dwarf with its intense light made a special, unique touch to the rich assortment of colors. It seemed that the sail “Argo” was filled with this light, as if the wind and the whole nebula was rushing forward, like an ancient ship that gave it its name.

Sitting in a comfortable chair with a high back and looking at the viewing screen, Andrei Radimtsev again mentally praised himself that he had replaced the J-radiators with a new, most advanced model. Now the color rendition was noticeably brighter and more saturated than before, the speed of processing and building visual projection is many times higher, color sensors more accurately displayed the color of the observed objects, obtaining data on their chemical composition.

Such a replacement with more advanced and advanced modifications required many components and parts of its old cargo carrier. Perhaps, he will in fact replace something after this flight for which he was promised a very substantial fee. It would be nice to buy a couple of new plasma-pulsarnik. So, for your own peace of mind. Two touch panels on the starboard side have long been junk and it is desirable to replace them as soon as possible. And of course, like any single spaceship that used to rely only on himself, he dreamed of an anti-gravity AEC screen of 7 or better than 8. But such things were worth on the black market, where they could only get big money. It was necessary to get a dozen of such good contracts, as it is now, and even have everything done in time to get the necessary amount in hand. And this is without taking into account all current, everyday spending, which is always inevitable.

So, arriving in the company of their unhurried thoughts, admiring the light, the overflows and flashes of the Argo nebula, Radimtsev was waiting for a message. Finally, on one of the Lt-communication screens, the customer’s physiognomy appeared. He was a fat, almost bald man of about fifty. So he looked, which means he really was under two hundred years old. Genomic regeneration has recently developed simply by leaps and bounds. Andrey himself went through the procedure a couple of times and was more than satisfied with the result.

“Sir, Kleinst Hofer, I suppose?” - asked Radimtsev.

- And you, the owner of the board "212 - Triton"? - in turn, asked the Bavarians.

- Yes I. At your service.

“Well,” said Mr. Hofer, nervously. After a short silence, he finally continued:

- My assistant, Hans Colter, I think I explained everything to you, clearly outlined the task? Do you understand everything regarding this expedition?

“Everything is clear and clear,” Radimtsev nodded. - The route is clear who to contact upon arrival is also clear.

- Questions?

“No question, Herr Hofer.”

- Well, Mr. Radimtsev, then good luck to you.

Session communication ended. Andrei remained seated in his chair, without changing his posture. His “212 - Triton” rushed towards the Transition point, and the navigation computer calculated the further route taking into account the minutely incoming corrections for the following vector.

In fact, quite a lot of things to Radimtsev in this matter were incomprehensible, and he could ask Mr. Hofer many questions. That's just, they were all of this kind, that hardly the commandant of the Victor-16 would respond to them.

It all started with the fact that 46 hours ago Radimtsev arrived at the Victor-16 - a mining mining village located in the asteroid zone of Haggard-26, which in turn was part of sector 34-818. Inhabited by the Victor-16 and the nearest asteroids were Bavarians, whose ancestors were humans from a town known as Bavaria.

The Bavarians were full-fledged citizens of the Union of Faterland on whose capital Riftar Radimtsev was following just now.

Andrei earned his living by delivering all the various necessities, to such remote colonies as the Victor 16. This time he brought medicine. Normal in general flight. And he was very surprised when the assistant commandant Hans Kolter suddenly came to him and offered to do transportation ... No, not microchips, no food, no equipment, or, say, workwear of three dozen fembots!

Yes, even deliver them to the capital Riftar!

Fembots, damn it!

Is it possible that someone in the capital of the Faterland Union, considered one of the most developed industrial worlds, lacks fembots?

All this is very strange.

Hans Colter did not bother to explain everything in more detail. Moreover, he made it clear that any questions regarding the cargo are unnecessary and undesirable. He just said that the latest bots are the latest modifications 7.5.1 from Thrix-x-x. They need to be delivered urgently. A deposit of 10,000 halo credits and upon delivery, Andrei will receive another 30,000.

Well, a very good payment for a trifling expedition. And Andrew signed the contract.

On the transported cargo, he was nevertheless provided with some standard technical information and documentation. After all, you’ll have to deal with customs on the Riftar.

To his surprise, the fembots were indeed with new modifications. Not to say that they were very different about the previous models, but still ... I'll have to take a closer look at them.

And yet one thought didn’t give Andrei any peace. Strange some kind of rush for these Bavarians. Their ancestors from Bavaria, as a rule, were measured, thorough people who loved to do everything slowly and carefully. Why now such a rush and obvious nervousness with this burden? Something here is not clean. There would not be any bases for him!

No, no, Radimtsev did not fear anything such connected with drugs or prohibited psychotropic drugs. Customs officers would find such a good thing in two accounts. Having conceived, say, to smuggle something illegal, the Bavarian would not declare their cargo themselves. Would organize the delivery through secret channels. True, in the event of a failure, everything would have been the most bold. So, the shipping expedition they needed was legal. But at the same time, something behind all this wing. Something was in these most new versions of fembots, not otherwise. Something that should not know for the time being - for the time being nobody. It smacked of military conspiracy and espionage. Well, maybe so. Since Andrei himself had no relation to the Vaterland Union, but was a citizen of the planet Rodonezh, which is part of the Star Federation of Eastern Slavs (ZFVS), all these intrigues caused him no more than curiosity.In addition, for a very long time he was far from politics and other struggles in this field, and he was engaged only in matters of his own financial well-being.

After thinking about all this, Andrew decided not to score ...