The Crooked Cargo

"Spacejock's Law": The best way to hide one problem is to create three new ones.

Hal is convinced his latest customer is yanking his chain, so he dumps their cargo and looks for a better deal.

Then he discovers who the customer was.

Now he has four hours to deliver that original cargo before hitmen rearrange his anatomy, an angry passenger he sealed below decks is kicking in the lift doors, and his only physical evidence of the priceless freight is a load of old plumbing floating in space.

Meanwhile, Clunk is stranded on a nearby planet with a hundred colonists, an old ship with more holes than hull, and a sun which is threatening to explode.

Two ships. Two impossible deliveries. Absolutely no margin for error.