At 1:37 a.m. Matthew Grim was awakened in his rented quarters on Sandur Station with an automated nueral-net message: "Payment of 317,000 credits to the inactive Green Hell account has been verified and approved. Would you like to reinstate the automated inventory system to assist in timely replenishment of stock for the next business day? Y/N?"
Banger was confused.
"Uh, yes?" he said, still not fully awake.
"Acknowledged, Mr. Grim. The Islay Automated Inventory System thanks you for your continued business."
Matt got out of his bunk, harvested the crust out of his eyes, growled "WHAT THE F***!!" at the top of his lungs & by 1:45 a.m. tore into space heading for Edinburgh at top speed.
At 3:50 a.m. Banger exited his Claymore in the Islay hanger, stomped off towards the Hell, when a familiar sight registered in the corner of his eye, and stopped him in his tracks.
He approached the substantial chunk of Pilgrim liner and made specific note of the painted hull markings.
"What the f***?" he muttered under his breath, and by 4:00 a.m. he was in the Hell, dressed as a janitor & moping the floor, quietly eyeballing every person in his path.
"Crushed Velvet Corpsegrinder" he said.
"Master Password Accepted. Welcome back, Matthew." said the Green Hell's V.I.
"Ello Sweet'art. Who opened you up?"
"Islay logs register Crewman number- Error, missing ID entry"
'What the f***.' he thought.
"I want you to flash him for me. Subtley, please."
"Of course, Matthew." replied the Hell.
The song on the P.A. system changed, and lights of all different colors moved and blinked in tempo with the music.
The single white light flashed subtlety on 'Crewman number- Error, missing ID entry'
"Thank you, Sweet'art." he said, then pushed his mop and bucket ahead of him as he began stalking closer to 'Crewman number- Error, missing ID entry' drunkenly unaware of the light tracking his movement as he got up for a piss in the loo.
Banger entered the restroom, playing his part, moping the floor a few feet away from the man emptying his bladder in one of the urinals, and after waiting for the sound of the stream to stop and an polite extra two seconds for the shake, the Banger Grim slid behind 'Crewman number- Error, missing ID entry' covering his eyes with one hand, and holding the blade of his knife to his throat with the other.
"WHO THE F*** ARE YOU?" he croaked into the man's ear with a quiet rage.