[ifspuds]

Blane Carr shouldered his equipment bag and headed for the transport that would take the Lorris Greens to Elliott Springs for their next game. He let out a sigh, stopping just outside the ballpark gate to consider the panoramic view of the mouth of Tifton Bay. Not that Elliott Springs was a bad place to be going, necessarily, but it wasn't the relative paradise of Silver Beach. The sunset over the water, the warm summer air... and his teammate Cliff Rock some distance away talking to a man Carr didn't recognize, but anyone wearing a suit in the Outposts was either too important to be hanging around a ballpark or was crazy. Either way, it was certainly odd.

"What's going on over there?" Carr asked his teammate, first baseman LeDarion Crawford, who was passing by.

Crawford let his bag slide to the ground and rolled his neck. LeDarion had been fighting a bad shoulder for a couple weeks, but he still had to carry his own bags. No one else around to do it for him. "What, Cliffy over there? Don't know. That's Michael Hernandez, though, the guy he's talking to. My brother works for him here in town. Mining company, I think."

Carr turned to his teammate with a frown. "THE Michael Hernandez? The guy that owns the Whales?"

"He does?"

"Yeah, he does. You gotta pay more attention, man. Hernandez owns the whole town, pretty much. Some people say he wants to own the whole league, if he can outmaneuver Baxter," said Carr.

"Huh. Wonder why he's talking to Cliffy."

In the distance, Rock and Hernandez shook hands and went their separate ways. To Carr's eye, Hernandez looked pretty tickled about whatever it was they'd discussed.

"You and me both, LD."

"Come on, Blane. Let's get in the transport. I've got a couple hours sleep in there with my name written all over it."

Carr lifted his bag, and reached over to pick up Crawford's as well. "Hell, LD... you slept on the bench the whole game!"