by Jaleta Clegg
Jasyn laughed. “You’re too practical for your own good.”
“If I were practical, I wouldn’t have eight-foot lizards chasing me. Or the Patrol.”
“So let’s find the Eggstone, return it, and deal with the Patrol.”
“If only it were that simple.”
Chapter Fourteen
Buzzer’s store was a run down, mangy looking plascrete hut surrounded by empty warehouses, shady stores, and rowdy bars. Jerimon and I attracted more than a few stares. We both wore Lady Rina’s uniforms and stood out like flowers in a garbage dump. I wished I’d brought my blaster. Jerimon ignored the looks and pushed open the door to Buzzer’s shop.
Bells jangled somewhere in the back. Junk crowded the store. Books, real paper ones, spilled off an overloaded shelf. Ship control modules fought for space with used household appliances. Comp units were stacked chest high in one corner, topped by a disconnected android head, blank eyes staring at nothing. Tangles of decorative lighting swung from the ceiling. Jerimon picked his way through the piles of furniture and clothing that cluttered the center to a dusty display cabinet at the back. Jewelry glittered inside, tawdry pieces I didn’t give a second glance.
A fat man perched behind the counter glared with bloodshot eyes. He wore an undershirt, gray with old dirt. His hair stuck up in patches. He spat to one side. “Whatcha want?”
“I sold an item to you several weeks ago,” Jerimon said. “I want it back.”
The old man looked Jerimon over. “I don’t buy pretty-boy goods.”
“It was a rock, about this size and glossy black.”
“Don’t remember no rocks.” Buzzer spat again. “No money in rocks, ‘ceptin gems.”
“Buzzer!” A voice shrilled from the back of the store. “Don’t you buy no more junk!”
“Shut yer face, Liddie! I ain’t buyin nothin.” He scratched his armpit.
I nudged Jerimon aside, then pulled a five credit note from my pocket. I held it where Buzzer could see it. “This help your memory?”
“Maybe,” he said and gave me the once over.
“Black rock? About fist size?”
“Sold it two weeks ago to a collector. Don’t give out no names.” He reached for the credit.
I pulled it out of his reach. “Five credits is a lot. Give me a name and address and it’s yours.”
He folded his arms and spat. “I don’t give out none of that.”
I put the slip back in my pocket.
“I got friends that take care of them that welsh on deals,” Buzzer threatened.
“Give me a name and address and it’s yours.” I tried to loom over him. I was too short to be effective.
He glared, mouth working. He finally spat again before digging an old book from under the case. He flipped it open, running a grubby finger down the page.
“Kile Wells,” he said as if the name were being pulled out with pliers. “Don’t got an address.”
“Ship’s name? Anything?” I dangled the slip again.
Buzzer shook his head. “He was headed off to Besht with it. Last I heard.”
I dropped the slip on the counter. It vanished almost instantly into Buzzer’s hand. I threaded my way through the clutter into the relatively clean air outside. Jerimon followed behind.
The thugs hanging around outside in the afternoon dismissed us as either too much bother or not enough profit. I didn’t mind being ignored. “We need parts for the ship. Do you know where any dealers are?”
“I think they were back that way.” Jerimon pointed the way we’d come.
I shoved my hands in my pockets, crumpling the list from Caid, and walked quickly.
Jerimon matched my pace. “That was slick, Dace. You bribed him, then threatened him. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you really were meaner and tougher than those thugs back there.”
“Who says I’m not?”
“Did you learn that in the Patrol?”
“Don’t bring that up again, Jerimon. Or you’ll find out how mean I really am.”
He snapped his mouth shut.
We found all the parts. Lady Rina’s credit held up well. Jerimon let me do the bargaining. I hadn’t done any actual dickering for a long time. I missed it. I argued all of the dealers down to a much more reasonable price. We took what we could carry and made arrangements for delivery of the rest before we headed back to the Swan.
The Swan’s hatch glowed softly. Jerimon tapped the controls. The door slid open. I followed him down to the engines where we dumped the parts. Caid’s foot stuck out from under the main drive shaft. He whistled happily.
“Here’s some of the parts,” I said. The whistling paused. “The rest should be delivered in the morning.”
“Good. Be in here at first bell.” Caid resumed whistling.
I turned to leave.
Jerimon stood in the doorway studying me. He flushed, turning quickly into the hall. Out of Caid’s hearing, I noticed.
“I like your hair,” Jerimon said as the engine room door slid shut. “You did something different to it.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, embarrassed.
“You ought to let it grow.” He shifted closer.
I closed my eyes, looking for any patience I might have overlooked earlier. “Jerimon, go away.”
“Maybe Lady Rina is right, Dace. Maybe we should give it a chance.”
“Give what a chance?” I opened my eyes and glared at him. “I’m tired and hungry and if you don’t move, now, I’m going to kick you.”
He stomped into his cabin. If the doors slammed, I’m sure he would have slammed his. It slid shut, silent as always.
I’d been mean. I felt a twinge of guilt, but pushed it aside, blaming it on hunger.
I didn’t have to even try to avoid Jerimon after that. I spent the next day and a half of planet time scraping my knuckles on the engine. Caid dragged me off into the engine room right after a too early breakfast. We ate lunch down there when I threatened to leave if he didn’t let me eat. The same went for dinner. By the time he reluctantly decided it was too late to keep working I was too tired to do more than stagger to bed. The next morning was a repeat, only with heavier parts. The new drive-shaft bearings arrived during the night.
We got everything back with a minimum of swearing. Just about the time I was screwing in the last fastener, Estelle appeared in the doorway.
“Lady Rina would like to leave now,” she said.
I was startled enough to drop the wrench, onto my foot. It was the first time I’d heard Estelle say anything. I rubbed my bruised foot and muttered bad words.
“Half an hour to test everything,” Caid said, poking through the coolant coils.
Estelle nodded, then disappeared as silently as she usually did.
“Is it ready to test?” Caid asked, slamming the cover over the coolant controls.
“The last bolt is tight,” I answered. I didn’t want to ever, ever be an assistant engineer to Caid if I could avoid it. Eighteen hours a day of hard labor was way too much. I also knew I didn’t want a ship so outdated it required constant work to keep running. Caid loved the Swan, to him it was not work. I had aching muscles in places I didn’t want to think about.
Caid started the engine, powering it up just enough so we could check the alignment of the drive shaft. I rubbed a kink in my neck. Caid tweaked the drive bearings, measured again, tweaked some more, and measured again. I shifted from foot to foot. I wanted a shower.
Caid sent me running, fetching tools, checking dials, talking Jerimon through the preflight checks, and adjusting settings. Jerimon was powering up the engines when Caid finally noticed me.
“Don’t you belong up there flying this bird?” he said with a frown.
I didn’t bother replying, he wouldn’t have listened. I shoved the tools I held into a bin
“Dace?” Jerimon called over the com. “Liftoff in less than a minute. Get up here, now.”
I ran out of the engine room and up to the
lounge. I barely had time to strap in before we were lifting, the engines thundering steadily. I kept an eye on the gauges, but our repairs seemed to be holding. We cleared the planet and the engine rumble died down to a low vibration. Jasyn relayed the course. I plugged the numbers in. The ship curved to the right then straightened on a new heading. I finally relaxed.
Lady Rina leaned on the back of my chair. “It has been too long since I’ve visited Besht, center of culture and trade for the whole sector. It will be a pleasure to see the sights once again.”
“Dace,” Jerimon whispered, pointing to the scanner. Dots crawled across the screen, red, blue and green. One yellow dot curved in from the far side of the planet. He tapped it, the computer pulled up the information from the ship’s beacon. I swallowed hard. It was a Sessimoniss ship, moving fast.
“How do they do that?” I muttered.
Jerimon shrugged.
“How does who do what?” Jasyn asked.
“The Sessimoniss,” Jerimon answered, his voice cracking slightly. “They just came in-system.”
“We’re moving as fast as the Swan can go,” I said, checking the engine indicators.
“Then we just have to hope they don’t notice us,” Lady Rina said calmly.
I envied her poise.
“How are they finding me?” Jerimon whispered, watching as the yellow dot came around the planet. The latest course plot for it changed, turning onto our vector.
“They’ve got the planet security worked up,” Jasyn said. “Port Authority has called up the Patrol.”
I stared at my controls, wondering how I could get more speed out of the Swan. I didn’t know enough about the design. Minutes ticked by. The yellow dot was definitely shadowing our course. I did some quick calculating. We should reach jump point only a few moments ahead of the Sessimoniss. I hoped we stayed far enough ahead to be out of tractor-beam range.
“There’s an ore freighter in their way,” Jasyn said.
We watched the yellow dot pass very close to a green one. Two red blips appeared, Patrol cruisers chasing down the Sessimoniss ship. Part of me wanted the Sessimoniss to shoot at the Patrol and let us escape, but the system was a busy one and innocent people would be hurt. The minutes crawled by while I sweated and the Swan slowly built up speed.
“They are calling,” Jasyn said, breaking the tense silence. “Wide beam broadcast. The Sessimoniss are demanding the return of the Eggstone and the one who stole it. They’re using your name, Jerimon.” She flipped a switch sending the call over the speakers.
“Give us back the Eggstone and the human who has stolen it. Jerimon Pai must pay.”
She flipped it off. “It’s repeating.”
“I’m trying to return it,” Jerimon said.
“Give me the radio,” Lady Rina said. Jasyn slid off the headset. Lady Rina settled it on her white hair. “How do I use this?”
“Just speak,” Jasyn said, flipping switches. “It’s set to broadcast and receive.”
“This is Lady Delarina Duessa of the Swan.” She spoke loudly, with exact precision. “You will cease harassing us. Your Eggstone will be returned.” She pulled off the headset, handing it to Jasyn. She smiled with smug satisfaction. “That should take care of things.”
“The Patrol are calling for us to stop,” Jasyn announced. “The Sessimoniss have stopped transmitting.”
“They’re accelerating,” Jerimon said.
Lady Rina calmly returned to her seat.
“Jump point,” I said as I engaged the hyperdrive.
Chapter Fifteen
I shut down the sublights and swiveled my seat to face the lounge. “I hope they aren’t waiting for us at Besht.”
“They think we’re going to Tebros,” Jasyn said.
“That’s illegal!” Jerimon protested.
I couldn’t find words to express what I thought of that comment. Lady Rina did it much better with one raised eyebrow. I’d play cards with her but the only deck she had was her weird one for fortune telling.
“They won’t believe you’re innocent now,” I told Lady Rina.
“I doubt they ever did. I can always claim that I was duped by the three of you. I’m an old lady, my sanity can always be questioned.” I felt sorry for whoever finally caught us. “It is time to plan. What do we know so far? Dace?” She looked at me expectantly.
“We’ve told you everything,” I said.
“Yes, Jerimon took a stone that didn’t belong to him and now the Sessimoniss want it back, but he sold it and now it’s on Besht, we hope. Do I have it straight?” She speared me with her steely gaze. I flinched. “Why are the Patrol after you? I don’t believe you ever explained that fully. I made some inquiries on Herifon.”
“I told you before about Belliff. There isn’t anything else.” I folded my arms. I wasn’t about to admit that some high-ranking person in the Patrol undercover wanted me to work for him and had me followed everywhere I went. That wasn’t any of her business.
“You are lying,” she said flatly. “This is not just about smuggling for Belliff. Why is the Patrol hunting you in particular?”
“It has absolutely nothing to do with this mess.” I locked glares with Lady Rina, determined not to say anything more. Her eyebrows slowly rose. I wilted under the force of her stare, but kept my mouth stubbornly shut.
She frowned. “Well, what will we do when we reach Besht? The Patrol will figure out our destination before very long, despite Jasyn’s efforts.”
“We look for Kile Wells,” Jerimon said.
“And beat him with a stick until he gives us the Eggstone,” I muttered.
“How will you find him?” Lady Rina asked. “We don’t have time to question every indigent in the markets. You must learn to plan, Jerimon. As soon as we reach normal space, you will fetch me. I have contacts that can locate Kile Wells quickly. The Family is strong there.” She looked at Jasyn and Jerimon in turn. That word had claimed all of their attention. “You are both Gypsies. It’s past time that you knew what that means.”
“They disowned us, when they disowned our parents,” Jasyn said, her tone bitter.
“It was a mistake, at least that has always been my position,” Lady Rina said. “Your mother and father were forbidden to marry. They came from clans that had been separated by feud for over a thousand years. The two of them broke alliances when they married. Neither family wanted a possible traitor in their midst so they disowned them both. I protested to the Council. They couldn’t disown me or they would have. I was too powerful. I still am, though I’ve chosen to distance myself from the Council and Family politics.
“I kept an eye on your parents, and you, for years. It is past time for the Family to step forward and do what they can for you as penance for a decision made in ignorance and stupidity thirty years past.” She looked at me, head cocked, shrewdly evaluating. “You are not Family, although that could be arranged.” She glanced at Jerimon, who blushed. “Where Jerimon has involved you, the Family is obligated to help. I will have to see what I can do about your other troubles. Perhaps Caid’s praise will carry weight with the Council. He thinks highly of you. He said you could have been a great engineer, except you were misled into becoming a pilot. High praise indeed from him.” She stood, brushing her skirt smooth. “It is past time we called in the Family. As soon as we reach Besht, I will find your information.” She swept elegantly from the lounge, trailed by her shadow, Estelle.
The three of us looked at each other.
“She seems to have taken care of everything,” Jasyn said with an edge of resentment in her voice.
“Were you really working with Caid all the time or just avoiding me?” Jerimon demanded.
“Yes and yes. You’ve got first watch. I’m going to try to get what sleep I can before Caid decides something else needs to be fixed.” I left without looking behind me. Jerimon was getting on my nerves and Lady Rina’s not-so-veiled hints at romance weren’t helping.
Caid didn’t let me sleep l
ong. He’d found plants for the hydroponics and wanted them planted. I spent hours crawling around the units plugging the last leaks while he set the seedlings. I had sticky green stuff in my hair from the growing fluid. Smears of it ran down the front of my shipsuit. I wiped a trickle off my cheek while I waited to make sure the leak was fixed.
Jerimon sauntered in as I finished wiping green from the pipe. “What are those?” He pointed at a packet with green sprouts showing out the top.
Caid handed the packet to Jerimon. “Strawberries. You plant them along here. Like this.” He showed Jerimon how to thread the seedling in the planter and insert it into the nutrient pipe.
Jerimon threaded a plant carefully into the next planter. Caid grunted his approval and picked up a different packet, this one of seeds. Jerimon threaded another strawberry plant into the pipe.
Later, at the next meal, Jerimon enthusiastically told Jasyn all about the hydroponics. She pretended polite interest. Lady Rina beamed, proud that he’d finally obtained a real interest in something. I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore it. I hated those pipes, the stinky slimy mess I’d been crawling through, and the smell of rotting algae that still clung to my hair. My knuckles were scraped raw. Just being a pilot was very tempting. Pilots rarely had to crawl through muck or bang up their knuckles on stubborn bolts.
Lady Rina touched my hair, puzzled. “Why is your hair green?”
It was still sticky despite my washing it six times that afternoon. “Algae,” I said, hoping it wasn’t permanent.
“There’s another leak in the auxiliary tank,” Caid said. “That back connector slipped loose.”
“Jerimon can fix it.” I took another bite of casserole. Estelle worked wonders with frozen food.
“But your hair’s already green,” Jerimon said.
“It’s your turn to crawl around in the muck.”
“But you do such a good job of it.”
“I have watch.”
“I’ll take it for you,” Jerimon said, looking so innocent and sincere I wanted to barf.