by Jaleta Clegg
"Parrus had the most colorful fish," she said. "You should have come with us."
"Three would have been an awkward number." Besides, if I had gone with them, I would have missed Tayvis. "You showed me the pictures."
"It was incredible, swimming under the water with them flashing on all sides." She started sketching on the wall.
Clark and Jerimon finally came back. They both looked hot and tired.
"The cargo is delivered," Clark announced. "The only available cargo is a load of minerals for Brugundhi."
"Deeper in the Sidyatha," Jerimon added. "Not a good idea."
I traded the lute for a reader. "Brugundhi might have something we could take to Onipas. Brugundhi manufactures some basic agricultural tools and they have a four star rating for seeds and plants. Ones cleared for expor, and accepted at Onipas."
"Then we sign the cargo for Brugundhi?" Clark asked.
"If Dace says it will work," Jasyn said, still sketching fish on the wall, "fine with me."
Clark looked at Jerimon.
"I get a vote?" Jerimon said, pretending to be surprised. He shrugged.
"Then let’s go get it," Clark said to Jerimon. "I just wish the Sidyatha code allowed automated transport." He kissed Jasyn on his way out.
The hatch slid shut behind them, cutting off the hot dry air outside.
"The only problem with this is that I’m going to die of boredom," I complained. "I’m going out to check on the ship." I put the reader away.
Jasyn was too absorbed in her latest picture to notice when I opened the hatch and stepped out.
The air was chokingly hot. It was midday, planet time, although ship time it was late night. I palmed the door controls and the hatch slid shut. I stepped away from the ship into the baking sun. Nothing really needed checked, it was an excuse to get out. I’d always enjoyed new worlds, the smells and sounds and the feel of wind on my face. Most spacers didn’t like it, but I did. The only weather I didn’t like was snow.
I walked around the ship. The landing field was surrounded by a low wall of what looked like dried mud. The tops of buildings rose above, the same color as the ground underfoot. I saw a few people, men mostly, at a distance. They wore brightly striped baggy tunics with dark colored pants showing underneath. The women were shrouded in thick folds of cloth that covered them head to toe.
I wandered to the back of the ship and opened the cargo bays. They were both empty. I shut the doors again.
I was getting a lot of attention by this time. The men near the one gate in the thick wall were staring my way and not looking very happy. I decided it would be smart to go inside.
I opened the hatch and went back in. It slid closed behind me. Ghost sat in the center of the floor, tail wrapped neatly around her paws. She stared at me.
"Don’t you have pests to hunt?" I asked the cat. She didn’t even blink her huge green eyes.
"So, how is it outside?" Jasyn asked.
"Hot." I sat on the cushioned bench and tried to read. I fell asleep instead.
Chapter 4
Clark woke me up when he got back. Jerimon wasn’t with him. Clark nudged me, standing over me and not looking happy.
"What?" I said groggily. I’m not at my best when woken up.
"Don’t go out," he said. "Unless you want to pay fines."
"What?" That got my attention.
"I had to argue with the Director for Moral Decency for half an hour before he agreed to just give me a warning. So don’t go out unless you’re covered with one of these." He dropped a wad of dirty beige fabric on me.
"Did you get the cargo?" Jasyn had a smear of yellow paint on her cheek.
"Barely," Clark said. "Everything shuts down at sunset so we can’t load until morning. I’ll be glad to get off this planet."
"You aren’t the only one," I said, holding the wad of fabric. It smelled funny, a musty dry smell that reminded me of insects, unpleasant ones.
"They take their religion seriously, Dace," Clark said. "It offends them to see women practically naked. Which, in their codes, you are. Either wear that or stay inside or be prepared to pay large fines and end up in jail."
"Given those choices, I’ll stay inside. But we’re leaving here as soon as we can."
"Bound for Brugundhi," Clark said, "where the laws are even more strictly interpreted."
"Great," I muttered. I stuffed the fabric into the cleaner.
Ghost appeared on the narrow ledge above. She hung her head over, watching me and sniffing the cloth. She didn’t like the smell to judge by her sneeze.
"Where’s Jerimon?" Jasyn asked Clark.
"Making final arrangements for the cargo," Clark said. "We had to buy crates for it. I didn’t think you wanted it just dumped back there."
"I’ve been demoted to an ore freighter," I muttered to the cat. She mrowed and jumped down from the ledge.
Clark sat at the table. "I never thought trade would be more work than being in the Patrol. Isn’t it illegal to make someone work more than twelve hours straight?"
"When you’re the owner, hours don’t matter." Jasyn finished cleaning up her paints and sat with him.
"Technically, you’re the owner. I’m just the hired help," Clark said.
Jasyn leaned close and whispered in his ear. He grinned.
I turned away. I was happy for them both, very happy. But I couldn’t help feeling lonely and a bit jealous. Jerimon would be happy to fix that for me. I didn’t want Jerimon. I missed Tayvis.
Jerimon came back while I was busy feeling sorry for myself and trying to ignore Clark and Jasyn whispering at the table.
"Delivery at dawn," Jerimon said. He looked down at his gray shipsuit. It was streaked with red and black dust. "This is why I avoided becoming an ore pilot. Not that you care," he added to me.
"We’ll always care about you, Jerimon," Jasyn said.
"I give up. I’m going to bed before someone else chews me out." I stomped off to my cabin.
"Was it something I said?" Jerimon asked.
Ghost slipped in as I shut the door. She jumped on my bed.
"My only friend a cat," I said as I pulled off my boots. I dug under my pillow and found my nightgown. Another present from Jasyn, it was soft, silky, and very red. She said the color was good for me. I wore it because it was comfortable. And because I secretly liked the way it swirled around me.
"At least you stopped leaving presents on my pillow," I said to the cat as I brushed my hair. It was getting long, touching my shoulders. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. This was the longest I’d had my hair since I’d left Tivor. I stared at myself in the tiny mirror on the wall and wondered if I’d exorcised the ghosts of my past enough to be objective about my hair. I pulled it back, studying how it changed my face.
I looked a lot older than I did in my Academy graduation picture. Considering what I’d been through since then, that wasn’t surprising. Even if it had only been two years, I felt much older.
"What do you think?" I said, holding my hair up and turning around to Ghost. The cat was asleep with her head upside down and one paw over her nose.
I gave up and climbed in bed, sliding the cat to one side.
The next day didn’t go much better. Jasyn and I stayed shut inside the ship while Clark and Jerimon got dirty and sweaty loading cargo. Not that I wanted to get dirty and sweaty, I was just bored. I lay on the cushioned bench watching Jasyn paint and picking at a frayed spot on the cushion.
"Do you know how long it took me to make that cushion?" Jasyn complained, tossing a frown at me over her shoulder as she squeezed out more blue paint.
A long string unraveled from the edge. "If I wanted to, I could sew it back together with stitches so tiny you couldn’t even see them."
She snorted and smeared blue on the wall.
"I could," I said and dangled the string on the floor. "One of the many skills I had to learn on Tivor. At least on Tivor I didn’t have to wrap myself in a bedsheet to go outside."
> Ghost batted at the string. I pulled it out of her reach. She stretched up, showing her paler belly. I twitched the string to one side and the cat followed, twisting almost on top of herself to catch it.
"You chose to come this way," Jasyn said. "Stop whining about it. Another few days and we’ll be out of the Sidyatha."
I swung the string around in a tight circle, Ghost spinning to keep up with it. The com beeped and I pulled the string away. Ghost sat very still, feet splayed, her head swaying in a circle.
I made sure it was an internal call before I answered. It was Clark.
"Check the balance, Dace," he said. "I think we got it loaded right, but if it shifts it might throw out the left stabilizer."
"Are you sure I can do this without offending port authority?"
"Dace, I’m hot and I don’t have the patience to listen to you whine. Just do it."
"Yes, sir." I stuck my tongue out even though I knew he couldn’t see it. I powered up the ship and ran a few checks. "You’re a bit heavy in the right hold, unless you’re deliberately trying to compensate for that flaky stabilizer port. You need to shift about two hundred pounds."
"I’ll just have Jerimon stand in the left hold for the trip to Brugundhi." Clark flipped the circuit to standby.
I waited, dangling the string from the arm of the chair. Ghost skittered in, sliding under my chair. Her paw swiped at the string.
"Dace?" Clark’s voice crackled out of the com. "What about now?"
I ran the checks again. "You’re within twenty pounds. Should be close enough."
"Good. We’ll get the cargo secured and be ready to lift soon." He hung up.
I shifted in the chair, dangling my bare feet over the arm. I was working on my phobia about being caught barefoot. I rethought my decision when Ghost batted my foot, with her claws halfway out. I pulled my feet into the chair. "Do we need to import more pests for you?"
Ghost rolled onto her back and licked her belly. I swung the string over her. She ignored it and walked away, twitching her tail as she left.
"Even the cat ignores me," I grumbled.
Jerimon and Clark were both a mess when they came in. Jasyn sent them immediately to clean up. She put her paints away and followed Clark into their cabin.
I amused myself doing the preflight checks. It required a bit of exercise, dashing between the engine room and the cockpit. I timed myself, for lack of anything better to do, seeing if I could beat my best time.
The com beeped. I looked at the flashing light and decided I couldn’t answer. I knocked on cabin doors until I got a response. Jerimon opened his door wearing nothing but a towel. His hair stuck up in unruly curls.
"Someone on the com," I said.
"Can’t you answer it?" he said, retreating into his cabin. "Guess not. Be out in a minute."
He came out barefoot and still fastening his shipsuit. I tried to pretend I wasn’t looking. He was way too good looking, especially when he wasn’t trying. He hit the com button.
It was port authority with our clearance to launch. I think they wanted us gone. Jerimon hung up and buzzed Clark.
"Liftoff in ten minutes," Jerimon told him when he answered. "Dace, did you do the preflight?"
"No, I sat here and picked lint out from between my toes. All done, Jerimon."
Jasyn and Clark reappeared. Jasyn didn’t look happy. I hoped they weren’t fighting again. I pushed Jerimon out of the way and took the pilot’s chair. No one and nothing was going to stop me from flying my ship. Jerimon took the copilot’s chair. Clark took the fourth seat and did all the talking to flight control. Jasyn slipped into the navigator’s seat.
Jerimon was a little slow on the controls, but he picked up the unfamiliar layout quickly.
I watched Sudhi shrink in our viewscreen. I’d never been happier to leave a planet before. Yes, I had, several times. But this time I was leaving when I chose to, under my own power, and that made a difference.
We hit the jump point and slid into hyperspace.
"I just hope Brugundhi isn’t as boring," I said.
Clark didn’t answer. He was asleep in his chair.
Brugundhi was, if anything, worse. The flight there was short, only a day and a half, but we still managed to get on each other’s nerves long before we got there. Jasyn painted furiously the whole time. She was mad at Clark. At least she wasn’t shouting and throwing things. Jerimon sat in the pilot’s chair and brooded. I hid in my cabin. The only one not affected was Ghost. She appeared twice with more of the blue things dangling from her mouth.
We were all relieved when the reentry alarm went off. We landed on a bare dirt field surrounded by a high wall of dried mud. Port authority came to our ship as a full delegation. A wall of brightly striped robes in clashing colors headed our way.
"You and Dace will have to stay out of sight," Clark said to Jasyn as he watched them approach.
I snorted. "Who died and made you Emperor?"
"I’m trying to keep you out of trouble."
"You aren’t my keeper, Clark."
"You need one."
"Take that back." I stood and glared up his nose. He was enough taller that his nostrils were on my eye level.
"Stop it, children," Jerimon from the pilot’s chair.
"I’m trying to keep you solvent and out of prison," Clark said, trying to sound reasonable.
"You don’t have to rub my face in it."
"You don’t have to provoke trouble everywhere we go."
"I don’t!"
A loud knock sounded on the hatch.
"Go hide yourself, Dace," Clark ordered.
"Go soak your head," I muttered while I slunk into my cabin.
Jasyn lounged on my bunk, filing her nails.
"Your husband is impossible," I said after the door was safely shut.
"You’re telling me," Jasyn agreed. "The Sidyatha was a very bad idea."
"It was the only choice that made any sense."
Jasyn shifted her feet so I could sit on the bunk. "He’s just trying to keep us out of trouble. The laws out here are pretty strict about women. And he’s worried about money."
"We have enough," I said. She was too quiet. "Don’t we?"
"Barely. Fees on Sudhi were a lot higher than posted. Infidel tax, I think they called it. And they wouldn’t pay any of the bonuses for that shipment. Unless we get a cargo to sell on Onipas, we may be in trouble."
"What about some of the spec goods?"
She shook her head, her long hair slithered over her shoulder. "We aren’t allowed to buy or sell directly. And no one can buy from us. Our current cargo is fine because we are just transporting it, but we’re barely covering the port fees."
Ghost jumped up, walking around the bunk and sniffing everything. She settled down, a purring lump of fur in my lap. Jasyn went back to her nails. I petted the cat and tried to think of some way I could help.
Clark stuck his head in after a while to tell us he was going to arrange for the cargo delivery. He made a point of warning me to stay on board and out of sight. Jerimon went with him when he left.
When they were gone, Jasyn decided she needed to do some baking. She wouldn’t let me help. So I tried to figure out a cargo that might possibly pay for our passage to Onipas. It wasn’t easy when Brugundhi had no public access channels.
By the time Clark and Jerimon returned, I had one figured out. If we could find someone to sell us the rights to carry a cargo. If we could twist the Sidyatha’s regulations far enough to allow it. If my information wasn’t outdated. I had a lot of ifs.
Chapter 5
"These are for you, sir." Paltronis set a teetering stack of files on top of Lowell's desk.
Lowell frowned. "Who sent them?"
"You requested them, remember?"
Lowell raised one eyebrow.
Paltronis opened the top file. "You have standing orders to be notified. Ships, people, events. These are your notifications. This one is regarding the merchant ship Phoenix Risin
g. They entered Sidyatha a week ago."
"That's the wrong direction. Do you have the crew roster?"
She flipped through several pages. "They registered Jerimon Pai as general crew when they were on Muugran. Is that what you're looking for?"
Lowell tapped his bottom lip with his clasped hands. "Too far. It's going to mess up my schedule. But it can't be helped." He took the folder from Paltronis. "I need you to go to Cygnus."
Paltronis dropped the folder on his desk. "Why? I'm your bodyguard, not your secretary and definitely not one of your agents. I'm not a messenger or an assistant, either."
Lowell smiled, deceptively mild. His silver eyes gave nothing away. "I do tend to forget sometimes. You're just so efficient."
"I can get you a list, if you're looking for an assistant."
"But I'd rather have you."
She tapped the folder. "What are you doing with Dace this time?"
Lowell's smile faded. "Trying to save her. Targon Syndicate raised the price on her head to half a million credits. Every bounty hunter in the Empire is going to be after her."
"Half a million?" Paltronis' jaw dropped. "I thought Targon was broken. They don't have those kinds of resources."
"Someone does. They’re backing Targon." Lowell opened the folder, flipping through the pages inside. "We have to convince them Dace is too dangerous to touch, for any price. That's why I'm sending you to Cygnus. I need you to brief my people but keep Sector Chief Querran out of the loop. She doesn't need to be involved in this. You won't have much time to get it set up. Dace should arrive at the planet soon enough."
"How do you know that, Lowell? And don't tell me you read her mind."
"No, I deduced it. Cygnus Sector is the only one with any viable trade for a merchant ship of that size. It's the logical path she should take."
