Part 19 (1/2)
The targ grimaced. ”You may be right,” he said at last, reluctantly. ”Probably are.” With a sigh, he dropped his hand empty to his side. ”So much for that.”
”They're probably still worth a couple of ruya at a coin shop,” Chandris told the scorer helpfully. ”Or else you could just keep them as a souvenir.”
”Thanks,” the other murmured, lip twitching in a wry smile. A smile solely for the targ's benefit. ”Thanks for your help. A lot.”
”You're welcome,” she said. For a long moment she held his gaze, warning him with her eyes. Then, turning her back, she continued on her way.
Heading nowhere.
She knew it right away, down deep. But she walked another block before finally admitting it to herself. She'd had the chance to lock in with the Seraph underground, or at least one small corner of it. Had had the chance to get off this nurking planet, to be rid of the Daviees and their nurking hunters.h.i.+p and their nurking middle-cla.s.s naivete.
And she'd blown it. She'd deliberately blown it.
And the most frightening part was that she didn't know why.
The only alcohol she could find on the Gazelle was four small bottles of cooking sherry stuck way back in one of the galley bins. It tasted terrible, especially chased by peppermint tea. But she managed.
She had finished three of the bottles and was working on the fourth when the Daviees finally returned.
”Well-home at last,” she growled when they poked their heads in the galley door. ”Have a good little shopping trip?”
”We got what we needed, yes,” Ornina said cautiously, her eyes taking in the empty bottles. ”I see you've been having a little party. Any particular occasion?”
”I'm drinking to stupidity,” Chandris told her. ”Yours.”
Their reactions were a great disappointment. She'd been hoping for anger or hurt, or at least surprise. But all she got was that maddening patience of theirs.
And, of course, jokes. ”A wide ranging subject, that,” Hanan said, clumping into the room to sit down across the table from her. ”Our stupidity has been toasted from here to the south edge of Magasca. Toasted by experts, too, I might add. You're not going to set any records with four bottles of cooking sherry.””Is that your answer to everything?” Chandris snapped. ”Jokes?”Hanan shrugged, his eyes hardening just a little. ”What's your answer? Getting drunk?”Chandris glared at him, trying hard to hate the man. But up his s.h.i.+rt sleeves she could see the glint of his exobraces...
She looked at Ornina. Maybe she'd be able to hate her. ”You want to know why you're stupid? Do you? Well, I'll tell you why. You left me here alone. Here. With your s.h.i.+p. Alone.””We trust you,” Ornina said quietly.”Well, you shouldn't,” Chandris flared. ”What kind of fools are you, anyway? You know what I am-I'm a thief, d.a.m.n it.” Abruptly, she ducked down to haul the angel holding box up off the floor. ”You see this?” she demanded, banging it down on the table. ”You see it? It's your stupid nurking angel, that's what it is.”
”I see it,” Ornina said. ”I also see that it's still here.””No thanks to you,” Chandris bit out. ”You leave the d.a.m.n thing just sitting there, the first d.a.m.n place a thief would look. You don't have any alarms or trippers or-nurk it all, I had it out of the s.h.i.+p and halfway to the d.a.m.n Gabriel office.”
Ornina nodded. ”And then you brought it back.”
”Only so I could tell you what I thought of you before I left.” Chandris got to her feet, grabbing for
the table as her head suddenly went foggy. ”Let me alone!” she snapped, jerking back as Hanan reached out a hand. ”I don't need your help-I don't need anybody's help.” She started around the table, cursing as she banged her knee on the edge of the chair.
”Where are you going?” Ornina asked.
”Where do you think I'm going?” Chandris retorted. ”Thanks for everything. Don't bother writing me a reference.”
Ornina raised her eyebrows slightly. ”The mood you're in, I don't suppose you care, but out here in
the real world it's considered proper etiquette to give at least a week's notice before quitting a job.”
”Funny woman,” Chandris snarled. ”Leave the jokes to Hanan-he does a better job with them.”
”I'm not joking,” Ornina said, taking a short step sideways to block the doorway. ”If you really want
to leave, of course you're free to go. But I want to hear it from you first.”
Chandris stared at her. Was she actually saying...? ”Are you people completely crazy? I just tried to steal your angel.”
”But you didn't,” Ornina pointed out. ”That's the important part.”
”No, it isn't,” Chandris shot back. ”Maybe I just figured I couldn't sell it. Next time I'll know enough to take something else. I'm a thief, d.a.m.n it.””No,” Hanan said from behind her. ”You're a cat.”She spun around, almost losing her balance again. ”What?”
”You're a cat,” he repeated. ”Ever see a cat kill a mouse? A pet cat, I mean, not a wild one.”
She frowned at him, the sheer unexpectedness of it sidetracking her anger. It was the setup to a joke, probably, and she wasn't in any mood to listen to Hanan's jokes. But he looked so serious...
What the h.e.l.l. ”I saw a cat take out a small rat once,” she told him. ”There were a lot more rats than mice in the Barrio.”
He nodded. ”So he killed it. Did he eat it?”
She had to think back. ”No. He stalked it and killed it, but then he just walked away.”
”That's because he wasn't hungry,” Hanan said. ”Cats behave like that. A hungry cat will locate some prey, stalk it, capture it, kill it, and eat it. If he's not really hungry enough to eat, he'll still stalk and capture and maybe even kill. But if he's not hungry at all-” he waggled a finger at her for emphasis-”he'll still stalk and capture, but then let it go without hurting it.”
She eyed him. Even with three and a half bottles of sherry inside her it was obvious where he was
going with this. ”And that's supposed to be why I brought it back?”Hanan shrugged. ”It's an interesting system,” he said, as if she hadn't spoken. ”Hunting and stalking take up a lot of time. If the cat starts the routine before he's really hungry, chances are that by the time he is hungry he'll have caught himself some dinner.”