Part 2 (1/2)
Abbot poked at the signal again.
”Not feeling well?” asked Mirelle. ”I have some pills.”
”Oh, no-I'm fine.”
She cranked the free-fall shuffler. ”Mind if I deal?”
Clearly, Abbot didn't want to play this game, but could find no graceful way out of it short of using Influence to divert them. Abbot himself had taught t.i.tus the cardinal rule: Influence is a last resort. Too much, and people notice their own odd behavior.
Oblivious to all this, Mirelle went on. ”We'll secure our calculators in the middle of the table. There's a small net around here somewhere-”
While she and Gold searched the edge of the table for the compartment and found the net, pa.s.sing it around to collect instruments, Abbot fidgeted. t.i.tus had never seen his father squirm before.
When Gold pa.s.sed the net, Abbot made a business of fumbling with the Varian. Suddenly, t.i.tus knew. There's a piece of the SOS transmitter in there!
Abbot met t.i.tus's gaze, and his eyes narrowed. t.i.tus said, ”This should be interesting. I've never won at poker against you, and I've never seen you stymied by a pocket calculator. But there's always a first time for everything.”
Abbot relaxed, and with a cool smile pa.s.sed the net back to Ivlirelle. Fastening the net as close to the middle of the table as she could reach, Mirelle announced, ”I warn you gentlemen, I do intend to win. I hope each of you does too.”
Abbot replied, ”Rest a.s.sured, I do.” And to t.i.tus, he added, ”And I shall.”
I did it! He's going to play!
While Mirelle dealt the cards into four holders and spun the table to distribute them, t.i.tus thought hard. Connie had said that the Tourists' transmitter was being s.h.i.+pped to Project Station in seven components, which would then be a.s.sembled to look like a legitimate part of the probe vehicle. In place, it would function as what it resembled, but it would also contain the powerful transmitter that would use the probe's antenna to send a signal hidden under the humans' message. Two of the Tourists' transmitter components would be programmed at Project Station: the targeting computer that would turn the antenna in case the humans sent their signal in the wrong direction, and the component holding the message itself.
Three components were at the station already, two more were being s.h.i.+pped as cargo, and two were being hand carried by their agent. By Abbot. One, at least, in the Varian.
Abbot would surely carry the ones he could least expect to fabricate at the station in case of loss or damage.
As if following his thoughts, Abbot said, ”t.i.tus, I am going to win.”
”We'll see. If we play simple draw poker with no outside influences affecting the rules, I just might win.”
”That's the spirit!” exclaimed Mirelle. ”Simple draw poker it is. No wild cards, no optional hands.”
Abbot raised an eyebrow at t.i.tus. ”All right, we'll make it a contest of pure poker skill-no other influences.”
He's either overconfident or I've underestimated him. In the Past, Abbot's apparent arrogance had always turned out to be extreme modesty. t.i.tus wiped cold sweat off his palms. In a truly fair game, t.i.tus knew he might even win. But- The escort attendant poked her head in the door and called pleasantly, ”Dr. Nandoha?”
He waved her away. ”Never mind. I've become engaged.” There was no way Abbot could take the Varian with him without using Influence to make the others overlook his odd behavior.
Mirelle located the package of miniature magnetic poker chips. ”Who wants to be banker?”
”You do it, Mirelle,” suggested Abner. ”You're the only woman here, and we all know what we're playing for-don't we, fellows?” He glanced from Abbot to t.i.tus.
Mirelle shrugged. ”I'll divide the chips and if you run out, you're out of the game. No bookkeeping. Whoever ends up with the most chips wins. We play until docking maneuvers and settle up in line at the boarding gate.”
”We should be able to settle up here,” objected Abbot.
Mirelle spun the table distributing the chips. ”Abbot! You doubt your ability to remember calculator commands?”
t.i.tus was disturbed by the way Abbot held her gaze. He knew all too well how Abbot used human women, and he despaired as Abbot's lips trembled hungrily.
But the other was no more hungry than t.i.tus at the outset of the mission. Abbot mastered himself easily. ”I have not had cause to doubt my abilities in a great while.”
They fell to playing in a concentrated silence, each of them focused on the discard pile, calculating odds, measuring each others' expressions for any hint of worry. Abbot, no doubt, wasn't worried. He had nearly total recall.
While Abner Gold pondered his second bet, t.i.tus caught Andre Mihelich peeking at the game over his newsletter.
”Raise ten,” announced Abner, sliding a stack of chips out, taking care that they adhered to one another and the bottom one stuck firmly to the table.
”Call,” announced Mirelle prettily.
She was yet a different person now. She acted as if each development was the delight of a lifetime. But she didn't chatter.
t.i.tus wished she'd just stop playing her anthropological game. Every once in a while, when something got through to her, she revealed flashes of her true self that intrigued him unbearably.
t.i.tus put his cards down. ”I'm out.” He'd been holding a pair of threes and a pair of twos. He figured Mirelle had at least a flush, and Abbot a full house or above, for he hadn't drawn any cards.
Abbot and Gold called. Mirelle won with a flush just one card higher than Abbot's. Then they each won a round, t.i.tus raking in the highest pot as he bluffed out the two humans when Abbot folded. But two rounds later, Mirelle was ahead and t.i.tus caught Abbot glaring at him. t.i.tus grinned back, knowing his father wouldn't bring Influence to bear after promising not to.
Play became brisk and silent, a battle of nerve in which even Mirelle settled into stony concentration. Mihelich lowered his newsletter and stared. Responding to the tension between t.i.tus and Abbot, the humans also played as if their lives depended on it. In a way, they did. The luren who'd respond to the Tourists' SOS would regard humans as cattle and Earth's civilization as an inconvenience to be wiped away. With all the s.p.a.ce stations long ago rendered defenseless by W. S. treaty, it would be no contest.
Then t.i.tus sensed a thrum of Influence gathering about Abbot. He might consider it fair to read the other players' cards or the next cards to be drawn. Looking straight at his father, he roused his own Influence and cast a wave that interfered with the older vampire's nearly tangible power. At will, Abbot could overpower anything t.i.tus could do. t.i.tus said, ”I'm glad we're playing straight, uncomplicated draw poker. It reveals the mettle of one's opponents.”
”Honor takes many forms,” Abbot mused. ”Sometimes real honor lies in the sacrifice of honor.” Simultaneously, the Influence tension abated. Without even counting his chips, Abbot shoved them all to the center of the table.
Gold stared at the pile. He couldn't match the bet. He folded and mopped his forehead with a handkerchief.
Mirelle matched the bet with one red chip to spare.
t.i.tus's hands shook as he counted chips. He was holding a royal flush, but there were eight hands that could beat his. He was pretty sure Abbot didn't have one of those, or he wouldn't have been worried enough to use Influence. But Mirelle might have that hand. Not might, does!
t.i.tus matched the bet, with one white chip left over. t.i.tus stared at her red chip. She's won.
”Throw it in, t.i.tus,” urged Mirelle. ”Raise.”
It was a symbolic gesture, nothing more. Mirelle had won, but would be under Abbot's Influence in a flash as soon as the game was over. With a shrug, t.i.tus pushed the remaining white chip out. ”Raise one.”
Abbot placed his cards face down in their holder. ”I'm out.” His eyes never flickered, but his Influence gathered. He'd dictate to Mirelle how to distribute the calculators.
Mirelle fingered her red chip and explored t.i.tus's eyes. Then she gazed at Abbot. ”I did say the one with the most chips at the end of the game would win, and that's me. But I'd rather match hands with t.i.tus. Winning seems to mean a lot to him. Perhaps if he wins, we'll find out why.”
t.i.tus felt Abbot start, a frisson of alarm that s.h.i.+vered through the thick fabric of Influenced s.p.a.ce between them. Abbot had always dominated humans. He had never bothered to understand them. t.i.tus smiled. She had chosen him over Abbot, and he marveled at how warm that made him feel.
She snapped her cards down on the table. ”Hearts. King. Queen. Jack. Ten. Nine.”