Part 19 (2/2)

”How much debt are we talking about here?” Tera asked.

”Five hundred thousand commarks,” I told her. ”And let me also say that I tried every single legitimate way to get the money before I finally gave up and let Antoniewicz's people bail us out.” Which wasn't strictly true, of course. But there was no need to muddy the water here.

”What about now?” she asked.

”What about now?” I countered. ”You think I wouldn't love to pay off the debt and be out from under his thumb? Antoniewicz has done this before, you know, and he's quite good at it. The way he's got things structured, we're going to be in servitude to him till about midway into the next century.”

”There must be another way,” she insisted.

I felt my forehead creasing. For someone who'd come in here ready to accuse me of being the sc.u.m of the Spiral, she seemed awfully concerned about my personal ensnarement in this web. Maybe even suspiciously concerned. ”Such as?” I asked.

”You could turn him in,” she said. ”Go to one of the police or drug- enforcement agencies. Or even EarthGuard Military Intelligence-if he deals in weapons they're surely interested in him, too. You could offer to testify against him.”

I sighed. ”You still don't get it. Look, Tera, every police force in the Spiral has been trying to get their hands on Antoniewicz for at least twenty years.

EarthGuard, too, for all I know. The problem isn't evidence or even persuading suicidal fools to testify; the problem is finding him. No one knows where he is, and at the rate things are going, no one's going to figure it out anytime soon, either.”

”But-”

”And furthermore, blowing the horn on him would end it for me permanently,” I cut her off. ”He's got my debt held with a bank on Onikki, under their charming debtors' prison laws. All he has to do is call it in, and I'll spend the next thirty years working it off at fifty commarks a day. Sorry, but I have other plans.”

”Like spending the same thirty years working for Antoniewicz?” Nicabar said pointedly.

”The choices stink,” I agreed. ”But at least this way I'm not doing hard labor, and I still get to fly.”

”As Antoniewicz's wholly owned drink-fetcher.”

I shrugged. ”Like I said, the choices stink. If you've got any others, I'm listening.”

”What if you could find someone to pay off the debt?” Tera asked.

”Like who?” I demanded. ”If the banks wouldn't look at me before, they sure aren't going to start now. Unless one of you has half a million in spare change,it's not going to happen.”

The corner of her mouth twitched. ”It sounds like you've already given up.”

”What I've done is accepted reality.” I c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. ”The question is, are you two prepared to do the same?”

Both of them frowned. ”What do you mean?” Tera asked.

”I mean you have to decide whether you're going to rise above your finicky scruples and continue to fly with me,” I said. I was taking a risk, I knew, bringing up the subject that way. But only a slight one-that was, after all, what they'd come here planning to confront me with in the first place.

Besides, if they could be blunt, so could I.

And Tera, at least, could certainly be blunt. ”I would think it's a matter of whether you will be allowed to continue flying with us,” she retorted.

”Afraid it doesn't work that way,” I said, shaking my head. ”I'm the pilot, hired for the job by Borodin. None of you has the position or rank to replace me.”

”Under the circ.u.mstances, I doubt you'd have the gall to file a complaint,”

Nicabar pointed out.

”Oh, I might have the gall,” I said. ”But I wouldn't, mainly because there wouldn't be anything to gain. You and the Icarus would already be gone, taken by the hijackers I've already told you about.”

”a.s.suming there was any truth to that story,” Tera scoffed.

”Why would I make something like that up?”

”Maybe you're hoping to scare us all into jumping s.h.i.+p,” she said. ”Maybe you've got another crew lined up ready to move in when that happens, like you had Ixil ready when Jones got killed. Maybe you're the real hijacker.”

”Then why didn't I move my crew in on Dorscind's World while you were all out sampling the sights?” I countered. ”Why bother with any story at all?”

”And you don't know who these hijackers are?” Nicabar asked.

”All I know is that they're very well organized,” I said. ”And that for whatever reason, they think they want the Icarus.”

”They 'think' they want it?”

”Well, I sure can't see any good reason for chasing us this way,” I told him.

”Any cargo that would pa.s.s muster well enough on Gamm to earn a sealed-cargo license can't be all that exciting to anyone. Maybe it's the s.h.i.+p itself they want, though personally I find that even less plausible.”

I looked back at Tera. ”But whatever the reason, it boils down to the fact that you're stuck with me. You try finding a replacement pilot from this point on, and you'll never know whether it's someone the hijackers deliberately dangled in front of you, either one of their own or someone they've hired for the occasion.

Not until it's too late, anyway. Have you noticed that none of your cabin doors have locks?”

They exchanged glances. Unhappy glances; trapped-and-not-liking-it-at-all glances. But they were stuck, and they knew it. At the moment the only people they had even a hope of trusting were already aboard the Icarus. And it was for sure that none of them could fly this front-heavy fitter's nightmare.

”If this is supposed to make us feel better about trusting you, it isn't,”Nicabar said. ”How do we know you aren't just sticking around hoping to get a better deal?”

”How do I know you won't sell out?” I countered. ”Or that Tera won't, or any of the others? Answer: I don't. If there were better odds to be had anywhere else, I'd grab them. But there aren't. Not here, not now.”

”So why should you care what happens to the Icarus?” Nicabar persisted. ”Or to any of the rest of us?”

I looked him straight in the eye. ”Because I took a contract to fly this s.h.i.+p to Earth. And that's what I intend to do.”

”And we can believe that or not?”

I sighed, suddenly weary of this whole stupid game. ”Believe whatever you want,”

I told him. ”But if and when we make it to Earth I'll want a full apology.”

It would be overly generous to say that he smiled. But some of the implied threat did seem to drain out of his face. I reflected briefly on his former career with the EarthGuard Marines, a career that wouldn't really have trained him how to read people. ”I'll remember that,” he promised.

”I may even expect a little groveling,” I warned, s.h.i.+fting my attention back to Tera. ”How about you? Willing to rub shoulders with the drink-fetchers a little longer, or are you going to jump s.h.i.+p at the next port?”

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