Part 28 (1/2)
Which, Jethri acknowledged, was exactly what his uncle would say He nodded, hoping his face didn't sho excited he felt
”I understand But you have collateral How 'bout if I buy Stork's share of your Port-deal, payoff tomorrow mid-day, after you collect from Master ven'Deelin?”
”Not the way I like to do business,” Sirge said slowly
Jethri took a careful breath ”We can write an agreehtened ”We can, can't we? Make it all legal and binding Sure, why not?” He took a s of ale and grinned ”Got paper?”
Gobelyn's Market ”NO, MA'AM,” Jethri said, so histo captain this shi+p I just want to know if the final papers are signed with Digger” His jaw ht and he tried to relax the-bland ”I think the shi+p owes me that information At least that”
”Think we can do better for you,” his ht, hard line of displeasure ”All right, boy No, the final papers aren't signed We'll catch up with Digger 'tween here and Kinaveral and do the legal then” She tipped her head, sarcastically civil ”That OK by you?”
Jethri held onto his temper, barely His mother's mood was never happy, dirt-side He wondered, briefly, how she was going to survive a whole year world-bound, while the Market was rebuilt
”I don't want to shi+p on Digger,” he said, keeping his voice just factual He sighed ”Please,to takein his ears Then she sighed in her turn, and spun the chair so she faced the screens, showing him profile”You want another shi+p,” she said, and she didn't sound round Pub ”NO CALLS FOR Jethri Gobelyn? No e Milton?”
The barkeeper on-shi+ft today at the Zeroground Pub was maybe a Standard Jethri's elder He was also twelve inches taller and outthe six titaniuhed, none too patient ”Kid, I told you No calls No , kid Got it?”
Jethri sed, hard, the fractin hot against his palm ”Got it”
”Great,” said the barkeep ”You wanna beer or you wanna clear out so a paying customer can have a stool?”
”Merebeer, please,” he said, slipping a bit across the counter The keeper swept up the coin, went up-bar, drew a glass, and slid it down the polished surface with a will Jethri put out a hand-theCarefully, he eased away from the not-exactly-overcrowded counter and took his drink to the back
He was on the approach to trouble Dodging his senior, sliding off-shi+p without the captain's aye-approaching trouble, right enough, but not quite established in orbit Khat was inventive-he trusted her to cover him for another hour, by which ti to show Uncle Paitor the whole
And Sirge Milton was late
Ahis beer down, ht even, with good reason, be an hour late for that sa But a e for the one as set to e Milton hadn't done, nor sent a courier with a package containing Jethri's payout, neither
So, soe Milton seeree at this very back booth, with Nance the bartender as witness
Carefully, he suarantee of payher buy-out than he had asked for, but Sirge had insisted, saying the profit would cover it, not to raph about being paid in the event that Sirge's sure buyer was out of cash, citing the debt owed Sirge Milton, Trader, by Norn ven'Deelin, Master of Trade, as security
It had all seeht now that he should have asked Sirge to take him around to his supplier, or at least listed the name and location of the supplier on the paper
He had a sip of beer, but it tasted flat and he pushed the glass away The door to the bar slid open, aderly, but Sirge was not a to figure out a nextend of one of his uncle's furious scoldsNorn ven'Deelin, Master of Trade The na across two alphabets that didn't precisely iven his card-his na Jethri blinked Norn ven'Deelin, he thought, would very likely kno to get in touch with a person he held in such high esteem With luck, he'd be inclined to share that infor 'prentice
If he wasn't inclinedJethri folded his paper away and got out of the booth, leaving the beer behind
No use borrowing trouble, he told himself
Ynsolt'i Upper Port IT WAS LATE, but still day-Port, when he found the right office At least, he thought, pausing across the street and staring at that da yellow ht office He was tired froritty-but worse than any of that, he was scared
Norn ven'Deelin's office-if this was at last his office-ell into the Liaden side of Port
Not that there was properly a Terran side, Ynsolt'i being a Liaden world But there were portions where Terrans were tolerated as a necessary evil attending galactic trade, and where a body caught the notion that ard to whatacross froht one, Jethri did consider turning around, trudging back to the Market and taking the licks he'd traded for
Except he'd traded for profit to the shi+p, and he was going to collect it That, at least, he would show his senior and his captain, though he had long since stopped thinking that profit would buy hiood trading clothes He brushed himself off as well as he could, and looked across the street It can wasn't soits fool head off
Thinking so, he crossed the street, wiped his boots on the mat, and pushed the door open
THE OFFICE BEHIND the door was airy and bright, and Jethri was abruptly glad that he had dressed in trading clothes, dusty as they noere This place was high-class-a body could srant air, see it in the floor covering and the real wooden chairs
The ant as the room: crisp-cut yellow hair, bland and beardless Liaden face, a vest embroidered with the moon-and-rabbit worn over a salt-white silken shi+rt He looked up fro in what Jethri had no trouble reading as astonish sir” The ed with accent
”Good-day, honored sir” Jethri ht Three steps froe without falling on his head
”Jethri Gobelyn, apprentice trader, Gobelyn's Market” He straightened and met the bland blue eyes squarely ”I am come to call upon the Honored Norn ven'Deelin”
”Ah” The ret it is necessary that you acquaint memore nearly with your business, Jethri Gobelyn”
Jethri bowed again, not so deep this ti
”I am in search of a man-a Terran,” he added, half-ae Milton, es me a suht be willing to put ive me, Jethri Gobelyn, but how came such a notion into your e Milton had the Honored ven'Deelin's card in pledge of-”
The Liaden held up a hand, and Jethri gulped to a stop, feeling a little gone around the knees
”Hold” A Terran would have smiled to show there was no threat Liadens didn't smile, at least, not at Terrans, but this one exerted himself to incline his head an inch
”If you please,” he said ”I must ask if you are certain that it was the Honored ven'Deelin's own card”
”I-the nail was the saret” The Liaden stood, bowed and beckoned, all in one fluid movement ”This falls beyondsir, follow me” The blue eyes met his, as if the Liaden had so thus directed deeper into alien territory ”House courtesy, Jethri Gobelyn You receive no danger here”
Whichto folloould be an insult He sed, his breath going short on hi very far away
The yellow haired Liaden aiting, his shtly and walked forward as cal knees allowed The Liaden led him down a short hallway, past two closed rooms, and bowed him across the threshold of the third, open
”Be at ease,” the Liaden said from the threshold ”I will apprise the master trader of your errand” He hesitated, then extended a hand, palilant on your behalf” He was gone on that, the door sliding silently closed behind hih slightly bigger than the Market's cohts he had to believe handy for Liadens Jethri stood for a couplecube roots in his head until his heartbeat slowed down and the panic had eased back to a vague feeling of sickness in his gut