Part 13 (1/2)
”Forty cantra. But I did enhance and improve my reputation as a most wonderful fool, which must be counted a gain.” He shook his head.
”By the time we got back into Tulon, the story was all over the trade bar. The report had been delivered two minutes after the Pa.s.sage jumped out. Daxflan was gone, having hired a new cargo master.”
”All that for-balance-for being insulted by your sister?” Priscilla was frowning.
”Now there,” the captain said, ”I'm not at all certain. Nova is old enough to mind her own honor. If Sav Rid had a quarrel with her reading of his character, then his satisfaction lies with her. He might have a.s.sumed that I forbade the match, as Head of Line, you see. I didn't, and probably wouldn't have, if she'd set her heart on him. It never came to me at all; I learn everything after the fact, and in pieces-which, come to think of it, is the only way you learn anything from him-from Val Con, who was kind enough to show Sav Rid the door on the occasion of his morning call.” The movement of his shoulders was not quite a shrug.
”For whatever reason, a debt is owed-has been owing. Sav Rid's belief that I am too foolish to be considered an able-” He stopped, brows contracting. ”Here's a thing that doesn't happen often,” he murmured. ”Forgive me, Priscilla; my Terran seems to be lacking. Can it be debt-partner?” He sipped wine, considering the carpet with absent intensity.
”Say debt-partner,” he decided after a moment. ”It makes less nonsense than the other possibilities.”
Priscilla s.h.i.+fted in her chair. ”This happened at Tulon?”
He glanced up. ”Yes. At the beginning of our run.”
”And you still owe him for-dear G.o.ddess-forty cantra?” The amount of the loss was staggering.
”Forty cantra's the least of it. I owe him a lesson to treat me with courtesy and respect, not to mention honesty.” He sipped, eyes on her face. ”These things take time and planning, Priscilla.”
”So it was lucky that I came here asking for a job,” she said, making the connections rapidly. ”I could be a very useful weapon.”
”Now, Priscilla, for s.p.a.cesake, don't get into hyper again!” He was in front of her, hands spread-fingered and soothing. ”I'd have given you a job if Sav Rid were my best friend! Only a lunatic would turn down someone of your potential.” He grinned at her. ”Foolish, yes. Crazed, no. And it's not a question of giving. You're earning your pay.”
”Am I?” she demanded, refusing to give in to her desire to be mollified. ”And when will I start training a.s.second mate?”
”You've started,” he told her, lowering his hands slowly. ”Ken Rik thinks very well of you. So does Tonee. And Lina. And Seth, Vilobar, Gordy, BillyJo, Vilt, Rusty, and Master Frodo. If you keep on at this rate, you'll have the expertise by Solcintra. You already have the ability. Are you angry, Priscilla?
Don't you want to learn the job?”
”Of course I want to learn it,” she said irritably. ”I just would have appreciated being told instead of finding out by accident.”
”High-handed,” he said mournfully. ”I'll try to curb it, but don't expect miracles. I've been this way a long time.”
”You're not much older than I am,” she told him severely. ”How did you manage that trick with my record-dated last week! And no mention of theft or jumping s.h.i.+p.”
”Oh.” He drifted back to the desk, hoisted himself up, and recaptured his gla.s.s. ”More high-handedness, I'm afraid, Priscilla. Please try to bear with me.” He drank. ”I contacted the captain of Dante for a more specific recommendation, took every word as truth, and pin-beamed your updated record to VanDyk with a notation that it superseded all previously dated information.”
He grinned at her. ”Sav Rid had ruined your record within the sector; but he's tight-fisted, and the courier bounce to VanDyk will take months. Just imagine his unhappiness when he finds his report of your nefarious activities returned to him marked Superseded by Data Attached/ Do you think he'll file an official complaint? And risk a hearing into the specifics of your so-called crimes? Will he insist that his very negative report be inserted next to all those glowing ones?” He raised his gla.s.s in salute. ”I think not.”
”You pin-beamed... Captain, do you know how expensive pin-beaming is?”
”No. Tell me.” The silver eyes were laughing at her.
She frowned, rediscovered her gla.s.s, and took a healthy swallow.
”Don't worry about it, Priscilla. We've got a pin-beam on board-Rusty's favorite toy. One of the services the Pa.s.sage offers the more backward of our ports is the use of the pin-beam. For a fee, of course. I'm well paid, contemplating the expression on Sav Rid's face when he reads 'Data Attached'-Dinner at long last!” he interrupted himself as the door chimed.
Gordy grinned from behind the serving table. ”I'm on time,” he pointed out with considerable pride. He parked the table and came around to Priscilla. ”Now you're a hero, too.”
”No,” she said with decision. ”I'm not a hero, Gordy.”
He tipped his head, clearly puzzled, and turned to the captain. ”Shan? Isn't she?”
”She just said she wasn't, didn't she, Gordy? People have a right to define who they are, don't they? If Priscilla doesn't want to be a hero right now, she doesn't have to be. It's probable that she's hungry. Very difficult to be heroic when you're hungry.”
The boy laughed and went to the table to begin unfolding leaves, and releasing odors. Priscilla suddenly realized that she was very hungry.
”Ken Rik said to tell you the nerligig works fine,” he said over his shoulder.The captain stared at him. ”It does? He tried it on all settings?”
Gordy nodded. ”The case is pretty dented, he said, but since it's for attention getting, that doesn't matter.”
He paused to glance at his cousin. ”He really did say that.”
”Of course he did. Ken Rik doesn't believe in curbing his tongue for anyone. I'd be seriously concerned for his health if he started now. Besides, he met me when I was younger than you are, and twice as clumsy. No doubt that makes it occasionally hard to proffer the appropriate respect. What about the tent? Has he gotten a new sample case together? And he'll-no, never mind; I'll wander over and speak with him later. Is prime ready yet?”
”Whist, now, Johnny Galen,” Gordy murmured in an exaggerated accent.
The captain laughed and drank wine. ”Intolerable puppy. I bear that from your grandfather. But I'm bigger than you are. Please try to keep it in mind.”
”Bully,” Gordy said, settling plates amid an amazing amount of clatter.
”High-handed,” the captain corrected, and grinned at Priscilla, who dropped her eyes.
Gordy stepped back. ”Ready. Should I stay?”
The captain glanced at him in surprise. ”Did I ask you to dinner, Gordon? Forgive me, the invitation slipped my mind. I seem to recall a report that you've fallen behind in your studies, a circ.u.mstance your grandfather, my uncle, would not forgive me. We're due for a review, aren't we? At breakfast.”
Gordy swallowed visibly. ”Yessir.”
”That bad?” He raised his gla.s.s. ”Well, better see what you can catch up on beforehand. And mind you're in bed at a reasonable hour. I won't need you anymore.”
”Yessir,” Gordy said again, looking so comically crestfallen that Priscilla had to forcefully swallow the rising laughter. ”G'night, Cap'n. G'night, Priscilla.”
”Good night, Gordy,” she said, smiling at him warmly.
”Good night, Gordy.” The captain reached over to the boy and ruffled his hair lightly. ”Do sleep well.”
The boy smiled up at him, made an awkward bow, and departed, the door hissing closed behind him.
”Now, then, Priscilla, if you'll pull up the chairs, I'll serve us. I hope you're as hungry as I am.”
A little time later, the edge of hunger blunted, she leaned back and considered the top of his head and the thick, well-cut hair gleaming in the room's soft light.
”Johnny Galen?” she wondered.
He glanced up, smiling. ”It's my Uncle Richard's fancy that Liadens are the 'little people' of Old Terra's legends. Thus, Arthur Galen, Johnny, Nora, and Annie Galen. And their foster brother, the king of Elfland.”
”Oh, no!” A chuckle escaped, but she didn't notice.
”Oh, yes,” he a.s.sured her. ”Complete with 'my Liege' and 'your Highness/ Pretty comical, actually. My father finally did manage to put a stop to it, but I think he had to resort to threats.””But he let himself be called Arthur, and you Johnny?”