Brann dropped panting to her knees, tears squeezing from her eyes. The changechildren dropped beside her, emerged from their fireball forms and spread their hands on her, drawing the poison fire out of her.
Ahzurdan stirred, went to the room’s windows, threw them wide to let the sea breeze blow the stench away. He stood in the window that looked out over the bay, his back to the room, wanting to run before Brann recovered enough to ask the questions he refused to ask himself. It was so much simpler to be somewhere else when the result of his actions or lack of action began to come clear. His mind told him it was wiser to stay (this time) and talk his way round her. His flesh wasn’t so sure.
“You took your time.” Ordinarily she had a rather pleasant voice, low for a woman, but musical; those words came at him like missiles.
“You don’t understand.” He turned his head, a gesture toward courtesy, but didn’t look at her.
“I told you. We work by will. Will driven by knowing. Knowing comes first, it has to. I had to know them to force them home. It takes… time.- Resisting an urge to see if she accepted that explanation, he stared out the window at nothing until a bit of color caught his eyes, a name flag on a masthead. His face loosened as he recognized it, though he tried to keep his relief from showing in his back. “Zatikay’s in.”
“Tk. “ An exasperated sigh. “Get yourself out there and find when he’s leaving and if it’s tomorrow or the next day, get us passage if you have to take deck space. Umf! And have a look at those wards of yours, seems to me they’re leaking.”
He drew his fingers along the sill, making lines in the faint dusting of yellow-gray pollen. “The oriels,” he said. “They told him I’m traveling with you. He knows me, he knows my tricks.” He felt an odd mix of fear and freedom, fear that she’d force him away from her, hope that she’d cut him loose so he didn’t have to fight himself any longer, that she’d free him to destroy himself as quickly and as easily as seemed right. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that when I asked to come with you. ‘
“I did, so stop squirming.” She was moving briskly about behind him; he turned, saw her using a pillowcase to clean up the leavings of the dead demons. The children were watching him, more hostile than ever. He had to make her say it.
“Tell me to go.”
She looked up from the unpleasant task, raised her brows. “Why?”
“He can’t find you if I’m not around.”
“You were lazy, Dan, leaning on me too much. You won’t again.”
“I’ll let you down, you know I will.”
“If you want out, go. But it’s your decision. You won’t put that on me.”
He looked at his hands, rubbed his thumbs across the smears of pollen clinging to his fingertips. “I can’t go.”
She nodded, got to her feet. “I see. If I understand what you’ve told me, Maksim is tired. He won’t come at us again for a while. So, go talk to Zatilcay. Jay, go with him. I want to know soonest if we’re leaving on the morrow; you and Yaro will have to raid the treasury, our gelt is getting low. Go. Go.” She laughed, waving the case at them. “Get out of here.”
7. Daniel Akamarino Strolls Down A Dusty Back Road And Steps From One World To Another.
WORK RECORD
DANIEL AKAMARINO aka Blue Dan, Danny Blue
BORN:
Rainbow’s End
Line Family Azure
Family Azure has five living generations. 50 males (adults) aged 24-173. 124 females (adults) aged 17175. 49 children. Names available to adults: Teal, Ciello, Royal, Akamarino, Turkoysa, Sapphiro, Ceruli, Lazula, Cyanica.
RATED:
1. Communications Officer, Master Rating, first degree
2. Propulsion Engineer, Master Rating, first degree
3. Cargo Superintendent/Buyer, Master Rating, first degree
COMMENTS:
If you can get him, grab him. He won’t stay long, a year maybe two, but he’s worth taking a chance on. Let him tinker. He’ll leave you with a com system you couldn’t buy for any money.
Got eyes in his fingertips and can hear a flea grunt a light-year off. Have your engines singing if you let him. Good at turning up and stowing cargo. Lucky. Will make a profit for you more often than not.
A pleasant type, never causes trouble in the crew, but undependable.
Drifter. Follows his whims and nothing you say will hold him to a contract he wants to walk out on.
EMPLOYMENT:
1. Aurora’s Dream
Sun Gold Lines, home port: Rainbow’s End.
Captain: Martin Chrome
YS 765-769 apprentice prop eng
2. Herring Finn
free trader
owner/master: Kally Kuninga
YS 772-775 appr prop eng
Master Rating YS 775
3. Dying Duck
free trader
owner/master: Berbalayasant
YS 779-786 appr coms off
Master Rating YS 786
4. Andra’s Harp worldship
Instell Cominc lines, registered the Sygyn Worlds
Captain: Bynnyno Wadelinc
YS 788-791 comms off sec (788)
comms off frst (789)
comms off Comdr (790-1)
5. The Hairy Mule free trader owner/master: Dagget O’dang
YS 795-797 appr carg sup/ byr
6. Astrea Themis free trader owner/master: Luccan della Farangan
YS 799-803 Mst Eng
7. Prism Dancer
Sun Gold Lines, home port: Rainbow’s End
Captain: Stella Fulvina
YS 805-810 comms off Comdr
8. Astrea Themis
free trader
owner/master: Luccan della Farangan
YS 813-821 appr carg sup/byr
Mstr carg sup/byr YS 819
9. Herring Finn
free trader owner/master: Kally Kuninga
YS 825- Mstr carg sup/byr
SCENE: Daniel Akamarino walking along the grassy verge of a paved road, letting his arms swing, now and then whistling a snatch of tune when he thought about it. A bright sunny day, local grass is lush with a tart dusty smell, pleasant enough, a breeze blowing in his face heavy with the scent of fresh water.
A man past his first youth (his age uncertain in this era of ananile drugs that put off aging and death to somewhere around three hundred among those species where three score and ten had once been optimum), bald except for a fringe of wild hair over.his ears like a half-crown of black thorns, blue eyes, brilliant blue, they burn in a face tanned dark. He is tall and lanky, looks loosely put together, but moves faster than most and where his strength won’t prevail, his slippy mind will. A man not bothered by much, he seldom feels the need to prove anything about his person or proclivities; he mostly likes dealing with things but is occasionally interested in people, has quit several jobs because he touched down in a culture that he found interesting and he wanted to know all its quirks and fabulas. Impatient with routine, he drifts from job to job, quitting when he feels like it or because some nit tries to make him do things that bore him like shaving every day or wearing boots instead of sandals and a uniform instead of the ancient shirts and trousers he gets secondhand whenever the ones he has are reduced to patches and threads. He stays longest in jobs where his nominal superiors tell him what they want and leave him to produce results however it suits him. He has no plans for settling down; there’s always something to see another hop away and he never has trouble finding a place on a ship when he’s done with groundside living.
Daniel Akamarino is down on a Skinker world, nosing about for items more interesting than those the local merchants are bringing to the backwater subport where the Herring Finn put down (the major ports were closed to freetraders; technically the world was closed, but its officials looked the other way as long as the profits were there and the traders were discreet). He is getting bored with the ship; the Captain is an oldtime friend, but she is a silent woman settled in a longterm and nonstraying relationship with her comms Com; the engineer is a Yflan with a vishefer as a symbiote; two words a month-standard is verbosity for him.