She shoved herself away from the wall, opened Tlisi-tlas-tin's door without gtst permission and met shocked, offended eyes. "A mahe named Tahaisimandi Ana-kehnandian has been following us since Meetpoint. He said that some of Atli-lyen-tlas' staff remained…"
Gtsthonor… gtst excellency, as gtst lately styled gtstself… flinched. "This is extremely distasteful."
"Because that unformed person is Atli-lyen-tlas?’’
"No! A thousand, thousand nos. This is a person beneath our tasteful notice. We would not undertake a mission to such an individual. Do not distress us further. This is a juvenile. Atli-lyen-tlas has abandoned gtst post and fled in our face. The treachery, the abysmal treachery! I perform heinous insults upon this gift of gtst shapeless servant! It will not dissuade me!"
"You mean gtstisi—"
"Is surely a servile leaving of gtst excellency. Can you look at the magnificence of my surroundings and affront me with that disheveled and untidy person? Gtstisi may serve here. The lack of servants offends my dignity, which surely your honor knows. I will accept this individual as resident in my quarters, but gtstisi must be clean and respectful!"
"I will inform gtstisi of your — ah, excellency's offer."
"My order!"
"Exactly." She kept her expression sweet and her ears up, and bowed politely and went to the neighboring cabin to run gtst new excellency's errand. "Gtst excellency wants you," she said to the huddled figure inside. "But I suggest you make yourself presentable. There is a thoroughly tasteless place where you may find water and organize your baggage. Follow me."
"Oh, oh," was all gtstisi managed to say. "Despair and disaster."
But gtstisi followed, through the litter of the abandoned baggage, while thumps and bangs and the action of the loader heralded the exit of cargo from the hold, and, one could hope, not the entry of kifish pirates off the unregulated docks.
She saw the nameless stsho to the washroom, let gtstisi gather up gtstisi trail of baggage that was strewn from Tlisi-tlas-tin's door to the airlock, and meanwhile used the com at the intersection of the corridors to call the cargo lock.
"Tiar? Are you alive out there?"
"Things look quiet,"Tiar said. "They're gone. "
"Are you armed?"
"Gun's right here in the lock. We're legal. "
Thank the gods for favors. She called the bridge:
"Fala. Where's Meras?"
"Doing the filters."
"Remind him keep off lower decks. We've got a problem."
"What kind of problem, captain?"
"Twostsho. One's Phasing. Ours, thank the gods, is still sane. There are kif on the docks, Tiar's working outside, they know she brought the stsho here… where's Tarras?"
"Right here, captain. You need some help down there?"
"Just be my eyes and ears on dockside. And investigate cargo for Kshshti. Don't agree to anything yet.'‘
"Kshshti!"
"I know, I know, best I can do. I'll be on com. I've got a scoundrel to call."
"Aye, captain."
"So can you still deliver what you asked about?’’ Hilfy asked, and the scoundrel in question said, via station com:
"You number one bastard thief! How you find?"
It was the only pleasant moment in a disgusting day. "Guess."
"What you propose now, hani bastard?"
"Manners, manners, Haisi. We all lose a few.’'
"Repeat: what you propose?"
"We might have something to talk about. But now we have the information and you're buying."
There was a moment of silence on the com. Hilfy leaned her arms on the ops station counter, and flicked her ears to listen to the rings jangle.
"What you offer?"
"I don't know. Let me think about it."
"You head for trouble. I number one good friend. Who else you trust?"
"Dear friend. Good friend. You don't want to rash my decision, do you? You want to give me time. We have to maintain good relations."
Now and again there were mahen words she hadn't heard. There followed some. Then: "Of course.
Number one fine. Talk to you later, pretty captain."
Tarras was looking up cargo for Kshshti. And if they didn't want to be charged with abducting the Precious-ness, if they didn't want to pay back a million credit deal… Kshshti looked to be where they were going.
And out of Kshshti…
Out of Kshshti, Maing Tol, or back to Kita… or worse choices. Kshshti lay in the Disputed Territories.
It was still a mahen station.
But it was too close to the kif… far too close for comfort.
And gtst excellency had taken a kifish ship at Kita Point?
Or the kif had taken gtst excellency. Certainly the young stsho Tiar had rounded up on station might have told them what the facts were, if the young stsho had not been driven straight out of gtst mind, either by the harrowing run to the ship, gtst conditions on the station, or the sight of Tlisi-tlas-tin. The fact was, they didn't know and might never know what had been the triggering event, or whether it bore on what had already happened.
So they had to go on. But she would feel ever so much better if she knew how far they were going to have to chase this Atli-lyen-tlas, or into what.
Hallan really, truly did not want to make another mistake. He knew how to clean the filters and maintain equipment, but he had read the manual and the instructions just the same, to be absolutely, unmistakably certain what he was doing. He didn't think speed was going to impress anyone… since he was sure they had given him the job to keep him out of the crew's way; and because it would save the crew a little time. He wished he could find a disaster in the making, that he could fix, and by that, impress the captain and make up for what he had done at Urtur.
He had nightmares about that. He had nightmares about the tc'a showing up and demanding he come methane-side and parent its offspring. And of strangling in the atmosphere. But there were probably laws to protect him from that.
There were none to protect the ship from the fines it had suffered because of him, because of having to close the section doors, and scaring all those people…
He didn't think he could ever live that down. Sometimes he thought he would be better off to go home and live in the outback and do things the way they had always been done and not be a problem to anyone. He was not really a fighter, he never had been, he was just clumsy, which he daily proved, and his elbows continually found something to bash, or his head to knock into, but there was just no use for being his size on board a ship.
He heard someone come up near him. He did everything as precisely and efficiently as he could.
Whoever it was stood there watching. And he finished the job before he looked to see. "ker Fala?" "I was just watching."
That made him nervous. He put the tools away and got up, intending to take them to the storage. He supposed he should go to the crew lounge then, because he hadn't any other instructions.
She was still staring at him when he walked away. It made him feel — highly uncomfortable.
The crew aboard the Sun had behaved like that too. And he didn't feel the same as he did with Sahern clan, he felt confused, but it wasn't a confusion he wanted to think about. It scared him. He was afraid she was going to be waiting in the lounge when he got back, but she wasn't, she was in the galley making lunch. And maybe he should go help her, and not sit in the lounge as if there were nothing on the ship his intelligence could discover to do, but he didn't want to be alone with her, so he started aft. But Fala said, to his back, "Want to help?"