"Mr. Bequith," Rue said as they strolled over. "Do you know how to waltz?"
"Yes, I do," he said.
"Then perhaps you can teach me."
Rebecca grinned and tipped her glass to Max.
"I realize you're the captain, but I think you should let me lead," he said.
"Whatever you say."
He showed her the basic footwork. It was easy enough; they moved to the edge of the dance floor and Rue took a deep breath and let him pull her into the swaying throng. Michael Bequith put his hand on the small of Rue's back and she forgot everything else.
She stumbled a lot and laughed at herself, but Mike's strength literally pulled her through her missteps. It was thrilling and her only regret was that she wasn't decked out in one of those fantastic confections the other women were wearing. It must look odd, two uniformed figures dancing out here.
But no, there went two men, who were obviously into each other. To hell with it, it was time she just cut loose and enjoyed herself. Rue laughed again and let Mike twirl her around so that she almost lost her sunglasses.
The song ended and they danced another, then another. Just when she was getting giddy and tired, a strong voice behind her said, "May I have this dance?"
She turned. This man was unknown to her; he was probably in his forties and had strong, severe features and close-cropped gray hair. A gaudy ring through one ear spoiled the military effect.
He was dressed in a well-worn counterpart to the uniform she had on.
Mike bowed and let go of her hand. He had that mysterious smile on his face that he sometimes got— he seemed to be scoring some point in a game only he understood.
"R-Rue Cassels," she said as the cycler captain took her hand. "Captain of Jentry's Envy."
"Travis Li, captain of the Dauntless."
Somehow, they were dancing. She looked around for Mike, but he had vanished among the bodies. Rue tried to think of something clever to say to this captain Li. Her mind was a blank.
"I hear you've just returned from Chandaka," he said. "What's the situation there?"
She frowned. "…Situation?"
"You rode a beam into Chandaka. That must mean they're still maintaining their ties with the halo."
"Ah, I see." She was dancing with a dashing cycler captain and he wanted her opinion on something political! Where was Jentry when you needed to rub his nose in something?
"We were not welcomed with the same… enthusiasm as here, I'm afraid," she admitted. "The Compact maintains the monastery there, but I got the feeling… well, that they were going through the motions. They wouldn't have let us ride the beam in if it hadn't been a humanitarian situation."
"The Envy isn't ready to support full-time occupation, then?"
"It wasn't at that time." Was he grilling her about her ship, now?
"If you need appropriations for supplies, I know who to talk to locally," said Li. "This is my homeworld; that's why I'm visiting."
"Appropriations? Tell me more." The little Ediacaran still huddled against Rue's breast; she had been planning to see about selling it tomorrow. But of course, the monasteries of the Cycler Compact existed to maintain the fleet. Now that her cycler was officially part of that fleet, she must have access to all kinds of resources.
They danced and Captain Li told her what was possible for her now.
MUCH LATER, AN exhausted Rue made her way to the drinks tables. Sure enough, there was Max, holding forth to a small crowd of matrons. Herat and Mike stood nearby, discussing something intensely with a bearded man and his wife.
She ran up and grabbed Mike's arm. "I'm so sorry!" she said. "I got caught up talking cycler talk with Captain Li. I didn't mean to abandon you."
Mike looked surprised, then pleased. "You look worn out."
"Well, I've never danced before, have I? But I had a good teacher." She smiled at him. "I promise I'm yours for the rest of the evening."
Herat looked over, raised an eyebrow, and turned back to his conversation.
"Am I to understand," said Mike as she steered them toward the drinks, "that this is a date?"
She stopped them and looked up at him, mock-serious. "Mr. Bequith, would you like to go to the ball with me?"
He grinned and offered her his arm.
Rue drank two tall glasses of something icy, then they went back to the others. They arrived in time to see Dr. Herat smack his forehead and say, "I don't believe it!"
Max glanced over. "Careful, Professor, you'll break your meal ticket."
"The autotrophs have a delegation here!" said Herat. "Bequith, this is Professor Waldt; he's met them. Can you believe it? We've been trying to talk to them for twenty years and here they are sneaking off to the halo to study us in secret."
"It's hardly a secret to us," said the bearded man.
"So they actually talk to you?" asked Michael.
"Well, not directly." Waldt sipped his drink. "They use intermediaries. There's a group of radical Buddhists who've had themselves genetically engineered to be phototrophs— they're green, if you can imagine that. Lost their stomachs, sealed up their anuses and adopted the autotroph way. They're ice-blind crazy, but the autotrophs do seem to accept them. They've got this little encampment on the edge of the 'troph cavern and they seem to come and go as they please."
"Bequith, this is too great an opportunity to pass up," said Herat.
"I thought you were on vacation," said Mike.
"What better place to spend it than on the shores of an autotroph oasis?"
Max sidled over to Rue as Mike and Herat were bickering. "Something about this doesn't add up," he said.
Rue knew Max's various tones of voice by now; he had been thinking (a quality of Good Max). This was to be encouraged. "What is it?"
"Well, only three of Crisler's guys are here. I see Barendts and Wallace and Manduba. Where are the other two?"
"In the washroom?"
"No, they never showed up. And Crisler's being awfully friendly with some of those industrialists."
"Why, Max, are you jealous of his charisma?"
"No, I just don't understand what he's up to. And this whole party… it's out of whack. I mean, Colossus is important, true, it's one of the biggest halo worlds— but am I just being a provincial bumpkin or is there ten times as much wealth and power sloshing about this room than we'd ever see on Treya?"
She looked through the crush of people. There were a lot of military people and many influential supporters of the Cycler Compact. "They're celebrating the discovery of the Envy."
"I'm not asking why they're here," said Max. "I'm asking why are they here. On Oculus."
She had no idea what he was talking about and said so.
"All right, I'll try one more time," he said. "Did you know that there's no less than three cycler captains here tonight, not counting you?"
"Three? That's impossible!" Most worlds couldn't expect more than ten cyclers to pass by in a single year. And their crews could never visit for more than a few weeks at a time.
"It's true. See?" He pointed out two black uniforms she hadn't seen before. Even now, Captain Li was walking in that direction.
"Maybe you should introduce yourself," said Max.
"I don't think so." Li had been quite enough for one evening.
"Well, there's something goin' on," said Max.
"All right. You tell Mike about it; between the two of you I'm sure you can figure it out."
THE BANQUETING AND dancing flowed on, in long stretches of conversation, moments of laughter and delirious spells of dancing. Many hours later, things began to wind down. Couples strolled up the stone steps and disappeared. Crisler's people left in a knot, several men in suits in tow. As Rue and her crew were drifting in the direction of the exit, Travis Li approached.