Jellico flushed so that the scar stood out white on his
cheek, but he said nothing. The rebuke had been neatly
delivered. It was not an overreaction, either. Had the Medic been a real member of the crew, it might have been different. There would have been strong bonds of trust and confidence between them then, though his right to pry would have been no greater. As it was, any admission of
esper abilities could prove highly dangerous for Rael Co
fort.
Van Rycke cleared his throat. "I suppose I can consider myself answered," he said to break the uncomfortable silence that followed. "Well, whatever the extent of your talents, Doctor, we've got reason to be grateful to them. They've done good work all along and have topped it off by locating a potentially very nice prize for us."
The Medic inclined her head in formal acknowledgment. "Thank you, Mr. Van Rycke."
"We seem to be finished here," he said. "The day's Still young, and there's a good part of the market still left unexplored. — Thorson, you'd best stay here and classify our new acquisitions. Log it all in and stow everything."
"Aye," Dane responded cheerfully. He had been anticipating that.
"Doctor Cofort may be able to give you a hand later,"
Jellico suggested.
He glanced at the woman. "Write up a report about these
rubies now, while the details're fresh in your memory.
Describe the purchase in full and put down all our surmises, clearly labeled as such. Just in case those stones should prove to be hot, I want as much documentation on hand as possible to attest to our innocence."
"Aye, Captain. — I'll just say we bought the sets by chance, though, if you don't mind. We're doing this to settle potential questions, not raise more."
"Handle it however you think best. If I want more or something different, I'll tell you when I see the report."
The four dispersed. Dane and Van Rycke hurried to be about their work.
Cofort moved quickly as well to get on with her assignment, but Miceal stopped her at the door. "How about some jakek?"
"Fine. I always enjoy a cup," the Medic responded, silently adding a mental reservation about quality. Jellico would never rival Mr. Mura in a galley,
Hael Cofort entered her commander's office first, automatically activating the cabin lights as she did so. Queex gave a delighted whistle at the sight of her but did not forget the duties of a hoobat for all his pleasure at this particular human's visit. He glared suspiciously at the door to see who else might be invading his territory.
Since only its rightful occupant followed, he satisfied himself with a single, decidedly unmusical call and grasped the bars with four of his legs, ready to leap out as
soon as the door opened.
The woman did not disappoint him. She laughed softly 7
and slid into Jellico's chair so that she could comfortably reach the hoobat's cage, then slipped the latch and swung the barrier back. In that instant, Queex was airborne in a
spring that carried him to her upper arm. From there, he
scurried to her shoulder.
Cofort braced her hand against the edge of the desk. At that signal, Queex descended to her forearm and draped himself across it, three appendages dangling on each side.
. She began to rub the area between and around the protuberant eyes until he relaxed into a limp image of ecstasy.
The Captain watched them a moment and shook his
head, "Are you sure you're not working some sort of spell
on him?"
"Haven't you ever had a really good massage?" she countered. "Besides, he's such a sweetheart. It's easy to please
him. — Isn't it, little pet?"
As if in answer, the odd creature started to emit a quiet, purring whistle.
Mfceal said nothing. Any response he might have
made—in any one of several languages—would have been
appropriate only in very different company. He was fond of Queex himself, considerably more than he would publicly admit, but Rael Cofort was the only person he had ever met, human or xeno, who could call a hoobat a sweetheart and little pet.
He rolled the chair and its two occupants aside and opened the bottom drawer of the desk. Jellico took a big thermos from it. This he held to his ear and shook briskly.
The resulting sloshing sound told him it was still about half full, so he stood it upright in the space he cleared for it between two stacks of papers and set the controls for re-
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heat. That done, he retrieved two cups from the same drawer and put one before the Medic, the other beside himself as he casually dropped into the visitor's chair. "It'll be ready in a couple of minutes."
When a buzz announced that the jakek was hot, he filled
his guest's cup and his own.
Rael sipped the dark liquid, concealing her grimace behind the thick rim. Jakek was making great headway all along the starlanes, threatening to supplant the caffeineladen Terran coffee as the Federation's all-around beverage of choice. The crew of the Solar Queen, though, with the exception of herself and the Captain, remained staunchly loyal to the traditional brew despite the fact that it was available only in synthetic or concentrate form to space hounds plying the rim. Jellico appreciated too well how much the Steward had to do to demand special luxuries for himself. He usually prepared his own in the thermos, rather to the detriment of its flavor. For the four-hundredth time, she vowed to get up early some morning soon and wheedle or pummel Frank Mura into letting her loose in his precious galley, Jakek was heavily used on the Roving Star, and she could program a range ...
She felt the man's eyes on her and looked up. His expression was somber. "Do you doubt my story?"
"I'm just sorry we put you through that inquisition in there."
"You had to ask, didn't you?"
"Aye, but we seem to make a habit of tearing your wounds. I don't enjoy tormenting you."
She looked into the steaming liquid. "There's no disgrace in my ancestry, and I don't mind speaking about my
1
mother. She was respected and greatly liked as well as loved. All the crew who knew her told me that. Father was the only one who'd never talk about her."
"He blamed you?" Jellico asked gently.
"No, but he held himself responsible. I think it must have been with him all the time. He loved her, you see."
She sighed. "None of us knew how much until he was dying. He never called for me or Teague or Teague's mother. Just for her. I believe he was glad to be joining her."
The man nodded slowly. His younger comrades would not have understood that, but he had lived long enough, experienced enough, that he could comprehend it somewhat.
Another thought struck him suddenly. "Your mother was a Medic, too?" he ventured.
"Among her own people, aye, or so we believed. She never actually admitted to it, or to much else about her past. She apparently had buried that completely when she came with my father. It is one of the reasons I was drawn to the profession, I suppose. She fought so hard for me, battled to remain alive long enough that I could live without her. I felt I owed it to her to do something positive with
myself, to try to make some return for that struggle."
"Apart from being happy?"
Rael looked closely at him. "I don't knock that goal, friend, but medicine is in me, rising from several springs. This is undoubtedly one of them, and to my mind, it's as valid as any of the others."
"No doubt it is." He smiled. "You're a strong-willed woman, Rael Cofort, for all your quiet manner. I have trou-
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ble envisioning you being stampeded into any major course unsuited to you."