file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Redline%20the%20Stars.txt Thorson cleared his throat. The woman glanced at him,
7
then looked again at the silver net. "I didn't have a chance to examine our acquisitions closely before. This is really lovely. You did very well with it."
Rael sighed as she returned the length to its place.
"When I was aboard the Roving Star," she said bitterly, "I listened to Teague and didn't buy any such basically useless luxuries. Now, I can't afford them. I'll never be able to have them, either, not as long as I remain a virtuous, hardworking rim Free Trader."
The Medic stopped speaking, seeing the open suspicion in her companion. "Power down, boy," she snapped. "No Cofort's ever turned jack. I don't intend to start any new traditions in that line."
"You wouldn't admit it if you did," he replied, trying to make his response sound light but not quite succeeding.
Rael shrugged delicately. "We deal with some beautiful things. I'm not expected to be immune to the charms of all of them, I hope. — You certainly aren't."
The man started, and her lips curved into a smile that was not all good-humored sympathy. "I saw the way you looked at that leather utility belt before you settled for the one you bought. If you can want a lot of things you can't have, why deny me the same right?"
"But you can have some of this," he countered quickly, picking up on what he saw as the Haw in her argument.
"There's nothing stopping a crew member from buying
part of a cargo for personal use. This is faux cloth, not the
real thing. A small length of it wouldn't run you that
much."
She shook her head. "You don't have enough of it to
split your stock. Twelve full bolts isn't much to offer as it
Reilllne the SSais 157
is. Any less, and you can wave farewell to the hope of a quick bulk sale."
"You're so concerned about the Solar Queen's profits?"
Dane demanded sarcastically.
Rael's chin lifted. "One is always loyal to the ship to
which one is bound, however long or short the term of service."
"So tradition goes," he said. "I haven't been out of Pool
and in space long enough to see if it actually holds true or not."
"It holds. Usually. The ships where it doesn't have a tendency to disappear with all hands. Besides, Cargo-Master Van Rycke isn't likely to fragment the value of his stock
by selling off part of it at this stage." Her response had been cold. Dane Thorson was too sensitive about his youth and lack of experience to call attention to them if he wasn't trying to be smart. "While I'm with the Queen, I'll serve her interests."
"And afterward?"
"Afterward, I'll compete with her if I have to. So will you, most likely, when you finally qualify."
Both were silent for some moments after that.
Rael's eyes fell first. "That was a low blow. I'm sorry, and sony I was down here without your say. I came looking for you as per Jellico's instructions, but I should've left again when I didn't find you. I guess I just fell into old habits. I had free run of the Star's holds."
"You were good with cargo, I suppose?" he asked sourly.
Why not? She was good with everything any way important to him.
"Very good with a lot of it. Teague wanted me for Cargo-
1
Master. He was furious when I opted for Medic training instead." Her back seemed to straighten. "Maybe I was wrong. I liked cargo work and frontline Trade, and unquestionably, I'd have been more useful to him in that capacity, but medicine had the stronger call. I chose to answer it and stuck by that decision."
"That's why you left the Star?"
"No," she said wearily. Her mouth hardened. "I left,
Thorson. I wasn't kicked off. I've given reasons why. If you don't choose to believe them, well, that's nothing much to
either of us, is it?"
Dane decided to try one more tack, although he doubted he would accomplish anything. If the Medic was playing them false, she had thought her role through thoroughly.
She had not lacked an answer yet for any question they had put to her. Even Van Rycke and Jellico had not been able
to trap her or trip her up.
"By the sound of it, you had some real credits at your disposal on the Roving Star. Have you been on your own so long that you're completely wiped out?" He felt uncomfortable asking that. It was none of his business and crossed the border into discourtesy by a considerable margin. Cofort would be within her rights to tell him to go fire his
burners someplace.
The woman frowned but kept rein on her temper. "No,
I haven't been on the loose that long. The bulk of my former
earnings as well as my inheritance from my father are hatching in the Star's account. Teague -wouldn't release
them."
"What?"
For the first time, she gave him a genuine smile. "He's Redlinelhe Stars 159
not a villain of the starlanes. Everything's sitting quite properly in a trust. My brother's not using it. He can't. He's just holding it until I latch onto a permanent berth."
"You're out of your minority."
"I know, but those are the terms of the trust. Besides, there isn't that much involved. We Coforts pour most of our shares of everything back into our ships." Her head rose. "You don't think we got where we are without considerable dedication and sacrifice, do you?"
"No. Cofort and his crews are known for that, but . . ."
"But nothing. I wanted to make it on my own, and I'd be begging to be back-alleyed if I went wandering around the starlanes with too impressive a roll. It's worked out. I haven't starved even if I haven't managed to prove myself the greatest phenomenon to bless Trade in this century."
The woman laughed softly, ruefully. "I suppose I was sort of cherishing that hope, but you can probably imagine how fast I had to flush it down the disposal tubes."
Dane chuckled despite himself. "You may do it yet," he told her as he sighed inwardly. She had managed it again, he thought, turned the discussion completely away from questions uncomfortable to herself. He was not surprised, at least. Rael Cofort had proven remarkably adept at doing that since she had first brought herself to the attention of the crew of the Solar Queen. Only time would show whether or not she was using that skill to cover some sort of bad surprise she had planned for the lot of them.
17
The three apprentices, Jasper, and Rael were at the table when Jellico and Van Rycke strode into the mess the following morning. The Medic had Sinbad on her lap, cradled against her left arm. He was eating daintily from her other hand, which she held cupped before him.
"I thought he was beginning to look a little rotund,"
Miceal remarked.
Rael glanced up. "He's a hero again, fortunately an unwounded one this time. Someone," she added pointedly,
"was careless about reattaching the nets properly when he returned to the ship last night"
"Ouch," muttered the Cargo-Master.
Weeks put down his fork. "Any good leads?" He had been with the Solar Queen a long time, and he knew full i well that these two would not have been abroad in the wee I hours merely to sample the kind of delights Happy City had to offer.
Van Rycke's eyes danced like Terra's sky on a sunny day. "A charter, my friends, a nice, fat, easy charter that'll completely fill our bulk cargo holds."
"What're we carrying and to what port?" Dane asked
eagerly.
"Equipment and chemicals to the dome mines on Riginni."
He held up his hands when the faces of the four men at the table fell. "I'm not overjoyed, either, at the thought of revisiting her again so soon, but it's a good run, and there could be at least a couple of others like it if we move fast