Glenda Ruth turned around. "But Freddy's maybe half sure his parents are right, and it was two months after the trip before I realized it, while I was dancing with him, and what it amounts to is this. By the way, I really appreciate you listening."
"Okay."
"And understanding. Only a damn Motie expert could listen to this and not try to send me to a confessor. Okay. If I sleep with Freddy, it's because we're going to get married or it's because I'm a slut. I'm not sure I want to marry him, and I'm not sure I don't. Either way would be okay, but I'm hung up, so..."
"No man would understand that line of argument, counselor."
"Freddy's not stupid. He'd know, he'd understand, if I could say it right. So I'm still thinking. Damn."
"He'd marry you-"
Glenda Ruth grinned. "Like a shot. But-look, all my life-"
"All eighteen years."
"Well, it's a lifetime to me." Poor Charlie didn't last much longer, Glenda Ruth thought. "All my life I've had someone who could tell me what to do. Had the right to tell me. Now I don't. Now I've got my own money, and I'm legally an adult. Freedom! It's wonderful. The last thing I need is a husband."
"Maybe it's better this way. You sure keep the Honorable Freddy attentive!"
"Oh, damn, it does look that way, doesn't it? He hasn't seen it, but-"
"It'll be all right. Last jump tonight. We'll be on New Scotland in three weeks. Freddy can find another girl." Jennifer grinned. "Don't like that either? Honey, you are in what the Navy calls an untenable position."
Her cabin was small, like all the cabins on Hecate. The only spacious cabin belonged to Freddy. Of course he'd expected her to share it.
Why don't I? she wondered. I lie awake thinking about it. It's not like I don't have my pills, or Freddy has some kind of disease. It's not like I didn't-all I'd have to do is go tap on his door.
Maybe I'd lose him. Can't he be replaced? I can pick any stranger out of a crowd and know if he's sane, trustworthy, intelligent, horny, crosswired, docile. I hear women say they don't understand men, and I want to snicker- There was a sharp wrenching sensation, and she felt sick and confused. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew the ship had made an Alderson Jump, and she was in the grip of the disorientation that always followed. Her father had told her there were a dozen explanations of Jump shock, all inconsistent with each other, but no one had ever been able to disprove any of them.
Gradually control returned. She moved her fingers, then her hands and arms, until they did what she wanted them to. Freddy always recovered faster than she did. She resented that. Not fair.
And now they were in New Caledonia system. Maybe Freddy would drop her off and go on to New Ireland... . She had just settled in to try to sleep when her intercom chirped
"Glenda Ruth."
It was Freddy, of course. What in the world did he want? Hah. Well, why not? If he could stand her in this condition. It wouldn't take long to get cleaned up. She tapped the intercom button.
"Hi. Look, I hate to disturb you, but we've got a message for you."
"What?"
"There's a trader ship here, the New Baghdad Lion."
"Here?"
"Here. Waiting at the Jump point. They say they have a message for the Honorable Glenda Ruth Fowler Blaine. They need your identification code."
"Oh. All right, I'll be right there. You're on the bridge?"
"Yep."
"Be right up. And-Freddy, thanks."
"No problem. Bring your computer."
This sounded urgent, but she took the time to get dressed, the baggy trousers gathered at the ankles that were standard for low gravity. She also took time to put on an Angora sweater, comb her hair, and dab on lipstick. The ship was under slight acceleration, just enough to bold her slippers to the carpet. She made her way forward. Freddy was alone on the bridge.
He indicated the copilot chair. "They're standing by for your code."
She plugged her personal computer into the ship's system.
"Clementine."
Yes, dear. The words scrawled across her computer screen.
"We're supposed to identify ourselves," Glenda Ruth said. "This is me. Now prove it to them."
Password.
"Damn it all, you know it's me. All right." She sketched rapidly with the stylus; not words, but a cartoon.
Right you are. There was no sound, but she knew the computer was sending an encrypted message that could be decoded using her public key. It hardly mattered what the message was, since only messages encrypted with her secret key could be decoded with her public key. The public/secret key system made for positive identifications as well as secure communication.
"Acknowledged," a voice said on the ship's speakers. It was a voice thick with Levantine accent. "Greetings to Miss Glenda Ruth Fowler Blaine. Please prepare to record an encoded message from Lieutenant Kevin Christian Blaine."
Ah," Freddy said. "Standing by. Ready. Got it. Thank you, New Baghdad Lion."
"You are welcome. We have been instructed to offer you fuel."
"Fuel. Why would we want more fuel?" Freddy asked.
The Levantine voice was unperturbed. "Effendi, His Excellency told us to offer you fuel. We offer it. It will not take long to transfer. Shall we do so?"
Freddy looked to Glenda Ruth. "Now what?"
She shrugged. "They're bigger than we are, and if they wanted to do us any harm they'd have done it. Why not let them top off your tanks?"
"Lot more than topping off," Freddy said. "All right. New Baghdad Lion, we accept your offer with gratitude." He punched an intercom button. "Terry, that merchantman's going to pump us some hydrogen. Give them a hand, will you? You have the con."
"Aye, aye. I relieve you," the engineer said.
Freddy shook his head. "But just what is all this in aid of?"
"Maybe this will tell us," Glenda Ruth said.
The message had been encrypted using her public key. She set Clementine to decoding it.
Kevin Christian Blaine to Glenda Ruth Fowler Blaine. The rest does not break in clear, the computer informed her.
"Hah. Use Kevin's special code."
Willco. She adjusted her earphones and waited. Everyone was assured that the public-key/private-key system was secure against everything. Maybe we're just paranoid.
She heard, "Sis, we have a problem. The Moties could be loose by the time you get this."
Freddy was watching her. "Ruth, what's wrong?"
"Nobody's dead. Shh." In the boredom and the interpersonal dominance games, she'd had weeks to forget that she was frightened for the Moties. Now- her brother's voice said, "We're taking three ships to the incipient Alderson point, the I-point, at MGC-R-31. Two Navy ships, and Bury's Sinbad. I've been put aboard Sinbad as liaison. I'm the senior Navy officer aboard, but I catch vibes from Renner. He can show he ranks me if he wants to. Maybe by a lot. The other Navy officer who came out here with Sinbad, an Intelligence lieutenant commander, decided she was needed back on New Scotland.
"I don't think of a lot we can do there by ourselves. The Moties have had a quarter century to prepare for this, and we're just now realizing we have a problem. I can't think three ships will have any surprises for them.
"The pot odds say we'll get there with ten to twenty years leeway, but there are complications. Odd things happening. It might be a lot sooner. There's even a chance it happened already.
"Sis, I sure wish we had the latest the Institute has developed. So does Mr. Bury. If you can get that to us, it might change things. I've attached our best-guess coordinates for the I-point. We thought about waiting for you, but we don't know just how long we have before everything happens. Bury arranged for the ship that gave you this message to refuel yours. Let them, if you haven't done that already. Try to get to the I-point before the Moties do.