Finally, the copying was complete, and Tor and Bran could return from the surface to attend to the million-and-one details of stowage, clearance and liftoff.
Even Kontar breathed a sigh of relief as the Lass inched away from her berth and began maneuvering to her first jump point.
Chapter 13
Once supralight, things settled into quiet routine, for which at least three of them were intensely grateful. Jirik had concealed the contraband battle comp software and weapon specs with the thoroughness of an old space hand, hoping all the while that his caution would be unnecessary. The tension level rose as they approached Kester's World, but evidently Tomys was efficient. The customs inspection was perfunctory, and they were soon on their way. Tomys made no attempt to contact them. The comfortable routine continued.
Their first port of call on the Rim was to be Boondock, so that Valt could rejoin the crew. Jirik had agreed to pay Kondar's passage from Boondock to Toolie on a rim tramp, since Toolie was to be one of their last ports of call, and both Jirik and Kondar preferred that he not deadhead for so long. Their return to Boondock was scarcely cause for celebration among the three regular crew. They would be happy to get Valt back, of course, but all of them felt as though they were walking into danger.
When they were finally grounded and securing, Jirik was wryly amused to see not one, but two ground cars head for the Lass, almost as though they were in a race. As the first roared to a stop, Jirik almost failed to recognize the bronzed, strongly muscled man who jumped out. After a moment, he realized that the man was Valt. Valt began striding toward the Lass as the second ground car came to a more sedate halt, disgorging the Port Captain, Fanlin, and Cony. Jirik's expression tightened as he recognized the Minister of Trade. He sighed deeply. Oh, well, time to get it over with.
Valt bounded up the gangplank as though the gravity was less than 1G, rather than 1.4. Jirik decided that Valt's recovery was more than complete, though he was haunted by the doctor's warning that Valt might be changed. Bran and Tor met Valt at the lock and escorted him below as Jirik turned to greet his other visitors. The Port Captain was officious and pompous in the company of two men high in the planet's hierarchy, but Jirik dealt with the man courteously, and with a measure of respect that had the man glowing. Cony, familiar with both of the men, looked at Jirik appraisingly, but said nothing. Fanlin, however, could barely contain his excitement until the landing formalities were completed.
As the Port Captain turned to leave, Fanlin stopped his restless fidgeting, and pounced. "Well, Captain? How did you do? How many volumes did you get?" He controlled himself with visible effort. "Oh, yes, Welcome back."
Jirik grinned and winked at Cony. "Thank you, sir. I think that we did pretty well. We're carrying fifteen million volumes, of which your share will be 1.6 million. We have each consignment stowed separately to facilitate offloading." He smiled at the obvious excitment on Fanlin's face.
Before Fanlin could resume gushing excitedly, Cony hurriedly stepped forward. "Welcome back, Captain. Please excuse Jon's understandable excitement. Did you have much trouble on the inbound leg?"
Jirik sobered and nodded. "You could say that. We made it with the help of a monumental amount of luck, and a subterfuge that I wouldn't want to try to repeat."
Even Fanlin stopped dancing excitedly, and Cony nodded seriously. "You were right, then. About the pirates, I mean." Jirik nodded.
Fanlin would be denied no longer. "What about the books, Captain? When can we have them? What did you get? How varied is the subject matter?"
Jirik shrugged. "I have no idea. I didn't stop the read them, I just copied them. However, our deal with the Library specified that the majority of the volumes provided be scientific and technical in nature."
Fanlin was rubbing his hands in delight. "Over a million and a half volumes! The Boondock Library will be the envy of this whole sector!" He strode forward and grabbed Jirik's hand. "Thank you, Captain! Thank you! The entire rim owes you a debt!"
"Yes," Cony added dryly, "But the Captain will receive his payment on Wayoff, remember?"
Fanlin seemed momentarily confused. Then, a comprehending smile crawled across his excited face. "Oh." he replied, "Yes, of course. But I was referring to his contribution to rim society! It was all his idea, remember?"
Jirik stifled a grin at Fanlin's inability to recognize when he was being teased. Cony's face also struggled to remain straight, and he tossed Jirik a large wink.
"How soon can you offload, Captain?" Fanlin persisted, "How soon can we have our bookchips?"
It was Cony who replied. "That depends on how soon we stop bothering the Captain, and let him get on with his business! Why don't you take the car and go on back to the Library? I'll try to help the Captain expedite the unloading. We'll get the cargo to you as quickly as possible."
Fanlin was still excited, but Cony's remark about his presence slowing the unloading had hit a nerve. "Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Uh, I'll go back to my office. Please let me know when the . . . uh . . . cargo is on it's way!"
Assuring him that they would, they ushered the jubilant Fanlin to his car. As the car drove away, Cony turned to Jirik.
"I meant it, Captain. I want to help expedite this, so that you can be on your way, and I can get Fanlin off my back! You can't imagine what it's been like these past few months; I wasn't sure that he wouldn't die from sheer excitement!"
Jirik nodded. "Thank you, sir. We've already arranged for longshoremen to offload the consignment; but I imagine that you could be a great help in expediting our clearances." He grinned. "I don't think that Mr. Fanlin has much of a grasp of the legal formalities involved. He'll probably want to know why he can't have his damned bookchips in an hour or so!"
Cony's answering grin was genuine and friendly. "Definitely. Well, Captain, I'll be glad to help. As soon as your cargo is on the ground, I'll see to it that your Customs and Tariff clearances are signed immediately. I wouldn't want Jon expiring from frustration because his bookchips are sitting in a bonded warehouse." His grin remained, but his eyes hardened slightly, "You don't have any contraband in there, do you?" His tone was light, but his slight emphasis on "contraband" told Jirik that he was well aware of the smuggling affair.
Jirik kept his tone equally light, however. "No, sir. I haven't done a lick of smuggling for one hell of a long time!"
Cony threw Jirik a piercing look, then relaxed slightly. "Of course not, Captain. With a fine ship like this one, you don't have to!" To Jirik, the jovial tone rang slightly false. He was growing tired of the verbal fencing, and was relieved when the work skid and crew's arrival interrupted it.
With Jirik's supervision, the longshoremen made short work of unloading the containers of light but bulky bookchips. True to his word, Cony got all the clearances signed immediately, and within hours the load of book discs was on its way to the Library.
As Cony was preparing to leave, he waved Jirik over. "How soon do you plan to lift, Captain?" He asked. Cony's question was offhand, but the tenseness in his body revealed its importance.
Jirik shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I'm signing off my temporary Astrogator here, and, of course, my regular crewman will need to settle in. I'd say a few hours, not more than a local day." He grinned again. "If those other eight librarians are as impatient as Mr. Fanlin, I'll feel guilty for every hour's delay."
Cony relaxed slightly, but the corners of his mouth turned down. "Surely there's not that much hurry, Captain. Why not let me buy you dinner in town? We can let Jon crow about his loot!" The lightness of his tone was belied by his serious expression. He obviously did not want the Lass to lift off for at least a day, and Jirik knew why. Cony needed time for his men to recover Via's report and strip any recordings from her spy-eyes.