Stubsy opened the door, and gave Troblum a nervous grin. 'Hey, big man, how's it going, huh?
'No change, Troblum said. His gaze swept across Stubsy, who was hanging on to the side of the door, preventing any glimpse of the big hallway beyond. The man was wearing his usual expensive and tasteless garb, too-tight gold sports trousers and a shirt with a vivid black and orange flower pattern, open to the waist. But his face looked haggard, as if he was suffering the mother of all hangovers, with dark circles under his eyes, and at least two days' stubble: He looked flushed, as well, his skin hot and sweaty.
'I'm here to pick up my collection.
'Yeah, Stubsy said, scratching the base of his neck. 'Yeah. Yeah. That's it. You are. Somewhere in the house behind him was the sound of bare feet running on tiles.
Troblum had to consult his social interaction program. 'Can I get them now, please? he read off his exovison script.
'Okay, Stubsy said reluctantly. He swung the door open and stood aside.
The open area in the middle of the house was exactly as before, with waterfalls bubbling swiftly down the surrounding boulders to top up the pool. Green and yellow flowering plants twice Troblum's height waved in the gusts that were starting to spill over the low roof. Nobody was swimming. Three of Stubsy's Olympic warrior women companions were waiting in the patio area, with one lying on a sun lounger while the other two stood motionless beside the long bar. Troblum's mild field scan showed him that all their enrichments were inactive.
The sound of thunder rolled through the sky. All three companions looked upwards at the noise.
'Are you going to put up a force field? Troblum asked Stubsy as he sank his bulk into a sun lounger. The wood and fabric creaked as it accepted his lull weight. He'd chosen the one next to the companion in the emerald green bikini. She was gripping the edges of her own sun lounger very tight, as if she was holding herself down against a gravity inversion. 'That storm looked big.
'Force field, Stubsy said. 'Yeah. Good idea, man. Uh, yeah, we can do that, sure.
'Did my collection arrive okay?
Stubsy nodded his head, and perched himself on a sun lounger beside the companion in the green bikini. 'Yeah, he said slowly. 'It's here. We ferried it over from the freighter as agreed. The captain was very curious, you know. I had to slot some extra cash his way. I've got it all downstairs. Man, I wasn't expecting so much junk, you know.
'I have been collecting for a long time. And it is not junk. Troblum glanced up as a force field came on above the villa. The sound of the wind shrank to nothing. 'I'd like to get it loaded on my starship today.
'Where is your starship, man?
'Close, Troblum said. He wasn't going to give anything away until he'd sorted out payment and the collection was ready to move. 'Do you have a cargo capsule?
'Sure, sure.
'There's something else I need from you if you don't mind. I'll pay for the trouble, of course.
Stubsy drew down a loud breath, as if he was having trouble swallowing. 'What's that, then, man?
'I want to meet someone here in private. Someone you wouldn't ordinarily have at your house. You'll have to clear them with the city's defence system.
'Who?
'Think of her as a police officer.
'Police? Stubsy grimaced a smile. 'Ho boy. Well, what the hell, we're all going to die in the Void boundary anyway, right?
'Possibly, Troblum said. He didn't know what to make of the expansion phase yet. If it really couldn't be stopped then fleeing to a colony world was going to be no use at all. He'd have to travel all the way to another galaxy, as Nigel Sheldon had been rumoured to do. It would be a huge challenge for the Mellanie's Redemption. Fortunately, the hardware he'd taken from the Accelerator station should make such a flight achievable, if he could ever assemble the myriad components and make it work. 'So I can call her and arrange a meeting?
Stubsy produced a strange little laugh, his eyes crinkled up. 'Sure.
'Thank you, Troblum said. He used the secure link he was maintaining to his starship to call ANA: Governance's security division.
'Yes, Troblum, ANA: Governance said.
'Connect me to Paula Myo, please.
'As you wish.
Paula Myo came on line. 'Are you ready to meet?
'I told you not to stealth your ship.
'I haven't.
'Then where are you?
'Close to Sholapur.
'All right. I'm at Ikeo city, Florae's villa, I've arranged for him to let you through the city's defences. How long will it take you to reach me?
'I can be there within a couple of hours.
'Fine, I'll be waiting. Troblum ended the call. He glanced over at Stubsy, who hadn't moved. 'She'll be here in two hours. Which wasn't exactly what she'd said, a pedantic section of his mind acknowledged. Paula would never lie, but there were a lot of ambiguities in the way she'd phrased it.
'Cool, Stubsy said.
'Can I see the collection?
'Sure thing, man. It's downstairs.
Stubsy led the way back into the villa. The three companions stayed beside the pool, though their eyes followed Troblum like targeting sensors as he walked after Stubsy.
One of the arching doors in the hallway opened to a set of concrete stairs leading down. Stubsy stood at the top as the polyphoto strips came on. He seemed reluctant to go down.
'Down here? Troblum asked.
'Yeah, Stubsy whispered.
The dealer was sweating again, Troblum saw. Whatever excess he'd indulged in last night must have been substantial for his body to take so long to flush the effects out.
Stubsy started down the stairs. Troblum was right behind him, keen to make sure his precious collection of Starflyer War memorabilia was unharmed. Everything had been in an individual case with a stabilizer field, but he'd had to rely on chartered commercial carriers to get it all to Sholapur without any supervision on his part — it was the only way to avoid Marius's attention. So much could have gone wrong.
There was a broad passage at the bottom of the stairs, carved into the naked rock, with smaller corridors branching off every few metres. They were lined with malmetal doors. Stubsy's vaults were a lot larger than the villa above.
Troblum nearly asked, What do you keep down here? But his social interaction program told him that Stubsy was likely to get upset by that kind of question.
Stubsy turned off into one of the side passages. A malmetal door opened for him. Lights came on in the chamber beyond. Troblum walked into a large circular chamber filled with low tables. His collection was there waiting for him. Every priceless case, their surfaces shimmering with protective shielding. It was going to be tough squeezing everything into Mellanie's Redemption, he acknowledged, some of the larger items might even have to be discarded. His u-shadow performed a fast inventory, checking case logs. They'd been banged around more than Troblum liked, but the cases had protected their contents perfectly. Smiling, he ran his hand over the case containing the handheld array with a foxory casing; the expensive unit had belonged to Mellanie Rescorai herself, a gift from her lover Morton before his trial. Troblum could just discern its outline below the shimmer.
'Thank you, Troblum said. 'I know you didn't have to do this. When he glanced up at Stubsy Florae he saw an expression his emotional context program interpreted as anger and contempt.
The villa nodes relaying his secure link to the Mellanie's Redemption went dead.
'All this makes me feel quite at home, the Cat said.
Shock ran through Troblum's body in the same way as physical pain. His knees almost gave way, forcing him to clutch at the table. She stepped out from behind a huge casing containing the blunt nose cone belonging to a Wessex-based exospheric combat aerobot. Her lean body was dressed in a simple white suit that emitted a hazy glow as if she were some historical saint; it was wreathed in black bands which undulated slowly; ten of them formed a bizarre cage around her head. Troblum knew the suit had to be some kind of armour. Even now with fear so strong it threatened to reduce him to tears, he acknowledged she looked quite magnificent.