 
### Sharon L Reddy

### Imagiscape

copyright 2011

Target Yonder

Smashwords Edition

ISBN 978-1-58338-364-3

This story was begun as response to a challenge by my friend, Ginny. Could I write a story that had very little dialogue? I decided one person, alone, was a good way to start.

### Steel Blade

copyright 2004

### Chapter One

Life had suddenly gotten complicated. Survival was no longer probable. He needed to think and move fast and all he could think about was how much moving hurt. He didn't know where he was, but he knew where he was. He was in the deep Starscrape mountains and summer would be gone before he could find a way through them. He rolled over and looked at the sky. It was a few seconds before he could see anything else. He had to lift his head and that took strength. He had to build it first.

He was in an alpine meadow. It was actually low enough to have trees at the lower end. It would have been nice if it had offered shelter. It didn't. One did not shelter in the forests if one didn't have a very sturdy shelter or a good weapon one was good with. College boy from a nice family, smart boy. And then Hell had come. He'd won a debate and a trophy.

He had no idea who they'd been, but why was to "teach him a lesson" for thoroughly trouncing his competition in the debate championships.

He had a steel blade. He smiled. It hurt, but felt good. He really hadn't considered making an exception if a person had been raped and beaten. He'd argued a steel blade was the one item most useful to guarantee survival in the wilderness and stated every person going into it should have one strapped against their body, as well as in hand's reach. He'd had one strapped against his body. They'd shoved the sheath up his ass when they'd finished with him and strapped it in with medical binding tape. Since they'd given him an inject of antibios and known exactly what would hurt the most without making him lose consciousness, he'd decided they'd studied some type of med tech. They were not students. He was sure of it.

They had talked. They'd thought it was funny. They'd given no names and raping him was a spur-of-the-moment addition to the itinerary. One had been a bit nervous about it. Another had told him he was going to die anyway. That's when the person had leaned down and hit him with the inject. It hadn't been for what they were doing. His exceptions had been major injury and infection. It had been explained to him that's why he got it.

It was all explained to him. He was being "given an opportunity to prove" the premise he'd thought was so idiotic when it had been selected for the competition that year, but he had chosen a steel blade as his "one item" and trounced the competition. One couldn't start a fire with a rock and a geo-locator disk.

"Hannon, if you don't win this argument, you definitely don't pass the course. How the hell am I going to get the damn tape off to get the blade I need to get the tape off? And who the hell did I make look so bad he had a steel blade shoved up my ass?!"

He had to find a way, so he did. A slippery-feeling plant gave him something to use as a lubricant. He used it to make the tape slide off the hilt of the knife and finally got it out. It exhausted him and it had hurt. He laid on his back and cut and pulled the tape off. That hurt too. It wasn't supposed to come off for six days without a chemical removal agent, but the blade did it. Even if it did take some skin when he pulled and he had a few small cuts where he'd worked the knife under the tape.

He was sure nothing had ever felt better than getting the sheath out of him. Then smiled and decided it was a separate category from not having someone torturing him.

There was going to be a war and he'd made sure every trooper who fought it would have a steel blade. He hadn't yet understood that's what he was doing halfway through the term, when the marine commander had struck up a conversation.

He hadn't belonged in the debater's prep area. He'd expressed surprise that Hannon was doing so well with such a primitive piece of equipment as his argument. Hannon had told him survival was rather basic and if survival wasn't the point of the argument he'd missed it. The commander's comment had made him angry. He'd really gone to work on the argument. He'd done so well he'd been dropped in the wilderness on Cecile with a steel blade only about eight cens long. He decided wishing it was longer was rather foolish under the circumstances.

He couldn't stop the war and he wouldn't have tried to avoid going. Fraver was too beautiful. Too many wanted it. It was Cecile's. They'd discovered it, prepped it and established a colony. Then Moloma Mining had struck gem-bearing schist and more of the beauty of Fraver was discovered. Moloma sued for a mountain range. Joskid sued for fishing rights over shoals in a cold sea filled with tasty fish. Reah sued for... And the judges dithered about "value of investment" while Moloma built a fleet.

People had worked to build their lives on Fraver. They were from Cecile and the people of Cecile had paid for the preliminaries to colonization with a special tax that was approved by a seventy-seven percent margin. And every soldier would carry a steel blade because Hannon Vanity had chosen it as his argument for the university-level competition debate question.

Hannon hunted for a rock. He needed one that would give him a spark. He had a vague idea what chert looked like, but he didn't expect to suddenly see some conveniently located. Steel sparked when rubbed against perma-crete hard enough. Suddenly he had spark. He picked up the small rock, looked at it and began to giggle.

"Thank you! Whatever it is that has decided to help me stay alive! Thank you!"

Hannon found a stream. He drank the icy-cold melt and got to his feet. He had to make the tree line that morning to get a shelter made and enough fuel for a fire by nightfall. It didn't need to be much of a shelter, but he wanted something behind his back and over his head. He'd have a fire in front. He followed the stream.

Hannon saw stems laying on the ground. He picked one up and looked it over. Something had dug the plant up to get the root. He started looking for the plant. If an animal ate it, he probably could. The probably bothered him a bit, but not as much as the idea of starving and it was going to take him awhile to become enough of a hunter to move up the food chain.

Hannon made the tree line and got into the shade. He was sunburned, but not badly yet. Then he saw some of the plants like he'd found in the meadow by the stream in a nearby open space. They grew by the stream below the treeline too. He decided food was more important than avoiding more exposure to the sun and headed for them.

They were pretty bland, but crisp. He decided to call them "mountain turnips." He looked around the small clearing and decided it was where he'd build his shelter. The stream ran through it and there were fish in it, if he could figure out how to catch them. The trees made a bit of wind break and he could build a shelter in the shade and his fire in the open. He thought it was an excellent criteria for site selection. So was the fact there was a fallen tree and a large number of small well-cured branches about six meters away.

He pushed himself to get back to the job of staying alive. A fire was first. He didn't expect it to be easy to start one, but he could keep one going while he did other things.

He was right about it not being easy. Finding something dry enough to burn wasn't easy. He finally got some grass to light and held his breath until the tiny twig caught fire. He carefully added grass and twigs until he got a nice little flame and then added four one-cen thick sticks and a short piece of stout tree branch. He whooped when it caught fire and quickly built it up to a size he was sure would not just go out. He gathered wood for it, then started working on how to make himself a shelter.

It wasn't easy to cut tree branches, even small ones. He was nearly too exhausted to lay them on the frame he'd built when he got them to it. He had to rest a bit before he hunted something to keep them there. Vine would be nice, but there wasn't any. He thought he might be able to use the tall stiff grass that grew beside the stream as ties. When he needed to add wood to the fire, he pushed himself to keep moving and get some. He picked up a stick to lean on and looked at it in speculation when he got to the stream.

"It wouldn't take much to sharpen it. If I can't spear a fish by the time the stream is in the shade, I cut grass and eat turnips. I want to go home! I want to curl up and cry, but I'm alive and that won't keep me that way. Damn! I'll find you! I'll find every one of them and then I'll find you! If my mother doesn't find you first. Mommy, I'm alive. I'm not in good shape, but I'm alive and I'm going to stay alive. I'm going to kill them for what they did! And then I'm going to find the one who sent them. But first, I have to stay alive through the night."

He finally speared a fish just as the shade reached the stream. He cleaned it, then cleaned himself in the stream. He knew it was done, but he'd never done it before and his first attempt was rather messy. He hurried back to his fire with his pieces of fish, his stick, an arm load of grass, his knife and two more turnips. He got there just in time to keep it from going out. He built it up, laid the turnips and fish on a hot rock and went to work tying his shelter into a shelter instead of a bunch of branches with the 'pine' needles still attached.

He spent the time he was tying thinking. He needed permanent shelter and he didn't have much time to build it. He'd already found out how difficult it was to cut wood with his blade, but doubted it would be faster to build it of rock. He wasn't going to look for a cave. It was very unlikely he'd find one and it was likely to have residents if he did.

The grass was interesting. Hannon finished tying his shelter together and began to 'play' with it. By the time it got dark, his fish was cooked, the turnips were hot and soft and he'd learned to weave the grass a bit. He curled up in his little shelter with his steel blade in his hand and cried himself to sleep.

Night 'noises' woke him several times and he added wood to his fire each time. None of the noises got close that night, but he had to find wood as soon as it was light enough to look for it. He stumbled onto something he needed, but almost didn't live through the encounter.

Hannon didn't know what it was, but it was big, had lots of teeth and was coming straight at him. He didn't have time to turn around and run or he might have. He didn't have time to think either. He had his walking stick/fish spear in his right hand and... it was dead. He'd shoved his spear in its mouth and it was dead. About five cens in front of his toes. It was meat and it was 'clothes' if he could figure out how to use both. And how to get it somewhere he could do something with it.

He struggled for hours. Nothing bothered him while he did it though, except bugs. They were driving him crazy. He smiled when he fueled his smoky fire and they stopped being a problem when he was close to it.

There was little likelihood someone would see smoke and investigate, but he'd built it to smoke for that reason. No one would look for him in the mountains. They'd drag the river and watch the sea, but they wouldn't look a thousand kilometers west in the mountains. Someone might see smoke and just look for the reason. Currently, he needed to figure out how to make that smoke cure the meat of the animal. He added smokehouse to the things he needed to build now to keep him alive in winter. He'd figured out what kind of wood to burn in it.

He got the animal skinned and was glad he hadn't done it any closer to his shelter. He washed the big chunks of meat in the stream, then had an idea. He spread the hide out in the stream and weighted it to on stay on the bottom. He watched and smiled when a large number of tiny fish began to clean it for him. He gathered grass and turnips while they did it. They weren't done when he was, but he decided the hide wasn't going anywhere and he could leave them to their work. He didn't quite know what to do about the chunks of meat though. Eventually he picked up as much as he could carry and took it over to his fire. He hurried back to get another load and several small animals ran away from the meat on the rocks when he yelled and rushed them.

He got most of the meat moved. The animals didn't get much of it. He built a 'smokehouse' the same way he'd built his shelter, but the 'fire ring' was in it. When he pulled the skin of the animal out of the stream and got enough water out of the fur he could carry it, he spread it out on one side of his smokehouse frame where the sun would hit it the next day and tied it on with his grass 'rope.' He'd begun to have an idea about a 'real' shelter.

Hannon began to build the next morning. He carried rocks and branches to the side of the stream and began to stack them. Mud kept rocks in place and grasses tied branches together. He cut off a piece of the hide and used it to carry more mud. At the end of his first day of work, he had a large square that came up to his mid-calf and branches firmly held in place that reached above his head. That night something went after his meat and he went after it with a flaming branch from the fire. He 'rebuilt' his smokehouse using it as a torch for light. He worked fast. It wasn't a very good torch. The next day he began working on a sturdier smokehouse.

It took him six days to build his smokehouse, but he learned a great deal in the process, like how to make a door and a roof. It was made of tied branches and covered with sod from the meadow. He went back to work on the 'house' and began to teach himself to hunt.

His 'leather' was lousy, but the support he made from it was still better than having none. He tried to remember how leather was cured, but all he came up with was tannic acid and he didn't know what plants, if any, would provide it. He hit the tree with his spear and suddenly smiled. He didn't have tannic acid, but he was about to add some 'acid' to the forest. He walked back to his camp and pissed on the hide he had stretched between two branches. He wouldn't try it with any others until he was sure it worked. It was not going to smell pleasant. Assuming he got any others, of course. He practiced some more with his spears.

He moved into his 'house' before it was finished. He built a nice fire and worked on it from the inside at night. He didn't have much time. He had to start gathering wood and food for the winter. He'd found a grass he could use as grain and made himself a crude clay pot to cook in. He'd also found a stone to use to sharpen his knife. Then he found a tree that oozed sap.

He didn't know what the wood was, but a thick branch with a big glob of sap on it burned with very little smoke and it burned brightly for hours. His clay pot was filled with sap and he made another one for cooking. He built torch holders that night. He would have light when he wanted more than the fire.

He built a fireplace of rock and clay 'mortar' in one corner of his house before he put the roof on. He was actually surprised it worked. The next day he began cutting sod for the roof. He didn't get much cut though. There were grazing animals in the meadow. He got one. It was a real chore to get it back to his smoke house. He dragged the skin with the chunks of meat wrapped in it a few centimeters at a time. He had to move it all at once or he'd get just what he moved the first time. He hadn't been sure the scavengers weren't going to decide to rush him while he'd worked on it.

Hannon decided spearing fish wasn't going to get him enough for winter. He needed to make a net. He began working on one that night. He'd gotten rather good with the grass and thought he might be able to braid and tie it together well enough it would hold a big fish, but it was going to take many evenings and a lot of grass. He gathered grass the next day, all day. The next four, he cut sod and roofed his house. Then he cut the sod that had been in it and made a wide place under a sloping roof on both sides of his door. One was for wood. The other was because he had almost enough sod.

Over the next five days, he enclosed it, roofed over the area over his door, extended it to the smokehouse, then put a door on it by his door. It would be his larder and he would be able to get to it no matter how deep the snow. He had supported it well and was rather sure the sharp slope would prevent its collapse under the snow's weight. Now he must bring a harvest to it. He had to get everything he could eat that he could find into it and every piece of wood he could fit into the other side. He needed hides and furs and to figure out a way to 'sew' them into coverings for his feet, hands, arms, legs, body, head... Rodents were going to be a problem until it got really cold.

Hannon gathered berries, nuts, cereal grasses, fruits, roots and even some leaves. If he saw one of the small brown and black spotted animals had been eating it, he gathered it. Nothing he'd copied had made him sick. They were the ones who had led him to the turnips. He'd recognized their tracks. He'd been very proud of himself. Considering the condition he'd been in the first time he saw them, it had been a major achievement. Then he found the salt block and just stood and stared at it.

"Well, someone has obviously been here before. Why a block of salt? Terran grazing animals? Sheep? Not this summer. How long would a salt block that size last? What the hell do I care how long it would last? It means there's a way out of here that sheep can get through. No, it means someone dropped a block of salt here for some reason. They may have dropped animals too. Maybe to establish a wild population. That's ridiculous. Somebody put that here for animals and the native animals don't need it. It's still recognizably a block so it wasn't that long ago. Maybe the native animals do need it. Damn, I'm debating with myself. The conclusion is it doesn't really make any difference. I have to survive this winter here and start looking for a way out as soon as I can next spring. Salt will help, especially on boiled grain."

He fished with his net. He spent a large amount of time repairing it, but he also caught a lot of fish with it. One of the little spotted animals, a very young one, began showing up every time he went fishing. It dove in the water for the heads and entrails he threw in the stream. He stopped tossing them in the water and tossed them on the bank. The little animal waited 'patiently' until he finished cleaning the fish, wrapped them in the skin pouch he'd made and headed for the house, then dashed for the mess on the bank of the stream, then it began to just plain follow him. He named it Spot, of course.

One day Spot wasn't there when he walked to the stream. He told himself it was silly to hunt for him, then went hunting. He knew where the little creature came from and ran back to and began his search around the two big trees. He found a burrow under a root. It was easy to find. Something was digging it open. Hannon looked down at the animal he'd bashed over the head with a tree branch and smiled. He'd seen several in the forest. They had nice fur. They were also very fast. It was nice of this one to stay in one place long enough he could bash it. He dragged it away from the little burrow and then made sure it was dead with his knife.

He dragged the animal to his 'butcher block' and was very surprised to see Spot was following. It followed him from where he skinned the animal all the way to the house too. Hannon took note it wasn't interested in the parts of the animal he left after he'd slaughtered it.

Spot took up residence in the woodpile. Hannon noticed a reduction in rodent predations on his food stock. He didn't think Spot was responsible, but something had decided around his larder was a good place to find dinner. Then one day when he was adding wood to the pile he saw something dash across it. He told it that it was welcome and welcome to the pests it was helping control. It was quite some time and the wood shelter was as full as he could get it before he got a good look at the thing. It seemed to have suddenly decided he was a friend or something. It sat atop the woodpile and 'talked' to him every time he came out or went in the door.

Spot didn't follow when he went hunting after the first time. When he came out of the house with his spear and meat pouch, it chittered and went back in its 'burrow' in the wood pile. Hannon added two more support posts to his house every time he dragged home a travois made from the skin of some animal with the meat from it loaded on it. He got to the point he didn't need all the meat from every animal, but he needed their skins. He decided he was taking the most likely prey of the carnivores of the forest, the slowest and dumbest. He left about a third of every kill for them until his smoke house was overloaded, then he stopped hunting. He wouldn't hunt just for skins. He would get by with what he had. He started gathering other types of food again. Spot showed him what was good. He was stuffing himself and his burrow.

Hannon wondered if Spot and the rodent hunter he called Puss hibernated. He didn't know how an animal would survive the winter if it didn't. When the snow covered the everything, what would anything eat? Spot was getting very plump. Hannon was pretty sure he was going to hibernate. He didn't think Puss would. He began working on a plan to get her to move into his larder. She couldn't get in the smokehouse and he'd keep his meat in it. He left the door open and a bit of meat inside it for two days and she moved in. Two days later he cleared a spot under the lowest point of the roof and dug the soil loose. He laughed when Puss dashed for it as soon as he left it. He'd been right. She'd been trying to bury her shit and the ground was just too hard.

The first rain Hannon had seen since he'd been dumped out of the flyer changed to snow that night. He was rather pleased with the fur 'boots' he made that evening, using his steel blade to punch holes and cut laces. He made himself a bit more to wear and got as much more wood as he could drag to the house before it began to really snow. His auxiliary wood pile might be buried under snow, but it was close and he'd get it from beneath the snow if he needed it. Puss shed her tan coat and became white.

Winter was hard. He just hadn't expected his house to be nearly buried under the snow. He lived in a cave with a wall of snow in front of the door. That wall got a bit farther away every time he scooped out a pot of snow for water for himself and Puss. He wouldn't have survived if he hadn't enclosed both the wood pile and his larder. If he hadn't kept the fire in the smokehouse going for quite some time after it had begun to snow and melted it a bit around it, his 'chimney' would have been the only air supply. The smokehouse wasn't airtight. His house had become so.

He had to supplement Puss' diet a bit. He had enough meat he could afford to do it. The snow insulated the house so well he used some of his hides to cover the floor instead of his body. That warmed it even more.

The winter was too long and too dark. Hannon battled the long dark hours by teaching himself to carve. His best work was a walking stick, a staff really, that he carved to appear to have bravura ivy climbing it. Every time the darkness and loneliness pressed in on him, he picked it up and worked on it. And remembered faces. Then one day he noticed a draft. He opened the door and whooped. He could see sky and the top of the snow beyond the roof over his door.

Hannon's days and nights were quite a bit off from those of the world, but he got them straightened out quickly. Spot made an appearance and Puss disappeared. She came back two days later, but she wasn't in good shape. She let him pick her up and carry her in the house. That's when he discovered she was a boy puss and he didn't approve of having that part of his anatomy wet, but Hannon was determined.

"Puss, I'd be interested in finding out how something clawed you there, but I'm more interested in getting the claw marks cleaned right now. Clean. Oh, I want to be clean all over. I dream of soap. Rinsing a bit of me at a time is not a bath and I want one so badly. That's all I can do except keep you warm and feed you, Puss. Spot has babies, I think. I had you both turned around. I want out of here desperately and it's going to hurt to leave."

Hannon dug soil loose in the corner and laid Puss on a fur near it. He allowed it. He wasn't tame. He had come to trust Hannon enough to let him do it. Hannon knew he was no pet and neither was Spot. He'd leave wood in the wood pile for them when he left.

Puss healed, shed and was black/brown again by the time Hannon actually got out of the house. Two days later, he 'packed' and set out to find his way out of the valley and back to human settlement. He couldn't wait for all the snow to melt or he'd be there at nearly the same time as he had the year before. A short time later he was carrying Spot's two pups in his fur shirt. Three hours after that he was sharing his dinner with Puss, Spot and babies. Why had they followed? Why had Spot trailed him with one baby, dropped it and gone back for the other, then trailed him, dropped it and gone back... He'd never even heard of any of the wild animals of Cecile becoming friends with a human, but he was quite pleased with their company. Spot found food under the snow and the two little animals added a lot of warmth when they crawled under his cover at night. The two tiny babies kept his chest warm while he walked.

The babies grew very fast and were soon helping Spot find them food, but they still wanted to be carried when they weren't looking for it. When he started climbing to reach a cleft he hoped was a pass, he ended up carrying all of them. The snow was too deep and too soft for them. Neither Spot nor Puss complained when he picked them up and put Spot in his shirt with her babies and Puss in the open gathering pouch at his waist. They made him a bit unbalanced, but he wasn't struggling and they had been. That night he couldn't light a fire and food for all of them came from his pack. Even Puss didn't want to try to hunt for dinner.

Hannon was out of his covers and on his feet with his spear and knife in hand before he got awake. Puss was yowling and growling at something he couldn't see in the darkness. He added his 'yowl' and heard something move off. It wasn't small. He gave Puss a piece of meat from his pack and thanked him. He didn't mind carrying the four small animals the next day, at all. He'd seen the tracks of whatever had been close. It had big paws and claws that made deep gouges in the snow a cen-and-a-half in front of the toe prints.

They were almost to the cleft Hannon had seen when darkness overcame them that night. Rocks gave a bit of shelter, but Hannon was rather sure he'd have frozen if he hadn't had four small bodies helping keep him warm. About mid-morning, he stopped at the crest of the pass he'd found, looked ahead and sighed. There was nothing to see but another shallow valley and mountains beyond it. The view was beautiful, but he couldn't quite keep from seeing it as days and days of walking and climbing. He 'got a fix' on what looked to be a way out of the next valley and started down.

They walked. There were times when Hannon had to stop to fish or hunt, but he didn't stop to smoke fish and hunted small animals for one or two meals. Spot made sure there was enough other food to feed them well and Puss didn't ask for any of Hannon's meat or fish often, usually just when they climbed into snow to cross another 'row' of mountains. Hannon got a bit tired of carrying his furs, but he needed them every time they began to climb and his boots needed sole replacement several times.

Leaves were beginning to fall from deciduous trees and bushes and Hannon was beginning to get nervous. He looked for signs of human habitation from the top of every 'pass' he climbed. He was headed basically east, but there were many times that was more south or north to get to and through a cleft. He was passing from nervous to scared when he saw something in a valley below him. He had to force himself not to run for it. It was about a day's walk away, but he was sure it was cleared land and buildings.

The place was deserted and deteriorating. It hurt. The need he had for other people washed through him and he just sat down and cried. His little friends huddled against him until he 'got it out of his system.' He took a deep breath, got up and really looked the place over.

"It needs work, but not a lot. I'll have to build a smokehouse and larder and stock them, but the garden gone wild and the orchard will make that comparatively simple. I was afraid it wouldn't have a fireplace, but broadcast power is more expensive to use for heating than wood. It would have been nice if they'd left the power relay, and a comm, maybe a flyer... Well, wishing won't get us through the winter and we're not going to get out of the mountains before the passes are too deep in snow to get through. Time to get to work. Past time. I hope we have enough."

The valley had good game and the stream had many fish and grass he could weave into a net to catch them. He didn't argue with Spot and her babies, Dot and Speckle, over the things in the overgrown garden. They were building enough fat to hibernate. Puss moved into the larder as soon as he began to stock it. Spot and her pups moved into the wood pile when it began to grow. He moved into the house. It was two story and wood, but it was insulated with modern materials and had thermal windows. It also had some furniture.

Hannon smiled when he made a mattress out of grass for the bed platform. He'd gotten the water running and had a bath in hot water from the black solar tank behind the house. He'd have more baths even after the tank was buried in snow. He'd fill the tub with snow, let it melt and warm a bit, then add water he'd heated over the fire. It had been not having a place to put water that had kept him from getting a bath the winter before.

Wood wasn't as easy to get and the animals were more wary, but Hannon still got his larder stocked and his wood pile large enough to make it through by the first heavy snow. The light that came in the upper story windows was a blessing, but the house wasn't as warm as the one he had built. He decided it was because it wasn't completely buried under snow and wore his furs when it got too chilly.

Halfway through the winter, Puss wanted to move into the house. He built him a 'box' and filled it with dirt from the floor of the larder. He didn't mind emptying it every few days and filling it with fresh dirt. It was nice to have Puss as company and he did make his bed warmer on really cold nights.

The wood pile was getting too low and the larder too empty when the snow level began to drop. Hannon dug his way out and chopped a hole in the ice over the stream. It hadn't frozen solid. It was quite a bit wider and deeper than the one that had run by his house. It was also at a lower altitude. The tree line was far up the side of the mountains. He wasn't looking forward to the long climb out of the valley, but he was anticipating it with eagerness.

Spot and the pups came out of the wood pile when he carried his first catch back to the house. He smiled when he saw the pups. They were just about the size Spot had been when she began following him and just as hungry.

They actually hadn't grown a great deal over the winter compared to the way they had the summer before, but they were young adult not pups. He somehow knew they weren't going to go with him when he left the valley. They were still nesting in the wood pile he'd added to specifically for them, but Spot was the only one that trailed him around and she'd moved into the house. He spent most of two days figuring out how to leave a note that the spotted animals in the wood pile were friendly, named Dot and Speckle and it was their home.

The two pups chittered and followed him when he started the trek across the valley, but they turned and went back to the house and their wood pile before the first day was half over. Spot chittered and watched them go, but stayed with him and Puss. Her pups were grown and he was her choice of 'home.' He thought he probably missed them more than she did when he caught himself looking for them several times that day and once during the night. He was sure he worried about them more, but he'd made their burrows in the wood pile as safe from large predators as he could.

The valleys were lower and it made the mountains seem higher, especially when he was climbing them. It was more difficult to find a way through them too. Twice, he lost several days when he had to backtrack and look for another way after he'd struggled to the top of what looked like a pass and found deep snow and jagged rocks on the other side. Then one day when he was beginning to get very nervous again, he reached the top of a cleft and saw the sea.

"We're going to make it! We're going to get out of the mountains before winter sets in! That's ocean and the mountains are just hills when they reach it! I don't know where on the coast that is, but somewhere along it is the Dusky River, Dusky Delta City and home! I plan on walking there and just walking in. Interesting. I really don't want to just find someone to take me there any longer. I want to do it all myself. I'm not going back to school. A degree in business doesn't seem very important any longer and I definitely don't think of it as being practical like I once did. I'm going to end up in the military if that damn war did start, but I can survive that too. I don't know what to do about you two though. Listen to me making plans. I still have many days of walking to reach the sea and probably a great many more to get home, but I will make it. Should get some strange looks when I walk down the street in my furs with my spear on top of my pack, my staff in my hand and you two following me. Of course, you're liable to be a lump in my shirt and a weight around my middle. You probably aren't going to like the people and noise of the city."

### Chapter Two

Hannon made it out of the mountains, but knew he was not going to reach 'civilization' that year by the time he did. He was far to the north of it. He began working to get a place ready for the winter. Spot helped him find food to stock his larder. A stream that ran down to the sea provided most of the contents of his smokehouse. He didn't try to fish the sea. The 'beach' was tumbled rock and the surf would have shredded his net quickly. The 'house' was a fairly shallow cave. He just made a front wall and door for it. There was a bit of draft through it, so he wasn't worried about building a fire in it. One of the cracks at the back went all the way to the surface.

Hannon didn't roof over the walk between his larder and the 'front door.' He also didn't dig a pit and make a cover for it with tied sticks and a thick sod mat to "keep the smell in." He dug one at the end of the woodpile and added walls to that end of it. He didn't find any clay that would make another pot, but he still had the one he'd made the first summer. The fourth one. It was a more 'pot' pot than the first three had been and he'd learned how to 'bake' the clay by the fire on the third. He also hadn't been in near the hurry to get it made so he could use it. The third had been to replace the second which was rapidly working its way from slight crack and dribble to a strainer. He'd used it as one for awhile.

Hannon settled in for the winter and laughed at himself for being a bit disgusted with the 'primitive' shelter, but he'd be able to get out of it and add wood and food to his store all winter. Puss and Spot both moved in with him.

The snow was rather deep when Hannon decided Spot just wasn't going to hibernate. He worried about it. He wasn't sure if she didn't because she was warmer or because she hadn't had enough time to build the fat she needed for it. She and Puss both spent a lot of time sleeping, but he knew the difference. They also both followed him out into the snow on forays for wood and fish. Puss went out alone fairly often. He ate well. He was well camouflaged.

The winter seemed terribly long to Hannon, but he knew it was because he wanted to finish the journey so badly. It really wouldn't be that much easier along the coast. One couldn't just follow it. There would be rocks and rivers to climb and cross. He'd have to find a ford for most and swim others. He started thinking about that. The day he left his "winter camp," he carried a long coil of rope made of an even nicer grass and a piece of wood well on its way to becoming a paddle. He'd go upstream, tie branches together to make a raft, then float down and look for a place to get off on the other side. He'd carry Spot in his shirt and Puss in the open satchel at his waist if they didn't like the raft. As long as they could get out, he wasn't worried about them drowning. Both swam well.

He hit a slight snag at the first big stream. It was raging with snow melt and he knew better than to try to cross it. He was surprised when Spot headed downstream, stood and chittered at him and headed downstream again. He followed her. Puss was.

She was still white. He thought she should have begun to have brown spots, but she didn't. He followed his two little friends and speculated on them some more. He spent a lot of time that way. Walking and speculating on the two little animals that had decided he needed friends.

Hannon giggled as he waded across the wide place where the stream met the sea. The tide was out. He was careful to follow Spot and Puss. He'd veered a bit and almost lost a boot in the mud. The fact the tide was out told him nearly the exact date. He thought within a twenty day period was pretty exact. He walked along the shore for five days before it began to turn and he climbed to higher ground and more difficult traveling. He now knew the date.

"I'll be a full adult in six days. I could walk in and order a beer. I could get a flyer license. I could even get a ship captain's license. See, there are different ages at which adult responsibility is granted. You get a scoot license first, but it's limited and you can't ride a scoot without a comp override on the controls. You can vote and drive a car a bit later. If you live far enough from your school, you can get a flitter license with your parent's consent. In six days, I won't need anyone's consent for anything. Uh, oh, except Mom's, but I don't think she'll mind having you two around. Dad will just plain like you. Oh, shit!"

Hannon watched the huge shuttle arc out of the atmosphere. It had been the blue and green of the Cecile marines, and a troop shuttle. He had no doubt his world was at war and he was going to end up in one of those shuttles if he went home. He sighed and began walking again. He didn't like the idea of war and definitely didn't want to fight one, but this one wasn't Cecile's idea and his world was on the right side of it.

Moloma's government-controlled mining company had been the 'foothold' they'd used to take over two other new-found worlds. Cecile intended to stop them. If they didn't, Moloma would send more and more people to do 'surveys,' make more and more claims and finally, have so many people on it, they'd overwhelm the original settlers in a charter referendum and it would be a Moloma colony.

The courts wouldn't, or couldn't, stop them. His world would. They'd told Moloma they would and they'd begun building up their fleet and marine forces. Cecile's congress had been debating a draft act when he'd been dumped in the mountains. He had no doubt it had passed.

"I'm a draft dodger! No, I'm missing presumed dead. I'll also be a news story if I'm not careful."

He didn't want to be a news story. He had people to find. He had five men to kill. He didn't know if he was going to kill the other one yet. He rather wanted to drop him in the wilderness with the kind of steel blade he wished he'd had, tell him he had a lot better chance than he'd had and he'd buy him a beer in three years if he survived. He smiled when he realized he didn't expect to have to buy a beer. He'd researched his subject well. He'd had a steel blade and he'd known what to do with it. He just stopped moving. He had something of value to give to his world. He could teach marines how to survive on Fraver.

"I'm trying to figure out how to talk them into letting me take you two with me! I'm trying to figure out how to do this without ending up in the military, but I doubt that's possible. First, I learn if every soldier does have a steel blade, then I go to the highest ranking marine I can find and say I'm ready to teach, but I'd like a ride home first because people have probably been telling my parents they're sorry I'm dead for close to three years. Oh, I want to see women! I want a hell of a lot more than that, but that's what I want most. My progress toward more than looking at them was abruptly interrupted. Thank you, Spot and Puss. I actually don't feel quite as dumb talking to myself if you guys talk back. I'm so lonely. Without you, it would have been far worse. I think I'd have tried to make it out after the first winter. That's silly. That house was nice. I'd have probably tried for it last autumn though. I'm going to run into people before I get home and I don't really want to. That ship didn't come from Dusky Delta."

Five days later, Hannon spoke softly to a perimeter guard and she stared at him. At least she hadn't shot at him. He tried again.

"My name is Hannon Vanity. I was abducted after a debate tourney and left deep in the Starscrapes. It's taken me three years to get out of them. I can teach survival skills like no one else on this world. These two animals chose to accompany me those three years. I want to see your commanding officer. That's twice. Do you need the whole thing again?"

"Uh, no. They're cute. You're a mess."

"You try going three years without a mirror and a comb. I carved one of those out of wood, but it broke and I haven't had time to do another. Look, I want to go home, but if there's a base here, we're fighting Moloma and we need what I learned a very hard way. Frankly, I'm working on a plan to get them to put me to work and prove so essential they don't want to waste a quarter-year of my time in basic training, before they draft me."

"Grasigi, get me the duty officer."

"I want to keep Spot and Puss with me because that's where they decided they should be. They are not subjects for study of any kind. I will answer questions about their species in general, but they are exceptions to the rule and won't add to the knowledge of the species. I had lots of time to practice what I was going to say when I could say something to someone again. Do you carry a steel blade?"

"Every marine carries a steel blade... Hannon Vanity, the kid who said every marine should have one."

"Someone decided I said it too well. I'm going to kill the five men who raped and tortured me before they rolled me out of a flyer. I don't know what I'm going to do to the person who ordered me grabbed and dropped naked in the middle of the Starscrapes with a steel blade shoved up my ass. He did specify it being in a sheathe. Get between me and them, Marine. I can give every marine a better chance to stay alive on Fraver, but I need you to help me get through this as neither a military secret, or a private in basic training like every other private and my friends in a cage somewhere until it's done."

"I'm a damn private, Hannon!"

"No, you're a marine. You know duty and the honor of it. I give you the duty of helping me get what I need to teach marines to survive in the wilderness of Fraver. They need to hire me to do it, or there will be thousands who go without what I can teach, what only I can teach."

"I can see why we have steel blades. I can see I'm going to get stubborn."

The general dismissed the private. She told him she'd report for a disciplinary hearing after he heard her out. She warned him what she was doing and discreetly pulled out the steel blade she wore under her shirt.

"Sir, I wear this strapped to my body because this man convinced everyone who heard him it was the one thing that would most aid survival in the wilderness. This blade is the best design for what he said a steel blade can do that the top people on the world could come up with. Show him yours, Hannon. That's what he used to prove what he said was true, Sir. If he finds the men who tortured and raped him, he's going to kill them. My squad would volunteer to help. He doesn't belong in the marines, Sir. Maybe he's too sane. But he wants to teach me what this blade can do and he wants to teach every marine going to Fraver how to survive, when a geo-locator and a comm would bring a troop of delighted Moloma marines."

"Sir, it's our world. I can teach our marines to survive on it without mess tents and twenty kilo packs. No, anyone couldn't do what I did. I researched that premise an entire term and did it well enough to win the debate championship. Don't put me in the damn marines. Put me on the civilian payroll and let me start teaching them how to not only survive, but become a real problem to the Moloma on our colony world. I can teach them here on Cecile, Sir. It's not flora and fauna. It's priorities and observation. If it's got edible flora and fish, I can teach them how to survive the first night, even if they're injured. Strike various rocks until your steel blade strikes a spark. Look for something an animal has been eating. Find a place with something you can use to make a sleeping shelter right beside the fire. Build the fire before you do anything else. The most critical one thing that first night is finding something dry enough to catch fire at a spark. Let me teach them, Sir. I'll never fit in with any group again. I don't need training to stay alive. I'm alive to prove it. I can pass some of the knowledge of that training on. Pay me nicely to do it. I'll pay taxes on what you pay me and no one will doubt my job is important enough I should be exempt from the draft."  
"I believe he's who he said he is, Private."

"I didn't ask for any identification after he started talking, Sir."

"Admiral Glaze is going to like you, Hannon Vanity. Send a copy of the security recording to her office, Sergeant. She needs to understand why I just hired a civilian. This won't take long, Gen Vanity. She's going to see that... thing sitting on your shoulder and call before she watches the sec recording."

"I'm hoping someone tells me what that thing is. I call him Puss. I thought he was a girl and Spot was a boy. Puss got in a fight with something that thought he shouldn't be a boy and he complained the whole time I washed what I hadn't noticed before. Spot proudly showed off her pups and I accepted I am not a good judge about anything but humans. How does a private get a pass to go on a date, General? I really want to show the first woman I've seen in three years I do clean up nicely."

"Randy, who is that?"

"Hello, Admiral, been eavesdropping long?"  
"I'm watching the recording to catch up to an interesting reason for a date."

"I hired him. You figure out the rest. Don't let him talk to Vlazi before you set a salary for him. He'll be making more than we do. He wants to go home quietly."

"Home is?"  
"Four days walk. I've walked from the middle of the Starscrapes. I almost want to finish that walk home, but I wouldn't tonight. I'd like a ride."

"Randy, detail the private to take Gen Vanity home."

"Private, you're on duty. It's not secret, but someone else will decide how much attention we want to this."

"I'd like to use a flyer to get to the city and a car from the commuter pads to his home, Sir. He's not going to change before he gets there."

"Yes, I can see that too."

"My mommy taught me the value of studying. She deserves to see how well I learned. Guys, I'm going to tuck you in. Don't argue, Puss. You aren't ready for flyers and cars and a lot more people yet. Now, I'm only fastening one corner of it, but it's safe and cozy in there and you don't really want out. Spot, will you take a nap?!"

Hannon patted Spot until he settled down in his shirt and talked to Puss a bit more both times he stuck his head out of the satchel, then got in the car to take them to a flyer. The admiral and the general talked a moment after they'd gone.

"He's going to kill five men."

"They're already dead, Randy."

"What?"

"Dead. The a-grav altitude compensator in their flyer failed. They hit the sea with a splatter, not a splash. I pulled up news banners for the time of his disappearance and got 'Five men die in flyer crash!' He's going to kill someone, but for the only valid reason."

"Someone is going to be trying to kill him."

"That's the one. The military don't start wars. We just make sure someone knows how to shoot back. He's on Bradenhauer's staff. He teaches marines to teach marines, then he teaches marines to lead marines."

"He sees it. He may have always seen it."

"Fraver is their world, Randy. They've known they'd have to fight for it since they were fifteen. How many will come back if he teaches them to truly live on that beautiful new world?"

"Hell, Mirim, he's going to teach them how to defend it. Call Hoscher. I remember the look on his face when the kid disappeared. He'd been ranting about the 'steel blade kid' for three days."

"I'll have Donetta tell him in person. She'll know if he needs to talk."

"Admiral, he proved the argument."

"Make that private a corporal and assign her to personnel. Tell Traveck Thom why he's got a new corporal and see she knows what her job is."

"Watch his back til he finds out it needs watching."

"It's nice he's had more practice as a hunter than that crazy out there, isn't it? Give him time to reorient. Put a marine there until he's ready to watch it himself. He'll know exactly when that is."

"You think that private is the right one for this."

"I think she stands a good chance of being more help than hindrance the first time that psycho tries for him."

"He's sure it's a man, Mirim."

"Why are you sure he's right?"

"Because he is. I don't think it's an option. You just nod and agree. That's the most dangerous human I've ever met. His reasoning is flawless and his delivery superb. I stopped thinking about what a great forward observer he'd make as soon as he started talking. I've got no doubt he can do as he says. He's sure he can and doubt is not an option."

Hannon was explaining his reasoning to the private, Brida, as they climbed into the flyer. He'd given it careful thought. He didn't belong in the military at all.

"I wouldn't be a good officer. Other people get killed following people like me. If they decide it's the right thing to do, marines prepare themselves to fight to the death to do it. If I decide it's the right thing to do, I'd completely convince them it was."

"It would be."  
"For me, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't get killed following me. I do put survival first, but I'm a lot more likely to survive than most. It's knowledge, Brida. I applied what the texts had told me could be done. I was a 'charismatic stage presence' when I debated and I lived at home with my parents. We ate in the kitchen because the dining room table was where I studied. I couldn't talk something over with Mom or ask Dad a question from my room. I was a smart boy from a nice family. Being a boy ended abruptly. Smart is how I survived it. Nice family is why I came out of it essentially undamaged."

Brida got her brief from her new commanding officer. Colonel Thom made sure Hannon was listening. He also told him Brida was there so he had a short time not to have to worry about watching his back. Hannon noted he did want to luxuriate in a steam-filled bath for awhile, but appreciated the warning. The colonel signed off just as Brida stopped the car in front of his parents' home. Hannon realized that was how he thought of it and sighed. He key-coded the front door, set Spot and Puss on the floor and walked into the living room.

"The animals followed me home. Since it was a three year walk, I think you should let me keep them. This is Puss and that's Spot. The beautiful woman in uniform is Brida. I'm home, Mommy."

His mother was suddenly moving. Spot and Puss both suddenly looked defensive. He met her halfway across the living room and they decided he didn't need defending. His dad got to him right after he got to his mom. Brida said she'd find the kitchen and make some tea. Hannon thanked her and asked her to see if she could find some kind of flat box and fill it with dirt.

"Dirt?"

"Yes, Dad. Puss buries his waste in loose soil. Spot will use the box too. Puss also buries her waste. I always express my appreciation. Neither of them had any difficulty with the change in altitude. It was interesting I didn't. Or maybe I just hurt so badly I didn't separate it from the rest. I was too busy working to stay alive for much contemplation. I smell like hell and I've dreamed of soap for three years. Brida's job is keep an eye out for the psycho who had me dumped in the Starscrapes, then killed the men who dumped me, at least until I've had a bath. I asked the marines for a job before I asked for a ride home. I got both. I won't be drafted, but I'll have to go where they need me to teach marines why they carry a steel blade. It was the only thing I was given. I really aggravated a large number of people in the debates. One of them was crazy."

"You and the marines fully expect this person to try to kill you."

"Yes, Mom. I'm almost pleased. The first animal I killed with a spear thought I was its prey too. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it certainly reduced the length of the hunt. I looked at myself in a mirror. Once was enough. I hope my bath is still full of my junk and I have clothes to wear, but I know exactly how long three years is and don't expect it."

"I'll put some junk in your bath and see if I've got something for you to wear that won't look like your wearing my clothes."

"Thanks, Dad."

"That hair and beard need shears before anything else, Hannon."

"I'll chop on the beard, Mom, but I want to wash my hair and see how much of the mess I can comb out. I've only been without a comb a few days. The one I carved out of wood broke."

"Trisk! Give him the Jorin hair rinse! The pink container on the second shelf!"

"Shear's in your top drawer?!"

"No, I've got them out here! He knew you needed the shears first too. Oh, Hannon, I don't know what to do. I want to just grab hold and hang on for the rest of my life."

"I know, Mom. I feel exactly the same, but we're both pretty practical. It would be much more difficult to get this fur off my face and get me clean if I only used one hand, even if you were helping with one of yours. I'm not really damaged. I am changed, but three years would have changed me if I'd spent them here. Well, hello, Puss. This is my mom. No, Mom, don't try to pet them. They're not pets. They're wild animals that chose to live and travel with me. If one of them wants to get that friendly, you'll be invited and you'll know it. Spot should have hibernated last winter and didn't. Puss should have lost his winter white coat by now and hasn't. I don't know what that means, but they're both healthy and I'm not worried about it. Puss hunts rodents in the wild. Spot finds me dinner and eats about anything but raw meat. He doesn't like cooked much either, but complains if Puss gets something he doesn't."

"I'm starting the steam cloud in your bath!"

"Thanks, Dad!"

"Hi, box with dirt. I filled it about like my sister does her cat's box."

"Perfect, Brida. See? Puss knows exactly what it is. Come on, guys. You'll like warm steamy bathrooms. I get my bath before you get to play in the water. I'll run fresh for you. You don't need the soap I rinse off. Don't get on the bed until you're dry. Spot are you paying attention?"

Ciress Vanity watched her son walk down the hall with the two small animals trailing him. He hadn't taken the pack off his back or laid down the staff in his hand. She ached for her little boy, but was very proud the young man was her son. She turned to the young marine. Her smile said she understood.

"He said he didn't belong in the marines because marines could get killed following him. Obviously I'm paraphrasing. No one had any doubts when he said he was the debater who had disappeared. I don't think I'm going to be ready for it when he walks back out of that hallway."

"I wasn't ready for him to just walk in and say hello, but I think I always knew he would. Tell me about this job of his, Brida."

"So far he's the only one who knows anything about it, but the brass will have who he'll train where and how much tax he pays on what they pay him before long. He's sure he can teach marines how to stay alive in the Fraver wilderness. Nobody had any doubts about that either. He's sure he shouldn't be a marine. He won't be drafted. I'm going to assure my squad our officers are not dumb."

Hannon did cut his hair, about five cens off the bottom of the back and sort of angled up in the front to just beneath his chin. He really looked himself over in the mirror. He was sun-browned all over, but his face was deeply tanned. It wouldn't be where he removed the rest of his beard and he'd probably look a bit silly. He was also very muscular and he'd grown a few cens. He looked at his face again and smiled a bit wryly. No one would doubt he was old enough to buy a beer with the beard. The only ones who would ask for proof of age were those who asked everyone who walked in the door. He opened the door to the bath and yelled at his father he was old enough to have a beer and he'd been anticipating having one with him. His dad knocked and walked in with two beers in his hands a moment later.

"You look better."

"I feel wonderful, but wanted a break before I did the beard. Spot! I just got dry! You shook water all over me on purpose. Spot and Puss are fully satisfied this tub is as difficult to get out of as the one in the house I found winter before last. I built the one I lived in the first winter. Dad, I'm going to get out of here too fast."

"The person you're sure will come after you."

"Yes. I don't want that person near this house and you two. I've got a good record of staying alive."

"I expect those pants will be too short. Roll up the legs to mid-calf. They'll look like that's how they're supposed to be with the laced sandals. The shirt should be big enough."

"White pants and a red Daniva silk shirt. I just dreamed of clothes period. Color and material were 'clean and warm.' The one thing I missed most often was a good athletic support. A fur lined support may sound erotic, but the reality is a disappointment."

"Three years, Hannon."

"Aren't you pleased you can tell your sister she was wrong and you shouldn't have cleaned out my room?"

Hannon grinned at his father when he burst into laughter. He knew he'd guessed right. His aunt Greva had been the one who insisted they 'get on with their lives.' She'd been right. She'd also be very happy she'd been wrong. He moaned in pleasure when he took his first sip of beer. He definitely didn't need to acquire a taste for it.

"Talk to me, Son. There are some painful things beneath the cheerful 'I'm fine, Mom,' and I don't think it's just the loneliness, or even the struggle to survive."

"I intended to kill five men, Father. I'm currently running an interior debate on the question of whether I'm aggravated or pleased someone else did. Relieving the boredom of the several hour flyer ride with my rape and torture was their idea. The person who hired them to do it just instructed I be grabbed, stripped and dropped in the middle of the Starscrapes with a steel blade shoved up my ass. I had about decided not to kill that person, just aid him to take his turn. I even planned on giving him the type of steel blade I wished for many thousand times. Each time I did, I reminded myself where it had been strapped in with medical binding tape and appreciated the size of the one I had. It would be nice to think that person killed the five for what they did to me, but the sudden fault in the flyer had to occur well in advance, a nice job of programming. It was made extremely clear to me I trounced someone in a debate and someone was not pleased. They aren't necessarily the same someone."

"I find that highly unlikely too. How did you feel, Hannon? You have to speak of it. I know you. You've rehearsed exactly how you're going to say everything. You've had three years to practice. Your first sexual experience was gang rape by males. It's got to confuse you. If it doesn't, I want the way you dealt with it. I've no doubt you can, but I want how so I'm sure you have."

"I was a victim. The crime was one of violence. They hurt me. It was the only intent. That's not civilized or sane. They were too damn dangerous to live on my world and I both knew it and could do it. I don't deny it was so personal that I was looking forward to it, but that's the reason I planned to do it."

"Have sex with a man you care about some day to give you the truth of the experience to back up your judgment."

"Huh?"

"If you're only sexually attracted to women, I'm very surprised. I notice other men. I never had a real reason to do anything about it, but I didn't attempt to do anything about it with most women either. I had made love when I met your mother and so had she. We had both had friends we cared about enough to share that. You aren't that much different. Of course, I didn't need to move fast just to keep ahead of a panting mob. They tortured and raped you because you're very beautiful, Hannon, for no other reason. You excited them and they knew they were unworthy of you. They responded violently."

"Extremely primitive behavior. Like the private who got to be a corporal standing up to the brass? I told her she was between me and them and her duty was keep me out of the marines and get them to pay me nice."

"Nice work. How long did you work on that argument?"  
"Since I was sure Moloma hadn't gotten reasonable in the last three years. I was prepared when I found the base. I saw a troop shuttle arcing out and figured about where it came from. Putting the corporal between me and them was inspiration. She's one of the ones carrying a steel blade. I have things to teach. It's time we proved Fraver is our world. It would be interesting if several thousand people walked out of the forest to vote if Moloma wins a petition. Bet they'd never call for one if they knew those people were there and just plain didn't need anything else? We're not overpopulated, Dad. We don't need a place in which to empty our teeming cities. We don't want to ever have them. We like having stretches of pristine beach and vast tracts of native virgin forest. We don't want what Moloma would do to the world we found. We didn't do business with that acquisitive monster. It acquired the person with whom we did do business. They want Fraver. It has seas to strip of marine life and continents to strip of gems and ores. The answer is no."

"Any citizen of Cecile who asks will be given the tract of land requested around an improved area?"

"Too broad. It allows businesses to build colonies for the money they make on leases. If you can live off the land, ask for the piece you chose to do it. That doesn't include power packs, or off-planet building materials and seed. Anyone else is welcome to apply for standard colonial contract. That doesn't keep couples and small groups from establishing steads, or even a trading town. I feel crowded, Dad. I keep wanting to move everyone back a bit."

"Everyone I've met who lived away from other people did. Three isn't quite enough sample to generalize. Sounds good. Have you convinced yourself yet, or are you still trying to figure how not to feel guilty you were a victim and confused because they mixed pleasure and pain together?"

"Uh, I'm still working on it and not thinking about your suggestion of earlier when the subject was first brought up for discussion."

"It had to have skewed your fantasies a bit. Don't ignore it and don't worry about it. You know they're just fantasies and you would not want the pain if you decided to act out the helpless bit. Your mom and I did that once. It was fun, but she drives me crazy without all the trimming and it was fun once and might be again sometime."

"Uh, Dad, why are... "

"We should have had a great many discussions in the last three years, Hannon. Your introduction to the pleasure of sex was abrupt and disgusting. You haven't had any experience to support an opinion you have carefully constructed to counter the violence of that one and it happened three years ago. Sexual pleasure keeps the species reproducing, boy. It didn't get beyond that with those men and I'm sorry someone else killed them. I'd have damn enjoyed it. All your fantasies are healthy because you know they are fantasies. You've been tortured and raped and you know you don't want it again. Helpless with loving hands on your body is probably in order as well. Frankly, Hannon, I'm making recommendations for things I think you would decide to do eventually. You've had enough abrupt realizations about sex already. I think you would have decided to do them without the experience. There is absolutely nothing unhealthy about you and I want to know how you dealt with vermin."

"Puss took care of the large kind and the small consisted mostly of things with wings that always bit me before they discovered I didn't taste good. I got as clean as I could when I could. I didn't find a soap plant. I didn't have time to look for one. It was always my intention to come home. I did what was required to survive to make that journey. Even the carving I did was important to my survival. Spot and Puss really weren't. They were wonderful aids, but not essential. The skill I gained with my steel blade as I carved was."

"Always 'steel blade,' never knife. Why?"

"Because that was always the argument."

"Why are you bitter about that in particular, Hannon?"

"Hmm, hadn't noticed the bitterness. I'm quite aware of the mad. Knives are made of many materials, Dad. A Preenel vari-flex knife is gorgeous and useful, but it won't strike a spark against a rock. It was just a nice university level debate competition, Dad. The military were using us to make recommendations on essential equipment and a psychotic punished me for winning with that as my premise. I've wondered if that person was in the military or manufactured geo-locators."

"I have another to add to your consideration list, a disappointed relative of a spoiled brat."

"Relative I had. Why brat?"  
"Look what he did to me."

"Dad, considering who I was debating and their ages, that doesn't really lessen the list from someone related period. I identified the five as my assailants just before we pulled in the drive."

"You aren't going to be comfortable here, are you?"

"Always, but I don't think I'll be comfortable living with someone else. I was forced to become too independent."

Hannon was moving before his father registered he'd heard something wrong. He chased his son and the two small animals out the door of the bath and down the hall. Hannon was nowhere to be seen, but his wife was getting the marine's shirt off in the kitchen, and swearing.

"He went out of here with nothing but a piece of wood in his hands!"

"It was a spear and clothes were waiting for the beard trim and not essential to survival. How bad?"

"She's got a nasty burn in her shoulder. Trisk, nude is illegal."

"So is trying to kill someone, Ciress. Comm to marine headquarters this city, personnel, Colonel Thom."

"Thom."

"Colonel, someone just shot me. Hannon Vanity wasn't quite finished with his bath. He's hunting with a spear and those animals stopped following as soon as he picked it up. He didn't stop to dress and he won't stop to wait for police to make a nice arrest. Find out how someone knew he was home this soon, Sir. I want my squad and him out of here. Sorry, Ciress, he needs to be somewhere that he isn't worried about you. Get him some place someone has to leave a trail when he hunts for him, Colonel."

"Your squad in particular, Corporal?"

"Yes, Sir. Make us his first students. Someone in your office, the admiral's or the base commander's talked to someone about Hannon Vanity coming home and I've got a hole in my shoulder to prove it. If I wasn't so mad, I'd notice how much it hurts. Keep the police from arresting him for not thinking of clothes as particularly important when someone's trying to kill him, Sir."

"Wonderful, but it probably won't be as difficult as talking them out of arresting him if he catches the person."

"Yes, Sir. They're not used to people being executed with a spear."

"Corporal, you're sure Hannon Vanity can teach all marines something of value. I'm not quite as convinced. You're getting a chance to convince me. Your squad is conveniently awaiting orders. Personnel is going to decide if we agree before we start scheduling large numbers for additional training."

"Yes, Sir. I'm on my feet, Sir. I'm going after Hannon. I don't expect to catch him, but I'll catch up if someone else does."

"I'm going with her, Colonel."

"Gen Vanity?"

"Trisk."

"Trisk, let the corporal do it if she can."

"Colonel, I don't know how she got on her feet."

"She's a marine."

"Colonel, this discussion just became academic. Hannon just walked in the door."

"Someone in a green car shot him and drove off fast. I wasn't seen. This person pays the hired help with a fast trip to the afterlife. Get medical aid for Brida. I'll get some clothes on. They didn't occur to me until I almost ran out under lights. My sudden notice of my lack of attire and decision to stay in the shadows probably saved my life. I'd have been right behind him when he reached that car. I need out of here now."

"Hannon, Colonel Thom. Brida's squad is coming. You choose where you want to train them while they help you watch for more hired help. The corporal put me to work watching for who will be looking for your trail. She's quite good. She saw only someone in three offices could have passed word you were home."

"If it had been tomorrow, someone could have just thought it a good story and it could have traveled quite some distance. Tonight had to be a very short journey."

"Thank you."

"No one I met or talked to would have instituted this or aided in it, Travek."

"I have one other office to check. The officer who complained so about your 'steel blade' argument was pretty shaken when you disappeared. He was told you were back before you reached the city."

"The one at the mid-term debate. I dismissed him as a possibility long ago, Travek. He'd have slugged me if he'd really thought I was wrong and endangering his troops."

"I'll tell him you have him pegged as the direct sort."

"He was with me. It aggravated me. I didn't figure out why my argument aggravated him until I'd done a lot more research on the question and realized why he'd been there. Where are my parents supposed to put this squad tonight, Colonel Thom?"

"Our sergeant will take care of it, Hannon. You didn't get to finish your bath. She'll see to it you get the rest of the evening and the night with your family."

"Emtechs! Damn!"

"Traveck, aid for Brida is here. Out."

"Hannon!"

"Reasons, Mom. Excuse me."

The two emtechs really worked not to ask questions. The wounded marine told them they didn't have any. The fact the call for aid had come from marine headquarters backed up her statement well. Just as they finished taking care of the marine, the young man returned, dressed. The two unusual animals were still with him though. One of the emtechs forgot he didn't have any questions.

"What are they?"

"Wild animals from deep in the Starscrapes. They decided I'm a friend. It's been mutually beneficial."

"That's a crest cat, I think."

"A crest cat? I'm sorry, but I don't really know more than I said."

"That's what it's commonly called, if it is one. Never heard of a white one, but I saw a picture of a brown one."

"Puss didn't shed his winter-white coat this year, though it isn't as thick as it was last winter. Why cat?"

"Because they eat mice, I guess."

"That's why I named him Puss. Spot is obvious. Please don't discuss them or this incident."

"We understood that, Sir."

"Not a sir. I managed to convince the marines I'm worth more to them as a civilian. I'd have made a lousy officer and a terrible private."

"You convinced someone else you are too. I don't think Moloma likes you."

"Shit! Hannon, that never even occurred to me and it's much more probable!"

"Yes, Brida, it is. I've a suspicion your commander will think of it though."

"Hannon Vanity! I remember you! You rolled over the competition in the debates three years ago and the chancellor cried when the trophy was presented to her because you were missing."

"Someone decided I should prove the argument physically. I did. Emtech, word is going to get out that I did soon, but I'd appreciate it if you'd give the marine command a chance to decide to whom and how much."

"Like I said. Understood. But... call Chancellor Rosenosko, Gen Vanity. She blames herself for not providing enough security for the debate team. She's one of several, but she's the one who broke down on the stage at graduation when your name was called and your degree awarded in absentia."

"It was?!"

"You had enough credits for a general studies degree without your last term, Hannon. It's not a business degree."

"I think I prefer that, Dad, even if I can't figure out where the credits came from. I'll call her, Emtech."

Hannon made good his promise right after the emtechs left. He thought he was going to have to call them for the chancellor, but she recovered from the shock quickly. He smiled softly and said he'd like to tell her to tell others who had agonized over his fate, but he couldn't. Brida leaned into the comm cam pickup and noted there was at least one person too many who knew he had learned something of value to teach marines already. Hannon's smile widened when Spot jumped up on his lap and the chancellor supplied both her correct species name and the common one. He thanked her and she thanked him for giving her the best night's rest she'd had in three years.

"You're a spotted alpine bitty bear, Spot. I don't get that one either, but I named you right, even if I did think you were a boy."

"Diet again, Hannon. Bears eat about everything but carrion, including fish."

"I'm going to have to look up common names, Mom. They're obviously intended to tell people a great deal about the wild animals and chosen, not just bestowed."

"Reasoning?"

"The two examples, Dad. Crest: the top of the mountain. Cat: eats small animals that fill the same ecological niche as mice, shrews and rats. Alpine: very high in the mountains, but not rocky. Bitty: small. Bear: eats about everything, but isn't a hunter and has paws, not hooves like pigs."

"Point accepted as valid with current information only, Hannon."

"I'll look it up, Mom."

"I'll do it now, Hannon. I think we may have missed some of the information the survey team gave us before Cecile was even colonized."

"Please let me know if I'm right, Dad. Also check to see if we missed some of what the survey team told us about Fraver."

"I'm reviewing the short section we got on Fraver's fauna in basic, Hannon. I don't think we did. Long names and a list of habitats."

"The idea is too good not to use, Brida. I'm taking you to a couch in the living room."

"Comm connect. Audio only. Yes?"

"This is Sergeant Mavers of Marine Training Company Eight Six Alpha, Sir. Is Corporal Chrenov there?"

"Cam on. Hello, Sergeant. I'm Trisk Vanity. The corporal is losing an argument with my son. He's putting her on a couch. He decided she wasn't paying attention to the emtech's instructions to take it easy."

"Tell her I ordered it and we'll be there in less than ten. General Gaston said your boy is in charge because he'd talk us into what he wants anyway."

"That's my boy. I spoke to Colonel Thom."

"The general said he's our officer. I was told ask my new corporal for a briefing. Daniv, the speed limit is fifty through here. Excuse me, Gen Vanity. Our medic thinks we should be there 'now' and I think I need to warn the police our driver agrees. Out."

"You know, Ciress, marines aren't what I expected."

"Expected? In what way?"

"Spit and polish and yes sir no sir."

"It's a different kind of war, Trisk. That was the point of it all, from Hannon's championship debate question to congress allocating funds to hire Temenner Qually Personnel Development to make recommendations on marine training programs."

"He still wouldn't have made a good marine, but he'd have put up with it if he didn't have a better reason and worked at it enough he was the only one who knew it."

"He walked home, Trisk. Three years and he's going to walk back out again."

"He's decided to win the war, Ciress. He's decided he doesn't belong in the marines because a marine can only fight it. My son awes me. He always has. Since you always have as well, I don't find it shocking. We never really believed we wouldn't see him again."

"He's not going anywhere without us until a trip with us includes a great deal of shopping. I think they're handling this backwards. Not tonight, but tomorrow."

"Hannon! Your mother is thinking!"

"Coming! Mom's always right when Dad's sure she is, Brida. I'll be back. Spot likes you. I hoped they'd decide some other people were nice. Let her lay beside you, but don't pet her. I don't."

"You patted your shirt."

"Patted the shirt. If the pats had irritated her, she'd have gone for the irritation, not my chest. I had a lot of fur between pat and fingers. I don't pet them. Be back."

"Hannon!"

"Here, Dad. Spot decided to share the couch. I needed to explain I know they're wild and what I don't do."

"Ciress, they have it backwards?"

"Our son walked out of the Starscrapes. The authorities don't have any additional leads on who put him there with just a steel blade, but he proved the argument that made someone angry. He went straight to the military with his hard-learned skill and the marines are cashing in on it. We're ecstatic he's back and so is everyone else who knew him. Many mourned when he disappeared. The emtech knew the university chancellor was one. He's got a squad of marines to train and they're going to keep an eye open for anybody trying to see our marines don't learn what only he can teach. Let's make it damn difficult for the diseased person to get to him. The more difficult it is, the more probable he'll leave tracks to follow. We don't want a media event and the marines are going to help us keep it from being one, but he's back and I'm taking him shopping to celebrate!"

"You carry the account card. I'll stack things he likes on the counters."

"I can't think of an argument I think would work."

"That means you agree with the one you heard, Hannon. It's real debate, not competition."

"I did a lot of that with myself, Mom. I usually came to a consensus quickly. Deciding to put off hunting and enclose the walk to my smokehouse kept me from starving. It's the real issue I debated longest, at least four minutes. Knowing what needs to be done is the key to survival. With a steel blade to assist in doing it, the odds of being able to do it go way up. Every marine gets a piece of chert and taught to recognize it. I giggled when I found my 'flint.' I'd just thought finding a piece of chert would be nice, but unlikely. The first desperate hours were a tiny bit less desperate after I found it and every tiny bit could mean the difference between dying of abuse and surviving the night. That would have been the cause, no matter what the agent. I moved because I had to, and I kept moving because it was so difficult to start again when I stopped. I was battered and bleeding, but they gave me an anti-bio inject and I didn't have to worry about infection. They thought it humorous to follow their orders in that fashion. I've decided I'm glad I didn't kill them. I prefer being a hunter to an executioner. They didn't see me as prey, just victim."

"The one who sent them does?"

"I doubt it, Dad, but a hunter is also called to destroy a dangerous animal too close to human settlement."

"This animal is human, Hannon."

"Yes, Mom, that's the most dangerous species of animal there is. Help me figure out what to do about my face. It's going to be brown over pasty."

"I wondered why you hadn't gotten rid of the beard after all. You didn't shape it like you intended to keep it."

"I don't. I don't like the damn scratchy thing, but it is of value in the cold."

"Enough you're going to stick with temp?"

"No, Dad, as soon as I can afford it, I'm getting rid of my beard permanently. It's a ridiculous... colors."

"That was good."

"You knew exactly what I meant, Dad. It's brown, red, light brown, blond, light blond, brown/black. How many colors of beard are there? Did I forget to mention one? Look at my beard and see. They're all there. A bi-colored face isn't much better?"

"A tanning agent. The medic will have some. What's wrong?"

"A passing wish. Physical existence in the mountains was very hard work, but it wasn't complex, and boredom in the long winter was actually a threat to survival. Here, physical existence is easy, but survival is going to be complex."

"And the wish?"

"That I'd wake up, of course."

"Too blithe."

"I chose to survive, Dad. I had a great deal of time to consider what the decision truly meant. I had a long time to consider what it meant that I did survive."

"And that is?"

"This war is going to change the way humans colonize worlds."

"There are a lot we've thoroughly surveyed, but there aren't sufficient settlements to support a large number of laborers. When there are, it can be plundered for its mineral and botanic riches."

"Precisely, Mom. Nice choice of verb, but I know I'm severely biased by my culture. I proved my debate assertion. Now I'm going to teach that proof to hundreds. They're going to teach it to thousands on this world and they're going to teach it to our species. We don't require a government or corporate investment, just a ride to a world."

"You see it as a mission?"

"No, Dad, I see it as a way to save lives, now and by reducing the number of future wars. Since it will keep me out of the marines, pay well and assure I meet a great many intelligent and beautiful women, whose rank I don't have to remember, I consider arguing with destiny foolish. Brida, you're supposed to be resting."

"I kept overhearing bits of interesting conversation, Hannon. Missing the rest of it was more painful than my shoulder. That's my squad in the drive. The sound of Daniv slamming on reverse thrust is very familiar."

I saw a contest to write a "modern vampire" story. I didn't enter the contest, but I couldn't resist the challenge. My view of "modern" is quite different. Tongue firmly in cheek, I present...

### Kipper

copyright 2010

Tall, blond, broad-shouldered, blue-eyed beautiful, he 'swept' into the room, elegantly, swept the snowy-lined black satin cape around him, and swept himself off his feet. Eddy picked up her champagne glass of his blood, and stepped out of the way of the large, lumpy, black satin ball rolling toward the coffee table. She'd already decided on sturdier furniture.

"Ow!"

"You'll survive, Kipper. The coffee table didn't. Pain is a warning system, and touch is very important. You'll still feel a bump like that, but just when it happens, not for several days afterward."

He was obviously a little disappointed. She did understand. He'd have much preferred she tell him that sort of thing wouldn't happen.

"I'm a vampire, not a fairy godmother."

"Klutz just doesn't go with the image I have of it."

"Be pleased. Even fifty years ago, a lot of us still believed we were 'hell-spawn' and damned, even though we'd learned quite a bit about ourselves, and that we didn't have to have human blood, just some things in it. Vamp society was superstition-ridden and self-destructive. The suicide rate was terrible. They'd suddenly walk into the sun, and nothing can stop that chemical reaction once it starts. When my father found the oxidation trigger, we knew we'd someday walk in the sunlight again, and we wouldn't need the protection of a coffin against it. The soil, of course, was where he found the answer. I stepped into the sunlight and instantly became a morning person."

"But whole blood is still... "

"A luscious treat. At today's per-pint prices, the equivalent of a good champagne."

"I know how much blood costs. I have a different good-champagne price-range."

"That 'blood costs' was a bit nostalgic."

"Mr. Wilfrey used to point out the cost when he was yelling my blood belonged in my body, and supplements weren't supposed to be required. I sort of wish I could go back and... "

"Keep him from dying?"

"Yes."

"There will be a lot of people who you want to save, but you won't. Yes, they'd like to be healed, but they don't want centuries. You do."

"You said it's not..."

"Eternal life or immortality. It's not. The greatest threat of accidental death is gone, but the cure for helioimmulata just made allergic reaction number one. My father will have the results of your allergy tests before dinner is over."

Kipper knocked over a lamp while he was getting the cloak untangled. Eddy added track lighting to her shopping list. Her parents were not going to understand her choice, at first. They wanted grandchildren, of course. She'd actually considered a very nice widower with two for awhile, but then Kipper had landed in her lap, literally.

He'd brought the cloth from her table and her coffee with him. Most of the contents of the bus tub he'd been carrying hadn't made it that far. She'd discreetly removed the steak knife, that had, from her leg, as he'd scrambled to get off her lap, and tripped over the bus tub on the floor. It was like a scene from a slapstick silent movie, except it was a long way from silent. He'd made her giggle, and lost his job.

She'd 'taken him under wing' and realized why he was such a klutz before he'd finished apologizing, about two hours after she'd restated she wasn't injured or angry, and suggested he 'replace' her coffee somewhere else and have a cup with her. He was just too gorgeous. People stopped thinking that he had to be conceited when he fell on his face.

He was gentle, warm, witty, deeply good-humored and he had been a virgin. Within two days of his lap landing, she'd realized he couldn't survive in the 'real world.' She'd revealed herself when she grabbed him to keep him from falling in front of a bus. That hadn't been 'klutz.' He'd been pushed. It had taken her two months to learn why.

"You're thinking about it again. You're... You are steaming."

"No, but you can sense my anger and that's the image you give it."

"My childhood was wonderful. I loved my school and Mr. Wilfrey, and he loved me. He was never just a trustee to either of us. He paid for my last year at the school himself, before he died. He didn't know they'd come after me, or he'd have told me."

"I believe you. However, I think he should have told you that your parents' car wreck was no accident."

"I don't want the money, and the one who murdered my parents is dead."

"Kipper, I don't want revenge. I just want to scare the hell out of them."

"You've got an idea."

"Yes, I do. I haven't pretended to be an angel since 1941. I'm sure the farm is the best place to teach you to fly. I'm also sure thinking 200 acres of fields as a safe place to do it is naïve. I warned you you'd feel odd."

"You don't remember it as clearly as you think you do, or you'd have... invented a stronger word. I need recovery time?"

"You'll get it. It's a three-hour drive to my parents'."

"I'm actually a little afraid to go out in the sun."

"We wiped it out. There are no carriers of it any longer. See? Suntan."

Showing him her snowy breasts had worked well. He was no longer thinking about the meeting with her parents. Of course, that didn't mean he was eager to go out to the Jag. She smiled as she steered him toward the door. The one place he wasn't a klutz was in bed. Of course, he had demolished several items in her room getting in and out of it.

She gave him a slight push into the sunlight, then caught him before he crashed through her rose bushes. She'd asked herself if his 'klutziness' was going to drive her crazy after a century or two, and had decided it wouldn't, even if he didn't eventually 'grow out of it.'

The reason for it was part of his attraction. Her mother had been right, though. His incredibly attractive fragrance was already beginning to fade, and she was going to miss it.

The day was lovely, and she could replace the CD player he broke on the way. Living centuries did allow one to accumulate quite a bit of money. Since he fell asleep on the way, she didn't add anything else to her shopping list. It wouldn't be long before he wouldn't need a nap after a long night. She remembered laying awake in her coffin, too many long days, but she also remembered what it had been like being indentured too much to resent those days.

She'd never believed vampires were evil. Her mother had been dying from a beating when her father had come to save her. He'd told Eddy he'd had dinner and the man, who had enjoyed beating women and children, was also providing a nice meal for a lot of fish. Her daddy was going to be furious someone had tried to kill Kipper, to keep anyone from learning a 'corporation' had killed his parents, because they'd learned something that would make stock prices fall.

She hadn't learned what that something was, but didn't consider it important. She planned to 'save the souls' of the people who now ran it. She expected it to be fun. It had been the last time she'd impersonated an angel.

She gently shook Kipper awake, then went around the Jag to open the door for him. He handed her the door handle when he got out.

"Sorry."

"I'd say you'd get used to your increasing strength and stop breaking things, but we'd both know I was just trying to make you feel better."

"I'm really nervous."

"I have a door handle to tell me that."

Kipper tripped on the top step and crashed into the door. The butler opened it.

"Good evening, Miss Edwinna. I presume this is Mr. Mckay."

"Yes, Werner. Make a list of things he breaks, please. I'll replace them."

"Certainly. Your parents are on the terrace."

"Thank you. I warned them the library probably wasn't a good idea, Kipper. The terrace doesn't have any fragile antiques. This way and we'll avoid others."

"Eddy... "

"Kipper, I love you. I always will. You laugh at your clumsiness, and I laugh with you. If you start being embarrassed by it now, we aren't going to have nearly as much laughter in our lives."

Kipper tripped on his formal evening cape as they were going down the terrace steps. Her father stepped out of the path of the satin-wrapped ball and her mother kept it from rolling into the pool, with her foot. Eddy looked at her father's expression and giggled.

"I suppose that answers my question."

"I do spend a lot of time doing it, Daddy. Thanks, Mom. It would have scared him if he couldn't get unwrapped in the pool."

"I thought rolling him away from it was probably a good idea."

"Thanks, Mrs. Constantine."

"You're welcome, Kipling."

"Madam, may I suggest hamburgers on paper plates for dinner?"

"An excellent suggestion, Werner. Tell Mary to make Kipling three very rare. I can smell he needs a factor cocktail, Al."

"I'll fix him one when I take his saliva to the lab, Ruth."

"Thank you, Mr. Constantine."

"Are you going to marry him, Eddy?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Call me 'Dad,' Kipling. I'm sure I'll get used to it, eventually."

"You're going to... marry me?"

"I decided I really was tired of being single a month ago, Kipper, and at two hundred twenty-three, 'old maid' was becoming a threat, not a card game."

Kipper burst into laughter and her mother's smile softened. His laugh did that to most people, and he was usually laughing at himself.

Eddy organized her arguments against big wedding. She expected him to help. Seven minutes later, her mother suggested a small wedding in the garden, while she was 'fishing' him and two lounge chairs out of the pool. It was scheduled in three days while he was helping Werner repot the schefflera. Her mother had figured out why he was "a total klutz" too. She didn't know if being married would help, but a wedding ring might keep him from getting nervous when women began drooling when they saw him, and men growled.

Teaching Kipper to fly was as interesting as Eddy expected. It was also a gauge of his growing strength. The second day, he went through the barn wall, instead of bouncing off it, and 'topped' two trees. She added a section of fence to her shopping list while she unwrapped him.

There were about forty family friends at the wedding, including the magistrate who performed it, and Eddy would always remember it as perfect.

She placed the shard of plant pot Kipper had broken, the piece of stained wedding dress he'd ripped off, while trying to clean it, and the shard of the champagne glass that said, "Groom," among her keepsakes. She'd wear the slim gold band he'd bought, with the remainder of his tiny bank account, forever.

They planned the way they'd save the people, who had the responsibility of protecting the investment of thousands, from the horror of having to commit murder to do it, on the trip from the farm to the city. Eddy just had a feeling that 'klutz' would disappear while they did.

When they got back home, which Kipper had finally accepted was theirs, not hers, Eddy checked the daily schedule for the corporation. She decided a Thank-You was in order when the perfect opportunity came up on the list for the next day. She just had a feeling the VP, who'd seen an opportunity to 'remove a problem' was still agonizing over what he'd tried to do, and that was the real reason he hadn't found a pro to do it yet. She'd followed his circumspect inquiries to one her people would take care of, before he got another job.

She smiled when she remembered Kipper's giggles when she'd explained why a lot of serial killers just stopped. When they'd had to kill to survive, the parameters of "needs to be removed" had been wider, but that had also been a more brutal time. Her smile departed when she remembered those of her people they'd had to destroy, because they'd chosen innocents as victims, but it returned when Kipper found a way to get them invited into the office.

"Free data network wiring inspection and future needs analysis," was great. She made sure they checked out as legitimate and had good references, then sent the offer. She constructed the needs analysis while she waited for the response. She'd collected a lot of info on the system while she'd been hacking it, since Kipper had been pushed. In just under three hours, they had an invitation.

They didn't notice it come in. Eddy was teaching Kipper some more about vampires' recuperative powers, in their bedroom. The transition was almost complete, and though she did miss his intoxicating human-male-adolescent fragrance, it did have its compensations, and he'd had no difficulty controlling the urge to bite when aroused.

Eddy really liked the current time. Most people were sure vampires didn't exist, and all those kids running around with fake fangs made seclusion, until one learned to never show fangs when smiling or laughing, unnecessary. She also much preferred constructing an identity with a computer, to the suspicion of strangers that must be overcome, each time no indications of aging required a change of location. Someday, her father would find a way to prevent hyper-allergic reaction, and 'life,' with Kipper, would be perfect.

Kipper fulfilled Eddy's expectations of a faultless performance, both as a data network inspector and an angel. He'd been too intent on saving the three from their fear of scandal and investment loss for stockholders, and their plans to end it, to be nervous. He'd been perfect as an angel giving warning, and definitely looked more like one in the costumes she'd rented, and the makeup that changed his appearance a bit, than she did.

Eddy decided shopping for some of the things on her list was a nice way to celebrate their success, on the way home. Kipper tripped and 'took out' a trash barrel beside the door of the furniture store. She giggled. She was a vampire, not a fairy godmother, and some things didn't change.

This was written in 1992. I was in my first writer's group and was told I should write a short story for the Hubbard contest. I never got it short enough.

### Bluegrass

copyright 1992, 2011

Ferandis was pleased with the way the interview was going. The commentator had prepared well. Her questions were knowledgeable in general and, when specific, showed she'd studied his breeding program and careful diet structure as well as his training methods.

"Sir Ferandis, Feran Stables' Tut Boy is your first entry in the Stellar Pageant. Would you please explain why?"

"The breeding and diet program I have designed has now been thoroughly tested in lesser competitions. Tut is the culmination of six generations of development. Even if he should only place, his progeny will be in demand. I, of course, hope he wins and not just because of the difference in profit."

"Second, third and fourth are traditionally served at the breeders' banquet and first is retired to stud, a major difference in selling three or four solars of collection for artificial insemination and thirty solars standing at stud."

"Yes, but I'm just plain fond of him. If I didn't believe he had a real chance of winning, I wouldn't have entered him."

"Your objection to the banquet tradition is well known."

"I think it's a detriment to the improvement of the breeds. The loss of those solars at stud is a tragedy. An outstanding breeding achievement may be relegated to the banquet table because he wasn't groomed properly on one particular day. Perhaps five solars later he would be in perfect form. It also prevents one from entering young studs to train them to the pressure of the competition. I have two young studs which I haven't entered because they might place and I don't wish to risk several solars of collection."

"You aren't alone in your objections, Sir Ferandis."

"No, I'm not. This issue was heavily debated again this solar at the Breeders' Association meeting, as it has been for several solars. This solar is the first, however, where opponents of the tradition of slaughtering the placing entries were in the majority. So far, the Stellar Pageant ruling committee has not responded to the Breeders' Association resolution."

"Do you expect a response?"

"Honestly, no. At least not until after this solar's competition. Come, let me show you Tut's preparation."

"How large is your stable?"

"I have seventy-four males at stud and ninety-three which show promise. There are one hundred forty-two prime brood females and nearly three hundred which comprise my training herd. Some of them will be worth a great deal if Tut does well. His sire is still at stud and many of the females are his offspring. Six share Tut's sire and dam."

"I understand Tut is the only male of that line."

"One premium stud resulting from a particular pairing is quite enough. Unlike some, I do not breed for slaughter to offset the cost of competition."

"Some say you would stop all slaughter if you could."

"Please, Tebian, I enjoy a good meal as much as anyone, but breeding for slaughter and show are two different endeavors. One is not looking for intelligence in dinner."

Ferandis enjoyed showing Tut being put through his paces and groomed. He was magnificent. He discussed Tut's musculature and the program of exercise and diet, which showed so clearly in his strong teeth and the shine of his mane brought out by the careful brushing of the groomers. He pointed out how well Tut was trained when he stood quietly while the vet checked him and took samples of his body fluids for testing.

He stroked Tut and reminded him to be careful not to disturb the tube attached to his leg. He explained he disagreed with those who believed personal involvement with stock reduced their competitive spirit. He quite believed they actually strove to please a known and caring owner. He headed for his box with pleasure. Tut was in perfect form and the interview had gone extremely well.

Tut pulled Mim against him and held her. They were careful not to let her tears fall on him. The groomers wouldn't be pleased at having to brush him again. They'd be quite aggravated if they had to clean him as well. They spoke very softly of their hopes, fears and the sorrow of both.

"I have a chance or he wouldn't have put me in it, Mim."

"I know. You're too valuable to risk in any... Oh, Tut, I really want to ask you to try for sixth."

"Sixth won't win me a permanent stablemate, Mim. I can only get you if I win. What news?"

"Yes, I carry the mutation. Bint is very excited. He's done it, Tut, but without you..."

"I can't believe the breeders haven't seen it."

"We've been careful. Bint says the trait will be universal by the next generation."

"No child born unless we will it. Three hundred years of secret research and genetic surgery brought to successful completion in our time. Ferandis will never know how much he helped."

"Women carrying the mutation are now in every breeding herd and every child will inherit."

"The first mutation is spreading very fast. Genetic change by blood ingestion and a rebellion they won't recognize as such."

"And the "spicy piquancy" of your blood is the mutagen. I ache for Dook and Pabe and more for their loves."

"We all do, Mim. They know. They've known they'd probably place for more than a year. I think, if I win, Ferandis may make one last try at stopping their slaughter. If I place, he can't."

"Your life and it's just a matter of sportsmanship."

"I love you too. I must go. They need time to brush me. I seem to be quite without need of other preparation. It's why they bring me to you. Two minutes with you and a quick brush is much easier than forty minutes manipulating me to arousal."

"Gently, Tut, bitterness and anger change the body chemistry. Oh, my love, come back to me."

"I hope I will, Mim, but every man holding the woman he loves at this moment has the same hope. Remember me, beloved, if I do not return. And teach my children the words."

"Freedom, Earth, human and love spoken in the old tongue of our kind."

"Someday those words will have meaning again."

"Love always has."

"Yes, my love, it is the one which always has. And the one thing we can't hide, but the owners have never understood."

"They're still trying to isolate the "pheromone" which attracts a stud to a particular female."

"Tut! Here, boy! Come on, pretty boy, time to make your showing. Now, just look, you're all mussed. Well, not badly. There we are, all brushed out and shiny. Heel, Tut. Good, boy. Now, don't you let Andonen's Black Rom show you up. Your copper mane and pretty little spots are much more unusual then his black curls and lack of markings. Show off those pretty pale green eyes of yours."

"Vanas, you do carry on."

"I think he understands, Peranse."

"Oh, he understands it's a show, pretty and good boy for sure, but don't get carried away."

"I'm not. There's no danger I'll join one of those oddball groups lobbying for animal rights and intelligence testing."

"Have you heard the latest? Marashan has stated he believes they're people."

"You can always trust that crazy to come up with something good for a laugh."

"He thinks their mumblings might be speech of a primitive sort and some might even be trained to talk."

"Oh, my, he's going to end up in treatment yet, Peranse. He's getting farther out every solar. I heard he threw a steak he was served at a banquet at his host and shouted he wasn't a cannibal."

"Cannibal. Crazy. Everyone knows mammals can't develop sentience."

"He's still trying to prove those artifacts were built by these mammals."

"Oh, come on, Vanas. Lorvanis proved conclusively they were constructed by a technological race which used trained mammals to test them. We did the same when we began to explore space. One of these days, we'll meet the builders."

"You seem to think they'll be friendly."

"I like to consider the possibility."

"You always were a dreamer, Peranse. That's why we agree on so much."

Tut thought over what he'd heard. So there was a group that was advocating intelligence tests and an individual who thought mammals could be sentient. He didn't know if he should be pleased or frightened. Perhaps a few members of the owners' species were becoming civilized enough to approach when they were ready. Vanas and Peranse didn't seem to be as totally xenophobic as most of their kind. He shook off the thought. He didn't have time to consider it and deep thought was liable to cause him to lose his erection. He thought of Mim and loving her. If he didn't perform exactly as expected this day, he never would.

He wished he could get close to Rom so he could pass it on if he was the survivor, but they wouldn't be allowed to get close. The breeders took no chances their prized studs would get into a fight. The ruse had worked to keep the most valuable members of the scientific community out of the shows and off the table in the early years, but it had resulted in men being confined to stalls and corrals. Sometimes he actually wondered if it had been worth it. He sincerely hoped the three hundred years of freedom from attack had been well spent on Earth.

He put aside doubts the people of Earth remembered the "noble sacrifice" of the personnel of the scientific research outpost and prepared himself mentally. The judges would examine all of them for 'suitability as studs' before they took their places in the judging booth. The studs were not expected to maintain erections while they performed the show requirements. He stood very still on the platform while the five judges examined his testes and penis, then pranced a bit when he was led off and Rom took his place. Show studs were expected to exhibit eagerness for competition.

Tut leapt the barrier, then went cleanly over the hurdles. He settled into the steady jog called pacing. He managed the five gait changes smoothly when they were called. He trotted up to the judging stand for the last test.

Tut cocked his head so his long auburn hair drifted across his shoulder and showed off the matching color of his freckles. He slowly blinked to show off his long lashes, then opened his eyes wide to exhibit their unusual light blue-green color. He watched as the valve on the tube in his leg was opened and five small glasses were filled with his blood. It was the most crucial part of the judging and the only one which he could not influence by his performance.

"Mmm, excellent color and aroma."

"Totally pleasurable."

"I'm almost tempted to disagree just so I could taste a bit of that flank."

"Perfect. I don't think I've ever had better."

"A bit spicy, but quite interesting. Since I find I want to try a slice of liver, I must admit I like it."

"Nice bow to the judges, Tut. Good, boy."

"Well trained and well formed. His color is most unusual."

"Sir Ferandis is breeding a light colored show line, Sir Tavenus. For all his size, Tut is easily controlled and trained. The line is spirited, but exhibits the desire to please prized in the best show breeds."

"Now, Vanas, no advertisement or lobbying for your employer at the judging."

"I'm sorry, Lady Lourevin, it seems to be an occupationally triggered disorder amongst trainers. We're all sure our employer's methods are great and the animals we train the best."

"The disorder may be a prerequisite to be a trainer, Vanas."

"You may be right, Sir Gelaris. Thank you Sirs and Ladies."

"Oh, isn't that cute. He bowed when you said thank you."

"He's a smart animal, Lady Tolanis. I've seen that type of associative behavior exhibited before, Vanas."

"He is a smart one, all right, Sir Gelaris. I think he's decided my saying thank you and the bow go together."

Vanas laughed and patted Tut. He'd bowed again when she said "thank you". She led him away and he fought back tears. If his performance had saved his life, it had cost Rom's. Was it worth it? Were the three hundred years they'd played dumb and followed the plan worth it? Would their careful adherence to it pay off? Would the slaughter stop when it was learned no woman but a stud's chosen mate would bear a child by him? Had the shows become so popular they were of more importance as performers than meat animals? Had the people of Earth developed the defenses that they had lacked three hundred years before? Or had they forgotten the generations who had accepted slaughter to give them that time?

Ferandis accepted the prize for Tut and made his move. He declared he would attend no dinner which was a calculated financial disaster for his fellow breeders. He stated the average cost of breeding, raising and training a show quality stud was four hundred thousand credits and a ten thousand credit steak was too rich for his digestion. He stated that he, personally, thought Andon's Black Rom far too valuable as a breeding stud to be hastily slaughtered for a few moments gastronomic pleasure, and wondered why even the least expensive cut was carefully "aged to perfection" and the "finest of the breed" were slapped on the table without any. He said that if the 'tradition' was so important, then it should be followed completely and chunks of raw, unskinned, meat should be dropped in front of diners to gnaw on without benefit of utensils.

He was afraid he'd gone a bit too far until all members of the Breeders' Association rose and began to stomp their applause. When the assembled trainers and groomers joined, he began to hope. But even he wasn't expecting three of the judges to join in. He suddenly realized he'd won. The wasteful practice was over.

Vanas grabbed for Tut's leash and missed. Suddenly she realized all the studs were running loose. She gasped in horror, then burst into laughter. The studs were show animals and applause meant show off. Tut and Black Rom were leading the entire top twenty qualifying group through the required program. The crowd roared and stomped its approval as the twenty magnificent animals performed a totally unprecedented group run.

Marashan switched off his receiver and wept in relief. Ferandis had taken away the horror of the event. His reasons were of little import. Only the result counted. And it had been obvious and spectacular. A few would have seen and understood the run was a celebration. The studs had understood exactly what had transpired. He was sure of it.

"Daleruss!"

"I saw it, Marashan. I just hope most people didn't understand it."

"Why?"

"Because they'd slaughter every one of them to keep from facing the truth."

"I can't believe that. I won't believe it."

"You do believe it. We've wiped out every species which even showed a potential for sentience. They attacked us. Never mind we were serving their children as dinner. This species could be more intelligent than we are. Could we maintain the fiction we were dumb animals for three hundred seven solars? I wonder why they did it and shiver when I look into the night sky. Somewhere out there their species is preparing to meet us. These have successfully prevented us searching for them for more than three hundred solars by their individual willingness to die for their species' survival. Something in me says the end of the pretense is near. I just hope the few of us screaming in protest will save some of our species. It may be the only chance we have of surviving."

"You really can't imagine meeting another species in peace, can you?"

"Shall we invite them to dinner? 'Here, this is a prime steak. The young animal was a very fine example of your people. Note how tender the meat is. It's best served with fresh blood as an aperitif.' Somehow, I doubt they'd appreciate our hospitality. I suspect these are actually conducting their own breeding program under the curtain of ours."

"What?"

"They couldn't run or jump as well before. They're more than a third again as big as they were. The largest 'wild' male caught in the first thirty solars we were on this planet was less than one hundred vels. Tut Boy and Black Rom are both over one hundred thirty. They live longer by an average of twenty solars. Males and females mature later, not sooner. Colts are kept with the brood stock until mature. Perhaps it requires twenty solars for them to complete their education so it now requires twenty solars for them to mature."

"You're talking nonsense, Daleruss."

"Am I? How many 'wild' ones are there? Once in awhile one is caught. They're just as big and basically indistinguishable from the 'tame' herds. I think they allow themselves to be caught to pass knowledge, or maybe even genetic developments. I think our 'development of the breed' is under their control and quite possibly laboratory, not naturally, developed. Fifteen generations isn't long enough to change a species that drastically. And I think they're about finished with themselves. And us."

"My digestive disorder is mental, not physical, Daleruss."

"Is it? It's becoming quite common. A physician friend of mine told me he had more than thirty patients he'd had to put on meatless diets in the last two solars. I think they're tired of being slaughtered and are in the process of making it pointless. Personally, I hope they succeed before their people come to see how far we've progressed and decide we're animals and too dangerous to exist."

"Then we'd better start making friends, hadn't we?"

"And just how do you propose to do that, Marashan?"

"I shall start with a visit to the Feran Stables area of the show grounds right now. The 'weird' one would, I think. You come along to soften my 'obvious' extremism and keep me from being a problem, just as you always do. I want to talk to Tut."

"All right, but I rather wish I was the one talking to Tut."

"You're dangerous, Daleruss. I'm merely a crazy old fool."

"Unless he decides to talk to you."

"If he does, I'll work harder at being a crazy old fool. Belief and respect aren't necessary when one plants an idea. It germinates in a fertile mind no matter who dropped the seed."

Tut ran into his stall and circled it. He walked over to the mesh, leaned against it and looked down the aisle. He was surprised Mim wasn't there, but not particularly worried. Until he noticed the blood. He screamed and began throwing himself against the door of his stall.

"Tut! Whoa, boy! TUT! DOWN!"

"Damn, I knew that idiot had blown it!"

"Peranse! What's going on?"

"Mim was sold, Vanas."

"What!? That's impossible! Ferandis was in the stands!"

"The show committee posted her listed price. The fools cut her getting her out of the stall."

"The show committee?"

"It seems they don't have anything for dinner."

"NO!!"

Tut went crazy and everyone else went with him. Vanas ran out and caught Ferandis running in. He bellowed his outrage and ran for the slaughtering pen. Posting a price did nit mean a sale. The committee had gone too far. It was pure spite and totally illegal.

"Ferandis!"

"Andonen! Come on! The committee has taken Tut's stablemate to slaughter!"

"WHAT?!"

"Posted her list price and took her! They damaged her getting her out and Tut saw the blood!"

"Then they've got Rom's stablemate too! She's missing!"

"Would you bet Dook's and Pabe's are as well?"

Ferandis and Andonen stormed into the slaughterhouse and threw people out of their way. They were barely in time. The four prize brood females had been hung to bleed. Ferandis screamed for a vet and Andonen yelled for his attorney.

Marashan and Daleruss walked into chaos. Every stud was screaming and battering at his stall door. Trainers and handlers were yelling and throwing water on them to try to keep them from damaging themselves. A vet was in a corner loading a pistol with tranquilizer darts when a trainer ran in, grabbed her and pushed her out the door. About that time, media people began pouring in. Daleruss pulled Marashan into a corner to watch.

The vet was fast and good. She was also furious. Every one of the females had been damaged. All four bore whip marks and the unmistakable signs of being dragged across rough ground. The animals had been deliberately abused. She shouted she suddenly understood the animal rights groups loud enough for the media recorders outside to hear, finished with the blood cuts and began patching the less dangerous rips in the beautiful skins of the prize animals.

"How are they, Vet Miladis?"

"They'll all recover, Sir Ferandis, but they'll all bear scars. This was deliberate cruelty. Every one of them was awake when the bleeding cuts were made. I don't know who ordered this, but I want to see them in court and their faces plastered across the media. Preferably above the question, "Which is the animal?" I'm surprised none have broken bones. They were hobbled and dragged here. All four have rope burns on their necks and, if they hadn't instinctively used their hands to hang on to the ropes, they'd have strangled."

"You! Who ordered this?"

"I don't know anything! I was just told to prepare them for dinner!"

"Without putting them to sleep?!"

"That's not my job. I'm a butcher, not a vet. If the committee didn't think it was necessary, it's not my place to argue."

"Butcher, if one of these stolen animals had died, the committee would have pointed at you when the authorities came."

"Stolen?"

"Prices were posted, not paid, and no purchase agreement was made."

"I didn't know that! Lady Corellis didn't tell me."

"Andonen! Corellis seems to have ordered this. I think the butcher is about to tell us all about it. He's just realizing she didn't tell him part of his pay for fixing this dinner was spending about twenty solars in prison."

"Sounds like her, Ferandis. Class action suit?"

"No, I'm pressing charges. This was theft and deliberate damage to valuable property. I want everyone who knew about this barred from setting foot on a show or breeding facility forever and those who were behind it in prison."

"Join in the suit too, Ferandis. I'll back you and press charges, but the theft charge might not hold up and my attorney is practically drooling over the credits she's going to collect as her percentage of the suit."

"All right. Have Talusta and Genamere arrived?"

"Yes, they're organizing transport. The trainers say the studs aren't calming and they don't think they will until they see the females. They hope that will help, but it's just a hope. Your Tut and my Rom are close to either breaking out or damaging themselves."

"Let's get these animals moved!"

Tut hit the door again. It was weakening. He backed for another run at it, then saw the cart being pulled in. "MIM!"

Marashan rushed forward to cover the breach. He started yelling. Daleruss would know what to do.

"See! He shouted a name! I'm sure of it! I heard it distinctly! He shouted a name!"

"Marashan, he just sounded. I know how much you want to believe they can learn speech, but don't get carried away."

"Daleruss, I'm just sure he called out. I am sure he did! Trainer, is the female's name, uh, Rin?"

"No, Sir Marashan, it's Mim."

"Yes, Mim is what I heard."

"You heard Rin, Marashan. You just said so."

"No, it was Mim, Daleruss. I'm sure it was. Now, now, Tut, she's here and alive. Calm down, Tut. She'll be all right. Yes, that's better. You see how smart he is? He understood me."

"Sir Marashan, he responded to the reassurance in your voice. For which, I thank you, as will Sir Ferandis. I'm Trainer Vanas. This is Handler Peranse. Tut is a very smart animal, Sir, but just an animal."

"But they're capable of learning, Trainer Vanas. I'm just sure they are. Watch. Shoo, Tut. Back away from the door so we can bring her in to you. Shoo, shoo. You see? He's moving."

"He's well trained and back is a command he knows, but he is responding well to you."

"Of course he is. He knows I'm a friend. Come on, pretty girl. Easy now. I'll help you get in with him. Yes, yes, you're hurt, but you'll be all right. That's a good girl."

Daleruss shook his head and smiled at the trainer. She returned both the smile and the head shake.

"Sir Marashan is quite elderly, Trainer Vanas. He protests the animals' intelligence, then treats them as pets and never even realizes it. He does adore them though, and he has a way with them like no other I've seen. They seem to sense he has only good intent."

"Animals usually do. Oh, he's going in!"

"Calmly, Trainer. Your Tut won't hurt him and he may be able to calm him enough for the vet to check him without tranquilizing him. He's got the same touch with all the animals. He's just decided they're sentient. He's really harmless and probably an asset at this moment. Let's move over there and just watch a bit. You'll see what I mean quite clearly."

Marashan watched Daleruss move the trainer and handler away from the stall and smiled at Tut.

"You almost messed things up thoroughly, Tut. If my friend Daleruss and I hadn't been here, your outburst would have raised more than a few questions. My 'crazy old fool' routine got a real workout on this one. I think I thoroughly convinced everyone they heard nothing by being sure I did. Sweet girl, my apologies for my people. Most will be absolutely outraged by your treatment. For the wrong reason of course, but still outraged. I truly admire your people. Mine couldn't have hidden what we are for three hundred solars while we carried on an advanced genetic research and development program. I'm carefully planting the seed of the idea you're an intelligent species in a non-threatening way. It's my hope you'll intercede with your people when they arrive to rescue you."

Marashan decided the look in Tut's very intelligent eyes was wonder if he could be trusted. He decided to tell him what Daleruss had deduced, and he couldn't argue, to see if he could win it.

"I know you're changing our digestive systems. I don't eat meat by choice, but others no longer can eat it. I'm not really pleased you're changing my species, but I do understand it. Three hundred solars is probably much longer than you planned on carrying out this deception. I have to say stripping your ship of all but a burnt out guidance system was pure genius. Tut, eventually my species and yours must meet in peace or one or both will be destroyed. You've managed to keep us on this world far longer than we've stayed on any since our own was destroyed, but we're getting restless. We're a migratory species and the urge to move on increases as our numbers do. Our young have begun to design ships and gaze at the stars in longing. Time is running out. The ships being designed have pens for your people. We have to change things soon. I think we have a generation yet, but I doubt two."

"One is enough."

"Tut!"

"Hush, Mim. He's an ally and the only one we've found. We've been working to make ourselves so valuable as show animals they'll stop slaughtering us. We hadn't expected that. Our species hadn't used any but a few specific breeds of animals for meat in centuries. As of five hundred solars ago, all 'meat' eaten has been textured and flavored vegetable protein. We almost wiped you out the day you murdered and ate the first child. If you had done it to more than one, we would have. We're quite capable of it. An adult knows and can understand why we allow it. A child can't. Yes, we're changing you. And ourselves. The mutations are both irreversible and will be complete in this generation."

"I expected to... I didn't really want to believe Daleruss when he said you're more intelligent than we are."

"There are trillions of us and we've been civilized longer. We're an older species and the group you discovered here were not exactly the median. You may begin teaching me. Ferandis' breeding program has produced a mutation. My coloring makes it obvious. Black Rom is also more intelligent than other studs. Trainability has become teachability in the show breed and is probably spreading to the herds as our 'desirable traits' are introduced. You should be stunned by it. You thought us teachable and discovered we're eager to learn. You may insist on genetic examination. They'll find obvious mutation. It won't be what they think, but they'll find it. Now, pet me and go. I'll follow you to the door and fuss when you leave. Vanas will welcome you the next time you come."

"Good boy, Tut. You're a smart boy, aren't you? Now, now, I have to go. Take care of Mim. Oh, dear! I don't think he wants me to go."

"I'll agree with that."

"Trainer Vanas, that may be the most intelligent member of the entire species. I could swear he understood much more of what I said to him than just a few words. I'd like to try to teach him to speak at least one or two."

"Marashan, they're not capable of speech."

"Daleruss, even if they weren't before, I think Tut may be. I think Ferandis may have accomplished far more than he realizes, or intended. He's actually changed the species. The other breeders know it. They speak of the 'trainability' of the offspring of Ferandis' studs and purchase brood animals from him. I find I'm suddenly afraid that which I've been sure of might be true. I've begun to wonder if we found a group of experimental animals or a sentient species which had regressed to the animal level."

"Sentience isn't possible in mammalian life, Marashan."

"I wonder if a sentient mammal would make the same statement about cephaloid life as they served our children steamed or baked on the shell, Daleruss. I think we may have tampered with a devolved species and reestablished their mental capacity. Their brains are larger than when we discovered them and they're far less aggressive. Take me home, Daleruss. I must plan. If my theory is correct, we need to teach these what bit they can learn before the species which spawned them finds us. And we need to stop breeding them for meat and serving their blood as an appetizer before the practice destroys us."

"Destroys? That's a bit strong, isn't it, Sir Marashan. I mean, even if you're right, it's just begun."

"Destroys, Trainer Vanas. I've known that's what it was doing since one of my grandchildren stabbed another child so her make believe dinner could 'start right.' Only the stabbed child protested. The other four playmates were waiting to fill their cups. The children were all four solars of age. I have collected over seventy reports of like incidents in the past ten solars, all involving small children. In four instances, a child died. The other children explained they were going to have 'steak' for dinner and didn't know it would hurt their playmate. It seems we've told them it doesn't hurt the animals we slaughter. Or that it kills them. Good day, Trainer Vanas, Handler Peranse. Let's go, Daleruss."

"Damn, Marashan, what got into you?"

"A detailed set of instructions and a warning we have little time to prepare for change. They've given us three hundred solars to grow up and either we're ready or we'll be disposed of as intransigent, xenophobic and unsalvageable. We have one generation. They've put up with our cannibalistic ways as long as they could. They were shocked when we began eating them. Their species hasn't consumed flesh for a half millennia. Their science is extremely advanced. Oh, you were quite right. They are changing our genetic structure and theirs. The mutations will be complete in the next generation. They're extremely merciful. They have always been capable of wiping us out completely. And all they've chosen to do is make us stop eating them."

"Always?"

"Yes. They didn't because we only murdered and ate one child. Adults can accept death for good cause. Children cannot. Peramis saved our species when she said eating one of their young was a ridiculous waste of two thousand glasses of superb blood over ten solars and a hundred good meals and that they were about tasteless besides."

"Those incidents you spoke of are going to be looked up."

"I hope so. They'll find there have been hundreds. Those people chose to be a 'domesticated' species, Daleruss. They know all about us. They kept us here by being an available food source."

"I'm not sure I understand that, Marashan."

"Daleruss, we ate all the other life on our planet, then proceeded to do the same on every world we found which had life. We'd clean a world of fauna, then migrate to another world and do the same. As our numbers grew, migration became more frequent. We blasted worlds with sentient, or pre-sentient, life. Some fought back or we'd number in the billions, not thousands. It's time you read something besides very carefully edited history, my friend. A solar as central library archivist taught me much."

"I'm not sure I want to learn."

"I didn't either. That's why I made sure I did."

Tut carried Mim to the cart in front of his stall. Rom, Dook and Pabe carried their loves as well. Ferandis noted the upper torso development of the species had always made him wonder if they'd been bred to bear loads or pull transports. Tut just couldn't resist. He cocked his head and watched the two laborers pulling the cart. When they stopped to rest, he trotted up, lifted the two handles and trotted off toward the stable transport, pulling the cart easily behind him.

Rom, Dook and Pabe made a bit of show of the process, turning around several times and moving forward, then backing and turning around again. They were given a bit of assistance with the handles by the laborers and all three trotted out pulling carts. Pabe had to guided to the right transport. He'd followed Rom.

Ferandis was shocked. Vanas told him what Marashan had said about Tut being a mutation. She noted he'd been so shocked he'd become completely lucid. Ferandis nearly ran for his breeding records when he reached his home. Marashan was right about how widespread the products of his breeding program were. He couldn't even cull the mutation out. It probably existed in every herd and stable. He ordered genetic testing and comparison.

Marashan arrived at Feran stables just as a newscaster interrupted a music program to tell of an entire herd breaking out of a pen at the slaughtering yards and running into the hills.

"They smelled death and ran."

"They've never done so before, Marashan."

"Do we know that, Ferandis? Corellis was in charge of the slaughterhouse. She's not there now because she was suspended from the position until the investigation of yesterday's incident is complete. Would she have allowed the news out? Or just said the cost of maintaining herds in the pens had risen and raised the price charged for the next shipment of meat? Gene charts?"

"Yes, Tut's and his great-grandsire's."

"Have you found a noticeable difference?"

"Several, but I don't know which are coloring and... "

"What is it?"

"This is new."

"Is it? I think it may be quite old and have just turned up again. It's in the area you've labeled temperament. I'm afraid we've discovered a devolved species and put them back on the right evolutionary track. I don't think fifteen generations is long enough to develop the kind of intelligence Tut shows. He's learning to learn. The others are copying him. I think he may be capable of learning to speak a few words. He seems to learn best by watching, but I have hopes his desire to please will offset the fact his mouth is constructed differently. I plan on teaching him I'm teaching him first."

"Explain that, please."

"I have in mind a series of simple tasks which will also help me estimate his intelligence. Ferandis, I'm an old fool. I hate seeing beautiful creatures slaughtered for the table. I ranted and raved to get attention and see if anyone else out there hated the practice. I wasn't prepared to suddenly face the possibility my rantings were true. I just wanted to prevent the type of tragedy I witnessed with my own grandchild. 'Carladuss is fat. He has lots of blood. We just want some so our before dinner is right. You said it doesn't hurt.' How could I not try to do something? My precious grandchild was quite sure stabbing a playmate to get his blood was acceptable. When I learned it wasn't an isolated incident, I began yelling for attention."

"That's horrible. Why is it happening?"

"This is only theory, but I think it's because we've never kept domestic herds for slaughter before. We hunted wild animals and our primary source of protein was marine life. How often do you eat fish?"

"Every twenty days or so."

"And meat?"

"Like most, two or three times a day."

"How's your health?"

"Fair, though it has been... Too much meat."

"Exactly. It's meat that should be once every twenty or so days and marine products about once every other day. Our diet has changed drastically in the last twenty-five solars. It's only that long since meat became truly plentiful and inexpensive. Doesn't it tell us something that this species requires at least twenty solars to mature. Or that it used to require only twelve to fourteen?"

"They're large animals and we've bred them to increase their size."

"Ferandis, we've hunted creatures with twice the mass of these and they matured in two or three. We've ignored every indication this species is more than just another animal. We're too positive mammals can't be sentient. The last time we were too positive we lost ninety-six percent of our population before we blasted a world and hobbled off to heal our wounds. I found total assurance reptilian life can't develop sentience in the library archives. I also found total assurance insectoid life can't develop sentience. We know those statements are false because we were brutally confronted with the truth. This time I'd like to see if we can accept the possibility before most of our population is wiped out."

"I've never heard anything like your statements."

"Our history is carefully edited and research into it carefully discouraged. Which, of course, is why I got curious about it. My grandchildren are being taught we chose to keep our numbers small until we found a world suitable to increase them and with the resources to build more ships. They don't know there were ever millions of us or that we ever met another sentient species. I was visited by a committee of educators and told I was damaging my grandchildren's emotional stability and that of the other children they told what I had told them and would be confined as a menace if I didn't stop."

"I... feel rather ill."

"I've felt that way for several solars. Yes, Ferandis, there's a visible mutation in your Tut and I'm not sure we're seeing the one we think we are. I think the potential for sentience may have always been there and we've just uncovered it. Do I have your permission to teach him?"

"Tell me your plans."

Tut followed Marashan and lifted the cart handles when he put him between them. He watched Marashan fill feed bins with vegetables from the cart. When Marashan pulled him around to the side of the cart and put the scoop in his hand, Tut scooped vegetables and put them in a feed bin. Marashan stopped him after two scoops and led him to the next stall. By the third, Tut was putting two scoops and pulling the cart without instruction. He was obviously delighted with the process and his accomplishment. He strutted and pranced for the others, especially Mim.

Vanas smiled at his antics and Marashan's obvious pleasure in them. She laughed when Tut sniffed, then burrowed into the vegetable pile, found a large fruit and ran down the stable to give it to Mim. Later, she'd realize the true import of what she'd seen. It would almost terrify her when Tut taught Mim to pull the cart and scoop the vegetables that evening. And he taught her two scoops.

Marashan taught Tut to pull weeds from the garden. He only pulled up two vegetable plants before he got the idea. It took four trips to the compost heap before he understood that's where the weeds went. He had a bit of trouble in the flower garden. He just couldn't tell a flower from a flowering weed. Marashan had to stop him pulling up the grass in the lawn, but he finally seemed to get the idea that a "weed" in the garden wasn't one in the lawn.

Marashan was amazed. Tut's performance was brilliant. He capered wildly across the lawn when he pulled a flowering weed from it and was told he was a "good boy". When Marashan arrived the next morning, twenty studs and their stablemates were grooming the gardens and lawn under Tut's watchful eye. Tut brought him several vegetable plants and flowers that had been casualties of the lesson. Marashan taught him to replant them. He collapsed in laughter when Tut shook the empty watering can, then stood and watered a flower his own way. Eventually, he had Tut sniff the watering can, then the flower he'd 'watered'. He refilled the watering can and took it back. He didn't like the look of the person standing near Tut and it was obvious Tut didn't either.

"I don't like this and I don't like you."

"I have Sir Ferandis' permission to conduct this experiment, sir."

"I don't give a damn whose permission you've got. Stop it now, or you'll be sorry."

"Just who are you to threaten me?"

"It's no threat. It's a warning. Keep messing with the stock and we'll include you when we get rid of the ones you've ruined."

Tut watched him walk away, then turned to Marashan. "His name is Klaris. He's just plain cruel. Vanas suspects him of damaging us, but can't prove we didn't 'jump around and run into' something. He's got some very unpleasant acquaintances as well. They're the ones who mutilated and murdered one of your children and dumped her in the middle of the pasture corral last solar. We were afraid you'd blame us for it."

"She was cut and burned, not pummeled and trampled."

"Her shell was broken and she was beaten to a bloody pulp and we weren't sure you'd look to see other damage. They didn't expect you would. He's working himself up to kill at least me and probably you. He won't do it alone. His friends hang around the slaughterhouse. They bribe a vet there not to anesthetize the ones to be killed, then bet on whether or not they'll scream when they're cut open. Easy. Lie down. I'm going to pick you up and carry you to shade, then bring you water and help. I'm about to say a piece of your name as my first word. Interesting. Mama is mother in our language and usually the first word a child speaks. I'll be right back."

Vanas looked up when Tut ran into the stable. He picked up a water bucket, shook his head at her and started out. He ran back to her and tapped her, then started out again. He stamped, screwed up his face and squealed. Then he stunned her completely.

"Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Sha! Masha! Masha! Ma Shan!"

Vanas suddenly realized Tut was wildly upset and trying desperately to get something across to her and she was just staring. Suddenly he squealed and ran out of the stable. She pulled herself together and ran after him. She saw him round the corner of the house and hurried.

"MASHAN! MASHAN! Company coming."

"Oh, my stars! Easy, Tut. I'm all right. I just had several shocks. Easy now. Oh, yes, water is just what I... needed."

Vanas rounded the corner of the house just in time to see Tut dump the water bucket on Sir Marashan. He was trotting around him worriedly and touching him lightly every few steps.

"Sir Marashan! Are you all right?"

"Other than trying to suppress a fit of giggles, yes, Vanas. Tut took very good care of me. I received a nasty threat and perhaps became a bit overheated. Tut carried me into the shade and... cooled me off."

"Mashan!"

"Yes, Tut. Good boy. Very good boy."

"Mashan!"

"He ran into the stable and I didn't realize what he wanted. Sir Marashan, he worked to tell me you needed help."

"You agree he's trying to say my name?"

"He worked his way up from Ma to Mashan to get me to follow him to you. I have no doubts."

"Then we'd better prepare to defend ourselves, our families, Tut and the rest of the herds."

"What?"

"I told you I received a threat, Vanas. Tut didn't like the fellow who delivered it at all."

"Klaris. Whoa, Tut! Easy, boy. He's not here. Sir Marashan, he's a blowhard."

"I doubt it. I rather trust Tut's instincts and, perhaps, knowledge. He didn't attack him, but I've never seen him look so dangerous. He hates that man and it's not his nature to do so without very good reason. My own reaction was he's totally unsane and he seems to have associates of like nature or he wouldn't have said, 'We'll include you when we get rid of the stock you've ruined.' I think the threat was a challenge and the reason an excuse."

"What's he trying to tell us?"

"I have no idea, Vanas. Tut, is it about Klaris?"

"Ow! I say that squeal meant you hit it with that name."

"What's that?"

"It's the way they hold their very young foals. Foal? Like this? Foal?"

"Mashan!"

"Let me see... One of our children? Oh, dear, I don't know how to... Size? A point to me, then you, then smaller."

"You got a blank look."

"Hold your arms as much like he did as possible, Vanas. Foal? Child?"

"I think we... Now what's he doing?"

"Sniffing me. Smelling... "

"Klaris? Something on Klaris. I feel like laughing, but I'm sure this is no game he's playing."

"I agree. He's trying to communicate something very complicated for him to even attempt to express. Tut!"

"He cut himself deliberately!"

"I noticed, Vanas. Blood! He smelled blood on Klaris! A child's blood. Can he smell that well?"

"That we don't know."

"Wait a moment. How long ago was he brought in from the herd?"

"About two solars."

"That's not it then. I thought he'd seen someone dump little Sebbicis' body in the large pasture corral, but that was just over a solar ago."

"Sir Marashan, I wouldn't say this to anyone else, but I think that may be just what Tut's trying to tell us. And he is trying very hard. You opened something in him."

"He's learning to learn. Like a child does, but faster because he's had the experience of being trained. I'm just offering him more opportunity."

"And he immediately passes the learning on. I've watched. He repeats exactly what you show him to teach the others. If they don't get it, he goes through the entire sequence again, which is just how I taught him to do the required routine. We need to talk to Sir Ferandis."

"Let's take Tut with us."

"In the house?"

"I doubt he'll pee on the carpet or eat the drapes."

Tut tried to walk around the carpet, bumped a table and knocked over a very ugly sculpture. He whimpered, sat down and tried to push the pieces together. Ferandis watched a moment, then patted him and told him it was all right. He moved a lovely little carving from a shelf to the table and Tut smiled. He gingerly stepped on the carpet and wriggled his toes in it. He was obviously delighted with the sensation.

Marashan led him to a place by Ferandis' chair and watched him carefully avoid furniture. He wondered how much was show and how much was actual unfamiliarity with it.

"I rather feel like thanking him, Marashan. My aunt gave me that ugly thing and I've been tempted to just 'accidentally' break it for quite some time."

"He seemed to much prefer the piece you put in its place, Ferandis. I know I certainly do."

"Sir Ferandis, I don't know where to start."

"The beginning is usually a good place, Vanas. He's bleeding!"

"He did it deliberately to try to tell us something, we think."

"We think he tried to tell us Klaris killed a child. Not one of theirs, one of ours. He seemed to be trying to say he'd smelled a child's blood on him."

"That's just too farfetched, Marashan."

"Perhaps, but Klaris threatened your stock and me. When I grew faint, Tut carried me to shade, then ran for water and help. He was a bit enthusiastic with the water."

"I came around the corner just in time to see him dump the bucket on Sir Marashan. I was lagging behind because I hadn't got over the shock of hearing him say his name."

"What?!"

"Not well, but unmistakably. He worked at it because I didn't understand he wanted me to come. He got from Ma to Mashan fast."

"Mashan!"

"Yes, Tut, very good. Ma ra shan."

"Ma shan?"

"Rra."

"Rrr?"

"Rrra. Ma rra shan. Marashan."

"Ma rrra shan. Marashan?"

"Good, boy."

"Marashan! Marashan! Marashan!"

"Whoa, Tut. Down, boy. Easy, easy. You got it. Ferandis, I've totally underestimated his capabilities. I switched on the lamp and it's a star."

"He's right, Sir Ferandis. The show training primed him, I think. You know what an incredible showoff he is. He's picked up things he wasn't specifically taught since almost the beginning of it. Like showing off his spots and mane, then his pretty green eyes. See, there he goes. I didn't teach him that, but he learned it. Today he needed to tell me Sir Marashan needed help. Then he needed to tell us... I can't help it. I think he told us Klaris killed a child."

"My guess is Sebbicis, but... Ferandis, I'm just sure he hates Klaris and is frightened of him. I think our, most especially my, lives are in danger and I'm sure your stock is. I think every stable in the area should be warned and I'm going to call Daleruss and have him watch over my grandchildren. I'm staying with Tut and, so help me, I'll turn the studs loose if anyone comes after them."

"I'll open the corral and pasture gates for the females and foals."

"I'll shoot them."

"No."

Ferandis and Vanas spun to face Tut and Marashan winced. So much for very carefully laid plans.

"Leave them to us. We'll disarm and corral them, if possible. You're liable to end up getting hurt, Ferandis. We respect you too much to allow that. Sorry, Marashan, it's the one thing we won't allow to happen. You and he are the best hope your people have of being ready to meet ours in peace. Vanas, we just plain like you. Your touch is always gentle and you truly care for all living things. I've watched you. You don't eat meat."

"Never could since the very first time I saw one of you and my father said 'prime steak.' I got thoroughly sick. You've been pretending forever."

"We had to either find a way to change you or wipe you out. We didn't realize how many lives it would cost to change you, but we still believe it was the right choice. To date, four thousand three hundred and eleven of us have died to accomplish this goal. That's a small number compared to the multi-billions your people killed when they destroyed the worlds of the last eight intelligent species they met. We wouldn't have let you do that to our world. We decided to give you a chance to change. We, or at least I, believe you have. We have been pushing. Your children won't eat meat by the next generation. Mine won't have children unless they so desire."

"I don't understand."

"You dropped in on a genetics research station. The work being done here was considered too dangerous to do on our home world. We could have wiped you out or made you mindless beasts ten minutes after you landed, but our goal was peace and we thought you had potential if we could just cure you of your xenophobia. So, we became domestic animals, the first you'd ever had, to teach you to care for something not of your own kind. When your people started lobbying for 'animal rights', we knew we'd succeeded. You should talk to my father, Ferandis. He's quite fond of you. He's also our elected leader."

"Elected leader."

"Yes, he keeps trying to get someone to run against him, but no one will. You won me over completely when you managed to save Rom, Dook and Pabe, especially Rom. He's our preeminent mathematician and my best friend. I'm our... I don't think you're going to like this. I'm our military commander and weapons expert. I'm also unarmed combat champion. None of our people over the age of four is helpless. Oh, Mim is my wife and our finest artist."

"You're a weapons expert?"

"Yes, though yours are rather primitive by our standards. Relax, Ferandis, we like you. Now, it's time for me to become a very smart animal again and trot back to my stable."

"Wait, Tut. You are my favorite. You have the run of the stables, grounds and house. You can bring Mim with you, or any other. Your stall door is never to be closed. Tut, I don't eat meat either."

"We know. Dad's seen you slipping meat into the waste bin since he was a show animal. You know, of the thirty top breeders, only two eat steak."

"You told me three times a day!"

"I've been lying about it a very long time, Marashan. Evidently, so have most of my friends."

"Isn't it amazing how afraid we all are to admit we don't do something which disgusts us? Now what?"

"I'm not sure, Vanas. I'm certainly less shocked than I should be."

"Well, I was working on preparing you, Ferandis. I still think we should go with the devolved species idea and yell for a moratorium on slaughter until it's investigated. I'll still do 'old fool', but I'll pull the archival records which state only cephalopods can develop sentience. Do buy me out of jail, please. I'm quite sure breaking into the central library is illegal. May I use your comm? Thank you. Daleruss, Ferandis and Vanas are in. We have a threat against stables, herds and at least me. Since the last thing this bunch did was murder a little girl, pick up a weapon and watch over my grandchildren. I'm quite well protected by you know who."

"I heard a yelp."

"Daleruss is not fond of things moving very fast, Vanas. He really likes time for careful consideration. However, he never lets it slow him when things do move fast. I think I'll sleep in Tut's stall. Mim is still in pretty rough shape and she might like company."

"Vanas, pass the word Tut has total freedom of the farm. I doubt I'll sleep anywhere, but I'll be here. Calls! I need to warn the others. Andonen, Ferandis. We've got a threat against our stock and I imagine it includes us. The reason given was we've made them too smart, but it's an excuse. I've uncovered information this group hasn't had any real fun since they murdered little Sebbicis."

"Tell him Tut's loose, Ferandis."

"I've set Tut loose on my property. He's the best lookout I can think of and probably our best defense. Klaris is in the bunch and he absolutely hates him. I may loose all the studs. You know they don't fight, Andonen. I don't even bother keeping them apart anymore. I suggest you at least loose Rom. Oh, I let Tut in the house. He loves wriggling his toes in the carpet and the only casualty was that horrid statue. He was upset he broke it. No, Andonen, putting that ugly yellow vase your sister gave you in Rom's path is not fair."

"Have him help spread the warning."

"Vanas and Marashan. They're afraid I'll forget something. Andonen, I don't eat steak and haven't in fifty-three solars. As I watch Tut learn, I find I'm very relieved. He spoke Marashan's name today when he needed to get help for him. Not well, but quite unmistakably. Oh, I'm sure they know you don't. I think they can smell who does and who doesn't. Ask yourself which top breeders do sell stock for slaughter and which ones don't get close to their studs. Interesting correlation isn't it? I have a feeling all the rest of us lie about enjoying a steak. We need a meeting. Here. Midday tomorrow if tonight is busy. Day after if trouble doesn't work itself up before then. Yes, it's been a very interesting day. I'll call Talusta. Pick two and have them pass it. Every stock owner needs to know."

"We're going to the stable, Ferandis."

"Take the basket of fruit on the table for dinner, Marashan."

"Thank you. A piece of fruit, Vanas?"

"Marashan, they let us kill them for food."

"I don't understand it and I'm not sure they do. But think about the number he gave. Four thousand?"

"Three hundred and eleven."

"Over three hundred seven solars."

"That's fewer than fifteen a solar!"

"However, most of those deaths have been in the past twenty-five solars. I remember when meat on the table was only holiday fare and a very small piece. I think they moved to stop it when the slaughterhouse was built. They kept us interested in them for a very long time while we 'built up herds'. I remember when the oldest and weakest was carefully chosen because the young were prime breeding stock."

"Then my generation demanded meat on the table every day."

"I have a suspicion a great many lie just as Ferandis did. I also remember when studs were bled, but not slaughtered."

"We drank their blood, but didn't kill them, and they allowed it."

"Which is why we still exist. If we'd done as we usually did and just killed them for the table... The fishing was too good. Fish was plentiful, simple and they were so beautiful to watch."

"They knew it! The entire show was based on some animal they know!"

"Head toss to prancing. Hi, all quiet so far. The animal is called a horse. We rode them, showed them and loved them. Four footed, but we worked it out."

"Tut, where did you come from? You scared me silly."

"I dropped out of that tree, Marashan. My kind evolved from tree dwellers. We can still go up one pretty fast if something's chasing us. That's why your people can't find us out there. We've been careful to seem non-climbing. I'm going back up. Watch and see what we really are."

"Did you see that, Vanas?"

"No, my mind is absolutely sure my eyes were lying, Marashan. Oh! Excuse me. I got familiar, Sir Marashan."

"Did it with Ferandis too. He seemed to like it as much as I do. Now, what shall we do about Peranse?"

"Tell her that we've decided the studs are smarter than we are, eating meat is disgusting and we're pairing off?"

"Oh, I like that. We should add something about unpleasant company and leaving Tut's stall open though."

"We'll work it in."

Tut donned his lenses and watched for a signal. He had troops out everywhere. There were people in the trees in the neighborhoods. Since Klaris and his cronies were currently in a place where fermented juices were sold, he expected an attack. He'd never had alcohol. He idly wondered what it was like.

The flash was distant. It was a relay position. Klaris and group had left the establishment. A bit later, two flashes told him they were headed toward the ranch district. His troops would be vacating the neighborhoods and heading back fast.

He watched as sentries flashed the group had passed one ranch after another. They were headed his way. He flashed twice and tucked the signal torch and lenses to see its 'invisible' light in the junction of two branches. When he hit the ground, his father was waiting.

"Vanas opened all the stalls. She told every one of us to be careful. You've been doing a lot of talking?"

"Marashan, Vanas and Ferandis. He was coming out with a weapon to defend us. I was worried he'd get hurt. He took it well, Dad."

"He's more flexible than he realizes. You were in the house?"

"And free to walk in any time, with guests. That rug is... My toes are in love. I broke the only ugly thing in the place being nervous."

"Intentionally?"

"No, I was nervous. Were our houses like that?"

"How should I know? The chairs were undoubtedly shaped differently, but I imagine the rest is quite like a human house. We decided to make the attempt to change them because even their culture was much like ours of a thousand years ago. Where do you want me?"

"Standing over Vanas, Peranse, Marashan and Mim."

"They have every woman in the stable standing over them. Where else?"

"At Ferandis' side. He's still liable to grab a weapon and come charging out to help."

"Oh, good. I want to feel 'toes in love.' Tut, too many of the staff left."

"Klaris, Dad. He's crazy and they know it. Don't be angry. They're scared."

"And you're not?"

"Of course I am, but I'm sort of used to it. They're not."

"Good answer. Be careful, son. Your mother sends love."

"I'll give her mine in person."

"Good answer."

There were seven in the group. They rode into the drive on their power carts shouting and shooting and men dropped out of the trees on them. They rolled away with weapons in their hands. That was their job. Seven men sprang up from the tall grass, grabbed carts and rode off. That was theirs. Tut looked down at the seven on the ground and laughed. They looked very surprised.

"Hello, Klaris. We've been expecting you to 'drop in.' I've been waiting a long time for this. Oh, we told several of our friends you killed that child."

"You talk!"

"Surprise. We're the most advanced species in this part of space. We decided to teach you instead of just wiping you out. Most did pretty well. You flunked."

"You're meat!"

"You're carrion. I can smell you from here."

Tut had never really fought before. He found smashing two together was quite effective. So was grabbing one by two limbs and swinging him into two others. Punching worked well. But he saved a very nice kick just for Klaris. It was over rather quickly. He started shaking and weeping and dropped to his knees. He'd killed them. He'd really had no choice. He got to his feet when Mim, Vanas, Peranse and Marashan ran down the long drive from the stable.

"Tut! Easy, boy. Let's look you over. Oh, you're bleeding. Vanas, call the vet. I'll get him to the stable."

"I'll take him to the house, Peranse. Ferandis will want to check him. Yes, Mim, you can come too. Come on, Tut. It's over. Let's get you taken care of."

"Damn, Vanas, what are we going to do?"

"Well, Marashan is going to take care of Tut and you and I are going to take care of what's left of these. They went after him with knives, Peranse."

"It was their last mistake. Sweet, gentle, Tut. He's very upset."

"That's why Marashan took him over. Let's get help. Tick! Fint! Torm! Here, boys! Easy now, boys. I know they smell bad, but we need to move them. People would be scared if they knew Tut could do this. Grab hold. Good, boy. Now, follow me."

"You're right, Vanas. They're much smarter than we realized."

"They most certainly are, Peranse. Over the sea wall?"

"Are you sure they killed that little girl?"

"Absolutely. There were witnesses. Now they can quit worrying about this bunch coming after them."

"Why didn't they just come forward?"

"We couldn't, Peranse. Whoops! Careful."

"Torm, you could have given me a minute to try to think of something."

"Yes, but I've been wanting to tell Peranse she's a sweetie for solars, Vanas. My kids adore her. Tas will probably thump me, but Tut got away with telling you, so it probably won't be a hard thump. Come on, boys! Let's get rid of this refuse!"

Peranse just stared. Studs came from all over... somewhere and suddenly she was standing with Vanas watching them trot off toward the sea wall.

"They were in the trees."

"What?"

"They were up in the trees. They're trained troops. Tut's their commander. You're considered a very good friend or you wouldn't have been spoken to. I guess there are now five who know. They've been trying to get us civilized enough to meet their people since we landed on this planet. They're pretty disgusted that we've been eating them, but they know some of us don't. They know you don't."

"I never have. It just seemed wrong."

"Marashan has a theory some of us recognize them as people instinctively. He says the slaughterhouse keeps more from saying, 'Ugh.' It keeps us from having to think about where dinner came from. Let's go up to the house. You'll like watching Tut, Mim and Tas wriggle their toes in the carpet. They don't even know they're doing it."

"Tas too."

"He's their elected leader. Like our council chair, I guess. Mim's an artist. Peranse, they died to change us rather than kill us. They always could have. You'll get the story so you can play your part. They think we're ready to accept another sentient species now. So they're going to become one."

"In the... trees."

"Your mind is not working yet. Your 'friendly species' already found us, Peranse. They just had to wait more than three hundred solars to tell us."

"Illogical, does not compute."

### Dress Gray

copyright 2000

The group designated gray d-five a-three two seven c-nine oh four one prepared as best they could. How did one a few hours old prepare to fight for life? How did one a few hours old prepare to die? The answer was, in as many ways as there were of them. They'd stopped being identical the instant the growth cells were opened and the complinks disconnected. All would fight to stay alive, but the goal was to destroy as many of the automated ships attacking as was possible. Their worlds would be watching. They were the hope of living beings. They were the defenders of life.

The automated ships came from somewhere. Someone had programmed them at some time. Who and why weren't questions that had been asked long. How to survive had quickly become the only one anyone had time to ask. Only living minds in complink gave them an edge. Twenty destroyed twenty-three on average before they were destroyed, but the huge automated ships scooped every bit of debris from space and 'ate' moons and small planets for raw materials to build more. Life had learned to keep up.

Every group that stepped from the growth cells knew the history of their species. The truth wasn't hidden. Life made mistakes and struggled to grow. The truth of the attack by the automated fleet wasn't hidden either. Survival of the species might be possible. Each individual of them raised that possibility as much as he or she could. They were at physical peak, the equivalent of sixteen or seventeen years. They were educated to the highest level that could be managed, five or six advanced degrees in technical fields and a wide foundation in art and philosophy. They were given all they could be given, including a few hours to be alive.

This group had been lucky. It was nineteen hours old. The whole group of one hundred had known seven hours of being alive before each individual sought one of the small ships that was a weapon. Once in awhile one of the small ships survived a battle to return to the base. It became a prototype. Once in a much greater while, the person in it survived as well. The person too became a prototype.

He was Daco Gray. He hadn't told anyone else he was. One might have pointed out they were all Daco Gray. He chose a ship. He named it Dress Gray. He didn't tell anyone else. He didn't want to know they were all choosing ships and naming them. He had an idea. He didn't want to know there had been millions who'd had the idea. He didn't want to know they'd died. He made sure he could move things when he was ready. He checked the interface patches with the comp. He was ready when the ship that was half weapon and half him shot from the launch tube.

He drove for the big ships. It didn't surprise anyone. Some always did. If they did enough damage, the next group fighting the same huge production ship had a few more hours to be alive. Then a comp started blinking for attention. The watchers whooped and ran for monitors. Someone was doing something very different.

"Hey, Mech! Know why you can't win?! Know why you can't beat us?! Know why we always take a few extra with us?! Monitor close! The species that created you didn't have this! I'm Daco Gray and this is just half of it!"

Daco moved the bio-monitors to his cock and hit the control for full link broadcast. People in command dove for controls. An elderly female slugged a monitor tech when he started to override. Others pushed chairs back and kept their hands off boards. Computers asked for help. The elderly female yelled, "NO ONE TOUCH A DAMN THING!" into the defense link.

The group drove to defend the little ship. Everything was suddenly after it. They didn't know what one of their number was doing, but it was something different and the mechanized enemy had decided it was dangerous. One of the group cautiously opened a monitor, slapped it shut fast and began to giggle. He hit the in-ship voice channel.

"He's full linked, full bio and link broadcasting on all mech frequencies and masturbating. He's got some imagination! Keep him alive. He's going to fry circuits! He about fried mine."

"This is command control. He's frying ours. We're cheering. This is an innovative combat technique."

Control launched eleven more groups in as many minutes. They launched everything close to ready and began getting a lot more close.

The one who seemed to have the attention of every mechanized ship was in no hurry. Control was watching, but not monitoring. They'd tried for a very short while. Comps began to loop and people sat blinking. They watched the pulse and respiration of the one and the holo tank that showed thousands battling to keep him alive. The elderly female grinned at an elderly male. He shook his head.

"We've got no idea where it came from, where any of it came from. He's got no record of unusual preoccupation with sex, and no record of having masturbated before."

"None?!"

"Not physically. There's a sim program because it's considered part of normal development."

"If that's normal, I've been missing something my whole life."

"Controller Jardine, it's possible for any male, or female, to prolong sexual activity like that."

"It wasn't the activity I was talking about, Psych Director. I like sex. All healthy people do. That is not liking sex. It is also not... normal imagination. That's a plan and he's worked on it. He decided we were right when we tried to overwhelm the logic of the machines with the desire biological life has for life. He decided we missed the mark when we stressed the procreative drive as just a part of it. He's broadcasting physical desire and an incredible wild fantasy of sexual pleasure."

"You're quite right. We don't know what he's using, but that's not just a heterosexual fantasy and he's not just masturbating. I had one idiot in the section I barely stopped before he programmed a sedative and recall for study to find out if the 'aberration' was genetic or a programming fault."

"I slugged one about to disable his broadcast system because he was confusing our computers. What the hell?!"

"Damn!!"

"Launch everything! Get everything into that piece of quadrant three you can as fast as you can! He just put them over the edge! He's beaten them if we can keep him alive to finish them off!"

Daco was vaguely aware of the 'fireworks' around him. He couldn't wait longer. The ring wasn't enough. It had become part of the pleasure. He moaned and 'felt' mouths and hands on his body. He arched and writhed in the touch he did not allow himself to remember was fantasy.

That was the real key. He had to feel it all. It couldn't be a fantasy to him. He roared the release of his climax through the tight ring and shivered when he loosened the ring and began over. That's when circuits fried. That's when life won the battle against something programmed to destroy it. They'd never learn who built and programmed it, but the creatures obviously hadn't prepared their creations for Daco Gray. The huge moon-eater production ship just stopped, when he murmured, "Oh, yeah, like that. Make me hard again."

The very few little ships left, of all that had been launched and ordered to the quadrant, cleaned it of heavily armed automated ships that were just going around and around the huge mother ships. More of those were arriving every minute, but they weren't attacking. They leapt out of light speed and stopped.

The ships didn't edit the burst to the computers of the ships called to assist. The small remainder of the human fleet that had swarmed to defend one tiny ship began to systematically eliminate the fleet that arrived ship by huge ship. They'd only been fighting a fraction of it. It would be months before it all arrived, but it would never be a threat to any living thing again. Daco Gray drifted off to sleep in his little ship with his hand on his cock and the feel of beautiful women cleaning the sticky from him in his mind.

He was a hero in a very limited circle. Every human on every planet knew one of the "capsule people" had come up with something that had "confused" the computers of the automated fleet long enough it could be destroyed. They knew only a few of the young people, grown in a day from sperm and ova to young warrior, who had battled to save all life had survived. He was a hero in a limited circle because no one was going to tell the general populace how many lived or who they were.

They'd gone from being "the sacrificed beautiful potential of us all" to "war clones they're talking about just letting walk around with real people" in a few hours. It didn't make any difference everyone knew they weren't clones. Some were still screaming "real" people had to be protected from "war clones."

The director of the psych division grabbed twenty-three people out of thousands and told the rest they were civilians. The twenty-three went to work helping the survivors deal with the pain of the epithets and rejection. They'd been the ones already working on it. The rest had been discussing the papers they would write. One of the twenty-three walked into the psych director's office and tossed a recommendation on his desk. She was wearing a very large grin and Commander Jardine's approval was largely evident on the cover of the recommendation.

"Tell me, Ramirez."

"He wants the name he picked. He wants the 'brains and guts' of the guncapsule he chose put in a bigger ship. He wants a cargo to trade and a chance to find out if 'the real thing' is as good as his imagination."

"I hope you told him yes, yes, yes and no."

"I told him it might be if he could find anyone else with as much imagination. He laughed. He's stable and healthy like few others I've met. He said turn them all loose. He said the only way to really end it and 'confuse the issue and the bigots' was hand everyone a credential or piece of tech and say have a nice life. He's right. They're talking appropriations for fleet mothballing in congress. They're deciding how long peace enlistment should be. They're deciding on levels of benefits for participants. They're deciding whether or not a person grown in a growth cell and educated by deep link is human and gets any, including life."

"Comm connect Commander Jardine."

"Jardine."

"Open the doors or label everything, count every nut and bolt and design two screen requisitions for single sheets of toilet paper."

"In lieu of accumulated pay. The accounting comp has had regular bouts of hiccups for months, loses about half the payroll every time."

"This time personnel was on-line when it did it. They can't say anything or they'll have to admit the 'hiccups' have never been a 'glitch.' Ramirez seems to have a real flare for fiction. When the comp hiccups, it gets very confused. Somehow Ramirez' fiction gets mixed with the records. It issues everyone nice new identification. It does keep a record that it issued it."

"We should have known better than to try to analyze why the mech fleet fell apart."

"True, but we just had to try to figure out what it meant by an eleven-hour sex fantasy."

"Hmm, that's nice. I can put a hundred seventeen nice ships together with salvage as cargo in about four hours. Got some nice offices and some nice rec facilities."

"I want five partners in a resort."

"Pack. The title just got transferred. I only wanted two partners. I have more coming. Make your comp connection. It's having a very good time redistributing a great deal in a hurry. It always gets hiccups after it does. I'm going to enjoy being a civilian. After fifty-seven years, it's time I had the chance."

Congress yelped, but no one knew what to do about it. On twenty-eight worlds, people happily noted the amazing wisdom of the decision to "spread it all out." Everyone had gotten more than what was coming to them in flat value. They'd all signed releases saying they weren't owed anything more. The military was back to what it had been before the first attack of the automated fleet and, on every world, thousands and thousands of new businesses had opened with everything needed, no debt and no high taxes coming to 'mothball' it all.

The new business and home owners hurried to buy local licenses, get on the tax rolls and register to vote. It was part of their discharge contracts. So was not talking about what they did in the war. Since eighty-two percent were of that point oh oh three one six percent who had survived forty combat missions, they cheerfully showed new identification chips to people and noted no one who had chips like them had a past, period.

Congress suddenly had a large excess of funds allocated for maintenance and payroll that was just not needed. They had no idea what to do with it. They were working on it when they got the prediction the population was about to jump on all human worlds. Bebry Thorne was ready. She got the entire amount reallocated to education while some of the representatives were still trying to count all the zeroes.

Things were humming along smoothly in human space when three ships bearing very cautious aliens arrived. They were looking for what had pulled the fleet that had been destroying their worlds away. They found ships sitting in space waiting for automated ships. They watched as one arrived. Small attack ships swarmed out from it. The swarm fell apart and ships called greeting as they passed the three on the way to dismantle the big ship and collect the small ones. They carefully made contact with the odd-looking creatures who seemed friendly.

They discovered friendly was an understatement. The humans, as they called themselves, were delighted to have someone else to trade with. When the frahala'ak told them they knew of six other species who had been fighting the automated fleet, humans were overjoyed.

The human who had called itself Ambisaydorcayti made an odd noise when a ship dropped into the middle of their small globe of three. They wondered what the meaning was, but the ship in their midst had overwhelmed broadcast from the planet below. The person who spoke had long brown/red skull fur, pale skin with many pinkish speckles and very blue color rings in its black centered ocular organs. It was a very interesting-looking person and the decision guide of the first ship was more interested in communicating with it than the one who had been talking much and saying little.

"Hi, I'm Daco Gray. I had to wait to talk until I got a good translation sample. Simple answer is we're a strongly bisexual species. I'm a male. One of us broadcast a real intense sex fantasy. As soon as a ship shows, that hulk over there passes it for analysis and another batch of circuits fries. We figured out someone else was out there because arriving ships showed we weren't the only ones fighting. We're not going to offer a share of what we're getting off those ships, but we'll certainly be delighted to trade it for just about anything else. You've been talking to the official appointee. It's important to have an official relationship between governments, I suppose, but traders start trading while they're still working on the appropriate word for greeting. You need to know some of us are going to trail you home. If you stay here very long, some will point their ships in the direction they think you came from and hope it's the right way. We can say we're friendly now and that's all some of us were waiting for. My holds are full. I'm ready to go. Somebody want to lead me to someone who'd like to trade some of your fabric or fruit for our grain and fish and the mechs' salvaged tech?"

A pair of retired rear admirals sipped champagne and giggled, as they watched the screen of what had once been a battle monitor, in what had once been the very pleasant place admirals were trained. The aliens had obviously decided they liked Daco Gray, and humans. They were leading a large number of traders to their worlds. The appointed ambassador was sputtering and watching them go. They knew just how he felt.

The song "John Henry," and a bit of history of history of company towns, in which there was only one employer and the company owned everything are the basis of the what-if in this one. What if one couldn't just walk away?

### Legal Aid

copyright 2000, 2010

Joshua a'Lanter Holly took a deep breath and held his temper. The interstellar court frowned on it if civil court attorneys' assistants killed people. The man in front of him smiled coldly and Josh nodded.

"Yes, the contract is legal and you are abiding by the letter of it. You're making a mistake, Gen Loomy. You can't hold this town in legal economic bondage."

"Don't make foolish exaggerations, boy. Any employee of the mining company may resign at any time. The company pays ten days severance or transport to another job market."

"But not for their families."

"Why would the company offer that to families of people who don't work for it?"

"Accept what is offered or your family will starve to death. It's legal. I shall report this is not a case with even slight probability of success as a suit against the company. Sometimes that happens. Good-by, Gen Loomy. You have made this a brief stay. I will tell you I truly dislike the recommendation I must make to my firm's prospective clients. However, you have left me no option."

"No, I haven't. Good-by."

Josh sighed and took a deep breath when he got out of the company offices. The five men who had, basically, risked the lives of themselves and their families in contacting his employers could see what had happened in his face. He knew it. He told them there was no legal means to assist them, then noted he had completed work on the case and expenses declared for the next nine hours were to be filed as travel expense. He smiled wryly at the five men who were facing living on the aid of others who already shared the little they had with too many. People, children, were beginning to starve.

He looked across the valley of fields beyond the green-gray molded buildings of town. It was lovely, but it was just a valley. Beyond the shimmer of the parmapoly 'lid' on the valley was a lifeless world. And every bit of land and every building in the valley was Loomy's.

He'd purchased the mine when the corporation that had built it and the valley habitat sold it two years before. The sale contract had included "honoring" the miners' contracts.

The five men were as varied in ethnic origin as they were in education and training. They had two things in common. Courage and clothes. The soft brown mining suit liners had to be purchased. He knew why they were wearing them and not 'dress clothes.' The only thing they bought that wasn't required was food, for others.

"I'm off work. Find us a very private corner in a very well-known, dimly-lit bar. I used to hunt places like that when I was writing my thesis on the process of political development on the frontier. Got into some very interesting discussions with other people with interesting ideas on the subject. Buy me a pleasant brandy and I'll tell you all about it. The only way you can hang that man legally is to pass a law making what he has done illegal."

"What?"

The surprise in the tall, fair system engineer's question actually made him smile. They were very civilized people.

"There are eleven thousand and some of you, my friends. You are a political entity. You've established your unity. Personally, not as a representative of my firm or as a member of the bar, I think you should declare yourselves an independent political area, declare the mines the possession of the people, try Loomy for economic enslavement and hang him for murder, then request protectorate status from one of the solid social democracies in the area. Ask for a couple dozen college professors to help you understand the theory and operation of successful political units based on a single economic resource. You'll get a loose treaty of protection and a lot of real good help. You'll also get a lot of bright lights shined in every corner of nearly every life. Make it very clean. Exterminate that murderous creature legally."

"Thank you, Josh."

"Haim, when the law can't keep someone from enslaving even a few people, it's time to make law. There are over eleven thousand of you who are sure that needs to be done in this place. I'd say you have a pretty damn good indication you're not overreacting to the situation."

The men guided him to an open door in one of the long buildings that lined the streets in the center of town. "The Pit Pub" was stenciled above the door.

"This is a place we like."

"It's just what I had in mind, Haim. We have about seven hours before I need to prepare to board a shuttle. Two brandies should start me reminiscing of a bar I once frequented and the theories espoused by brilliant young colleagues, who knew political change was coming to the frontier and speculated on the forms it would take, with the combination of strong grounding in the current situation and the idealistic dreams of the young as base for them."

"Do tell us about some of the professors who shared their learning and wisdom as well, Josh."

"Why certainly, Raberic. I have wonderful quotes from fine educators in my stories of my friends. They always gave their sources whether referencing facts or great wisdom. I remember most of the statistical studies they quoted as well. My boss told me to tell you how to get out of the chains, period. This is why she sent me. There was never any doubt about the outcome of my research. The boss doesn't spend money sending us places where our knowledge and skills are of no use to the people who seek them. Sit down, gentlemen. You are about to get a very short version of the seminar I gave last quarter at Charter College of Graduate Anthropological Studies."

"Mark! Your finest brandy for our friend, a pitcher of water, six glasses and five data pads. We plan on loosening his tongue a bit about places he's been and what he's seen."

Josh smiled at the lovely woman who left the bar and joined the men. She'd obviously been waiting for them.

"You'd best be asking for water and data pads, Haim. We need some fresh impressions of peoples to add to the background of our current events curricula."

"Yes, Miridi. Miridi Jongary, this is Attorney Aide Joshua a'Lanter Holly. Miridi is a secondary level teacher, Josh. She would enjoy your short seminar immensely."

"I'd enjoy her company immensely. Do kick me if I get lost in beautiful brown eyes and forget I'm talking."

"She's married, Josh."

"That's why I told you to kick me, Haim. I'm sure I'll need the reminder."

Josh gave them the plan he'd worked out for them. All he'd needed to complete it was the sure knowledge that Jarkanis Loomy knew exactly what his implementation of the contract was doing and reveled in the power he had over their lives, and deaths. He gave the six the outline for rebellion, the timetable and from whom to ask assistance, political and economic.

Seven hours twelve minutes after they walked into the bar, Josh boarded the shuttle to the small ship that would take him to Weaver Station, and a passenger liner. Twenty-nine minutes after it lifted, Loomy was executed for the economic enslavement of the people of Trossim Mine and culpability in the death of a sixty-four-day-old child.

The "militant faction" immediately withdrew and opened the way for more "moderate" persons to guide the people of the new political entity. One of the first laws they passed was against capital punishment. The one person all agreed was deserving of it had been hanged. Trossim Mine was a protectorate of the Democratic Union of Independent Territories before Joshua arrived at his final destination, seventeen days later. His boss was pleased to see him, too pleased.

"Don't bother to unpack. You're leaving again soon."

"Hannah, I need a vacation. A long ship journey is not one. It's just a long ride."

"Third class on the Marlina Star?"

"Executive class. Hannah, I need it."

"Business class and I still owe you a vacation."

"Why am I agreeing? I'll never get the vacation."

"It's your own fault. If you weren't absolutely right about what was going to happen, you wouldn't be the best I could send to desperate people."

This one began with thoughts on genetic engineering and people's loudly expressed opinions of it. What if the results were coveted?

### Sector Nine

copyright 2000, 2011

Cardon looked up when his brother walked into his study room. His smile died before it was complete. He'd never seen Benned look lost before. He thought of his very fair, big, blond and blue eyed little brother as "sunny." This time there was no light of laughter in his eyes.

"Benned, what's wrong?"

"Our father... Our father is dead."

"What?!"

"He just... fell asleep and didn't awaken. Lissy called. She said we need to get out fast. We've been... denied."

"By who?!"

"Yoshid Trust. We're not assets to the estate. She couldn't find any who would support us. Trivi is named inheritor and Lidinna as holder. Lissy told Romia that Liddina had tried as well. She had to stop. Her attorney warned she was 'showing doubtful judgement' and someone else could be named as holder."

"Trivi is a babe, now without sibs, and it would delight whoever is behind this to name other than her mother as holder. How much time do we have?"

"Perhaps minutes. We'll be declared trespass, Cardon."

"That's the intent. We could never prove acceptable with that crime noted as committed. Who wants us?"

"Lissy couldn't learn, but they must be very powerful if no one will defend."

"True. Computer, wipe all files under my personal code. Wipe all record of Trom sons, authorization code private business. Execute Trom record wipe as programmed. Full wipe. No save. Do it, Benned."

"Computer, wipe all files under my personal code. Execute previous instruction, authorization code family business. Full wipe. No save. I... wouldn't have remembered, Cardon."

"If we're not assets, we'll leave nothing, neither our work nor Dad's. He didn't expect us to have to use that program and those codes, but that's why he created them. Let's go."

"Where?"

"Out of the house to begin. Romia and Flane will be clearing the others. It's running. All codes are in. We've got very few to get off the grounds before the security program records us as unknowns."

Cardon nearly guided Benned out. Of the nine brothers, he was youngest and had been closest to their father. He laid the pain of loss aside. He wasn't eldest, but they'd all turn to him to get them through what was coming. He wanted to curl around the feeling of emptiness and cry, but whoever wanted them didn't intend to give them time to mourn. They no longer had father or name. If they didn't get off the grounds fast, they wouldn't have freedom either.

Romia and Flane were on the long drive in front of them. He urged Benned to a run. They caught up with them and their eldest brothers began to run with them. They caught up with Callon, Darrid, Evis, Gardic and Nandron before they reached the end of it. They dropped in behind them and ran.

They were in the shelter of a hedge on public domain when the enforcement flyers went over. They'd just made it. Cardon checked quickly. All had cleared their personal files as well as inputting the codes their father had given them. Lissy had given them enough warning. She hadn't been able to do more and they knew it. They were free because their father's aide had loved him and the nine sons, of whom he was so proud.

Lissy and Liddina were the only ones who could actually identify them. They'd never left the grounds of the estate and had stayed carefully out of sight when people came to it. Liddina had been their physician and physical trainer for many years when she'd chosen to bear their father a child before she passed the age of bearing. They all loved her for the gift she'd given and adored their two-year-old sister Trivi.

They held one another and let grief wash through them as the evening shadows deepened. By law, they were still an investment in an experimental procedure, not even boys. By skill and learning, they were men and someone wanted them. They weren't old enough for their father to have petitioned to have them declared colony assets and tested to prove they were human.

Rannor Trom had been in his seventies when he decided he wanted children. All he'd sired before had been their mothers' and he'd carefully protected them by assuring it. He'd expected to live at least another fifty years. He'd chosen to build his estate on Veckly and waited another ten until the uproar over his retirement had died down. Veckly was one of a very few colonies that allowed genetic engineering. He'd paid for nine in vitro sons over a not-quite four year span.

The laws had been built to protect children born of donated gametes and artificial wombs, but some had found a way to use them. The laws were designed to make people cautious of what they requested of the genetic engineers. They would have to live with and provide for engineered children and prove they'd done a good job in both selection and raising them. The financial support must be guaranteed. Yoshid Trust was the only licensed bond holder in the colony. They had stated the nine cost more than they were worth to keep. Someone wanted the nine of them for sale at a bargain price.

They were beautiful and brilliant. They were also a commodity. They were almost old enough for their father to petition the colony for status for them, but not quite. Romia and Flane were just under twenty local years. If they'd been twenty, they could have petitioned for their younger brothers when they reached that age, but they hadn't yet "proved viable." They were "gen-surg experiments" and now would never be people. As darkness fell, they prepared themselves to deal with it.

"Yoshid is taking bids on us to 'defray' our expense. We've got to find a way off this world."

"Agreed, Flane, but it isn't going to be easy and it isn't going to be legal."

"I stopped worrying about that when they denied us as assets, Cardon. We're no longer legal."

"Legal, Evis, but failed experiments. We've been pitched in the recycle bin. My mind is sludge. I want to... run to Daddy."

"So do I, Callon. It's what we all want. But if he was here to run to, we wouldn't need to run, and we must."

"Who wants us and why, Cardon?"

"I don't have any specific ideas, Romia. The obvious answer is because we're our father's. Who may be a long list. Presently, finding out isn't very high in my priorities. Oh, damn."

Cardon felt his stomach knot as the full implications 'sunk in.' He could see his brothers had all understood. They were caught in a trap. They knew they were wanted for their minds, but they would be purchased for their bodies, sold to the highest bidder. They couldn't be slaves because they weren't people.

They couldn't be "dismembered." That included being used for 'replacement parts' or having their minds wiped. Other than that, they could be used. They could be drugged, mind linked to computers, forced to work or starve, be rented for pleasure, and their semen could be collected and would probably bring a good price. They had to get off Veckly before they were physically examined and approved for "closely supervised limited use."

"We need to find an offworld ship tonight. Are there any in port, Gardic?"

"Five, Card, but only two are scheduled to leave in the next twelve hours. One is registered to Firth and the other Caramis. The Grissana from Firth is big cargo and a big ship. Tally is light cargo and small. Its crew of two are owner/operators. Both are women and they're Independent Traders Guild members. I think it's our best hope."

"Agreed. I'm not ready for this, but we need to move. Dad would be furious if we just sat here and cried while they arranged for scanning equipment and began a search. We don't have much time. They'll discover we blanked all the files and finding us will come up as a priority as soon as they learn it's a full wipe and they can't retrieve anything. We need to get to the port before they place a no-exit order on us as part of the estate settlement. Strip. They could get a court recall for theft. Our clothes are currently of value and we're not. We'll leave them on the road leading west. Hopefully, they'll look that direction a few minutes before they realize we headed cross-country toward the spaceport and not out into the wild lands."

Cardon and Benned led them. They always led a run. Cardon had been their leader since he was four. Benned tripped over his smaller, older, brothers. He had a tendency to get his mind on a nice problem and forget he was behind them. They'd long ago learned he "subconsciously" ran in step with Cardon if he was beside him. He had complete faith Card would steer him around obstacles. It let him concentrate on what he was thinking about and not what was in front of him.

They went over the fence around the spaceport and ran straight for the small trade ship. They ducked under it into the deep shadows, out of the faint light of the moons. They were well hidden when the loading lights were turned on for the Firth ship. The lights made it even less likely someone would see them in the darkness. They hoped their luck held, but were prepared if loading lights were turned on for the trader. They saw the two women coming and Cardon moved. If lights came on, they did. It was the chance they had to take.

Laina Coskordy and Rislin Mankim had finished their "bargaining" and headed for their ship. They weren't really pleased with the results and did not plan on making another trip to the world. The colony was too 'value oriented.' It hadn't been that way twelve years before. Everything hadn't had an exact price.

They'd barely covered the cost of landing. If they'd sold the rest of their cargo, they'd have lost money. The woman they'd been dealing with had been angry they wouldn't sell it at "computed value." She wanted the cargo, the value was determined and the fact they'd lose money was totally irrelevant. She'd yelled they were "unreasonable" when they'd delivered what they had sold and would not accept her second offer of the same price they'd already refused on the rest.

"Let's get off this planet now."

"I agree. It's just plain weird, Ris. She really didn't understand why we wouldn't sell."

"She really didn't understand we could get more for the cargo somewhere else, Laina. The price was the price and, as far as she was concerned, it was the same everywhere and not selling to her could only be... personal vindictiveness."

"There's someone by the ship."

"Maybe we just learned why lights are 'at need' and a separate fee for each use."

"And why even a stunner is banned."

The two women were expecting trouble, not a beautiful nude boy on his knees begging their aid. They certainly didn't expect eight more to come out of the deep shadow of the ship and join him in the faint moonslight. Laina opened the hatch and told them to get in fast. Ris was surprised, but trusted her friend's instincts completely.

"Now, who and why?"

"Our father died. We're gen engineered. We've been declared of more expense than worth. In other words, someone powerful wants us for recycle price."

"Why nude and ages?"

"Theft of something from the estate is proof we're not... civilized. Ages: sixteen to nineteen our years, seventeen to twenty standard. Benned is youngest by a season; Flane eldest by the same. I'm Cardon, middle son. We ask aid getting to a world where we are... people. We will work on this ship, but know there is not enough to be done to earn passage for nine. We will pay it when we can, if we can."

"Port control. We're leaving now. If you don't like it, shove it. The feeling's mutual. You're on our shit list. You won't get any more independents. Maybe some of the corporate shippers will land. Hope you're ready to be self-sufficient. Thirty second count commencing. Out."

"Laina?!"

"Move it, Ris. I figure we've got thirty to get them off this stinking world. Somebody is planning on buying these kids and they've set their price!"

"Oh, shit! Comp on! Lift off count in progress! Scan for clear and initiate warning beacon!"

"Nineteen and counting! Boys! Flatten and hang on! We're going up at one-point seven grav and it'll feel like more!"

Laina grinned and hit thrust. The departure was "precipitous" and barely legal. Port control squawked. Laina told them they could file a protest with Intertrade if they felt like being laughed at.

"Tally, you are instructed to return immediately for search for contraband cargo."

"Stuff it. You know and I know we're not carrying drugs or weapons for sale."

"That is not the nature of the cargo. You are suspected of removing experimental materials."

"What?! We haven't been to any labs, or manufacturers. We're not coming back just so you can charge us another landing fee. If you think we've got something of yours, file itemized with Intersect Police. We'll stand off and allow them to conduct a search. We don't trust you not to run a flat stall and charge port fees for an extended period. I am not going to be forced to sell my legal cargo at a loss to pay for them. Tell that bitch from Trade Marketing Group it didn't work. Out."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Welcome, kid. You all right?"

"The liftoff was... interesting, but not extremely uncomfortable."

"You the only one who talks?"

"No, but nine talking would be confusing and we know you were busy and thinking fast. Now we know you have course computations to do. We would offer aid, but your systems are unfamiliar to us and we would probably not lessen the time required. If you will direct us to where you wish us to await, we will get out from underfoot while you do them."

"Lounge down one level, second hatch left. See if you can figure out the galley and fix dinner. For eleven."

"Thank you."

"Specific, Laina?"

"Do you think they'd have fixed for themselves if I hadn't been, Ris?"

"No, I guess not. We need to get them in clothes."

"Yeah, I kept wanting to look, not work, too. Ris, we need to quiz and file with Intersect Court and the guild. I think we've got clear evidence of a treaty breach."

"Human rights violation."

"They've defined them as experimental materials and not people. Those kids know it."

"Laina, gen engineered is... pretty iffy."

"Compute course for Pinderro Station."

"Yipe!"

"You know anyplace else they can pick up identities?"

"No, but I'm suddenly feeling motherish. It's not a place for kids and I wouldn't recommend it for most adults."

"That's first. I'm rather sure they're going to be difficult to convince to lie about their ages and origins."

"Why?"

"They left their clothes behind."

"True. Well, they do have a small streak of realist. They didn't just... "

"Wait to be sold for recycle value."

"Ugh. Hope my stomach forgets that before dinner."

"Yeah. Mine too."

They didn't have any trouble with the galley, of course. Evis and Callon moved in and went to work. The rest just waited. They'd taken a chance and gotten lucky. The women's reaction had surprised them. They'd been angry. They quietly discussed it. They weren't used to being treated like people by anyone but their father and his two close women friends. Their father had grumbled every time he'd had to list them as investments, not dependents, on his taxes.

They were aware of their own worth and didn't think of themselves as things, but they had absorbed some of the culture of their world as they learned its laws and ways. They'd expected to have to live in it. They'd carefully studied all the laws so they would 'show well' when they were tested when their father applied for citizen status for them when each reached the age of twenty, marked from the day they were taken from the artificial wombs where they had spent the first two hundred eighty days after gamete combination and gen surgery had produced a viable zygote. They began to wonder if their father's attitude had been less "odd and biased" than they'd realized.

"Floor party?"

"I beg your pardon, Captain?"

"You're all in the floor, Cardon."

"We would not use furnishings intended for you and passengers without... instruction. You're... angry."

"Damn right! One, you're people! Two, get used to everybody thinking that way! Three, we'll tell you if we don't want you to use or do something! Four, that world is sick! And we're going to yell it from one side of the sector to the other and make sure it spreads to the rest! Relax. You won't be tracked, trailed, or specifically mentioned. Something smells good. That's not plain hydrate and warm."

"Evis and Callon would... You said prepare a meal. That is just moving food from stores to table. We would not... fulfill an instruction incompletely."

"Damn! They've about got you completely brainwashed. Your father must have battled that whole damn world for you."

"Yes, Captain, he did. In about three years, he would have won. We'd begun preparing the proof of our value for him. He never asked it, but we knew it would be needed. To him, we were loved sons. He... died this morning. He was on a business trip. His aide warned us that we'd been denied as assets. We didn't get to say good-by."

"Oh, you poor babies! Laina, get Tardik. I agree Pinderro Station, but I want that... It just plain stinks. Somebody was too prepared for it."

"You think our father was killed?"

"I don't know what I think, Cardon, except it smells bad. You're battling shock and trying to keep ahead of a cage that was just too close. Laina, I mean now. Come on, boys. Let's see if we can find you something to wear."

Investigator Tardik Fascondi looked at the message and blinked. Laina said, "Ris smells garbage. Fresh air on Pinderro. Move it." He yelled for clearance to the port and minimum countdown and got moving. They wanted to rendezvous before they got there. He knew where they'd been. He'd been 'sniffing' that direction. If he moved fast enough, he could get to nav check point PinLoshTorc Seven Three before they did and do a docked run to the next. Pinderro was out of his territory, but he'd chase them the whole way if necessary. Ris had a very good sense of smell. If Laina was heading for "fresh air" on Pinderro, she'd gotten a whiff of something sickening.

Tardik just made it. He came out of translight at the nav point from one way just as they came out from another. Nine minutes later he was docked and in twelve Laina had them back in translight. He was amazed. She was good, but that was amazing. Ris met him at the hatch. Her grin was humor over burn.

"We acquired some too good help on computation."

"Too good?"  
"Yeah, so good I think their father may have been murdered so they could be bought cheap."

"Say what?!"

"Nine gen engineered boys about to hit the age for him to petition for legal status for them. They were declared not 'assets' to the estate in minutes. Daddy was a genius and very wealthy. Mamas were premium donors. Baby sister got the estate. Her mommy passed word to their dad's aide and they were warned. They even left their clothes behind, so they couldn't be charged with theft. Someone still tried to stop us leaving. Laina looked at nine gorgeous nude boys on knees begging for help, opened the hatch and began a half-minute countdown. Daddy's very unexpected death was too expected. Tardik, the whole colony smells. Everything has an exact computed value. They were furious we wouldn't sell our cargo at a loss and sure we were just being difficult because that was the value."

"Ris, bad smell and garbage are understatements."

"Yeah, someone's turning that colony into a cesspool."

"Pinderro?"

"We're hoping to convince them to do some fibbing about ages and origins and accept the necessity of some shady identification by the time we get there. Cardon is the one we have to convince. Got nine briefs you can spare?"

"No, but I've got nine I'll give. Just briefs?"

"They run from a hundred ninety cens to two meters five of perfectly developed muscle. Daddy was big. That's not even engineered, just selected."

"You have doubts they were at all."

"I've begun to wonder how long someone has been watching for the time they'd be ripe."

"Damn."

"Tardik, I started wondering before I learned who their daddy was."

"Uh, oh. Who?"

"Ronnor Trom."

"What?!"

"He was on that world because he could have sons there."

"It didn't make sense until you said that name. Now I can think of a couple hundred organizations and individuals that would take over a colony to get one of them."

"They were surprised I recognized it."

"Feels very odd to say I think Pinderro is the best place to take them. I could get them documents, but that's a secret I don't think we could keep secret. Anything else, but not that. Come on. I won't have to fit, but I might be able to do more than just briefs. Help me figure."

Tardik did come up with some things. He handed around briefs and an assortment of lounge pants, shorts, vests, shirts that stretched enough or fastened part way and a couple loose lightweight jackets with soft shoulders that didn't show they were too small with the sleeves rolled up. The surprised and sincere thanks made him ache.

"You're very welcome. Let's talk. Laina says she told you who I am. Ris told me what you think you are."

"Think?"

"Yes, Cardon, think. We both doubt you're more than gene selected. I also doubt your father was told the truth about it. You will do what's necessary to get identification stating you aren't who you are. I'll build you pasts. My job is protecting people. You could start a war."

"What?"

"You've been legally defined as property, Cardon. Some people worked real hard to make sure you stayed that way. They may have been taking bids for you from worlds. Nine with Ronnor Trom's genius, and taught by him, could set sectors at each other's throats. Your dad invented the translight comm when he was seventeen. He invented the drive used on every ship in space when he was twenty-three. He invented the nav system at thirty-one. He wrote the records program for the inter-bank exchange at thirty-four. He did a hell of a lot more, but those everyone knows about. Then, at about age sixty, he 'retired' and disappeared from view. He tried anyway. He evidently hoped ten years of keeping a low profile would keep you from being noted. Maybe he knew you weren't really gen engineered and thought that would keep eyes off you long enough for you to have some kind of childhood."

"I don't understand."

"Then he succeeded. If he hadn't, you would. You'd know because every minor educational achievement would have been on intersector newscasts and there would have been thousands of educators proposing ways to direct your study to fully develop your potential. He was sued for his gametes four times. He lost twice. His genetic material was declared a species resource."

"We... aren't engineered."

"Oh, maybe hair and eye color, maybe build and immunity factors, but not intellectual capabilities and talents. Those were just assured. Cardon, he tried. Not one of you has his brown hair and eyes. You're all much more muscular than he would have been if he'd worked out hours every day. None of you run to plump, which he battled since childhood. I've got no doubts he loved you and was proud of you. He just didn't expect someone to take over a colony and murder him to get you."

"You're sure someone did."

"Yes, and I'm caught between wanting to catch them and assuring your safety. I'm going to do what I think he'd want. I'm going to help you become other people to protect you. I'll find some kind of excuse to take apart that mess other than you and him. Laina did the ground work. She sent a complaint and report to the Traders' Guild. You weren't mentioned, but someone knows she got you off planet."

"Take us with you from the next nav point. Get them going elsewhere to sell their cargo fast. Rumor that we got off later than they think and bribed our way on with our identities and a patentable program. Rumor our father had prepared in case we needed to run."

"Good. Your minds are working. We'll do he had a couple dozen alternate identities and pasts set up for you."

"The rumor will hold more seeming truth if an investigation is begun, but not by you. Can you arrange to be called in to do it?"

"Yes, Flane, I think I can. Now, I've got a job offer for you. Intersect could use you. Since everyone knows the pasts of recruits are very thoroughly investigated, then buried, it will move you a bit more out of the probables."

"We obtain illegal identities, then those are buried?"

"Yes, Benned, and you get nice legal ones to replace them. If I could trust our security system couldn't be breached, I'd do it that way. I can't. This time I trust only a few people. Should be interesting. Two of the people I'm sure I can trust are old adversaries and I know I can trust them because I haven't been shot in the back. Another is an old friend. We're both careful no one realizes it."

Laina and Ris surprised the boys with hugs of farewell. Their surprise gave Tardik an idea. He planted their pasts with their help before they left the nav beacon.

New Accord had record of nine young people who showed "inappropriate group cohesion and personal affection for creche sibs at all age levels." They'd gotten offworld before recommended rehabilitation had become court ordered. New Accord lamented the "aberration" in the brilliant young men and their departure, but maintained a very strict policy of allowing emigration from the overpopulated world. If they hadn't, the Interstellar Court would have long before found them in charter violation.

"If they don't like it, they can leave," was the reason New Accord and several other worlds weren't in violation of the human rights charter. Teaching children physical expression of affection was inappropriate and love should not be for specific individuals was not. Love was appropriate. It was just supposed to be for all people and mentally, not physically, expressed. The measure of their success with the notion was the comparison between their population stability and the number of young adults who left as soon as they could. There were a lot of them.

Tardik became sure Trom had known someone would want his sons when he learned no descriptions or identification of them had ever been filed. If someone hadn't killed him, he would have gotten them to adult status before they were known. Tardik was sure there was no true record of their genetic patterns. Trom would have taken care of that fast. The boys assured him there was no visual record of them. They'd made sure of that. New Accord had many of their physiotype. Vackley colony did not.

Tardik surprised them when he laughed. A gen scan would show their unusual hair, pale blond to bright coppery red; eye color, light blue to very green; and skin tone, extremely fair to light bronze, was natural and it was a great disguise. He didn't doubt their conviction no one who knew otherwise would correct a mistaken physical description, not even the little sister of whom all were so fond.

Tardik docked at Pinderro and took the boys straight to Wilda's place. They weren't ready for it. The girls took care of that quickly. He had coffee with Wilda.

"They definitely weren't expecting you to bring them to a brothel."

"No, and I wasn't about to tell them that's what I was going to do. They might have tried to apply a New Accord attitude to your business. I didn't want them prepared to 'accept the necessity of physical release with aid of trained professional persons.' I wanted your girls to just bowl them over and teach them sex is fun before they got the chance."

"Oh, I do understand that one. Why here?"

"I'm kicking dirt over their tracks. They're too good. I want to pick up false identification for them. I know determined can get who from us. I'm also... This is between us. There are nine boys a lot of people are after. These might pull some attention the wrong way long enough for them to really disappear. Ronnor Trom is dead, probably murdered. His nine sons are classified as unsuccessful gen experiments and, basically, for sale. The boys know they're helping distract from those kids, ages seventeen to twenty."

"Damn! That's dangerous for them."

"A gen scan will show they didn't start with dark brown hair and eyes and haven't had cosmetic surgery, Wilda. I suppose that willingness to help... "

"Is why you're so sure they'll make good police officers. You brought them here to finish off the New Accord push to be 'reserved' physically and show them how the rest of us think."

"Well, I figured Pinderro was a good short course in a very different viewpoint."

"No laws, but don't break any. Extreme individualism is encouraged because it makes us all alike. I like seeing you, but you aren't particularly welcome."

"No, but I'm not in danger. Hostovic and Pleshen would cheerfully put a beam through me, but not from the back and they won't let anyone else do it that way either."

"True. I suppose you want me to arrange a meeting."

"Yes. They'll help on this one, I think."

"I think so too. About the only thing that will make them angrier than you showing up on their doorstep is somebody trying to sell kids."

Nine hours later, Tardik was on his way to Intersect headquarters with nine young men, each with identification and a ship bag with clothes that fit. Hostovic and Pleshen met for a drink on neutral ground. Both were smiling. Hostovic held up two fingers. Pleshen held up three.

"He always pays for favors."

"That's why he's alive, Pleshen. I'd figured one was supplementing his pay. The other was a surprise."

"One was to me. He's damn smart."

"Makes you glad legit is really more profitable, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does."

They didn't need to talk about it further. Both knew exactly what Tardik had done. The people in their organizations, who had been supplementing their incomes, had hurried to tell their other bosses not to bother with the nine because they were plants and intended to keep them occupied while the real trail got cold. They both appreciated the finesse and the assist with housecleaning. Those hunting were now sure the nine for whom they'd gotten identification weren't who they both knew they were. The five who had assured it wouldn't get the chance to discover they'd been wrong. Hostovic and Pleshen figured it was worth the effort of planting a few obvious false pasts, even if no one bothered to check them. They shared an 'odd' attitude. Profit came from people, not on them.

Cardon appreciated the finesse too. Tardik grinned when he told him so. He laughed when he added they were all struggling a bit to remember their names.

"Don't struggle too hard. You're going to get new ones again in about three days. I suggest you pick them. I wish I had. I certainly wouldn't have picked Tardik."

"Saying I do understand feels odd."

"Yeah, it rubs up against your very polite nature. What's the worry?"

"Splitting up."

"Ooh, that's not just worry. It's about scared."

"About may be an unnecessary qualification."

"Request a sector."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Request a sector. Ask for one of the frontier sectors and note you are the right number to run a base ship and teams from it. You'll have to be very impressive to get it, but I don't doubt you can be. I figure it's probably the only way to get you from working to not be. Cardon, the past I planted you has several comments in it stating you weren't recommended for intensive counseling because you showed appropriate social attitudes by not working to your full potential."

"What?"

"You carefully refrained from getting too far ahead of creche sibs and made sure you weren't better at everything. Since those comments and records are in the files of a creche for gifted children, you should be exceptional. There are also a couple very nice studies on why you nine formed an inappropriate bond and several considered opinions you should be gently encouraged to emigrate rather than seek counseling. Of course, there are several recommending rehabilitation to 'correct your behavioral aberration' and apply your genius toward the 'stability of the society.' Those aren't quite as good as the others. They sort of show the writers wanted you to be made to think like everybody else so they could get use out of the fact you're different."

"The past you built us on New Accord really would stand up to investigation."

"I should hope so! I'd be very upset to learn twenty-two years of doing investigations hadn't taught me enough to build pasts for you that would. Cardon, no one else is to know who you are. Laina and Ris know I won't tell anyone else. They won't and neither will the two we both know figured it out. You are carrying false identification to help cover Trom's nine boys. You can swear to it if needed."

"I see. I'd missed that. Thank you. We can state we can't state we're Ronnor Trom's sons under oath, but we can answer it's why we sought false identification and to cover our true identities. We should be able to avoid having to... You even took care of that. You made it so the past on New Accord is the one we got false identities to hide."

"I hate to lie and have always managed to find a way not to do so under oath. I figured you'd be at least as bothered by the idea as I am."

"I might have managed. Benned wouldn't have."

"You and Benned. Talk to me."

"Our baby brother. Not by much, but still baby brother. He picked me to trail when I toddled and he crawled."

"You never trailed anyone, so they all follow you."

"Perhaps that's exactly the reason. All right, we'll study the frontier sectors and decide where we belong."

"Capri. I opened the file for you. That's where you're needed most."

"You do have a way of... "

"Reducing preparation time. It's a habit. That sector is officially in my territory. I assuage guilt for grabbing you for my team with the fact it's where you're most needed."

"Bad?"

"Start with pirates and work up to the real villains."

"It doesn't sound like a very safe place to raise a crop and a family."

"Your job is to make it one."

"The idea appeals to me."

"I don't draft people who aren't right for the job."

"Surname Flane, he will not remember not to answer to it."

"One isn't enough."

"Flane, Cardon and Callon. It's a bit obvious, but we are young and someone might fall for it long enough the Trom boys can get a bit deeper into cover."

"That'll work."

"I have an excellent teacher."

The selection board thought the willingness of the nine to take on the somewhat dangerous task of covering for the boys, even they knew people were hunting, was a good recommendation too. The in-depth investigation of their pasts confirmed their opinion. The many evaluations in their files noted exactly the "problems" they were looking for. Of course, they saw them as qualities, but they weren't social guidance personnel on New Accord.

Tardik thought the notation in his record that he'd done an excellent job was appropriate. He thought the fact it was for seeing the possibility of the nine covering for the Trom boys was hilarious. He thought the stir made by Laina's report to the Trader's Guild was wonderful.

Vackley had a sudden drop in population. A lot of two legged rats were running. The ship wasn't sinking, but any that stayed were going to be in cages. He arranged a message be slipped to Lissy Mastokori that the boys were safe and told them their father's murderers had been caught. No one knew where one message had originated. He delivered the second himself the day they graduated from training and were assigned to Capri sector.

"We got the ones on Vackley, their bosses on Pier, theirs on Thomas and the person who planned it on Aria. The Trom boys' little sister has a large number of people making sure nothing happens to her or her mother. The new board of directors of Yoshid Trust led the campaign to repeal the laws making genetically engineered children legally investments. Her nine brothers are all now sub-adult citizens. It won't stop everyone hunting them, but the ones who were because there was a legal dodge are looking for everything but them."

"We'll keep the show going anyway, Tardik. It might attract a few who are dumb enough they could hurt someone else hunting for them."

"True, and that's exactly who it will attract."

"Besides which, we finally got used to our names."

"You didn't do too bad."

"Mike Flane didn't do too bad. I got elbowed every time they called Dan Cardon for half the training. I had blue ribs for days. Ben thought it was hilarious."

"He thinks it's funny you got Sector Supervisor too."

"They all do. They've been saying, 'Yes, Supervisor Cardon,' and snickering all day."

"Clean it up, Dan."

"We intend to. The shit's too deep for mops and brooms. We're heading that way with shovels."

Tardik burst into laughter and took all nine out to celebrate. He watched them handle both alcohol and feminine attention with ease and aplomb. He smiled and decided the "show" might attract a few, but anyone with 'brains' who spent a few minutes watching them would know they weren't the Trom boys. They were very sheltered kids. The nine new Intersect officers were very obviously socially experienced young men. He raised his glass in salute and mentally told Ronnor Trom he was proud of his sons for him. He was sure the boys and Ronnor all knew it.

This is a first contact, with a difference. It's told from the viewpoint of the alien.

### To Earn the Title Sentient

copyright 2003

The human ambassadorial party were interesting. They'd expected they would be. Mosbaic selected three from the seven and cordially entertained them all while explaining that those three would be studying the culture of the memkidoc region.

"The protocol was established when the first two species of the region met. I am a trader. The first comkiaci to meet the memdocus was a trader. The number of persons is one to four. The three who sit behind are acceptable. They have much to learn of us. When they have learned enough, they will return to your space. If they do not learn enough, another will come to this place in seventeen-point one six three four of your standard years and one to four more will be selected to learn. I am aware the three are all of one of your two sexes and young. I am also aware they are of assistant level. It is theirs to prepare the way."

"Trader Mosbaic, I am the ambassador appointed by my people to meet yours in peace."

"It will be hoped the three learn quickly so that much time does not pass before my people greet you."

"Trader Mosbaic, the commitment the three you're talking about have made is only three years. One has a companion with whom he shares an offspring and is actually a carrier of messages. He expected to see his companion and offspring at least once during that period."

"I will attempt to understand this. If no one of them chooses to journey, it would be sad. The protocol is established. One with offspring was not expected. It does not make one unsuited, but it will be difficult without the longing to be with the offspring. Messages will not be sent. I will state my choice as two or one. Two will have aid of the other."

"Ambassador Carsdoska, I'm willing to take it for the duration. I expected to extend anyway. Most linguists do."

"I'll go. There definitely isn't anything more interesting happening in the field of cultural anthropology. Edanis and I will make a good team. We've both got a broad educational base and are probably the best choice if only two are going."

"Brennon, there's a great deal of difference between studying a culture and language and dealing with a people on a diplomatic level."

"I know that, Sir, but I think the trader's term 'prepare' indicates they want us to know them a bit before they deal with us on that level. One to study the language and one to study the culture will give you a much better foundation when you do begin."

"This one is wise for a young one. I do not think it will be necessary to choose another one to four in many years."

"Why them, Trader Mosbaic?"

"Because they are of interesting appearance and young. The young of most species adapt more quickly to strange ways."

"Sorry, Bellana. My dark brown skin and Bren's cornsilk hair are just more eyecatching than your soft brown curls."

"It makes sense. I've got auburn hair and that's sort of unusual too, but I don't want to miss all of my daughter's first years and I'm not really trained for this kind of thing. My qualification for the job is I'm a hot pilot with a knack for languages. Frankly, I took it for the pay. Edan and Bren are about eager enough to bounce and I'm already marking off days. Send them. Call it a hunch. I just think they're the right ones for it."

Mosbaic recognized the expected emotion in the expressions on the four who actually made up the ambassadorial staff. They weren't really pleased at being told they weren't acceptable, but they were professionals and establishing peaceful contact was most important to them. Trade with humans would be profitable, someday. Their translation programs were faster than most and would sell well, someday.

He was quite pleased, though he would have liked to have three. He said farewell to the five who were not going, showed the two to the place where they would remain during the journey and taught them the operation of the facilities, including the language instruction program on the computer. Both eagerly went to work. He hoped they learned fast. They would bring a higher price if they understood instructions. The possibility of them living more than a few days would be greater.

He had high hope for the two. Their translation programs were far better than others and would sell well. The one they had given him would establish the value when it became known as a trade item, someday.

He began the second step of developing a market with a new species. He sent visual and auditory images of the two to his agent. There would be many interested in them. He watched them a moment, then added a bid minimum.

He was risking his reputation, but opening a new market was always a risk. He confirmed his message to his agent. The potential profit was worth the risk. The exotic animals would be sold as pets. He looked forward to great profit when they had earned the title sentient, if they were not destroyed as dangerous during training. The protocol was established.

This is a novel length work, but not much over minimum, 46,000 words. A lot of writers have used wormholes as the method to get around the speed-of-light limit. What if one closed?

### Satin Storm

copyright 2004, 2011

### Chapter One

They called it the Podge. They called it several other things too. Hell was as close to a good description as hodgepodge. The gutted ships that served as shelter for the uncounted refugees of the collapse were the basis of one nomer. The life of the people the basis of the other.

Shren Collis wasn't a "citizen." She was a trader. She had a ship she managed to keep operating well enough to move goods here to there and her alive on the journeys. She was looking for a cargo. She walked through the bazaar looking for things she could sell on one of the tech worlds. The crafts of the people slipping into 'barbarism' on too many worlds sold well as luxury items. Of course, one had to get them to the Podge to sell and then someone else had to get them to those worlds. One of the ways her ship kept her alive was with guns.

"Hire me. Hire us."

"What?!"

The kid had totally surprised her. He looked about sixteen and had just walked up and said about the most unexpected thing he possibly could have. He was smiling at her. That was odd too. The too-well-broken-in clothes he wore were not. Then she looked in his strangely-colored teal-blue eyes and changed her estimate of his age. He was older than his body and face looked. He looked a bit gangly adolescent, like height and broad shoulders were still too new to be comfortable yet, but his eyes said he'd been a man for years. She had trouble breaking eye contact with him. She had the urge to run, but her curiosity was a bit too strong. It always had been.

"One: I have a small ship that supports me, barely. Two: It's against the law to solicit traders."

"I'm not soliciting. I'm job hunting. You need a crew of two. Me and my friend. We'll earn our way. I know where the cargo you want is, Captain. You're the only one I have asked and the only one we want as captain. Hire us."

"I only see one person."

"You won't see the other until we lift. We've broken no laws and are not interdicted from leaving the Podge. We were both born here. Hire us. Captain, you're our hope. We're yours. You've been surviving. So have we. That's going to get harder for us and for you. Ramire is about to go under. When it does, the last offplanet law in this part of space will go with it. We know ship systems, including weapons and shields. We will prove we are an asset on the first journey, or declare ourselves in breach of contract the first stop you make, and accept the terms of five times passage amount as restitution judgment. We could accept it at a hundred. We won't be paying it. Hire us. I'll take you to your cargo and we'll go. It's time for us to leave the shelter of the Podge. It's time for you to leave this sector. The journey is too long to make alone. We'll assure you have the cost of the journey. We'll assure you profit from it. Say yes, Captain. Don't ask me more and don't hesitate."

She stared at him a few seconds and then slowly smiled. She was sure life was about to get very interesting. The pretty young man with reddish-brown hair and light beige skin was telling the truth, as he believed it. That didn't mean it was true, just he believed it. She could always tell. She also always recognized an invitation in someone's eyes.

"Names and ages."

"Raven and Storm, adult. Those are our only legal designations. We've never used them before."

"Personal comm log. Hired two persons as crew. Legal designations Raven and Storm. Note time and place as comp notated."

Shren held her wrist comm out and he shook his head. She raised an eyebrow. He didn't want to confirm with a retinal scan. She got more curious. She made sure he saw her put the comm on call only. She wanted to know more and thought he might say more if she wasn't on full monitor. His smile said he might, but his nod down a side 'street' didn't offer as much hope. She decided to try.

"Where?"

"To pick up some of your cargo. Storm will be waiting near your ship, our ship, with the rest of it."

"What is this cargo?"

"Four gear bags. We're picking up two of them. Captain, don't ask me more yet. The bags will cost eight hundred credits. The contract will be for bags and the miscellaneous salvage in them."

"I barely have eight hundred."

"I know. It's a disappointment, but the amount is less important than the person. We were afraid you wouldn't come back soon enough."

"Why am I not a lot more nervous about this than I am? My experience with mysteries to this point has been one's life expectancy is longer if one avoids them."

"Is that being alive? That hatch. Tell the one who opens it you have hired two and come for your cargo and make the credit transfer. Do not say more and do not tarry."

The person who opened the hatch of the battered old ship was a child. She was about nine or ten. Shren repeated what the young man, obviously Raven if the other was Storm, had told her to say and was a bit surprised when four more children carried out two large gear bags and the girl held out a cred transfer unit. She made the transfer and the girl closed the door. Raven walked up, picked up the two bags easily and headed in the direction of the port. She just followed. She was beginning to be very curious. He carried them like they weighed very little. She knew better. Both had dropped with very solid thuds from a small distance when the children had brought them out of the old ship. She caught up with him. He was obviously headed directly for the port.

"That won't fill my holds."

"You seldom do. You have exceptionally good taste and buy few things, but always beautiful. There aren't any hand-woven fabrics from Kosk or pottery from Clammer this time, Captain. There may never be again. Eight hundred credits will buy them enough seed and tools to raise the food they need to live one year and have a bit more seed for the next. Storm built them a shelter. I taught them what they need to know. All were born here. All are under age twelve. They qualify for a homestead without us. It hurts, but we have no doubt they'll make it."

"Explain a bit please."

"The planetary Refugee Homestead Act is a joke. It was written so no one could get out of the Podge and onto the land. Only a group of eight or more can stead. Two must pass the agra professional exam. All must be born in the Podge and within the twelve years since it was passed. They must have sufficient assets to invest in seed needed to have a statistical probability of success in being self-supporting and enough more to feed themselves until their first harvest. We're getting our children out. We're teaching them to live together and take care of each other. The government is going to be very surprised. Those will be the first. You just hired their guardians. We're abandoning them. It's not illegal. If we'd had official status, the government would have had to pay an allowance per child. We got the money to do it from the right pockets. The ones who voted the restrictions in paid well to dress Storm in pretty clothes and lounge elegantly. They paid more to watch him dance and fuck him. He built our children a home with his body and his hands. Our children will be the first. We have all the rest prepared to follow. I carry half of what the people of the ships gave Storm for his labor. I planned and taught. I'm a virgin. He won't make love to me, at least not yet. He won't make love to anyone. I'm hoping you change all those things. I've been fantasizing about you for six years."

"Uh, I'm not sure what to think, let alone say."

"I do that to people. It feels so good to say our names, especially his. No one will notice him at the spaceport, at least until we lift off. We must leave this sector. One who waits for the law to fall has Storm at the top of her list of things to acquire. You know it's time for you to leave too. You can't help them any longer. All you can do is end up on a world and struggle to stay alive with them. They have to begin anew to survive. This world is agra and sparsely populated. Most here will. The children will be able to feed them when the traders stop coming. The house is built for fifty. They have plans for seven more. Storm built the first with his hands. They know exactly how it was done. I taught them the land, the tools and the plan. Storm says these two bags are for my work. I know what each said as, one small thing at a time, the bags were filled. I chose you, Captain. Free my loved friend from the chains he's worn to free the children, since he was one of them. No one asked his age. He was reminded not to volunteer anything about himself. No one else could have done it. We raised nineteen children together in the last twelve years."

"You look sixteen."

"When I was sixteen, I looked twelve. I was so late starting puberty that I was beginning to think there was something very wrong with me. Storm was sure there wasn't. It was the only time I wasn't sure he was right about something."

"I've seen people with hair the color of yours and that same very light gold-beige skin tone. I've never seen eyes that color though."

"One can't tint eyes."

"The hair is?"

"Hair. Many people tint it. I didn't think fluorescent stripes suited my personality, though they were interesting on Storm for a few days. He's a very skilled lover, but he's never made love. I'm hoping you get him so excited he forgets everything he knows. He's innocent. That's what they all wanted. That's what they paid for, and it was the one thing they couldn't touch. Of course, if you decide to teach me to make love and watch to see I teach him right, I won't mind at all."

Shren stumbled a bit and decided not to try to figure out what she'd gotten herself into. Raven smiled at her and the invitation was definitely there. She was forty-six and it was the first time seeing it had ever really made her nervous. She was surprised to discover she rather liked it. Suddenly she just stopped moving. Raven's wide grin, when she caught back up with him, said he knew exactly what had happened. She knew who Storm was.

"Don't you think it's time to move to another sector?"

"Raven, another sector may not be far enough."

"Where do you want to go? Our lives are yours. We'll help you keep us alive. Your cargo is what the people gave in return, Captain. I have a silk pouch with a seven hundred-year-old Cross Arm Academy ring in it. The gems alone are worth eight hundred credits. They chose to give all they had of true value to Storm for giving himself to save their children. His granddam yelled at him to shut up and let them pick who they wanted to have it, rather than spend more years wondering if owning it was going to get them killed. I'm not sure what we'd have done if you'd skipped the Podge this season. Time is measured in seasons when one lives by tilling the soil of a world. It will be interesting to measure time in journeys and new things seen."

"You grew up in the Podge?"

"Oh, yes. I had to learn how to speak standard well to teach Storm and the children. No one asks them if they're calling from the Podge when they do a library reference call. We always paid the charges immediately so they didn't look to see the children, intensely studying and taking interactive classes, were from the Podge. We doubt they noticed two ten-year-olds have passed the exam. It's not remarkable. That they're from the Podge and not a youth agra club would cause note. They must be on the land before the law can be changed. They must meet all the criteria and also be a bit of an embarrassment. The government can't move them off the land without it being loudly explained the children were raised by the most notorious prostitute in the sector and they knew it. Of course, the debate will be about the foolishness of paying massive allotments for orphan care when they're currently doing it themselves and not costing the taxpayers anything."

"How badly is he going to be hurting? You're doing everything you can not to really think about leaving. It's healthy under the circumstances."

"Thank you. We both are, but I've had things to do and he could only wait to see if we come."

"Why me?"

"Because you are the one who asked that question."

He smiled and Shren looked in his eyes again. She had trouble remembering she was walking when she did. She had a feeling he knew exactly what he was doing and was laughing along with her about it. She grinned and his smile widened. He knew too much about her for it to be worth the effort to be someone else.

"That's the Night Tripper. I assume you know she's got four cabins on deck two. Deck one is mine. If I decide we're going to be traveling together awhile, we'll make deck two single, or shared, quarters for two. I like passengers on other ships, but I've carried some. The four cabins on deck three are enough. Anyone I want closer is company on the trip, not a passenger. Raven, I like being alone most of the time. I don't take company often."

"You don't make long journeys and you have friends waiting at the end of each. Oh, I have what I'm wearing and a ship suit. Storm has the ship suit he's wearing and a ship suit. They had to provide the costumes. All the prostitutes know they're now for sale. They'll be sold by tonight and the children will be on the land and working it by midday tomorrow. Leave the hatch open. I'll probably close it before you reach the bridge. Where are you going? I know you have other cargo."

"Talmoss. Contract delivery. I usually stop on Loam on the way, but I skip it if I don't have enough I think they'd like to make it worthwhile."

"Excellent. Captain, wouldn't you like to truthfully say you didn't see a particular person get on a ship?"

"I'll be on the bridge starting liftoff procedures. Don't leave the hatch or leave it open long either."

"Seconds and I want it closed badly."

Raven sighed deeply and relaxed a bit when she left, then slammed the hatch as soon as Storm pitched the two bags in and dove through.

"That was too long, but no one saw me."

"They wouldn't have admitted it, but I'm sure they would all prefer not to lie. I feel guilty enough already. Thank you."

"Did you influence her with anything but your smile and your words?"

"No, but I did see she considered the idea calmly. I'm sure she's the one, Storm."

"We've both known that for as long as we've known we had to find someone. Did we plan what we needed to find and were blessed? Or did we see her and decide she was who we should plan around? Will you let your hair grow out?"

"Will you?"

"Mine isn't blue-black ringlets."

"With a weird white patch. Hers looks like black satin. I told her I was a virgin because I couldn't talk you into making love to me."

"What?!"

"Well, it did keep her from thinking about what else she was getting herself into. The home you built them is your love wrapped around them keeping them safe, just as it always has, Storm."

"I'd thump you for reading my thoughts, but that one is too obvious to need reading."

"True, but I read them anyway. I wanted to know if hearing me say your name made you feel as good I felt saying it."

"Yes, Raven."

"You know exactly how much I wanted to hear that. Thank you. Let's find the galley. You haven't noticed your stomach growling, but I have. Since I'm sure the captain hasn't had lunch either, galley duty would seem to be our first task in our new jobs. I told her about the academy ring. Her first thought was to wonder if she could find a way to use the money from it to help the people of the Podge. Her second was a realization she couldn't. She was very disappointed."

"They'll do a lot better than people on some of the tech worlds that are going to go under. It's suddenly a two-hundred-year journey to their breadbaskets and their bank. The umbilical has been cut and we had just enough warning for everyone to panic and too many with skills to run through just before the wormhole collapsed. We are the children of those who did not get back through, refugees of the collapse. In your case, a bit more so than others. In mine, much less so. Going to tell her you were found in a survival pod where the wormhole horizon had been?"

"We'll both tell her everything, eventually, or she wouldn't be the right one. I'm very tired of keeping secrets from everyone I care about, except you."

Storm stopped his loved friend and took him in his arms, as he'd been doing since he'd been half again his size instead of a head-and-a-half shorter. He whispered they'd soon be free to be who and what they were.

Raven sighed and felt his tension ease. It always did when Storm held him. It always had. His first memory was of Storm holding him. He'd been doing it since the trader, who had found the survival pod with an infant in it, had brought him to the Podge and given him to Storm's granddam to raise. He'd been born there. His birth was why a ship carrying thirty-four had run for the wormhole just a bit too late.

No one knew what had happened to the ship or the others when the wormhole collapsed. No one but Storm knew what had happened to him when it did. He was the only one who knew why Storm's parents had come to the Podge and left him there with his granddam, as soon as he'd been born. He'd told him what was in the letter she'd given him when he'd learned to read. Even she didn't know more than she didn't want to know.

"Galley. You're growling at me."

"This time I noticed."

"Detour to couches. She's about to tell us to strap in for liftoff."

"Raven!"

"I wasn't peeking until she hit me with very surprised. They're helping us get out before Havatta knows you're going. Stop feeling guilty for taking what they wanted you to have, Storm. Not having the things they gave you makes them safer."

"They gave them to us, not me. They know what you did, Raven. They know who really prepared their children and planned their survival. If they think of me first, it's because we succeeded in keeping attention focused on me, so you could do it and get it ready. Oh, they will be so surprised when they learn the lodge I built on unclaimed land isn't going to be a discreetly located brothel."

"You're not a prostitute anymore, Storm."

"Of course I am. Nothing we have can be traded in this sector. Her contract for delivery won't get us out of it."

"They'll know who we're with. Havatta will know. Leaving a trail is foolish."

"Leaving a trail of treasures is more so. Havatta is only one. There would be many following it."

"I'm no longer hungry."

"Your body is."

Shren did a shipwide and told them to find couches fast. She was lifting before the enormity of what she had committed herself to do really hit her. She'd have to get the two a very long way away before they'd be safe. Angel Blue was 'known' by millions and would be recognized by thousands. The vids were unauthorized, illegal, and sold very well. A lot of people were making credits off of them. Even those who bought them knew Angel wasn't one of them. She wondered if he knew how many there were.

She suddenly shivered and it aggravated her. She made up her mind to get the "most beautiful human male in the sector" far enough away no one would recognize the name Angel Blue. She wondered how many years it would take. She had a very good friend on Talmoss who would aid with their disappearance. She suddenly smiled. Storm suited him more than Angel ever had.

### Chapter Two

They got acquainted over the excellent meal Raven had prepared. They got to know each other on the six-day journey to Talmoss well enough Shren saw Raven's pain when they landed. She was burning with anger when she hit the doors of the government offices and burst into the one belonging to her friend Arumi.

"Shren! Oh, oh, you're on boil and close to boilover. What's wrong?"

"A lot of things. I need a name and ship registry change. I need both legal and lost. Can Talmoss handle one more case of sloppy recordkeeping?"

"Holy... Talk to me."

"Angel Blue built a home for the children of the Podge and has given himself long enough to assure the survival of the people. He gives himself now to assure I have the resources I need to get myself elsewhere. Havatta was just waiting until there was no one to stop her, once she got him out of the Podge. She's not going to be pleased I got him out first."

"Uh, I'll take that all in later. What do you need as documentation?"

"Everything, captain's license to guild status listing. I need crew evaluations approved and they need documents too. Don't ask. There was more than one who needed to leave the Podge fast. Two, Raven and Storm, are going to be crew for awhile. Give them surnames. Here are hard copies of their logged hours of training. It's the only record. Do lose it."

"Hold on while I verify and arrange. Trumal, I'm about to input a file that's going to disappear in the system as soon as we verify everything."

"I'm glad my boss likes me. I'm a good clerk most of the time, but I get distracted, misfile things and forget to record they've been filed until someone yells because they can't be found. You owe me lunch, Boss. Oops, I just lost a file. Documents verified and your printer verifies received. You know, I can't even remember the name on the file I lost. I don't think I looked at it."

"I owe you dinner. My place. I'll cook. You bring wine and candles."

"That's new."

"He finally convinced me no one was going to say he got favored treatment because he and I are lovers. Actually, the data pool sent me a message to stop being silly before he quit so he could ask me for a date. Since I was thinking of asking for a transfer for the same reason... Documents, Captain Satin Joyce, for you, the Stardance, Storm Taylor and Raven Wisdom."

"Help. I should have picked something. Ship techs class one?"

"I probably misread the total hours. They can't be who someone is looking for. They have more hours in verified log than those could, even if we can't find the record of it. We know we have it. Somewhere. You won't be back. I'll miss you, Trader Captain Satin Joyce."

"I'm going to miss you too, Superior Court Civil Court Judge Arumi. I'm going to miss a lot of people."

"You don't want to watch what's going to happen in this sector. Talmoss is one of few worlds prepared for it. We're one of few who believed Kraner when he said the hole was temporary, no matter how long it had been there. Go to the fringe. They'll need you and the Stardance's guns when rats run from the sinking worlds of the three colonial sectors. Keep communication between the worlds out there open. Keep them thinking of the fringe as a community and of the other worlds in it as neighbors, with trade."

"Good advice, but I won't say I'll take it. You can tell whoever asks that the captain of the Stardance said she likes high tech worlds and had a cargo she could sell on them."

Raven was waiting outside the building. She handed him his documents and Storm's, but didn't say anything. The anger and pain had hit her again as soon as she'd stopped thinking about something else. She turned and handed him the ship papers and her cred account chip too, then headed for the two things she wanted, a drink and a good fight to get the mad out of her system. She knew where to find both. The Traders' Cache was described as a "brawl with walls and a bar." She doubted Raven was prepared for it, but she was quite sure he could deal with it.

Storm knocked on a discreet door, offered a third of what he earned in the next two days and the owner of the establishment ran for a private comm. A dozen very expensive private atmosphere ships lifted from various places on Talmoss within minutes. More would follow. Angel Blue was on-planet and would entertain six groups of six. They would decide who would be in which group in flight. Angel borrowed a costume to use for the dance. He only needed one. He wouldn't have it on long enough for it to get soiled.

He chose makeup to go with the costume and smiled wryly at his reflection when Raven touched his thoughts with the image of their captain leading him into a place even he'd heard of. The only thing people could break in the place was each other. It was designed for it and encouraged it. Storm reminded him he'd grown up in the Podge and didn't think of not breaking people in a fight. He felt Raven 'register' the warning. He told him to go. The house was beginning to fill with hot anticipation. It was time to find one whose desire would make the time with him worth what they had paid for all of them.

He only worked orgies. Six was a very small one. Six meant all would have sex with him. Usual was thirty and he chose six. He could usually find six in thirty whose desire was hot and clean. He could almost name who would be coming. The ones the owner of the very discreet brothel had commed would aid. They'd ask him no questions and tip him a fortune. They understood him. He'd done what he'd needed to do. If he was leaving, it was needed as well. They would be flattered to be the ones he chose as the last.

"Ravila!"

"Yes, Angel?"

"Stop hovering outside the door and come in and chat. The job is the same job. I'm a star in a service industry. Let's mix them up a bit. The theme is the jester does the royalty at a masked ball. Give them random numbers and tell them everything in costume is optional except a mask. Those are half and should be very interesting. My friends are finding a drink and a brawl because I'm going to have a very good time today and tomorrow. I will dance for all of those who are waiting each time. From them, I will choose the six selected by chance. Staying for a dance is acceptable if in the company of paid company. I think the rest would like to costume and catch the credit overflow."

"You're not who I expected you to be."

"I'm a performer. I play the lead in a sex fantasy I direct. Since they supply the fantasy and have good imaginations, it's an easy job. Hurting me gets you slapped if it's not an accident. I know the difference. Make sure there's at least one female in every group. Masks do not come off. Mine won't. Find me scarves. I'll be ruining them, so cheap and plentiful. Find me some shiny stuff. Rings, bracelets, strips of bright cloth or body glitter. I have six dances and fantasies to create. Someone will vid at least one. Someone won't be able to resist. This time I chose the costumes. It's nice I got to do it once."

"Why the hell are you a prostitute?"

"Because for two more days I need the credits paid for the best. I miss my children. Perhaps theirs won't have to become men and women while still children. It's the goal they chose. They'll succeed. If not this generation, the next. Their teacher is contemplating a first drunken brawl and hangover. Comm?"

"Oh, the calls are done. People started running for closets and comms as soon as you said what you wanted. I was just hovering closer than most. Do you like sex?"

"Absolutely. I've enjoyed it since I began. I know some good prostitutes who just don't dislike it too. I've never had sex when not working. I'm ready for it."

"One on one and you do orgies. They get everything they think they want from you, but no intimacy."

"I'm a pro. No one is better at orgies. If they want intimacy, they seek the services of a pro who's good at it. I can recommend several, and have. Are you satisfied I'm going to be all right"

"Transparent, aren't I?"

"There's a feeling of family here. It only exists in places that are run by someone who really cares about people. I have good friends and a plan. Credits are all we need now."

When she left, 'Angel' smiled at the careful makeup he'd decided to cover. He was beginning to anticipate the 'royal courts' and choosing the dance and jester for each. He suddenly burst into laughter. Raven had 'tapped his shoulder' to share their captain's brief instructions on how to post bail.

Angel played with the scarves and shiny things they brought him and planned what other things they would want. His fees would cover what they would need. A pair of shears to remove his famed mane of hair would do much to change his appearance. A portable gym would do even more. It was time to change the shape of his "slender dancer's body." He liked the names Raven had passed him. He chose scarves to go with the feel of the one whose desire he would use to begin the dance.

There were fourteen in the room when he began to dance. During it, six costume names were called and six moved to the 'royal couches' on the stage. His dance became for them and he built it to their fantasy. When the curtain closed, the dance continued for the six and he led them into it with him. He would dance twice that night and four times the next day. He would be exhausted, but the last group would be as pleased as the first. No one could maintain passion that long. He didn't try. He used theirs. He let desire wash through him, moaned and lifted to the touch of the one to whom it belonged.

Raven lifted his beer off the table and stepped back from it. When the two who had crashed onto it rolled off, he sat back down on the cushioned stool and set his beer back on the padded table. He was enjoying watching the brawl. A lot of people were.

He'd heard the words "friendly fight" before, but the seemingly self-contradictory term had designated something he'd had difficulty envisioning. He moved fast and put the person, he'd felt suddenly get cranky, down for the nap he obviously needed. He required far less tuck-in time than one of his kids.

He sighed at the pang of separation the thought brought, winced at the aggravation he wouldn't get to see his plan work, flushed with pride in the children and himself and his total confidence it would work, and smiled ironically at his mixture of emotions. Of course, he only did it mentally for Storm. People around him saw only the ironic smile as he wove his way back to the table without becoming part of the fight.

He got warm. Touching Storm while Angel was working was a good way to get rid of a chill. He told him he was quite sure it had been the "jump-start" he'd needed for puberty. He hadn't stopped growing since. Suddenly he got the fleeting image of weights and muscles. He groaned. If Storm was thinking about it that strongly while Angel was working, he wasn't going to get out of it.

Raven spun on his heel just as he reached his table. His captain was out. Time to take her home. He thanked the two people who had moved her so she wasn't stepped on, got her up in a carry and headed for the door. She was one hundred eighty cens of gorgeous muscle and curves. He decided more muscle was probably a good idea. He might be carrying her fairly often. He wondered if his arousal was noticeable. He wondered how long she'd make him wait. He wondered how long Storm would.

'Satin' woke up with a pounding head and a sore jaw. She remembered why her head hurt. Her jaw was sore enough she knew why she didn't remember why. It was rather nice waking up in her bed instead of in the rowdy tank of the jail and breakfast certainly smelled better. She debated with herself and then took a tab to straighten her system out and get rid of the hangover. She had it so she deserved it, but she needed to be at full function by noon. She took a sonic bath for speed and dressed fast. Breakfast smells had begun to include coffee. That meant it was almost ready.

"Good morning, Raven. I cheated. I used the excuse I need to be clear-headed today and took a cure tab. I figured wanting to be able to fully appreciate your cooking was a bit flimsy by itself, even if it was the reason. He packed a wallop."

"Somehow, smiling pleasantly over a memory of having one's teeth loosened seems odd to me. I don't think I shall ever really comprehend it. One more day. Just this one. Four more appointments. It's why he didn't come back last night."

"Today we're going to make sure he doesn't have to do it again. As soon as we finish eating, we start arranging sale of our cargo. That will take me arranging a time for delivery and the port loading service will do that. Our next stop is Hardesty Station. We want things sold before we get there. I know the right agent. We send her a vid burst of the items and tell her to set the minimum on sealed bid for forty days from now. Items will be shipped to successful bidder as soon as credit transfer is made. Then we don't leave the station for awhile. We have things we want done and some we want to do to Stardance. I've decided I like the name."

"You like them all. Satin just embarrasses you a bit because it does suit you. No one has more practical experience in changing deck and cabin space to living space than a child of the Podge."

"It'll be interesting to see what you do when you can choose nice materials. Redo this part too. Make it a big home with a kind of den and bedroom for each of us. Or just me if you want to share one. I need a private place that isn't my bedroom and so do you. I don't need a third of a deck to myself and I like having you in this galley."

"I enjoy cooking. I always have. Storm doesn't often cook, but I anticipate each time he does."

"I put what's on top of the meal packs in the prep unit, but I make a nice salad when I see nice salad makings on a world and a terrific sandwich if I see the ingredients for one of those. Coffee is the only other thing I make."

"And you stock very good coffee to make. The pantry is stocked nicely, as well."

"I have friends who like to cook for me, usually breakfast, but late dinner often enough I keep it stocked for that too. Your cooking is dangerous. I'm going to get fat."

"I doubt it sincerely. Storm intends to change his appearance. Adding a great deal of muscle to change the shape of his body seems to be part of the plan. I know I'm included in it. I somehow doubt you'll be excluded."

"So do I."

"Go ahead. I groaned when I found out. Hardesty Station is an interesting topic."

"It's an interesting place. I've been there once. Only a couple people should recognize me and they'll be expecting me."

"You're teasing me."

"Hardesty will suit us better than most of the stations because it serves three local clusters and is transshipment point between two local sectors. It's huge. The cargo that goes through it is measured in megatons per day. It's also the main ship service dock in those clusters and one of the sectors. I picked it because treasures auctioned there could come from anywhere in the nine sectors. Can you dance?"

"Yes, but I've grown a great deal since the last time I had any practice."

"How much?"

"I don't really know. I think I'm about one hundred ninety cens. I figured it was silly to measure until I stopped growing. Or at least slowed down. I was about the same height as Storm a year ago, Captain."

"Damn! That's way too much to grow in a year!"

"Fifteen cens is unusual, but I haven't had any problems, other than beginning to think about dinner before I leave the kitchen after lunch. I had to increase my living allowance for the fuel for it. The kids told Storm I wasn't eating enough to grow. Since I had taught them it was important, I couldn't argue the point. Storm scheduled another appointment every five days. He's going to be exhausted tonight and stiff and hurting for days. He'll also be... I can't describe it except as numb. It's sensory overload or something like it, I think. I want to hunt for something. I don't know if I can find it, but I want to try. I remember the real color of Storm's hair. I remember the way it looked when we were boys."

"A good salon can blend the color you want."

"Storm clouds with the sun turning their edges misty gray and molten silver. He wants me to let mine grow out. It's the color of yours, but curly, and I've got a white patch just left of the center of my forehead. Will building muscles make you choose to love me sooner? It excited me to carry you back to the ship last night."

"You want to make love to Storm first, Raven."

"Yes, but I know he won't be first. If I never make love to a woman, we'll never make love. I'm heterosexual. Storm is the only male who interests me. All women do. However, you're the only one who interests me as my first lover. If you never choose to be, I'll never have one. Oh, I don't masturbate. I found I'd included that in my pledge to myself I wouldn't have sex until Storm was free."

"He doesn't hate it, but you do."

"He enjoys it physically. He views it as a not particularly unpleasant way to make enough to provide for many. Yes, I hate it. I've hated it since he walked out of the Podge with a man who told him he could make 'big cred' too many years ago. He won't let me hate sex or the people who pay him well for it. I don't. Only I know how difficult it really is for him. Even he doesn't. I'm the only one who's seen him curl into a tight ball in his sleep and heard him whisper, 'no.' I've seen it far too many times. Havatta wants to possess him. He began doing only large orgies when she tried to schedule for six after she saw him the first time. She drove him from small private groups to large numbers of people shouting suggestions of what to do to him next, to the six he chose from among them, but she never got her hands on him."

"Never?"

"The answer is obvious. He's alive."

"Say what?!"

"She wants him until she's done with him. After that, she wants no one else to have him. You're not really surprised, are you?"

"Only that he stayed out of her clutches. Little she decides to clutch does. Hardesty isn't far enough away to get him."

"You're trying to figure out where to leave us. You really don't believe we'll be happy sharing a ship after awhile. The change in arrangement will make the time we must journey together less onerous and is really more practical for you, as well. Plan to pick up a crafts module. We have gold, silver and gems that must be reworked. A couple pieces of not bad amateur work along with ingots and loose stones will avoid a great many questions about them. Are we ready to get to work, Captain? I need work so I stop counting the minutes until he's done."

"I think I may as well. Let's get started on getting the things he's doing this to buy. Then we'll put together the sales proposal and send it to our agent on Hardesty. Connect comm to planetary net. Connect to Creeler and Lon Fuel Company, Mavad Duloy."

"Mavad."

"I'm not who you almost said hello to, Mavad. Captain Satin Joyce of the Stardance. I forgot what a romantic Arumi is at just the wrong moment. I want all fuel cell slots full. I'll make full credit transfer tonight. You know me personally. Pay before delivery isn't necessary."

"Twenty-two?"

"Nineteen. I've got three in reserve and the cells in the main slots are all at over half. I picked up a crew so a long trip is reasonable. I'm not the only one who doesn't want to watch the tech worlds I like come apart. I don't expect to be back."

"Ow. Dinner? Please."

"If you promise not to ask me to marry you, but just dinner. I have to leave tonight."

"You want a full stock on the... Stardance?"

"Four decks and the coffee store."

"I'll sub-contract as a favor. Have your comp print me a supply list. Entry code the same?"

"Make myself scarce?"

"Until dinner. A light cargo hauler is a light cargo hauler. You're recognizable. Seventeen. My place."

"I'll see you at seventeen. Thanks, Mavad."

"You're welcome, Satin. I'm glad you forgot Arumi is a romantic. Suits. At seventeen."

"Seventeen. Out. Raven?"

"I've never been jealous before. It's unpleasant and I've a suspicion it's going to become a too-familiar feeling."

"Let's go find you something to wear, besides a ship suit, and some hair dye. We're shopping for two for both."

"Comp, make disk copy of description and views of items designated one-one through four-seven. Edit out all views except of the items."

"Working. Disk is in slot two."

"Nice shortcut, Raven. I'll get it. I have to designate Mavad as authorized to enter for the security files and it's easiest from the bridge. My excuse to get out of the galley during clean-up."

"Moving tableware from table to cycler is a terribly simple task for so many to so dislike it."

"True. Will you be all right this evening?"

"Yes. You really do want some time to say farewell to someone who is more than a friend. You were thinking of not doing so."

"It's going to hurt him, but it would hurt him more if I didn't. Sparing myself having to see he hurts for a bit is a bad trade for how much."

"Understood. It's probably best I get some practice dealing with being jealous alone, before I must do it amongst others, anyway."

"Raven, you don't have to stay in the ship. Here's a cred chip. You've got pay coming, so don't feel like it's charity. Try not to emulate me when I have tensions I need to get rid of. In other words, try to stay out of brawls and jail. If you don't, call Judge Arumi. She'll recognize your name and find me."

"I can find you. I can find you anywhere on a world. I don't know if I could find you if we weren't on the same one yet. I need to tell you what I am, Captain. Storm just yelped, but he told me to tell you about him too. I'm a telepath. He's an empath. I'm not a snoop. I look for a reason if I hear alarm bells and to see motivation if Storm feels unpleasant intent. I can speak in your mind without looking at your thoughts. Captain, you're the only person we've ever told. You're the only one we've ever completely trusted. It's why we waited for you. It's why we both love you. It's why you're the only one we can truly be ourselves with, other than each other. Ask me questions. I know you have them. I know because I would, not because I looked."

"Uh, I do, but I don't know what they are. I'm still reeling. Raven, is this why... I don't know."

"Yes, it's why Storm does orgies and is the best there is at them. He feels the excitement of those he's with and is everything they want because it's their desire which is the basis. Yes, it's why we need to make our home on a ship and not a world. Yes, it's why we're sure we can share your life without chafing. We need your experience and knowledge, Captain."

"You need to learn, then find a ship of your own."

"What?"

"Raven, you and Storm belong together. For now, you belong with me. You can't see the time coming when you don't, but I can. I'm not really a leader. Storm is. I'll always care for the two of you. I know that already. I do love you. I'll come full thrust whenever you need me for as long as I live, but you need to be just the two of you. Even with me, you'll never be completely at ease. This is my home, Raven. You think that's unimportant. It's not. I'll help you heal the wounds Storm doesn't think he has. I know some good prostitutes. They like what they do. Storm really doesn't. He sees it for what it is, a service, but he didn't choose it to provide that service. Of course he finds it physically pleasurable and is pleased his clients are happy with the service for which they pay a great deal, but that doesn't mean he likes it. That's what you know too well and why you hate it so much."

"Yes, it is. I had to find out why and once looked to see how others in the business felt about it. Some were only in it for the credits, but most actually liked it. Storm enjoys it, but he doesn't like it, and I think he enjoys it because it's foolish not to."

"That makes sense to me. You're avoiding the other subject, Raven."

"It makes me feel insecure."

"I won't kick you out of the nest until you want to try your wings. If that time doesn't come for ten years, we'll travel together for ten years. I doubt it will be that long. I think you'll see a ship somewhere that's right for you and suddenly be trying to think of how to tell me. I'm telling you now that I expect it so you don't pass up the right one. You don't really have any plans for the future yet. The past still has too much hold on you. You picked the right person to teach you the possibilities, but you haven't realized that's all you want. Well, a bit more, but that will come when the time is right too. I know it's not or I'd have grabbed your hand and pulled you into my quarters for a bit of fun. Sex is too big an issue to you. I understand why and I will help you get in proper perspective."

"Having this day over will help."

"Oh, most definitely. I'm looking forward to the end of it. I think my feelings about it were pretty obvious last night. I'm glad you're with me. I needed help changing my life too. I'd have stayed in my rut until I couldn't get out of it. I don't want to stay and watch the worlds that were dependent on trade through the hole battle to survive. You got me moving and thinking about tomorrow again. I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of what's out here and meeting new people. Personally, I don't think you two really want to be traders. I love it, but I don't think you will. I get excited every time I find a new item I think someone I trade with will like. I enjoy haggling over prices and celebrate every time I make a run and end up in the profit column. I'll use some of what you brought aboard to explore and establish myself in a new sector, but most I will put aside for you for the time you're ready to begin your future. I have one idea to give you. Couriers are primarily independent ship owners who contract individually or with large companies."

"I don't know any of those. There's not much reason for them to come to the Podge."

"They make a good living and it's almost as free a life as a trader with a one-person ship leads, perhaps more so. Most of us establish routes and schedules. Contract couriers accept runs when they feel like it, to places they want to go. The future is open, Raven. I'll help you prepare for it, but it's yours to choose. Computer, copy current full course of study for captaincy from Talmoss central library. Title file 'Tomorrow.' Raven, if you want more, have the computer add it to that file. If you want strings of letters behind your name, pull course listings and subjects for degrees. If you want the course for chief engineer's papers, pull it. There's plenty of comp space, so grab whatever you think you might want. Talmoss library is one of the best. Grab applications for independent study for degrees from the university extension office if you think you might want them. You can drop them off at Hardesty Station and then request final exams from any public university when you're ready. I have a friend who spends most of her time between worlds studying something. She's got about twelve degrees that range from philosophy to ship system engineering. She calls it her hobby. I have a feeling you might like the same one. Ready to go?"

"Uh, yes, I think so."

"Raven, I hit you with all that now because now is when you need to begin thinking about what opportunity you want to take advantage of first. I was also avoiding thinking about what you told me until I got over the shock a bit. Frankly, it scares me for you. Every story I've heard about a telepath was a tragedy because so many wanted to use them and even more feared them."

"We have endangered you."

"I knew that when you convinced me to hire you. The danger is small and a name change for me and my ship should take care of it. I didn't mind that. Someone else originally named her and I never really liked my name. Arumi decided what I would like and, somehow, gave you surnames that touch who you are too, but that's Arumi. It's the same insight that makes her such a good judge. Now, let's go find you something you like in the way of an outfit."

"I'll outgrow it."

"Probably, but that's not important. When you do, you give it to a charity and buy another. Shall we hunt for one for Storm?"

"I don't know. He's never chosen a single item of apparel for himself. He wore what he was given, whether it was a hand-down in the Podge or a costume for work."

"Then we'll just wait and see. If we see the right retirement present, we'll get it."

"I love you. You see so clearly to the heart of things. I don't want to think of not being with you."

"Don't think about it. When you're ready, you'll know it. When Storm is ready, you'll know it. I'm not saying it won't hurt some when we go separate ways, but I'm very sure it won't be goodbye, just farewell for now. I'm having to say goodbye to my old friends. I expect to spend part of this evening in tears, but I'm ready to move on or I wouldn't be. I'll get the disk and set security and meet you at the hatch."

"Uh, huh."

Raven was confused and a bit hurt. She was so sure they didn't belong with her and he'd been so sure they did. He reached for Storm for reassurance before he thought about it, then realized that was what she'd been telling him. They really were bound too tightly to include someone else completely. Storm got the whole thing and mentally thumped him for feeling guilty about tying them so tightly. He noted he'd started it the day his granddam had put a baby bed in his room for him. He'd been two at the time and Raven had only been a few days old. He'd been his baby ever since.

Raven smiled when Storm 'kicked him out' to get ready to be Angel Blue for the group that was assembling for their appointments that day. Storm didn't realize how much he wanted it to be done, but Raven did. He began to plan a retirement celebration. Captain Satin had seen Storm needed something to say that part of his life really was over.

The message to Hardesty Station took three minutes to prepare and send. The reply wouldn't come for at least four hours. Satin instructed it be forwarded to the ship. She was so confident the answer would be an excited 'yes' that she ordered things and scheduled work on the ship to be done on Hardesty Station, before they left the interplanetary communications office, and gave the name of the 'agent' as contact. Her friend Gelina would see to it any scheduling problems were taken care of.

### Chapter Three

Satin had a wonderful time taking Raven shopping. He had no idea what he wanted in the way of clothes, because he'd never chosen anything for himself before. She refused to make comments or recommendations. He told her he wouldn't cheat and 'look' to see what she thought about anything unless the thought was a clear "Yuck." She laughed and told him he'd already shown he had good taste and wouldn't pick anything she felt that way about. He stared at her.

"Raven, you've pulled the nicest things off every shelf and rack so far, then winced at their prices. Of course they're expensive. You have very good taste in general, but you don't know what you want because you've never thought about clothes as expressing who you are, just as covering for your body."

"I'm not sure I know who I am."

"Few people are at your age, but they know who they want people to see them as that day. I'll help this much. Quit looking at things that cover you chin to toes. You're a beautiful, sexy, young man. Stop thinking about what middle-age people wore when they came into the Podge to do business with traders or shop in the market. Think about what young men off of ships wore when they were out strutting."

"Strutting?"

"Yes. Stop hiding. It attracts too much attention. A secret is best kept by one who seems to have no secrets. In the Podge, everyone who lived there hid who they were. That made it normal behavior. Other places, people show off who they are, beginning with what they wear. Look around you. Look at the variety of dress. Look at the styles that say, 'I'm a student. I'm in this business. I'm from this place.' Now look for those that say, 'I'm me and there's no one else just like me.' You'll see it even in those whose clothes say they have some kind of group affiliation. Like that fellow. He's wearing tech covalls, but he's got a gold hoop in his left ear and a bright-colored scarf around his neck. That one is in identical covalls, but she has on a bright pink cap and belt. You have a style, Raven. It showed in how you wore the ragged clothes you had on the day we met. You just don't realize it. Think about the style of things you liked and look for something like the ones that felt most comfortable both in fit and in the way you looked in them. Ah, dawn breaks behind amazing teal blue eyes."

"I did wear some things more often than others."

"Exactly. Now find things somewhat like those. Now what's wrong?"

"Storm wore whatever was on top. Always."

"Yes, I can see that. Raven, you know who he is. If you see the right thing, you'll know it. You're actually much sexier than he is."

"What?!"

"You're very masculine. He's nearly androgynous. He's worked to be the reflection of others' desires for too long. He doesn't even know if he has any of his own. You definitely do and you know what they are. I'd say his desire for workout equipment is a statement he wants to change that, but it's also a reflection. In this case, of you. You're the one who has a very nice male musculature. He's very beautiful, but you're just plain sexy."

"He's afraid to be."

"That's reasonable under the circumstances, but it's time to end it. Yes, I'll try to break open his shell for you. I do find him very attractive, but I wouldn't have if you hadn't been working so hard to make sure I got to know him. You, on the other hand, are an absolute temptation. Try on that shiny black shirt with those black pants. The legs are designed to roll cuff to the length you want to wear them, drag the ground to mid-thigh. The shirt sleeves are raglan and drawstring-cuffed. The styles will give you some grow room. Nearly anything that just says small, medium and large will if you don't get it almost too small to start. You've dressed a lot of kids. Think about how things, that looked like they actually fit a growing child the longest, were made. Think about what you were pleased to get."

"Anything."

"Yes, well, think about those things that made you feel like you'd gotten lucky and got a bonus. Think about how Storm moved and, most importantly, lounged in various things he wore. Think only of how they were put together. Think about how you see him as sexy."

"It's his mind, his total commitment to what he believes. He's a hero to the depths of his soul. You're right. I'm the engineer, but he's the dreamer. I eavesdrop on his."

"And see to it he has them. You can't follow anyone else, Raven. I'd follow you anywhere. He knows the truth and you need someone else who does. Father a thousand kids, both of you."

"Say what?!"

"I pray every one of them inherits. Donate to very select groups and give women you love children to give their love. You will love many. Storm may choose only you as a lover. I'm with you about that one. I will help you at least get him to think about making love to someone else. What strength of will. I'm sure he sees you as his very own gift from the Almighty, whatever he thinks that is. You're the only one who can know him and you are always you."

"Huh?"

"Ooh, that's cute! Donya! He's finally figured out what he wants. Come see what just walked out of your dressing room. We'll take what he has on. Roll the pants to just below your knees, Raven. Now, tie the shirt over here. Hmm, you need something to hang on your very nice chest. Ship slippers are perfect. Send one of every fabric you have in these pants. The other tech one and he have decided to build muscles. I'm sure Raven didn't suggest it. Think?"

"Oh, yes. Definitely yum. Let me show you a couple other shirts and fabrics. You have amazing eyes. Let's see if we can find something that makes women look in them."

"Donya, Arumi was right. This is exactly where I needed to bring him. Their budgets are limited because mine is, but I've got two who worked hard to get out of a hard life and they really don't know what they want to wear. Brand-new ship tech ones and I know they'll earn their keep and the ship they want. They're paying for a training run. I'm getting expenses paid and a very nice quarters redo out of it. They get to be ship captains. This one will only use it when they want to take ten people into the captain's lounge. The other one is our real problem. He's the one who made the money to finance what this one built. He wore work clothes. You know the kind. You are doorman. You wear doorman. You are company tech. You wear company covalls. You are prospector. You live in a survival suit. Let's start with his name. He's Storm Taylor. This is Raven Wisdom."

"Oh, my. Dear, you have a cushy contract."

"Oh, I am hoping for fringe benefits."

"I'm blushing, but I think I'm enjoying myself."

"They're very interesting students. I'm Captain Satin Joyce. Let me take some of this stuff to Hardesty Station with me. Your designers deserve recognition and that's where it has to come from. I'll set you up a trade link. You set up lots more. Talmoss needs it. I deal in fine crafts and fabrics and I'm damn good. I can make contact with the right person on Hardesty. They need the trade too. I'm traveling credit-light this time, but I want to do this badly. I like this world. I think I can help. Ask Arumi if you can trust me, then put me something together in a hell of a hurry, that I can sell as straight sales agent. I'll take five percent of the gross. I can sell this stuff. Look who I have as a model. Now help me find something for the other one."

"Wait! Comm on! Call home!"

"Hello?"

"Scammer, grab the gang and put them on it. The gorgeous are going to take all the gang's stuff to Hardesty and set us up a sales outlet! Move it, Cubby. She lifts tonight. Associate this. Storm Taylor."

"Ooh, rich charcoal, tailored wild. Male or female?"

"He's decided to build muscles. Captain Satin doubted Raven, him, has an option."

"Go for the travi silk if you can find it in something interesting. Go draped on pants, but not casually. Make it style, not happenstance. Look for something by Kethrine. Give him a romantic shirt with a precise collar. A short jacket fitted at the waist and blousey for when he gets muscles. He's decided to build so he wants a fuller body shape on top. Height?"

"About one hundred seventy-five cens."

"Ooh, a little fellow with muscles. Yes, everything will work and better than most. We'll be there to clean you out in twenty, Donya."

"Leave me some nice things, Scammer."

"We've got a lot of nice things near ready, Love. Near just isn't close enough if she's leaving tonight. Thank you, Captain. We'll spread the opportunity."

"Arumi sent you. I owe her the fact I'm in business."

"She's a strong proponent of trade and your world. She does you well when dealing with other worlds and systems of civil law. She's known for good business sense in other sectors. She treats all of her visitors nicely and doing business here is nice. Oh, that's interesting."

"Yes!"

Raven was delighted. The drape of the silvery charcoal pants was made into the fabric, not cut and pleated. Warp and weave had been increased and diminished a few threads at a time. It gave the drapes of the otherwise satiny material a very interesting texture. He just nodded when she held up a collared and cuffed, long-tailed, white, pullover shirt with a deep, but relaxed, lapeled vee neckline.

"Now, give him a number of things to tie around his waist and some more of this style shirt. Then put this misty gray travi silk jacket with this one tucked in."

The sleeves were cuffed to mid-forearm and the collar stood up in back. It tapered rapidly into widely spaced lapels. They narrowed rapidly to a fitted midriff, but, like the cuffs, it was softly tailored, sewn in, not sewn on. She showed him changing the shirt color changed the style and found some "less dress for dinner" pants to go with the shirts. She told Raven they'd be writing off the price as advertising and pay for models and they'd get more from them that way than direct sales. Raven surprised Donya, of Donya's Designers boutique when he bowed formally, and stated he would be pleased to do so, but the clothes for his friend were a gift and would be purchased.

Satin grinned and told Raven to select what they'd be purchasing. She guided Donya to the side to make arrangements with her to deduct purchases from the commission on the sales. Donya told her she hadn't thought of clothes as pay as putting Storm in work clothes, but should have. She noted she'd never forget the lesson because she didn't plan on letting the memory of Raven's bow "get dusty." Satin laughed and nodded and they went to work on the arrangements.

Raven looked at clothes. He thought about what the captain had said and looked at himself in the mirror. He actually had trouble envisioning himself with his own hair and skin tone. It had been red-brown and he'd been light beige a long time. His eyes were more noticeable when his skin was lighter. Storm's were gray, all colors of light gray. Sometimes blue and others green, but always gray. He began to choose colors for Storm and himself as they would be when they shed the 'makeup' of the past.

He chose more styles for himself, based on whether they'd look good on the shape of his body in forty days and also right on him. He wasn't a model. His modeling job was that he looked good and comfortable in the clothes he wore 'daily.' He chose colors and styles for Storm, but kept them subdued and 'grayed,' with variation, more than differences, in style. Then he found the accessory racks. He saw what he wanted immediately and they came in lots of colors. He had no idea what they were.

"Do men wear these?"

"Right now, no one does. Those are a new idea one of our designers had. The pouch fastens in solid and opens wide with the right touch. It goes between the two layers of belt or sash, locks in, then the clamps engage and lock it down. If someone unlocks the clamps and the pouch opens, it'll be noticed if the wearer is conscious. The beadwork on the belt, or patterned sash, provides the interest. The pouch is soft, shades of neutral colors, 'toss in a corner by the door' handy and sturdy. The belts loop, not cinch, and adjust to be comfortable. The sashes do whatever you want."

"I want the black pouch and the gray one and all of those belts and sashes. Reality intruding, I shall select a few of each. We shall hang them on hooks by the door and place a shelf to toss the pouches beneath them. Yes, this idea will sell well. Captain, this is a bright scarf and a pink cap. The pouches are convenient and give an excuse to wear something with covalls, or anything else, and the versatility of that something is only in its shape. If the mount and clasp design aren't patented, they should be. A pocket jack would have trouble dipping a hand in this and a grabber would hunt easier goods to grab. Yes! Beaded with long fringed ends."

"The fringe is designed to tie beads into and knot and braid like that one. There's a selection of beads and such and a folder with ideas goes in the package. They're patented, copyrighted, trademarked and everything else we could think of. We expect everyone to be copying and to get an offer of nice money from people who want to sell the mount system to people who want to make their own. This black shoulder sash. You'd keep checking to see if a waist sash was where it was supposed to be draped around your hips. A wide contoured belt wouldn't bother you because you'd feel if it got twisted around. Good. We were all right when we invested in our friend. This is our baby. It's the oldest idea there is in convenient carrying, just adapted a bit, by and for, our life styles now. Doing that with flair and personality is fashion."

"It beats something tied around under a shirt because you have no pockets and carrying anything that can be grabbed is an invitation. We worked our way out of Hell and built a sturdy enough bridge a lot of people can cross it behind us. The captain is going to teach us how to build more bridges. She's the best."

"If you worked your way out of that rough of a neighborhood, you deserve nice things. If you made it so more get out, you deserve to enjoy them immensely."

"It wasn't a rough neighborhood. It was a slum of rotting dwellings and dying dreams. We built a bridge that will leave it empty in a couple generations. Bulldoze it and build a golf course. Former residents will be delighted to pay greens fees, and will smile in satisfaction every drive and over every meter of the course every game. There's a very strong sense of community in Hell. One always feels a bit apologetic for knifing someone one likes, because there isn't enough for all to survive, but doesn't regret being better with a knife. There were a lot of patches of Hell before the collapse too. Things here are in flux. This is the time to plan solutions to keep patches of Hell from growing in your yard and reduce them in your neighborhood. This world knows it. I'm not worried about you people. It's a nice plan. I'll help build the first span of your bridge."

"Captain, he's going to be dangerous when you get done with him."

"Donya, he's dangerous now. My job is teach them to only be dangerous when they want to be."

"That does make much more sense."

Raven chose a dark red background, black and gray-beaded, black leather, tie-on, fringed belt for Storm for 'every day' and a silvery gray loop of hide from a marine creature, with a few scattered small patterns of silver beads, to go with the outfit he'd picked him. He chose several different sashes and belts to 'hang by the door' for himself and hoped Storm would borrow. Then he chose several crystals and beads to go on the fringe of the belt for Storm.

Satin ordered all but the things he was wearing, including the ship suit he had been, sent to the port-purchase delivery service. She set up a time for delivery of the cargo of clothes, as well.

Raven asked to take the fringed belt with them and made sure he got a brochure of ideas for the fringe. Satin struggled not to giggle through lunch. She kept having to remind him to eat. The belt was very interesting when he finally decided he had it like he wanted. Then he asked her if they could find a craft shop where he could get a bunch more beads and crystals.

"If I give him the belt, the brochure and a box full of things to play with, he won't leave it like I did it because I did it. A couple beads and crystals are leftover from a craft project. A box full is for a toy I played with to see if I thought he'd have fun with it."

"Makes sense to me. Oh, I see an idea forming behind your eyes."

"He wants me to let my hair grow. I will if he deals with it. It'll take headbands to keep it out of my face, then wraps and braids to keep it out of my way when I work. It also takes brushing, a lot of it or it's a rat's nest. Thank you. Did I understand what you were doing? I didn't peek."

"You got it and did well. She'll infer we're going back, not to, Hardesty Station and other sectors. I want one. I'll pick a pouch and sashes from what they send and pay for them through the person I find to sell them."

"I want to find the right hair colors and skintint remover for two. I'm going to cut his hair, remove both our skin tints, try to get our original hair color back, then give him his new clothes to wear. He needs a rite of passage. If he has to struggle to get through it, that's good."

"You'll be getting him through it."

"Exactly. He doesn't wake up in the morning still wearing yesterday. It's done. The angel is done with his work. It's time to say goodbye to him. In the morning, he will be gone and the man who called him forth to do it will be free to begin his life."

"There's really a separation to you."

"No, but there is to him. Get me a short course in a salon so he doesn't look as bad as when I cut his hair when I was ten and he was twelve. That's the last time I did it."

"Oh, dear. I'll try. Arumi, I hope you've got another friend. Better yet. We'll ask our lunch server. Her hair is cut beautifully."

Five minutes later, they had an appointment with a "genius" with colors and shears. Twenty minutes later, Raven was getting a lecture and the elderly woman getting a haircut was having a wonderful time taking advantage of the opportunity to flirt with a handsome young man. The fellow giving the lecture laughed when she volunteered to get a dye job so Raven could see how that was done. He told her she was a tease and he'd strangle anyone who touched the color of her beautiful white hair.

Raven didn't expect the fellow to look at his roots, but realized he should have. He couldn't have predicted he'd draw a mark on his scalp around the place that should be beached white. A few moments later they were on their way with nine dyes, a little packet of bleach and two hair conditioning treatments. Two of the dyes were for him. All the others were "shades of silver" ash blond, each with a label on where it should be used to make Storm's hair look like Raven had described it.

"Stop. Look in that window, Raven. That silver bird belongs on your chest. Let's see if we can find something in there that belongs on Storm's too, my retirement gift."

"Something that says Storm won't be as easy as a bird for Raven, but I will definitely help you look."

"Hi, the bird in the window for my friend Raven. Help us find as right for our friend Storm."

"This."

"Yes! What does it represent?"

"The title is 'Hand of Zeus.' According to the myths he hurled 'thunderbolts.' The artist corrected me when I said I liked the dull silver hand with 'shiny lightning bolts.' She'll like it when I tell her why it was the right piece for the one who bought it?"

"Sold. Look, Raven, he's got beads and stones that would go on the fringe and they're not expensive."

"Those are all semi-precious natural stones. They're just not good enough to set in jewelry, so they're tumble-polished and drilled. There's some pretty agate in that bin and some jeweler's points on wires over there."

"Give us a discount by the handful and I'll hook you up with the shop with a new item of apparel that's going to have a lot of people looking for things just like that."

"Do tell."

"Discount?"

"Cost and I'll show you the invoice."

"I trust you. Comm Donya's and say Captain Satin and Raven said to call. Tell her what we bought and she'll tell you what for. She's got a few interesting beads and crystals, but she's going to need lots more or somewhere to recommend to find more in a hurry. She's got a designer with a brand new idea and it's the best I've seen in ages. Raven, how about that small blackwood box to hold them?"

"Yes. Satin, what's cost? Am I spending too much?"

"No, but select, don't just fill it."

"Too full would be as bad as leftover beads. These eleven beads and these eight crystals. What's this?"

"An iron pyrite cube, fool's gold. That's its natural shape. All the crystals in that bin are just the way they're formed with the exception of having jagged ends cut off."

"That it, Raven?"

"Yes. You know, I like every shop I've been in today, but crossing a couple sectors to go shopping on a regular basis just isn't practical."

"No, it's not, but I do understand the sentiment. I've liked every shop we've been in too. So, do you agree a long journey to get the ship hours you need for a license is better than a bunch of little ones now?"

"I never really disagreed, but I groan on principle when someone says forty days to there, then forty days back to here, then thirty days and so forth."

"You can't do four or five tear-down and reassemble in a six-day trip. They're getting a ship. I'm getting them ready to go it on their own in it. They'll have more than enough logged hours to go from techs one to captain when I'm done and they'll know how to keep a ship operating so it keeps them alive too."

"Next."

"What?"

"Not me, I wish I could find someone to do that for my niece."

"Sorry. This run is the last I plan this way for a long while, if ever. The Trader's Guild might help you find someone though. My experience is there's someone in every port office who knows who's just right for an odd job. I've gotten several that way. Can't give you the name of that person on Talmoss, but I'll bet there is one."

"Thank you. Enjoy your purchases."

Raven was excited. Satin was delighted, but had a feeling it was going to make the evening very long for him. He suddenly sighed and told her it was hard to avoid listening in when she thought about him so loud. She looked at him and he explained she'd always been louder than most people and probably had a high psi rating.

"Most good traders probably do."

"That makes sense"

"You don't have to stay in the ship."

"My new life starts in the morning too. I plan on passing a lot of time looking through library and university materials this evening, to get ready for it."

"I'll pick up a special breakfast for morning and bring it home with me. You're going to be overseeing the unloading and taking delivery of the things from the designers. Figuring out how to stow them is your problem."

"Cabin closets aren't large, but there are six of them not in use."

"That's just about the way I use the cabins most of the time. Some things are easier to store in them than figure out how to pack in a hold. Raven I doubt the designers will deliver the clothes in garment shipping containers this time. It's unexpected and short notice. They'll be prepared the next. Tolmer Insurance Company's guide to shipping containers and packing methods is a good reference. I have it. They hope every trader downloads a free copy. It saves them lots of money."

Satin steered him into one more shop before they went back to the ship. She picked out a type of wrist comm with chron and told him to pick styles for himself and Storm. He looked at what was in the shop, at the location of the shop, then began looking at styles. He was choosing tools they had to be comfortable wearing all the time. They kept dual time and the ship computer automatically changed one setting to spaceport time when it contacted local traffic control, whether on a world or a space station. A request to a ship computer or pattern of touches on the three function keys made it a time clock.

They had hours to keep track of, by the hundreds and the hundredths. Some maintenance procedures took pieces of minutes and they needed hours of them as part of the maintenance routine. Keeping track of tiny pieces individually was part of the training. All the pieces added up to the total. The comp log recorded all the time you did something. If it wasn't the right amount when everything else was done, you'd skipped something in an absolutely essential maintenance routine, and probably lived through it because you were running them more than once a day as training. He chose a simple, elegant, oval in silver and black and gray straps. Satin smiled and told him she'd known he had good taste since he'd told her he'd seen she did.

"You want this journey logged as contracted instruction and payment specified as remodeling Stardance and restocking her."

"You got your tech one hours on the way to Talmoss, Raven. Your license says so. Captain is still a long journey to go. The fastest it can be done from tech one is one hundred twenty standard days. A total of ten of those must be done in space dock or on the ground, and some take some equipment you have to learn to use before you can start logging hours. I think we can finish what you have to do before the first one of those in forty days, but I'm sure it's close. Frankly, I'm going to work your asses off. It's killing me because you aren't going to have time to cook and I'm already spoiled. I'll fit your physical workout routine into the schedule. The first third of the course is pretty physical and the second is not undertaken by anyone not in excellent condition. Basically, you take apart, clean, and reassemble everything inside the skin of the ship, several times. Each piece is bigger and more complicated than the last and has to be gotten back on line faster. You take them apart in as big chunks as you can physically manage. By the third leg, you'll will be removing all the chunks that you took apart and put back together, as little chunks and medium ones, to get to the heart of the ship. You will do an emergency manual fuel dump, clean the thrusters in space and rebuild the injection system and physical control system. I'll be watching from the bridge by comm link. I'll be pissed if I have to put on an EVA suit to keep warm before you get done. The seals are good. There's just enough time. I almost made it doing it alone."

"Uh, it doesn't sound like we'll be wearing our new clothes much."

"No, but I'll fit a couple casual evenings in the schedule somehow. I want to see him wear them too, but celebration of finishing the first leg is the best reason for him to wear the dress outfit. I also want a cargo or enough to buy one. You need to deal with cargo, so I'll get one while you're with me. You have to deal with traffic control and port procedures a certain number of times, so the end of this long journey is going to be a bunch of short hops. That's when I'll teach you the rest of being a trader; government regulations, red tape and taxes. If you find a ship before we're done, it sits until we are. You'll know enough, well enough, I'll be pretty damn sure you'll get from planet to planet. I'm headed for the fringe. If you are, the training will include weapons and how to use them in practice and not just theory."

"Away is all we had time to consider so far, but the fringe sounds like an interesting place to consider as a destination. I like target practice. I don't want to ever have to use them on anything else."

"Diving into the weapon pit from a dead run, because I've decided you're going to shoot our way through an asteroid field, is very different than getting a good score on a vid sim. I'll be aggravated if her new color bond is marred, so I'll run shields until you get good enough you won't let her get scratched. It's how I taught me. I expect to survive you and Storm learning too. Please don't disappoint me. Plan the journey. Storm will assist. It's training, not a job to do. You must both learn to do it. Everything from time to complete segments of the training to the cost of dock or port fees must be considered. Also consider where I want to go. He's had a job. This is training for a career. It's nice because the variety of work available when you finish is incredible. Most people in the field are self-employed and there can never be too many, only too many doing the same thing in the same place. You're right, Raven, he needs a rite of passage. Get him ready to begin his time as an apprentice tomorrow. You'll probably get a break on Hardesty Station. It depends on how long the interior remodel takes. Keep that in mind when you're planning too. Pull references if you want, but don't start working on it until Storm is there to work with you. I don't think it's necessary to tell you to do separate plans, but I will if I think you're doing all of it."

"Yes, I'll have to watch myself carefully or I'll be doing it and teaching Storm how I did it, not working with him on it."

"Oh, Raven, you're far too serious for one so young and Storm is worse. I'm going to work you so hard you'll know you deserve to get to play when you get the chance. Let's get moving. We have time to write a contract and send it to the guild before I need to get ready for this evening."

"The guild here?"

"Yes. You tell them you're very satisfied with the training I gave you to become tech ones and are submitting the contract for training as captains. Captain Joyce of Stardance submitted logs and you're tech ones. Since Captain Joyce isn't listed as a local guild member, it's not surprising they don't have the first contract on file. If anyone with the right authorization asks, they'll say Captain Joyce is from out-sector and filed a continuation of a long-term training contract. They'll learn you became tech ones on arrival and that means the records can't be those for whom someone is looking. Trail dead ends because a friend of mine 'misread' the hours. The Night Tripper never landed here. The Stardance did. All record changes were made properly and duly recorded, but the file got lost in the system. Somebody entered a letter wrong in the name or selected the wrong code and who knows what data store it went to. Human error in data entry is a fact and everybody makes them. The more data a person handles, the more that person will make. The government of Talmoss would need a damn good reason to spend the credits it costs, to track down a mis-addressed file, on a pair of tech one licenses granted to someone from somewhere else."

"The issued licenses are the only thing that tells why there even is a file."

"Exactly. It took awhile for me to figure out how to use what Arumi gave us. It really hurts not to say goodbye to some people, but they need to be able to say they have no knowledge of where Shren Collis went when she left the Podge. Mavad and Arumi can equivocate and dissemble well and it wouldn't bother either of them."

Raven got mental approval of the contract from Storm between appointments and was delighted at his surprise and surprised discovery he liked the idea. Satin went to get ready and Raven went to work. He had a lot of things to find and copy from the library and needed to get it done, so he could do the physical work after the cargo transfers. He nearly mumbled "Goodnight" when Satin left.

She smiled and relaxed. He was going to be far too busy to watch the minutes passing that evening. She'd figured out what he had hired her to do, even if he hadn't known that's what he was actually doing. She was really looking forward to seeing them in the morning, when they became Storm Taylor and Raven Wisdom. She was looking forward to helping them learn who they were.

### Chapter Four

Angel Blue gathered his credits and put them in the pockets of his ship suit. This was the most dangerous time for him. The chips were all coded, but the draft had to be exchanged for untraceable chips before he left the area. He had to find a credit exchange machine, deposit it and code chips. He was too tired to feel if someone who saw him doing it decided to take over, and so exhausted he doubted he could fight off one who did. He checked listings for the nearest machine, slipped out the back door of the house and headed for it. Raven's soft voice in his mind surprised him. He should be asleep.

Raven told him he'd been too busy to think about bed and it was going to be awhile before he had a chance to do so. He'd just finished unloading a hauler-full of garments into the cabins on deck three and none of them had been in containers. He told him the captain was on the bridge getting the ship ready and he was on his way to the cab she'd called, as soon as he'd said Storm was returning. He would be at the address of the exchange machine he had in his mind in moments. He told him to wait until he got there to use it. He arrived just before Storm did.

"Storm, you're barely able to walk!"

"If I didn't know that, I'd have protested a cab was a traceable link."

"I was picked up at the port, not the ship, and we'll be making stops and changing vehicles. Make the exchange. We'll code the chips in the cab. We have things to do."

"We do?"

"Yes. You want some things, so the captain ordered them. We're headed for another credit machine first. That's where we change vehicles. The cab has been ordered and will be waiting just down the street in front of a very busy casino. Good. Let's go. This is a very nice neighborhood, but I still want gone. Storm, this night is a long way from over. Sleep from here to there. We're going a long way out of the way."

The ride across the city was deliberately long and the exchange machine they were headed for was at the local-travel port. Anyone tracing the cab from where the draft exchange was made would assume Angel had boarded a flight to somewhere else on the planet.

Raven was rather awed by the way Captain Satin had planned it. She'd included "nap time" in it for Storm. He coded chips with the four digits Storm had given him before he fell asleep, then gently woke him and told him what he was about to do. He checked to see if Storm was aware he'd mumbled yes, then gathered his hair at the collar of his ship suit, cut off about twenty-two cens of it, stuffed it in a hot-take food container and put it in the cab's disposal unit. It would identify the hot-take as recycleable and its contents as organic material. Basically, it would record it had separated food from container, ashed the food, squished the container and stored it for recycling. He laughed at himself. He wished the cab ride was even longer so Storm would get more rest and he wished it was shorter so they could get started on the rest of what he had planned for the night.

Storm almost staggered from the cab when they got to their first destination. He stood blinking while Raven deposited credit chips to the accounts the captain had listed. He was tempted to carry him down the street to the waiting cab, but steered him instead. Carrying him would attract a bit too much attention. He got him into the autocab in front of the casino and directed it to another casino. There would be another cab waiting in front of a busy bar down the street. There was a credit exchange machine between.

At that machine, he deposited chips to Stardance's port account. They were close to the port and the last thing ship crew members always did before leaving a world was deposit their cred chips. The port exchange would log the deposit and the balance would be available when they reached their destination. The accounts he'd paid would be listed as paid in cash, but not from where it had been done. It could be traced, but it would take a court order and there was no reason to connect account payments for Stardance with a cab from near the brothel.

Storm was much more aware when they reached the port, but Raven still wished he didn't have to walk the quarter-K to the pad where Stardance was located. Walking hurt him. He'd been used far too hard. He was glad he'd prepared for it.

"Storm, I have a Treller kit and a hot healing bath waiting for you. On this world, one can buy a kit without questions being asked."

"A Treller kit?"

"A 'tail' kit, an enema kit specifically designed for use after too much anal sex. It contains something to reduce swelling, anesthetize raw tissues and a topical anti-biotic. I already hit you with a dispo inject of systemic anti-bio. You didn't notice."

"No, I didn't. How did you get one of those?"

"They're stocked in every ship's medical stores. I just had a feeling you were going to need it."

"I had to let go, Raven. I was too tired to control what was happening the last two. I couldn't have done it if I hadn't just tapped into the desire of someone else and let it carry us through."

"That's the first time you had to do that?"

"Yes, but I was sure I could. It worked. Both groups left tips, so I know they weren't disappointed."

"They must have all left tips and they were huge."

"They were? I didn't even read the chips to see."

"Storm, the total of the chips exceeded the draft by quite a bit. It's a fitting end to the career of Angel Blue. Now we lay him to rest forever."

"What?"

"Tomorrow Storm Taylor and Raven Wisdom begin their training to become ship captains. Tonight, we become those two men."

"I'm lost."

"It starts with healing you and finishing your haircut, then we remove the makeup of our past, skin tint and hair dye. Actually, that's re-dye, but to our natural hair color. If you want me to grow my hair out, you have to help take care of it. I'll whack it off in frustration if I have to do it. I bought a head band to start. You know how fast it grows. It'll be in my eyes before we get to Hardesty Station. We'll get the rest of the once-dyed part cut off there by a professional, then I'll let mine grow again. You get the things you need to take care of it from then on while we're there. We breakfast with the captain at eight hundred hours and begin our apprenticeship at ten. We will not attend breakfast in ship suits. It's a retirement party."

"What?"

"A retirement party. You retired from a job and are going to begin training for a career. I don't know what breakfast is, but I helped the captain carry a bunch of fancy restaurant hot and cold takes to the galley. She chased me out before she opened any of them to put what they contained in the keeper unit. Breakfast might not be as good as it would have been fresh-prepared, but it's going to be the best we've ever had. The bill she had me pay for it was outrageous and even I've heard of the Farimer Dining Experience restaurant."

"So have I, but I never expected to taste anything from it. Most of the clients I heard talking about it said they had to budget for it on a trip to Talmoss."

"Exactly. The captain will be pleased we had enough to pay for it. A friend of hers had guaranteed the payment in case we didn't. I didn't snoop. She was sort of broadcasting how much she appreciated it and how much she was going to miss him. She's hurting, Storm. She wants to do it, but it really hurts her to leave a lot of people she loves on this world and several others. Breakfast is the mark of a new beginning for her too. That's why she made it the best she could get and asked him to guarantee it. He understood completely. She hurts for him too. He loves her very much. I guess he's been trying to talk her into marrying him for about ten years."

"Ow. She does want to go?"

"Yes, and she's surprised at how much. Now, the first thing we have to do is plan our journey. I've been warned that if we don't both work on it we'll be submitting separate plans, so watch I don't just take over."

"I'm too tired to take all this in."

"I know. You're even more emotionally exhausted than you are physically. In a way, that's good. Oh, you have boxes and boxes of retirement presents waiting, some from me and some from the captain."

"Retirement presents?"

"Yes, but you don't have to open them until morning if you're too tired tonight. I'm hoping for tonight, but I won't push if you're wobbling by the time we get rid of all physical traces of our past. I'd like you to at least notice what you're opening."

"Raven, what are you doing?"

"The captain and I agree you need a rite of passage to truly put the past behind you. Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant, Storm, so don't bother trying to figure out what it is. This will happen if you're semi-somnolent all the way through it. I'll make sure you're aware of the beginning of each step of the change. Even if you don't remember the process itself in the morning, you'll remember what each step was and the order."

"A rite of passage, I think the captain is as much a romantic as you are."

"This time it's good psychology, not romance. This part you played is done. The makeup comes off all the members of the cast. You're retiring, not assuming another role, so your friends are throwing you a retirement party and giving gifts, which will be useful while you train for the new career you've chosen."

"I didn't choose it."

"Yes you did, just like I did. We picked our career counselor and she set us up for the training best for us. We didn't know enough to choose for ourselves, so we put the decision in her hands. Actually, she got to know us and said, 'This is what you need and arguing with your ship captain is not allowed.' She's wiser than we are, Storm. I wanted to argue that we belonged with her, but she made me see we belonged together and with her, just until we had learned enough to make it on our own. I'm still operating on her conviction it's right for us, but I don't really doubt it."

"I don't seem to either, Raven. I think I'm operating on the feeling you had it was right, when you touched me for my approval of the contract yesterday."

"Storm, that was earlier today."

"It was?"

"Yes. You just had a nap in the cab, not a short night's sleep. It won't be tomorrow until we get ready for breakfast with the captain."

"It's morning."

"No, Storm, it's late evening. Ship time will be set as midnight when we finish tonight. Eight hours later, we join the captain for breakfast. Captain, all crew members are aboard and the hatch is sealed."

"Thank you, Tech One Wisdom. Go to deck two lounge and strap in for lift. We have a window in four and one-half minutes."

"We cut it close."

"I was worried I'd have to cancel at one minute, because my crew was having too good a time their last night here and didn't get back on schedule. TC would not have been pleased. We're going up in a big window with a bunch of other ships. They're nice and would have stuck us on the end of the queue if there was time, but we might have had to wait for the next scheduled window in twelve hours."

"Ooh, sorry, Captain. We had to stop and deposit cred chips and didn't want to charge a cab from the gate."

"No apology necessary. You made it in time, but do check when in a queue the ship is scheduled to lift next time. I usually try to get in the first four. Stardance is quick and can get out of the way of other ships, so TC is cooperative."

"We'll check, Captain. Strapped in on deck two."

Raven grinned. Captain Satin evidently had the comm open. The lecture had been for other ears and covered their ride from a bar to the port, if someone did connect it. He smiled when Storm fell asleep before they lifted. Strap-in was a safety precaution, in case gravity compensators failed, but Storm would probably have rolled off the acceleration couch onto the floor if he hadn't been strapped in. He did not sleep on his back and Raven had moved him from the floor, by a couch or chair, to his bed many times. He let him sleep while he prepared everything in one of the cabins they would not be using as quarters.

It had been his cabin, but he'd moved both of them to the two other cabins on the deck and stripped it earlier that evening. When they were done, he'd remove the last of the wall brackets, store the dividing wall panels and dismantle the bath. He'd already done it in the cabin Storm had used. When he awoke in the morning, there would be empty space where two cabins had once been. The cabins were going to go anyway and it was one more bit of psychological separation from the past to add to the total.

Storm tried to argue he could use the tail kit himself, but Raven overruled. It surprised him, but he had to agree he'd be more aware of what he was doing. Since he woke up when Raven told him it was time for the next step, he had to admit he'd been right. That was something he should not have been able to sleep through, even if there was a topical anesthetic involved.

"You have to stand up for this, Storm, but it's all ready and won't take long. This is skin tint remover. As soon as it's on, you can lay down on that drop cloth and go back to sleep for a few minutes. I'll wake you when I get it on me, to check if I'm covered, then we'll get it off you and I'll put the dye on your body hair."

"That too?"

"Yes. It was dyed so it gets redyed. Mine wasn't, so you can sleep until after I rinse and get ready to do our hair. That will take awhile, but I've got it organized so it won't be too long."

"All right."

Raven worked fast on both of them and was pleased when Storm very carefully looked him over to see he hadn't missed any spots on himself, when he woke him again. The brief naps were helping. He'd be able to stay awake through the hair cut and dye. He hoped he'd be awake enough to put the dye on his hair, but it wasn't necessary, as long as he was awake when he began on it.

Storm watched Raven rinse the tint remover off himself and apply dye to his body hair. He was more rested when he woke him again and made it through the haircut and dye application, then took over bleaching the area within the blue mark on his scalp, when he saw Raven was having difficulty following the squiggly outline of his white patch. He put the dyes on the rest of it too and noted it was a lot more difficult than just working a foam into all his hair and rinsing it out a few minutes later. Raven told him the hair-color professional had flatly stated his hair was not all one color and anyone who knew anything about hair knew no one's was. His was "obviously dyed at home with an inexpensive mass market product" because it was all one color. Storm suddenly smiled and told him he remembered all the shades of blue-black it had been and there weren't enough colors of dye. Raven told him the pro had said the same thing, but he'd told him how fast it grew and he'd agreed matching every one was more labor and expense than necessary, under the circumstances.

Raven woke Storm again when it was time for the dye to come off. He hadn't really looked at himself in the mirror yet. Raven had asked him not to until they were finished and went to the cabin where his presents waited. Storm told him a hot bath was probably not a good idea if he wanted him to notice he was going to another cabin, let alone what was in it. Raven smiled and poured the mixture that would ease aching muscles into the tub and helped him in, then rinsed the dye out of his own hair in the sink.

He told the computer to watch Storm didn't slip under if he fell asleep, then went to work taking down the outer cabin walls. He had everything done except disconnecting the tub from the drain and moving it to storage when he woke Storm and got him out of the cool bath he'd rewarmed, just before he took the rest of the plumbing out.

"I feel a lot better. What happened here?"

"This cabin is going. We don't need it and it will be easier to visualize what we're going to do with primarily empty space. This way we just have two cabins in the area where we're going to make one bedroom and two baths where we're going to make one."

"One bathroom?"

"Not exactly. Two lavs with showers and a large bath between. This area is all going to be part of the captain's quarters and set up for personal guests she invites to share them. She'll have her own bath and a room off the corridor to the bridge as well as a bedroom. She wants a place she can entertain that isn't part of this area. She said 'a comfortable study with an outside door so I don't have to take people I have business with through the house.'"

"You've already planned the remodel."

"We aren't going to have time to do it after ten tomorrow. Apprentice Captain Storm Taylor, this is your cabin for the first section of training. Those are retirement presents from friends who wish you well in your new life, me and the captain. The blue packages are from me. This isn't a present. It's a tool for your training. I got to pick the style, but the captain told me what kind. Don't take it off. The computer will use it to wake you for breakfast."

"A wrist comm?"

"And chron with some very sophisticated functions. I got the impression one like it is considered essential for anyone training for ship's officer and too handy not to have for anyone who travels from world to world. Now, look in the mirror, then open your presents."

Storm swayed. Raven grabbed him, hunted the reason in his mind and smiled. His reflection in the mirror had shocked him deeply. He'd accomplished exactly what he'd intended. Storm barely recognized himself. He hadn't been ivory-skinned with ash-blond hair that shaded to pale silver in years, not since the day he'd changed his appearance and sought the man who came to the Podge to recruit people who wanted to make "big cred."

Angel Blue was gone and Storm was a new person. Only his grandmother knew Stirim and Raffi were Storm and Raven in official records. He'd never said his real name aloud until he'd given it to the captain. No one in the Podge used real names. If one stayed out of trouble with the port security forces and stayed off the aid roles, the name registered when one arrived or was born was never again associated with that person.

The government of Reapwell had ended the need for surnames. People had file numbers with Refugee Aid. The number was all the bureau used. Storm and Raven were legally registered names and unduplicated. That was carefully checked before they had been registered. When the captain had registered she'd hired them by comm, the names had been cross-checked with birth, security and aid files. Since they were registered, but no file was associated with the names, it was legal for them to leave. They weren't socially deviant and owed the government of Reapwell no repayment of aid, so the file was erased.

It worked well. People struggled to survive without government benefits and the Podge was a very law-abiding place, on the surface. They took care of problems themselves. It was the dream of all to leave the Podge, and the past, behind them. An empty file assured they could. There was now no record Storm and Raven had ever been in the Podge. Havatta could only trace Storm by what ships had left the huge spaceport built "in the middle of nowhere."

Reapwell had built it, in the least expensive place to build it, to take advantage of its location on the approach to the wormhole, and make a lot of money by serving as a staging area for all those trying to get back through it before it closed. The thousands of ships that were abandoned when people took berths on others, with places in the queue to go through, had been expected to be profitable as well. That hadn't gone exactly as expected.

The area where they were 'stored' had been zoned as transient residential, so people could live in their ships until they could find passage through on other ships. Thousands had not made it. They'd moved into the "hodgepodge" of abandoned ships and the Podge came into being. It and the port were still profitable. The huge, conveniently located, procedurally simple, inexpensive spaceport had become a small traders' market and transshipment point. Labor was cheap and honest. Theft was 'personal' when it happened.

One watched for pocket dippers and grabbers in the bazaar and entertainment area, but didn't worry that any item of cargo would disappear. That brought in Port Security and a search for missing items. Dippers and grabbers could be from anywhere and coin was untraceable.

The dippers and grabbers were primarily from offplanet or the warrens that had grown up around the entertainment area at the other end of the several-kilometer-square port, not from the Podge. The cultural pressure to abide by the law, especially outside the Podge, was strong. People from the Podge didn't endanger the minimal employment they could get, working as servers and cleaners in the area. They reported dippers and grabbers. Anyone from the Podge knew it.

They were "nice people in general." Reapwell just didn't want them as citizens. Who knew where they had come from and what they'd done before? Who really cared as long as the port produced more than it cost and their taxes didn't go up? It was that total lack of interest that had been the reason Storm's mother had birthed her son on a bed made of braided rags, with only his father and granddam in attendance.

"Storm, they succeeded."

"Did they? No, Raven, they only found a place to start. You succeeded. The child of love that would have started a war will not. The prohibited did not happen. The two lines did not cross. It's interesting that I'm not what they feared, but you are. The children so wanted to take Grandma with them, not for themselves, for her."

"She'll have the place filled with children again before we reach Hardesty. Ten kids will move in with Grandma to go to school, and enough food for growing bodies and learning minds will just appear in the pantry. Our children are ready because she helped get them ready, but they were always ours. It's time she had some of her own again."

"They know how old she's getting. The children who come will be older this time. There are many who can teach the basics. This time the children will be those who will teach technology and social skills to the next generation."

"Why our children have manners and what that junk in the corner of their bedrooms actually is. I want to learn music, to appreciate and make. I want to learn dance. The classical kind. Both those things I want to learn just for me, so they come after things I need to learn for us to survive. You're right. You need muscle. You're going to get it. Evidently your decision you need some just preceded a recommendation you get some. It's good preparation for what we'll be doing for both of us. How big a chunk of delicate technical 'in the way' can you move to get to something you have very little time to get fixed?"

"I'm more muscular than I appear."

"Oh, we both know that. Storm, she says I'm lots sexier than you are."

"What?"

"Sexier. I got a job as a model for a gorgeous line of clothes. You were not hired. Sorry. Both the captain and I told the person you just weren't right for it. We did get you some clothes though. Start with the little white box. It's from the captain."

"It's a necklace."

"I got a bird. You got lightning. Basically, she thought we needed something on our chests in our new clothes and found just right. I don't know what I want you to open first. Yes I do. Open that stack of blue packages. That's the thing that's going to make a group of designers rich. We're going to have documents and cred chips. I found the perfect thing to carry them in. We don't have to transfer pockets, or styles of case to go with clothes. The pouch isn't handy for anyone not wearing it and you can wear it with anything. Those are sashes and belts. Only the two in the package alone are actually yours. I got more because they're modeling pay. I got to pick what I want to wear. They get more off their taxes that way and it certainly made shopping fun. The only prices I looked at were on one pair of pants and the jacket I bought you. I owe the captain some money for it. Oh, and for all the goodies I got to go with the fringed belt. I played with it. It's fun. The square one is the box of beads and crystals. I put the paper folder of ideas on tying and braiding the fringe in it too."

"Paper?"

"Yes, all folded like a fan and it has diagrams and stuff. Now, this is the moment. Open the rest. They're stacked like they go. That stack is basic daily. We have lots of new underwear. I went for solid colors and good support for both of us. We got athletic stuff too, but that's with the porta gym and I didn't open the shipping container yet. I told the captain you wanted and she ordered the right things for us. She said, 'Comm. Bainer Equipment. A Bainer Ship Trainer package to port delivery for the Stardance. Credit transfer on receipt from service. Two males, slender medium-short adult and late adolescent tall. Nice average on supports. Out.' Since she did it in a crowd, I blushed."

"The clothes are beautiful."

"The clothes are yours. I hunted tailored comfortable for you. When the captain found it for me, she ordered assorted colors and reminded me I have pay coming. The sashes and belts for the pouch will keep the shirts from feeling loose and sloppy and the material is light enough they'll tuck in smooth. The pants style was harder. If we're going to put on muscle, we need more room in our clothes. Those will look good now and not bind on thighs and calves when they get much bigger. You pick what you want to wear to breakfast. Those are your let-me-out-of-a-ship-suit-and-covalls clothes. That's your dress for dinner outfit. I know I borrowed more than I earned for it. I almost yelped when I saw the price of the pants, then I saw the one for the jacket. Please don't outgrow them before the captain takes us out to celebrate finishing our first section of training on Hardesty Station. That's what they're for. We have to finish the section to go out with her in our dressy outfits though, and that is not going to be easy to do in forty-one days."

"I'm reeling and you're absolutely delighted."

"Yes. It's time for you to be yourself. Those clothes were chosen for the person you are, as only I know you. They tell others who you are. You're training to be a ship captain. You're a man, not a chameleon. You're an apprentice-in-training, not an actor playing a role. You did well. Your perfect disguise is taking all the disguises off. You've just worn them so long you forgot who was under them. I didn't. I always knew that was part of my job as your best friend."

"My kid. You always took good care of me."

"It was obvious taking care of you was the best way to assure I was well taken care of. As long as I did a good job, lots of other people were well taken care of too. It's over, Storm. The disguises are all gone. Happy retirement. Welcome to freedom, my friend. You earned it. Get in bed. I'll put these away for you. I got fast about the third cabin I waded into and started filling drawers, so I could get to the clothes on the beds to hang them in the closet. The captain contracted as straight sales agent. She's sure the designers are good enough someone on Hardesty will want to buy more from them. So are the designers. They promised to spread the opportunity. Anyway, that's how I ended up with a job as model, all the new clothes I wanted and became skilled at putting things away in short order."

Raven smiled and put clothes away. He'd talked Storm to sleep. It hadn't taken as long as usual. He was too numb to be anxious and too tired to work to listen to anything not immediately important. He'd just needed to be told to go to bed. Twenty minutes later, Raven drifted off to sleep and the computer set all chrons to midnight.

Raven had finished 'removing' the cabin and laid them each out a set of the pale blue covalls the captain had handed him when she'd gotten in, four sets each. She'd said they were expected to be well-worn by the time they finished training. There would be times they wore every set in one day and pulled a set from the laundry cycler as well. Cleaning some things was a very dirty job. One didn't wear dirt that had come off of something now clean when one started to clean something else.

Ship suits went under the covalls nicely. Raven had gotten another one. Two would be enough. He'd learned one wasn't on the six-day journey to Talmoss. Standing by the laundry cycler waiting for it to finish was not something he'd enjoyed. It was an experience in wasted time he didn't intend to repeat. Of course, one didn't have to wear a ship suit under the covalls, but he hadn't known they were going to get them. He was still glad he'd gotten the ship suit. He thought he looked rather good in the black stretchy 'jump' suit with narrow bands of red in a vee on his chest. More importantly, Captain Satin thought he did.

### Chapter Five

The computer woke Raven and he dashed across to Storm's cabin. He was just standing in the middle of the room. It was exactly where Raven had expected to find him, and he did look a bit bewildered.

"I can't stand it, Storm. We have a half-hour before breakfast. Try on the outfit and let me see how I did. You can think about what you're going to wear this morning while you put it on."

"I doubt I can think at all."

"All right, try on the outfit and then just grab something out of the closet for this morning. Everything in it is yours and will suit you and be comfortable to wear. It's also all gorgeous. I picked it for you and the captain liked it. Here, I'll put the necklace on you and your pouch on the belt that goes with it. When you get dressed, notice how good a job I did of picking the style of that tool on your arm to go with everything."

"Lots of gray."

"Yes, it's a good basic neutral color for you. Black's better for me. Brown is nice, but not really the right one for either of us. Grays accent your hair and eyes. Black accents mine. Oh, I did good. Yes, you'll have room for lots more muscle and it looks good now. Scammer was right. You want a larger shape on top and this gives it to you now without being obvious. You know, you look much more masculine in that. You're going to look very male when that jacket becomes the only shape of garment that fits your shoulders and chest. Yes, I did absolutely terrific. Thanks for trying it on for me. See you at breakfast."

Raven walked out and Storm just looked at the door he'd gone through for a few seconds. Then he turned back and looked at himself in the mirror. He reached up and held up the shoulders of the jacket a bit, then suddenly burst into laughter. Raven had done it and the captain had helped. He had absolutely no doubts he was "retired." The past was the past. Only things learned in it were relevant and only as applied to the career for which he was training.

He took off the outfit and carefully put it away, then found where Raven had put his new briefs. He stood in front of the closet again and smiled. Which of his new clothes did he want to wear to have breakfast with the captain? The misty wine shirt would look nice with his skin and hair, so would the heather blue. All the colors would. It was his closet and they were his clothes, chosen for him as he really was, not because they didn't have holes his balls peeked through. He felt Raven's laughter. He'd been 'snooping' again. Storm smiled and showed him how happy he was and how well the "rite of passage" had worked. He heard Raven whoop with joy. He thought the captain had probably heard it too.

Raven was incredibly happy and knew Storm could feel it. He shared his decision to give up trying to decide which of his new clothes to wear. He closed his eyes and reached in, then held the shiny aqua shirt up by his face. Storm burst into his cabin.

"What's wrong?!"

"I guess I prepared for your shock at the change and hadn't even thought of mine. I'm all right. I planned for my real skin and hair color, but it was still a shock. I forgot how much more noticeable my eyes are with them and the aqua makes them more so. It was just what I intended, but I wasn't quite ready for it."

"No kidding. Thanks, Raven. It's nice to know it isn't just me."

"Definitely not. I did about too good a job of picking colors for me."

"You always wished the bright-colored clothes you got were still bright-colored when you got them. I like the feel of these, Raven, and I do like the way I look."

"Good. Soft black pants and ship shoes and the right belt for my pouch. I picked the wide black one because it has several of my shirt colors in the pattern of beads. I expect to wear it and the shoulder sash most, but I'm going to hang them all on hooks by the door and put a shelf for our pouches by them. Grab whatever one you want to wear. I just got you one especially to go with the outfit and the one I thought you'd have the most fun with. I admit to thoughts of interesting braids and things in my hair when I looked at the fringes of that belt."

"Braids?!"

"You always said you wished I'd let it really grow out. I will, but you have to do something interesting with it once in awhile or I'll be looking for shears."

"You'll grow it if I take care of it and it doesn't always look the same."

"You're the one who wants me to grow it."

"Yes, I do. That looks really good on you."

"Uh, huh, I did good for a first-time clothes shopper."

"For both of us."

"The captain said I have good taste."

"And you're sexier than I am."

"Yes. I don't intend to let you catch up."

"What?"

"I plan on making sure the captain continues to think I'm sexier. I didn't get you a shiny pale rose shirt with no buttons and ties only at the waist. Actually, ties under my ribs. It shows off my sexy navel."

"Being hired as a model has gone to your head."

"It was quite an ego boost. Ready?"

"No, I need shoes, but I don't have to brush my hair. You cut it very short."

"It grows slow so I got rid of as much of the dye-damaged part as I could to start. It's going to be soft curly waves again without the weight of it pulling it straight, like a polished silver cap."

"I may decide I prefer you with ringlets."

"Fine. Just as long as I don't get frustrated and decide all I want it is gone."

Storm laughed and went to get his shoes. It was time for them to go to breakfast, with the captain who was going to teach them to be captains. They both stopped just inside the door to the galley, Storm because Raven stopped in front of him. He'd seen breakfast banquets and beautiful women in gorgeous loungewear before. Raven had not.

"The compliment is appreciated. You both look terrific. Happy retirement, Storm. That said, it's time to talk about what's ahead. Sit down and appreciate. This is just like the breakfast I've been remembering for five years."

"There's so much."

"Leftovers will be welcome relief for hunger pangs between lunch and dinner. Start with the fruit cup and then the waffles with whatever you want with them. After those comes quiche with biscuits and sausage gravy. Good morning. You are a class of two. Since you plan on primarily working together, I don't see the lack of other persons to interact with during training as a problem. Schools recommend a class size of eight and three-and-a-half years of study. Most people get trained by moving up through various positions. I, personally, trained on a ship with a large crew, where I was the only trainee. Every person on the ship trained me in what that person knew best. That's why I know I can give you two all the training you need. If I'd considered anything I was learning as less important than the rest, I'd have hurt the feelings of a friend. Within three days of having my own ship, I knew I'd been very lucky I'd felt that way. Nothing is less important. Everything you learn will be needed to stay alive out here. After breakfast, you will plan our journey. You will do that between ten and noon. Enjoy your two hours for breakfast, boys. It'll be the last nice long break you get, until you finish the first section of your training. You can do it by the time we reach Hardesty Station, but it will take all the time you have. Covalls and ship suits under covalls are recommended. The covalls are covered in your tuition, as are library materials. You will use my tools for now, but you will know what you need of your own by the time we get to Hardesty and get it. You'll know, because you'll have had to take turns using some things. You know I have some spares, but the tools were chosen for use by one person."

"If I'd thought about it, I'd have gotten a tolerance gauge on Talmoss."

"And another torque combination wrench."

"You'll find those in your tool bags."

"What?"

"Covalls, a tool bag, a wrist comm/chron, those two items and a comp file name were what the captain who trained me gave me to start, Storm. Your file name is 'Tomorrow.' Try a tiny bit of each syrup and jelly on bite-size pieces of your waffles, Raven. It's what I'm going to do. Don't ask what they are though. I don't have any idea. I just remember they're all wonderful."

"The fruit is wonderful."

"I don't know what they sprinkle it with either. I think I recognize cinnamon, but that's it. Mmm, I'm so glad you guys provided me with an excuse to do this. I've been trying to come up with one good enough for five years."

"I'm glad we did too. Storm?"

"I have never tasted anything like this and I know I had good food. Thank you, Captain."

"Hey, you only get one retirement party. Only liner captains retire from being captains. The rest of us just gradually go from making journeys to talking about the journeys we made."

After breakfast, they changed and went to work. Their file had star maps and a demographic reference on the worlds of the nine sectors. The reference included landing fees, pad fees, and service costs. They looked at the screens and screens of requirements for captaincy and went to work.

Storm said, "Those worlds are spaced right for the end of our training. Let's find the best way from here to there and the most cost-efficient route among them." Raven pulled up the section between on the screen and began comparing time needed for sections of training to time needed to get from place to place. Storm compared that with costs listed in the reference and the probability of selling some of their cargo without attracting undue notice. They got done just before noon and took the plan to Satin.

She gave them personal files to keep track of their hours and a file of tech manuals. They ran for the service access. There was a unit in the ventilation system they had to take apart, clean and replace four times before dinner. Lunch was, "Take ten minutes to grab something about there. Remember to wash your hands before you eat and before you use the toilet. Washing after doesn't keep you from getting grime with your food and on your cocks."

Satin checked the plan for the journey they'd given her and smiled. They'd done well. The two legs that were different from her plan were within a few credits of the same cost and service facilities might be a bit easier to schedule on one of them. She opened comm and told them the plan was approved, then began planning their daily schedule for the next forty days.

Raven and Storm worked and learned how well they worked together. They moved fast to get ready for the day when the computer woke them and didn't slow down until they dropped in bed at night. The second day's schedule, and every one after, included an hour of workout on the porta gym and a list of exactly what to do on it and the exercises to do before and after. The schedule was arranged so they both got half-an-hour on the gym and a full hour workout. After eight days, they stopped being sore. They almost had time to notice.

Raven yelled his hair was in his eyes and Storm ran for the headband he'd bought. Raven was still holding the part he couldn't "see through the mop" when he got back and put it on him. Raven told him it was a good thing he'd had his hands full or he'd have had a pair of shears in one of them. Storm grinned and went back to work. He wondered if Raven knew how he'd managed to make his hair grow two cens in eighteen days, or even if he knew he had.

The section of training the two were working on was supposed to take about sixty days. They knew the captain had rearranged it a bit. They didn't have time to study equipment they'd use on Hardesty Station with everything else they needed to have done when they got there. After thirty days, they knew they were going to just make it. They were told to come to the bridge on the forty-first morning. They got there just as the captain contacted traffic control.

"Captain Satin Joyce of the light cargo ship Stardance requesting confirmation of docking reservation and guide beacon."

"Welcome, Stardance. Your docking reservation for service dock seven is confirmed. Beacon on."

"Tracking engaged."

"We have you on the beam. Gelina Tadri of Lancast and Verdine requests notification on arrival."

"Tell her I'm in and the hatch will be open as soon as the seal is secure."

"Will do. Local time is fourteen forty-six."

"Thanks. We're set. I've got green on hatch alignment and cargo bay connect."

"We show the same. Pressurizing and closing outer doors. Use the hatch until we get the place warmed up for you, Captain, about two hours."

"We will. Connect me to the admin office and whoever is in charge of licensing. I've got logged training hours to download. I've got two who decided to go on from tech one to captain."

"Marce Williard. You're connected."

"Marce."

"Hi, Captain Satin Joyce. I've got training logs for Storm Taylor and Raven Wisdom."

"Put them through and find time before eighteen today to come in and sign off on them. You worked their tails off on the way from Talmoss."

"They worked them off. I just told them what to do next. They needed to be ready to take advantage of the time in dock."

"They made it. Approved."

"Yes!"

"That's Raven. He gets excited for both of them. I'll probably be in to sign the logs within the hour, but I'll be sure to make it by eighteen. Thanks."

"Welcome. Out."

"Get the hatch open, Raven. Gelina is probably bouncing just outside it already."

"It makes me nervous, Captain."

"I know, Storm, but we covered ourselves the best we could and this is the best place to do this. Gelina is one of the reasons it is. She'll ask no questions about why the face she's known for forty years is now attached to another name. She'll be too glad to see me. It's been more than ten since she decided Hardesty Station held opportunities for her that Rossmeir Port didn't."

"Hello!"

"Hi, Gel. Welcome aboard the Stardance."

"Thank you, Captain Joyce. Satin?"

"I just told Storm you wouldn't ask."

"Oh. Pretend I didn't. Now tell me who picked it. I know you didn't."

"No, but I'm getting used to it and I like it."

"I don't get that either. Oh, well. Now, business first. You have no idea what you started. That academy ring has museums trying to outbid each other. So do several other pieces. I hope you're getting a commission."

"They get the credits, but I'll get a big piece of what they get for training them to be ship captains. I get all expenses paid while I get a nice look around, my quarters expanded and remodeled and a nice cargo when I find the one I want. This is?"

"The final bid list. I wasn't about to put it across the comm. Payments are already beginning to arrive. How do you want to do this?"

"We'll transport to your office. You send the items out by whatever means you arrange with them, and stick the money in Stardance's Station account."

"I have to ask."

"All items were received in trade. Enough food for a season and no worry about someone thumping you for something valuable, but useless, made them good trades for the people who made them. The boys understood, but I think they still feel a little guilty. I told them not to and a lot of being a successful trader was just meeting the right people at the right time. Their proof of that fact awes me."

"And you haven't looked at the total yet."

"They want to buy a ship, Gelina. They're older than they look and they started working to a plan when they were little boys. They collected those things one at a time over years. Now they're ready to trade them for a ship."

"I'm glad they're older than they look. I'm trying to decide which one to ask for a date first."

"Thank you, but we won't know if we have time for a date until we get done with the work on the ship needed for our training and the remodeling done to pay for it. If we do, me first. Please."

"Storm, sometimes he thinks faster than you do."

"I noticed, Captain."

"Oh, my Lord!"

"Tell them to look at very nice ships, Captain Satin."

"Yeah, or a fleet they like. Boys, go change. We'll walk Gelina to her safe, then you're free until dinner at twenty at Volard's. I plan on dancing after, so your day starts at nine, station time, tomorrow. You have equipment to learn. That and the required work for training come first. The remodel can be finished later if necessary."

"It's planned, Captain. The file is 'quarters.' Pick the colors, materials and furnishings you want and order them. This we have done before. If everything is on hand, we can do it in seven days."

"Thank you, Raven. Go change. See why I was sure I was going to be taking them out to dinner to celebrate completion of the first section of training, Gelina?"

"Yes, Satin, I do. Someone knows they have the items on that list?"

"Someone suspects they have something. I covered all our tracks on principle."

"You're in love."

"With both of them. I'll miss them when they finish training and get their own ship, but I'll also sigh in relief to be back to just thinking about me and my ship. I'll probably choose the same sector they do as my new base though."

"I certainly would. Nice muscles."

"They're getting ready for section two of the training. Building muscle is good prep. It's intensely physical."

"They aren't too busy for a date tonight."

"Oh, yes they are. Tonight is a lesson too. I'll be teaching social captain making business contacts."

"Which no one does better. Sigh. All right, I'll pretend I believe you don't just want them both all to yourself this evening. Let's get things moved before people notice a lot of credits are changing hands."

"Wait until you see what I brought to sell for a group of designers on Talmoss. Raven is officially a model. Storm's clothes are by the same designers, but he isn't. Raven spent a long time hunting things he'd be comfortable in and it wasn't easy. His success in one shop is why I have cabins filled with designer clothes to sell, strictly as agent."

"Oh, my. Oh, they're fantastic. Havenner Milton will want. Deck forty-six, section eight. Milton's. It's the best shop on the station, if you can afford designer."

"Thanks. Got the things, Raven?"

"We split them between our pouches and filled this one for you and this one for Gelina. If you want a different sash, you have to go pick one."

"I like this one and I'd be hours trying to decide amongst the others. Gelina, this is what's going to make six designers rich. The mount and clasp system are patented."

"Oh, I want one!"

"I imagine Milton's will be carrying them and sold out in days."

"I'll comm and tell Havenner I want to know as soon as they're purchased, as soon as we get to my office."

"Well, I'm sure he'll make a spot in his schedule to see what I brought."

"She and she'll probably camp out outside the hatch if she sees the clothes they're wearing, just to find out where they got them. Gorgeous."

Raven and Storm both liked Satin's old friend and relaxed a great deal when she put the items from the pouches in the safe in her office. Satin led them from there to the port exchange office. She went in and handed them each a credit chip with a very large amount registered on it when she walked out. She said, "Have fun. See you at dinner." They watched her walk off.

"Now what, Storm?"

"We know we have things we need to buy and things we need to learn to use. Let's find where they sell tools and a thrust tube cleaning in progress we can watch for a bit."

"Let's wander around and just look period. Let's find late lunch by station time. We'll run across a place to buy tools and I'm not sure watching someone else working is a good idea. We could pick up someone's bad habits without realizing that person wasn't doing something the right way."

"You just want to sightsee."

"Our captain gave us the afternoon off. Since she did, I'm sure we deserve it. Let's see, we need haircuts and I want a couple new pair of ship shoes and another ship suit. You need at least two that don't bind in the shoulders."

"Yes, I do, don't I? Hmm, let's go that way first."

"All right. Let's see if we can find the park that's in the center of the station. Oh, and where Volard's is located so we can find it this evening. Set your chron to display station time We'll evidently be on it until we leave."

"Done. Raven?"

"I'm following him. I want to know who cut his hair. Hello! Excuse me. We're looking for a good hair cut and yours is terrific. I hope you got it here and the person who did it has time for two."

"Thanks. Up four, two sections that way, Shear Patterns. Ask for Lillia. Tell her that her big brother does remember to mention she cuts his hair when someone notices it. She should have time this afternoon, if you get there before the people from the Stellar Crest start pouring out of her hatches."

"Pouring?"

"It's a huge liner and it just docked. We like the business, but seven thousand people coming into the station at once is still a bunch to handle. Where did you get that belt thing?"

"We brought the belts, sashes and pouches with us, lots of them. I think the captain is going to make a deal with Milton's for these and clothes by the designers who did ours. Check with them to see how soon they'll go on sale and get there fast when they do. I've talked to two people since we got here, including you, and you both asked. Since our captain had two of them with her, she may be headed that way now."

"Milton's. Yipe, but the stuff they carry is all worth the price. I hope I can afford one."

"You only have to buy one pouch. You just put it on the belt or sash you want to wear. I'll show you how it works. See? The simpler ones aren't extremely expensive. Beaded ones like he's wearing are quite a bit more. This shoulder sash was less than most others."

"Thanks. Welcome to the station and have fun."

"We plan to. We'll say hi to your sister for you."

"You're good."

"What?"

"They hired you as a model to help sell their work and you're good at it, Raven."

"Thank you. Storm, what's wrong?"

"I think I'm nervous because I'm just me. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, and I'm not surprised. However, I will get disgusted if you play clam the whole afternoon. Let's find that salon. You supervise my haircut. You have to figure out what to do with it while it grows out. I'll supervise yours. I'll say, 'I cut it that long all over so that's how much has to come off. After that, it's up to you.' I do pick the easy jobs when I can get away with it."

"Sure you do. There's a lift."

"Four up and two over. Let's do make sure we remember where the ship is, Storm."

"Service dock seven."

"I'm just sure that's not as simple as it sounds."

"Probably not, but someone will point us the right way with that much information. I hope. I'm already lost."

### Chapter Six

They had a wonderful time. They were pleased with their haircuts and delighted with the lunch they had sitting by the park in the center of the station. They shopped for ship suits afterward. Storm picked up two off a shelf and Raven took them from him and put them back. He handed him five off a rack. Storm sighed and tried one on. Raven took the other four out of the dressing room and handed him six off a different rack. The one he was wearing didn't fit right. Storm sighed when he came out of the dressing room and Raven shook his head no. It didn't fit right either. The clerk took over. He scanned Storm for measurements, led Raven to a rack and told him where to get the suits altered. They just didn't make ship suits for a person Storm's height with shoulders wide enough for him. Storm was a bit embarrassed how pleased he was about it.

Raven found three suits and two pair of shoes he liked and they took six suits for Storm to the shop of the woman who did alterations. Storm was nearly giggling. He'd said he couldn't decide between them and Raven had told the clerk he'd take them all, then turned to him and said if he had the same problem when they shopped for tools, he had to ask the captain for a hold to keep them in. The clerk had loved it, so had he.

They decided to go to a bar near the alteration shop and just wait the hour for the suits. Both had to show their tech one licenses to prove they were old enough to buy beer. That 'showed off' the pouches and they soon had a small crowd around them looking at them. Storm didn't play clam, but he told people Raven was the one the designers had asked to show them off and he knew his best contribution was say he liked the one he'd given him. Raven groaned, but grinned and borrowed his belt to show a pretty woman how much fun the fringe was. They were both surprised when Satin walked in.

"Hi, boys. Sorry, but I need your help."

"Of course, Captain."

"Slow down, Raven. You have time to finish your beer. Tender, pour me one. I'll find us a booth. You bring our beers."

Since Storm already had his chip out, Raven followed Satin. Her grin when he sat down across from her said she knew what he was going to ask, so he just raised an eyebrow in question.

"Stardance located you for me by your wrist comms. Since you were in a bar and I was ready for a beer, I came instead of calling. Thanks, Storm. She can find you by comm anywhere, but a station is about the only place she can give me an exact location. This grid mark by that one is this establishment. Nice place."

"It's initial attraction is it's close to where Storm's ship suits are being altered. We decided to have a beer and wait the hour for them. We can have them delivered."

"How close to the hour is it?"

"About a quarter more."

"We'll wait. I'm interrupting your afternoon off."

"Are you going to tell us why, Captain?"

"Because a white-haired woman about this tall followed me to the door of her shop on her knees, begging me to get the clothes to her today, so she could get them priced and out by tomorrow, while the Crest liner is in. She sent a letter and credit for the total to Donya before I left the shop. She saw you two showing off your pouches in a corridor?"

"I liked his haircut and he liked my pouch."

"She liked your clothes. She was waiting for me when I got there. Obviously, thanks to Gelina. I ordered in-station garment transport racks and a flatbed cart to the ship berth. Station services is swamped with the liner, but promised they'd get me the racks so I could move the clothes myself. I decided that was going a bit far and looked for you."

"Thank you. We'd be delighted to assist."

"Ha! You just know I'll feel guilty and give you a whole day off to make up for it. Sometime."

"He's also glad he can just say, 'Milton's,' when he's asked about the pouches and clothes. He's actually good, Captain. Milton's will have a crowd at the door waiting for it to open tomorrow."

"Thank you, Storm. I enjoyed it, Captain, but he's right about me being glad there's a specific place I can send people who ask. It really isn't easy work."

"Sales never is, Raven, and these things are easier to sell than most. If you're good at it, you make a good living. If you're really good at it, you can keep a ship running and make a moderate living. Of course, you don't have rent or house payments to make or resident taxes to pay."

"He's feeling chagrined and pleased. It's a very interesting combo and has me real curious."

"Captain Satin said she doubted we'd want to be traders, Storm. I wasn't so sure, but I'm not displeased to find out she was right about that too. She suggested we think about being contract couriers. I'm getting lots more interested in the idea."

"It's just one of many choices, Raven. There are as many as there are working ships. Your experience is limited primarily to traders and ships that were abandoned by people whose lives and loves were on the other side."

"Raven was born in the Podge, but he was in the wormhole when it collapsed, or moved, or whatever it did."

"Thank you, Storm. I was in a capsule found where it had been. That's not exactly the same thing."

"And others?"

"I hope they're home with their families, Captain. They waited for me to be born to get my parents to theirs. I assume my mother or father saw something going wrong and tried to save me. It's a pleasant assumption and probably more reasonable than they decided they didn't want me after all and dropped me with the trash before they went home."

"Oh, I think so. You think that's why?"

"It seems reasonable."

"Father a thousand kids anyway, just in case."

"Storm, are you all right?"

"That's not what I... ever expected to hear."

"You're the pinnacle of humanity, Storm. You've proved it. Of course a lot of who you are comes of who you learned from, but most people are good people and do a pretty good job with their kids. You had to do more than most because you are more than most, not better, more. I think this gift is a good one. It gives total understanding of people and no one with it could fail to know most people are good people. I think it increases emotional stability, both in the person and in all those with whom that one touches lives. I also think both parts are needed. You complete something in each other that's probably beyond describing, let alone understanding. I also think Raven's about to kick your ass and tell you to get it in gear and find out the rest of who you are, Storm. He sees you clearly and knows you just aren't looking. He's being patient because he knows how traumatic it was for you to use your gift as you did for as long as you did. You don't know it, but he does and I do. That should tell you something. Find yourself, Storm. He's totally in love with you and he's the one person who can't be fooled. He sees a great deal in you that you don't see in yourself. He's right and you don't want to look because you're afraid it will make you feel horribly guilty."

"Huh?"

"You used what you are to get money from people. It would make me feel guilty, if I knew I had an advantage no one else could get and I used it to make lots of money. Throw in sex, which only vaguely interests you, and a very prim personal attitude and you get even more guilt."

"Vaguely interests?"

"Well, that's better than no interest and that's where you were forty days ago."

"What?"

"Storm, I know when a male is just not interested period. It's extremely rare and I can tell the difference from one who's not interested in women. Raven thinks you have an incredibly sexy mind. He's probably right, but you've got the two so separated it doesn't reach the physical world. Vague interest is a big step. Back to feeling guilty. You used your gift to give a future to all the children and then their families. You damaged no one and helped thousands. Pitch the guilt. It's stupid under the circumstances. You used it appropriately. The end is superb and there wasn't a damn thing wrong with the means used to reach it except it was hell on you, but that's what makes you a hero. Now it's time for you to become a leader. You've got a following of one, but he's a doozy. He'll get his captain's papers so you can take ten into the captain's lounge. He already picked you as his captain. He probably did it before he could talk. I can be teacher, mentor and lover to him, but never really captain. You can't follow anyone else. I didn't think I could, but I'll follow you if you say it's important. You're the most beautiful living human male I ever saw, but it's art, not life. Passion burns in your soul, Storm. The fire doesn't have to be a conflagration or barely a glow, carefully hidden. Campfires and hearthfires are much more common. They're warm and friendly and also controlled. You have complete control. The fire cannot get away from you. Bank it and feed it reasonably. Warm the rest of us a bit with your fire. We'll warm you a bit with ours in return. We share the warmth and light the night together. Your candle isn't under a basket. You've got it locked in a thickly-curtained room. Raven pushes the curtain aside and climbs in the window. He's always done it. Probably brought books to read next to the really bright candle in his favorite room."

"The examples and metaphors are incredible and the message incredibly clear. Not being anyone is a hard habit to break. I was a mirror. It's hard for me to reflect myself because I've never seen myself on my surface."

"A lot of people can say that with honesty. Very few of them would want to admit it. In your case, it's bragging. You did it. Figure out how and undo it. If it's a habit, break it. Oh, and let yourself go the rest of the way through puberty before you really get messed up."

"Say what?!"

"Well, I don't know what you slowed in the process or how, but you did, or you wanted it and he did. You should be at least five cens taller and the more muscle you get, the more I feel like I'm looking at muscle on a fourteen-year-old boy, and it's strictly a physical impression. Raven, how much has he really matured physically since he was hired for his last job."

"Can I blame him for my late puberty too?"

"Of course, but remember he leads wherever you want to go."

"He always has. That's why I follow. If I'm doing it, I will find the way to stop. If he is, we could try a club."

"If he is, he knows how to stop. He did it when he started worrying it was damaging you. You weren't ready for it before. That he would know better than you do."

"It's both of us and that's the whole point."

"Yes, Storm, it is. Make sure every one of your children knows where there is one of his. Let's thrust. This won't take long and we'll pick up the ship suits later if they're not done, rather than rush the tailor. Oh, I signed the logs. Congratulations. You have one-third of the logged hours required for a captain's license and a superior training rating from the licensing bureau."

"Captain, you're anticipating something."

"My something-is-about-to-happen bump itches, Storm. I figure I'm feeling or seeing tension around me. Best evidence that it's see is I turned around and ran for my ship when a cat got strange right in front of me. I yelled at TC on open channel I was getting off the ground because cats were strange and give anyone who could a chance. A couple more actually lifted before a quake from a real deep fault shook the port hard enough to do some major damage to ships. Landing supports just sheared and they went down hard. The Tripper would have been a mess and she wasn't paid for yet by a stretch. No cats in the Podge. You ought to have a ship's cat."

"What?"

"Hi, are their things done?"

"Just. I was putting them in a carry bag."

"Don't you think they should have a ship's cat when they get a ship of their own?"

"I think I should like to meet one before we decide that question."

"You've never met a cat?"

"There are a lot of settlements in environments too delicate for cats. You have one. You're wearing gray fur."

"I seem to be able to keep it off everything but me. I think every cat should have a person or two. If they've never met a cat, they've never seen a litter of kittens. If a kitten picks you out as its person, you have a cat. If a cat decides your home is its home, you have a cat. If a friend decides one is right for you, you have a cat. Resistance is useless. They pay absolutely no attention to it. I have three males, all neutered. If you get one, give thought to how many cats there are that don't find a person and they don't know enough not to make more. Thanks. Enjoy your stay."

"Captain, you teach things in the most interesting way. The life of the station is complete. Life in the Podge is not. It's why everyone wants to leave it."

"I want to get back to her 'bump' itching, Raven. She's totally sure something is going to happen."

"Yes, Storm, I am. Aren't you? Or is it Raven who's sure. Well, are you expecting something?"

"I am now. I don't know whether I was before."

"Well, I think my bump itches because you're tickling it. Raven may be the reason, but you're the one who went on alert. Turn left. That lift. This is a service lift. We're in service dock and going to unload so we can use it. This will be a very interesting ride. We go through the cargo chutes. The cargo control comp sends us to our destination just like any other big, fragile package labeled this side up. Our destination is the nearest spot designated for this kind of package delivery. Captain Satin Joyce of Stardance and two crew members. Get us to the ship, Murph. I've got a customer who already paid for goods port service is too busy to unload."

"Clearing service dock seven capsule receipt unit. Port service thanks you for understanding. Sending. Enjoy the view."

"View?"

"Yes, Raven. The capsule is transparent and so are a lot of the tubes. You won't be ready for this. I'm not and I've wanted to do it since someone told me about it. Thanks for giving me an excuse to come here. We're working on our afternoon off for the opportunity."

Storm whooped, Raven yelped and Satin shouted "Whee!" They spun through the network of chutes that connected every cargo dock to every other cargo dock. There were gravity compensators in the capsule, so they weren't flattened against the sides, but the capsule tipped and tilted and 'front' changed often. Suddenly they were in a lift and the doors were opening.

"What an experience!"

"I'm not sure if I left my stomach back there or just wish I had."

"You loved it, Raven."

"It went by too fast for me to love it, Storm, but it was interesting."

"It was fun! Now, not so fun. Let's get the cargo unloaded, boys. I'm sure it was worth it and the next person bringing a load will get it in shipping containers. I had Havenner remind them port service will handle cargo for a very reasonable fee if it's in approved containers. Oh, I bought seven sashes, four belts, two pouches, six outfits and a cap that looks great on me. I picked out some things styled like what you have now, but a size up. They won't look odd if you don't grow all the way into them and it might be years before you find clothes you like as well. You paid for them. I put everything we're keeping in that cabin and moved all we aren't out of it. I did have a lot of time to shop, boys. I already spent my forty days as busy as you were. I had to force myself to just buy six. I spent most of the time trying to narrow it to that, but I'm sure I bought the six I wanted most."

"You've been very busy, Captain. This is very differently organized."

"You loaded it great, Raven. If we'd been landing, I wouldn't have moved anything but our stuff out. We were docking, so I used available time to prepare it for ease of unloading and delivery. Like this, port service would have done it. They'd have charged extra, but they'd have done it and not been disgusted."

"Thank you."

"You loaded the corridor buggy, Captain. Raven and I will get armloads of hangers. You unload us and we'll help unload the buggy."

"Buggy?"

"A cart like that makes walking a teething baby, to keep it entertained, a whole lot easier. Baby doesn't care where you go, so you go from friend to friend visiting, and move on when baby gets fussy, so corridor buggy. I don't think I can be broken of that one. I'll tell people I know it's from the Podge because I definitely picked it up from someone who'd been there. It's just too right not to use. That's a buggy. Let's get the baby walked. Load me, Raven. I'll give you arms to drape things over. Do be quick. I know exactly how short a time it is until I get real tired of this position. However, it isn't as short as it was. A fourteen-year-old boy!"

"We're late developers. She's going to crack your shell, Storm. She understands you completely because she knows there are things in you she can't understand. I asked her to keep you from becoming celibate."

"Uh, huh, sincerity and worry, I haven't thought about it."

"Of course not. You don't think about sex. You identify the feeling if somebody close is really enjoying themselves, but you don't think about it. Your mind is that of a fully adult sexy male, but only I know about the sexy part. I don't want to be your only lover either, Storm. I want us to find beautiful ladies to become wonderful friends, lots of them. The person, who we are sure is the best judge of people who ever landed at the port, thinks you need a kick in the ass."

"I got that quite clearly. It would be too easy, wouldn't it?"

"If you stayed unaware of it, yes. You are a heterosexual male with a friend who will not let you become celibate. I want to make love with you, not to you, but I'll do that to stop it. Go. More and you won't get through the hatch. No, I don't touch your mind as much as I did. I don't touch the captain's much either. You both excite me and I seldom have time for the distraction. Not to mention how frustrating it is that neither of you will do anything about it!"

Storm was grinning when he walked through the hatch. Satin could almost see it behind the clothes. She hung fast. The load could not be comfortable, but he had moved a lot. Raven came out with two big handfuls of hangers, got them on a rack fast and pitched in to help unload Storm. He just smiled and waited.

"We got a closet-and-a-half. Mostly on him and it was stuffed."

"Coordinates. You brought mostly from outfits and outerwear. The closest is separates. Thankfully, most folded well and that's how you stored them."

"I noted the system when I opened the second closet. Is this faster than more loads with hands of hangers?"

"Yes, I think you'd still be bringing hangers and we've got this done."

"Thank you. I can do that once more, but I need a break between. Let's get the buggy unloaded and refilled before we do it again."

"Separates won't be as heavy."

"I considered that an important factor when I said I could do it again, Raven."

They moved fast and tried for faster. Satin knew it wasn't necessary, for the job, but they were hurrying to get done and she was sure it was coming from Storm. She didn't argue the feeling, just worked a bit faster. They got everything to the loading dock in a very short time.

"Storm, why do I want this off, and us on, the ship?"

"I don't know and you're sure I'm doing it."

"No, but I'm sure you're where my nervous is coming from. What happened a little over a half-hour ago? Was someone who came into the bar tense?"

"I feel trouble, but I don't know what it is because I ignored it until forced to look at it. There's something in our delivery slot."

"Oh, good. Those are the tools you bought."

"We didn't buy them yet, Captain."

"Yes you did. The terrific girl in Tosky Ship Supply, the only outlet on the station for Dayton tools, would have told you so if you'd gone in. If you hadn't been looking for Dayton and gone there, you'd have had the wrong tools anyway. You've used mine. You'd never be satisfied with less. They wouldn't be reasonably priced if they weren't flat out the best. I expected you to ask me where to find them after you'd looked at everything else. I planned on telling you beside your covalls where they belong. I passed the shop on the way to admin. A sign in the window said they were the only Dayton dealer. If a tool ever fails in proper use, take it to a dealer. You'll get a new one."

"Captain! Call TC! Tell them we know it, we can do it and you think we can get there with enough time left to do it in. And get those doors open!"

### Chapter Seven

Satin ran for the hatch. Storm grabbed the tools before running after her. Raven shoved racks and cart past the inner hatch seal and sprinted for the ship. Storm slammed the hatch almost on his heels.

"Hatch secured, Captain!"

"Service bay doors opening. Raven, where the hell do I think we can get fast enough!"

"Get the exact coordinates of the Crest Wanderland. We've got the spare part she needs aboard, and nothing I've read says you should even bother to carry one."

"Oh, damn! How the hell did she lose her fuel cell handling mechanism?!"

"The same way she lost her cells, fouled a thrust tube and filled her medical facility with everyone aboard who could change one. Something was wrong and every engineer and all senior officers were in engineering. They don't know what. They're all alive and the medical officer thinks she can keep them that way, for now. In nineteen days, three thousand will die if they don't get fuel before their aux dies. We've got exactly the unit they need, and you think we can get there in time."

"You said that twice, Raven."

"You see grid numbers in days' journey, Captain. It's eighteen and a bit."

"Oh, shit."

"We can do it. You'll drill us until we drop every day and we'll do it faster than possible."

"Agreed. I hope it's fast enough. Stardance can power her life support for a little while, but not long. It's a massive drain on her systems. We'd be two powerless ships sitting out there. Listen in. TC, this is Stardance. I've got the coordinates and we've got the fuel handler. It was the right model at a terrific price from someone who got the wrong one sent a long way. I know how and I've got the two hottest trainees for captaincy who ever walked a deck. I want a special log entry on my boys on this. This is exactly what the training is all about. The ship computer will do all log timing. They won't have time and neither will I. Estimate of eighteen days and four hours. I think Stardance can give them another three hours of life-support power after that, without system damage. Get me her specs, nose to nasty end, and tell me somebody else is running that way with more power for her than I've got."

"We don't know of anyone else yet, Stardance. We just hit the bands with you're on your way. We'll follow with your ETA and power estimate. We'll run a full-width relay the direction you're going with anything we learn. Licensing says log it and they'll figure out how to use it. You've got our hearts running with you. Are you coming back, or going on? We have a lot of your credits."

"Credits! We shoved a fortune on racks through the inner hatch. It all goes to Milton's and it's paid for. She needs it now for liner passengers tomorrow. I don't know if we'll be back, but we'll notify. We're going translight in forty seconds, TC. Do make sure there's nothing on a straight ahead course for me."

"You've got everything we've got on the ship and packed grandstands cheering, Captain Satin, but there's nobody but you on the track. Tell Raven and Storm I got a price on a pouch and my little sister is fixing me dinner. You're leaving us. Come back soon and send us a wire with news of the family. Met your boys, Captain. I would love to meet you. Hardesty Traffic Control out."

"Glad I hadn't ordered the remodeling materials yet. Meet me in the galley, boys. Let's figure it out. I just feel strange when I think about using a quarter of our fuel to go eighteen days back to where I started."

"We're obviously going on, Raven."

"There wasn't really any doubt. We have a new journey to plan. Let's get to work and save their lives, so they'll let the captain dock for awhile and spend a couple days wallowing in luxury. She was at Hardesty Station twenty-two days ago. It was on the visitors listing on the wall screen."

"Captain, he wants to dock with the Wanderland and luxuriate after we save a few thousand lives."

"You might get a few minutes break, Storm."

"What?"

"If that ship doesn't have anybody who can do what we're going to do, it doesn't have a bridge or engineering officer at full capacity. She runs a crew of hundreds, but they're in passenger services. Who do you think is going to move it? The company will have ships running for her, but they'd be glad to run a little farther and intercept on the way. Every day less those three thousand people spend on that ship, before they get their feet on the ground again, is a blessing. You can reflect passion, Storm. Can you broadcast calm?"

"I don't know, Captain, but I do know I can keep anyone else's panic from affecting my work."

"You're right. That is the most important thing. I'm trying to figure out how to do this. Computer, give us a screen on the table. Give us any holos you've got of her engineering section, then start down diagrams. A fouled tube too. She needs a tow after we get her systems on-line."

"Hardesty was her last stop, Captain."

"Thank you, Raven. Where was she headed?"

"I don't know, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out. What is that?"

"An engineering section with a packing problem. The good news is the explosion probably isn't as bad as I feared. It took place in a small area. The bad news is everyone who could have assisted was in that area."

"Wide-band broadcast message addressed to this ship being received. Message complete before range limit reached."

"Give it to us on the screen, Computer."

"Oh, brother."

"Yes, Raven, but someone had sense enough to send us pictures of the damage. We've got a voice message. Let's find out what they have to say."

"This is systems tech Willine Modry. I'm a plumber, not an engineer, but I'm about as close as we've got right now. The captain is in pieces, but she's thinking. She said get you the most complete info we've got and that's currently a visual of our mess. I've got a crew in protective suits coming in. We'll try to make somebody some work room. In hopes someone comes. We're not doing too badly. We've got one old woman who flatly states it's not time for her to die yet and someone is going to get here and fix the ship. She's sure, so we're all working at believing her. All aux systems are operating and we have all non-essential uses off. Basically, lights, heat, ventilation and plumbing. Panning in on this slagged piece of essential equipment. This room isn't real hot, but it's got high enough traces I'm in protective gear. We're going to cover without touching and monitor radiation readings, see if we can get them down in this area. None of our officers have radiation injury, so this is post-explosion. I hope some of this helps someone. I hope someone needed the help. We do. Out."

"We can do it! That's what we needed, Sweetie, exactly what we needed. We know what went wrong and we'll get it fixed too."

"We do? We will?"

"Yes, Raven, we do. The fact the officers didn't take a dose and engineering is now moderately hot tells us a great deal. So does the pattern of explosion. Trace it. Where did it actually come from? Look for physical evidence. Trace the cone to its point. Exactly."

"The regulator went?"

"No. The regulator detected a faulty cell tap and tried to expel the cell, but it hung up. It got it off the ship, but it blew before the expulsion sequence was complete and the backlash of heat slagged the handling unit. The expulsion chamber doors are designed to withstand it and closed, but there's some residual radiation in the expulsion tube. The problem is in the fuel cell tapping unit and they were all down there trying to find out what was happening to the regulator, probably even changed it out. I know what happened because it happened once to a ship a friend of the chief engineer, who trained me, was on. When every error reading says regulator problem and there isn't one, change out the tapping head and see if it fixes it. It's the only way to find out if that's what's wrong and it almost always is."

"And you have one of those too."

"Well, the chief said you've got about twelve hours to figure it out and get it changed before you're drifting on aux life-support and yelling for a tow, if it doesn't blow a cell. Scheduled maintenance and replacement make it real unlikely, but a skewed cell cap can cause a misalignment and you've got a tap that's going to dull rapidly. All of a sudden you've got a regulator error code and no reason. I just thought twelve hours was too damn short a time to get to a part that was keeping me alive."

"Make a note we carry a new tap unit, Raven."

"Yes, Storm, I think twelve hours is too damn short too. Captain, the radiation will still be a problem when we pull the units."

"We'll block the channel and do a wash when we get done, Raven. It'll cost them cells, but I doubt they'll mind."

"Neither do I. We have six untapped cells in stores, Captain. They may need them too."

"True. A contaminated cell won't tap. The system just won't engage. All right. We have to be able to block the channel, change the tap, yank the handling unit and replace it, wash the channel and probably replace six cells and we have a very few hours to do it. We'll go for the three I think Stardance can give them and pray we can get it down to the five-plus I think we'll have."

"I think I can help."

"What do you mean, Raven? It bothers you."

"Yes, Storm, it does. I think I can give the captain six hands and three bodies. I'm pretty sure I can give her mine, but I don't know if you can let me give her yours."

"Uh, I don't either."

"I'm not sure I want you to, Storm. Why, Raven?"

"Because that engineering section is a cramped mess and that plumber probably does more actual physical work in it than the engineer. That's a water pump. That's a filtration system. That's a recycler. The article I read about the ship talked about her fountains and pools. They may have physically misaligned the tap when they put those in. Look how close that pump is. I've seen that unit before. It rattles your teeth if you stand on the mounting platform. That one is mounted properly to reduce vibration, but it's still too close and it may not damp the vibration enough."

"Computer, blow up this section of the image. Oh, damn, what a mess! Trace the connects, boys."

"They're all correct, but there are too many, feeling not knowledge."

"Your feeling agrees with mine, Storm. I'm sure Crest was very careful not to exceed load specs and every piece is properly installed, but that doesn't always mean it's going to work right."

"Captain, why didn't they put the system somewhere else? Why in engineering?"

"Possibly proximity, but more likely a psychological tendency to think of any mechanical system as being the province of engineers. Computer, full cross-section of the ship. Let's see if we can figure out somewhere else to put that stuff."

"There."

"That's on a passenger deck, Storm."

"True, Captain, but look where. Right behind the back wall of that cabin, or whatever, is the main conduit for power and the plumbing lines from engineering. There's no access, but that's easy. You cut a hole."

"That's a bulkhead, not a panel, Storm."

"You still cut a hole. You just make it as small as possible. Captain, Crest has put a great deal of money into that ship to make her the perfect cruise liner. Here to there isn't as important as the fact it took place on her. She's the attraction. If they did it on this one, they probably did it on others. They need a complete solution that doesn't wreak economic havoc and bankrupt them."

"The article said they were committed to the nine sectors and strengthening their economies. They plan cruises to the resort areas on the worlds hit worst by the collapse. The president of the company was quoted as saying the current prices for docking and resort facilities were low enough the cruise package cost could be kept within reach of their customers, even though the journeys were longer. They want to help our friends, Captain."

"Oh, hell. I hate working on plumbing in general and hauling huge chunks of a plumbing system through a ship doesn't appeal to me at all, but you're right and your thought about the pump being the real root of the problem is a good one, and we do have a plumber to help. Let's see where the nearest junction is to that room. If it's not accessible, we're going to have to put one in and reconfigure the computer control links too."

"We add a junction and reconfigure."

"That's what it looks like to me too, Storm. All right, we change the tap and handler, flush the channel, change the fuel cells, get the power on-line to charge the aux system, cut a hole in a bulkhead, then kick it back to aux, put in the junction, reconfigure, then get the power connects set up and move the plumbing and get it hooked up. That gives us three hours to do a couple days' work and several days to do a few hours' work. How long to recharge the aux?"

"Six hours?!"

"What?!"

"What's she got? Ooh, we've got a bit more time than we thought. Stardance can give her a partial refresh, about six hours, but it will cut the time she can actually power her to about one. It gives us the one thing we needed."

"More time?"

"Yes, Storm, and where we need it is in at least one practice of the whole sequence on this ship before we get there. Do we have twelve cells?"

"You know we do. It's just paining you to blow six that are near capacity."

"Yes, Storm. I'm a trader and fuel cells are my most carefully budgeted item. I know this is far too important to even think of the cost and I'm sure Crest will compensate, but my well-trained budget-watcher is yelping, anyway. Computer, check these computations."

"Correct."

"All right, boys, that's it. We have four hours to do the full sequence before we drop to a speed that gets us there just a bit too late. Let's get to work."

### Chapter Eight

They went to work on the routine they would need to follow. When they just couldn't get fast enough, Satin nodded to Raven. He looked at the thought she was 'holding out to him' and took a deep breath. He actually wasn't worried about himself or the captain, but he wasn't sure what the deep link would do to Storm and it had to come first. He'd tried to just 'let go' of his hands and eyes, but he couldn't, or not without damaging himself. Storm wasn't allowed "to even think of that." The captain ordered him not to. She knew why. Most importantly, Storm did. So they would try the deep link through Raven.

It wasn't a mental merging they were after, but a communication link so complete they could work as one and 'share the physical system.'

Storm 'searched his soul and his heart' for Raven when he touched him. He'd done it before. Raven said getting him aroused and making him blush wouldn't work as a delaying tactic this time. The total conviction they must do all they could to aid the people on the dying ship was unarguable. Storm would do anything required to save them.

Raven opened himself and gave Storm his complete agreement. The first link was made when Storm imaged himself, spread-legged and tense, with hands poised over a comp control panel covered with peeling sticky-flim notes, with things like "finger" and "foot" on them. It was the image Raven carried to the captain.

Satin felt a rush of something like energy through her. She burst into laughter. That's exactly what it was. She was forty-six. She'd just dropped in on two physical adolescents and they did have more energy. Raven said, "Uh, oh." Satin said, "Oops?" Storm folded.

"What the hell happened, Raven?"

"You ran a systems check and Storm is rebooting."

"You're not worried about him at all?"

"Well, he might have bumped his head when he hit the deck, but it is carpeted. What did you do?"

"I realized I was feeling your adolescent energy and I ran a systems check?"

"It came across quite clearly. 'Error in system config statement.' 'Fixed.' Thud. So, how did you fix the error in the statement, Captain Satin?"

"Well, I'm sure I didn't make you girls. So that isn't it, but let me know if your back aches. I've got no idea, what I did, Raven, but I didn't do it."

"That's why I'm sure there's nothing wrong with him, Captain. 'Fixed' was his reply to your config statement error message. He fixed whatever you thought needed to be fixed. It just knocked him cold, and he may wake up pooped. Let's not include this in the logs."

"I don't think it really meets the parameters of the required training. Rebooting? And then came thud?"

"Captain, you are not an adolescent."

"No, and I don't have your energy."

"But you have much more true physical passion. It's very interesting that it seems to be somewhat a product of experience."

"Don't have sex unless you want it and don't have it with anyone you don't truly want as a friend for life. That might be really improbable because those are rare, but make sure you truly would if you could. When you do that, lovemaking is passionate, always. I'm also damn physical by nature. I like brawls. Most people who do work in very physical professions. Mine is. We pit our pride, in the good hard work that built our bodies, against each other in sporting physical combat. We go places where we'll find our fellows and cheerfully pay our fines if we're on the floor when the police sweep it. It's a very good outlet for me. I can't do physical battle with mental problems, but my body still prepares for action. When I can't solve the mental problem, I get real frustrated after awhile. I work off the physical response in a friendly brawl and clear my thinking, so I either accept I must be patient or think of something else to try. I'm a big girl. I always liked playing with bigger boys. I'm from the other side, but this was home since I came through. I came with Gelina's family. Her big sister was my best friend in secondary, so I packed me and a dream, paid my passage, and came along. I took twelve through with me, said farewell, and came back. I did it for the twelve. My mother always knew my life was out here and a message would have been enough. Since I took a touring museum exhibit too, I got an early place in the queue, both ways. I brought a touring exhibit and people back. Everyone didn't run that direction."

"No, but there were far fewer coming this way. These worlds are plentiful and nine sectors is not a small community. Why did it fall apart?"

"It began with economics and the human tendency to panic. Each person thought taking just a small amount out of the total of investments across the sectors to 'keep it safe' wouldn't be a problem. Multi-billions thought it and ordered stock sold. Crash. We had to reconstruct our economy this side. We couldn't slowly separate it. The sector closest to the hole was hit hardest. They're the big tech worlds. Grain from Artry was much closer than from Reapwell, so the trade wasn't developed and Reapwell stayed a sparsely-populated and lightly-cultivated world, which is just how they like it. Because trade was through the hole, investments were. Because there was more money on the other side, more of the investment came this way, but not by a great deal. The worlds in that cluster were rich and productive. Suddenly nothing on this side was worth anything. The worlds here tried to pull out investments there to pay debts and panicked a whole bunch more people. People here ran for ships when they saw forty years of investments in funds disappearing when the hole closed. They ran because fifteen-year careers ended abruptly and there was work and a reasonably stable economy there. Families fourteen days apart rushed to reunite, usually that way because there were fewer to move."

"That's why my parents were running, but I don't even know their names. They were meaningless in the Podge, anyway. Everything except surviving was, after awhile. They expected it to get better, but it didn't."

"Most of the tech worlds were set on a spiral course down. There weren't technical services to call. They'd gone bankrupt. The governments couldn't hire people. They couldn't pay them. Things broke, people were laid off, social assistance roles swelled, governments went bankrupt and people began to get hungry because their world didn't produce enough to feed them and their money was no longer any good on worlds that had. The story of each struggling world is different only in detail. Talmoss always made connections this way a priority and they stressed their world must be capable of feeding itself. It wasn't necessary it do so, but it must be capable of it. Kraner said the location of a wormhole is temporary period. He also said a million years is too small a division to bother with when speaking of cosmic time. Then he gave us a method to tell if one was about to vanish. We might have been better off without it."

"Storm wouldn't be. He'd be the cause and the prize in a civil war. Because no one but his parents, his granddam and I know he exists, the war never happened. Now I told you."

"Shit, no wonder he doesn't want to grow up. The hole is closed, Raven."

"Who said that's where the society is? The Podge was the answer for two who loved each other and the child they weren't supposed to have. The collapse had no other relevance than the Podge came to be. There are many unusual cultures in the nine sectors, Captain. They're not nearly as homogenous as the home sectors, and the one with which we're most familiar."

"I'm really looking forward to meeting them too. Raven, he's been out a long time."

"Not really and he's coming around."

"Let's tease him."

"That's appropriate."

"Storm, as a method to get a break, it was a bit extreme. However, it did work. Raven tells me you completed all my instructions and 'rebooted.' Do you, by chance, remember what they were?"

"She ran a systems check and you rewrote the configuration statement that gave her an error message. It was amazing. I felt like I was a cable between a pair of good computers with terrific programmers on-line. Storm, your image for her was absolutely perfect and she gave it back to you in exactly your terms. Look at your image now. Is it different?"

"Raven, you remember when I see an image of me. I don't. What image? Oh. No change, but I feel smug. It's from you."

"Of course. Everything that would keep us from doing what we want has now been fixed. I always feel smug when you do something impossible because it must be done. You're my hero."

"You forced me to be. Big azure eyes and black ringlets are terribly painful to disappoint. All right, Captain, you seem to have tracked down the error in programming for me and I've corrected it. The fellow monitoring our systems said so. You don't feel comfortable about this and I don't think you've decided what to do."

"Computer, edit log to point of actual physical contact with unit. Note we needed a break to let what we've learned so far sink in. Our brains need a rest. You're on watch, Dancy. Enter that one in your command file. I like it. I think I'll have it scripted into your new bondcoat. Primina Deck is our next destination. Let's go where techs want to buy us beers and talk in the captain's lounge is shared knowledge of ship upgrades. Someone will make sure we don't have to wait for anything and put a nice sum in my bank account. Someone will see to it you get the dock hours you should have had on Hardesty and probably the ones you planned for Muir as well. I'll suggest it. Hoopla would distract you and any ship captain will agree. There, everyone understands that because it's carefully explained to anyone who doesn't. Go figure out if you can look sexy, Storm. Your clothes are right. You say you fixed you. There's absolutely nothing wrong with sex and certainly nothing wrong with what you did, except the too-clear impression I have you were quite underage. Frankly, we're doing this in the wrong order. First, we have to get you past the feeling you should feel guilty. That's what civilizes us, so I know it's there. I don't know where you got your prim attitude about sex, but it's not helping. Healthy sex is great fun between friends, period. If you're cheating on somebody, it's not healthy, period. Healthy sex. Most people who want to try an orgy are groups of couples. Most late middle-age."

"Thirty with six chosen was a dare. If they were chosen, would they do it? I always knew who would, most of them. Why must I try to be sexy, Captain?"

"The only way this will work between you and me is if you admit sex is just good fun. I think you're healthy mentally and constructed the whole thing as a logical method of coming through fundamentally untouched. I figure you just need to decide what really is a construction and what's fundamental belief. Excite me, Storm. Make me want to be willing to try that again. I'm a friend. You need the help of an older woman friend. We've been saying that to sweet young men since we did it with grunts."

"If you get excited trying to get her excited, she'll know you're serious. I could demonstrate?"

"Now how would Storm and I do what we did without you, Raven? He's your buddy, Storm. You can lean on him a little. He's got the most realistic attitude about sex possible. I, personally, have never made love to two people at the same time. I never expected to have two people I truly care about need to make love to each other with me. There is no reason for us not to, except his silly damn attitude. If he proves to himself it's what he wants, he'll accomplish it. The situation is Storm wants you to make love to a woman first and you want him to make love to you first. Since he wants to do that because you want it, things are pretty confused. I like shared humor and experience, but I'll accept complete naiveté. I'm not talking about Raven, Storm. He knows lots more about sex than you do. You made sure this is the only way it will work. We do it while we're making love because that will be the only time your mind and body will be totally linked. I always make love. Sex is shared fun with friends. You know most good prostitutes think of good clients as good friends."

"You say I did this?"

"Yes. Raven showed me how he sees your mind so I'd understand how sexy you are. Can you show me how sexy he feels to you? Let's see, he said he anticipates it every time you cook. Arrange a bower for three, Raven. Anywhere on the ship and you can use whatever you want from the deck three cabins too. The clothes in one of them might help. Arrange it to be comfortable for three to play in bed for about eighteen hours. Storm, make sure we don't run out of wonderful goodies to sample and exotic potions to taste. I'll contribute two bottles of fabulous champagne to the first course. You have four hours to get ready. I'm sure I'm going to need at least a three-hour nap."

"Twenty-two hours of time, Storm. It's all she can risk to try to do this. She's interested in the idea and she does love us."

"Yes, but she's not excited about it."

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course she is. She's just decided to teach you separating mental and physical excitement is easy and deciding to drop that control with a friend is fun. It's just not going to be easy the first time. I'm going to build a bower. The pantry is nice to play in. Have fun. If you approach it like a part you're playing, she'll know. If you treat it like work, I'll slug you when you stand back up after she does. Personally, I'm sure you can turn me into a shivering lump. If you can't get from warming me up, because you're sure she's the right first woman for your kid, to making love to two gorgeous people you do love in eighteen hours, you're hopeless. Make some gooey things and some of the crunchy stuff."

"You told her I could cook?"

"She asked you for exactly what you cook, goodies. Once a thirty-day, you came home with things to use with things on the baking shelf and made us goodies. She has cookbooks if you need to supplement with something that doesn't contain sugar. I wonder if I have time for a nap."

Storm looked for why he was mad, then tried to figure out why the captain and Raven were. The answer embarrassed him a bit. They were mad because he'd forced them to approach it on terms he was familiar with and he was mad because they'd 'called his bet.' Would he really do everything he could to save the people? Did he have doubts Raven was sure the captain was right about what they needed to do? When he realized that was the only important part of the question, he smiled.

Raven had always wanted him to be his first lover. He'd waited to become ready for one until the plan was nearly complete and they'd be free. The answer was he would do it because he loved Raven and it was what he needed, and he loved the captain for seeing what they both needed, and figuring out a way to give it to them, because she loved them.

With the realization he'd been fighting to give love without accepting it, Storm accepted he was being foolish. The captain was going to teach them to make love. She was right. He was naive. He had extremely limited knowledge about sex. He knew most people thought it was fun. He thought it was physically pleasurable, but he didn't think of it as fun. The captain was going to teach him. He was very nervous, but he was also rather eager to learn.

Satin giggled when Raven said "Whoopee, you did it!" in her mind. Taking two beautiful young men to bed, because it would help save three thousand lives, was definitely a good excuse and probably a new one. Storm's main problem was guilt, just as she'd said. He was actually quite healthy. He was just sure he shouldn't be. The sudden feeling of peace surprised her and abruptly ended. Raven laughed in her mind. He told her Storm had just found out he could "spread calm around a little." Satin was suddenly giggling again. Raven had said the only problem with it, he could see, was they might have to find a way for Storm to mix batter on the Wanderland, if they wanted him to do it for them.

Storm worked on the idea of 'showing' the captain how sexy Raven felt to him while he made the gooey things and crunchy stuff. He decided his batter would go just as well with meat and vegetables and made 'things' with them. He found 'separated' eggs and whooped. He knew how to make meringue. He whipped 'egg whites' and examined how Raven felt to him. It wasn't easy. Sexy was the one feeling from Raven he'd been careful not to notice. He felt for a chair when he finally found the way to open up to it. He'd never felt anything like it.

"Can I lick a bowl?"

"That one. Raven, I don't really understand."

"It's a reflection of you, Storm. You're just sure I'm terrific and I never doubt what you're sure of. Yum."

"That's no reflection of anybody. There's no one else like that."

"You are. Storm, are you afraid to discover you weren't just reflecting others' passion? Is it important? I'm not worried about any of it. If you really do feel my feelings when you touch me, it's going to be easy. Oh, you never really did an orgy. Seven is considered group sex. I looked it up a long time ago. All the psych references said the definition of orgy was ten or more. Three is a manage a troi, not group sex. I made us a bower with facilities."

"Such as?"

"A toilet and a bathtub big enough for three."

"How did you do that?"

"I sealed four together and took out the stuff that was in the way. Made a nice tub. It'll be nice for the bath on deck two. Since moving it through the ship after I'd done it would have been silly, I put it right between our cabins. Of course, I did have to take out a couple walls and both our baths to do it. I hung drapes in front of our lavs. I figured I might as well follow the plan for the bath, even if we do have to live with curtains instead of doors for awhile. Our bower is where our baths and two cabins used to be. I have to furnish it yet. That will be easy. I'll floor it with every cushion I can find, hang sheets around it and pitch every pillow I can find in it. More nest than bower, but my materials don't include thick, cool moss and flowering vines. I'm rather pleased I did find a way to do a bathing pool though. Where do you want to touch me, Storm? I had a feeling that would be your first thought. Don't you want to touch anything but my hair?"

"I'll work my way down."

"Yes, this time I think you will. I'll see you in two hours. Do look at the clothes in the cabin on deck three. She does know you're sexy. I'm going to choose mine and imagine what you'll look like in the ones she chose for you. None of them are everyday. All will be comfortable once you get used to the idea they show off your body. Later."

"Raven?"

"I'll help as much as I can, Storm. I always have and I always will."

"Yes, Raven, I know. I love you."

"Of that, I could never have any doubt. Feel me, Storm. Feel my anticipation. Feel my arousal. Feel how much I want your touch and your physical love. Yours, Storm. Not a fantasy, you. If you need to treat it as a fantasy of mine you're fulfilling, that's all right. As long as you remember the fantasy is about the real you."

Storm suddenly realized that's exactly what they were going to do and the captain knew it. That's why Raven was preparing their 'bower' and he was making goodies for them. Raven 'smiled smugly' in his mind and his excitement washed through him again. He began to understand how much of his not feeling how sexy he was had been because Raven knew he didn't want to and had helped. He began trying to figure out how not to separate the passion of the soul from the passion of the body. He was sure he had some "passion of the body" because Raven was. He 'leaned' on Raven's sureness a bit more and called for a cookbook index on the table screen.

### Chapter Nine

Satin awakened from her nap and was quite surprised at how excited she was, then giggled when Raven apologized for "running over a bit" in her mind. He gave her the location of the "nest" he'd made them and told her he'd tried, but bower just hadn't fit the materials he'd had to work with. He also told her Storm was on deck three trying to figure out what to wear and how to be sexy. She asked if he was helping and smiled at his flash of humor when he answered, "Of course."

Storm pulled another outfit out of the closet and looked at it. Since it made him nervous, he decided it was probably the right thing to wear. He started to put it on and realized he'd missed some things about it.

The precisely tailored 'dress' shirt made of lace was soft and almost slippery feeling, but it was when he began to put on the black shorts, that went with the silvery peach shirt, that he almost changed his mind. They were of a twill and as tailored as the shirt, but there was a Y-shaped 'yoke' of the same stuff the shirt was made of, from the waistband in front to his coccyx in back, and the 'material' was a great deal softer as a satin than as a lace. He was doing fine contemplating the fact it must be a synthetic material, because no natural fiber or silk could be that soft, even in a satin finish, and then he pulled them on. He was not at all ready for the feel of it against his cock and balls.

"Good choice. The outfit is from a whole group of things for men the designer said was his 'honeymoon collection.' It's intended for just such an occasion."

"You heard my mental yelp and came to keep me from putting my covalls back on and running for hold three to get in more practice instead?"

"It wasn't a strong possibility. Damn it, Storm! Touch yourself. Feel what Tontrisi synth-silk is really like against your cock."

"Is that what it is?"

"Yes, that's what it is and I think the captain picked it for you because she was sure it was something you've never experienced before. Just so you understand, that's about a six hundred credit outfit and the silk is five hundred of it. That satin is called 'the most erotic cloth ever created' and she chose it for you, as I know you are. The hell with this. I'm out of patience."

Storm was stunned when Raven crossed the cabin in two long strides, grabbed him, kissed him and fondled him through the silk. He battled himself to keep his shock from making him 'close himself off.' He fought to let himself feel the satin and Raven's arousal. Suddenly Raven was there to help, just as he'd always been, but this time he didn't help him strengthen his barriers. He smashed into them and destroyed them and Storm took over.

Raven looked up at Storm from the floor, grinned and rubbed his jaw.

"I always wondered if you'd slap me if I got fresh. The answer is no. That was not a slap. It was also worth it. Those barriers were no longer needed and getting in the way. Since I helped you build them when you did need them, I helped you knock them apart."

"You knocked them apart."

"Well, you were trying to figure out how to get past them and I got impatient. They were limiting your control over your own responses, Storm, not helping you maintain it. They wouldn't let you choose to respond. When I realized they wouldn't, they were gone. The captain asked me how many of your 'constructions' had been planned and built by me, because I 'wanted to keep anyone from touching the essential you.' I just took care of the big one. We'll kick any little ones apart as we notice them."

"You wouldn't have built them if I hadn't wanted them, Raven."

"I'm not sure about that. I think that one was more you agreed with what I wanted. I wanted the first time we made love to be as new and wonderful to you as to me and built walls around your walls to make sure it was. It was a totally selfish act and I'm sure it was right for both of us or I wouldn't have done it and you wouldn't have let me. I'm the one you want as your first lover, Storm. I've always known it was mutual. Don't be silly. You've never had a lover before either, just sex. I just helped knock down the wall that assured it. You're as virginal as I am and a great deal more naive. Come on, she's found our nest and the gooey things. I'm glad you set them out first. It gives us a nice excuse for a bath when we all get sticky-fingered."

"Oh!"

"Ooh, walking in those shorts is going to be a very interesting experience. If you're not aroused by the time we get to our nest, you're working hard at ignoring it."

"If I don't work hard at it, we may not get that far."

"Yes!"

Storm decided he was working too hard at something that he knew should come naturally, then sighed and tried to figure out how not to work so hard at not working hard at it. Raven laughed in his mind and he stopped moving when he 'dropped' the entire sequence of his arousal, from kiss to slug, on him.

Raven grabbed Storm when he swayed and wondered if he'd overdone it a bit, then decided this time he didn't care if he had. Or rather, he thought it might be just what was needed. He steered Storm to the lift before he quite made it back to reality and laughed when he blinked at him when the doors opened on deck two.

"It's my response to you. This time I gave you all of it. If you weren't ready for it, too bad. Should make you feel very confident you can get me excited enough, to excite you enough, for the captain to see it. See it, Storm. If you aren't personally involved and aroused, we'll both know it. I might be too excited to pay attention to the fact, but she won't be. Kick the fear out. We both love you and intend to help you get yourself over this hump. It's not a cliff on the other side. It's a long grassy hill to stroll, or roll, down. There are no rocks hidden in the grass to trip you or bruise you. The captain has been down it many times and she's sure of it."

It wasn't easy, but Storm put his faith in Raven and love for him foremost, and his worries aside. When they pushed through a 'curtain' to the "nest," he almost pulled back, but he controlled the urge to do so and let what Raven was feeling overwhelm him. The short shiny-white robe, that was obviously all the captain was wearing, had excited him as soon as he saw her. Storm slowly sank to his knees and shivered.

"Oh, this is going to be easy and a lot of fun."

"You're incredibly beautiful, Captain Satin. I decided just loose black satin pants and you decided just a white satin robe, but I'm glad Storm wore the whole outfit you chose for him. It's incredibly erotic. See how hard his nipples are? They feel so interesting through the lace. And this feels so incredibly soft and smooth that 'silky' becomes a term with a new definition. It's all him, Captain. He's feeling what I feel, but the response to that is all his."

"Oh, I have no doubt of it. Your lip is bleeding."

"I probably should have told him I was going to kiss and fondle him, but I preferred to do it before he said no. The lip decoration is a reminder not to surprise him too much. I expected it. What's that?"

"Massage oil. I'm going to teach Storm to give you one. Then he's going to teach you to give me one. If we still remember what we're doing after that, you and I will give him one. I also plan on at least one pillow fight and finding out where both of you are ticklish. Ooh, look at those elbows come down over ribs, two sets of nice ribs. When's the last time he tickled your ribs until you were helpless with giggles and begging him to stop, Raven?"

"Not since I got as tall as he is. I missed it. It always made me feel so warm and safe. Those gooey things did too. He gave his love in so many ways."

"Mm, and this is a great one. What are these?"

"Gooey things. The treats he made were things he came up with to give us treats. Gooey things, crunchy stuff, round things, stuffed things and a half-dozen other things that he created, just to let us know we were special to him. He made these most often because he knew I liked them most, but crunchy stuff is a close second. I've never had a massage, just a back rub and I haven't had one of those in awhile."

"Dammit, Storm, get over here. Lay down on your stomach, Raven. He's starved for a touch, Storm, any touch, but he's near desperate for yours. Straddle him and we'll start with his shoulders. My hands on yours to show you the correct pressure and stroke of the thumbs. Feel how it feels to him. He knows why you stopped touching him and agrees it was necessary. You don't want to possess him, but you always have. He's always wanted to possess you and knew he couldn't, so he put you completely in your own power, then gave you his to use the way you wanted as well. Describe the way his muscles and skin feel to you."

"Knotted cord under velvet. Why are they knotted, Raven? What did you do to strain them and how did you keep me from feeling it?"

"The same way I always have when I did something dumb and hurt myself. Oops."

"What?"

"I sort of mentally grabbed it, shoved it in a corner and turned the light off over it so you didn't notice it. I've been doing it since I fell down because I was running and sliding on a wet floor and you'd warned me about it before. You didn't bathe and dress me anymore, so you didn't see the bruise and I got away with it. Later, I did it because you didn't need to worry over silly stuff I did. This time I put the tubs together just a few cens too far away from the drain I decided to use and pulled them over to it. I told myself how silly it was to have placed them by the pipes for the water to come in when I could easily lengthen those and changing a drain required I take out a piece of deck."

"Was this before or after you took out the 'stuff' that was in the way?"

"I told myself that was silly too. Right after I moved them. Of course, moving them like that did tell me my seals were set. I wouldn't have been able to move all four by pulling one corner if they hadn't been."

"Why didn't you ask me to help?"

"You were busy and it was my job."

"And you've been doing that for years too, haven't you? Struggling to do something that would have been easier with two, because I was busy and it was your job."

"Your job would have been easier for two as well, Storm. You did it alone. I'm not talking about how you did it. I'm talking about the real job, providing for me and our children and building them a home. I wanted to rub out your sore and aching muscles so badly, so many times, when you came home from working on the house, or just working. I knew better though. So I touched your mind instead and helped you sleep when aching muscles would have kept you awake, but I had a Treller kit stashed away in case you ever came home hurting too much. I don't think I really needed to keep it carefully hidden. You didn't even know what I was talking about when I told you I had one on Talmoss. I'm not sure you knew such a thing existed. Storm, we did it. Two boys figured out what had to be done to free all the people and did it. That we might have been able to do it differently is unimportant. The children will succeed and we're not really damaged. I was worried about you, but I'm not anymore. Fate took a hand and made it necessary for you to dismantle your shell yourself."

"Help me get his pants off, Captain. It's time he felt this satin and me against him. He's starting to get nervous and shy."

"Had to. Everyone does sometime during the first time they make love. That's why there are honeymoons and we have eighteen hours. Oh, my, he has worked hard on himself. His ass is gorgeous. Mm, so is yours. Sit right there and I'll show you how to massage those beautiful muscles. Oh, yes, this is going to be very easy. One of the nicest things about the material in that outfit is it just tosses in the cycler. It won't fray, rip or stain and the black shorts will go with lots of things. So will the shirt, but I probably won't get near as excited when you wear it with something else. Just thinking about the 'secret' of those shorts under one of your long shirts, when you walk through a public place is exciting. Can I rub the satin with my toes under a table, Storm? Will you smile and spread your legs a bit for me and grin when you feel how much I like doing it? Shall we see if it makes Raven rearrange himself in his pants? How was his kiss, Storm? Does he need practice?"

"No."

"Oh, then I definitely want one."

Satin laid down beside Raven and kissed him, then things happened fast. She didn't try to slow them. When Raven lifted to pull her beneath him, Storm thrust against him and moaned softly. She wrapped her legs around Raven, caught the waistband of Storm's shorts with her toes and pushed them down. She gave up on the idea of getting oil on Storm before something happened and just quit thinking. She knew what a Treller kit was. She had picked up several on Talmoss and stored them with the medical supplies. Two were currently under a cushion in the corner of their nest, just in case they were needed.

Raven went crazy and took them both with him. He felt Storm try to control him so he didn't hurt him and 'hit him' with all he was feeling. Storm plunged into him and Raven screamed his climax. The link was made in that instant. The barrier between Storm's learning and his passion fell when Raven's searing orgasm brought his. He clobbered Satin with their combined passion and she arched and came.

They tumbled apart, lay on their backs and giggled. "Eighteen hours" had taken about six minutes and Storm was definitely fixed. His anticipation of the next not-quite eighteen hours was getting them all excited again.

"We have loosed an elemental force, Raven, and he is feeling very smug about it."

"Yes, and it's all him. I'm still too awed to feel smug. Wow. I know I liked it, but it went by a bit too fast to really appreciate."

"We will definitely have appreciation time before we leave the nest you made for us. Storm, I'll bet I'm better than you are at oral sex."

"What?"

"Bet?"

"You're on."

"Oh!"

"You know, somehow I doubt he's going to be able to tell us who wins. Hmm, now which pillow did I put those towelettes under? Oh, here they are. I plan on cheating. I'm going to make you forget we have a bet. There. Fresh and sweet just as you are. Oh, yum."

They played and made love for eighteen hours and learned to use their hands and bodies together in a very interesting fashion. Since the eighteen hours included naps and baths, they took apart their nest, put on covalls and headed for the unit they'd left, to try to find a way to work faster. Satin told Dancy to begin recording for the log when they touched it, and within an hour knew she had to say something about what they'd done. The change was just too obvious.

"Well, that obviously worked. Games we had to work together physically to play well gave us exactly what we needed."

"We were both sure you knew what you were doing, Captain."

"He was sure. I was sure he was right. I was really too little to play most of the more physical team sports when I was younger."

"We're going to have a good time once we get those people safe, Storm. I wonder if he can keep us both out of jail when we find a good brawl."

"What?!"

"He was too little until he really started putting on muscle, Raven. I think he's going to enjoy one as much as I do now."

"What an interesting thought."

"Oh, help. Just remember, Storm, I can only carry one of you home at a time and it will be our captain. She likes slugging it out with people bigger than she is and admires one who can flatten her. I do not understand it. She explained, but it's still beyond me."

"I'm not sure I'll find it particularly enjoyable either, Raven. Currently, the idea of being flattened has no appeal whatsoever. However, not being told to go sit down and watch, so I don't get hurt, does."

"You were both a bit on the scrawny side. That's it. We're even faster than I expected us to be. We'll make it with twelve more days to practice. In eleven, we'll do the full routine on this ship. The slight drop in speed won't make much difference at that point, because it'll be about time to slow down anyway. Dancy, send a message back to Hardesty Station and ahead to the Wanderland, when we get close enough to a relay. Tell them I'm now sure we can do it in the time we have, and we'll be there in time to do it."

They drilled until they dropped. The day before the Stardance would reach the Wanderland's position, Satin put Stardance on auxiliary-powered life support and they all ran from the bridge to engineering, carrying the two units and fuel cells they had to replace. It was about the same distance as it would be from the hatch on the Wanderland they planned to use. Raven could carry the handling unit. Storm could carry the tap unit. Satin could carry the case with six fuel cells. None were easy, but they could do it.

Storm set the tap unit down, dove over the handling unit and came up with his wrench in his hand. He had his side of the unit nearly loosened from the deck mounts when Raven slid onto his knees across from him and began on his side. Satin set the case down carefully and went to work beside Raven. She was last because one ran carefully when carrying fuel cells. She carefully disconnected the handling unit and extracted the fuel cells. This was where it got dangerous. She gusted relief when they were all out and started on bolts.

Raven stopped loosening bolts when there was one left and got himself braced. Satin yelled, "Go!" Raven pushed and Storm pulled and the unit slid toward Storm. He kept it moving while Raven and Satin pushed the other into place. He picked it up and Raven took it from him and set it behind him. Satin was already working on mounting bolts.

Storm went to work on his side and Raven went to work on the bolts that held the cover of the fuel-cell tap assembly. He had help in seconds, but it still took over an hour to get to the tap itself. When they reached it, Satin went back to the fuel-cell handling unit and gently set the near full cells back in it. If the tap unit worked properly when they got it back together, it would detect the cells had been tapped and 'ask' if they wanted to re-tap, or flush the system during the initializing sequence, to bring power back on-line.

They all whooped and danced when the flush indicator flashed and Satin pushed the flush control. Ten minutes later, she laid in six new fuel cells and the handling unit engaged and moved them into position to tap.

"Six successful taps and all systems coming on-line! We did it!"

"And with nearly an hour to spare, Raven. That's what we needed. Getting that slagged handling unit out is very unlikely to be as simple. We may be using a cutter instead of wrenches and boring holes for new mounts, but that's why we practiced with the cutter and drill and moved deck plates from one place to another in the hold. All right, let's move these things to the corridor by the hatch. Dancy, as soon as they put these units down by hatch three, stop recording for the log. Boys, I want a long soak in a big tub and a nice dinner. Tomorrow is going to be long and tense. We need to relax and rest well tonight to prepare for it."

"I have a feeling I'm going to be cooking while you two are soaking."

"Oh, I'm sure you can think of something wonderful you don't have to stand over, Raven, but we'll think about you if you don't."

"Raven!"

"I just picked it up wrong, Storm."

"Get it to the hatch and get in the tub to soak, Raven. I'll cook dinner. Don't look so stunned, boys. I can cook. I just don't like it. Dancy, quick-thaw a shoulder roast for me. I know how to make a good dinner I don't have to watch."

"I've got a rice pilaf ready. Well, all it needs is rice."

"I'll find it. It'll go nice with roast beef and gravy and a spectacular salad. Storm?"

"He's hurting and we may have a problem."

"I'll get dinner on and bring something to put in his hot soak, then we'll work him over."

"Captain, nothing short of a broken limb would slow me tomorrow. I won't let it."

"I know, Raven, but we'll do our best to see you don't have something you need to work to ignore while you're working. Did I really say that? I'm more tired than I realized. I'll meet you at the tub."

"Raven, how did you do it?"

"I practiced, Storm."

"Say what?"

Raven touched Storm's mind and showed him his chagrin. He'd picked up the handling unit the same time Storm had the tap unit and 'forgotten' he was taller and the unit heavier. Storm groaned. He and the captain both worked to take their differences in size into consideration. Raven remembered he was bigger when they reminded him. He got so deep into the link that he forgot.

"I straightened up ten centimeters too soon."

"Wait! Let me help you put it down."

Raven waited and sighed in relief when they got the unit down. He didn't expect to wind up face down on the deck with Storm pulling off his covalls as soon as he did. Storm yelled for cold packs to be prepared and ran for the medical stores. Raven giggled and laid where he was. Storm had told him not to move. He had a feeling he was going to be loaded on a cart. Storm came back with one and he was on it, with a cold pack on his back, very shortly.

"I just pulled a muscle."

"You didn't 'just' anything. You hurt and there's swelling already. You damaged you and I don't know whether you feel more guilty about it or I do."

"You?!"

"Yes, me. I'm the one who pulls you in so deep you forget your body is shaped differently."

"Uh, huh. Sure. You open a bit and I yell 'Whee!' and dive in. Damn, it was stupid and I'm mad at me. Frankly, we were done and I wasn't thinking about what I was doing, just about the fact we were going to have a few hours together when we weren't working or sleeping."

"Hi, the roast's on and I dumped something recommended to help soak out muscle strain in the tub. I saw you'd grabbed cold packs. Let me feel what you did, Raven. With my hands, Storm. I know he feels like he's damaged to you. Not as bad as I feared. We should be able to keep him from being stiff tomorrow. Now we'll see if this stuff works as well as a friend of mine said it did."

"Yuck. That smells terrible."

"If it does what Dramer said it will, it's worth the smell. It's a plant oil. He said it will stop swelling and start loosening a knotted muscle immediately. Oh, he also said it burns a bit."

"Yow! I feel like I've got hot coals on my back!"

"Dancy, time three minutes from his yelp. We get it off fast at that point. The healing agent soaks in and you don't want the blisters the rest of it will give you if we leave it longer."

"Are you sure I don't already have them?"

"I'm watching."

The 'stuff' worked. Within ten minutes they knew it had. Storm suddenly sighed in relief. He was much more aware of the 'knotted' muscle easing than Raven was. Then Raven began to cry and they both moved in close. They didn't need to ask why. He'd been holding terror, that he'd done something foolish that could cost three thousand lives at bay, with his determination it wouldn't slow him.

### Chapter Ten

"This is Captain Satin Joyce of the Stardance. Get a power cable from your auxiliary power system to your port rear personnel hatch. Disconnect in exactly seventeen minutes, or Stardance won't be able to power you again if something slows us down too much. Seventeen minutes will give you a six-hour charge and we can do the actual change-out in just over four. If we have to cut units out and replace a deck plate, we should still make it in less than six. Keep everyone out of our way between the hatch and engineering and have lift six open and waiting for us."

"Will do, Captain. This is Captain Carimi Andren. You said units."

"Your tap unit was the cause and the explosion was because it didn't disengage fast enough to get the damaged cell past the blast doors in time. We'll have a tap unit and new cells for you with us. Then we're going to move the damn pump that caused the tap unit to misalign. If you've got passengers in the large room, at the junction of bulkhead seven with corridor D, move them. It's the best place for the plumbing that caused your problems."

"I told them not to put that shit in engineering!"

"I figured you, every other captain, all the bridge officers, every chief engineer, and every tech who works in engineering probably did, but some lubber was sure large mechanical things belonged there and ignored you all when they put in the fountains and pools."

"Exactly. How did you figure all this out?"

"I had a chief engineer who told me horror stories when I was training and one of my trainees used to stand next to one of those pumps, and giggle because it made his voice 'wobbly.' We've drilled until we're faster than possible, Captain. Tell your people the best help they can be is staying out of engineering until we're done changing the units."

"Will do. Right now, anybody who knows enough to help is on a bed or crutches. Everyone else will get the word an attempt at assistance is 'Move! You're in the way!' They'll keep clear, but it won't be easy."

"We know, Captain. It wouldn't be for us to stand back and just hope someone would save our lives, either. Give me a current view of engineering and a radiation count if you can't."

"Current view and count, but I have to get off the comm. It's taking power."

"Got it. Pour some champagne in four-and-a-quarter hours, Captain. We'll be ready to celebrate. Out."

"They cleaned it up some and the count is way down, but that may be due to that sheeting they've got over it and not have actually dropped in the unit itself. Captain, rad suits would slow us too much."

"I know, Storm. My stomach's churning because it knows it too. Grab patches and stick them on. At least we'll know if we're going to lose our hair and spend days in radiation treatment."

"Stop it, Satin. If we have to wait ten years to father children, we will."

"Tattletale."

"Yes, Captain. He asked why you suddenly ached."

"Understood, Raven, but you're still a tattletale. I plan on tickling you til you beg for mercy for it."

"I'm crazy. I'm looking forward to it."

"Of course. Play means the work is done. Let's get it all ready to roll."

"Nothing left to move but us, Captain. We've got the system connect ready at the hatch. A kiss for luck?"

"I'll give you one when the hatch begins to cycle."

"I think I was hoping for a bit longer kiss and not having my hands full of something else when I got it."

"ETA nine minutes, Raven. We're screaming in and slamming on reverse thrust. Dancy is doing the docking. Reverse thrust. That's our mark. Let's go."

They both got a kiss when the hatch began to cycle and Raven complained the one she gave Storm was longer. Storm told him there were advantages to being short. The captain didn't have to stretch to give him a kiss because he couldn't lean down. Satin laughed and picked up the fuel cell case. When the hatch opened, she yelled, "There's your connect! Seventeen minutes! Don't exceed it for any reason, or we won't have any reserve on either ship!"

They ran for the lift that was waiting. Someone shut the door 'on their heels.' Storm ran out first. Raven right behind him. The distance between them stretched out, as the weight of Raven's load and the delicacy of Satin's slowed them, in the corridors between the lift and engineering. When Satin caught up, she yelled, "Shit!" Both Storm and Raven were at work with cutters. She put her load down and went to work removing a deck plate.

Storm yelled they were ready to move the unit just as she got a plate loose. Suddenly they had help they didn't expect. A huge man ran in and just lifted the whole unit, deck plate and all, straight up and got out of the way. Satin yelled she was glad he'd ignored her instructions and be very careful until they got the fuel cells out of the unit. Raven ran to help her get the deck plate up. Storm got out his drill and measuring scanner and 'marked' drill points as soon as they laid it down. Raven riveted in the plate, Storm bored holes and Satin coated mounting heads with quick-weld and dropped them into holes. They shoved the cell handling unit into place and 'got back to the main program.'

The big man stood well back, but he didn't leave. Raven passed Storm and Satin his identity and why he was staying. He had a rad counter and an inject of radiation exposure medication. He was a physical therapy tech and his senior officer, the ship physician, had given him orders to make sure they got a treatment immediately if the radiation counter redlined. He also thought his muscle might come in handy again. A little over three hours into the work he suddenly moved.

"I'm going to give you all an inject for radiation poisoning. I'll try not to disturb you, but I'm going to put it in the base of your necks on the left. Sorry, but we won't let you suffer long-term damage saving our lives."

"Do it. Storm, then Raven and me. Be quick."

"I will be, Captain Joyce. Now, Storm."

"Ow?"

"It's a big inject. Raven."

"Do it. Ouch."

"Yours, Captain Joyce."

"Big is an understatement. I've never felt one like that before."

"It's something new. It takes more, but it does more and many fewer people have a reaction to it."

"Explain does more."

"Simply, it finds already damaged cells and makes sure they don't start reproducing like crazy. You won't suddenly discover you need treatment for a carcinoma in a few years. The doc just stocks things in-case-of and she replaces with the newest and best every time there is one."

"Sounds like you, Satin."

"Well, not necessarily newest, Raven, but I don't resist a really good deal on something I may someday need. This time it really paid off. I've been carrying around that handling unit for about eight years, and this tap since I changed the system in my ship, about nine. It's still the best system, but I'm going to get a full-space warning out on what happened to this one. Damn! Get me a micro vac fast! The whole central assembly is full of metal slivers!"

"Here! Use this!"

"What is it?"

"It's designed to remove debris from a wound. The doc stuffed my pockets with anything she thought I might possibly need. Working?"

"Like a dream. Faster and I can get the flexible end into places the tip of a vac wouldn't fit. Oh, I want one, but I probably don't want it enough to pay what I'm sure it costs. A few more seconds, boys."

"Captain! Storm is fuzzing out!"

"I'm all right, Raven. Whatever made me dizzy is passing. I'm a bit worried it was the medication."

"I'm checking. What the hell? Want to tell me why it's all through your systems except your heads?"

"We needed our minds clear and it knew it? No answers. What's your name?"

"Marcus. Why the hell not? If a ship with exactly the two unusual parts we need and the people to put them in is just close enough to save our lives, then why not a medication that stops at the neck because it might interfere with their thinking? I'm firmly convinced something out there is watching over us."

"Clean! Make the connects!"

"Connects complete."

"Tap positioned. Check it, Satin."

"You're still fuzzy!"

"Not enough to slow me, Raven, but I want the alignment checked to be certain of it."

"Aligned. Let's get it buttoned."

Raven 'stuffed his worry in a corner' and worked. Storm still felt a bit fuzzy in the link, but he wasn't dizzy. He suddenly decided Storm was doing, or directing, something else. He passed the thought that Storm was blocking the medication to both him and Satin. It had made him a bit dizzy and he'd stopped it from interfering with his thinking and the work. Storm was too busy to protest he wasn't and Satin just grinned.

They carefully moved the five 'old' cells into position and whooped, when the flush sequence cleared the channel and the blast doors operated properly. Satin gently put in six new cells and they held their collective breath until the tap fuel regulator lights came up green.

"Yes! Get that pump unhooked now! We don't want it coming on when the system powers!"

"The captain yelled to do that before you came aboard, Captain Joyce."

"Check complete, Captain."

"Power coming on-line. Marcus, you have a ship with power. Carimi, I'm sure you're monitoring. Switch her over."

"Off auxiliary and on main system, Satin. Now, get those covalls off and yourselves to medical. I've got people absolutely eager to get that pump out of there. We figured out why that stateroom is going to be a pump room and none of the passengers will complain if the fountains don't come on for awhile. I told the chief steward to tell them all what caused the 'impossible' to happen and I just sent a wideband to Crest and all Crest liners to get the damn pumps out of engineering. I've got champagne and three people to get it and me to medical. I'll see you there. We've still got repairs to make before we can move, but now we've got the power to make them."

"Have you got the people to make them, Captain?"

"I've got two women who think an EVA suit is comfortable and a fellow who dusts with a microscope in his hand. A thrust tube is a new place to dust, but he'll get it clean and the girls will get the panel replaced. We do carry one of those. Have ever since a cargo shuttle clipped one on a Crest ship eleven years ago, and she spent sixteen days sitting until a panel was built for her. My bearers have arrived. Marcus, get them stripped."

"You heard the captain."

"Yes, Marcus."

"Storm!"

"I feel odd, Raven."

"Get him down, Raven! Get his covalls off."

"The pockets are full, Satin."

"Tools are replaceable, Storm. You are not. Marcus, scan him."

"The ship suit is clean, but he's not. Neither are you. Hands primarily, but you need a decon bath. Comm, Medical. Doc, fix them a bubble bath in the big tub. We're on our way and we've got a reaction to the medication. Or something. I'm going to be carrying one of them."

"I'll have a gurney at the lift and the tub filled, Marcus. I want to know why he's in trouble."

"Trouble! Inject and trouble! Doctor, he had a reaction to a medication carrier solution when he was about six. Not bad, but it really surprised a lot of people. It was called 'Dermapen,' or something like that."

"Now that makes sense. Got it! Yes, it's related to the carrier compound we use. Now why? Well, I know where one of his forebearers came from. All right, I've got a handle on it. A physician in Ranus sector documented a whole family who reacted to it. Since the family was the royal family, he documented every symptom of every case carefully. Everything I've got says mild and passes in a few hours, but this is a slightly different compound. Hmm, I'll bet I could figure out what caused it by comparing what's in both in the same form. Marcus?"

"We're about to get on the lift, Doc. Do a favor. Don't mention the family connection again. I think he knows and they're not on good terms. He tensed when you talked. Not much, but I don't think he likes them."

"They frown on people who decide to leave instead of marrying the politically correct person. His granddam didn't like the idea or the person. She was a long way out on a branch of the family tree, but they still negotiated the correct marriage for her. She decided she'd rather teach kids than contribute three children, at two-year intervals, to the royal line."

"Raven!"

"Storm, they're not going to hunt for her at this late date, and as far they're concerned, you've got the wrong parents. A salvage trader is not an appropriate addition to their royal blue blood."

"Habit, Raven. Grandma taught me not to mention when I lived with her, after Mom and Dad didn't come back, but I never could keep a secret from you."

"I still think worrying about it at this point is silly, but I'll shut up."

"He's right, Raven. My reaction was 'Ooh, he's royalty.' I know it's silly, but I did have it."

"Exactly, Captain, and there are some who wouldn't realize it was silly. Marcus, I'm a lot steadier than I was."

"I'll put you down on a gurney, Storm. That one right there. Thanks, Wildees."

"I was the lucky one closest to the closest. I get to say thanks from Services and Housekeeping."

"They're welcome too."

"Your lift, fem and gens."

"She's cute."

"She's a steward's assistant one, Raven, and 'sharp grandkid' has been just what these people needed, before and since. She'll be a concierge in under five years, on the ground, but that's where she wants to be. After that, she'll be gorgeous. She was probably standing by a lift with a gurney, just-in-case. Just between us, my mom is a second-cousin of a woman who was a planetary president. She gets all these invitations to things because of it and they aggravate her immensely. She really hurt a friend's feelings once when she didn't go to her housewarming. So now she makes sure she reads every one very carefully to make sure it doesn't happen again, sometimes forty in a fiveday. I don't visit during political campaigns."

Raven touched Storm and Satin mentally and told them they'd covered it with Marcus, and the doctor hurrying toward them wasn't going to mention who had the reaction, which told her exactly what ingredient in the compound was the problem. She never mentioned who had anything. Period. Medical information was private. Period.

"I've got a counter for the reaction. Do you want it, or would you prefer to just deal with it the old-fashioned way and wait it out?"

"I think I'd rather not have anything else suddenly introduced into my system."

"It would be my choice if I was on the gurney, but you get a close watch until we're sure the reaction is going to be as mild as most."

"I suppose this means I don't get champagne."

"I'll pour you a bit for a toast myself. What else have we got, Marcus?"

"Suits are clean, but they're not. I don't think I touched anything but the unit I picked up and I used four wipes on my hands before I put one in my pocket and pulled the counter out. If they hadn't been clean, it would have complained, I think."

"Should have. I show you clean, but you three definitely need a bath. I want to cycle your ship suits for my peace of mind, while you sit in a nice big tub, with extremely fragrant water pouring into it over your heads at frequent intervals. We call it 'the bubble bath' because the decontamination agent in it sudses and foams. You'll come out of your wash about the same time as your ship suits come out of the cycler. I'm sure you're thinking of how close your closets are, but you don't want to carry anything onto your ship. Marcus, what are you doing?"

"Checking the unit you gave me. They needed something to get a small space cleaned of metal dust in a hurry. I saw the tap they pulled out. It looked like it had met a grinder. It's clean. It was the handling unit."

"Actually, it was primarily the dump channel and the old fuel cells, Marcus. The channel had debris in it and the cells were incorrectly tapped. We'd just gotten into the actual tap housing when you gave us the medication. The housing itself turns to close the dump channel port from the tap. Because of the material used in the tap, the filings from it weren't hot. The housing probably was and it wasn't extremely clean."

"And you all grabbed hold and turned it."

"One person can do it, but it's not easy. Carimi?"

"Yes, Satin. You say the housing was dirty?"

"You overheard that from here?"

"Of course, Verin. I have long ears when something is said about my ship. Captain Satin knows what I mean."

"Exactly. Carimi, I think that's probably due to the equipment that didn't belong in engineering too. I'd bet the air filters for it are filthy. I checked the maintenance record that was relayed to us. That housing shouldn't have been that dirty. Inside is air-tight. Outside is not and the dirt on that housing felt grimy."

"I wiped my hands on my covalls."

"So did I, Raven. That's probably why they're hot."

"The chair warmers decided to spruce up the line and go for a different class of traveler. Of course they ignored the engineers when they complained about the equipment being shoved in engineering. They'd have complained if someone took half their office space."

"Any other reason they gave was hunting an excuse and it's perfectly obvious big pieces of equipment belong in engineering, with the other big pieces of equipment."

"You've obviously dealt with the type, Raven."

"No, Ma'am. Captain Satin told me that was probably why the pump was there when I said it was a real stupid place to put something that you can feel running six meters away."

"You're the one whose voice it made wobbly."

"Yes. That one wasn't as new or well-maintained, but you can't push that much water through a system without some vibration of the unit and a vibration-reduction mounting platform only stops you from feeling like your teeth are shaking loose, not all vibration."

"Raven, your explorations in the service tunnels paid off on this occasion, but I'm getting angry again."

"Uh, yes, Storm. I know it was dumb. I know I could have gotten hurt. I know how upset I'd be if I learned a kid the size I was crawled through a hole in an adit cover and went exploring old service tunnels."

"He was three! He had a torch and a snack when I found him! He'd found out he wanted both several explorations before!"

"Storm is a couple years older than I am and I was his kid to take care of. I, of course, thought of him as mine at the time. When he started school, I thought I should start too and I was very aggravated at being stuck with the babies. He was the only one who could keep track of me for long and I was always waiting for him when he got out of school. That day the teacher decided an afternoon off on a sunny day, after about thirty days of nasty weather, would do more for the kids' learning process than two more hours of class."

"And he wasn't there when I got out. Or at home. Or at a neighbors. Or on the playground. Then I saw this hole and it was just his size. He crawled out of it just as I got to it and apologized for not being at the school waiting for me. Big eyes and ringlets and so sincere."

"He sat down and giggled. That's when I knew I'd scared him. The lecture came later, several times. He also fixed the hole in the adit cover himself. Anyway, that's where I saw a pump like the one in engineering."

"You remember a pump you saw when you were three? I can't remember things I saw a few days ago."

"You would if they were big, noisy, and you were sure you were the only one who knew about them, Marcus. I did realize later that someone had to put it and the lights there, but at that time it was my very own discovery."

Storm looked at the 'bubble bath' they'd reached and at Satin. She looked at the doctor. The doctor smiled and told them they'd have "wraps" going in and coming out and didn't need to worry about anything besides being able to see over the piles of foam in the bath. Captain Carimi followed them into the physical therapy room on her crutches. The doctor sighed and told her she was only supposed to use the crutches when she had to.

"I had to use them or scoot on the floor. Give them something to clean their hands first, then those big fluffy robes you have, not therapy wraps. I've got one of your med techs playing server with a champagne bucket and glasses coming and over three thousand people waiting to toast to a job very well done with them. I know you don't think of the job as done until the decon bath is done, but the rest of us just don't have the same attitude."

"Carimi, we don't think of the job as done yet either, but the emergency work is and that deserves a toast."

"We're not about to leave you out here. Captain Satin said we get you to a port, or at least to a relief bridge and engineering crew."

"We'd wonder if she was all right if she even suggested we leave with you on crutches and the rest of your bridge and engineering crew at least partially disabled. I also want to look over that thrust tube with a micrometer in my hand before you use it."

"I want to really look over the rest of the engineering section and run a computer configuration check."

"Captain Satin, you train good captains."

"This pair are, and will be, exceptional, but thank you. Since the purpose of this journey is training, we don't have a schedule to meet or a specific route to follow. Primina Dock is the direction you're going, so the delay won't cost us anything but the time they have to spend in partially dismantled cabins."

"Partially dismantled?"

"My contract is expenses, a cargo and a nice remodel and expansion of my quarters. That was supposed to be done at Hardesty, along with a new colorbond for Stardance and their first required exterior maintenance hours. We'd been there about four. We shoved the last of some wonderful clothes, I took there for a designer group on Talmoss, through the hatch when your yell for assistance reached there. We don't need to go back. You don't need to try to cover three bridge and engineering shifts a day, or explain to your passengers it will be several more days before the Wanderland can start for a port."

"She'd try to cover the shifts."

"I would too, Doctor. We live on ships and think of them as safe homes, though in a hazardous environment. The passengers don't. Most of them won't really feel safe again until they get both feet on topsoil. These are?"

"The best wipes I've found. I agree completely with our captain's diagnosis of the people's need for something to say we made it and yours that a lot of people need to get to their safe homes."

"I want these. I can feel how clean my hands are."

"They'd dry them out if you used them often, but I'm sure the supply chief won't complain about having to replace a case of them this time. In this disposal slot, please. Nothing that goes in it gets recycled. Oh, much cleaner. If we could use them on your hair, we might skip the bath."

"Shall I pretend I believe her, Carimi?"

"She did say 'might,' Satin."

The tech pushing the cart with the champagne had robes over his shoulder when he came through the door. They took off their ship suits and put them on behind a screen, then sat down with the captain in chairs that had appeared beside the decon bath. Since Marcus was gently manipulating the captain's arm, they were rather sure they knew who had 'appeared' them.

The doctor, Verin, said this toast would be given from a seated position period and the captain told Satin she couldn't get away with anything. She warned they were going to be on-screen all over the ship and Raven asked it be just the ship. Satin said they'd already figured out how hard it would be to get dock and ground training hours, if they had even a half-dozen people a day rushing up to tell them they'd done a good job. She did understand.

"Shipwide screen from this location. Friends, these are our very own heroes, Captain Satin Joyce and captain-trainees Storm Taylor and Raven Wisdom. We're sitting in front of the decontamination bath they're about to go in. The decon is for them and the sitting is for me. You know how the doc is. They were in there where it was hot and will get a bath and I'll be on a bed if I don't sit still. We made it, people. These three are the reason. They ask you not spread their pictures around because, though very nice, a lot of people wanting to tell them they're their heroes too would definitely make it difficult for Storm and Raven to get their training done. They're not rushing off, so you will get to tell them. They took one look at me and said they're not going until they get us to port or Crest gets a bridge and engineering crew to us. It was the kind of impossible chain of events that we all know do happen. This time that chain also included these three with a ship close enough, the parts we needed and the knowledge of what caused the impossible to happen. Yes, Fem Taeker, we were being watched over. You were right. Let me add Crest was being watched over. We lived through this and every other Crest ship is now warned, so it won't happen again. People, to our friends with the right attitude, equipment, knowledge and skills to save all of us and perhaps many more thousands on other ships. Captain Joyce, a few words?"

"All right, Carimi. Is someone fixing dinner? I just feel like asking Raven to cook after he worked so hard is a bit much, and Storm is growling he's hungry. Cheers."

Storm and Raven lifted their glasses with Satin and drank their toast. Everyone else seemed to be laughing too hard to drink. Raven 'passed the thought' he and Storm had both understood the lesson to Satin and she gave him a mental wink as reply. The toast didn't really say the long, terrifying, incident was over, but the laughter did.

### Chapter Eleven

The decon bath was as interesting and marginally unpleasant as they expected. Most of the time it wasn't bad, though it was extremely floral scented. The foam was actually rather fun. The liters of the highly scented water that poured over their heads at frequent intervals were not, but they dutifully worked what had just been dumped on them into a suds on their hair each time.

Raven started giggling toward the end of the bath and Satin raised an eyebrow. He passed her Storm's image of himself labeling something with a sticky-flim and told her that's how a lot of mental comments from Storm began. This one was labeled 'dry comment.' "Raven, if the rest of the luxury bathing pools are like this, I'm sticking with the one you built Satin in Dancy." Both Storm and Raven grabbed Satin when she started to sink. They'd had experience with her giggles in water before and this 'pool' was quite a bit deeper. Then water came down again and Storm groaned.

"Help. My head is beginning to feel flatter."

"That was the last one, Storm. Work it into a lather and come out. You get to rinse it off in a shower, not a deluge this time."

"Oh, thank you, Doctor. All traces of dizziness seem to have passed, and other than wondering if I'll be able to smell anything for a tenday, I don't feel odd."

"Wondering if he's going to starve is expected. Both their stomachs have been asking the question in unhappy tones since before we finished in engineering. They're older than they look, but they eat like late adolescents too."

"How old are they?"

"Legally adult."

Satin knew the doctor was escorting her to a shower personally to have a chance to talk. She had a very healthy respect for her abilities. She knew the requirements for a liner physician. Really good hospital Chiefs of Staff could apply if they were also excellent surgeons. She'd expected her to have questions about Raven and Storm.

"They're growing and learning well, Verin. Growing is primarily Raven. He knows he was a late developer. I know the place they grew up was a slum and they left opportunity and an open door for anyone who wants out of it behind them. We can speculate on their lives and the causes of late development, but they'd rather we didn't. Today, they're healthy and working for their own ship."

"I'm more worried about Storm than Raven, Satin."

"So was I. Raven is late, but the pattern of development is pretty average. Storm's seemed to be skewed in some way. To be honest, it's only in the last few days I stopped worrying about it. Whatever the problem was, it has definitely been straightened out. Raven is as sure of it as I am."

"He's talked to you."

"We talked with Storm. Frankly, never having had children, I'm watching them mature visibly in amazement. Doctor, I don't want to ask them if they had enough of the right things to eat before they came aboard Stardance, but I have thought about it several times."

"'Right things,' being the key. It's unusual, but they're unusual. I thought Storm's grandmother was a teacher."

"I have the impression the children of the slums needed her more than those of the affluent neighborhoods. If she's the one responsible for those two young men's beliefs and principles, I wish she could teach every child. I will tell you those boys would have taken exactly the minimum required for them to not be damaged out of a common food stock if there was barely enough for all, less if there wasn't enough. I have the image of a big home with doors that don't lock and a kitchen pantry that's never full but never quite empty, because food just appears in it, and kids who decide to move in with Grandma. Those two boys are leaders like no others. They chose to lead people out, not lead them within. They constructed an open economic opportunity for every person who lives there and showed them how to use it."

"Starting with the children at Grandma's house."

"Raven was Storm's kid to take care of. I will say I believe there are a lot of Grandma's houses out there making sure there's a place for kids to learn. I won't say there will be kids like Raven and Storm in them. I'm going to teach those two to make plans and not follow them."

"Oh, this sounds interesting."

"When I was suddenly yelling at TC to get the service bay doors open and give me your coordinates, I realized Raven and Storm needed to learn there are changes of plan that aren't emergencies. We're going to plan a training route every time something comes up and I decide to change our destination. I'm trying to get them to consider work as contracted couriers. They can buy a nice ship, but they're doing the remodel on mine themselves. I spend their money on them with abandon, tool kits to sexy designer clothes in materials that reek of indulgence and good taste. They have superb taste, but they don't know what's there. They picked me to teach them everything. I'm teaching them to be ship captains and they're remodeling their living quarters and paying the expenses for it. Oh, and we are going to have fun. I plan on getting Storm in at least one good brawl and betting with myself whether Raven would really leave Storm on a floor and take me home, or if he'd decide the best way to deal with it would be just to remove all the opposition and steer us home before he has the problem."

"All right. I'm thoroughly convinced you'll know if either of them really is in trouble. Three minutes. Now you can rinse it off. Put the robe in the slot that says, 'Hazardous. Do not recycle.' That's why you didn't get a big fluffy robe this time. The job of that one is lift a lot of chemical compound off you. Rinse very well. You want it all off. The smell will haunt you if you don't get it all."

"I feel like I fell in a vat of that oil they use to scent cheap pot pourri."

"The good news is the smell will come off. It'll leave some fragrance, but it's light and will disappear as fast as a shampoo fragrance. We'll meet again."

"I have to come visit you, Verin. You've got everyone who operates this ship here. It's going to be an interesting training log. Not many their age come out of training with liner command experience. I think they'll deal with the personnel well and the passengers superbly. They're both going to be great captains, even if Raven only uses his ident when Storm wants to take ten into the captains' lounge. I figure we'll be around about ten days. Crest will get people to you by then and it'll be just the right spot to arc for Primina. They need those dock hours and there's nowhere better. Oh, Storm said if all the luxury bathing pools on the ship are like that one, he's going to stick with the one Raven built for the remodel."

"Oh, that one I will tell the Chief Steward. He helped clear down there and luxury pools are his province."

"The idea is terrific and I hear you're doing well with it. You're stuck. Sit. I need to know things and I need to rinse. I've got to get us food and we've got to get to work. We've got to give those people a view of the experience that isn't damaging to Crest. Moving them as fast as we can now that they can be moved is a big piece of it. The problems with combining technologies are well known. This time it was because two machines were put too close together. The eighteen days were stout hearts, camaraderie and keeping faith we'd get here with new parts for the big machine that got damaged. From now until their feet are on the ground is the time most critical."

"Total agreement, but I'm a little too involved with the process to have thought about it yet."

"I have because I had the right parts for you. I use them because they're the best period, not for the size of my ship or yours, the best. That's not a drive system. It's a fuel tank. You just fill yours more often. Your company and I both chose the one with the best fuel line connection. I'm a ship mechanic and a trader. If I see a real bargain on a ship part I use, I'll find room to carry it around with me for twenty years if I don't need it for twenty. The tap is also something I just carry around. Primina is the right place to spread this scary story amongst engineers and owner-captains. I had the tap because an engineer told me one. Nothing ever should go wrong with the tap. If it does, you're in deep shit. Extremely good design makes it probable you'll survive the first few minutes. Just doesn't make sense not to carry around a spare to extend that indefinitely."

"Thank you. That will help Crest a great deal."

"Hopefully, it will help a lot of people. If your captain or chief engineer had heard the story I did, they'd have gotten that unit shut down and no one would have been hurt. You wouldn't have had a part, but you wouldn't have needed the handling unit. They might have seen it and shut down sooner so you'd have been closer to help, instead of just close enough. Good equipment. It wasn't a disaster, and that gave you time to prevent it becoming a tragedy. All mechanical systems fail. That's why we replace them at regular intervals. Controlling the damage, when it happens anyway, is the most important criteria in choosing between pieces of equipment from good companies. Everything in engineering is carefully chosen. Out here that room keeps everyone alive. The lubbers who put a pump in engineering don't have to think that way. 'All right, folks, we've got a hazardous situation. Calmly walk to the exits and clear the spaceship. We ask you all to move to the end of the block.' They can't truly understand it because they live on a world. No one who hasn't lived on a ship can. Your engineer can't call the captain and say they're going to shut down for awhile to look for what's wrong and you can't have a part delivered by a courier on a grav scoot. Things that require the intense supervision of a ship engineer go in engineering. Anything else goes elsewhere. Crest will get that directly from me. My trainees knew that intrusion into engineering was the problem with their first glance at the visual."

"Lordner, our chief engineer, filed a protest. He says he'd much rather not have been proved correct in quite this fashion."

"He knows he's lucky. Most chief engineers who are sure something is wrong and are overruled don't get to say 'I told you so,' when they're abruptly proved correct."

"Yes, he does know it. Your dinner is probably ready. Our chefs ran for the kitchen and you'll get the best of what they could get ready in the length of time you were in decon plus ten. You may get a twelve course meal."

"Raven and Storm could probably eat a twelve course dinner. How much like too much pot pourri do I smell? Did I get enough off?"

"I think so. My sense of smell is overloaded, too."

Dinner was delicious and a celebration, but the guests of honor didn't stay long. Five hours, twelve minutes after they finished in engineering, they had everything checked, including the tube cleaning. Captain Carimi was on the bridge when Satin initialized the main drive. There were several others, who had been told what to watch for on the bank of tell-tales they were watching.

A steward said it was interesting watching lights and not wanting them to change. Satin put his droll computation, of how much Crest paid him to stand and watch lift indicator lights, through to engineering fast. Raven had been mentally eavesdropping on her, and he and Storm were about to start laughing, 'with no reason.' Two minutes later, the main drive initialized smoothly and the captain gave time of arrival at their next stop, then announced Crest would pay for personal messages to tell families of the delay.

That evening they attended a "ball" and Satin had a great deal of help teaching Raven and Storm "more formal" dancing. They were a great deal of help getting the people relaxed and feeling more secure. That got logged too. It was the part of being a captain that made it a lot of first officer hours before one was qualified to be a liner captain, but Raven and Storm had more of that type of training than those officers got, already. They would be ready to be captains of their own ship, when they got the rest of the required hours and the work on the liner would reduce those.

The slight pang that followed the thought didn't surprise her. She answered it with a promise to the families who were gone, the wise woman who had made them such good men and the children of the Podge that she would always be near and would assure their gifts were passed. She began planning the schedule for the rest of their training. They had a ship to find and a sector to explore, but the job they'd actually hired her to do was finished.

