if they were lucky.
'Tiq,' Ben said. 'Got it. Anything more?'
'He has a different name,' Sejal told him. 'That kind of goes without saying, I guess. Most slavers change the names of their slaves.'
'In Tiq and not named Bedj-ka,' Kendi said. 'Great. Any more?'
Sejal shrugged. 'I'll keep looking.'
'Then I guess we'll see you around,' Kendi said, his own disappointment clear from his tone. 'Let us know if you find out more.'
'Okay.' Sejal turned to go, then paused. 'Oh yeah-something else. Bedj-ka's first name was changed to something like Terry or Jerry or maybe Kerry. And his last name is Markovi.'
Ben's mouth fell open. Kendi froze, then puffed up his feathers in mock outrage.
'You little shit,' he said. 'Enjoy the remainder of your life on Bellerophon, kid, because you're dead when I get back.'
Sejal laughed mischievously and vanished from the Dream. The network rippled for a moment and Ben felt an inrush of energy fill the spot Sejal had occupied.
'Little bastard,' Kendi said happily.
Ben laughed. 'Now you know how Mo-how the rest of us felt whenever you played a-'
'Don't,' Kendi warned, 'finish that sentence.' His talons pricked Ben's skin menacingly.
'Wouldn't dream of it,' Ben said, wide-eyed.
'Right. I'd better go tell Harenn.' Kendi flapped to the ground and changed back into the koala.
'Do you need me on the bridge right away?' Ben asked. 'There are a couple things I want to do in here while Lucia lands the ship.'
'Should be okay for a few minutes,' Kendi said. 'We've already got fake trader credentials, so we won't need a hacker at the ready to forge them for us. See you in a few.'
Koala Kendi vanished, leaving ripples in the Dream. Ben watched him go, then turned back to his computer network. The matrices glowed, lights flashed, and a soft, empty hum pervaded the air. An empty hum for an empty Dream, thanks to Padric Sufur. Ben's slow anger neared the boiling point. He made a curt gesture and the entire scene vanished, leaving behind the flat, empty plain that was the default environment of the Dream. Another gesture, and the ground shifted. A stone statue rumbled up out of the ground. It was crudely-formed-Ben wasn't much of an artist-but it was recognizably the life-sized figure of a gangly, older man with hawk-like features. The man's stony eyes stared at nothing. Ben contemplated the statue, then held up his hands. The Dream shifted and he was holding a sledgehammer. Ben's fury flared into brilliance. With a sudden yell, he swung the hammer with the full power of every muscle in both arm and shoulder. Metal smashed into stone, and the statue's arm flew off in a shower of rock chips. Hatred filled Ben as he swung again and again, relishing the shock and crack of every hit. The statue's head went flying, then its other arm. Tiny bits of stone scored Ben's arms and one fragment slashed his cheek. The torso cracked into three pieces. Ben smashed the hammer into the statue's groin and the legs split away and fell apart. He yelled, screamed, shouted until his throat was raw. Ben's hammer fell again and again until nothing remained but fist-sized bits of rubble. At last Ben halted, barely winded from the exertion. He glared at the ruins, then set the hammer down and raised his hands. The rubble quivered, shivered, and reassembled itself into the statue again. Cracks fused themselves back together, leaving smooth stone. When the statue's last flaw had vanished, Ben picked up the hammer and swung.
Father Kendi Weaver shifted in the captain's chair on the Poltergeist's bridge. It felt right to be sitting there, somehow, and that surprised him. He had been under someone else's command-usually Ara's-for so long, he had assumed it would feel odd to be giving the orders himself. But that wasn't at all the case. Rather, it seemed as if everything he had gone through, including the Despair, had been preparing him for this very position.
'We've got permission to land, Father,' Lucia said, looking down at her boards. 'Tiq has a spaceport, and we'll be landing in about an hour, Irfan willing.'
'Where's Harenn?' Kendi asked.
'She went down to engineering,' Gretchen told him. 'We're in tip-top, but she said it would be easier if she kept herself busy, even if it was make-work.'
Kendi nodded. Like Harenn, no doubt, he felt the urge to get out behind the ship and push.
'Restless, Father?' Gretchen asked archly.
Kendi glanced down and realized he was tapping his feet against the deck plates. He forced himself to stop. 'Just anxious to get started.'
'Sooner started, sooner done, sooner outside having fun,' Gretchen sing-songed.
'Enough, Sister Gretchen,' Kendi said, emphasizing her title with a hint of steel. 'Since we're in radio range, I want you to start gathering data on the current state of Klimkinnar's government. I know it was one of the Five Green Worlds, but that was pre-Despair, and no one among the Children has heard anything about the FGW since then.'
'Yes, Father,' Gretchen said with patently false meekness.
Kendi suppressed a sigh. Now you know how it feels, said the memory of Ara's voice, and he could almost hear her laughing at him, wherever she was. In that moment, Kendi would have given up everything-his promotion, this mission, even his limited ability to enter the Dream-to have her back in the captain's chair again while he flew the ship.
The view on the screen brightened as Lucia guided the Poltergeist into Klimkinnar's atmosphere. Lucia's entry was smooth, with minimal turbulence, but Kendi still had to bite back words of advice. He remembered how much he had hated unsolicited suggestions when he was at the pilot's board.
As they touched down on their allotted section of the landing field, the door slid open and Ben entered the bridge. Kendi blinked. A red line scored Ben's cheek and several small cuts marked his hands. Ben took the communication station and, without a word, began tapping keys.
'Are you okay, Ben?' Kendi asked.
'I'm fine, Father,' Ben said. 'Give me a minute and I'll access Klimkinnar's network. I should have-'
'What happened to your hands?' Gretchen asked bluntly.
Ben's face reddened. 'I had… an accident in the Dream. The cuts are just psychosomatic carryover. I'll be fine. They aren't even bleeding. Did you tell Harenn what Sejal found out?'
'She knows,' Kendi said, wondering if he should press the point about Ben's hands or just let it drop. Let it drop, he decided. For now.
Ben's console chimed. 'It's customs,' he said, a little too briskly. 'They said they'll inspect the ship in about an hour. No one can enter or leave until blah blah blah.'
'Get the bribe money ready,' Gretchen said. 'Klimkinnar's on the unstable side right now. That means government officials don't know when-or if-their next paycheck will be coming, and they'll be looking for ways to supplement their income.'
'What else did you learn?' Kendi asked.
'Klimkinnar's almost completely cut off from the Five Green Worlds,' Gretchen said, glancing down at her screen. 'Their local FGW ruler is called the Planetary Governor, and she's been trying to hold things together, but it's hard going. Some sectors-countries, if you like-are trying to assert their own sovereignty, and the Governor's working overtime to keep them in line. Klimkinnar also does a lot of farming and not much manufacturing, and their economy is dependent on selling food to the rest of the FGW. This means that a lot of imported manufactured goods-read, most of them-are going to get expensive until the shipping corps figure out how to operate without Silent communication. The local big corps are also taking advantage of the situation to consolidate some of their own power-surprise, surprise. It all adds up to recession, recession, recession.'
'Jerry,' Ben said.
'What?' Gretchen said blankly.
'Bedj-ka's name is Jerry,' Ben explained as text crawled across his boards. 'Names of slaves and their owners aren't privileged information on Klimkinnar after all. I found a slave boy, nine years old, named Jerry Markovi who's registered as belonging to a farm run by one Douglas Markovi. Jerry was a recent purchase, so the records were new and easy to find. Markovi's farm is about forty klicks away from the spaceport. Take us about half an hour to get there if we rent a groundcar.'
'Praise be to Irfan,' Lucia said. 'Good job.'
