The thing's identification was so obvious to her that she couldn't believe at first that he hadn't made the connection himself. But then she remembered how fallible softperson memory was...
Well, it didn't matter. That was one of the things she was here for, after all. She grabbed a com circuit and coded out the contact number Sinor had given her, hoping it was something without too much of a lag time.
She could not be certain where her message went to, but she got an answer so quickly that she suspected it had to come from someone in the same real-space as Lermontov. No visual coming through to them, of course, which, if she still had been entertaining the notion that this was really an Institute directive they were following, would have severely shaken her convictions. But knowing it was probably the Drug Enforcement Arm, she played along with the polite fiction that the visual circuit on their end was malfunctioning, and let Alex repeat the details of the deal he had cut, as she offered only a close-up of the little vase.
'Go through with it,' their contact said, when Alex was done. 'You've done excellent work, and you'll be getting that bonus. Go ahead and receive the consignment; we'll take care of the rest and clear out the debits on that account for you. And don't worry; they'll never know you weren't an ordinary buyer.'
There was no mention of plague or any suggestions that they should take precautions against contamination. Alex gave her a significant look. 'Very well, sir,' he only said, with carefully formality. 'I hope we've accomplished something here for you.'
'You have,' the unknown said, and then signed off.
Alex picked up the little vase and turned it around and around in his hands as he sat down in his chair and put his feet up on the console. Tia made the arrangements for the two messengers to come to the ship for the credit chits and then to the bar for the pickups, fortunately, not at the same time. That didn't take more than a moment or two, and she turned her attention back to Alex as soon as she was done.
'Was that stupid, dumb luck, coincidence, or were we set up?' she asked suspiciously. 'And where was that agent? It sounded like he was in our back pocket!'
'I'm going to make some guesses,' Alex said, carefully. 'The first guess is that we did run into some plain good luck. The Quiet Man had tried all the approved outlets for his trinkets, outlets that the Arm doesn't know about, and found them glutted. He was desperate enough to try someone like me. I suspect his ship pulls out tomorrow or the next day.'
'Fine, but why go ahead and sell to you if he didn't know you?' Tia asked.
'Because I was in the right bar, making all the right moves, and I didn't act like the Arm or Intel.' Alex rubbed his thumb against the sides of the vase. 'I was willing to go through the barkeep to pay, which I don't think Intel would do. I had the right 'feel,' and I suspect he was watching to see if any of his buddies got picked up after they sold to me. And lastly, once again, we were lucky. Because he doesn't know what his bosses are using the phony artifacts for. He thought the worst that could happen is a wrist-slap and fine, for importing art objects without paying customs duty on them.'
'Maybe his bosses aren't using the artifacts for smuggling,' she pointed out, thinking out all the possibilities. 'Maybe they are just passing them on to a second party.'
'In this station, that's very possible.' Alex put the vase down carefully. 'At any rate, I think the Arm suspected this cluster of stations all along, and they've got a ship out here somewhere, which is why we got an answer so quickly. I thought that was a ship-contact number when I saw it, but I didn't say anything.'
'Hmm.' Tia ran through all the things she would have done next and came up with a possible answer. 'So now they just find the messenger that goes to 'Rockwall' at noon from a ship that isn't ours, and tags the ship for watching? Or is that too simple?'
Alex yawned and stretched. 'Probably,' he said, plainly bored with the whole game now. 'He probably won't send the messenger from his ship. They'll do their spy-work somehow; we just gave them what they didn't have in the first place, a contact point. It's out of our hands, which is just as well, since I'd rather not get involved in a smuggler versus Intel shoot-out. I'm tired'
'Then you should get some rest,' she said immediately. 'And get that jumpsuit out of my cabin before it burns out my optics.'
He laughed, but he also headed straight for his bed.
Tia didn't even bother to wake her brawn as she approached Presley Station and hailed their traffic control. She expected the usual automated AI most mining stations had; she got a human. Although it was audio-only, there was no doubt that this was a real human being and not an Al-augmented recording. Because, from the strain in the voice, it was a very nervous and unhappy human.
'AH-One-Oh-Three-Three, be advised we are under a Code Five quarantine,' the com officer said, with the kind of hesitation that made her think he wasn't on a microphone very often. 'We can let you dock, and we can refuel you with servos, but we can't permit you to open your airlock. And we'd like you to move on to some other station if you have the reserves.'
He can't deny us docking under a Code Five, but he's frightened. And he really wants us to go away.
Tia made a quick command decision. 'Presley Station, be advised that we are on assignment from CenCom
