with wearing shipsuits, and we’ll both wear blasters in open holsters. When we board the station, Dee will walk in front, and we will follow behind, doing our best bodyguard act.” He turned to Cale. “I said ‘act’, but don’t doubt it’ll be for real. There are some real lowlifes on Freehold. I hope you can really use a blaster.”
“What about me?” Dee protested. “I’ve got a bag that’s just the right size for a blaster, and I’m better with one than Cale is!”
Zant cocked an eyebrow at Cale, who shrugged. “She’s certainly had more formal training than I have.”
“Conspicuous as hell” certainly described the trio that disembarked from Cheetah. Dee wore a famous Angeles designer’s interpretation of a shipsuit in shimmering aqua. It featured a detachable, flaring, multilayered skirt in rainbow toile, and a flowing waist-length cape in bold pink. The clutch bag she carried vaguely resembled the common utility bag often attached to the waist of a shipsuit, but of course, it matched the shimmering aqua of the suit itself. Her deck slippers were festooned with stones that sent flickers of reflected light in all directions. Dee had commissioned the designer to provide her with several outfits that would be as comfortable as a shipsuit, but “less drab.” She’d almost refused to pay for the eye-popping outfit, but the hurt expression on the designer’s face when she collapsed in hysterical laughter at the sight of the thing had made her feel guilty enough to accept it, though she cancelled the rest of the order. She’d almost thrown the thing away, but now she decided that if Zant wanted ‘conspicuous’, conspicuous he would get. Besides, the garish thing would distract watchers from noticing that her right hand was inside the bag, on the grip of the blaster it contained. Certainly few that saw them paid much attention to the two men following this apparition in plain shipsuits with hands on holstered blasters.
Shorty’s occupied an entire corridor block of the massive planetoid. Armed guard stations were located at each end of the corridor, along with obvious security cameras and less obvious automated weapons systems. The guards were barely successful in keeping straight faces at the sight of Dee’s outfit, but they passed the trio through efficiently, escorting them to the unadorned metal door that was the only break in the corridor’s metal surface. The guard’s hand scan caused the door to slide silently aside, revealing a surprisingly small, neat office. An ordinary office desk faced four plain office chairs. Behind the desk, the same small man they’d seen on the screen looked up and stared at the bright vision entering his drab office.
Apparently oblivious, Dee made a grand entrance, flowing into the office and standing a moment until the hurrying Cale hastily wiped off the least disreputable of the chairs and slid it beneath her. She raised an eyebrow archly, and simply stared at the man while Zant and Cale slipped into flanking chairs.
Zant noisily cleared his throat, and the man tore his eyes from Dee’s garish glory and shifted them to Zant, who was sitting bolt upright, head high, looking down his nose. “I am Zant Jenfu,” he announced in sonorous tones, “It is my honor to present my Lady, the honorable Delilah Raum of Faith. Are you the proprietor of this establishment?”
The man’s eyes drifted back to Dee, who merely raised an eyebrow. His eyes suddenly widened and he leapt to his feet. He cleared his throat noisily. “Ah, yes, ah, of course.” He began, then paused and collected himself “I’m, ah, Hern Jarnett. Yes, I am the proprietor, and I will be delighted serve the lady. How may I be of service?” By the time he finished speaking, he was once again in control, and he resumed his seat.
His last question had been addressed to Dee, but it was Zant who replied. “My lady is travelling in this sector. We have come to this.. place to convert a significant amount of diamonds to a more… useful currency. We have been informed that the safest way to do this is to deposit the diamonds with you.”
The bald head bobbed. “Exactly. Exactly right. Unfortunately, Freehold is cursed with a number of disreputables. Shorty’s has the reputation, if I do say so myself, as the only safe way to deal high-value shipments here.” The pride in his voice was obvious. He rubbed his hands together. “Now,” he continued, “just how large a sum are we discussing?”
Zant retrieved a black felt bag from his utility pouch. “Two thousand carats of flawless white diamonds of two to five carat weight.”
Jarnett’s eyebrows rose. “Did you say two thousand carats?”
Zant nodded. “Yes. Would you care to explain the procedure here?”
Jarnett’s manner warmed considerably. “Of course, of course. I will examine the merchandise. Once I have verified the information, I will issue you a deposit certificate with an exact description, and the scanner results for each stone. You will take the deposit certificate with you in your dealings here; it will verify the actual merchandise that is available. Once a deal is struck, since you are unknown here I expect the dealer will require you to accompany him here to verify the availability and perform the actual exchange.”
The small man hesitated, and then continued. “In view of the values involved in this transaction, I might recommend that you procure the services of an additional local bodyguard to accompany you in your dealings and back to your ship. Escorts can even be arranged to the local jump point, if desired.” He retrieved a jeweler’s scanner from a drawer in the desk, and spread a black cloth on the desktop.
Zant shook his head. “I doubt that will be necessary. However, could you provide us with the name of a reliable local bodyguard service, just in case?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Jarnett replied in a distracted tone. He spilled the contents of Zant’s bag onto the black cloth, gasping as the pile of glittering stones reflected the room’s light. He carefully examined Zant’s empty bag, and then propped it open on one corner of the black cloth. One by one, he slid the stones under the scanner. As each stone was scanned and weighed, he returned it to Zant’s bag. No one spoke; no one dared break the little man’s obsessive concentration. Finally, the last stone was run through the scanner. Jarnett pressed the button that produced a report of each stone, and then pressed it again for a second copy. With carefully exaggerated movements to assure his visitors that no sleight-of-hand was taking place, Jarnett closed the bag, and placed a sealing strip around its top.
Finally, he sat back with a sigh. “Six hundred twenty-eight stones, of weights from 2.16 carats to 5.08 carats, all flawless blue-white, totaling two thousand thirty-six carats,” he said in a hushed tone. “My Lady, I am honored. I have rarely seen such a collection.”
Cale was surprised. “Then you have seen others as large?”
“Only one larger,” Jarnett replied with a strained smile, “and the stones were not as fine, and the collection itself was of, shall we say, doubtful origin.” Somehow, Dee gained the impression that Jarnett’s smile was almost as rare.
Zant pulled a comp pad from his tunic. “I know that business contacts are essential to doing business here, sire Jarnette,” he said, “but I haven’t had business contact with Freehold in more than twenty years. Would you do me the honor of looking at this list and telling me how many, if any, are still doing business here?”
Jarnette nodded and took the pad. After a moment another of his wintry smiles rose. “It has indeed been some time, sire Jenfu. Three of these people are dead, and four of the others moved on some years ago. In fact, the only person on this list that I know to still be aboard is Rin Tenkin, and he is retired.” He shrugged and handed back the pad. “He may still be able to provide an introduction. You might check at the Skull. They may know how to reach him.”
He handed a crystal containing one copy of the list from the scanner to Dee, along with a simple receipt bearing a hologram of the stones scattered on the black cloth. “My lady, this crystal, and this receipt are as valuable as the stones themselves. They are the only acceptable way to retrieve them. Please be very careful. The stones will be given to whoever presents the receipt and the crystal. If you trade them for gold, say, or Alliance credits, you may be given similar documents. Upon presentation, you will be given whatever they represent.” He rose, and walked around the desk, taking Dee’s hand to lift her gently from her chair. “As I mentioned, since you and your men are not known here, whoever you deal with may require you to accompany him here to retrieve the stones. Your own presence will not be required, my lady, as long as one or both of your men, here, can represent you. I’m afraid you may find the residents of Freehold somewhat uncouth and uncivilized.”
Dee smiled and spoke for the first time. “Your courtesy is appreciated, sire Jarnett, and your civility does you credit. You have my thanks for both your advice and your services.”
Another of his half-smiles and a small bow rewarded her. When he turned to Zant, the smile was gone. “I regret, sire Jenfu, that Shorty’s is not an altruistic organization. The fee for our services is a flat one thousand Alliance credits, or the equivalent in readily convertible currencies.” That information had been shown on the station web, so they were prepared. Zant gave the little man most of Cale’s remaining Angeles crowns and Jarnett bowed Dee out, ignoring the men once he had received his payment.
Once out of Shorty’s, both Zant and Cale urged Dee to return to Cheetah, arguing that in her outlandish garb was far too conspicuous, and that the two men in their shipsuits would be better able to do business.
