“My late grandfather.”
Ruben’s shoulders sank back into his seat. “Hoh, boy, he was such a lovely old rogue.”
“Alas, his wisdom is sorely missed by all of us.”
“Did he go from natural causes?”
“Yes. Twenty-five years ago.”
“Twenty-five . . .” Ruben appeared to lose himself in reverie.
I’m sorry,syrinx told him.
Twenty-five years. That means I must have been here at least thirty-five years ago, probably more. Bugger, but there’s no fool like an old fool.
“You mentioned a trade,” Kenneth said.
Syrinx patted the coolbox on the floor by her chair. “The best Atlantis has to offer.”
“Ah, a wise choice. I can always sell Atlantean delicacies; my own family alone will eat half of them. Do you have an inventory?”
She handed over a sheaf of hard copy. There was no desktop processor block, she noticed, although there was a keyboard and a small holoscreen.
Kenneth read down the list, his eyebrows raised in appreciation. “Excellent, I see you have brought some orangesole, that’s one of my personal favourites.”
“You’re in luck, there are five fillets in this coolbox. You can see if they’re up to standard.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“None the less, I’d like you to accept the contents as my gift for your hospitality.”
“That’s really most kind, Syrinx.” He started touch-typing on the keyboard, looking directly at the holoscreen. She was sure her fingers couldn’t move at such a speed.
“Happily, my family has interests in several roseyards on Kesteven,” Kenneth said. “As you know, we can’t officially sell any Norfolk Tears until midsummer when the new crop is in; however, there is an informal allocation system operating amongst ourselves which I can make use of. And I see my cousin Abel has several cases unclaimed, he owns the Eaglethorpe estate in the south of Kesteven. They produce a very reasonable bouquet in that district. Regrettably, I can’t offer you a full hold, but I think possibly we can provide you with six hundred cases of bottled Tears, which works out at just under two hundred tonnes.”
“That sounds quite satisfactory,” Syrinx said.
“Jolly good. So, that just leaves us with the nitty-gritty of working out a price.”
Andrew Unwin loaded Quinn Dexter’s passport flek into his processor block, and the unit immediately went dead. He rapped on it with his knuckles, but nothing happened. The three men from the spaceplane were watching him keenly. Andrew knew his cheeks would be bright scarlet. He didn’t like to think what his father would say. Passport Officer was an important job.
“Thank you, sir.” Andrew meekly handed the unread flek back to Quinn Dexter, who took it without comment. Mel was still barking, from a distance, hiding behind the front wheel of his bike. The dog hadn’t stopped since the group trotted down the spaceplane’s airlock stairs.
And the day had been going so well until the spaceplane from the
“Is that it?” Joshua asked, his voice raised above the barking.
“Yes, thank you, Captain, sir. Welcome to Norfolk. I hope you find a cargo.”
Joshua grinned, and beckoned him over. The two of them walked away from Quinn Dexter and Ashly Hanson who waited at the foot of the stairs, the dog scampering after them.
“Good of you to deal with us so promptly,” Joshua said. “I can see the aerodrome’s busy.”
“It’s my job, Captain, sir.”
Joshua took a bundle of leftover Lalonde francs from his ship-suit pocket, and slipped three out. “I appreciate it.” The plastic notes were pressed into the boy’s hand. A smile returned to his face.
“Now tell me,” Joshua said in a low tone. “Someone who can be trusted with passport duty must know what goes on around here, where the bodies are buried, am I right?”
Andrew Unwin nodded, too nervous to speak. What bodies?
“I hear there are some pretty important families on Norfolk, do you know which is the most influential here on Kesteven?”
“That would be the Kavanaghs, Captain, sir. There’s dozens and dozens of them, real gentry; they own farms and houses and businesses all over the island.”
“Do they have any roseyards?”
“Yes, there’s several of their estates which bottle their own Tears.”
“Great. Now, the big question: do you know who handles their offworld sales for them?”
“Yes, Captain, sir,” he said proudly. That wad of crisp notes was still in the captain’s hand, he did his best not to stare at it. “You want Kenneth Kavanagh for that. If anyone can find you a cargo, he can.”
Ten notes were counted off. “Where can I find him?”
“Drayton’s Import company, in Penn Street.”
Joshua handed over the notes.
Andrew folded them with practised alacrity, and shoved them in his shorts pocket. After he’d ridden twenty yards from the spaceplane his processor block let out a quiet bleep. It was fully functional again. He gave it a bewildered look, then shrugged and rode off towards the spaceplane that was just landing.
Judging by the receptionist’s initial attitude, Joshua guessed he wasn’t the first starship captain to come knocking at Drayton’s Import this week. But he managed to catch her eye as she held the pearl handset to her ear, and earned a demure smile.
“Mr Kavanagh will see you now, Captain Calvert,” she said.
“That’s very kind of you to press my case.”
“Not at all.”
“I wonder if you could recommend a decent restaurant for tonight. My associate and I haven’t eaten for hours, we’re looking forward to a meal. Somewhere you use, perhaps?”
She straightened her back self-consciously, and her voice slid up a social stratum. “I sometimes visit the Metropole,” she said airily.
“Then I’m sure it must be delightful.”
Ashly raised his eyes heavenwards in silent appeal.
It was another quarter of an hour before they were shown into Kenneth Kavanagh’s office. Joshua didn’t shirk from eye contact with Gideon when Kenneth introduced them. He got the distinct impression the amputee victim was suppressing extreme nervousness, his face was held too rigidly, as if he was afraid of showing emotions. Then he realized that Kenneth was watching his own reaction. Something about the situation wasn’t quite right.
Kenneth offered them seats in front of the desk as Gideon explained how he’d lost his arm. The restriction on medical cloning was a stiff one, Joshua thought, although he could appreciate the reasoning. Once the line was drawn, Norfolk had to stick to it. They wanted a stable pastoral culture. If you opened the doors to one medical technology, where did you stop? He was glad he didn’t have to decide.
“Is this your first visit to Norfolk, Captain?” Kenneth asked.
“Yes. I only started flying last year.”
“Is that so? Well, I always like to welcome first-time captains. I believe it’s important to build up personal contacts.”
“That sounds like a good policy.”
“Exporting Norfolk Tears is our lifeblood, alienating starship captains is not a wise option.”
“I’m hoping I won’t be alienated.”
“And so do I. I try not to send anyone away empty handed, although you must understand there is a high
