Noss’s lips curled in amusement. Blest just shook his head.
“One missing piece.” I frowned, snatching a glance down at the beady-eyed attendant by the cargo hatch to Alastar. “I don’t want to be on the register, even with credentials as fake as Jorry Rambo. Ties me to the ship. Puts me on a list of suspects to crosscheck. So, that means going in incognito.”
Blest scoffed. “You’ll never do it.”
“Never say never. What I need is that turnkey ring on Detran’s belt. I’ve watched him, he punches little buttons and enters numbers into it. It’s a kind of security register, I think, helps him keep tabs on his merchandise. If I have it, more credence when I try to con my way aboard Alastar. Prevents me having to strongarm any of his lackeys if things go sour.”
“How are you going to get it?” said Blest. “He just going to give it to you?”
“What are you, Mr. Pessimist?” I jeered.
Wren winked. “Leave that to me.”
I raised an eyebrow.
Wren lifted herself off her barstool with a suggestive movement of female magic. “I used to handle braggarts like Detran on Talyon,” she explained. “Had lots of experience fending off mouth breathing cretins when I was younger. I know his type, plus I’m a better dissembler than you think.”
“If you want to try, give it a shot.” I shrugged. “I’d try my hand at some dissembling, but I don’t want Hally Detran to have any reason to get a whiff of my ugly hide.”
Wren grinned. “Wait here.” I idled at a nearby table while she planned her approach.
One of the RSA people came bustling by Detran who was watchdogging The Lady Lou, and I saw him go red in the face. “You people couldn’t have picked a worst damn time to come nosing around my ships,” he rasped.
“Sorry, sir. Just a routine check.”
“Routine check, my ass. It’s called personal harassment.”
“Step aside, sir.”
Wren moved forward. At the last instant, she contrived to trip on the half steps leading up to the glass observatory and accidentally spilled her drink on Detran. She clasped him in a firm hug, making sure to give him a generous dose of her breasts. Meanwhile her hands worked like spiders around his back to get the key ring off him and slip it under her own belt.
“My mistake, omigod! My bad, sir, sorry, sorry!”
“You stupid cow!” he yelled. “What kind of a klutz are you?” When he got a better look at her, he licked his lips and stammered, “I mean—”
“No, it was my fault, sir, really. Here, let me wipe that gunk off your coat! Sorry. I really am. I feel terrible!” She lifted her head with grief-stricken eyes and peered up into his flustered face. Snatching a kerchief from her pocket, she scrubbed at his chest, all the while flashing doe-eyes at him and holding his wrist and touching his shoulder.
“Well, I guess it was an honest mistake,” he grumbled at last.
“That’s mighty kind of you, sir.”
He frowned with a half nod. “These half steps are something of a liability anyways. Don’t know why the idiot management positioned them here where decent folk can trip over them!” He paused, scrutinizing her with more interest. “Maybe you can make it up to me, doll. Stick around after the auction and we can both have a little nightcap, indulge in a drink or two at the bar, revel in how much money I made.”
She winked at Detran. “That would suit me fine, mister. I love to hear how much money a handsome man like you can spend on a lonely girl like me.”
That got him grinning. “It’s a date then.”
Wren disappeared into the crowd, did a round around the rotunda and hurried back to Bantam as I had instructed her. I followed a few minutes later and slouched at the Bantam’s bridge’s conference table.
“Clod,” she muttered under her breath.
“No better kinds. Let’s hope he doesn’t get wise too soon. The others didn’t come yet?”
She shook her head.
I rubbed my chin in speculation. “Gotta keep him and Blest out of trouble.”
Noss and Blest arrived a quarter of an hour later, carrying a bag each of duty free water pipes and Black Dog whiskey.
I rooted around Bantam’s utility bin and pulled out a strange hand-sized contraption with a magnetic stamp, feeder cable and small suction plugs. I called it the spider. “We just need the drive codes and this little baby can override the main nav system. Wonderful device. Works on the older models. Tricky part will be to con the guards.”
“And how on Neptune are you going to get that eyesore through security?” complained Blest.
“Easy, an external pacemaker. Monitors blood. See.” I hooked it up to my arm by a cable and a little red light beeped at a regular interval.
Blest shook his head and threw up his hands. “Rusco, one of these days your grand schemes are going to blow up in your face.”
“Until then, let’s celebrate.” I poured drinks for them all.
* * *
I put on my best disguise, a blue uniform, black tie, greyed my hair, wrapped it up in a bun and hid it under a white maintenance inspector’s cap. “How do I look?” I posed, did a ballerina’s twirl.
“Hokey.” Wren pursed her lips.
“Good. All the better. Won’t take much to fool those sleepy sallys on watch. Like the one by The Alastar. He’s practically sprawled out on the floor from boredom.”
“Which might mean he’ll take an active interest in you when he sees how dopey you look.”
I laughed. “Nah. I fit right in with this crowd.”
“You think?”
Blest drew me aside. “Why not get Noss or me to sneak aboard and fly that ship?”
“You’re not up for that kind of
