‘Place hasn’t changed,’ Lim was saying. ‘Same old center. I thought they’d have built a new auditorium by now.’
Tasmin made obvious small talk. ‘Well, it’s the same old problem, Lim. Caravans have a tough enough time bringing essential supplies. It would be hard to get the BDL Administration interested in rebuilding a perfectly adequate structure even though I’ll admit it does lack a certain ambience.’
‘You can say that again, brother. The acoustics in that place are dreadful. I’d forgotten.’
‘I just can’t believe you’re from Deepsoil Five,’ Celcy bubbled. ‘You don’t look all that much like Tasmin, either. Are you really full brothers? Same parents for both of you?’
There was a fleeting expression of pain behind Lim’s eyes, gone in the instant. ‘Ah, well,’ Lim laughed. ‘I got all the looks and Tasmin got all the good sense.’ His admiring and rather too searching glance made this a compliment to her, which she was quick to appreciate.
‘Oh, no.’ Celcy sparkled at him. ‘It takes good sense to be as successful as you’ve been, Lim.’
‘And you must think Tasmin’s pretty good looking, or you wouldn’t have married him.’
They were posing for one another, advance and retreat, like a dance. Celcy was always like this with new men. Not exactly flirtatious, Tasmin sometimes told himself, at least not meaning it that way. She always told him when men made advances, not denying she liked it a little, but not too much, sometimes claiming to resent it even after Tasmin had seen her egging some poor soul on. Well, Lim wouldn’t be around that long, and it would give her something to remember, something to talk about endlessly. ‘He really liked me, didn’t he, Tas. He thought I looked beautiful….’
‘Speaking of success,’ Tasmin said mildly, raising a glass to attract Lim’s attention. ‘Now that you’re very much a success, could you offer some help for Mother, Lim? She’s not destitute, but I’d like to send her to the coast. The doctors say her vision can be greatly improved there, but it costs more than I can provide alone. And now with Celcy pregnant….’
She glared at him, and he caught his breath.
‘Sorry, love. Lim is family, after all.’
‘I just don’t want our private business discussed in public, Tas. If you don’t mind.’
‘Sorry.’ Her anger was unreasonable but explainable. As ambivalent as she felt about having a baby, of course, she would be equally ambivalent about being pregnant or having Lim know she was. Tasmin decided to ignore it. ‘About Mother, Lim? You are going to see her while you’re here, aren’t you?’
Lim was evasive, his eyes darting away and then back. ‘I’d really like to, Tas. Maybe tomorrow. And I’d like to help, too. Perhaps by the end of the season I’ll be able to do something. Everyone thinks this kind of work mints gold, but it’s highly competitive and most of what I make goes into equipment. If you’ll help me out with a little request I have, though, things should break loose for me and I’ll be able to put a good-size chunk away for her.’ He was intent again, leaning forward, one hand extended in an attitude Tasmin recognized all too well. The extended wrist was wrapped in a platinum chronocomp set with seven firestones. Not the yellow orange ones, which were all Tasmin had been able to afford for Celcy, but purple blue gems, which totaled in value about five times Tasmin’s annual salary.
Tasmin felt the familiar wave of fury pour over him. Let it go, he told himself. For God’s sake, let it go.
‘What request?’ Celcy, all sparkle-eyed, nudging Tasmin with one little elbow, eager. ‘What request, Lim? What can we do for you?’
‘I understand there’s a new Don Furz Enigma score.’
‘That’s right,’ Tasmin said, warily.
‘And I understand you have access to it.’
‘I made the master copy. So?’
His face was concentrated, his eyes tight on Tasmin’s own. ‘I need an edge, Tas. Something dramatic. Something to make the Coast fans sit up and scream for more. Everyone knows the Enigma is a killer, and everyone knows Don Furz has come up with some surprising Passwords. I want to build my new show around the Enigma score.’
Tasmin could not answer for a long moment, was simply unable to frame a reply.
‘Oh, that’s exciting! Isn’t that exciting, Tas? A new Lim Terree show built about something from Deepsoil Five. I love it!’ Celcy sipped at her wine, happier than Tasmin had seen her in weeks.
And he didn’t want to spoil that mood for her. For a very long time he said nothing, trying to find a way around it, unable to do so. ‘I’m afraid it’s out of the question,’ Tasmin said at last, surprised to find his voice pleasantly calm, though his hands were gripped tightly together to control their quivering. ‘You were at the citadel for a time, Lim. You know that untested manuscripts are not released. It’s forbidden to circulate them.’
‘Oh, hell, man, I won’t use it as is. It would bore the coasties to
