If there was one point her father had taught her as the child of the captain of a trader, it was never to make a threat you do not intend to carry out. The Adjustor was wrong. She would empty the cargo hold and smile while doing it.
She sat and sipped her tea, aware of all eyes on her.
The door to the dining room opened and a crewman in a bulky spacesuit lumbered inside, then out the other door, heading for the cargo area of the Dreamer. The door behind him closed and a silence as deep as death shrouded the room.
Her eyes rose to meet those of Lila, who stood pale and scared against the wall. Stone lifted the empty tea glass and said calmly, “More tea, please.”
“Ten!” the Adjustor shouted as if that made his position stronger.
She turned to him. “There are two cargo containers that I’m claiming for myself. You may inspect them to make sure they do not contain valuables, however, for reasons of my own, they go with me. You may deduct the cost of paying the insurance for them from my ten percent.”
His eyes turned greedy. “At my judgment alone, I will value the contents of the two cargo containers.”
She glared at him. The additional ten percent hadn’t been a consideration in the beginning, so if he decreased it by half, she still received an additional five percent. It also allowed him to save face with his company. She stuck out her hand. “Agreed.”
Bert sounded a ping, “Should I stop the cargo pods from being ejected? They are sitting at the lip of the cargo bay and will be gone in a few instants.”
“Stop them,” she said.
“Too late,” Bert replied. “Seven cargo pods have been ejected and are not retrievable. The crew has more lined up and ready to go. Is the deal between you still in effect with the already ejected pods?”
“Yes,” the Adjuster shouted. “Make them stop!”
“Yes,” Captain Stone confirmed calmly. “Bert, tell them to stand down.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Kat
I was ordered to stand against the wall and watch the negotiations between the Simian administrator and Captain Stone. I was not invited to join in, and she hadn’t asked me to use my empathic abilities, even if they would have worked on the lizards and Simian. At one point, I wanted to warn her of his deceit. I knew of it because of watching him closely, not because of any mental powers.
Instead, she seemed to sense it too and had turned the tables on him.
It was quite a lesson. Empathy might help in some situations, but her skill and determination were magical to observe. For the first time, I questioned the value of my mental abilities concerning experience and skill.
Of course, that was not a rational comparison because I knew so little of empathy. If I was already near the top of the learning curve, empathy was little more than a handy knack. At the bottom of the same curve, it held immense value. And that was my problem in short. I knew too little to make an informed judgment.
Fang agreed to turn the ship around and return us safely to Heshmat only after the Simian agreed that neither he nor his two lizards would enter the bridge until the ship was docked. Finally, only Lila and I were in the dining room.
She looked at me.
I looked at her.
We smiled at each other.
She said, “I will remember this day for the rest of my life.”
“She was really something. So, you’re now part of our crew?”
“I am. I’m so glad to join you. Tell me all you know about the Escolta.”
I had to laugh. She was more innocent than me. That didn’t seem possible. I said, “Let’s get some ice cream and compare notes.”
Later, we both sat with bowls in front of us. She said, “I feel so funny sitting here and eating this.”
“Why?”
“I’ve never sat here. I’m a steward. And eating ice cream like a wealthy passenger? I would have been fired and my history flagged against any future ship hiring me. Now, tell me of the Escolta.”
“Until a dozen sleep periods ago, or maybe a little longer, it was called the Guardia. Before that, it had other names. Captain Stone sent it to a hab for refitting.”
“What does it look like?”
“I’ve never seen it,” I admitted, wondering what to tell her and how much. Captain Stone and I had to have another discussion before I said anything out of turn. To cover me and cut off certain questions before they were asked, I said, “Bert, Fang, Bill, and I have never seen the ship. Captain Stone gathered us all either on Roma or since we departed.”
“And me,” Lila said.
“And you. She seems to know exactly what she wants in a crewman and we all fill her needs, I guess.”
Lila said, “I’ve been deceived, cheated, overworked and underpaid since leaving home. Do you think it’s going to be different on another ship?”
I felt a pang of pity along with a sense that her trials and tribulations were few compared to mine. I said, “I have a theory. When we meet those on the Escolta, we’ll know. If they’re unhappy, we’ll be the same. The reverse is also true.”
“As simple as that?” she asked between spoons full of ice cream. A male steward approached and silently gave Lila an inquiring look. She said, “I no longer work here. I am now a passenger.”
The steward stood taller and asked stiffly in an unbelieving tone, “More ice cream?”
She shook her head. The steward raced off, no doubt to tell the others and ask about rumors. I said, “Did I hear you are
