"You dance lightly over an important matter. Who lifted you from your world?"
"Where would be my honor if I told you that?"
"Smugglers? Bandits? What species? You will give us that too, Nameless." We heard the click: communication severed.
One of the Kzinti stood up. Another slashed the vacuum, a mere wrist gesture, but the first sat down again. The stars wheeled . . . and something that was not a star came into view, brilliant in pure laser colors: Stealthy-Mating's riding lights.
I said, "We're about to dock. If anything happens, you keep the needle sprayer, I want the blade. Closing the zipper turns on the air, so don't lose that."
"No fear," said Paradoxical.
Gravity went away. We floated. The ships danced about each other. I would have docked less recklessly. I'm not a Kzin.
"They know too much about us," I said.
Paradoxical asked, "In what context?"
"They knew our manifest. They knew our position—"
"Finding another ship in interstellar space is not a thing they could plan, Beowulf."
"LE Graynor to you. Look at it this way," I said. "The only way to get here, falling through the Tao Gap in Einstein space, is to be going from Fafnir to Home. Stealthy-Mating got our route somehow. They started later with a faster ship. They might catch us approaching Home during deceleration . . . track our graviton wake . . . or snatch you and Fly-By-Night after you got through Customs. They could not possibly have expected to find Odysseus here. Catching us here was a fluke, an opportunity. They grabbed it."
"As you say."
"I like it."
Paradoxical stared. "Do you? Why?"
"Clients, overlords, allies, any kind of support would have to be told that Stealthy-Mating is en route to Home. Any rendezvous with Stealthy-Mating is at Home. When could they change that? They're still headed for Home!"
"Very speculative."
"I know."
Stealthy-Mating's cargo bay was bigger than the boat's, under doors that opened like wings.
The boat released the cargo modules. Two Kzinti went out and began moving them. Envoy stayed behind. He watched the action in space, ignoring us.
"Not yet," Paradoxical said. I nodded. Fly-By-Night floated half curled up. He seemed to be asleep, but his ears kept flicking open like little fans.
I ate my handmeal. Paradoxical averted its eyes.
Packer and the nameless third crewperson set the modules moving one by one, and juggled them as they approached Stealthy-Mating. Waldo arms reached up to pull them into the bay and lock them. It seemed to take forever, but I'd have moved those masses one at a time. They were in a hurry. Rounding a point mass would scatter this loose stuff all across the sky.
Turnpoint Star must be near.
The cargo doors closed. Stealthy-Mating rotated, and the boat was pulled down against the hull. Now we were all one mass.
The hatch in the floor opened. Three Kzinti came through in pressure suits to join Envoy. The newcomer's chest and back showed a Kzinti snarl done in gaudy orange dots-and-commas. He spared a glance for me and Paradoxical, then turned to Fly-By-Night.
My translator said, "I am Meebrlee-Ritt."
"Futz!" Fly-By-Night exclaimed in Interworld.
"Your concern is noted. Yes, I am of the Patriarch's line. Your First Sire was Gutting Claw's Telepath, who betrayed the Patriarch Rrowrreet-Ritt and showed prey how to destroy his own ship!"
"And he never even went back for the ears. Then again, they were inside a hot plasma," Fly-By-Night said.
To Envoy Meebrlee-Ritt said, "This one was to be tamed."
Envoy cringed, ears flat. Even I could hear the change in his voice, the whine. "Dominant One, this fool crippled himself for a failed joke, and that joke was his name quest! A lesser male he must be, never mated. His arrogance is bluff or insanity, or else life among humans has made him quite alien! But let Tech give us air pressure, release the telepath, and the stench of your rage will cow him soon enough!"
"Let us expend less effort than that." Meebrlee-Ritt turned back to Fly-By-Night. "Telepath, your life may be taken by any who happen upon you."
"Did you need my consent for this?"
"No!"
"Or my First Sire's confession? That may be summoned by any Sheathclaws' school program. Then what shall we discuss? Tell us how you gained your name."
"I was born to it, of course. Let us discuss your future."
"I have a future?"
"Your blood line may be forgiven. You may keep your slaves, such as they are, and a harem of my choosing—"
"Yours? Dominant One, forgive my interruption, please continue."
Even if he was familiar with human sarcasm, it wasn't likely Meebrlee-Ritt had been getting it from Kzinti! I'd read that Kzinti telepaths were flighty, not terribly bright. Meebrlee-Ritt spoke more slowly. "Yes, my choosing! You may live your life in honor and luxury, or you may die shredded by my hands."
"Meebrlee-Ritt, you would not expect me to leap into so difficult a decision. Will you bargain for the lives of your hostages?"
"Submissive and unarmed Humans." Meebrlee-Ritt sneezed his contempt. "But what would you bargain with? Your world?"
"Only my genes. Consider," said Fly-By-Night. In the Heroes' Tongue his speech was a long snarl, but the translation sounded placid enough. "He who is obeyed, who fights best, who mates is the alpha, the dominant one. You command that I mate? How will you persuade me that I am dominant? Submit to this one easy demand. Rescue my erstwhile hosts. Release them at Home."
"Why would I want you in rut? There are no females aboard Sraff-zisht. Packer, Envoy, you remain. Leave the gravity off. Tech, with me. Turnpoint Star is near."
Two Kzinti went through the hatch. Two took their seats. Their hands were idle. Now the boat rode Stealthy-Mating like a parasite.
I asked, "Can you see Turnpoint Star?"
"At point six kilometers across? You flatter me. I surmise it may be centered in that curdle," said Paradoxical.
Curdle? The tight little knot of glowing gas? I watched, watched . . . A red point blew up into a blue-white sun and I fell into it. The stars wheeled. The balloons that housed us rippled as if batted by invisible children.
