Storm at Eldala

her home looked like, but she said she was definitely coming back.' He shrugged. 'Infinity only knows where she is now. And there've been others. A few went missing in transit to somewhere else — Aegis, Richards, Annahoy — and didn't turn up at the other end. They found one or two ships, but no sign of the pilots or passengers.That was weird.' 'Where were the ships found?' Enda said.

'Just floating near their outward transit points. One of those was strange. The detectors said the ship had gone into drivespace, all right, but it didn't transit. No starfall.'

'Bad coordinates,' Gabriel said, 'but nothing happens when you do that. You just pop out in the same place a few seconds later. You feel stupid—'

'This wasn't like that. The one ship,Wauksha its name was, should have come out at a halfway point on its way to Aegis. It didn't, though the detector showed it on its way. It turned up just out of system, over by Terivine A. They were lucky to have found it. The star would have pulled it in, in a few more weeks. The other ship was by its departure point, but it never left. They just found it, empty. . ' 'That is very odd,' Enda said.

Marielle shook her head. 'Not half as odd as some things you hear,' she said softly. 'Remember the ghost ships, Rov?'

Rov nodded. Marielle looked over at Enda and said, 'A few people have seen this, over — what — two, three years or so? They made starfall, were coming in on system drive, and saw something on the way in. Like a big ship that just came up out of drivespace, then went away again. Can't be a ship. A ship would have to recharge. But this thing, this big dark ghost, just comes bobbing up out of drivespace like a sat relay and sinks right back again.'

Gabriel did not look at Enda, though he very much wanted to. 'What was it?'

'No one knows,' Marielle said, 'but it gives me the jillies. I may not be on kissing terms with the laws of physics, but I don't like hearing about things that can just throw them out the door like that, either.' Rov nodded. 'One guy — didn't hear this myself, a friend of a friend heard it — one guy who saw this said, 'I thought it was alive. It looked at me before it went off again.' ' 'Ghost stories,' Gabriel said.

'Oh, I know,' said Rov. 'Every place has them. Some of them are just that. People like to scare themselves, but this is different. You won't hear people talking about these a lot. Maybe some folks here are a little superstitious. They think that these things might creep closer if you mention them.' It was a warning, however gently phrased. Gabriel nodded. 'You're right, of course, but you were telling us about Rae Alwhirn.'

The conversation veered off into good-natured gossip after that, though Gabriel had trouble concentrating on the chat after what he had just heard. He and Enda had seen just such a huge vessel come looming up out of drivespace at them before sinking away into the darkness again. A deep uncomfortable green color it had been… very like the little green ball bearing ships that had come after them way out in the Thalaassa system, the ones with the pilots who had once been alive but were not any more. Gabriel reminded himself once more that he needed to talk to Delde Sota about what had come of the autopsy she had done for them at Iphus Station on the body of one of those vessels' pilots. He stretched, turned to yawn, then froze as he caught a glimpse of someone off to one side of the room. Slowly Gabriel turned back forward again and leaned on the table.

'. . but it's been busy anyway,' Rov was saying. 'Unusual number of visitors for this time of year.' Enda looked at him, then briefly past him, with mild interest. 'You mean you have a tourist season?' 'Not as such,' said Rov. 'Government pretty strictly controls the number of people who come in here. They're concerned about the riglia taking it wrong. You wouldn't have been affected. Infotraders aren't regulated, but a few ships came in over the past week. One was a tourist — another was a trader, bringing in entertainment solids.'

'Oh really,' Gabriel said, crossing another business possibility off an ever-decreasing mental list. 'Gabriel,' Enda said then, 'something occurs to me. I want to talk to Helm about plans for this afternoon. Do you want to come back to the ship with me? It won't take long.' 'Sure,' Gabriel said. 'Marielle, Rov. . see you later?'

'This evening, maybe,' Marielle said. 'Here's my husband coming. Rov, talk to you later.' Gabriel and Enda went out. 'Gabriel,' Enda said quietly to him as they made their way up the street toward the port entrance, 'did you see where I was looking?'

He shook his head. 'It was behind me. I didn't want to stare. I thought you were looking at what I'd been looking at.'

'Perhaps. There was a woman sitting away at the back of the room, having chai or some such. I have seen her before.'

He gave her a look. 'Where?'

'In the port offices at Diamond Point. She was going in as I was coming out.'

'Interesting,' Gabriel said, 'because I saw someone here whomI saw back on Grith. Not at the back of the room. Over on the left side.'

'What a small universe it's becoming,' Enda said. 'Listen, Gabriel, we have more important business. After that talk with the owner of the provisioner's this morning, I would definitely bring in a load of foodstuffs when we come again. They have little here except pre-packs and staples of the most elementary kind. You would get very tired of starch noodles if you lived here long. I think we would get good results if we brought in some of the simpler dried and preserved fish and fungus packs, vegetable dumplings and so forth—'

Gabriel went along with this, and they were well into the virtues of a major dried soup brand native to Aegis, and discussing where in the ship they would stow it by the time they got up intoSunshine's lift. When they finally got inside, Gabriel laughed. 'You are incredible!' 'In what regard?'

'Your ability to talk about anything but what's on your mind.'

Enda gave him a dry look. 'I assure you, I am thinking about the soup as well. Wait a moment' She stepped over to the Grid access panel and touched it for local network access. 'Helm?' 'Wondered when you were going to call.'

'I did not want to wake you untimely. Would you and Delde Sota come over? There are some things I want to check in our mutual inventory before lunch.'

'Lunch,' said Helm, immediately interested. 'Be right over'.

Enda turned away. 'We may want an excuse to come back that does not involve data, if we are unable to pick up an outward data load or another Terivine-bound load from Grith. I am more interested in your sighting. Whom exactly did you see?'

'Like you, someone from Diamond Point,' Gabriel said. 'She was parked over in bond a couple of slots down fromLongshot. Little brunette woman, maybe about fifty kilos, short, with pale eyes.' 'Not dark ones?' Enda said.

'No. The eyes got my attention first. She was dressed as if she was from Austrin-Ontis — you know, those layered rigs with pockets all over them — not that that proves anything one way or the other. She was exchanging docs with a port official — I'm not sure whether she was coming or going at the time. She had a little all-purpose ship, a Westhame or something similar. Light haulage, possibly converted from a live-in ship.' He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to see the vessel in memory. 'Fairly new. I remember thinking a fair bit of money would have been tied up in that.'

'Indeed. Now both of these people are here. What would you say the odds are of this being an accident, Gabriel?'

'Hard to say. 'What a small universe it's becoming.'.

'Enda reached up and thumped Gabriel on top of his head. 'I will take the imitation as flattery, poor though it be. Now we face another question: which of these is the spy you have been expecting?' 'Both of them?' Gabriel said.

Enda gave him a thoughtful look. 'Well, why not? We know that the Concord has evinced interest in your movements… if only through your friend Lorand Kharls.' Gabriel snorted at the word 'friend.' 'Yes,' Enda continued, 'well, we know he has some interest in using you as a—'stalking horse,' your phrase was? Though from what you told me of your conversation with him, he was not forthcoming about what he was stalking.' Enda pulled down one of the chairs and sat in it. 'He could not come into this part of space without attracting considerable attention. So he has sent someone to keep an eye on you.' 'Seems likely. The question is, who's the other one?' They looked at each other. 'VoidCorp,' Gabriel said.

'You would not have many friends in that camp,' Enda said. 'Nor would I. Nor Helm, not after Thalaassa. Even Delde Sota might have crossed paths with them. She was cautious enough about the possibility that they were monitoring her medical facility back on Iphus.' She sighed. 'Now all we must do is discover which of these