The Reaches

He realized the statement wasn't true even as the words came out of his mouth. Things were worth what somebody was willing to pay for them. That was the first rule of business. Though. . Stephen wasn't sure that he, or Alexi, or even Piet had paid the prices they did for anything as abstract as 'Venus.'

'I was wondering,' Siddons Mostert said, pausing to clear his throat. 'I was wondering who Factor Ricimer thinks the governor should appoint commander of our fleet when Pleyal attacks. Eh, Gregg?'

'I think you ought to ask Piet about that, Mostert,' Stephen said. 'If you really think it's any of your business.'

He heard the edge in his voice. That shouldn't bother anyone who knew him, though it might worry the Mosterts. Friends knew that Stephen Gregg spoke in a musical lilt when he was determining who to kill first.

An electric-powered tractor, its transmission whining in compound low as it dragged three wagons filled with cannon shells, would pass close enough to brush the trio of men. Stephen walked forward, toward the warship looming in its cradle overhead. The legend inlaid in violet porcelain on her bow was GOVERNOR HALYS. There were at least six state or state-hired vessels named that or simply Halys, which would be at best confusing in the fleet actions everyone expected.

'Ah, it could be rather awkward, Gregg,' Siddons said. He stood looking up at the Governor Halys, his neck at the same angle as Stephen's. 'It's possible that the governor might feel that she had to appoint someone of a, an older factorial family to the position. Factor Ricimer might think his merits should overcome any question of his birth. Eh?'

'If the governor wants to know Piet's opinion. .' Stephen said. His words were ordered as precisely as cartridges in a repeater's magazine.'. . then she should ask him the next time he visits the mansion. I gather he's invited at least once a week when he's on Venus.'

'Yes, but-' Alexi said.

'Listen to me, Mostert,' Stephen interrupted. 'If you brought me here to ask what Piet's opinion on this thing or that thing might be, then I'm going to go off and get a drink and we can all stop wasting our time.'

Alexi Mostert turned sideways to face Stephen squarely. He crossed his hands behind his back and said, 'All right, Gregg. What's your opinion of someone other than Factor Ricimer being appointed Commander of the Fleet?'

Stephen looked at the burly older man. He'd known Alexi Mostert for more than a decade. Stephen had shipped out to the Reaches for the first time aboard a vessel of the Mostert Trading Company. Though acquaintances rather than friends, they'd been through harsh times together just as Alexi said, in battle and in its aftermath.

'This is official business, isn't it?' Stephen said. 'Somebody's afraid that I might kill anybody who was put in charge of the fleet over Piet's head? Yes?'

Behind him, Siddons Mostert choked. Alexi, standing with as much stiff dignity as his build and years allowed, said, 'Well, since the question's come up, Gregg-how would you answer it?'

Stephen stared at Mostert. The older man, though obviously frightened, met his gaze. On all Venus, there were only a few men-and one woman-who could have ordered the Mostert brothers to ask the question that Alexi had just put.

'Since I'm being consulted as an expert,' Stephen said in a cool, businesslike tone, 'let's consider the general situation first. The governor has to appoint someone whose ancestors were factors back to before the Collapse. Otherwise every gentleman in the fleet will be squabbling over precedence. We'll kill more of ourselves in duels than we will Feds in battle.'

Alexi let out a deep breath, nodding approvingly.

'I'm aware of that, and I'm sure Piet's aware of it,' Stephen continued. 'And I assure you, Piet wants Federation tyranny broken more than he wants honors for himself'-Stephen grinned coldly-'much though he wants honors for himself.'

'And has earned them, nobody more,' Siddons Mostert said effusively. 'I think there may have been concern that political necessities might have been viewed as an insult to Factor Ricimer, when nothing could be farther from the truth.'

A crane traveling in a trackway built into the dock's ceiling rumbled slowly past, carrying a tank of reaction mass. Drops of condensate fell from the outside of the tank like a linear rain shower. One of them plucked Stephen's right cuff.

'You asked me here to have this meeting,' Stephen said, looking up at the huge water tank, 'because of the armed guards, isn't that right? In case I flew hot and decided to kill you.'

'It was my idea,' Siddons admitted miserably. 'Alexi said it wouldn't make any difference if, if you. .'

Stephen laughed. 'Oh, that's true enough to take to the bank, yes,' he said.

Ten meters away, an officer in half armor looked bored. Two sailors chatted with their shotguns leaning against a pile of crates in a cargo net beside them. Stephen could have both guns before the guards realized he was taking them; though it would be much easier to grip a Mostert by the throat in either hand and batter their heads together until there was nothing left to break.

Stephen smiled.

'I've never been unwilling to do my duty to Venus and the governor, Gregg,' Alexi Mostert said, standing stiff again. For all the words were as pompous as the old spacer looked in his present pose, they were basically the truth. There'd never been a lack of folk on Venus willing to sacrifice themselves for a cause they thought worthy.

'For what it's worth,' Stephen said, nodding to Siddons, 'I've never killed anybody just because I was angry. I've killed them for less reason, killed them because they were available and I was putting the fear of God into my general surroundings at the time. But never because I was angry.'

'You've always been a loyal citizen of Venus, Mister Gregg,' Siddons Mostert said. 'Nobody doubts your patriotism.'

'I'm not a patriot, Mostert,' Stephen said. 'Sometimes I've been a friend, though. It can amount to the same thing.'

He bowed formally to the brothers. 'I'm going to get a drink, since I believe we've covered our business, yes?'

'Yes, that's right,' Alexi said. 'Ah-we're heading for dinner, Siddons and I. If you'd like to come. .'

Stephen shook his head, smiling. 'Just a drink,' he said. His expression shifted, though it would have been hard to say precisely which muscles tensed or slackened to make such a horrible change. 'You know,' he said, 'sometimes I think the only time I'm alive is when I'm killing somebody. Funny, isn't it?'

Siddons Mostert stood with a frozen smile. Alexi, very slowly, shook his head.

HELDENSBURG

July 4, Year 27

2306 hours, Venus time

The wind across the starport was gusty and strong, but it blew directly from Sal, leaning out of the cabin airlock, to the nearest of the forts. The flag of United Europe, sixteen stars on a green field, was only an occasional flap of bunting from behind the pole.

The fort and the three others like it on the margins of the field each had firing slits and a garrison of fifty or so human soldiers as well as heavy, ship-smashing plasma cannon. The troops looked bored as they watched starships from the walls of the position, but their personal weapons were always nearby.

Those were the sorts of details Sal had learned to consider since she started voyaging beyond Pluto.

'All right, lift her, but easy!' Tom Harrigan ordered.

Winches on the Gallant Sallie and the port operations lowboy took the first strain together. The ceramic turbine for a city-sized plasma power plant would have been a marginal load for either crane alone, especially at the full extension necessary to transfer it from hold to trailer. When the cables took the weight, the turbine skidded toward the hatchway. Brantling slowly let out slack while the Heldensburg operator reeled the load toward the lowboy at the same rate.

Wueppertal, the operations manager assigned to the Gallant Sallie, nodded approvingly from beside Harrigan. 'Wueppertal?' Sal called. 'What's the word on our return cargo?'

The Heldensburg official looked around and walked closer to the hatch. The turbine was balanced now.