The Reaches

'Cargoes are going begging,' Stephen explained. 'The Fed colonies don't make any complaint about trading with us no matter what Pleyal says back in Montreal. For a lot of them it's us or starve, and they know it. And I'm not talking short-term profits, either. The shippers who make contacts now will have a foundation to build on as the colonies grow.'

He leaned forward and stretched his hand across the desk. 'Piet,' he said, 'you and I started out to be traders. Pleyal's beaten. Come on into Blythe Spirits with us.'

Piet laughed brightly. Only someone who knew him very well would have heard the slight tension in the note. 'All right,' he said. He placed his hand over his friend's. 'How much would you like from me?'

'Not your money, Piet,' Stephen said. 'I want you, doing the same thing Sal's doing in Ishtar City. Picking captains who'll get so rich on quarter shares that they'll buy their own ships and make everybody-themselves and Venus and the colonies they serve-that much the richer. Equal partners, Piet. The three of us.'

Piet tilted back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. 'Fernando Comaguena, the Hidalgo of the Southern Cross-the pretender, Pleyal would say-is in Ishtar City now. There's some suggestion the governor might permit him to recruit help on Venus to regain his rightful position in Buenos Aires.'

He raised an eyebrow.

Stephen got up and stretched. 'Not for me, thank you, Piet,' he said. He smiled, wondering if the expression looked as sad as he felt. Though it wasn't a surprise. . 'The Federation's been beaten. Pleyal and his successors can never be a threat to Venus again. They'll never be able to dictate who goes to the stars.'

Piet lowered his hands slowly to the desk and stared at them. 'It's a little hard to be sure where to draw the line, Stephen,' he said.

'Then draw it here!' Stephen said with a passion that surprised them both. 'Piet, there'll never be perfect peace while there are men. But there can be peace for some men.'

Piet pushed his chair back and stood. 'Do you have peace, Stephen?' he asked softly.

'Sometimes,' Stephen said. He felt the corners of his mouth lift in a wan smile. 'More than I did. You know, sometimes I think that eventually I may be able to sleep a whole night through without, without. .'

Piet walked around the desk.

'Piet, I never knew how important it was to be needed,' Stephen whispered.

Piet took Stephen's hands in his. 'I need you, Stephen,' he said.

'You needed somebody like me, Piet,' Stephen said harshly. 'You don't need me if you're going to put the hidalgo back on his throne-if that's even possible.'

'I need a friend, Stephen,' Piet said simply.

'Then listen to me, Piet!' Stephen said. 'The best thing a friend can tell you is to get out now. Leave the wars to other people and invest in the stars instead. God knows they've cost us enough already, you and me.'

He put his arms around the smaller man. They hugged like lovers.

'God knows what they've cost,' one of the men repeated; but not even an observer in the room would have been sure who spoke.