Joat led the way up into Wyal" Wyal"s berth and spoke: "Knock, knock?"
"Who"s there?" The cybernetic voice sounded as if it would wince if it could.
"Jo."
"Jo who?"
"Jo"at the door."
Joseph did wince, in sympathy. "Among Simeons many crimes, not the least was teaching you his depraved sense of humor."
"Tell me the news from Bethel, tell me about Rachel," Joat said. She cycled the lock closed and stood while the sensor field swept them for unauthorized sticktights. "And tell me what"s wrong."
"Rachel is well, the children are well . . . and what should be wrong, my young friend?" The blue eyes blinked guilelessly at her.
"Joe, unlike Amos, you"re no great traveler. If you"ve left Bethel and Rachel and it wasn"t with Amos, there"s a reason. What is it?"
"All in good time," he said.
Joat smiled wryly, restraining an impulse to grind her teeth. From Joseph she could take the odd mystery.
"Joat, I am most impressed by the quality of this AI, but it is a machine, nothing more." He looked at her with a frown of worry. "You know the difference, between a person and a machine?"
Joat sipped her Arrack. The liquid slid down her throat like a living fire with velvet fur, leaving a ghost-taste of ripe dates.
"Joe, I"m a programming expert. If I don"t know the difference, who does? And if you say, Joat you are alone too much, Joat you are alone too much, I"ll punch you in the nose, I swear I will." I"ll punch you in the nose, I swear I will."
"I taught you better than that," he said, mock-offended.
"If you are naked and your feet are nailed to the floor, you may hit an enemy in the face with your fist. Short of that, use something more effective," Joat quoted in a sing-song voice. "I remember." Joat quoted in a sing-song voice. "I remember."
She leaned forward: "Look, if Simeon can turn his AI into his dog-to be precise, an Irish Setter-why can"t I go a step further and turn mine into a friend?" She lowered her voice confidentially. "We"re not romantically involved if that"s your worry."
He laughed and shook his head at her.
"You, little rebel, should be married, with a husband to fix your wayward thoughts upon. Look at how my Rachel has prospered by my side."
Joat pulled a judicious expression and nodded solemnly.
"You"re right, Joe, she"s quite a gal."
Yup, she"s not a demented, murderous, traitorous b.i.t.c.h any more.
Now she was Joseph"s executive a.s.sistant in the Bethelite Security Forces, handling the technical end of things. She also ran their rancho, a sun drenched spread at Twin Springs and was a devoted mother to their two children, Simeon Amos and Channa Joat.
"Marriage would make a new woman of you, you should try it. I know!" He flung his hands up as if struck by inspiration-but did not, she noted, spill a single drop of the Arrack.
"Marry me, Joat! Become my second wife and you can live on the rancho and ride to your hearts content. You can take care of the children. Think how restful your life would be! And I swear that I would be as faithful to you as to my beloved Rachel."
"Joe! How can you claim to be faithful to Rachel while you"re asking another woman to marry you?"
"Because I am am asking you to marry me. If I were asking you to be my mistress, asking you to marry me. If I were asking you to be my mistress, then then I would be unfaithful. There is a tremendous difference, you must agree." I would be unfaithful. There is a tremendous difference, you must agree."
Joat blinked. He was was joking-but to a Bethelite, that made perfect sense. There were times when she forgot Joseph was from the deep backwoods of the universe. joking-but to a Bethelite, that made perfect sense. There were times when she forgot Joseph was from the deep backwoods of the universe.
"Hunh! If I ever do hitch up with someone, I"m not gonna be anyone"s second anything." She took a sip of Arrack. "I want a virgin, myself."
A discreet cough from behind brought her to her feet, spuming around, knife in her hand again, ready for throwing.
Her eyes widened at the sight of Bros Sperin, arms crossed over his broad chest, leaning casually against the hatchway.
"How did you get in here?" Wait a minute. Not only was the hatch locked and dogged, but Rand should have warned me Wait a minute. Not only was the hatch locked and dogged, but Rand should have warned me-and the motion sensors should have gone off-and . . .
He shrugged.
"The lock was open, I knew you were expecting me, so I came in. Is that a problem?"
"It was not open. I do do take some rudimentary precautions." take some rudimentary precautions."
"It wasn"t locked down. Not," he added with an annoying smile, "locked down very securely, that is."
"Yes, it was," she said through clenched teeth.
He shrugged again, and spread his hands. He was was there. Joat felt an overwhelming urge to kick him. there. Joat felt an overwhelming urge to kick him.
"Joat," Joseph said before she could speak. "You asked me what had happened to bring me here. Now is the time to discuss the matter."
"Maybe I should make sure my hatch is locked," she said sullenly.
"No problem," Bros said, walking around her to swing his lean body into the pilot"s chair with authoritative ease. "I took care of it." It was the first time he"d gotten a spontaneous reaction from her and he was feeling a bit smug about it. Then he glanced at the Bethelite seated beside him and grew serious again. To Joseph he said, "You asked for my presence here, excellent sir. I"m most anxious to hear why."
Joseph took a deep breath; Joat saw that his fingers were white from the pressure of his clasp. Joe was not a man who put his feelings on display like this. Her irritation fell away-not forgotten, but filed.
"Our prophet, Amos ben Sierra Nueva, left Bethel ten days ago aboard a merchanter ship bound for the SSS-900-C. He did not arrive and the ship has not been heard from or found." Joseph rubbed his chin and looked at Bros. "I think you know why I asked to see you."
Joat shaped a silent whistle. No wonder wonder Joe had seemed tense under his usual banter. Joe had seemed tense under his usual banter.
Bros nodded. "The Kolnari," he said.
"You are CenSec"s resident expert on ... them. And this will be an offworld affair. We . . . I I am desperate for any help that you can offer. This is our prophet; and he is my brother-of-the-spirit, a bond closer than blood. They have taken him, I am sure. I must find him." am desperate for any help that you can offer. This is our prophet; and he is my brother-of-the-spirit, a bond closer than blood. They have taken him, I am sure. I must find him."
After a moment Bros leaned forward. "My superiors think I"m paranoid about the Kolnari. You understand me? They think that my information is unreliable, that every time a bandit hijacks a ship I see the Divine Seed. You take my advice, you"re taking the risk that evaluation will rub off on you."
Joseph gave a bitter laugh and shook his head.
"Your superiors have not met the Kolnari. I have. To be paranoid about them is to be sane. I will trust your advice, Bros Sperin, for I know these devils. Advise me."
Cautiously, as though probing an open wound, Bros said, "There will be no ransom demand."
"I know it. If they have him, they will not so easily release him."
"I was aware of the kidnapping before you asked to see me, excellent sir," Bros said. "Simeon and ChannaHap reported that he hadn"t arrived on the day he was overdue." Bros paused for a moment, gazing steadily at Joseph. "Just before I came over here a report reached me that the black box from the Sunwise Sunwise had been recovered from a field of s.p.a.ce debris. The box hasn"t been evaluated yet, but the ship that found it reported signs indicating that the engines blew." had been recovered from a field of s.p.a.ce debris. The box hasn"t been evaluated yet, but the ship that found it reported signs indicating that the engines blew."
"I have no doubt that they did," Joseph said quietly.
"But I"d be surprised if that"s all the box shows," Bros continued. "Even if there"s not a Kolnari in sight, I believe that the Benisur was taken off that vessel either by them or for them. No question."
"We are agreed then." Joseph said, studying this legendary stranger. "Can you offer any advice? Anything at all."
"I hope so, excellent sir." Sperin paused. "I"m ashamed to admit it," he continued, "but we haven"t caught up with all that many Kolnari since we routed them at the SSS-900-C and at Bethel. They went into hiding, and very effectively too. For quite a while we," he glanced at Joseph, "all of us, thought that perhaps Dr. Chaundra had wrought better than we had any right to hope and that they"d been exterminated by the disease he"d created.
"Then, gradually, but more and more over the last few years, pirate actions that fit the Kolnari m.o. began to crop up. Objects recorded as being taken in those specific raids suddenly were being offered for sale and we began to trace them back through a trail of legitimate dealers with flexible ethics to downright fences. Most of the time the trail led back to a Station called Rohan and a man named Nomik Ciety."
He turned to Joat. "This is where you come in," he said and smiled.
Oh really, she thought, she thought, gosh, wow, I feel so privileged. Get out of my chair, blast you! gosh, wow, I feel so privileged. Get out of my chair, blast you! She nodded instead of speaking. She nodded instead of speaking.
"Ciety is a notorious fence, a smuggler, a weapons broker. But we"ve never been able to touch him. Because Rohan, his base of operations, is a free-port, only nominally a.s.sociated with Central Worlds, we have neither jurisdiction nor power there. In other words, as long as he keeps his nose clean on Rohan and makes his tax payments on time he can do anything, and I mean anything, anything, that he wants to, there. that he wants to, there.
"We"ve sent people to Rohan to check him out, to look for Kolnari activity, to look for loot that we think the Kolnari might have taken. They"ve disappeared. Every one of them."
"And this is where I come in?" Joat asked, eyebrows raised.
Bros rubbed his hand across his upper lip.
"Exactly. I want you to go to Rohan and look around. I trust your capabilities and you"re not known to be connected with Central Worlds Security so you should be in minimal danger. I repeat, I want you to look. Don"t confront Ciety, don"t troll for loot, don"t try to find any Kolnari, just see what"s there. You"ve been around, you"ll know what to look for, what stories to listen to. If you see anything suspicious, that is, of a nature to help us with this problem, note it Do nothing else. Note it and get back to us."
"Sounds exciting." she said dryly.
Bros turned the pilot"s chair until he was facing Joseph.
"Excellent sir, this man Ciety is also an information broker. It is possible that, for the right price, he might be willing to supply you with information about this kidnapping. All that I can guarantee you about him is treachery, so if you do approach him, watch your back and don"t make payment final until you"re well away from Rohan. The man is completely mercenary and if he discovers who you are he would willingly sell you to the Kolnari. It would be wise to make your approach through a third party; the place is rife with professional go-betweens, so finding someone shouldn"t be a problem. Of course a major concern in that case would be that you"re so obviously a Bethelite that, knowing your desperation for any information, they might inflate their prices at the sight of you and give you next to nothing at all. Or they may decide to mention your curiosity to Ciety, or someone else you don"t want to take an interest in you.
"As Joat is already bound there . . ."
"I am?" Joat said in mock surprise and earned an arch look from the CenSec agent.
"I urge you, most strongly, excellent sir, to commission her to act for you while you stay clear of the place altogether." He looked over at Joat, his eyes narrowed. "Amending her mission to accommodate your needs might even improve her chances of finding out what CenSec wants to know. I think she"s both clever and discreet enough to be able to handle such a commission. And if she arranges it through a go-between, or better yet, through several of them she might succeed in remaining completely anonymous. That"s where I"d advise you to start. Joat can send your information back with her first report to CenSec and I"ll relay it to you."
"Are you aware that I"m in the same room room with you, Sperin?" Joat asked. with you, Sperin?" Joat asked.
Bros gave her an exasperated look, then turned to Joseph and spread his hands. "That"s all we can offer at the moment, excellent sir. I"m sorry." Bros dug into his pocket, pulled out a datahedron and handed it to Joat.
"This is Ciety"s dossier. Read it when you can concentrate on it because it will erase itself as it"s being read."
"Well that"s useful," Joat muttered.
"We don"t want him to know what we know about him, Joat. And since your security is barely worth mentioning you could hardly expect me to give you a permanent record." He stood. "Are there any questions?"
"Yup. One, when did I agree to do all this stuff? And two, how much are you offering to pay me for this?" Joat asked.
"Seventy-four hundred, plus reasonable expenses," Sperin said, ignoring her first question entirely.
"And to think I pa.s.sed up a career in CenSec," Joat murmured sarcastically.
"Seventy-four hundred is considerably more than my salary for this year," Bros said. "Don"t you want to help find the Benisur Amos? He is an old friend of your parents."
"You forgot to appeal to my patriotism," Joat said dryly.
"I may be a scoundrel, but I"m not down to my last resort quite yet."
"I was just hoping you could do a little better than that. After all, a trader who goes to Rohan is a little like a virgin taking tea in a wh.o.r.ehouse. It taints your reputation even if you haven"t done any business." She smiled sweetly at him. "Expenses to include all fuel and repairs."
And Flegal, but I am going to repair the d.i.c.kens out of this ship.
"All right," he said. "Point taken. On my authority, CenSec will pick up for any expenses and repairs this mission gives rise to." He held out his hand to her.
She raised her hand, but held it back.
"I wonder if you might be willing to offer some kind of a bonus, considering that this could could be a dangerous mission and that I am, after all, a civilian. Nothing outrageous," she a.s.sured him, holding up a denying hand. be a dangerous mission and that I am, after all, a civilian. Nothing outrageous," she a.s.sured him, holding up a denying hand.
"You might arrange some trading concessions, for example. There"s many a place I"d love to ship to but I can"t afford the docking fees. What do you say, Bros? Think we can work something out?"
Bros put his hands on his hips and studied her through narrowed eyes.
"Where did you have in mind?"
"Senalgal?"
"Get real, Captain."
"The SSS-900-C?"
He raised his brows. "I would have thought Simeon . . ."
"I like to earn my way," she said sharply.
He nodded slowly. "I can fix it."
Joat held out her hand and he shook it, surprised at the strength of her grip.
"You can contact me at The Anvil," he said, "my cover name is Clal va Riguez." He nodded to Joseph, gave a half smile to Joat and was gone.
Joat turned on a monitor and they watched Sperin leave the Wyal Wyal and walk away without a backward glance. and walk away without a backward glance.
"He told me he was known at The Anvil as Bros Sperin," she said resentfully.
"Wheels within wheels," Joseph murmured.