Hunting Party

Chapter Six

“Ah . . . Lady Cecelia?” The gray-haired man flicked a glance at the younger one that made him hand over his briefcomp and then leave.

“Yes, and you’re—?”

“Ser Granzia, and you’re quite right that we should not have sent a junior partner.” He offered his arm; she took it. “We should have known that you would not call in legal help for a minor problem, and the . . . individual who made that decision has been so informed.”

“Ah. I had wondered.” Cecelia let herself be guided into the front office of the refitters. A respectful secretary murmured that Mr. Desin and Chief Brynear were waiting for them in the conference room. Ser Granzia, it seemed, knew the way; his guidance was subtle but unmistakable. Cecelia noticed that the flat gray tweed carpet of the front office gave way to a flat utilitarian surface dully reflecting the overhead lights. On either side, small offices stood open, cluttered with terminals, parts, schematics. She didn’t recognize any of it. Around a corner, carpet reappeared, this time a rich green, much softer. Double doors at the end of the corridor led into a spacious conference room with a wide window to the same sort of view her hotel suite provided. Four people waited there, a tall man in conventional business attire, a shorter one in a rumpled coverall, a nondescript person no doubt representing law and order, and Captain Serrano. On the wide polished table that Cecelia recognized as brasilwood lay a small packet, something lumpy encased in a bag or sack.

“The owner, I presume?” said the tall man. “I’m Eniso Desin, madam. And this is Chief Brynear, the individual in charge of your refitting, and Mr. Files, the local investigator for CenCom.”

“Lady Cecelia de Marktos a Bellinveau,” said Ser Granzia. Cecelia had not heard herself introduced formally for some time; now she remembered why she disliked it so. It sounded silly. “Of the Aranlake Sept, fides de Barraclough.” It could also go on another five lines or so, if she didn’t stop him. The complete formality gave the genetic makeup, political affiliations, and social standing of the male and female lines for six generations . . . but was usually reserved for those assumed to be ignorant of it, and in need of awe.

“And yes, I’m the owner,” she said, when Granzia paused for breath.

“The ship’s registry,” Files said, “lists you as Lady Cecelia Marktos. I presume that’s equivalent?”

“Yes,” Cecelia said. “The registry doesn’t have room on the owner’s line for all of it. I asked, and they said it would be adequate.”

“And you are the same Lady Cecelia to whom the yacht designated SY-00021-38-HOX was originally registered?”

“Yes, of course I am.” Who else, her tone said.

His gaze flicked from her to Captain Serrano and back. “Then I regret to inform you that your vessel has apparently been involved in illegal activities of a criminal nature.” Cecelia wondered what illegal activities of a non-criminal nature would be, but didn’t ask. “How long has this . . . Captain Serrano . . . been your commanding officer?”

“Since I left the Court. I dismissed my former captain for incompetence and refusal to follow my orders, and Captain Serrano had just resigned from the Regular Space Service. She had signed with the employment agency I use and they recommended her highly.”

“And that agency is?”

“I don’t see what this has to do with anything,” Cecelia said, beginning to feel grumpy. Whatever was going on, she was sure Captain Serrano hadn’t been involved. The woman might be a stiff-necked military prig, but she wasn’t any kind of a criminal. “Perhaps you would be kind enough to explain just what sort of illegal activity you are talking about.”

“Do you know what that is?” Files pointed to the packet on the table.

“No.” She felt her brows rising, as much irritation as ignorance. She didn’t like people playing games with her. “I suppose you are going to explain?”

“In good time, madam. You’re sure you’ve never seen it before?”

“I told you—” she began in an exasperated voice; Ser Granzia intervened.

“Excuse me, but if you are contemplating criminal charges against Lady Cecelia, or her captain, you surely remember that you must inform them.”

“I know that,” Files said. “But if the lady had nothing to do with it, her answer might help—”

“I think she will answer no further questions until you have explained, to my satisfaction, what you think it is.” Ser Granzia’s voice, mellow and lush though it was, contained no hint of yielding.

“We believe it to be smuggled goods. It has not yet been subjected to forensic examination, but just glancing at it my guess is proprietary data.” From Files’s expression, he hoped she wouldn’t understand.

“You mean—trade secrets? Something an—an industrial spy might have made off with?”

“Possibly. Because proprietary data is secret—”

“Are secret,” Cecelia murmured. She might not know much about industry, but she knew data was a plural noun. Files grimaced.

“Whatever you say, madam. Are secret—anyway, theft is not reported. It may not be known. It’s not like jewels in a vault.”

“Could it be military?” That from Heris Serrano. Cecelia looked at her captain who looked back with dark, inscrutable eyes.

“Possibly,” Files said. “Forensics will tell us.” Clearly he had no intention of sharing his turf with anyone. “Then, if it is—”

“Fleet should know.” Not even a ridiculous purple uniform could make Heris Serrano look unimportant. Cecelia tried to imagine her former captain in the same garb, and realized that he’d have looked like a purple blimp straining at its tether. This woman, in his black, would have looked dangerous. “Fleet forensics could assist.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Files said. Ser Granzia stirred at Cecelia’s side; Files shot him a glance. “Did you have legal advice, Ser Granzia?”

“That if it is possibly a military secret, the captain is correct: some representative should be present when it is examined in any detail. Otherwise we may all find ourselves compromised. You remember, no doubt, the decision of Army versus Stillinbagh?”

“Very well.” Files looked angry. “I will inform the local military attaché.”

“Perhaps,” Ser Granzia said, “we could wait while you did so?”

Cecelia wondered if she was imagining the threat in his tone. Files flushed, asked for a comlink, and spoke into it. He set it back down with care, as if he really wanted to throw it through the wall, and said the attaché would be along shortly. Cecelia was in no mood to wait for more information. “Captain Serrano,” she began, bypassing Files, “can you tell me how this was found?”

Her captain smiled, as if glad to be asked the question. “Yes—you remember that I authorized Velarsin and Co. to exchange all damaged units from the environmental system, rather than repairing them in place?”

“Of course,” Cecelia said.

“That was for reasons of both time and safety. You may recall that I also had Mr. Brynear document the condition of those components, to back up your damage claim on Diklos and Sons.” When Cecelia nodded, she went on. “Some components could be repaired, and we were to get a refund on those. In the process of examining the components removed, Mr. Brynear’s technicians found items secreted in several. Most suggestively, in the scrubber which we were going to examine when Iklind was killed because he didn’t have his suit on.”

Cecelia felt only confusion. “What does that have to do with it?” Before Serrano could answer, Cecelia realized. “Oh—he knew something was there? Something you’d find?”

“We can’t know, Lady Cecelia.” Heris glanced at Files, who clearly wished she wouldn’t explain more, but she went on. “There’s a chain of occurrences that makes me suspicious of Iklind and possibly others formerly or presently in the crew. The system flush and recharge that Diklos and Sons didn’t do. The curiously inefficient course your former captain set on the way to Court, which made you late. Iklind’s apparent haste to get to that scrubber before I did—at the cost of his own life.”

“You think he was smuggling something. Iklind and . . . and Captain Olin?” First came anger: how dare he? And then fear . . . how had she not known what was happening on her ship? How were the smuggled items transferred if they were? Would Olin have opened the ship to boarders?

“It’s possible, madam,” said Files, with a sharp glance at Heris. “Ship’s crews have been known to do so, without an owner’s knowledge. Of course, sometimes the owner is also involved.”

“Surely you jest.” That was all she could say. The impertinence of the man!

“Are you suggesting the Lady Cecelia was involved in any putative illegal act?” asked Ser Granzia. “Remember—”

“I remember the Sihil-Tomaso ruling, Ser Granzia,” said Files. “I made no accusation; I merely answered what seemed to be Lady Cecelia’s question.” His smile was more of a smirk, she decided. He went on. “Now: procedurally, we must impound the evidence, which includes the location in which it was found; I’m afraid your ship is that location—” Cecelia could hardly believe her ears. Was everything against her?

“Not so, Mr. Files.” Her captain’s crisp voice interrupted Files. “The scrubbers were not in the ship when the items were found. They had already been removed. All environmental system components are dockside; what’s in the Sweet Delight is new and empty.”

“But that’s where they were,” Files said. “On that ship with the contraband in them. There may be more, hidden somewhere else. It doesn’t matter where the scrubbers were when the evidence was actually found—”

“On the contrary.” Ser Granzia’s honey-smooth voice had an edge to it now. “According to the rules of evidence in a list of rulings going back to Essex versus Jovian Mining Ltd., impoundment of the container does not include impoundment of the vessel in which that container was transported, if the discovery occurred while the container was not aboard.”

“But we know the contraband was aboard,” Files said, more loudly.

“But it doesn’t matter, Mr. Files.” Ser Granzia did not raise his voice, but Cecelia saw the other man wilt. “The rulings are all clear, and all in favor of my client. I will be glad to get a local ruling, of course, but I’m sure it will uphold my client’s position. Now—shall we contact Fleet? I believe it is better for us to do this together.”

Files looked angry, but nodded; Ser Granzia turned to Eniso Desin, the senior partner of Velarsin and Co. “May we use your equipment?”

“Of course, Ser Granzia. But I am afraid that we cannot give Lady Cecelia full credit for the reparable elements of the system until they are released from official custody. . . . I am sorry, but—”

“I quite understand,” Ser Granzia said. “Indeed, it would be unfair, and my client will be satisfied if you keep account of what was impounded; if it should be released, and still worth repair, perhaps you will bid on it?”

“Oh, certainly,” Desin said. “Mr. Brynear assures me that at least sixty percent of the components would be worth working on.”

“Excellent.” Cecelia wondered if she, too, should say something, but Ser Granzia rolled on. “Now—it seems to me, Mr. Files, that the discovery of items secreted in the scrubber suggests a motive for Iklind to attempt removal at risk of his life. In fact, it strongly suggests his complicity in some illegal activity, and Captain Serrano’s innocence. I would suggest that a search warrant, limited to Iklind’s personal items and storage spaces, might prove fruitful.”

“But—!” Cecelia got that much out before his hand clamped on her wrist.

“It need not,” he went on, “inconvenience Lady Cecelia or interfere with her schedule, provided that you act in a timely manner.”

“Right.” Files seemed sapped of energy. Cecelia wondered if Ser Granzia’s voice had a hypnotic overlay. “I’ll—get that done as soon as we’ve contacted the military.”

Before she knew how it happened, Cecelia found herself sitting across a table from Heris Serrano in Desin’s private office, with a tray of hot pastries and a variety of drinks before her. Ser Granzia was still in conference with Mr. Files and Desin; Desin’s assistant had brought the refreshments and now left them alone. Cecelia watched her captain pour herself a cup of something hot from a fluted pot. The woman had a quality Cecelia had not yet defined, but found attractive. She never fidgeted, never seemed divided against herself. Yet she did not seem insensitive . . . someone who had read and enjoyed Siilvaas could not be insensitive.

“You may win our wager, milady,” she said now. She offered the steaming cup to Cecelia, who shook her head. She wanted something cold, and chose a bottle of fruit juice from an ice bucket.

“Circumstances have changed,” Cecelia said. “Perhaps I should withdraw?”

“No—a wager’s a wager.” Serrano’s short black hair actually moved when she shook her head; Cecelia had begun to wonder if it was a wig. “I shall look forward to my lessons on your mechanical horse.” She had an engaging grin, Cecelia decided, which made her look years younger.

“Ummm. I still think the interruption of officialdom makes it unfair: suppose I exchange honors and let you teach me more about my ship? I’m now convinced my own ignorance is both inconvenient and culpable.”

The dark eyes measured her; Cecelia felt suddenly as if she had become a novice rider, facing a stern judge in her first event. Why had a woman with such a gift of command given up her commission? Cecelia could not believe it was anything dishonorable . . . not with those eyes. A mistake? A quarrel? She had not seemed quarrelsome so far, even when confronted with Ronnie’s rudeness.

“If it is your pleasure,” Serrano said. “Then I will be very glad to show you over your ship. But I cannot consider it as your obligation under our wager unless I actually win . . . and despite the best your legal firm can do, I expect we will be late leaving.”

Cecelia snorted. “I’m beginning to think this year’s season is jinxed. Here I was invited for the opening day—planned to be early for once, planned to attend the first ball, even. Then Olin got me to Court late, and I had young Ronnie foisted on me, and now this. If I’m not careful I’ll break a leg or something and miss hunting altogether.”

“How long does it last? If it’s more than a few days, we should be there for some of it.”

The ignorance surprised her again, but she reminded herself that even among her class, not everyone knew much about fox hunting. “The season is just that,” she said gently. “A whole season—in this case, a planetary quartile. Ideally, fox hunting is done when it is cool enough so that the horses don’t overheat in the long chase, damp enough for hounds to pick up the scent.”

“Then—”

“Oh, we’ll arrive before it’s over, if something else doesn’t happen. But it’s the opening—the first day—that excitement—” Cecelia stared out the window at the view without seeing it. “You can’t understand; you haven’t been there. I love it anyway, wet days and dry; I’m one of the last to leave. It’s just different, that’s all.”

“Did you ever do any sailing?” Serrano asked.

“Sailing? You mean on water?” When Serrano nodded, Cecelia went on. “Yes, a little. Bunny has lodges on island groups; I remember sailing little boats, hardly more than floatboards, one afternoon. Why?”

“Because what you describe for hunting reminds me of racing season at my grandparents’ place on Lowein. There again there’s a season, a weather pattern, that fits the sport, and on the first day all the boats, from the little sailboards up to square-riggers, parade along the coast. Everyone wants to be there.”

Cecelia recognized the note of longing. “Did you race sailboats?”

Serrano smiled. “A cousin and I did, before we went in the Academy—it was a Rix-class, which wouldn’t mean anything to you, any more than horse terms do to me. And I crewed on a larger yacht one summer.”

“And will you do that when you retire? Go back there and sail?”

Serrano’s face seemed to close into an impenetrable shell. “No, milady. Lowein is where Fleet officers retire. . . . I wouldn’t fit in there, and I’ve no desire to embarrass my family.”

“I hardly think you’d embarrass anyone,” Cecelia said. “Is it such a disgrace to captain my yacht?” She was surprised herself at how angry she felt at that thought.

“No—not at all.” The voice carried no conviction, though. “Nothing to do with that—this—at all.” Serrano managed a forced smile. “Never mind—my retirement plans are far away, and we have a present problem: how to get you to your hunt on time. I’ll check with Sirkin, and see if we can’t cut some corners.”

“With your concern for my safety?” That was meant as a joke, but came out sharper than she had intended.

“Yes—with due concern for your safety.” Serrano was serious again. “There’s another matter, milady. It’s about your crew.”

“What—do you think they’re all smugglers?” Again, a lightness she couldn’t sustain. Cecelia shook her head. “I’m sorry: I am trying to be funny and it’s not working.”

“No wonder,” Serrano said. “You have had your schedule disrupted; you have lost a crewman through a dangerous accident; you have nearly been accused of smuggling; and you had to spend several days of uncomfortable travel under emergency restrictions. Frankly, I think you’re holding up surprisingly well.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Nonetheless, I must bother you about the crew.” Serrano paused to sip from her cup and take a bite of pastry. Cecelia noticed again the dark smudges under her eyes—had she slept enough? Or was it worry? She picked up a pastry herself, and tried it. Leathery, compared to those her own cook turned out. “You hired your crew from one employment agency,” Serrano said. “Who recommended that agency to you?”

“I hired you from the same agency,” Cecelia said. “What difference does that make?”

“It’s a bit of embarrassment, but . . . they don’t send you their best. They admitted that to me, when I asked them to forward some information on the crew.”

“But—but I’m a Bellinveau!” Cecelia’s voice rose. “Surely they wouldn’t—”

“What they said,” Serrano broke in, “was that you did not need the level of expertise that a large ship did. Their top people go to big shipping and passenger lines, where they have a chance to move up—”

“I pay very high salaries,” Cecelia said. “That ought to mean something, if my name doesn’t.” She didn’t like being interrupted, and she didn’t like the implication that her ship was unimportant compared to a commercial liner.

“It means you get greedy incompetents.” Serrano stared her down; Cecelia felt again the power of that dark gaze. Then her face relaxed and she grinned. “Except me, of course. I wasn’t so much greedy as desperate to get a civilian job. But they did not recommend me for a commercial ship because of my background—the big corporations like to train their own people their own way, and find a military background a hindrance. You’ve got a very good navigator in Sirkin—she topped her exams, and I’m very satisfied with her work.” Cecelia had the feeling that “very satisfied” from Captain Serrano would have been a dozen flowery adjectives from someone else. “But the others, milady, looked on your yacht as a cushy berth where they would be well paid for doing little, and your previous captains seem to have concurred.”

“But everything seemed to run smoothly,” Cecelia said, trying to remember if she’d ever noticed anything. Not really. As long as she arrived where she wanted to, when she wanted to, she had assumed the ship was fine. It certainly cost enough. “And I had the regular maintenance and inspections—I don’t know what more I could have done.” Even as she said it, she realized how she’d feel if someone said that about a stable in which they boarded their horses. She had had contempt for owners who didn’t know, who didn’t seem to care, about the details of stable management. Apparently she had made the same error with her own ship.

Serrano did not seem surprised, but didn’t dwell on the point. “You paid for them, you mean. You had to trust your crew, because you didn’t know yourself what to look for. And I think that for some years you had honest, if less than superb, crew members who did their duties fairly well. A good captain would have been enough, to provide the initiative and discipline for crew who were competent but uninspired. But in Massimir Olin, you did not have a good captain. I don’t know with any certainty, but I suspect that he was looking for exactly such a ship, a small but fast vessel belonging to someone with no knowledge of ships or space, a vessel whose owner might be expected to visit places closed to commercial trade. You let him choose replacement crew, of course, and when old Titinka had that heart attack, he hired Iklind—from the same agency as the rest.”

“But it’s quite reputable,” Cecelia said. Her mind whirled. She had never thought of herself—independent to the point of eccentricity and with no romantic susceptibilities—as anyone’s natural prey. The image of herself as a fat sheep which a wolf might stalk seemed both ridiculous and disgusting. “It’s the top agency in its field.” Implicit in that was the assumption that no Bellinveau would use less.

“It is reputable,” said Serrano. “But no agency is immune from penetration. Where there is blood, the blood-suckers gather: where there is wealth . . .”

“I know the saying,” Cecelia said. “But I never expected it to apply to me—I’m old, unattached and intend to remain that way, my money will revert to the family when I die—”

“You are free transportation for your crew,” Serrano said. “You pay well enough that they know you must have more—you have everything done by top firms. But I think for Olin it was the places you could go without comment—the places he wanted to go, which you could take him to.”

Cecelia thought about that, and set it aside. What Olin’s motives had been did not concern her now. “You had a point to make about the crew?” she asked. Serrano’s twinkle rewarded her for coming back to that point.

“Yes, I did. I had intended to suggest some replacements of the least effective after your season of hunting; considering what’s happened, I think you have both cause and justification for making some changes now. Assuming you don’t want to start with me.”

“Don’t be silly!” Cecelia said. “I don’t blame you for any of this.”

Serrano shrugged. “You might well have. Good captains don’t let such accidents happen. Anyway, you need a replacement for Iklind. I’m seriously concerned about the entire environmental department, and would suggest you also drop the new juniors, retaining only the survivor of the accident. Mr. Gavin I believe to be honest, though totally devoid of initiative, and I think he can be salvaged by some good training. Your pilot . . . actually, besides his manner, I have no complaint of his performance. But he strongly defended Olin’s choice of course, in the face of a possible course that would have had you on your schedule. I suspect his complicity. We could do without a pilot, I am licensed for that duty, a separate qualification, and the expense of this refitting would explain your dropping him entirely.”

“But can we find good crew out here?” Cecelia asked.

“Yes—in fact I’ve asked Mr. Brynear about that already. As this is a major repair facility, there are always crews coming through. Someone is sick, and stays behind; someone is unhappy and jumps ship—not that we want that sort. Velarsin and Co., and other firms, hire these temporaries, and their work records here give us something to go on. Also there are people who start in refitting who want to work aboard a ship; if they’ve taken their exams, and we interview their supervisors, we can find some good ones. But it’s up to you, milady.”

Exactly what she didn’t want, on her ship. She wanted it to function perfectly without her having to make any decisions at all. Just transportation . . . but of course, there were people who looked at horses as just transportation, and she knew what she thought of them. “I’ve always left it up to my captains,” Cecelia said slowly. “Are you asking me to interview with you, or—”

“If you wish; it might be helpful to you to understand what I would look for in applicants. But what I meant is that I would not dismiss your employees without gross negligence on their part. You had some input, I assume, in the size of crew when you started out?”

“Well . . . to be honest . . . I took the advice of the employment agency even then. Told them what I had bought, and asked them to arrange a crew.” She could see by her captain’s expression that this was not the right thing to have done. She shook her head. “I was a fool, wasn’t I? Just like people I’ve known who’ve gone broke with racing stables. It just never occurred to me that the same things could happen here, in a simple little yacht.” Serrano’s expression did not change, but her eyes softened.

“You had other things to think about, I’m sure. Why don’t you come along to some of the interviews, at least, and begin to pick up some of the terms? It will impress applicants, and it won’t bother me.”

“Fine. I will.” She would learn every screw and bolt on her ship, the way she had once learned the anatomy of horses and every piece of leather and metal on her tack. How could she have left herself unguarded like this?

“And don’t be hard on yourself,” Serrano said. Cecelia blinked. Was the woman a mind reader as well? “Remember, I still don’t know anything about horses.”

“Welcome aboard, milady,” Heris said. Eight hours late, they would be, undocking, but she felt happy anyway. Better a good job than a fast sloppy one. She had inspected the replacements with Mr. Brynear six hours before, and knew the new system was up to spec. Her new environmental team knew what they were doing, and Timmons was rapidly learning; he wanted to keep his job. The disgruntled pilot had complained bitterly about being dumped in the middle of nowhere; Lady Cecelia had finally paid his passage to one of the inner worlds of the system, even though her legal advisor said it wasn’t necessary. Lady Cecelia had told her gleefully about the stormy battle going on between Diklos & Sons, the insurance company, and her lawyers; she thought she would get her money back, at the least, and she had convinced the union that Iklind’s death was probably due to the bad work done by Diklos . . . so now Diklos had the union on their backs as well. Lady Cecelia’s staff had boarded an hour ago. Heris had given Bates the staff emergency directives, and he’d taken them without comment . . . They would soon begin emergency drills, proper drills, and this would be a proper ship.

“Thank you, Captain Serrano.” Lady Cecelia and her maid came aboard serenely, as if nothing had happened; Heris saw her eyes flicker at the change in uniform. Heris had squeezed in a visit to a good tailor, and while it was still purple, it lacked the scarlet, teal, and cream trim and about half its gold braid. The docking access tube still had a thick carpet, but the walls were properly bare for inspection, conduits and tubing color-coded in accordance with Transportation Department directives.

Behind Lady Cecelia, her nephew and his friends straggled in. Heris watched them with contempt behind her motionless features. Rich, spoiled brats, she thought. A waste of talent, if they have any; a waste of the genetic material and wealth it took to rear them this far. She gave a crisp “Welcome aboard,” and then walked past them out the tube to the dockside. Bates was waiting in the passage to see to anything more they needed. She would have avoided the greeting altogether except that she wanted to say a last few words to Brynear.

“I hear you had a wager with your owner,” he said, grinning at her. “She making you pay up?”

“She’d have let me off, considering the circumstances,” Heris said, grinning back. She liked his sort of toughness, his competence. He reminded her of the best she’d known, a memory she didn’t want right now. She pushed it out of her mind. “But the forfeit’s to learn more about what fascinates her—horses, of all things!—and if I’m to be a good captain for her, I need to understand her.”

“If it weren’t rude and nosy, I’d ask you a question,” Brynear said.

“It is, and I won’t answer it,” Heris said, with an edge. Then she softened. “I know what you’d ask, and I’m not ready to talk about it. Just wanted to thank you for a good job done well in a hurry. I’m glad we were able to argue our way past your schedule—and sorry to disrupt it.”

“You can disrupt my schedule anytime,” Brynear said. “As I would have made clear, if you weren’t leaving so soon.”

“You can repair my ship anytime,” Heris said, smiling. He was attractive, but not that attractive. Yet. The other memories were still too clear. “As I did make clear—but I wish we didn’t have to leave now. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Captain.” He threw her a civilian’s version of a salute and turned away. Heris went back to the ship and thoroughly enjoyed showing her crew that she was as good as the former pilot at undock and tug maneuvers.

“You shouldn’t have insulted the captain to her face,” Raffa said severely. They were two days out of refitting, two days of cool courtesy between Cecelia and the young people. Ronnie pouted, but she did not relent. “Don’t put out your lip at me,” she said. “It was wrong, and you know it.”

“I didn’t know she was there. I didn’t know Aunt Cecelia had approved it. It’s too bad, really. I never asked to come along on this ridiculous cruise; it was all my mother’s idea.”

“You’d rather be supervising a loading team at Scavell or Xingsan?” asked Buttons. “Come on, now, Ronnie . . . this isn’t bad. I admit, I wasn’t planning to be home for the season this year—no more than Bubbles—but it’s not as if visiting my father were a hardship.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Ronnie said. He looked around for sympathy, and found expressions that told him he was boring, and boring was one thing they would not accept.

“Why don’t we swim?” asked Bubbles. “Now that we can use the pool again, a nice swim would be fun.” She stretched her long, elegant arms, and wriggled in a way that suggested something other than swimming.

The others agreed; Ronnie knew he should swallow his sulks and go with them, but the sulks were too embedded. “Go ahead,” he said, when they turned to look back at him. “I’m going to try Beggarman one more time.” That was the computer game they’d been playing until it palled . . . and Ronnie never had gotten above the eighth level.

He had no real intention of playing Beggarman. . . . He wanted to regain the ground he felt he’d lost with the captain. A private apology should do it; he had charmed his way past fiercer dragons than this. No woman of her age could be immune to boyish charm. He showered, put on a fresh jumpsuit, and looked at himself in the mirror. He slicked his hair: innocence? No. It looked as if he were trying for innocence. He tousled it: mischievous waif? Yes. That should do it. He waited until the others had logged into the pool enclosure. Then he strolled down the curving passage, slipped through the hatch between crew and staff areas, and found his way to the bridge. It wasn’t that hard; he had memorized the ship plan on his deskcomp.

The bridge did not meet his expectations. He had envisioned something like the bridge of the training cruiser. . . . Aside from that, and the small craft he’d piloted, he’d never been aboard a ship. He stared at the small room crowded with screens and control boards, the watch seats crammed in side by side, the command bench hardly an arm’s length from any of them. Something was going on. . . . He sensed the tension, heard it in the low voices that reported values he did not understand. He had expected to find silence, even boredom; he had expected to be a welcome break in a monotonous shift. But no one seemed to notice him. Captain Serrano uttered a series of numbers as if they were important. . . . But how could they be, out here in the middle of nowhere? It must be one of her stupid drills or something.

With all the confidence of youth and privilege, Ronnie strolled into the crowded space.

“Excuse me, but when you’ve got a moment, Captain, I’d like to speak to you.” He spoke with the forthright but courteous tone of someone with a perfect right to be where he was, doing what he was. He expected a prompt response.

He did not expect the smart crack of an open hand across his face; it sent him reeling into the back of someone’s chair. He grabbed for a support, and found a handy rail along the bulkhead. His cheek hurt; his mouth burned. Anger raged along his bones, but he was still too shocked to move. Serrano’s voice continued, low and even, with one number after another. Someone repeated them, and he saw hands flicker across control boards. Just as he got his breath back, he felt the gut-deep wrench he knew from his one training voyage: the yacht was flicking in and out of a series of jump points.

Anger drained away; fear flooded him now. Jump transitions . . . they’d been near jump transitions, and if he’d interfered they might all have been killed. The quick remorse he was never too proud to feel swept over him. He gulped back the apology he wanted to make—he should wait, he should be sure it was safe.

Then Captain Serrano turned to him, anger on her dark face. “Don’t you ever come on my bridge again, mister,” she said. Ronnie’s eyes slid around the room; no one looked at him. “Go on—get out.”

“But I—I came to say something.”

“I don’t want to hear it. Get off the bridge.”

“But I want to apologize—”

She took a step toward him and he realized that he was afraid of her—afraid of a woman a head shorter—in a way he had not feared anyone since childhood. She took another step, and his hand fell away from the rail; he backed up. “You can apologize to my crew for nearly getting us all killed,” she said. “And then you can go away and not come back.”

“I’m—I’m sorry,” said Ronnie, with a gulp. It was not working the way he’d planned. “I—I really am.” She came yet another step closer, and he backed up; she reached out and he flinched . . . but she touched a button on the bulkhead, and a hatch slid closed four inches from his nose. BRIDGE ACCESS: PRESS FOR PERMISSION appeared on a lightboard above it. Ronnie stood there long enough to realize that his cheek still hurt, and she wasn’t going to let him back in. Then he got really angry.

“It wasn’t my fault,” he told George later. No one else had seemed to notice, but George had asked about the mark on his face. “I mean, it was, in a way, but I didn’t mean to interrupt during a jump transition. She didn’t have to take it that way. Damned military arrogance. She hit me—the owner’s family—all she had to do was explain. Just you wait—I’ll get even with her.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” But George’s eyes had lit up. He loved intrigue, especially vengeance. George had engineered some of their best escapades in school, including the ripely dead rat appearing on the service platter at a banquet for school governors.

“Of course,” Ronnie said. “She has other duties; we have nothing to do between here and Bunny’s place but get bored and crabby with each other.” He felt much better, now that he’d decided. “First thing is, we’ll get into the computer and find out more about her.”

“You could always give a little kick to one of her drills,” George said.

“Exactly.” Ronnie grinned. Much better. A good attack beats defense every time; he’d read that someplace.