“This is the shop.” Clark waved at a low building that looked just like the others circling the muddy landing field.
“The sign is green. Everything is color coded.”
Jasyn squelched through a puddle. “I hope it doesn’t have a mud floor.”
Clark opened the door for her. The floor inside was bare plascrete, but it was drier than outside. They both entered, leaving muddy footprints near the door.
“Help you I may?” A short man hurried up to them. “Credit chip, please?”
Jasyn handed him the allowance chip.
The man slid it into a reader. His wide eyes blinked, twice. “All purchases are for personal use only. You are not authorized to trade in Dru’Ott goods. Please select from catalog. Credit amount listed at top of screen.” He tapped a kiosk screen.
Jasyn scrolled through the first few pages of the catalog. “They have everything here, except food.” She tapped through several pages at random. “Nothing we really need.”
“So, have some fun,” Clark suggested. “Buy whatever catches your fancy. The credit isn’t any good anywhere else.”
Jasyn frowned. “So, no profit this trip. Personal goods won’t fill our account.”
“Refueling and servicing the ship are paid for. The total is what you have left.” Clark leaned against the kiosk.
“That much?” She perched on a stool in front of the screen. “Then I’m going to have fun. What size are you?”
“What?”
“Dace is right. If you’re flying with us, you should be wearing something other than gray. How do I get this to match colors?”
The short man showed Jasyn how to use the ordering system.
Clark wandered to the far end of the room. Wide windows allowed a view of the grubs on the other side. Workers crawled over the larvae, cleaning and tending them. Human workers walked between the cases holding the pillow size creatures. He watched the process, one ear cocked to hear anything Jasyn might say.
So far, the job hadn’t been hard. Dace and Jasyn were easy to be around and easy to influence. All he’d had to do was suggest Shamustel and Dace had agreed. Maybe it was too easy. He hadn’t seen any signs of a threat, but Viya Station was dominated by Patrol and Dru’Ott was not welcoming to any kind of criminal element. Dru’Ott wasn’t welcoming to anyone not part of its weird ecology. Dace should be safe enough at the ship by herself.
“You’re kidding.”
He turned at Jasyn’s exclamation. She smiled as she tapped the screen. Clark loved the way her eyes crinkled. Jasyn was beautiful, but she was also off limits. As much as Jasyn intrigued him, she was part of his assignment. She looked up from the screen. Clark pretended he’d been watching the grubs the whole time.
“You have to see this, Clark. Imitation partha silk that looks just like the real thing.” She waved him over. “What colors do you think I should get for Dace?”
He looked at the image of the gossamer dress on the screen. Reds, oranges, and golds swirled in a fiery dance of fabric. “Dace wouldn’t wear that.”
“Oh, yes, she will. How much do you want to bet I can get her to wear that dress?”
“That one? The colors would suit her.”
“Twenty credits says I can get her to wear it.”
Clark scratched his ear. “I’ll give you two weeks to get her to wear that somewhere off the ship.”
“Three weeks. There’s nowhere to wear it here.”
“Shamustel has some nice restaurants and clubs.”
She gave him a searching look, flirting through her long lashes. “You’ve been there before?”
“A few times.” Clark shrugged, looking studiously at the screen, ignoring the way her smoldering look made his heart beat faster. Jasyn was definitely off limits.
Jasyn tapped the screen, adding Dace’s size to the dress order. “I’ve bought everything I can think of and we still have close to a hundred credits left on the account.”
“You could save it for another time.”
Jasyn shook her head. Her dark hair slid like silk over her shoulders. “Dace wants to move on to a different sector. And there isn’t much profit in shipping with Dru’Ott, not unless we could get a license to sell their goods, but it’s not worth the cost for just our ship.”
“It’s probably safer.”
“What do you mean?”
Oops. He had to watch his words. “Just that I heard rumors the Targon Syndicate had a price on Dace’s head. Targon doesn’t reach into Cygnus Sector.”
“How do you know that? Are you an expert on crime syndicate territories? Or are you a bounty hunter just waiting for your opportunity?” Her flirtatious look hardened into something cold and dangerous.
Lowell had warned him Dace could be dangerous to handle. Lowell hadn’t said anything about Jasyn. Clark was walking in a minefield with her. “I’m a pilot, hired to help you fly your ship. Speaking of which, Dace only negotiated terms for the flight here. Are you going to leave me here?”
Jasyn turned back to the screen, tapping a random catalog page. “Where would we find a replacement here? We can talk payment terms later. Although you might find yourself unemployed when we get to Shamustel. She thinks you’re Patrol.”
He shrugged. “I went to the Academy. But I’m not Patrol.”
“Then how do you know so much about Targon Syndicate?”
“Dace had a friend in security on Viya Station who passed on a warning when he heard what ship hired me.”
“Dace had a friend in station security? You have to be telling the truth. Because as a lie, no one who knew Dace would believe that one.”
“She believed me when I told her.”
“She knew Targon had a price on her head and she didn’t say a word to me?” Jasyn drummed her fingers on the edge of the kiosk. “I knew she was holding something back. She’s got more secrets than a drufigger has tentacles. That looks interesting.” She tapped the screen.
Clark leaned over her stool. Her scent of flowers and honey was very distracting. He made himself focus on the item she’d selected. “Yulan Crystals? Do you know how to play?”
“I’ve never heard of the game. It says for two to six players.”
“It’s a strategy game. I haven’t played in years.”
“Then we’ll buy the set. I’m getting tired of Comets.” She clicked a few more links. “A lute?”
“You should get that for Dace. It’s a hobby,” he added when she looked at him. “Playing a musical instrument can be very relaxing. You said yourself that she’s too tense. Too many nightmares. That might help.”
Jasyn turned back to the screen. “They include a tutorial download. Click here for a sample.” The room filled with the delicate strains of a lute. “Very pretty. And we still have thirty seven credits left. What would you like besides the clothes we already ordered?”
“I’ll let you have fun, Jasyn. I should help with the cargo.” He’d been gone almost too long. His mission was to watch Dace, not Jasyn. Although if he had his choice, it wouldn’t be hard to watch Jasyn. Dru’Ott should be safe, but he should check on Dace just the same.
“Trying to ditch me, Clark?”
“I’m not big on shopping, that’s all.”
“Mm hm.” She tapped her screen. “You offered to come.”
“Because I didn’t want to stand around in the mud.”
“No, you left Dace doing that.”
“So did you.”
Jasyn grinned. “She hates shopping more than you seem to. Go on. She’ll probably tell you to cook dinner or scrub filters instead.”
“As long as she doesn’t insist on cooking. Let me know when the order is ready and I’ll help carry it to the ship.”
Jasyn nodded, already scrolling to another section of the catalog.
Clark walked to the door. Daylight had faded outside. Rain fell in a thin drizzle. He hesitated, his hand on the door. He glanced back at Jasyn. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger while she browsed. He could imagine what that strand of hair would feel like in his hands. It was dangerous to imagine such things. He pushed the door open and walked out into the muddy evening, disgusted with himself. How could he get involved, especially with a merchant crew? His father would never accept it if Clark gave up his career in the Patrol. Why was he even considering such a move? He was there to watch Dace for a few months at the most. Then, he’d move on to another assignment and never see either of them again.
Why did that thought make him sad? He squished through a puddle on his way back to the Phoenix Rising.
* * *
I yawned as I watched the cargo haulers load my cargo bays. They didn’t seem to want to stop. I didn’t mind. The sooner we were loaded, the sooner we would be back in space on our way to somewhere new. Somewhere farther away from Targon. Somewhere my luck might change and I could just settle into a decent trade route.
And die of boredom. I leaned against the side of my ship, watching as they loaded crates into the bays.
My com buzzed. I pulled it from my pocket. Someone had pinged our ship, requesting the standard info packet—registry, names of crew, cargo specs, and a few other things. I frowned. It wouldn’t have been port authority, they pinged us as we entered the system and requested landing clearance. Any other planet and it wouldn’t be strange at all. It was normal business practice for a company looking for a shipping contract. But here everything was already contracted and negotiated by port authority.
I approached the nearest worker. “How much longer are you going to be?”
He blinked, slow and wide-eyed, like the lady in the port office. “Cargo to Shamustel will be loaded.”
I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him. I glanced inside the cargo bay. The workers knew what they were doing. They balanced the load as they went, strapping everything securely in place. They were just over halfway through loading the ship.
“Close the hatches when you finish, all right?”
The man blinked again. “Cargo to Shamustel will be loaded.”
“Fine. I’ll be back.” They didn’t need me to supervise them, not that I would have been able to change anything they did anyway.
I headed around the ship to the airlock, wiping mud off my feet as much as I could before crossing the lounge to the cockpit. I stopped in the doorway.
“Clark? When did you get back?”
He jumped, as if I’d caught him being sneaky, which I had. “Dinner is in the warmer. Jasyn was having so much fun shopping I left her to spend all the money. You don’t mind, do you?”
I folded my arms, fixing his too innocent look with my best glare. “Someone just pinged our ship. Any idea who or why?”
He turned his innocent look up a notch. “No idea, captain.”
I glared.
“Do you want me to find out?” He turned to the com station.
I watched while he typed the query into our computer system. What was he doing in the ship when he was supposed to be shopping with Jasyn? Passing messages, of course.
“How’s Lowell doing these days?” I asked. “That is what you’re doing in here by yourself, passing messages to him?”
He didn’t look up from the station. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain. It looks like the ship information was requested by someone using the planetary datanet. Anonymous request so I’m afraid I can’t get more than that.”
“Who do you really work for, Clark? It isn’t me, no matter what our contract may state. You’re here to spy on us. Why, I can’t even start to guess. As I’ve tried telling everyone who thinks otherwise, Jasyn and I are traders, nothing more.”
“With very overpowered engines and scanning equipment most Patrol ships don’t have. Who do you really work for, Dace?”
“Myself. What about the warning you passed on about Targon? Did you make that up?”
He shook his head. “Targon wants your head on a platter. They’re offering a reward of fifty thousand credits.”
“Are you a bounty hunter trying to cash in?”
“If I were, would I be sitting in your cockpit? I could have turned you in on Viya Station or suggested somewhere other than our current plan. Shamustel doesn’t tolerate organized crime.” He typed a string of code into the computer. “That should tell us who pinged the ship, since you’re so worried.”
“I’m not worried. I’m just being cautious.”
He swiveled his chair to study me while we waited for the computer to finish. He wasn’t the easy-going charmer he’d been playing for Jasyn. His eyes were hard and flat, unreadable. “Are you a smuggler, Dace? Is that why Targon wants you dead? They’re eliminating competition.”
“You guessed it. I’m a smuggler. I hide spare parts in my underwear drawer inside my socks.”
“And blasters in secret compartments.”
“Do I need to shoot you, Clark?”
He grinned. “Just pay me and I promise not to tell.”
“You’re resorting to blackmail. How much?”
“Percentage of profit is what you offered. This isn’t blackmail, Dace. I just like to know who and what I’m dealing with. Nice job keeping the blasters cleaned and charged.”
“I never know when I might need them.”
The computer beeped. Clark turned back to it. “I think you may need them sooner than you think. The ship that pinged us is rumored to work for a Targon subsidiary.”
I muttered curses as I pulled out my com. “Jasyn? How long before you’re back?”
“I’m just waiting for them to process the order,” she answered. “Maybe an hour at the most. Are we expecting trouble again, Dace?”
“I hope not. But, either way, we’re leaving as soon as the cargo is loaded.” I clicked the com off and slid it back into my pocket. “As soon as they’re done loading cargo, we’re doing pre-flight.”
Clark closed out his query.
“I’m not going to find any trace of that later, am I?”
“Not unless you’re better than I am, and you aren’t. At least not with data searches. Do you want me to help you with the cargo?”
“Tell me why you’re being so evasive, Clark.”
“And who I work for? I work for you, Dace. We have a signed contract. I’m your second pilot.”
“You didn’t list all your skills on your papers.”
“And you didn’t tell me you keep blasters on your ship. How much trouble do you get into?”
“More than I ever wanted to. I’m going to check the cargo now. Do I trust you in here by yourself?”
“Whatever you may believe, Dace, I’m not going to sell you out to Targon.”
“What about the Patrol?”
“What about them?” Clark pasted an innocent look on his face. He was stonewalling me. I wasn’t going to get him to admit anything he wasn’t going to admit anyway. He wasn’t going to sabotage the ship and he already had ample time to pass messages. If he was going to.
I shrugged. I may as well trust him. For now.
To my surprise, he followed me outside. I stood in the mud and drizzling rain watching the bug-eyed men load the last of the cargo. Clark stood next to me, hands shoved into his pockets as he stared at the mud wall and lumpy buildings beyond.
He took a deep breath of the muggy air. “This is why I chose to be a pilot. New worlds, new experiences. Why did you choose piloting?”
I cocked my head, thinking. “I enjoyed it and the tests said I’d be good at it.”
“Why fly a cargo ship, Dace? Patrol ships would be much more challenging.”
“And have someone telling me where to go? No thanks. I wanted my freedom.”
He squished a muddy spot on the ground. “What’s Jasyn’s story?”
“Why don’t you ask her?”
“She’s not here. You are.”
“It isn’t mine to tell, Clark.”
“Why choose her for your partner?”
“Because we both wanted the same thing. We get along. She’s a good navigator.” I wiped rain from my face with one hand. “And she doesn’t ask lots of questions.”
“Yes, she does. You’re just avoiding answering mine.”
“Why do you want to know, Clark?”
“Idle curiosity.”
I caught sight of Jasyn across the field. She waved one arm. Her other arm was loaded with packages. An automated hauler trundled after her, stacked with boxes.
“What did she buy? The whole store?”
Clark shook his head. “Credit extended on Dru’Ott is only accepted—”
“On Dru’Ott. I heard the spiel.”
“The prices here are low and the credit chit had a lot on it. The fleece we hauled from Viya was worth a bundle. I was there when Jasyn checked the prices. If the payment on Shamustel is anything like what you got here, you’re going to be rich.”
“If you’re suggesting I make Dru’Ott a permanent stop on a trade route, I’ve considered it. But it’s too close to Targon. Maybe later.”
Jasyn squelched through the mud to the hatch. She wiped her feet before entering the ship.
“I’ll let you know when they’re done loading,” Clark offered. “Go find out what Jasyn bought before the curiosity eats you alive.”
“Thanks, Clark.”
“No speech about betraying you or who I work for?”
“If you were going to kill me, you would have already. If you are selling me to Targon at the first opportunity, I’ll find a way to get revenge. And if you work for Lowell, you’ll be sorry you ever set foot on my ship. Is that a good enough answer for you?”
“You’re perfectly clear, Captain.”
“Good. Go ahead and sign the manifest once they get it sealed. I trust you that far, Clark.”
I turned away from his measuring stare to hurry inside the ship.
Jasyn had stacked boxes on the table and all over the floor of the lounge. “Dace, you won’t believe what they sell here. Anything and everything. Look at this.” She opened a box and pulled out a froth of flame colored fabric that danced on every breath of air. She thrust it into my arms.
“Jasyn, I’m all wet and covered with mud. Is this partha silk?” I couldn’t help shaking out the dress and holding it up. Strands of silk in shades of orange, red and gold twined around my hands. “We can’t afford this.”
“Good imitation, and yes, we can. That credit chip you gave me had over two thousand credits on it. But, and it’s a big one, they’re only good at the store here. The prices were unbelievably low.”
“Then let’s buy something we can trade.” I fondled the strips of silk while I talked. Even as an imitation, the fabric soothed and caressed me with every touch.
Jasyn shook her head. “You have to have a special trading license to do that. With just our ship, we can’t possibly afford the fees. We’d never be able to haul enough cargo. So I spent the credit on personal items, including shipsuits for Clark. And underwear for you.” She pulled a pair of lacy green panties from a box.
“I’d rather die than wear those.”
She laughed. “Clark said you’d say that.”
“Those are his? That explains a lot about him.”
She set the panties on top of a box and pursed her lips. “That would explain things, but no, these aren’t his. Or yours. I bought them after he left.” She opened a different box, rummaging through the contents.
“I caught him in the cockpit doing something on the com. He was very evasive when I asked about it. I can’t figure out what he was doing there, besides digging through personal files. Who would he pass messages to here? Dru’Ott isn’t a hotbed of criminal activity. Or Patrol.”
“Maybe he’s exactly what he says he is—a pilot down on his luck looking for a solid berth. Why do you have to suspect everyone, Dace?” She lifted a frosted white tray from the box. Multicolored pieces of crystal rattled inside.
“Survival habit. What’s that?”
“A game. Yulan Crystals. Clark said it was a good strategy game. I got this for you.” She opened yet another box and pulled out a wooden instrument with a rounded base, long neck, and multiple strings. “It’s called a lute. There’s an instruction vid for it.”
I draped the silk dress across a chair as she pushed the lute my way. My finger caught on the strings as I took it, creating a mellow tone. “Why do I need this?”
“You need a hobby, Dace. Fixing the ship and building secret compartments are fine for a while, but you really need something else to keep you busy.”
“Like you and your nail file?”
“It won’t kill you to take care of yourself, Dace.” She opened several more boxes, removing various items of clothing and jewelry.
“I do, Jasyn.”
“You know what I mean.” She pushed a pile of clothing into my arms, draping the flaming silk dress over the top. “It won’t hurt to wear something other than shipsuits sometimes.”
“But I like shipsuits.”
“You’re going to wear that dress. Look, I’ve got one to match.” She held a dress against her, all blues and purples. The imitation partha silk danced on every breath of air. “You should see the outfit I got for Clark.”
“I’m not sure I want to. When am I going to wear the dress, Jasyn? When I’m fixing the engines?” I ducked into my cabin to avoid her angry retort.