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"To be fair, Joat, I'm sure that your commitment to Joseph and the Benisur
Amos is what motivated our participation in Mr. Sperin's scheme."
She shrugged. "Who wants to be fair?" She keyed up Ciety's instructions and
read them again. Then sighed, again. She didn't want to be fair to Sperin; he
made her uneasy. And that irritated her. It also irritated her that she was
taking pains to avoid him, not an easy thing to do on a ship this size.
She'd finally banned him from the bridge to give herself some space.
Which I needed.
There was a limit to the number of times you could watch a face with that "I
know something you don't know"
look. At least, without rearranging the face with a multitool set to "weld."
"Captain?"
Sperin was leaning both hands against the hatch, his head thrust through the
hatchway.
"Permission to enter the bridge?" he said.
"Oh don't be an ass! I sent for you didn't I?"
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He smiled and came to where she sat.
"Not that it isn't nice to be asked, for a change," she snapped.
This man has the patent on smug, she decided, watching his cool half-bow.
"What did you want?" he asked, leaning against the console.
"Ciety's orders just became available, and surprise! You remember the marker
buoy we were discussing just before liftoff? The one Ciety's mysterious
contact kept passing?"
He nodded.
"Well, guess what? That's our destination. But wait! It gets better. Our
assignment is to pick up a cargo and deliver it to a third party in a place to
be named by the shipper." She cocked her head at him.
"How does that sound to you?"
He shrugged. "You're the captain. You tell me."
She made an exasperated noise.
"It sounds to me as though we're about to meet the Kolnari," she said.
"Or possibly their minions," he agreed.
"So? What do you want to do about it? Are you going to inform Central Worlds
or what?"
He grimaced. "What do you want me to say, Joat? I can hardly call out the Navy
on this. I don't actually have any hard information. For all we know this is a
minor drug deal or some smuggling job."
He held his hands out helplessly. "It could be the Kolnar, it could be a
loyalty test. Like you said at the beginning, we're flying blind here."
"Then why would Ciety offer to wipe the debt?"
"Obviously, it's either worth it to him, or he has no intention of paying ...
or both."
"Isn't there something we should be doing? Don't you have someone waiting to
hear from you?"
"Yes, to both questions. To the first, we're doing it. We're heading for that
rendezvous, and we'll have to wait till we get there to decide what to do
next. To the second, yes, I have someone waiting to hear from me. But I'm not
about to blow my cover and tell the universe where I am for no reason. I have
nothing worth reporting, Joat. Until I do I'm just going to keep my mouth
shut."
She sighed. "So I guess I should too."
"I didn't say that!"
"I didn't say you did. Sheesh! All I meant was that I wouldn't pester you
about it."
"Very well." He stood up.
"All right."
"If that answers all your questions?" he asked, very politely.
"Yes, thanks."
"How long before we reach that buoy?'
"Not long," she said, "a few hours. Tell the others for me, would you?"
He nodded sharply and left. Joat turned her chair to watch him go.
"Fardles, he's testy," she muttered.
"So are you," Rand told her.
"Maybe it's those shots Seg gave us," Joat suggested. She'd been uneasy about
taking them.
Experimental drugs have their place. That place is not in Joat Simeon-Rap's
veins.
"I don't believe so," Rand told her. "No one else has these particular
symptoms. You and Mr. Sperin seem to strike sparks off each other." It paused
thoughtfully. "Why is that?'
Joat frowned. "It's cause he's a pushy osco and he doesn't like being called
on it," she snarled.
And he's too damned attractive and too dammed cocky and on my mind too damn
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much.
"I shouldn't have equipped you with a metaphor function."
"The same could be said of Joseph, but you've never reacted to him this way."
"Well, I trust Joe," she said unhappily. "I'd trust him with my life."
Rand was silent for a moment. Then it said, "He doesn't trust you though, does
he?"
Joat blushed and her mouth twisted ruefully. She schooled herself to be
patient with Rand who didn't understand how much the rift between herself and
Joseph hurt her.
"That's very perceptive," she said quietly. "It'll take a while to win back
his confidence. If I ever do."
"He is fair, Joat. Though harsh in his judgments. Eventually, I believe he
must concede that if you were on good terms with Mr. Ciety you probably
wouldn't have pulled this assignment."
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