speech. Goldtooth set his hand possessively on Tully’s shoulder and squeezed.
“Fine present, a, Pyanfar?”
“Where’d you find him?”
The mahen captain shrugged. “Come all the way mahen trader name Ijir, long time
mahen ship, all time want you, Pyanfar Chanur, crazy mad human. Come find you,
come find you, all he know.”
She looked up at Tully, who stood there with something brimming over in him, who
had no possible business where he was, in mahendo’sat transport, light-years
from human territory, in a zone where humankind was banned.
“No,” she said to Goldtooth. “No. Absolutely not. He’s your problem.”
“He want find you,” Goldtooth said. “Friend. Where your sentiment?”
“Gods rot you — gods rot you, Goldtooth. Why? For what? What’s he want?”
“Want talk you. Your friend, hani, good friend, a?”
“Friend. You earless, mangy bastard. I just got my papers clear — You know what
it cost?”
“Trade.” Goldtooth came close and put his arm conspiratorially about her
shoulders. She stood like rock, laid back her ears and grinned into his face in
chill reception. “Trade, hani. You want make deal?”
“You want to lose that arm?”
Primate fangs gleamed gold. “Rich, hani. Rich — and powerful. You want this
human trade? Got. –Look this face–”
“Have I got a choice?”
A wider grin. “Loyal friend. Want you do a thing for me. Want you make this
human happy, a? Want you take him to Personage. Want you take him to the han.
Make all round happy. Got trade, hani. Profits.”
“Sure, profits.” She shoved back at arm’s length and stared up at that earnest
mahen face. “Profits like last time, like bills up to the overhead, like hani
barred six months from Meetpoint and The Pride out a gods-rotted year–”
“Like stsho got lot gratitude hani save their hides, a?”
“Same as the mahendo’sat. Same as the mahe who double-crossed me–”
Black palms lifted. “Not my fault, not my fault. Stsho close Meetpoint, what I
do?”
“Snatch the trade, what else? What route you been running?”
“You take him, a?”
“You brought him here. Friend. It’s all yours. So’s the lawsuit. You explain it
to the stsho!”
“Got trade, Pyanfar-”
“And get embargoed? Gods rot, you earless lunatic! You try to do for the rest of
my business? The stsho–”
“Pyanfar.” He took her by both shoulders. “Pyanfar. I tell you, one paper this
human got, he read for you this paper. They send him, this humanity. They got
trade. Big business, maybe much big thing the Compact ever see. You got share.”
She drew a deep, long, mahe-flavored breath. “Favors, Goldtooth?”
“A,” he laughed, and hugged her shoulder with bone-crushing force. “Promise,
hani. I make promise, keep. Got business. Got go. You take this human. Don’t I
make promise you get share human trade? I keep. This human come to me, I find my
old friend Pyanfar for him. You want share, you take. But you got do this
thing.”
“Now we get to it. Why?”
“Got business. Got go fix.”
“Got business — How’d you get here? How’d you just happen to pull in on my
tail?”
“Know you come, old friend. I lie off and wait.”
“How’d you know? I didn’t, till the papers cleared at Kura.”
“Got contacts. Know you got that stsho business clear. So you come here soon.”
“Gods rot your hide, mahe. That’s a lie.”
Dark eyes glittered, shifted. “Say then I follow you from Urtur.”
“With him? Out of mahen space? No way, egg-sucker. How’d you arrange it?”
The hand dropped from her shoulder. “You sharp dealer, hani.”
“What say instead the stsho kept Mahijiru off Meetpoint docking lists. Say you
were here all along, blocked off the lists. Waiting for me.”
“You got lot suspicion.”
“I got gods-rotted plenty suspicion, you earless foundling bastard. Give me the
truth.”
“Might say.”
“Might say. Might say — The stsho know he’s here?”
“Know.”
“Then who are you hiding from?” And on a second thought: “O gods!”
“Got kif trouble.”
“Gods rot you, then you take him! You take this whole business and–”
“Good, brave friend. Kif spies already here. Han spies too. Got han deputy ship
in port. Know we meet. After this they got plenty curiosity. So you got risk