“This is Legacy One, You’re going to see a transport truck pull up. Only bus this station runs. We ‘re all right, we ‘re coming home, we got our addressee, put on a pot of gfi, we could use it.”
“That means it’s really all right,”Tarras said, the edge of excitement beginning to grow in her voice. And the Manual was on the bridge: they’d fed into com voice analysis every codeword that might come through. If Tarras said it was clear it was clear, and there was a next step.
“Chihin, get down to the lock, arm, don’t open till they’re on it, we don’t trust it.”
“I’m gone’’ Chihin said, and cleared her board to Tarras.
Everybody was all right. There was a little tremor in Tiar’s hand as she reached to key aux monitoring over to her two low-level screens.
Everybody was all right. They’d gotten the stsho, ker Hilfy had pulled it off somehow and they could go to Meetpoint with Chanur honor intact.
Please the gods it didn’t blow up in their faces.
But she didn’t think she should advise gyst excellency yet, stsho being the easily worried creatures they were. She didn’t think they should provide any good news until they knew there were no catches.
And even after the captain and the rest of them were secure in the airlock she wasn’t going to be able to leave station. According to the Book, which had gotten them through it this far, the senior officer parked herself in the number one station, kept systems up, kept a close monitor on transmissions around them, whether or not they could decode them, the number of coded transmissions versus non-coded: and if anything surged out of recent parameters-Then the senior officer was permitted to panic.
Gtstexcellency Atli-lyen-tlas was not at all in good shape—half-dead, to Hilfy’s eyes; and when the driver pulled up in front of the Legacy’s berth (most adamantly, she had insisted neither Hallan nor Fala drive) she called on na Hallan to vault down to the deck and stand ready to receive gtst excellency into his arms.
“She is a very large hani,” gtst excellency was heard to mutter. “She will not drop us.”
“She won’t,” Hilfy said, and na Hallan shut his mouth and reached up his hands. “She’s a very competent person.” At which na Hallan gave her a startled look, as if to ask did she possibly mean that.
But she had her hands full of fragile stsho at the moment, and together she and Fala lowered Atli-lyen-tlas into Hallan’s arms.
“I have your honor,” Hallan assured gtst.
Hilfy clapped Fala on the shoulder, and the two of them jumped down. A whole squad of kif had turned up, with rifles evident, and that was worrisome, but their driver got out and waved a black-sleeved arm toward the ramp and the waiting kif.
“Essscort,” the driver said. “The hakkikt’s. Sssafe.”
It wasn’t how she defined safe, but they walked and the kif didn’t threaten them and didn’t move, so she supposed there were no orders on the part of the hakkikt to try to rush the airlock. “Watch their hands,” she said to Fala. “Rule of measured threat. You did just fine in there. Let’s get home.”
Fala didn’t say anything but “Aye, captain.” The kids were trying to be right. They walked past the kif, with the half-fainting stsho, and up the rampway. The access gate opened for them, which argued somebody was observing from where they’d been ordered to be, and possibly someone was waiting for them downside, which they were supposed to be. That gate shut, meaning, however fragile the tube that connected them to their ship, they were alone behind seal, and there was, one hoped, no kifish guard at their lock.
“Nobody behind us,” Fala said, having actually cast a look back to see.
“Bravo, kid, you’re learning.” She punched in the pocket-corn. “Tiar, Chihin, Tarras?”
“We’re on it, captain, lock’s about to open. “
Upon which, it did, pale and inviting light.
Things happened, things happened on schedule and with checks, if the crew had had to do it with the manual in one hand and thumbing from page to page. She found her own anxiety like a spring slowly let go—as if somehow she didn’t have to check up, she didn’t have to wonder was anything unseen-to: things were getting checked, and when the airlock shut behind them, and the air was cycling, she could feel a queasy confidence someone was monitoring the situation outside, without her—to her giddy relief—having to think of everything at once and give the orders.