Cherryh, CJ – Merchanters Luck

that was boiling in him. “I’ll tell you,” he said, jabbing a serving knife in

Curran’s direction as the waiter passed finally out of earshot, “Mr. Reilly, I

think you and I have a problem. I’m not sure why. Or what. But it started up

there in blue section this morning and I’m not going to have it go on.”

“Stevens,” Allison said.

“I think we’d better settle it.”

“All right,” Curran said softly. “The number one says you’re all right, that

goes with me. Let’s start from zero.”

“My rules, mister.”

“Absolutely,” Curran said. “Chain of command. As soon as we get that lock off.”

“Ought to be soon,” Allison said. “How about that routing application?”

“Got it,” Curran said. His sullen face lighted instantly. “Clear. We’re routed

to Venture and Bryant’s, Konstantin Company commodities, on Dublin’s guarantee.”

Sandor had ducked his head to eat and stay out of it. He looked up again.

“You’re talking about our route and cargo.”

“Right.”

“You take it on yourself—”

“Part of the package.”

“No. Not part of the package. You don’t set up routes or make agreements.”

“Come down, man. We’ve got you a deal better than you could get. A deal that’s

guaranteed profit. With a station commerce load that doesn’t cost you, and

guaranteed rate for the delivery. How do you do better than that?”

“I don’t care what you’ve got. No. I decide where Lucy goes and if she goes.”

“Slow,” Allison said, patted his arm, once, twice. “Hold it. Listen: it is part

of the package. I was going to tell you. It’s a good deal. The best. The Hinder

Stars opening up again, the stations being set up to operate—you know what a

chance it is, to get in on the setup of a station? Dublin herself is taking on

cargo and looping back to Mariner. But we go out to the Hinder Stars. Toward

Sol. You see how it works? That’s Sol trade: luxuries, exotics. We take a

station load out and do small runs; and as the Sol trade starts coming in, we

start picking up Sol cargo. We run small cargo at first, then see about doing

that conversion that’ll boost her up to speed…”

“You’ve got that planned too.”

“Because I know this kind of economics, if you don’t. We’re not talking about

dockside trading. We’re talking about running full and being where trade can

build.”

“We get backing that way,” Deirdre said. “Eventually we schedule to catch

Dublin’s Pell loop and funnel Sol goods into Union territory; and that’s big

profit. Dublin’s not doing a total act of charity.”

“They’ll cut our throats. Alliance traders. Locals won’t stand for that.”

“Stop thinking like a marginer,” Allison said. “You’re linked to the Dublin

operation. They won’t touch us the way they won’t touch Dublin herself. And

after one run, we’ll be local. We’ll have Alliance paper.”

“And I take what deals Dublin offers.”

“Fair deals.”

He thought about it a moment, avoiding the sight of Curran Reilly, took a drink

of wine. “Hinder Stars,” he said, thinking that if there was a place least

likely for his record to catch up to him it had to be that, the forgotten

Earthward stations. Sol goods, expensive for their mass. Rarities and luxuries.

“So Dublin wants a trade link.”

“Believe it,” Allison said. “Both sides of the Line are interested… Pell,

absolutely; Union, in keeping the flow of trade across the Line. You think Union

wants Pell and Sol in bed together alone? No. Union’s supporting Unionside

merchanters that want to trade across the Line; and there’s nothing that says we

can’t set up an operation on this side.”

“We.”

“Any way you like it. You needed the bailout. And we saw the advantage. You. We.

You and the lot of us on Lucy can develop a new loop that’s going to pay.”

He thought about it again, excited in spite of himself. “You plan to stay on—how

long?”

“We don’t necessarily plan to go back. It’s like I said… too far to the posted

ranks. We’re coming to stay.”

He nodded slowly. “All right,” he said, even including Curran in that “All

right, I’ll take your deal. And the lot of you.—What about charts?”

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