“Leave now,” he muttered as politely as he could. A glance out the nearer of the two windows showed that the rain was likely to lessen for a little while. That would mean more local traffic but better visibility. “Better to leave town during clearing.”
“Precisely what I would have suggested,” concurred the Deyzara knowledgeably. He looked back to the administrator. “We will file regular reports; you can be sure of that.”
“I have every confidence in the two of you,” she lied. “You were the best team that could be assembled.” Given the exploration and rejection of every other possible alternative, she thought silently.
Still, it was part of her job to give these kinds of orders and to look after the human contingent on Fluva. Both of the sentients standing before her seemed quite competent. Given that, there was always the slight chance they actually would find the misbegotten bioprospector alive somewhere in the unmeasured depths of the Viisiiviisii.
Turning back to her desk’s readout as soon as they had departed, she could only hope they might manage to do so before they killed each other.
2
Shadrach Hasselemoga had come to Fluva hoping to make a killing—of the financial kind. He had sincere hopes of making a fortune—always a possibility where the discovery of useful, previously unknown botanicals was concerned. While others might find the combination of soldier of fortune and botanist (with a special interest in mycology) a peculiar melding of professions, to men and women engaged in Hasa’s line of work it was perfectly natural. People had indeed been known to kill one another over the discovery and possession of something small, green, and deceptively insignificant. They were willing to go to such occasional extremes because alien botanicals were frequently the key to the gengineering of everything from new pharmaceuticals to artificial flavorings, and much else besides.