He girded himself quickly with an arms belt, snapped on the field that would keep them outside and him safely within the ship, and just made it to the hatch before the first of the paddled boats arrived with its cargo of many men and women. Most of them were carrying sharp-edged or heavy tools; all of them looked distinctly unfriendly. What had ticked them off so quickly? Were they that serious about that AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY, sign on the derelict loading shed?
“Hold it there yourselves,” he called, raising both arms to show that he was not holding a weapon. Those at his belt could be clearly seen, and he wanted to keep folks far enough away from the ramp so that he could grab a stunner if he needed to.
“I’m Calum Baird ottheAcaSecki. We’ve had a ‘ponies failure and need to buy plants and seeds from you.”
“Plants and seeds, he wants,” a bearded man cried, laughing almost hysterically. That was the general mood of those who poled or paddled their craft to surround the AcaDecki. They kept repeating his words with variations of derision and angry frustration.
“This is Rushima, isn’t it?” Calum asked, perplexed. “What you bastards have left of Rushima, you mean,” the spokesman said, and the muttered growls of his companions did nothing to reassure him as to the general hostile mood.
“We’re from Maganos Moon Base at Kezdet on our way to Coma Berenices on a private mission,” Calum went on, making his voice sound as reasonable as he could even though he was scared stiff. Why hadn’t he listened to Pal about defense systems? Not that anything a spaceship carried would have been useful in his present circumstances.
“Pull the other one, it’s got bells on,” growled the spokesman.
“Hey, now, he could be telling the truth,” a tenor voice suggested. A young man in a raft with ten-centimeter sides glided to the side of the Aca()eckt, and read out their current alpha-numeric identification code. “That’s not a Starfarer ID. Could be from Kezdet.”
“So could half the pirates in the galaxy,” said the leader, who evidently was all too aware of Kezdet’s lax registration laws, which attracted all sorts of illicit business, “and if those Starfarers are as far-flung as they keep telling us they are, could be one of theirs anyhow. But it’s shortly going to be ours. …” There was movement as some of the bigger men slipped into the water and started for the ramp.
“Hey, the water out here’s clear,” awoman said, astonishment and delight in her voice. She scooped up a handful, tasted it cautiously, and let out a whoop. “How’dyou do this, mister?”
Immediately others were sampling the water. And then almost everyone, at the risk of tipping over their basically fragile craft, buried their faces to drink so thirstily that the sight transfixed Calum.
Water, water, everywhere nor any Drop to Drink-the phrase popped in from some distant corner of his brain.
“I did it.” Acorna stepped gracefully around the after section of the ship. She also held her hands up, not that she could have hidden anything in the short, skintight tunic she was wearing.
“Purifying water is one of our skills.”
Calum closed his eyes in what could have been prayerful exhortation. Acorna had learned a great deal about humans during her experiences ‘with Kisia Manjari and Didi Badini’s attempts to kill her, but she was still far too trusting. These people might have softened a little during their brief talk, but they had started out as a mob out for vengeance. And, if purifying water just happened to be a must for this section of a waterlogged planet, Acorna might find herself an unwilling resident of Rushima.
At least she had said “our,” instead of “my” skills, so they might not be aware that she had the power to cleanse the water all by herself.
He eased himself slightly to the right side, where the controls were. If she could just get close enough to dive through the hatch, he could have the field off and on before anyone else could capture her. He gave her the slightest signal -with the fingers of one hand, trying to convey the necessity of boarding the ship as quickly as possible. Even the few who were out of their boats wouldn’t be able to move as quickly through the water as Acorna could.