“Gentlemen,” Commander Kneale said, “Trident Starlines and the government of Federated Earth will do all they can to ensure the safety of passengers at times of crisis like these. I myself am busy now, doing just that, and—”
Wade spread his hands in prohibition. “Have it your way, friend,” he said. “Shouldn’t think of poaching on another man’s preserve. But I figured it was my duty to say you’ve got Nevasan troops coming aboard, pretending to be civilians—and that there’s some locals from Tellichery here who I wouldn’t be a bit surprised were paid mercenaries. Near a hundred of the fellers, or I miss my guess. All they need is a few guns and they own your ship.”
Kneale said nothing. His eyes flicked between the two self-important passengers, who might simply have chanced across the truth while making up another tall story . . . or who might, just possibly might, be agents provocateurs in Nevasan pay, trying to determine what the Empress of Earth’s crew knew and what precautions they were taking.
“Like on the Thomasino, hey Dickie?” Belgeddes said with a chuckle. “You know, I never did understand why you decided to turn that one around. It was just a family argument, after all. The cousins and their gang would’ve set us down on Barak, as sure as the first lot.”
Wade sniffed. “I don’t care to have some chap wave a gun in my face and tell me to stay in my cabin if I know what’s good for me,” he said. “Besides, we’d paid Captain del Rio for passage. It was him, not his cousins, that I was looking to to complete the contract.”
Belgeddes shook his head in amusement. “You just can’t resist being a hero, Dickie,” he said. “That’s your problem.”
“Gentlemen,” Commander Kneale said sharply, “I appreciate your concern, but I’m afraid I have business of my own to attend to if the Empress is to undock on schedule.”
“Enough said, enough said,” Wade agreed with another lift of his hands. “Sorry to have troubled you, Commander.”
The two old men turned together and walked back toward the elevator. “One bribed sailor,” Belgeddes said, ostensibly to his companion, “and the hijackers are armed—out in sponge space where Terra can’t so much as whistle. Where’s the Brasil, d’ye suppose?”
“Now, now, Tom,” Wade answered in an equally loud voice. “I’m sure that the commander knows a lot more than a couple old buffers like—”
The elevator door dosed, amputating the word us.
What Commander Hiram Kneale knew was that Bridge had identified 97 passengers as probable agents of Nevasan nationality or in Nevasan employ. That was too close to Wade’s “guess” of a hundred for any responsible person to believe it was only a guess.
What Kneale also knew was that so long as there were hundreds of Grantholm returnees aboard the Empress of Earth, the Nevasans could expect a full-scale battle if they attempted to hijack the starliner. And the Grantholmers had disembarked on Szgrane.
The commander stared somberly at his vessel; considering, planning. Something cracked loudly on the pavers behind him.
Kneale spun. One of the birds had dropped its burden onto the roof garden. The object lay between the Trident officer and the elevator.
It was a human thigh bone, with shreds of dry flesh still attached.
IN TRANSIT:
TELLICHERY ORBIT
“. . . please report at once to your assigned lifeboat,” said the silky, synthesized voice as Abraham Chekoumian trotted along the corridor. Very few other passengers were still moving, at least here in the First Class section.
“This is a drill,” Bridge repeated through membrane speakers in the wainscotting at three-meter intervals along the corridor and in every cabin. “However, the vessel will not leave orbit until every passenger has taken their position. . . .”
Chekoumian was in the Social Hall when the alarm sounded. Instead of going straight to his lifeboat, he’d detoured to his cabin to pick up his packet of letters from Marie. Just in case.
“. . . in a lifeboat. Please report at once to your assigned lifeboat.”
The corridor walls, instead of showing restful land or seascapes, now surged forward in broad arrows overprinted with Bay 32, Bay 34, Bay 40. The fact that some bays weren’t mentioned suggested to Chekoumian that while he wasn’t the only passenger still delaying the exercise, at least some of the lifeboats were already loaded.