Another delay. “Captain, his first is on if you want to talk to her.”
She punched it in. “This is Pyanfar Chanur. Have we got a problem?”
“This Soje Kesurinan. Not got problem. Fix good.”
Unease ran up and down her spine. There was a don’t ask implicit in the mahe’s tone.
(So what for godssakes is the matter?)
“Want me to come over there?”
“No need. All fine, honored captain.”
“Pride out.” She punched it off. Gods, likely every kif on Mkks had access to that com transmission. She caught Haral’s worried look.
“He’s not there,” Pyanfar said.
Haral’s brow wrinkled.
“I’m betting,” Pyanfar said, “he’s not aboard. Geran, get me Rhif Ehrran.”
“Aye.” Geran made the call. “She’s on, captain.”
That quick. So he’s not there, and Rhif’s at the boards.
“Ker Rhif. Letting you know we’re back online.”
“We have your count. We assume it’s accurate.”
“It’s accurate. Do we have a sequencing yet?”
“Can’t this be processed at some other level, Chanur? Or is this a social call?”
“Just wondering, Ehrran.” She broke the contact without the protocols. Looked at Haral.
“He’s with the kif or he’s loose on the docks somewhere.”
“Gods-rotted lousy time to take a walk,”
“I figure he knows what he’s doing.” She got back to the messages. A Mkks consortium lodged protests. A mahen prophet babbled something about retribution and visions. A self-claimed psychic saw humans descending on Mkks in their thousands and bringing some invention that would make antimatter, obsolete-“Good gods, Geran, you screen this stuff?”
“Sorry, captain. That’s the good ones. We got crazier. Thought you’d like the local temperature, huh?”
“They’re scared. Can’t blame them for that.” She tried not to think about it. “Where’s Vigilance’s complaint about visiting kif?”
“They never logged it with us.”
“Huh.” That bothered her. She bit at a snagging underclaw and watched the readout run past. Khym arrived with gfi for everyone on the bridge, regulations fractured. But it was her rule, and she broke it with a grateful sigh.
“I reckon,” Geran said, “they expect us to take a lot of this data during system transit.”
“They better.” She sipped the gfi and looked up again as breakfast arrived, Hilfy with a tray of rolled sandwiches. “Thanks, imp.”
Hilfy glanced at her in a strange, ears-back way as if the little-girl word had jarred. Perhaps it had. Pyanfar noted that as Hilfy turned away and served the rest, with Khym and Tully. Tully’s moves this watch were full of winces. Besides the usual spacer’s breeches he wore a white, stsho-made shirt, likely the last he had. It covered the wounds. His mane and beard were combed and neat. His eyes, always light arid unnerving-quick, darted and danced in a kind of desperate counterpoint to Hilfy’s quiet. He smiled. He looked happy. It had the look of desperation.
Fear of them? she wondered uncomfortably; and then caught Tully’s look at Hilfy’s back, that one glance in which the smile died and something else showed through until Hilfy pricked up her ears in a semblance of good humor-
-for her, she thought; he wore the cheerfulness for Hilfy’s sake; and the inside-out of it shivered through her nerves. He moved like a woman walking round some man on the edge of his control. Don’t jostle, be pleasant, have your temper elsewhere. Hilfy might see it or might not.
Human instinct?
Or were they tied together, one holding onto sanity because of the other-and Hilfy further gone than she suspected?
“Captain?”
Pyanfar blinked and gulped down a large part of the sandwich, turning to the board. “Thanks.” Data turned up. She swallowed the other half in two bites and punched a key. The nav-system engaged and ran the data. .
“Three quarters hour,” Haral said.
“We aren’t getting checkout from our friends out there.”
“I’m-” Geran said; then: “We got a call from Aja Jin’s first.”
“About gods-rotted time. What does she have to say?”
There was a stir at her side. Hilfy slid into her seat and started checkout. Tully edged in next to Chur.
“That’s Khym’s seat,” Chur said sotto voce. “Take the one the other side of Tirun’s.”
“Captain, Jik’s on his way over here. So his bridge says.”