A huge starstation-gods, she knew it must be big. The kif’s only legitimate outlet to Compact trade, after all. Fifty ships in port and miner-craft scattered like red stars among the yellow ones of asteroids; and no one of those ships where a ship was indicated. It was only a for-instance of a map. Beware, hani: ships might exist. And they do.
It showed kif and tc’a and chi in port. Likely. Again a for-instance. Gods knew what else.
“Stand by dump. Haral, double-check me.”
“Aye.”
-Use the wits, remember, wake up. Aja Jin out front by now-gods, where? Harukk and half the kif and Vigilance, with more kif due in at any instant.
-Down again.
-“Aunt Pyanfar-teach me the stars-”
Her own daughter, Tahy Mahn: “You’re never here. You always come back too late. It’s all over now. Kara’s gone. I sent him to Hermitage-” Son and daughter gone. Each in different ways-
“So. I’ve got things to do, Tahy. I’m sorry.”
“You’ll always have them. You don’t live in this world. It’s that ship! It’s that ship! I don’t know you, I never will-”
-And up.
Back to realspace. Pyanfar’s eyes rolled and centered on the lights, her fingers scantly aware of the controls; her elbow ached.
“Third dump. Come on, line us up, look alive back there-”
“Got it-we got Jik, he’s out there!”
-“Pyanfar,” Kohan said, his broad face, his golden eyes gone all gentle, unlike the scowl he wore for show. “Sister- for the gods’ own sake-be careful this time.”
-She was selfish. He was not. He omitted to mention the real reason for his worry. Khym. Her private madness. His own public embarrassment. They had talked about it once.
-“They’ll go for you,” Kohan said. “All our enemies. They’ll be trying.”
-“Law out there’s different, brother of mine. Safer. Folk accept what’s strange.”
-“I hope so,” Kohan said. “I do hope so.”
-And he walked away.
-“We’re on, we’re all right. Got signal, got signal-He’s got us a beacon-image, he got it!”
“Star-fix, get that star-fix, Haral.”
“Affirmative. Tt’a’va’o. We’ve acquired.”
“Uhhhnnn.” She felt the drain of strength, the wobble in her hand. They were inertial. G pushed her decidedly down, not back. The arm ached in the brace. She freed it and pulled loose one of the concentrate packets from its clip, bit a hole in it and drank. The stuff hit bottom in her stomach and lay there like lead.
Gods, gods-Figures ripped past like lunacy. And coincided.
“We’re on,” Haral said. “By the gods, we did it twice, and blind; and Jik and all of ’em-”
“I’ll believe it when we find that tc’a,” Geran said. “Where is that lunatic? GOOD GODS!”
Scan broke up. Lights went red. The siren howled. “Haaaa!” from Khym; and for a moment there was a nausea like dumpdown; but not-
” V check,” Pyanfar yelled into the mike. “Gods blast-”
-dump, this time, with a sluggish awful nausea.
The tc’a had come in close. Ripped past and dumped speed with two rapid flares of its field. And it was there, a large lump on scan matched with them in V.
“We just found the tc’a,” Tirun said.
“Gods and thunders,” said Pyanfar. Her blood ran hot and cold, her joints went weak; the concentrate fought to come up again. Someone was throwing up. On scan there were sane blips again, but one was far too close.
Human babble. Tully had come to.
“V plus point zero eight,” Haral said. “That bastard gave us V!”
“Let it ride; we burn it off later.” Pyanfar swallowed hard and blinked her eyes and tried not to listen to the retching off over at com. “We got-while yet before Jik’s AOS on Kefk-gods-rotted tc’a: it saying anything?”
Someone over at com managed to get transmission to her screen.
tc’a chi hani kif kif kif kif
Mkks Mkks Mkks Mkks Mkks Mkks Kefk
Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk
“It’s saying, I think-” Hilfy said hoarsely, “it’s come from Mkks to Kefk with a hani and lots of kif. Hello.”
“They won’t shoot,” Pyanfar said, as the thought got through. Jik. That earless bastard, Jik’s called in another debt and snagged us a tc’a. It knows our flight plan. It must. “Gods, that son’s riding us close out there-they won’t shoot. Kif wouldn’t dare.” She leaned back, turned her head. “Chur. You all right?”