“Seriously kill him?”
“Out the lock,” Tink said, and a flower happened, and a curlicue. “This crew got no need for a guy who don’t appreciate what we got here. “ Tink pursed his lips and concentrated on embellishments for the moment, so he was scared Tink didn’t take to the question. Tink added, frowning, “Suppose a Family ship’s got better. Some of us ain’t got that option, you know?”
“I don’t know. If Sprite got a look at that cake, they’d steal you fast.”
Tink grinned and laughed. “Ain’t so sure.”
“So it really is pretty good here.”
“Best deal us hard-ass hired-crew’s going to get. “ Tink shot him an under-the-brows look. “Captain’s your papa. You should make officer real easy.”
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” He gave the cable a shake. But he didn’t want to turn bitter with Tink, who clearly didn’t know. “Maybe. “ He laughed, to throw Tink off the track. “Maybe out the lock next, who knows?”
Tink was quiet a bit, starting another frosted pastry, thoughtful-looking, his lip caught in his teeth. “Didn’t know my father or my mother. Don’t know what ship I was. Ship was blew to hell, there was pockets, you know, and they got some of us out. That ship passed me on, I don’t remember the name. “ Tink’s brow knit. “Don’t remember either name. I remember standing in the airlock. I remember the crossover when we come aboard. But I can’t remember the names. And then there was another ship, and then Mariner, till she blew. Some things I remember. I remember Mariner all right. But not the ships. Don’t know why that is.”
He could guess. Thousands of people blown to cold space, a handful of survivors, most of them kids… even stationers put the kids inmost and protected from hull breach.
“I hear,” he said cautiously, because he wasn’t sure Tink had ever been through school in the sense a Family kid had, “I hear a lot of the Mariner kids don’t remember.”
“Yeah. Funny thing, I remember that part, remember the sirens and the smoke and all. “ Tink filled a pastry cone with blue, and made a part of a design. “Remember ‘em coming through in suits, with lights, looking for survivors. “ The design became a star. And another, smaller. “Bounced around a bit, couldn’t do any damn thing, but I didn’t want to sit on any station after that. “ Star after star, little and big. “So I started out with galley scut, same’s any kid. Graduated to advanced scut and general maintenance. Studied di-e-tary science, and got a couple good posts… “ A series more of stars and a whimsical sprinkle of silver beads. “The guy who taught me to do this, he was real old, hospitaled off at Pell, he used to let me do a lot of stuff, illegal, you know, no station permit, but he didn’t pay me. I watched him do it, I spent my whole leave learning the basics. Next time I got a leave there, the old guy’d died, so I taught myself the rest.”
“That’s beautiful.”
“Huh. “ Tink looked at him as if to see was he kidding. Grinned. “Most guys say, hell, that’s stupid. Then they argue over who got what piece.”
“You could get a job anywhere. Station chef’d hire you.”
“No station. I ain’t getting blowed to hell, not Tink.”
“Can’t blame you for that.”
“No damn way.”
“How long have you been with Corinthian?”
“Fifteen years. Fifteen years. “ He looked at the pastry. “That do it?”
“That’s real pretty.”
“I seen roses on Pell,” Tink said then. “That’s what the flowers are, is roses. They got this big greenhouse, you can take a guided tour. Cost you five c. It’s worth it.”
“Pell’s where we’re going?”
“Yeah. If you get dock time, if you want to go, you can come with me. It’s an hour tour.”
“I don’t think they’re going to let me.”
“More’n you just backtalked the captain, isn’t it?”
Tink wasn’t so slow. “Yeah,” he said. “Don’t think he’s ever wanted me alive, let alone on his ship.”
“Huh,” Tink said. That was all. And his estimate of Tink’s common sense went way up.