The Bright Black Sea (100 page)

To my surprise, Molaye returned two days before the
start of the refit. She couldn't have spent more than a week with
Linnor on Tradonia.

'Did everything go well?' I asked with some
concern.

'Oh, yes. But Fey was deep in work getting her new
ship ready to sail, and well, a first mate's duty is to the ship
and to look after her captain. I didn't want to miss all the
activity.'

'It wasn't necessary,' I said.

'Yes it was. I've no intention of being any less
devoted to my profession than Fey,' she replied. 'We had enough
time together. And I've work to do here, as well.'

That's Molaye. Competitive, even when it comes to
being a competent spaceer.

The engineering staff arrived the following day, for
they, too, wanted to be on hand while their precious engine was
restored.

03

Molaye breezily planted herself in one of the chairs
on the awning deck next to me, a week after work had begun. 'We're
going to have to sign on a new engineer.'

'A new engineer?'

'Aye. Myes is in love,' she replied with a smile.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, only to
catch her smiling when I looked up.

'Myes is in love...'

'Riv tells me this is a regular thing with him. In
fact, it's long overdue. I gather we just sign on a temporary
engineer until it blows over and he catches up with us again.'

'Aye, that's the usual procedure,' I admitted. The
half life of Myes's love affairs was about three months. He'd
fallen in love two times during my time onboard the
Lost
Star
. Miccall would log him on leave, sign on a temp engineer
and wait for him to either catch up, or be waiting for the ship
when it came around again.

'Is he planning to tell me personally, or is he
sending you as his messenger?'

'Oh, I think he'll tell you himself, eventually. But
he wanted me to break the news to you first. He was scared to do so
himself.'

'Scared of me?'

'Scared of seeing you sigh and run your fingers
through your hair. It'd have broken his tender heart,' she
replied.

'But you don't mind?'

'I'm used to it.'

I sighed again. 'Well's there's nothing to be done
but sign on a temp engineer. Do we know who his love is this
time?'

'Aye, one of the shipyard gang. Nadde Zoe. You know
her.'

'After only a week?'

'Ah, young love,' sighed Molaye, sarcastically. 'And
it's spring, somewhere.'

'Yah. Well, at least I can't fault his choice,' I
replied. We had the shipyard crew in every shift for their meal
break, letting them use the awning deck to eat and relax, so I'd
gotten to know them. Nadde Zoe was a bright, cheerful and spirited
sparrow of a woman. Since she was also something of an engineer,
they had a lot in common, though Myes was hardly a cheerful sparrow
of a guy. Still, beneath his rather gruff exterior he's pretty
tender hearted. I rarely saw him angry, and never knew him to act
like you'd expect him to act according to the way he looks.

'We'd better sign on someone we can live with. Nadde
might be the one. He's never fell in love with an engineer before.
Besides, he was bound to find the right one sooner or later...' I
said.

'Nice of you to take that attitude. He was rather
concerned about how you'd take it.'

'Well, if we only lose one of the crew after this
extended stay, I'll be happy. I'm not sure about Rafe. He's been
aboard us far longer than his usual custom. We'll have to see if
this break is enough or if he decides to stay downside, in which
case we'd have to sign on an environmental engineer as well...'

'Don't make trouble we don't have.'

'Right. anyway, tell Myes I'm comfortable with his
decision, approve of his choice, and he can see me when he dares.
We'll have farewell feast for the happy couple before we sail,' I
added.

'Right,' replied Molaye rising, adding, 'You'd have
broken his poor heart you know, what with your long suffering sigh
and gracefully resigned acceptance. I'm sure Miccall would have
barked at him to pack his gear and get off the ship until he came
to his Neb-blasted senses.'

'I'm sure he did, a dozen times.'

01

I was downside with Riv and Lilm, interviewing
prospective engineers at the Guild Hall of Constina's capital city
of Leath when Molaye transferred a signal down from the ship,
saying it was from Jardinn Export Services. I recognized the name
from our bills of lading.

'Hello, Wilcrofter here,' I said. 'What can I do for
you?'

'Greetings, Captain. M'Risha Drae, managing director
of Jardinn Export Services. With you in orbit refitting, I thought
it was the ideal time to get in touch. You've been carrying quite a
few of my clients' boxes over the last several years, and I've been
toying with a mutually profitable idea for some time. I'd like to
talk to you about it.'

'I'm always happy to meet with clients, Director
Drae. I've seen your firm's name on many of my bills of lading.
However, I have to say straight away that I'm giving up drift
trading to work my way into the interplanetary trade. I don't know
how that affects your idea, but I'm determined to put the drifts
behind me.'

'Well, my proposal would be a mix of interplanetary
and drift trade. You see, I'd like to consolidate all my business –
we're a small firm – together into a scheduled service using the
Starry Shore
. You'd collect the boxes from half a dozen
planets and deliver them to half a dozen drift stations, just like
you have been doing. I have enough business to guarantee you a
profit for each voyage, and since I'd not insist on an exclusive
charter, you could pick up additional boxes to supplement that
profit as well.'

'It sounds promising, but I'm determined get back
into the interplanetary trade.'

'All the drift ports are portal stations, nothing
deep – some of them you already serve. It'd be two six month long
circuits a year with dependable profits. I think it would be
beneficial for both of us. I'd appreciate the chance to go over my
figures with you in detail. I think you'll find them far more
attractive than trying to break into the interplanetary trade on
your own, since, I assume, profits matter to your owner. Why don't
we go over my plan over dinner, my treat.'

'Well...' I took a breath and rapidly considered my
options. The idea had some appealing aspects – profits, calling on
more Amdia planets than Baidora, and a regular schedule. And I had
been comfortable in our drift work prior to the message on Ravin.
And, I did have an owner... In the end, I recalled Miccall's dictum
– it pays to keep customers happy, even if it doesn't pay in the
short run, so the least I could do was to give the plan a good
look.

'I'll make no promises, but I'll be happy to have
dinner with you and look over your proposal. When can we meet?'

'I'm free all evening and I gather you're
downside.'

'Aye, I've just finished my downside business.'

'Then why not stop by the office now? If you're
hungry we can go out to dinner and look over my plan
afterward.'

'That does sound rather appealing. What's your
address? I'll grab a flier and be over directly.'

She gave it, adding. 'I appreciate this, Captain. I'm
sure it will prove worth your trouble.'

Jardinn Export Services had a small office on the
edge of Leathport, the sprawling prime space port of Constina. The
clearsteel door slipped aside and I entered the office, typical in
every way to every other shipbroker's office I've called on. It was
early evening in Leath, hours after the end of the work day, and
the small office appeared to be deserted. I stood in the reception
area and was about to call out, when M'Risha Drae stepped out of
her office and hurried over.

'Sorry, Captain, I didn't expect you quite this soon.
I'm M'Risha...' she said, extending her hand, and stopped to stare
at me.

I took it, and stared back. Something...

'I'm sorry Captain, I seemed to have lost my thread
of thought. As I said, I'm M'Risha Drae, the managing director.
Welcome...' she said partially recovering, but still studied me
closely.

'Nives Wilcrofter, a pleasure to meet you,' I replied
absently, looking at her closely. I knew her. Or rather she
reminded me of someone. And suddenly it popped into focus. She
reminded me of my mother. Only a sharper, sterner, and more
businesslike version. A more hardboiled version.

She must've seen that spark of recognition in my
eyes, since she latched on to my arm and said sharply, 'Let's start
with dinner,' and deftly steered me out of the office, pausing only
to lock the door behind us.

I doubt shipbrokers normally clamp ship captains by
the arm and drag them off. Grandmothers, on the other hand, might
do that with grandsons. Hardboiled ones, anyway. I was still
processing all of this, and just meekly accompanied her.

As we walked down the corridor to the lifts, she
said, 'I'm sorry to be so presumptuous. It's just that you remind
me of someone. A grandson – a ship's captain. But his ship was
wrecked in the Despar Reef.'

I had the wit, barely, to stay in character, 'Ah,
sorry to hear that. My first voyages to the drifts took me to
Boscone where I barely escaped some Despar privateers at the start
of the late drift war. Luckily they were only small traders which
we eventually outran,' I replied, with a glance at her. She was
still looking at me, though seemingly lost in thought.

It was only after we stepped into the lift that the
full meaning of what she'd just said hit me. Our relatives and
friends thought that we were trading in the deep drifts. I'd never
seen any report that indicated that the
Lost Star
was
missing or lost. There were only two parties who knew something of
the truth – the Despar Navy and St Bleyth. She'd named no names,
but it seemed clear from her reaction, I was a tangible ghost to
her. And she... well, I doubt Despar would have any need for an
agent on Constina. But St Bleyth... She still held my arm, but
there was no escape now, anyway.

The lift door opened and we stepped out into the
lobby of the landing deck. I turned to her as she dropped her hand
on my arm. She was still watching me, and from the look in her eye,
saw my dawning realization. She may have even smiled just
faintly.

'I believe we need to find someplace to talk freely,'
she said. 'There's a nice beach and a good restaurant at the yacht
club in Barbeth, a fifteen minute flier ride from here.'

'Yes, of course. Whatever you say... Sister Drae,' I
added watching her.

'It's Abbess, son,' she replied sharply, but with a
brief twinkle of a smile. 'But let's hold that discussion until we
can talk freely. Right now, I'd like to run though my plan in
greater detail, since we have the time...'

I'm fairly sure she did explain her scheme as we
boarded a flier on the deck, flew through the towers of Leath and
down the coast, but well, as I said, I'm only fairly sure. I, at
any rate, spent the time coming to terms with the idea that my
grandmother was an abbess of St Bleyth. The most frightening thing
about it was that I seemed to be having no problem at all coming to
terms with the idea. No more of a problem than I had getting into a
flier with an agent of St Bleyth to fly to some, doubtlessly,
deserted beach. The jig was up and I only had to learn the piper's
price. There was a slight level of relief in it, to tell the
truth.

Of course I knew that Grandma V'Ran, the name I knew
her by, was from the drifts. And I knew she was a pretty hard woman
as well. She ran a spaceers' dive, after all – at least she did.
She hadn't changed any from the one time I'd met her decades ago –
a cool and hard woman somewhere in the long middle century. She
looked, come to think of it, just like a senior agent of St Bleyth
might look. Clearly I hadn't been slandering her when I blamed her
for my occasional and regrettable ruthless streak. I guess apples
don't fall all that far from the tree.

The curious thing was that I wasn't concerned about
my immediate future, nor, for that matter, my long term one. This
was the Unity not the drifts, which made all the difference. I knew
it wasn't easy to commit a capital crime in the Unity without
ending up in Felon's Rift. I wasn't planning on going skinny
dipping with Grandmother and turning up drowned, so I'd likely have
time to collect the
Azurete
payout and sail for the far end
of the Nebula if need be, and good luck finding me. And well, as I
may've mentioned, the drifts have left their mark on me, or perhaps
merely rubbed off some of my Unity Standard veneer. I was, in fact,
actually rather eager to hear what my grandmother had to say.

'Set us down on that bluff ahead,' she ordered the
pilot, breaking me out of my revery. The flier swooped down to a
broad plain that ended in a low bluff falling to a wide strip of
grassy dunes, a white beach with a foam speckled sea washing in
from the breaking waves on a sandbar half a kilometer out. We
climbed out into the tall grass.

She waited until the flier had taken off before she
said, 'Let's walk down to the beach. I brought you here, Captain
Wilcrofter, because what we have to say must stay strictly between
us. Can I trust you not to record this?'

'Of course, Grandmama. Call me Wil – I chose my new
name so it would stay the same in my new life.'

She gave me an unreadable look, and , to my surprise,
took my hand in hers and pulled me along towards the edge of the
bluff. 'You nearly frightened me to death back in the office, son.
Estimates had only a 1 in 192 chance of the
Lost Star
surviving the reef passage. I found out my grandson was dead before
I even knew he was in danger. I hope you'll believe me when I say
that I'd no knowledge of your involvement with the Order prior to
the loss of the
Sister Sinister
,' she said quietly, over the
rustling of the grass and the distant sound of the breakers.