"Damn close," Stotz muttered, but Dane heard the relief in his voice. The Kanddoyd defense monitors would see their engine exhaust, and soon their change of course. They were safe.
As soon as Kosti released them from decontamination, Dane stripped off his suit and ducked out of the lock bay. Carefully, he swung onto the downdeck ladder and climbed down three levels, feeling the increased acceleration in his thighs.
He found the two doctors in the surgery, hovering solicitously over the cats from the Starvenger. The two animals were in an isolation box. Both were sleeping; to Dane they already looked better.
"Not safe to touch?" he asked.
Tau shrugged. "They exhibit no signs of anything we’re familiar with, but we can’t take any chances—they could be infected with some rare new bacteria."
Dane put his hand into the gloveport and reached down to stroke one of the black-and-white heads, when a flicker on the periphery of his vision made him pause. Tail high, Sinbad, the Queen's cat, marched in, and leaped up onto the table next to the isolation box.
One of the cats seemed to sense another feline, and raised its head. Delicately, with proper detachment, the two cats touched noses to either side of the plastic, sniffed, and with a little chirrup of affront that sounded to Dane just like one of the matrons at the orphanage where he’d lived before Pool, Sinbad turned away. Clearly these animals, while trespassers, were not deemed a threat to his territory.
"We’re calling them Alpha and Omega," Rael Cofort told Dane, her blue eyes glinting through long, silky lashes.
Dane turned away, hoping his neck wouldn’t look as hot as it felt. "Which is which?" he asked, making a business of stroking one of the cats behind its ears with one gloved finger.
"That one’s Alpha," Tau said. "And that one Omega."
"No, no," Rael Cofort said promptly. "That one is Alpha."
The two doctors looked from the nearly identical cats to each other, and laughed.
"Two females, probably from the same litter," Tau said. "It seems a poetic touch, somehow, if we never do figure it out."
"They’re safe enough now," Frank Mura said from the doorway. "Captain’s waiting above."
"Conference time," Tau said, nodding. "Let’s go."
Dane followed the others back up to the galley level, to the galley mess room, which was the largest gathering area on the Queen. It was cramped—the Queen had been built in the days when luxuries like extra space were deemed too expensive. There were a lot more comfortable ships flying around known space, particularly for a man who seemed about two inches taller than the architect had planned for, but the Queen, with all its quirks, was home. Dane felt another flood of relief and gratitude that once again they were safe— and ready to plan for their next move.
As they crowded into the mess, Dane started heading automatically to the farthest corner of the cabin, a somewhat secluded spot under a bulkhead from which one could see everyone. As his footsteps took him in that direction, he saw Rael Cofort settle into the seat, and he turned aside, caught Van Ryke’s genial eye, and dropped down beside his superior.
Opposite Cofort, Captain Jellico stood. There was no sign in his hard countenance of their recent scrape with death and danger. As soon as everyone was in place, either sitting or ranged along the wall, he said, " Ya was able to cancel the SOS before anyone responded. Wilcox, Shannon, and Weeks are conning the other ship on a matching course." He gestured at the communication grill. "They’re patched in with a laser link. Anyway, our velocity is too high for a direct approach, so we will have to loop around Mykos before we pull in, which gives us a week. During that time I want everything on the other ship catalogued, from the hydro to the galley."
He paused, and Van Ryke and Mura nodded silently. Dane felt a spurt of anticipation—he could hardly wait to get over there and poke around that cargo bay with lots of time to spare. From the pleased smile on Van Ryke’s face, he could tell the cargo master was thinking the same thing.
"What we have now before us is a decision. Legally we should be able to lay claim to the Starvenger, for we rescued it. Though we are no longer in Federation space, my understanding is that in the Kanddoyd-Shver-Terran Concord of Harmony set up here when humans were first invited in, certain Federation laws were guaranteed. One of them is the right to salvage."
Van Ryke nodded silently.
Jellico went on, "What we need to vote on is whether we sell this ship and her cargo—or whether we keep her and expand our cargo capabilities."
"If her cargo turns out to be low value, we’ll really have to scramble to get something to trade with. Not to mention fueling two ships," Johan Stotz pointed out.
"And dockage for two ships in the meantime," Ali put in, from where he lounged against a bulkhead. "After all, this is new territory for us, and there’s no telling how long our dear friends in the City of Harmonious Exchange will keep us paying for their hospitality while we clear up the legalities."
Mura nodded soberly. "I vote we sell it."
"The dockage problem isn’t necessarily as bad as you think," Van Ryke said, looking around the room. "We won’t have to pay double fees if we leave the Starvenger outside, which costs considerably less. We’ll bring the Queen inside— we do have Macgregory’s letter of credit to cover the initial docking fees. It’s only the duration we’ll need to pay for."
Mura rubbed his chin, frowning silently.
Craig Tau said, "I take it, Jan, you’re in favor of keeping this ship."
"Of course." The cargo master spread his hands. "We not only double our cargo space, but our opportunities—if need be, our little fleet can investigate two possibilities for trade instead of one." He nodded at Rael. "Is this not how your esteemed brother started his successful career?"
Rael Cofort nodded. "We sank everything we had into our ships, and he expanded as quickly as he could."
Tau said, "I’ll admit, it’s disheartening when we start to build up some steam, then lose everything. Who knows how many Denlieth disasters are waiting in our future? At least we’d only lose half."
"That second ship would stand as security," Van Ryke added. "If we had to we could always sell her later. No matter where we are, a good ship is expensive and will bring a good price."
Jellico looked across the room at Rael. "Any opinion, Dr. Cofort?"
"What do Steen and Rip think?" she countered.
"I’ll go with the majority, Chief," Wilcox’s voice came promptly over the com. "But let me add this: if we expand, there are three apprentices and one jet tech who will be promoted at last, and each of them has earned it several times over."
Ali grinned, bowing toward the com grill. Dane felt his neck go hot, and he fought against the urge to tug at his collar.
"Of course that means we have to hire on new crew," Stotz put in with a frown. "That’s a tricky venture, particularly as we still have years to go on our embargo from Terraport. We can’t rely on Psycho to synch us up with good crew."
"With all due respect for Terra’s excellent psychological evaluative computers," Van Ryke said, "we have two equally excellent doctors aboard who ought to be able to screen possible employees."
Mura smiled wryly. "I’m less worried about finding good shipmates than I am about paying them."
Jellico looked up at Dane. "What do you say, Thorson?"
"If they’re Traders like us, they’ll go with staking their pay against getting better cargo. When we win, we all win."
"Well said, my boy." Van Ryke nodded genially. "If steady pay was our first priority, we’d all be cogs in one of the big Company drives. We don’t have to move at once—we can split crew and pilot both, as we did with the Space Wrack, for a time. But when we find likely prospects, if we are straightforward about our situation, we’ll get a straight answer. "