“Why?”
“The Prima wasn’t supposed to have any rights in deep space. My father didn’t approve of other people breaking the law. Just him. Jesus, that was an awful voyage. My father took such a hate to Tanuojin—Tajin had worked for Melleno. Then when we got back to Uranus, Tajin went to Melleno and they mended their quarrel and he wrote a law for Melleno putting a 100 per cent tax on goods stolen from Styth hulls and sold in Styth markets. They took all the profit out of piracy. It almost ruined the fleet.”
She looked out the window at the ringed Planet. The shadow of one of its moons lay on the golden surface of the clouds. “What was your father’s name?”
“Yekaka. It fitted him, too.” The name meant loudmouth. “Do you want to go down to Saturn-Keda?”
“Oh. Yes. Can I? Will you take me?”
“If you promise to keep quiet.”
She looked out at the Planet. The surface was patterned in whorls and streamers of clouds, changing shape while she watched, changing hue. “I promise.”
“Good. It’ll give you an idea what Matuko is like.”
The yellow light shone over the side of his face. She put her hand on his legs, lying beside her. “I want to name the baby David.”
“David. What kind of a name is that? It sounds like a girl’s name. Call him Vida. It’s the same thing. Vida—David.”
“Then you call him Vida, and I’ll call him David.”
He played with her fingers. His claws tapped her palm. “What else?”
“Does there have to be more?”
“Most shirt-names are a little more elaborate. Nobody ever uses it.” He manipulated her fingers.
“What’s a shirt-name? Ouch.”
He pulled her hand up and kissed her palm and rubbed his cheek over the flat of her hand. Her palm stung where the claw had pricked her.
“When the baby is born I wrap him up in my shirt and take him outdoors, so that people can see I accept him as mine, and I give him his name.”
“What’s your shirt-name?”
“Takoret-aSaba. ‘He knows the right way.’ My father liked righteous names. He was always telling me to live up to my name.” He laughed, his hand up to his chin, his face painted in Saturn’s yellow light. “I knew all the wrong ways.”
“Does the name have to mean something?”
“No.”
“Good. Then David Mendoza.” She put her hand on her rounding body. “What’s Tanuojin’s shirt-name?”
“He hasn’t got one. He’s an orphan. The people who brought him up found him in the street when he was barely old enough to walk. They already had eight boys, so they named him ‘the ninth boy.’” His voice broadened with pride. “He started from point. He had nothing.”
“He still has very little.”
Someone banged on the hatch below her. She moved out of the way. He opened the hatch, and Tanuojin’s head and shoulders rose through the round entry. He gave Saturn a glance and ignored Paula.
“Here.” He thrust a watchboard and a stylus at Saba. “Did you call Melleno?”
“I will now.” Saba wrote on the board. He took a slide calculator out of his sleeve. “She is going with us.”
Paula moved back against the wall, out of their way. Tanuojin took the board again. “Why?”
“Make sure you clear that orbit with Titan. You’re in my way.”
Tanuojin backed out of the hatch. Saba went out. Paula started after him and the other man blocked the hatch.
“No, Saba, let me talk to her.”
Paula withdrew into the darkness, her back to the giant Planet. Through the hatch came a short laugh. “Talk all you want.”
Tanuojin came into the cramped space after her. She stayed as far away from him as she could. Her fingers went to her breast. “What do you want?”
“I’ll ask the questions. Look over there.” He gestured to one side and put out his other hand. She recoiled.
“Don’t touch me.”
The Planet glared over his long face, his catfish jaw. The hatch was below him. She could not escape. He said, “Do as I say. Look over there. I’m just going to touch you.”
“No.”
He lowered his hand. “What are you afraid of?” His voice was unsettlingly deep. “Are you afraid of me?”
“Yes.”
He spun over the hatch wheel and pushed the cover away into the corridor. “Get out. You stink like pig.”
She went out the hatch and down the corridor; she did not stop until she was in the red tunnel, two hatches from her room.
She spent ten minutes in the wetroom, scrubbing herself on the walls. Washing her face was fun, although the soap stung her eyes. Thinking about Tanuojin made her uncomfortable. When he had healed her she had been so groggy she could hardly remember what had happened. She rubbed soap into her hair and rinsed it in the water streaming along the wall.
“Are you in there?” A fist banged on the watch below her feet.
“Yes.”
“Come out and get dressed, if you want to go to Saturn-Keda.”
She crawled into the gusty warmth of the dryer and went out to the room. The cold roughened her skin. She took out a fresh pair of overalls.
“Put on something fancy. You can’t go like that.”
She got her suitcase out of the long compartment in the wall. “Why are you taking me, anyway?”
“I told you. I’m civilizing you.” He was stripping off his uniform.
It would be cold in Saturn-Keda. She put on overalls and the long black dress An Chu had made for her, which had a coat that went with it. The layers of skirts floated around her, glinting with silver threads.
“How do I look?” She turned around, and the many layers of the dress swirled around her. She put the coat on.
“You look fine. One more thing.” He floated in front of her, standing up the collar of the coat. “Decent women don’t go out in public in Styth with their faces uncovered.”
She slid back away from him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you go veiled.”
“No.”
“Do you want to go or not?”
She watched him, angry, while he opened a bin and got out a length of black cloth. He wrapped it around her head and draped it over her face, tucking the excess down under the collar of the coat.
“Good,” he said. “That will do fine.”
She turned away, humiliated.
They went through the tunnels to the docking chamber. He let her take the veil off while they flew to Saturn-Keda. Tanuojin was already in the chamber, pulling on a black pressure suit. Saba led her to the rack in the wall. He helped her put on a space suit. It was Sril’s, who overstood her by fourteen inches. She pulled the thick leggings up until her feet reached the bottom, and he tied the slack around her knees.
“I did some tuning on this suit, and we’ll launch soft. You ought to be comfortable most of the time.” He showed her the helmet, a smoky plastic cylinder. “You wear this until I say you can take it off.”
She took the helmet in her arms. He gave her a pair of gloves. “Tanuojin! Plug her in.”
Ybicso’s hatch was wide open. Paula poked her head through into the narrow cockpit of the ship. Three tandem seats took up most of the space. Tanuojin came around the last, took the helmet away from her, and pushed her into the middle seat. He reached past her and pulled a shoulder harness around her. Floating sideways, he uncoiled a white tube from under the seat and fixed it to a socket in the suit leg behind her knee.
“Put the gloves on.”
She put her hands into the enormous gloves. Saba came into the ship, massive in his suit. He dropped into the front seat. Its high back hid him from her. Tanuojin tugged the gloves down over her wrists and strapped them tight. She looked him in the face. His yellow eyes were notched with brown. He put the helmet over her head. The smoked plastic darkened her sight.