Odd Girl Out

"They shouldn't be able to at all," Rebekah said. "The way we sense ordinary Modhran coral is like—well, think of a low-pitched hum like some machines make. You can hear it a long ways away, but it's really hard to figure out where exactly it's coming from. We could tell if there was an outpost aboard the train, or maybe only that it was just somewhere in the station. But that would be all."

"And that's the way the Modhri would sense your coral, too?" I asked.

Rebekah shrugged helplessly. "We assume so. We don't know for sure."

"But that would make sense," Bayta said. "Why else would the Modhri have needed to bring in specially designed Filiaelians to find her?"

"That's good enough for me," I declared. Actually, whether it was good enough or not, it was probably all we were going to get. "Bayta, is there room for us on the coreward-bound Quadrail coming through in ninety minutes?"

Her eyes defocused briefly "Yes, there are two adjoining compartments available," she confirmed.

"Book 'em for us," I ordered. "Then—"

"Wait a minute," she interrupted, frowning in concentration. "The stationmaster says there should be a tender along soon, one that's set up for normal people."

"Really," I said, frowning in turn. Tenders were workhorse trains, typically two or three cars with an engine on each end so they could move in either direction without having to go to a station or siding to turn around. Normally, the cars were stuffed with equipment and spare track and Spiders, without any of the conveniences that Quadrail passengers usually demanded, such as food, restroom facilities, and a constant supply of oxygen.

But the Spiders did have a few tenders that had been tricked out for passengers. Bayta and I had traveled on them a couple of times. If there was one in the vicinity, it would be the perfect way to avoid the Modhri on our way to Sibbrava. "When's it due?" I asked.

"About twenty hours," she said.

I shook my head. "No good. In twenty hours half the transfer station personnel will be over here waving papers calling for my arrest on triple murder charges."

"But they won't be able to arrest you," Bayta pointed out. "Not in here."

"Maybe not, but they'll sure be able to sit on me long enough to get my prints and biometrics and send them to Earth for a solid ID," I reminded her. "The minute all that gets cross-linked to my real name and the circumstances around Lorelei's death in New York come to light, I might as well kiss the Terran Confederation good-bye as far as a retirement home is concerned. Forget the tender—we'll just take the next train."

"All right," Bayta said. She wasn't any happier about the situation than I was, I could tell. But I wouldn't be of any use to the Spiders and the war against the Modhri doing four or five life sentences for a bunch of murders I hadn't even committed. "We're confirmed aboard."

"Good," I said. "By the way, which direction is the tender coming from?"

"From rimward," Bayta said. "It's somewhere in the Greesovra area."

One of the worlds of the Bellidosh Estates-General, and the opposite direction from the way we were going. No chance then of rendezvousing with it somewhere along our way.

Unless we took the next Quadrail headed back in that direction, met the tender at Helvanti or one of the minor Belldic colonies, and switched ourselves and our cargo aboard there.

But a glance at the holodisplay torpedoed that one. The next Quadrail heading rimward wasn't due for another twelve hours, which was no better than the twenty it would take the tender to get here under its own steam. "So that's settled," I said briskly. "Let's get this crate unpacked and send the boxes of coral to wherever the Spiders keep lockboxes until they're ready to be loaded aboard."

"Do we just dump the crate completely, then?" Bayta asked.

I looked at the approaching Spiders. "No, let's leave the three brandy boxes inside and have the crate loaded in the luggage car as Rebekah originally planned. When the Customs man back on the transfer station gets questioned about the murders, he'll probably mention we took a crate out with us."

"He'll also tell them there were just some boxes of brandy inside," Bayta pointed out.

"Which no one will believe," I said, pulling out my reader. "The more eyes pointed at it, the fewer pointed at us. What's a good stop on the Kalalee Branch, something well past Sibbrava?"

Bayta looked over my shoulder. "Benedais would work," she suggested, pointing at a spot on my Quadrail map. "It's reasonably large and quite cosmopolitan."

"Benedais it is," I agreed. "Have the Spiders label the crate for Benedais. While you're at it, have them make us up another half-dozen labels for a few other random locations."

"Which we can put over the Benedais one if we need to?" Bayta asked.

"Exactly," I said. "The more effort we can put into making the crate look vitally important to us, the better our chances of keeping the Modhri focused on it until we're ready to slip Rebekah and the coral off the train."

I looked at Rebekah. She had a rather doubtful look on her face, clearly wondering about the possibility of keeping a group mind focused in only a single direction at all. But she merely nodded agreement. "Whatever you think is best, Mr. Compton," she said.

"That's the spirit," I said. "Okay, then. Let's get to it."