"In the flesh," Megarea replied. "I hope you'll enjoy your visit. We don't entertain often, so we're putting our best foot forward, and …"
The conversation rolled on, and neither Fuchien nor McSwain noticed when their eyes began to turn just a bit disoriented.
This, Alicia thought, was the strangest thing they'd tried yet. In her present, straitened condition, Tisiphone would have found herself hard put to weave an illusion half this complex. But she wasn't forced to weave it alone, for Megarea had opened a direct tap to the Fury, throwing her own tremendous capacity behind the spell like a gigantic amplifier that restored Tisiphone, however briefly, to the peak of her long lost power.
And with that aid, the Fury surpassed herself. She wove her web with consummate skill, ensnaring both her guests and extending a tendril of herself to Alicia, as well. It was an eerie sensation, even for one who had become accustomed to the bizarre, for Alicia inhabited three worlds at once. She saw once through her own senses, again through Megarea's internal sensors, and last of all, she shared her guests' illusion. She sat with them at supper, chatting with Megarea's other selves while the AI provided their conversation and Tisiphone gave them flesh, even as she sat alone with them at the table. It was almost terrifying, for it wasn't what the Fury had done to Lieutenant Giolitti. There would be no hazed memories or implanted suggestions. This was real. Backed by the AI's enormous power, Tisiphone took them all one step out of phase with the universe and made her reality theirs.
Nor was that all she did. There was no rush, and she plumbed Lewis Fuchien's memories to their depths, filing away every scrap of a fact which might be of use. By supper's end, they knew everything he did, and the merchant was convinced Captain Mainwaring's crew was perfect for his needs.
The meal ended, and the entire crew-except Tanner- "excused" itself to return to duty. Fuchien lifted his brandy and sipped appreciatively.
"Well, Captain Mainwaring, you and your people have not only met my standards but far exceeded my hopes. I believe we can do business."
"I'm delighted to hear it." Alicia sat back with her own brandy and smiled, then gestured at the empty chair which held her purser's ghost. "In that case, why don't you and I sit back while Ruth and Sondra do battle?"
"An excellent idea, Captain." Fuchien beamed. "Simply excellent."
Dewent dwindled in the galley view screen as Megarea's velocity mounted, and Alicia watched it while she tried to define her own emotions. A complex broth of anticipation, hunger, and fear-fear that she might yet blow her chance-simmered within her, and over it all lay a haze of excitement as she looked ahead to Wyvern, mingled with relief at leaving Dewent astern.
She still didn't like Fuchien, but neither did she dislike him as much as she had expected. He was as ambitious and credit-hungry as Jacoby, but without the other's outright evil. He knew of his associate's drug deals yet took no part in them, and while he suspected his Wyvern contact of fencing goods for the pirates terrorizing the sector, he himself had had no direct dealings with them. He disapproved of them, in a depressingly mild sort of way, yet it was unrealistic to expect more from him. He was a Dewentan, and servicing "outlaws" was what Dewent did. By his own lights, Lewis Fuchien was an admirable and honest businessman, and Alicia could almost understand that.
That was one reason she was glad to leave, for she didn't want to understand it. On a more pragmatic level, their departure meant her and her "crew's" deception only had to stand up for one last planet. Only one, and then she didn't care who knew. Fleet was welcome to pursue her. Indeed, she would welcome their pursuit if her flight could lead them to the pirates.
She leaned her elbows on the edge of the console, propping her chin in her hands and brooding down on the rapidly diminishing image, and let her mind reach out ahead. Wyvern. The planet Wyvern and a man named Oscar Quintana, Lieutenant Commander Defiant. Wyvern had a peculiar aristocracy, with no use for titles like "baron" or "count." Their ancestors had been naval officers-little more than freebooter refuse from the centuries-past League Wars, perhaps, but naval officers- and the ship name appended to Quintana's tide indicated that he sprang from one of the founding noble houses. Peculiar as it might sound to off-world ears, he'd be a powerful man, probably a proud and dangerous one, and it behooved her to approach him with caution.
"Hey," Megarea interrupted her thoughts, "don't get too bothered, Alley! If he knows what's good for him, he'll approach us with caution."
"True," Tisiphone seconded. "Indeed, Little One, unless we are much mistaken, this Quintana must be a direct contact for the ones we seek. If so, I shall turn him inside out with the greatest pleasure."
"You two are in a bloodthirsty mood," Alicia observed. "Or are you just worried that I'm getting ready to funk out?"
"Us?" Megarea was innocence itself. "Perish the thought."
"Sure." Alicia stood and yawned, stretching the tension from her shoulders and grateful to be distracted from her moodiness. "As a matter of fact, I'm not that worried over Quintana. If he's what we think he is, I hereby give you both carte blanche for anything we have to do to him."
"My thanks, Little One-not that I intended to wait upon your permission to deal harshly with such scum."
"Oh, yean? Harsh is okay with me, but remember- even if he's a direct link, we still need to get to the next step. I'm afraid that may limit what we can do to him. I mean, we couldn't even squash that slime Jacoby."
"Ah, funny you should mention that, Alley." Megarea's elaborately casual voice set off a clangor of warning bells, and Alicia's eyebrows rose.
"I know that tone," she said. "What've you been up to?"
"It wasn't just me," the AI said quickly. "I mean, I thought it was a great idea, but I couldn't have done it by myself."
"You fill me with dread-and you're stalling."
"It was your idea, Tis. Why don't you explain?"
"But I could not have accomplished it without your expertise, and you have a better grasp of the details, so perhaps you should explain." The Fury's tone was serious, yet Alicia felt her amusement. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the empty air.
"One of you had better trot it out, ladies!"
"Well, it's like this, Alley. You remember when we made that credit transfer and Tis and I raided Jacoby's data base?"
"Of course I do," Alicia said, then paused. "Did you horrid creatures put something into it? You didn't hit him with a virus, did you?"
"Of course not," Megarea said virtuously. "What a horrible idea! I'd never do something like that-not even to a fossil like that Jurgens Twelve of his. Not that it might not have been kinder. That relic should've been scrapped years ago, Alley. It's so stupid-"
"Quit stalling! What did you do?!"
"We didn't put a thing into it. Instead, we took something out."
"Besides the information on his distribution network?"
"Well, yes. I guess to be perfectly honest, we did put something in, but it's only a delayed extraction program."
"What kind of extraction program?"
"A starcom credit transfer."
"A credit transfer? You mean you robbed him?"
"If you want to put it that way. But we talked it over, and, personally, I think Tis was right. You can't really rob a thief, can you?"
"Of course you can rob a thief!" Alicia closed her eyes and flopped back into her chair. "I thought you were supposed to have my value system!"
"And so she does, but I am making some progress with her. Rather more than with you, in fact."
"I just bet you are," Alicia muttered, running her fingers through her hair. "All right, how much did you hit him for?"