But if she wanted to live long in this business, she was going to have to learn some caution. And some tact. He grinned, Sal had told him a few stories.
Bros liked Joat enough to want her to live a very long time indeed. He'd especially liked the Joat he'd met on the bridge of her ship; she'd been more spontaneous, more natural.
The universe would be a far less interesting place without that young woman in it.
He shook his head. The idea had been to lock up a loose cannon while he did the real work. Joat was supposed to merely observe. But having gotten a look at her style up close and personal, I wonder if she's even capable of doing something so passive as simply looking.
Nomik Ciety was involved with the Kolnari. To what degree Sperin had no idea. I suspect that he's up to his neck in them, he thought disgustedly. But Bros had long ago trained himself not to treat his suspicions as evidence. And if he is working with them he's being very discreet.
It was a calculated risk, sending her after a man like Ciety. Still, given his relatively exalted status on Rohan, he should be a perfect choice for Joat to investigate; a personage all but inaccessible to a lowly freighter captain on her first smuggling run.
And yet…
"Enough," Sperin said aloud. While she leaves a streak across the troposphere, I'll do my entry… nice and slow and inconspicuous.
Chapter Eight
"What was in those cargo modules?" Alvec asked.
Joat smiled and touched a control. A chime rang through the Wyal's bridge.
"Beyond gravity well limits," Rand's impersonal voice said. "Prepare for transition. Three minutes and counting."
"That's for me to know, and you to guess," she said smugly. "Got the destination data ready?"
"Schwartztarr system," Alvec said, tossing a datahedron in one hand. "Why do you want to stop there?"
"It's on the way… and I think it might be useful," she said.
"Ten seconds."
"You're the boss."
"Damned right. Prepare to cheat Einstein… now."
The Wyal twisted itself out of congruence with the sidereal universe.
Schwartztarr was the fourth planet of a G6 sun, a little brighter than Sol-standard. I've never seen Earth's sun, Joat thought idly as they dropped into normal space. Schwartztarr's star was pinpoint bright in the screens; the schematics showed the nine planets of the system and a running list of in-system traffic, interstellar ships, habitats and space-based fabricators.
Not very much, for a system that had been settled as long as this one. Surprisingly sparse, in fact, for a place with a settled planet bearing a breathable atmosphere. She called up data on the main screen.
Well, that explains it. Sort of large planet, gravity 1.2 standard, with a single large continent in the northern polar-to-temperate zone. Rather far out, so it was cold despite the active sun, and with a fairly steep axial tilt. Long cold winters, and the rest of the system was middling-average. The file showed a few scenes from those winters, and Joat shivered slightly, the reflex of someone who'd spent almost all of her life in the climate-controlled environment of ships and Stations. The people in the vid were wrapped up like bundles, with powered heaters underneath. Another shot showed something with eight short clawed legs, long white fur, red eyes and a head that was mostly mouth filled with long pointed teeth. Whatever-it-was was resting its front pair of legs on something much larger and dead, ripping chunks off and bolting them. Then it looked up at the camera and gave an amazing snarl, with its jaws open at least ninety degrees.
Joat shuddered again. "Remind me never to go outside on Schwartztarr," she said.
Joseph had come onto the bridge, toweling down his bare torso after a spell in the exerciser. Muscle rippled under the smooth olive skin of his chest as he stopped beside her command couch. Not bad, she thought. Joe was an uncle, so the thought was pretty theoretical-but Alvec caught her eye and winked.
"That beast looks like it would make interesting hunting," the Bethelite said, nodding to the screen.
Joat hid a grimace of distaste. Bethel was the boondocks, and they had some pretty grody customs there.
"But what," he went on, "is that fluffy white material all over the ground?"
"Snow," Alvec said, from the assistant/engineer's couch. At Joseph's raised eyebrow: "Flakes of frozen water that fall from the sky."
"Ah!" Joseph leaned further forward. "But why doesn't it melt?"
"Because the temperature is below the freezing point of water."
"The God preserve us!" he said. "I had heard of such things on high mountains, but…"
Joat glanced at him. The furrow of hard concern faded for a moment from between his eyes; he looked like a boy, smiling at wonders. It was only an instant, but it made the pain and worry more obvious when they returned.
"Hey, Boss," Alvec said. "What landing vector do y'want to cut?"
"Standard-Capriana Spaceport. There's not much else here, here. Rand's taking us in, it needs the practice."
"Rand?" Alvec's face went carefully blank.
"I fixed the program," she said defensively.
"We've worked on it together," Rand assured him, "I'm certain we've worked the bugs out of it. And I've studied several hundred landings by you and by Joat; I've also exchanged information with several other AIs of my acquaintance. I'm confident that all will be well this time."
"It's different from docking at a station," Alvec said nervously. "You do a real good station docking."
"Thank you," Rand said, its lights flickering blue.
"But I think one of us should co-pilot you until you get the landing stuff perfect. No offense."
"None taken." The AI's tones were always neutral, but that sounded a little flatter than usual.
"It'll be perfect, Al," Joat said through gritted teeth. "It wasn't even Rand's fault the last time, it was the way my program interfaced with that fardling, wonky…"
"Just in case…" he insisted.
"If you would not mind, Joat," Joseph put in delicately. "You understand… I travel by spaceship so seldom… the conversation has made me a little, ah…"
Joat shrugged. "Sure. OK."
"Why not use a commercial program?" Alvec grumbled, settling into his crash-couch and fastening the restraint harness. "There's dozens of 'em available. Cheap too!"
"Rand is unique," Joat said stiffly. "And I want it to stay that way."
"When it's my butt, I sort of like standard and tried and tested as opposed to unique. You know what I mean, Boss?"
"You trust me," she countered.
Alvec sighed. "You may be unique, Boss, but you've also got a license."
"Point taken," she said quietly. "And since I've already agreed to let you co-pilot, can we drop the subject?"
"So…" Alvec said into the silence that followed. "You managed to scare up a cargo after all, eh, Boss?"
"Yup."
After a long pause he asked, "So… what are we shippin'?"
There was a longer pause, then Joat answered: "Laser tube guides."
"Lasers?"
"Yup."
"You're shipping laser tubes to Schwartztarr?"
"Yup."
"You're kidding?"
"What is it?" Joseph asked. "What is wrong?"