"My boss will get tetchy if I don't come back with a deal," Keff said, plaintively, his hands spread in appeal. Bisman crossed his arms. Out of the corner of his eye, Keff could see the crew on the move again. "No, eh?"
"Too bad," Bisman was saying. "You tell him he's accidentally impinged on hazardous territory."
"She," Keff corrected him. "You wouldn't believe how tough the broad is at the center of the Circuit. Your threats would make her laugh out loud."
"Oh, Keff, I love it!" Carialle's chuckle sounded in his ear. "Tell him it's a neural-synaptic network, which means we're never far away from the active arm of our organization."
Keff passed on Carialle's words, and enjoyed the puzzled look on the pirates' faces as the two did mental translations. Bisman, at least, came up empty.
"What's this tough broad's name?" the older man asked.
"Carialle."
"Carialle what?"
"None of your business," Keff said, nonchalantly, raising his eyebrows.
"It is if we're going to do business with you," Bisman said.
"And who says you are?" Keff asked. "You want me off what you call your patch. Who in the frosty void do you think you are?"
"Look," Bisman said, suddenly looking bored with him. "I don't talk to underlings. I want to talk to this Carialle."
"Hmmm… Might be arranged," Keff said.
"I want a meeting. You can arrange it."
"Well, I'll see what I can do," Keff said, bending down to accept a bag of circuit boards from one of the loader robots. He glanced up at Thunderstorm and the young apprentice from the pirate ship. The older Thelerie had an anxious look on his face.
"Fine, fine," Keff called, waving to the Sayas. "I'll put the value down on a slate for you. Keep looking! You never know if you'll find something else you like." He smiled at Bisman. "It may take some time to get a message through to Carialle, but I'll send one right away and tell her you want to talk with her."
"Face-to-face," Bisman said, tapping Keff painfully in the middle of the chest once for every syllable.
While Keff stood there thoughtfully rubbing his chest, Bisman hustled Mirina away. He grabbed Thunderstorm by a claw on the way by.
"Your pavilion," he hissed. "Now!"
Thunderstorm loped unhappily behind them over the stony ground. Mirina could feel the storm of fury growing, but Bisman didn't let fly until they were safely under the roof.
"You're avoiding me," Bisman snapped, rounding at once on the Thelerie. Waving a finger under Thunderstorm's nose, he backed the Sayas up until he bumped into his own desk sling. "Don't try to deny it. I've known you too long. I told you we had stuff for you. You should be buying from us, and only us."
"Tell us about this man," Mirina said, more kindly. The Thelerie looked from one human to the other, clattering his claws together nervously. He settled over the sling and continued tapping his fingertips on the desktop until Bisman glared at him to stop.
"This Keff landed here one day. He said he had goods we might like. And so we do!" Thunderstorm said, miserably. "Things that the Melange has been unable to get for many years, are here! You see the temptation is great. And others saw him before I did, so I could not hide him. They like these goods."
"I understand that," Bisman said. "He's got a few things I might take myself. What I'm talking about is no apprentices. You must have some about ready to ship out. Where are they?"
"I… I do not have any I am ready to send. There is more to know."
"Haven't they memorized the Manual?" Mirina asked, puzzled.
"Oh, yes," Thunderstorm said, at once. "In that they are proficient."
"Then what's the hangup?" Bisman asked, banging a fist on the desk. "You know what kind of rewards there are in space travel."
"Yes," Thunderstorm replied, more thoughtfully than usual. "I know."
"So why are you being cagey with us?"
"The air is bad in ships," Thunderstorm said suddenly. "The old ones who I see have weakness in the thorax from lack of elemental acids."
"Chlorine?" Mirina asked.
"Yes," Thunderstorm said.
"Hell, then we'll work out a medical system. Miri… no, I'll work something out," Bisman said, dismissing Mirina. She glared, then realized she had no right to complain. He'd accepted her resignation, and he was letting her go.
"It will still take time before any are ready," Thunderstorm said, timidly. "The training continues."
Bisman walked to the entrance of the pavilion. "Next time I won't take no for an answer, Thunder. There are ships out there who need Thelerie apprentices. Just remember who your friends are." With an apologetic glance back at the terrified Thelerie, Mirina followed him out.
Bisman reported the conversation to the others on the ship. The reivers clustered in the galley grumbled about another setback.
"Dammit, this tears the trip out to Sungali," Glashton said. "Hannah had a collection for us. It's not worth burning the fuel if we have to turn around and bring her a navigator on a separate trip."
"At least we can't blame this problem on the trader," Mirina said.
"No, dammit, but he might have said something that set them off," Bisman said, with growing heat. He kicked a battered cabinet door, adding a black bootmark to the damage he'd done it in hundreds of other temper tantrums. Mirina wouldn't miss that part of Aldon Bisman at all.
"Perhaps he's tired of talking to the families of the ones who don't come home again," she said, pointedly.
"Shut up!" Bisman said, rounding on her. "You want out anyhow. This isn't any of your business anymore." He slammed his hand on the countertop. "I've got to find the pressure point, get Thunder back into line, and soon. These Thelerie are a hell of a lot of trouble."
"Well, why are we bothering to go to so much trouble for them, then?" Zonzalo said with disgust.
"Because the soulfrigging flying barnacles can't get lost, that's why," Bisman exploded. "You know that, you young idiot. They always know their way back home, and everywhere in proportion to home. It happened to me once, being lost without a navigator. I never want that to happen again. Wandering lost in eternity may appeal to you, but it scares me juiceless!"
"And there's the fuel," Mirina said thoughtfully. "I didn't see any Thelerie merchandise out on that field. Did Keff spot the refinery and offer to trade for a tankload?"
"Whatever it is doesn't matter," Bisman said. "We find out what there is to know about this Circuit, and what defenses this Keff is packing in that pretty ship of his. He'll get a meeting set up with this Carialle, and I'll strangle him in front of her as a lesson to stay out of our way."
"And then what?" Mirina asked.
"Then we take care of all of the Circuit," Bisman said. "We've got the Slime Ball, remember?"
"Who knows how many there'll be?" Mirina asked. "The Ball could overheat any day, and then we'll have nothing."
"We've got more than sixty ships and enough armament to carpet a planet," Bisman said offhandedly. "I'll start calling 'em in right away. If he wants to make this system the prize in a blood game, we'll oblige him."
"I don't want the Thelerie hurt!" Mirina said, alarmed at the idea.
"Shut up," Bisman said, facing her down. "Either help, or get out of the way. You're just waiting for an offworld ship now, right?"
It stung, but Mirina had asked for it. "Right," she said. She rose and stalked out of the galley. Zonzalo got up to follow her, but his footsteps stopped at the hatchway. Mirina went back to her cabin alone.
"Are they gone?" Keff asked the air.
"Sealed up in their wretched ship," Carialle said. "They might have a passive scan on you, but it's nothing I'm picking up. Their telemetry equipment is as haphazard as their engines."