armed?”
“I’ve no reason to lie to you. I’ve a belt-mounted energy weapon and a couple of older-model but quite adequate projectile launchers. Not enough to threaten a small peaceforcer, but more than enough to reduce you to scrap.”
“Do that, and you don’t get your new pet.”
From her favorite perch on a tree sculpture fashioned of metallic glass fibers Pip looked up curiously. Since her master was projecting no fear, she relaxed.
Tired, Flinx thought. So tired. And not a little fed up. How could he contemplate doing anything for humanxkind if humanxkind wouldn’t leave him alone?
“All right. If it’s that important to you . . . I can’t believe you’d really use spatial weaponry in close orbit around an inhabited world.”
“At this range? Why not? Ships have ‘accidents’ all the time. A small electrical interrupt, someone fiddling with the wrong control; easy enough to explain an incident away. Money mutes any complaint. But why should any of that be necessary? Do us both a favor: save me credit and yourself your life.”
Flinx couldn’t sense directly what the other man was feeling, but he had a reasonably good idea: the small sensation of triumph, the juvenile feeling of satisfaction, self-elevation at the expense of another. It was all so discouraging and predictable.
“I’ll get my shuttle ready,” he told the other man. “You’re still going to pay, of course.”
“Certainly.” Coerlis smiled as widely as he could. “Why make trouble? If you have friends with resources enough to give you a ship like that, they might come looking for me if anything happened to you. I don’t want the aggravation; just the flying snake.”
“I’m secured for changeover. It’ll take a couple of minutes to prepare for an exchange of shuttles.”
“I’ll wait.” Coerlis was more than agreeable. “Meanwhile don’t think about trying to boost. We’re much too close for you to try a run. If you don’t believe me, check with your computer.”
Flinx had no idea how accurate or efficient Coerlis’s weapons systems were. He doubted they were any more effective than his own, but he had no intention of surprising the merchant by selectively destroying a portion of his vessel, for example its drive components. Such activity would be detected by orbital monitors and the
Teacher
would be permanently identified and marked for attention by Commonwealth and Church authorities.
“I’ll take any universal credit chit.” Flinx made conversation while the
Teacher
made ready. “We can run it through a neutral ground-based system.”
“Sure.” Despite the obvious exertion, Coerlis was unable to be truly cheerful.
“Shuttle will depart in five minutes.”
“Three.” Coerlis smiled relentlessly.
“All right: three.” Flinx terminated transmission and turned toward the omnidirectional voice recognition pickup. “
Teacher
, I want drive activation in three minutes.”
“Difficult.” Lights flickered on the layout before Flinx. Pip stirred slightly but remained on her perch, wings furled against her blue, pink, and green body.
“It may also be necessary to engage in evasive action,” Flinx added. “We have been threatened by the KK-drive vessel nearest to us.”
“The situation is understood, sir.” Flinx’s chair quivered beneath him.
Coerlis’s voice grated over the wide-open corn, restive and suspicious. “You’re moving. What’s going on?”
“Adjusting attitude. My shuttle’s low on fuel and you’re a fair ways off. Check your own readouts. I’m moving toward you, not away.”
A pause, then, “So you are. Take it easy.”
“Relax. I’m entirely on automatics. Do I look old enough to you to handle manual piloting?”
“All right, but no tricks.”
“What tricks?” Flinx replied. “The closer I come, the simpler it is for your weapons systems to target me.”
“Just don’t forget that,” Coerlis replied testily. He subsided a little when Flinx
“I’ve no reason to lie to you. I’ve a belt-mounted energy weapon and a couple of older-model but quite adequate projectile launchers. Not enough to threaten a small peaceforcer, but more than enough to reduce you to scrap.”
“Do that, and you don’t get your new pet.”
From her favorite perch on a tree sculpture fashioned of metallic glass fibers Pip looked up curiously. Since her master was projecting no fear, she relaxed.
Tired, Flinx thought. So tired. And not a little fed up. How could he contemplate doing anything for humanxkind if humanxkind wouldn’t leave him alone?
“All right. If it’s that important to you . . . I can’t believe you’d really use spatial weaponry in close orbit around an inhabited world.”
“At this range? Why not? Ships have ‘accidents’ all the time. A small electrical interrupt, someone fiddling with the wrong control; easy enough to explain an incident away. Money mutes any complaint. But why should any of that be necessary? Do us both a favor: save me credit and yourself your life.”
Flinx couldn’t sense directly what the other man was feeling, but he had a reasonably good idea: the small sensation of triumph, the juvenile feeling of satisfaction, self-elevation at the expense of another. It was all so discouraging and predictable.
“I’ll get my shuttle ready,” he told the other man. “You’re still going to pay, of course.”
“Certainly.” Coerlis smiled as widely as he could. “Why make trouble? If you have friends with resources enough to give you a ship like that, they might come looking for me if anything happened to you. I don’t want the aggravation; just the flying snake.”
“I’m secured for changeover. It’ll take a couple of minutes to prepare for an exchange of shuttles.”
“I’ll wait.” Coerlis was more than agreeable. “Meanwhile don’t think about trying to boost. We’re much too close for you to try a run. If you don’t believe me, check with your computer.”
Flinx had no idea how accurate or efficient Coerlis’s weapons systems were. He doubted they were any more effective than his own, but he had no intention of surprising the merchant by selectively destroying a portion of his vessel, for example its drive components. Such activity would be detected by orbital monitors and the
Teacher
would be permanently identified and marked for attention by Commonwealth and Church authorities.
“I’ll take any universal credit chit.” Flinx made conversation while the
Teacher
made ready. “We can run it through a neutral ground-based system.”
“Sure.” Despite the obvious exertion, Coerlis was unable to be truly cheerful.
“Shuttle will depart in five minutes.”
“Three.” Coerlis smiled relentlessly.
“All right: three.” Flinx terminated transmission and turned toward the omnidirectional voice recognition pickup. “
Teacher
, I want drive activation in three minutes.”
“Difficult.” Lights flickered on the layout before Flinx. Pip stirred slightly but remained on her perch, wings furled against her blue, pink, and green body.
“It may also be necessary to engage in evasive action,” Flinx added. “We have been threatened by the KK-drive vessel nearest to us.”
“The situation is understood, sir.” Flinx’s chair quivered beneath him.
Coerlis’s voice grated over the wide-open corn, restive and suspicious. “You’re moving. What’s going on?”
“Adjusting attitude. My shuttle’s low on fuel and you’re a fair ways off. Check your own readouts. I’m moving toward you, not away.”
A pause, then, “So you are. Take it easy.”
“Relax. I’m entirely on automatics. Do I look old enough to you to handle manual piloting?”
“All right, but no tricks.”
“What tricks?” Flinx replied. “The closer I come, the simpler it is for your weapons systems to target me.”
“Just don’t forget that,” Coerlis replied testily. He subsided a little when Flinx
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