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Authors: Anne McCaffrey, Margaret Ball
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and were pretending deep interest in a round of SPACED OUT.
"What—do you want?"
"Cooperation," Polyon said. "Only a little —.
cooperation."
Blindly, drowning in a sea of air that somehow gave her nothing to breathe, Alpha turned her face up to meet Polyon's parted lips.
"Not that sort of cooperation," Polyon told her, laughing gently, "not yet," His eyes measured her with a cold glance that made her more afraid than ever —
and, somehow, more excited too. "Maybe later, if you're a good girl. You were too uppity before, you know that, Alpha? Now you're the way I like my women. Quiet. And respectful. Stay that way, and we won't have to discuss any—ah—painful subjects with the others. Come with me and follow my lead. That's all I expect of you — for now."
Submissive, head bowed, Alpha drifted towards the three SPACED OUT gamers in Polyon's wake. They were still pretending to be totally involved in the game, but she felt sure they had avidly witnessed her humiliation.
She would pay them back. That was certain, she vowed. Fassa, Darnell, Blaize — they would all learn not to laugh at her.
She didn't even think of retaliating against Polyon.
/
Nancia quietly transferred the recording of the scene she'd just witnessed to an offline storage hedron.
Having those bits in her system made her feel... dirty.
As if she were somehow implicated in Polyon's sadistic games.
Perhaps she should have interfered. But how ...
and why? Alpha was just as bad as Polyon, worse even, to judge from what he'd revealed of her unauthorized PARTNERSHIP
medical experiments. The two of them deserved each other. Blaize was the only one of the bunch she would care to talk to. The litde redhead reminded her of Flix __- and unlike the others, he didn't seem to have anything wrong with him that a few years away from family pressures wouldn't cure.
And what, exactly, Tvitt you say if you do interrupt? Nancia couldn't answer her own question. She was a Courier Service Ship, not a diplomat! She wasn't supposed to interfere with her passengers! She should have had a brawn on board — an experienced brawn —
to break up nasty scenes like the one she'd just witnessed, to keep these spoiled young passengers happy and away from one another's throats for the two weeks of the trip. It's not fair! Not on my very first voyage!
But there was nobody to hear her plaint. They were still five days away from Singularity and the decomposition into Vega subspace.
At least I can keep evidence recordings going, Nancia thought grimly. If one of the little brats drives another over the edge, there'll be plenty ofdatahedra to show what happened. But at the moment, the five passengers seemed to be getting along reasonably well. Perhaps his sadistic games with Alpha had momentarily satiated Polyon's need for command and control; he had taken a play icon and seemed absorbed in that silly role-playing game. Nancia relaxed . . . but she kept her datacorders running.
•CHAPTER FOUR
"Why can't I get past the Wingdrake of Wisdom?"
Darnell griped. He had chosen Bonecrush again, but his mighty-thewed play icon was backed into a corner where a winged serpent hissed menacingly at him every time he tried to move.
"You should have bought some intelligence for Bonecrush at the Little Shop of Spiritual Enlightenment," Polyon commented. His fingers flicked carelessly at the screen as he spoke, sending Thingberry the Martian Mage to spin an apparently pointless web in the night sky above Asteroid 66.
"I didn't know you could buy intelligence." DarneU's lower lip protruded in a definite pout "That wasn't in the rule book."
"A lot of things aren't in the rule book," Polyon said,
"including most of what you need to survive. And information is always for sale... if you know the right price. Anything from the secrets of Singularity to the origins of planet names."
"Oh. Encyclopedias. Libraries, Anybody can buy the Galactic Datasource on fast-hedra,"
"What—do you want?"
"Cooperation," Polyon said. "Only a little —.
cooperation."
Blindly, drowning in a sea of air that somehow gave her nothing to breathe, Alpha turned her face up to meet Polyon's parted lips.
"Not that sort of cooperation," Polyon told her, laughing gently, "not yet," His eyes measured her with a cold glance that made her more afraid than ever —
and, somehow, more excited too. "Maybe later, if you're a good girl. You were too uppity before, you know that, Alpha? Now you're the way I like my women. Quiet. And respectful. Stay that way, and we won't have to discuss any—ah—painful subjects with the others. Come with me and follow my lead. That's all I expect of you — for now."
Submissive, head bowed, Alpha drifted towards the three SPACED OUT gamers in Polyon's wake. They were still pretending to be totally involved in the game, but she felt sure they had avidly witnessed her humiliation.
She would pay them back. That was certain, she vowed. Fassa, Darnell, Blaize — they would all learn not to laugh at her.
She didn't even think of retaliating against Polyon.
/
Nancia quietly transferred the recording of the scene she'd just witnessed to an offline storage hedron.
Having those bits in her system made her feel... dirty.
As if she were somehow implicated in Polyon's sadistic games.
Perhaps she should have interfered. But how ...
and why? Alpha was just as bad as Polyon, worse even, to judge from what he'd revealed of her unauthorized PARTNERSHIP
medical experiments. The two of them deserved each other. Blaize was the only one of the bunch she would care to talk to. The litde redhead reminded her of Flix __- and unlike the others, he didn't seem to have anything wrong with him that a few years away from family pressures wouldn't cure.
And what, exactly, Tvitt you say if you do interrupt? Nancia couldn't answer her own question. She was a Courier Service Ship, not a diplomat! She wasn't supposed to interfere with her passengers! She should have had a brawn on board — an experienced brawn —
to break up nasty scenes like the one she'd just witnessed, to keep these spoiled young passengers happy and away from one another's throats for the two weeks of the trip. It's not fair! Not on my very first voyage!
But there was nobody to hear her plaint. They were still five days away from Singularity and the decomposition into Vega subspace.
At least I can keep evidence recordings going, Nancia thought grimly. If one of the little brats drives another over the edge, there'll be plenty ofdatahedra to show what happened. But at the moment, the five passengers seemed to be getting along reasonably well. Perhaps his sadistic games with Alpha had momentarily satiated Polyon's need for command and control; he had taken a play icon and seemed absorbed in that silly role-playing game. Nancia relaxed . . . but she kept her datacorders running.
•CHAPTER FOUR
"Why can't I get past the Wingdrake of Wisdom?"
Darnell griped. He had chosen Bonecrush again, but his mighty-thewed play icon was backed into a corner where a winged serpent hissed menacingly at him every time he tried to move.
"You should have bought some intelligence for Bonecrush at the Little Shop of Spiritual Enlightenment," Polyon commented. His fingers flicked carelessly at the screen as he spoke, sending Thingberry the Martian Mage to spin an apparently pointless web in the night sky above Asteroid 66.
"I didn't know you could buy intelligence." DarneU's lower lip protruded in a definite pout "That wasn't in the rule book."
"A lot of things aren't in the rule book," Polyon said,
"including most of what you need to survive. And information is always for sale... if you know the right price. Anything from the secrets of Singularity to the origins of planet names."
"Oh. Encyclopedias. Libraries, Anybody can buy the Galactic Datasource on fast-hedra,"
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