Read Online Shadow Man (Paragons of Queer Speculative Fiction) by Melissa Scott - Free Book Online Page B

planet's fierce
sun--could have passed for an indigene, Tatian thought, not for the
first time, if it weren't for the vivid blue eyes. At the moment,
those eyes were very worried, and Tatian wondered just what he'd
been up to. As Wiidfare had implied, Reiss hung out in the trade bars
and dance houses; if he was in trouble, it would involve sex. But if
he wasn't selling permits, it was no one's business but his own.
    "Do you know anything
about a tech named Starli?" he asked, and saw Reiss's shoulders
slump fractionally. "She's a Massingberd, I'm told."
    "Yeah, I know her."
In spite of himself, Reiss sounded surprised, and Tatian hoped
whatever trouble he was in wouldn't come home to the company.
    "Is she any good?
Good enough to work on my implants, I mean." Tatian touched his
wrist. He had been complaining about the bad connection for a month
now.
    Reiss tilted his head
to one side, an indigene's gesture. "Starli's very good, but
she is local. She's not licensed to work on the full suite, just on
the stuff the kittereen drivers carry."
    "Would she work on
mine?" Tatian asked. They all knew, and Reiss better than most, as
involved as he was in the jet-car races, how expensive it could be to
get the necessary certifications. A lot of indigene techs just didn't
bother to get the higher-level, more costly papers, but still had the
necessary skills to handle the implants. The trick was finding the
ones who were genuinely competent.
    "She might," Reiss
said. "She doesn't have a lot of use for off-worlders. But if she
agreed, she'd do a good job. Where'd you hear about her, anyway?"
    "I ran into someone
at the courthouse," Tatian answered. "Literally. We ended up
talking, and I mentioned I needed some work done. And 3e
mentioned Starli."
    "Did you get a name?
It might be somebody I know."
    "Warreven. Ȝe's
a Stiller."
    Reiss grinned. "I
know Raven. He's a big kittereen fan--I was surprised I didn't see him up at Irenfot, but I guess
if he was in court, that explains it."
    "What's 3e
do?" Tatian asked. He still hadn't gotten used to Reiss's habit
of translating the indigenes' two genders into normal speech.
    "He--sorry, 3e's
an Important Man." Reiss used the franca words, switched back to creole. "Ȝe
and a couple of 3er
cousins, they're advocates. They specialize in trade cases,
defending prostitutes, marijaks ,
you know. Lately, I heard they were taking on a couple of labor
brokers for fraudulent hiring."
    "That's going to
win 3im friends," Tatian
said. The labor brokers were under Temelathe's direct
protection--were licensed by him personally--and were one of the
more lucrative parts of the Most Important Man's private empire.
Temelathe's power might technically be based on his position as
Speaker of the Watch Council, and indirectly on his status as the
direct heir of Captain Stane, but the money that supported all that
came from off-world sources.
    "Oh, yeah," Reiss
said, "and that's not the best of it, either. You know who one of
3er partners is?"
    Tatian shook his head.
    "Haliday Stiller."
    Tatian shook his head
again. The name was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.
    "You remember,"
Reiss said, with a hint of impatience. "Ȝe
took the clan to court, all the way to the Watch Council, over
whether 3e could register
as a herm."
    "That was before my
time," Tatian said. But he did remember the talk; the case had been
only a few years old when he first came to Hara. Haliday Stiller had
demanded the right to call 3imself
a herm on legal documents, and the Watch Council, officially the
highest indigenous authority, and Temelathe's puppet, had not only
refused to allow it, but, for good measure, had reassigned Haliday's
legal gender, decreeing that, since 3e
wouldn't choose, the proverbial "reasonable man" would see 3im
as a woman. But the person he had seen with Warreven had definitely
been male--and the name was Malemayn, he remembered suddenly. "Would
Starli do the work if you introduced me? I need to get it done soon."
    "I