Acorna's Rebels Anne Mccaffrey

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the recessed buttons in the desk console. "Rafik,

go on ahead. I'll bring this one—keep her under

my eye so that she doesn't get any ideas about

calling Security." He hauled Eva Glatt to her feet

and clamped his free hand over her mouth.

"Calum," Rafik interjected, "we do not have

time to drag a captive •with us. And we do not

wish to alarm our guard." Eva Glatt's eyes rolled

up in her head as he approached and she sagged

limply against Calum's arm.

"Well, that's solved," said Calum with relief.

"She's fainted."

"No," Rafik said, "just weak with fear. I apol-

ogize for this," he told Eva, who was now feebly

struggling again, "but we do not have access to

your more scientific methods of quieting people."

His fist tapped her forehead, so quickly she could

hardly have seen the blow coming, and this time

she fell back in the complete relaxation of true

unconsciousness.

Gill and the girl who'd offered to guide them

were some distance ahead when they came out of

the office, walking at a pace just short of a jog

through the long curving corridor to the left.

Rafik and Calum ran and caught up with them at

an intersection where they had paused for a

moment.

"Running," the girl said severely, "is likely to

draw attention. Just -walk as quickly as you can

manage. I gather you three are the men who

brought the alien foundling in, is that right?"

"At least somebody around here understands

she's not of our kind," Rafik said as they race-

walked down the hall. "Yes. Acorna is ours. Or

we are hers. Depending on how you look at it.

And she must not be put through this surgery."

"Yes. My boss—Dr. Forelle—wants it

stopped, too. He was to have called ahead, to

make sure they delay until I get there with the

orders to release her to our department."

"Just a minute!" Gill grabbed the girl by the

upper arm. "She's to be released to UJ, not to

another department of this blasted company."

"You," said the girl without slackening pace,

"can't get Eva Glatt's orders for immediate

surgery rescinded. I can."

"And who might you be?" Rafik asked.

"Judit Kendoro, Psycholinguistics. I work for

Dr. Alton Forelle."

"Saints defend us," Gill exclaimed, "is there

nobody works for Amalgamated but head-

shrinkers?"

"Amalgamated decided to use the old MME

base as headquarters for the research and per-

sonnel departments," Judit explained. "They're

phasing out the independent mining operations;

yours is one of the last contract groups to come

in. Deliveries will be handled by drone and

routed to other stations from now on." Despite

the speed they were making, she wasn't even

breathing hard.

"Forelle," Rafik said. "The man who wanted

our logs of the first interaction?"

"Yes. He believes—or hopes—she is a sapient

alien."

"Then he's on our side?"

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

"I wouldn't say that exactly." Judit skidded to

a halt just before a three-way intersection with

corridors painted in different patterns of yellow

and green stripes. "He doesn't want her put

through surgery before he has a chance to study

her. What do you want with her?"

"To take care other," Gill said.

Judit looked him up and down for a long

moment, then turned to Rafik. "I believe you

mean that."

"Believe it," said Rafik.

"Then — " She glanced back the way they had

come. Calum followed. Judit dropped her voice.

"Don't let Dr. Forelle get her. He'll mine her

brain for memories of language without caring

what he does to the rest of her. It could be worse

than the surgery."

"Then what can we do?"

"Is your ship ready to take off?"

"We've just docked, we'd fuel and air to spare,

no repairs scheduled ..."

"Then this," Judit said, "is what we do next."

She outlined her idea.

"You trust us easily," Rafik commented when

she had finished.

"One must trust domebcxhi," Judit said, "and . . .

I had been listening for a few minutes outside the

door before I interrupted you in Dr. Glatt's

office. Incidentally, dare I hope that you gagged

her?"

"No time," Calum said, catching up with

them. "Knocked her out."

"Good."

"If you were, then you know something of us.

But what do we know of you? Why should you

take this risk for us?" Gill demanded.

Judit threw him a scornful glance. "Have you

ever heard of Kezdet? "

Gill shook his head.

"My Uncle Hafiz," Rafik said, "recommended

it as a place to be avoided."

"Your uncle was right. I got myself and my

sister out of Kezdet," Judit said, "and pretty soon

I'm going to get my kid brother out. Besides . . .

but that doesn't concern you. Let's just say I have

seen enough children suffering. If I can save this

one, maybe . . . maybe it'll make up for what I

ignored in order to get myself out."

A few minutes later, Judit Kendoro walked

through the swinging doors of Surgery and pre-

sented her Amalgamated badge to the desk clerk.

"Here to collect Child, Anonymous, recent

arrival on the KheVive," she said in a bored mono-

tone. "Dr. Forelle will have transmitted the

orders."

The clerk nodded and pressed a button. The

doors behind her slid open and a tall woman in

sterile scrubs came out.

"I wuh you people would make up your

minds," she said. "We had to give her a global

anesthetic, the local didn't work. I could go

ahead and get all the restorative work done right

now if Forelle would just wait a day."

Judit shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me, I'm

just the courier. You want her back when we're

done?"

64 -^-1 ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

"If the order for surgery hasn't been canceled

by some other department," the •woman snapped.

"For now, take her with my compliments. I have

enough real patients without getting caught in

some power struggle between the psych depart-

ments."

She nodded toward the room she had come

from and a green-gowned aide wheeled out a

gurney on which Acorna lay limp and uncon-

scious. The tangle of silvery curls had already

been shaved in a wide naked semicircle around

her horn.

"I'll take her on the gurney," Judit said in a

bored tone, "no need for your people to waste

time with the transfer."

As soon as Judit had control of the gurney,

Rafik sprang forward and grabbed her from

behind. A plasknife slid out of his sleeve and

gleamed across Judit's throat.

"Thanks for showing us the way, dummy," he

growled in his best threatening tones. "We'll take

the kid back now."

"You can't do this! You tricked me!" Judit

was a terrible actress; the words came out as

woodenly as someone reading a Basic literacy

test.

"Raise the alarm," Rafik threatened the desk

clerk and surgeon, "and the girl gets it. Keep

quiet, and we'll let her go when we're safely

away. Understand?"

Gill reached down to the gurney and swept

Acorna up in one arm, and Calum held the doors

while he and Rafik and Judit made their exit.

"Is she all right?" As soon as the doors swung

shut behind them, Rafik dropped the pretense of

holding Judit at knife point. Now he was at Gill's

side, feeling for a pulse in Acorna's wrist.

"Breathing," Gill said. "We'll see about the

rest when the anesthetic wears off. Judit, is there

anything we should know about that?"

She shook her head. "Standard anesthesia.

She'll be out an hour, maybe two, depending on

how long ago it was administered. Just as well,

really. Gives you time to get her back on ship-

board without a fuss. ... I'd better go with you,

though. Keep the knife out, Rafik, and hold my

arm. You may need a hostage again."

"Which way from here to the docking bay?"

Gill asked.

"We can take the service tunnels. Less chance

of running into people." Judit pressed a panel in

the wall and a narrow inner tunnel opened before

them, barely wide enough to admit Gill with the

burden of a sleeping Acorna.

They reached the docking bay without inci-

dent. The bored, mechanical clerk who'd

replaced Johnny Greene hardly lifted his head

•when they came to his desk.

"Warn personnel out of the bay and prepare

the outer doors for opening," Calum said.

"KheDlve departing immediately."

"Not cleared," the clerk mumbled without

looking up from his console.

"Please," Judit said in a shaky voice, "do what

they say. He—he's got a knife."

This got the clerk's attention. His head

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

snapped up, he gave a startled look at the

plasknife in Calum's hand, and he dove under his

desk. "Do -what you want, just leave me out

of it!"

"Well, well," said Gill softly, "and here I

thought the wee man might make trouble by try-

ing to be a hero. Calum, d'you know the docking

system well enough to clear us for departure?"

"If Amalgamated hasn't changed it too much,"

Calum said. "Here, hold this." He handed the

plasknife to Judit, who quickly handed it on to

Gill. "I'm a hwtage, you idiots," she hissed.

Gill laughed quietly and accepted the task of

holding Judit "hostage." Calum, having swiveled

the desk console to face him, was oblivious to the

byplay. He brought up a series of screens in

quick succession, nodding in satisfaction.

"Hmm," he said at the sight of the fifth screen.

"Hmm . . . Uh-huh. Okay, next, okay, uh-huh."

He zipped through the rest of the status screens

and tapped in a command. "Okay, that clears us.

But there are a couple of little problems."

"Anything that would keep us on the base?"

"No, but. . ."

"Right. We'll discuss them later. Come on!

And Judit, act normal. The bay may be cleared,

but unless Amalgamated's remodeled, the loading

staff can watch us from the top gallery. We don't

want any of the staff to notice you're being a

hostage."

"So I'm not-a-hostage trying to act like a

hostage trying to act not-a-hostage," Judit mut-

tered as they passed through the series of doors

that protected the interior of Base when the

docking bay was open to space. "It's as bad as

singing Cherubino, having to be a girl pretending

to be a boy pretending to dress up as a girl."

"You like ancient opera?" Gill asked in sur-

prise.

Judit shrugged. "I was in a couple of amateur

productions at school. My voice isn't good

enough to go professional. But one year we got

Kirilatova to coach us in Figure. She did Susanna,

of course."

"Kirilatova? But she's got to be about a hun-

dred and ten by now!"

"Not quite. She was seventy then," Judit said,

"and when she sang Susanna, if you had your

eyes closed, she was a girl of twenty about to be

married to her beloved. It was an incredible per-

formance. I wish I'd been born early enough to

hear her at her peak."

"I have cubes," Gill said. "Early perfor-

mances, originally preserved on DCVCD, then

transferred to tri-D when the new format came

out."

"Are you going to invite the girl up to listen to

your opera cubes. Gill? How about lifting

Acorna up first?" There was an edge of sarcasm

in Calum's voice. They had crossed the open bay

without incident while Gill and Judit talked

about dead singers.

"I might at that," Gill said thoughtfully. He

took Judit's hand. "You could come with us. You

don't belong with the psych-toads at Amalgam-

ated, you know. As the customer said to the

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

Vassar girl in the brothel, •what's a nice girl like

you doing in a place like this?"

Judit shook her head. "As the Vassar girl said

to the customer, 'Just lucky, I guess.' I know

nothing of mining; I'd be useless cargo to you."

Calum, who'd been on the verge of making

that point, opened his mouth and shut it again

•with an audible snap.

"You'd better knock me out, too, before you

go. The hostage act may not have been totally

convincing."

"After all the help you've been? I couldn't

bear to, acushla."

"It -will lend verisimilitude to an otherwise

bald and unconvincing narrative," Judit said.

"Look, I need this job. I can earn enough here to

see Pal through technical school. Anyway, I ... I

have my reasons for staying with Amalgamated.

Now will you get on with it?"

"Can't," Rafik said. "You've no protection. If

you're in this docking bay when we open the

doors, and not on the ship, you're dead. You "will

have to walk back through the inner doors. As

soon as you're safe, -we'll take off. They won't

have time to cancel the clearing sequence."

Unexpectedly, Judit laughed. "That fat little

toad of a receiving clerk is probably still under

his desk, and nobody else knows anything's

wrong . . . yet. But I look too unharmed to have

been the hostage of you brutal roughnecks. Give

me the knife. Gill." With rapid efficiency she

sliced through her outer coverall at the point

•where Gill had been pretending to hold the knife

point against her side, then pulled half the hair

out of her braid and let it fall in a dark cloud over

the side of her face. "Do I look enough of a mess

yet?"

"You look most beautiful," Gill said, "and I

shall carry your memory with me through the

cold of space."

"Get on with it, you two!" Calum snapped.

"We've got Acorna webbed in. The longer you

spend chatting the girl up, the more chance of

somebody noticing something's wrong."

"That's a brave girl," Gill said as he climbed

on board the Khedive and strapped himself in for

takeoff. He watched Judit's halting progress

across the floor of the docking bay. "I hope that

limp is part of the acting. ..."

"She was moving just fine on the way to

Surgery," Calum pointed out. "Rafik! Systems

ready? I want us in action the minute she's

through the first doors."

"Second doors," Gill said firmly. "She's too

valuable to risk."

"And Acorna? Not to mention us? And the

KheSive?"

"We'll make it," Gill said -with confidence.

And they did.

"Now what?" Calum said when they were well

away from Base.

Gill shrugged. "Long term or short term?

Long term, we've still got our skills and our ship,

and there are other companies to contract with —

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

or -we can go independent. Short term . . . you

said something about problems when you -were

humming over the console back there. What's our

status?"

"Refueling only partially complete, but that's

no problem; -we've enough to make it back into

the asteroid belt, and once there, we can mine a

carbonaceous chondrite to supply hydrogen for

the fuel converter."

"A C-type chondrite will replenish our water

and oxygen, too, if necessary," Rafik pointed out.

"So what's the problem?"

"Food's low. We're about to be temporary

vegetarians."

"At least one of us won't mind that," Gill said

with a tender look at the net where Acorna lay,

moving just enough in her drugged sleep to reas-

sure them all that she would wake soon enough.

"And we didn't get the replacement auger

bits," Calum said. "'Azienut cracked most of them

and Daffy just about finished the rest of the box

off. Our tether cables are •worn, too. We were

due for a good deal of refitting at Base."

There were more immediate complications

than shortage of spare parts, as they learned

when they activated the com units.

"Just receiving," Rafik advised them. "Trans-

mitting would give away our position."

"Ah, they're not going to follow us out of

sector for one little girl nobody had claimed any-

way."

"'Why step on me?' the ant asked the elephant.

'Because I can, and because you have annoyed

me,'" Rafik answered obliquely. "It is not wise to

annoy the elephant."

"I've got the. Base frequency," Calum

announced. "You two might want to listen in."

They listened in tight-lipped anger to the

repeated announcement being broadcast to all

Amalgamated bases and ships.

"They're claiming the KheSive is stolen prop-

erty!" Gill exploded. "They can't do that! She's

our ship, free and clear!"

"That ghastly female said something about

the Khedive being theirs," Calum said thought-

fully. "Rafik, is there some legal mumbo-jumbo

in the reorganization that could possibly make it

look like we had been leasing the ship from

them?"

"They can claim whatever they want to," Rafik

pointed out. "And if they catch up with us, and

we have to argue it out in the courts, who'll be

taking care of Acorna?" He smiled benignly at

his colleagues. "We might be well advised to take

on a new identity."

"We can call ourselves whatever we "want,"

Gill grumbled, "but the ship's registered and

known. ..."

Rafik's smile was seraphic. "I might know

someone who can take care of that little matter

for us. For a fee, of course."

"What have we got to pay your someone

with? I have a strong suspicion Amalgamated's

accountants are not going to credit us for all the

iron and nickel we've been sending back by

drone," Calum said dourly. "And the platinum

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

and titanium are sitting in the Amalgamated ship-

ping bay—-wrapped up in our only container

nets!"

"We have," Rafik said gently, "a large block of

extremely valuable, if nonvoting, shares of

Amalgamated stock. I think Uncle Hafiz -will be

•willing to convert it into local currency for us."

There was a moment's pause, then Gill

laughed and slapped his knee. "So Amalgamated

pays for the refit, after all! Good enough."

"We'll be broke afterward," Calum grumbled.

"We'll have our ship, our tools, and our

skills," Gill said in high good humor. "And

Acorna! Never worry, man. There are asteroids

out there richer than anything we ever mined on

contract. I can feel it in my bones."

"So, onward to Uncle Hafiz?" Rafik asked,

settling himself at the navigational board and

posing his fingers over the keys.

"Yeah. Where is your famous Uncle Hafiz?"

"The planet is called Laboue; the location is a

family secret I'm not allowed to divulge," Rafik

said, already plotting in a course. He had com-

pleted it and cleared the screen before either Gill

or Calum could see what he had entered.

"Naughty, naughty!"

"Nauuughtie?" a feeble little voice queried.

"Acorna, sweetie," and Gill, being nearest,

strode to her hammock. "Sorry, hon, sorry. We

had no idea at all what those idiots were going to

do to our little Acorna."

Her pupils widened and the fear drained from

her features, her hands and feet opening in relief

at finding herself back on board the Khedive and

with them.

"That stupid woman! Glad I decked her,"

Calum said.

"Very stupid woman," Acorna agreed, nod-

ding her head vigorously and then moaning. "Oh,

my head!"

"It'll wear off, acushia," he said, and then

added to Gill. "Get webbed. We're about to go

into the wild black yonder!"

Acorna was very nervous for the

next few days, so they all made a

big effort to divert her and

promise, on their honors, that she'd never be left

alone with stupid strangers again. One of the few-

unessential tasks that Calum had had time to do,

before they went to collect Acorna, was to pick up

some seed from the chandler. He was offered flow-

ers, too.

"There are quite a few decorative broad-leafed

types, flowering, too, which do give you some

diversity in your 'ponies. Also some botanical

oddities that do quite well on nutrient solutions,"

he'd been told. "Quick growing."

While he had been more interested in vegeta-

bles and edible legumes and some of the new

bean types, he also picked up alfalfa, timothy,

and lucernes seeds, remarking that he would be

making a planetfall and was doing a favor for a

friend.

Setting out the seeds and using the Galactic

Botanical from the ship's library program to figure

out how to speed up their growth helped pass the

time and increase the variety of their meals. Acorna

had read just as much as Calum and Gill had of the

GB and she very shortly told them she had the

matter well in hand and they were to please do

something else.

"You don't suppose she remembers stuff . . .

racial memory?" Calum asked.

Gill shrugged. "Who's to know? I did manage

to check that blood sample we took when she

scraped her knee. She's not of a known genotype.

Shit!" And he obediently put a half credit in the

FINE box. It joined its fellows with a clink.

"Hey, man, how much have we got in there?"

Calum asked and Gill opened the container,

spilling out a good fifty half-credits.

"Won't buy much, but it's a start."

"Uncle Hafiz will set us up, lads," Rafik

assured them from the pilots seat. Then he leaned

forward. "Gill, d'you remember that dead ship we

found rammed halfway through an asteroid?"

"What about it?"

"Wasn't it the same class as this one?"

"Year or two older."

"But same class. Are you getting at what I

think you're getting at?" Gill asked, brightening.

"Indeed I am, dear lad," Rafik said, grinning

from ear to ear. "And that asteroid belt is also on

our present heading . . . well, with a slight detour."

"We change identities with it?" Calum asked.

"Can we So that?"

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

"With a little extra help from Uncle Hafiz, that

should be no problemo," Rafik said. "Shall we?"

Gill and Calum made eye contact.

"Well, it's -worth the effort, I think, especially if

Uncle Hafiz can fiddle some updates about where

that ship has been while she was missing."

"He's a whiz at that sort of thing," Rafik said

and began to whistle off-key.

"Sure get Amalgamated off our tail if they

should bother to come looking for us," Calum said,

looking anxiously in the direction of the 'ponies,

where Acorna was working.

"It would at that," Gill said, after finger-

combing his beard. He held up a portion of the

belt-long hirsute appendage. "Well, I wanted to

have a good trim, but I'll bet Amalgamated axed

the barber shop, too."

"I'll give you a trim," Calum suggested suavely.

"No way, mate," Gill said, wrapping his beard

up and stuffing it down the front of his tunic.

"Uncle Hafiz has an excellent barber," Rafik

said soothingly.

"I can't wait to meet this Uncle Hafiz," Gill

said.

"He will amaze you," Rafik said with smug

pride. He then added, in a much less confident

tone, "Only one thing. He isn't to know about

Acorna."

"Why not?" Gill and Calum asked in unison.

"He's a collector."

"Of what?"

"Of -whatever's going, and I'm bloody sure he's

never seen anything like Acorna."

"Won't that complicate matters a trifle?"

Rafik cocked his head to one side, then the

other, and shrugged. "I am not my uncle's nephew

for nothing. We will contrive. We can not lose

Acorna."

The physical exchange of their beacon with that of

the wreck took, in the end, three days of sweaty

labor. The first problem was that mining tools

were ill adapted to the task of cutting and welding

ship parts, and their mechanical repair tools were

not designed to function in the vacuum, dust, and

temperature extremes of the asteroid surface.

"Without Acorna to purify the air," Calum

commented at the end of their first shift, "this

cabin would be stinking like the locker rooms at

the TriCentennial Games by now."

"Water, too," Gill agreed. With constant recy-

cling, ship's air and water usually developed a

stale tang that nothing could get rid of. "Acorna,

you're good fortune to us."

Acorna shook her head, sadness filling her

dark eyes as the centers narrowed to slits.

"You are that," Calum insisted. "What's the

matter?"

"You run away. We hide. I ..." Acorna visibly

struggled to put the words together. "If I go back,

you do not have to hide. My fault!"

The men's eyes met over her head. "We've been

talking too freely," Rafik said softly.

"She speaks so little," Calum agreed, "I forget

how much she understands."

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

"Never mind that now," Gill said more loudly.

"The important thing is to explain that she's got it

all •wrong, don't you think?" He picked Acorna up

and hugged her. "Not your fault, sweetie-pie.

Remember the stupid woman Uncle Calum

decked? Not your fault she was such a twit, was it

now?"

Acorna put the fingers of one hand into her

mouth. Her eyes were dark disbelieving pools.

"Listen, Acorna," Rafik said. "We did not like

those people at Base. We did not want to work for

them. If we had never . . . met . . . you, we would

still not work for Amalgamated. Would we,

fellows?"

Calum's and Gill's emphatic "No!" seemed to

halfway convince Acorna; at least, the silvery

pupils of her eyes slowly returned to normal and

she consented to munch thoughtfully on the

spinach stalks Rafik offered her. By the end of the

shift, she was sufficiently recovered to pester them

about why they stayed on an asteroid that she

could tell held no interesting concentration of met-

als.

"This is a carbonaceous chondrite, Acorna,"

Calum explained.

"Simplify it, will you? The kid doesn't know

those big words!"

"Just because basic astronomical chemistry is

beyond you, Gill," Calum retorted, "don't assume

Acorna is as thick as you are. She knows the

words we teach her, and we might as well teach

her the right ones for the Job." He went on

explaining that the hydrogen and oxygen they

could extract from this asteroid would provide

them with extra air and water, as well as with the

fuel they would need to reach their next stop.

"/ clean air," Acorna said, stamping a hooflike

foot.

"So you do," Calum agreed easily, "but we

don't know your tolerances yet, see, and we don't

want to have you doing more than you can handle

at this body weight. Besides, we need fuel. . . ."

Every few sentences he had to stop and draw dia-

grams of molecular structures and conversion rou-

tines. Acorna was fascinated, and Calum drew the

teaching session out until she fell asleep in his

arms.

"Whew!" Calum fastened the sleeping child in

her net and stood up, stretching his back. "Okay,

fellows, a few ground rules. We'd better discuss

certain things only when Acorna is asleep. She's

too clever by half; if she knows everything, she'll

carry a load of guilt she doesn't need. That goes

for the beacon switch, too. If she doesn't know?

about it, she won't ask inconvenient questions

about it later. As far as she's concerned, we're just

here to refuel, right?"

"Just as well we never got around to picking a

suit small enough for her out of Stores," Gill com-

mented.

Rafik nodded. "Soon she must be allowed to go

outside with us. She can be inestimably useful in

locating and assessing mineral deposits, and irre-

spective of the benefit to us, Acorna needs to feel

useful. But for now, yes, it is as well to keep her in

ignorance of our real reason for stopping here."

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

After that it took even longer to exchange the

beacons, because they had to do the work only

when Acorna was asleep, officially confining their

activities when she was awake to the extraction of

hydrogen and oxygen. Once the onerous task was

completed, Rafik reprogrammed the navigation

computer for the destination he still refused to

reveal, and all three men slept as much as possible

on the way to planetfall.

"Are we to stay on the ship the whole time we're

here?" Gill demanded.

"Rafik's probably afraid you'll be able to iden-

tify this planet's star if we set foot outside the port

area," Calum said. "You can stop worrying, Rafik.

There was really no point in those little games you

played with the navigational computer. I know

exactly where we are."

"How?" Rafik demanded.

"Fuel consumption," Calum said smugly.

"Triangulation on known stars. Time. Course cor-

rections. I plotted the course in my head and

checked the numbers on my wrist unit. We're on

the fourth planet from — "

"Don't say it," Rafik interrupted. "At least let

me swear to Uncle Hafiz that the name and loca-

tion of his hideaway have never been spoken on

board this ship."

"Why?" Calum asked. "What's the big deal?

Anybody could compute — "

"No, Calum, they couldn't!" Rafik rolled his eyes

heavenward. "I could write a book on the hazards of

shipping with a mathematical genius 'who hasn't an

ounce of street sense to balance the other side of his

head. There are all sorts and conditions of people

here, Calum, and the one thing they all have in com-

mon is a strong desire for anonymity. A desire," he

added pointedly, "which we share with them, or have

you forgotten already? Now, lets keep this simple.

You stay right here. / visit Uncle Hafiz and see what

sort of a cut he'll want from the profit on our shares

in return for converting them to galactic credits and

fixing the registration of the new beacon."

"He's not going to do it from family feeling,

huh?" Gill asked.

Rafik rolled his eyes again and sighed heavily.

"Just . . . stay . . . here. I'll be back as soon as I

can, okay?"

"If you people are that big on secrecy, why

couldn't we do it all by tight-beam transmission

from low orbit? Why make a personal visit?"

Rafik looked shocked. "All this time working

together, and you two have yet to learn decent

manners. You infidels can cut deals electronically if

you wish, but Children of the Three Prophets meet

face to face. It's the honorable way to settle an

agreement. Besides," he added more prosaically,

"no transmission is so tight that it can't be inter-

cepted."

He was back sooner than they expected, tight-

lipped and burdened down with a quantity of

squashy parcels wrapped in opaque clingfilm.

"You do not look entirely happy. What's the

matter, does Uncle Hafiz want an extortionate cut

of the shares?" Calum asked.

72 - --~' ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

"And how come you stopped off to go shop-

ping?" Gill added.

"Uncle Hafiz," Rafik said, still tight-lipped, "is

more traditionally minded than I am. He -wishes to

meet the other parties to the agreement face to

face before -we begin serious discussions."

"NotAcorna!"

"Port authorities reported four crew members.

He wants to see all four. It'll be all right," Rafik

soothed Gill, "he won't actually Jee Acorna. I've

thought of a way around it. It's a gooi) idea, too;

one we might want to use from now on."

"And it involves yards and yards of white

polysilk," said Calum, investigating the contents of

one of the packages. "Umm, Rafik, don't take

offense, but I've had previous experience with

some of your 'good ideas.' If this is going to be like

the time we tried to slip into Kezdet space to col-

lect that titanium that was just sitting there beg-

ging to be mined and refined ..."

"That was a good idea, too!" Rafik said indig-

nantly. "How was I to know that the Kezdet

Guardians of the Peace had just hired a new hand

who would recognize our beacon from old days at

MME?"

"All I'm wondering," Calum murmured, "is

what crucial factor don't you know this time?"

"It's nothing like that," Rafik said. "Just a

minor costume change. Look, we don't want any-

body noticing Acorna, right? So -we're going to be

more traditional even than Uncle Hafiz. I told him

I'd been studying the Three Books—that made

him happy. Then I explained that I had been

inspired by the First Book to study further, and

that I had been accepted into the Neo-

Hadithians."

"All of which means precisely what?" Gill

asked.

"The theological ramifications are probably

beyond you," Rafik said. "The important point is

that my -wives -wear hijab, which will be the perfect

disguise for Acorna." He took a length of white

polysilk from Calum and held it up with both

hands so that they could see the shape of the gar-

ment: a many-layered hood atop a billowing gown

of even more layers, each individual layer light

and seemingly transparent, but collectively a cloud

of iridescent reflective white. "As an enlightened

Child of the Three Prophets, naturally I know bet-

ter than to adhere to the ancient superstitions

about the veiling of -women. There is actually

nothing in the First Book—-what you unbelievers

call the Koran—that requires -women to be veiled

and secluded. And the Second Prophet absolutely

repudiated that and other barbaric practices, such

as the prohibition against fermented liquors. But

the Neo-Hadithians claim that the Hadith, the tra-

ditional tales of the life of the First Prophet, are as

sacred as the words of the Books. They want to go

back to the worst of the bad old ways. Including

the veil. Uncle Hafiz is disgusted -with me, but he

says he -will respect my religious prejudices -while

•waiting for me to outgrow them. He -will not actu-

ally look upon the faces of my wives, but they

must be present during the agreement."

"Wives?" Calum repeated.

ANNE MC.CAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

Rafik's eyes sparkled. "That is the really bril-

liant part of the idea. I told Uncle Hafiz that I was

accompanied by my partner, an unbeliever, and by

my two "wives. You see, that neatly accounts for

the four people reported on this ship. And any-

body looking for three miners and a little girl will

probably not think to investigate a neo-Hadithian,

his two wives, and his partner."

"Sounds risky to me," said Calum. "You mean

one of us stays on the ship and you pick up some

local girl to play your second wife? How can you

be sure she won't talk?"

"That—er—was not quite what I had in mind,"

Rafik said. He shook out the second length of

white polysilk and held it up against Calum. "Yes.

I estimated your height quite well. Now, do

remember to take small steps and keep your eyes

down like a proper Neo-Hadithian wife, will

you?"

"I don't believe it," Dr. Anton Forelle said explo-

sively when he read the reports on the KheSive.

"I — don't — believe — it."

"I didn't want to believe it either," said Judit,

"but the reports are quite clear." She had been cry-

ing. "It's so sad. Those nice men, and the little

girl..."

"If it were true," Forelle said, "it would be a

tragedy. The end of my chance for the research

coup of the decade—of the century! But it's not

true. Amalgamated hires fools; I should know, I'm

in charge of inventing the language of the lies they

feed their fools, making up nice-sounding words

for inhumane policy directives." He shot a shrewd

glance at Judit. "You don't like the sound of that,

do you, girl? Don't like me to say straight out

what our department's about. But you're not as

stupid as the rest of them. You must have noticed.

Well, I had my reasons for taking the job—

deplorable, the lack of support for pure research

these days, and no matter what my ex-colleagues

at the university say, I could have completed a

respectable thesis if I'd been able to get funding

for my research. And I suppose you have your

reasons for putting up with Amalgamated, too."

"They pay well," Judit said. "I've a younger

brother on Kezdet. He's not quite through school

yet."

"And when he is," Forelle said, "no doubt

you'll find some other excuse to make to yourself

for taking their money. They buy a few good

minds and corrupt us, and use us to buy as many

fools as they want. Including the idiots who think

the Khedive crashed on an asteroid!"

"The beacon signal—" Judit began uncertainly.

"Faked. I don't know how, I'm no engineer, but

it was faked."

"Too hard. There'd be registration numbers on

the ship body and engines."

"Ha! Nobody went out and actually looked,

did they? They just trusted the computer records."

Judit was silent. Forelle's idea was insane . . .

but it was true, nobody had physically checked the

crash site.

"I'll wager you that ship is not the Khedive. Yes,

76 •-—~' ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

that's it. The beacon signal is faked, and they're in

some different sector of space by now, laughing at

us all. And Amalgamated "will let the matter drop,

because they know that no matter what legal jug-

gling they indulged in, no sensible court would

uphold their claim to the ship — so rather than pur-

sue it, they'd just as soon write off the ship as a

wreck and the dissidents as dead. But I'm not

going to let it drop!" Forelle glared at Judit as if

she'd dared to think of contradicting him. "That—

that unicorn girl is too conspicuous to disappear

without a trace. Amalgamated has plants and

bases galaxy-wide. I shall put out a standing order

for any mention of a child with those particular

deformities to be routed to my console with top

priority. Sooner or later, they'll slip up. I'll find

her, and we'll get our paper, Judit. And then I'll be

able to leave these fools and take up the university

position I deserve. They'll probably endow a chair

for me. Well, get on with it. Compose the order,

and I'll edit it so that they know? it's urgent and

won't question why, and won't forget it either.

Finally applied psychohnguistics will be good for

something besides keeping Amalgamated's work-

force happy."

Judit thought he was deluding himself, but it

was a delusion she would have liked to share.

However, if the child had by some miracle lived,

she had no desire to see Forelle get hold of her for

his experiments. So she put her best psycholin-

guistic training into composing a memo that would

look urgent enough to satisfy Dr. Forelle, while

actually encouraging anybody who skimmed it to

mentally dismiss the whole matter as "just another

one ofAnton's crazy ideas."

The skimmer that Rafik rented to take them from

the port area to Uncle Hafiz's residence passed

over a trackless expanse of tropical vegetation,

brilliant green sprinkled with blazes of red and

yellow flowers. To the east, an indigo-blue sea

gave off glints of silver in the sunlight; to the west,

they could just see the long blue line of an escarp-

ment that must have discouraged any building of

roads into the interior of the continent.

"The Mali Bazaar," Rafik said as they passed

over a collection of buildings with flat roofs inlaid

in jewel-toned mosaics.

Gill pressed his nose to the window of the

skimmer to get a better view of the pictures delin-

eated by thousands of glazed ceramic tiles.

"Anywhere else," he said reverently, "that would

be a major tourist attraction. Why do they put it

on the roof where nobody can see it? "

"Most travel here is by skimmer," Rafik said,

"and it's a kind of advertisement for their services.

Everybody knows where the Mali Bazaar is.

That's where I bought your hijab, by the way."

"Isn't it a nuisance not having roads to the

port?" Gill asked. "How do you transport heavy

goods and machinery? "

"By sea, of course," Rafik said. "There are, if you

think about it, many advantages in dispensing

with a road network. Most of the residents of La-

boue have a strong preference for personal privacy;

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

traveling by skimmer reduces the chances of meet-

ing other travelers who might be curious about

one's errands. It certainly works in our favor,

wouldn't you agree? Then, too, roads require a

degree of cooperation which is difficult for the

strong individualists -who make their homes here.

There's no central government, no taxation, no

centrally supported infrastructure."

"Expensive," Gill murmured. "Inefficient."

Rafik gave him a bright-eyed glance of amuse-

ment. "Can any system really compete with the

massive inefficiencies of a well-entrenched bureau-

cracy? As for expense . . . one entrepreneur did

attempt a network of toll roads, but he couldn't

afford the cost of guarding them."

"You have problems with bandits?"

"Let's say there are residents who find it diffi-

cult to put aside their traditional ways of life,"

Rafik said, banking the skimmer into a smooth

turn that brought them down in a paved square

surrounded by high bougainvillea-covered walls.

He handed Acorna and Calum out of the skimmer

with the care a Neo-Hadithian would be expected

to take of his delicate and precious wives.

"Remember," he whispered to Calum, "Son't talk!

As long as you're wearing that veil, convention

dictates that you are not really here."

The long, multilayered Neo-Hadithian robes of

white polysilk concealed Calum and Acorna mar-

velously; in the brilliant sunlight they looked like

two moving clouds of white iridescence, shapeless

and indistinguishable save that one was somewhat

taller than the other.

As Gill made his exit from the skimmer, a sec-

tion of bougainvillea-covered wall swung away

from the rest, revealing a dark man of medium

height in whom Rafik's elegant features were

sharpened to a look of dangerous wariness.

"You and your family and guests are welcome

to this humble abode," he said to Rafik, with a

quick gesture of his right hand from forehead to

lips to chest.

Rafik repeated the gesture before embracing

him. "Uncle Hafiz! You are gracious indeed to

receive us. You are well?" he asked as though

they had not been conversing only a few hours

before.

"I am, thanks be to the Three Prophets. And

you, my nephew? You are well?"

"Blessed be the Hadith and the revelations of

Moulay Suheil," Rafik said, "I am, and my wives

also."

A faint shadow of distaste crossed Uncle

Hafiz s features at the mention of the Hadith, but

he controlled himself and gave properly courteous

answers as Rafik went on to inquire about the

health of innumerable cousins, nephews, and

distant connections. Finally, the initial greetings

finished, Uncle Hafiz stepped back and invited

them, with a wave of his hand, to precede him into

the garden revealed beyond the walls around the

skimmer landing area.

A path of deep blue stepping-stones wound

among flowering shrubs. As Gill stepped on the

first stone, a clear pure middle C sounded in the

air. The next two steps produced an E and a G;

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

the sounds lingered on the air and blended in a

perfect chord.

"You like my walkway?" Hafiz asked with a

satisfied smile. "Perhaps you have not before

encountered the singing stones of Skarrness."

"But I thought they were—" Gill choked down

the rest of the sentence. The once-famous singing

stones of Skarrness were virtually gone now, hav-

ing fallen prey to unscrupulous collectors, who

removed so many of the stones that the remaining

ones could not maintain their population. But

Rafik had said Hafiz was a collector of rarities and

had implied that he was not overburdened with

scruples. It would probably not be tactful to com-

plete his thought.

"Quite rare, yes," Hafiz said. "It was my great

good fortune to obtain a perfectly tuned set in C

major, and an even rarer set in the Lydian mode.

Very few complete sets, alas, are available now."

Thanki) to jerk^ like you, Gill thought, but he

managed to keep his thought to himself and his

face composed.

The walk-way led them musically to a high wall

of dark stone which Hafiz identified casually as

Farinese marble. A double gate of lacy, hand-

wrought metal work opened into a second garden,

this one surrounded on three sides by a roofed

gallery with columns of the same Farinese marble.

Through the columns Gill could glimpse openings

into a shadowy interior of polished floors, carved

wooden screens, and silk hangings.

Hafiz clapped his hands and several robed ser-

vants appeared, two carrying cushions of jewel-

colored silk, another with a tall crystal pitcher, and

a fourth behind him -with a crystal bowl and a

stack of towels so richly embroidered in gold

thread that only a small silken square was visible

in the center of each.

"We have, of course, completely modern facili-

ties within," Hafiz said apologetically, "but it

delights me to keep to the old customs of offering

guests water with my own hands, and food and

drink in my own garden, as soon as they have

arrived." He took the pitcher and poured a thin

stream of cold water over Rafik's outstretched

hands. Gill copied Rafik's motions and took one of

the embroidered towels to dry his hands. Hafiz

handed the pitcher to Rafik with a bow. "Perhaps

you would prefer to offer water to your wives your-

self. I should not like to insult your new beliefs."

Rafik bowed acknowledgment and held out the

pitcher for Calum and Acorna to wash their

hands, casually moving as he did so that his body

blocked any view Hafiz might have had of

Acorna's oddly shaped digits and Calum's mascu-

line fingers.

Hafiz indicated that they should all seat them-

selves on the silken cushions, mentioned casually

that the pitcher and bowl had each been carved

from a single piece of Merastikama crystal, and told

the servants to take back the washing implements

and bring refreshment for his guests. The place-

ment of brass trays on three-legged wooden stands,

the handing round of minute glasses full of fiery

liquor and delicate bowls of fruit-flavored sorbet,

took what seemed to Gill an inordinately long time

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

while Hafiz and Rafik chatted of trivialities. Rafik

made a show of refusing the liquor, in keeping with

his pretense of conversion to the strict Neo-

Hadithian sect, which had revived all the prohibi-

tions of the First Prophet and then some. Gill at

first felt glad to be an official unbeliever and free to

enjoy the drinks; then, after one burning swallow,

he began considering the possibility of announcing

an instant conversion to Rafik's tenets. He was

relieved to see that Acorna managed to take a dish

of sorbet under her veil; he'd been afraid that eating

and drinking would tax her disguise too much. But

it seemed the Neo-Hadithians had designed their

women's costumes so that the veils need not be

removed for anything. Gill wondered sourly

whether they removed them in bed.

Finally, as a casual afterthought to a lengthy

discussion of the problems of interstellar trade,

Rafik mentioned that he and his partner had

encountered a small technical difficulty with

which Uncle Hafiz might be able to help them

out—for a consideration, of course.

"Ah, these minor technicalities." Hafiz sighed

sympathetically. "How they plague us, these petty

bureaucrats with their accounting details! What

seems to be the difficulty, son of my best beloved

sister?"

Rafik gave Hafiz a severely edited account of

their difficulties with Amalgamated, leaving out

any mention of Acorna and stressing the basic ille-

gality of Amalgamated's claim to own the Khedive.

"If their claim is entirely without foundation,"

Hafiz asked, as though motivated by idle curiosity,

"why do you not take your case to the courts of

the Federation?"

"It is written in the Book of the Second

Prophet," said Rafik, "'Trust kin before country-

men, countrymen before outlanders, and all before

unbelievers.'"

"And yet your partner is an unbeliever," Hafiz

pointed out.

"Our partnership is of long standing," Rafik

said. "Besides, there is a minor complication in the

matter of money advanced by MME—the com-

pany with which we had previously contracted—

for mining equipment and supplies. The dogs of

unbelievers at Amalgamated claim our ship as

security against the advance, though if they had

credited us with the metals sent back by drone

over the last three years, the debt would have been

paid three times over. However, we left the

Amalgamated base in some haste and the matter

was not resolved."

"It is also written," said Hafiz, '"Be not in such

haste to collect the silver that ye let the gold fall by

the wayside.'"

"A most excellent precept, 0 Revered Uncle,"

said Rafik politely, "but one which I found myself

unable to honor under the circumstances." He

lowered his voice as if to make sure that the veiled

figures on the other side of the brass tray should

not hear. "It was a matter of a woman—you

understand?"

Hafiz smiled broadly. "I begin to see why you

have joined the Neo-Hadithians, my son! It is

their revival of polygamy which appeals to you.

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

So, two •wives -were not enough. You had to get

yourself in trouble with some unbeliever on the

Amalgamated base?"

"In confidence," Rafik said, "the taller of my

two wives is so ugly one might imagine her a man,

and I have no use for her as a woman; while the

smaller one is too young yet to be taken to my bed.

Both marriages were made to strengthen my

claims to kinship -within the Neo-Hadithians and

not for carnal desire."

Calum choked under his veil. Gill reached

under the table and pinched some part of his

anatomy through the billowing white layers of

polysilk, hard enough to distract Calum from

whatever he might have been tempted to say.

Hafiz laughed merrily at Rafik s account of his

marital troubles, and seemed more disposed to

help them out if he could get the satisfaction of

teasing his nephew for the bad bargain he had

made in joining the Neo-Hadithian sect.

Transferring registration of their new beacon into

their name, he warned, was a complicated task

and would require facilitation payments to a num-

ber of individuals, not all of them so liberal in their

thinking as he was. He would, however, be happy

to arrange the entire matter, if Rafik could see his

way to putting sufficient credit at his disposal.

"That brings up another minor point," said

Rafik, and showed Hafiz the share certificates

from Amalgamated.

"These can, of course, be converted into Feder-

ation credits," Hafiz said, thumbing rapidly through

the certificates, "although at a substantial discount."

'A.corna 85

"The discount on shares from such a galacti-

cally recognized company, all but certain to rise in

value, should be only nominal," Rafik protested.

Hafiz smiled. "Is it not written in the Book of

the Third Prophet, "Count not the light from a dis-

tant star among your assets, for that star may have

been long dead by the time its light reaches thine

eyes'?" He glanced at Acorna, who had begun

wriggling under her veils in a way that was caus-

ing Calum and Gill grave anxiety. "But your

younger wife is restless. Perhaps your wives

would care to retire to the rooms which have been

made ready for them while we settle the minor

matter of the discount on these shares and the

payments necessary to facilitate reregistration of

the new beacon? Or would they like to stroll in

the outer garden? I can call one of my women to

attend them."

"That will not be necessary," said Gill, rising to

his feet. "I should be honored to escort the ladies."

Rafik smiled seraphically. "I repose complete

trust in my partner," he assured Hafiz. "As he

trusts me to complete the negotiations, so can I

trust him with my honor and that of my women."

"Particularly," Hafiz needled him as the others

left, "since one is, by your own account, too ugly

to bed and the other too young."

"Just so," said Rafik cheerfully. "Now, about

this discount. . ."

As soon as they were concealed among the

flowering shrubs of the outer garden, Calum

shoved back his multilayered veil and took a deep

breath. "I am going to kill Rafik," he said.

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

Gill snickered. "Remember to take tiny little

ladylike steps," he teased. "And better keep the

veil down. Even with Rafik's warning that you're

as ugly as a man, Hafiz might get suspicious if he

saw that you need a shave."

"I just hope they finish dickering so we can get

back to the ship," Calum said sourly, but he flipped

the veiling back over his face. "I'm tired of fancy

dress."

Acorna tugged at Gill's sleeve and pointed at

the grass that grew around each of the blue

singing stones. "What? Oh, sure, sweetie, go

ahead and nibble if you like. You've been a good

girl. Just remember to cover your head if we hear

anybody coming. The singing stones ought to give

us plenty of warning," Gill said rather defensively

to Calum.

"You didn't let me unveil."

"Modesty, modesty." Gill chuckled. "You don't

need a snack. Acorna's metabolism needs more

than the occasional dish of sorbet, you know. And

if Hafiz expects us to stay for a meal, it'll probably

be mostly meat dishes and she can't eat those."

Acorna, ignoring the argument, had quietly

knelt down within her billowing veils and pushed

the face veils back so that she could see to pluck

the tender tops of the sweet grasses. "Good girl,

good," Gill encouraged her. "Don't make any div-

ots, now."

"Is rude to make holes in grass," Acorna said.

tlv „

Is a no.

"A very big no, in somebody else's garden,"

Gill agreed. "But the stuff has to be mowed, I

assume, so it'll do no harm if you take an inch or

two off the top."

Five notes in a -wailing pentatonic scale

sounded in quick succession. Acorna tried to jump

up, but the swathes of filmy fabric impeded her

movements and she would have fallen if Gill

hadn't grabbed her hand and pulled her upright

by main force. She was still fumbling for her veil

when Hafiz and Rafik came into view.

Hafiz's eyebrows shot up and he came forward

rapidly. "By the earlocks of the Third Prophet!"

he exclaimed. "A rarity indeed! Rafik, beloved

nephew, I do believe we can come to a mutually

agreeable arrangement at a considerably less dis-

count than I had anticipated."

"Uncle," Rafik said in reproving tones, "I beg

of you, do not insult the modesty of my wives and

the honor of my family." But he was too late; Hafiz

was already stroking the short horn that pro-

truded from Acorna's forehead. She stood quite

still, only the narrowing of her pupils showing her

distress and confusion.

"You were complaining that this one was too

young to be of any use," Hafiz said without looking

away from Acorna. "How fortunate that your new

religious friends hold to the old traditions in the

matter of divorce as well as of polygamy and hijab.

Nothing could be easier than a quiet family divorce,

at once freeing you of an undesired entanglement

and allowing me the acquisition of a new rarity."

"Unthinkable," Rafik protested. "Her family

have entrusted her to me; she is my sacred respon-

sibility. "

88 -

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

"Then they will no doubt be delighted to hear

that she will henceforth grace the home of such a

distinguished and benevolent collector as myself,"

Hafiz said happily. "I am willing to undertake to

respect all the religious prohibitions of your sect.

She can have the rooms which I had set aside for

you and your wives tonight; I will establish them

as secluded women's quarters for her and her ser-

vants alone, so that the Neo-Hadithian scruples

need not be outraged. You will be able to tell her

family that she is kept in every possible luxury."

"I am sorry," Rafik said firmly. "I do not sell

my women. Uncle Hafiz, this touches on my

honor!"

Hafiz waved the objections away with an airy

hand. "Ah, you young people are so impetuous! I

would not be doing my duty as your uncle, my

boy, if I permitted you to refuse in haste what will

upon reflection appear to you as a most advanta-

geous solution to all your difficulties. No, family

feeling dictates that I make sure you have time to

reflect upon the situation at leisure. You will

remain as my guests until you have had sufficient

time to perceive the wisdom of this course."

"We cannot impose upon you," Rafik said. "We

will return to our ship tonight and there discuss

the matter among ourselves."

"No, no, dear boy, I could not hear of it! My

household would be dishonored forever should I

fail to offer you appropriate hospitality. You will

be my guests tonight. I simply insist," Hafiz said,

raising his voice slightly.

There was a rustle among the bushes, and

suddenly two robed and silent servants stood

behind each one of them.

"The singing stones, although a great curiosity,

are sometimes inconvenient," Hafiz said cheer-

fully. "There are other ways through the garden

for those who serve me."

Rafik caught Gill's eye and gave a slight

despairing shrug. "We shall be delighted to accept

your hospitality tonight. Uncle. You are too gener-

ous.

Hafiz *s generosity extended to the provision of

separate quarters for them, one set of rooms for

Rafik and his "wives," and another room, on the

far side of the sprawling mansion, for Gill. "You

would naturally wish your women to be housed in

seclusion and far from any man's sleeping place,"

he explained smoothly.

"And that makes it even harder to get away,"

Calum growled as soon as Hafiz had left them on

their own. "How are we going to find Gill and get

to our skimmer?"

"Peace," said Rafik absently.

"You're not thinking of giving in to him!"

"I played in this house as a boy," Rafik said. "I

know every inch of the grounds, perhaps better

than my uncle; it has been some years since he had

the figure to wriggle along the low paths under the

shrubbery, or to swing from cornice to pipe along

the upper stories. But we will temporize for a day

or two, Calum."

"Why?"

"We do," said Rafik sweetly, "want to give

Uncle Hafiz time to fix the registration of our new

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

ship's beacon, don't we? Let him think -we're coop-

erating until that is done; then it will be time

enough to get away."

"And how do you think you're going to get him

to switch the registration and launder our shares

without handing over Acorna?"

"Don't worry about a thing," Rafik said. "I'm a

master negotiator. I learned from an expert."

"I know," said Calum. "We're negotiating with

the expert in question, remember?"

coma woke to the dawn-chirping

of birds in the sweet-scented

flowering vines outside the win-

dow. The night had been still and hot and she had

pushed all the covers off her bed; now it was cool,

almost chilly. She wrapped the clinging layers of

white polysilk around herself. The robes were

enough to keep her warm, but she was unable to

recreate the drapery of hood and robe and face

veils that Rafik had arranged about her the previ-

ous day. She looked doubtfully at the sleeping

Rafik and Calum. Would it be a big "no" to leave

the room like this, -without the veils over her head?

She hated the veils anyway; they clung to her

mouth and nose and chafed her forehead -where

the growing horn was still tender. It -would proba-

bly be an even bigger "no" to wake Calum and

Rafik and ask them to dress her, -wouldn't it?

The pressure in her bladder settled the ques-

tion. Tiptoeing so as not to -wake the miners,

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

Acorna quietly slid the carved •wooden door open

just enough to let her squeeze out. She remem-

bered the -washing-place they had been shown last

night, a -wonderland of blue tiles and jets of hot

and cold -water and minty steam rising up through

•wooden slats. But this morning there -was no one

to make the hot water come out for her, and after

relieving herself she abandoned the washing-place

and tiptoed down two flights of stairs to -where

she could see the garden through an open arch-

way.

The blue stones sang when she stepped on

them, just as they had last night. Entranced by

the sweet pure tones, Acorna dropped her cling-

ing draperies and danced back and forth, impro-

vising a tune by leaping from one stone to another

and accompanying the music of the stones -with

her own singing. She did not realize how loud she

•was getting until a discordant note interrupted

her melody. She -whirled and saw Uncle Hafiz

standing at the beginning of the blue stone

path.

Acorna's song broke off and the sudden still-

ness of the garden shocked her into realizing how

boisterous she had been.

"Too loud?" she asked, penitent. "If I make too

much noise, that is a big no?"

"Not in the least, my dear child," Uncle Hafiz

said. "Your singing was a delightful interruption to

a boring task. No, no—" he forestalled her as she

belatedly tried to -wind the robes around herself

again, "there's no need to trouble yourself with

those things, not among family."

"I must be covered. Rafik said."

"On the streets, perhaps," Uncle Hafiz agreed,

"but among your own relatives it is different."

Acorna thought this over. "You are rel-tive?"

"And I hope soon to be a very close relation

indeed."

"You are rel-tive to me?"

"Yes."

"And I am rel-tive to Rafik and Gill and

Calum. So you are rel-tive to Gill?"

Uncle Hafiz was so dismayed at the thought of

claiming kinship with the red-bearded unbeliever

that he didn't even think of asking who Calum

might be. "Ah—it doesn't -work quite like that," he

said hastily.

"How many percent rel-tive to Gill are you?"

"Zero percent," Hafiz said, then blinked.

"Aren't you a little young to be learning fractions

and percentages? "

"I know fraction, percent, decimal, octal, hex-

adecimal, and modulo," Acorna said cheerfully. "I

like numbers. You like numbers?"

"Only," said Hafiz, "when the odds are in my

favor."

Acorna frowned. "Odd is not-even. Even is

not-odd. Odds is not-evens?"

"No, no, sweetheart," Hafiz said. "The boys

have neglected an important part of your educa-

tion. Come along inside. I can't explain without

drawing pictures."

When Rafik came pounding down the stairs an

hour later, sure that Acorna had been kidnapped

while he and Calum slept, the first thing he heard

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

from Hafiz s study was a familiar piping voice ask-

ing a question.

"That's right!" Uncle Hafiz sounded more

relaxed than Rafik had ever heard him, almost

jovial. "Now, suppose you're making book on a

race where the favorite is running at three to two,

so you offer slightly better odds—like, say, six to

five — "

"Six to five is much better," Rafik heard Acorna

object. "Should not give more than seven to four."

"Look, it's )ust an example, okay? Suppose you

offer seven to four, then. What happens?"

"Many people place bets with you."

"And what do you do to make sure you don't

lose your money?"

"Lay off the bets with another bookmaker?"

"Or," Uncle Hafiz said cheerfully, "make very,

very sure the favorite doesn't win."

That was the point at which Rafik interrupted

them and brought Acorna back to their rooms for

the excellent breakfast Hafiz had ordered sent up

to them. He and Calum •wrangled over the sliced

mangoes and pointed skewers full of grilled lamb

like weapons at one another while Acorna quietly

worked her way through the bowl of leafy greens

Hafiz had ordered especially for her.

"How could you be so careless and irresponsi-

ble?" Calum demanded.

"You were sleeping in this room, too," Rafik

pointed out acidly. "I happen to know that you

slept very well last night. You snore!"

"You should have told her not to go out with-

out one of us!"

"Look," Rafik said, "no harm's been done,

okay? He didn't hurt her."

"From your own account," Calum retorted, "he

was teaching her to gamble! That's not the sort of

education I want for my ward."

"She's mine, too," Rafik said, "and there is

nothing inherently criminal about the profession

of being a turf accountant."

Acorna chose that moment, having finished all

the sweet greens and the sliced carrots, to speak

up. "Nobble the favorite," she said clearly, and

smiled with pleasure at her new word.

"I rest my case," said Calum, arms folded. "And

what's more, you are not getting me back into

those ridiculous garments. If Acorna can run

around unveiled, so can I."

"You will not," Rafik said with quiet intensity, "do

anything to destroy my cover as a Neo-Hadithian.

And that includes raising your voice. We're just

lucky that Uncle Hafiz respects my religious

beliefs enough to order the servants to keep away

from these rooms, or we'd be blown already."

"I think we are blown," Calum said. "Blown clear

out of the water. Now that he's seen Acorna, what's

the point of wrapping ourselves up like white tents?"

"My conversion to Neo-Hadithian tenets,"

Rafik said, "is an essential part of my negotiating

strategy. And it's not such a bad thing that Acorna

has charmed Uncle Hafiz, either. He'll be all the

more inclined to complete the transaction and

speed us on our way."

Calum stared. "You sound as if you actually

mean to give him Acorna!"

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

Acorna's eyes narrowed until the silver pupils

•were all but obliterated. She leaned across the

table to grab Calum by one hand and Rafik by the

other.

"It's okay, sweetie," Calum soothed her, "we're

not going anywhere without you. Are we, Raflk?"

"Want Gill," Acorna said firmly. "All together."

"We will be together, darling, in just a little

while," Rafik promised.

"Want Gill here now!" Acorna's voice rose.

Calum's and Rafik's eyes met over her head. "I

thought you said she was over the dependency,"

Rafik mouthed.

"Being auctioned off as a curiosity makes a girl

insecure," Calum whispered back.

"Gill!" Acorna wailed on an even higher note.

"Just so you understand," Calum said some time

later, "I'm only doing this for Acorna."

"Darling, I would never ask you to put on hijab

for my sake," Rafik said sweetly. "White isn't your

color."

They were strolling in the garden, Calum and

Acorna decently veiled so that Gill could join them

without outraging Rafik's supposed Neo-

Hadithian sense of propriety.

"Explain to me again," Calum said while

Acorna skipped ahead, holding Gill's hand,

"exactly how wrapping me up in a bolt of polysilk

is an integral part of your negotiating strategy. Am)

Son't giggle!" he added sharply, almost tripping

over some of the lower layers of robes.

"Don't hike your skirt up, it's not decent,"

Rafik said. "If you'd take small steps, like a lady,

you wouldn't trip all the time. Ah, Uncle Hafiz!

The benevolence of your smile lights the garden

more brightly than the summer sun."

"What joy can be sweeter than the company of

beloved relatives," Hafiz replied, "beloved rela-

tives and, er, um ..." He looked at Gill's flaming

red beard and freckled skin. "... relatives and

friend," he finished with an audible gulp. "I trust

you have had time and privacy sufficient to confer

with your family and your partner, dear nephew?"

"We accept your offer," Rafik said. "Transfer

the registration of the ship's beacon and sell the

shares for us, and ..." He nodded at Acorna, who

was happily chattering to Gill about the new kinds

of fractions she had learned, such as three-to-two

and six-to-four.

"Excellent!" Now Uncle Hafiz was truly beam-

ing. "I knew you'd be reasonable, dear boy. We're

two of a kind, you and I. If only your cousin

Tapha could do as well!"

Rafik looked slightly queasy at being compared

to his cousin, his uncle s heir. "Where is Tapha, by

the way?"

Hafiz's smile vanished. "I sent him to take over

the southern half of the continent. Yukata Batsu

has been running it long enough."

"And?"

"I don't know where the rest of him is," Hafiz

said. "All Yukata Batsu sent back were his ears." He

sighed. "Tapha never had what it takes. I should

have known when I abducted his mother that she

ANNE MCCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

didn't have the brains to give me a •worthy successor.

Yammer, yammer, yammer, all the time complaining

at me that she could have had a career dancing top-

less at the Orbital Grill and Rendezvous Parlor. Her

and her perky breasts. Yasmin, I told her, all the

girls have perky breasts in zero-g, you were nothing

special, you're lucky a good man took you away

from all that. But would that woman listen?" Hafiz

sighed and brightened up. "However, I'm not too

old to try again. Now that I've found a woman with

intelligence to match my own..." His eyes strayed

to Acorna. "Don't you mind her holding hands with

that dog of an unbeliever?"

"She's only a little girl," Rafik said stiffly.

"Not for much longer," Hafiz said. "They grow

up faster than you think."

A sputtering sound escaped from behind

Calum's layers of white veiling. Hafiz looked star-

tled. "Your senior wife? She is unwell?"

"She suffers from nervous fits," Rafik said,

grasping Calum's wrist and hauling him away

from Hafiz.

"A sad affliction," Hafiz said. "Meet me within

the house when you have calmed your women,

Rafik, and we will pledge faith to our agreement

over the Three Books." He turned away, mutter-

ing, "Ugly, prone to fits, big feet, and what a hairy

wrist! No wonder he is reluctant to give up the

other one . . . but with his ship and his credits, he

can easily buy another wife."

"And just what were you snickering about?"

Rafik demanded in a whisper when Hafiz had

passed back into the house.

"'They grow up faster than you think,'" Calum

quoted. "If he only knew how fast! Would he

believe Acorna was a toddler when we found her

less than two years ago?"

"Let's don't tell him," Rafik suggested. "This

whole deal depends on mutual trust, and he'd be

sure I was a thumping liar if I tried to tell him how

fast Acorna grows. Besides, she's not going to be

here long enough for him to find out."

"But its the truth!" Calum said.

"Truth," Rafik said, "has very little to do with

verisimilitude."

Gill kept Acorna amused in the garden while

Rafik and Calum went into the study to meet

Hafiz. He was seated behind a gleaming, crescent-

shaped desk with the usual consoles and controls,

plus a few that Calum did not recognize, inlaid

flush with the surface so as not to spoil the smooth

lines of the desk. Incongruously stacked atop the

modern equipment were two antique books, the

kind with hard covers enclosing a stack of paper

sheets, and an old-fashioned databox with only six

sides.

"You admire my desk?" Uncle Hafiz said pleas-

antly to Calum. "Carved from a single piece of

purpleheart . . . one of the last of the great stand of

purpleheart trees on Tanqque III."

"My wife prefers not to talk to other men,"

Rafik said sharply.

He'd rumbled lu, Calum thought in despair. He

know,) I'm not a woman. Rafik and hid damn <>dly

gam&f!

"Dear boy," Hafiz said, "surely within a family

ANNE McCAFFREY AND MARGARET BALL

100

as close as ours, and soon to be united even more

closely by the exchange of wives, even you Neo-

Hadithians can drop some of these ridiculous . . .

oh, all right, all right, I didn't mean to insult your . . .

religion." He pronounced the last word with the

faint distaste of someone directing the servants to

remove whatever it was the cat had dragged in

and failed to finish eating.

Rafik bridled, scowled, and gave what Calum

thought an excellent imitation of a man on the

verge of taking mortal insult.

"Your ship," Uncle Hafiz said, "is now regis-

tered as the Uhuru, originally of Kezdet."

"Why Kezdet?"

"That -was the original registration of the bea-

con you appropriated. It would have been

extremely expensive to delete all traces of the bea-

con's history. I think it suffices that We can now

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