The Bright Black Sea (8 page)

She was dressed in a white blouse with a loose black
tie, a black collared vest with a short black skirt that showed a
lot of her black, elegantly shaped mech-legs which made her taller
than me. Her gaze was guarded, her manner proper, cool,
collected.

'Greetings, Captain Litang,' she said extending her
hand, paused, recognized me from the lift, and added, 'Again.'

'My pleasure,' I assured her, taking her cool hand
with an apologetic smile. 'I'm afraid it didn't strike me who you
were until it was too late.'

'Never occurred to me either, your cap has a first
mate's badge.'

I shrugged. 'That's what I am. Merely acting as
captain. Didn't see any need to change it.'

She considered that for a moment before saying, 'I
see. Please have a seat,' and with a movement of her hand
indicating the conversational area. 'I wouldn't want to keep a
spaceer on his feet longer than necessary.'

'Thank you.' I said, though I waited until she was
seated on the edge of a chair opposite mine, carefully arranging
her long mech-legs off to one side, before I settled into mine.

Cloned replacement legs would likely take time to
grow, and credits. She probably had the credits – her mech-legs
looked elegantly expensive, so it may simply be that the cloned
replacements were not yet ready. Still, very lifelike prosthesis
are readily available, so the undisguised mechanical nature of her
legs was still a curious choice. Nothing in her manner seemed to
invite pity. Perhaps they were an expression of indifference to
their loss or penance for a perceived failure on her part in the
tragedy. She was, after all, piloting the boat when it crashed.

I was on edge and chartless. I needed to navigate
this interview carefully. It should have been a clear orbit since
we shared a common interest in keeping the
Lost Star
sailing, but the Belbania affair was unavoidably in the offing. I
didn't know how she'd take that.

As I looked across to Min I realized another danger
as well – that first second of our encounter – that glimpse of an
unguarded and vulnerable Tallith Min would always colored how I
thought of her. I knew this to be dangerous, for looking at her, it
was clear that wasn't something she wanted the world to know and if
I treated her in that light, I could well be on the beach tomorrow.
I needed to treat her as she was now – cool, competent and in
command. I needed to be modest, deferential, and it wouldn't hurt
to be a bit boring as well.

'Before we get down to the immediate business,' she
began. 'I'd like to thank you for taking on Captain Jann's cargo. I
appreciate how hard it was to help the
Comet King
avoid
Calissant while you had to continue in. It may've seemed unfair to
choose one ship over the other, but I'm pleased you saw the
advantages of our plan.'

'It was hard,' I admitted, watching her closely.
Neither her eyes nor voice revealed what she knew of it.

'It was hard for me as well,' she continued.
'However, Uncle Hawk held Captain Jann in high regard and given the
current trade situation, I felt it best to keep a captain of Jann's
experience operating as long as there is still a chance for cargoes
and profit. I don't wish to undervalue your performance, Captain
Litang, we're quite pleased with it, but, with Jann's four decades
of solid profits behind him, I had to go with experience, even if
it meant risking the
Lost Star
which has played such a big
part in my family's history.'

'I can imagine it's not easy to risk the ship the
Four Shipmates sailed aboard for so long, being laid up and the old
gang scattered to the eight stars,' I said. 'She's a delightful
ship, I've been lucky to serve aboard her, not to mention as her
acting captain for a voyage.'

'Ah, the Four Shipmates.... I never tired of hearing
Uncle Hawk talk about the old days. So many of his yarns involved
the
Lost Star,
and w
hen I was ten he
took me along on a voyage to Rigtania aboard the very ship. It was
the greatest adventure of my childhood.'

'I joined the ship a year or so after that,' I said.
'But the gang still tells stories of your time onboard. You were a
bright ray of youth in the old tramp. And before I forget, they've
given me strict orders to pass along their greetings and to say
they're looking forward to seeing you soon, without fail.'

'I'm looking forward as well. And since I'm anchored
here,' she indicated the office with a little movement of her hands
on her lap, 'I won't have to run to make my ship like the last
time. I'm looking forward to visiting the
Lost Star
again as
well.'

'Any time. We'd be delighted.'

'My parents rarely talked of the old days,' she said.
'But Uncle Hawk would, if I annoyed him enough. I loved those wild
yarns of his youth spent tramping the eight systems. Adventure and
mystery never seemed in short supply in those days. So you can
imagine how wonderful it was to go to space at the age of ten
onboard the very ship that was center stage for his stories. Every
deck, every dent and stain was out of one of his tales. Or he made
it seem so...' she added, rather wistfully.

'Like that long dent in the lower hull where the
Drift Dragon's tail sent the
Lost Star
spinning out of
control when they tried to steal the silver asteroid that...' I
started, recalling some of their more innocent, if unbelievable
yarns.

'...Was actually the Drift Dragon's egg!' she
finished, with a quiet smile. 'And that big, dark gloomy no. 4 hold
with all those dings and dents from the last stand of the Droid
Pirate who tried to take over the ship. And the battered floater
and the ancient flier above the strong rooms that they used in
their escape from the Revolutionaries of Linlan-zey...'

'...A drift planet somewhere deep in the Alantium
Drift...' I laughed. 'They're still there.'

'And all those dusty old crates and boxes piled in
the strong room?'

'I think everything is still there, and more gets
added as time goes by. Much of Captain Miccall's gear ended up
there as well.'

'I suppose that's how is should be... Added to all
the other fabled treasures. I was convinced that one of those
crates held Captain vey'Cline's
Travel Book of Faylyen
. The
one that he claimed that he could, by simply opening its pages and
looking closely at the picture on it, transport himself to the
actual place.'

'Ah, yes, the world of Faylyen, the home planet of
the First People whose sky is filled with the stars of the galactic
center...'

'And where Captain vey'Cline may be today since he
disappeared in the middle of a voyage, leaving the opened book on
his desk... And there was Glen Colin, the engine room's spaceer
ghost who'd appear out of nowhere...

'In a cloud of whiskey fumes.'

'So solid that he would yarn and even stand a watch
when the mood suited him.'

'Which makes him sound more like a ship-hermit living
somewhere between the hulls than a real ghost.'

'A ship-hermit? Well, maybe, but even that's nearly
as unbelievable as a proper spaceer ghost,' she said.

'Not when you remember just how run down the old girl
was in those days, sold, traded or gambled away from one shady
owner to the next... A spaceer could easily make a nest amongst the
fuel pipes and plumbing and never be found, even if anyone bothered
to look...' I replied.

'So you say.'

'So I choose to believe.
Ghost
stories and drift dragons are entertaining yarns,
but I must admit I hope most of them are more imagination than
fact. I've not their taste for adventure...'

'No taste at all, Captain?'

'A quiet life of circling Azminn twice a year is
about my limit, I'm afraid.'

'You'd never want to cross orbits with the beautiful
pirate Captain Astreya of the
Careworn Lark
?

'I hope to avoid all pirates, be they as beautiful as
a moon in a mist or ugly as a wort worm... Though I'll admit I
briefly toyed with the idea of turning pirate myself just yesterday
when I learned that we could slip out of orbit and be on our way to
Sanre-tay before the Ministry of Death even knew we'd arrived.'

'Really?' She gave me a taunting look.

'Briefly. I believe the Four Shipmates did something
like that once, but I'm not like them. I'm far too Unity Standard
for piracy.'

'I suppose we'd best get back to business at hand. I
believe I was telling you how much I appreciated your willingness
to take on Captain Jann's cargo.'

With all the talk of the Four Shipmate's exploits,
now seemed the time to introduce the Belbania Affair – as modest of
an affair as it was.

'Well, there's a yarn attached to that too. Nothing
as exotic as a Four Shipmate's tale, but one that needs be
told.'

'I'm not sure I follow you...'

'Well, when Captain Jann proposed unloading his cargo
on me, I must admit I declined to even entertain the plan.'

'Why? Surely you saw its advantages.'

'Yes and no. What I saw was that with the arrival of
the
Comet King
and the plan of sending only one ship on to
Calissant, the chances of the
Lost Star
avoiding the
uncertainty of Calissant fate suddenly jumped from none to 50-50 –
but only if I refused to go along with it as proposed,' I replied
and proceeded to spin my yarn.

Min hadn't spend the better part of two years living
amongst the Taoist adepts of Kimsai without adopting something of
their quiet ways. After her initial protest, she merely listened
and watched – revealing nothing of her thoughts – allowing me to
sail through the story as I'd rehearsed it countless times.

'Had Jann not actually cut a comet and I, a star, I'd
had to invent that piece of business since it seems so apropos,' I
said with a nervous smile and shrug, earnestly adding, 'So, even
though everything ended up as you planned and nothing lost with my
insistence that
my ship
be given its fair
chance, I feel you needed to know the full story. I'd not feel
right letting you believe I'm something I'm not...'

'And you had to assume Jann would tell me all about
it anyway,' she added calmly, 'And risk being caught in a lie.'

'True. But I'd be willing to wager Jann said nothing.
And if I wasn't actually convinced I did the right thing, by my
charts anyway, I might've risked it.'

'Well, he didn't. Why?'

'Likely because he couldn't tell you without it
sounding like he was bragging about his loyalty. And because we
settled things the way two tramp captains would've done it. Nothing
more need be said. I, however, have no problem giving him his
proper credit. He's a good and loyal captain.'

'And you, Litang?' she asked watching me closely.
'Are you a good and loyal captain?'

'Oh, I'm neither selflessly loyal nor naïve,' I said,
carefully. 'Jann and I settled the issue as any two tramp captains
would've. Still, there's no denying I chose to take a very narrow
view of my orders – or rather the lack of them – and was prepared
to ignore them completely if Jann decided not to put the
Comet
King
in play. I don't know how you view that, but I'm prepared
to pay the consequences.'

'What do you think those consequences should be?'

'Not for me to say. You should, however, employ
people you can rely on. My appointment as acting captain ended with
the delivery of the verified accounts, so the
Lost Star
is
now without a captain. You're free to appoint whom you'd like.'

'Why do you say your appointment has ended?'

'While Captain Vinden confirmed my acting appointment
after the death of Captain Miccall, he specified that it was only
to our return to Calissant and implied that he'd others in mind
with stronger claims to the berth.'

'I wasn't aware of that understanding. I don't
believe it's on record, though much of his business was conducted
in his head.'

'I still have the radio-packet which I can send along
to you.'

'Oh, I believe you. Are you that anxious to give up
command?'

I shrugged. 'I was, at one time. Now, well, less so.
Truth is, I've come to rather like being Captain if I'm to be
completely honest.'

'And I'll be honest with you. At the moment, I've no
one at hand to replace you. Can I assume you'd be willing to
continue on as captain until we know its ultimate fate?'

'Yes, of course. I don't want to complicate things.
Keeping the
Lost Star
sailing is my only concern so if
there's anything I can do to help, just ask.'

'Right. Then we'll keep things as they are and
postpone any further discussion until after we've achieved that
goal,' she said briskly, adding, 'Now I've some practical matters
to cover concerning the current status of
your
ship
, Captain.'

'At your service,' I said, enjoying the little jolt
of happiness
your ship
and
Captain
gave me.

'Right.' She proceeded to briefly outline her plans
to negotiate with the Ministry of Death, and what she needed from
me, and on to the practical details of paying off the crew and the
necessity of informing them that if the
Lost Star
remained
in commission, emergency Guild wage rates would apply.

'Finally, and this is strictly between us for the
moment – Phylea has heard a rumor that the BlueStar Line is no
longer going to serve Calissant. If true, it leaves the Tiladore
Planetary recruitment operation in the lurch. They've lined up
three thousand immigrants and are set to sail in little over three
weeks. If this rumor proves true we might be able to charter the
Lost Star
to them. Between the suspended animation boxes and
the immigrant's worldly goods, it looks to be an eighty container
consignment with the usual human cargo premium – a very profitable
charter to secure should it indeed become available. Plus it would
get
her
back to the Sanre-tay quarter where
there's still cargoes to be found.'