Andre Norton - Derelict For Trade

"I shall try a search on common providers that Koytatik and Flindyk and the Jheel have." She tapped, they waited in silence, and she laid her hands on her console. "Nothing."

"Take Flindyk out," Rip suggested.

This time they had too much information. The Jheel was connected with Koytatik’s office in certain capacities, so it wasn’t surprising that a myriad of businesses showed up.

They tried other combinations, until Rip, who’d stopped watching the screen and was resting in midair, pretending that he had his own computer before him, imagined a vector that he would follow.

"Go back," he said, opening his eyes. "To the Jheel and Koytatik."

Nunku moved back, and looked up inquiringly.

"Now, how about finding out who’s behind each of the businesses?

Strip out Trade departments, of course."

Nunku nodded slightly, her fingers working. Her face was absorbed, not at all surprised, and Rip suddenly wondered if she hadn’t already thought of it, but out of an innate courtesy listened to his ideas. She's a leader , he thought, watching her. She makes all these weird beings feel needed and valued . A good trait, he realized, for a captain.

"Ah," she said, with that sudden smile, and he knew he’d been right—she’d initiated a search right from the start because no computer was that fast. "I have done inquiries on each of the ownership combinations furnished by the Exchange listings, and of them, there is one that is registered as based here, but the owners." She paused, and in a lightning move sent yet another probe into the system. "Zounds!" she exclaimed. "As I surmised. Sphere Eleven Startraders, a limited partnership. These owners were once individuals, but all are deceased."

Dane clapped his hands, ignoring the laugh from Tooe and some of her friends as the movement sent him into an inadvertent somersault. "Run the dates of payments from Sphere Eleven Startraders for a month before and after each of the ETAs on the insured ships."

Once again Nunku’s fingers sped over her screen, and then she sat back and smiled. "There it is," she said. "The Jheel is on the listing after Ariadne , but no others. Koytatik, however, is listed after, five disappeared ships, each a month after the ETA."

"It’s good," Rip said, rubbing his fingertips to get rid of the tingle of the computer tech who is on the scent, "but it’s still not proof. The last connection—"

This time Nunku laughed, a lovely, merry sound. "The trail of credit from Sphere Eleven to whoever is providing the money."

Stotz came forward and spoke for the first time. "That probably won’t show up," he said. "If it’s Flindyk, he’s so entrenched in the system he knows how to ride it and how to blind it. I’ll stake any sum he gets some goon to pay cash, anonymous source, into the Sphere Eleven accounts at intervals that have nothing to do with the payouts—"

"And in amounts that won’t match withdrawal sums or dates from his own funds," Rip said. "Yup. I’d do that too, if I were setting up a hijacking empire. Make sure your flunkies are paid promptly, because they don’t care where it comes from, but make certain the source is sufficiently fuzzy for the random legit auditor, who does care."

"Then we’re stopped after all?" Dane asked, looking annoyed.

"I shall see if I can break through the guardians of Flindyk’s own accounts," Nunku said quietly.

"Look, Viking," Rip said. "Let’s take what we have and give it to the captain and the others. We can’t expect to get it all at once, but what we have here ought to be enough for quick brains like Ya’s and Van’s and Wilcox’s, not to mention the Old Man’s."

"Right," Dane said, but without much enthusiasm. He turned to Nunku. "Thanks for your help, We’ll report back."

"Momo and Ghesl’h’h shall see thee safely out of the Spinner," was all she said.

All four men were silent on the long journey out.

Just before they returned to the Queen , Dane said, "Why don’t you take this data to the captain? I’m going down to Shver territory to see if our ferret extracted anything more. We obviously need every scrap of data we can get."

"Bad idea," Stotz said. "Didn’t someone say Flindyk has to be onto that ferret by now?"

"It’s going to burn at me until I know," Dane said. "Look. I’ll do it just like before, nice and easy. If there’s anything suspicious, I won’t go in."

"At least sound it first," Stotz said.

Dane and Rip shook their heads at the same time, and Dane grinned before saying, "If the ferret’s discovered, the sounder will be too."

Rip said, "Then I’m going with you."

"Maybe we should all go," Frank said.

Dane shook his head. "In that grav, if you try to block a Shver’s hit your arm will shatter. And Johan, your nuller skills won’t be much use in one-point-six gravs."

Stotz grinned. "All right. Besides, I think this"—he waved the chip Nunku had given them—"better get into the captain’s hands right away."

They stopped at a maglev concourse, and before separating, Mura said, "If you’re not back right away, we’re all coming after you."

"Promise me onething," Rip was saying as he and Dane rode the maglev down.

"What’s that?" Dane took in a deep breath. It was good to be in one grav again. Strange, the almost overwhelming sense of rightness. Almost worth the rest of the journey, he thought wryly.

"If you see any of those Clan Golm jokers, we’re smoke. Any," Rip repeated.

Dane grinned. "Already decided that. They have to know we’re onto them, which means—"

"If we do see them, they’re there to make trouble," Rip finished.

Dane laughed. He had a suspicion that Rip’s emotions were much like his—anticipation, impatience, a weird mixture of fun and fear.

And a desire for justice.

"One more piece, one more clue," Dane muttered. "That’s all we need. Let it be there."

After a few moments, during which the acceleration gradually increased, Dane felt a kind of twinge in his mind, like a bad memory that hadn’t quite surfaced. Puzzled, he glanced at Rip, who was sitting back against the seat, doing heavy-grav breathing.

Rip looked up right then, and said, "Just had an ugly thought: what if it had been us?"

"You mean instead of the Ariadne ?"

"Could have been," Rip said, his dark eyes narrowed. "If we’d found some kind of rare mineral on the Denlieth run, or something else we could have made a big killing on—"

"And we would have radioed ahead to Trade for insurance," Dane said, continuing the thought.

"And these slime buckets would have been sitting on our jump point, waiting for us. And the Queen would be orbiting in Mykosian space now, empty, with some other name painted on her side."

Dane flexed his hands. How good it would feel to grab some hijacker by the neck and fling him out a lockhole into space! No Free Trade ship should have to go through that again. They simply had to win. They had to.

Rip sighed.

"Winning, right?" Dane asked, humor leaching back into his thoughts. Anger in high grav didn’t feel good; it was as if a big Shver foot stepped on his heart every time it beat.

"And Tooe," Rip said. "First I was thinking about how right our cause is. That any crew would feel the same. Then I thought of Tooe and her, what do you call it again?"

"Klinti," Dane supplied.

"Let’s imagine that everything miraculously clears up and we don’t end up brigged here forever, and we’re ready to blast off. Do you think she’s going to be able to leave those people?"

Dane shook his head. "I don’t know. It’s been on my mind all day today," he admitted. "Until she took off to warn Nunku—and I understand why she did it—I thought there was no problem. But she really does seem to need to see how the klinti is doing, to talk to Nunku, to get her ideas. Makes me wonder if all her work with me is a kind of game." He shifted position to ease a cramp forming in one leg. "Well, Van says whatever happens with her, it’s good practice for me. I guess I’d gotten so accustomed to things as they are I half thought I’d be an apprentice forever."