Jerry Pournelle - King David's Spaceship

“I think it’s my duty, Trader.” It was obvious that she was choosing her words carefully. If that was an act, she was very good at it. “Citizen Dougal says this could be one of the most important missions in Haven’s history, although he wouldn’t say why.”

“You’re a patriot, then?”

She shrugged. “Not a vehement one. I would like to be part of something important. There’s not much opportunity for that. Not for women.”

True enough. Which was the way things should be. Women on campaign were a nuisance. Although there had been one — he quickly pushed that thought away. He couldn’t think about Laura without pain and anger, and he’d brooded too much anyway. Now he had a job to do, and it was important to keep his mind clear. “And just what do you think you can do for us?” he asked.

“I don’t know, whatever is necessary, I suppose. Many trading expeditions do have secretaries, and my education may be useful to you.”

Nathan laughed softly. “I doubt it.” And I doubt further if you’d do the only thing I think of that might really be useful, he thought. Or will you? She could be a highly trained agent. Haven was said to employ women in their secret-police forces, but the few that Orleans’s security forces had encountered had been obvious, lower class women pretending to be from good families. This girl wasn’t like that. She had the manners of the aristocracy. Like Laura. And Laura had been small, like this girl -Once again he pushed that thought away. “Just what was it you studied at the University, and for that matter whatever possessed you to go there in the first place?”

“I studied a little of everything, Trader. Since there are so few girls in the University, I could study almost anything I liked. My professors didn’t know what to make of me, anyway. Such serious old men, you could almost hear them clucking their tongues when they discovered they were expected to listen to a girl read them papers. But since they didn’t take my efforts to get an education seriously, I could study what I wanted to and go to lectures that interested me. Really, it’s a wonderful way to study.”

“You still haven’t said why you went, freelady.”

“Please call me Mary. After all, I do work for you. Don’t I?” She sipped cold wine, and MacKinnie noticed that she did so gingerly. A telling point; girls of her class wouldn’t be accustomed to drinking wine in the afternoon. “Now. Why I went there,” she said. “I don’t know, it just seemed the thing to do. Shocked all my friends … the few friends I had, anyway. They’re all married now, and I’m a terrible old maid. You can just hear them, ‘Poor Mary, she can’t catch a man and hold onto him!’ But I wasn’t interested in that. There’s so little for girls in Haven, anywhere on North Continent, I guess. No adventure. It was explained in one of Academician Longway’s lectures, that the war left so few women on Samual that men kept them at home so no one would see them, and it’s only recently we were allowed to go out on our own. I don’t know if I believe it, but that’s what he said. Certainly I’d like to do something more than just raise children and help my husband get promoted by flirting with his superiors. I thought the University would help, but it just made people think I was a frimp. That’s why I wanted to go on this expedition so badly.” She stopped, out of breath, and smiled nervously.

“So you have no romantic attachments?”

“Not now. I was engaged once. To the son of one of my father’s friends. But that’s all over.”

“What does you father think of your entering the Service and going off to another planet?” MacKinnie appeared to be relaxed, but he watched the girl closely. He was fairly sure that she was just what she seemed to be, which meant that she would probably be more hindrance than help. By her own account, her education at the University didn’t seem to be anything useful to the expedition.

“He gave his approval, Trader,” she said stiffly. “I have all the necessary permissions duly notarized. Are you afraid he might challenge you?” Her eyes flashed briefly, then she thought better of what she had said. “Oh, I didn’t mean that. Please don’t be angry with me, but I get so tired of having to ask Father’s permission for everything I do.”

“I take it you would prefer some such equality-of-sexes nonsense like Therean.”

“Not that equal, Trader. I’ve no wish for the life of a camp follower or a tavern girl. But — surely there’s a place for us in some honorable work. Not all of the secretaries in Haven were born in the charity wards. If freeladies can manage affairs for Magnates and Traders, why can’t they own property themselves? Academician Longways says they did in the Old Empire. Why, there were even women in Parliament and nobody thought anything of it.”

“Do you believe that?”

“Well, it seems a little strange, but why not? We’re not brainless, you know. Not all of us, anyway. Who managed the estates when the men were off on campaign? You know as well as I do that not all of the wives and companions had guardians … if they could manage their property as long as the men were alive, even when they were away for months, why couldn’t they do it after their men were killed?”

MacKinnie laughed and turned his attention to his pipe. “Management is one thing, ownership is another, freelady Mary. If you own something, you can sell it.” And there were city-states where women owned property. Often enough, given the casualties in war, the result was that most of the land was owned by heiresses, and the men sought good marriages as a route to wealth.

None of which was important. It was obvious that Dougal was sending Mary Graham for reasons of his own, so MacKinnie might as well make the best of it. She might even be useful. “How far along is the cargo?” he asked.

She reached into her pouch and shuffled through papers until she found a bulky sheaf. “Here is the list. The items checked off have already been moved to the Imperial landing dock.”

“And the armor?”

“Citizen Dougal has arranged for the Haven armory to prepare the chain mail. They seem to have found something which works, and one of their people will measure us this evening. The tanners will be along to measure us for the underpadding as well. And Duncan and Larue are forging swords to various patterns, and have sent over all the varieties they make. We’ve located crossbows, and they’re making bolts for them.”

“Duncan and Larue,” MacKinnie mused. “I can remember when I was younger, there were whole regiments of cavalry armed with sword and pistol. Battles decided by them” But then, he thought, everything changed. Suddenly there was a new military technology, new tactics based on self-loading rifles and quick-firing guns with multiple barrels, breech-loading field pieces light enough to be towed at a gallop. The whole manner of war changed, to become more impersonal and a great deal uglier.

I learned the new ways, he thought. Learned them well, when a lot of my brother officers wouldn’t. They couldn’t change. Insisted that elan and military spirit were more important than weapons and tactics, and they got their regiments butchered for their pains. I learned the new ways, but I never liked them. He looked up from his reverie. “That’s one company that will profit by this expedition. Assuming we find something worth importing.”

Dougal arrived an hour later. “You will meet the Imperial Traders shortly,” the policeman announced. “We have fresh clothing ready for you in your quarters. When you get changed, we’ll go to Empire House.” The policeman fell in beside MacKinnie, walking with him to his suite. “Be careful with these Imperial Traders. There are two of them, and they both look soft. Don’t believe it; they didn’t get rich by being stupid. Of the two, Trader Soliman is probably the actual leader although they claim to be equals. There is antagonism between the Imperial Traders and the Navy, but I wouldn’t count on it too much. We don’t know the real story, but the Traders seem to be with us against the Navy.”