Page 10 of Advance and Retreat
“Neither do you.”Her tone was dagger sharp, indicating her readiness to fight.Laughter didn’t miss the defensiveness she felt and how aggression hid it.
She hadn’t told Christoph she was applying for the voyage.He’d shown no interest in the news stories about it...and she didn’t want him to go.
The brief closeness of solidarity during their escape from Jedver had faded already.Laughter had fleetingly entertained the hope they’d regained the spark of their first years together.It had proved to be yet another dashed dream.The old problems hadn’t disappeared.They’d simply waited for a sense of normalcy to return before reasserting themselves.
Christoph stomped to the bedroom they shared, each sleeping on the edges of the bed and no longer touching.As he went, he plugged earbuds in.He was already gone, as far from her as the book or music he listened to would take him.
Laughter followed suit, disengaging from him with far too much ease as she returned her attention to the computer.She pulled up the Coydidak exploration plans again.She stared at the screen unseeing for a few minutes, searching herself for some indication of regret.Of missing Christof and the relationship they’d had prior to her life falling apart.
She only found numbness when she thought of him.Her pain was reserved for a different loss.
One of these days...
The remembered beloved voice, wistful with longing as he’d gazed at the horizon and imagined unexplored vistas, galvanized her.She opened a new screen and searched for flights to Kalquor.Minutes later, she’d booked her passage.She hadn’t been called for an interview yet, but who else could the Kalquorians possibly want to deploy her relay stations on their alien quest?
Chapter Three
Jedver
The cargo from the Adraf ship was checked thoroughly by not only Jedver’s port authority, but soldiers who were on hand too.The manifest was gone over meticulously before every shipping bin was ordered open for inspection and scanning.Then, as they were loaded onto hovercarts, the bins were ordered open again for further scrutiny.
Through it all, the Adraf cargo crew wore bored expressions.They shifted on their triple legs, yawned, and stretched their long necks, furred or shaved, as they waited.They were used to such treatment due to their long history of remaining neutral during wars in order to profit from all sides.When the ship’s cargo master was offered a handsome bribe, his mouth wrinkled in his species’ version of a toothy smile.“How I wish I had reason to accept your money.I’ll ask the captain if we can smuggle something in on the following trip to make it worth your while.”
He noted the amount he’d been offered and calculated an increase of twenty-five percent.Next time the ship came in carrying illicit goods, the sender would have to pony up at least that sum.Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a trip at all.
Word was, once a bribe was accepted by the Darks and contraband revealed, they killed those who’d brought in the cargo.Adrafs loved collecting money, but they had a saying: a dead Adraf couldn’t spend his gains.Profit was worth only so much risk.
Finally, the hovercarts were deemed acceptable and released to the delivery company slated to take the cargo to its final destinations.The freighter’s crew disappeared into their vessel.Minutes later, it took off, its captain eager to escape.
The offload had gone without a hitch, but he had every intention of contacting the Kalquorian Empire and demanding more money to pick up the shipment he’d delivered on their behalf...if it were there to be picked up.
He had his doubts it would be.Jedver was a death trap.
* * * *
Having commed aheadto the shops awaiting their shipments, the hovercart cargo pilots found the staffs of stores, service shops, and restaurants waiting at the delivery entrances when they arrived.Once a beacon of law and order, Jedver’s capital city’s environment had become desperate.A black market existed for everything imaginable, particularly the items needed for survival.Under martial law and a growing lack of food and basic necessities, the most honest had been brought to a state of grabbing whatever was unguarded for a second.
