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Updated: May 7, 2025
With some hesitation he knocked at the panel and did not step in until he had Van Rycke's muffled invitation. The Cargo-master was stretched on the bunk, two of the take off straps already fastened across his bulk as if he intended to sleep through the blast-off. "Sinbad, sir. Shall I stow him?"
"There was just the wood we stowed it according to chart." Van Rycke grunted once more. "Feeling top-layer again?" "Yes, sir. Any orders, sir?" "No. Blast-off's at six." "Yes, sir." Dane left the cabin, closing the panel carefully behind him. Would he or could he he thought drearily, get back in Van Rycke's profit column again? Sargol had been unlucky as far as he was concerned.
But between study and experiencing the situation himself there was a gulf, and he thought somewhat ruefully that he had much to learn before he could meet such a situation with Van Rycke's unfailing patience and aplomb.
And Groft for the first time seated himself in the high seat. The clan was no longer without a chieftain. Groft held his father's place. "Show over?" Dane heard Stotz murmur and Van Rycke's disappointing reply: "Not yet. They'll probably make a night of it. Here comes another round of drinks " "And trouble with them," that was Captain Jellico being prophetic. "By the Coalsack's Ripcord!"
It did not even spit as Dane passed under its abode to pour thin soup into his patient. As for Sinbad, the cat had retreated to Dane's cabin and steadily refused to leave the quarters he had chosen, resisting with tooth and claw the one time Dane had tried to take him back to Van Rycke's office and his own hammock there.
With Tau their one hope of fighting the disease gone they had a black future facing them. They did not have to search for Sinbad. Dane coming down to his own section found the cat crouched before the panel of Van Rycke's cabin, his eyes glued to the thin crack of the door. Dane scooped him up and took him to the small cargo space intended for the safeguarding of choice items of commerce.
But Dane's shoulders went back as if some weight had been lifted from them. The old easiness was still lacking, but he was no longer exiled to the outer darkness of Van Rycke's displeasure. Holding the microtape as if it were a first grade Koros stone Dane went back to his own cabin, snapped the tape into his reader, adjusted the ear buttons and lay back on his bunk to listen.
Van Rycke's stride did not vary. He did not turn his head, show any sign he had heard that heralding fanfare for a clan chieftain. And he continued to keep to the exact center of the road, Dane the regulation one pace to the rear and left as befitted his lower rank.
He sensed that he was far from being back in Van Rycke's good graces. The fact that his superior did not discuss any of the aspects of the deals with him was a bad sign. Captain Jellico stretched. Although his was not, or never, what might be termed a good-humored face, he was at peace with his world. "That would seem to be all. What's the haul, Van?"
His next move was one which took his rivals by surprise, in spite of their suspicions. "Under the laws of the Fellowship, O, Groft," he clung to the formal speech, "I claim redress " Ali's hand moved. Through his growing distress Dane saw Van Rycke's jaw tighten, the fighting mask snap back on Captain Jellico's face. Whatever came now was real trouble.
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