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Updated: June 29, 2025
Ali, Dane, and Rip turned in, more interested in sleep than food. And the last thing the Cargo-apprentice remembered was seeing Jellico talking earnestly with Steen Wilcox as they both sipped steaming mugs of real Terran coffee. But with twelve hours of sleep behind them the three were less contented in confinement. No one had come near them and Van Rycke had not returned.
And each little animal or reptile lay encased in a soft dab of frothy white frosh weed the perfumed seed casing of the Martian canal plants. One or two figures on the second tray were of a red-brown wood and these Van Rycke sniffed at appreciatively. "Cedar Terran cedar," he murmured. Weeks nodded eagerly, his eyes alight. "I am waiting now for sandalwood it is also good for carving "
Ten percent of a cargo which can't be assessed the gang on Limbo kept no records of what they plundered." "We don't know what he was carrying when he crashed on Limbo," countered Kallee swiftly. "We'll base our offer on what he carried to Axal." Now Van Rycke chucked. "I wonder who figured that one out?" he inquired of the scented winds.
"Ten first class stones, about fifty second grade, and twenty or so of third. The chiefs will go to the fisheries tomorrow. Then we'll be in to see the really good stuff." "And how's the herbs holding out?" That interested Dane too. Surely the few plants in the hydro and the dried leaves could not be stretched too far. "As well as we could expect." Van Rycke frowned.
Nor would they until the final trade treaty was concluded and established by their fathers, husbands, or sons. With the assurance of one who was master in his own clan, Van Rycke, displaying no interest at all in the shifting mass of lower rank Salariki, marched straight on to the door of the enclosure.
Contracts might not be as sacred to the protective Service as they were to Trade, but Trade had its powers and since Van Rycke, an innocent bystander of the Queen's troubles, could not legally be charged with any crime, he was escorted out of the room. But the door panel was sealed behind him, shutting in the rest with the unspoken warning that they were not free agents.
"Maybe now that their sales' resistance is broken, we can switch to some of the other stuff," Tang Ya, torn away from his beloved communicators for the conference, said wistfully. "They like color how about breaking out some rolls of Harlinian moth silk?" Van Rycke sighed wearily. "Oh, we'll try. We'll bring out everything and anything.
But you couldn't buck the Board and keep your license and so have a means of staying in space. A broken contract could cut one off from the stars forever. Captain Jellico looked very bleak at that reminder. "The Eysies will be all ready to step in. I'd like to know why they were so sure we had the plague on board " Van Rycke snorted.
We gave them our automat flight record and that ought to give them more food for thought." Dane speculated as to what the experts would make of the mechanical record of the Queen's past few weeks the section dealing with their landing in the Big Burn ought to be a little surprising. Van Rycke got to his feet and marched to the door of the conference room.
Van Rycke was smiling broadly, as if the loss he had just announced was in some way a gain. "No to Combine!" "Combine?" the Captain echoed and his puzzlement was duplicated around the circle. How did Inter-Solar's principal rival come into it? "We've made a deal with Combine," Van Rycke informed them. "I wasn't going to let I-S cash in on our loss.
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