“Because it can’t hurt you, and because whatever else might be said about you, you have always been a good sport. You always get even later, but you take the initial defeat quite philosophically.”

Mark wandered up to them, his search for the lost child’s mother apparently a success.

“You mean like how I haven’t tried to murder your paladin here for thwarting my attempt to destroy the Earth.”

“Something like that, yes.”

“Am I, like, missing something, man?” Mark asked, his eyes blinking rapidly behind the thick lenses of his glasses.

“No, just Zabb being manic,” Tis replied.

There was a soft chime from the portable hololink carried by one of Zabb’s guards. He answered, listened for a moment, then coughed lightly.

“Raiyis, it is Lord Bazzakra.”

Zabb keyed the link, and the image of Baz sprang to life on the platform. He looked agitated.

“My lord, the Network’s arrived.”

“Not Nesfa and her little gang of crawlers again. I just got rid of them.”

“Well, they’re back, and they’re not alone. They’ve brought a Master Trader. Zabb, this ship is enormous, Baz blurted. “They’re demanding to talk to you. About a little matter of breach of contract.

Chapter Thirty-four

It had been a long, hard trip. Three changes of train, and a terrifying ride (to a claustrophobe like Jay) through an endless tunnel that linked the two continents. Jay had been perplexed by the lack of air travel on Takis. They had fucking spaceships, but no planes? Then Hastet had pointed out the obvious. The Takisians had rejected metal ships about the time they threw out the Network. It took a telepath to fly a living ship. There were no Tarhiji telepaths, and no psi lord was going to serve the Tarhiji. Ergo no airlines. Jay saw a potential gold mine if he did get stuck on this lousy planet and could convince any displaced aristocrats to dirty their hands with something as commonplace as a job.

The train was slowing, swaying from side to side. Lights were now visible through the tinted window, and an occasional flash of wall.

“We’re running out of milk,” Hastet said as she shifted the baby to her shoulder and started patting.

“Not too much longer now. Hope her highness the ground sloth will be happy with formula.” Illyana let out an absolutely obscene belch. “Guess that told me,” Jay said.

No one in living memory had ever seen a Network starship. Takis still traded with the Network, but the Master Traders had learned to send small ships, unlikely to arouse the hostility or paranoia of the psi lords, and carrying only those goods that would interest the arrogant and insular Takisians.

So the thing filling the forward screen of Zabb’s flagship was alarming in the extreme. It dwarfed even the grandest Takisian warship as it hung next to the Bonded station and blotted out the stars. The most recognizable feature was the great bubble dome that housed the Aevrй pilots. It was also the only feature of the ship which was not obscured by thousands of years of accretion. Pods and towers, strange box-shaped objects, long trailing antennae, clung like barnacles to the body of the ship.

“Ugly,” Taj offered.

“I wouldn’t want to fight the son of a bitch,” Zabb said, rightly interpreting Taj’s comment as less an artistic critique than a strategic one.

“You may have made that unavoidable. Do you realize the trouble the pair of you have caused?” Taj suddenly ejected.

“Sometimes I amaze even myself,” and Zabb forced a smile he really didn’t feel.

They met in a conference room provided by the Bonded station for just this kind of meeting. It was furnished with perches for the Aevrй, tunnels for the Kondikki, a garden complete with a swing and other toys for the Rhindarians, and a comfortable collection of couches and tables for those who required less stimulation for their discussions. The Network representatives had taken up residence on one of the sofas.

Zabb had read the histories, which indicated that the Master Traders could appear as anything. The forms they selected were those most likely to be pleasing to the other party in a negotiation. He’d discounted it as sensationalism. He shouldn’t have.

The figure flanked by Nesfa on one side and a Ly’bahr warrior on the other was H’ambizan, the Ilkazam astronomer who legend held had discovered the living ships of Takis and tamed them to his will.

The presence of the Ly’bahr gave Zabb a nasty turn. The cyborg warriors were the most feared in the known galaxy, and Zabb couldn’t help but wonder if Taj and five guards were enough to handle the Ly’bahr if it should come to a fight.

Taj caught the thought and sent back a gloomy, We’re not, in reply.

Zabb hated to feel off balance, and he decided to rectify the situation. Fixing a smile on his lips, Zabb moved first to Nesfa and took her hand. She took it back, looking none too pleased to see him. “Nesfa, my dear, welcome back.”

The Master Trader rightly read the snub for what it was and took command, saying, “Prince Zabb, I am Master Trader Bounty, owner of the trade ship Bounty.”

Zabb raked the Master Trader from head to toe and back again. Coldly he said, “My class and kind represent the culmination of twenty thousand years of selective breeding. Whatever you are, you are not Takisian, and you are most certainly not H’ambizan. I resent your casual assumption of my ancestor’s form, as if your show of mirrors and smoke could ever make you one of the Most Bred.”

“No offense was intended, Prince. What form would you like me to assume?”

“I don’t care, so long as it is not Takisian.”

The Master Trader shrugged, and there was a momentary darkness as if Zabb had suddenly gone blind. When sight returned, Bounty had metamorphosed into one of Nesfa’s people.

Zabb graciously inclined his head. “Welcome to Takis.”

“I would be better pleased if I were here under more pleasant circumstances.” Bounty leaned forward intently. “You signed a contract with me, Prince.”

“Indeed? I do not recall it, sir.”

“With one of my Aevrй pilots acting as my agent… if you insist on precision, sir.”

“I do, in everything. And I suppose under the conditions as you have described them, I did a sign a contract. Unfortunately events have necessitated an alteration in the terms.”

The Master Trader matched Zabb smile for smile. “Then you intend to return to Network service?”

“Let me be precise… no. I’m afraid I have terminated my affiliation with the Network.”

“And I am afraid that’s not possible. The sanctity of a contract is our highest law.”

“It is not, however, mine.”

“Then we have a very serious problem,” the Master Trader mused.

“I can see where you might.”

The Ly’bahr didn’t care for that. It focused its glowing optics – set on articulating stalks on each shoulder – on Zabb. The light glittering off its burnished red metal shell danced almost painfully in the eye. Zabb was willing to bet the alloy was extremely reflective of laser fire.

“So you are willing to make no accommodation to settle this problem?” the Master Trader asked.

“I didn’t say that -” Zabb began, only to be interrupted by Nesfa.

“Well, I’m not. I want him, piloting our ship, fulfilling the contract. Otherwise you’re in violation of your contract with me,” she said pointedly to Bounty.

The Master Trader sighed. “You seem to have had quite an effect upon our Nesfa.”

“It’s a positive gift,” Zabb said, and allowed himself a slight smile.

“You won’t return and fulfill the terms of your lifetime contract?” Bounty asked mournfully.

“No.”

“Then I suppose there is nothing more to be said, and we may be forced to take more drastic measures.”

“I would strongly urge against that,” Zabb said softly. “As you yourselves aver… wars are bad for business.”