The sphere drifted toward the tube. I got out of the way before I was shifted aside by the pretors and followed the procession from the hold.

When Faceless said expedited, he meant it. Escorted by two destroyers though a lane cleared for us, we sailed at spooky speed for insystem travel straight to a mooring usually reserved for those wealthy beyond my dreams of avarice, where Slancy was put to bed in a section all her own. Shuttles drew up to her flanks and waited there like a ride in an amus.e.m.e.nt park, ready to take the ex-slaves down. k.u.mari had all the paperwork done, she'd taken care of that during the trip in between Xalloor's rehearsals-name, world-of-origin, life history, work status, circ.u.mstances of abduction, fingerprints, bodyprints, retina prints and cell coding with a snippet of freeze-dried skin or flesh or chitin, whatever seemed appropriate, sealed to each statement. I didn't expect any trouble collecting the rewards, not with ti Vnok getting his thirty percent, but k.u.mari was a worrier, it made her the best Mom Slancy'd ever enjoyed. So, no delays. We lined our pa.s.sengers up and hustled them into the shuttles. We rode down in the last of them, Pels, k.u.mari and I along with Adelaar and Aslan, Churi, Xalloor and the Omperiannas, N'Ceegh and the boy.

Now the real tedium began.

Images: Aslan aici Adlaar: Yes, that's the man. He was on Tairanna when Fangulse Tra Yarta interviewed us. Churri the Bard saw him also, as did Parnalee Pagang Tanmairo Proggerd, though he can't testify since he died mad.

Kante Xalloor: Yes, that's the stringman who drugged me. I can't connect him to Bolodo except by the circ.u.mstances that when I woke I was in a Bolodo scout; I knew it was Bolodo by the patches on the pilot's shipsuit. Yes, that's the pilot who flew the scout.

Jaunniko: Yes, that's the stringman who came on to me, then drugged me. Yes, that's the pilot who flew the scout that took me to the Cage on Weersyll.

N'Ceegh of Pao-teely: Yes, that's the man who led the raid on my village.

That's the man who boasted to me my blood was ash.

Tom'perianne: Yes, I saw that man and that one also in the Great Chamber of the Palace on Tairanna, when my sisters and I sang for the Huvved Impe-rator.

My sisters can swear to them also. Yes, that's the pilot who flew us to Weersyll. Yes, those are the crewmen who loaded us on the slave transport. My sisters can swear to them also.

Adelaar aici Arash: Yes, those are the flakes I made of lists I discovered in the mainBrain in the Palace on Tairanna. I swear and will pa.s.s through theVerifier on this point, these flakes are not altered or added to in any way. I will also attest and swear this is the data I abstracted from Bolodo's own mainBrain on Spotchals, I will pa.s.s through the Verifier on this point, these flakes are not altered or added to in any way.

Swardheld Quale: Yes, that is the contract I made with Adelaar aici Arash.

Yes, that is the statement I made concerning my activities in the Horgul system. I do swear and attest that what I have said there is truthful, I will pa.s.s through the Verifier on this point and will answer any questions while under the Verifier relating to that statement.

624 days std. since we started this thing. The Nest/Telffer/Home again.

Crew and I are going to be set for at least a decade of lazing about, taking commissions we liked, not jobs we had to do. Between the rosepearls and the rewards, to say nothing of Adelaar's fee, we will have a credit account on Helvetia so exalted I get alt.i.tude sickness contemplating it.

The Faceless Seven kicked in a thousand gelders apiece for the extras we brought along gratis, a nice little bonus; the Seven were overflowing with the milk of . . . well, something as they began taking apart Bolodo's a.s.sets, at least those they could get hold of, not a small percentage of the whole if ti Vnok was right.

While I was waiting for the interrogations to grind to their eventual end, I pa.s.sed the time doing this and that. I gave the rosepearls to ti Vnok; he wouldn't do the selling, but he'd find an agent who'd get me the best price; I added a chunk to the credit account I set up for the Barker and his asteroid mines, dropped a fee on a cobben of NightCrawlers to take out the one pointed at me. Ah yes, and ti Vnok managed to slip Leda Zag her baksheesh without her patron knowing. He's a good friend.

We dropped Aslan at University. It gave me a twinge to see how eager she was to get away. She'd done all she could to help finish off Bolodo, now she was going after the Oligarchs on Kavelda Styernna. That was more important than me or any other man. Adelaar was right for once, men were recreation when her daughter wasn't busy with something else. Since I do considerable business with University, I thought we might recreate ourselves some other time. I played the idea around and decided I liked it.

We took Adelaar to Droom; she wanted to get Adelaris whipped into shape again before she took off to work on my house. She'd been away for over four years and was nervous about what she'd find left of her business.

That left Crew and me alone at last on Slancy Orza. It felt good. Kinokhad worked his remotes till their bearings ran hot, scrubbing out the hold and the rest of her. She felt clean and fresh. Frisky.

It was deep winter when we got back, the month called Wolves Running; snow was piled into three-meter drifts when we dropped the lander on the pad. Up in Slancy, Kinok was rubbing his tentacles together again, scritching away like crazy, laughing at us idiots leaving a warm clean ship so we could get ourselves soaked to the bone and half-frozen.

The housekeep was burbling over with things to tell us about the small lives that prowled about on my land; among other things, two feral and very pregnant cats had showed up; they had their kittens in the summerhouse. She said she couldn't understand how they'd managed to get through the shield (I had my doubts about that), but they had, so she'd deloused the mogs and their kits and shot all of them full of antibiots and organized a feeding schedule to keep the mamas at their job. She was full of how well she'd coped. Ever since k.u.mari worked over her programming, she's developed strong maternal urges.

Sometimes I get tired of her fussing, then I see the absurdity of a neuter like our Kri coming up with such a construct; even if Kri were s.e.xed, she belongs to a budding species where motherhood is like a bad case of acne. I think she reads too much.

We'll finish out the winter at the Nest; come spring we'll go take a look at Tairanna to see how things are working out and what kind of trading we can do.

It's mostly curiosity, though it won't hurt having a stash of rosepearls inthe bas.e.m.e.nt that we could dip into should Luck turn mean on us.

On the way back we might stop off at University to see if they have any interesting commissions needing an experienced and trustworthy Crew. I might call up Aslan to see if she's unsaddled her white horse and ready to enjoy another sort of ride. It's a short life these bodies have, and a good one; fragile but full of heat and flavor.

I'm sitting up in my tower. It's a clear night. No clouds. The stars out this way are spa.r.s.e but that makes them all the lovelier and the moonlight on the snow is magical.