The trouble was that Corundum was not driven to seek out Jonuta.

143.

The trouble was that they were not searching for Jonuta. And the trouble was that now Janja knew Corundum.

The charm was superficial. Like Jonuta his enemy, Corundum was an actor. He enjoyed the role of the smooth, sophisticated, courtly buccaneer. He enjoyed the knowledge that though some considered him effete, none could sneer at him, for he was competent.

His main attraction to Janja seemed to be her exoticism, and the bed. The bed remained his only attraction for her. His predilection for the haughty Primeval Princess game, of being dominated, was confined to the bed. He loved it when her thigh came up as if menacingly, saying that it looked like a wall of pink before his face. He loved her to lean it in, to crush his face to her v.u.l.v.a, her stash. Happily then he treated his Primeval Princess to the dexterity of a cleverly sweeping, swabbing tongue that soon had her moaning aloud and trembling uncontrollably while he might be fantasizing that he was being forced to this. It was easy for him to press his lips over the pink twig of her surgically sheathless c.l.i.toris and suck it rapidly in and out until she was practically screaming in pleasure. That gained him what he wanted, too: she clamped him between the pale-skinned towers of her thighs and ground her hips up at his face.

Few would have believed how he loved it, the grim pirate in the ebony clothing and the staring eyes that were not his! The sighing helpless woman, enslaved and enslaving all at once! Abandoning herself to the spasms and grinding her uttermost femininity up to his face. Her entire body contracted and every muscle flexed in purest, almost unbearable pleasure. Her juices flowed and her stomach was a flat plain taut as a Sekhari drumhead. He considered himself successful and lucky if she reached the point of being unable to bear it more, and of thrusting him from her. Of clambering panting up over him to shove him into position and impale herself on him and ride him, 144.

ride Mm, ride him, the Primeval Princess looking down on her smiling subjected male. . . .

("Not two, or four," Vettering was saying, gesturing, "but two whole rows of t.i.tties! No no, not all furry-they are developed from felines, cats, but they have evolved past the furry stage just as we did millions of years ago. Oh, some of those exotics will be turning up along the s.p.a.ceways, you can bet your savings on that!") Janja shook her head sharply and slugged down a good swallow of her drink. She realized that she had been staring without seeing, and that her eyes had been leveled at h.e.l.lfire. h.e.l.lfire was staring back and Janja wondered what the lean, long-legged woman thought of her glazed eyes.

"One supposes that you would not share the coordinates of this planet," Shieda was saying, "or even its sun . . . even if you knew it. . . ." And Vettering was laughing in friendly scorn, and Janja still was unable to be interested. Another populated planet found. Another race! Felines, developed to become erect hu-manoids or rather Galactoids. What did it have to do with her, or with Jonuta? Well, perhaps it did have something to do with him: was this to be another planet on the so-called Protected list? Eagerly pleading exoso-ciologists were denied entry there, to study this new and truly alien culture . . . while it became a private game preserve for poaching dealers in people such as Jonuta and Shieda and others! Was that the fate of this world, this people that Vettering would not name or locate? Another Aglaya? What could Janja do? How could it concern her? Could she change the s.p.a.ceways entire, when not even TGO could or would?

She closed out Vettering and Shieda and h.e.l.lfire's eyes. She closed out the table and the Loophole again, and returned within herself. Within the ent.i.ty called Janja-once-Janjaheriohir that was so aware of its wholeness and of all its components.

She returned to her doubts, her troubles, her 145.

thoughts of Corundum. Not as lover! As Corundum! Pirate, trickster, charmer, ally, killer.

He was a pirate, and he enjoyed it.

He was a killer who enjoyed killing.

True, his slaying of Ota could be termed murder but could not quite be called in cold blood. On the other hand, that slaying had excited him, aroused him, as he had soon proven. It was an unnecessary killing. Ota had been ranting. Blowing off steam. He had been no threat to Corundum and probably none to the crew-members he threatened, not really. The merchant after all had been carrying the highly illegal tetrazombase that had put so many stells into Corundum's hands. (So much buying power credited to his I.D., more literally. And more literally still: his LD.'s, plural.) And those two policer ships . . . !

There was that horror, yes. It made gooseflesh rise on Janja's skin. The kill on the TGW ship had been unnecessary. It had been Corundum's pleasure. Yet that incident followed so much else, all of Corundum's ingenious plotting and trickery. Clever, clever Corundum!

Janja had not known that her concept of getting Jonuta was more straightforward than Corundum's. Her "plan" was to search for the slaver, follow him if necessary, hound him if possible, and find and trap him. Then, she had merely a.s.sumed without really thinking about it-then she would kill him. Jonuta was not honorable. Many individuals would be better off were he dead. The s.p.a.ceways would profit by his death. To kill him, therefore, could not be a dishonorable or immoral act.

(But would it be honorable? Never mind! That was back in the gray area again. Evil gave unto Good unto Evil out of which came Good.) Now it was plain to her that such was not the plan of Captain Corundum. He was seldom so straightforward. Indeed, he must consider her "plan" naive!

No one could doubt that his mind was excellent.

146.

Obviously he could have pursued many other occupations, accomplished much, to profit with respect and even honor. He chose not to. Piracy pleased him. He preferred the danger, the constant thrill of illegality, the role he played, and the constant need for crafty maneuvering. Shrewdness and elaborate plotting pleased him and deviousness pleased him more-therein lay his great source of delight. Greater, Janja suspected, than o.r.g.a.s.m. She remembered the labyrinth of guile, of cross and double-cross, that he had described to her with regard to the business of Ota and the TZ that Ota had carried.

Maybe all those twists and manipulations he had detailed-in bed-were reality and perhaps they were fiction. But how he had enjoyed telling it! How he had enjoyed Janja's reactions, her admiration of his genius.

Devious, clever Corundum!

On Dot, he had not called himself Jonuta. Instead he had deliberately chosen the transparent "Tojuna of Qalara" alias, and pretended a couple of additional slips as well. That way Aaron had the ego-boosting pleasure of believing he had caught out Jonuta in an attempt to conceal his ident.i.ty. How clever Aaron felt! He had worked it out; the pirate had not denied; therefore Aaron was sure that "Tojuna" was Captain Cautious: Jonuta!

Could he have thought I was that overblown Ke-nowa? Well . . . in that bulky s.p.a.cesuit . . . and if he had never really seen Kenowa, the cow . . .

Aaron must long since have advised more than one investigator that it had been Jonuta of Coronet who had come to Dot, concealing his ident.i.ty while bearing new, needed factory-sealed equipment. He had dealt with TMSMCo through Aaron, who had made a superb cred-saving bargain with the outlaw.

(But-might Aaron not now be in trouble? His trading pnamprum was illegal. Could Aaron cover that, or was he by now another victim of Corundum? -fired or even indicted, for cheating his employers?) 147.

Two policers had come arushing. Called in by Aaron? Called in by someone else, while Aaron left with the supposed Jonuta and his aide? It did not matter. Both were destroyed with all hands. Their quarry, the man Aaron had dealt with, had escaped.

Corundum had contrived to make Jonuta guilty of the destruction of both a Murphs.p.a.ce policer and a TGWatch ship!

Was that to be Corundum's way? Did he intend to stay away from Jonuta, to let TGWITGO do his work for him? Their own proper work, really, but never mind that-Janja wanted Jonuta herself. It was personal and she wanted to end it personally. And, wasn't TOO the enemy? The Gray Organization! Huge, secretive superpolicers of the s.p.a.ceways! With all the honor and morals of-of Corundum, Janja realized, and the realization hit hard.

(". . . sitting there looking so blank-faced?" Vetter-ing asked.) ("Oh," Corundum said smoothly, thumping Janja's leg with his, "she's always this way on a second drink. She sort of ... goes away for a while. She will be back." Clever, devious Corundum, covering Janja's obvious preoccupation. He went on smoothly, "h.e.l.l-fire, I understand that you recently had to play some serious hide-and-seek with that revolving collapstar out near Jorvas's Star?") Gray, more gray. Corundum is betraying a fellow outlaw and enemy of TGO, Janja was thinking, ignoring the others and not registering what they were saying. Double treachery-he's helping their mutual enemy!

And the way he did it! That policer ship . . . all those people-in cold blood!

By now Janja knew that the standard crew of the new RT-Quad cla.s.s Janissary, the s.p.a.cer favored by TGO's uniformed arm, the TGW, was nine. Nine persons. Human beings. Dead-unnecessarily. They had been in shock and indecision, having accidentally blown 148.

away the local system's policer craft. Firedancer's escape was a.s.sured. Unnecessarily, in the very act of escaping totally unscathed, Captain Corundum had killed nine people. Because he enjoyed it ... and because it was a fine way to d.a.m.n Jonuta.

The deaths of those TGW crewmembers const.i.tuted murder, a ma.s.s murder. Yet, again, as in the case of Ota, it was not quite cold-blooded. There was or had been an extreme emergency, which Corundum had met brilliantly. Not quite cold-blooded, then. Calculated, yes. Also unnecessary, and therefore doubly evil.

And Corundum had enjoyed it.

Clever, clever Corundum's mind and stopper remained set on Fry.

This was dealing with Jonuta?-gaining vengeance on Jonuta?-removing the slaver Captain Cautious from the s.p.a.ceways?

Hing, she thought. Yes, there was Hing. He'd had a broken arm, several broken fingers, obvious internal injuries, and a messily cracked skull. They had done what they could find for him and left him on Front, in a hospital. Hing would survive, Corundum had sorrowfully reported on returning to the ship, but King's would be a long convalescence. They would have to find another crewmember.

Yes, very well, but-why had they not remained on Front? Why had they lifted so rapidly, dodged the Demonhole, and come zooming here to Thebanis? Why not have zipped directly from Dot to Outreach, which was near? Hing was a comrade! Or here to Thebanis, which was as close to Murph and Dot as Front was-and without the necessity of avoiding one of the hugest collapsed stars-formerly "Black Hole" and now collapstar-in the galaxy? Thebanis! G.o.ds of s.p.a.ce (if any truly existed), what was Thebanis? Everything red and luridly, disconcertingly double-shadowed under the light of its angry red giant of a sun and its pale companion? What idiot had decided to colonize this dreary world covered with its 149.

myriad of ugly old fumaroles and gigantic volcanic cones, standing over the planet like the watchful sentinels of inimical G.o.ds?

From the way Corundum now referred to his loyal Hing in the past tense, Janja suspected that Hing was not in hospital on Front at all, and would never recover or even convalesce. She suspected that Corundum had killed him, or had him killed, on Front. Only he and Hing had left the ship there. A live Hing might talk, mightn't he?

There was no use bringing the matter up to Corundum. She was sure of nothing. He could laugh at her suspicions, or be nervous about her afterward, even if she was careful. She would have to accept whatever he told her-having let him know that she doubted him. She would not.

(She was only peripherally aware that the cold eyes of too-thin h.e.l.lfire seemed trying to burn a hole through her black zip-front, into her right breast. Why? Did the skinny bony-faced woman fancy Corundum? Did she perceive Janja as a rival, or some sort of threat?) Somewhere, Jonuta continues; business as usual, with or without TGOITGW after him, she reflected bitterly, while Corundum also smugly continues with business as usual. The business of piracy and the killing he enjoys. A slag-decorated bar in a skungy s.p.a.ceport town called Raunch! And now he has an exotic wh.o.r.e by his side-"Zhanzha" or "Yanya" or "Jonja" -They will persist in misp.r.o.nouncing it-to share his thievery and his murderous triumph and his bed. Me.

Good and evil, black and white! Look at me. Hair and skin They call "white" because They're all dark . . . and these black clothes. So dramatic. Corundum-colored clothing! I felt so superior in my knowledge that They were the ancient black-for-Evil and I the lily-white of Good! She remembered learning that contrary colors could not mix; that black and white could not mix and that gray was thus impossible.

150.

And I believed It. Even then I was becoming gray. Being changed by Them into a mix of Good and Evil. Their evil. Even then I was becoming more like Them. And now?

Now I am a pirate, and less than a pirate.

I am Captain Corundum's pet, his wh.o.r.e.

Hail Pacy, Pearl, Althis . . . my sister wh.o.r.es!

10.

. . . the difficulty is to render physical violence irrelevant, which is the only hope of any human being.

Germaine Greer Janja focused her eyes and stared at her unsavory companions in this unsavory place. No, that was an exaggeration. Pacy and Pearl were just girls, children, thinking they were doing well. Janja remembered the remark of a blowzy acquaintance of Corundum's, weeks ago on Ghanj when Janja's wardrobe was being bought. "You get sucked in," Trewy said wisely, "by sucking 'em off."

Just now it was a Heaven High that Shieda and Pacy were sucking, sharing. His lips around the cigarette were like fat worms, the kind that grope about all ugly and stupid when a big log or stone is overturned. Orange, red-haired Raunchy's huge ebony eyes seemed to be giving Corundum-or Janja, or both of us?-looks about as subtle as this d.a.m.ned bom-boom-bom-screee-wah "music," or as subtle as Althis's decol-letage.

151.

152.

"This roun's on me," Dignis said, practically sniffing h.e.l.lfire's crotch. "Stannard-stan-darrd-Theban hos-p'tality."

Dignis, Dealer in Anything, was not the only native Theban present. Pearl and Pacy were locals. Their hospitality, however, had nothing to do with buying drinks and mind-affecting smokes. They carried it with them just as Dignis did, but not in the form of an I.D. credcard.

Chain-earringed Pacy wore a little blue blouse of wetcloth, a product of Thebanis, and those nipples could not be real. Her skirt covered her abdomen and little else. Janja, who was not seated opposite the girl, knew that her underpants were an obscene tongue-pink. Her wrists were decorated with the paint-on jewelry currently popular here. Pearl wore a ridiculously revealing, totally nonutilitarian bra that consisted mostly of straps-red straps. And a long, long red skirt. It was tight enough to appear painted on. Slit to the hip and laced up that side, from the knee. She had her little finger in her mouth-red-and looked positively watery of eye. Pearl did have a cute navel.

Somewhere off down there hi the bluish, "music"-swirled murk, someone yelled in anger. Someone else cursed and was punched with that unmistakable meaty sound of fist impacting flesh. Someone bit the floor. Janja did not look around. In the mirror behind h.e.l.lfire she did see the cybernetic bouncer come around the bar, fast. It had a face. On silent rollers, it made for the scene of the altercation, although that seemed to have been settled by the partic.i.p.ants. By one of them, anyhow.

"Anybody over here got the time?"

The voice came from Janja's left and just behind her; she sat with her back to the Loophole's main room. She did not turn.

"On what planet?" Shieda asked, looking past Janja at the newcomer, and he giggled. So did Pacy, Pearl, 153.

and Dignis, and even Corundum smiled. Shieda flipped his fingers and looked self-conscious.

h.e.l.lfire did not. "Screw off, traffic-watcher. You so-secret undercover policers give me the crawling lobbies."

"Awww-listen here now . . ."

Janja glanced sidewise without appearing to, and saw that the stranger stood almost beside her. Janja watched h.e.l.lfire. h.e.l.lfire looked at the man, and she looked mean. She leaned well onto her right hip, resembling someone forcing a fart. That was not her purpose, Janja knew. h.e.l.lfire was hoisting her left hip to clear her holster. Her band swung down that way and Janja felt a blasting cherm of intended violence.

Her left hand swung out, bending, ramming back. The elbow connected and she grunted. As the elbow's connection was with the man's crotch, he made a far uglier sound. Janja whipped her arm back at the same time as h.e.l.lfire's stopper cleared its holster. The man was bent almost double. His head was just beside the edge of the table, just beside Janja's hand. With a swift jerky movement she gave him the side of her fist in the ear.

"s.h.i.t," h.e.l.lfire said, while the man fell noisily.

h.e.l.lfire gave Janja a look, and for just a moment Janja looked into the stopper's snout. Then it practically leaped back into its holster. Beside their silent table, the man was on the floor, still trying to maintain the fetal position with both hands to his crotch. Only now did Janja look over at him. He was a nice enough looking fellow, a bit seedy, and big. Also, at present, ludicrous.

And here came the bouncer, rushing on those silent rollers. Sensors apprised it of the steps and it lifted nicely. Its "face" blinked and it spoke. The voice was perfectly human, deliberately and almost ludicrously tough-guy.

"What seems to be th' trouble here, fokes?"

154.

"I ... fell down-" the man on the floor said, with effort.

"He fell down," Janja said. "Must have been the steps. Looks drunk to me."

The robot a.s.similated that, and its "head" section swiveled toward the luckless man. "We mix good drinks here, bud. Maybe you had one or three too many. We also like a nice quiet place here. Good night."

The bouncer waited while the man got himself up, wincing and making a face. He flashed a look at Janja, who had probably saved his life. He made another face and tried not to grab himself as he departed. The bouncer's top section did a 180 to watch him before turning noiselessly back toward the table. Someone with a nice sense of humor had furnished it with a strong, slab-shaped, stubbly face.

"Sorry, fokes. Hope you don't hold this against th' Loophole. How 'bout a half-price round?"

"Nice idea," Shieda said wheezily, smiling. "Nice place you run here, bouncer."

"Call me Rocky. Your last round is on record. Same upcoming." And the cyber-bouncer departed. It navigated the two steps beautifully and settled to the floor to move silently away toward the bar at the far end of the Loophole.

Janja watched h.e.l.lfire almost smile, and relax or work at it. She knew the man had redshifted. He must have been an undercover policer at that, since he hadn't even bothered to deny it and had spoken quickly to avoid any sort of inquiry. Then h.e.l.lfire's gaze moved, in a twitch, and Janja was staring into her eyes. They were the same color as the tabletops hi the Loophole. Mahogney, it was called.

"You sure scared off that little mouse-t.u.r.d, h.e.l.lfire," Dignis said, high-voiced, and he giggled.

h.e.l.lfire blasted him with a glance and returned her searching stare to Janja's eyes. Janja had prevented her 155.

from using her stopper to make the man dance-or worse.

"You can protect me anytime," Vettering said, and several others chuckled, while Janja and h.e.l.lfire stared into each other's eyes.

"I've seen that mouse-t.u.r.d before," Pacy said. "You know, now that I think about it, he must be an undercover nipper!" She was looking at h.e.l.lfire, who was looking at Janja. Looking mean.

"How'd you know that, Captain h.e.l.lfire?" That from Raunchy, who was looking at Janja looking at h.e.l.lfire who looked only at Janja, and continued.

The table went quiet again. Eyes rolled. Away across the main room someone finished a joke and several people laughed alcoholically. No one laughed up on the alcove at the rear.

h.e.l.lfire spoke. "What're you looking at, Cloud-top?"

Janja saw challenge, heard and recognized challenge. h.e.l.lfire had confronted the man and had meant to give him a jolt with her too-ready stopper. She'd have enjoyed it. Janja had interfered. Alcohol was in the way, but Janja chermed more than challenge-what? She ignored it.

"Looking at? I'm looking at the woman who recognized a policer and had him scared off with a look and a gesture before I had to go and interfere, Captain Pra.s.s-top." She glanced at the others, hearing a couple of gasps. "Sorry I made a fuss and attracted attention, jackoes." She looked back at h.e.l.lfire. "You can call me Janja, h.e.l.lfire. How did you know that escaper from a cesspool was a-what is it you call 'em here, Pacy-nippers?"

Pacy smiled and started to reply and Pearl calmly reached across herself to pop her palm over her friend's mouth.

After another long silent moment, h.e.l.lfire wrapped her left hand around her mug of Pale, an almost calorie-free ale. h.e.l.lfire was left-handed or ambidextrous, Janja had already noted. She smiled lopsidedly, 156.

on the left side of her mouth. That wide mouth, thin lips, and staring eyes made it an unwholesome grimace.

"I smelled him," she said, "and you can call me Pra.s.s-top, Janjy!"

The laughter at their table was so unnaturally loud and uproarious that others in the Loophole stopped to stare, nervously or angrily or merely curiously. The cyber-bouncer eased back toward the half-score of patrons, but did not come all the way to the alcove. These people were known to be well-off, big spenders, and dangerous. The volume disc set into their tabletop was chastis.e.m.e.nt enough. Its sound-sensors reacted to the laughter by blinking silver-blue to advise that their noise level was out of line.

Janja winked and lifted her own drink in silent salute to the thinner woman. h.e.l.lfire returned the gesture; they drank.