The wall plate beside the table's other end was extruding new drinks. At half price, of course.

Janja had been leaning back and she had never moved. Now she crossed her legs. Her right calf bulged atop her left knee, the black fabric gleaming almost white. h.e.l.lfire regarded that leg with appreciation.

"How'd you get to be captain, h.e.l.lfire?"

Again silence cloaked the table and again eyes rolled. The others knew the answer. h.e.l.lfire's deep-set mahogany eyes rolled, too, at Captain Corundum. Tension rolled in like heavy fog.

"Killed my captain," h.e.l.lfire said, and again glanced at Janja's captain.

After an interval that seemed to drag on for a couple of weeks-standard, Janja said, "Oh."

And after another time, h.e.l.lfire spoke. Her voice was the ant.i.thesis of her name. Her voice had the quality of one who speaks from a hypnotic fog.

"I was computrician on a good ship. After a lot of months in s.p.a.ce, the captain decided that I looked almost like a woman. Then he decided to try me and 157.

see." She flipped her fingers. "I don't like men, Janjy. Not as s.e.x partners, I mean. If I decided to, it'd be me deciding, and I'd do the choosing." She continued to gaze at the blond exotic who had been a slave. As a woman who prefers women stares at a woman?

Janja was blinking in disconcert. "Oh," she began badly, and whether advertently or in-, Raunchy came galloping to the rescue.

"How about Jarps, Captain h.e.l.lfire?"

Someone sn.i.g.g.e.red. Two someones, Pacy and Dig-nis. Janja, on whose leg Corundum's hand now territorially lay, stared at Pacy. h.e.l.lfire shot Dignis one of her looks, from those dangerous eyes.

I wonder if her stopper's set on Three, Janja thought, suddenly reminded of Corundum. I'll bet she loves to kill, too. Odd. There is something s.e.xually interesting about her, despite her . . . being the way she is. A dynamism, or something. What do you call it when some people have something like electro-magnetism? She had a flash of Jonuta, and dispelled that image from her mind with some anger.

And Raunchy had just asked h.e.l.lfire if she "liked" Jarps. And the tension remained. It was interesting, this tension and this conversation. More electromag-netism.

h.e.l.lfire looked at Raunchy. "Well, I know enough not to use the term 'Sunflower,'" she said, using the common word for Jarp-lover. "Otherwise-who's going to laugh at me if I admit I don't know?-I've never had any experience with a Jarp."

"No one at all," Corundum quietly answered.

"Who's going to laugh," the Jarp said, fiddling with its translation helmet, "if I admit that I've never had any experience with a s.p.a.cer captain who prefers its own s.e.x?"

The gathering laughed rowdily again and Vettering slapped the tabletop. The sensor-disc imbedded there warned them with a brighter flash than, last time. Even laughing, though, Captain h.e.l.lfire was looking at Janja.

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"Jarps, it is said," Janja began innocently, "can be all things to all people. I have enjoyed the . . . company of a Jarp. Otherwise, I am not all things, but ever a woman to a man." She flipped her fingers; their gesture, learned from Kenowa on Coronet and seen a hundred times since. "Merely the old heteros.e.xual bias."

"A pity," h.e.l.lfire said, and her eyes seemed to have gone luminous.

"Some men," Corundum said most quietly, "doubtless feel the same way about you, h.e.l.lfire."

She stared at him and new tension formed. Aglii's light, Janja thought, she challenges everyone always! He was paying her a compliment. A glance around the table and a little reflection, though, led Janja to another observation. Stow that. There are ten of us here and not one of us is totally comfortable or at ease with self or in role; unchallengably sure of itself. Unless maybe Althis is . . . the cow.

Corundum spoke easily, almost softly. "Come, Captain h.e.l.lfire, stare not at evil Corundum, black-clad pirate of the s.p.a.ceways. He has l.u.s.ted after you for years and years and still pays compliments when they are merited."

His hand had closed on Janja's leg. It turned, and it hurt. She showed nothing, or thought she did not. Corundum, she knew, was steeled. It was not his gun-hand that tensed on Janja's leg. That hand was free, and it was not on the table. His brain and stopper had one setting: Fry.

h.e.l.lfire threw back her head and laughed. "Sure," she said, licking her lips and banging down her mug. (The table's sound-disc flashed testily.) "Oh sure."

The willowy woman rose, sinuous as an orange-maned Aglayan nightprowler. She looked at the Jarp. "Past my bedtime, mates. Thanks for the drinks-enjoyed the company and all that. Be wary and keep your DS clean and oiled. I hope I see you all again this 159.

side of the Forty Percent Trail. How raunchy are you, Raunchy?"

The Jarp rose. It was a dozen sems taller than the pirate with the bra.s.s-dyed hair, and almost as lean of hip. Its lemur eyes stared at Janja.

"Raunchy," it said, "always raunchy. Isn't that what they say about all us Jarps? Janja, the Jarp you-got to know. Was it a slave, on Resh?"

Janja was startled at this mention of Whistle, but she replied at once. "Yes."

"It is happy now, with a fellow Jarp. It is now on the ship of one Captain Jonuta, with his Jarp crew-member of some years' standing. You did them both a good turn, Janja-and a good turn for lots of others as well." Raunchy bowed, rather ceremoniously, to the doubly startled Janja. Its long fingers adjusted the system of straps that composed its translation helmet. It emitted a swift sequence of whistles, and readjusted the helmet. "I give you a blessing of Jarpi," it said. "And to all, a good night."

It moved to h.e.l.lfire, who started to swing and head for the door on long wiry legs, then paused. She walked out with Raunchy, side by side. The couple was stared at, naturally. Still, it wasn't as if a choice Theban female was going off with one of those d.a.m.ned orange strangies.

Most of those on the other side of the law, however successful and arrogant and proudly challenging, learned or cultivated some discretion. Most. Sometimes. Thus no one at the table in the Loophole's rear spoke until h.e.l.lfire and Raunchy were out the door and gone for sure.

"That," Althis said, addressing herself to her smoke, "is about as unlikely a couple as I could've thought of. And jackoes, I've thought of some odd ones, believe it!"

. Dignis t.i.ttered and Vettering gave Althis a proprietary caress.

"I cannot understan' how a fee-male can love a 160.

woo-man better'n men," Pearl said, tiny beside huge Shieda, who had as much teat as Pearl and h.e.l.lfire combined.

Janja smiled and lifted her pla.s.s. "I suppose I can't, either, but a Jarp is, after all, a compromise! Besides, 7 can't understand what women see hi about ninety-eight percent of men!"

While she drank, Vettering said, "Present company excluded, of course."

Before Janja could make a dangerous reply, Corundum spoke. "Don't be silly, Vett. Who could prefer Corundum? Janja is his captive, you know." And he smiled.

Pearl and Pacy, oddly, looked uncomfortable. Perhaps they thought it just possible that the dark and somberly clad man spoke truth, smile or no. Perhaps they noticed Janja's squared jaw and compressed lips.

Althis's glance shifted restlessly from Janja to Corundum to Vettering to tabletop. And back to Janja. She licked her lips hi a nervous gesture. The prospect of trouble among them made her worse than uncomfortable, and it showed. She thought of the perfect placating words: "How smart you and me are then, Janja, to have found our men from among the other two percent!"

It wasn't the perfect thing to say. Janja's lips paled still more. She had just acted strongly with that presumed policer, and the adrenaline was still working in her. Too, she had the example (and admiration?) of h.e.l.lfire, an obviously strong woman and her own person despite her problems, also obvious. Abruptly Janja turned to face Corundum. The ring of her zipper pull flashed silver. Pale eyes met the cool cybernetic gaze of his optics, dead on.

"Janja is not your captive, Captain Corundum. She is your aide, your crewmember, your ally, remember? Janja is not your captive, or your wh.o.r.e!"

Once again that table of ten and now eight accommodated an extra guest: tension. Once again, they 161.

greeted its presence with silence. They were an unpredictable group. A violent person had left them, with Raunchy. Others, given to violence and driven by ego, remained. Even multikilogram Shieda, his fingers tucked like a family of rock-grubs into Pearl's non-utilitarian bra of red straps, froze. He pretended interest in his drink while secretly watching Corundum. Corundum was perhaps the most unpredictable element present. Althis looked ready to wring her hands or cry.

Corundum looked mildly at Janja, and seconds dragged by like minutes or kilometers. A pan of fulminate of mercury balanced on two fingers above concrete. She did not glance down or away.

"Oh my dear, my dear," he said at last, quiet of voice and charming, oh so Corundumly charming. "I know all that! I meant nothing by what I said. Vetter-ing knows that." His hand moved, but did not quite touch her.

"Vett, old friend: this woman was foully stolen from her own lovely 'Protected' world by that dung-worm, Jonuta. He peddled her on Resh to a pair of s.a.d.i.s.ts. She was slave. She was used and misused, b.u.g.g.e.red and tortured. And she freed herself. You know of the deaths of that old sow Sicuan and his son Chulucan .. . behold her they mistreated!" Corundum's gesture was flowing and dramatic. "Behold their killer! Somehow, she got herself to Franji. There Corundum met her . . . when she tricked him! Me, Corundum! With Corundum's stopper she fried that slimy lizard of Jonuta's, Srih."

"She?" Vettering was staring and pointing. Astonished, eyes large. He had forgotten Althis. "You?"

"She! Of course you are not Corundum's captive or his hust, Janja! Fortunate is Corundum to attain her favors now and again; Corundum's aide-aye! Crew-member-nay! Partner and ally, as she said. Ah no, Corundum meant no insult, Janja, for you are my Primeval Princess!"

162.

"Tao's f.u.c.kin' toenails," Althis muttered, reaching for another Heaven High. "This is heavy!"

Pacy looked at Pearl, glancing only briefly at the pale slugs she seemed to be wearing in her bra, which the two of them knew was called a "strap-t.i.tser." She did not speak aloud, despite her alcohol-glazed eyes. She only mouthed the words, silently: Prime-evil Prin-cess?l Janja felt the coolth where Corundum's hand had left her leg.

She realized that she did not miss it.

She also knew a certain feeling of dread. Not quite fear. Cool Corundum! Cool, charming, contained Corundum . . . actor. Devious, clever Corundum, so cleverly covering, preserving.

She had to fight not to smile as, while picking up her drink, she reached up with her other hand and drew the shining ring of her zipper all the way down to her belt. Under the snug black shirt she wore only Janja.

Her pleasant smile caressed Althis on its way to Vettering. "So hot in here, don't you think, Captain Vettering?"

"Warm," he repeated automatically, staring while he nodded automatically. Fascinated by her, now that he knew about her.

"Couldn't be the alcohol," Dignis said, with a nervous giggle.

Janja smiled, then let her gaze and smile drift back toward Althis. Althis put her head with its broad face on one side, looking into those eyes of mist and ice. Hard as blue lace agates, weren't they, with less blue in them. Janja was sure that Althis's next action was deliberate; the voluptuous woman wanted the small blond to see her gaze fall into the open front of the black shirt. There stood Janja's tight untrembling b.r.e.a.s.t.s with their high gravity musculature, looking positively snowy framed by the fabric of Corundum black. And, compared with Althis's chest, childish.

163.

With her eyes fixed there Althis said, "Vett ... remember Ahizna?" and Janja wondered what in the Cold h.e.l.l the woman was talking about.

Janja jerked her head toward Corundum and slid a hand along his black-velveted thigh. "Did you put anti-intoxicant in this drink?"

His hand came onto hers and he gave his head a single shake. His lips only seemed to be considering a smile.

She retracted her hand. "Oh," she said. "Good." And she drank deeply.

"Of course," Vettering was saying to Althis, ignoring the facts that Pearl was rubbing Shieda's crotch while he palpated her breast while Pacy stared at Janja and tried to disguise her obvious awe and admiration.

Althis looked at her Vettering and, somehow, swelled even more the mighty beige jelly-jiggles of her warheads. Her look was questioning. Vettering, with a very small smile, nodded. Janja tried to cherm what lay behind those signals and failed. She had just dumped more alcohol into her system and she had made no effort to reduce its effects. That was an ability They did not have and did not know she possessed. They used drugs, along with the natural substance ribo-flavin. She had the feeling that somehow they were discussing her. Althis had made a suggestion, hadn't she, and Vettering had agreed or acquiesced?

"We're all staying at the same hotel," Althis said. "Why don't we head that way before this dive closes down?"

Once, Janja was thinking, with someone called Ahizna or someplace called Ahizna, these two joined two others for some jour-way salaciousness. Now they are ready to try it again, with Corundum and me. With me, and Corundum incidentally! Her eyes flicked to another. And Pacy would love to make it a fivesome!

And I? Yes, I'm excited. Undoubtedly spurred by the example of h.e.l.lfire who challenges everybody and takes nothing from anybody, I challenged Corundum, 164.

confronted Corundum in public. And he backed down! At least publicly, for these people.

That was exciting. It was even s.e.xually exciting. It built her confidence and ego and self-esteem. It made her want to celebrate, and s.e.x was the ultimate celebration. Centuries and millennia had not changed that.

With Vettering and Althis?

Sunmother's Light-no!

With Pacy, her stash speaking through her eyes?

Why, she's only a child!

She felt Corundum's optics directed at the side of her face. Knowledge of him gained by their intimacy enabled her to cherm his feelings. His excitement, his suppressed violence, his sensual glow, his ... something else. Alcohol intervened and supervened. Alcohol dulled the senses, They said, and Janja had six senses. They were right. Her ability to cherm was dulled.

With a grunt and various jiggles of flesh, Shieda moved. He sent out an arm like a thick pseudopod. It extended along Pearl's back, and Pacy's back, and his hand dropped onto Pacy's wetcloth-clad chest, onto the lump that simply could not be the real nipple of such a youngster.

"We are more than ready to redshift this place," Shieda said. "Aren't we, troops?" (Pacy gasped and her eyes rolled loosely.) All dutiful, mindful of duty and future, his girlish "troops" a.s.sured him they were. No one sold them into slavery, Janja mused; they sell themselves.

The servoplate in the wall began to flash. Corundum frowned at it, bent to it. He depressed the single horizontal bar that opened the comm.

"Pray apprise us of the meaning of this signal."

"With pardons, a message for someone called Cloud-top."

All of them stared at the panel, and then Pacy and Dignis t.i.ttered. Althis smiled. Vettering sat back, stretching his legs, gazing at Janja with his brows up.

165.

"Cloud-top," Corundum p.r.o.nounced, tight of lip, "is here. What is the message?"

"With dozens of pardons," the human voice said in the way of Thebanis, "the message can be taken only at the bar."

Silence and frowns. Janja flipped her fingers. "How convenient! I have to recycle a couple of drinks anyhow."

"So have I!" Althis said, moving.

Janja, seated on the outside, was on her feet. "Oh- if Corundum is ready to leave, I am."

She and Althis descended the two steps and moved through the big blue-murk room. Only half its tables and booths were occupied, now. The two women were appraised, but no one said anything. Behind them, just in case, Vettering had stood and was staring at their backs. He was very visible, as he intended to be. A call to the comm might just be a trick, a trap. Vettering knew why Althis wanted a few minutes alone with Janja and he was far from displeased. He was prepared for trouble, just the same.

"Go ahead, Althis," Janja said, when they reached the bar, which was only partly automated and presided over by a very human young male. Nice-looking. "I'll be with you in a moment." She looked questioningly at the bartender.

He was regarding her, a woman all agleam in snug black and looking supple as a serpent. He gave her a little smile and a slight wag of his head. "You're Cloud-top, all right-ma'am. Right over there. The booth privatizes automatically."

Janja walked to the booth. Althis's choice was limited to waiting or going ahead to the Loophole's relief station. She bit her lip, felt pressure on her bladder, and made her way to the door while Janja entered the booth. Hear-see inhibitors engaged when she b.u.t.toned the comm and the booth's open entry seemed to become an opaque, soundproof wall to everyone outside.

"Cloud-top here."

166.

"Pra.s.s-top here, Janjy. You people still there, hmm? Raunchy and I are enjoying a last Pale and a look-see out over the city-Raunchy swears it's named after her, of course-and we wanted you to know you have friends in Mod 754 of the Thebanis Mahal."

"Thanks, h.e.l.lfire. We're staying there too."

"Oh, I know. In 879. Here comes the click."