"I wouldn't want to do without mine," Quincy said. "Makes it a lot

easier.""The implant..." Ky stopped, unable to articulate her feelings about it. She tried again. "The implant is Vatta, in a way. The Vatta connection: the codes, the propriety databases, the protocols, all preloaded for me. Yes, it's easier to have it all available internally. I really like parts of it. But... when I rely on it... I'm not really thinking for myself. I can miss solutions I might otherwise come up with. We didn't have them at the Academy... We had to learn to learn, remember, analyze, plan, all with our own brains.""You were doing fine before you were shot," Quincy said."Maybe. Maybe not. It was always whispering to me, shaping what I knew... and with so much in there, I wasn't as likely to look outside for more information, was I? And after, without it, did I do that much worse?"

"No," Quincy said. "I have to admit you seemed just as competent

without it. But everyone has one..."

"Most people, certainly spacers, yes. If I could have an empty one and choose what to put in it-"

"You could," Quincy said. "But it seems a waste to me. You need the Vatta protocols." She paused; Ky said nothing. "By the way, are those mercenaries trying to recruit you?"

"Why?" Ky asked, trying to conceal a guilty start.

"Well, Beeah went dockside, to try to link up with some equipment

suppliers, and he told me he ran into one of them who said something about how you'd end up in their pockets."

"Not likely," Ky said. "I have a contract to fulfill."

"What are you going to do if Furman orders you to turn over the

ship and give him your cargo?"

"I-don't know."

Quincy shook her head. "Now that's not true. I think you know

perfectly well. My real question is, are you going to stop with defying Furman, or are you going to break with Vatta as well? Is that the real reason you don't want a Vatta-programmed implant?"

"Break with Vatta? I hadn't even thought of that." But even as she said it, she knew she had... at some level.

"The thing is, if you decide to break with Vatta, you need to let the

crew know. Those who want to stay with Vatta would probably

rather leave now, and go with Furman."

Without the Vatta component of her crew, she had only three crew, the ones she'd picked up here. And even they might not want to stay with her. She thought about them. Two experienced environmental techs, one with some bridge experience. One drives maintenance technician. Hard to run a ship with that. Impossible to run a ship with that, with no pilot, no cargomaster, no...

"Oh. Well, I hadn't planned to leave Vatta..."

"Can you commit to that beyond Belinta? You don't want to leave anyone stranded."

Of course she didn't want to leave anyone stranded. Her head

ached. It was all so blasted complicated. Contracts for this, contracts

for that, personnel problems.

"Here, Captain," Garlan said, bringing in a tray. Ky's stomach rumbled at the smell of a hearty soup. She ate quickly, aware of Quincy's worried gaze still resting on her like a heavy weight.

When she finished, the problem was still there, and her stomach knotted around the soup.

"I'm not going to abandon my crew anywhere," Ky said. "But I hear what you're saying, that some of the Vatta people may want to go back with Furman."

"As long as you understand..."

"What about you?" Ky asked. "Do you want to go back?" Losing an engineering chief would be bad but not impossible, as long as she didn't take all her supports with her.

"I haven't decided," Quincy said. "I'll stay with you through repairs, anyway. But-I could retire now, and it's been a... a difficult trip."

"Yes," Ky said. "It has. And you've certainly earned retirement. I'd like it if you stayed, though."

"We'll see," Quincy said. "It all depends..."

On what? Ky wanted to ask, but she knew better. "Thanks. I'll go talk to Furman's representative now."

Furman's representative was his second in command, a cheerful stocky man in Vatta blue with a small lock-case clipped to his wrist and a large briefcase in his hand.

"Captain Vatta, I'm Bantal Korash," he said. "I have a special package for you from your father. I'm afraid you'll have to validate and sign this-" He pulled a plasfilm receipt from his pocket.

"And I'll have to inspect the seals," Ky said. That was the first,

simplest level of validation for both of them.

"Here, then." He handed it over; she turned it over and around in a specific pattern, observing that each seal was unbroken. Then she thumbprinted the receipt, signed it, and he put it back in his pocket.

"And I also have some forwarded mail; your father says it's nonurgent but wanted you to have it." He opened his briefcase and handed her a small pile, including one with all too familiar handwriting. Her heart thudded painfully. Hal. What had he said?

Had he understood? "Captain Furman would like to get everything straightened out so we can get back to our route. I understand you have cargo for Belinta?"

"Yes. There's no reason to delay you-Captain Furman can take the

Kat back to his route right away."He shook his head. "That's not what Captain Furman says. He says he's supposed to make sure you're all right, and in his mind that means making sure you get back to Slotter Key safely."

"I'm fine," Ky said. "You can see that."

"But the ship... and didn't someone die?"

"The ship needs repair; we're working on that. Gary Tobai, my

cargomaster, was killed during the mutiny. His funeral's day after

tomorrow, station time."

"Tobai! I worked with him four years ago, on another ship. What happened?"

"Furman didn't tell you?"

"No."

"The passengers the mercenaries stashed aboard the ship included

some troublemakers-some of them tried to take the ship over.

They did manage to degrade the system controls, turn on the insystem drive, and destroy our communications transmitters. They took Gary hostage, threatened to kill him if I didn't turn over command of the ship."

"If they'd done that much, why did they need you?" Korash asked.

"I don't know. I do know that I tried to stop them-and killed the two ringleaders-but Gary died. I couldn't stop them in time-"

"But if they had Gary hostage, how could you-"

"I had other crew to think of, and the passengers who weren't

involved. That had to come first. He knew it-he told me not to give in."

Korash stared at her, eyes wide. "You saw him?"

"Yes." Ky closed her eyes briefly, where one of the rotating scenes of disaster from this trip passed before her eyes. Skeldon's face, as she just caught sight of him in her cabin before everything went black. Gary Tobai looking her in the eye, and then... not.

"How could you-watch-" Now he sounded disgusted, as if she

were something contemptible. Anger stirred; Ky pushed it down.

"You're welcome to come to his memorial service," Ky said. "Day after tomorrow, the station chapel. A Modulan service."