
a newly vacated corner table. Self-preservation would not allow her to sit with her back to the noisy
room, but the temptation was strong.
She frowned at the greasy soup and put her spoon down, then picked up the chipped plastic mug.
Grinning, she sipped the tepid coffeetoot, recalling that Shelly had never sat down to a meal on Daxflan
without indulging in a rant, the salient point of which was always the economic infeasibility of a tradeship
serving' toot instead of the real bean.
It had been Shelly's belief that serving' toot to the Terrans was another deliberate snipe from the Trader.
However, Priscilla had overheard Liaden crew members complaining that the beverage called tea
aboard Daxflan had never seen Solcintra. Shelly had only a spacer's handful of Liaden, High or Low,
and had just shaken her head at Priscilla's theory that perhaps none of the crew was treated very well.
Resolutely, the cargo master put the toot from her and picked up her spoon. Horrible as it looked, the
soup was dinner and she would get no better; the alternative was the sodden breadroll and the sticky
lump of cheese she knew from experience to be inedible to the point of nausea. It would have to be the
soup.
Taking a gelid spoonful, Priscilla found her mind turning, as it had these last two shifts, back to the
containers they had taken on at Alcyone Prime. Sealed cargo. Nothing unusual in that; she had the
mainfests listing the items the sealed hold contained, their weights and distributions. All according to
book. And yet there was something…
With a scrape and a thump the second mate was with her. Priscilla jumped, splashing greasy soup on her
sleeve. Clamping her teeth, she patiently daubed at the spot, avoiding Dagmar's eyes. The second
grinned and leaned back in the chair, flinging her legs out before her.
"Scare you, Prissy?"
Priscilla's slim shoulders stiffened. Dagmar's grin widened.
"I was thinking." There was no emotion in the cargo master's soft, level voice.
"That's our Prissy," Dagmar said indulgently. "Always thinking." She leaned across the tiny table and
touched the back of a slender hand, delighting in the slight withdrawal. "What about after dinner, though?
What say I bring along something to keep you from thinking, and we have fun?"
"I'm sorry," Priscilla said, hoping she sounded like it, "but the distribution charts are behind. I'm going to
have to spend some of this off-shift getting caught up."
Dagmar shook her head, secretly pleased at Prissy's seemingly endless supply of excuses. The game had
run three months now. Dagmar considered the quarry worthy of an extended pursuit. It might be easier if
the girl weren't so serious about her work—and so popular with the crew. The younger woman wasn't
much on getting high or sleeping around. But Dagmar knew that Priscilla would have to relax and reveal a
weak point one day—and when she finally did catch Prissy out, the spoils would be that much sweeter.
"That's all right," she said consolingly. "You work as hard as you want. Good to see that in a new hire.
And at the end of the run—if you do real good—I'll give you a reward." She narrowed her eyes a bit,
looking for signs of distress on the other woman's face. She detected none and played her ace.
"A reward," she repeated, and reached across the table to take one cool, slim hand in hers. "How
'bout… at the end of the run you and me go off—just us two—and have a Hundred Hours together?
Huh? A hundred hours of loving and cuddling and fancy food and drink. Don't that sound nice?"