Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 02 - Corundums Woman

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"SCREW OFF, TRAFFIC WATCHER" HELLFIRE SNARLED. "YOU UNDERCOVER POUCERS GIVE

ME THE CRAWLIES" In the Loophole Bar, even pirates were supposed to be able to

drink in peace. Janja, glancing from Hellfire to the man standing at her side,

knew violence was coming. She jammed her elbow into his crotch at the same

time Hellfire's stopper cleared its holster. "What seems to be the trouble

here?" A metal cyber-bouncer rushed over on silent rollers. "l...fel! down..."

the man on the floor said with effort. He flashed a look at Janja, who had

probably saved his life. The robot, who thought he was drunk, escorted him

away. Hellfire scowled at Janja while the other people around thetable waited

for the explosion. Heilfire was a deadly guttersnipe whose sexual preference

never stood in the way of murder..,. SPACEWAYS #1 OF ALIEN BONDAGE #2

CORUNDUM'S WOMAN #3 ESCAPE FROM MACHO #4 SATANA

ENSLAVED PLBV8OV PflP€RSflCKS SPACEWAYS #2: CORUNDUM'S WOMAN Copyright (c)

retrieval system or transmitted in any form by an electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording means or otherwise without prior written permission of

the publisher. Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada by

Playboy Paperbacks, New York, New York. Printed in the United States of

America. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 81-83489. First edition. The

author. Books are available at quantity discounts for promotional and

industrial use. For further information, write to Premium Sales, Playboy

Paperbacks, 1633 Broadway, New York, New York 10019. ISBN: 0-867-21037-0 First

printing May 1982. A: All planets are not shown. B: Map is not to scale,

because of the vast distances between stars. SCARLET HILLS Alas, fair ones,

my time has come. I must depart your lovely home- Seek the bounds of this

galaxy To find what lies beyond. (chorus) Scarlet hills and amber

skies, Gentlebeings with loving eyes; All these I leave to search for a

dream That will cure the wand'rer in me. You say it must be glamorous For

those who travel out through space. You know not the dark, endless night Nor

the solitude we face. (reprise chorus) I know not of my journey's end Nor the

time nor toll it will have me spend. But I must see what I've never seen And

know what I've never known. Scarlet hills and amber skies, Gentlebeings with

loving eyes; All these I leave to search for a dream That will cure the

wand'rer in me. -Ann Morris 1 We live on an ordinary planet, one of nine

that orbit a typical, undistinguished star. And this star, our sun, is just

one among billions scattered around our Galaxy. William J. Kaufmann, Black

Holes and Warped Spacetime Space. Take a piece of black-something. Steel,

iron, cardboard, velvet; no matter. It need only be black, and enormous. It

must surround and blot every horizon. There must be no horizon. Curvature or

noncurvature do not matter. It must be true black, that overabundance of color

and absence of light that produce black, and true black does not show curve or

plane. True Black has no shape and no depth-unless perhaps it shows infinite

depth? It is just Blackness. Now punch as many holes into the Blackness as it

will accommodate without overlapping more than a few of the holes. They may

vary in size and distance from each other. Now set a light behind the

Blackness. 10 You have created a representation of space. A simulacrum of

the galaxy. If the holes are closer together in toward the center, all the

better. Stars are clustered thick there, thick as flowers of white and yellow

and red and blue in an untrodden meadow. The pinholes are not pinholes. They

are stars. Hundreds of millions of stars. They form a fraction of that part of

the universe called the Milky Way galaxy. A ridiculous name! Herakles a.k.a.

Hercules, the Greeks claimed, once jerked his infant mouth from his wet

nurse's breast with such force that the night sky was spattered with droplets

of milk! Lactose and lactation; ga-lactic and galaxy; milk and the Milky Way.

The Greek gala and the Latin lac: both mean "milk." That is the panorama. That

is one galaxy in a universe of galaxies. Now adjust the zoom lens and note

that one of the pinholes is not stationary. One of the pinholes is moving. It

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is not a pinhole or a spot of milk or a star. It is a made Thing, a vessel

made by men and women: a craft. It is a ship to sail the limitless ocean of

milk-spattered black. It is a spaceship, racing. The men and women now call

themselves Galactics. They sail the star-splashed ocean of black and indigo

that is the galaxy. In the spaceship are Galactics and they and their created

Things have detected another star that is not a star. It is not moving toward

them, which would be useless at their velocity. It is racing to intersect

their course. It will, too, since its velocity is greater than theirs. They

know interest mingled with some fear which becomes fear and dread. It is too

late. Their craft is slow and the other is swift. In the ocean of space, they

are a meandering but tasty fish, stalked by a shark. It races to intersect

their course. It intersects. Now it is horribly near, in space, where nothing

is close. Its human-created Things grapple the two craft 11 together in

the manner of an ancient pirate vessel on, for example, the Caribbean Sea of

what was once called "Earth." It is a shark. The two ships are locked

together. Captain Harry Morgan, model for Captain Blood and others, used steel

grapnels. They were curved and clawed multiple hooks at the ends of long rope

or chain. They bit into wooden hulls and were tugged taut to bring the ships

together, and hold them so. That was in the seventeenth century, and that was

hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Centuries upon centuries later, Captain

Corundum uses a directed electromagnetic field called a "tractor field." The

target ship does not stop. It continues rushing through space. So does its new

dark companion, Fire-dancer. The harpooned whale is not dragging the boat;

both are whales and one accompanies the other. The velocities are matched,

whale and killer whale. No human helmsman or navigator or astrogator on

Fire-dancer does this, because none could. A human-created Thing does. It is a

Ship Inboard Processing and Computing Unit (Modular) and is called SIPACUM. On

Firedancer, it is called "Jinni," a form of djinni or genie. It also aids its

captain's voice to travel from his ship into the other, where it crackles

crisply in via the comm system of the . . . prey. "Hail, merchantship. We are

grappled to you. You have a choice. Accept us on board, losing your cargo but

keeping your lives and your ship, or refuse and resist. In that event we shall

not board, for you can prevent that. We will break off-and fire. We will not

destroy you. We will cripple you. You will not rush on toward Murph's moon

with your load of fine mining equipment and the secret small cargo you also

carry. You will wallow, wounded and stripped. You may be discovered and you

may not. You may survive and you may not. You may reach Murph and you may not.

You may all go mad." 12 All this from Firedancer in a quiet, cultured,

eerily polite voice. "Open your airlock," that voice went on, "to let us

board, and you live-along with your ship." Pause, while the merchantship's

crewmembers looked at each other and at their captain. Their view-screen

remained blank. There was only the voice. "If you now expect me to restate

what I have said, forget it. It is said. Over to you. Reply." The merchant

captain stared at the viewscreen before him as though it were not blank. He

was sweating. His jaw worked and his lips moved. At last words emerged. "This

is-this is piracy!" Winged with indignation, his voice rose high. A trace of

amusement rode the calm, quiet voice. "Of course it is." "We-we will not allow

this!" "You have been advised of your choices. You know there are no

others." "We will not-" "Stand by!" At that third voice the merchant captain

jerked his head up in anger. The voice was that of his own Ship's Mate! "We

are conferring," the Mate said, and his hand moved past his

captain. "Understood," the quiet calm voice said, politely. The captain was

still sweating. His round, jowly face had gone darker at his Mate's temerity

than at the pirate's. "You-confer! Confer my ass! I am captain of Suyari! I

will not yield on my knees to that pirate scum-or to you, Prith! Now get out

of this cabin, sir-you are relieved." "What's this about a 'small secret

cargo'?" Those words came in a fourth voice, and the captain of merchanter

Suyari half-turned to stare, rearing up out of his con-chair. 13 "Nothing! The

words of a hopeful pirate. What are you doing away from your post?" Mate and

third man looked at each other. The newcomer stayed where he was. The captain

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fumed. Sweat ran down out of his grease-shiny hair, black as space. He flipped

aside toggles and belt to rise. Once it had seemed certain that the

interceptor was a shark, he had strapped on a sidearm. Now he started to draw

the slim tube. The Mate produced his stopper first. "Sir, I relieve you on the

grounds of irrational behavior." The snout of the microwave tube was lined up

on his captain's chest. "Stoppers," the Galactics called their

pistols. "Because we aren't anxious to die or be set adrift," the other

crewmember said. The captain continued pulling out his stopper. "You flaining

bast-" His Mate squeezed the grip of his own tube and the captain broke off,

frozen hi every muscle-stopped. The Mate dropped his weapon into the big worn

con-chair and was just able to catch the captain as he began falling. "Do you

concur, Engineer?" "I concur, Myrzha Prithvi. I'll be fried and flained if I

want to die or be set adrift out here by no pirate, with no way to get

somewheres else. To hell with the cargo. To hell with the captain. Tell the

sharks to come onboard." The unconscious captain was loosely seated in the

Mate's chair, and Prithvi was kind enough to strap him there. His stopper had

been set on Two, which was called Freeze and which was paralysis by direct

attack on the nervous system. The One setting would have set the captain to

dancing helplessly, Three was called Fry, and killed. "Stand behind him,

Tetsu, and be sure he stays put. Most likely he will be out long enough for

them to board, transfer cargo, and leave. But-" "I understand." 14 Prith

settled into the control chair and opened the comm-link to the other ship,

including Visual. His screen showed only the restless writhing of cosmic

static. Star noise. "First Mate Prithvi 712-90-4119 of Suyari, acknowledging

an act of piracy. We have conferred. Signal when you want the outer lock

opened." "Thank you, Myrzha Prithvi," the quiet, calm voice said. "We shall

arrive spacesuited and bearing arms. Would you be kind enough to place your

own sidearms in the airlock, please? It will be so good for our mental

state." "Uh-agreeable, but they will be drawn out into space and we could

use-" He waited. There was no reply. He sweated. Damn the damn pirate! At last

he spoke. "Very well. We are a crew of four, with four side-arms and another

locked up in the captain's cabin. Be assured that we are not stupid enough to

try using a cutter onboard ship!" Again he heard the amusement in the polite

tones of the other man, who continued to refrain from activating his Visual

send. "One is glad to hear it, Myrzha Prithvi. Not actuating even a

short-beam, laser onboard a spacer is a lesson learned by all good farers

along the spaceways. One of us will bear a cutter. It is not to be used except

in emergency, you understand! Place your arms in the airlock and be certain

that the inner lock is secured. Open outer port once you have accomplished

that. Two-plus-two taps means close outer port. One more signals you to open.

Three of us are now leaving ship. Evil pirate out." "Evil pirate!" Tetsu

repeated incredulously, while Prithvi shut off and sank back with a sigh.

Damned fancy-talking polite pirate! He looked over and up at Tetsu. The

captain continued inert. Prithvi sighed again and opened internal comm. "Suki?

Meet me at the airlock. SIPACUM and the shark have everything in control.

They're boarding. 15 We are going to be very very still and polite. If

they want your earrings, pass 'em over. Better than losing your lobes!" He

buttoned off and waited a moment for a reply that did not come. He rose. A

glance told him that the console was placid. All systems were stable. Locked

together, pirate and merchanter plunged on, oncourse for Murph and its fourth

moon. Prithvi looked at Tetsu. "We're in trouble, of course," he said, holding

out his hand. "Doubly." Tetsu placed his stopper in the other man's palm, cold

blue cylinder on warm beige skin. "Horrible thing to say, but-better we set

that thing on Fry and used it again." He jerked his hairless head at the

captain. "Once we reach port we'll just tell 'em the pirate done it." Still

again Prithvi sighed. "We can't. I know it and so do you. Everything we've

said has been recorded. We'll have to take our chances." His smile was pallid.

"Maybe he'll decide it's smarter not to press charges, once he thinks it

over-and accesses that part of the record." "You believe that?" Prithvi

shrugged. "We'll be alive." "Either way, we're through. Even if he decides to

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let it go, we can't stay on Suyari. And he won't be giving us any gold

stars!" "We'll be alive," the lean Prith said, and left the con-cabin. Suzuki,

big in shapeless gray coveralls, apparent-age forty, Indian blood evident amid

the Oriental, waited at the airlock. She looked at him and the three stoppers

he bore. She proffered hers. He opened the airlock, explaining. They put the

four cylindrical pistols inside, closed the lock, double-checked. And buttoned

to open the outer hatch. They heard it. They waited. Ship's aircon was working

fine, but both of them sweated just the same. 16 "You bring any secret

cargo onboard, Suki?" She shook her head. "This shark talks like an edutape

and thinks we haul contraband." She shook her head. "Captain Ota, maybe. I

know he's run contraband before. We'll have that evidence anyhow, won't we-I

mean, we're in trouble." "What would you have done?" "Approved your action on

the spot. I'd not have been able to do it, though. But I concur, First Mate."

She had no more epicanthic fold than he, and not quite as much nose. He

touched her shoulder, which was less bony than his. "We'll be all right,

Suki." "Sure." Both of them jumped at the sound of clanks in the airlock. They

waited. They jumped again at the rap-rap, rap-rap on the other side of the

hatch. Prithvi swallowed. He pulled a lever, turned a wheel, pushed up a

toggle. They heard the closing of the outer hatch and automatic pressurizing

of the airlock. Now it had the ominous hollow sound of a dungeon

door. Thump! Prithvi set the inner hatch to open and stepped well back. He

kept his hands in plain sight. His and Suzuki's big weapons belts and empty

holsters were pathetically obvious. Nervously, they stared at the hatch. The

hatch opened. The three pirates entered Suyari. Their spacesuits made them

even more menacing, despite the fact that any spacefarer was used to them.

Strange that these were one each white, pastel blue, and yellow! Prith might

have expected pirates to wear black spacesuits. (Sure, he thought, and if one

slipped or something happened out there, they'd be next to invisible in space!

Of course they don't wear black suits, dummy, with or without a

skull-and-bones insignia!) Considerably more disconcerting was that

these 17 boarders were faceless, even eyeless. All three suits had opaqued

viewports. Prith knew these sharks were far from blind. They were seeing as

well as he. Above each helmet's viewport a little device was mounted, no

larger than the last joint of his thumb- A TP optic or camera. Long available

to the unim-plantable blind, telepresences served as eyes. Their double

feedback system enhanced their further use as reach-extenders and

grip-strengtheners-the safety devices once called waldoes. With electronic

help, they were marvelously effective even over long distances. While direct

retinal attachment was possible, Prithvi assumed that these had viewscreens

mounted inside the helmet viewports. He was seeing the backs of those screens.

A TP's scan could be set as high as 4x1, which meant that the wearer could

move its head as far to the left as it would go-and see to the right. More

common was the two-to-one setting, in which the wearer looked to the side and

saw behind its back. Suyari First Mate Prithvi 712-90-4119 rather imagined

that the pirates had their TPs set at one-to-one. Simple. They saw him as well

as he saw them. Better, perhaps. (Later reflection would remind him that

opaqued helmet viewplates were more sinister, fearsome, in addition to being

an effective disguise. This shark captain had a sense of style, of drama, of

creating effect.) About the one in the yellow suit, though--that was a shock.

The first two seemed normal. But their companion, with that adjustable-beam

laser repair unit cradled in three of four arms! Had a new race of aliens been

come across that Prithvi didn't know about? The pirates were daunting, made

far more menacing by their silent entry with leveled stoppers aimed in two

directions along the ship's corridor or tunnel-and by the third boarder's

height and obvious alienness. Prith would not dream of hampering or

challenging this trio of spacefaring thieves. 18 Suzuki was staring at the

yellow-suited one. It was definitely 215 or more centimeters or "sems" in

height-above seven feet. And four-armed. And two-legged, two-footed. And ...

its TP eye was on a level with her face! Suzuki was 157 sems tall. Had she

worn a TP in a corresponding area, it would have been in the center of her

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chest! The calm, quiet voice emerged electronically hollow, and made both

Suyari crewmembers jump. "Are you carrying knives? Are there blades in your

boots?" Both shook their heads and both said "No," as well. "I believe you. I

spoke with the captain and with the Mate. Which are you?" "Mate," Prith said.

"Prithvi." The white suit bowed slightly. "Myrzha Prithvi. And your

captain?" "Unconscious," Prithvi said. "He was not going to let you board.

Engineer Tetsu and I decided that was irrational, and told him so. He began to

draw his stopper. I stopped him." "Second setting?" There was that amused tone

again. "Of course." "And where is Engineer Tetsu? Pardon, but that is not a

woman's name." "Here," Tetsu said, having come quietly along the tunnel from

the con. The speed with which two stoppers were leveled at him was genuinely

shocking. Prith also noted that the alien did not move. The cutter was aimed

at Mate Prithvi. They all heard the banging, scraping noises on the hull. "You

are a dangerously quiet man, Engineer Tetsu," white suit said. "Potentially

dangerous to yourself. Were we not professionals we might have given away to

the urges of adrenaline and squeezed these stoppers. In that event there would

have been no more Engineer Tetsu. 19 "You are hearing others of my crew

transferring your external cargo. Where is the captain?" "In the Mate's chair.

Unconscious." The white helmet nodded stiffly. "That is unfortunate. Captain

Ota brought onboard some contraband. One assumes that only he is cognizant of

its location. We cannot wait hours for him to awaken. Engineer Tetsu: pray

escort us to his cabin. Number Three: remain here with the cutter. Myrzha

Prithvi: do go and revive your captain. An injection . . . whatever you have

to do." "But-" The white-suited shark had already begun moving away. It turned

back. So did the stopper in its gaunt-leted hand. The stopper was a most

sinister black. Prith nodded and went forward. The others went to the

captain's cabin. The banging noises on the hull continued. Naturally Captain

Ota's cabin was locked. "Engineer Tetsu, one assumes this cabin is coded to

the captain's thumb or voice or both. Is there an override card?" "Not that I

know of, sir." Tetsu heard himself add that last word automatically, and

wished he had not. Still, perhaps it was best. "Before we open it with the

cutter, Engineer Tetsu, is there-in your opinion-an electronic override? In

the con, perhaps?" "If . . . there is one, Myrzha Prithvi would know of

it-probably." "Secretive sort, your captain." "Yes, sir." Suddenly, the white

spacesuit swung to Suzuki. "I have been remiss in my manners, computrician.

What is your name?" "Su-zuki," she said slowly, and couldn't help asking, "How

did you know my function on Suyari?" "First Mate said there were four aboard

Suyari. The captain does not seem sufficiently stable to double as 20

computer interfacer and maintner. The first mate does not seem to possess

that sort of personality. Number Two: go to him and advise that we desire this

lock open, now, or we shall be forced to employ the cutter." Breaths were

sucked in. Tetsu and Suzuki watched while white spacesuit stepped back to

allow azure suit to pass. Walking awkwardly, clumping, azure suit went

forward. Apprehension slithered in like a constrictor serpent and twined about

the two Suyari crewmembers. Presumably it would be necessary only to set the

laser beam to its shortest range and burn a semicircle out of the captain's

cabin hatch, at the latch. That seemed simple; however, no one quite breathed

while any use of a cutter was made on a ship in space. Vacuum surrounded them,

an inimical demon lusting for their very existence. One slip, one technical

error on the part of tool or user, and the hull could be sliced open with the

ease of cutting into zucchini. The consequences of that were

unthinkable. White suit resumed his explanation: "For an engineer also to-be

computrician is unusual-and indeed most unwise, on a ship of h'mited

crewforce. Both talents might well be simultaneously required in entirely

different onship locales." Tetsu nodded while the golden-skinned woman stared

at the invader, impressed. A pirate! And the language he chose to employ; the

measured way he spoke ... a shark, she reminded herself again, with

incredulity. What had he been? What might he have become? "Would you please

now precede me back to our yellow-suited friend?" And his politeness! A

pirate! As they paced along the corridors that on spaceships were called

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tunnels, Tetsu turned his head to one side to ask over his shoulder,

"What-what sort of being is that in the yellow suit?" "One with six limbs and

an oddly placed visual 21 organ, obviously," the pirate said from behind

him, and added no more. Nor did Tetsu ask anything else. The exterior noises

continued, the banging of the ghostly revenant come for Don Giovanni. The

sounds were interiorly transmitted as eerie gonging sounds they all knew

originated on Suyarfs hull. The ship bristled with a sort of space-going

Spanish moss: long flexible cables made rigid by braces between them and the

variable charge running through them. They trailed back from the ship to make

it resemble some monster squid of the space-ways. To the end of each cable was

attached a crate. Some were big enough to serve as small houses. None was so

small as Suyari's con-cabin. Each contained a piece of heavy equipment,

factory fresh. In space, such parasitic trailing appurtenances had neither

weight nor drag. Unless it had a nice small but rich cargo it carried entirely

interiorly, a merchanter on a run between the stars was no pretty sight. Even

more than a squid, it resembled a big ungainly bird that had flown through

even bigger cobwebs laden with insects and had flown on, untidily festooned

and trailing all that detritus. Now, Tetsu and Suzuki knew, cable linkages

were being detached from their Suyari and transferred to receptacles mounted

on the hull of the sharkship. Assuming at least two for that chore and another

standing by inside the ship, white suit's crew must include at least six

persons. No, make that individuals. Surely no person was standing there so

silently and unpleasantly menacing in that yellow spacesuit made for a

giant! Suzuki and Tetsu stayed well away from it while they waited the few

minutes necessary for Prithvi to find the proper cassette. He did, and

inserted it. SIPA-CUM took note and a tiny part of its capability released

every lock on Suyari. The white-suited pirate ushered everyone into the

captain's cabin. It was quite small, a serviceable spot 22 of privacy on a

business ship designed to devote all possible space to the double-P engines,

internal sys-temry, and cargo holds. Their captor bade the three crewmembers

of Suyari to sit side by side on their captain's bunk. He directed his Number

Two to go and relieve Number Three of its-yes, he said its!-cutter and bid it

bring the captain along. Then the pirate began searching. No one knew what he

sought. It did not take long. The captain's standard old yellow go-bag still

held a few items and the pirate emptied them out. It was obvious that the bag

remained heavy. In a fine show of confidence-or contempt for his captives?-the

shark in the white space-suit bolstered his stopper and snicked his suit-knife

free. He knifed open the base of the go-bag. They watched him withdraw a flat

packet almost precisely the size of a human hand. The simple fold-over was of

soft, opaque plastic. He unfolded it, peered in, shook it, nodded, and

refolded it. The three crewmembers stared. "TZ," they were told, while he

kneaded the bag. "You know it?" Engineer and first mate frowned; ship's

computrician nodded. "Very illegal," she said. "Dangerous; very expensive and

very profitable. Tetrazombase." "One hopes that you have not been made

forcibly acquainted with the foul substance." Suzuki shook her head in a jerk.

"No!" "A substance everywhere illegal," the faceless pirate said, "inasmuch as

no person would take it willingly. Therefore it is to be employed only on the

unwilling. As the name implies, it makes the recipient take on the appearance

and some attributes of a zombi. That's an ancient word of Homeworld and has

unknown linguistic origin-it means the walking dead. A human automaton or a

badly programmed robot, you see. Your external cargo is telecybemetic mining

equipment. 23 Heavy machinery for those poor lonely pnamprum miners on the

fourth satellite of Murph. This," he said, hefting the bag, "is worth about as

much as two-thirds of the crates outside-combined. It is true that your

captain's backer is in financial trouble, but it is also true that your

captain knows that he is hauling this evil substance. Nor did he object to

transporting it, for a percentage." He had reclipped the knife to his suit.

Now he opened the suit's knapsack and slipped in the folded little plastic

bag. "Now the tetrazombase is where it belongs-in the hands of a manifestly

evil man! In which case we shall not bother to look into your holds. Whatever

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is there will pay for your trip, surely, and we are not after all

pigs-ah." The alien was entering, half-walking and half-dragging the captain.

The paunchy fellow with the side-worn single braid was only partially

recovered from the nerve-paralyzing effect of Prith's stopper. He came to life

at sight of the crowd in his cabin-and the ruined go-bag. A wordless little

cry escaped him and his elbow slammed back to rob the impossibly tall alien in

the yellow suit of its grip and its breath. Captain Ota glared wide-eyed at

the white spacesuit, and the business end of the tube pointed at his chest. If

it occurred to him that this seemed his day for being helpless at the wrong

end of a stopper, the thought did not make him philosophic. With his stopper

persuading the captain against further unwise moves, the pirate made a gesture

that stayed the alien from retaliating. "You knew I had it! You've taken

it!" "Correct, Captain Ota, both times. Consider. You are a respectable though

hardly likable merchant-ship's master, while it is telemetrically obvious that

I am a pariah, an unclean untouchable, a bloody vicious murdering pirate.

Ptui." All of them heard the tone of suave amusement as white suit pronounced

the 24 satanic litany. "You have no business with TZ, Captain Ota.

Obviously such an outlaw as I, however-" "You filthy rotten sisterslicer! I

need that! I need the income it will bring, the stells-" Ota was spluttering,

his face dark and eyes bulging. Yet he could not attack the pirate and it was

always safer to let such a flakier revile himself. Helpless, therefore, Ota

turned his rage on his crew. "You Saining bastards! You will never work again!

None of you! You-you mutineers! MU-TINY! I'll see you all minus your eyes!" He

spat the threat of that barbaric punishment for theft with such venom that had

he been a cobra they might have lost their eyes then and there. Tetsu looked

nervous unto fright. Suzuki stared grimly at her captain. She who knew about

tetrazom-base knew also some insouciance, some control. Prith said, "Captain,

Suki had absolutely nothing to do with-" "That cow!" Ota exploded. He was

obviously beyond reason and restraint-other than that of self-preservation,

for still he restrained himself from attacking the real villains. "So valuable

in her speciality she wouldn't even share a bit of my bunk now and again. No

no--you were all in on it! And you know that's what will be believed before

any board of inquiry, you rotten mutinous flarners! I'll see you all

eyeless!" "That," the white-suited pirate said quietly, calmly, "is a threat

that is most personally abhorrent to me, Ota, you cowardly venal little

swine." His thumb moved on the setting of his stopper and calmly, quietly, he

squeezed. Captain Ota made only the beginning of an outcry. There was, briefly

and horribly, the aroma of cooking. Then Ota was no longer present, save as

minuscule components. The odor was not pleasant. It never was, when a man was

fried by a microwave projector set on Three, and vaporized within seconds. The

pirate in the pale blue spacesuit had started 25 sharply, but said nothing

and made no further move. The others, seated in a forlorn little row on the

captain's bunk, resembled chastised students in a disciplinarian's school.

They stared. Perhaps Suzuki and Prithvi were trying to measure time and

distance, considering a jump at the shark before he turned his stopper on

them. Tetsu was beyond thinking. The white-suited pirate gestured to his

companions, who held stopper and cutter. Suyari's seated crew understood.

Roistering his weapon, the killer paced to the captain's bedside comm. He

buttoned it to life. "Record," he bade the comm, which he obviously knew was

linked to SIPACUM. A button flashed yellow then green and stayed green. At

last Suzuki said, "It . . . it's a visual acknowledgment. That flasher means

it is standing by to record." She wondered whether this strangest of faceless

men had a fully vocalized computer on his ship. Was he so successful, so

aesthetic? Had he conferred with a visual program before intersecting Suyari's

course? Who might such a man choose as personification of a mentor-counselor

program? He nodded and thanked her before speaking clearly into the comm. "I

have just fried Captain Ota, a swine who has been stealing from his crew and

who reviled his com-putrician in my presence for her refusal to spread for

him. I do not applaud his taste, but I do hers. The spaceways and this crew

are better by far with Captain Ota having joined his doubtless dishonorable

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ancestors -all pigs and small yellow she-dogs. Evil pirate out." He buttoned

off the comm and favored the shocked trio with another of his astonishing

little bows. He might almost have been a courtier in the throneroom of one of

the monarchic planets. His voice and demeanor had continued level and quiet

before, during, and after the slaying of Ota. "There. You three are clear.

Evil pirate came onboard and did a good deed: he murdered the captain. 26 I

made no mention of this," he said, slapping his suit-slung bag, "and if you

are wise you will not either. If one of you would like a lasting bruise to

show Murph-side authority, handle its infliction yourself. Any such marks,

obviously, would fade long before you reach your destination. You should,

however, be fully in the clear. I shall now put a stop to my outside

operations. Whatever remains is yours to carry on to Murphsta-tion. It is my

hope that you all remain on Suyari- with you as master, Acting Captain

Prithvi. It may be of interest to you to know that this ship's backer is in

turn backed by T.M.S.M. Company, of Murph. My ship shall not again detain

Suyari . . . unless of course it comes to my attention that none of you is

longer aboard, and opportunity arises." "Name-name of Gri," Prithvi said. "Who

are you?" "Ah, you swear by the god of Resh. Did you know that Gri's

absolutely and totally evil old retired high priest Sicuan, with his venal son

Chulucan, are no more? A gift to the spaceways-like Ota's demise! My name is

Corundum, Captain Prithvi, Corundum; and Corundum now departs your ship. Best

wishes for an uneventful continuance of your run to Murph." "Th-that was

c-cold-blooded murder," Tetsu said, and he was shaking. "Not quite. Corundum's

blood was heated by Ota's threat to have you convicted and deprived of your

eyes. Corundum liked the ones he was born with better than these optics he has

now worn for some years. Sometimes they itch, or seem to, and the center of

vision is dead ahead, which is wrong; you see just a bit more clearly to the

side, as you must know by seeing distant stars just a bit better by not quite

looking at them. In hot blood or cold, however, Ota's is a death that you will

long appreciate." The three crewmembers stared at him from the bunk of their

late captain. He touched the black handle of his stopper. "This will be left

in the airlock. It is Corundum's suggestion 27 that you leave it there if

possible, so that you may pretend it and Number Two's were left for you. As

they will be. Your own were of course sucked out when you opened the hatch for

us. Now of course you will facilitate our departure, for should we become

trapped in the airlock we should merely have to cut our way out. Or, worse

still, back in." Again that satiric amusement freighted his tone. Prithvi

nodded. "Of course, Captain Corundum. May we rise now?" "Do." As they trekked

to the airlock, Prithvi asked, "Captain Corundum . . . once you gave your

name, you referred to" yourself only in the second person. Do you always speak

so?" "Yes. I also lie shamelessly." After a moment, Prithvi chuckled. A good

.man, Prith of Resh. Had Corundum need for a crewmember, he might well

converse with the fellow. Still, one so bold and decisive might well be

unhappy on Fire-dancer, and, too, might not be onboard long. Less than five

minutes later the three invaders had departed Suyari. Three people were left

to take the ship on to Murph, to wonder about the unaccountable alien in the

yellow suit even while they got their stories together so that they were one,

and to think and talk about Captain Corundum for the rest of their

lives. Outside, the unlikely pirate saw to the completion of the transfer, in

progress, of a hut-size crate's towing cable to Firedancer's external cargo

attachments. Nine such crates remained indecorously attached to Suyari. Two

spacesuited figures-an orange and a pale turquoise-had been working at the

transfer. They were happy to call it off and join their three cohorts at

Fire-dancer's airlock. It was equipped with something Corundum had read about:

he pushed the doorbell, in a code-sequence. The hatch swung noiselessly

open. The pirates entered their ship. 2 CORUNDUM: an esp. hard mineral of the

composition A12 03, forming the valuable gemstones ruby and sapphire. The

massive, abrasive, non-transparent forms are known as emery. Universal

Edutapes Quite comfortable in the spacesuit and with full vision, Corundum

went directly to the con-cabin, which he referred to as the "bridge." In less

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than three minutes he was assured that all systems were just fine and so was

the situation. With his right gauntlet in his left hand, he slipped a course

command cassette into the slot. The cassette was not commercially available,

though many were. This one had been programmed by Corundum and a woman he

still regretted losing. The cassette was tailored to his own habits and use,

and thus to the present situation. It bade SIPACUM (which he called Jinni and

which was fully cognizant of their situation with regard to Suyari and space

itself) to break off, ease away from Suyari, move to a safe distance for

tachyon conversion, prepare for subspace entry, and sound a fifty-second

warning. 28 29 Manually and vocally, he also set SIPACUM/Jinni to plotting

a subspace course for the vicinity of the fourth moon of the- planet called

Murph. Captain Corundum returned to the others in time to see the yellow

spacesuit slide down King's body. The Saipese was nearly the same color as the

suit and was far from 215 or even 200 sems in height. Hing stood about 175 and

his two brown eyes and two gold-hued arms were in the usual places. He was

strictly a Galactic, born and raised on Saiping. King's TP "eye" relayed its

image to the self-lit screen built inside the chest of the gigantic headless

suit. The extra arms were controlled by a separate telepresence which King

operated most expertly indeed. The suit served its purpose. It was intended to

add a bit more menace and mystique and thus fear to in-space boardings. No

four-armed beings had yet been encountered among the hundreds of contacted

and/or colonized planets. Thus far. Stripped to a temp-controlled coolsuit of

Ming blue, tight as the skin of youth, Hing grinned at his ingenious captain.

The suit and its use were Corundum's concept. It had been made meticulously to

order by a talented individual on Jahpur. He was, regrettably, no longer

alive. Bearcat was already peeling his turquoise suit and Sakbir his orange

one. Corundum's newest associate was far less experienced and thus slower at

unsuiting. The helmet came free to reveal the small, well-molded head of an

astonishingly pale woman whose short straight hair could not be real; it was

the almost white of a distant GO sun. Until Corundum had brought her aboard,

none of his crew had ever seen anyone of such hue with (undyed) hair so nearly

achromatic. Nor, computer-link had informed them, had 99.789 percent of all

the people of the galaxy-including the small (estimated) populace of her

planet. The skin and hair colors were real. 30 No less startling were her

eyes, and even more so when one knew they were her own, and genetically

unadjusted at that. They were lighter than her space-suit. Their light gray

showed only a hint of blue. No such eyes had been seen in the galaxy since the

destruction of the majority and absorption of the rest of such a race on

Homeworld, centuries and centuries ago. The galaxy was bronze, brown, and

browner, and a few who could be called yellow or almost-black. The color of

eyes was brown. The color of hair was black, though now and then a dark brown

turned up. When the vast majority of the peoples of Home-world-once-Earth had

seized the planet and gone into space as Galactics, speaking Erts, they had

done a thorough job of destroying the old ruling minority and overwhelming its

genetic lesser pigmentation. Even Universal Edutapes did not contain the word

Caucasian. Corundum knew that the colors of the hair, eyes, and skin of this

unwrinkled and sparsely haired woman were real and inborn. So did the Accord

that Protected her "backward" planet. So did the slaver who had snatched her

from it and sold her on Resh. Corundum also knew her pride. No one offered to

help as she struggled to unsuit. She was militant about that. (Firedancer's

twitchy lurch was tiny and not even the new crewmember staggered. All knew

that they had just moved free of the other ship-incidentally freeing it.) At

last the sky-blue suit dropped. Its wearer was revealed as short, compactly

lean, and definitely female. Obviously firm of skin and well-toned muscle. In

a tight gray breast-band rather than bra or bandeau, and skimpy briefs of the

same unattractive gray. She stepped out of the suit. Her muscular,

taut-skinned legs showed no sign of jiggle. Her calves were outstanding,

perhaps overdeveloped. That was a tendency of the calves of anyone from a

high-gravity planet. Their 31 thighs ranged from unusually rounded to

massive. The pale ones just revealed were not massive. "You did well, Janja,"

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Corundum said. Both he and the (quite young, both in appearance and reality)

woman ignored the appreciative stares given her by the other crewmembers of

Firedancer. She shrugged, then flipped her fingers in the gesture she had

learned from them: those not of her planet. The gesture meant "so what" or "I

don't care" or "beats me" or "no use talking about that," and other

things. "My first time," she said. "I did nothing but stand around in that

Hing-size suit and be the mysterious Number Two, silent and inactive. The

filter made my voice sound awful, but if that Prithvi has any sense, he knows

I'm a woman." She heaved a sigh, crossing her arms to rub them. "I suppose I'm

glad that nothing else was necessary. Should I mention that you are still

fully suited and faceless, Captain?" It was their agreement that in the

presence of others she called him only captain, or Corundum. Just six

days-standard ago she had come up with a perfectly awful nickname for

him-which Corundum rather liked. It was better than Ruby, or Sapphire, or even

Blue-eyes. And certainly preferable to Dum-dum. He knew he was called that,

though never within his hearing. "Corundum is comfortable," he said from

within his white spacesuit. "That ship has no converter and therefore no

subspace capability. Thus it is a long, long run from Murph. We shall be there

in a few days. Or rather at its fourth satellite, tastelessly named Dot. One

fears that places us a good while still from vacation and celebration-which we

shall not take on Murph! But then it will be the better for our anticipation."

He patted his suit-bag with a gauntleted hand. "Bearcat, Sakbir: here is

approximately two kilos of tetrazombase." 32 The smile in his voice

prompted Hing to ask, "Whose is it, Captain?" "Ship's shares," Corundum

said, and watched the flashing of teeth in delighted smiles. "Perhaps we can

analyze it before we reach a buyer, Sakbir?" "Immediately, Captain!" "Good,

good. Hing, you charming four-armed mysterious alien, you, do please go and

tend the con. Sub-space entry after fifty-second warning; Jinni is plotting

course. There is both a pulsar and a collapstar to avoid between here and

Murph. We are now honest but poor merchants, hauling needed equipment to those

needy pnamprum grabbers on Dot. Corundum shall unsuit in his cabin. Identity

Beta, comrades, if need arises. Janja?" The others-except for Hing-gazed after

the two. One lithe and short and nigh naked, the other tall and baggy-bulky in

the gleaming white coverall. Corundum's ungauntleted hand moved easily and

without pressure to her buttock, a taut oval of moving muscle hard as the

front of his-flexed-thigh. Sakbir licked his full lips. "So. Your first

boarding, Janja. Your first act of piracy, that impossibility of the

spaceways. Now you merit being called outlaw, and deserve your position on the

wanted list. And was it exciting?" "Of course! You know that, my dear. Here,

get your hand out of there-at least while you're suited up!" "What an

inducement to unsuit! And was Milady Janja disappointed that all was so

routine, so dull?" He's asking for compliments on his planning and handling,

Janja thought, for she felt or chermed it from him. She could not read minds,

Janja whose people were not truly human. But she had the cherming, the feeling

of emotion and intents, of others. It was more than they had, those she

thought of as the Thingmakers. A month (thirty twenty-five-hour days-standard)

with Corundum had heightened her ability where he was 33 concerned.

Otherwise the hard toughness of corundum, with a hardness of nine to diamond's

ten, made it difficult to work. They shared a common enemy and the common

goal: Jonuta's destruction. Their eventful meeting had taken place in a

spacefarers' watering hole on Franji, There Janja had used him, meanwhile

fascinating him with her looks and her ruthless resourcefulness. He had

impressed her with his own surpassing resourcefulness, quick

thinking-unto-action, and enormous courtly charm. Since then they had also

shared life, his cabin, and his bed. Janja of Aglaya was Corundum's woman, and

more. And perhaps less. She was answering his question: "Perhaps, but not

truly. A battle would have been their error, and ours. I was impressed with

the smoothness of the operation. I am impressed, evil pirate." Behind her

brow, she frowned. But why did you kill that man?-and how easily, coolly you

did it! How long before I bring up that subject-murder? How long before you,

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