tuxedo, white tie with black tails, didn't seem to shake the inspector's faith in them one whit.
Until, that is, Alacrity, leaning across the counter and speaking privily, could produce only a few dozen
ovals and a handful of Spican ducats, plus small-denomination odds and ends.
Customs inspector Grissom then frowned. "Are you being cute, boys?"
"Uh-uh! We can get you more," Floyt heard Alacrity murmur as the other officials pressed closer.
"Good," Grissom said. "You can wait right here in the holding pen while somebody fetches it on down."
A woman inspector had her finger close to a call-button, ready to summon back the guards. Floyt's gut
suddenly tightened. He knew Alacrity would do just about anything to avoid being dragged back to
Earth, but Floyt wasn't sure he was really up to dodging, dashing, and fighting his way through Lunar
customs, and was painfully aware that Alacrity rarely consulted him on such matters before throwing the
first punch.
"Well, it's not exactly like that," Alacrity admitted, and Floyt saw him casually glance to the inspector
who held the guns. Floyt found his heart beating very fast. The man was some distance away and,
moreover, had the two pistols. Alacrity's had been called a "dinosaur gun," while Floyt's Webley was
loaded with Chicago Popcorn, dum-dums notched all the way down to the case mouths.
"But it'll really be worth your while," Alacrity maintained. "Believe me, it will; you know me. Look,
we'll go get it for you, be back inside an hour, and you can hang onto our guns."
Grissom considered that for a moment. The reproduction Webley and the Captain's Sidearm—passed
down from Alacrity's father—were plainly valuable, but the inspector had several coworkers and a
couple of guards to satisfy, and maybe a superior or two to grease.
Alacrity saw him thinking it through and about to discard it. He turned to Floyt. "Ho, gimme your
Inheritor's belt."
Floyt hesitated for a moment, then unclasped the Inheritor's belt from around his middle. It was a heavy
ring of red-gold plaques. He and Alacrity had chanced across light-years to claim it and the inheritance it
represented, becoming friends in the doing, through hardship, misery, and intermittent glory, after
starting out as near enemies. The belt meant a lot to Floyt and had a much higher value than its intrinsic
worth, if the two could get to the right spot to use it, since it gave Floyt the prerogative of asking favors
of other Inheritors.
But it was useless if they were detained at customs and dragged back to Earth. Floyt set it on the
counter, the plaques chiming.
They saw from Grissom's face that it was nearly a deal, but it was quite a chance that the Inspector was
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...y%20-%20Fall%20of%20the%20White%20Ship%20Avatar.htm (3 of 242)23-2-2006 17:03:12