Read ARC: Under Nameless Stars for Free Online Page B

his pass at the steward. As he moved to the door, he had to wait for Zenn to step out of the way. He watched her, the pale eyes regarding her with what seemed like a bit more curiosity than before.
    “You mentioned your father knew the dolphin here – on Earth,” he said. “You don’t sound quite like a citizen. Do I detect a Martian accent?”
    “Oh,” Zenn said, grasping for an answer. “Yes. We… moved. When I was young.”
    The soldier considered this.
    “Well, thank your for the game, Jules,” he said. He gave them both a quick smile and was gone.
“Yes, if I may trouble you–” the steward popped his glass-globe eyes at Zenn “–boarding pass?”
    Her heart sank. It was over. What could she say? That she’d lost her pass? There was no convenient sandhog to serve as a distraction this time.
    “Your… boarding… pass?” the steward asked again, speaking slowly, as if to a young child. “If you please.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Zenn saw the dolphin suddenly sweep one mech-hand across the tabletop, pushing his discs onto the floor.
    “Oh,” he said loudly. “Look at this. You.” He gestured at Zenn. “Pick this up. Immediately obey me and pick these gambling materials up.” Zenn stared at him. So did the steward. “Are you such a lazy slave? Pick this up, I command you.”
    It took Zenn another moment to understand. Stooping, she gathered up the discs and clutched them in both hands. Then, she bowed her head as she’d seen the Fomalhaut do and moved to stand meekly behind the dolphin.
    “Yes, she is an unsatisfactory indentured servant, this one.” The dolphin shook his large head at her disapprovingly and held out his pass for the steward’s inspection.
    “Ah, I see, Guest Vancouver,” the steward said, looking from the dolphin’s pass to Zenn and back again. “They allow this? For dolphinkind to possess such an… item ? To possess an Earther human as slave?”
    Jules had no reply to this.
    “I’m not an Earther,” Zenn said. She added, in what she hoped was a suitably slavish tone, “Forgive me speaking, but as I said, I’m from Mars. Not Earth.”
    “Yes, a Martian,” Jules said. “Perfectly allowable, you will agree. For me to have a Martian slave not from Earth.”
    The steward bulged his eyes at them. She could see he was wavering, trying to decide if their story made sense.
    “And for your understanding,” Jules held up his credit relay. “Please accept this gratuity. Five units, shall we say?”
    Without hesitating, the steward brought out his own relay to accept the “tip”.
    “Yes. This is in order,” he said, pocketing his relay. Zenn was quite sure she’d just witnessed the second blatant bribe the steward had accepted in the last few minutes, which, apparently, neither dolphin nor Gliesian viewed as unusual in the least. “Thank you, and I trust you will have a pleasant journey onward with us.” The steward flashed them a black-toothed grin and left them.
    “Thank you. For doing that,” Zenn said, watching the steward make his way out of the bar. “I must have forgotten my boarding pass. In my cabin.”
    The dolphin looked at her for a moment. “You are welcome, Miss…”
    “Bodine. Zora Bodine.”
    “Zora Bodine. And your father is, then, Mister Bodine, I will assume.”
    “Yes. Bodine. Um, you don’t remember him?” she said, clinging to the desperate hope that she could feel her way to something like solid conversational footing.
    “No, I’m afraid I don’t,” the dolphin said brightly. He must know by now she was lying, but he seemed unconcerned. “I associated with only a few humans on Earth. None were named Bodine. Or are in any way likely to be your father.”
    “No, of course not. My mistake.” She felt her face flushing hot beneath the scarf and moved toward the doorway.
    “And I am wondering, Zora Bodine, if you would like me to call the steward back… perhaps he could help you return to your cabin and locate your