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then, boy,” she finally said.
    “I have to, Mother.”
    “Why?”
    He looked away. “I’d rather not say.”
    “All right.” She mopped up the last of her gravy with a piece of bread. “I’ve heard much of the man Challis—plenty of rumors about his tastes in certain matters and none of them good. There’s less known about his businesses, though word is the Challis Company has prospered since he became the head.” She grunted noisily and wiped at her mouth with a corner of her multilayered skirt.
    “You sure you got to do this, boy? You’ve only been off-planet once before, y’ know.”
    “I think I can handle myself, Mother.”
    “Daresay, daresay,” she replied disparagingly. “Though by all the odds you ought to have been dead a dozen times before your fifteenth birthday, and I don’t suppose that grinnin’ devil could have been responsible for savin’ you every time.”
    She favored a small artificial tree with a poisonous stare. Pip was coiled comfortably around one of its branches. The minidrag did not look up. The relationship between him and Mother Mastiff had always been one of uneasy truce.
    “Before you take off, let me make a call,” she finished.
    While Flinx finished his dessert and fought to pry the last bits of thick gelatin from his back teeth, he listened to her mutter into the pickup of a small communicator at the far end of the room. The machine gave her a mobility she hadn’t possessed for decades. It was one of the few conveniences the shop provided that she’d use. It also made her the terror of every city official in any way responsible for the daily operation of the marketplace.
    She was back at tableside soon. “Your friend Challis left on the freightliner
Auriga
this morning with his daughter and a covey of servants.” Her expression contorted. “From what I was told, he left in a real hurry. You and that great imbecile Symm must have thrown quite a scare into him, but then the giant’s enough by himself to frighten the polish off a mirror.”
    Flinx did not return her inquiring gaze. Instead he played with one edge of the tablecloth. “What’s the
Auriga’s
destination?”
    “Hivehom,” she told him. “The Challis Company has a lot of investments on the Mediterranea Plateau. I expect that’s what he’ll head for once he sets down.”
    “I’d better get ready?” Flinx rose and started toward his room.
    A strong, crinkled hand caught one of his wrists, and a face like a rift valley stared searchingly into his. “Don’t do this, boy,” she begged, her voice low.
    He shook his head. “No choice, Mother. I can’t tell you what calls, but call it does. I have to go.”
    The pressure did not ease on his wrist. “I don’t know what dealings you have with this bad man, but I can’t believe it’s this serious.” Flinx said nothing and she finally released him. “If it’s in you to go, go then.” She looked away. “I don’t know how your mind works, boy. Never did, never. But I do know that when you get somethin’ like this into it, only you can put it out. Go then, and my blessin’s with you. Even,” she concluded tightly, “if you won’t tell me the why of it.”
    Bending over, he kissed the gray bun curled at the back of the old woman’s head. “Blessings on you too, Mother,” he said as she squirmed violently at the gesture.
    It didn’t take him long to pack the few possessions he wanted to bring with him. They didn’t seem to mean much to him now. As he started to leave the room, he saw that the woman was still sitting alone at the table, a suddenly tiny and frail figure. How could he tell her he had to risk the life she’d coddled in a vain search for the people who had done nothing beyond giving him birth . . . ?
     
    When he arrived at Drallar Port later that day, he found he was only physically tired. His mind was sharp and alert. Over the years he had gradually discovered that he required less and less sleep. Some days he could