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flexibility and initiative, however irritating it became.
    “I’ll take the level of your error under advisement,” he told the Niss. “Now, what can you tell me about the present situation?”
    “A vague question. I can access the ship’s battle computers for you. But that might entail an element of risk.”
    “No, you’d better not do that quite yet.” If the Niss tried to inveigle the battle computer during an alert, Creideiki’s bridge crew might notice. Tom assumed Creideiki knew about the presence of the Niss aboard his ship, just as the captain knew that Gillian Baskin had her own secret project. But the dolphin commander kept quiet about it, leaving the two of them to their work.
    “All right, then. Can you patch me through to Gillian?”
    The holo danced with blue specks. “She is alone in her office. I am placing the call.”
    The motes suddenly faded. They were replaced by the image of a blonde woman in her early thirties. She looked puzzled briefly, then her face brightened with a brilliant smile. She laughed.
    “Ah, you’re visiting your mechanical friend, I see. Tell me, Tom, what does a sarcastic alien machine have that I don’t have? You’ve never gone head over heels so literally for me.”
    “Very funny.” Still, her attitude relieved his anxiety over the alert. He had been afraid they would be in combat almost immediately. In a week or so, Streaker might be able to make a good accounting of herself before being destroyed or captured. Right now, she had all the punch of a drugged rabbit.
    “I take it the Galactics aren’t landing yet.”
    Gillian shook her head. “No, though Makanee and I are standing by in the infirmary just in case. Bridge crew says at least three fleets have popped into space nearby. They immediately started having it out, just like at Morgran. We can only hope they’ll annihilate each other.”
    “Not much hope of that, I’m afraid.”
    “Well, you’re the tactician of the family. Still, it might be weeks before there is a victor to come down after us. There will be deals and last-minute alliances. We’ll have time to think of something.”
    Tom wished he could share her optimism. As the family tactician, it was his job to “think of something.”
    “Well, if the situation’s not urgent…”
    “I don’t think it is. You can spend a little while longer with your roomie there—my electronic rival. I’ll get even by getting intimate with Herbie.”
    Tom could only shake his head and let her have her joke. Herbie was a cadaver—their one tangible prize from the derelict fleet. Gillian had determined that the alien corpse was over two billion years old. The ship’s mini-Library seemed to have seizures every time they asked what race it had once belonged to.
    “All right, then. Tell Creideiki I’ll be right down, okay?”
    “Sure, Tom. They’re waking him now. I’ll tell him I last saw you hanging around somewhere.” She gave him a wink and switched off:
    Tom watched the place where her image had been, and once again wondered what he had done to deserve a woman like her.
    “Out of curiosity, Thomas Orley, I am interested in some of the undertones of this last conversation. Am I right in assuming that some of these mild insults Dr. Baskin conveyed fell into the category of affectionate teasing? My Tymbrimi builders are telempathic, of course, but they, also, seem to indulge in this pastime. Is it part of a mating process? Or is it a friendship test of some sort?”
    “A little of both, I guess. Do the Tymbrimi really do the same sort of …” Tom shook himself. “ Never mind about that! My arms are getting tired and I’ve got to get below quickly. Have you anything else to report?”
    “Not of major significance to your survival or mission.”
    “I take it, then, that you haven’t managed to coax the ship’s mini-Library to deliver anything on Herbie or the derelict fleet.”
    The holo flowed into sharp geometries. “That is the main problem,