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passengers—thousands if you want to convert some of the cargo space—and you could fit most interstellar vessels easily inside the primary hold. You want weapons? See those surface nodules—every one of them is a self-contained facility powerful enough to vaporize a decent-sized asteroid. You want to talk range, and power? There's enough in this ship's drive to take you ten times round the spiral arm!"

    The display was moving in through one of the ports and showing the interior appointments of the ship. A human figure led the way to provide an idea of scale. Every fixture was substantial and solid, and the drive drew a whistle of approval from Kallik.

    "Do we really have enough credit to purchase this?" she asked after they had examined the vast interior cargo volume, a spherical open space two hundred and fifty meters across.

    "Just enough." The manager pushed the sales entry pad across to J'merlia. "Right here, where I've marked it, and then at the bottom. And once you signed, I'll throw in a special option that ends today. The ship will be scrubbed clean for you, inside and out. I definitely recommend that you add this option—it's been a little while since the Erebus was in regular use."

     

    Neither J'merlia nor Kallik possessed external ears, so nothing was burning as they completed their purchase of the Erebus and gloated over its size and capabilities. But back in Delbruck they were the focus of an increasingly loud argument.

    "I can't believe it. You let Kallik and J'merlia go off to buy a ship —just the two of them, with no help from anyone?" Louis Nenda was hunched over a chair back, glowering at Julian Graves, while Atvar H'sial and E.C. Tally silently looked on.

    "I did." Graves nodded. "For I recognize what you, in your attempts to impose slavery on J'merlia and Kallik, are all too willing to forget: these are mature, adult forms of highly intelligent species. It would be quite wrong to treat them like children. Give them responsibility, and they will respond to it."

    "Don't kid yourself."

    "But you surely admit that they are highly intelligent."

    "Sure. What's that got to do with it? Smart, and adults, but until a few months ago they had somebody else making all their decisions for them. They're missin' experience . If you need somebody to calculate an orbit, or reduce a set of observations, I'd trust Kallik over anyone in the spiral arm. But when it comes to negotiating , they're like babies. You should have gone with 'em. They have no more idea how to cut a deal without gettin' gypped than E.C. Tally here, or than—oh, my Lord."

    Nenda had seen the flicker of discomfort cross Julian Graves's scarred face.

    "No more idea than you do." Nenda slapped the back of the chair in his frustration. "Come on, Graves, admit it. You never had to bargain for anything in your whole life—councilors get whatever they need, handed to them on a plate."

    Graves squirmed in his seat. "It is true that my duties seldom called for— purchases of any kind, or even for discussion of material needs. But if you think that J'merlia and Kallik may be at a disadvantage—"

    "Disadvantage? Get a good sales type up there, they'll be eaten alive. Can you call 'em—let me talk before they go too far?"

    "If you believe that you can, by conversation with Kallik—"

    "I'm not gonna get into the slavery bit, I promise. I'll keep it to the negotiation, get in the middle of it if I can, that and nothing else."

    "I gave them no specific itinerary, but I may be able to reach them. Give me a few moments." Graves hurried across to the communications complex on the other side of the room. After a few moments, E.C. Tally trailed after him.

    "May I speak?" he whispered as Graves set to work at the terminal. "I do not deny, Councilor, that Louis Nenda and Atvar H'sial sometimes favor deceit. But recall our experiences on Serenity—it was precisely those elements of deceit that permitted us to overcome the Zardalu. And soon we