on
Marcus Selene
. May I tell him you will take his call?”
“Yes, thank you, Gillian,” Stella said. Her stomach tightened. Now it began. Silly of her—it had begun long before—but now, in a real office, she felt a difference.
“Ser Sagata,” she said, flicking on her comunit. “How may I help you?”
They exchanged the elaborate courtesies Cascadian custom dictated, and Stella assured him that the ship on its way in did indeed carry cargo consigned to General Sales. She gave him the invoice numbers as well.
“And our next departure will be three days after
Marcus Selene
arrives—the route is up on our site. If you have outbound cargo—”
“You will keep the same schedule?” He sounded surprised, and almost immediately apologized. “I’m sorry, Sera Vatta; that sounds as if I did not trust you, and I intended no insult…”
“No offense taken,” Stella said. “I quite understand. But yes, I intend to keep the same schedule, and in fact expand it as other Vatta ships come in. Cascadia has ample resources of trained ship crews; it will make a fine hub.”
“I see.” A long pause, then, “Yes, I believe we will have cargo ready for shipping by then. I’ll get back with you shortly. Thank you for your service, Sera.”
“Thank you for your custom, Ser Sagata.” That had gone well. Stella let out a breath then went back to the front office. “Gillian, we’re going to have an order for outgoing cargo. I may not be here when it comes in; please route it to my deskcomp, sorted by destination.”
“Yes, Sera Vatta,” Gillian said. “I was just thinking…do you want me to contact the other recipients of inbound cargo that their shipments are onboard?”
“Good idea,” Stella said. “I’ll send that file to your deskcomp, with the invoice numbers. Don’t tell them the cargo contents, though. Just the numbers. And let them know that the departure schedule and route are up on our site, for their convenience. Maybe we’ll get some more orders.”
By the time Toby arrived that afternoon with a float pallet of his supplies, Vatta Transport had contracts pending with five different shippers for
Katrine Lamont
’s departure. Stella called Captain Orem.
“We have shippers,” she said. “Do you think we should put up the available cubage on our site?”
“Absolutely,” Orem said. “The Captains’ Guild will display it for us, as well as the Shipping Combine. I can do that for you, with an automatic update as new cargo comes in.” He paused. “Uh…I haven’t thanked you, really, for the chance you’ve given me…you know, after I lost my own ship, I never thought I’d have a command again. And here I am on one of Vatta’s top ships—better than anything I ever had before—”
“Please,” Stella said. “Don’t. I needed a captain; you needed a ship. It worked for both of us. I’m sure you can handle the
Kat
and the trade responsibilities.”
“I had to say it,” he said. He looked ten years younger now. “But for the moment—trade and profit.”
“Trade and profit,” Stella agreed.
From across the corridor, she heard thumps and bangs as Toby settled his things into the shelves. She went to look. “I brought it here, Cousin Stella,” he said. “Under all the other boxes, so no one would see.” In one corner, the plain gray box that Ky had given her, the portable ansible. Next to it, something roughly the same size and shape, but without the gray skin.
“That’s the…”
“Yeah. What I’m working on. Not finished yet, though. It’s still going to draw a fair bit of power—can we afford it?”
“Yes,” Stella said, hoping “a fair bit of power” would fit into the budget. They had to try; this project was too important to fail because of a few credits.
“Can I sleep here?” Toby asked. “It’d save time going back and forth. And I wouldn’t need a security escort as many hours.”
“There’s no food here,” Stella pointed out. “And I want
Clive Cussler, Paul Kemprecos
Janet Morris, Chris Morris