Sharon Green - Diana Santee 01, page 35
Dameron rose from his terminal seat when I walked in, and came forward to greet me.
“Well, you certainly look better than you did earlier,” he said with relief-tinged joviality. “How are you feeling?”
“Not bad at all,” I answered with a friendly smile. “A lot better than I thought I’d be feeling.”
“You have no idea how pleased I am to hear that,” he said with an easier grin, gesturing me toward my old lump chair while he went back to his blocky terminal seat. “I’d never have forgiven myself if something permanently harmful had happened to you.”
“Oh, it’s the permanently harmful you were worrying about,” I nodded soberly as I made myself comfortable in the lump chair. “I’m glad to see you weren’t worrying about the temporarily harmful-like being captured and slave-trained during a ‘simple’ decoy operation.”
“That was something we couldn’t have known about,” Dameron protested, looking uncomfortable. “We thought Clero just wanted Bellna dead; we had no idea he wanted her for his collection.”
“He wanted her for a pain slave,” I corrected with all the brutality I could put into an otherwise neutral tone. “They started training me as a pain slave, and he was going to finish the job. Do you have any idea what’s involved in that?”
“Now, yes,” he answered, a deep inner illness showing in his eyes.
“If you hadn’t killed him, I would have set a team on the job with orders to use whatever they had to. Even if I knew I’d be replaced here because of it.”
“If I hadn’t killed him, I’d volunteer to go back,” I said, then made a deliberate effort to reject the memories. “But as it stands, I don’t have to volunteer to go back. How are we doing in everything else that matters?”
“Well, Bellna’s with her prince, Clero’s oldest son is fighting to keep the princedom, we’re all back under cover, and your ship is ready for course programming,” Dameron summed up, forcing a smile to get rid of the bleakness that had held him. “Have you decided yet about keeping that face you’re wearing?”
“Yes, and I’ve decided I will keep it,” I said. “You can give me my own voice back, but I think I’ve earned the face and possibly a little something extra.”
“Name it,” Dameron pounced, leaning forward eagerly in his chair, his eyes lighting. “Some piece of Tildorian carving that caught your eye.
Name the piece and where it can be found, and I’ll have a field team after it before you can blink.”
“That wasn’t quite the souvenir I had in mind,” I said, looking vaguely around his office. “It was something I stumbled across in the base, actuallya133”
“Oh, well, that doesn’t matter,” he said, perking up quickiy after looking momentarily crestfallen. “If it belongs to someone else, I’ll buy it from them for you. No matter what it costs.”
“I’d really hate to put you out,” I demurred, still keeping my eyes generally away from him. “I’m not sure how right it would be, and I don’t want to put you on a spot.”
“You’re not putting me on any spot,” he said with a good deal of confidence and reassurance. “I want to do it for you. I give you my word that I want to do it for you. Anything you choose will be just fine.”
“I’m glad you look at it like that,” I said, finally bringing my eyes back to look straight at him. “The souvenir I want is Valdon.”
“What?” he said, all the confidence and reassurance draining out of his broad face, confusion immediately replacing them. “What did you say?”
“I said I wanted Valdon,” I repeated, keeping him pinned with my stare. “Didn’t you say anything I chose would be just fine?”
“I was referring to inanimate objects,” he said, confusion now fighting with anger in his eyes. “I’d have to check back with Valdon’s home world to find out what price to pay for him.”
“Then do it,” I shrugged, giving him a faint grin. “I don’t expect to be unfair about this.”
“Unfair!” he echoed, outraged. “Now, you listen to mea133”
“Don’t get wild, I was just kidding,” I soothed him, waving a hand to cut off the tirade. “I don’t want Valdon permanently, only for a standard year or so, and I have a fair price already ready.”
“Just for the hell of it, I’m going to listen to what you consider a fair price,” Dameron growled, his brows down low over his eyes. “This ought to be good.”
“It is,” I answered with complacency. “For one standard year of his time, I offer one standard year of my own time. I understand you’re in a position to appreciate just how good a price that is.”
“People talk too much around this base,” he muttered, but his heart wasn’t in the complaint. He did understand what I was offering, and the horse trader in him was hooked. I let him think about it in silence for a couple of minutes, and then I rose to my feet.
“I’m sure you’ll find the right time to give Valdon the word,” I said, turning toward the door. “Right after that we can all pay a visit to my course computer. I’m sure you’ll understand if I don’t spend too long a time in fond farewells.”
“Hold it right there,” he growled, stopping me before I took more than a step or two. “This isn’t anywhere near as settled as you seem to think it is. You can’t simply bargain for a year of a man’s life.”
“Sure I can,” I said, then turned back to really have it out. I’d forced Dameron to the arguing stage, which meant the argument was already half won for me. The poor man didn’t have just me to argue with; he was still feeling guilty over what had happened to me during the job he’d given me, and he also couldn’t stop thinking about the trade I’d offered. It finally came through to him that he was doing no more than giving Valdon an assignment for a year which, as Valdon’s superior, he had every right to do. He still wasn’t happy, especially when I refused his counteroffer to let me choose someone else with original Absari blood to save him the trouble of training a new second, but he had rationalized the decision to the point where he could accept it. When the last protest was swept under the terminal, I looked down at the mixed emotions on Dameron’s face and smiled.
“Now that that’s settled, I have one more question,” I said. “Is Valdon completely healed, or does he need more looking after? I don’t want to take him away before it’s good for him.”
“It’s too bad you’re not that concerned about me,” he muttered, then got to his feet and straightened his shoulders. “Valdon is Healed all the way through, and doesn’t need any looking after at least as of this moment. What happens after he gets involved with you is another matter entirely.”
“Such bitterness!” I laughed, patting his cheek in a comforting way.
“Don’t worry, Dameron, I’ll look after your friend for you. If you like, I’ll promise to never let him out of my sight.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he growled, knocking my hand away. “If you keep your eye on him, I’ll probably never see him again.”
He was so upset that all I could do was laugh to myself and get out of his way. Valdon would do fine with me taking care of him, and I hummed a little as I walked back to the hospital section to collect my belongings.
I had just moved my very few things back to the room in the residential section that had originally been mine and was moving around putting them away, when the door slid open to admit Valdon.
Dameron’s second was not looking pleased, so I assumed that Dameron had passed the word along. I watched my new associate stride across the room toward me, and the thunder in his black eyes was fascinating to behold.
“So that’s what you were up to,” he growled, stopping in front of me.
“And I was feeling sorry for Dameron! Why the hell didn’t you say something?
“I hadn’t completed the negotiations,” I shrugged, giving him a small, friendly smile. “If it hadn’t come through, you would have been ruffled for nothing.”
“And this way I’m ruffled for something,” he nodded. “What if I refuse to go?”
“You’re perfectly free to do so,” I agreed, turning the smile a touch solemn. “But if you do, don’t make any plans that require good health. Dameron wants this deal so bad he’s talking to himself, and if you refuse on your end, all bets are off. I’ll be leaving soon, but he’ll still be here, remembering what he missed out on because of you.
He growled low in his throat, a frustrated look on his face, and then his big hands were on my arms, pulling me closer to him.
“I don’t like being blackmailed,” he said, his voice dangerous as his fingers dug into my arms. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t say to hell with the whole thing.”
His fingers were hurting me, but I could understand how he felt. It was time to mend a few fences if the deal wasn’t to come apart like rotten cheesecloth. I didn’t try pulling away from him, but just looked up into those dark, angry eyes.
“I thought the matter over carefully and found that I needed you,” I said, merely stating the reasoning behind my thinking that had made me start the whole thing to begin with. I thought about adding to it, telling him how useful he would be to me on the job, but the single sentence seemed to do the trick. The hardness left his eyes, his fingers loosened on my arms, and a half smile touched his lips.
“I still have the feeling I’m being had, but I can’t argue with being needed,” he murmured, and just for an instant I had the feeling he was reading something into what I’d said that really hadn’t been there. I almost said something, but he was still talking. “Speaking of needs, I think we need to get to know each other’s real selves a little better. They’re giving me your language in a few minutes so I have to get going, but how about later? Unless you’ve got someone else to blackmail and con.”
At least he was grinning when he said it. I laughed to show I appreciated the comment and said, “No, you’re the only mark I’m involved with right now. Later will be fine.”
He nodded his agreement, remembered to peel his hands off my arms, then left as abruptly as he’d come. I stood and stared at the closed door for a minute, wondering if I ought to pursue the thoughts I’d had about how he was interpreting things, but then decided against it. If it made Valdon happy it made me happy; and happy people made good workers, which would make the Federation happy. With all that happiness things would roll along just fine, an4 I turned away from the door to finish putting away my belongings, idly thinking about how nice it would be to get home again.
Chapter 11
It didn’t take long for Valdon to get the Federation Basic that had been taken from my mind. I spent the time busy myself, getting rid of Bellna’s sweet, girlish tones. I was put to sleep and then awakened, and when I opened my eyes I had my own sultry voice back. I went back to my room, and Valdon showed up just as I was thinking about getting something to eat so we went to eat together. The base refectory was a large room in stark, hungry white, with different sized tables scattered here and there in a neat but patternless arrangement.
Valdon and I sat down at a small table for two, and he began checking out a box the table held. I looked more closely at the box and saw pictures of various dishes, some of which I thought I recognized.
Since all my meals had come on a cart, though, I hadn’t known about the box.
“Name your poison,” Valdon said with a grin in Federation Basic, gesturing at the box.
“That’s not what you’d call up-to-date vernacular,” I laughed. “It’s supposed to refer only to drinking, and is normally never heard outside of tri-v. You really got everything, didn’t you?”
“Only as far as the language goes,” he laughed back. “I don’t think I’d care to try your persona. “
“Not many people could handle it,” I answered, flicking some imaginary dust from my sleeve. “I tend to be close to one-of-a-kind.”
“And modest, too,” he snorted. “No wonder you had so much trouble in Tildor.”
“Name me a normal woman who wouldn’t have trouble on Tildor,” I countered, watching him press buttons on the box. “Any woman with an ego bigger than a bird’s eye would have trouble there.”
“No need to tell me the size of your ego,” he commented, leaning back in his seat to grin at me. “Dameron told me what you’re paying for my time with.”
“That’s not ego, that’s fact,” I shrugged, answering his grin with one of my own. “I’m good and I know it. False modesty is as stupid as egotism.”
“But a little restraint in patting yourself on the back is highly recommended,” he rejoindered, his tone dry. “It saves wear and tear on the arm muscles.”
“Oh, after a while the muscles get used to it,” I said, for some reason enjoying the idea that he seemed to be annoyed. I was willing to bet he’d matched up with Fallan a lot easier than someone else would have.
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?” he asked, leaning forward to put his forearms on the table. “That’s one of the things about you that got to Fallan.”
“I have to have all the answers,” I shrugged again. “I usually work alone, so if an answer doesn’t come from me, it doesn’t come at all.
It’s something that’s helped me to survive.”
“I’d almost forgotten about that,” he blinked, sitting back a little.
“The girls here at the base work as part of a team, but you work all alone.”
“I’ve worked with teams,” I smiled, “but as a matter of strict fact, I prefer working alone. That way there’s less confusion about who the enemy is, and if something goes wrong you also know who to blame.”
“That’s one way of looking at it,” he agreed. “But I don’t see how that ties in with your wanting me with you. You can’t work alone if I’m there.”
“You’d be surprised at what I can do,” I laughed. “But there won’t be any problem. Your unique -talents-will balance out any petty distractions, and I’ll still know whom to blame.”
Suddenly he sat up straight, disquieted.
“I don’t think I like the sound of that,” he said, his eyes going hard. “That sounded like everything that goes wrong will be my fault.”
“You’re awfully touchy, aren’t you?” I asked in annoyance, frowning now. “All I meant was that we’ll be in my territory and I’ll still be responsible no matter who does what. Do you expect to know what’s happening right from day one?”
“I’m not an inexperienced amateur,” he answered, his entire manner having gone stiff. “I don’t have to be led around by the hand, and I’m big enough to be responsible for my own actions. Save the excuses for what you do on your own.”
“I don’t make excuses,” I told him flatly, reacting to his tone. “I do what has to be done and take it from there. If that disagrees with you, maybe I’d do better with someone else.”
“Maybe you would,” he agreed and got to his feet, his eyes having turned very cold. He walked away from the table and out of the room, the pleasant atmosphere of a few minutes earlier gone to oblivion, and as I watched him disappear I decided it was good riddance with no regrets. I’d look through Dameron’s files and find someone with his talents but without his shoulder chip.
Without my noticing it, three dishes had appeared on the table. I recognized two of them so I pulled them closer and started eating. I was too annoyed to finish either of them, but decided that there was something I was in the mood for. I left everything where it was on the table, asked a couple of questions of other diners, then found my way to the lounge.
The room was yellow and white, with narrow and wide lump chairs scattered around, plus a glasslike stack of shelves with bottles and the odd-shaped hexagonal glasses on it. The first of the drinkables I poured went down smoother than I thought it would, so I poured a second glass, lit a cigarette, and made myself comfortable in one of the narrower chairs. I had just about decided that the wall hanging directly opposite my chair was a cubist representation of impressionism, when Dameron walked in. His eyebrows rose slightly in surprise, but he nodded anyway.
“I thought you’d be checking on your ship,” he commented as he poured something I swear was striped into a glass. “You haven’t decided to stay with us instead of going home, have you?”
“Not quite,” I answered, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m still anxious to start for home, but I’ve changed my mind. You can keep Valdon, and I’ll take someone else.”
“What made you change your mind?” he asked, turning away from the stack of glasses. “Under the circumstances I hate admitting it, but Valdon is the best I have here. If you think he won’t measure up, you’re not likely to find anyone better.”
“I’m not looking for better,” I answered and swallowed my drink.
“Friendlier, though, is another matter entirely. When can I look through your files?”
He took a chair of his own and got comfortable.
“Barring emergencies, our official work day is now over,” he said, staring at me over his stripe-filled glass rim. “As soon as Nelixan is back to work, I’ll have her show you who’s available.”
“And willing;” I amended, standing up to replace the glass I’d been drinking from. “Forcing someone into something doesn’t pay in the long run. It only turns them resentful. See you around, Dameron.”
I could feel his eyes on me as I walked out, and I didn’t understand his attitude. I’d expected him to do handsprings over getting his precious assistant back, but instead he seemed almost disappointed. I made my way through the different groups of people going toward the refectory, and went back to my room.
I sat and smoked for a while, but there wasn’t even anything to read.
I was bored stiff, and too restless to even think about going to bed, but nothing else came to mind. I wondered briefly what the base personnel did for amusement, then decided to find out. I’d been kept isolated before going down to Tildor, but the briefings were over and so was the isolation. I’d see to that.
