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What?
Thinking. Moyshe, what s happening with you? You always were a moody guy,
but I ve never seen you like you ve been lately. Ever since we left
Carson s . . .
BenRabi s defenses stood to arms. He did not dare open up. Two reasons: you
just did not do that these days, and he was not sure what was happening
himself. So he masked the shadowed walls of Festung Selbst behind a
half-truth.
I m just depressed. Maybe because I didn t get my vacation. Maybe because of
Mother . . . I had a bag full of things I wanted to take home. Some stamps and
coins I picked up in Corporation Zone. Some stuff I managed to get back from
The Broken Wings. This beautiful hand-carved bone trivet from Tregorgarth, and
some New Earth butterflies that would be worth, a mint anywhere else . . .
Bullroar, my friend. Bullroar. Mouse peered at him from beneath lowered
brows. I m getting to know you, Moyshe benRabi. I can tell when something s
got you by the guts. You better do something. It ll eat you alive if you keep
it locked up inside.
Mouse was right about one thing. They were getting to know one another. Too
well. Mouse was reading him now, and wanting to help. Maybe. When s your next
chess thing? I ll come lose a few games, tip a few brews with the troops.
Mouse frowned. He knew a light show when he saw one.
Getting too damned close!
Mouse glanced atJerusalem , at which benRabi had been scribbling. Well, I
didn t mean to porlock, Moyshe. He rose. I don t know if we ll have any more
tournaments. Kindervoort says we ll makeDanion sometime tonight. That s why I
came over. Thought you d want to know.
BenRabi brightened. Hey, good. He pushed theJerusalem papers back, rose,
started pacing. The waiting is getting to me. A little work . . .
The rendezvous with the harvestship was anticlimactic. There were no brass
bands, and no curious crowds at the receiving bay. The only Seiners around
were those who had been sent to show the landsmen to their quarters and brief
them about their job assignments. No one of any stature came to greet them.
Moyshe was disappointed.
His guide did his work quickly and efficiently and told him, You d better
turn in. This is the middle of our night. I ll be back early to help walk you
through your first day.
Okay. Thanks, Paul. Moyshe examined the man. Paul was much like the Seiners
he had met before.
The man examined him, too, and struggled with prejudices as he did so. Good
night, Mr. benRabi.
See you in the morning.
But he did not. Amy showed up instead, and took both benRabi and Mouse under
her wing.
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Keeping an eye on us, eh? Mouse asked.
She colored slightly. Yeah. Sort of. Jarl said he wanted to keep you
together so you d be easier to watch.
You don t have to be embarrassed. We understand.
This isn t my kind of thing, Commander Storm. I m a plumber, not a
counterspy.
Call me Mouse. Please. Or Mr. Iwasaki.
Whatever you want. Mouse. Are you ready for breakfast? She turned to
Moyshe.
I m still Moyshe benRabi. All right? Yes. I could eat three breakfasts.
Work commenced immediately after tool issue and a brief class in how to find
one s way around the harvestship. It never let up.
Moyshe forgot his screaming need in the pressure of the following week s
labors. The memories that had been gnawing the underbelly of his soul vanished
from consciousness. He flew easy, not thinking, not observing, not
questioning. He stayed too busy or too tired. The Seiners were true to their
promise to work the landsmen hard.
The mind-quirk he thought of as the image of the gun bothered him some, but
only mildly, as he wandered through daydreams while replacing wrecked piping
or damaged flow meters. He seized the vision, played with it, wrapped a few
extended daydreams around it. It helped pass the time.
Kept busy, he began to enjoy life again.
Something strange is going on here, Mouse, he whispered once when Amy was
out of hearing.
What s that?
This ship isn t hurt as bad as they want us to think. Look around.
I couldn t tell. I never did any time in the line. All I know about ships is
you get on, and after a while you get back off someplace else.
What it amounts to is, there s a lot of damage, but nothing that would put
something this size out of action. They could ve handled it themselves. Just
might have taken them a couple of years.
So?
So, maybe we re here for some other reason. My intuition has been sniffing
around that ever since Carson s.
Why would they bring outsiders in if they didn t absolutely have to?
I don t know. The only reason you overstaff a ship is so you have personnel
redundancy in case you take battle casualties. But on a ship this big two
hundred people, or even a thousand, don t mean a thing. And who would the
Seiners fight? Confederation? Not with a bunch of fifth columnists aboard.
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Give it time. It ll come to the top. No matter what they hope, they can t
keep everything hidden forever.
Can it. Amy s coming. Curious, he thought. Mouse did not seem interested in
Starfisher motives at all.
BenRabi s first week did have its rough edges. Every encounter with the
Sangaree woman became a crisis. And she could not be avoided. Her team,
repairing air ducting, was working the same service passages as his.
She would not leave Mouse alone. And the certainty of purpose which made
Mouse s responses predictable taunted benRabi with worries about his own
incompleteness.
She did not bait him. She knew that he would do nothing but look at her
soulfully, reflecting the pain-giving back at her.
She appeared from a cross-passage only seconds behind Amy.
Damn! Moyshe swore. Her again.
Restrain me, Moyshe.
You got it, partner. Be my ass in the fire, too.
Well, the Rat again. The Sangaree woman stood with her hands on her hips,
defying him to act. Backing her were several idealistic youngsters. She had
sold them a simpleminded anti-spy package. What an unpleasant surprise.
Butchered anyone lately, spy? There re lots of non-Confies aboard. You ought
to be as happy as a hog knee-deep in slop.
A curious metaphor, benRabi thought. She must have chosen it especially for
the Tregorgarthian kids.
The youths looked at one another, embarrassed. They shared her views, and
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