"Andre Norton - Redline The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Cofort enjoyed the luxury of choice in the charters he took on or even considered, and his interest in this was confirmation of the strong base the Queen had laid down here, coming in as she had at the very opening of regular commerce between the two planets of Trewsworld and Riginni, and, indeed, in initiating it. Whatever his reasons for wanting the freighter, the opportunity of picking up the local Trade operation was likely a good part of the draw. Ships like the Space Wrack were easily found on the starlanes he usually traveled for those with the credits to pay for them. The Trader prince had no need to come this far out on the rim hunting one. Space, he could order one new from the shipyards!

Jellico's finger pensively rubbed the blaster scar that marred his right cheek. They would be going into the negotiations very much on the weaker side, but there would be no negotiations at all if Cofort did not need or seriously want the Wrack. He was no philanthropist and drove a good bargain for himself, but he had a reputation for dealing fairly. There was no reason to expect less of his sister. If the Queen's representatives kept then" wits about them, they could come out of this with something to show over and above the gains they had already made.

No one spoke again for several seconds. Dane broke the silence. He had seen the famed Trader once but could not place the woman with whom they would be dealing. "I don't recall seeing anyone with Cofort at the Survey auction. Was she there?"

Tang Ya smiled. "If she had been, put credits down that you'd remember her."

Alt stirred. "Beautiful?"

Thorson frowned but immediately felt ashamed of his reaction. The Engineer-apprentice himself was strikingly handsome, to the extent that he almost seemed a carica- ture, the video stereotype of the daring star-roving hero. Why shouldn't comeliness in others interest him? As for the rest, Kamil was not to blame that his appearance and the poise that accompanied it occasionally annoyed Dane, and no one could fault his competence or his courage when the need to display either arose.

The Com-Tech shrugged. "Beauty is common in the universe. She has that, but there's something unique about her, strange even. — No, she wasn't at the auction. Rael rarely accompanies her brother when he's conducting surplanetary business. That's why none of you children has seen her yet."

"She does attend gem markets now and then," Jellico informed them. His usually cold eyes laughed as they flickered to Van Rycke. The shot was deserved payment for the surprise he had been given.

The Cargo-Master growled and then sighed. "I had the misfortune of trying to do some business on a day when the pair of them were out buying," he informed the others. "I might as well have stayed home. Between Cofort's store of credits and her eye, nothing—and I mean absolutely nothing—of real value remained that was anywhere near being in a Free Trader's price range."

"Why so many jewels?" Rip inquired curiously. Van Rycke glanced up at his apprentice. "Answer him." "Teague Cofort trades with powerful people on some highly developed planets and with fairly sophisticated, complex societies even on those less technically advanced. He has to carry quality goods, not trinkets, or no one would bother coming to him." "Precisely."

Thorson breathed an inner sigh of relief. Questions and testing were every apprentice's lot, part of the process that would eventually transform the dead material learned at Training Pool into the ingrained knowledge and experience of a Master. Still, he hated the feeling of being transported back to the classroom and hated more the chance that he might not respond correctly, embarrassing himself and letting his chief down. He realized with a touch of pride that it had been a compliment to him that the question had been put to him publicly. Van Rycke had expected an accurate reply.

"When did the Roving Star planet?" Wilcox inquired. "She hasn't, nor have any of the other Cofort ships," Van Rycke told him. "Our encounter was brief, and I didn't get a chance to question our prospective customer about that mystery. Perhaps she'll be good enough to enlighten us when she comes aboard to discuss the Wrack." "Which will be when?" the Captain asked. "In a couple of hours. I wanted to give us some thinking time."

He sighed then, to himself. They had best use it well. This was purely a buyer's market. They had to unload that freighter, and Rael Cofort would know that every bit as well as they did themselves. Miceal was too accustomed to his brown Trade uniform to be much bothered by it even with all fastenings in place and the high, stiff dress collar squeezing his neck, especially not with so important a meeting as this to claim his attention.

He studied the woman who had seated herself opposite him and Van Rycke as closely as he could without making his scrutiny too obvious. Tang had been right in calling Rael Cofort attractive, and equally correct in saying there was something unique in her appearance. It was not easy to place her in one of the major Terran subraces or assign a planet of origin for her line. She had been space-born herself.

She was of about average height, slender, with the lithe, tightly controlled body of a veteran spacer. There was no accompanying tan, however, although her pallor was very different from Jasper Weeks's. That skin might never darken, but it was alive with a soft warmth of its own.

Her features were delicately formed, fragile looking, making the thickly lashed- eyes appear impossibly large.

They were a subtle violet color that seemed to alter with every change of thought or mood.

The hair was tawny, golden like the coat of a Terran lion.

She kept it long, braided and fastened in a coronet to her head in the fashion adopted by most female space hounds.

Her hands, he saw as they shuffled through the contents of the slender safe-lock portfolio she carried, were long fingered and beautifully formed. They were also very small. One of them would not have spanned Van Rycke's palm, or his own, for that matter.

She chose a document and held it out to them. "My authorization to act as agent for Teague Cofort of the Roving Star."

The Cargo-Master accepted the paper and read it, as was his right in a matter of Trade. "Dated this morning?"

She nodded.' 'He fasmitted it when I informed him of the possible sale."

"We hadn't broadcast any interest in parting with the | Space Wrack," he observed,

The young woman smiled and shrugged delicately. "When I planeted, I prowled around, asked a few questions, and came up with some deductions. Teague told me to go for it if the deal was reasonable."