"I'll be a good citizen." As long as I'm treated nice. He was already halfway to the concourse gate. He chinned up a small window from Blueshell's camera. All this high-bandwidth comm was courtesy of the local net. Strange that Rihndell was still providing the service. Blueshell seemed to be negotiating still. Maybe there wasn't a scam… or anyway, not one that Saint Rihndell was in on.
"Pham, I've lost the video from Greenstalk, just as she went into some kind of tunnel. Her location beacon is still clear."
The concourse gate made an opening for him, and then Pham was in the crowded, market volume. He heard the raucous hubbub even through his armor. He moved slowly, sticking to the most uncrowded paths, following guide ropes that threaded the space. The mob was no problem. Everyone made way, some with almost panicky haste. Pham didn't know whether it was his razor spines or the trace of chlorine his suit "leaked". Maybe that last touch was a bit much. But the whole point was to look nonhuman. He slowed even more, doing his best not to nick anyone. Something awfully like a target-designation laser flickered in his rear window. He ducked quickly around an aquarium as Ravna said, "The terrane just complained to your suit: 'You are in violation of dress-code' is how the translation comes out."
Is it my chlorine B.O., or have they detected the guns? "What about outside? Any Butterflies in sight?"
"No. Ship activity hasn't changed much during the last five hours. No Aprahanti movement or change in comm status." Long pause. Indirectly from the OOB bridge he could hear Blueshell talking with Ravna, the words indistinct but excited. He jabbed around, trying to find the direct connection. Then Ravna was talking to him again. "Hei! Blueshell says Rihndell has accepted the shipment! He's onloading the agrav fabric right now. And OOB just got a commit on the repairs!" So they were ready to fly -except that three of them were still ashore, and one of them was missing.
Pham floated over the top of the aquarium and finally caught direct sight of Blueshell. He tweaked the suit's gas jets very carefully and settled down beside the Rider.
His arrival was about as welcome as finger-mites at a picnic. The scrimshawed one had been chattering away, tapping his articulated artwork on the wall as his helper translated into Trisk. Now the creature drew in his tusks, and the neck arms folded themselves. The others followed suit. All of them sidled up the wall, away from Blueshell and Pham. "Our business is now complete. We don't know where your friend has gone," said the Trisk interpreter.
Blueshell's fronds extended after them, wavering. "B-but just a little guidance is all we need. Who — " It was no use. Saint Rihndell and his merry crew kept going. Blueshell rattled in abrupt frustration. His fronds angled slightly, turning all attention on Pham Nuwen. "Sir Pham, I am doubting now your expertise as a trader. Saint Rihndell might have helped."
"Maybe." Pham watched the tusk-legs disappear into the crowd, pulling the trellises behind them like a big black balloon. Ugh. Maybe Rihndell was simply an honest trader. "What are the chances that Greenstalk would abandon you in the middle of something like that?"
Blueshell dithered for a moment. "In an ordinary trade stop, she might have noticed some extraordinary profit opportunity. But here, I — "
Ravna's voice interrupted sympathetically, "Maybe she just, uh, forgot the context?"
"No," Blueshell was definite. "The skrode would never permit such a failure, not in the middle of a hard trade."
Pham shifted windows around inside his helmet, looking in all directions. The crowd was still keeping an open space around them. There was no evidence of cops. Would I know them if I saw them? "Okay," said Pham. "We have a problem, whether I'd come out or not. I suggest we take a little walk, see if we can find where Greenstalk went."
Rattle. "We have little choice now. My lady Ravna, do please try to reach the tusk-legs interpreter. Perhaps he can link us to the local Skroderiders." He came off the wall, rotated on gas jets. "Come along, Sir Pham."
