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  They smiled at Brill, and the one who was apparently named Mary told her, “He’s a keeper, dearie.”

  “Oh, I know. I’m just trying to figure out what to keep him in.”

  The not-Mary one just patted her arm and said, “Your heart, dear. Your heart.” They were still smiling as they wandered off.

  “Well, you certainly made their day,” Brill said after a bit.

  “Only fair.”

  “Yeah,” she said quietly.

  We kept moving, following in the wake of the two ladies.

  Three booths later we found the batik merchant. Brill spotted it first, of course, over the heads of the crowd. His booth was draped with the most spectacular colored fabric. Bold patterns in rich colors dominated his selection. He had several variations on a bamboo theme and dozens of others. Each piece was a work of art. The vendor was a potbellied man with long, gray-streaked hair flowing down his back. He wore a tie-dyed linen shirt, simple black trousers, and the first pair of sandals I had seen since leaving Neris. He introduced himself as Chuck.

  We stepped into the booth and Chuck grinned, first at Brill and then at me. “You two look like individuals of exceptional breeding and taste!”

  Brill burst out laughing. “Does that line work?”

  “No,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “but the laugh usually does. How can I help ya?”

  “Tell me about this fabric,” she said.

  “Batik is an ancient form of dying. You put wax on the raw cloth in the pattern you want, then dye the cloth. The dye soaks into the fabric where the wax isn’t. Repeat the process for each color you want to use.” He indicated the panels of fabric around him. “These are the result.”

  “Can I take a few digitals of your booth?” I asked the man. “I think my partner would like to talk with you about buying a quantity of this to take out of the system to sell. I’d like him to see it.”

  “Sure, mister. You want me in the picture or out of it?”

  I pulled out my tablet and popped a couple of snaps off to Pip while Brill was looking at the various panels.

  “These aren’t whole bolts of fabric,” she noted.

  “Correct, miss,” Chuck said. “I carve up bolts because it’s a lot of work to wax, dye, wax, dye. Some days, I’m feeling lazy so I only do little pieces like these.” He pulled out a stack of pieces that were only about a half a meter square. “I think that one over there is my biggest.” He pointed out a large piece clipped to the drape at the back of his booth that had to be two meters wide and four long.

  “What do people use this material for? It seems a shame to cut it up for clothing.”

  “Oh, it depends,” Chuck said, warming to his subject. “Lots of people use the bigger pieces for drapes. The larger patterns and more pictorial pieces go for wall hangings. You mount a couple of them on a hinged frame and it makes a nice screen. Down below these smaller pieces get made into throw pillows. Some of the smaller patterns actually work pretty well as skirts. There are some textile grade patterns, really small stuff, that are done in big bolts that could be used for shirts, and even slacks. I don’t do those. I’m too lazy.”

  Brill looked at me and I nodded. Between us we bought about eight pieces in various shapes and patterns. We took one of Chuck’s cards and I gave him Pip’s name.

  When we left, I felt much better. Brill walked with something more like her old stride.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” she said suddenly as we walked away from Chuck’s booth.

  I looked up at her and nodded, “I think so, yeah.”

  “How’d you get so worldly?”

  “My mother was a lit professor. She had the wisdom of the ages in the literature that was her profession and she kept trying it out in her life. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, but she never backed down and she taught me to be the same way. She didn’t hide her pain from me. And she got hurt a lot. In spite of that, she never stopped living. She tried to teach me to see things as they are, not as I’d wish them to be, and that’s probably the hardest thing to do. I haven’t mastered it yet. Someday, maybe.”

  The ping-ping-ping of the closing warning sounded across the flea market, so Brill and I headed out with the crowd and didn’t talk much all the way back to the docks. On the way from the lift to the lock, she started chuckling.

  “What’s tickled your fancy this time?” I asked.

  “Al.”

  “I wasn’t joking.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m laughing.”

  “You find the notion funny?”

  She shook her head. “No. I used to be on the Hedley with her. I’m laughing because you’re right. She’s a fascinating woman, and you knew it within just a few ticks of meeting her while most people would have dismissed her as a freak on sight.”

  “No woman with that much confidence could be anything other than fascinating. I think that’s why you were so awesome the other day heading up to Henri’s. I didn’t tell you what he told me in the dressing room, did I?”

  She shook her head. “No, you been holding out, you rat?”

  “I’ve been rather busy the last couple of days. Cut me a little slack.”

  “Well, tell me now, before we get back.”

  “Well, I was standing there just wearing those little briefs.”

  “Thanks, I don’t have enough problems? You had to leave me with that visual?”

  “You want the story or not?”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll be good,” she said contritely.

  I savored the idea of just how good she might be for a heartbeat or two before continuing, “Anyway he’s got me looking at myself in the mirror and asks me who I think I am. I told him ‘just a guy.’”

  “You are not just a guy!” she interrupted me.

  I laughed out loud. “That’s what he said!”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “I’m serious. He got this little pursed-mouth expression and said something like ‘You arrive in the company of not one, but three of the most delightful and strikingly beautiful women in this end of the galaxy, and you say you’re ‘just a guy.’”

  “He was just trying to suck up to you.”

  “Why would Henri Roubaille feel the need to suck up to me by complimenting the women in my entourage?”

  “Who you calling an entourage, buster? But you’re right, he probably wasn’t sucking up. He really thought we were beautiful?”

  “No, he thought you were delightful and strikingly beautiful. That’s at least two steps up.”

  “Well, that put a little spring in my step. Thanks, Ish.”

  “You’re welcome.” We were almost back to the lock when I asked, “Since we’re talking about being at Henri’s, would you tell me something?”

  “If I can.”

  “Do you remember when I was doing up the buttons on my jeans?”

  “Oh, I think I’ll remember that for a long, long time,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

  I chuckled in spite of myself before continuing, “That was the point where I noticed, finally, that I’d been through at least two changes of pants without the robe. I saw it just lying there on the chair and I kinda froze for a second.”

  “Oh, I remember.”

  “I heard somebody from the couch make a little whimpering sound.”

  She chuckled. “Yup, I remember that, too.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Henri’s assistant,” she said instantly. “She was standing right behind the couch.”

  I laughed loudly at that. “Oh, gods, that’s funny. I thought it was either Bev or Diane.”

  Brill shook her head. “No, it couldn’t have been any of us.”

  “No? Why not?” I asked, amused by her certainty.

  “None of us could breathe, let alone whimper.”

  We were laughing as we went back through the lock.

  Chapter 23

  DUNSANY ROADS ORBITAL

  2352-APRIL-18

  Before I
changed back into my shipsuit, I grabbed another quick shower to freshen up a bit. The night watch was likely to be long and I was going into it tired. I stashed my towel and civvies in my locker and the bag of whelkies caught my eye reminding me that I needed to get two more of them out. It took just a moment to pull the fox and wolf that I had spotted earlier and put them in the pocket of my suit.

  The chrono said 17:30 and I slipped across the passage to deck berthing. Bev was there, getting ready to go on watch herself.

  “Hey!” she said. “Good to see you survived your first night on liberty.”

  Taking a closer look at my face, she asked gently, “You did survive?”

  “You know how it is,” I told her and shrugged.

  With a single quiet laugh she said, “Oh, yeah. You sure livened up what would otherwise have been just another boring evening.”

  Somehow I had a hard time imagining how any evening that had Brill, Beverly, and Diane all in the same room could be boring. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the wolf. “I wanted you to have this. A little thank you for going to Henri’s with me.”

  “Oh, I should be thanking you,” she said with a hoarse little croak in her throat. She took the small bundle and opened it. The wolf’s eyes seemed to glint even though they were only carved wood. She smiled when she saw it and I could have sworn that her smile matched the expression on the carving in an eerie kind of way. “Wow,” she said, holding it up to the light. “These are amazing, aren’t they?”

  I chuckled in the back of my throat. “Not as amazing as the woman holding it,” I said softly.

  She looked around the wolf she held in her hand and focused on me. “You’re a pretty smooth talker, Boy toy.” There was not the usual teasing overtone in the way she said it this time, and it caught me in the pit of my stomach. She reached out and cupped a hand behind my neck, pulling my face towards hers. For just an instant, I thought she was going to kiss me, but she tipped her head forward and bumped our foreheads together once gently before releasing me.

  “Thank you,” she said. Her breath was a soft caress on my cheek before she withdrew. “Now get your delightful little butt out of here. We’ve gotta go on watch.”

  I turned to leave and she gave my butt a playful little spank as I left. It pleased me inordinately for some reason. Kinda friendly—almost.

  I went up to the mess deck for coffee before heading back down to environmental. Pip and Cookie were in the final stages of the dinner buffet so I just waved, took my coffee, and left. It smelled like Cookie’s spiced beefalo was on the menu for dinner and the aroma made me drool.

  When I stepped through the hatch, Diane looked at the chrono and said, “You’re early.”

  “Yeah, a coupla ticks, but I was ready and I wanted to see you.”

  “Everything all right?” she asked with real concern in her voice.

  “As well as can be expected under the circumstances.”

  She gave a weary little smile and patted my arm comfortingly. “I still wanna know what you said to Big B. Whatever it was, it seems to have worked.”

  “We had a good time up at the flea market. That helped, too.”

  “But she was so miserable all morning.”

  “Yeah, I gathered. Do you know why?”

  “Well, she didn’t say for sure, but I can guess.”

  “Murdock?”

  “Partly. She felt like an idiot for setting you up like that. How did you spot it?”

  “I heard you on the mess deck and I kinda expected it after that day at Henri’s. Even if I hadn’t heard the name, I’d have known who the plumber was by the way you and Bev were acting.”

  She looked a little embarrassed. “I’m usually not that bad, but that person pulls my chain every time I think of her.”

  “It wasn’t really about Murdock, though, was it?”

  She shook her head. “No, it was that you went after Alvarez right after.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I wanna come back to that in a tick or two but can I ask you about going up to Henri’s? We haven’t really talked about that afternoon much and I need a little reality check.”

  “Sure, Ish. Ask me anything you want.”

  “Oh, don’t tempt me with that one,” I told her with a smile.

  She laughed.

  “Okay, did something happen that day?”

  “What do you mean, happen?”

  “I’m gonna tell you what I felt like and you tell me if I’m off base compared to how you saw it, okay?”

  “Sounds fair, go ahead.”

  “The four of us bonded in some really odd—but really nice—way. I don’t know if it was the march up there, the march down, you guys watching me change my clothes, or that I really liked having you watch me. Maybe it was I just felt so protected by the three of you. That would be okay if I were the only one who felt it. So, with that big buildup, my question to you is—”

  “Yes, I did, and still do,” she interrupted. “I don’t know what, why, or how but we had something when we came down on the elevator that we did not have going up.” She was looking at me intently. “Is that what you mean?”

  “Exactly. I didn’t know I was lacking it, but now that I have it, I never want to lose it, and I don’t even have a name for it.”

  “Yes!” She almost shouted.

  “Well, that’s what I told Brill. Along with the reason why I went for Alvarez.”

  “Oh, my.”

  “You were grinning when you saw Alvarez lead me off the floor,” I observed.

  “Yes, I was.”

  “What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking, you dog and I was so happy for you.”

  “And you were a little sad, too?”

  She shrugged. “Life on the Lois demands some sacrifices.” She looked at me shyly—which was shocking enough—but then asked, “You won’t laugh?”

  “Well I can’t promise that, but I’ll try not to.”

  “That day, back when you were working in the mess and you came and we changed out the algae matrices…?” she said, letting the statement trail off suggestively.

  “Oh, gods, you’re kidding?” I told her.

  “Nope. You looked so damn good.” She sighed and shrugged helplessly.

  “Yeah. Which is what you were telling me with the ‘understand what it means to be a spacer’ stuff?”

  She nodded. “Different ships have different cultures. It’s strange. Gregor did not like it here because of that. I’ve been on those ships before. There are some advantages, but I didn’t like being a bunk-bunny.”

  I chuckled. “I can’t picture you as a bunk-bunny.”

  “Yeah, well, lots of men—and not a few women—seem to think I’m attractive. I found it too distracting for comfort. Saying no isn’t easy on a ship like that,” she said this last part while looking off to the side in a kind of distaste—almost like she wanted to spit. “So, yeah, I was a little sad that I couldn’t have you, but I was glad for you that you were leaving with Alvarez. She’s something else.”

  “Okay, so why do you think I went after Alvarez?”

  “To show us you didn’t need us interfering with your love life.”

  “That’s what Brill thought, too.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Nope. What I told Brill was that if I couldn’t have one of you three, then I wanted to get as close as I could get. There were only two other women in the bar that I was remotely interested in beside you three.”

  “You think I’m in the same league as Brill and Bev?”

  “What you think you’re better?” I teased her.

  “No! Ya jerk. Brill has so damn much class it hurts me to look at her sometimes, and Bev has so much raw sensual confidence that I could almost go for her myself. You’d put me in that same group?”

  I laughed. “That’s what Brill said about you two, but don’t tell her I told you.”

  “She doesn’t think she’s in the same league as us? Good gods
! She’s what I’d like to be if I grow up!”

  “So, that’s why Alvarez. She’s in the same class, but unlike you, she’s not on the Lois.”

  “Wait, you think Bev, Brill and I, are in the same class as Alvarez?”

  “Well, not exactly, but she’s close,” I told her with a grin.

  “I still can’t believe you thought you could pull it off.”

  “I didn’t think I would.”

  “But you went anyway.”

  I shrugged. “One in a million is a lot better odds than zero.”

  “Gods, you must have been out of your mind walking across that floor to her like that. What were you thinking?”

  “Don’t laugh?”

  “No promises. I have a feeling it’s going to be funny.”

  “I was thinking two things. First, the worst she can do is say is no.”

  “And?”

  “I’m wearing Henri Roubaille.”

  She fought it valiantly—I had to give her credit—but in the end she lost it and dissolved into giggles.

  “Yeah, yeah, big joke, but while you’re done laughing your cute little butt off, think about this.”

  I paused for her to get her giggles under control a bit. “It worked.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m laughing!”

  I loved to hear her laugh—even if it was at me.

  “Anyway. I came to relieve you and to give you this.” I held out the small package.

  She opened it curiously and when she saw it, I thought she might puddle up. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “This is a whelkie, right?”

  “Yeah. I got it on St. Cloud. When I was going through my things earlier, I saw this one and thought of you. So I wanted you to have it.”

  “Thank you!” she said with feeling. She held it up close to her face and stroked an index finger along its head and back, patting it the way one might pat a real fox, if one could actually pat a real fox. For a heartbeat, I thought she might kiss it the way Alvarez had kissed the dolphin earlier in the day.

  Remembering that episode gave me a pang of a completely other sort that was centered somewhat lower on my torso, and I could not help but grin a little at the small jab of remembered pleasure.

  “This reminds me of Brill’s,” she said, looking up.