Pay Me, Bug!

Chapter 42

WHEREIN Our Hero, Having Escaped Certain Calamity, Celebrates His Unexpected Survival

Grif Vindh, captain of the Fool's Errand, was very, very drunk.

They were in Dyorbid's, waiting out the repairs on their ship and celebrating the fact that they had, when all was said and done, not been killed.

By the time they reached Trade Baron space they all had their original faces back--Cutter even had his scars, much to Vod's satisfaction. They were greeted at the edge of the Tylaris system by an Alliance warship carrying none other than Alef Halge. The cargo was transferred quickly, and Velis left without so much as a goodbye, which suited everyone fine. Some of her people nodded briefly as they left, more acknowledgment than Grif had expected, and Bennet actually shook his hand.

"It was interesting serving on your ship," Bennet said. "On the whole. Despite the... ah... awkwardness."

"You'd be a good crewman," Grif replied. "Under normal circumstances. But I trust you won't be offended if I say I hope we never meet again."

Bennet grinned. "No offense taken," he said, and left.

Alef Halge was true to his word. As soon as he'd confirmed receipt of the artifact, he transmitted confirmation that Vindh was the owner of a freshly minted charter to trade within Alliance space.

"I trust," Halge said, "that such a valuable gift will be used properly."

"Of course," Grif said, voice non-committal. "Enjoy your, uh, alien thing."

After that, they took a week floating in deep space to take Ebur Tosk out of stasis and put him back on his meds. Ebur was more than a bit cranky to have missed everything, but he felt much better after taking a proper shower, getting a decent meal, and confirming that he had been paid.

All that was left to do was to repair the ship. Grif chose the Tyrelos system for that, since the Fool's Errand wouldn't be able to land on any planet with an atmosphere until the breach in their hull was repaired. That led to Vindh and his crew sitting in Dyorbid's, getting progressively more inebriated as the hours passed.

Eventually all their bragging and self-congratulation gave way to drunken speculation.

"I wonder what that thing was," Morgan said. "I would've loved to take a closer look at it."

Grif peered at Morgan over his drink. "What, the mysterious piece of alien technology that potentially proves all your views about the origin of life in the universe?"

"Yeah," Morgan said defensively. "That."

"I wouldn't waste too much time thinking about it. Let it go. It's probably sitting in some high-security scientific facility in Alliance space, waiting for the Radiant Throne to steal it back."

"But what is it?" Morgan persisted.

"It's the kind of thing that makes my sister show up," Grif replied.

Morgan thought it over. "Never mind," he said.

The crew laughed.

"I, for one, am happy to be rid of it," Grif said. "It's nice to pull off the impossible, but it's a lot more trouble than it's worth. Entangling alliances, and all that. The less I'm involved with politics the happier I am."

"The further away from your sister I am, the happier I am," Amys added, and there was a general round of agreement to that.

Grif stood and raised his glass. "A toast," he said. "To staying away from my sister."