Free The Sorceress of Karres by Eric Flint, Dave Freer Page B

especially draining, such as documents which had to feel right in someone's hand as well as look right.
    And it appeared that she would need an amazing number of documents in order to rent a house legally. Bank statements, previous utility payments—the list went on and on. It was truly amazing—and that was before the estate agent discovered that the smartly dressed woman in front of her was a foreigner, from off-world. Oh, they were very keen on off-world investment here on Nikkeldepain. They never lost the chance to tell foreigners so. But that didn't mean doing something ridiculous like making life easier for them!
    The experience started to give her a real idea of the minefield that Pausert's mother had to cope with. She smiled politely at the estate agent. "I think I will just stay in the hotel that you recommended in the port area."
    The woman allowed herself a relieved smile. "You wouldn't believe the paperwork it will save me."
    Goth was tempted to make a very sarcastic comment. Or several comments. But she just nodded, and took her leave.
    She had to face up to the fact that this was all going to be more complicated than merely coping with the Egger Route had been. She still hadn't worked out why someone was trying to kidnap Pausert. She knew that she would be here for six months. That was considerably longer than any jaunt that she'd ever undertaken as a young Karres witch to the various planets in the neighborhood of Karres. Karres approved of their youngsters going out and learning about how life was away from home. But, generally speaking, they went in twos or threes. There was nothing much that two or three Karres witches couldn't deal with! But, as the second-in-age sister, Goth had left quite a lot of the organization to Maleen.
    Now, she found that she had to deal with issues like money. It was easy enough to 'port it, of course. However, living with Captain Pausert had left her feeling guilty about doing that. Anyway, to live for six months she was going to need quite a lot of money. It wasn't like she didn't have it. The Venture 's account was nicely into the black. Goth had found a lot of satisfaction in managing the captain's money for him. He probably hadn't even realized she was doing it. But there was one small problem to spending any of that money: it was all safely in the Daal's bank some years into the future.
    She was so busy thinking about all of this, and how to deal with it, that she did not notice a nondescript vehicle shadowing her. In fact, the first thing that she knew about it, was that somebody had pressed something over her mouth and she felt the sudden brief sting of a transdermic injection.
     
    She awoke somewhat later, feeling groggy and sick, and lying tied up on a narrow bed in a dim room. Two people were talking in the next room. They were plainly quite upset with each other. Goth recognized the toneless voice of one of them. It was the woman with the cone hairdo, which had turned out to be a wig.
    "—should have come to a while ago," said the male voice. "She was smaller than we guessed."
    "You're hired to know that kind of thing, Franco," said the woman.
    "Listen, we found her for you. And I still think you're taking a chance. She's been seen with two of the agents of the police force."
    "Yes," said the woman. "When Mirkon got himself arrested by the local dogcatcher."
    "He may not really have been a dogcatcher."
    "Which is why he was shown in the newscasts as one for his heroic capture. To cover his secret agent tracks," she said. "Anyway, we've got Mirkon back in the ship. They assume that he's escaped off-world. That just leaves us a bit shorthanded for this. Let's go and see if the girl is awake yet."
    The lights came on. Goth immediately closed her eyes and slumped in the bed. The woman poked her in the ribs. "Wake up, sleepyhead. We need you awake to call that little boyfriend of yours."
    Goth groaned, and kept her eyes shut. She needed time to think about this. Huh!