Free Asgard's Secret by Brian Stableford

battle. When she
said "negotiable cargo," what she probably meant was
"loot."
    I resolved not to
ask. It didn't seem polite, in the circumstances.
    "That will be
perfectly satisfactory, Star-Captain," the clerk said. "I can see no
legal or moral grounds for any objection."
    Jacinthe Siani
opened her mouth to complain again, but she could see that it was futile. No
sound came out.
    "It really
breaks my heart to let you down," I told her, "but I love women in uniform."
    "You'll regret
this," the Kythnan hissed, her composure cracking under the strain.
    "I seriously
doubt that," I said. "At present, I feel better than I've felt for a long time. I wish you the best of luck explaining your failure to Amara Guur."
    When Jacinthe Siani
had stomped off, the star-captain went into a huddle with 238-Zenatta and the
clerk. In the meantime, Aleksandr Sovorov had come lumbering up the steps to
join me. The six troopers stayed on the floor, in perfect military formation.
    "Alex," I
said, "I forgive you everything. How the hell did you manage to find
her?"
    "Find
her?" he repeated, struggling to draw breath. "I didn't. . . find
her. That . . . officious idiot. . . from Immigration Control . . . demanded
that I take responsibility for her."
    My feelings of
gratitude shriveled a little. "So you figured that you'd palm her off on
to me, as usual," I said. "Well, why not? I'm always glad to
help."
    He'd got his breath
back by now. "Not exactly," he said. "When I found out what she
wanted, I naturally told her about your situation. I thought she'd be too late
to do anything about it, but she seems to be a very decisive person— and as
the Hall of Justice is directly across the plaza from Immigration Control, she
didn't have far to come. Mercifully."
    "What do you mean, when
you found out what she wanted?" I asked.
    "She'd already
talked to 74-Scarion, so she knew that Myrlin had been lodged with Saul
Lyndrach, and that Immigration Control had been looking for both of them. He'd
just told her that the outworlder had been logged out of lock five in the early
hours of this morning in your truck, so . . ."
    "He
was what!" I screeched. My heart was still pounding
from the shock of my unexpected rescue, and it wasn't ready to cope with the
shock of discovering that my truck had been hijacked.
    "Oh, I'm
sorry," the C.R.E. man said. "Didn't anyone tell you?"
    "You're the
one who's supposed to be keeping me informed," I pointed out.
    "Am I?"
he said. "Well, I didn't know myself until the star-captain told me what
74-Scarion had told her. But as soon as I explained to her that you were here,
caught up in some bizarre conspiracy, she decided to get you out."
    "She decided," I echoed. "On her own?"
    "Well,
naturally I encouraged her to do exactly that— especially when she said that
even if you'd already signed the contract to help some local gangster find
whatever it is Myrlin's presumably set off to look for, she had seven
flame-pistols to make sure that you didn't lift a finger on anyone's behalf but
hers."
    "How did he
get hold of my truck?" I demanded. "It was securely locked up—and the
keys were locked up too, in my room. Nobody knew the codes but me . . . well,
except for ..."
    "How should I know?"
Sovorov interrupted, a trifle impatiently. I still felt so good about the
miracle that I forgave his rudeness instantly.
    "Was Saul with
him when they logged out of the lock?" I asked.
    "I don't know,
I tell you," the scientist told me, petulantly. "He's not on the
record, but if he was hiding in the back of the truck ..."
    I would have
pursued the matter further, but I didn't get the chance. The star-captain
tapped me on the shoulder. "It's okay, Russell," she said.
"You're all mine. The Tetrax will collect their pound of flesh from the
spoils of Salamandra. Thank your lucky stars I got here in time. Sign
these."
    She presented me
with a sheaf of papers. The forms were in English and Chinese; three copies of
each. I looked at them uncomprehendingly.