Free Duty Bound by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

destroyer and they had nearly as much
chance of being in a tight, highly elliptical orbit as they did in
being on the outward leg of a hyperbolic orbit that would throw
them out of the system, never to return.
    Thus, shortly after breaking her fast,
Shadia realigned the gyroscope for the auxiliary instruments and
changed her search pattern with the star-field scope. Now that she
knew which end was up her job had gone from that of a hopeful
pastime to an immediately useful necessity. What they might do
about where they were was another matter.
    On the other side of the chamber, Clonak
busied himself with another semi-disassembled piece of hardware,
periodically professing himself or any number of other objects,
deities, and people damned, stupid, absurd, or useless.
    That she could hear these footnotes to
progress clearly proved that the pressure in the ship was slowly
rising, in part a result of the action of the layered osmotic
membranes that made up much of structure of the Momson Cloak. The
finely tuned membranes purposefully released certain amounts of
carbon dioxide and hydrogen while retaining some moisture; heavier
users might complain of the suit "sloshing" as the moisture
reservoirs filled. Far from breathable, the external atmosphere
made the Cloaks a little easier to move around in.
    The increased pressure also made Shadia
aware of an occasional twittering sound she couldn't place. Twice
she glanced up to Clonak, hard at work but doing nothing that
looked to make such a noise.
    The third time she looked up, Clonak had
also raised his head. He caught Shadia's eye and smiled
ruefully.
    "Not rodents, Shadia, with little rat feet.
More likely we have micro-sand, scrubbing the hull down to a fine
polish. This system has a fine collection of unfinished planets to
choose from, I'm afraid."
    "Though actually," he continued, "that's not
all bad. If the wrong people are looking for us we're better off
here than an hour off Nev'Lorn."
    "Should we use the monitor to--"
    "I've thought of that, but really, the best
use of resources is to continue with what we're doing. I may yet
get a computer up and running and you may yet find us a safe
harbor."
    There were several distinct pings and
another scrabble of dust on the hull then and Shadia bent back to
her charting with a will.
    * * *
    DAAV WOKE WITH a start, certain someone had
called his name. About him the ship purred a quiet purr of
circulators and the twin boards were green at every mark. The
Jump-clock showed he had enough time for breakfast and exercise
before he arrived back in normal space. No matter what might
befall, he'd be better prepared if he kept now to routine.
    He'd been to three systems so far without
touching ground at any. Izviet, Natterling, and Chantor were all
minor trade ports, ports that usually sported a small training
contingent of Scouts making use of the nearby space.
    At Izviet a ship a few years out of mode
coming from a port rarely heard from was barely gossip, still he'd
had the ship come in as L'il Orbit, maintaining his professorship
as well. The cycle was off--there were no Scouts training near the
spectacular multi-mooned and multi-ringed gas giant Cruchov.
Natterling's usual band of ecologists-in-training were out of
session; the wondrous planet Stall with its surface outcroppings of
pure timonioum had no company. By the time he'd hit Chantor he'd
had a lot of news to digest, but there were no cadets practicing
basic single-ship in that place, as he had.
    Among the news chattered most widely were
the rumors attending the Juntavas and their danger-tree
broadcast.
    Some felt it was trap, aimed at netting the
Juntavas. Others explored news-pits and libraries and invented
great empires of intrigue: one of these stated that the missing man
now ruled a system as a Juntavas boss; another said the merc hero
had bagged herself a rich one; yet another swore the pair of them
had turned pirate and were staging raids against the Scouts.
    What was missing