“He’s right, kiddo.” Martha’s voice traveled across the room, proving she’d been listening to their exchange. “All you have to do is hook me up to the Rover’s on-board computer, and I take over. I’m programmed to fly anything they’ve got. Why do you think I’m so expensive?”
“Ididalways wonder,” Tedra came back dryly, only to hear what sounded suspiciously like a snort from the computer.
“Now, now,” Rourk intervened, looking at Tedra with silent laughter.
Tedra just sighed. “Were the supplies taken care of?”
“For a Rover, supplies are regulated,” Martha told her. “I only had to give them the date of departure, and the craft gets fully stocked.”
“For a full crew? A Roverusuallytakes a full crew, you know. And what about that? Is spaceport going to let me leave without one?”
“You’re scheduled to pick up a crew on Tara Tey, as far as they know.”
“And once you’re gone, I’ll have Slaker erase all entries,” Rourk added. “The extra supplies might well come in handy, babe.” At her raised brow, he reminded her, “It could be years before it’s safe to come back. You might as well do a little world discovering while you’re out there.”
Years, Tedra thought, feeling a little sick. She thought about the new house in the suburbs that she had moved into only last week, all her belongings she’d have to leave behind, her friends …
“Stars, my possessions!” she gasped. “Who’s going to pick up Martha’s controller boards? She’s only here on a linkup. Her heart and soul are at my new house.”
“You don’t thinkI’dforget such important little details, do you?” Martha asked in her voice labeled smug. “Rourk’s friend Slaker is already taking care of it. I’ll be aboard the Rover long before you will.”
Tedra gritted her teeth. “Did you happen to think of Corth and Bolt when you sent someone to collect yourself?”
“Forget my little friends? Me? I’m not the one who can’t even remember that an identilock requires at least two seconds to make identification.”
Tedra’s face flamed with color. She wasn’t going to ask how Martha knew about her run-in with the door, she really wasn’t.
“No comment, kiddo?” Martha purred.
“Not in mixed company,” Tedra bit out, sending Rourk a look that dared him to say just one word.
Chapter Four
“Where are we now, Martha?”
“Still in deep space, kiddo, same as last time you asked. If you’re going to be so impatient, you should have elected to stay in our own Star System. There are still hundreds of planets unexplored there that you could have amused yourself with.”
“And a frequency range that could have got me called home. I am afemalepilot, remember.”
“I’m the pi-”
“Don’t argue,” Tedra cut in, almost losing her patience for real. “You know what I meant. It’s within the laws of probability, and I’d just as soon not take the chance for a while of being put on Kystran’s wanted list if I refuse to acknowledge a summons home. And as long as we have some time to kill—”
“We go Star System-hopping.”
“What are you complaining about? You thought it was a great idea last week.”
“That was when I still had the occasional asteroid belt to play dodge with. This space is so empty a blind man could navigate it.”
“Don’t tell me you’re bored, Martha.” Tedra chuckled. “You have to monitor the control stations of every absent crew member. You don’t have time to be bored.”
“Child’s play.”
“Don’t give me that. You love it, being in such control. You’re just trying to pick an argument, aren’t you, since we haven’t had one in so long? But it won’t work, you know. I’m still too delighted with you for raiding the Relics Hall before we left. That was really a sweet, thoughtful thing to do.”
Silence. Tedra laughed to herself. Martha hated it when her tactics didn’t work. And Tedra had discovered it was a lot of fun, thwarting Martha. But she’d also spoken the truth. When she had found literally hundreds of history tapes in Martha’s files, she’d been ecstatic. She had thought she would have to give up her hobby until it was safe to go home. But she had enough tapes to last her several years, if she didn’t run through them all on Sublim format.
“Tedra, you haven’t fallen asleep, have you?” Martha’s voice returned about fifteen minutes later.
