A Mind For Trade Part 1

Andre Norton.

A Mind For Trade.

Chapter One.

"They're going to fire!"

The shout seemed to come from everywhere.

Dane Thorson tried to run, but his legs churned without propelling him forward. Terrified, he looked behind, saw sinister black shapes, like bombs, floating through the air. There were thousands of them. In the garish light around him ghosts drifted. Some of the faces were familiar. Childhood faces, half-remembered. From the Pool? No.

"Eeeeeee-yaaagh!"

The scream ripped through Dane's head, pulling him violently into consciousness.

He sat up in his bunk, blinking against the soft, steady bulkhead night-light as shreds and tatters of the dream drifted across his vision, and vanished. He was not running from impending attack, he was safely in his bunk aboard the North Star, where he was the cargo master.

He took a deep breath, and made more connections: the dream, the memories, were not his.

"Ah," he said. They were Ali Kamil's dreams, and memories-again.

He pulled on his clothes and hit the door control.

Out in the corridor he saw Ali leaning against the wall, motionless. Ali was also barefoot, his customarily suave, controlled face almost unrecognizable. Dane glanced at the engineer's tense forehead, where beads of sweat gleamed in his tangled dark hair, and wondered how much worse the dream had been for him.

There was no time for words; a moment later two small black-and-white blurs rocketed through the pa.s.sageway, followed by Dane's new apprentice, Tooe, a Rigelian hybrid they'd found on the vast habitat called the Garden of Harmonious Exchange. Barely child-size, her bluish skin s.h.i.+ning with exertion, she moved with a peculiar flat-footed grace in the pseudo-gravity of hyper, now set to the.85 standard of their destination.

Dane looked down at Alpha and Omega, the s.h.i.+p's cats, and then into Tooe's huge yellow eyes, waiting for her to catch her breath. And, he admitted ruefully, avoiding Ali's accusatory gaze.

Tooe and the cats obviously had been playing some kind of game. The little hybrid seemed to deal well with the adaptive gee s.h.i.+fts; better than the rest of the crew with the mi-crogravity adaptation s.h.i.+ft mandated by Craig Tau after their experiences on Exchange. Tooe was well adapted to the variable gravity of that vast construct, which was a home to humans, the insectlike Kanddoyd, and the heavy-world Shver.

The rest of the crew wasn't-Terran-descent humans preferred planets, like Hesprid IV, now less than a day away. But they were far beyond the Terran sphere of influence now, and much of their trading would be on the cylindrical habitats of Kanddoyd s.p.a.ce. Hence both s.h.i.+ps observed a complex cycle of gravity-actually the pseudo-gravity of hyper-to accustom the rest of the crew to a range of weight-ma.s.s ratios.

"Hear screech, me," Tooe said.

"Sorry." AH smiled wryly. "I'll have to ask Rip what he's been slipping into our rations-"

"I resent that! No one seems to think my cookery is all that great, but no one has been poisoned yet." Rip Shannon and Jasper Weeks appeared side by side, a tall, handsome, dark figure and a short, pale one, both dressed for duty in their brown Free Trader uniforms. Despite Rip's joking tone his expression was concerned, as was Jasper's.

Ali said, "You couldn't have heard me yelling in my sleep all the way from the control deck."

Rip shook his head.

"Heard you-here." Jasper tapped his forehead.

"Tooe hear you, in hydrolab." Tooe's crest flattened out as she pointed round the corner. She touched her ear. "Bad dream, Ali Kamil?"

"Bad dream, Tooe," Ali said with a faint smile.

"Second one," Tooe replied, her pupils slitting suddenly. "You yell two s.h.i.+fts ago. Tooe hears. Dr. Tau says, 'Tooe, do work.' You think dream is from bad food?"

"No." The voice came from the other end of the corridor: Dr. Craig Tau, senior member of the newly formed crew.

"I'm sorry," Ali said, his handsome face tight with strain. Dane could almost feel how much his crewmate hated the situation. Ali was not one to share emotions, much less data about his personal life. "I seem to have acquired the knack of making childhood nightmares into some kind of dream vid," Ali went on. Dane could feel his crewmate's effort to keep his tone light. "I wonder if I can collect an entertainment fee for general broadcast?"

Tau smiled slightly, then said, "I invite you four to meet me in the mess in. ten minutes? It's time, I believe, for a talk I probably should have had with you long ago. Tooe, why don't you hold down the control deck for now? We can brief you afterward."

The little Rigelian hybrid nodded, grinning.

"What's funny?" Dane asked.

Tooe gave a little hop, her blue, faintly scaled skin glossy with good health. "Hold down deck? Control deck holds,me down!" Her crest flicked up in the shape that indicated a joke. "s.p.a.ce-leak holds me down." She hissed laughter through her teeth-Dane's explanation of how Ali could tune the engines to let hypers.p.a.ce "leak through" to create varying amounts of pseudo-gravity had not been very successful.

Her crest snapped to a flatter angle as she added, "Snapout soon! Then real free fall before go into gravity well."

In, Dane thought. She still said "In," not "Down." He was afraid she still didn't have the concept of planetary gravity; intellectually she understood it well, but not physically, despite her fantastic adaptability. Dane didn't say anything. Time would tell, and he wasn't sure how much to say, and how much to leave to experience.

Tooe watched him for a moment, and then her crest flicked up, and she bounced away down the corridor and disappeared. The two cats followed.

Tau didn't wait for an answer. He returned to his cabin and Dane heard the door hiss closed.

The others exchanged looks and shrugs, then Dane said, "Whatever it's about, it can wait on a shower and something hot to drink."

Ali nodded and disappeared into his cabin.

Jasper watched him go, then said, "I'd better close down my work." He moved off in the direction of the engine compartments.

Free fall soon. Dane retreated to his cabin, wondering if it was Tooe's influence that had them all using the handholds, walls, and decking to propel themselves around in free fall, rather than walking with their boots magnetized as had been their habit for years aboard the Solar Queen.

He pushed his old uniform into the cleaning slot and glanced at the time. Still half a rest period left. He suspected he would not get back to sleep before Rip and Jasper went off-s.h.i.+ft and he and Ali were back on duty, but he wasn't worried. Except for Ali's weird dreams, so far the maiden voyage of the North Star had been uneventful enough. A lot of hard work, but they'd antic.i.p.ated that. Rip had one more day in charge of the galley, then the rotation would put Dane there. At least there he could nap if he needed to.

He took a quick hot shower, got into his clean uniform, and left his cabin to go to the galley-mess.

The other three appeared at about the same time. Ali's dark hair was wet and slicked back, the color high in his handsome face. He dropped into one of the bolted chairs, smiling derisively. "If this is going to be a let's-talk-about-our-past bull session, Craig, I'd rather finish racking up my overdue sack time."

The medic, who had served aboard the Solar Queen longer than Dane had been a Free Trader, looked unperturbed. A plain, neat man who hardly seemed to have aged in the time Dane had known him, Craig Tau spoke in a low, even voice, and his manner was unemotional and straightforward. All the Solar Queen's former apprentices respected him; he was honest, dedicated, and thorough.

Dane stayed silent. Despite Ali's banter, Dane knew his s.h.i.+pmate was tense and uneasy.

"I had hoped," Tau said, lacing his fingers together, "that this conversation could wait for a time. We all have too much to think about already: z new s.h.i.+p, new positions of responsibility for each of the four of you, a contract that may or may not break us out of this cycle of hard luck that has been riding our jets since we left Canuche. Add to that both s.h.i.+ps being undercrewed and all the extra work that entails, I thought you had enough to think about."

"All right," Ali said. "I get the image here: it's sufficiently bad. How about giving it to us straight."

Tau looked up enquiringly. Rip nodded, his intelligent dark eyes concerned, and Dane felt himself nodding as well. Only Jasper Weeks-unfailingly polite and noncommital, as were all Venusian colonists, Dane had learned-waited patiently for Tau to get to his subject any way he chose.

"Think back," Tau said. "To our adventures on the planet Sargol."

"Hard days to forget," Ali commented wryly. "Dane here smelling like a pleasure house feather-dancer every time he had to go trading with the Salariki-"

"-That Inter-Solar gang trying their d.a.m.nedest to make us look like a plague s.h.i.+p," Rip added.

"-After the four of us did our best to turn ourselves inside out," Dane finished, wincing. "I don't think I've ever been that sick in my life. Well, I know I haven't."

Jasper looked up quickly, and Tau smiled at him. "No, Jasper, it's not a coincidence. You'll remember that the four of you who drank the Salariki warrior's cup were vilely sick, it's true-but when that pest the I-S gang sneaked aboard the Queen laid the rest of us out, it was you four whose immune systems were able to fight off the toxins."

"And so. ?" Ali prompted, his smile tight. "This relates to my nightmares?"

Tau said, "Just so-but have patience. The next item to recall is our mail run previous to the Canuche contract."

"Xecho-"

"-and Trewsworld," Dane said. He did not like to remember that one; in his own nightmares he still saw that dead man lying in his bunk, with Dane's own face.

"Remember what was slipped aboard the Queen that time?"

Jasper drew a deep breath. "Esperite."

Tau nodded.

Ali snorted. "Craig, my old friend, I value and esteem you, but if you're going to hop out with the news that we're going to turn into a bunch of psi-powered s.p.a.cehounds, well, you've been studying that voodoo craziness too long."

Dane grinned, waiting for the medic to deny it. Rip was also smiling, but Jasper just sat, his pale, thin face unreadable as always, his gaze wide and unblinking.

Tau said after a long pause, "I'm very much afraid that's exactly what I am telling you."

Tau watched Ali Kamil bury his face in his hands. The young engineer, moaned with theatrical fervor, which made his three peers grin. Tau knew them all well, and despite Ali's flippant att.i.tude, it was obvious that the news had hit him the hardest. In fact, Tau thought as he watched Kamil shake his head back and forth, the longer Ali joked, the more deeply he was upset.

Now Ali put his fingers in his ears and shook them, then looked up at Dane. "What's that, Viking? Can't hear you- think louder."

The tall, rawboned cargo master smiled a little, but his demeanor was one of slight embarra.s.sment and vague discomfort. Again, this was no surprise to Tau. He had predicted fairly accurately their probable reactions; what he could not guess was what they would do with the knowledge.

"Any questions?" he asked.

Kamil looked up, his eyes narrowed. "Yes. How do we get rid of it?"

"Get rid of what?" Tau countered. "The syndrome itself? The changes in your nervous system that make it possible?"

"I suspect," Rip said with his calm smile, "that getting rid of it isn't exactly like excising a wart."

"I'm afraid not." Tau waited for them to absorb this.

Ali sighed. "You've obviously got more cheery news. Might as well have it all."

Tau sipped the rest of his jakek. The empty tube crushed automatically, and he sent it spinning to the recycler. "Let's go back before we go forward. I first began noticing something a few months ago: if one of you had had a bad night, invariably one of the others had one also. I began keeping a record of where you all slept while on various duties. If you were in your cabins, which were in relatively close proximity to each other, one's strong dreams tended to affect the others. If you were on duty elsewhere, there seemed to be no reaction."

"Then distance lessens it," Jasper said.

Tau nodded. "There is another item-and I have to say first that both were so subtle I forbore telling you in case you began to expect them-"

"Does the chief know about all this?" Ali cut in.

"Captain Jellico knows. Of course. As does Dr. Cofort."

Ali sighed.

"In fact, on my latest report I told them I would probably be speaking to you four soon."

Dane looked interested. "Did the Old Man have anything to say to that?"

Tau smiled. "Only that I had his sympathy."

"You?" Ali's dark eyes opened wide. "You have his sympathy? What about us?"

Dane laughed, and Jasper smiled.

Rip was silent, his gaze distant. Then he looked up at Tau. "That second thing you mentioned," he said. "Is it. sometimes. knowing where each other is?"

A zing of excitement sent Tau's heart racing, but he did his best not to show it. "Yes, that was the other item. I noticed it in particular when we were stranded on Exchange for so long. If one of you needed one of the others, you seemed to know without conscious thought where he was aboard the Queen- or that he was not aboard. Again, distance negated the syndrome."

Dane ran his big hands through his yellow hair, making it stand up in spikes. "I think-" He shook his head.

"You did notice it," Tau prompted. "I saw you react once."

Dane grinned, looking embarra.s.sed. "But couldn't it just be that we know where the others are likely to be? We've been working together so long, we almost know the others' duties as well as we know our own."

"This is true," Tau agreed. "Which is another reason why I held off as long as possible telling you about this. I wanted to see if any of you would reach the same conclusions on your own."

"So that's the recent past." Ali lounged back on his chair. "What about the future? If Viking forgets to duck through a hatchway, am I going to get a bruise on my handsome brow? Or if Jasper misses his lunch during his dutyjs.h.i.+ft, am I going to wake up on alter-s.h.i.+ft thinking about Venusian Fungus Soup?" Ali's tone was light and pleasant, and there was nothing but interest in the smooth face and heavy-lidded dark eyes, but Tau sensed that the young man was angry. To Ali, new strides in medical science and the development of human potential meant little besides the prospect of something- anything-crossing the boundaries of his privacy. This meant that perhaps you could not just go into your cabin and shut the door to close out your crewmates when you needed to be alone, and all four knew it.

"I can't tell you for certain," Tau said. "When it became apparent our credit problems were solved on Exchange, the captain authorized my purchase of the latest medical data. I've been in my cabin sorting through it ever since we left Mykosian s.p.a.ce. I haven't found anything that directly relates to your case, which is not surprising, but I have come across some interesting data that leads me to speculate on the elasticity of human biological adaptations."

"Which means?" Ali prompted.

"Which means there are three alternatives, each leading in two directions. One, you do nothing, and nothing further happens. Possibly the syndrome even disappears. Or else the potential. increases."

"Choice two, we fight it?" Ali said, his smile twisted.

"That is one of the alternatives," Tau agreed. "We can experiment with attempts to damp the effect, and again either it works. or else your own bodies fight you." He paused to let the implications sink in.

Nothing showed in the three young faces before him, but he knew by the silence that they were considering this prospect as seriously as he.

"And third, we attempt to work with it. Again, it still might lead to nothing more than the four of you catching images from the others' strong dreams, and knowing where the others are at any given moment. Or." He opened his hands.