Outbound Flight

Qe

"I think it's more likely the hyperdrive will blow up first," Car'das warned. "Remember that nullifier problem I told you about? I think it's getting-"

He was cut off by a wailing sound from beneath them, and with a lurch theBargain Hunter leapt forward like a giffa on a scent.

"Ru

"Trying," Maris called back over the wailing as her fingers danced across her board. "Control lines are looping-can't get a signal through."

With a curse, Qe

"Car'das, get up here," Maris called, gesturing him forward.

"He might need me," Car'das said as he nevertheless reversed direction and headed forward.

"Sit," she ordered, nodding sideways at Qe

"But Qe

"Word of advice, friend," she interrupted, her eyes still on her displays. "This is Rak's ship. If there are any tricky repairs to be made, he's the one who'll make them."

"Even if I happen to know more about a particular system than he does?"

"Especiallyif you happen to know more about it than he does," she said drily. "But in this case, you don't. Trust me."

"Fine," Car'das said with a sigh. "Such trust to be rescinded if and when we blow up, of course."

"You're learning," she said approvingly. "Now run a systems check on the sca

It took Qe

Sometime during the first hour, as near as Car'das could figure from the readings tumbling across the displays, they left the relatively well-known territory of the Outer Rim, passing into a shallow section of the far less well-known territory known as Wild Space. Sometime early in the fourth hour, they left even that behind and crossed the hazy line into the Unknown Regions.

At which point, where they were or what exactly they were flying into was anyone's guess.

But at last the wailing faded away, and a few minutes later the hyperspace sky collapsed into starlines and then into stars. "Maris?" Qe

"We're out," she confirmed. "Ru

"I'll be right there," Qe

"Wherever we are, we're a long way from home," Car'das murmured, gazing out at a small but brilliant globular star cluster in the distance. "I've never seen anything likethat from any of the Outer Rim worlds I've been to."

"Me, neither," Maris agreed soberly. "Hopefully, the computer can sort it out."

The computer was still sifting data when Qe

"Closest one's about a quarter light-year directly ahead," Maris said, pointing.

Qe

"Can't we work on the ship just as well out here?" Car'das asked.

"I don't like interstellar space," Qe

"Which means a possible source of supplies, in case we end up staying longer than we expect," Maris explained.

"Or a possible place to settle down away from the noise and fluster of the Republic for a while," Qe

Car'das felt his throat tighten. "You don't mean-?"

"No, he doesn't," Maris assured him. "Rak always talks about getting away from it all whenever he's in trouble with someone."

"He must talk that way a lot," Car'das muttered.

"What was that?" Qe

"Nothing."

"Didn't think so. Here we go." There was a screech, more genteel than the sound from theBargain Hunter 's main hyper-drive, and the stars stretched out into starlines.

Silently, Car'das counted off the seconds to himself, fully expecting the backup hyperdrive to crash at any time. But it didn't, and after a few tense minutes the starlines collapsed again to reveal a small yellow sun directly ahead.

"There we go," Qe

"Computer's still working on it," Maris said. "But it looks like we're about two hundred fifty light-years into Unknown Space." She lifted her eyebrows at him. "I'm thinking we're going to have a stack of late-delivery penalties when we finally get to Comra."

"Oh, you worry too much," Qe

Car'das suppressed a grimace. Pushing the hyperdrive, if he recalled correctly, was what had wrecked the thing to begin with.

There was a twitter from the comm. "We're being hailed," he reported, frowning as he keyed it on. He threw a look at the visual displays, searching for their unknown caller

And felt his whole body go rigid. "Qe

He was cut off by a deep rumbling chuckle from the comm. "So, Dubrak Qe

"You call thateasy? " Qe

"Ignore the furs," Progga cut in. "Show me your hidden treasure hoard."