Quiet Knives Page 4

  Meet the Juntava who had stolen away Kore and twenty years of their life? She felt the anger rise—shook it off as he kept talking.

  "Then, well, I got a couple standard years of vacation time coming. We could go somewhere... like maybe Panore."

  He favored her suddenly with a grin that made her sway as she laughed.

  "Years of vacation? On Panore, is it? What did you do? Loot the strongbox?"

  His grin faded; and Midj felt a chill. Suppose he had looted the joint?

  "Nah," he admitted wryly, "I didn't. It's just that I never really took much time off I mean the Judge project, it kept me pretty busy. And..."

  "But Panore? I'd have thought you'd forgot that..."

  He shook his head then, and snorted a quiet laugh, and kind of talked into his cup for a minute like he was afraid, or too shy, to look at her.

  "Nah. I always did mean to get out to Panore, you know. And I always kept hoping there'd be some way I could maybe get you to go with me. So when I got a chance, I put some of my money into a condo-building out there... one unit's mine."

  He looked up, caught the look of amaze that had left her mouth half open. She felt the words spill out unbidden.

  "What? Panore's for fatcats! Do you have any idea of what it costs to live on a place like that? I, I..."

  He signed a quick yes in pilot's hand-talk as he finished his 'toot.

  "So yeah, I do know But now that you brought it up, why don't we find us a cargo or two that'll take us out that way, make sure we can still work together. Then, we can make sure we can still play together."

  He put the cup down, unexpectedly reached his hand to hers. "Tell me its a deal, and I'll sign the book as co-pilot right now, if you like."

  "Deal," she said, and squeezed his hand before pulling the logbook out on its trip tray.