His face hardened. “All right, I will. Go back to Clementia. ...”

“But, Severance…”

“Go back to Clementia while I finish the run to QED. When I get back, I’ll come to Clementia. If you’re still sure you want to come away with me, I’ll take you.”

She drew a breath. “It’s six weeks from here to QED and then eight more to get back to Lovelady. That’s a long time, Severance.”

“Long enough for you to be sure of what you’re doing.”

Cidra felt her stomach tighten as she saw the determination in him. “You really don’t trust me to know what I’m doing, do you?”

“I think you need time.”

“What if you don’t come back for me, Severance?” she asked softly.

“You’ll have to trust me to come back, just as I’ll have to trust you to be waiting.

“Wolves have a very hard time with trust, don’t they?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

Chapter Eighteen

“It’s amazing how sophisticated and cosmopolitan Port Try Again looks after a few days in the jungle.” Cidra grinned across the table at Desma Kady, who was halfway through a meat stew. “Renaissance has a way of giving one a new perspective on things.”

Desma chuckled. “I know what you mean. But cosmopolitan as we may be, you’re still drawing a few stares. Most of these renegades wouldn’t blink at a charging zalon, but they’ve blinked several times at that beautiful dress.” She inclined her head to indicate the other diners in the restaurant.

Cidra glanced down at her yellow-gold early evening gown. “I didn’t mean to cause a scene. It’s just that it felt so good to get back into my own clothes.” She added quickly, “Not that I didn’t appreciate your advice on the practical clothing for the jungle. I don’t know what I would have done without the trousers and shirt.”

“I doubt Severance would have allowed you to go trekking off without the right gear. He’s usually very conscious of details such as that. I wonder where he is.”

“Attending to more details.” Cidra grimaced. “He’s negotiating a deal with two of the biggest scientific firms who have representatives here at Try Again. He’s been at it ever since we got back last night.”

“When it comes to business, that man has the tenacity of a lockmouth,” Desma observed. “He deserves a break like this. He’s worked hard to build Severance Pay, Ltd. into one of the most reliable of the small mail runners. The stake he gets from selling the information you two discovered will go a long way toward helping him set up a major business operation.” Des-ma’s eyes glowed. “Sweet Harmony, what a find. Absolutely fantastic. I just hope my firm makes the high bid. With any luck I’ll get a piece of the project.”

“I’m sure Severance will sell to your company,” Cidra said politely. “He knows you’d like to be involved.”

“He’ll sell to the highest bidder. Period. When it comes to something this big, Severance isn’t going to let sentiment interfere. How are the veggies?” Desma peered at the pile of greens and tubers on Cidra’s plate.

“Wonderful. To be quite honest, I don’t care if I never have occasion to eat meat again.”

“Poor Cidra. This whole thing has been quite an adventure for you, hasn’t it? Starting with that night in my lab when you drove off the intruder.”

“I take it he hasn’t turned up?”

Desma shook her head. “No, damn it. I’d give my last research report to get my hands on him. The company guards have circulated the description, but I’m afraid it wasn’t very useful.”

“I know.” Cidra’s mouth curved wryly. “The one look at his features that I got wasn’t very good. He had such an expression of horror and fear on his face and the light from those bugs was so bizarre that I doubt I’d recognize him again myself.”

“Well, if he knows what’s good for him, he won’t come near enough to you to let you have a look. Severance would feed him to a dracon.” Desma stopped short at the look on Cidra’s face. “What’s the matter? Did I say something wrong? It’s just an expression.”

“I know,” Cidra assured her hurriedly. “I’m still getting accustomed to Renaissance colloquialisms.” She blanked out her mental image of the last meal Severance had fed to the dracons and grimly went back to work on her greens.

“You’d better get used to the local slang,” Desma said cheerfully. “Severance spends a fair amount of time on Renaissance.” Her friendly eyes narrowed. “I take it you will be traveling with him for a while?”

“I’ll be traveling with him. As soon as he gets through behaving in his current stubborn, authoritarian, dictatorial manner.” Cidra’s smile thinned. “He’s insisting that I return to Clementia until he gets back from the run to QED.”

“Interesting,” Desma murmured. “Is that connected to the reason why he spent last night in the ship and you’re rooming with me again? Somehow, when I saw the two of you yesterday, I got the feeling that certain matters in your, uh, partnership had been resolved.”

“We don’t have a partnership. I’m just a member of his crew.” Cidra stabbed at a golden-skinned tuber. She was getting better at using a knife on food. “What do you make of the alien ship, Desma?”

“From what you’ve told me it could be almost anything from a lone scouting foray that went astray to a colony ship. Assuming it is an alien vessel. There’s still the possibility that the point of origin is somewhere in the Stanza Nine system. We may never know.”

“There were only five eggs. Hardly enough to colonize a new planet.”

“Perhaps there were several small ships headed somewhere else, and this one went off course.”

Cidra chewed her lower lip. “I hope this was just a lone ship, t would hate to think of facing a large number of those blue monsters.”

“The hatchling’s behavior when it emerged from the egg seemed entirely instinctive?”

“Oh, yes. All it wanted to do was eat. I think there was some kind of homing device built into the shell. Probably designed to lead it back to the ship eventually. Who knows what’s stored in that ship? Perhaps the equivalent of an Archive. Perhaps once led back to the ship, the young would discover their heritage. I imagine Renaissance looked like paradise to whatever piloted them here.”