I've been hearing how impossible it was."
"Is," Dylan told me. "I cheated. I did it crooked, I admit, but I never regretted doing so. I drugged my way out"
"Drugged? Even caffeine and other stimulants usually get pushed out in an hour or less."
She nodded. "Some drugs work. Stuff distilled from Warden plants , particularly ones from Lilith. Strictly controlled, government use only—but I managed to get a little of a hypnotic. Let's not go into how. Swapped with a Class II dockworker."
We walked back to the aft section behind the pilot house, which had been set up as a sun deck while in port. I settled into a chair and so did Sanda. Dylan went below and returned with some refreshing-looking drinks laced with fruit. She then stretched out on a collapsible chaise tongue. I tried the drink—a little too sweet for my taste, but not at all bad.
Dylan's hard, determined manner contrasted sharply with Sanda's. No matter what body she'd originally had, it was hard to imagine her as a professional mother.
"This dock down here did it," she began. "Watching the boats go in and out, hearing the stories, seeing the expressions on the faces of those who went out and came back every day. I don't know. Something in my head, I guess. I've had a lot of lovers, but I've been married to the sea ever since I can remember. It showed, I think— the water people would always talk to me. We had the same feelings. One of 'em finally took a risk and smuggled me out on a run. I was hooked. I knew that no matter what happened somehow I had to work the boats. Just shows that if you have enough smarts and you want something bad enough you can get it. I keep telling Sanda that when she's down."
I smiled and nodded. I was beginning to like Dylan Kohl quite a bit Although I didn't share her love for the sea, in general attitudes her mind paralleled my own.
"This is your boat, I take it?"
She nodded "Every rivet and plate. Once I was out of the House I was determined to make myself a Class I secure, and to do it with boat work. I'd go out with 'em on my own from time to time, filling in where they needed help while doing my dock cleanup job. When openings came along, I got signed on as crew. There are usually openings in this business, but you gotta be crazy to be in it to begin with. On a world where everybody's trying to live forever I love a job where you get to be captain by surviving long enough. Eventually you either have your own boat or get swallowed whole or in little pieces. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"You're the captain, then?"
She nodded. "Shorter time than most, I'm told. Four years. I'm the sole survivor of her original crew of six. They were a pretty sloppy bunch, though—it's why I picked "em."
Here was one tough woman, I told myself. And, I guess, you had to be in this kind of business. As she said, most Cerberans tried as hard as they could to stay away from any sort of danger, with death feared far more than any place where people died naturally and normally. But in her business you constantly courted danger. It was ? often fatal business.
"Ever been on a bork hunt?" she asked.
I shook my head slowly from side to side. "No, never j really had the inclination after seeing the pictures."
"Aw, there's nothing like it," she enthused. "Going in and out against the thing at thirty to forty knots, your skill, knowledge, and reflexes against the monster's . You don't feel bad about killing them, either—they're so nasty and good-for-nothing. And you're saving the lives and livelihood of the salts who work the deeps. You feel good about it—and I am good at it. In seven months now as cap I haven't lost a crew member. Why, just the other day we were down off Laroo's Island and we—"
"What!" I exclaimed, almost rising to my feet "WhereT
She stopped and appeared slightly annoyed at being interrupted. "Why, Laroo's Island . It's a little out of my territory, about a hundred
"Is," Dylan told me. "I cheated. I did it crooked, I admit, but I never regretted doing so. I drugged my way out"
"Drugged? Even caffeine and other stimulants usually get pushed out in an hour or less."
She nodded. "Some drugs work. Stuff distilled from Warden plants , particularly ones from Lilith. Strictly controlled, government use only—but I managed to get a little of a hypnotic. Let's not go into how. Swapped with a Class II dockworker."
We walked back to the aft section behind the pilot house, which had been set up as a sun deck while in port. I settled into a chair and so did Sanda. Dylan went below and returned with some refreshing-looking drinks laced with fruit. She then stretched out on a collapsible chaise tongue. I tried the drink—a little too sweet for my taste, but not at all bad.
Dylan's hard, determined manner contrasted sharply with Sanda's. No matter what body she'd originally had, it was hard to imagine her as a professional mother.
"This dock down here did it," she began. "Watching the boats go in and out, hearing the stories, seeing the expressions on the faces of those who went out and came back every day. I don't know. Something in my head, I guess. I've had a lot of lovers, but I've been married to the sea ever since I can remember. It showed, I think— the water people would always talk to me. We had the same feelings. One of 'em finally took a risk and smuggled me out on a run. I was hooked. I knew that no matter what happened somehow I had to work the boats. Just shows that if you have enough smarts and you want something bad enough you can get it. I keep telling Sanda that when she's down."
I smiled and nodded. I was beginning to like Dylan Kohl quite a bit Although I didn't share her love for the sea, in general attitudes her mind paralleled my own.
"This is your boat, I take it?"
She nodded "Every rivet and plate. Once I was out of the House I was determined to make myself a Class I secure, and to do it with boat work. I'd go out with 'em on my own from time to time, filling in where they needed help while doing my dock cleanup job. When openings came along, I got signed on as crew. There are usually openings in this business, but you gotta be crazy to be in it to begin with. On a world where everybody's trying to live forever I love a job where you get to be captain by surviving long enough. Eventually you either have your own boat or get swallowed whole or in little pieces. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"You're the captain, then?"
She nodded. "Shorter time than most, I'm told. Four years. I'm the sole survivor of her original crew of six. They were a pretty sloppy bunch, though—it's why I picked "em."
Here was one tough woman, I told myself. And, I guess, you had to be in this kind of business. As she said, most Cerberans tried as hard as they could to stay away from any sort of danger, with death feared far more than any place where people died naturally and normally. But in her business you constantly courted danger. It was ? often fatal business.
"Ever been on a bork hunt?" she asked.
I shook my head slowly from side to side. "No, never j really had the inclination after seeing the pictures."
"Aw, there's nothing like it," she enthused. "Going in and out against the thing at thirty to forty knots, your skill, knowledge, and reflexes against the monster's . You don't feel bad about killing them, either—they're so nasty and good-for-nothing. And you're saving the lives and livelihood of the salts who work the deeps. You feel good about it—and I am good at it. In seven months now as cap I haven't lost a crew member. Why, just the other day we were down off Laroo's Island and we—"
"What!" I exclaimed, almost rising to my feet "WhereT
She stopped and appeared slightly annoyed at being interrupted. "Why, Laroo's Island . It's a little out of my territory, about a hundred
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