Itch: Nine Tales of Fantastic Worlds by Kris Austen Radcliffe Page A

Titan. That cube had danced with the entire spectrum, shining as if the sun itself hid within the matrix. The hilt in front of her, weighted perfectly to counter a slashing blade, sparkled with the same brightness.
    But it wasn’t a weapon. The hilt was a mobile memory unit, designed to infiltrate from any physical contact regardless of access ports. Inside the crystalline structure hid over ten thousand monofilament tentacles.
    Tal could sequester significant processing power inside the luminous diamond. It would boost Frost ’s navigation systems and they’d take their leave of Jupiter.
    “You know damned well what it is, child, and how much it’s worth.” The twitching of Captain Ugly’s thin lips matched the twitching of his lackeys.
    They’re networked , Tal whispered. Passive scanning initiated .
    Great. Fighting as one, they’d whip her ass. Better to outsmart the idiots.
    “I am a Holder, Captain. I outgrew ‘child’ long ago.” With the purchase of the Frost , she’d become a legal adult. Not a citizen yet, but close.
    “Six months? You’re a whelp.” Smirking, he drummed his fingers on the tabletop.
    “I’ll give you three minutes and my search bots facilitate all information transfer.” She mimicked his movements, tapping in the same rhythm.
    The three toadies snorted. The captain’s nose crinkled.
    “Don’t insult me,” the bastard snarled. “That pathetic hull of yours can’t do shit. You need ten minutes to open your hatches. Twenty is fair.”
    Sabastia’s muscles tightened, her fingers curling.
    A faint smile appeared on the captain’s disgusting mouth.
    “ Your blood pressure rises .”
    Tal compensated. Sabastia’s body calmed but she kept her muscles tight. Better to let his lackeys read her physiology and think that their captain still had the upper hand.
    “Seven minutes. My bots facilitate.”
    “Fifteen. And my bots do the search.” The smug bastard’s brow-rat bopped over his tiny eyes.
    “Ten. My bots. You don’t put your fingers in my drives.”
    “Twelve.”
    Sabastia leaned forward. “Deal.”
    Another creak rattled through the station. The light swung, shadows dancing through the crates that lined the little room’s discolored walls. The augmented minion grimaced.
    “ Passive scanning complete . Interface protocols and algorithms locked . I’ve hacked their network .”
    Sabastia’s hand moved over the table’s dented metal toward the hilt, but her eyes stayed on the men. After accepting and before the other party agreed was the most dangerous moment in a deal, especially with employees of the Sheins-White security force. These four were as likely to kill her as to consent.
    A dagger flashed, pulled by the augmented snake in the middle, and flicked toward her hand.
    Tal yanked Sabastia’s arm back. The dagger dug into the table, clinking in the space between her ring and middle finger.
    “Not so fast.” The captain’s meaty hand wrapped around her wrist. “I don’t like the idea of your traitor bots knowing my business. So I think we control your systems for the twelve minutes.”
    “ Traitor ” instead of “ Trader ”. The old insult dropped off his lips with the same venom the dock workers used to hurl racial slurs at each other.
    “ There was an incident . They’ve covered most of their tracks .” A pause. “ But Traders were involved .”
    So it wasn’t porn. They needed to mine the Net to finish their cover-up. No wonder they wanted twenty minutes.
    “ They have no intention of leaving the memory unit .”
    His grip on her wrist tightened. “What you got in those leathers, little girl?” His eyes leered at her breasts.
    The incident—she didn’t need Tal to tell her what happened. “You’re trying to screw me out of a deal and get into my pants?”
    The flunkies chuckled.
    “They are tight, lovely. You’re going to bust right out.”
    Two of the minions stepped toward the table.
    “ They will dock the Frost to their vessel and