Skyblaze by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Page A

drive for the clan and retire, her duty
done, with daughter to take up the Ring. But for now, within her
clan, port duty went first to the one who'd had least of it within
the last twelve-day and she'd been the lucky one for some time,
finding on-call work from the Scout back office, from the Binjali
repair shop, from people traveling anywhere but to or from the
port's pick-up line.
    For that stretch of good fortune, she today
had the on-port line while her daughter Fereda did the outer routes
and her no-longer halfling son Chim Dal still likely partied his
night off with friends who might well make him late tomorrow
morning. Ah, to have such energy -- and such friends! -- as he
did.
    Dutifully, Vertu pulled her taxi into the
secondary line, watching the first line's ballet as they accepted
or neglected fares. A quiet shift, she was perhaps seventh in line
as she waited, allowing the car's music system to wake up the day.
Soon she was sixth, and then fifth, and fourth . . . fourth behind
three drivers sitting for the morning meal as they waited.
    That, of course, was one of her advantages
-- she did not eat nor game while on wait, nor drink, smoke, or
chat for more than a moment or two with other drivers -- and so she
was not in the wrong to move forward when the manager of line one
waved frantically at line two, despite the shiny row of on-duty
line ones, all disdaining the next fare.
    And so, there must be a reason.
    She blinked as she pulled to the front, for
the ''next fare'' was not one but two uniformed mercenary Terrans
and their luggage. Clearly too large for many of the top-end cabs
even without their hand-carry, with it they would have needed a
moving service, or indeed, a multi-cab like the very one she
drove.
    The Terrans nodded to her, and the darker
one held out a Unicredit card as she slowed to a stop.
    She popped the doors, intending to assist,
but they hustled into the cab without aid, depositing their luggage
between them, the dark one still holding the card out.
    ''We need to visit this address,'' he said
in what might be flawless Trade, but who knew, after all, Trade
being a language without a home. He pulled out a folded sheet of
hard copy which he held for her to see, adding, ''We may be some
time at the location.''
    She bowed a slight acknowledgment, pointing
out, ''Traveler, time and distance are what I charge for, and so we
are Balanced.''
    She accepted the proffered card and waved it
at the reader, which happily beeped and accepted the charge, for
one Howler Higdon, if she read the transliterations correctly.
    ''Soonest is better!'' the larger of the two
said.
    ''Yes,'' she agreed, ''soonest is always
better.''
    *
    Unusual to say, the address was one she'd
never delivered to before -- in fact, she barely recognized the
sub-quadrant, much less the crossroads, and was pleased to find the
vehicle map knew more than she did. The quadrant was hardly one
visited frequently by anyone, especially not sudden Terrans but she
accelerated away from the line at a heady pace, wondering what they
might want to see in the overgrown semi-wild sections of
Solcintra's abandoned old lands.
    The in-cab camera showed the Terrans at
peace with themselves, watching the trip with interest but
unconcern, quiet. She'd anticipated perhaps a visit to a brothel,
or a gambling hall, or even a shopping extravaganza -- not any of
them out of the way destinations for Terrans, in her experience.
This was perhaps even beyond the last unusual request she'd had --
a Terran starpilot demanding a direct ride to Korval's holdings --
but there, she'd learned from that trip to take the money, drive. .
.and let the traveler take care of the details.
    Routed through minimum traffic once away
from the spaceport exit, the cab quickly passed through the usual
areas of tourist interest -- the largest buildings, the gaudy
town-house estates of the most overreaching High and Mid-Houses,
the quaint rows of elegant shops where the rich shopped,