“You’re staying at an embassy,” Tam said. “They have staff there. Who would do your laundry.”
“In the future I will set forth with a single change of clothes in a duffel bag,” Durham said. “But as my shuttle to the Chandler is leaving in forty minutes, this time I’ll just have to manage.”
Tam grinned at this, and the three of them headed toward the shuttle to the Chandler. Durham took his leave of his assistant at the shuttle door and took a seat on it, across from the only other passenger, a young man with dark hair.
“I liked your speech today,” the young man said, after the shuttle had departed from Phoenix Station and was making its way to the Chandler.
Durham, who had been resting with his eyes closed, cracked them open and glanced at the speaker, looking him over. “You look familiar.”
“You were introduced to me earlier today,” the young man said. “Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to remember. I expect you shook a lot of hands today.”
“You’re in the diplomatic corps?” Durham asked.
“No,” the young man said. “But a friend of mine is. Hart Schmidt.”
“One of Abumwe’s people.”
“Yes. He and I went to school together. Well, he was about three years ahead of me. But our dads were friends, so I got to know him. When he found out I was going to be on Phoenix Station on my way to the Chandler, he invited me to the ceremony. I was in the back for most of it. I’m Rafe Daquin.” He reached over and held out a hand.
Durham took it. “You’re crew on the Chandler, then,” he said.
“Yes,” Daquin said. “I’m a pilot.”
“That’s not a bad job.”
“Thank you,” Daquin said. “I get to travel and see the universe. I expect you get to do the same as a diplomat.”
“Not as much as I used to,” Durham said. “I’m a bureaucrat now. The most I get to see of the universe these days is my desk.”
“Why are you traveling now?”
“Vacation,” Durham said. “I’m going to Huckleberry, to see friends and do some hiking.”
“Why travel on the Chandler, if you don’t mind me asking?” Daquin said. “We’re a cargo ship. I’d think you’d just have one of your diplomatic ships take you.”
“Borrowing a diplomatic corps ship to taxi me to my vacation spot would be looked on as misappropriation of resources, I think,” Durham said, smiling. “And also there were none going my way when I needed it. Anyway the secretary encourages us to support private enterprise.” He closed his eyes again, hoping Daquin would pick up the hint.
He didn’t. “Do you really think diplomacy is treason?” Daquin asked. “That the Colonial Union sees it that way, I mean.”
Durham kept his eyes closed. “I may have been exaggerating for effect,” he said. “But it’s certainly true that given a choice, the Colonial Union would rather shoot than talk. It’s gotten us in trouble.”
“You know about the disappearing ships?” Daquin asked.
Durham cracked his eyes open again at this. “Disappearing ships,” he said.
“More civilian ships are going missing over the last couple of years,” Daquin said. “Cargo ships, mostly. Ships like the Chandler.”
“There’s always been piracy,” Durham said. “That’s one of the reasons why the Colonial Defense Forces were formed. That and other intelligent species trying to kill us.”
“Right, but pirates usually go for cargo,” Daquin said. “They don’t make ships disappear.”
“What do you think it is?” Durham asked. “What are the rumors?”
Daquin shrugged. “If you ask me, it’s got to do with us losing the Earth. Other species know we’ve started rationing our military to deal with major problems, so they’re starting to pick off trade ships to weaken the Colonial Union’s infrastructure.”
“Seems a long way to go about it,” Durham said.
“Every little bit counts.”
“This doesn’t make you afraid?” Durham asked. “You’re a pilot on a cargo ship. Presumably you’re a target.”
Daquin smiled. “I have to eat.”
“That’s a very practical way of looking at one’s potential fears,” Durham said.
“That, and I’ve been through some close scrapes before,” Daquin said. “I should have been dead a couple of times already because of ship failures and accidents. I’ve survived.”
“Have you,” Durham said. “Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know,” Daquin said. “I think I may just be luckier than most people.” This time it was Daquin who closed his eyes and put his head back to rest. Durham watched him for a few moments before doing the same.
* * *
Three days out from Phoenix Station and less than one day prior to the skip to Huckleberry, Durham asked for and received a private audience with Chandler’s captain, Eliza Perez.