The Icarus hunt by Timothy Zahn

Author:Timothy Zahn [Zahn, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Science Fiction Mystery, High Tech, Fantasy, Favorite Authors, Space Opera, Science Fiction Suspense, Science Fiction, Suspense, Adventure, Favorites, Science Fiction Adventure
ISBN: 9780553107029
Publisher: New York : Bantam Books, 1999.
Published: 1999-08-03T04:00:00+00:00

"I can see why your clientele wouldn't want that," I agreed, nodding toward the pirate gang at their tables. "They not get the message?"

"Their captain tells me they do not fear the Balthee," he said, lowering his voice as he glanced their direction. "However, another crew member confided that they plan to have all their hull plates replaced soon anyway."

He gestured to the other two occupied tables. "As to the females, they are employees of one of the guesthouses, Shick Place. And, when the word came, the gentlebeings in back were already too inebriated to try to leave."

He straightened up and cocked his head at me. "And what is _your_ story?"

I frowned up at him. "What do you mean?"

"You are here," he said, waving a hand at us. "Yet there is word of an impending raid."

"Which we obviously didn't know about, did we?" I said.

"Were no other ships leaving as you arrived?" the barkeep countered. "Some must still have been on their way out. Did no one transmit a warning to you?"

"Yes, there were other ships leaving," I said, putting some impatience into my voice even as a quiet warning bell went off in my ear. I'd never been on Morsh Pon before; but the criminal hangouts I _had_ had occasion to visit had not been known for overly inquisitive waiters. This kind of interrogation was way out of character, even given that the barkeep was probably bored out of his skull. "And no, none of them bothered to give us a warning. Why do you think this is any of your business?"

"Don't mind him," a soprano voice came from my side.

I turned. One of the two women at the far table had gotten to her feet and was coming toward us. She was medium height and slender, and her step was just a bit unsteady. I wondered briefly if she could be Uncle Arthur's information courier, but the skintight outfit she was wearing couldn't have concealed a spare poker chip. At least, I thought incongruously, that also meant we didn't have to worry about her being an assassin. "I'm sorry?" I said.

"I said don't mind him," she repeated, flipping her hand toward the Ulkomaal in the more or less universal gesture of contemptuous dismissal, the dim room light glinting momentarily off the large gaudy rings she was wearing. Now that she was facing us, I could see she was wearing the display scarf of a bar girl knotted around her neck, the particular tartan pattern advertising what services she offered and the charge for them. I wondered distantly whether Tera would know about such things; I rather hoped she didn't. "Nurptric the Nosy, they call him," the woman continued. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Business slow?" Tera asked, her voice frosty. Apparently, she knew all about the scarf.

The woman gave her a smile that was a good eighty percent smirk. "Yours too?" she asked sweetly, snagging a chair from the next table and hauling it over. With a hip she

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