Seeklight

“Wait a minute. That must be why you were going through my stuff.”

“Look here.” She held something out to him on her palm.

“Know what this is?”

He looked and saw a small device made of tarnished metal and shaped like a flattened egg. There was a small faceted dot of clear glass on one side. “No,” he said, but recognized it as what she had been holding when she was searching his footlocker.

“It’s called a seeklight. Buskers used to make ’em, until they forgot how, years ago. This is probably the last one that still works—I got it from my father. Only because he didn’t have a son.” Her voice became hard for a moment. “Watch.”

Daenek leaned forward and saw her fish a large coin out of her pocket. It glittered even in the dim light of the engine room.

Gold—the most valuable coin minted in the Capitol. Rennie held it a few inches away from the seeklight in her other hand. Its little faceted dome was glowing a brilliant red.

“See?” she said, flipping the seeklight over to expose a small knurled wheel set into a slot. “I can adjust it to locate any gold from here to within a circle of several kilometers.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out several more coins, some jewelry and other trinkets—all gold.

The jingling handful of yellow metal filled Daenek with dismay. I’ve gotten hooked up with a thief, he realized. If they catch her… it’s my neck, too.

She had read the expression on his face. “Ahhh, don’t worry.

I’ve just hit a few caches on board—just enough to keep my hand in. Something like this is too good to waste. I’m not cut out for the ways busker women usually make money. So when I got this from my old man I figured I needed a way of getting in and out of a lot of places with people in them. People that like to stash their little hoards in places where they think it can’t be found.”

“So you decided to become a mertzer.”

She shrugged diffidently. “Sure. Why not. I was lucky and managed to get signed on. Beats walking to all these damn villages. And by the time anyone checks their life savings, we’re all long gone.”

Daenek shook his head. This wasn’t turning out the way he had planned. But, he admitted to himself, at least I’m not alone now. As strange and mercenary as this girl is … “All right,” he said. “If we find money as well, then you’re entitled to it.”

Rennie grinned. “Just my share. And maybe a little more.”

“Now when we get to the Capitol—”

“Wait a minute. You’ve got problems to take care of before you start planning that, you know. Like staying alive, and undiscovered, long enough to get there.”

He started at her blankly.

“Look,” she said patiently. “We probably don’t have to worry about that subthane and his bunch any more. They’re too fuddled up to accomplish anything more, and they’re sure not going to report to the Regent that they lost you. But what about the sociologists?”

“All right, what about them?”

“There was one on board here the day before you got picked up. Just asking the usual dumb questions. But still, I’ve got my suspicions about those creeps. They pop up everywhere and they’re always writing everything down. I really wonder what would happen if one of them saw you and recognized you. Or even some oldtimer on board or in the villages—what if you’ve got enough of your father’s face in your own to make ’em guess who you are? Somebody might think it worth while to let somebody else know—like the Regent. No, we’ve got to make sure nobody does find out who you really are.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” said Daenek.

She leaned back against the metal column. “The caravan just left the Capitol a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s heading for the mertzers’ home village. Then, after they rest up and visit their families for about six months, the convoy will start on its route through the villages again—”

“Hey,” broke in Daenek. “That means it’s going to be another two years before we reach the Capitol!”

“Didn’t you know?” She looked at him in surprise.

Daenek’s shoulders drooped as he sat on the box. “That’s a long time,” he said after a moment.

“Best thing,” said Rennie. “Gives you a better chance to get forgotten about. Anyway, when the caravan gets to the mertzers’ village, we can hike over to the busker village—it’ll only take a couple of days. None of the mertzers will miss us while we’re gone.”

“What’s the point of going there?”

“You’ll see,” she said. She replaced the seeklight and the gold pieces back in her pockets, then picked up the pack of cards.

“Why don’t you go check those gauges again, while I deal a couple hands?”

“We’ve got a long shift ahead of us.”

Chapter XI

“What’s that?” Daenek sat up in bed and looked around the darkened room. He scraped a crust from the corner of one eye as he tilted his head, straining to hear whatever noise had awoken him.