Chapter 15

He wasn't the only-human-turned-daugment?

A weird hope flared up inside Pit.

He squashed it immediately. He had no desire to befriend this arrogant creature, much less experience whatever she thought empathy looked like.

Ravenna moved another dial, and this time the impact was obvious: the display switched from a star map to a series of shifting words in various shades of gray. Sometimes they brightened and flashed. Pit wondered suddenly if his ability to see color had been affected by the dog body, or if the bionic shell of his brain processed signals the way he was used to. He supposed he wouldn't be able to know, if this was his new reality.

"As you can see, Fionn, the cluster around you is about seventy percent positive," Ravenna said. "I estimate we can bring that up to eighty, which would guarantee you safe passage through the entire system and maybe even safehouses along the way, if we add one more charity drop to the list."

"How about Chir?" Fionn suggested immediately. He winked back at Pit. "Wouldn't miss a few hours on Chir, if you've got to stop in this system. Not sure that counts as charity, though. Maybe somewhere else too."

"No, no, Chir is a good choice." Ravenna brought the star map back up, then rested her paw on an orb set in the dash and used it to highlight CHIR. "I mean, I'm inclined to worry, of course-our chances of running into an undesirable third party are significantly higher in areas of concentrated population. On the other hand, it's easy to fade into a major spaceport. But I did a bit of research on this the other day, since we were considering Chir anyway, and here's what I found."

She refocused the map so that the whole planet took up the display. Specks and lines milled about against a mostly-blue backdrop.

"Chir has been a pleasure planet these past ten years. The star attractions include houses of chance, restaurants boasting exotic and often dubiously legal dishes, and hot springs created by superheating the ocean. But it hasn't always been that way. Chir was a surface farming planet for centuries. About two decades ago, galactic power started centralizing on Chir as a convenient port for crime and politics, and everything was bought up by developers."

The largest clump of specks claimed focus as Ravenna zoomed in on the clearly-labeled CHIRTOWN.

"Now the ocean-surface farmers in the waters surrounding Chirtown have been hoping for a second set of water-viable seeds for years," Ravenna went on, "but the regulatory committee would rather get the bribes from contractors who grow illegal crops than support the native farmers. But if the farmers have the seeds, they have the right to plant and harvest-that's the one benefit to being native-born on Chir these days. If we can get them the seeds, they've as good as got their sea rights."

"Uh," Pit started to say, but Fionn cut him off with a tight wave at waist level.

"Rave, darling, this is lovely," Fionn said, leaning in to make eye contact with the Koolie. "Might not be the kind of charity we can really publicize, though, eh? Don't want to get their rights haggled away after someone extra nasty in Chir's ruling class spots your blog entry. Shouldn't we add another charity stop, like you said?"

"Glog entry. And no, there's no need. Here, see? Legal precedence." Ravenna turned back to her controls, presumably to prove her statement.

Pit trundled to the side of her chair and barked straight upward. "Hey! You heard your captain, add another charity stop. You're the one who said-"

"I do not recall asking you to chime in," Ravenna snapped without looking down. Her tail puffed up like a bottlebrush.

"We can't go to Chir first!" Pit stamped his paw hard enough that it hurt, and was immediately frustrated at himself for the petulant outburst. He'd only ever felt this helpless as a child, when he was listening to his parents bicker through the wall. "Fionn, tell her!"

"What are you, 'stupid and scared'?" Ravenna bit out. "Or is that just what you think of other dogs?"

"You're a disrespectful bitch." The word came out before he even thought to censor it.

Ravenna flattened her ears against her skull. "Dog or human, you do not call me that."

Her paw caught Pit across the cheek.

Stunned, his HUD scattering a lightshow across his brain, Pit stared at the back of Fionn's chair until he regained his vision.

Still woozy, he spat, "See, this is why I cloned myself when I was young. In case a nasty bitch like you messed up my pretty face."

Then he bared his teeth and leapt at the Koolie, who lunged off the chair at him.

The two daugments clashed with a wet, raspy thump and rolled together across the bridge. When Ravenna's teeth snicked together beside Pit's ear, he jerked his head away, his other ear catching her across the eye. She pummeled him in the stomach until he staggered away from her. She then lay still for a moment, blinking. Pit took the opportunity to dive, head and shoulders down, and grab her ruff between his jaws. Something higher than instinct kept him from clamping down in a death-grip, but he took advantage of his hydraulics and held her in place. Ravenna flailed, twisting, her jaws snapping near but never into either of his ears.

Then Fionn plunged his massive arms into the fray and dragged them apart by their ruffs. "Stow it," he said, whipping his fearsome glare around on Ravenna, who'd taken breath to bark. "You, too," he added at Pit, who had no intention of barking or even moving-beyond the flash of teeth he gave the Koolie. "What the devil did you plan on accomplishing with this little stunt? Rave? Want to tell me what you thought you were doing?"

She turned away from Pit. "Not really. Having this high-profile cargo is just setting me on edge. I apologize."

"To him, not to me," Fionn said. "Don't particularly care if you're rolling around on my bridge or in my hold, you've proven your worth. But you two have to get along or you'll both stay in the box."

Ravenna went limp in Fionn's grip, and he set her down on all fours with an approving nod. "That's better. Don't relish treating you like a kid, but for the love of all the gods. It really will be a long trip, and I'm driving."

He set Pit down, too, but stood nearby in case they chose to spring back to the battle. Pit licked at the wound on the outside of his lip as he watched Ravenna sideways. She stank, sweaty and angry.

But she waited until he met her gaze. Then she sat down and primly tucked her tail around her paws. "I apologize, Pitney. I should not have struck you, as an honorary officer of this vessel. That was disrespectful and unprofessional of me."

Pit wrinkled his nose. "You, too," Fionn said, whapping the hound's side with the back of his hand. He likely thought it was a light tap, but Pit staggered sideways and fell over. Getting back on his feet was considerably less difficult to do than when he'd started the day.

Gods, it had been a long, long day.

"Sorry," he muttered, "for biting you."

Ravenna shot an exasperated look at Fionn, who shrugged. "That looks to be about as much as you'll get, Rave."

She rolled her eyes, showing the whites, and flattened her ears against her skull. "Fine. Whatever. I will take what I can get. And we'll add a hospital visit on Miranda before Chir if you promise not to look stupid in any of those im-logs you'll be taking for me. And there had better be a lot."

"Me, look stupid?" Fionn put a hand over his heart and tried to look offended. "Never. I promise, im-logs aplenty. Miranda good enough for you, Pit?"

Was it good enough that he'd had to risk injury and dignity just to implement his harried escape plan? Oh, sure, yes. of course.

"Good enough," Pit muttered. His sense of victory was hollow. The defeat, that he felt down to his claws.

"Hail your contacts on Chir," Ravenna said sternly to Fionn, tipping her head back to gaze at the display as she ran through its contents. "Line up a mission within three hours, or we pick somewhere else."

"Aye," Fionn said, swiveling away from her and focusing on a smaller screen.

Ravenna didn't bother looking at Pit again, but he could tell from her posture that she was trying to bottle up her emotions.

He wondered how many of those feelings were his fault.

"I'm going back to the hold," he said loudly. No one answered him. He went anyway, just to spite them.