Dragon and Judge

"Okay, it's safe," Alison told Taneem when she was finished. Sitting down on the bed, she held out her arm.

The K'da missed the cue, coming out instead from the back of Alison's collar. "I was so afraid in the hospital," she said, landing on the floor and turning her head back and forth as she looked around. "I thought they would discover me for certain. I thought we would have to fight."

"Not this time," Alison soothed her.

A shiver shook Taneem's body. "I wish we were not here."

"Pretty much everyone in a slave colony feels that way," Alison said, opening her makeup kit. "Let's see what kind of reception we can get down here."

She got out her mascara tube and unscrewed the end. A quick adjustment with her fingernail to shift its frequency and it was ready. "What are you doing?" Taneem asked.

"Usually this earphone works with the rest of the tube for listening to the inner workings of safes," Alison explained, inserting the end into her ear. "I've changed its frequency to pick up the bug I planted in the papers from Virgil Morgan's lockbox. Quiet now—let me listen."

But it was quickly clear that there was nothing to listen to. She could hear faint sounds, but they were distant and muffled. "Hasn't even opened the bag yet, I guess," Alison said, pulling the earpiece back out. "Probably busy debriefing Frost about the trip in."

"I wonder how much truth Frost will tell him."

"Not nearly as much truth as there actually is," Alison said, hiding a smile. Alison's grasp of English was remarkably good, especially given how little time she'd had to work on it. But some of her phrases and sentence constructions were still rather entertaining. "For starters, you can bet money that he won't say word one about me opening those safes."

"It's so very strange," Taneem murmured, her tail tip curving in an arch. "They are friends, like you and Jack. Yet they keep secrets from each other."

Alison felt a twinge of conscience. "That's because Frost and Neverlin aren't really friends," she said. "They're working together, but only because neither can get what he wants alone. But I doubt either trusts the other any farther than he can throw him."

"What do you mean?" Taneem asked, her tail curving into an even tighter arch. "They throw each other?"

"No, that's just a figure of speech," Alison said. "A sort of word picture. The point is that they don't trust each other, not like Jack and Draycos do."

"Or like you and Jack?"

"And that probably goes double for the Patri Chookoock or whoever's calling the shots for the Brummgas," Alison said, passing over the K'da's question. "Probably why we're here, in fact. After Draycos ran roughshod over the Patri's people, I'm guessing he insisted the safes be put under his control to make sure Neverlin and Frost didn't just throw him to the wolves. That's another word picture," she added.

"I understand," Taneem said, her glowing silver eyes steady on Alison's face. "You do not answer my question."

Alison sighed to herself. Taneem was definitely the persistent type. "What question?"

"The question about trust," Taneem said. "You do trust Jack, don't you?"

Alison thought about it. With the question going only that direction, she could actually give an honest answer. "Yes, I think I can trust him," she said. "Well, mostly trust him, anyway. We don't know each other well enough yet to really trust each other."

"And he trusts you, as well?"

"You'd have to ask him about that," Alison said evasively. Actually, she was pretty sure Jack didn't trust her. Not that she could blame him. "My point is that a group like Neverlin, Frost, and the Chookoocks is inherently unstable," she went on. "That means a fairly small push can make it fall apart."

"Because they don't trust each other?"

"And because they're in it purely for the profit," Alison explained. "The minute any of them sees an advantage to himself in betraying the others, he'll do it. Part of our job here is to play along and watch for a chance to give it that push."

Taneem seemed to ponder that. "Is that why you agreed to open the vault and safe aboard the ship?"

"Partially," Alison said. "Besides proving to Frost that I could do it."

Taneem seemed to straighten up. "I cannot help very much with your work," she said. Her voice was trembling a little, but there was a firmness of will beneath it. "But if the time for battle should come, I will be there for you. You may trust me, just as you would trust Jack and Draycos."

Something stirred deep within Alison. It had been a long time since she'd had someone close at hand who she could genuinely trust. So very long a time. "I know," she managed. "Thank you." She took a deep breath. "But first things first. Dinner, sleep, and then I need to prove to Neverlin that I can open his safes."

"Yes," Taneem said, her voice thoughtful. "I wonder why the K'da safes are so difficult."

"No idea," Alison said soberly. "I wish I'd asked Draycos about it when I'd had the chance. It never even occurred to me."