Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [14]
Kellum was pleased to see Denn. The barrel-chested man sat at the table, talking too loudly, acting as if he ran Forrey's Folly, rather than being a guest. Denn suspected he was working some sort of cooperative deal with the Kowalskis to combine equipment and resources.
Del Kellum had obviously told the story many times. "After the damned Eddies left, we knew we had only a few days to get out of there before they changed their minds." He reached over to pat his daughter's arm. "Zhett learned the hard way not to trust anything they say."
The young woman tossed her dark hair. "Just tell him what happened, Dad."
"We only had short-range craft at the shipyard, in-system vessels without Ildiran stardrives. We knew we'd never make it to another clan settlement. But we didn't want to leave all of our equipment there, by damn. You know the Eddies would strip it clean and use it for themselves."
There were grumbles around the table. Kellum picked up a yellow ear of corn and chewed down a row, taking a break from his tale to enjoy the food. A few kernels clung to his salt-and-pepper beard.
"So we decided to pull up stakes, grab everything we could, and ferry it to our cometary extraction facilities high in the Kuiper Belt. The Eddies aren't bright enough to look up there. It's an awfully big chunk of real estate."
More grumbles, mostly mutters of agreement.
"We had plenty of long-range ships at the cometary extraction facilities, and half a dozen stardrive units for installation into new ships from the spacedocks. So we modified a few big ships and abandoned Osquivel. Now we're here, safe by the grace of clan Kowalski." He looked over at a string-bean-thin man with ice-blue eyes, bushy eyebrows, and a corona of white hair that stuck out in a fringe around his bald scalp. "Our friends at Forrey's Folly offered sanctuary, but we don't want to overstay our welcome. Do we, Oscar?"
"You haven't . . . yet," said Oscar Kowalski. "But no Roamer facility has enough surplus to handle so many refugees for more than a little while."
"Unless we work out a deal to establish new shipyards here, I expect we'll head out in a week," Kellum said. "Always on the move. We are Roamers, you know. So where's the Speaker during all this, Denn? We need to hear from her."
"Last I heard, my daughter was on Jonah 12 trying to call clans together. I think Jhy Okiah was there, too. They'll sort it out."
"By the Guiding Star, I hope so!" Oscar said, clearing his throat. "We've got a lot of business to do."
Denn watched the miners take second helpings of fresh food. "Since you're digesting most of my cargo from the Dogged Persistence, does anybody have goods for me to trade? I could use a cargo for my next port of call."
Oscar Kowalski seemed to be doing calculations in his head. "Let us know what metals you need. We can fill you to capacity."
Kellum grinned down at the gnawed cob of corn on his plate. "By damn, we've even got a cargo of ekti from the comet processors. You want to take it to the Ildirans, Denn? You reopened trade with them, right?"
"Caleb Tamblyn and I set things up with the Mage-Imperator himself. If you give me a load, I'll head straight to Ildira. Better than selling it to the Big Goose." The Roamers' deprecating nickname for the Hansa seemed almost too mild to express the contempt Denn felt.
"Be sure you get a good price for it. My clan's going to need to capitalize our new operations--whatever they are. I sure don't look forward to rebuilding a shipyard from scratch. That was a hell of a lot of work."
Denn brightened with an idea. "That brings up an interesting possibility I heard about on my travels. How would you like to go back to skymining?" He explained how Golgen's clouds were now safe again for ekti harvesting.
Kellum slapped his big hand