Parquit did not congratulate himself for this bit of insight. The creature had neither the bearing nor appearance of the nobleborn. Not that this bothered him. Even today among the AAnn there were those who had purchased their nest in the aristocracy. It was necessary to adapt to change, needed to preserve the monarchy and the succession. Parquit himself had a near-nest relative who . . .

“Your business, man?”

“I am a simple merchant.”

“No merchant is simple who remains one. For that you find reason to flee to us?” Parquit added sarcastically.

“I also run illegal drugs.”

“Ah! That explains a good deal. Do you specialize?”

“I’m what you might call a high-class general retailer.” The human chuckled. “I’m not particularly particular. If it’ll bring a profit, I’ll broker anything. What I want, Commander . . . um . . .”

“Commander is proper.”

The man shrugged. “If you want it that way. What I want is help in getting off-planet. I’ll handle the reopening of my lines of supply myself. In return for this I can be of some help to you. I have contacts all over the Commonwealth.”

“You’d sell yourself away from your own race?” Arris spoke for the first time.

Rose responded. He laughed.

“Do you believe in souls, friend?”

“Naturally,” said Arris.

“Well, as far as forty Terran years ago, mine had been mortgaged several times over. Many races own a piece of me. A number have been trying to collect for years. I always stay one jump ahead of my un-friends. And my credit is excellent, which helps. I’m for bartering with anything that holds a convertible credit slip. That’s the only race I owe allegiance to, the race of figures in my account with the Bank of . . . but that needn’t concern you.”

“I believe it all, man. Suppose, though, that I still decide you are more valuable to me as this evening’s entrée than a man of business?”

“For a lizard, your symbospeech ain’t bad. I might choose to blackmail you into a formal promise. How sounds that?”

“Illogical. To blackmail one must be able to threaten. Prospective dinners rarely possess anything to threaten the diner with.”

“Well, I have what’s in this case.” Rose shifted the container in front of him.

Parquit sighed. This man was going to turn out to be a disappointment after all.

“Man, that case contains nothing of metal other than what is embodied in its basic construction. Nor anything of plastic, glass, wood, ceramic, nor any object of artificial construct greater than a few millimeters of your measurement. If it had, you’d never have been permitted past the landing point. Let alone into my personal presence. All you might do is throw it in my direction. You would be incinerated along with it before you could half complete the motion.”