So now Tremaine shifted position slightly, moving aside to lean his elbow on a freight conveyer where he could watch Harkness and still keep the corner of his eye on the crewmen.

Harkness was prowling around the neatly stacked counter-grav cargo pallets with a copy of the manifest, checking canister labels. The weight of a magnetic tape reader bulged the thigh pocket of his coveralls, but the flap was still sealed. Now he slowed his label checks and bent a bit closer to a pallet, and Tremaine noted the way one of the crewmen by the tube tensed.

“Mr. Tremaine?” Harkness called without turning.

“Yes, PO?”

“I think you might find this interesting, Sir.” It was amazing what a fatherly voice could come out of those battered, prize-fighter features. Harkness sounded like a teacher about to demonstrate a classroom experiment for a favored pupil, and Tremaine crossed the cargo bay to stand beside him.

“What is it, PO?”

“This, Sir.” A blunt finger with scarred knuckles indicated the shiny silver customs tape running around the canister and, in particular, the Royal Customs Service seal with its small starship surmounted by the crowned Manticore and flanking, rampant Sphinx and Gryphon of the Kingdom’s arms. It looked perfect to Tremaine.

“What about it?”

“Well, Sir,” Harkness said ruminatively, “I can’t be certain, but—” The broad fingertip flipped the seal, and Tremaine blinked as it popped right off the tape it was supposed to be an integral part of. He bent closer and saw the clear plastic tape bridging the gap where the original seal had been sliced away.

“You know, Sir,” Harkness went on in that same, thoughtful voice, “I’ll bet those poor bloody—pardon, Sir—” he didn’t sound especially apologetic, but Tremaine let it pass; he had other things on his mind “—NPA sods have been doing their best without the right equipment for so long these fellows just got sloppy.” He shook his head, a craftsman mourning slovenly workmanship. “Never would have gotten by a regular customs man.”

“I… see.” Tremaine glanced over his shoulder at the now acutely unhappy crewmen. One of them was sidling sideways towards the shuttle flight deck, and Tremaine nodded to Private Kohl. The Marine shifted position slightly and unsnapped his stunner holster. The moving crewman froze.

“What do you suppose is in there, PO?” the ensign asked brightly, beginning to enjoy himself.

“Well, Sir, according to this manifest, this here—” Harkness thumped the canister “—is a shipment of duralloy animal-drawn plows for delivery to the Hauptman Cartel factor on Medusa.”

“Let’s open it up and take a look,” Tremaine said.

“Aye, aye, Sir.” Harkness’s broad grin showed teeth far too even and regular to be natural as he drew a forceblade from one capacious pocket. He flicked the switch, waking the tooth-twisting warning whine Manticoran law required of all such tools, and ran the invisible blade around the doctored Customs tape. Silver plastic slivered, and the soft “Shuuush” of equalizing pressure sounded as he sprang the canister.