‘There speaks a man with grand ambitions,’ Gathing said.

‘Why isn’t it worth much?’ I asked.

‘Because it’s useless, is why,’ Surt said. ‘Like Droz says, you need more of it to do anything, and hardly any cove ever finds more of it. Just scraps here and there, like that one.’ Then she smiled at me, like we had a shared secret. ‘Make a nice handkerchief, ’cept your snot’d slide right off it.’

‘It catches the wind,’ I said. ‘Like our photon sails. A different wind, maybe, but it still catches it.’

‘Your point being?’ Strambli asked.

‘If you had enough of it, you could rig a whole ship with catchcloth. It would be black as night. No one would ever see you coming.’

‘She’s right, you know,’ Drozna said. ‘You’d only need a thousand square leagues of the stuff! I don’t know why anyone hasn’t thought of that before.’

They laughed. So did Prozor. So did I.

But inside I didn’t find it anything like as hilarious.

19

19

‘If it would make life easier for you, Captain,’ I was saying, just inside the door to his quarters, ‘I could switch to just bringing you daily reports, rather than after every watch. At least that way I wouldn’t have to keep telling you there wasn’t anything worth mentioning. Or even every other day . . .’

‘It’s all right, Fura,’ he said, raising a hand from his charts and papers. ‘I’d rather have a steady stream of no news, believe me. At the very least, it tells me that the bones are still singing. Well, come in and don’t be shy. Whatever you have for me, it can’t be any more of a let-down than that bauble we just opened . . .’

I eased into the room. Connected to both the galley and bridge by separate doors, Trusko’s quarters were done up in reds and golds, properly plush. It was a grander space than the one Rackamore had given himself, and there was something about it that felt more solid and dependable than any other part of the Queenie. ‘You seemed pleased with it, sir, when you came back on the launch,’ I told him.

‘We’d all made it back, and no one had jumped us. That was reason enough to lift my spirits, albeit temporarily. The loot looked good, as well, until we started the grim business of accounting it. I’m afraid Gathing had the right of it, when all is said and done. Trinkets. Gimcrackery. Nothing of substantial value or practical worth.’ He made a show of brightening. ‘Still, a streak of bad luck can’t run for ever. We’ll be cutting orbit for the third bauble, shortly, and there I hope for a twist in our fortunes.’

‘I hope so too, sir.’

‘So.’ He looked at me expectantly. ‘Anything to mention? Out with the worst of it, Fura.’