“I’ll bet you that he can do it,” Niko said cheerfully. She’d been observing Lolola all this time and was beginning to harbor certain suspicions that the critic was not what she seemed. If that was the case, she wanted to know what lay underneath, and what connection it had to the circumstances that had brought them to this point.

“You have nothing to bet,” Lolola sneered.

That nettled Niko. “I have a box of Plerium chips in my luggage that begs to differ.”

“Captain,” Dabry said in a warning tone, but fell silent at Niko’s upraised finger as she waited for the critic’s answer. Skidoo’s turquoise eyes, pale with tension, shifted from one speaker to another, observing, but like everyone else, she kept silent.

Lolola paused. “Oh? And what would you want me to put up against that?”

A look inside that purse of yours, given how mysterious you have been, would suffice, Niko thought, but instead she said, “That’s a lot of money, hmmm.”

Dabry muttered something under his breath.

“How about a Nikkelin Orb?” Niko said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lolola retorted. “How could I possibly justify that?”

Niko shrugged. “If he could pull that off here, then imagine what sort of meal he would have pulled off on the station. You can agree to give it to whatever establishment he next works for.”

Lolola considered. “Very well.”

“Good,” Niko said. “Sergeant, are you prepared to witness? With a wager of this size and more time than we had to breathe before, let’s formalize things. He is certified in such.” She gestured at Lolola, whose eyes narrowed, but she laid her wrist, as did Niko, veins upward, in front of the sergeant, who nodded as they recited the terms of their agreement, prefixing each with their full names.

“If that will be all, sir,” Dabry said in a decidedly chilly tone. At her nod, he stalked out, a glow ball manifesting to guide him as he approached the door.

Atlanta murmured to Gio, “Why’s he acting like that?”

Gio was picking his fingernails with a small knife, slumped in his chair. He put it away and signed, “If insurance doesn’t come through—and who knows if it will—Captain just bet every single bit of our holdings.”

11

In a space that held the replicators, Dabry looked around, head bowed to keep from colliding with the ceiling at first, then straightening as the ship noticed and adjusted. Several of the biomechanical machines that served the ship as hands stood at the ready in the smoky red lighting.