Slip Point Read Online Free

summoned a shaky smile to cover up her inner turmoil. “In, then. I’m tired from running around and trying to find a bargain.”
    He led her to her cabin, modestly sized and furnished with little more than a berth pulled out from the wall and a comm unit. “It’s not much,” he said apologetically. “ Aequitus -class ships are really meant for mid-sized cargo loads, not luxury cruises. But you only need to be in here for departure, landing and the slip. We’re a friendly bunch, so feel free to wander around the ship otherwise. There are a few other passengers too.”
    She noted this last with interest. She’d met some offworlders in the spaceport through Jayce, but people who chose to go to Centuris generally didn’t have colorful stories behind why. “Thanks, Mohit,” she said.
    Shayalin stashed her bag, but the space was so small she accidentally keyed on the comm doing so. It chirruped at her invitingly.
    Why not? She keyed in a search for information about Kennick Bailey and was flooded with newsfeed articles. Raid after daring raid… He’d caused some serious mischief, and had never been apprehended.
    So how had her mother snared his interest? A pirate was hardly the kind of man who would say he’d share the next harvest-time with her and everything in between, which was how the Steaders promised marriage.
    Shayalin was tempted to send her mother a message, to confront her with the truth and ask a tangle of questions, but she’d lied to Shayalin for eighteen years. Why would she do differently now?
    Instead of keying in her mother’s address, she looked up the Alioqui . The ship had served proudly for a good number of years, all under the same captain. Mohit was listed in the crew manifests from the start, as well. The routes the ship ran were unremarkable, but it had a good record of completed runs on time. She started reading about Aequitus -class specs. Jayce had always wanted a sleek fighter, but she hadn’t seen anything wrong with a trader ship, not when that was what her father had supposedly flown.
    She couldn’t think about Jayce now. She stabbed at a random word on the screen, and it pulled up the corresponding entry on the vulnerability of trade routes to piracy.
    She only thought to check her data limit after flipping through a hundred different screens, following link after link. To her delight, there was none for newsfeeds. Access on Centuris terminals had always been throttled after a stingy allowance was exhausted.
    She could have stayed there forever. Terminals on Centuris contained only approved texts, not this infinite bounty of information. But her stomach growled, and she realized she’d been reading through articles for at least a couple hours. Meals were included in standard fare, weren’t they? She squeezed her way out of her cabin and wandered through the ship, hoping she’d come across a kitchen.
    A crewmember nodded in a friendly way as he passed her in a corridor. “ Hal beemkani mosa’adatuk ?”
    “Hi,” she said, embarrassed. She’d done poorly in her language studies.
    He grinned. “Sorry, bad guess on my part. Can I help you? You look a bit lost.”
    “I’m hoping to find food,” she confessed.
    “You almost made it on your own! The mess is just farther down this way and hook a left.”
    “Thanks,” she said, and followed his directions.
    There were various snacks set out on a table, almost none of which Shayalin recognized. Seated there was a woman with a long, dark braid and flowing garb, sipping a beverage. She glanced up and smiled a welcome at Shayalin, crow’s feet crinkling at the corners of her eyes. “Looks like Mohit’s charming aboard all the ladies.”
    Shayalin sat on the bolted-down bench across from her. “You’re a passenger too?”
    “Mmm-hmm. Thana Akbari. I’m a travel agent on vacation, so you know you’re on a reputable ship.”
    “I’m Shayalin Cho. If I’d met you earlier, you could’ve saved me a lot of talking in