"Oh, I'll send a whole slate of experts along with him—don't worry about that. Still, even experts often miss important details... which is why you'll be going, too."
I took a careful breath, feeling my heartbeat increase. "Sir, if it's all the same with you—"
"It isn't," he said firmly, "and I'm afraid I insist. I want you there with Randon." He hesitated. "I realize the whole idea of the Deadman Switch bothers you, but I'm sure you can handle it this once."
Solitaire... and the Deadman Switch. For a moment I nearly told him no, that this time the price was too high. But even as I opened my mouth, the quiet reminder of why I was working for him in the first place drained the defiance away.
As it always seemed to do. Punishing the parents' fault in the children and in the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation... "All right, sir," I told him instead. "I'll do my best."
Chapter 2
The Carillon Group numbered several small courier ships among its modest fleet, and I naturally expected our group would ride one or more of those to Whitecliff, transferring at that point to one of HTI's freighters. But Lord Kelsey-Ramos would have none of that. This was his personal triumph, and he had no intention of having us ride someone else's ship into Solitaire like hitchhikers or afterthought cargo.
Which consideration made it almost inevitable that he would saddle us with the Bellwether.
From his point of view, it was a generous favor, of course. His own personal craft, the Bellwether was a genuine superyacht, with all the luxury and heavy-duty status that that implied. Unfortunately, the size and sleek lines carried their own hidden costs: the size meant the Bellwether could do only eighteen hours at a stretch on Mjollnir drive before having to go space-normal to dump its excess