Page 86 of Blow Me Down
“Possibly Bart. He’s in thepossiblecategory, and I’m willing to bet that a couple of direct questions would clear up any doubt.”
“Right, but how are you going to ask him questions now?” Holder asked.
I frowned. He had a point.
“Ha, gotcha on that one. Running away is the surest sign of guilt,” Holder crowed.
“Not necessarily,” Corbin said, rubbing his chin. “He could be exactly what Amy says—a computer character whose actions are driven by the circumstances provided by the player data.”
“Really? Did you program computer characters to turn over their crews to players?” I asked, more confused than ever about Bart. Could I have been taken in by him?
“Actually, yes, if the data matched preset criteria, a character might well abdicate in favor of a senior player officer.”
“But I’m not an officer,” I pointed out.
“Moot point—you’re the only player in his crew, so that makes you the senior person. Something you did could well have triggered Bart’s AI into making him turn over the crew.”
“Or it could be a nefarious plan to trap us,” Holder insisted, still looking stubborn.
I rubbed my forehead, my thoughts so muddled I couldn’t seem to get them to make sense. “We’re back to where we started. It’s like we’re going in circles. We keep trying to get somewhere but don’t actually do anything.”
“You’re tired,” Corbin said, marching over to the door and opening it. He gave his first mate a very pointed look. “You need to go to bed. Everything will be clearer in the morning.”
Holder rolled his eyes as he obeyed Corbin’s unspoken command, sauntering to the door only to pause. “I’ll be the first to admit that a steamy, sweaty night of unbridled sex has many powers, but it won’t decide the problem of Paul.”
“It’s too late to do anything tonight,” Corbin said. I agreed.
Holder gave me a quick leer. “I’d wish you a good night, Amy, but I doubt you’ll need—”
Corbin pushed him through the door, slamming it behind him. As an afterthought he locked it, tossing the key onto the desk.
I crossed my arms. “Locking me in again?”
“No, sweetheart,” he said, his smile so filled with love it made me want to cry.
“Locking the rest of the world out.”
“Sounds good to me. About this plan for a steamy, sweaty night of unbridled sex… I’m afraid there are going to be conditions.”
“Oh, really?” Corbin stood on one foot and yanked his boot off. “What sort of conditions? Something exciting? Something naughty? You want to tie me down?”
I was about to tell him that I wanted to see for myself how his wound was doing before I gave the okay to anything so strenuous as a bout of lovemaking, but the image his words presented gave me a couple of moments’ pause. “Do you want me to tie you down?”
Corbin looked thoughtful as he pulled off his other boot and started unlacing his leather jerkin. “I’m not sure. I’ve never been tied down. I generally prefer to be in the driver’s seat, but if you really wanted to go Amazon on me, I suppose we could give it a shot.”
I smiled as I walked over to the desk. “I have a better idea.”
The last thing I saw before I left him was his questioning frown. I hurried up the stairs to the quarterdeck, found Leeward Tom, and gave him my request.
He looked startled, but nodded and summoned Bam and a couple of others.
While that was being done, I trotted back downstairs, pausing to kiss Corbin quickly as he stood with his hands on his hips in the door to his cabin.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded as I headed for the stairs leading belowdecks.
“You’ll see. Back in a mo.”
It actually took longer than a moment to find something along the lines of what I wanted, but in the end I was happy with the results.
