“Where?” said Modred.

“Oh. Just a moment. ” Pirate went over to the couch and

carelessly swept everything on it to the floor. “You want a beer?”

“No, thank you, ” Modred said.

“I’ll take one, ” said Kira.

Pirate went into the kitchen to get it.

“You must be joking, ” Modred said to her while he was out of the

room.

“Don’t let appearances fool you, ” Kira said. “When it comes to

hacking, Pirate’s one of the best there is.”

“He’s hardly more than a boy.”

“So is Billy. You gonna judge that book by its cover?”

“Miran. Point well taken. But I’ll need to be convinced. Are you

sure he can be trusted?”

“Pirate’s okay, ” she said. “He’s careful and he plays by the rules.

He’s got a reputation to protect.”

Pirate came back in with a couple of beers, one for himself and

one for Kira. He handed it to her, looked around distractedly, swept

a mess of stuff off one of the end tables, and perched on it.

“Been a few years, Kira, ” he said. “Whatcha been up to?”

“Oh, little bit of this, little bit of that, ” Kira replied. “We came to

talk to you about a job we’re trying to put together.”

“Could always use a job, ” said Pirate, scratching his head.

“Whatcha got in mind?”

“You working on anything right now?”

He shrugged. “Always workin‘ on something. But I haven’t got

any jobs lined up, if that’s what you mean. Things’ve been a little

slow lately. I’m available. What’s the job?”

“We want to crack the data banks at General Hyperdynamics, ”

Kira said.

The beer can froze as he was putting it to his lips. He lowered it

slowly and glanced from her to Modred and back again.