Gaoyun was one of the oldest established outer planets. It was settled and flourishing before it was numbered. Its towering rounded-pillar mountains were half green with vegetation, half bare gray rock. Every outdoor adventurer in the galaxy knew about them. For those who craved a different kind of excitement, the teeming cities, decked in reds and oranges, had every kind of entertainment possible. If you were of a tamer temperament, the natural hot springs outside the cities had quiet retreats where you could go to relax.

Dr. Jane had heard of it. She’d always wanted to visit there. She knew that many Supremacy citizens came and went as they pleased for vacations because the people of Gaoyun were happy to take anyone’s credits. However, she’d always forbidden herself the pleasure because of how much she relied on the government’s aid.

As she looked around what Gaoyun called a “small town,” she really wished it had been more like she imagined it would be.

Not better.

It wasn’t supposed to be even more interesting and beautiful than she imagined. That’s wasn’t fair. Now she’d know exactly what she was missing.

She stared at the amazing buildings as endless crowds of people moved with purpose and direction around her. It felt wonderful. She felt as if she was standing in the center of a spinning galaxy full of color. The illusion was spoiled somewhat when Ciro took her by the elbow and pulled her along the street. Lynx followed behind them.

“Bad news,” Ciro said.

This was not what Jane needed to hear. She felt a coil of fear seize up in her chest. “What kind of bad news? Run away now bad news—”

“No, nothing like that,” Ciro said. “It’s money problems.”

“What? How so?”

Ciro held up the chip-card that Vas had given him. “I can get one room in a cheap motel and take you out to eat, provided you don’t mind street-vendor food.”

“What the hell, Wonder Boy? This isn’t a date!”

“Not a good one, that’s for sure. My point was that it won’t be enough to cover what we need.”

“Can’t you wire up to the Rising and ask for more funds?”

“Normally we could ask—that’s always good for a laugh—but this time I’m afraid we’re out of luck.”

“What? Why?”

Ciro glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled. “Nope. Sorry, Dr. Jane. That’s privileged information. You still don’t want to join us?”

“Not in a million years, Ciro Vas.”

“Then you’ll have to take my word for it.” He stopped at an outside table intended for the patrons of a nearby restaurant. He held out a chair for her.

Jane took the one next to it and pulled it out for herself.

Ciro shrugged and sat down beside her. Lynx stood behind both of them.

“So we’re going back to the ship?” Jane asked.

Ciro grimaced. “I’d rather not.”

“Why? Captain Vas and Reyer might—”

“I would really rather not.”

“What’s this about?”

“Uh…” Ciro struggled to think of a way to explain it. He couldn’t think of anything clear or elegant, so he stuttered out, word by word, “This is the first…real mission…I’ve been on. I would really like to not go back and tell Adan I blew it.”

“You didn’t blow it. You didn’t have enough money.”

“Yes. But it occurs to me that if Adan was out here and ran into a problem like this, he’d find a way to fix it.”

“That assumption is correct, Master Ciro. He would be compelled to in order to complete the mission,” Lynx affirmed.

“What would he do, Lynx?” Ciro asked.

“Unknown. But he would do something.”

Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Is this about your pride?”

Ciro forced a laugh. “Don’t be ridicu—okay, yeah, probably. But it’s also about the fact he finally let me off the ship. This is a good trend, and I would like it to continue. I think it would be more likely to continue if I didn’t come crawling back with my tail between my legs.” He cleared his throat. “I hate to ask this on a first not-date, but how much money do you have, and how bad do you want to study those xenos?”

Jane shook her head. “Not a chance. I could have billions sitting around, rotting, and I wouldn’t use it. My chip-card is actually attached to me—my name, my face, my DNA. I might as well paint a huge sign on my chest saying, ‘Hey! Supremacy! Suspect me!’”

They sat there staring at the small round table between them.

“Lynx,” Ciro said, “are there any susceptible banks in the—”

“You’d rob a bank?” Dr. Jane hissed. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Well, I don’t have a black mask or anything, but I’m pretty good at making qubits dance around.” Ciro noticed the look on her face. “Look, I wouldn’t steal much. I don’t want to be a thief, but I really want to be able to buy you a lot of nice things. Beakers and tongs and stuff.”

“Gosh, that’s sweet.”

“Registering Dr. Jane’s tone of sarcasm,” Lynx said. “Can you confirm?”

Jane rolled her eyes. Ciro said, “That would be a yes, Lynx.”

“I know you guys are a bunch of lowlife kidnappers,” Jane said, “but could we please try to exhaust all legal ways of getting credits before we resort to something that will get us in trouble? I thought the whole point of coming to a free-plane was so that we wouldn’t have to rush off it.”

“What do you suggest, Dr. Jane?”

Jane let out an irritated sigh and held up her hands, but before she could give a more scathing and articulate reply, something caught her eye. She turned her head to stare at the neon sign. A few figures came out of the building. Two more went in.

“Hello?” Ciro said. “Dr. Jane?”

“You said you had enough for a motel room and some dinner?”

“Yes.”

“Give it to me.”

“What?”

“I said, ‘give it to me.’” She turned to Lynx. “Is he deaf and dumb or just plain dumb?”

“His ears and speech ability are both functioning properly.”

“I don’t think they are, Lynx,” Ciro said. “I’m pretty sure I heard her telling me to transfer over all the credits we have to her.”

“Nope,” she said. “I want the card itself. My card stays safely where it is, and my name stays out of it.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Bet you a ten coin you will. Another ten coin says you won’t regret it.”

“What are you going to do?”

She nodded to the neon sign. “I know how to get us some money—legally.”

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Ciro looked over his shoulder to the building she’d indicated. When he turned back, he saw a tight little smile that lifted only one side of her lips. “Are you serious?”

“No, I’m brilliant. Watch and see.” She held out her hand.

Ciro stared at her.

She snapped her fingers twice and held out her hand again. “Come on. We can do this, or we can go back to the ship.”

As Ciro reluctantly reached for his pocket, Lynx put his metal hand on Ciro’s shoulder. “I caution against this, Master Ciro. There is a substantial risk of losing all the credits we have.”

Ciro Vas pulled the card from him pocket. “Lynx, when you don’t have enough money, it doesn’t matter if you have a little or nothing. Besides, is it a worse risk than having me break into a bank?”

That series of calculations seemed to stress the robot’s processors.

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The room was dim and exotic. The blinds over the lamps tinted everything red that wasn’t directly under the beams of the bulbs. Jane glowed almost as much as the gold leaf on the decor. Ciro noticed that she smiled more, but they were sharp, mean smiles that showed off her very white, very straight teeth. She laughed too, but that sounded unnatural as well. The way she held herself was all angles. She moved more and talked more. It was as if the spotlights weren’t on the cards or the table, but shining off her.

She had snapped her fingers over her shoulder and ordered him to get her a drink with hand motion he’d never seen before. He felt compelled to oblige her, and when he brought back the martini, he gave it to her with a humble bow and called her “ma’am” for good measure.

Three of the other men at the table were obviously entranced. There was something that pulled you in—an attraction that felt magnetic. When all their chips were depleted, the men were forced to leave, but the chair was never vacant for long; there was always someone from the hovering queue that was willing to join the game. Ciro couldn’t blame them. He would have been willing to play another victim if he hadn’t already been marked down as her page.

The only man who didn’t seem enchanted was sitting across from her. He was barely out of middle age, with a receding hairline, small eyes, and a slightly rumpled tuxedo. He watched her with his hand on his face, his index finger resting over his mouth.

Jane only looked at him when the table was waiting for his bet. The rest of the time, she bestowed her attention, like a favor, to whichever man was trying to be clever or charming at that moment.

“That makes you the winner.” The dealer pushed the pile of chips toward Jane.

Her face lit up with child-like pleasure. “Ah! Wonderful.”

The man beside her stood up and bowed to her. “I’m afraid I’m done for tonight. You’ve robbed me of all I have—”

“Robbed?” Jane sounded hurt at the accusation.

“Beaten me fair and square, and you haven’t even given me your name.”

Jane laughed again. It still didn’t match her face quite right. “I’m sorry, sir, but you have to pay for that.”

“And you know I have no more money to give you. Oh, well.”

A twenty chip flew across the table and landed right by Jane’s hand.

She looked at it.

Now that smile looks more like her, Ciro thought.

She raised her head to look the long way across the table.

“I presume that will be enough?” the older man said. His voice was quiet and husky, but since the whole table had fallen silent, it was easy to hear him.

“For what, sir?” Jane asked.

“For your name.”

“Jane.”

A short huff of breath left his nostrils. “Jane Doe, perhaps?”

“Cerva. And you, sir?”

“You haven’t paid me.”

She flicked the twenty chip back his direction. It landed expertly beside his pile of chips.

“I presume that will be enough?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Call me John.”

“John Doe?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Are we ready for another hand?” the dealer asked.

One more of the men at the table took the few chips he had left and stepped away. The dealer waited for someone to take his place, but no one seemed to want to get too close to Jane Cerva and John Doe. After a suitable interval, the dealer called for ante and began shuffling.

“How do you do it, Miss Cerva?” John Doe asked. “It isn’t that skinny lackey you keep at your elbow. I’ve been watching him. I doubt he’s ever been in a serious poker room before. He might still call them puppy paws and shovels.”

Ciro tried not to feel offended. When he failed at that, he tried not to show how offended he was.

Jane smiled. Lots of teeth. “Mr. Doe, are you trying to accuse me of cheating?”

The dealer had dealt all the cards before John Doe lifted his finger from his mouth again. “I don’t know.”

The bets went around. Doe was the first to raise. Jane raised it again. The only other player there not only folded but quietly stepped away from the table and disappeared in the crowd. Doe matched. They both took two cards. Jane lost the hand after another small round of betting.

Again the dealer called to see if anyone wanted to sit. No one did. Looking around, Ciro realized that the crowd, which had been laughing and smiling, was now staring down at the table like a cast of hawks.

“No one else seems to want to join us now,” Doe said.

“I can’t blame them. It’s been a good night for me,” Jane said.

“Thank you for not pretending it was luck, Miss Cerva.” Doe nodded to the dealer, who began to shuffle. To Jane, he said, “I blame myself. I think drawing attention to the fact you were winning must have broken the spell.”

They both pushed their ante forward.

“So how do you do it?” Doe asked again.

“I’m only playing poker,” Jane said.

“Hmmmmm.”

By the time they revealed, the incremental betting had built up an impressive pile. It went to Jane’s full house.

“A full house? You nickel-and-dimed me,” John observed.

“Is that what you call it? You kept raising. I simply followed suit.” She smiled at the unintended pun.

John held up a hundred chip. “I’ll give you this right now if you can guess what I have in my hand.”

She laughed. “I’ll get that from you eventually.”

“I could stand up and leave.”

“Will you? I’d miss you if you left.”

“You’d miss my chips.”

“I’d miss the challenge.”

Ciro noticed the change in Jane’s voice. It was deeper, much closer to her normal tone.

John Doe may have noticed it too. He pushed his ante to the center. Jane did the same.

“Am I a challenge, Miss Cerva?” Doe asked.

“You’ve been at the table since before I sat down, and you’re still there. You still have your pile.” She waved a pale finger at him. “I think you’re very good at math.”

“I think you are too. You might even be better than me.”

Ciro knew she was better than him. She could do it while flirting.

“I’ll tell you what, Miss Cerva, why don’t we make this interesting? You haven’t looked at your cards, and I haven’t looked at mine. The table is dying—killed off by your success and my tactlessness. I’ll shove in all the rest of my pile on the condition that if you win it, you’ll step away.”

All Jane’s affectations disappeared. “Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s a fairly large pile of chips, and it would be much faster to win it all at once.”

“I don’t want to match a bet like that without seeing the hand I’ve been dealt.”

“You don’t have to. You can put in a single ten chip for all I care.”

Ciro glanced at the dealer, who was steadfastly staring at the felt table in front of him. He didn’t raise his eyes, let alone make a comment about whether or not such a ridiculous proposal was against the rules.

Ciro leaned down and whispered in Jane’s ear, “I think you should take the bet.”

“Why?” she whispered back. “Just because he owns the place, he thinks he can bully me around?”

Ciro shouldn’t have been surprised by the fact she’d figured it out. For all he knew, she’d pegged John Doe before she even sat down at the table, and he was still crawling to catch up. Puppy paws and shovels, indeed. He wasn’t used to feeling like an idiot.

“If he does own the place,” Ciro said, “he could ask you to leave by motioning to the two rather large gentlemen right behind us. That would be bullying. Right now he seems to be giving you a better option.” Ciro closed his eyes. “And please, for the love of god, don’t get all prideful and match his bet.”

“Has anything I’ve done demonstrated that level of stupidity? Oh, wait. It’s something you’d have done, isn’t it?”

Ciro had been thinking of Adan, but he had to admit, he would have at least been tempted. The Vas brothers tended to feel that bravado was its own reward.

Jane held up a ten chip, then flicked it to the center of the table. John Doe pushed his entire pile forward.

As Jane reached down to pick up her hand, he announced, “I fold.”

The room around them exhaled with muted cries and laughs.

John Doe stood up and came around to Ciro and Jane. The two men Ciro had mentioned earlier also came forward. “Now, Miss Cerva, I hope you’ll allow me to escort you and your friend to cash in your chips and then show you to the door.”

The credit amount was dutifully put on the card, and John Doe himself took them to the exit. When he reached the door, he pulled a card out of his breast pocket. “That is my real name and number. I would love to play you again sometime—in private, with a few select friends. However, I’m going to ask you to never come to this casino again.”

“I was too good at math?” Jane asked.

“That’s a high sin, but the unforgivable fact was you were entirely too good at playing the people. Enjoy your evening.” Lynx had stepped away from the wall to meet them. “Oh good, you do have some protection.”

“Do I need it?”

“I’m probably being sexist and old fashioned, but I do get worried by the idea of a woman walking around with that much money and no one to protect her from people who might be interested in hurting her.”

“Why do you think I have my friend with me?”

“I was under the impression he followed you around so he wouldn’t get lost.” Doe nodded once more before leaving to go back into the casino.

Ciro’s red cheeks felt hot enough they might blister.

Jane laughed when she saw it. “Calm down, Ciro. He’s only being petty.”

“Could you explain that please?” Lynx asked as they started walking down the street.

“He knows he was beaten,” Jane explained. “He hates being beaten, but calling me names would be childish, so instead he takes it out on someone close to me.”

Ciro was mollified as much by the fact she’d used his proper name without spitting it out like a curse, as by the fact that he qualified, however unintentionally, as someone “close to her.”

“Is that a typical human reaction?” Lynx asked.

“Very typical.” Jane looked up at the bot. “Are you trying to study human behavior, Lynx?”

“Understanding human behavior and human emotions are an integral part of several of my major program functions, Dr. Jane.”

“Good luck to you, bot.”

“He would have had a thousand years’ worth of education if he’d been allowed to watch you work, Doctor,” Ciro said. “That was amazing.”

She glared at him with narrowed eyes, but he seemed sincere.

“Where did you learn to do that?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I had to pay for grad school somehow. The math is easy.”

“You could make a living off of that kind of talent.”

“Whatever,” Jane said. “Flirtation is exhausting, the game gets kind of boring, and I’d rather be doing my research.”

“And I didn’t think you could say anything more attractive than ‘math is easy.’”

Ciro pulled two ten coins out from his pocket, held them up for her to see, then put them in her hand. At first she looked confused, but then she smiled, winked, and dropped them in her pocket.

She slapped the back of her hand hard on Ciro’s chest. “Come on, Wonder Boy. It’s too late for shopping. Let’s find a place to stay and call the ship.”