Teal swallowed. What were they asking for? What did they need? They’d only read her chip at the base of the cable. No one had said anything about needing anything else.
Of course, she hadn’t exactly come through official channels. She ground her teeth together. Damn the tailor. He should have known about this. The cheat. He should have told her.
Now what do I do?
When she was a kid, she could get away with murder by looking innocent. But no matter what she really was, she didn’t look like a kid anymore. Those superiors in their armor with their weapons probably weren’t going to believe any adult was innocent, no matter how that adult looked.
One of the ferrets whisked up its owner’s shoulder and regarded her with bright black eyes for a moment before it tried to vanish into its owner’s pack.
Unless maybe they are distracted. Unless maybe the adult looks ridiculous.
The man caught the ferret around the middle with one broad brown hand. “Come on, Biscuit. Nothing for you in there.”
Biscuit didn’t seem to believe it. As soon as he (she?) was on the floor, he scuttled up his owner and dove for the pack.
This time, Teal caught him.
“Whoa.” She held the animal up to her face, like she knew and liked it. “You don’t listen, do you?” Its short legs paddled a little and its nose twitched. Teal laughed as she handed him back. “Probably bored,” she remarked.
“Wouldn’t be the only one.” The man cradled Biscuit in one arm and reached up to pluck a second ferret off the top of his head. “Come on, guys, we’re almost there.”
“How old are they?” she asked, remembering how Mom always struck up conversations with people who had children.
Apparently it worked just as well with people who had animals. She found herself introduced to Biscuit (three years old), Brownie (three and a half), Cookie (four and a half, the senior ferret), and Creampuff (two). They were industrial ferrets, trained to pull wires and fiber-optic cables through narrow conduits. They were, he explained, especially valuable since the squatters started arriving in force, what with nobody being sure which maintenance tunnels they were going to be able to get to easily.
“By the way, I’m Claudiu.” He gave her a jaunty salute and Teal returned it.
“Teal.”
Cookie and Biscuit took this opportunity to run up her body. Teal shrieked, just a little, she couldn’t help it, and she and Claudiu spent the next few minutes disentangling ferrets and ferret harnesses from her hair.
“Definitely bored.” Claudiu laughed.
“We have a cage,” drawled his partner, who had been watching the entire proceeding through half-lidded eyes.
“And they hate it worse than the leashes. Lighten up, LaRoche.” He put Cookie on LaRoche’s shoulders, and LaRoche firmly, but not unkindly, put Cookie on the floor again.
“Look—” LaRoche began.
“Hang on,” interrupted Claudiu. “We’re up.”
But Creampuff was trying to get into the pack again, and Biscuit and Brownie were playing tag around LaRoche’s shoulders while Claudiu was trying to apologize to the superiors and the rest of the line.
Which was Teal’s chance.
“I’ll take them,” she said quickly, gathering up ferrets and leashes until she had a whole armful.
“Thanks,” said Claudiu, handing Creampuff across to her.
What happened next was predictable, and exactly what Teal had hoped for. It took a split second for the ferrets to realize she was no ferret expert. Biscuit hurried up her shoulders, but the other three twitched themselves out of her hands and scampered straight through the scanners.
“The ferrets!” Teal dove through the checkpoint, grabbing for the trailing leashes.
“Oh, God’s own!” cried LaRoche exasperatedly.
Teal made straight for the long, furry creatures, but the ferrets were not going to give their freedom up easily. They flew up the scanners, bulkheads, and bystanders. When yanked or shaken off, they twisted their leashes around ankles and brought those same bystanders crashing to the floor. Teal measured her length on the deck several times, diving for leashes or flashes of fur. Those not actually under ferret attack started laughing, and the laughter spread until it rang off the patched walls. Teal risked a glance at the superiors and saw both of them snickering as they handed Claudiu and LaRoche back their papers.
Finally Claudiu waded into the fray. He pulled a handful of brown nuggets out of his pocket and scattered them on the deck. Instantly all four ferrets appeared in the middle of the spread, picking little treats up in their forepaws and nibbling happily. Teal gathered up their leashes and handed them over to their owner.