>"If I may?" Indicate the tubes.
>Close distance between us and captain and speak into the captain's tube, "With that date, I can get a look at your beurecrat's books with my own eyes, be that much closer to settling this. If there's a record of sale in her books, then we could be out of here within the hour."
>"I realize it was a little thing ages back, but, maybe if you put your heads together, you can nail it down?"
>Murasa stands aside slightly. "Sure, go ahead."
>You speak into the tube and describe the situation.
>"Who's this?" Ishi asks.
>Murasa leans back over the mouthpiece. "It's that Seeker I mentioned. She's just come back from speaking with Customs again. Maybe even made a little headway."
>"Oh, hey there!" Ishi says brightly. "Nice work saving the Melon Bowl. I owe you one."
>"Not now, Ishi," Murasa adds dryly.
>"Sorry, boss." There is a pause, then you hear the kappa mumbling on the other end, too quietly to make out. "Let's see now..."
>"It was the same year we shored up the secondary rotors, wasn't it?" Murasa asks.
>"What? No, that was way before that. You remember that aether storm and those damn statues?"
>"How the hell did I forget that?" Murasa says wryly. "So that was, what... 571?"
>"570. Fixed those babies up 11 years ago now." You can still hear a note of pride in her voice. "Remember, that was half the problem when we got the damn permit. They couldn't figure out how to class us."
>"Oh yeah..."
>"They forgot to make a bracket awesome enough for us to fit in," Ishi adds. You can practice
hear her smirking. ...wherever she is.
