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| Cover by Don Maite |
Film This!
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| Cover by Don Maite |
| RIMRUNNERS C.J. Cherryh New York: Popular Library, August 1989 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-445-20979-4 | ||||
| ISBN-10 0-445-20979-8 | 280pp. | SC | $4.95 | |
Bet Yeager was down and out on Thule Station. Born spacer, machinist's mate, she had left her ship when it docked at Thule because its next port of call would be Pell's World. She had done a 20-year stint on Africa. Any crew off that ship would be as good as dead if they set foot on Pell.
So she stayed on Thule, registered for a berth on another ship. She kept to herself, grim-faced and curt, and nobody called her Elizabeth. But few ships came to Thule, and those that came didn't need her. After six months she was out of credits, out of lodging and just about out of luck. She came every day to the registry hall, too proud or stubborn to take an instation job, sat there all day waiting for something, anything on a ship — getting nothing. Finally the registry master took an interest.
He leaned back in the chair, looked at Yeager's grim face. "Where are you from?" "This about a job?" Hoarse. She smelled strongly of soap, of restroom disenfectant soap, a scent he had to think awhile to place. Under the overhead lighting her cheeks showed hollow and sweat glistened unhealthily on her upper lip. "What was your last berth" he asked. Machinist. On the freighter Ernestine. Why'd you leave her?" "I worked my passage. Hard times. They couldn't keep me." "They dumped you?" At Thule, that was a damned rough thing for a ship's crew to do to a hire-on, or she had deserved it by things she had done, one or the other. She shrugged. "Economics, I guess." – Pages 7-8 |
The master, Don Ely, took a liking to her. Against regs, he helped her out with minimal under-the-table pay for straightening up the place. It was enough to keep her eating, not enough to get her out of those restrooms. Postponing surrender, nothing more. It was then her troubles really began. Around 2 AM one morning, a drunken man entered the women's restroom where she slept, pounded on the door of the stall she had locked. She told him to go away. He reached under the door, tried to drag her out. She left him on the floor, washed the blood off her jumpsuit, got away from there in a hurry. But her prints were all over that restroom, and her prints were on file. Arrest was only a matter of time, unless she got a ship.
A week later, Loki came in. Unscheduled docking, priority on fuel. Loki — spook ship, fast but lightly armed, fair game for any Alliance cruiser that found her. Hell and a hard place were Bet Yeager's choices...
I've been aware of C. J. Cherryh for a long time, since I read Gate of Ivrel twenty or more years ago. She's good. I've just discovered that she has been outstandingly prolific; she now has at least 67 titles to her credit. (See the sidebar and the full list it links to.) More than one is an award-winner.
The brief sample should give you some idea of the quality of her writing. It's taut and spare and evocative, and it moves the action along right smartly. One thing that impressed me was that, up until page 218, there was not even a hint that the crew of this fighting ship would be involved in a battle in space — yet their interpersonal clashes and cleavings were just as engrossing. The last few chapters, however, deliver a full charge of combat. Rimrunners is part 5 of her Company Wars series, that began with Cyteen and includes Downbelow Station. I will definitely read those when I get the chance. So should you, if you enjoy fast-paced fiction with plenty of tension and action and a gritty, no-nonsense tone to it. For Rimrunners, top marks.
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.