Robert A Heinlein - Citizen of the galaxy MakeGreatMusic net

Thorby is a young, defiant slave boy recently arrived on a strange planet. He is purchased by an old beggar, Baslim the Cripple, for a trivial amount of money (much to the amusement of a wealthy nobleman, who subsidizes the purchase) and taken to the beggar's surprisingly well-furnished underground home.

Baslim treats the boy as he would his own son, teaching him not only the honorable trade of begging, but also drilling Thorby in mathematics, history and several languages. He sends Thorby on errands all over the city, carefully passing along information and keeping track of the comings and goings of ships. Thorby realizes that his "Pop" is more than a simple beggar; he is actively engaged in gathering intelligence, particularly on the slave trade. Baslim makes Thorby memorize a contingency plan and a message to deliver to one of five starship captains in the event of Baslim's arrest or death.

One day, coming back from an errand gone awry, Thorby finds out that the old man has been captured in a police raid. However, Baslim foils his captors by taking poison before he can be tortured for what he knows. Thorby sees his head displayed impaled on a pike, but still wearing a defiant grin.

Once he recovers from the shock, Thorby realizes he has become a hunted fugitive wanted for questioning about Balsim's activities. He seeks the help of Mother Shaum, a local "taproom" owner whom Baslim trusted. He rightly suspects all of his "friends" would gladly turn him in for the reward offered. As luck would have it, one of the men on Baslim's list is in port. At Thorby's insistence, the woman arranges a meeting. The Free Trader listens to Thorby's memorized message, which is in a language Thorby does not understand. The Free Traders owe a great debt to Baslim and the captain honors it, smuggling Thorby aboard the starship Sisu at great risk to himself and his clan.

Thorby is adopted by the captain (thereby gaining considerable shipboard social status) and adjusts to the insular, clannish, matriarchal culture of the traders. The advanced education provided by Baslim and the fast reflexes of youth make him an ideal fire controlman, and he discovers an aptitude for the ship's defensive weapon systems. When they are attacked by a pirate, Thorby destroys it with a nuclear missile. His immediate superior, a young woman named Mata, begins to view him as a suitable husband. But Thorby is soon uprooted once more.

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