Alliance Rising by Gini Koch

Author:Gini Koch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: space opera, science fiction, shape shifter, gini koch, martian alliance chronicles
Publisher: Gini Koch

Years of training to stay alive and safely hidden meant that instead of tensing, panicking, thinking thoughts that would give me away, or running like crazy, I remained calm and shrugged. “And what’s that?”

Longdaddy smiled slowly, ensuring all his teeth showed. “You are, in some ways, like me. Hiding what you truly are.” He turned back to the screen. The view moved out. It was clear Orion’s Light had nothing much to recommend it—like a star close enough to warm it, for starters.

I decided to let his insinuation slide. “How did you get these pictures?”

“When Monte the Leech made a deal with the Diamante Families, that did not concern me much, even though I have people who travel to Roulette. When Monte the Leech came here, however, and then made another deal with the Underground, then I took an interest.”

“I can understand that.”

“When Monte the Leech hired many citizens to have an extra-good time at the Polliwog Palace ‘undercover,’ so to speak, I became very interested.”

“Can’t blame you. At all.” Nice to have my suspicions confirmed.

“Thank you. However, when Monte the Leech proceeded to start discussing a new planetoid that would house yet another gambling world, I chose to take a much closer, more personal interest.”

“The pictures on the screen indicate a pretty long range interest.”

He shrugged. “We have more means and abilities than the Underground and the government might be aware of. And I used some of those means to send a trustworthy team to the coordinates being bandied about as the next gambling paradise.”

“He might be terraforming it,” Bullfrog offered, though he didn’t sound like he’d bought into this idea. “Though it seems very far from anything that could warm it.”

“It is too far away from Betelgeuse to receive much light, let alone heat.”

“This is very interesting, but why are we here, specifically?”

Longdaddy turned again to us. “When a group of ‘scientists’ came into the Polliworld Palace, went to visit Monte the Leech, and then had to create a distraction of large proportions to escape, well, then I knew for certain the Jumping Game was on.” He seemed just a little expectant.

“The Jumping Game is on” was an old Polliwog phrase. The Underground didn’t use it, feeling it represented a more archaic time for their planet. However, old or not, it was still used whenever something smelled, appeared, or felt off.

“We didn’t create a distraction,” Bullfrog lied. “We were attacked by the Underground.”

Longdaddy gave him the kind of look a parent will give to a small child who’s trying to blame something on the family pet—the “oh please, you expect me to fall for that one?” look. “Perhaps you are unclear about my abilities.”

He fiddled with some twig knobs, and the picture on the screen changed. It showed the interior of the Polliwog Palace. Point of fact, it showed Bullfrog and me, imitating Ciarissa, causing havoc in the blackjack area.

“I wonder, Bullfrog. Where is the young lady you escaped the casino with? Surely you did not forget your upbringing and leave her alone and defenseless.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.