Cobra Bargain by Timothy Zahn

Author:Timothy Zahn [Zahn, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780671653835
Google: sC13AAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0671653830
Publisher: Baen
Published: 1988-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

For a long second her mind seemed to be on ice, skidding along without control. The pod's existence was bad enough; but its existence in the hands of Qasamans was even worse. The minute the Yithtra family realized what it was they'd found and turned it over to the authorities—

And she had maybe three minutes to figure out a way to stop that. Gritting her teeth, she dug her fingers under the access panel's edge and pried it open.

The contents were no surprise: packaged emergency rations, lightweight blankets, medical packs, a backpack and water carrier—all the things a castaway in hostile territory might need to survive. All of them clearly labeled with Anglic words.

Which meant obscuring the writing on the outside of the pod wouldn't gain her anything. Unless she could also completely destroy the pod's contents...

A trickle of sweat ran down her cheek. She jabbed and probed her fingers through the packages, trying desperately to think of something. Her lasers weren't designed for starting this kind of fire, but if they'd sent her some cooking fuel—

Her roving fingers struck something that rustled: a tightly folded piece of paper. Frowning, she dug it out and opened it. The message was short:

Can't get down to you. If you can hang on, we'll be back with help as quickly as we can. We'll listen for your call at local sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight—if you can't signal, we'll come down and find you.

Courage!

Captain Rivero Koja

Jin bit down hard on her lip. We'll come down and find you. In her mind's eye she saw a full Cobra assault force descend on Milika, shooting indiscriminately as they tried to find her... Swearing under her breath, she dug into the packages with renewed energy, searching now for the transmitter Koja's note implied had been packed in with the supplies. But either it was buried too deeply among the groceries...

Or else the Yithtra workers who'd found and opened the pod had already taken it out.

Damn. It was right there, a few meters away from her in the cab of the truck... and yet it might as well be in orbit. For one wild second she had the image of herself blasting through to the cab with her antiarmor laser, using her sonic to stun the cab's occupants and retrieve the transmitter—

And then taking what refuge she could in deep forest. While the Sammon family went up on treason charges.

Angrily, she shook the train of thought from her mind. The transmitter was gone, period. Crumpling Koja's note into her pocket, she jammed the access panel back in place and stepped to the rear doors, grabbing for balance as the truck made a sharp righthand turn. Between the doors, the Small Ring Road appeared.

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