Planet of Ice (The Broken Stars Book 2) by Tony Healey & David K. Hulegaard

Author:Tony Healey & David K. Hulegaard [Healey, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

13

The cruiser rolled at a slow, steady pace across the ice. Frozen shavings kicked up from the treads and flew past the porthole window. Pazo had flicked the heater switch to FULL twenty minutes ago, but Max couldn't feel a difference in the coach's temperature, only an increase in the stale stench of cigar smoke.

The chill soaked straight through to the bone. Max saw his breath upon exhaling, and tried making a game out of it to take his mind off the cold. With each puff of visible vapor, he looked for recognizable shapes. One cloudy burst reminded him of K1R-B, which made him chuckle.

The cruiser's beige, bare metal interior wasn't helping matters. Only a thin layer of cushion separated Max from the frigid steel bench he sat upon.

I will never make fun of Kort again for insisting upon heated seats on the Maiden, he thought.

Kort hadn't spoken since the voyage began. Although he sat in the passenger seat beside Pazo, he hadn't so much as acknowledged the Mintok's presence. As far as Max could tell, Pazo didn't seem troubled by the situation. Max was dying to ask questions about their relationship, but he'd never seen his uncle react this way before. Whatever happened in their past, it clearly still bothered Kort, and Max didn't feel right opening old wounds.

On top of the undesired reunion, Max assumed Kort had to have had the Fair Maiden on his mind. They'd been on Quaris for some time, and the twenty-four hour deadline to vacate was drawing near.

They can't legally take possession of the ship, can they?

"Sorry about the heating situation," Pazo said. "This ol' gal is in need of a few upgrades that I haven't gotten around to yet."

Max hugged his body and shivered. "Oh, it's okay."

"Ya lying to be polite?" Pazo said. "Cuz I can hear your knees knocking together all the way up here."

Max slumped in his seat and moved his knees apart.

Pazo laughed in a loud, obnoxious manner that made Max's ears ring. "Yep, she may not be pretty, but she's reliable – provided many a safe passage across the tundra. Her treads are custom-made, ya know. I once ferried a mechanic who offered payment in the form of aftermarket schematics to improve her. We're talking Union-caliber private stock type of stuff. Second best investment I ever made." He tapped the grip of his crossbow.

Max looked outside the porthole. The snow fell hard, approaching blizzard-like conditions. He found himself mesmerized by the tundra's tranquil shade of blue below them.

"Gorgeous, ain't it?" Pazo said. "The ice is so clear that it acts as a window to the bottom of the ocean."

"Ocean?" Max inquired.

"Oh, yeah." Pazo gripped the wheel at twelve o'clock with his humanoid hand. "The tundra isn't actually a tundra at all, but rather a vast, frozen ocean. Remarkable, don't ya think?"

K1R-B performed a database check. "He's correct, Max. Records indicate that bodies of water once existed on Quaris, but turned to ice after a massive climate shift thousands of years ago.

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.