Star Quest by Dean Koontz

Author:Dean Koontz
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, American, Science fiction
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1968-10-15T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

"THE MABKET OF CONCUBINES," Corgi said, staring at him with eyes that perceived only fuzz patches and blips.

"On the Street of the Pleasure Sellers."

"Mapwise, what quadrant is that?" Babe asked.

"Second."

"Name the different merchant's platforms in the marketplace in the order in which they appear."

Tohm strained back through the hypno-lessons, the drills of the afternoon. "Raddish, Fulmono, Kinger, Fadsteon, Frin, Rashinghi, Talaman, and Froste."

"Very good," Corgi said. "Very good indeed."

"All the platforms are owned by the same people— the Romaghin board of governors. There is no free trade in the slave market, though the board of governors wishes to convey that impression."

"Where'd you get that?" Babe asked, puffing on his odorless cigar.

"Reading on my own—some history books I pored through once."

Corgi ran through his mental list of questions, which seemed to be endless. "How do you find the hutch in that quadrant if you need help or shelter?"

"I go to the comfort station near the prison, take the third stall from the end, and depress a brick ten up from the floor and five in from the left partition."

"Okay. I deem you prepared. Now, you will leave at dawn when the markets are preparing for the day. You will make your way to the Market of Concubines. I have contacted the Old Man and told him about you, and Hunk's plan. He agrees on Hunk's idea and on your being given a chance to find Tamilee. He is contacting all other groups and evacuating them to friendly but unarmed planets. We are scheduled to join a large Mutie group on Columbiad. We will put our plan into action then. I hope you understand what we want to do. We are going to create—that is not the proper word, but it will serve—a universe without warlike worlds. We hope to live in peace. If you wish to come with us, be back here no later than twenty-four hours from the time you leave. You must find your woman in that period. We have shown you the city via maps and have tutored you in the customs of the lowest class so that you can move more freely than many people in the upper strata of society. Babe will give you one thousand credits with which you may, with some luck, bid for your woman should she come up on the platform. There will also be another fifty credits there for the miscellaneous. We can't accompany you, only wish you luck."

"I'll find her and bring her back," Tohm said, standing.

"Now I guess I should catch some sleep while there's still time."

"You'll need it," Corgi said.

"Goodnight."-Babe.

"Goodnight," he answered, moving through the door and into the corridor, conscious of their eyes and semi-eyes on him. His mind was in a turmoil. His conversation with Mayna hung heavy about him, made him feel strangely inadequate, impotent. Somehow, he was not as excited about the search tomorrow as he should have been. Would finding Tamilee mean returning home? Although baffled by it, he was charmed with the civilized worlds.

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