The Last Dawn by Bostrom Peter

Author:Bostrom, Peter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Four

Losagar System

Planet Waywell

Senator Pitt’s Vacation Estate

Smith crept forward slowly. Painfully.

“John, freeze. You need to freeze now.” Sammy’s voice issued low and fast through Smith’s earpiece.

For the fifth time in as many minutes, Smith locked his muscles and relied on the imported flora—a sterilized European woodland grown in a terraformed circle exactly as far as the eye could see from the remote estate, and no further—to hide from the guard passing by on a distant wall. Apparently Pitt’s ego was stronger than his sense of paranoia, because this was not something Smith would have classified as a defensible location.

“OK, you’re good,” said Sammy. It was times like this Smith wondered just how old he was. Still a kid, right? Sort of?

“Thanks,” he muttered back as he began slipping toward the compound once more.

Having a smuggler’s illegal camouflage and scanning equipment was coming in handy, he had to admit. Not to Reardon’s face, though. Still. The stuff worked and it worked well.

How many crimes had Reardon gotten away with using this stuff?

He resolved not to think about it. Combining their skills had payed off; they’d mapped the area, plotted the best route, and downloaded it into his cybernetics. Unfortunately, said ‘best route’ ended in a crawl through some dense and likely thorny underbrush, but that was the job. He ghosted between trees, moving quickly enough to keep from dangerously open areas, and just slow enough to not catch a human’s immediate attention with his motion.

Reardon spoke up. “Drone showing up over your spotlight-hogging ass, Smith. Get it under cover.”

“Spotlight-hogging?” he murmured as he slipped under some particularly dense foliage. Overhead, the buzz of tiny motors drew closer. “We both know who’s always been better at stealth missions. Not the guy in the pink space ship.” The unseen device passed overhead and faded away.

“Drone clear,” Reardon said by way of reply. “Also, the ship could be a distraction, you know. While I sneak off into the distance.”

“Reardon, you’re a distraction, cut the chatter.”

The smuggler ignored him. “And for your information, it is a perfectly respectable salm-”

“Chatter, Reardon.”

Smith dropped flat beside a cheerfully burbling stream as another watchman made their way onto the wall. Within moments they had passed, and he was off again.

“Coming up on that hidden wire,” Sammy informed him. “Twenty steps out.”

Smith smiled. Sammy was learning fast, already an excellent navigator. Although that wasn’t exactly surprising, living with Reardon’s … Reardon-ing, as the kid did. If that wasn’t the definition of a trial by fire, Smith didn’t know what was.

“A wire as razor-sharp as my wit, and electrifying as my skill!” Reardon crowed. Always with the stupid comments.…

“Actually, it’s coming up as a sensor wire,” Smith commented mildly, running the tiny scanner embedded in his left index finger over the general area. The thing chewed through battery like a hungry goat might chew through a vegetable patch, but it was one of the most useful pieces of equipment he owned. “So yes, sounds about right, Reardon.”

“Do people usually call skill

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