The Man from the Big Dark by John Brunner

Author:John Brunner [Brunner, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jerry eBooks
Published: 2022-04-25T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER V

TERAK whirled, and was astonished to see a soldier facing him, looking like thunder. It was Avrid, whom he had met in the dockside tavern back on Fillenkep.

Avrid pulled out a whistle and gave three shrill blasts on it before striding swiftly towards Terak and sharply grasping his arm. Terak wrenched free. “What’s the meaning of this, Avrid?” he demanded.

“You remember me, eh?” The soldier set his hands on his hips and met his gaze with a steely glare. Men were coming at a run in answer to the whistle-blasts, among them an officer resplendent in black and red.

“What’s the meaning of this, soldier?” the latter asked. Avrid took a step back and saluted him.

“This here is an off-worlder called Terak, sir,” he informed the officer. “Few weeks back they found a murdered woman in a ship new-landed at Fillenkep. I saw this man on the dockside that very day the ship had landed!”

“Off-worlder, hey?” The officer rubbed his plump jowls. “And what’s your story, Terak?”

“I know nothing of what this man tells you.” Terak lied stonily. “When we met, I’d been five days on Klareth.”

“And in those five days you’d learned nothing of Klarethly coin!” said Avrid. He explained the episode of the exchange rate to the officer, while Terak’s heart sank.

“Jail him,” said the officer briefly to the other soldiers who had arrived. “He can have a hearing tonight if there’s time at the court.”

Avrid’s hand swept up like a snake striking, and the slight hiss of metal on leather as well as a small jerk told Terak that his sword had gone from its sheath. Then brawny hands closed on his arms and he was being frog-marched through the streets.

He was taken to one of the intact buildings now being used as administrative offices and handed over to a dour, dark jailer who took brief details of the accusations against him. He was allowed to keep everything he had except his weapons and the means of making fire. The reason for the last precaution he recognized soon enough—the cell into which he was then thrown, like almost everything else Klarethly, was made of wood. But it was wood as hard as stone and many inches thick.

Having explored the possibility of escape and decided that it was non-existent, Terak sat down sickly on the one piece of furniture—a rough bunk with a mattress stuffed with leaves—and wondered what would happen to him now.

Part of his answer came an hour later. The dour jailer, escorted by two armed soldiers, entered his cell and gave him a slow, searching stare. Finally he spoke.

“You’re due for a hearing tonight. Before your case is called, you’re allowed to call anyone you can here in town in your favor. If you don’t satisfy the general you’ll be shipped back to Fillenkep to stand trial there. All right?”

“I came here as one of the crew of a vessel bringing a high government official,” said Terak eagerly. “She’s called the Aaooa, and you’ll find her captain at the docks.

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