Walter Jon Williams by Hardwired 2 Voice of the Whirlwind

Author:Hardwired 2, Voice of the Whirlwind
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-10-11T17:37:45+00:00

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CHAPTER 10

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It was four days since Pulsar had let him go. Steward lay on his rack, watching a telecast of Kawaguchi's Fourth Millennium. This was a classic visionary Imagist drama from the previous century, set in a mannered future in which a genetically altered posthuman society was confronted by the return of violent human primitives from a forgotten space colony, a comedy of manners laced with acid and appalling violence. The NeoImagist Policorp Pink Blossom had recently produced an elaborate version of it, intended as political propaganda for their perception of the future, starring the free-fall kabuki actor Kataoka XXII. Brighter Suns, being a nonideological policorp, was broadcasting it on the feed link from Vesta. Steward was enjoying the show, but suspected the interpretation was slanted a bit toward the posthuman point of view, having been dictated by contemporary political realities. Pink Blossom was showing a decline in its rate of growth and might have concluded that their vision of tomorrow might need a little polishing in order to get the troops enthusiastic about their work.

Steward flexed his right hand as he watched the vid. Feeling was almost back to normal. No permanent damage, he thought.

There was a knock on Steward's door. "Come in," he said, setting his vid unit on record, and Reese entered.

There was an annoyed frown on her face. "Out of the rack, buck," she said. "We've been ordered to Vesta in an hour. We're going into the Power Legation."

Steward sat up. Alarms clattered in his mind. "Why?" he asked.

"There's a Starbright ship in dock," Reese said. "The cargo handlers got sick, and some of the autoloaders have broken down. It's a special cargo, and the Starbright people don't want anyone but our employees to deal with it. We're being ordered to help load the stuff by hand."

"Why us?"

"It's those blood tests we had to take. We tested out okay to work with the Powers."

Steward slapped off the vid. Anger was beginning to fill him. "It's a scheme to get me onstation," he said. "They're going to provoke some kind of incident and toss me in a cell again. Or assassinate me."

Reese leaned against a padded bulkhead and crossed her arms. "Not likely," she said. "They let you go once. Why would they pick you up again?"

Steward hesitated for a moment. He had to think of something besides the fact he was suspected of stealing Angel's key spike. "Maybe they couldn't make up their minds till now," Steward said. He jumped out of his rack and began pacing. "Or maybe they just wanted me dead and it took a while to put a scheme together so that it doesn't took like their fault." His mind was whirling. "Look," he said. "I'll go to our pharmacy and give myself something to make myself sick. You just tell our bosses I'm ill."

Reese shook her head. "Take it easy," she said. "I've got an obligation to our superiors, here. If you don't show up, it could cost Starbright millions of its own dollars.

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