Zero Flux: A Central Galactic Concordance Novella by Carol Van Natta

Author:Carol Van Natta [Van Natta, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Chavanch Press
Published: 2015-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

* Planet: Lumi Silta * GDAT 3240.350 *

The cave looked like a giant toddler had smashed her toys into pieces, leaving only a few standing pillars and smaller suspended icicles here and there. Luka could see the natural cave entrance up and to his right, and daylight gave the icy landscape a surreal look.

The area around the man was lit by a flotilla of floating bright lights like Einar’s, only more compact. Einar was standing, using his ice wand as a staff to keep his weight off his injured leg. The man with the plasma rifle was huge, half a head taller than Einar, with iron gray hair and braided beard in the classic Lumi Siltan heritage style. His ice wand, one of the new collapsible versions, dangled from a ring holster on his wide utility belt.

“Come here,” ordered the man. He and Einar were standing in the middle of the path the man had carved with his ice wand. His technique had created ridges on either side, and its straightness was evidence that the man had tech that countered the twisted geomarker.

The footing to climb out of the tunnel and clamber over the ice to get to where the man stood was treacherous, and each time Luka stumbled, the plasma rifle pointed at Einar jerked in reaction. When Luka was about three meters away, he purposefully slipped, putting him hard on his ass but closer than the man should have allowed. The man might have superior tech, but he wasn’t combat trained. Luka wasn’t, either, but he’d picked up a few things from his partner. He stayed seated, looking as unthreatening as he could.

“Where’s your co-worker?”

Luka wished he knew. All he could do was continue to play for time. “No clue.”

“Call him.” He tapped the side of his face and glanced at Luka’s earwire. “Tell him who has the fökking plasma rifle.”

Luka shook his head. “No comms. There’s a suppressor around here.” He tilted his chin toward the tech scanner the man wore on his massive chest, which was turned off. “I’m surprised that worked at all.” Of course, his and Einar’s tactics had helped spoof it, too. He wished he’d known the man hadn’t been using it.

The man’s lips pinched as he clenched his jaw.

Suddenly, one of the small remaining icicles crashed down about forty meters away. The man snarled as he swung the rifle around and pulsed a beam, missing by a meter. He had fast reactions, especially for such a big man, but little skill. Luka caught a glimpse of what was probably flexin armor underneath the man’s storm shell jacket, and wondered if he wore leg armor as well. It hardly mattered, since neither he nor Einar had anything to shoot him with.

“It should have been too cold in here for the ice to fall.” He pointed the rifle down at Luka. “What did you do?”

“Investigated a crime scene.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Einar’s beard move, and realized he was subvocalizing, probably with Mairwen.

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.