Another Word for Magic by Mackey Chandler

Author:Mackey Chandler [Chandler, Mackey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

There was a bus departing in twenty minutes from when they arrived at the terminal. Gunny made sure they had tickets and sat in the cart until he saw them board.

Porter and his security took a mini-lounge in the bus, built around a table rather than the individual seats. It wasn’t near a shift change so the bus was near empty.

“Mark, would you go get us coffee, please,” Porter asked. He took out the document and looked at it again.

Mark returned with two coffees and the Coke he preferred.

“That fellow, Tindal, sat watching until we boarded,” the senior security, Dennis, said irritated by it. “Did he think we were going to trot off down a tunnel with no pedestrian lane?”

“I’d say that indicates there are ways to gain access back into the city if you know them. We might have found out how to call a cart or there might be walkways in one of the other tunnels,” Porter speculated.

“What upset you so when the Moon Queen walked in?” Mark asked Dennis. “For all that you have a poker face, your body language shouted there was danger. It scared me to see.”

“It wasn’t her. It was the bodyguard. Have they stopped showing the video of him at the academy?”

“I never saw him before. Why would they show us video of one lower rank Spacer like him?” Mark asked.

“Watch it yourself,” Dennis invited and turned his pad to Mark after he found the file.

Mark watched without comment as an imprisoned Gunny recovered from being Tased, snapped his steel handcuffs, and ripped his bunk from where it was welded to the deck. When he used the bunk frame to puncture a hole in the bulkhead and terrorize the security staff in the next compartment, he couldn’t stay silent.

“Oh, come on. I don’t believe it. That’s computer-generated propaganda. Nobody is that strong.” He looked at Porter.

“Believe your partner,” Porter told him. “That’s an incredibly dangerous man. That was recorded years ago in the North American interest section of the old ISSII. You can assume he has no more love of us than his Queen. If anything, assume he is more experienced and better enhanced now.”

“Let me see that again,” Mark said.

* * *

Lee had the Mothers’ technicians send the drive back down to Derfhome rather than stow it in the ship again. She wanted an arm fabricated and fit to stow it in a recess like on the Chariot. It was going to take a major modification of Kurofune’s nose to fit an airlock, docking grapple, and all the changes needed for the drive.

That would take weeks to design and much more time to install, even given the advances in fabricating. Then she’d need to fill in a lot more data points about the jump range of her drive at various power levels before using it to travel. Recruiting and provisioning couldn’t be rushed either. It was going to take months to get ready. Going back to Providence wasn’t going to happen quickly.

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.