(eng) Mike Resnick - Galactic Midway 03 by The Wild Alien Tamer

Author:The Wild Alien Tamer [Tamer, The Wild Alien]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Thaddeus Flint was having a hell of a good time. He sat at his usual table in the mess hall, flanked by Jenny and Lori, two of his more regular bedmates, and luxuriated in the feel of the recessed filter of a Parliament in his mouth. A row of empty Schlitz cans formed an intricate pattern on the tabletop, and he popped open yet another, after first determining where to place it when he was through draining it of its contents.

Things, he reflected, had been going pretty damned well of late. They had played Minot III for nine days, during which time Batman missed two performances because of facial lacerations suffered while executing a new trick. They had also broken the house record again.

Next had been Belsegor, a huge world of tiny, snail-like beings. Monk had broken two toes and lost a tooth, but missed only one performance, and they had shattered Minot's record.

The Rigger's games were pulling in big money, Billybuck Dancer was filling his own tent at every performance, and even the rides were at least breaking even. And, much to Flint's surprise, Kargennian had personally delivered the beer and cigarettes just before the carny ship took off from Belsegor on its long voyage to Pi Beta II. Lori hadn't bitched to him about Jenny, Jenny hadn't bitched to him about Lori, and Mr. Ahasuerus hadn't bitched to him about anything. For the first time in three years, he felt reasonably content.

Diggs looked up from the next table, where he had been playing gin rummy with Tojo. “You keep drinking at this rate, Thaddeus,” he remarked, “and you're going to run through every last drop of that stuff before we touch down on Pi Beta.”

“It's a possibility,” admitted Flint. “Of course, it would last a lot longer if I didn't have so many friends helping me drink it.”

“This ain't a good year for radical ideas,” said Diggs with a smile, as he took another sip of his own beer. “God, I've missed this stuff!”

“Hey, Dancer!” shouted Flint, as Monk and the Dancer entered the mess hall. “Come on over and grab a beer.”

“Thank you, Thaddeus,” said the Dancer, walking over to Flint's table and picking up a can. He popped it open, took a sip, and looked startled. “It tastes real!” he said at last.

“It ought to,” replied Flint. “How about you, Jupiter? You want some?”

Monk shook his head.

“Well, sit down anyway,” said Flint expansively. “I was just telling Jenny and Lori about how you used to capture monkeys by getting them drunk.”

“Apes,” replied Monk.

“What?”

“It wasn't monkeys. It was apes.”

“All right—apes. Why don't you fill them in on the details?”

“Ain't nothing much to tell,” said Monk.

“What are you talking about?” said Flint. “You used to bend our ears for hours with that story.”

“Yeah. Well, that was a long time ago.”

“I remember it,” put in Diggs, leaning over from his own table. “Somewhere in Africa, wasn't it? Nyasaland or some such place.”

Monk glared at Diggs for a moment, then turned to the two girls.

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.