Planet of the Dead by Don Wismer

Author:Don Wismer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 1988-04-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Once in the transtubes, there was little chance that Cleos or anyone else from Dade could catch them. Nevertheless, Asher kept the Cloak around them as the bus filled up; people were subliminally aware that they were there and did not try to sit on top of them, as might have happened had they been only in Shadow. Only when the bus had moved away and lost itself in the tangled web of tubes networking around the Station did Asher finally let the Cloak relax.

Then, at last, they signaled for Bonnie’s Best, and watched silently as the bus moved from yacht to starship to yacht, while now below, now above, now from one side or another, the glorious green vastness of the planet came into view randomly through the interstices of the tubes.

Asher watched the Station as parts of it appeared and disappeared through the tangle of tubes. The mission was not going well. The stop on Dade had been a disaster, and he had not even traced out the source of the faint Skill presence he had detected on arrival. Why hadn’t the Nin listened to him? He and Clemmy alone would have done better than this. He hoped.

“Was your stay on Dade a pleasant one?” a crewman inquired of them solicitously as they disembarked at Bonnie’s Best. Dov grunted rudely and Clemmy said: “Yes, thank you.”

There was little chance that either Cleos or the Downermaster could have traced them, but nevertheless they held to the public areas of the ship and avoided their cabins for the moment. Once the Best had entered interspace and Asher had scanned as many minds as he could, only then might they relax.

“What’s in the box?” Asher asked Dov as they sat in one of the observation lounges.

Dov and Clemmy exchanged glances. Clemmy said: “Let me.

“Ressies, Asher,” she said. “Two of those things we saw attached to legs here and there. They’re called Ressies.”

Asher’s mind was flying here and there, scanning the tube, part of which they could see out of the viewport, looking for hostile minds.

“Ressies,” he said. “What are they, after all, pets or something?”

Again Dov and Clemmy exchanged glances. “Something,” Clemmy said.

“Asher,” she said gently, laying a hand on his arm. Her wound had stopped bleeding, and she had covered it with a shawl she had bought from the ship’s stores, but the wound was stiffening and the pain was growing. “Asher, this is something I have to describe to you in detail. Please … once we’re in interspace, I have many things to tell you, and show you.” Dov flushed and turned his face away.

Asher saw it and looked at her. In his mind he saw, starkly, the staring, bloated face of the man he had killed.

“You two were together for two days and nights,” he said savagely. She said nothing, but her dark eyes flickered.

“Aye,” he said bitterly. “Maybe we had better wait. I ...”

His eyes narrowed suddenly, and he said: “Wait … wait ... there’s something coming in.

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