The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton

Author:Peter F. Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Science-Fiction
ISBN: 9780316021814
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 1997-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

It took a lot of effort on Gerald’s part not to shy away from the ceiling-mounted sensors in the public hall. He still wasn’t convinced about the face that appeared each time he looked in the mirror. Ten years younger, but with puffy cheeks and drooping laughter lines, skin a shade darker with an underlying red flush; a face which conveyed his internal worry perfectly. His hair had been trimmed to a centimetre fuzz and coloured a light chestnut – at least there were no silver strands any more.

He walked into the Bar Vips and ordered a mineral water, asking the barman where he could find Captain McRobert.

McRobert had brought two of his crew with him, one of whom was a cosmonik with a body resembling a mannequin: jet black with no features at all, not even on the head; he was an impressive two hundred and ten centimetres tall.

Gerald tried to retain an impassive expression as he sat at their table, but it wasn’t easy. Their steely presence was conjuring up memories of the squad which had captured Kingsford Garrigan in Lalonde’s jungle. ‘I’m Niall Lyshol; Pou Mok sent me,’ he stuttered.

‘If she hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here,’ McRobert said curtly. ‘As it is . . .’ He gave the cosmonik a brief signal.

Gerald was offered a processor block.

‘Take it,’ McRobert instructed.

He tried, but the huge black hand wouldn’t let go.

‘No static charge,’ the cosmonik said. ‘No glitches.’ The block was withdrawn.

‘All right, Niall Lyshol,’ McRobert said. ‘You’re not a possessed, so what the fuck are you?’

‘Someone who wants a flight out of here.’ Gerald exhaled softly, reminding himself of the relaxation exercises Dr Dobbs urged him to employ: cycle down the body and the brainwaves will follow. ‘As someone else who deals with Pou Mok, Captain, you should appreciate the need to keep moving on before people start to take an interest in you.’

‘Don’t pull that bullshit pressure routine on me, boy. I’m not taking anyone who’s hot, not with the way things are right now. I don’t even know if we’re going to leave Guyana, the code two defence alert still hasn’t been lifted. Traffic control is hardly going to clear anyone for flight while one of those bastards is running loose up here.’

‘I’m not hot. Check the bulletins.’

‘I have done.’

‘So you’ll take me when the code two is lifted?’

‘You’re a complication, Lyshol. I can’t take passengers because of the quarantine; which means you’d have to be listed as crew. You haven’t got neural nanonics; which means the line company would start asking me questions. I don’t like that.’

‘I can pay.’

‘Be assured: you will.’

‘And you’ll have Pou Mok’s gratitude. For what it’s worth.’

‘Less than she likes to think. What are you running from?’

‘People. Not the authorities. There’s no official trouble.’

‘One hundred thousand fuseodollars, and you spend the whole voyage in zero-tau. I’m not having you throwing up all over the life-support capsule.’

‘Agreed.’

‘Too quickly. A hundred thousand is an awful lot of money.’

Gerald wasn’t sure how much longer

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