[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
in the back of his throat.
A kick thudded into his back, another into his ribs. A hand grabbed his neck and twisted it, and three
times a fist smashed into his face.
"That is enough. Remove him," the woman said.
This time Joshua had been permitted to wear a thin pair of pajama pants that might once have been
white but now were soiled with bloodstains, filth, and dried excrement, none of it his. His eyes were
uncovered.
He was pulled from the room they'd picked for his cell, a large, windowless storage room at the back of
the mansion. He had no idea where the others were.
One man held a blaster on him; the other two strapped his hands behind his back with plas restrainers.
They frog-marched him down the corridor into what
had been the dining room. Wolfe saw his own blood-stains on the polished wooden floor. Now the
windows had been covered, and the long table had been moved to the side. There were four chairs
behind it Two of them were occupied, one by a woman, not unattractive, in her thirties, hair worn in a
convenient pageboy cut. The man was some years older, with gray close-cut hair and a neat goatee.
Both wore quiet clothing that came close to being a uniform. There was a gun on the table in front of the
woman.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Two of the guards left. The one who remained was squat and heavy-muscled, with narrow eyes that
never left Wolfe.
"Is it agreed that I speak for the Order?" the woman said, no question in her voice.
"It is."
"Joshua Wolfe, I require you to answer certain ques-tions. You will answer them fully and completely."
'To whom am I speaking?"
"You may call me Bori. It is not my name but will give you a symbol to use."
"Where are my friends?"
"They are still alive and are being kept secure. You should be aware that their safety depends on your
coop-eration, of course."
"When you have what you need, what do you intend doing?"
"I do not think that pertains to the moment," Bori said. "I am the one with the questions."
Wolfe half smiled.
"You find something funny?"
"I was just remembering something I told Sutro a few hours ago."
"We know a great deal about you, Joshua Wolfe. About your war record, about your time with the
Al'ar, even your activities here in the Outlaw Worlds, al-though you've done an excellent job of remaining
nearly invisible."
"Since you know everything, then what's the point of our& chatting?"
"Tyrma!"
The squat man slashed a knife hand sideways into Wolfe's upper arm. Joshua winced and bit his lip to
keep from crying out.
"We have little time or appreciation for humor," Bori said. "Now, you will please answer our questions.
First, the most immediate matters:
"Are there other bombs set in the casino, as the po-lice believe?"
"No."
"The reason we asked was because if there was going to be further upset to the order of things, it might
be well to immediately go offworld before continuing our interrogation. I suspect you are telling the truth
and that first bomb was merely to create a diversion.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Do you have other associates beyond the ones we secured?"
"No."
"Where is your ship?"
"Offworld. In a parking orbit"
"Then you lied. Thereare others in your team."
Tyrma struck again, this time with a side kick to Wolfe's ankle. Joshua almost fell, recovered.
"How many are there in your crew?"
"Two," Wolfe said.
"How will you summon them?" Bori held up the bonemike from Wolfe's gear, and he experienced a faint
moment of hope. "This device appears of too limited a range to reach beyond the planetary surface."
"I use a conventional com," he said. "I place a call through the offworld connection to a certain party on
a certain world on a certain link. My ship's computer monitors any com that's broadcast of that nature,
and the crew'U land at whatever point I told them to.
"If the pickup point has changed, then I can use any microwave transmitter to tell them where to get me
once they're in-atmosphere."
"Complicated," Bori said. "But careful, so I am not surprised. We shall require you at a certain time to
sum-mon them.
"But not at the moment.
"Who are you working for?"
Joshua said nothing, stiffening for the blow.
"No, Tyrma. Not now. We shall outline our needs to Joshua Wolfe before we apply further stress.
"Are you working for the Federation? Specifically, are you working for Federation Intelligence? If so,
we shall need to know all the details of your mission, in-cluding controlling agents and when and how you
re-port.
"Are you working for the Outlaw Worlds' own law enforcement?
"Are you working on a matter of personal concern?"
"I'm following my own trail."
"Which is?"
"When the Al'ar trained me, they used a Lumina stone," Wolfe said. "When I served the warrant on
Innokenty Khodyan, I discovered the stone.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"I wanted to know where it came from and where I could find others. That is why I went to
Penruddock."
Bori stared at him, reached under the table, took out the Lumina, and set it in front of her. "We shall
return to that line of questioning again. I am not sure I accept your story."
Joshua waited.
"There are stories that not all the Al'ar departed& or did whatever they did at the end of the war. Have
you heard such tales?"
"I have."
"Do you believe them?"
"No. I checked on a few of them, found they were gas."
"We are fairly sure you are wrong," Bori said. "Next question: Have you ever heard of the Mother
Lumina? Perhaps you would have known it as the Overlord Stone. It would have been some sort of
controlling or recording device for all Luminas, perhaps."
"No."
Bori considered. "I am not sure I accept that answer, either. We shall ask it again& under different
circum-stances.
"What do you know of the Secrets of the Al'ar?"
Wolfe lifted an eyebrow. "Bori, are the Chitet going mad? Secrets of the Al'ar? Like what? Like where
they went?"
"Tyrma!"
Again the squat man struck Joshua.
"I was referring to the curiosity show calledThe Se-crets of the Al'ar . It is scheduled to perform, or do
whatever it does, in a few weeks here on Trinite. It also appeared on Mandodari HI not long before we
learned, through some of our friends who have not yet joined us openly, of Judge Penruddock's
acquisition of the Lumina.
"We are wondering if this is a coincidence or not. We have, as a matter of course, close-sievedall
matters dealing with the Al'ar."
"The first I heard of it was seeing something on my com after I landed," Joshua said. "I don't know
any-thing about it other than it sounds like a freak show." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
in the back of his throat.
A kick thudded into his back, another into his ribs. A hand grabbed his neck and twisted it, and three
times a fist smashed into his face.
"That is enough. Remove him," the woman said.
This time Joshua had been permitted to wear a thin pair of pajama pants that might once have been
white but now were soiled with bloodstains, filth, and dried excrement, none of it his. His eyes were
uncovered.
He was pulled from the room they'd picked for his cell, a large, windowless storage room at the back of
the mansion. He had no idea where the others were.
One man held a blaster on him; the other two strapped his hands behind his back with plas restrainers.
They frog-marched him down the corridor into what
had been the dining room. Wolfe saw his own blood-stains on the polished wooden floor. Now the
windows had been covered, and the long table had been moved to the side. There were four chairs
behind it Two of them were occupied, one by a woman, not unattractive, in her thirties, hair worn in a
convenient pageboy cut. The man was some years older, with gray close-cut hair and a neat goatee.
Both wore quiet clothing that came close to being a uniform. There was a gun on the table in front of the
woman.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Two of the guards left. The one who remained was squat and heavy-muscled, with narrow eyes that
never left Wolfe.
"Is it agreed that I speak for the Order?" the woman said, no question in her voice.
"It is."
"Joshua Wolfe, I require you to answer certain ques-tions. You will answer them fully and completely."
'To whom am I speaking?"
"You may call me Bori. It is not my name but will give you a symbol to use."
"Where are my friends?"
"They are still alive and are being kept secure. You should be aware that their safety depends on your
coop-eration, of course."
"When you have what you need, what do you intend doing?"
"I do not think that pertains to the moment," Bori said. "I am the one with the questions."
Wolfe half smiled.
"You find something funny?"
"I was just remembering something I told Sutro a few hours ago."
"We know a great deal about you, Joshua Wolfe. About your war record, about your time with the
Al'ar, even your activities here in the Outlaw Worlds, al-though you've done an excellent job of remaining
nearly invisible."
"Since you know everything, then what's the point of our& chatting?"
"Tyrma!"
The squat man slashed a knife hand sideways into Wolfe's upper arm. Joshua winced and bit his lip to
keep from crying out.
"We have little time or appreciation for humor," Bori said. "Now, you will please answer our questions.
First, the most immediate matters:
"Are there other bombs set in the casino, as the po-lice believe?"
"No."
"The reason we asked was because if there was going to be further upset to the order of things, it might
be well to immediately go offworld before continuing our interrogation. I suspect you are telling the truth
and that first bomb was merely to create a diversion.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Do you have other associates beyond the ones we secured?"
"No."
"Where is your ship?"
"Offworld. In a parking orbit"
"Then you lied. Thereare others in your team."
Tyrma struck again, this time with a side kick to Wolfe's ankle. Joshua almost fell, recovered.
"How many are there in your crew?"
"Two," Wolfe said.
"How will you summon them?" Bori held up the bonemike from Wolfe's gear, and he experienced a faint
moment of hope. "This device appears of too limited a range to reach beyond the planetary surface."
"I use a conventional com," he said. "I place a call through the offworld connection to a certain party on
a certain world on a certain link. My ship's computer monitors any com that's broadcast of that nature,
and the crew'U land at whatever point I told them to.
"If the pickup point has changed, then I can use any microwave transmitter to tell them where to get me
once they're in-atmosphere."
"Complicated," Bori said. "But careful, so I am not surprised. We shall require you at a certain time to
sum-mon them.
"But not at the moment.
"Who are you working for?"
Joshua said nothing, stiffening for the blow.
"No, Tyrma. Not now. We shall outline our needs to Joshua Wolfe before we apply further stress.
"Are you working for the Federation? Specifically, are you working for Federation Intelligence? If so,
we shall need to know all the details of your mission, in-cluding controlling agents and when and how you
re-port.
"Are you working for the Outlaw Worlds' own law enforcement?
"Are you working on a matter of personal concern?"
"I'm following my own trail."
"Which is?"
"When the Al'ar trained me, they used a Lumina stone," Wolfe said. "When I served the warrant on
Innokenty Khodyan, I discovered the stone.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"I wanted to know where it came from and where I could find others. That is why I went to
Penruddock."
Bori stared at him, reached under the table, took out the Lumina, and set it in front of her. "We shall
return to that line of questioning again. I am not sure I accept your story."
Joshua waited.
"There are stories that not all the Al'ar departed& or did whatever they did at the end of the war. Have
you heard such tales?"
"I have."
"Do you believe them?"
"No. I checked on a few of them, found they were gas."
"We are fairly sure you are wrong," Bori said. "Next question: Have you ever heard of the Mother
Lumina? Perhaps you would have known it as the Overlord Stone. It would have been some sort of
controlling or recording device for all Luminas, perhaps."
"No."
Bori considered. "I am not sure I accept that answer, either. We shall ask it again& under different
circum-stances.
"What do you know of the Secrets of the Al'ar?"
Wolfe lifted an eyebrow. "Bori, are the Chitet going mad? Secrets of the Al'ar? Like what? Like where
they went?"
"Tyrma!"
Again the squat man struck Joshua.
"I was referring to the curiosity show calledThe Se-crets of the Al'ar . It is scheduled to perform, or do
whatever it does, in a few weeks here on Trinite. It also appeared on Mandodari HI not long before we
learned, through some of our friends who have not yet joined us openly, of Judge Penruddock's
acquisition of the Lumina.
"We are wondering if this is a coincidence or not. We have, as a matter of course, close-sievedall
matters dealing with the Al'ar."
"The first I heard of it was seeing something on my com after I landed," Joshua said. "I don't know
any-thing about it other than it sounds like a freak show." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]