Maeve Jo Clayton

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.His skin was a pale ocher with olive-green shadows.With an effort Aleytys pulled her mind from his appearance and struggled to hear what he wassaying; After the usual stabbing pain, the translator functioned efficiently. Yes, yes.The stunner worked.We managed to collect four individuals.A very interestingassortment. Yes? One of them is a cerdd.The computer identified him as a member of a dissident group that tries tostir up trouble in the city and on the plain. And? He has a flute looped around his neck.Computer says that hideous noise accompanying each of theattacks was flute music. Interesting.Then you presume a connection between the forest savages and the dissidents. It would seem so.Two of the others were savages from the forest, a full grown male and a cub.Thecub has a crudely made instrument imitating the flute.I suppose it s some kind of fetish. You said four. The last is the most curious.A redheaded woman.Not a native.The computer has no I.D.on herbut she looks a little like a McNeis.Scota Company has been trying to tie into this sector for years.TheMcNeis himself has hair I d call a close match to hers.If the McNeis has a new development intechnology that lets them punch through a defense screen. He shrugged. Unsupported speculation. The dry repressive voice cut through the engineer s too rapid flow ofspeech.He wiped beading moisture from his face and waited. Get your captives patched up if necessary.I will dispatch a technician with a psychprobe.Do youhave the native settlements plotted? Yes, Illustrious. Level them.You shouldn t need help for that.Do you? No, Illustrious. The engineer scowled at the console, his fingers curling into claws. Good.Pick up what you can about the dissidents from the cerdd.If the redheaded woman s a spy,she ll be filled to her eyebrows with anababble.If she s not, she s even less of a problem. Yes, Illustrious. Get what you can from the woman. Yes, Illustrious.Without further words the speaker s voice was replaced by a carrier hum.The engineer swungaround in the swivel chair, cursing softly, long fingers shaking.He stepped across the room with short,nervous steps and thrust a toe into Tipylexne s side, noting his flaccid lack of response. Hah. He took astep to the side and stood looking down at Aleytys.With his foot he pushed her broken leg aside, staringthoughtfully at the bloody mess with its jagged end of protruding bone.Then he left the room.While she waited to see what would happen, Aleytys explored the bodies of her friends and foundthem hurt-free.Prodding her reluctant brain into lumbering activity she finally decided that this was logicalsince they were on the ground when the stunner hit.She still felt no connection with her body; her mindwas a free-floating point with eyeless vision.The engineer walked in again with another man.He touched Tipylexne with his foot This one firstCheck him out.The doctor dropped to his knees beside the cludair and ran a gently buzzing machine over his body,moving it in wide sweeping arcs.He grunted and moved to stoop over Gwynnor, then Ghastay. Nothingwrong with them. Good.What about the woman?The doctor moved to hover over Aleytys.As he moved the buzzing instrument over her body, hefrowned. Funny, he muttered. What? Two compound fractures in the right leg.Simple fracture of the right arm.And no other injuries.None! So? What does it matter? Patch her up so she s fit to be questioned.The doctor s round, meaty face grew a sudden sheen of sweat.He swallowed, his prominent eyesbulging even further as he shifted his gaze nervously from the woman to the engineer. Questioned? Hisvoice was hoarse with an odd tremolo that plucked at Aleytys already taut nerves.There was a subtlewrongness about the man, like a false image laid over the true, an evil shadow on a basically decent man.She looked further and saw a metal socket set into the bone behind his ear and felt sick.Phorx addict.The part-vegetable, part-animal thing that indulged its hosts with bouts of exquisite happiness.And ateaway at his brain. The Director is sending a psychprobe, if that s any of your business.Have her ready. He turned togo.The doctor s jowls shook.His hand groped helplessly in the unresponsive air, then he staggered tohis feet and plucked at the engineer s sleeve. Isn t that illegal?.The Singh-Catal-Manachay Convention.The director jerked his arm free.His nostrils flared with anger and contempt [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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