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Apparently Grinder wasn t that interested in him yet. He was exhausted and
needed to sleep, but he stripped his jacket first, setting the tabs and
tictacs in their slots in the decoder, plugging in the sensacube to download
its more general data set.
5
Nervous and unhappy, Worm followed the humming serviteur into the dining room
and nearly lost what calm he had left when he saw Lylunda Elang sitting next
to the empty chair that was waiting for him.
He relaxed when she nodded absently at him, smiled, then went back to talking
to the woman on her other side.
7. Hunting Cover
1
The Hegger Combine was a small dominion at the tip of the Ular Spur, four star
systems with a fifth at the center, all of them within three days split travel
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from each other, the Combine itself on a major trade route. The inhabited
worlds of these systems were prosper-ous, peaceful and controlled,
with access to the surface severely restricted. An outsider had to have a
sponsor and wear a locator tag at all times.
Shadith left her ship in the tie-down at the transfer station in orbit about
the Hub World Ghysto; all com-merce in the combine funneled through this place
and the station was immense, almost as large if not as massive as the world it
floated above. Having to be vetted like this was annoying and ate up time, but
an untagged ship approaching any of the systems in the Combine would be blown
to dust the minute it showed on a screen.
Digby s Shriek got her through Check-In without trouble; she rented a guide
rod and slip plate and went skimming along the thruways, hunting for Adelaris
Supply Systems.
2
The polished, pale young man gave her a good view of his perfect teeth as he
rose from his desklet and smiled at her.  How may I help you, Desp ?
Irritated by the eyes watching her, while the suspi-cion and control that was
tangible enough to smell made her feel that her skin had shrunk until it
didn t fit over her bones any more, Shadith decided she was tired of all this.
She put on her most formal face and said with icy precision,  I need to speak
to
Adelaar aici Arash. Would you arrange the call, please?
 May I ask why? I don t mean to be intrusive, but I ll have to give a reason
to the Prossiggal.
 You may not mean to intrude, but you do. Tell your Prossiggal this: Shadith
whom aici Arash met on
Telf-fer and University wishes to speak to her concerning a matter which is to
be kept private between them and which does not concern any others but the two
of us. If that proves insufficient, then so be it.
 May I see your identification?
 That is not necessary.
He let his smile fade.  If you were a friend, you would have the private
number. I think I must insist.
 That I m here without objection from the Combine is sufficient. Anything more
is unseemly curiosity on your part. Make the call.
For a moment she thought he was going to summon security and have her removed;
then he brought up the privacy shield, tapped on the corn, and began talking.
After the first few words, his neatly brushed eyebrows rose and a few faint
wrinkles appeared in his marble brow.
Shadith waited, impatience like burrs in her blood. A moment later he rose
gracefully to his feet and stepped away from the desk.  Aici Arash wishes to
speak to you, Desp Shadith. He waited until she was seated, then stepped
outside the door so it would be obvious he wasn t listening.
 So it is you. Well, what is it?
 I need to talk to you. Face-to-face. You know where I m working now?
 Yes. It has to do with that?
 Indirectly.
 Not Aslan?
 Didn t your pretty assistant tell you there was no one else involved? Spla!
Adelaar chuckled.  He is very decorative, isn t he. And intelligent in his
limited way which is quite suit-able for the job he s got. Her pale blue eye
went dis-tant.
Thinking it over
Shadith told herself.
Asking herself what price she can extract for her cooperation. She
might owe me her life, but that s debased currency in these realms. I should
have known that.
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 His name s Brad, Adelaar said.  Call him back and I ll have him set things
up. You have your own ship?
 Company ship, company registery.
 Give him the Shriek string, he ll need that for the tag. You ll have a
three-day  split from Ghysto. I ll be waiting for your call-down then.
3
When the shuttle from Droom s transfer station landed at the Visitor s Field,
a girl was waiting for her in the small holding room, a lanky, odd-looking
almost child.
 My name s Talit. The Patron sent me to give you the pass and bring you to
Adelaris.
 Patron? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]