Read Online A Dark and Hungry God Arises by Stephen R. Donaldson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Stephen R. Donaldson
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Hyland; Morn (Fictitious character), Thermopyle; Angus (Fictitious character), Succorso; Nick (Fictitious character), Hyland; Morn (Fictitious character) - Fiction, Succorso; Nick (Fictitious character) - Fiction, Thermopyle; Angus (Fictitious character) - Fiction, Taverner; Milos (Fictitious character), Taverner; Milos (Fictitious character) - Fiction
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definitive click, Operations cut transmission.
An unnatural silence filled the bridge, as if the air-scrubbers and servos had shut down.
Karster usually kept his questions to himself. Perhaps to compensate for the fact that he looked as unformed as a boy, he tried to act like he already understood everything. He couldn't stand the silence, however.
'Confirm it in person?' he asked. What's that supposed to mean?'
'It means, ' Mikka replied as if she were suddenly tired,
'the Bill wants to know what's going on before he makes up his mind about us. '
Nick wheeled on the command second. If she kept this up, he was certainly going to hit her. 'You said it yourself, ' he snarled. 'It's not that simple. He's got fucking Morn's fucking brat. '
The Bill wanted to know what was going on so that he could milk the situation for all it was worth. And so that he could get even with Nick for bringing him this kind of trouble.
Nick had promised Davies to the Amnion.
Trying to demonstrate that he'd never intended to break his bargains with them — as well as to conceal the true nature of his dishonesty toward them - he'd also promised them Morn.
But the Bill had Davies. If Nick's credit-jack had been revoked, he had nothing with which to buy the brat back.
Except Morn.
He'd come to a place where he had to cheat somebody
- and whoever he cheated would kill him for it.
Unless -
The idea hit him like a bolt of his old lightning, the electricity which kept him and everything he valued alive.
- unless he cheated the cops instead.
Hashi Lebwohl had assigned him to undermine Billingate, do the shipyard potentially permanent harm.
And the DA director had told him how to do it. A dangerous gamble: the kind Nick specialized in. That Lebwohl was willing to take such risks had impressed Nick in spite of himself.
It was a risk which could be turned against Lebwohl and the entire fucking UMCP.
Would they respond to his last message? He didn't know. Maybe not. But if they did, so much the better.
They were much more of a threat to Thanatos Minor and the Amnion than to Nick himself. As far as they were concerned, Morn was the only excuse he needed for whatever he did. He could always say he was trying to rescue her.
And if they didn't respond, they couldn't interfere.
The consequences would be incalculable, of course.
But that wasn't Nick's problem. Let Lebwohl clean it up.
Or Dios himself. They deserved it.
In the meantime it just might work.
For a moment he simply stood still, tasting his own resources, letting the bolt's charge bring him back to himself. Then he turned away from Mikka as if her doubts no longer mattered.
'Arkenhill, ' he asked with a semblance of his old relaxed, deadly insouciance, 'how far back are those warships?'
The scan second had this information at his fingertips.
'Tranquil Hegemony is about half an hour. She burned for a while after we passed her - after the pod changed course. Closed most of the distance. But she's down to our speed now - normal approach velocity for Billingate. '
To show that the hostility of her intentions wasn't aimed at the shipyard.
'Calm Horizons has been coming up on us as fast as a lumbering tub like that can and still leave room to decelerate. In fact, she cut it a lot finer than we did. '
Which she could do because she was Amnion - and because she'd been moving much slower than Captain's Fancy's imponderable. 9C. 'She should be in dock' -
Arkenhill checked a screen - 'call it eight hours from now. '
Nick shook his head. They won't come all the way in.
They're going to hang off in prime range for that damn super-light proton beam, just to remind us - and the Bill
- we can't hope to cross them and live.
'So, ' he continued as if he were thinking aloud, 'I'll have a little more than half an hour to talk to the Bill before Tranquil Hegemony arrives. And I can stall for four or five hours after that - until Calm Horizons is in position to support Tranquil Hegemony.
'By
An unnatural silence filled the bridge, as if the air-scrubbers and servos had shut down.
Karster usually kept his questions to himself. Perhaps to compensate for the fact that he looked as unformed as a boy, he tried to act like he already understood everything. He couldn't stand the silence, however.
'Confirm it in person?' he asked. What's that supposed to mean?'
'It means, ' Mikka replied as if she were suddenly tired,
'the Bill wants to know what's going on before he makes up his mind about us. '
Nick wheeled on the command second. If she kept this up, he was certainly going to hit her. 'You said it yourself, ' he snarled. 'It's not that simple. He's got fucking Morn's fucking brat. '
The Bill wanted to know what was going on so that he could milk the situation for all it was worth. And so that he could get even with Nick for bringing him this kind of trouble.
Nick had promised Davies to the Amnion.
Trying to demonstrate that he'd never intended to break his bargains with them — as well as to conceal the true nature of his dishonesty toward them - he'd also promised them Morn.
But the Bill had Davies. If Nick's credit-jack had been revoked, he had nothing with which to buy the brat back.
Except Morn.
He'd come to a place where he had to cheat somebody
- and whoever he cheated would kill him for it.
Unless -
The idea hit him like a bolt of his old lightning, the electricity which kept him and everything he valued alive.
- unless he cheated the cops instead.
Hashi Lebwohl had assigned him to undermine Billingate, do the shipyard potentially permanent harm.
And the DA director had told him how to do it. A dangerous gamble: the kind Nick specialized in. That Lebwohl was willing to take such risks had impressed Nick in spite of himself.
It was a risk which could be turned against Lebwohl and the entire fucking UMCP.
Would they respond to his last message? He didn't know. Maybe not. But if they did, so much the better.
They were much more of a threat to Thanatos Minor and the Amnion than to Nick himself. As far as they were concerned, Morn was the only excuse he needed for whatever he did. He could always say he was trying to rescue her.
And if they didn't respond, they couldn't interfere.
The consequences would be incalculable, of course.
But that wasn't Nick's problem. Let Lebwohl clean it up.
Or Dios himself. They deserved it.
In the meantime it just might work.
For a moment he simply stood still, tasting his own resources, letting the bolt's charge bring him back to himself. Then he turned away from Mikka as if her doubts no longer mattered.
'Arkenhill, ' he asked with a semblance of his old relaxed, deadly insouciance, 'how far back are those warships?'
The scan second had this information at his fingertips.
'Tranquil Hegemony is about half an hour. She burned for a while after we passed her - after the pod changed course. Closed most of the distance. But she's down to our speed now - normal approach velocity for Billingate. '
To show that the hostility of her intentions wasn't aimed at the shipyard.
'Calm Horizons has been coming up on us as fast as a lumbering tub like that can and still leave room to decelerate. In fact, she cut it a lot finer than we did. '
Which she could do because she was Amnion - and because she'd been moving much slower than Captain's Fancy's imponderable. 9C. 'She should be in dock' -
Arkenhill checked a screen - 'call it eight hours from now. '
Nick shook his head. They won't come all the way in.
They're going to hang off in prime range for that damn super-light proton beam, just to remind us - and the Bill
- we can't hope to cross them and live.
'So, ' he continued as if he were thinking aloud, 'I'll have a little more than half an hour to talk to the Bill before Tranquil Hegemony arrives. And I can stall for four or five hours after that - until Calm Horizons is in position to support Tranquil Hegemony.
'By
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