Read Online A Dark and Hungry God Arises by Stephen R. Donaldson - Free Book Online Page B

then I'd better be ready to get us out of this mess.
    One way or another. '
    He scanned the bridge. No one disagreed with him —
    and no one except Mikka and Ransum met his gaze.
    The helm second's face conveyed nothing more profound than worry and tension. However, Mikka's expression was dour and defiant, almost openly skeptical. Minute by minute she allowed more of her distrust to show.
    'Scorz, ' Nick said over his shoulder, approximating a poised casualness he still didn't feel, 'call me when we're ten minutes out of dock. I'll be in my cabin. '
    Getting ready.
    Then he moved to the command station and leaned close to Mikka's ear. Maybe she was the one who'd betrayed him. Ignoring the way she pulled her head back as if she didn't want him to touch her, didn't want to feel his breath on her cheek, he murmured intimately, 'I'm going to do my job. You do yours. But the next time you look at me like that, you'd better be prepared to back it up. '
    Leaving that threat behind him, he walked off the bridge.
    When Captain's Fancy docked, he was waiting in the access passage of her airlock as if he were eager.
    He tried to believe that he'd recovered his sure genius for victory: to some extent he succeeded. Yet his new energy felt as artificial as the resources Morn's zone implant gave her.
    Why were the Amnion so bloody determined to get their hands on her brat? What did he represent to them?
    Was he just an excuse - a way to unmask Nick's real treachery? Or did Davies have some value Nick couldn't guess?
    Because he couldn't answer questions like that, he couldn't gauge his own position accurately — or the Bill's.
    How much did the Bill have to gain by pleasing the Amnion in this situation? How much did he stand to lose by refusing to help Nick?
    The sensation that Morn had done him more damage than he could sustain continued to gnaw deep in his guts despite his efforts to believe he was ready.
    'Dock in two minutes, ' Scorz announced over the intercom. 'Secure to disengage spin. '
    Nick was ready for that, at least. With his hands on the zero g grips, he waited for the transition between Captain's Fancy's internal spin and Thanatos Minor's pull.
    The rock's gravitic field was roughly. 8g. In itself, Thanatos Minor lacked the mass to produce so much gravity. However, one of the curious side-effects of the.
    kind of fusion generator which powered Billingate was an increase in the planetoid's effective density. It had almost enough g to be comfortable.
    As Nick's boots began to drift from the deck, imitating freefall, Scorz said unnecessarily, 'One minute. '
    Nick clenched his teeth against his visceral distrust of dock. He was illegal: his survival depended on movement
    - Captain's Fancy's as well as his own. Even when he was safe, he disliked surrendering his ship to the clamped paralysis of a berth. But now he was faced with the very real possibility that he and his ship would never move freely again.
    Then the hull relayed a jolt of impact. Transmitted through the bulkheads, the sound of the grapples and limpets carried clearly across the ship. From Billingate's lock came the hiss of air-lines. As if they were mag-netized, Nick's boots pulled him toward the new floor.
    'Dock secure, Nick. ' This time the voice over the intercom was Mikka's. We're switching to installation power now. ' Familiar with every hum and glow of his ship, he noticed the nearly subliminal flicker of the lights as the current changed. 'Shall we keep drive on standby?'
    Damn her. That was something else he should have thought of for himself. Resisting an impulse to snarl, he answered, 'Good idea. Let's act like we expect to be assigned a shipyard berth almost immediately. ' Then he added, 'Lock up behind me. Nobody goes in or out until I get back. '
    'Right, " she acknowledged.
    At the control panel, Nick checked the airlock, then hit the sequence to open the doors. His hands did everything abruptly, as if he were eager - or afraid.
    As soon as he