Read Online Daisy Wong, Space Marshal: The Case of the Runaway Concubine by Freddi MacNaughton - Free Book Online
Authors: Freddi MacNaughton
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Daisy Wong, Space Marshal:
The Case of the Runaway Concubine
by Freddi MacNaughton
Lt. Daisy Wong, space marshal, despised Los Angeles, Mars.
She despised it this time around just as much as she had the
last time work had forced her onto the Red Planet. Her boss, Captain
Spaulding, had arranged a favor for the political higher-ups, and so here she
was, on Mars, doing the work.
Daisy hated doing favors for the higher-ups. However, in
this particular instance, Daisy had to admit that she would have agreed to take
on the case, anyway . . . even without Spaulding's
so-called request that she do so. The favor involved a member of Daisy's
family, and family is family, especially when it's part and parcel of some of
the most powerful criminal tongs in the Sol system. Besides, Mars was only one
grubby little planet and Los Angeles, Mars, was only one grubby not-so-little
domed city.
Meanwhile, Daisy's partner, Officer Muffy Chatterjee, was in
the throes of open glee, had been since their shuttle had dropped into Mars
orbit. All the way through customs, her delight had not slackened. All the
way through the spaceport to the waiting line of taxis, her grin had not
faded. And now, on their ride into town from the spaceport, she was excitedly
watching the passing scenery—red and gray and grubby and plasticized and dirty
though it was. She was also keeping up a stream of dirt-side—that is,
Earth-side—accented chatter.
Muffy's hometown was in the northern part of India, Earth,
and at the moment, she sounded as though she would have felt more at home in a
sari than in her uniform. Newbies. You had to love 'em.
Daisy listened to Muffy's stream of consciousness and tried
not to think about the pet-shop humidity, the stench of spilled food rising
from the taxi's floor mats, and the inescapable Martian grit. It had already
worked down in between her collar and her neck, where like sandpaper it abraded
her skin.
The environmental systems inside Mars's domed cities were
supposed to keep the grit at bay, but they didn't. Of course. Nothing ever
worked quite the way it was supposed to. Once she and Muffy returned to Diligence ,
the LaGrange colony they called home, Daisy would have to send her uniforms to the
cleaners at least twice before they'd be really clean.
Above all, Daisy tried not to think about amounted to her
maternal uncle's summons, delivered through the higher-ups to Captain Spaulding,
who had delivered it to her. It was all very unofficial, all very designed to
have her unofficially assigned to a hush-hush case for which no files would
ever exist. The multiple ironies of the situation had escaped no one, least of
all Daisy.
Muffy quit chattering the moment their taxi pulled up in
front of the Celestial Cybernetics and Robotics building. It was a tall, buff-colored,
pagoda-shaped structure.
Daisy paid the tab and asked the driver to wait. The extra cash
she handed him ensured that he might.
Muffy's mood descended from quiet to wary during their
elevator ride up to the offices of the Celestial Fraternal Benevolent and
Protective Association. The Association was an unabashed criminal tong and the
sole owner of the Celestial Cybernetics and Robotics Corporation, one of its
numerous fronts. Like a Hindu god, the Association had many faces and more
arms. Daisy's uncle, Zhaohui "Snakeskin" Wong, was the man in
charge.
Muffy watched the floor numbers light up in succession. Her
lips moved slightly as she counted off the floors. She reminded Daisy of a
condemned criminal counting the steps to the execution chamber.
Daisy wished she'd knock it off.
Muffy said, "Please be telling me again why it is we
are finding ourselves here?"
Muffy was just back from well-deserved vacation—a trip home
to India, Earth—and her accent was stronger than ever. It was so strong that Daisy
wondered whether or not her partner wasn't imitating her pre-space-dwelling
self.
"You
The Case of the Runaway Concubine
by Freddi MacNaughton
Lt. Daisy Wong, space marshal, despised Los Angeles, Mars.
She despised it this time around just as much as she had the
last time work had forced her onto the Red Planet. Her boss, Captain
Spaulding, had arranged a favor for the political higher-ups, and so here she
was, on Mars, doing the work.
Daisy hated doing favors for the higher-ups. However, in
this particular instance, Daisy had to admit that she would have agreed to take
on the case, anyway . . . even without Spaulding's
so-called request that she do so. The favor involved a member of Daisy's
family, and family is family, especially when it's part and parcel of some of
the most powerful criminal tongs in the Sol system. Besides, Mars was only one
grubby little planet and Los Angeles, Mars, was only one grubby not-so-little
domed city.
Meanwhile, Daisy's partner, Officer Muffy Chatterjee, was in
the throes of open glee, had been since their shuttle had dropped into Mars
orbit. All the way through customs, her delight had not slackened. All the
way through the spaceport to the waiting line of taxis, her grin had not
faded. And now, on their ride into town from the spaceport, she was excitedly
watching the passing scenery—red and gray and grubby and plasticized and dirty
though it was. She was also keeping up a stream of dirt-side—that is,
Earth-side—accented chatter.
Muffy's hometown was in the northern part of India, Earth,
and at the moment, she sounded as though she would have felt more at home in a
sari than in her uniform. Newbies. You had to love 'em.
Daisy listened to Muffy's stream of consciousness and tried
not to think about the pet-shop humidity, the stench of spilled food rising
from the taxi's floor mats, and the inescapable Martian grit. It had already
worked down in between her collar and her neck, where like sandpaper it abraded
her skin.
The environmental systems inside Mars's domed cities were
supposed to keep the grit at bay, but they didn't. Of course. Nothing ever
worked quite the way it was supposed to. Once she and Muffy returned to Diligence ,
the LaGrange colony they called home, Daisy would have to send her uniforms to the
cleaners at least twice before they'd be really clean.
Above all, Daisy tried not to think about amounted to her
maternal uncle's summons, delivered through the higher-ups to Captain Spaulding,
who had delivered it to her. It was all very unofficial, all very designed to
have her unofficially assigned to a hush-hush case for which no files would
ever exist. The multiple ironies of the situation had escaped no one, least of
all Daisy.
Muffy quit chattering the moment their taxi pulled up in
front of the Celestial Cybernetics and Robotics building. It was a tall, buff-colored,
pagoda-shaped structure.
Daisy paid the tab and asked the driver to wait. The extra cash
she handed him ensured that he might.
Muffy's mood descended from quiet to wary during their
elevator ride up to the offices of the Celestial Fraternal Benevolent and
Protective Association. The Association was an unabashed criminal tong and the
sole owner of the Celestial Cybernetics and Robotics Corporation, one of its
numerous fronts. Like a Hindu god, the Association had many faces and more
arms. Daisy's uncle, Zhaohui "Snakeskin" Wong, was the man in
charge.
Muffy watched the floor numbers light up in succession. Her
lips moved slightly as she counted off the floors. She reminded Daisy of a
condemned criminal counting the steps to the execution chamber.
Daisy wished she'd knock it off.
Muffy said, "Please be telling me again why it is we
are finding ourselves here?"
Muffy was just back from well-deserved vacation—a trip home
to India, Earth—and her accent was stronger than ever. It was so strong that Daisy
wondered whether or not her partner wasn't imitating her pre-space-dwelling
self.
"You
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