Read Online Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez - Free Book Online Page A

jelligantic was disintegrating. I opened my helmet to rub a tentacle across the powder.
    “Who hired you?” I asked Cal.
    He balked. “We haven’t even begun negotiations on the terms of that information.”
    “I’ll write you a check.”
    “I’m not authorized to act without a lawyer present.”
    I stood, turned on him. “I will write you a check.”
    “I, sir, am a member of the distinguished Atlantese army. I have pledged an oath to follow certain regulations—”
    My patience was at its end.
    “I will write you a check. And your distinguished army another check. And another check for every citizen who survived the attack with a healthy bonus for all their pain and suffering. And one more to rebuild the city. In the end, this won’t cost you a penny.”
    Cal relaxed. “That’s very generous of you, Lord Mollusk. Perhaps you would like to discuss the details over dinner?”
    “I would not. I’m leaving in twenty minutes.”
    “But for a matter this profitable, I must consult with my superiors.”
    “Twenty minutes.”
    I walked away, leaving him to work out the details.
    “Is that wise?” asked Zala. “What if he doesn’t give you the information?”
    “He will. Though it doesn’t matter. Whatever the Atlantese know will be unimportant.” I held up my hand, showing the powder on my fingertips. “This was the clue.”
    “Then why pay them at all?”
    “Because I did destroy their city. None of this would have happened without me.”
    She nodded to herself. “For someone claiming not to be interested in reforming, that’s a very responsible thing to do.”
    “No, it isn’t. I have unlimited resources at my disposal. Money coming out of my gills.”
    “Still, I’m surprised you didn’t just hypnotize them into forgetting the entire affair. Or threaten them with disintegration.”
    “Never occurred to me.”
    The rescue lawyer handed me a stack of settlements in need of my signature and a pen. I started signing.
    “Well, maybe it occurred to me once or twice,” I said with a half smile.

6
    The Atlantese had been hired anonymously. A robot had paid for the assassination attempt with one ton of untraceable gold. The contracts were signed with an X . As long as the payment was big enough, the Atlantese were fine with not asking any questions.
    I was allowed to watch the security video of the transaction. The robot had arrived in a small craft, alone. Both the robot and the ship were of my own design.
    There was nothing else the video could give me, so I turned it off.
    “So where are we going now?” asked Zala.
    I projected a three-dimensional image of our destination.
    “Less than a century ago, the Terra Sapiens discovered atomic energy. Like nearly every sentient race in the system, they immediately started seeing how big an explosion they could make with it. All very fun and a perfectly natural step in their technological growth. One of their tests was on an island in a graviton well-known as the Bermuda Triangle.”
    “Are they idiots?”
    “They haven’t figured out all the subtleties of gravity yet. In their defense, their development has been sporadic and confusing. They jumped onto geometry and engineering at a very young age, but it took them ages to put the steam engine to good use.”
    “What were they doing in the meantime?”
    “Culture,” I said. “Poetry, music, plays, philosophy. They’re really good at that sort of thing.”
    I pushed a button and various images scrolled across the screen. Triumphs of architecture, art, and creative expression. It wasn’t that the other races of the system were devoid of arts. But none spent nearly as much time on it as the Terrans did.
    “They’ve produced a tremendous variety of the stuff,” I said. “They argue over it, obsess over it, fight wars over it. They declare some of it all important and other bits of it to be stupid and pointless. And the most interesting thing about it is that they can’t seem to agree on which