Read Online Freehold by William C. Dietz - Free Book Online Page B

the government types at the planet's capital, a place called First Hole. I told ’em I represented a small shipping line interested in serving Freehold, but was concerned about the unusual number of pirate raids, and asked if they could shed any light on the situation. All I got was the runaround. They didn't have the foggiest idea why the pirates had increased their raids, but the government was working on it, and I shouldn't worry my pretty little head. So I headed for the boonies. At first, I couldn't find a damn thing there, either. Those who knew weren't talking, and those who didn't wouldn't shut up. From all indications, the economy centered around limited mining operations, light industry, and the production of some sophisticated ceramic products. It seems a long period of bad weather had hit the first two pretty hard, so I figured their surplus must be coming from the last, and it made sense. Given all that sand, and the almost limitless hydroelectric power available from those huge underground rivers, specialty ceramic products were a natural. Then, too, I learned the finished products were often small, light, easily transportable items, just the sort of things pirates love.”
    “With that in mind, I traveled around telling anyone who'd listen that my company was offering top prices for exotic ceramic products.” Sam laughed. “You wouldn't believe the bribes I was offered—including a variety of sexual services that would make you blush. Anyway, it seems that the settlements operate as cooperatives, each in competition with all the others. So everyone I talked to did their best to promote their products and knock the competition's. And in their eagerness to win my business, they also dropped odd bits of information.”
    “With lots of help from you, I'm sure,” Stell added dryly. “Were you dressed as a man or a woman?”
    “Whichever it took,” she teased. “Now pay attention, because I'm getting to the interesting part. After a particularly alcoholic dinner with the chairman of the local co-op, I received a drunken tour of the settlement's power plant—a big, sealed building right down at the river's edge. I had tried to get inside similar buildings and had failed. Once inside, there was all the stuff you'd expect in a hydroelectric plant: giant turbines, power grids, all the rest. But there was also a section that my host seemed determined to avoid. So when he left for a moment to relieve himself, I took a peek.”
    Stell wasn't fooled by her light conversational tone. He knew the risks she had taken.
    “After getting past a variety of locks, sensors and other stuff, I knew I didn't have much time in there. So I didn't try to figure anything out, I just taped as much as I could.” With that she pulled a micro-viewer out of a hidden pocket in her rumpled clothing and handed it to Stell. Holding it up, Stell gave the viewer a gentle squeeze, and it dutifully played back. Although the two-dimensional picture lacked the depth of a holo, it still produced good detail and color. The shots were fast and jerky, reflecting Sam's haste as she had raced against the clock and her host's full bladder. Occasionally he touched the screen to freeze a shot for a longer look. First he saw a complicated maze of pipes and tubing that seemed to snake in and out of large, sealed metal boxes. Then the camera ran along a laboratory bench covered with printouts, specimen bottles, tools, and other less-identifiable junk.
    Handing the viewer back, Stell said, “Very impressive. What is it?”
    Sam smiled. “That's what I asked the big brains on Techno before I came here.”
    Stell knew Techno was an artificial satellite that had started hundreds of years before as a small research station. Over time it had grown, one module at a time, until it matched the size of Earth's moon. It was a small, independent and self-sufficient universe, inhabited by a variety of top-flight scientists and technicians, all working for the