Read Online Hero! by Dave Duncan - Free Book Online Page B

doll and started to destroy it, and then stopped halfway. There were dozens of tiny, shallow grooves scored around her eyes. Her neck was crooked on her shoulders and the skin of her hands was blotchy. He had heard of this, but never seen it, not even in pictures. It was appalling. His gut knotted in revulsion.
    “You don’t need to kiss me today, Vaun.”
    That was a challenge, and Admiral Vaun never refused a challenge. He’d known many dares he’d approached with more enthusiasm, but he overcame his horror and tried to embrace her. She backed away. “Forget it!” she snapped. “The good times are over.”
    He found his voice. “Oh, Zozo! You, too?”
    She nodded, and her neck puckered horribly. He wondered about arms in the long sleeves, about breasts and belly and thighs, what horrors might be hidden under the voluminous gown. That wondrous fair body…Yes, there had been some good times.
    Very good times. He had spiked the punch himself more than once to get Zozo. The last time, at least, she had guessed who’d been responsible. She disliked him because of it, and put up with him for Tham’s sake.
    If Vaun had a gun as she did, and was dying as she was, he would certainly want to settle all his old scores before he went.
    “Yes,” she said bitterly. “Now you’ve seen, Vaun. It’s true. Go away, Vaun.”
    There was a shine of white at the roots of her hair that he did not understand. It repelled him as much as the crêpe skin and spidery veins…But Admiral Vaun’s poker face had lured many boys to bankruptcy, and he had never been more glad of it than he was now. “I have to speak with Tham.”
    She shook her head fiercely. “My God, boy! You don’t have any human feelings at all, do you? No compassion. No understanding. You never did. If Tham had wanted to see you…if he’d wanted you to see him…Just be merciful—go away.” Her eyes glistened. Zozo had always been very controlled, an intensely private person—except when nobbled with unexpected chemicals, of course—and it was a shock to see the fear in her, the wavering, and the doubts. The hopelessness. Tham’s obscure religion wasn’t much good when the big bills came in, obviously.
    “Listen, Zozo. I’m not doing this out of some misguided sense of pity or sympathy. I’m here on business, serious bus—”
    The gun jerked up again, and she backed away. “Swine!” she said. The muzzle quivered.
    “You don’t understand!” he shouted. His voice echoed coldly inside the great porch.
    “Roker sent you!” Her knuckles on her gun hand whitened. He could see real hatred in her eyes. He would not have expected so much of it.
    “No! No! Roker did this to you, Zozo!”
    At least she did not fire. “What?” she said.
    “Both of you?” he yelled, and continued to yell over the echoes. “Don’t you see that it’s too much of a coincidence for both of you to go at the same time? And so suddenly? Damnation, Zozo, you were both all right last week…”
    She lowered the gun again. She shook her head sadly. “Roker didn’t send you?”
    “I swear he didn’t,” Vaun said—more quietly, now that he was no longer a target, forcing a calm suitable for a famous hero. “It was all my own idea. I’m pretty sure the bastard is up to something. Or someone is.” He decided not to complicate things with talk of the Brotherhood. “Obviously someone has been tampering with your booster, Zozo, but if we get proper medical…”
    She was shaking her head again.
    And almost smiling, which looked awful. “Tham’s known for two years, Vaun.”
    Two years? He stared dumbly at her smug contempt.
    “Medical advised him it was having to raise the dosage.”
    “But he’s not that old!” Vaun protested. Then he realized that he had absolutely no idea how old Tham was. Older than him, yes—and he would have to work it out to know how old that was—but a boy’s age didn’t matter. Or a girl’s. It wasn’t something anyone ever worried