Read Online Justice by S.J. Bryant - Free Book Online Page B

farm.”
    “ But that doesn’t make any sense. They need the Outer Galaxies
to mine their precious metals.”
    “ I know. But it’s like they don’t care about that any more,
the most precious resource of all has suddenly become human
flesh.”
    “ But it’s a big galaxy. Surely hundreds of people would have
to go missing a day for anyone to even notice?”
    “ Exactly,” Jack said, nodding. “It’s getting worse. We
probably still wouldn’t know about it if it weren’t for people like
Aart who are actually bothering to investigate. That and some of
the Inner Galaxy people are scared. You don’t see that very
often.”
    “ I can’t believe we haven’t heard about this
before.”
    “ Like I said, they’re keeping a very tight lid on it. If we
hadn’t come out here where no one could hear us, I wouldn’t have
told you either.”
    “ So, what are we going to do about it?”
    Jack shrugged.
“Usually I’d ignore it, let the Inner Galaxies do whatever they
want. But I think they’re serious. And if they keep recruiting
people, they’ll have a bloodthirsty army to do with what they want.
Imagine everyone in The Jagged Maw being dragged off to feed the
Confederacy. At least at the moment it’s only Quadrant Two, but
what happens if they take over the rest of the Confederacy?”
    Nova saw it
very clearly in her mind’s eye. She saw Aart and Tanguin lying on a
wide table, tied down, while a man in a crisp suit carved into them
with a serrated blade. Blood poured out onto the table and stained
the white tablecloth crimson.
    “ Grishnak,” Nova said.
    “ What are you going to do?”
    “ Tell Aart when I get a chance.”
    “ Be careful,” Jack warned. “They’ve got spies everywhere. I
bet even The Jagged Maw has been infiltrated.”
    “ No way,” Nova said, shaking her head.
    Jack frowned.
“Just be careful.”
    “ I will. I have to think about this, and just when we’ve got a
dead president to search for. I don’t suppose he could have been
eaten?”
    “ Zorka is here,” Jack said with a snort. “But somehow I don’t
think she’s taken to cannibalism yet.”
    “ I don’t know. She looks like a man-eater to me,” Nova said
with a chuckle.
    She turned
around and hacked at the forest with new vigour, her arms whipping
back and forth. The branches and vines finally began to part before
her in a flurry of falling leaves.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER NINE
    14 Hours after
Power-Out…
    Hours later,
the complex was far behind them and the forest stretched in every
direction, an endless expanse of green leaves. The silence lay over
them like a blanket, making Nova feel stifled and suffocated inside
the suit.
    “ I hope we find him soon because I do not want to spend the
night out here,” said Jack as he stomped behind Nova.
    “ Just be grateful the days are thirty-six standard hours.
Imagine if we were on a planet with a twenty hour cycle,” Nova
said.
    Jack grumbled
something unintelligible.
    “ You know what I don’t get?” said Nova. “There are no
footprints coming back.”
    “ What do you mean?”
    “ Look,” Nova pointed at the ground. “There are the footsteps
leading away, and then the drag marks, but there aren’t any coming
back.”
    “ Maybe they’re still out here?” said Jack.
    “ But we know they got back to the complex, remember the water
dripping from the used suit?”
    “ Oh yeah,” said Jack. “And all the suits were accounted for,
so no one is out here except us.”
    “ And they must have been quick. Look how long it’s taken us to
get this far and they managed to get all the way out and back again
in just a couple of hours.”
    “ Either way I’m charging them overtime,” said Jack.
    “ Who are you going to—”
    Nova’s mouth
snapped shut on her tongue as her feet were snatched from
underneath her, ripping her backwards. Her body flew forwards and
lifted into the air, so she dangled from her feet. She let out a
cry that was echoed