Read Online Kill Station by Diane Duane & Peter Morwood - Free Book Online
Authors: Diane Duane & Peter Morwood
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But forgeries are easy to trace, since they don't match our records here. And tamperings leave traces. But most people consider it too much trouble to go to for one more hunk of iron, when there's likely to be a much better one fifty thousand meters further on."
"Let's put the disappearances aside for a moment," Joss said. "Have you had any claim jumps recently?"
"A couple, yes." Noel started rummaging again, and this time didn't have to dig too deep. "Sorry about this," he said, paging through a few pieces of paper, "but my data base went down months ago, and we're still waiting for the parts to fix it. I have to keep everything this way, if I want it accessible at all."
"They keep promising us the paper-free office," Evan said. "I begin to wonder when we'll see it."
"Here," said Noel, and handed Evan the sheets. He glanced down them, and passed them to Joss. "That asteroid was pretty promising," Noel said. "Good iron content. Hek Vaweda there staked it out about two months ago. She missed a check-in, and I went looking for her. Found the claim—but no ship, no Hek. No traces of where she had gone, or what had happened." Noel shook his head. "It was a pity. She was a nice lady."
"I'd like to have a look at the spot," Joss said, ruffling through the sheets, "and at the rest of these."
"I'll take you out," Noel said, getting up.
"No rush," Evan said. "You probably have things to do first—"
"Unfortunately, yes," Noel said, "but any escape from this is a pleasure. I have considered setting fire to it," he added, getting up, "but I'm the fire chief as well, and it seems a little pointless. Haifa second while I get my suit."
48 SPACE COPS
They made their way back to the hangar dome, and Noel stopped in the middle of it and simply stared at their ship. "I saw one of those once," he said, "in a vid. I didn't think they actually existed."
"Oh, they exist," Joss said, "and the trouble people give you for overrunning your fuel expenditure, you wouldn't want to hear." His voice was unusually dry. Evan glanced over at him questioningly. Joss shrugged at him, the "later" shrug.
"Open up," he said, and obediently the craft cracked its seals and let them into the airlock. Noel looked around admiringly as they stepped in. "It still smells new," he said.
"Not for long," Evan said, and made his way up front to unlock and rig the third seat in the front cabin.
"Wait till my friend here makes his chicken with forty cloves of garlic."
"Forty cloves of—"
"It's very innocent, really," Joss said. "It's most people's first chance to find out that garlic is a vegetable—"
"Indeed yes," said Evan drily. "A vegetable that makes parts of you speak that were better silent."
Noel blinked, and declined to comment. "Look at these cabins," he said, pausing in the door of Evan's.
"Why the hell are you staying at Morrie's?"
After cleaning out the 'fresher head, this was a question that had also occurred to Evan. "Public relations, I guess," he said. "It seems to work better than becoming known as the stuck-up sop who stays in his own ship and won't patronize local business. Even if local business does charge five times the normal rate.''
They got strapped in, and Joss put the engines into short-start mode and turned on the transmitter.
''Willans control," he said, "this is SP vessel CDZ 8064. You remember, the one with the ruined paint job." His voice was good-humored as he said it, but Evan, looking at Joss's face, saw a shadow of what Joss must have been
SPACE COPS 49
like that morning with the radar techs, and smiled slightly to himself.
"Uh, SP CDZ, that's a roger," said a rather sheepish sounding, middle-aged female voice. "What color was your paint?''
"New," Joss said, but this time he smiled a little.
"Sorry about that, SP CDZ. I have some nail polish here that might do the trick."
Joss laughed. "You're on, ma'am. See me after work if you like, in the Astoria." That was the bar of the night before.
Evan kept his smile to
"Let's put the disappearances aside for a moment," Joss said. "Have you had any claim jumps recently?"
"A couple, yes." Noel started rummaging again, and this time didn't have to dig too deep. "Sorry about this," he said, paging through a few pieces of paper, "but my data base went down months ago, and we're still waiting for the parts to fix it. I have to keep everything this way, if I want it accessible at all."
"They keep promising us the paper-free office," Evan said. "I begin to wonder when we'll see it."
"Here," said Noel, and handed Evan the sheets. He glanced down them, and passed them to Joss. "That asteroid was pretty promising," Noel said. "Good iron content. Hek Vaweda there staked it out about two months ago. She missed a check-in, and I went looking for her. Found the claim—but no ship, no Hek. No traces of where she had gone, or what had happened." Noel shook his head. "It was a pity. She was a nice lady."
"I'd like to have a look at the spot," Joss said, ruffling through the sheets, "and at the rest of these."
"I'll take you out," Noel said, getting up.
"No rush," Evan said. "You probably have things to do first—"
"Unfortunately, yes," Noel said, "but any escape from this is a pleasure. I have considered setting fire to it," he added, getting up, "but I'm the fire chief as well, and it seems a little pointless. Haifa second while I get my suit."
48 SPACE COPS
They made their way back to the hangar dome, and Noel stopped in the middle of it and simply stared at their ship. "I saw one of those once," he said, "in a vid. I didn't think they actually existed."
"Oh, they exist," Joss said, "and the trouble people give you for overrunning your fuel expenditure, you wouldn't want to hear." His voice was unusually dry. Evan glanced over at him questioningly. Joss shrugged at him, the "later" shrug.
"Open up," he said, and obediently the craft cracked its seals and let them into the airlock. Noel looked around admiringly as they stepped in. "It still smells new," he said.
"Not for long," Evan said, and made his way up front to unlock and rig the third seat in the front cabin.
"Wait till my friend here makes his chicken with forty cloves of garlic."
"Forty cloves of—"
"It's very innocent, really," Joss said. "It's most people's first chance to find out that garlic is a vegetable—"
"Indeed yes," said Evan drily. "A vegetable that makes parts of you speak that were better silent."
Noel blinked, and declined to comment. "Look at these cabins," he said, pausing in the door of Evan's.
"Why the hell are you staying at Morrie's?"
After cleaning out the 'fresher head, this was a question that had also occurred to Evan. "Public relations, I guess," he said. "It seems to work better than becoming known as the stuck-up sop who stays in his own ship and won't patronize local business. Even if local business does charge five times the normal rate.''
They got strapped in, and Joss put the engines into short-start mode and turned on the transmitter.
''Willans control," he said, "this is SP vessel CDZ 8064. You remember, the one with the ruined paint job." His voice was good-humored as he said it, but Evan, looking at Joss's face, saw a shadow of what Joss must have been
SPACE COPS 49
like that morning with the radar techs, and smiled slightly to himself.
"Uh, SP CDZ, that's a roger," said a rather sheepish sounding, middle-aged female voice. "What color was your paint?''
"New," Joss said, but this time he smiled a little.
"Sorry about that, SP CDZ. I have some nail polish here that might do the trick."
Joss laughed. "You're on, ma'am. See me after work if you like, in the Astoria." That was the bar of the night before.
Evan kept his smile to
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