Read Online Legion Of The Damned - 01 - Legion of the Damned by William C. Dietz - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: William C. Dietz
Ads: Link
shower.
Water splashed against the sides of the enclosure and provided its own symphony of sounds. The woman smeared bath gel over her breasts, rubbed it to a lather, and rinsed it off.
Chien-Chu felt a familiar stirring between his legs and looked at Mosby to see her reaction. She was eating, her eyes focused on the stage, entranced by the performance.
A spot came on. A man appeared. He was grossly fat, in an obvious state of arousal, and armed with a crude-looking knife. The crowd gave a collective gasp.
Chien-Chu felt an emptiness in the pit of his stomach. Beauty and the Beast. The story was as old as mankind itself ... but science had enabled them to tell it in a brand-new way. The scenario was blindingly obvious.
No wonder the woman was afraid. For reasons known only to herself, an incurable disease, perhaps, or a desperate need for money, she had agreed to die. In ten or fifteen minutes, after the shower had been dragged out to the nth degree, the man would hack her to death with the knife.
The screams, like the blood, would be real. For an audience bored with simulated violence, the real thing would be exciting.
Then, just as she slumped to the floor, the lights would snap out. Under the cover of darkness medical technicians would rush in, recover the body, and convey it to a specially equipped surgical suite, where the woman would be snatched from the brink of death to live out the rest of her life in a cybernetic body. Nothing as grotesque as a Trooper II, perhaps, but a good deal less than what she had sold and the audience had psychically consumed.
It wasn’t murder, but whatever it was made Chien-Chu sick, and caused him to slide the food under his chair. A hand touched his shoulder. The servant was dimly seen.
“Mr. Chien-Chu? General Mosby?”
“Yes?”
“Admiral Scolari asks that you join her outside.”
Chien-Chu was eager for any sort of excuse to leave the room. He rose and headed for the door. Mosby did likewise. Admiral Scolari was waiting. The expression on her face was even more grim than usual.
“The Emperor has convened a meeting of his advisory council. Both of you are instructed to come.”
Chien-Chu raised an eyebrow. The Emperor held meetings whenever the fancy took him ... and many were a waste of time.
“What’s the meeting about?” he asked.
“The Hudatha attacked a human-colonized planet called ‘Worber’s World.’ Initial reports suggest that they eradicated the entire population. The Emperor would value your opinions.”
4
Radu are rather torpid and completely harmless if left alone. Once disturbed, however, they are quite vicious, and the entire nest must be destroyed.
Screen 376, Paragraph 4
Survival on the Subcontinent
Hudathan military cube
With the Hudathan fleet on the fringe of the Human Empire
Poseen-Ka selected a pair of long slender tweezers from the array of instruments laid out in front of him, reached down into the bubble-shaped terrarium, and took hold of a miniaturized bridge. Lifting the structure ever so gently, he moved it downstream.
There. Much better. The new location would force him to recurve the road and bring it in from the south, but the improvement made the additional effort worthwhile. The bridge, the village, and the surrounding farmland were an idealized version of the place where he’d grown up.
He put the bubble on the worktable and sat back to examine his handiwork. Terrariums were quite popular among space-faring Hudatha. They took up very little space, formed a link with home, and gave the owner a sense of control. The latest models, like his, offered everything from computer-controlled weather to microbotic birds and animals.
He turned the bubble and admired the display from another angle. Ah, if only the real world were so malleable, so responsive to his hand. But such was not the case. Each change, each accomplishment, must be planned, implemented, and then secured. And now, with the most
Water splashed against the sides of the enclosure and provided its own symphony of sounds. The woman smeared bath gel over her breasts, rubbed it to a lather, and rinsed it off.
Chien-Chu felt a familiar stirring between his legs and looked at Mosby to see her reaction. She was eating, her eyes focused on the stage, entranced by the performance.
A spot came on. A man appeared. He was grossly fat, in an obvious state of arousal, and armed with a crude-looking knife. The crowd gave a collective gasp.
Chien-Chu felt an emptiness in the pit of his stomach. Beauty and the Beast. The story was as old as mankind itself ... but science had enabled them to tell it in a brand-new way. The scenario was blindingly obvious.
No wonder the woman was afraid. For reasons known only to herself, an incurable disease, perhaps, or a desperate need for money, she had agreed to die. In ten or fifteen minutes, after the shower had been dragged out to the nth degree, the man would hack her to death with the knife.
The screams, like the blood, would be real. For an audience bored with simulated violence, the real thing would be exciting.
Then, just as she slumped to the floor, the lights would snap out. Under the cover of darkness medical technicians would rush in, recover the body, and convey it to a specially equipped surgical suite, where the woman would be snatched from the brink of death to live out the rest of her life in a cybernetic body. Nothing as grotesque as a Trooper II, perhaps, but a good deal less than what she had sold and the audience had psychically consumed.
It wasn’t murder, but whatever it was made Chien-Chu sick, and caused him to slide the food under his chair. A hand touched his shoulder. The servant was dimly seen.
“Mr. Chien-Chu? General Mosby?”
“Yes?”
“Admiral Scolari asks that you join her outside.”
Chien-Chu was eager for any sort of excuse to leave the room. He rose and headed for the door. Mosby did likewise. Admiral Scolari was waiting. The expression on her face was even more grim than usual.
“The Emperor has convened a meeting of his advisory council. Both of you are instructed to come.”
Chien-Chu raised an eyebrow. The Emperor held meetings whenever the fancy took him ... and many were a waste of time.
“What’s the meeting about?” he asked.
“The Hudatha attacked a human-colonized planet called ‘Worber’s World.’ Initial reports suggest that they eradicated the entire population. The Emperor would value your opinions.”
4
Radu are rather torpid and completely harmless if left alone. Once disturbed, however, they are quite vicious, and the entire nest must be destroyed.
Screen 376, Paragraph 4
Survival on the Subcontinent
Hudathan military cube
With the Hudathan fleet on the fringe of the Human Empire
Poseen-Ka selected a pair of long slender tweezers from the array of instruments laid out in front of him, reached down into the bubble-shaped terrarium, and took hold of a miniaturized bridge. Lifting the structure ever so gently, he moved it downstream.
There. Much better. The new location would force him to recurve the road and bring it in from the south, but the improvement made the additional effort worthwhile. The bridge, the village, and the surrounding farmland were an idealized version of the place where he’d grown up.
He put the bubble on the worktable and sat back to examine his handiwork. Terrariums were quite popular among space-faring Hudatha. They took up very little space, formed a link with home, and gave the owner a sense of control. The latest models, like his, offered everything from computer-controlled weather to microbotic birds and animals.
He turned the bubble and admired the display from another angle. Ah, if only the real world were so malleable, so responsive to his hand. But such was not the case. Each change, each accomplishment, must be planned, implemented, and then secured. And now, with the most
Similar Books
