Read Online Mission: Earth "Villainy Victorious" by Ron L. Hubbard - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ron L. Hubbard
Tags: sf_humor
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"Where now?" said Flick. "It's quitting time. Do I drive to Government City and find a rooming house?"
"I don't have any money."
"Hells of a boss you are," said Flick. "I'm tired of sleeping in an airbus and I bet you have nightmares: killers always do."
"Sleep in a car?" said Madison. This was getting worse and worse. He could see himself becoming an unshaven wreck: not the slightest chance of being believed.
"Well, I ain't going to break into any of these palaces," said Flick. "That would be a fast route to Camp Kill, with all these guards around. Tell you what, we'll fly to Slum City and rob a store. You can shoot the watchman."
Madison wished Flick wouldn't keep building on that image, yet he could see respect for him was dwindling. "I don't have a gun."
"Blowholes! The assignments I get! My last boss lost all his pay in gambling and finally got stabbed in a dice game. Now I'm going to starve to death."
"Don't you have any pay? Any quarters?"
"In the Apparatus? A driver's boss is supposed to provide all that. And I get a murderer who isn't even packing a gun, that's dead broke and has no pay status. Can't you do anything?"
It jarred Madison. Yes, there was something he could do. He could be a knight-errant. He could rescue Teenie; that had been allowed. He would do it even though the thought of sleeping three in an aircar presented new problems.
He mentally donned his plumed helmet. "Drive back to that park in front of the Royal Palace. I've got to rescue a girl."
Chapter 4
They drove back a mile and slid along the curving path where he had first seen her. The light seemed bad: apparently in this place they followed day and night, and this must be dusk.
The garden space around the painted statue was all dug up but no workmen were about. Flick stopped.
Suddenly, from under the sculptured purple cloak of some long-dead monarch, an Apparatus guard moved out, rifle levelled. It was the same guard he had seen before. Madison hastily presented his identoplate through the window. The guard saw "Apparatus" and relaxed.
"There was a girl here earlier," said Madison.
"Oh, yeah," said the guard. "They're gone now. You haven't got a puffstick, have you?"
"Give him one," Madison told Flick.
With a very dirty look, Flick complied. He gave the guard an even dirtier look when he had to light it for him.
"They went over that way," said the guard. "Between those two orange-colored buildings."
Flick headed in that direction. "This is getting worse and worse," he said.
Madison privately agreed with him. If he found her, she would probably be covered with mud and this car, not overly clean already, would really ruin all his clothes then. Anyway, she would be terribly happy to see him and know that, as his assistant, she would be free.
They burst into an area of pools. There was a circular series of waterfalls, each one lower than the next, the water spilling off the lips in shimmering sheets, the underlighting turning them into a cacophony of colors.
They would have passed them by but Madison saw a sudden movement on a rim. It was pretty far away.
TEENIE!
She was running along a lip. She dived through scarlet lights into the next pool. She swam across it. She dived through yellow lights in the next pool and swam toward the next fall.
A sign plainly said:
NO SWIMMING
Oh, Gods, she was going to get into trouble before he even had a chance to rescue her!
Frantically, he directed the airbus to a point where she would come out if she dived into the ground-level pool.
She did! Her body glistened as she shot through a sheet of yellow light. She came swimming boldly across.
Madison got out of the car. He waited at the pool edge.
Teenie came to the rim and with an agile leap, sprang up on it, gleaming in the red lights. She was very lean: her stomach and her thighs were flat. Water cascaded from her shoulders and made sparkling rivulets down her legs. She swept her light brown hair out of her big
"Where now?" said Flick. "It's quitting time. Do I drive to Government City and find a rooming house?"
"I don't have any money."
"Hells of a boss you are," said Flick. "I'm tired of sleeping in an airbus and I bet you have nightmares: killers always do."
"Sleep in a car?" said Madison. This was getting worse and worse. He could see himself becoming an unshaven wreck: not the slightest chance of being believed.
"Well, I ain't going to break into any of these palaces," said Flick. "That would be a fast route to Camp Kill, with all these guards around. Tell you what, we'll fly to Slum City and rob a store. You can shoot the watchman."
Madison wished Flick wouldn't keep building on that image, yet he could see respect for him was dwindling. "I don't have a gun."
"Blowholes! The assignments I get! My last boss lost all his pay in gambling and finally got stabbed in a dice game. Now I'm going to starve to death."
"Don't you have any pay? Any quarters?"
"In the Apparatus? A driver's boss is supposed to provide all that. And I get a murderer who isn't even packing a gun, that's dead broke and has no pay status. Can't you do anything?"
It jarred Madison. Yes, there was something he could do. He could be a knight-errant. He could rescue Teenie; that had been allowed. He would do it even though the thought of sleeping three in an aircar presented new problems.
He mentally donned his plumed helmet. "Drive back to that park in front of the Royal Palace. I've got to rescue a girl."
Chapter 4
They drove back a mile and slid along the curving path where he had first seen her. The light seemed bad: apparently in this place they followed day and night, and this must be dusk.
The garden space around the painted statue was all dug up but no workmen were about. Flick stopped.
Suddenly, from under the sculptured purple cloak of some long-dead monarch, an Apparatus guard moved out, rifle levelled. It was the same guard he had seen before. Madison hastily presented his identoplate through the window. The guard saw "Apparatus" and relaxed.
"There was a girl here earlier," said Madison.
"Oh, yeah," said the guard. "They're gone now. You haven't got a puffstick, have you?"
"Give him one," Madison told Flick.
With a very dirty look, Flick complied. He gave the guard an even dirtier look when he had to light it for him.
"They went over that way," said the guard. "Between those two orange-colored buildings."
Flick headed in that direction. "This is getting worse and worse," he said.
Madison privately agreed with him. If he found her, she would probably be covered with mud and this car, not overly clean already, would really ruin all his clothes then. Anyway, she would be terribly happy to see him and know that, as his assistant, she would be free.
They burst into an area of pools. There was a circular series of waterfalls, each one lower than the next, the water spilling off the lips in shimmering sheets, the underlighting turning them into a cacophony of colors.
They would have passed them by but Madison saw a sudden movement on a rim. It was pretty far away.
TEENIE!
She was running along a lip. She dived through scarlet lights into the next pool. She swam across it. She dived through yellow lights in the next pool and swam toward the next fall.
A sign plainly said:
NO SWIMMING
Oh, Gods, she was going to get into trouble before he even had a chance to rescue her!
Frantically, he directed the airbus to a point where she would come out if she dived into the ground-level pool.
She did! Her body glistened as she shot through a sheet of yellow light. She came swimming boldly across.
Madison got out of the car. He waited at the pool edge.
Teenie came to the rim and with an agile leap, sprang up on it, gleaming in the red lights. She was very lean: her stomach and her thighs were flat. Water cascaded from her shoulders and made sparkling rivulets down her legs. She swept her light brown hair out of her big
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