Read Online Overkill by Robert Buettner - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Robert Buettner
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you have any idea how arrogant that view is? And on how little of this universe we base it?”
I cleared the ‘fifty, slapping the charging handle harder than I needed to. “Apparently you have an idea. I find that arrogant coming from a backwater gunslinger.”
Zhondro rolled out from beneath the tank and called up at us, “What was that?”
The Sleeper’s door banged open, and Cutler ran out, his Reader in one hand. He squinted at the smoke that drifted away from the spot where the beast had stood. Then he pointed at my hands on the .50. “Was it a grezzen? Did you just kill a grezzen?”
Kit shook her head. “Just a striper. A big pred. Tried to cross the stationary mine perimeter.”
“Oh.” Cutler waved a pointed finger at us. “Nobody fires on a grezzen unless I say so. Understood?”
Kit said, “The Rover ’bot perimeter’s a mile further out from here. The grezz keep even more distance back than that. But don’t worry. You’ll get your kill.”
Cutler walked to the C-lift, rested his hand on one of the three ammunition crates, then shook his head. “Ms. Born, I have no intention of killing a grezzen.”
Sixteen
Two hours later, Zhondro and I dragged the last crate off the C-lift. Kit and Cutler stood back and watched as Zhondro pried the crate lid from Cutler’s mystery ammo.
Most tank-gun rounds look like forty-pound hypodermic needles, a shell casing with a depleted uranium arrow’s pointed tip sticking out the front. Cutler’s specials replaced the arrow tip with an oversized tin can that had a straw sticking out its top center.
Cutler bent over the crate, hands on knees, and pointed. “This ammunition was designed by the best cryptozoologists on Earth. It’ll inject a quart of dope that will knock a carbon-12 based organism the size of a grezzen cold for an hour.”
Zhondro, Kit, and I turned and looked at one another. We were here to fire off the biggest tranquilizer darts in the universe? He had to be kidding.
Cutler said, “I assure you, I’m quite serious.”
I asked him, “Where do we have to hit it?”
“They say anywhere on the body. Just so the agent gets injected into the bloodstream. Just like tranquilizing an elephant. These grezzen may look like ogres, but their circulatory plumbing works like any Terran mammal’s.”
Zhondro frowned. “What if this drug doesn’t work? They say also that these grezzen are the deadliest animals in the universe.”
Cutler sighed. “We’ve got conventional rounds, too.”
Kit had her arms crossed, and feet planted. “Why do you want to play catch-and-release with the deadliest animal in the universe?”
Cutler said, “I don’t. All I want you to do is put me in position to shoot the animal. Then you winch it onto the C-lift trailer and haul it back here. Another team is landing in Eden today. They’ll bring another trailer out to this camp, stabilize the animal’s sedation, and take it from there.”
So the second trailer rental wasn’t overkill. Neither was all the equipment in the overlarge warehouse. Cutler just might be smarter than I gave him credit for.
Kit’s jaw dropped.
She shook her head. “Are you insane? The people on this planet will lynch you if you try to bring a live grezzen inside the Line.”
“Ms. Born, each of my major subsidiaries fires more people in a year than the entire population of this planet. I haven’t gotten where I am by knuckling under to the irrational fears of timid people.”
Irrational? Cutler hadn’t seen the striper. Which grezzen apparently ate for breakfast. Literally.
Cutler said, “But that’s why I didn’t disclose my plans to the locals. And why you won’t, either. You’re bound by the confidentiality clause in Bauer’s contract, just like Parker and Zhondro are bound to theirs.”
I scratched my head. “Mr. Cutler, why? A pet? An advertising stunt?”
He shook his head. “I don’t deal in trivialities or stunts, Parker. That’s as much as you need to
I cleared the ‘fifty, slapping the charging handle harder than I needed to. “Apparently you have an idea. I find that arrogant coming from a backwater gunslinger.”
Zhondro rolled out from beneath the tank and called up at us, “What was that?”
The Sleeper’s door banged open, and Cutler ran out, his Reader in one hand. He squinted at the smoke that drifted away from the spot where the beast had stood. Then he pointed at my hands on the .50. “Was it a grezzen? Did you just kill a grezzen?”
Kit shook her head. “Just a striper. A big pred. Tried to cross the stationary mine perimeter.”
“Oh.” Cutler waved a pointed finger at us. “Nobody fires on a grezzen unless I say so. Understood?”
Kit said, “The Rover ’bot perimeter’s a mile further out from here. The grezz keep even more distance back than that. But don’t worry. You’ll get your kill.”
Cutler walked to the C-lift, rested his hand on one of the three ammunition crates, then shook his head. “Ms. Born, I have no intention of killing a grezzen.”
Sixteen
Two hours later, Zhondro and I dragged the last crate off the C-lift. Kit and Cutler stood back and watched as Zhondro pried the crate lid from Cutler’s mystery ammo.
Most tank-gun rounds look like forty-pound hypodermic needles, a shell casing with a depleted uranium arrow’s pointed tip sticking out the front. Cutler’s specials replaced the arrow tip with an oversized tin can that had a straw sticking out its top center.
Cutler bent over the crate, hands on knees, and pointed. “This ammunition was designed by the best cryptozoologists on Earth. It’ll inject a quart of dope that will knock a carbon-12 based organism the size of a grezzen cold for an hour.”
Zhondro, Kit, and I turned and looked at one another. We were here to fire off the biggest tranquilizer darts in the universe? He had to be kidding.
Cutler said, “I assure you, I’m quite serious.”
I asked him, “Where do we have to hit it?”
“They say anywhere on the body. Just so the agent gets injected into the bloodstream. Just like tranquilizing an elephant. These grezzen may look like ogres, but their circulatory plumbing works like any Terran mammal’s.”
Zhondro frowned. “What if this drug doesn’t work? They say also that these grezzen are the deadliest animals in the universe.”
Cutler sighed. “We’ve got conventional rounds, too.”
Kit had her arms crossed, and feet planted. “Why do you want to play catch-and-release with the deadliest animal in the universe?”
Cutler said, “I don’t. All I want you to do is put me in position to shoot the animal. Then you winch it onto the C-lift trailer and haul it back here. Another team is landing in Eden today. They’ll bring another trailer out to this camp, stabilize the animal’s sedation, and take it from there.”
So the second trailer rental wasn’t overkill. Neither was all the equipment in the overlarge warehouse. Cutler just might be smarter than I gave him credit for.
Kit’s jaw dropped.
She shook her head. “Are you insane? The people on this planet will lynch you if you try to bring a live grezzen inside the Line.”
“Ms. Born, each of my major subsidiaries fires more people in a year than the entire population of this planet. I haven’t gotten where I am by knuckling under to the irrational fears of timid people.”
Irrational? Cutler hadn’t seen the striper. Which grezzen apparently ate for breakfast. Literally.
Cutler said, “But that’s why I didn’t disclose my plans to the locals. And why you won’t, either. You’re bound by the confidentiality clause in Bauer’s contract, just like Parker and Zhondro are bound to theirs.”
I scratched my head. “Mr. Cutler, why? A pet? An advertising stunt?”
He shook his head. “I don’t deal in trivialities or stunts, Parker. That’s as much as you need to
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