Read Online Redemption Protocol (Contact) by Mike Freeman - Free Book Online

and weight.
    “For my wife,” Stone said.
    Havoc raised an eyebrow.
    Stone gestured around his belly as he wiped his handkerchief over his neck.
    “I wanted her to leave me. Didn’t work though.”
    Stone noted the looks of increasing incredulity around him.
    “Not my best idea.”
    There was a pause. Then an explosion of laughter.
    Stone ran his hands down his sides.
    “Chicks dig this shape. Believe it.”
    Havoc didn’t and from the laughter, neither did anyone else.
    Stone laughed as well. He raised his glass and took another drink, mopping his forehead with his free hand.
    “You’re welcome.” Stone leaned forward conspiratorially. “So we’ve got a few heavy hitters on this trip, don’t you think? Our Ambassador has got to be exceptional,” – Stone strongly stressed the 'x' in exceptional as he referred to the top level of human capability, then gestured toward the people filing out of a meeting room and making their way to the bar – “and those security types are going to be enhanced or more.”
    Havoc smiled with the rest of the group, tolerating Stone's appalling breech of etiquette with good humor. One never referred to another person’s level in polite conversation, whether standard, enhanced or exceptional, it just wasn't done. Stone was clearly a little giddy on his first trip out.
    “And Darkwood has got to be exceptional, if not an ultra .”
    Touvenay smiled.
    “Ah, the ultra question. Truly Gods amongst men.”
    Stone tapped his nose.
    “Eh? Eh? Hmm?”
    Fournier shook his head.
    “Don’t encourage him. Next he'll do other dimensions and the afterlife.”
    Stone grinned.
    “I still maintain that our Ambassador is an ex-ceptional character.”
    Touvenay looked thoughtful.
    “To get Abbott and Darkwood on board they must have found something remarkable.”
    At the mention of Abbott's name Havoc felt his already depleted tires explode beneath him.
    “Abbott? Michael Abbott?”
    Touvenay nodded.
    “Yes. You know him?”
    “No.”
    “But he knows you?” Fournier said.
    “No.”
    “You know his wife?” Stone said.
    “No.”
    Laughter.
    Stone’s eyebrows waggled toward the blimp on the top of his head. Controversy, they waggled. Stone was loving this trip already.
    Havoc, on the other hand, was preoccupied with the implications of Michael Abbott, Chief Ambassador to the entire Alliance of Free Peoples and one of the biggest hitters in all Hspace, being on this mission. Abbott was comfortably the most powerful person he'd ever been on a ship with. And on a personal note, wherever Michael Abbott was, his Chief Adviser, Stephanie Calthorpe, was too. Small world, he thought.
    If Abbott was on a long range mission, Havoc could think of one reason and one reason only. Contact . Another civilization and presumably not human since they already knew all of them. Not to mention that you wouldn’t send a covert research vessel to meet them, and certainly not with people like him on board. Darkwood's ship on an Alliance mission with a top level diplomatic team and Fournier, a scientific genius, so presumably a top drawer science team. A covert attempt to make contact with an alien civilization. Havoc’s head spun.
    Stone made a comment but Havoc didn't really catch it, he was too busy reassessing the room in light of his deduction. Did it make sense? He looked around to assess the 'security types' that Stone had pointed out. They looked more like the kind of people he was used to working with – and against, come to mention it.
    One didn’t scan other people in polite society – if someone was worth scanning, they were capable enough to detect your scan. It was tantamount to announcing that you were thinking about killing them, either now or in the future, but you were still trying to decide if it was a good idea. That said, you could still deduce a lot about people by simply being observant. Mass was a dead give away for certain military subtypes. It was just plain difficult for a Titan