Read Online Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy - Free Book Online Page B

locked down for the duration of the mission—not just because the ship had a captive cypherteck on board. It was necessary because the rovers would soon deviate from their flight path and didn’t want to be tracked. Edie couldn’t get news from Talas Prime or contact anyone there to confirm Cat’s story.
    Cat leaned down to unzip the duffle bag all the way. “Bought you a new palmet at the last dock. You don’t want to use the piece of crap they gave you. And a few other things. Some book caps and girl things. There’s stuff for Finn, too—”
    â€œThat’s great, thanks,” Edie said without feeling. She didn’t want to deliberately antagonize Cat, but she didn’t need a best buddy, either.
    Cat caught on fast. She gave Edie an earnest look and switched tactics. “Look, I’m sorry about how this went down. Haller will never tell you this, but I had this great plan where I’d meet you on the station, make you an offer you couldn’t refuse, convince you to join us freely. Get you on-side from the start.”
    Cat sounded genuine, but she had every reason to get Edie on-side now .
    â€œI might’ve said no.” She wondered if, in fact, she would have. Edie had dreamed a thousand times of leaving Talas, but it had always seemed so impossible she’d never seriously thought about how to achieve it. The Crib had her bound by a contract and the planet had her bound by her dependence on neuroxin.
    Cat looked dubious. “We knew you were unhappy with your Crib contract and with Project Ardra. As for our XO—well, there’s two things you need to know about John Haller.”
    â€œUh, let me guess. He’s slick and he’s creepy.”
    â€œYeah, a real slimemold.” Cat chuckled. “Though I have to admit, he smells better. So that’s one thing. The other thing—sometimes he gets his priorities screwed up. When the client sent us to Talas to pick up a Crib-trained cypherteck with credentials to die for, Haller wasn’t listening to anyone’s ideas but his own. He always barges into a situation like the engine room’s on fire and relies on his charm to extricate himself later.”
    â€œHe doesn’t have any charm.”
    â€œWell, he thinks he does.”
    That was a fair description, considering Edie’s experience so far with Haller. She sat on Finn’s bunk, tugged the duffle bag toward her, and rummaged through the contents. There were bottles of toiletries that were a cut above the stuff in the shower room, a clip of entertainment datacaps, a crew key, and several colored tees—surprisingly subdued, considering Cat’s tastes, but perfect for Edie.
    As Edie folded the tees in her lap, she asked the other question that had been bugging her. “Who was the blue-eyed man in the Hoi ’s cargo hold when I was kidnapped? I recall the two of you getting rather friendly at the medfac.”
    Cat didn’t answer at once, and Edie looked up to catch her guarded expression.
    â€œThat was the infojack.”
    â€œThe one who hijacked my interface to make the leash?”
    â€œYes.” Cat anticipated the next question. “I don’t know exactly who he was, Edie, so don’t ask. I don’t know his name or anything about—”
    â€œYou don’t know his name? You two were having sex right next to my bed.”
    â€œWe were killing time. Look, he helped us kidnap a cypherteck—that puts him top of the Crib’s shit list. He’s long gone.”
    That infojack was her best chance—perhaps her only chance—of cutting the leash, and she didn’t believe that Cat really knew nothing about him. But if she was going to get Cat to talk, she needed to befriend her. She pulled a piece of fabric from the duffle bag, shook it out, and realized it was a pillow slip. Plain white, gloriously soft. There was no denying Cat’s gifts were