Read Online Swallow the Sky: A Space Opera by Chris Mead - Free Book Online

always be cash.
    She picked up the chip
and squeezed it, smiling as it confirmed its authenticity. He knew he was
overpaying but this was no time to haggle. Besides, Larissa had been the first
off the mark in the bar, which suggested she was no fool – he was going to need
that.
    “Okay, where to lover?”
    “You tell me. Can we get
a cab? This place is a little too public.”
    She shrugged and picked
up her bag. Outside the bar Carson hailed a taxi. They climbed in and he told
it to hover while they talked.
    “Larissa” he said, “I
need to get out of Kaimana without anyone knowing. Do you know anyone who can
help with that?”
    She thought about it.
    “Yeah, maybe. Let me make
some calls.”
    For the next fifteen
minutes Larissa talked to her contacts. As she chatted she absent-mindedly
placed a hand on Carson’s thigh.
    “No thanks” he said,
taking her wrist and moving her hand “I really am here just for information”
    “Your choice – easiest
thousand I’ll make this week.”
    Eventually she made
progress and gave an address to the taxi.
    “I will tell you Miguel,
this isn’t my first choice. The guy we’re going to see is bad news, so watch
yourself, okay?”
    Their destination was
another club, one that had no sign over the entrance and a doorkeeper who
baulked at the sight of Carson.
    “He’s with me” said
Larissa. That was sufficient and the two made their way into the gloomy
interior. Unlike the Twin Moons this place was virtually empty. She led the way
to a row of booths where a man was sitting alone.
    “Hi Tabarak, this is
Miguel”
    He sat down opposite the
big man. One glance was enough to set off Carson’s alarm bells. He had a
gleaming shaved head that was not quite symmetrical – as if a bag of skin that
had been filled with large steel balls. In a time when the human body could be
sculptured at will this had to be a deliberate choice.
    Moreover he was only the
second person he had seen on Kaimana wearing clothes. Tabarak was dressed in
what appeared to be a regular black jumpsuit. Inspecting it more closely Carson
guessed that the suit incorporated an inertial protection matrix. In standby
mode it generated a slight inertial field that made the material feel like
stiff cloth. If the matrix detected an incoming projectile, plasma bolt, or
even the thrust of a blade, the field ramped up in microseconds to turn the
garment into impenetrable body armor. This guy meant business.
    Without preamble he
placed another anonymous credit chip on the table. Tabarak glanced at it and
tilted his head questioningly.
    “Ten thousand” said
Carson
    “Larissa, get yourself a
drink at the bar” Tabarak said, not taking his eyes off Carson. She sauntered away.
    “I should advise you that
I am being monitored by Mitan Security”.
    “I was about to tell you
that. I was also going to tell you that you are a mailman named Carson and somehow you’ve managed to get yourself into a world of trouble.”
    “Absolutely correct” Carson said, trying not to show his alarm “do you know exactly what kind of trouble?”
    “No – Security is keeping
this one tight – something involving Juro and clan Aniko.”
    “You know Juro?”
    “We’ve done business.”
    He leant forward.
    “Listen, you’re clearly no
fool but it’s equally obvious that you’re no professional, otherwise you
wouldn’t be the only person in this place not carrying a weapon. So here’s some
free advice: Kaimana is basically a company town and the company is Clan Aniko.
If you’ve crossed Juro, get off the planet as quickly as you can.”
    “Sound counsel” said Carson “and it’s the reason I’m here.
    “I need to get myself and
one other person, a woman, away from Kaimana as quickly as possible without
Security – or Juro – knowing. I have a spacecraft parked in orbit so I can take
it from there.”
    “That could be arranged,
but not for ten thousand.”
    Carson sighed and
sub-vocalized a request to the local