Read Online Tale of the Thunderbolt by E.E. Knight - Free Book Online

brains out with your service revolver. The system’s rotten, and you know it same as I.”
    Post either trusted Valentine or did not care about being turned in. Either way, from their first days sharing a cabin, they began to tentatively express to each other unorthodox opinions about their Kurian masters. But neither had yet expressed it so directly.
    â€œDid you lose someone, Will?”
    â€œI was married once, yeah. Close to six years ago now. That’s why I tried so hard for officer — it helped us get better housing. But it all went wrong.” He took another gulp. “Not worth talking about. You’re lucky, your wife gives you someone to live for. Not sure I even want to live for me anymore.”
    Valentine nerved himself for the plunge. “She’s not my wife, Will. The license is forged.”
    Post looked up at him. “Yeah? What, you pretending for some reason? Might as well get married, that way you don’t need false documents to get your allotments. If it goes wrong, just toss her, plenty other officers have done it, hasn’t hurt their careers one bit.”
    Valentine opened the door briefly to check the corridor. He shut the door to their cabin again and sat down on the bed opposite Post. “Will, everything about me is faked. Her, my commission and service record from up north, even the name ‘Rowan’s not my own. My name is David Valentine.”
    Post turned over in his bunk, lying on his side. He put the bottle on the floor between them and took another sip from his glass. “Okay, you’ve got a false name. I don’t get it. What is it then, an escape attempt?” Post asked, also lowering his voice. “Damn elaborate one. You’d better pick the right island — go to the wrong one, and the residents will eat you alive. I mean that literally.”
    â€œI need the Thunderbolt, and I’m going to take it,” Valentine said. He let the words sink in for a moment. Post’s face rippled from blank astonishment to incredulity, then back again to astonishment as the idea took hold.
    â€œThe original plan was to try with a small group of men I would bring on board,” he continued. “That didn’t work out, so I’m going to make do with what’s already on the ship. The Chief is on our side, and so is Ahn-Kha, the Grog foreman.”
    â€œOur side? Whose side is that?” Post finally asked, his liquor-lubricated train of thought finally leaving the platform.
    â€œSouthern Command. I work for one of the Freeholds, the one in the Ozarks and Ouachitas. And I’d like you to join us, if you’ll risk it.”
    Post reached for the bottle and took a drink, ignoring his glass. “The sun’s gone to your head, Dave. What are you going to try to do, turn the crew? They didn’t get this job by being unreliable. Plus they have families back home to think about.”
    â€œThe families will be taken care of,” Valentine countered. “It’s in the works right now. In a few more days, they’ll be on their way out of the KZ. One of our Cats is on the inside.”
    â€œCats?”
    Valentine’s hypersensitive ears searched the adjoining rooms and corridor. Someone moved through the passageway, and he paused before continuing in his low monotone. “It’s a nickname, I guess. It’s a long story, but the Kur and the Grogs aren’t the only ones here from Elsewhere. Earth is part of a larger war, and other worlds are involved. The Kurians are what you might call a faction of a people called the Lifeweavers.
    â€œTheir society split thousands and thousands of years ago when the Lifeweavers on a planet called Kur discovered how to become immortal through . . . I call it vampirism. They’ve been at war ever since. Way back then, the Kurians came here, and the Lifeweavers picked some people to hunt the things brought over from Kur. They explained to the primitive