Read Online The Rogue Retrieval by Dan Koboldt - Free Book Online Page B

and portable.”
    â€œDoes that make you nervous, at all?”
    She offered a dismissive wave. “I think they’re just being careful.”
    â€œMaybe it’s more than that.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œI don’t know, an invasion?”
    â€œThat would be a fascinating thing to see.”
    â€œFascinating?” Quinn was aghast. “How do you figure?”
    Chaudri shrugged. “A small but technologically superior force against a larger native population. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before, in our world.”
    Quinn shook his head. “Wow.”
    â€œThat’s the difference between Dr. Holt and myself. He always got too close,” she said. “To the work, I mean.”
    Oh my God, I think she’s blushing.
    Then Logan leaned into view from halfway across the common room, caught Quinn’s eye, and tapped his ear.
    â€œI think Logan wants us linked back in,” Quinn said.
    They both leaned against their hands and turned their communicators back on.
    â€œSo, Bradley,” Chaudri said, with a forced cheerfulness. “How did the company ever get you to go along with this?”
    Quinn smiled and shook his head. “A check and a threat.”
    â€œWere you in Atlantic City?”
    â€œVegas. Have you ever been?”
    â€œOh, heavens no. What sort of tricks were you doing?”
    â€œYou name it. Disappearing acts, sleight of hand, optical illusions. A lot of flash and razzle-­dazzle. That’s what they want in Vegas.”
    â€œYou don’t sound as high on yourself as you did when you came here.”
    Quinn sighed. “I have to admit I’m a little nervous. I mean, you guys have me posing as this magician and we know so little about them. How am I supposed to act? What things do they usually do?”
    â€œWe’re not sure, to be honest. All we’ve been able to dig up is that they seem to take a lot of naps.”
    â€œI’ll be sure to run that one by Kiara.”
    They sat in silence for a minute, and Quinn let the hum of conversation wash over him. Two heavyset men at the next table were arguing over whose turn it was to pay the bill.
    â€œSon of a bitch,” Quinn said. He leaned toward Chaudri. “They speak English!”
    â€œNo, they don’t,” Chaudri said.
    â€œI’m talking about these two,” Quinn said. He tilted his head slightly in the direction of the fat guys. “I can understand them.”
    â€œI expect so. That’s the effect of the polyglossia.”
    â€œThe poly-­what?”
    â€œPolyglossia. Universal comprehension of spoken language,” Chaudri said. “It’s one of the phenomena here that we don’t understand. And it works in both directions, too. They can understand us just as easily.”
    â€œHow is that even possible?”
    Chaudri shrugged. “Like I said: we don’t entirely understand.”
    Quinn frowned. The list of things they didn’t entirely understand just kept on growing. But he felt a wave of exhilaration just the same. He could talk to these ­people. “What about writing?”
    â€œWell, there’s the rub. The polyglossia is limited to spoken language. We’ve had to learn Alissian writing the hard way. Took our best linguists more than a year.”
    â€œOoh.” Quinn made a face. “You know, I’m not sure I can spend that much time here.”
    She took him too seriously. “No need to worry. The prototyping lab set us up.” Chaudri took out a metal case that looked a lot like the one Logan had had in Vegas. She flipped it open to reveal a pair of thick-­framed reading glasses.
    â€œThe nosepiece has a tiny optical scanner. Whatever you’re looking at, it captures the text and runs it through our translation programs in real time. The top halves of the lenses display it in English.”
    â€œGet out,” Quinn said.
    â€œHere, take them. I