Read Online Thrill-Kinky by Teresa Noelle Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

his voice at a pitch Rita recognized as about two-point-five seconds pre-explosion. “What’s the point? And how did we get involved? Is it just that every plot needs a fall guy?”
    “They chose you to move the goods because you’re an independent freighter, not part of a shipping corporation that would vet and inspect everything a million times and maybe figure out something was off. Also, you come from several species, and from the accents, it sounds like the humans are from different planets. Unfortunately that makes you perfect for getting blamed for everything including my death, if I’d died according to plan. You could go through a parody of a trial or simply be ‘killed while resisting arrest’ and people would believe it because you have no one to go to bat for you as a group. Which is a curious expression, by the way. Aren’t bats small, winged creatures from Old Earth?”
    “I think it means someone who’ll hit another guy with a club for you,” Gan suggested.
    “Is this shit going to cause a war?” Buck was blunt but swearing less than usual. “I’d sure hate to see a pretty place like this one get ruinated. I like all the gardens and rock art here. Makes me feel almost calm. And they make good booze.” Buck really was the uneducated hick that Mik sometimes pretended to be, but he was surprisingly thoughtful about certain things, one of which was he’d be spaced before he saw another world get “ruinated” by war like his home planet had been.
    Drax hesitated. Rita guessed he was sizing up how much he could safely share versus how much he needed to divulge to ensure trust and cooperation. Finally he answered. “The intention is to cause enmity between San’bal and Banjal. It probably wouldn’t result in an immediate war. But it would cause trade sanctions, diplomatic issues, travel bans, all kinds of stupidity that would hurt both economies. And the main exports of our planets are…”
    Xia jumped up and down, waving her hand. It was unbearably cute, but Rita could almost forgive her when she said, “I know! I know! Banjal is the galaxy’s biggest manufacturer of neurorelays. You guys don’t actually use neurorelays because they disrupt the part of the brain that maintains equilibrium in flight. But the manufacturing works better in low-G, so it’s become your thing. And San’bal is the only source for orthrocite and you need that to make them.” She calmed down when Drax nodded, and crossed her paw-like hands in front of her demurely, a demureness ruined by her twitching tail and the way her claws were working in and out as if she was waiting to sink them into something or someone.
    From Xia, that could mean she was itching for a fight or seriously wanting to get into Drax’s recently acquired, spectacularly tight pants. At the moment, probably both.
    “Let me guess,” Rita ventured. “Those new relays from Blemond that are in beta testing don’t work quite right. They’re hoping to buy some time to perfect them by keeping Banjal from releasing their latest products and disrupting San’bal’s trade with Banjal. I heard on the news that the Blemond government has invested heavily in that new neurorelay product.”
    She was rewarded by a smile from Drax, though it was a sad, cynical one. “How come a ship’s mechanic can figure it out in seconds and it took two governments who had a lot more data about two months? If my bosses and their counterparts on San’bal Prime had been that smart, I wouldn’t be bandaged, battered and buzzing on your pain blockers.”
    Xia waved her hand again. “I know, I know! That’s ’cause our Rita’s bright and governments are stupid.” She cocked her head to one side, her ears and whiskers twitching. “Funny, isn’t it? You seem smart, and I bet your bosses could catch a few mice, but when you take you and them and their bosses and the whole government, it adds up to dumb. Collective intelligence is an oxymoron.”
    Drax looked stunned,