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By Root 1145 0

in the sports hall there were a few hand-eye games tables and some broken down exercise stimulators; sleep and washrooms looked like the worst kind of low-maintenance public provision. As he wandered around loosening and flexing his joints and trying to look like an aimless tourist at the same time, Keefer could understand why the only area that was doing any business was a makeshift lasersound saloon. He stood outside it watching the light patterns for a moment, blinking slowly to make his vision sharp, and then he drifted in among the jostling customers.

Despite regulations, alcohol was freely on sale, and judging by the expressions on a few of the faces even some of the more expensively manufactured alternatives were available.

Keefer got himself a pale beer from the cash pump and sat down at a corner table.

„You rich boys can‟t drink worth a scuffle either.‟ The shuttle pilot swayed slightly and grinned down at him. „Or do you hire people to do your drinking for you?‟

„What‟s your problem with us rich boys?‟ Keefer asked.

„Nothing money wouldn‟t cure.‟

„Buy you a drink?‟ Keefer suggested.

„Got one.‟

„You want to sit down then?‟

„Prefer to stand,‟ the pilot said, swaying more violently.

„You might prefer it,‟ Keefer said, „but can you do it?‟

The pilot leaned down close and slurred, „How much would you pay me to get you onto the Ultraviolet Explorer?’

Keefer could smell the drink on the man‟s breath but not as strongly as he had expected, and the half-closed eyes were clear. „Why would I want to?‟ he asked.

The pilot sat down, leaned his elbows on the table and peered at him owlishly. The whispering flutes of the laser columns blared suddenly and the light shattered into plasma bubbles, which danced across the room. „None of my business,‟ he shouted above the music. „I can get you on board, for a price. What you do once you‟re there is up to you.‟

Keefer waited for the sound to die down again and murmured, „I could be an assassin for all you know.‟

„Or care,‟ the pilot said. „Like I say, what you do once you‟re there is up to you.‟

Keefer shook his head. „Not interested.‟

„Cost you a thousand,‟ the pilot persisted. „Special price.

Because I like you.‟

„And you‟d want cash of course.‟

„Dollars. Sumanan preferably. Same as before.‟

„No.‟

„Or you could just hand over the money anyway.‟ The pilot opened his tunic slightly so that the small handgun in his shoulder holster was clearly visible. „What do you say?‟

It was a speculative threat, little more than a fishing expedition, and it produced no combat response in Keefer, only a tired sort of contempt. „I thought they were illegal out here,‟ he said. Unless the man‟s reactions were very fast indeed he knew he could disarm him easily, kill him more easily still. He let a little of his contempt show as he remarked matter-of-factly: „Leave it where it is and you won‟t have a problem.‟

A flicker of doubt showed on the pilot‟s face. „A man with a gun doesn‟t have a problem,‟ he said, his speech abruptly more slurred, „in my experience.‟

„What experience is that?‟

He shrugged. „Stuff happens. You need to be careful.‟

„Is that a threat?‟ Keefer asked, knowing that it no longer was.

The pilot shook his head and held up his hands in mock supplication. „Dangerous place is all,‟ he said. „You know that crew you came in with is dead? Did you know that?‟

Keefer thought the man must be talking metaphorically, statistically maybe. „How do you mean?‟

„Transporter failure.‟ The pilot slapped his hands together, palms flat. „Implosion. Pressure smashed them to smears.‟

Oddly unsurprised Keefer found himself thinking that the redheaded duellist had been wasted because she had died without anyone earning. „Doesn‟t sound like a gun would have helped,‟ he said. Now the image of the android assassin came vividly back and it reminded him of the urgency of what he was about. It had taken him a long, slow time to get this far. His strength was the counterattack but this one had lost its edge, and he realised with a sickening thrill that he had let himself relax. It