Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [10]
Surprise flashed in the man’s eyes. “Sometimes. Depending on what I’m doing for Dr. Pardot.”
“Have you always worked for him?”
“No. There have been other scientists at the lab that I’ve handled security for before.”
“But you haven’t been to the Redblight before?”
“No.”
Hella studied the man and regretted the fact that so little of Riley’s face was visible through the face shield and that the hardshell masked his true body language. A person’s body language gave away a lot. “Then why come now?”
“Because I work with Dr. Pardot, and this is where he wanted to go.”
“Why?”
Riley hesitated. “I seem to be giving more answers than I’m getting.”
Hella stroked Daisy’s muzzle. The lizard chomped in noisy satisfaction. “Ask.”
“How long have you and Stampede been together?”
“Nine years.” Hella had barely been surviving on her own and been old enough to start pinging men’s radar as female. She’d learned to cut and run, and she’d learned to hunt in the wilderness. Stampede had taught her the rest.
“You don’t look that old.”
“I was eleven.”
“Kind of young.”
“Not for the Redblight. A lot of kids grow up without their parents. Or they don’t grow up at all. I got lucky. Stampede had just lost his partner.”
“Then why didn’t he take on another partner?”
Hella arched a challenging brow. “Not a kid?”
Riley looked uncomfortable. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I think it is. Anyway, to answer your question, you’d have to ask him.”
“I was trying to figure out the relationship.”
Stampede laughed in Hella’s ear.
Hella made her voice cold. Riley seemed to understand that from Dr. Pardot just fine. “We’re partners.”
“All right. I just didn’t want to be stepping on any toes.”
“How would you do that?” Hella put on an innocent face, as if she didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
“In case your partner was … interested in you.”
“He is interested in me.” Hella adjusted the feedbag so Daisy could get to the bottom. “If I’m alive, he’s got a better chance of staying alive too. That’s about as interested as you can get, Captain Riley.”
Riley rubbed the back of his neck. His armored glove clanked against his helmet. “I just haven’t ever seen a bisonoid before.”
“And you didn’t know if Stampede was interested in human women?”
“You do get straight to the point, don’t you?”
“Saves time. You save time out in the Redblight, you’re likely saving your own skin. Or someone whose skin you’ve been hired to protect.” Hella shook the feedbag again. “As to Stampede’s sexual preferences, you’ll have to ask him. I do know for a fact that a lot of women like Stampede.” The bisonoid had women in all the trade camps they visited, and he had no problem connecting with women on expeditions.
“But not you?”
“No. Not me. You’re getting personal.”
Riley shrugged. “I like knowing how people work together. That’s part of my job.”
“We won’t be working together long.” Hella unfastened the feedbag. “Hopefully Dr. Pardot will find whatever it is he’s looking for soon. Then you won’t have to learn one more thing about me.” She paused. “I would like to know what this expedition is looking for.”
“Even if I could tell you, I wouldn’t.”
“Then I suppose we’re through exchanging pleasantries, Captain Riley. Good night.” Hella tossed the feedbag over her shoulder and walked back to camp. Riley followed her, and she knew he watched her every step of the way.
Hella stood outside the canopied area where Dr. Colleen Trammell performed an autopsy on the dead mutie-coyote. She’d even had some of Riley’s men search the forest for the bits and pieces of the one Stampede had killed. Those pieces lay arranged on a silica skein, a piece of fabric so thin that stains couldn’t take hold. Hella knew she could have bartered the fabric dearly at a trade camp. And Colleen treated it like a kitchen utensil.
Colleen worked like a machine, slicing and removing organs and musculature with a surgeon’s skill. Blood splattered her clothing, her mask, and her goggles. A robotic assistant spread thin arms around her, recording