Adventure stories; Human-alien encounters -- Fiction; Science fiction; War stories
Then, abruptly, there was a click of gears meshing. Tenons dovetailed.
The hatch slid inward on its thick, girder-rigid tracks, back between
the island banks of micromesh transistors.
Not waiting further, I squeezed between cylinder and slot and scrambled
out into the night.
"Agent Traynor--?"
The voice came from the shadows. A dull, phlegmatic, tranquilized,
conditioned voice. I stopped short; turned fast. "Who's asking?"
The man shrugged stolidly, not even picking up my tension. "I'm a port
rep, Agent Traynor. Port rep second, that is--"
"So who told you to come out here? Who said you should meet me?"
"Oh...." A pause. "Well, you see, there's this sigman, Agent Traynor.
Up in the Interworld Communications section. He had a regular 7-D
clearance report that a FedGov Security investigation agent was warping
in--you have to file a 7-D on all warpings, you know, Agent Traynor,
on account of restrictives. So--well, the rep first was out to eat, so
I just notified Rizal Security, just a routine report, and the unit
controller there, an Agent Gaylord, he said for me to meet you, and--"
I bit down hard and shifted my weight, both at once, wondering if a
broken jaw would interfere with the work of a port rep second.
Only then, all at once, I caught the unmistakable _whish_ of a grav-car
sweeping in.
The lights hit us almost in the same instant. Two seconds later a man
who said he was Agent Gaylord was jumping down and locking wrists with
me in Rizal's traditional greeting.
Even that wrist-lock set my teeth on edge. It was too solid, too
stolid, too thorough a job of conditioning.
Or was it maybe, just a trifle over-done?
Thoughtfully, I studied Gaylord.
A tiny vein was twitching, up close to his hair-line. He seemed to have
a tendency to nibble at his lower lip also. His nails--
We got into the grav-car. The routine began almost before we were off
the ground: "Sorry I wasn't here to meet you, Traynor. But we didn't
get a copy of your assignment order, or even of your warping clearance."
I shrugged. "I'm not surprised. The whole thing was pretty sudden."
"Oh?" Unit Controller Gaylord sounded as if he were trying to sound
casual. "Just what is the 'whole thing,' Traynor? Are you allowed to
tell me about it?"
"Glad to, if you'll promise not to turn me in for a psych check." I
made a business of chuckling with wry good humor. "As a matter of fact,
I'm here to become the recipient of good fortune."
"The re--What--?" The grav-car rocked as Gaylord swung round, staring
at me.
"The recipient of good fortune," I repeated. "Rizal's a lucky planet
these days: that's the word. So I'm here to see if I can hook one of
the prizes."
* * * * *
Gaylord faced front again--a trifle abruptly, it seemed. The grav-car
speeded up.
I said "They're clever gadgets, Gaylord. Have you picked up any more of
them?"
My companion's face stayed expressionless as a mask. "Any more of what?"
I shrugged. "Thrill-mills, obviously."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account