The Whirlwind's Ride. Tom Boone's Anderson

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ that someone put together in a laboratory as a hoax to fool a gullible world.

      “As an answer to this I would say look at the night sky. You have so poisoned your night sky with artificial light that the stars can barely be seen. Find somewhere far from the lights where the stars in the cloudless night sky can be seen in all their glory. I guarantee that if you spend a night looking up into that glorious wonder, you will hear it calling to you.” “It is time to leave the nest. Spread your wings and join us. The wonders of the galaxy are waiting for you.”

      My Uncle had a strange expression on his face. He stood up and gave me several slow hard claps. “Bravo. You did make an unsupported supposition to determine that a non-star traveling species would by definition have light pollution blotting out most of the night sky. However, this is common enough that I believe your reasoning is valid. The inducement to come join the star traveling species wasn’t mentioned in the theme, but it was implied. You did very well.

      “Regardless of the grade your teacher gives you, I give you a A plus. There will be celebrations tonight and you will have a special reward.”

      I came home to decorations and party music and my favorite foods. Everyone congratulated me. Everyone accept my Uncle. My Uncle wasn’t there. He had an important faculty meeting to attend.

      As a reward I would be allowed to pick my own major household chore. I asked that my major household chore be the care and feeding of the gardens at the back end of the estate. These gardens faced the ocean.

      I had always loved green growing things, especially flowers. But even more than the flowers I loved the huge sandy beach between the gardens and the ocean. It was a nude beach, a woman’s only nude beach. I truly loved tending my gardens.

      DR. CARROLL

      I spent the next two days lounging around my bedroom, not even getting dressed. I spent the next two days after that wandering around the estate getting in everyone’s way. By the fifth day I was climbing the walls.

      I took the assignment on Lindle 497 for two reasons. One, I was desperate to get off Cocuru and find some excitement and two, and most importantly, the gloride monster was a croc not a ghoul.

      I avoid ghouls if I can. A croc cuts you to bits, eats the soft tissue and is done. A tic sucks out your juices and is done. Leaving you a shrunken husk, but it's done. A ghoul drags you to its larder and eats you bit by bit over time. One ghoul larder had over one hundred bodies in it which the ghouls appeared to have collected over about five years.

      This croc was smarter than most. The last ghoul hunter team had every trap avoided or smashed and lost three members before they gave up. The archaeological team was about to lose its license if they didn't show some results and it’s difficult to show results when your workers are afraid to go in the mine.

      Usually I like to spend the night before I go into a mine in a local bar. Do a little drinking, meet some new people, and I am always able to find a pretty girl who will make love to me as a going away present. I might get unlucky tomorrow. This could be my last night on earth. Maybe it was my last chance to be with a beautiful woman. Sounds hokey, but works most of the time. The next morning, before my hangover becomes tolerable, I go to the mine, wander around till the gloride monster attacks me, The Ride uses my body to kill it, then I collect some vines from the local grape varieties and head back to Cocuru.

      In this case the bars were all closed, due to lack of business, and the local women were not to be found. It was harvest season and absolutely everyone was working in the fields. I resolved to always ask more questions before taking an assignment. I spent the evening alone drinking quantities of wine that were amazing even for me. I woke with a horrible hangover, but even with the pain in my head I was still incredibly horny. I decided to go in the mine and get this over with.

      I passed through a group of mine workers on my way in. They were uniformly big men, most of whom I could walk under their straight outstretched arms and not touch my hair. No one said a word, but…we're you going Shorty…was in their eyes.

      I must have wandered around for three or four hours before I realized my hangover was gone. I was in the right place. I continually found sliced up bodies with most of their soft tissue eaten. It was a croc alright, but where was he?

      Every so often I would come across an atmosphere regulator. These things need constant adjustment. Working with them is what I went to trade school to learn. Every time I came across one I would stop to adjust it, turning my back on the corridor to do so. This was an invitation to the croc. They are huge powerful creatures, but given the chance they prefer to attack from behind. Little by little the mine’s air became fresher, but still no croc.

      I walked back to the safe room just off the entrance. The expedition leader looked up at me. “No luck?” he asked.

      “I don't know why it won't attack me. Maybe it needs to sense fear before it will attack.” This had occurred to me as I walked the tunnels. “I tried to drum up some fear, but I couldn't do it.”

      The expedition leader looked at me trying to fathom not being able to be afraid of something that can slice people in half with a single swipe of its claw. “What can we do?” he asked me.

      “I need someone for bait” I looked at the men around me. In spite of their size and the looks on their faces, the fear was thick in the room. If fear was the problem, any one of them would attract the croc like a bear to honey.

      Still fear might not be the problem. The croc might have left on its own. It's rare. Usually a croc, once it has tasted human flesh, won't leave until it has picked every body part clean and become very hungry. The body parts I saw were far from picked clean. Still the croc might have left and I would be stuck wandering around the mine with one of these huge clods for who knows how many hours. Fortunately an attractive woman chose that moment to walk in the room.

      “Should I start packing my equipment? Are we leaving?” she asked.

      “She would make the perfect bait,” I said.

      The expedition leader came back with an immediate, “Why her?” the other men in the room came back with silent relief.

      I lied. “I don't think I would get any fear at all from the men in the room. The woman here, I am certain I would get what I need out of her.”

      She was a bit smaller than most women, with shoulder length shiny brown hair curled in at the neck. She had a reasonably nice figure, but a very pretty, very intelligent face. She had the kind of face that usually belonged to a woman who enjoyed cutting men's balls off with words for the fun of watching them bounce on the floor. Still walking through the tunnels with her would be a lot more fun than walking with any of the men in the room, more practical too. I just had to be careful what I said to her and I might get out of this undamaged. If only I had a chance to have sex last night.

      “You don't have to go,” the director said solemnly. “I don't like sending you in there at all, much less as bait.”

      “Darrel, one of the men in there was the husband of my best friend. She wants his body back. If this man doesn't kill the croc, they will take our license and shut down the site. It might be years before anyone goes in there again. How can I face her if I have to tell her that her husband's body isn't coming back? If it will help kill the croc, I'll act as bait.”

      “Who do we send your body to?” Darrel asked her.

      She smiled, СКАЧАТЬ