[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Baba, unfortunately, was not a miner herself, just the mother of one, and was short on any knowledge of technique.
"But she said," Baba said, "that she didn't expect it to stay hidden forever, the claim. She always said someone would
probably stumble on it by accident. 'It's all just folly, that's all,' she would say to me." Baba shook her head sadly. "
'Just folly.' I guess she was right."
The old lady sighed and drank. Evan looked from her to Mell, and found Mell wearing an oddly intense expression.
"Folly?" she said. "Baba, did she say just 'folly'? Or maybe 'Langton's Folly'?"
Baba looked up, frowning slightly. "Maybe. Maybe she did. It was a while ago. She would always say, 'Out by the
folly.' "
"That's an old station that failed," Mell said to Evan. "It went bankrupt about fifteen years ago, and it was too small for
anyone to start it going again. It was salvaged, nothing there but empty shells, and a beacon to warn people that it's
closed."
Evan nodding, filing the information away, and turned to the others. Quite a few other people had things to tell about
friends who had disappeared but again, they were short on hard details about coordinates and so forth. Evan was
somewhat disappointed about this, but against the paucity of information he could weigh the fact that a lot of these
people were much more kindly disposed toward him than they had been, and some help might be forthcoming from
them now. At least, he-wouldn't get beaten up every time he came into a bar. If nothing else, his social life would
improve.
SPACE COPS 139
He looked over at Mell, who was leaning back in her seat with a Swill of her own. The cool green eyes were resting on
him in a reflective sort of way.
"You make a good native guide," Evan said, while the gossiping went on around him.
Mell put her head to one side. "I think perhaps you needed one."
At first Evan felt embarrassed to admit it, but abruptly the embarrassment fell off him. Maybe it was the booze. "I think
perhaps you're right," Evan said. "Thank you. I owe you one, cariad. "
She raised her eyebrows. "Careful. I might collect."
Evan raised his eyebrows right back at her. "Think I'm scared, then?"
"You?" She chuckled softly. "You'd hardly show it if you were. Not your style, I should think." sEvan smiled slightly at
that. "Well, then."
She reached out for his hand.
He took it.
They got up and went out, leaving the gossip running hot behind them.
JOSS SAID TO GEORGE, "I SUPPOSE HE'S BUSY.
Best we get going."
"We're all set," George said, from inside his own ship at the other side of the hanger. "Let's go."
"Cecile?" Joss said. "We're out of here. Evan comes looking for me, tell him we'll be back in a few hours."
"Last I heard, he was over in Old Town, in the Hole in the Wall," Cecile said. "Some kind of fight."
"Oh, no! Is he all right?"
"Oh, yes. He was drinking again, last I heard."
Joss chuckled. "He's conducting business, then. No problem: we don't really need him for this. See you later, Cecile."
"Hasta la vista, Mister Sop Honey."
130 SPACE COPS
Joss had had the ship's engines heating up for a good while now, and had been listening to them with great care,
besides running every diagnostic that he could think of through the systems. Everything came up negative. He wasn't
sure whether to think of this as good or bad. If someone was going to try to sabotage his ship now, surely they'd try
something too sophisticated for him to catch. Small consolation it'll be, he thought as he lifted the ship up on its
underjets, to die of something completely unexpected.
He eased the ship out into the airlock, waited for it to seal behind him and to open before. The doors cracked open
slowly, and he soared out. Joss was getting a better feel for the controls than he'd had for the first couple of weeks,
and he was now getting more enjoyment than ever out of the way the ship moved and carried itself. Even on attitude
jets, it maneuvered quickly and well, and it accelerated more and more nicely on iondrive. Running in finally, I
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]