Click ~*~ to follow a thread.

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"Oops, he's not. They've got him."

Seeing that they might barter information, the others jumped in with ideas of their own.

"I know where they keep the Love's Arrow for shipping."

"I can tell you how they refine it."

"There's lots of equipment at the landing field where we're going."

"What about him?" Tiyar asked the woman.

"What do you want to know about him? I can tell you where he is if you let us go."

"How would I know whether to believe you?"

She shrugged. "Well, don't say I wouldn't tell you."

"Tell us how you know," Paula said.

"What do you think, I've got a holo?" the woman asked bitterly. "My cousin works in the infirmary. The medics had to go look at him once. That's all. I thought you might be after him. You're his girlfriend, right? Paula Maxwell. We keep up. The Uchide want this berg, right? He's married, you know."

"Thought you'd never been to Eyimalia," Paula responded.

"My other cousin works at the landing field. He hears everything that happens on the big E. Or used to work there. I guess they shipped him to the E like everybody else except us."

"So you think you've been done a bad turn," Fuego said.

She chuckled. "Bad turn. A little misunderstanding."

"An unpleasantness," another said.

"Going to do anything about it?"

"I'd like to give them something to remember me by. Rip their ears off."

"Bust their hands," the youngest man said.

"We could do it, you know? Six against one."

"Five."

"They'd put you on penal for the rest of your life," Fuego observed.

"Who cares? It'd be worth it."

"After six months here, jail would suit me fine," the man agreed.

"Have a family?" Fuego asked him.

"Me? Yeah, I've got some brothers and sisters and four cousins and some uncles and my dad." He shrugged. "They won't care--I draw penal and they get my pay for this job."

"What kind of assignment do you think your brothers and sisters will get? Maybe on this berg or maybe on another one. And they'll take it."

"No. I'll tell them--"

"Sure you will. The Ketries have been running this outfit for a thousand years. Your grandma probably came through here. Your old man, when he was your age. Didn't he?"

"Yeah. But he never told me. Sure, he told me not to do it, but...he didn't tell me what it was like. He told me but he didn't tell me, you know?"

"He told you but he didn't tell you. And what are you going to do, make a documentary?"

"No, I'm going to beat their heads in."

"Will you?" Tiyar asked.

"Yes!" The young man struck the ground with his fists.

The older woman motioned him to be quiet. He growled, "Shut up, granny," but obeyed.

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CONTINUE.....................

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