walked
through the lobby, he noticed a man with a pocket viewer, earphones on his
head, seated in a chair, staring intently at the screen. Xris noticed five
other men and one woman, all with pocket viewers, earphones on their heads, all
of them staring with various degrees of attention at the various screens. None
of them glanced at him. None of them paid him any attention whatsoever.
“Paranoid,” Xris
muttered, and continued on his way.
He didn’t hear the
first man speak two words into a cell phone.
“It’s her.”
Chapter 6
One who is in
difficulty and doesn’t make plans is impoverished; one who is impoverished and
doesn’t fight is lost.
Sun-tzu, The Art of War
“That covers my
meeting with Sakuta.” Xris was I speaking to the assembled Mag Force 7 team—the
assembled team minus one. “I’ve accepted the job. Now, here’s the setup.”
“Where’s Darlene?”
Harry asked.
“We’ll cover that
later,” Xris said. “Now back to this job—”
“I don’t think we
should start the meeting without Darlene here,” Harry protested.
Xris counseled
patience. “She’s not coming, Harry. There’s a reason. I’ll go into it later.
Can we get back to the job?”
“There’s something
wrong, isn’t there?” Harry said. “That’s why that thing’s here for a nothing
job like this.” He pointed.
“That’s a water
pitcher, Harry,” Xris said. “I mean that thing next to it.”
The “thing” was a
bug-scrambling device brought along by Quong. The device warbled
electromagnetic frequencies, disrupted sensitive micro devices. Nothing with a
microchip inside it would work while the scrambler was operational. Fortunately
for Xris, his inner workings were specially shielded. Otherwise he’d be
flopping around the room about now.
“Yes, Harry, and
what’s wrong is that you’re annoying the hell out of me. Can we get on with
this?”
“Sure, Xris,”
Harry said. Leaning over, he muttered, “There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”
under his breath to Dr. Quong. “Do you know? No one ever tells me.”
Xris ignored him,
continued on.
“Here’s the plan.
On most other worlds, it would be easy for us to walk off with this antique ‘bot.
Just show up, hijack it, leave. Pandor presents a problem—several problems. The
first: The Pandorans are extremely intolerant and prejudiced against
off-worlders. A spate of serial killings—really nasty stuff—took place in one
of their major cities years ago. An off-worlder was responsible. The Pandoran
people were outraged. In addition, the native Pandorans blamed off-worlders for
stealing jobs and controlling the wealth. Result: They forced all off-worlders
to leave the planet and won’t let any off-worlders back on. With one exception.”
Xris looked to the
former military man Jamil, who nodded and took over.
“As you can see by
the astral map, Pandor is located on one of the major Lanes leading to the
Void. If the Corasians ever decided to attack the galaxy from this direction,
they’d cruise down this hyperspace Lane. Because of Pandor’s vulnerable
location, the Royal Military has maintained an Army base on Pandor for as long
as the Corasian threat has been known. The Pandorans don’t like it, but they
don’t like being attacked by the Corasians a whole lot more. Army personnel are
the only off-worlders permitted to enter Pandor and they are shuttled directly
from the spaceport to the base to avoid contact with the local population.”
Xris picked it up
from there. “According to Sakuta, a construction site is located near this
military base—”
“Is it on base
property?” Tycho asked, through his computer-programmed translation device.
“Unfortunately
not.” Xris shook his head. “That would make this easy. The property is owned by
a group of Pandor developers. They’re building a shopping mall and adding a
high concrete wall to keep the sight of the Army base from offending the
shoppers. The site is near the
through the lobby, he noticed a man with a pocket viewer, earphones on his
head, seated in a chair, staring intently at the screen. Xris noticed five
other men and one woman, all with pocket viewers, earphones on their heads, all
of them staring with various degrees of attention at the various screens. None
of them glanced at him. None of them paid him any attention whatsoever.
“Paranoid,” Xris
muttered, and continued on his way.
He didn’t hear the
first man speak two words into a cell phone.
“It’s her.”
Chapter 6
One who is in
difficulty and doesn’t make plans is impoverished; one who is impoverished and
doesn’t fight is lost.
Sun-tzu, The Art of War
“That covers my
meeting with Sakuta.” Xris was I speaking to the assembled Mag Force 7 team—the
assembled team minus one. “I’ve accepted the job. Now, here’s the setup.”
“Where’s Darlene?”
Harry asked.
“We’ll cover that
later,” Xris said. “Now back to this job—”
“I don’t think we
should start the meeting without Darlene here,” Harry protested.
Xris counseled
patience. “She’s not coming, Harry. There’s a reason. I’ll go into it later.
Can we get back to the job?”
“There’s something
wrong, isn’t there?” Harry said. “That’s why that thing’s here for a nothing
job like this.” He pointed.
“That’s a water
pitcher, Harry,” Xris said. “I mean that thing next to it.”
The “thing” was a
bug-scrambling device brought along by Quong. The device warbled
electromagnetic frequencies, disrupted sensitive micro devices. Nothing with a
microchip inside it would work while the scrambler was operational. Fortunately
for Xris, his inner workings were specially shielded. Otherwise he’d be
flopping around the room about now.
“Yes, Harry, and
what’s wrong is that you’re annoying the hell out of me. Can we get on with
this?”
“Sure, Xris,”
Harry said. Leaning over, he muttered, “There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”
under his breath to Dr. Quong. “Do you know? No one ever tells me.”
Xris ignored him,
continued on.
“Here’s the plan.
On most other worlds, it would be easy for us to walk off with this antique ‘bot.
Just show up, hijack it, leave. Pandor presents a problem—several problems. The
first: The Pandorans are extremely intolerant and prejudiced against
off-worlders. A spate of serial killings—really nasty stuff—took place in one
of their major cities years ago. An off-worlder was responsible. The Pandoran
people were outraged. In addition, the native Pandorans blamed off-worlders for
stealing jobs and controlling the wealth. Result: They forced all off-worlders
to leave the planet and won’t let any off-worlders back on. With one exception.”
Xris looked to the
former military man Jamil, who nodded and took over.
“As you can see by
the astral map, Pandor is located on one of the major Lanes leading to the
Void. If the Corasians ever decided to attack the galaxy from this direction,
they’d cruise down this hyperspace Lane. Because of Pandor’s vulnerable
location, the Royal Military has maintained an Army base on Pandor for as long
as the Corasian threat has been known. The Pandorans don’t like it, but they
don’t like being attacked by the Corasians a whole lot more. Army personnel are
the only off-worlders permitted to enter Pandor and they are shuttled directly
from the spaceport to the base to avoid contact with the local population.”
Xris picked it up
from there. “According to Sakuta, a construction site is located near this
military base—”
“Is it on base
property?” Tycho asked, through his computer-programmed translation device.
“Unfortunately
not.” Xris shook his head. “That would make this easy. The property is owned by
a group of Pandor developers. They’re building a shopping mall and adding a
high concrete wall to keep the sight of the Army base from offending the
shoppers. The site is near the
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