A Game of Battleships Read Online Free PDF

here is skill, not background. My own people are chosen for ability, not origin. Most of them think a Cambridge punt is a particularly nasty way of incapacitating someone. What matters here –’ and his eyes took on a fanatical gleam – ‘is the preservation of justice and common  decency. We use the best tool for the job – and my men are the best tools in the business.’
    There was a moment’s pause. ‘We thought about Wainscott,’ Benson said.
    W took a sip of beer to hide his expression. True, Major Wainscott was an expert at seeking out  danger. The major had crossed half the galaxy and most of its inhabitants whilst looking for trouble and had found quite a lot of it in some very surprising places. But leaving Wainscott with a bevy of foreign delegates? Surely that was putting a shark in charge of a swimming pool.
    ‘He has a reputation for working discreetly,’ Benson explained.
    ‘I’ll have words,’ W said, remembering that for Wainscott, ‘discreet work’ was something you did  to enemy sentries. ‘But the major is on holiday, you know. Dartmoor.’
    ‘Dartmoor, eh? Didn’t he go there a couple of years ago?’
    W frowned. Wainscott’s last trip to the West had been less a matter of going away as of being put  away. ‘Er, you mean Broadmoor. That wasn’t a holiday, as such. More, ah, rest care.’
    ‘Well, in galactic terms, Dartmoor’s just down the road. Splendid.’
    W reflected that it wasn’t so much the distance that would be the problem so much as figuring  out which badger sett Wainscott was using as his base of operations. He had received a postcard a month ago, explaining that the major had been accepted by the badgers as one of their own and that he was  having a great time making crossbows out of roadkill.
    ‘We knew you were the chap for the job,’ Khan said, leaning back. His chair creaked like a  galleon in a storm. ‘I’ll see to it that you get transport and supplies.’
    W stood up. ‘I’ll find Wainscott and head out. Goodbye, gentlemen. Oh – and of course I wasn’t  here, and I didn’t say any of this.’
    ‘Naturally,’ Benson replied. ‘Would you like a piece of cake to take with you?’
    W shook his head. ‘At eighteen pound four ounces, it's probably a little heavy for my tastes.’
    *
    ‘So,’ Rhianna said as she put the tea things away, ‘is this the first time Suruk’s ever. . er. . had  children?’
    ‘I’m not sure,’ Smith replied. ‘You could ask him, although I’m not sure he’d remember. The  M’Lak don’t really care about their young.’ Rhianna passed him the biscuit tin and he reached up to put it on the shelf. ‘In fact, when I first met Suruk he was convinced that jelly babies were the human larval stage.’
    ‘That’s a shame. Is their culture too patriarchal to allow them to engage properly with their  children?’
    ‘Not really. Engage with those things and you’d probably lose a limb. Young Morlocks are like a  cross between a frog and a piranha. I’d advise wearing something a bit more solid than flip-flops if you’re going in the engine room soon. A suit of armour, perhaps.’ He frowned. ‘I hope it doesn’t take too long to get to Tannhauser. The last thing we need when we arrive in Europe is a bunch of killer frogs chewing through the hull.’
    ‘Well then,’ Rhianna said, ‘it sounds like we’ll get to spend some time together, at last.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Anything in particular you’d like to do?’
    Smith recognised that look. ‘Scrabble?’
    ‘I was thinking of something a little more. . adult,’ she replied.
    ‘Rude Scrabble! Excellent plan, old girl!’ Smith rubbed his hands together. ‘Wait a moment.
    Where’re the others?’
    ‘They’re in the hold. They’ll be okay for a while, won’t they?’
    Smith shrugged. ‘Oh yes. So long as they don’t blow up the ship or drink bleach, they’ll be fine.’
    *
    ‘Gah!’ Suruk clutched his throat and staggered across the