A Handful of Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

stood up, putting out his cigarette. “Like the Sword of Damocles. Always hanging over us. I’m getting tired. All I want to do is take a long rest. But I guess everybody feels that way.”
    He got his jacket from the closet and went out on the front porch. The shoot would be along any moment, the fast little bug that would carry him to the Project.
    “I hope Nelson isn’t late.” He looked at his watch. “It’s almost seven.”
    “Here the bug comes,” Mary said, gazing between the rows of houses. The sun glittered behind the roofs, reflecting against the heavy lead plates. The settlement was quiet; only a few people Were stirring. “I’ll see you later. Try not to work beyond your shift, Spence.”
    Olham opened the car door and slid inside, leaning back against the seat with a sigh. There was an older man with Nelson.
    “Well?” Olham said, as the bug shot ahead. “Heard any interesting news?”
    “The usual,” Nelson said. “A few Outspace ships hit, another asteroid abandoned for strategic reasons.”
    “It’ll be good when we get the Project into final stage. Maybe it’s just the propaganda from the newsmachines, but in the last month I’ve gotten weary of all this. Everything seems so grim and serious, no colour to life.”
    “Do you think the war is in vain?” the older man said suddenly. “You are an integral part of it, yourself.”
    “This is Major Peters,” Nelson said. Olham and Peters shook hands. Olham studied the older man.
    “What brings you along so early?” he said. “I don’t remember seeing you at the Project before.”
    “No, I’m not with the Project,” Peters said, “but I know something about what you’re doing. My own work is altogether different.”
    A look passed between him and Nelson. Olham noticed it and he frowned. The bug was gaining speed, flashing across “the barren, lifeless ground towards the distant rim of the Project buildings.
    “What is your business?” Olham said. “Or aren’t you permitted to talk about it?”
    “I’m with the government,” Peters said. “With FSA, the Security Organ.”
    “Oh?” Olham raised an eyebrow. “Is there any enemy infiltration in this region?”
    “As a matter of fact I’m here to see you, Mr. Olham.”
    Olham was puzzled. He considered Peters” words, but he could make nothing of them. “To see me? Why?”
    “I’m here to arrest you as an Outspace spy. That’s why I’m up so early this morning. Grab him, Nelson —”
    The gun drove into Olham’s ribs. Nelson’s hands were shaking, trembling with released emotion, his face pale. He took a deep breath and let it out again.
    “Shall we kill him now?” he whispered to Peters. “I think we should kill him now. We can’t wait.”
    Olham stared into his friend’s face. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Both men were staring at him steadily, rigid and grim with fright. Olham felt dizzy. His head ached and spun.
    “I don’t understand,” he murmured.
    At that moment the shoot car left the ground and rushed up, heading into space. Below them the Project fell away, smaller and smaller, disappearing. Olham shut his mouth.
    “We can wait a little,” Peters said. “I want to ask him some questions, first.”
    Olham gazed dully ahead as the bug rushed through space.
    “The arrest was made all right,” Peters said into the vidscreen. On the screen the features of the Security chief showed. “It should be a load off everyone’s mind.”
    “Any complications?”
    “None. He entered the bug without suspicion. He didn’t seem to think my presence was too unusual.”
    “Where are you now?”
    “On our way out, just inside the protec-bubble. We’re moving at maximum speed. You can assume that the critical period is past. I’m glad the take-off jets in this craft were in good working order. If there had been any failure at that point—”
    “Let me see him,” the Security chief said. He gazed directly at Olham where he sat, his