Abiogenesis Read Online Free PDF Page A

related to the gestation, she wondered?
    The sounds of the second craft lifting off jogged her from her abstraction and into action.
    She peered at the pilot, saw that he’d been distracted, as well, and began to move quickly around the ship while he stood watching the ship’s ascent. Coming upon him from behind, she placed the barrel of her weapon against the center of his back, directly over his heart. "I need passage off of this rock, and I don’t particularly care who I have to kill to get it. Take me, and I’ll pay you for your trouble and you can get on with your life. Give me any trouble and I’ll kill you."
    The moment the barrel of her weapon dug into his back, he went perfectly still. As she finished her little speech, however, he moved, so fast her jaw didn’t have time to drop in surprise, snatching her weapon from her hands so hard and fast she was surprised he didn’t take her fingers with it.
    "I only take rogues," he said coolly, taking the weapon in both hands and bending it into a bow, as if it had been made of putty instead of titanium alloy.
    Dalia glanced from the bent weapon into the face that had launched a million flyers. It was Reuel CO469, the first of his kind, the first cyborg rogue, the leader of all who’d come after him, and the only rogue nobody had even come close to catching in all the time she’d worked for the company.
    "Oh fuck!"
    A smile curled that devastating mouth. Stepping toward her, he grasped her arms, thrusting them behind her back and bringing her up hard against his massive chest. "We could. On the other hand I’m waiting for someone and I really don’t like being interrupted when I’m pleasuring a beautiful woman."
    "That wasn’t an invitation," Dalia snapped.
    His dark brows rose. "No?" He shook his head and finally shrugged. "Machines! They can never quite grasp the subtleties of human interaction, can they? That’s what always gives us away."
    She didn’t believe for one moment that he’d interpreted her comment literally. He was, she realized with a touch of stunned amazement, amusing himself. "Let go of me," she said through gritted teeth.
    His smile vanished. "I’m not even slightly tempted ... rogue hunter."
    For the first time in her memory, Dalia felt real, unmitigated fear. "I wouldn’t be fleeing the city if I were."
    "The question is, are you fleeing the city? Or was this merely a clever ruse?"
    She gave him a look. "I had my weapon on your back. I could’ve killed you then and there would’ve been no point in subterfuge."
    "Except that that wouldn’t have gotten you into the rebel camp, would it, Dalia?"
    Dalia stared at him in dismay. She licked suddenly dry lips. "My name’s Kaya."
    "Your name is Dalia VH570 ... and you are a rogue hunter ... gone rogue."
    Of all the things he might have said, nothing could have stunned her more, or more surely inspired her to throw caution to the wind. "I’m no rogue," she spat in disgust before she thought better of it. "I’m human."
    His mouth tightened until his lips were no more than a thin line. His nostrils flared as he dragged in a deep breath to calm his temper. "You have enough contempt to be a rogue hunter, whatever you want to call yourself."
    Dalia twisted, testing his hold of her, but she was not the least surprised when he held her without any sign of difficulty. She supposed she should have simply accepted the fact that she was dead except for the dying part. He knew she was a rogue hunter. He wasn’t going to simply let her go, and he wasn’t going to take her with him.
    Somehow, though, she found she simply could not give up or accept that she wasn’t going to be able to find a way out of this. "If you know about me, then you know I’m on the run. I’m no threat to you."
    "Not presently. But, then, you’re assuming I believe any propaganda the company chooses to put out. I don’t." He leaned close, placing his mouth near her ear. "They lie," he whispered.
    Her body obviously