Bloodhype Read Online Free PDF Page B

system until the drug has burned itself out. Very painful and not always successful. If the brain itself has been too badly damaged, nothing can be done. In such cases, mercy killings are not unknown.
    “If 120hh or 144 t-standard hours have passed, there is a ninety-eight and something percent chance of an excruciatingly painful death occurring. In such cases even the best of medical treatment is useless. There is, of course, nothing like a simple antidote.”
    “And the shipments are coming through Repler?” said Kitten.
    “It is thought to be so. We intercepted one, just one, by accident. No persons were taken. The best evidence we have is that every planet where new addicts have appeared was visited shortly before by a vessel that stopped to change or exchange cargo on Repler. There are a few suspects here, whom we’re being very careful not to warn off. And this is not the only planet that’s being carefully checked out. But at this stage it seems like Repler is the best of several thin possibilities—Everything about the operation suggests professional planning with plenty of brains behind it. There’s a lot of experience behind this setup.”
    “I don’t wish to minimize our abilities, sir,” interrupted Kitten, “but if all this is true, why send for two fairly inexperienced agent-students instead of a hundred pros?”
    “One, your very inexperience is your best asset. You will be equally unknown to the runners. The one thing we fear more than anything else is that they might become aware that we suspect their operations here. And with something of this magnitude running smoothly, it’s a likely bet that the pros handling things would stay quiet and shut down until they could shift their base elsewhere. We don’t want to start over again somewhere a hundred parsecs down the Arm. We might not be fortunate enough to intercept another shipment. And the traffic hasn’t assumed the proportions . . . yet . . . where an investment of that kind would justify the risk. A large sweep would be likely to catch up a lot of the small fry. The moguls usually manage to slip away and start raising hell somewhere else. You two stand a chance of cutting through a lot of opaque membrane and latching onto them before they have a chance to get suspicious. At least, that’s the theory. If you’re caught, the worst that can happen is we lose two agents.”
    “You frame things so delicately,” murmured Porsupah.
    “The covers we’ve prepared for you don’t require a lot of effort to maintain. Barring,” he said, staring hard at Kitten, “unforseen complications! Lieutenant Porsupah is listed as a wealthy tree-farmer’s nephew from Tolus Prime. Your covers provide you with a number of common interests. A shared interest in mildly dangerous sports, for one thing. It means you have reasons for wanting to jet all over the place—and incidentally, for carrying sidearms. Sport pistols. Licenses will be issued to the both of you on your way out. Your ‘sporting weapons’ each pack a much greater wallop than their appearance will suggest. So for Hive’s sake, be circumspect with them—Look around, take your time, and honestly try to have fun. I don’t believe in miracles, but ‘erecting the proper superstructure facilitates acquiring interior trappings.’ ”
    “Mathewson, twenty-third edict, section four,” said Kitten.
    “ ‘Accidents and miracles will happen if you can find the proper place in space’; yes, you’re right, my dear,” replied Orvenalix. “I never knew theology interested you.”
    “Only the juicy parts. For example . . .”
    Porsupah elected to chew the upholstery.
     
    Malcolm Hammurabi was counting his money. The awkward fact that he didn’t have it yet failed to interrupt the pleasure he took in the mathematics.
    It had been the kind of trip that ship-masters drink over: no muss, no fuss, and plenty of profits. Even the drive had been trouble-free. Who’d have thought that