Bonshoon: A Tale of the Final Fall of Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

on the other side of the ship in front of two expert eyewitnesses,” Glomulus said meekly, and spread his hands when everyone turned to stare at him. “Hey, even I’m thinking ‘Glomulus Cratch’, albeit in a more piteous, self-preservationny way than you probably are,” he protested. “I just feel I ought to point out, even if this were some sort of set-up or booby-trap or something that I arranged – that was what you were about to suggest next, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes,” Waffa said.
    “I was working out the fine details,” Sally admitted, “but that’s the basic gist of it.”
    “That being the case, I really would like to point out that the sort of messing and fubbing the Commander is talking about requires command -level access and overrides. Especially if it also involved pulling the wool over Bruce’s eyes.”
    “You already unlocked the tranks,” Zeegon said, “back at MundCorp.”
    “And then Bethel got himself killed with them too,” Waffa added.
    “And let’s not forget the other eejit,” Zeegon said, “what was his name? The guy who got pumped full of Bonshoon blood?”
    “Chilton,” Glomulus said. “And yes, Chilton and Bethel were the two main incidents leading up to the full command lock-out and deactivation of all of the former isolation pod equipment in the medical bay.”
    “So, the Captain,” Zeegon said, with just a hint of glee.
    “The Captain,” Cratch agreed mildly, “or Acting First Officer Clue, of course, since she has all the override codes. Um,” he hastened as Clue turned a Look well and truly deserving of proper noun status upon him, “or Waffa, who has access to every maintenance and monitoring subroutine on the ship,” he went on innocently, and once again quickly raised his hands when Waffa looked ready to activate his subdermals. “I’m doing everyone,” he said quickly.
    “Go on,” Clue said evenly.
    “Or Sally, who is a known but unsung hero of the computer hacking world,” Glomulus went on, turning to give Sally a bright but careful smile, “or the computer itself, seeing as how it is not above the occasional unexpected bit of self-hacking. Or Janya, highly intelligent and resourceful and secretive. Or General Moral Decay (Alcohol), smarter than the smartest four humans on board if their brains were all hooked up into a parallel processor,” he pointed. “Or Zeegon, of course, with his relentless technological tinkering. Or me, again, since I haven’t stopped hacking into the ship’s systems since you let me out of the brig. Although I repeat, out of all of us I am personally certain only of myself and Janus, since we were in his office together when the alarm went off. And then there’s Contro – a man of hidden depths and esoteric knowledge,” he spread his hands. “Need I go on?”
    “You didn’t do me,” Janus said.
    “Well, like I say, you were with me and thus have an unimpeachable alibi.”
    “Even so…”
    “Fine,” Glomulus pointed at Whye. “Janus Whye,” he said dramatically. “The counsellor doesn’t need to hack the ship. He can hack our very minds .”
    “So awesome,” Janus enthused quietly.
    “Alright,” Clue said, “enough.”
    “Yeah,” Zeegon agreed, his face suddenly unaccustomedly grave. “Dunnkirk is dead. Dunnkirk is dead . Dunnkirk . I was just with him . I helped him up…” he shook his head. “He came to the bridge, we headed out…”
    “And as soon as we went to relative speed, he was killed,” Sally said. “Was that … do we think that was intentional? Was the killer waiting for him to be out of contact with Maladin and Thord?”
    “Oh shit,” Zeegon said sickly, suddenly sounding near to tears. “Waiting until he was alone.”
    “Alone except for Thord’s pups,” Janya said. “Have they reacted to this in any way?”
    Z-Lin shook her head, glanced at Decay. “I went past the farm after we finished up at the medical bay, but they just … they’re just rolling and climbing and