Cauldron of Ghosts Read Online Free PDF

that Manpower’s authority was about to be abrogated.
    Despite the Japanese name and the placement of the surname first, Takahashi didn’t look the least bit Oriental. Her eyes were hazel, her hair was a sort of redbrick color, and her skin was several shades darker than that of most people from East Asia.
    But that wasn’t atypical of human beings two thousand years after the diaspora from Earth began—even leaving aside the way Manpower’s gengineers scrambled genetic lineages for their own purposes. One of Kabweza’s trainers when she’d been in a Solarian Marines boot camp had been named Bjørn Haraldsson, despite to all outward appearances being of purely African descent.
    “Are you here to free us?” asked the man who’d grinned in response to Supakrit X’s announcement.
    “Yes. But for the moment, we need you to just stay put,” said Kabweza. After a very brief pause, she added: “Except for one of you who should come with us. That’ll speed up the introduction.”
    “Me,” Takahashi said immediately. “I know everybody. It’s because I’m so friendly”—she gave Supakrit a sharp glance—“except when people call me ‘girl.’ Well, and other stuff.”
    She was an attractive young woman. She’d probably drawn the unwelcome attention of some of the slaver crew if there hadn’t been enough pleasure slaves aboard.
    Judging from the skeptical expressions on the faces of several of the slaves in the compartment, Takahashi’s claim to superb friendliness was not universally shared. But if nothing else, the woman wasn’t shy. That ought to be enough. Heavily-armed and very dangerous-looking people who arrive to free people from bondage don’t really need much in the way of a friendly introduction, after all.
    “Come with us, then.” Ayibongwinkosi moved toward the hatch at the opposite end of the compartment. “The rest of you, like I said, just relax. This will all be over pretty soon.”
    * * *
    Kabweza’s progress was slow. Not only was the compartment packed with people, but the same armor that had made it so easy to plow through containers required her to move carefully here. It would be easy to crush flesh and even break bones without hardly noticing.
    Once at the hatch, she waited for Damewood to come up. Loren fiddled with his equipment for a few seconds. What exactly was he doing? Ayibongwinkosi didn’t know and wasn’t about to ask.
    Click. The sound of the locks drawing back was quite audible.
    “Slobs,” muttered Damewood.
    The likelihood that the slight sound had alerted anyone on the other side of the hatch was low. Still, Kabweza passed through the hatch by rolling and coming to a crouch, her flechette gun covering the area.
    Clear. Still in a crouch, she swiveled the other way.
    The corridor was clear there also.
    She gestured, waving the rest forward.
    Takahashi was the last one to emerge. “Which way to the crew quarters?” the lieutenant colonelasked her softly. “Do you know?”
    Ayako nodded and pointed in the direction Kabweza had first covered. “That way.”
    “Are you sure?”
    The young woman got a pinched look on her face. “Yes,” she said curtly. “I’m sure.”
    Ayibongwinkosi didn’t inquire further. She nodded to Supakrit X and he took point.

Chapter 4
    The labor tech units started arriving in ten minutes. The slaves shuffled into the compartment, their heads down and their eyes on the floor. Two of the slave ship’s crew members herded them along with deactivated—for the moment—neural whips. The slavers were rather lackadaisical about it, though; clearly they weren’t expecting any sort of trouble. The people being channeled through the compartment were genetic slaves who’d been born, bred and shaped by bondage. They had learned long ago that resistance simply led to suffering.
    The expressions on their faces weren’t so much despairing as simply blank. Despair was an emotion, after all—and Manpower’s slaves discovered as children