Chalker, Jack L. - Well of Souls 02 Read Online Free PDF Page A

return. To do it— "
    "Yes? Yes?" Zinder was almost in tears.
    "Report your project a failure and put in to close down," Trelig suggested. "I will arrange the transfer of— Obie, I think you call it— to my planetoid of New Pompeii. There you will plan and direct the construction of a much larger model than the one you have here, one large enough to be used at a distance on, say, an entire planet."
    Zinder was appalled. "Oh, my god! No! All those people! I can't!"
    Trelig smiled smugly. "You don't have to decide now. Take as long as you want." He got up, smoothing out his angelic white robes. "But remember, every passing day Nikki is more subject to the drug. Pain aside, the brain damage is ongoing. Consider that when thinking over your decision. Every second you waste the pain increases, and your daughter's brain dies a tiny bit."
    "You bastard," Zinder breathed angrily.
    "I'll initiate a search anyway," the big man told the scientist. "What I can spare, but not all-out, because it's merely in the name of humanity. Might take days, though. Even weeks. In the meantime, with a single call to my office saying you agree, I will put everybody on it, sparing nothing. Good-bye, Dr. Zinder."
    Trelig walked slowly to the door, then out. It shut behind him.
    Zinder stared hard at the door, then sank into his chair. He considered calling the Intersystem Police but thought better of it. Nikki would be well-hidden, and accusing the vice president of the Council of being a sponge merchant and kidnapper without a shred of evidence— Zinder knew the big man would have an ironclad alibi for the night past— would be futile. They'd investigate, of course, take days, even weeks, while poor Nikki . . . They'd let her rot, of course. Let her rot for five or six days. Then what? A lowgrade moron, washing floors happily for them, or perhaps a toy given to Trelig's men for sex and sadism.
    It was that last he couldn't stand. Her death he thought he could accept, but not that. Not that.
    His mind whirled. There would be ways later. Obie could cure her if he could get her back soon enough. And the device he was to build— it could be a two-edged sword.
    He sighed, a tired and defeated little man, and punched the code for Trelig's liaison office on Makeva. He knew the big man would still be there. Waiting. Waiting for the inevitable response.
    Defeated for now, he thought resolutely, but not vanquished. Not yet.
     

    On New Pompeii, an Asteroid
    Circling the Uninhabited
    System of the Star Asta
    New Pompeii was a large asteroid, a little over four thousand kilometers at its equator. It was one of those few small bits that inhabit all solar systems that deserved to be called a planetoid; it was fairly round, rounder than most planets, and its core was made up of particularly dense material, giving it a gravity of .7 G when balanced against its ample centrifugal force. The effect took a little getting used to, and people tended to do things faster and feel tremendous. But since it was a government-owned resort, that was all to the good.
    Its orbit was relatively stable, by far more circular than elliptical, although night and day were hard to take; thirty-two sunrises and sunsets in a Council-standard twenty-five hours did tend to be unsettling to people's internal clocks.
    The discomfort was partially offset by the fact that half the entire planetoid was encased in a great bubble made of a very thin and light synthetic material; the bubble was a good light reflector and blurred the view, so it merely seemed to get darker, then lighter, and so forth, the effect being similar to that on much nicer and more natural worlds on a partly cloudy day. Accounting for the glow effect, was a thin— less than a millimeter— gauze material in somewhat liquid form between the two layers of the bubble. Any punctures were instantly sealed. Even a large one could if necessary be closed long enough to activate safety bubbles around the human centers inside.