Dusk (Dusk 1) Read Online Free PDF

for sale in the food vendors slanted heavily toward Russian, Mexican, Spanish, and Italian dishes, along with traditional fare from the northwest continent. Although the initial settlers had been a fairly mixed bag of ethnicities and cultures, these particular strains and national origins had been particularly well represented. As humans tend to do, when they arrived on Dusk, they sought out things that reminded them of home, dismissing utterly little things like accuracy in naming them. The “salmon” in her blini, for example, was actually the steamed, flaky white flesh of a small ground-roving lizard. She had eaten Terran salmon before and the fish tasted nothing at all like its Dusk counterpart, but she supposed to homesick settlers who were unlikely ever to set foot on their homeworld again it was close enough for comfort’s sake.
    Kase studied her. “So, what’s the latest intrigue in the DDC?”
    There was nothing confidential in the briefing material. If there had been, Trelawney would have made certain everyone knew it before he proceeded. In quick, concise sentences she described the substance of the meeting.
    Of course, Kase could have just plucked the information right out of her head, had she wished. That ability had firmly shut the door on any hope she had of joining the DDC. Diplomats from other worlds would never have tolerated such a huge edge in negotiations if they did not control it, and the multiplicity of dangers perceived and real involved in having someone who could hear the thoughts of another person as clearly as if the person had shouted would create a hazardously unstable base for diplomacy.
    However, even if Olivia hadn’t been extensively trained in how to thwart such psionic snooping, it would no more occur to Kase to invade her friend’s privacy that way than it would for her to whip out a blaster and shoot Olivia. It simply contradicted everything in her nature.
    Kase’s eyes went wide. “So… what are they going to do?”
    Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know. No one seems to want to believe me, but I really think I’m right about this.”
    “But how would they use it as a weapon?”
    She shrugged. “I have no idea, Kase. I wish I did. The only things I can think of…” she trailed off with a shudder. “Well, let’s just say I can’t think of anything cheerful they might do with it.”
    Kase’s eyes widened even more in response to the sudden onslaught of Olivia’s negative emotions. Mental blocks, no matter how rigorous or well-maintained, didn’t count for much when one was all but screaming their emotions to the entire immediate universe. “Um, sweetie,” she gasped, her voice pained, “do you think you can calm down a little?”
    Olivia cursed and whispered a calming nonsense rhyme. After a few moments, the anxious anger abated, leaving only a tense calm in its place.
    “Sorry about that,” she murmured.
    Kase smiled. “No problem. Happens all the time.” Olivia knew her friend well enough to know she wasn’t exaggerating.
    “So, tell me what you have planned with Merrick tonight!” Kase urged.
    * * *
    Merrick smiled at her, showing off the dimples in his cheeks. “Well, what’d you expect? You basically threw a baby nuclear bomb onto the table and dared everyone not to freak out about it.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because apparently I was the only one in that chamber who could see what Terra’s up to.” She grabbed Merrick’s hand. “You believe me, right?”
    His grin faded a little, but his nod was firm. “It… I don’t like to admit it, Liv, but it makes sense to me. Terra already gets all the projectile-resistant fabric it needs at bargain credits, and there’s nothing else here with true military applications. But --”
    “But how would they use magick in a military situation?” Olivia finished. She’d already considered that, but none of the scenarios she came up with were cheerful ones.
    Merrick stood silently for a moment,