Eland and Jeanne (Tales of the Shareem) Read Online Free PDF

him, at least they could have mindless sex before they died.
    No, he had the feeling that pretty Jeanne wouldn’t give up. She’d find a way out. She’d take his hand and she’d—
    “Oop!” Eland’s nose met a metal wall. The rest of him met it too, including his toes. “Shit. Fuck. Damn it ...”
    His sudden anger vanished as his hands felt the difference in the wall. “A door. The gods are looking out for me. Thank you, gods, whichever ones you are.”
    Eland had to pry this one open too. Good thing level-three Shareem were made to be strong.
    The door creaked and groaned, but eventually, Eland rolled it back. A downdraft of air brought with it heat, and far above, noise. People. Talking, shouting, calling out to others to come and buy what they were selling. There was a market street up there.
    Hot damn. He could … maybe … get out. Then he only needed to worry about being caught by patrollers and terminated before finding Rees and getting off the planet.
    Eland took a stride forward and barked his ankle on a step. Growling more swear words, Eland looked up. There was a light above—daylight, which showed he was at the foot of a metal staircase that rose a hell of a long way. He counted landing after landing above him.
    His heart beat faster. If Eland could climb out of here and reach the street, not be seen, and steal enough food and water to sustain him, he now had a good hideout in which to evade patrollers and figure out what to do.
    If, if, if. But what the hell. He could either stay down here and cry, or try to find a way out and keep going. Shareem were nothing if not resilient.
    That’s what the researchers at DNAmo hadn’t understood. They hadn’t bred a bunch of sex-gods who only lived to pleasure women. They’d created beings that were resourceful, could think on their feet, and had learned to hide things they didn’t want their DNAmo masters to know about. Like their emotions, their smarts, their cunning.
    The Shareem would have made a break for it eventually, even if DNAmo hadn’t been shut down. It was inevitable. Now the Shareem needed the same strengths to pool together and get the hell off this rock.
    First things first. Eland let out a breath, and started to climb.
    ***
    Jeanne continued her search for Eland until very late, ending up exhausted and parched. Disgruntled and worried, she headed home.
    She made it to her front door only to have a patroller, a woman with stern eyes and a firm mouth approach her. “Jeanne Narren?”
    Jeanne’s heart thumped as she halted. The Shareem are dangerous and unpredictable, and they have been sentenced by the Bor Nargan government to termination. So the reporter had said.
    “Yes?” Jeanne managed to answer without stammering.
    “Need to talk to you,” the patroller said. “About a man seen prowling around here last night. Might have been one of these Shareem we’re looking for. Can I come in?”
    Jeanne’s first instinct was to ask the patroller why the hell she had to come inside, or whether she had a warrant to do so. Patrollers couldn’t enter houses of Bor Nargan citizens without permission.
    She stilled her words. If Jeanne went on the defensive, she’d be indicating that she had something to be defensive about.
    “Shareem?” Jeanne asked with the right tremor in her voice. “I heard about them on the news vid today. They’re dangerous, aren’t they?”
    “They are. Extremely.” The patroller’s eyes narrowed. “So can we talk inside?”
    “Sure,” Jeanne said, and thumb-printed her door open. “Whatever I can do to help.”

Chapter Five
     
    The staircase Eland climbed opened out in another tiny back alley at the end of a market street. It was similar to the alley Eland had been in before, but not the same. He could have walked from one side of Pas City to the other, for all he knew.
    He ducked back inside the door when he caught sight of patrollers passing the other end of the alley. What would they do if they caught