Emile and the Dutchman Read Online Free PDF

captain's belt.
    "Just translate, Ari—easy, now. Easy now, boy."
    The fact that the Dutchman was treating him like a dog would have bothered me more if McCaw hadn't been trembling all over like he was a scared puppy.
    "T-they say: 'Greetings. We are the . . .' Untranslatable, Major, but it's their species name. Overtones of justice, and power, such power. . . . 'What we have, do, or are, it is yours.'"
    "Ritual greeting?"
    McCaw brought his gloved hands up in front of his face, the fingers awkwardly writhing, as though he wasn't used to having fingers. "There's a trace of ritual, but no, Major—they mean it."
    The Dutchman snorted cautiously. "Sounds good. We'll—"
    "But just for me and Buchholtz. They're waiting for a response from one of us."
    "Just you two?"
    "Wait." McCaw's trembling worsened, then ceased entirely. "Wait. They don't see you and Mark as people, just objects. Wait. The leader is . . . expressing admiration at my species' ability to create complicated . . . toys."
    "Don't clarify matters for them. Have they seen other toys like me and Emmy before?"
    "Wait. 'Yes. We admired greatly the toy that your . . . associates brought before. This time you have brought two. Is one a gift?'"
    "What if it isn't?"
    "Confusion. Wait. They don't understand the concept of not giving someone what he wants. They keep asking me to explain it another way. Wait. Wait."
    I flipped the slipguard off my holster and let my hand rest on the hilt of my wiregun. The Dutchman caught the motion out of the corner of his eye.
    "At ease , Mister von du Mark. We're all expendable—you most of all."
    Which was why I'd flipped the guard off in the first place. I don't like being expendable. "Yes, sir."
    "Relax, Emmy—I don't think I'll have to—" Norfeldt was cut off by the hissing of a wiregun, and then three quick gunshots. A muffled scream in our headphones was echoed off in the distance.
    "Aie —Condition Red—" Buchholtz trailed off into a bubbling moan, then went silent.
    McCaw crumpled to the ground; I drew my wiregun and thumbed the safety off.
    Norfeldt drew his Magnum and fired off a shot into the air, but the aliens didn't make a move. Not at all. They just stood there, breathing slowly, watching us with their round, liquid eyes. The Dutchman squatted next to McCaw, keeping his eyes on the aliens.
    "He's breathing," the Dutchman said. "Emmy, move. Condition Blue; fire if threatened. I'll stay here with Ari. Find him." He dropped a hand to the follow-me hanging from his belt.
    A distant whoop whoop whoop sounded in my phones as the skimmer started toward the Dutchman.
    "On my way." That last was unnecessary; I was already sprinting for the area where Buchholtz had entered the forest, several hundred meters to the west.

    In five minutes, I was standing over what was left of Buchholtz, who lay in the middle of a horrid shambles that looked like something painted by Hieronymus Bosch.
    I'd never actually seen a dead man before. Or a dead alien. It wasn't pretty. The claws that had ripped his outer suit and E-suit to ribbons hadn't stopped there; they had opened up his chest and belly like they thought he was a box of Cracker Jacks and they needed the prize right away. Pink viscera mingled with red blood and the brown pulp of half-digested food. Slick with blood, his ribs stuck out of what was left of his chest.
    They'd ripped his left leg off; I could see the hip joint—
    There was a strange calm in my head, although not in my stomach.
    The night terrors would come later. I forced myself not to vomit as I eyed the woods, and then sent a stream of wires hissing into the trees, just for good luck.
    "Report, Mark. Dammit, report ."
    "Yelling won't help, Major." I leaned back against a tree, my eyes on the woods. "Buchholtz is dead. They . . . clawed him."
    "Pictures."
    "Yes, sir." Using my left hand, I took my holocam from my belt and started snapping, not using either my right hand or the viewfinder. Both my eyes and my right hand