Fallen Empire 1: Star Nomad Read Online Free PDF Page B

Nothing’s wrong with life support now.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “There are patches a-plenty. I can see that someone put a lot of work into fixing the system.”
    This time, Alisa was the one to glance toward the empty hatchway. “Are you implying that our passenger did it?”
    “It wasn’t the rats.”
    Alisa rocked back onto her heels. “From what I’ve heard, most soldiers who go into the Cyborg Corps are taken in young, before they’ve earned degrees or had much time to learn a trade. And their superiors don’t really encourage them to educate themselves, not in intellectual subjects, anyway. I always had the feeling that the imperials were afraid of their own creations. Didn’t want them getting thoughts in their heads about turning on their superiors or taking over installations.”
    “Maybe I’m not the first engineer he’s had up here, fixing things for him.”
    “You’re fixing things for me , not for him. Don’t you forget who’s not paying you a single tindark for your work.”
    Mica snorted. “Whatever gets me to a civilized planet. The employment prospects here are horrible.”
    “The prospects for everything here are horrible.”
    “That’s the truth. I just hope we don’t get off Dustor and find out that it’s the same everywhere.”
    Alisa frowned. “Even if things aren’t as smoothly run as they might have been when the empire was in charge, humanity has its freedom now. That’s worth some inconveniences.”
    Mica waved her hand in the air. Alisa wasn’t positive that was a sign of agreement.
    “Just keep an eye on our brawny buddy,” Mica said. “If he wasn’t the one fixing things, I’d like to know what happened to the last engineer he had in here.”
    Alisa’s gaze drifted back to the tidy wires. “Are you sure you want to know that?”
    “Maybe not, but it would be good to know how many extra deadbolts I need to install on the hatch to my cabin.”
    Alisa smiled, though she had no idea if deadbolts would stop a cyborg. She had been flying over a battlefield once and had seen one lift a tank off a comrade.
    “Since the ship is apparently already half-fixed,” Alisa said, “does that mean that we can get out of this junk cave soon?”
    “Should be ready by tomorrow.”
    “Excellent. I’ll see if I can get enough reception to access the city-net and put out flyers for passengers.”
    “Don’t forget about security guards. In case the deadbolts don’t work.”
    “Pessimist,” Alisa said.
    Mica snorted again. “Optimist.”

Chapter 4
    The light of two of the system’s three suns beat down upon Alisa as she weaved through the city, back toward the crowded ship docks, her rented hoverboard hissing and sputtering. She led it along behind her like a dog on a leash. A drunken dog with a limp that liked to bump into passersby. People of white, brown, and mixed skin colors cursed her in an amalgam of Russian and Chinese that was the planet’s native language. Alisa apologized in Standard, lamenting that nobody seemed to notice or care about the Alliance jacket she wore. She’d helped free these people, damn it. A little respect would have been nice, drunken limping hoverboard or not.
    At least the storeowner had been sympathetic to war veterans, and after looking at her military ID, he had been willing to give her the supplies on credit. She’d promised to pay him back as soon as their passengers signed on, which, she hoped, would be before the end of the day. If nobody showed up, she would have to find a way to hustle for some coins. She wondered how the cyborg would feel if she asked him to pay his way.
    Alisa was relieved when she spotted the Nomad , the suns throwing rays onto its bronze and silver hull. The craft looked old in the harsh desert light, but reputable. It had never belonged in that junkyard with those derelicts, and even though she couldn’t help resent it, and even fear it, for how it had betrayed her mother, she admitted that the ship still