Flight of the Golden Harpy Read Online Free PDF

quickly replaced by the countless trees. Once she passed the river city of Terrance, very few settlements existed, much to Kari’s delight. In three hours, the flight would end and her adventure would begin. She twirled her long hair in anticipation.
    She glanced at the businessman consumed in his reading. Without looking up, he said, “This must be your first trip across the continent. It’s very impressive, isn’t it?”
    Kari sat back in her seat, realizing her enthusiasm must have been obvious. “I was born in the outback, but I haven’t seen it in a long time.”
    “So you’re going home to Terrance?” He kept his eyes fixed on his reading machine.
    “My home is north of Westend, near the coast.”
    “I’m familiar with Westend. It’s a quaint little town. My name is Dan Roberts. I’m an appraiser for the Hampton Bank, so I travel a great deal.”
    “Kari Turner.”
    For the first time, the man took true interest in her and put aside his reading machine. “Any relation to John Turner?”
    “He’s my father.”
    “Well, it’s a great pleasue to meet you, Miss Turner,” he said, smiling. “Your father is one of our best customers and has the largest timber estate in the outback. About now, he must be a worried man.”
    “Worried?”
    “The beetle swarms—they’re consuming the western continent,” he said. “Surely you’ve heard about them.”
    “No, but I only arrived yesterday from Earth, and I haven’t spoken to my father in some time.”
    “The farther west we travel, you’ll begin to see the damage from these wood-eating insects,” said Roberts. “They destroy everything—houses, farms, and timber. Nothing kills them. Every insecticide known to man has been sprayed to no avail. Even surrounding them with fire has failed. The beetles simply spread their wings and fly away. I’m appraising a few farms north of Terrance that were hit by a swarm. Only the equipment may be salvageable. At the rate the beetles are multiplying and destroying timber, the whole economy of this planet will be in the toilet in a few years.”
    “Have they struck my father’s estate?”
    “Let’s take a look.” Roberts pulled a narrow computer out from under his seat. Tapping the keys, he scanned the Turner Estate—one hundred miles wide that ran six hundred miles north along the west coast into Dora’s highest mountain range. The residence and wood mill were located at the southern tip, ten miles north of Westend. “Your father’s been lucky so far, but the beetles struck some homes south of Westend a few months ago. How are you traveling from Terrance to Westend?”
    “I’m renting a terrain vehicle and taking the old road.”
    “By yourself?”
    Kari nodded.
    “That’s a two-day journey on a dilapidated road through the heart of the jungle,” he said. “If you have trouble, you’ll find few places to stop. Besides the dangerous wildlife, there are the swarms that can clog an engine and leave you stranded.”
    “I’m not worried.”
    “Well, you may have trouble renting a vehicle to such a remote area, but even a small hovercraft is dangerous. Several hunters recently died in a hover crash when the engines became clogged with beetles. This large hover flies too high for the swarms to be a threat.” He closed the computer and shoved it under the seat. “In an hour, you’ll see some of the areas that have been destroyed.”
    Kari turned her attention back to the window. When they approached the middle of the continent, she saw the blackened dirt of the forest floor—evidence of a swarm strike. Nothing remained. Like locusts, the beetles had consumed everything. The giant hovercraft swiftly moved over the vacant land, and jungle appeared again. She looked at Roberts. “I saw one. The swarm damage is unbelievable. How long has this been going on?”
    “It started two years ago,” he said. “The first swarm struck the southwestern territory, but now the swarms are everywhere in the