Halo Read Online Free PDF Page B

the first memory to go.”
    As if to highlight his comments, his stomach growled alarmingly.
    She snorted. “Go and grab some ration packs.”
    He took off and headed for the dispenser station.
    She continued the examination and sorting of violent incidents on the station until she found what she was looking for. A pathogen was introduced, and it struck down all of the Grafthians in one wave of illness.
    The station had continued on its silent course and only occasional incursions to the station resulted in fatalities or madness for the landing parties.
    The auras on the station had always been dangerous, which made destroying four of them a little less painful for her.
    The final aura needed some investigation, so she began to flick through the files looking for the face that had been so near her own.
    Utolian sat next to her and watched her hands move.
    “How can you read while those files are flowing past?”
    “Practice. It is one of the things that they teach you in basic training. Well, investigation training.” She bit her lip as she stared into the data that she was scanning.
    “So, you are trained to do more than simply speak with the dead.”
    “Not all ghosts are auras and not all auras are ghosts, as you well know. My people generate ghosts. We only attach to an area if there is a lot of emotion involved. It is rare that we attach to an item or walk free of tether.”
    She continued to flick through the images, pausing and backing up suddenly. “Aha! Gotcha.”
    “What do you have?”
    “The bastard who drained me. He will be getting hungry soon. You eat an Aura Speaker and a day later, you are hungry again.”
    She brought up his full file and read the charges that had sent him to the station. Murder, rape, theft and tax evasion were all listed. This was not a pleasant man.
    Yartu Njadu. Sentenced to live in exile and die alone. It was a pity that he hadn’t simply given up the ghost. His meanness had followed him into the next life.
    “That is him.” She sat back with satisfaction and sipped at the teacup that he had placed in her hand.
    “I am amazed that you found him in those thousands of inmates.”
    “He was in my face. It was hard to miss him.” She grimaced. “I am only glad that aura’s don’t have breath. I am sure that his would be nasty.”
    The Grafthian features were heavy, blunt, as if carved by a weighted hand. Their hair stood out in shaggy manes that surrounded their features. Their arms were proportionally longer than the human average and legs were bowed. When they wanted speed, they canted forward and used their hands for propulsion and balance.
    “So, what is your plan?”
    She looked at him and finally realised that she wasn’t alone in her ship anymore. “Um, I will put on a fresh EVA suit, more life support and head back to the station to take care of the survivor. He has taken my energy, so he will be easy for me to locate.”
    “I am coming with you.”
    “You can’t. I don’t have an environmental suit for you. If your body is biological, you could fall prey to the same gas that I did.”
    He shook his head. “There is no danger of that.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because after we left the survivor, he vented the atmosphere into open space. There is no atmosphere to poison me and that suits me just fine. I don’t need equipment. I can simply not absorb anything while we are there.”
    He looked so hopeful that it hurt her to say, “No, you are not coming with me. I am the captain, and what I say goes.”
    Utolian frowned and his brows crept together.
    Avina scowled. It looked like she had a fight on her hands.
     
    She wanted to yell but that would be a waste of oxygen. For some reason, she was walking back onto the station with Utolian at her side.
    Avina wanted to rail, wanted to punch him, but instead, she sent her senses out in a wave. This time, there was no walking through the station, no looking for clues.
    Yartu was being sneaky. He had laid traps in the