Jinx on a Terran Inheritance Read Online Free PDF

Dorraine, too, wore an Inheritor's belt. Draped around Dorraine was a divided, overlapped cloak with exaggerated, upcurving shoulderboards. It was silver-veined and translucently gray, like the folded wings of an enormous insect.
    Charivari had told Alacrity that the porcelain box on the pedestal held Lord Inst's ashes.
    As the couple talked, a Celestial stepped up, interrupting very respectfully but very quickly. Alacrity was looking on with full attention now; it was always worth knowing if something was happening in a ship where one was a passenger. Charivari, forgetting that she'd been polishing another snifter, watched too.
    Redlock heard the Celestial out and spoke a few quiet words. Dorraine, still remote, was nevertheless listening, drawn back from her mourning. The Celestial relayed something over his military proteus and left. As he went, Alacrity sensed a change in Blue Pearl's heading despite the fact that maneuver forces couldn't be felt within the ship.
    Epiphany's dawn quickened, as Halidome began a perceptible slide to port. Alacrity straightened from his barstool and hurried to intercept his host and hostess as warning hooters sounded.
    Dawn became high-altitude early morning, the light streaming through the Pearl. The shuttle was picking up speed as scraps of cloud tore swiftly past and around her.
    A change coming over the young women with the sounding of the alarm, the Daubin' Band had stopped their friendly sing-along with the Severeemish. Suddenly impersonal, they excused themselves and rapidly stowed their instruments. Then they headed below decks in an orderly column of twos, leaving the Severeemish alert to some danger they couldn't sense yet. The prospect put the towering creatures in a bluff, slightly skished good humor.
    Alacrity stepped into Redlock's path resolutely. "Governor, I know you've got a lot on your mind right now, but I'd just like to know—"
    Redlock didn't even slow as he barked, "Go to the main lounge area and wait with the others." Alacrity had to backstep out of his way.
    But Dorraine paused. "An alarm sensor was triggered in one of Epiphany's restricted areas. There's only one patrolcraft in the area, an Invincible aircutter, the Scimitar. We rendezvous in a few minutes."
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    [Fitzhugh 2]-JINX ON A TERRAN INHERITANCE
    "Oh." His midsection tightened.
    " Scimitar will recon and land, while the Blue Pearl flies high cover and backup. No outsiders are supposed to be in this part of Epiphany, so we'll take all precautions, Alacrity."
    "Uh, good. Thanks." He glanced out over green seas; the shuttle was closing quickly on a southern continent. He made a rough estimate of the course the Pearl had taken and potshot, "It's a Precursor site, isn't it? That's what you're worried about."
    The cant of her head as she studied him told him he was right. "I think you'd better follow the governor's instructions. My husband's putting the ship on full alert; you and Hobart will have your sidearms returned to you sooner than you'd expected."
    Floyt and Yumi were lying together on the card table when the alarm sounded. Floyt had recovered his robe, draping it across them both, after they'd made love a second time.
    They lay with her head resting on his arm, her legs held between his. They were both pretending, a little, that the flight of the Blue Pearl wouldn't end. They talked of Earth and Shurutzu. He laughed when she told him that the planet's original name had been Shultz. Then the Pearl went on alert. Yumi was on her feet while Floyt was still trying to figure out what was going on. She made certain the container with his blood was safe, then began dressing quickly as he donned his robe.
    "Maybe you'd better stay here while I see what's happening," he was suggesting as someone rapped at the hatch. He opened it on a comely young member of the Daubin' Band. She