Jinx on a Terran Inheritance Read Online Free PDF Page B

still wore her shimmerskin and whiteface, but now she carried an over-under military rifle at sling arms, looking quite accustomed to it.
    "Both of you report to the main lounge immediately. Governor's order." She pushed Floyt's bag into his hands.
    He paused long enough to dig out and pull on brown bush fatigues; the robe no longer seemed adequate.
    He wriggled his feet into soft shoes.
    When they reached the lounge, Floyt and Yumi found Alacrity and the Severeemish being given weapons by the bandswomen.
    "It turns out they're really Celestials." Alacrity grinned. "I'm trying to sign on." He was buckling his Sam Browne-style belt.
    He saw right away what had happened and came close to teasing Floyt and Yumi about it. After all, if the Daimyo was so hot about a little tellurian hemoglobin, he could have put her up to collecting certain file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...aley%20-%20Jinx%20on%20a%20Terran%20Inheritance.htm (19 of 320)19-2-2006 17:12:28
    [Fitzhugh 2]-JINX ON A TERRAN INHERITANCE
    other substances.
    But Floyt's expression told Alacrity it wasn't a subject for jokes so he said only, "Welcome back to real time, folks. I'm truly sorry about the rude interruption."
    The return of their combat harnesses overjoyed the Severeemish. They shrugged into the complicated tackle, checking knives, handguns, and other equipment, laughing and joking like jolly trolls. Charivari sat to one side, affecting a bored look, but her eyes were wide with fright.
    "What's going on, Alacrity?" Floyt puffed, dumping his luggage on a couch.
    Alacrity explained, adding, " King's Ransom's supposed to join up with us too, and there're more aircutters on the way, so there's really nothing to worry about. So they tell me." He handed Floyt a pistol. "But it's Standard Operating Procedure that everybody's armed, just in case we have to set down."
    He smirked again.
    Floyt sighed. Sometimes Alacrity didn't so much break bad news as share great new comedic material in the ongoing joke that was life.
    The pistol was a reproduction of the archaic Webley .455 Mark VI revolver; they'd picked it up at a Forager lashup on Luna. The lanyard ring fastened to the bottom of its grip swung and clinked. Floyt accepted it carefully, along with a pouch of amazingly heavy little bullets. They were fat, soft, slow Dum-Dum rounds known, for some reason lost to time, as "Chicago popcorn." They were notched all the way down to the case mounts, and cast of something different from lead or the conventional alloys.
    Floyt opened the top-breaking revolver and, tongue protruding in concentration, began fitting bullets into the chambers. He remembered to leave an empty chamber under the hammer. Closing it, he tucked it into his Inheritor's belt.
    "A good, simple arrangement," Seven Wars boomed. "Nothing fancy or complicated. May I ask where you came by that piece?"
    "From some Foragers," Alacrity supplied, checking the charge level in his father's sidearm. It was a big, matte-black pistol with a basket handshield. Its yellowed ivory grips were mounted with black crests, a cross-and-arc design. He slid it into its holster. "They got it on Raj, from a shipment of Webleys that ended up there from Halcyon." The Severeemish gathered round like a palisade of muscle and bone.
    "Oho! I have heard that tale!" Seven Wars grinned, showing teeth that looked like they could bite through a crowbar. "So; this is the gun that won Halcyon."
    "One of 'em, anyway," Alacrity answered casually. Floyt busied himself making sure the Chicago popcorn wouldn't fall out of his pocket, then glanced around to locate Yumi. He resolved to find out file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...aley%20-%20Jinx%20on%20a%20Terran%20Inheritance.htm (20 of 320)19-2-2006 17:12:28
    [Fitzhugh 2]-JINX ON A TERRAN INHERITANCE
    where Halcyon was and how a primitive revolver had won it.
    Just then the Daubin' Band-Celestials drew the attention of the Severeemish as the young women divvied up