Look Out For Space (Seven For Space) Read Online Free PDF Page A

your little collection."
    "And you think I am afraid of the Universal Tax Evasion Bureau?"
    "I don't think so, I know so."
    There was a long moment of silence between us as Iberia worked on his pipe. Then he said, "And what makes you think I won't have you disposed of before you have time to alert the U.T.E.B.?"
    "The fact that you deal in the gray market doesn't make you a killer. It doesn't even make you unique, since plenty of collectors deal below that belt to cut their costs and raise their profits. You play it shady sometimes, Iberia, but you've never had anybody killed. You want to avoid trouble and so do I. Give me the name of your contact and I'll leave you alone — and so will the U.T.E.B. Unless I spill what I know, you won't have any of their agents in your hair."
    "I'm bald," said Iberia. "All Zuberite males are bald."
    "I was using the term figuratively," I said. "What about it; do I get the name?"
    Iberia put down his pipe, walked to the far end of the room and glared at me, head lowered.
    "Are you going to charge me again?" I asked.
    "I'm seriously considering it," he admitted.
    "That wouldn't solve anything. You'd just miss me again. Why don't you give me the info instead?"
    Which, after a lot of skin rippling, is exactly what he decided to do.

Five
     
    Things were not going well.
    My spine was stretched to the breaking point and my neck seemed clamped in a steel vise. A raw jolt of pain threatened to black me out — so I flat-palmed the mat. The spinal pressure instantly vanished and the big yellow-eyed spider wrestler stepped away from me, bowing. "I trust I did you no damage, Mr. Space?"
    I sat up dizzily on the mat, rubbing base of my spine. "Aside from a broken neck and a dislocated back I'm just great. But I'd hate to run into you in a Bronx alley!"
    The wrestler's thick green brows drew together across his monkey's face. "What, if I am not being most impolite in asking, is a Bronx alley?"
    "They have this Earth area in the eastern part of the United States called the Bronx," I explained. "In it there are narrow passages between buildings that lack proper illumination. These dark passages are called alleys and Earththugs often drag innocent citizens into these alleys and physically attack them."
    "Whatever for , Mr. Space?" He spread his large ape's hands in a gesture of confusion.
    "In order to obtain their personal goods," I said. "This is often done on Earth. Those who drag in the citizens are called muggers."
    "Goodness gracious, what a violent, backward planet!"
    "Yeah, it's a mean piece of rock."
    "On my home planet, Slith," intoned the beefy spider wrestler, "such antisocial behavior would never be tolerated. One's personal goods are always safe on Slith." He pursed his wide, rubbery lips, exposing the pink skin inside. "But perhaps that is because we have no Bronx alleys. Perhaps this is fortunate."
    I nodded, taking a deep breath. I needed a drink.
    "Do you wish to engage in further harmonious physical activity, Mr. Space?"
    "Nope, pal," I told him "I'm not even sure I can stand up, let alone spider-wrestle. Let's call it quits for this session while I get some harmonious alcohol down my gullet."
    "Exactly as you wish." He bowed to me again and took off, in a swinging loose-limbed run, for the showers.
    His name was Sonny and we were in a ship's gym on the way to Antar, a small planet in the Dogwood galaxy, where I hoped to make my first gray market contact. I'd booked this commercial warpliner for the trip, figuring to put in some heavy gym time enroute. I needed to sweat off five pounds of excess gut I'd put on back in Bubble City, eating those damned Martian freepcakes.
    I'd forgotten just how murderous spider-wrestling can be if you're not used to practicing it on a regular basis. This form of kill-or-maim combat — named after the hairy monkey-faced multiped who developed it — had saved my skin more than once, but I was no match for a ship's pro like Sonny. He was a real bone