Night Train to Rigel Read Online Free PDF

idea which of the Fillies’ stations it was, or who might have been involved?”
    “Neither,” Hermod said. “But he did see that the Filiaelian warships carried both the insignia of the current dynasty and the one scheduled to come to power in four months. We can therefore assume the attack will take place sometime during the transitional period.”
    Four months. This just got better and better. “That’s not much time.”
    “No, it’s not,” Hermod agreed. “The Spiders will, of course, give you all the assistance they can, including unlimited use of the Quadrail system.”
    I felt my eyes narrow slightly. “Including access to places like this?” I asked casually, gesturing around me.
    “Yes, if you need them,” he said, frowning a bit. “Though I can’t think why you would need that.”
    “You never know,” I said, my heartbeat starting to pick up a little. Suddenly this was becoming more than just interesting. “How exactly do I get all this unlimited access? Pass key? Secret handshake?”
    “You begin with this,” he said, nodding to The Girl. Right on cue, she dug a small folder out of her belt pouch and handed it to me. It was the same sort of folder I’d taken off the dead kid in Manhattan, except that instead of being made of cheap plastic this one was a high-end variety of brushed leather.
    And instead of the copper-edged ticket of a third-class Quadrail seat, this one held the diamond-dust-edged tag of a first-class, unlimited-use pass, something I’d never seen before except in brochures. “Nice,” I said. “How long is it good for?”
    “As long as you need it,” Hermod said. “Assuming, of course, that you take the job. Will you?”
    I angled the ticket toward the light for a better view, my brain spinning with the possibilities. If they were on to me and this whole thing was a trick, then whatever answer I gave him wouldn’t matter in the slightest. Whatever I did or said, I was already sunk.
    But if they weren’t on to me and this offer was legit, then I was being offered a gift on a platinum platter.
    Of course, if I took the job I’d also be morally obligated to put some actual effort into it. Four months wasn’t a lot of time to figure out who was planning to start an impossible interstellar war and find a way to stop it.
    Still, this was way too intriguing to pass up. And despite the old saying to the contrary, it was surely possible for a man to serve two masters. “Sure, why not?” I said, tucking the folder into my inner jacket pocket “I’m in.”
    “Excellent.” Again, Hermod gestured to The Girl. “This is Bayta. She’ll be accompanying you.”
    I looked at her, found her looking back at me with her usual lack of expression. “Thanks, but I work alone,” I told him.
    “You may need information or assistance from the Spiders along the way,” Hermod said. “Only a few of them can communicate with humans in anything more than a handful of rote phrases.”
    “And, what Bayta speaks their language?”
    “Let’s just say she knows their secret handshake,” Hermod said with a faint smile.
    I suppressed a grimace. I didn’t want company on this trip, particularly company who might have come off a mannequin assembly line. Still, I should have expected that the Spiders would insist on assigning me a watchdog. “Fine,” I said. “Whatever.”
    “One other thing,” Hermod said. “The messenger who delivered your ticket was supposed to accompany you here. Did he happen to mention why he had chosen not to do so?”
    I hesitated, but there didn’t seem to be any point in lying. “I’m afraid choice had very little to do with it,” I said. “He died at my feet.”
    Bayta inhaled sharply, and the whole room suddenly went very still. “What happened?” Hermod asked.
    “He was shot,” I said. “Multiple times, actually. Someone was very serious about getting rid of him.”
    “Did you see what happened?”
    “All I know is that he was already bleeding