Outcast Read Online Free PDF Page B

hurts."
    "I found the language to be relatively simple." Lan said. "Once one is aware of the infixation and its relation to the subjunctive mood."
    "Well, aren't you clever." Prez scowled. He maximized the AutoNav and squinted at the readings, then clicked to RealView. A small ship was floating directly ahead, lights dimmed. His hands flew over the console, flicking switches and brushing off the latest webs as the Outcast's connecting apparatus sucked onto the smaller ship like the embrace of a huge metal fish. There was a distant grinding then a clunk that reverberated all around the ship. They were locked; all that remained was to open the hatches and drag the couple back into their vessel. Prez stood up. "Come and help me?"
    "What are we doing with this vessel?"
    "Delivery," Prez said, and climbed down the access shaft into the main corridor of the vessel below. Lan followed, looking puzzled. Prez had the feeling that the Aldorian would react negatively if he were to be told that the Outcast ran illegal sex trips to Ralia, so he said nothing. The corridor was narrow and badly lit, and the metal slats across the walkway were corroded slightly and coming unbolted.
    "It would appear that some repairs are necessary," Lan said, treading carefully over the bundles of wires that hung out of the panels on the wall. The door to the shuttlecraft shifted open with a screech. A gush of stale air lifted their hair, the smell of metal and empty containers.
    "Essential upkeep only." Prez keyed the code into the shuttle door and stepped inside. "The Outcast is the last of its kind. Parts are expensive."
    He looked down at the couple. They weren't writhing and moaning any more, but neither were they fully conscious, staring at the ceiling, eyes glazed, smiling faintly. Prez threw the blanket off and groaned. The bag had slipped off the male's still-erect penis and emptied its contents all over the floor.
    "Kin-tah! Reach me a mop and bucket, will you?"
    Lan was staring at the sticky mess, his mouth open. "Is that...?"
    Prez made an impatient noise and clambered over the couple to the supply cabinet. As he unfolded the mop handle and clicked it into place, the male moaned faintly and his penis pulsed again, but only a couple of glowing pearls rolled from the tip onto his stomach. Lan edged back into the corridor. The room felt cold suddenly, and Prez shivered.
    "Don't tell me the temperature control is going again." He rolled up his sleeves and emptied the contents of a water drum into the bucket then slopped it over the floor, mopping fast. The water foamed briefly and the smell of detergent was a welcome change from the whiff of old sex and stale underpants that seemed to hang about the place after the customers were deposited back to wherever they came from. As he worked, he realized that Lan still hadn't come back in. "If you're not going to help me, then go back to the bridge and get the programming done for the separation sequence," he said, exasperated.
    "Help...you." Lan muttered. For a second, Prez thought the Aldorian was going to faint. The skin around his lips had turned a light shade of green. Prez wasn't sure what that meant, but it didn't look too healthy.
    "Are you all right?"
    "Mm."
    "Yes?"
    Lan seemed to shake himself. "Yes."
    "Their clothes are in there." Prez nodded at a casket on the chair. "We get them dressed then put them in their ship, business concluded."
    The door groaned behind Lan as he stepped back into the shuttle and took a breath. It didn't take long to dress the couple in their identical yellow silk robes; much more fashionable than Lan's, which were gaping apart at the front even more than before. When the shuttle was cleaned and the couple dressed, Prez hauled the male up into a sitting position and grunted. "He's heavy."
    "Allow me," Lan said and hoisted the man into his arms.
    Prez's mouth dropped open. "Mother of skies! You're strong."
    "Yes."
    "Well, you go through, and I'll take the female."
    He