Power Play Read Online Free PDF Page A

to Loncie by loaning Petaybee’s new administration the services and copter of his personal pilot, Johnny Greene.
    Sean picked up a piece of paper, this one from the ambassador of someplace called Petra 6.
    “To whom it may concern,” it began. “We have recently been apprised of information leading us to believe that relatives of some of our settlers reside on Planet Terraform B. Our people would like to know how to comply with the visa process on your world in order to be reunited with their estranged family members. Yrs. truly, Alphonsina Torunsdotter, Ambassador.”
    Before he could think of a reply, the door to the cabin banged open and a pair of battered men, bound tightly with sinew rope and each wearing a dead animal around his neck, fell into the room. They were closely followed by the fuming form of Sean’s sister, Sinead, who slammed the door shut.
    “You won’t believe what I caught these two—these two
murderers
doing, Sean!” Sinead said.
    “I believe exhibits A and B might already be tied around their necks, sis,” Sean said mildly.
    “Yes, but they didn’t claim this fox or this wolf from any of the culling places. They went into the woods and, using their so-called civilized weapons—” She slapped two laser rifles atop a tottering pile of papers, causing an avalanche which all but buried the prisoners.”—simply
slaughtered
these perfectly healthy creatures without so much as a by-your-leave or a thank-you!”
    “Mmm-hmmm,” Sean said, eyeing the prisoners. “And what do you have to say for yourselves?”
    “Well,” the bearded one began, “we did
ask
weeks ago how to apply for a hunting license on Petaybee, after some corps buddies of ours told us about all the game here, but we never got an answer, so we figured, backwater planet, wide open, anything goes.”
    Sinead grabbed him by the hair and pulled his face back so that he could only see her cross-eyed glare. “You figured
wrong,
wormbreath.”
    “You should,” Sean told the men, “have been patient. How did you get here anyway? SpaceBase is only transporting official personnel these days.”
    “We—uh—we caught the shuttle.”
    “What shuttle?”
    “The PTS shuttle our soldier buddies told us about.”
    “Excuse
me
,” Sinead said.
    “Stands for Petaybean Tourist Service,” the man whose hair she had hold of said quickly. “Looks like it’s brand new—arrived on MoonBase a few hours before we did.”
    The other man said, “I demand that you and this—this amazon of yours—”
    “The lady,” Sean said, “is my sister.”
    “That you and your sister untie us and inform us of what laws we have broken and notify our ambassador at once. I am Dr. Vincent de Peugh, vice-president in charge of resource utilization for Intergal’s Terra Section Delta, and this is my colleague, Dr. Raymond Ersol, vice-president in charge of air quality control. We do not intend to spend our vacations being victimized by your government on some trumped-up charges.”
    Sean rose from behind the paperwork, lifted several sheets from the head and shoulders of Dr. Ersol, and neatly replaced them on the desk, which he then leaned against, ankles and arms crossed.
    “Well, gentlemen, I can see that you’ve been misled. You’ve broken no written law, as such, since we have yet to write any. Quite simply, the people who live here know that one hunts only to live on Petaybee, and one takes only the game which offers itself. What I would like to see from you is your authorization to be here at all. As far as I know, at this time only official personnel and designated settlers approved and transported by Intergal are allowed to be here—not offworld employees looking for what you consider recreation. What we, as Sinead has so tactfully explained, consider wanton murder of an allied species. You see, and as a resource manager, Dr. Peugh, I’m sure you’ll understand this, we of Petaybee, people, animals, plants, and planet, have a system,