The Backworlds Read Online Free PDF Page A

before sliding the tab back into his shirt pocket.
    “My nose led us to a ship.” The
blue aviarman, Talos, beamed at Craze. “I’m promoting myself to captain if it
works out. No more spending a fortune going about on germ-infested transports.
You’d better not have a plague, mate.” His elbow jabbed at Lepsi. “Lots of
bragging to send to your kiss-ass brother soon.”
    Lepsi danced in his seat singing,
“Eat it, Federoy . Stupidest aviar boy. Damn to you, too, Kemmer .”
    “His father,” Talos whispered to Craze.
“Don’t ever ask. Lepsi will go on ‘n on about his nutty family for days.”
    The spacecraft rumbled, hissing. It
jetted off the landing platform, drifting up and out. When it was far enough
from the docks, the boosters engaged and the vessel lurched away from Siegna.
Craze stared out the tiny slit of a window at the lights of the city growing
smaller. They diminished into a clump, then a spot, then a spec, reducing Craze
to a man from nowhere.
    Siegna became the past, a former
life which would forget him quicker than liftoff. A tear trickled down his
cheek. The stun wore off enough to allow him to brush it dry. He straightened
in his chair and stretched his jaw attempting to ask the aviarman about the
ship and the places he’d been, but only, “ Bwa wo bwa ,” came out. Craze’s lips
and tongue wouldn’t cooperate, not fully free from the prodders’ effects.
    “Seems you excited him with your
ship talk, Talos,” Lepsi said, stretching his legs out into the aisle. “My
family isn’t that loony.”
    “Says you.” Talos fingered a pin on
the lapel of his coat, orange words with wings on a deep blue background. It
said, “Carry on.” From the twitchy corner of his eye, he studied Craze
pointedly, on guard for plague probably. “His bride must really be atrocious.
Perhaps he seeks escape.”
    Craze nodded.
    “Well, I didn’t buy the vessel
yet,” Talos said. “It may be a real clunker. But we can talk about it later.
When I get it. You got a tab on you? I can ping you with where we’ll be on
Elstwhere when we know.” He showed Craze his code.
    Craze fumbled to get into his
pocket and pulled out the slim rectangular tab, tapping a button to send his
code to the aviarman’s device. Talos saved it, filing it away in his contacts.
    “You fwom Thiegna ?” Craze asked.
    Talos blinked rapidly, sweeping a
hand through his shock of blue. “You asking me where I’m from? I couldn’t make
all that out, mate.”
    “ Yeth .”
    “I’m from nowhere really. The
aviars tried to settle on Doka , but we weren’t
welcome. Ended up scattering, everyone out for themselves. Lepsi ‘n I teamed up
looking for a new home. Elstwhere isn’t it.”
    “Neither is Siegna,” Lepsi said.
    Talos tugged down the sleeves of
his shirt, the cuffs stained and unraveling. He fingered the pin on his lapel.
“Carry on. The ship will help us find one.”
    Judging from the clothing, the
spacecraft would probably come apart as soon as anybody sneezed. Still, it was
an advantage to exploit. If Craze charmed the aviarmen enough, maybe they’d let
him tag along. He needed a new home, too, but he didn’t say it. He couldn’t
speak about things he hadn’t reconciled in his heart and mind.
    Why had his father turned on him?
The council obviously bought every line Bast had fed them. That explained them,
but not his pa. Craze didn’t think it could all be about one gal. Yerness
glowed with dewy beauty, irresistible, but she didn’t inspire traitorous
devotion. Did she? Craze shook his head, watching reality in front of him
change from a world he knew to one he didn’t.
    Siegna, lush and green, zoomed
away. Elstwhere loomed ahead. Lusher and greener,
dotted with great spans of blue, it was promising, as if a Verkinn could thrive
as well there. The speculation drove Craze mad. There was no knowing for
certain, not until he arrived. To ease his nerves and to forget about his
ruined past, he mentally arranged