The Fifth Civilization: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

duck-lover.
    “Look, wait just a few minutes. Let me get changed and think
this over.”
    “So you’re coming?” David’s eyes enlarged, as if his anxiety
had changed to gratitude.
    “I’ll think about it.”
    With a flick of a button, the door slid closed, and Roan saw
David’s eyes shrink and thought he heard him mutter something that sounded like weesh-to . Was it a Nyden curse? Did they curse? Yesterday’s slacks were
on the floor next to the bed, and he wiggled them on. He threw the robe on his
recliner and went to his closet, pulling a Company shirt over his head. No time
to brush or shower, but Aaron wouldn’t mind. He topped off his outfit with a
grey jacket and his Company batball cap.
    On his kitchen counter sat his Universal Communicator,
plugged in and recharging. Roan plucked it from its cradle and scrolled his
contacts for Aaron. His extensions, work and home, were both listed, and Roan
gave each a ring. A few beeps and then an away message, but no sign of life. He
put the com in a pocket. No point in leaving a message if he was on his way to
see Aaron now.
      Maybe this was
all a ruse, some way to con Roan. It’d happened to him before—but a Nyden
con artist? The idea was laughable. Even if Aaron really wanted to meet him,
what David said made it sound like his mind had fallen down a black hole. Spies
and secret meeting spots belonged in a BV movie, not real life.
    But the Company always gave him a week to unwind after an
interplanetary run, and Kel was gone. Getting caught in some kind web of
intrigue was better than thinking about her going off to Orion. And it was
certainly better than downing Swerdlow in his underwear.
    But when Kel was right, she was right. Roan did crave
adventure. Before he stepped out the door to meet with the Nyden, he swung open
his pantry and grabbed an empty flour container. He reached inside and pulled
out an old Nalite pistol. Long-barreled and covered in rusty chrome, the weapon
hadn’t been fired in years, but its power cell still showed a charge.
    Roan smirked. You just couldn’t be too cautious in this day
and age.

Chapter 5

 
 
 
    All Roan wanted to do was enjoy the passive luxury of the
passenger seat. Instead, he shut his eyes to avoid watching David navigate the
tight corners of Tokyo. Slower groundskimming buses and pedestrians rolled by
outside, affording Roan his first glimpse of the Tokyo streets in months.
Normally, he avoided the ground and all the claustrophobia its crowds induced.
    “You never told me your Nyden name,” Roan said.
    “It can be troubling for humans to pronounce,” David said, a
hint of a challenge in his voice. With gentle strokes of his feathered limbs,
David manipulated the vehicle’s controls with ease. Roan found himself oddly
drawn to and repulsed by the Nyden’s hands, which were brown and four-fingered
and came at the end of appendages that resembled tree trunks. He didn’t think
he’d ever been so close to a Nyden.
    They turned onto a coastal road, the double towers of the
Rainbow Bridge still decorated with lanterns from the New Year’s celebration.
City Services still hadn’t taken them down, he noticed—the authorities’
usual efficiency must have been counterbalanced by the wild celebration of the
coming five hundred years.
    “I can pronounce some Nyden names,” Roan said. “I’ve been to
your planet. Your Prime Minister or Premier, whatever he’s called…his name is,
uh, Hetchay , uh, Hetchoy …”
    David laughed. At least, Roan assumed he did. His mouth gave
a sound that more resembled a terse squawk. How he spoke eloquent English with
a beak the size of a large fist was beyond Roan.
    “That’s not quite it, Mr. Roan. Actually, according to the
language of his home country, you should pronounce his name with an accented
stress on the first syllable. It is quite a common name, really…”
    “Watch it!”   They
were about to mate with the rear end of a garbage skimmer. David apologized