The Human Blend Read Online Free PDF

he had made his best effort at flight, though he doubted the authorities would give him credit for it. Letting the depowered scoot coast to a halt on the roadway he prepared his response. Since he had no idea what was going on or what they might want him for, it was necessarily generalized. His spirits rose slightly. Maybe they just wanted to ask him some questions about Swallower’s operation. It might have nothing to do with the killing at all.
    As he stepped out of the scoot he walked quickly to the roadway railing. Bending over the side, he pantomimed throwing up. The movement caused his backpack to slide around in front of him. Continuing to feign upchucking, he allowed the hand to slip out of the pack. It made nary a splash as it landed in the water between support pilings and sank out of sight into the dark muck. Having thus neatly disposed of the only incriminating evidence and wiping nonexistent drool from his mouth, he felt much better about his imminent prospects as he turned to face the roadway.
    Touching down in silence the floater completely blocked the scoot lane leading southward. Holding his arms above his head Jiminy blinked as handheld lights were turned on him. He was startled to see half a dozen lod cops coming his way. Expecting regular police, the presence of the lods was a surprise. Two ordinary cops would have been more than adequate to take the unresisting Cricket into custody.
    All lods were Melds, of course. Four of them were characteristically enormous. Pumped full of modified HGH, their pituitaries gengineered, their bones infused with organic titanium powder, extra heart muscle layered on, the smallest of them stood two and a half meters tall and weighed a shade under two hundred kilos. For all that mass and muscle they were not slow. Meld injections had supplemented their natural bulk with many grams of high-twitch muscle fiber. It was a brave (or highly specialized Meld) lawbreaker who would directly challenge a lod.
    Hands held high above his head Cricket had no intention of doing so, of course. As they drew nearer his concern gave way to a touch of ego shine. Whatever they wanted him for he could not help but be flattered by the amount of manpower and hardware that had been deployed to catch him. The lods were heavily armed and armored. Eyeing their approach, he knew he did not have enough strength to even lift one of their guns, much less aim and fire it.
    “Evening, gentlewhen.” The lights illuminating his face were harsh.
    Unlike some of his friends he had never had his eyes melded to allow for better night vision. Or like Swallower had additional orbs added to compensate.
    The nearest lod was a sergeant. A rhino in blue, he loomed over the melded flight risk and leaned forward. For a lod his voice was unnaturally, almost comically high-pitched.
    “Where is it?”
    Cricket responded with a bemused smile. “I guess that all depends on how you choose to define ‘it.’ ”
    The lod was not amused. Reaching out and grabbing the prisoner with one huge hand, he lifted the other Meld off the pavement. Cricket’s elongated and strengthened legs could deliver a potent kick, one powerful enough to stun even a lod. He didn’t dare, of course. If he used his legs against this squad they would respond by breaking them, and if he struck first he would have no legal defense at all. He took comfort in the knowledge that as with all interactions involving the police and public, every moment of the confrontation was being recorded. He would not give them the satisfaction of allowing himself to be provoked no matter how much they manhandled him.
    “It’s too late in the day for funny, bug-boy.” The lod wasn’t smiling. “Hand it over.” The thick fingers gripping the detainee’s shirtfront tightened ungently.
“Now
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    Jiminy lost the smile. “Go on, keep abusing me.” He nodded in the direction of the parked floater. “The result won’t look good in court.”
    “In court. Of