The Last Horizon Read Online Free PDF

Zephyr.”
     
    “Make?”
     
    “Aerodyne 1023, Series Mx40-1A Star Chaser.”
     
    “Propulsion?”
     
    “Primaries are Coltrane Plutonium Turbos with aftermarket Overture-12 retro-jets. Secondary sources are Watts & Rannon Magnetic Hyper-Drive Cores.”
     
    “Payload?”
     
    “Thirty-five thousand pounds of cosmetics and luxury consumables.”
     
    “Let’s go to page two,” Max said unceremoniously, “Pilot name?”
     
    “Nikki Wells.”
     
       “Age?”
     
    “28.”
     
    “License Class?”
     
    “Class-2 Pilot.”
     
    “Destination?”
     
    “Cassandra City, Venus.”
     
    “Passengers?”
     
    “One.”
     
       Max turned to Scott and pointed at him with his pen as he concentrated on the forms on his pad.
     
       “Name of passenger?”
     
       “Scott. First name, Fenmore.”
     
       “Passenger’s age?”
     
       “46.”
     
       “Citizenship?”
     
       “Earth.”
     
    Max turned his attention back to me. “Purpose of journey?”
     
    “Err, to visit friends.” I said sheepishly.
     
    “Aww common, Nikki,” Max replied in an incensed tone, “‘To visit friends?’”
     
    “Why, what’s wrong?”
     
    “Ya gotta gimme something better than that. The report does get read, ya know.”
     
    “Then what do you suggest?”
     
    “You could say something like ‘To visit your sick mother.’.”
     
    “Okay then, “To visit my sick mother”.”
     
    “But then you better have one, and she’d better be on Venus. Then ya gotta have the proper medical forms for confirmation…”
     
    “Look, Max,” I sighed, “why are you busting my chops? Just put anything down for us that sounds good. We have to get going if we’re going to make time.”
     
    “I don’t even want to ask the next question about having weapons on your persons...”
     
    “Just a Cobalt-22...”
     
    “I’m not hearing this.” Max grimaced as he rolled his eyes.
     
    “Max we’re stalling.”
     
    “Okay, okay, Nikki, don’t bite my head off, I’m just…” Max trailed off and looked at the floor.
     
    “What’s the matter?”
     
    “Nikki, don’t go.” Max said gravely as he looked me square in the eyes.
     
    “What? You telling me we can’t go?”
     
    “No, I’m not saying you can’t go, I’m just asking you not to.”
     
    “Max…”
     
    “Look, we both know what you’re doing and we both know where you’re going, I’m just asking you not to go. Don’t do it, Nikki. Walk away.”
     
    “Max, are you going to make a case out of this?”
     
    “Yes I am.” Max frowned. “I know how you’re going to deviate from your flightplan. I talked to Kurlie this afternoon. Don’t go Nikki.”
     
    “I have to.”
     
    “Well then don’t go through the Pipe.”
     
    “I’ve got no choice, Max, you know that.”
     
    “You know a couple of years ago I was in your shoes…”
     
    “Can we trade sea stories later, Max? I’ve got to get a move on.”
     
    “No! You’re gonna listen to what I have to say, Nikki,” Max snapped as he put his hand on my shoulder, “like I said, two years ago I was in your shoes. Like you I was gonna make a run. Like you I had to take the Pipe to make the time; and like you I had a bad feeling about it. I’d gone through the Pipe too many times before and I had demons nipping at my heels. I was scared. Scared of the Pipe, scared that I wouldn’t come back, and scared to face guys like Kurlie. But what was I gonna do? Being a runner was all I knew how to do.”
     
    “So what am I supposed to do?”
     
    “Walk away from it, Nikki. Don’t go. You can join Patrol.”
     
    “That’s absurd.”
     
    “No it’s not. Isn’t it better if people like us are in it? At least we understand, at least we’ve been there and can help out our own.”
     
    “I couldn’t do that.”
     
    “Why not? The pay is good, it’s clean…”
     
    “Bribery? That’s clean?”
     
    “Well may be not.” Max shrugged. “I’m only on