The Pride of Parahumans Read Online Free PDF

stated. "Everyone who wants to take their chances on an
uncivilized rock with no government to speak of raise a hand." Me
and Aniya raised our hands immediately. "And all opposed?" We put
our hands down and Cole raised a wing claw. We all turned to stare
at Denal, whose paws were firmly gripping the handholds along the
edge of the table.
    "Well I don't know." Denal protested, "it
sounds like Vesta might be safe from the Directorate but the way
you made it sound it seems like the Protector's Guilds or whatever
are just barely holding things together."
    "Look, why don't you go over to the bank and
pay them nine million qcoins towards our loan, think it over on the
way there and back. I'll get us filled up with Helium and reaction
mass so if we still haven't decided where to go we can at least
reach someplace to refuel and set out again." Cole flapped away
from the table and to his own pilot's perch.
    "Nine million is a lot." Denal started to
inch towards the door. "What if they get suspicious as to why I'm
paying that much at once."
    "Tell them that we don't want to be tempted
into spending all that on something stupid." I suggested. He
bounded out and closed the hatchway behind his ringed tail.
    ***
    Less than an hour later Cole was just
finishing up the refueling procedures as Denal came hurtling up the
docking tube. He panted, out of breath as he shut and locked the
airlock doors tight. "What happened?" I asked, looking up from the
wiki entry on some frontier asteroid that would need at least two
fuel stops to reach.
    Denal righted himself and began to explain.
"As I was coming back from the bank I noticed a security inspection
team gathered near one of the ships by the entrance to the port. I
asked a nearby officer what that was all about and he said that
they were checking all the ships that had been in the sector where
that executive's clone had vanished. He said that they were only
asking if anyone had an idea of what had happened to him but I
didn't like the way some of them looked." He jumped into his chair
and started strapping himself in. "I would definitely say that my
vote is now "yes", let's go to Vesta. Like right this instant."
    I strapped myself down and signaled for
Aniya, down in the equipment bay, to do the same. Cole resigned
himself and signaled to traffic control his intent to depart. "We
read you. The way out is clear, but why so quick to leave, you just
got back in?"
    Cole improvised as he started to pull us
out. "Oh you know." As if that ever convinced anyone. "Just made it
big on our last trip. Thinking we might be able to afford a down
payment on a better ship this time."
    "Really?" The traffic controller was still
on the line. "And just where did you say you got all that aurum anyways?"
    Crap, maybe he was with security, in which
case he could direct some of security's cutters to intercept us
before we even got half a kilometer from dock if he suspected we
were involved in the situation somehow. Cole spoke again, "Trade
secret, if we told anyone the location our secret mine would be
bled dry in a week."
    "You know, you can't keep other miners from
jumping your claim unless you file it."
    "And since when has registering a claim
stopped anyone?" I spoke up, before remembering that while the
output was on speakers the input was restricted to Cole's headset.
Cole repeated my statement after looking at me odd for a
minute.
    "Well, suit yourself. Hope you strike big
again." We were out. For now we were safe.
    Once we were ten kilometers out I unstrapped
myself and walked over to Cole's station, the acceleration
providing more "gravity" than Ceres had. "So how long until we
reach Vesta?" I asked him as I leaned around his crash chair to
look at him.
    He faced me and said simply "ten days."
    Ten days, a bit of a long trip by our
standards. "Guess I'd better go and settle in then."
    ***
    The next day I started work on my hobby.
While my training had been in dead rocks and minerals, I was
interested in the far