The Wishing Stone Read Online Free PDF Page A

have escaped, over the last ten thousand years. But no one has done it while I’ve been here. This particular camp is surrounded by an invisible force field. To get out into the deep desert, you have to disable the force field, which Charles did by making a bomb out of chemicals in the soil. But then there is nowhere to go in the desert. Either the elements kill you or the robots find you and cut you down with their lasers.”
    â€œWhat planet are you from?” Cindy asked.
    Hironee brightened. “My planet is named Zanath. It is very beautiful, littered with what you would call tropical islands. I was very happy there.” She added wistfully, “I miss it very much.”
    â€œWere you brought here by a Collector?” Sally asked.
    â€œYes. I accidentally found a Wishing Stone andmade a few wishes before the Collector appeared and demanded I pay him five hundred and sixteen gratoms.”
    â€œExactly how long have you been here?” Sally asked.
    â€œFour of your years.”
    â€œHow many gratoms have you worked off in that time?”
    â€œThree gratoms,” Hironee said and laughed softly, a sad, low laugh. “It really doesn’t matter what your debt is. You will never pay it off before you die. That’s the way the Kasters set up the system.”
    â€œThat’s what I suspected,” Sally said grimly.
    â€œWho are the Kasters?” Cindy asked.
    â€œThey are the ones who construct the Wishing Stones. They seed them on planets all over the galaxy and use them to ensnare slave labor. The more advanced civilizations are aware of them and never use the stones. But the Kasters are always finding fresh slaves to work for them. They are shady businessmen, a greedy race of reptiles with a ruthless reputation for cheating and extortion. They also construct the robots who run this slave planet and many others like it.”
    â€œAre there any Kasters here?” Sally asked.
    â€œOne. His name is Teeh, and he is horrible. He is the one I told you about who also speaks English. You’ll meet him tomorrow—he goes out of his way to harass new slaves.” Hironee lowered her voice. “Don’t ever anger him. He’ll peel the skin off your body and eat it in front of you. I’ve seen him do it.”
    â€œWhy don’t the more advanced civilizations in the galaxy stop the Kasters from taking slaves?” Cindy asked.
    â€œThe Kasters are a powerful and feared race. They take only slaves from those who have become indebted to them. This is what you would call a loophole in the galactic law. It allows them to operate just outside the law. Plus a lot of races still buy Kaster goods. There is always a market for them. Here on this planet you will make Kaster lamps for the rest of your lives.” Hironee shrugged. “They’re pretty good lamps. They’ll last longer than we will.”
    â€œWe will not remain here for the rest of our lives,” Sally said flatly. “We are going to escape. I don’t care how long it takes, but we will not stay here and make lamps for a bunch of slimy reptiles.”
    Hironee cautioned Sally to lower her voice. Sheglanced around the barracks, her white eyes glittering in the dark.
    â€œBe careful what you say. Teeh has spies everywhere. We can talk about such matters during the work shift when not so many ears are close. But I can tell you now it is better, in the long run, to accept your situation and try to live with it. There is no real chance of escape. Remember what happened to Charles.”
    Sally lowered her voice to a whisper. “Cindy and I are from Spooksville. It’s the roughest town on Earth. You may have heard about it from Charles. It’s prepared us for places like this. I don’t want to brag about our past but let’s just say we’ve been in worse fixes than this before.”
    â€œWe have?” Cindy asked.
    Sally continued as if she hadn’t heard