Third World Read Online Free PDF Page B

windsock drooping in the background across verdant green
fields, the drive into town took about twenty minutes and then they
checked into their pre-arranged quarters.
    Everyone had their own room, and to
Newton, the prices seemed oddly unreasonable but they were on Her
Majesty’s tab anyways. Everything in the ship’s own store was sold
at cost and the transportation of it was heavily subsidized by the
taxpayers. It was just culture shock.
    It’s not like they ever paid room and
board. Civilian life really did have its hazards.
    All of this was part of his planning
and responsibility, and the comfort of the troops was also a
consideration. With their faces wreathed in smiles and their voices
loud in the unfamiliar surroundings, he grinned and raised an
arm.
    “ People.”
    They simmered down quickly enough,
although one trooper gouged another in the ribs with an elbow and
got a quick swat in return.
    He stared at them and they both turned
beet red in the face.
    “ All right. You’ve all got
your keys. Shower up, and we’ll rendezvous in the dining room at
eighteen-hundred. You’re free until then, but stay on the premises
and stay out of trouble.”
    He received nods and grins in response
as the desk clerk looked on and one or two folks came and went from
the elevators.
    “ The Lieutenant will be
buying you all a beer.”
    They cheered at that and an old fellow
sitting reading a paper in a wing-back lobby chair put his magazine
down and looked up at the group.
    “… but only one. We will do
our first patrol tonight, beginning at twenty-one-hundred hours.
Conduct yourselves accordingly.”
    They were dismissed. A gaggle of
ordinary people all of a sudden, a bit of a revelation to Newton,
they picked up their heavy gunny sacks and turned. In ones and twos
they straggled off to the elevator while Newton and Faber stood
watching.
    The Ensign spoke to the desk clerk,
leaning in and muttering back and forth, and Jackson looked at his
watch and then the front doors.
    Catching Newton’s eye, he
pointed.
    “ I think I’ll have a look
about.” He beckoned at Trooper Khan, who sighed and looked at the
other’s bags lying there beside him on the polished
terrazzo.
    On Newton’s nod, Jackson went out with
a thoughtful look about him and Khan struggled towards the
elevators with a hundred and fifty kilos of gear.
     
    ***
     
    Newton, the Ensign, Jackson and one or
two troopers were seated at the dining room table sipping ice water
and waiting for the rest to arrive.
    “ The guy in a coffee shop
across the street called them the Tree Streets.”
    Newton wondered at the name.
    “ Tree streets?”
    “ They’re all named after
trees. Pine Street, Sycamore Street, all kinds of trees. That’s one
end of town, all small, working class homes. They’re on fairly big
lots but people live by low income labour. Some of them are
self-employed. Then there’s another neighbourhood nearby with a few
small apartment buildings, all walk-ups in that area. No real
high-rises in town. That’s the local hotbed of crime, as there are
quite a few bars in the area.”
    They had information on
other types of crime, endemic to virtually all known worlds, but
crime-fighting per se was not the focus of the mission.
    There were a half a dozen villages and
populated cross-roads within a short distance of Capital
City.
    The center of town had a number of
multi-story buildings, including the Royal City Hotel which they
were in.
    Other than that, there were straggling
industrial developments along major thoroughfares both inside and
outside the city proper. With no premium on space, and plenty of
room to go around, colonial towns tended to spread out quickly.
There was an old joke about human beings spreading out in all
directions to take up all available space.
    The true value of being on the spot was
that you could take a quick look around and new possibilities
opened up.
    “ I was thinking initially of
places of entertainment, I mean from the