World’s End Read Online Free PDF Page B

stared
back at him, reconfirming my first impression. He was clearly out of place. His
clothes were made of a shining, silken fabric, and might have passed for
stylish summer wear in some climate-controlled metropolis; but they were
absurdly impractical here. The tattoos running up his bare arms told me a lot
more, although I recognized only a few of the designs and symbols. They all
have their separate meanings: They illustrate a man’s life history in the
Hegemony’s underworld. Spadrin was a career criminal.
    “What are
you doing out here?” he asked me.
    “The same
thing you are,” I said.
    He didn’t
believe it, any more than I did. He looked at Ang. “I don’t want him.”
    “I do.” Ang turned away abruptly. “ Gedda ,”
he said to me, pointing at the rusty metal hulk rising up beside us, “take a
look at it, tell me what you need.”
    I moved
warily past Spadrin , and began to inspect the
vehicle. I heard the two of them arguing behind me as if I couldn’t hear them;
listened while trying to seem like I wasn’t listening. Spadrin used the worldspeech of Number Four with surprising
fluency. Anyone can learn a language quickly with an enhancer, but only someone
with some intelligence will speak it well. Spadrin is
not stupid ... and I won’t forget it. At last he turned and strode away,
cursing, and I finished my inspection in peace.
    “Well?” Ang said, when I climbed down from
the cab.
    “It’s not
hopeless.” I leaned against the rover’s pitted side and wiped rust from my
hands. “The power unit is sound. You said you can get me tools and parts?”
    He nodded.
    “It’s not
going to be cheap—”
    “I have
contacts in the Company. I can get anything you want.” The last was said with
something closer to arrogance than to confidence.
    “Good,
then. How much do you understand about how a rover functions?”
    “A hell of
a lot more than most people,” he snapped. “I’ve been piloting them since you
were a snot-nosed brat.” As if somehow I were supposed
to have known that. “Just tell me what you want.”
    I bobbed my
head. “Then I’ll be precise.” I gave him my initial lists, being as technically
accurate as possible, and watching him for signs of comprehension. “... And
finally, but most importantly, I’m going to need a new repeller grid, if you want this thing airborne.”
    That got a
reaction. “A grid? The grid is out?”
    I nodded.
“It’s completely deteriorated. Believe me, you don’t
want to risk flight on it.”
    “By the Aurant !” His frustration was scorching. A
grid would make the difference between swift, comfortable travel by air, and an
endless, arduous land journey. All the difference in the
world. But he only grunted. “I’ll see what I can do.” He reached into a
pocket of his coveralls, pulled out a fesh stick, and
stuck the piece of narcotic soaked root into his mouth.
    “ Ang —”
    He looked
up sharply, as if he knew what I was about to say.
    “Why didn’t
you tell me about Spadrin ?”
    He looked
down again, lighting the fesh , and shrugged.
    “Listen, Ang ....” I took a deep breath, trying to hold on to my
patience. “This is a two-man vehicle. Three of us is going to make spending a lot of time in it damned uncomfortable. I know why you
need me on this trip; but why him?”
    “Protection.”
    “Protection!” It was the last thing I’d expected to hear him say. I almost told him
that I was police-trained, that I could offer him better and surer protection
than Spadrin ever could—but I didn’t want to start
him asking about my motives instead of Spadrin’s .
“Gods, man,” I shook my head, “don’t you know what Spadrin is?” I was sure Ang had never even been to Foursgate , let alone off world. But spending his life here
in this borderland, he must have seen hundreds of Spadrins passing through: on the run from the law, or looking for easy victims.
    “He’s an offworlder .” Ang said it as if offworlder and
scum were