Yuen-Mong's Revenge Read Online Free PDF Page A

place clean," she remarked, shoving it into the fire.
          He did not react, but she could sense his renewed annoyance. He was
so easy to read.
          "Why didn’t you use the gun on that vulture since you had it? Are
there many of those around here," he asked.
          "Because it does not work."
            "You mean, you don’t know how to work it. I can assure you a full-charge zap would even take care of a bird that size."
            "No, that is not the reason. The gun does not work on Aros."
            He only smiled, not even hiding his feeling of superiority. "Why did
you bring me here? Where are your people?"
            Why does he always ask two questions? "I brought you here because
you do not know the night dangers of this world. There would be nothing
left of you by the morning."
            Again that telling smile of disbelief. This was an unknown experience
for her. Her parents would never have doubted such a statement of fact,
nor would she have doubted them.
          "Oh, I would have been quite capable of defending myself against
those vultures or those savages. One zap of the gun would have scared
them off. Anyway I would have been perfectly secure in my craft."
            "The night dangers are different."
            "You mean demons and ghosts," he mocked her.
          "No, different. I will show you later." Did he take her for a superstitious savage? But she decided not to defend herself. She was more
interested to know about his craft. "You crashed early this morning?"
            "Yes, how did you know?"
            "I know. Is your craft damaged?"
            "No, hardly a scratch. It was a perfect emergency landing, almost
horizontal. I’ll be able to take off soon, just need to fix a few things."
            He is lying. "The AI system does not work anymore, right?"
            "Yes, nothing serious… But how did you guess." His face showed
genuine surprise.
          "Because, no electronic devices work on Aros. Its rapidly oscillating
magnetic field disables them."
            He laughed. "You’re an expert in electronics?"
            "You do not believe me?" She raised her voice . "Does your wristunit
work?"
            He looked at the device, pressing the on button several times. No
holoscreen, but he dismissed it. It had been a cheap one, and prone to
failure.
          "Could you communicate with your mother ship?" she continued.
          He shook his head.
          "My father said that the magnetic field of Aros disables all electronics."
            Again she could feel that he did not believe her, but he did not voice
it. Instead he asked: "Did he also crash on Aros?"
            "Yes, he and my mother."
            "How long ago?"
            "Before I was born. About twenty standard years ago."
            "You mean twenty years on Aros? You can’t mean standard years."
            "No, standard years."
            "You know about standard years?"
            "Yes, my father taught me."
            "When will your father be here? Where are your people?"
            "I have no people."
            "But your father? Your mother?"
            "Both died, seven standard years ago."
            "Oh, I’m sorry." But she sensed that he was only trying to be polite.
"So you live all alone?" Although intonated as a question, she knew he
did not expect an answer.
          By then, the water was boiling, and the wood pieces were glowing
coals. "I cook now," she said and turned away from him. She added a
handful of inner bark slivers from the silverleaf tree to the boiling water
and set the container aside. Then she cut the meat into thin strips and
spread four of them on a grid of rigid intersecting spear grasses. He stood
at her side, watching. When she put the knife down, he studied it.
          "Interesting. This is the knife of a survival kit. I’ve a similar