24
STARTLING STORIES
communicative she’d been in days.
“Do you think someone needed my berth in Cryogen to keep the love-stones quiet for a bit, until we reached this planet? Knott commandeered my berth there, but did she order my extraction as a Reader?”
Yerzuk shrugged and said nothing as the monorail glided into the terminus.
What had started as 7 tonnes aboard the Scutari had, since its removal to the planet surface, increased until the warehouse stor-ing it exploded. It was bought when the market opened at dawn by a company with a credit rating but—according to Cascade—no recent dealings, no known directors, staff, head office or forwarding address. A line of security staff now ringed the creaking mound of IVIs, throwing stones back onto the heap, turning away rubberneckers who’
