LE Modesitt Ecolitan 03 Ecologic Envoy

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If those tailing him were as persistent as he suspected, at least one would
be waiting somewhere.
Both were right outside the servarium and seemingly oblivious to each Other.
The woman stood by the main entrance, visibly consulting her timestrap and
pocket calendar as if to call attention to the fact that her friend,c ontact,
or lover had been delayed.
The thin and nervous man, now wearing a rust cloak, sat on a public bench
several meters away reading a faxtab. Neither had noticed him.
Since theservarium was close to the lift shaft, the corridor was wide and
foot traffic frequent perhapsseveral people moving past the entrance every few
seconds but the spaciousness of the ten-meter width and the high ceilings
reduced the visual impact of the numbers.
Nathaniel didn't hesitate. If the Empire wanted to playhardblast, he'd oblige
them. Placing his locked datacase against the corridor wall, he slipped
thetranquilizer tube, good for two shots, one from each end, just so he could
trigger it without the action being obvious to others.
The way the woman was positioned, the Ecolitan should be able to get within a
meter or so before she would be aware of him.
She saw him in the wide-angled mirror attached to the calendar and twisted it
in an effort to line up the long axis of the calendar toward him.
Nathaniel dropped, triggering the tube with the facility of long practice.
The needle caught her in the neck and began to dissolve. At the same time, he
was inside her guard and knocked aside the pocket calendar and whatever weapon
it concealed.
You... she muttered, as she began to shudder. Told me you were
slick...devils! Get the devils! Her voice mounted to a shriek.
She began to convulse. Nathaniel knew the muscular contractions were not
exactly convulsions, but anyone not versed in the depths of Coordinate
military medicine would not catch the differences soon.
Three or fourpassersby immediately gathered. A chime in the corridor began
ringing.
Nathaniel had already left the woman and had covered half the distance to the
bench and to the thin man.
The nervous Imperial agent was better than the woman or took advantage of the
slight warning he had. The glint of metal as the angle of the faxtab held by
the sitting man shifted indicated he held something ready. Nathaniel stretched
his arm toward the man, triggering the tube from three meters. On the range
his accuracy was' only about eighty percent. Here he needed one hundred
percent.
The Imperial twitched as the needle whistled by his ear, losing his
concentration momentarily. Long enough for Nathaniel to cover the last meter
at full dash and knock aside the shortbarreled weapon with his right hand as
it discharged. The Ecolitan felt the surge of nerve pain in his right shoulder
but clamped down on his reactions.
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Jabbing his left hand with force just short of crushing thelarnyx, he
silenced the bench sitter, who was trying to get to his feet. Despite the
waves of pain radiating from his shoulder, he snapped three fingers of the
man's right hand in forcing him to drop the nervetangler.
A knee to the groin left the Imperial agent retching on the ground. After
taking only seconds to snap another needle into the tube, Nathaniel fired,it
into the man's neck while bending down as if to help the poor unfortunate.
As the emergency medical unit, a low-slung silent cart, pulled up, he kicked
the tangler under the bench and slid the faxtab over it. Here! Here! he
called. Ahealth officer and amedtech appeared. What happened?
I was walking up to get something to eat. This man started yelling. He threw
down what he was reading, got sick, and went into convulsions.
May I have your name, citizen? The new voice belonged to an Imperial
Monitor, otherwise known as the Emperor's Police, who was dressed in a silver
tunic with gold piping and brandished acomputab, all with the bored look of
all police in all eras.
Not a citizen am I, but a visitor, and quite surprised,, officer. I have an
appointment up-level later, but I wanted to eat. This man goes crazy. Then
somebody behind me yells and screams. I just don't understand. Now you want to
know who I am. He's the one who started this business.
I understand that, sir. But could I please have your name for the record? In
case we need witnesses.
Of course. Nathaniel Whaler.
Whaler?
W-H-A-L-ER.
I.D.number?
Don't have one. Diplomatic number. Nathaniel pulled out the diplomatic I.
D. A-C-O-3.
Very sorry to bother you.Lord Whaler. Can we call you if we have further
questions?
Certainly. I'll be back at the Legation after 1500. By the time the few
questions had been answered, the two Imperial agents, if that had indeed been
their calling, had been carted off in small and silent corridor buggies.
Lucidly, his datacase was where he had left it, apparently untouched.
Getting into theservarium wasn't nearly so hard as getting there had been.
Do you allow diplomatic credentials?
Of course, sir. Of course.
Most of the clientele seemed to be mid-level junior bureaucrats. Two women to
every man. Servarium was a fancy name for self-service off acompuchef, but the
odds were that his food at least wouldn't ambush him.
Settling on an elaborate omelet and liftea, he gave the machine his credit
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card, took it back, and made a hornetline for a small corner table where he
couldn't. be approached from behind.
You're gettingparanoid again, he said to himself. After a minute, he
decided he needed to answer himself. Just because. you're paranoid doesn't
mean that they aren't all out to get you.
He wasn't sure he believed himself, but he dug into the omelet anyway, which [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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