Read Fall of the White Ship Avatar for Free Online Page A
Authors: Brian Daley
as Alacrity pulled him back the way they'd come. Alacrity kept up the fire, unleashing the furious blare of the Captain's Sidearm around the shed pell-mell, making the air broiling hot, keeping the attackers' heads down.
Until one of them gets desperate enough to rush us, Floyt fretted, working on the hatch. He got it open as Alacrity hosed the energy gun back and forth, alley-broom style, raising the temperature to blistering, backing along after Floyt. Alacrity jumped to cover on one side of the hatchway as Floyt shouldered it shut from the other, shots roiling and spattering from it as it swung to.
"No lock, fug-all!" Floyt panted. "It's been stripped."
Alacrity backed away from the hatch, muzzle trained on it. "We can't stick around. Go to the next hatch and reload; I'll cover."
Floyt skimmed off in that direction. Alacrity checked his weapon. The charge indicator still read three-quarters full. Alacrity hoped he was getting a true reading; a fizzle now would be very embarrassing and harmful to his career goals. He backed and side-hopped, face streaming, to rejoin Floyt.
Floyt was at the next hatch along their route of retreat, nearly set. He had his top-breaking pistol open, holding it by its down turned barrel, reloading two bullets at a time. He had his tongue sticking from the corner of his mouth in concentration, but he worked quickly and calmly.
He's changed a lot, Alacrity thought again as he took a crouched firing position on the other side of the hatch.
"What now?" Floyt asked, closing the revolver. "If we go back, I bet we'll find the other ambushers have that route blocked, too."
"I'm stumped," Alacrity admitted. "They sure got everything covered in a hurry."
"Yes, it seems they're thorough."
"Uh-huh. You want to know what I don't get? That part about 'Firing Studs.' Firing Studs ? New one on me."
Floyt had his slug pistol cocked and ready. "Oh, that; that's one of Sintilla's expressions. People end up calling us that in Castle of the Death Addicts ."
"Wha—? Fancula , doesn't anybody have anything better to do than read those damn books?" He hunkered around to peer through the lock, into the next stretch of passageway they'd have to negotiate.
"It sounds as if someone decided to read up on his quarry," Floyt judged.
"Stop the clock!" Alacrity was looking at him pop-eyed. "They read the book; what if they believe all file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...y%20-%20Fall%20of%20the%20White%20Ship%20Avatar.htm (22 of 242)23-2-2006 17:03:12
[Fitzhugh 3]-FALL OF THE WHITE SHIP AVATAR
that pasture decor that Tilla made up about us?"
"Well, then they're probably a little apprehensive just at the moment. In the book we are truly remarkable fellows. Part of it takes place here in the lashup, as a matter of fact. It developed that you knew the secrets of the subsurface shuttle system of the Lunar Ancients."
Hissing and scorching sounded at the hatch behind them, covering fire for a rush by the opposition.
Raul Plantos, Langstretch Field Operative Class Two, was the one who'd just come through the aeroponics shed after Floyt and Alacrity, the one who'd offered terms of surrender to make it easy for him to braise them.
He was leery of his two targets; he was familiar with their astounding dash to Terra in a privateer starship, their final planetfall in a superstealth spaceboat, and their key roles in bringing down the Camarilla.
In some fashion no one seemed to quite understand, the two hapless vagabonds had defied certain death and beat the odds, not just once, but repeatedly.
Plantos had read of their exploits in those absurd books, determined to know his prey as well as possible.
He dismissed just about all of it as sheer fantasy, but was troubled by occasional doubts. How could the pair have survived what they had, out on their own in the Third Breath, if they didn't have hidden resources? That seemed as unlikely as the Amazon Slave Women of the Supernova. He knew he had them
Until one of them gets desperate enough to rush us, Floyt fretted, working on the hatch. He got it open as Alacrity hosed the energy gun back and forth, alley-broom style, raising the temperature to blistering, backing along after Floyt. Alacrity jumped to cover on one side of the hatchway as Floyt shouldered it shut from the other, shots roiling and spattering from it as it swung to.
"No lock, fug-all!" Floyt panted. "It's been stripped."
Alacrity backed away from the hatch, muzzle trained on it. "We can't stick around. Go to the next hatch and reload; I'll cover."
Floyt skimmed off in that direction. Alacrity checked his weapon. The charge indicator still read three-quarters full. Alacrity hoped he was getting a true reading; a fizzle now would be very embarrassing and harmful to his career goals. He backed and side-hopped, face streaming, to rejoin Floyt.
Floyt was at the next hatch along their route of retreat, nearly set. He had his top-breaking pistol open, holding it by its down turned barrel, reloading two bullets at a time. He had his tongue sticking from the corner of his mouth in concentration, but he worked quickly and calmly.
He's changed a lot, Alacrity thought again as he took a crouched firing position on the other side of the hatch.
"What now?" Floyt asked, closing the revolver. "If we go back, I bet we'll find the other ambushers have that route blocked, too."
"I'm stumped," Alacrity admitted. "They sure got everything covered in a hurry."
"Yes, it seems they're thorough."
"Uh-huh. You want to know what I don't get? That part about 'Firing Studs.' Firing Studs ? New one on me."
Floyt had his slug pistol cocked and ready. "Oh, that; that's one of Sintilla's expressions. People end up calling us that in Castle of the Death Addicts ."
"Wha—? Fancula , doesn't anybody have anything better to do than read those damn books?" He hunkered around to peer through the lock, into the next stretch of passageway they'd have to negotiate.
"It sounds as if someone decided to read up on his quarry," Floyt judged.
"Stop the clock!" Alacrity was looking at him pop-eyed. "They read the book; what if they believe all file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...y%20-%20Fall%20of%20the%20White%20Ship%20Avatar.htm (22 of 242)23-2-2006 17:03:12
[Fitzhugh 3]-FALL OF THE WHITE SHIP AVATAR
that pasture decor that Tilla made up about us?"
"Well, then they're probably a little apprehensive just at the moment. In the book we are truly remarkable fellows. Part of it takes place here in the lashup, as a matter of fact. It developed that you knew the secrets of the subsurface shuttle system of the Lunar Ancients."
Hissing and scorching sounded at the hatch behind them, covering fire for a rush by the opposition.
Raul Plantos, Langstretch Field Operative Class Two, was the one who'd just come through the aeroponics shed after Floyt and Alacrity, the one who'd offered terms of surrender to make it easy for him to braise them.
He was leery of his two targets; he was familiar with their astounding dash to Terra in a privateer starship, their final planetfall in a superstealth spaceboat, and their key roles in bringing down the Camarilla.
In some fashion no one seemed to quite understand, the two hapless vagabonds had defied certain death and beat the odds, not just once, but repeatedly.
Plantos had read of their exploits in those absurd books, determined to know his prey as well as possible.
He dismissed just about all of it as sheer fantasy, but was troubled by occasional doubts. How could the pair have survived what they had, out on their own in the Third Breath, if they didn't have hidden resources? That seemed as unlikely as the Amazon Slave Women of the Supernova. He knew he had them
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