Read Hard Luck Hank: Screw the Galaxy for Free Online

right.”
    “An important man?” It was a question laden
with subtlety. I wanted to be careful here. My motto of never taking sides
certainly applied to people I worked for. I could give the facts, but I didn’t
want to give information that Zadeck would consider unfaithful.
    “He is growing in importance,” I answered
delicately.
    “Do you think it prudent for me to eliminate
him as a concern? Especially if there may be a coming storm with Ddewn.”
    I exhaled and thought about this.
    “In addition to Wallow, I believe he has some
support from Garm,” I cautioned.
    “Bah.” Tamshius waved his hand dismissively and
his pleasant brow furrowed. “People speak her name like children fearing
robots. She can be killed like any other.”
    This was quite a surprising sentiment. Tamshius
was usually very controlled, but perhaps there had been some recent fallout
between him and Garm.
    “With all due respect, I have lived through
four Adjuncts, a Lance Major, and for a few years, Common Rule. By far the best
leader for Belvaille has been Garm. And she’s easy on the eyes.”
    “Yes, I know,” Tamshius said dejectedly. “Do
you know that Adjunct Overwatch Monhsendary tried to have me murdered?”
    “Yes, I was there.”
    “Of course,” he chuckled. “I am forgetting who
I am speaking with.”
    Tamshius stood up, so I did as well.
    “Again, I want to thank you for your help,”
Tamshius said, bowing.
    “My pleasure.” I bowed back.
    “If I may enquire, how much did you spend
tonight at my facility?”
    I sighed deeply, mostly because I didn’t want
to remember it.
    “10,000.”
    “To the exact credit?” he asked curiously.
    I checked my tele.
    “To the exact credit, yes.”
    This seemed to please Tamshius and he went to
his desk.
    “For your time and beneficial advice,” he said,
and he beamed me 10,000.
    “Thank you, sir,” I said, bowing again.
    “Can I reserve your assistance if I should
require help with the Ddewn affair?” he asked, correctly attributing the
concern to the boss and not his underling despite the origins of the debt.
    “I await your inquiry and will do the best I
can.”
    “I can ask nothing more,” he answered.
    Tamshius showed me out and I walked the long
hall with my free bottle of high-end booze and a spring in my step. I was back
to my original total despite an excellent night of much-needed excitement.
    The guards were anxious for information on what
was going down, but I told them it wasn’t something I could speak about at the
moment, which they took as a dark omen.

CHAPTER
6

    As soon as I got out of sight of the casino, I
was accosted by Rendrae. He was the owner, editor, operator, and often reporter
of The News .
    He was an overweight man with a greenish
complexion and horrible sense of fashion. He always wore a baggy, orange
plastic overcoat that had what looked like a thousand pockets, and he wore a
purple hat that was reminiscent of a sad, crumpled boot planted upside-down on
his head. I always wondered if he cultivated as harmless an image as possible
in order to put people at ease.
    He had informants in just about every corner of
the station. I don’t think a cockroach farted without Rendrae knowing what it
had eaten. He was annoying as hell but his articles were incredibly accurate,
and people placed a lot of stock in how they were represented in the paper. I
had to grudgingly give him credit for being so non-partisan. Rendrae had
learned just like I had that the best way to survive was to stay impartial.
    “Hank! I got you on the front page, did you
see?”
    I was too tired to jockey with him. But I had
to walk to the train anyway.
    “No, I haven’t seen it. I told you I don’t like
being quoted.”
    I called up the front page on my tele. He had
already highlighted it for me.
     
    Hank affirms the likelihood of an
upcoming precipitous turf war is “likely” given the preponderance of goodies
procured lately and the growing animosity between the