Read The Catalyst (Targon Tales) for Free Online Page B

than slums where few of the structures seemed built solidly enough to withstand the damp and wind. Gradually, the twisting roads widened and the buildings appeared more substantial, turning shantytown into city.
    The natives were pale-skinned and hairless and Nova studied them with interest. Large oval heads topped barely clad, thin bodies. Most of them moved on both hands and feet that looked more or less alike. Nova and Seth hardly caused the raising of a single eyebrow, were such a thing available here. Off-worlders were not an uncommon sight on Aikhor.
    Amused, Nova watched two children ride along on a parent's bent back. They were young; their eyes had not yet opened. "Twins and triplets are more common here than single births," Seth explained. "Infant mortality is pretty high."
    They continued on toward the center of the town. The crowd of fleet-footed natives was now heavily interspersed with foreigners and Nova, rarely with enough time or funds to indulge in travel, watched them all with wide-eyed amazement. She did not notice that someone had barred their way until she nearly bumped into him.
    The being's skin was of a faded yellow, much like a Caspian’s, but bristled with coarse gray hair. She gathered that it was speaking to her as it emitted a series of sighs and wheezes through some of its apertures. It wore no clothing and, by Nova's standards, it was quite obviously male.
    He raised a fibrous limb and wrapped two digits around her wrist.
    "Hey!" She wrenched her hand free.
    Seth stepped closer to her. He gestured in a few halting movements. Nova tried to follow the incomprehensible body language as the creature answered. The exchange continued for a while until Seth gave a final wave and nudged her to continue walking.
    Once at a safe distance, he reached into his coat to switch his gun back to its safety position. "You're worth a lot of money here."
    "What?"
    "He wanted to buy you. Or rent you for a while. As a sort of decorative object, I think."
    "So where does he keep his money?" Nova shuddered.
    He laughed. "Over there is an inn of sorts. It’s run by a couple of Centauri. Not all bad, considering where we are. Rent us some rooms, will you?” He handed her a wrapper with some currency. “Don’t use your Union credit here, although they’ll take it if they have to. I'll be along in a while and don't you worry about me running off to my rebel friends."
    "Where are you going?" Nova said, immediately suspicious.
    "Miss me already, honey?" He patted her rump.
    "Stop that!  Can't we sleep on the ship?"
    "Too noisy, with the repairs going on." He wandered away without further explanation.
    Nova went into the hostel and sniffed disapprovingly when she walked into the chilly reception hall. The smell of age and must clung to this place like a wet blanket. Two elderly females were engaged in rolling up a large, knotted carpet, possibly the source of the mold, its patterns indiscernible beneath a layer of mud. The crones gaped at Nova and then fell to whispering.
     Belatedly, Nova rearranged her poncho to drape over her sidearm. She approached an obese Centauri by the desk, apparently asleep. His faded uniform bearing the inn's name was very clean in stark contrast to the mildewing hall. "Good day," Nova said, assuming that this was still daytime. "Two rooms, please, the best you got, clean if possible."
     The guardian of the lobby wheeled his chair closer to her. Although she wore a set of Seth's nondescript clothes instead of a uniform, he took time to study her carefully. The Union mainvoice she used was clipped and much abbreviated, a dialect used mainly by the military. But she did not look like one of those meddlesome Union patrols sent here at regular intervals to look for rebels and then paid off by Tharron to overlook them.  Not for hire, that one. The gun she had flashed cost more than he earned in a month. Perhaps she was Union military, perhaps not. A woman traveling alone was well advised to be