Read Zero for Free Online

merchants, computer supply outlets, transport rental and cubby-hole installations that proclaimed they could service ID badges. Whatever that meant. There were also various stalls and stands selling food from all corners of the Orbit. The smell of spices, cooking oil and herbs warred with the smell of too many people and oxygen that had been recycled too many times.
    “Imbrium's a spacer block,” Webb said as the ducked and weaved amongst the crowd.
    “ You don't say,” Hugo mumbled, dodging around a harassed tech with trolley full of wiring.
    Webb chuckled. “Good thing for you to learn early, Captain. The Service may set the rules, but the spacers play the game.”
    “ And do you consider yourself Service or spacer?”
    Webb grinned again. “Like you have to ask.”
    They turned off the main walkway and into a narrower passage. Most of the booth space was boarded up. There was one large unit right at the end of the passage with its large double doors open. A sign above the doors read Sturm Hafen .
    “ It means -”
    “ I know what it means,” Hugo said.
    Webb shrugged. “Sorry, Captain. Didn't think the Academy had any need to teach anything other than English and Japanese.”
    “ How long is this going to take?” Hugo said as they got closer. “I have orders to report to Luscombe at Command.”
    “ Not long,” Webb said. “Besides, you said you were hungry.”
    As they drew closer he noticed a lifter pulled up at the entrance. It was loaded with chairs and tables broken into pieces and boxes full of shattered glass as well as a couple of smashed digiprint frames and other unidentifiable wreckage.
    “Shit,” Webb mumbled as he moved past it.
    H ugo frowned then blinked as they moved into the dim interior of the windowless bar. When his eyes got used to the gloom he could make out a wide open space, cluttered with battered tables and chairs. There were booths along one wall and a pool table in one corner. A real one too, not a simulator. The bar took up the length of the room on the right. The mix of bottles on the shelves behind it was unlike anything Hugo had never seen. There were spirits he'd never heard of and some of the labels he couldn’t even read. There were a few people in the booths with plates of food and jugs of drink, sitting alone or in groups of two or three, conversing in low voices or working on computers or the panels built into the table tops. No one looked up as they entered.
    As they moved further in Hugo saw that the far end of the room was lacking in furniture. There was a girl sweeping and the sound of tinkling glass and men were piling up the remains of another broken table. There were scorch marks on the floor and wall, and one of the men had a bandaged arm. A very large man with his back to them was overseeing the proceedings, muttering in German.
    “Jesus, Jaeger,” Webb said. “What the hell happened?”
    The large man turned round. He had very dark brows and hair and his frown was heavy. There was a cut with some livid bruising on his forehead and his lip was split. “Webb,” he said. “What the fuck do you want?”
    Webb shrug ged and took a seat at the bar. He still moved easily but Hugo was sure he could detect a certain tension across his commander's shoulders. “Just here to eat, man. If there's any of your kitchen left?”
    The big man sighed and rubbed his face. He barked something to the girl with the broom, who nodded, put the broom aside and scurried through some doors at the back. He then came round the other side of the bar. “Kitchens are open. What do you want?”
    “ Two of whatever. We ain't fussy.”
    The big man snorted, tapped some commands into a panel built into the bar. “That I know is true.”
    “ What happened?” Webb said, looking around.
    “ What do you think happened? Upstart kids thinking they're rebels.”
    “ Anyone hurt?”
    “ None of my lot. The snots won't be back in a hurry though,” Jaeger said as he poured three glasses