A Dark and Hungry God Arises Read Free Page A

disaster of mega-proportions on their hands. 'It's what you might call a surgical strike. ' Holt licked his lips. 'Extirpate a melanoma before it spreads.
    'So he's taking this particular risk with my blessing.
    But I'm still worried about it. I think Ward is getting himself in trouble. '
    Norna's words were no more than a low growl against the blurred mutter of the screens, but for some reason Holt heard them as clearly as if her voice were the only sound in the room.
    'I think he's getting you in trouble. '
    Holt chuckled automatically. 'Come now, Mother.
    Don't be an alarmist. You'll get yourself all excited for nothing. This is Warden Dios we're talking about. I made him - he's my right hand. He can't use the san without doing it to benefit me. '
    He might have gone on; but his blather trailed away as he saw Norna pointing a gnarled and tremulous finger at one of the screens.
    At first he couldn't tell which one. A romance? No, one of the news broadcasts. Somewhere in the midst of the intolerable babble a male face with an authoritative voice and no mind was saying, '- this special bulletin. '
    Special bulletin? What special bulletin? Nothing happened — nothing was allowed to happen - in human space unless Holt Fasner knew about it first.
    'A highly placed source in the office of the UMCP
    director of Protocol on UMCPHQ Station has confirmed that Angus Thermopyle has escaped. '
    Without warning, a tingle ran down Holt's nearly strong spine and tightened around his scrotum.
    'Captain Thermopyle, ' said the male head as if he were anything more than a ventriloquist's dummy, 'is an illegal captured and convicted approximately six months ago on Com-Mine Station, and later transferred to UMCPHQ
    by the orders of Hashi Lebwohl, director of Data Acquisition. No explanation has ever been released for Data Acquisition's interest in Captain Thermopyle. However, as this news team reported at the time, he is no ordinary illegal. The circumstances of his arrest and conviction are widely held to be the precipitating factor in the recent passage of the so-called Preempt Act by the Governing Council for Earth and Space. Apparently Captain Thermopyle was assisted in his piracies by a traitor within Com-Mine Station Security. Doubts about the integrity of station Security across human space persuaded the members of the GCES of the necessity of the Preempt Act.
    'That Captain Thermopyle was able to escape from UMCPHQ itself is sufficiently disturbing. However, our source in the office of the UMCP director of Protocol has confirmed that the situation is worse than it appears.
    'The difficulties revolve around a man who was at one time the deputy chief of Com-Mine Station Security, Milos Taverner. '
    Oh, shit, thought Holt. Anxiety spread from his groin up into his chest. His lungs hurt as if they were getting old.
    Like all dummies, the male head in the news broadcast was implacable. 'Because he was responsible for the interrogation of Captain Thermopyle on Com-Mine Station, Deputy Chief Taverner was brought to UMCPHQ along with Captain Thermopyle, again on orders from the director of Data Acquisition. Ostensibly Deputy Chief Taverner was reqqed by Data Acquisition to continue his interrogation of Captain Thermopyle. He was considered to have a unique and invaluable knowledge of the prisoner.
    'Now, however, our source has confirmed that Deputy Chief Taverner was brought to UMCPHQ, not because of his specialized knowledge, but because he was thought to be the traitor who had betrayed Com-Mine Station Security. He was brought to UMCPHQ so that Data Acquisition might learn the truth about him — and so that the threat he represents would be neutralized.
    'For reasons which are not clear at this time, Deputy Chief Taverner was not adequately guarded. Now, it appears, he has succeeded at breaking his former partner, Captain Thermopyle, out of confinement. Together they have stolen a ship and escaped UMCPHQ.
    The implications of this apparent