Lady Lure Read Free Page A

metallic voice that Halvo had heard while on the
bridge.
    “I am Halvo.” He stepped toward the
passageway.
    “If you would care to join us aboard the Space Dragon,” said the voice, “we would be pleased to
welcome you.”
    “It was my understanding that you intended to
board us. Why the change in plans?” Intrigued, Halvo was about to
take another step when he was prevented by the warning of the alert
leader of the security team.
    “Sir, let me go first. They haven’t shown
themselves yet. We don’t know who is in there. You are too valuable
to risk your life in an encounter with a pirate.”
    “You are mistaken, my friend,” Halvo said.
“My life has no value at all these days, not to the Jurisdiction
Fleet, nor to myself. Not the way I am now. You, on the other hand,
are young and healthy, with a long future ahead of you. I will go
first.”
    “Sir, it is my duty—”
    “Stay here. That is an order.”
    Halvo could almost see the protest forming on
the young man’s lips, and he noted the instant when the obedience
trained into all security personnel took over. The man stepped
back, leaving Halvo’s way clear.
    “Aye, sir. Please be careful, sir.”
    There was a metal ridge running all around
the far edge of the passageway; it held the flexible material
tightly in place against a docked ship, thus sealing the passage
against the vacuum of outer space. As he stepped onto the Space
Dragon, Halvo nearly tripped over the ridge. He caught himself
and straightened to an upright position again. A shaft of pain
surged along his left leg and up his spine. As a result, he entered
the cockpit of the little ship with his mouth compressed into a
tight line and his mood altered from interested curiosity to
distinct irritation. It did not help matters when he saw what
awaited him in the cockpit.
    “I did not come here to speak to an ALF,”
Halvo muttered. Preparing to turn around and leave, he unwisely
shifted his weight to his left leg. Once more he was assaulted by
pain, and the dizziness came upon him, making his surroundings
appear to spin. Closing his eyes, he paused to grit his teeth and
gather his strength before making the effort to lift his foot over
that cursed ridge a second time as he got out of the pirate
ship.
    “I am but an emissary,” the robot sitting at
the controls said. “Nor am I, precisely speaking, an Artificial
Life Form.”
    Halvo opened his eyes again to discover the
robot looking at him, if looking was the right word, through two
pale blue lights set into its spherical head of gray metal at the
approximate place where eyes ought to be in a human head.
    Mercifully, the cockpit and the passageway
just outside it had stopped whirling. Reluctant to cause any
further disturbance to his inner ear and his sense of balance,
Halvo did not move.
    The robot continued to stare at him, its blue
lights blinking, until Halvo felt compelled to respond to the
remarks it had made.
    “It is my understanding that robots always
speak precisely.” Halvo growled the words out of his own malaise
and frustration with his physical inadequacies. “Therefore, I
expect you to explain to me at once precisely why this minuscule
ship should attempt to bar the Krontar’s way. Then you can
tell me what you want with me.”
    There was another life form aboard the ship.
Halvo was aware of a movement off to one side of the cockpit, but
he did not dare turn his head to check on it lest the dizziness
return and disable him completely. Instead, he continued to stare
at the robot until a figure glided into full view.
    “Greetings, Admiral.” From its appearance,
this life form was humanoid. Whether it was actually a human being
was difficult to tell at the moment, because the form was encased
in a silvery suit of the kind used when performing extravehicular
repairs in outer space and the head was covered by an oval-shaped
helmet equipped with a gleaming black faceplate. There was no way
for Halvo to discern who – or what