Mutiny on Outstation Zori Read Free Page A

whistled silently in relief. "I'm Clamber." He fished out his Eldeit card. "Here to see Turner Werch."
    "Did you just get in?"
    "Uh, yeah." He passed the card through a slot in the cubicle's front surface. The neo set it on a depression in the console before her and scanned the response.
    "First time in Hy-Newn?"
    "First time on Hyperion."
    "Oh, yes, Mr. Clamber!" she beamed staring at her screen. "It says here that you're to go right up. T.W. is expecting you."
    "Swell. Is there somewhere I could stow my gear?"
    A deep voice from behind Jamie said, "I'll take it, sir."
    Without thinking, Clamber said, "Thanks," and turned to face the business end of a hand-held ident-reader pointed directly at his face.
    "After I've read your pulse and eye grams for security."
    The black, evil-looking device went breep and its handler, an extremely neat and—symmetrical?—man of about forty carefully folded and slipped it into a belt pouch. Then he bent to lift the freighter's luggage.
    "Here," Jamie said, "let me help you with those."
    "No need, sir." The security man stood upright, hefting the bags as if they were full of inert gases. "I'll put them in your quarters."
    "My quarters?"
    "Certainly," the man nodded, leading the way to a bank of vators. "All arrangements have been made. We like to make our operatives comfortable while they're with us."
    "Operative? I'm afraid you're mistaken. I'm just—"
    "No need to explain, sir," the security man smiled. "I won't tell another soul."
    The man seemed to like to elevate the importance of his station by pretending he knew more than he actually did. Any other supposition left Jamie with an uncomfortable feeling he was walking into a trap.
    The vator door opened at the men's approach and then closed behind them. The machine moved upward without an action or word from either passenger.
    "Things run pretty smoothly here...for a company named PANIC Inc."
    "It's an advertising ploy," replied Jamie's companion. "The panic is supposed to indicate the client's state of mind, not ours."
    "I see."
    "You'd be surprised how many corporations get themselves into trouble and need our services."
    The vator stopped and the two men stepped into a richly-carpeted passage.
    "I'll get you settled in," the security man said, without letting go of the luggage. "Room twelve. You need to go down to the big double doors at the other end of the hall. Just go right in. T.W. is—"
    "—expecting me, I know."
    "Actually, sir, you're a bit late. Tell him you got held up in traffic. Damned carnival, you know."
    "Good idea. Thanks."
    "My pleasure."
    * * *
    A dark-haired man with a high forehead looked up from the two piles of plastext he'd been comparing at his desk when Jamie entered. "Who the hell are you?"
    Jamie noted the man's penetrating eyes; they caught and held him like a fist. "I'm Jamie Clamber. You wanted to see me?"
    "I did?" the man asked, not of Jamie, but of a tall slim woman who leaned forward in her chair, glancing at the freighter.
    "He's Horescin's lead on Cast Janssen," she said in a cultured voice. "The circuit-jockey from FZ5."
    "Oh yes." The man rose to greet Jamie, warmly. "I'm Turner Werch. Glad to make your acquaintance, Clamber."
    "How do you do?"
    Werch was a couple of inches shorter and at least twenty years older than Jamie.
    "I'm sorry for the confusion." The businessman gestured toward his cluttered desk. "We're extremely active today. The carnival has left us short-handed while increasing the demand for our services."
    Jamie's first impression of Werch was not good; the man seemed as if his mind were on other, more important, matters than meeting a circuit-jockey who'd traveled all the way from FZ5. Maybe he just took some getting used to, or maybe all corporate execs acted a little distracted. Jamie wouldn't know. "What services do you supply?"
    Werch avoided the question by saying, "This is my technical associate, Bright Law."
    The woman got up from her chair and presented a cool hand.