The Dark Side of the Sun

The Dark Side of the Sun Read Free

Book: The Dark Side of the Sun Read Free
Author: Terry Pratchett
Tags: sf_fantasy
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edge, then turned again as the phnobe hurried after him. He held the little rat-creature, which had spent most of the journey asleep round his neck.
    'Tomorrow, maybe, there will be great ceremoniess?'
    Dom sighed. 'Yes, I'm afraid there will.'
    'And giftss, maybe? That iss the procedure?'
    'Yes. But Grandmother says that most will be from those who seek favours. Anyway, they'll be returned.'
    'I sseek no favours, nor will you return thiss small gift,' said the phnobe, holding out the struggling creature. 'Take him. You know what he iss?'
    'A swamp ig,' nodded Dom. 'He's one of the bearers on our planetary crest, along with the blue flamingo. But the zoo says there's only about three hundred on the planet, I can't...'
    'This little one has dogged my footsteps these last four months. He'll come with you. I feel he will desert me soon anyway.'
    The ig jumped from the phnobe's arm and settled around Dom's neck, where it replaced its tail in its mouth and began to snore. Dom smiled, and the smuggler answered with a brief mucus grimace.
    'I call him my luck,' said the phnobe. 'It's an indulgence, maybe.' He glanced up at Widdershins's one bloated moon, rising in the south.
    'Tonight will be a good night for hunting,' he said, and in two strides had disappeared into the thickening mists.
    Dom opened his mouth to speak, then stood silent for a moment.
    He turned and dived into the warm evening sea.
     
    The heavy hull of a security flyer rocked in the swell beside his own craft. A figure appeared on the flat deck as he hauled himself aboard. Dom found himself looking first at the crosswires of a molecule Stripper and then at the embarrassed face of a young security man.
    'Chel! I'm sorry, sir, I didn't realize...'
    'You've found me. Good for you,' said Dom coldly. 'Now I'm going home.'
    'I've got orders, er, to take you back,' said the guard. Dom ignored him and stepped aboard his own craft. The guard swallowed, glanced at the stripper and then at Dom, and hurried into the control bubble. By the time he had reached the radio, Dom's flyer was a hundred metres away, bouncing lightly from wavetop to wavetop before gliding up and over the sea.
     
    Extract from
2001 and All That: an Anecdotal History of Space-Travelling Man,
by Charles Sub-Lunar (Fghs-Hrs
    
    
    & Calligna, Terra Novae)
    'Mention should be made of Widdershins and of the Sabalos family, since the two are practically synonymous. Widdershins, a mild world consisting largely of water and very little else, is one of the two planets of CY Aquirii. Its climate is pleasant though damp, its food a monotonous variation on the theme of fish, its people intelligent, hardy and - due to the high-ultraviolet content of the sunlight - universally black and bald.
    'The planet was settled in the Year of the Questing Monkey (A.S. 675) by a small party of earth-humans and a smaller colony of phnobes and there, perhaps, pan-Human relations are better than on any other world.
    'John Sabalos - the first of his dynasty - built himself a house by the Wiggly River, looking over the sea towards Great Creaking Marsh. His only skill was luck. He discovered in the giant floating bivalves that dwelt in the deep waters a metre-wide pearl made up largely of crude pilac, which turned out to be one of the growing number of death-immunity drugs. But pilac was found to be without many of the unfortunate draw-backs of many of the other twenty-six. It became the foundation of the family fortunes. John I extended his house, planted an orchard of cherry trees, became the first Chairman when Widdershins adopted Rule by Board of Directors, and died aged 301.
    'His son, John, is considered a wastrel. One example of his wastefulness suffices: he bought a shipload of rare fruits from Third Eye. Most were rotten on arrival. One mould was a strange green slime. By an unlikely combination of circumstances it was found to have curious regenerative properties. Within a year, just when dagon fishing was becoming almost

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