The Dragon Never Sleeps Read Free Page A

he remember me?"
    "He asks about you sometimes."
    "Ask if he will see me. Tell him I'm ready to collect."
    "If we survive the night." A timorous creature, she was shaking.
    "We will survive this night and many more," Turtle promised. "We will outlive the Concord.
I
must. I have much to do before I go."

— 5 —
    ... whine dying. An exclamatory
ping!
    Jo Klass drew a frigid breath of medicine and machine, opened her eyes. She felt eager, curious, a touch of trepidation. What would it be? Warming was like wakening to a day guaranteed to be exciting.
    How long had she slept?
    Not that it mattered. Nothing changed.
    As always there was a moth flutter of panic as the air grew hot and humid. The cell walls pressed in. Its lid opaqued with moisture. She scrawled an obscenity in the condensation.
    The lid opened. Beyond lay the familiar white overhead of the warming room. How many times had she wakened thus, staring up at that sky of pipe and cable? Too often to recall.
    Air swirled in, chilled her.
    What was it? Another
Enherrenraat
? Fear stroked her. She had died that time. It haunted her, though the bud had detoured her around it.
    Sometimes she thought she dreamed about dying while she was in the cell, but she remembered no dreams once she wakened.
    A face drifted into view. "Off and on, soldier." No relief at finding her alive instead of a shriveled blue-black mummy. No expression at all. Just on to the next cell and next check.
    Jo bounced out as filled with vitality as anyone in perfect health could be. Her squad tumbled out of neighboring cells, as naked as she. Shaigon eyed her, thoughts obvious. "Watch it, soldier."
    "I am, Sarge. I am." He lifted one shaggy eyebrow.
    "Later. Maybe. If you're a good boy." She counted ears and divided by two. All present. "Let's move." Their cells had returned to stowage. The team followed her, mouthing the usual gibes and wisecracks. Clary and Squat grabbed hands. A sleep in the ice had not changed their relationship. Eyes roved old comrades, seeking remembered scars. Unmarked skin could say a lot about last time out.
    They dressed in loose black shipboards and retrieved personals. Clad and inspected, Jo led them toward the briefing center. News of the day drifted back from earlier squads.
    "Hanaver Strate is WarAvocat now."
    "Wasn't he Chief of Staff? What year is it?"
    "Year forty-three of the Deified Kole Marmigus. Strate got elected Dictat, too."
    "One of the
living?
I thought the first requirement was you had to be Deified."
    Colorless laughter.
    Marmigus Deified? It
had
been a long time. He'd just become OpsAvocat last time they were out. "Must have been slow times."
    "Bet it's a routine cleanup, Sarge. Ain't nobody in a hurry."
    "Ship is Red One, Hake."
    "Ain't breaking out nobody but infantry. Somebody dropped a condiment tray."
    Jo paused at the theater hatchway. "Can it, troops."
    They entered a space where thirty thousand could be seated. They nodded to soldiers they knew, found seats, stared at their officers, waited. Above the stage, in large but unpretentious letters, was the motto, "I Am A Soldier." It was posted over every exit from WarCrew country. It emblazoned a patch worn by WarCrew, encircling a numeral VII superimposed upon a caricature of the tutelary, a naked woman running that did not seem warlike to Jo.
    How about a wide, muscular thug like her, short, ratty hair and a bloody ax in hand? Be more like the truth.
    People did not shy away when Jo Klass walked past, but she could not be convinced that she was not unattractive.
     
    The lander grounded. Jo trudged out into P. Jaksonica 3's reddish daylight. Hake had it right. They were cleaning up a spill. A krekelen shapechanger, for Tawn's sake!
    She glared at Cholot Varagona. It looked like every outport city on every House-dominated world in Canon. The houses were so damned conservative they would not stray from one standard prefab design. If you wanted something different, you had to hunt up a non-House