The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy Read Free

sure, but neat and clean, the furniture modern and functional.
    “Only one bedroom. Is this for both of us?”
    “You were listed as a married couple.”
    “Estranged. I don’t want to share with him. Is there anywhere else?”
    “Well… you could bunk in with some of the other girls in a dorm…?”
    She shook her head. Not a chance. “He can bunk in with somebody.”
    “We don’t have much spare space. Maybe I can put him in the ptorix quarters.” He muttered the words, almost to himself.
    Ptorix quarters? That sounded interesting. “You have ptorix quarters?”
    He rubbed his hand over his lips. “Well… there’s what used to be the ptorix mine manager’s quarters in the mine itself.” His lips curled in distaste. “Not ideal, but we fitted it out for humans so we could use it while the real accommodation was built.”
    That sounded good. She could live in a ptorix apartment, especially if it had some human furniture. “I’d like to see that, please.”
    Van Tongeren drove back the way they’d come, passed the landing platform and pulled over next to a shiny new human door in a towering rock wall. Allysha eyed a remnant of lichen-encrusted carving and swirling, dancing symbols on the door surrounds, leftovers of a ptorix past. He pressed a switch and the door slid away soundlessly to reveal a well-lit tunnel, clearly newly worked. A tingle of disquiet disturbed
    her thoughts as she followed him into the mine. A ptorix tunnel would have been decorated but the rock was bare, not even weathered. Van Tongeren turned left into a side passage. Thirty meters along he ran up a flight of flowing steps on the right until once again they stood at the pointed arch of a ptorix doorway with a very human door carved into its center.
    He opened the door for her. “We had to whitewash the walls. Those complicated patterns they use are so hard on the eyes. We fitted it out with proper furniture and a bed and such but none of our people wanted to live here after we’d built the settlement. Understandable, really.”
    Allysha gazed around at arched doorways and curved walls and ceilings. Typically ptorix, but fitted out for humans. The living room contained a dining table and four chairs, a sofa, a couple of comfortable looking chairs and a Holovid setup. She glimpsed a large bed and a wardrobe in the second room.
    Here and there the original decoration on the walls was just visible through the whitewash, ornate and organic. Oh, the vandalism, the wanton, mindless destruction. But then again, she could see the patterns the way the ptorix did and humans would just see a complex, shifting, disconcerting mess. Or so she’d been told.
    An archway inside the bedroom led to a washroom containing a large bathing pool and a ptorix-style toilet—usable by a human if you knew how. The bathing pool was empty. These people probably didn’t know how to find the faucets let alone operate them. If she stayed here, she’d have privacy, be close to work and away from Sean. They’d all think she was crazy but that was okay.
    “They must have filled the bath with buckets,” van Tongeren said behind her. “We have proper ablutions blocks quite nearby so we didn’t refit—it would have been an enormous job.”
    “I’ll stay here,” she said.
    His expression hardly changed but she’d caught the glint that said he thought she was insane.
    “If you’re sure.” He lifted his shoulders in the briefest of shrugs. “I’ll have your luggage delivered.
    There’s a canteen here of course. I’ll show you that and the control room where you’ll be working. Is there anything else you’ll need?”
    “Just access to your IS from here. A data point is fine. And you’ll need to give me administrator rights to all your systems.”
    He nodded. “I’ll have it arranged.” After a moment’s hesitation he added, “I can’t do that for the ptorix systems.”
    She grinned. “No, I guess not. I’ll manage that myself.” She could