The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy Read Free Page B

positions here; short term contracts, good money, so I thought it would be
    worthwhile.” A huge grin threatened to split her face. “And of course, with all these men here… I ignored the stories and gave it a go. It’s been great.”
    Allysha sipped the citrose, cold and tangy and perfect after her walk from the mine. “Stories? What sort of stories?”
    “Well, see, Tisyphor is part of Chollarc’s history.” Trina looked around her, and leaned forward, almost conspiratorially. “This place is really old. The toe rags used to mine jewels here and then take them back to Chollarc for processing. But thirty years ago, something happened and they closed it all down. It was empty until about five months ago, when they set up this new settlement and said they were going to
    reopen the mine.”
    “What was it that happened?”
    “My dad said they found something in the mine and it killed everybody,” Trina whispered, round eyed.
    “Some strange jewel that glowed and radiated everyone.”
    The man on the stool snorted. “Strange jewel my arse. There’s this other story that the karteks broke down the fences and killed ‘em all. Just fantasy. The mine ran out, is all.” He stood, wiped his mouth on his sleeve and walked out.
     
    Allysha kept her face straight.
    Trina sniffed. “What would he know?” She flounced around the bar and went to collect empty glasses
    from the tables.
    Sure, there were radioactive minerals like uranium but strange jewels? The most likely explanation for why the place was deserted was the boring one—the mine was no longer viable. And yet. A tremor of
    disquiet trailed down her spine. Silly. Why should she care? She’d be here for a few weeks and then
    she’d go home.
    “Hello, darlin’, c’n I buy you a drink?” The fellow leaned on the bar beside her, stinking of sweat and beer, still in his grubby working clothes. He tried to put an arm around her.
    She jerked away. “Thanks, no.”
    He leaned closer, his breath bad enough to knock out a bull. “C’mon. I just got paid. I’d like to share, know what I mean?” He leered at her breasts, raised a hand.
    She jumped back, skin crawling. “Don’t touch me.”
    He frowned, puzzled, and took another step toward her.
    “Sorry, pal, she’s with me.”
    The miner’s lips bared in a snarl. “Yeah?”
    “Yeah. She’s here to meet me. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”
    Allysha turned to the speaker, a man about her age, with dark hair and crinkly blue eyes wearing clean, dark pants and a blue shirt. She gave him a smile and tried to settle the hammering of her heart. “Hi. I was a bit early.”
    The miner clenched his fists but one of his friends grasped his shoulder and pulled him away, not without a final, surly glare.
    “Thanks,” Allysha said, her legs trembling. She wouldn’t be coming back here in a hurry.
    “Are you new?” asked her savior.
    She swallowed. “Just arrived.”
    “Welcome to Tisyphor. My name’s Jarrad Korns.” He held out his hand and Allysha shook it, a nice,
    firm handshake between equals.
    “Hi. Allysha Marten. Pleased to meet you. Very pleased.”
    “Why don’t we go outside? It’s very loud in here.”
    She followed him out to a table on the paving and sank onto a bench opposite him. He hesitated, sizing her up. “You’re not a barmaid?” The question hung in the air between them.
     
    “No. I’m a technical expert here to do a quick job on the computer systems.” He was nice looking, with an attractive smile and beautiful long, dark eyelashes.
    He nodded. “Most of the women here are tarts although they call them barmaids. They earn most of
    their money lying on their backs.”
    “I’ll remember that.” His hands were clean, long-fingered. “You don’t look like a miner.”
    “I’m not. I’m a biologist. I work in the medical labs here, looking into some of the local fauna.”
    Medical labs? It seemed strange but what did she know? “I’m sure that’s