Margaret Weis & Don Perrin - Mag Force 7 - Robot Blues

VIP免费

2024-12-23 0 0 1.22MB 633 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

Book Two In The Mag Force 7 Series

CHAPTER

The means by which enlightened rulers and

sagacious generals moved and conquered

others, that their achievements surpassed the

masses, was advance knowledge.

Sun-tzu, The Art of War

The man followed the woman into the motel lobby. She

never glanced at him, never noticed him. No reason

she should. He was an unprepossessing type of man, the

type whom witnesses are likely to vaguely describe as

being of "ordinary build," "average height," with "no

distinguishing features." He kept his eyes on her.

The woman was attractive, or rather she might have

been if she had taken more care with her hair, her

makeup, and her clothes. Her hair was shoulder-length,

brown, lacked shape and body. Her clothes--a medium-

length skirt and mannish coat--suited her trim, perhaps

too thin figure, and that was about all that could be said

for them. She had a preoccupied, studious air about her

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

that was disconcerting, as if part of her were really some-

where else. She carried a shabby overnight bag that ap-

peared to have been hastily packed, for the tail end of

a blouse fluttered out from the side.

Slung over her shoulder were a small, worn purse and

the strap of a computer case. The case was made of

high-quality leather, appeared to have been packed

neatly and with care, with no odd bulges, no loose straps

or unbuckled buckles. She kept her hand possessively on

the computer case; the purse was forced to trail along

bellind. Obvious where she placed her priorities.

The man entered the lobby almost on the woman's

heels. No need to keep his distance. The hotel was

attached to the busy Megapolis spaceport and the lobby

was crowded with people, either wanting rooms or

checking out.

The lobby was circular, with a gigantic vidscreen al-

most two stories high that loomed over guests, while a

smiling personage with excellent teeth welcomed them

to the Megapolis Spaceport Hotel, inviting guests to reg-

ister at one of the automatic registration machines to be

found conveniently in the lobby.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

A long line of restless people had gathered at the au-

tomatic motel registration, which machines may have

been convenient but were, unfortunately, not working

properly. There were three registration machines. One

was out of order. An alien with credit problems was

tying up number two, arguing loudly with the machine.

The third machine was functioning, but at sublight

speed. When a real live motel employee made the mis-

take of showing up, he was immediately mobbed and

disappeared precipitously.

The woman took her place at the end of the line for

the sublight registration.

The man took his place in the line behind the alien

arguing with the machine, ensuring that he would proba-

bly be able to remain in the same place for as long as

necessary. The woman would move along more rapidly,

but that was all right. The man didn't need much time.

He just needed proximity and a clear shot.

The woman shifted the computer case to a more com-

fortable position, yawned, blinked her eyes, rubbed

them, and yawned again. She looked groggy, exhausted.

Those jump-flights were killers. When you finally get to

sleep, a steward wakes you up to tell you the ship is

going into hyperspace and would you please make cer-

tain your webbing is fastened, don't eat or drink any-

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

thing for the next hour, and try to relax and ignore the

fact that your insides feel like they're now on the

outside.

The man knew what flight the woman had taken. He

counted on the fact that she wouldn't be operating at

one hundred percent efficiency. Odds were that she

would not have noticed him anyway, but he didn't rely

on odds, never took chances.

She arrived at the front of the line and did precisely

what the man had been expecting her to do. She placed

the overnight bag on the floor at her feet, shoved the

computer case to the back, brought her purse to the

front. She reached inside her purse to retrieve her plas-

tic. Sliding the card into the machine, she leaned forward

to let the machine scan her eyeball, and said "Darlene

Mohini" in a sleepy voice. She repeated her name when

the machine announced tersely that it hadn't under-

stood her.

"Darlene Mohini," she said again, irritably.

The machine asked Ms. Mohini if she had

reservations.

"Yes." She yawned again. "One night."

The machine found this agreeable, indicated that it

would have a room key for her momentarily.

Dull-eyed and drowsy, she waited.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

The man reached into his suit coat pocket, drew out

a small derringer that fit neatly into the palm of his

hand. He held his suit coat folded over his right arm.

Under cover of the coat, he raised the gun, aimed, and

fired.

A tiny projectile whispered through the air, embedded

itself in the flat base of the woman's leather computer

case. The projectile was small, about the size of a needle.

The man's aim had been true. The projectile slid neatly

into a seam in the leather, disappeared.

The registration machine handed over a plastic chit.

The woman took the key, started to leave. A person

standing behind her stopped her, indicated that she'd

forgotten her overnight bag. Smiling in a weary, preoccu-

pied manner, the woman reached down, picked it up,

and trudged off in the direction of the airlifts.

The man, task complete, stepped out of line with the

muttered comment that this was going to take all day

and he didn't have the time. He walked through the

motel lobby, beneath the blaring vid sign that was now

regaling the guests with the wonders to be found on

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Megapolis. The man paused at the news counter to buy

a news/entertainment chip for the flight back. Seating

himself, he slipped the chip into his pocket viewer, set-

tled down to watch.

Another man, walking past, stopped, asked him if that

was today's news chip.

"Yes, this is today's."

"How'd the Megapolis Bombers do? I think they're

overrated this year."

"See for yourself." The man held up the screen, then

said in a low voice, "Clean hit. The transmitter is in her

computer case. You should be receiving the signal now."

The other man nodded. Sitting down beside the first,

he leaned over to look at his neighbor's viewer. This

second man was middle-aged, graying, developing a

paunch. He was dressed in a rumpled, ill-fitting, and in-

expensive suit.

"What's the assignment?"

"Simple. Eavesdrop on her conversations. Record

them. That will let HQ know for certain she's the one

we want. Keep an eye out especially for this person."

The first man inserted another chip into his viewer. The

picture of a cyborg appeared on-screen.

The cyborg was of indeterminate age, bald, with acid

burns on his head. His eyes were deep, penetrating. His

left side was mechanical: cybernetic arm and leg, with--

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

according to the description which was scrolling beneath

the picture--a detachable hand that could be replaced

by anything from a small missile launcher to delicate

instruments. The leg was reported to have a special hid-

den compartment where weapons were stored, but that

information could not be confirmed. The cyborg was also

said to have augmented hearing and a specially designed

left eyeball with infrared vision.

"Jeez!" said the second man, impressed. "He looks

scary. Is he? Or is that all for show?"

"It's for real. So's he. Former field operative for the

Feds. He's independent now, pulling down big bucks.

His name is Xris. He's the leader of a mercenary team

called Mag Force 7. HQ has information that Mohini's

now a member of the team. If she's the mark, she'll

hook up with the cyborg. If not, we drop it, start over."

"He won't look like that, will he? I mean, don't most

cyborgs hide beneath fleshfoam and plastiskin and all

that?"

"Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. Depends

on the job. But you shouldn't have any trouble recogniz-

ing him. Watch." The static vid shot on-screen changed

to an action shot of the cyborg walking down a street.

"Notice the peculiar gait," said the first man, hitting

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

the replay button. "He walks lopsided, as if the physical

half of him is at war with the mechanical." "Weird, huh?"

"There are other people on the team," the first man

continued. "Mohini might make contact with any of

them. You'll find them all on here." The first man re-

moved the chip, handed it to the second.

"Uh-huh. A lot of bother, if you ask me, but then

who is asking me, huh?" the second said glumly. "Why

didn't you just kill her when you had the chance? You

could have, I suppose?"

"Oh, yes." the man said flatly, without emotion. "But

my orders are specific. We need to make certain she's

who we think she is."

"And since when are the bosses squeamish about tak-

ing out the wrong person?"

The first man shrugged. "It's not that they worry

about taking out the wrong person so much as they want

to make damn sure we take out the right person. Get

it?"

"Not really, but then I'm not being paid to get it, am

I, huh? You're leaving town, I hear."

"Yes, it's my son's birthday party tomorrow and I

promised him I'd be home in time."

"Really? How old is little James, Jr., now? Must be

about four, huh?"

"Seven," the first man said proudly. "Already in third

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

form. And captain of his school soccer team."

"Seven! Already? Time flies, hull? Last time I saw

him he was a rug rat. Well, say hi to the wife and eat a

piece of birthday cake for me."

"Sure thing. Oh, and remember, transmit all info to

HQ and then sit tight. Shadow only. Wait for orders."

"Right. I know. They were very specific about that."

The man shook his head again. "All a lot of trouble for

nothing, if you ask me. Be seein' you. Have a good one."

"You, too."

The two parted. The first man hurried off to catch his

spaceplane, the second bought a news/entertainment

chip. He plunked himself down in a chair in the motel

lobby, took out a small vid machine, slid the chip inside,

put the earphones on, and appeared to prepare himself

resignedly to be informed and/or entertained.

In reality, he was listening to the clear, distinct sounds

of Darlene Mohini, inside her hotel room, kicking off

her shoes.

CHAPTER 2

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

There are five types of spies to be employed: local

spy, internal spy, turned spy, dead spy, and the

living spy.

Sun-tzu, The Art of War

Jt was automatic for Xris to check for a tail every time

he went anywhere, automatic to glance at the rearview

cam display when he pulled away from the curb, auto-

matic to glance at it a second and third time as he pro-

pelled the rental vehic through the congested city streets.

Automatic, he didn't even think about it, he wasn't par-

ticularly expecting it, and so it took his brain a few extra

seconds to latch on to the fact that--by God--he had

company.

The gray two-door. Thinking back, he recalled having

seen it ease out into the street about a half kilometer

behind him when he'd left the hotel. It was now accom-

panying him along the boulevard, keeping the same dis-

tance, both of them heading into the city.

"Maybe you and I just happen to be going the same

direction," Xris said to the gray two-door, eyeing it on

the display screen. "Let's find out."

The boulevard was a spacious four-lane principal road.

divided by a wide expanse of green lawn, dignified trees,

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

BookTwoInTheMagForce7Series CHAPTER 1 Themeansbywhichenlightenedrulersandsagaciousgeneralsmovedandconqueredothers,thattheirachievementssurpassedthemasses,wasadvanceknowledge. Sun-tzu,TheArtofWar Themanfollowedthewomanintothemotellobby.Sheneverglancedathim,nevernoticedhim.Noreasonsheshould.Hewa...

展开>> 收起<<

Margaret Weis & Don Perrin - Mag Force 7 - Robot Blues.pdf

共633页,预览127页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

Margaret Weis & Don Perrin - Mag Force 7 - Robot Blues

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: