A Taste Of Despair (The Humal Sequence) by Robert Taylor Read Free Book Online

aspect. After each re-telling of the story, they usually asked him questions. Mostly they were questions concerning his story, but there was also the occasional question concerning the Morebaeus that was anything but relevant, to his mind.
    How much of the cargo had been disturbed? Was one of them. At first, Hamilton had assumed they were wondering if the cargo was salvageable, or worth anything.
    But then came. Was there anything unusual on board?
    He answered as best he could. There were only one or two of these questions per session, but they were never repeated, unlike earlier, relevant questions. It became clear to him that there was something about the Morebaeus ’ cargo that they were interested in. Some part of it, or something hidden within the cargo itself. He was able to answer those questions easily, since he had no notion what they were going on about. But it puzzled him, since it almost seemed like they were more interested in the cargo, than in his ridiculous story.
    He waited patiently for a good ten minutes whilst they held their discussions. Finally, the chairman leaned forward and, deactivating the privacy field, addressed Hamilton.
    “Well, Mr. Hamilton. Thank you again for your continued cooperation with this investigation. I’m sure you can appreciate that we wish to get the facts completely straight before we render a judgment on this situation.”
    Hamilton nodded. He’d heard this line before.
    “On the other hand, we can see no further purpose in holding you in medical isolation. You are therefore released into the open quarantine section of this station. Some of your fellow crewmembers have already been released. The rest will follow in due course. I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave the quarantine section until our investigation is concluded, but at least you’ll have some company. Once again, thank you for your assistance.”
    And, just like that, it was over. A guard escorted him back to the holding cell he’d been occupying for the last three weeks. More of a medical isolation chamber than a cell or a room. He gathered the few possessions they’d allowed him to keep – mostly his clothes – and then he was taken to the quarantine section. He passed many other doors to chambers like the one he’d just vacated. All shut and sealed. He wondered how many of their expedition were still languishing behind those doors and how many had been released.
    When the doors to the quarantine section opened to admit he half expected to see Klane or Jones waiting for him. But there was no one. Evidently nobody had called ahead to let them know he was coming. He felt slightly put out by that. Instead, there was just a corridor leading away.
    The quarantine, or Q, section was built up against the outside of Tantalus Station’s hull. Along the corridor he’d just entered, a series of large steelglass windows allowed the observer to look out beyond the station’s skin. Hamilton saw that the Q-section was in the upper part of the station. Below, many levels away, he could see the central berthing ring and its attendant ship hangars and docking arms. In fact, from here he could make out the Morebaeus . The freighter was at the very end of a docking arm, no doubt quarantined itself and off-limits to all but the forensics teams that were undoubtedly scouring it for evidence. From this distance, Hamilton saw that it seemed quite small, especially compared to the vastness of the station. But a quick look at the other vessels docked nearby showed the optical illusion for what it was. No other ship within his angle of view came near to the freighter’s bulk. One of the seemingly tiny vessels right next to it was almost certainly the Ulysses . Rames’ ship. It would have easily fitted inside just one of the bulk freighter’s cargo modules.
    Sighing, Hamilton turned away from the windows and continued down the corridor. It was a measure of how enormous Tantalus Station was that, despite the corridor being