Angel Stations by Gary Gibson Read Free Book Online

here. I move we adjourn this meeting until the Station Commander can actually be present.’
    The Sergeant stared at Pierce like he wanted to rip his head off. Then he looked at Kim. ‘Miss Amoto, I’m not convinced you’re fit to pilot anything right now.’ Kim’s head was pounding, like needles were being worked into the backs of her eyeballs. ‘I’m impounding your ship pending the payment of a fine for endangering the lives of the people on board this Station.’ The Sergeant stared at her for a moment, then spun on his heel and left, an awkward expression on his face.
    ‘Here, knock these back, do you a world of good.’ Kim took the pills and swallowed them dry. Pierce tried to give her a glass of water but she waved it away.
    ‘Really, I’m fine. You shouldn’t concern yourself.’
    ‘I thought you were going to pass out all over again back there. You should have seen the look on that Sergeant’s face. He thinks everybody here is crazy, you know.’
    ‘We are all crazy. Why the hell else would anybody be out here?’
    ‘What?’ he said, his cheeks dimpling. ‘And turn down the chance to investigate the only extant civilization apart from humanity in the known universe?’ Kim rolled her eyes at him.
    Pierce had been good enough to get this accommodation sorted out for her while the Goblin was moved to another dock, where it would be impounded until she could either appeal the fine or pay up. The room was a tiny cube whose facing walls were maybe only a couple of metres apart, but for all that it felt like luxurious roominess after the time she’d spent in the Goblin. She sat on the edge of the room’s tiny fold-down bunk, rubbing at her temples with the tips of her fingers. The Station’s Mayor sat cross-legged on the floor in front of her.
    ‘Listen, Pierce – I need to do some things. I need to get some things sorted out.’
    ‘Sure, I know. Try not to worry too much just yet about the review of your licence. To put it bluntly, a lot of these people aren’t too worried if any prospectors get themselves killed out in the middle of nowhere. Apart from the fact you screwed up in front of their noses, the only reason they’re kicking up a fuss is that nothing ever really happens out here – aside from the usual observations of life down on Kasper.’
    Kasper, thought Kim: the planet and the system had been named by a Polish member of the first exploratory team to come through this particular Angel Station. He’d named it after one of the Three Wise Men, and the name apparently meant treasurer. She supposed he’d meant to suggest this planet was full of valuable things. It was the kind of hint that made you wonder if he’d come up with the name before or after they got around to investigating the Citadel.
    ‘Yeah, well, that asshole Sergeant seemed to think something was waiting to pounce,’ Kim said, glancing down at Pierce. Her headache seemed to be abating. ‘But listen, if they tell me I can’t do prospecting here any more, I’ll just – I don’t know – go somewhere else, you know? It’s a big universe.’ Bill? Bill would be around somewhere; the Station wasn’t that big. Once she found him, she could . . . get things sorted.
    ‘Kim. Cards on the table, you have Observer bio-ware, don’t you?’
    She looked at him warily. ‘Sure, yeah,’ she said after a moment. ‘Yes, I do. You already know that. What about it?’
    Pierce shook his head. ‘Take it easy. I’m not asking in any official capacity. The bioware – official or off-record?’
    Kim surprised herself with her honesty, or perhaps she had been too long out amongst the asteroids of the Kaspian System with no one to talk to. ‘Off-record,’ she said.
    ‘No problems?’
    She squinted at him. ‘No, no problems. Why?’
    ‘I know a little about how you came to the Kasper Angel Station – and I know Bill. I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but your behaviour can sometimes be a little—’
    ‘It’s