Cleon Moon by Lindsay Buroker Read Free Book Online Page A

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Chapter 4
    The weapons dealer wouldn’t deign to talk to them until they could show him hard currency, the breathing masks were ridiculously overpriced, and a spy box was following them, the cube matching their pace precisely as it hovered along, ten feet behind. So far, Alisa hated her shopping trip.
    The only good thing was that she’d had enough money to buy the masks, including an extra for Jelena. She hoped Beck was having luck convincing the chef’s people to give them a cargo, and also that he would get a portion of the fee upfront. Maybe then, the weapons dealer would talk with them, though that was more Leonidas’s quest than Alisa’s right now. She itched to get back to the ship, grab Abelardus, and head out to look for Jelena.
    “Is that a cyborg?” someone cried from an intersection ahead as Leonidas and Alisa were leaving the weapons shop.
    Leonidas slowed his step as two bearded young men who couldn’t have been more than twenty ran toward him. They carried rifles on their backs, but neither of them reached for their weapons. Oddly, they lifted their hands and waved as they trotted up, stuffed pockets and belt pouches clinking with each step.
    “I don’t think he’s real, Jimmy,” one man whispered to the other as they slowed in front of Leonidas and Alisa.
    “I bet he is. Look how big he is,” the other whispered back.
    Even though Alisa could not see Leonidas’s face inside of his helmet, she felt certain that his jaw had tightened in anticipation of a slight.
    “He’d be perfect ,” the first one said, then raised his voice. “Sir, are you a guide ?”
    “A what?” Leonidas asked.
    Alisa noticed the spy box stopping to hover in place, keeping its spot ten feet behind them. She almost nudged Leonidas to point it out, but remembered that he had a rear camera in his helmet. He would be well aware of it.
    “A monster-hunting guide,” the one called Jimmy said. “We’re looking to bag some dinos, get some reward money. We’d split it with our guide, of course.”
    “I’m not a—”
    Alisa touched Leonidas’s chest plate to interrupt him. “What kind of reward money?”
    “The boss pays five thousand a head. Ten thousand for the T-rexes. But hardly anyone is dumb enough to go out after them. Most that try don’t come back.”
    “Why are there bounties on the dinosaurs?” Alisa asked.
    “To get people to hunt them, of course.”
    “Of course,” she murmured.
    “Also, they eat the tourists.”
    “Is tourism an actual industry here?” Alisa couldn’t believe anyone would come to this dreary moon for a vacation. Anyone except Yumi. Maybe mycology tourism was big.
    “The boss is working on expanding the races and getting more people in who want to gamble. That’s what we’ve heard. We’ve only been here three days ourselves. But we’re dying to take down some dinos and prove ourselves.”
    “Well,” Alisa said softly, knowing Leonidas would hear, “if Beck can’t get us a cargo, we have a backup source of income.”
    He snorted.
    “What, are cyborgs too proud to hunt monsters for money?” she asked.
    “No, but imperial officers are.”
    “They sound snooty.”
    “They’re noble.”
    “Nobly snooty?” Alisa thought about swatting him on the butt, but didn’t know if he would find that playful or egregious when done in a public place. Or when done at all. Would he even feel it if someone touched his butt while he wore all that armor? He didn’t seem to feel bullets or blazer bolts.
    Leonidas ignored her last comment and told the men, “I am not a guide.”
    “Could you be convinced to come out with us, anyway? We’d be willing to go fifty-fifty with you.”
    “No.”
    “Can we give you our comm number in case you change your mind?” One touched the perky purple earstar looped over his helix.
    “No,” Leonidas said.
    The young men slunk off, their shoulders drooping.
    “I hate to tell you this, Leonidas,” Alisa said, “but you are snooty.”
    He