Contractor by Andrew Ball Read Free Book Online Page A

is
    how it is used that matters. But." Xik went
    quiet. "The spell does not—cannot—
    discriminate between different forms of life.
    If you kill Vorid, you absorb them and grow
    stronger. If you kill humans, you absorb them
    and grow stronger." Xik met Daniel’s eyes
    with his red stare. "If you killed a powerful
    magician, or even another contractor that has
    absorbed many, many souls…you’d become
    that much stronger. Powerful enough,
    perhaps, that you couldn’t be challenged."
    Daniel swallowed. "I can see why it’s
    discouraged."
    "Indeed. But against the flood of the
    Vorid, we have little choice but to go to such
    extremes. If you had to choose between
    humanity’s complete erasure or the use of a
    nuclear weapon on your own soil, which
    would you pick?"
    Daniel gave a single nod. "Live today.
    Do your best to clean up the mess later."
    "Exactly."
    "So by signing this thing, I’d become an
    illegal alien within the magical community."
    "An admirable continuation of our
    political metaphor," Xik said, "but I’ll be honest with you. You wouldn’t be looked
    upon nearly as favorably as an illegal alien.
    Most would consider the contract a curse,
    and you a pariah. If you were discovered,
    they would take immediate action to stamp
    you out." Xik indicated the papers with a
    long finger. "The details are there in full.
    Study them at your leisure."
    "My leisure. I wish." Daniel looked at
    him. "How much time does my brother
    have?"
    "The extractors come at 2am, your local
    time, to remove prepared souls once a
    month. Based on previous observations of
    Aplington, that’s three days from now."
    "What’s an extractor?"
    "Spawn prepare souls," Xik said.
    "Extractors collect the spawn, absorb the
    souls, then release the spawn to repeat their
    task. Spawn and extractors are both
    automated, in a sense. Above them are
    overseers, who regulate extractor activity."
    "Sounds pretty organized."
    "A well-oiled war machine. In fact, this
    is all almost completely automated. They
    aren’t even paying real attention to you yet."
    Xik exhaled. "Perhaps now you’re beginning
    to appreciate the threat?"
    "Can’t you do something about the
    extractor?"
    "The strength to fight, channeled across
    an interdimensional pipeline, would
    consume too much energy."
    "Is that a no?"
    "Correct."
    "…then it’s up to me."
    "Yes."
    Daniel’s lips thinned. "No other
    contractors around here?"
    "I’m afraid not."
    "No one within three days travel?
    Incredible."
    Xik gave him sharp look of disapproval.
    "For someone so adamantly apathetic, you’re
    asking quite a lot from people who are
    consumed with their own lives, their own
    battles, and busy keeping their heads down."
    "Apathetic?" Daniel said. "Where the
    hell was this bit about being a cursed life-
    sucking magician last night? You kept quiet
    because you figured to save the juicy stuff
    until after I was locked in." Xik’s averted
    gaze confirmed Daniel’s words for him. "I
    don’t want to be anyone’s savior. I just want
    some stability for me and my brother. I guess
    an average life was too much to ask from the
    universe. Wanting to live without being
    bothered is just too much ambition."
    "If you had agreed last night, I would
    have given you more details before
    bestowing it in full, so please calm
    yourself." Daniel sat back in his chair with a
    skeptical look on his face. Xik was quiet for
    a long time. "Perhaps it is unfair to thrust this burden on you," the alien said. He lowered
    his big frog eyes. "But wouldn’t you rather
    know? Wouldn’t you rather be the one
    fighting than the one going about without a
    care in the world?"
    "No. War is young men dying and old
    men talking."
    "Who said that?"
    "I forget. But they were right."
    "…maybe so." Xik said. "But are you
    really stubborn enough to let your brother
    die?"
    Daniel slapped the contract. "Can this
    be altered if I find any of its conditions or
    stipulations lacking?"
    "…well, I -"
    "Yes, or