Endurance by Richard Chizmar Read Free Book Online Page A

patients, and tried to hold on to my composure.
    An hour later, the last guard reported that no escapee had been found. Medical had been completely trashed, and the staff were having hysterics as quietly as they could. The female OverSeer came after me again.
    I was busy rewrapping a torn dressing, so I didn’t rub it in
too
much. “Does this mean I live?”
    The cold metal rim of her rifle pressed against my throat. I took that to mean she wanted me to shut up. I shut up.
    “TssVar values your traitorous hide,” the OverSeer said. The tip of her tongue flickered so close that I could feel tiny droplets of her saliva land on my cheeks and nose. I wasn’t even going to think about the smell of herbreath. “But for the OverLord I would have your entrails adorning my talons. I am OverSeer FurreVa. Say it, Terran.”
    “Your name is OverSeer FurreVa.” I had a feeling it didn’t mean “good-natured.”
    “I am taking three of these useless females.” She gestured toward the mass of frightened nurses. “They will tell me where the others are.”
    She might have the rifle, but I was responsible for those useless females. “Assuming they know anything, which I doubt, just how are you going to get them to tell you?” I finished the dressing and straightened. “By relying on your personal charisma?”
    FurreVa’s jaw dropped, maybe in surprise, which showed me every single one of her jagged teeth. There was a noticeable gap in her upper and lower palate. Most of what was left badly needed a good cleansing. Not that I was going to suggest it. Ever.
    “The OverLord has given me leave to interrogate them.”
    Bet her idea of questioning prisoners involved inflicting serious, prolonged physical damage. “Will you allow me to speak with them first? Perhaps I can get the information from them. That way, you won’t have to waste your obviously valuable time.”
    She stared at me for a long time. I didn’t know if she was deciding if I was serious, joking, or needed salt before serving.
    “Very well.” At last the rifle swung away from my throat. “One minute, Terran.”
    I wasted no time, but went straight to the nurses. They stared at me with the usual mixture of fear and disgust. Dchêm-os emerged from somewhere and jabbed a finger into my chest.
    “This, you told them to do!” she said, flinging an arm out and stamping her lower paws. “Mess, just look at this!”
    I produced a chipper smile and removed my headgear. “Shut up, Zel.” I scanned the faces of the other nurses. They were almost, but not quite, as scared as I was. “That big female with the attractive features over there says five prisoners are missing. She thinks one of you knows where they are. Want to guess how she’s going to determine that?” The group made a collective gasp. “Exactly. Someone talk to me. Right now.”
    A few of the nurses exchanged glances. One finally spoke. “We’d heard about them. No one knows what happened.”
    Dchêm-os assumed an instant, innocent expression, while her tail thumped with agitation against the deck.
    Another nurse cast a disgusted scowl at the Hsktskts. “The horrible beasts probably caught them in the corridors and ate them.”
    “Would you like to be the dessert course?” I didn’t wait for an answer, but turned to the first nurse who’d spoken. “How do you know they escaped?” She didn’t answer me. “Let me guess. Your people have already planned how to escape the Hsktskt, and these five took the first shot at it.”
    The nurse’s eyes rounded. Another let out a small whimper of distress.
    I stifled a groan. “Wonderful.”
    OverSeer FurreVa decided my time was up. A snakelike limb curled around my waist and hauled me back out of the group. She released me so abruptly that my legs slipped out from under me and I landed on my backside.
    “Enough of this.” Her troops surrounded the group, and the Hsktskt pointed to three of the nurses—one of whom had made the unpleasant joke.