Odd Girl Out by Timothy Zahn Read Free Book Online Page A

be rescued.
    Chapter Four
    Sure enough, forty minutes later when our Quadrail pulled into the station, Tweedledee, Tweedledum, and the Pirk were all waiting on our platform.
    Though at very different positions along that platform. Bayta and I were at the head of the line, where the first-class compartment car would be stopping. The two Humans were farther back in the group waiting for the second-class cars. The Pirk, in contrast, was all the way at the far end of the line, poised for the last of the third-class cars, the one just in front of the baggage cars.
    The incoming Terra Station passengers got off the train, we all got aboard, and a few minutes later we were on our way.
    The trip proved surprisingly uneventful. Neither the Tweedles nor the Pirk would have been allowed in first-class territory, of course, not with second- and third-class tickets. But if any or all of them were walkers their colonies would be part of the train’s overall Modhran mind segment, and there ought to be at least one walker basking in the luxury of first-class. I half expected to be accosted somewhere along the line by some genteel ultra-rich traveler, probably as Bayta and I were walking back to the dining car.
    But there was nothing. A few of the other passengers deigned to glance up as we passed by, but most of them ignored us completely.
    Still, that didn’t mean the Modhri wasn’t aboard, or that he hadn’t spotted and identified us. He could easily be playing it coy, waiting to see where we were going before making any moves. Under that scenario, we would probably find a crowd getting off with us at Yandro Station.
    This time, I was right. Not only did the two Tweedles join us on the platform, but so did four of our fellow first-class passengers: three Juriani and a Bellido. Yandro was hardly the kind of place to attract that kind of attention, which strongly suggested that all four of the latter had been heading elsewhere when the local Modhran mind segment had changed their plans for them. Idly, I wondered what kind of pretzel logic his unsuspecting hosts would use to rationalize this one.
    To my mild surprise, the non-aromatic Pirk didn’t join us.
    Bayta and I had two hours before we could catch the train heading back again toward New Tigris. With only eight of us getting off, it would have been highly suspicious if she and I had opted to wait at the station while the other six boarded the shuttle and headed across to the transfer station. It might even have induced the Modhri to take charge of his hosts long enough to find out what game I was playing this time.
    Fortunately, I had something a little more subtle in mind. Trying to keep an eye on all six of the others as we trooped across to the shuttle hatchway, I ran the numbers and timings through my mind. It should be just about right.
    “You must be joking,” I said, leveling one of my best Westali glares at the hapless Customs official on the other side of the counter. “You lost my lockbox ?”
    “I’m sure it’s not actually lost ,” he assured me, trying to sound calm and confident as he punched keys on his terminal. It wasn’t a very convincing act. “It could have gotten mixed in with the crates from the last cargo train—”
    “I don’t want excuses,” I cut him off. My act, unlike his, was superb, if I did say so myself. “I want my lockbox. I’m not leaving here without it.”
    “I understand, Mr. Compton,” he assured me, still poking at his keys. “Fortunately, the torchferry for Yandro won’t be arriving until tomorrow That should be more than enough time to get this sorted out.”
    “Really?” I countered. “What if it’s still aboard the Quadrail? What if it’s even now heading for Kerfsis or Jurskala or who the hell knows where? You still going to get it to me by tomorrow?”
    “Sir, as far as I know the Spiders have never lost a piece of luggage,” he said, his confident tone beginning to fray at the edges.
    “That’s not much