Project Starfighter by Stephen J Sweeney Read Free Book Online Page A

front door. “We can’t stay here
any longer. More bounty hunters could come up here at any minute,
looking for you.”
    He once again considered the body of
the dead woman on the floor. Short, black hair, rather like Sid’s.
Her frame and general body shape were also more like that of a man,
than a woman. Because she was face down, Chris hoped that anyone
stepping inside the flat would initially assume it was Sid. But then
again, Chris himself hadn’t. It would slow someone down for a few
minutes at most.
    “Maybe we could put some of my
clothes on her?” Sid suggested, thinking along the same lines as
Chris.
    “No time,” Chris said. “Someone
would probably come up here while we were in the middle of doing it.
Right, you ready?” he asked.
    Sid nodded.
    “Good. We need to hole up
somewhere for a few hours, wait for the drones to thin, and then get
to the starport.”
    “Where exactly are we going?”
Sid asked.
    “Getting off-planet and heading
over to Hail. That’s where most of the others have retreated to,”
Chris said, starting out Sid’s flat. His foot was still killing
him. He would need to get that seen to, as well. That would probably
cost him six months’ earnings in treatment costs. A good job he was
thrifty and had plenty of money to spare.
    “We’ll need a change of clothes,
as well as some sort of disguise,” Chris told Sid. “The drones
will scan and recognise you in moments, otherwise. We’ll need to
get rid of your gun, too. We don’t want to be caught with a weapon
in public.”
    “And they might still be looking
for you, too,” Sid pointed out.
    A thought struck Chris. “Do you
know if that woman lived alone?” he asked, indicating the body.
    “As far as I know she did,” Sid
replied.
    “And she worked in security? She
might have the solution to our problem. Grab her pass card and show
me where she lives.”

    ~

    The
two made their way down to the dead woman’s flat, using her pass
card to gain entry. Sid was quick to locate the intruder alarm and
disable it. A good job the woman hadn’t opted for any sort of
biometric identity systems Chris thought. He began ransacking her
bedroom, finding what he was looking for in just a few minutes.
    “Fake IDs,” he said, holding
them up for Sid to see.
    “Some of these are men,” Sid
said, sifting through them.
    “I suspected they might be,”
Chris said. He made his way over to a wardrobe, opening it and
starting to rifle through the contents. He had originally thought
that the woman might keep much of her career-related paraphernalia
behind fake walls, under the floor and in other concealed places.
Most of it turned out to be easily accessible, a couple of her guns
actually hanging on a wall for all to see. She clearly didn’t have
guests over all that often.
    He leafed through the clothes that
were hanging up, dumping on the bed anything that might fit him or
Sid. He spotted a box at the bottom of the wardrobe, and, bending
down to open it, extracted the one-piece outfit that was neatly
folded within. Chris’ eyes grew wide as he lifted it, and, turning
to Sid, saw the man just as stunned as he.
    “Is this ...?” Chris began.
    “Yes,” Sid confirmed. “It’s
a Chameleon Suit. One size fits all, by the looks of it; one of the
newer ones.”
    Chris ran his hand over the suit,
feeling the silky smooth, elastic texture. “Lucky she didn’t wear
this when she came to visit you,” he remarked.
    “I wonder why not?” Sid mused,
taking it from Chris. A short examination revealed the activation
switch on one of the cuffs. He pressed it. Nothing happened. He tried
again, holding it down this time. The suit remained opaque, not
reflecting its environment and creating the illusion of transparency
as expected.
    “Maybe you have to be wearing it?”
Chris offered.
    “No, it’s broken,” Sid said.
“That’s why she didn’t bother to put it on.” He looked at the
clothes on the bed. “Put it aside; there will be