Prophet Margin by Simon Spurrier Read Free Book Online

his rotating eyes and balancing on the ridges of his brows.
    "To pay your way," Stix explained.
    Micky the Trout died. Stix walked away.
    Outside the gallery window the earth rolled ever onwards and didn't give a flying fig for one more dead mutie.
     
    Officer Harvey rocked on his chair, plucking a vinyl retrodisc from a shelf above his head. In the gloomy confines of the Doghouse control room, he occupied a circular clearance zone amongst a morass of sandwich crumbs and pizza-boxes. Johnny and the Kid had unearthed themselves a pair of seats, well used to Harvey's slobbish ways. The man squinted at the disc's label, face screwing up.
    "It's a public broadcast for the Science Channel," he announced. "'Professor Koszov' - that's your geek, right? - 'examining the dangers of unregulated mutation.'"
    He looked up at Johnny with a grin. "Watched it earlier... Turns into a right old cock-up. Bomb goes off in the audience - blam , just like that. Great teevee"
    Johnny's eyebrows rucked up. "Koszov's dead?"
    "Nah, he survived - I checked the records. But he's gone. Walked right out of hospital and vanished."
    "Anything else?" Kid Knee chimed-in, attempting to be useful.
    Harvey shrugged. "There's all the usual stuff on the 'net - biography, family history, genetic-validity pass, credit accounts, yadda yadda."
    "What about Grinn?" Johnny said. "No hint Koszov might be involved with him?"
    "Ha! You wish." Harvey scratched himself absently. "Got a file wide as your arm on all the stuff Grinn's done, scams he's pulled, people he's exxed. You know how much info we got on the man himself?"
    "Enlighten me."
    "Half a lousy page. We got his surname, we got his dates in the Macrojail, we got his religion-"
    "Religion?" Johnny frowned. "Doesn't sound like Grinn."
    Harvey shrugged. "Usual story. All that time on the inside, nothing to do but think, blah-de-blah. Warden's report said the snecker 'found God'. Model prisoner after that."
    Johnny grunted. "Right up until he fragged half the prison." He tapped the screen. "Let's see the vid, Harvey."
    A slow grin spread across the controller's face.
    "Well now... That's what you might call... dependent."
    "On what?"
    "On how much it means to you." Harvey rubbed his thumb and forefinger together: the universal sign of the Greedy Bastard.
    "Don't sneck around," Johnny growled. "It's been broadcast, right? We can get our own copy." He half stood, prearing to leave. He hadn't often entered the Doghouse's Control Room and its flickering lights were making him feel like a prisoner in some insane disco.
    "Public domain. Heh, heh, heh..." The officer shook his head. "Listen, this recording's classified material. Withheld from broadcast as police evidence. Good thing too, for you lot..."
    Johnny sat again. "Meaning?"
    "Meaning your incredible Vanishing-Professor had a lot of clout with the great unwashed. So up he stands to denounce mutants as a menace-" Harvey relished the word, "-and blam, some snecker blows up his stage show. You show that on tee-vee and you got anti-mutant riots on your hands, right there."
    "So you think it's a civil rights thing?"
    "What else?"
    "How big was the explosion?"
    Harvey grunted, waving the retrodisc expressively. "Big enough. Killed half the audience. No snecking way the cops're gonna let that out on BBQ1."
    "So how did you get your hands on it?"
    Harvey smirked and buffed the badge on his chest. "Carries a lot of weight, working for the GCC." 4
    4. Galactic Crime Commission. (Or "Gimpishly Costumed Clowns", depending on which side of the legality-border one operated).
    Johnny rolled his eyes. "You bribed someone?"
    "Yep. Three hundred creds, that little beauty cost. So cough up, mutie."
    "The message was clear, Harvey..."
    "That's right. You said you wanted as much info on this 'Koszov' scientist geek as I could find. 'We're in a real rush, Harv.' We'll be arriving at the Doghouse tomorrow. Have it ready.'" He grinned, brandishing the retrodisc. "So here it is. Now wedge