Robot Blues by Margaret Weis, Don Perrin Read Free Book Online Page A

that. They find it offensive. I’ve been there,
met his family. They’re a fun group. They all look alike. I mean exactly alike.
You can’t tell his mother from his father, his brothers from his sisters, his
relatives from the neighbors. They can tell each other apart, of course. I
think it has something to do with skin pigmentation but I’ve never figured it
out. They’re all tall and skinny, like he is, and they blend nicely into the
surroundings. Of course, you’d stand out like a red flag on an ice floe, but
then so would a member of the Hung or the bureau. Tycho’s a crack shot and a
good person to have on your side.”
    Darlene was
shaking her head. “You know as well as I do, Xris, that the Hung could recruit
someone from the ‘chameleons’ and then I’d be in worse danger simply because I
would be so highly visible.”
    “Well, Jamil would
probably be the best. He’s steady, reliable, quick-thinking, ex-military. His
only flaw is that he’s a bit of a womanizer, but with two wives on different
planets I think he’s got about as much as he can handle. He’d be ideal, but I
need him for this museum job. All that leaves is Raoul. He’s been pleading for
years to go back to Adonia to attend some weird hedonistic religious festival—”
    “Really?” Darlene
looked interested.
    Now it was Xris
who protested. “You can’t be serious!”
    “But I am. Think
about it, Xris. Carnival time on Adonia! What could be better? Crowds of people
of all types. Everyone who isn’t Adonian wears masks. I’d have Raoul with me—”
    “He’d be a big
help.” Xris grunted. “Especially if your mascara’s smeared.”
    Darlene made a
face at him. “Come off it, Xris. You think quite highly of Raoul. You wouldn’t
have him on the team otherwise.”
    “Yeah, but I don’t
know why,” Xris returned. “And that’s what bothers me. He’s a Loti—a habitual
drug user. I know it; he claims it himself, I’ve seen him higher than a jumpjet
in hyperspace, yet I’ve never personally seen him swallow so much as an
aspirin. When I assign him to a job, he spends more time worrying about what to
wear than he does on how to accomplish his mission—”
    “But he gets the
job done,” Darlene stated.
    “True,” Xris
admitted. “I have to give him credit, in all the years he’s worked for me, he’s
only failed us once, during that Olicien bug thing—”
    “And that was
under extenuating circumstances.” Darlene argued her case. “The Little One
would be with him. He could pick up on the thoughts of anyone trying to find
me.”
    Xris considered
the matter. “There would be a drawback to the crowds, you know that. An
assassin can lose himself among them as easily as you can.”
    “But he’s got to
find me first,” Darlene returned. “Honestly, Xris, I—”
    The phone buzzed.
It was switched to nonvid, as per instructions for all the team. Xris answered,
not saying a word, his usual technique. Team members were prepared for silence
on his end, knew how to respond to it. Anyone who shouted “Hello! Hello?” was
definitely a wrong number.
    “Jamil here. The
room’s clean.”
    “I’ll be down in a
sec.” Xris switched the phone off. He regarded Darlene thoughtfully. “Raoul,
huh?”
    She nodded,
smiled. “I haven’t had a vacation in years. This might be fun.”
    “All right. If
that’s what you want. I have to admit, it does make a certain kind of sense in
a nonsense kind of way. It’s sure as hell the last place anyone would figure
you going. Once Raoul and the Little One have made their report on Sakuta, I’ll
send them to you. You can leave tonight.”
    Xris walked to the
door, tripped over the computer case on his way. He shoved it with his foot,
kicked it under the desk.
    “Lock the door
after me,” he instructed. “Don’t answer the phone unless it buzzes three times,
then quits, then buzzes again. Don’t—”
    “For God’s sake,
Xris, I was in the bureau as long as you,” Darlene