Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future by Mike Resnick Read Free Book Online

wouldn’t be bothered by a little
thing like that.”
    “You figured wrong.”
    “You really won’t take me?”
    “I really won’t take you.”
    “My death will be on your hands,”
said Terwilliger.
    “Why?” asked Cain “ I didn’t pass bad notes to any-one.”
    Terwilliger scrutinized him for a
moment, then forced himself to smile. “You’re kidding, aren’t you? You just
want to see me squirm a little first.”
    “I’m not kidding.”
    “You are !”
the little gambler half shouted. “You can’t send me out to face ManMountain
Bates! He breaks people’s backs like they were toothpicks!”
    “You know,” remarked Cain with
some amusement, “you seemed like a totally different man when I met you in the
bar.”
    “I didn’t have an eight-foot-tall
disaster coming after me with blood in his eye when we were in the bar!”
snapped Terwilliger.
    “Are you all through yelling now?”
asked Cain calmly.
    “I arranged for you to meet with
Stern,” said Terwilliger desperately. “That ought to be worth some thing.”
    Cain reached into a pocket,
withdrew a small silver coin, and flipped it across the room to Terwilliger.
“Thanks,” he said.
    “Damn it, Songbird! What kind of
man are you?”
    “An unsympathetic one. Do you plan
on leaving any time soon, or am I going to have to throw you out?”
    Terwilliger emitted a sigh of
defeat, gathered up the cards from the bed, and trudged to the door.
    “Thanks a lot,” he said
sarcastically.
    “Any time,” replied Cain, stepping
aside to let him pass out into the corridor.
    The door slid shut again.
    Cain stood absolutely still for a
moment, then opened it.
    “Hey, Terwilliger!” he yelled at
the gambler’s retreating figure.
    “Yes?”
    “What do you know about a man
named Duncan Black?”
    “The guy with the eyepatch?” said
Terwilliger, turning and taking a tentative step in Cain’s direction.
    “That’s the one.”
    “I used to play cards with him.
What do you want to know?”
    “Where am I likely to find him?”
asked Cain.
    Suddenly Terwilliger grinned
broadly. “I do believe I just booked passage out of here,” he said.
    “You know where he is?”
    “That I do.”
    “Where?”
    “I’ll tell you after we’ve taken
off.”
    Cain nodded his agreement. “I’m
leaving as soon as I have dinner. Get your gear together and meet me at the
spaceport in two hours.”
    Terwilliger pulled out his deck of
cards.
    “I’ve got all the luggage I need
right here,” he said happily. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go
down and find a little game of chance to while away the lonely minutes before
we leave.”
    With that, he
turned on his heel and went off in search of the three or four newcomers to
Port étrange who would still accept his marker.
     

3.
     
    Halfpenny
Terwilliger, the boldest gambler yet;
    Halfpenny
Terwilliger will cover any bet;
    Halfpenny
Terwilliger, a rowdy martinet;
    Halfpenny Terwilliger is now one soul in debt.
     
    “Gin.”
    “Damn!” said Terwilliger, slapping
his hand down on the table. “You caught me with nineteen.” He pushed the cards
over to Cain. “Your deal.”
    “I’ve had enough for a while.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “I’ve played more cards during the
past five days than in the twenty years preceding them,” said Cain. “Let’s
knock off for a few hours.”
    “Just trying to keep you amused,”
said Terwilliger, shuffling the deck and putting it back in the pocket of his
brightly colored tunic. “Where do we stand?”
    “You owe me a little over
twenty-two hundred credits.”
    “I don’t suppose you’d take a
marker?” asked Terwilliger.
    Cain smiled. “Not very likely.”
    “Mind if I mix up another pot of
that coffee we broke open this afternoon?” asked the gambler, heading off for
the galley. “Just as well you don’t bring ‘em back alive,” he muttered as he
searched for the coffee in the cramped confines of the galley. “This ship sure
as hell