Skyblaze by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Read Free Book Online

my best welcome right
now,'' he said, biting into another biscuit like he was afraid it
might get away from him, following Granita with his eyes as she
straightened chairs and wiped tables down.
    ''Looked to be Bopst Eckman and High-Man
Prezman hanging at the Stadium door, it did, the pair both. Thought
I saw your Harley Irsay ahead of 'em, going in. Hasn't seen them
twonce since I dunno -- no I do, it'd be the Wicky and David
wedding day, same day as when I saw them together at Cholo's wake,
when they took the casket-bottle and thought no one saw 'em. Not my
best welcome, any of themselves, you know it.''
    The soup was hot and nourishing if not up to
the standards of a fine Liaden restaurant -- certainly there were
too many beans and tubers, and too much salt -- but with the butter
and the biscuits Vertu felt on the cusp of content, despite the
coming frosty trudge to her small apartment in the Hearstings.
Vertu concentrated on her food, trying to be inconspicuous -- she'd
never heard The Hooper open up quite so much, nor speak quite so
clearly.
    The door shook with the wind, and then
opened roughly -- not the wind, but a large man in a rustic black
coat nearly as long as her own, and wearing a hooded overcape so
covered in snow as to deaden the loud stripes to spots.
    He looked in and around, pushed the door
against the wind and noise and yelled ''Get in!''
    Two more snow-covered forms trailed behind,
and the last of them pulled the door to with a will, slapping at
the day-locks like a guard before stamping his feet and shaking the
snow away.
    It wasn't her imagination: the sound The
Hooper made was close to a sob, right then, overwhelmed instantly
by the loud and bitter, ''Get out!'' Granita the baker offered them
as she brandished her slops tray like a weapon.
    *
    The big man looked past Granita, right at
Vertu.
    ''You belong here, do you? Just eating? Or
you from the Patrol?''
    ''Get out,'' Granita repeated. ''Closin'
time; we're done.''
    The big man casually turned to her,
laughing.
    ''You got no right to run me out, girl. Just
shut up!''
    For a moment they stared at each, and then
the baker fled toward the rear of the place, leaving a pile of
dishes on the table.
    The other men were noisily looking about and
taking coats off, but there was no doubt that this one, hand to the
inside of his coat, was both wary and dangerous.
    Her voice caught in her throat for a long
moment.
    ''You talk at all? Speak up!''
    The words formed, finally, on her lips.
    ''I eat here. Often. I --''
    ''She got herself a mug, Harley, so she's a
regger. Pretty little regger, ain't she?''
    ''Quiet, gots to be sure. Patrol?''
    She shook her head, Terran-style.
    ''Not Patrol. I just eat here.''
    ''Don't know you, so you're new. Good.
Bidness is good all over they say, 'cept for the dead bosses who
ain't saying nothing. You work for a Boss?''
    She shook her head again, aghast at his
rudeness, unable to marshal a fitting response to it. The cut
direct, she suspected, would be lost on this person. And that left
only civil answers to his questions as defense.
    ''Looking for work,'' she said.
    The man turned his back on her, to look at
The Hooper, huddled in the corner.
    ''More than you do, old man,'' he said,
pointing at Vertu. ''Least she's looking for work. All you do is
make silly sounds and trouble for people. You know what I mean, old
man. More than once the news spread I did this or that and the only
one might know was you, can see right through them closed eyes of
yours when you're drunk, can't you? But we can work this out,
'cause there's a great storm here right now, and we'll all be here
for a good long time while this new patrol's out looking for
us.''
    Vertu had caught a movement out of the
corner of her eye and saw Granita, face pale and stern, standing
behind the counter with a strange looking weapon --
    ''Out, Harley! Get out!''
    He turned on her, his hand full of a gun of
his own.
    ''I staked you to this, girl, and we was
just about