Space Junque by L. K. Rigel Read Free Book Online Page A

regretted the loss of her sunglasses. The slider/projector would have been useful, at least to get a better look at what was creeping about out there. Not strong enough for planet watching though. The annex must have some device for that, unless forbidden by IHS. She'd find the agronomist's personal quarters later and see what he had on hand.
    Without city light patterns, it was impossible to know where they were. The great blazing grids that marked the metropolitan centers had simply disappeared. Civilization's organized light had been replaced by fire.
    What was going to happen to the world's knowledge? How many libraries and databases had been destroyed in the last day alone? When all this was over, there might be no one left alive who knew the meaning of the colors of stars.
    War and Rumors of War.   The phrase stuck in her head, but she couldn't place it.
    The Imperium, the one-world government, was supposed to have ended all war. With the corporations united behind one Emperor and the right to profit enshrined in universal law, there was no incentive to war. That was the argument.
    That was the bargain human beings made with the corporations. What choice did people have when every contractor was better armed than the countries they serviced?
    Of course "one-world government" turned out to be a joke and no guarantee of peace either. China refused to join, and enviros like the DOGs and religios like the TU had bigger bombs and slicker stunners than the Emperor.
    In the ceiling, the earth went black, not even any fires. They must be over an ocean.
    A guttural, animalistic sound came from the com board. Mike, stirring from sleep. His hair was matted down, a few errant spikes sticking out at sadly unstylish angles. Not yet fully awake, there was an innocent softness in his face.
    She didn't hate him, after all. Who was she to judge? Mike just wanted to survive, as she had in the eyeball screaming at him to launch the blanket.
    "I was trying to find the Emperor's shuttle." He yawned and stretched then started working the board, no doubt resuming the search for his precious Emperor.
    "They haven't answered your messages?"
    "I'm not sending, just listening." He ran his fingers through his hair, absently lifting the spikes. "I don't want to call attention to the annex."
    Char checked a monitor clock. She'd slept five hours. Apparently no one had attempted to dock in that time, but such luck wouldn't last. As Mike had said, people knew where the food was.
    And people were out there. She could see ships dead in orbit, to be sure. There were also ships with their lights on, moving in nonorbital trajectories through the space station's debris.
    Through the space junk.
    Jake.   Char touched her lips. There had been something in Jake's last kiss before he left to rescue Rani. Not a promise. An expectation. Char had thought then she would never see him again. Could he possibly still be alive? The V was full of high-ranking corporate and government types at play. The DOGs probably went after it too.
    But if Jake   was   alive, he would think she was not. For all he knew, she was on the Imperial station when it went down.
    "Hello?" A man's voice spilled out of the speaker. It sounded bizarre after so much silence. "Hello, hello? Can anybody hear me?" The signal was strong; it was the guy's voice that was shaky. "If anybody's out there, if you have contact with the Emperor, tell him it's safe at Corcovado."
    "Idiot!" Mike pounded his fist on the table.
    "Is that Geraldo?"
    "Why doesn't he just send out a homing link?" Mike leaned closer to the panel and pushed a button. "Geraldo, this is Governor Augustine."
    "Excellency! I can't tell you how --"
    "Shut up."
    Mike let the silence hang for unbearable seconds. Char would have felt sorry for Geraldo if she didn't despise him.
    "The DOGs are listening too. Get off the com and stay off, you fool."
    Mike broke the connection. "I'm sorry about that, Char. I had to risk it."
    "I