Starhammer by Christopher Rowley Read Free Book Online Page A

famous cheekbones, speaking passionately about the latest refinancing crisis for gigahabitat Nostramedes. A lot of loans were riding on refinancing, but the wealthy watermoons of William, Ingrid, Shala, and Hideo were balking at the size of their contributions.
    He gulped down the instacaf and went in for a shower. The laowon weren't about to disappear, so Nocanicus was in a box and the shipbuilding gigahabitats were doomed.
    When he came back he felt much better. The news had shifted to the crime beat. Extra detective Coptor Brine was fielding questions at last night's emergency press conference. Jon listened with half a mind.
    "...suspect was identified as Mood Oh Arnei, or Arnei Oh. Believe me when I tell you this one was one of the worst cases we've ever pursued. The leader of the Kali Dragons, with twenty-three killings to his name prior to this latest outrage."
    A newswoman bored in. "There have been charges made about this case, Extra Detective Brine. What do you say to the accusation of, and I quote, 'Gross incompetence on the part of the security forces who could easily have prevented this slaughter'?"
    "I guess I would agree. I should add we warned the university as much as three years ago that their security on Wintergame Day had gotten pretty slack. I think you'll have to take it up with them."
    "There are also charges against your operative in this case, Extra Detective."
    Coptor's big flat face grew hard. "Yes, I've seen those and I would like to state publicly right now that I think they're malicious, unsubstantiated, and stupid. We have precisely seventeen sensing operatives. We can't cover every potential outrage site. Our man on this case performed a near miracle as it was, getting the perpetrator and keeping the loss of life to half a dozen. I think he deserves a medal, not these mean-spirited accusations!"
    "Thank you, Coptor!" Jon said as he snapped off the set. He pulled on some clothes and let himself out carefully. Jon was living, temporarily as always, on a very mode-ish ramp. Very pastel, very audio-video-holo; ambisexual singles' parties every weekend. Jon felt like a sore thumb in his grays and blacks, and worked extra hard at keeping his profile very low. He was looking forward to moving on soon. The Mass Murder Squad encouraged its operatives to move constantly. The Kill Kults were well organized, determined, and prepared to do almost anything. Personal security was precious and precarious. In Jon's nine years, five senser operatives had been blown away in their own homes.
    Once off the ramp, he headed into the park. The trees and open spaces were lit with the first sunlight of the day, mirrored, filtered, and given an ancient terrestrial tinge by the engineers.
    Pretty good crowds were out already. On the paths to the Hyades Monument a cloud of joggers passed him. Two women were flying a kite in the shape of a gigantic female figure, and a small cult group in white robes was burning incense and prostrating itself in worship ceremonies. Dawn brought out a certain kind of crowd. Evening had another. Human variety was infinite on Hyperion Grandee.
    He reached the Hyades Monument with its twenty-seven planetary models, each a meter across, with tiny clouds swirling over their miniature oceans. If you stood by the monument long enough, it was said, you would see virtually every form of human weirdness, except the horrors on laowon worlds. You'd see laowons though, plenty of them, especially in late afternoon when the light was closest to that of Laogolden.
    Past the monument he turned through a dark grove of terrestrial pine trees. He liked this stretch of the walk the best, and he often jogged down here, too. The smell of the pines was similar to that of the woods around Castle Firgize beside Lake Sweetcrystal in that other life, which some days seemed almost a dream to him now.
    He emerged from the pines near the exit to Octagon Five. The ramps there were crowded with morning office workers. Iehard