The Battle for the Ringed Planet by Richard Edmond Johnson Read Free Book Online

buttons on the screens, and then held it out to her. “Ok, hold out your hand, have you seen these before?”
    “There were some in the village, but they don’t work anymore,” when he placed the small black square device in her palm it hummed slightly.
    “It’s scanning your DNA. I flashed it to clear Chang’s signature.”
    “It’s mine?”
    “For now. Ok, it is ready. Wave your hand over it and the menu will pop up. Yeah, like that.”
    A small column of text appeared over the square device, and with his finger, Torian selected a few items and showed her the basics. He was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she learned and after only a few moments, he had a second pair of electronic eyes.
    “Yeah, like that; now link to my pistol…” he showed her a how to manipulate the holo screen with her fingers, “Good.” They both observed a bald eagle flying high above them so Torian tracked it with his Con and showed Siiri a few tricks.
    As they walked side by side along the old expressway, they alternated back and forth between studying the city landscape with their eyes, and scanning with their Cons. A breeze began to pick up, cooling the hot afternoon sun and rustling the ivy and clover that popped up between the cracks on the expressway. Playfully, Siiri picked a few mauve and white ivy flowers from the road and stuck them in her hair above her ear.
    Crouching by a gap in the protective wall of the road, Torian watched his Con holo while Siiri ducked beside him to observe multiple images on her own device. “Dogs or a wolf pack,” the lanky off-worlder reported; then he caught sight of the flowers in her long filthy blonde hair, “You’re such a girl.”
    “Of course I’m a girl,” with a playful laugh, “and very happy to be alive! You should be, too, you’re the only Sky Demon I have ever known to survive the city.” Then she scanned herself with the Con to display her image, and adjusted the flowers. “Don’t girls put flowers in their hair on your world?”
    “Aye, takes me back to a flower festival and a pretty girl I once knew, so long ago.”
    “Oh…” Siiri almost burst into a lighthearted grin, but his grave expression wiped it away. Reassuringly she added, “…we’re down wind of them, they won’t pick up our scent.”
    “You were a hunter?”
    “Yes. My father took me and my brother on many hunting trips.”
    The young man shrugged. “We have to get off this high road soon,” glancing warily up at the sky.
    “What is it?”
    “Nothing, hopefully nothing at all; come on flower girl,” silently he worried about enemy fighters.
    They walked a little more cautiously and wordlessly after that, until she could no longer hold back her curiosity. “So what great war are the Sky Demons fighting this time?”
    “It seems there’s always a war. This one has been going off and on for about 5 years.”
    “Why do they fight?”
    “Any excuse I suppose. There is a big organization of all the colonized worlds called the Confederation of Planets, with the headquarters on earth. But some of the colonies don’t want to be part of the Confederation anymore, so they rebelled.”
    “But then why did you come here; why Selunia?”
    “I don’t know. I just follow orders, even if they’re stupid.”
    “Do you like following orders?”
    “It doesn’t matter, you just do them. I’d rather go home,” striding across the freeway to the side facing west; he studied a few buildings across the empty plains. Confirming what he already knew, he asked, “That’s the Space Port?”
    “Yes.”
    Pulling out a pair of small black binoculars he examined the buildings more closely and what appeared to be parked space vessels. “Wow, those are antiques; there is a space museum somewhere lacking exhibits.”
    “What are you looking for? Can you fly those sky ships?”
    “Aye. I wasn’t considering that, but those pads look strong enough to support a battle cruiser.”
    “Enemy sky