The Five Gold Bands by Jack Vance Read Free Book Online Page A

Agency?”
    The doctor whined, “The antidotes! Hurry, man, or we’ll be dead!”
    “Come here,” growled Paddy. He grabbed the woman, felt for scars that might be left by an amputated skin-flap. “No, you’re no Shaul. And sure you’re no Eagle, no Badau. You’re not white enough for a Koton—not to mention the eyes—and you’re not yellow enough for a Loristanese. Of course,” he grumbled, “there’s a little profit in wondering about your race—you might be selling out to any of them.”
    The woman said, “I work for Earth Agency. It’s your last chance. Give me the antidote—or I’ll die and you’ll die and the Langtry worlds will lord it over the universe for the rest of time. There’ll never come another chance like this, Paddy Blackthorn.”
    “ Quick! ” cried the doctor. “ Quick! I can feel the—”
    Paddy contemptuously tossed them the antidotes. “Go on then. Save your miserable lives, and let me be.” He turned on his heel, strode off across the powdery dust.
    The woman’s voice came to his back. “Wait a minute, Paddy Blackthorn. Don’t you want to leave Spade-Ace?”
    Paddy said no word, paced on, blind with rage.
    Her voice came to him, “I have a space-boat!” She came running up beside him, panted, “We’ll take the secret of the drive to Earth.”
    Paddy slowed his stride, halted, looked down into her wide dark eyes. He turned, went back to where the doctor stood forlornly. Paddy grasped the doctor by the shoulders.
    “Look now, Tallogg. You have your half million that you got selling me out. Buy yourself a boat this very night—this very hour. Leave the planet. If you make it to Earth you can sell the boat and be a rich man. Do you hear?”
    “Yes,” said Tallogg dully. His shoulders hung as if under a yoke.
    “Then go,” said Paddy. “And if you love old Earth don’t return to your office. Don’t go there at all.”
    The doctor muttered something indistinguishable, became a blot in the gray murk. He was gone.
    Paddy looked after him. “Better should I have burnt a hole in him and so saved us much concern for the future.”
    The woman said, “Never mind that. Let’s go and we’ll head for Earth.”
    “Very well.” Paddy sighed. “It’s not as I had planned it.”
    “Be glad you’re alive,” she said. “Now let’s go.”
    By a back route they walked to the space-field, quietly crossed to her boat at the far end. Paddy looked at the boat doubtfully from end to end.
    “Those are crowded quarters for the pair of us, I’m thinking. Now maybe a decent respectable girl wouldn’t care to—”
    She snapped, “Never mind that, Paddy Blackthorn. You keep your distance, I’ll keep mine—and my reputation can look after itself.”
    “Yerra,” muttered Paddy, “and who’d want to touch such a spit-cat and plain to boot? Well then—into the boat with you and may the best man of us win.”
    As she opened the port the beam of light fell on them. A man’s voice said hoarsely, “Just a minute, just a minute.”
    Paddy put his hand on the girl’s back, shoved her in, started after her. “Come back here,” said the dark shape and the voice was louder. “I’ll shoot!”
    Paddy turned, aimed at the light with Dr. Tallogg’s gun. His beam struck square. In the spatter of orange and purple flames from the shorted powerpack, Paddy glimpsed the man’s face—the narrow-faced narrow-eyed man who had been leaning against the hangar when Paddy dropped down to the spacefield. His face was convulsed by pain, surprise, hate, by the shock of the beam. The lamp guttered into a red flicker, died—and the dark shape seemed to slump.
    “Quick!” hissed the girl. “There’ll be more.”
    Paddy jumped in. She sealed the port, ran to the pilot’s seat, pulled back the power-arm—and the boat rose into the ash-gray sky of Spade-Ace.

V
    They rose from the field into the glare of the eight suns strewn around the sky at various distances.
    “Watch the field,” said