The Web and the Stars by Brian Herbert Read Free Book Online Page A

antiseptic environment. Noah had heard about this procedure, and had always wondered if it was one of many ruses employed by Jacopo Nehr to throw anyone off track who might be trying to figure his transceiver out.
    As Noah sprayed a canopa oak, he forgot where he was for a moment and smiled at Jacopo’s eccentricities. Now the famous inventor was Supreme General of all Merchant Prince Armed Forces. Noah wondered how he was doing at that, and which planet he had ended up on when the podships stopped.
    Preoccupied, Noah didn’t notice a black robot watching him intensely. The robot moved closer…
    * * * * *
    Moments before, Jimu had come out of the nehrcom building, having sent a cross-space message on behalf of the Red Berets. He had no idea what the message was, only that it was high priority. By definition, anything sent by this means fell into that category. Afterward, he paused to watch the work crew around the building.
    It was almost midday, with low gray clouds that threatened to dump their moisture on the land.
    Thinking he saw a familiar face in the crew of prisoners, Jimu had paused to search his internal data banks. Now he brought up the information: Noah Watanabe, along with a summary of his biography and the charges against him.
    The blond, mustachioed man working near him also looked familiar. Moments later, Jimu had his name, Anton Glavine, and all of the particulars on him, including his parentage: Doge Lorenzo del Velli and Francella Watanabe.
    Concerned about finding such high-security prisoners on the work crew, Jimu did rapid scans on the others. None of them were anywhere near the caliber of these two.
    The robot was deeply concerned. This was important work at the nehrcom station, but he didn’t think that such high-priority prisoners should be included in the assignment. It must be some sort of a mistake.
    He activated weapons systems on his torso, and took custody of the two men. “You will come with me,” he said, in an officious tone.
    Three guards approached, weapons drawn. Jimu had the prisoners behind him inside a crackling energy field, a small electronic containment area.
    As he argued with the guards, Jimu opened a comlink to his superior officer in the Red Berets, and notified her of what he had discovered. “I thought it best to protect the prisoners, and then ask for instructions,” he reported.
    While the dedicated, loyal robot awaited further instructions, more guards appeared and surrounded him. None of them were robots, and he knew he had the weapons systems to blast through if necessary. But he maintained his mechanical composure. A standoff.
    Twenty minutes passed.
    Finally, Jimu’s superior officer in the Red Berets appeared, a self-important woman named Meg Kwaid. She marched up to him sternly, followed by half a dozen uniformed soldiers. A tall woman with curly black hair, she smiled and said, “That was quick thinking, Jimu. This will look good in your personnel file.”
    She ordered Jimu to release the two prisoners, and when he did, she assumed custody over them. “This pair is going back to prison,” Kwaid said.
    Just before departing, she took a third man into custody … the work crew boss who had removed them from the prison in the first place.
    “No one told me they were high-value prisoners,” the man protested. “I was only ordered to get the work done, and I didn’t have the manpower.”
    His protests were to no avail. The man was put in a cell just down the corridor from Noah Watanabe.
    Jimu returned to his own assignment, with his career path enhanced.
    * * * * *
    Among the Red Berets, Jimu’s machines were unusual: they were “breeding machines” that could locate the necessary raw materials and construct replicas of themselves. Since joining the force, Jimu had been supervising the construction of additional fighting units, more than quadrupling the number of machines he originally brought with him from the Inn of the White Sun. All of Jimu’s