Xenopath by Eric Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

don't
know. I don't think so. He just saw me. He fired at me. I had to run,
Abdul."
    He reached out
and squeezed her fingers. He looked around. "You're not safe
here. If the killer's still after you, the parks are the first place
he'll look. It's where most of the homeless street-kids live."
    Pham grinned at
him. "So you're going to take me to see this make-believe
spaceship of yours?"
    "You still
don't believe me, do you? Like to bet on it?"
    He looked
serious. Perhaps there was a crashed spaceship, after all. And
perhaps she would be safer there than out here.
    "1 don't
have enough money to gamble," she said, "and anyway, I
think I believe you."
    He grinned.
"Come on then," he said, holding out his hand.
    She wadded her
blanket and stuffed it into her teddy-bear backpack, took Abdul's
hand and hurried from the park.
    He took her
along a wide corridor bustling with well-dressed people. Big shops
lined the way, with windows as wide as holo-movie screens. Pham had
never seen so many things on sale before. There were no big shops on
Level Twenty, just stalls and kiosks selling essentials.
    She wanted to
stop and look into the shop windows at all the new clothes and
jewellery, but Abdul was hurrying her along as if the killer were
still chasing her.
    They turned down
a narrower tunnel, this one not so busy. Abdul stopped at the foot of
a metal ladder welded to the wall. "Follow me."
    For a boy with
only one hand, he climbed the ladder with amazing speed, pulling
himself up with a series of one-handed grabs at the next rung. Pham
followed, going more slowly, careful to reach for the next run only
when she had a good grip on the one below.
    She came to a
catwalk, which ran the length of the tunnel. Abdul tugged her towards
another ladder and they climbed again. This time they climbed through
a small trapdoor and Pham found herself in a dark crawlspace.
    "We're in
the maintenance space between Levels One and Two," Abdul
informed her self-importantly.
    "I thought
your spaceship was on Level Twelve, Abdul?"
    "Twelve-b,
but this is the quickest way to get to it from here."
    On hands and
knees he crawled away from her, and Pham gave chase. A minute later
he stopped. He was pulling something open in front of him, a big
square door set into a thick metal column.
    He slipped
through the door feet first, and peered out at her. "And now we
climb all the way down to Level Twelve-b."
    She climbed in
after him and peered down past Abdul. Occasional dim lighting in the
thick column showed that the ladder dropped for ever, vanishing to a
tiny point far below. Pham gripped the rungs in fear. If she slipped
and fell now, she'd hit Abdul and send them both crashing down until
they hit the bottom... wherever that might be—Level Twenty, she
thought. She smiled at that as she began the long climb down. If she
lost her grip, she would end up where she started, only then she
would be dead.
    The descent
seemed to last for ever, Pham became tired and slowed, then called
down to Abdul to stop and wait for her while she rested. He grinned
up at her, his single arm hooked around the rung as he took a
breather too.
    They began
again, and Pham called down, "How long have you been living on
the spaceship, Abdul?"
    "Oh...
since I was four or five, I think.
    "What
happened to your parents?"
    "I don't
know. I can't remember ever having any. I lived with a stallholder on
Level Fifteen when I was three. He might have been my uncle. One day
he took me to Dr Rao and I've lived in the ship ever since."
    Pham thought
about life on a spaceship, begging every day and giving half the
money to Dr Rao. "Does Dr Rao give you food?" she asked.
    "Food and a
bed and blankets and clothes. Dr Rao provides everything for his
children."
    Perhaps it might
be a good life, living on the spaceship with Dr Rao and the other
kids... but she didn't like the idea of begging. Perhaps, if she
could find a proper job, she could live on the ship and pay Dr Rao
some rent money... if she