Zero Recall by Sara King Read Free Book Online Page B

Jer’ait.
    “Did it never
occur to you that eventually they would stop sending amateurs?” Jer’ait said
softly.  He pulled a small black recorder from under his clothing and turned it
on.  He set it on the table in front of the dying crime boss.
    “ Caus
Rathsaba, you have been found guilty of numerous crimes against Congress,
including treason, murder, theft, smuggling… ”
    Jer’ait took Caus’
personal planner and tucked it under his vest.  Then he climbed onto the table
with all the grace an ungainly sextuped pattern would allow, planted his two
back feet beside the crime-lord’s head, and tugged open the vent.  It was large
enough for his purposes. 
    He pulled
himself up and pulled the vent shut once his feet were clear.  Behind him, on
the table, the recorder droned on.
    “ …hereby
sentenced to death by poison. ”
    Jer’ait had
disappeared into the inner workings of the Ueshi foodservice complex and was on
his way back to Levren before the crime-lord’s underlings produced enough
courage to break into their boss’s booth and discover the body.
    He was called
for another assignment only two days upon his return.
    Most would have
found the lack of leave after such a long, dangerous mission to be insulting,
but Jer’ait detested idleness.  He lived to hunt.
    He stepped into
the Peacemaster’s office and sat when the Twelfth Hjai directed him to a chair.
    “I don’t suppose
I have to tell you that was well done, Jer’ait.”  Yua’nev regarded him from
behind his large desk, his perfect, electric-blue eyes utterly emotionless.
    Jer’ait had
never liked his superior.  They had gone through training together and Jer’ait
was the better of the two to have come out of Va’ga alive, but Jer’ait carried
a deformity and Yua’nev did not.  Thus, Yua’nev had the twelve-pointed star of
Twelfth Hjai and Jer’ait remained forever ensconced at Eleventh.  The disparity,
however, allowed Jer’ait to continue to do field assignments, which he
appreciated.  “Who do you want to die next?”
    The Peacemaster
gave him an appraising look, then handed a small black reader across the desk. 
“A Human.”
    “A what?” 
Jer’ait cocked his head, wondering if he had misheard.
    “Read it.” 
Yua’nev gestured at the reader.  “One of the newest species.  Bipeds,
dexterous, high lingual capacities—”
    “I know what a Human
is,” Jer’ait interrupted.  “I want to know why you need one killed.  They are
hardly major players in Congress.”
    “Apparently,
that might not be the case,” Yua’nev said, with all the poise of the Twelfth
Hjai.  “We’ve recently received a tip regarding this particular Human that we
find disturbing.”
    That caught his
interest.  “What kind of tip?”
    “The Trith
kind.”
    Jer’ait
stiffened as a thousand different thoughts hurled through his head at once.  The
Trith were allied against Congress.  They were the only species in the entire
history of the universe that had not fallen to the power of Koliinaat and the
Regency.  They managed to do this because, as a species, they could see every
moment of every future incident from now until the end of time.  That a Trith
was involved was…disturbing.  “Go on.”
    “You are aware that
Aez was just destroyed?” Yua’nev asked.
    “I heard as
much.”
    “Along with the
message about the Human, we received a prediction that Aez was about to become
its own asteroid belt.”
    Jer’ait peered
down at the reader, fixing the Human’s features in his mind.  “A Trith sent us
this prediction?  Why?  They hate Congress.”
    “We are aware of
that,” Yua’nev said.  The Peacemaster was in natural pattern, despite the
inconvenience that a Huouyt’s three naturally-aquatic, boneless legs afforded
him. 
    Jer’ait watched
as Yua’nev ran a paddle-like hand across the surface of his desk, trailing
breja that writhed in white threads across the polished stone.  It was a
gesture that belied