I rolled her onto her back. A spot of color appeared on the white blouse, a rapidly expanding crimson circle. I wondered what kind of decoration it was—something she got on Earth? Then I realized it was blood—a gunshot wound, probably exit because there was so much of it. Someone had shot her in the back as she bent over. I turned to look up at the balcony. Tourists looked down. Either one was the killer or the killer was already gone.
I looked down again. Kartseva tried to speak, but no words came out. She put her hand in her pocket, pulled out a microdisk and handed it to me. I took it and looked at it. "Miz, we have to get you to a doctor—"
She was dead. I stood there holding the disk.
A policeman came up to stand on the other side of the corpse as his policewoman partner went around and plucked the disk out of my hand. She snapped handcuffs down on my wrists. "I arrest you for murder in the name of the Council."
"What? I didn't kill her!"
"Buddy, there's a lobby full of witnesses who'll say you did."
"Gunner" Dahlquist makes a living piloting his freelance ship, The Rockside Hopper. A cynical, but optimistic veteran of Beast War III, Gunner brought one good thing away from the wars–his roommate, Max.
Max happens to be a talking cat.
Together, Gunner and Max pick an odd set of allies in their quest to find the truth to Max's creation. First, there's the veterinary student who's a martial arts expert and may be falling in love with Gunner. Then the bioengineered Eastern Orthodox mystic who claims to be Max's sister. Next is a coarse and sullen failed shapeshifter experiment. Last is the infant "cereborg" who's trillions of times more intelligent than humans... but is she a friend to Gunner and company, or is her very existence a threat to the human race?
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| Page created: | 06/22/2010 |
| Last modified: | 02/09/2011 |
| Author: | BPL |