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Amber White [Tonight the Worl Tonight the World Dies (epub) i
Clarke, Richard A. World Wide Angriff aus dem Internet
C L Scholey [New World 06] Guardian [WCP] (epub)
Bel Ami (Oxford World's Classic Guy de Maupassant
Carl Sagan The Demon Haunted World Scien a
Diane Ackerman The Human Age The World Shaped
Brian Ruckley [Godless World Winterbirth (epub)
Brian Ruckley [Godless World Bloodheir (epub)
Cadavres dans le blockhaus Alain Pecunia
Chase T.A. The Beasor Chronic Gypsies

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.I couldn’t even dodge effectively, and there was nowhere to hide.I watched his face, twisted and deciding—kill me and go to prison, or run and go to prison anyway for the list of other crimes his face was now attached to?As I wondered which way his mind would twist, the door behind him buzzed and opened.-3-The taxman glanced over his shoulder.I couldn’t blame him for that.He was caught between me and whoever was stepping into the situation behind him.I didn’t wait around for his surprise to subside.I didn’t have time to reach him with a kick or a punch.So, I threw my new knife at him.Throwing a knife accurately isn’t easy even if the weapon used is balanced and built for the purpose.I’d been combat-trained aboard my legion’s ship for months, but we hadn’t done much in the way of knife-throwing.My whirling blade sailed past the taxman, missing him by a hair.Instead of its intended target, it thunked into the smart-door behind him.“McGill! You asshole!”“Carlos?”I couldn’t believe it.He was standing there, his stocky form silhouetted in the doorway.I winced when I saw the knife had nearly hit him, but I didn’t have time for apologies.I came forward, closing with the taxman.He turned back to me, lifting his riveter, and I knew I was screwed.I couldn’t reach him before he could pull the trigger.Thick arms came out and latched onto the thug’s wrist.Carlos had finally made his move.The riveter fired, over and over.The concrete at my feet sparked with tiny yellow explosions.Carlos and I tackled him a second later, and he went down, but he still had both hands clamped onto that damned riveter.Not wanting either of us to be shot in the foot in the struggle, I ended the fight by slamming the smart-door into the taxman’s head repeatedly.Finally, he stopped moving.We stood over the unconscious thug, breathing hard.“Making friends again, huh McGill?” Carlos grunted out.“As always.”By this time, Hegemony MPs had reached the scene.The smart-door must have alerted them.We explained the situation, and they arrested the thug at our feet.“What’s his name?” one of them asked me.“He said he was the taxman,” I explained.The MP twisted his lips.“Very funny guy.He can tell his next joke in the District auto-courts.”The MPs hauled him up, carrying him between the two of them like a sack of potatoes.“He’s not dead,” I said.“I figured.”“Shouldn’t you call an ambulance or something?”The MP snorted.“They won’t come out here.We’re going to have to drive him to the District hospital ourselves.It’s a jurisdiction thing.”I frowned and shrugged as they hauled him off.“I don’t get you, McGill,” Carlos said.“One second you’re in a death fight with that loser.The next, you’re worried they’ll stub his toes.”“He might have a broken neck.They should put him on a stretcher or something.He’s not like us, he’s a civvie.He won’t get a new grow if they screw up his body.”Carlos laughed and shook his head.“He would have killed you if he could have.Get over it.”“People are desperate, Carlos,” I said.“I don’t know what his story is, but I’m sure it’s not a happy one.”“What can we do about it?”“We can bring home the bacon,” I said.“We can go out there and win new accounts, new planets for our legions to serve.”Carlos snorted at me.“Yeah, sure.We’re going to save the Earth.You always have big, dumb ideas.I think it’s because you’re so tall.The air is too thin up there for your brain to work properly.”Lines like that had often brought Carlos and me to physical blows.But I restrained my irritation.It was just his way of talking, and I’d gotten used to it for the most part.“What are you doing here at the Hall, anyway?” I asked him.“Mustering back in, same as you.”We’d been told we’d be contacted and brought back to the same Mustering Hall where we’d been recruited after shore leave was over.But it hadn’t been long enough for that yet.“By my accounting, we’ve got nearly three more weeks of leave,” I said.“What? Didn’t you get the call? We’re supposed to be here now.That’s why the adjunct sent me up here when you buzzed the door.The computers alerted him.Why didn’t you check in with your tapper?”“It’s not working—and no, I didn’t get that call.I came back to see if there was any news about our next contract.”We were walking through the Hall by this time.I was still limping, but it wasn’t that bad.I figured if I got the wound sprayed over by a flesh-printer, I’d be right as rain in a day or two.The Mustering Hall was a loud, echo-filled chamber, nearly as big as a football stadium.As the non-legionnaires had been kicked out, only official people were left still milling around.“Lucky you,” Carlos said.“You would have been reported AWOL if you hadn’t shown up by tomorrow night [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]