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.He’d never gone a day without someone doing something to him and he had known, one day, that eventually they would kill him.And he’d worked hard to escape, only to find himself on Meridian.There had been a time when he’d felt safe, after Barry’s death.But it hadn't lasted.The Wolves had taken Kailee from him, using her as a hostage to force him to work for them, which had made him a collaborator with an occupying force.It wouldn't be long before someone put a bullet in him, thinking they were striking back against the Wolves.The looks of hatred he received every time he went to the city were quite bad enough.He looked around the spaceport control room, feeling bitter hatred as he stared at the equipment.None of it was remotely modern; Meridian had never bothered to invest in a large spaceport, not when there was only a small stream of colonists coming down from the Empire.They’d even thought they would be completely isolated once the Empire had collapsed, leaving them alone.But the Wolves had had other ideas.Meridian could work for them.or it could be bombarded into ruins.And then they’d taken hostages to force people to collaborate.There had been times when he’d considered destroying the equipment and killing himself, but he’d known he wouldn't be able to do that to Kailee.She’d been the only girl to show any real interest in him, after they’d arrived on Meridian.And he’d been happy in her arms, even when she cried at night, until she’d been taken away.He couldn't condemn her to death by refusing to follow orders.He pulled himself to his feet and glared out of the window.There was really nothing to the spaceport, apart from a pair of wooden hangers, a tank of shuttlecraft fuel and a tiny control tower.One man could handle most of the spaceport’s operations by himself, if he was prepared to work hard; Gary had found it quite satisfying, before the Wolves had arrived and forced him to work for them.Now, he was effectively their slave.Shaking his head, he walked to the door and clambered down the ladder to the ground floor.The building had always struck him as incomplete - there were arrival halls that were nothing more than bare rooms, not even painted to welcome newcomers - but it wasn't as if anyone was interested in finishing the job of preparing the spaceport.Meridian didn’t want new settlers and had been trying to discourage them, before the Empire had fallen into ruins and their final links to Earth had been severed.At least the Wolves hadn't done more than set up POW camps and insist the prisoners be fed regularly.They hadn't dumped more settlers on Meridian.That will come, he thought, morbidly.Meridian had excellent long-term prospects, once the current unpleasantness - whatever it was - settled down.Wolfbane could dump a few hundred thousand settlers on the planet and to hell with what the prior settlers wanted.There would be resistance, of course, but what would it matter? Wolfbane could just hammer the planet from orbit until the battered survivors surrendered and begged for mercy.He peered into the empty hanger, then started the walk to his cabin, on the edge of the spaceport.He’d moved in shortly after Kailee had been taken, both to be closer to the spaceport and to be well away from the city.Darrin and Austin visited, from time to time, but no one else did, not when they distrusted him on principle.Even if he hadn't been evil, they knew he had someone held hostage for his good behaviour.How could they know how he would react to finding someone in his house?A gust of warm air blew into his face, followed by a scattering of raindrops.The sky was clouding over rapidly, once again.He hoped, sadistically, that one of the Wolves was flying a shuttle through the planet’s atmosphere, even if the odds of a crash were very low.There would be some turbulence, he was sure, which would make the flight unpleasant.But then, the flying doctor might have to fly to a medical emergency.and that would be very far from pleasant.He paused at the gate, then peered inside.Darrin was standing by the doorway to the cabin, waiting for him.Gary hesitated - part of him would always be scared of Darrin, even though he’d never been the worst of Gary’s tormentors - and then pushed the gate open, striding into his garden.There had actually been next to no time to actually take care of the garden; he was mildly surprised that anything grew, given his lack of attention.“Gary,” Darrin called.“I have a surprise for you inside.”Gary blinked.The settlers believed, firmly, that a man’s home was his castle.No one, but no one, stepped inside without permission.He would have been quite within his legal rights to shoot anyone who entered, even if they had only come to beg for a cup of sugar.For Darrin to put something inside his house without permission.Darrin might have been born on Earth, like Gary himself, but it was still odd.He should have learned better even before Barry had met his final end.“You put something inside my house?” He asked.“What?”“Come and see,” Darrin said.“I think you’ll like it.”Gary eyed him suspiciously - the last time he’d been told anything like that, it hadn't been remotely pleasant - then stepped through the door and into the house [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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