[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
remnants of the original dominants, or simply another semisentient group
that's evolved to take the place left by the vanished major culture." He
fumbled with some tapes. "I've got to get back to my own work young man. Sorry
if I bored you."
"No, you've been very informative," Flinx told him honestly.
"That's Alaspin then, son. A place where fortunes and reputations can be made,
sometimes together.
And I am sorry," he added, remembering his visitor's original reason for
corning, "that I don't know of your oversized quarry with the gold ring."
Flinx left the office, and found himself wandering in no particular direction
through the town.
Casual conversation and random questioning had gained him nothing. His best
chance for finding out anything lay with the local arm of the Commonwealth
peaceforcers. They should have records of just about everyone why ever set
foot on this world and passed through the screenings at the port. But a direct
inquiry would likely be met with questions. The police did not supply faxes
and biographs to anyone who walked in off the street and asked for them. He
didn't think they would cooperate without a few answers- answers Flinx would
rather not give.
Passing a street vendor, be palmed a food stick and replaced it without being
detected. Old habits were hard to break. But stealing the right fax tape would
be hard to do, perhaps even impossible.
The local peaceforcers would not be city-soft.
file:///D|/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20End%20of%20The%20M
atter.txt (29 of 93) [2/9/03 10:29:56 AM]
file:///D|/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20End%20of%20The%20M
atter.txt
That left him with only the prospect of endless questioning ahead. Angrily he
mused that coming here had probably been a mistake. Mother Mastiff was
right-he was going to find nothing In his an anger he didn't notice that he
was now walking through a section of town he had not been to before.
Besides, there were his responsibilities to the Ulru-Ujurrians. Without his
supervision their innocent experiment could prove dangerous to themselves and
to others. They needed him to explain the rules of civilization as they
constructed their own.
What was be wasting his time for, then? Probably the man he sought had never
set foot on the soil of Alaspin, had acquired his minidrag elsewhere, just as
Flinx had. Time was passing. Why, in a little while he'd be twenty. Twenty! An
old man.
A tightening on his shoulder caused him to look that way and speak
comfortingly. "l Know, Pip ...
don't worry." The minidrag stared back up at him with slitted, anxious eyes.
"I'm just nervous, that's all." But it wasn't Flinx's state of mind which had
Page 40
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
caused his pet to tense. The source lay ahead.
A group of locals- prospectors, by the look of their clothes-were chatting in
front of a business which managed to flourish a garish front even in the still
bright light of late afternoon.
Concluding their conversation, one man and the two women miners left and
walked on up the street.
They turned to wave a goodbye, which the two men who stayed behind returned
before entering the building.
Flinx had a good look at one, less so at his companion. The man nearest him
was short, his skin darker than Flinx's but not black. That color was reserved
for his hair, which fell straight and slick to just above his shoulders.
Cheekbones bulged in his face like apples in a child's pocket, and his nose
was as sharp and curved as the fins of an atmosphere flier. The other man was
not nearly so swarthy, and was of a different ethnic background.
These details were interesting but they were only incidental to what had
caused both man and minidrag to tense. Each man had displayed a curled form on
a shoulder, one on the left, the other on the right. Even from a distance
there was no mistaking that blue-and-pinkish-red pattern of interlocking
diamond shapes.
Minidrags!
Tame ones, probably as domesticated as Pip. His pet was the only miniature
dragon Flinx bad ever sec. While he had known that Pip came from here, he had
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]