Braden Read Online Free Page A

patroller an ident
card would be immediately arrested. If Braden got hauled off to the nearest
patrol station he’d miss Elisa, who still had ten minutes.
    Braden tugged a piece of plastic from the belt that also
housed his breath mask and slapped the card into the woman’s hand. Without
thanking him, she tucked the card into her handheld and frowned at the readout.
    “You’re the one called Braden.”
    “So glad you can read.”
    “Looks like you’re due for your inoculations soon. Why
haven’t you gotten them?”
    Because Braden hated his six-month inoculations and put them
off until the last possible minute. Back at DNAmo he’d never known exactly what
they were going to shoot into him, and sometimes they’d had to hold him down to
do it.
    The only medic he went to now was Katarina, his best
friend’s lover and a friend in her own right. Katarina mixed the concoction
herself and told Braden exactly what was in it, and he trusted her. But
Braden’s old fears died hard.
    The inoculations were redundant, because every known disease
had been programmed out of Shareem genetics from the get-go. All diseases, not just sexually transmitted ones.
    The shots also kept the Shareem from reproducing, which, to
Braden, showed a big flaw in the “Shareem aren’t human” idea. If Shareem
weren’t human, why were humans so worried about Shareem making babies? Even if
a Shareem managed to make a child, then logically—if Shareem weren’t human—that
child would be sterile. Like mules. Automatic end of problem.
    But the Ministry of Non-Human Life Forms was inflexible.
Sterility drugs it was.
    The patroller handed Braden back his card. “You know that if
you miss your shots, it’s instant termination.”
    Braden let his eyes widen. “It is? Damn, I’m so glad you
told me.”
    “Here comes your train,” the patroller said. “Get on it.”
    The train was early. Braden glanced at the clock, noting the
librarian had seven whole minutes left to get there.
    The hovertrain slid smoothly into the station, sending displaced
air over Braden and the patrollers. The damn women were going to stand there
until he boarded.
    The train doors opened but not many people got on. Few
highborn wanted to go to the gritty part of the metropolis this late, and most
had private transportation anyway. Workers from Pas City who had jobs up here
had departed hours ago.
    “On,” the first patroller said. Both had hands on their
weapons.
    Braden gave them a wave and a grin. “It’s been sweet
chatting with you. Ta-ta.”
    Ignoring their ugly looks, Braden stepped onto the train,
walked down the mostly empty car and took a seat alone. No one gave him a
second glance—Pas City people were used to Shareem.
    The doors slammed. Braden saw no flutter of robes from a
highborn woman running to catch the last train, no feminine voice shouting his
name, nothing.
    The few men and women around him closed their eyes as the
train jerked forward. The train paused, hovered silently for about a minute
then jerked like hell again as it left the station. Stupid hovertrains.
    The train picked up speed and dove down the hill, starting
its journey back to the lower city and the slums.
    It didn’t matter, Braden thought as he looked out the window
at splashes of lights in the darkness. He’d go to Judith’s bar. His friends
would be there. He could get very drunk and forget all about meeting a
librarian with brown, lively eyes flecked with green.
    * * * * *
    The train lurched forward barely a second after the doors
closed behind Elisa. She’d dashed into the station just as the train had started
away, and the train’s conductor, seeing a highborn lady in expensive robes, had
ordered the train to halt.
    Elisa pressed a tip into the conductor’s hand as she leapt
breathlessly onto the last car. “Thank you.”
    “At your service, my lady,” the conductor said. “May I find
you a seat?”
    The car was empty so the offer was a bit silly, but Elisa
thanked him