Corrupting Dr. Nice Read Online Free Page B

hadn't.
    After the third time jump Wilma began a continuous keening. When they hit the stage at the Near Pleistocene station Owen crouched and cleared a window into the case. Wilma was trying to nibble the padding. "Something the matter?" the man at the control board asked.
    =What's wrong?= Bill asked.
    "She's not taking this too well," Owen sub-vocalized. "I think she's hungry."
    =She ate just before we left.=
    "She's a growing girl." Owen turned to the man at the board and said aloud, "Look, I know I was supposed to switch to short hops from here up. But how about shooting me all the way up to 2062 in one jump?"
    =Not a good idea,= Bill said. =Naked bed men love screaming wicked God women! We should just stop here for now.=
    "Cost a lot more to do a big jump," the controller said. "We're on the edge of the historical periods. There are stations every thousand years, then every hundred. Why waste the energy?"
    "I'll pay for it," Owen said.
    The man at the board shrugged. "It's your money." He touched the controls and disappeared. Owen, Wilma and their baggage fell away again with a lurch. Owen's stomach turned. Wilma bounced against the side of the case. From falling away they were jerked back to reality in a sudden acceleration. They arrived.
    Except something was wrong. The stage they stood on was more elaborate than the ones at the scientific stations. On the window wall behind the board "30 C.E" was displayed in large, stylized figures. A couple of well-dressed tourists, a middle aged man and a young woman, were being helped by the stewards.
    And instead of arriving more or less stationary, Owen came in with a forward momentum, as if he'd been dumped onto his feet from a moving train. When Owen hit he tumbled forward, buckling as he tried to get his resisting legs in motion. Bill took over, sending him into a controlled tumble. Wilma's case shot out of his hands and skidded on its side across the tiles toward the woman, who did a nice two-step to avoid it. Owen did a deft tuck and roll and came to rest poised on his haunches, fingertips on the floor, inches away from the hem of the woman's yellow dress.
    One of the transit stewards rushed forward to help him. His partner behind the control panel frowned and messed with his keyboard. "Something's wrong with the momentum compensator," he said.
    Bill let go. =I think he's trying to kill us.=
    "You made me drop the case!" Owen muttered. "Wilma!" The case vibrated with the apatosaur's thrashing.
    The young woman righted the animal case. "The name is Genevieve."
    "Excuse me," said Owen. She had startling violet eyes.
    =Don't tell her about the dinosaur!=
    "Will you please be quiet," Owen muttered. "I'm not an idiot."
    She took his arm and helped him to his feet. Dizzy already, Owen was fuddled by her perfume. "I don't doubt it," the woman said. "But we have to stop meeting this way."
    When Owen started to apologize, she patted him on the shoulder, smiled, and left with the older man. The steward asked Owen if they could help him with his bags.
    "I don't intend to stop here," Owen said.
    "I'm afraid we can't let you continue until we find out what's wrong with the stage," the steward said. "The Saltimbanque Corporation will of course pay for your hotel room. Perhaps you can do some touring while you wait. Meanwhile we'll take your animal to our kennels."
    =He's carrying heat. That's a magnum charge dispenser at his hip.=
    "I don't care if it's a loaded banana," Owen subvocalized. "Don't take over again."
    =His kinesthetic semiotics indicate he's on guard. I'll take care of this.=
    "No!" Owen said.
    "I assure you we have the best of facilities," the steward said. "We can take care of any sort of animal."
    "Not this sort," Owen said. "This is a unique species. It's--"
    =A python,=
    "--an Andalusian dog," Owen said. He had to get assertive or Bill was going to cause a scene. "A razor eyed Buñuel, to be precise. And if you are not going to send me forward, you can bloody well allow