Darwin's Paradox Read Online Free Page B

drug and packaged nano-food. Hunting and gathering indeed! When she opened a locker door, she sucked in her breath and stared at the standard-issue Pol’s laser gun on the shelf. What on Earth was Aard doing with one of those? Heart racing, Julie pulled open a drawer and found several pairs of folded and freshly laundered black jackets and slacks. Her chest pounded as she examined the clothing. The material was high quality durafabric, standard Pol issue. Her hand felt something hard tucked underneath. She pulled the clothing away and gasped at what she saw. A Pol helmet!
    Abruptly the chittering murmurs in her head rose to a shrill chorus and she spun to face the door, seizing the laser gun. Aard stood at the hanger door, his shoulder leaning against the door jam, arms crossed, and eyeing her with cautious curiosity. “What are you doing here, Julie?” His voice was edged with annoyance.
    “I could ask the same of you, Aard.”
    “Curiosity kills the cat,” he smirked.
    “Which one? Felix the cat or the...Pol-cat?” she asked, pulling the gun into view with a half-cocked smile of her own. “Yours?”
    The smirk disappeared. “So you found…” he trailed off as she pulled out his Pol uniform with her free hand then threw it back.
    “In pretty nice condition too.” Her voice grew sharp, “Who exactly are you?”
    He shrugged. “Just another Icarian trying to survive.”
    “A Pol? In the heath?” She gave him a mocking incredulous look. “Try again, buddy boy.”
    He compressed his lips. “So, you want to know how I got here?” He gazed past her, eyes focused on the past. “I was a no-good drunk. Couldn’t keep a job. Never had a problem getting one because of my superior cognitive abilities. But every time I messed up. It always seemed to end with me slugging someone, because they called me a—” He broke off, pursing his lips and stealing a strange glance into her eyes for a moment. “I ended up wandering the inner-city, drunk and useless until a man named Victor came along, cleaned me up, believed in me. He gave me a job in the Pol force and gave me this mission.”
    Something he’d said nudged a memory to the surface. It finally drifted up and she stared at him, seeing the resemblance to that scruffy fifteen-year old SAM had shown her on its database years ago. “You’re a veemeld too. You’re Isaard Henigen.” His stunned look told her she’d guessed right. “I researched you when SAM and I were trying to find Prometheus, the test case that started the whole Darwin mess,” she explained. “We found that there were only a few of us, like Prometheus, who scored perfectly on the STAT-LOG exams. Before I discovered that I was in fact Prometheus, I thought you were.”
    “Yeah, it was you who brought me to Victor Burke’s attention, with your research on Prometheus. So, now you know everything.”
    “Except why someone like you is living out here.”
    “I’d have thought that someone with your enhanced cognitive abilities would have figured that out by now.”
    “Okay.” She firmed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. “They sent you here to watch us...” He raised a brow. She amended, “to watch me.”
    “Very good,” he nodded, ankles crossing as he continued leaning against the door in a relaxed pose. Deceptively relaxed, she thought, noticing that he kept his hand in his pocket. Probably on a concealed weapon.
    “And the reason would depend on who sent you.” Was it Victor Burke, the mayor of Icaria-5 when she left?
    “Right.” He nodded, not offering more.
    “So, what do we do now, Aard? Now that I’ve blown your cover.” She gave him a crooked smile. “And I have your gun.” She didn’t exactly aim it at him, but held it loosely in his direction. Its grip brought back dark memories of other times she’d held such a weapon.
    “Well, you do ask the hard questions, Julie.” He pushed himself from the door jam and pulled his hand from his pocket, gripping a small