Gambler Read Online Free

outside the ship. They were still a way out
from the planet and Nova could see the bright lights of Inner
Tabryn lighting up the night like the beacons of a siren. Outside
the brightly lit capital there was only darkness, hiding the
squalor that spread out through the desert.
    Thanks to the tilt and rotation of Tabryn
around its sun, Inner Tabryn experienced nights almost twice the
length of its days, but of course that suited the citizenry just
fine.
    The lights of Inner Tabryn got brighter,
until they filled the entire view screen. They flashed neon
colours, promising happiness and fortune with their cold glow.
    Usually Crusader wouldn't land on a planet,
as the energy cost of landing and take-off was massive. But Nova
would never be able to afford a room in one of the casinos and
she'd be damned if she ever spent another night on the streets of
Tabryn.
    Crusader slowed its decent as they neared
Tabryn's biggest casino, The Lucky Coin. All around the main
building, ships were parking and taking off. The entrance to the
casino surged with fresh cash. Crusader's rusty bulk rumbled until
it came to a screeching halt on the ground next to a sleek red
ship. Nova recognised it immediately. She had drooled over the new
Sunstar 3000 only days earlier when an ad for it appeared on her
screen. It must have cost the owner a fortune.
    "Now, Cal, remember what happened last time
we were near a casino? Stay away from the roulette tables," Nova
said, pulling her thick black trench-coat from the back of her
chair.
    "If I recall correctly, it was in fact your
poor gambling strategy that lost us that game," Cal said, his voice
condescending.
    "Well then your memory chips have been
fried, my friend," Nova said, sauntering away from the command
pod.
    She yanked out her 'mission bag' from a wall
compartment and slung it over her shoulder, and clipped a stunner
onto her belt. Her trench-coat fell back into place, hiding both
the gun and the stunner.
    The gun laws on Tabryn were loose at best
but it could be a dangerous place and Nova would never be caught
unprepared.
    Cal floated behind her. "A technical scan
reveals no faults in my memory chips."
    Nova rolled her eyes and smiled as she
reached Crusader's main exit door. She had upgraded the security
system since she first bought the craft. It was one thing that she
had refused to skimp on and it had saved her and her cargo more
than once.
    "You two stay here and monitor as usual,"
Nova said, stepping out of the craft. The door slid shut behind
her.
    She took a moment to survey her
surroundings. As expected, the rest of the ships parked around hers
were the latest models and gleamed in the casino lights. Crusader
stood out like a rotten apple in a pile of jewels. She stood on the
footpath and watched, as all about her milled the beautiful people
of the world, with their expensive clothes and store-bought
bodies.
    Cosmetic surgery had taken off in the last
hundred years and those that could afford it rarely kept any of
their original selves. Noses, chins, arms, eyes. All were
replaceable either with human parts or engineered parts; it was
personal preference which you preferred.
    Nova frowned at the long forgotten, but
still familiar smells of Tabryn. Here at the casino there was an
overwhelming scent of perfume but even that couldn't hide the
underlying odours; the desert sand, the squalor of Outer Tabryn,
the smoke from the cheap factories running in the slums.
    She turned her head from the bright lights
running down the footpath and instead focused on following the
milling crowd through the gold-painted doors of The Lucky Coin. She
was almost past the entrance and into the cacophony of noise and
lights beyond when a firm hand grabbed hold of her arm and jerked
her out of the flowing crowd.
    The bouncer's hand tightened around her
wrist as he sneered down at her. "I'm afraid you don't meet our
dress standards, sweetheart." His voice was rough and thick with a
Tabryn accent.
    Nova glared at him