In Earth's Service (Mapped Space Book 2) Read Online Free

skull. My head was numb all the way to the base of my jaw and
threading alerts flashed warnings of alien-tech intrusions I couldn’t move a
finger to stop.
    The Nisk close to me touched my forehead with cold
metal, a surprisingly delicate, precise touch that caused the last of the
throbbing pain to fade away. It emitted a soft hissing sound, then moved toward
one of the exits. I was no expert, but the smaller Nisk’s exoskeleton was a
lighter chestnut color indicating it belonged to one of the attendant castes. It
carried metallic devices I didn’t recognize in its manipulator arms and wore a telescopic
instrument over one of its empty black eyes.
    After the small Nisk had moved out of sight, an
artificial voice sounded from the shadows. “Sirius Kade Human, your damage bone
parietal is repaired.”
    I wanted to turn my head toward the voice, but the
field holding me allowed only my eyes to move as another chestnut colored
beetle ambled into view. It wore a vocalizer strapped to its mandible and
slender strip-like devices on its antenna-manipulator arms. It moved in front
of me, then the field rotated my body from the horizontal to the vertical,
leaving my feet a meter off the floor and my face level with the attendant’s
bulging compound eyes. I suppressed my instinctive revulsion at the sight of it,
reminding myself attendants were highly intelligent and – more importantly – in
charge.
    “I Katinuuk am, zone open controller. Report
occurrence at five-intersect-twenty-one.”
    “Someone hit me,” I replied, determined not to let
the bugs catch and dissect the grunt who’d bashed in my skull. That was my job.
“I didn’t see who it was.”
    “Angular analysis indicates Sirius Kade Human
struck from above-behind. Explain,” it said, confirming the Nisk had not only
fixed my cracked skull, but also conducted a forensic analysis of it.
    “I was knocked down.”
    “By what?”
    “Another man. It was an accident. He’d been shot
and ran into me.”
    “Is Tiago Sorvino Human known to you?”
    “Is that someone you arrested?” I said, feigning
ignorance.
    “Tiago Sorvino Human is dead. Killer unknown.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” I said softly, meaning
it. “I’d never seen him before today.” According to my EIS deception training,
the best way to conceal the truth was with the truth. I hoped it would be
enough to hide the anger I felt that a good man was dead. The moment he’d
ordered me not to shoot, we both knew he was going to die. He’d only made such
a choice because he’d believed the information I now carried was worth more
than his life.
    Aleph-null!
    “Describe Tiago Sorvino Human attackers.”
    “There were three of them. I didn’t get a good
look.” I assumed I was only confirming what the Nisk already knew.
    “Sirius Kade Human equipped with weapon primitive
kinetic. Weapon not fired. Explain.”
    I glanced down at my holster. My MAK P-50 was
missing. “That’s right. I was told weapons couldn’t be fired here. It happened
so fast, I never got a chance to use it.”
    “Sirius Kade Human compliance with Nisk zone open
directives noted,” the Nisk investigator said, then it emitted a short popping
sound.
    A drone moved forward holding a metal tray which it
slid into the suspension field surrounding me. It left it floating in front of
me and backed away.
    “Identify objects,” Katinuuk ordered.
    On the tray was a row of ten millimeter, polysteel
jacketed, armor piercing slugs, one of the loads JAG-40 light assault guns were
designed for. There were at least twenty of them, all twisted and bent out of
shape. Those slugs could punch through two centimeters of durillium armor, not
what I’d have selected for assassinating an unarmed spacer in street clothes,
yet they’d hit something hard to be damaged like that.
    “They’re big ass slugs,” I replied unhelpfully.
“Too big for my gun.”
    “Projectiles kinetic are military human origin.”
    “I wouldn’t know. I’m