Outer Bounds: Fortune's Rising Read Online Free Page B

said,
flashing her a charming grin.  “I just want a quick peek.”  Then, ignoring her
complaints, he climbed up the side and poked his head into the captain’s
chamber.  The big, dirty colonist whistled.  “Borden’s Balls, woman.  This
looks all sorts of uncomfortable.”  He dipped a grease-stained finger in the bouyagel
and held it up so she could see it oozing down his hand.  He scrunched his face
and wiped it on his pantleg. 
    I’m dead, Tatiana
thought.  The inner workings of the soldiers were highly classified, and
letting a colonist inspect the inside would easily be considered treason. 
Scratch unkinking her brain.  The Coalition would kill her. 
    Tatiana ran to the base of her
soldier and slapped her hand against the sheeting near the stranger’s foot. 
Trying to keep the desperation out of her voice, she said, “Ha-ha, really
funny.  Colonist pulls one over on Coalition operator.  Show us who’s boss.  I
get it.  Now please get down.  I don’t know what sort of macho games you’re playing,
but the Coalition finds out you saw the inside, they’ll kill us both,” she
said.
    “Only if you tell,” he laughed,
holstering his pistol.  The stranger jumped down beside her, smiling. 
“Besides, you’re just an operator.  Not the—”  His eyes met her face and he
froze. 
    This close, it felt he had
roughly the same mass as a Coalition carrier, though he didn’t seem to be
carrying any added fat.  He was just…tall.
    Realizing how tall,
Tatiana quickly backed up.  Then, growing uncomfortable under his prolonged
stare, she said, “Uh…reconsidering?”
    He said nothing.  Just stared.
    “Tell you what,” Tatiana said
quickly, “You forget you saw me camped out like this and I’ll forget we had
this conversation.  Deal?”
    The man cleared his throat. 
Looked to the side.  Then his eyes fixed on her again and kept staring.
    Tatiana began to scowl.  With
shorn hair and electrode nexuses jutting out all over her body, she knew she
was ugly, but this was just plain rude.  “Listen, knucker, nobody’s stupid
enough to start a war with the Coalition, so just go the hell away and let me
go fire up my bird.”
    His voice cracked when he spoke. 
“Actually, I think you’re going to have to come with me.”
    Tatiana stared at him.  He didn’t
retract his statement.  She waited.  Then, at his prolonged silence and his
goofy, almost apologetic look, she threw back her head and laughed.  After
several moments, she snapped her head back down and jabbed a finger at him. 
“Not even a dumbass retard colonist prick like you would do something that
stupid.”
    He took his gun from his hip and
pointed it at her.
    Narrowing her eyes, Tatiana
strode toward her soldier.
    The man threw out an arm and
snagged her, dragging her back against his chest.  He was bigger than her—much
bigger.  Tatiana froze.  At a hundred and fifty centimeters, she had been too
short to be a Nephyr.  Instead, they’d taken her high IQ and molded it around
brain-signals and war games and top secret weaponry.  Her instructors had
always assumed that she would never need to face the enemy hand-to-hand,
because the only way rebels were ever going to be able to open the belly and
drag her out was if she gave the order to the soldier to open the hatch.
    Now, outweighed by more than forty-five
kilos and shorter by over thirty centimeters, she was suddenly very acutely
aware of why she had not been chosen for the Nephyrs.  She was short.  Even for
a girl.
    And he was tall.  Even for a guy.
    The bastard would pay.
    Tatiana tried to pry the thick,
apelike arm from around her middle, but when it remained firmly in place, she
blurted, “When the Coalition gets done with you, you’re going to be pissing out
a bag on your hip.”
    He laughed.  “As long as they use
plastic…I’m allergic to latex.”
    Tatiana twisted around to face
him and stuck a finger in his chest.  “You’re committing a federal