Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) Read Online Free

unable to see their full potential. They were definitely in
the late nineteenth and possibly early twentieth century in some places, in
places like Metropolis or Gotham or Hazard, much further along the admiral
judged.
    Interstellar trade had picked up as the planet's civilization had
improved. It was aggravating from a spacer's perspective though, they only
allowed water for fuel trade, not the hydrogen or hydrogen fuel cells.
Apparently there was some sort of law preventing their export, which was ironic
since they had gotten the technology by importing it and essentially copying it
and stealing it. Five years ago they had finally started filtering and
distilling the water. He could only imagine what centuries of unfiltered water
had done to the fusion engines and drives of the ships that came and left from
this world before then.
    Of course the mobsters were still there, getting their cut of all
trade and most of the businesses. That was still a problem, though many had
'gone legit' with titles such as commissioner. The so called county
commissioners were the equivalent of colony leaders on the planet. There was a
governor, Mr. Oman, but his was more a puppet regime than a true source of
power. He was in it for the prestige and under the table bribes and power
brokering. There were rumors of another, shadow government of godfathers, but
no proof of it.
    Now that industry and surplus food had taken root the population was
growing exponentially once more. The interest of interstellar trade had
encouraged some of the leaders to return to the good old days. They wanted a
return to the golden days before the Xeno war, if only so they and their own
could be on the top raking the profits from it all.
    Sprite estimated the population at around twenty million, most of
that was clustered in the major cities. Gotham had the largest population of
nearly one million, though Metropolis wasn't far behind with something like
eight hundred thousand beings. The capital had about six hundred thousand
people there.
    People dressed in various fashions, mostly Victorian. Some near
the city center of power still dressed in Victorian outfits or ancient
twentieth century business suits. Others dressed in a mix of steamer punk or
other styles. Some folks near the space ports or on the outskirts of the main
cities dressed in twentieth century or even American western wear. Normally the
western wear was reserved for the ranchers and farmers, in cities like Hazard
it was one part practical, and one part showing your roots. Some of the factory
workers preferred denim and simple shirts and suspenders.
    The planet's population had a mix of alien species but about half
of the population was human. There were thousands of neo's, but most were dogs,
gorillas or chimps around the towns and cities. Full feline neo’s and others
like wolves and bears preferred the back wood wilds. Apparently Sprite had
found colonies of Neo Otters, a Neo species Irons had thought extinct. They
were clustered around the coasts but some ranged inland in small clans.
    Some of the cities were metropolitan, with the species mixing. But
others had towns, areas that were strictly one species that rarely went into
the other species towns. Each town had its own trademark style and markings.
    The admiral had of course seen it before, but it was a bit
disheartening to see such segregation here.
    Veraxins were the second largest population, with Elves, Gashg,
Naga, Talasians, T'clock, Relgarth, the occasional Tarq, and Telerite thrown in
for good measure.
    Some of the species preferred various climates, for instance Naga,
and Relgarth preferred cities and towns near deserts. Telerites preferred
mining towns; their natural inclination to dig helped them there. Gashg
preferred marshes and swamps in the tropics near the equator. T'clock preferred
the hot jungles.
    He'd heard that the various species got along well outside of the
cities and towns, in the wilds they did their own thing and