Project Pope Read Online Free Page A

had a peek into your bag.”
    â€œYou know about Gutshot, the planet that we took off from.”
    She shivered. “A horrid little place, although I was glad enough to get there. It was the last stop on the way to End of Nothing and, working my way out, there’ve been too many stops. I never dreamed, of course, that I’d have to put up with such a filthy ship to get there. I asked around. Would you believe it, this is the only ship between Gutshot and End of Nothing. This captain of ours has the pilgrim trade tied up.”
    â€œAbout the pilgrims …”
    â€œNothing doing. First you talk of Gutshot, then I’ll talk of gnomes and popes and pilgrims.”
    â€œIt’s simply told,” said Tennyson. “Gutshot, as you may know, is a feudal planet. A lot of nasty little fiefs headed by crews of dirty people—some of them human, but a lot of them not. I was court physician to the margrave of Daventry. Human, as you may have guessed. A human doctor trained in human medicine would be of little use to aliens. It was not the job I would have picked, but at the time I considered myself lucky to get it. A young physician fresh out of medical school ordinarily finds it hard to get started in his profession unless he has some money. I had no money, of course, and there didn’t seem to be too many clinics that were looking around for fresh new talent; besides, it costs a fortune to set up a practice of your own, after which you’d sit around for several years, slowly starving, until people began coming to you. Once the initial shock of Gutshot wore off, I became somewhat accustomed to it. Like you can grow accustomed, after a time, to an aching tooth. So I stayed on. The fees were good. In fact, to me, they seemed princely. The margrave was not a bad guy. Not good, but not bad either. We got along together. Then the bastard up and died on me. Nothing wrong with him. Just tipped over. Heart attack, I’d guess, although there hadn’t been any indication he was heading for one. I didn’t really have a chance to determine cause of death and—”
    â€œBut no one could blame you. It was not your—”
    â€œWhat you can’t comprehend,” he said, “is the kind of politics there are in any feudal setup. A pack of wolves held in restraint by one man. Loose the leash and they’re at one another’s throats. I’d not consciously been involved in any politics, but I had sort of been the margrave’s lieutenant and advisor, unofficially of course, so considerable resentment was aimed at me. Almost immediately the rumor sprang up that the margrave had been poisoned, and before it got well started, I was on my way. I had no real power base and knew it. I would have been a pigeon for almost anyone. I gathered up most of my ill-got earnings, which I had been careful to keep in a handy place and in highly transportable form, stole a flier, and was out of there as fast as I could manage. Night was coming on and I flew low and crooked to keep out of any radar range. I knew there was no place on the planet where I’d be safe—”
    â€œSo you headed for the spaceport.”
    â€œRight. I knew I didn’t have much time. I figured there were people about three jumps behind me. So I had to find a ship and find it fast. One that would be out in space before the posse hit the port.”
    â€œSo that’s it?”
    â€œThat’s it,” he said. “What worries me most is the captain. I had to tell him some of it. I should have lied, of course, but had little time to think up a lie and …”
    She shook her head. “You don’t need to worry about our precious captain. If he’s questioned, he’ll swear he knows nothing of you. He’s not looking for trouble. He’s got this End of Nothing monopoly all tied up and doesn’t want to lose it. It’s a gold mine for him. He hauls a load of pilgrims