Singing the Dogstar Blues Read Online Free

bed when I passed out under booth four. Luckily, I’d told him I had to be on campus by ten. He dragged me out of bed about nine and dumped me in the bather with a wake-up cycle. Pure torture, but at least I was compos mentis by the time it was finished. Even my headache had dropped two levels on the Richter scale. Lenny was in the Buzz Bar kitchen, frying up some of his special sandwiches.
    â€˜You staying on campus from now on?’ Lenny asked, flipping over a hunk of real-bacon.
    I nodded, catching a whiff of the meat. My stomach twisted in confusion: puke or eat?
    â€˜Semester starts tomorrow. I’m seeing Dr Hartpury this morning to get my timetable and quarters.’ That is, if I survived my little chat with Camden-Stone.
    Lenny handed me one of his hair-curling coffees. Bitter as hell, but the caffeine gets the synapses snapping.
    â€˜Come and see me soon. Maybe I’ll have some hard info about Suka. She’s a slow worker, that one. But be real careful. I got an idea who she’s after.’ He wiped a spot off the white shiny counter. ‘You’re not going to like it.’
    My oesophagus went rock hard. I choked on the coffee.
    â€˜What? Is she after me?’
    Lenny laughed.
    â€˜Only if you get in the way. I reckon she’s after your new partner.’
    I suppose it made sense. All the political hoo-ha around the first Chorian student. The protesters. Suka in the ceremony audience. Just what I needed. A partner someone was trying to wipe out. The poor sod hadn’t even moved into its quarters yet.
    â€˜Like I said, she probably won’t try a hit for a while.’
    â€˜That’s a big comfort,’ I said, picking up my duffel. It was way too heavy to lug around campus. I’d have to fork out for a locker. ‘I gotta get going, but I’ll drop in as soon as I can. When do you reckon you’ll know if Mavkel’s the hit for sure?’
    Lenny shrugged.
    â€˜You know how it works. When the info comes, it comes. Meanwhile watch your partner’s back.’
    And mine too. I grabbed one of the bacon sandwiches on the counter, ignoring the roiling in my guts.
    The small waiting room outside Camden-Stone’s office was designed to intimidate. There was a row of framed degrees, a glass case packed with medals and awards, and a holo display that flipped through the university layout. The room even smelled intimidating — executive pine on the aromafilter. To top it all off there was a human secretary, Mr Gareth Welton, hired to stare at you while you waited. I tried to make Gazza blink, but he had either glued his eyes open or had died in front of me.
    The holo display was a more interesting distraction.
    It was explaining the fusion reactor.
    The University of Australia is circled by a huge fusion reactor built ten stories underground. I’d only been down there once, on the orientation tour. You can’t see much, just a lot of piping full of water to insulate the heat. The reactor supplies most of the energy for Melbourne, but it also has a hell of a byproduct: the Sunawa-Harrod Time-Continuum Warp Field.
    The holo display flipped into a portrait of the guy who discovered the field: Daniel Sunawa-Harrod. He was also the official director of the Centre, but apparently he was heading for deadsville. That’s why Camden-Stone had taken over.
    The holo portrait was a still from a recorded lecture Sunawa-Harrod had given at the university. He was leaning forward as though making a point and his eyes had lined up some poor jerk to be shot down. The holo was only a head/shoulder view, so I couldn’t see his hands, but I bet he was drilling the jerk’s argument to bits with his forefinger. You could tell Daniel Sunawa-Harrod had chutzpah.
    I walked around the holo, watching the solid light slide around with me. Whoever had worked up the picture had done a terrible job. There was a gap in the guy’s head. I looked closer. No, the gap