Space Relics (Galactic Archaeology Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

inferior.” Amy tried to sound annoyed, but she was messing with his brain, just like she liked to do whenever she had the chance. Torture the human was one of her favorite games.
    “Informing a computer about her status and her duty to serve her captain isn’t racism,” he said. She’d done it again: making him argue against his will. That woman was impossible, and she was way worse than working with a heartbroken ex. Rick took a deep breath. He was on a mission; it wasn’t the time to lose his patience.
    “A captain, huh? Have you noticed that captains need to captain a ship to be called captains? The last time I checked, you’d lost yours with all my stuff in it. Your current ship is a transport shuttle, and that doesn’t qualify you for the rank of commander, of master, or even of lieutenant.” Rick couldn’t see her, but she was definitely grinning when she blabbered those words. And the worst thing was that she was rather funny. Rick couldn’t smile at her sass, though, or he wouldn’t get rid of it.
    “Okay, I’m a common sailor,” Rick said. “Now would you mind helping me get the Argonaut back?”
    “You aren’t technically a—”
    “Amy!”
    “Okay, okay.” She giggled on the other side of the intercom. She was learning to act more and more human, but she was turning into an annoying kind of human who enjoyed irritating others. A fairly dangerous pastime. She cleared her throat and hacked into the port’s wireless webcams to see through their eyes.
    Images of the area appeared on Rick’s glasses. Lord Baylor talked with a mechanic and gestured broadly. The mechanic stooped down low to show his lower rank, but he rubbed his hands with greed. From his small and round head and short nose, he was originally from the outer rim of the Coalition, one of the few who’d managed to escape totalitarianism. He’d probably bribed and coerced his way out of Earth; nobody who played by the rules ever managed to get anywhere if they were from the Coalition.
    Amy turned on the long-range microphones and hacked into fridges, fax machines, security cameras, and the classic intelligent devices that nobody ever bothered to secure. Some people enjoyed fruitful careers by hacking into those devices and stealing rich fools’ banking details, but not many rich fools remained rich for long. For now, Rick only needed to hear what they said.
    “You’re robbing me,” Lord Baylor said with his deep and loud voice. The sound was way too loud and buzzed in Rick’s ear. Amy fixed the volume and apologized.
    “This ship needs many repairs, my lord.” The mechanic walked around the Argonaut and glanced at Lord Baylor to measure his reactions. He was doing the dance to make sure that he got the highest price that the lord would agree to pay. “If you hadn’t had your… accident , she’d have failed within a year. I’m doing you a favor, you see? You’d have had to pay more for the same repairs if she’d broken on a different planet.” He marked the word accident but made no comments about it. In certain worlds, people never fought or killed each other; everything was a matter of chance and accidents were frequent.
    The men continued bartering, unaware that Rick was watching them.
    Rick only needed to run towards them, get rid of both of them, take the keys to the Argonaut, and run. If things got nasty, he could always use Lord Baylor as a hostage. Easy as pie, right?
    Amy cleared her throat exaggeratedly to call his attention.
    “If you have anything to say,” Rick told Amy through the intercom, “say it now, because I’m jumping into action.”
    “Are you sure about this, Richard?” Amy said. “The odds aren’t in your favor.”
    “It isn’t as if I have much choice,” Rick said. “If he catches me, I’ll end up working in the mines on an abandoned planet with a hostile climate. If I don’t try, I’ll end up broke, and broke people end up in the mines for one reason or another. It doesn’t make