Star Bridge Read Online Free

fumes from the hold had knocked out everyone for days and almost wrecked the ship. Wu seemed unaffected.
    The old man spat. The dust turned a reddish-brown. “Here we are,” he mused. “Three outcasts met on the Forbidden Ground. Did you know this was once the most fertile farmland on the continent?”
    â€œI don’t believe it,” Horn said.
    Wu shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I mention it only to illustrate the folly of men who think they shape their destinies. What strange eddy in the river of history swept us here? Where will it take us next?”
    â€œIt takes me nowhere,” Horn said. “I go where I wish.”
    â€œSo we think, so we think. In the middle of things, we see no pattern. But as we look back and view the picture whole, we realize how men are moved about by forces they do not suspect. The pieces fall into place. The pattern is clear.”
    Horn was silent.
    â€œLil and I, we think we go to the ruins of Sunport because we choose, but it is our hunger that drives us. And hunger is a force that has no equal. Why do you go there?”
    The question was casual and unexpected; it took Horn by surprise. He blinked once before his eyes narrowed. “Who said I do?”
    â€œWhy else should you be here on the desert? Do you go to steal, like Lil and I, or to kill?”
    â€œThere is no other choice?”
    â€œFor a deserter with a gun? What else would he be doing at the Dedication? To steal or to kill, it makes no difference. The ruins will be better guarded than any spot in the Empire, and brute force must always bow to greater force. It is a pity for one to die so young.”
    Horn waited. He had schooled himself to wait until others had identified themselves and their purposes.
    â€œWe’re three of a kind,” Wu said. “We need have no secrets, one from the others. Lil and I, we have lived too long to be moralists. Men must live, and they must do what they must do.”
    â€œI won’t die,” Horn said.
    â€œSo we think, so we all think. And yet we do. But you may be right. You won’t die now because you won’t reach the ruins in time.”
    â€œYou’re wrong,” Horn said calmly. “As you said, we are three of a kind. We need have no secrets. You are going to the Dedication; you will show me the way.”
    The cold certainty that the old man would be his guide had come a long time ago. Maybe he had known it as he watched from above the depression.
    â€œNo, no,” Wu stammered. “I couldn’t do that. I mean—that would be—”
    Horn’s eyes were icy on Wu’s face.
    Wu squirmed, shrugged, and sank back. “As you will. Outcasts must stick together. But you don’t realize the chain of causation you are beginning.”
    â€œMen,” Lil said darkly, “fashion their own nooses.”
    Horn stared at them silently, ridges slowly forming between his eyebrows. Wu yawned, shivered, and lay down by the cold ashes of the fire. He curled into a fetal position.
    â€œNo watch?” Horn asked sardonically.
    â€œFor what?” Wu’s voice was muffled. “Death will come, just as dawn will come. If they come together, there is no help for it. I’m not going to stay awake to watch for either.”
    â€œHow have you survived so long?”
    A yawn reached Horn’s ears. “By eating regularly, sleeping whenever possible, and not worrying about tomorrow. The wall is to our backs. Where would we run? Besides, Lil will watch.”
    Horn shrugged and climbed with habitual caution to the rim of the depression. After his senses had adjusted to the silence and the night, he let them roam out into the desert, but they brought him no warning. He settled down against the mesa wall to wait out the night.
    The clouds had vanished. The stars were out, and the sky was brilliant. He could see a long way into the desert; it was lifeless. He pinched the heavy belt inside