The Age of Scorpio Read Online Free

over?’ Eden asked.
    Melia turned to glare at the more masculine, scaled woman. ‘I’ll do my bit,’ she answered haughtily. Eden just raised an eyebrow.
    ‘Look. I am the captain, and you will fucking do as you’re told or you’ll be out that airlock for mutiny!’ Eldon screamed at them, visions of his fortune slipping away. Melia, Eden and Brett just looked at him sceptically.
    ‘And how do you intend to enforce that?’ Eden asked. Eldon turned to look pleadingly at Melia. He couldn’t believe she’d turned on him after he’d treated her so well.
    ‘Oh, grow up,’ the feline snapped.
    ‘I think it’s time to negotiate, boss,’ Nulty said.
    ‘This is mutiny,’ Eldon said weakly. The rest of them ignored him. ‘We don’t even know how to get in.’
    Eldon had finally admitted how much his mysterious contact was paying him after Eden held him upside down and Melia threatened to torture him. To make matters worse, Brett had had to intervene on Eldon’s behalf, further adding to the humiliation.
    Brett was piloting the Swan steadily nearer to the craft/thing, trying to get close enough for their active scans to work, when it happened. During a very slow pass, something seemed to grow out of the craft. It looked like a tunnel made of the hull’s rubbery flesh.
    ‘What is it?’ Melia asked. There was something obscene about it, Melia decided, and it wasn’t as if she had terribly delicate sensibilities. ‘Some kind of defence system?’
    ‘I don’t think so,’ Nulty communicated over the interface. ‘I think it’s a docking arm?’
    Brett swung the engine arms around to bring the Swan to a halt. The tunnel seemed to be swaying in the cloudy Red Space in front of them.
    ‘You’re going to let that touch the Swan ?’ Eden asked doubtfully, looking over at Eldon. Eldon was crouched in the corner, sulking. He had been trying to work out how get the money for the ship/thing and then burn the rest of the crew. He looked up at the sound of Eden’s voice.
    ‘Oh what? Am I captain again? Is there actual work to be done?’
    ‘Take it easy, Cap’n,’ Brett said good-naturedly.
    ‘Go and fuck yourself, muscle-head,’ Eldon muttered. Brett just laughed as if it was friendly banter.
    Eldon had seen the thing in his mind but he walked over to look through the transparent hull.
    ‘Nulty, if it goes badly do you reckon you can cut that thing?’ Eldon asked.
    ‘Er . . . yes,’ Nulty said. He did not sound very sure of himself.
    Eldon turned to Eden. ‘Sure, why not? A fifth of something is better than nothing and you gotta take risks if you want the pay-off. Besides,’ he stabbed a finger at Melia, ‘maybe then I can get rid of this bitch and get a decent concubine.’ Eldon glared at her. ‘You’re coming. None of your bullshit. I’ve got the contract. You don’t come, you don’t get paid, understand me?’ Melia looked like she was about to argue. ‘Besides, if it all goes horribly wrong I want to make sure that you die as well as me.’
    Melia hissed and made an obscene gesture.
    Brett pushed both hands into the ball of semi-solid liquid. The spacesuit started crawling up his arms, covering them and then growing down his torso. He held the visor in front of his face and the liquid suit crawled over his head to connect with it. The armoured environment bladders on the suit inflated as they took gas from the surrounding atmosphere. The suit had already connected to his neunonics and Brett adjusted the gas mix with a thought.
    He had already adjusted his nano-screen, brought it in close to his body, only leaving a little outside the suit. Whenever he did this it always made his skin crawl but he knew this was psychosomatic. A screen of nanites surrounded Brett, like everyone else in Known Space, everyone who didn’t want to quickly sicken or die and could afford it. The screen prevented him from being attacked by rogue nano-swarms, provided him with a degree of privacy and stopped him from