The Shores of Death Read Online Free Page A

near the top of the building, so they took their leave of one another in the dining room.
    After Narvo and Barre Calax had dropped down the gravishute, Clovis and Fastina went up it. The shute opened directly on to Clovis’s room, but as he drew level with the entrance, Clovis frowned.
    “The lights are out,” he said. “Surely Narvo hasn’t removed the lamps without telling me ... ”
    Fastina thought that she heard a note of tension in his voice. He caught the grip by the side of the entrance, clasping her arm with his other hand. They entered his room.
    Surprised, she saw the silhouette of a man against the transparent wall. A man who held his head in a peculiar way.

    In a world without crime, locks and alarms did not exist so that the man could have entered the room when and how he chose. And he was guilty of a crime—an invasion of privacy at very least.
    This wasn’t what shocked Marca so much as his recognition of the man. He paused by the gravishute entrance, still gripping Fastina’s arm.
    “What do you want here?” he said.
    The figure didn’t move, didn’t speak.
    For the first time in his adult life, Clovis Marca let his emotions get the better of him. Anger and fear shook his body as he released his hold on Fastina’s arm and plunged across the room towards the dark figure.
    “This time I’m getting my explanation,” he said, reaching out to grasp the man.
    The intruder moved just before Clovis’s hands touched him. He moved rapidly*—faster than it should have been possible for a man to move—towards the gravishute. But Fastina blocked the entrance with her body. He veered aside and stood stock still again. Then he spoke, his voice melodious and deep.
    “You will never be able to touch me, Clovis Marca. Let me leave here. I mean you no harm, I hope.”
    “No harm—you’re driving me insane with this pursuit. Who are you—what do you want from me?”
    “ My name, so far as it matters, is Take.”
    “Take—a good name for a thief.”
    “I did not come here to steal anything from you. I merely wished to confirm something.”
    “What?”
    “To confirm what I guessed you are looking for.”
    “Be quiet! ” Clovis looked at Fastina.
    “You are ashamed?” asked Take.
    “No, but it doesn’t suit me to reveal what I’m looking for—and I’m not sure you know.”
    “I know.”
    Then Take had leapt to where Fastina stood, pushed her gently aside and jumped into the gravishute, so swiftly that it was impossible to follow his movements.
    Clovis ran across the room and followed him into the gravishute. Above him he heard Take’s voice calling a warning.
    “You are a fool, Marca—what you seek is not worth the finding!”
    Reaching the roof, Clovis saw a small carriage taking off. He ran towards Narvo’s car before he realised that Narvo had the only subsonic key. He had left his own craft at the spacefield when Narvo had picked him up. He watched the car disappear over the mountains and he breathed rapidly, deliberately relaxing his body and regaining control of himself.
    Fastina now came on to the roof and stood beside him.
    “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him. He moved too quickly. Have you ever seen a man move as fast as that? How does he do it? You’ve seen him before? I have, too—on several of the planets you were on. Is that what you meant when you mentioned your male nemesis?”
    He nodded. “I must find out where he comes from —where he’s staying on Earth. There’s still some organisation left. It shouldn’t take long.”
    “He isn’t from Earth, is he? There’s something about him....” 
    Clovis knew what she meant.
    She smiled. “He couldn’t be in love with you, too, could he?”
    Then Clovis knew there was only one means of forgetting the enigmatic Take, for a while at least— only one means of relaxing. He turned and grasped Fastina, pulling her towards him, bending her head back to kiss her. pushing his hands over her body, feeling her arms circle