Third World Read Online Free Page B

signed on.
    That might have been what tripped the
Commander into this mission. He wanted them back for whatever
reason, and in disciplinary matters, he would have considerable
discretion in their cases. It would be better to be caught by their
own shipmates, if possible. Of course Burke’s own performance in
this unwelcome duty would be closely scrutinized.
    “ Okay. So what do we
do?”
    Emerson Faber was a big,
capable-looking man with ropy forearms and bulging biceps. Shapiro
was glad to have him along, for he was at least weapons-trained and
their newest recruits would be more of a hazard, considering how
seldom they used their weapons aboard ship.
    After sixteen months of garrison duty,
endlessly hovering in the stable point, providing some kind of
moral presence for the colony, people tended to get rusty. Most
didn’t abuse shore leave, but every cruise had its killed and
missing, even on the most mundane of duty. It was a hazardous
profession and Shapiro was trained well enough in that regard. He
had a responsibility to assess and minimize all risks.
    Not very exciting, but it was his
job.
    “ We make an appearance in
the city. We troll through the bars, wearing full kit and arrayed
for battle. And we tell people we’re looking for
deserters.”
    “ And?” Dave Semanko was a
communications specialist, which included linguistics and even
rhetoric.
    In his early thirties, he radiated
competence. Perhaps the uniform, crew-cut and trim build had
something to do with it. His intelligent brown eyes looked at
Newton.
    “ Then we go to a hotel and
rustle up some transport, as we have one or two tips to check out.
Other than that, I figure by the time we get back to the port,
people have had a chance to think on it and it’s quite possible
some of them will turn themselves in.”
    He was betting on word getting
around—like wildfire.
    “ Turn themselves in?” Faber
snorted and slapped his thigh.
    He didn’t impress Shapiro as an idiot,
but he might have been mistaken.
    “ Once they get out there.
Once they’ve gone hungry a while, and seen the prospects. Once they
see what they’re really up against, they’ll be kicking themselves
all over the place for running away.”
    Semanko was studying the field notes
for Third World.
    “ It doesn’t seem so bad. A
mix of indigenous and Terran flora, a few carefully selected
fauna…temperate zone is extensive.” He read on. “Seventy percent of
the surface is landmass, and the biggest ocean is at the southern
pole. Huh.”
    “ Yeah. And there’s nothing
down there.” Shapiro swept their eyes in an all-encompassing
stare.
    “ Nothing?” If Ensign
Spaulding didn’t get it, the others probably weren’t
either.
    “ Nothing. Nothing at all,
ladies and gentlemen.” He gave them a moment to think about
it.
    “ The life of a soldier is
compensated for by a life of ease and sloth.” Faber surprised him
with that one.
    It went back a thousand years to some
historian no one ever read anymore.
    “ Yes. And that’s just what
they’re not going to get on Third World. First, the capital city is
our city—and it’s only eighteen thousand people. They really can’t
hide there and they know it.”
    Because sooner or later, everybody
discovers they need to make a living. That was another, unspoken
compensation for being in the service. It was a living.
    “ Because they don’t have the
skills or the drive.” The Ensign had nailed it. “It’s more—a lot
more, than they must have bargained for.”
    There were comprehending nods around
the table as they looked at him and each other. There was no lack
of confidence, but a little caution would have been preferable. He
wondered if he was just being insecure about his own role in all of
this. It was a command, though. It was an independent
command…
    “ So what do you think?”
Shapiro eyed the lean, dour figure of Jackson at the far end of the
table.
    “ Nothing, yet. What are the
people like? I mean, outside the,