Free The Return of Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future by Mike Resnick Page B

shuttles working around the clock, carrying people to and from the surface. I don't think a ship has actually landed on Deluros VIII in two millennia." He shook his head in wonderment. "And here we just point and land."
           "You'll get used to it."
           "I suppose so."
           The ship touched down, and the two men soon emerged from it.
           "I assume there's no Customs or Passport Control?" asked Dante.
           "You see anything like that?" responded Virgil, walking over to a row of empty aircarts. "We'll take one of these into town."
           "Fine," said Dante as he climbed in.
           "Uh . . . you want to let it read your retina?" said Virgil.
           "Is something wrong with your eye?"
           "Something's wrong with my credit. It won't start until the fee has been transferred to the rental company's account."
           "No problem," said Dante, walking up to the scanner. His credit was approved in a matter of seconds, and shortly thereafter they were skimming into town, eighteen inches above the ground.
           "Tell it to stop here," said Virgil as they cruised along the Tradertown's only major street.
           "Why don't you tell it yourself?"
           "Your credit, your voiceprint. It won't obey me."
           Dante ordered the aircart to stop. "The casino's up the street."
           "Yeah, but we need a place to stay. We'll register at the hotel first, and then go hunting for dinosaur."
           They entered a small hotel, and Dante ordered two adjacent rooms, both of which were to be billed to his account.
           They decided to stop at the hotel's restaurant for lunch before going to the casino, and they emerged half an hour later, ready to meet Tyrannosaur Bailey.
           A nondescript man of medium height and medium build was standing outside the hotel, leaning against a wall. As Dante and Virgil emerged, he stepped forward and faced them.
           "You're Danny Briggs, right?" he said.
           "I'm Dante Alighieri."
           "Well, yeah, you're him, too," agreed the man. "But it's Danny Briggs I want to speak to."
           "Never heard of him," said Dante, trying to walk past the man, who took a sidestep and blocked his way again.
           "That's too bad," said the man. "Because I have a business proposition for Danny Briggs."
           "I know who you are," said Virgil. "Get the hell out of our way."
           "Now, is that any way to talk to a businessman?" asked the man. His hand shot out and pushed Virgil backwards. The Scarlet Infidel took a heavy flop onto the street, and his hand snaked toward his pocket.
           "Don't even think about it, Injun!" said the man harshly. "If you know who I am, you know I don't die as easily as those assholes you took out on New Tangier."
           Virgil tensed, then looked into the man's eyes, and slowly, gradually relaxed again.
           "Good thinking, Injun," said the man. "You get to live another day and deflower another corpse." He turned to Dante. "My name is Wait-a-bit Bennett. Does it mean anything to you?"
           "No," said Dante.
           "We have something in common, Danny. You come from the Democracy, and I work for the Democracy. On a freelance basis, anyway."
           "Get to the point."
           "The point is that the bank account the aircart computer okayed was in the name of Danny Briggs, not Dante Alighieri." Bennett smiled. "It seems that the Democracy has issued a 50,000- credit reward for you, dead or alive."
           "Bullshit!" said Dante. "That dead or alive crap is for killers. I never killed anyone."
           "Sure you did," said Bennett. "You killed Felicia Milan, alias the Duchess, back on Bailiwick."
           " I didn't kill her!" snapped Dante. "The police did!"
           "The Democracy says you did," replied Bennett. He smiled. "What's a poor