Free The Assassins of Altis by Jack Campbell

replied. “That’s not your fault. I think we should be grateful it kicked in when it did, before we got to one of those gates.” That seemed to make Alain feel better, so she kissed him, which made her feel better.
    Mari led the way again, heading for a low-rent part of Palandur where she knew cheap hostels would abound. It wasn’t an area which Mechanics normally frequented, but she had heard some male Mechanics at the academy boasting about brief but memorable stays in the hostel rooms there with some of the many courtesans who plied their trade in Palandur. By the time noon had come and gone, they were dropping their packs onto the dusty floor of a tiny room on the third floor. The smirking desk clerk had asked whether they wanted to pay for the night or for a much shorter period of time. Mari, with an angry look she couldn’t suppress, had paid for the night.
    Alain sat down on the thin mattress of the bed which dominated the room. “It should be very hard to find us here, even if we have to stay longer than one night.”
    Mari sighed, looking around the shabby room. “Yeah. Maybe. Though the idea of spending more than one night in this kind of accommodation is less than appealing. I still want to leave this city as soon as possible. There are way too many dangers here. My Guild’s headquarters. Your Guild’s headquarters. The Imperial police. All the instructors and other Mechanics I knew in my days at the Mechanic Academy. The sooner we’re headed for Landfall, the better.”
    Alain nodded in agreement. “We can try again tomorrow.”
    Mari pulled out of her pack the remnants of the food they had bought on the road. As she did so, her eyes fell upon the petition from the university in Marandur. Mari had a brief fantasy of carrying the petition to the Emperor, of the Emperor realizing the injustice being done to the survivors trapped inside the university, ordering it corrected, and then offering aid to Mari in her own efforts. That fantasy dissolved into an image of the Imperial Center for Truth, the place where prisoners were sent to confess whatever “truth” Imperial authorities wanted to hear. As a Mechanic, Mari had exchanged horror stories about the place with other Mechanics, safe in the knowledge that she would never face Imperial torture designed to produce confessions. Now that assurance of protection from the Imperials had vanished along with a lot of other certainties.
    Nor did she think the Emperor was very likely to be a reliable or trustworthy ally, even assuming he didn’t immediately sell her to the Mechanics Guild in exchange for some small advantage. The rulers of the common people on Dematr, regardless of whether they were elected by the people or occupied a mighty throne like that of the Empire, actually served the whims and demands of the Mechanics Guild and the Mage Guild. No government, no city or country, could survive if either Guild withheld its services and granted special support to the enemies of that government or country. The support of one of the Great Guilds could also be bought, of course, as long as the price was high enough and the goal sought did not conflict with the aims of the Guilds. The Mage Guild and the Mechanics Guild had a long history of hatred and conflict between them, but they were effectively allies in keeping the common folk slaves to the desires of the Guilds.
    The common folk had long chafed under their servitude to the Great Guilds. Mari knew she would find many allies among the commons, but the Great Guilds could not have maintained their power for centuries without the aid of common allies who would sell out their fellows for power or money. She could not afford to trust everyone, and especially not anyone near the Emperor. There were plenty of stories about Imperial politics, and none of them inspired confidence in the Imperial court.
    Mari carefully resettled the petition in her pack, knowing that it could not be delivered at this time without