Free Runner by William C. Dietz Page A

him, and was forced to accept his fate. His family would wonder what had happened to him, but he would attempt to send a message back. He bent over, lifted the pack, and hoisted it up onto his back. Then, without so much as a backward glance, the monk boarded the ship.
    Brother Fiva smiled thinly, waited for another five minutes, and had the pleasure of watching another member of the black hat sect follow Wama into the waiting shuttle. The young woman was extremely well trained, and if she noticed his presence, gave no sign of it. A single long black braid hung down the nun’s back, she was dressed in inexpensive clothes, and carried a fat satchel in each hand. They were heavy and scraped the ground occasionally. In the unlikely event that the imposter had been smuggled onto the ship, it was safe to assume that the boy would be accompanied by at least a couple of Dib Wa bodyguards. They wouldalmost certainly identify Wama as belonging to the black hat sect—and could be counted on to reveal their true identities by killing the unfortunate monk.
    If the young woman could neutralize both the bodyguards and the boy by herself, then she would. If not, she would keep the party under surveillance and request assistance from the black hat monastery on Pooz. It was a good plan, which was to say a convoluted plan, and Brother Fiva was satisfied that it would work.
    A final announcement was made, and just as the shuttle’s hatch started to close, a man with blond hair pushed his way out of the crowd. He said something to the metal men that accompanied him and pointed toward the shuttle. Metal clanged on metal as the robots ran up the ramp and slipped aboard just seconds before the hatch closed.
    Then, having used her external loudspeakers to warn the crowd, Shewhoswims fired her repellers and pushed the planet away. With that accomplished, it was a simple matter to engage her drives, gain the necessary altitude, and return to the blackness of space. That was her purpose—and it felt good to be alive.

THREE
The Planet Anafa
    Even third-class passengers will enjoy comfortable quarters, fine food, and a wide variety of entertainment. Please join us as we celebrate the addition of a new ship to the company’s fleet, establish a new link to the civilized planets, and place a new star in the heavens.
    â€”Excerpt from the promotional holo distributed to the Interplanetary News Association (INA) on the day that the sentient vessel
Shewhoswimsamongthestars officially went into service
    Shewhoswimsamongthestars guided the shuttle into its docking bay with the ease of a beggar pocketing a coin. Rebo, Lee, and all the rest of the passengers felt a distinct thump as the smaller vessel’s skids made contact. That was followed by the muffled whine of unseen machinery. Different people reacted in different ways. Those who had never been on a ship before, and Rebo sensed that was the majority of them, were round-eyed with fear, while the runner and a few like him focused on the next step in the process. Lee, who had only recently been allowed to exit the coffin in which he had been brought aboard, listened as the runner spoke into his ear. “You’ll notice we’re positioned next to the hatch. There’s a reason for that. Right now the ship is pumping air into the compartment where the shuttle isstored. Once that process is complete the hatch will open, and we will be allowed to enter a decontamination chamber. A thick mist will be pumped into the compartment, but it won’t hurt you. A second hatch will open a few minutes later. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we’ll have to tow the coffin, plus the supplies stored inside it clear into the hold. Got it?”
    â€œYes,” Lee replied sotto voce. “But why should I concern myself with such details? That’s what I pay you to do.”
    Rebo’s eyes narrowed slightly, but his voice remained level. “You should remember