Free Pharon's Demon by Anne Marsh Page B

spaceship.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    Planet Zeberget.
     
     
    Bennu set the spacecraft down in the shallow
lagoon ringing the main continent of Zeberget, wincing as the metal
exterior scrapped loudly across the exposed corals. Low tide. Her
data was incomplete. Instead of slipping quietly through the
atmosphere and landing in the dead of night, she’d put down in the
middle of the afternoon and on top of an entire coral reef. In ten
minutes, she’d done more to damage the local ecosystem than any of
the planet’s inhabitants had done in a lifetime. Damn and double
damn.
    She swam to shore, wishing she’d brought her
diving gear. The surface reef plunged steeply just beyond her
landing place in a fantastic display of soft corals. Colorful
gorgonians spread their skeletal fingers, undulating slightly in
the currents. Shoals of fish darted to and fro and, far below, she
saw the spotted crescent of a ray gliding along the sandy bottom.
Without the weapon-toting demon guards, the Pharon could make a
killing selling package tours. She’d be the first to sign up to
spend her free summers here.
    The tribesman waiting for her on the shore
looked displeased. “They didn’t tell me that they were sending a
woman.”
    Too bad, so sad.
    His gaze traveled down the length of her body
and back up again. Apparently, he found her regulation Lycra
blacksuit more attractive than some did. “You should return to your
ship. This is not a good place for you.”
    She was here now. Threats weren’t going to
stop her. “Just take me to the mine shaft,” she said, hoisting her
pack onto her back.
    He turned and began striding back up the
beach. Bennu followed, the heavy sand dragging at her footsteps,
the sun-heated air making her blacksuit stick to her skin. A
rivulet of sweat ran down the curve of her spine.
    “Is this heat normal?” Best to know what she
was facing. And to plan on a wardrobe change if she made a return
trip.
    Her guide shrugged. “These are the summer
months. The heat is more intense now. They told you, did they not,
what you will find down in the mines? Are you sure that you still
wish to descend?”
    “Yes,” she said. “I came here to do a job and
I’m going to do it. A pack of demons isn’t stopping me.” She’d
never had hot, crazy demon sex before. With luck, she could snag
the topazes and a demon before she headed back to her
ship.
    “There are snakes,” the man argued, clearly
certain that he could dissuade her.
    A low hill rose beyond the beach. Studded
with date palms, the gentle slope presented a dark smudge on the
horizon. It was also their destination, unless she missed her
guess.
    “Snakes,” she repeated. That was a new
one.
    “Yes.” The man smiled. Point for him! “Snakes
fill the shafts.”
    The damn Director had said nothing about
snakes, but a job was a job—and this was her last chance. That had
been her takeaway message from the Director’s last
meet-and-greet.
    “If you hear a rasping sound,” her guide
warned pleasantly as they started the upward ascent, “you will want
to duck. It will be the snake launching itself at you. It is not a
pleasant way to die. The serpents seek the warmest spots of the
body to suckle and feed. Since it is summer and our world is baking
in the heat, they have many choices.”
     
    ***

    The shaft descended deep below ground. At
least it would be cooler, right? Screwing up her courage, Bennu
wrapped her legs around the rope the guide had tied to the outer
edge of the shaft. She didn’t dare use her hand-held boosters to
descend into the absolute darkness. There was too great a chance
that the airflow would dislodge stone and dust from the walls of
the shaft. Low tech, she groused. Why did her jobs always require
taking the low-tech route? Would any of her brothers have found
themselves descending, hand over hand, down a long rope?
    Of course, there were advantages to going low
tech. In addition to the thrill of hunting for treasure, the