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[Fitzhugh 3]-FALL OF THE WHITE SHIP AVATAR


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FALL OF THE WHITE SHIP AVATAR
Brian Daley

This tenth, as the first, for Judy-Lynn Del Rey



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
My thanks to L. Neil Smith, Vivian Waters, and Suezy Kim for their counsel



CHAPTER 1тАФITS ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE BLACKOUT
Floyt sighed. "We're just going to have to give up wine, women, and song, Alacrity."
"I vote we start with song."
As he and Alacrity Fitzhugh made their way to the customs counter in the odd, crane-mating dance of
lunar walking, Floyt persisted. "But we're not going to get very far with so little money, you do realize
that, don't you?"
"We sure as scheisse can't turn back," Alacrity pointed out. Off to one side, the crew chief of the Terra-
Luna shuttle Mindframe was turning over Floyt's Webley revolver and Alacrity's big energy handgun to
a customs inspector.
"Name?" asked the senior inspector, looking Alacrity square in the eye. His nameplate said he was
Inspector Grissom.
You oughta remember! Alacrity thought at him silently. You got a big enough bribe out of me last time
we blew through here!
Floyt, standing behind Alacrity, tried to maintain a certain aloofness and not look worried, guilty, or
pursued. He was 175 centimeters tall and a shade more, compact and bearded and more than twenty
centimeters under Alacrity's height.
The shuttle crew was passed through without so much as a perfunctory check, but the two weapons still
lay on the counter. If the Lunie customs folks didn't recognize Alacrity, they'd doubtless recall the
Captain's Sidearm, his pistol. The crewchief and his mates were happy; the squeeze Alacrity'd paid them
for helping Floyt and himself escape Earth was more than healthy, and tendered in flawless novaseed

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gemstones. The two partners in adversity weren't simply in reduced circumstances; they were just about
broke.
"I said, 'Name?' " Grissom repeated tightly.
"Dr. Attila Von Cribdeath," Alacrity snapped.
"Professor Manglewords MaLarkey," Floyt supplied, deadpan, trying to stay in form with Alacrity, but
despairing. The formerly sedate, law-abiding Earther hadn't nearly as much experience fibbing as his
young friend, or in fraud, unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and impersonating an innocent party, but
the last few months had been an accelerated course of study.