"Fenwick, Keith - Skid 03 - Skid3" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fenwick Keith)

Skid3 by sam

Welcome to SKID3
What is SKID3?
SKID3 is an electronic book, the 'threequel' to the electronic novel SKID. Read it, pass it onto your friends, anybody that might be interested, everyman and his dog. If you like what you read and want to check out what happened in the the first novel download it from my home page or email me for a copy. SKID2 the second novel in the series is also available at no cost. However if you want to send me a small donation to reflect our efforts in bringing these programs to you I won't refuse them.


Published By Keith Fenwick PO Box 90312 Auckland New Zealand
mailto: [email protected]. homepage http://home.iprolink.co.nz/~sam/ ph (064) 025 748 571
Copyright (C) Keith Fenwick 1997
This publication may not be reproduced, transmitted,transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any other language or computer language, in any form or by any means, whether it be electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, manual or otherwise, without prior written consent of Keith Fenwick.
While Keith Fenwick undertakes to supply a viable software package he disclaims all warranties as to this software, whether express or implied.




one


Raele walked over to the ship's controls and set a course for Skid while the three offworlders stared wordlessly at each other.
"What do you think you're doing?" President Mitchell asked, the first to break the spell as Sue and Bruce regarded the familiar surroundings.
"Those dreams Bruce, they were real." Sue said a last.
"Yeah," Bruce grunted ambiguously, not really knowing what to think or say. He did feel as if he'd been here, or some other place like this before, and wondered how that could have been.
"We are returning to my planet."
"Don't forget us!" Cop pleaded.
Bruce thought about it for a moment and then decided to ask the alien, after all the alien had asked after them.
"My dogs want to come as well, can we pick them up?"
"Is this some sort of conspiracy on your part mister?" President Mitchell asked, "do you know this man?"
"Sort of," Bruce said uncertainly, "we've dreamed about him."
Raele looked up from his work and wondered whether he should risk trying to re establish the offworlders memories of his home planet. Those memories were stored in small transparent bubbles that he now held in his hand. Under normal circumstances they would have been returned to storage on Skid and probably forgotten for ever, luckily for him or them? These weren't normal times.
His only problem was remembering which bubble belonged to which offworlder. Or was it, these offworlders were so simple that it probably wouldn't matter he decided after a moment.
Raele gave the bubble marked with an 'x' to the male offworlder and the other to the female who had just realised she had left something behind.
"Bruce!" She shrieked suddenly recalling little Bruce. "What about the baby?"
"What about the baby?"
"Can we go back and get my baby?"
"Baby?" Raele tested the word in his mouth and realised that the offworlder was talking about an infant. He was about to regard her with his normal distaste, rearing your own infants indeed! Then he remembered that before long some of his own people would be producing their own offspring. It might be a good idea to have somebody about the place who knew how to deal with them.
"Yes we can retrieve your infant," Raele replied reasonably and your companions," he added turning to Bruce. "But first you must place this in your ear." Raele demonstrated what he meant the offworlders to do with the bubble.
"What about me?" The President asked. He was used to being the centre of attention whether he was being supported, congratulated or attacked by any number of detractors, and was feeling a bit left out of things.
Bruce sniffed the little bubble he had been given and wondered why he was supposed to stick it against his ear. Bloody thing wouldn't fit into his ear, it was too big. To his surprise when he did place the bubble to his ear it seemed to shrink and slip into his head of it's own accord. Frantically Bruce tried to pull it free panicking that the alien might have slipped him, something noxious, and cursed himself for being so gullible.
Then the memories flooded back and the bubble slipped out of his ear and fell to the ground looking like a used condom.
Bruce felt as if somebody had slipped another chapter of the book that was his life into his ear. Suddenly everything made sense, it didn't make him any happier that everything suddenly made sense but he was relieved by the sense of knowing.
He looked across at Sue and watched his own emotions mirrored on her face as she realised that she wasn't going crazy after all.
"Fuck," Bruce muttered trying to make some sense of the unusual disorder in his head as he tried to rank experiences and memories. His head whirled and he reached out for support. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Sue had fallen to the ground and that the President was standing over her trying to draw her back to her feet. I hope one of those bloody great vacuum cleaners doesn't come and suck me up Bruce thought with some alarm as he slowly regained the use of his limbs and stood upright.
"You all right?" He asked Sue solicitously not knowing whether to laugh or cry as he remembered the good times, the despair and frustration of the time he had spent on Skid.
It wasn't really all that bad he thought after a moment and silently remonstrated with himself that he had not made better use of his time back then. But what exactly he could have done better he didn't know yet.
"Oh Bruce." The voice inside his head that sounded like his own but wasn't called out to him. Bruce thought it sounded a lot like the silky ironic tone that he used when he was calling one of the dogs close so he could boot it in the ribs when it knew without a doubt that it had done something wrong.
Before he could turn a large hairy shape jumped up at him, causing Bruce some alarm until he caught the smell of a dog that had been tied up for too long without a decent run. The dogs started barking, well Punch and Can did. Cop just looked up at him like a coy child that had just shit it's pants despite it's efforts at potty training and said:" Hello boss."
"Is that really you Cop?"
"Sure is boss," the dog replied with a wolfish grin.
Oh shit Bruce thought.