"Kristine Smith - Kilian 1 - Code Of Conduct" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Kristine)

at her for a few moments, then poured to the ground and vanished into an alley.
Seconds later, Jani
heard the scatter of garbage, followed by a strangled squeak.

Sounds familiar. The poor mouse. It probably never knew what hit it. Jani could
sympathize. Her
meeting had gone much the same way.

It's like everyone's forgotten Whalen's Planet exists, girly. Commercial traffic at the
docks is down
sixty percent in the last two weeks. That's six-oh.

She trotted down a side street that led to the main thoroughfare. Her right knee
locked as she turned
the corner, and she stumbled against a pair of mutually supportive inebriates who
had emerged from
one of NorthPort's many bars.

One of the drunks shouted as Jani disentangled herself and hurried away. Something
about how her
limp made her ass wiggle. She looked over her shoulder, caught glimpses of brightly
colored ship
patches and a slack-jawed leer. She felt the heat creep up her neck and kept moving.
She entered the lobby of a hostel that catered to merchant-fleet officers, tossing a
wave to the desk
clerk as she hurried to the holoVee alcove. Several employees already sat on the
floor in front of the display screen, their positions carefully gauged to allow them a
clear view of the front desk.

On the lookout for the manager. Jani kept quiet until she entered within range of the
holoVee's soundshielding. She knew an unauthorized break when she saw one. "Is
this it?"

One of the cleaners nodded. "Hi, Cory," she said without looking up. "It's the
CapNet broadcast.
It's just getting started."

Jani did a quick mental roll call of the small group, counting faces, uniforms. She
didn't know their namesтАФshe tried to avoid the complication of names whenever
possible. "Where's the garage guy?"

"He's still out sick," the cleaner said. "Should be back tomorrow. He'll be mad he
missed this." The
young woman grinned. "I'll tell him you asked about him. He thinks you jam."

Jani responded with her "Cory" smile. Quiet. Closed. A smile whose owner would
blush and keep walking. She leaned against a planter and surveyed with satisfaction
the lack of fuss that greeted her arrival. Yes, Cory Sato, documents technician, had
settled quite nicely in NorthPort over the last six months. Jani Kilian had never
seemed farther away.