The Alpha Protocol: Alpha Protocol Book 1 by Duncan Hamilton (read more books .txt) 📕

I want to be off this rock and back to the Core Systems sooner rather than later.’

Samson bit his lip. What choice did he have? Their need for the ship was too great to risk losing it over something like this.

‘How many men do you have?’ Samson said, still hoping to convince Smith to agree to him bringing at least the rest of his Marines.

‘More than you do, so plenty to keep an eye on a crashed ship on a dead dustbowl planet.’

Samson collected Price outside, and filled him in on what was happening as they returned to the spaceport. Smith’s ship was sitting on a landing pad screened off from the rest of the complex. She looked even more magnificent on the ground than she had in space. It was only when she was sitting up proudly on her landing struts that you could appreciate her properly.

‘Beautiful, ain’t she?’ Smith said. ‘Even now I like to stop every once in a while to look at her. Not many people making ships like that anymore. It’s all about utility now. They forget that the look of it’s important too. A beautiful ship makes a man feel proud to be on her, to keep her in good trim. You Navy types should understand that, but some of the heaps you lot fly around in?’ He grimaced in disgust.

It seemed odd to Samson that a vicious thug like Smith had such a sense of the aesthetic. The man was full of surprises.

‘Well, lads,’ Smith said, ‘hop in and make yourselves comfortable. I’m afraid she can’t quite offer the hospitality she once could—you’d be amazed how hard it is to get champagne out here. Still, you boys probably don’t drink on duty, so no loss.’

Smith led them through the ship to a comfortably appointed circular lounge at its centre. It was filled with plush leather couches, shiny lacquered furniture, and paintings lining the rear half of the walls, with small sculptures sitting in alcoves between each one. Samson suspected that there was more money on those walls than he would see in his entire career. The couches faced a large, curved viewscreen that filled the front half of the wall.

Samson wondered where the bridge was, and the rest of the crew, for that matter. He didn’t reckon the ship was controlled from a room that comfortable.

‘Maggie will have us there in about six hours,’ Smith said, taking a seat opposite Samson.

‘Where exactly are we going?’ That would barely have them a quarter of the way to the Nexus portal on the Bounty. That must mean the ship was somewhere within the system. How had this ship not already been found by someone else in prospecting scans?

‘I suppose I can tell you now,’ Smith said. ‘Talhoffer 18.’

Samson thought for a moment. That was a different system. ‘How fast is this ship?’ he said, before he had time to consider his surprise. He could vaguely recall seeing Talhoffer on the star charts. It was beyond the edge of Frontier space, and to the best of his knowledge was an unexplored system.

Smith laughed. ‘Very fast. But not that fast.’ A contented smile spread across his face as he sank into one of the couches. ‘You just wait and see,’ he said. ‘This ship isn’t the only little surprise I’ve got for you.’

As dubious a statement as it was, it was also the first thing Smith had said that didn’t feel like a veiled threat. Samson looked across at Price, who shrugged and sat down on the couch as far away from Smith as he could.

‘There’s no one out that far,’ Samson said.

‘Precisely. That’s why no one else has found what I did.’

‘What were you doing out that far?’

Smith shrugged. ‘This and that.’ He noticed Samson’s frown. ‘What? Can’t give away all my secrets, can I? All that matters is I found something important, and I’ve done my civic duty in passing that information on to the powers that be. Practise for my new life as a law-abiding citizen.’

Smith pronounced every syllable of that title with relish each time he said it. Or perhaps it was irony. Samson couldn’t be certain. This was the most infamous criminal humanity had. His name was bandied about in the company of the likes of Blackbeard and Calico Jack, legendary pirates of old Earth. He wondered how long Smith would be able to maintain this new policy of law abidance. Anything illegal he did from that moment forward would count against him.

Smith paused and gave that menacing smile of his, which Samson was coming to believe might actually be a genuine expression of pleasure—just a form of pleasure ordinary people didn’t experience.

‘You never know what you might find when you head out for a look around. Part of the pioneer spirit. Not much point coming all this way if you’re not going to take a look at somewhere that’s never been seen by mankind. My own little “one small step” experience. Y’know, there’s muppets back in the Core who pay millions to do that. Companies offer the whole package. Five-star luxury the whole way. Only hardship is getting your boots dirty when you actually have to get up off your arse and step on the rock. Can you believe that?’

Samson felt a smooth increase in weight as the Maggie lifted off. She was utterly silent and had the most effective inertial dampening he’d ever experienced. Smoothing out the big hits was easy enough, but finessing the minor alterations took serious technology, power, and money. He thought of Excelsior Bay’s tagline—No expense spared. He could well believe it. It made Samson wonder how Smith had paid for it. If he’d paid for it at all.

Sanders appeared from a different entrance with a glass of what looked like whisky for Smith.

‘Can I get you gentlemen anything? Dinner will be served once we’ve left the atmosphere, but if you’d care for a pre-prandial?’

Samson looked at Smith, who shrugged.

‘Water will be fine,’ Samson said. ‘Thank