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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS - Snippet 66

Lani held up the cuffs. "He's got the keys on a thong around his neck. She looked at his pale face. "Do my feet and I'll get them."

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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 65:

Chapter 27

            There is a life zone around every sun. Around some suns it is huge, and lasts for billion of years. So what sort of lease do you think a settler needs? What do you think we can do if anyone breaches the agreement?

 Johnson Defarge. Slowtrain Legal commitee, SysGov.

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            Bhangella took the automatic shotgun from the hand of the sleeping woman, before she was carried to the boats. Kretz made no move to stop him. It seemed wiser that they were all armed.

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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 64:

            Amber was doing her best to be soothing. "Med-diagnostics says his pulse has strengthened and slowed. His color is better too, Lani."

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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS — snippet 63:    

        It was his turn to look thoughtful. He nodded, took it and tucked it into his sash. Parole offered… and accepted.

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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 62:

            Lani didn't explain to Amber that chances were that it wouldn't matter how badly hurt he was. She needed something to hit back at after her fright. And if the new perp moved a muscle wrong it was going to be him that got whacked.

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SLOW TRAIN FROM ARCTURUS – snippet 61:

            To Howard and Lani, the fire seemed to spell disappointment. Kretz puzzled over that, especially the young female’s reaction. Then it came to him. She was looking for a mating territory!

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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 60:

Chapter 26

e-vox to: Sarah Printemps

From: H. Obisando

Subject: uThani

            Sarah, their language doesn't even have words for any number above four. That bitch is sending them out there to get killed. I've given you the tapes. Can't you stop it?

            Henry

e-vox to: H. Obisando

From:Sarah Printemps

Subject: uThani

            Van Pensdorm is history, Henry. But we can't stop them going. This came as a bit of shock to me too, but they're as keen to see the back of us as she was to see the back of them. We flooded their valley, and they haven't forgiven us. They're not stupid. A deal is a deal, and just because they're a primitive Pacaraima culture, doesn't mean we can break the law. Besides, there are some real heavyweights in SysGov Social psychology branch sitting on this one. I don't know why, but they want the uThani to go. Look, they'll have the best of everything, and the place will be stocked with livestock and plants from the that area they came from. There are only two hundred and thirty nine of them. Yes, they have a unique language. Yes, they been cut off from most of the rest of the human race for several hundred years. At low population densities… well, the habitat will be about twenty times as big as their valley. Maybe they'll evolve a civilization. Learn to count. With the repair bots and low pop. density, they'll have a thousand years (at least) to do it in.

            Sarah

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            It was a long night, in which nothing happened. Nothing… other than buzzing things biting them, and, at least in Howard's case, not much sleep. The noises—from the slightest splash of water or crack of twigs, to echoing, yarring cries—fed the imagination. The truth was that the things they probably needed to be afraid of, they wouldn't hear. But that didn't stop Howard straining his ears. Before the lights began to warm up again, Howard had had a lot of time to think as well as time to worry. He thought about home. About his confused feelings for the woman next to him. About the vastness of space.

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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 59:

            The spot was not ideal, Howard admitted to himself. Still, as the light had faded far more quickly than at home, they were lucky to have found something this good. They had a patch of interstitial wall which had no trees against it, and where the ground was a little higher. The little mound was covered in grass.

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SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 58:

            The problem was that they just couldn't keep going in the same direction. There was water everywhere. A few hundred yards on from where Howard had proved that, if this was Eden, it still had its serpent, they came to a lake—again. This was quite a narrow one, barely thirty yards wide. "We can't just keep going back. We've got to cross it," said Howard. "I'll go first. I can swim."

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SLOW TRAIN FROM ARCTURUS – snippet 57:

            They did—but not for long. The trail led into water. A stream ran down the path. "Pipe burst somewhere."

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