Juli was in danger, but she was
half a world away. Rakhal was here in Charin. There was a child
involved--Juli's child. The first step was to get inside the Terran
colony and see how the land lay.
Charin is a city shaped like a crescent moon, encircling the small Trade
City: a miniature spaceport, a miniature skyscraper HQ, the clustered
dwellings of the Terrans who worked there, and those who lived with them
and supplied them with necessities, services and luxuries.
Entry from one to the other is through a guarded gateway, since this is
hostile territory, and Charin lies far beyond the impress of ordinary
Terran law. But the gate stood wide-open, and the guards looked lax and
bored. They had shockers, but they didn't look as if they'd used them
lately.
One raised an eyebrow at his companion as I shambled up. I could pretty
well guess the impression I made, dirty, unkempt and stained with
nonhuman blood. I asked permission to go into the Terran Zone.
They asked my name and business, and I toyed with the notion of giving
the name of the man I was inadvertently impersonating.
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