Rhapsody in Black by Brian Stableford Page A

better tell me what you’re doing here,’ he said. ‘The whole story. Don’t leave anything out.’
    I sighed, and went over the whole sordid story again. I told it all straight, and I didn’t leave anything out. I suspected that these were people I could work with, people whose interests might be persuaded to coincide with my own. I saw my first real chance of getting the whole mess sorted out, and actually doing something with the pieces.
    It was a longer story than I’d anticipated, and it took a long time. My audience seemed totally engrossed and adequately entertained.
    I even managed to forget, for a while, that I was on the brink of starvation.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    â€˜It might well have been a mistake to skip jail,’ I said. ‘I was safe there for the duration. But curiosity drove me out. I wanted to get into the action.
    â€˜I went the other way—the way that Johnny and Sampson didn’t go, that is. They headed back the way we’d been brought in. I didn’t see much point in going that way, so I didn’t. I think Johnny might have paused to release Nick and the others, but I can’t be certain. Once I’d decided to run, I ran, before the alarm could be given and we were beset by hordes of trigger-happy miners. I was seen and chased, naturally enough, since I was in the capital. But most of the people I passed either didn’t care or caught on too slowly to the fact that I was escaping custody. They had fifty chances to grab me, and missed every one. Nobody shot at me, presumably because flying bullets and beams would have endangered the citizenry.
    â€˜I spent an age wandering around in the tunnels, completely lost. Then I found the town, appropriated a change of clothes, and stepped outside again. At which point I was seized by your compatriots, who were engaged at that particular moment in evading pursuit by someone else. And that’s the whole story. I was dragged into this blind and I still don’t know everybody’s Big Secret. Once I’ve found out what that is all about, I might try to work out some way of making a profit to compensate me for all my trouble. At this particular moment I feel troubled enough to contemplate any and all offers up to and including blackmail.’
    â€˜You want to come with us?’ asked Bayon suspiciously.
    â€˜That depends entirely on what you want to do.’
    â€˜Can you get us offworld?’ he said bluntly.
    â€˜I don’t know. I’ve got a ship, of course. Not exactly my ship, but I’ve already explained that. I’m perfectly willing to lift you off, if there aren’t too many of you, but it would depend on Charlot. And, of course, on if and when the miners and the council decide to let us have our ship back.’
    â€˜This man Sampson—he could also transport us?’
    â€˜Subject to the same condition, yes he could.’
    â€˜And if we could provide him with what he wants, he would do so?’
    â€˜He’d be falling over himself. But the miners hold control of his ship as well as ours, remember. And the council seems more likely to deal with Charlot. New Alexandria has a lot more to offer.’
    Bayon thought about it for a few minutes. His point of view seemed pretty clear. If he could get his hands on the goods—or part of the goods—he could make his own deal with Sampson while the council was dealing with Charlot. As an idea, it looked to have merit, but as a scheme it had a lot of problems. We hadn’t got the goods, we didn’t know how to contact Sampson, and Sampson couldn’t get his ship offplanet unless the local gentry let him. More or less the same objections stood in the way of our trying to set up a separate deal with Charlot.
    â€˜I don’t know whether I can trust you,’ he said.
    â€˜I can only offer you my word,’ I replied. ‘I’ll promise to do my level best to get you off Rhapsody, if