 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 07 - The Manhuntress
THEY HAD BREAKFAST IN BED, SERVED BY A CYBERBUTLER. Chane ate ravenously
whilelistening to Lizina's plan for revenge. "You're a total lunatic,"
he said.
"Mad as a rabid grat. But you'll try it whether I'm here or not." Before
shecould protest, Chane continued. "No point sitting around while you
getyourself killed-so I might as well help you." Lizina shrieked with
joy andflung her arms around him, upsetting the breakfast tray Chane
returned theembrace-and more. "Is this the way I'm supposed to earn that
exorbitantly highsalary you've promised me?" Lizina matched his motion
with her own. "This isjust a (uh!) fringe benefit, guaranteed to promote
a better employee/employerrelationship. Oh SPACEWAYS #1 OF ALIEN BONDAGE
#2 CORUNDUM'S WOMAN #3
ESCAPE FROM MACHO #4 SATANA ENSLAVED #5 MASTER OF MISFIT #6 PURRFECT
PLUNDER #7 THE MANHUNTRESS PLAYBOY PAPERBACKS SPACEWAYS #7: THE
MANHUNTRESS Copyright (c) 1982 by John Cleve Cover illustration
copyright (c)
1982 by PBJ Books, Inc., formerly PE! Books, Inc. All rights reserved.
No partof this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted inany form by an electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording means orotherwise without prior written permission of the
publisher. Publishedsimultaneously in the United States and Canada by
PBJ Books, Inc., formerlyPEI Books, Inc., New York, New York. Printed in
the United States of America.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 82-81380. The poem Scarlet
Hillscopyright (c) 1982 by Ann Morris; used by permission of the author.
ISBN:
0-867-21175-X First printing October 1982. A: All planets are not shown.
B:
Map is not to scale, because of the vast distances between stars.
SCARLET
HILLS Alas, fair ones, my time has come. I must depart your lovely home-
Seekthe bounds of this galaxy To find what lies beyond. (chorus) Scarlet
hills andamber skies, Gentlebeings with loving eyes; All these I leave
to search for adream That will cure the wand'rer in me. You say it must
be glamorous Forthose who travel out through space. You know not the
dark, endless night Northe solitude we face. (reprise chorus) I know not
of my journey's end Nor thetime nor toll it will have me spend. But I
must see what I've never seen Andknow what I've never known. Scarlet
hills and amber skies, Gentlebeings withloving eyes; All these I leave
to search for a dream That will cure thewand'rer in me. -Ann Morris A
shark circled in space. To be certain, thisshark's lineage could not be
traced to the flesh- and blood-eating machinethat swam the oceans of now
forgotten Homeworld. Nor was it biological. It wasa shark, just the
same. And it was an eating machine. An eater of othermachines-and of
men. A sleek, finless shark, it was designed to slice throughthe
infinitely stretching light-years of space. A shark of gleaming
nakedmetal that bore the single marking Lung T'ou emblazoned in crimson
along itsprow. Shark and spacer-both predators. Both preyed on the weak,
the injured,
and the crippled. In an earlier age, millennia in humankind's past, Lung
T'ouwould have been constructed of wood and pitch. Its bow would have
cut throughthe waves of Homeworld's neglected seas. Sails, hung from
strong masts, wouldhave billowed in the wind. Atop the highest of those
masts would have flown aflag-skull and crossed bones on a field of jet.
Lung T'ou was a directdescendant of such a craft. The men and women who
rode its decks bore the same
