Читать книгу South of the Ecliptic - Donald Ph.D. Ladew - Страница 15

Chapter 10

Piehl had his reasons for wanting to go to the Junkyard. Despite its location toward the galactic core, it was intimately connected to the Dark Worlds. The Junkyard was in fact the biggest fencing operation in the Western Arm, and as such was a prime location for information, and information was what he wanted most.

Very little was known about the Dark Worlds. There were historical records and ethnological survey data, but it was mostly the product of university studies and government surveys; ergo, garbage.

At the Junkyard anything could be had for a price and this time Piehl had the credits to pay.

The Junkyard had its genesis shortly after the Eridani conflict early in the 3^rd Imperium. There was a tremendous logistics problem. Thousands of ships, satellites comm-stations, all the hardware of a long war had to be disposed of. Some rear-echelon chair warmer had fired up his star-vue and arbitrarily picked a location in the middle of nowhere, near the lone blue-white sun, Haera.

It became the dumping ground of everything, all the debris of a outward moving, space faring civilization. Then, over the centuries, it was sold to a variety of loners and criminals, few of whom were even vaguely honest; right up to the current owner, Glass Eyes Paradise. He was decidedly criminal.

Each of the owners had added to the inventory, the flotsam and jetsam of planetary castoffs. It was a dumping ground, a junkyard on a Promethean scale.

Few remembered what Glass-Eye's real name was. There was a rumor that he had been a tax collector in the old Imperium. A man whose cruelty and avarice couldn't be swept under the rug. Finally, even that vice-ridden crew had to get rid of him before they were all exposed.

Now he was the Junkman, a dealer in stolen goods, a seller of secrets, anyone's secrets, for a price. And gathered around him were the worst bunch of cutthroats and killers outside of the Dark Worlds.

Piehl had several reasons for going. It wasn't a social call. He had to update his star-charts of the Rim area, more specifically the inhabited planets; who was on them and what were the lines of communication. He had to know who had the power, and over whom it was exercised.

He was especially curious about the Beyond-The-Rim-Hegemony. There was a lot of hard to come by information and Piehl knew he could get it at the Junkyard. It was just a question of how much it would cost.

There was another item that piqued Piehl's curiosity. Persistent rumors of an alien artifact, classified as an 'Intergalactic Transport Station' had been floating around the dock area for a month before they left Regents. It was said to be completely alien and very much intact. Rumor said it was located south of the galactic ecliptic on the Western Rim. Not very precise on location, but that could change.

Now that, Piehl thought, I would like to see.