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Axler, James - Deathlands 33 - Eclipse at Noon
edge, he'd learned to listen for the unspoken thoughts that lay behind the spoken words.
There was something going on with Dolores Stanwyck.
"You think we shouldn't go?"
He watched her hands. For a moment they froze, and her knuckles whitened. Then she
took a deep breath and carried on shuffling and cutting the deck, her gaze back on the
table. "No. Not my business what you do."
"You got something more to say, Dolores?" he asked, pressing her, leaning over, hands
on the green baize. "Best you tell us if you know something. Or it might go hard with you
when we come back and find you lied to us."
"Hey, mister, just back off." Her angry reaction made Ryan realize two things: that he
was right in having a suspicion, and that he'd played it wrong by trying to pressure her.
Jak looked at him, obviously surprised by the turn events had taken. "Ryan?"
"It's all right. Just got a feeling. See I was wrong. Sorry, Dolores."
She was flushed, blinking fast, looking past him to a trio of her girls who were laughing
at a private joke over by the bar. "All right, Ryan. Don't like being accused of something
I haven't done. And I've done nothing."
"Sure, sure." He turned away. "Mebbe we'll call in and see you on the way home again."
He made sure that she heard the threat in his voice.
"WHAT THAT ABOUT?" Jak asked as they walked back toward the boardinghouse,
where the others were waiting for them. "Picked on her. Seems good woman to me.
Tough. Honest."
"Won't argue with that, Jak. But there was something going on under the surface. She
was tense and nervy. I just got the feeling that something had happened that made her
like that, and it involved us and going on the paddleboat. But she's been around too long
to give it up easy. And I didn't feel confident enough to try dragging it out of her."
They were walking along a street that ran parallel to the river.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 33 - Eclipse at Noon
"Listen," J.B. said, checking for a moment. "Sounds like a big boat coming in."
There was the muffled sound of a stern-wheeler, its huge rear paddle thwacking at the
surface of the Big Muddy. And then the mournful blast of its whistle echoed around the
ville.
"Golden Eagle?" Ryan glanced at his wrist chron. "Said it would dock some time this
morning. Sails upriver dawn tomorrow. We should go aboard and book our cabins early.
They reckon that she fills up fast."
RYAN ALLOWED an hour and a half for the boat to discharge her passengers and
freight, then went along on his own to make the bookings.
When he came out onto the quay, he was impressed at the sheer size of the vessel. She
loomed over the warehouse, her twin funnels trickling a pillar of dark smoke. Ryan
guessed that they probably kept the large boilers stoked with wood even when she was in
port, saving the tedious process of cooling down and retiring.
There was a steady stream of men working up and down three gangplanks, and a steam-
powered hoist was swinging netted boxes of cargo into the bright morning air. A sign
pointing to a fourth walkway read Tickets.
Ryan walked onto the boat, feeling the spring of the gangplank under his boots.
Away on the far side of the river, in the round tower, the sun glinted off the telescope as
it moved lazily around to focus on the Golden Eagle.
A stocky, bare-headed man in a dark blue pea jacket, a line of gold braid on his cuffs,
was leaning against the iron rail, smoking a black cheroot. "Morning," he grunted.
"Booking on with us for tomorrow?"
Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Where do I go?"
"Along to the second companionway. White door, number 7 on the right. Along the
passage and down the first stairs. See a green door on your left. Purser, it says. In there.
You're good and early, mister."
"Heard you get busy."
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Axler, James - Deathlands 33 - Eclipse at Noon
The man spit into the river. "Golden Eagle's always busy. She's the best. What's your
business? Don't look like a car man. Goin' up river to hunt the stickies?"
"Just for pleasure. Me and five friends. What's the word on the stickies?"
"There's mines and plantations up-water. Rumor has it that the fat man's involved."
"Wolfram?"
"They say." He shrugged his shoulders. "Say the Magus is with him. But nobody ever
seen them in the flesh. Just whispering and shadows."
Ryan nodded. "What always happens with them. And they got trouble with stickies?"
"Lot of breakouts. Killings. Difficult to keep them working, even chained. Muties like
that got no regard for their lives. Makes it tough to hold them under."
"I heard that." A couple of young women, wearing too much makeup, pushed past him
with a wink and a grin at the officer, who returned their greeting. They went along in the
direction that the man had indicated for purchasing tickets.
"Regulars aboard?" Ryan asked.
"Dolly and her sister, Jolyanne. Kind of hardworking girls, if you take my meaning."
Ryan nodded. "Sure do. Well, best get my cabins booked. See you around."
The purser was only about fifteen, making a valiant effort to grow a beard, which led to
his being ruthlessly teased by the pair of whores.
"Why try and cultivate those straggly little hairs, sonny, when they grow wild around
your ass?"
The lad blushed ferociously.
One of the women noticed Ryan and nudged him. "Fancy a cabin-share, honey? Bunk up
together all the way to Crosstown. Show us some generous jack, and you could have me
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Axler, James - Deathlands 33 - Eclipse at Noon
and my sister together. Just to yourself. Best deal in Twin Forks."
"Already got me some company, ladies, but thanks for the offer."
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