The Project Gutenberg EBook of Less than Human, by Zoe Blade

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

** This is a COPYRIGHTED Project Gutenberg eBook, Details Below **
** Please follow the copyright guidelines in this file. **

Title: Less than Human

Author: Zoe Blade

Release Date: August 12, 2009 [EBook #29675]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LESS THAN HUMAN ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Illustration: Cover art]

Less Than Human

A short story by Zoe Blade

(C) 2008 Zoe Blade. Distributed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

From the roof of the legal bookstore, I have a clear shot at my target,
Jon Russell. He's sitting down at a table outside a cafe where
Chancery Lane meets Fleet Street, sipping a cardboard cup of coffee. I
briefly ponder how ironic it seems that he's actually bought a drink;
it must be for show, although there's no way that he can tell that
right now he has a very specific audience.

Even in the sunshine, the guiding beam of my tripod mounted rifle is
brightly illuminating a thick circle of skin on his neck, just below
his white beard, but even if any of the passersby can see infrared as
well as I can, they won't have time to do anything even if they notice
it. My eyes are already over two years old now, but they were expensive
enough at the time to still be considered detailed even by today's
standards. With their magnification, I can see the circle of light on
his neck clearly, growing steadier with every passing second as a
familiar cocktail of drugs calms my metabolism.

I try not to let the laser's fan distract me. The guidance beam's one
thing, but the main laser, the one that generates the lethal pulse,
gives off heat like you wouldn't believe. With the midday sun shining
straight down on me, the laser needs all the cooling it can get, and
the fan sounds like someone's standing next to me, drying her hair.

Once I can hold the laser still enough, I brace myself. For just a few
precious seconds, I let myself ponder the consequences of what I'm
about to do. I'm about to execute this guy, but although he's