Ringship Discretion Read Online Free Page A
giant magnetic toroid. The north and south.." An intercom call from Amelia interrupted "Ben, can you come up here?"
Ben came up on the bridge, with AJ following. "What's up?" Amelia pointed to the captain who was standing on a table messing with an electrical ceiling panel.
Ben nodded and walked over to the captain "Need some help there?".
Atticus, with pair of pliers in his mouth said "I nees cwean powaa"
Ben tilting his head "You need clean power? What? For your telescope?"
Atticus stopped, pulled the pliers from his mouth "Yeah, I was trying to use it last night and I was getting tracking glitches and the images have strange artifacts appearing in them. I monitored the power for five minutes and there are breaks and spikes in voltage."
Ben looked over at Amelia and grinned. "Sure Captain, I can do that."
On the fifth day at a breakfast meeting, the captain lifted his leg over one of the chairs and sat down with his still steaming french toast. He reached for the strawberry jam. "Ben...excellent job on provisions this time!."
Everyone said "Hell yeah! Here here."
Ben smiled "So does that mean we can really stop by Eros for a day of fun?!"
Atticus replied. "After this run, you can buy your own Eros".
Ben said "I like the sound of that. Of course, I could use some fine dancing girls." He got up and simulated dancing "You girls want to come work for me?." Both Helen and Amelia protested, while everyone else just laughed.
The captain continued "Well, as of today, we are half way to the asteroid belt and one sixth of the way to Io. I don't have much new to say today. Just keep working on ironing out bugs and getting familiar with the ship. Oh, Amelia any luck getting a hold of anyone?"
Amelia pulled the fork from her mouth and touched it to the plate "No, nothing. I'm really starting to worry. This morning I couldn't even get a hold of the hangar office that we rent from."
Helen replied "It IS Saturday today."
Amelia looked over with her mouth open and said "Oh yeah, I suppose it is! Well, that could explain that, but why won't anyone else comm us back? Even my husband...do you think..maybe he's upset cause I came..." Atticus started to reach his hand out to her, but it felt wrong.
Helen was the one to do it. "Don't worry, everything will be OK. In a few weeks, we'll all be a lot more free to do what we want when we want".
CHAPTER 2: The Inspection.
The bonds of Earth were broken,
but freedom was a false token,
For the Big Three,
Again took it from me.
Eight days into the trip, Ben came up to the bridge. "I finally figured out what the problem was with the drive plating. The last owner replaced one of the power cables with an unlabeled, but more efficient one and it was supplying more power to that one plate than the others. Stupid. I have a spare power cable, but I need to shut the engines down for a few to install it."
Atticus looked at Amelia to see if it was OK and he then said "Go ahead". A standard warning alarm went off and 30 seconds passed before the engines shut down. Upon shutdown, everyone was floating free in the cabin.
Fifteen minutes later, Ben said over the intercom "Go ahead and try in now".
The captain looked at Amelia, but something had her attention. He started to pull himself over and she said "Hold on! I decided to take a look around while the engines were down. Look at this."
Atticus floated over the sensor panel and he could see a border patrol ship pinging away with its radar. It was heading right for them. "Crap! Can we outrun them?"
"There is no way, but that's not what I was concerned about".
"What?".
She pointed to a faint echo that appeared every time the border patrol's radar bounced off of whatever it was. "There is another ship. It's also heading right for us, and it's gaining fast."
On long journeys, the
Ben came up on the bridge, with AJ following. "What's up?" Amelia pointed to the captain who was standing on a table messing with an electrical ceiling panel.
Ben nodded and walked over to the captain "Need some help there?".
Atticus, with pair of pliers in his mouth said "I nees cwean powaa"
Ben tilting his head "You need clean power? What? For your telescope?"
Atticus stopped, pulled the pliers from his mouth "Yeah, I was trying to use it last night and I was getting tracking glitches and the images have strange artifacts appearing in them. I monitored the power for five minutes and there are breaks and spikes in voltage."
Ben looked over at Amelia and grinned. "Sure Captain, I can do that."
On the fifth day at a breakfast meeting, the captain lifted his leg over one of the chairs and sat down with his still steaming french toast. He reached for the strawberry jam. "Ben...excellent job on provisions this time!."
Everyone said "Hell yeah! Here here."
Ben smiled "So does that mean we can really stop by Eros for a day of fun?!"
Atticus replied. "After this run, you can buy your own Eros".
Ben said "I like the sound of that. Of course, I could use some fine dancing girls." He got up and simulated dancing "You girls want to come work for me?." Both Helen and Amelia protested, while everyone else just laughed.
The captain continued "Well, as of today, we are half way to the asteroid belt and one sixth of the way to Io. I don't have much new to say today. Just keep working on ironing out bugs and getting familiar with the ship. Oh, Amelia any luck getting a hold of anyone?"
Amelia pulled the fork from her mouth and touched it to the plate "No, nothing. I'm really starting to worry. This morning I couldn't even get a hold of the hangar office that we rent from."
Helen replied "It IS Saturday today."
Amelia looked over with her mouth open and said "Oh yeah, I suppose it is! Well, that could explain that, but why won't anyone else comm us back? Even my husband...do you think..maybe he's upset cause I came..." Atticus started to reach his hand out to her, but it felt wrong.
Helen was the one to do it. "Don't worry, everything will be OK. In a few weeks, we'll all be a lot more free to do what we want when we want".
CHAPTER 2: The Inspection.
The bonds of Earth were broken,
but freedom was a false token,
For the Big Three,
Again took it from me.
Eight days into the trip, Ben came up to the bridge. "I finally figured out what the problem was with the drive plating. The last owner replaced one of the power cables with an unlabeled, but more efficient one and it was supplying more power to that one plate than the others. Stupid. I have a spare power cable, but I need to shut the engines down for a few to install it."
Atticus looked at Amelia to see if it was OK and he then said "Go ahead". A standard warning alarm went off and 30 seconds passed before the engines shut down. Upon shutdown, everyone was floating free in the cabin.
Fifteen minutes later, Ben said over the intercom "Go ahead and try in now".
The captain looked at Amelia, but something had her attention. He started to pull himself over and she said "Hold on! I decided to take a look around while the engines were down. Look at this."
Atticus floated over the sensor panel and he could see a border patrol ship pinging away with its radar. It was heading right for them. "Crap! Can we outrun them?"
"There is no way, but that's not what I was concerned about".
"What?".
She pointed to a faint echo that appeared every time the border patrol's radar bounced off of whatever it was. "There is another ship. It's also heading right for us, and it's gaining fast."
On long journeys, the
Readers choose
Nicholson Baker
Katharine Kerr
Ann Lee Miller
Ellen Meloy
J.R. Thornton
Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed
Maria Hudgins
Jane Feather
Jon E. Lewis