Alpha Rising Read Online Free PDF

there.”
    G.R. grabbed a nylon tote and a duffel bag
and headed to the airlock wearing a portable breathing device.
    Kaz hollered, “See if you can find the
ship’s log, too.”
    “ You want food or reading
material?” he retorted from behind the airpack mask.
    “ It’ll be a historical
legacy.”
    Faith’s words followed at his back. “The
logbook’s in the cockpit to the right.”
    Bach sat beside Kaz at the electronics area
and monitored system reset data. In a lighthearted moment, he
leaned over and nuzzled his fiancée’s neck. Neither had made a
sound when Lynch yelled from the flight deck, “Get organized for
departure. Breaking free of the forcefield will be a critical move.
Stop wasting time.”
    Kaz glared at the back of Lynch’s head, then
turned back to her updates.
    Waiting for his download to finish, Bach
leaned back, stretched, and sang, “AstroLab sittin’ in the big ol’
sky, someone help this broken craft to fly.” He noticed Kaz
grumbling. “What’s wrong?”
    She pointed to her computer screen. “This
can’t be right.”
    Within seconds, both were troubleshooting
electronic conflicts.
    G.R. bounded in from the airlock. “Good
news. I found oxygen and dehydrated food. And I got a bonus of
freeze-dried ice cream, fudge ripple. I will serve it up shortly.
Mmmm.” He left the supplies in the galley, stepped behind Kaz, and
passed the space station’s logbook over her shoulder. “How much
time do we have?”
    “ Don’t bug me,” she
replied. “I’m in the middle of something.”
    G.R. rolled his eyes and asked Bach, “What’s
going on?”
    “ We’re busy right now.
Trying to correct a minor problem.”
    Deni whipped her head around, leveled her
gaze, and raised her eyebrows. “What kind of minor problem? We’re
almost ready to go.”
    “ Fuel’s not registering,”
Bach said.
    Lynch’s close-set blue eyes narrowed to
slits as he looked back through the cabin. “Not registering? We
have one full unit!”
    “ It’s like everything
drained down a big hole.”
    “ Well, figure it out,”
Lynch snapped. “AstroLab’s electronics started working when we got
here, Wizard’s stopped, and now this. It’s a glitch. Clear it
up!”
    For the next hour Bach and Kaz pored over
the problem without a word, and tension didn’t ease even when G.R.
served the foil packets of freeze-dried, fudge ripple ice
cream.
    Lynch soon tired of the wait and went to
Bach’s workstation to check the current download. After eyeing the
data, he sighed hard. “We couldn’t have lost all our fuel; that
holding tank has no damage.” He returned to the cockpit and sat
down with a thud.
    Bach yelled after him, “Maybe something out
here in deep space caused it to dry up.”
    Another sigh from Lynch. He turned to his
left. “Deni, get with NASA to check that possibility.”
    “ My opinion?” G.R. hollered
out with a laugh-snort. “Aliens!”
    Faith fingered her necklace, sliding the
cross back and forth on the chain. “G.R., that’s not funny.” Her
voice lowered, “Glad I brought my Bible.”
    NASA processed Deni’s information and
radioed back. The fuel was onboard, but not registering. Deni
yelled to Bach, “It’s caused by an electromagnetic pulse disrupting
the sensors. We should be able to override that.”
    “ I’ll try to demagnetize,
then do a pre-ignition warm-up and see what happens,” he replied.
“If it works, we’ll be ready to go in a few minutes, so finish what
you’re doing and buckle down.”
    A sudden shudder rocked the ship.
    Kaz yelled, “My screen went blank!”
    Bach grumbled, “Damn! Power storage units
are discharging.”
    Deni added, “Lost radio contact!”
    A warning buzzer split the air. Lights on
the cockpit console and overhead emergency systems flashed like a
Vegas payoff. The big space station lurched, then rocketed forward
with the two smaller ships under its wings. Shouts and screams
filled the cabin.
    Deni sounded like she’d sucked