Burnt Ice Read Online Free PDF

down the beach was suggested. They made small talk, as people
do when sounding each other out, while strolling along the bronze sand with
beautiful constellations wheeling slowly above them and a sky alive with the
insect-like activities of man. The Crab Nebula coming out of the sea was
vibrant and closer to the naked eye than he had seen from any other world.
     
    ‘I wonder what a native
intelligent species would make of the nebula evolving, looking up at that as it
filled the night sky. It would probably have been the basis of some religion or
other. Or maybe a whole stream of religions all vying for the attention of the
great creature in the heavens.’
     
    ‘Is there anyone in your life
right now, Marko?’
     
    ‘No.’
     
    ‘Good.’ She turned to him, pulled
him close, and kissed him softly, full on the mouth, an action he gladly
returned.
     
    ~ * ~
     
    Marko
awoke early the next morning, the glorious woman beside him. He kissed her long
and hard, then went to the briefing where they would be informed about the
section’s next task.
     
    ‘Interesting discovery, people.
Base AI has determined that one of the pieces of mosaic we thought was art is
in fact a representation of a feature on the moon’s southern pole. Harry take
over and sort out what we need. We’re off to have a look up there tomorrow.’
     
    They all groaned and the captain
just grinned.
     
    ‘Don’t worry should only take us
a few days. Our respective playmates will still be here when we get back.’
     
    ~ * ~
     
    Marko
did not enjoy walking down to the landing field before dawn the next morning.
He had had plenty of affairs — one or two serious — but for the first time he
could see himself in a long-term relationship with someone special. Helena felt
the same. They even started to make a few tentative plans of how they could
support each other’s careers. Marko wanted to get deeper into the design
aspects of his trade and Helena was already a qualified pilot wanting to take
that further. They had also both been offered officer positions, if they wanted
them.
     
    Marko gathered with the rest of
his section in the cool predawn, gazing up at the stars and Orbitals, wondering
what it would be like to be an ordinary Joe Citizen. Then he looked about him
and discounted the notion as too mundane.
     
    Harry looked up from his wrist
display. ‘We have a couple of minutes to wait because of a launch hold. Orbital
control is rolling a couple of written-off pieces of hardware through the
atmosphere and splashing them down four hundred-odd clicks east of here. They’re
interested to see what survives to the seafloor. Bit daft, if you ask me. We
already know all that shit, but some higher-up made the decision, so let’s
enjoy the show.’
     
    Marko turned to the east and
ramped up his specs, trying to work out where the hardware would re-enter. He
only had a few minutes to wait as the two sizeable pieces of equipment were
pinpointed and his glasses magnified them before his eyes. The software
operating the link between the glasses and his wrist unit filtered out the
atmospheric distortions, presenting his brain with crystal-clear imagery.
     
    ‘Interesting.’ said Marko. ‘Don’t
think that they are junk. Look more like three-hundred-tonne dropships of a new
type being deliberately tumbled. Stupid really, as the simulations would tell
them everything they need to know.’
     
    ‘Ours is not to wonder why,
Marko.’
     
    ‘Right you are, Harry.’
     
    The rest of the section unfolded
their screens as his gear linked across, so they could see what Marko could
see.
     
    As they watched, the ships
created a beautiful but deadly display of parts burning away in the fiery
colours of incinerated exotic metals, plastics and ceramics. The show went on
for almost twenty seconds as the hardware flew tumbling above the section and
silently disappeared below the horizon. They waited another twenty minutes
before the all clear was given, and