Dark Space Read Online Free PDF

that proved the pessimistic rule of his life. Nobody had to sugarcoat things for him. He was used to staring cold facts in the face, and the cold fact was, his partner and only friend in the universe had just betrayed him and stolen his ship. Prior to that she’d called him a grub and said she was better off without him.
    I guess loyalty only runs so deep, he thought as he made his way around one of the many circular hubs aboard Forliss Station. By now, she’s probably halfway back to Chorlis Orbital so she can go back to hiding from Brondi. He wasn’t sure what she planned to do with his ship now that she had it all to herself, but he wasn’t sure he cared either. Out of respect for the partnership they’d once had, he hoped for her sake that she didn’t run into any collection agents on her way back. She wasn’t a half bad pilot, but not nearly good enough to shake off pursuing fighters with no shields and no copilot to man the guns. She’d be captured for sure, and knowing Brondi, he wouldn’t let her die easy.
    Well, that’s her problem. Ethan switched his focus to the task at hand. He knew that there was a fleet recruitment office somewhere aboard Forliss Station. The trick would be finding it. The station was a maze of twisting corridors, and they shot off at all angles from the circular hub where he was now walking. Each corridor had an illuminated sign above it which described the module waiting immediately on the other side, but that didn’t tell Ethan what modules were waiting on the other side of those, and further still down the line. Ethan sighed and stopped walking in order to get his bearings. The nearest corridor branching off the hub went to Yuri’s Café, the next one around the bend, to the Summer Gardens.
    Ethan turned to the nearest passerby and raised his hand to get the man’s attention. The man wore a shiny black suit—business attire—and he was walking fast. When he saw Ethan walking toward him, he sped up, but Ethan kept pace with him easily.
    “Do you know which way to the fleet’s recruitment offices?”
    The man shook his head quickly. “No, sorry.”
    Ethan frowned. “Do you know where I can find the nearest station directory to look them up?”
    “No.”
    “Hoi, you must know where I can find a directory at least. You live here, right?”
    The man turned and gave him a disparaging sneer. “Get away from me, grub.”
    Ethan grabbed the man’s arm and spun him into the nearest wall, pinning him there. “What did you call me?”
    “N-nothing.”
    “Where is the nearest directory, you little kakard?”
    The man pointed to a corridor that branched off the hub up ahead, the one whose sign read, Summer Gardens. “Through there! Now let me go! Please. ”
    “All right, no need to piss your pants. I’m leaving.” Ethan gave the man a shove, causing him to stumble and almost fall, and then Ethan turned to walk toward the gardens, but he still kept half an eye on the man he’d accosted. The businessman didn’t seem like the type to be armed and dangerous, but sometimes weakness was a guise, especially if it were worn too conspicuously. Looking defenseless and being defenseless were two very different things in Dark Space, and mistaking the one for the other could make you dead.
    As the businessman hurried around the corner, Ethan finally turned his back and strode into the Summer Gardens. The corridor branching off the hub was long and narrow. There was a moving walkway going in each direction, and up ahead a strange brightness illuminated the walkway.
    The corridor soon arced out over the gardens and opened up, becoming a bridge. All around him the fresh, moist air swirled with the fragrances from a dozen different flowers in full bloom. Birds flitted over the bridge, twittering and chirping. Below and all around, the green fronds of leafy trees reached high into the artificial sky, which was a clear, cheerful blue overhead. Ethan sighed. If the pay were a little better, it