Deviation Read Online Free PDF

rest of the crew to leave as they ran through the supply list they'd been sent. Myron, being the pilot, was forced to stay behind for this task. Seeing the man's cramped, unhappy shifting alerted Hedric that he should have let the man go as well. An unhappy pilot could make for a clumsy pilot, and there were too many hazards to travel as it was. Even travel inside Earth's atmosphere could be dangerous, what with the Borden Company still tracking them.
    Hedric wasn't certain what Mesa had uncovered on her mission to Outboard Jupiter, but he had a feeling they hadn't seen the last of Matthew Borden.
    "As soon as the fuel is loaded I want you to take a walk," Hedric said.
    "Thanks for avoiding the question."
    "You're welcome." He squinted at the video screen of outside the craft.
    Australia was in the last stages of the wet season, he could tell by the shrinking pond just three feet from the Lothogy. A month ago he would have described the glassy surface as a small lake, crowded with life and greenery. Now, however, the little oasis had lost much of its plant life and the drier nature of Australia was cracking through the land. Just across the pond, several modern pyramid buildings glared sunlight back at him. They varied in sizes, smaller to larger, but each were made of the same polyethylene cobalt steel that kept the Lothogy safe in space.
    Hedric often wondered at the oddity of the human race. Staying stationary seemed insane. He couldn't remember staying in one spot for longer than ten months, not even during his school days. Each semester had been in a different port. From eight years old through Academy and military training and straight into his specialization as a Field Arc, Hedric had always known a sense of restlessness. It was, he thought with a great deal of condemnation, one of the main contributing factors to his taking Quimbley's cursed job.
    The MEDS screen made a high-pitched beeping sound and Hedric looked back down. "The fuel is done," he said, smoothing the fuel icon out of view. "Get out of here before you drive us both crazy."
    Myron flashed a smile before jettisoning from his seat and climbing the six-wrung ladder out of the flight deck. Hedric could hear the fading rap of the pilot's boots just outside and allowed himself a moment of weakness. Pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to ward off a monster of a headache, Hedric sighed and climbed into the co-pilot's chair. Surrounded by the sheen of aluminum and sleek black computer screens, he began to relax. The Lothogy was as familiar to him as his own skin.
    From the outside, the bulbous curve of the ship's cockpit resembled a bird's beak. On the inside, monitors and controls slanted against the curvature of the walls, not so tall as to create a peak at the top. Bracings and mounts were visible when a person was standing, but when seated in one of the three chairs crammed into the dome-like structure, the view became different. Lights, toggles, slides and keyboards were almost overwhelming to the untrained eye.
    The pilot's chair was the most tell-tale, with its gyrating platform and two flight sticks protruding out from the dash. Hedric powered off his handheld computer and started the sequence for the pre-flight check. There wasn't time to address the engineer's experiments, and Hedric had his doubts they would survive whatever ordeal his mother had in store for them. He slowly rolled his neck, shoving past the pang of guilt for his deception.
    There was still time to warn them all. Freeman and Myron were already suspicious, he knew. Normally Hedric was very up-front about all of their missions, but with this one he had kept the details to himself. Or at least, he had kept what little details he had to himself. His mother was being very tight-fisted with her information, which bothered him on some level, but he didn't have time to dwell.
    And he didn't have much of a choice about the deception.
    The Lothogy wasn't a one-man ship. He needed Myron