Farthest Reef Read Online Free PDF

extending from it to the floor. One of the guards told Alex to step forward and grab the rails. When he did so he was pulled upward, slowly at first, then more quickly. After less than a minute of sliding through a slippery white tubeway, he found himself deposited on a thin platform before a door. Somewhere along the way the tube had connected to an area with gravity, but it happened too quickly to analyze. When the two guards arrived at the platform, the door opened and they all stepped into a small circular room. Alex was surprised to see Professors Baltadonis and Stubbs waiting there to greet him.
    “Welcome to the trip of a lifetime, Alex,” said Professor Stubbs. “Of a hundred lifetimes! Once again, you’ll be first!” Both men wore white coveralls, like everyone else Alex had seen since he entered the ship. Stubbs seemed shorter and a bit older than Alex remembered, but his handshake was strong and steady, and the years since Alex had seen him on Earth hadn’t diminished his look of steely determination.
    Unlike the elder Professor, Professor John Baltadonis seemed unchanged from the last time Alex had seen him. “Real good to see you, Alex.” He offered a hand and a warm smile. “It’s been …”
    “Good to see you, too, Johnny,” Alex said cordially.
    “Are you ready, Alex?” asked Stubbs. “Shall we start your tour?”
    “Ready, Professor.” Alex wasn’t sure what he was ready for, but at the moment, with two guards escorting him, he felt he had little choice but to cooperate.
    “Call me Harry, will you, Alex? All my friends do.”
    “I take it that it’s Commander Stubbs, now. No?”
    “At the moment, Alex. But we’re old friends.”
    “Right, Harry,” offered Alex. He watched as the lift closed under him, a thick rubbery white membrane. Surveying the walls, he noticed they were made of the same material. “What is this ship made of?” he asked, poking his finger into it.
    “Drygel,” answered Johnny. “A polyceramic aerogel. Don’t worry, the rest of the place isn’t as wobbly. The interior is rock solid.” The Professor looked at the accompanying officers. “We’ve got a shakedown crew of three hundred and six … now seven, counting you.” He smiled and handed Alex a pair of white coveralls like the ones he and Stubbs were wearing. “Put this on.”
    It took only a few seconds for Alex to get into the slippery material. After he had snapped the last fastener he noticed a small red lever attached to a packet near his throat. He pulled the thing, thinking it to be some kind of fastener, and there was a loud pop as a hood blossomed from the suit’s thick collar and sealed around his head like a helmet. At the same time the suit pressurized and Alex felt his legs and arms stiffening.
    He stared at Johnny in disbelief. “Hello?”
    “That wasn’t what we had in mind at all, Alex,” said Stubbs, trying to keep a straight face.
    “Now what?” Alex’s voice boomed in his own ears as he shouted through his sealed suit.
    “Just push the red buttons on either side of the neck plate.” Johnny spoke loud enough for Alex to hear inside the helmet. “Both at the same time. Might take a few tries.”
    Alex did it on the first try, and the hood snapped back into place while the rest of the suit deflated.
    A small machine on his chest began making a whirring sound. Johnny said it was recharging with air. “It might be doing that for a while. It’s just a compressor. Try not to let it bother you. The suits are designed to maintain themselves.”
    Though the thick collar of the suit felt odd, Alex was relatively unencumbered by the garment. It fitted over his existing togs with disturbing ease. Johnny explained that the suits were for protection during the gee-pulse.
    “This isn’t at all like the Houston ,” said Alex.
    “The Houston was a prototype to test the gee-pulse drive,” offered Stubbs. “Nothing like the Goddard , though. This monster took years to build. The power