Galactic Courier: The John Grimes Saga III Read Online Free PDF Page A

said, “Well, that was quite painless, wasn’t it? Welcome aboard and all that.” He relaxed in his chair, cast an appraising eye around the cabin. “You know, Captain, I rather envy you. No owners to get on your back. No crew to get in your hair, no passengers . . .”
    A female voice called from the airlock, “May I join the party?”
    “Meet my passenger, Captain Halley,” said Grimes.
    ***
    Halley and Tamara Haverstock were already acquainted. Neither much liked the other. The Superintending Postmistress was, to the shipmaster, yet another officious official to make his life a misery, with her unreasonable demands, each and every time that he was in Port Muldoon. Halley, to Tamara Haverstock, was the unobliging representative of the cordially disliked Interstellar Transport Commission.
    “Are you actually travelling in this, Miss Haverstock?” Halley asked.
    “Your ship, Captain Halley, seems never to be proceeding in a direction suitable to my requirements. And now, if you will excuse me, I have business to discuss with Captain Grimes.”
    Halley rose to leave. “Bon voyage,” he said. “And don’t do anything that you couldn’t do riding on a bicycle. Remember Paragraph 118 (c) of the Space Shipping Act. If you do fall foul of it, the Guild will back you up.”
    “What was he talking about?” asked the Postmistress after he was gone.
    “I don’t know,” said Grimes. Actually he didn’t, but strongly suspected that Paragraph 118(c) was the one setting out the penalties for rape, or alleged rape.
    Miss Haverstock looked at her watch. She said, “The consignment of parcel mail, together with my baggage, will be here very shortly. Are all your stores on board? Good. Have you paid your port dues and obtained Customs clearance? Good. If you have no objections we will lift as soon as the mails and baggage have been stowed.”
    Grimes said, “This was certainly a quick turn-around. I was hoping to see something of Tiralbin. Apart from one evening in the Gentlepersons’ Club in Muldoon I haven’t been off the ship.”
    She told him, “You haven’t missed anything. As far as we are concerned here in the south it’s monsoon weather over the entire damned hemisphere, and winter’s set in north of the equator. As you may have noticed, we have no land masses at all in the tropical and sub-tropical zones. So it’s a choice between getting soaked or frozen.”
    “Frankly,” said Grimes, “I’ve often wondered why people live on some of the worlds that they do . . .”
    “Are you getting in a nasty dig at this one? Well, Grimes, I was born here. I’m used to it. At times I even like it, but I don’t suppose I’d like much the planet that you were born on. Earth, wasn’t it? I thought as much. You Terries always contrive to convey the impression that you own the whole damn galaxy but don’t think much of it anyhow . . .”
    Grimes laughed. “Surely we aren’t as bad as that.”
    “Aren’t you?” She grinned at him. “Anyhow, much as I love Tiralbin I want a change of scenery. And my leave does not officially start until I have delivered the mail to its consignee on Boggarty, so, by the time we get there, I shall still have several standard months due . . .”
    A man in a drab blue uniform came into the cabin without first announcing himself. He accorded the Postmistress a grudging salute then turned to Grimes. “You the skipper?”
    “Yes.”
    “Mail’s here, an’ some travellin’ bags. Where do you want ’em?”
    Grimes saw the single mail sack—it was heavy, and obviously held square boxes or cartons—stowed in the locker that he had cleared for the purpose. Tamara Haverstock’s baggage went into a storeroom off the galley-cum-engine room. He signed the receipt for his cargo. The man left.
    The high-ranking postwoman said, “What’s holding you, Captain? The mail must fly!”
    “I suppose I’d better think about getting upstairs,” admitted Grimes.

Chapter 6

    GRIMES TOOK