Galaxy Blues Read Online Free PDF

ticket hadn’t been scanned at the gangway. It was processed at the gate, but not…”
    â€œLet me save you a little time,” I said. “I slipped aboard through the cargo airlock, right after I ejected from the pod I was driving. If you send a man down to check, he’ll find my suit in the ready room. Second locker from the left, if I—”
    â€œWe already know you’re a longshoreman.” Perturbed by the interruption, Tereshkova glared at me. “That we learned when we matched your biometric profile against Highgate’s employment records. In fact, we had you pegged as a stowaway even before we went through the starbridge.” She returned to Mr. Heflin. “Have someone go down to Airlock Five and see if he’s telling the truth.”
    The chief petty officer nodded, then touched his headset mike and murmured something. “Excuse me, ma’am,” I said, “but if you knew I was a stowaway, then…?”
    â€œIt took some time.” A faint smile. “Your steward became suspicious after she noticed that there were no carry-on bags in your cabin. This was, of course, after she found you wandering around the passenger section. She checked the cargo records, and when she discovered that you hadn’t checked any baggage, she alerted the chief petty officer. The two of them accessed the passenger database, and that’s when they realized that you weren’t the same person who’d checked in at Highgate. So Mr. Heflin pulled up the IDs of everyone who works at the station, and when your face came up, he put it on the crew data screens. Mr. Marcuse recognized you as someone he’d met while on shore leave, and that was when Mr. Heflin decided to pay you a visit.”
    â€œBut by then,” I said, “the ship was already on final approach to the starbridge. Too late to turn back then, right?” She blinked but said nothing. “Well, at least I got that far…”
    â€œToo far, so far as I’m concerned. We’ll have to review our security procedures.” Tereshkova sighed, then resumed her seat. “Good work, Mr. Heflin,” she said as she picked up a datapad. “Please extend my compliments to Ms. Fawcett and Mr. Marcuse as well. Now, if you’ll summon the warrant officer back to the bridge, I think Mr. Guthrie would like to see his new quarters.”
    â€œAnd you don’t want to know why I’d go through so much trouble?” I tried to remain calm, even as I heard Heflin mutter something else into his headset. “After all, I purchased a ticket. That means I’m not a…”
    â€œWithout bona fide ID or a valid visa, you’re whatever I say you are.” Tereshkova was quickly losing interest in me. So far as she was concerned, I was little more than a nuisance. “Hope you enjoyed our first-class accommodations. I regret to say that the brig isn’t nearly as comfortable.”
    â€œMy name isn’t Lucius Guthrie.” Straightening my shoulders, I stood at attention. “I’m Ensign First Class Jules Truffaut, formerly of the Union Astronautica, Western Hemisphere Union. I hereby request political asylum from the Coyote Federation.”
    Tereshkova’s gaze rose from her pad, and the navigator and helmsman darted curious glances at me from over their shoulders. I couldn’t see Mr. Heflin, but I could feel his presence as he took a step closer. All at once, the bridge had gone silent, save for the random boops and beeps of the instrument panels.
    â€œCome again?” Heflin asked.
    I didn’t look back at him. “As I said, sir…my name is Jules Truffaut, and I’m a former ensign in the Union Astronautica. My reason for being aboard your ship is that I wish to defect from the Western Hemisphere Union to the…”
    â€œIs this true?” Tereshkova’s eyes bored into my own. “If you’re lying, so help me,