Grimspace Read Online Free PDF Page A

going to steer him wrong. Oddly, even though I can do it, I have only a fundamental grasp of the principles.
    Jump ships all carry a phase drive that accesses the secondary space that bends distance beneath, between, whatever, two points in straight space. To get from here to there, you jump into grimspace via the phase drive, then your navigator finds the beacon nearest your destination, and you make the jump back. The beacons are like doors, portals, something, a corridor back and forth, and the phase drive, well, that’s the key.
    Eons after discovering its existence, we’re still exploring the Star Road. That was our specialty, Kai and me. Making long jumps to places no one’s ever been. Tagging new beacons. Logging what’s there and providing charts for the Corp, sometimes livable worlds, sometimes gas giants, sometimes asteroid belts where a planet might have been.
    I loved it. Loved him , after a while.
    Lost him.
    Oh God, Kai, I’m sorry, baby. It’s too soon.
    March is looking at me. Waiting for me to jack in. But he doesn’t say anything, nothing to ease the moment but nothing to make it harder, either. He doesn’t bitch at me to hurry, even though I need to, or tell me that there are lives hanging on me. There are always lives hanging on me. Maybe that’s why jumpers go crazy.
    Control yourself, Jax; don’t let nerves get you.
    He’s not Kai, never will be, but I’ve got to learn to do this with him. In a way, it’s more intimate than fucking a stranger because he’s going to be part of me for the duration of our flight. I don’t want March inside of me.
    Loras speaks over the comm, calm, measured. “Launch override codes input, bay doors opening in approximately ten seconds. You’ll need to hold them, though. Corp security won’t permit them to remain that way long.”
    I feel the swerve as the ship lifts, reluctantly admire the way March handles the controls. The weapons systems come online, and he fires, disabling the bay doors. They’re standing wide now, and I can see through the forward screen that the gray men are fighting vacuum; nothing about this has gone according to Corp procedure. Gray men don’t boast flexibility as one of their dominant traits. They expected to stop us in the bay; we weren’t supposed to get this far. But we have. One thing about gray men…they just don’t quit. They’re going to hunt us to the end of the galaxy.
    Cheerful fragging thought.
    â€œDina, take over guns. Return fire, keep them off us.”
    And in a graceful spin, we’re out, weapons fire coming in hard on aft shields. They’re scrambling ships, but it will take time to find a jumper fit to run, and we’ve got one ready to go. Me. The stars swim around us, and part of me thrills to it, even as I suck in a breath, preparing myself for March. I’m a virgin on her wedding night, arranged marriage, and I’ve never even given him a closed-mouth kiss.
    â€œWhat’s our destination?” I ask. “Let me see the star charts.”
    That seems to reassure him because a good jumper always wants to see the locus of two points in straight space before she tries to translate it. And I’m no exception. I study the maps for a minute, noting that we’re making for a habitable rim world. Lachion. It’s just an outpost, really, a place to refuel, buy supplies and a whore for the night.
    Taking a deep breath, I plug in.
    And the cockpit disappears.
    Right now I’m simply blind. He’s giving instructions over the comm, and I hear the crew acknowledging orders. They’ve strapped in and donned their helmets. Superstitious spacers say if you don’t wear your headgear during a jump, there are demons waiting to suck the soul right out of your body. While that sounds a whole lot like Old Terra sailors who believed sea monsters would eat you if you sailed over the edge of the world, I do