IronStar Read Online Free PDF

ice
reflected sunlight in sparkles from a smallish polar cap, surrounded by broad
deep-blue oceans. Small islands and a sharp peninsula decorated the visible
hemisphere, and a narrow continent snaked southward around the dayside limb. A
white gash through the dark blue-green landmass suggested snowy mountain
ranges… also on two of the islands, snowcaps; probably glaciers. And lakes!
They had freshwater lakes!
    At least two were visible from
here, and far to the south, near the equator, the continent widened.
Anti-spinward, west of the mountains, the land color changed to a lighter,
yellower green, and across the mountains, a dull red-brown desert. White fluffy
clouds spread across the western ocean; to the east, a huge circular cloudmass
crossed the line of sunset; hurricanes, even! Tears stung her eyes; Kirrah had
not noticed how she missed the sight of her own homeworld, so much like this
from space. After surveying so many lifeless rocks, how beautiful it was to see
life again. Doris must be in sensor-heaven , thought Kirrah, as she put
her board on standby and glanced across at her shipmate…
    Who was staring in wide-eyed horror
at her Sensor board, her hand already descending, for the second time that day,
on the General Quarters alarm. Stunned, Kirrah’s fingers brought her own board
hot by sheer spinal reflex, as the GQ alarm blatted across every other
conversation.
    Lieutenant Finch stammered “S-sir!
The drone! It’s gone! ”
    “Guns! Launch all ready Spit-5’s!
Medium spread! Now !” snapped the Captain. “Helm! Take us up-Tube! Stat! ”
Reacting as much to the urgency in Captain Leitch’s voice as any understanding
of what was happening, Lieutenant Roehl and Master Chief Lee fed commands to
their boards. As the Tubedrive generator spooled up, a thuk-clang-clang-clang-clang
reverberation announced the launch of four of their diminishing supply of
missiles - at what, Kirrah couldn’t guess… the missiles could be recovered
later, she knew. Her finger stabbed for the Drive Activate key…
       - The proximity alarm pinged wildly…
       - Doris reached for the Query key on her board…
       - Sammy Lee touched the keys to reload the ready-tubes with more
missiles from the bow magazine…
       - Captain William Leitch’s eyes turned to the main display, where a red
line sprouted suddenly, impossibly close to the green cursor marking the Arvida-Yee ’s
position…
       - In the CrewRec, Lieutenant Angela Foley and Lieutenant Commander
Howell Docking reached at the same moment for the screen controls, to magnify
the view of their beautiful new hablet…

 
    Fierce blue and white light flashed
briefly, like multiple flashbulbs going off behind her, and something whacked Kirrah across the back, at the same instant a dragon drew in a deep breath to
roar… the planet, she could see the planet , right where her board was,
how could that be… it was spinning away, no, she was spinning away…
pieces of ship were spinning away… sound was gone, her ears hurt
abominably. Another flash… the light was spinning… disappearing in a shrinking
circle like the bright mouth of a tunnel as she plunged backward into its dark
interior… Her last thought, as anoxia sucked her consciousness away, was “ This
is so wrong ! Death is supposed to be a tunnel of light ! Ahh,
Kirrah, a critic to the very end… ”
    Silence.

Chapter 2: Interlude.

 
    “Do you wish to have love? If
you wish to have love, then you must leave love.” -   Mechtild of Magdeburg, 13 th century AD mystic and nun; Germany, Terra

 
    Drifting up from just below the
surface of consciousness, Kirrah became aware, dimly at first, as though
approaching her sense of hearing from a distance, of the sound of voices. The
same familiar inner voices that had inhabited her dreams and thoughts all her
life, but now speaking as they wished, entirely free, apparently, of her
conscious control:
    …and so, gentlemen of the Board, ( said
a male voice