John Maddox Roberts - Spacer: Window of Mind Read Online Free PDF

far enough from Thoth's primary star to use the Whooppee drive, Michelle had Kiril endure the ordeal in the infirmary, strapped into a therapeutic chair and wired from toes to scalp. She would have gone through Whooppee transition with Kiril. but at that time she was in no better shape than anybody else.
    The transition from "real" space to hyperspace by Whooppee drive was accompanied by physical convulsions as ail bodily functions cut loose at once. Much worse, the convulsions were followed by several minutes of hallucinations; horrors dredged up from the most hidden recesses of the traveler's subconscious. It was the "Whooppee horrors" that caused many to swear off spacing forever. Kiril came through shaken but sound, with only a vague memory of unbearable terrors during the immeasurable time of transition. Michelle considered it a tribute to her psychological toughness and resiliency.
    they emerged in real space in the void between the orbits of jupiter and Saturn. They still had a long way to go to reach their destination in Earth orbit. As soon as Kiril was over her post Whooppee shakiness, she went to the supply room to help Torwald with his scheduled inventory and maintenance: inspecting each piece of equipment on the storeroom's manifest and ma king sure that each was serviceable. They had been at this i.r.k lor an hour when Finn stuck his head through the hatch.
    "Torwald, my jewel, we have new orders: We're not to land on Earth after all, we're to rendezvous with navy station Leyte. She 's orbiting off Luna just now,"
    "Leyte?" said Torwald, eyebrows shooting up. "You're sure?"
    "Certain. Nancy picked up the signal as soon as we left hyper. It came by Priority One Secret beam." He paused dramatically to let it sink in.
    "What's that?" Kiril asked.
    "It's a beam that hasn't been used, to my knowledge, since the end of the War. How long before we get there?"
    "Skipper says a couple of weeks. We were lucky with the alignment of the planets. Coming out where we did, it could have taken us eight weeks or more to reach Luna."
    "I know about Earth," Kiril said, "but what's Luna?"
    "Earth's moon," Torwald told her. "A barren hunk of rock with all its settlements underground. It's pretty from Earth, but not from close up."
    "Sorry, m'love," Finn said to Kiril. "You won't get to see the fieshpots of Earth this trip, it seems."
    "Suits me," Kiril said. "Cities've been nothing but a pain to me, anyway . I've had enough of them." She meant every word. The ship had come to mean safety and security to her. If she had her way, Kiril would never leave the ship for the rest of her life.
    "You won't be missing much," Torwald assured her. "The cities there are mostly slums not much better than Civis Astra. Except for a few resorts in Africa and South America, the greenery is mostly gone. They even have to keep the atmosphere replenished with artificial systems."
    "Even Ireland isn't very green any more." said Finn sadly.
    "You two just wring my heart," said Kiril. "Almost the only plants I ever saw in my life are down there in the HP room. If those are the only ones I ever see, I'll be happy." By now Kiril trusted both men, even liked them to a certain extent, but she wouldn't pass up a chance to needle Finn's Celtic sentimentality or Torwald's complacent expertise. Men had to be kept in their place.
    She was down to one liter of the concentrated nutrient per day now. She had gained at least twenty pounds, but she still looked thin. She picked up her ever-present beaker and downed the last of it, making a face at the cloying sweetness. It hadn't taken long for the sugary taste to pall on her.
    "Something very hush-hush is going on," Torwald said after Finn had left. "And we're in the middle of it."
    "No kidding," said Kiril, touching the edge of a heavy-jungle knife. She hefted the knife by its alumisteel handle. "This thing has no balance at all. A good hand with a sticker could gut you in the time it took you to crank up for a cut.