Rainbow Mars Read Online Free PDF Page A

carry than gold. Look, you just enclose something in this superconducting net part and seal it—”
    â€œWhat’s making you so twitchy?”
    Svetz tried to relax. Tried to look relaxed. “I can’t see why all this took four months.”
    â€œYou know, you can wait two years for a trip to Mars. Earth and Mars have to be placed right, and they don’t move at your convenience. If you miss your window, you wait.”
    Svetz said, “The last trip I made, they pulled me out of bed at just past midnight. By five I was on my way. Waldemar the Tenth wanted a spotted owl. He wanted it now. ”
    â€œDid he get it?”
    â€œMiya, if the Industrial Age lists it as a protected species, we can’t find it, unless it’s a bison or a passenger pigeon. I was lucky to find any owl. It was somebody’s pet, and she had some spooky weapons, really high tech. Someone from our future, I think.”
    â€œI’d love to think we have a future.”
    The pale-skinned tech named Zat Forsman lowered the big curved door and sealed them in.
    Svetz said, “So we spray-painted spots on the owl—”
    Everything went blurry. There was a flow of colors and textures, but no detail came through the glass. Miya started to ask a question, then trailed off as gravity changed.
    They floated at the center of the sphere.
    â€œIf you were in the chair, you’d be hanging head down,” Svetz said. “It’s reversed when you’re coming home.”
    â€œHow long before we stop?”
    â€œMmm? Two hours. You were at the briefing.”
    Miya asked, “Who were the first human beings to have sex while traveling in time?”
    â€œNobody, I think. No, wait, there haven’t been any mixed couples. Nobody. ”
    â€œGreat!” Her hands moved into his clothing.
    Svetz had never had an offer that straightforward. He asked, “We’re going for a record?”
    â€œHanny, dear, Captain Thale and I weren’t the first in free fall by a thousand years!”
    They hung their clothing on the inverted chair. Internal gravity pulled them together and held them. Miya fitted them together as if she’d done this before, and that left them at right angles in midair, hip to hip and laughing like loons.

7
    â€œ That was different.”
    â€œIsn’t this just like free fall?”
    â€œIn free fall you just float.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œAre we being recorded?”
    â€œHadn’t thought of it. We can ask,” said Svetz.
    The four months’ wait hadn’t been wasted. High-tech devices from Space Bureau had been adapted for the extension cages. They had a voice link now, but no video. Svetz pulled himself up to the control board, opened the talker and said, “Svetz here, in transit, nothing to report. Testing—”
    He heard Willy Gorky’s voice. “Good.”
    â€œSir, are you video-recording us?”
    â€œVideo and medical, but we’ll get the data later. The talker only carries audio. You have to tell us everything.”
    â€œ Ex cellent!” Miya caroled, and switched off.
    â€œSo. You’ve got your record.”
    â€œLook at me.”
    Svetz looked.
    â€œFour months and you never touched me.”
    â€œ Sure I touched you—”
    â€œNever this. Never anything. Zeera keeps her distance from other men, so I wondered, but she doesn’t brush up against you either. I wondered if you had something esoteric going with Wrona—”
    â€œHey.”
    â€œWhat kept you, Hanny? You could have had me in a bed. ”
    â€œA bed? Ooo.”
    â€œThink of all the practice we missed.”
    â€œWe did pretty well.”
    They were floating apart. Svetz said, “Grab something,” and grabbed at the chair. Miya grabbed Svetz, and then they were sliding down the glass curve of the cage in roaring darkness. Sudden sputtering light illuminated a wilderness of whirling