Ride the Star Winds Read Online Free PDF

left—and Grimes knew that he would never be employed by the Dog Star Line as long as she was the wife of one of that company’s managers.

    “Satisfied?” he asked sleepily.
    “Yes . . . and no, darling. But we’ve several hours before Jane brings in your morning tea.”
    “You’d better be out of here before then, Liz.”
    “It’s not important really. We tabbies stick together, even though some of us have gold braid on our shoulders and some haven’t. Jane would never run screaming to old Herring.”
    “Herring?”
    “Captain Harringby. Haven’t you ever noticed the fishlike look he has sometimes?”
    “What if he did find out? What would he do?”
    “Nothing, darling. Nothing. He’s all show and no blow. Like practically every other passenger ship master he’s scared shitless of the Space Catering Officers and Stewardesses’ Guild. We have the power to make any voyage a hell for all concerned.”
    “Mphm.”
    No matter how successful I am, he thought, I shall never be fool enough to buy a big passenger ship.
    He persisted, “But you didn’t answer my question properly . . .”
    “About being satisfied? Well, you aren’t exactly bad in bed, although you could be better. But I’ll educate you, darling. What satisfies me is that I’ve won the sweep.”
    “The sweep?”
    “Yes. We all put in twenty credits and the prize goes to the first member of Sobraon’s female staff to go to bed with the notorious pirate. You. And I get the prize.”
    “So that’s why the purser brought up my supper tray in person tonight instead of entrusting the task to one of her underlings! All right, Liz. You’ve won. But it’s been touch and go.” He laughed. “I wondered why my personal needs were being attended to by different stewardesses every day and night. A fair go for all, I suppose. I almost succumbed this morning when that little carroty cat . . .”
    “Sue . . .”
    “. . . intimated that she’d just love to wash my back while I was taking my shower.”
    “And now I’ll rub your front and hope that you’ll rise to the occasion.”

Chapter 7

    Sobraon was in orbit about Liberia.
    Alongside her was one of that planet’s meteorological satellite tenders, airlock to airlock and with the short gangway tube sealed in place, a means of transfer of personnel from spaceship to spaceship with which Grimes was unfamiliar. In the Survey Service spacesuits and lifelines were good enough for anybody, from admirals down. But now he was no longer a spaceman. He was a first-class passenger. And he was a governor.
    He was dressed as such, in the archaic finery that must always have seemed absurd to any intelligent human being, a rig neither functional nor aesthetically pleasing. Starched white shirt, stiff collar and gray silk cravat . . . Black tailcoat over a gray waistcoat . . . Gray, sharply creased trousers . . . Highly polished black boots . . . And—horror of horrors!—a gray silk top hat.
    He stood in the vestibule of the liner’s airlock; at least Harringby had put the inertial drive back into operation so that Grimes was spared the indignity of floundering about clumsily in his hampering clothing. Nonetheless he was sweating, his shirt damp on his chest, sides and back. He derived some small pleasure from the observation that Captain Harringby was far from comfortable in his own dress uniform; obviously it had been tailored for him before he started to put on weight. The Chief Officer’s black-and-gold finery fitted him well enough but his expression made it plain that he hated having to wear it. Liz, the Purser, carried her full dress far better than did the Captain and the Mate. She looked cool and elegant in her long, black skirt, her white blouse with the floppy black tie, her short, gold-trimmed jacket.
    Also present were the Third Officer, who would be looking after the airlock, and two Cadets. The young men were comfortable in normal shirt-and-shorts rig. Grimes envied them.
    Harringby saluted